tonight he went right back to idiot status....he is not smart enough to handle this...…...Cuomo puts on a news conference.....SFP mumbles and bullshits...….when medical people were there it gave it some credibility……..pretty obvious he wasn't interested in the facts....only the stock market
Wake Up, America! Wake Up! PLEASE!!
- Thread starter Drillher4me
- Start date
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tonight he went right back to idiot status....he is not smart enough to handle this...…...Cuomo puts on a news conference.....SFP mumbles and bullshits...….when medical people were there it gave it some credibility……..pretty obvious he wasn't interested in the facts....only the stock market
One way to get around this is to put the money in the truck drivers and warehousing workers hands- not to the corporation. Seriously, if you are an investor, you know the corporation's accountability lies with its shareholders. We, as shareholders, care about value and profits. Sure, we like to see the company do community projects and have daycares onsite. However, if it doesn't improve production, thus overall measurable value, then we don't want to hear it.
Money to the corporation could mean stock buybacks, especially after the crashing market, it makes the shareholders comfortable. Money straight to the workers, means, families can buy food, keep their bills in tact- or put it in saving- all moves that help producers, transporters and sellers of food, banks, and the overall moral. It's not that hard.
Trump Considers Reopening Economy, Over Health Experts’ Objections
WASHINGTON — As the United States entered Week 2 of trying to contain the spread of the coronavirus by shuttering large swaths of the economy, President Trump, Wall Street executives and many conservative economists began questioning whether the government had gone too far and should instead lift restrictions that are already inflicting deep pain on workers and businesses.
Consensus continues to grow among government leaders and health officials that the best way to defeat the virus is to order nonessential businesses to close and residents to confine themselves at home. Britain, after initially resisting such measures, essentially locked down its economy on Monday, as did the governors of Virginia, Michigan and Oregon. More than 100 million Americans will soon be subject to stay-at-home orders.
Relaxing those restrictions could significantly increase the death toll from the virus, public health officials warn. Many economists say there is no positive trade-off — resuming normal activity prematurely would only strain hospitals and result in even more deaths, while exacerbating a recession that has most likely already arrived.
WASHINGTON — As the United States entered Week 2 of trying to contain the spread of the coronavirus by shuttering large swaths of the economy, President Trump, Wall Street executives and many conservative economists began questioning whether the government had gone too far and should instead lift restrictions that are already inflicting deep pain on workers and businesses.
Consensus continues to grow among government leaders and health officials that the best way to defeat the virus is to order nonessential businesses to close and residents to confine themselves at home. Britain, after initially resisting such measures, essentially locked down its economy on Monday, as did the governors of Virginia, Michigan and Oregon. More than 100 million Americans will soon be subject to stay-at-home orders.
Relaxing those restrictions could significantly increase the death toll from the virus, public health officials warn. Many economists say there is no positive trade-off — resuming normal activity prematurely would only strain hospitals and result in even more deaths, while exacerbating a recession that has most likely already arrived.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee issues two-week stay-at-home order to fight coronavirus spread
— Washington Gov. Jay Inslee issues two-week stay-at-home order to fight coronavirus spread.
— Washington Gov. Jay Inslee issues two-week stay-at-home order to fight coronavirus spread.
I was on this site before you, and posted on this thread well over a year before you showed up here....welcome to the party.
That is not the poll of polls you cited previously. You cited a Real Clear Politics poll of polls, and everything I said about is is true. Nothing in it was newer than the ABC poll All4 cited, contrary to your claim. It was a Trump vs Biden poll, not a Trump's handling of Corona poll.
You didn't cite this slightly newer 538 poll previously, but now slip it in as if that is what you meant.....liars sure can figure....
At least with the 538 poll you're getting slightly closer to the key metric in the ABC poll All4 cited. 538 is a general approval poll for Trump (not Trump vs Biden). But 538 isn't focused on Trump's handling of the corona virus. The specific question in All4's poll was: "Do you approve or disapprove of the way Donald Trump is handling the response to the coronavirus (COVID-19)?"
This isn't that complicated....are you really struggling to grasp or intentionally deceive?
Americans prioritize frontline workers for coronavirus vaccine
New ABC News/Ipsos survey finds many Americans believe elected officials and athletes should be towards the back of the line
The Senate impasse over the massive $1.8 trillion coronavirus stimulus, explained
Over the weekend, Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill have been frantically negotiating with the White House to approve a $1.8 trillion coronavirus stimulus package.
There are major policy disagreements standing in the way. Democrats are objecting to a $500 billion chunk that’s allocated for big businesses, which they say doesn’t have enough oversight. Democrats also want to secure more money for hospitals and health care workers on the front lines of the coronavirus outbreak, as well as state and local governments.
During a Sunday night procedural vote in the Senate, the bill put forth by Senate Republicans failed to get the 60 votes needed to move forward; 47 senators voted for the bill while 47 voted no. Democrats were united in their opposition; even more conservative members of the Democratic caucus like Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia issued statements after decrying Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s bill for prioritizing big business over money for hospitals and workers.
On Monday afternoon, that same procedural vote failed again 49-46, as Democrats maintained their opposition to the proposed package.
Republicans were always going to have to negotiate with Democrats to get to 60 votes. But to complicate matters, the GOP needs Democratic support even more given how many Republican senators aren’t able to participate in votes right now. Five Republican senators are self-quarantining due to concerns that they may have been exposed to coronavirus, including some who are doing so after Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) announced he tested positive for Covid-19 on Sunday night.
Paul’s behavior has prompted an outcry from a number of his colleagues — questioning why he continued to appear in the Senate for Republican conference lunches and other votes. Based on how infectious the disease is, it could only be a matter of time before more senators are impacted.
The main hang-up on the bill is Democrats’ objection to $500 billion that would go to big companies and industries hit hard by the coronavirus crisis. As the bill is currently written, much of the use of that money would be under the discretion of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, and Democrats want rules and regulations around the funds to direct them to the workers — not CEOs
After the procedural vote failed on Sunday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer explained what Democrats were opposed to. In his words: “A giant, giant corporate bailout fund with no accountability — you wouldn’t even know what loans were made until six months later.” Two other big points that Democrats want to see movement on are increased funding for hospitals and necessary equipment like ventilators and masks, and increased federal funding for state and local governments trying to grapple with the growing crisis.
McConnell always needed to negotiate with Senate Democrats to get the needed 60 votes to pass the stimulus bill, but his own votes are shrinking. The situation increases Democrats’ leverage and makes bipartisan agreement even more paramount.
The normally reserved McConnell looked visibly angry Sunday night as he spoke on the Senate floor, laying blame at the feet of Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
We had a good bipartisan bill developed on a bipartisan basis with members in the Senate over the last 48 hours, until the Democratic leader and the speaker of the House decided to blow it all up and play Russian roulette with the markets,” McConnell said. “The result of what the Democratic leader just did was to prevent us from voting right after the markets open in the morning, and allow the markets to be rattled until noon.”
Democrats, meanwhile, are furious at McConnell’s characterization of the legislation as “bipartisan,” since they weren’t included in much of its initial development.
Negotiations between Schumer, McConnell, and the White House resume Monday. As both the number of coronavirus cases and the number of layoffs rise in the US each day, the need to reach a compromise is pressing.
What we know about the stimulus package
There is still no deal on the massive coronavirus stimulus package, and senators are continuing negotiations with the White House Monday morning, after Schumer and Mnuchin met late into the night on Sunday. There’s another tentative vote to advance the legislation scheduled for early afternoon, though it remains uncertain if lawmakers will be able to eke out an agreement by that point.
“We will come in at noon and hopefully we will have an agreement by then,” Schumer said in a floor speech on Sunday.
A major reason for the impasse is pretty extensive disagreement over who exactly the stimulus would benefit.
In the form that was proposed by Senate Republicans as of Sunday afternoon, the legislation included some relief for workers, but focused heavily on providing assistance to major corporations in affected industries — and offered little transparency on how these funds could be doled out. Some of the key planks of the legislation, which is now being negotiated, are as follows:
Loans to major corporations: A major sticking point in the bill is the $500 billion in loans and support that the legislation would allocate to benefit corporations. Not only is it a massive figure, it’s also funding that the administration could funnel to these companies without much oversight. Given the way the legislation was initially written, the administration would be able to delay disclosures about the recipients of the loans, according to a Democratic aide. Additionally, the Treasury secretary would have been able to waive restrictions on stock buybacks.
Despite Republicans billing this process as “bipartisan,” Democrats made clear this weekend that they were not satisfied with how they’ve been cut out of its development. Democrats are particularly interested in seeing a boost in funding to help states stem losses they’ve encountered and cover costs like the increased need for food assistance and unemployment insurance.
Even Manchin, one of the most conservative Senate Democrats, who sometimes sides with Republicans, could not be persuaded to vote yes on the package. Manchin issued a statement shortly after hitting Senate Republicans for not providing enough funding for hospitals and front-line health care workers
“It fails our first responders, nurses, private physicians and all healthcare professionals. ... It fails our workers. It fails our small businesses,” Manchin said in the statement. “Instead, it is focused on providing billions of dollars to Wall Street and misses the mark on helping the West Virginians that have lost their jobs through no fault of their own.”
The Senate voting math, briefly explained
This bill doesn’t just need Senate approval; it’ll have to get through the Democratic-controlled House, too. And on both fronts, it’s facing serious pushback.
In the Senate, the legislation needs at least 60 votes to even advance procedurally — meaning at least seven Democrats would have to vote in favor of it, if all 53 Republicans were present and united. That math is further complicated by the fact that five Republicans are currently self-quarantining because they’ve been directly exposed to individuals who have tested positive for Covid-19. And at least one Republican senator — Rand Paul — is the epicenter of a new wave of exposure fears.
After Paul’s office announced his coronavirus diagnosis, Utah’s two senators — Mitt Romney and Mike Lee, both Republicans — announced that due to their recent proximity to Paul, they would self-quarantine and be unable to vote. Romney, who sits next to Paul in the Senate, will be tested for coronavirus. Lee’s office said while he is showing no symptoms and has therefore been advised he doesn’t need a test, he will still self-quarantine for two weeks. Sens. Cory Gardner (R-CO) and Rick Scott (R-FL) are also in self-imposed quarantine after coming into contact with other individuals who tested positive for coronavirus. (Sen. Amy Klobuchar announced her husband tested positive, but she has not seen him in two weeks so she is not being tested.)
Given the number of Republicans who are self-quarantining, the GOP majority for a physical vote has now dwindled down to 48-47, making the party even more reliant on Democratic support.
Even with the complex Senate voting math McConnell is up against, there’s yet another test once the bill passes the Senate: the House of Representatives.
On Sunday, Speaker Pelosi announced the House is finalizing its own coronavirus stimulus package, separate from the Senate bill — titled the “Take Responsibility for Workers and Families Act.” Pelosi has not been a direct part of Senate negotiations thus far but is in close contact with Schumer. And the final package in the Senate will need her approval before it is passed and sent to the president’s desk.
Pelosi has a litany of disagreements with the current Republican bill. In addition to the ones laid out by Senate Democrats, House lawmakers are concerned with the lack of additional SNAP funds and the lack of Occupational Safety and Health Administration language to protect workers.
There is at this time a big difference between the Take Responsibility for Workers and Families Act and what the Senate Republicans are proposing,” Pelosi said in a Dear Colleague letter Sunday night.
Monday will be critical to see if the gap between Democratic and Republican demands can close.
Over the weekend, Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill have been frantically negotiating with the White House to approve a $1.8 trillion coronavirus stimulus package.
There are major policy disagreements standing in the way. Democrats are objecting to a $500 billion chunk that’s allocated for big businesses, which they say doesn’t have enough oversight. Democrats also want to secure more money for hospitals and health care workers on the front lines of the coronavirus outbreak, as well as state and local governments.
During a Sunday night procedural vote in the Senate, the bill put forth by Senate Republicans failed to get the 60 votes needed to move forward; 47 senators voted for the bill while 47 voted no. Democrats were united in their opposition; even more conservative members of the Democratic caucus like Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia issued statements after decrying Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s bill for prioritizing big business over money for hospitals and workers.
On Monday afternoon, that same procedural vote failed again 49-46, as Democrats maintained their opposition to the proposed package.
Republicans were always going to have to negotiate with Democrats to get to 60 votes. But to complicate matters, the GOP needs Democratic support even more given how many Republican senators aren’t able to participate in votes right now. Five Republican senators are self-quarantining due to concerns that they may have been exposed to coronavirus, including some who are doing so after Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) announced he tested positive for Covid-19 on Sunday night.
Paul’s behavior has prompted an outcry from a number of his colleagues — questioning why he continued to appear in the Senate for Republican conference lunches and other votes. Based on how infectious the disease is, it could only be a matter of time before more senators are impacted.
The main hang-up on the bill is Democrats’ objection to $500 billion that would go to big companies and industries hit hard by the coronavirus crisis. As the bill is currently written, much of the use of that money would be under the discretion of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, and Democrats want rules and regulations around the funds to direct them to the workers — not CEOs
After the procedural vote failed on Sunday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer explained what Democrats were opposed to. In his words: “A giant, giant corporate bailout fund with no accountability — you wouldn’t even know what loans were made until six months later.” Two other big points that Democrats want to see movement on are increased funding for hospitals and necessary equipment like ventilators and masks, and increased federal funding for state and local governments trying to grapple with the growing crisis.
McConnell always needed to negotiate with Senate Democrats to get the needed 60 votes to pass the stimulus bill, but his own votes are shrinking. The situation increases Democrats’ leverage and makes bipartisan agreement even more paramount.
The normally reserved McConnell looked visibly angry Sunday night as he spoke on the Senate floor, laying blame at the feet of Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
We had a good bipartisan bill developed on a bipartisan basis with members in the Senate over the last 48 hours, until the Democratic leader and the speaker of the House decided to blow it all up and play Russian roulette with the markets,” McConnell said. “The result of what the Democratic leader just did was to prevent us from voting right after the markets open in the morning, and allow the markets to be rattled until noon.”
Democrats, meanwhile, are furious at McConnell’s characterization of the legislation as “bipartisan,” since they weren’t included in much of its initial development.
Negotiations between Schumer, McConnell, and the White House resume Monday. As both the number of coronavirus cases and the number of layoffs rise in the US each day, the need to reach a compromise is pressing.
What we know about the stimulus package
There is still no deal on the massive coronavirus stimulus package, and senators are continuing negotiations with the White House Monday morning, after Schumer and Mnuchin met late into the night on Sunday. There’s another tentative vote to advance the legislation scheduled for early afternoon, though it remains uncertain if lawmakers will be able to eke out an agreement by that point.
“We will come in at noon and hopefully we will have an agreement by then,” Schumer said in a floor speech on Sunday.
A major reason for the impasse is pretty extensive disagreement over who exactly the stimulus would benefit.
In the form that was proposed by Senate Republicans as of Sunday afternoon, the legislation included some relief for workers, but focused heavily on providing assistance to major corporations in affected industries — and offered little transparency on how these funds could be doled out. Some of the key planks of the legislation, which is now being negotiated, are as follows:
- Direct payments to adults below a certain income threshold: The legislation would include a one-time $1,200 check that would be sent to all adults making $75,000 or less annually, according to past tax returns. A $500 payment would also be sent to cover every baby in qualifying households.
Loans to major corporations: A major sticking point in the bill is the $500 billion in loans and support that the legislation would allocate to benefit corporations. Not only is it a massive figure, it’s also funding that the administration could funnel to these companies without much oversight. Given the way the legislation was initially written, the administration would be able to delay disclosures about the recipients of the loans, according to a Democratic aide. Additionally, the Treasury secretary would have been able to waive restrictions on stock buybacks.
Despite Republicans billing this process as “bipartisan,” Democrats made clear this weekend that they were not satisfied with how they’ve been cut out of its development. Democrats are particularly interested in seeing a boost in funding to help states stem losses they’ve encountered and cover costs like the increased need for food assistance and unemployment insurance.
Even Manchin, one of the most conservative Senate Democrats, who sometimes sides with Republicans, could not be persuaded to vote yes on the package. Manchin issued a statement shortly after hitting Senate Republicans for not providing enough funding for hospitals and front-line health care workers
“It fails our first responders, nurses, private physicians and all healthcare professionals. ... It fails our workers. It fails our small businesses,” Manchin said in the statement. “Instead, it is focused on providing billions of dollars to Wall Street and misses the mark on helping the West Virginians that have lost their jobs through no fault of their own.”
The Senate voting math, briefly explained
This bill doesn’t just need Senate approval; it’ll have to get through the Democratic-controlled House, too. And on both fronts, it’s facing serious pushback.
In the Senate, the legislation needs at least 60 votes to even advance procedurally — meaning at least seven Democrats would have to vote in favor of it, if all 53 Republicans were present and united. That math is further complicated by the fact that five Republicans are currently self-quarantining because they’ve been directly exposed to individuals who have tested positive for Covid-19. And at least one Republican senator — Rand Paul — is the epicenter of a new wave of exposure fears.
After Paul’s office announced his coronavirus diagnosis, Utah’s two senators — Mitt Romney and Mike Lee, both Republicans — announced that due to their recent proximity to Paul, they would self-quarantine and be unable to vote. Romney, who sits next to Paul in the Senate, will be tested for coronavirus. Lee’s office said while he is showing no symptoms and has therefore been advised he doesn’t need a test, he will still self-quarantine for two weeks. Sens. Cory Gardner (R-CO) and Rick Scott (R-FL) are also in self-imposed quarantine after coming into contact with other individuals who tested positive for coronavirus. (Sen. Amy Klobuchar announced her husband tested positive, but she has not seen him in two weeks so she is not being tested.)
Given the number of Republicans who are self-quarantining, the GOP majority for a physical vote has now dwindled down to 48-47, making the party even more reliant on Democratic support.
Even with the complex Senate voting math McConnell is up against, there’s yet another test once the bill passes the Senate: the House of Representatives.
On Sunday, Speaker Pelosi announced the House is finalizing its own coronavirus stimulus package, separate from the Senate bill — titled the “Take Responsibility for Workers and Families Act.” Pelosi has not been a direct part of Senate negotiations thus far but is in close contact with Schumer. And the final package in the Senate will need her approval before it is passed and sent to the president’s desk.
Pelosi has a litany of disagreements with the current Republican bill. In addition to the ones laid out by Senate Democrats, House lawmakers are concerned with the lack of additional SNAP funds and the lack of Occupational Safety and Health Administration language to protect workers.
There is at this time a big difference between the Take Responsibility for Workers and Families Act and what the Senate Republicans are proposing,” Pelosi said in a Dear Colleague letter Sunday night.
Monday will be critical to see if the gap between Democratic and Republican demands can close.
Republicans .... "We got to feed our Corporate Friends, folks ... they need OUR HELP!"
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"A Trillion HERE, a Trillion THERE ....the people LOVE US!
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............................................................. "A Trillion HERE, a Trillion THERE ....the people LOVE US!...................................................................................
You freaking Dems just loving it - Damned if he does - damned if he doesn’t - pathetic - using this pandemic crisis to beat our President with.
Trump Has Given Unusual Leeway to Fauci, but Aides Say He’s Losing His Patience
President Trump has praised Dr. Anthony S. Fauci as a “major television star.” He has tried to demonstrate that the administration is giving him free will to speak. And he has deferred to Dr. Fauci’s opinion several times at the coronavirus task *******’s televised briefings.
But Dr. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984, has grown bolder in correcting the president’s falsehoods and overly rosy statements about the spread of the coronavirus in the past two weeks — and become a hero to the president’s critics because of it. And now Mr. Trump’s patience has started to wear thin.
President Trump has praised Dr. Anthony S. Fauci as a “major television star.” He has tried to demonstrate that the administration is giving him free will to speak. And he has deferred to Dr. Fauci’s opinion several times at the coronavirus task *******’s televised briefings.
But Dr. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984, has grown bolder in correcting the president’s falsehoods and overly rosy statements about the spread of the coronavirus in the past two weeks — and become a hero to the president’s critics because of it. And now Mr. Trump’s patience has started to wear thin.
MSN
www.msn.com
Appeals court upholds ruling that Trump can't block critics on Twitter
It declines the president's request to review the lower court decision.
The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld the district court's decision that President Donald Trump's practice of blocking critics on Twitter is a violation of the First Amendment. The Trump administration's request for a rehearing was denied on Monday.
After seven people were blocked on Twitter by the @realDonaldTrump for criticizing his presidency and policies in comment threads, The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University filed a suit in 2017. Last July, a panel of three judges upheld the US District Court for the Southern District of New York's earlier ruling, which said the president's Twitter account constitutes a public forum under the First Amendment. The ruling means the president can't block users on the basis of viewpoint.
www.cnet.com
It declines the president's request to review the lower court decision.
The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld the district court's decision that President Donald Trump's practice of blocking critics on Twitter is a violation of the First Amendment. The Trump administration's request for a rehearing was denied on Monday.
After seven people were blocked on Twitter by the @realDonaldTrump for criticizing his presidency and policies in comment threads, The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University filed a suit in 2017. Last July, a panel of three judges upheld the US District Court for the Southern District of New York's earlier ruling, which said the president's Twitter account constitutes a public forum under the First Amendment. The ruling means the president can't block users on the basis of viewpoint.
FCC Democrats call for action on coronavirus
They say the agency should be doing more to help bolster broadband access for all.
www.cnet.com
Coronavirus: Pandemic is 'accelerating', WHO warns as ...
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-52010304
Mar 23, 2020 · The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the coronavirus disease pandemic is "accelerating", with more than 300,000 cases now confirmed. It took 67 days from the first reported of Covid ...
Coronavirus pandemic accelerating, WHO says it advising ...
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-who-idUSKBN21A2UC
Mar 23, 2020 · The coronavirus pandemic is "accelerating", with more than 300,000 cases now recorded worldwide and from nearly every country, the head of the World Health Organization …
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-52010304
Mar 23, 2020 · The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the coronavirus disease pandemic is "accelerating", with more than 300,000 cases now confirmed. It took 67 days from the first reported of Covid ...
Coronavirus pandemic accelerating, WHO says it advising ...
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-who-idUSKBN21A2UC
Mar 23, 2020 · The coronavirus pandemic is "accelerating", with more than 300,000 cases now recorded worldwide and from nearly every country, the head of the World Health Organization …
Ontario and Quebec to close all non-essential businesses ...
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/...
Mar 23, 2020 · Ontario and Quebec to close all non-essential businesses Canada's most populous province says that non-essential businesses must close for at …
COVID-19: Ontario and Quebec order non-essential ...
nationalpost.com
ontario-and-quebec-order-non-essential...
13 hours ago · COVID-19: Ontario and Quebec order non-essential businesses closed after spike in coronavirus totals Ontario Premier Doug Ford says it was a tough decision, but now is …
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/...
Mar 23, 2020 · Ontario and Quebec to close all non-essential businesses Canada's most populous province says that non-essential businesses must close for at …
COVID-19: Ontario and Quebec order non-essential ...
COVID-19 a ‘devastating blow’ to mountain towns that rely on tourism
CALGARY — The COVID-19 pandemic has walloped tourism-dependent mountain towns by cutting short what had been shaping up to be a great ski season in Western Canada.At the same time, there are …
nationalpost.com
13 hours ago · COVID-19: Ontario and Quebec order non-essential businesses closed after spike in coronavirus totals Ontario Premier Doug Ford says it was a tough decision, but now is …
Coronavirus: UK orders stay-at-home order to slow spread
https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/03/23/uk-calls-in-army-as-people-resist-warnings-to...
13 hours ago · Coronavirus: UK orders stay-at-home order to slow spread Deaths from the virus in Britain jumped to 335 on Monday as authorities step up action
Boris Johnson issues stay-at-home order, sending UK into ...
https://fox40.com/news/national-and-world-news/boris-johnson-issues-stay-at-home-order...
9 hours ago · Boris Johnson issues stay-at-home order, sending UK into lockdown to fight coronavirus pandemic ... “From this evening I must give the British people a very simple instruction — you must stay ...
https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/03/23/uk-calls-in-army-as-people-resist-warnings-to...
13 hours ago · Coronavirus: UK orders stay-at-home order to slow spread Deaths from the virus in Britain jumped to 335 on Monday as authorities step up action
Boris Johnson issues stay-at-home order, sending UK into ...
https://fox40.com/news/national-and-world-news/boris-johnson-issues-stay-at-home-order...
9 hours ago · Boris Johnson issues stay-at-home order, sending UK into lockdown to fight coronavirus pandemic ... “From this evening I must give the British people a very simple instruction — you must stay ...
with the right....it's all about the money
Trump Considers Reopening Economy, Over Health Experts’ Objections
WASHINGTON — As the United States entered Week 2 of trying to contain the spread of the coronavirus by shuttering large swaths of the economy, President Trump, Wall Street executives and many conservative economists began questioning whether the government had gone too far and should instead lift restrictions that are already inflicting deep pain on workers and businesses.
Consensus continues to grow among government leaders and health officials that the best way to defeat the virus is to order nonessential businesses to close and residents to confine themselves at home. Britain, after initially resisting such measures, essentially locked down its economy on Monday, as did the governors of Virginia, Michigan and Oregon. More than 100 million Americans will soon be subject to stay-at-home orders.
Relaxing those restrictions could significantly increase the death toll from the virus, public health officials warn. Many economists say there is no positive trade-off — resuming normal activity prematurely would only strain hospitals and result in even more deaths, while exacerbating a recession that has most likely already arrived.
The economic shutdown is causing damage that is only beginning to appear in official data. Morgan Stanley researchers said on Monday that they now expected the economy to shrink by an annualized rate of 30 percent in the second quarter of this year, and the unemployment rate to jump to nearly 13 percent. Both would be records, in modern economic statistics.
Officials have said the federal government’s initial 15-day period for social distancing is vital to slowing the spread of the virus, which has already infected more than 40,000 people in the United States. But Mr. Trump and a chorus of conservative voices have begun to suggest that the shock to the economy could hurt the country more than deaths from the virus.
Trump Considers Reopening Economy, Over Health Experts’ Objections
WASHINGTON — As the United States entered Week 2 of trying to contain the spread of the coronavirus by shuttering large swaths of the economy, President Trump, Wall Street executives and many conservative economists began questioning whether the government had gone too far and should instead lift restrictions that are already inflicting deep pain on workers and businesses.
Consensus continues to grow among government leaders and health officials that the best way to defeat the virus is to order nonessential businesses to close and residents to confine themselves at home. Britain, after initially resisting such measures, essentially locked down its economy on Monday, as did the governors of Virginia, Michigan and Oregon. More than 100 million Americans will soon be subject to stay-at-home orders.
Relaxing those restrictions could significantly increase the death toll from the virus, public health officials warn. Many economists say there is no positive trade-off — resuming normal activity prematurely would only strain hospitals and result in even more deaths, while exacerbating a recession that has most likely already arrived.
The economic shutdown is causing damage that is only beginning to appear in official data. Morgan Stanley researchers said on Monday that they now expected the economy to shrink by an annualized rate of 30 percent in the second quarter of this year, and the unemployment rate to jump to nearly 13 percent. Both would be records, in modern economic statistics.
Officials have said the federal government’s initial 15-day period for social distancing is vital to slowing the spread of the virus, which has already infected more than 40,000 people in the United States. But Mr. Trump and a chorus of conservative voices have begun to suggest that the shock to the economy could hurt the country more than deaths from the virus.
How the House Democrats' stimulus plan compares to the Senate's
Democrats are following through on their threat to go rogue with their own stimulus plan, unveiling a more than 1,400-page bill Monday night, packed with policy differences compared to the proposal Senate Republicans laid out.
After the GOP’s latest measure tanked twice during test votes in the Senate, House Democrats wrote a competing proposal to save the country from economic destruction at the hands of the coronavirus. The House measure would boost emergency funds for agencies, mandate "green" rules for airlines, eliminate a payroll tax suspension, kick in additional help for hospitals, schools and food banks, and more.
Here's what House Democrats have included in their bill and how it contrasts with the latest proposal from Senate Republicans:
Bigger cash payments to Americans
Democrats want to further plump the direct payments that would go out to Americans under the bill, proposing $1,500 per person, instead of the $1,200 on the table under the Senate measure laid out Sunday. Unlike the latest plan from Senate Republicans, however, higher earners would have to pay back part or all of the assistance over three years if their taxable income is $75,000 or more for a single filer or $150,000 or more for couples filing jointly. The money would be available to anyone with a tax ID number, and to retirees and people who are unemployed, rather than just to people who file taxes for 2019 or get Social Security.
More help to hospitals
Health care providers and community health centers would receive about $150 billion, while hospitals would get an additional $80 billion in low-interest loans. The proposal is more in line with industry requests, compared to the $75 billion Senate Republicans have offered. The House bill would also waive treatment costs, abandon certain barriers to accessing medicines and provide safety protections for health workers.
Expanding unemployment, paid sick leave
The unemployed would get an extra $600 per week on top of state or federal benefits in order to replace 100 percent of lost wages. The measure would also extend paid sick leave benefits to cover individuals, such as health care workers and first responders, who were cut out of Congress’ second coronavirus response.
Emergency funding for federal agencies
House Democrats want to go much bigger in sending emergency money to federal agencies, proposing hundreds of billions more than the $242 billion Senate Republicans have pitched, according to a Democratic aide. The White House, meanwhile, has made a narrowly tailored request for $46 billion.
‘Green’ rules for airlines
If airlines are going to get billions of dollars in loans under the bill, Democrats say they need to cut their carbon emissions in half by 2050. The House’s measure would also kick in $1 billion to help develop sustainable fuels for planes and create a program for the government to buy less-efficient aircraft, à la “cash-for-clunkers.”
Tax plans from different planets
The two stimulus drafts emerging from both chambers present markedly different stimulus tax plans, with House Democrats omitting the payroll tax suspension included in the Senate GOP bill. The Democratic plan would also expand health insurance premium tax credits under the Affordable Care Act and beef up the Earned Income Tax Credit, the baby Tax Credit and the Dependent Care Credit.
Taxpayers could make early withdrawals from their retirement funds without having to pay the usual 10 percent penalty during the coronavirus crisis, and required minimum withdrawals would be suspended for 2020. Health insurance premium tax credits under the Affordable Care Act would be expanded.
Laying on the lobbying restrictions
The House bill goes much further than the Senate measure when it comes to limiting executive pay and stock buybacks, as well as imposing lobbying restrictions. For example, the House package would bar such corporations from lobbying the federal government — a move sure to arouse anger on K Street among Democratic and Republican lobbyists alike.
Business tax relief
Companies would get credits against payroll taxes for giving employees any kind of sick or family medical leave, not just for coronavirus-related reasons.
Businesses would get to deduct losses from this year, last year and 2018 from their taxes for any of the last five years. The Senate bill includes a similar “carry back” provision. The House did not include provisions allowing faster write-offs for restaurant and retail business investments or bigger deductions for business interest, both of which are in the Senate bill.
Aid for airlines
Airlines would receive about $40 billion in grants through the House package, as well as up to $21 billion for unsecured loans and loan guarantees for a total of $61 billion in aid. Senate Republicans have proposed $58 billion in loans and guarantees, plus a holiday from paying fuel tax.
Smaller increase for the Pentagon
House Democrats would give the Defense Department an $8 billion emergency boost, including $500 million for purchases made under the Defense Production Act. The Senate GOP bill would provide the Pentagon with a $10 billion hike.
Extra aid for small businesses
Democrats are pitching $500 billion in grants and interest-free loans to small businesses, including $300 billion in forgivable loans to cover short-term payroll costs. That compares to $300 billion in loans for small businesses in the Senate bill.
Outlawing internet cutoffs
While hundreds of internet providers have already promised they will not cut off service to households and small businesses while the coronavirus rages, the bill would ensure it’s illegal to do so.
Democrats are following through on their threat to go rogue with their own stimulus plan, unveiling a more than 1,400-page bill Monday night, packed with policy differences compared to the proposal Senate Republicans laid out.
After the GOP’s latest measure tanked twice during test votes in the Senate, House Democrats wrote a competing proposal to save the country from economic destruction at the hands of the coronavirus. The House measure would boost emergency funds for agencies, mandate "green" rules for airlines, eliminate a payroll tax suspension, kick in additional help for hospitals, schools and food banks, and more.
Here's what House Democrats have included in their bill and how it contrasts with the latest proposal from Senate Republicans:
Bigger cash payments to Americans
Democrats want to further plump the direct payments that would go out to Americans under the bill, proposing $1,500 per person, instead of the $1,200 on the table under the Senate measure laid out Sunday. Unlike the latest plan from Senate Republicans, however, higher earners would have to pay back part or all of the assistance over three years if their taxable income is $75,000 or more for a single filer or $150,000 or more for couples filing jointly. The money would be available to anyone with a tax ID number, and to retirees and people who are unemployed, rather than just to people who file taxes for 2019 or get Social Security.
More help to hospitals
Health care providers and community health centers would receive about $150 billion, while hospitals would get an additional $80 billion in low-interest loans. The proposal is more in line with industry requests, compared to the $75 billion Senate Republicans have offered. The House bill would also waive treatment costs, abandon certain barriers to accessing medicines and provide safety protections for health workers.
Expanding unemployment, paid sick leave
The unemployed would get an extra $600 per week on top of state or federal benefits in order to replace 100 percent of lost wages. The measure would also extend paid sick leave benefits to cover individuals, such as health care workers and first responders, who were cut out of Congress’ second coronavirus response.
Emergency funding for federal agencies
House Democrats want to go much bigger in sending emergency money to federal agencies, proposing hundreds of billions more than the $242 billion Senate Republicans have pitched, according to a Democratic aide. The White House, meanwhile, has made a narrowly tailored request for $46 billion.
‘Green’ rules for airlines
If airlines are going to get billions of dollars in loans under the bill, Democrats say they need to cut their carbon emissions in half by 2050. The House’s measure would also kick in $1 billion to help develop sustainable fuels for planes and create a program for the government to buy less-efficient aircraft, à la “cash-for-clunkers.”
Tax plans from different planets
The two stimulus drafts emerging from both chambers present markedly different stimulus tax plans, with House Democrats omitting the payroll tax suspension included in the Senate GOP bill. The Democratic plan would also expand health insurance premium tax credits under the Affordable Care Act and beef up the Earned Income Tax Credit, the baby Tax Credit and the Dependent Care Credit.
Taxpayers could make early withdrawals from their retirement funds without having to pay the usual 10 percent penalty during the coronavirus crisis, and required minimum withdrawals would be suspended for 2020. Health insurance premium tax credits under the Affordable Care Act would be expanded.
Laying on the lobbying restrictions
The House bill goes much further than the Senate measure when it comes to limiting executive pay and stock buybacks, as well as imposing lobbying restrictions. For example, the House package would bar such corporations from lobbying the federal government — a move sure to arouse anger on K Street among Democratic and Republican lobbyists alike.
Business tax relief
Companies would get credits against payroll taxes for giving employees any kind of sick or family medical leave, not just for coronavirus-related reasons.
Businesses would get to deduct losses from this year, last year and 2018 from their taxes for any of the last five years. The Senate bill includes a similar “carry back” provision. The House did not include provisions allowing faster write-offs for restaurant and retail business investments or bigger deductions for business interest, both of which are in the Senate bill.
Aid for airlines
Airlines would receive about $40 billion in grants through the House package, as well as up to $21 billion for unsecured loans and loan guarantees for a total of $61 billion in aid. Senate Republicans have proposed $58 billion in loans and guarantees, plus a holiday from paying fuel tax.
Smaller increase for the Pentagon
House Democrats would give the Defense Department an $8 billion emergency boost, including $500 million for purchases made under the Defense Production Act. The Senate GOP bill would provide the Pentagon with a $10 billion hike.
Extra aid for small businesses
Democrats are pitching $500 billion in grants and interest-free loans to small businesses, including $300 billion in forgivable loans to cover short-term payroll costs. That compares to $300 billion in loans for small businesses in the Senate bill.
Outlawing internet cutoffs
While hundreds of internet providers have already promised they will not cut off service to households and small businesses while the coronavirus rages, the bill would ensure it’s illegal to do so.
well the damned guy is incompetent…….supported by the illiterate
you people are willing to let a few thousand people die here in the US.....because of greed and money......for you people nothing changes.....it's all about hero worship of a false god
How South Korea Flattened the Coronavirus Curve
No matter how you look at the numbers, one country stands out from the rest: South Korea.
In late February and early March, the number of new coronavirus infections in the country exploded from a few dozen, to a few hundred, to several thousand.
At the peak, medical workers identified 909 new cases in a single day, Feb. 29, and the country of 50 million people appeared on the verge of being overwhelmed. But less than a week later, the number of new cases halved. Within four days, it halved again — and again the next day.
On Sunday, South Korea reported only 64 new cases, the fewest in nearly a month, even as infections in other countries continue to soar by the thousands daily, devastating health care systems and economies. Italy records several hundred deaths daily; South Korea has not had more than eight in a day.
South Korea is one of only two countries with large outbreaks, alongside China, to flatten the curve of new infections. And it has done so without China’s draconian restrictions on speech and movement, or economically damaging lockdowns like those in Europe and the United States.
As global deaths from the virus surge past 15,000, officials and experts worldwide are scrutinizing South Korea for lessons. And those lessons, while hardly easy, appear relatively straightforward and affordable: swift action, widespread testing and contact tracing, and critical support from citizens.
Yet other hard-hit nations did not follow South Korea’s lead. Some have began to show interest in emulating its methods — but only after the epidemic had accelerated to the point that they may not be able to control it any time soon.
President Emmanuel Macron of France and Prime Minister Stefan Löfven of Sweden have both called South Korea’s president, Moon Jae-in, to request details on the country’s measures, according to Mr. Moon’s office.
The head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has hailed South Korea as demonstrating that containing the virus, while difficult, “can be done.” He urged countries to “apply the lessons learned in Korea and elsewhere.”
South Korean officials caution that their successes are tentative. A risk of resurgence remains, particularly as epidemics continue raging beyond the country’s borders.
Still, Scott Gottlieb, a former commissioner of the Food and ******* Administration, has repeatedly raised South Korea as a model, writing on Twitter, “South Korea is showing Covid-19 can be beat with smart, aggressive public health.”
Lesson 1: Intervene Fast, Before It’s a Crisis
Just one week after the country’s first case was diagnosed in late January, government officials met with representatives from several medical companies. They urged the companies to begin immediately developing coronavirus test kits for mass production, promising emergency approval.
Within two weeks, though South Korea’s confirmed cases remained in the double digits, thousands of test kits were shipping daily. The country now produces 100,000 kits per day, and officials say they are in talks with 17 foreign governments about exporting them.
Officials also swiftly imposed emergency measures in Daegu, a city of 2.5 million where contagion spread fast through a local church.
“South Korea could deal with this without limiting the movement of people because we knew the main source of infection, the church congregation, pretty early on,” said Ki Mo-ran, an epidemiologist advising the government’s coronavirus response. “If we learned about it later than we did, things could have been far worse.”
South Koreans, unlike Europeans and Americans, were also primed to treat the coronavirus as a national emergency, after a 2015 outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome in the country killed 38.
The coronavirus is thought to have a five-day incubation period, often followed by a period of mild symptoms that could be mistaken for a cold, when the virus is highly communicable. This pattern creates a lag of a week or two before an outbreak becomes apparent. What looks like a handful of cases can be hundreds; what looks like hundreds can be thousands.
“Such characteristics of the virus render the traditional response, which emphasizes lockdown and isolation, ineffective,” said Kim Gang-lip, South Korea’s vice health minister. “Once it arrives, the old way is not effective in stopping the disease from spreading.”
Lesson 2: Test Early, Often and Safely
South Korea has tested far more people for the coronavirus than any other country, enabling it to isolate and treat many people soon after they are infected.
The country has conducted over 300,000 tests, for a per-capita rate more than 40 times that of the United States.
“Testing is central because that leads to early detection, it minimizes further spread and it quickly treats those found with the virus,” Kang Kyung-wha, South Korea’s foreign minister, told the BBC, calling the tests “the key behind our very low fatality rate as well.”
Though South Korea is sometimes portrayed as having averted an epidemic, thousands of people were infected and the government was initially accused of complacency. Its approach to testing was designed to turn back an outbreak already underway.
To spare hospitals and clinics from being overwhelmed, officials opened 600 testing centers designed to screen as many people as possible, as quickly as possible — and keep health workers safe by minimizing contact.
At 50 drive-through stations, patients are tested without leaving their cars. They are given a questionnaire, a remote temperature scan and a throat swab. The process takes about 10 minutes. Test results are usually back within hours.
At some walk-in centers, patients enter a chamber resembling a transparent phone booth. Health workers administer throat swabs using thick rubber gloves built into the chamber’s walls.
Relentless public messaging urges South Koreans to seek testing if they or someone they know develop symptoms. Visitors from abroad are required to download a smartphone app that guides them through self-checks for symptoms
Offices, hotels and other large buildings often use thermal image cameras to identify people with fevers. Many restaurants check customers’ temperatures before accepting them.
Lesson 3: Contact Tracing, Isolation and Surveillance
When someone tests positive, health workers retrace the patient’s recent movements to find, test — and, if necessary, isolate — anyone the person may have had contact with, a process known as contact tracing.
This allows health workers to identify networks of possible transmission early, carving the virus out of society like a surgeon removing a cancer.
South Korea developed tools and practices for aggressive contact tracing during the MERS outbreak. Health officials would retrace patients’ movements using security camera footage, credit card records, even GPS data from their cars and cellphones.
“We did our epidemiological investigations like police detectives,” Dr. Ki said. “Later, we had laws revised to prioritize social security over individual privacy at times of infectious disease crises.”
As the coronavirus outbreak grew too big to track patients so intensively, officials relied more on mass messaging.
South Koreans’ cellphones vibrate with emergency alerts whenever new cases are discovered in their districts. Websites and smartphone apps detail hour-by-hour, sometimes minute-by-minute, timelines of infected people’s travel — which buses they took, when and where they got on and off, even whether they were wearing masks.
People who believe they may have crossed paths with a patient are urged to report to testing centers.
South Koreans have broadly accepted the loss of privacy as a necessary trade-off.
People ordered into self-quarantine must download another app, which alerts officials if a patient ventures out of isolation. Fines for violations can reach $2,500.
By identifying and treating infections early, and segregating mild cases to special centers, South Korea has kept hospitals clear for the most serious patients. Its case fatality rate is just over one percent, among the lowest in the world.
Lesson 4: Enlist The Public’s Help
There aren’t enough health workers or body-temperature scanners to track everybody, so everyday people must pitch in.
Leaders concluded that subduing the outbreak required keeping citizens fully informed and asking for their cooperation, said Mr. Kim, the vice health minister.
Television broadcasts, subway station announcements and smartphone alerts provide endless reminders to wear face masks, pointers on social distancing and the day’s transmission data.
The messaging instills a near-wartime sense of common purpose. Polls show majority approval for the government’s efforts, with confidence high, panic low and scant hoarding.
“This public trust has resulted in a very high level of civic awareness and voluntary cooperation that strengthens our collective effort,” Lee Tae-ho, the vice minister of foreign affairs, told reporters earlier this month.
Officials also credit the country’s nationalized health care system, which guarantees most care, andspecial rules covering coronavirus-related costs, as giving even people with no symptoms greater incentive to get tested.
Is The Korean Model Transferable?
For all the attention to South Korea’s successes, its methods and containment tools are not prohibitively complex or expensive.
Some of the technology the country has used is as simple as specialized rubber gloves and cotton swabs. Of the seven countries with worse outbreaks than South Korea’s, five are richer.
Experts cite three major hurdles to following South Korea’s lead, none related to cost or technology.
One is political will. Many governments have hesitated to impose onerous measures in the absence of a crisis-level outbreak.
Another is public will. Social trust is higher in South Korea than in many other countries, particularly Western democracies beset by polarization and populist backlash
But time poses the greatest challenge. It may be “too late,” Dr. Ki said, for countries deep into epidemics to control outbreaks as quickly or efficiently as South Korea has.
China turned back the catastrophic first outbreak in Hubei, a province larger than most European countries, though at the cost of shutting down its economy.
South Korea’s methods could help the United States, though “we probably lost the chance to have an outcome like South Korea,” Mr. Gottlieb, the former F.D.A. commissioner, wrote on Twitter. “We must do everything to avert the tragic suffering being borne by Italy.”
No matter how you look at the numbers, one country stands out from the rest: South Korea.
In late February and early March, the number of new coronavirus infections in the country exploded from a few dozen, to a few hundred, to several thousand.
At the peak, medical workers identified 909 new cases in a single day, Feb. 29, and the country of 50 million people appeared on the verge of being overwhelmed. But less than a week later, the number of new cases halved. Within four days, it halved again — and again the next day.
On Sunday, South Korea reported only 64 new cases, the fewest in nearly a month, even as infections in other countries continue to soar by the thousands daily, devastating health care systems and economies. Italy records several hundred deaths daily; South Korea has not had more than eight in a day.
South Korea is one of only two countries with large outbreaks, alongside China, to flatten the curve of new infections. And it has done so without China’s draconian restrictions on speech and movement, or economically damaging lockdowns like those in Europe and the United States.
As global deaths from the virus surge past 15,000, officials and experts worldwide are scrutinizing South Korea for lessons. And those lessons, while hardly easy, appear relatively straightforward and affordable: swift action, widespread testing and contact tracing, and critical support from citizens.
Yet other hard-hit nations did not follow South Korea’s lead. Some have began to show interest in emulating its methods — but only after the epidemic had accelerated to the point that they may not be able to control it any time soon.
President Emmanuel Macron of France and Prime Minister Stefan Löfven of Sweden have both called South Korea’s president, Moon Jae-in, to request details on the country’s measures, according to Mr. Moon’s office.
The head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has hailed South Korea as demonstrating that containing the virus, while difficult, “can be done.” He urged countries to “apply the lessons learned in Korea and elsewhere.”
South Korean officials caution that their successes are tentative. A risk of resurgence remains, particularly as epidemics continue raging beyond the country’s borders.
Still, Scott Gottlieb, a former commissioner of the Food and ******* Administration, has repeatedly raised South Korea as a model, writing on Twitter, “South Korea is showing Covid-19 can be beat with smart, aggressive public health.”
Lesson 1: Intervene Fast, Before It’s a Crisis
Just one week after the country’s first case was diagnosed in late January, government officials met with representatives from several medical companies. They urged the companies to begin immediately developing coronavirus test kits for mass production, promising emergency approval.
Within two weeks, though South Korea’s confirmed cases remained in the double digits, thousands of test kits were shipping daily. The country now produces 100,000 kits per day, and officials say they are in talks with 17 foreign governments about exporting them.
Officials also swiftly imposed emergency measures in Daegu, a city of 2.5 million where contagion spread fast through a local church.
“South Korea could deal with this without limiting the movement of people because we knew the main source of infection, the church congregation, pretty early on,” said Ki Mo-ran, an epidemiologist advising the government’s coronavirus response. “If we learned about it later than we did, things could have been far worse.”
South Koreans, unlike Europeans and Americans, were also primed to treat the coronavirus as a national emergency, after a 2015 outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome in the country killed 38.
The coronavirus is thought to have a five-day incubation period, often followed by a period of mild symptoms that could be mistaken for a cold, when the virus is highly communicable. This pattern creates a lag of a week or two before an outbreak becomes apparent. What looks like a handful of cases can be hundreds; what looks like hundreds can be thousands.
“Such characteristics of the virus render the traditional response, which emphasizes lockdown and isolation, ineffective,” said Kim Gang-lip, South Korea’s vice health minister. “Once it arrives, the old way is not effective in stopping the disease from spreading.”
Lesson 2: Test Early, Often and Safely
South Korea has tested far more people for the coronavirus than any other country, enabling it to isolate and treat many people soon after they are infected.
The country has conducted over 300,000 tests, for a per-capita rate more than 40 times that of the United States.
“Testing is central because that leads to early detection, it minimizes further spread and it quickly treats those found with the virus,” Kang Kyung-wha, South Korea’s foreign minister, told the BBC, calling the tests “the key behind our very low fatality rate as well.”
Though South Korea is sometimes portrayed as having averted an epidemic, thousands of people were infected and the government was initially accused of complacency. Its approach to testing was designed to turn back an outbreak already underway.
To spare hospitals and clinics from being overwhelmed, officials opened 600 testing centers designed to screen as many people as possible, as quickly as possible — and keep health workers safe by minimizing contact.
At 50 drive-through stations, patients are tested without leaving their cars. They are given a questionnaire, a remote temperature scan and a throat swab. The process takes about 10 minutes. Test results are usually back within hours.
At some walk-in centers, patients enter a chamber resembling a transparent phone booth. Health workers administer throat swabs using thick rubber gloves built into the chamber’s walls.
Relentless public messaging urges South Koreans to seek testing if they or someone they know develop symptoms. Visitors from abroad are required to download a smartphone app that guides them through self-checks for symptoms
Offices, hotels and other large buildings often use thermal image cameras to identify people with fevers. Many restaurants check customers’ temperatures before accepting them.
Lesson 3: Contact Tracing, Isolation and Surveillance
When someone tests positive, health workers retrace the patient’s recent movements to find, test — and, if necessary, isolate — anyone the person may have had contact with, a process known as contact tracing.
This allows health workers to identify networks of possible transmission early, carving the virus out of society like a surgeon removing a cancer.
South Korea developed tools and practices for aggressive contact tracing during the MERS outbreak. Health officials would retrace patients’ movements using security camera footage, credit card records, even GPS data from their cars and cellphones.
“We did our epidemiological investigations like police detectives,” Dr. Ki said. “Later, we had laws revised to prioritize social security over individual privacy at times of infectious disease crises.”
As the coronavirus outbreak grew too big to track patients so intensively, officials relied more on mass messaging.
South Koreans’ cellphones vibrate with emergency alerts whenever new cases are discovered in their districts. Websites and smartphone apps detail hour-by-hour, sometimes minute-by-minute, timelines of infected people’s travel — which buses they took, when and where they got on and off, even whether they were wearing masks.
People who believe they may have crossed paths with a patient are urged to report to testing centers.
South Koreans have broadly accepted the loss of privacy as a necessary trade-off.
People ordered into self-quarantine must download another app, which alerts officials if a patient ventures out of isolation. Fines for violations can reach $2,500.
By identifying and treating infections early, and segregating mild cases to special centers, South Korea has kept hospitals clear for the most serious patients. Its case fatality rate is just over one percent, among the lowest in the world.
Lesson 4: Enlist The Public’s Help
There aren’t enough health workers or body-temperature scanners to track everybody, so everyday people must pitch in.
Leaders concluded that subduing the outbreak required keeping citizens fully informed and asking for their cooperation, said Mr. Kim, the vice health minister.
Television broadcasts, subway station announcements and smartphone alerts provide endless reminders to wear face masks, pointers on social distancing and the day’s transmission data.
The messaging instills a near-wartime sense of common purpose. Polls show majority approval for the government’s efforts, with confidence high, panic low and scant hoarding.
“This public trust has resulted in a very high level of civic awareness and voluntary cooperation that strengthens our collective effort,” Lee Tae-ho, the vice minister of foreign affairs, told reporters earlier this month.
Officials also credit the country’s nationalized health care system, which guarantees most care, andspecial rules covering coronavirus-related costs, as giving even people with no symptoms greater incentive to get tested.
Is The Korean Model Transferable?
For all the attention to South Korea’s successes, its methods and containment tools are not prohibitively complex or expensive.
Some of the technology the country has used is as simple as specialized rubber gloves and cotton swabs. Of the seven countries with worse outbreaks than South Korea’s, five are richer.
Experts cite three major hurdles to following South Korea’s lead, none related to cost or technology.
One is political will. Many governments have hesitated to impose onerous measures in the absence of a crisis-level outbreak.
Another is public will. Social trust is higher in South Korea than in many other countries, particularly Western democracies beset by polarization and populist backlash
But time poses the greatest challenge. It may be “too late,” Dr. Ki said, for countries deep into epidemics to control outbreaks as quickly or efficiently as South Korea has.
China turned back the catastrophic first outbreak in Hubei, a province larger than most European countries, though at the cost of shutting down its economy.
South Korea’s methods could help the United States, though “we probably lost the chance to have an outcome like South Korea,” Mr. Gottlieb, the former F.D.A. commissioner, wrote on Twitter. “We must do everything to avert the tragic suffering being borne by Italy.”
He was talking about not paying taxes
It centers on green new deal
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