Lots of financial displacement resulting from the various social distancing actions being taken. Probably will be a mix of government and private assistance (and unfortunately some non-assistance). We are effectively giving people an additional 3 weeks of paid leave if they have to stay home with kids off school, have health issues increasing risk of virus or taking care of someone with those higher risks or otherwise ill. Asking admin staff to work from home if they are able.
Warren Buffett says Berkshire’s annual meeting will be held without shareholders in attendance
Gerard Miller | CNBC
Warren Buffett announced Friday that Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder’s meeting will not be held with shareholders present as the coronavirus continues to spread. The meeting will be streamed online by Yahoo Finance.
“I very much regret this action; for many decades the annual meeting has been a high point of the year for me and my partner, Charlie Munger,” Buffett said in a letter to shareholders. “It is now clear, however, that large gatherings can pose a health threat to the participants and the greater community.”
Berkshire’s annual meeting — which is slated for May 2 — has become a staple in the global business community. In 2018, more than 40,000 people from around the world attended the event known by some as “Woodstock for Capitalists.”
{Still on my bucket list one of these years]
VA schools closing until April 14.
Hubei government says only Wuhan city is high epidemic risk
The government of Hubei, the epicenter of a coronavirus outbreak, has lowered the epidemic risk ratings of several cities and regions, leaving only the capital of Wuhan as “high risk” as of the end of March 12, according to the Hubei Daily, a state-owned local paper.
Compared to March 10, 18 more cities and counties in the province were lowered to low risk, while five fell to medium risk from high risk, it said. —Reuters
Delta cancels all flights to Europe except London.
MN governor just announced a “peacetime emergency” and is discouraged gatherings over 250 but not closing schools or most public buildings. Folks are being encouraged to employ social distancing at work and in public settings. Dept of Health head discussed the non-closure of schools directly: “Officials believe school is the safest place for children, and they’re concerned about the number of health care workers who have kids, and keeping healthcare workers at work is a top priority.” The state legislature is behaving in a pretty bipartisan way, passing some requested funding and remaining open to more as the situation unfolds. All told a measured and adult approach that I’m fairly satisfied with.
What is a US national emergency?
Donald Trump, as US president, has the power to declare a national emergency, which gives power to the federal government to more freely redistribute funds to state and local governments in a time of the crisis.
The president is set to declare a national emergency because of the coronavirus outbreak under the Stafford Act, which was signed into law in 1988 and is designed to encourage local municipalities to design and run their own disaster mitigation efforts, with federal assistance.
The last time Trump declared a national emergency was in February 2019 when he declared a national emergency to divert funding for his border wall. That national emergency was declared under a different act, the 1976 National Emergencies Act. (Guardian)
Commercial lab to provide thousands of COVID-19 tests per day, executive chairman says
BioReference Laboratories, the company behind the drive-through testing in New Rochelle, NY, will be able conduct up 10,000 coronavirus tests per day across the U.S., executive chairman Dr. Jon Cohen told CNBC. Appearing on “Power Lunch,” Cohen said they will be able to provide up to 5,000 tests per day in New York State due to an automated testing system being launched in the coming days.
Read the paper. Just look at it. I’ll quote from the first paragraph, with my bolding.
This model says that if social distancing started three days ago, total deaths in those counties would have been 30. This is obviously wrong. Total deaths yesterday were already at 30! Social distancing for two days would not have changed that.
The model assumes 1700 cases in the two counties as of March 10. That’s also a poor assumption.
AMC will reduce capacity by 50% in all US movie theaters
From CNN’s Frank Pallotta
AMC Theatres announced on Friday that they are proactively reducing the maximum capacity of each of its theaters by at least 50%, according to a press release.
Beginning Saturday through April 30, the movie theater chain will cap ticket sales for each of its theatre’s auditoriums to an amount equal to 50% of the normal seating capacity.
Adam Aron, CEO and President of AMC Theatres, said “with this action, we are facilitating the ‘social distance’ between guests who still want to see movies on a big screen.”
The company is also enhancing its cleaning protocols by cleaning “hightouch” point areas at least once per hour, the company said.
Trump will be speaking soon, without a teleprompter.
Pelosi just announced that the House will pass a relief bill today.
Tennis Channel is rebroadcasting last years Indian Wells tourney from start to finish. Then I assume it will be on to the 2019 Miami Open and so on and so on.
Since I can’t remember who won the last few tourneys that happened just a few weeks ago, I’m fine watching the repeats.
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-it-only-took-one-player-with-coronavirus-to-shutter-sports/ explains why it took one player to bring the NBA (and other seasons) to a halt with a virus that is easily transmitted by those who are showing no or only mild symptoms at the time.
Lots of schools cancelled in CT for 2-3 weeks.
March SAT has been cancelled at these closed schools as well.
In one welcome announcement, the administration said Friday it was awarding $1.3 million to two companies trying to develop rapid COVID-19 tests that could detect within an hour whether a person is positive for the new coronavirus.
(ST)
Trump declares “national emergency”
President Trump declared a “national emergency” on Friday due to the coronavirus pandemic.
He said the action would “open up access to up to $50 billion,” which he described as “a large amount of money for states and territories and localities in our shared fight against this disease.”
Trump also urged states to set up emergency operation centers immediately. (CNN)
The area’s business and schools are closed, but people are free to go as they wish. There are many people who are part of the area or connected to the group that haven’t been tested. They should get priority testing, as many of them were likely exposed.
Trump in his remarks said that as part of the national emergency declaration, “the action I am taking will open up $50 billion.”
Trump, flanked by aides including vice-president Mike Pence and Dr. Deborah Birx, also said the move will waive a number of other requirements meant to benefit doctors and fight the Coronavirus pandemic.
There’s been an ongoing concern about the availability of tests for the Coronavirus. Trump said his team expected “half a million additional tests will be available early next week.”
“Which will bring probably 1.4 million tests next week and five million in a month,” Trump said. “Our overriding goal is to stop the spread of the virus.”
[ hopefully it will happen this time unlike the past few times we were promised that ]
Over in Texas, Governor Greg Abbott has declared a state of disaster. The Dallas Morning News has more:
Gov. Greg Abbott is declaring a “state of disaster” over coronavirus disease 2019, and announced that the state on Friday opened a drive-through testing center in San Antonio, with ones to follow soon in Dallas, Houston and Austin.
Under state law, in such a disaster, Abbott becomes “commander in chief of state agencies, boards, and commissions having emergency responsibilities.”
As he did with the four drive-through testing centers, the governor can direct supplies, equipment, materials and facilities to mitigate the disaster.
Abbott also is directing state health care regulatory agencies to tell nursing homes, assisted living centers and hospitals to restrict visitation.
While he didn’t by executive order ban mass gatherings, Abbott strongly discouraged large meetings until public health officials have a better grasp of how many Texans have contracted COVID-19 or are at risk of doing so (Guardian)
@NYGovCuomo
After weeks of waiting, NYS now has authority from the FDA to conduct #Coronavirus testing at 28 labs across the state.
That will increase our testing capacity dramatically — from 3,000 to date to about 6,000/day starting next week.
We know that some New Yorkers are going to lose work & even their jobs because of #Coronavirus.
NYS will immediately waive the 7-day waiting period for unemployment insurance for people who have been laid off due to virus.
Today I asked the Department of Public Service to direct utilities not to cut off service to any person who hasn’t paid their bill as a result of the #Coronavirus situation.
No one should face losing their electricity or gas or water because of this public health emergency.
I wish more places were doing the drive-through (and walk-through, for folks who don’t have cars) testing.