Cuomo won’t quarantine Westchester and NYC but he sure is ready to blame the federal government for when it spirals out of control.
Belgium will go into lockdown for nearly three weeks, the state broadcaster RTBF reports.
From noon on Wednesday CET, all people living in Belgium will be expected to stay at home, unless it is an emergency, or they need to visit a supermarket or medical professional.
The plan has not been confirmed officially, but is expected to be announced by prime minister Sophie Wilmès later on Tuesday.
The measures are to last until 5 April and were approved by Belgium’s national security council, which is comprised of Wilmès, vice prime ministers, other senior politicians and security services.
Police will be given powers to ensure that people respect the policy.
Belgium has seen 1,085 cases of coronavirus and five people have died, according to the latest available data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. (Guardian)
West Virginia has no cases. Only one of the 50. Not as many globetrotters and very rural.
Four Brooklyn Nets players test positive for coronavirus
From CNN’s Homero De La Fuente
The Brooklyn Nets announced on Tuesday that four players on the team had tested positive for coronavirus.
One of the them shows symptoms, while the other three are asymptomatic, according to a statement from the team.
“The organization is currently notifying anyone who has had known contact with the players, including recent opponents, and is working closely with state and local health authorities on reporting,” the team said.
The NBA season was suspended last week after Utah Jazz player Rudy Gobert tested positive for the coronavirus.
Before the Nets announced four players had tested there had been three other players that had tested positive, Gobert and Donovan Mitchell of the Utah Jazz and an unnamed player on the Detroit Pistons.
BREAKING NEWS
Mayor urges New Yorkers to prepare for the possibility of a shelter-in-place order within two days
Social Security offices close due to coronavirus. Here’s what that means for you
The Social Security Administration is closing all of its local offices to the public starting on Tuesday due to coronavirus.
“This decision protects the population we serve – older Americans and people with underlying medical conditions – and our employees during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic,” the Social Security Administration said in a statement.
Local offices will still be available by phone with a priority on critical services, the agency said. That includes benefit payments for those who did not receive their checks or need them reinstated; cases with severe blindness, disability or terminal illness; and eligibility decisions needed for urgent Medicaid approval (CNBC)
Does anyone have a site that is monitoring who is dying in the US? (Not where - I’m more interested in age and co-morbidities if possible.)
I think I’m going to have to start using death statistics to get through to people 
I haven’t seen anything with more than a count. No details. Details are more sketchy now as the death toll rises and will become more so as it isn’t so novel now. You may still get an occasional local news story with age and conditions but not all the time.
This hasn’t been updated since 29 February https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/coronavirus-age-sex-demographics/?fbclid=IwAR0Rwm5q209DbbXJfUDhrE73kFBSla2fuSCh11PzwJzYCVbz8aO3uyaJDec @romanigypsyeyes will it still give you something to work with?
It is really breathtaking to behold the thundering herd!
Who said the first casualty of war is truth?
California’s largest mall closed after employee tests positive for coronavirus
From CNN’s Sarah Moon
California’s largest mall South Coast Plaza is now closed after an employee from the Christian Louboutin boutique tested positive for coronavirus, the mall said in a post on Instagram.
The mall in Costa Mesa is closed for 14 days from today and plans to reopen on March 31.
Restaurants will be open for delivery services and catering.
South Coast Plaza is the largest mall on the West Coast with over 250 boutiques and 30 restaurants. The luxury shopping mall is located in Orange County.
What’s going on in NY? They passed up both California and Washington in the infected number, almost twice as many as WA, just about 3 time as many as CA.
Driving to an appointment this morning on half-empty roads, I was thinking that many lives will probably be saved during the lockdown from reducing not only flu transmission but also car accidents.
No bet: European countries halt trading on failing shares
France, Italy, Spain and Belgium on Tuesday banned so-called “short selling” - essentially betting that a stock will lose value - in order to shield some of Europe’s biggest companies from a selloff triggered by the coronavirus.
The move temporarily halts bets on falling shares at scores of companies, from the world’s largest brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev, to Spanish bank Santander and airline Air France-KLM.
Egypt revokes British journalist’s credentials over virus report
Egypt revoked the press credentials of a journalist for The Guardian and censured The New York Times Cairo bureau chief on Tuesday over “bad faith” reporting on the country’s coronavirus cases.
“The correspondents’ rush to promote incorrect data does not justify them relying on an unpublished… and scientifically unrecognised study,” the State Information Service (SIS) said in a statement.
“It shows their intentional bad faith to harm Egyptian interests,” said the SIS, which is responsible for foreign media accreditation.
[ posted yesterday about this government’s stifling of free press and criticism]
UN suspends resettlement travel for refugees over virus
The United Nations said Tuesday it would suspend resettlement travel for refugees over fears they could become stranded as countries drastically reduce entries over the COVID-19 pandemic.
The UN agencies for refugees and for migration jointly announced that they were taking steps to temporarily suspend departures by people already living as refugees who had been approved to be resettled in third countries.
“As countries drastically reduce entry into their territories owing to the COVID-19 global health crisis, and restrictions around international air travel are introduced, travel arrangements for resettling refugees are currently subject to severe disruptions,” the UNHCR and IOM said in a statement.
Pakistan can’t afford to shutter cities to prevent virus: PM Imran Khan
Pakistan cannot afford to implement the type of large-scale urban lockdowns the west is undertaking as it tries to slow the spread of coronavirus, Prime Minister Imran Khan said.
In Pakistan, home to megacities such as Karachi with millions of people living in close proximity, Khan said such a move was considered early on but officials feared it would devastate the country’s fragile economy.
“The Pakistan situation is not the same as that of the US or Europe … 25 percent of our population is living in grave poverty”, Khan said in a televised address to the nation.
“If we shutdown the cities - people are already facing difficult circumstances - we will save them from corona at one end, but they will die from hunger on other side,” he added.
Pakistan has however closed cricket stadiums, schools, colleges and universities, Khan noted. The South Asian nation is considered vulnerable to the impacts of the novel coronavirus pandemic.
‘Slippery slope’: Israel draws flak over coronavirus surveillance
Israel’s government has begun deploying cellphone-monitoring technology against the coronavirus pandemic, drawing criticism from the opposition and a rights group who called it a “dangerous precedent”.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet approved the emergency regulations - which came into effect on Tuesday - that will enable the Shin Bet internal security service to tap into cellular data to retrace the movements of people infected by the virus responsible for the disease, COVID-19.
Al Jazeera
Plus Vietnam. As soon as Wuhan Shut down, Vietnam shut down as well (around lunar new year). Apparently the did quite a few very drastic things since Jan, I was told by a family member. Not sure why this isn’t being talked about in the news? I guess Vietnam is just chopped liver 
- All schools (entire country) were closed since Jan
- Everyone who came through the borders (international airports and the likes) got a series of questions and if coming from hot spots, immediately got moved to special centers to be quarantined for 2 weeks where they were very well taken care off. Temperatures were taken twice a day, given food, entertainment. Many military bases are used for such facilities, so people have their own room, not sick hospital beds.
- If they has any minor symptom they will get tested and moved to the treatment centers .
- None of the screaming and dragging to the vans as you saw in China. People were told that this isn’t a prison this is a place for them to get well and not infected others, and exactly that’s what they got.
- If 1 person in the apartment building got infected, the person got moved out but the entire building, in some case, even small village got quarantined. Food and supplies were brought to the people home. No one has to worry about basic survival.
- The government constantly tells the people that they will be taken care off with no cost to their own, either for treatment or for quarantined, so for the greater good, cooperate.
That was why VN has 16 cases for a long time, until someone cheated and lied about where they came from, and infected a bunch. It’s in the 70’s now i think. No death yet. This is a country with 600,000 Chinese visitors in Jan alone.
They were going to open the schools back up early march but there there was patient #17, the students are still doing remote learning.
There are many Russians in Vietnam and they didn’t want to leave the country, some said that Vietnam is a heaven for the sick and the poor. My mom said everything is in order, no shortage of food, no panic, and a complete trust of the government. I couldn’t believe my own ears.
Lots more testing for one. The New Rochelle cluster didn’t help the numbers. Urban density in the city. Those are my assumptions.
Is West Virginia doing any testing?
Urban density, for sure. Plus gotta give that Seattle Freeze some credit. 
Qatar closes all shops except for grocery stores and pharmacies
Qatar closed all shops except for food stores and pharmacies over fears of coronavirus spread, the Qatar high committee for crisis management said, in a press conference aired on state TV.
The Gulf nation also closed part of the Industrial Area for 14 days, with salaries being paid for employees working in the closed part, the committee added.
Most populous province in Canada bans gathering of 50 plus people
Canada’s most populous province Ontario banned gatherings of more than 50 people and ordered the closure of bars and restaurants. The province accounts for nearly half of confirmed cases.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford committed C$300 million to boost the province’s healthcare system, including to buy more protective gear and ventilators.
Canada’s six largest banks will temporarily limit operating hours and cut the number of operating branches as part of new coordinated measures to support social distancing to curb the outbreak, the Canadian Bankers Association said.
Don’t call 911 for toilet paper, asks Oregon police
Police in the northwestern US state of Oregon have urged citizens worried about the coronavirus pandemic not to call 911 if they run out of toilet paper.
The novel coronavirus has prompted panic buying across much of the US and overseas, with items including hand sanitizer, mineral water and toilet paper frequently disappearing from supermarket shelves.
“It’s hard to believe that we even have to post this. Do not call 9-1-1 just because you ran out of toilet paper,” wrote the Newport, Oregon police department on Facebook. “You will survive without our assistance.”
The light-hearted post did not specify how many calls police had received via the emergency number over toilet paper, but did suggest a number of alternatives - including using department store catalog pages, sponges and even corn cobs.
Journalists travelling with Putin ordered to undergo mandatory coronavirus testing
Journalists travelling with Russian President Vladimir Putin on an official trip this week must undergo mandatory coronavirus testing to prove they do not have the disease, the Kremlin said.
Announcing its latest move to try to protect Putin’s health, a presidential administration official confirmed the new condition ahead of an official trip to Crimea on Wednesday.
Russia has reported 114 coronavirus cases so far, fewer than many European countries.
Al Jazeera
It shouldn’t be surprising at all. The density of NYC, and its trains, subways and elevators – its strengths in more normal time – make the virus spread more quickly and widely.