He would have been skewered- for good reason. It could have been avoided with TESTING and containment and ramping up of supplies to stop the spread.
House passes $2 trillion coronavirus package — but not without last-minute drama
The House passed a sweeping, $2 trillion coronavirus relief package that will provide immediate assistance to many Americans, small businesses and major industries on the brink of economic collapse amid the ongoing pandemic.
The package ultimately passed via a voice vote. But the vote followed a chaotic 24-hour scramble in which hundreds of lawmakers raced to return to Washington to block a single GOP lawmaker from holding up the bill.
President Donald Trump is expected to quickly sign the bill — the largest rescue package in U.S. history.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/27/house-vote-2-trillion-coronavirus-package-deal-150869
Yes, they set up a special center in NY a few days ago to do this.
Except that Gilead, the owner of Remdesivr, has pulled it from use for COVID (pending the trials).
https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/22/gilead-suspends-access-to-experimental-covid-19-drug-remdesivir/
So my post is 100% accurate. Today, there are zero known [approved] therapeutics for COVID.
btw: there are only anecdotes for Remdesiver’s effectiveness (Daniel Dae Kim is a supporter) with COVID just as there are only anecdotes with the anti-malarial.
My inspirational (but not impossible - at least not some) wishlist:
- it is determined beyond a doubt that COVID is not spread by aerosol - only by droplets that actually land on someone or on a surface. So people that aren’t coughing or sneezing (just simply breathing) are not spreading the virus.
- some anti-viral is found to work on serious patients and is available for use in the next 2 weeks
- Testing is available everywhere for 10k patients a day
- Some companies have gotten together to produce all needed ventilators
- A antibody test is created and mass produced so the masses can take it and determine if they are immune
- a vaccine will be ready to distribute by the fall.
China - if we are nice to them - may help us with many of these.
Because for patients of all ages who are very ill, Plaquenil is unlikely to help, but could cause cardiotoxicity. The hypothesis is that the drug works by making the cell membranes more basic. The virus wants the membranes acidic so it can multiply inside and then burst out of the acidified envelope to infect more cells. Plaquenil may also inhibit the virus from entering cells by glycosylation of ACE2 receptors.
Once patients are struggling to breathe, replication has already happened in tons of cells, and a bazillion copies of virus have already burst out into their bodies. Once they are on vents, it’s not the virus making them sick anymore. It’s their damaged lungs leading to low oxygen saturation, affecting their organs etc. How will it help to make their cell membranes more basic or glycolize ACE2 receptors?
Patients on ventilators are extremely fragile and their hearts are already sustaining damage, in large part due to the immune system’s own inflammatory response to the virus, not the virus itself. Would you give those patients a drug which is potentially cardiotoxic, without evidence of benefit?
For my DH’s sake, I am upset by this comment that I took to mean that people want Plaquenil to fail for political reasons:
Did I misinterpret?
DH is risking his health (maybe life) every day to do his job, and he deeply wants to save people. But he is a scientist, and he knows that wishful thinking can do harm, so he does not put his ICU patients on Plaquenil.
It is also concerning to him as an ID specialist that people are putting everyone on Zithromax. Thank goodness his hospital system has decided to put a stop to that unless approved by ID (for secondary bacterial infections which have not been found to be common in COVID-19). Please consider the antibiotic resistance we could cause by putting thousands of people with viral illness on an antibiotic. At the end of the epidemic, we might have lost one of our very limited arsenal of antibiotics. If you’ve ever taken Zithromax for any infection, imagine that bacteria is now Zithromax-proof.
DH wrote the methods for a study which will start next week using Plaquenil as a preventative for health care workers. The science better supports the hypothesis that it might work by preventing the virus from getting in the cells and bursting out after replication. DH would be so thrilled and grateful if it is proven effective. He is also participating in research developing treatments specifically for SARS-CoV-2, and he sees patients 8 hours a day. Please don’t accuse him of wanting anything to fail.
Cuomo says Trump tweet’s about ventilators in storage was “incorrect and grossly uninformed”
From CNN’s Shimon Prokupecz
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo responded to President Trump’s tweet that there are thousands of federal government ventilators found in a storage facility in New York and that the state “must distribute now.”
Here’s what Cuomo said:
“That is incorrect and grossly uninformed. The point is, we have ventilators in a stockpile and we didn’t send them to the hospital yet. Of course we didn’t — that’s the whole point. The hospitals don’t need them yet. The hospitals aren’t at their apex. The hospitals have enough ventilators today, but their numbers are going up. We’re planning for an apex, a high point, in about 21 days – that’s when we need the 30,000 ventilators, not today. Right now we’re putting them in a stockpile," Cuomo added.
“So the point is, ‘well they’re in a stockpile, you must not need them is just ignorant – of course you don’t need them today! You need them when you hit the apex, which is 30,000. We’re not there yet,” he said.
The first NBA players who tested positive have been medically cleared
From CNN Sports Jabari Jackson
The Utah Jazz said all of their players and team personnel, including center Rudy Gobert and guard Donovan Mitchell, have completed their self-isolation period and are medically cleared by the Utah Department of Health.
“The UDOH has determined that all Jazz players and staff, including Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert who tested positive for the novel Coronavirus, no longer pose a risk of infection to others,” said the NBA team in a statement released Friday.
Earlier this month, Gobert and Mitchell became the most high-profile athletes known to have been diagnosed with Covid-19. On March 11, the Jazz were set to play the Oklahoma City Thunder before it was ultimately postponed because of coronavirus fears – prompting NBA commissioner Adam Silver to suspend the NBA season.
The team says the players have been in isolation/quarantine since the season was postponed.
After being medically cleared, all players and staff will continue to practice distancing while limiting their time outside to essential activities as recommended by the NBA and CDC.
[ does this seem too quick? In China and South Korea, those who are positive are quarantined for another 14 days after being deemed recovered. ]
The UK will convert two more convention centers into temporary hospitals
From CNN’s Nada Bashir in London
UK will convert two further conference centers into temporary hospitals, NHS Chief Medical Officer Simon Stevens said at a news conference on Friday.
London’s Excel Centre is already in the process of being turned into a field hospital.
“And today — because this is a problem not just confined to London, but across the whole country — I have given the go ahead to the building of two further of these NHS Nightingale hospitals, beginning with Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre and the Manchester Central Convention Centre, with further such hospitals to follow,” Stevens said.
He added that hospital services have been configured so that 33,000 more beds are available to treat coronavirus patients.
More than 200 FDNY members have now tested positive for coronavirus
From CNN’s Mark Morales
At least 206 members of the Fire Department of New York have tested positive for Covid-19, FDNY spokesperson Jim Long tells CNN.
That’s up from 131 yesterday. That includes firefighters, emergency medical service workers and civilian employees.
EMS services have had 6,043 calls in the last 24 hours.
First patients in WHO’s coronavirus treatment trial to enroll in Norway and Spain
From CNN Health’s Jacqueline Howard
The World Health Organization announced on Friday that the first patients enrolled in its Solidarity trial, which will examine potential treatment options for Covid-19, will be based in Norway and Spain. The first patient enrolled in the trial is at the University of Oslo in Norway.
“We are delighted to announced that today in Norway and Spain, the first patients will shortly be enrolled in the Solidarity trial, which will compare the safety and effectiveness of four different drugs or drug combinations against Covid-19,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
“This is a historic trial which will dramatically cut the time needed to generate robust evidence about what drugs work. Over 45 countries are contributing to the trial and more have expressed interest,” Tedros said. “The more countries who join the trial, the faster we will have results.”
WHO announced last week that it had organized the trial to test coronavirus treatment approaches across several countries and compare data to find which treatments may be most effective. When the announcement was made, WHO noted that many countries agreed to join the trial, including Argentina, Bahrain, Canada, France, Iran, Norway, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland and Thailand.
Louisiana sees spike in coronavirus cases
From CNN’s Jamiel Lynch
Louisiana has reported at least 441 new coronavirus cases and 36 deaths since yesterday.
There are at least 2,746 cases of coronavirus and 119 deaths in the state, according to the Department of Health’s website.
The majority of cases are in Orleans Parish, which includes the city of New Orleans.
Trump administration appears to back off Easter timeline to relax coronavirus guidelines
From CNN’s Betsy Klein
After repeatedly suggesting that social distancing guidelines could be lifted – at least in some places – in time for Easter Sunday, the Trump administration appears to have backed off that timeline.
During a town hall interview with Fox News and subsequent one-on-one interview with Fox’s Bill Hemmer, Trump raised the prospect, at one point saying there would be “packed churches all over our country.” Trump again floated the idea during Tuesday’s press briefing.
The idea was widely criticized and was not supported by any prominent politician or doctor.
CNN’s Jim Acosta reported Tuesday that the coronavirus task force received plenty of feedback from public health experts sounding the alarm over easing the social distancing guidelines next week, a source familiar with the matter said. Although Trump has talked about reopening the country by Easter, the source said, the President hasn’t reached a final decision on exactly when the government’s guidelines would be relaxed to get the economy back up and running.
When Trump talked up the idea of packing churches on Easter, the source continued, the president knew it was more wishful thinking than a realistic goal.
“He was being himself,” the source said.
On Wednesday, Trump’s language softened: “I would say by Easter we’ll have a recommendation, and maybe before Easter,” he said at the briefing.
By Thursday, Trump did not reference the Easter timeline at all – neither during the briefing nor his interview with Fox’s Sean Hannity. Thursday night, Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN Trump provided an “aspirational projection to give people some hope.”
And Friday morning, Vice President Mike Pence called it an “aspirational goal” during an interview with CNBC.
Rate of coronavirus infection in UK doubling every three to four days
From CNN’s Nada Bashir in London
The rate of infection in the UK has been doubling every three to four days according to “best scientific analysis” UK Cabinet Minister Michael Gove said on Friday.
Gove added that these figures were a “powerful reminder” of the “need for all of us to act.”
WHO official on coronavirus: “Young people are not invincible”
From CNN’s Jacqueline Howard and Mallory Simon
Data is continuing to show that younger people are being hospitalized with Covid-19, World Health Organization officials said during a media briefing in Geneva on Friday.
“Young people are not invincible,” said Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO infectious disease epidemiologist.
“What we know from data across a number of countries — including data from China, including data from the US and Italy and Iran and Korea and Japan and others — is that this virus can cause mild disease,” Kerkhove said. “But we do have reports and there are some publications now that describe severe infection in children.”
Dr. Mike Ryan, WHO executive director of health emergencies program, said during the briefing that in Korea, 20% of the deaths were in people under 60 years of age; in Italy, up to 15% of people in intensive care were under 50; and in Germany and other countries, up to 10% to 15% of people under 50 with disease will have moderate to severe infection.
“This Covid-19 virus is capable of causing infection and severe disease in people of all ages,” Kerkhove said.
Boris Johnson will isolate for 7 days following coronavirus diagnosis
From CNN’s Luke McGee in London
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will isolate for seven days after testing positive for the coronavirus.
Staff at 10 Downing Street will observe Public Health England guidelines on contact with the Prime Minister, and will remain 2 meters apart from him at all times in the event they have any contact with him, a spokesperson for the PM said.
The spokesperson said Johnson noticed he had mild symptoms on Thursday afternoon and was tested in 10 Downing Street on the advice of the government’s Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty. Johnson got the results of the test at midnight last night.
The 55-year-old Prime Minister has been in self-isolation in his 11 Downing Street apartment, where he will remain, the spokesperson added.
The spokesperson declined to comment on the health of Johnson’s fiancee, Carrie Symonds, who is pregnant.
The official said other people in Number 10 have self-isolated as a result of having symptoms.
Coronavirus in Westminster: The confirmation comes just over a week after a top government adviser on the virus, Neil Ferguson, said he believed he had been infected and warned: “There is a lot of Covid-19 in Westminster.”
Ferguson had met the Prime Minister, as well as Whitty, and Chief Scientific Adviser Patrick Vallance. It was unclear, however, where Johnson may have contracted the virus.
[ just 7? ]
understand, so don’t give to folks with heart disease (which I thought I alluded to), or give them extremely low doses. There are plenty of relatively healthy seniors (no co-morbidities) that might benefit from it to beat down COVID. (Sounds a lot better to me than 5 days in a drug-induced coma.)
There will be 2% loss in annual GDP growth in major economies for each month of containment
From CNN’s Chris Liakos
There will be a loss of 2% in annual GDP growth in major economies for each month of containment, The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has estimated.
OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría unveiled the latest estimates in preparation to the G20 virtual summit yesterday, showing that the lockdown will directly affect sectors amounting to up to one third of GDP in the major economies.
“For each month of containment, there will be a loss of 2 percentage points in annual GDP growth. The tourism sector alone faces an output decrease as high as 70%." OECD said in a press release Friday.
The group said “many economies will fall into recession.”
"This is unavoidable, as we need to continue fighting the pandemic, while at the same time putting all the efforts to be able to restore economic normality as fast as possible,” the statement said.
“Our analysis further underpins the need for sharper action to absorb the shock, and a more coordinated response by governments to maintain a lifeline to people and a private sector that will emerge in a very fragile state when the health crisis is past,” Gurria said.
First coronavirus case reported in the Kremlin
From CNN’s Mary Ilyushina and Darya Tarasova in Moscow
The first case of novel coronavirus has been confirmed in a Kremlin staffer, Russian president’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Friday.
“Indeed there are cases of the coronavirus within the administration,” Peskov said in a conference call with reporters when asked to comment on recent media reports.
I know of one case and I can confirm it, I’m not aware of a second one… all necessary epidemiological measures are being taken to prevent the virus from spreading further."
According to Peskov, President Vladimir Putin was not in contact with the person who tested positive.
“The President continues to work, he cannot just stop,” Peskov said. “This once again proves the precautionary measures such as inviting everyone who attends the events with the President’s participation to undergo testing are justified.”
London’s Abbey Road repainted amid coronavirus lockdown
From CNN’s Lilit Marcus
One of the most famous streets in the world has had an unexpected makeover thanks to the coronavirus lockdown in the UK.
London’s iconic Abbey Road, which is normally a tourist magnet thanks to its appearance on the Beatles album cover of the same name, is now empty as locals hunker down inside.
That has provided a rare opportunity for municipal employees in the UK capital to give the famous crossing a new coat of paint.
What’s wrong is that your statement (while short 
) is not accurate.
Ventilators work for COVID patients and for other respiratory patients.
The Lupus drug may or may not (seemingly not) work for COVID but is life-saving for Lupus patients (or others?).
Virginia does not have enough personal protective equipment or testing material, governor says
From CNN’s Hollie Silverman
Virginia does not have enough personal protective equipment (PPE) or testing material to keep up with demand, Gov. Ralph Northam said during a news conference Friday.
A disruption in the supply chain in China coupled with the increased demand have resulted in a global shortage, Northam said.
Some context: Virginia is competing with their own health care system, as well as other states and the federal government for more PPE, Northam said.
Northam said they need a national solution and hope that manufacturers in the US can produce more equipment.
Doctors from all specialties joining the US coronavirus response, official says
From CNN’s Jacqueline Howard
Even physicians who are not infectious disease specialists or pulmonologists are training and joining the frontlines in response to the US coronavirus crisis, Dr. Janis Orlowski, chief health care officer for the Association of American Medical Colleges, said during a teleconference with reporters on Friday.
“We are hearing that there are individuals from other specialties being drawn into clinical care,” Orlowski said.
“All physicians have a foundational understanding of health care and medical practice and our expectation is that active physicians keep this knowledge up,” Orlowski said. “I’ve seen very quick training programs to get people back up to speed in the use of PPE, in the use of ventilators.”
Orlowski added that such trainings are to ensure that physicians are safe to work in areas that might not be their specialty.
“It is always the physician’s and people around them’s responsibility to make the decision if they’re ready to practice in that expanded area,” Orlowski said. “Safety and quality remains a high priority — the number one priority — even though people are having to work fast and work smart.”
Democratic congressman tests positive for Covid-19
From CNN’s Alex Rogers
Rep. Joe Cunningham has tested positive for Covid-19.
Cunningham, a Democrat from South Carolina, said he’s been in self-quarantine since March 19, when he “received word from the Attending Physician of the U.S. Congress that I had been in contact with a member of Congress who had since tested positive for COVID-19.”
“While I otherwise feel fine, since March 17th I have been unable to smell or taste, which I learned this week is a potential symptom of COVID-19. I have been in contact with my doctor since I entered self-quarantine,” he said in a statement.
Several other members of Congress have previously tested positive for coronavirus, including Sen. Rand Paul. Cunningham did not say which lawmaker he had contact with.
In other news, it emerges a global shortage in condoms is looming due to the coronavirus pandemic, the world’s biggest producer warns.
Karex Bhd, which makes one in every five condoms globally, has not produced a single condom in its three Malaysian factories for more than a week because of a lockdown imposed by the government to halt the spread of the virus, Reuters reports.
That is already a shortfall of 100 million condoms – normally marketed internationally by brands such as Durex – supplied to state healthcare systems such as Britain’s NHS or distributed by aid programmes such as the UN Population Fund.
Four dead on cruise ship amid Covid-19 outbreak
Patrick Greenfield, Guardian
Four people have died on a cruise ship stranded off the coast of Panama amid a Covid-19 outbreak on board, the boat’s owners have confirmed.
A boat-to-boat rescue operation is underway near the entrance to the Panama canal to help healthy passengers off the Zaandam cruise liner, where two people have tested positive for the disease and another 138 have influenza-like symptoms.
Holland America Line, which owns the cruise ship, confirmed that four elderly passengers have died onboard. It is not clear whether they died after catching Covid-19.
All 1,243 guests have been asked to self isolate while a boat-to-boat operation to move healthy passengers to a sister ship the Rotterdam takes place off the coast of Panama. Guests over the age of 70 are being given priority, the company confirmed.
On Friday, Ricaurte Vásquez, the administrator for the Panama canal, told local media that the Zaandam will be put into quarantine if testing confirms a Covid-19 outbreak and said the cruise ship won’t be allowed through the canal while positive cases are on board, following an order from the ministry of health.
The Panamanian Maritime Authority said it was supervising the rescue operation, adding that nobody on board would be allowed to disembark in the Central American country.
In a statement, Holland America Line said: “Yesterday a number of patients with respiratory symptoms were tested for COVID-19 and two individuals tested positive. Out of an abundance of caution, on March 22 when Zaandam first saw a number of guests reporting to the medical center with influenza-like illness symptoms, we took immediate protective measures, including asking all guests to self-isolate in their staterooms and implementing all other appropriate precautions that have been developed in coordination with the CDC. All guests and crew received face masks yesterday and were provided with instructions on when and how to wear them.
“Currently, 53 guests (4%) and 85 crew (14%) have reported to Zaandam’s medical center with influenza-like illness symptoms. There are 1,243 guests and 586 crew on board…
“Holland America Line can confirm that four older guests have passed away on Zaandam. Our thoughts and prayers are with their families and we are doing everything we can to support them during this difficult time.”
Guardian
In a move that will puzzle many, Sweden has refused to shut bars and restaurants amid the coronavirus pandemic. Reuters reports on the situation on the ground in the country’s capital, Stockholm:
The words “DO NOT STAND HERE! TABLE SERVICE ONLY!” are scrawled in white marker across the bar’s wooden counter, which only weeks ago was littered with beer mats and crowded with elbows.
While the global spread of coronavirus has closed pubs right across Europe, Sweden has hung back, with authorities on Tuesday saying bars and restaurants could stay open - but only if customers are seated and served at a table.
“This is completely new for both us and our customers… We have 26 taps of beer, which often change, so it’s a little bit confusing when people can’t approach the bar,” Wirstroms owner Martin Hession, 49, told Reuters.
Hession said that despite remaining open his sales are down 75% compared with March last year, forcing him to sack most of his staff.
“I’d prefer to be closed… I can’t understand why the government wants us to stay open while pubs and restaurants are going bankrupt,” he added, as he rushed between the tables and bars of his labyrinthine pub in Stockholm’s old town.
Sweden has like most other countries asked people to maintain so-called “social distancing”, particularly in pubs. “Keeping two metres apart is absolutely easy for us, even natural,” said Asa Jacobsson, 47, as she sipped white wine by a window seat in Hjartats bar, on Stockholm’s trendy Sodermalm island.
Guardian
“They had to lock up their supplies of N-95 masks and other PPEs because workers in other parts of the hospital were taking them from those who need them most!”
I have heard the same thing. If any of us have any N-95’s in our workshop this is a good time to donate them. Mine have gone to the home care department of a local community health center.
The German government has reacted to criticism, particularly from southern Europe, that it has been acting only in its own self-interest since the start of the coronavirus crisis, by increasing its help to the EU’s worst-hit countries.
A total of 123 intensive care patients suffering from the virus from France and Spain are to be admitted to German hospitals, a spokesman for the foreign ministry has said.
Seventy-three beds have already been made available for Italians with the illness. In addition protective clothing including masks and overalls are on their way to France, Italy, Austria and Switzerland.
According to the government’s Europe minister, Michael Roth, 100,000 face masks are being sent to Romania, and 60,000 to Sweden. German foreign minister Heiko Maas said in an interview with the Italian daily Corriere della Sera: “EU solidarity is the order of the day”. He added that last week deliveries of seven tonnes of relief supplies, including ventilation and anaesthetic equipment had already been sent. “And more is to follow,” he said
Guardian
One day, we may all see how selfish NY was to try to grab all the PPE and ventilator supplies, and how because of that many people died in other parts of the country. And how it was that New Yorkers did not have the courage to stay home. There is no pride in “showing up!” The pride is in staying home.
Latest #COVID19 numbers in Wisconsin:
13,140 negative tests
842 positive tests
13 deaths
Addendum to my midnight rant last night. (Regarding the DOD’s business as usual attitude with training and maneuvers going on as usual, the stress on active duty providers and the potential for extreme community transmission of Covid-19 among troops, sailors,
marines and airmen.)
https://taskandpurpose.com/news/army-covid-19-drastic-measures
Short by more than $891 million to combat the coronavirus outbreak threatening the U.S. public health system, senior leaders of the U.S. Army are locked in debate over whether they should continue military exercises and mass troop formations despite its own intelligence estimates which indicate that efforts to stop the rapidly-spreading disease have failed.
Among the top brass, there are voices which have advocated for a pause in all nonessential training in favor of maintaining health within the rank-and-file of the U.S. Army. Some of the top commanders have warned that if drastic measures are not implemented soon, the Army will face a serious degradation of health as more and more soldiers become infected.
Although Defense Secretary Mark Esper cautioned troops from holding mass troop formations and urged them to follow guidelines laid out from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, he said at a virtual town hall streamed to Facebook Live on Tuesday: “We have a mission and that is to maintain that mission and mission readiness and that includes physical fitness.”
We’re trusting local commanders and medical professionals to provide information and take the prudent steps to make sure they contain or prevent the spread of the disease, but also we can’t forget there is a mission requirement for a lot of these units
Two weeks ago, budget planners for the U.S. Army told senior leaders the total cost estimate would come with a price tag of $955 million to combat the rapidly-spreading virus,
Among the total cost estimate, some of the biggest line items needed by the Army include bed expansion and personal protective equipment for medical personnel at a cost of more than $83 million. “Disease Response,” which includes vaccines, testing and antiviral development, is estimated at more than $81 million and is a part of an overall U.S. Army Medical Research and Development requirement of more than $215 million for the current fiscal year, according to the document. Personnel costs for Army National Guard troops for amenities such as temporarily lodging comes in at the highest cost at more than $98 million.
More from Canada, as it emerges people who can’t afford April’s or May’s rent thanks to COVID-19 crisis unemployment are being asked to hang a white sheet outside their homes to demand a rent strike.
The protest movement - which started in Montreal last week and has already spread across Canada and the US, demands governments pause housing payments while the pandemic ravages people’s ability to earn income.
“We want landlords and tenants to come together in asking the government for cancellation of rent payments and cancellation of mortgage payments, including interest, for the duration of the health emergency,” said Sunny Doyle, one of the organisers of White Sheets For the Rent Strike.
“We can’t be putting people in individualised fights with their landlords, where the power relations aren’t equal.”
Doyle said her landlady agreed to hang a huge white sheet off the side of the triplex they share. She said even those who can afford their rent are invited to hang a sheet in support.
With many provinces now under lockdown, Canada anticipates it will see four million jobless claims by the time the COVID-19 crisis is over. This week, the Canadian government announced a $2,000 monthly benefit for citizens put out of work by the virus.
France extends lockdown by a fortnight
France has extended its coronavirus lockdown by two weeks until 15 April, Edouard Philippe said in a speech. The prime minister said:
After these first 10 days of confinement, it is clear that we are just at the beginning of this epidemic wave. It has submerged eastern France and now it is arriving in the Paris region and northern France.
For this reason, he said, the confinement period would be extended by two weeks from Tuesday next week, and added that the same rules would apply. He added that this period would only be extended again if the health situation required it.
Canada will dramatically scale up support for small businesses amid criticism its policies are falling short as the coronavirus continues to jolt the country’s economy.
Justin Trudeau, the prime minister, unveiled plans to cover 75% of employee wages for small business – up from an initial 10% – in order to discourage companies from laying off staff.
“It is becoming clear that we need to do more –much more,” he said, announcing the multibillion-dollar plan. The move brings Canada in line with a number of European nations that have also pledged to backstop the payrolls.
In the last week, nearly 1 million Canadians applied for unemployment benefits. Trudeau’s attempts to reassure small business owners follows a move by British Columbia to assume control of the province’s supply chains as Covid-19 cases across the country continue to surge.
In recent days, fears have grown – both within government and the general public – of looming shortages of essential goods in grocery stores, pharmacies and hospitals. “The steps we’re taking today are unprecedented. But I find myself saying that almost every day,” premier John Horgan told reporters.
The province, like all others in the country, is under a state of emergency as it battles coronavirus – including an outbreak at a retirement centre. Until recently, British Columbia also had suffered the most fatalities in the country.
Trudeau has so far declined to invoke the rarely used Emergencies Act, which would unify country’s approach to tackling the virus. Instead, he has allowed provinces to enact their own measures – and relief programmes – to combat Covid-19.
Canada has recorded more than 4,000 cases of Covid-19 and 39 deaths.
Guardian