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Coronavirus pandemic “could be over by June” if countries act, says Chinese adviser
World News

March 12, 2020 / 3:53 AM / Updated an hour ago

Kevin Yao, Min Zhang

BEIJING (Reuters) – The global coronavirus pandemic could be over by June if countries mobilize to fight it, a senior Chinese medical adviser said on Thursday, as China declared the peak had passed there and new cases in Hubei fell to single digits for the first time.

Women wears face masks outside an office complex in Beijing as the country is hit by an outbreak of the novel coronavirus, China, March 11, 2020. REUTERS/Thomas Peter

Around two-thirds of global cases of the coronavirus have been recorded in China’s central Hubei province, where the virus first emerged in December. But in recent weeks the vast majority of new cases have been outside China.

Chinese authorities credit strict measures they have taken, including placing Hubei under near total lockdown, with preventing big outbreaks in other cities, and say other countries should learn from their efforts.

“Broadly speaking, the peak of the epidemic has passed for China,” said Mi Feng, a spokesman for the National Health Commission. “The increase of new cases is falling.”
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Zhong Nanshan, the government’s senior medical adviser, told reporters that as long as countries take the outbreak seriously and are prepared to take firm measures, it could be over worldwide in a matter of months.

“My advice is calling for all countries to follow WHO instructions and intervene on a national scale,” he said. “If all countries could get mobilized, it could be over by June.”

Speaking to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, President Xi Jinping similarly expressed confidence, state television reported.

“After hard work, China has shown a trend of continuous improvement in epidemic prevention and control,” the report cited Xi as saying.

“I am confident that the Chinese people will be able to overcome this epidemic and achieve their intended economic and social development goals.”

Zhong, an 83-year-old epidemiologist renowned for helping combat the SARS outbreak in 2003, said viruses in the same family typically became less active in warm months.

“My estimate of June is based on scenarios that all countries take positive measures.”

Later on Thursday, Zhong held a teleconference with a group of U.S. medical experts, including from Harvard University, state television reported.

Zhong and his team shared their experiences of quickly testing and containing the virus, difficulties in treatment, and cooperation in clinical research, the report added.

The United States is now facing its own virus crisis as the number of infected people rises.

BUSINESSES REOPEN

With the marked slowdown of the spread of the virus in China, more businesses have reopened, with authorities cautiously easing strict containment measures.

Hubei province announced a further loosening of travel restrictions and will also allow some industries to resume production.

Hubei’s economy, driven by manufacturing and trade, including a sizable auto sector in the provincial capital, Wuhan, had been virtually shut down since Jan. 23.

Slideshow (4 Images)

While the virus is spreading quickly globally, its progress in China has slowed markedly in the past seven days. In all, 15 new cases were recorded in mainland China on Wednesday, down from 24 the day before. Seven of the new cases were outside Hubei, including six imported from abroad.

While only 85 of the cases in China have come from abroad, the rising number of such incidences has prompted authorities to shift their focus on containing the risk of imported cases.

The total number of cases recorded in mainland China was 80,793. As of Tuesday, 62,793 people had recovered and been discharged from hospital, or nearly 80% of the infections.

In Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak, 34,094 patients had been discharged from hospitals, but over half were still under observation at so-called “recovery stops” – quarantine venues repurposed from hotels and student dormitories.

Hubei’s health authority said the post-discharge quarantine was a precautionary measure, after a few discharged patients tested positive again.

As of the end of Wednesday, the death toll in mainland China had reached 3,169, up by 11 from the previous day. Hubei accounted for 10 of the new deaths, including seven in Wuhan.

China is focusing on restarting factories and businesses hit by the containment policies. Factory activity plunged to its worst level on record in February, and while more businesses have reopened in recent weeks as containment measures have been eased, analysts do not expect activity to return to normal until April.

Airlines have been hit particularly hard. China’s airlines reported total losses of 20.96 billion yuan ($3 billion) in February. The total number of airline passengers fell 84.5% year-on-year last month, China’s aviation regulator said.

Reporting by Ryan Woo, Se Young Lee, Lusha Zhang, Stella Qiu, David Stanway, Cate Cadell, Gao Liangping, Engen Tham, Judy Hua and Kevin Yao; Editing by Michael Perry, Robert Birsel, Toby Chopra and Nick Macfie

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
March 12, 2020
Trump urges Americans, businesses to heed coronavirus restrictions | President endorses help for quarantined workers, small business lending, tax deferrals, new travel ban from Europe

Kimden: The Hill [thehill@email.thehill.com]
Tarih: Thursday, March 12, 2020

President Trump, seeking to slow the spread of the coronavirus and help millions of at-risk Americans, suspended most travel to the United States from Europe beginning on Friday, backed federal help for those who are quarantined and said small businesses will get billions of dollars in federally backed loans to help them ride out the economic downturn.

In a somber, 10-minute address to the nation from the Oval Office, the president shed much of his recent finger-pointing and stubborn skepticism about the severity of COVID-19 and rallied Americans to heed warnings from physicians and public health experts and to work together.

“Smart action today will prevent the spread of the virus tomorrow,” Trump said. “This is just a temporary moment of time that we will overcome as a nation and as a world.”

The president — conceding the country faces a prolonged period of extraordinary aversions to crowds, indoor living, teleworking and forfeiture of travel, entertainment and sports — outlined actions aimed at blocking the escalating spread of the respiratory virus and assisting Americans and businesses harmed medically and economically.

Using his executive authority, Trump said he ordered a 30-day freeze on travel by foreigners from Europe to the United States beginning midnight on Friday, with the exception of travelers from the United Kingdom (The Hill). Italy is the epicenter of the crisis in Europe and cases of COVID-19 have been reported everywhere in the EU. But Trump also added a rhetorical flourish about halting cargo and shipments from Europe, which he was forced to correct on Twitter soon after his televised remarks. By then, however, international financial markets had already reacted negatively.

Politico: Trump’s new travel ban sidesteps his own European resorts.

The State Department on Wednesday issued a Global Level 3 health advisory urging all U.S. citizens to reconsider travel abroad because of the virus.

Trump said he will “soon” take emergency action to help workers who are forced to remain home because of illness, quarantine or to help others during the coronavirus crisis and urged Congress to do the same. While he did not specify what type of “relief” he has in mind, he appeared to support paid sick leave, which is expected to come to a vote in the House this week.

The president added that recommendations and guidance about school closures and other restrictions and warnings to affected communities will be forthcoming from the administration.

Trump said the Small Business Administration, which says it has $18 billion to lend, will provide capital to businesses in affected states and territories to ride out the battering the virus is causing. He asked Congress to appropriate an additional $50 billion for SBA’s lending program.

Trump said he would order tax deferrals for “certain individuals” and industry sectors to inject $200 billion into the economy. The president also reiterated his support for a payroll tax holiday, a proposal that has not won broad support on Capitol Hill this week.

Trump’s tone about the dire medical consequences faced by America’s elderly, infirm and medically challenged signaled to the public, including in the rest of the world, that the contagion is likely to worsen and remain a frightening experience for many.

Earlier in the day, the administration’s leading expert in coronaviruses and public health crises told lawmakers that America is in the early days of an emergency for which there are no known cures.

“I can say we will see more cases, and things will get worse than they are right now,” Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told the House Oversight and Reform Committee on Wednesday. Facing questions from lawmakers, the immunologist explained, “It is 10 times more lethal than the seasonal flu” (The Hill).

While Fauci was speaking, the virus became a new reality in the Capitol Hill office of Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), whose aide tested positive for the virus, went into isolation and forced the closure this week and cleaning of the senator’s office. The senator’s staff said Cantwell and other lawmakers had no direct contact with the aide but staff members are being tested. Washington state is experiencing an outbreak of the deadly pathogen, resulting in 30 deaths (The Hill).

In the United States, the virus has killed 38 people among 1,312 known cases of infection, as of this morning. The actual tally of who has contracted the virus is likely much higher, but without widespread testing, data is limited.

The Hill: Hospitals are bracing for an onslaught of COVID-19 patients and worry about shortages of masks and other protective gear for their employees.

“Unfortunately, at present, public health experts anticipate shortages in the supply of personal respiratory devices available for use by healthcare workers in mitigating further transmission,” Trump said on Wednesday, ordering Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar to “take all appropriate and necessary steps” to increase emergency availability (McClatchy News).

The New York Times: What does coronavirus do to the human body?

The Associated Press: Tests show the new virus can live on some

surfaces for up to three days and lives airborne for hours.

The Hill: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been faulted for a slow response to the U.S. coronavirus outbreaks, specifically mistakes in constructing strict protocols for who initially received testing, flawed test kits distributed by CDC and muddled messaging from top officials. Public health experts insist the United States lost valuable time because of limited testing of sick patients, which allowed COVID-19 to spread for weeks in the country without intervention.

The New York Times podcast The Daily, also explored CDC’s decisions and explains some of the research innovations that briefly filled a testing void in Washington state.

Reuters: The White House ordered federal health officials to treat top-level coronavirus meetings as classified, an unusual step that is hampering the U.S. response to the contagion, according to four Trump administration officials.

The New York Times: An 11-year bull market in the United States came to a screeching halt because of a microscopic pathogen that emerged from China in December.

> CORONAVIRUS & CONGRESS: Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) released an economic assistance package late on Wednesday estimated to cost in the billions of dollars, with a vote expected today (The Wall Street Journal).

The Democrats’ measure includes “free coronavirus testing, paid emergency leave for workers, food security assistance, help to states overburdened by Medicaid costs, and strengthened unemployment insurance,” Pelosi said.

Democrats’ especially want to approve paid sick pay to help Americans who are self-quarantining or missing work because of the coronavirus (The Hill).

Pelosi’s goal is to pass a more narrowly drawn measure before lawmakers leave town for a previously scheduled weeklong recess, and revisit potential stimulus measures later on, according to The Associated Press.

“We don’t think they should just throw money out of an airplane and hope some of it lands on the people who are affected,” said Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), who proposed additional measures including cash infusions for small businesses and student loan forbearance.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told reporters that the time needed to clear legislation through the House and Senate means a bill probably won’t reach Trump’s desk before both chambers return to Washington the week of March 22.

The Hill: House Democrats’ measure to help Americans cope with the coronavirus pandemic is poised for a vote this week. What’s not in the measure? Tax cuts.

> CORONAVIRUS & INTERNATIONAL: On Wednesday, the World Health Organization officially declared a coronavirus pandemic, a designation that identifies the global spread of COVID-19 and adds urgency to aggressive, intense calls in every country for preparedness and action (The Hill).

The Associated Press: What does “pandemic” mean and what does the designation do?

Italy continues to be crushed by the virus, unable to halt the spread and agonized by the country’s dramatically rising death toll. Close to 200 people died from COVID-19 infections over 24 hours, officials reported on Wednesday. It’s the highest daily increase in mortality in absolute terms registered anywhere in the world since the respiratory illness emerged in China at the end of last year. Italy’s total deaths from the virus this morning number 827 and confirmed cases of infection have exploded by the day. The available tally is 12,462 in Italy.

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on Wednesday announced an allocation of 25 billion euros, or $28.3 billion, to prop up the Italian economy. Just a week ago, the government thought it would need less than a third of that fiscal lifeline (NBC News).

On Monday, Italy imposed new restrictions on its entire population of 60 million people. The government on Wednesday ordered all stores, with the exception of pharmacies and food markets, to close in a draconian effort to limit transmission of the infection. Coffee bars, cafes and restaurants must close, although restaurants can make home deliveries. Conte urged Italians not to hoard food. There are no new restrictions on gas stations or public transportation (The Associated Press).

The stats: As of this morning, COVID-19 is blamed for 4,641 deaths worldwide and at least 126,431 confirmed cases in at least 116 countries, according to the latest information.

The Wall Street Journal: How China slowed coronavirus: lockdowns, surveillance, enforcers.

> AMERICAN LIFE: Public health officials across the country continued to advise cities against holding mass-gathering events in a bid to halt the spread of COVID-19 from escalating even further.

The administration on Wednesday night recommended a 30-day quarantine period for the residents of New Rochelle, N.Y. who have been exposed to the virus and are being helped by the National Guard while restricting their movements.

Headlining those announcements on Wednesday were San Francisco and Washington D.C. San Francisco Mayor London Breed issued a city directive on Wednesday, canceling all public gatherings of more than 1,000 people. The directive goes into effect today and will continue for at least two weeks (San Francisco Chronicle).

In the nation’s capital, Mayor Muriel Bowser declared a state of emergency across the district and revealed that six more individuals have tested positive for the virus. Bowser’s announcement came hours after city public health officials echoed Breed and called for the cancellation of all mass gatherings for the remainder of the month. Over the next 20 days, the Capital One Arena is slated to host seven home games for the hometown Capitals, along with two concerts.

“We have person-to-person transmission occurring in the District of Columbia as well as at least two individuals whose reasons for covid-19 have yet to be identified,” said D.C. Health director LaQuandra Nesbitt.

On Capitol Hill, the House and Senate sergeants-at-arms are expected to announce that tours of the Capitol will be canceled for the remainder of March (The Hill). The news came after top lawmakers recommended suspending the visitor access for the time being. Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) said continuation would put the “health and safety of these tourists at risk” (The Hill).

The tours also presented a potential issue as a large number of lawmakers are in the age range where they could be seriously sickened by the virus. Nearly half of all senators and one-third of all House members are 65 or older. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the oldest member of the Senate, made that case on Wednesday.

“I’m just now coming to the conclusion that I think this place ought to be shut down,” Feinstein said. “It’s serious and it’s increasing.”

Across the country, annual St. Patrick’s Day parades are falling victim to the coronavirus. Fearing transmission at mass public events, parades in New York, Chicago and Philadelphia have been canceled (The Hill).

In the world of travel, Amtrak is expected to experience revenue losses in the “several hundred million dollars” as cancellations are up 300 percent and riders have decided against booking travel in the near future due to the virus. In order to reduce spending, Amtrak is looking to cut services and have workers take “voluntary unpaid leave” (The Washington Post).

The Hollywood Reporter: Tom Hanks says he and Rita Wilson, who are in Australia making a movie, tested positive for coronavirus.

> CORONAVIRUS & SPORTS: The NBA announced late Wednesday night that it is suspending the season until further notice after Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for the coronavirus on Wednesday.

“The NBA is suspending game play following the conclusion of tonight’s schedule of games until further notice. The NBA will use the hiatus to determine next steps for moving forward in regard to the coronavirus pandemic,” the league said.

The announcement came after Wednesday’s game between Utah and the Oklahoma City Thunder was delayed and eventually postponed. Gobert was not in the arena for the game, according to the NBA. Five other games took place on the night.

The Golden State Warriors had announced initial plans early on Wednesday to play today versus the Brooklyn Nets in an empty Chase Center after San Francisco’s decision to ban mass gatherings.

© Getty Images

Earlier in the day, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) made the unprecedented decision to play the annual men’s and women’s basketball tournaments without fans in empty arenas due to COVID-19.

NCAA President Mark Emmert announced that the decision was made “in the best interest of public health,” and will continue to monitor the situation in the coming weeks. Selection Sunday for the men’s tournament, better known as “March Madness,” is set for this weekend.

“The decision was based on a combination of the information provided by national and state officials, by the advisory team that we put together of medical experts from across the country, and looking at what was going to be in the best interest of our student-athletes, of course,” Emmert told The Associated Press. “But also the public health implications of all of this. We recognize our tournaments bring people from all around the country together. They’re not just regional events. They’re big national events. It’s a very, very hard decision for all the obvious reasons.”

The Associated Press: Big events banned, NCAA tells fans to stay home over virus.

NASCAR announced that while it will still hold its Truck Series, Xfinity Series and Cup Series races at Atlanta Motor Speedway as scheduled this weekend, it is making changes to pre-race events. Headlining those changes are that driver meetings will now take place in open-air locales with select personnel rather than in garages. Drivers are also being encouraged to carry their own sharpie markers to sign autographs, with those signings taking place in open-air spots (Yahoo!).

Across the Atlantic, Juventus defender Daniele Rugani tested positive for COVID-19, the Italian soccer giant announced on Wednesday night.

“Juventus Football Club is currently activating all the isolation procedures required by law, including those who have had contact with him,” the club said in a statement.

POLITICS: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) maintained on Wednesday that he will remain in the race for the Democratic nomination despite struggling heavily in Tuesday’s elections, winning only one of the six contests and falling further behind in the delegate count to former Vice President Joe Biden.

Sanders told reporters in Burlington, Vt., that he intends to carry on and debate Biden on Sunday in Phoenix in what could be his final attempt to make gains in the field. However, the Vermont Independent seemed to admit that his path to the requisite 1,991 delegates is too steep for him to climb after his losses since the South Carolina primary (The Hill).

“I strongly disagree with that assertion but that’s what millions of Democrats and independents are saying,” Sanders said.

Sanders also toned down the rhetoric during the appearance, declining to attack Biden on myriad issues as he has in the past week, especially on Social Security. Instead, as Jonathan Easley writes, he pointed to a series of policy questions he hopes the former VP answers at the debate, including on health care, immigration, income inequality and criminal justice reform.

The Washington Post: Biden turns his focus from Sanders to Trump — and rebooting his own campaign.

Another problem Sanders is incurring is COVID-19 as it continues to grip the country. He has no rallies or events scheduled as of Thursday morning after Tuesday night’s rally in Cleveland got canceled at the behest of Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R), making it difficult for him to reach his supporters as he usually does. Sanders and Biden will compete in four more primaries on Tuesday: Florida, Ohio, Illinois and Arizona.

Biden announced on Wednesday that his campaign will hold “virtual” events in the coming days in Florida and Illinois because of the virus. The former vice president also rolled out a “Public Health Advisory Committee” to provide guidance on how to reduce the threat of the disease (The Hill).

One thing Sanders should not expect: an endorsement from Sen. Elizabeth Warren following her exit from the race last week. According to The New York Times, the Massachusetts Democrat is not expected to endorse either Sanders or Biden, and is likely to “let the primary play out rather than seek to change its course,” according to several sources familiar with Warren’s thinking.

The Washington Post: Sanders doesn’t drop out — but it’s not full speed ahead, either.

The Hill: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) says Sanders should continue primary fight.

The Hill: Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) urges Biden to pick a black woman as running mate: “African American women need to be rewarded” for loyalty.

The Wall Street Journal: Bernie Sanders faces tough contests ahead, including the Florida primary.

© Getty Images

OPINION

Biden now has a route to the Oval Office — if he navigates the challenges, by Albert Hunt, opinion contributor, The Hill.

12 Steps to Tackle the Coronavirus, by Nicholos Kristof, columnist, The New York Times.

WHERE AND WHEN

The House meets at 9 a.m.

The Senate convenes at 9:30 a.m. and continues its consideration of the nomination of James Danly to be a member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and will hold a vote to invoke cloture.

The president welcomes Taoiseach Leo Varadkar of Ireland to the White House for meetings that are expected to include a discussion of Ireland’s undocumented immigrants in the United States (The Journal). Trump and first lady Melania Trump join the traditional presentation of the Shamrock Bowl by the prime minister.

Catch The Hill’s Campaign Report newsletter, with the latest from The Hill’s politics team. Sign up to receive evening updates, polling data and insights about the 2020 elections.

📺 Hill.TV’s “Rising” program features news and interviews at or on YouTube at 10:30 a.m. ET at Rising on YouTube.

ELSEWHERE
➔ Harvey Weinstein: A New York judge on Wednesday sentenced the former Hollywood producer to 23 years in prison following his conviction on charges of sexual assault and rape. Weinstein, 67, who claimed all his sexual activities with accusers going back decades were consensual, said he was “confused” because he thought the women involved were his friends (Reuters).

“I feel remorse for all of the men who are going through this fight,” he added.

➔ Supreme Court: Justices said Wednesday that the Trump administration can continue its practice of returning asylum-seekers to Mexico along the entire southern border while immigration authorities process their claims. The court said enforcement can go on while the justices decide whether to hear an appeal of lower court rulings that declared the program illegal. Only Justice Sonia Sotomayor said she would have denied the permission. The policy, known as the Migration Protection Protocols, or “Remain in Mexico,” was launched last year. During the 13 months it was fully implemented, the Department of Homeland Security returned more than 60,000 immigrants to Mexico while they awaited an outcome in their deportation proceedings (NBC News).

➔ More in Congress: The House voted on Wednesday to tighten oversight of federal surveillance (The Associated Press). And Attorney General William Barr backed the changes (The Hill). … The House voted on Wednesday to constrain the president’s power to use military action against Iran (The Associated Press). … House Democrats won a round in court to gain access to secret grand jury testimony that was part of former special counsel Robert Mueller’s report about the Russia probe (USA Today). … Senate Republicans joined Democratic colleagues in voting 53-42 on Wednesday to reverse an Education Department student loan rule imposed by Secretary Betsy DeVos that senators said hurt borrowers (The Hill).

➔ D.C. Environmental Film Festival: Tonight through March 22 marks the 28th annual celebration and screening of more than 160 films showcasing wildlife, the environment and planet Earth, all in the nation’s capital. Opening the festival at 7 p.m. at the National Geographic will be the lush and award winning “Okavango: River of Dreams,” filmed primarily in Botswana. It’s the creation of famed wildlife documentarians Dereck and Beverly Joubert.

© Getty Images

March 12, 2020
Trump suspends all travel from Europe to U.S. over ‘horrible’ coronavirus pandemic
By Chris Sommerfeldt

New York Daily News

Mar 11, 2020 10:37 PM

President Trump speaks from the Oval Office on Wednesday.(Doug Mills/AP)

President Trump took the extraordinary step Wednesday of announcing a suspension of travel from much of Europe to the U.S. in an effort to contain the coronavirus, calling the fast-spreading respiratory illness a “horrible” pandemic that requires an “aggressive” response.

After downplaying the virus for days, Trump struck a sober tone as he said in a nationally-televised address from the Oval Office that the travel ban will take effect Friday and last for the next 30 days.

“To keep new cases from entering our shores, we will be suspending all travel from Europe,” Trump said — though officials later said the ban would be limited.

The extremely unusual announcement came hours after the World Health Organization officially designated the virus as a global pandemic, a rare label that has only been used for a handful of diseases over the course of history.

The U.S. death toll from the virus, meanwhile, climbed to 37 and the number of Americans infected surpassed 1,100, with more than 200 in New York alone. Globally, some 110,000 people have been infected and more than 4,000 have died.

Trump said in his address the new travel restrictions will apply to the “tremendous amount of trade and cargo” coming from Europe, in addition to individuals, sparking concerns across the globe about a devastating economic hit.

But the White House walked back Trump’s statement afterward and said the ban does not apply to trade and cargo, effectively admitting the president misspoke.

Despite Trump’s claim that all travel from Europe would be restricted, Homeland Security officials later clarified the new ban would apply mostly to foreign nationals traveling from the continent’s “Schengen Area.”

[More Politics] NYC St. Patrick’s Day Parade postponed; Cuomo cites coronavirus concerns

The United Kingdom will be exempt from the ban entirely.

American citizens, permanent U.S. residents and their families will be allowed to return from Europe as long as they undergo “appropriate screenings,” Trump said.

Additionally, Trump said he will take executive action in short order to provide economic relief for Americans whose lives have been disrupted by the virus.

[More Politics] National Grid’s plans are ‘onerously expensive and environmentally detrimental:’ NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer

“To ensure that working Americans impacted by the virus can stay home without fear of financial hardship, I will soon be taking emergency action, which is unprecedented, to provide financial relief,” Trump said. “This will be targeted for workers who are ill, quarantined or caring for others due to coronavirus.”

The president did not elaborate on the economic relief measures.

Administration officials were in talks earlier in the day with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) about an emergency aid package that would guarantee paid sick leave, food assistance, free medical tests and unemployment assistance, as thousands of Americans are forced to stay home from work as the virus continues to spread.

[More Politics] Bernie Sanders vows to stay in race and debate even after crushing primary loss to Joe Biden

A vote on such a measure is expected in the House as early as Thursday.

In another nearly unheard of development, the NBA announced late Wednesday it was suspending the rest of its season after Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for coronavirus.

Adding to the anxiety, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) announced an aide in her office had tested positive for the virus, raising the prospect that the pandemic may have been spreading on Capitol Hill.

[More Politics] Rush Limbaugh says reports on coronavirus concerns, like climate change, are all about making Trump look bad

Beyond economic relief for individuals, Trump said he would ask Congress to provide a $50 billion boost to a program providing loans for small businesses suffering from economic disruptions.

He said he would also ask lawmakers to “very strongly” consider implementing a payroll tax break, even though leaders from both parties rejected the request earlier this week.

The president’s announcement — while drastic — fell short of the national disaster declaration that some congressional Democrats had asked for.

[More Politics] Disappointing results leave Sanders campaign at crossroads

Mayor de Blasio also blasted Trump for failing to make good on providing an update on “the most important thing: rapid, expansive testing.”

“Our ‘leader’ is more preoccupied with who to blame than how to protect people now that it’s in our communities,” de Blasio said in a statement. “New Yorkers don’t care where the virus came from. They just want every level of Government to do the utmost to halt the spread.”

Trump’s bid for reelection is centered on the relatively strong state of the U.S. economy and a payroll tax break would likely help soothe growing fear over the virus on Wall Street.

[More Politics] Trump trashes Vanity Fair for critical coronavirus story — and ‘third rate’ magazine hits right back

After the WHO’s pandemic announcement Wednesday afternoon, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped nearly 6%, bringing it 20% below last month’s high and officially putting the index into what traders call a “bear market” for the first time in 11 years.

Trump already pitched Senate Republicans on a payroll tax measure Tuesday.

However, he offered few specifics and Republicans appeared unlikely to support the costly proposal.

[More Politics] AOC admits there’s ‘no sugarcoating’ Bernie Sanders’ crushing defeat

Democrats say they won’t consider it, either, as they are more interested in providing immediate relief for workers instead of easing the stock market, which has suffered historic losses in the past few days.

“Right now we’re trying to deal with the direct impact of the virus on individual citizens,” House Budget Committee Chairman John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) said earlier Wednesday.

After Trump’s address, the White House announced he would not travel to Nevada and Colorado later this week “out of an abundance of caution.”

Related Gallery
(DOUG MILLS / POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Donald Trump

Donald Trump in the White House
The travel announcement is expected to deliver yet another blow to an airline industry already reeling from a drop in bookings and a surge in people canceling reservations for fear of getting sick with the coronavirus. The disruption is also certain to ripple through economies, causing widespread damage to hotels, car rental companies, museums and restaurants.

Airlines have been slashing their flight schedules, especially on international routes, to cope with a sharp decline in travel demand among fearful customers. Business travel is slowing as companies impose restrictions on employee travel and major conferences are canceled.

An industry trade group warned that airlines worldwide could lose up to $113 billion in revenue from the virus — several times the damage caused by the 2001 terror attacks in the U.S. Since mid-February, shares of American Airlines have dropped by nearly half, United Airlines by more than one-third, and Delta Air Lines more than one-fourth.

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It isn’t just U.S. airlines feeling the pain. Germany’s Lufthansa plans to cut up to half its flights because of a “drastic” drop in bookings. In Asia, travel restrictions are taking a toll on that region’s airlines. Cathay Pacific Airways warned Wednesday it faces a “substantial loss” in the first half of this year. The Hong Kong-based airline canceled 90% of its flight capacity to the mainland at the start of February after Beijing told the public to avoid travel as part of efforts to contain the outbreak centered on the city of Wuhan.

On Wednesday, Boeing’s stock fell 18% — its biggest one-day percentage drop since 1974 — and the iconic airplane manufacturer announced a hiring freeze.

The president’s drastic travel announcement sharply contrasted his response to the virus so far.

[More Politics] Joe Biden wins Michigan primary, at least three more contests in major blow to Bernie Sanders on Super Tuesday II

He has consistently sought to downplay the severity of the virus, including falsely claiming last month that the number of U.S. cases would be “close to zero” within days. Instead of recommending that people to take precautions, Trump has repeatedly pleaded for “calm” and inaccurately said the illness is no worse than seasonal flu.

Contrastingly, Trump said in his Oval Office address that people should wash their hands, clean used surfaces, cover their mouths while sneezing and not go to work if they feel sick. He urged older people, in particular, to follow the advice.

“This is not a financial crisis,” Trump said. “This is just a temporary moment of time that we will overcome together as a nation and as a world.”

[More Politics] Andrew Yang endorses Joe Biden in 2020 race, warns him against ‘business as usual’ policies

Earlier in the day, Dr. Anthony Fauci, a member of Trump’s coronavirus task force and the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, offered dire warnings about the virus during an appearance before the House Oversight Committee.

“I can say we will see more cases and things will get worse than they are right now,” Fauci said, adding that the virus could impact “many, many millions” of people if “we are complacent.”

Health experts have warned that upward of 60% of the American population could be infected by the virus.

[More Politics] Rosario Dawson says she voted for Bernie Sanders after Cory Booker’s endorsement of Joe Biden

Fauci also affirmed that the coronavirus is 10 times more deadly than the seasonal flu, directly contradicting Trump’s previously rosy assessments.

Most people recover from the virus within a few weeks and only experience mild symptoms, such as fever and a cough. However, older people and individuals with underlying health problems can experience more severe symptoms, including pneumonia.

With News Wires

Chris Sommerfeldt

Contact

Chris Sommerfeldt is a reporter covering national politics and the Trump administration. He started working for the Daily News in May 2015 as a city desk reporter.
March 12, 2020
Mysterious Turkish Firm Helped Maduro Move $900 Million in Gold

Two months after Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro visited his counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara, a mysterious company called Sardes sprang into existence.

The firm started business with a bang in January of 2018, when it imported about $41 million worth of gold from Venezuela, the first such transaction between the two countries in records that go back 50 years. The next month its volume more than doubled, with Sardes transporting almost $100 million worth to Turkey.

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March 11, 2020
How Free Online College Courses Are Changing the Game for Early Childhood Educators

BEAVER, Utah — On a recent morning in early October, when the day is in full swing, Dacie Derbidge settles onto a bean bag in a back corner at Little Leapers, the early learning center she opened two years ago, and hoists two girls onto her lap, balancing one on each thigh.

The girls, both toddlers, are immediately entranced by Derbidge’s animated reading of “Big Smelly Bear,” a children’s book by Britta Teckentrup. As she moves through the pages, Derbidge switches tones, adds inflection, pauses for dramatic effect and occasionally interrupts herself to ask the girls questions about the plot, testing their comprehension.

Behind her, and on a shelf in front of her, are signs that spell out the word “library,” with Spanish translations beneath them: “biblioteca.”

Across the room, next to where assistant director Erica Shotwell is teaching four of the children how to play bingo, is a poster spelling out the daily schedule—free play, then snack time, then outside play, then circle time and so on—recently updated to feature an image of what each activity looks like.

Images on the daily schedule help children visualize upcoming activities (Emily Tate / EdSurge)

These subtle, yet significant visual and auditory cues are woven into the learning experience to support the children’s development—from bolstering language to fostering independence. Shotwell and Derbidge, the director of Little Leapers, have gradually remade the center and revamped their own instructional techniques over the last 10 months, thanks to experiential lessons and eye-opening discussions with peers that were made possible through Utah’s statewide rollout of free college courses for early childhood educators.

“It has changed the whole way we speak to the children and how our interactions take place within the classroom,” Derbidge says. “It has totally changed the dynamic of our center.”

Derbidge grew up in the small mountain town of Beaver, located about 200 miles south of Salt Lake City. After graduating high school in 1999, she held a series of positions working with children, eventually opening a home-based early learning program for children from birth through age five in the mid-2000s.

In a town like Beaver, which is home to 3,000 people and a single stop light, everyone knows one another, Derbidge says. Families in the community knew her and trusted her with their children. As a result, her program took off. She was soon serving 16 children, unusually high for a home-based provider, and had to hire additional staff.

During her nearly eight years as a home-based child care provider, Derbidge developed an understanding of just how critical it is for early learners to get a high-quality education. “I don’t think people realize how important it is to read to them, and sing to them, and talk to them, even as an infant,” she explains.

Yet she worried that, with so few child care options in town, many families were missing out on those early learning opportunities for their children. “I knew some of the kids weren’t getting what they needed. I saw a need for a deeper education in early child care” in the Beaver community, as well as within her own program.

On a whim, Derbidge decided to tour some buildings in town.

“It was time to step it up, and that’s when I was like, ‘OK, we’re just going to do it,’” she explains.

She bought an old Jehovah’s Witness worship center and turned it into Little Leapers in June 2017.

During her first year at the center, her enrollment numbers more than doubled to a total of 45 part- and full-time students, and she beefed up her staff, which now includes Shotwell, two other full-time teachers and a few part-time teachers.

Erica Shotwell, assistant director of Little Leapers, teaches some of the children to play a fall-themed game of bingo. (Emily Tate / EdSurge)

At first, Derbidge was just trying to keep the operation running; she wasn’t zeroing in on the curriculum or the children’s learning outcomes yet. But as she settled into the new center—and attended more trainings as part of the 20 hours of annual professional development the state requires of its educators—Derbidge realized that the students at Little Leapers weren’t leaving prepared for kindergarten.

While Derbidge and her staff were considering how they could “bring in a more enriched learning environment for the kids,” the state was rolling out a suite of competency-based courses developed by the EarlyEdU Alliance, a collaboration of early childhood education experts led by the University of Washington. The courses were created to make higher education more accessible to early childhood educators and improve the quality of teaching in the field.

Other states, including Nebraska and Alaska, have recently introduced the EarlyEdU courses as well, but Utah is furthest along and, so far, the only one to complete the pilot phase.

Utah has few educational requirements for early childhood educators, most of whom only need to complete 2.5 hours of training prior to service and are not required to have completed a degree or credential. Only about 4 percent of early childhood educators in Utah have either an associate or bachelor’s degree, and just 10 percent have earned their Child Development Associate (CDA) credential, says Kellie Kohler, the state’s Head Start collaboration director and one of the people responsible for getting the EarlyEdU partnership off the ground in Utah.

State leaders are trying to change those stats. In 2016, state officials began to discuss creating pathways for educators to obtain accessible, affordable degrees in the field. The governor’s office and the Utah Head Start Association joined forces on the effort and began to build out the EarlyEdU platform, hosted for free by the Utah Education Network on Canvas, a learning management system. In fall 2017, the first Head Start pilots began. The following spring, the Office of Child Care joined the collaboration and hosted its own pilot course.

As of this fall, the courses are fully implemented. So far, 64 educators across Utah have completed an EarlyEdU course, 11 of whom have gone on to take one or both of the other offerings. Another 36 educators are on track to finish a course this fall.

Many more have started the courses but eventually withdrew, often due to scheduling conflicts or demanding assignments. But Heather Thomas, a professional development specialist in Utah’s Office of Child Care, says her team is getting better about communicating “what the course entails up front” and retaining the students who enroll.

Thomas adds that priority is given to particular groups and regions where access to the courses would have outsized impact: leaders like Derbidge who are positioned to make center-wide changes based on what they learn, rural areas with few high-quality child care options and child care facilities serving children from low-income families.

The state offers three courses in early childhood: Applied Child Development and Family Engagement, Positive Behavioral Support for Young Children, and Supporting Language and Literacy Development in Preschool. The courses—each 15 weeks long and offered in the spring and fall—are not meant to replace a degree, but rather to introduce early childhood educators to higher education by allowing them to earn up to nine college credits at minimal personal cost. Educators can take them for free, aside from an optional $63 fee to add the credits from Southern Utah University to their transcripts.

“It’s a stepping stone, a way for people to get their feet wet,” Thomas says of the courses. “It’s a way to try it out without too much risk.”

When an email about the courses first made its way to Derbidge, who has her CDA and a National Administrator Credential for child care center directors, but no college degree, she was ripe for the opportunity. After talking with her staff, she and Shotwell enrolled in the language and literacy course for spring 2019.

Video is a hallmark of the online courses. Educators record themselves in the classroom and upload the videos for discussion with classmates and feedback from instructors.

At the start of the language and literacy course, for example, educators upload a video of themselves reading two books to the children during class story time. Mid-way through the semester, and for a third time at the end of the semester, they upload another video reading the same books. Each time, they incorporate new strategies they’ve picked up in class, such as emphasizing alliteration, repeating letter sounds and pointing out rhyming words.

Derbidge recalls her experience playing back earlier videos from the course. “We would go back and watch our last video to see how we have grown,” she explains. “It was crazy—the change. I mean, even the way the children interacted with the story. They were way more interested.”

And in addition to learning from their instructor, Derbidge and Shotwell say they have taken note of dozens of ideas and approaches from their classmates, who are other early childhood educators living and working across Utah, and have already integrated them into their own practices.

“We’re always like, ‘Oh, we’re saving that idea! Oh, we are trying that tomorrow!’ And I think that’s part of it—our interaction back and forth with the other teachers,” notes Derbidge, who lives in a community with few other early childhood educators.

Since taking the language and literacy course, the Little Leapers teachers read more than children’s books to their kids; they introduce menus and maps as well. To support their bilingual students, they have also added Spanish translations to the labels they use in their classrooms, from posters with shapes, numbers and colors, to bins full of toys and different stations or “centers” in the room.

This fall, Derbidge and Shotwell are taking their second EarlyEdU course, on positive behavioral supports, where they upload videos of themselves teaching or interacting with children nearly every other week, Shotwell says.

Halfway through the course, they’ve already made some changes: rearranging their classroom to eliminate open spaces for running, making their centers smaller, developing a routine around transitions, and promoting self-regulation and expression.

While Shotwell changes diapers across the room, Derbidge plays hot potato with the children to signal the transition between snack time and outside play. (Emily Tate / EdSurge)

That course is also where they got the idea to put a photo of each activity on the daily schedule. The visual cues and other strategies, like singing during transitions, help the children “mentally prepare” for what’s coming, Shotwell says.

Shotwell has also used some lessons from the positive behavior course to work closely with one of the girls in her class who frequently acts out, often by hitting, kicking or screaming. Shotwell now spends one-on-one time with the girl in the mornings and assigns her jobs—like being in charge of the soap dispenser when the class washes their hands—to give her a sense of responsibility.

“That has helped so much with her behaviorally,” Shotwell notes.

During outside play, Shotwell helps several of the children use sand and water to develop their sensory skills. (Emily Tate / EdSurge)

According to Derbidge and Shotwell, the EarlyEdU courses have effectively overhauled the instruction at Little Leapers, transforming it into a learning environment where kids leave better prepared and further developed than when they arrived.

And it’s not just the staff who think so. In October, Derbidge got word from the state that, after conducting on-site observations and evidence-based evaluations of Little Leapers, the Office of Child Care had issued the center a “high quality” rating, the second-highest of four tiers in Utah’s new Child Care Quality System. Derbidge attributes the score to many of the changes she and her staff have made as a result of the EarlyEdU courses.

“The word we use all the time now is ‘intentional,’” Derbidge says. “We are being intentional. Everything goes deeper than it did before.”

Kaynak: https://www.edsurge.com/news/2019-11-12-how-free-online-college-courses-are-changing-the-game-for-early-childhood-educators

March 10, 2020
In Moscow, Erdogan kneels to Putin

by Tom Rogan

| March 05, 2020 11:53 AM

Even by Vladimir Putin’s standards for embarrassing his foreign counterparts, his treatment of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday was a spectacle — and not a good one for the Turkish president.

Meeting Putin in the aftermath of a recent Syrian airstrike, which killed 34 Turkish soldiers, Erdogan might have been expected to take a tough stance with the Russian leader. Or at least a harder line than his submissiveness of past.

After all, Erdogan knows full well that Russia authorized Bashar Assad to carry out the attack which killed his soldiers. The Russians knew his forces were in the strike location before the attack began. Putin is ultimately responsible for the bloody strategic context here — namely, the Assad-Iran-Russia axis offensive in Syria’s Idlib governate. In stark breach of cease-fire agreements with Turkey, the axis’s offensive (and its deliberate targeting of schools and hospitals) has sparked a refugee exodus to Turkish borders.

So, yes, Erdogan had good reason to play hardball in Moscow. Instead, he decided to lick Putin’s boots.

“I would like to once more give my condolences for the death of your soldiers in Syria,” Putin began, without even looking Erdogan in the eye. He continued with a vintage show of Chekist dark humor, “This is always a big tragedy.” Then, the former KGB lieutenant colonel jumped to the central lie. “Unfortunately, nobody, even the Syrian military, knew about their whereabouts.” And Putin added, “Syrian soldiers have also suffered.”

Any leader with a basic sense of self-respect or national honor would have interrupted Putin here. As I say, Erdogan knows that Putin knew where his forces were. He knows that those forces were targeted with Putin’s approval. Putin’s words were thus an insult to all Turks.

Erdogan responded by staring blankly at Putin, offering not even a hint of anger. Putin had won.

Amazingly, Erdogan then decided to make himself look even weaker, and he succeeded.

He offered an excuse as to why the meeting was being held in Moscow and not Ankara, even though he had requested the latter. Erdogan knows that the meeting is in Moscow because Putin wanted the image of Erdogan coming to pay homage and beg for a compromise. But rather than sidestep this issue, the Turkish president said he had only accepted Moscow due to Putin’s constitutional changes. It would be laughable were it not so pathetic.

It was always a danger that Erdogan would allow Putin to play him yet again, but this is really something to behold. The United States and Turkey’s other NATO allies were ready to consolidate his position against Putin’s pressure. Coordinated economic action could have brought Assad to heel and forced Russia into an Idlib retreat.

But Erdogan couldn’t stomach going eyeball to eyeball with Putin. Faced with the KGB man, he buckled. Ataturk must be turning over in his grave.

Washington Examiner

March 7, 2020