A recently posted op-ed by two professors — an associate professor of Mathematics at Carnegie Mellon University and an assistant professor of Molecular Biology at the University of Pittsburgh — calls for greater &#8220;honesty in pandemic modeling,&#8221; which, they suggest, too often conceals the fact that after lock-downs and other extreme social distancing measures are lifted, the number of infections will rapidly rise again.
The problem, Carnegie Mellon&#8217;s Wesley Pegden and Pittsburgh&#8217;s Maria Chikina explain in an <a href="https://medium.com/@wpegden/a-call-to-honesty-in-pandemic-modeling-5c156686a64b">analysis</a> posted on Medium Sunday, is that many of the models that have been shaping the narrative on COVID-19 mitigation efforts only present &#8220;the effects of mitigations over a limited time-frame,&#8221; when &#8220;most of the impact of the epidemic would occur outside of that time-frame.&#8221; In so doing, the models appear to show that extreme social distancing measures for a given period of time will save a large number of lives, but they often fail to show what happens after the measures are lifted (emphasis theirs):
<blockquote>
There is a simple truth behind the problems with these modeling conclusions. The duration of containment efforts does not matter, if transmission rates return to normal when they end, and mortality rates have not improved. This is simply because as long as a large majority of the population remains uninfected, lifting containment measures will lead to an epidemic almost as large as would happen without having mitigations in place at all.
</blockquote>
The professors acknowledge that there can be real benefits in using mitigations efforts as a form of &#8220;delay tactic.&#8221; &#8220;For example, we may hope to use the months we buy with containment measures to improve hospital capacity, in the hopes of achieving a reduction in the mortality rate,&#8221; they write. &#8220;We might even wish to use these months just to consider our options as a society and formulate a strategy.&#8221;
However, they argue, &#8220;mitigations themselves are not saving lives in these scenarios; instead, it is what we do with the time that gives us an opportunity to improve the outcome of the epidemic&#8221; (emphasis theirs).
In their analysis, the professors point to a few popular examples of models claiming to show extreme social distancing measures, including lock-downs, saving a large number of lives. One of these is a <a class="bx fg fh ho fj fk" href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/03/25/opinion/coronavirus-trump-reopen-america.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow noreferrer">recent model</a> publicized by Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times. The overarching message of the model is that &#8220;social distancing for 2 months instead of 2 weeks could dramatically drop the number of COVID-19 infections,&#8221; Chikina and Pegden write.
But what happens when you look at the number of infections in the months after the window of time shown in the model? By October, the professors calculated, Kristof&#8217;s model would show a 50% increase in the number of infections if no extreme measures had been imposed in the first place:
<blockquote>
Two months of mitigations have not improved the outcome of the epidemic in this model, it has just delayed its terrible effects. In fact, because of the role of weather in the model presented in the Kristof article, two months of mitigations actually results in 50% more infections and deaths than two weeks of mitigations, since it pushes the peak of the epidemic to the winter instead of the summer, whose warmer months this model assumes causes lower transmission rates.
</blockquote>
The professors found the same pattern of simply pushing the spike in cases forward in their own <a class="bx fg fh ho fj fk" href="http://math.cmu.edu/~wes/covid.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow noreferrer">models</a> on &#8220;epidemic trajectories for COVID-19 assuming no mitigations at all, or assuming extreme mitigations which are gradually lifted at 6 months, to resume normal levels at 1 year&#8221; (graphs below via Chikin and Pegden):
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</div><figcaption class="ci fw il im in cq co cp io ip cd dj" data-selectable-paragraph="">With no mitigations we see nearly 500,000 deaths relatively quickly.</figcaption><div class="hw hx da hy ai">
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</div><figcaption class="ci fw il im in cq co cp io ip cd dj" data-selectable-paragraph="">With mitigations which let up between 6 months and a year we still see nearly 500,000 deaths, just later.</figcaption><div class="hw hx da hy ai">
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&#8220;Unfortunately, extreme mitigation efforts which end (even gradually) reduce the number of deaths only by 1% or so;&#8221; they write, &#8220;as the mitigation efforts let up, we still see a full-scale epidemic, since almost none of the population has developed immunity to the virus.&#8221;
So is short-term modeling useless and are mitigation efforts only delaying the inevitable? No, the professors explain, but both need to be presented and approached with honesty and transparency:
<blockquote>
In particular, we suggest that no model whose purpose is to study the overall benefits of mitigations should end at a time-point before a steady-state is reached. This is not the same as saying that modelers must assume that the epidemic remains a threat until herd immunity is reached. Indeed, it is perfectly reasonable to model the effects of mitigation strategies if we assume that a vaccine will be available in 18 months, or that mortality 6 months from now could be reduced by new treatments, or that hospital capacity might be increased with the time bought by mitigations. But these are all assumptions that can and should be made explicit and quantitative in a model that attempts to estimate effects on overall mortality. Without making assumptions explicit, it is impossible to debate whether they are reasonable, or to estimate the sensitivity of the model’s conclusions.
</blockquote>
<a href="https://medium.com/@wpegden/a-call-to-honesty-in-pandemic-modeling-5c156686a64b">Read Chikina and Pegden&#8217;s op-ed here</a>.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/study-coronavirus-death-rate-lower-than-previously-reported">Study: Coronavirus Death Rate Lower Than Previously Reported</a>

Coronavirus around blood cells

Professors Push Back On Pandemic Models: Be Honest About What Happens After Lockdowns Are Lifted

Coronavirus

Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY) and Ilhan Omar (MN) are among a group of Democratic lawmakers calling on the Trump administration to end sanctions on Iran during the coronavirus pandemic.
&#8220;I led a letter with [Rep. Ocasio-Cortez] and [Sen. Bernie Sanders] demanding this Administration end sanctions against Iran during the COVID-19 pandemic,&#8221; Omar tweeted Tuesday. &#8220;These sanctions aren’t changing the behavior of the Iranian government, but directly punishing innocent civilians.&#8221;
Ocasio-Cortez also took to Twitter to publicize her role in pushing for the easing of sanctions on Iran by retweeted a post from the author of a report on the letter: &#8220;[Ocasio-Cortez], [Sanders], [Omar], and [Sen. Elizabeth Warren] &amp; co want to suspend sanctions on Iran that make it hard to import meds, PPE &amp; respirators despite one of the world&#8217;s biggest COVID-19 outbreaks and Trump&#8217;s claims of having made enough humanitarian concessions,&#8221; reads the tweet from Huffington Post foreign affairs reporter Akbar Shahid Ahmed.
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I led a letter with <a href="https://twitter.com/RepAOC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RepAOC</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/SenSanders?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SenSanders</a> demanding this Administration end sanctions against Iran during the COVID-19 pandemic. 
These sanctions aren’t changing the behavior of the Iranian government, but directly punishing innocent civilians. <a href="https://t.co/odymQAN3cn">https://t.co/odymQAN3cn</a>
&mdash; Rep. Ilhan Omar (@Ilhan) <a href="https://twitter.com/Ilhan/status/1245075397504573440?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 31, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Exclu: <a href="https://twitter.com/AOC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AOC</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/BernieSanders?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BernieSanders</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/IlhanMN?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@IlhanMN</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/ewarren?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ewarren</a> &amp; co want to suspend sanctions on Iran that make it hard to import meds, PPE &amp; respirators despite one of the world&#39;s biggest COVID-19 outbreaks and Trump&#39;s claims of having made enough humanitarian concessions.<a href="https://t.co/S42tATdyLX">https://t.co/S42tATdyLX</a>
&mdash; Akbar Shahid Ahmed (@AkbarSAhmed) <a href="https://twitter.com/AkbarSAhmed/status/1245035385153105927?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 31, 2020</a></blockquote>
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As reported by the <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-sanctions-iran-coronavirus_n_5e831295c5b603fbdf490a1d">HuffPost</a> on Tuesday, Omar, Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders are among over two-dozen Democratic lawmakers who signed a letter sent to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin on Tuesday demanding the administration &#8220;suspend sweeping U.S. sanctions on Iran that are hindering the country’s response to its massive coronavirus outbreak.&#8221;
&#8220;Allowing this crisis to become more dire in Iran threatens significant harm not only to the people of Iran but also to people in the United States and around the world,&#8221; the letter reads.
&#8220;Our many disputes with the government of Iran or others should not stand in the way of actions that can materially help innocent people weather a pandemic,&#8221; the Democratic lawmakers assert.
As a precedent for such an action, the letter notes that President George W. Bush’s administration &#8220;eased sanctions&#8221; and &#8220;delivered aid&#8221; to Iran after the 2003 earthquake near Bam.
Among the sanctions relief they are demanding are &#8220;those that encompass major sectors of the Iranian economy, including those impacting civilian industries, Iran’s banking sector and exports of oil.&#8221; The easing of sanctions should last &#8220;for at least as long as health experts believe the crisis will continue,&#8221; the lawmakers insist.
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HuffPost cites some of the alarming COVID-19 statistics coming out of Iran, including more <a href="https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html">2,750 deaths</a> in connection to the virus and more than 40,000 infections.
Along with Ocasio-Cortez, Omar, and Sanders, former Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren (MA) signed the letter.
During the course of his presidency, Trump has withdrawn from the Obama-era Iran nuclear deal and ramped up pressure on Iran by placing increasingly punitive sanctions on the country, which is the world&#8217;s leading state sponsor of terrorism.
While HuffPost notes that the sanctions &#8220;restrict Iran’s ability to earn foreign currency by selling oil abroad and to trade with international firms, limiting its imports of medicine and materials it needs to produce drugs domestically,&#8221; and have damaged the country&#8217;s ability to gain access to specialized medical equipment, Iran&#8217;s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has turned down U.S. offers of aid.
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&#8220;The U.S. preserved loopholes for food and medical trade with Iran and acknowledged its need by offering aid, American officials have noted, but Iran’s Supreme Leader <a href="https://iranprimer.usip.org/blog/2020/mar/23/khamenei-refuses-us-help-covid-19" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:8;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="8" data-v9y="1">rejected</a> the offer,&#8221; HuffPost reports. &#8220;Last month, Trump <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-swiss-formally-open-humanitarian-trade-channel-to-iran-11582846163" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:8;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="9" data-v9y="1">authorized</a> a new channel for humanitarian exports to the country that allows companies to seek approval for deals from the U.S. and Swiss governments without fear of incurring American penalties.&#8221;
Despite Trump opening the new channels, &#8220;producers of vital supplies are still nervous about fines, as American authorities continue to target violators of the sanctions and impose new ones, and are reluctant to deal with byzantine U.S. regulations that cover broad swathes of the Iranian economy, from banks to parts of the military,&#8221; HuffPost notes.
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Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-fauci-cautiously-offers-hope-rate-of-increase-seems-to-be-dropping-off">WATCH: Fauci Cautiously Offers Hope: Rate Of Increase Seems To Be Dropping Off</a>
</div>

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar Demand Trump End Sanctions On Iran During Coronavirus Crisis

Ali Khamenei

Bernie Sanders

Donald Trump

Elizabeth Warren

Ilhan Omar

Iran

Mike Pompeo

Steve Mnuchin

On Twitter Tuesday, President Trump noted that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi appeared Tuesday morning on MSNBC&#8217;s &#8220;Morning Joe&#8221; and concluded — after some sharp slaps at the Democratic leader and the show — that Pelosi&#8217;s performance actually &#8220;wasn&#8217;t bad.&#8221;
While Trump has repeatedly hammered Pelosi for her eleventh-hour  interference last week in the Senate&#8217;s historic $2.2 trillion economic relief bill, which is designed to help Americans amid the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, he took a slightly different tone in response to the speaker&#8217;s appearance on &#8220;Morning Joe&#8221; Tuesday morning (video below).
&#8220;I watched a portion of low rated (very) Morning Psycho (Joe) this Morning in order to see what Nancy Pelosi had to say, [and] what moves she was planning to further hurt our Country,&#8221; Trump tweeted in reference to MSNBC&#8217;s &#8220;Morning Joe,&#8221; the hosts of which have been engaged in a long public feud with the president. &#8220;Actually, other than her usual complaining that I’m a terrible person, she wasn’t bad.&#8221;
&#8220;Still praying!&#8221; he added, in apparent reference to Pelosi famously claiming that she prays for him every day.
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I watched a portion of low rated (very) Morning Psycho (Joe) this Morning in order to see what Nancy Pelosi had to say, &amp; what moves she was planning to further hurt our Country. Actually, other than her usual complaining that I’m a terrible person, she wasn’t bad. Still praying!
&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1244977299486883840?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 31, 2020</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;Morning Joe&#8221; co-host Mika Brzezinski welcomed Speaker Pelosi onto the show Tuesday by asking her a loaded question about Trump&#8217;s handling of the crisis, which recent polls found is getting high marks from a majority of Americans.
&#8220;I&#8217;ll start by asking you, there have been so many questions about the president&#8217;s leadership through this crisis, his lack of action,&#8221; said Brzezinski. &#8220;If you could speak to him directly, what do you wish that he would be doing now that he is not doing?&#8221;
Instead of immediately taking the opportunity to bash Trump presented by the MSNBC host, Pelosi first offered a word of solidarity with the nation.
&#8220;First, let me just join you in mourning the loss of so many lives and the prospect of more to come,&#8221; said the speaker. &#8220;We all come to this discussion with very heavy hearts about what we need to do to prevent more of a spread of this.&#8221;
Pelosi then provided her answer, which was not as combative as Brzezinski and her co-host Joe Scarborough likely expected: &#8220;And so, to the president, I would join those — whether it’s the governors, the mayors, people across the country — who are saying we need the equipment, the personal protective equipment for the workers, the ventilators and other equipment for the patients,&#8221; said the Democratic leader. &#8220;We need proper testing, testing, testing.&#8221;
“So I would say to the president, immediately, implement the Defense Production Act, insisting that businesses in our country turn to producing the equipment that we need,&#8221; Pelosi continued. &#8220;The American people, their representatives, officialdom, all the rest, are united in that recognition of that need. It will save lives.&#8221;
&#8220;We’re asking people to risk their lives to save other lives,&#8221; she continued. &#8220;We’re asking people to make judgments about who gets a ventilator or not. That should not be happening. One thing that we could do, that we all agree on — Democrats and Republicans alike — PPE, personal protection equipment, as well as the equipment to save the patients’ lives.&#8221;
Video below via MSNBC:
<iframe title="Speaker Pelosi Calls On Trump To Implement Defense Production Act | Morning Joe | MSNBC" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3Vt1f6vMnA0?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/fed-gives-dire-estimates-on-number-of-jobs-lost-due-to-lockdowns-but-offers-hope">Fed Gives Dire Estimates On Number of Jobs Lost Due To Lockdowns, But Offers Hope</a>

President Trump Delivers State Of The Union Address

Trump Offers Backhanded Compliment To Pelosi For Her Appearance On His Least Favorite Morning Show

Joe Scarborough

Mika Brzezinski

MSNBC

Nancy Pelosi

Last week, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis presented a truly dire prediction of the economic impact of the mandated mass shutdowns in an attempt to curb the spread of COVID-19. Since, economists at the Fed&#8217;s St. Louis district are offering revised numbers that are slightly worse, though they continue to point to a light at the end of the &#8220;lockdown&#8221; tunnel.
Last Sunday, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-feds-bullard-gives-predictions-on-when-economy-will-recover-from-coronavirus-shutdowns">predicted</a> that the U.S. would see as high as a 30% unemployment rate at its peak in the second quarter as a result of the economically devastating pandemic, including the &#8220;social distancing&#8221; measures imposed by an increasing number of states. The gross domestic product (GDP) over the course of the quarter could drop by as much as 50%, Bullard said. But Bullard also offered some hope, predicting &#8220;boom quarters&#8221; in the fourth quarter of this year and the first of next year. &#8220;I would see the third quarter as a transitional quarter,&#8221; Bullard said. The next two quarters, he predicted, were likely to be &#8220;quite robust.&#8221;
More recent projections from the Fed&#8217;s St. Louis district predict that the unemployment rate will likely surpass Bullard&#8217;s high-end estimate, reaching 32.1% with a total of 47 million jobs lost. The startling figures, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/30/coronavirus-job-losses-could-total-47-million-unemployment-rate-of-32percent-fed-says.html">CNBC</a> notes, &#8220;reflect the high nature of at-risk jobs that ultimately could be lost to a government-induced economic freeze aimed at halting the coronavirus spread.&#8221;
In a <a href="https://www.stlouisfed.org/on-the-economy/2020/march/back-envelope-estimates-next-quarters-unemployment-rate">report</a> for the St. Louis district published last Tuesday, St. Louis Fed economist Miguel Faria-e-Castro explained how the team of economists arrived at the 47 million figure. The economists took the findings of two studies on how many jobs in the U.S. are &#8220;high-risk occupations&#8221; in terms of being negatively impacted by stringent social-distancing measures. One study found that around 66.8 million people held such jobs while a second study found that 27.3 million people had what the study terms &#8220;high contact intensity&#8221; jobs, jobs which &#8220;require the worker to perform tasks in close physical proximity to other people.&#8221;
&#8220;These two numbers were obtained by applying different methodologies and classifications to two different datasets. This means that while there may be significant overlap, each measure will also be capturing some aspects that the other ignores,&#8221; Faria-e-Castro writes. &#8220;For this reason, we simply took the average of those two numbers as a point estimate for the total number of workers who will be laid off during the second quarter. This resulted in 47.05 million people being laid off during this period.&#8221;
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Faria-e-Castro offers a few &#8220;important caveats&#8221; to the Fed St. Louis&#8217;s findings, including that their assumptions allow for a large fluctuation in the unemployment rate, as low as 10.5% to as high as 40.6%. He also lists the following caveats:
<ul>
<li>First, these calculations assume that the labor force is constant and exclude the fact that some recently unemployed workers may be discouraged and not looking for employment (and thus would not count as unemployed).</li>
<li>Second, many businesses may send workers home with pay instead of laying them off outright.</li>
<li>Third, these calculations do not account for any potential effects of fiscal measures, such as payroll support measures for small businesses or changes in the generosity of unemployment insurance that may be implemented between now and the end of June.4.</li>
</ul>
He also stresses, as Bullard did, that the most important question is how long people will be without a job. &#8220;[O]ne can argue that the expected duration of unemployment matters more than the unemployment rate itself, especially if the recovery is quick (and so duration is short),&#8221; he writes. &#8220;These are very large numbers by historical standards, but this is a rather unique shock that is unlike any other experienced by the U.S. economy in the last 100 years.&#8221; (<a href="https://www.stlouisfed.org/on-the-economy/2020/march/back-envelope-estimates-next-quarters-unemployment-rate">Read the full report here</a>.)
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/study-coronavirus-death-rate-lower-than-previously-reported">Study: Coronavirus Death Rate Lower Than Previously Reported</a>
</div>

Wall Street

Fed Gives Dire Estimates On Number of Jobs Lost Due To Lockdowns, But Offers Hope

Economy

Citing COVID-19&#8217;s &#8220;very real threat to the safety of our workforce and customers,&#8221; employees of Whole Foods are staging a nationwide &#8220;sick out&#8221; Tuesday and demanding the Amazon-owned company make some significant changes to how they are handling the crisis, including how they are paying employees.
&#8220;On March 31, Whole Foods employees will call in sick to demand paid leave for all workers who stay home or self-quarantine during the crisis, free coronavirus testing for all employees, and hazard pay of double the current hourly wage for employees who show up to work during the pandemic,&#8221; <a href="https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/5dmeka/whole-foods-employees-are-staging-a-nationwide-sick-out">Vice</a> reports.
The &#8220;sick out&#8221; is being organized by the national Whole Foods employee group, Whole Worker, and is being conducted by employees in stores across the country, including in New York City, Chicago, and cities in California and Louisiana.
Vice notes that Whole Foods has already taken some action regarding compensation in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, temporarily increasing hourly pay for workers by $2 an hour and offering two weeks paid sick leave to workers who test positive for the virus and no penalty for those who call in sick. But Whole Worker says the measures are not enough, demanding double hazard pay rather than the $2 temporary increase.
&#8220;COVID-19 is a very real threat to the safety of our workforce and customers,&#8221; Whole Worker said in a statement. &#8220;We cannot wait for politicians, institutions, or our own management to step in to protect us.&#8221;
In response to the &#8220;sick out,&#8221; a spokesperson for Whole Foods stressed in a statement to Vice that the company is taking &#8220;extensive measures to keep people safe,&#8221; including their employees, who are &#8220;on the front lines serving our customers.&#8221;
“As we address unprecedented demand and fulfill a critical need in our communities, Whole Foods Market is committed to prioritizing our Team Members’ wellbeing, while recognizing their extraordinary dedication,&#8221; the spokesperson said. &#8220;We have taken extensive measures to keep people safe, and in addition to social distancing, enhanced deep cleaning and crowd control measures, we continue rolling out new safety protocols in our stores to protect our Team Members who are on the front lines serving our customers.&#8221;
As <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2020/03/30/amazon-fires-staten-island-coronavirus-strike-leader-chris-smalls.html">CNBC</a> reported, Whole Foods&#8217; parent company, Amazon, just fired an employee who staged another strike. &#8220;Chris Smalls, a management assistant at the facility, known as JFK8, said he was fired Monday afternoon following the strike,&#8221; the outlet reported Monday. &#8220;Smalls and other employees walked out to call attention to the lack of protections for warehouse workers. The workers are also urging Amazon to close the facility after a worker tested positive for the coronavirus last week. The organizers said that at least 50 people joined the walkout.&#8221;
“Amazon would rather fire workers than face up to its total failure to do what it should to keep us, our families, and our communities safe,” Smalls said in a statement. “I am outraged and disappointed, but I’m not shocked. As usual, Amazon would rather sweep a problem under the rug than act to keep workers and working communities safe.”
An Amazon spokesperson explained to CNBC why the company felt compelled to fired Smalls. &#8220;Despite that instruction to stay home with pay, he came onsite today, March 30, further putting the teams at risk,” an Amazon spokesperson told the network. “This is unacceptable and we have terminated his employment as a result of these multiple safety issues.”

Amazon

Whole Foods Employees Stage ‘Sick Out,’ Issue List Of Coronavirus Demands; Whole Foods Responds

A new study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases medical journal estimates that the death rate of coronavirus is significantly lower than previously reported.
In early March, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the estimated mortality rate of COVID-19 globally was about <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/asia/live-news/coronavirus-outbreak-03-04-20-intl-hnk/h_a1954f4ce9c0fdf276846cb53f9ecabb">3.4%</a>, while Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/asia/live-news/coronavirus-outbreak-03-04-20-intl-hnk/h_a1954f4ce9c0fdf276846cb53f9ecabb">said</a> it could be anywhere from 1-2% if &#8220;you just do the math,&#8221; based on initial reports out of other countries.
“What we&#8217;re hearing right now, on a recent call from the WHO this morning is that there aren&#8217;t as many asymptotic cases as we think. Which made them elevate, I think, what their mortality is,&#8221; Fauci <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/asia/live-news/coronavirus-outbreak-03-04-20-intl-hnk/h_a1954f4ce9c0fdf276846cb53f9ecabb">explained</a> in the first week of March. &#8220;You know as well as anybody that the mortality for seasonal flu is .1% so even if it goes down to 1% it&#8217;s still 10 times more fatal.&#8221;
As reported by <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/30/health/coronavirus-lower-death-rate/index.html">CNN</a> Tuesday, a new study published in <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-03/tl-pss_1033020.php">Lancet</a> estimates that even the lower-end 1% fatality rate estimation is too high. A more accurate estimation of the percentage of people who will die due to complications from the virus, researchers say, is about two-thirds that, 0.66%.
&#8220;That coronavirus death rate, which is lower than earlier estimates, takes into account potentially milder cases that often go undiagnosed — but it&#8217;s still far higher than the 0.1% of people who are killed by the flu,&#8221; CNN explains. &#8220;When undetected infections aren&#8217;t taken into account, the Lancet study found that the coronavirus death rate was 1.38%, which is more consistent with earlier reports.&#8221;
As noted by CNN, when Dr. Fauci presented his 2% estimation in March, he stressed that determining the true death rate requires accurate data on the number of people who have contracted the virus but are asymptomatic, or show no symptoms, a metric that has been glaringly lacking thus far. Only taking into account confirmed cases results in an incomplete data set and generally includes those with the more severe symptoms, rather than the more mild cases, which some previous studies suggest could be about half the number of COVID-19 cases.
The new study attempts to account for the asymptomatic or very mild cases, not just the confirmed cases. To do so, the researchers looked at infection rates of  people who returned to their home countries on flights from Wuhan, China, CNN explains.
&#8220;According to the study, these people received PCR tests — a type of test that would be able to identify how many of those travelers were shedding the virus, even if they didn&#8217;t show symptoms,&#8221; CNN explains. &#8220;Researchers combined that data on &#8216;infection prevalence&#8217; with public information on reported cases and deaths, estimating the overall death rate to be about two-thirds of 1%.&#8221;
For those younger than 40, the estimated fatality rate is even lower, just 0.16%, while those younger than 9 have only an estimated 0.00161% chance of dying from complications related to the virus. For those 80 or older, however, the fatality rate is an alarming 7.8%, researchers found.
&#8220;There might be outlying cases that get a lot of media attention, but our analysis very clearly shows that at aged 50 and over, hospitalisation is much more likely than in those under 50, and a greater proportion of cases are likely to be fatal,&#8221; said Imperial College London professor and study co-author Azra Ghani said, as reported by CNN.
While researchers found that the fatality rate is far lower than some previous estimates, they also note that the often prolonged recovery time for the virus, which can take over three weeks, threatens to overwhelm health care systems.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/uks-top-expert-epidemic-just-about-slowing-antibody-test-may-be-ready-in-days-rather-than-weeks">UK’s Top Expert: Epidemic ‘Just About Slowing,’ Antibody Test May Be Ready In ‘Days Rather Than Weeks’</a>

Coronavirus structure

Study: Coronavirus Death Rate Lower Than Previously Reported

Anthony Fauci

On Monday, multiple governors issued stay-at-home orders, among them Virginia&#8217;s Democratic governor and Maryland&#8217;s Republican governor, who both barred all &#8220;non-essential&#8221; activities outside the home effective that day. The same day that its neighboring governors were announcing their &#8220;stay-at-home&#8221; orders, the District of Columbia&#8217;s Democratic mayor issued her own lockdown declaration, and raised the stakes — threatening hefty fines and even jail-time for those caught outside their homes in &#8220;non-essential&#8221; activity.
In a <a href="https://mayor.dc.gov/release/mayor-bowser-issues-stay-home-order">press release</a> Monday, the office of Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) threatened residents of the city with fines of up to $5,000 and 90 days of imprisonment if they violated her stay-at-home order.
&#8220;Today, due to an increasing number of coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in Washington, DC and across the region and the nation, Mayor Muriel Bowser issued a stay-at-home order for the District of Columbia. This order reinforces the Mayor’s direction to residents to stay at home except to perform essential activities,&#8221; the <a href="https://mayor.dc.gov/release/mayor-bowser-issues-stay-home-order">press release</a> reads.
&#8220;Our message remains the same: stay home,&#8221; said Bowser in a statement included in the release. &#8220;Staying at home is the best way to flatten the curve and protect yourself, your family, and our entire community from COVID-19. Many people want to know how they can help right now, and for most people this is how – by staying home.&#8221;
The mayor&#8217;s office then specified what were considered &#8220;essential&#8221; activities:
<ul>
<li>engage in essential activities, including obtaining medical care that cannot be provided through telehealth and obtaining food and essential household goods;</li>
<li>perform or access essential governmental functions;</li>
<li>work at essential businesses;</li>
<li>engage in essential travel; or</li>
<li>engage in allowable recreational activities, as defined by the Mayor’s Order.</li>
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Anything other than those specified activities, the order warns, could result in severe penalties. &#8220;Any individual who willfully violates the stay-at-home order may be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, subject to a fine not exceeding $5,000, imprisonment for not more than 90 days, or both,&#8221; the release reads.
As reported by the <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/03/30/dc-mayor-threatens-jail-time-for-leaving-home-during-coronavirus/">New York Post</a>, D.C.&#8217;s chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which has been leading the charge on getting &#8220;vulnerable&#8221; prisoners released due to the threat posed by COVID-19 in confinement, responded to Bowser&#8217;s threat with a simple question.
&#8220;When we saw this order, we thought, &#8216;You want to send them where?'&#8221; ACLU of D.C.&#8217;s Executive Director Monica Hopkins told the Post. &#8220;People being arrested for that causes all sorts of problems that are antithetical to the goals of lessening the virus.&#8221; If anyone were in fact arrested for violating the district&#8217;s stay-at-home order, said Hopkins, the group would be &#8220;deeply concerned.&#8221;
The Post notes that the ACLU of D.C. &#8220;<a href="https://www.acludc.org/en/news/public-defender-service-aclu-dc-challenge-dc-jails-failure-protect-incarcerated-individuals" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">filed a lawsuit</a> Monday seeking the appointment of an expert to help depopulate the city’s only jail of elderly, health-compromised and non-violent inmates.&#8221;
While Bowser is threatening to escalate the home &#8220;lockdown&#8221; situation, Maryland&#8217;s Republican governor is trying to strike a balance between asserting government control and giving residents a sense of at least some measure of continued freedom.
&#8220;We are no longer asking or suggesting that Marylanders stay at home. We are directing them to do so,&#8221; Gov. Larry Hogan announced during a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/maryland-goes-into-total-lockdown-following-increase-in-coronavirus-cases">press conference</a> Monday. &#8220;No Maryland resident should be leaving their home unless it is for an essential job or for an essential reason, such as obtaining food or medicine, seeking medical attention or for other necessary purposes.&#8221;
&#8220;People are not locked in their homes,&#8221; Hogan made a point of stressing. &#8220;We’re just telling people that they need to stay in their homes except for essential and necessary things.&#8221;
&#8220;You should be able to get outside for your own physical and mental well-being and go for a walk and take your dog for a walk,&#8221; Hogan explained. &#8220;You should not be going out with a crowd of 100 people congregating in a park somewhere … If your plumbing is leaking all over your house and you have to go out and do something about fixing that — that’s probably a necessary function. But you shouldn’t be out shopping for new carpets or cabinets or, you know, buying furniture or clothing. You should be buying the necessary things you need to survive.&#8221;
Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam also announced Monday that he has issued a statewide &#8220;stay-at-home&#8221; order, which is effective immediately and will remain in place for six weeks, until June 10.
&#8220;The order directs all Virginians to stay home except in extremely limited circumstances,&#8221; the governor&#8217;s office said in a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-virginia-governor-ralph-northam-announces-stay-at-home-order-till-june-10">statement</a> Monday. &#8220;Individuals may leave their residence for allowable travel, including to seek medical attention, work, care for family or household members, obtain goods and services like groceries, prescriptions, and others as outlined in Executive Order Fifty-Three, and engage in outdoor activity with strict social distancing requirements. The executive order also directs all Virginia institutions of higher education to stop in-person classes and instruction. Private campgrounds must close for short-term stays, and beaches will be closed statewide except for fishing and exercise.&#8221;
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/walsh-politicians-are-seizing-virtually-unlimited-power-do-you-think-theyre-ever-going-to-relinquish-it">WALSH: Politicians Are Seizing Virtually Unlimited Power. Do You Think They’re Ever Going To Relinquish It?</a>

Mike Bloomberg Muriel Bowser

D.C. Mayor Threatens Jail Time For Violating Stay-At-Home Order; ACLU Responds With One Question

ACLU

Larry Hogan

Maryland

Ralph Northam

Virginia

Washington D.C.

Amid a surge in the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the area, Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued a &#8220;safer-at-home&#8221; order for four counties in South Florida on Monday that he said would be in place through mid-May.
DeSantis announced the order during a press conference Monday at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, where health officials have set up a <a href="https://twitter.com/CBSMiami/status/1242050793076908037?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1242050793076908037&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.miamiherald.com%2Fnews%2Fcoronavirus%2Farticle241441336.html">drive-thru COVID-19 testing site</a>. The order comes as the state now has recorded some 5,000 confirmed cases of the virus, including 523 new positive cases on Sunday, as reported by <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/490159-governor-to-issue-stay-at-home-order-for-south-florida">The Hill</a>.
Nearly six in ten (59%) of the confirmed cases are in four counties: Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe Counties, the <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/coronavirus/article241609941.html">Miami Herald</a> reports.
&#8220;This codifies a common set of rules regarding ‘safer at home’ in Southeast Florida,” said DeSantis, as reported by the Herald. &#8220;It gets all four counties operating under the same sheet of music.&#8221;
The Herald notes that DeSantis borrowed the &#8220;safer-at-home&#8221; language from Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez, who issued a similar mandate for the county last week soon after Broward issued a &#8220;shelter-in-place&#8221; order.
&#8220;Shelter in place is for short-term emergencies when people are in imminent danger,” Gimenez <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/broward/article241535856.html">explained</a> in a video message Thursday. The phrase &#8220;safer at home,&#8221; he explained, more appropriately conveys the nature of the longer-term policy Miami-Dade and other counties are advising.
&#8220;Local governments have also established curfews, fines and other measures to keep people at home,&#8221; the Herald reports. &#8220;Orange County, which is not affected by the order, has also implemented similar orders.&#8221;
As he emphasized in the press conference Monday, DeSantis&#8217;s order for South Florida was a &#8220;codification&#8221; of actions already taken by the four counties. Another 25 counties in the state have likewise issued some form of &#8220;safer-at-home&#8221; orders.
DeSantis has been attempting to handle the crisis in a balanced manner, the new directive following this pattern of not imposing measures in an overly broad or strict manner. Some have criticized DeSantis for his more incremental approach, particularly as an increasing number of governors have ordered state-wide lockdowns.
<div>
Democrats in the state have begun to ramp up the pressure on the governor to impose more broad-based measures, including ten members of the U.S. Congress, who penned a <a href="https://teddeutch.house.gov/uploadedfiles/2020.03.25_ltr_gov_desantis_shelter_in_place_order.pdf">letter</a> last week calling on him to issue &#8220;statewide shelter-in-place orders.&#8221; Below is an excerpt of the letter signed by ten Democratic members of Congress, including Ted Deutch, Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Frederica Wilson:
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<blockquote>To effectively slow COVID-19’s spread, we are asking you to issue a shelter-in-place order for the entire state. The order should allow only travel for essential services like grocery stores and health care providers, and to and from the workplace for critical workers. California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin have already issued similar orders. With the highest concentration of older residents of any state, Florida is at even greater risk of serious impacts on the health of our residents and burden on our health care system.
While we appreciate the state’s efforts to expand testing, it is not enough to provide a full understanding of the spread of COVID-19 across Florida. We are committed to doing everything we can to support the expansion of testing efforts in Congress, but we cannot wait for testing access, personal protective equipment, swabs, and other essential items before we take necessary action to slow the spread.
We understand the grave economic consequences this action will have. But hoping to dull the impacts on the economy in the short term by delaying a shelter-in-place order will only exacerbate those impacts in the medium and long term. Instead, we must accept the necessity of shelter-in-place order now while Congress works quickly to pass an economic stimulus bill that will save jobs, replace lost incomes, and support all Americans. In the long run, the cost of preventive action will save trillions of dollars and save lives.</blockquote>
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<div>Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-virginia-governor-ralph-northam-announces-stay-at-home-order-till-june-10">Virginia Governor Ralph Northam Announces Stay-At-Home Order Till June 10</a></div>

Ron DeSantis

Florida Governor Issues ‘Safer-At-Home’ Order Through Mid-May For South Florida

Florida

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The Seattle area was the first in the nation to confirm a coronavirus case and was initially the hardest hit region in the country, but according to new projections provided to public officials in recent days, the pandemic appears to be slowing down in the city.  While officials&#8217; stringent social-distancing measures have likely significantly contributed to the apparent slowdown, as The New York Times notes, the measures have also &#8220;devastated businesses&#8221; in the area.
As reported by <a href="https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/coronavirus-number-cases-surge-army-medics-set-up-shop/XIDPHMLVOJAAREQ5YCL75367PU/">KIRO7</a>, the Washington state Department of Health said as of midnight Saturday that the total number of deaths of people who have tested positive for COVID19 in the state currently stands at 195, while the state has recorded 4,896 confirmed cases.  Some 54,000 people have been tested for the virus in the state thus far.
A vast majority of the deaths in the state have occurred in King County, where Seattle is located, and where 144 people have died and 2,161 cases have been confirmed. Dozens of those cases originated <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/21/us/coronavirus-nursing-home-kirkland-life-care.html">in a single nursing home</a>. Of the first 50 deaths connected to COVID-19 in the U.S., 37 occurred in the Seattle area.
In a report on the positive, though &#8220;precarious,&#8221; situation in Seattle on Sunday, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/29/us/seattle-washington-state-coronavirus-transmission-rate.html">The New York Times</a> notes that deaths in the area &#8220;are not rising as fast as they are in other states&#8221; and &#8220;hospitals have so far not been overwhelmed&#8221; in what once was the nation&#8217;s coronavirus hotbed.
&#8220;[P]reliminary statistical models provided to public officials in Washington State suggest that the spread of the virus has slowed in the Seattle area in recent days,&#8221; the Times reports, citing projections prepared by a team from the Institute for Disease Modeling. &#8220;While each infected person was spreading the virus to an average of 2.7 other people earlier in March, that number appears to have dropped, with one projection suggesting that it was now down to 1.4.&#8221;
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&#8220;The progress is precarious, and the data, which was still being analyzed and has yet to be published, is uncertain,&#8221; the Times notes. &#8220;Officials said that expansive social distancing policies will remain a key part of daily life for weeks to come. But the findings offer a measure of hope that the emergency measures that have disrupted life in much of the nation can be effective in slowing the spread of the disease.&#8221;
While the apparent slowdown in the spread of the virus suggests that the city&#8217;s drastic actions have helped save lives, the Times also presents the other side of the coin: the forced shutdowns have &#8220;devastated businesses, in particular restaurants and hotels. The Space Needle is closed. Pike Place Market’s breezeways are largely barren. As in other parts of the country, unemployment claims have soared.&#8221;
According to KIRO7, Washington state experienced &#8220;an 843% week-over-week increase in claims for unemployment benefits last week.&#8221;
City and state officials in Washington are publicly acknowledging the apparent progress on curbing the spread of the virus, but are also making clear that residents should expect continued social distancing measures of some form for multiple months.
In a recent interview, Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan celebrated indications that they have &#8220;slowed the transmission&#8221; of the virus, as did Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, who cited &#8220;evidence that doing the aggressive measures can have a benefit.&#8221; Like Durkan, Inslee emphasized that the progress is not enough yet to lift their stringent distancing measures for fear of a &#8220;rebound.&#8221;
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/uks-top-expert-epidemic-just-about-slowing-antibody-test-may-be-ready-in-days-rather-than-weeks">UK’s Top Expert: Epidemic ‘Just About Slowing,’ Antibody Test May Be Ready In ‘Days Rather Than Weeks’</a>
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Jenny Durkan

UPDATE: Spread Appears To Be Slowing Down, 195 Total Deaths In First U.S. Coronavirus ‘Hotbed’ Seattle

Seattle

Washington

In an interview with BBC radio on Monday, the United Kingdom&#8217;s leading epidemiologist Neil Ferguson, who headed up the <a href="https://www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imperial-college/medicine/sph/ide/gida-fellowships/Imperial-College-COVID19-NPI-modelling-16-03-2020.pdf">Imperial College study</a> that significantly influenced the British government&#8217;s COVID-19 response, presented two positive messages: his team believes the epidemic is &#8220;just about slowing in the UK&#8221; after the country implemented social distancing measures, and an antibody test that will show who has developed immunity to the virus will likely be available sooner than previously expected.
“We think the epidemic is just about slowing in the UK right now,” Ferguson told BBC radio Monday, as reported by <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-britain-epidemic/uk-epidemic-is-slowing-and-antibody-test-could-be-ready-in-days-top-epidemiologist-says-idUSKBN21H0SA">Reuters</a>.
&#8220;Ferguson said a third or even 40% of people do not get any symptoms. He said perhaps 2% to 3% of the United Kingdom’s population had been infected,&#8221; Reuters reports. &#8220;But Ferguson cautioned that the data was not good enough to make firm extrapolations.&#8221;
The epidemiologist said that the COVID-19 antibody tests, which will provide the crucial information of who has already contracted the virus and developed immunity, are in the final stages of validation and will hopefully be ready in &#8220;days rather than weeks,&#8221; the news agency reported.
As reported by <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/03/29/germany-will-issue-coronavirus-antibody-certificates-allow-quarantined/">The Telegraph</a> on Sunday, German researchers plan to introduce coronavirus &#8220;immunity certificates&#8221; for those who take antibody tests and are confirmed to have had the virus, healed and developed antibodies to combat it. Those with &#8220;immunity certificates&#8221; would be allowed to &#8220;transition into post-lockdown life.&#8221;
The much-cited <a href="https://www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imperial-college/medicine/sph/ide/gida-fellowships/Imperial-College-COVID19-NPI-modelling-16-03-2020.pdf">Imperial College study</a>, which was headed up by Ferguson, presented dire potential consequences of allowing the virus to spread without action in the U.K., projecting as many as half-a-million coronavirus-related deaths in the country if the virus was allowed to go unchecked.
After initially taking a more hands-off approach to the pandemic, shortly after the release of the study, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson imposed strict social-distancing measures. With those measures in place, Ferguson explained last week, their model projects that <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/2238578-uk-has-enough-intensive-care-units-for-coronavirus-expert-predicts/">20,000 or fewer</a> people will die as a result of the virus.
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The latest data from U.K. health officials is that a little over 1,200 patients in the U.K. have died thus far after testing positive for the virus. Nearly 130,000 people have been tested for the virus in the U.K., of which around 108,000 (over 80%) have tested negative. A little under 20,000 have tested positive.
Reuters also notes that along with working on the antibody test, the U.K. has begun to employ antigen tests for healthcare workers to allow them to determine if they have been infected or are safe to work, as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/27/frontline-nhs-staff-first-to-receive-new-covid-19-antigen-tests">The Guardian</a> reported Friday.
&#8220;Michael Gove – standing in for the prime minister at the daily briefing after Boris Johnson was diagnosed with Covid-19 – said the testing was being trialled immediately, and that hundreds were expected to be able to access the tests over the weekend,&#8221; The Guardian reported. &#8220;The country would see a &#8216;dramatic&#8217; increase in testing next week, he added.&#8221;
&#8220;Increasing our testing capacity is absolutely crucial in our response to and our fight against coronavirus,&#8221; Gove said. &#8220;This is a particular priority for those who work in the health and social care sector and are working so hard to keep us all safe.&#8221;
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/british-pathologist-heres-why-covid-19s-death-rate-may-be-lower-than-we-feared">British Pathologist: Why COVID-19’s Death Rate May Be Lower Than We Feared</a>
</div>

UK’s Top Expert: Epidemic ‘Just About Slowing,’ Antibody Test May Be Ready In ‘Days Rather Than Weeks’

England

United Kingdom

On Sunday, Republican Senator Marco Rubio (FL) slammed the left-leaning media for its &#8220;grotesque&#8221; reports on America&#8217;s rising number of confirmed COVID-19 cases supposedly surpassing communist China&#8217;s — and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) joined in to point out what makes the media&#8217;s response &#8220;even worse.&#8221;
&#8220;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/26/world/coronavirus-news.html">U.S. Now Leads the World in Confirmed Cases</a>,&#8221; a New York Times headline declared Thursday. &#8220;Scientists warned that the United States someday would become the country hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic. That moment arrived on Thursday,&#8221; the Times reported. &#8220;In the United States, at least 81,321 people are known to have been infected with the coronavirus, including more than 1,000 deaths — more cases than China, Italy or any other country has seen, according to data gathered by The New York Times.&#8221;
Amid a series of similar reports declaring the U.S. the world&#8217;s &#8220;hardest hit&#8221; nation and a flood of responses to the claim from journalists on social media and on the networks, Sen. Rubio posted a blistering tweet on Sunday.
&#8220;Some in our media can’t contain their glee [and] delight in reporting that the U.S. has more [coronavirus] cases than [China],&#8221; Rubio wrote. &#8220;Beyond being grotesque, [it&#8217;s] bad journalism[.] We have NO IDEA how many cases China really has but without any doubt its significantly more than why they admit to.&#8221;
In response, Cruz argued that what makes it &#8220;even worse&#8221; is that members of the media &#8220;KNOW&#8221; China is lying.
&#8220;It’s even worse. We KNOW China is lying,&#8221; Cruz wrote. &#8220;On 3/1, China had 80,026 reported cases. On 3/28, it had 81,439. Does anyone believe this highly contagious virus just stopped in China on 3/1, right as it became a pandemic worldwide? And American media (for $$) willingly repeat the lies.&#8221;
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It’s even worse. We KNOW China is lying. On 3/1, China had 80,026 reported cases. On 3/28, it had 81,439. Does anyone believe this highly contagious virus just stopped in China on 3/1, right as it became a pandemic worldwide? And American media (for $$) willingly repeat the lies. <a href="https://t.co/GovCf3G825">https://t.co/GovCf3G825</a>
&mdash; Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) <a href="https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1244344617967013892?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 29, 2020</a></blockquote>
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As noted by <a href="https://twitchy.com/gregp-3534/2020/03/30/old-tweets-from-blue-check-journos-prove-marco-rubio-is-100-right-about-media-glee/">Twitchy</a>, past tweets by journalists have helped make the two senators&#8217; points for them. &#8220;We are quite literally doing a worse job of containing the virus than any other country on earth,&#8221; MSNBC&#8217;s Chris Hayes tweeted Friday.
&#8220;The United States now has more coronavirus cases reported than any other country in the world,&#8221; Trump-critic CNN&#8217;s Jim Acosta tweeted. &#8220;The US has just passed China, a country four times larger In population.&#8221;
&#8220;Who&#8217;s the shithole country now?&#8221; GQ&#8217;s Julia Ioffe wrote.
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We are quite literally doing a worse job of containing the virus than any other country on earth.
&mdash; Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) <a href="https://twitter.com/chrislhayes/status/1243673639096123394?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 27, 2020</a></blockquote>
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The US has just passed China, a country four times larger In population. <a href="https://t.co/l8qauNUuDo">https://t.co/l8qauNUuDo</a>
&mdash; Jim Acosta (@Acosta) <a href="https://twitter.com/Acosta/status/1243323926136094722?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 26, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Who&#39;s the shithole country now? <a href="https://t.co/7NL4aHbyHq">https://t.co/7NL4aHbyHq</a>
&mdash; Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) <a href="https://twitter.com/juliaioffe/status/1243297913863835648?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 26, 2020</a></blockquote>
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In its initial report on the total number of confirmed cases in the U.S. supposedly surpassing China&#8217;s, the Times paints the Trump administration&#8217;s response as one characterized by &#8220;a series of missteps and lost opportunities&#8221; (formatting adjusted):
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With 330 million residents, the United States is the world’s third most populous nation, meaning it provides a vast pool of people who can potentially get Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus. And it is a sprawling, cacophonous democracy, where states set their own policies and President Trump has sent mixed messages about the scale of the danger and how to fight it, ensuring there was no coherent, unified response to a grave public health threat.
A series of missteps and lost opportunities dogged the nation’s response. Among them: a failure to take the pandemic seriously even as it engulfed China, a deeply flawed effort to provide broad testing for the virus that left the country blind to the extent of the crisis, and a dire shortage of masks and protective gear to protect doctors and nurses on the front lines, as well as ventilators to keep the critically ill alive.
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Despite the mainstream media&#8217;s intensely critical coverage of the Trump administration&#8217;s handling of the crisis, recent polls have found that a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/gallup-trump-approval-spikes-majority-of-americans-approve-of-his-handling-of-crisis">strong majority</a> of the American people approve of the president&#8217;s response, while Gallup found that a majority of Americans <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/gallup-finds-biggest-loser-in-covid-19-crisis-is-the-media">disapprove of the media&#8217;s coverage of the crisis</a>.

Ted Cruz

Rubio Slams Media For ‘Grotesque’ Reports On U.S. Coronavirus Cases; Cruz Explains Why ‘It’s Even Worse’

China

Marco Rubio

On a new episode of &#8220;The Ben Shapiro Show: Sunday Special,&#8221; Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief Ben Shapiro speaks with two key figures on the White House Coronavirus Task Force: Vice President Mike Pence, who&#8217;s heading up the task force, and Dr. Deborah Birx, who is serving as the coronavirus response coordinator. In the discussion, Shapiro asked the two leaders about how national and state attempts to &#8220;slow the spread&#8221; are going, and &#8220;how long before this all comes to an end.&#8221;
Shapiro first spoke with Vice President Pence, who offered a hopeful message about the steps Americans and state and local governments have taken thus far to help combat the pandemic.
&#8220;While there are areas of the country where there are significant outbreaks &#8230; and people should absolutely listen to state and local health authorities on what&#8217;s best to keep themselves and their families and their loved ones — particularly vulnerable loved ones — safe, what every American can continue to do is to put the principles of the &#8217;15 Days to Slow the Spread&#8217; into practice,&#8221; said the Vice President. &#8220;The great news is — we&#8217;re hearing it all over the country — tens of millions of Americans have been using the drive-thru at a restaurant, avoiding gatherings of more than ten, putting off non-essential travel, working from home. We have every confidence that as the data continues to unfold in the weeks ahead, we will see that the steps of the American people and family and businesses around the country, across the board, has significantly impacted the spread of the coronavirus in our country, and ultimately saved lives.&#8221;
&#8220;The threat of the coronavirus, even to people that contract the disease, the threat of serious illness is very low,&#8221; Pence underscored. &#8220;For most Americans, especially young Americans like yourself, you&#8217;ll have in some cases no symptoms, mild symptoms, or flu-like symptoms. But there is a small percentage of Americans, particularly seniors with serious underlying health conditions and anyone with an immunodeficiency, for whom the threat of a serious outcome is very real.&#8221;
Shapiro responded by stressing that he has been particularly appreciative of the measured response from the administration, which has refrained from using the powers of the government to &#8220;cram down&#8221; solutions &#8220;that could be done via the private sector.&#8221; That restraint, Shapiro noted, has also &#8220;brought a lot of criticism on the administration,&#8221; with some suggesting that the Defense Production Act &#8220;should have been invoked sooner or invoked differently,&#8221; and some even calling for the nationalization of the supply chain.
Pence noted that while the president ultimately did choose to invoke the act two weeks ago, and has used it to empower the Justice Department to aggressively crack down on those who were price gouging, the &#8220;really inspiring&#8221; development has been that Trump has not had to use it for other measures because of American businesses being eager to help the government in its requests. &#8220;Frankly, Ben, every business that we have asked to step up has said yes,&#8221; said Pence. &#8220;&#8230;Our first approach is to say let&#8217;s ask American businesses to join with us in an American response, and, not surprisingly, American businesses are doing just that.&#8221;
After expressing disbelief that some would criticize Trump for wanting to get Americans back to work as soon as it is safe to do so, Shapiro then asked about how the White House is figuring out the &#8220;formula&#8221; for determining when it was the right time for different regions to ease up on lockdown measures.
<iframe title="Coronavirus with VP Mike Pence and Dr. Deborah Birx | The Ben Shapiro Show Sunday Special Ep. 88" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/di1XhVS77TE?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
&#8220;The word that I hear every single day is &#8216;data,'&#8221; Pence responded. &#8220;We have not just the best infectious disease scientists in the country, but the best in the world that are part of the White House Coronavirus Task Force. We are analyzing the data every day.&#8221;
Citing the public-private partnership Trump set up with commercial labs, Pence explained, we have now conducted well over half-a-million tests around the country and are developing point-of-care tests that will soon be available. The experts are feeding the increasingly more thorough and accurate data into their models daily, even at times hourly, to determine the degree of the threat.
Trump, Pence stressed, wants to open up the country &#8220;as soon as we responsibly can,&#8221; and the task force is looking &#8220;county by county&#8221; at the numbers to determine where the biggest threats of spread reside and when it is best to ease up on some of the social distancing measures. Ultimately, it will be the governors who make the decisions for their states, Pence explained, and there will continue to be some degree of social distancing even where some of the business and school lockdowns are lifted.
&#8220;What the president recognizes is that it&#8217;s not a choice between putting the health of America first and the economy first,&#8221; said Pence. &#8220;A strong economy contributes to health and well-being of Americans every day.&#8221;
In his discussion with Dr. Birx, Shapiro asked the doctor how confident she is that New York City will not end up like Italy, one of the countries hardest hit by the virus. Birx explained that the data they are receiving on the total number of ICU beds, the ventilators, the additional hospitals they&#8217;ve built, and the activation of a U.S. Navy medical ship, which is helping out with the crisis in the city, is giving the task force a &#8220;very high confidence level&#8221; that they will be able to adequately respond. If the numbers change, they will respond quickly by bringing in more resources, she suggested.
After pointing out that the media has criticized her for calling them out on their frequent use of the most extreme projections, Shapiro asked Birx how her team is estimating COVID-19&#8217;s mortality rate. Birx explained that initially, health experts must use models to project how a virus will impact communities, but as more hard data is available, the real numbers on the ground begin to reshape the models to provide more accurate projections. The real question that remains unanswered is how many people are asymptomatic, which requires looking at antibody levels, which simply isn&#8217;t possible yet. However, as Shapiro noted, the initial alarming mortality rates included in some influential models appear to be far higher than the real numbers indicate.
Watch the full episode above.

Vice President Mike Pence

WATCH: Shapiro Talks With Pence, Birx On ‘How Long Before This All Comes To An End’

Ben Shapiro

Dr. Deborah Birx

Mike Pence

In an op-ed published Thursday by the <a href="https://spectator.us/deadly-coronavirus-still-far-clear-covid-19/">Spectator</a>, recently-retired Professor of Pathology and National Health Service 
(NHS) consultant pathologist John Lee raises what he describes as some perspectives on the coronavirus death rate that have &#8220;hardly been aired in the past weeks&#8221; and which &#8220;point to an interpretation of the figures rather different from that which the [British] government is acting on.&#8221;
&#8220;The simplest way to judge whether we have an exceptionally lethal disease is to look at the death rates,&#8221; Lee explains. &#8220;Are more people dying than we would expect to die anyway in a given week or month?&#8221;
Lee writes that statistically Britain experiences about 51,000 deaths a month. &#8220;At the time of writing, 422 deaths are linked to COVID-19 — so 0.8 percent of that expected total,&#8221; he notes. &#8220;On a global basis, we’d expect 14 million to die over the first three months of the year. The world’s 18,944 coronavirus deaths represent 0.14 percent of that total.&#8221;
While Lee makes a point of stressing that the number of deaths from the virus &#8220;might shoot up,&#8221; as of right now they are &#8220;lower than other infectious diseases that we live with (such as flu)&#8221; and at the current level would not, &#8220;in and of themselves, cause drastic global reactions.&#8221;
So why are such &#8220;drastic&#8221; responses being taken by governments? The initial reporting out of China and Italy, Lee explains, suggested an alarming death rate of between 5 and 15%, which would be comparable to the Spanish flu, which resulted in about 50 million deaths. If that were true, given the rate of spread of COVID-19, healthcare systems the world over would be quickly overwhelmed. Thus, drastic measures have been implemented.
&#8220;At the time of writing, the UK’s 422 deaths and 8,077 known cases give an apparent death rate of 5 percent,&#8221; Lee writes, an apparent death rate that is rightfully causing serious alarm.
But, Lee suggests, there&#8217;s reason to believe that figure might be significantly inflated. One reason, he posits, is that &#8220;most of the UK testing has been in hospitals, where there is a high concentration of patients susceptible to the effects of any infection.&#8221;
&#8220;As anyone who has worked with sick people will know, any testing regime that is based only in hospitals will over-estimate the virulence of an infection,&#8221; Lee explains. &#8220;Also, we’re only dealing with those COVID-19 cases that have made people sick enough or worried enough to get tested. There will be many more unaware that they have the virus, with either no symptoms, or mild ones.&#8221;
It&#8217;s for that reason that when the country had diagnosed about 600 cases, its lead chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, &#8220;suggested that the real figure was probably between 5,000 and 10,000 cases, 10 to 20 times higher&#8221; — which, if accurate, would put the true death rate between &#8220;0.25 percent to 0.5 percent,&#8221; closer to flu mortality rates, Lee writes.
The way deaths are recorded, Lee says, is another &#8220;potentially even more serious problem&#8221; with accurately calculating COVID-19&#8217;s mortality rate. Lee explains that in the U.K. if someone dies of a respiratory infection, the specific cause of that infection is not usually noted unless it is identified as a rare &#8220;notifiable disease,&#8221; not seasonal infections, like the flu.
&#8220;So the vast majority of respiratory deaths in the UK are recorded as bronchopneumonia, pneumonia, old age or a similar designation,&#8221; writes Lee. &#8220;We don’t really test for flu, or other seasonal infections. If the patient has, say, cancer, motor neurone disease or another serious disease, this will be recorded as the cause of death, even if the final illness was a respiratory infection.&#8221; The result, he says, is that U.K. certifications &#8220;normally under-record deaths due to respiratory infections.&#8221;
But COVID-19 is now included in the updated list of &#8220;notifiable diseases,&#8221; Lee explains. &#8220;That means every positive test for COVID-19 must be notified, in a way that it just would not be for flu or most other infections.&#8221; If any patient dies after having tested positive for COVID-19, &#8220;staff will have to record the COVID-19 designation on the death certificate — contrary to usual practice for most infections of this kind.&#8221; That might give COVID-19 &#8220;the appearance of it causing an increasing numbers of deaths, whether this is true or not,&#8221; writes Lee. (<a href="https://spectator.us/deadly-coronavirus-still-far-clear-covid-19/">Read Lee&#8217;s op-ed here</a>.)
Some of Lee&#8217;s arguments have been echoed by other experts, like Stanford University’s Meta-Research Innovation Center Co-Director <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/stanford-professor-data-indicates-were-overreacting-to-coronavirus">John P.A. Ioannidis</a>, who have cautioned authorities about making major policy decisions based on incomplete and potentially misleading data that does not fully take into account factors that might skew the results. Others, like founding director of the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/epidemiologist-my-situation-highlights-the-risk-of-widespread-lockdowns">Dr. David L. Katz</a> and Stanford biophysicist and Nobel laureate <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/nobel-laureate-why-coronavirus-crisis-may-be-over-sooner-than-you-think">Michael Levitt</a>, have been calling attention to the potential health risks of widespread lockdowns and other drastic measures.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/harvard-researchers-one-long-lockdown-is-not-the-right-approach">Harvard Researchers: One Long Lockdown Is Not The Right Approach</a>

British Pathologist: Why COVID-19’s Death Rate May Be Lower Than We Feared

With the help of the Food and Drug Administration, which has fast-tracked the effort, the state of New York is trying out potential treatments for people who have contracted COVID-19. Under the direction of Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the state is testing out three medications — hydroxychloroquine, chloroquine and azithromycin — combinations of which have produced promising results for those infected by coronavirus, which President Trump has repeatedly highlighted in public statements.
<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/03/26/trump-keeps-touting-an-unproven-coronavirus-treatment-its-now-being-tested-thousands-new-york/">The Washington Post</a>, which, like many other left-leaning mainstream outlets has criticized Trump for &#8220;overhyping&#8221; the medications as a potential treatment for the virus, reported Thursday on New York&#8217;s treatment effort, which the paper describes as a &#8220;human experiment&#8221; involving potentially thousands of patients that is &#8220;moving at unprecedented speed and scale.&#8221;
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&#8220;New York will use three medications — hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine in combination with the antibiotic azithromycin — contributed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Amneal Pharmaceuticals,&#8221; the paper reports, citing state officials. &#8220;The first wave of patients will receive hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin.&#8221;
The study&#8217;s findings will contribute to a federally coordinated &#8220;observational&#8221; trial, which will compare the treatment method with a placebo. &#8220;In addition to mortality and overall recovery, the study will measure patients’ overall viral load, duration on a ventilator and number of days in the hospital,&#8221; the Times explains.
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The Food and Drug Administration has moved with &#8220;uncommon speed&#8221; to authorize New York’s distribution of the drugs through hospitals, the Post notes. While experts say such an effort would usually take up to nine months, the timeline &#8220;has been compressed into three days,&#8221; the paper reports.
The Post repeatedly underscores that the treatment has not yet been proven to be effective by officials and highlights &#8220;concerns&#8221; among health experts about the Trump and Cuomo-promoted medications, which sometimes have dangerous side effects, like &#8220;fatal heart arrhythmia and vision loss.&#8221; The Post&#8217;s editorial board has accused Trump of causing &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/wapo-editors-lash-out-at-trump-for-spreading-false-hope-about-curing-virus">damage</a>&#8221; by pointing to the treatment as a potential &#8220;cure.&#8221; The paper&#8217;s new report suggests Trump, and to a lesser extent Cuomo, may be guilty of &#8220;raising false hopes in the American public&#8221; and &#8220;contribut[ing] to runs on supply and hoarding&#8221; of the drugs.
But the Republican president and the Democratic governor appear to agree that the promise of the much-needed treatment trumps concerns about &#8220;overhyping.&#8221;
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While the Post appears to remain skeptical about the &#8220;human experiment,&#8221; some in the health industry are praising the rapidity of the federal and state-coordinated action.  “I have never seen anything like this. It is amazing how the country and everybody can pull together and come up with quick, innovative ways to try to attack it,” said Northwell Health Chief Pharmacy Officer Onisis Stefas, the paper reports. “Everybody’s questioning it, and that’s why these studies need to be done to confirm it. There aren’t a lot of other options out there.”
Along with the urgency of testing out the potential treatment, Trump and Cuomo also appear to be aligning on the question of how long to maintain mandated lockdowns, with the governor recently questioning the effectiveness of mass quarantines.
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“We closed everything down. That was our public health strategy,” Cuomo <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/cuomo-questions-quarantine-probably-not-the-best-public-health-strategy">said</a> Thursday. “If you re-thought that or had time to analyze that public health strategy, I don’t know that you would say ‘Quarantine everyone.’”
“I don’t even know that that was the best public health policy,” he said. “Young people then quarantined with older people, [it] was probably not the best public health strategy. The younger people could have been exposing the older people to an infection.”
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Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/harvard-researchers-one-long-lockdown-is-not-the-right-approach">Harvard Researchers: One Long Lockdown Is Not The Right Approach</a>
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly cited the New York Times as the source of the new report rather than the Washington Post.
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‘Unprecedented’: NY Begins Use Of Potential COVID-19 Treatments Fast-Tracked By Trump

Andrew Cuomo

New York

Washington Post

During the House&#8217;s debate Friday on the Senate&#8217;s unanimously passed $2.2 trillion coronavirus emergency relief bill, freshman Democratic Rep. <a href="https://stevens.house.gov">Haley Stevens</a> (MI) resorted to screaming out her message on the House floor, while House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) unsuccessfully attempted to gain control of the situation. In response to the congresswoman&#8217;s outburst, the room exploded in jeers and boos.
The raucous scene began when Stevens requested 30 more seconds to finish reading her written statement to the House. But when Hoyer tried to move on to the next representative, Stevens raised her voice, eventually screaming loudly a statement that appears to have been intended to be both a warning and a message of solidarity with the American public.
&#8220;I request 30 more seconds because I rise before you [inaudible] not for personal attention, not for personal attention, but to encourage you to take this disease seriously,&#8221; she exclaimed in an increasingly rapid and forceful delivery in which she expressed solidarity with &#8220;every American who is scared right now.&#8221;
After Hoyer relented and allowed Stevens to conclude her scripted declaration, she screamed: &#8220;As in similar times of trying medical need, wars and flus passed, you will see darkness, you will be pushed, and our society needs you to stand together at this time. Our country loves you. To our doctors and our nurses, I wear these latex gloves to tell every American to not be afraid&#8230;&#8221;
At that point, the majority leader had had enough and finally cut Stevens off with an emphatic slamming of the gavel. Video of the wild moment has begun circulating online. WATCH:
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Well, this was kind of bizarre, even <a href="https://twitter.com/LeaderHoyer?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@LeaderHoyer</a> was trying to intervene with <a href="https://twitter.com/RepHaleyStevens?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RepHaleyStevens</a>. <a href="https://t.co/nLC4pStFKh">pic.twitter.com/nLC4pStFKh</a>
&mdash; Joe Pounder (@PounderFile) <a href="https://twitter.com/PounderFile/status/1243545779706396674?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 27, 2020</a></blockquote>
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CNN Senior Congressional Correspondent Manu Raju reported on the moment Friday.
&#8220;A raucous scene on the floor: Rep. Haley Stevens, a typically mild-mannered freshman from Michigan, goes over her allotted time and the presiding officer tells her her time is up, bangs his gavel and she continued to shout her speech as members were loudly telling her to stop,&#8221; he wrote in a pair of tweets. &#8220;Steny Hoyer asked for her to have some additional time, but she went beyond that and Hoyer was gently trying to get her to wrap up &#8212; as the chair was banging the gavel down. Wearing pink plastic gloves, she said loudly, &#8216;I yield back,&#8217; slamming her speech on the table.&#8221;
Stevens has posted some messages about the coronavirus pandemic online, including a tweet on March 17 promising her constituents that she would &#8220;not leave anyone behind.&#8221;
&#8220;This pandemic is wreaking hardship on our lives,&#8221; she <a href="https://twitter.com/RepHaleyStevens/status/1240023055839174657">wrote</a>. &#8220;As your Congresswoman, I will not leave anyone behind, &amp; I am pushing to get immediate federal triage to this situation on the healthcare &amp; economic front. What&#8217;s on your mind &amp; what are you experiencing?&#8221;
Another bit of relief bill debate drama occurred Friday sparked by a &#8220;maverick&#8221; Republican representative, Thomas Massie (R-KY), who “set the House on edge by threatening to try to force a roll call vote,&#8221; as reported by the <a href="https://www.startribune.com/washington-set-to-deliver-2-2-trillion-virus-rescue-bill/569151482/">Star Tribune</a>. &#8220;Party leaders had hoped to pass the measure by voice vote without lawmakers having to take the risk of traveling to Washington,&#8221; the outlet explained.
Trump responded by unloading on Massie, whom he declared a &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/rogue-republican-threatens-to-hold-up-emergency-relief-bill-trump-unloads-third-rate-grandstander">third rate grandstander</a>.&#8221;
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/cuomo-questions-quarantine-probably-not-the-best-public-health-strategy">Cuomo Questions Quarantine: Probably Not The Best Public Health Strategy</a>

Haley Stevens

WATCH: Democratic Rep Loses It During Emergency Relief Bill Debate; Room Erupts

On Friday, the House took up the COVID-19 emergency relief bill belatedly passed by the Senate late Wednesday night after Democratic delays. But while the Democrats were to blame for the days-long hold up in the Senate, a maverick Republican congressman is now threatening to hold up its passage in the House. Responding to the development, President Trump unloaded on the &#8220;third rate grandstander.&#8221;
&#8220;The senate did some voodoo just like with Obamacare,&#8221; Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) tweeted Thursday. &#8220;Took a House Bill (HR 748) dealing with taxes, stripped every word, and put their bill in it. The House is just as responsible for killing the origination clause as the Senate. It’s the House’s job to reject the process.&#8221;
&#8220;$2 trillion (Congress) +$4 trillion (Fed &amp; Treasury) [=] $6 trillion stimulus,&#8221; he tweeted in a follow-up post. &#8220;$6 trillion divided by 350 million citizens = $17,000 per citizen times a family of 4 =$68,000 per family of new national debt and dollar devaluation in this stimulus. not a good deal.&#8221;
In another tweet, the congressman suggested that he would require a quorum of lawmakers, 216, to be present to vote, citing Article 1, Section 5, Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution.
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The senate did some voodoo just like with Obamacare. Took a House Bill (HR 748) dealing with taxes, stripped every word, and put their bill in it. The House is just as responsible for killing the origination clause as the Senate. It’s the House’s job to reject the process. <a href="https://t.co/BiGcmAwJS6">pic.twitter.com/BiGcmAwJS6</a>
&mdash; Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) <a href="https://twitter.com/RepThomasMassie/status/1243159631528157190?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 26, 2020</a></blockquote>
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$2 trillion (Congress) +$4 trillion (Fed &amp; Treasury) ——————————— $6 trillion stimulus
$6 trillion divided by 350 million citizens = $17,000 per citizen
times a family of 4
=$68,000 per family of new national debt and dollar devaluation in this stimulus.
not a good deal
&mdash; Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) <a href="https://twitter.com/RepThomasMassie/status/1243180243696996356?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 26, 2020</a></blockquote>
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US Constitution ARTICLE I, SECTION 5, CLAUSE 1 Quorum requirement: <a href="https://t.co/OT65x4vDkD">pic.twitter.com/OT65x4vDkD</a>
&mdash; Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) <a href="https://twitter.com/RepThomasMassie/status/1243154827229696001?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 26, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Massie&#8217;s move &#8220;left many angry lawmakers scrambling to return to the nation&#8217;s capital amid a pandemic in which Americans have been urged to self-quarantine or keep their distance from one another,&#8221; the <a href="https://www.startribune.com/washington-set-to-deliver-2-2-trillion-virus-rescue-bill/569151482/">Star Tribune</a> reported. The congressman &#8220;set the House on edge by threatening to try to force a roll call vote. Party leaders had hoped to pass the measure by voice vote without lawmakers having to take the risk of traveling to Washington,&#8221; the outlet explains.
In response to Massie&#8217;s eleventh-hour stunt, Trump unloaded online, hammering the congressman for potentially forcing a &#8220;both dangerous and costly&#8221; delay.
&#8220;Looks like a third rate Grandstander named [Rep. Thomas Massie], a Congressman from, unfortunately, a truly GREAT State, Kentucky, wants to vote against the new Save Our Workers Bill in Congress. He just wants the publicity. He can’t stop it, only delay, which is both dangerous [and] costly. Workers [and] small businesses need money now in order to survive. Virus wasn’t their fault. It is &#8216;HELL&#8217; dealing with the Dems, had to give up some stupid things in order to get the &#8216;big picture&#8217; done. 90% GREAT! WIN BACK HOUSE, but throw Massie out of Republican Party!&#8221;
&#8220;By empowering the Radical Left Democrats, do nothing Kentucky politician [Rep. Thomas Massie] is making their War on the 2nd Amendment more and more difficult to win (But don’t worry, we will win anyway!),&#8221; Trump added in another tweet. &#8220;He is a disaster for America, and for the Great State of Kentucky!&#8221;
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&#8230;&amp; costly. Workers &amp; small businesses need money now in order to survive. Virus wasn’t their fault. It is “HELL” dealing with the Dems, had to give up some stupid things in order to get the “big picture” done. 90% GREAT! WIN BACK HOUSE, but throw Massie out of Republican Party!
&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1243534445367492608?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 27, 2020</a></blockquote>
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By empowering the Radical Left Democrats, do nothing Kentucky politician <a href="https://twitter.com/RepThomasMassie?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RepThomasMassie</a> is making their War on the 2nd Amendment more and more difficult to win (But don’t worry, we will win anyway!). He is a disaster for America, and for the Great State of Kentucky!
&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1243541556424048643?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 27, 2020</a></blockquote>
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After multiple delays from Democratic congressional leaders, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed (96-0) the largest stimulus bill in history Wednesday night, a package totaling $2.2 trillion in relief measures, including $1,200 checks to most American adults (and another $500 for most children), a $500 billion loan program for struggling businesses, cities and states, nearly $400 billion for employee-retention funds for small businesses and another $130 billion for hospitals, among other provisions.
Pelosi has expressed confidence that the bill will pass in the House despite a large number of &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/senate-passes-2-trillion-relief-bill-pelosi-has-message-for-disappointed-house-democrats">disappointed</a>&#8221; Democrats, among them democratic socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who wanted more progressive &#8220;wishlist&#8221; provisions in the bill.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-ted-cruz-explains-how-2-trillion-relief-bill-got-passed-and-what-it-means-for-americans">WATCH: Ted Cruz Explains How The $2 Trillion Relief Bill Got Passed And What It Means For Americans</a>

Members Of The Coronavirus Task Force Hold Press Briefing

Rogue Republican Threatens To Hold Up Emergency Relief Bill; Trump Unloads: ‘Third Rate Grandstander’

A new Gallup study gauging the American public&#8217;s view of the handling of the coronavirus crisis by various entities and figures found one particular group earning particularly bad marks: the news media, which was the only one on the list of nine that did not have majority approval.
&#8220;Americans are generally positive in their evaluations of how each of nine leaders and institutions has handled the response to the coronavirus situation,&#8221; <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/300680/coronavirus-response-hospitals-rated-best-news-media-worst.aspx">Gallup</a> explains. &#8220;Eight of the nine receive majority positive ratings — led by U.S. hospitals, at 88% approval. Only the news media gets a more negative than positive review.&#8221;
The news media was rated far worse than the CDC, Vice President Mike Pence, President Donald Trump, and even Congress, all of which had strong majority approval.
Asked, &#8220;Do you approve or disapprove of the way each of the following is handling the response to the coronavirus in the U.S.?&#8221; Americans gave by far the worse assessment of the news media. Here is the breakdown from best to worst:
<ol>
<li>U.S. hospitals: 88% approve, 10% disapprove</li>
<li>Your child&#8217;s school or daycare:  83 &#8211; 9</li>
<li>Your state government: 82 -17</li>
<li>Your employer: 82 &#8211; 14</li>
<li>Government health agencies such as the CDC and NIH: 80 -17</li>
<li>Vice President Mike Pence: 61-32</li>
<li>President Donald Trump: 60 &#8211; 38</li>
<li>Congress: 59 &#8211; 37</li>
<li>The news media: 44 &#8211; 55</li>
</ol>
Gallup explains that the data was collected from March 13-22 Gallup poll, &#8220;with the field period starting on the same day President Donald Trump declared a national emergency over the coronavirus outbreak, and spanning sharp increases in the number of documented cases in the U.S., as well as the number of deaths.&#8221;
Trump&#8217;s 60% approval, Gallup notes, is higher than his overall job approval, which is 49%, which climbed 5 points from a few weeks ago, when it was 44%.
A large part of the negative response to the news media comes from Republicans, only 25% of whom said they approve of how it&#8217;s covering the crisis, while 61% of Democrats approved.
According to Gallup&#8217;s survey, President Trump is winning this particular round of his years-long battle with the news media, which he hammered once again this week. In a tweet Wednesday, Trump accused the media of attempting to &#8220;keep our Country closed as long as possible&#8221; for political purposes.
“The LameStream Media is the dominant force in trying to get me to keep our Country closed as long as possible in the hope that it will be detrimental to my election success,” he <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-we-all-know-what-medias-push-to-keep-america-closed-as-long-as-possible-is-really-about">tweeted</a> Wednesday. “The real people want to get back to work ASAP. We will be stronger than ever before!”
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The LameStream Media is the dominant force in trying to get me to keep our Country closed as long as possible in the hope that it will be detrimental to my election success. The real people want to get back to work ASAP. We will be stronger than ever before!
&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1242905328209080331?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 25, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Trump&#8217;s tweet came the same day as Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House Coronavirus Response coordinator, called out exaggerated reporting on the coronavirus pandemic.
“I think the numbers that have been put out there are actually very frightening to people,” Dr. Birx <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dr-deborah-birx-media-has-frightened-the-american-people-with-salacious-coronavirus-numbers">said</a> during a press conference on Wednesday. “But I can tell you if you go back and look at Wuhan and Hubei and all of these provinces, when they talk about 60,000 people being infected, even if you said, alright, well there’s asymptomatics and all of that, so you get to 600,000 people out of 80 million. That is nowhere close to the numbers that you see people putting out there. I think it has frightened the American people.”
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dr-deborah-birx-shreds-media-for-salacious-claims-we-dont-have-evidence-of-that">Dr. Deborah Birx Shreds Media For Salacious Claims: ‘We Don’t Have Evidence Of That’</a>

Gallup Finds Biggest Loser In COVID-19 Response Is The Media

2020 Election

Congress

Gallup

Media Bias

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced in a video statement posted on social media Friday that he has tested positive for coronavirus.
The 55-year-old Conservative Party leader announced in the video that after developing mild symptoms over the last 24 hours, including &#8220;a temperature and a persistent cough,&#8221; he tested positive for COVID-19. His plan now is to work from home and self-isolate, as he encouraged others to do to continue to &#8220;protect&#8221; the National Health Service (NHS) from being overwhelmed.
&#8220;Over the last 24 hours I have developed mild symptoms and tested positive for coronavirus,&#8221; Johnson wrote in a tweet that includes the video statement. &#8220;I am now self-isolating, but I will continue to lead the government’s response via video-conference as we fight this virus. Together we will beat this.&#8221;
&#8220;Hi, folks, I want to bring you up to to speed on something that is happening today, which is that I developed mild symptoms of coronavirus — that is to say, a temperature and a persistent cough,&#8221; Johnson announced in the video (below). &#8220;And on the advice of the chief medical officer, I have taken the test and it has come out positive.&#8221;
&#8220;So, I am working from home and self-isolating, and that&#8217;s entirely the right thing to do,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;But, be in no doubt that I can continue, thanks to the wizardry of modern technology, to communicate with all my top team to lead the national fight-back against coronavirus.&#8221;
&#8220;I want to thank everybody involved and, of course, our amazing NHS staff,&#8221; Johnson stressed. &#8220;It was very moving to join last night in that national clap for the NHS,&#8221; he said in reference to a celebration of national healthcare workers Thursday.
&#8220;But it&#8217;s not just the NHS, it&#8217;s our police, our social care workers, our teachers, everybody who works in schools, and DWP staff,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;Amazing national effort by the public services, but also by every member of the British public volunteering. Incredible response. 600,000 people volunteered to take part in a great national effort to protect people from the consequences of coronavirus.&#8221;
Johnson concluded the statement by encouraging the nation that if they &#8220;stay at home and protect the NHS,&#8221; they will &#8220;beat&#8221; the epidemic and &#8220;bounce back.&#8221;
&#8220;We will get through it,&#8221; he said. &#8220;And the way we will get through it is, of course, by applying the measures that you&#8217;ve heard so much about. And the more effectively we all comply with those measures, the faster our country will come through this epidemic and the faster we&#8217;ll bounce back. Thank you to everybody who is doing what I&#8217;m doing and working from home to stop the spread of the virus from household to household. That&#8217;s the way we&#8217;re going to win, we&#8217;re going to beat it, and we&#8217;re going to beat it together. Stay at home and protect the NHS and save lives.&#8221;
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Over the last 24 hours I have developed mild symptoms and tested positive for coronavirus.
I am now self-isolating, but I will continue to lead the government’s response via video-conference as we fight this virus.
Together we will beat this. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/StayHomeSaveLives?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#StayHomeSaveLives</a> <a href="https://t.co/9Te6aFP0Ri">pic.twitter.com/9Te6aFP0Ri</a>
&mdash; Boris Johnson #StayHomeSaveLives (@BorisJohnson) <a href="https://twitter.com/BorisJohnson/status/1243496858095411200?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 27, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Johnson&#8217;s optimistic message follows updated forecasts by British epidemiologist Neil Ferguson, one of the co-authors of the highly influential Imperial College London coronavirus model, which initially predicted that if no action were taken to curb the spread of the virus, some 500,000 people would die in the U.K. and 2.2 million would die in the U.S. With social distancing measures, like those taken by the British and American governments, Ferguson&#8217;s updated potential death toll in the U.K. has now been downgraded to <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/2238578-uk-has-enough-intensive-care-units-for-coronavirus-expert-predicts/">20,000 or fewer</a>.

Boris Johnson

WATCH: British Prime Minister Announces He Tested Positive For Coronavirus

Great Britain

Just after the Senate voted unanimously to approve the largest stimulus package in the history of the country Wednesday, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) joined The Daily Wire’s Michael Knowles for another late-night edition of “VERDICT” to break down how the bill finally got passed and what it means for the American people.
&#8220;The vote was unanimous, 96 to nothing,&#8221; Cruz said at the start of the episode. &#8220;Every single Republican voted yes, every single Democrat voted yes, and we just passed out a $2 trillion emergency relief package — which hopefully will have significant effect relieving the economic devastation being caused by this corona crisis.&#8221;
Asked about why the bill had to be passed by the Senate so late in the week, when it was supposed to be voted on over the weekend, Cruz responded, “Well, that’s an easy answer. It’s two people: it’s Nancy Pelosi and it’s Chuck Schumer.”
“Everybody thought we were going to vote on this Sunday night,&#8221; the senator explained. &#8220;[A]bout a dozen Democrats were part of the negotiating teams — they had all been active, engaged. And we thought we were going to take it up Sunday and get it passed.&#8221;
Then, said Cruz, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi &#8220;came in at the last minute and she threw a hand grenade in. She began making all of these completely unrelated, partisan demands.&#8221;
When the senators showed up Sunday night, &#8220;every single Democrat voted to block our getting on the bill, our even starting to consider it.&#8221;
&#8220;So they blocked it on Sunday night, they blocked it Monday, all day Tuesday, all day today until about 11 o’clock [Wednesday] night when we got it passed,&#8221; he explained.
Asked if the Democrats achieved anything by stalling the vote for their non-crisis-related demands, Cruz said, it’s “complicated,” but that most of the partisan demands are gone.
“Most of the extraneous partisan issues that Pelosi was fighting for, almost all of them have dropped out of the bill. So that’s good,” he said. “What she held everything hostage for Sunday and Monday and Tuesday is mostly gone.”
“Two trillion dollars is a crap ton of money,” Cruz underscored. “That’s 10% of our national debt — not of our deficit, 10% of our national debt. In over two centuries, we just spent 10% of it tonight… It’s worth pausing to think that was unanimous. That means Bernie Sanders voted for it, I voted for it, everybody in between voted for it. And what I would say is the reason is: these are not normal times.”
&#8220;This crisis is extraordinary,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;The health crisis is extraordinary. People are scared. We’ve got a global pandemic. But not only the health crisis, but the response to the health crisis has created an economic disaster that is unfolding. There are millions of people losing their jobs. And in response to that devastation, everyone feels an urgency to provide relief.&#8221;
Cruz then noted that he does not refer to the $2.2 trillion package as a &#8220;stimulus bill,&#8221; but rather a &#8220;relief bill.&#8221; &#8220;It’s quite different,&#8221; he said. &#8220;It is designed to provide relief to people who are hurting badly — and are hurting through not fault of their own, they didn’t do anything to cause this.&#8221;
Cruz then unpacked what exactly is in the “monstrous bill,” including “individual relief”: Every American who makes under $100,000 a year will get a check from the federal government within two to three weeks ($1,200 per individual adult, $2,400 per for couples, and $500 per child).
Another major piece of the bill is $377 billion dedicated to help small businesses (most businesses with 500 employees or less) through emergency loans. These businesses can go and apply at local banks to receive a Small Business Administration (SBA) loan of up to $10 million. If the business uses the money for payroll, the loan obligation is forgiven.
“’That’s a direct lifeline to these small businesses that are profoundly hurting,” said Cruz.
Watch the full episode below or listen to it on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-20-whats-actually-in-the-senate-relief-bill/id1495601614?i=1000469566745">Apple Podcasts here</a>:
<iframe title="What’s Actually in the Senate Relief Bill | Ep. 20" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KC3vYtvB_tA?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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WATCH: Ted Cruz Explains How The $2 Trillion Relief Bill Got Passed And What It Means For Americans

Michael Knowles

A new pre-print study by a team of Harvard researchers concludes that the idea of a single prolonged lockdown — which many are calling for in the U.S. — is not the most effective or sustainable way to curb the coronavirus epidemic. A more viable, long-term approach is to carry out a series of shorter &#8220;intermittent&#8221; lockdowns triggered by certain medical care capacity thresholds.
A team of researchers from Harvard&#8217;s T.H. Chan School of Public Health posted the study, titled &#8220;<a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.03.22.20041079v1" data-component="externalLink">Social distancing strategies for curbing the COVID-19 epidemic</a>,&#8221; Tuesday on the medRxive pre-print server. The study, as underscored by <a href="https://www.zdnet.com/article/harvard-researchers-social-distancing-during-covid-19-may-have-to-be-turned-on-and-off-like-a-spigot/">ZDNet</a>’s Tiernan Ray, is yet to be peer-reviewed.
The study&#8217;s key finding is that multiple, more targeted social distancing measures would be more effective than one prolonged &#8220;lockdown.&#8221;
That approach, as Ray explains, would balance the &#8220;herd immunity&#8221; strategy with the social distancing strategy, allowing society at large to build up immunity while occasionally imposing more drastic social distancing measures, like &#8220;stay-at-home&#8221; orders, to protect the health care system from being overwhelmed when it reaches certain predetermined thresholds.
&#8220;The SARS-CoV-2 [the virus that causes COVID-19] pandemic is straining healthcare resources worldwide, prompting social distancing measures to reduce transmission intensity,&#8221; reads the abstract of the study, written by Harvard&#8217;s Stephen Iissler, Christine Tedijanto, Marc Lipsitch, and Yonatan Grad. &#8220;The amount of social distancing needed to curb the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in the context of seasonally varying transmission remains unclear.&#8221;
&#8220;Using a mathematical model, we assessed that one-time interventions will be insufficient to maintain COVID-19 prevalence within the critical care capacity of the United States,&#8221; the researchers explain. &#8220;Seasonal variation in transmission will facilitate epidemic control during the summer months but could lead to an intense resurgence in the autumn.&#8221;
The optimal approach, the study concludes, is &#8220;intermittent distancing&#8221;: &#8220;Intermittent distancing measures can maintain control of the epidemic, but without other interventions, these measures may be necessary into 2022. Increasing critical care capacity could reduce the duration of the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic while ensuring that critically ill patients receive appropriate care.&#8221;
What determines when distancing measures should be imposed? The researchers advise that the trigger point should be at maximum 37.5 cases per 10,000 adult people in the population.
&#8220;That threshold, they estimate, would keep the number of patients needing critical care at 0.89 persons for every 10,000 people in the population, which should be adequate to not overwhelm the health care system,&#8221; Ray explains.
&#8220;Widespread surveillance will be required to time the distancing measures correctly and avoid overshooting critical care capacity,&#8221; the researchers write. The best way to monitor infection rates are blood tests to determine who has contracted the virus and who has already developed immunity to it, they suggest.
The researchers used the classic epidemiological model known as &#8220;SEIR,&#8221; which takes into account how many people in a community are &#8220;susceptible,&#8221; &#8220;exposed,&#8221; &#8220;infectious,&#8221; and &#8220;recovered,&#8221; which, Ray notes, is &#8220;a statistical technique, and so it&#8217;s important to remember that it&#8217;s not a guarantee of future trends, it&#8217;s a way to model what might happen.&#8221;
Read the <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.03.22.20041079v1">full study here</a>.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/nobel-laureate-why-coronavirus-crisis-may-be-over-sooner-than-you-think">Nobel Laureate: Why Coronavirus Crisis May Be Over Sooner Than Many Think</a>
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James Barrett

Articles by James Barrett