President Donald Trump blasted partisan CBS News reporter Weijia Jiang during the White House Coronavirus Task Force press briefing on Friday for trying to ask a &#8220;gotcha question.&#8221;
“Yesterday, Jared Kushner said, ‘the notion of the federal stockpile was it’s supposed to be our stockpile, it’s not supposed to be state’s stockpiles that they then use,’” Jiang said. “What did he mean by ‘our’ given the fact that taxpayers from every state pays for it?”
“Oh, why are you asking? What’s that, a gotcha, I gotcha, you used the word ‘our,’” Trump fired back. “You know what ‘our’ means? United States of America, that’s what it means. It means United States of America, and then we take that ‘our’ and we distribute it to the states.”
&#8220;He&#8217;s talking about the federal government,&#8221; Trump continued. &#8220;I mean, it&#8217;s such a basic, simple question, and you try to make it sound so bad. You ought to be ashamed of yourself, you know what, you ought to be ashamed of yourself. It&#8217;s such a simple question. He said, &#8216;our,&#8217; and &#8216;our&#8217; means for the country, and &#8216;our&#8217; means for the states because the states are a part of the country. Don&#8217;t make it sound bad.&#8221;
After Trump finished answering her question, Jiang continued to rudely interrupt the press conference as the president tried to call on another reporter.
WATCH:
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He handled this very well. <a href="https://t.co/85zA1dcYGB">pic.twitter.com/85zA1dcYGB</a>
&mdash; David Reaboi (@davereaboi) <a href="https://twitter.com/davereaboi/status/1246207116026789888?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 3, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Last month, Jiang, who is a self-described “Chinese born West Virginian,” created drama when she tweeted, “This morning a White House official referred to #Coronavirus as the ‘Kung-Flu’ to my face. Makes me wonder what they’re calling it behind my back.”
Jiang provided no evidence to substantiate her claim and refused to name the person who allegedly said it to her.
Senior White House Adviser Kellyanne Conway pressed Jiang on the matter the following day on camera, and Jiang dodged answering Conway&#8217;s questions.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Kellyanne Conway on the rumor that a White House Official called Coronavirus, ‘Kung Flu’: “Tell us all who it is.” <a href="https://t.co/wJth3RAlZM">pic.twitter.com/wJth3RAlZM</a>
&mdash; ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) <a href="https://twitter.com/alx/status/1240366830193082370?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 18, 2020</a></blockquote>
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US-HEALTH-VIRUS-BRIEFING

Trump Shreds Partisan CBS Reporter Weijia Jiang: ‘You Ought To Be Ashamed Of Yourself’

Coronavirus

COVID-19

Donald Trump

Media Bias

As the U.K. suffers from the COVID-19 pandemic, Queen Elizabeth II will be giving a rare televised address this Sunday.
&#8220;Her Majesty The Queen has recorded a special broadcast to the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth in relation to the Coronavirus outbreak. The televised address will be broadcast at 8 p.m. on Sunday 5th April,&#8221; Buckingham Palace said in a statement on Friday.
Her appearance on camera only serves to highlight the severity of the pandemic, given that she has given only a handful of such addresses during her long reign as Britain&#8217;s chief monarch.
&#8220;In nearly seven decades, the queen has reportedly provided three Christmas addresses,&#8221; reports <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/queen-elizabeth-address-coronavirus-pandemic-televised-broadcast">Fox News</a>. &#8220;She also appeared on camera to address the death of <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/princess-diana-heartbroken-megxit" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Princess Diana</a>, which came five days following the Aug. 31, 1997 tragedy.&#8221;
The queen also stunned the world in 2012 when she appeared alongside Daniel Craig (playing James Bond) in a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AS-dCdYZbo">humorous video</a> for the London Olympics.
Last month, the COVID-19 pandemic hit the royal family when Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, tested positive for the virus. In a <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/prince-charles-speaks-out-coronavirus" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">video message</a> on Instagram, Charles called upon the citizenry to practice social distancing. Fortunately, Charles experienced only minor symptoms.
“Having recently gone through the process of contracting this coronavirus, luckily with relatively mild symptoms, I now find myself on the other side of the illness but still in no less a state of social distance and general isolation,” he said. &#8220;As we are all learning, this is a strange, frustrating and often distressing experience when the presence of family and friends is no longer possible and the normal structures of life are suddenly removed. At such an unprecedented and anxious time in all our lives, my wife [Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall] and I are thinking particularly of all those who have lost their loved ones in such very difficult and abnormal circumstances, and of those having to endure sickness, isolation and loneliness.&#8221;
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&#8220;As a nation, we are faced by a profoundly challenging situation, which we are only too aware threatens the livelihoods, businesses and welfare of millions of our fellow citizens,” he concluded. “None of us can say when this will end, but end it will. Until it does, let us try and live with hope and with faith in ourselves in each other. Look forward to better times to come.&#8221;
The queen remains in good health and did not test positive for the virus after meeting with her son. Prior to the monarch&#8217;s unfortunate brush with the virus, the royal family <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/queen-elizabeth-moves-up-easter-holiday-cancels-royal-events-amid-coronavirus-concerns">announced</a> that Queen Elizabeth would be moving up her planned Easter holiday a full week so that she could leave Buckingham Palace for Windsor Castle. Though the queen canceled large events, she will still be granting audience to specific people. Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, is expected to take over many of the Queen’s public duties in her absence.
“As a sensible precaution and for practical reasons in the current circumstances, a number of changes are being made to The Queen’s diary,” the royal family announced on its <a href="https://www.royal.uk/announcement-regarding-changes-queens-diary" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">website</a> last month. “Audiences due to take place this week at Buckingham Palace will go ahead as planned. These include receiving the Prime Minister, the Commanding Officer of HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH and the Bishop of Hereford. Future Audiences will be reviewed on an ongoing basis, in line with the appropriate advice.”
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Commonwealth Day Service 2020

Queen Elizabeth Will Address Coronavirus Pandemic In Rare Televised Broadcast

Queen Elizabeth

Despite national media pressure to close down houses of worship, Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has refused to cave, overruling some counties within his state and designating churches, synagogues, and mosques as so-called &#8220;essential.&#8221;
The Republican governor imposed a statewide stay-at-home order on Wednesday as a precaution against the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, carving out exceptions for &#8220;essential&#8221; businesses and activities.
The house of worship carveout comes on the heels of the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/walsh-pastors-are-being-arrested-for-holding-worship-services-this-is-not-health-and-safety-this-is-tyranny">arrest</a> of Revival International Ministries pastor Rodney Howard-Browne, who held two large, in-person services despite so-called &#8220;social distancing&#8221; guidance. The 58-year-old was charged with unlawful assembly and violation of a public health emergency order, which are misdemeanors.
As noted by <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/pastor-of-large-church-arrested-for-leading-packed-services-despite-social-distancing-orders">The Daily Wire</a>,  State Attorney Andrew Warren accused Howard-Browne of &#8220;hiding behind the First Amendment.&#8221;
“I think it’s unfortunate that the pastor here is hiding behind the First Amendment,&#8221; Warren said during a press conference. &#8220;One, it’s absolutely clear that emergency orders like this are constitutional and valid. Second of all, leaders from our faith-based community across this country have embraced the importance of social distancing.”
<a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/florida-gov-ron-desantis-overrides-county-officials-to-allow-church-during-coronavirus-lockdown">The Daily Beast</a> complained about DeSantis on Thursday:
<blockquote>By allowing religious services to continue, DeSantis is seemingly siding with religious leaders who’ve stood against the federally mandated guidelines – including <a class="TrackingLink LinkWrapper" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/hillsborough-sheriff-to-arrest-rodney-howard-browne-megachurch-pastor-who-flouted-virus-rules">controversial Tampa pastor Rodney Howard-Browne</a>, who refused to stop holding services because he believed his church had machines that could stop the virus.</blockquote>
While dozens of states have refused to designate houses of worship as &#8220;essential,&#8221; New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has been outright hostile to the faithful, namely Christians and Jews, threatening to close down their churches and synagogues permanently if they don&#8217;t obey his shutdown order.
“So, I want to say to all those who are preparing the potential of religious services this weekend – if you go to your synagogue, if you go to your church and attempt to hold services after having been told so often not to, our enforcement agents will have no choice but to shut down those services,” de Blasio <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bill-de-blasio-threatens-to-permanently-close-nyc-churches-if-they-dont-comply-with-social-distancing">threatened.</a>
“No faith tradition endorses anything that endangers the members of that faith,” the liberal mayor continued. “So, the NYPD, Fire Department, Buildings Department, and everyone has been instructed that if they see worship services going on, they will go to the officials of that congregation, they’ll inform them they need to stop the services and disperse.”
“If that does not happen, they will take additional action up to the point of fines and potentially closing the building permanently,&#8221; he added.
Other states, however, like Michigan, New Mexico, Delaware, Ohio, Texas, and West Virginia, have also allowed &#8220;some exemption&#8221; for religious services, <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/490908-florida-other-states-allowing-church-services-during-coronavirus">The Hill</a> noted.
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, gave a stay-at-home order that noted &#8220;&#8216;a place of religious worship, when used for religious worship, is not subject to penalty&#8217; for violating it, a standard that the state had applied to its previous order curbing gatherings,&#8221; <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2020/03/24/us/ap-virus-outbreak-faith-loopholes.html">The New York Times</a> reported.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/walsh-pastors-are-being-arrested-for-holding-worship-services-this-is-not-health-and-safety-this-is-tyranny">WALSH: Pastors Are Being Arrested For Holding Worship Services. This Is Not ‘Health And Safety.’ This Is Tyranny.</a>

Gov. Ron DeSantis

GOP Governor Refuses To Cave, Keeps Church Doors Open As ‘Essential’

church

Florida

Ron DeSantis

California Governor Gavin Newsom (D-CA) announced Friday afternoon that his administration received approval from the Federal Emergency Management Association (FEMA) to start “Project Roomkey,” an initiative aimed at securing temporary housing for homeless people in hotels across the state.
While standing in front of a motel, the governor revealed that the state secured 6,800 hotel and motel rooms, with the goal of increasing the number to 15,000 by an unspecified date, reports <a href="https://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2020/04/03/gavin-newsom-homeless-hotel-motel-rooms-project-roomkey-darrell-steinberg/">CBS News</a> Sacramento.
“This was the crisis that predated the current crisis in the state of California, and we’re doing everything in our power to meet it head-on,” said Newsom, reports the news agency. “What we want to do is relieve the stress in our shelter system, so we can separate individuals and ultimately relieve the impact in our medical care delivery system.”
While it’s currently unclear how long the policy will remain in place, and how much the initiative will cost in total, the governor previously announced he would commit $150 million of the state’s money to homeless aid, reports <a href="https://www.foxla.com/news/gov-gavin-newsom-announces-plan-to-move-thousands-of-states-homeless-to-hotel-rooms-amid-covid-19-pandemic">Fox News</a> Los Angeles.
In a press release, Newsom revealed that local governments “will receive up to 75 percent cost-share reimbursements from FEMA for hotel rooms and motel rooms,” including expenses related to security, maintenance, and food, according to a press release.
World Central Kitchen, a nonprofit organization that provides meals in disaster zones, will be providing meals at select locations. Furthermore, the initiative will also include partnerships with nonprofit and local government organizations to provide “essential behavioral health and health care services” to homeless people.
“Homeless Californian’s are incredibly vulnerable to COVID-19 and often have no option to self-isolate or social-distance,” said the governor. “By helping the most vulnerable homeless individuals off the street and into isolation, California can slow the spread of COVID-19 through homeless populations, lower the number of people infected and protect critical healthcare resources.”
“We’re working hard with our county partners to get these hotels up and running as rapidly as possible,” said Newsom.
According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the state of California had <a href="https://files.hudexchange.info/reports/published/CoC_PopSub_State_CA_2019.pdf">approximately 150,000</a> homeless people in 2019, and as recently as 2017, the state’s homeless population accounted for approximately one in four of the nation’s homeless people. 
As <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ca-gov-newsom-has-magic-plan-to-solve-homeless-problem-ted-cruz-hits-him-with-reality">The Daily Wire</a> has previously reported, Newsom publicly floated a particularly odd vision for addressing the homeless crisis in February, declaring that he wants to live in a world where doctors can “write prescriptions for housing the same way they do for insulin or antibiotics.”
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Doctors should be able to write prescriptions for housing the same way they do for insulin or antibiotics.
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) <a href="https://twitter.com/GavinNewsom/status/1230889348167434240?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 21, 2020</a></blockquote>
In response to the governor’s statement, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) blasted him for demonstrating the problem with the left-wing mindset.
“This is the Leftist mind: write a slip of paper &amp; a house will magically appear,” said Cruz. “Never mind that the person doesn’t have a job, the contractor can’t get a CA permit to build the house, rent control has caused a housing shortage &amp; homeless people are crapping on the doorstep.”
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This is the Leftist mind: write a slip of paper &amp; a house will magically appear. Never mind that the person doesn’t have a job, the contractor can’t get a CA permit to build the house, rent control has caused a housing shortage &amp; homeless people are crapping on the doorstep. <a href="https://t.co/giz3z7vHFB">https://t.co/giz3z7vHFB</a>
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) <a href="https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1231996492057063427?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 24, 2020</a></blockquote>

Governor Gavin Newsom

California Begins Hotel Rooms For The Homeless Initiative, Includes FEMA Reimbursements

California

homeless

To mask or not to mask. That is the question, Whether &#8217;tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of not wearing a mask, or, to don one, take arms against a wave of germ-ridden airballs, and, by opposing, end the coronavirus? (Deep apologies to The Bard.)
You&#8217;ve been out there. You know. Everyone&#8217;s wearing a mask. The White House coronavirus task force for a while said masks weren’t needed. Now, those top guys say yeah, wear a mask.
“Because of some recent information that the virus can actually be spread even when people just speak as opposed to coughing and sneezing – the better part of valor is that when you’re out, when you can’t maintain that 6-foot distance, to wear some sort of facial covering,” Dr. Anthony Fauci said Friday morning on <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/shows/fox-and-friends" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">&#8220;Fox &amp; Friends.&#8221;</a>
The masks don&#8217;t really help you from catching the virus, even N95 respirators, physicians says, but those same physicians are now saying they most definitely do help keep people from spreading the virus. And with half of people who have the virus showing no symptoms, that may be key.
For the last few weeks, since the virus has been spreading across the U.S., Americans were told by both the Trump administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) – as well as the World Health Organization (WHO) – that only those who had underlying health issues should wear face masks, and that the surgical masks and N95 protective gear should be reserved for health care workers.
Trump said in his daily briefing Friday that Americans can mask or not mask.
&#8220;In light of these studies, the CDC is advising the use of non-medical cloth face covering as an additional voluntary public health measure&#8221; Trump said at the White House on Friday.
&#8220;So it&#8217;s voluntary, you don&#8217;t have to do it,&#8221; Trump said. &#8220;This is voluntary. I don&#8217;t think I&#8217;m going to be doing it.&#8221;
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Trump announces the CDC is now recommending people wear face coverings to stop spread of coronavirus, but then immediately says &quot;I don&#39;t think I&#39;m going to be doing it.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/GRDLrNNJMD">pic.twitter.com/GRDLrNNJMD</a>
&mdash; Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) <a href="https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1246189075515805705?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 3, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Fauci said the new face mask guidelines should not diminish the availability of such supplies for frontline health care workers, who have been finding personal protective equipment in short supply.
“The important point to emphasize though is that that should in no way ever take away from the availability of masks that are needed for the health care providers who are in real and present danger of getting infected from the people that they are taking care of,” Fauci said Friday morning. “This is an addendum and in addition to the physical separation, not as a substitute for it.”
If you&#8217;ve been to the grocery store lately, you&#8217;ve seen many people wearing masks. The governors of Colorado and Pennsylvania on Friday urged residents to wear masks when out in public to try to stem the spread of the coronavirus.
&#8220;@GovofCO is asking all Coloradoans to wear cloth coverings when they are going out of the house to do things like go to the grocery store. However, the Governor says non-medical masks should be worn to save resources,&#8221; reporter Meghan Lopez wrote on Twitter.
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<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/breaking?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#breaking</a>: <a href="https://twitter.com/GovofCO?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@GovofCO</a> is asking all Coloradoans to wear cloth coverings when they are going out of the house to do things like go to the grocery store. However, the Governor says non-medical masks should be worn to save resources. <a href="https://twitter.com/DenverChannel?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DenverChannel</a> <a href="https://t.co/Y4kTlWquGo">pic.twitter.com/Y4kTlWquGo</a>
&mdash; Meghan Lopez (@Meghan_Lopez) <a href="https://twitter.com/Meghan_Lopez/status/1246166925975130114?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 3, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Crowds of Asian people wearing face protection while going to their workplace in Bangkok at morning rush hour

ABOUT FACE: White House Now Suggesting Americans Wear Face Coverings

A new analysis from Washington Post Beijing bureau chief Anna Fifield suggests that the real number of people who have died from the coronavirus in Wuhan, China, where the virus originated, is more than 16 times higher than the number reported by communist China.
The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/chinese-families-should-be-sweeping-graves-now-but-thousands-still-havent-buried-their-dead/2020/04/03/5a6daa50-7234-11ea-ad9b-254ec99993bc_story.html">reported</a>:
<blockquote>The coronavirus pandemic ravaging the globe officially claimed 2,563 lives in Wuhan, where it began in a market that sold exotic animals for consumption. But evidence emerging from the city as it stirs from its two-month hibernation suggests the real death toll is exponentially higher. &#8230;
Using photos posted online, social media sleuths have estimated that Wuhan funeral homes had returned 3,500 urns a day since March 23. That would imply a death toll in Wuhan of about 42,000 — or 16 times the official number. Another widely shared calculation, based on Wuhan’s 84 furnaces running nonstop and each cremation taking an hour, put the death toll at 46,800.</blockquote>
The analysis from The Washington Post comes after Bloomberg News reported this week that U.S. intelligence officials have presented President Donald Trump with a highly classified report that confirmed that China lied about the extent of the outbreak.
“China’s public reporting on cases and deaths is intentionally incomplete,” Bloomberg News <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-01/china-concealed-extent-of-virus-outbreak-u-s-intelligence-says">reported</a>, according to three U.S. officials that it spoke to. “Two of the officials said the report concludes that China’s numbers are fake.”
Vice President Mike Pence told CNN this week: “The reality is that we could have been better off if China had been more forthcoming. What appears evident now is that long before the world learned in December that China was dealing with this, and maybe as much as a month earlier than that, that the outbreak was real in China.”
White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx also indicated this week that China&#8217;s lying about the extent of the outbreak harmed the rest of the world.
“When you talk about could we have known something different, you know, I think all of us, I was overseas when this happened in Africa and I think when you look at the China data originally, and you said, there’s 80 million people, or 20 million people in Wuhan and 80 million people in Hubei, and they come up with the number of 50,000, you start thinking of this more like SARS than you do this kind of global pandemic,” Birx said.
Birx said that when U.S. officials looked at the data from China during the first days of the outbreak that she did not think that it would be a global pandemic based on the data that China provided.
“So, I think the medical community interpreted the Chinese data as this was serious, but smaller than anyone expected because I think probably we were missing a significant amount of the data” from China, Birx added.
Communist China also has a history of lying about epidemic outbreaks that originate within its borders.
The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/21/world/the-sars-epidemic-epidemic-china-admits-underreporting-its-sars-cases.html">reported</a> on the SARS outbreak in April 2003:
<blockquote>In a rare public admission of failure, if not deception, the Chinese government disclosed today that cases of a dangerous new respiratory disease were many times higher than previously reported, and stripped two top officials of their power.
…
Admitting to the existence of more than 200 previously undisclosed SARS patients in military hospitals, the official, Deputy Health Minister Gao Qiang, said that as of Friday Beijing had 339 confirmed cases of SARS and an additional 402 suspected cases.
Ten days ago, Health Minister Zhang Wenkang said there were only 22 confirmed SARS cases in Beijing. Last Wednesday, the World Health Organization caused a stir here by estimating that there could be as many as 100 to 200 cases.</blockquote>
This report has been updated to include additional information.

CHINA-BEIJING-LEADERS-TREE PLANTING (CN)

Washington Post: ‘Evidence’ Coming Out Of Wuhan Suggests Real Death Toll Over 40,000

China

Washington Post

Amidst a wave of stay-at-home orders and business closures, Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez seem to have received special treatment at a local gym near their Miami home Wednesday afternoon. 
According to <a href="https://pagesix.com/2020/04/02/jennifer-lopez-alex-rodriguez-go-to-gym-despite-stay-home-order/">Page Six</a>, the couple was spotted leaving a closed gym earlier this week, with the singer sporting workout attire and the former baseball star plugged into a pair of headphones.
According to the news agency, a sign on the gym door says “This gym is not open. Stay home stay safe.” But the gym seems to have allowed the couple special access, including the ability to squeeze in one more workout session. 
While the gym visit occurred the same day Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) declared a stay-at-home order, effective early Friday morning, Miami-Dade county has been under a stay-at-home order since late last month and has also already explicitly banned gyms from staying open, reports <a href="https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/04/03/coronavirus-doesnt-keep-jennifer-lopez-and-alex-rodriguez-from-their-miami-gym/">The Mercury News</a>. 
While the couple may have flaunted the county’s stay-at-home order to go to the gym, they otherwise seem to have been taking the coronavirus pandemic seriously, having announced a partnership with Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson to donate two million meals to the hunger relief organization Feeding America, reports the news agency. 
According to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-stay-at-home-order.html">The New York Times</a>, Florida has joined over 35 other states who have instituted statewide stay-at-home orders, and in total, local and regional stay-at-home orders have affected over 297 million people. 
As The Daily Wire previously reported, during a Wednesday segment on Fox News, DeSantis <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/florida-governor-desantis-gives-update-on-lockdown-order">responded</a> to complaints alleging that he delayed the statewide stay-at-home order too long, and explained that highly impacted local counties, such as Miami-Dade, were already instituting similar orders before the statewide order was issued.  
“Well, just so your viewers know, Southeast Florida has about 60 percent of our cases. We have done stay-at-home in conjunction with the mayor of Miami-Dade. So they’ve been under restrictions for a couple of weeks now,” said DeSantis. “I had some counties – I mean, I have counties of half a million people that have only a handful of cases, so we have not done it state-wide. But in our hotspot that had been done.”
“Now with the president doing the extra 30 days, my view is, look, the country has hit the pause button. We’ve hit the pause button. This is the number one, two, three priority,” DeSantis continued. “I know there was talk about getting the economy back a little sooner, but I think that unless we just deal with this – and so I felt it made sense to extend it statewide.”
“Obviously, we have a lot of parts of Florida that haven’t been hit as hard as Miami or Broward, but we want to keep it that way, and we don’t want to see more spread in those areas, it’s just Southeast Florida that’s kind of our epicenter,” DeSantis added. “We’ve put a lot of resources down there. We don’t want there to be a massive surge obviously, but we’ve got a lot of resources staged there. So I think it’s the best policy for the state at this time.”

US-ENTERTAINMENT-FASHION-CFDA

Florida Gym Seemingly Left Open For Jennifer Lopez And Alex Rodriguez

Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO) published <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/sen-cory-gardner-coronavirus-spread-because-of-chinese-communist-partys-ineptitude-and-deceptions">an op-ed</a> for Fox News on Friday heavily criticizing China over the communist nation’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak, which originated in the city of Wuhan.
Gardner explained how the coronavirus “appears to have quickly evolved so it can be transmitted from human to human, making it a highly infectious pathogen,” allowing more than 1 million people to become infected around the world, killing more than 50,000, and bringing “the global economy to a halt.” As Gardner explained, the Chinese Communist Party is to blame for the spread the virus:
Doctors in Wuhan began sounding the alarm early on, as patients with serious symptoms began filling Chinese hospitals in December. Dr. Li Wenliang, a doctor in Wuhan, began alerting his former medical school classmates in December about COVID-19 and its similarities to another disease that caused a global crisis in 2002: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).
Instead of heeding these warnings from experts on the frontlines, the Chinese Communist Party concealed information and punished Dr. Li. He was reprimanded by Communist Party officials at his hospital and forced to write a letter criticizing himself for leaking information.
On Jan. 1, before much of the world would learn of COVID-19, the Wuhan Public Security Bureau summoned eight doctors to publicly admonish them for spreading “rumors” surrounding the new disease.
As The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/heres-a-timeline-of-the-coronavirus-outbreak-and-chinas-coverup">reported</a>, China spent January trying to suppress information about the virus. The communist nation ordered health care facilities that had pneumonia samples to move them to designated testing facilities or destroy them. They were also issued a gag order.
It wasn’t until mid-January that American media outlets started reporting on the cluster of pneumonia cases in China. Around the same time, Chinese state-controlled media outlets reported the outbreak was “under control” and downplayed the virus as mild.
Throughout January, China continued to suppress doctors who spoke out about the virus and ordered journalists to delete photos and footage taken from a hospital in Wuhan. The nation also severely downplayed the risk of human-to-human contact.
“Even now, the Chinese Communist Party refuses to admit fault and instead proclaims itself the model of how to contain the virus. Chinese leaders have spread venomous propaganda that COVID-19 originated in the U.S. – even though the vast majority of the evidence indicates the disease originated in a ‘wet market’ in Wuhan,” Gardner wrote. “We have no reason to believe the number of COVID-19 cases reported by China is accurate. Now the health of every individual and economy around the world is threatened because of Chinese attempts to hide the truth.”
The U.S. has nearly 250,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and nearly 6,000 deaths as a result.
Gardner did provide hope for those struggling with the economic shutdown that has occurred in the wake of the outbreak.
“We will come together in this time of need and we will persevere through this crisis as we have many others, but we would have never faced this if not for the Chinese Communist Party’s ineptitude and deceptions,” Gardner concluded.
It should be noted that Gardner is seeking re-election in November.

Cory Gardner

Senator Criticizes China Over Coronavirus ‘Ineptitude And Deceptions’

Though he has not advocated a national lockdown, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government&#8217;s leading infectious disease expert, said he does not understand why some states have been reluctant to issue stay-at-home orders.
Speaking with CNN&#8217;s Anderson Cooper on Thursday night town hall, Fauci said that the minority of governors who not yet issued a stay-at-home order should implement one soon. Currently, more than <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/23/us/coronavirus-which-states-stay-at-home-order-trnd/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">30 states and the District of Columbia</a> have participated in this.
&#8220;I don&#8217;t understand why that&#8217;s not happening,&#8221; Fauci said. &#8220;You know, the tension between federally mandated versus states&#8217; rights to do what they want is something I don&#8217;t want to get into. But if you look at what&#8217;s going on in this country, I just don&#8217;t understand why we&#8217;re not doing that.&#8221;
As noted by <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/23/us/coronavirus-which-states-stay-at-home-order-trnd/index.html">CNN</a>, has resisted implementing a national shutdown in the name federalism in order to give states flexibility to handle the problem as they best see fit.
&#8220;You have to look &#8212; you have to give a little flexibility,&#8221; Trump said during Wednesday&#8217;s press conference. &#8220;If you have a state in the Midwest, or if Alaska, for example, doesn&#8217;t have a problem, it&#8217;s awfully tough to say, &#8216;close it down.&#8217; We have to have a little bit of flexibility.&#8221;
Alaska and several key mid-western states, including Ohio and Vice President Mike Pence&#8217;s home state of Indiana, have implemented their own lockdown.
Fauci later stressed that relaxing social distancing too early could lead to more deaths, which could further prolong the problem.
&#8220;If you back off, and you don&#8217;t mitigate, there is a possibility that number (of deaths) will go up,&#8221; said Fauci. &#8220;And that is the worst possible thing in the world you want to see. And that&#8217;s the reason why I am so adamant about when we say we have got to follow those guidelines, you really got to take it seriously.&#8221;
Other governors have called upon states to implement their own lockdowns, asserting that the virus is unavoidable.
&#8220;Our message is this: &#8216;What are you waiting for?'&#8221; California Gov. Gavin Newsom told CNN Wednesday. &#8220;What more evidence do you need? If you think it&#8217;s not going to happen to you, there are many proof points all across this country; for that matter, around the rest of the world.&#8221;
Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer also called for a &#8220;national strategy instead of a patchwork of policies&#8221; when combatting the virus.
&#8220;That&#8217;s why I think it&#8217;s important that we governors are leading and showing the way and being aggressive,&#8221; Whitmer said on CNN. &#8220;I&#8217;m grateful that I have great, you know, colleagues here in the Midwest in particular. We&#8217;ve been pretty aggressive as a geography, and I think that&#8217;s important.&#8221;
It should be noted that Gov. Whitmer said this after <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/michigan-governor-claims-feds-wont-deliver-coronavirus-supplies-to-state-refuses-to-provide-proof">providing zero proof</a> that the federal government was not helping her state with coronavirus supplies. She also <a href="https://www.metrotimes.com/news-hits/archives/2020/03/31/gov-whitmer-reverses-course-on-coronavirus-drugs-is-now-asking-feds-for-hydroxychloroquine-and-chloroquine">reversed course</a> after instructing medical professionals in her state not to prescribe the drug hydroxychloroquine, which the Trump administration has been pushing to combat COVID-19.
“Prescribing any kind of prescription must also be associated with medical documentation showing proof of the medical necessity and medical condition for which the patient is being treated. Again, these are drugs that have not been proven scientifically or medically to treat COVID-19,” said a letter from the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs.

Dr. Fauci: ‘I Don’t Understand Why’ Every State Has Not Implemented A Lockdown

Anthony Fauci

While the economy-crushing coronavirus shutdowns are wreaking havoc in just about every industry, the plastic industry is seeing, at least temporarily, one &#8220;win&#8221;: A growing number of liberal cities and states that have imposed bans or fees on single-use plastic bags are reversing their policies amid concerns about the health risks posed by reusable bags.
&#8220;In the latest sign of how dramatically the coronavirus pandemic is altering the social landscape, even the liberal San Francisco Bay Area this week banned reusable grocery bags as a sanitary measure, dismaying recycling advocates who say durable sacks should still be allowed at stores,&#8221; <a href="https://www.politico.com/states/california/story/2020/04/01/its-come-to-this-liberal-san-francisco-bay-area-bans-reusable-grocery-bags-1270319">Politico</a> reported earlier this week.
The famously radical-left city&#8217;s Department of Public Health announced the temporary reversal of its 2007 plastic bag ban on Tuesday as part of an update to its coronavirus &#8220;stay-at-home&#8221; order. The new ordinance restricts customers from bringing into stores their own reusable items, like bags and mugs.
As usual, San Francisco is leading the way in terms of severity of  its ban effort, imposing what Politico&#8217;s Debra Kahn describes as &#8220;the most stringent coronavirus-related restriction placed on reusable bags in California.&#8221;
&#8220;[F]aced with the realities of the coronavirus, the city’s leaders have realized that excessive environmentalism isn’t always compatible with the realities of the world we live in today,&#8221; Hot Air&#8217;s <a href="https://hotair.com/archives/jazz-shaw/2020/04/03/plastic-bag-bans-completely-reversed/">Jazz Shaw</a> writes. &#8220;As such, the ban has been not only lifted but reversed. Reusable bags are now banned in the City by the Bay.&#8221;
In other words, the city that once led the nation in reusable bag enforcement is now one of the first to officially ban them.
And, as Shaw notes, San Francisco isn&#8217;t the only progressive city reversing course on the plastic bag ban &#8212; &#8220;Maine, New York and Massachusetts have all either suspended their plastic bag bans or halted enforcement of the regulations,&#8221; he writes.
Meanwhile, as reported by Politico, the plastic industry is pushing hard for their cause across the country, lobbying on the federal level as well as some key states, including New York and New Jersey, &#8220;asserting that often-unwashed reusable bags are hotbeds for the coronavirus, which early research suggests can remain on surfaces.&#8221;
Along with the plastic ban reversal in San Francisco, other &#8220;environmentally-friendly&#8221; efforts have been abandoned by the general populace, with people rushing out to their local grocery stores to buy up all of the bottled water, while companies impose their own bans on reusable items, including Starbucks and Coffee Bean.
Environmentalists are trying to push back, but so far to no avail. Kahn cites Californians Against Waste Executive Director Mark Murray chiding the &#8220;misguided&#8221; anti-reusable bag movement, but also expressing some sympathy. &#8220;This fear of bringing reusable bags into the stores is misguided, but I certainly understand why store employees don&#8217;t want to handle somebody else&#8217;s things,&#8221; said Murray. &#8220;I wouldn&#8217;t have any expectation that somebody is going to put my groceries into my bag that I brought from home.&#8221;
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/fauci-you-cant-rely-on-the-models-too-many-variables">Experts Question WH Coronavirus Projections; Fauci: ‘You Can’t Rely On The Models,’ Too Many Variables</a>

Target Bags

Liberal Cities Reverse Plastic Bag Bans, Ban Reusable Bags; Plastic Industry Lobbies For More

Environmentalism

San Francisco

On Thursday night, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) reacted to the scathing letter President Trump sent him on Thursday, clutching his pearls and huffing, “I’m just appalled.”
Schumer stated, “And so about two weeks ago, I called the president and said, &#8216;Why don’t you invoke the Defense Production Act?&#8217; That’s an act on the books from the Truman administration and it says that the military can commandeer both manufacturing and distribution when there’s a national emergency or a war. The president said he’d do it and then three hours later he said no.”
Schumer continued, “And now, he hasn’t done it, and we sort of have this patchwork, where governors and mayors, my governor, my mayor, they’re doing good jobs, but they’re going around looking for ventilators, looking for masks. It’s uncoordinated and it’s a patchwork.”
Then Schumer referenced the letter he had written to Trump earlier on Thursday that prompted Trump’s withering response.
<blockquote>So this morning I sent the president a letter and said, &#8220;Why don’t you invoke the Defense Production Act and put in place a military person? Somebody who knows command and control, someone who knows logistics, someone who knows quarter-mastering, to not only commandeer factories and supply chains to make the stuff that we need, desperately need, but also to distribute it in the places that are most needed so not the 50 governors will be hunting and pecking.&#8221;</blockquote>
Then Schumer started complaining:
<blockquote>And then I spoke to the president late this afternoon and explained it and the result is this letter. And so I’m just appalled. I say to the president, “Just stop the pettiness. People are dying.” And so, President Trump, we need leadership, we need to get the job done. Stop the pettiness. Let’s get it done. Let’s roll up our sleeves. I sent the letter with the best of intentions, trying to improve a very bad situation.”</blockquote>
Schumer’s <a href="https://www.democrats.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Letter.POTUS.re%20COVID-19%20Mil%20Off.pdf">letter</a>, with the “best of intentions,” contained statements such as “the tardiness and inadequacy of this Administration’s response to the crisis becomes more painfully evident,” “The existing federal leadership void has left America with an ugly spectacle,” and “our national response is far behind where it should be.”
Trump’s letter <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/read-trumps-devastating-open-letter-to-schumer-i-never-knew-how-bad-a-senator-you-are">roared back</a>:
<blockquote>If you spent less time on your ridiculous impeachment hoax, which went haplessly on forever and ended up going nowhere (except increasing my poll numbers) and instead focused on helping the people of New York, then New York would not have been so completely unprepared for the “invisible enemy.”  No wonder AOC and others are thinking about running against you in the primary.  If they did, they would likely win.
Fortunately, we have been working with your state and city governments, Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio to get the job done.  You have been missing in action except when it comes to the “press.”  While you have stated that you don’t like Andrew Cuomo, you ought to start working alongside him for the good of all New Yorkers.
I’ve known you for many years, but I never knew how bad a Senator you are for the state of New York until I became President.</blockquote>
H/T <a href="https://townhall.com/tipsheet/leahbarkoukis/2020/04/03/schumer-appalled-at-trumps-letter-n2566286">Townhall</a>

Senate Takes Up Coronavirus Relief Bill Passed By House

Schumer Huffs Of Trump’s Scathing Letter: ‘I’m Just Appalled’

Charles Schumer

ABC “Nightline” host Byron Pitts, a devout Christian, used his final question Wednesday evening to ask Vice President Mike Pence if he talks to God about the Americans who have died or will died “because of steps the federal government did not take soon enough.”
“Mr. Vice President I have a final question for you. I &#8212; and I ask this not in a political way, but for you, sir, like so many of us in our nation, are you a person of deep faith. No one doubts that. When you talk to God in your moments alone, do you find yourself worrying at all that people you represent and care deeply about have died and will die who did not need to because of steps the federal government did not take soon enough?” Pitts asked, according to <a href="https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/curtis-houck/2020/04/02/abcs-pitts-pence-do-you-talk-god-about-those-who-died-because-you">a transcript</a> from Newsbusters.
Pence ignored the implication and instead focused on coming together and fighting the virus.
“Well, thank you for mentioning that we are talking about one American at a time and I promise you, that&#8217;s the way President Trump thinks of this, it&#8217;s the way I think of it. We wanted the American people to see the numbers so that we understand the challenging days that lie ahead, but I want people to know that our future is in your hands, that if every one of us will do and put into practice the Guidelines for America that we can bring those numbers down. I &#8212; I really do believe we&#8217;ll get through this and we&#8217;ll come out stronger than ever before,” Pence responded.
Pitts also asked Pence why the Trump administration wouldn’t give a national stay-at-home order, even though the vast majority of the country is currently under one at the state level. In another question, Pitts asked Pence why he keeps hearing from doctors and nurses that they are low on supplies when President Donald Trump says every day that resources are being sent to the states.
“Vice President Pence, bridge this gap for me if you would. You and the President have insisted that resources are available by the thousands for states who need them. But yet, governors, Republicans and Democrats, say they don&#8217;t have what they need. On our air every single night, sir, we have doctors, nurses, foot soldiers on the ground who, with tears in their eyes, say they don&#8217;t have what they need. How do you explain that discrepancy?” Pitts asked.
In the same interview, Pence told Pitts that Americans should limit church services to no more than 10 people and that he and his wife Karen Pence were “enjoying worship services online.”
“We’re so grateful to churches and synagogues and places of worship around America that have heeded the president’s coronavirus guidelines for America,” Pence said, <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/04/01/mike-pence-tells-americans-to-avoid-large-church-gatherings-amid-coronavirus/">according to</a> the New York Post.
“We really believe this is a time when people should avoid gatherings of more than 10 people,” he added, “and so we continue to urge churches around America to heed to that.”
Pence suggested that if everyone comes together and follows social distancing guidelines, we will hopefully be through the worst of the coronavirus by Memorial Day.

Mike Pence

Nightline Hosts Asks Pence If He Talks To God About People Who Died From Alleged Government Inaction On Coronavirus

On Thursday, conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh addressed the question of why California is not experiencing New York-like percentages of coronavirus cases and suggested that social distancing measures alone would not explain the significant disparity between the two states.
Dr. Deborah Birx, a leading member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force has seemingly <a href="https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30385249?utm_source=bottom_relate&amp;utm_medium=internal_referral">credited</a> early &#8220;social distancing&#8221; for the major discrepancy between California and hard-hit New York, but Limbaugh is skeptical that a state-wide <a href="https://apnews.com/52f7fc77cce85060ad1cf73297b7cd45">two-day head start</a> on &#8220;social distancing&#8221; measures did the trick.
As of Friday morning, there are <a href="https://www.bing.com/covid/local/california_unitedstates">215</a> coronavirus-associated deaths in California (population 40 million), and <a href="https://www.bing.com/covid/local/newyork_unitedstates">2,373</a> in New York (population 20 million).
&#8220;I have to get something off my chest here,&#8221; <a href="https://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2020/04/02/what-i-think-really-happened-in-california/">Limbaugh</a> started. &#8220;For the past three days, I, El Rushbo, have been asking why California has not had more coronavirus cases and more coronavirus deaths. There are 40 million people.&#8221;
&#8220;This is the number of COVID-19 cases per million population. And West Virginia number one, 106,&#8221; the host detailed. &#8220;There are no Chinese there to speak of. Nebraska, ditto. California, 248 cases per million population. Forty million people in California. The number of cases is statistically tiny compared to the size of that state. New York City, 4,312 cases per million population. This is cases, not deaths.&#8221;
&#8220;Now, I’ve been asking why California hasn’t had more cases given the number of Chinese that come into that state, the large number of Chinese that live there,&#8221; he continued.
California officials are crediting their head start on social distancing measures, Limbaugh said. &#8220;Okay. Well, when did they start social distancing?&#8221; he asked. &#8220;Are you ready to be a little surprised? California ordered social distancing only 13 days ago. They didn’t order social distancing in December. They didn’t order social distancing in January. California did not order social distancing in February. They ordered it 13 days ago.&#8221;
&#8220;Do you know when New York state ordered social distancing?&#8221; the conservative asked. &#8220;Eleven days ago.&#8221;
&#8220;We are supposed to believe that two days made all the difference in the number of cases between California and New York?&#8221; Limbaugh said skeptically. &#8220;California, again, 248 cases of COVID-19 per million population. New York, 4,312. California began social distancing two days before New York. De Blasio wouldn’t even shut down the schools until recently, you remember? I don’t know how two days of social distancing before New York started it, New York state started it, could have this big a difference. It just doesn’t jibe.&#8221;
Limbaugh continued: &#8220;This time of year in California is warmer than New York. Almost nobody uses public transportation in much of California, particularly compared to the population center of New York state, which is New York City. The number of people walking on the streets in Los Angeles is infinitesimally small compared to the number of people walking on the streets in New York. Los Angeles is in fact a big, gigantic suburb with a little hub of a downtown where very few people live. And yet we’re being told that two days, a two-day head start in social distancing is the difference?&#8221;
&#8220;It can’t be. There have to be other reasons,&#8221; the host emphasized. &#8220;Why won’t somebody be honest about what they are, what they possibly are?&#8221;
&#8220;Well, because we’re being governed right now by social models, which tell us that social distancing is the only thing we can do,&#8221; explained the 69-year-old. &#8220;And in order to effect social distancing, we have to shut down.&#8221;
Limbaugh, clearly unconvinced &#8220;social distancing&#8221; is the key factor in keeping the COVID-19 death toll low, posited a theory of herd immunity, suggesting the novel coronavirus has already built up significant immunity in the state:
<blockquote>Let me just tell you what I think it is. I’m a layman. I’m just telling you what I think. I’m not a medical guy. I’m not telling you with ontological certitude. I think it is herd immunity that took place in California in December. A lot of people had something; they didn’t know what it was. It wasn’t flu. They lived through it. They got past it. That’s what I think happened in California.</blockquote>
The same theory was floated by politico <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/03/coronavirus-pandemic-california-herd-immunity/">Victor Davis Hanson</a> at National Review on Tuesday.
&#8220;One less-mentioned hypothesis is that California, as a front-line state, may have rather rapidly developed a greater level of herd immunity than other states, given that hints, anecdotes, and some official indications from both China and Italy that, again, the virus may well have been spreading abroad far earlier than the first recorded case in the U.S. —and likely from the coasts inward,&#8221; wrote Hanson. &#8220;So given the state’s unprecedented direct air access to China, and given its large expatriate and tourist Chinese communities, especially in its huge denser metropolitan corridors in Los Angeles and the Bay Area, it could be that what thousands of Californians experienced as an unusually &#8216;early&#8217; and &#8216;bad&#8217; flu season might have also reflected an early coronavirus epidemic, suggesting that many more Californians per capita than in other states may have acquired immunity to the virus.&#8221;
However, Akiko Iwasaki, a virologist at the Yale School of Medicine, is skeptical, noting that herd immunity is typically associated with vaccination. <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/03/coronavirus-pandemic-herd-immunity-uk-boris-johnson/608065/">The Atlantic</a> reported:
<blockquote>Herd immunity is typically generated through vaccination, and while it could arise through widespread infection, “you don’t rely on the very deadly infectious agent to create an immune population,” says <a href="https://medicine.yale.edu/profile/akiko_iwasaki/" data-omni-click="r'article',r'',d,r'intext',r'5',r'None'">Akiko Iwasaki</a>, a virologist at the Yale School of Medicine. </blockquote>
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Partial transcript via <a href="https://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2020/04/02/what-i-think-really-happened-in-california/">RushLimbaugh.com</a> 
</div>

Rush Limbaugh

Rush Limbaugh Offers Theory About Low Coronavirus Deaths In California

New York

A blood test to determine who has been infected by SARS-CoV-2 is one thing, but a test to find out who has already had it is a whole different kettle of fish.
Because the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 can infect some people with absolutely no symptoms, an unknown number of people who are likely holed up in their homes have already been infected and are therefore immune. As the virus continues to sweep across the country, a test to find out who is immune will be key to re-opening the economy.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has now authorized the first blood test, known as a serology test, to look for antibodies in the blood.  Cellex Inc., a medical device company based in North Carolina, says the test could help physicians determine how widespread the virus is and the duration of immunity for people after they recover.
&#8220;Based on the totality of scientific evidence available to FDA, it is reasonable to believe that your product may be effective in diagnosing COVID-19,&#8217;  FDA chief scientist Denise Hinton wrote in a <a class="class" href="https://www.fda.gov/media/136622/download" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener">letter</a> to James Li, CEO of Cellex. &#8220;The known and potential benefits of your product when used for diagnosing COVID-19 outweigh the known and potential risks of your product.&#8221;
&#8220;Current diagnostic tests, known as RT-PCR, are invasive and use genetic analysis to see if a person is actively infected,&#8221; <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/antibody-tests-key-ending-covid-19-lockdowns-162305617.html">Agence France Presse</a> reported.
<blockquote>&#8220;Serologic testing, which only requires a drop of blood to conduct, focuses instead on finding virus antibodies, the presence of which indicates that an individual has had COVID-19 and is now likely immune. &#8220;Antibodies are one of the key immune response components. They start to be detectable around a week after initial infection,&#8221; said Andrew Preston, a reader in Microbial Pathogenesis at the University of Bath.
There are two types of antibodies associated with the COVID-19 immune response: IgM, which the body produces in the early stages of viral response, and IgG, which arrive later on during infection. The tests being developed can identify both antibodies, key hallmarks of a patient&#8217;s auto-immune response to the virus.
&#8220;Thus there is great interest in the use of an antibody test to indicate immunity against disease for use in the lifting of lockdown restrictions,&#8221; said Preston.</blockquote>
&#8220;In a vast majority of infectious diseases, recovery from disease and evidence of a strong immune response would lead to a period of immunity from re-occurrence,&#8221; he said.
Antibodies against the novel coronavirus are &#8220;generally detectable in blood several days after initial infection,&#8221; according to the FDA.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also says it is working on its own serology test. Such tests are already in use for other illnesses and any new test for coronavirus antibodies can be analyzed in labs using existing hardware.
Once millions of people are tested, those who have antibodies can emerge from their homes and get back to work. &#8220;The main question is how to ensure everyone can return to work,&#8221; Francois Blanchecotte, president of the French Union of Biologists, told AFP.
&nbsp;

Coronavirus Positive Blood Test And Syringe

FDA Gives Emergency Approval To Blood Test To Find Who Has Antibodies, Is Immune To SARS-CoV-2

On Thursday, a photo was posted of the No. 2 train in Manhattan at 6 p.m. showing people jammed into it despite the efforts by New York City to implement social distancing among people.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Open the image to see the caption. 
I am speechless. 
New York is in deep trouble&#8230;which means all of us are. <a href="https://t.co/S99fr2KTHX">pic.twitter.com/S99fr2KTHX</a>
&mdash; Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) <a href="https://twitter.com/yashar/status/1245907325023432704?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 3, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
There’s no way of knowing how many people on the train were working essential jobs necessary even in the midst of the coronavirus crisis and were risking their health to travel to them, but the picture was a disturbing reminder of how much the crisis has made normal life subject to rancorous debate as to how to act.  The cost of traveling by taxi or a car service such as Uber or Lyft could inhibit people from taking alternate methods of transportation.
On Tuesday, New York Gov. <a href="https://thehill.com/people/andrew-cuomo">Andrew Cuomo</a>, ordering the closing of the city’s playgrounds, <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/490623-cuomo-says-nypd-needs-to-enforce-social-distancing-rules">stated</a> that he might be forced to mandate social distancing measures, saying, &#8220;The NYPD has to get more aggressive. Period. Period. If you&#8217;re going to force me into a position where I have to mandate it, and make it a law, a social distancing law, which I think is absurd, but it has to be enforced. I&#8217;ve said this 100 different ways, but compliance is still not where it should be. How reckless and irresponsible and selfish for people not to do it on their own? I mean, what else do you have to know? What else do you have to hear? Who else has to die for you to understand you have a responsibility in this?&#8221;
Prior to that, on March 22 Cuomo <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/03/22/cuomo-gives-city-24-hours-to-address-crowding-in-parks-amid-coronavirus/">said</a> he was giving New York City 24 hours to make sure residents stayed away from parks, addressing Mayor Bill de Blasio and City Council Speaker Corey Johnson and saying, “It has to be reduced and it has to be reduced fast, and that’s why I’m asking for a plan from them in 24 hours. I could make those decisions in New York City.  But I think they’re in a better position to do it. They know the problem. They see it. I mean, it’s all over the place. It’s not that you need a microscope to find this. It’s all over the city. Now, maybe it was a nice day yesterday, whatever.”
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio followed on March 27 by <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/03/27/coronavirus-in-ny-fines-may-come-for-social-distancing-violators-de-blasio-says/">warning</a> that residents might face $500 fines for violating social distancing rules, saying, “We have seen some non-compliance that is really of concern,” adding, “I don’t want people to be penalized in a time when there is so much economic distress … but I need people to listen. I’m asking my fellow New Yorkers to take it seriously or else there will have to be more severe measures.”
On Friday, <a href="https://www.amny.com/coronavirus/interactive-map-shows-if-people-in-new-york-city-are-actually-staying-home-due-to-social-distancing/">AMNY</a> reported that there has been a radical shift in how many people were traveling from home:
<blockquote>A new study sought to find out if social distancing is really working in the country’s major cities by seeing if people are actually staying home during the pandemic. The study, hosted by Voro, used the CityMapper app to track how many users in New York City were planning trips by car, mass transit and walking. As of April 1, New York City residents are planning 7% as many trips as usual, compared to 100% on March 2.
Based on the data from CityMapper, New York City saw a slight uptick in ridership between March 2-8. However, by March 9 the number of planned trips began to decrease, eventually dropping to 85% on March 11.Between March 11-19, the number of planned trips fell dramatically, eventually leveling out at 13%. The days following saw smaller decreases in ridership, settling at 7% by April 1.</blockquote>

34th Street Subway Station in New York City

Photo From N.Y. Subway Shows Jammed Subway Train

New York City

subway

The first set of tests in mice of a potential vaccine to prevent COVID-19 has shown it can spur the animals&#8217; immune systems to produce antibodies against the coronavirus.
The vaccine is delivered via a fingertip-sized, Band-Aid-like patch made of 400 tiny needles that scratch the skin. The researchers who are developing the vaccine say the immune system reacts more readily to irritations of the skin, which means doing so could trigger it to target the coronavirus.
When tested on mice, they developed antibodies to fight the coronavirus within two weeks.
The researchers said in a study published in the medical journal <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/ebiom/article/PIIS2352-3964(20)30118-3/fulltext" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">EBioMedicine</a> that they had already been at work on vaccines to fight the two other deadlier coronavirus strains: SARS, which broke out in China in 2003, and MERS, which hit Middle Eastern countries and South Korea in 2014.
&#8220;These two viruses, which are closely related to SARS-CoV-2, teach us that a particular protein, called a spike protein, is important for inducing immunity against the virus. We knew exactly where to fight this new virus,&#8221;  co-senior author Andrea Gambotto, M.D., associate professor of surgery at the Pitt School of Medicine, said in a statement.
&#8220;The researchers also used a novel approach to deliver the drug, called a microneedle array, to increase potency,&#8221; the statement said. &#8220;This array is a fingertip-sized patch of 400 tiny needles that delivers the spike protein pieces into the skin, where the immune reaction is strongest. The patch goes on like a Band-Aid and then the needles — which are made entirely of sugar and the protein pieces — simply dissolve into the skin.&#8221;
&#8220;We developed this to build on the original scratch method used to deliver the smallpox vaccine to the skin, but as a high-tech version that is more efficient and reproducible patient to patient,&#8221; said co-senior author Louis Falo, M.D., Ph.D., professor and chair of dermatology at Pitt&#8217;s School of Medicine and UPMC. &#8220;And it&#8217;s actually pretty painless — it feels kind of like Velcro.&#8221;
The newly tested mice have not been tracked long term yet, but the researchers point out &#8220;that mice who got their MERS-CoV vaccine produced a sufficient level of antibodies to neutralize the virus for at least a year, and so far the antibody levels of the SARS-CoV-2 vaccinated animals seem to be following the same trend.&#8221;
&#8220;Importantly, the SARS-CoV-2 microneedle vaccine maintains its potency even after being thoroughly sterilized with gamma radiation — a key step toward making a product that&#8217;s suitable for use in humans,&#8221; they said.
But final release of a vaccine is still a while away.
&#8220;Testing in patients would typically require at least a year and probably longer,&#8221; Falo said. &#8220;This particular situation is different from anything we&#8217;ve ever seen, so we don&#8217;t know how long the clinical development process will take. Recently announced revisions to the normal processes suggest we may be able to advance this faster.&#8221;
Yet the researchers are optimistic that new testing techniques mean developing vaccines for any type of emerging virus can be done more quickly.
&#8220;Taken together, our studies demonstrate the speed at which vaccines against emerging infections can be designed and produced using the recent advances in recombinant DNA technology. Combining emerging biotechnology methods with bioengineering advances in vaccine delivery strategies, it may now be possible to rapidly produce clinically-translatable vaccines against novel pathogens for human testing and subsequent global distribution in time to significantly impact the spread of disease,&#8221; they wrote.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/medical-microbiologist-5-crucial-questions-about-our-response-to-covid-19">Medical Microbiologist: 5 Crucial Questions About Our Response To COVID-19</a>

Coronaviruses research, conceptual illustration

First Coronavirus Vaccine Test — Using 400 Tiny Needles — Shows Promise In Mice

Speaking on Fox News with host Tucker Carlson Thursday night, a Florida official accused 3M of letting their distributors sell vitally-needed masks to foreign countries in such numbers that there were none left that his state could procure.
Jared Moskowitz from the Florida Division of Emergency Management told Carlson:
<blockquote>For the last several weeks we’ve had like a boiler room in our UFc, chasing down 3M authorized distributors, brokers, supposedly representing that they sell N95 masks, only to get the warehouses that are completely empty, being told that our shipments are on cargo planes and the flights don’t even appear on FlightAware.  We’re chasing ghosts, Tucker. And so I just decided to turn up the heat and tell people what is actually happening in the N95 mask space.
3M reached out to us today; their governor relations folks wanted to have a conversation. I thought that perhaps, maybe, what 3M would finally say to me is that they have masks to sell, but what I actually found out is even more frightening; it’s what we suspected, which is that the system is completely broken and the authorized distributors, who right now can’t tell me a timeline when I’m going to receive my masks, orders that I put in a month ago, and, by the way, the terms and conditions are I’ve got to pay for the masks and can’t cancel my order, is that 3M has lost total control.
And so what I asked 3M is that, are they aware that their authorized distributors, U.S. companies, are telling me that the reason why our orders are being pushed down is because foreign countries are showing up with cash to purchase the orders? And when I told 3M that, not only did they not dispute it, I asked them if they’d put out any guidance to prevent the behavior and the answer was no.
And so when I asked 3M what is your production —they said they’re making 10 million masks a week —and when I said, great, I have money, I’d like to purchase some of those, they said I couldn’t; that they have no masks to sell me.</blockquote>
He added, “This is not about the workers in the factories at 3M who are working 24 hours a day to try to create lifesaving PPE; this is about the executives who decided not to put America first, and it’s going to have devastating consequences.&#8221;
Carlson summarized, “You tried to get an answer; you’re in charge of procuring these for the first responders in Florida; you’re not some guy off the street; you’re a government official trying to help a state that is becoming one of the centers of the outbreak: Florida. And you basically got the run-around. So you went after 3M on Twitter and they responded… and you said, why can’t I get it? And they basically said we have no control; our dealers are selling some of these masks to foreign countries because they got there first or they’re paying cash, and you said, well, shouldn’t you tell your distributors to make a priority for America? For the states, or local governments, of first responders, physicians, nurses, EMTs, and they said, no, we haven’t done that. Is that a fair summary?&#8221;
Moskowitz answered:
<blockquote>Yeah, not only is that a fair summary, it’s exactly what’s happening. It’s why Governor DeSantis said the other day it’s shady as hell, because that’s exactly what it is. 3M is an ice cream store that doesn’t sell ice cream, apparently. Since when do we have a U.S. company that sells masks and I try to offer them money and they won’t sell them to me? That I have to go through their authorized distributors and their only excuse is that they don’t have a perfect system.
Well, that’s great that they don’t have a perfect system and that I’m relegated to making deals with brokers at costs that are ten and sometimes twenty times that actual costs of these masks, which, at the end of the day, Tucker, regardless of the costs at this point, getting the masks is the most important thing at the moment. We can’t even get them.</blockquote>
&#8220;The 3M authorized distributors are telling me this,&#8221; Moskowiz said later. &#8220;They’re specifically saying, listen I’m sorry that your order got pushed down, but there are folks showing up to the factories; there are folks showing up to us paying cash. And when I said, what do you mean, &#8216;There are folks?&#8217; they said, well, listen, you know, here are foreign countries that do business differently; they’re showing up with cash.&#8221;
Video below:
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Tucker

Florida Official Accuses 3M Of Letting Foreign Countries Buy All Their Masks

At a coronavirus briefing earlier this week, the White House task force presented their projections on the total number of deaths that they say are likely to occur in the U.S. because of the pandemic: between 100,000 to 240,000 will likely die, they project, even with the current mitigation measures. But, as reported by <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/04/02/experts-trumps-advisers-doubt-white-houses-240000-coronavirus-deaths-estimate/">The Washington Post</a>, some experts and Trump advisers &#8220;doubt&#8221; the projection, pushing back not as much on the numbers but how exactly the task force arrived at them.
&#8220;Leading disease forecasters, whose research the White House used to conclude that 100,000 to 240,000 people will die nationwide from the coronavirus, were mystified when they saw the administration&#8217;s projection this week,&#8221; the Post reported Thursday. &#8220;The experts said they don’t challenge the numbers’ validity but said they don’t know how the White House arrived at them.&#8221; So far, the Post reports, the team has &#8220;not provided the underlying data so others can assess its reliability, and have not provided long-term strategies to lower that death count.&#8221;
And it&#8217;s not just outside experts pushing back; some of Trump&#8217;s own advisers &#8220;have expressed doubts about the estimate,&#8221; the Post reports, citing three unnamed White House officials. &#8220;There have been fierce debates inside the White House about its accuracy.&#8221;
During a recent task force meeting, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and one of the team&#8217;s leading voices, called into question modeling projections in general, according to the Post&#8217;s sources.
&#8220;I&#8217;ve looked at all the models. I&#8217;ve spent a lot of time on the models. They don&#8217;t tell you anything. You can&#8217;t really rely upon models,&#8221; Dr. Fauci told other task force members this week, according to two officials with direct knowledge of the exchange.
The dire predictions of models are the reason behind President Trump extending the advisement on extreme social-distancing measures that have brought the American economy to a screeching halt and have already resulted in nearly <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/labor-department-reveals-highest-ever-jobless-claims-6-6-million-last-week-nearly-10-million-in-2-weeks">10 million</a> Americans filing for unemployment in a span of just two weeks — a devastating and historic number. The previous high for jobless claims in a week in the history of the country was 695,000 back in 1982.
Dr. Birx, who&#8217;s serving as coordinator of the task force, explained in a recent briefing that the team has looked at about a dozen different models to help them produce their own projections. The task force looked at several models, compared them to &#8220;actual reporting of cases,&#8221; and then came up with their best estimates, she explained at the briefing Sunday.
According to the Post, one of the two most influential of the models guiding the administration&#8217;s decisions is the famous Imperial College study, which included the jaw-dropping projection that 2.2 million Americans would die if the virus were allowed to spread unchecked. That study also projected that as many as 500,000 would die in the U.K., but now projects that 20,000 or far fewer will die in the country because of the social-distancing measures put in place.
The second of the two most influential models in guiding the administration&#8217;s decisions appears to be the study produced by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at University of Washington (IHME). &#8220;The IHME model initially that estimated deaths through this summer would total 38,000 to 162,000 &#8211; a lower projection than many others and beneath the White House&#8217;s own estimate,&#8221; the Post explains.
At the briefing Tuesday, Dr. Birx showed two projections: the death toll without mitigation (1.5 to 2.2 million deaths) and the death toll with their current mitigation strategy (100,000 to 240,000 deaths). The former appears to have been drawn from the Imperial College&#8217;s dire projection and the latter appears to have been heavily influenced by the IHME model.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dr-fauci-10-million-job-losses-inconvenient-but-we-just-have-to-do-it">Dr. Fauci: 10 Million Job Losses ‘Inconvenient’ But ‘We Just Have To Do It’</a>

Experts Question WH Coronavirus Projections; Fauci: ‘You Can’t Rely On The Models,’ Too Many Variables

Sucharit Bhakdi, Professor Emeritus of Medical Microbiology at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz and a prolific and much-cited expert in his field, has published an open letter to German Chancellor Angela Merkel along with a video addressing some of its contents.
In the letter, dated March 26, Bhakdi poses five questions about the COVID-19 pandemic and the government&#8217;s response to it which, he says, &#8220;have not been answered sufficiently so far, but which are indispensable for a balanced analysis.&#8221;
&#8220;As emeritus of the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, and for many years head of the institute for medical microbiology and hygiene there, I feel obliged to critically question the far-reaching restrictions on public life that we are currently undertaking to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 virus,&#8221; he begins the <a href="https://c.gmx.net/@824224682608695698/cI1TagSeQmi0WlXK-m8vWA">letter</a> (which is written in German and unofficially translated below). &#8220;It is expressly not my concern to downplay the dangers of the viral disease or to spread a political message. However, I feel it is my duty to make a scientific contribution to correctly classifying the current data situation, putting the facts that we know so far in perspective — and also asking questions that are in danger of being lost in the heated discussion.&#8221;
Unofficial translation of the <a href="https://c.gmx.net/@824224682608695698/cI1TagSeQmi0WlXK-m8vWA">letter</a> below, followed by Bhakdi&#8217;s accompanying English-subtitled <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsExPrHCHbw&amp;t=67s">video</a>, in which he elaborates on his five questions:
Open Letter
Dear Chancellor,
As emeritus of the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz and for many years head of the institute for medical microbiology and hygiene there, I feel obliged to critically question the far-reaching restrictions on public life that we are currently undertaking to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
It is expressly not my concern to downplay the dangers of the viral disease or to spread a political message. However, I feel it is my duty to make a scientific contribution to correctly classifying the current data situation, putting the facts that we know so far in perspective — and also asking questions that are in danger of being lost in the heated discussion.
The main reason for my concern is the truly unforeseeable socio-economic consequences of the drastic containment measures that are currently being used in large parts of Europe, and are already being practiced to a great extent in Germany.
It is my wish to critically — and with the necessary foresight — discuss the advantages and disadvantages of restricting public life and the resulting long-term effects.
There are five questions that have so far been answered inadequately, but are essential for a balanced analysis.
I would like to ask you for a swift opinion and, as it were, appeal to the Federal Government to develop strategies that effectively protect high-risk groups without cutting back on public life across the board and sowing the seeds for an even more intense polarization of society than is already happening.
Yours faithfully,
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Prof. em. Dr. med. Sucharit Bhakdi
1. Statistics
In the field of infectious diseases — founded by Robert Koch himself — a distinction is traditionally made between infection and illness. A disease requires clinical manifestation. [1] Therefore, only patients with symptoms such as fever or cough should be included in the statistics as new cases.
In other words, a new infection — as measured by the COVID-19 test – does not necessarily mean that we are dealing with a newly ill patient who needs a hospital bed. However, it is currently assumed that five percent of all infected people become seriously ill and require ventilation. Based on this, projections indicate that the health system could be overburdened.
My question: Did the projections distinguish between symptom-free infected and actual, sick patients — people who develop symptoms?
2. Dangerousness
A number of coronaviruses have been in circulation for a long time – largely unnoticed in the media. [2] Should it turn out that the COVID-19 virus should not be assigned a significantly higher hazard potential than the already circulating coronaviruses, all countermeasures would obviously be superfluous.
In the internationally recognized journal &#8220;International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents,&#8221; a work will appear shortly that addresses exactly this question. Preliminary results of the study can already be seen today and lead to the conclusion that the new virus does NOT differ in its dangerousness from traditional coronaviruses. The authors express this in the title of their work, “SARS-CoV-2: Fear versus Data.” [3]
My question: What is the current occupancy rate in intensive care units with patients with diagnosed COVID-19 compared to other coronavirus infections, and to what extent is this data taken into account in the further decision-making by the federal government? In addition: Has the above study been noted in the previous plans? Of course, the following must also apply here: Diagnosed means that the virus also plays a significant role in the patient&#8217;s disease state, and that previous illnesses do not play a major role.
3. Dissemination
According to a report in the Süddeutsche Zeitung, not even the much-cited Robert Koch Institute knows exactly how much is tested for COVID-19. It is a fact, however, that a rapid increase in the number of cases has recently been observed in Germany as the volume of tests increases. [4] It is therefore suspected that the virus has already spread unnoticed in the healthy population. This would have two consequences: first, it would mean that the official death rate — on March 26, 2020 there were 206 deaths from around 37,300 infections, or 0.55 percent [5] — was set too high; and secondly, that it&#8217;s hardly possible anymore to prevent spreading in the healthy population.
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My question: Has there already been a random sample of the healthy general population to validate the real spread of the virus, or is this planned in a timely manner?
4. Mortality
The fear of an increase in the death rate in Germany (currently 0.55 percent) is currently being discussed particularly intensively in the media. Many people worry that they can shoot up, like in Italy (10 percent) and Spain (7 percent), if there is no action in time.
At the same time, the mistake is made worldwide of reporting virus-related deaths as soon as it is determined that the virus was present at death – regardless of other factors. This violates a basic requirement of infectiology: the diagnosis can only be made if it is ensured that an agent has a significant share in the disease or death. The working group of the scientific medical societies expressly writes in its guidelines: &#8220;In addition to the cause of death, a causal chain must be specified, with the corresponding basic illness in third place on the death certificate. Occasionally, four-part causal chains must also be given.&#8221; [6]
There is currently no official information as to whether, at least in retrospect, more critical medical file analyses have been undertaken to determine how many deaths are really due to the virus.
My question: Has Germany simply followed the trend towards general suspicions of COVID-19? And: does it intend to continue this categorization uncritically, as in other countries? How should one differentiate between real corona-related deaths and accidental virus presence at the time of death?
5. Comparability
The terrifying situation in Italy is repeatedly used as a reference scenario. However, the true role of the virus in this country is completely unclear for many reasons — not only because points 3 and 4 apply here, but also because there are exceptional external factors that make these regions particularly vulnerable.
This includes the increased air pollution in northern Italy. According to WHO estimates, this situation resulted in more than 8,000 additional deaths per year in the 13 largest cities in Italy alone, even without a virus. [7] The situation has not changed significantly since then. Finally, it has also been shown that air pollution in very young and older people increases the risk of viral lung diseases very strongly. [9]
In addition, 27.4 percent of the most vulnerable population in this country live with young people, in Spain even 33.5 percent. In Germany it is only seven percent for comparison [10]. In addition, according to Prof. Dr. Reinhard Busse, Head of the Department of Healthcare Management at the TU Berlin, Germany is significantly better equipped than Italy in terms of intensive care units — by a factor of around 2.5 [11].
My question: What efforts are being made to inform the population about these elementary differences and to make people understand that scenarios such as those in Italy or Spain are not realistic here?
References:
[1] Fachwörterbuch Infektionsschutz und Infektionsepidemiologie. <a href="https://www.rki.de/DE/Content/Service/Publikationen/Fachwoerterbuch_Infektionsschutz.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Fachwörter – Definitionen – Interpretationen</a>. Robert Koch-Institut, Berlin 2015. (abgerufen am 26.3.2020)
[2] Killerby et al., Human Coronavirus Circulation in the United States 2014–2017. J Clin Virol. 2018, 101, 52-56
[3] Roussel et al. SARS-CoV-2: Fear Versus Data. Int. J. Antimicrob. Agents 2020, 105947
[4] Charisius, H. <a href="https://www.sueddeutsche.de/gesundheit/covid-19-coronavirus-testverfahren-1.4855487" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Covid-19: Wie gut testet Deutschland?</a> Süddeutsche Zeitung. (abgerufen am 27.3.2020)
[5] Johns Hopkins University, <a href="https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Coronavirus Resource Center</a>. 2020. (abgerufen am 26.3.2020)
[6] S1-Leitlinie 054-001, <a href="https://www.awmf.org/uploads/tx_szleitlinien/054-002l_S1_Regeln-zur-Durchfuehrung-der-aerztlichen-Leichenschau_2018-02_01.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Regeln zur Durchführung der ärztlichen Leichenschau</a>. AWMF Online (abgerufen am 26.3.2020)
[7] Martuzzi et al. Health Impact of PM10 and Ozone in 13 Italian Cities. World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe. WHOLIS number E88700 2006
[8] European Environment Agency, <a href="https://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/air/country-fact-sheets/2019-country-fact-sheets" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Air Pollution Country Fact Sheets 2019</a>, (abgerufen am 26.3.2020)
[9] Croft et al. The Association between Respiratory Infection and Air Pollution in the Setting of Air Quality Policy and Economic Change. Ann. Am. Thorac. Soc. 2019, 16, 321–330.
[10] United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. Living Arrange­ments of Older Persons: A Report on an Expanded International Dataset (ST/ESA/SER.A/407). 2017
[11] Deutsches Ärzteblatt, <a href="https://www.aerzteblatt.de/nachrichten/111029/Ueberlastung-deutscher-Krankenhaeuser-durch-COVID-19-laut-Experten-unwahrscheinlich" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Überlastung deutscher Krankenhäuser durch COVID-19 laut Experten unwahrscheinlich</a>, (abgerufen am 26.3.2020)
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Coronavirus economy

Medical Microbiologist: 5 Crucial Questions About Our Response To COVID-19

Angela Merkel

Germany

On Thursday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo provided the daily update for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
During the presser, the governor offered a sobering and grim warning that the state has only about six days until it runs out of ventilators if the “current burn rate” continues.
<blockquote>At the current burn rate, we have about six days of ventilators in our stockpile, meaning if the rate of usage, the rate of people coming into hospitals who need ventilators, if that rate continues, in our stockpile, we have about six days. Now, if the apex happens within that time frame, if the apex increases, if the apex is longer, we have an issue with ventilators.</blockquote>
Cuomo added that the numbers will be compiled nightly, and that there “is a difference of opinion” as to how many ventilators will be needed. Cuomo continued, saying that while he has no desire to purchase more ventilators than are necessary, “we need what we need.”
“If a person comes in and needs a ventilator, and you don&#8217;t have a ventilator, the person dies,” the governor stated. “That’s the blunt equation here – and right now we have a burn rate that would suggest we have about six days in the stockpile.”
Despite this, the governor noted that the state is “taking all sorts of extraordinary measures” to increase ventilator supplies, including setting up the means to move ventilators to various hospitals in need, splitting ventilators, using “anesthesia machine ventilators,” ending elective surgeries, and using BiPAP machines. The state is also actively looking for more ventilators for purchase.
<blockquote>So yes, the burn rate of ventilators is troubling, and six days of ventilators in the stockpile is troubling, but we have all these extraordinary measures that I believe if push comes to shove, will put us in fairly good shape.</blockquote>
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The governor also went over the numbers for the state.
The hospitalization rate has dropped for the third day in a row. At peak on Monday, there were 1,412 single-day hospitalizations in the state, while on Wednesday, there were 1,157. However, the overall trajectory is still upward.
While the number of ICU admissions has bobbed up and down, the overall trajectory is upward, with 374 admissions on Wednesday, tying the March 26 record. For comparison, on March 17, there were just 46 ICU admissions.
Despite two consecutive days of downward steps, the number of intubations on Wednesday ticked back up, setting a record with 313. On March 17, there were 43 intubations.
The number of discharged patients has continued to rise, with 1,292 on Wednesday.
The governor also spoke about the apex of COVID-19 in New York, when hospitals and medical workers are expected to be stretched the most, noting that various models have set the apex anywhere from 7 to 30 days from Wednesday, depending on variables such as how particular models value the impact of social distancing.
“We believe it is closer to the shorter end of the range with our in-house people looking at the professional modeling that’s being done,” Cuomo stated.
As for how prepared the state is for the apex, Cuomo said that there are currently 53,000 beds statewide, while they are anticipating a need for between 70,000 and 110,000 at peak. The governor then noted the ways in which the state is trying to account for the upcoming influx, including expanding existing hospital capacity and erecting additional facilities.
New York has also seen roughly 85,000 volunteers who will be sent where necessary.
As for death toll projections, Cuomo cited the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) <a href="https://covid19.healthdata.org/projections">model</a>, which as of Thursday predicts that New York will see approximately 16,200 deaths from COVID-19.
RELATED: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/cuomo-on-covid-19-were-never-going-to-be-the-same-again-how-do-we-learn-from-this">Cuomo On COVID-19: ‘We’re Never Going To Be The Same Again,’ ‘How Do We Learn From This?’</a>

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