President Trump has signed into law a multi-billion dollar emergency coronavirus relief bill. The signing of the bipartisan bill came Wednesday evening, just hours after it passed in the Senate. The $105 billion bill provides safety-net programs for Americans affected by COVID-19, including paid sick and family leave. The legislation also provides free testing for the highly-contagious virus.
Entire sectors of the American economy are shutting down, threatening to crush businesses, put millions of people out of work and forcing lawmakers to consider a vast financial bailout that would dwarf the federal government’s response to the 2008 crisis.
Economists fear that by the time the coronavirus pandemic subsides and economic activity resumes, entire industries could be wiped out, proprietors across the country could lose their businesses and millions of workers could find themselves jobless.
After weeks of playing down the outbreak, Mr. Trump appeared on Wednesday to fully embrace the scope of the calamity, saying he saw himself as a wartime president and invoking memories of the efforts made by Americans during World War II.
American adults of all ages — not just those in their 70s, 80s and 90s — are being seriously sickened by the coronavirus, according to a report on nearly 2,500 cases in the United States.The report, issued Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, found that — as in other countries — the oldest patients were at greatest risk of becoming seriously ill or dying. But of the 508 coronavirus patients known to have been hospitalized in the United States, 38 percent were notably younger — between 20 and 54. And nearly half of the 121 sickest patients studied — those who were admitted to intensive care units — were adults under 65.
In the C.D.C. report, 20 percent of the hospitalized patients and 12 percent of the intensive care patients were between the ages of 20 and 44, basically spanning the millennial generation.
Stocks Plunge, Erasing 3-Year ‘Trump Bump’
The Dow fell below where it was when Mr. Trump was inaugurated. And three big automakers, GM, Ford and Chrysler-Fiat announced they were temporarily closing their factories in the United States
Biden Sweeps 3 States and Takes Commanding Lead
Joe Biden’s overwhelming wins in Florida, Illinois and Arizona puts pressure on Bernie Sanders to end his campaign.
Trump will invoke the Defense Production Act to increase supplies of vital equipment, and Medical Supplies Including Masks, and the manufacture of additional ventilators.
Trump announced that the U.S. is closing the border with Canada and that hospital ships will head to New York and the West Coast. The virus has now infected more than 200,000 people in at least 144 countries.
The Trump administration is requesting $500 billion for direct payments to American taxpayers as part of a $1 trillion plan. White House plan aims to send $2,000 to many Americans, includes $300 billion for small businessesNo final decisions have been made, and talks with Republican leaders remain fluid, but the growing scale of the $1 trillion rescue plan is coming into sharper focus. It could include an infusion of $500 billion for direct payments to taxpayers and $500 billion in loans for businesses.
Stocks Plunge, Erasing 3-Year ‘Trump Bump’
The Dow fell below where it was when Mr. Trump was inaugurated. And three big automakers, GM, Ford and Chrysler-Fiat announced they were temporarily closing their factories in the United States
Biden Sweeps 3 States and Takes Commanding Lead
Joe Biden’s overwhelming wins in Florida, Illinois and Arizona puts pressure on Bernie Sanders to end his campaign.
Trump will invoke the Defense Production Act to increase supplies of vital equipment, and Medical Supplies Including Masks, and the manufacture of additional ventilators.
Trump announced that the U.S. is closing the border with Canada and that hospital ships will head to New York and the West Coast. The virus has now infected more than 200,000 people in at least 144 countries.
The Trump administration is requesting $500 billion for direct payments to American taxpayers as part of a $1 trillion plan. White House plan aims to send $2,000 to many Americans, includes $300 billion for small businessesNo final decisions have been made, and talks with Republican leaders remain fluid, but the growing scale of the $1 trillion rescue plan is coming into sharper focus. It could include an infusion of $500 billion for direct payments to taxpayers and $500 billion in loans for businesses.
Cases in N.Y.C. Near 2,000 as Testing ExpandsAs the citywide toll rose, health officials were also concerned that the virus was spreading quickly in two tightly knit Hasidic neighborhoods.
Hospital Ship Headed to New York as Virus Count Spikes:
Governor Cuomo said that Trump would dispatch a 1,000 bed military hospital ship to New York Harbor.
America’s hospitals are dangerously low on ventilators. and no easy way to lift production.
Layoffs Are Just Starting in the U.S., and the Forecasts Are Bleak
Shutdowns in the retail and hospitality businesses may be an early sign of the job losses that the outbreak will inflict on the economy.
NYC Hospitals postpone elective surgeries because of coronavirus
50 FEMA teams will deploy to help state governments, amid criticism of agency’s second-string role
For the first time since the outbreak began, China reported no new local infections, a sign its epidemic may be coming under control.
Rich and famous patients are getting tested while other Americans are being denied.Politicians, celebrities, social media influencers and even N.B.A. players have been tested for the new coronavirus. But as that list of rich, famous and powerful people grows by the day, so do questions about whether they are getting access to testing that is denied to other Americans.
Some of these high-profile people say they are feeling ill and had good reason to be tested. Others argue that those who were found to be infected and then isolated themselves provided a good example to the public.
But with testing still in short supply in areas of the country, leaving health care workers and many sick people unable to get diagnoses, some prominent personalities have obtained tests without exhibiting symptoms or having known contact with someone who has the virus, as required by some testing guidelines. Others have refused to specify how they were tested.
Analysis Fox News viewers are more confident in Trump on coronavirus than are Republicans