U.S. pumps $8.3 billion into coronavirus battle as more states report cases

[rooster59]

U.S. pumps $8.3 billion into coronavirus battle as more states report cases

By Gabriella Borter

 

U.S. President Donald Trump accompanied by Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar, signs the Congressional funding bill for coronavirus response at the White House in Washington, U.S., March 6, 2020. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

 

(Reuters) - A bill signed by President Donald Trump on Friday will provide $8.3 billion to bolster the country's capacity to test for coronavirus and fund other measures to stem an outbreak that has now killed 15 Americans and hit 22 states, with Pennsylvania, Indiana and Minnesota reporting their first cases.

 

Trump signed the legislation at the end of a week in which the virus began to disrupt daily life for many Americans. As stocks plunge and U.S. companies grapple with the economic fallout, his administration is also weighing tax relief for the cruise, travel and airline industries, according to a source familiar with the plan.

 

In Seattle, the epicenter of the nation's outbreak, there were school closures and orders to work from home. In Miami and Baltimore, areas less affected by the outbreak, music festivals and sporting events were canceled or curtailed as a precaution.

 

More than a third of the new funds will be spent on test kits and research and development into vaccines and treatments. There are currently no approved vaccines or treatments for the respiratory illness, which emerged in China and has spread to more than 90 nations, killing more than 3,400 people and infecting more than 100,000 worldwide.

 

Six countries reported their first cases on Friday.

 

"We're doing very well," Trump said after signing the spending bill, which was approved by the Senate on Thursday. "But it's an unforeseen problem ... came out of nowhere, but we're taking care of it."

 

Trump was due to travel later on Friday to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta.

 

Americans are sharply divided over the dangers of the new coronavirus, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.

Critics of Trump, including Democratic lawmakers, have accused the president of downplaying the significance of the outbreak for political reasons. He has said the risk to Americans is low.

 

A union representing tens of thousands of U.S. government employees on Friday called on the Trump administration to take the coronavirus seriously for federal workers, especially those working in areas directly impacted by the outbreak.

 

Washington's King County has been the hardest hit area in the United States with at least a dozen deaths, several of whom were people living at a nursing facility in the Seattle suburb of Kirkland.

 

The University of Washington announced on Friday that all classes would be held virtually for the rest of the winter term to limit contagion.

 

Alphabet Inc's Google on Thursday joined Amazon.com Inc, Facebook Inc and Microsoft Corp in recommending employees in the Seattle area work from home, a policy affecting more than 100,000 people.

 

Apple Inc on Friday asked staff at its Silicon Valley headquarters to work from home if possible as a "precaution." Gap Inc closed its New York headquarters because one employee had tested positive.

 

In Florida, Miami officials canceled two music festivals on Friday - Ultra and Calle Ocho - because of potential risk that coronavirus could spread at events that bring large crowds into close proximity.

 

For similar reasons, the NCAA Division III men's basketball tournament will go ahead at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore this weekend but without spectators, the university said on Friday.

 

TESTS ON CRUISE SHIP

 

Trump said he had spoken to California Governor Gavin Newsom about a cruise ship that was barred from docking in San Francisco after at least 35 people developed flu-like symptoms while on board. The ship has been linked to two confirmed cases of COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the virus.

 

Test results of passengers were due on Friday, according to Mary Ellen Carroll, executive director of San Francisco’s Department of Emergency Management. State and local officials airlifted diagnostic kits to the vessel.

 

The crisis has hit stocks hard. The benchmark S&P 500 closed down 1.7% on Friday, after falling nearly 3% the day before.

 

As new states report their first cases, others watched their tally grow. Cases in New York jumped to 33 from 22, Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Friday, adding that some 4,000 people in the state were under precautionary quarantine and 44 under mandatory quarantine.

 

But he also tried to stem any sense of panic by the public. "I think the anxiety and the fear is more of a problem than the virus," Cuomo said.

 

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, who was present at Trump's bill signing, said the CDC had already sent tests for 75,000 people to public health labs around the country, amid widespread criticism of not enough tests available for states in need.

 

Azar said a private contractor was working with the CDC to send kits capable of testing 400,000 people to private hospitals and labs nationwide.

 

"The production and shipping of tests that we've talked about all week is completely on schedule," Azar said.

 

Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, acknowledged issues that slowed distribution of coronavirus tests, but said the overall response was going well.

 

"There were certainly some missteps in the beginning," he told NBC's Today program. "In the next couple of weeks we should be ratcheted up to get many more out."

 

(Reporting by Susan Heavey, Lisa Lambert Timothy Ahmann and Steve Holland in Washington, D.C., Gabriella Borter, Peter Szekely and Nathan Layne in New York and Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles; Writing by Gabriella Borter and Daniel Wallis; Editing by Frank McGurty and Bill Berkrot)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-03-07

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[legend49]

"We're doing very well," Trump said after signing the spending bill, which was approved by the Senate on Thursday. "But it's an unforeseen problem ... came out of nowhere, but we're taking care of it."

 

Must be hurting his ego, he only wanted to spend 25% of the new bill on the virus, but was forced into $8.3 billion.

[Tug]

Trump is running true to form he’s trying to underplay the magnitude of what’s happening because he thinks it makes him look bad he is lying and covering up at least mike pence is beeing honest and doing the best he can when saddled with a boss like trump

[Brickbat]

But didn’t this Clown in Chief just tell Hannity that this virus is no different to the common flu and that people who catch it should still go to work?

[lannarebirth]

3 hours ago, legend49 said:

"We're doing very well," Trump said after signing the spending bill, which was approved by the Senate on Thursday. "But it's an unforeseen problem ... came out of nowhere, but we're taking care of it."

 

Must be hurting his ego, he only wanted to spend 25% of the new bill on the virus, but was forced into $8.3 billion.

 

 

 

 

https://www.businessinsider.com/presentation-us-hospitals-preparing-for-millions-of-hospitalizations-2020-3

[PatOngo]

Here's an idea Don de don don.....a wall along the southern border!

[Nyezhov]

3 hours ago, legend49 said:

 

 

Must be hurting his ego, he only wanted to spend 25% of the new bill on the virus, but was forced into $8.3 billion.

Now if he would have asked for 8, they would have said 16 and folks still would have whinged. Hey asked too little! He asked too much, hes running up the deficit! Hes panicking! Hes minimizing!

 

You guys really need to give it a rest already, it colours all your posts.

 

I wonder what they are even going to spend 8 billion dollars on? How many crony capitalists are getting a piece of that? Slickly produced TV ads telling you to wash your hands?

[PatOngo]

5 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Trump said

"But it's an unforeseen problem ... came out of nowhere, but we're taking care of it."

It didn't come out of nowhere you fool, it came out of China!

[Aspaltso]

2 hours ago, Tug said:

Trump is running true to form he’s trying to underplay the magnitude of what’s happening because he thinks it makes him look bad he is lying and covering up at least mike pence is beeing honest and doing the best he can when saddled with a boss like trump

I think he's trying to play it down so that the wheels don't fall off the economy in the U.S. The economy has been doing quite well, and if a lot of things cease it could have a negative effect.

[newnative]

12 minutes ago, Aspaltso said:

I think he's trying to play it down so that the wheels don't fall off the economy in the U.S. The economy has been doing quite well, and if a lot of things cease it could have a negative effect.

'...it could have a negative effect.'  Especially on his re-election.

[candide]

Trump at his best! ????

 

"Donald Trump used a freewheeling press conference on Friday, intended to provide updates on the coronavirus, as an opportunity to attack Democrats, praise his own intelligence, lash out at CNN and spread false and misleading information about the status of the outbreak, as a slew of new cases were confirmed aboard a cruise ship off the California coast."

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/06/us-coronavirus-death-toll-washington-state

[ThreeEyedRaven]

24 minutes ago, candide said:

Trump at his best! ????

 

"Donald Trump used a freewheeling press conference on Friday, intended to provide updates on the coronavirus, as an opportunity to attack Democrats, praise his own intelligence, lash out at CNN and spread false and misleading information about the status of the outbreak, as a slew of new cases were confirmed aboard a cruise ship off the California coast."

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/06/us-coronavirus-death-toll-washington-state

I suspect that the "false and misleading information" about the virus, was also present in his attacks on CNN and the Democrats, and for sure it was false and misleading when he praised his own intelligence. Someone should have told him it was a serious briefing, not a rally.

[Sujo]

Trump is great. Dont test anyone so he can say its nothing.  Then finally blame it in obama for a made up reason.

 

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-coronavirus-obama-us-deaths-symptoms-california-latest-a9376801.html

[Scott Tracy]

Honest Mike Pense?

 

Mr Trump has also been criticised for appointing his vice-president, Mike Pence, to head up the response to the epidemic. While governor of Indiana, Mr Pence was blamed for responding too slowly to an HIV outbreak, reportedly because of his reluctance to open needle exchanges. Hundreds of people were ultimately infected.

 

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-coronavirus-obama-us-deaths-symptoms-california-latest-a9376801.html

 

Maybe he learned a lesson and will be brilliant, I do hope so.  You're only as good as your last <deleted> up.