Seemorerocks: Coronavirus updates

France Reports Largest

Single-Day Jump In Deaths,

Virginia Issues 'Stay At

Home' Order: Live Updates

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/spains-covid-19-case-total-passes-chinas-south-korea-reports-rash-new-cases-live

Summary:

Dr. Fauci says 100k-200k Americans may die from COVID-19
Trump extends guidelines to April 30
Spain case total passes China
Maryland Gov. issues 'stay at home order'
Italy reports slowest rise in new cases in 2 weeks
South Korea reports worrying rebound in cases around Seoul
Virginia to become latest state to issue shelter in place orders
Russia expands Moscow lockdown throughout country
2 dead during outbreak at Tennessee nursing home
Ford partners with GE health to produce ventilators
NY confirms another 7k cases
NYC remains undisputed center of US outbreak
New Zealand expands state of emergency
Seattle area reports optimistic slowdown in new cases, deaths
New York surpasses 1k deaths
Indian migrant workers 'washed' with disinfectant
Dutch navy sailors test positive
Netanyahu goes on quarantine
Trump: US has enough medical equipment & ventilators to deal with peak of virus outbreak
Mnuchin says front-line workers deserve 'hazard pay'
Spike in cases should arrive around Easter, Trump said, deaths expected to be "very low"
Washington DC Mayor issued 'Stay at Home' order
JNJ announces encouraging progress on vaccine
Mexico refuses "to implement state of siege" as case numbers remain low
Russia ramps up testing
WHO said outbreaks in Italy and Spain "potentially stabilizing"
LA County reports another 7 deaths, 342 cases
UK reports another 2,619 cases
Chinese press publishes photo of Xi standing in public without mask
France reports another 4k cases
Dublin considers travel ban
NJ case total climbs to 16.6k
UN proposes $2.5 trillion global rescue program
Australia launches worker subsidy program
Tokyo Olympics officially delayed until 2021
Poland imposes more restrictions on life
Amazon workers planning strike

* * *

Update (1900ET): Migrants who cross into the United States illegally are being expelled to Mexico in an average of 96 minutes under emergency coronavirus measures now in force across the U.S. southern border, according to three U.S. officials with knowledge of the latest government statistics.

Dublin is considering new restrictions on in-bound travelers, as Ireland reported eight further coronavirus deaths and the detection of 295 new infections. Leo Varadkar, the prime minister, said Dublin may impose new restrictions on people entering the country from abroad in an attempt to combat the outbreak. The latest deaths, reported on Monday night, brought to 54 the number of fatalities, and the overall number of COVID-19 cases now stands at 2,910.

Once again, China reported 48 new cases on Monday, all of which involved foreigners. Continuing the trend from the past few weeks.

* * *

Update (1700ET): Monday's press conference was largely a reiteration of what's already been said, laced with some classic Trump abuse of the press.

* * *

Update (1648T): An outbreak of the novel coronavirus at one Tennessee nursing home has left two dead and more than 100 others hospitalized just one week after the state banned most visitors at extended-care facilities. According to Fox News, dozens of residents were evacuated from at the Gallatin Center for Rehabilitation and Healing, located in Sumner County northeast of Nashville, on Friday after testing positive for COVID-19, Gov. Bill Lee said in a press release. National Guard troops arrived Saturday to begin testing all remaining residents and staff at the Gallatin Center.

The incident mirrors a Maryland nursing home where dozens of elderly patients were endangered.

Muriel Bowser, the mayor of Washington DC, has issued an order demanding all residents to stay at home and shelter in place until further notice. This comes just a couple of days after she ordered all bars and "non0-essential" businesses to close.

Across the Greater DC area, the number of known coronavirus cases climbed to 2,840 as of Monday, with 1,414 cases in Maryland, 1,021 in Virginia and 405 in DC. The regional total of virus-driven deaths also rose, increasing to 26 in Virginia, 16 in Maryland and 9 in the District, for a total of 51 fatalities, according to WaPo data.

* * *

Update (1638ET): Ford is responding to pressure from the Trump administration (after Trump mostly went after rival GM and its CEO Mary Barra) to step up and build medically necessary equipment, by announcing that under a partnership with GE, it plans to build 15,000 ventilators over the next 100 days.

The ventilators will be built at a plant in Michigan in cooperation with GE's healthcare unit. The companies will then build 30,000 per month as needed to treat patients afflicted with the coronavirus, but hope to finish at least 15,000 over the next 100 days as they're just starting up, as Reuters reported.

Ford said the simplified ventilator design, which is licensed by GE Healthcare from Florida-based Airon Corp and has been cleared by the FDA, can meet the needs of most COVID-19 patients.

* * *

Update (1630ET): LA County just reported another 7 deaths, bringing its death toll to 44, along with 342 new cases, bringing the county-wide total 2,474 cases, according to LA local news station KTLA.

* * *

Update (1525ET): California Gov. Newsom said Monday that hospitalizations have doubled in the last 4 days.

* * *

Update (1430ET): Trump said he and Putin discussed the importance of stability in global energy markets.

Meanwhile, after Maryland issued a stay-at-home order and Virginia also reportedly weighed a similar order, Vermont Gov. Phil Scott has ordered all lodging, including hotels, Airbnb and campgrounds, to suspend operations on Monday, CNN reports.

Vermont's order suspends lodging and applies to hotels, bed and breakfasts, as well as short-term rentals such as Airbnb and campgrounds, Scott said. That includes online advertising and booking, he said. "If you don't need to come to Vermont, please don't," he said. "This is about public health and safety which is our top priority."

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan is warning that medical experts say the coronavirus pandemic could escalate within two weeks in the Washington, D.C., Virginia and Maryland region, where it could resemble the current level of cases in New York City.

New Jersey recorded 3,347 new positive cases since yesterday, bringing our statewide total to 16,636.

Virginia's new 'stay at home order' will last until June 10 until modified, which critics cited as a more reasonable timeline, and noted that even Trump is now making gestures toward June.

Gov. Phil Murphy kept his promise to "shame" those caught violating the state's lockdown, among them involving residents facing charges including four buddies who met to drag race in a school parking lot, men who held weddings, a woman who left her home to toss a Molotov cocktail at her boyfriend’s residence (unsuccessfully, we might add) and a billiards hall owner who reopened after he was ordered to close.

Meanwhile, Italian health authorities have extended the national lockdown by another week, extending it to April 12, from April 3.

* * *

Update (1335ET): Italy's new cases has slowed, as this chart from Pantheon Macro shows:

Finally, in the US, the USNS Comfort, a Navy hospital ship, has docked in New York's harbor, where it will help tend to people who don't have the coronavirus.

“Help New York. We are the ones who are hit now,” Cuomo said at a press conference from the Jacob K. Javits Center, which was converted into four temporary hospitals by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers last week. “That’s today, tomorrow it is going to be somewhere else ...It is going to work its way across the country.”

In France, where the public has seen an encouraging drop in new cases, the case total climbed to 44,550 (prev. 40,174) on Monday, while the French death toll climbed to 3,024 (prev. 2,606), making France the fourth nation to see its death toll from the virus surpass 3,000. It was France's largest one-day jump in deaths yet.

Meanwhile, the Washington Post just reported that the governor of Virginia is preparing to issue a mandatory 'stay at home' order...

* * *

Update (1325ET): NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo is delivering his latest press update, confirmed another 7k cases bringing NY's total to 66,497, with 1,218 deaths so far, up from just under 1k yesterday.

Cuomo explained that were are currently seeing the number of hospitalizations for COVID-19 double every six days or so.

A total of 1,218 New Yorkers have been lost to the contagion, up 253 from the 965 reported by Cuomo on Sunday afternoon, he added during Monday's press conference.

The governor also reminded the public that "the soldiers in this fight are our health care professionals...those are the troops who are fighting this battle for us."

And now Nancy Pelosi is set to talk about a 'Phase 4' package.

* * *

Update (1250ET): The UK reported 2,619 new cases of coronavirus and 180 new deaths on Monday, bringing its totals to 22,141 and 1,408 deaths.

Meanwhile, here's the latest disturbing chart from Deutsche Bank's daily note:

In other news, the WHO’s emergencies chief said coronavirus cases counted in hard-hit countries like Italy and Spain are "potentially stabilizing," but that's no time to let up on tough measures to limit and track the spread of the virus.

"It is our fervent hope that that is the case," Dr. Michael Ryan told reporters. “But we have to now push the virus down, and that will not happen by itself.”

The Dutch defense ministry said Monday that a group of sailors on a Navy submarine has tested positive for the coronavirus.

Meanwhile, a chart from Pantheon Macro Research shows Italy's drop in new cases finally.

* * *

Update (1212ET): This is huge: Italy has reported its smallest jump in new cases in 2 weeks. Italy reports 4,050 new cases of coronavirus and 812 new deaths, bringing its total to 101,739 cases and 11,591 dead.

In other news, across Italy, 61 doctors who caught the coronavirus have died, the Italian Association of Doctors said Monday. Out of the 61 deceased doctors, 40 were working in Lombardy, the Italian region worst-hit by coronavirus.

The number of new cases reported across Italy continues to fall:

As the AP explained, Italy is seeing a continued slowdown in the rate of its new confirmed coronavirus cases while registering a record number of people cured as it enters its third week into a nationwide lockdown.

Epidemiologists, however, believe that Italy's real caseload is as much as five to 10 times more than the official number, but that those cases aren’t being counted because Italy is only testing people with severe symptoms. Of those infected, 14,620 have been declared cured, including a record 1,590 in the past day.

Of those who aren't being counted, presumably all of them are being cured since they're mostly making it through the outbreak and infection without much in the way of symptoms.

* * *

Update (1120ET): Gov. Hogan is delivering his daily press conference: So far he's ordered the state to remain under a mandatory 'stay at home" order.

That order takes place as of 8pmET Monday. Violation can lead to fines up to $5k, or even jail time.

But will citizens in places like Baltimore obey?

* * *

Update (1110ET): The UAE is extending distance learning until the end of the academic year in June as the government steps up measures to contain the outbreak of coronavirus as Middle Eastern countries try to combat a sudden jump in new cases and deaths.

Russia is ramping up testing as the lockdown in Moscow ramps up and the rest of the country starts to implement lockdowns to varying degrees. The president of Mexico, AMLO, said he "wouldn't impose a state of siege" on the people, as the number of confirmed cases in the country has remained low.

Poland's government is planning further restrictions to public life, as officials warn that the number of coronavirus infections is expected to rise rapidly in Poland over the next few weeks. Michal Dworczyk, the top aide to prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki, said the government would unveil its new measures on Tuesday, without offering any further details of what they would be.

The UN has called for a $2.5 trillion rescue package for "Developing Countries" who have been hammered by the crisis.

Unctad, the UN’s trade and development agency, said $1 trillion should be made available through the IMF’s special drawing rights, $1 trillion through debt relief, and another $500 billion via a "Marshall Plan" for emergency services and social relief programs largely in the form of "grants" that eventually become...welll... grants.

Richard Kozul-Wright, Unctad’s director of globalisation and development strategies, said:

Advanced economies have promised to do whatever it takes to stop their firms and households from taking a heavy loss of income. But if G20 leaders are to stick to their commitment of a global response in the spirit of solidarity, there must be commensurate action for the 6bn people living outside the core G20 economies.

It's a convincing argument, but nevertheless, there's so much need at home, it's difficult to justify just handing out more money to the developing world when they can strike some kind of loan-lease deals with China or whatever.

* * *

Update (0843ET): Trump reminded his Fox & Friends interlocutors that he is "the one that put the sanctions on" when it comes to Russia, and that when he speaks with President Putin in the near future, he will tell Putin to take a hike if he asks for the sanctions to be removed because of the outbreak.

"I know more about sanctions because I'm the one who put them on Russia."

Then Trump jumped into discussion of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, and also said he would "discuss" Venezuela, while also reminding the world that the Soviet Union lost 50 million people during World War 2 (we believe the actual figure is closer to 27 million or more).

Trump also said he feels Andrew Cuomo would be a tougher political opponent than "Sleepy" Joe Biden, who is probably thrilled that he gets to just kick back and sleep through this crisis.

Treasury Sec. Steven Mnuchin told Fox Business that hazard pay for workers on the front lines of battling the coronavirus - like nurses but also cashiers at grocery stores - will be included in a fourth legislative rescue package. He said he stands ready, as does the administration, to work with Congress if additional funds are needed in combating the pandemic.

In other news, the Tokyo Olympics have been rescheduled for the summer of 2021, the International Olympic Committee has announced, though this news was basically pre-announced weeks ago when Japan said it would push for it.

* * *

Update (0825ET): Before Trump insisted he would "rely on experts" to determine the end of the quarantine and that the worst thing to do would be to "declare victory" over "the invisible enemy" and have it not be true, the president took a few minutes to slam the national press. "I've spent three years trying to figure out who is more dishonest the New York Times or the Washington Post," Trump said. "When I figure it out I'll call you and we'll have a special."

Steve Doocy laughed a little, though his co-hosts were less amused.

If you have a cable subscription, you can watch the interview live here:

* * *

Update (0817ET): During President Trump's interview Monday morning on Fox News, Trump insisted that the number of deaths would be "a very low number," even as Joe Biden interjected, saying "I am issuing this challenge to Donald Trump...He must use the Defense Production Act within the next 48 hours ... He may think the risk is having too many. That would be a wonderful problem to have. The risk is having too few."

Trump expects the peak now to arrive around Easter though some projections put it around April 15 vs. Easter's April 12.

Trump meanwhile insisted that New York "should have more than enough" ventilators, seeming to settle the federal position on whether the states have enough ventilators "after this is over they'll be selling ventilators for $1 a piece...we'll have a lot of them."

Workers at an Amazon "fulfillment center" in New York (on Staten Island, no less) are planning to go on strike Monday morning in a gesture of contempt toward Jeff Bezos, as they accuse the company of not doing enough to stop the virus...so much for hoping Amazon would save us.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli PM, said he would be quarantining for a few weeks after coming into contact with somebody who tested positive for the virus.

* * *

Hours after Dr. Anthony Fauci appeared on CNN's "State of the Union" yesterday and declared that the current modeling projects between 100k and 200k deaths in the US alone, President Trump stood up at last night's Rose Garden press conference and declared that the White House would extend its current guidelines - which call for Americans to avoid gatherings of 10 or more, along with a host of other commandments intended to help "flatten the curve" - through the end of April.

Trump added that the "peak" in new cases & deaths should arrive in two weeks, but by June 1, everything should be fine. This, as New York City hospitals have been transformed into "war zones", while the number of confirmed cases globally closes in on 1 million. Mayors are cracking down, giving police the authority to hand out fines to anybody who isn't obeying the terms of the crackdown.

The biggest headline overnight: Spain has surpassed China in the total number of confirmed coronavirus infections (joining Italy and the US) as the number of cases rose from 78,797 on Sunday to 85,195 on Monday, with Spain's death toll rose by 812 to 7,340, according to the Spanish Health Ministry.

Spanish authorities reported more than 6,000 new cases within 24 hours again on Monday. Among those testing positive: Fernando Simon, the leader of the country's coronavirus task force.

In the US, New York City remains the undisputed epicenter of the national outbreak as the number of new cases out of the Seattle area has noticeably declined. An area that produced 37 of the first 50 fatalities in the US has seen deaths drop off markedly, while hospitals have been mercifully underwhelmed. While each infected person was spreading the virus to an average of 2.7 other people earlier in March, that number appears to have dropped, with one projection suggesting that it was now down to 1.4, according to the New York Times.

That's largely thanks to strict measures implemented early on by Washington Gov. Jay Inslee. While NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio was still encouraging New Yorkers to go out and have a good time in late February, Inslee was barring gatherings of more than 250 people and cautioning Washingtonians to stay home and be careful.

New York, meanwhile, surpassed 1k deaths from COVID-19 over the weekend.

As of Monday morning, the US had reported 143,055 cases, according to Johns Hopkins, roughly 1 in 5 global cases (the global case total was 732,000). Projections claim that the global case total should surpass 1 million by the end of the week. The CDC is advising people from New York, Connecticut and New Jersey to stay put, and avoid traveling to second homes or relatives' homes elsewhere in the country.

As Tokyo health officials recorded another surprising jump in mostly travel-related cases as of Monday, officials in South Korea warned that they were recording a "sustained increase" in new cases, suggesting new clusters forming around Seoul. Meanwhile, EasyJet, one of Europe’s largest airlines, said it would ground its entire fleet as demand for personal travel collapses.

Across India, migrant workers have struggled with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's sudden lockdown, which left millions of Indians with only hours to prepare. The PM apologized yesterday, and now, news organizations are reporting on some of the draconian steps that local governments are taking to "disinfect" poor migrant workers returning home.

Back in Europe, the border closures across the Schengen Area have shuttered borders that haven't been closed since the fall of the Soviet Union. Here's a guide produced by a non-profit in the region, which recently noted how many Europeans are now meeting loved ones at borders to share a kiss or a quick hello.

As the Russian capital commenced a mandatory self-isolation regime Monday, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin called on regional governors to extend the system across the country to control the coronavirus.

Now that world leaders expect the virus to last for most of the year, Australia’s government planned to subsidize the wages of private-sector employees for up to six months to help businesses and workers struggling with the impact of the coronavirus shutdown: "We will pay employers to pay their employees," said Prime Minister Scott Morrison as he announced what he dubbed a "job keeper" program. "Our government has made a decision today...that no government has made before in Australia," according to the Washington Post.

The program is part of an $80 billion package.

In Spain, the number of new cases has surpassed China's "official" total in the number of confirmed coronavirus infections, as the number of cases rose from 78,797 on Sunday to 85,195 on Monday. The death toll rose by 812 to 7,340.

The Chinese press on Sunday published a photo of President Xi standing out in public without a facemask, a notable development as China continues to report no or almost zero new home-grown cases of COVID-19.

JNJ meanwhile reported Monday that it has produced a "lead vaccine candidate" in its trials for a COVID-19 vaccine. While it's certainly a reassuring headline (and CNBC has given it no shortage of attention this morning), it won't move up the timeframe for an expected vaccine.

Finally, Treasury Secretary Mnuchin said Monday that a new bank lending program passed as part of the $2 trillion stimulus bill late last week will be ready by Friday, and he encouraged every business to apply because the loans will be "forgivable" for companies that hire back workers and retain them.

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Tuesday, 31 March 2020

Coronavirus updates - 31 March, 2020

Larry Hogan @LarryHogan

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