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Home , PREPARE, Scott Gottlieb

COVID-19 3/30 UPDATE

COVID-19 3/30 Update

Globally Total cases – 741,030 Total deaths – 35,114

In the Total cases – 143,532 Total deaths – 2,572

Government • President on Sunday extended to April 30 federal guidelines that encourage and other moves to slow the spread of the illness. o He also said 1,100 patients in New York City are getting treatment using hydroxychloroquine, a malaria treatment he earlier touted as a potential remedy for Covid-19. o Trump also reported on a experiment in which blood plasma is taken from people who recovered from Covid-19 and then transfused into sick patients to boost their immune system. • President Trump tells that hazard pay for hospital workers dealing with the coronavirus is being “looked at.” • Treasury Sec. Steven Mnuchin also tells Fox Business that hazard pay for workers on the front lines of battling the coronavirus will be included in a fourth legislative rescue package. o Also says the Trump admin. stands ready to work with Congress if additional funds are needed in combating the pandemic o The admin. isn’t currently working on a fourth bill, he says • Dr. urged rural communities in the US to prepare for the spread of Covid-19, "even though you think it's not there.” o When Birx was asked on NBC's “Today” show what her message was to rural areas in the country, she said this: o "This virus, we think, can spread with a lot of asymptomatic and mild cases. It's not until it gets into the vulnerable groups that you start to see the hospitalizations." • Federal, state and local governments have the responsibility of ensuring that hospitals are receiving the supplies they need to respond to the US coronavirus crisis, Dr. Deborah Birx said Monday morning. • Mnuchin said SBA loans under the third package that President Trump signed into law last week will be available starting Friday: o Mnuchin says he hopes to release small business loan documents later Monday • President Donald Trump said he wants to restore corporate tax deductions for business meals as restaurants reel from the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. o The president said he’d spoken with celebrity restaurateurs including Wolfgang Puck, Daniel Boulud and Jean-Georges Vongerichten on the subject. • President Donald Trump alleged a New York hospital is losing medical masks or even allowing them to be stolen, questioning how demand for the product could have spiked so rapidly during the coronavirus outbreak. o Trump cited no evidence and didn’t identify the hospital. At a news conference Sunday in the White House Rose Garden, after the chief executive officer of medical distributor Owens & Minor Inc. said that one of its customers had gone from using 10,000 to 20,000 masks a week to 200,000 to 300,000, the president suggested a criminal reason. • The U.S. Department of Justice has begun to probe stock transactions made by U.S. lawmakers after non-public briefings but before a market downturn caused by the coronavirus outbreak, CNN reports, citing two unidentified people familiar with the matter. o Outreach from the FBI has included Sen.Richard Burr to seek information about the trades • The Labor Department’s paid leave rules for coronavirus-related relief take effect Wednesday at businesses with fewer than 500 workers. Employers get full tax credit reimbursements for up to 12 weeks of paid sick leave and partially paid family leave they’ll be required to provide. But cash flow freezes caused by stay-at-home orders and a downward trending economy likely will lead some businesses to decide it’s easier to issue layoffs or furloughs than to keep workers on the payroll if they can’t do their jobs because of the virus. • CISA updated its list of essential critical infrastructure workers over the weekend, adding more cybersecurity personnel. In the energy sector, CISA added workers "who are needed to monitor, operate, engineer, and maintain the reliability, safety, environmental health, and physical and cyber security of the energy system." Under information technology, a group that once mentioned workers "responding to cyber incidents involving critical infrastructure" expanded to include those needed "to preempt," and "all cyber defense workers (who can't perform their duties remotely)." The update expands the categories of workers that CISA advises should maintain a normal work schedule during the pandemic, although CISA's list is advisory to state, local, tribal and territorial governments. Furthermore, it expands election personnel "to include both public and private sector elections support."

• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi plans to hold a press conference at 3pm Monday to talk about protections for workers and patients as part of the fourth aid package to address the coronavirus fallout, according to an advisory notice. • Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and 16 other Democratic senators wrote to Federal Trade Commission Chairman Joseph Simons on Friday urging FTC to do all it can under its authority to combat price gouging during the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S. “The FTC must take urgent action to address these abuses. We stand ready to assist the Commission in its efforts, and if the agency would benefit from additional authority to address this harmful conduct, we would be happy to consult with you and your fellow Commissioners on appropriate legislation,” they wrote. • Rep. Josh Harder asked the White House to add an ag representative to its coronavirus task force, focused on "monitoring and mitigating the impacts of coronavirus on farmers" and developing policy solutions for the industry. "Agriculture is an essential industry. Period. We have to be able to keep food on the shelves during the twin crises of the Coronavirus and economic chaos," the California Democrat said in a statement. Read his letter to Vice President . • House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler and Rep. Karen Bass asked Attorney General William Barr to move “medically-compromised, elderly, and pregnant prisoners” held by the Bureau of Prisons to home confinement to protect them from the coronavirus. o “In addition, we urge that you use every tool at your disposal to release as many prisoners as possible,” the lawmakers said in a letter to Barr, citing the authority given to him under the stimulus package State/Local • Maryland Gov. says he signed an order instituting a state-at-home directive. o The stay-at-home order will go into effect at 8 p.m. Monday, the governor said. Violations can be punished with a misdemeanor charge. o People should only leave their homes for absolutely essential reasons like buying food or seeking medical care. Some outdoor exercise and walking dogs are also permitted. Only essential businesses should stay open, but they should try to limit operations, Hogan said. • Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, who shut down non-essential businesses in his city two weeks ago and got residents to stay home to contain the coronavirus outbreak, said he’s asking the Trump administration to expand the same measures nationwide. o “This virus is nasty,” he said Sunday in a briefing in Los Angeles. “It will cross borders” and cross states, he said. • Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo repealed an order for police to only stop cars crossing the border with license plates from New York, and now is requiring all cars, regardless of origin, to be pulled over as they cross the state’s southern border with Connecticut. o Raimondo acted after an outcry from civil rights groups and a threat of legal action from Governor of New York, now the U.S. epicenter of the outbreak. o All visitors will be told to self-quarantine for 14 days. The National Guard is also checking for out-of-state travelers at bus and train stations and at Rhode Island’s airport. • A 68-bed field hospital is being constructed in New York City's Central Park to accommodate additional coronavirus patients, Mayor Bill de Blasio said yesterday. o It will be operational by tomorrow. • Vermont Gov. Phil Scott announced a new order today that tells anyone who enters Vermont from another state to self-quarantine for 14 days. o “That means heading directly to where you’re going with no stops in-between,” Scott said in a news conference. o The order suspending lodging applies to hotels, bed and breakfasts, as well as short-term rentals such as Airbnb and campgrounds, Scott said. • Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced at a press conference today he will be signing an executive order for the state that "codifies a common set of rules regarding safer at home for southeast Florida." o DeSantis cites the high number of Covid-19 cases in south Florida as the reason behind the order. The order applies to Broward, Palm Beach, Miami-Dade and Monroe counties, DeSantis said.

International • Zimbabwe started a three-week lockdown on Monday as part of the government’s efforts to contain the spread of Covid-19, but critics are calling for more action. o Police are driving around using loudspeakers asking people in Harare to stay indoors. Their message: “Please do not force the police to show you the way to your homes. Kindly go back now.” • The rescheduled Tokyo 2020 Olympics are set to open on July 23, 2021. o The Tokyo 2020 organization committee president Yoshiro Mori said he had a phone call with International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach today, where they agreed to hold the Tokyo Olympics from July 23 to August 8, 2021. • The wearing of face masks in supermarkets will become compulsory from Wednesday, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz announced. o ''As of the moment these masks are handed out in front of the supermarkets and it will become compulsory to wear them in supermarkets'', Kurz said, adding that ''the goal is in the medium term to not only wear these masks in supermarkets but also more generally wherever people have contact with each other'' • The German state of Bavaria is extending the period of self-isolation and movement measures until April 19, Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Soeder announced Monday. • Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc directed officials in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to prepare plans to place their cities on lockdown to combat the novel coronavirus outbreak, according to a post on the government’s website, which cites the premier’s order. o The government has already directed many businesses across the country, from restaurants to gyms, to shut down, and restricted international and domestic flights. Vietnam has confirmed 194 infection cases, with 25 recovered. • Some 2% to 3% of people in Britain may have become infected with coronavirus, according to Neil Ferguson, a professor at Imperial College London who advises the government on the coronavirus outbreak. In central London, the proportion may be as high as 5%, he told BBC radio on Monday, noting the difficulty in determining who’s had the virus, because “maybe a third, maybe even 40% of people really don’t get any symptoms.” • Heads of Russian regions should impose similar quarantine measures for residents against the coronavirus spread as those introduced in Moscow, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said in a televised meeting with top officials. o Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin ordered residents to stay home starting Monday, warning that the spread of novel coronavirus in the city “has entered a new phase.” o The measures in Russian capital’s are the strictest yet imposed in a major Russian city. Passes will be introduced soon, and residents who are out will need to be at least 1.5 meters from others. Sobyanin earlier ordered non-essential businesses to close to slow the spread of the illness. • Malaysia is imposing limits on the hours of operation for restaurants, taxi services and some shops as the country steps up restrictions in a lockdown meant to contain the pandemic. o Stores that sell food, restaurants and gas stations can open between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., while taxi and e-hailing services can operate between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m., Ismail Sabri Yaakob, senior defense minister, said in a televised briefing. Only one person is allowed in a private vehicle at any time, he added. • Phuket in Thailand is on lockdown starting Monday, with all transportation to the island banned except by air, in the latest effort to contain the spread of novel coronavirus in the popular tourist destination. The order will last for at least for one month, according to Phuket Governor Pakkapong Taweepat. Vehicles and vessels providing essential goods and services are exempted. Phuket has one of Thailand’s biggest clusters of coronavirus cases, according to the Health Ministry • Australia will announce more income support for workers on Monday as part of a third stimulus package. o The government has already passed more than A$80 billion ($49 billion) of fiscal stimulus. In an interview with Sky News Monday, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg declined to comment on the scale of the planned wage subsidies, reported to be up to A$1,500 every two weeks per employee for the next six months.

Private Sector • Aggressive social distancing must continue until there’s “sustained reduction” in the amount of coronavirus cases for 14 days, former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb told CBS’s yesterday. “That’s the point at which you can contemplate lifting some of these measures that we have in place right now, some of these very aggressive social distancing measures,” he said. “But you need to do it very gradually.” Gottlieb, a , co-wrote a report released by the conservative American Enterprise Institute spelling out a four-phase plan for navigating the pandemic • French carmaker Renault SA has halted all factories outside China and South Korea due to the coronavirus pandemic. o “The group plans to restart production activities in the countries concerned as soon as conditions permit,” according to a statement. The Asian plants are either back in operation or in the process of resuming work, the company said. • EasyJet Plc grounded its entire fleet after completing repatriation flights, and said it’s looking for ways to increase its cash cushion. The timing of a restart of scheduled flights is uncertain and will depend on government restrictions as well as demand, the U.K. discount carrier said Monday in a statement. • A company that carries traffic for Video Communications and Cisco WebEx can continue to operate during the coronavirus pandemic without violating federal arbitrage rules, the FCC said. The FCC waived rules for telecom provider Inteliquent that, if enforced, would have increased the company’s costs for handling network traffic for two of the largest video conferencing services in the U.S. The waiver expires June 1. • U.S. health insurers Cigna Corp. and Humana Inc. said they will waive out-of-pocket costs for patients who need treatment for Covid-19. • Google is pledging $800 million in relief funds to customers and health-care workers, joining a list of corporations providing money and materials to address the coronavirus pandemic. o The contributions include $250 million in advertising credits for the World Health Organization and $340 million to small businesses to run promotions with Google, Sundar Pichai, chief executive officer of Google and parent Alphabet, announced Friday. Another $20 million gives researchers working on the novel virus credits to use the company’s cloud-computing services • Pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson announced on Monday that it plans to initiate human clinical trials of its Covid-19 vaccine candidate by September, and anticipates the first batches of the vaccine could be available for emergency use by early next year. o The vaccine development comes as part of a partnership between Johnson & Johnson and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), which is part of the US Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response. • Many of Instacart's hundreds of thousands of shoppers are going on strike today to protest the grocery delivery app's handling of their safety concerns during the worsening pandemic. The countrywide campaign, led by Instacart Shoppers and Gig Workers Collective, demands that workers receive basic safety essentials (like hand sanitizer, soap and disinfectant products) at no cost and get "hazard pay" made up of an extra $5 per order and a default in-app tip amount of at least 10 percent. The groups also want to expand protective benefits like sick pay to workers beyond only those who've tested positive for the virus or have been put into mandatory quarantine by officials to also include those with pre-existing conditions or other risk factors. The groups said they "will not return to work until our demands are met." • With its stores closed and sales slowing as the coronavirus pandemic continues, Macy's said it will keep the "absolute minimum workforce needed to maintain basic operations." o That means a "majority" of its 125,000-strong workforce will go on furlough beginning this week, it said in a press release. Affected employees will still receive health care. o Macy's said there will be "fewer furloughs in our digital business, supporting distribution centers and call centers so we can continue to serve our customers online."