P2JW099000-5-A00100-17FFFF5178F ***** WEDNESDAY,APRIL 8, 2020 ~VOL. CCLXXV NO.82 WSJ.com HHHH $4.00 DJIA 22653.86 g 26.13 0.1% NASDAQ 7887.26 g 0.3% STOXX 600 326.61 À 1.9% 10-YR. TREAS. g 19/32 , yield 0.735% OIL $23.63 g $2.45 GOLD $1,664.80 g $12.20 EURO $1.0892 YEN 108.75 Wisconsin Braves Infection to Vote What’s Fear Lingers News On Streets Business&Finance .S.government officials Of Wuhan Uand businessleadersare turning their attention to a coming challengeinthe fight against the coronavi- Suspicion of uncounted inbound and outbound travel ruspandemic:Reopening an for healthy people, after eas- economythat has been shut cases fuels worries of ingsome residential restric- down likenever before. A1 second wave of virus tions to reviveacrippled local economy. Anumber of companies as China reopens city In the past few days, how- areciting beefed-up unem- CK ever, it has tightened restric- ployment benefitsunder TO WUHAN—Chinese leaders tionsonsome housing com- the stimulus packageas and manymedical experts plexes,and said otherswill they furlough or layoff SHUTTERS have held up this city as an ex- remain in place, afterconfirm- staff amid the pandemic. A1 A/ EP ample of what canbeachieved ing dozens of newasymptom- Nissan and Honda are Y/ through extreme effortsto aticcases.Anofficial newspa- UR furloughing U.S. factory MA contain the coronavirus. per said Mondaytherecould workers without pay, add- be 10,000 to 20,000 such cases ing to joblessness in the NNEN By Jeremy Page, in Wuhan. Thereport was TA hard-hit auto industry. B1 S; Natasha Khan swiftly deleted online. and Warren P. Strobel Epidemiologists, U.S. intelli- Exxon Mobil said it PRES gencesourcesand Wuhan resi- would cut its2020 capital TED It’snow becoming clear the dentssuspect that Chinese au- spending by 30% as the CIA SO battle in Wuhan is far from thorities substantially coronavirus pandemic saps AS over—and the human cost undercounted infections and demand foroil. B1, B11 much higher than officially ac- deaths over the past several Amazon.com will halt a knowledged. months, especially in Wuhan, JOURNAL/ deliveryservicefor non- E Thecity has announced in part to boost President Xi AT Amazon packages as it re- ST only three newconfirmed Jinping’s image. Such doubts, evaluates thenascent offer- cases with symptoms since PleaseturntopageA12 NSIN ing that competes directly CO March 18.Authorities have with FedEx and UPS. B1 WIS just formally ended the 77-day Chinese mogul who criticized T/ lockdown on the city,allowing Xi now faces probe.............. A12 ISShas urged share- HAR holderstowithhold votes forthe chairman of Williams JOHN P: afterthe pipeline operator TO adopted apoison pill. B1 OM No Clear Path Seen FR TheDow and S&P 500 DEMOCRACY: Robert Williams, top, votesinDunn, and aline forms outside aMilwaukee polling place ended Tuesday’ssession Tuesdayafter acourt blocked the governor from delaying the contestoverpublic-health concerns. A3 To Restart Economy down 0.1% and 0.2%, respec- tively,after relinquishing substantial early gains. B11 BY STEPHANIE ARMOUR Asharp reduction in new Airbnb agreed to payits Companies Cutting Jobs AND JON HILSENRATH infections is acritical first newinvestorsinterest at a step,but health expertssaid rate of over 10% in their fund- Government officials and other actions will be needed to ing deal, according to people business leadersare turning prevent another outbreak that familiar with the matter. B3 Cite New Aid for Workers theirattention to acoming freezesactivity all over again. Two WeWork directors challenge in the fight against That includes building testing sued SoftBank on behalf of the coronavirus pandemic:Re- and surveillancesystems,and the co-working firm after BY PATRICK THOMAS ment’s beefed-up unemploy- of calls of clientswondering if opening a$22 trillion econ- areadinesstoreintroduce SoftBank dropped an offer AND CHIP CUTTER ment benefitsasthey furlough it’s a win-win.” omy that has been shut down some social distancing and to buy WeWork shares. B3 or lay off staff amid the coro- Thenew stimulus package like never before. other mitigations to givepeo- When Equinoxhad to start navirus pandemic.The stimu- will give employees who have With some preliminary ple confidencethat they caN World-Wide furloughing some employees at lus packageischanging the been laid off or had their hours signs that infections from the return to work without risking itschain of upscale fitness calculus for some employers, cut an extra$600 each week virus areslowing,the whole infection. clubs,ExecutiveChairman Har- which caNNow cut payroll foruptofour months on topof nation is hopeful to getback TheTrump administration’s Suspicions that Chinese veySpevak had asurprising costswithout feeling they are their state’sregular unemploy- to businessassoon as possi- current social-distancing authorities substantially messagetostakeholders. abandoning their employees. ment payments. By itself,the ble.But thereare ahost of guidelines ruN through April. undercounted coronavirus “Webelievemost will be “I’m getting alot of calls $600 is the equivalent of work- questions. Under what condi- “Itisn’t likealight switch infections and deaths,espe- betteroff receiving government from clientswondering why ing 40 hoursaweek at $15 an tions should people be allowed on and off,” Anthony Fauci, a cially in Wuhan, combined assistanceduring our closure,” wouldn’t Idothis if my em- hour.For people working full back to work and stay-at-home member of President Trump’s with reportsofnew asymp- he wroteinanemail. Thecom- ployeecan makeasmuch or time and normally earning orders be lifted? Howwill peo- task forceonthe pan- tomatic cases in that city,are panysaid the majority of em- sometimes morenot working, $7.25 an hour,that comes to ple at work be monitored for demic,told “The Journal,” a sparking fearsofapotential ployees remain on itspayroll. and Idon’t need them and caN morethan double their income reinfection or antibodies to Wall Street Journal podcast. second wave of infections. A1 Equinoxjoins anumber of cut that cost,” said Christine PleaseturntopageA4 prevent aresurgenceofthe “It’sagradual pulling back on Lamb,aDenver-based employ- certain of the restrictions to The U.S. death toll from companies,including Macy’s deadly virus? Does it all hap- the coronavirus rose sharply, Inc.and Steelcase Inc., that ment attorney from Fortis Law More small-business loans pen at onceorisitstaggered? try and get society a bit back Partners. “I’ve received a toN promised....................................... A4 PleaseturntopageA2 with nearly 50% morepeo- are citing the federal govern- Whoisincharge of the effort? ple killed Tuesdaythan anyprevious dayinthe ep- idemic,according to aWall Folk Music’s John Prine Dies Acting Navy Street Journal analysis of NewYorkCity datafromJohns Hopkins. A7 Leader Quits Theacting Navy secretary resigned afteranuproar Feels Full Force over his verbal attack on the Amid Uproar ex-captain of acoronavirus- stricken aircraft carrier. A1 Of Hospital Crisis Over Captain Trump replaced the Pen- tagon’s acting inspector JOURNAL general, who had been BY GORDON lUBOLD REET AND MICHAEL R. GORDON chargedwith monitoring the The pandemic has sparked the ingenuity ST pandemic stimulus law. A7 LL WASHINGTON—Acting and grit of the medical community WA TheTrump administra- Navy SecretaryThomas Modly THE tion and toplawmakerssaid R resigned after an uproar over they hope to movewithin BY MELANIE EVANS Pollard asked if they would FO hisverbal attack on the for- days to approvenew funding leave some at her hospital, OW mer captain of the coronavi- forsmall-businessloans. A4 Sharon Pollard, director which had more than 400 GR rus-stricken aircraftcarrier ON TheU.K.government for respiratory care at Long coronavirus patients, many JAS TheodoreRoosevelt, in asaga sought to maintain aunited Island Jewish Medical Center of them growing worse and MASTER STORYTELLER: The singer-songwriter,who was73, that has dealt anew blowtoa front in the faceofthe pan- in New Hyde Park, N.Y., had others still arriving. helped shape ageneration of performers with his songs of love U.S. Navy beset by missteps eight ventilators left and She asked for 25 and got and social commentary.Hedied from the coronavirus. A13 and clashes with the White demic while Johnson re- needed more. Overnight, at 15. “We’ll take anything,” she House in recent years. mained in intensivecare. A10 least 17 new patients re- said. Mr. Modly was under pres- TheU.S.plans to block quired them. New York City hospitals suretostepdownafter an ex- Iran’srequested $5 billion Teams at the hospital un- faced the full force of the traordinarychain of events emergencyloan from the IMF loaded ventilators delivered pandemic in recent days, as The New Cocktail Hour: Your over the past two weeks as the that Tehran says it needs to by the Federal Emergency the coronavirus disease Navy and the U.S. military fight its coronavirus crisis. A11 Management Agency. The surged through the city and Governor’s Coronavirus Briefing scramble to respond to the The Taliban broke off machines were bound for a on Monday claimed 731 lives, Covid-19 crisis,with more talks with Afghanistan’s central depot to distribute to the highest number of iii than 230 cases of the respira- many other hospitals. Ms. deaths in a single day. tory illnesscaused by the cor- government, creating a Hospital loudspeakershave onavirus on the aircraftcar- fresh stumbling block for Pandemic updates become must-see TV sounded constant alarms for rier amongmorethan 1,500 the peace process. A11 doctorstoaid patientsina and make unlikely stars of local officials across the armed services. Died: John Prine, 73, THE crisis that has stretched the Defense SecretaryMark Es- country-folk music icon. A13 CORONAVIRUS capacity of NewYork’smedi- BY JOE BARRETT oldreal-estateagent in Ver- per accepted Mr.Modly’s resig- calcommunity and sparked sailles,Ky.,quipped in atweet. nation on Tuesdayafter topof- CONTENTS Opinion.............. A17-19 PANDEMIC the ingenuity and resource- Bob Lear noticed his wife While NewYork Gov.An- ficials held aseries of meetings Banking &FinanceB10 Property Report..