“Now we’re focused on mitigation of the spread, as well as the treatment of the people affected,” Pence said. The comments came shortly after Washington state officials announced four additional deaths.
HHS Secretary Alex Azar stressed the immediate risk to the American public remains low, but added: “The degree of risk has the potential to change quickly.” He said officials expect more confirmed cases as the U.S.’s testing capacity is expected to dramatically ramp up this week.
— Brianna Ehley
FDA chief’s claim of 1M coronavirus tests by end of week stirs controversy
U.S. labs will have enough materials on hand by the end of this week to perform „close to 1 million“ coronavirus tests, FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn said at a White House briefing Monday evening.
That estimate far exceeds the number of tests that several labs told POLITICO they will actually be able to run each day. Under ideal conditions, the nation’s public health labs could run up to 10,000 tests per day by the end of the week, according to figures provided by the Association of Public Health Laboratories.
An FDA spokesperson says that Hahn’s 1 million estimate includes capacity that would be added through commercial tests that the agency is working with firms to bring to market by the end of the week.
— David Lim
Hill leaders close to strike emergency coronavirus funding deal
Congressional leaders are racing this week to pass an emergency funding package to combat the coronavirus, desperate to avoid political mudslinging with the nation already on edge over the fast-growing outbreak.
Negotiators for Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell say they expect to unveil the bipartisan package — which is expected to be between $7 billion and $8 billion — as soon as Tuesday, according to people familiar with the process. The legislation is intended to shore up U.S. public health preparedness, with six deaths reported in Washington State and the number of people infected in the U.S. now exceeding 100.
— Sarah Ferris and Caitlin Emma
White House plans economic meeting on coronavirus Tuesday
The White House’s National Economic Council is planning an interagency meeting Tuesday afternoon to discuss how the coronavirus is affecting the U.S. economy, according to two U.S. officials.
One official said the meeting would cover possible economic responses to the virus, if the health situation were to warrant it, but a senior administration official downplayed the likelihood of policy proposals, saying the White House is simply convening a working group to monitor the economy.
For his part, President Donald Trump has not proposed economic measures beyond calling on the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates.
“As usual, Jay Powell and the Federal Reserve are slow to act,” Trump tweeted this morning. “Germany and others are pumping money into their economies. Other Central Banks are much more aggressive. The U.S. should have, for all of the right reasons, the lowest Rate. We don’t, putting us at a competitive disadvantage. We should be leading, not following!”
Financial ministers and central bankers of the Group of Seven major economies will hold a teleconference Tuesday morning to coordinate a response to the coronavirus outbreak.
— Victoria Guida
EU Parliament cancels events over coronavirus
The European Parliament is to cancel more than 100 events because of the coronavirus outbreak but next week’s plenary session “will unfold properly,” Parliament President David Sassoli said Monday.
As part of measures to try and stop the spread of the virus, Sassoli announced at a press conference that any visit or event planned “in the next three weeks,” including “visits of all MEPs organized in the Parliament, personal visits or of accredited assistants” as well as any seminar or cultural exhibition held on the Parliament’s premises will “not take place,” Sassoli said.
An official close to Sassoli said that the move would affect “130 events and involve up to 7,000 people.”
— Maia de La Baume
Coronavirus puts brakes on car shows
Coronavirus put an end to this year’s Geneva International Motor Show.
But the decision by authorities in Switzerland to cancel the event — part of a ban on large gatherings aimed at containing the virus — underlines the fading relevance of what had been key events on the annual schedule of automakers, motoring journalists, lobbyists and car lovers.
Instead of hobnobbing in massive halls with thousands of potential clients, carmakers are joining just about every other part of the economy and going digital.
— Joshua Posaner and Laurens Cerulus
Health care lobbyists pushed for Congress to agree to pick up quarrantine costs in the coronavirus spending bill.
The health care industry wants the federal government to pay for mandatory quarantines of patients who may be carrying coronavirus but don’t need hospital care — a potentially high-dollar request for the emergency funding bill now under negotiation in Congress.
A growing number of Americans entered self-isolation over the weekend, including health care workers and other responders who’ve been exposed to the virus. This has only intensified the need for answers to a question hospitals flagged late last week, even as insurers grappled with the potential need to elaborate on their coverage policies.
The core issue is how to handle patients who are undergoing tests, or who’ve been diagnosed with coronavirus but are showing only mild symptoms, if any — yet who risk further spreading the virus to other members of their household if they isolate at home. Hospitals want the government to supply temporary facilities, such as hotel rooms.
There’s no word yet whether Congress will agree to include that language in the initial supplemental appropriations bill now under negotiation. Appropriators are still hammering out details of what’s now a $7 billion to $8 billion funding package to fight the coronavirus, but an individual familiar with talks said the text of legislation could come as soon as Tuesday. A vote on the package is expected in the House later this week, and the Senate will likely follow next week.
— Susannah Luhti and Jennifer Scholtes
Coronavirus death toll jumps to 6 in Washington state, officials confirm
Four more people have died from coronavirus in Washington state, bringing the total number of reported deaths in the U.S. to six, public health officials confirmed today.
The Washington state deaths are the first reported in the country. All have occurred in Seattle or King and Snohomish counties. Officials said there have been 18 total cases in Washington state, including 14 in Seattle and King County.
The majority of cases have occurred in residents of LifeCare, a skilled a nursing facility in Kirkland, Washington. Five deaths were reported among residents from Seattle and King County — including four who were residents of the long-term care facility. The sixth patient was from Snohomish County.
„We do want people to know this infection is with us and it’s increasing, and there are things we can do to decrease that risk,“ said Jeff Duchin, Health Officer for Seattle & King County, during a press conference.
The county has declared a public health emergency and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee also declared a state of emergency over the weekend.
– Brianna Ehley
President Donald Trump launched political attacks even as his administration has offered conflicting assessments of the risk
„I was criticized by the Democrats when I closed the Country down to China many weeks ahead of what almost everyone recommended. Saved many lives,“ Trump wrote on Twitter. „Dems were working the Impeachment Hoax. They didn’t have a clue! Now they are fear mongering. Be calm & vigilant!“
Administration officials have struggled at times to offer consistent messaging on what threats Americans face and what steps they should take to mitigate them.
White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow, for example, said last week that the administration had „contained this, I won’t say airtight but pretty close to airtight“ — a sharp break from a top CDC official who said earlier that same day that a U.S. coronavirus outbreak was „not a question of if but rather a question of when.“
— Quint Forgey
The Department of Health and Human Services has launched an investigation into the first round of diagnostic tests
Many public health laboratories across the country were unable to use the tests because one component was flawed.
The delay in testing capacity has slowed the U.S. response to the coronavirus, which public health experts say impeded the detection of what are now outbreaks in multiple states. Only this week is the pace of testing beginning to pick up.
The CDC on Monday abruptly postponed a press briefing on the coronavirus response.
CDC spokesperson Ben Haynes told reporters on the scheduled call that it had been pushed back and did not provide an explanation as to why or when it would be rescheduled.
— David Lim, Sarah Karlin-Smith and Dan Diamond
Texas governor slams CDC for releasing San Antonio coronavirus patient
AUSTIN, Texas — Republican Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday criticized a CDC decision to release a San Antonio patient who later tested positive for the coronavirus, highlighting growing tensions between federal and local officials as new cases of the respiratory disease are reported.
The patient, who had been in Wuhan, China, was treated and tested negative twice before being discharged from the Texas Center for Infectious Disease, according to a Facebook post from San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg. Later, a third test came back positive. The patient spent about 12 hours in public in the interim, visiting a local mall and hotel near the airport.
All three tests were done at CDC’s headquarters in Atlanta, according to Texas health officials.
„It appears to be a case of negligence with regard to how this person, who had the coronavirus, could leave TCID and go back into the general population,” said Abbott at a Monday morning news conference related to economic development. “I think they understand the magnitude of the error they made.”
– Renuka Rayasam
A response to coronavirus? Elizabeth Warren has a plan for that.
Elizabeth Warren on Monday released a proposed coronavirus care plan that her campaign said would provide free care to those infected and address the outbreak’s economic impact.
Warren, who was the first candidate to release her ideas for addressing the public health effects of the virus weeks ago, said her plans means “you could all get recommended medical advice and care for coronavirus for free – regardless of whether you have hit your deductible, whether you’re on Medicare or Medicaid, or have no insurance at all.”
Warren’s plan calls for emergency funding for universal free evaluations, health care and vaccines once they’re available. It also calls for paid lead for individuals with symptoms or for those caring for family members or dependents with the virus, and a $400 billion stimulus package aimed at countering potential economic damage.
She also called on the Federal Reserve to commit to using its emergency lending authority to create an “emergency lending facility program to help real economy companies whose supply chains have been disrupted because of the coronavirus.”
“These actions will ensure that every American can get the vital medical advice and care they need for coronavirus for free,” the plan said. “That is not only the moral thing to do, it limits the spread of the disease and keeps us all safer.”
– Myah Ward
While the CDC has taken blame for testing delays, administration officials are pointing the finger HHS Secretary Alex Azar
The country’s top health official, critics say, failed to coordinate the response, as agency chiefs waited for instructions that came too late and other deputies were largely cut out of the process.
The lack of testing capacity forced U.S. officials to screen a limited number of patients across January and February, with the CDC testing fewer than 500 Americans at the same time that China was likely testing at least 1 million of its own residents. Meanwhile, public health officials had no fallback testing option until the Food and Drug Administration granted approval for hospitals and other labs to develop their own homegrown tests on Saturday — more than six weeks after the first U.S. case of coronavirus was identified.
— Dan Diamond and Adam Cancryn
Some state officials are encouraging people to avoid in-person polling sites ahead of primaries
Some are even increasing the opportunity for drive-by voting on Super Tuesday.
California’s Solano County, the site of the country’s first identified case of the virus’ spread within the community, added new curbside sites where people can drop off their ballots without having to leave their cars.
“If you can stay in your car to get service, lots of people want to take advantage of that even in a normal situation, but especially when they might be concerned about congregating in close proximity to a lot of other people,” said county election official John Gardner.
— Alice Miranda Ollstein
Source: politico.com
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