All 50 states under disaster declaration for first time in US history

Source: The Hill

All 50 states are under a major disaster declaration for the first time in U.S. history, after President Trump approved Wyoming’s declaration Saturday.

Within 22 days, Trump declared a major emergency in all 50 states and most territories through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

The final disaster declaration occurred on the same day the U.S.’s death toll surpassed Italy’s to become the country with the most deaths from the virus.

Read more: https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/public-global-health/492433-all-50-states-under-disaster-declaration-for-first

Confirmed coronavirus cases hit 1 million worldwide

Source: Los Angeles Times

The number of coronavirus infections worldwide has hit 1 million, with more than 50,000 deaths, according to the tally kept by Johns Hopkins University.

The figures were another bleak milestone in the pandemic that has forced the lockdown of entire countries and brought economies to a shuddering halt.

Still, the true numbers of deaths and infections are believed to be much higher, in part because of differences in counting practices, many mild cases that have gone unreported, testing shortages, and suspicions of a cover-up in some countries.

The coronavirus outbreak has thrown 10 million Americans out of work in just two weeks, the swiftest, most stunning collapse the U.S. job market has ever witnessed, and economists warn unemployment could reach levels not seen since the Depression, as the economic damage piles up around the world.

Read more: https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-04-02/coronavirus-one-million-cases

Italian police patrol an empty Piazza di Spagna in Rome.

The Covid-19 crisis has hit the Mediterranean nation especially hard.

Bill Gates calls for nationwide shut down to curb coronavirus pandemic

In a Washington Post op-ed Tuesday, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates offered more details on how the U.S. can better deal with the fight against COVID-19.

The co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation suggested three steps for dealing with the health crisis. First, he says there needs to be a nationwide approach to shutting down.

"The country's leaders need to be clear: Shutdown anywhere means shutdown everywhere," he said Tuesday.

"Until the case numbers start to go down across America — which could take 10 weeks or more — no one can continue business as usual or relax the shutdown."

Gates also says the federal government needs to step up its efforts to test more people and to prioritize testing starting with medical workers and first responders.

At: https://www.cnet.com/news/bill-gates-calls-for-nationwide-shut-down-to-curb-coronavirus-pandemic/

Microsoft founder Bill Gates: Any confusion about (a nationwide shutdown) will only extend the economic pain, raise the odds that the virus will return, and cause more deaths.

Philadelphia hospital to stay closed after owner requests nearly $1 million a month

A hospital with room for nearly 500 beds has been closed for months in the center of Philadelphia, a city bracing for the spread of the coronavirus and a crush of sick patients.

But the facility will remain empty, city officials said, because they cannot accept the owner’s offer: buy the hospital or lease it for almost $1 million a month, including utilities and other costs.

“We don’t have the need to own it nor the resources to buy it. So we are done and we are moving on,” Mayor Jim Kenney told reporters on Thursday during the city’s daily briefing.

The next day, he said that Temple University would let the city use a music and sports venue for free.

The city would no longer pursue the closed facility, Hahnemann University Hospital.

At: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/27/us/coronavirus-philadelphia-hahnemann-hospital.html

Hahnemann University Hospital.

The closed facility could hold 500 patients - but the owner's rent demands are unaffordable for the city.

Argentina's Fernandez freezes rents and mortgages, suspends evictions through September

Argentine President Alberto Fernández signed an executive order granting relief to the nation's tenants and borrowers amid the ongoing Coronavirus crisis.

The order freezes residential and commercial rents, as well as mortgage and secured loan payments, through September 30.

Tenants and borrowers are also protected from eviction for non-payment until October, when any rents owed from the moratorium may be repaid in three installments.

The relief package is part of a series of emergency measures stemming from the Covid-19 global pandemic, which in Argentina has reached 820 known cases since March 1st and claimed 20 lives.

The Covid crisis prompted Fernández to enact a nationwide shelter-in-place order for non-essential staff on March 20, which according to authorities has so far had an estimated 94% compliance rate.

Retail collapse

High compliance has resulted, in the case of Buenos Aires, in a 72% reduction in automobile traffic and 83% in public transport ridership - as well as 50% less air pollution and 89% less crime.

But excluding supermarkets and pharmacies, retail sales have collapsed by at least 70% according to Small and Medium Business Assembly head Manuel Gabás - a sharp blow, after a two-year recession in which nearly 25,000 employers closed shop.

Following a Central Bank rate cut from 63% when Fernández took office in December to 38%, economic relief enacted since March 17 includes a $5.5 billion small business credit line and a $150 monthly subsidy for the nation's 5 million low-income workers.

The OECD estimated that even with relief measures, GDP may fall by 2% for every month that shelter-in-place orders remain in effect; Argentina's GDP already fell 2.2% last year, and a total of 6.6% since early 2018.

At: https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&tab=wT&sl=es&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ambito.com%2Feconomia%2Falquileres%2Falquileres-congelan-precios-y-suspenden-desalojos-falta-pago-el-30-septiembre-n5091958

"Taking care of yourself is taking care of us all," a Health Ministry billboard along Buenos Aires' normally hectic 9th of July Avenue reminds Argentines to take precautions during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

The current crisis is hitting Argentina particularly hard, following two years of a "Macrisis" and six years of sputtering growth.

"In a crisis such as this," President Alberto Fernández explained, "you can't leave people unprotected."

Leading South Korean doctor says Trump's 'pride' and 'ego' are putting the world's health at risk

President Donald Trump's refusal to implement mass testing for the coronavirus in the United States will have "global repercussions," a South Korean doctor said.

In an interview with Wired this week, Min Pok-kee, whose aggressive approach to tackling the COVID-19 virus in the city of Daegu became a model for South Korea's nationwide response, said Trump's failure meant that "it's inevitable that you become like Italy."

"The United States is very late to this," he said. "And the president and the officials working on it seem to think they aren't late. This has both national and global repercussions.

"It isn't enough for Korea alone to survive. In the US, Trump is talking about taking care of his own, but the entire world has to respond in sync."

At: https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-south-korea-doctor-donald-trump-ego-world-health-covid-2020-3

Trump holds forth as Drs. Debrorah Birx and Anthony Fauci look on.

"Trump has spoken dismissively about testing because of his ego," South Korea's Dr. Min noted. "As we scientists see it, he's motivated by pride."

'Huge Victory' for Standing Rock Sioux tribe as federal court rules DAPL permits violated law

A federal judge handed down a major victory for the Standing Rock Sioux tribe of North Dakota on Wednesday, ruling that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers violated the National Environmental Policy Act by approving federal permits for the Dakota Access Pipeline.

The USACE must complete a full environmental impact study of the pipeline, including full consideration of concerns presented by the Standing Rock Tribe, the judge ruled.

The tribe has asked the court to ultimately shut the pipeline down.

The court chastised the USACE for moving ahead with affirming the permits in 2016 and allowing the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) crossing the Missouri River after President Donald Trump took office in 2017, without considering the expert analysis put forward by the tribe.

At: https://commondreams.org/news/2020/03/25/huge-victory-standing-rock-sioux-tribe-federal-court-rules-dapl-permits-violated-law

Ray Kingfisher leads Standing Rock Sioux demonstrators at the site of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) Missouri River crossing, in North Dakota.

"This is what the tribe has been fighting for many months," Earthjustice noted. "Their fearless organizing continues to change the game."

Bonanza for rich real estate investors, tucked into stimulus package

The federal government’s planned $2 trillion economic rescue package includes financial aid for individuals and industries that are struggling to survive the coronavirus pandemic.

It also includes a potential bonanza for America’s richest real estate investors.

Senate Republicans inserted an easy-to-overlook provision on page 203 of the 880-page bill that would permit wealthy investors to use losses generated by real estate to minimize their taxes on profits from things like investments in the stock market.

The estimated cost of the change over 10 years is $170 billion.

Under the existing tax code, when real estate investors generate losses from gradually writing down the value of their properties, a process known as depreciation, they can use some of those losses to offset other taxes.

The result is that people can enjoy big tax breaks stemming from only-on-paper losses, even if they enjoy big cash profits in the real world.

At: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/26/business/coronavirus-real-estate-investors-stimulus.html

The Trump clause?

Bolivia suspends presidential election due to virus lockdown

Bolivia’s top electoral authority called for a new date for the country’s presidential election, saying the May 3 vote became unfeasible after the government mandated a two-week nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

The Supreme Electoral Tribunal said on Saturday it was suspending the electoral process for two weeks and called on political parties, the government and congress to select a new date for the vote.

The Andean country of 12 million went into lockdown on Sunday to stem the spread of the coronavirus as self-proclaimed President Jeanine Áñez ordered people to stay in their homes and only leave to buy essential goods or to see a doctor.

Áñez, who did not announce a new date for the election, took power two days after a violent coup forced President Evo Morales to resign on November 12.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) condemned the Áñez dictatorship for its role in at least 35 deaths while quashing protests in the month after the coup.

At: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-23/bolivia-suspends-presidential-election-due-to-virus-lockdown

Bolivian dictator Jeanine Áñez declares a national shelter-in-place order, while suspending presidential elections scheduled for May 3.

Her decree prolongs Bolivia's ongoing lack of constitutional democracy - which until the November 12 coup against President Evo Morales had been continuous since 1982.

Six dead after Indiana bridge collapses in floodwaters

Source: NBC News

Six people have died after floodwaters washed away a bridge in Indiana Friday morning.

High waters from overnight storms caused the bridge collapse in Franklin County, authorities said.

Deputies were able to recover five bodies by Friday afternoon, NBC affiliate WLWT in Cincinnati, Ohio, reported.

The sixth body was found Saturday morning after authorities resumed their search.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/six-dead-after-indiana-bridge-collapses-floodwaters-n1165616

The collapsed bridge over the Sanes Creek - near Laurel, Indiana.

Time for another tax cut for the wealthy?