Summary
- Officials are telling Americans to “stop going out” to crowded places, in order to limit the spread of the coronavirus.
- Several Bay Area counties have been ordered to shelter in place. South Carolina has announced sweeping social distancing measures, and Navajo Nation has told citizens to stay home after a member tested positive.
- New York’s mayor has told residents to brace for similar shelter in place orders, even as the state’s government insisted that no quarantine measures will be taken for now.
- Coronavirus is in all 50 states now, after West Virginia confirmed its first case.
- US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin met with Republican senators to discuss a stimulus plan that would cost $1 trillion, and include $250bn in payments to Americans.
- Primary voting is underway in Florida, Arizona and Illinois today. The Ohio democratic party is fighting a state department of health decision to postpone its primary until June.
My colleague Joan E Greve in Washington DC will be providing live updates as the results from the primaries roll in. Follow along:
Updated
Ohio democratic party fights decision to delay primary
The party has filed a writ of prohibition with the Ohio Supreme Court to ensure that the primaries will move forward despite orders from the state’s department of health.
“This primary election must move forward,” said Ohio Democratic Party Chairman David Pepper said in a statement. “Today’s action seeks that court order, preserving the primary while also proposing a more workable window for the election to take place, along with multiple opportunities and a reasonable amount of time for voters to vote.”
Updated
Democratic National Committee urges states to adopt vote by mail and other safety measures
In a new statement, the DNC urged states that have yet to hold their primary to use vote by mail and “other critical mechanisms that will make voting easier and safer for voters and election officials alike” rather than reschedule elections.
“Where in-person voting can still take place under public health guidelines, states should expand days and hours of early voting to reduce lines,” said DNC Chair Tom Perez.
Perez criticized Ohio, which postponed its primary. “What happened in Ohio last night has only bred more chaos and confusion,” he said. “Eligible voters deserve certainty, safety, and accessibility.”
Updated
San Francisco’s mayor London Breed has announced a moratorium on commercial evictions through the coronavirus crisis. Small and medium-sized businesses that lose income during the pandemic won’t be evicted if they can’t make rent, Breed announced.
“Under normal state law, localities are prohibited from regulating commercial evictions,” Breen said in a statement. “San Francisco is allowed to take this action following Governor Gavin Newsom’s Executive Order that was signed yesterday, and Mayor Breed issued this moratorium under the powers of the Local Emergency she declared on February 25th.”
The moratorium will be in effect for 30 days and can be extended for another 30 days through executive order. Businesses that have less than $25 million in annual gross receipts are covered.
Updated
Navajo Nation reports its first case of Covid-19, and urges social distancing
“We call upon our Navajo people to do their best to remain calm and make good decisions by staying home to prevent the spread of the virus among our communities,” said president Jonathan Nez.
We have health and emergency experts who have been planning and preparing for this situation for several weeks. We call upon our Navajo people to do their best to remain calm and make good decisions by staying home to prevent the spread of the virus among our communities. pic.twitter.com/kdzqtQAwyf
— Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez (@NNPrezNez) March 17, 2020
Last week, Navajo officials made the decision to close parks on the Nation’s land, including the Four Corners.
They also announced travel restrictions for executive members and canceled events that take people off the Nation.
“We have health and emergency experts who have been planning and preparing for this situation for several weeks,” Nez reassured.
Updated
South Carolina announces sweeping new social distancing measures
Governor Henry McMaster announced executive orders to close all bars and restaurants’ dine-in services, push state tax filing deadlines to June, ban gatherings of 50 or more in public/gov’t-owned facilities and mobilize the National Guard to help hospitals.
The governor also requested that insurance companies pay for office visits, tests and procedures for coronavirus patients, that grocery stores limit customer purchases of certain essentials, and have special hours for senior citizens, among other suggestions.
Elizabeth Warren has laid out a progressive “litmus test” for a bailout package.
.@ewarren is laying down progressive markers for a bailout package: “Let me be clear: we’re not doing no-strings-attached bailouts that enrich shareholders or pay CEO bonuses. Period.” pic.twitter.com/hezX7nh6Lv
— Lauren Gambino (@laurenegambino) March 17, 2020
Among her suggestions:
- Companies must maintain their payrolls
- Companies must provide a $15 minimum wage... no later than one year of the national emergency declaration ending.
- Companies are permanently prohibited from engaging in share repurchases.
Warren has called for a $750 billion economic stimulus package focused “on recovery from the grassroots up, not Wall Street down” her office said in a statement.
Though she’s no longer running for president, it seems Warren is using her newfound national platform and leverage as senator to push progressive priorities.
Updated
As New York mayor Bill de Blasio tells the city to brace for a shelter in place order, a senior advisor to New York governor Andrew Cuomo reiterated what the governor had said earlier: That a city can’t unilaterally declare a quarantine without the state’s approval.
A reminder of what @NYGovCuomo said earlier today. Further comment from the administration to come. pic.twitter.com/kIF7kGbk1f
— Rich Azzopardi (@RichAzzopardi) March 17, 2020
Joe Biden campaign memo underscores slim chances for Sanders victory
“We expect to emerge tonight with a bigger delegate lead than we had going into the night,” said Kate Bedingfield, Biden’s deputy campaign manager in a memo. “It would take a drastic, historically-incomparable swing for Senator Sanders to win more delegates than Biden today or to close the delegate differential.”
Although coronavirus concerns will affect voter turnout today, “we believe that, with early vote and vote by mail, overall turnout will be roughly on pace for 2016 in Arizona and Florida and roughly on pace for 2018 in Illinois, and that voter turnout in all three states will reflect the population at large,” Bedingfield added.
Updated
What exactly does a shelter in place order entail? The Guardian’s West Coast reporter Vivian Ho explains how it works in California:
What happens to retail and restaurants?
All businesses considered non-essential, like bars, shops and fitness centers, were ordered to close. Restaurants will remain open in only a takeout and delivery capacity. Grocery stores, hardware stores and pharmacies will stay open.
What about transit?
All non-essential travel “on foot, bicycle, scooter, automobile or public transit” is prohibited. Under the order, essential travel is categorized as traveling for necessary supplies, accessing healthcare or going to provide aid to family or friends. Airports, taxis, Uber, Lyft and public transit will continue running to service essential travel, but those using any mode of travel are expected to practice social distancing.
Earlier today, New York governor had said that he would not yet order people to shelter in place. “No city in the state can quarantine itself without state approval, and I have no interest whatsoever and no plan whatsoever to quarantine any city,” said governor Andrew Cuomo.
The Guardian’s Amanda Holpuch reported:
Cuomo said he would not yet order people to shelter in place in part because such a dramatic decision would need to be made in a uniform fashion. It would not be helpful, he said, if there was a shelter in place in New York City or the state capital, Albany, because it could drive large groups of people to leave.
The state would use other measures to reduce transmission, he said, such as a greater reduction in business operations, before it would need to advise a regional quarantine.
NYC mayor says should prepare for possible "shelter in place" order, contradicting governor
Mayor Bill de Blasio said the order could come within the next 48 hours.
“It is definitely a possibility at this point,” he said in a briefing. “It is a difficult, difficult decision.”
New York governor Andrew Cuomo had said there were no plans to enact such a “drastic” order as yet, and indicated that the state would use other measures to limit the trasmission coronavirus.
A shelter in place order in the Bay Area requires people to stay home except for essential activities. De Blasio did not elaborate on what a similar order in New York would look like. He also announced that the city will soon have the capacity to test 5,000 people a day for coronavirus.
Updated
Department of Defense will deploy national guard and reserve units to help
The Department of Defense will make 5m masks available from “strategic reserves” said secretary Mark Esper. One million will be made available immediately. The DOD will also make available 13 laboratories capable of testing for COVID-19, as well as 2000 ventilators.
“We are considering activating national guard and reserve units,” he added, to help with coronavirus challenge. He said he’s also willing to make the Army Corps of Engineers available to help if asked. Hospital ships USNS Comfort (in Norfolk, Virginia) and USNS Mercy (in San Diego, California) may also become available to help relieve civilian hospitals. Since these ships are geared toward treating trauma rather than illness, those theoretically could take trauma cases out of hospitals to make room for coronavirus patients.
The ventilators that the DOD has are a bit different than civilian ventilators, Esper said, but military personnel could train medical staff on how to use them.
“In some ways, we want to be the last resort,” Esper added, in a measured response. He said he wants to be careful and strateguc about how forces are used.
Updated
Stimulus plan costing $1 trillion is in consideration as Senate moves to pass Phase 2 relief bill
During a closed-door lunch with Republican Senators, treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin proposed a stimulus plan that would cost up to $1 trillion. The plan includes $250bn of direct aide to Americans, with a number of Republican senators telling reporters they’d prefer that to tax cuts.
Majority leader Mitch McConnell also said the Senate will pass the Phase 2 House coronavirus bill, and begin to work on a Phase 3 bill. “The Senate will not leave” until work on the third relief bill is done, he told reporters.
Updated
After pictures of Florida beaches packed with spring breakers appeared on social media, Florida Governor Rick DeSantis has issued an executive order in an effort to quell critics.
However, his new order is muddy at best.
BUSY BEACH! This is what @MyClearwater Beach looks like right now as spring break crowds flock to the sand. #Clearwater leaders haven’t decided if they should add a curfew or close beaches but they may vote on measures related to the #coronavirus this Thursday. @abcactionnews pic.twitter.com/jGoxQdYJg5
— Sarah J. Hollenbeck (@SarahHollenbeck) March 16, 2020
The order closes nightclubs and bars for 30 days, but encourages restaurants to stay open while only seating people at half-capacity. Restaurants are also required to stagger seating. The order also asks people not to go to public beaches in groups greater than 10, “per CDC guidance”.
However, the CDC has strongly encouraged people to go much further than DeSantis’s order. The CDC has directed people “avoid eating or drinking at bars, restaurants and food courts,” to “avoid travel, shopping trips, and social visits”.
These practices are part of “social distancing”. Here’s an expert guide on how to practice social distancing and slow the spread of the virus.
A Lime scooter is seen on Hollywood Blvd. Photograph: Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images
The Guardian’s tech reporter Kari Paul reports:
Shared scooter company Lime is suspending services in US markets including California and Washington state, as well as in Italy, France, Spain, due to coronavirus concerns, it said in a statement on Monday evening.
The company, which is partnered with Uber, said it is pausing services to “help people stay put, and stay safe” as a number of states and cities enact shelter in place orders. Uber and other rideshare services are not affected by the shelter in place order in California as they are considered essential businesses, but Lime is still shutting down services.
“In the Bay Area we are temporarily pausing operations and taking scooters offline to comply with government orders, and we ask the Lime community to do their part in protecting themselves and each other”, a spokesman said. “We are committed to quickly reactivating once the coronavirus virus is under control”.
Lyft is still running its scooters, it said in a Monday email, and regularly sanitizing them. Bay Area residents could still be seen riding them Monday, some wearing masks. Bird, another commonly used shared scooter startup in the Bay Area, did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the status of its program.
Updated
In a meeting with tourism industry executives, Donald Trump previewed the relief plan being considered in Congress, according to the White House press pool.
“Thank you very much we have tourism industry executives...the true leaders of our tourism and hospitality industries,” Trump said. “We are going to come out stronger than ever before.”
The president said he asked Small Business Administration lending to go up To $50 billion, “and actually more”.
Following lunch with treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin, Republican senators seem open to growing the debt in order to provide stimulus relief.
“The bottom line is, as a matter of course and in the everyday affairs of this country, I believe very much that we should not be growing the debt,” Senator Marco Rubio of Florida told reporters on Capitol Hill. But he added: “These are not normal times. The circumstances in which we live in now have no precedent.”
He seemed positive that lawmakers woud pass some sort of stimulus package. “I think really now it’s a question of drafting it and crafting it in a way that can pass and that will work soon enough,” he said.
Massive stimulus package could cost up to $1 trillion, per reports
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is discussing a stimulus plan that would include sending out $250bn worth of checks to Americans, amounting to two weeks of pay, by the end of April, according to multiple reports.
INSIDE THE SENATE R-MNUCHIN LUNCH
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) March 17, 2020
MNUCHIN said he wants to send out $250 billion worth of checks — means tested.
First wave would go out at the end of April. If TRUMP has not ended the natl emergency, another wave goes out four weeks later. Mnuchin notes he’s working with IRS
Mnuchin met with Senate Republicans behind closed doors to discuss a stimulus package which would also include aid for the airline industry, small-business support and a payroll tax holiday. The totals cost of the stimulus package is estimated to be between $800bn and $1 trillion, per reports.
Medical and student debt owed to New York state will be temporarily suspended, according to the state’s attorney general. “In this time of crisis, I won’t add undue stress or saddle NYers with unnecessary financial burden, this is the time to support residents,” said attorney general Letitia James, in a tweet.
Effective immediately, I'm temporarily halting the collection of state medical & student debt owed to NYS that was referred to my office.
— NY AG James (@NewYorkStateAG) March 17, 2020
In this time of crisis, I won't add undue stress or saddle NYers with unnecessary financial burden, this is the time to support residents.
James’ measure won’t affect debt owed to the federal government but will bring some temporary relief to those who owe the state government.
NIH/CDC/UCLA Study: Coronavirus is stable for hours on surfaces
The virus that causes COVID-19 can survive for hours to days in aerosols and on surfaces, according to new research from the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and universities.
The study, published today in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that SARS-CoV-2 was detectable for up to three hours in aerosols, up to four hours on copper, up to 24 hours on cardboard and up to two to three days on plastic and stainless steel.
NIH scientists advise that people clean and disinfect frequently touched objects using regular household cleaning sprays.
Updated
Ex-California Representative Duncan Hunter is sentenced to 11 months in prison
Duncan Hunter, the disgraced California congressman who pleaded guilty to stealing his campaign funds and spending the money on vacations, school tuition for his children and shopping sprees, has been sentenced to 11 months in prison.
His attornies had asked for home confinement, citing his military and congressional service. Hunter resigned from Congress in January after serving nearly six terms representing one of California’s last solidly red districts.
A district court judge also sentenced Hunter to three years of supervised release.
Nancy Pelosi has outlined her demands for the third coronavirus bill.
NEW — PELOSI lays out her demands for phase three coronavirus bill.... pic.twitter.com/qLkVIjT2ua
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) March 17, 2020
Updated
The Guardian’s Sam Levine reports:
Rebecca Gross, 16, showed up to work as a student election judge at 5 a.m. this morning, but said election officials had yet to deliver any of the equipment needed to run an election by midday to her precinct.“No people at our precinct are able to vote,” she said in an interview. She said election workers at her precinct in Chicago’s Boystown neighborhood had been trying to contact local election officials, but were sent to a full voice mailbox.
Gross said she and other election workers began redirecting people to a nearby precinct where they could vote. So far, she estimated they had turned away about 75 people. “It sucks, honestly,” she said of redirecting people. “A lot of people have ended up saying ‘I actually can’t do that, I have work.’”
Amid fears about the coronavirus, Gross said she brought her own wipes and gloves from home to share with other workers. The only materials election officials provided to the poll workers at her precinct were four bottles of hand sanitizer and one roll of Clorox wipes.
Election Day so far: 5/8 election staff are elderly, we were provided with no cleaning supplies, we are missing an ENTIRE blue box (meaning anyone who comes to this precinct cannot vote), we are missing 2 election judges & nobody is answering our calls. pic.twitter.com/aPfmZ5McCt
— rebecca 🌹🔥 (@rebeccapearl21) March 17, 2020
Gross said she thinks Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat, should have moved to postpone the primary election, following the lead of a handful of other states that have chosen to do so.
Updated
Maanvi Singh, here. I’ll be bringing you more updates on the administration’s evolving response to the coronavirus pandemic. In the meantime, voting is still underway in Illinois. Officials say they’ve taken precautions to protect poll workers shortages and confusion over polling locations.
It seems some voters are also donating sanitizing products in order to help keep poll workers safe.
Improvising with sanitizing items given to us by voters #IllinoisPrimary @JBPritzker @cookcountyclerk @RebeccaBuck #stayhealthy pic.twitter.com/Qln0bLIAkT
— Kim Inman (@KimInman) March 17, 2020
Afternoon summary
The White House coronavirus task force press briefing just wrapped up after an hour and half. I’m handing the blog over to my west coast colleague, Maanvi Singh, now and she will take you through the next few busy hours. Then Joanie Greve in Washington will be your blogger for the primary results this evening.
Here are some of the key events so far today:
- Top US public health officials are telling American bluntly to “stop going out” to crowded places, in order to limit the spread of the disease.
- US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, who is talking to the Senate now about an economic stimulus package, said the US financial markets will not shut over Covid-19.
- New York governor Andrew Cuomo talked about the chaos of the disruption to American life by the coronavirus and restrictions coming into place to limit the spread, currently has no intention of quarantining cities.
- Donald Trump and Cuomo are trying to smooth over their ugly spat about who’s doing a better/worse job of tackling the virus.
- The Trump administration is seeking an $850 billion economic stimulus package from Congress. Talks underway.
- Primary voting is underway, not without glitches, in Florida, Arizona and Illinois today. The Ohio primary to decide the Democratic party nominee to face Donald Trump in November was postponed (Maryland also postponed its primary).
Trump justifies calling coronavirus "Chinese virus"
The president and Republican leaders have been strongly criticized for referring to coronavirus as the Chinese virus or Wuhan virus, reflecting where the pandemic began.
The Guardian’s David Smith, at the White House coronavirus task force briefing now still going on in Washington, just asked Donald Trump about his use once gain, just this morning on Twitter, of the title “Chinese virus”.
Trump defended it. “China was putting out information that our military gave it to them. We have to call it where it came from, it came from China,” he said.
But would that perpetuate stigma, Smith asked in his follow-up, against China and the Chinese?
Trump said: “Saying that our military gave it to them, that creates a stigma,” he said. The race to the bottom continues.
A prominent Chinese official last week promulgated the inaccurate notion that coronavirus may have been brought to the city of Wuhan (where the outbreak began) by the US army.
Here’s the relevant tweet from Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lijian Zhao.
2/2 CDC was caught on the spot. When did patient zero begin in US? How many people are infected? What are the names of the hospitals? It might be US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan. Be transparent! Make public your data! US owe us an explanation! pic.twitter.com/vYNZRFPWo3
— Lijian Zhao 赵立坚 (@zlj517) March 12, 2020
Ah, Trump now returning to familiar territory, slamming the mainstream media for not praising his and his administration’s approach to tackling coronavirus.
"Lives do not come back" - Potus
The man who first said words to the effect that the coronavirus was a Democratic party hoax and a media fantasy just emphasized once again, in this new week for Donald Trump, how seriously everyone needs to take the virus. And how seriously he is taking it.
“We are looking at saving the maximum number of lives. Everything else will come back, lives do not come back,” the president just said at the White House briefing now ongoing.
“This is a pandemic,” he stated. Then he stepped outside the truth.
“I have always viewed it as very serious,” he said.
As the Guardian’s David Smith wrote in that article:
Trump himself constantly downplayed the threat and contradicted his own health officials, asserting that the virus was “very much under control” and infections were “going very substantially down, not up”. On 26 February, he confidently claimed that total cases will be “close to zero”.
He also accused Democrats of using the coronavirus as “their new hoax”, promised a vaccine much sooner than scientifically possible, prophesied that the virus will be killed off by warmer spring weather and kept comparing it to the common flu (though experts say coronavirus is 10 times more deadly).
But the usual playbook of deny and distract proved futile against a nimble germ without an ego.
Updated
Anthony Fauci is also urging the American public not to try to defy the virus. Fauci is a leading federal infectious diseases public health official on the White House coronavirus task force.
“Please cooperate,” he pleaded, at the White House briefing that has been going on how for about an hour.
Fauci warned that younger people who feel invincible and go out to crowded places during this crisis are not invincible but, more importantly, “what you might do is put your loved ones at risk”.
The Guardian’s David Smith is at the briefing.
Fauci: "When I was young, a long time ago, I felt I was invulnerable... You don't want to put your loved ones at risk... We can't do this without the young people cooperating."
— David Smith (@SmithInAmerica) March 17, 2020
'Stop going out'
Deborah Birx, the coronavirus response coordinator on the White House task force tackling the outbreak in the US, is reiterating the government’s sweeping guidelines - 0f you’re older, stay home, if you’re young, stay out of the bars, restaurants, etc.
Younger people should “stop going out” to crowded spaces, she said. “We want Americans to do what they can today” to mitigate the effect of coronavirus, she said.
She said many people are defying the guidelines and “if we continue with that practice we will fail to contain this virus,” she said.
The federal government is recommending no gatherings of 10 people or more nationwide and urging people to work from home. People are encouraged to go out of doors and get exercise, however, while maintaining physical distance from other members of the public, however (New York has waived entry fees to state parks, for example).
Here’s the Guardian’s excellent profile of Birx, a crucial (and crucially measured, apolitical but tough) member of the task force:
Trump added:
Trump: "I would just say enjoy your home. Stay."
— David Smith (@SmithInAmerica) March 17, 2020
Updated
Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin is on his way now to discuss with the Senate a huge economic stimulus package, to try to ease the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on the US economy.
Donald Trump wants large numbers. Big. Have you noticed he’s stopped saying “bigly”?
Trump on the stimulus measures: "We're going big." He says he wants "a big infusion" rather than an incremental approach. "We don't want people losing their jobs or not having money to live when they were doing very well just four weeks ago."
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) March 17, 2020
Updated
No plans to close the US financial markets
“We are going to do everything to make sure Americans have access to their money, in banks, in 401Ks [pensions] and in stocks. We are keeping the markets open,” treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin just said.
The New York stock exchange closed for a short period after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, mainly because the hijacked planes that hit the World Trade Center in New York, bringing the edifice down, occurred just yards from Wall Street and the area was thick with toxic debris, smoke and dust from what became known as Ground Zero.
Mnuchin said that the most the government is contemplating at this point is possibly shortening trading hours, not shutting the markets.
For the Guardian’s dedicated business blog, click here.
Updated
"This is worse than 9/11 for the airline industry"
That’s what Treasure Secretary Steve Mnuchin just said at the podium at the White House coronavirus task force press briefing.
The extensive shut down of travel, both related to travel bans from between Europe and the US and Americans choosing not to travel during the crisis, has hit the aviation industry like an avalanche.
There’s talk of a $50 billion to $60 billion bailout for the US industry being under discussion.
Mnuchin will step out of the White House briefing in a few moments to talk to Senators about a huge stimulus package for the US economy. He hasn’t put back the deadline for American’s income tax returns - April 15.
However, as my colleague David Smith reports from the briefing:
Steven Mnuchin: "If you owe a payment to the IRS, you can defer up to a million dollars... up to 90 days."
— David Smith (@SmithInAmerica) March 17, 2020
Updated
Pence urges action to reduce spread of virus
Vice president Mike Pence is asking US construction companies to donate face masks to hospitals during the coronavirus crisis.
Pence: We urge construction companies to donate inventory of N95 industrial masks to your local hospital.
— David Smith (@SmithInAmerica) March 17, 2020
Pence is urging Americans to follow the government guidelines issued yesterday. Says if everyone follows them the US will see a “substantial reduction in the spread of the virus.”
Pence: "For the American people as a whole, the risk of serious illness remains low."
— David Smith (@SmithInAmerica) March 17, 2020
Updated
The president just told the public he hopes to be standing up at some point and declaring “we won” against the coronavirus spread in the US.
However, less inanely, he did say his conversation with New York governor Andrew Cuomo this morning was “constructive”.
The Guardian’s David Smith is at the briefing at the White House.
Trump: "One day we're going to be standing here and say, 'We won'."
— David Smith (@SmithInAmerica) March 17, 2020
Updated
Trump talking at White House coronavirus briefing
The president is at the podium, urging Americans to work from home and avoid non-essential travel, after yesterday recommending no gatherings of 10 people or more.
“By making necessary sacrifices we can protect our people and protect our economy,” he said.
Maryland postpones primary
Latest from Maryland:
#BREAKING: M A R Y L A N D
— Lorenzo Hall (@LorenzoHall) March 17, 2020
The April 28th Primary postponed until June 2nd - Gov Hogan @wusa9 pic.twitter.com/JzykK7fgJV
Voting underway in the Florida Democratic primary. This could be the primary that delivers enough delegates to moderate candidate Joe Biden, if he wins decisively, to push him over the top with the total of pledged party delegates that mean victory or defeat in the nomination race.
This could be left-winger Bernie Sanders’s last gasp in the 2020 primary race.
Turnout will be closely-watched tonight. Sanders has disappointed throughout this race on that crucial front, compared with Biden’s latish (but crushing) comeback.
The Guardian’s Sam Levine reports:
Veronica Richards, a 26-year-old epidemiology PhD student at the University of Florida, believes strongly that people should vote in the 2020 election to help get Donald Trump out of office.
She voted early in Florida’s primary election, but amid concerns about coronavirus, she’s struggling with whether to tell other people to go to the polls today.
“When you think about going to the polls, most of the people who work there are older women who are retired and generally probably wouldn’t be exposed to so many people,” she said.
“It’s really hard to balance encouraging people to vote and using their voice to possibly make big change and also encouraging people to go into these situations we’ve been telling them for weeks not to go into and putting people at risk.”
Richards’ dilemma underscores the difficult decision elections officials across the country are facing as they weigh public health risk against making sure everyone can vote. So far, Louisiana, Georgia, Kentucky, Ohio, and Maryland have all delayed their elections amid coronavirus concerns.
Ohio postponed today’s primary.
New York City to "shelter in place"
Here’s another potential conflict. New York state governor Andrew Cuomo reminded people at his press conference earlier that “no city can quarantine itself without state approval”, and Cuomo said he had “no interest whatsoever” in cities in New York quarantining.
On CNN at breakfast time, however, New York City mayor (and 2020 presidential drop-out) Bill de Blasio (who despite being a Democratic is usually more enemies than, even, frenemies with Cuomo) said he was considering a “shelter in place” order for the city. The Big Apple has a population of 8.6 million people across its five boroughs and is already semi-shut down with people working from home and many businesses closed.
So we’ll see where this goes. Heads-up, US politics watchers, the next briefing from the White House coronavirus task force is just moments away.
"Crisis, confusion and chaos"
New York governor Andrew Cuomo spoke to Donald Trump this morning. They’ve been in an unpleasant and scary spat in recent days.
Cuomo is asking Washington for help.
“This is an extraordinary time in the history of our country,” Cuomo said. “One of those moments of true crisis and confusion and chaos. I lived through 9/11 and I remember the fear and panic,” he said, recalling the catastrophic terrorist attacks on the US on September 11, 2001.
Cuomo said he spoke to the president earlier. He said at the ongoing press conference: “It’s essential that the federal government works with this state and that this state works with the federal government.”
He appears to be avoiding political sparring at this time. A dozen people in New York have died of the coronavirus so far. A total of 264 people are in hospital with coronavirus in the state, which Cuomo said is about a 19% hospitalization rate, which is higher than usual for viral illnesses.
He said the state government has done many amazing things over the years, performing “somersaults”, but “I’m telling you, this [state] government cannot meet this crisis without the resources and capacity of the federal government. I spoke to the president this morning, and he is ready, willing and able to help. We need your help with hospital capacity.”
Cuomo likened the disruption now hitting Americans as like the country being a snow globe that has been turned upside down, as if something “picked up our country and shook it and it’s chaotic and the things are falling all over the place,” he said, which may be both comforting and alarming for members of the public to hear this hour.
New York governor Andrew Cuomo just said there would be no fresh regulations imposed on the state today. He’s holding a press conference now, which is ongoing.
Yesterday, bars and restaurants in New York and the neighboring states of New Jersey and Connecticut were ordered to become takeout-only and delivery only, and businesses from movie theaters and casinos to gyms and beyond were ordered to close last night.
The governors said essential businesses such as supermarkets, gas stations and pharmacies would be able to stay open after 8pm on Monday, though all non-essential businesses must close. Restaurants will be able to offer takeout and delivery.
It is the latest escalation of efforts to keep people apart in the New York metropolitan area, in hopes of curbing the spread of the virus, and an attempt to coordinate a regional response in the face of what the Democratic governors called lagging federal action under a Republican White House.
“It’s chaos,” New York’s governor, Andrew Cuomo, said during a joint conference call with the other governors.
New York has no intention of quarantining cities
Governor Andrew Cuomo is holding a press conference. He said he has “no interest whatsoever” in ordering quarantining, aka putting on lockdown, any city in the state (which includes New York City) at this stage.
He explained that the restrictive containment area imposed on New Rochelle last week was “to contain the virus” by closing schools, etc, and was not a rule stopping people moving in and out of the city.
Members of the National Guard were sent in to New Rochelle to help out with cleaning facilities and feeding people.
Cuomo is concerned that the state may need three times more intensive care unit beds than are currently available, which is around 3,000 beds.
US Senate promises "bold measures" on economy
Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell (Republican of Kentucky) is indicating that the Senate will gather and not adjourn “until it passes bold measures that go beyond House economic relief bill”.
This indicates favorability towards the idea of a ginormous $850 billion economic stimulus package that the Trump administration appears poised to ask the US Congress to approve, Reuters reports.
McConnell said the Senate plans to work on a package to provide billions of dollars in relief as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The US Capitol is currently closed to members of the public in order to prevent the spread of the illness. Photograph: Michael Reynolds/EPA
The House passed an emergency coronavirus-related bill last night and sent it to the Senate.
Hashtag kill the virus
The president, who just called on other leaders to “keep politics out” of US efforts to tackle the coronavirus outbreak is on one of his helpful Twitter tears this morning.
He just tweeted this about popular Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer (who earlier this month endorsed Joe Biden for the Democratic 2020 nomination):
Failing Michigan Governor must work harder and be much more proactive. We are pushing her to get the job done. I stand with Michigan!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 17, 2020
Nevertheless:
Federal Government is working very well with the Governors and State officials. Good things will happen! #KILLTHEVIRUS
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 17, 2020
Mnuchin to outline stimulus package over lunch today - report
The reported $850 billion emergency economic rescue package sought by the Trump administration for businesses and taxpayers amid the coronavirus crisis is something unseen since the Great Recession (of 2008-9).
The Associated Press reports:
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will outline the package to Senate Republicans at a private lunch, with officials aiming to have Congress approve it this week. It provide relief for small businesses and the airline industry and include a massive tax cut for wage-earners.
Two people familiar with the request described it to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly.
The White House hopes the measure will pass quickly, possibly this week, an enormous political undertaking as the administration scrambled to contain the economic fallout of the severe disruptions to American life from the outbreak.
White House officials offered senators a preliminary briefing late Monday at the Capitol, saying they want the plan approved by Congress as soon as possible, suggesting in a matter of days.
“ASAP,” White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said late Monday. “There’s an urgency.”
Mnuchin said: “We’ve got a lot of work to do from here.”
Democrats have proposed their own $750 billion package.
Pending is the House-passed aid package approved early Saturday with sick pay, free testing and emergency food that is endorsed by President Donald Trump and ready to become law.
At the start of the month, Congress approved $8.3 billion in initial aid. Trump quickly signed into law the measure, which provided federal agencies money for vaccines, tests and potential treatments, and funding to help state and local governments respond to the threat.
“We will need big, bold, urgent federal action to deal with this crisis,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said Monday.
Trump tells Democrat to avoid politics
That’s the polite way of putting it. Often it’s just vicious knockabout but it of course becomes incredibly sinister when lives are at risk and two of the most consequential leaders in the US are in a fist fight.
Donald Trump and New York’s Democratic party governor, Andrew Cuomo, have been slugging it out this week over the handling of the coronavirus outbreak. This comes as US health officials have warned that the US is at the “tipping point” in how bad this crisis gets here.
Here is what the president just tweeted:
Cuomo wants “all states to be treated the same.” But all states aren’t the same. Some are being hit hard by the Chinese Virus, some are being hit practically not at all. New York is a very big “hotspot”, West Virginia has, thus far, zero cases. Andrew, keep politics out of it....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 17, 2020
The ding-dong had already been going all day yesterday. As my Washington colleague David Smith reported:
[On Monday afternoon, Trump] took a swipe at Cuomo, the Democratic governor of New York, where the president was born and built his business. He tweeted: “Just had a very good tele-conference with Nation’s Governors. Went very well. Cuomo of New York has to ‘do more’.”
Cuomo, also on Twitter, snapped back: “I have to do more? No YOU have to do something! You’re supposed to be the President.”
He added: “Happy to do your job, too. Just give me control of the Army Corps of Engineers and I’ll take it from there.”
Earlier Cuomo had announced a regional agreement with New Jersey, New York and Connecticut to shut all cinemas, casinos and gyms as of 8pm. Restaurants and bars in the three states - home to more than 22 million – will serve takeout and delivery only.
This was on the day when Trump, as Smith wrote, had been “subdued into realism”.
Here are some immediate responses to Trump’s tweet this morning.
Your response to the virus was late. You have lied and minimized. Your conduct has put people in danger and maybe resulted in deaths. You are a menace to the world. Resign or lose.
— Jeffrey Guterman (@JeffreyGuterman) March 17, 2020
look at you, you can't even manage to stifle your petty grudges for one minute in the middle of a global pandemic.
— Jeff Tiedrich (@itsJeffTiedrich) March 17, 2020
imagine mistaking this small and petty spite-goblin for a leader
also: "chinese virus"? what is wrong with you
Here are two recent articles about US Republicans’ willful nativism around the pandemic. First this today from Lily Kuo.
And this slightly earlier one from Adam Gabbatt:
Updated
Much news to digest, and the Guardian aims to keep it fast, accurate, interesting and digestible! We’ll be covering events in US politics here today, which will be a mix government-related coronavirus news and non-coronavirus political news.
In addition to this “channel” you can follow our dedicated global news coronavirus live blog, currently being run out of London, here.
And, with the US financial markets set to open shortly, all the news from that direction will be covered in detail by our global business live blog, also run out of the Guardian’s London HQ, here.
Trump to seek huge financial package to boost economy hit by coronavirus
Hello all, Joanna Walters here, taking over the US politics live blog in New York, from my colleagues in London. Voting is underway (with some glitches) in today’s primaries in Florida, Arizona and Illinois, with Ohio postponed.
But the breaking news emerging is that there are pretty reliable reports that the Trump administration is seeking agreement from the US Congress for a whopping $850 billion stimulus package to boost the economy amid the coronavirus crisis.
Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin plans to outline details to the US Senate later today. Media outlets including the Reuters news agency and the Washington Post are reporting the news, citing unnamed officials.
The package would be mostly devoted to flooding the economy with cash, through a payroll tax cut or other mechanism, two of the officials said, with some $50 billion directed specifically to helping the airline industry. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
The $850 billion package would come in addition to another roughly $100 billion package that aims to provide paid sick leave for impacted workers, though the details of that legislation remain very fluid as it moves through Congress.
Mnuchin would like to see the package pass the Senate by the end of the week, he told senators Monday evening in a meeting at the Capitol.
“I think the assumption’s going to be that we’re going to do something, it should be big. Because we can’t assume that we’re just going to keep coming back,” Senator Marco Rubio (Republican of Florida) said Monday night leaving a meeting with Mnuchin and other administration officials, the WashPo reports.
Updated
Some Florida polling places unable to open due to coronavirus fears - reports
I linked earlier to a piece in the Washington Examiner looking at what the coronavirus impact felt like on the ground in East Liverpool, a small Ohio city that won’t be voting in their postponed primary today.
Jennifer Medina yesterday in the New York Times had a contrasting view from Phoenix, Arizona, where some Democrats were making the case that voting during a pandemic is a way to feel normal.
But it is definitely not going to be a normal day of voting, and as anticipated, there are already reports of issues with the Florida primary. The Associated Press states that some Florida polling places have been unable to open as workers didn’t show up because of coronavirus fears.
The Palm Beach County elections department told AP many workers failed to show up in at least five locations Tuesday. The county had 800 volunteers back out helping with the elections as of Monday, with 100 new volunteers offering to take their places. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has said he believes the election can be run safely.
Updated
What next for Bernie Sanders? If we are to assume that the polling figures showing Biden with secure leads in the three states - Florida, Illinois, Arizona - that are voting today, it becomes increasingly hard to see a path to victory for Sanders. With the coronavirus outbreak disrupting the primary season - Ohio has suspended their primary today, Louisiana and Georgia are already deferring theirs till later in the year - there may be pressure on Sanders to concede early.
Holly Otterbain and David Siders have been looking at this for Politico, suggesting that Bernie may not be ready for a quick exit though:
Sanders often doesn’t follow the unwritten rules of campaigning that other politicians abide by. When he had a heart attack last year — the kind of event that would force most candidates out of an election — he stayed in the race. He also declined to bow out of the 2016 primary even after it was mathematically impossible to win the nomination, instead successfully pushing for a more progressive party platform and major rule changes. And at the same time that Sanders faces pressure from mainstream Democrats to exit, many on the left are encouraging him to stay in.
They also make the point that, potentially, with primaries pushed back until the public has seen the full impact of the coronavirus outbreak, there might be a decided shift in mindset in favour of Sanders’ policies on, say, healthcare and labor laws, by the end of the campaign.
Read it here - Politico: ‘Who is going to advise him to drop out?’: Bernie may not be ready for quick exit
Frank LaRose, Ohio’s Secretary of State, has been on CNN talking about the state’s decision to cancel today’s primary vote.
He told them that the decision had been taken after the guidance they were receiving about whether it was safe to proceed with the election “changed dramatically on Monday morning”. LaRose said:
Given the new administration guidance that gatherings of more than 10 people were prohibited, that Ohioans over 65 should remain in their homes unless absolutely necessary to leave, under those circumstances there was no way in good conscience that we could order an election, and certainly not a legitimate election given that we were telling a large proportion of the Ohio population that they should not come to the polls.
Ohio so far has 50 confirmed cases of the coronavirus. You can watch the clip here:
Ohio secretary of state on postponed primary: "There was no way in good conscience we could order an election and certainly not a legitimate election giving that we were telling a large portion of the Ohio population that they should not come to the polls" https://t.co/uauVnjr6S3 pic.twitter.com/hUS25nRO63
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) March 17, 2020
My colleague Lily Kuo in Shanghai has been following up on Chinese reaction to Trump’s decision to refer to the coronavirus that causes Covid-19 as “the Chinese Virus”.
China’s foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Trump should take care of his own matters first. “Some US politicians have tried to stigmatise China … which China strongly condemns,” he said at a press briefing. “We urge the US to stop this despicable practice. We are very angry and strongly oppose it [the tweet].”
Kuo notes that the comment comes as Beijing and Washington appeared to be locked in a game of shifting blame. Last week, outspoken official Zhao Lijian from China’s ministry of foreign affairs accused the US military of bringing the virus to Wuhan. The US summoned Chinese ambassador Cui Tiankai over the comment and issued a “stern” warning to Cui.
An editorial by the state news agency Xinhuatoday said: “Using racist and xenophobic names to cast blame for the outbreak on other countries can only reveal politicians’ irresponsibility and incompetence.”
“Everywhere you look, the storefronts in this town are shuttered. This time, it has nothing to do with an economic downturn; it is the day after Governor Mike DeWine closed all of the schools and ordered bars and restaurants to shut down, all an attempt to slow the spread of coronavirus. Outside city hall, a rental truck with voting machines is loading them into the municipal offices.”
Those voting machines won’t be getting used today in Ohio. Salena Zito has been on the ground in the small Ohio city of East Liverpool for the Washington Examiner, and this is what they found…
Read it here - Washington Examiner: Coronavirus has this small Ohio city longing for a return to normal
It may be that fears around coronavirus don’t have as much of an impact on voting trends in the three states holding their primaries today as you might expect, thanks to a big take-up of early voting. As Ed Kilgore observed yesterday in New York magazine:
Arizona is a heavy vote-by-mail state, providing voters the option of permanently registering to automatically receive mail ballots, and upwards of 80 percent choose to vote remotely. In Florida, 632,000 registered Democrats have already voted by mail for the March 17 primary (compared to a total of 520,000 in 2016). In Illinois, the deadline for requesting mail ballots has been extended, and in Chicago, at least, requests for mail ballots have tripled as compared to 2016, and total early voting has occurred at record levels.
If you are voting in person, polls start closing at 7pm ET in Florida, and close at 8pm in Illinois and 10pm in Arizona. The latest round of polls show that Biden is well ahead of Sanders in Florida (+38), Arizona (+17) and Illinois (+21).
President of the advocacy organization Physicians for a National Health Program Adam Gaffney has not been impressed with Trump’s handling of the crisis. He writes for us:
Trump’s response goes beyond incompetence – it’s a political abomination. However uncoordinated his administration’s moves have been, Trump has made it clear he sees this pandemic chiefly as a threat to the market and wealthy peoples’ personal interests (and relatedly, his own political future) – not to the people whose lives it will threaten or claim.
Read it here - Adam Gaffney: Trump sees the coronavirus as a threat to his self-interest – not to people
With huge movements on the market, and an emerging set of different rules and regulations going into force across the US to combat the spread of the coronavirus, its obvious that the administration and Congress are going to have to take more action to protect the ecomony and people’s livelihoods and well-being. NPR is reporting that:
Lawmakers are starting talks on a new, massive emergency funding plan to address some of the country’s increasingly dire economic concerns. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer jump started specifics for the new plan, proposing a $750 billion to raise funding for unemployment insurance, coronavirus treatment and emergency childcare assistance. The plan also includes student loan and housing payment assistance, aid to small businesses and expansion of hospital and treatment capacity. The price tag eclipses the first emergency coronavirus aid bill of roughly $8 billion approved earlier this month to address response efforts.
Read it here - NPR: Congress weighs new, massive wave of emergency funding to address coronavirus
It was an unprecedented move to cancel the Ohio primaries at the 11th hour due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Republican Governor Mike DeWine failed to get a judge to halt the primary Monday evening, even though he contended the election results wouldn’t be viewed as legitimate in light of the pandemic.
“To conduct an election tomorrow would would force poll workers and voters to place themselves at a unacceptable health risk of contracting coronavirus,” he said.
Ohio Judge Richard Frye ruled against a lawsuit by voters who were seeking a delay in the primary until 2 June , in the hope that the outbreak has subsided by then. The judge said it would set a “terrible precedent”.
Health Director Amy Acton then declared a health emergency in Ohio that would prevent the polls from opening out of fear of exposing voters and volunteer poll workers, many of them elderly, to the virus.
Officials in Arizona, Florida and Illinois still feel they have done enough to ensure the safety of voters, though concerns are mounting that there will not be enough poll workers in some precincts, and voters will be confused after polling places in nursing homes were moved to other locations.
“Democrats now must to find a way to complete this primary given the uncertainty of when each state is going to vote and whether we’re even going to be able to have a convention in July.”
That was veteran Democratic consultant Simon Rosenberg yesterday reflecting the reality that the disruption caused by the coronavirus outbreak in the US is now so severe that there’s a real possibility that Democrats will have to rearrange their whole plan for nominating a challenger to Donald Trump.
So, good morning - it should be a day where four states are voting, and Joe Biden would in all likelihood have been able to distance himself further from Bernie Sanders in the race.
Instead, in-person voting in Ohio is cancelled, and it is unclear what the impact on voter turn-out is going to be in Florida, Illinois and Arizona.
Advance polling suggests Biden will do well, but how many people will fancy standing in a long line to vote when you can see that other states like California have told people to “shelter in place”?
The coronavirus is going to dominate the president’s day too. He caused controversy yesterday by referring to it as the “Chinese” virus. It was a bleak day for business and the markets yesterday, and Trump has got White House meetings and calls scheduled today with restaurant executives, tourism industry executives and representatives of supply retailers and wholesalers. There’s also due to be a press briefing by members of the Coronavirus Task Force this morning.
We’ll be bring you coverage of the day’s politics as they unfold here - we’ve also got global rolling coverage of the coronavirus crisis with my colleague Ben Quinn over here.
Still, at least the penguins given the run of Chicago Zoo while it remains closed are happy…
