On Wednesday, President Donald Trump told Americans the novel coronavirus virus would be gone soon. Two days later, he declared a state of emergency. There have been so many problems surrounding the Administration's response to the coronavirus that it is hard to keep track of them all. From confusing Oval Office addresses to misleading press conferences, Trump's week has been full of back-peddling and course correction.
The Statistics
The Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering reported a total of 162,687 confirmed COVID-19 cases across the world on Sunday. In the U.S., 62 citizens have died out of a total of 3,244 cases of infection. The vast majority of deaths in the U.S. have occurred in Washington state, roughly two thirds, while a majority of cases have been confirmed in New York.
The World Health Organization (WHO) reported 414 new cases on Saturday in the U.S., an increase of roughly 50 percent over the day before. The stock market has been experiencing alarming volatility. With each new announcement from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), WHO, and the White House, the market has yo-yod. All three major indexes in the U.S. have fallen into bear-market territory for the first time in 11 years.
The Response
President Trump announced a ban on travel to the U.S. from 26 European nations in the Schengen border-free travel area to come into effect on Saturday, March 14. The European nations blocked by the ban were shocked that they were not contacted ahead of the official announcement.
American citizens returning to the U.S. are exempt; although the President neglected to mention that at the time. Originally, the UK and the Republic of Ireland were exempt, though it was unclear why given the fact that the virus was already spreading there. The ban has since been expanded to cover the UK and Ireland, though that extension won't come into effect until Monday afternoon.
A senior White House official told reporters Sunday that the administration was also considering halting all domestic air travel.
"We continue to look at all options and all options remain on the table," said Chad Wolf, acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.
When asked if Americans should be traveling, Trump advised against it.
"If you don't have to travel I wouldn't do it,'' he said. "We want this thing to end. We don't want a lot of people getting infected.''
This week the White House seemed to start taking the virus seriously. After weeks of downplaying and promises that the virus was and would be under control, Trump announced a national state of emergency because of the virus on Friday, March 13.
"To unleash the full power of the federal government ... I am officially declaring a national emergency," Trump said, "two very big words."
This announcement will potentially free up $50 billion in aid to fight the pandemic. Some laws and regulations will also be waived by the secretary of Health and Human Services. The announcement brought some relief to Wall Street which saw a rebound.
Trump has recently been in close proximity to several individuals who have since been diagnosed with COVID-19. Given how contagious the illness is, many reporters asked the President if he would be tested, but he said there was no need.
At the same press conference during which he announced the national emergency, Trump told reporters he would finally be tested for the virus. Trump denied that he was being tested because of his interaction with infected people such as an aide to Brazillian President Jair Bolsonaro.
"Not for that reason, but because I think I will do it anyway," Trump said. His test has since come back negative. Before announcing that he would be tested, Trump shook hands with press conference attendees despite recommendations from his own health officials.
Coronavirus Testing
Vice President Mike Pence told reporters that "roughly 1.5 million tests" would soon be available to Americans, but an investigation by The Atlantic could only confirm 13,953 tests had been conducted as of Friday.
People in New York, the state with the highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases, were being turned away from hospitals that had no tests. President Trump has claimed that anyone wanting to be tested would be supplied a test, but that has been proven false. Fewer than 2,000 New Yorkers had been tested as of Wednesday, despite the fact that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo declared the state should be testing 1,000 people per day.
Most recently, the White House announced they would be opening drive-through testing sites in states hardest hit by the virus. Priority will be given to people over the age of 65 who have shown signs of the virus and healthcare workers. Officials say nearly 2 million tests will be available by the end of the coming week.
Economic Relief
After avoiding negotiating with Democrats all week, Trump approved of a version of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's coronavirus House bill on Friday. The bill passed in the House and is expected to pass in the Republican lead Senate as well.
The bill requires insurance companies to cover coronavirus testing at no cost and also allocates $1 billion to cover testing for the uninsured. Employers of more than 500 employees must provide two weeks of paid sick leave until the end of the year. This also extends to employees who are forced to self-quarantine or take care of family members. Payroll tax credits will be provided to employers who are providing sick-leave.
$1 billion in emergency funds will be available to states for unemployment and insurance benefits. $500 million will also be going to food assistance for low-income pregnant women and mothers of young children. $400 million will go to local food banks and $250 million will be put into senior nutrition programs. Work requirements will be suspended for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients.
This bill is merely a first step towards meeting the economic needs of U.S. citizens.
"We are now going back to Congress, and focusing this week on the airlines industry, the hotel industry, the cruise ship - there's no question that the travel industry has been impacted like we've never seen before," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told FOX News Sunday. "Whatever tools we need, we will go to Congress and get, and there's a lot of bipartisan support."
