Trump invokes emergency authority, no new cases in Wuhan
Tim Sullivan | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 4 years, 8 months AGO
The twin spans of the Blue Water Bridge loom over the St. Clair River in Port Huron, Mich., looking to Sarnia, Ontario, Canada, Wednesday, March 18, 2020. The Canada-U.S. border will be closed to non-essential traffic in both directions "by mutual consent," the leaders of both countries confirmed Wednesday as efforts across the continent to contain COVID-19. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Traders at the New York Stock Exchange watch President Donald Trump's televised White House news conference, Wednesday, March 18, 2020 in New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
Vice President of Region Lombardy Fabrizio Sala, right, salutes with his forearm medics and paramedics from China upon arrival at the Malpensa airport of Milan, Wednesday, March 18, 2020. Some 37 between doctors and paramedics were sent along with some 20 tons of equipment, and will be deployed to different hospitals in Italy's most affected area. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms. For some it can cause more severe illness, especially in older adults and people with existing health problems. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)
A vehicle approaches the only open lane at the United States border crossing in Lacolle, Quebec, Wednesday, March 18, 2020. The Canada-U.S. border will be closed to non-essential traffic in both directions "by mutual consent," President Donald Trump confirmed Wednesday, as efforts across the continent to contain the widening COVID-19 pandemic continued to upend daily life in North America. (Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press via AP)
A person is given a test for COVID-19 coronavirus at a drive through testing location Wednesday, March 18, 2020, in Marietta, Ga. The testing is not open to the public people must be referred by the health department. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
A worker pulls a COVID-19 bottle out of a kit as another worker helps him at a New York State Department of Health drive-through testing facility at Jones Beach State Park on Long Island, Wednesday, March 18, 2020, in Wantagh, N.Y. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)
Visitors to the Department of Labor are turned away at the door by personnel due to closures over coronavirus concerns, Wednesday, March 18, 2020, in New York. Applications for jobless benefits are surging in some states as coronavirus concerns shake the U.S. economy. The sharp increase comes as governments have ordered millions of workers, students and shoppers to stay home as a precaution against spreading the virus that causes the COVID-19 disease. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
Passengers sit in a tram, in Rome, Wednesday, March 18, 2020. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms. For some it can cause more severe illness, especially in older adults and people with existing health problems.(AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
A view of empty Piazza Navona, in Rome, Wednesday, March 18, 2020. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms. For some it can cause more severe illness, especially in older adults and people with existing health problems. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
A man carries a toddler on his shoulders as both wear protective face masks to help prevent the coronavirus outbreak walk on a street in Beijing, Wednesday, March 18, 2020. As the pandemic expanded its reach, China and South Korea were trying to hold their hard-fought gains. China is quarantining new arrivals, who in recent days have accounted for an increasing number of cases, and South Korea starting Thursday will increase screenings of all overseas arrivals. The virus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough, for most people, but severe illness is more likely in the e…
A man wearing a protective face mask walks past a spray painted wall saying "Wash your hands and don't touch your face" Wednesday, March 18, 2020, in in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia. (Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press via AP)
Kelli Rizza cleans the bar before closing the doors of McSorley's Beach Pub at 5 o'clock on Tuesday, March 17, 2020, in Fort Lauderdale Fla. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, released a statement saying that all bars and nightclubs throughout Florida will close for the next 30 days. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Donta' Haynes makes a curbside delivery outside a Carrabba's Italtian Grill restaurant Wednesday, March 18, 2020, in Houston. Houston area bars and restaurants have been ordered to follow new restrictions for the next two weeks in an effort to curb coronavirus exposure. Bars and nightclubs must close and restaurants can only be open for delivery, pickup and drive-thru services. No in-dining service is allowed. For most people, the coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause…
A passengers from the British cruise ship MS Braemar cheers from the plane's door before being flown to the UK, at the José Martí International Airport in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, March 18, 2020. Cuba authorized on Wednesday the British cruise ship MS Braemar, with five confirmed cases of the new coronavirus and more than 1000 people on board, to dock on the island, from where its passengers will be repatriated by plane. (Yamil Lage/Pool photo via AP)
A fried chicken vendor wears a face mask as a preventative measure against the spread of the new coronavirus, in La Paz, Bolivia, Wedensday, March 18, 2020. Authorities have decreed a quarantine from 5pm to 5am in an attempt to stop the spread of the new coronavirus. The vast majority of people recover from the COVID-19 disease. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
A highway exchange stands empty of traffic after the government implemented restrictions to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus in Lima, Peru, Wednesday, March 18, 2020. For most people COVID-19 causes mild or moderate symptoms. For others, especially the elderly and people with existing health problems, it can cause many other serious illnesses, including pneumonia. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
A man is swabbed as he is tested for COVID-19 as vehicles line up at the Doris Ison Health Center, Wednesday, March 18, 2020, in Miami. The testing is being provided by Community Health of South Florida, Inc. According to the World Health Organization, most people recover in about two to six weeks, depending on the severity of the illness. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Medics and paramedics from China arrive at the Malpensa airport of Milan, Wednesday, March 18, 2020. Some 37 between doctors and paramedics were sent along with some 20 tons of equipment, and will be deployed to different hospitals in Italy's most affected area. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms. For some it can cause more severe illness, especially in older adults and people with existing health problems. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — President Donald Trump invoked emergency authority to marshal industry to fight the coronavirus, as the economic fallout from the pandemic mounted Wednesday with major U.S. auto manufacturers saying they are shutting down their North American factories.
The announcements came hours before China said the former virus epicenter of Wuhan and its surrounding province had reported no new cases, a dramatic development in the city overwhelmed by thousands of new patients each day when the outbreak was peaking there last month.
On a day of head-spinning developments:
— Stocks tumbled again on Wall Street on fears of a prolonged recession, falling so fast they triggered another automatic trading halt. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed more than 1,300 points, or over 6%, and has now lost nearly all of the big gains it had posted since Trump's inauguration. Oil dropped below $21 per barrel for the first time since 2002.
— More borders slammed shut across Europe and North America, with the U.S. and Canada closing their boundaries to all but essential travel and Trump saying he plans to assert extraordinary powers to immediately turn back to Mexico anyone who crosses over the southern border illegally.
— The White House pressed Congress to swiftly pass a potentially $1 trillion rescue package to prop up the economy and speed relief checks to Americans in a matter of weeks.
Calling himself a “wartime president,” Trump invoked the Defense Production Act of 1950 to steer industrial output and overcome shortages of face masks, ventilators and other supplies as hospitals brace for an expected onslaught of cases.
The Korean War-era law gives the president extraordinary authority to compel industries to expand production and turn out vital materials. It was most recently used after the 2017 Puerto Rico hurricane to speed up contracts for food and other necessities.
"It's a war," Trump said, likening the coronavirus fight to measures taken during World War II and warning of national sacrifices ahead.
China's health ministry ministry said Thursday that all 34 of its new cases were in people arriving from abroad. Eight new deaths were reported, all in Wuhan, where the first cases of COVID-19 were reported in December and which remains under the quarantine control measures imposed weeks ago to stop its spread.
The virus has since infected more than 217,000 people worldwide and killed over 8,700, mostly in China, Italy and Iran. The United Nations warned that the crisis could lead to the loss of nearly 25 million jobs around the world.
Though China still has the largest number of cases, most of its patients have recovered. China even sent medical supplies to hard-hit France, returning a favor done by the French weeks ago.
But in a grim illustration of the pandemic's shift, deaths in Italy were nearing China's toll. Italy had more than 2,900 dead after a record one-day total of 475; China's overall toll was around 3,200. Iran has also been hit hard, with more than 1,100 deaths.
More than 83,000 people overall have recovered from the virus, which causes only mild or moderate symptoms such as fever and cough in most cases. Severe illness is more likely in the elderly and those with existing health problems.
Around the globe, governments took increasingly drastic measures to fight the epidemic and the threat of a recession, in some cases using emergency powers.
California's governor warned that martial law could be imposed. The mayor of New York said the city's 8.6 million residents should be prepared for a lockdown. The U.S. Census Bureau suspended field operations for two weeks, soon after it began its once-a-decade count of American people.
Czech authorities used emergency powers to raid a warehouse and seize hundreds of thousands of face masks. And Hong Kong widened the use of electronic wristbands that monitor people under self-quarantine.
Theodore Peck, who owns a Brooklyn coffee shop and bakery, was in quarantine at home as a precaution when New York City this week ordered all bars and restaurants to close except for takeout. He had to shut down his business and lay off all his workers.
“My life's work is being ... you know, destroyed, like picked over,” he said.
Peck lamented that he didn't even get the chance to say goodbye to 22 of his employees.
With a growing number of Americans thrown out of work by the near-shutdown of much of the U.S. economy, Trump also said the Housing and Urban Development Department will suspend foreclosures and evictions from public housing.
The Trump administration's plan for issuing relief checks to Americans calls for the payment of $500 billion in two installments over the next two months. The amounts have yet to be decided but would be based on income and family size.
Seattle-area tattoo artist Travis Tolin lost his only source of income when the shop he works for shut down. He took to Facebook to ask friends for moral support.
“We’re all going to be struggling for a bit so all I ask is that you support small businesses if you’re fortunate enough to still be working, buy prints, music, jewelry, anything they have available,” Tolin said. “We will all get through this!!”
Ford, General Motors and Fiat Chrysler, along with Honda and Toyota, said they will shut all of their factories in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The closing of Detroit's Big Three alone will idle about 150,000 workers, who are likely to receive supplemental pay in addition to unemployment benefits.
At GM’s pickup truck assembly plant in Flint, Michigan, workers have been fearful since the virus surfaced in the U.S., said Tommy Wolikow, who has two young daughters.
“That’s the thing that I was scared the most about, being the one to bring it home to them,” he said.
The U.S. reported more than 7,700 coronavirus cases and at least 138 deaths, about half of them in Washington state, where dozens of residents from a suburban Seattle nursing home have died.
Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida is the first known member of Congress to test positive for the virus. Other members of Congress have self-quarantined, but none have reported positive test results.
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, who last week announced he tested positive, is sharing his experience in a daily YouTube diary and on Twitter as he runs the city from home isolation. His wife and children are staying with relatives.
“The longer I live with COVID-19, the more I understand just how crucial social distancing is,” Suarez wrote.
Scientists have no doubt the true number of people infected is higher than reported because of the possibility that many mild cases have gone unrecognized or unrecorded, and because of the lag in large-scale testing in the U.S.
In the first breakdown of its kind in the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that the nation's coronavirus deaths so far mirror what has been reported in other countries, with about 4 out of 5 fatalities occurring in people 65 and older, and no deaths in children.
Scientists in China reported disappointing results from the first study completed on a potential COVID-19 treatment. A combination of two antiviral drugs used now to treat HIV did not resolve symptoms quicker than usual care in a study of 199 hospitalized, severely ill patients. The findings were reported Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine.
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Associated Press reporters around the world contributed to this report.
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The Associated Press receives support for health and science coverage from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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Follow AP coverage of the virus outbreak at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak
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The headline has been corrected to say 200,000 virus cases, not deaths.
ARTICLES BY ANITA SNOW
Eviction ban's end will allow pandemic lockouts to resume
PHOENIX (AP) — Tenant advocates and court officials were gearing up Friday for what some fear will be a wave of evictions and others predict will be just a growing trickle after a U.S. Supreme Court action allowing lockouts to resume.
Eviction ban's end will allow pandemic lockouts to resume
PHOENIX (AP) — Tenant advocates and court officials were gearing up Friday for what some fear will be a wave of evictions and others predict will be just a growing trickle after a U.S. Supreme Court action allowing lockouts to resume.
Eviction ban's end will allow pandemic lockouts to resume
PHOENIX (AP) — Tenant advocates and court officials were gearing up Friday for what some fear will be a wave of evictions and others predict will be just a growing trickle after a U.S. Supreme Court action allowing lockouts to resume.