Stimulus bill prevents Trump and his family from benefiting from loan programs

has been frequently criticized by Democrats, who accuse him of trying to profit from the presidency. Representatives of the Trump Organization did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday morning. Trump’s private business has now shuttered nine of its hotels and clubs, including six of its top seven revenue producers. These closures — including shutdowns at Trump Doral in Miami, Trump Turnberry in Scotland, the Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, and the Trump hotel in Las Vegas — could cost the Trump Organization millions in lost revenue. The closed properties accounted for $209 million in revenue in 2018, according to Trump’s financial disclosures, which works out to about $573,000 per day. The filings do not say if these clubs turned a profit, before the virus hit. Much of their revenue is likely to be lost, as long as the clubs and hotels remain closed. And the Trump properties that remain open — including hotels in Chicago and Washington — are operating at just a sliver of their normal capacity, with restaurants and bars closed. Already, the Trump Organization has laid off or furloughed more than 550 people, from its hotels in New York, Las Vegas, Miami and Washington, according to government filings and tallies from hotel workers’ unions. Before the virus, the Trump Organization had received more than $628,000 in payments from the federal government, by charging the Secret Service to house the agents who accompany Trump on his many visits to his own properties. The company has not responded to questions asking if it will seek federal aid now. The provision to ban Trump and other officials from benefiting from Treasury Department programs in the stimulus bill was among 19 items highlighted by Schumer in his letter to colleagues describing the contents of the bill. “Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer has secured a provision in the agreement that will prohibit businesses controlled by the President, Vice President, Members of Congress, and heads of Executive Departments from receiving loans or investments from Treasury programs,” Schumer’s office said in an email to reporters early Wednesday touting the provision. “The children, spouses and in-laws of the aforementioned principals are also included in this prohibition.” The Trump Organization had not indicated as of earlier this week whether it would seek bailout funds from the stimulus bill. On Sunday, Trump was asked whether his business would abstain from any federal bailout. He


Known coronavirus cases in Washington region top 1,000 amid surge in testing and continuing spread

The tally of novel coronavirus cases in the Washington region climbed past 1,000 Wednesday as Maryland, Virginia and the District reported their largest single-day increases — a grim markerthat illustrates both the continued spread of the virus and the fact that more testing is being done to detect it. Maryland announced 74 additional cases, bringing the state’s total to 424, and extended its closure of public schools another four weeks, through April 24. Virginia reported 101 additional cases, for a total of 392. The District reported 48 new cases Wednesday, including an eight-week-old infant, for a total caseload of 235. D.C. Jail officials said early Thursday that an inmate had tested positive for the virus. Overall, the region had 1,051 reported cases as of Wednesday evening, with 20 deaths. “It’s clear that we’ve got community spread now; that is quite obvious,” said Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D), a physician by training who on Wednesday directed hospitals to stop performing elective surgeries so that supplies of masks, gloves and other personal protective equipment are not depleted. “We are just at the beginning of this. We are not at the middle,” Northam said. “We are talking about months, and we are going to see these numbers, unfortunately, continue to rise.” The 1,000-case milestone for the Washington region happened as the nation and countries around the world continued to battle a pandemic that has caused more than 21,000 deaths. New York, the hardest-hit state, reported an additional 5,000 cases, and New York City’s public hospital system said 13 people died of the virus at one hospital in Queens during a 24-hour period. Among other developments, Prince Charles, heir to Britain’s throne, was reported to have tested positive for the virus and was isolated with his wife, Camilla, prompting tens of thousands of people to donate blood or volunteer in other ways; New York and other states urged the Trump administration to set up emergency morgues; and unemployment claims filed in California this month reached 1 million. Both Minnesota and Idaho issued two-week “stay at home” orders that will take effect late Friday night, and Canada said all travelers returning to the county must be quarantined for 14 days unless they are classified as essential workers. In Maryland, Gov. Larry Hogan (R) attributed much of the spike in cases to an expansion of testing over the past two weeks, with results often taking several


area, along the state’s southern border; and two women — one in her 80s and one in her 60s — from Virginia’s Peninsula in the eastern part of the state. The Canterbury facility had 14 residents and four health-care workers who tested positive, including the three residents who died. That makes it the largest known outbreak at a health-care facility in the greater Washington region. Early Thursday, D.C. Jail officials said a 20-year-old male inmate who had been housed in its Correctional Treatment Facility tested positive for the virus. The inmate is now in the infirmary, Keena Blackmon, a spokeswoman for the D.C. Department of Corrections, said in a statement. He is the first inmate to test positive at the jail. D.C. officials said Wednesday that they plan to launch a drive-through testing site on the campus of United Medical Center, the city’s only public hospital, by late next week. Children’s National Hospital is also offering drive-through testing, but only for children who have a doctor’s note saying they need the test and meet other criteria. D.C. Health Department Director LaQuandra Nesbitt said the United Medical Center site will be able to test up to 300 patients a day. People must fall into one of several prioritized groups to get tested, Nesbitt said: hospital patients, health-care-facility workers, patients in long-term-care facilities, patients over 65 and police, fire or emergency medical services personnel. They also must exhibit covid-19 symptoms. Health-care workers and first responders will be eligible for testing even if they exhibit only mild symptoms, Nesbitt said. Amid the dire figures for rising infections, some good news emerged Wednesday. Maryland officials said 17 people in the state have fully recovered. In the District, 21 people so far have recovered, while the number of D.C. firefighters under quarantine has gone down to 118, from 141 last week. Ten firefighters, including an assistant chief, have tested positive, officials said. Virginia health officials said they are not tracking the number of full recoveries. Washington National Cathedral found 5,000 respirator masks in storage that were purchased in 2006 and delivered them to MedStar Georgetown University Hospital and Children’s National Hospital. But the spread of the virus remains unpredictable, officials warned. Maryland officials noted that the majority of cases in the state are of people ages 18 to 64, with five under age 18. The youngest person infected in the state is a 10-month-old boy.


Pro teams are helping part-time workers, but some who work for arena vendors have been left out

too. This month should have been a busy one. Instead, Eley’s sausage businesses took a hit. “That place has been a ghost town,” Eley said of the shop he and his wife operate inside a brewery near Bankers Life Fieldhouse, which is the home of the Indiana Pacers. “It’s been kind of a shocking week, for sure.” The 37-year-old Young, the bartender in the District, also works at Walter E. Washington Convention Center. That is closed as well. Young worked at the recent American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference, and she learned about a fifth confirmed case of the coronavirus at the convention on the same day Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert’s positive test result was announced. Gobert was the first NBA player to test positive for the virus, but others have followed. The next day, March 12, Young still prepared to go work the Capitals-Red Wings game, puzzled over the absence of her hours. By the afternoon, the NHL followed the NBA and announced the suspension of its season. Young said she did not receive notification from her employer. “Just nothing. Nothing at all,” Young said. “No one emailed me. I had to email or find out why through human resources why I was taken off the schedule for that day.” On March 13, Ted Leonsis, the chairman of Monumental Sports & Entertainment, joined the growing list of team owners pledging support for part-time staffers. “We had to have great levels of empathy for those people,” Leonsis said. “It’s easy to … say, ‘Let’s not do this anymore.’ But then the day-to-day reality of: ‘Well, how do these people eat? How do they make their rent payments? How do they do all the things?’ ” That same day, with another event postponed and nothing to do, Young was scrolling through Facebook and came across a co-worker’s post about Leonsis’s plan. Young commented about it and inquired whether someone in her situation should expect a check or a direct deposit. But another friend replied that wages would be paid only to part-time workers employed by Monumental Sports & Entertainment. Young hasn’t had to iron her black pants for a while. She wonders when she will get to wear her uniform again so she can make a living. “It’s been very depressing,” Young said. “Everything just came to a complete stop. Right now as far as, like, groceries, and rent is


Italy’s coronavirus outbreak is keeping Americans from booking European travel, new data shows

Travelers around the world appear to be holding off on planning new trips to Italy as the number of coronavirus infections continues to rise. According to the travel analytics company ForwardKeys, flight bookings to Italy fell by nearly 139 percent in the final week of February, compared with a year ago. The company said that means the number of cancellations exceeded the number of new bookings. That followed the discovery of the first cluster of cases in the northern part of the country and the first deaths there. Infections have since risen rapidly, reaching more than 2,700 by Wednesday, with 107 deaths reported. The U.S. State Department warned Americans on Feb. 29 to reconsider travel to all of Italy, telling them to avoid the Lombardy and Veneto regions altogether. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said travelers should “avoid nonessential travel” to the country, citing “widespread community transmission” of the illness. Some U.S.-based airlines have suspended flights to Milan. Even before the outbreak in Italy, bookings to Europe had decreased by nearly 24 percent between Jan. 20 and Feb. 22, the company said. But over the final week of February, the number of new flight bookings to the continent fell by 79 percent. “The arrival of the covid-19 virus in Italy marks a new phase in the travel crisis in Europe,” Olivier Ponti, vice president of insights at ForwardKeys, said in a statement. “The drop-off in bookings to Italy is even worse than we have observed in the past for some of the most disruptive events, such as terror attacks.” It wasn’t clear which source markets were responsible for the bulk of the decline in Italy, but the company said bookings from North American to Europe were down nearly 64 percent. Although visits to Europe were pacing slightly higher than a year ago for most of January, arrivals to Europe dropped by 17.6 percent between Jan. 29 and Feb. 23. That escalated between Feb. 24 and 29, as arrivals in Europe plunged by nearly 26 percent compared with the previous year. Tourism leaders in Italy expect to lose more than 31 million tourists between March and May, the Italian news agency ANSA reported. And tourism officials there have said they’ve seen bookings fall significantly in March beyond just the northern regions most affected. Many in Italy are expressing frustration that the entire country has been suffering when the vast


Veterans react to revelations in The Afghanistan Papers

They experienced the war in Afghanistan on the ground. Here's what they had to say.


The covid-19 death numbers you’re seeing are incomplete

It’s become a grim routine to track the death toll of the novel coronavirus. The United States crossed 1,000 reported deaths on Wednesday — a tenfold increase from the 100 or so just nine days earlier. President Trump often notes that covid-19 deaths are far below those for the swine flu (17,000, he says) or seasonal influenza (averaging 37,000 a year). But he’s comparing apples and oranges. The daily tracking number for covid-19 is substantially below the real figure of deaths that can be attributed to the new coronavirus. It represents only the bare minimum — confirmed deaths reported by hospitals, medical providers and state health authorities as caused by covid-19. The actual number is substantially higher, but that will only become apparent after statistical modeling on excess mortality during this period. What do we mean? The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has estimated that from April 12, 2009, to April 10, 2010, there were 12,469 deaths in the United States because of the H1N1 (swine flu) virus. That was the midpoint of an estimate that ranged from a low of 8,868 to a high of 18,306. But that was an after-the-fact report. These swine flu numbers were not being produced and updated in real time. It took hindsight and further research. There already is anecdotal evidence that many deaths that stem from covid-19 are not being recorded as such. Doctors and nurses have told BuzzFeed News that deaths are not being correctly reported, in part because overwhelmed hospitals and a shortage of tests meant people died before it was determined whether they had contracted the virus. Something to keep in mind as you hear about the daily totals. For the full fact check, click here. Sign up for The Post’s Coronavirus Updates newsletter to track the outbreak. All stories linked within the newsletter are free to access. Enjoy this newsletter? Forward it to someone else who’d like it! If this email was forwarded to you, The Trump administration has dithered and given mixed messages on whether it will use the Defense Production Act, a 1950 law designed for national emergencies that allows the president to force private industries to produce needed supplies. Today, the underlying issue is a shortage of ventilators for patients and protective equipment for health-care professionals on the front lines. Ventilators can save lives because they allow patients to breathe when they cannot do so


What my time in Vietnam taught me about dealing with shortages

Paul R. Ignatius served in the administrations of Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson in several positions, including assistant secretary of defense for installations and logistics and secretary of the Navy. The concern about shortages of masks, ventilators, hospital gowns and testing kits got me to thinking about the Vietnam War, when I was the senior civilian official responsible for dealing with shortages in helicopters, ammunition, uniforms and other urgently needed items. The actions we took enabled us to avoid the worst of most of the problems we faced. Perhaps they have some relevance to today’s worries. First, timely and accurate information was needed to manage critical supply areas. To give us advance warning of potential shortages, we set up a special system called “Flagpole Reports.” (“Run it up the flagpole so everyone can see it.”) The first reports from Vietnam identified emerging shortages in aircraft flares, 40-mm ammunition, collapsible petroleum storage tanks and other combat needs. Individuals were assigned to each problem, and their corrective actions were reviewed personally by the secretary of defense. Second, to ensure that crucial items arrived when they were needed, we put together a rapid-resupply system called the Red Ball Express — a name inherited from the famed World War II Allied cargo convoy — at Travis Air Force Base in California. The planes had large red ball markings, and space was guaranteed for the needed supplies and equipment. Ventilators appear to be the most critical items today, but back then it was munitions. Nothing is more serious in war than a shortage of ammunition. Real or imagined deficiencies can resonate in the press and the public, agitate Congress and alarm the commanders in the field. So, the problem demanded constant, top-level attention. An Army major general was placed in charge, accurate and timely reports were initiated, production at existing sources was accelerated, and new facilities were started. Despite ammunition requirements that exceeded the levels in World War II, the rapidly expanding demands from field commanders were met. Strikes and work stoppages were a constant worry. While federal officials maintained a strict neutrality with respect to the substance of labor-management disputes, we analyzed the impact of each impending or actual work stoppage. In many instances we met with the contending parties to emphasize the urgency of their work. When a serious production problem arose, we dealt personally with top management. For example,


Global evacuation crisis tests the State Department — and the patience of Congress

lack of specific information either to our office or, more importantly, directly to constituents in the various countries,” said a spokeswoman for Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska). The effort to bring Americans home has created a rare unity of purpose among Democrats and Republicans in Congress, who have been flooded with phone calls from desperate constituents — more than 50,000 are still seeking help, according to the U.S. government. Lawmakers in both parties acknowledged that the department has made significant improvements in recent days in coordinating with local governments, working around arcane travel regulations and arranging chartered flights for thousands of Americans stranded abroad during an unparalleled situation. In many cases, senators and aides say, they understand that the State Department is doing all it can. Several spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to freely discuss internal government discussions. But interviews with more than a dozen senators, aides and American travelers show there are widespread frustrations with the process of getting U.S. citizens home. Critics include a broad array of bipartisan senators, from Republican Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Murkowski to Democratic Sens. Mark R. Warner of Virginia and Chris Murphy of Connecticut. More than a dozen Republican senators recently requested a call with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to discuss the concerns, records reviewed by The Post show. Some have gone to unusual lengths. For example, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) called the White House and spoke to President Trump directly after feeling stymied at the State Department, a GOP aide said. Defenders of the department say it has performed scrappily in the face of a historic and global crisis, helping evacuate more than 15,000 Americans from more than 40 countries since January and arranging the return of thousands more Americans by chartered aircraft every day. They also point out that other governments, such as Peru, were slow to approve the charter flights necessary to scoop up stranded Americans. “Our teams, working around the clock in Washington and overseas, will bring home thousands more in the coming days, from every region of the world,” State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said. The department has dedicated more diplomats to the effort. This month, routine visa services were suspended, and diplomats who returned to Washington due to specific vulnerabilities related to the covid-19 epidemic were reassigned to American Citizen Services, or “ACS.” In Peru, where thousands of Americans have been stranded,


What does exponential growth mean in the context of covid-19?

cases is because of expanded testing, whereas the death count from covid-19, which also exhibits some aspects of exponential growth, more closely captures the spread and impacts of the virus itself.) According to U.N. Secretary General António Guterres, it took about three months to tally the first 100,000 cases of coronavirus. The next 100,000 occurred in 12 days. Then four days, and then a day and a half. Data from John Hopkins supports this, showing how difficult it is to slow down exponential growth once it is underway. Thus far, covid-19 cases in the United States have spread with considerable predictability. The rate of increase in the United States appears faster than in most other countries around the world. Because we know that coronavirus spreads exponentially, we can reformat and “linearize” graphs to make them easier to read. Rather than plotting a skyward-screaming curve, one can simply tweak the vertical axis to increase exponentially at roughly the same rate as the virus’s spread. That leaves behind a line, making prediction somewhat straightforward. Extension of that line reveals some sobering numbers that put into focus just how dire the coronavirus pandemic is. Using data from Worldometer from between Feb. 15 and March 25, it’s possible to model how, at its current pace, the number of domestic coronavirus cases could increase. Extending the numbers called for about 81,000 cases by Thursday afternoon. The observed number was around 82,000 — in close agreement. Following the trend, nearly 100,000 cases in the United States are suggested for Saturday, with a quarter of a million by the start of April. And at that rate, more than a million could be infected by April 10 or 11. And that’s not using any fancy modeling software. Instead, it’s a straightforward math problem that has thus far yielded accurate results. However, there’s a major caveat with this. These numbers will likely slow down if social distancing proves effective. That’s what scientists mean when they use the phrase “flatten the curve.” Modeling the number of coronavirus deaths through exponential growth is also possible, but it’s a lot more complex since it involves the vulnerability and demographics of infected individuals, as well as less predictable variables tied to the health-care system. The death rate could spike if hospitals are overwhelmed, for example. It’s an unfortunate reality of an epidemic, but exponential growth can work both ways — and we can


China’s coronavirus response could build public support for its government

Will the coronavirus outbreak undermine the Chinese Communist Party’s rule? For China-watchers, this is a big question at the moment. Public health crises pose unique challenges to the Chinese government, not least due to the lack of free information flow and misaligned political incentives of central and local officials. Some analysts The Chinese magazine Caixin interviewed the writer known as Fang Fang, who raised concerns over the lack of honest commemoration of those who passed away during the outbreak. Others observe that some educated urban professionals have pushed back against how Beijing has handled the health crisis, concerned about the political restrictions on free information flows. But ordinary Chinese citizens from rather different socioeconomic and educational backgrounds may see things another way — that’s what I learned from recent conversations with over a dozen workers, small business owners and retirees in Jiangsu province. Elsewhere in China, could the outbreak actually raise satisfaction with government? Jiangsu, a coastal province north of Shanghai, is nearly 500 miles from the covid-19 epicenter in Wuhan, Hubei province. The Jiangsu residents I spoke to were less concerned over official restrictions, but comforted by the strict quarantine measures that their local governments have taken. Though angry about the initial coverup in Wuhan, they seem satisfied with the response from the central government and their local governments. Evidently, Jiangsu has seen far fewer coronavirus cases than Hubei, and people’s reactions of course vary. But these sentiments suggested satisfaction and pride, a reaction that indicates Beijing’s response may actually raise satisfaction with the government among some citizens. People also cooperate with new technologies to track where citizens go A 26-year-old Taobao online store owner in Jiangsu told me that people coming in and out of residential complexes, office buildings, grocery stores and other public places are now required to scan a QR code using their smartphones, so that local governments can monitor their movements. The data will help local officials conduct contact tracing — finding and isolating anyone who may have crossed paths with someone who is infected, to stem new infection clusters. Such a blanket surveillance measure would be unimaginable in many other countries, but most people comply. In fact, the people I talked with think it’s a great idea because it helps the government control the spread of the virus. Along a similar line, recent research finds that the social credit system, part of the state


made during the coronavirus response. The lavish commendations stoke genuine emotions of solidarity, I found. Just talking about the sacrifice of China’s health-care providers, for instance, prompted one person to tear up during our conversation. And China’s official state media produces many reports highlighting the central government’s seriousness in fighting the outbreak and its willingness to allocate billions of yuan to this effort. These send out a critical message: The government has the capacity to expend whatever resources are needed to help people get through this epidemic — and it is determined to do so. After the outbreak escalated into a global pandemic, Chinese propaganda shifted toward a different message, depicting the Chinese government as a global leader in fighting the epidemic, earning praise from foreign scholars and governments and providing assistance to other countries such as Italy, Iran and Pakistan. A useful analogy, perhaps, is an international sporting championship. My previous research, for instance, shows that exposure to international victories — a form of comparison with other countries — boosts political support in China. The government’s coronavirus response and the propaganda efforts, in astute comparison with other countries, would also be likely to generate political support at home. When propaganda signals government power, it may compel the idea that the government is the ultimate authority that has both the will and the capacity to protect people and fend off the outbreak. My conversations indicate that some Chinese citizens feel relieved by the tough measures to bring the crisis under control. Of course, measures that allow the government further control over the Chinese population, such as technological surveillance and watchful neighborhood committees, may become institutionalized. Concerns over privacy, for example, were largely subdued by the fear of the virus. But China’s ultimate success in managing the spread of the virus may actually build popular trust in the government, rather than undermining it. Dan Chen Read more: Why China and the U.S. can’t cooperate to fight coronavirus China is reporting big successes in the coronavirus fight. Should we trust the numbers? China is also relying on propaganda to tackle the coronavirus crisis Wuhan officials tried to cover up covid-19 — and sent it careening outward Covid-19 reveals how China’s internal politics now affect the whole world China’s early warning system didn’t work on covid-19. Here’s the story. Why China’s politics makes it easier — and harder — to control disease outbreaks


The Finance 202: Cash-strapped Americans will face excruciating wait for coronavirus relief money

THE TICKER The most financially vulnerable Americans can’t rest easy even as the $2 trillion coronavirus economic rescue package is expected to pass. The wait to collect their relief money threatens to outlast their meager savings. The specter of a delay between exhausting their cash on hand and receiving a check from Washington raises alarming questions about how lower-income people will meet basic needs during unprecedented economic shock. The House is trying to expedite passage of the bill in a vote today. Once President Trump signs the bill, most Americans in line for the cash — up to $1,200 for each adult and another $500 per child — can expect it to land in their bank accounts “within three weeks,” according to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. But “many experts say that is an ambitious timetable, and it might get pushed back to later in April,” my colleagues Ashlyn Still, Heather Long, and Kevin Uhrmacher write. And that only applies to those Americans who included direct deposit information on their 2019 tax returns. Some 6.5 percent of Americans are “unbanked,” meaning they don’t have a bank account To get funds to many in this population, the federal government’s default option is sending physical checks. Tax analysts expect that project could take two months at a minimum and potentially double that time. Why? Because, Janet Holtzblatt of the Tax Policy Center writes, “computer programs must be developed and tested. Guidance must be drafted to fill in the holes left in legislation. Notices telling taxpayers when to expect checks must be written. The IRS website must be updated and telephone operators must be trained to deal with the expected deluge of questions from impatient taxpayers.” Millions of Americans living hand to mouth can’t wait that long. More than half of American households, 53 percent, don’t have an emergency savings account. And of that group, 61 percent can make ends meet for no longer than two months with the cash they have on hand, according to a recent look by Deutsche Bank Securities: “The rainy-day fund for the median household was already relatively empty,” Torsten Slok, Deutsche Bank Securities chief economist, tells me. “Speed is certainly of the essence. The longer this goes, the more negative the economic impact.” The scale of the shock bearing down on the economy was thrown into dramatic relief by a A third of Americans already report the crisis


China is sinking its claws deeper into a bastion of freedom

Joshua Wong is the secretary general of Demosisto, a political activist group in Hong Kong. Amon Yiu is a member and researcher for Demosisto. While the world is busy trying to contain the spread of the deadly coronavirus, Chinese authorities last week pulled credentials from journalists at three major media outlets: the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and The Post. What is particularly shocking about this retaliatory move, after the Trump administration took action against several Chinese Communist Party-controlled outlets, is that for the first time, those foreign correspondents are also barred from reporting from Hong Kong and Macau. This is an unprecedented decision. For decades, Hong Kong has long been known as a bastion of press freedom in the region. With protections by independent courts and civil liberties enshrined in Hong Kong’s Basic Law (equivalent to its Constitution), foreign media have been able to operate free from intervention from autocratic China. Last week’s move is yet another sign that this bastion no longer fully exists, as China's claws have sunk deeper into local affairs. The decision deals a deadly blow to the city’s autonomy under the “one country, two systems” framework. Article 22 of the Basic Law stipulates that the Hong Kong government will maintain full autonomy of its immigration controls, while Article 27 guarantees full protection on freedom of speech. But the city’s ability to determine its immigration policy has been undermined multiple times in recent years, with the entry denials of Financial Times journalist Victor Mallet, Human Rights Watch head Kenneth Roth and Hong Kong Watch chair Benedict Rogers. Another worrying sign is the utter failure of Beijing-handpicked chief executive Carrie Lam to stand up for the city’s autonomy. Days after China’s expulsion order, the city’s government has not given a clear and definitive answer on the visa status of foreign journalists in Hong Kong. Together with its hard-line policy to crack down on the public call for democracy last year, the city leader’s compliance with Beijing’s decision has deepened concerns about civil liberties in Hong Kong. Beijing’s decision to wage war on press freedom shows that Chinese authorities still have not learned the lessons of the past few months. The tragic global spread of the coronavirus stems in part from its lack of transparency in early stages. Media restrictions could limit transparency and accountability further and open the door for future catastrophes. That would


Covid-19 is probably seasonal, but that’s no reason to relax

Mohammad Sajadi and Anthony Amoroso are associate professors of medicine at the Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and members of the Global Virus Network. As physicians and researchers, we have spoken to doctors across the country over the past few weeks and kept hearing variations on this description of the novel coronavirus’s spread: It’s like a chemical bomb went off. One day everything seemed normal, and the next everyone became sick: patients, nurses, family members. The pattern is scary, but familiar. Seasonal respiratory viruses, most infamously influenza, can act in the same explosive fashion. In temperate areas, every fall and winter, as the weather cools and humidity drops, influenza ferociously takes hold and retains a strong grip until spring. There are four coronaviruses — viruses that are common in humans, usually causing moderate respiratory illnesses — that are also seasonal. With covid-19, there is an even more frightening pattern of exponential growth than exists for influenza. At times it seems to be ripping through populations that have no previous immunity. But there also appears to be a distinct geographical pattern. The virus has spread globally with clusters of infection, often spread by travelers, in most countries. But certain locations were hit much harder than others: Wuhan in China, Daegu in South Korea, Milan, Tehran, central France, northern Spain, Germany, Seattle, and now New York. Why not Hong Kong, Singapore or Bangkok? They were directly in harm’s way, relatively near Wuhan, where the pandemic began, and highly connected to it by trade and travel. Are we to believe, as many assert, that these places were simply superior at implementing quarantine procedures? And what about cities well north of China, such as Moscow or Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, that have also not been much affected? When we noticed this pattern, we began to suspect that the coronavirus causing covid-19 was spreading like a seasonal virus. We launched a study at the Institute of Human Virology, part of the Global Virus Network, along with colleagues at the University of Maryland at College Park and researchers in Iran, to try to find out. Our research determined that all the major affected areas in January through early March were in the Northern Hemisphere between 30 and 50 degrees north latitude. And the areas had nearly identical temperatures of 41 to 52 degrees Fahrenheit and low humidity in the weeks before


in most countries. But certain locations were hit much harder than others: Wuhan in China, Daegu in South Korea, Milan, Tehran, central France, northern Spain, Germany, Seattle, and now New York. Why not Hong Kong, Singapore or Bangkok? They were directly in harm’s way, relatively near Wuhan, where the pandemic began, and highly connected to it by trade and travel. Are we to believe, as many assert, that these places were simply superior at implementing quarantine procedures? And what about cities well north of China, such as Moscow or Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, that have also not been much affected? When we noticed this pattern, we began to suspect that the coronavirus causing covid-19 was spreading like a seasonal virus. We launched a study at the Institute of Human Virology, part of the Global Virus Network, along with colleagues at the University of Maryland at College Park and researchers in Iran, to try to find out. Our research determined that all the major affected areas in January through early March were in the Northern Hemisphere between 30 and 50 degrees north latitude. And the areas had nearly identical temperatures of 41 to 52 degrees Fahrenheit and low humidity in the weeks before they recorded their first covid-19 death. Those conditions are similar to the laboratory conditions that maximize survival for seasonal respiratory viruses and are most conducive for transmission. Cooler temperatures are known to increase the survival of respiratory viruses on surfaces, help stabilize (along with low humidity) the aerosol floating in air, and even increase viral replication in some instances. The notion that the virus causing covid-19 will behave as a seasonal respiratory virus is a controversial one, because a whole season’s worth of data isn’t available yet, and because it risks stirring false hope that might inspire shortsighted policymaking. Even though we believe that covid-19 is behaving as a seasonal respiratory virus, that view comes with an enormous caveat: The study of past pandemics, from the whooping cough in 1400s Persia to the 2009 H1N1 virus in the United States, shows that new infections that eventually are regarded as seasonal afflictions can behave erratically (due to a lack of widespread immunity) until they settle into their characteristic pattern. The campaigns against covid-19 in areas now affected should certainly not be tailored in the expectation of a seasonal retreat that might not come. But bolstering preparedness in northern regions where the


data isn’t available yet, and because it risks stirring false hope that might inspire shortsighted policymaking. Even though we believe that covid-19 is behaving as a seasonal respiratory virus, that view comes with an enormous caveat: The study of past pandemics, from the whooping cough in 1400s Persia to the 2009 H1N1 virus in the United States, shows that new infections that eventually are regarded as seasonal afflictions can behave erratically (due to a lack of widespread immunity) until they settle into their characteristic pattern. The campaigns against covid-19 in areas now affected should certainly not be tailored in the expectation of a seasonal retreat that might not come. But bolstering preparedness in northern regions where the pandemic could soon spread would be wise. We’re working on models right now to validate and refine our findings and identify the communities where likely temperature and humidity levels in April and May could make them a covid-19 target, and those likely to be hit in the coming fall and winter. That could greatly aid preparation efforts, including the deployment of testing and protective equipment. Could covid-19 disappear permanently, as SARS did, in the summer? Will it be controlled by public health measures, as MERS was? Or will it, like the four other seasonal coronaviruses, retreat into the tropics and Southern Hemisphere, set up a home, and become the fifth human coronavirus, reemerging again in the fall for another season or longer? Will the extraordinary current global efforts send this pathogen into oblivion? To answer these questions, it is essential to conduct widespread serological testing so scientists can fully understand the pandemic, establishing a profile of who has and has not been infected and allowing improved modeling of covid-19’s spread. The world isn’t helpless, and the fightback is well underway, but a vital weapon will be finding out whether covid-19 will indeed act like other human coronaviruses and change with the seasons. Read more Danielle Allen: A better way to defeat the virus and restore the economy Xinyan Yu: My hometown showed us how a pandemic begins. Could it also show us how one ends? Thomas R. Frieden: When will it be safe to go out again? Arancha González Laya: As we fight the pandemic, it’s clear the world wasn’t ready. Here’s how to fix that. Amanda Ripley: We know how to prepare the public for a crisis. Why aren’t we doing it?


TSA recorded its lowest number of travelers in 10 years due to the coronavirus pandemic

with 46 cases recorded so far. “Because the health and safety of our workforce is of paramount importance, TSA is authorizing its employees to take leave for up to 14 calendar days, ensuring that they have time to assess their health status and coordinate personal and family matters,” the TSA spokesperson said. “TSA will work with its local leadership at airports nationwide to adjust screening operations as needed to ensure that security is not compromised.” According to the spokesperson, TSA employees have had the option to wear surgical masks since the beginning of the pandemic, and use of TSA standard nitrile gloves continues to be mandatory when screening an individual or their property. They’ve also authorized the use of eye protection and N95 respirator masks for TSA employees. In addition to adjusting staff protocol, TSA has implemented some changes to its standard policies for travelers in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. For example, if a traveler’s driver’s license or state-issued ID expired on or after March 1, and the person wasn’t able to get it renewed at their local DMV, they’ll still be allowed to use it at airport security. TSA will allow expired driver’s licenses or state-issued IDs a year after expiration or 60 days after the duration of the emergency, whichever is longer. Another new TSA protocol tweak is that fliers can carry one liquid hand sanitizer container up to 12 ounces in their carry-on bags until further notice, although it may slow down their check-in process. As far as traveling with other disinfectants, passengers should note that large cans of aerosol disinfectant spray (e.g., Lysol spray) are not allowed in checked or carry-on bags per FAA regulations because they’re flammable. All nonessential travel has been discouraged by health experts and government officials as the number of confirmed cases of covid-19 continues to grow. “You’re at risk of spreading the disease,” special pathogens expert Syra Madad, who was recently featured in Netflix docuseries “Pandemic: How to Prevent an Outbreak,” told The Post. “At this point, everybody should avoid all nonessential travel." Instead of traveling, people are being encouraged to stay home to slow the spread of coronavirus. As of Friday afternoon, covid-19 had killed more than 25,000 people worldwide. Read more: Everything travelers need to know about being sick overseas What lockdown orders mean when it’s not your hometown Just went on a cruise? Stay home for


Zoos are closed because of coronavirus, but the animals still need care

If supply line interruptions get dire, some animals might have to be relocated to facilities closer to resources they need, Warmolts said. For instance, the Columbus Zoo has greenhouses dedicated to growing emergency supplies of eucalyptus for the koalas. But those might last only a few weeks if the zoo’s regular shipments of the greenery, from Arizona and Florida, halted. In that case, the animals might be moved to zoos in the south, where the koala food grows more easily, Warmolts said. Zoos say handlers are now giving animals extra enrichment opportunities and exercises to make up for the lack of interaction with visitors. At the same time, several of the zoos and aquariums say they are also working to keep morale high among their humans. The Florida Aquarium is continuing to pay all of its staff, even part-timers, despite being closed, Germann said. About 40 people are still required to report in person, while the other 60 are working from home. The aquarium is also bringing in catered lunches each day, both to thank employees and to cut down on their exposures, and also as a boost to local small businesses. In Columbus, on-site employees are snacking on 125 boxes of Samoas, Tagalongs, and Do-Si-Dos supplied by Heather Carpenter, a gorilla keeper and leader of Girl Scout Troop No. 249. Its annual cookie drive was canceled on account of the pandemic. “Keeping spirits up as this drags on is going to be a huge challenge,” said Warmolts. In the meantime, some zoos and aquariums are also working to cheer up the millions of people stuck at home. Many are streaming live-feeds of their exhibits, posting videos and blog posts, and taking to social media to keep the public connected to their animals. On Monday, the Pittsburgh Zoo’s spacious parking lot was converted into a drive-through covid-19 screening area. Amid it all, life goes on. A gorilla named Uzumma gave birth at Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo earlier this month. And in Columbus, a polar bear cub just learned about this thing called “water.” Since its birth in November, the cub and its mother have been in isolation to simulate natural denning activity. Now the cub is slowly being given access to new parts of its enclosure — most recently the pool, a foray that can be viewed online. “It’s hilarious and fun to watch,” said Warmolts. “There’s still joy in


World track officials scrambling after Olympic postponement, but commitment to Oregon remains

confident we'll be able to work with that. “It’s completely unprecedented, and as I say, I’m not the master tactician at the board. It’s an incredibly difficult challenge, which is why we won’t find out tomorrow or the next day despite everybody crying out for ‘Tell us, tell us, tell us.’ It’s very complex.” Eugene will be affected by the wait. The University of Oregon planned on completing a years-long renovation of Hayward Field in time for June’s U.S. trials, which would have made it a world-class stadium for track and field. Now, both the unveiling and the boon from the world track community descending on the city will have to wait. “They help create an economic ecosystem that goes way beyond our sport,” Coe said. “Those are all the discussions we are having at the moment, with each and every one of those cities. We will do what we can to reschedule these as quickly and as effectively for those cities. It is important to reestablish the concept we are going to those cities, we are going back to those cities, albeit for a deferred occasion.” While World Athletics shakes out its schedule, other challenges await. One issue that has partially been decided is qualifying. The IOC informed sports federations that all athletes who have qualified for the 2020 Games will be eligible in 2021. That doesn’t mean spots on teams are guaranteed, which will remain the decision of individual countries and domestic sport federations. But athletes who had met qualifying standards for 2020 will not have to meet them again. The sport has fought against doping in track and field for years, and the coronavirus will pose new issues. With competition ground to a halt, in-competition testing periods disappear. Almost all worldwide medical equipment and facilities will be dedicated to treating the coronavirus. Still, Coe issued a warning to athletes that a lack of testing does not mean a free-for-all. He said the World Anti-Doping Agency and national anti-doping bodies have intelligence measures athletes may not be aware of and that athletes will pay the price if they cheat. “Clearly, it poses some challenges,” Coe said. “We need to be really clear: The athletes are not in a doping-free zone here, a testing-free zone. … No athletes should be seduced into thinking this is an area where they can capitalize on unfairly.” Ava Wallace contributed to this report.


MLB, players’ union reach deal on service time, salaries and amateur draft

in our system under all circumstances.” The deal came together after about two weeks of negotiations between MLB and the union and was completed near the end of what would have been baseball’s Opening Day. The sport was shut down March 12, when Commissioner Rob Manfred suspended spring training and announced a two-week delay to the start of the regular season with the coronavirus threat becoming increasingly dire. That delay now will extend through at least the end of May, and while baseball still hopes to play a shortened season and postseason in 2020, there is some concern the continued spread of the virus could lead to the cancellation of the season. As part of the deal, the Athletic reported, owners will advance the players $170 million to cover salaries through May but would not have to pay further if there is no season, and the union also agreed not to sue for lost salaries. Meanwhile, the deal gives MLB the leeway to shorten the amateur draft from 40 rounds to as few as five and shift it from June to July. The sides did not reach an agreement on the terms of a shortened spring training if there is a 2020 season or the intricacies of constructing a schedule. However, the sides have discussed playing doubleheaders and reducing the number of days off as a way to squeeze more games into a shortened schedule, and those talks are expected to continue. ESPN reported Friday that the sides agreed the 2020 season would not start until travel restrictions were lifted and the medical and scientific community agreed the games would not pose a health risk to players or fans. The sides also agreed to consider the feasibility of playing at neutral sites in less affected areas or in empty stadiums if bans on mass gatherings prohibit home games with fans. “Players want to play. That’s what they do,” Clark said. “Even if that means their fans are watching at home. ... We remain as optimistic as we can be that we’ll be able to play as many games as possible.” Read more: No one knows how much baseball will be played this year, but any would be better than none Mets’ Noah Syndergaard set for Tommy John surgery that will sideline him until 2021 Katie Ledecky resets Olympic focus on 2021 after frustrating, uncertain wait ‘A biological bomb’: Soccer match


The Daily 202: New York City is Ground Zero – again – with the coronavirus pandemic

delicate calculation: figuring out how long the restrictions should last. … Officially, Italy’s lockdown — which restricts people’s movement outside their homes and includes the closure of restaurants and retail stores — is supposed to end on April 3. But the government has signaled that the measures will surely be extended, something of little surprise to most people in the country.” “When a new test is rapidly created and deployed, its accuracy is often not fully known. The test is developed under controlled lab conditions, but it is used on samples taken, transported and performed by people in the real world — all of which increase the likelihood of errors,” Carolyn Johnson reports. “The Spain data, based on an analysis of 20,648 cases so far and 722 deaths by the country’s Institute of Health Carlos III, a national public health agency, delivers a new level of detail. It shows that men are faring worse on multiple metrics for the disease,” Chris Mooney and Pamela Rolfe report. “The gender divide shows up early, according to Spanish health officials. Men exhibit more of the initial symptoms: fever, cough and trouble breathing. And that carries through the course of sickness: Men progress more often to pneumonia, and have more cases of acute respiratory distress syndrome and more kidney failures. One prominent hypothesis to explain higher male deaths from the disease in other countries is that men tend to smoke more. And yet in Spain, the gender-based smoking gap is small. … Two Spanish experts agreed that whatever is going on, it does not seem to involve men contracting more cases. Rather, it’s that their cases are worse once they do get the disease.” “I held my wife as she heaved panicked sobs. She had been laid off. Her boss explained that there was just no way to keep paying employees if she wanted to reopen the business once this was all over. I’m a bartender, and a week earlier, I was also rendered unemployed after our governor ordered all bars and restaurants in the state to close,” wrote Stephen Hood, 34, from Chicago. “Our yearly collective income had been about $80,000. Suddenly, we found ourselves applying for unemployment. My estimated weekly benefit was $143. For my wife, $486. Our $1,650 rent is due April 1. I emailed our landlord letting her know we were just laid off and might ‘be a few days


My husband is an ER doctor. He moved out so he doesn’t infect us.

intubations, some really sick people, over 20 positive patients. “I see the worst of the worst, and last night was bad,” he told me. “Everyone is nervous.” Almost overnight, everything had changed. Nurses and doctors were making arrangements to sleep away from their families — some in guest bedrooms, others in basements. Those who had the option sent their kids away to be cared for by family. An employee wearing scrubs had been threatened by a fellow passenger on public transit and accused of spreading the virus, so the hospital was counseling all employees against wearing uniforms or badges in public. Bottles of hand sanitizer and boxes of face masks were disappearing from hospital supply closets, Tylenol from pharmacy shelves. With each passing day, the tally of infected and symptomatic doctors and nurses grew. A few times, during anxious spirals, I punched my worst-case scenarios into Google, looking for reassurance in the data. Whatever optimism I managed was quickly supplanted by Alex’s notes from the front lines. He was making difficult decisions about balancing the safety of patients and staff, with minimal and often contradicting guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization. Should a dying patient’s wife be allowed to sit with him as he passes away? Do you test a symptomatic father with a 5-day-old at home even though he doesn’t meet the criteria? Many of the ventilators available in the hospital were already occupied — would Alex soon face choices about whose life to save? News abounded of dwindling supplies of personal protective equipment — the CDC was advising doctors to use a scarf or bandanna to protect themselves. And yet, on the ride home after a heartbreaking shift, a still skeptical Uber driver had asked Alex, “Are you really seeing coronavirus patients?” Feeling raw and afraid, we made an appointment with a life insurance examiner, just in case. Then I read an article about the projected timelines for the pandemic’s spread, some predicting cases well into July, and my heart froze. We extended our Airbnb reservation until mid-April, grateful that at least we had the option and painfully aware of our relative privilege as many others around us lost their jobs and businesses and worried about putting food on the table. On Monday, at the end of our first week apart, we decided to go for a walk together. I


‘We were not given a warning’: New Orleans mayor says federal inaction informed Mardi Gras decision ahead of covid-19 outbreak

of this virus, and people did not realize it was spreading,” said Rebekah Gee, a former state health secretary now on the faculty of Louisiana State University’s medical school. “So people not only caught beads, but they caught covid-19.” As of Thursday, Louisiana had reported 2,305 cases and 83 deaths related to coronavirus — with about two-thirds of the cases and deaths in the New Orleans metro area. New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell said canceling or curtailing Mardi Gras was never considered. Federal agencies that are part of planning Mardi Gras every year — including the FBI and Homeland Security — did not raise concerns about the coronavirus, she said. Federal officials who walked the parade route with members of her administration were focused on terrorist attacks. “We were not given a warning or even told, ‘Look, you know what? Don’t have Mardi Gras,’ ” she said. At that point in late February, American life had not been seriously altered. People were still packing airports. The NBA hadn’t suspended games, and Disney World was still open for business. “Leadership matters,” Cantrell said. “And if the federal government is not responding to or saying that we’re potentially on the verge of having a crisis for the pandemic coming to the U.S. — that would change everything. But that wasn’t happening.” Cantrell noted that a couple weeks later, she did cancel the St. Patrick’s Day Parade — and was harshly criticized by some in New Orleans. As it happened, partiers didn’t heed the ban, and bars in the French Quarter were packed. During the first two weeks of known infections, the virus was coursing through Louisiana at an extraordinarily rapid pace, according to an analysis by Gary Wagner, a professor at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. He found that the rate of growth in that period was the highest in the world. “It seems the virus was there when crowds were around for Mardi Gras and it may have turned into a super-spreader event,” he said. “You can see what’s happening in Italy and Spain, and there is every reason to think the same events are going to happen here.” Given the coronavirus’s nimble and exponential transmissibility, it wouldn’t have taken many cases mingling among the Mardi Gras partyers to push the state to where it is today. As few as two or three people with the coronavirus in New Orleans


in late February could have engendered the current number of confirmed cases, according to a model by Susanne Straif-Bourgeois, a specialist in infectious diseases at the LSU School of Public Health. She added that there probably are many more people infected in the city than are known, because they’re not showing serious symptoms. “It seemed like during our Mardi Gras week, we had at least two [infected] people coming into our population,” she said. “And from there, it really spread very, very fast.” There might have been other factors, too, said Joe Kanter, the state’s medical director for the region that includes New Orleans. The city’s robust cruise industry and many conventions and gatherings were filling New Orleans with visitors just as the coronavirus arrived. State and local officials have taken steps this week to try to stay ahead of the spread of the virus — including a statewide stay-at-home order and the closing of all but essential businesses in New Orleans. But they have been blunt that the health-care system, particularly in New Orleans, could begin to run out of beds and vital supplies by the first week in April. Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) said at a news conference Wednesday that although 300 ventilators — essential equipment when covid-19 patients have trouble breathing — were set to be delivered to the state, that will be insufficient. “Even if we allocate all 300 of those, we know just in [the New Orleans region] we’re still 600 ventilators short and we haven’t even begun to get to the Baton Rouge area and the Shreveport area,” he said. Executives at Ochsner Health, which operates the largest health system in Louisiana, told reporters on Wednesday that they have seen a drastic uptick in the use of ventilators among intensive-care patients at their hospitals because of covid-19. Typically, they said, about 30 percent are on ventilators. Now, that figure is about 80 percent. Projections released this week by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington show Louisiana could be short 1,436 ICU beds at peak need, which the analysis predicts will occur around April 8. That marks one of the largest projected gaps of any state between available resources and need, according to the analysis. President Trump declared a major disaster in Louisiana on Tuesday, freeing up more federal funds, and the state has requested and received supplies


Need motivation to stay home? Do it for our supply chains.

Grocery shopping has taken on a slightly surreal quality in the past few weeks, particularly in urban areas, as we desperately buy whatever is available and try to supplement with the scrapings from our rapidly emptying cupboards. It’s as if we’ve all unwittingly become contestants on “Chopped”: “You have one hour to make something delicious out of tuna, Pop Rocks, a box of cheddar broccoli rice mix and a can of cranberry sauce that expired in 2007. Good luck, chef!” Wondering how our marketing turned into a grueling combination of scavenger hunt and Hobbesian war of all against all? Economists have two words for you: demand shock. Those words, along with “supply chain,” might be the most important terms you can learn right now. In normal times — such as, say, March 6, 2020 — roughly half of American food budgets was devoted to “food away from home,” which is a fancy way of describing the meals we pay someone else to make. As restaurants shut down, people who bought one or all of their daily meals outside the home suddenly needed groceries. Instantly transferring that much demand from restaurants to grocery stores necessarily results in some bare shelves while retailers work out kinks in the supply chain. That’s the “shock” part. Local bakeries or burger joints buy ingredients in larger packages than most of us need, and from different suppliers. So food can’t be seamlessly reallocated from one sector to another. Meanwhile, even people who mostly cook at home suddenly want to store more food than usual, to minimize trips outside and insure against the risk of sickness and weeks-long quarantine. So grocery stores have more customers, and their regular customers are suddenly buying three or four (or more) times what they normally demand. Moreover, they start buying different things: Out with the kale and quinoa, in with sugary treats and shelf-stable mac and cheese. Flour, sugar and other ingredients for unusually elaborate cooking projects have also become hot items. As people struggled to get their hands on basics, what economists call “dynamic effects” kicked in. If you can find a scarce item, you buy more than you need, to hedge against future shortages. This, of course, makes shortages worse. In this way, Americans are experiencing a little taste of what daily life was like under communism. Unlike the Soviet model, however, U.S. capitalism will eventually straighten out our


The Health 202: It’s not just New York. These five cities are emerging as coronavirus hot spots

The state reported 510 more known infections yesterday for a total of 2,305. Nearly half the cases – and more than half the deaths – are in New Orleans. Officials are partially blaming the Mardi Gras celebration, which ran through Feb. 25 in New Orleans. Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) warned at a news conference on Wednesday that Louisiana could run out of ventilators by the first week of April without additional assistance. “We’re already low on protective equipment,” Rebekah Gee, who until recently served as Louisiana’s health secretary, told U.S. News and World Report. “The biggest issue is personnel, because you can make masks and you can actually create field hospitals, but you can’t make pulmonary critical care specialists in a week.” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) even included New Orleans in an order he issued yesterday, saying people who fly from that city or from New York City must self-quarantine for 14 days. He said violators could be fined up to $1,000 or spend up to 180 days in jail, or both. 2. Detroit, Mich. Wayne County, which contains the city of Detroit, also ranks among the highest nationally in covid-19 cases per capita, the Detroit Free Press reports. Officials have reported nearly 1,400 cases and 26 deaths in the county and city combined. Health officials have stressed the inhabitants of the city, which is beset by economic disparities, are more vulnerable to the disease because of a higher rate of underlying health conditions. “Part of what we’re seeing in Detroit is there’s such a high number of individuals who have those underlying conditions, who have the diabetes and the heart disease, who may have obesity,” said Joneigh Khaldun, chief medical officer for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, told the Free Press. “And so what you’re seeing now is when you have really generations of concentrated poverty … that impact a place, a city like Detroit, when you have pandemics, it’s going to hit those places harder,” he said. 3. Chicago, Illinois Health officials announced 673 new known cases yesterday, bringing the statewide total to 2,538 cases, the Chicago Tribune reports. The same day, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot ordered many trails and parks to close. 4. Atlanta, Ga. Georgia’s cases have increased 472 percent in one week, The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.There are more than 1,600 cases and 56 deaths. Gov. Brian Kemp (R) has


Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) want to approve the measure with a voice vote today. A voice vote would not require all sitting members to return to Washington, our Post colleagues Mike DeBonis, Paul Kane and John Wagner report. “But at least one lawmaker is considering upending the plans for swift passage,” they write. “Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) said Thursday that he opposed the bill, approved unanimously by the Senate on Wednesday, as it would add to the national debt. The libertarian lawmaker also is concerned that voting without a quorum present — the majority of the House chamber — would violate the Constitution. He said he has yet to decide whether to press the issue, which could delay a House vote until late Saturday or Sunday.” At a news conference yesterday, Pelosi said she feels “certain that we will have a strong bipartisan vote” and did not address Massie’s concern. Some developments related to China, where the outbreak first started in late 2019: — The Chinese Foreign Ministry announced China will temporarily suspend entry of foreign nationals with valid visas and residence permits. “The coronavirus outbreak was first recorded in China late last year. In recent weeks, as the outbreak there appears to have slowed, China has expressed alarm over a reported uptick in cases being imported from people entering the country from abroad,” our Post colleague Siobhán O'Grady reports. “Chinese authorities have enforced 14-day quarantines on many people entering the country after international travel.” — Before the outbreak, the Trump administration cut more than two-thirds of the CDC staff operating in China has part of a rollback of U.S-funded health and science experts in the country, “The CDC’s China headcount has shrunk to around 14 staffers, down from approximately 47 people since President Donald Trump took office in January 2017, the documents show,” Marisa adds, citing four people who said the cuts included epidemiologists and other health professionals. — Microbiology experts in Spain say rapid coronavirus tests purchased from China are only correctly identifying people with the novel virus 30 percent of the time, “Those sources told the newspaper that the tests should have a sensitivity of more than 80%. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says rapid tests for influenza are required to have 80% sensitivity,” they add. — More news this morning: Good to know: The Trump administration’s response: On the front lines: The hardest hit:


Even in states hit harder by the coronavirus, views of the outbreak correlate to partisanship

One of the interesting and alarming aspects of the steady spread of the coronavirus across the country is the extent to which views of the pandemic differ by political party. Republicans consistently report less concern about the virus and that they’re taking fewer actions meant to slow the virus’s spread. This partisan difference is clearly in part a function of President Trump’s approach to the emergence of the virus, an approach that has only sporadically deviated from unrealistically optimistic predictions and assessments of the administration’s efforts. It may also be a function of geography: Three-quarters of the coronavirus cases in the United States were confirmed in blue states. The virus has been slower to emerge in more rural states, which tend to vote more heavily Republican, though even smaller states are seeing exponential growth in confirmed cases. This raises an interesting question. Are Republicans more skeptical of the effects of the virus because they’re Republicans or because they live in places where the virus isn’t as prevalent? A new Washington Post-ABC News poll offers some insight into an answer. Generally, on a range of questions focused on the virus, the difference between the views expressed by Democrats (and Democratic-leaning independents) differs broadly from the views of Republicans (and Republican-leaning independents) in states harder-hit by the virus than those that have seen smaller outbreaks. We looked at those states in two ways. One was a pure count of confirmed cases, breaking out respondents’ states into those that had seen 700 confirmed cases and those that hadn’t. We also broke it out by population, offering a better sense of the scale of the outbreak. In that differentiation, the more affected states had seen at least 50 cases for every million residents. A good example of the partisan differences in views of the virus comes from asking respondents if they were worried about contracting the virus or having a member of their families contract it. Overall, there was a 19-point gap between the parties on the question, with Democrats more likely to express concern about contracting it. In states with more cases and more cases per resident, Democrats expressed more concern about the virus while Republican views held more steady. Asked to evaluate their own risk of contracting the virus, there was less of a partisan gap. There was a smaller partisan gap on the question of how much stress the outbreak had


Mortgage industry seeks billions in federal help as homeowners stop paying their loans

could go out of business within a few months, potentially making it more difficult for homeowners to secure mortgage relief as the U.S. economy grinds to a halt to contain the growing pandemic. “A small sliver of that could easily be dedicated to a fund that would provide the liquidity to our servicers, while borrowers are getting back on their feet from the coronavirus," said Bob Broeksmit, the chief executive of the Mortgage Bankers Association, a large industry trade group. A decade after shoddy mortgages nearly brought down the U.S. economy, the coronavirus has exposed new weakness in the housing market, which is increasingly dominated by firms operating outside the traditional banking system and with little federal oversight. Nearly 60 percent of the America’s mortgages are secured through non-bank lenders such as Quicken Loans. One in three of the country’s $11.2 trillion in mortgages is overseen by non-bank servicers, which collect borrowers’ payments every month, and say the economic fallout from the pandemic represents an unprecedented challenge to their future. But their pleas for help have met skepticism from groups that have long called for tougher industry oversight. One of the companies reported $2 billion in revenue last year. “How can these companies credibly lobby against strong regulation and supervision during peaceful economic times, and then beg the government for assistance during periods of stress,” said Gregg Gelzinis, senior policy analyst at the left-leaning Center for American Progress. “This industry needs to be more resilient.” Mortgage lenders are preparing for an avalanche of distressed homeowners that could drive a housing crisis that rivals the one that left millions of Americans in foreclosure a decade ago. This time, rather than homeowners falling behind on their payments slowly over several years, mortgage delinquencies could spike suddenly as people find themselves without a job or have their salaries cut within the next few months. “The last time the problems were concentrated in borrowers with weak credit and bad loans,” said Guy Cecala, publisher of Inside Mortgage Finance. “This time the problems are going to be non discriminatory. It will apply to people with good credit, or someone who is well off, and ran a restaurant. We haven’t had a crisis where everyone is impacted regardless of financial situation.” PennyMac, which services about $369 billion in mortgages, said it has already seen a more than 100 percent increase in customers seeking forbearance plans over


In 10 days, this teacher went from a mild fever to a medically induced coma

Within 10 days, an otherwise healthy 39-year-old high school English teacher went from having a mild fever to being placed into a medically induced coma because he was struggling so much to breathe. Leslie Flanagan said her husband’s rapid deterioration made real the once-distant threat posed by the novel coronavirus pandemic, which over the past two weeks has increasingly shut down life in the Washington region. His illness also illustrated the challenges — emotional, bureaucratic and faced by a growing number of Americans — of disclosing a suspected covid-19 case. Like many dealing with the national testing backlog, Leslie Flanagan had to wait over a week before being told Friday morning that her husband, Jason, had tested positive for the coronavirus. His colleagues and students at High Point High School in Beltsville, Md., were not notified while the results were pending that Jason was suspected of having the virus. The Prince George’s County public school system announced the case Friday afternoon, after officials received confirmation from the county health department. Jason, who teaches Advanced Placement English, started feeling sick with a mild fever and cough on March 16, the same Monday that Maryland ordered the closure of public schools across the state. Jason made an appointment with his primary care doctor, who told him to take ibuprofen and use cold cloths to soothe his fever. He and his wife were not worried then because he was young and healthy, Leslie said. Neither considered telling the school that Jason was sick, because he had not taken any recent trips and could not fathom that he had the virus. There were then 41 reported positive cases in Maryland. After days of temperature fluctuations — and one morning of waking up with no fever at all — Jason’s fever was about 102 a week ago Friday, Leslie said. On that day, Hogan announced the second death in the state attributed to the virus, and the number of reported cases in Maryland ticked up to 150. Jason’s primary doctor gave him a prescription for a covid-19 test, and he was tested a week ago Friday, Leslie said. Inside their one-bedroom apartment in Frederick, Md., the young couple were starting to get worried but still teasing each other and trying to remain optimistic. Practicing social distancing was practically impossible in such a small space, said Leslie, 35. But they tried not to touch, washed their


Poll finds universal lifestyle changes, rising stress and growing fears about catching coronavirus

The spreading coronavirus pandemic has brought massive and sudden disruption to the daily lives of most Americans amid rapidly rising fears that they could become ill with the covid-19 disease, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll. Almost overnight, the threat from the virus has changed habits and lifestyles. Roughly 9 in 10 say they are staying home “as much as possible” and are practicing social distancing to lessen the risk of getting the virus. Nearly 9 in 10 say they have stopped going to bars and restaurants. About 6 in 10 say they have stockpiled food and household supplies at home. On the political front, President Trump narrowly wins approval for his handling of the outbreak, and his overall approval rating has grown five percentage points since February, to 48 percent, even as most Americans say he was too slow to take action in the early days of the virus’s spread. The rise in Trump’s approval rating, however, is far smaller than some other presidents have experienced in times of national crisis. The change in Americans’ lives has been swift and dramatic. Less than two weeks ago, a survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) found 40 percent saying their lives had been disrupted and only 16 percent calling those disruptions significant. In the Post-ABC poll, more than 3 in 4 say their life has been disrupted by the coronavirus outbreak, with half the population saying there has been “a lot” of disruption. Stress levels appear to be higher today than they were during the Great Recession that followed the financial collapse of 2008, with 7 in 10 Americans citing the virus outbreak as a source of that stress and 1 in 3 saying it caused “serious” stress. During the deep recession in early 2009, fewer than 6 in 10 said the economy was a source of stress. Women and those with children at home are some of those most likely to feel additional pressure, with about three-quarters of each group saying the outbreak has caused them stress, and over 4 in 10 describing it as “serious.” One source of their stress: Women are more likely than men to say they or a family member lost their job or had hours or pay cut because of the coronavirus. Nearly 7 in 10 Americans say they are worried that they or someone in their immediate family might catch the disease.


Coronavirus modelers factor in new public health risk: Accusations their work is a hoax

politicized their work would become in the era of President Trump, and how that in turn could affect their models. In recent days, a growing contingent of Trump supporters have pushed the narrative that health experts are part of a deep-state plot to hurt Trump’s reelection efforts by damaging the economy and keeping the United States shut down as long as possible. Trump himself pushed this idea in the early days of the outbreak, calling warnings on coronavirus a kind of “hoax” meant to undermine him. The notion is deeply troubling, leading health experts say, because what the country does next and how many people die depend largely on what evidence U.S. leaders and the public use to inform their decisions. Epidemiologists worry their research — intended to avert massive deaths in situations exactly like this pandemic — will be dismissed by federal leaders when it is needed most. So much of the coming months and our country’s timeline depends on the peak of the coronavirus’s spread — its steepness, length and timing. But here’s the thing about peaks: You often can’t tell where they are until you’re already past them, on your way down the other side. And in a country as big as the United States, the peak will be not so much a single curve as it will the sum of many curves — as the outbreak spreads to different cities and regions at different times. Nonetheless, a new model released Thursday by the University of Washington’s School of Medicine is one of the first to forecast a national peak. It projects that the peak in daily U.S. deaths will arrive in mid-April, and the tail end of that curve, subsiding below 10 daily deaths, will arrive by the first week of June. But that projection comes with huge caveats because of estimations and assumptions that have to be built into the calculation, given how much is still unknown about the disease covid-19. The model — created by the university’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation — assumes, for example, that all remaining states that have not enacted strict restrictions on residents will do so in the next week once they see how grave the situation is in areas like New York. But Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has refused to issue orders for people to stay at home. Alabama’s governor has similarly resisted. And this week,


stated that in his testimony Ferguson’s projection had been “corrected.” The chyron on her show Thursday night stated, “Faulty models may be skewing COVID-19 data.” “Today — this is what our instinct was — the lead researcher did an about-face on those terrifying projections, the very projections that drove so much of our response,” Ingraham claimed on her show. A Wall Street Journal columnist wrote that the revision “raises serious questions about the radical countermeasures inspired by public-health experts like Mr. Ferguson.” Even one of Trump’s coronavirus task force coordinator, Deborah Birx, seemed to lean into the questioning of Ferguson. “I’m sure many of you saw the recent report out of the U.K. about them adjusting,” Birx said. “If you remember, that was the report that said there would be 500,000 deaths in the U.K. and 2.2 million deaths in the United States. They’ve adjusted that number in the U.K. to 20,000. So half a million to 20,000. We’re looking into this in great detail to understand that adjustment.” But in fact, Ferguson had not revised his projections in his testimony, which he made clear in interviews and Twitter. His earlier study had made clear the estimate of 500,000 deaths in Britain and 2.2 million in the United States projected what could happen if both took absolutely no action against the coronavirus. The new estimate of 20,000 deaths in Britain was a projected result now that Britain had implemented strict restrictions, which this week came to include a full lockdown. But the argument over models in some ways is beside the point, said Natalie Dean, a biostatistician at the University of Florida. “The models are planning tools, but it doesn’t take a genius to look at what’s happening in Italy and realize that we’re on the same trajectory,” said Dean, who is working on coronavirus vaccine evaluation with the World Health Organization. “That should be enough to tell us we need to be doing more in reaction.” One clear warning from epidemiology of past pandemics is the danger of lifting restrictions — as Trump wants to do in two weeks — too soon. A seminal 2007 paper shows what happened in several U.S. cities when they eased restrictions too soon during the 1918 flu pandemic. Those cities believed they were on the other side of the peak, and, like the United States today, had residents agitating about the economy and


The coronavirus is expanding the surveillance state. How will this play out?

transactions. Who controls the data? The second key design choice is whether to centralize data in government agencies, or leave it with private companies. If the data goes directly to government, it’s easier for authorities to collect, process and combine information from disparate sources. However, this approach also makes it easier for the government to use this data in future, for other purposes. A recent opinion by the U.S. government’s Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, for example, found that the FBI has been unlawfully using communications data originally collected by the National Security Agency to identify foreign terrorists since 2008. Some privacy advocates accordingly prefer that private companies hold most personal data, producing it for governments only when legally obliged. Many countries are prioritizing efficiency by centralizing information in government hands. Israel’s tracking system draws directly on cellphone data already collected by security agencies, while China’s even more comprehensive surveillance combines data collected by public and private entities in one smartphone app. Or solutions can bypass the private sector completely. Officials in Hong Kong are forcing all incoming passengers to wear a location-tracking wristband, while Taiwanese authorities place an electronic fence around quarantined homes that detects when anyone so much as turns off their phone. U.K. authorities took the opposite approach in partnerships with telecommunications providers O2 and EE. Both firms use location data to evaluate whether Britons are effectively socially distancing, but retain all identifying information and share only anonymized location data with government officials. What about the United States? Tech giants like Google and Facebook are reportedly in talks to share insight from anonymized location data about their users with health experts, without actually handing over location data itself. This is likely to be part of a system for monitoring the spread of covid-19 to be built by the Centers for Disease Control, which was allocated $500 million in the recent emergency stimulus bill passed by Congress. What are the long-term consequences? For most governments the question right now is not whether to surveil their populations — but how to decide what form the inevitable surveillance should take. Choices made now will have consequences that last long after the crisis itself. One effect may be to make extensive mass surveillance seem a normal part of life in advanced industrialized democracies. Until the coronavirus crisis, democracies have largely limited mass surveillance techniques that uniquely identify members of the population to


by security agencies, while China’s even more comprehensive surveillance combines data collected by public and private entities in one smartphone app. Or solutions can bypass the private sector completely. Officials in Hong Kong are forcing all incoming passengers to wear a location-tracking wristband, while Taiwanese authorities place an electronic fence around quarantined homes that detects when anyone so much as turns off their phone. U.K. authorities took the opposite approach in partnerships with telecommunications providers O2 and EE. Both firms use location data to evaluate whether Britons are effectively socially distancing, but retain all identifying information and share only anonymized location data with government officials. What about the United States? Tech giants like Google and Facebook are reportedly in talks to share insight from anonymized location data about their users with health experts, without actually handing over location data itself. This is likely to be part of a system for monitoring the spread of covid-19 to be built by the Centers for Disease Control, which was allocated $500 million in the recent emergency stimulus bill passed by Congress. What are the long-term consequences? For most governments the question right now is not whether to surveil their populations — but how to decide what form the inevitable surveillance should take. Choices made now will have consequences that last long after the crisis itself. One effect may be to make extensive mass surveillance seem a normal part of life in advanced industrialized democracies. Until the coronavirus crisis, democracies have largely limited mass surveillance techniques that uniquely identify members of the population to intelligence and counterterrorism missions. But after the crisis abates, autocracies and democracies alike may find their citizens more willing to accept greater government oversight of their daily activities. Recent brushes with infectious diseases helped normalize high levels of surveillance in much of East Asia. South Korea’s 2015 experience with Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), for example, laid the groundwork for its extensive public disclosure of information about potential carriers of the coronavirus. But surveillance architectures created in haste could prove difficult to dismantle with anything like the same speed. Pro-privacy groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation and STOP are already warning that the infrastructure of tools like facial recognition may not be dismantled. In all likelihood, the status quo has now changed forever — and the improvised solutions of today will inevitably shape the surveillance regimes of tomorrow. Ben Power


EE UU acusa a Maduro. ¿La tormenta perfecta? China y Corea del Sur frenan el coronavirus. ¿Cómo?

Entrevistados: Miguel Henrique Otero, director de El Nacional de Caracas; José Miguel Vivanco, de Human Rights Watch, y periodistas de Efe en Corea y de Vocento en Shangai.


An onslaught of orders engulfs seed companies amid coronavirus fears

end-of-season decline in orders isn’t happening. Customers are gravitating to vegetables high in nutrients, such as kale, spinach and other quick-to-grow leafy greens. “Spinach is off the charts,” said Jo-Anne van den Berg-Ohms of Kitchen Garden Seeds in Bantam, Conn. The other top seller is the bean in all its forms. This is because beans are not only a healthy source of protein, but are also easy to grow and versatile. In the green stage, the pods and seeds are tasty. When left to ripen, the seeds form beans that can be stored and used for soups and casseroles. Gettle said his company is handling approximately 4,500 orders daily, about twice the usual peak demand of spring. Swamped, he closed his website for three days and stopped taking phone orders to allow staff to catch up with the backlog. He may have to do so again if the volume persists, he said. His family-owned seed company is known for its unusual heirloom vegetable varieties and has emphasized Asian vegetable varieties in recent years. More than a quarter of the offerings have been sold out. “In some cases, we can get more seed” for the current sales season, he said, “and in others, we cannot.” Another challenge is the ability to get fresh seed packets printed as well as mailing supplies — such things as bubble wrap — now that the world has shifted to online ordering and home delivery. “We are definitely seeing an increase in sales,” said Jamie Mattikow, chief executive and president of W. Atlee Burpee & Co. in Warminster, Pa. As with other retail seed companies, Burpee sells seed for herbs and annual flowers in addition to vegetables. “Online we are getting many more customers coming to us, and interest is skewed toward vegetables,” he said. Van den Berg-Ohms, of Kitchen Garden Seeds, said sales are up 40 percent. “More people are planting more varieties,” she said. Varieties of vegetables and herbs that are directly sown into the garden, as opposed to started indoors first, “are really going crazy,” she said. Sales were already up noticeably in January, she said, but in the first week of March, “the incremental surge” started and has continued unabated. The company, which specializes in gourmet varieties for home cooks, is able to meet demand, but some varieties may become scarce or unavailable, she said. “At this point, we are just keeping


The Energy 202: Trump’s decision to keep some national parks open worries rangers and residents

THE LIGHTBULB Those who live near and work at national park sites staying open despite the A decision by Interior Secretary David Bernhardt to keep some parks open and Fearing for their jobs in an administration that tightly controls speech, no park employee has spoken out as boldly as Dustin Stone. “This is a political game being played with people’s lives by leadership at the highest levels of the Department of Interior, and, I believe, the White House,” The Park Service has stitched together a patchwork of rules governing which parks stay open and which ones close. The National Park Service said in an email “the health and safety of … visitors, employees, volunteers, and partners is our number one priority” They are the same basic steps that nearly every American has heard over the past month: wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds; cover your mouth and nose when you cough or sneeze; avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth. High-risk visitors, such as the elderly and others with certain medical conditions, are asked to take extra care at parks. Yet those precautions are unlikely to keep visitors from coming into close contact “Our concern is that Interior is practicing trial-and-error instead of being proactive where they know visitors are going to gather,” said Kristen Brengel, vice president of government affairs for the National Parks Conservation Association. Read more here: You are reading The Energy 202 , our must-read tipsheet on energy and the environment. — EPA to relax environmental rules: — Returning from the North Pole to a new world: — What is “essential” in a pandemic? — More auto plants shutter — A pandemic without water access: — What to know as the plastic industry pushes to reverse bag bans — In non-coronavirus news: — No humans at the zoo?


As they rush to save lives, health care workers are updating their own wills and funeral plans

grueling shifts in protective gear. At the same time, physicians are increasingly coming to grips with the fact they could die, too. They are routinely exposed to harsher viral loads as the number of patients flooding emergency rooms and urgent care centers mounts by the hour. On Thursday, U.S. deaths from coronavirus topped 1,000 and confirmed cases surpassed 75,000. That means health care workers, many in their 20s or 30s, are making arrangements to ease the burden on their loved ones. Every day, doctors accept the risks of treating people in need. But rarely has their entire profession been thrust into such a sweeping, indiscriminate crisis. For Austin, this is not an abstract fear. Weeks ago, she saw photographs of Chinese health care workers dressed head-to-toe in protective suits as the outbreak began its catastrophic expansion. Then she learned of the deaths of Li Wenliang, the Wuhan ophthalmologist who tried to sound the alarm about the virus, and Peng Yinhua, the 29-year old doctor who put his wedding on hold to treat the sick. “It was the age that really stood out to me,” Austin said. In Italy, now the flash point of the pandemic, 39 health workers have died, according to the Italian news agency ANSA. Marcello Natali, a general practitioner in Codogno who railed against his government’s response and the dearth of protective gear, died this month after reportedly having to treat patients without gloves. A 34-year-old hospital nurse who had been working in the intensive care unit committed suicide after contracting the virus. She “had been living with heavy stress out of the fear of having infected others," ANSA reported. As U.S. states and hospitals scramble for meager supplies, many American companies — including Ford, 3M and General Electric — are teaming up to make ventilators and respirators. But that process could take months. The private sector’s voluntary efforts may only go so far without coordination from the federal government. That leaves doctors to make grim calculations. Though estate planning is a basic tenet of financial planning, such deeply personal and difficult decisions have taken on a painful urgency, especially as doctors brace for a surge in cases in the coming weeks. “We can read mapping,” said Michelle Au, an anesthesiologist at Emory Saint Joseph’s Hospital in Atlanta, who is also running for a seat in the Georgia State Senate. “People feel like they’re standing on a


U.S. deaths from coronavirus top 1,000, amid incomplete reporting from authorities and anguish from those left behind

It began as a mysterious disease with frightening potential. Now, just two months after America’s first confirmed case, the country is grappling with a lethal reality: The novel coronavirus has killed more than 1,000 people in the United States, a toll that is increasing at an alarming rate. As the highly contagious virus has created clusters of illness, from Seattle to New York City, death has followed in turn. On Wednesday night, the country’s largest city reported 88 new deaths from covid-19, the disease caused by the virus. As of Thursday afternoon, Americans had died in 42 states and territories and the District, with punishing increases in Louisiana and Michigan. Experts fear the worst is still to come, pointing to a rapid acceleration of cases in communities across the country. The Washington Post is tracking every known U.S. death, analyzing data from health agencies and gathering details from family and friends of the victims. In the first 1,000 fatalities, some patterns have begun to emerge in the outbreak’s epidemiology and its painful human impact. About 65 percent of the dead whose ages are known were older than 70, and nearly 40 percent were over 80, demonstrating that risk rises along with age. About 5 percent whose ages are known were in their 40s or younger, but many more in that age group have been sick enough to be hospitalized. Of those victims whose gender is known, nearly 60 percent were men. What remains murky is exactly who is dying in America during the pandemic, even as scientists and public health experts race to uncover information that can help save lives. Overwhelmed state and local authorities have been issuing widely varying reports on those who died, citing medical privacy laws to shield even basic details about age, gender and underlying conditions, the three signal categories that epidemiologists say are key indicators of risk. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which offers a well-regarded and oft-cited public weekly tracker for the annual influenza season, offers no similar real-time surveillance for the novel coronavirus. The analysis the agency does provide relies on spotty reporting by the states struggling to serve a surge of sick people. There are some among the 1,000 deaths who publicly have a name, an age, a place of death and a life story: the playwright Terrence McNally, the rabbi Romi Cohn, the principal Dezann Romain. They appear in