E3: Coronavirus US live: New York governor attacks Trump's handling of outbreak

Donald Trump is set to headline a two hour virtual town hall on the coronavirus pandemic. Just ahead of that, vice-president Mike Pence sat down with Fox News’ Bill Hemmer. In that interview Pence was asked to respond to New York governor Andrew Cuomo’s pleas for the federal government to more actively use the Federal Defense Production Act.

Pence pointed to the new production efforts by Ford, 3M and GE to provide ventilators and masks. He also said “we’ll continue to meet this moment with creativity” and the support of the American people.

Essentially daily governors across the country have been working to at least show how active they’re being in combatting the Coroavirus. In Wisconsin, Governor Tony Evers directed the state’s Department of Health Services to issue a stay at home order prohibiting non-essential travel. Read the order here.

In Georgia, Governor Brian Kemp did an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution where he defended himself to criticism that he hasn’t done enough on the pandemic.

The governor told the AJC his order to ban many public gatherings, close bars and nightclubs, and authorize officials to shut down any business that doesn’t comply with social distancing requirements will help curb the disease without yet having to resort to drastic measures such as shelter-in-place rules.

“You have to have the citizens go with you when you make those moves. I certainly don’t feel like we’re there. I think that would have devastated a lot of people, literally decades of what they have built up. A lot of people are acting responsibly,” he said.

Again and again throughout this press conference, New York governor Andrew Cuomo hammered one point: the increasing rate of coronavirus cases and the lack of sufficient resources across the state is a preview of what other states will experience without a serious response.

“As the number of cases go up, the number of people in hospital beds goes up, the number of people in an ICU beds who need a ventilator goes up, and we cannot address that curve,” Cuomo said.

There has been an ongoing debate among Republican and Democratic lawmakers across the country over whether the Trump administration needed aggressively use the Defense Production Act to activate private industry to help provide medical resources to fight the Coronavirus pandemic.

Generally Democrats have been urging more aggressive leveraging through the law while Republicans have argued that private industry is a better vehicle.

Essentially, Cuomo in this press conference is warning that there need to be more hospital beds as previous estimates about the pandemic are projected to be off.

“It is clear that we must increase the hospital capacity to reach the highest apex,” Cuomo said.

More Cuomo: “We haven’t flattened the curve and the curve is actually increasing.”

The New York governor is not sugarcoating the latest figures on the spread of the pandemic.

New York governor Andrew Cuomo has just started his presser for updating the public on New York’s efforts to fight the Coronavirus pandemic.

Cuomo opened up the conference saying “the rate of anticipated increase” of the virus “has gone up.”

Over in Virginia, Liberty University, the private evangelical Christian university run by Jerry Falwell Jr., is reopening its doors. Via the Richmond Times-Dispatch:

LYNCHBURG — As the coronavirus threatens to spread across the Lynchburg region, Liberty University officials are preparing to welcome back up to 5,000 students from spring break this week.

Defying a national trend of campus closures, President Jerry Falwell Jr. has invited students to return to residence halls and has directed faculty members to continue to report to campus even as most classes move online.

Donald Trump is signaling a sense of urgency that Congress make a deal on a stimulus package. That’s been the topic of Trump’s twitter over the past few hours.

This is not about the ridiculous Green New Deal. It is about putting our great workers and companies BACK TO WORK!

Congress must approve the deal, without all of the nonsense, today. The longer it takes, the harder it will be to start up our economy. Our workers will be hurt!

Our people want to return to work. They will practice Social Distancing and all else, and Seniors will be watched over protectively & lovingly. We can do two things together. THE CURE CANNOT BE WORSE (by far) THAN THE PROBLEM! Congress MUST ACT NOW. We will come back strong!

On Monday, US deaths surpassed 100 in a single day for the first time. Fatalities passed the grim threshold as the number of confirmed coronavirus cases surpassed 46,000 and a World Health Organization official told The Washington Post that “we are now seeing a very large acceleration” in US coronavirus infections.

Across the country lawmakers have been grappling with how to effectively contain and fight the Coronavirus pandemic. Much of that has fallen on governors, many of whom have issued stay at home orders.

But some lawmakers have argued for caution in doing that. Here’s Oklahoma senator James Lankford when asked if Oklahoma governor Kevin Stitt, another Republican, should issue a “stay at home order.”

Talked with Senator James Lankford this morning and asked him if he thinks Oklahoma should be under a stay-at-home order.

(@koconews) pic.twitter.com/D7HIxuO6BZ

The big news out of the business world this morning is that the Ford Motor Company, GE Healthcare and the 3M company are teaming up to make medical equipment in response to the Coronavirus epidemic.

CNN Business reports: “Healthcare workers around the country have expressed concern about difficulties in attaining enough critical supplies, such as masks, gloves and ventilators, to deal with the influx of patients suffering from the highly contagious virus.”

DEARBORN, Mich., March 24, 2020 – Ford Motor Company, joining forces with firms including 3M and GE Healthcare, is lending its manufacturing and engineering expertise to quickly expand production of urgently needed medical equipment and supplies for healthcare workers, first responders and patients fighting coronavirus.

In addition, Ford plans to assemble more than 100,000 face shields per week and leverage its in-house 3D printing capability to produce components for use in personal protective equipment.

Outside of Washington, the ripple effects of the Coronavirus pandemic are still being felt. Japan agreed with the president of the International Olympic Committee to delay the summer Olympics.

Here’s The Wall Street Journal:

TOKYO—Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he agreed with the International Olympic Committee’s president that the Summer Olympics previously scheduled to start in Tokyo on July 24, 2020, would be delayed by around one year.

Mr. Abe spoke by phone Tuesday with IOC President Thomas Bach.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the top Democrat on Capitol Hill, just finished an interview with CNBC’s Jim Cramer and her tone was overall optimistic.

When Cramer asked “can we get something done today?” Pelosi responded “I think there is real optimism that we could get something done in the next few hours.”

Late Monday night top Republican and Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill appeared to be close to a deal on an almost $2tn economic stimulus package meant to mitigate some of the economic fallout of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The holdup thus far had been over a $500 billion fund meant to help struggling industries. Democrats argued that the fund lacked sufficient oversight and nicknamed it a “slush fund.”

Republicans had a deal until Nancy Pelosi rode into town from her extended vacation. The Democrats want the Virus to win? They are asking for things that have nothing to do with our great workers or companies. They want Open Borders & Green New Deal. Republicans shouldn’t agree!

Congress must approve the deal, without all of the nonsense, today. The longer it takes, the harder it will be to start up our economy. Our workers will be hurt!

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