How Serious is Coronavirus?
Infectious disease experts discusses the severity of the Corvid-19 outbreak, what can be done, and how we are dependent of China and India for our essential drugs.
President Trump Announces Travel Ban from Europe
The President has announced a thirty day travel ban between the US and Europe. The ban will affect the Schengen area. This covers the countries in Europe which allow free movement of people within the EU, and includes Italy, France and Germany. Italy has particularly struggled to contain the virus, and has today ordered all shops apart from pharmacies and supermarkets to remain closed. The UK and Ireland will not be included in the travel ban.
EU leaders reacted angrily to the ban. However, the President said that the ban could be shortened or lengthened depending on how the outbreaks continues.
Read More: Sky News
Joel Osteen’s Megachurch to Close it Doors for Sunday Services
Joel Ostend’s megachurch in Houston Texas will cancel in person services in response to Coronavirus. Ostend’s church averages 52,000 attendees on a Sunday. The church will go digital this Sunday as churches across the country respond to COVID-19.
“While we apologize for any inconvenience this causes to our members and visitors, we feel that this move is necessary to ensure the well being of all of the citizens of this great city, especially the most vulnerable among us,” the church said.
Read More: Fox News
Biden Pulls Ahead After Winning Four More States
Biden has won the primaries in four more states, including Michigan. He is now pulling ahead of main rival, Bernie Sanders, in the bid to win the democratic nomination.
Read More: France 24
First Congressional Staffer to Test Positive for Coronavirus
Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) has tested positive for Coronavirus. Politico reported, “Cantwell will close her office in D.C. this week and her staff will work remotely. The Washington State Democrat is asking that additional staffers be tested.”
Read More: Breitbart
Coronavirus Being Used for Political Reasons
Californians Say No to Higher Taxes and Debt.
California pays some the highest taxes on pay and gas in the country. And there are signs voters have had enough.
Voters defeated on Tuesday the largest borrowing proposal in the history of California schools — $15 billion for repairs. And it has led to questions if the state is on the cusp of a 1970s style tax revolt.
It has been a generation since a school bond failed. Voters also rejected more than half of the 237 local tax and bond measures on that ballot.
“There is a sense that California isn’t working,” Claremont McKenna College political scientist Jack Pitney said. When a fresh request came from Sacramento for billions in new debt, voters said: “We’ve been taxed enough.”
Soaring taxes are not the only thing angering residents. The high cost of housing, a costly high-speed rail project and the homelessness crisis in the state’s major cities are also contributing to voter unease.
Others are asking why voters are being asked to pay more taxes at a time when the economy has been strong and the state is rolling up a multibillion-dollar budget surpluses?
Read More: USNews
Trump to Sign Executive Order to End U.S. Reliance on China for Drugs.
The President is seeking to end the country’s reliance on drugs and essential medical supplies from China. The Coronavirus pandemic has reignited the debate about the nations reliance on China for the supply of life saving drugs.
Trump will tighten “Buy American” laws to encourage the purchasing of American-made pharmaceuticals and medical equipment.
“China has managed to dominate all aspects of the supply chain using the same unfair trade practices that it has used to dominate other sectors — cheap sweatshop labor, lax environmental regulations and massive government subsidies,” said the White House trade adviser Peter Navarro.
“As President Trump has said, what we need to do is bring those jobs home so that we can protect the public health and the economic and national security of the country.”
Despite America being a world leader in drug discoveries, manufacturing of drugs has moved off shore. With China producing much of the world’s penicillin, antibiotics, face masks, and other key medical devices.
America’s last penicillin factory closed in 2004. But Chinese pharmaceutical companies have supplied more than 90 percent of U.S. antibiotics, vitamin C, ibuprofen and hydrocortisone, as well as 70 percent of acetaminophen and 40 to 45 percent of heparin in recent years, according to Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Read More: NYTimes
Investors and Analysts Predict Market Turmoil Could Threaten Trump’s Re-Election Bid
Monday saw global markets plummet and oil prices fall heavily, as fears around Coronavirus fuel the prospect of a global recession.
Analysts are now warning that if the economy is severely affected by the global outbreak of Corvid-19 it could harm Trump’s re-election bid.
“President Trump’s re-election likely hinges on the economy — a medical and/or economic shock from COVID-19 are arguably the biggest threats to his re-election,” Raymond James analysts said in a note on Sunday, referring to the virus’s official name.
“To preserve the economy and prevent a further market sell-off, it is in the best interest of President Trump to aggressively push for a large-scale fiscal response,” they wrote.
“If we go into recession, history speaks for itself. No sitting president has ever been re-elected in a recession,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist for Spartan Capital Securities.
Read More: Newsmax
Trump Expected to Announce Payroll Tax Cut for Workers Affected by Coronavirus
The President is expected to announce new measures to help ease the economic affects of Coronavirus. These include payroll tax cuts for those directly affected by the virus.
“The president has tasked this economic team and is working already with leaders in the Congress to make sure that [no one] feels that they are at risk of losing their job or their paycheck if they contract the coronavirus,” Pence said. Pence has been placed at the head of the committee to tackle coronavirus.
Read More: The Daily Caller
Super Tuesday Win for Biden
Joe Biden’s campaign was very much back on track with impressive wins on Super Tuesday. He is now favourite to take the nomination for the democrats.
Bloomberg, who despite spending millions, failed to take a single state. He has dropped out of the race. Elizabeth Warren also dropped out.
The race is now between Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden. Biden has the support of the African American votes, Sanders has struggled to connect with black voters, and this is hurting his campaign.
Read More: BBC