AP News in Brief at 6:04 a.m. EDT
Hunt for medical gear to fight virus becomes all-consuming
PARIS (AP) — The hunt for ventilators and other medical supplies consumed the U.S. and Europe on Monday, as new coronavirus infections soared and political paralysis stalled efforts for a quick aid package from Congress. Asian markets and U.S. futures both sank as more governments tightened restrictions to fight the pandemic.
Fears grew that densely crowded New York could become one of the world's biggest coronavirus hotspots, prompting cancelations of everything from play dates to picnics in the park to pickup basketball games. The city's mayor said hospitals were 10 days away from shortages in “really basic supplies" that seriously endangered both health care workers and patients.
“If we don't get the equipment, we're literally going to lose lives,” Mayor Bill de Blasio told CNN.
A surge in infections has caused a critical shortage of medical supplies in many places. Spain erected a field hospital in a convention center. British health workers pleaded for more gear, saying they felt like “cannon fodder.” U.S. President Donald Trump ordered mobile hospital centers be sent to Washington, California and New York.
Health care workers have said they were being asked to reuse and ration disposable masks and gloves. A shortage of ventilators, crucial for treating serious cases of the virus, has become critical.
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The Latest: China slams US for 'scapegoating' over virus
WELLINGTON, New Zealand. (AP) — The Latest on the coronavirus pandemic, which has infected more than 341,000 people and killed over 14,700. The COVID-19 illness causes mild or moderate symptoms in most people, but severe symptoms are more likely in the elderly or those with existing health problems. More than 98,800 people have recovered so far, mostly in China.
TOP OF THE HOUR:
— China slams US for 'scapegoating' over viru
— British justice officials put new jury trials on hold
— U.S. Secret Service employee tests positive for the coronavirus.
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Grieving and saying goodbye in the time of coronavirus
CHICAGO (AP) — Tucked deep in the obituary for Charles Recka was an announcement that a Mass celebrating his 87 years of life “will be held at a later date.”
Such notices are increasing amid the coronavirus pandemic, as an untold number of burials around the globe go forward with nothing more than a priest, a funeral home employee and a single loved one.
While in some places, bodies of people who have died from COVID-19 are stacking up at hospitals and people are buried quickly in the clothes they died in, Recka's death from an unrelated long illness tells a different story: One of families whose grief just happened to arrive amid a pandemic that has them terrified to even share a church pew with loved ones, let alone hug them.
Recka's daughter, Dawn Bouska, sees no choice but to prevent her twin 11-year-old boys and their 14-year-old sister from getting any closer to their grandmother than the other side of the window at the senior living center where she lives.
“I don’t know if these kids are carriers, (but) I can’t risk losing my mom,” said Bouska, 52, of Naperville, Illinois. “At the time she needs to be hugging these kids more than ever it’s unsafe to do so.”
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Congressional rescue talks churn as viral crisis expands
WASHINGTON (AP) — Top-level negotiations between Congress and the White House churned late into the night over a now nearly $2 trillion economic rescue package, as the coronavirus crisis deepened, the nation shut down and the first U.S. senator tested positive for the disease.
As President Donald Trump took to the podium in the White House briefing room and promised to help Americans who feel afraid and isolated as the pandemic spreads, the Senate voted Sunday against advancing the rescue package. But talks continued on Capitol Hill.
“I think you'll get there. To me it's not very complicated: We have to help the worker. We have to save the companies," Trump said.
Later, the Republican president suggested the remedies may be more harmful than the outbreak, vowing to reassess after the 15-day mark of the shutdown. “WE CANNOT LET THE CURE BE WORSE THAN THE PROBLEM ITSELF,” he tweeted.
Inside the otherwise emptied out Capitol, the draft aid bill was declared insufficient by Democrats, who argued it was tilted toward corporations and did too little to help workers and health care providers. Republicans returned to the negotiating table.
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Asian shares, US futures sink as virus crisis deepens
BANGKOK (AP) — U.S. futures dropped more than 4% and Australia's share benchmark initially plunged 8.5% as work on more stimulus for the U.S. economy hit snags in the U.S. Senate.
Shares dropped more than 4% in Hong Kong and 5% in South Korea. The Shanghai Composite index lost 2.6%. However, Japan's Nikkei 225 index held steady, gaining 0.5% in early trading Monday.
Top-level negotiations between U.S. Congress and the White House continued after the Senate voted against advancing the $2 trillion economic rescue package.
The Democrats said the bill was tilted too much toward aiding corporations and would not do enough to help individuals and healthcare providers.
By 9 p.m. EST, the S&P 500 future contract was down 4.2% at 2,194.40. The future for the Dow dropped 4.3% to 18,220.00.
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Presidents in health crises: Trump more hands-on than many
WASHINGTON (AP) — Woodrow Wilson was more focused on the end of World War I than a flu virus that was making its way around the globe, ultimately sickening hundreds of thousands of Americans, including the president himself.
George W. Bush stood with a bullhorn on a pile of rubble after the 9/11 attacks on lower Manhattan and promised that the people who were responsible “will hear all of us soon.”
Barack Obama was in office for just a few months when the first reports came in about the H1N1 virus, which would eventually be declared a pandemic like today's new coronavirus.
Most American presidents will confront a crisis — or crises — before they leave office, whether it is a natural disaster, war, economic downturn, public health threat or terrorism.
What matters is how they respond, historians say.
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Pompeo rushes to Kabul to jumpstart flagging peace process
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived Monday in Kabul on an urgent visit to try to move forward a U.S. peace deal signed last month with the Taliban, a trip that comes despite the coronavirus pandemic, at a time when world leaders and statesmen are curtailing official travel.
Since the signing of the deal, the peace process has stalled amid political turmoil in Afghanistan, with the country's leaders squabbling over who was elected president.
President Ashraf Ghani and his main rival in last September's presidential polls, Abdullah Abdullah, have both declared themselves the country's president in dueling inauguration ceremonies earlier this month.
Pompeo will meet separately with Ghani and Abdullah before meeting together with both. His schedule also has Ghani and Abdullah coming together for a one-on-one meeting, presumably to discuss a possible compromise.
The United States pays billions every year toward the Afghan budget, including the country's defense forces. Afghanistan barely raises a quarter of the revenue it needs to run the country, giving Pompeo considerable financial leverage to force the two squabbling leaders to overcome the impasse.
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Tokyo Olympics seem sure to happen -- but in 2021, not 2020
TOKYO (AP) — The Tokyo Olympics are going to happen — but almost surely in 2021 rather than in four months as planned.
This became clear after the IOC on Sunday announced it was considering a postponement and would make a final decision within four weeks. Major Olympic nations like Canada and Australia have added pressure by saying they will not send teams if the games are staged this year.
International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach sent a letter to athletes explaining the decision, while also acknowledging the extended timeline might not be popular.
“I know that this unprecedented situation leaves many of your questions open,” he wrote. “I also know that this rational approach may not be in line with the emotions many of you have to go through.”
The IOC's move seemed inevitable for weeks with pressure mounting from all quarters — athletes, sponsors, broadcasters and more than 200 national Olympic committees, and international sports federations.
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Virus pandemic an unprecedented test for a young generation
CHICAGO (AP) — For Jalen Grimes, the virus pandemic is stirring up a slew of emotions. “Annoyed" is the first one the 13-year-old Chicagoan mentions. “Scared, confused, worried.”
She was supposed to be enjoying the end of her eighth-grade year, a rite of passage in states like Illinois, with a graduation and a school trip that are not likely to happen. That's hard enough. But her father is also about to be deployed as a paramedic, a more dangerous than usual job in these times. Her mom, a therapist, also has been on call a lot and is prone to pneumonia. And then there are her grandparents.
“It’s a lot of fear with family members and stuff,” Jalen said. “I think a lot of us don’t think it will affect us, but it’s a worry.”
As this crisis unfolds, her generation likely be tested like never before, especially those whose families are already on the edge, financially and health-wise.
“It’s going to make them feel differently about their mortality, possibly, what the world offers, what security looks like,” said Cathy Cohen, a political science professor at the University of Chicago, who regularly tracks the views of young people.
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Fallout of '08 bailout looms over Washington negotiations
WASHINGTON (AP) — In the fall of 2008, an unlikely alliance of lawmakers, regulators and Bush administration officials banded together to rescue an economy they feared was hours away from collapse. They also unwittingly reshaped American politics, unleashing a populist furor that lingers in both parties to this day.
More than a decade later, those same political forces are shadowing a new debate over emergency government spending — only with far more taxpayer money at stake and even greater uncertainty over Americans’ futures.
On the table: a nearly $2 trillion rescue package for major industries, small businesses and individuals impacted by the fast-moving coronavirus.
Though more emergency money could be needed, this package is already larger than the $700 billion bank bailout President George W. Bush requested in 2008 and the almost $800 billion his successor, President Barack Obama, sought in stimulus in 2009. That response stabilized the economy, but upended politics and helped fuel President Donald Trump's path to power.
The circumstances that led to each extraordinary moment are different, one a financial crisis prompted by risky Wall Street investments, the other a pandemic that has crippled airlines, restaurants and scores of other businesses. But they both put the onus on Washington to act quickly to address complex matters, leaving leaders with decisions that could define their careers.