Trump to Declare National Emergency to Speed Virus Response

Source: Bloomberg

President Donald Trump plans to declare a national emergency on Friday over the coronavirus outbreak, invoking the Stafford Act to open the door to more federal aid for states and municipalities, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Trump is under increasing pressure to act as governors and mayors nationwide step up actions to mitigate the spread, closing schools and canceling public events. The president said he will hold a news conference at 3 p.m.

Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-13/trump-to-declare-national-emergency-to-speed-virus-response

Read into it what you will...

BREAKING: Austria joins Italy in closing all businesses

Ten minutes at the teleprompter: Inside Trump's failed attempt to calm coronavirus fears

God's Messenger has spoken.....

Dr. Doocy will see you now...

President of U.S. Soccer quits after gender discrimination suit

Source: NBC News

Carlos Cordeiro resigned as U.S. Soccer Federation president on Thursday night, three days after the organization sparked a backlash when its legal papers in a gender discrimination lawsuit claimed the women's national team players had less physical ability and responsibility than their male counterparts.

His decision elevated former American midfielder Cindy Parlow Cone to become the first woman president in the history of the 107-year-old federation.

Cordeiro announced his resignation on Twitter without even telling the federation's communications staff. He stepped down on a day several USSF board members issued extraordinary rebukes that criticized the governing body's legal filings. Among them were Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber and Parlow Cone, the federation's vice president.

A night earlier, U.S. women wore their warmup jerseys inside-out to hide the federation crest before a game against Japan. Several of the federation's sponsors issued statements this week backing the players and condemning the USSF, including The Coca-Cola Co., Anheuser Busch Cos. Inc., The Procter & Gamble Co. and Volkswagen Group.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/sports/president-u-s-soccer-quits-after-gender-discrimination-suit-n1157516

Coronavirus in N.Y.: Riders Ditch the Subway as Fear Spreads

Source: New York Times

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which oversees the subway, buses and two commuter railroads, said that on Wednesday ridership fell by nearly 20 percent on subways and 15 percent on buses compared with a similar day last year. The subway system typically handles around 5.5 million riders each weekday.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which oversees the subway, buses and two commuter railroads, said that on Wednesday ridership fell by nearly 20 percent on subways and 15 percent on buses compared with a similar day last year. The subway system typically handles around 5.5 million riders each weekday.

During the morning rush on Thursday, ridership on the Long Island Rail Road was down 31 percent, and on Metro-North Railroad, which serves suburbs north of New York, it was down by 48 percent compared with a similar rush hour last year, M.T.A. officials said.

Metro-North provides service to New Rochelle, the town in Westchester County that has been the site of the state’s worst outbreak and where Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo declared a “containment zone” to effectively quarantine part of the town.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/13/nyregion/coronavirus-subway-public-transit.html

Our niece and boyfriend were planning to come visit NYC and Washington from...

...Washington State (not in the hot zone, but would need to travel through). We've made it clear that this would be a very bad idea on multiple levels.

The Worst-Case Estimate for U.S. Coronavirus Deaths

Source: New York Times

Officials at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and epidemic experts from universities around the world conferred last month about what might happen if the new coronavirus gained a foothold in the United States. How many people might die? How many would be infected and need hospitalization?

One of the agency’s top disease modelers, Matthew Biggerstaff, presented the group on the phone call with four possible scenarios — A, B, C and D — based on characteristics of the virus, including estimates of how transmissible it is and the severity of the illness it can cause. The assumptions, reviewed by The New York Times, were shared with about 50 expert teams to model how the virus could tear through the population — and what might stop it.

The C.D.C.’s scenarios were depicted in terms of percentages of the population. Translated into absolute numbers by independent experts using simple models of how viruses spread, the worst-case figures would be staggering if no actions were taken to slow transmission.

Between 160 million and 214 million people in the U.S. could be infected over the course of the epidemic, according to one projection. That could last months or even over a year, with infections concentrated in shorter periods, staggered across time in different communities, experts said. As many as 200,000 to 1.7 million people could die.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/13/us/coronavirus-deaths-estimate.html?referringSource=articleShare