First Edition: March 9, 2020

Kaiser Health News: Surging Health Care Worker Quarantines Raise Concerns As Coronavirus Spreads
As the U.S. battles to limit the spread of the highly contagious new coronavirus, the number of health care workers ordered to self-quarantine because of potential exposure to an infected patient is rising at an exponential pace. In Vacaville, California, alone, one case — the first documented instance of community transmission in the U.S. — left more than 200 hospital workers under quarantine and unable to work for weeks. Across California, dozens more health care workers have been ordered home because of possible contagion in response to more than 80 confirmed cases as of Sunday afternoon. (Gold, 3/9)

Kaiser Health News: Pence Leaves Out Key Details About Health Coverage Of Coronavirus Testing
Amid ongoing concern about the new coronavirus, Vice President Mike Pence sought to assure Americans that their health insurance will cover the tests needed for diagnosis. “With regard to the cost, let me be very clear: HHS has designated the coronavirus test as an essential health benefit. That means, by definition, it’s covered in the private health insurance of every American, as well as covered by Medicare and Medicaid.“ (Appleby, 3/6)

Kaiser Health News: Around The Corner: 3D Housing Designed For The Homeless And Needy Seniors
Tim Shea is counting the days until he can move into a new, 3D-printed house. Shea, 69, will be the first to live in one of six such rentals created by what some in the housing industry call a futuristic approach that could revolutionize home construction. Shea is among a growing number of seniors in America who have struggled to keep affordable housing. He has, at times, been homeless. He has arthritis and manages to get around with the aid of a walker. He said he looks forward to giving up the steep ramp he’s had to negotiate when entering or exiting the RV he’s called home. (Jayson, 3/9)

The New York Times: In U.S., Cases Of Coronavirus Cross 500, And Deaths Rise To 22
The U.S. has counted at least 539 cases across 34 states — Connecticut reported its first case and Washington announced another patient being treated for coronavirus had died on Sunday — and the District of Columbia, and logged 22 deaths. Washington State, New York, California and Oregon have declared emergencies. A growing number of schools are shutting down across the country, raising concerns about the closings will affect learning, burden families and upend communities. (3/9)

The Associated Press: Officials Set To Receive Thousands From Ship Hit By Virus
Federal and state officials in California were preparing Monday to receive thousands of people from a cruise ship that has been idling off the coast of San Francisco with at least 21 people aboard infected with the coronavirus. Fences were being installed at an 11-acre site at the Port of Oakland, as authorities readied flights and buses to whisk the more than 2,000 passengers aboard the Grand Princess to military bases or their home countries for a 14-day quarantine. More than 3,500 on the ship hail from 54 countries. (Rodriguez and Weber, 3/9)

The Wall Street Journal: Efforts To Battle Coronavirus Escalate Around The Globe
“Nearly 1,000 passengers who are California residents will complete the mandatory quarantine at Travis Air Force Base and Miramar Naval Air Station, and residents of other states will complete the mandatory quarantine at Joint Base San Antonio Lackland in Texas or Dobbins Air Force Base in Georgia,” the Department of Health and Human Services said in a Sunday statement. (Ansari, Wong and Ailworth, 3/8)

Los Angeles Times: Coronavirus Outbreak: 'We're Past The Point Of Containment'
As a cruise ship with nearly 3,000 stranded travelers prepares to dock Monday in the Port of Oakland, top health officials warned that the country has entered a new stage in dealing with the deadly coronavirus — one in which containment is no longer possible. “We’re past the point of containment,” Dr. Scott Gottlieb, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration during the first two years of President Trump’s administration, said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” (Chabria, King, Campa and Wigglesworth, 3/8)

The Washington Post: Coronavirus Map: Tracking Cases In The U.S. And Around The World
By Sunday, confirmed cases in the United States had climbed to more than 530, while the South by Southwest festival in Austin and the Calle Ocho Music Festival in Miami were both canceled. Several states have declared a state of emergency. (3/8)

The New York Times: U.S. Health Experts Say Stricter Measures Are Required To Limit Coronavirus’s Spread
As the coronavirus gained a foothold in the United States, thousands of employees from Seattle to Silicon Valley were told to work from home. Public school districts in several states have shut down, universities are moving classes to online only, and even churches are limiting services or prayer meetings. A global health conference in Orlando, Fla., planned for Monday, which President Trump was supposed to address, will no longer happen. Off the California coast, another cruise ship with infected passengers is waiting for a place to dock. The State Department on Sunday advised Americans, especially those with underlying health conditions, not to travel on cruise ships. (Grady, 3/8)

The Hill: Surgeon General: You're Going To See More Cases Of Coronavirus, 'Doesn't Mean We Should Panic' 
Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams said Sunday that Americans should not panic as the number of confirmed coronavirus cases increases across the country. “We've been saying this all along. Initially, we had a posture of containment so that we could give people time to prepare for where we are right now,” Adams said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “Now, we're shifting into a mitigation phase, which means we’re helping communities understand, you're going to see more cases. Unfortunately, you're going to see more deaths, but that doesn’t mean that we should panic.” (Klar, 3/8)

The New York Times: Not His First Epidemic: Dr. Anthony Fauci Sticks To The Facts
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading expert on infectious diseases, is widely respected for his ability to explain science without talking down to his audience — and lately, for managing to correct the president’s pronouncements without saying he is wrong. President Trump said that drug companies would make a coronavirus vaccine ready “soon.” Dr. Fauci has repeatedly stepped up after the president to the lectern during televised briefings or at White House round tables to amend that timetable, giving a more accurate estimate of at least a year or 18 months. Mr. Trump said a “cure” might be possible. Dr. Fauci explained that antiviral drugs were being studied to see if they might make the illness less severe. (Grady, 3/8)

Politico: Health Officials Shift Tone On Coronavirus, Say Elderly And Sick At Risk
The government's top infectious disease expert on Sunday said that the coronavirus outbreak is getting worse and warned elderly and sick people to avoid traveling or circulating in crowds — a point later reinforced by new CDC guidance. The remarks from Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, signaled a change in tone from health officials representing the Trump administration, making it clear that the outbreak is past the point where it can be prevented from spreading or easily tracked. That contrasted with the more measured language from some Trump officials including Vice President Mike Pence. (Tahir and Ehley, 3/8)

The Wall Street Journal: Federal Agencies Prepare For Coronavirus Disruptions
Federal agencies are preparing to deploy emergency plans to maintain essential services—from directing air traffic to delivering mail and making Social Security payments—as the novel coronavirus epidemic widened and the nation’s capital diagnosed its first case. Some agencies are canceling nonessential travel. All are planning for widespread absences and making provisions for working remotely. Some workers, like food-safety inspectors, won’t have that option; the challenge will be keeping them safe and healthy. (Davidson, 3/8)

The New York Times: Inside Trump Administration, Debate Raged Over What To Tell Public
After weeks of conflicting signals from the Trump administration about the coronavirus, the government’s top health officials decided late last month that when President Trump returned from a trip to India, they would tell him they had to be more blunt about the dangers of the outbreak. If he approved, they would level with the public. But Dr. Nancy Messonnier, the director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, got a day ahead of the plan. (Shear, Fink and Weiland, 3/8)

Politico: Trump's Mismanagement Helped Fuel Coronavirus Crisis
For six weeks behind the scenes, and now increasingly in public, Trump has undermined his administration’s own efforts to fight the coronavirus outbreak — resisting attempts to plan for worst-case scenarios, overturning a public-health plan upon request from political allies and repeating only the warnings that he chose to hear. Members of Congress have grilled top officials like Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Centers for Disease Control Director Robert Redfield over the government’s biggest mistake: failing to secure enough testing to head off a coronavirus outbreak in the United States. But many current and former Trump administration officials say the true management failure was Trump’s. “It always ladders to the top,” said one person helping advise the administration’s response, who noted that Trump’s aides discouraged Azar from briefing the president about the coronavirus threat back in January. “Trump’s created an atmosphere where the judgment of his staff is that he shouldn’t need to know these things.” (Diamond, 3/7)

The Associated Press: Official: White House Didn't Want To Tell Seniors Not To Fly
The White House overruled health officials who wanted to recommend that elderly and physically fragile Americans be advised not to fly on commercial airlines because of the new coronavirus, a federal official told The Associated Press. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention submitted the plan as a way of trying to control the virus, but White House officials ordered the air travel recommendation be removed, said the official who had direct knowledge of the plan. Trump administration officials have since suggested certain people should consider not traveling, but have stopped short of the stronger guidance sought by the CDC. (3/7)

Politico: In Crisis, Trump Team Sees A Chance To Achieve Long-Sought Goals
In the depths of the 2008 economic downturn, incoming White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel uttered one of those controversial but honest lines that shook Washington: “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.” Now, facing another emerging crisis, the Trump White House appears to agree. President Donald Trump and his team are talking up the opportunity to finally achieve stricter border security, wider tax cuts and reduced reliance on Chinese manufacturing amid the spread of the coronavirus throughout the U.S. Some officials see it as a narrow opening to offset the political damage from the coronavirus outbreak and deliver — or at least, talk about — some of the president’s longstanding promises. (Cook, 3/9)

The New York Times: State Dept. Tells Americans To Avoid Cruise Ships, Despite Trump’s Misgivings
The State Department on Sunday advised Americans against traveling on cruise ships, warning that they presented a higher risk of coronavirus infection and made U.S. citizens vulnerable to possible international travel restrictions, including quarantines. The decision came after President Trump resisted requests from administration officials to publicly urge older travelers to avoid cruise ships and plane travel, saying he thought it would harm those industries, according to two people familiar with the discussions. (Weiland and Haberman, 3/8)

The Washington Post: As Fears Rise Of A Global Recession, The White House And Federal Reserve Are At Odds Over How To Help
As he concluded meetings in Saudi Arabia on Feb. 23, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell sent urgent emails to his staff about the coronavirus. The outbreak was escalating in South Korea, Italy and Iran, and the central bank needed to intensify its response to the economic shock. While Fed economists began to run through scenarios of what could go wrong, senior White House officials both privately and publicly maintained that there was virtually no reason for concern. On Feb. 25, as Powell began meeting with staff to prepare contingency plans, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said the U.S. had an almost “airtight” containment on the outbreak, a day after urging investors to “buy these dips" in the stock market. (Long and Stein, 3/8)

The Washington Post: What Went Wrong With The Coronavirus Tests In The U.S.
Since Renee Schwartz developed shortness of breath and a severe cough two weeks ago, she has been trying desperately to get a coronavirus test. She has already been tested for the flu — she was negative — and other problems have been ruled out. But while her doctor thinks a test is warranted, she told Schwartz she does not have access to any tests. “I feel like crap,” said Schwartz, 60, of North Hills, Calif. “I want to know, why can’t I get this test?” (Johnson and McGinley, 3/7)

The New York Times: Anyone Who Wants A Coronavirus Test Can Have One, Trump Says. Not Quite, Says His Administration.
The Trump administration on Saturday continued sending contradictory signals about its response to the coronavirus, as a top federal health official appeared to walk back President Trump’s claim that “anyone who wants a test can get a test.” The health and human services secretary, Alex M. Azar II, cautioned that only those who have gone through a doctor or medical professional can be approved for a test, a message that appeared to undercut Mr. Trump, who delivered his promise on Friday as he toured the Atlanta headquarters of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Weiland, 3/7)

The New York Times: Coronavirus In N.Y.: Cuomo Attacks C.D.C. Over Delays In Testing
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo criticized the federal government on Sunday for delays in allowing private laboratories in New York State to test for the coronavirus. At a news conference, Mr. Cuomo also announced 16 new confirmed cases of the virus, bringing the total number in New York State to 106. But he said that the state would not know the full extent of the spread until it could do more testing. (Freytas-Tamura, 3/8)

The Wall Street Journal: Canada’s SARS Experience Helps Rapid Testing Response To Coronavirus
About a day after Chinese researchers published genetic information on the new coronavirus in mid-January, a Toronto laboratory ran its first diagnostic test on a suspected case. The result was negative. By early March, Canada, with a population the size of California, had completed close to 3,000 coronavirus tests. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, meanwhile, had run less than 500. Although U.S. testing expanded last week, local officials have complained that they still can’t keep up with surging demand. (Mackrael, 3/8)

The New York Times: President Trump On Vaccines: From Skeptic To Cheerleader
President Trump has been promising the imminent arrival of a vaccine to halt the spread of the coronavirus, the novel germ that has sickened more than 100,000 people worldwide, killed more than 3,400 and is now spreading in the United States. Federal health officials have repeatedly pointed out that his timetable is off — that it will take at least a year — but his single-minded focus on warp-speed production of a new vaccine represents a striking philosophical shift. For years, Mr. Trump was an extreme vaccine skeptic who not only blamed childhood immunizations for autism — a position that scientists have forcefully repudiated — but once boasted he had never had a flu shot. (Hoffman, 3/9)

Stat: To Develop A Coronavirus Vaccine, Synthetic Biologists Try To Outdo Nature
Even as companies rush to develop and test vaccines against the new coronavirus, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the National Institutes of Health are betting that scientists can do even better than what’s now in the pipeline. If, as seems quite possible, the Covid-19 virus becomes a permanent part of the world’s microbial menagerie rather than being eradicated like the earlier SARS coronavirus, next-gen approaches will be needed to address shortcomings of even the most cutting-edge vaccines: They take years to develop and manufacture, they become obsolete if the virus evolves, and the immune response they produce is often weak. (Begley, 3/9)

The New York Times: For Trump, Coronavirus Proves To Be An Enemy He Can’t Tweet Away
Defending against criticism of his handling of the coronavirus, President Trump suggested the other day that he could hardly have been expected to be ready for such an unexpected crisis. “Who would have thought?” he asked during a visit to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the nerve center for the government’s response to the outbreak. “Who would have thought we would even be having the subject?” (Baker, 3/8)

The New York Times: CPAC Attendee Has The Coronavirus, Officials Say
An attendee of a conservative conference where President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence spoke last week has tested positive for the coronavirus, according to the event’s organizer. The organizer, the American Conservative Union, which hosts the annual Conservative Political Action Conference outside Washington, D.C., said the attendee was exposed to the virus before the four-day event and tested positive for it on Saturday. (Levenson, 3/8)

The New York Times: Voting In The Time Of Coronavirus: Gloves, Rumors And Disinfectant
Elections are complicated events, involving massive amounts of paperwork, thorny issues of law and a widely scattered cast of poll workers and ballot counters. In Washington State, which is holding its 2020 primary on Tuesday, there is another matter that officials are having to consider this year. “How long does coronavirus last in saliva that is on an envelope?” asked Kim Wyman, the secretary of state in Washington, the state hardest hit by the virus so far. (Johnson and Robertson, 3/9)

The Associated Press: Despite Virus Risk, 2020 Hopefuls Keep Up Campaigns For Now
As the coronavirus hits more states, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders said Sunday his campaign is gauging when it may become necessary to cancel the large campaign rallies that public health experts say could be breeding grounds to spread the potentially deadly illness. “Obviously what is most important to us is to protect the health of the American people,” Sanders said as he appeared in a series of TV interviews. “And what I will tell you, we are talking to public health officials all over this country.” (3/8)

The Washington Post: Health Agencies’ Funding Cuts Challenge Coronavirus Response
Karen Koenemann wakes up at dawn, rubs the sleep out of her eyes and immediately starts tapping away on her iPhone from her bed. The anxious emails that began to sprinkle in a few weeks ago are now a daily deluge for the public health director for Pitkin County, Colo. Since the coronavirus reached U.S. soil, thousands of local health officials across the country have been working nonstop and scrambling to prepare. Pitkin County has not had a case, at least not yet, but Koenemann has helped businesses decide whether to cancel conferences, walked leaders through potential school closures, pored over response plans with the hospital in the county seat of Aspen. And it is exhausting. (Hawkins and Wan, 3/8)

NPR: Where The U.S. Coronavirus Emergency Funding Is Headed
The coronavirus funding bill signed into law by the president Friday puts much more money toward treating and preventing the spread of COVID-19 than his administration requested from Congress last week. The Trump administration's initial request — in the form of a two-page letter to Congress on Feb. 24 — was for $1.25 billion in new funds, with additional money moved from other parts of the federal budget to get to a total of $2.5 billion. The amount authorized Friday is more than three times that. (Simmons-Duffin, 3/6)

Reuters: U.S. Airport Screeners, Health Workers Plagued By Fear And Anger As Coronavirus Spreads
As coronavirus cases exploded across the world, federal medical workers tasked with screening incoming passengers at U.S. airports grew alarmed: Many were working without the most effective masks to protect them from getting sick themselves. Screeners with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention asked their supervisors this week to change official protocols and require stronger masks, according to an internal document reviewed by Reuters. (3/8)

The New York Times: Coronavirus Highlights The Pitfalls Of Health Deductibles
Much of the care provided in the United States is unnecessary or too expensive. Cost sharing is one way to try to push patients to be more thoughtful consumers of medical care. The blunt way we use it, however, often does more harm than good. Cost sharing is a blanket term for things like deductibles, co-payments and co-insurance. If patients are spending money “out-of-pocket” — their own money — they might think harder about whether care is worth it. (Carroll, 3/9)

The Associated Press: Nursing Homes Face Unique Challenge With Coronavirus
From Miami to Seattle, nursing homes and other facilities for the elderly are stockpiling masks and thermometers, preparing for staff shortages and screening visitors to protect a particularly vulnerable population from the coronavirus. In China, where the outbreak began, the disease has been substantially deadlier for the elderly. In Italy, the epicenter of the virus outbreak in Europe, the more than 100 people who died were either elderly, sick with other complications, or both. (Kennedy and Gomez Licon, 3/8)

The New York Times: How To Help Protect A Family Member In A Nursing Home
More than 10 people in the United States have died and over 200 have been sickened after contracting the coronavirus that continues to spread around the globe. The deaths have occurred in California and Washington State, including several residents at a nursing facility in the Seattle suburb of Kirkland. The death toll at a facility with a population vulnerable to disease and infection, and indications that the virus was spreading for weeks, raises difficult questions: Are nursing homes and assisted living facilities in the United States prepared for a serious public health threat? If you have a loved one in a facility, should you be concerned about their health and safety? And what, if anything, can you do? (Ortiz, 3/6)

The Wall Street Journal: Nursing Homes Brace For Coronavirus Outbreak Amid Staffing Concerns
Nursing homes across the country are bracing themselves for further spread of the new coronavirus amid worries over shortages of staff to care for their vulnerable elderly residents. The risks were highlighted when a facility in Kirkland, Wash., emerged as the site of some of the earliest U.S. cases of infection and deaths linked to the virus. World-wide, many of those who have died from the virus are elderly. (Hayashi, 3/6)

The Wall Street Journal: Nursing Home At Center Of Washington Coronavirus Outbreak Target Of Criticism
Washington state officials are considering taking over a nursing home tied to 10 deaths in the Covid-19 outbreak after the facility’s owners drew criticism from local officials and families for spotty and at times chaotic dissemination of information. At one point, a woman whose mother died at the facility this week of still-unknown causes said she was later contacted by a nursing-home staffer to say her mother was alive and well. Federally deployed doctors and nurses are expected to begin helping staff at the Life Care Center of Kirkland nursing home this weekend, augmenting an in-house staff that has been reduced by quarantines. (Koh, Kamp and Evans, 3/7)

The Washington Post: ‘Germ-Fest’ Party Preceded Deadly Nursing Home Outbreak
In the days before the Life Care Center nursing home became ground zero for coronavirus deaths in the U.S., there were few signs it was girding against an illness spreading rapidly around the world. Visitors came in as they always did, sometimes without signing in. Staffers had only recently begun wearing face masks, but the frail residents and those who came to see them were not asked to do so. And organized events went on as planned, including a purple-and-gold-festooned Mardi Gras party last week, where dozens of residents and visitors packed into a common room, passed plates of sausage, rice and king cake, and sang as a Dixieland band played “When the Saints Go Marching In.” (Condon and Johnson, 3/6)

The New York Times: How Deadly Is Coronavirus? What We Know And What We Don’t
“I think the 3.4 percent number is really a false number,” Mr. Trump said in a Fox News interview. “Now, this is just my hunch, but based on a lot of conversations,” he added, “I’d say the number is way under 1 percent.” By definition, the case fatality rate is the number of deaths divided by the total number of confirmed cases, which appears to be what the W.H.O. did to arrive at its rate. Is 3.4 percent a misleading number? We spoke to a number of experts in epidemiology, and they all agreed that 1 percent was probably more realistic (the W.H.O. has also said the number would probably fall). But they also said evidence about the spread and severity of the disease was still too new and spotty to know for sure. (Bui, Sanger-Katz and Kliff, 3/7)

The Washington Post: U.S. Coronavirus Fatality Rate Could Be Lower Than Global Rate So Far
The question everyone is asking: Just how deadly is the novel coronavirus? As it spreads across the planet, researchers are desperate to understand the contagiousness and lethality of covid-19, a respiratory disease that has killed more than 3,400 people. Evidence is mounting that the disease is most likely to result in serious illness or death among the elderly and people with existing health problems. It has little effect on most children, for reasons unknown. (Achenbach and Werner, 3/6)

The Wall Street Journal: How Many People Will Get Sick From The Coronavirus? Epidemiologists Model Answers 
The coronavirus has so far infected more than 100,000 people around the world and killed almost 3,500 as of Friday. The question that scientists are scrambling to figure out is how far and fast it will spread and how deadly it could become. Hundreds of teams of epidemiologists, mathematicians and statisticians are scouring for data, dialing into conference calls and communicating on Slack channels to share information about the disease. They are pumping reams of data into computer models to refine predictions. The answers they generate will enable governments to better formulate policies to slow it down and let hospitals prepare for who might be coming through their doors—and when. (Belkin, 3/7)

The Washington Post: Coronavirus Continues Its Rapid Spread, Confounding Efforts By Global Leaders
Efforts to contain the coronavirus outbreak showed signs of faltering during the weekend, as Washington, D.C., confirmed its first case Saturday, and Italian leaders announced a plan early Sunday to lock down an entire region including Venice and Milan after reporting 1,000 new cases in 24 hours. The virus’s exact reach remains unknown. Late Saturday, the American Conservative Union announced an individual who attended the Conservative Political Action Conference less than two weeks ago had tested positive. President Trump, Vice President Pence and a number of other top White House officials had appeared at the four-day event in Maryland. (Itkowitz, Parker and Kim, 3/7)

Stat: How Face-Touching Can Spread Viruses — And Why You Can't Help Yourself
With the outbreak of Covid-19, health care professionals are urging people to regularly refrain from touching their face. Is that too much to ask? There’s no question it’s easier said than done. According to a 2015 study in the American Journal of Infection Control, people touch their faces more than 20 times an hour on average. About 44 percent of the time, it involves contact with the eyes, nose, or mouth. (Zia, 3/9)

The New York Times: In 1918, It Wasn’t The Coronavirus. It Was The Flu.
A virus makes its way around the globe causing sickness, death, and spreading panic. Avoid crowds, the public is advised. Wash your hands. Avoid spitting in public. “Are you following this coronavirus thing?” asked Robert Hicks, former director of the Mütter Museum, as he took a seat in an office tucked behind the rooms of antique display cases of anatomical specimens. “Some striking similarities to 1918.” (Eblen, 3/8)

The New York Times: China May Be Beating The Coronavirus, At A Painful Cost
As the new coronavirus races around the world, tanking markets, cutting off global travel and suspending school for hundreds of millions of children, governments are desperate for ways to contain it. China, the place where it first appeared, says it has the answers. To the surprise of some, the country that concealed and mismanaged the initial outbreak appears to be bringing it under control, at least by its own official figures. The number of new cases reported has fallen dramatically in recent days even as infections are surging in other countries. The World Health Organization has praised Beijing’s response. Officials reported only 99 new cases on Saturday, down from around 2,000 a day just weeks ago, and for the second day in a row, none were detected in Hubei Province outside of its capital, Wuhan, the center of the outbreak. (Qin, 3/8)

The New York Times: In Coronavirus Fight, China’s Vulnerable Fall Through The Cracks
Lucifer Zhang, who is deaf and cannot speak, was able to get by on her $140 monthly stipend from the government. Then China locked down her home city, Wuhan, in late January to contain the coronavirus outbreak. Now she has to buy face masks and disinfectants. And since Wuhan residents aren’t allowed out of their apartment compounds, Ms. Zhang, 32, and her mother, a retiree, can no longer scavenge the nearby markets for bargains. Groceries have to be ordered online and delivered, adding to prices that have already been driven up by scarcity. (Yuan, 3/9)

The Wall Street Journal: Democracy, Dictatorship, Disease: The West Takes Its Turn With Coronavirus
Western democracies confronting the spread of the novel coronavirus are facing a test with profound implications for their future: Will they fail where authoritarian China, which is touting itself as an alternative model for the world, is succeeding? Covid-19, the respiratory illness caused by the virus, has already become the most consequential public-health crisis in generations, forcing lockdowns of entire regions, disrupting international travel and damaging the global economy—all of this just weeks since the disease has begun to spread outside China. (Trofimov, 3/8)

The New York Times: Global Markets Plummet As Lockdowns Expand
Italy reported a huge jump in deaths from the coronavirus on Sunday, a surge of more than 50 percent from the day before, as it ordered an unprecedented peacetime lockdown of its wealthiest region in a sweeping effort to fight the epidemic. The extraordinary measure restricted movement for a quarter of the country’s population. “We are facing an emergency, a national emergency,” Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said in announcing the government decree in a news conference after 2 a.m. (3/9)

The Wall Street Journal: Confirmed Coronavirus Cases Outside China Tripled In Past Week
The world-wide death toll stood at 3,825—the bulk of it in China, especially in the central city of Wuhan, which first reported the pneumonia-causing virus in December. Italy has the second-highest number of deaths at 366, and the total number of confirmed infections in the Mediterranean country climbed to 7,375 over the weekend, almost catching up with South Korea’s 7,478  cases. (Ping, 3/9)

The New York Times: Europe, With Eye On Italy Coronavirus Quarantine, Plans Next Moves
Italy’s sweeping lockdown of its north reverberated through Europe on Sunday, fueling fears of similarly draconian measures from London to Berlin, as officials grappled with how to slow the rapid-fire spread of the coronavirus in several of the world’s most open and democratic societies. No other European country has yet gone as far as hard-hit Italy. But with confirmed cases of the virus spiking to more than 1,000 in France and 900 in Germany, both countries moved to halt large public gatherings, as their leaders called emergency meetings to step up the response to the epidemic. (Landler, 3/9)

The New York Times: Paid To Stay Home: Europe’s Safety Net Could Ease Toll Of Coronavirus
Keeping your salary while caring for a quarantined child. Exercising the right to not work if you are afraid of getting ill. Sick-leave pay for up to six months. Europe is sometimes considered a home of overly generous social policies. But as countries around the world scramble to control the deadly coronavirus outbreak, some analysts say those social programs and protective labor rules could serve as a powerful vaccine against the virus’s feared economic toll: recession. (Alderman, 3/7)

The New York Times: The ‘London Patient,’ Cured Of H.I.V., Reveals His Identity
A year after the “London Patient” was introduced to the world as only the second person to be cured of H.I.V., he is stepping out of the shadows to reveal his identity: He is Adam Castillejo. Six feet tall and sturdy, with long, dark hair and an easy smile, Mr. Castillejo, 40, exudes good health and cheer. But his journey to the cure has been arduous and agonizing, involving nearly a decade of grueling treatments and moments of pure despair. He wrestled with whether and when to go public, given the attention and scrutiny that might follow. Ultimately, he said, he realized that his story carried a powerful message of optimism. “This is a unique position to be in, a unique and very humbling position,” he said. “I want to be an ambassador of hope.” (Mandavilli, 3/9)

The New York Times: The ‘London Patient’: Five Takeaways
Mr. Castillejo was found to have H.I.V. in 2003, when he was just 23. In the 1980s and ’90s, a diagnosis of H.I.V. was seen as a death sentence, and that is how Mr. Castillejo received the news. “It was a very terrifying and traumatic experience to go through,” he said. But as powerful antiretroviral drugs became available, he was able to keep his H.I.V. suppressed to undetectable levels and to live a healthy life, until 2011, when tests revealed he had cancer: Stage 4 lymphoma. (Mandavilli, 3/9)

The Associated Press: Juul Labs Sought To Court AGs As Teen Vaping Surged
It was a blunt warning about the dangers of youth vaping: Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr announced late last month that his state had joined 38 others to investigate whether Juul Labs, the nation’s largest electronic cigarette company, promoted and sold its nicotine-heavy products to teens. It was a moment Juul had worked to avoid. (3/9)

The New York Times: Aspirin, The Original Wonder Drug
Aspirin, the original wonder drug, has long been a go-to medicine for millions, a Jack-of-all trades remedy that is readily available and cheap. Championed for its ability to relieve pain, fever and inflammation, aspirin has been a staple in home medicine cabinets and first-aid kits for more than a century. Yet in recent years its reputation has been sullied by recognition of potentially serious side effects, especially dangerous bleeding in the gastrointestinal tract or the brain. Given aspirin’s longevity and over-the-counter status, those risks are sometimes overlooked by consumers who take it with less care than is medically warranted. (Brody, 3/9)