Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Trump Wants To 'Open Up' The Country By Easter Despite Public Health Experts' Warnings
The New York Times: Trump Wants U.S. ‘Opened Up’ By Easter, Despite Health Officials’ Warnings
President Trump said on Tuesday that he wanted to reopen the country for business by Easter, on April 12, despite widespread warnings from public health experts that the worst effects of the coronavirus were still weeks away and that lifting the restrictions now in place would result in unnecessary deaths. The president said he believed a crippled economy and forced social isolation would inflict more harm than the spread of the virus. But experts have warned that spread could be slowed if businesses remain shuttered and people remain in their homes as much as possible. (Karni and McNeil, 3/24)
The Associated Press: Trump Hoping To See US Economy Reopened By Easter Amid Virus
Trump’s optimism contradicted the warnings of some public health officials who called for stricter — not looser — restrictions on public interactions. But federal officials suggested that advisories could be loosened in areas not experiencing widespread infection. With lives and the economy hanging in the balance, Trump said Tuesday he was already looking toward easing the advisories that have sidelined workers, shuttered schools and led to a widespread economic slowdown. “I would love to have the country opened up and just raring to go by Easter,” he said during a Fox News virtual town hall. Easter is just over two weeks away — Apr. 12. (Miller and Superville, 3/25)
The Washington Post: Easing Coronavirus Restrictions For The Economy Would Be Disastrous, Experts Say
The greatest alarm has come from scientists, epidemiologists and health experts who have spent the past three months studying the new coronavirus and have witnessed the destructive, contagious swath it has cut through other countries. “To be a week into these restrictions and already be talking about abandoning them is irresponsible and dangerous,” said Tom Inglesby, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. Removing restrictions now would allow the virus, he said, to “spread widely, rapidly, terribly, and could kill potentially millions in the year ahead with huge social and economic impact.” (Wan, Albergotti and Achenbach, 3/24)
The Hill: Fauci Says Trump's Easter Goal For Lifting Coronavirus Restrictions Should Be 'Flexible'
Dr. Anthony Fauci on Tuesday said President Trump’s stated timeline for the lifting of restrictions on parts of the country by Easter Sunday should be "flexible." Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a prominent member of the White House's coronavirus task force, added it is important for public health officials to gauge how widespread coronavirus is in parts of the country that haven't reported significant numbers of cases. (Samuels and Chalfant, 3/24)
The Wall Street Journal: Trump Hopes To Have U.S. Reopened By Easter, Despite Health Experts’ Warnings
For days, Mr. Trump and his aides have been discussing easing social-distancing guidelines as early as next week. The president has been pushed by advisers and business leaders to boost an economy beset by deepening job losses nationwide as state and local governments have directed people to stay home, people familiar with the discussions said. Financial markets have taken a steep dive in recent weeks and volatility in American stocks has reached historically high levels. Unemployment claims, which are reported this week, are expected to have soared. (Ballhaus, Armour and Leary, 3/24)
Los Angeles Times: Trump And Governors In Heated Debate Over Saving Lives Versus The Economy
His remarks drew sharp rejoinders and resistance from governors in both parties — the officials who have the final say over limitations on daily life. “If you ask the American people to choose between public health and the economy, then it’s no contest,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, said at a news conference on Tuesday. “No American is going to say ‘accelerate the economy at the cost of human life.’” “My mother is not expendable. And your mother is not expendable,” he said. “We’re not going to accept a premise that human life is disposable.” (Megerian, 3/24)
Reuters: Explainer: Trump Has Little Power To Restart U.S. Economy
The United States is a federalist system, meaning power is shared between a national and state governments. Under the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, state governments have power to police citizens and regulate public welfare. In the country’s early years, it was up to state and local authorities to lead the response to the yellow fever epidemic, not the federal government. Reflecting these principles, “disaster response and aid is typically state-led and federally supported,” said Steve Bunnell, the former top lawyer at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and a partner at O’Melveny & Myers. (Wolfe, 3/24)
The Washington Post: Trump Is In A Tug-Of-War With Scientists Over Coronavirus Policy
On Monday, during the daily coronavirus news conference, President Trump tried to drag White House coronavirus response coordinator Deborah Birx into bashing the media with him — an entreaty she deftly sidestepped with a smile and talk of how much she had recently learned about “social distancing and respiratory diseases.” Then on Tuesday, during a Fox News virtual town hall with virus task force members, Trump tried to prod Birx into criticizing New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) for the rapidly growing outbreak of coronavirus cases in his state. (Parker, Dawsey and Abutaleb, 3/24)
Stat: Social Distancing, Politicized: Trump Allies Are Urging An End To Isolation, Worrying Public Health Experts
How and whether to prevent disease is suddenly a political question. And in the face of the economic turmoil caused by the coronavirus, a small but growing number of conservatives has come down forcefully on the side of “don’t.” (Facher, 3/24)
The Washington Post: Liberty University Students Return Despite Coronavirus
Students returned to Liberty University after spring break this week, even as colleges and universities across the country have sent students home to try to slow the spread of covid-19. Earlier this month, Jerry Falwell Jr., the school’s president, said on Fox News that people were overreacting to the coronavirus pandemic and that the campus would open as usual this week. A few days later, after Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) banned gatherings of 100 people or more, Falwell reversed course and said most classes would be conducted online. (Svrluga and Vozzella, 3/24)
The New York Times: Can We Put A Price Tag On A Life? The Shutdown Forces A New Look
Can we measure the cost of hundreds of thousands of dead? President Trump and leading business figures are increasingly questioning the wisdom of a prolonged shutdown of the American economy — already putting millions out of work — to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. “Our people want to return to work,” Mr. Trump declared Tuesday on Twitter, adding, “THE CURE CANNOT BE WORSE (by far) THAN THE PROBLEM!” (Porter and Tankersley, 3/24)
Politico: Trump Bets That Voters Are As Impatient As He Is
President Donald Trump’s vow Tuesday that he would “love to have the country opened up and just raring to go by Easter,” less than three weeks from now, was the clearest signal yet of the political logic he hopes to follow in a presidential campaign shadowed by global pandemic. He is eager to own the only good thing about a crisis that has paralyzed the country and left millions of people in housebound despair: The reality that life will at some point slowly lurch back to normal. (Harris, 3/24)
Politico: 'He Should Stop Talking': Biden Implores Trump To Listen To His Scientists
Former Vice President Joe Biden slammed Donald Trump over the president’s declaration he wants to restart the economy in a matter of weeks — over objections from health experts — advising Trump to “just stop talking.” In a series of cable news hits Tuesday afternoon from a makeshift studio in his Delaware home’s basement, Biden, who appears likely to become the Democratic nominee for president, repeatedly implored his would-be rival to heed the advice of his coronavirus task force and keep social distancing efforts in place to "flatten the curve" of individuals infected by the virus. (Oprysko, 3/24)
The Associated Press: Of America And Sacrifice: Is The Country Ready To Step Up?
For most Americans alive today, the idea of shared national sacrifice is a collective abstraction, a memory handed down from a grandparent or passed on through a book or movie. Not since World War II, when people carried ration books with stamps that allowed them to purchase meat, sugar, butter, cooking oil and gasoline, when buying cars, firewood and nylon was restricted, when factories converted from making automobiles to making tanks, Jeeps and torpedos, when men were drafted and women volunteered in the war effort, has the entire nation been asked to sacrifice for a greater good. (Tackett, 3/25)
The Associated Press: Virus Causes Surge In WW II References, But Is It Merited?
In the first week of June 2019, World War II was on many people’s minds.It was the 75th anniversary of D-Day, a week filled with events honoring the sacrifice and blood of tens of thousands of Allied soldiers that was spilled on the French beaches. Leaders from the United States, Britain, Canada, France — and then-foe and now ally Germany — gathered in a rare show of unity in Normandy, where the tide of the war was so decisively turned. Now, nine months later, World War II references are once again being heard daily — because of the coronavirus. (Fakahany, 3/25)
In other news —
CNN: Blame Game Escalates Between US And China Over Coronavirus Disinformation
President Donald Trump says he has declared war on the coronavirus in an effort to contain the outbreak and its economic impact here at home, but on the world stage, his administration is engaged in another battle as the US and China fight to shape the narrative about the pandemic's origins. Trump and senior members of the administration have attempted to brand the outbreak as the result of a "Chinese virus" as they ramp up accusations that Beijing failed to identify, stop or warn about the virus early on. (Cohen, Marquardt and Atwood, 3/25)
The Associated Press: Too Big To Infect? Some US Leaders Defy Virus Guidelines
The State Department has advised against all international travel because of the coronavirus, but that didn’t stop Secretary of State Mike Pompeo from flying to Afghanistan this week. Gyms across the nation’s capital are shuttered, but Sen. Rand Paul, an eye doctor, still managed a workout at the Senate on Sunday morning as he awaited the results of a coronavirus test. It came back positive. (Tucker, 3/25)
