Live Free Or Die: America (and the World) on the Brink (35 page)

Early to mid-February:
Trump promised in his State of the Union address on February 4 to “take all necessary steps” to protect Americans from the virus. Meanwhile, Democrats were focused on voting the next day in President Trump's impeachment trial in the Senate. Also in early February the administration began briefing and working with state governors, and the U.S. shipped test kits for the virus to some thirty nations. The Department of Health and Human Services began to work with
private companies to develop a coronavirus vaccine and treatment for infections. Later in February the Food and Drug Administration permitted certified labs to develop coronavirus testing kits. In mid-February the CDC began working with five labs to conduct “community-based influenza surveillance” to study and detect the spread of the virus.
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Late February:
On February 23, the administration raised travel advisory levels for Japan and South Korea. On February 24, it asked Congress for $2.5 billion to fight the virus, but Nancy Pelosi delayed a vote on the measure. On February 26, Trump discussed virus containment efforts with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi and appointed Vice President Mike Pence to lead his Coronavirus Task Force.
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The next day, Pence appointed Dr. Deborah Birx to serve as the White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator. On February 29, the administration issued a travel ban for Italy, South Korea, and Iran.
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Early March:
The administration announced it would buy some 500 million N95 respirators over the next eighteen months, and President Trump signed an $8.3 billion bill to target the outbreak, with $7.76 billion to be distributed to federal, state, and local agencies.
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Trump and Pence met with major insurance companies to persuade them to waive copays for COVID-19 testing. The administration directed the Small Business Administration to issue low-interest loans to small businesses affected by the outbreak and asked Congress to increase this fund by $50 billion.
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The Education Department eased rules to provide colleges and universities more flexibility to conduct online classes during the outbreak.
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March 12:
Trump imposed a thirty-day travel ban on travelers from Europe. The next day he declared a national emergency to access $42 billion to fight the virus. Through the emergency declaration, President Trump asked every state to set up emergency operations centers immediately and every hospital to activate its emergency preparedness plan. He explained that the declaration would allow the HHS secretary to “waive provisions of applicable laws and regulations to give doctors, hospitals… and healthcare providers maximum flexibility to respond
to the virus.”
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He also announced that the public and private sectors were working together to open drive-through testing collection sites.
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In mid-March the White House worked with the private sector to start a website to provide free access to online education technologies for families, students, and educators during the outbreak.
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March 16:
President Trump announced national guidelines to slow the spread of the coronavirus, which stressed social distancing. It urged Americans to avoid gatherings of more than ten people, discretionary travel and social visits, eating and drinking in bars, restaurants, and public food courts, and to refrain from visiting nursing homes or long-term care facilities. Americans were urged to work from home if possible and homeschool their children. The guidelines advised older people and those with underlying health conditions to stay home and encouraged Americans to frequently wash their hands and avoid touching their face. Those who felt sick or had tested positive for the virus were encouraged to stay at home.
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The president predicted that the nation might get the outbreak under control by July or August at the earliest.
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March 17:
Treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin met with lawmakers to consider a stimulus and relief bill for businesses, industries, and workers suffering economically due to the virus. The Department of Defense announced it would make 5 million respirator masks and 2,000 ventilators available to the HHS. Also, agriculture secretary Sonny Perdue announced collaboration with the Baylor Collaborative on Hunger and Poverty, McLane Global, PepsiCo, and other firms to deliver almost 1 million meals per week to rural school students.
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March 18:
The Federal Reserve announced the establishment of a new Money Market Mutual Fund Facility to provide liquidity for the financial system.
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President Trump also announced that the Department of Housing and Urban Development would suspend all foreclosures and evictions until the end of April. HUD later said the FHA would extend the moratorium for single-family homeowners with FHA-insured mortgages for sixty days. The Federal Housing Finance Agency and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac adopted the same policy.
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On the same day, President Trump announced the temporary closure of the U.S.-Canada border to nonessential traffic and also said he planned to invoke the Defense Production Act to enable production of the necessary supplies to fight the virus. He also reported that the navy would deploy the
Comfort
and
Mercy
hospital ships.
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Also on March 18, President Trump signed into law the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, effective April 1, which funded free coronavirus testing, fourteen-day paid leave for workers affected by the virus, and additional food stamp funding. The bill also provided funding and flexibility for emergency nutritional assistance for the elderly, women, children, and low-income families.
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March 19:
The State Department issued an advisory urging Americans to avoid all international travel.
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President Trump also announced that the antimalaria drug hydroxychloroquine had shown encouraging progress in fighting the virus. He directed FEMA to lead the federal government's coronavirus response effort. Vice President Pence reported that tens of thousands of ventilators had been located that could be converted to treat virus patients.

March 20:
The United States and Mexico agreed to restrict nonessential cross-border traffic. Secretary Mnuchin reported that President Trump had moved tax filing day from April 15 to July 15 for American taxpayers. The Department of Education suspended standardized testing requirements for the rest of the school year and suspended interest rates on federally held student loans for sixty days.
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Also that day, to help protect hospital workers, the president signed legislation removing restrictions that prevented manufacturers from selling industrial masks directly to hospitals.
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March 23:
Attorney General William Barr announced the formation of a National Task Force meeting on hoarding and price gouging and said all ninety-three AG offices were appointing lead prosecutors to prevent hoarding. On March 24, Trump stated that the Army Corps of Engineers and the National Guard were building four hospitals and four medical centers in New York. Also, Vice President Pence reported that FEMA
sent New York 2,000 ventilators, which became 4,000 the next day. He urged those who had recently been in New York to self-quarantine for fourteen days. Dr. Birx reported that the United States had conducted more tests in the previous week than South Korea had in eight weeks.
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March 27:
Trump signed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act into law, providing almost $2 trillion, including direct payments to individuals and families, loans for small businesses and distressed companies, unemployment benefits, aid to states and cities, and monies for hospitals to obtain equipment and infrastructure.
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Democrats delayed passage of the bill while attempting to blackmail Republicans to agree to a slew of left-wing provisions with no connection to the coronavirus, including increased collective bargaining powers for unions, increased fuel emission standards for airlines, expansion of wind and solar tax credits, requirements for same-day voter registration and early voting, publication of corporate pay statistics by race and race statistics for all corporate boards, an increase of the minimum wage to $15 per hour for all companies receiving aid, funds to study climate change mitigation efforts in the aviation and aerospace industries, and an expansion of the Obamaphones program.

“Pelosi & Schumer are willing to risk your life, your job, your retirement savings for a radical, left-wing wish list that has nothing to do with this virus,” Senator Tom Cotton tweeted. “Disgraceful.”
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Republicans killed most of these obnoxious demands, though the Democrats secured $75 million each for PBS stations, the National Foundation on the Arts and Humanities, and the National Endowment for the Humanities; $50 million for the Institute of Museum and Library Services; $25 million for the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts; $75 million for the Smithsonian Institution; and $400 million to states for “election security grants.”
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March 29:
President Trump reported that the Army Corp of Engineers had completed construction of a 2,900-bedroom temporary hospital at the Javits Center in New York. Also on that day Trump, saying the death rate from COVID-19 was expected to peak in the next two
weeks, announced the extension of CDC guidelines to limit the spread of the virus through April 30. He formally extended the guidelines on March 31.
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Trump also reported that 1,100 patients in New York were being treated with hydroxychloroquine for coronavirus and that Cigna and Humana had agreed to waive copays for coronavirus treatment. A few days later Vice President Pence announced that Blue Cross Blue Shield would be waiving out-of-pocket costs for coronavirus treatment. Pence further reported that more than 17,000 National Guard troops had been activated to assist in the coronavirus response, and that number expanded to 29,600 by April 10. Also, the HHS accelerated the clinical trial for a coronavirus vaccine developed by Janssen Research and Development.
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April 2:
The administration announced that the Paycheck Protection Program from the CARES Act would be launched the next day to begin providing $350 billion in small business loans. The FDA approved the first coronavirus antibody test, developed by Cellex. Secretary Pompeo reported that the State Department had brought home 30,000 Americans stranded overseas due to the virus and by April 8 they had repatriated 50,000. On April 3, the administration announced voluntary CDC guidelines recommending that Americans wear nonmedical, fabric or cloth face masks. That day Trump also announced that Anthem would waive copays for coronavirus treatment for sixty days. He further reported that the administration had secured from hoarders 200,000 N95 masks, 130,000 surgical masks, and 600,000 gloves for distribution to health-care workers.

April 5:
President Trump said the administration had stockpiled 29 million doses of hydroxychloroquine. FEMA sent 19.1 million doses to cities across the country by April 14. On April 6, Trump announced that FDA had approved Inovio's potential vaccine for a clinical trial and that ten potential coronavirus therapeutic agents were in active trials and another fifteen were in plans for clinical trials. By April 9, there were nineteen potential therapies being tested and another twenty-six in active planning for clinical trials. Also on April 6, HHS
said it would purchase fifteen-minute coronavirus tests from Abbott for the Strategic National Stockpile.
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April 9:
The Federal Reserve announced new lending programs of up to $2.3 trillion for businesses and state and local governments.
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Further, the USDA announced that farmers would be given one year to repay marketing assistance loans to protect them from having to sell crops to make loan payments.
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April 10:
President Trump reported he would convene a bipartisan council of business and medical leaders, called “Opening Our Country Council,” to advise the administration on reopening the economy.
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On April 11, he approved a major disaster declaration for Wyoming, making it the first time in American history that a major disaster had been declared for all fifty states. On April 13, Trump announced that infection rates had remained flat over the weekend in America and that 3 million tests had been completed, with 150,000 new tests being conducted each day.
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April 14:
Trump said that the biggest decision he would ever have to make was when and how to reopen the country.
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Two days later, believing the nation had “passed the peak” in new cases, he announced a three-phase plan with new federal guidelines to restart the economy, saying, “To preserve the health of Americans, we must preserve the health of our economy. We are not opening all at once, but one careful step at a time.”
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The guidelines were approved by Dr. Birx, Dr. Fauci, and FDA head Dr. Stephen Hahn. Under the guidelines, state governors would be given wide latitude to reopen based on local conditions.
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Each state's opening would progress in three phases. To advance to the next phase a state must show a downward trajectory of cases for fourteen days and demonstrate hospital capacity sufficient to handle any flare-ups. At the time the administration announced these guidelines, some twenty-nine states were already eligible for phase one, though the decision would be left up to their governors.

Under all phases people should continue to practice good hygiene and the sick should stay at home. The guidelines for phase one would
be slightly more relaxed than those already in place. Vulnerable people (the elderly and those with serious underlying health conditions) should continue to remain home as much as possible, and members of households with vulnerable residents who reenter society should be careful to isolate from them. Socializing in groups of more than ten people would be discouraged unless social distancing could be maintained. Nonessential travel should be minimized. Telework should be encouraged, and returning to work should occur in phases. Common areas in workplaces should be closed. Schools, day care centers, and bars should remain closed, but restaurants, movie theaters, sporting venues, places of worship, and gyms could be opened provided strict physical distancing is maintained. Elective surgeries could resume on an outpatient basis.
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