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Friday, 3 April 2020

3M Refuses White House Directive to Send Masks from Singapore to U.S., Citing Concern for Asian Medical Workers

Health care manufacturer 3M has resisted pressure from the White House to import about 10 million N95 respirator masks from the company's hub in Singapore originally destined for Asian countries, in part due to concern for health care workers in those countries, the Financial Times reported on Friday.While 3M agreed to import a similar amount from a factory in China, President Trump and his administration have criticized the company for being less than cooperative with the mobilization effort — and Trump announced he would invoke the Defense Production Act to compel 3M to deliver masks to the U.S.“The administration had worked very hard to ease some rules for 3M and other respirator manufacturers because those companies, 3M chief among them, had essentially promised that they would immediately be putting 35m N95s into the US marketplace. It became clear recently that wasn’t happening,” one White House official told the Financial Times."We hit 3M hard today after seeing what they were doing with their Masks," Trump wrote on Twitter Thursday night. "'P Act' all the way. Big surprise to many in government as to what they were doing - will have a big price to pay!"Director of Trade and Manufacturing Policy Peter Navarro, who also serves as the Defense Production Act coordinator for the White House, criticized 3M earlier on Thursday."To be frank, over the last several days we've had some issues, making sure that all of the production that 3M does around the world, enough of it is coming back here to the right places," Navarro said.On Friday, 3M CEO Mike Roman countered that the company was concentrating all its efforts to help fight the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S."The idea that the 3M isn't doing everything it can…is absurd," Roman said on CNBC. "We are doing everything we can to maximize our efforts."In earlier stages of the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic, Trump was initially reluctant to rely on the DPA, which allows the executive branch to compel companies to produce goods in times of national emergency. However, on March 27 Trump used the legislation to order General Motors to begin production of ventilators, saying negotiations over contracts with the company had dragged on too long."Our negotiations with GM regarding its ability to supply ventilators have been productive, but our fight against the virus is too urgent to allow the give-and-take of the contracting process to continue to run its normal course" Trump said at the time. "GM was wasting time."

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A 1,000-bed Navy hospital ship was meant to help relieve New York City's overburdened hospitals. So far it's 2% full, and a hospital director called it a 'joke.'

The ship hasn't been able to accept many patients because of strict Navy guidelines and the lack so far of many non-coronavirus patients in the city.

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Exclusive: Jump in Jakarta funerals raises fears of unreported coronavirus deaths

The number of funerals in Jakarta rose sharply in March, a development the governor of Indonesia's capital city said suggested that deaths from the new coronavirus may be higher than officially reported. The city has been at the epicentre of novel coronavirus infections in Indonesia, accounting for 971 cases and 90 deaths, according to central government data, or roughly half the country's total for both. Jakarta's governor, Anies Baswedan, and some public health experts suspect the number of infections and deaths in Jakarta has been significantly under-reported due to one of the world's lowest rates of testing.

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Putin says Russia ready to cooperate on cutting oil production

Russia is ready to cooperate with Saudi Arabia and the United States to cut oil production, President Vladimir Putin said Friday. Putin said Russia was willing to make agreements within the framework of the OPEC+ group and that "we are ready for cooperation with the United States of America on this issue," according to a statement published by the Kremlin. Oil prices have tumbled in recent weeks in the face of a drop in demand and global economic uncertainty over the new coronavirus pandemic.

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Cuban docs fighting coronavirus around world, defying US

For two years the Trump administration has been trying to stamp out one of Cuba’s signature programs __ state-employed medical workers treating patients around the globe in a show of soft power that also earns billions in badly needed hard currency. Labeling the doctors and nurses as both exploited workers and agents of communist indoctrination, the U.S. has notched a series of victories as Brazil, Ecuador and Bolivia sent home thousands after leftist governments allied with Havana were replaced with ones friendlier to Washington. The coronavirus pandemic has brought a reversal of fortune for Cuban medical diplomacy, as doctors have flown off on new missions to battle COVID-19 in at least 14 countries including Italy and the tiny principality of Andorra on the Spanish-French border, burnishing the island's international image in the middle of a global crisis.

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New top story on Hacker News: The highest paid athlete of all time was a Roman Charioteer

The highest paid athlete of all time was a Roman Charioteer
8 by hckr_nj | 0 comments on Hacker News.

'Failure to launch': Lenders, small businesses criticize delays in coronavirus rescue program

The coronavirus crisis is putting added pressure ton small business, 29% of which prior were unprofitable and 47% had two weeks or less of cash.

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A day in the life of my quarantine: Read Jameela Jamil's diary

"The Good Place" star Jameela Jamil shares a day in the life of her quarantine, from stress-eating and podcasting to shows she's streaming to cope.

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Tensions Persist Between Trump and Medical Advisers Over the Coronavirus

By BY PETER BAKER, MAGGIE HABERMAN AND JAMES GLANZ from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2JEVmoh
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Does My County Have an Epidemic? Estimates Show Hidden Transmission

By BY JAMES GLANZ, MATTHEW BLOCH AND ANJALI SINGHVI from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2ysnkRS
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Pelosi eyes another round of checks to families before tackling infrastructure

The speaker said with coronavirus moving quickly across the U.S. communities “can’t afford to wait”

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Americans purchasing record-breaking numbers of guns amid coronavirus

The pandemic has created a surge in demand, with some gun stores inundated with panic-buyers * Coronavirus – latest US updates * Coronavirus – latest global updates * See all our coronavirus coverageAmericans have responded to the coronavirus epidemic with a record-breaking number of gun purchases, according to new government data on the number of background checks conducted in March.More than 3.7m total firearm background checks were conducted through the FBI’s background check system in March, the highest number on record in more than 20 years. An estimated 2.4m of those background checks were conducted for gun sales, according to adjusted statistics from a leading firearms industry trade group. That’s an 80% increase compared with the same month last year, the trade group said.Nearly 1.2m total gun background checks were conducted in a single week, starting 16 March, breaking all previous records going back to 1998, according to FBI data.While the number of background checks doesn’t correlate one-to-one in terms of guns sold, the number of firearm background checks conducted through the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System is the best available proxy for gun sales in the United States. The figures highlight how the pandemic has created a surge in demand for gun ownership, with some gun stores finding themselves inundated with panic-buyers, including, at least anecdotally, many Americans purchasing a gun for the first time.The record-breaking week of 16 March was when California residents were photographed lining up by the dozens outside local gun stores, as the Bay Area and then California as a whole announced the first emergency stay-at-home orders to prevent the spread of coronavirus in the United States.Friday 20 March broke records for the highest number of firearms background checks conducted nationwide in a single day: 210,308.Americans can buy multiple guns from a licensed gun dealer with a single background check, meaning that the number of checks conducted does not reflect the total number of guns sold.In most states, private citizens can also sell guns to each other without a background check, and these private sales are not included in the FBI’s numbers. There is no way to track how many guns were bought and sold in private sales over the past month. Some states also allow residents who have a license to carry a concealed firearm in public to buy guns without a background check, another category of gun sales not included in the FBI’s statistics.Federal firearms background checks are also conducted for reasons other than gun sales, including for validating permits to allow people to carry a concealed firearm in public, and, in California, for ammunition sales.The National Shooting Sports Foundation, the trade group for the American firearms industry, produces regular “adjusted” estimates for gun background checks that subtract out background checks that the FBI tags as related to concealed carry permit applications, or to period checks by officials to make sure permits are still valid. This produces a lower number that is a closer proxy for gun sales.The trade group’s adjusted numbers for March are still “simply eye-popping”, Mark Oliva, a spokesman for the industry group, wrote in an email.The second-highest week of total firearms background checks on record was 17 December 2012, the week after a mass shooting at the Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, left 20 children dead, and sparked fears that the United States would pass sweeping national gun control measures.More than 950,000 firearms background checks were conducted that week, though US lawmakers ultimately failed to pass any additional gun control legislation after resistance from gun rights activists and many Republican politicians.While the FBI statistics do not include any information on what kind of purchasers are driving the spike in gun sales, some gun sellers have said they are seeing increased numbers of new gun owners.“Retailers have been telling us that the overwhelming majority of those buying firearms over the last month have been first-time gun owners,” Oliva, the spokesman for the firearms industry trade group, wrote in an email.American gun control advocates said they found the statistics on record-breaking numbers of firearms background checks concerning, and urged Americans to think twice before panic-buying a gun, particularly if they had never owned one before.Concerns have also been raised about children sheltering at home in houses where they might have access to guns, as well as the risk of gun suicide, which amount to approximately two-thirds of US gun deaths each year.“We need to prepare for the increased risk of more firearms in untrained hands,” David Chipman, a senior policy adviser at Giffords, a leading gun violence prevention expert, said in a statement. “If you didn’t think you needed a gun prior to March of this year, you certainly don’t need to rush out and get one now.”Activists said that the number of guns sold in the past month could have been even higher, if some cities and states had not told gun retailers to close during stay-at-home orders, deeming them non-essential businesses. However, some of these orders have been changed under pressure from gun rights activists, particularly after the Trump administration included firearms manufacturers, retailers and shooting ranges as part of the national’s “essential critical infrastructure workforce”.

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Gov. Gretchen Whitmer wears 'That Woman from Michigan' T-shirt on 'The Daily Show with Trevor Noah'

During appearance on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show," Gov. Gretchen Whitmer wore a "That Woman from Michigan" T-shirt.

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Birx: Face masks not a substitute for handwashing, distancing to help prevent coronavirus spread

At a press briefing, Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, said the use of face masks should not be a substitute for social distancing and washing hands to prevent contracting the coronavirus.

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Coronavirus: US jobless claims hit 6.6 million as virus spreads

More than 6.6 million Americans filed for unemployment last week as the coronavirus spreads.

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Oil rockets as Trump signals end to price war

Oil prices rocketed Thursday, posting the largeset percent increase ever, after US President Donald Trump said Russia and Saudi Arabia planned to end their price war by slashing output. After Trump tweeted that Saudi and Russia could slash production by up to 15 million barrels, Brent hit $36.29 a barrel, up almost 46 percent, and West Texas Intermediate soared around 35 percent to $27.39.

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Spanish Virus Deaths Climb Past 10,000 With 950 New Victims

(Bloomberg) -- Spain reported an increase in coronavirus deaths and new cases, suggesting severe containment measures have yet to bring the outbreak under control.The Health Ministry recorded its deadliest day on Thursday, with 950 fatalities lifting the total to more than 10,000. The country is dealing with the second-most severe outbreak in Europe after Italy and the government has struggled to check the spread of the disease. A wave of infections has stretched the health service to breaking point and led to a shortage of beds in intensive-care units, while the army has been deployed to assist in its biggest domestic peacetime operation.The number of confirmed cases increased by 8,102, a bigger gain than Wednesday’s 7,719, to 110,238. The daily death toll in Italy -- where more than 13,000 have died -- dropped to 727 on Wednesday, the lowest in six days, and the number of new cases is below highs in mid-March.The newest Spanish figures contrast with optimism expressed by the government. Health Minister Salvador Illa told a parliamentary hearing on Thursday, after the data were released, that the “curve has stabilized and we are entering a process of slowing down.”Illa, a philosopher by training, added that the percentage increase in deaths, hospitalizations and new cases reported Thursday was lower than a week ago.Aside from over-stretched hospitals, the government is also struggling to deal with the impact in nursing homes in a nation with one of the world’s oldest populations. Many homes are understaffed and death tolls are rising rapidly as the virus is especially dangerous for the elderly.Fernando Simon, a Health Ministry official, said Thursday it’s hard to find an explanation for Spain’s relatively high mortality rate. “In certain periods and regions, we have had nursing homes affected, with very fragile people,” he told reporters. “And there can also be a variability in how different countries report their numbers.”The devastating impact on the Spanish economy is evident in recent data. The Labor Ministry on Thursday reported more than 300,000 new jobless claims for March, the highest monthly increase on record. The number doesn’t include hundreds of thousands of workers temporarily laid off after companies shut down following the declaration on March 14 of a state of emergency.The tourism industry, a bellwether of the Spanish economy, has ground to a halt, in a blow to workers who rely on temporary hotel and restaurant jobs over the summer.Airlines are meeting with the government to try to secure liquidity, the transport minister said Thursday. The country’s largest company by market value, retailer Inditex SA, has closed all its stores in Spain and is considering around 25,000 temporary redundancies if the state of emergency continues beyond April 11.(Updates with Health Ministry official in seventh paragraph)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.