Coronavirus

The Hill reports: Vice President Pence told conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh he believes President Trump tapped him to lead the coronavirus task force because of his experience tackling disease outbreaks at the state level as governor of Indiana. Pence touted his experience combating HIV, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) during his time in …

The BBC reports: At least 210 people in Iran have died as a result of the new coronavirus disease, sources in the country’s health system have told BBC Persian. Most of the victims are from the capital, Tehran, and the city of Qom, where cases of Covid-19 first emerged. The figure is six times higher than the official death toll …

The Washington Post reports: California has a second case of community transmission of the coronavirus, a 65-year-old resident of Santa Clara County who has no known history of travel to countries hit hard by the outbreak, people familiar with the case said Friday. There is also no apparent connection between the new patient and anyone else with the disease caused …

The New York Times reports: Stocks tumbled for a seventh consecutive day on Friday, with the S&P 500 index falling about 0.8 percent, bringing its loss for the week to more than 11 percent. It was the worst weekly decline for stocks since the 2008 financial crisis. In early October that year, the S&P 500 fell about 18 percent. The …

Roll Call reports: National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow, who was appointed to President Donald Trump’s coronavirus task force on Thursday, said Friday he believed the administration’s handling of the response to COVID-19 would be a boon for his 2020 campaign. “I think the way he’s handling this will have a very positive effect on his reelection campaign,” Kudlow told …

Newsweek reports: On Friday, New York Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called out Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz, saying that he doesn’t “even believe in evolution.” This comes amid the two trading jabs following Ocasio-Cortez’s reaction to a tweet aboutMike Pence leading the response to the coronavirus. Trump’s administration has continued to downplay the severity of the outbreak, tweeting that the …

The Hill reports: Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.) on Friday said the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases was told to “stand down” and not appear on five Sunday morning talk shows to discuss the coronavirus. Garamendi told MSNBC’s Hallie Jackson that Anthony Fauci was scheduled to do all five major Sunday talk shows, but says Fauci …

The New York Times reports: Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, on Friday blamed the media for exaggerating the seriousness of coronavirus because “they think this will bring down the president, that’s what this is all about.” Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference, an annual gathering of conservative activists, Mr. Mulvaney played down concerns about the …

NBC News reports: The stock market cratered again on Friday, marking the seventh day of a massive sell-off sparked by rising fears about the coronavirus epidemic. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged by 1000 points at the opening bell, with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq each falling by 3 percent. The meltdown comes as traders appear to lose any …

Politico reports: President Trump early Friday tweeted that the U.S. was way ahead of the curve when it came to stemming the spread of coronavirus thanks to measures taken by his administration. Trump also accused congressional Democrats early Friday morning of unfairly blaming the coronavirus’ threat to Americans on his administration, tying the global health epidemic even closer to domestic …

The New York Post reports: Some American beer drinkers are avoiding Corona, the beer, amid the deadly coronavirus outbreak, according to a new survey. A surprising 38 percent of beer drinkers insisted that they would not, under any circumstances, buy Corona as the deadly virus spreads across the globe, according to the survey conducted by 5W Public Relations. “There is …

The Washington Post reports: Officials at the Department of Health and Human Services sent more than a dozen workers to receive the first Americans evacuated from Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, without proper training for infection control or appropriate protective gear, according to a whistleblower complaint. The workers did not show symptoms of infection and were not …

The Jerusalem Post reports: Israeli scientists are on the cusp of developing the first vaccine against the novel coronavirus, according to Science and Technology Minister Ofir Akunis. If all goes as planned, the vaccine could be ready within a few weeks and available in 90 days, according to a release. “Congratulations to MIGAL [The Galilee Research Institute] on this exciting …

The Associated Press reports: A cruise ship heading to the Dominican Republic to disembark hundreds of passengers after a 14-day tour was turned away on Thursday because officials feared eight of those aboard showed potential symptoms of the COVID-19 virus, officials announced. A joint statement by the Public Health Ministry and Port Authority said that the captain of the Braemar …

MarketWatch reports: Investors’ growing fears about virus outbreak sends Dow Jones Industrial Average down about 1,200 points. At last check, the decline would rank within the top 20 for the Dow’s steepest weekly selloffs, with a drop of 9.18%, according to FactSet data. The worst week for the Dow was the 18.15% drop during the period ended Oct. 10, 2008, …

The Hill reports: JetBlue will void change and cancellation fees for flights as the coronavirus continues to spread globally. On Wednesday, JetBlue announced that customers can change or cancel for free all bookings made from Thursday through March 11 for travel through June 1, according to a statement. “The policy is designed to give customers confidence that they will not …

Reuters reports: An So-young had a gut feeling that the 31st person in South Korea to test positive for the coronavirus might be a member of the controversial religious sect she quit four years ago. What caught An’s attention was how health authorities were struggling to track the woman’s movements before she was tested. “That’s their culture, they have to …

Via press release from the Warren campaign: Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, today unveiled legislation, the Prioritizing Pandemic Prevention Act, requiring all funds that have been appropriated to build a border wall-including funds directly appropriated by Congress and funds diverted by the executive …

Bloomberg News reports: Vice President Mike Pence has selected the State Department’s top AIDS official, Deborah Birx, to join his coronavirus response team, his office announced on Thursday. Birx is a career government official who was nominated by former President Barack Obama in 2014 as the U.S. global AIDS coordinator responsible for overseeing humanitarian aid programs combating the epidemic. She …

The New York Post reports: Masoumeh Ebtekar, an Iranian vice president who is better known as the infamous “Screaming Mary” during the 1979 US hostage crisis, has been diagnosed with the coronavirus, according to reports. Reports about her illness come two days after Iraj Harirchi, the official who was tasked with tackling the outbreak in Iran, also tested positive. He …