www.zerohedge.com Summary:
- Japanese hospitals turn away non-COVID-19 patients
- Russia outbreak continues to accelerate
- Demonstrators demand economies reopen now in Denver, Austin
- Georgia Gov. Jon Bel Edwwards announces plan to reopen
- NYC Mayor delivers daily update
- South Korea reports clusters as reopening continues
- Kudlow says Trump’s May 1 reopening goal is “aspirational”
- Small Marin County town hopes to test every resident
- NRA says 2/3rds restaurant workers in US have lost their jobs
- Australia, New Zealand begin easing lockdowns
- Turkey passes China in total ‘confirmed’ cases
- Bolsonaro joins crowds of protesters demanding reopening in Brazil
- Germany, Denmark, Czech Republic, Norway, India among countries reopening right now
- Saudi Arabia, Qatar see alarming rise in new cases
- Prince Philip issues rare statement praising frontline workers
- NJ achieves “stability” in new cases
- Vote on relief bill pushed to Tuesday
- 9th Vatican employee tests positive
- US sees 20% drop in cases
- Italy reports slight rise in deaths, drop in cases
- UK reports 450 new deaths
- NYC reports another drop in hospitalizations
- 1/5th of world is taking first steps toward reopening economies
- Merkel urges more ‘caution’ as Germany begins to reopen
- “Corona curve” shows outbreak “over the hump”
- Belgium reports 1,487 new cases
- UK business furlough scheme flooded with applications
- Mnuchin praises Shake Shack for giving back ‘PPP’ money
- Dr. Tedros warns “worst is yet to come”
- French foreign minister slams China over propaganda
- German newspaper slams Beijing for “exporting” virus
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Update (1630ET): Georgia Gov. Brian Kempe has announced that he will allow Georgia’s stay-at-home order to expire at the end of the month, meaning Georgia will become one of a handful of states to begin ‘Phase 1’ of reopening under the federal guidelines.
He’s holding a presser now:
Tune in now at https://t.co/tTCvOCAwL6 or https://t.co/9f1aGtS0JL. #gapol https://t.co/QpEbpATQiq
— Governor Brian P. Kemp (@GovKemp) April 20, 2020
Critics immediately blasted Kempe for moving to reopen without being on track to meet federal benchmarks for entering ‘Phase 1’ of the guidelines.
I’m not seeing the 14 day decline benchmark in either new cases or deaths in Georgia that the federal government said should be the key for moving into phase one of reopening the economy. pic.twitter.com/a0eraZgjdZ
— Anthony Michael Kreis (@AnthonyMKreis) April 20, 2020
Georgia’s plan is now probably the most radical reopening agenda in the country. Reopening starts Friday, with restaurants to be reopen on Monday, along with theaters, hair salons and gyms.
Georgia begins reopening Friday, restaurants and theaters in Georgia back open next Monday https://t.co/A3uLA8EvLB
— Jonathan Hardison (@FOX6Hardison) April 20, 2020
Critics of his plan are absolutely livid, and only time will tell whether this was a wise – or extremely foolish – decision.
The Georgia Governor, the guy who didn’t know the virus could be spread by people who are asymptotic, is reopening. Makes sense.
— Andrew FlowMo (@RustyGreyMusic) April 20, 2020
Though the fact remains: an obviously premature reopening is playing with people’s lives.
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Update (1610ET): New Jersey Gov Phil Murphy said Monday during his daily press briefing that the CDC is planning to assign 10 to 12 staffers per state to coordinate ‘contact tracing’, the practice of tracking down everyone whom an infected individual might have had contact with, to get them tested and prevent them from potentially infecting more people.
After showing continued “stability” in new cases with another 3,000+ reported, Murphy said that he wouldn’t be making any decisions on reopening the state’s economy “in a vacuum”, and said he would be releasing “concrete benchmarks” in the coming days that the state will need to meet in terms of cases, hospitalizations etc. to continue with the reopening.
UPDATE: We’ve received 3,528 new confirmed #COVID19 test results. Our statewide total is now 88,806. pic.twitter.com/bIiB2EZgrJ
— Governor Phil Murphy (@GovMurphy) April 20, 2020
This chart shows our three-week trend in reporting new cases. We’ve achieved relative stability.
This doesn’t mean we aren’t going to see some days with one-off spikes and drops. We must move away from looking at snapshot data and instead look at overall trendlines. pic.twitter.com/brqfu72TRP
— Governor Phil Murphy (@GovMurphy) April 20, 2020
Stats:
•6,986 #COVID19 patients reported hospitalized
•2,018 individuals listed in critical or intensive care
•1,594 ventilators were in use⁰•74 patients are at one of our field medical stations
•583 New Jerseyans discharged pic.twitter.com/K8wFhsN4rO— Governor Phil Murphy (@GovMurphy) April 20, 2020
IMPORTANT: We are seeing relative stability in the number of patients in critical or intensive care. pic.twitter.com/XKZdFaI2Al
— Governor Phil Murphy (@GovMurphy) April 20, 2020
The number of newly hospitalized patients is moving on a DOWNWARD TREND.
This is one of our most-important positive indicators. It means that our health care system is in a better position to get ahead and stay ahead. It means that our social distancing efforts are working. pic.twitter.com/nhV2PahX0J
— Governor Phil Murphy (@GovMurphy) April 20, 2020
IMPORTANT: The number of discharges continues to outpace the numbers from intake.
We are not claiming victory, but we are making progress. pic.twitter.com/v4gRELPhTg
— Governor Phil Murphy (@GovMurphy) April 20, 2020
Despite all this good news, Murphy said that he wants to see the Fed set up a program for states since, like New York, the effort of battling the virus has left New Jersey in dire financial straits, like many other states.
* * *
Update (1450ET): Lawmakers remained at an impasse on Monday as a vote on a new stimulus bill to top off the federal government’s small-business loan program was pushed back until Tuesday. As Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell noted, the program has now been dry for four days.
It’s been four days since the Paycheck Protection Program ran dry. Republicans have been trying to fund this job-saving program for over a week, but Democrats have blocked us. The Senate will meet again tomorrow. I hope my colleagues will finally let this help move forward.
— Leader McConnell (@senatemajldr) April 20, 2020