Viewpoints: Coronavirus Hopefully Reminds Many That Government Is Not The Enemy; Our State, Local Governments Need More Help — And Quickly

Los Angeles Times: Op-Ed: Coronavirus Reminds Us Why Government Is Not The Enemy
After the stock market collapsed in late 1929, many people in the United States lost their jobs. By 1932, one in four Americans was suffering from lack of food. President Hoover, enamored of the efficiency of the private market and suspicious of all foreign countries, raised tariffs and waited, confident that the market would recover and all would be well again. Government intervention, he warned, would plunge the country “into socialism and collectivism.” The world seemed dark. With the COVID-19 crisis growing worse by the hour, the federal government’s colossal mishandling of it from the start — with faulty and too few tests and President Trump’s false claims that the virus was contained — may finally wake up our complacent country. (Susan Crawford, 3/14)

The Hill: Coronavirus Fears Lead To Americans Demanding Government Intervention In Health Care
As we find ourselves in the midst of a terrifying pandemic — which already claimed the lives of thousands across the globe and severely crippled financial markets — members of Congress scramble to offer Americans some degree of economic relief. The “New York Times” listed all the ways in which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi hopes to stimulate an economy and help those who are most vulnerable to the spread of COVID-19: “The legislation…will include enhanced unemployment benefits, free virus testing, aid for food assistance programs and federal funds for Medicaid. The package also ensures 14 days of paid sick leave, as well as tax credits to help small — and medium-size businesses fulfill that mandate.” (Ana Kasparian, 3/15)

The New York Times: Andrew Cuomo To President Trump: Mobilize The Military To Help Fight Coronavirus
The coronavirus pandemic is now upon us, and data from other countries shows us clearly where we are headed. Every country affected by this crisis has handled it on a national basis. The United States has not. State and local governments alone simply do not have the capacity or resources to do what is necessary, and we don’t want a patchwork quilt of policies. (New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, 3/15)

The Washington Post: Make This Simple Change To Free Up Hospital Beds Now
There is something we can do immediately that will dramatically help hospitals free up beds and medical equipment to help those suffering from covid-19. This proposal will save lives the minute that states and other authorities adopt it. We are in urgent need of emergency laws, or executive orders, in every state that temporarily relax the legal standard of medical malpractice. (Jeremy Samuel Faust, 3/15)

The Hill: President Trump Faces Hard Tests From Democrats And Coronavirus
The coronavirus has transformed life as we know it. Levels of uncertainty are high, and Americans are looking to elected officials, particularly in the federal government, for leadership and direction now more than ever. This will no doubt be the greatest leadership test that Donald Trump will face as president. His handling of this crisis will not only define his legacy in the White House, but will also make or break his chances for reelection. (Douglas Schoen, 3/15)

The Washington Post: President Trump Closed The White House Pandemic Office. I Ran It. 
When President Trump took office in 2017, the White House’s National Security Council Directorate for Global Health Security and Biodefense survived the transition intact. Its mission was the same as when I was asked to lead the office, established after the Ebola epidemic of 2014: to do everything possible within the vast powers and resources of the U.S. government to prepare for the next disease outbreak and prevent it from becoming an epidemic or pandemic. One year later, I was mystified when the White House dissolved the office, leaving the country less prepared for pandemics like covid-19. (Beth Cameron, 3/11)

The Wall Street Journal: It’s Dangerous To Test Only The Sick 
President Trump says 1.4 million tests for the novel coronavirus will become available this week. That’s welcome news. But officials are about to make a mistake. The president said testing will be limited to people who believe they may be infected. “We don’t want everybody taking this test, it’s totally unnecessary,” he said. This would make sense if there were a cure. Without one, this strategy won’t curtail either the epidemic or the anxiety associated with it. We will continue to bleed billions of dollars in economic costs from disruption of normal life. (3/15)

The New York Times: There’s A Giant Hole In Pelosi’s Coronavirus Bill
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday night celebrated the coronavirus legislation that passed early Saturday as providing paid sick leave to American workers affected by the pandemic.She neglected to mention the fine print. In fact, the bill guarantees sick leave only to about 20 percent of workers. Big employers like McDonald’s and Amazon are not required to provide any paid sick leave, while companies with fewer than 50 employees can seek hardship exemptions from the Trump administration. (3/14)

Fox News: Coronavirus Bill With Paid Leave Provision Deserves Widespread Support
In an effort to address the coronavirus crisis the House passed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act on Friday. The vote was bipartisan and President Trump is supportive. Among other things, the bill provides paid medical leave for the employees of small businesses (500 or fewer employees) impacted by the coronavirus, with the federal government reimbursing employers for those costs. Almost immediately, there was an adverse reaction from America’s small business community. Their concerns were understandable but, as it turns out, largely unwarranted. Because of the coronavirus, small businesses are suffering from dramatic sales declines, supply chain disruptions and vanishing cash flow. (Bernie Marcus and Andy Puzder, 3/16)

The New York Times: A Complete List Of Trump’s Attempts To Play Down Coronavirus
President Trump made his first public comments about the coronavirus on Jan. 22, in a television interview from Davos with CNBC’s Joe Kernen. The first American case had been announced the day before, and Kernen asked Trump, “Are there worries about a pandemic at this point?” The president responded: “No. Not at all. And we have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China, and we have it under control. It’s going to be just fine.” (David Leonhardt, 3/15)

The Washington Post: Dulles Airport Chaos: A Case Study In How Not To Handle A Pandemic
Like thousands of Americans and Europeans scrambling to get to the United States before the travel ban went into effect and flights were canceled, I flew back to the United States from Vienna on Friday. Arriving at Dulles International Airport via London, I encountered a case study in how to spread a pandemic. I had thought I was lucky to get one of the last seats home. And I was confident, because Dulles had been identified by the administration as one of the handful of U.S. airports equipped to test arriving passengers and admit or quarantine them accordingly, that I would find a rigorous protocol in place upon arrival. Obviously, the administration would not take such a momentous step without solid preparation. (Cheryl Benard, 3/15)

CNN: I Rushed Home From Paris To Beat Trump’s Travel Curbs. But First I Listened To President Macron
Well, I’m back. My month working in Paris came to a slightly premature end shortly after 2 a.m. Thursday (9 p.m. Wednesday in New York). I had heard President Donald Trump on CNN International, announcing that all folks coming from Europe would be barred entry into the US beginning midnight Friday, and quickly began to re-think my plans. (David A. Andelman, 3/16)

CNN: Coronavirus Changes Everything
Infectious disease expert Michael Osterholm, who warned in 2005 that “time is running out to prepare for the next pandemic,” said in a conversation with Peter Bergen that America faces a huge challenge: “We are worse off today than we were in 2017 because the health care system is stretched thinner now than ever. There is no excess capacity. And public health funding has been cut under this administration.” (Richard Galant, 3/15)

Stat: Medical Students Can Help Combat Covid-19. Don’t Send Them Home 
Last week, while seeing a patient in the emergency department of Stanford Hospital, I witnessed the well-orchestrated commotion that follows a suspected case of coronavirus. Masked nurses, doctors, and janitors quickly isolated the patient and began disinfecting surfaces. A technician who had been in contact with the patient on transport nervously asked the staff, “How will I find out if they test positive? Who will tell me?” Fear, contained only by the bounds of professionalism, coursed through the department as if by infusion. I felt it as a bystander, a medical student passing through the emergency department on my psychiatry rotation. The psych resident and I had come to see a man with auditory hallucinations. We rushed past the viral activity en route to our patient’s room. As I took in the scene, I thought, “Should I be here?” (Orly Nadell Farber, 3/14)

Boston Globe: Scale The Price For A Coronavirus Vaccine By The Harm It Averts 
Paying $70 billion for unlimited use of a Covid-19 vaccine is much better than paying $7 trillion — about how much the US stock market has lost since Feb. 19. A little math can mean having a large arsenal of treatments and vaccines for the next coronavirus and avoiding death, hospitalizations, disruptions, and catastrophic economic losses. (Amitabh Chandra, 3/13)

Los Angeles Times: Your Hoarding Could Cost Me My Life — A Doctor’s View From The Coronavirus Front Lines 
As a doctor working in a Los Angeles public hospital, I don’t have the choice of telecommuting or working from home. My colleagues and I have a moral commitment to care for the sick and try to save lives. This is a profession we happily chose, knowing the risks involved, but we used to feel adequately protected. Today, with a raging global pandemic, we don’t.In the hard-hit Italian region of Lombardy, 20% of the healthcare workers have been infected by COVID-19. Every time another one of them falls ill, that’s one fewer person to treat sick patients. (Erica Patel, 3/15)

NBC News: NBA Season Suspended Over Coronavirus Fears. But Our Sports Blackout May Be Just Beginning.
The last major sporting event in North America was played last Thursday, one last spring baseball game wrapping up just in time for Major League Baseball’s self-imposed 4 p.m. deadline. My parents — ignoring my pleas about social distancing (boomers!) — were at that game, between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Miami Marlins in Jupiter, Florida, drinking Bud Lights and eating hot dogs like everything was normal and fine. And my son and I watched the last pitch, a strikeout by Cardinals reliever Giovanny Gallegos, on television, miles away, knowing it’d be the last strikeout we’d be seeing for a while. Professional athletics is a billion-dollar global industry, but it has proved no match for the coronavirus pandemic. (Will Leitch, 3/16)