Trump wants to have America reopened following coronavirus shutdown 'by Easter' and more corona-related updates

RT
Tue, 24 Mar 2020 02:22 UTC

© REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

US President Donald Trump has finally given a date for when he would like America to at least partially reopen after the Covid-19 shutdown: April 12. Otherwise, he argued, the depression would cause far more deaths than the virus.

"I would love to have the country opened up and just raring to go by Easter," Trump said on Tuesday during a Fox News virtual town hall.

We have to get our country back to work. Our country wants to go back to work.

This follows his remarks on Monday night at the White House press briefing, when he would not name a date, but said he was debating loosening the restrictions in the coming weeks in order to prevent a complete economic collapse of the US.

Anxiety and depression from the economic crisis would cause deaths "in far greater numbers than we're talking about with regard to the virus," Trump argued.

The US is currently on Day 8 of the government's "15 days to stop the spread" program, with tens of millions of Americans either working from home or furloughed - some without pay - to encourage "social distancing."

A $2 trillion financial relief package was proposed by the Senate with the intention of sending cash payments to Americans to make up for income lost due to the shutdown. It was blocked by Senate Democrats on Sunday and again on Monday, however, as the House Democrats sought to push their own proposal, which included a laundry list of policy priorities unrelated to the pandemic.

Trump said on Tuesday that he would not sign such a bill, pivoting to discussions about reopening at least parts of the country to business instead. Certain locations - such as the states of Washington, New York and California - that are hotbeds of contagion might need to stay locked down longer, the White House has acknowledged.

Comment: Trump also announced during a town hall that he canceled the Democrat's version of the coronavirus bill on Tuesday, which was bloated with financial aid to places that weren't even affected by the shutdown. Meanwhile, France is expected to stay locked down for six more weeks, That's the recommendation from a group of Macron advisors. The Dow surged on Tuesday on the hopes of a trillion-dollar stimulus package passing. Three US Navy sailors aboard aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt in the Philippines were the first service members deployed on a ship to test positive for coronavirus. The LA County Sheriff decided to make gun shops non-essential services, which means they will have to close during the lockdown.

Greta Thunberg felt the need to announce to the world that it's "extremely likely" she has contracted the coronavirus, despite the fact that her symptoms are not so bad that she needs immediate attention. Italy has upped the fines for people defying the quarantine. People can now be fined up to $3,200 for having the temerity to go outside. The Moscow mayor met with Putin today and warned that there could be many more cases than what has been officially reported in Russia. He urged the president to take more robust measures to fight the spread. Putin already has to deal with being referred to as a dictator - which is ridiculous - so it's hard to blame him for being reticent to lock down Russia. They have continued to shut down non-essential businesses, as on Tuesday all night clubs, cinemas, entertainment centers and hookah bars will have to shutter their doors.

Anyone who has left NYC over the last few days is being urged to self-quarantine for two weeks due to the large number of cases coming out of the East Coast. Trump's senior immunologist, Dr. Anthony Fauci, has slammed the mainstream media for trying to pit him against Trump. The media has a serious issue with trying to always find a way to make Trump look bad, they don't care about the consequences. A hysterical journalist at the Telegraph revealed her xenophobia by tweeting that, once the coronavirus madness is over, anyone who owns a product made in China should wear a "badge of shame."

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo thinks that "the worst is yet to come" for NYC and that the apex will be in the next few weeks. He believes the priority for medical supplies like ventilators should be in NY. A legal counsel for Julian Assange, Baltasar Garzon, has been admitted to a hospital in Spain after testing positive for the virus. The French department of Aisne has banned the sale of alcohol during the lockdown. Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf has classified gun shops as an essential service, reversing a sales ban when the state went into lockdown.

The epicenter of the outbreak, China's Wuhan, saw no new cases today as 60 million residents go back to living their normal lives.

Kudlow: Look at reopening safe areas

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council, said that congressional leaders are close to striking a deal on a $2 trillion-plus fiscal stimulus package to try to assist workers and businesses who have been adversely affected by the coronavirus outbreak. He said the package is "absolutely essential" to the reopening of the economy.

"After the 15-day period is over, which I guess ends [at] the end of this week or the weekend, we will take another look at the possibility of targeting areas that are safe enough. We have to do this with the assent and help of the health specialists — there's no question about that."

He said they're hearing from a lot of small businesses who want to see if they can "liberalize" and "target more" and "stop as many shutdowns as we have. That doesn't mean [we're] going to leave social distancing; that doesn't mean we're going to walk away from the mitigating advice that we've received from our health specialists and so forth. It just means we're going to take a slightly different look at this and I think the president would like to do something in the next couple of weeks. We know small businesses have been shut in, we know that a lot of workers are either furloughed or laid off."

Coupled with $4 trillion of lending authority for the Federal Reserve, the stimulus could add up to about $6 trillion, or 30% of GDP.

"This is the largest Main Street assistance package in the history of the country. Here we are with a $6 trillion package and we may be taking a new look at the shut-ins around the country. But let's get this thing passed. Let's just get this bill passed. It's so important."

Mr. Kudlow said a $500 billion stabilization fund for businesses, states and localities is not a "slush fund," as Democrats have described it. "This is aboveboard. Everyone will get a chance to see it. Nothing's going to be hidden, and we're just trying to get the basic essentials of the economy."