12 March 2020
It was the biggest single-day drop since the markets crashed 33 years ago; entertainment and sporting events to close doors worldwide; GA and KS confirmed their first deaths from COVID-19
[Updated] Stocks plunged Thursday morning, causing trading in the U.S. to halt for 15 minutes after the S&P 500 dropped 7 percent. In an attempt to calm the markets, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York announced it would provide at least $1.5 trillion in short-term loans to banks Thursday and Friday. The S&P 500 continued its decline; stocks recorded their biggest single-day drop since the markets crashed 33 years ago. As measured by NASDAQ and the S&P 500, the market is now down more than 25% since its mid-February peak.
If it’s hard to visualize how many people will become infected with SARS-2-CoV, it’s possibly even more difficult to grasp the local economic impact of the coronavirus disease COVID-19 (unless you wait tables).
For example, Seattle’s best-known restauranteur, Tom Douglas, announced on Wednesday that he is temporarily closing 12 of his 13 restaurants, which employ 800, effective Sunday. Douglas also caters food for The Paramount and Moore Theatres, which have been effectively closed by Governor Jay Inslee’s ban on gatherings of more than 250 people.
“I am optimistic [that] at the end of the day, in eight to 12 weeks, we will be back at it,” the three-time James Beard award chef told the Seattle Times in a phone interview.
Douglas said he plans to re-open all his restaurants but stressed that specific re-opening dates will be contingent on when Amazon and other companies’ workers will feel safe enough to return to their offices and start eating out again.
This is the first ripple; multiply it across all the small businesses (and the people who work there) that survive on foot traffic; count them in every state (eventually) across the country. For the next two-three months.
Lives are affected directly when lights go out at work; fewer lives directly feel portfolios drop, given that in 2016, 90 percent of American households controlled only 16 percent of all stocks.
However much it affects the economy, social distancing is key to slowing the rate of the infection. Marc Lipsitch, infectious disease epidemiologist and microbiologist at Harvard:
We need measures that while painful for all will slow social contact - cancelling public gatherings, paid sick leave, working from home, and the like. Social distancing is the general name for these interventions.
Recommended reading
Santa Clarita, CA, radio station KHTS owner Carl Goldman has been chronicling his COVID-19 experience, from being trapped on the Diamond Princess Cruise, to being diagnosed on his way home, to his quarantine in Nebraska. March 11 was day 35, as his release waits for three successive days with negative tests (nose and throat).
She is young, and it was miserable. Elizabeth Schneider’s first-person story, on Facebook and KING-5.
WHO-China Joint Mission Report on Coronavirus, 28 February 2020
Recommended viewing
Michael Osterholm is the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) and an adjunct professor in the Medical School at the University of Minnesota.
Sections below
Around the country; Politics, economics and COVID-19; Global news; Case count (domestic and global); What you can do; and Resources
Around the country
Only four states have not yet identified a COVID-19 infection: Alaska (1/sq mile); Alabama (94.4/sq mile); Idaho (20/sq mile ); and West Virginia (77.1/sq mile). The 41 known deaths are from six states, with most from Washington.
Several states are experimenting with drive-through testing: California, Colorado, Minnesota, Texas and Washington. Key advantages: minimize contact with others in waiting rooms, reduced need to wipe down exam rooms. South Korea pioneered this method in February.
California has limited gatherings of more than 250 people statewide and has expanded unemployment benefits.
DC has limited mass gatherings, defined as more than 1,000 persons. American University students will be take online classes for the remainder of the spring semester.
Georgia confirmed its first coronavirus death.
Kansas reported its first coronavirus death.
Nebraska nursing home operators “are telling me they’re worried because they have patients who might have coronavirus, but they don’t have enough testing kits to find out.” ~ Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE)
New York St. Patrick's Day parade is canceled, and the Governor banned gatherings of more than 500. Boston had canceled its parade earlier in the week.
North Carolina seeks work-around due to test kit shortage.
Oregon has limited gatherings of more than 250 people.
Washington announced a ban on public gatherings Wednesday and also expanded unemployment benefits to those affected by SARS-2-CoV. In email on Thursday, Governor Inslee reiterated: “If you feel sick, stay home. Period. This is not just about your health but the health of all of us -- especially our most vulnerable communities -- here in Washington state.”
Politics, economics and COVID-19
The world may begin to understand how much of the global economy rests on tourism and entertainment.
By Thursday evening, the U.S. Capitol and all Senate and House buildings will be closed to the public. On Wednesday, a staffer in Sen. Maria Cantwell’s office (D-WA) tested positive for COVID-19; Cantwell’s staff now is under self quarantine and she has closed both her DC and Seattle offices.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) announced his staff would also telecommute. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who has been under self-quarantine, is also closing his office.
Cruise news: two days ago the CDC warned Americans to postpone cruises.
Carnival has suspended its Princess Cruises through May 10; its shares dropped 31 percent Thursday morning. “Voyages that extend beyond March 17 will be ended at the ‘most convenient location for guests’.”
Viking is halting river and ocean cruises through April 30.
Sir Richard Brannon has postponed his launch of Virgin Voyages cruises to late summer.
Entertainment and sports news:
Disney will shutter Disneyland (CA) from the end of this week through the end of the month. Also lights off for a while: Disney World (FL), Disneyland Paris, and Disney Cruiselines. Disney had already closed parks in China and Japan. By Monday, all Disney properties worldwide will be closed. Varsity reports that “The Walt Disney Company will pay its cast members during that closure period.”
This is the fourth time in history that Disneyland has fully suspended its operations. The other occasions were the morning after John F. Kennedy's assassination in 1963, the Northridge earthquake in 1994, and the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001.Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal Orlando Resort also announced theme park closures.
Broadway closes all theaters through April 12.
The Smithsonian will close all museums in Washington, D.C. indefinitely.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints suspended public gatherings worldwide.
Major League Baseball is suspending both spring training and the start of the 2020 season for at least two weeks.
Major League Soccer is suspending its season for at least 30 days. The league is planning to reschedule games for later in the season rather than play without a live crowd.
The National Hockey League is temporarily suspending all of its games. There are fewer than four weeks left in the regular season.
Major NCAA basketball conferences have canceled tournaments, including the Big Ten, SEC, and Big 12. The March Madness college basketball tournament also canceled.
That was glum, so here’s a way you can entertain yourself! Make your own!
Global news
The number of affected countries jumped from 29 at the end of February to 117 today. Although early reports tied the outbreak to a seafood (“wet”) market in Wuhan, China, analyses of genomic data suggest that the virus may have developed elsewhere.
The percentage of COVID-19 patients in Italy who need ICU treatment has ranged from 9 percent to 11 percent, according to a report in the Lancet on Thursday. The country’s ICUs will be at maximum capacity if that trend continues for one more week.
Intensive care specialists are already considering denying life-saving care to the sickest and giving priority to those patients most likely to survive when deciding who to provide ventilation to … In the near future, they will have no choice. They will have to follow the same rules that health-care workers are left with in conflict and disaster zones.
With a population of 61 million, Italy reported 12,462 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 827 deaths on 11 March.
In Australia, the Home Affairs Minister has tested positive.
In Canada, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau tested positive after returning from the UK; Prime Minister Justin Trudeau works from home.
France is closing all day care centers, schools and universities, President Emmanuel Macron said in a televised address.
Iran, the third worst-hit country, has asked the International Monetary Fund for $5 billion in emergency funding to help it respond to COVID-19. This was its first request since 1962. “U.S. sanctions that have devastated oil exports and isolated it from global banking channels.”
In Portugal, all public and private schools and universities will close Monday for about a month. The government “will offer financial assistance to working parents who have to stay at home with their children.”
Case count
Tests are becoming more widely available as state, university and commercial labs implement testing. Scientists point out that where there are two confirmed cases or where the first case is severe, there are many more people walking the streets, unaware that they are carriers. There is a lag between the initial period of contagion and a person showing symptoms.
11 March, global
Globally: 125,048 confirmed (6,729 new) with 4,613 deaths (321 new)
China: 80,981 confirmed (26 new) with 3,173 deaths (11 new)
Outside of China: 44,067 confirmed (6,703 new) with 1440 deaths (310 new) in 117 countries/territories/ areas (4 new)
Global confirmed: 128,343
Total deaths: 4,720
Total recovered: 68,324
Johns Hopkins interactive dashboard
11 March, domestic
Nationally there are a total of 1,215 cases and 36 deaths according to the CDC and 1,663 cases and 40 deaths according to Johns Hopkins. Forty-six states plus DC are reporting 1,629 identified cases with 40 deaths. View infographic and data online.
What you can do
Stay home when sick. Stay home as much as possible, period. Avoid crowded places.
Do not go to the emergency room unless essential. Emergency rooms need to be able to serve those with the most critical needs. If you have symptoms such as a cough, fever, or other respiratory problems, contact your regular doctor first, by phone.
Practice excellent personal hygiene habits, including hand washing, coughing into tissue or elbow, and avoiding touching eyes, nose, or mouth. Soap dissolves the fatty outer layer of the virus, which is why hand washing is so effective.
Stay away from people who are ill, especially if you are 60 and older or have underlying health conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, lung disease, or a weakened immune system.
Don’t stockpile personal protective equipment (PPE) such as face masks as they are needed by health care staff. When is a mask is needed? When we are unwell and have to go out.
Tips via Seattle-King County Public Health