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President Trump on Wednesday night blocked most visitors from continental Europe to the United States and vowed emergency aid to workers and small businesses as the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a global pandemic, stock markets plunged further and millions of people cut themselves off from their regular lives. In a prime-time address from the Oval Office, Mr. Trump outlined a series of measures intended to tackle the virus and its economic impact as he sought to reassure Americans that he was taking the crisis seriously after previously playing down the scope of the outbreak. He said he would halt travelers from Europe other than Britain for 30 days and asked Congress to support measures like a payroll tax cut. (Baker, 3/11)

Trump, whose administration has come under sharp criticism for its response to a public health crisis that he has previously downplayed, also announced several steps aimed at blunting economic fallout posed by coronavirus. The travel order, which starts on midnight Friday, does not apply to Britain, or to Americans undergoing "appropriate screenings," Trump said. "We are marshaling the full power of the federal government and the private sector to protect the American people," Trump said in a prime-time televised address from the Oval Office. "This is the most aggressive and comprehensive effort to confront a foreign virus in modern history." (Alper and Bloom, 3/12)

Although he read from a prepared script as he delivered a rare prime-time televised address to the nation from the Oval Office, Trump incorrectly described his own policy. The president said in his speech that the travel restriction from Europe would apply to cargo and trade as well as passengers. But the text of the order, later released by the White House, stated that the ban would not include cargo, allowing for continued trade between the continents to maintain the free flow of commerce. (Rucker and Gearan, 3/11)

Trump said the restrictions won't apply to the United Kingdom, and there would be exemptions for “Americans who have undergone appropriate screenings." He said the U.S. would monitor the situation to determine if travel could be reopened earlier. The State Department followed Trump's remarks by issuing an extraordinary global health advisory cautioning U.S. citizens to “reconsider travel abroad” due to the virus and associated quarantines and restrictions. (Colvin, Miller, Mascaro and Taylor, 3/12)

Overall, Trump did adopt a more solemn tone during his address, a change for a president who, as recently as Monday, compared the rapidly spreading virus to the common flu and tweeted that “nothing is shut down, life and the economy go on.” The comparison to the flu was the latest in a series of inaccurate comments Trump has made about the virus as the number of confirmed U.S. cases has climbed over 1,000. Often, his public statements have contradicted top U.S. officials and Cabinet secretaries who have encouraged Americans — particularly older adults and those with chronic health conditions — to take the outbreak more seriously. (Orr, 3/11)

He said Americans should “take extra precautions,” but offered few specifics other than exhorting people to wash their hands frequently. He did go further than he has in the past to say that “older Americans should avoid nonessential travel” and that people in general should “stay home,” but at the same time, he continued to minimize the potential severity of the disease. (Bierman, 3/11)

Trump also said his administration would advise nursing homes to suspend all “medically unnecessary” visits. Though many Covid-19 cases are mild, older Americans, and those with medical conditions including heart disease, lung disease, and diabetes, are seen as particularly high-risk, and have accounted for the bulk of deaths. “In general, older Americans should also avoid non essential travel in crowded areas,” Trump said. “My administration is coordinating directly with communities with the largest outbreaks, and we have issued guidance on school closures, social distancing, and reducing large gatherings.” (Facher, 3/11)

"We are marshaling the full power of the federal government and the private sector to protect the American people," Trump said, emphasizing that the pandemic started off of U.S. shores, and specifically pinpointing China. (Phelps, 3/11)

The virus has spread to more than 100 countries, roiled markets and disrupted daily life across the country and around the world. The sober address marked Mr. Trump’s most direct response to date, though he again tried to sound an optimistic note and defended actions already taken by his administration. “This is not a financial crisis,” Mr. Trump said. “This is just a temporary moment in time that we will overcome as a nation, and as a world.” U.S. stock futures and global stock markets dropped after the president announced the new travel restrictions. (Restuccia, Leary and Davidson, 3/11)

There's one thing the Trump administration wants Americans to remember about the coronavirus pandemic: It carries the "Made in China” label. Trump administration officials, on the defensive about their own handling of the virus, have repeatedly reminded people that the virus started in Wuhan, a city in China's Hubei province, with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo referring to it as the “Wuhan coronavirus.” (Riechmann, 3/12)

He and administration officials later tweeted that the restrictions apply only to people, not goods and trade, and will not include a bar on U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents. Trump spoke sternly about what he called a “foreign virus” that “started in China and is now spreading throughout the world.” “The virus will not have a chance against us,” Trump said. “No nation is more prepared or more resilient than the United States.” (Zezima, Craig, Wan and Sonmez, 3/11)

The State Department on Wednesday raised the worldwide travel advisory to Level 3: Reconsider Travel, urging US citizens to reconsider travel abroad due to the coronavirus pandemic. "The Department of State advises U.S. citizens to reconsider travel abroad due to the global impact of COVID-19. Many areas throughout the world are now experiencing COVID-19 outbreaks and taking action that may limit traveler mobility, including quarantines and border restrictions," the department said in a statement. (Hansler and LeBlanc, 3/12)

An airline worker at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York addressed a crowd with only guesses as to how passengers waiting to board a flight to Dublin would be handled moments after President Donald Trump announced restrictions on travel from Europe. Trump said Wednesday he was sharply restricting travel to the United States from more than two dozen European countries in light of the coronavirus outbreak that is now labeled a pandemic. Soon after, his administration clarified that the ban only applied to foreign nationals and not to American citizens who had been screened before entering the country. (Holcombe, 3/12)

The decision by President Donald Trump to restrict most travel from 26 European countries sparked chaos at airports and confusion early Thursday, as the coronavirus pandemic continues to spread around the world. Many Americans and foreigners wanting to travel to the United States were scrambling to work out what it meant for their travel plans. Meanwhile, others questioned the logic of the plan, and whether it would actually help the effort to slow down the spread of the deadly contagion. (Smith, 3/12)

Cassie Pekarski was a few hours into her trip from New York to Madrid when her phone pinged with a message from her mother. She paused the "Friends" rerun on her inflight television and glanced at her phone. "So ... the US just banned travel between the US and Europe starting Friday," the message read Wednesday night. "You NEED to check with your tour guide group about coming back early." (Karimi, 3/12)

President Donald Trump’s new European travel restrictions have a convenient side effect: They exempt nations where three Trump-owned golf resorts are located. Trump is already under fire for visiting his properties in both countries as president, leading to U.S. taxpayer money being spent at his own firms. The president has been saddled with lawsuits and investigations throughout his term alleging that he’s violating the Constitution’s emoluments clause by accepting taxpayer money other than his salary. (Health, 3/12)

On the same day the World Health Organization declared novel coronavirus a pandemic, President Donald Trump and White House officials scrambled to lay out how the federal government would deal with the growing crisis. There are have been more than 1,000 cases of novel coronavirus in the United States and at least 30 people have died after contracting COVID-19, the illness it causes. Health officials said they expect the numbers to continue to grow. (Alcindor, 3/12)

President Trump on Wednesday gave a rare Oval Office address to reassure a worried nation about the spread of the novel coronavirus, which has infected more than 1,000 Americans and killed more than 30 thus far. In the address Trump detailed new travel restrictions and targeted economic relief for small businesses and individuals affected by the virus, while calling on Congress for further action on payroll tax relief and benefits for hourly workers. (3/11)

People around the world became increasingly closed off from one another Thursday as sweeping travel bans accelerated, walling regions apart as a viral pandemic unfolds and financial markets plunge. It was an outbreak moving, at once, both glacially and explosively, with a virus first detected three months ago in China creeping across borders and producing eruptive outbreaks that have crippled areas. (Hinnant and Winfield, 3/12)

“Stop shaking hands” is the very first bullet point on the Trump administration’s list of recommended precautions workplaces and schools can implement to help blunt the spread of the coronavirus. But even as the administration pushes the public to follow the common-sense recommendations – available at coronavirus.gov – President Donald Trump is openly flouting the guidance and has been seen at multiple events in recent days shaking hands. (Phelps, 3/11)

President Trump's approval rating has slipped over the last month, a new Hill/HarrisX poll finds. Forty-six percent of registered voters surveyed approve of the job President Trump is doing, with 54 percent disapproving in the survey which was conducted from March 8-9. That marks a 3 percent drop in Trump's approval rating from a survey taken on Feb. 1-2, which showed 49 percent approving and 51 percent disapproving. Still, the decrease is within the poll's margin of error. (Schulte, 3/11)

U.S. stock futures and global indexes plunged, adding new turmoil to a roller-coaster week for markets, as a U.S. travel ban stoked renewed worries about the coronavirus’s economic toll. S&P 500 futures were down 4%, suggesting U.S. shares could be set for another punishing session later Thursday, a day after the Dow Jones Industrial Average slid into a bear market. European indexes fell at the start of trading Thursday, with the pan-continental Stoxx Europe 600 shedding 5.4% and Italy’s FTSE MIB falling 5.8%. (Chiu, 3/12)

Sean Hannity used his syndicated talk-radio program on Wednesday to share a prediction he had found on Twitter about what is really happening with the coronavirus: It’s a “fraud” by the deep state to spread panic in the populace, manipulate the economy and suppress dissent. “May be true,” Mr. Hannity declared to millions of listeners around the country. (Peters and Grynbaum, 3/11)

The White House and Democrats rushed on Wednesday to reach agreement on emergency legislation to provide a first tranche of economic assistance to help Americans cope with the fast-moving coronavirus pandemic, with the hope of sending it to President Trump for his signature by the end of the week. As the White House and Democrats were divided over what a broader economic stimulus package should look like, the two parties were trying to coalesce around the idea of a narrower short-term bill, while deferring discussion over other economic measures until after Congress returns from a weeklong recess. The bill would focus on paid leave, enhanced unemployment insurance, food assistance and help for small businesses. (Stolberg, Tankersley and Rappeport, 3/11)

Other provisions in the 124-page "Families First Coronavirus Response Act" introduced late on Wednesday include unemployment insurance to furloughed workers and hundreds of millions of dollars in additional funding for children's, seniors' and other federal nutrition programs. An additional $500 million would be provided to help feed low-income pregnant women or mothers with young children who lose their jobs or are laid off because of the virus outbreak. Another $400 million would help local food banks meet increased demand. The legislation also would guarantee free coronavirus testing for anyone who requires it, including uninsured people. (Cowan and Cornwell, 3/12)

Democrats spent the week drafting a package that would focus on hourly workers who would be especially hard-hit if forced to self-quarantine, as well as provisions to ensure workers won’t be penalized for taking sick days. Their plan is in contrast with Trump’s proposals, which have mainly focused on calling for tax cuts and aid to tourist-based industries including airlines, hotels and cruise companies. “I hope it’ll be very generous so we can really be accountable to those who are suffering with losing their jobs, who have no access to food, et cetera,” said Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee and one of the authors of the package. "We put a proposal together as effectively as we could, as soon as we could, and I hope all the other parts of government will respond," Lowey said, when asked about GOP support. "I would hope the other side of the aisle understands what an emergency is." (Ferris, Caygle and Bresnahan, 3/11)

By passing the House bill, Democrats may also hope to insulate themselves from public criticism that Congress is moving too slowly to respond to the health crisis. Lawmakers are scheduled to leave town Thursday afternoon for a weeklong recess. The legislation is moving quickly and it is uncertain whether the Trump administration might support it. Senate Republicans huddled Wednesday and said they haven’t made any decisions on whether they will support the bill because they haven’t seen the specifics. (Haberkorn, 3/11)

The House effort shows the urgency with which political leaders are moving to contain the economic turmoil caused by the coronavirus outbreak. Although the Senate may not have time to act before a congressional recess scheduled for next week, a number of Republican senators indicated openness Wednesday to at least some elements of the House plan and said it was important to act quickly. “The sick leave is certainly something we need to take a close look at, I think that’s a very practical, very significant help to folks,” said Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.). “I think we shouldn’t rule anything out at this point and I think, you know, it’s a very fluid situation.” (Werner, DeBonis and Kim, 3/11)

"We don't want to panic, but on the other hand, nor do we want to give any impression that this is not a major, critical health challenge confronting us that we need to handle responsibly," House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told reporters in his Capitol Hill office Wednesday morning. "Tomorrow we're going to be addressing -- and I'm sure in the future addressing -- the economic consequences to individuals and trying to assure that they don't fall through the cracks." (Parkinson, 3/11)

For any other leader, the rapid turnaround on the recovery plan would be a herculean feat at best. But for Pelosi, successfully negotiating a multi-billion-dollar economic package with a hostile and often antagonistic Trump administration was just another day in the speaker’s suite. It’s also a reminder that for all Trump’s omnipresence on Twitter and cable TV, Pelosi remains the dominant figure on Capitol Hill when it comes time to actually getting something accomplished. “She understands what has to be done, and will do so in a very limited time frame and scope while trying to be inclusive with a very diverse caucus that also has a lot of their own ideas on how to solve the problem,” said Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.). “While there can be some consternation going forward, at the end of the day, she has the trust of the caucus.” (Caygle and Bresnahan, 3/12)

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin urged lawmakers to quickly approve a stimulus measure to ease the economic pain inflicted by the novel coronavirus. He added the administration’s first priority is helping businesses and employees, including paid family leave for workers who are sick or under quarantine at home. (Davidson, 3/11)

Republicans were also considering policy steps Wednesday evening, leaving open the possibility that Capitol Hill could cobble together a bipartisan compromise to address the economic consequences of the pandemic in just a matter of days. House Republican leadership met Wednesday to discuss possible legislation, and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) was in contact with Mr. Mnuchin on Wednesday. Prospects of a bipartisan agreement have fallen to Mr. Mnuchin and Mrs. Pelosi. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) said he would defer to the Trump administration and House Republicans indicated they would also fall in line behind the White House. (Andrews and Duehren, 3/11)

The White House aims to propose several phases of relief measures to Congress, including a delay of the April 15 tax filing deadline, reimbursements for lost wages to sick and quarantined workers, aid to small and mid-size businesses and support for airlines, hotels and other travel firms, Mnuchin said. The Democratic-led House of Representatives plans to vote on the first phase of aid on Thursday, a bill that includes expanding unemployment benefits for those who have lost work because of the virus-driven slowdown. (Lawder and Shalal, 3/11)

The centerpiece of Mr. Trump’s stimulus proposal, which remains a work in progress, is a temporary tax cut that by itself would add nearly $1 trillion to the national debt: a suspension of all Social Security payroll taxes through the end of the year. Some economists have cheered the idea as the right move at a fraught moment when workers are quarantined, schools are closing and large gatherings are being canceled. But others — including those who have called for aggressive congressional action — say the plan would be an inefficient way of stoking consumer demand at a time of supply shortages and a growing number of quarantines. (Tankersley, 3/12)

As the coronavirus affects almost every aspect of business, a collection of Trump administration officials—at times at odds with one another—are seeking to coordinate government action to soften the anticipated blow to the economy. So far, that coordination has been more ad hoc than organized or torn from the classic crisis playbook, which has administration policy makers acting in concert with the Federal Reserve and seeking buy-in from congressional leaders from both parties before announcing a policy response. (Davidson, Restuccia and Timiraos, 3/11)

As the number of U.S. COVID-19 cases expands, some healthcare providers are rolling out drive-through testing to help protect patients and healthcare workers from contracting the virus.Tenet Healthcare Corp. said Wednesday it's prepared to perform drive-up testing for COVID-19 where patients could get tested without leaving their cars. The Dallas-based hospital chain's CEO explained Wednesday at the virtual Barclays Global Healthcare Conference that the company has launched external triage centers at all of its 65 hospitals. (Bannow, 3/11)

Kaiser Permanente began “drive-through” testing for coronavirus in San Francisco on Wednesday, and public and private health care providers across the Bay Area also ramped up screening efforts, but no one knows how widespread the virus is, public health and infectious disease experts said. It’s impossible to say how many tests are done daily in the Bay Area, because counties and private providers aren’t making that information public, in part because of patient privacy concerns. (Ravani and Allday, 3/11)

Laboratories around the country are now facing potential shortages of key materials and chemicals needed to run tests for the novel coronavirus, as cases spread to more than two-thirds of the states and the global pandemic strains testing resources even further. Some lab directors say they are already beginning to run low of the supplies needed to extract RNA from nasal swabs, a crucial initial step that is separate from the millions of test kits that the federal government has promised to ship to every state. Others say they are weighing whether to borrow some materials from other research labs that aren’t involved in creating or running coronavirus tests. (Thomas, 3/11)

The chemicals, or reagents, are used to extract genetic material from a nasal swab sample, among the first steps in the testing process. Demand for reagents has left a key supplier struggling to keep pace with orders from countries around the world. The new information provides a clearer picture of why testing shortages continue, even as state and federal officials last week insisted there were sufficient kits. (Karlmamangla and Baumgaertner, 3/11)

Even though the federal government has reassured the public that millions of tests for the coronavirus are on the way, many private laboratories in the U.S. still aren't able to conduct their own tests, in part because of a demanding government approval process, leading lab experts and industry groups say. One hospital lab says it could have performed thousands of tests by now. The delays — which have also been driven by a shortage of materials and lack of information from the federal government about how much labs will be reimbursed — have prolonged waiting times to diagnose infected patients while the virus has spread further, according to lab directors and public health experts. (Khimm, Strickler and Breslauer, 3/11)

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday said the state will begin contracting with private labs to greatly increase the number of people tested for the novel coronavirus. For weeks leading up to the first case of coronavirus, state and local officials urged the federal government and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to open up testing capacity at several public labs, and to permit labs to do testing automatically instead of by hand. (West, 3/11)

The IRS released guidance on Wednesday that confirms employers may waive out-of-pocket costs for coronavirus testing and treatment for workers enrolled in high-deductible health plans. Employers have been hesitant to eliminate cost-sharing for medical tests for COVID-19 for fear of running afoul of the law even as several states and dozens of private health insurers pledged affordable access to tests and treatment. The guidance is likely to allay employers' chief concerns. (Livingston, 3/11)

The Internal Revenue Service said Wednesday that health insurers can voluntarily pay the full cost of coronavirus testing and treatment for participants in high-deductible health plans, even if the customer has not yet met the deductible. The IRS notice issued Wednesday also applies to self-funded plans, where the employer collects premiums and pays claims. Many employers hire insurance or other companies to administer these plans, so employees may not realize they are self-funded. (Pender, 3/11)

The spread of the coronavirus is now a pandemic, officials at the World Health Organization said on Wednesday. “We have rung the alarm bell loud and clear,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the W.H.O.’s director-general. Dr. Tedros called for countries to learn from one another’s successes, act in unison and help protect one another against a common threat. (McNeil, 3/11)

Even as he raised the health emergency to its highest level, Tedros said hope remains that COVID-19 can be curtailed. And he urged countries to take action now to stop the disease. "WHO has been in full response mode since we were notified of the first cases," Tedros said. "And we have called every day for countries to take urgent and aggressive action. We have rung the alarm bell loud and clear." (Chappell, 3/11)

For weeks now, the WHO has hesitated to make the pandemic declaration, for fear of inciting panic or prompting some countries to flag in their efforts, even though many epidemiologists believed the coronavirus had already spread to pandemic levels. But on Wednesday, Tedros noted the widespread scale of the outbreak. “There are now more than 118,000 cases in 114 countries, and 4,291 people have lost their lives,” he said. “In the days and weeks ahead, we expect to see the number of coronavirus cases, the number of deaths and the number of affected countries climb even higher." (Wan, 3/11)

The pandemic label doesn’t require new WHO recommendations. But the move could get more resources to a rapidly worsening situation, some health experts said. “I hope that it adds urgency to efforts to mitigate it, because those efforts need urgency,” said Marc Lipsitch, professor of epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and director of the Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics. (McKay, Calfas and Ansari, 3/11)

More than 120,000 people have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, still mostly on the Chinese mainland, according to data provided by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. But that proportion is shrinking by the day as the epidemic is appearing to subside in China while cases spike elsewhere, especially in Europe and in the Middle East. (Winsor and Jacobo, 3/12)

Social media is chattering about Stephen King’s “The Stand,” a novel revolving around a weaponized flu that kills almost all humans and animals on the planet. Although it came out in 1978, sales of the trade paperback were up 25% in the first eight weeks of 2020, while purchases of the hardcover more than tripled, according to NPD BookScan. So many readers were trying to draw parallels between the book and the current coronavirus outbreak that Mr. King took to Twitter over the weekend to debunk the idea. (Gamerman, 3/11)

Wall Street went into a deep slump Wednesday, falling so far and so fast that the Dow Jones industrial average officially tipped into a bear market, ending a record 11-year stock rally. The bear market reflects a 20 percent fall from record highs, which the Dow hit less than a month ago, and came after the coronavirus officially became a pandemic. The World Health Organization’s declaration Wednesday reflected its alarm that countries aren’t working quickly and aggressively enough to fight the disease covid-19, caused by the coronavirus. (Telford and Heath, 3/11)

The nation’s top health officials cautioned Wednesday that the U.S. will see more coronavirus cases as the domestic outbreak spreads, a stark warning that comes as Congress looks to head off the outbreak's economic impact and global health organizations declare it a full-blown pandemic. ...“How much worse… will depend on our ability to do two things: to contain the influx in people who are infected coming from the outside and the ability to contain and mitigate within our own country,” Fauci said. “Bottom line: It’s going to get worse.” (Forgey, McCaskill and Ehley, 3/11)

While this coronavirus is being contained in some respects, he testified, the U.S. is seeing more cases emerge through community spread as well as international travel. "I can say we will see more cases, and things will get worse than they are right now," Fauci said. "How much worse we'll get will depend on our ability to do two things: to contain the influx of people who are infected coming from the outside, and the ability to contain and mitigate within our own country." (Chappell, 3/11)

Experts have produced forecasts of likely numbers of infections and serious illnesses as well as death tolls, on the basis of what is known about the novel coronavirus and how past epidemics have played out. They suggest that the United States — which has surpassed 1,000 confirmed novel-coronavirus infections and 30 deaths — must prepare for a potentially historic pandemic. Most coronavirus patients have mild or moderate illnesses and recover without need for hospitalization. The people at elevated risk of serious illness are “older adults,” in the phrasing of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and anyone with an underlying chronic illness such as heart disease, lung disease or diabetes. (Achenbach, Wan and Sun, 3/11)

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar appeared taken aback late last month when lawmakers questioned whether someone else should lead the nation’s response to coronavirus. “I serve as the lead on this while it’s a public-health emergency,” he said at a congressional budget hearing on Feb. 26. “It’s just the longstanding doctrine that this should be led by HHS with a public-health emergency.” About six hours later, President Trump made an appearance in the White House briefing room after a trip from India to say he was putting Vice President Mike Pence in charge. The vice president, he said, has “a certain talent for this.” (Armour and Burton, 3/11)

The CMS has encouraged Medicare Advantage plans to eliminate or reduce cost-sharing for their members affected by the coronavirus outbreak.Medicare Advantage, the private alternative to the traditional Medicare program, serves roughly 22 million seniors and disabled adults. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said that older adults and people with serious chronic medical conditions are at a higher risk of becoming very sick from COVID-19. (Livingston, 3/11)

The Trump administration and state leaders are facing pressure to quickly issue policies enabling state Medicaid programs to more effectively address the coronavirus outbreak. Health plans, state officials, and Medicaid experts are urging policymakers to declare that state Medicaid programs will cover COVID-19 testing and treatment for Medicaid-eligible people without patient cost sharing, which the Trump administration has pressed commercial insurers to do. Some have also suggested temporarily expanding coverage to low-income adults exposed to the virus in the 13 states that have not expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. (Meyer, 3/11)

As a lethal virus sweeps the globe, U.S. national security officials are closely monitoring how the disease is affecting closed societies like China, Iran and North Korea, trying to gauge to what extent officials in those countries have been covering up the extent of the outbreak. They’re also wrestling with a complex question closer to home: how to prevent the virus from spreading inside the nation’s intelligence and defense agencies themselves. (Bertrand, Lippman, McGraw and Seligman, 3/12)

The Defense Department (DOD) will implement a 60-day travel ban for service members, DOD civilians and their families to and from countries whose populations have been the most stricken by coronavirus, the Pentagon announced Wednesday night. The restrictions, which go into effect Friday, ban all travel to, throughout and from locations designated as Level 3 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), including China, South Korea, Iran and Italy. (Mitchell, 3/12)

The ability of the American health care system to absorb a shock — what experts call surge capacity — is much weaker than many believe. As a medical doctor who analyzes health issues for The Upshot, I strive to place your fears in context and usually tell you that you shouldn’t be nearly as afraid as you are. But when it comes to the nation’s response to the new coronavirus, I cannot be so reassuring. A crucial thing to understand about the coronavirus threat — and it’s playing out grimly in Italy — is the difference between the total number of people who might get sick and the number who might get sick at the same time. Our country has only 2.8 hospital beds per 1,000 people. (Carroll, 3/12)

As new coronavirus infections accumulate across America, hospitals want to make sure they have everything they need to keep staff safe. In China, where the virus was first discovered, protecting health care workers was a serious challenge. More than 3,300 nurses, doctors and other hospital staff members across the country were infected, many because of insufficient protective equipment. In the United States, some hospitals are already struggling with limited supplies, as health officials figure out the best way to protect workers. (Popovich and Parshina-Kottas, 3/11)

Masks, gloves and other equipment are crucial as health care workers face the COVID-19 outbreak. There is a strategic national stockpile that the U.S. government controls — but no one actually knows, beyond that stockpile, what's already out there in the private sector. Some hospitals have extras, and some not enough. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is working on a system that would track the inventory across the U.S. The big hurdle isn't the technology. The issue is getting hospitals comfortable sharing information about their preparedness — information that, until now, they have considered confidential. (Farmer, 3/12)

President Donald Trump on Wednesday issued an executive order to increase the availability of respirators in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. "The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall take all appropriate and necessary steps with respect to general use respirators to facilitate their emergency use by healthcare personnel in healthcare facilities and elsewhere," the order said. (Brady, 3/11)

Canceling or postponing non-urgent appointments, seeing patients through remote tools like telehealth and, in some cases, locking up face masks so they don't go missing: These are just some of the ways that local hospitals are preparing for an influx of coronavirus cases in the Bay Area. This comes as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that more cases of COVID-19 are likely to be identified and that widespread transmission could occur, which "would translate into large numbers of people needing medical care at the same time." (Wiley and Klivans, 3/11)

US Med-Equip’s storage facility in Jersey Village resembles a Costco warehouse. But rather than pallets of M&M jars and bulk flour bags, the company stocks infusion pumps wrapped in plastic bags and incubators for premature babies. A veritable candy store for hospitals looking for pricey equipment, when a customer calls US Med-Equip looking for a monitor for vital signs, for example, its team checks if it has the piece, puts it on a company vehicle and delivers it to the hospital — often within three hours of the request. (Wu, 3/12)

The country's community health centers are calling on lawmakers to renew federal funding set to expire in May in order to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus. More than 1,000 COVID-19 cases have been reported as of deadline in the U.S., according to the latest figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Twenty-nine people have died. (Johnson, 3/11)

COVID-19 may already be putting a dent in procedure volumes. Almost a quarter of doctors surveyed by a major investment bank said they're seeing an uptick in procedure cancellations or deferrals. It's a small survey of 62 orthopedic surgeons, interventional cardiologists and anesthesiologists, but Jefferies analysts say the 23% who noted a change is enough to show that the novel coronavirus is prompting patients to reconsider going under the knife. (Bannow, 3/11)

Just as the levees of New Orleans stood little chance against the wrath of Hurricane Katrina, our overly complex, inflexible, noninteroperable, and often off-purpose electronic health record systems aren’t ready for an average Sunday afternoon, let alone Covid-19. As the novel coronavirus that causes Covid-19 continues its march around the world and through the United States, it is spawning another kind of infection: Covid-19 cyber threats aimed at individuals and health systems. (Perakslis and Huang, 3/12)

U.S. blood banks are concerned about potential shortages as Americans concerned about catching the new coronavirus avoid donation sites and companies with employees working from home cancel blood drives. There have already been shortages over the past week in Washington that required other blood banks to move blood in from outside the region, according to Brian Gannon, who runs the Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center and chairs a disaster task force for AABB, formerly known as the American Association of Blood Banks. Supplies in New York were also low because of blood drive cancellations, he said. (3/11)

Drugmakers are working as quickly as possible to develop a vaccine to combat the rapidly spreading coronavirus that has infected more than 100,000 people worldwide. Behind the scenes, scientists and medical experts are concerned that rushing a vaccine could end up worsening the infection in some patients rather than preventing it. Studies have suggested that coronavirus vaccines carry the risk of what is known as vaccine enhancement, where instead of protecting against infection, the vaccine can actually make the disease worse when a vaccinated person is infected with the virus. (3/11)

As they race to test an experimental coronavirus vaccine, researchers aren’t waiting to see how well it prevents infection in animals before trying it in people, breaking from the usual protocol. “I don’t think proving this in an animal model is on the critical path to getting this to a clinical trial,” said Tal Zaks, chief medical officer at Moderna, a Cambridge, Mass.-based biotech that has produced a Covid-19 vaccine candidate at record speed. He told STAT that scientists at the National Institutes of Health are “working on non-clinical research in parallel.” Meanwhile, the clinical trial started recruiting healthy participants in the first week of March. (Boodman, 3/11)

What does it take to make an effective vaccine quickly? Why are testing kits so hard to find? What makes this coronavirus so virulent? We’ll dig deep into the science you need to know. (Chakrabarti and Kotsonis, 3/12)

The coronavirus outbreak that originated in Wuhan, China, is causing businesses, health officials and patients to worry about potential shortages of prescription drugs. That's because the vast majority of active ingredients in medicines dispensed in the U.S. are made in factories overseas, many in China. NPR has exclusive reporting on how disruptions in China are affecting some drugmakers' ability to make key ingredients. On March 3, we emailed facilities registered with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to ask what products they manufacture, how the outbreak was affecting their work and how they were coping. (Lupkins, 3/12)

The coronavirus outbreak that has sickened at least 125,000 people on six continents and caused nearly 4,600 deaths is now an official global pandemic. But that doesn’t mean we should give up on trying to contain it, health experts say. The goal is no longer to prevent the virus from spreading freely from person to person, as it was in the outbreak’s early days. Instead, the objective is to spread out the inevitable infections so that the healthcare system isn’t overwhelmed with patients. Public health officials have a name for this: Flattening the curve. (Healy and Khan, 3/11)

To understand what may happen in the U.S., we can look at how COVID-19 propagated in other countries that had COVID-19 epicenters before the U.S. China for example makes up nearly 67% of the confirmed cases but despite that large number, the cases reported each day are finally starting to decrease. In the natural course of infectious spread there is a sharp increase, a peak and a decrease. China appears to be in the downward part of the curve. However, Italy, Iran, and South Korea, the next three hardest-hit nations, are still in their upward trajectory. (Baldwin and Taghipour, 3/11)

A mantra has emerged among health professionals calling for aggressive action on the coronavirus outbreak: "Flatten the curve." The catchy phrase refers to a so-called epidemic curve that is commonly used to visualize responses to disease outbreaks — and illustrates why public and individual efforts to contain the spread of the virus are crucial. It's all about speed. (Chow and Abbruzzese, 3/11)

China locked down megacities. Italy has put its entire populace into quarantine. Now New York’s governor has turned the town of New Rochelle into a “containment zone.” As the coronavirus continues its spread, officials are beginning to consider whether the United States should enact the type of large-scale, mandatory lockdowns touted by Beijing and praised at times by World Health Organization officials. The simple answer, according to experts, is no. But as the United States considers its next moves, there are lessons to be learned from what happened in China and other countries where cases are declining. (Rauhala, Wan and Shih, 3/11)

The traumas of recent history have informed Hong Kong’s response to the current coronavirus pandemic. An outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, better known by its acronym, SARS, tore through the city in 2003, leaving 299 people dead. Keiji Fukuda, a U.S. expert on infectious diseases and former assistant director-general for health security at the World Health Organization, told Today’s WorldView that SARS and other outbreaks provided lessons for Hong Kong that it is applying today. “Virtually everybody here has been through the drill,” he said. “They know the consequences.” (Taylor, 3/12)

Older generations face a potentially life-threatening risk if infected with the novel coronavirus, which has caused deaths of 60-plus-year-olds stretching across the cities of China to the metropolises of Italy and now the United States. French President Emmanuel Macron advised his citizens to limit their visits to retirement homes last week, and Italy’s government has limited access to older people in nursing homes in an effort to keep from exposing them to infection. (Beachum, 3/11)

While the coronavirus outbreak poses health risks for everyone, officials have made clear that the elderly are particularly vulnerable.In Kirkland, Wash., a nursing home that saw one of the first confirmed U.S. clusters of Covid-19 has already confirmed the death of 19 residents. Now other nursing homes and long-term care facilities are putting strict restrictions in place to limit residents’ risk of exposure to infection. Elderly living at home are also being encouraged to limit social contacts. (Zia, 3/12)

While the novel coronavirus is primarily transmitted between people, touching infected surfaces can pass the virus, too. But don't call out sick just yet: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) have tips on how to properly disinfect work stations to keep yourself healthy and your workplace clean during a pandemic. (Andrew and Niu, 3/11)

In the midst of the novel coronavirus outbreak, people are being more careful about washing and sanitizing their hands, but experts warn cleaning better extend to your cellphone. "Your cellphone is a modern day 'hotspot'; it makes no sense to clean your hands and not wipe down your phone," said ABC News' chief medical correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton. (Moore, 3/11)

The presence of the new coronavirus in New Orleans has been anticipated for weeks. Gov. John Bel Edwards told residents on March 3 that it was a matter of “when, not if” the highly infectious disease would hit the state. But now that it’s here, with 13 presumptive positive cases in Louisiana, health care professionals and residents are making tough decisions about what it means to be exposed and who should self-quarantine. (Woodruff, 3/11)

When is an epidemic considered a pandemic, and what is the difference? What do health officials mean when they recommend “self-quarantining” or “social distancing”? As the coronavirus spreads around the world, new terms are entering the lexicon — and we’re here to help. Here’s a guide to the words and phrases you need to know to keep informed of the latest developments. (Gross and Padilla, 3/11)

As cases of covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, rapidly increase in the United States and other parts of the world, epidemiologists and other researchers are urgently trying to learn more about the pathogen involved. One question that some virus specialists, and some meteorologists, are asking is whether there may be a seasonal aspect to this outbreak. In other words, is this more like the flu, which has a distinct winter peak in the United States and Europe and then ebbs for the spring and summer? Or is this here to stay at a high level of spread throughout the warm season? (Freedman and Samenow, 3/11)

The new coronavirus can live in the air for several hours and on some surfaces for as long as two to three days, tests by U.S. government and other scientists have found. Their work, published Wednesday, doesn't prove that anyone has been infected through breathing it from the air or by touching contaminated surfaces, researchers stress. (3/11)

Federally funded tests conducted by scientists from several major institutions indicated that the novel form of coronavirus behind a worldwide outbreak can survive in the air for several hours. A study awaiting peer review from scientists at Princeton University, the University of California-Los Angeles and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) posted online Wednesday indicated that the COVID-19 virus could remain viable in the air "up to 3 hours post aerosolization," while remaining alive on plastic and other surfaces for up to three days. (Bowden, 3/11)

A traumatized veteran’s combat dreams are more vivid than they have been in years. A little girl can’t concentrate at school, terrified that her grandparents will get infected with coronavirus and die. A person who had stopped obsessively washing his hands regresses amid a barrage of public-service messages ordering him to do exactly that. (Berkowitz, 3/11)

The novel coronavirus has a long list of terrifying characteristics, spurring people from Japan to Europe to the U.S. to engage in panic buying, devour news coverage, steal hand sanitizer and face masks, fret that a throat tickle might mean a fatal illness, enter prepper mode, and otherwise succumb to Covid-19 anxiety. “We are seeing increasing levels of anxiety [in the U.S.] over a relatively short period of time,” said Vaile Wright, director of clinical research and quality at the American Psychological Association. (Begley, 3/12)

As cases of coronavirus infection proliferate around the world and governments take extraordinary measures to limit the spread, there is still a lot of confusion about what exactly the virus does to people’s bodies. The symptoms — fever, cough, shortness of breath — can signal any number of illnesses, from flu to strep to the common cold. Here is what medical experts and researchers have learned so far about the progression of the infection caused by this new coronavirus — and what they still don’t know. (Belluck, 3/11)

An observational study today in The Lancet that involved seriously ill adults hospitalized with confirmed COVID-19 early in the outbreak in Wuhan, China, found that advanced age, signs of sepsis, and blood clotting issues were all risk factors for in-hospital death. Knowing these risk factors could help healthcare providers identify COVID-19 patients with a poor prognosis early on, according to the authors of the retrospective cohort study, which involved patients hospitalized from Dec 29, 2019, to Jan 31, 2020. (Van Beusekom, 3/10)

A U.S. scientist is helping public health authorities understand and track the coronavirus, turning up clues about how it arrived and spread through Washington state and beyond, including potentially seeding an outbreak on the Grand Princess cruise ship. ... Like a detective studying fingerprints, Bedford uses the genetic code the virus leaves behind. The dots he connects are mutations in the genetic alphabet of the virus, a 30,000-letter string that changes at the rate of one letter every 15 days. (3/11)

As more people across the United States test positive for the novel coronavirus and as the death toll climbs, those experiencing homelessness are among the most vulnerable to contract the virus, experts say. Over 560,000 Americans were homeless on a single night in January 2019, according to the most recent point-time-count from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. About 63% of those people were in sheltered locations and about 37% were unsheltered, according to HUD. (Shapiro, 3/11)

It’s 1 in the morning and you can’t stop reading about the coronavirus. Maybe you want to know if you should cancel your trip to Hawaii over spring break or whether your kid’s school will be closed, or how many people are likely to die. You look for answers on websites you trust, along with some you’re not so sure about. And when you can’t find conclusive information, you keep searching, clicking and reading. (Netburn, 3/11)

A school district in New York has canceled classes and activities until next week because a faculty member contracted the novel coronavirus. Seattle Public Schools, near the epicenter of an outbreak in Washington, says a staff member tested positive for the virus this week, triggering closures for a minimum of 14 days. And another district nearby has closed for up to two weeks and transitioned to "online learning" because a parent in the district has also contracted the disease. But as other schools deliberate shutting their doors to slow the spread of the coronavirus, some parents may be left to wonder: If schools close, how will my child eat? (Azad, 3/11)

The spread of coronavirus has compelled hundreds of K-12 schools in the U.S. to close, affecting more than 850,000 students, according to an analysis by Education Week. And those numbers are certain to increase in the coming days, as concerned parents call for more school closures. The growing health crisis presents school leaders with a painful choice. Closing schools — as has been done, so far, in China, Japan, Italy and elsewhere — is a proven measure that has been shown to slow the spread of disease and, in turn, save lives. But it also causes huge economic and social disruption, especially for children, millions of whom depend on the free and reduced-cost meals they get at school. (Turner and Kamenetz, 3/11)

A hoax? Just the flu? A serious pandemic? The conflicting messages as the coronavirus spreads across the nation leave Americans wondering what and who to believe. In Silicon Valley, a hot spot in the outbreak, one outspoken doctor boasts that his guidance comes with no spin and no political filter, despite efforts by some in his department to tone down his messages. “Nobody tells me what to say — nobody,” said Dr. Scott Morrow, the chief health officer for San Mateo County, which includes the headquarters of Facebook and many other big technology companies. (Fuller, 3/12)

Under normal circumstances, Nicole Mereshensky works out about five times a week at various indoor cycling and high intensity interval training studios around Manhattan. “Fitness is everything to me,” said Ms Mereshensky, a mother of two school-age children. “It grounds me mentally more than anything.” But in the last week, she has been trying to weigh the anxiety of not working out against the worry of being sweated on or otherwise potentially exposed to the coronavirus. (Rosman and Bromwich, 3/12)

An email seemingly from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns of new coronavirus infections and urges readers to click on a link to see a list of infections in their community. But the email actually comes from cybercriminals looking to use the crisis to their advantage. (Bergal, 3/12)

The new coronavirus has been a bonanza for scammers and spies, who are exploiting the global thirst for information about the outbreak to make money and steal information, government officials and cybersecurity experts say. Criminal hackers, scammers and even governments have been sending fake coronavirus-themed emails designed to trick people into opening attachments that download malicious software, allowing access to their data, experts told NBC News. (Dilanian and Saliba, 3/12)

Alarm over coronavirus has caused a run on hand sanitizers. And now, sanitizers from Purell and other brands are exceedingly hard to come by. Where it isn’t sold out, enterprising sellers are charging outrageously inflated prices simply because they can. If you don’t have any hand sanitizer, you’re not likely to get some while the manufacturers create enough supply to meet the frenzied demand caused by panic over coronavirus. (To be clear, we don’t think anyone should panic.) (Suthivarakom, 3/11)

Televangelist Jim Bakker held up a blue and silver bottle, gazing intently at the label, as he questioned the woman sitting next to him. "This influenza that is now circling the globe," Bakker said on the Feb. 12 broadcast of The Jim Bakker Show, "you're saying that Silver Solution would be effective." (Schwartz, 3/11)

Millions of American workers have no paid sick time, and millions more who do are wondering if they will have enough to cover a severe illness. While some of the country’s biggest companies are adjusting their policies because of the coronavirus, there are still many employees who worry that falling ill will leave them in a precarious financial position. The incubation period for confirmed cases of coronavirus can be up to 14 days, a significant stretch of time to take off from work. Many hourly and blue-collar jobs offer no paid sick leave at all, and even in industries known for high salaries or union regulation not all workers are covered, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That means many workers may feel they have no choice but to come to work even when they are ill. (Dill, 3/11)

Amazon.com Inc. is offering paid sick leave to all workers—including part-time warehouse staff—who are affected by the spreading novel coronavirus, as companies scramble to minimize the economic hardship of the pandemic on their employees. Amazon announced the expanded policy on Wednesday and said it has set up a relief fund, with an initial $25 million for its delivery partners, drivers and some others affected by the outbreak. The Wall Street Journal previously reported on the initiative. (Mattioli, 3/11)

The coronavirus outbreak is taking a deep toll on the U.S. economy, prompting hundreds of layoffs over the past week alone and halting a historic 11-year bull market in stocks. Strong job growth and soaring financial markets have fueled the U.S. economic expansion over the past decade. Now the rapid market decline and initial layoffs are heightening fears that the longest economic expansion in U.S. history could come to a sudden end, just a month after unemployment stood at a half-century low. (Bhattarai, Long and Siegel, 3/11)

The famous offices located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue are grappling with the same calculation as every other workplace facing the coronavirus: whether to close the doors and work remotely. It’s a step under consideration in parts of the White House as the coronavirus outbreak hits close to home in the nation’s capital. Aides have been thinking through the idea of having some staff telework, according to two administration officials, determining which staffers would qualify. No final decisions have been made yet. (McGraw and Cook, 3/11)

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) blocked an attempt by Senate Democrats to quickly pass legislation on Wednesday that would require employers to provide paid sick leave. The issue of paid sick leave has jumped into the spotlight amid growing concerns about a coronavirus outbreak within the United States. Individuals exposed to the virus are being recommended to quarantine for at least two weeks. (Carney, 3/11)

Some of the Federal Reserve’s 12 regional banks begun encouraging staff to work away from their respective banks Wednesday when possible in response to the rapidly moving threat of the novel coronavirus. While none of these changes affect the central bank’s ability to conduct policy and perform services, the shift is part of a broader trend to help limit the spread of illness related to the coronavirus. (Derby, 3/11)

A week ago, the idea that Congress would guarantee paid sick leave to all American workers seemed little more than a progressive dream.Now, the push to make paid sick leave mandatory has become a focal point of the coronavirus pandemic response on Capitol Hill, as even President Trump endorses the notion that all workers must be able to stay home when they’re sick to stop coronavirus from spreading. (Gardiner, 3/11)

The coronavirus outbreak is laying bare some of the inequities in the American workforce. Many white-collar workers can do their jobs from home to protect themselves. And if they do get sick, they have paid time off. But for others, telecommuting isn't an option. And missing work because of illness may mean missing a paycheck. (Borchers, 3/12)

Kaiser Health News: Coronavirus Is Keeping Me Home From Work. Will I Get Paid?

As the novel coronavirus continues to march across the country, for many workers getting sick is only part of what worries them. What about getting paid if they are ill or have to be quarantined? Congressional Democrats are pushing for legislation that would provide generous paid leave for those who are not being compensated while out of work because of sickness, quarantine or family needs resulting from the coronavirus outbreak. (Andrews, 3/12)

The U.S. Capitol will cease all public tours through at least the end of March amid mounting fears of a widespread coronavirus outbreak, according to multiple people familiar with the decision. Speaker Nancy Pelosi informed members of the decision in a Wednesday afternoon meeting, which is intended to help prevent the spread of the virus across the sprawling Capitol campus, where many senior-aged lawmakers are already at higher risk. The restriction applies to all tours — public, staff-led and member-led. (Ferris, Zandoma and Cayble, 3/11)

About a half dozen Capitol Hill lawmakers, including Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas), have put themselves in self-quarantine, though none have become sick or tested positive for coronavirus. Several of them took the step after coming into contact with an infected man at a conservative political conference. The spread of coronavirus through the halls of government marks an acute challenge for institutions that—by their very nature—are more vulnerable to the virus. Many heads of state and lawmakers are in their 70s and 80s, an age group that has had a heightened rate of mortality from the virus. They are also accustomed to working in groups to hash out legislation and cast votes, potentially depriving them of what health experts consider a first-line of defense: social distancing. (Meichtry and Andrews, 3/11)

A staffer in Sen. Maria Cantwell's D.C. office has tested positive for the coronavirus, the Washington state Democratic senator announced on Wednesday night.  The announcement marks the first known instance of a congressional staffer getting the virus and follows days of heightened anxiety on Capitol Hill.  The staffer, according to a notice from Cantwell's office, has been isolated since they started to have symptoms. Cantwell is closing her D.C. office for the remainder of the week for a deep cleaning. (Carney, 3/11)

Congressional offices were hit with their first confirmed case of the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, and leaders said they planned to close the U.S. Capitol building to tours, as health concerns mounted among lawmakers. An aide in the office of Sen. Maria Cantwell (D., Wash.) has tested positive for Covid-19, her office said in a statement. The aide has been in isolation since symptoms developed, and the senator has closed her Washington, D.C., office this week for cleaning while her staff works remotely. (Hughes and Andrews, 3/11)

Lawmakers and aides have said for weeks that a case of coronavirus in the Capitol was all but inevitable. The challenge, they say, is preventing the spread in the massive complex, where hundreds of people stream in and out of House and Senate office buildings on a daily basis. While no members of Congress have so far been diagnosed with the coronavirus, several have self-quarantined after being exposed to individuals infected with the disease. Among the lawmakers who self-quarantined are Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Reps. Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla), Doug Collins (R-Ga.), Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) and Mark Meadows (R-N.C.). (Levine, 3/11)

Podiums get sanitized before the candidate steps up to speak. Fist or elbow bumps take the place of handshakes, and kissing babies is out of the question. Rallies are canceled, leaving candidates speaking to a handful of journalists and staffers instead of cheering crowds of thousands. This is campaigning in the age of the coronavirus, when fears of the new pandemic's rapid spread are upending Joe Biden's and Bernie Sanders' campaigns. The urgency of the issue comes at a pivotal time in the Democratic presidential primary, as Biden is beginning to pull ahead as a front-runner for the nomination and as Sanders is scrambling to catch up. (Jaffe, 3/11)

Joe Biden’s presidential campaign has canceled events planned for here on Friday, including two high-profile fundraisers and a public rally, in the wake of growing fears about the coronavirus outbreak and just days before Illinois’ March 17 primary. “The health and safety of the public is our number one priority,” Biden’s campaign said in a statement. “We have been and will continue to consult with relevant officials, including our recently announced Public Health Advisory Committee, regarding steps the campaign should take to minimize health risks for staff and supporters.” (Kapos, 3/11)

Joe Biden’s presidential campaign announced Wednesday it is forming a "Public Health Advisory Committee" to advise on steps that Biden, his staff and his supporters can take to reduce the threat of the novel coronavirus, which causes COVID-19. The panel, made up of six doctors and former government officials, will “provide science-based, expert advice regarding steps the campaign should take to minimize health risks for the candidate, staff, and supporters,” the former vice president’s campaign said. (Axelrod, 3/11)

The campaign that was moving too fast to keep up with has suddenly ground to a halt. The Democrats don't have a presumptive nominee, but neither do they have an active fight for the nomination at the moment. Campaigning itself is off, just one consequence of a nation on edge over what's now a global pandemic. (Klein and Parks, 3/12)

President Donald Trump late Wednesday canceled campaign events in Colorado, Nevada and Wisconsin as coronavirus infections spread across the country. “Out of an abundance of caution from the Coronavirus outbreak, the President has decided to cancel his upcoming events in Colorado and Nevada,” White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said in a statement. (Choi, 3/11)

The president was scheduled to fly to Nevada on Thursday to attend a fundraiser and speak at Saturday's Republican Jewish Coalition conference in Las Vegas. He was expected to stop in Denver on Friday. ...The Trump campaign does not currently have any rallies scheduled. Trump, an admitted germaphobe, has shaken hands in recent days with multiple officials who have since gone into self-imposed quarantine after coming into contact with an individual with the virus.(Samuels, 3/11)

The coronavirus outbreak is colliding with the presidential election and the ramifications are being felt on the campaign trail and at polling places. “Campaigning and conventions could change,” said Rick Hasen, an election law expert at the University of California, Irvine’s law school, raising the possibility of virtual nominating conventions this summer if the outbreak continues. (Stone, 3/11)

The coronavirus threat is forcing elections officials in some states to remove polling places from nursing homes and other senior care facilities to protect older Americans, who appear to be more susceptible to the disease. Last-minute shuffling left voters in Michigan and Missouri scrambling to get to new polling places for their Tuesday primaries. Officials in states voting next week are trying to get ahead of those disruptions by announcing changes now and beginning public information campaigns to tell voters where they are supposed to cast ballots. (Carr Smyth, 3/11)

Maryland officials are in talks on how to hold a mail-in only election for the April 28 primary, should it become necessary in response to multiple confirmed cases of the new coronavirus in the state. Senate President Bill Ferguson said Wednesday that he has been in discussions with the state Board of Elections, but stressed that any changes he would propose to Maryland’s election would be done through bipartisan talks. (Opilo, Broadwater and Richman, 3/11)

A basketball tournament, with no fans. A St. Patrick’s Day, with no parades. College campuses, with no students. Corporate headquarters, with barren cubicles. The nation snapped to attention on Wednesday as the new coronavirus was declared a pandemic, stocks slid into bear market territory and the American public finally began to come to grips with the outbreak. The NBA said it would suspend its season until further notice. President Donald Trump held a rare prime-time address from the Oval Office to calm the public. (3/12)

The National Basketball Association season was suspended indefinitely on Wednesday night after a dramatic incident in which two teams were pulled off the court seconds before a game began and a player for the Utah Jazz tested positive for the coronavirus. Oklahoma City Thunder and Utah Jazz players were moments from beginning their scheduled game on Wednesday when the abrupt postponement occurred after Jazz superstar Rudy Gobert tested positive for the virus. He became the first major professional athlete infected in the U.S. (Cohen, 3/11)

Players for both teams were on the court at the Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City for warm-ups but were called back to the locker rooms. The NBA said the affected player was not in the arena and the test results were reported shortly before tip-off. "The NBA is suspending game play following the conclusion of tonight's schedule of games until further notice," the NBA said in a statement. "The NBA will use this hiatus to determine next steps for moving forward in regard to the coronavirus pandemic." (Close and Jackson, 3/12)

The NCAA announced Thursday that its men's and women's basketball tournaments, known as March Madness, will be played in nearly empty venues due to the concerns of the spread of the coronavirus. "The NCAA continues to assess the impact of COVID-19 in consultation with public health officials and our COVID-19 advisory panel," NCAA President Mark Emmert said in a statement. (Johnson, 3/11)

The actor Tom Hanks said on Wednesday that he and his wife, Rita Wilson, have the coronavirus. Mr. Hanks and Ms. Wilson, both 63, are in Australia, where he was set to film a movie about the life of Elvis Presley. “We felt a bit tired, like we had colds, and some body aches,” the Academy Award-winning actor said in a statement. “Rita had some chills that came and went. Slight fevers, too. To play things right, as is needed in the world right now, we were tested for the coronavirus, and were found to be positive.” (Sperling, 3/11)

"Well, now. What to do next? The Medical Officials have protocols that must be followed. We Hanks' will be tested, observed, and isolated for as long as public health and safety requires. Not much more to it than a one-day-at-a-time approach, no?" he wrote. (Gonzalez, 3/12)

“Rita had some chills that came and went,” he continued. “Slight fevers too. To play things right, as is needed in the world right now, we were tested for the Coronavirus, and were found to be positive.” A representative for Hanks confirmed the news as shared on social media. Hanks is the first American celebrity to publicly announce a diagnosis of the novel coronavirus. His statement was posted across platforms just minutes after President Trump addressed the growing severity of the pandemic, and around the same time the NBA announced it would be suspending its season due to a Utah Jazz player testing positive. (Rao, Butler and du Lac, 3/11)

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) banned events of more than 250 people in three counties on Wednesday but noted more restrictions could be implemented if the coronavirus continues to spread. "This is an extremely dangerous event that we are facing, but we are not helpless," Inslee said at a press conference." These are not easy decisions. The decisions that we're making today and the decisions we probably will be making in the upcoming days are going to be profoundly disturbing to a lot of the ways we live our lives today," he added. "But I believe they are the right ones." (Hellmann, 3/11)

Gov. Gavin Newsom joined state health officials in recommending the cancellation of gatherings of 250 or more people across the entire state, escalating the effort by his administration to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. The new policy from California Department of Public Health, which will be in effect at least through March, marks the first time the state has issued a request for all residents across California to adopt so-called “social distancing” measures and represents a new sense of urgency in the administration’s approach to fighting the virus in a state with 177 confirmed cases. (Luna and Myers, 3/11)

Under a new policy issued by his Department of Public Health, Newsom said public events should be limited to no more than 250 people and should not proceed unless organizers could ensure at least 6 feet of distance between attendees. Gatherings of people who are at high risk of contracting the virus, he said, should be kept to 10 or less. “Changing our actions for a short period of time will save the life of one or more people you know,” Newsom said in a statement. “That’s the choice before us. Each of us has extraordinary power to slow the spread of this disease.” (Koseff, 3/11)

San Francisco Mayor London Breed and city health officials on Wednesday ordered the cancellation of all large gatherings in the city in response to the growing threat of the coronavirus — on a day that saw sweeping changes across the country including a ban on travel from Europe and the suspension of the NBA season. The city’s move was aimed in part at suspending basketball games and other events at Chase Center and preceded the NBA’s dramatic decision to halt all games until further notice amid the outbreak. (Fracassa, 3/11)

The move follows Santa Clara County's similar directive Monday night and signaled that local governments are taking more aggressive measures. By late afternoon, the city of Oakland across the bay followed suit and issued its own order banning all events through March 31 with more than 1,000 people.(Cooliver and Kahn, 3/11)

From cruise ships to quarantines to school closures, California leaders have had plenty to worry about with the rapid spread of the coronavirus. Add one more thing to the list: The state's $222 billion annual budget. California is home to some of the largest and most successful companies in the world and the executives who run them. That makes the state particularly vulnerable to short-term swings in the stock market, which is why state officials watched with concern Monday as U.S. stock indexes had their worst day since the start of the Great Recession in 2008. (Beam, 3/11)

College students across the Bay Area started packing up their dorm rooms to move back home after several universities, hoping to curb the spread of the coronavirus, urged them to leave campus. Stanford University and UCSF asked students to leave campus for the foreseeable future and continue their coursework online from home. (Tucker, 3/11)

At the center of one of the nation's biggest clusters of coronavirus cases, restaurant owner Joshua Berkowitz has adopted what he calls a “drop and dash” method of delivering food to customers — including many in quarantine. “I'm afraid for their safety, and they’re afraid for my safety,” he said Wednesday. “I don't want to have contact with them.” (Ehrmann, 3/11)

The governor announced on Tuesday that for two weeks starting Thursday, a swath of the Westchester suburb must limit large public gatherings. Residents can still go in and out of the roughly 3-mile area, and shops and restaurants can remain open. “It’s a political farce,” said Mark McCarthy, a 66-year-old retiree walking his Bernedoodle, Fisher, near his home in the zone Wednesday. “I think it’s so the governor can demonstrate some action, but I’m not sure how meaningful it is.” (Brody, 3/11)

The New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade has been postponed over concerns about the spread of the novel coronavirus, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday. The parade, which has never been canceled in its 258-year history, was scheduled for Tuesday and expected to draw hundreds of thousands of spectators along its route on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue. But Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the parade organizers announced late Wednesday that the parade would take place at an undetermined later date. (Honan, 3/11)

An Asian woman was punched in the face in New York City on Tuesday in what is being investigated as a possible bias incident, with the governor of New York saying it was apparently motivated by bigotry surrounding the coronavirus. Officers responded to a reported assault at a building on West 34th Street about 10:30 a.m., the New York Police Department told NBC News. Upon arrival, a 23-year-old woman told officers she was punched in the face by a woman who also made anti-Asian slurs before fleeing the scene, police said. She was taken to the hospital in stable condition. (Griffith, 3/11)

D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser declared a state of emergency Wednesday that allows her to enforce quarantines and cancellations to slow the spread of the coronavirus, as major churches and organizations in and around the nation’s capital said they would shut down for the rest of the month. The Episcopal Dioceses of Washington and Virginia said churches including Washington National Cathedral would close for two weeks. The Walter E. Washington Convention Center canceled upcoming events, as did the promoter of concerts at the Anthem, the 9:30 Club, the Lincoln Theater and U Street Music Hall. (Portnoy, Nirappil and Simon, 3/12)

Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser declared a state of emergency Wednesday as the number of identified coronavirus cases in the nation's capital reached 10 and officials recommended gatherings of 1,000 or more people be postponed or canceled. The announcement signals a major escalation in the District of Columbia's response to the spread of the virus. (3/11)

The National Cherry Blossom Festival will cancel several events this month in light of a District recommendation that large gatherings of people be nixed in response to mounting coronavirus concerns. Festival organizers announced Wednesday that several events would be affected, including the annual Kite Festival, which will be canceled, and the opening ceremony, which organizers are considering live-streaming to avoid hosting a crowd of people at the Warner Theatre. (Lang, 3/11)

Venue closings. Canceled concerts. Scores of ticket holders who no longer care to sit with a few thousand strangers in a packed theater. There’s no shortage of ways to spend a night on the town in Boston, a city with more arts and cultural organizations per capita than even New York City (according to a 2016 report by the Boston Foundation). But as the number of Covid-19 cases ticks upward, the city’s cultural institutions are taking steps large and small to protect artists, staff, and audiences. (Madonna, 3/11)

Some of the top figures in public health in Massachusetts are now part of a task force looking at social, economic and political forces that will contribute to inequities in the prevention and treatment of coronavirus. The Massachusetts Public Health Association formed the Emergency Task Force on Coronavirus and Equity. The group includes social service providers who work with the elderly, immigrants, low-wage workers, and other marginalized populations. (Joliocoeur and Mullins, 3/11)

Massachusetts is restricting who can visit nursing and rest homes in the state in an attempt to protect older people who are at higher risk for coronavirus, authorities said Wednesday evening. State officials are banning visitors who show signs or symptoms of a respiratory infection such as a fever, cough, shortness of breath, or sore throat. Visitors will also be barred from entering such homes if during the last 14 days they had contact with someone with a confirmed diagnosis of Covid-19, are under investigation for Covid-19 or has been sick. (McDonald, 3/11)

The principal of the private Rhode Island high school tied to the state’s first coronavirus cases is asking parents to allow their children to participate in a federal study to help researchers understand how and why the virus affects various populations differently. In an e-mail sent Tuesday to parents whose children attend Saint Raphael Academy in Pawtucket, Principal Daniel Richard said the voluntary study will be conducted Friday. He said the study will help the Rhode Island Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control better understand the virus. (McGowan, 3/11)

The World Health Organization on Wednesday declared that the novel coronavirus spreading across six continents can now be called a pandemic, and President Trump announced he was sharply restricting travel from Europe to the United States in an attempt to limit the spread of the disease. Massachusetts cases of the coronoavirus increased slightly to 95 Wednesday, from 92 the day before, and the number of state residents who have been subject to quarantine topped 1,000. Worldwide, the number of cases are more than 120,000 while the number of deaths exceed 4,300. (Freyer, 3/11)

The day after colleges across the country suspended classes over fears of the coronavirus, Abigail Lockhart-Calpito, a freshman from San Antonio, ran across the Harvard campus trying to get answers. Her lectures were being replaced by online classes. Her residence hall was being cleared out. She, like thousands of others in her shoes, had a million questions: What was going to happen to her financial aid? Where would she stay? What about her credits? (Hartocollis, 3/11)

A man in Rome, Georgia, said he was initially sent home after he went to the hospital with flu-like symptoms and later tested positive for coronavirus. Clay Bentley told ABC News on Wednesday that on March 1 he sang in the more-than-100-member choir at the Church at Liberty Square in Cartersville, Georgia. Bentley said he went home after church and woke up Monday morning, feeling so sick he went to urgent care in Rome, Georgia. When they checked his vitals, he said, his oxygen levels were really low and he was sent to a hospital. (Francis, Adib and Schwartz, 3/11)

Gov. Brian Kemp on Wednesday asked lawmakers to add $100 million in emergency funding to the mid-year budget to deal with coronavirus.Kemp said he will raise the revenue estimate - increasing the amount of money the General Assembly can appropriate - by using state reserves, something that hasn’t been done since the Great Recession. (Salzer, 3/11)

The National Nurses United union called for rallies across the nation Wednesday, including Georgia, to protest what they call weakening federal measures to contain the coronavirus. (Darnell, 3/11)

Assisted living facilities in northwest Harris County are screening visitors with questions and increasing sanitization efforts in order to prevent spread of the virus to their more susceptible residents. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention declared that older adults, and people with chronic medical conditions and compromised immune systems are more susceptible to severe sickness from COVID-19, the disease caused by coronavirus. Area assisted living and memory care facilities are taking extra precautions to protect their patients and staff. (Pryce, 3/11)

The confirmation of the new coronavirus in a Montgomery County man who hadn’t recently traveled outside Texas marks the expected but challenging next phase in the Houston-region outbreak: community spread. Public health officials Wednesday provided no information about how the patient might have acquired the virus but acknowledged that it must have been transmitted locally, not brought in from another area, like the other 13 cases in the region. (Ackerman and Hensley, 3/11)

As the coronavirus continues to spread around the world and in the Houston area, the owner of a new hotel in the Texas Medical Center has purchased two of these germ-fighting cleaning robots from a San Antonio-based company founded in 2008 to serve hospitals and health care facilities that are constantly battling pathogens in their patient rooms, operating rooms and elsewhere. The robots use pulses of high-intensity ultraviolet light to damage the DNA of bacteria and viruses that may be living on surfaces such as hospital beds and medical equipment, or in a hotel’s case, remote controls, bathroom countertops or coffee pods. (Sarnoff, 3/12)

As shoppers look for products to stay healthy amid the novel coronavirus outbreak, police have issued a new warning for a certain spray sanitizer. The owner of a 7-Eleven store in New Jersey was arrested after police said she sold a spray sanitizer that reportedly burned a child. (McCarthy, 3/11)

Both Emory Healthcare and Cartersville Medical Center confirmed they are treating patients with the coronavirus. “Emory Healthcare has admitted our first patient who has tested positive for COVID-19,” the hospital system posted on its website late Tuesday. Emory did not say which of its 10 hospitals is treating the patient. Emory University Hospital, Emory Midtown and Emory Saint Joseph’s are among those in the network. (Stevens, 3/11)

Gov. Larry Hogan announced four more cases of the new coronavirus in Maryland on Wednesday, in addition to the nine already confirmed. Three new cases reported Wednesday night included a Baltimore County resident in his 60s who worked at the recent American Israel Public Affairs Committee in Washington, D.C., a Montgomery County resident in his 20s who recently traveled to Spain, and a Prince George’s County resident in his 60s whose travel history is under investigation. (Wood, Sanchez and Cohn, 3/11)

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett on Wednesday said he is requesting that Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers declare a public health emergency over the coronavirus pandemic. "This is not alarmist, this is very, very much a preparedness measure," Barrett said. The mayor said he was asking for the declaration in an effort to help obtain needed supplies from the federal stockpile, such as N95 masks, gowns, goggles, gloves and wipes. (Spicuzza and Dirr, 3/11)

One of the two Michiganders with confirmed cases of new coronavirus is being treated at the University of Michigan Health System, Mary Masson, a spokeswoman for Michigan Medicine, said Wednesday morning. The patient is in stable condition, she said, adding that she could not release any more information about the patient. (Shamus, 3/11)

Yet another local hospital is caring for a patient who has a presumptive case of the new coronavirus. Tulane Medical Center said it was informed by the Louisiana Department of Health on Tuesday night that a patient in its care has tested positive for COVID-19. The hospital didn’t immediately release further details about the patient’s condition. (Sledge, 3/11)

Three more Marylanders who took Nile River cruises recently tested positive for the novel coronavirus Tuesday, bringing the state’s total case count to nine people, state officials said. They now include a woman in her 60s from Montgomery County and a couple in their 50s from Prince George’s County. The three were among a group of six state residents that health officials reached out to because they took cruises on the same ship that was tied to Maryland’s first three cases of COVID-19, announced last week. (Dance, 3/10)

Italy ordered the nationwide closure of all restaurants and bars along with most stores, as it raced to contain the worst novel coronavirus outbreak outside China. From Thursday, all retail outlets except for food stores and pharmacies must stay shut, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said. The announcement tightens a nationwide quarantine in place since Tuesday morning, aimed at cutting social interactions to a minimum. (Sylvers and Legorano, 3/11)

In a televised announcement to the nation Wednesday night, Conte said the government decided to bring in the measures gradually and the whole country would now turn into a “protected zone rather than a red one.” Italy went into lockdown on Tuesday, after Conte announced that schools and universities as well as public venues, including cinemas, theaters and gyms, would remain shut until April 3. Coronavirus infections climbed by more than 2,000 on Wednesday to surpass the 10,000 mark, with an additional 170 deaths in one day. (Borrelli, 3/11)

When her hospital in the northern Italian city of Cremona had its first case of coronavirus three weeks ago, Francesca Mangiatordi was on a night shift. Since then, as dozens of new cases poured in, the emergency-room doctor has been faced with heart-rending choices, such as how to allocate scarce oxygen supplies among critically ill patients. “These are the choices I would have never wanted to make,” she said. “It’s somewhat like being in war.” (Lombardi and Petroni, 3/12)

As his glasses fogged up from the mask he wore over his mouth and nose, Riccardo Rosso, a historian of mathematics, scribbled on a blackboard the possible outcomes of a dice game, substituting the chances of getting the coronavirus. “The concept is the same,” he said. “It is still probability.” But he noted that many variables in the current health emergency were still unknown. So personal interactions — increasing the potential to come in contact with the virus — were probably a bad bet. (Horowitz, 3/11)

Nearly 200 people have died in Italy from the novel coronavirus in one day, NBC News reports. The Italian Civil Protection Agency confirmed to the news agency that the country, which has the worst outbreak of COVID-19 outside of China, recorded 196 deaths between Tuesday to Wednesday. NBC News reports a total of 897 deaths from the virus have been recorded in the country thus far. The confirmation comes after earlier reports placed the total number of COVID-19 cases in Italy at 10,000 on Wednesday. (Folley, 3/11)

In Italy, which has the second-highest number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the world, 827 deaths have been attributed to covid-19. The government has taken extraordinary measures to contain the pandemic, restricting the movements of nearly 16 million people as the entire country has gone on lockdown. But attempts to slow the spread of the disease have led to unintended consequences, including several instances where funeral homes reportedly refused to collect the bodies of those infected with the virus. (Farzan, 3/12)

For nearly two weeks, Cristina Higgins, an American who lives in Italy, has traveled no farther from her apartment building than the driveway. Her days begin at the breakfast table with her husband and three children before the kids log online to do their schoolwork from home. The family spends their evenings playing Monopoly in their apartment. Throughout the day, Higgins looks at the news for updates on the growing number of coronavirus cases in the country and checks in on friends. Each night, overwhelmed with anxiety over the spread of the virus, she finds it hard to sleep. (Chuck, 3/11)

In Frankfurt, the president of the European Central Bank warned that the coronavirus could trigger an economic crash as dire as that of 2008. In Berlin, the German chancellor warned the virus could infect two-thirds of her country’s population. In London, the British prime minister rolled out a nearly $40 billion rescue package to cushion his economy from the shock. As the toll of those afflicted by the virus continued to soar and financial markets from Tokyo to New York continued to swoon, world leaders are finally starting to find their voices about the gravity of what is now officially a pandemic. (Landler, 3/11)

The nightmare of coronavirus outbreaks on cruise ships has revealed an industry that's skirted oversight for years and used powerful allies in Washington to keep the government out of its business. In 2013, an engine fire aboard the "Carnival Triumph" left 4,000 people adrift with no running water or power and scarce food. Just a year later, Royal Caribbean International earned the dubious distinction of breaking the record for the largest amount of people sick from a norovirus infestation — nearly 700 people. The press wrote stories, policymakers gnashed their teeth — and nothing changed because the U.S. government is largely powerless to intervene. (Snyder, 3/11)

As 2019 gave way to 2020 in a cloud of tear gas, and in some cases a hail of bullets, from Hong Kong to Baghdad, from Beirut to Barcelona and Santiago, it seemed civil disobedience and government crackdowns on protests would dominate the international landscape. Then came the coronavirus. Protests, by their very nature driven by large gatherings, have been doused. (Karam, 3/12)

Iranian officials trace the origins of the country’s coronavirus epidemic to the holy city of Qom, home to dozens of seminaries and religious shrines—but also a number of Chinese-backed infrastructure projects built by scores of workers and technicians from China. This critical link to China, centered in Qom, has helped keep Iran’s  economy alive in the face of American sanctions. And it is now being stress-tested by the coronavirus. The exact route of the virus is unclear. But Iran’s strategic partnership with Beijing has created a constellation of potential contacts that helped unleash the illness, called Covid-19. (Faucon, Rasmussen and Page, 3/11)

A spike in cases in the Gulf helped push infections in the Middle East for the new coronavirus past 10,000 cases on Thursday, with most infected people either in Iran or having recently traveled there. Countries in the region have imposed varying levels of restrictions on travel, from wholesale halting of all commercial flights in Kuwait, to Saudi Arabia banning travel to 39 countries. (Batrawy, 3/12)

Airlines are doing everything they can to get people to fly. They’re making hygiene part of the pitch, touting hospital-grade antibacterial solutions, “fogging” procedures that mist every surface with disinfectant and cabin air filters. They’ve waived fees to change flights. Some are slashing prices, hoping to entice bargain hunters. (Sider, 3/11)

A new Medicare pilot program would lower the cost of insulin to $35 a prescription for older Americans who need the lifesaving drugs, the Trump administration announced Wednesday. If insulin manufacturers and insurers agree to offer the plans — which are voluntary — then people 65 and older who need insulin could save an average of $446 a year beginning in January 2021, according to Medicare officials. (Thomas, 3/11)

The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is lining up drug makers and the private insurers who manage Medicare drug benefits to volunteer to test out the new pricing in 2021. Medicare drug plans cover about 46 million people aged 65 and older and with disabilities. Insulin is made largely by three companies: Eli Lilly and Co, Novo Nordisk A/S and Sanofi SA. Both they and health insurers have begun offering discounted insulin. Eli Lilly and Sanofi said in statements that they planned to take part in the program. Novo Nordisk said in a statement that it was looking at the details of the program. (3/11)

The Trump administration announced a new voluntary program that would lower the out-of-pocket cost Medicare beneficiaries pay for insulin to $35 a month, a move designed to deflate rising anger over prices for medicines and, consequently, give President Trump a lift during an election year. Assuming drug makers and insurers participate, people with diabetes who enroll in a participating Medicare Part D plan are forecast to save an average of $446 annually, or more than 66% of what they pay today, according to the Centers for Medicare and  Medicaid Services. CMS believes that more than 3.3 million Medicare beneficiaries receive one or more of the common forms of insulin. (Silverman, 3/11)

The CMS' Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation on Tuesday announced that it would test a new model to reduce Medicare enrollees' out-of-pocket costs for insulin. The Part D Senior Savings Model will cap beneficiaries' copays at $35 for a 30-day supply of insulin for the entire benefit year. Participating insurers will offer seniors prescription drug plans with supplemental insulin coverage. The pilot begins on January 1, 2021. Plans have until May 1 to apply. (Brady, 3/11)

All six women in the Utah Senate walked out in protest and refused to vote before the chamber passed a bill mandating that a woman be shown an ultrasound before receiving an abortion. Republican Sen. Deidre Henderson said the walkout late Tuesday was a spontaneous decision to underscore concerns about the “invasive nature" of the bill. (3/11)

D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) on Wednesday signed emergency legislation banning kits used to make untraceable “ghost guns” after the number of home-built firearms seized by police in the city spiked last year. The D.C. Council swiftly passed the bill in a unanimous vote last week. It came after authorities learned that ghost guns were used in four recent fatal shootings, and another was fired at two reserve officers in what the police chief called an assassination attempt. (Hermann, 3/11)

A federal appeals-court case heard Wednesday in Ohio could help shape a contentious question in abortion law: Should a woman be allowed to terminate a pregnancy because of the fetus’s disability, race or gender? The full Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is considering the validity of an Ohio law that makes it illegal for a physician to perform an abortion on a woman whose motivation is fear that the fetus has Down syndrome. Abortion opponents say the case is winnable in one of the nation’s most conservative legal venues and could send the issue to the Supreme Court. (Gershman, 3/11)

It was an unusually hot Monday in March and the cherry blossoms had already bloomed in Washington, D.C. A group of protesters, advocates and a few politicians had gathered at the bottom of the steps of the Capitol building, as a man was finishing a speech about disability civil rights, asking Congress to pass a law -- the Americans with Disability Act. The moment the speech finished, March 12, 1990, protesters -- some sitting in wheelchairs and others leaning on crutches -- abandoned their assistive devices and began climbing the 78 marble steps up the Capitol's West Front. (Lantry, 3/12)

Kaiser Health News: Tampons, Pads And Politics Mesh In New Push For Access To Menstrual Supplies

Geoff Davis’ gray Kia sedan is chock-full of tampons and maxi pads.Davis, 50, volunteers as executive director of Period Kits, a Colorado nonprofit that provides a three-month bag of tampons and pads to people in need. On lunch breaks from his full-time job in community relations or on weekends, he heads out to a food bank in Boulder or Civic Center Park in Denver to deliver free menstrual supplies to women experiencing homelessness or extreme poverty. (Ruder, 3/12)

When President Trump sees a political threat, his instinct is to deny, double down and hit back. That has often been politically effective, but in the case of the novel coronavirus it has undermined his ability to lead. It’s not accurate, as the press reported last week, that the President called the virus a “hoax.” He said the criticisms of his Administration were a hoax. Yet his public remarks too often continue to give the impression that he views the virus more as another chance for political combat than as a serious public-health problem. White House advisers last week said the virus is being “contained” despite contrary evidence. On Monday, after suggesting “fake news” was driving the stock-market rout, the President tweeted: “So last year 37,000 Americans died from the common Flu. It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year. Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on. At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that!” (3/11)

President Donald Trump set out to steady a rattled nation and a diving economy in a solemn Oval Office address, but instead sowed more confusion and doubts that he is up to handling the fast-worsening coronavirus crisis. Trump spoke to the nation at a fearful moment, when the rhythms of everyday American life are starting to shut down -- with schools closing, the NBA suspended, hospitals on high alert and movie icon Tom Hanks saying he and his wife have the disease. (Stephen Collinson, 3/12)

With more than 4,000 deaths worldwide, we’re not only battling the coronavirus, but racism, greed, and an administration with a zealous disregard for anything that does not directly benefit Trump. For him, it’s truth and facts that must be eradicated. His callous actions are no less endangering than the coronavirus itself. And if its spread, enabled by Trump’s lies, continues, even your hoarded stacks of toilet paper won’t protect you. (Renée Graham, 3/10)

Showing strong and effective leadership when we need it most, President Trump addressed the nation Wednesday night and unveiled a two-pronged program of health and economic actions to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. The president’s action plan should win bipartisan support to respond to the most serious health and humanitarian crisis our nation has faced in my nearly seven decades. “We are all in this together,” the president correctly said. “We must put politics aside, stop the partisanship.” He called on America to fight the pandemic “together as one nation and one family.” (Andy Pudzer, 3/12)

In 2008, the United States faced a classic financial panic. As treasury secretary, I worked to help stem the panic and restore the economy amid a witches’ brew of a bursting housing bubble, collapsing financial system, rapidly spreading fear and deeply polarized politics. Twelve years later, the world faces the prospect of another panic, one I hope is still avoidable. The immediate cause is a novel virus, not financial markets or the economy, which remain strong. But fear is again the enemy. And lessons we learned in 2008 can be a useful guide to action. Four of these lessons are particularly important. (Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson, Jr., 3/11)

Just as the levees of New Orleans stood little chance against the wrath of Hurricane Katrina, our overly complex, inflexible, noninteroperable, and often off-purpose electronic health record systems aren’t ready for an average Sunday afternoon, let alone Covid-19. As the novel coronavirus that causes Covid-19 continues its march around the world and through the United States, it is spawning another kind of infection: Covid-19 cyber threats aimed at individuals and health systems. (Eric D. Perakslis and Erich Huang, 3/12)

Congress shouldn’t bailout the airlines, or for that matter, the cruise industry or shale oil sector. After a long economic boom, corporate America should be in good financial shape to ride out a downturn. Instead, Washington should focus its coronavirus stimulus plan on getting money into the hands of people who need it the most: laid off and furloughed workers who aren’t working because of outbreak-related cancellations, and people who face financial hardship when under quarantine because they can’t work from home. (Shirley Leung, 3/12)

The coronavirus has had the bad judgment to arrive in an election year, so Congress will inevitably respond with what it does best—spend money. As the ideas spill out, it’s worth laying out some principles to sort the good from the bad and the ugly. Target the real hardship. Americans who need the most help will be those who lose their jobs because they or their family members are sick, especially low-income workers who are paid hourly rather than by salary. Federal grants could help make up for lost wages, sick leave, or special health-care costs. (3/11)

The coronavirus is spreading faster than we can contain it, faster than municipalities can track it and here in the United States, much faster than our testing capacity can handle. By the time you read a statistic, chances are it’s outdated. It’s becoming increasingly clear that people in power can’t keep up. On Monday, Alex Azar, the secretary of health and human services, said he couldn’t provide accurate numbers of tested Americans because private labs don’t have to report results to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Charlie Warzel, 3/11)

Like it or not, we’re all connected. It’s just getting started, but already, the coronavirus outbreak is teaching some of us a few pretty hard lessons. Will they stick? That’s another matter entirely. But, perhaps for now, we can agree on a few things: That facts and science are our friends; that competence and a steady hand are indispensable qualities in a president; that misinformation is an existential threat; that government does more than collect our taxes -- it performs vital functions, such as keeping us safe; and that, sooner or later, policies that harm some of us may hurt us all. (Yvonne Abraham, 3/11)

As we wait for more and better tests to determine just how many people have contracted the novel coronavirus, understand this: All of us are already being tested. From the strength of our economy to the reliability of our political leadership to our individual resilience, we are all now in a crucible that will have profound consequences for how we work and how we act as citizens and neighbors. (Michele L. Norris, 3/11)

While there are no known cases yet of COVID-19 in refugee camps — which is likely due to a lack of testing — the disease is going to hit these communities hard. Despite global attention to the challenges posed by the coronavirus and increasing calls to support low- and middle-income countries, refugees are largely ignored and left to their own devices. A global approach is needed to avoid more tragic loss of life. (Muhammad Zaman, 3/11)

Sara Gibson stood in a room filled with nonprofit leaders from the Washington region and let them know they needed a plan. Not tomorrow. Not next week. Right then and there. Every moment matters, she explained to the people in that room on Tuesday and then again to me when we talked afterward. (Theresa Vargas, 3/11)

Michael Osterholm, the infectious disease expert who has been warning for a decade and a half that the world will face a pandemic, says the US is ill-prepared to combat the coronavirus due to a shortage of equipment and supplies. Michael Osterholm, of the University of Minnesota, wrote in Foreign Affairs magazine in 2005 that, "This is a critical point in our history. Time is running out to prepare for the next pandemic. We must act now with decisiveness and purpose." He reiterated this point in his 2017 book, "Deadliest Enemy: Our War Against Killer Germs." (Peter Bergen, 3/11)

The Biogen outbreak should help us realize that we are on the brink of experiencing a public health catastrophe. The examples of Wuhan, Italy, South Korea, Japan, and Iran should give us all a strong resolve to slow the epidemic before it is too late. Every intervention we try will be testing new waters, and evaluation is critical to make sure that, as we impose costs on society, we are getting the benefits of disease control. Just as important as when to act is when to let up on control measures. But we must act now. (Marc Lipsitch, 3/11)

The situation with coronavirus has changed dramatically over the last few weeks. We are in the midst of a worldwide pandemic, and the U.S. will see an even more dramatic escalation in the weeks to come. As communities, institutions and individuals, we need to switch from reacting to what’s happened to taking bold action in anticipation of what’s coming. (Leana S. Wen, 3/11)

At least Emperor Nero supposedly only fiddled while Rome burned; he didn’t tell the Romans that the fire was no big deal. President Trump squandered two precious months trying to downplay the new coronavirus while attempting to talk up the stock market. We still have no idea how many Americans are infected, because the administration bungled diagnostics. As of a few days ago, South Korea had conducted up to 700 times more tests per capita than the United States. (Nicholas Kristof, 3/11)

The alarming spread of the new coronavirus across the United States clarifies the need for mass adoption of progressive policies. That people who might be infected with the new coronavirus may go without testing because of the cost of testing, while companies might profit from selling testing kits, shows the inhumane tendencies of for-profit health care. (Ben Lacy Hirsch, 3/11)

Stay home. Check with your doctor. That’s the advice for anyone exposed to the novel coronavirus or who shows symptoms, which include fever, cough and shortness of breath. But what if you can’t stay home? What if you have no doctor to check with? For millions of Americans who work with no paid sick days or health insurance, this is where they find themselves every day — balancing having to pay the bills and keep food on the table with putting their health and that of others at risk. (3/11)

Epidemics, plagues, and pandemics have been around since the dawn of civilization. Indeed, they are an unintended consequence of civilization. Disease certainly afflicted our prehistoric ancestors, but since the earliest humans lived in small isolated bands, they had limited opportunity to share germs beyond their own community. That situation changed dramatically when the agricultural revolution replaced a nomadic with a sedentary lifestyle 10,000 years ago. (Tom Mockaitis, 3/11)

We are all doing the best we can to protect ourselves and also care for our patients. Our “Standard Precautions” remain the front line, including vigorous and frequent handwashing, donning gloves and masks when appropriate — and cough etiquette. (Cynthia He, 3/11)

Should we look at this situation as a glass half empty or a glass half full? As a physician practicing medicine for more than 40 years, I look at this situation as a glass half full. The reason I say this is because I do see a light at the end of the tunnel. We know what coronavirus is. We know it as the cause of a disease and we certainly know its viral anatomy. We know it is infectious and we also know that it makes older folks extremely vulnerable to severe complications. (Manny Alvarez, 3/11)

Can we please stop blaming a microbe for things it can’t do? Coronavirus doesn’t make the stock market plunge or schools shut down or empty entire aisles of supermarkets. Despite headlines proclaiming “Coronavirus Roils Markets,” and “Coronavirus Tightens Grip on Daily Life Around the Globe,” the virus is incapable of such feats. Those are caused by fears — some rational, some irrational. (Barry Glassner, 3/11)

The congressional Brain Injury Task Force, co-chaired by Reps. Bill Pascrell Jr. (D-N.J.) and Don Bacon (R-Neb.), spoke to hundreds of people gathered at the Rayburn House Office Building last week. The crowd included brain injury survivors, caregivers, advocates, policymakers, and various divisions of the health care industry to discuss a growing public health crisis. One area of focus was the development of a national traumatic brain injury registry, a vital step for getting a handle on how best to manage this difficult-to-treat condition. (Keita Mori, 3/11)

We know the law works, because the data proves it. And if Congress commits to improvements—adjusting the framework to make coverage more affordable for everyone and adding a public option, which was in the original draft of the ACA, we will continue to progress toward universal coverage. Continuing to push forward with payment models that reward quality outcomes rather than quantity of procedures and drive innovation in the delivery system will result in a healthier country. That’s the road to realizing President Obama’s vision. And it’s the right thing to do. (Kathleen Sebelius, 3/11)

Democrats trust the government to run your healthcare. I trust you and your doctor. Healthcare reform should lower health insurance premiums and expand freedom and choice so workers and families can choose the healthcare that’s right for them—not be forced into the healthcare that’s dictated by federal bureaucrats. Now is the time for Republicans in Congress to deliver on our healthcare promises to the American people. We must get the job done. The Personalized Care Act moves us one step closer. (Ted Cruz, 3/10)

Can you imagine needing a life-saving transplant and then having a family member, who is an exact donor match, denied entry into the U.S. for a medical procedure that could save your life? Or being denied your dying wish to see your foreign parent, sibling or child because they could not gain permission to enter the U.S.? For many patients, this is a harsh reality and a violation of their basic human rights. (Christina T. Holder, 3/10)

I am a family medicine physician and have been providing abortion in Texas for the past five years. I came back to Texas after my residency and fellowship to do this work because I was worried about what Texans who needed access to safe, legal abortion would do if there weren’t doctors available to provide the care. At that time, politicians in the Lone Star State were systematically shutting down abortion clinics using a medically unnecessary abortion restriction that was eventually struck down by the Supreme Court. Now the court is reviewing an identical law from Louisiana because a lower federal court failed to follow precedent and strike it down. (Dr. Bhavik Kumar, 3/11)

Is patient privacy a thing of the past? It's a fair question after HHS issued the new data sharing rules required by the 21st Century Cures Act, a bipartisan bill passed in the final month of the Obama administration. The new interoperability standard sets a two-year deadline for hospitals, physician practices, electronic health record vendors and insurers to begin sharing sensitive medical data with each other and with patients. They must also share it with third-party vendors. (Merrill Goozner, 3/11)

For much of the 20th century, the work of medicine in the U.S. was performed by predominantly male physicians. As women began entering medical schools in larger numbers during the 1970s, some specialties were welcoming to women, others weren’t. Surgical specialties were particularly resistant to the inclusion of women, with the exception of obstetrics and gynecology. After decades of increasing percentages of women entering gynecology, the field became the first majority women surgical specialty in 2012. (Sarah Temkin, 3/12)