- US coronavirus cases soar past 8,500.
- Trump on Wednesday took the rare step of invoking the nation’s war powers authority. The Defense Production Act of 1950 gives the president broad powers to require manufacturers to boost production of critical supplies and equipment, including personal protective equipment, ventilators and respirator masks.
- Trump signed into law Families First Coronavirus Response Act.
- Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart and Ben McAdams have become the first members of Congress to test positive for coronavirus.
- Italy coronavirus deaths rise by record 475 in a day to nearly 3,000 deaths total.
- Italy is the world’s worst affected country after China. The Lombardy region has been hit the hardest with 319 deaths in one day.
- A researcher at University of Washington Medicine has died of coronavirus, according to a tweet from the medical school.
- Dr. Stephen Schwartz was a professor of pathology since 1984, according to the department’s biography, with a focus on vascular biology.
- Nearly 1 in 4 Californians are under “shelter-in-place” orders.
- Seven Bay Area counties, making up over 7 million people, had already legally mandated a “shelter in place” order, meaning residents may only leave home for essential purposes such as grocery shopping.
- Sacramento County on Tuesday issued a “stay at home” directive, stopping just short of a legal order but effectively instructing residents to stay at home unless they have essential chores that require leaving the house. The city of Davis made a similar recommendation earlier in the day.
This didn’t age well on a few levels.
The DOW crashed again wiping out all gains it made since Trump took office.
Fox ‘News’ pundits have sure changed their tune:
Right-wing personalities — such as Fox News’ Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, and talk radio host Rush Limbaugh — told their audiences that news coverage of the virus was hysterical and aimed at hurting Trump politically. The often-dismissive messaging from Fox News hosts was notable, given that the viewers who make up the network’s audience skew older and are, thus, more vulnerable to the disease.
In other cases, right-wing media personalities and outlets went further. Limbaugh, among others, floated a conspiracy theory that the virus was created in a Chinese lab — despite having no real evidence to support the allegation.
Timeline: Trump administration’s response to coronavirus
Very informative video:
