U.S. is New Epicenter of the Coronavirus Pandemic, NYC’s Leaders to Blame?; Trump Administration to Publish Social Distancing Guidelines for Counties According to Risk

By Live Science. The coronavirus outbreak reached a somber milestone in the U.S. on Thursday (March 26) — the nation now has more coronavirus cases than any other country in the world.

There are now at least 82,174 cases of the new coronavirus disease, COVID-19, in the United States, according to worldometer, a website that tracks coronavirus cases. That’s higher than the case count in either Italy (which has 80,589 cases) or China (which has 81,285 cases). . .

Just a few days ago, the World Health Organization warned that the U.S. had the potential to become the new epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic. (Read more from “U.S. Is New Epicenter of the Coronavirus Pandemic” HERE)

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Tucker Carlson Hammers New York’s Leaders, not Trump, for Spreading Chinese Virus

By Victor Garcia. Tucker Carlson focused the top of his Thursday show on New York City’s battle with the coronavirus, ripping city officials for increasing the “risk” for citizens and not taking the outbreak seriously in its early stages.

“As this deadly virus emerged from eastern China and began to spread inexorably across the globe, clearly headed here, leaders in New York not only failed to shield their citizens from it, they took affirmative and aggressive steps to increase the risk to their population,” Carlson said.

“Why would they do that? Well, because they were worried far more about being called racist than protecting human lives. That’s not an overstatement. That’s not hyperbole.”

Carlson criticized New York City health commissioner Dr. Oxiris Barbot, among others, who dismissed the incoming threat of the coronavirus in February.

“The risk to New Yorkers from coronavirus is low and … our preparedness as a city is very high,” Barbot said at a Feb. 2 press conference supporting the Chinatown Lunar New Year Parade and Festival. “There is no reason not to take the subway, not to take a bus, not to go out to your favorite restaurant and certainly not to miss the parade next Sunday [Feb. 9].” (Read more from this story HERE)
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Trump Administration to Publish Social Distancing Guidelines for Counties According to Risk

By The Blaze. President Donald Trump announced Thursday that his administration will roll out social distancing guidelines for state and local governments by categorizing counties according to their level of risk amid the coronavirus pandemic, in order to assist officials “in making decision about maintaining, increasing, or relaxing social distancing and other mitigation measures.” . . .

In a letter to the nation’s governors, the president wrote, ‘As we enhance protections against the virus, Americans across the country are hoping the day will soon arrive when they can resume their normal economic, social, and religious lives.”

“If furtherance of this shared goal,” President Trump continued, “my Administration is working to publish new guidelines for State and local policymakers to use in making decision about maintaining, increasing, or relaxing social distancing and other mitigation measures they have put in place.”

The president explained that this initiative can be achieved through the increased COVID-19 testing across the nation, providing data allowing the federal government to classify counties “with respect to continued risks posed by the virus” as the spread of the disease is monitored.

In a letter to the nation’s governors, Pres Trump says the administration will publish new guidelines categorizing counties as high-risk, medium-risk, and low-risk to help state & local officials decide whether to maintain, increase, or relax social distancing & other measures pic.twitter.com/ebr1qePlPV

— Sara Cook (@saraecook) March 26, 2020

(Read more from “Trump Administration to Publish Social Distancing Guidelines for Counties According to Risk” HERE)

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Trump to Review Options to ‘Open the Country up’ as U.S. Coronavirus Cases Pass China, Italy

By CNBC. President Donald Trump will hear recommendations from the White House coronavirus task force this weekend on plans to “open the country up” as the economy continues to strain under the pandemic.

The new guidance on how to kickstart the economy will come days after the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the U.S. surpasses China or Italy, making it the country with the largest outbreak in the world.

Vice President Mike Pence told reporters at the White House on Thursday that the task force will share “a range of recommendations and additional guidance for going forward” with the next steps in its efforts to blunt the impact of the coronavirus.

“The president has made it clear, that in his words, he wants to open the country up. But we’re going to do that responsibly, and as the president told the governors today, we’ll do that based on the data,” said Pence, who leads the U.S. response to the outbreak. (Read more from “Trump to Review Options to ‘Open the Country up’ as U.S. Coronavirus Cases Pass China, Italy” HERE)

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