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State Department Advises Against All International Travel; Trump to Partially Close U.S.-Mexico Border

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By Washington Examiner. The U.S. State Department advised the public to avoid travel to other countries as the coronavirus pandemic continues to sweep around the globe.

The department placed all international travel under a Level 4 advisory. In an alert, the department wrote, “In countries where commercial departure options remain available, U.S. citizens who live in the United States should arrange for immediate return to the United States, unless they are prepared to remain abroad for an indefinite period.”

Last week, the department placed international travel at a Level 3 restriction, advising all passengers to “reconsider international travel.” (Read more from “State Department Advises Against All International Travel” HERE)

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Trump to Partially Close U.S.-Mexico Border

By Politico. President Donald Trump announced Friday that the U.S. and Mexico have agreed to temporarily close the border to nonessential travel to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

U.S. and Mexican officials have been in talks this week over how to work together in responding to the global pandemic while ensuring that bilateral trade and essential travel are not disrupted at the border. It’s a similar move to the U.S. and Canada’s decision on Wednesday to impose travel restrictions at the northern U.S. border.

“Both countries know the importance of working together to limit the spread of the virus and ensure the commerce that supports our economy continues to keep flowing,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said during a White House press conference. “The United States is glad to have a friend that is working side-by-side with us in the fight.”

The U.S.’ agreement with Mexico and Canada to restrict nonessential travel will go into effect on Saturday. (Read more from “Trump to Partially Close U.S.-Mexico Border” HERE)

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Cuomo: You Know Who’s Doing A Good Job On NY’s COVID-19 Outbreak? Trump (VIDEO); Trump Administration Confronts a Growing Coronavirus Threat Within

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By Hot Air. Perhaps this crisis might produce a better environment for cooperation after all. This statement might have been seen as a simple process-smoothing sop from Andrew Cuomo to Donald Trump, but Cuomo sounds pretty sincere — and detailed in his praise. In his press conference updating events on the COVID-19 outbreak, Cuomo emphasized that he and Trump have always had a good working relationship, and that Trump has been “fully engaged” in the coronavirus containment efforts in New York.

“We’re fighting the same war,” Cuomo said of Trump, and “we’re in the same trench.” That’s quite a change of pace from the partisan bickering of the past few weeks:

Cuomo’s complimentary treatment of Trump has a solid factual basis too, at least for Cuomo. The governor announced that New York has now confirmed more than 2,000 cases of COVID-19 infection, the most of any state, and that requires a more robust response. Trump has now ordered a Navy hospital ship to go to New York City to provide more capacity for overtaxed medical facilities in the state, which will help address an anticipated bed shortage over the next few weeks:

(Read more from “Cuomo: You Know Who’s Doing A Good Job On NY’s COVID-19 Outbreak? Trump” HERE)

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Trump Administration Confronts a Growing Coronavirus Threat Within

By Politico. The federal agency that serves as an international multimedia broadcaster for the U.S. informed all employees of its first known coronavirus case about an hour after it knew.

But the agency responsible for regulating civil aviation in the U.S. didn’t immediately tell technical operations employees about a positive test result at a Las Vegas airport, allowing them to continue working in a potentially infected area. Those employees, including technicians who had just completed their shifts, found out after a tower was evacuated.

Dozens of employees who work across the nation’s federal agencies have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, adding to the surging count of well over 10,000 confirmed cases in the United States. Experts expect the number of cases to continue rising as more tests are made available — and the federal government’s millions of employees are just as exposed as the American public at large. Meanwhile, hundreds, if not thousands, of other government employees have quarantined themselves either out of precaution or because they are exhibiting symptoms of the disease.

But if the Trump administration has a unified policy on how it is handling the grim march of the virus within its own ranks, it isn’t sharing it. (Read more from “Trump Administration Confronts a Growing Coronavirus Threat Within” HERE)

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WATCH: Trump Calls out Reporter When She Says Government Was Unprepared on Coronavirus Testing; Ilhan Omar Offers Trump Rare Praise; Joe Biden Claims We Have Pandemic Because of Trump

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By The Blaze. President Donald Trump shot down a reporter’s question during a coronavirus media briefing on Thursday over previous accusations of racism made by her network.

NBC’s Kristen Welker asked a pointed question about the government’s preparedness in relation to the pandemic when the president fired back.

“You did say a few days ago though, you did have a sense that this was a pandemic that was coming, so why was the United States not prepared with more testing?” asked Welker.

“We were very prepared, the only thing we weren’t prepared for was the media, the media has not treated it fairly,” responded the president.

(Read more from “WATCH: Trump Calls out Reporter When She Says Government Was Unprepared on Coronavirus Testing” HERE)

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Ilhan Omar Offers Trump Rare Praise for Coronavirus Response

By New York Post. Rep. Ilhan Omar commended President Trump for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic in an unexpected moment of rare praise.

“Politics aside, this is incredible and the right response in this critical time,” Omar (D-Minn.) tweeted Wednesday evening alongside a hand-clapping emoji.

The frequent Trump critic and member of “The Squad” was responding to a tweet about the commander in chief’s recent actions to combat the coronavirus, including, as the quote read, “suspending mortgage foreclosures, demanding cash payments to Americans, now invoking the Defense Production Act to force private firms to produce needed supplies.”

Omar went on to praise Trump, who has feuded with Omar on multiple occasions, by referencing words of wisdom from fellow “Squad” member Rep. Ayanna Pressley.

(Read more from “Ilhan Omar Offers Trump Rare Praise for Coronavirus Response” HERE)

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Fact Check: Joe Biden Claims We Have Coronavirus Because of Trump

By Breitbart. CLAIM: The coronavirus outbreak hit the U.S. because President Donald Trump “eliminated” President Barack Obama’s pandemic office.

VERDICT: FALSE.

Former vice president Joe Biden claimed on Twitter on Thursday that the U.S. is “paying the price” of coronavirus because President Trump “eliminated” an office that dealt with pandemics.

Biden is wrong — very wrong. This falsehood almost deserves an entirely separate category of ignominy because of its ability to divide and frighten people in the middle of a crisis that requires social cooperation and trust.

The truth — as explained earlier this week in the Washington Post by former National Security Council official Tim Morrison — is that the office was combined with others in a reorganiztion that “left the biodefense staff unaffected.” (Read more from “Fact Check: Joe Biden Claims We Have Coronavirus Because of Trump” HERE)

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Washington Hospitals Are Facing a Space and Supply Scarcity in the Fight Against Coronavirus; Coronavirus Is Killing Italy’s Doctors. The U.S. Could Be Next.

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By Daily Caller. Washington State has been at the forefront of the fight against the coronavirus since January. The first confirmed case of the coronavirus in the U.S. was in the state, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Jan. 20. As of Thursday, over 17,000 people have been tested in Washington, and 1,187 have tested positive, the Washington State Department of Health reports. The death toll was at 66 as of Thursday, the highest in the country.

Washington, and more specifically, Seattle, has emerged as America’s coronavirus laboratory, highlighting the challenges and deficits in resources the country is currently facing, as local, state, and federal governments have gone into overdrive to find solutions to the shortages of critical materials like face masks and testing.

President Donald Trump has even invoked a Korean War era law called the Defense Production Act to fill the gaps in medical supplies by harnessing by requiring corporations to accept and prioritize contracts for materials necessary to aid national defense, CNN reported. “I view it — in a sense as a wartime president,” Trump said Wednesday.

If this is war, Washington state’s doctors are on the frontline. The Navy has even sent its two hospital ships, which can be used to treat non-coronavirus patients, to allow Seattle-area hospitals to focus on the pandemic, Wired reported. King County, where Seattle is located, is creating field hospitals at multiple locations for additional isolation and quarantine sites, the Seattle Times reported. . .

But the biggest concern is still personal protective equipment for hospital staff, who have reported reusing face masks after spraying or wiping them down with sanitizer, supplies of which are dwindling in some hospitals, the New York Times reported. Typically, masks should be replaced after each use, but there aren’t enough in stock at many hospitals for doctors and nurses to be able to use more than one or two per day. (Read more from “Washington Hospitals Are Facing a Space and Supply Scarcity in the Fight Against Coronavirus” HERE)

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Coronavirus Is Killing Italy’s Doctors. The U.S. Could Be Next.

By The Daily Beast. Dr. Marcello Natali never left the front line in the northern Italian town of Codogno when the novel coronavirus outbreak exploded more than three weeks ago. And the front line is where the 57-year-old physician died this week from the disease he fought so hard. Natali, whose wife is also a health care worker, had no preexisting conditions, and was far younger than the median age of 80 of most of Italy’s nearly 3,000 COVID-19 dead. But he only agreed to get the intensive care he desperately needed last week after his symptoms overwhelmed him.

He didn’t go in sooner because he didn’t want to take an intensive care unit bed from anyone else. The crisis has put a severe strain on the entire health care system, with some of the best hospitals in Europe using corridors for ICU wards. Natali was taken by ambulance first to a larger facility in nearby Cremona and then to Milan, where he died alone in isolation. And since funerals are prohibited as part of the national lockdown, he will not even receive a hero’s burial. . .

Natali, who was the head of the region’s Federation of General Practitioners, is the fourth doctor to die in the original red zone, which has been under lockdown since Feb. 23. Just days before he went into intensive care, he gave a radio interview in which he complained that testing was taking too long and that there were many cases that family doctors were taking care of on a house call basis without full protection, exposing them to the virus. . .

As the virus spreads to the United States, health care workers there are watching Italy’s situation closely, and terrified doctors have sounded the alarm repeatedly. But the numbers do not augur well. Italy’s state run health care system is able to provide 3.2 beds per 1,000 people compared to 2.8 beds per 1,000 in the U.S, according to the OECD. On Wednesday, the U.S. State Department confirmed that Italy had sent 500,000 swabs to the U.S. to help complete test kits. The fact that the sick are now helping those perceived to be stronger should be worrying. . .

At least 2,629 health care workers—roughly 8.3 percent of all cases in Italy—have contracted COVID-19 from working with inadequate equipment or being exposed to asymptomatic carriers, according to the latest results from the Ministry of Health. (Read more from “Coronavirus Is Killing Italy’s Doctors. The U.S. Could Be Next.” HERE)

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20-Year-Old Coronavirus Victim in Spain Was Reportedly Told by Doctors to Go Home and Not to Worry. He Died Less Than a Week Later.; Italy Stops Counting Bodies After Major Surge

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By The Blaze. A 20-year-old from Spain who recently died after contracting the coronavirus was allegedly sent home and told not to worry by doctors less than a week before the disease killed him.

Francisco Garcia, a youth soccer coach at Malaga club Atletico Portada Alta, initially thought he had the common cold when he went he first became ill on March 6, his family told the Sun in a recent interview. . .

Three days later, when Garcia still wasn’t recovering from the illness, Fernandez took him to a doctor who then allegedly told him to “take paracetamol [acetaminophen] and sent him home and said there was no need to worry.”

When his health deteriorated again overnight, Garcia’s family decided to take him to another doctor for a second opinion. That doctor sent him home again — this time with antibiotics. . .

Once at the hospital, he was diagnosed with pneumonia and was placed under a quarantine due to suspicion that he had contracted the coronavirus. The following day, he tested positive for COVID-19 as well as leukemia. Four days later he died. (Read more from “20-Year-Old Coronavirus Victim in Spain Was Reportedly Told by Doctors to Go Home and Not to Worry. He Died Less Than a Week Later.” HERE)

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Coronavirus in Italy: Health Care Workers Stop Counting Bodies

By New York Post. Italy’s death toll from the coronavirus has surpassed China, with so many dead that soldiers were brought in to haul away coffins and health care workers said they stopped counting bodies.

Officials said Thursday that 427 new deaths were recorded over just 24 hours, bringing the COVID-19 death toll to 3,403, nearly 200 more than China, where the virus originated.

This comes despite the fact that Italy has 41,035 confirmed cases — just over half as many as China.

“Unfortunately we can’t contain the situation in Lombardy,” said Daniela Confalonieri, a nurse in Milan. “There’s a high level of contagion and we’re not even counting the dead anymore.”

“Look at the news that’s coming out of Italy and take note of what the situation is like,” she said. “It’s unimaginable.” (Read more from “Coronavirus in Italy: Health Care Workers Stop Counting Bodies” HERE)

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Economists Warn Jobless Claims Could Top 1.5 Million by Next Week

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By The Hill. U.S. unemployment claims could reach a record 1.5 million by next week as service industry workers are forced to stay home amid the coronavirus outbreak, economists warned Thursday.

The U.S. Labor Department reported that 281,000 Americans filed for unemployment benefits the week of March 14 — a 70,000 jump from the week before, and 60,000 claims more than economists had expected.

“State filings offices for Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut report claims filings this week are running six to 14 times higher than the same week last year,” Conrad DeQuadros, senior economic advisor at Brean Capital in New York, told Reuters. (Read more from “Economists Warn Jobless Claims Could Top 1.5 Million by Next Week” HERE)

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Washington Scrambles to Prevent Massive Unemployment Spike

By The Hill. The coronavirus is quickly taking a sledgehammer to the historically low unemployment rates that have defined much of President Trump’s time in office.

The pandemic’s toll on the economy is now a key focus of Washington’s response to the growing public health crisis, with Congress and the White House scrambling to provide relief for struggling workers and businesses.

“It’s going to be a big problem,” said Jay Shambaugh, director of the Hamilton Project and a senior economics fellow at the Brookings Institution. “Unemployment is going to be where we see the economic damage, and is rising, frankly, faster than we expected just a week or two ago.”

Restaurants and bars have already initiated severe staff cutbacks, with similar actions underway in the travel and entertainment industries, leading to widespread layoffs at companies large and small. (Read more from “Washington Scrambles to Prevent Massive Unemployment Spike” HERE)

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Iran Repeatedly Attacks U.S. Troops as Coronavirus Outbreak Distracts Public Attention; U.S. Slaps New Sanctions on Iran

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By Washington Examiner. Iran-controlled forces are launching rockets at U.S. troops in Iraq while Western leaders focus on a coronavirus pandemic that threatens to overwhelm hospital networks around the world.

“It feels like part of the American public may have forgotten that two Americans died in Iraq,” Behnam Ben Taleblu, an expert on the Iranian regime at Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told the Washington Examiner.

American forces targeted five weapons depots controlled by Kataib Hezbollah, a Shia militia that the United States blamed for the attack that killed two Americans and one British service member last week. Yet the militias remain undeterred, as a Tuesday morning barrage marked the third attack on bases housing U.S.n troops in the last week, even as Tehran struggles to manage one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in the world.

“They view this as a kind of continuing campaign to push Americans out of Iraq,” retired Army Lt. Gen. Thomas Spoehr, who directs the Heritage Foundation’s Center for National Defense, told the Washington Examiner. “They’ve lost a lot of citizens to corona, but for those kinds of regimes, it’s really kind of inconsequential to them. They don’t place as high a premium on life as we do.” . . .

Some analysts believe that Iran has renewed attacks on U.S. forces in order to distract from the coronavirus outbreak. “Iranians are fiercely nationalistic,” American Enterprise Institute scholar Michael Rubin, who specializes in Iran and the Middle East, told the Washington Examiner. “And so, basically, it’s a no-brainer on the part of the Iranian regime to try to distract people from their own incompetence. And, even though — yeah, I’m a neocon, I’m a hawk, and so forth — I think the worst possible thing would be for Trump to hit Iran.” (Read more from “Iran Repeatedly Attacks U.S. Troops as Coronavirus Outbreak Distracts Public Attention” HERE)

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U.S. Slaps New Sanctions on Iran Amid Renewed Rocket Attacks in Iraq

The State Department on Wednesday announced it is slapping new sanctions on Iran as renewed rocket attacks have been launched at U.S. forces in Iraq by what are believed to be Tehran-backed militias.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement that the sanctions will target nine entities and three individuals “who have engaged in activity that could enable the Iranian regime’s violent behavior.”

“The actions of these individuals and entities provide revenue to the regime that it may use to fund terror and other destabilizing activities, such as the recent rocket attacks on Iraqi and Coalition forces located at Camp Taji in Iraq,” he said.

The sanctions mainly target Iran’s petrochemical industry and are intended to “further Iran’s economic and diplomatic isolation.” (Read more from “U.S. Slaps New Sanctions on Iran Amid Renewed Rocket Attacks in Iraq” HERE)

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If China Had Acted 3 Weeks Earlier Than They Did, Cases Would’ve Been Reduced 95%

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By Axios. Axios has compiled a timeline of the earliest weeks of the coronavirus outbreak in China, highlighting when the cover-up started and ended — and showing how, during that time, the virus already started spreading around the world, including to the United States.

Why it matters: A study published in March indicated that if Chinese authorities had acted three weeks earlier than they did, the number of coronavirus cases could have been reduced by 95% and its geographic spread limited.

This timeline, compiled from information reported by the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the South China Morning Post and other sources, shows that China’s cover-up and the delay in serious measures to contain the virus lasted about three weeks. (Read more from “If China Had Acted 3 Weeks Earlier Than They Did, Cases Would’ve Been Reduced 95%” HERE)

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Early and Combined Interventions Crucial in Tackling COVID-19 Spread in China

By University of South Hampton. A study by the University of Southampton examining non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) in response to the new coronavirus (COVID-19) in China shows that a range of early, coordinated and targeted measures are needed to help significantly reduce its spread.

Researchers in the population mapping group WorldPop ran complex modelling, using anonymised data on both human movement and illness onset, to help simulate different outbreak scenarios for cities in mainland China. This allowed them to understand how variations in the timing, level and combinations of interventions affect speed and transmission of the disease. . .

The study estimates that by the end of February 2020 there was a total of 114, 325 COVID-19 cases in China. It shows that without non-pharmaceutical interventions – such as early detection, isolation of cases, travel restrictions and cordon sanitaire – the number of infected people would have been 67 times larger than that which actually occurred.

The research also found that if interventions in the country could have been conducted one week, two weeks, or three weeks earlier, cases could have been reduced by 66 percent, 86 percent and 95 percent respectively – significantly limiting the geographical spread of the disease. However, if NPIs were conducted one week, two weeks, or three weeks later than they were, the number of cases may have shown a 3-fold, 7-fold, or 18-fold increase, respectively.

Study author Dr Shengjie Lai, of the University of Southampton, comments: “Our study demonstrates how important it is for countries which are facing an imminent outbreak to proactively plan a coordinated response which swiftly tackles the spread of the disease on a number of fronts. We also show that China’s comprehensive response, in a relatively short period, greatly reduced the potential health impact of the outbreak.” (Read more from “Early and Combined Interventions Crucial in Tackling COVID-19 Spread in China” HERE)

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Helpful Reminder: CNN Was Calling Wuhan Virus the China Virus Months Ago

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CNN, of course, referring to China News Network, which is the name they prefer, I hear.

People everywere, please stop eating Pangolins and Bats. I don’t think that’s part of the natural order. Thank you in advance for your consideration. (For more from the author of “Helpful Reminder: CNN Was Calling Wuhan Virus the China Virus Months Ago” please click HERE)

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China Lied and People Died: Chinese Scientists Destroyed Coronavirus Evidence in December; GOP Senator Says China ‘to Blame’ for Spread Because of Culture; Woman Who Flew From U.S. to China Faces Criminal Charges After Lying About Symptoms; Trump Doubles Down on ‘China Virus’

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By Townhall. The Chinese are to blame for this Wuhan coronavirus pandemic. Their containment methods were laughable, their officials refused to inform the public, and people died. They allowed Wuhan to celebrate Chinese New Year, exposing potentially tens of thousands to the disease. Some five million left the city before they enacted a quarantine. And now we’re hearing that they knew about human transmissions. The Wall Street Journal’s piece on how this whole international fiasco began all but places the blame where it should rightfully be directed: China . . .

And now, there are reports that Chinese scientists destroyed evidence about the virus back in December (via The Times UK):

Chinese laboratories identified a mystery virus as a highly infectious new pathogen by late December last year, but they were ordered to stop tests, destroy samples and suppress the news, a Chinese media outlet has revealed.

A regional health official in Wuhan, centre of the outbreak, demanded the destruction of the lab samples that established the cause of unexplained viral pneumonia on January 1. China did not acknowledge there was human-to-human transmission until more than three weeks later.

The detailed revelations by Caixin Global, a respected independent publication, provide the clearest evidence yet of the scale of the cover-up in the crucial early weeks when the opportunity was lost to control the outbreak. Censors have been rapidly deleting the report from the Chinese internet.

(Read more from “China Lied and People Died: Chinese Scientists Destroyed Coronavirus Evidence in December” HERE)

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GOP Senator Says China ‘to Blame’ for Coronavirus Spread Because of ‘Culture Where People Eat Bats and Snakes and Dogs’

By USA Today. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, drew a backlash on social media and from Asian American advocates on Wednesday for claiming China was “to blame” for the spread of the coronavirus because of a “culture where people eat bats and snakes and dogs and things like that.”

‘These viruses are transmitted from the animal to the people and that’s why China has been the source of a lot of these viruses like SARS, like MERS, the Swine flu, and now the coronavirus, so I think they have a fundamental problem, the Texas Republican said to reporters, saying he did not object to a geographic name for the virus.

Asked about Asian Americans’ concerns about racism, Cornyn said, “I disagree. We’re not talking about Asians. We’re talking about China, where these viruses emanate from and created this pandemic.” . . .

The CDC says the coronavirus has its origins in bats and might have jumped to humans through a “wet market,” or a live animal market in Wuhan, China.

Swine flu was first detected in the United States in 2009, and MERS was first identified in Jordan in 2012, according to the CDC. The CDC says the first cases of SARS were reported in China’s Guangdong province in 2002. (Read more from “GOP Senator Says China ‘to Blame’ for Coronavirus Spread Because of ‘Culture Where People Eat Bats and Snakes and Dogs'” HERE)

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Woman Who Flew From U.S. to China for Coronavirus Test Faces Criminal Charges

By Los Angeles Times. A woman who flew last week from Massachusetts to Los Angeles — then to Beijing, where she tested positive for coronavirus — is under investigation on allegations of concealing her symptoms and putting fellow travelers at risk of infection.

The woman took fever-reducing medication before boarding a plane and lied to flight attendants, according to Beijing’s disease control center and an Air China representative, who held a news conference on Monday.

The woman, who was hospitalized and is receiving treatment, is under investigation for the crime of “impeding prevention of infectious diseases.” According to Chinese law, she could face up to three years of imprisonment or detention with possible forced labor, or up to seven years of prison if there are “serious consequences.”

As the pandemic worsens around the world but slows in China, authorities in Beijing are tightening controls. All passengers arriving in Beijing from abroad, including Chinese nationals, are required to quarantine in government centers for 14 days. (Read more from “Woman Who Flew From U.S. to China for Coronavirus Test Faces Criminal Charges” HERE)

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Trump Doubles Down on ‘China Virus,’ Demands to Know Who in White House Used Phrase ‘Kung Flu’

By Fox News. President Trump on Wednesday continued to call COVID-19, the “China virus,” and said he doesn’t think labeling the novel coronavirus is racist or puts Asian-Americans at risk.

“No, not at all,” Trump said during the noon press conference. “I think they probably would agree with it, 100 percent. It comes from China.”

Trump has been under pressure from China as well as some Democrats to stop using the term “China virus” or “Wuhan virus.” They believe the term stigmatizes China and borders on being racist. But instead if stopping, Trump has upped his use. . .

In the bizarre exchange, Trump asked Alcindor to repeat the phrase “Kung-Flu” and asked her directly which White House official had used the term. She said she did not get a name.

Earlier in the day, White House advisor Kellyanne Conway took a more combative tone with reporters and though she said using the phrase “Kung-Flu” was wrong, she refused to engage in a “hypothetical” and demanded to know who in the White House had the exchange with Jiang. (Read more from “Trump Doubles Down on ‘China Virus,’ Demands to Know Who in White House Used Phrase ‘Kung Flu'” HERE)

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