US coronavirus news: Trump says economy 'may be' heading for recession as White House issues new Covid-19 guidelines

Hello and welcome to The Independent's rolling coverage of the Donald Trump administration as it attempts to lead the US response to the coronavirus epidemic.

Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders attack Trump over coronavirus response in eerie debate

Donald Trump has come under attack for his administration’s response to the coronavirus outbreak from Democratic 2020 challengers Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders in their latest televised debate, with the latter declaring: “It is unacceptable for him to be blabbering with unfactual information that is confusing the American public.”

  The former vice president and Vermont senator sought to cast themselves as best-positioned to lead the nation through the global pandemic, uniting in their criticism of Trump's actions but diverging in how they would confront the spiraling public health and economic crisis.

Biden pledged to deploy the United States military to help with recovery efforts (as New York governor Andrew Cuomo has demanded Trump do) and warned that a federal financial bailout may be necessary to stabilise the economy. Sanders leaned into the same domestic policy proposals that have dominated his campaign, arguing that the government-run health insurance system he has long championed would allow the US to respond faster to a health crisis.

The coronavirus outbreak has rapidly reshaped nearly all aspects of American life, shuttering schools across the country and significantly curtailing travel. Virus fears have also halted campaign rallies and prompted some states to delay upcoming primaries because of warnings from public health officials against large gatherings.

"This is bigger than any one of us - this calls for a national rallying for one another," Biden said.

Though Sunday's debate was the first one-on-one contest of the Democratic primary (and the first with no audience, making for an eerily quiet atmosphere), Biden and Sanders have been the leaders of their party's ideological poles throughout the yearlong campaign. Their prescriptions for addressing the coronavirus outbreak highlighted the contrasting approaches they are pledging to bring to the White House.

Biden, a centrist who backed the 2008 bailout of the financial industry during the recession, warned that another government-backed rescue plan may be needed in the coming months to shore up the economy. Sanders, a fierce liberal critic of Wall Street, opposed the earlier bailout and said it would be a mistake to take a similar approach now; instead, he suggested a tax on the wealthiest Americans.

The Vermont senator also repeatedly pushed questions regarding the coronavirus toward a now-familiar debate between him and Biden over health care. Sanders argued that the troublesome shortages in coronavirus tests and anxiety over the preparedness of the nation's health care system to deal with an impending increase in patients highlight why the US should move to the government-run, "Medicare For All" system he has long championed.

"One of the reasons that we are unprepared, and have been unprepared, is we don't have a system. We've got thousands of private insurance plans," Sanders said. "That is not a system that is prepared to provide health care to all people in a good year, without the epidemic."

Biden, who supports adding a public insurance option to the current system, argued that a pandemic was not a moment to attempt to push through an overhaul of the American health insurance system, a politically arduous endeavour.

"This is a crisis," Biden said. "We're at war with a virus. It has nothing to do with copays or anything."

As the debate opened, Biden and Sanders skipped a handshake, greeting each other instead with an elbow bump. They took their positions at podiums spaced six feet apart in keeping with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for limiting the spread of the novel coronavirus. They addressed the nation, and each other, from a television studio in Washington without an in-person audience.

The pandemic has upended the campaign for days, prompting Biden and Sanders to cancel rallies and instead hold virtual events with voters around the country. Their campaign staffs are also working remotely, and the candidates - both in their late 70s - said they were taking personal precautions to guard against a virus that is a greater risk to the elderly.

"I'm using a lot of soap and hand sanitiser," Sanders said.

Here's Andrew Buncombe's report.

US cities on lockdown as CDC recommends gatherings of no more than 50

With the US recording 3,485 cases of the disease and 65 deaths and major cities like New York and Los Angeles entering lockdown, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recommended a two-week ban on gatherings of more than 50 people as part of the battle to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

Officials across the country began curtailing many elements of American life to fight the outbreak on Sunday.

Governors and mayors closed restaurants, bars, and schools as the nation sank deeper into chaos. Travelers returning home from abroad were stuck in line for hours at major airports for screenings, crammed into just the kind of crowded spaces that public health officials have urged people to avoid.

In a sign of impending economic gloom, the Federal Reserve slashed its benchmark interest rate to near zero. President Trump sought to calm a jittery nation by declaring the government has "tremendous control" over the situation and urging people to stop the panic buying of grocery staples that has depleted store shelves nationwide.

Gun stores started seeing a similar run on weapons and ammunition as the panic intensified.

In a sign of the difficulty of striking the right balance, the CDC's latest statement also said its recommendation on postponing public gatherings does not apply to "the day to day operation of organizations such as schools, institutes of higher learning, or businesses."

Even before the warning, parts of the country already look like ghost towns, and others are about to follow as theme parks closed, beaches shooed away spring breakers and states and large cities ordered bars and restaurants shuttered.

New York City said eateries could only accept takeout and delivery orders. Mayor Bill de Blasio also ordered nightclubs, movie theaters and other entertainment venues closed.

"These places are part of the heart and soul of our city. They are part of what it means to be a New Yorker," he said in a statement on Sunday night. "But our city is facing an unprecedented threat, and we must respond with a wartime mentality."

His decision came after Dr Anthony Fauci, the federal government's top infectious disease expert, said he would like to see a 14-day national shutdown imposed to prevent the virus's spread.

"I think Americans should be prepared that they are going to have to hunker down significantly more than we as a country are doing," said Fauci, a member of the White House task force on combating the spread of coronavirus. He heads the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health.

There is no indication Trump is considering such a move.

The worldwide outbreak has sickened nearly 170,000 people and left more than 6,500 dead, with thousands of new cases confirmed each day. The death toll in the United States climbed to 64, while infections passed 3,700.

In New Orleans and Chicago, people clad in green for St Patrick's Day packed bars and spilled onto crowded sidewalks on Saturday even after the cities canceled their parades.

New York City announced its public school district, the nation's largest, will be closed starting Monday, joining most of the rest of the country. De Blasio had originally balked, but under pressure from Governor Cuomo and others he said on Sunday, "I became convinced over the course of today that there is no other choice."

Starbucks said Sunday it is closing seating in its cafes and patio areas nationwide, but customers can still order takeaway.

In Florida, Walt Disney World and Universal-Orlando closed on Sunday night for the rest of the month, joining their already closed California siblings. Farther south, Miami Beach and Fort Lauderdale closed their beaches, where thousands of college spring breakers flocked. The cities also ordered restaurants and bars closed by 10pm and to keep crowds below 250.

"We cannot become a petri dish for a very dangerous virus," Miami Beach mayor Dan Gelber said. "Spring break is over. The party is over."

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Trump tells Americans to stop panic buying and hoarding: 'Relax. We're doing great'

Here's a little more on the president's latest attempts to downplay the crisis and reassure the public as a doomsday prepper mentality threatens to take hold.

Federal Reserve cuts interest rates to zero and launches $700bn quantitative easing programme

 The US Fed yesterday announced it was cutting interest rates down to near-zero as the country's economy absorbs a massive blow following the coronavirus pandemic - but stock futures plummeted despite the stimulus.

In a statement, the US central bank said: "The coronavirus outbreak has harmed communities and disrupted economic activity in many countries... The Federal Reserve is prepared to use its full range of tools to support the flow of credit to households and businesses."

Among a suite of programmes to combat the economic fallout from the global threat of the Covid-19 virus, the Fed will slash interest rates and increase its holdings of US Treasury securities by at least $500bn (£407bn) in addition to an increase of government mortgage-backed securities by another $200bn (£163bn), in the hopes of lowering the costs of longer-term debts and bolstering the struggling housing market.

That dramatic $700bn (£570bn) snap mirrors the Fed's quantitative easing actions amid the financial crisis in 2008.

Despite the boost, stock market futures on Sunday night hit "limit down" levels of 5 per cent or lower, with Dow Jones average futures off by more than 1,000 points.

Here's Alex Woodward's report.

Illinois governor calls on White House to 'get its s@#t together'

On Twitter yesterday, Trump dismissed the Democratic debate as "VERY boring", hammered out anti-Biden propaganda from members of his campaign team like Brad Parscale, Tim Murtaugh and Kayleigh McEnany before calling on on state governors to “step up their efforts” on testing for the virus.

That came after California governor Gavin Newsom complained last week that the testing kits being handed out by the federal government were incomplete and his Illinois counterpart JB Pritzker called on the federal government to “get its s@#t together” after panicked crowds were seen at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport over the weekend.

Pritzker subsequently appeared on NBC's Meet the Press yesterday to tell Chuck Todd that a White House staffer had called up and "yelled" at him over the tweet.

He added - damningly - that state governors "are on our own out here" because the federal response on the pandemic has "fallen down".

Here's a little more on those disturbing scenes at O'Hare.

Trump administration tried to buy coronavirus vaccine ‘only for the US’, report says

The Trump administration offered “large sums of money” to a German biopharmaceutical firm to move its research on a coronavirus vaccine to the US, according to Die Welt.

The German daily newspaper reported that the White House attempt to relocate CareVac, a research company based in Tuebingen, was aimed at securing exclusive access to the drug when it was ready. It quoted a German government official saying the offer was to develop the vaccine “only for the United States”.

The move prompted the German government to offer its own financial incentives to keep the company in the country, the report added.

Good grief.

Richard Hall has more on this.

Trump himself has tested negative for coronavirus, says White House physician

 “Last night after an in-depth discussion with the president regarding COVID-19 testing, he elected to proceed,” said Dr Sean Conley yesterday in a statement released by White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham.

“One week after having dinner with the Brazilian delegation in Mar-a-Lago, the president remains symptom-free. I have been in daily contact with the CDC and White House coronoavirus Task Force, and we are encouraging the implementation of all their best practices for exposure reduction and transmission mitigation.”

We'll have to take Dr Conley at his word on this for now but the potential political consequences would render it almost unthinkable for him to say anything otherwise, it must be said. Trump has certainly been placed at risk of exposure by attending CPAC and by hosting Jair Bolsonaro's team in Florida.

Key ally Lindsey Graham, senator for South Carolina, has meanwhile also announced he has tested negative. Graham was initially dismissive of the crisis on Fox before finding himself having to shut up and self-quarantine last week.

Here's Andrew Buncombe's report on the president.

Devin Nunes ripped for going on Fox to tell Americans: 'Go to your local pub'

Conspiracy-addled Republican congressman for California and noted idiot Devin Nunes has rightly been getting flack online for going on Fox Business and urging Americans AGAINST engaging in self-isolation, contradicting advice from experts like Dr Fauci.

  “If you’re healthy, you and your family, it’s a great time to go out and go to a local restaurant, likely you can get in easy. Let’s not hurt the working people in this country that are relying on wages and tips to keep their small businesses running,” he said on Maria Bartiromo's show. 

“Don’t run to the grocery store and buy $4,000 worth of food… go to your local pub.”

This response was typical of the outpouring of bile his remarks attracted.

Here's Oliver O'Connell on an elected representative putting lives at risk in the interests of dunderheaded populism.

Fox anchor Trish Regan benched after angry conspiracy rant arguing coronavirus is Democratic plot to impeach Trump

The Fox Business host has been bumped after telling her viewers last week that the Democrats were trying to engineer a ”mass hysteria to encourage a market sell-off” and wanted “to demonise and destroy the president” in “another attempt to impeach” him.

"We’ve reached a tipping point," she said in an intense and swivel-eyed address. "The chorus of hate being levelled at the president is nearing a crescendo as Democrats blame him, and only him, for a virus that originated halfway around the world.”

Phil Thomas has the full story.