INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Just a few hours after the markets closed the books on one of its worst trading days since the dawn of the financial crisis, President
Donald Trump and members of the coronavirus task forcetook to the podium in the White House press briefing room to tease an economic
stimulus package in an effort to stabilize shaky markets.
In a brief statement before the press corps, the president hinted at a possible
payroll tax cut and emergency support for businesses looking to guarantee that hourly workers are protected from job loss and lost wages as
social distancing becomes recommended practice in response to the spread of COVID-19.
We&re going to be talking about hourly wage earners
getting help so that they can be in a position where they&re not going to miss a paycheck,& the president said
So that they don''t get penalized for something that not their fault.
Trump intends to speak with representatives of the Small Business
Administration to create potential loans for small businesses affected by response efforts from federal, state and local governments.
This
is about providing proper tools and liquidity to get through the next few months,& said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, at the
briefing.
US response to the COVID-19 coronavirus moves from ‘containment& to ‘mitigation
The president left the podium without
responding to reporters& questions about whether he had been tested for COVID-19, after reports surfaced earlier today that several members
of Congress who had met with the president had been exposed to the disease last week at a gathering of national conservative
leadership.
Vice President Mike Pence then outlined the latest steps from the United States government to respond to the spread of the
disease while emphasizing most Americans& risk of contracting the disease remained low.
The risk of contracting the coronavirus to the
American public remains low and the risk of serious disease also remains low,& the vice president said yet again.
Meanwhile, the American
private health industry is working overtime to develop vaccines, treatments and diagnostic testing tools to buttress the work being done in
national laboratories.
As more private tools come to market, the question will be who will ultimately foot the bill for treatment of the
disease as it spreads.
Some epidemiologists contend that the United States remains unprepared for the severity of the disease spread, and
that even a good scenario means that millions of Americans will be sickened and need some sort of consultation or care.
IANAE (I am not an
epidemiologist) but I did just interview the co-author of a report for the Center for Health Security on the impact of Coronavirus, he
believes the ultimate number of infected / hospitalized in United States will be somewhere between the two estimates on this table 1/
pic.twitter.com/gIHrRhROww
mdash; Christopher Mims
(@mims) March 9, 2020
The government response to stabilize markets follows the advice
laid out in a series of policy suggestions from the International Monetary Fund and advocated by Dr
Scott Gottlieb, the former head of the Food and Drug Administration, who has returned to the private sector as a managing director of the
venture capital firm NEA.
2/2 At the same time, we must provide direct economic assistance to cities, states, people burdened with
hardship to compensate for large costs of strong mitigation steps and give cities more latitude to adopt such measures
The national interest depends on strong local actions.
mdash; Scott Gottlieb, MD (@ScottGottliebMD) March 8, 2020
