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Yellen Says Coronavirus Could Throw U.S. Economy Into Recession

https://youtu.be/XPy5laBjFJk?t=67

(Bloomberg) — Former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said depending on how widely the coronavirus spreads, the economic impact could have a significant impact on Europe and veer the U.S. toward a recession. “We could see a significant impact on Europe, which has been weak to start with, and it’s just conceivable that it could throw the United States into a recession,” Yellen said Wednesday at an event in Michigan. “If it doesn’t hit in a substantial way in the United States, that’s less likely. We had a pretty solid outlook before this happened — and there is some risk, but basically I think the U.S. outlook looks pretty good.” The global economy was weak but starting to recover before the virus hit, Yellen said. The shutdown of factories due to the outbreak in China will impact supply chains and cause a drop in consumer spending as people have been quarantined or cease traveling. Yellen, who spoke about the economy at an event held by the Brookings Institution in Clinton Township, Michigan, also commented on the decline in the 10-year Treasury yield this week to historic lows. Yields have plunged as fears about the spreading coronavirus have rocked global financial markets. “Market participants will look to the Fed to provide some support,” Yellen said. “In most developed countries, interest rates are really low — and they are very low in the United States, but higher than they are in most other developed economies. And the Fed does have some scope — it’s not a cure-all. But it will provide a little bit of support to consumer spending and to the U.S. economy and for financial markets. And, of course, if it becomes very serious, fiscal policy could play a more active role too.” Nick Note: They will attack this with Fiscial Policy… it will fool the masses for a short time and then BOOMADE BANG

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Coronavirus outbreak ‘getting bigger’, WHO says

Germany enacts new health security measures against coronavirus infections

GENEVA/BEIJING — The rapid rise in coronavirus raised fears of a pandemic on Friday, with six countries reporting their first cases, the World Health Organization warning it could spread worldwide and Switzerland canceling the giant Geneva car show. World share markets crashed again, winding up their worst week since the 2008 global financial crisis and bringing the global wipeout to $6 trillion. Hopes that the epidemic that started in China late last year would be over in months, and that economic activity would quickly return to normal, have been shattered as the number of international cases has spiraled. “The outbreak is getting bigger,” WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier told reporters in Geneva. “The scenario of the coronavirus reaching multiple countries, if not all countries around the world, is something we have been looking at and warning against since quite a while.” Switzerland joined countries banning big events to try to curb the epidemic, forcing cancellation of next week’s Geneva international car show, one of the industry’s most important gatherings.            Mainland China reported 327 new cases, the lowest since Jan. 23, taking its tally to more than 78,800 cases with almost 2,800 deaths. China’s three biggest airlines restored some international flights and the Shanghai fashion show, initially postponed, went ahead online. Five more countries have reported their first case, all with travel history connected to Italy. They were Nigeria, Estonia, Denmark, Netherlands and Lithuania, Lindmeier said. Mexico also detected its first cases of infection in two men who had traveled to Italy, making the country the second in Latin America to register the virus after Brazil. Countries other than China now account for about three-quarters of new infections Bulgaria said it was ready to deploy up to 1,000 troops and military equipment to the border with Turkey to prevent illegal migrant inflows as steps up measures against the coronavirus. It has not reported any cases. Mongolia, which has yet to confirm a case, placed its president, Battulga Khaltmaa, in quarantine as a precaution after he returned from a trip to China, state media reported. A Chinese official called the epidemic the most difficult health crisis in the country’s modern history. Another said some recovered patients had been found to be infectious, suggesting the epidemic may be even harder to eradicate than previously thought. Lindmeier said the WHO was looking very carefully into reports of some people getting re-infected. In addition to stockpiling medical supplies, governments ordered schools shut and canceled big gatherings to try to halt the flu-like disease.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration was considering invoking special powers to expand production of protective gear.

In Europe, France’s reported cases doubled, Germany warned of an impending epidemic and Greece, a gateway for refugees from the Middle East, announced tighter border controls. The death toll in Italy, Europe’s worst-hit country, rose to 17 and those testing positive increased by more than 200 to 655. Germany has nearly 60 cases, France about 38 and Spain 23, according to a Reuters count. South Korea has the most cases outside China. It reported 571 new infections on Friday, bringing the total to 2,337 with 13 people killed. The head of the WHO’s emergency program, Dr Mike Ryan, said Iran’s outbreak may be worse than realized. It has the most deaths outside China – 34 from 388 reported cases. U.S. intelligence agencies are monitoring the spread of coronavirus in Iran and India, where only a handful of cases have been reported, sources said. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the United States had offered to help Iran, raising doubts about its willingness to share information. Japan is scheduled to host the 2020 Olympics in July but Ryan said discussions were being held about whether to go ahead. Organizers will decide next week on the ceremonial torch relay, due to arrive on March 20 for a 121-day journey past landmarks including Mount Fuji and Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Park. As of Friday, confirmed cases in Japan had risen above 200, with four deaths, excluding more than 700 cases on a quarantined cruise liner, Diamond Princess. A British man infected on the ship had died, bringing the death toll among passenger to six, Kyodo newswire reported. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had called for schools to close and vowed to prevent a severe blow to an economy already teetering on the brink of recession. In Moscow, authorities were deporting 88 foreigners who violated quarantine measures imposed on them as a precaution, the RIA news agency cited Moscow’s deputy mayor as saying. Chinese-ruled Hong Kong, where the coronavirus has killed two and infected more than 90, quarantined a pet dog of a coronavirus patient after it tested “weak positive,” though authorities had no evidence the virus can be transmitted to pets.

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There goes the Gucci goo bags…… I am devastated

The outbreak of coronavirus in Italy is getting worse, BBC correspondent Bethany Bell reports. The authorities say four children have been infected, the first such cases in this county. Twelve people have died – all of them either elderly or with underlying health problems. Several cases in other European countries have been reported among people who have recently been in northern Italy. On a visit to Rome, the EU’s health commissioner Stella Kyriakides said the situation was a cause for concern but not for panic. Schools, universities, museums, cinemas and theatres remain closed across much of the north. A number of tourists have cancelled their visits. There are fears the outbreak could send Italy’s economy in recession. Several European countries have announced their first coronavirus cases, all apparently linked to the growing outbreak in Italy. Austria, Croatia and Switzerland said the cases involved people who had been to Italy, as did Algeria in Africa. The first positive virus test has been recorded in Latin America – a Brazilian resident just returned from Italy. Italy has in recent days become Europe’s worst-affected country, with more than 300 cases and 11 deaths. But its neighbours have decided closing borders would be “disproportionate”. Health ministers from France, Germany, Italy and the EU Commission committed to keeping frontiers open at a meeting on Tuesday as new cases of the virus emerged throughout Europe and in central and southern Italy. Globally, more than 80,000 people in more than 40 countries have been infected. Nearly 2,800 have died, the vast majority in China’s Hubei province. Iran, where 26 people have died, has cancelled Friday prayers in Tehran. Saudi Arabia is stopping foreign pilgrims entering the country. It is not clear if the Hajj pilgrimage, which begins in July this year, will be affected New Zealand’s ban on foreign travellers from mainland China has been extended to 3 March. Australia is extending a ban on foreign visitors from mainland China Italy, where 14 people have died, has quarantined 11 towns Greece is cancelling all carnival activities. Nick Note: Please understand that 60% of Italian exports come from the Lombardi region (Milan) of Italy…. their goes the Gucci goo bags…… i am devastated

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Japan to close all schools to in a desperate attempt to halt Coronavirus spread

The closure – thought to affect 13 million students – will continue until the school year ends in late March. World Health Organization head Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus said the global outbreak had now reached a “decisive point” and had “pandemic potential”. For the second day running, more cases have been reported outside than inside China. Dr Tedros urged governments to act swiftly and aggressively to contain the virus. “This is not a time for fear. This is a time for taking action to prevent infection and save lives now,” he said. The closures are set to take effect on Monday and will last until the end of spring vacation – typically in early April. Mr Abe said the first weeks of March would be an “extremely critical period” for preventing virus transmission. “The government attaches the top priority to the health and safety of children,” he said. It follows China’s decision not to reopen schools on the mainland after the Spring Festival holiday and instead ask nearly 200 million students to follow classes online from their homes. Hong Kong is also keeping schools closed until April. Many parents in Japan are concerned about what they will do with their children. “My honest feeling – all schools on break? It’s important to protect children, but what happens if they have working parents?” one parent wrote on social media. Officials say child day care centres and after-school facilities can remain open. More than 200 people have so far been infected with the coronavirus in Japan.

One woman in her forties in Osaka is said to have tested positive for a second time after earlier recovering.

A tour guide who had come into contact with visitors from the Chinese city of Wuhan where the outbreak began, she first tested positive in late January and was discharged from hospital on 1 February, a statement said. Meanwhile, health officials in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong say some patients there who recovered and were discharged from hospital have again tested positive. The authorities in both countries say they will track former patients after they are discharged from hospital. Nick Note: Makes you wonder what they know that they are not telling you. The untold truth is Italy, England, Malta,  Greece and many countries are quietly closing their schools

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California Monitoring 8,400 For Coronavirus; Shortage Of Testing Kits Addressed

SACRAMENTO (CBS SF) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday the state is monitoring about 8,400 people for the coronavirus, a day after a Solano County patient was identified as the first coronavirus case in the U.S. from unknown origin. At a news conference with state health officials to update the state’s preparation, Newsom said the state also currently has a shortage of coronavirus testing kits and has worked with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to update the testing protocols for the coronavirus. Initially, the Solano County patient wasn’t tested for the coronavirus because she did not present the risk factors such as travel to China or contact with infected patients.

Currently, California only has 200 testing kits for the coronavirus and Newsom said the number of available kits from the CDC will be “exponentially expanded” starting Thursday afternoon. “That is simply inadequate to do justice to the kind of testing we need,” said Newsom.

The 8,400 in California being monitored are returning travelers from China, according to the state health department. Those people have been urged to self-quarantine for 14 days and to limit their interactions with others. Newsom says there are 28 people in California who have tested positive for the virus. “We have 33 confirmed positive tests for the coronavirus,” said Newsom. “Five individuals have subsequently moved out of state.” The California Department of Public Health maintains the risk to the general population in California is low for the coronavirus, and that more than 80% of people infected with the virus have mild or no symptoms. The governor and health officials were cautious in revealing any information about the identity of the Solano County coronavirus patient, currently being treated at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, but were working to alert those who may have dealt with the person. “People who have been in contact with this individual absolutely have the right to know,” said Newsom. Solano County on Thursday declared a local emergency and the county’s health department said it was activating its operations center to bolster its efforts to identify, screen and follow up with people potentially exposed to the virus. Newsom reiterated that while people in Solano County should be concerned about the virus spreading there, he did not want to “overextend the anxiety that people naturally face.” “Look, everybody in this country is rightfully anxious about this moment, but I think they should know that we are meeting this moment with the kind of urgency that is necessary,” said Newsom. “This is something we are organizing around, something we’ve been organizing around for months. Nothing so far has surprised us. Nothing. What happened in Solano County did not surprise anybody. I think the only thing, respectfully, that surprised folks is that it didn’t happen sooner.” Newsom said people should continue as normal while observing the standard practices that prevent transmissions of colds and flu, such as washing hands, covering coughs and sneezes, and avoiding touching your eyes, nose or mouth. “I think people should go on with their day-to-day lives with some common sense.” Nick Note: Not enough test kits? What the FUCK is going on. I understand your president is in control. good luck if you are relying on that FUCK and his merry band of ass kissing yes men and women!

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Number of coronavirus cases in Italy jumps to 650

Authorities in Italy announced the deaths of five more coronavirus patients on Thursday bringing the number of people who have died from the illness to 17. Here’s the latest information on the situation in Italy. The country’s civil protection agency released a statement on Thursday evening saying the number of overall cases had risen to 650. That number includes around 40 people who had been infected but are now fully recovered.

The agency’s chief Angelo Borrelli said there had been a total of five more deaths on Thursday, bringing the total to 17. 14 of the fatalities were in the northern region of Lombardy which is the centre of the recent outbreak. The region has over 400 infected cases with around 10 percent of that number reported as recovered. Most of the victims who have died were elderly, many over the age of 80. Some of them had underlying health conditions including cancer. Italy has seen a huge surge in the number of cases since last Friday when only three were reported.

Italy now has the highest number of people with the virus in Europe and the highest death toll.

It has also been a point of contagion with many cases in other countries involving people who returned home after travelling in infection-hit areas of northern Italy. Italian authorities have also urged calm whilst taking action, sometimes draconian, to halt the spread of the virus. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte urged people “not to give in to panic and follow the advice of health authorities”. Since Sunday, more than 50,000 people have been confined to 10 towns in Lombardy and one in Veneto — a drastic measure taken to halt the spread of the disease. Italian government ministers have called for calm and stressed that Italy remains a safe country to visit, as most of the country remains unaffected by the virus. According to the World Health Organisation 80 percent of those who are infected with the virus only suffer mild symptoms such as a headache or soar throat. Around five percent end up in a critical condition.

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Coronavirus Screening ‘Missing More Than Half of Cases:’ Study

Global screening efforts to prevent the rapid spread of coronavirus are likely to fail, according to new research warning that even best-case screenings of air travelers will miss more than half of infected people. The novel coronavirus has infected more than 80,000 people worldwide since its emergence in central China last month.

Traveler screening using temperature monitors and questionnaires is a key response measure, yet the World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday said for the first time the number of new cases outside mainland China exceeded those within it.

Researchers in the United States and Britain in a study published in the journal eLife used computer models to predict the impact of screening, based on the latest data of how the coronavirus behaves and how long it takes for patients to show symptoms.

Building on similar work in 2015, they found that many cases would inevitably be missed and called for a re-think in how nations screen passengers.

“If someone doesn’t realize they have been exposed, and doesn’t yet show symptoms, then they are fundamentally undetectable,” Katelyn Gostic, a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Chicago and lead author told AFP.

“We estimate that on average, screening will miss about two-thirds of infected travelers.”

Gostic stressed that these misses were not the result of human error, but rather an inevitable by-product of how the virus behaves. The WHO says that the typical incubation period – that is the time between a patient contracting the virus and symptoms showing – is around 10-14 days. This means that patients could be contagious without even knowing it, rendering temperature tests searching for a tell-tale fever and even self-reporting of exposure largely useless. Upon screening, travelers fall into one of four categories: symptomatic but unaware of exposure; aware but asymptomatic; symptomatic and aware; and neither symptomatic nor aware. Gostic and the team found that the final category were completely undetectable by traditional screening methods, and travelers in the third category could only be caught if they were willing to self-report. Even assuming a best-case scenario where only one in 20 passengers were “subclinical” – that is, infected but not showing symptoms – the models predicted that 53 percent of cases would be missed. “Substantial fractions of the people who have tested positive in quarantine … did not show any detectable symptoms at the time of diagnosis,” said Gostic. “Some of these people may be true subclinical cases. Others will probably develop symptoms in a few days time. Either way, these stories illustrate the difficulty of screening, where the goal is to detect cases as early as possible, but where people simply don’t show detectable symptoms early in the course of infection.”

Gostic warned that the world may be at a “tipping point” where screening and even the kind of quarantine measures seen in the outbreak’s epicenter Wuhan are no longer effective.

“Governments should be thinking about pandemic mitigation,” she said.“But we should recognize the hard work and immense value that on-the-ground containment efforts have brought up until this point — providing time for healthcare workers and policymakers to prepare.”

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WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF THE CORONAVIRUS

The signs of COVID-19, the infection caused by the coronavirus, are often mild and are very similar to a cold, flu or chest infection.
Typical symptoms of infection include a fever, a cough, and shortness of breath or difficulty breathing.
These are common complaints at this time of year, so where someone has travelled or who they have come into contact with are important in determining whether they might have coronavirus.
The NHS considers people to be at risk if they have the symptoms above and have recently travelled to mainland China, South Korea, Thailand, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Macau, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, or the north of Italy (north of Pisa and Florence).
People who have, in the past two weeks, been to the Hubei province of China, Iran, the South Korean cities of Daegu or Cheongdo in South Korea, or one of 11 quarantined towns in northern Italy are considered to be at risk even if they feel well.
The 11 towns in Italy are Codogno, Castiglione d’Adda, Casalpusterlengo, Fombio, Maleo, Somaglia, Bertonico, Terranova dei Passerini, Castelgerundo, San Fiorano and Vo’ Euganeo.
Those who have come into contact with others who have visited those places and then feel ill may also be at risk.
People who fit any of the categories above should stay at home and self-isolate, away from other people, and phone NHS 111 for more advice. If you think you have the coronavirus do not go to a doctor’s surgery or hospital.
The virus can spread through coughing, sneezing, or by being close to someone for prolonged periods of time.
To protect themselves, people should cough and sneeze into a tissue and throw it away, wash their hands and avoid contact with sick people.

Source: NHS

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Patients in Guangdong Province were struck again after being given all clear  

14 PER CENT of coronavirus patients tested positive a SECOND time in one Chinese region, health official admits

  • It comes after a 40-year-old woman in Japan was diagnosed a second time
  • Experts in virology say it throws into question the reliability of Chinese testing

Around 14 per cent of coronavirus patients tested positive a second time in one Chinese region despite being given the all clear. A health official in Guangdong Province told The New York Times that the patients had been discharged from hospital after testing negative for the virus but then fell ill again later.  It follows reports in Japan of a 40-year-old woman who tested positive for a second time yesterday. Experts said patients should develop an immunity to stop reinfection. Professor Mark Harris, Professor of Virology, University of Leeds, said: ‘Although coronaviruses generally cause short-term self-limiting infections which are cleared, there is some evidence in the scientific literature for persistent infections of animal coronaviruses, mainly in bats.’ Professor Harris added: ‘The reports that patients who tested negative subsequently tested positive again is clearly of concern.  ‘It is unlikely that they would have been reinfected having cleared the virus, as they would most likely have mounted an immune response to the virus that would prevent such reinfection.  ‘The other possibility therefore is that they did not in fact clear the infection but remained persistently infected.’ Around 14 per cent of coronavirus patients in one region of China have been diagnosed a second time. Pictured: Medical staff treating coronavirus patients at a hospital in Wuhan

The secondary cases raise fears that patients have wrongly been declared free of the virus
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Trump faces credibility test as he plays down virus threat

President Donald Trump with members of the president’s coronavirus task force speaks during a news conference at the Brady press briefing room of the White House, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump faces a critical personal challenge in grappling with the new coronavirus outbreak: Asking Americans to believe him after he and some of his top advisers have contradicted federal scientists in playing down the threat. Keenly aware of the stakes not just for public health but also his credibility, Trump conducted a lengthy press conference Wednesday evening aimed at reassuring everyone that he has the crisis well in hand. Trump surrounded himself with his administration’s top health experts. And he encouraged Americans to be prepared for the virus’ potential spread. But he continued to minimize the risk, saying the outbreak “may get a little bigger; it may not get bigger at all.” And he continued to distance himself from the stated opinion of public health officials that it’s inevitable the virus will spread within the United States.As businesses, schools and people in general think about preparing, the X-factor may be an unpredictable president who has clashed repeatedly with scientists in his own administration and tends to see any crisis through the lens of his own reelection chances. “I don’t think it’s inevitable,” Trump said at the news conference, where he announced Vice President Mike Pence would lead the administration’s response to the outbreak. “I think it has a chance that it could get worse. There is a chance you can get fairly substantially worse. But nothing’s inevitable.” He also said he had recently learned that thousands die from the flu each year, contrasting that to the coronavirus.

After two days of the stock market tumbling, Trump took to Twitter Wednesday morning to blame the media and Democrats for causing undue alarm and harming American financial markets.

He singled out MSNBC and CNN for “doing everything possible to make the Caronavirus look as bad as possible, including panicking markets, if possible,” and added that ”incompetent Do Nothing Democrat comrades are all talk, no action.” He blamed part of this week’s stock market slide on people’s reaction to Tuesday night’s Democratic debate and the possibility one of those candidates might replace him. And Trump acknowledged that the outbreak could “have an impact on GDP” but insisted that the U.S. economy is still “doing great.”

The setting for Trump’s evening press conference — the White House press briefing room — was meant to offer a sense of calm and assurance by the president. It was only the second time in his presidency that Trump had spoken from the podium in that room, and aides acknowledged he was trying to underscore that he has the situation under control and understands the gravity.

In advance, Trump played down the mortality rate for a pathogen that has been confirmed to have killed 2,700 people globally. His top economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, echoed Trump’s outlook, saying Tuesday that the U.S. had “contained” the threat of a domestic outbreak.

Trump’s and Kudlow’s comments were at odds with warnings from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials who said American communities need to prepare now for when the disease starts spreading domestically. So far, there have been just 60 confirmed cases in the U.S.

“The messaging by the White House is unhelpful,” said Lawrence Gostin, a professor of global health law at Georgetown University. “What the White House is doing is conveying a sense of overconfidence. … Of course, we do want to maintain calm with the public, but it flies in the face of facts.”Trump’s public efforts to project calm masked a behind-the-scenes focus. During his 36-hour visit to India, Trump received briefings from staff and periodically checked the impact on Wall Street, tweeting at all hours to try to reassure Americans and the markets about the spread of the virus.

Trump expressed deep concern to aides about the effect on the markets, according to White House officials and Republicans close to the West Wing. Trump has tied his fortunes to Wall Street more closely than any of his recent predecessors and has made a strong economy his No. 1 argument for reelection.

As the media coverage of the virus has increased, Trump has grown concerned that even fears of an outbreak would stagger Wall Street, leading him to wonder aloud if Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar was the right person to lead the administration’s response, the officials said. Since the start of the crisis, Trump has been reluctant to blame China, where the virus originated, for fear of upsetting President Xi Jinping or damaging ongoing trade talks. But he is also fearful he could be accused of being unresponsive to the crisis. At the urging of a number of his internal and outside advisers, he directed the White House to adopt a more public presence, leading to a briefing by officials and emails to the press stressing the administration’s response. The virus has already shut Chinese factories that are part of the U.S. supply chain. Mark Zandi, an economist at Moody’s Analytics, estimated Wednesday that U.S. growth could slow to 1.7% this year — roughly the same level as in 2016. He said the situation could become worse if a pandemic emerges.

At Tuesday’s presidential debate, Mike Bloomberg claimed “there’s nobody here to figure out what the hell we should be doing.” Sen. Amy Klobuchar criticized Trump for trying to cut back funding of the CDC and the National Institutes of Health. 

Nick Note: Trumps Junebugeddies number last night on national TV was little more the another addition of his ongoing reality show tittle… HOW GREAT I AM, reality is he is more worried about the stock market. The market crash and this pandemic will see to it he is not reelected.  And if this pandemic goes viral in the US he will declare Marshall law under the emergency powers act, suspend the constitution, Congress and elections… You have been warned!