Economic impact

The pandemic, along with the resultant stock market crash and other impacts, has led to increased discussion of a recession in the United States.[313] Experts differ on whether a recession will actually take place, with some saying it's not inevitable while others say the country may already be in a recession.[313][314][315] Of the economists surveyed in March by the University of Chicago at multiple U.S. universities, 51% agreed or strongly agreed there would be a "major" recession caused by COVID-19, while 31% were uncertain or disagreed.[316]

Economic analysts revised their forecasts downward going into March,[317][318] with Goldman Sachs estimating on March 20 that the economy could contract by as much as 24% on an annualized basis during the second quarter of 2020,[319] following their 5% decline estimate just four days earlier.[320] James Bullard, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, estimated that GDP would halve in the second quarter.[321]

According to an analysis discussed in the New York Times, insurance premiums may rise by 40% next year because coronavirus costs were not taken into account when setting 2020 premiums. The total healthcare costs of treating the epidemic could be anywhere from $34 billion to $251 billion according to the analysis.[322]

Other financial effects

President Trump with representatives of the banking industry on March 11, 2020

In February 2020, the American companies Apple Inc. and Microsoft began lowering expectations for revenue because of supply chain disruptions in China caused by the virus.[386] In a February 27 note to clients, Goldman Sachs said it expects no earnings growth for U.S. companies in 2020 as a result of the virus, at a time when the consensus forecast of Wall Street expected "earnings to climb 7%".[387] On March 20, 2020 as part of an SEC filing, AT&T cancelled all stock buyback plans included a plan to repurchase stock worth $4 billion during the second quarter. The reasons AT&T gave for the cancellation was to invest the money into its networks and in taking care of its employees during the pandemic.[388]

In response to the economic damage caused by the pandemic, some economists have advocated for financial support from the government for individual Americans and for banks and businesses.[389][390] Others have objected to intervention by the government on the grounds that it would alter the role of the Federal Reserve and enshrine moral hazard as a defining market principle.[391]

Telemedicine

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a sharp increase in the utilization of telemedical services in the United States, specifically for COVID-19 screening and triage.[392][393] On March 26, 2020, GoodRx launched a telemedicine price comparison platform[394] that lists the prices of COVID-19 assessments by telemedicine provider and state.[392] As of March 29, 2020, three companies are offering free telemedical screenings for COVID-19 in the United States: K Health (routed through an AI chatbot), Ro (routed through an AI chatbot), and GoodRx (offered through its HeyDoctor platform).[394][395][393][396][excessive citations]

Timing of removing economic lockdowns

On March 24, Trump expressed a target of lifting restrictions "if it's good" by April 12, the Easter holiday, for "packed churches all over our country".[297] However, a survey of prominent economists by the University of Chicago indicated abandoning an economic lock-down prematurely would do more economic damage than maintaining it.[298] The New York Times reported on March 24 that: "There is, however, a widespread consensus among economists and public health experts that lifting the restrictions would impose huge costs in additional lives lost to the virus—and deliver little lasting benefit to the economy."[397] Bill Gates said: "It's very tough to say to people, 'Hey keep going to restaurants, go buy new houses, ignore that pile of bodies over in the corner, we want you to keep spending because there's some politician that thinks GDP growth is what counts' ... It's hard to tell people during an epidemic ... that they should go about things knowing their activity is spreading this disease."[398] On March 29, Trump extended the federal social distancing recommendations until the end of April.[399]

Financial market impacts

Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell announces a 50 basis point (0.5% percentage point) interest rate cut on March 3, 2020, in light of "evolving risks to economic activity"

On February 27, 2020, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) dropped 1,191 points, the largest single-day point drop in the index's history at the time; some attributed the drop to anxiety about the epidemic.[333] The same day, the S&P 500 logged a 4.4% decline.[334] Since then, the record has been beaten five more times during the outbreak on March 9 (−2,013), March 11 (−1,465), March 12 (−2,353), and finally setting the current record for most points lost in a single day by losing 2,997 points on March 16. It once again fell another 1,338 points on March 18. On March 13, the stock market rebounded for the single largest one-day point gain in the market's history by gaining 1,985 points after Trump declared a state of national emergency to free up resources to combat the virus.[335][336] The six business days it took for the S&P 500 Index to drop 10% (from February 20 to 27) "marked the quickest 10% decline from an all-time high in the index's history".[334] From January 21 to March 1, the DJIA dropped more than 3,500 points, equating to roughly a 13% decrease.[337][338]

Stock index futures declined sharply during Trump's March 11 address,[339] and the Dow Jones declined 10% the following day—the largest daily decline since Black Monday in 1987—despite the Federal Reserve also announcing it would inject $1.5 trillion into money markets.[340]

By March 18, investors were shunning even assets considered safe havens during economic crises, such as government bonds and gold, moving into cash positions.[341] By March 20, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was below the level when President Trump was inaugurated on January 20, 2017, having fallen 35% from its February peak.[342]

The markets rallied between March 23 and 26, with the Dow having its best three-day gain since 1931. On March 27, the Dow fell 3.5% and the S&P 500 fell 3.2%. The Nasdaq Index also fell. Boeing fell 10%, while Exxon and Disney each fell 6%.[343]

Employment effects

The number of persons filing for unemployment insurance increased from 211,000 the week ending March 7, to 281,000 for the week ending March 14, an increase of 70,000 or 33%, the largest percent increase since 1992.[344] Just part way through the following week, 15 states had reported nearly 630,000 claims.[345][346] Goldman Sachs forecast that more than two million people would file the week of March 21, an unprecedented number.[347] Goldman also forecast that the unemployment rate could rise towards nine percent over the second and third quarters, with much depending on the specifics of government stimulus plans.[348] On March 22, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said that the unemployment rate could hit 30 percent between April and June, worse than what it was during the Great Depression.[349][350] On March 26, the Labor Department reported a record number of unemployment claims: 3.28 million (previously 695 thousand in October 1982).[351] For the week ending March 28, 6.6 million people filed unemployment claims.[352]

Restaurant industry

The 2019–2020 coronavirus pandemic impacted the restaurant industry worldwide via government closures, resulting in layoffs of workers and loss of income for restaurants and owners.[citation needed]

The U.S. restaurant industry was projected to have $899 billion in sales for 2020 by the National Restaurant Association, the main trade association for the industry in the United States.[353] The industry as a whole as of February 2020 employed more than 15 million people, representing 10% of the workforce directly.[353] It indirectly employed close to another 10% when dependent businesses such as food producers, trucking, and delivery services were factored in, according to Ohio restaurateur Britney Ruby Miller.[353]

On March 15, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and Ohio Health Department director Amy Acton ordered the closure of all bars and restaurants to help slow the spread of the virus, saying the government "encouraged restaurants to offer carryout or delivery service, but they would not be allowed to have people congregating in the businesses."[354][353][355] The next day, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, and Maryland followed suit.[354][356]

Groups of restaurateurs in New York City and Cincinnati called on governments to provide help to the nation's small and independent restaurants.[357][353] On March 19 the New York group called for state governments to issue orders for rent abatements, suspension of sales and payroll taxes, and a full shutdown so business interruption insurance coverage would be triggered.[358] On March 20 the Cincinnati group called on the federal government to provide a $225 billion bailout to the restaurant industry.[353]

Several restaurant chains altered their operating procedures to prevent the spread of the virus, including removing seating, restricting the use of condiments, and switching to mobile payment systems. Many restaurants opted to close their dining rooms and instead switch to solely take-out food service to comply with physical distancing recommendations.[359]

Retail

Best Buy was letting only a limited number of people into their Union Square store in New York City, March 18

A number of retailers, particularly grocery stores, reduced their opening hours to allow additional time to restock and deep-clean their stores.[360] Major stores such as Walmart, Apple, Nike, Albertson's, and Trader Joe's also shortened their hours.[361][362] Some grocery store chains, including Stop & Shop and Dollar General, devoted a portion of their operating hours to serve only senior citizens.[363][364] Many grocery stores and pharmacies began installing plexiglass sneeze guards at register areas to protect cashiers and pharmacists, and adding markers six feet apart at checkout lines to encourage customers to maintain physical distance.[365] To prevent hoarding, many supermarkets and retailers placed limits on certain products such as toilet paper, hand sanitizer, over-the-counter medication, and cleaning supplies.[366] However, the Food Marketing Institute announced that its supply chain was not strained and all products would be available in the future.[366] Major retail chains started hiring tens of thousands of employees to keep up with demand, including Walmart (150,000), CVS Pharmacy (50,000), Dollar General (50,000), and 7 Eleven (20,000).[367] Sheetz convinience stores began offering free meals to children in need at select stores in Maryland, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.[368]A daily senior shopping hour, checkout line distancing markers, hand washing and sanitizer for employees, disinfecting wipes for customers to use on carts, and a ban on reusable bags became mandatory in Massachusetts on March 25,

Shipping facilities

Since consumers were increasingly relying on online retailers, Amazon planned to hire another 100,000 warehouse and delivery workers and raise wages $2 per hour through April. They also reported shortages of certain household staples.[370]

A March 21 article in the Chicago Tribune reported that employees at UPS, FedEx, and XPO often have been pressured not to take time off, even with symptoms such as fever and cough consistent with coronavirus. Public health authorities state that the risk is relatively low to customers receiving packages, in part because coronavirus does not live for very long on cardboard, but it most certainly is a danger for employees on crowded conveyor belts.[371]

At its warehouses, Amazon has stopped exit screenings, as well as group meetings at the beginning of shifts, and has staggered shift times and break times. The company also announced it would provide up to two weeks of pay to all employees diagnosed with coronavirus or placed into quarantine, but presumably not for employees who merely have symptoms of fever and cough.[372] Amazon workers complained paid medical leave was difficult to obtain because of limited access to COVID-19 testing, and some petitioned the company to extend paid leave to elderly and medically vulnerable workers without a positive test.[373] As small numbers of workers have tested positive for COVID-19, various Amazon warehouses have closed for sanitization, including one in Kentucky for several days.[373] Amazon workers at the Staten Island warehouse and some Instacart workers nationwide separately announced strikes for March 30, demanding access to personal protective equipment, better sick pay, hazard pay for Instacart orders, and a longer closure of the Staten Island warehouse for cleaning.[374]

Production of emergency supplies

In response to shortages, some alcoholic beverage facilities started manufacturing and distributing alcohol-based hand sanitizer.[375] General Motors opened its manufacturing, logistics, and purchasing infrastructure for use by Ventec, a manufacturer of medical ventilators.[376] As medical mask manufacturers hired hundreds of new workers and increased output,[377] in response to urgent requests from hospital workers, volunteers with home sewing machines started producing thousands of non-medical masks that can be sterilized and re-used. Fabric was bought privately or donated by Joann Fabrics.[378] The CDC recommended the use of homemade masks (preferably in combination with a full-face splash shield) only as a "last resort" when no other respiratory protective technologies were available, including reused professional masks.[379] Bauer Hockey began manufacturing face shields for medical applications on March 26.[380]

Some U.S. officials and commentators criticized the outsourcing of critical materials—like the production of essential medical supplies—to China.[381][382]

Surge in medical personnel

Several states and non-profit groups started recruiting retired medical personnel to increase staffing in hospitals and at temporary facilities.[383][384] Some jurisdictions granted emergency medical licenses to inactive doctors and incoming resident and interns, and expanded the tasks nurses were allowed to do.[385]

three days after FDA commissioner Stephen Hahn committed to producing nearly a million tests by that week. Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut and representative Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts both noted that as of March 8 their states had not yet received the new test kits. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, acknowledged on March 12 that it was "a failing" of the U.S. system that the demand for coronavirus tests was not being met; Fauci later clarified that he believed the private sector should have been brought in sooner to address the shortfall. By March 13, fewer than 14,000 tests had been done in the United States, reported The Atlantic.

The timing and availability of testing varies across countries. For example, by March 13 South Korea offered drive-through testing centers, which could get results the next day. South Korea also had a government-funded daily testing capacity of 15,000. According to March 16 and 17 statistics from Our World in Data, the U.S. had tested 125 people per million of their population—around the same as Japan. The U.K. tested nearly 750 per million, Italy more than 2,500 per million, and South Korea more than 5,500 per million. The first COVID-19 cases in the U.S. and South Korea were identified at around the same time. Critics say the U.S. government has botched the approval and distribution of test kits, losing crucial time during the early weeks of the outbreak, with the result that the true number of cases in the United States was impossible to estimate with any reasonable accuracy.

The New York Times obtained this response plan for the pandemic by the HHS dated March 13, 2020.

As of March 12, all 50 states were able to perform tests, with a doctor's approval, either from the CDC or from commercial labs in a state. This was followed by the government announcing a series of measures intended to speed up testing. These measures included the appointment of Admiral Brett Giroir of the U.S. Public Health Service to oversee testing, funding for two companies developing rapid tests, and a hotline to help labs find needed supplies. The FDA also gave emergency authorization for New York to obtain an automated coronavirus test unit that will reduce testing time to 3.5 hours.

On March 13, drive-through testing in the U.S. began in New Rochelle, Westchester County, as New Rochelle was the U.S. town with the most diagnosed cases at that time. By March 22, drive-through testing had appeared in more than thirty states, however, the Associated Press reported that "the system has been marked by inconsistencies, delays, and shortages," leading to many people waiting hours or days even though they showed symptoms and were recommended by a doctor to get a test. A lack of supplies had already forced the closure of drive-through testing in Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, New Mexico, Utah, and Virginia.

In a March 13 press conference, the Trump administration announced an effort for tests to be conducted in retail store parking lots across the country, with participating franchises including Walmart, Target, CVS, and Walgreens. The plan was that test data would be sent to labs to complete testing in partnership with local health departments and diagnostic labs. Two weeks later, five stations had been opened by the companies: Walmart two, Target none, CVS one, Walgreens one, and one more from newcomer Rite Aid. These were labelled as "prototype sites" by the Trump administration.

Research into vaccine and drug therapies

Further information: COVID-19 vaccine

There is currently no drug approved for treating COVID-19 either as a therapy or a vaccine nor is there any clear evidence that COVID-19 infection leads to immunity (experts assume it does for some period). As of late March 2020, more than a hundred drugs are in testing.

Among the labs working on a vaccine is the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, which has previously studied other infectious diseases, such as HIV/AIDS, Ebola, and MERS. Speed in developing a vaccine is a key element in the midst of the pandemic, as social distancing, self-isolating, and closures will have to be maintained until a vaccine is developed, which could take 12 to 18 months at best, or else transmission will quickly rebound. By March 18, tests had begun with a few dozen volunteers in Seattle, Washington, which was sponsored by the U.S. government. Similar safety trials of other coronavirus vaccines will begin soon in the U.S. Trials are also underway in China and Europe. This search for a vaccine has taken on aspects of national security and global competition.

President Trump and Anthony Fauci visited the Vaccine Research Center and the Viral Pathogenesis Laboratory at the National Institutes of Health on March 3, 2020

By March 19, President Trump directed the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to accelerate the testing and possible use of certain medications to discover if they would help treat patients who already have COVID-19. Among potential drugs are chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, which have long been used successfully to treat malaria. In March, both hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine were already being used to treat coronavirus patients by a number of physicians under the limited compassionate use approval of the FDA, while trials and analysis are still ongoing. On March 29, the FDA issued an Emergency Use Authorization, allowing the drugs as treatments for hospitalized coronavirus patients when clinical trials are not available for them to join. Hoarding of hydroxychloroquine, including by doctors prescribing the drug preemptively to family members, and publicity about the drug generated by President Trump caused spot shortages that endangered the health of patients using it to treat lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. Some state pharmacy boards directed pharmacists to ensure that prescriptions were only filled for legitimate uses of the drug.

In China, trials of chloroquine are underway at dozens of clinics, with early laboratory results showing that it seems to reduce the virus's rate of replication. Chloroquine has been used to treat patients with malaria for nearly a century. An Arizona man died after taking chloroquine phosphate in a high-concentration formulation which is used to control the growth of algae and infectious organisms in aquariums.

Like chloroquine, the closely-related drug hydroxychloroquine has already been used to treat certain autoimmune diseases like lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. A study in the peer-reviewed medical journal Clinical Infectious Diseases published on March 9 provided dosing recommendations for hydroxycholorquine as a COVID-19 treatment and showed it to be more effective in inhibiting the virus in vitro than chloroquine. Doctors are currently testing hydroxycholoroquine in coronavirus patients. On March 20, the WHO announced a large global trial of both drugs.

Because there is little time to fully test the drug, some experts[who?] in the U.S. have suggested using hydroxychloroquine as a first-line treatment. The heads of the FDA and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases have been hesitant due to inherent risks[which?]. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo planned to study its potential beginning March 24. However, there is currently a shortage of hydroxychloroquine, and some would like the federal government to release any stockpiles it may have and contract with generic manufacturers to ramp up production. The French laboratory Sanofi said it had the ability to provide millions of doses, enough to treat 300,000 patients, if it proved effective. In the same month the Israeli company Teva Pharmaceuticals said it planned to manufacture and donate ten million doses to U.S. hospitals at no charge.[197] The HHS reported on March 29 that the government would make available 30 million doses of hydroxychloroquine and 1 million doses of chloroquine recently donated to the Strategic National Stockpile for doctors to prescribe within limitations for COVID-19 patients.

Also being tested in research clinics is the antiviral drug remdesivir. It was developed to fight Ebola, although it failed to prove effective for that disease. At a Coronavirus Task Force briefing on March 19, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn noted that the FDA had made remdesivir available for "compassionate use" for dying coronavirus patients, while the FDA standard approval process was still ongoing.[198] Due to the emergency nature of the pandemic, former FDA commissioners Drs. Scott Gottlieb and Mark McClellan have called for the FDA to develop therapeutics and vaccines that would be exempt from some regulatory requirements.

The antibody rheumatoid arthritis treatment sarilumab is being tested in clinical trials in the hopes that suppressing some aspects of the immune response can help improve lung function patients who require supplemental oxygen.

The FDA sent warning letters to at least seven retailers selling essential oils, nasal sprays, herbal remedies, and other products claiming to test for, treat, or prevent COVID-19 (in violation of federal law, since none have been determined to be safe and effective by the FDA). The agency called them "scammers" and a threat to public health.

Medical supplies

On March 15, senior federal health official Anthony Fauci said the United States had 12,700 ventilators in its national stockpile. On March 19, Vice President Mike Pence declared that the federal government had "literally identified tens of thousands of ventilators", but did not provide further details.

On March 16, Trump told state governors that for medical equipment including respirators and ventilators, "We will be backing you, but try getting it yourselves." On March 24, Trump said state governors who wanted help from the federal government "have to treat us well, also", because "it's a two-way street"; he warned against governors arguing "we should get this, we should get that." On March 24, the Governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, declared that the state of New York would need 30,000 ventilators to handle the peak of the outbreak in the state, which was predicted to arrive in two weeks. Cuomo also said the federal government had sent only 400 ventilators to New York. Two days later, Trump, citing "a feeling", stated: "I don't believe you need 40,000 or 30,000 ventilators." He also said that Governor of Washington, Jay Inslee, "shouldn't be relying on the federal government"; Inslee says the president needs to enact a "national mobilization of the industrial base in this country" to produce medical supplies.

Trump signed the Defense Production Act on March 18, which allows the federal government a wide range of powers, including giving directions to industries on what to produce, having companies prioritize certain contracts, allocating supplies, giving incentives to industries, and allowing companies to cooperate. Initially, under the act, he conferred more power over contracts and resources to the Health and Human Services Secretary and enacted provisions to prevent the hoarding of medical resources. He first invoked the act to direct industry production on March 27, instructing the HHS to compel General Motors to manufacture ventilators, after negotiations with the company stalled. He also appointed Peter Navarro to oversee enforcement of the act.

On March 18, Trump remarked that the federal government purchased 500 million N-95 masks to make more private masks available and that American manufacturers were repurposing factories to manufacture masks.

By March 21, the director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security described American hospitals as already facing shortages of test kit reagents, test kit swabs, masks, gowns, and gloves. In a March 20 to 24 survey of 214 American mayors (who manage a total 42 million people), 85% said they did not have enough ventilators, 92% said they did not have enough face masks, 88% said there was a shortage of other personal protective equipment, and 92% said they did not have enough test kits. On the prevalence of medical supplies, Trump said on March 29 that "many of the states are stocked up," with certain hospitals "holding ventilators, they don't want to let 'em up." Trump said he could not understand how demand for face masks had supposedly surged from 10,000 to 300,000 per week, stating that it was "maybe worse than hoarding": "Are they going out the back door?"

Ventilator manufacturers are facing a shortage of sub-components needed to produce the ventilators, reported Bloomberg News on March 25. When Trump was asked by a reporter on whether the United States would have enough ventilators as needed, he told the reporter: "Don't be a cutie pie."

On March 27, Trump stated governors should be "appreciative", with his administration having "done a job, the likes of which nobody has seen". Trump's outlook on the governors was: "If they don't treat you right, I don't call." Thus, Trump told of advising Vice President Mike Pence, "don't call" Washington governor Inslee and Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer—although Pence would call anyway, said Trump. Whitmer, who had previously argued that "the federal government did not take this seriously early enough," responded that Michigan still needed personal protective equipment, ventilators, masks, and test kits

Social impacts

In order to minimize the spread of infection, public health officials and political figures have initiated steps to isolate infected patients, impose quarantines, and recommend or require physical distancing during group activities, including the closing of schools, retail stores, workplaces, sports events, and leisure activities such as dining and movies.

Lockdowns

States, territories, and counties that issued a stay-at-home order:

Came into effect between March 15 and 21

Came into effect between March 22 and 28

Came into effect between March 29 and April 4

Full map including municipalities

In extreme instances, a number of cities and states have imposed lockdown measures which limit where people can travel, work and shop away from their homes:

• California. The Governor has ordered everyone to stay at home except to get food, care for a relative or friend, obtain health care, or go to an "essential job". People working in critical infrastructure sectors may continue to go to their jobs, but should try to keep at least six feet apart from anyone else. Indoor restaurants, bars and nightclubs, entertainment venues, gyms and fitness studios are closed, although some restaurants can still provide take-out meals. Gas stations, pharmacies, grocery stores, convenience stores, banks and laundry services remain open.[151]
• New York. Non-essential businesses must shut down their in-office personnel functions, with the exception of financial institutions, retailers, pharmacies, hospitals, news media, manufacturing plants and transportation companies, among others. Casinos, gyms, theaters, shopping malls, amusement parks and bowling alleys are to be closed. "Non-essential gatherings" of any size and for any reason are temporarily banned, and in public, people must keep at least six feet away from each other. Residents 70 and older and people with compromised immune systems or underlying illnesses must remain indoors (unless exercising outside), wear a mask in the company of others and prescreen visitors by taking their temperature.[151]

Similar restrictions to varying degree have been imposed in Illinois, Texas, Nevada, New Jersey and Florida, including the shutting down of hotels.[401] As of April 2, about 297 million people, or about 90% of the population, are under some form of lockdown in the United States.[402]

Further reading

• Coronavirus COVID-19 Global Cases and historical data by Johns Hopkins University
• CoronaMapper

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.

• CDC: Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
  • CDC: Map of U.S. cases
  • CDC: Newsroom on Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)
  • CDC: State & Territorial Health Department directory
• California CDPH Office of Public Affairs, news releases by California Department of Public Health (CDPH)
• The New York Times: Tracking Every Coronavirus Case in the U.S.: Full Map
• Coronavirus Self-Assessment Tool from University of Southern California
• C-SPAN's coverage of the governmental and other responses to the coronavirus outbreak
• Coronavirus (COVID-19): information resource and the U.S. Government response

• 2020 coronavirus pandemic in the United States
• 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic by country and territory
• 2020 coronavirus pandemic in North America
• 2020 disasters in the United States
• January 2020 events in the United States
• February 2020 events in the United States
• March 2020 events in the United States
• Medical outbreaks in the United States

Educational impacts

Playground at a Seattle elementary school, closed due to the epidemic

As of March 31, 2020, at least 124,000 public and private schools had closed nationwide, affecting at least 55.1 million students, with most schools in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and all five inhabited territories closed statewide.[405] To ensure food-insecure students continued to receive lunches while schools were closed, many states and school districts arranged for "grab-and-go" lunch bags or used school bus routes to deliver meals to children.[406] To provide legal authority for such efforts, the U.S. Department of Agriculture waived several school lunch program requirements.[407]

A large number of higher educational institutions canceled classes and closed dormitories in response to the outbreak, including all members of the Ivy League,[408] and many other public and private universities across the country.[409]

Due to the disruption to the academic year caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Department of Education approved a waiver process, allowing states to opt-out of standardized testing required under the Every Student Succeeds Act.[410] In addition, the College Board eliminated traditional face-to-face Advanced Placement exams in favor of an online exam that can be taken at home.[411] The College Board also cancelled SAT testing in March and May in response to the pandemic.[412] Similarly, April ACT exams were rescheduled for June 2020.[413]

The Department of Education also authorized limited student loan relief, allowing borrowers to suspend payments for at least two months without accruing interest.[410]

Prison impacts

As COVID-19 was spreading to several prisons in the U.S., some states and local jurisdictions began to release prisoners considered vulnerable to the virus.[414]

Xenophobia and racism

President Trump, March 23, 2020[280]

There have been widespread incidents of xenophobia and racism against Chinese Americans and other Asian Americans.[415] It had been reported that Asian Americans were purchasing firearms in response to the xenophobia arising from the pandemic.[416] The FBI issued an alert that neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups were encouraging members to, if they contract it, spread the virus via "bodily fluids and personal interactions" with Jews and police officers.[417]

Media Matters for America accused Fox News Channel personalities and guests of racism for repeatedly using terms such as "Chinese virus" and "Wuhan virus" on-air.[418]

Event cancellations

On March 4, Starbucks announced that it will not fill reusable cups at its U.S. and Canadian stores during the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak.[419]

As "social distancing" entered the public lexicon, emergency management leaders encouraged the cancellation of large gatherings to slow the rate of infection.[citation needed] Technology conferences such as Apple Inc.'s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC),[420] E3 2020,[421] Facebook F8, Google I/O and Cloud Next,[422] and Microsoft's MVP Summit[423][424] have been either cancelled or have replaced in-person events with internet streaming events.

On February 21, Verizon pulled out of an RSA conference, joining the ranks of AT&T Cybersecurity and IBM.[425] On February 29, the American Physical Society cancelled its annual March Meeting, scheduled for March 2–6 in Denver, Colorado, even though many of the more than 11,000 physicist participants had already arrived and participated in the day's pre-conference events.[426] On March 6, the annual South by Southwest (SXSW) conference and festival scheduled to run from March 13 to 22 in Austin, Texas, were cancelled following after the city government declared a "local disaster" and ordered conferences to shut down for the first time in 34 years.[427][428] The cancellation is not covered by insurance.[429][430] In 2019, 73,716 people attended the conferences and festivals, directly spending $200 million and ultimately boosting the local economy by $356 million, or four percent of the annual revenue of the region's hospitality and tourism economic sectors.[431][432]

After the cancellations of the Ultra Music Festival in Miami and SXSW in Austin, speculation began to grow about the Coachella festival set to begin on April 10 in the desert in Indio, California.[433][434] The annual festival, which has attracted some 125,000 people over two consecutive weekends, is insured only in the event of a force majeure cancellation such as one ordered by local or state government officials. Estimates on an insurance payout range from $150 million to $200 million.[435] On March 10, event organizers announced the festival had been postponed to October.[citation needed]

Media

Publishing

The scale of the COVID-19 outbreak has prompted several major publishers to temporarily disable their paywalls on related articles, including Bloomberg News, The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Seattle Times.[436][437]

Several alt weekly newspapers in affected metropolitan areas, including The Stranger in Seattle and Austin Chronicle, have announced layoffs and funding drives due to lost revenue. Public events and venues accounted for a majority of revenue for alt-weekly newspapers, which was disrupted by the cancellation of large public gatherings.[437][438]

On March 31, 2020, the music trade Billboard suspended both the Dance Club Songs chart and the weekly Box Office Score tracking list. Both use physical tracking rather than monitoring, with the former utilizing weekly reports from club DJs while the latter tallies audience attendance and sales; the trade cited the cancellation of concerts, events, and massive closure of nightclubs and functions that were crucial to its weekly rankings. The suspension also marked the first time since March 1975 that Billboard did not publish a weekly Dance chart (when it was called "Disco Action", which debuted in October 1974), up until its official (re)launch in August 1976.[439]

Film

Most U.S. cinema chains, where allowed to continue operating, reduced the seating capacity of each show time by half to minimize the risk of spreading the virus between patrons.[440] Audience limits, as well as mandatory and voluntary closure of cinemas in some areas, led to a total North American box office sales the lowest since October 1998.[441] On March 16, numerous theater chains temporarily closed their locations nationwide.[442] A number of Hollywood film companies have suspended production and delayed the release of some films.[443][444]

Television

In March, a number of studio-based talk shows and game shows announced plans to film behind closed doors with no audience.[445] Some television networks and news channels have adjusted their programming to incorporate coverage of the pandemic and adhere to CDC guidelines, including encouraging remote work and physical distancing on-air (including separation between on-air anchors and increased use of remote interviews).[446][447][448]

Quarantine and remote work efforts, as well as interest in updates on the pandemic, have resulted in a larger potential audience for television broadcasters, especially news channels. Nielsen estimated that by March 11 television usage had increased by 22% week-over-week. It was expected that streaming services would see an increase in usage, while potential economic downturns associated with the pandemic could accelerate the market trend of cord cutting.[449][450][451] WarnerMedia reported that HBO Now saw a spike in usage, and the most viewed titles included documentary Ebola: The Doctors' Story and the 2011 film Contagion for their resonance with the pandemic.[452]

Sports

The NBA was the first major sports league to suspend operations, including clearing out this March 11 game between the New Orleans Pelicans and Sacramento Kings.

A suspension of games for various time periods were announced by almost all professional sports leagues in the United States on March 11 and 12, including the National Basketball Association (which had a player announced as having tested positive),[453] National Hockey League,[454] Major League Baseball,[455] and Major League Soccer.[456][457] College athletics competitions were similarly cancelled by schools, conferences and the NCAA—which cancelled all remaining championships for the academic year on March 12. This also resulted in the first-ever cancellation of the NCAA's popular "March Madness" men's basketball tournament (which had been scheduled to begin the following week) in its 81-year history.[453][458][459]

The 2020 Indian Wells Masters tennis tournaments were cancelled on March 10.[460] The ATP Tour and WTA Tour have both suspended competition until late-April, which has also led to the cancellation of the Miami Open.[461] NASCAR on March 13 postponed the races at Atlanta Motor Speedway and announced on March 16 that it will postpone all race events until May 3.[462] The IndyCar Series similarly announced the cancellation of all races through the end of April.[463]

The PGA Tour played the first round of the 2020 Players Championship on March 12, and said subsequent rounds and tournaments would be held without spectators,[464] but later cancelled the rest of the tournament and subsequent events through early-May.[465][466] The LPGA Tour similarly cancelled all events through April.[465][467] Two men's majors, the Masters and PGA Championship, were postponed.[468][465]

Religious services

Amidst the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic, some American churches continue to operate their food pantries that are offering bags filled with meat and toilet paper rolls for needy families.[469] The National Cathedral of the United States, which belongs to the Episcopal Church, donated more than five thousand N95 surgical masks to hospitals of Washington D.C., which were in shortage during the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic.[470] Other churches, such as the Church of the Highlands, an evangelical Christian megachurch, have offered free COVID-19 tests in their parking lots.[471]

Some churches have suspended services, others have moved to radio, television and online services, while still others have offered drive-in services.[472] Some state orders against large gatherings, such as in Ohio and New York, specifically exempt religious organizations.[473] Colorado Springs Fellowship Church insists it has a constitutional right to defy a state closure order.[474] Evangelical college Liberty University of Lynchburg, Virginia, moved its classes online but called its 5,000 back to campus despite Governor Ralph Northam's (D) order to close all non-essential businesses.[475] Rev. Rodney Howard-Browne of the River at Tampa Bay Church in Florida was arrested and fined on March 30 for violating coronavirus-related bans on large gatherings. He had encouraged crowds as large as five hundred over the weekend and argued that churches should get exemptions as essential services.[476]

By March 20, every Roman Catholic diocese in the United States had suspended the public celebration of Mass and dispensed with the obligation to attend Mass on the Lord's Day, as had the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter. The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in the United States also suspended public Divine Liturgies.[477][478][479][480][481]

On March 13, 2020, Bishop Elaine JW Stanovsky of the Pacific Northwest Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church issued a statement that would be updated no later than the start of Holy Week, which directed "the local churches of any size and other ministries in the states of Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington to suspend in-person worship and other gatherings of more than 10 people for the next two weeks."[482] Many parts of the Methodist Churches, which uphold Sunday Sabbatarian teaching, have transitioned their church services online; ninety percent of the parishes within the Pacific Northwest Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, for example, are now offering worship via internet livestream.[482]

On March 24, President Trump said, in regard to Easter (April 12), "Wouldn't it be great to have all the churches full? You'll have packed churches all over our country. I think it'll be a beautiful time." As of March 25, many churches were not prepared to risk reopening, and most churches were predicted to remain closed on Easter.[483]

Medical aid to the United States

Chinese billionaire Jack Ma has donated coronavirus test kits and face masks to the United States.[490] Russia sent a cargo plane with medical equipment and face masks. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that "when offering assistance to US colleagues, [Putin] assumes that when US manufacturers of medical equipment and materials gain momentum, they will also be able to reciprocate if necessary."[491][492]

Background and preparations

The United States has experienced pandemics and epidemics throughout its history, including the 1918 Spanish flu, the 1957 Asian flu, and the 1968 Hong Kong flu pandemics.[493][494][495] In the most recent pandemic prior to COVID-19, the 2009 H1N1 swine flu took the lives of more than 12,000 Americans and hospitalized another 200,000.[496][497][493] Because of this pandemic and the 2014 Ebola epidemic, which saw only a small number of Americans infected,[498] the Obama Administration increased planning and analysis that focused on deficiencies in the government's response to outbreaks.[497] In 2017, outgoing Obama administration officials briefed incoming Trump administration officials on how to respond to pandemics by using simulated scenarios, although by the time of the COVID-19 outbreak in the U.S., around two-thirds of Trump administration officials at the briefing had left the administration.[497]

The United States Intelligence Community, in its annual worldwide threat assessment reports of 2017 and 2018, stated new types of microbes that are "easily transmissible between humans" remained "a major threat". Similarly, for the 2019 worldwide threat assessment, the U.S. intelligence agencies warned that "the United States and the world will remain vulnerable to the next flu pandemic or large-scale outbreak of a contagious disease that could lead to massive rates of death and disability, severely affect the world economy, strain international resources, and increase calls on the United States for support."[499][500]

Alex Azar signs a public health emergency declaration

Citing lessons learned from the swine flu pandemic, Ebola outbreak, and the 2001 anthrax attacks, President Trump released a National Biodefense Strategy on September 18, 2018 in response to a Congressional directive.[501][502][503][504] According to Trump, the new strategy was designed to strengthen the nation's defenses against disease outbreaks and bioterrorism and to make responses to them more efficient and better coordinated.[501][502] Concurrently, he released a National Security Presidential Memorandum that appointed the Secretary of HHS Alex Azar to oversee implementation of the government's new biodefense strategy and directed National Security Advisor John Bolton to assist in reviewing and improving the nation's biodefenses.[505][506][501] At a time when multiple agencies and departments shared responsibility for biodefense,[504] Bolton and Azar claimed this centralization of primary authority for biodefense in the HHS would provide greater accountability.[507]

In 2018, Bolton reorganized the executive branch's United States National Security Council, largely merging the group responsible for global health security and biodefense into a bigger group responsible for counter-proliferation and biodefense. Along with the reorganization, the leader of the global health security and biodefense group, Rear Admiral Timothy Ziemer, left to join another federal agency, while Tim Morrison became the leader of the combined group.[508][509] Also in 2018, Homeland Security Advisor Tom Bossert left the administration; reportedly at Bolton's request. Bossert had helped to create the Trump administration's biodefense plans, and it was his responsibility to coordinate the government's response in the event of a biological crisis.[510] Bossert's successor, Doug Fears, and Fears' successor Peter J. Brown, took over the biodefense responsibilities of the DHS. Bloomberg News reported in January 2020 that biodefense was by then a "less prominent" part of the Homeland Security Advisor's responsibilities.[511][512]

In other departures, Luciana Borio, the National Security Council director for medical and biodefense preparedness, left her post in March 2019. The Washington Post reported in March 2020 that the White House would not confirm the identity of Borio's replacement.[508] Meanwhile, in July 2019, Linda Quick, a U.S. CDC expert working within the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, left her post without a replacement, as her position would have been eliminated in September 2019 due to the China–United States trade war. Reuters reported Quick's departure in March 2020; her role was training Chinese field epidemiologists to respond to disease outbreaks at their hotbeds; the post had existed since 2007 or earlier.[513]

The Trump administration from January to August 2019 simulated a series of pandemic outbreaks from China and found that the U.S. government response was "underfunded, underprepared, and uncoordinated", with the "not to be disclosed" draft report detailing repeated cases of "confusion" during the exercises. A briefing was given to the United States Congress in December 2019 of some of the findings from the exercise, including the conclusion that the U.S. could not speedily manufacture certain medical supplies to cope with demand, because many of these items were imported. In response to the problems illustrated in the simulation, Trump issued an executive order to make flu vaccines more readily available and of higher quality, and he provided additional funds for the pandemic threats program in the HHS.[514]

Despite all these activities, National Geographic reported that as of March 3, 2020, the "U.S. has only a fraction of the medical supplies it needs to combat coronavirus." An additional 300 million N95 respirators (face masks) and surgical face masks could be required to protect health workers. However, in Senate testimony, U.S. HHS Secretary Alex Azar said "the Strategic National Stockpile has just 30 million surgical masks and 12 million respirators in reserve." HHS said it intends to purchase as many as half a billion respirators and surgical face masks over the next year and a half. A previous 2015 CDC study found that seven billion N95 respirators might be necessary to handle a "severe respiratory outbreak".[515] The New York Times reported on March 18 that about 170,000 ventilators were in the U.S., versus an American Hospital Association estimate that 960,000 people may need them during the pandemic. The shortage of ventilators is one reason why slowing the spread of the virus is so important. Ramping up production is challenging due to global supply chains and the complexity of the devices, with major U.S. hospitals having trouble finding more.[516] Bloomberg News reported on March 23 that: "NY Governor Andrew Cuomo said the state, which has about 5,000 to 6,000 ventilators, might need 30,000 of them." China is significantly increasing ventilator production to assist other countries, with plans to supply about 14,000 non-invasive ventilators in April. The U.S. government has also called on U.S. manufacturers to assist.[517]

See also