Are there enough hospital beds? — Coronavirus Newsletter March 13, 2020

We’re all in the same boat

What began a few months ago as a China-only phenomenon is now a global infectious disease outbreak unlike anything the world has seen in recent memory.

Four new countries have reported their first cases — French Polynesia, Turkey, Honduras, and Cote de Ivoire. That means that 118 of the 195 countries or territories in the world now have confirmed cases of COVID-19. (World Health Organization)

No one is able to fully insulate themselves from contagion. The wife of the Prime Minister of Canada, Sophie Trudeau, was diagnosed yesterday. Tom Hanks and his wife, Rita Wilson, were diagnosed the day before, as were Donovan Mitchell and a number of other NBA and other professional athletes around the world. The virus has been spreading in France’s parliament for over a week now. Perhaps most interestingly, Brazil’s national press secretary tested positive just days after meeting and shaking hands with President Donald Trump. Some experts have called for Trump to be tested and quarantined, but the White House has said that is unnecessary.

BREAKING UPDATE:  There are conflicting reports about whether Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, who was in the room with Trump and the infected Brazilian press secretary, has now tested positive for coronavirus. (Guardian UK / Fox News)

We’re seeing reports of “ghost towns” across the U.S. — empty streets and civic centers — and National Guard-staffed emergency centers that are shockingly similar to the scenes seen across China at the beginning of their own outbreak. 

No money

• Tokyo’s stock markets — the second largest capital markets in the world after the U.S. — were down up to 10% on Friday but ended down only around 6%, as financial markets exhibit viral contagion all their own. (Japan Today)
• In Friday trading, European markets including London, France, and Germany, all saw a bounceback of more than 3% from their Thursday lows. (CNN)
• U.S. markets have opened up by 3% after yesterday’s rout, but let’s wait before saying the worst is over. (CNN)

Economists have been saying the global economy was at risk of slipping into recession for much the past year, and the coronavirus impact to the “real” (i.e. non-capital-markets) economy may seal the deal. (WSJ) 

Think: Oil companies failing as oil prices plummet, airlines hitting rougher times than even after 9/11, industry / cultural / entertainment gatherings cancelled (see below), restaurants empty, hourly employees at all the above not working shifts, invoices for pretty much anything going unpaid for weeks or months, and so on. 

No sports (except in China)

MLB cancels operations. NBA, NHL, MLS (soccer), and the ATP tennis tour are indefinitely suspended. NASCAR and the PGA Tour will continue at least a while longer, albeit without fans. NCAA basketaball’s March Madness is cancelled. The British Premier League has suspended soccer matches till April. (Market Watch, CNBC) 

Trump has suggested the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics should be cancelled, but Seiko Hashimoto, a Japanese government minister responsible for the games, said that such a move is currently “inconceivable.” 

• BUT: The Chinese Basketball Association (CBA), on the other hand, has given its American players an ultimatum to return to China by the end of the week to prepare to resume normal play by early April. (ESPN)

No culture

• All Broadway productions are closed. (NYPost)
• The Metropolitan Opera, Metropolitan Museum, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Guggenheim, MoMa, and New York Public Library are all closed. (NYPost)
• So are the Smithsonian Institutes, Capital Hill, and White House in Washington, DC. (USA Today)
• So are the museums across Italy, Paris, and much of the rest of Europe.
• Disney and Universal Studios closed their flagship Florida theme parks. Disney had already closed the entirety of its California, Tokyo, and Hong Kong parks and parts of its Shanghai and Paris parks. (Miami Herald)
• Movie releases, such as the new Mulan and The New Mutants, are being delayed in the U.S. and elsewhere. (Vox)
• Music festivals such as South by Southwest and Coachella are cancelled or delayed. (Vox)
• Somehow, Cannes film festival is saying it will only cancel if the outbreak “worsens.” (The Guardian) 

The U.S.

• If there is a surge in cases, the U.S. has nowhere near enough emergency beds or ventilators to care for all coronavirus patients, let alone other types of patients that require ventilator care. (NYT)
• A Miami man stuck with a big bill for a coronavirus test has had his fees waived by his insurer. (Miami Herald)

China, China, China

China is the unexpected recipient of international praise for its all-out, nationwide effort to control the outbreak. “China bought the West time. The West squandered it.” (NYT)

Jack Ma — the founder of Alibaba, basically the Amazon of China — has donated 500,000 coronavirus testing kits to the U.S. (Jack Ma’s Twitter)

But, new evidence indicates that Chinese health authorities knew about the virus all the way back in November, up to a month and half earlier than previously thought.(SCMP) (Then again, the White House “knew coronavirus would be a ‘major threat’ — but response fell short.”)

In any case, the Communist Party of China’s propaganda engine is kicking into turbo mode to declare the virus a victory of some sort for the Party, per our own reporting here at The China Project.

“As the Party’s confidence grows that it has handled the crisis competently, propaganda organizations have got their work cut out for them to reshape the narrative about COVID-19, both in China and abroad.

The conspiracy theory that the virus did not originate in China — already encouraged by Chinese government officials, including top Chinese epidemiologist Zhōng Nánshān 钟南山, for more than a week now — is still being pushed.

The Trumpish, tweeting new Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhào Lìjiān 赵立坚 today once again suggested, “It might be US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan,” on Twitter. There is some evidence that Chinese embassies have been given instructions to refer to the “Italian virus” or “Japanese virus” in their communications.”

Around the world in 30 seconds

• Singapore enacted very strict global travel restrictions similar to what the new U.S. rules. (Channel News Asia)
• How are the world’s largest coronavirus outbreaks outside China growing? (NYT) 
• Some West African countries are better prepared than the U.S. and Europe: one reason is their health care systems recently had to deal with Ebola (New Straits Times)
• Senegal already has an impressive testing system in place and is soon going to be making its own test kits. (The Week, Quartz)
• Australia will ban all non-essential public gatherings, Russia told reporters covering Putin to stay away if they feel unwell, Japan approved emergency powers for the prime minister. (CNBC) 

Cure and vaccine radar

• “Israeli research center to announce it developed coronavirus vaccine, sources say” (Haaretz) Editor’s note: take with grain of salt.
• “We already have medicines for treating cytokine storm syndrome, the immune response that’s killing many who die of COVID-19.”  (Vox)
• Researchers at the University of North Texas’s Health Science Center are working on a stem cell-based coronavirus treatment. (WFFA)