Month: April 2020

Ellis Marsalis Jr., jazz pianist, teacher and patriarch of a New Orleans musical clan that includes famed performer sons Wynton and Branford, has died after battling pneumonia brought on by the new coronavirus, one of his sons said late Wednesday.He was 85.Ellis Marsalis III confirmed in an Associated Press phone interview that his father’s death was sparked by the virus causing the  global pandemic. “Pneumonia was the actual thing that caused his demise. But it was pneumonia brought on by COVID-19,” he said.He said he drove Sunday from Baltimore to be with his father as he was hospitalized in Louisiana, which has been hit hard by the outbreak.  Others in the family spent time with him, too.Four of the jazz patriarch’s six sons are musicians: Wynton, trumpeter, is America’s most prominent jazz spokesman as artistic director of jazz at New York’s Lincoln Center. Branford, saxophonist, led The Tonight Show band and toured with Sting. Delfeayo, a trombonist, is a prominent recording producer and performer. And Jason, a percussionist, has made a name for himself with his own band and as an accompanist. Ellis III, who decided music wasn’t his gig, is a photographer-poet in Baltimore.In a statement, Mayor LaToya Cantrell said of the man who’d continued to perform regularly in New Orleans until December: “Ellis Marsalis was a legend. He was the prototype of what we mean when we talk about New Orleans jazz. He was a teacher, a father, and an icon – and words aren’t sufficient to describe the art, the joy and the wonder he showed the world.”Branford Marsalis, Wynton Marsalis and Delfeayo Marsalis perform in the Ellis Marsalis Family Tribute in the Jazz Tent during the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in New Orleans, Louisiana on April 28, 2019.Because Marsalis opted to stay in New Orleans for most of his career, his reputation was limited until his sons became famous and brought him the spotlight, along with new recording contracts and headliner performances on television and tour.”He was like the coach of jazz. He put on the sweatshirt, blew the whistle and made these guys work,” said Nick Spitzer, host of public radio’s American Routes and a Tulane University anthropology professor.The Marsalis “family band” seldom played together when the boys were younger but in 2003 toured East in a spinoff of a family celebration that became a PBS special when the elder Marsalis retired from teaching at the University of New Orleans.Harry Connick Jr., one of Marsalis’ students at the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts, was a guest. He’s one of many now-famous jazz musicians who passed through Marsalis’ classrooms. Others include trumpeters Nicholas Payton and Terence Blanchard, saxophonists Donald Harrison and Victor Goines, and bassist Reginald Veal.Marsalis was born in New Orleans, son of the operator of a hotel where Marsalis met touring black musicians who couldn’t stay at the segregated downtown hotels where they performed. He played saxophone in high school; he also played piano by the time he went to Dillard University.Although New Orleans was steeped in traditional jazz, and rock ‘n’ roll was the new sound in the 1950s, Marsalis preferred bebop and modern jazz.Spitzer described Marsalis as a “modernist in a town of traditionalists.””His great love was jazz a la bebop – he was a lover of Thelonious Monk and the idea that bebop was a music of freedom. But when he had to feed his family, he played R&B and soul and rock ‘n’ roll on Bourbon Street,” Spitzer said.The musician’s college quartet included drummer Ed Blackwell, clarinetist Alvin Batiste and saxophonist Harold Battiste playing modern.U.S. saxophonist Branford Marsalis performs with his father, Ellis Marsalis, at the 51st Jazzaldia Jazz Festival in San Sebastian, northern Spain, July 22, 2016.Ornette Coleman was in town at the time. In 1956, when Coleman headed to California, Marsalis and the others went along, but after a few months Marsalis returned home. He told the New Orleans Times-Picayune years later, when he and Coleman were old men, that he never figured out what a pianist could do behind the free form of Coleman’s jazz.Back in New Orleans, Marsalis joined the Marine Corps and was assigned to accompany soloists on the service’s weekly TV programs on CBS in New York. There, he said, he learned to handle all kinds of music styles.Returning home, he worked at the Playboy Club and ventured into running his own club, which went bust. In 1967 trumpeter Al Hirt hired him. When not on Bourbon Street, Hirt’s band appeared on national TV – headline shows on The Tonight Show and The Ed Sullivan Show, among others.Marsalis got into education about the same time, teaching improvisation at Xavier University in New Orleans. In the mid-1970s, he joined the faculty at the New Orleans magnet high school and influenced a new generation of jazz musicians.When asked how he could teach something as free-wheeling as jazz improvisation, Marsalis once said, “We don’t teach jazz, we teach students.”Jazz musician Ellis Marsalis (second from left) makes a curtain call with former student Harry Connick Jr. (left) and sons, Wynton, Delfeayo and Branford at Lakefront Arena in New Orleans on August 4, 2001.In 1986 he moved to Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. In 1989, the University of New Orleans lured him back to set up a jazz-studies program.Marsalis retired from UNO in 2001 but continued performing, particularly at Snug Harbor, a small club that anchored the city’s contemporary jazz scene – frequently backing young promising musicians.His melodic style, with running improvisations in the right hand, has been described variously as romantic, contemporary, or simply “Louisiana jazz.” He’s always on acoustic piano, never electric, and even in interpreting old standards there’s a clear link to the driving bebop chords and rhythms of his early years.He founded a record company, ELM, but his recording was limited until his sons became famous. After that he joined them and others on mainstream labels and headlined his own releases, many full of his own compositions.He often played at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. For more than three decades he played two 75-minute sets every Friday night at Snug Harbor until he decided it was exhausting. Even then, he still performed on occasion as a special guest.On Wednesday night, Ellis III recalled how his father taught him the meaning of integrity before he even knew the word.He and Delfeayo, neither of them yet 10, had gone to hear their father play at a club. Only one man – sleeping and drunk – was in the audience for the second set. The boys asked why they couldn’t leave.”He looked at us and said, “I can’t leave. I have a gig.’ While he’s playing, he said, ‘A gig is a deal. I’m paid to play this set. I’m going to play this set. It doesn’t matter that nobody’s here.”Marsalis’ wife, Dolores, died in 2017. He is survived by his sons Branford, Wynton, Ellis III, Delfeayo, Mboya and Jason.
…

NASA may have just found the next man to walk on the moon — or the first woman to land on Mars — or someone who can float above the Earth and make repairs to the International Space Station.Wednesday was the deadline for submitting an application to join the next class of astronauts.NASA says more than 12,000 people applied — the largest number in three years — proving that those who believe Americans have lost interest in space are wrong.“We’ve entered a bold new era of space exploration with the Artemis program, and we are thrilled to see so many incredible Americans apply to join us,” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said Wednesday. “The next class of Artemis Generation astronauts will help us explore more of the moon than ever before and lead us to the red planet.”The Northrop Grumman Antares rocket, with Cygnus resupply spacecraft onboard, launches from Pad-0A at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Virginia, Feb. 15, 2020.Artemis is the name NASA has given to its next big era in space exploration — and among the 12,000 would-be astronauts could be a name that becomes as legendary as John Glenn, the pioneering Gemini program, Neil Armstrong and Apollo.NASA received applications from every one of the 50 states and four U.S. territories. But the odds of being picked to fly into space are remote.Candidates must have a master’s degree in science, technology, math or engineering.NASA’s Astronaut Selection Board will assess each applicant’s qualifications and invite those who pass to the Johnson Space Center in Houston for interviews and medical tests before making a final selection.The board must pare down the 12,000 hopefuls to around 12.It’s an exclusive club. Only 350 men and women have been chosen for astronaut training since the 1960s. NASA currently has 48 astronauts in the pool.FILE — A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, carrying the U.S. Air Force’s Space Test Program-2 mission, lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S., June 25, 2019.“We’re able to build such a strong astronaut corps at NASA because we have such a strong pool of applicants to choose from,” selection board manager Anne Roemer said. “It’s always amazing to see the diversity of education, experience and skills that are represented in our applicants. We are excited to start reviewing astronaut applications to identify the next class of astronaut candidates.”So how does one person who dreams of space stand out among 12,000 other dreamers?Astronaut Kayla Barron, who was part of the NASA class of 2017, said if you’re lucky enough to qualify as a finalist, there is no reason to feel intimidated or that you can’t be yourself.“When I go into that interview room and sit at the end of this long table with all of these astronauts and senior NASA officials … what are they looking for? What do they want from me? For some reason the last thing I thought before I walked [in] the door was,  ‘Don’t make any jokes,’ ” she recalled with a laugh. “Because I was so worried I was going to say something sarcastic or whatever.”This NASA image obtained March 24, 2020, shows the city lights at the intersection of Europe and Asia as they sparkle as the International Space Station orbited 262 miles above.But when one of the panel members made a joke seemingly at Barron’s expense, she said, “I dished it right back at him. And there was this moment of silence and I was like, ‘Oh, no, that was the one I wasn’t supposed to do.’ But then [astronaut] Kjell Lindgren started laughing … everyone started laughing and it just relaxed me … just be yourself, be honest about who you are. I think that goes a long way.”When the astronauts are chosen, they will go through about two years of training in such skills as spacewalking and robotics. They must also show people skills, including leadership and teamwork — two qualities that are essential for living on the International Space Station, taking a trip to the moon or enduring a long journey to Mars.NASA expects to introduce the new astronaut candidates in the summer of 2021 with plans for a trip to the moon in 2024 and a mission to Mars in the next decade.
…

The U.S. military is deploying hundreds more troops to the country’s southern border amid the COVID-19 pandemic, in order to protect the nation from potentially infected migrants, according to the commander of U.S. Northern Command.“As we look at trying to peel off the external potential for COVID exposure to our U.S. citizens, there’s actually an increased demand signal, not a decreased demand signal, for securing the southern border,” General Terrence O’Shaughnessy told reporters Wednesday.Medical personnel work at the Samaritan’s Purse field hospital in New York’s Central Park on April 1, 2020.Lieutenant General Laura Richardson, the commander of the U.S. Army component of Northern Command, said 540 additional troops would deploy to the southern border with Mexico “very soon,” without elaborating.Meanwhile, in Guam, the Navy is working to evacuate the bulk of the nearly 5,000 sailors aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier, in an effort to clean the ship after a large COVID-19 outbreak.Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly told reporters Wednesday that 93 of carrier’s sailors had tested positive for the coronavirus, with seven testing positive without showing symptoms. Only about 25 percent of the carrier’s sailors have been tested so far, he added.About 1,000 personnel have already been evacuated, with plans to have about 2,700 off the Roosevelt in the next couple of days, but Modly stressed that the Navy “cannot and will not remove all sailors from the ship.”Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Mike Gilday said about 1,000 sailors would need to remain on the ship to maintain its “critical functions” and weapons. The carrier has a nuclear power plant on board, along with munitions and aircraft.Pedestrians wear personal protective equipment as they cross Main Street in the Flushing section of the Queens borough of New York on April 1, 2020.Earlier this week the Roosevelt’s captain wrote a letter of concern to his superiors urging them to take “decisive action” to prevent deaths from the coronavirus.“We are not at war, and therefore cannot allow a single sailor to perish as a result of this pandemic unnecessarily,” Navy Captain Brett Crozier wrote in the letter first obtained by the San Francisco Chronicle.The massive, 1,000-bed Navy hospital ships Mercy and Comfort have together only started treating a handful of patients, despite the Mercy’s arrival in Los Angeles several days ago and the Comfort’s arrival in New York Harbor on Monday.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline. Embed” />CopyThe U.S. military hospital ship Comfort has arrived in New York to help free up hospital beds in a city desperately needing help to fight the coronavirus outbreak.O’Shaughnessy told reporters that the small number was actually “good news” because it showed the military had arrived at the locations “early” and “ahead of need.”Field hospitals have been deployed to New York City and Seattle, with others soon to deploy to New Orleans and Dallas. The Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in Manhattan was transformed into a temporary hospital capable of receiving more than 2,500 patients, with the first arriving there earlier this week.More than 17,000 National Guardsmen are deployed across the country, with several assisting with supply and testing distribution, assessing symptoms of patients and administering COVID-19 tests.As of early Wednesday, 1,343 coronavirus cases around the globe were related to the U.S. military — 771 service members, 273 civilians, 225 dependents and 74 contractors — the Pentagon said. One U.S. service member, one defense contractor, one spouse and two Defense Department civilians have died from the virus.
…

Disability Rights Montana is asking the state Supreme Court to order the release of some prison and jail inmates to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.The ACLU of Montana filed the emergency petition Tuesday on behalf of the rights group and asked for a hearing or for the court to appoint a special master to oversee a reduction of the number of people in custody during the ongoing pandemic.  “With a virus this contagious and this lethal, the state has an obligation to act immediately,” Bernadette Franks-Ongoy, executive director of Disability Rights Montana, said in a statement. “Without swift action, the ripple effect of an outbreak in correctional facilities will endanger everyone, hitting people with disabilities especially hard. Reducing the number of people in prisons and jails is consistent with the recommendations of public health experts and will save lives.”The petition argues that subjecting non-dangerous prisoners with disabilities to an outbreak of COVID-19 amounts to deliberate indifference to prisoners’ health and safety.Inmates in overcrowded facilities are unable to exercise social distancing, which is one of the key ways to prevent the spread of the virus, the petition states.On March 23, Chief Justice Mike McGrath asked city and county courts to consider releasing as many people from jail as possible to avoid the spread of the virus. The petition argues that only some counties are doing so.  “This is a dire emergency,” said Justin Stalpes, attorney at Beck, Amsden and Stalpes. “The response cannot be patchwork — the only thing that will stop, or at least slow, the risk of a COVID-19 outbreak in correctional facilities and communities is a swift and uniform state-wide response.”For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For others, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, the virus can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death.  Montana’s health department reported 208 cases of COVID-19, 17 hospitalizations and five deaths as of Wednesday morning.
 
…

Russian President Vladimir Putin called on Wednesday for global oil producers and consumers to address “challenging” oil markets, while U.S. President Donald Trump complained that oil cheaper “than water” was hurting the industry.Oil prices fell nearly 70% from January highs as coronavirus lockdowns hammered demand and as Saudi Arabia and Russia have flooded the market in a race for market share after a deal they engineered on supply curbs broke down.Oil and natural gas sales are a key revenue source for Russian coffers, while low prices are also hurting shale oil producers in the United States.  Speaking at a government meeting, set up via a video link as a precaution against the coronavirus, Putin said that both oil producers and consumers should find a solution that would improve the “challenging” situation of global oil markets.He also said if investments into the oil sector fell, oil prices would be sure to spike, something he said “no one needs.””That’s why we, together with the main producers and consumers, should work out such decisions, which would mitigate the situation on the market on the whole,” Putin said, according to the readout of the meeting.FILE – U.S. Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette gestures during an interview at the LNG terminal of the deepwater port of Sines after visiting the port, in Sines, southern Portugal, Feb. 12, 2020.Flurry of diplomacyOn Tuesday, U.S. Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette spoke with his Russian counterpart, Alexander Novak, about the price slump, and they agreed to hold future discussions involving other major world oil producers and consumers.The call occurred a day after Trump and Putin agreed in a phone conversation to have their top energy officials discuss global oil market turmoil.Putin said that the United States was also worried about the state of the oil market as shale oil producers need a price around $40 per barrel to turn a profit.”That’s why this is also a hard challenge for the American economy,” he said.Trump plans to meet with oil executives on Friday to discuss potential aid to the industry, including possible tariffs on oil imports from Saudi Arabia, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing unidentified sources.The meeting is to take place at the White House and will include Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp. and Occidental Petroleum Corp., the newspaper said in a report on Wednesday.Crude oil benchmarks ended a volatile quarter with their biggest losses in history. On Wednesday, oil slid toward $25 a barrel, after touching its lowest level in 18 years.”There is so much oil and in some cases it’s probably less valuable than water. At some points of the world the water is much more valuable. So we’ve never seen anything like it,” Trump said.Pact’s collapseThe discussions between Washington and Moscow mark a new twist in oil diplomacy since the collapse this month of a deal between the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers, including Russia, on cutting production.The failure to agree on an extension to a pact that had propped up the market since 2016 led to the scrapping of all restrictions and a dash for market share.FILE – Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak is pictured at EU Commission headquarters in Brussels, Oct. 29, 2014.Brouillette and Novak “had a productive discussion on the current volatility in global oil markets,” Energy Department spokeswoman Shaylyn Hynes said.”Secretary Brouillette and Minister Novak discussed energy market developments and agreed to continue dialogue among major energy producers and consumers, including through the G-20, to address this unprecedented period of disruption in the world economy,” she said.The Russian Energy Ministry said on Wednesday the ministers noted that the fall in the demand and oversupply created risks for stable supplies to the markets.The United States has grown in recent years into the world’s largest oil and gas producer, thanks to a technology-driven shale drilling boom. But the current price of oil is below the production cost of many American drillers, threatening the highly leveraged U.S. shale industry.’Crazy’ productionTrump on Monday said Saudi Arabia and Russia “both went crazy” with their production after the supply deal failed. “I never thought I’d be saying that maybe we have to have an oil [price] increase, because we do,” he said.The Trump administration is trying to persuade Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, to cut crude output. It will soon send a special energy envoy, Victoria Coates, to the kingdom.The Kremlin said on Wednesday that Russia and Saudi Arabia were not holding talks regarding the oil market at the moment and that Putin had no immediate plans to have a phone call with Saudi leadership.But the Kremlin added that such talks could be set up quickly if necessary. 
…

The U.S. Peace Corps’ response to the coronavirus pandemic, evacuating all 7,300 volunteers who were working in 61 countries, has left many of them uncertain about their future, with supporters of the humanitarian organization concerned it may not survive a prolonged shutdown.“I’m not going to lie. It kind of sucks,” said Alisia Moreno, who was a Peace Corps volunteer in a rural village in East Timor before being ordered to evacuate on March 15.  She is now back at her parents’ house in Colorado and ending a 14-day self-quarantine period. Established in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy with a mission to promote cross-cultural understanding and provide assistance where needed, the Peace Corps has never before suspended worldwide operations. It has in the past suspended some country-specific or regional programs due to natural disasters, the eruption of violence or civil strife, and other safety concerns. During the Ebola outbreak in 2014, the Peace Corps pulled its volunteers from West Africa but resumed regional operations in 2016.Peace Corps Director Jody Olsen said in a statement the unprecedented decision to suspend programming worldwide and withdraw all volunteers in March was made to avoid, “a situation where volunteers would have been stranded overseas as borders and air space were shutting down to prevent the spread of COVID-19.” The growing coronavirus outbreak has infected more than 800,000 people worldwide, and left more than 39,000 others dead, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at the Johns Hopkins University.For many Peace Corps volunteers, the evacuation process was chaotic and upending. Some volunteers were given 24 hours’ notice to leave their sites in rural communities with the expectation they would soon return. “When it did happen it was like, wait, what? We assumed that we were going to the capital to try and be all together so that we weren’t burdens on our community. And they were just like, ‘OK, we’re sending you on the next plane,’” said Moreno, who traveled about three hours by local taxi from her village in the eastern part of East Timor to the Peace Corps office in the capital, Dili.Flight cancelations and airport closures also caused delays and frustration for volunteers and staff, who worked around the clock to coordinate the evacuations.Abrupt goodbyeMost volunteers were recent college graduates. They took on a two-year commitment to live in rural communities in developing nations, learn the local language, and work as teachers or partner with organizations assisting small farmers and local businesses.Many are supportive of the Peace Corps’ decision to evacuate the volunteers due to health and safety concerns but are upset they were forced to abandon the friendships and projects they developed. Danielle Collier plans to reapply as soon as the agency resumes operations.“It’s bittersweet. And at first it was more bitter than it was sweet,” said Danielle Collier, who worked as an education volunteer in North Macedonia before she was evacuated to her family’s home in Utah. “I don’t personally feel like I completed my service because it was such an abrupt goodbye,” said Moreno, who was halfway through her tour.Prolonged shutdownIn her recent statement, director Olsen emphasized the agency is not closing its offices around the world and plans “to return to normal activities as soon as conditions permit.”Peace Corps advocates, however, are concerned that a prolonged shutdown could make the agency vulnerable to opponents who want to cut foreign aid programs.“The more, I think, it is an agency that has no volunteers in the field, the harder it gets for them to sustain those programs and for posts to keep them open,” said Glenn Blumhorst, president of the National Peace Corps Association, or NPCA, a political advocacy group of former volunteers.U.S. President Donald Trump’s past proposals to significantly reduce foreign assistance, including deep cuts to the Peace Corps budget, have been overturned by bipartisan congressional opposition. The NPCA is calling for increased Peace Corps funding to help evacuated volunteers and restart worldwide operations once the pandemic ends.Out of workGiven the uncertainty as to how long the coronavirus threat will last, the Peace Corps terminated the service of all its volunteers, putting them out of work, rather than suspending service.“There wasn’t really a good way to do it. I wish there was a better way to do it,” Blumhorst said.The volunteers will receive an evacuation allowance in addition to normally allocated readjustment funds and full health coverage for the next two months. Director Olsen said volunteers seeking to return to the corps “will be given expedited consideration over the next year.” Collier, who was in North Macedonia for three months, said she plans to go back.  “I definitely don’t feel like it is over,” she said.The other volunteers now enter the American workforce with few prospects at a time when most businesses and industries are closed to help slow the spread of the coronavirus.    
…

Thousands of South Korean workers on U.S. bases were placed on unpaid leave Wednesday, after the United States and South Korea failed to reach a deal on how to split the cost of the U.S. military presence here.  Through seven rounds of talks, South Korea has refused the Trump administration’s demand to massively increase its contribution toward the approximately 28,500 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea. The latest cost-sharing deal expired at the end of the year, but the U.S. had been covering the salaries of Korean employees with funds that ran out this week.  Starting Wednesday, about 4,000 Korean civilian employees, who work in areas such as logistics and administration, will be indefinitely furloughed. The U.S. will temporarily cover the salaries of about 4,500 others whose duties are considered essential, U.S. officials said.  The cost-sharing dispute has caused unusual friction in the 70-year-old alliance that both sides regularly refer to as “ironclad.” The friction is especially ill-timed, coming as the U.S. military fights off the coronavirus and as North Korea test-fires a record number of short-range missiles. During a last-minute push to reach a deal, the head South Korean negotiator, Jeong Eun-bo, said the two sides had reached the “final stages for sealing a deal,” but called the furloughs “regrettable.”FILE – Amphibious assault vehicles of the South Korean Marine Corps travel during a military exercise as a part of the annual joint military training called Foal Eagle between South Korea and the U.S. in Pohang, South Korea, April 5, 2018.“This is an unfortunate day for us. It’s unthinkable. It’s heartbreaking. The partial furlough of [Korean National] employees is not what we envisioned or hoped what would happen,” said General Robert Abrams, the top U.S. commander in Korea. “The furlough is in no way a reflection of their performance, dedication or conduct, but rather due to a lack of a burden sharing agreement making programmed funds unavailable,” Abrams said.  U.S. President Donald Trump has demanded South Korea pay up to $5 billion to support the U.S. military presence — or about five times the amount Seoul paid in 2019. Local media reports suggest the U.S. had recently lowered its demand to $4 billion. Trump accuses South Korea of taking advantage of U.S. protection. He has at times hinted he would support pulling troops from South Korea. At other times, he denies a withdrawal has been discussed.  South Korean officials have rejected Trump’s cost-sharing demands as absurd, noting that any deal will have to be reasonable, since it will have to be ratified by South Korea’s parliament. The issue could become even more politically sensitive ahead of South Korea’s legislative election this month. South Korean officials have warned that the furloughs could impact military readiness.  Camp Humphreys, the main U.S. base in South Korea, is already in partial lockdown after more than a dozen service members, contractors, and other individuals related to the U.S. military in South Korea tested positive for the coronavirus. 
…

The U.S. military hospital ship Comfort has arrived in New York to help free up hospital beds in a city desperately needing help to fight the coronavirus outbreak. The massive ship is just one of many military assets deployed to help the national response to the virus. VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb has the latest.
…

The United States should be prepared to endure 100,000 to 240,000 deaths from the #COVID-19 coronavirus over the next two months even if Americans continue to keep their distance from each other. The peak number of deaths will come over the next two to three weeks, according to the White House coronavirus task force.  “Our country is in the midst of a great national trial unlike any we have faced before,” said U.S. President Donald Trump as the White House on Tuesday formally introduced its extended 30-day social-distancing guidelines based on statistical models.  “This is going to be one of the roughest two or three weeks we’ve ever had in our country,” Trump predicted.  For the most part, the two physicians on the podium with the president and Vice President Mike Pence administered the bitter medicine to the American public.  “This is a number we need to anticipate, but we don’t necessarily have to accept it as inevitable,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, of the anticipated 100,000-plus fatalities.  Dr. Deborah Birx, White House coronavirus response coordinator, gestures to a chart as President Donald Trump listens as they speak about the coronavirus in the White House, March 31, 2020, in Washington.“There’s no magic bullet,” said Dr. Deborah Birx, an immunologist who is the response coordinator on the White House’s coronavirus task force. “There’s no magic vaccine or therapy,” just behaviors that can change the course of this viral pandemic.  More than 187,000 people in the United States have been diagnosed with the coronavirus. Total deaths in the country from the disease has exceeded 3,800 (about one-fourth of those in New York City) eclipsing the reported number in China and in excess of the number of lives lost initially in the terrorist attacks on the United States on Sept. 11, 2001.  The first COVID-19 case in the U.S. was reported in the Western state of Washington on Feb. 29. In this March 27, 2020, photo provided by Office of Governor, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, right, walks the corridor of a nearly completed makeshift hospital erected by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York.The governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, said the apex of his state’s battle against the disease is still 7 to 21 days out. During his daily briefing for the media, which aired live, for the most part, by the country’s three top cable TV news channels, Cuomo continued to express frustration with securing critical supplies for hospital intensive care units. He announced New York has put in an order from China for 17,000 ventilators at a cost of $25,000 each.  Cuomo said states and the federal government are all in competition to secure the breathing machines.  “It’s like being on eBay (an online auction site) with 50 other states bidding on a ventilator,” the governor said. “That’s literally what we’re doing.” Forcing states to compete for critically needed supplies, “doesn’t make sense,” Cuomo added.  About 10,000 ventilators in the federal government’s inventory need to be held back for an anticipated surge in different parts of the country, Trump said.  “We have a reserve right now. It’s like oil reserves, but more valuable,” the president explained.  The chairman of the National Governors’ Association, Larry Hogan of Maryland, told CNN on Tuesday that his counterparts are pushing the federal government to coordinate purchases of scarce items for medical facilities so that states are not competing against each other.  New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, center, walks the practice courts with officials at the USTA Indoor Training Center where a 350-bed temporary hospital will be built March 31, 2020, in New York.Hours later, the mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio said he needs an answer “right now” on a request that had been made to the White House for relief medical staff, including 1,000 nurses, 300 respiratory therapists and 150 physicians.   In the afternoon, before the briefing, Trump spoke on the phone with nine executives of top network service providers to thank the companies “for their tireless work to keep Americans connected during this time of social distancing,” said White House spokesman, Judd Deere. “The president thanked these leaders for not only rising to the increased demand but extending services to all Americans at no additional cost and for waiving bills and late fees for those experiencing financial hardship.”  In recent days, the president has adopted a more somber tone about the overall human toll that is going to be caused by the coronavirus in the country. Earlier he had brushed off the disease as nothing worse than the annual waves of influenza and stated, “the cure can’t be worse than the disease,” suggesting he would relax now-extended restrictions so the economy would not be more severely crippled. The president has now pivoted from leaning toward the advice of some on his economic team who advocated loosening the social distancing restrictions to the public health officials – and members of his reelection team – with dire warnings.  Trump this week began publicly warning of the worst-case scenario of more than 2 million Americans dying of the virus if people returned to work and school prematurely. On Tuesday, Trump also suggested a fourth phase spending bill by Congress that would total $2.2 trillion (a similar price tag that was on the third phase), but this legislation, he said, would focus solely on jobs and rebuilding the country’s infrastructure.  “We have a strong dollar. People want to invest in the United States” so “this would be a great time to borrow money at a zero interest rate” to fund fixing roads, highways, tunnels and bridges, Trump said. Democratic congressional leaders have also started work on potential programs for a fourth phase bill, including infrastructure efforts that would put people to work, more money for unemployment benefits and more help for hospitals. Republican leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have been cooler to the idea of more action now.  McConnell said on the Hugh Hewitt radio show Tuesday, “Let’s see how things are going and respond accordingly.” 
…

Millions of U.S. workers are losing their jobs in a surge of layoffs as businesses large and small shut their operations amid the coronavirus pandemic.A week ago, nearly 3.3 million workers filed for unemployment benefits. The figure is expected to rise rapidly in the coming weeks, with 40 million people predicted to be unemployed by mid-April.Before the pandemic struck the United States, 5.8 million U.S. workers were unemployed — 3.5% of the workforce of 164.6 million. That figure had changed little in the past six months and was a linchpin of a robust economy.FILE – An empty restaurant is seen in Manhattan borough following the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in New York City, March 15, 2020.Now, the world’s largest economy has been hurt by what President Donald Trump describes as the “horrible scourge” of the coronavirus.
On Tuesday, investment banker Goldman Sachs Group forecast a far steeper decline in the U.S. than it had previously, predicting that output of goods and services would plunge by an annualized 34% in the April-to-June period, compared to its earlier estimate of 24%.Goldman Sachs economists said the U.S. jobless rate would soar to 15% by mid-year, an estimate that would leave 25 million workers unemployed. Its earlier estimate was for a 9% jobless rate.James Bullard, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (in the midwestern state of Missouri), predicted the unemployment rate may climb to 30% in the second quarter because of the business shutdowns, with a plunging 50% drop in the gross domestic product.  An estimated 190,000 stores have closed, making that about 50% of retail space. On Monday alone, major retailers Macy’s, Kohl’s and Gap announced that collectively, they are laying off 290,000 workers.  FILE – The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts overlooking the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. (Diaa Bekheet/VOA).In Washington, D.C., the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts furloughed the 96 musicians playing for the National Symphony Orchestra without pay, even though the U.S. Congress just last week approved a $25 million rescue fund for the cultural hub, where all performances have been canceled.Some employers initially said they would continue to pay their workers, but many of those decisions have quickly been scrapped because of uncertainty on how the coronavirus might spread or when the pandemic will end.  Global management consulting firm Mckinsey & Company says a quarter of U.S. households already live from paycheck to paycheck, with 40% of Americans unable to cover an unexpected expense of $400 without borrowing.The $2 trillion rescue package approved by Congress last week and signed into law by Trump calls for enhanced unemployment compensation for laid-off workers. States normally pay jobless workers a fraction of their normal pay, but the national assistance plan will add $600 a week in extra pay for the next four months if workers are unemployed for that length of time.Goldman Sachs economists say they expect a significant recovery in the July-to-September period, with the GDP expanding by 19%.“Our estimates imply that a bit more than half of the near-term output decline is made up by year-end,” they wrote.State governments across a wide swath of the U.S. have ordered millions of Americans to stay home in the coming weeks, except to buy groceries, purchase carry-out food, go to medical appointments or exercise by themselves or with family members.  Such orders have forced many businesses deemed not essential to close their doors, although the term, “essential,” has varied among the 50 states, leading to a patchwork of functioning commerce depending on where one lives. 
 
…