Congress and the Trump administration near a deal on more small business aid.
Congress and the administration hope to close a deal as early as Monday to replenish funds for a loan helping distressed small businesses survive the coronavirus pandemic. The $450 billion deal would also provide additional funds for hospitals and testing.
Since a new loan program intended to help small businesses ran out of money on Thursday, lawmakers and the administration have struggled to break an impasse over the funds, after Democrats insisted on coupling the infusion to the program with other provisions to counter the impact of the pandemic.
“We do need to provide more funding for the program, there’s no doubt about that,” said Senator Jeanne Shaheen, Democrat of New Hampshire and one of the main architects of the program. “But we also need to address some of the things in the program that are not working the way we intended.”
Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, on CNN on Sunday gave broad outlines of a final package: $300 billion to replenish the emergency fund, called the Paycheck Protection Program; $50 billion for the Small Business Administration’s disaster relief fund; $75 billion for hospitals and $25 billion for testing.
Mr. Mnuchin and Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, told Republican senators in a conference call Sunday afternoon that they would not include additional aid for state and local governments — one of Democrats’ demands for the interim package — and President Trump told reporters “that will be in our next negotiation.”
In a separate television appearance on Sunday morning, Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the minority leader, suggested negotiations were going well.
“We’ve made very good progress, and I’m very hopeful we could come to an agreement tonight or early tomorrow morning,” Mr. Schumer said, appearing shortly after Mr. Mnuchin on the CNN show “State of the Union.” Mr. Schumer said the White House was “going along with” some of the Democrats’ requests, “so we feel pretty good.”
But while Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, the majority leader, notified lawmakers that a vote in the House could come as early as Wednesday, it is unclear how quickly the two sides could reach agreement.
Senate leaders are hoping to approve any deal during a procedural session as early as this week in order to avoid having lawmakers back in Washington before their scheduled May 4 return — a maneuver that would require agreement from all 100 senators.
President Trump said Sunday night that the administration was preparing to use the Defense Production Act to compel an unspecified U.S. facility to increase production of test swabs by over 20 million per month.
The remarks came during his Sunday evening news conference, after he defended his response to the pandemic amid criticism from governors across the country who have said that there had been an insufficient amount of testing — and a shortage of tests themselves — to justify reopening the economy any time soon.
“We are calling in the Defense Production Act,” Mr. Trump said. He added, “You’ll have so many swabs you won’t know what to do with them.”
He provided no details about what company he was referring to, or when the administration would invoke the act. And his aides did not immediately respond when asked to provide more details.
“We already have millions coming in,” he said. “In all fairness, governors could get them themselves. But we are going to do it. We’ll work with the governors and if they can’t do it we’ll do it.”
Multiple governors had said on talk shows earlier on Sunday that a shortage of tests was among the most significant hurdles to lifting restrictions in their states.
“We are fighting a biological war,” Gov. Ralph Northam of Virginia said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “We have been asked as governors to fight that war without the supplies we need.”
Mr. Northam was among the governors who said they needed more swabs and reagents required for the test, and urged federal officials to help them get those supplies.
The governors bristled at claims from the Trump administration that the supply of tests was adequate. On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Vice President Mike Pence said there was “a sufficient capacity of testing across the country today for any state in America,” a claim Mr. Northam, a Democrat, called “delusional.”
In Michigan, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, also a Democrat, said the state could perform “double or triple” the number of tests it is doing now “if we had the swabs or reagents.” Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland, a Republican, said that it was “absolutely false” to claim that governors were not acting aggressively enough to pursue as much testing as possible.
“It’s not accurate to say there’s plenty of testing out there, and the governors should just get it done,” Mr. Hogan said on “State of the Union.” “That’s just not being straightforward.”
There are currently about 150,000 diagnostic tests conducted each day, according to the Covid Tracking Project. Researchers at Harvard estimated last week that to ease restrictions, the nation needed to at least triple that pace of testing.
Separately, New York will test 3,000 people starting on Monday to see if they have coronavirus antibodies, which would be a signal they have already had the virus.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said on Sunday that antibody testing would be key in guiding the reopening of the state, because finding the number of people who had developed antibodies to the virus would help authorities understand the full extent of its spread.
“That will tell us for the first time what percent of the population actually has had the coronavirus and is now — at least short term — immune to the virus,” Mr. Cuomo said. “This will be the first true snapshot of what we’re really dealing with.”
One month after most Americans were asked to stay in their homes and reorder their lives in an effort to limit the spread of the virus, President Trump defended protesters who were rebelling against the restrictions, threatening to undermine the efforts of his own administration’s public health experts.
“These people love our country,” Mr. Trump said Sunday evening after a day filled with scattered protests around the country. “They want to go back to work.”
Mr. Trump attacked Democratic governors and took up the slogan of protesters who claim to want to “liberate” their states.
At the same time, however, his administration has said that it is up to each state to decide how to safely navigate their way out of lockdown.
The nation’s top public health officials have repeatedly warned that removing restrictions too soon could have devastating consequences — causing a surge of new infections and overwhelming hospitals with critically ill patients.
Gov. Jay Inslee, Democrat of Washington, likened the message coming from the Trump administration to “schizophrenia.”
“To have an American president to encourage people to violate the law, I can’t remember any time during my time in America where we have seen such a thing,” Mr. Inslee said on ABC’s “This Week.”
As the economic pain caused by the sudden collapse of global commerce grows deeper, the United Nations warned that the pandemic could lead to “an increase in social unrest and violence that would greatly undermine our ability to fight the disease.”
More than 2,000 people, many without masks, gathered at the Washington State Capitol, with organizers noting that the gathering was on the anniversary of the “shot heard round the world” that triggered the Revolutionary War.
“We will not tolerate this as the new normal,” said Tyler Miller, who led the gathering.
Several hundred protesters descended on the Colorado State Capitol on Sunday, including drivers honking their horns and flying “don’t tread on me” flags.
But in a moment captured by the photojournalist Alyson McClaran, who posted images on social media, two health care workers blocked protesters’ cars.
As protesters hurled abuse at them, the workers, wearing scrubs and N95 masks, stood silently.
More protests against stay-at-home orders are expected in state capitals across the country this week, including in Maine, Maryland and Pennsylvania on Monday. In Wisconsin, protesters are expected to gather at the Capitol building on Friday, the day that the state’s stay-at-home order was originally scheduled to lift before it was extended.
Police departments across the country have seen infections and quarantines thin their ranks. In New York City, one in six officers was out sick or in quarantine this month. The Miami police chief tested positive for the virus last week, saying his “symptoms are mild.”
But few departments have been hit worse than Detroit’s. Out of about 2,800 uniformed officers and civilians who work for the department, 186 had tested positive for the virus by late last week, with more than 1,000 quarantined at some point. Chief James Craig tested positive on March 27 and stayed isolated at home until Thursday.
“Officers were going out left and right,” said a veteran with more than 20 years of experience, who asked that his name be withheld because he was not authorized to speak to reporters. “There were a few days that it became overwhelming.”
The head of the homicide department died. So did a 911 operator and a volunteer police chaplain. As recently as Thursday, nine people from the department remained hospitalized.
Officers patrolling the streets and investigating crimes said that the virus had ratcheted up stress and disrupted all the standard rhythms of police work. Instead of roll call, officers get temperature checks and an envelope with the day’s orders. They give arrested people masks and wipe down patrol cars after every encounter.
“I have to come into work concerned about whether I’m going to be the next victim or not,” said Officer Marc Perez, fresh out of the police academy, after a recent patrol shift through Northwest Detroit. “There’s only so much an officer can do to prevent himself from coming into contact with that actual virus. Every day is stressful for me.”
Civil rights leaders see virus fight as another front in long struggle.
Activists are focusing on the newest front in the country’s civil rights struggle: the disproportionate impact the coronavirus is having on communities of color.
The racial disparity in infections and deaths is viewed as the latest chapter of historical injustices, generational poverty and a flawed health care system. The epidemic has hit African-Americans and Hispanics especially hard, including in New York, where the virus is twice as deadly for those populations.
But with rallies and marches out in the midst of widespread quarantines, civil rights activists are organizing broad, loosely stitched campaigns at home from their laptops and cellphones, creating online platforms and starting petitions to help shape relief and recovery plans.
Collectively, the goal is targeted legislation, financial investments and government and corporate accountability.
“It’s really hard to overstate the critical moment we are in as a people, given how this virus has ripped through our community,” said Rashad Robinson, president of Color of Change, the nation’s largest online racial justice organization with 1.7 million members. “We know the pain will not be shared equally.”
The New York City subway system rebounded from the 1970s, when the city teetered on the edge of bankruptcy, crumbling cars routinely broke down and rampant crime scared riders away.
It survived the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, and it came through Hurricane Sandy in 2012, which led to years of costly rebuilding and service disruptions. And it turned a corner after a spate of meltdowns and accidents in 2017 — including a derailment injuring dozens of riders — that prompted Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to declare a state of emergency.
But now, the subway faces its worst financial crisis yet — one that threatens to hobble the system and have a lasting impact on the city and region.
As the coronavirus pandemic has shut down New York, over 90 percent of the city’s subway ridership has disappeared — along with critical fare revenue — leaving behind escalating expenses and an uncertain timeline of when and how the city’s transit lifeline will recover.
It is unclear what the actual fallout could be. But past crises suggest a potentially grim reckoning for riders: subway and bus lines eliminated, unpredictable wait times for trains as service is slashed, more breakdowns as less money is spent on upkeep, and steeper fares.
The coronavirus crisis has killed more than 7,000 people at nursing homes across the country, The New York Times has determined, and has ravaged even facilities with sterling reputations.
But it has been especially devastating at nursing homes like Andover Subacute and Rehabilitation Center II, in Andover, N.J., that have long come under criticism for quality of care, inadequate staffing and questionable business practices.
After receiving an anonymous tip last Monday, the police found 17 bodies in bags in a small holding room at the Andover facility.
By Sunday, at least 70 Andover residents had died and dozens of the 420 remaining residents and staff members had either tested positive for the virus or were sick with fevers, coughs or both, according to county officials.
Amid the high death toll, the Medicaid and Medicare administrator Seema Verma announced on Sunday night that nursing homes would now be required to notify residents and their families when there is a positive test. They must also alert the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, she said.
In New Jersey, The Times interviewed current and former workers, administrators and relatives of residents, and reviewed property records, financial filings and inspection reports in an effort to understand what went wrong. The workers said they were devoted to the residents but were ill prepared for the outbreak, with little training and even less protective gear. They said they felt all but abandoned by the home’s management and state and federal officials.
Boston has a message for would-be marathoners: Stay home.
With the Boston Marathon, once planned for Monday, postponed, local officials have been warning for days that people should not run the 26.2-mile course from the western suburbs to Boylston Street in downtown Boston.
“If you try to run the marathon route Monday, you’re not a champion,” Mayor Martin J. Walsh of Boston said. “You’re actually not helping us. You’re putting people at risk.”
Executives at the Boston Athletic Association, which organizes the marathon, published an open letter with a similar message and said that “groups of runners would divert valuable, urgent resources from the cities and towns along the course.”
The marathon’s postponement was an immense disappointment for the Boston area and for runners worldwide, about 30,000 of whom take on the course on Patriots’ Day each year. The race, rescheduled for Sept. 14, started in 1897 and has been held annually through wars, periods of domestic tension, and in intense weather.
But with the Northeast largely shut down, nonessential businesses closed and Massachusetts under a stay-at-home advisory, Mr. Walsh said that the usual accommodations for the race — road closures, medical personnel, water stations and the like — will be absent on Monday.
“It’s not a great accomplishment,” Mr. Walsh said. “You’re not going to be celebrated for it. No one’s going to be clapping for you, and I would ask you not to do it. There’s no need to do it.”
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Amanda Hess, a critic-at-large for The New York Times, writes that stories suggesting the coronavirus has had a healing effect on Earth’s nonhuman affairs are being shared widely. Apparently, humans are loving the idea:
A beautiful thing has happened amid the pandemic: a couple of zoo pandas had sex. At Ocean Park, a Hong Kong amusement park featuring roller coasters and captive animals, zookeepers have been trying to get Ying Ying and Le Le to mate for 10 years. Last week, in an enclosure tastefully appointed with smooth boulders and bamboo fronds, they finally consummated their relationship.
The video footage of the act plays like an outtake from a gross-out comedy from the early 2000s, and watching it has made me the happiest I’ve been in weeks. I’m thrilled for Le Le and Ying Ying. Not just because mating in captivity is such a lift for their species, or because nobody else seems to be hooking up right now, but because of the implication of their timing. Ocean Park has been closed to visitors for more than two months. Maybe all these pandas needed to get together was for us to go away.
I don’t know if panda sex is truly facilitated by the averting of human eyes, but I’m clinging to the idea. Humanity has been shuttered indoors, but our feeds are overgrowing with tales of a revived natural world. Since Yosemite National Park closed to visitors, bobcats and black bears have commandeered the roadways. Wild boars have descended on Barcelona. The Welsh town of Llandudno belongs to the goats now. The smog over Los Angeles has cleared, and the snow-capped Himalayas are visible from parts of Northern India for the first time in residents’ memories. Seismologists are reporting that the upper crust of the Earth has quieted.
She continues:
These fantasies are not about humans living in harmony with the natural world. The people who have decamped from cities to live in the countryside, cultivating sourdough starters and leading their broods on nature walks, are eyed with suspicion. The nature images that have captured our imaginations rest on total human exile. It is not a pastoral vision; it’s a post-apocalyptic one. A Los Angeles Times article on Yosemite without visitors described the landscape as an imagined future “where the artifacts of civilization remain, with fewer humans in the mix.”
What else is happening around the globe.
Keep up with developments in the coronavirus crisis with our team of international correspondents.
Reporting was contributed by Marc Santora, Alan Blinder, Eileen Sullivan, Sheryl Gay Stolberg, Alan Rappeport, Winnie Hu, Christina Goldbaum, John Eligon, Emily Cochrane, Sarah Mervosh, Neil MacFarquhar, Vanessa Swales, Rick Rojas, Russell Goldman and Austin Ramzy.