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Coronavirus US live: Trump says country will reopen 'sooner than people think' Coronavirus US live: Trump says country will reopen 'sooner than people think'
(32 minutes later)
President strikes optimistic tone at press conference as he hails Boris JohnsonPresident strikes optimistic tone at press conference as he hails Boris Johnson
More details from the Guardian’s Sam Levine on the Wisconsin election:
The US Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that Wisconsin voters have to have their mail-in ballots postmarked by 7 April, election day, in order to have them counted in the state’s closely watched election. The deadline for election officials to receive the ballot is 13 April. The decision, which came shortly after the state supreme court ordered the election to move forward on Tuesday, ends days of legal fighting over the deadline for receiving absentee ballots in the state.
State law requires them to be received at election offices by 8 pm on election night in order to count, but a federal judge extended that deadline to 13 April amid an unprecedented surge in requests for mail-in balloting. There was such a surge in requests that state Democrats argued thousands would be disenfranchised because they wouldn’t even get their ballot until after election day. As of Monday morning, a little over 11,000 voters who had requested a ballot in the state had yet to be issued one. In an unsigned opinion, the five conservative justices on the court said it was ruling on a “narrow, technical question,” and that the lower court’s decision to extend the ballot deadline without requiring a postmark went beyond what plaintiffs had asked for.
“The Court’s decision on the narrow question before the Court should not be viewed as expressing an opinion on the broader question of whether to hold the election, or whether other reforms or modifications in election procedures in light of COVID–19 are appropriate,” the majority wrote. Writing for the court’s four liberal justices in dissent, Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote that the majority did not understand the scope of the case:
Dr Fauci is now speaking at the briefing, expressing some optimism about recent hospital data and shelter in place efforts:
The Guardian’s voting rights reporter Sam Levine has an update on the Wisconsin primary, scheduled for this week:
Justice Ginsburg:
Trump has left the podium, after more than 90 minutes. Mike Pence is speaking now. Here’s a clip of one of the president’s testiest exchanges with the media today:
Trump is lamenting the impact on sports, saying, “I hope basketball can maybe do their playoffs ... A lot of people are tired looking at games that are five years old ... You get tired of looking at nine-year-old baseball games ... People want to see sports, sports are a great thing for this country. I hope football can start. I told them they may be able to. I hope they can start with people in the stands ... You have seats. Those seats are meant for people to be sitting next to each other.”
Football season starts in September.
Trump is praising health care workers on the front lines, and makes an offhand remark about giving them “bonuses” when this is over. He didn’t offer any further details. He has compared them to “soldiers going into battle”.
Trump is fielding questions on the commander fired over his coronavirus memo, suggesting he doesn’t think his life should be “destroyed” as a result:
A useful fact check on Trump’s attempt to draw a comparison between his handling of Covid-19 and the Obama administration’s handling of H1N1:A useful fact check on Trump’s attempt to draw a comparison between his handling of Covid-19 and the Obama administration’s handling of H1N1:
Trump took a break from discussing Covid-19 to share misleading assertions about undocumented immigrants, raising concerns about “criminals” in sanctuary cities. There is no evidence that sanctuary policies meant to protect undocumented people are linked to crime.Trump took a break from discussing Covid-19 to share misleading assertions about undocumented immigrants, raising concerns about “criminals” in sanctuary cities. There is no evidence that sanctuary policies meant to protect undocumented people are linked to crime.
Fact check: Trump is again spreading the falsehood that Covid-19 is a “virus that nobody ever thought possible”.Fact check: Trump is again spreading the falsehood that Covid-19 is a “virus that nobody ever thought possible”.
An October 2019 draft report by the Department of Health and Human Services, obtained by the New York Times “drove home just how underfunded, underprepared and uncoordinated the federal government would be for a life-or-death battle with a virus for which no treatment existed”.An October 2019 draft report by the Department of Health and Human Services, obtained by the New York Times “drove home just how underfunded, underprepared and uncoordinated the federal government would be for a life-or-death battle with a virus for which no treatment existed”.
The exact language of a question that Trump called “horrid”:The exact language of a question that Trump called “horrid”:
The president told reporters today they should be offering him “congratulations”.The president told reporters today they should be offering him “congratulations”.
Dr Birx made her first comments of today’s briefing, urging Americans to limit trips to the grocery store and pharmacy as much as possible, suggesting one family member do the shopping and go once every two weeks. In states that are bracing for the worst this week, officials have urged residents to completely stay home and avoid stores altogether if they have the supplies they need.Dr Birx made her first comments of today’s briefing, urging Americans to limit trips to the grocery store and pharmacy as much as possible, suggesting one family member do the shopping and go once every two weeks. In states that are bracing for the worst this week, officials have urged residents to completely stay home and avoid stores altogether if they have the supplies they need.
The president has attacked governors, again, returning to his refrain that they are kind to him in private and then complain about him to the media. This time, he also criticizes one governor as a “Rino”, which means “Republican in name only”.The president has attacked governors, again, returning to his refrain that they are kind to him in private and then complain about him to the media. This time, he also criticizes one governor as a “Rino”, which means “Republican in name only”.
Governors across the country have repeatedly raised concerns about the lack of ventilators and unsuccessfully sought the federal government’s help.Governors across the country have repeatedly raised concerns about the lack of ventilators and unsuccessfully sought the federal government’s help.
The Guardian’s Kenya Evelyn has additional context on Trump’s attack on the inspector general:
Trump has called Christi Grimm, inspector general for the department of health and human services, biased, citing her nomination under the Obama administration. The office of inspector general is a generic term for the oversight division of every federal agency, or essentially the watchdog of the government. Since its goal is to investigate the government to prevent inefficiency or fraud, it’s by default non-partisan. IG reports have often scolded administrations in their reviews of protocols and process.
Grimm’s latest report found severe shortages in hospital equipment to combat the virus, based on a survey of nearly 325 hospitals in 46 states.
Fact check on Trump’s claims that nobody thought a pandemic like this would happen:
In fact, the US intelligence community, public health experts and officials in Trump’s own administration had warned for years that the country was at risk from a pandemic, including specific warnings about a coronavirus outbreak.
When this strain of coronavirus, Sars-CoV-2, was identified in Wuhan, China, in early January, health experts immediately cautioned that it could turn into a global health crisis. US agencies were tracking the spread of the virus in China and then other countries, and warned that Chinese officials were minimizing the impact.
“Donald Trump may not have been expecting this, but a lot of other people in the government were – they just couldn’t get him to do anything about it,” an unnamed government official told the Washington Post. “The system was blinking red.”
Trump has gone on a brief tangent about his border wall, praising his progress. Some background from the Guardian’s Nina Lakhani on how construction continues, despite the ongoing pandemic:
Trump has been most bothered today by questions about the damning inspector general report on tests, personally attacking reporters, including:
“You should say congratulations, great job, instead of being so horrid,” and, “I wish we had a fair media in this country and we don’t.”
It’s worth noting that the US initially botched its own attempt at developing a coronavirus test.
Fact check on Trump’s claims that the the US testing is “better” than any other country in the world.
In fact, some of the initial coronavirus tests sent out to states were seriously flawed – some did not even work. Part of the problem came from the CDC insisting it would manufacture the tests itself.
Other countries – after their first coronavirus case – swiftly asked private companies to develop their own tests. South Korea, which recorded its first case on the same day as the US, did so within a week
The US only allowed laboratories and hospitals to conduct their own tests on 29 February, almost six weeks after the first case was confirmed.
“The federal agency shunned the World Health Organization test guidelines used by other countries and set out to create a more complicated test of its own that could identify a range of similar viruses,” ProPublica reported.
Trump has repeatedly dodged questions about the inspector general report out today that said hospitals have not had access to the tests they need. Trump has interrupted questions about it, asking for the name of the inspector general and date of appointment. The president has attempted to suggest, without evidence, that the inspector general behind the report is politically motivated against Trump.
Trump has repeatedly asked a reporter whether she is employed by “China”, saying, “Who do you work for? China.” When the reporter says she works for a private company based in Hong Kong, he says, “Good.”
Here’s Trump on Boris Johnson:
And more here:
Asked about his suggestion last week that he was looking at travel restrictions around hotspots, Trump suggests he’s not planning to do that:
Asked about Boris Johnson’s Covid-19 strategy and whether he “downplayed” it, Trump says: