Crosstalk: March 23, 2020

Here’s a list of news items from the first quarter hour of this week’s edition of the ‘Round-Up’:  

–New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that he will sign an executive order mandating 100% of New York’s workforce must stay home, excluding essential services, as the number of coronavirus cases has spiked in the state.

–California Governor Gavin Newsom ordered people in his state to stay home. 

–Los Angeles County, California, marijuana dispensaries are being allowed to remain open as they are considered ‘essential’ businesses during the coronavirus outbreak.

–Americans are flocking to gun stores in unprecedented numbers.

–Police in Philadelphia have announced they will not be arresting people for   low-level offenses and violations following the closure of the courts until at least April 1.

–California schools likely staying closed for the rest of the academic year.

–Kroger CEO says there’s plenty of food in the supply chain as long as people don’t hoard.

–A recently published study from the University of Southampton estimated that the global outbreak of the coronavirus could have been dramatically reduced had China’s government acted sooner.

–A class action lawsuit is demanding 20 trillion dollars from China for coronavirus damages.

–The Chinese government is trying to shift blame and avoid accountability over the coronavirus outbreak.

–The first known dog to test positive for the coronavirus has died.

–After 7 people were shot in Baltimore Tuesday evening, Baltimore Mayor ‘Jack’ Young pleaded with residents to stop shooting one another so that there would be beds available for coronavirus victims.

–Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer boasted that the new coronavirus bill passed by Congress not only gives billions to New York, but gives his state more federal money than any state in the nation.

–The CDC reports that 38% of patients known to be hospitalized in the U.S. are between the ages of 20 and 54 years of age while 12% of intensive care patients are between 20 and 44 years old.

–On Wednesday, President Trump announced that the Department of Housing and Urban Development will temporarily suspend all home foreclosures and evictions through the end of April due to the coronavirus.

–Cuyahoga County, Ohio, has decided to release hundreds of inmates from the county jail over coronavirus fears, in spite of the fact that not a single person in the jail was known to be infected.

–Samaritan’s Purse airlifted a 68 bed emergency field hospital to a location near Milan, Italy, to help with the coronavirus outbreak.

–A Democrat super PAC said it would spend 5 million dollars on digital advertising criticizing President Trump’s response to the coronavirus.

–The American Red Cross issued a statement that outlined the impact that fear of the coronavirus has had on blood donations.

–President Trump said his administration was prepared to deal with the coronavirus but he wasn’t prepared to deal with the media.