The Wall Street Journal - 21.03.2020 - 22.03.2020

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. **** Saturday/Sunday, March 21 - 22, 2020 |A

THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

Virus Cases Strain

New York Hospitals

mirror for the Canadian border,

were set to take effect Friday at

midnight. The U.S. has more

than 10,000 cases of coronavi-

rus confirmed, and 150 deaths,

while Mexico has detected 164

cases and reported one death.

Chad Wolf, the acting Home-

land Security secretary, said

the administration aims to end

casual travel across the border,

but will continue to allow es-

sential travel—including the

movement of goods or medical

workers. U.S. lawmakers had

pressed the administration to

permit entry for seasonal work-

ers, many of whom do farm la-

bor and most of whom come

from Mexico.

Countries across Europe,

Asia and Latin America have

shut land borders and reduced

international flights. The State

Department issued a world-

wide Level 4 travel advisory, its

highest level, encouraging

Americans abroad to return to

the U.S. or shelter in place.

Secretary of State Mike

Pompeo said that Mexico was

discussing whether to stop ac-

cepting flights from Europe.

Mexican Foreign Minister Mar-

celo Ebrard at a later news con-

ference said Mexico is opposed

to such a measure and that one

possible solution is for Mexico

to establish restrictions for

boarding of inbound flights.

Trump administration offi-

cials said that in addition to

slowing travel through ports of

entry, the government will im-

mediately begin turning back

migrants who cross the border

illegally, including those claim-

ing asylum, without processing

them inside U.S. border patrol

stations or detention centers.

Border Patrol agents on Fri-

day had begun quickly turning

back Mexican adults after tak-

ing fingerprints and processing

their information on laptops in

the field. The arrested migrants

will be repatriated at the near-

est port of entry.

Mr. Ebrard has said Mexico

would be obliged to take all

Mexicans, who he said are the

largest nationality trying to

reach the U.S. illegally. He also

said Mexico will maintain a

program that allows mostly

Central American asylum seek-

ers to wait in Mexico while

their proceedings are adjudi-

cated in the U.S. He said mi-

grants from other nations

wouldn’t be accepted.

Mexico has already agreed

to take more than 60,000 asy-

lum seekers who were sent

there while awaiting their U.S.

proceedings. Mr. Wolf sug-

gested migrants from other na-

tions would be flown back to

their home countries, but didn’t

say how that would happen

amid global travel restrictions.

The U.S. restrictions rely on

a provision of public-health law

that allows immigration offi-

cials to deny entry to foreign-

ers who pose a risk of spread-

ing infectious diseases.

—Alicia A. Caldwell

and Robbie Whelan

contributed to this article.

tested positive.

“We are now the epicenter

of this crisis,” Mayor Bill de

Blasio said at a press confer-

ence Friday. There were at least

52 New York Police Department

officers with the virus, accord-

ing to NYPD officials.

The governors of New Jer-

sey, Connecticut and Pennsylva-

nia, along with Mr. Cuomo,

wrote a letter to the Trump ad-

ministration and congressional

leaders requesting $100 billion

to cover costs related to coro-

navirus-response operations.

The governors already are fore-

casting billions of dollars in

lost revenue, they said in their

letter.

“There is, quite simply, no

historical analog for the chal-

lenges we will face in the com-

ing weeks and months,” the

governors wrote.

New York state, facing a

growing shortage of personal

protective equipment like

masks and gowns for health-

care workers, is encouraging

companies capable of manufac-

turing the products to start

production. The state will pay a

premium for these items, Mr.

Cuomo said.

On its first full day in effect,

California’s statewide lockdown

was having its biggest impact

on businesses. Restaurant own-

ers gave away perishable food

and business owners squeezed

in last-minute clients before the

order took effect Thursday

night.

In the Westwood neighbor-

hood of Los Angeles, Tina

Reynolds said she got calls

from two clients who were

scheduled for appointments at

her hair salon Friday after Gov.

Gavin Newsom’s order. They

were worried they wouldn’t be

able to see her for weeks.

“I told them, ‘I’m still here,

right now, if you want to come

in,’ ” Ms. Reynolds said. She

stayed until 11 p.m. to see them.

residents to shelter in their
homes, except for essential ac-
tivities. In Nevada, Gov. Steve
Sisolak Friday ordered all non-
essential businesses to close.
The state had earlier in the
week closed Las Vegas casinos.
Meanwhile, a relentless rise
in new infections in Western
Europe helped push the world-
wide death toll from the out-
break to well over 10,000. Italy
reported 627 fatalities on Fri-
day, the world’s highest num-
ber of deaths in a single day
from the coronavirus. The
country’s total death toll stood
at 4,032, the most of any coun-
try, including China.
The European Union said
Friday it would further relax
budget rules to allow govern-
ments to increase their stimu-
lus efforts. In the U.K., the gov-
ernment stepped up its
response to the virus’s eco-
nomic effects, telling compa-
nies that it would foot the
lion’s share of their wage bills
as long as they hang on to
workers, while it ordered all
bars and restaurants in the
country to close.
Globally, there were more
than 270,000 confirmed cases
of the disease known as
Covid-19, according to data
compiled by Johns Hopkins
University Friday.
As the number of reported
infections grew across the U.S.
this past week, everyday life
fundamentally changed as more
state and local leaders moved
to limit the virus’s further
spread. Large gatherings were

ContinuedfromPageOne

States

Ramp Up

Measures

prohibited; school, work and

worship moved online; and

bars and restaurants shut

down. On Friday, the Scripps

National Spelling Bee post-

poned its 2020 championships,

and the U.S. Army said all of its

recruiting activities would now

be virtual.

The Education Department

said it wouldn’t enforce stan-

dardized-testing requirements

for K-12 students this year,

President Trump said. The gov-

ernment is also waiving all in-

terest on federally held student

loans.

Mr. Trump said Friday he

would start using his powers

under a Korean War-era law to

try to increase the production

of ventilators and masks, as

hospitals around the country

warn of shortages. The presi-

dent didn’t provide more de-

tails on his actions during a

White House press briefing, but

the act gives the president

powers to require and incentiv-

ize businesses to produce

goods tied to national defense.

On Capitol Hill, lawmakers

were negotiating into Friday

evening a sweeping economic

stimulus package that could top

$1 trillion and give direct pay-

ments to U.S. households. Trea-

sury Secretary Steven Mnuchin

also said the U.S. would extend

the individual tax filing dead-

line to July 15.

Of New York’s 7,845 cases,

5,151 were in New York City

alone, and the city’s sanitation

department closed six facilities

for cleaning after five workers

‘We are now the

epicenter of this

crisis,’ New York

City’s mayor said.

New York City hospitals are
already straining under the on-
slaught of novel coronavirus
cases, even as state officials say
the real peak of the outbreak is
nearly a month and a half away.
Doctors at the largest public

hospital in New York say equip-
ment shortages have resulted
in them wearing the same
masks for as long as a week.
Emergency-room physicians at
another hospital are having to
reuse gowns. Some large hospi-
tals already have exceeded the
capacity of their intensive-care
units.
At least one city hospital,
faced with dwindling supply of
ventilators amid the surge of
coronavirus patients, had to
seek more from a sister hospi-
tal.
“We’re getting pounded,”
said Mangala Narasimhan, a
doctor at the Long Island Jew-
ish Medical Center, part of
Northwell Health, the largest
hospital system in New York.
“I’ve been in ICU care for 15
years, and this is the worst I
have ever seen things.”
Hospitals expect the prob-
lems to mount. Earlier this
week, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said
the outbreak is expected to
peak in 45 days, and by then
the state would need tens of
thousands of more beds.
In recent days, the number
of confirmed cases in New York
City more than doubled to
4,408 as a blitz of testing be-
gan to reveal the rapid march
of the disease, officials said.
New York City alone now
makes up 42% of total U.S. con-
firmed cases. Across the entire
state, there have been 7,102 to-
tal cases and 35 deaths, making
up a quarter of nationwide
deaths from the illness.
With the onslaught has
come a surprise for many
health-care workers: Far more

young people than they ex-

pected are falling very ill.

The swiftness in which pa-

tients turn from mildly sick to

struggling to breathe and re-

quiring a ventilator is shocking,

health-care workers said.

“Things have gotten really bad

this past week,” one Manhattan

nurse said. “We’re all on edge.”

New York officials say the

state could need as many as

110,000 hospital beds and

37,000 intensive-care beds for

virus-related illnesses as they

peak. The state currently has

53,000 hospital beds and 3,

intensive-care beds, many of

them occupied by people with

other illnesses.

A doctor at Maimonides

Medical Center in Brooklyn said

the hospital had no more isola-

tion space for coronavirus pa-

tients and was moving less-sick

patients to other wings.

“Beds are needed desper-

ately,” read a memo sent to

NewYork-Presbyterian Queens

nurses on Thursday. “I need

you to ACTIVELY participate in

the Discharge planning for your

patients.”

A spokeswoman for the

NewYork-Presbyterian system

declined to comment.

Saquib Rahim, a doctor

working at the Queens hospital,

said the number of potential or

confirmed cases has surged in

the past week, and it is all

hands on deck at the hospital.

One elderly patient with

Covid-19 symptoms died on the

floor of the hospital ward.

“We’ve never seen anything

like this,” Dr. Rahim said.

“We’re praying that somehow

we’ll be able to stem the tide.”

In a letter to Gov. Cuomo on

Thursday, the New York State

Nurses Association said it was

“painfully obvious” that their

42,000 members on the front

lines don’t have the gear to

protect themselves against the

virus.

It warned that “hospitals

will cease to function” if work-

ers are exposed, according to a

copy of the letter viewed by the

Journal.

ByShalini

Ramachandran,

Joe Palazzolo,

Melanie Grayce West

andMelanie Evans

The U.S. and Mexico agreed

to curtail travel across their

shared 2,000-mile border, al-

lowing trade and workers to

continue crossing but limiting

most other travelers, including

migrants, in response to the

coronavirus pandemic.

President Trump announced

the move Friday, saying it was

necessary to slow the spread of

Covid-19, the illness caused by

the virus, across North America

and “reduce the mass global

migration that would badly de-

plete the health-care resources

needed for our people.”

“Left unchecked, this would

cripple our immigration sys-

tem, overwhelm our health-

care system and severely dam-

age our national security,” Mr.

Trump said.

The new restrictions, which

ByMichelle Hackman

in Washington

andJuan Montes

in Mexico City

Mexican Border Crossings Limited

The U.S. and Mexico will restrict travel to trade and workers at crossings such as this one in San Ysidro, Calif., in response to the pandemic.

SEAN M. HAFFEY/GETTY IMAGES

19,

U.S. cases

274,

World-wide cases

147

U.S. recoveries

87,

World-wide recoveries

Coronavirus Daily Update

As of 9:43 p.m. EDT March 20

Source: Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering

249

U.S. deaths

11,

World-wide deaths

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