The Wall Street Journal - 18.03.2020

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. ** Wednesday, March 18, 2020 |A

are in quarantine, caring for

family members with Covid-19,

and those who have children

whose schools or day-care

centers have closed.

But for the next 10 weeks,

paid leave would be limited

only to workers caring for a

child whose school or day care

had been shut. Workers who

had been in quarantine or car-

ing for a family member af-

fected by the virus wouldn’t be

eligible for the additional 10

weeks of leave. Health-care

providers and emergency re-

sponders aren’t guaranteed the

additional 10 weeks of paid

leave, with the decision up to

the Labor secretary, given that

the government might face a

shortage of such workers.

In the original version, all

the workers who received paid

sick time would be eligible for

another 10 weeks of paid leave

at two-thirds pay, in what

would have represented a ma-

jor expansion of the Family

and Medical Leave Act, the

1993 law that provides 12

weeks of unpaid leave to work-

ers at larger companies.

Democratic aides were

alarmed by the changes, which

were passed with no objec-

tions because House lawmak-

ers are away from Washing-

ton. The changes weren’t

shown to most lawmakers be-

fore the vote.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

(D., Calif.) appeared to address

the criticism Tuesday, saying

she said she would continue to

push for expanded leave, in-

cluding for health-care work-

ers and those who need longer

leave because they get sick.

“During negotiations, the

Democratic House will con-

tinue to make clear to the Ad-

ministration that any emer-

gency response package must

put Families First before any

aid to corporate America is

considered,” she said.

The bill passed Saturday

morning allowed businesses

with fewer than 50 workers to

win exemptions under rules to

be developed by the Labor De-

partment. Many businesses had

expressed concerns about cash

flow and had worried that they

might suffer additional disrup-

tions during a crisis by losing

workers on whom they relied.

To become law, the legisla-

tion must next pass the Sen-

ate, where some Republicans

have raised concerns that the

legislation places too much of

a burden on small employers.

The legislation also makes

coronavirus testing free and

increases access to food assis-

tance to those who need it.

WASHINGTON—The Demo-

cratic-led House scaled back a

paid-leave program that the

chamber had tried to enact

days earlier, following pressure

from businesses worried about

financial burdens from the

sweeping bill in response to

the coronavirus crisis.

In revised legislation that

Democratic leaders billed as a

technical correction, but rep-

resented a significant rewrite,

the House modified a program

aimed at providing paid leave

to people affected by the coro-

navirus. The new measure

would still provide two weeks

of sick leave to a wide swath

of workers affected by the

pandemic, including those who

BySiobhan Hughes,

Natalie Andrews

andKate Davidson

House Cuts Back Paid-Leave Plan

Shutting down plants re-

sults in an immediate hit to

the bottom line for car compa-

nies, which book revenue as

soon as they ship vehicles from

the factory to dealerships. A

40-day strike at GM’s U.S.

plants last fall drained $3.6 bil-

lion from GM's bottom line.

Some factory workers have

complained on social media

that they feel unsafe showing

up for work, particularly as

many of the companies’ white-

collar employees were told to

work from home.

“There is serious concern

from our employees and right-

fully so,” said Todd Dunn,

president of the union’s chap-

ter representing Ford’s Louis-

ville, Ky., plants. “If I could

send them home and give

them money, I would.”

Global auto makers have

been relying on the health of

the U.S. market this year, as

China and more recently Eu-

rope have seen car sales and

production collapse as a result

of the pandemic.

So far, car companies have

fended off parts shortages to

keep plants running in the

U.S., which accounts for the

lion’s share of profits at GM,

Ford and Fiat Chrysler. The

prospect of auto makers cut-

ting U.S. production has Wall

Street analysts scrutinizing

their balance sheets to gauge

how well they could weather a

prolonged shutdown.

—Ian Lovett

contributed to this article.

THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

people familiar with the matter

said. The plant was closed for

disinfection after one worker

tested positive and another is

likely to have contracted the

disease, a Lear spokesman said.

The Ford factory, which

makes the Ford Explorer and

Lincoln Aviator sport-utility ve-

hicles, is expected to be down

for at least Tuesday night’s

eight-hour shift and for part of

Wednesday, the people said.

Shutting off production

across U.S. factories would deal

another financial blow to the

Detroit auto makers, which have

been grappling with virus-re-

lated disruption globally. The

outbreak in China has decimated

vehicle sales there and caused

ripple effects through the global

automotive supply chain.

Ford is considering cutting

shifts at some of its U.S. facto-

ries to limit the risk to em-

ployees, although no final de-

cision has been made, people

familiar with the matter say. If

the cuts are enacted, it would

mark the first time an auto

maker in the U.S. has signifi-

cantly curtailed production be-

cause of the outbreak.

Eliminating a shift at a fac-

tory that works round-the-

clock on three shifts would al-

low more time for disinfecting

the facility, a person with

knowledge of the company’s

deliberations said. It also

would reduce the mingling that

occurs between workers on

shift change, the person said.

In Europe, Ford and other

major car companies have

temporarily closed their facto-

ries as the outbreak has

spread there.

The United Auto Workers

and Detroit car companies

reached agreements on coro-

navirus-mitigation efforts that

for now will avoid a two-week

shutdown of U.S. factories.

The UAW had been pressing

General MotorsCo.,Ford Mo-

torCo. andFiat Chrysler Au-

tomobilesNV to idle their

plants to protect workers from

the virus. The union said late

Tuesday that company execu-

tives agreed to partial shut-

downs of plants to allow for

cleaning between shifts and

longer periods for shift

changeovers, along with other

measures to minimize worker

contact, the UAW said.

A GM spokesman declined

to comment on the new mea-

sures and said the company

has been working on mitigation

efforts for weeks. Ford and Fiat

Chrysler didn’t immediately re-

ply to requests for comment.

The companies earlier said

they had adopted extensive

measures to protect workers.

Meanwhile, Ford confirmed

Tuesday evening it temporarily

closed the company’s Chicago

assembly plant because of a

parts shortage. A nearbyLear

Corp. plant that supplies parts

to the Ford factory is closing

temporarily after two employ-

ees tested positive for Covid-19,

BYMIKECOLIAS

ANDBENFOLDY

Auto Makers Agree to Protective Measures

Companies to allow

time for cleaning

factories as workers

express fears of virus

actually sick, could mean that

person infects others unwit-

tingly. But a false-positive test is

also problematic, as it could lead

healthy people to end up in the

hospital, wasting medical re-

sources.

“It is not scientifically valid to

just say ‘What the hell’ and let

tests indiscriminately onto the

market,” said Diana Zuckerman,

president of the National Center

for Health Research. “It does a lot

of harm if the test isn’t accurate.”

Ravi Thadhani, chief aca-

demic officer at Partners Health-

Care, a group of Boston-area

hospitals that includes Harvard

teaching hospitals, said “the like-

lihood is much higher” of such

misleading results with the FDA

decision.

The FDA’s Dr. Hahn said the

agency is striking a balance be-

tween speed and scientific rigor.

He said that “inaccurate diagno-

ses during a pandemic can im-

pair prevention efforts and delay

appropriate treatment.”

In its announcement, the FDA

said it would try to weed out

bad tests by requiring lab com-

panies to submit data demon-

strating accuracy within about

two weeks of the tests’ release.

WASHINGTON—A federal

agency’s decision to allow lab

companies to release coronavi-

rus tests without prior govern-

ment approval should help ease

the shortage of test kits, but at

the potential cost of compro-

mised results, medical experts

said on Tuesday.

“It’s a pretty good idea to al-

low for companies to get tests

out in a national emergency,”

said Paul Fey, research medical

director at the University of Ne-

braska Medical Center. But he

added that “these tests may not

perform as well.”

The new policy was an-

nounced late Monday by Food

and Drug Administration Com-

missioner Stephen Hahn, who

conceded there were risks but

said they were warranted by the

circumstances.

Efforts to combat the virus

have suffered from a shortage of

test kits, which has typically re-

quired people with symptoms of

the disease to get permission

from a doctor for testing.

At the same time, inaccurate

tests create their own set of

problems, medical experts say.

False negatives, in which a

person is deemed healthy while

BYTHOMASM.BURTON

ANDSHARONTERLEP

New Testing Policy

Could Lift Access,

But Risk Accuracy

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) said she would continue to push for expanded leave, including for health-care workers.

ALEX WONG/GETTY IMAGES

well, Treasury Secretary Steven

Mnuchin said Tuesday. The de-

lay is available to people who

owe $1 million or less and cor-

porations that owe $10 million

or less, he said.

Mr. Mnuchin said the move

could provide $300 billion in

temporary liquidity, giving

households and businesses a fi-

nancial cushion as they cope

with the sudden slowdown in

economic activity caused by the

coronavirus epidemic.

“We are going to use all the

tools we have,” Mr. Mnuchin

said. “And what tools we don’t

have, we’re going to go to Con-

gress.”

The IRS will continue to pro-

cess tax refunds. Taxpayers

should file their returns as

usual by April 15 but they can

defer payment for up to 90

days beyond that, according to

the Senate Finance Committee.

Presumably, they can also seek

six-month extensions and defer

payment, but the IRS hasn’t

made that clear yet.

Tax preparers warned that

requiring taxpayers to file re-

turns or requests for extensions

by April 15 would create unnec-

essary work and stress over the

next month as people try to

complete returns or extensions.

“Had they not decoupled the

payment date from the due

date, and just blanket extended

everything to July 15, we as tax

preparers and employers, and

just plain old citizens, could

ratchet back the amount of

time we spend together daily

and weekly,” said Ken Goodrow,

an accountant at Tyler, Simms

& St. Sauveur in Lebanon, N.H.

“Unless this return due date

moves we are all in for a much

busier, much more stressful

month than normal,” he said.

The IRS hasn’t explained

whether taxpayers can also de-

fer estimated-tax payments for

the first quarter of 2020, which

are also due on April 15.

WASHINGTON—The U.S.

government will postpone the

April 15 tax-payment deadline

for millions of individuals, giv-

ing Americans an additional 90

days to pay their 2019 income-

tax bills in an unprecedented

move intended to ease the eco-

nomic pain inflicted by the cor-

onavirus.

The IRS, using authority un-

der President Trump’s national-

emergency declaration, will

waive interest and penalties as

ByRichard Rubin,

Laura Saunders

andAndrew Restuccia

IRS Extends April 15 Deadline for Payments

 Lack of blood samples stalls

work on virus drug................. B

525

Othercountries

March

49,

U.S.

January

46

71,

Germany

214 7,

France

14

7,

Italy

8

2,

S.Korea

6

4,

Spain

12

210

WeakLink

The number of potential supply–chain disruptions around the world has increased sharply.

NumberofdisruptionsinMarch

comparedwithJanuary

Source: Riskmethods GmbH

*Supply–chain disruption reached the

maximum amount in China on the

Riskmethods platform for both months.

21,

China*

21,

law that allows immigration of-

ficials to deny entry to foreign-

ers who pose a risk of spreading

infectious diseases, the people

familiar with the plan said. The

government is expected within

the next two days to publish a

rule that would take immediate

effect. It wouldn’t require con-

gressional approval.

“The President is 100% fo-

cused on protecting the Ameri-

can people from the coronavirus

and all options are on the table,”

Heather Swift, spokeswoman for

the Department of Homeland

Security, said in a statement.

The Department of Health and

Human Services, which oversees

public-health laws, didn’t return

a request for comment.

Asked during a White House

news conference earlier Tues-

day whether he is considering

shuttering the U.S. land bor-

ders, Mr. Trump said: “I don’t

want to say that, but we are

discussing things with Canada,

and we’re discussing things

with Mexico, quite honestly.”

The plan was earlier re-

ported by the New York Times.

Due to the coronavirus pan-

demic, the Trump administra-

tion is considering a plan to

shutter the U.S. border with

Mexico and Canada as soon as

this week to asylum seekers

and other foreigners who

don’t have permission to enter

the country, people familiar

with the plan said.

Under the plan, the adminis-

tration would keep ports of en-

try open to U.S. citizens, perma-

nent residents and foreigners

with legal permission to enter

the country. Foreigners covered

by President Trump’s existing

travel restrictions on China and

Europe already aren’t permitted

to enter at either of the U.S.’s

land borders.

Migrants crossing the

southern border between legal

ports of entry, including those

claiming asylum, would be

swiftly returned to Mexico by

the U.S. Border Patrol.

The administration plans to

use a provision of public-health

BYMICHELLEHACKMAN

ANDALICIAA.CALDWELL

U.S. Weighs Partial

Shutdown of Borders

Tesla’s California

Plant Ordered Shut

TeslaInc. must halt pro-

duction at its California car

factory as part of an order

for noncritical companies to

scale down operations to

mitigate the effects of the

novel coronavirus pandemic.

The auto maker must

conduct “minimum basic op-

eration only” at the Fremont

factory as part of the order

issued Monday, Alameda

County sheriff spokesman

Raymond Kelly said in an

email reviewed by The Wall

Street Journal on Tuesday.

The county issued the order

as part of a broad effort in

the San Francisco area to get

people to seek shelter at

their homes to avoid the

spread of the virus.

His email followed a

tweet by the sheriff’s office

declaring Tesla is “not an es-

sential business as defined”

in the order.

The directive could

threaten Tesla’s plan to

boost deliveries by more

than 36% this year, fueled in

part by a new factory in

China and the arrival of the

Model Y compact sport-util-

ity vehicle.

Tesla Chief Executive Elon

Musk has said panic over the

coronavirus is more danger-

ous than the actual disease

and has said he would con-

tinue to show up at work.

—Tim Higgins