SATURDAy, MARCH 7 , 2020. THE WASHINGTON POST ez re A
THE CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK
BY QUENTIN ARIÈS
AND JAMES MCAULEYbrussels — With more than
7,000 coronavirus cases con-
firmed across Europe, health
ministers convened here Friday
for an emergency meeting to try
to head off medical supply short-
ages and coordinate their re-
sponse.
What began as a story about
isolated travelers from China’s
Hubei province falling ill on their
European vacations has quickly
become a story about community
transmissions across a continent
that prides itself on open borders
and the freedom of movement.
Although the outbreak is most
intense in Italy, the novel corona-
virus has spread to nearly every
European Union member coun-
try, along with Britain and Swit-
zerland. As of Friday evening,
215 people in Europe infected
with the virus had died, accord-
ing to the count maintained by
Johns Hopkins University.
On Friday in Brussels, much of
the discussion centered on ad-
dressing potential shortages in
protective equipment, including
the face masks that have sold out
in pharmacies across the conti-
nent. But France and Germany
are among those resisting shar-
ing their supplies with other E.U.
members.
The European health commis-
sioner, Stella Kyriakides, told the
assembled ministers she recog-
nized their main priority was
protecting their own citizens. B ut
she warned that European soli-
darity is “in the self-interest of us
all.”
The coronavirus has under-
scored the difficulty — and per-
haps even the impossibility — of
Europe responding to a uniform
threat with a united front. If
anything, the prospect of a global
pandemic has exposed the
cracks, bureaucratic and politi-
cal, in Europe’s ability to coordi-
nate across borders.
European capitals have ap-
proached the coronavirus threat
in different ways, without much
consultation among them.
Italy announced this week the
closure of all schools and univer-
sities until March 15, a date that
may be extended. It has suspend-
ed all events and performances
where attendees can’t stay one
meter — or about three feet —
apart from one another. And it
has imposed a virtual lockdown
on 11 towns in the “red zone” of
the outbreak.
But in France — where there
have been nine coronavirus
deaths and where President Em-
manuel Macron has repeatedly
said an eventual epidemic is
“inescapable” — officials have
said they would not enforce as
many closures.
“We will not paralyze the eco-
nomic and social life of the
country,” French Health Minister
Olivier Véran said in an interview
with France’s Libération news
outlet. “When the epidemic is
here, it’s above all a question of
organizing the alert and care
system, and ensuring the conti-
nuity of state services without
preventing citizens from living.”
France has banned indoorgatherings of more than 5,
people, leading to the cancella-
tion of the Paris Book Fair. It has
urged people who suspect they
may have coronavirus to self-
isolate and treat their symptoms
at home, so as not to overload
hospitals and potentially spread
the virus even more.
And on Friday, Macron urged
citizens to limit visits to elderly
relatives.
“Right now, our top priority is
to protect the most vulnerable
against the virus,” Macron said,
visiting a Paris nursing home.
“We must avoid visiting our
elders as much as possible,” he
said. “Try to make sure that the
youngest do not take part in
these visits.”
If more relaxed than Italy,
France has taken more precau-
tions than next-door Belgium,
which has more than 100 con-firmed coronavirus cases. The
Brussels Book Fair this weekend
was scheduled to go on as
planned.
In the meantime, Britain has
been doing its own thing entirely.
Because of Brexit, British officials
no longer participate in E.U.
gatherings and did not attend the
Friday meeting in Brussels.
Britain’s chief medical officer,
Chris Whitty, told a Parliament
committee Thursday that a glob-
al pandemic was almost inevita-
ble and that the government’s
“realistic worst-case scenario”
suggests that 80 percent of Brit-
ons could get coronavirus, with
15 to 20 percent needing hospital
care.
To dampen the wave of cases
and to protect the most vulnera-
ble, Whitty said, the British gov-
ernment may soon recommend
that the elderly and those withunderlying medical conditions
begin to self-isolate and avoid
crowds.
During the Friday meeting in
Brussels, Greek Health Minister
Vassilis Kikilias urged countries
to warn their neighbors before-
hand if they decide to impose any
major public cancellations or
travel restrictions. Failing to do
so could alarm citizens of other
member states whose govern-
ments have not done the same, he
said.
The most sensitive issue re-
mains the sharing of medical
supplies across borders.
“We don’t have enough protec-
tive masks,” Adam Vojtech, the
Czech health minister, said in the
Brussels meeting. “The problem
is that the demand is much
higher than the supply. A third of
the world’s p roduction of drugs is
located in China and also inIndia, which as far as I know also
has stopped exports of drugs
recently.”
France and Germany asked the
European Commission to stop
the exports of supplies to other
member states, largely to create
safe stockpiles for whenever epi-
demics emerge within their own
borders. But Italy, in the throes of
Europe’s biggest outbreak, has
cried foul, pointing out that it
participated in an E.U.-wide coro-
navirus aid package to China but
was receiving little from Brussels
during its own time of need.
Right-wing politicians in Italy
seized on the apparent disparity
as a sign of E.U. hypocrisy.
“Talk about ‘Union’! When oth-
ers are in need, Italians have to
pay, but when Italy needs the
others, they will shut their doors
and wallets,” said Matteo Salvini,
the leader of Italy’s Northern
League party. “Soon as the health
emergency’s over, we’ll need to
rethink and rebuild everything,
starting with Brussels.”
Véran, the French health min-
ister, told reporters in Brussels
on Friday that France was not
acting in a protectionist way but
rather “to have a long-term and
exhaustive vision of the equip-
ment we have” a nd would consid-
er exporting resources to other
E.U. member states if needed.
Véran declined to say whether
or when France will authorize
supply exports to Italy.
Janez Lenarcic, the European
commissioner for crisis manage-
ment, said after the meeting that
“it was not a black-and-white
situation” for countries that op-
posed the restrictions of supplies
to be exported.
“We will not favor measures
that would favor one member
state at the expense of others,” he
said.
But even the E.U. institutions
themselves are not immune from
the coronavirus, a reality that
may further undermine the bloc’s
ability to coordinate effectively.
As ministers met Friday to coor-
dinate their efforts to tackle the
outbreak, E.U. officials confirmed
that a staffer in the building was
infected by the virus.
[email protected]mcAuley reported from Paris. William
Booth in London and stefano Pitrelli
in rome contributed to this report.E.U. countries struggle to coordinate response e≠orts
TIzIAnA FABI/AgenCe FrAnCe-Presse/geTTy ImAges
Tourists on Friday at the Colosseum in Rome. Italy, in the throes of Europe’s biggest coronavirus outbreak, has closed schools and
universities. European capitals have approached the virus in different ways and are at odds over the sharing of medical equipment.BY KIMBERLY KINDY,
LISA REIN
AND ERIC YODERA group of eight senators and
two federal employee unions crit-
icized the Trump administration
Friday for failing to guarantee
protections for federal workers
and contractors who may come in
contact with people infected by
coronavirus during the course of
their government work.
In s eparate letters Friday to the
Office of Personnel Management,
senators and union officials also
criticized guidance the office is-
sued earlier in the week, saying it
should have assured employees
that they would not face disci-
plinary action if they stayed
home with symptoms of the virus
because they or a loved one was
ill.
The letters also said the office
did not do a good enough job
directing agencies to take “a gen-
erous” position on expanding the
availability of working remotely.
And the senators’ letter said the
office should have assured federal
employees and contractors that
they would not face “income inse-
curity” if they contracted covid-
19, the respiratory disease caused
by c oronavirus, and remained ill
even after they have exhausted
their paid sick leave.
“We worry that OPM’s guid-
ance to date does not demon-
strate to our nation’s hardwork-
ing public servants that the feder-
al government is prioritizing
their health, well-being and eco-
nomic security,” s aid the senators’
letter, which had Sen. Mark R.
Warner (D-Va.) as the lead signa-
tory. All of the signers are Demo-
crats.
The office declined to com-
ment on the criticisms made by
the American Federation of Gov-
ernment Employees, which rep-
resents 700,000 federal workers
and D.C. government employees.
In response to the senators’ criti-
cisms, spokesman Anthony
Marucci said in a statement that
the office has received the sena-
tors’ letter and “will respond to
congress as necessary.”
The office on Tuesday issued a
short guidance document, which
provides basic information for
when federal employees should
stay at home if they believe they
might have a coronavirus infec-
tion.
It says those who have traveled
abroad to high-risk areas and
developed symptoms should
quarantine themselves at home
for 14 days before returning to
work.It also tells agencies to prepare
to have more employees work
remotely and to consider cutting
back on travel and tightening
controls over visitors in federal
buildings.
“Employees who have symp-
toms of acute respiratory illness
are recommended to stay home
and not come to work until they
are free of fever (100.4° F [37.8° C ]
or greater using an oral ther-
mometer), signs of a fever, and
any other symptoms for at least
24 hours, without the use of
fever-reducing or other symp-
tom-altering medicines (e.g.
cough suppressants). Employees
should notify their supervisor
and stay home if they are sick,”
the memo says.
It also cites a Centers for Dis-
ease Control and Prevention rec-
ommendation that employees
“who appear to have acute respi-
ratory illness symptoms (i.e.
cough, shortness of breath) upon
arrival to work or become sick
during the day should be separat-
ed from other employees and be
sent home immediately.”
The guidance does not, howev-
er, provide the direct assurances
to federal employees for job and
economic security that is being
sought by the senators and the
union.The union also sent a letter
Thursday to leaders of the House
and Senate Armed Services and
Oversight committees, outlining
its concerns about the potential
impact on workers whose jobs
may put them in contact with
people infected with c oronavirus.
The union asked lawmakers to
intervene on their behalf with the
Trump administration.
“Many federal employees have
extensive interaction with the
general public as part of their
regular duties,” t he letter said. “Of
particular concern are those who
have been or are likely to be called
upon to provide services to popu-
lations infected with COVID-19 or
populations at risk of infections.”
The union cited several exam-
ples in which federal workers
were placed at r isk, including one
in which “employees in the Ad-
ministration for Children and
Families who were tasked with
providing direct patient care for
the quarantined evacuees did not
have adequate protective equip-
ment or training.” The adminis-
tration did not immediately re-
spond to requests for comment.
The union also criticized the
Trump administration for quar-
antining Americans who may
have been exposed to the virus
overseas at two military baseswithout “any type of notice or
training for the Defense civilian
employees working at these in-
stallations.”
The letter said union officials
received reports from employees
that safety protocols and equip-
ment were not made available to
Defense Department employees
on the bases. They were also not
“adequately trained on proce-
dures for minimizing the chance
of exposure or infection for them-
selves or their families.”
Defense s pokesman Lt. Col.
Chris Mitchell said the depart-
ment had issued guidance to its
employees, before the quaran-
tines, about ways to reduce the
potential threat of the coronavi-
rus. M itchell said, “CDC managed
the quarantine process without
direct assistance from DoD per-
sonnel. The extent of the DoD
contribution to the effort was to
make temporary housing avail-
able to those travelers.”
Randy Erwin, president of the
National Federation of Federal
Employees, said those of his
110,000 members in jobs that
require serving the public direct-
ly have received next to no infor-
mation about how they would be
protected — and if they would
continue to work — if the virus
spreads.“We want unequivocal assur-
ances that we will be kept safe,
but what we’ve received so far is a
lot of mumbo-jumbo,” Erwin said
in an interview. “It’s been very
thin on details.”
For example, State Depart-
ment adjudicators who process
passport applications have heard
nothing from their managers
about getting protective equip-
ment, or whether their work
could be suspended at some
point, Erwin said.
The union also represents For-
est Service f irefighters, who live
and sleep in close quarters during
wildfire season and are worried
about protecting themselves, Er-
win said.
A State Department spokes-
person, asked about the passport
workers, did not address their
situation directly but said in an
email: “The Department has is-
sued guidance to our domestic
and overseas personnel on health
concerns related to the COVID-
outbreak, travel, and workplace
flexibilities, including for em-
ployees on ordered or authorized
departure.”
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]missy ryan contributed to this report.Senators and union leaders criticize g uidance given to federal workers
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