THE BIG STORY

President Trump is telling a new story about the coronavirus outbreak

Our current period of lockdowns and business closures should end “very soon,” Trump said yesterday. "I'm not looking at months, I can tell you right now.” It was a departure from widespread warnings that the pandemic could take many months to get under control, and it was echoed across conservative media and among Trump supporters, causing concern among public health experts who are warning we are still nowhere near the peak of the outbreak.

Trump and his supporters have also pinned their hopes on a potential treatment for the coronavirus: chloroquine, an anti-malaria drug that has been used on coronavirus patients in Asia with reportedly positive results.

Clinical trials are beginning that will test how effective it really is, Dan Vergano reports, although the evidence so far is weak. The drug is now in short supply after being promoted by the president and on Fox News; yesterday an elderly man died and his wife was hospitalized after they dosed themselves with a chemical used to clean aquariums that contains chloroquine.

An employee checks the production of chloroquine phosphate in a pharmaceutical factory in China on Feb. 27. 9Patrick Semansky / AP)

STAYING ON TOP OF THIS

The economic crisis looms over everything

The rush to reopen the country, and the hopes for a miracle cure, come in part from the severe impact of the lockdowns, which are set to cause the worst economic slowdown in living memory. That could be offset in part by trillions of dollars in relief money and stimulus spending currently being negotiated in Washington; a deal could be announced today.

But will the deal focus on keeping people above water, or will it mainly end up in corporate bank accounts? The fate of the last giant stimulus is a warning sign. “Many of the banks and financial institutions bailed out during the 2008 recession emerged even wealthier than they were before, while ordinary Americans suffered without help for years,” writes Sarah Anderson. “As Washington cooks up another massive stimulus bill, with little time for public input or scrutiny, there’s a real danger of repeating the enormous mistakes of the last recession.”

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SNAPSHOTS

Texas has banned abortions for the coming month, ruling them a non-essential medical service. ‘No one is exempt from the governor’s executive order on medically unnecessary surgeries and procedures, including abortion providers,” said the state’s attorney general.

The UK is going into a full lockdown. “Without a huge national effort to halt the growth of this virus, there will come a moment when no health service in the world could possibly cope,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson said.

Here’s a selection of cursed images of Americans doing a terrible job at social distancing, and here’s an extremely stressful set of photos of the crowded London Underground yesterday.

Amazon’s warehouse workers have been fighting for paid time off since last year. Yesterday, it finally happened.

Englewood Beach in Charlotte County, Florida, March 20. (Nurphoto / Getty Images)

THE 2020 OLYMPICS ARE OFF

It’s the 2021 Olympics now

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced this morning that the Olympic Games, scheduled for Tokyo this summer, will be rescheduled for the same time next year. In the modern history of the Olympics, only two other things have caused them to be cancelled or postponed — the two World Wars.

Organizers in Japan have previously said it’s unthinkable that the games would not go ahead, but pressure has been growing in recent weeks. Yesterday Canada’s Olympic committee announced it would not be sending athletes to Tokyo. “Nothing is more important than the health and safety of our athletes and the world community,” Team Canada said in a statement. “This is not solely about athlete health — it is about public health.”

BE THOUGHTFUL AT THE GROCERY

Here's a small way to be kind to others

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) helps pay for nutritious food for almost 7 million low-income women who are pregnant or breastfeeding, and their young children. Participants in the program can use a monthly voucher or card to pay for certain food staples, and it’s a lifeline for people in need.

But there are strict guidelines on the things you can buy with those vouchers — some brands or sizes of product are eligible, some aren’t. And due to the panic shopping that is clearing supermarket shelves, some moms are finding all the WIC-eligible stuff sold out and going home empty handed, Julia Reinstein reports.

If you have the resources to be choosy, there’s a small thing you can do to help relieve the pressure on these women and their kids. Pay attention in the grocery aisle: the stuff that is WIC-eligible is marked like you see below – if it’s possible, leave it for the people who need it the most and choose an alternative.

via @SuitUpMaine

There are so many ways to be a good person right now,

Tom