Week in Review 10 Key Points
- The WHO finally declared the coronavirus a global pandemic. It was obvious to anyone with a bit of common sense weeks ago.
- The NBA and NFL both suspended the season indefinitely after a Utah Jazz player tested positive for the coronavirus.
- 39 states in the US have declared states of emergency. There are numerous school closures and business disruptions.
- Trump addressed the nation Wednesday night and delivered a terrible performance in trying to reassure the nation. In his speech, Trump suspended travel from the EU, more specifically the passport free Schengen Area.
- Stocks crashed over 9% on Thursday. A bear market officially started.
- 75% of companies note supply chain disruptions as coronavirus cases growing outside of China at an exponential rate.
- On Friday Trump declared a National Emergency. In contrast to Wednesday, he gave an excellent speech accompanied by US business leaders and the market rose over 9%.
- The bond market was in a state of stress all week. There are major liquidations in bond funds and the bid-ask spreads in the 30-year bond are the biggest on record. Even Friday stock market rally did not calm the bond market.
- Gold, normally a safe haven, followed the bond market. Higher treasury yields are generally seen as bad for gold.
- Bitcoin crashed 50% in a 24 hour period on March 12-13 and recovered a bit of those losses.
1: Officially a Pandemic
The World Health Organization says the Coronavirus, COVID-19 Is Now Officially A Pandemic.
The COVID-19 viral disease that has swept into at least 114 countries and killed more than 4,000 people is now officially a pandemic, the World Health Organization announced Wednesday.
“This is the first pandemic caused by a coronavirus,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a briefing in Geneva.
Also note that Trump Classifies Coronavirus Info.
That was not a smart move. It creates frears of “What is Trump hiding?”
2: NBA and NHL Suspend Seasons
On March 11, I noted NBA Suspends All Games, Sports Jackass of the Year Awarded
I gave the “Sports Jackass of the Year” award” to Utah Jazz superstar Rudy Gobert who mocks the coronavirus by touching every microphone, recorder and reporter in the media room two days ago. The next day he tested positive for the virus and the NBA suspended the season. The NHL suspended the season the following day.
3: 39 States in the US Have Declared States of Emergency
Washington, California, Maryland, Kentucky, Utah, New York, Florida, Oregon, Indiana, New Jersey, Colorado, Iowa, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Michigan, Arizona, Connecticut, Louisiana, Virginia, Delaware, Montana, Nevada, Arkansas, Kansas, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Alabama, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Idaho, Nebraska, Missouri, Minnesota, Georgia, New Mexico, Texas.
School closures and other disruptions are far too numerous to mention.
Note that New York will Establish a “Containment Area” Using the National Guard.
Case map courtesy of the New York Times.
Please play that video.
It highlights extreme incompetence at the CDC, the US Center for Disease Control.
The most amazing thing about the video is that is it by a Fox News journalist and Fox rarely criticizes anything associated with Trump.
I believe but cannot prove, Trump wanted the US to have its own tests with a “Made in USA” label.
If it was not his call, Trump would be blaming, firing, or belittling the person responsible.
Regardless, the CDC is his responsibility.
4: Trump Addressed the Nation Wednesday Night
I commented A Clearly Rattled Trump Bans All Travel From EU Starting Friday
President Trump was clearly rattled and nervous as he addressed the nation tonight regarding the coronavirus.
Trump banned all travel from Europe, except the UK, starting travel. This seems to apply to shipments of goods as well. “Anything coming from Europe to the United States is what we are discussing,” said Trump.
he WSJ commented “The president suggested the restrictions would apply to goods shipped into the U.S. from Europe.”
Trump misspoke. The White House issued a correction.
Fortunately, Trade with Europe is not blocked.
5: Stocks Crashed Over 9% on Thursday
That is one of the the most wild weeks in history.
It’s likely a recession has started. If not it soon will.
6: Massive Supply Chain Disruptions
In a special report the ISM reported 75% of Companies Suffer From Coronavirus Supply Chain Disruptions
Nearly 75 percent of companies report supply chain disruptions in some capacity due to coronavirus-related transportation restrictions, and more than 80 percent believe that their organization will experience some impact because of COVID-19 disruptions. Of those, one in six (16%) companies report adjusting revenue targets downward an average of 5.6 percent due to the coronavirus.
“The story the data tells is that companies are faced with a lengthy recovery to normal operations in the wake of the virus outbreak,” said Thomas W. Derry, Chief Executive Officer of ISM. “For a majority of U.S. businesses, lead times have doubled, and that shortage is compounded by the shortage of air and ocean freight options to move product to the United States — even if they can get orders filled.”
7: Trump Declares a National Emergency on Friday
Real Clear Politics reports President Declares National Coronavirus Emergency, Press Conference With Healthcare CEOs
In contrast to the Wednesday night fiasco, Trump delivered a very good performance on Friday. The stock market rebounded over 9% erasing the losses on Thursday.
Look at that map closely.
Those proclaiming this is no worse than the flu do not understand exponential math.
Italy went from 30 cases to 21,000 cases in little over a week.
On February 26, in a White House Briefing, Trump foolishly discussed the then 15 total cases in the US.
“When you have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero, that’s a pretty good job we’ve done,” said Trump.
I was certain the moment Trump made that comment that it was an enormous mistake.
15 cases is now 2,499 in just 17 days.
15-30-60-120-240-480-960-1,920-3,840-7,680-15,360-30,720-61,440-122,880-245,760-491,520-983,040 … etc.
That is the path we are on. In 17 days, the number of US cases has doubled over 7 times.
The number of cases are now doubling every 2-3 days. If the same rate continues, then in another week or two we are going to be looking at 50,000 to 75,000 cases. If it continues at that rate for several weeks we are now looking at millions of cases.
Yes, most of these are mild cases. But 10-20% or them won’t be. In Italy, they have run out of beds and supplies.
Doctors are making choices based on age and other factors who to treat or not. The serious cases not treated are likely future deaths.
Those downplaying these risks are fools.
Yet, I expect a lot of “I told you so” comments from the fools.
Why?
Because the measures we are now taking: cancelling sports events, schools, big gatherings, etc., and a ramp up in test availability (finally!), will likely short circuit that exponential progression.
That is my optimistic comment for the day.
Here’s another: I believe Trump finally sees how serious this is.
8: Bond Market Stress
The bond market was in a state of stress the entire week.
Given that a deflationary crash is underway with the Fed about to slash rates to zero, the yield on the long bond ought to be dropping. Instead, yields on the 30-year and 10-year treasuries soared.
I commented Bond Market Dislocation: What the Hell is Going On?
Lacy Hunt at Hoisington Investments, one of the largest bond firms in the world, said it was redemptions: “Pension plans, nonprofit corporations, leveraged hedge funds and others are selling what they have a profit on, not what they need to,” said Lacy in a phone conversation.
Bid-ask spreads on treasuries were at the widest level in history.
Not even Friday’s rally helped so perhaps there are still additional factors.
Hoping to quiet things down, the Fed announced on Thursday it would Inject $1.5 Trillion in Liquidity.
The market responded with a short pop then continued to decline for the rest of the day, closing down about 10%.
9: Gold Sells Off
Gold is normally a safe haven in times of liquidity stress. However, higher treasury yields are generally seen as bad for gold, and gold sold off with the long end of the yield curve.
This could be a continuation of taking profits where they are to be found, but if pension plans are selling gold and treasuries for more stocks I think they will soon regret that move.
10: Bitcoin Plunges 50% in 24 Hours
In a stunning one day wipeout Bitcoin fell about 50%. I commented Bitcoin Finally Finds Support at the $4,000 Level: What’s Next?
National Lockdown in Spain
The New York Times reports Spain Imposes Nationwide Lockdown to Fight Coronavirus
Faced with rising numbers of coronavirus infections in Spain, the country’s government on Saturday ordered all citizens to stay in their homes other than to buy food, go to work or seek health care, or to assist the elderly and others in need.
The government also ordered all schools, restaurants and bars to close, extending measures that various regional authorities, including in Madrid and in Catalonia, had taken on Friday.
That is what China did to stop the spread. Italy did as well, but too late. And now Spain joined the party.
Don’t say it will never happen here: New York established a “Containment Area” Using the National Guard.
Trump bragged about shutting down air traffic from China but he was way too late on Europe and other places.
Nonetheless, it was better late than never.
Reflection on Stock Market Prices
Recession Started
Yesterday I asked, How Much Recession Warning Did You Expect?
I believe a recession has started, if not it will start in April.
There are too many disruptions in airlines, sports, schools, cancelled vacations, and supply chain details that make a recession inevitable.
The stock market gyrations alone will disrupt spending plans on big ticket items like cars.
The market rebounded on Friday, as expected from such deeply oversold levels. But earnings estimates are crashing and the stock market is still nowhere close to being reasonably priced.
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
Saw that. I think, if he had used a kitchen funnel and a jerrycan, it would hv been more accurate. Plus, perhaps, have Boris jiggle during the pour.
Perfect Stuki “dissolve Congress” , just like Hitler did in 1933 with spectacular results. I agree that Trump has the right temperament for that. You need to get an education to under stand what I’m saying.
I’m not advocating he does so.
Just pointing out that if things truly get critical enough, while there are still disadvantages to having a crazy hipshooter for President, there are some possible advantages as well.
The rapid, massive response to the Wuhan outbreak, stopped what is still by far the most severe covid-19 outbreak anywhere, dead in it’s tracks. Something no other response so far has proven to do as effectively. And it did so despite happening at a time of much, much less knowledge about the virus, than what has been learned over the past 2 months.
That sort of response, engaged in on very incomplete and partial information, is darned near impossible to imagine, unless command lines are almost military in their universality, finality and freedom from checks and balances slowing things down.
Of course, the downsides is that, for the remaining 99% of the time, all those times when the entire Russian nuclear stockpile is not in mid flight heading towards North America, you’re still stuck living in a country where some anointed-for-life “chairman” has darned near dictatorial powers over everything else as well.
Hopefully, some Euro, or American, country manages to prove you can get close to China like effectiveness in dealing with this, without having to turn the country into an overt dictatorship.
i still don’t believe china has stopped it but time will tell.
In this discussion, most seem to be ignoring – as usual – that this is a President who has been under continuous, unprecedented attack since his election. It would be quite reasonable on his part to regard much of the coronavirus expert opinion – especially anything from CDC, a notoriously stodgy branch no doubt filled with Resisters and who have been the main players making efficient testing hard to bring to bear on the situation – as untrustworthy. It is also possible that this has been released by bad actors from no end of different agencies foreign and domestic. No doubt a lot is going on behind the scenes.
Also, he is far more canny than his legion of detractors appreciate. He is now an experienced Chief Executive and for sure is not going to let this crisis go to waste. He is in a constant wrestling match with Congress, Judiciary, Intel and Press. No doubt this National Emergency will give him leverage in certain ways which he will use. And no doubt much of the coverage of this virus has been overblown in order to undermine his Presidency so he loses the election. It shouldn’t be this way, but it is. People under this sort of constant attack understandably become punch drunk and he may have mishandled some of this thus far, but he might have been playing a little rope-a-dope as well to goad his many enemies into taking a position he can later outmanoever.
Btw, the Chinese have been using “Interferon Alpha 2B (INFrec)” developed in Cuba 40 years ago. A delegation from Cuba visited Mexico last week and it will be made available soon in all pharmacies here for about $60.00. I suspect the US – which at the very least has developed similar coronas in their weapons labs – already have vaccines or antivirals ready to go, but since they cannot admit to the public that they play around with these things (after 50 years they won’t give needed info to the scientific community about the genesis of Lyme disease on the Plum Island biolab using ticks as vector), they have to make it look like they are working ’round the clock’ to deliver solutions in ‘record time.’ This requires cutting a huge amount of CDC and FDA red tape, and since all such agencies are anti-Trump hotbeds, something else which also takes time. It might be hubris or BS or instinctive businessman’s salesmanship, but he seems consistently sanguine that it will soon blow over and often points that out. Maybe he knows something we don’t yet know?
If I’m right, this might explain why Trump has been downplaying things until recently. He has trolled the Resistance Coupsters into kicking up a huge fuss of outrage, doom & gloom etc. because he knows in a month or two reliable treatments will be available. If I’m wrong, then we’ll have to wait and see how long it takes them to make and patent copies or better antivirals. Meanwhile, social distancing slows it down.
A far more speculative idea: seems to me that this coronavirus provides Xi with a way to preside over a paradigm-shift in the world supply chain as many companies pull out having learned they can be instantly nationalised as soon as CCP feels like it. This won’t be blamed on Xi, but rather the xenophobia and envy of the foreigners (who are also blamed for seeding the virus). Without the virus, Xi couldn’t easily allow the decoupling that Trump has been advocating to unfold. Similarly on the US side, the epidemic has brought awareness that US domestic use medicines are 85% made in China, clearly an insecure and unwise situation (and there are other strategic industries like that). The virus will allow Trump to push the ‘America First’ agenda with far more good will from Press and Big Business.
It’s a classic win-win for both Xi and Trump. Disregarding any suspicions about where it came from and who seeded it, deliberately or by accident etc., it’s a good crisis and again, I very much doubt that Trump is going to waste it. He is far more accomplished as Chief Executive now than to be merely reacting to events as often is described in the Press by ‘anonymous sources’ (most of whom don’t exist).
Finally, a little-mentioned factoid: 350,000 Chinese now live in Italy, of whom tens of thousands from Wuhan live in Milan, of whom doubtless thousands visited Wuhan for their New Years. This might explain why it hit Italy hardest and first.
Those who sounded the alarm would be happy to be proved wrong-but I fear it is beyond easy containment (aka Korean-style, with high number of cases, but folks going about their business normally).
If US n Europe have the will, they could break this in 3 months, but it would be quite hard. And, if not, they would have a UK type situations (BJ is a moron, or takin get advice from one).
It’s getting very real here. No way is this going away in a few months.
His idea of flattening the curve is probably flawed. This article explains why. TLDR version: very unlikely that you can slow infections using half measures enough to keep from being overwhelmed.
See:https://medium.com/@joschabach/flattening-the-curve-is-a-deadly-delusion-eea324fe9727
Maybe, I don’t know. This link explains the plan.
If they had had the will, travel would have been quarantined from January, and the behaviour of society encouraged to avoid contagion. They would have felt stupid doing this, for if it were no more than say SARS , resistance would have existed from society etc. . What is more inexplicable is that they messed up the planning they did have, that countries did not start to enforce distancing earlier etc. Even now in Portugal you have Madeira asking government to close airport, you have signed petitions asking government to close borders and enforce near total quarantine on the population. Similar is going on in other countries.
UK approach is very questionable, it is expecting society to make the right decisions and self compensate and adapt. Maybe they hoped for a lull through summer, not that UK has much of one. On the other hand, the idea of London or Manchester locked down is hard to imagine.
I’m thinking UK might try a technical approach while staying open for business. It has an unusual mix of freedom vs control, say no need for ID vs. surveillance, privacy vs. government access. E.g. the obvious restrictions on gatherings etc. , but then using tech to manage outbreaks.
Anyway, here is another fail, this in Spain – airports crowded with stranded passengers trying to return home:
I think this is going to be a month of the surreal.
Germany announced will close its borders.
In Portugal : Eduardo Cabrita clarifies that he has already spoken to the Spanish Minister of the Interior and clarified that the Spanish government’s rules do not close borders, but “prevent, without justification, any tourist trips to Portugal”.
In Turkey 10 000 pilgrims returning from Mecca have been put in quarantine in a university for two weeks.
In Portugal shops have to ensure 250 sqft space per customer.
Well, at local level all of Spain is locked down, if this report is to go by.
No stopping in street. Only allowed out for essentials. Two people together or more than one person per car only allowed if lending assistance.
Army on streets of major centers to orientate what help is needed.
Malaga airport also crowded
In Portugal there have been protests by some food store workers who want permission to leave work, government is buying up all market produce because no markets.
Portuguese authorities predict number of infected will increaseat least till end of April:
“It is predictable that the curve will increase at least until the end of April and that until then the behavior of the curve will depend on individual behavior”, says Marta Temido.
Surreal is right. Nightmare Hill,…
Mish have you had a chance to analyze the bill they’re passing to “save us?”
Sounds like they’re putting up to 24 paid sick days costs, retroactively, on employers, but only for companies of size 1-500 employees, not over 500 employees. Must re-hire (if company > 25 employees) after leave.
Are they trying to kill off all small businesses?
“I believe Trump finally sees how serious this is.”
Definitely. And he will defeat Biden in November. You can take it the bank – if it’s open.
Delta Airlines is now seeing more cancellations than bookings. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3q1D4fWGiw0
Never let a crisis go to waste it seems
Details continue to emerge of Israel’s plans to use anti-terrorism tracking technology to minimise the risk of coronavirus transmission.
Cyber tech monitoring would be deployed to locate people who have been in contact with those carrying the virus, subject to cabinet approval, Netanyahu told a news conference in Jerusalem.
“We will very soon begin using technology … digital means that we have been using in order to fight terrorism,” Netanyahu said.
South Korean authorities supposedly access cellphone location data for people. Such that, assuming people carry their phone with them, if someone turns out to be infected, they can go back and see where they have been, who else were there at the same time, etc… Helping them build the possible-contagion networks which guides who gets tested and quarantined, and where gets disinfected.
China has supposedly also attempted to put their nascent surveillance cameras and facial recognition to similar use.
If anyone can beat China at the tracking and surveillance game, I suspect it would be Israel.
Is it possible that the big rise in stock prices in the last hour of trading the past 3 weeks has been short covering? Maybe people don’t want to be short over the weekends?
Mike Bloomberg has been short his whole life. Look where it got him. He’s an insider. Lol.
Yeah, not funny.
Never fear, the Fed and the gubberment is here to save the day:
War on Communism… (they were the communists)
War on Hunger (they caused the hunger)
War on Drugs (they supplied the drugs)
War on Cancer (they created the cancer)
War on Cash (they can’t steal cash)
War on Terror (they funded and directed the terror)
a War on the Virus (they are the virus)
My optimistic thought: Wouldn’t it be nice if US deaths from COVID-19 were more than offset by a drop in deaths from motor vehicle accidents and from regular flu, as people stay home.
But yeah, businesses that can’t make full payroll due to a lack of business won’t — and people with reduced income won’t spend. “The consumer” is going to be toast for a while. … Bailouts should help though. Oh wait, that’s only for rich investors. My bad.
The school system here announced spring break is starting a week early. But where in the US could the situation possibly be IMPROVED in two weeks? Washington state went from 1 death to 37 in two weeks … coming to a city near you.
“But where in the US could the situation possibly be IMPROVED in two weeks? Washington state went from 1 death to 37 in two weeks … coming to a city near you.”
That’s the kind of pointlessly over-careful silliness I suspect Trump could put an end to quicker than more “reasonable” “leaders.” (Everything closed indefinitely, elections cancelled, government dissolved, Everyone in Washington locked into their apartment until no new nationwide cases for a few weeks. Fauci is now benevolent dictator for the duration, and I’m quarantined on a golf course near Mar-a-Lago without a Twitter app on my phone…)
A thousand bucks guaranteed income for everybody would help out a LOT of folks at the low end in situations like this. Their employers can’t, and shouldn’t have to carry it. UBI would put money in the hands of the great unwashed, and the rich would have it from them within days. People would be able to get groceries though… and people that can’t get groceries are prone to seeking alternate food sources….
You cannot quarantine people indefinitely, and expect them to abide, if they are literally starving to death…
Heck, even junkies could become a contagion vector, if they are left harassing health workers for a fix, once their network of dealers are quarantined…
People can’t or won’t go out and do anything. They are going to be spending a lot less than usual. There are many existing safety nets. Adding additional ones should be done only after considering the existing ones, including unemployment, food stamps, EIC, energy and housing assistance, etc.
The response to this has to go beyond government. Food banks, charities, churches, and yes, individual volunteers all need to play a part, not just government. The time for partisan politics is passes, and the time for everyone to help each other will be here soon.
Since we are so far behind on testing, basing anything on reported infection numbers in the US, barely differs from pure guesswork.
One ominous signal from Asia, where fear of contagion has now largely shifted from internal outbreaks to people arriving from abroad, is that positive-test arrivals, are increasingly likely from the US….. It’s Europeans AND Americans who are carrying the virus now. Leading some countries to close their borders to arrivals from the US as well, along with Europe.
In another somewhat concerning development, European countries are supposedly very busy cutting deals for equipment, medications and supplies with China. Both via EU organs, and via separate channels. Nobody wants to be caught short!
While, in contrast, the US administration is busy trash talking the only guys who have some capacity for delivering necessary supplies in quantity… By the time Trumpo coughs hard enough to wake up from his slumber, even the considerable quantity of supplies China is able to make available, may well already be spoken for many times over. And that is assuming Xi and Co. are even willing to make their best effort to aid the US, instead playing silly propaganda politics. So the US may well be left to fight it’s own battle, rather than getting as much support from the outside as it otherwise could.
I agree it does finally look like Trump is getting the urgency of this now. It ow seems as if it is the bicker-parties in congress trying to piggyback their own nonsense onto emergency decisions, who are slowing things down.
In general, I do think Trump has the right temperament for a true emergency, if he comes around to internalizing we are in one. (As in, he’s more likely to dissolve congress and push the “button” if needed, than more “reasonable” people would be. For better or worse..)
And America does have some serious resources to bring to bear: It’s spread out, big box country. Less concentrated space to infect people in, making social distancing easier. The “free overnight delivery” infrastructure, as well as the online storefronts utilizing it, is more developed than anywhere, again enabling distancing. And the military has logistics for maintaining supply lines, and “big operation” experience potentially useful for fogging entire cities continously for years if need be, enforcing quarantines, keeping populations calm and supplied enough not to turn desperate etc.
There is also still, in absolute terms, a fairly diversified industrial base here. And plenty of production of raw materials, from food to petroleum to minerals etc.. So if all of it really has to be repurposed to simply fighting a virus in a world where all borders are closed, the resulting US effort could still be pretty effective.
And that is on top of what is still likely the well developed cutting edge medical and pharma industry anywhere.
China is in a terrible condition. They are not sending medical supplies to anyone. Most likely there will be a terrible food shortage in China very soon due to the ongoing crisis in pork production due to the flu presently in agricultural areas. Any current news from China (the CCP)is on the whole mostly propaganda.
Going by Mish’s technical definition of cash on the sidelines in that every stock trade has cash being transferred from one party to another. The Fed injection of $1.5 trillion into economy would be a lot of additional cash on sidelines (and also inflationary [but the Fed won’t tell you that]).
Any thoughts?
I am sure more amazing rides will come in the coming weeks and months. We’ll all be nostalgic for those rides you can find at Disneyland.
I am totally not worried about Gold. The Fed will eventually print money to bail out every single monkey in the market. Foreign banks are hurting for dollars to fund their trade finance, while regular people plainly just need money. Bacon will be 50 bucks a slice though.
No the bacon…Toilet paper will be the inflationary one….Everyone wants it.
The biggest users of paper towels, toilet or otherwise, are the hospitality sector. Restaurant kitchens etc. Aside from a transition period, a locked down country is not one which will run out of paper.
In general, one of the advantages of a big country like the US, is that most fundamental “basics” like food, fuel, paper, soaps/cleaners etc, are domestically produced. Hence slowdowns due to border closings, are less likely to create insurmountable bottlenecks.
Things could get a bit trickier a little higher up the stack, since so many suppliers of basic industrial ingredients and materials, have been outsourced for so long.
The Friday bounce will be short lived.
I mean, how bad ARE things when a declaration of national emergency triggers a 10% stock market rally? The bar has been lowered well below ground level.
I think short sellers were covering. The perception is the government is finally going to do something. Banning short selling is a low cost political move because it is easy to blame those who are hoping to profit as markets fall. There is precedence in the 2008 bear market when shares of banks suddenly were banned from short sales.
Oh dear. That didn’t end up working out at all.
“All” money made in the stock makret since Nixon, have simply been government redistributed welfare. It has had no more to do with fundamentals, than Kim’s leadership position has had to do with free elections. Hence, any excuse for the Fed to intervene more, is viewed positively by the Fed Welfare Queens.
Mr. Sunshine says..After this passes a lot of capital tied up with the death demographic will be freed up and passed on, Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security will have a longer prognosis, there will be a lot of real estate on sale for lower prices, stocks will be cheap, and toilet paper will no longer excite.
But all that is months away.
Bye bye boomers?
Boomer remover
We have been through many more crises than you have.
Today though… I’m watching the state of emergency being ratified in Spain. It was announced a day before ratification yesterday, the further left of coalition turned up breaking quarantine (his partner has virus) and without mask or gloves, and apparently they and the socialists extended the negotiation for ratification right through the evening, missing scheduled announcements, apparently further social measures were being argued for by the lefter, etc. . With the tension of the move rising, and when for unknown reason both feeds I was following missed updates for half an hour, I was wondering if this was a Tejero moment. However no, and Spain has moved towards what is now effectively a socialist dictatorship, for the next two weeks extendable. Well many often complained the country was becoming Venezualised or technocratised, but the current direction is something else. How that will settle out over time I don’t know.
In Portugal there are calls to close the border with Spain, “hundreds of Spanish are entering” … travel restrictions inside all Spain are announced as on Monday .
Some scenes in Spain, someone got beat up for coughing without covering mouth by a person standing next to him, a supermarket which closed had a small crowd banging on its windows, also shopping delivery is completely over subscribed with one paper doing a test for 30 dollars of basic products – the soonest any supermarket would deliver was five days time, some were over ten days time. Use of beaches is even banned.
In Melilla, Moroccans were protesting at the closed border to Morocco, because Morocco would not let them back in !
Cases just keep rising.
The Spanish applauding its care workers
What is the reasoning behind Portugal keeping the Spanish border open? You’d think an influx of potential carriers; from a larger country with a presumably larger health system, to a smaller one; would be about the worst development possible. It wouldn’t make the world of sense for Spain to close the border to Andorra, but for Andorra’s tiny little health care system, closing the border to potentially already infected hordes of Spanish people seeking refuge in the mountains, would make all the sense in the world.
There is no reason offered. I suppose maintaining a certain normality, maintaining relations, is about all – but normality is gone now and closing a border should not affect relations because borders are being closed everywhere, including inside countries. I expect they will close/control the border eventually, it is possible that they will rely on the other to keep people in, but I don’t think so because the Spanish cannot easily stop Spanish leaving. The Azores is quarantining all arrivals.
This is from Corriere della sera, I include it here instead of making a seperate post. I include it to remind younger people that this virus is dangerous. Take care :
“46-year-old 118 operator died
Operator Diego Bianco died at home after 7 days of fever
He was very ill and understood it: “I feel like he pulled me under a truck,” he said to a colleague. But he was optimistic: “We will do it,” he repeated. Diego Bianco, 46, who died yesterday morning in the house in Montello where he lived with his wife and 8-year-old son, had spent the last few weeks in the long unnerving shifts on the phone in the 118 power station to try to deal with the wave of the disease. The same one who hit a dozen of his colleagues….
….On Saturday 7 March, he suddenly had a fever at 39 and on the same days eight other operators, six nurses and four doctors, who were sent home. The swab was made Thursday. Meanwhile, on the night between Tuesday and Wednesday, the active operators were transferred to Milan while the Bergamo plant was subjected to sanitation.
With his colleagues who called him, Bianco alternated moments of optimism in which he told of cough and high fever but said he was safe to recover, in moments of despair in which he feared to leave his wife and son alone. The death occurred even before the outcome of the test arrived.”
Perhaps, but only in large cities. Flyover country and suburbs will be largely untouched.
Dream on…
We can only hope that you are the first to catch the virus, and you miss out on all the benefits that you mentioned.