Beltway Insider: Trump/COVID-19 Hot Spots, UK, South America, CARES Act, Jobs, Olympics, MLK, 2020 Election

President Trump announced this week according to the COVID-19 experts the pandemic has yet to hit its apex in any hot spot and the next two weeks will bring a wave of death throughout the United States.

The President's job approval rating, according to the website fivethirtyeight.com, which tracked polls of likely or registered voters for the period ending March 28, 2020, increased by 2.6 percentage points to 45.8% of those polled who approve of his effectiveness as President and those who disapprove of his effectiveness decreased by 2.4 percentage points to 49.7%. A slight 3% of the population polled have no opinion. Ratings are calculated bi-monthly.

US COVID-19 Hot Spots

In the United States total Coronavirus cases has reached 336,673, with 9,616 deaths, according to the Coronavirus Task force the peak has yet to hit even the most hard-hit areas.

The next seven to ten days, according to President Trump, "will be probably the toughest week between this week and next week.  And there'll be a lot of death, unfortunately, but a lot less death than if this wasn't done.  But there will be death."


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Healthdata.org, referenced by Dr. Deborah Brix, of the President's coronavirus Task Force, projects "Our models now include 8 more days of COVID-19 deaths in New York state; today's release (in red) suggests a higher predicted peak in daily deaths (855 deaths on April 10, with a range of 524 to 1,090) and projected total COVID-19 deaths (16,261 deaths, with a range of 9,720 to 20,962 – cumulative COVID-19. Death projections can be viewed here: https://covid19.healthdata.org/projections

The information points to April 16 as an expected peak in deaths in the United States. The present findings anticipate a daily death rate of 4,136. The data was clear if this total reflected a per hot spot expectation. Hot spots such as New York, Louisiana and Detroit are expected to peak this week.

As the virus continues to spread, other states are expected to peak later with an anticipated end date of either August 1, 2020 if the information proves stable and accurate and September 1, 2020 should the pandemic find a host state, or population who refuses to adhere to guidelines, and regenerates.

"Based on the latest available data, a total of 93,531 COVID-19 deaths (range of 39,966 to 177,866) are currently predicted through the epidemic's first wave. These estimates correspond with yesterday's release, where the projected cumulative deaths due to COVID-19 were 93,765 (range of 41,399 to 177,381). All estimates presented assume the continuation of statewide social distancing measures in places where they are already enacted, and future adoption within the next seven days in states without them. If such policies are relaxed or not implemented, the US could experience a higher COVID-19 death toll and hospital burden than currently predict," Healthdata.org reports.

Queen Elizabeth Delivers Pandemic Message

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II delivered a rare message to the people of the commonwealth encouraging them that this time of hardship, separation and uncertainty will end.

Looking well rested and healthy, the Queen who has been in isolation along with Prince Phillip, spoke in a calm steady voice. She projected a genuine alliance with the people of the British Empire encouraging them to maintain diligence in the face of this unseen enemy.

With an increase in total deaths in the United Kingdom nearing 5,000, Prime Minster Boris Johnson hospitalized, as well as similar PPE issues at hospitals, and the concern over projections, peaks, curves and finally after, the anxiety of will it return, the Queen projected a unmovable strength. Something everyone found reassuring.

Ecuador Spikes in COVID-19 Cases

Latin America, which has not seen the international spotlight as many other nations have, is quickly becoming the next breeding ground for the COVID-19 virus as Brazil, Chile and Ecuador lead other South America nations seeing a recent spike in infections and deaths.

Brazil has reported 8,066 cases, Chile, 3,404, Ecuador 3,163. The density of the population forced Rio de Janeiro's Mayor Wilson Witzel to close the internationally famous beaches in Brazil's capital, keeping the nation's 17million beach goers inside and off the sand.


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"The Brazilian president has further undermined efforts to control the spread of coronavirus by criticising what he called "dictatorial" moves to stop citizens going to the beach. In an interview on Thursday, Jair Bolsonaro hit out at Rio de Janeiro's governor, Wilson Witzel, who this week ordered the state's 17 million citizens to stay at home. Ban people from going to the beach? My God!" said Brazil's far-right president, who has faced protests and opposition from across the political spectrum for downplaying the threat of Covid-19," The Guardian reported.

In Ecuador, the situation is dire. Bodies are stacking upon each other, lying and decomposing in the streets. The World Health Organization has stepped in and brought refrigerated trucks to house the dead until graves can be dug.

Many have refused to release their loved ones who have passed away.

"Ecuador has confirmed 318 deaths from the virus, one of the highest tallies in Latin America. But President Lenin Moreno said this week that the real figure was higher as authorities were collecting more than 100 bodies a day, many from relatives' homes as a strict quarantine prevented them from being buried," Reuters reported.

The coronavirus infection rate in Latin America is only expected to grow.

CARES Act Unemployment Explained

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Stimulus Act or CARES Act, a $2Trillion dollar relief package signed into law by President Trump on March 27, 2020, provides wide sweeping aid for American workers and business suffering due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The loan application for businesses, the Paycheck Protection program, allocates $350billion dollars for small businesses struggling to manage costs in this current market. The forgivable loan provides small businesses the opportunity to secure loans, with the caveat that they continue to pay employees. There are other points. Banks are accepting online applications. For additional information follow this link.


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Unemployed workers will receive a $600 per week in addition to the determined state unemployment compensation. If worker A receives $300 per week as the state approved Unemployment Compensation, bi-weekly, Worker A will receive $600 (weekly compensation x 2) plus two additional payments of $600 each for a total of $1800.00 for each two-week period claimed.

If Worker B receives $238 per week, Worker B would receive the weekly compensation x 2 totaling $476.00 plus two additional weeks at $600.00 per week totally $1200.00 for a total of $1676.00 on a bi-weekly basis.

Those benefits are expected to begin after April 5, 2020 and would also eliminate the weekly waiting period. There are additional provisions for unemployed workers.

Government Stimulus Checks

The much-touted government stimulus checks, which provides many Americans with a $1200 one-time payment, is now under scrutiny as the disbursement dates continue to be pushed back. Some, especially those with no IRS direct deposit information on file or who received paper IRS refund checks in 2018 or 2019 may not see the first check until May, with extreme cases in June. This link can answer most questions.

"The IRS will send approximately 100 million checks at a rate of 5 million per week, which could take 20 weeks, according to the committee's document, meaning the final round of payments may not go out until September. The checks will be issued in reverse "adjusted gross income" order—starting with people with the lowest income first," Fortune reported.

Job Numbers Spike

The Bureau of Labor Statistics recently announced the March 2020 unemployment numbers, which do little to reflect the real job losses, which have come in a one-two punch, as a record 10million Americans are unemployed.

Every industry took a deep and devastating hit. The unemployment rate rose to 4.4%, which in all likelihood is expected to increase when the next report is released in May.

The monthly report, which outlines the American job market, sector by sector shows for the first time in more than eight years a loss in Health Care services. Throughout the Great Recession of 2009, not one month did Employment in Health Care take a loss. The COVID-19 virus has proven once again it does not discriminate and every person, and profession is subject to the lethal and invisible enemy.

Over 701,000 Americans lost their jobs, during the final weeks of March 2020, which also reflects the stay at home ban that 43 states have mandated. The belief that all workers will be called back when the economy restarts is 90% accurate.

Most workers will return to the same job they had prior to the mass pandemic layoffs, and for some, there may not be jobs available. The pandemic may close many doors for good, and employers may take this time to rethink their workforce. Widespread economic loss is doubtful, once the government reopens and states agree to lift Stay at Home bans.

Olympics

The 2020 Summer Olympics, scheduled to begin in July, have officially been rescheduled due to the coronavirus pandemic until July 2021, with opening ceremonies scheduled to begin July 23, 2021 and closing ceremonies August 8, 2021.

This is only the second time in the history of the Olympiad that the games have been suspended. The first, in 1940, when the games were suspended indefinitely due to the outbreak of the World War II.

Martin Luther King, Jr Remembered

It was 52 years ago on April 4, 1968, that American Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated as he stepped on the balcony of his hotel in Memphis, Tennessee.

A formidable force, King, became the most well known leader of the movement that sought to end the blatant practice of segregation in the south, to end the use of White Only, to end the segregation of schools, lunch counters, hotels, and buses where Negros were segregated to the back.

The Montgomery Bus Strike, which began as history would explain, when one woman, Rosa Parks, refused to give up her seat. The Bus Strike became King's baptism into the movement. It was from this point forward that King, a gifted speaker and preacher, would be the focus and subsequently the target as the predominately white elected officials sought to silence him.

King's words have echoed through history from his historic "I have a dream" speech at the foot of the Lincoln Monument on August 28, 1963, addressing the thousands who arrived to supports the cause of integration and protest the use of brutal and lethal use of force often used by many politicians who sought to enforce legal racial segregation and deny civil rights to the African Americans of the south.


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Five years, and a thousand hardships later King's last public speech, "I've been to the Mountaintop" was preached in Memphis, Tennessee April 3, 1968. A prophetic message delivered as if King knew his time was short. By noon the next morning he would be dead.

"The time is always right to do what is right." Martin Luther King, Jr.

2020 Election - Where's the Candidates?

Election 2020. What began as a pivotal moment in American politics has become overshadowed by the looming Coronavirus pandemic and has given President Trump his own afternoon talk show, as he and the COVID-19 team present the grim numbers and face almost identical questions from the White House press corps each day.

With primaries set to resume almost unilaterally in June voters hammered over the last three months with grave news of the invisible enemy may simply wait it out until November. Except for Wisconsin who is expected to hold its  states democratic primary.

Former Vice president Joe Biden, who appears to have gone into isolation, has essentially lost any media momentum, as all major networks focus on the grim task at hand, issuing a daily dose of COVID-19 news bites which send the majority of American into a downward anxiety spiral.

Campaign organizers for Biden and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who has remained in the race for the democratic presidential nominee despite repeated losses, appear to have been as surprised as the current administration when the global pandemic whose path oddly didn't burst to all four corners but made its way like an instructed army from the Far East westward circling the globe, interrupted the campaign and made no preparations for either candidate to carry on with the business of campaigning except of course the current administration who gained an hour or more each day to face the American people.

Biden, the man with the momentum, is silent. With modern technology what it is, any number of platforms are at his disposal to push his campaign and agenda. Satellite Radio, Facebook interviews, which have featured Dr. Anthony Fauci, and Governor Gavin Newsom.

His message needs to be focused on politics and not the Democratic National Convention. Who cares if he doesn't get the fanfare of the party convention? Keeping his eyes on the prize and focusing on the message is his sole priority

The internet is the world's lifeline and both remaining democratic candidates have ignored the hundreds of millions of internet users in the United States who are honoring Stay at Home orders by pausing on the campaign front.

Get out of political mode and see the writing on the wall, this administration is gaining ground using the pandemic to hammer home their "Make America Great Again" message.

Reviving the democratic campaign trail via the internet will do wonders for Americans who each day face the dire news as the Coronavirus rolls its way west across America.

 

For more information on President Donald Trump www.whitehouse.gov.

Sources: Various © Articles covered by Copyright protection

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