Closure of restaurants and bars in California, closure of schools in New York State – the last one to do so – radical decision by the American Federal Reserve (Fed, central bank) to drop another point its key rates and massively buy back bank, corporate and real estate debt… the impact of the coronavirus crisis is continuing to spread in the United States.
Once again, the President of the United States, Donald Trump, wanted to be optimistic at a press conference in which he participated briefly in the White House on Sunday, March 15. "It is a very contagious virus, it is incredible. But this is something over which we have extraordinary control. ", he explained. "Everything will be fine", he added, before dismissing the hypothesis of shortages in the country's supermarkets, literally taken by storm in the previous days.
The presidential intervention rekindled the dissonance between his words and those of his advisers. "Relax. We are doing well. All this will pass ”, he assured. A few minutes later, the director of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Anthony Fauci, who has imposed himself in the last few days by his skills, said bluntly that " the worst (was) to come up ". "It is how we respond to this challenge that will determine what will be the end result", he completed.
Throughout the weekend, news channels aired images of crowds at the airports responsible for welcoming Americans back from Europe. Subject to controls, they were immobilized in tight rows for hours.
Still deaf threat
The eleventh Democratic debate between former Vice President Joe Biden and independent Vermont senator Bernie Sanders has not escaped this still muted threat. It started on Sunday when the centers for disease control and prevention issued a bulletin advising against the gatherings of more than fifty people for at least the next eight weeks. However, they clarified that the measure did not concern "The day-to-day operation of organizations such as schools, higher education institutions or businesses". In two states, the Democratic primaries have already been postponed: Louisiana and Georgia.
Originally scheduled in Phoenix, Arizona – one of the four states that will vote Tuesday, along with Florida, Ohio and Illinois -, this debate was brought back as a precaution to the studios of the CNN chain in Washington, without the public. The last two candidates for the Democratic nomination have moved within the prescribed distance of six feet (nearly two meters) from each other, after bowing elbow soberly.
