Coronavirus has hit Capitol Hill, as the first members of Congress have tested positive for the virus.
Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.) and Ben McAdams (D-Utah) announced diagnoses late Wednesday. Diaz-Balart’s office said he had developed symptoms Saturday evening and was notified Wednesday of a positive test. Both had voted on the House floor as recently as Saturday morning, to pass the coronavirus relief bill.
Rep. Ben McAdams, D-Utah (Left), Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla. (Right)
At least five other members of Congress are quarantining because they had contact with the lawmakers, including Rep. Steve Scalise, the second-highest ranking Republican in the House.
Some lawmakers had been pushing for ways to vote remotely, particularly since congressional members are disproportionately in higher-risk categories for coronavirus complications. Forty-eight senators are over the age of 65, the age at which some states have recommended individuals to stay inside their homes.
Senator Dick Durban (D-Ill.) has said “it’s time for the Senate to wake up to the 21st century and make sure we’re using technology that allows us to communicate with each other without any danger or risk to public health.”
Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont spoke at length about the need to defeat Donald Trump and discussed his campaign today after falling behind in another set of Democratic primaries on Tuesday but did not announce his intention to drop out of the contest.
Lenore Hawkins, chief macro strategist at Tematica Research, told Cheddar from Lake Como, Italy, that the local populace seems to be taking the directives to stay indoors seriously.
The Earth's average temperature last year was about 1.1 degrees Celsius higher than pre-industrial levels, second only to the record established in 2016.
Swaths of shale producers, many heavily in debt and still recovering from the price crash of 2015, have posted double-digit drops in stock prices in the past 48 hours, with some companies already announcing rounds of layoffs.
Biden and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders will go head to head for the 352 delegates promised on what some are calling ‘Super Tuesday 2.0,’ with a focus on the battleground state of Michigan.
Consumer advocate Ralph Nader, whose grandniece was killed in that disaster, said that even once the plane makes it back to the skies, he won't fly in it.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 7.8%, its steepest drop since the financial crisis of 2008, as a free-fall in oil prices and worsening fears of fallout from the spreading coronavirus outbreak seize markets. The sharp drops triggered the first automatic halts in trading in two decades.
Brent crude, the global benchmark for oil and for U.S. gasoline prices, hovered around $36 a barrel after opening Monday at about $33 -- down from $45 a barrel on Friday and nearly $70 in January.
