Despite President Donald Trump’s call to put the economy back to work by Easter, one Johns Hopkins physician says there may have to be “variability” in when states and cities restart their economies.
“The best time to start opening up businesses is when we see that the numbers in an area start to stabilize,” said Dr. Juan Dumois, an infectious diseases physician at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida. “What really may be a practical thing to consider is different recommendations in different areas of the country, depending upon the disease activity in those areas.”
That could mean variability at the state level or local level, as the virus peaks at different times in its steady spread across the country.
In what has become the conventional wisdom of the medical community, Dumois reiterated that a combination of social distancing and testing is still the best option for halting the disease.
“The virus is spreading. It will continue to spread, but if we can slow it, we can try to manage the cases that come into the hospitals so that the hospitals are not overloaded,” he said.
Absent these measures, the doctor said hospitals will inevitably become overwhelmed.
“Eventually, some patients won’t be able to get the care they need,” he added.
But when or if this will happen in a given area is hard to determine as official projections change.
“We’re seeing changes by the week, and even by the day,” Dumois said.
For President Donald Trump, tariffs — or the threat of them — can bend nations to his will.
President Donald Trump said he has decided to lower his combined tariff rates on imports of Chinese goods to 47% after talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on curbing fentanyl trafficking.
The Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate Wednesday for a second time this year as it seeks to shore up economic growth and hiring even as inflation stays elevated. The move comes amid a fraught time for the central bank, with hiring sluggish and yet inflation stuck above the Fed’s 2% target. Compounding its challenges, the central bank is navigating without much of the economic data it typically relies on from the government. The Fed has signaled it may reduce its key rate again in December but the data drought raises the uncertainty around its next moves. Fed Chair Jerome Powell told reporters that there were “strongly differing views” at the central bank's policy meeting about to proceed going forward.
U.S. and Chinese officials say a trade deal between the world’s two largest economies is drawing closer. The sides have reached an initial consensus for President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping to aim to finalize during their high-stakes meeting Thursday in South Korea. Any agreement would be a relief to international markets. Trump's treasury secretary says discussions with China yielded preliminary agreements to stop the precursor chemicals for fentanyl from coming into the United States. Scott Bessent also says Beijing would make “substantial” purchases of soybean and other agricultural products while putting off export controls on rare earth elements needed for advanced technologies.
A new poll finds most U.S. adults are worried about health care becoming more expensive.
The White House budget office says mass firings of federal workers have started in an attempt to exert more pressure on Democratic lawmakers as the government shutdown continues.
