WASHINGTON -- The Senate passed an $8.3 billion measure Thursday to help tackle the coronavirus outbreak to reassure a fearful public and accelerate the government's response to the virus, whose rapid spread is threatening to upend everyday life in the U.S. and across the globe.
The money would pay for a multifaceted attack on a virus that is spreading more widely every day, sending financial markets spiraling again Thursday, disrupting travel and potentially threatening the U.S. economy's decade-long expansion.
Thursday's 96-1 vote sends the bill to the White House for President Donald Trump's signature. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., cast the sole "no" vote. The House passed the bill Wednesday by a 415-2 vote.
"In situations like this, I believe no expense should be spared to protect the American people, and in crafting this package none was," said Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala. "It's an aggressive plan, a vigorous plan that has received an overwhelming positive reaction."
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Trump was likely to sign the measure. It is intended to project confidence and calm as anxiety builds over the impact of the virus, which has claimed 12 lives in the U.S.
The legislation would provide federal public health agencies money for vaccines, tests and potential treatments, including $300 million to deliver such drugs to those who need it. More than $2 billion would go to help federal, state and local governments prepare for and respond to the coronavirus threat. An additional $1.3 billion would be used to help fight the virus overseas. There's also funding to subsidize $7 billion in small-business loans.
Other dollars would be directed to help local officials prepare for the potential worsening of the outbreak and subsidize treatment by community health centers. Medicare rules would be loosened to enable remote "telehealth" consultations whereby sick people could get treatment without visiting a doctor.
Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., whose state is at the center of the crisis, praised the bill because it "will increase access for public lab testing, help pay for isolation and quarantine, help pay for sanitizing in public areas, better track the virus and those who might come into contact with it, help labs who are trying to identify hot spots, and limit exposure."
The legislation contains a compromise that aims to protect against potential price gouging by drug manufacturers for vaccines and other medicines developed with taxpayer funds. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar would have the power to make sure commercial prices are reasonable. Azar is a former drug industry lobbyist.
"This may be a first step because we have issues that relate to unemployment insurance for people who are put out of work." House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said as she signed the bill to send it to Trump.
"We have only about 27% of people in this country who have paid sick days. So if they have to go home what is going to happen to them and their families?" said Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn.
DeLauro said Vice President Mike Pence responded that he would raise the issue with the president.
The bill seeks to restore $136 million that the Department of Health and Human Services cut from other accounts such as heating subsidies for the poor to battle the virus.
"Now you're starting to see rapid deployment of tests, which makes me feel better, quite honestly," said Rep. Raul Ruiz, D-Calif., a doctor. "I think their communications are a little better. As long as the president doesn't contradict the experts and the scientists who know what they're doing, things will get better."
WARNING ON RUSSIA
Meanwhile, a top State Department official said Thursday that Russia is behind "swarms of online, false personas" that sought to spread misinformation about coronavirus on social-media sites, stressing the "entire ecosystem of Russian disinformation is at play."
The latest warning came from Lea Gabrielle, the coordinator of the government's Global Engagement Center, in testimony to Congress. Her remarks follow days after an unpublished agency report, unearthed by The Washington Post on Saturday, revealed that nearly 2 million tweets over a three-week period pushed coronavirus-related conspiracies abroad.
"As people here in the U.S. and across the globe are turning to social media for information about this looming threat, they find these lies, these malicious actors, who are trying to really prey on our vulnerability and put us at danger," said Sen. Cory Booker, N.J., the top Democratic lawmaker on the subcommittee that convened the hearing. He called on the State Department to share more about its findings with the public.
Also on Thursday, Pence pledged that federal officials would "lean into" the fight against the new coronavirus as he visited with a leading maker of masks being used to stem the spread of the virus. He asked Americans to refrain from buying masks unless they're sick.
"You should know we're ready and we're going to continue to bring the full resources of the federal government to bear to confront the spread of the coronavirus in the United States," Pence said after meeting with 3M CEO Mike Roman and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz at the company's global headquarters just outside Minneapolis.
"I do have a word to the average American about how you can help as well," Pence said. "Unless you are ill, you have no need to buy a mask."
Surgeon General Jerome Adams echoed the same message from Washington as he spoke to Fox News before a virus task force meeting at the White House, saying: ""My advice to folks: Stop buying masks if you're part of the general public. Leave them for the health care providers so they can take care of people who are sick."
The vice president has been tasked by Trump to coordinate the U.S. government's response to the outbreak.
MORE CASES CONFIRMED
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee confirmed the state's first case of the novel coronavirus outside Nashville, just days after tornadoes ripped through the area, killing at least two dozen people.
In New York, two people, a man and woman, with confirmed covid-19 have been hospitalized in intensive care units, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement Thursday morning, raising the state's total to 13 cases. The man, in his 40s, and the woman, in her 80s, had not traveled abroad and were not connected to other New Yorkers diagnosed with covid-19, officials said.
A cruise ship carrying some 2,500 passengers, en route from Hawaii to San Francisco, was held off the coast for coronavirus screening. Two U.S. coronavirus cases, including the first U.S. patient to die outside Washington state, have suspected links to the ship. A helicopter delivered test kits to the ship, lowering the kits by rope to the 951-foot Grand Princess.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom said during an earlier news conference that he had asked that the Grand Princess, which left San Francisco on Feb. 21 for a voyage to Hawaii, avoid returning to the state until testing could be completed.
On Wednesday night, he said 21 people -- 11 passengers and 10 crew members -- were symptomatic and would be prioritized for testing, along with those who sailed on the previous voyage to Mexico with those who later became sick.
'THIS IS NOT A DRILL'
The virus has infected nearly 98,000 people and killed over 3,300.
"This is not a drill. This is not the time for giving up. This is not a time for excuses. This is a time for pulling out all the stops," World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in Geneva. "Countries have been planning for scenarios like this for decades. Now is the time to act on those plans."
The impact of the outbreak continues to mount. The British government is considering suspending Parliament for five months in hope of limiting the spread of the virus in the United Kingdom.
Italy's death toll climbed Thursday to 148, and its confirmed cases to 3,858.
Iran, which has registered over 3,500 cases and 107 virus deaths, also closed schools and universities and introduced checkpoints to limit travel between major cities. Iranians were urged to reduce their use of paper money. Iranian state TV also reported that Hossein Sheikholeslam, a 68-year-old diplomat who was an adviser to Iran's foreign minister, died of the coronavirus.
Palestinian officials on Thursday closed the storied Church of the Nativity in the biblical city of Bethlehem indefinitely over fears of the new coronavirus, weeks ahead of Easter. The church was closed after suspicions that four Palestinians had caught the virus.
The virus has disrupted Muslim worship across the Middle East. Saudi Arabia banned pilgrimages to the holy city of Mecca, while Iran has canceled Friday's Islamic prayers in major cities. Iraq canceled Friday prayers in Karbala, where a weekly sermon is delivered on behalf of the country's top Shiite cleric.
More than 3,740 cases have been confirmed across the Middle East. Iran and Italy have the world's highest death tolls outside of China.
Israel, which has 17 confirmed virus cases, has taken strict measures in a bid to stave off an outbreak, including banning the entry of visitors from around 10 countries.
China remains the worst-hit country overall with deaths surpassing 3,000 and confirmed cases over 80,000. Leader Xi Jinping on Thursday canceled a planned state visit to Japan. But the epidemic is now slowing in China, while other countries are seeing outbreaks grow rapidly.
In South Korea, mass testing has turned up over 6,000 cases; the virus has caused more than 40 deaths.
Information for this article was contributed by Andrew Taylor, Aamer Madhani, Mohammed Daraghmeh, Matt Sedensky, John Leicester, Kim Tong-Hyung, Hyung-jin Kim, Mari Yamaguchi, Bharatha Mallawarachi, Ken Moritsugu, Aniruddha Ghosal, Ashok Sharma, Nicole Winfield, Geir Moulson, Stan Choe, Jamey Keaten, Danica Kirka, Jon Gambrell, Amir Vahdat, Qassim Abdul-Zahra, Josef Federman, Joseph Krauss and Elaine Ganley of The Associated Press; and by Tony Romm, Rick Noack, Miriam Berger, Alex Horton and Andrew Freedman of The Washington Post.
A Section on 03/06/2020