03-06

Friday, March 6

Mar 3: Vice President Pence announces that the CDC will lift federal restrictions on testing for the coronavirus. “Today we will issue new guidance from the CDC that will make it clear that any American can be tested, no restrictions, subject to doctor’s orders,” informs the Vice President. Biden wins 10 states in the presidential primary. At least 25 people are killed after 13 tornadoes strike Nashville area. The Federal Reserve cuts interest rates by half a point in response to losses caused by COVID. Trump files a libel suit against the Washington Post

Mar 4: California Gov. Gavin Newsom declares a state of emergency after the state reported its first death from the coronavirus. The United States conducts its first airstrike against Taliban fighters in Afghanistan since signing a peace deal with the Islamist militant group four days earlier.

Mar 5: Public health officials confirm at least 52 new coronavirus infections in the U.S. Sanders and Biden are the only two real contenders left for the Democratic presidential nomination. Most other contenders have dropped out. President Trump says in a Fox News town hall on Thursday that his impeachment “damaged” former Vice President Joe Biden’s campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Mar 6: President Trump signs an $8.3 billion emergency spending package to combat the coronavirus outbreak, as the number of global cases hit 100,000. President Trump falsely claims that any American who wants a COVID-19 test can get a test. “Anybody that wants a test can get a test,” he says to reporters after a tour of the CDC in Atlanta. “That’s what the bottom line is.” Austin, Texas, cancels the SXSW conference and festivals amid the coronavirus concerns, following the cancellation of other high-profile events across the country. Vice President Mike Pence announced that 21 people aboard the Grand Princess, a cruise ship being held off the coast of California, tested positive for the coronavirus.*

A blood sample is collected, inserted into the reader, a buffer is combined, and results come back within 15 minutes, the company claims

It can be read similarly to a pregnancy test, with one line for a negative test, two signifying it's positive for either early or late antibodies, and three when the sample is positive for both

Covid-19 today.

Smith, Jennifer. “Customs Is STILL NOT Screening Passengers from Coronavirus Hot-Spots.” Mail Online, March 6, 2020. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8083543/Customs-NOT-screening-passengers-coronavirus-hot-spots.html.

No screening in the airports

Map showing movement of people before and after the China travel ban

“Closing Borders Can Delay, but Can’t Stop the Spread of COVID-19, New Report Says,” March 6, 2020. https://news.northeastern.edu/2020/03/06/to-slow-the-spread-of-covid-19-close-doors-not-borders-new-report-says/.

Patients infected by the coronavirus wait to be transferred from Wuhan No. 5 Hospital to Leishenshan Hospital, the newly-built hospital for COVID-19 patients, in Wuhan.

AFP - Getty Images

Photo of people in quarantine on the Grand Princess cruise ship off the coast of California

Kate Munsch / Reuters

Computational biologist Bedford thinks we're where Wuhan was in January. Can we stop the spread from Seattle?

https://bedford.io/blog/ncov-cryptic-transmission/

It's hard to say what's worse: that it was botched, or that we don't know why.

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/03/how-many-americans-have-been-tested-coronavirus/607597/

NBC News. Dr. Fauci Explains How Coronavirus Spreads, Why It’s More Serious Than Common Cold Or Flu | NBC News. Accessed July 31, 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EQnqcIoCmY.

Factbase Videos. Interview: Sean Hannity Interviews Donald Trump Via Telephone – March 4, 2020, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlZPtrhzY5U.

Factbase Videos. Interview: Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum Host a Town Hall with Donald Trump – March 5, 2020, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cukyV5UGuEE.

Majestic 12. Senator Schumer Makes a Threat to Supreme Court Justices March 4, 2020, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srHDDx4TNj4.

*If the pdf thumbnails are not appearing, please reload the page.

Bedford, Trevor. “Cryptic Transmission of Novel Coronavirus Revealed by Genomic Epidemiology.” Bedford Lab, March 2, 2020. https://bedford.io/blog/ncov-cryptic-transmission/.

Ent, Michael R., and Mary A. Gerend. “Cognitive Dissonance and Attitudes toward Unpleasant Medical Screenings.” Journal of Health Psychology 21, no. 9 (2016): 2075–84. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105315570986.

Meyer, Robinson, and Alexis C. Madrigal. “Exclusive: The Strongest Evidence Yet That America Is Botching Coronavirus Testing.” The Atlantic, March 6, 2020. https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/03/how-many-americans-have-been-tested-coronavirus/607597/.

Walsh, James D. “Inside the Desperate Scramble for N95 Masks.” Intelligencer, March 5, 2020. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/03/inside-the-desperate-scramble-for-n95-masks.html.

Kennedy, Jamie. “Coronavirus Containment: Who Is Being Screened at Atlanta’s Airport?” CBS46 News Atlanta, March 3, 2020. https://www.cbs46.com/news/coronavirus-containment-who-is-being-screened-at-atlantas-airport/article_1c5cde6a-5dc7-11ea-b0d3-af03fdd27005.html.

Lee, I-K., C-C. Wang, M-C. Lin, C-T. Kung, K-C. Lan, and C-T. Lee. “Effective Strategies to Prevent Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) Outbreak in Hospital.” The Journal of Hospital Infection 105, no. 1 (March 3, 2020): 102–3. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhin.2020.02.022.

PBS NewsHour. “Your Guide to Understanding COVID-19,” March 4, 2020. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/your-guide-to-understanding-covid-19.

Corbett, Kelly. “Coronavirus Has Prompted Toilet Paper Gate and the Comeback of… Reusable Toilet Paper.” House Beautiful, March 5, 2020. https://www.housebeautiful.com/lifestyle/a31225525/reusable-toilet-paper-coronavirus/.

Rothe, Camilla, Mirjam Schunk, Peter Sothmann, Gisela Bretzel, Guenter Froeschl, Claudia Wallrauch, Thorbjörn Zimmer, et al. “Transmission of 2019-NCoV Infection from an Asymptomatic Contact in Germany.” New England Journal of Medicine 382, no. 10 (March 5, 2020): 970–71. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMc2001468.

Russell, Ruby. “Coronavirus and Climate Change: A Tale of Two Crises.” Deutsche Welle, March 5, 2020. https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-climate-change-pollution-environment-china-covid19-crisis/a-52647140.

PBS NewsHour. “MAP: Watch How COVID-19 Traveled the World,” March 5, 2020. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/map-watch-how-covid-19-traveled-the-world.

Pappas, Stephanie. “Kids Do Get the Coronavirus — They Just Don’t Get as Sick.” livescience.com, March 6, 2020. https://www.livescience.com/can-kids-get-coronavirus.html.

U.S. Department of Justice. “Former Acting Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Indicted on Theft of Government Property and Scheme to Defraud the United States Government,” March 6, 2020. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-acting-inspector-general-us-department-homeland-security-indicted-theft-government.

Wang, Cuiyan, Riyu Pan, Xiaoyang Wan, Yilin Tan, Linkang Xu, Cyrus S. Ho, and Roger C. Ho. “Immediate Psychological Responses and Associated Factors during the Initial Stage of the 2019 Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Epidemic among the General Population in China.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 17, no. 5 (March 6, 2020): 1729. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17051729.

Wenham, Clare, Julia Smith, and Rosemary Morgan. “COVID-19: The Gendered Impacts of the Outbreak.” The Lancet 395, no. 10227 (March 6, 2020): 846–48. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30526-2.

This is NOT GOOD. No Plan B for the failure of CDC’s first wave of #Covid_19 testing!?! So typical of Trumplandia. Frightening. Yet another reason the Trumpsters must go. Increasingly a matter of life or death.https://t.co/dGN8o7slxz
— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) March 3, 2020

In this clip, Trump: 1. Denies WHO’s coronavirus death rate based on “hunch” 2. Calls coronavirus “corona flu” 3. Suggests it’s fine for people w/ Covid-19 to go to work 4. Compares coronavirus to “the regular flu,” indicating he doesn’t get the difference pic.twitter.com/uC9c03zX31
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 5, 2020

CNN March 4:

“the flu right now is far deadlier. So if you’re freaked out at all about the coronavirus you should be more concerned about the flu"

"15,000 people roughly have already died of the flu this season. Couple years ago, 60,000 people died of the flu." pic.twitter.com/Rk46GooN5H
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) April 16, 2020

An emotional moment at the #TrumpRally in Charlotte, North Carolina.@LaraLeaTrump and @EricTrump invited a woman in the crowd on stage to thank her for her strong support for President Trump.
Watch what happened next: pic.twitter.com/Du36qWWInI — Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) March 3, 2020

Trump tries to find a silver lining to the coronavirus during Fox News town hall: “I have to say, people are now staying in the United States, spending their money in the US — and I like that.” pic.twitter.com/lbERhrSq6t
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 5, 2020

We are doomed.
#coronavirus #Covid_19 pic.twitter.com/Pey8CNyCOT — Asian American Conservative (@FactcheckingCon) March 4, 2020

Trump is having a North Carolina rally tonight.
He has told his followers that his rallies are -for reasons unknown – “very safe” from COVID-19 North Carolina has no testing kits. These people could be walking into crowds where 100s of asymptomatic people are already infected. — Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) March 2, 2020

Have spoken w readers who have elderly relatives who are resisting social distancing precautions because they’ve heard on Fox News that COVID-19 is overhyped; hospital doctor in red state who says she assumes it must not be that serious since prep is so much less than for H1N1.
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) March 5, 2020

This is why you should cancel.https://t.co/x2jMCjASSs
— Under The Sink (@NFWeinstein) March 3, 2020

According to Korea Center for Disease Control, worship practices of
Shincheonji Church of Jesus contributed to the spread of virus. Members are expected to kneel in tight rows and aren’t allowed to cover their faces with items like glasses or face masks.https://t.co/d8JROhXOmP
— Prasanna Viswanathan (@prasannavishy) February 24, 2020

- Festinger, Leon. A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1957.
- Stewart, Hale. “The Passive-Aggressive Investor For 2/24-2/28.” Seeking Alpha, March 3, 2020. https://seekingalpha.com/article/4328985-passive-aggressive-investor-for-2-24minus-2-28.
- Netburn, Deborah. “The Flu Has Killed Far More People than Coronavirus. So Why All the Frenzy about COVID-19?” Los Angeles Times, March 5, 2020. https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2020-03-05/flu-killed-more-people-coronavirus-covid-19.
- Education Week. “Map: Coronavirus and School Closures.” Education Week, March 6, 2020. https://www.edweek.org/ew/section/multimedia/map-coronavirus-and-school-closures.html.
- Hogan, Bernadette. “NY AG Orders Televangelist to Quit Advertising Coronavirus Cures.” New York Post, March 6, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200306142558/https://nypost.com/2020/03/06/ny-ag-letitia-james-orders-televangelist-jim-bakker-to-quit-advertising-coronavirus-cures/.
- Smith, Jennifer. “Customs Is STILL NOT Screening Passengers from Coronavirus Hot-Spots.” Mail Online, March 6, 2020. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8083543/Customs-NOT-screening-passengers-coronavirus-hot-spots.html.
- Statt, Nick, and Jay Peters. “SXSW 2020 Canceled Due to Coronavirus.” The Verge, March 6, 2020. https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/6/21162247/sxsw-2020-cancelled-coronavirus-austin-texas-virus-fears-public-health-event.
- Stieg, Cory. “How This Canadian Start-up Spotted Coronavirus before Everyone Else Knew about It.” CNBC, March 6, 2020. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/03/bluedot-used-artificial-intelligence-to-predict-coronavirus-spread.html.
- Resnick, Brian. “How Does the Coronavirus Outbreak End?” Vox, March 6, 2020. https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2020/3/6/21161234/coronavirus-covid-19-science-outbreak-ends-endemic-vaccine.
- Feuer, Berkeley Lovelace Jr, Will. “Doctor Who Treated First US Coronavirus Patient Says COVID-19 Has Been ‘circulating Unchecked’ for Weeks.” CNBC, March 6, 2020. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/06/doctor-who-treated-first-us-coronavirus-patient-says-covid-19-has-been-circulating-unchecked-for-weeks.html.

* Timeline summaries at the top of the page come from a variety of sources:, including The American Journal of Managed Care COVID-19 Timeline (https://www.ajmc.com/view/a-timeline-of-covid19-developments-in-2020), the Just Security Group at the NYU School of Law (https://www.justsecurity.org/69650/timeline-of-the-coronavirus-pandemic-and-u-s-response/), the “10 Things,” daily entries from The Week (theweek.com), as well as a variety of newspapers and television programs.

Friday, March 6

© 2021 Margaret Peacock and Erik L. Peterson