-Mar 14:  FEMA Administrator Peter Gaynor informs the House Committee on Oversight and Reform  that the White House did not invite him to join the joint-Coronavirus Task Force until the week of March 16, in advance of his appearance before Congress. The Wall Street Journal later reports that Sec. Azar hesitated for weeks to involve FEMA “telling associates he wanted to keep control of the response and that including FEMA would further complicate the administration’s efforts.” Azar denies and tells the Journal that he invited FEMA’s participation in early February.   The House passes a coronavirus bill, stocks soar in response to government action, Louisiana postpones its presidential primary, the Masters golf tournament and the Boston marathon are postponed. Spain goes into nationwide coronavirus lockdown. Georgia postpones its presidential primary.

Mar 15: U.S. cases surge over 3,000. New York orders public schools closed. Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden have one-on-one debate without audience. Georgia postpones its presidential primary, American Airlines reduces flights, the Vatican closes Holy Week.

Mar 16: The President announces Social Distancing Guidelines to be in place for two-weeks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average falls by 2,997.10, the largest single-day point drop ever, amid the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. The Federal Reserve cuts interest rates to near zero.

Everything shuts down.

Movie box offices have a 20-year low, kids stay home from school and begin to learn over Zoom. Fast food joints, restaurants, bars, and gyms close seating spaces. NASCAR announces it is stopping. News emerges that Mardi Gras in New Orleans was a “super spreader event.” Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) orders the state’s health department to keep all polling places closed to prevent the coronavirus from spreading among voters and poll workers. Trump says he is doing “ten out of ten” in handling the crisis. Zoom introduces itself to the American consciousness as the one way we will all talk, work (if we can), go to school, see our family, and connect outside our homes.  San Francisco orders people to “shelter in place.  First tests for a vaccine begin. A new Gallup poll finds that 60 percent of Americans are “very” or “somewhat worried” about coronavirus exposure, up from 36 percent in February.  Amazon announces it will hire 100,000 to keep up with online shopping surge. Greenland and Antarctica are losing ice six times faster than they were in the 1990s, NASA says.*