After a relatively late response to the coronavirus outbreak compared to China, South Korea, and Italy, and a highly criticized carefree attitude from U.S. President Donald Trump, the U.S. finally started taking the COVID-19 disease seriously this week and pushed forward on a number of sweeping measures in an effort to contain the virus before it spreads too much. On Friday afternoon at a press conference, President Trump declared a national emergency over the coronavirus pandemic. The declaration officially allows the U.S. government to access and use up to $50 billion in financial resources to assist Americans affected by the outbreak, as well as grants the government broad emergency powers to combat the issue. In a strange tangent, Trump also announced he directed the Department of Energy to buy crude oil for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in a move meant to buoy American oil and gas firms struggling with the aftermath of a price war between OPEC and Russia, though it remains a controversial decision.
Across the city on Capitol Hill, lawmakers are rushing to pass at least one coronavirus stimulus and protection bill. On Saturday morning, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a first coronavirus economic aid bill meant to be the first of multiple measures to help Americans during the crisis. H.R. 6201, also called the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, is the product of teamwork between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. The bill includes free testing for anyone whose doctor recommends a test, without deductibles or copayments, even for individuals without health insurance. The bill extends family and medical leave to workers diagnosed with coronavirus or caring for a family member or dependent. It provides workers paid leave of up to two-third of monthly earnings but features a loophole exempting large corporations with more than 500 employees. The bill also creates a new version of paid sick leave of 14 days for infected individuals and caretakers. Finally, the bill boosts funding to state unemployment benefits and food assistance programs by at least $900 million.
While it is unclear if the Senate will pass the House's bill or how quickly it will be approved, the U.S. has large problems related to the pandemic now. Unlike other countries, the U.S. refused to use the World Health Organization's testing kits and opted to develop its own tests, losing weeks of precious time. While countries like South Korea are testing up to 10,000 people per day, that figure is around half the total number of people tested in the US so far. In order for containment to work, the U.S. needs to swiftly rollout testing for millions of potentially infected people, and people need to practice social distancing. Fortunately, the private sector is cooperating with the government to support containment efforts. Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL) announced Saturday evening it is creating a website with information about COVID-19 symptoms, risks, and testing, and New York is trying drive-through testing clinics. Only after the virus is contained and defeated can the U.S. properly work on economic recovery and growth through consumer spending and investment.
The author does not hold any positions in any of the securities above.