Taking dramatic action Wednesday, Donald Trump announced he is restricting passenger travel from Europe to the US for 30 days effective Friday at midnight. There was no talk of just 15 patients, a disappearing virus or a miraculous recovery. Neither did the words ‘Democratic Hoax’ find their way into the speech. He praised his own “lifesaving move with early action on China,” and referred to the “foreign virus” ensuring no one thought it originated in the US.

 Britain gets a pass

After days of playing down the threat, he blamed Europe for not acting quickly enough to address the novel coronavirus and claimed that US clusters were “seeded” by European travellers.

The countries affected include: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.

Curiously, Trump said the restrictions won’t apply to the United Kingdom, and there would be exemptions for “Americans who have undergone appropriate screenings.” Later it was noted Ireland was also exempted.

Cargo …yes …no…

“There will be exemptions for Americans who have undergone appropriate screenings, and these prohibitions will not only apply to the tremendous amount of trade and cargo, but various other things as we get approval. Anything coming from Europe to the United States is what we are discussing. These restrictions will also not apply to the United Kingdom.”

However, Trump later contradicted himself in a tweet, “Hoping to get the payroll tax cut approved by both Republicans and Democrats, and please remember, very important for all countries & businesses to know that trade will in no way be affected by the 30-day restriction on travel from Europe. The restriction stops people not goods.”

The blame game

In his speech he said, “And taking early intense action, we have seen dramatically fewer cases of the virus in the United States than are now present in Europe.” As was quickly pointed out last night, those lower numbers could simply be because the US has tested far fewer citizens than has Europe.

According to Trump, The European Union failed to take the same precautions and restrict travel from China and other hotspots as he had done. As a result, a large number of new clusters in the United States were seeded by travellers from Europe.

He said the US would monitor the situation to determine if travel could be reopened earlier.

Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson positive. NBA suspended Even as Trump spoke, the National Basketball Association suspended its season, and Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks announced that he and his wife, Rita Wilson, had tested positive for COVID-19.

What about the airlines?

One has to wonder the impact on the already embattled airlines. If European (and American) carriers cannot fly into the US – even if only for 30 days what happens? In fact, what happens to Europeans currently in the US who need to return before the embargo lifts in 30 days. Will they make the Friday midnight deadline. Perhaps they can cross the border and fly home from Canada or Mexico.

Mixed messages and false starts

The Oval Office address was an abrupt shift in tone from Trump who repeatedly sought to downplay the virus until just days ago. By Wednesday however the mood changed – communities cancelled public events nationwide, universities moved to cancel in-person classes, and families grappled with the impact of disruptions to public schools. The number of confirmed cases of the infection topped 1,000 in the US and the World Health Organization declared the global crisis to now be a pandemic.

After he spoke, the White House cancelled a planned trip by the president to Nevada and Colorado this week, “out of an abundance of caution.”

It was a week of mixed messages and false starts, and as government officials warned in increasingly urgent terms that the outbreak in the US will only get worse, Washington suddenly seemed poised to act.

Congressional aid package

Congress, for its part, unveiled a multibillion-dollar aid package Wednesday that was expected to be voted on by the House as soon as Thursday. Earlier in the week Trump had joked that he asked for a $2 billion aid bill and Congress gave him $8 billion – I’ll take- it he joked clearly seeing no need for the additional funds. Last night it was ‘his’ aid bill and he wanted more.

“I can say we will see more cases, and things will get worse than they are right now,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, said in testimony before the House Oversight and Reform Committee. He said the virus is “10 times more lethal than the seasonal flu.”

After Trump’s address, Defence Secretary Mark Esper announced a series of moves, including restrictions for 60 days on travel by servicemembers, Defence Department civilians and their families to, from and through the four counties currently designated by the Centers for Disease Control as the highest risk COVID-19 counties – China, Iran, South Korea and Italy. Esper said the restrictions include all forms of travel, including for what the military calls permanent change of station, in which a servicemember and his family move to a different home base or station.

Concerns and confusion

Trump spoke after days of confusion in Washington amid mounting calls on him to demonstrate greater leadership. In the hours leading up to his remarks, White House aides struggled to determine what action the president could take unilaterally and what required congressional action, as Trump personally weighed the public and political reactions to the options before him.

In his remarks, Trump focused more on the threat of travel continuing to bring in illness when, in fact, in parts of the country there is “community spread” – meaning people who don’t have a known travel exposure are becoming infected.

No mention of testing

He left unaddressed testing, the backlog that is hampering efforts to learn just how many Americans already are infected. And while he warned the elderly to avoid risky crowds, advised nursing homes to suspend visitors and told sick people to stay home from work, he didn’t address one of the biggest concerns – whether hospitals are equipped to handle the sick or will be overwhelmed.

Georgetown University public health expert Lawrence Gostin tweeted in reaction to Trump’s speech, “Most of Europe is as safe as US,” and COVID-19 “is already here; germs don’t respect borders.”

Trump said he was also directing agencies to provide unspecified financial relief for “for workers who are ill, quarantined or caring for others due to coronavirus,” and asked Congress to take action to extend it.

Not a financial crisis

Trump said the US will defer tax payments for some individual and business filers for three months to lessen the impacts of the virus outbreak. He said the Small Business Administration will also make low-interest loans available to businesses to help them weather the storm.

“This is not a financial crisis,” he said. “This just a temporary moment of time that we will overcome together as a nation and as a world.”

Trump also reiterated his call on Congress to pass a cut to the federal payroll tax in order to stimulate the economy, though that proposal was dismissed by many lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. He remained silent on his previous calls to provide assistance to industries hard-hit by the pandemic like airlines and cruise ships.

On Capitol Hill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi unveiled an economic assistance plan that was gaining bipartisan backing. Central to the package is free coronavirus testing nationwide and emergency funding to reimburse lost paychecks for those self-quarantining, missing work or losing jobs amid the outbreak.

The draft legislation would create a new federal emergency sick leave benefit for people with the virus or caring for a coronavirus victim. It would provide two-thirds of an employee’s monthly income for up to three months.

Facing a likely surge in unemployment claims, the package would also give states money for the newly jobless. It would provide additional funding for food and nutrition benefits for pregnant women, mothers and young children. It also would up money for “meals on wheels” and food for low-income elderly people.

“Right now we’re trying to deal with the direct impact of the virus on individual citizens,” said House Budget Committee Chairman John Yarmuth, D-Ky.

The administration had floated several other strategies, including the rare idea of declaring a national disaster that could potentially unlock funding streams, according to a person unauthorized to discuss the planning and granted anonymity. But Trump ultimately opted against taking that step Wednesday.

The vast majority of people recover

For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia.

The vast majority of people recover from the new virus. According to the World Health Organization, people with mild illness recover in about two weeks, while those with more severe illness may take three to six weeks to recover.

Congress’ attending physician told staff there could be 70 million to 100 million coronavirus cases in the US That’s on par with other estimates. A Harvard official has estimated that 20% to 60% of adults will get the virus, noting it’s “a pretty wide range.”

Pelosi’s goal is to pass an aid package before lawmakers leave town for a previously scheduled weeklong recess, and revisit potential stimulus measures later.

In Washington, tourists still arrived at the US Capitol, but an official unauthorized to discuss the situation and speaking on condition of anonymity confirmed that tours would soon be shut down.

Global shares plummet

US stock futures plummeted after the Trump announcement that travel from more than two dozen European countries to US will be suspended for 30 days.

Dow futures have plunged more than 1,000 points, or 4.3%. S&P 500 futures are down 4.1% and Nasdaq futures have dropped 4.2%.

Europe’s stock markets fell dramatically at the open. London’s FTSE 100 dropped 5%, Germany’s DAX declined 5.4% and France’s CAC 40 shed 4.5%. Italy’s benchmark stock index, which has dropped 18% this week, fell another 5.9%.

Markets in Asia also moved sharply lower following Trump’s announcement.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200, which entered a bear market on Wednesday, sank 7.4%. The Shanghai Composite Index ended the day down 1.5%.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index finished 3.7% lower, while South Korea’s Kospi Index closed down 3.9%. Both indexes are flirting with bear market territory.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, were down nearly 5%, last trading at $34.03 per barrel.

Investors see no endgame in sight and “traders are hammering the sell button now thinking the US government has fallen well behind the curve in its (coronavirus) response,” wrote Stephen Innes, a market strategist at AxiCorp, in a note Thursday