Federal Response to Coronavirus Gets Predictable; Nation Starts to Learn that State Laws Matter

BY JACK CROWE

March 30, 2020

THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT'S RESPONSE TO CORONAVIRUS has begun to take on a predictable quality. President Trump on Sunday renewed the CDC's social distancing guidelines through the end of April, papering over the cracks in his resolve that began to show last Sunday when he publicly questioned whether the coronavirus "cure" might be worse than the disease. But just as the administration seems to have cemented its approach, the states have begun to diverge in their responses to the crisis based on varying threat levels in their jurisdictions and the inclinations of their respective governors.

A nation that has been obsessed with the Washington show for the last three years is being reminded, seemingly overnight, that state laws matter and that state borders have consequences. In Rhode Island, governor Gina Raimondo has earned the respect of her year-round constituency by dealing harshly with New Yorkers who flock to the state's coastal communities to spend their summers (and wait out international pandemics). On Friday, Raimondo signed an executive order establishing checkpoints along the state's borders and instructing state troopers to pull over New York drivers to remind them of their duty to self-quarantine for 14 days. The troopers also ask the drivers for the address of their destination to ensure that they will comply with the order; those who are caught ignoring it can be fined up to $500 or sentenced to up to 90 days in jail. On top of the highway and public transit checkpoints, Raimondo dispatched state troopers and national guardsmen to go door-to-door in the state's coastal communities looking for cars with New York plates. One woman who received such a visit told National Review the men who appeared on her door step on Saturday afternoon "couldn't have been nicer" despite the menacing implication of armed men appearing on one's door step. They did not ask her when she arrived in the state or whether she had left her home since; they simply asked her to stay inside save for visits to the local grocery store and pharmacy. But, since the grocery store and pharmacy are the only businesses open, what exactly necessitated a visit from agents of the state? Perhaps they serve as a warning to other New Yorkers considering making the drive to their vacation homes. If that was Raimondo's motivation, anecdotal evidence suggests it may be working: one Westchester County, N.Y., resident told National Review she was planning to make the trip to her summer home but began to reconsider after hearing from friends and family that New Yorkers were receiving a less-than-neighborly reception from the locals. She finally decided against making the trip after learning that she might also receive a visit from uniformed men intent on keeping her and her children in their home under threat of a fine.

New York governor Andrew Cuomo initially called Raimondo's executive order an "absurdity" — but struck a slightly more conciliatory tone on Sunday after speaking with Raimondo over the phone. "I don't think the order was called for, I don't believe it was legal, I don't believe it was neighborly," Cuomo said at his daily coronavirus briefing on Sunday. "I understand the point, but I thought there were different ways to do it, and the governor of Rhode Island was very receptive." He was joined in criticizing the state government by the ACLU of Rhode Island, which objected to the decision to pull over New York drivers absent probable cause. "While the Governor may have the power to suspend some state laws and regulations to address this medical emergency, she cannot suspend the Constitution," said Steven Brown, executive director of the ACLU of Rhode Island. "Under the Fourth Amendment, having a New York state license plate simply does not, and cannot, constitute 'probable cause' to allow police to stop a car and interrogate the driver, no matter how laudable the goal of the stop may be," he said.

Sending armed men door-to-door and pulling over cars simply because of the color of their license plates seems extreme — right now. But Raimondo's lockdown approach may become commonplace in states that manage to keep their coronavirus numbers relatively low as their neighbors are overwhelmed. Already, Texas governor Greg Abbott has taken a similar approach, ordering police to collect the information of drivers entering the state from Louisiana and requiring all new arrivals from certain hot spots around the country to self-quarantine for 14 days. Before it is over, this crisis may test interstate solidarity and remind Americans that they live in a federal system as the nation becomes a patchwork of jurisdictions, some of which remain under quarantine as their hospitals are pushed to the limit and others that begin to return to relative normalcy.

Trump Extends Coronavirus Distancing Guidelines through April

President Trump on Sunday extended his administration's guidelines for social distancing through the end of April, scrapping his initial goal of reinvigorating the economy by Easter Sunday.

"Nothing would be worse than declaring victory before the victory is won," Trump said at Sunday's briefing with the administration's Coronavirus Task Force. "That would be the greatest loss of all."

The president urged Americans to continue to follow the administration's guidelines that have been in place for about two weeks of refraining from going out to restaurants and bars, only traveling for essential purposes, and not gathering in groups of more than 10 people.

FDA Authorizes Use of Malaria Drugs for Coronavirus

The Food and Drug Administration on Sunday used emergency powers to authorize the use of two malaria drugs as treatments for the coronavirus.

The emergency-use authorization is for two oral prescription drugs, hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine, which are used primarily to treat malaria, but are now being investigated by federal agencies, including the National Institutes of Health and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, as possible treatments for the coronavirus.

The Health and Human Services Department announced Sunday that 30 million doses of hydroxychloroquine sulfate and one million doses of chloroquine phosphate have been donated.

DOJ Looking into NC Sen. Burr's Stock Trades Before Coronavirus Outbreak

The Justice Department is probing a series of stock trades made by Senator Richard Burr (R., N.C.) in the weeks prior to the outbreak of Wuhan coronavirus in the U.S.

The probe is being coordinated with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the FBI has also contacted Burr with regard to the investigation. Earlier in March, Burr requested that the Senate Ethics Committee look into the trades.

"The law is clear that any American — including a Senator — may participate in the stock market based on public information, as Senator Burr did," Amy Fisher, a lawyer for Burr, told CNN. "When this issue arose, Senator Burr immediately asked the Senate Ethics Committee to conduct a complete review, and he will cooperate with that review as well as any other appropriate inquiry."

Kentucky AG Calls for Statewide Hold on Abortions Amid Coronavirus Pandemic

Kentucky attorney general Daniel Cameron on Friday emphasized his support for a statewide ban on abortion procedures during the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic.

Cameron released a statement after Planned Parenthood sued the state of Texas for deeming abortions a non-essential procedure, thus effectively halting abortions during the pandemic. Kentucky governor Andy Beshear, a Democrat, has already halted abortions in the state due to the coronavirus threat.

"Kentucky's current ban on elective medical procedures exists to further the mandated policy of social distancing and to help conserve medical resources for use in fighting COVID-19," Cameron said. "Abortion providers should join the thousands of other medical professionals across the state in ceasing elective procedures, unless the life of the mother is at risk, to protect the health of their patients and slow the spread of the coronavirus."

Politico: AOC breaks with Bernie on leadership of the left

Soon after her upset primary victory against a Democratic Party boss in 2018, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez traveled to St. Louis to prove her victory wasn't a one-off by campaigning for Cori Bush, who was similarly taking on a longtime Democratic congressman.

"What I'm asking for you to do is to support my sister, Cori Bush," Ocasio-Cortez said at a rally. "It is so important what we did, we just came off of this win in New York, but people were trying to say, 'It's just one place.'"

Bush lost that race but is challenging Rep. William "Lacy" Clay again in an August primary. She has more money and higher name recognition, and earned the endorsement of Bernie Sanders. But Ocasio-Cortez isn't helping Bush this time.

New York Times: Liberty University Brings Back Its Students, and Coronavirus Fears, Too

LYNCHBURG, Va. — As Liberty University's spring break was drawing to a close this month, Jerry Falwell Jr., its president, spoke with the physician who runs Liberty's student health service about the rampaging coronavirus.

"We've lost the ability to corral this thing," Dr. Thomas W. Eppes Jr. said he told Mr. Falwell. But he did not urge him to close the school. "I just am not going to be so presumptuous as to say, 'This is what you should do and this is what you shouldn't do,'" Dr. Eppes said in an interview.

So Mr. Falwell — a staunch ally of President Trump and an influential voice in the evangelical world — reopened the university last week, igniting a firestorm. As of Friday, Dr. Eppes said, nearly a dozen Liberty students were sick with symptoms that suggested Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus. Three were referred to local hospital centers for testing. Another eight were told to self-isolate.

New York Times: Coronavirus Slowdown in Seattle Suggests Restrictions Are Working

SEATTLE — The Seattle area, home of the first known coronavirus case in the United States and the place where the virus claimed 37 of its first 50 victims, is now seeing evidence that strict containment strategies, imposed in the earliest days of the outbreak, are beginning to pay off — at least for now.

Deaths are not rising as fast as they are in other states. Dramatic declines in street traffic show that people are staying home. Hospitals have so far not been overwhelmed. And preliminary statistical models provided to public officials in Washington State suggest that the spread of the virus has slowed in the Seattle area in recent days.