Cepiaclub Corona Virus Report—USA Status March 23, 2020
The Cepia Club LLC
St. Croix Valley Region, Wisconsin
Website: www.cepiaclub.com
Email: hq@cepiaclub.com
Cepiaclub Corona Virus Report—USA
Status
March 23, 2020
Introduction:
As of Monday morning, March 23nd,
00:38 HRS (CDT), the United States has 34,755 confirmed cases of
Corona Virus (COVID19),
(https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/
). In the lower 48 states, the fluid situation has a rapidly
increasing number of cities, counties and full states in some state
of emergency, like a shelter-in-place, or non-essential travel
restrictions, etc. Restricted population movements of any category
seek to reduce the random person-to-person spread of the virus. The
same fluidity of events and various population movement restrictions
holds also for the in excess of 144 countries world-wide known to
have the virus inside their borders. Before the opening bell of the
American financial markets, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA)
sets to open at 19,173.98. DJIA futures trading at 00:57 HRS (CDT)
set the market to open at -750 points.
Events:
During the US COVID19 task force
briefing at the White House on Sunday afternoon, March 22nd,
President Donald J. Trump announced the following:
Three of the states with the highest
number of confirmed cases—New York, California and Washington—will
receive Federal Emergency Management Agency [FEMA] reserve mobile
medical centers, with 4000 hospital beds between them, the largest
portion—2000 beds—going to the largest state by population,
California.
USNS Mercy, a 1000-bed military
medical/hospital ship, will deploy this week to Port of Los Angeles,
CA. Mercy's sister ship, the USNS Comfort, currently in maintenance,
will deploy within three weeks somewhere along the East Coast.
FEMA will distribute from reserve
stocks hundreds of thousands of pieces of medical gear, including
masks, gloves, respirators, medical containment suits, etc. to the
same three states in order to stem and contain the massive infection
rates located in them.
Also, the same three states either
have or shortly will have an approved Title 32 US Code use of
National Guard units for a declared natural disaster emergency. The
Title 32 provisions allows governors to mobilize, at Federal expense,
the National Guard units in support of anti-COVID19 operations.
President Trump declared that the National Guard would remain under
the command of the state governors, and that the expenses of
mobilization will come out of FEMA and, most probably, other
emergency funds. This amounts somewhat to a federalization of the
nation's citizens army in the three affected states, but under
command of governors working through the National Guard adjutant
generals in each state.
The federal government has released
food and other civilian supplies from the strategic reserve stocks to
certain affected areas, mentioning New York specifically.
In one of the most interesting
announcements at the briefing on Sunday, in order to fight the virus
and its effects, the president announced a new public-private
consortium of academic, commercial and government researchers AND the
assignment to the consortium of Department of Energy (DOE) computer
resources (without an exact description of which computers). Such
computers, with among the nation's most powerful and advanced located
with DOE, normally do research, testing, and servicing on civilian
and military nuclear power and the DOE's nuclear weapons program.
(The Department of Energy, by Federal statute, remains the sole
developer and government custodian of the nation's nuclear weapons
arsenal).
Analysis:
Cepiaclub's analysis of the briefing
announcements points toward several short term trends in the US
Government's response to COVID19 in the short term:
The Federal government will continue
to allow state authorities to enact emergency
measures—shelter-in-place, travel bans, or other restrictions—on
a decentralized level, according to assessment and needs.
Eventually, as the fluid situation has shown this week, such
restrictions will continue to spread across the country. This
incremental and state-by-stage approach, as we have seen in the past
six days, should lessen public panic and disorder by what amounts to
a self-and-voluntary quarantine of the majority of the country's
population.
The Federal government will work as
the financial source and backstop for states and their use of
National Guard mobilized assets, and as a supply source for emergency
reserve stocks of medical centers and supplies, and civilian food and
supply distribution to the places with ultra-high and most critical
priority.
FEMA will serve its statutory function
as the monitor, administrator and coordinator of the Federal
response, but working with the state authorities under the leadership
of their governors.
The state governors, as the executive
coordinators of their areas, will have full authority to use their
mobilized National Guard contingents, and those of neighboring states
under Title 32 USC, as auxiliary support to civilian government
workers, and to law enforcement and emergency services personnel.
The Federal government has essentially
conceded a soft quarantine—led by the state and local authorities
themselves—by stages, lessening and easing public fears and rumors
of military (including National Guard) enforcement of public COVID19
emergency ordinances.
With the Department of Energy
computers now redirected to the scientific front-line in, using
President Trump's language, a “war against the Corona Virus,” the
Federal government has essentially committed itself and some of its
most valuable scientific assets to a “war footing.”
End of Report
posted by Scipio Cepicanus @ 10:41 AM
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