The Year 2020: A Day-By-Day Diary of a Debacle

By Skip Johnson

The year 2020 was unlike any other year in history. Four new epic crises, which developed simultaneously and unexpectedly, terrorized and isolated us. One, the coronavirus pandemic began early in the year and, with a vaccine only a hopeful dream, it quickly spiraled out of control. Two, state and household budgets melted down as businesses across America failed, some never to reopen, which left us facing an unthinkable choice: save the economy, which would allow Covid-19 kill a million or more people and infect tens of millions more, or save people’s lives, which would allow the economy to sink into a depression? Three, the presidential campaign became a fierce struggle for the soul of America – would we remain a democracy or choose totalitarianism? – and ended in the worst riot in the nation’s Capital since the War of 1812. And four, a nationwide revolt developed against police brutality and systemic racism, which could have been a good crisis had it not been for everything else going on, which often helped allow it to sink into sometimes vicious violence. And then there were the ongoing crises, such as the age-defining climate-change calamity that was forced to take a backseat while we dealt with the four new crises.

During the entire year, beginning in late February and ending with Joe Biden’s inauguration, award-winning journalist Skip Johnson spent four to six hours a day, every day, combing through several news sources to collect the day’s events, then cull and condense them into a readable format. The result is a daily diary that will be a memento of everlasting value to those who survived it, a clear history of one of the most important years in human history for today’s and tomorrow’s children, and a reference volume for everyone that will only grow in value as the years pass.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Skip Johnson
• Release date: Dec 21, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005984786

Skip Johnson

Skip Johnson took early retirement in 1991 after a 30-year career as an award-winning reporter, columnist and editor for various East Coast newspapers and a wire service.During the 1960s he was a member of an Associated Press team that focused on covering the desegregation of Alabama and northwest Florida, plus a special assignment to help cover the desegregation of the University of Mississippi.Skip returned to daily newspapers in 1970, and reportorial positions he held after that include space writer for The Orlando Sentinel during the Apollo (first man on moon) space program, and later chief political writer for The Orlando Sentinel; state capital bureau chief and political columnist for The Tampa Tribune; political columnist for Brevard Today, on Florida’s Space Coast; and feature writer and religion columnist for The News and Courier of Charleston, S.C.Editorial positions included religion editor of The News and Courier, state editor of The Tampa Tribune, night city editor of The News and Courier, city editor of The Herald-Statesman of Yonkers, N.Y., and managing editor of The Standard-Times of New Bedford, Mass.Since retiring, Skip has written two eBooks - The Year 2020: A Day-By-Day Diary of a Debacle, and Timeless Perspectives on Events, Science & Religion: Select Essays from Onward | Upward; and two nonfiction books – The Gospel of Yeshua: A Fresh Look at the Life and Teaching of Jesus, and A Charleston Primer for Yankees: History with a Southern Accent. He also has edited motion picture scripts that won awards in international competition.He and his wife, Sue, have two daughters and four grandsons. They live in Charleston.

Book preview

THE YEAR 2020

A Day-by-Day Diary

of a Debacle

By Skip Johnson

Copyright 2022 Skip Johnson

Smashwords Edition

Introduction

The biggest topic on every American’s mind as the year 2020 dawned was the impeachment of President Donald J. Trump.Congress had just (Dec. 23) impeached him on grounds he had abused the power of his office and obstructed Congress.Specifically, it accused him of pressuring Ukraine to open a false investigation into Joseph R. Biden Jr., one of his political rivals, that would give Trump an edge in the upcoming General Election.

Also on our minds as the year began was a related story that happened earlier in 2019:Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s alleged interference with our 2016 General Election to tip the scales toward a Trump victory.

Other major news stories of 2019 that ushered us into 2020 included the immigration situation at the Mexican border, China’s becoming the first nation to land a lunar probe on the far side of the moon, the burning of the historic Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, Hurricane Dorian’s slamming of the Bahamas as the most furious cyclone that had ever hit it, Tiger Woods’ winning the Masters Golf Tournament for the fifth time, and the Patriots beating the Rams 13-3 in the Super Bowl.

We were just beginning to talk about the upcoming presidential election, although it would be one of the most important elections in American history and surely the most important election since the Civil War.

The election would pit the incumbent Republican President Donald J. Trump against whomever the Democrats chose.The dozen or so remaining Democratic candidates differed widely in their visions for America, from the middle-left to the extreme-left, but in a sense it didn’t matter who won the nomination because whoever won would stand for a radically different world than the one Trump promised.

Trump was what he was – combative, divisive, science-denying, America First, go-it-alone, business before people or the environment, authoritarian -- and he would continue to lead us down that road.Any of the Democrats, as different as they were, would promise an America that would rejoin the international world, reestablish our trusted leadership in the world, put people ahead of Big Business, fight for the rights of all people to have easy access to the voting booth, and put science in charge of leading us to a livable planet.

By late February 2020, as interest in the election began to pick up, I decided to chronicle the campaigns.I would glean the mainstream news media and whatever other sources I could find each day for news of the campaign and condense the main stories into a daily journal.

That was my original intent. But suddenly a string of other events overshadowed the campaign, so I included them all:the worst viral pandemic in more than a century, the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, the worst racial unrest in more than a half-century, the worst wildfires ever, the most named storms ever – not to mention what would become a lively presidential campaign, an election in which so many people voted that the loser got more votes than any candidate in history except for the 2020 winner; Trump’s evidence-free post-election efforts in the courts, Congress, state legislatures and among local election officials to get his election loss overturned; an insurrection inside the U.S. Capitol that was worse than any since the War of 1812; and President Trump’s strange actions after that until Joe Biden was inaugurated.

I started journaling the events on Feb. 23, 2020, and focused on what I thought someone in the future would like to know about the year.l ended it on Jan. 21, 2021, the day after Biden was inaugurated.And, amazingly to me, during the 11 months, I missed writing on only one day, Dec. 31, my wife’s birthday.

My method of writing was the same every day.I would spend three to six hours a day collecting news items from various sources, sorting them, condensing them and writing them. (For the record, my primary sources were print editions of The New York Times and my local newspaper, The Post and Courier of Charleston, S.C., which gave me access to The Associated Press’ main stories, and electronic versions of The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal andAtlantic magazine.I’m a news junkie, so I watched newscasts of the cable networks CNN, Fox News, MSNBC and NPR, and the public networks ABC, CBS and NBC.When driving, I would listen either to Public Radio or Rush Limbaugh.)

I am aleft-leaning independent, and I admittedly do not like Donald J. Trump.On the first day of this book I explain why I do not like him, but I also promised on Day One that I would be as objective as possible in recording his campaign.I kept that promise, but his own words and actions portray him as a mentally troubled, narcissistic, demagogic, white supremist, felonious, would-be dictator.I could not help that.

-Skip Johnson

May 2021

Chapter 1: February 2020

Feb. 23, 2020

Sunday

THE 2020 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION will be one of the most important elections in the history of America, if not the most important one.The race has been heating up a little lately, so I’ve decided to chronicle it.Beginning today, I’ll chart, as objectively as possible, what’s going on -- in the campaigns, polls, events, whatever.

Here’s how the campaign stands as I write this:

Donald J. Trump, the incumbent, is the sole Republican candidate of any note.The Democratic candidates are Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren representing the left; Joseph R. Biden Jr., Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar and Tulsi Gabbard representing the middle; and Michael Bloomberg and Tom Steyer representing the rich.

The next primary will be in South Carolina next Saturday, Feb. 29.Biden appears to be the leader in the state but based on most polls Sanders appears to be the strongest nationally, with Biden and Buttigieg apparently next, then Warren and Bloomberg, then Klobuchar and Gabbard.

Disclaimer for any future readers:Although I promise to be as objective as possible, I must say I do not like Donald Trump and I have wanted him impeached from the moment he walked into the White House.Literally, the first moment.

I do not like Trump because he publicly mocks people who have physical limitations; because he’s a draft dodger; because he’s a draft dodger who overrules generals who know what they’re doing; because he is a pathological, unapologetic liar, with well more than 16,000 lies or misleading statements documented since he took office;because he used his casino in New Jersey to launder money for the Russian Mafia before he got caught; because he is a racist; because he refers to women as dogs; because he has decimated our State Department — 32 embassies don’t even have ambassadors, and some of them are in major countries; because he gives important positions to unqualified people just because they give him money; because he demands people in his administration be loyal to him, not to the Constitution for which they both have sworn to defend; because he takes his daily news briefings from Fox News rather than government experts who know what they're doing; because he is so low and so self-centered that he took thousands of dollars from his own charitable foundation and spent it on himself, including spending $10,000 for a life-sized photograph of himself to hang in one of his clubs; because he ran a fraudulent university until he got caught, then paid $25 million to the students to muffle the story so it would not become a campaign issue; because he had affairs with at least two women while he was married, then bribed them with more than a quarter-million dollars to keep quiet; because he cozies up to the world’s dictators — Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, North Koreaand others — while insulting our allies around the world and diminishing our standing in the world; because he insults our military heroes; because he fills important posts with titles that are preceded by acting, thus giving him virtually dictatorial power over those offices; because he’s a schoolyard bully: Flatter me and I’ll reward you, but criticize me and I’ll hurt you; because he gave billions of dollars to rich people through his mammoth tax cut and trickled on the rest of us; because he brags about grabbing women by their crotches; because he withdrew us from the Kyoto Protocol, even though more than 99 percent of environmental scientists around the world say humans are at the very least adding to conditions that are leading us into an environmental disaster; because he opened up so much sensitive federal land to oil drillers; because he is so ignorant and/or cruel he ended the Endangered Species Act, the very act that saved bald eagles, alligators and other wildlife species from extinction; because he insists on drilling in pristine Alaskan areas, and even off the South Atlantic coast although whatever oil is there is not needed, not wanted by anyone except oil drillers, would seriously harm whales and other wildlife, and present a real danger to the region’scrucial tourist industry; because he promised to fix our crumbling infrastructure but hasn’t even hinted at a start; because he has ballooned our deficit so much it will reach $1 trillion in 2020, something that used to be abhorrent to Republicans; because if you look up the words fascist and demagogue in the dictionary you’ll see his fingerprints and photograph; because either he doesn’t realize or doesn’t care that a tariff on any nation is really a tax on me; because he accepted Vladimir Putin’s denials of Russian interference in the 2016 election over the unanimous assessment of the American intelligence community; because he deserted our allies the Kurds and allowed Turkey to attack them; because he is such a hypocrite he tossed out chain migration after allowing his own wife’s family members to come here that very same way; because he separated thousands of innocent children from their parents and some of them will never be reunited; because he promised during his campaign that he would release his tax returns, but now he’s asking the US Supreme Court to let him keep them private; because he backed out of the nonproliferation deal with Iran, which has made matters so much worse for the world; because he’s backed out of so many deals that world leaders are left to doubt whether the United States can be trusted; because with virtually no discrimination he has tossed out his predecessors’ diplomatic work, destroyed nonproliferation and climate accords, and disrupted alliances that underpin the international order; because he fires anyone he thinks are not loyal to him even though they took an oath to be loyal to the Constitution, not him; because, well, so much more.

But those are just among the reasons why I do not like Trump.None of them is a reason why I wanted Congress to impeach him.

I wanted Congress to impeach him on Day One because he came into office on Day One openly trampling on the Constitution – on its Emoluments Clause, which was written specifically to prevent presidents from using the awesome power of their office for personal gain.Trump still openly tramples on that clause every day, especially with hotel walking distance from the White House.

But none of that matters now.Congress impeached him over his dealings involving Ukraine, and the Senate exonerated him.Disgustingly, many Republican senators admitted after the trial ended that the Democrats had proven their case.But it doesn't matter now.It’s over.

Just one more thing.Nothing I have said about Trump so far is a crime.However, more than 1,000 former federal prosecutors signed a letter saying there is plenty of evidence in the Mueller report to charge him with at least 10 counts of obstructing justice, which is a felony.And he probably obstructed Congress when he ordered his people not to obey Congress’ subpoenas.And who knows what his income tax records, and those of his businesses, will show.

But the possibility of criminal charges is yesterday, and yesterday can’t be redone.Trump survived impeachment, won’t be impeached again, and he won’t be charged with a crime.So here we go into an election that will be one for the ages.

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Feb. 24, 2020

Monday

Flag Day

THE NEXT BIG THING on the election calendar is the Democrats’ debate tomorrow night, followed by the South Carolina Democratic primaries Saturday.(Republicans voted not to hold a primary in South Carolina this year, guaranteeing Trump and Sen. Lindsey Graham free passes to November.)

Here’s what the pundits are saying about tomorrow’s debate, which will be held in Charleston’s new, large and sparkling Galliard Municipal Auditorium:

Biden reigned as the favorite from the moment he entered the race, but apparently his name and reputation alone granted him that.There has never been much energy behind him, and what little energy exists is diminishing.He badly needs to do well in South Carolina, and he is expected to do well here because this is a heavily black state, black people like him, and US House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), who is immensely popular here, especially among blacks, has endorsed him.If he doesn’t do well here, he’s in deep trouble.

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Feb. 25, 2020

Tuesday

THE DOW JONES average dropped by more than 1,000 points yesterday.The sole reason is a new virus that’s been uncovered in Wuhan, China.It’s called a novel coronavirus because it’s new and it resembles a corona, and it seems to cause a strange new form of pneumonia in its victims.

China told the world about it on Dec. 31 and it’s still mostly contained there.But it’s showing up on other continents as well, and today the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) told Americans to look out: an epidemic may be on its way for North America, and it may be a pandemic.

If it develops as is feared, it is certain to become an issue in the presidential campaign.Trump is depending mightily on the economy to pull him through, although all he has done for the economy is continue what Obama began.If the novel coronavirus were to interfere seriously with worldwide commerce the economy could crumble.A lot will depend on how Trump handles it.

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Feb. 26, 2020

Wednesday

THE DEBATE was pretty much a shouting match.The CBS questioners lost control often as everybody was speaking at once, and they let the audience cheer (loudest for Bloomberg) and boo (Sanders) at will.It was a wasted opportunity for all of them.

The news media seem to agree that Warren and Biden were the winners, while Sanders and Bloomberg were the losers.Warren repeated her previous winning appearance, Biden didn’t do anything wrong, Sanders was attacked often and effectively over his unfunded plan to fund Medicare for all, and Bloomberg repeated his just-not-good effort from the first effort.

THE CENTERS for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) upped its warning about the coronavirus.CDC says it’s no longer a question of if we are going to have a pandemic, but when.

Trump disagrees.He says there's no need to worry; it’s just a news media hoax.He says very few Americans have the virus, those who do have it are recovering nicely, and the virus will pass soon.He says he’s doing plenty to fight it, but Congress, with Republicans and Democrats voting together, tripled his request for funds to fight it.He had asked for $2.5 billion and he got $8 billion.He accepted the $8 billion but said he won't need to spend it.

Democrat candidates fear that Trump doesn’t know what’s going on, doesn’t know what he’s doing, is getting into the fight too late and doesn't have enough experienced experts to handle this if it grows much.

As it stands now, about 81,000 people around the globe have been sickened by this virus, and 1,250 have died.The American numbers are 60 cases and no deaths.And the virus is now on every continent except Antarctica.

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Feb. 27, 2020

Thursday

THE NEW YORK TIMES interviewed 93 superdelegates to the 2020 Democratic National Convention and an overwhelming number of them said they do not want Bernie Sanders to be their presidential candidate.They think Sanders could not defeat Trump,

so if given the chance, they will do everything they can to stop Sanders, even if it means causing a rift in the party.

They might get that chance.Sanders says that if he arrives at the convention with a plurality of the votes, even if it’s not the majority, he should be given the nomination.The superdelegates disagree.They contend that if his two runners-up are moderates whose combined number of votes exceed his, the decision must be made at the convention – where they, the superdelegates, will vote.

THE DOW JONES Industrial Average dropped 1,190 points Wednesday, the largest single-day drop in the stock market’s history, because of the novel coronavirus.The fear has been that the virus will disrupt world commerce, and that appears to be happening.

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Feb. 28, 2020

Friday

Primary’s Eve

NEW POLLS show Biden is a shoo-in to win South Carolina’s primary tomorrow, perhaps by as many as 10 percentage points.

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Feb. 29, 2020

Saturday

PRIMARIES, all day.Looks like a big turnout.

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Chapter 2: March 2020

March 1, 2020

Sunday

THE UNOFFICIAL RESULTS of yesterday’s South Carolina Democratic presidential

primary:

Biden 49%

Sanders 20%

Steyer 11% (and dropped out of the race)

Buttigieg 8% (and dropped out of the race)

Warren 7%

Klobuchar 3%

Gabbard 1%

Biden had been expected to win heavily, possibly by 10 or more points, but certainly not by nearly 30.That is a surprise.

Next stop: Super Tuesday, day after tomorrow, when one-third of delegates will be chosen in 14 state races, including California and Texas.

CORONAVIRUS UPDATE:In the United States, 73 persons have been stricken, four are in critical condition, and, as of yesterday, one person has died.A case was reported in Rhode Island today, which is the second one on the East Coast.

Worldwide, there are 87,000 reported cases, including 7,000 cases in 60 countries outside China.

Health experts say that early indications are that the death rate appears to be around two percent.If that’s confirmed, it would put the coronavirus death rate on par with the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has identified, in California, the first

US case of the illness not tied to foreign travel, a sign that experts say is evidence the virus’ spread in the United States is likely to explode.They say as many as 15,000 persons might be infected in that Washington state alone.

Trump has put Vice President Pence in charge of the government’s effort to fight the virus.Asked by a reporter about Pence’s leadership as governor of Indiana during an HIV outbreak there, Trump said that under Pence’s leadership Indiana was a model for the country in its approach to health.The facts, attested to by indisputable history, show Pence waited far too long to act, thus allowing HIV to spread unchecked.

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March 2, 2020

Monday

Klobuchar dropped out of the race today and threw her support to Biden.That leaves Biden, Sanders, Warren and Gabbard in the race.Bloomberg will enter Tuesday for the first time.

The coronavirus count in the United States, as of Sunday night, was 78, and we have

two fatalities now.

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March 3, 2020

Super Tuesday

AS OF MONDAY NIGHT the coronavirus count in the United States was more than 100, and we now have six fatalities, all in Washington state.

THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY establishment is going all in for Biden — anything to stop Sanders.The fear is that Sanders’ democratic socialism views are too radical for Americans and Trump would swamp him.Sanders disagrees, says the nation needs a revolution.

Tomorrow, 14 states, plus Democrats abroad and American Samoa, will cast votes.The experts say it is possible that Sanders will win them all, except for black-heavy Alabama, which probably will go for Biden.

THE FEDERAL RESERVE lowered rates by a half percent today to steady the stock market.The hope was that Wall Street would trust banks to keep the economy going but it didn’t work.The Dow sank 786 points.

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March 4, 2020

Wednesday

SHOCKER:Biden and Sanders won big, and the rest hardly made a dent.It’s plainly a two-man race now.

Sanders won California, but Biden won Texas, every other state across the South, and most of the states in New England.But the race was really about delegates and Biden won those, too.The numbers might change a little, but right now it looks like this:Biden 370, Sanders 298, Warren 35 and Gabbard 1. As for those who have already dropped out, Buttigieg got 26, Bloomberg 12 and Klobuchar 7.

So, it appears now this will be a battle of clashing ideas:moderate vs. far left.

Sanders, an independent, is running as a self-declared democrat socialist.He says Democrats cannot defeat Trump with the same-old same-old, and what America needs is — and the only thing that will defeat Trump is — a revolution, which he is leading.He ticks off his differences with Biden on Social Security, trade and military, among other issues.

Biden begins the homestretch run as a moderate who is experienced, known throughout the world, well respected, beloved by many, backed solidly by the Democratic Party establishment, including an overwhelming majority of its super-delegates.He also seems to have a sudden surge of energy behind him that has been missing since he entered the race.

THE NOVEL CORONAVIRUS continues to spread in America.It’s on the East Coast now, including Rhode Island, New York, North Carolina and Georgia.As I write this, the number of those infected in the United States now stands at 152, and at least 11 have died.Worldwide, the numbers are more than 95,000 persons infected, and at least 3,200 dead.

THE VIRUS WILL certainly become a big campaign issue, and early indications are that Trump is stumbling.He has promised that a million testing kits will be in the hands of the right people by this weekend, but the people who manufacture and distribute the kits say that’s impossible.He has said a vaccine will be available in a few months, but chemists and health officials say one won’t be ready for at least a year and probably much longer; after all, it normally takes five to 10 years to develop a vaccine.He has put Vice President Pence in charge of the federal effort to combat spread of the illness and Pence promised on Monday to hold a press briefing every day, and then he failed to hold a briefing the very next day.

Add that to Trump’s earlier stupidities, like saying the coronavirus is a hoax perpetrated by the news media, or saying that most victims recover from it without mentioning those who don’t, or requesting $2.5 billion for the battle when those responsible were crying for much more (Congress approved $8.5 billion).Trump says he’ll take the money but doesn’t need it and won’t spend it.

And now, despite previously saying the health scare is a hoax perpetrated by the news media, Trump said today that the virus’ spread is Obama’s fault.He said a federal agency’s decision under Obama had made it harder to quickly enact widespread testing for the virus.

Health experts and veterans of Obama’s presidency say they have no idea what Trump is talking about.But, they say, even if that’s the problem, why hasn’t he solved it during his three years in office?

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March 5, 2020

Thursday

BLOOMBERG dropped out of the race and threw his support — and his money — to Biden.Two other dropouts, Buttigieg and Klobuchar, also are supporting Biden.Warren says she is considering her options, which probably means she has decided to drop out but first is deciding whether to support Sanders or Biden.There has been no word about anything from Gabbard, who has been considered an also-ran from the beginning.

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March 6, 2020

Friday

IN AN EARLY SIGN of the coronavirus pandemic’s devastating impact on American workers, the Labor Department on Thursday reported a 30 percent increase in unemployment claims last week, one of the largest spikes on record.

The surge -- 281,000 new claims -- reflects a crushing new reality: Any hopes that businesses could keep their staffs largely intact have evaporated.

THE CORONAVIRUS outbreak around the world is hitting commercial airlines hard.Empty jumbo jets are arriving at deserted airports.Masked passengers are disinfecting their own seats.Stone-faced airline executives are huddling with President Trump.

The hit is obvious in airline stocks, which dropped sharply on Thursday as investors reckoned with the prospect of canceled flights, lost sales and substantial reductions in service for months to come.

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March 7, 2020

Saturday

UNCERTAINTY reigns because of the coronavirus outbreak, which is speeding around the world at warp speed.

There is uncertainty about the severity and durations of the pandemic; uncertainty about how the global economy will face as factories, airports, stores, schools and entire cities shut down; uncertainty about the ability of governments to contain the disease; uncertainty about and the power of central banks to counter its economic fallout; uncertainty about how long all this uncertainty will last.

Behind the turbulence is confusion and anxiety, and a sense that the modern world is in an unprecedented situation.There’s no playbook for this, said Derek Devens, a portfolio manager at the fund company Neuberger Berman.That’s been really hard for people to digest.

PRESIDENT TRUMP CLAIMED again on Friday that anyone who needed a coronavirus test gets a test.But doctors and patients across the nations are clamoring for tests that they say are in woefully short supply, and their frustration is mounting alongside the growing number of cases around the country.

Public health officials are warning that no one knows how deeply the virus will spread, in part because the federal government’s flawed rollout of tests three weeks ago has snowballed into an embarrassing fiasco of national proportions.

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March 8, 2020

Sunday

NEW YORK GOV. Andrew M. Cuomo declared a state of emergency on Saturday as the number of coronavirus cases in New York rose to 89, which included a Queens driver who worked for Uber and two unexplained positive tests of patients 200 miles to the north.

Moving on multiple fronts to curb the virus’ spread, Cuomo said the state of emergency would allow New York’s government to respond faster by lifting regulations.The governor’s announcement came as concerns about the outbreak grew in New York City, which has 12 confirmed cases, up from six that were disclosed as of Friday.The epicenter in New York State continues to be just north of the city, in Westchester County, where there are 70 cases.

CHINA, the country where the pandemic began and which concealed and mismanaged the initial coronavirus outbreak, appears to be bringing it under control, at least by its own official figures.

The number of new cases reported has fallen dramatically in recent days even as infections are surging in other countries.The World Health Organization has praised Beijing’s response.

Officials reported only 99 new cases on Saturday, down from around 2,000 a day just weeks ago.And, for the second day in a row, none was detected in Hubei Province outside of its capital, Wuhan, where the outbreak began.

China says the trend proves that its containment measures – which include a lockdown on nearly 60 million people in Hubei and strict quarantine and travel restrictions for hundreds of millions of citizens and foreigners – are working.And it has begun trying to promote its efforts as successful in propaganda at home and abroad.

ITALY’S GOVERNMENT took the extraordinary step of locking down much of the country’s north, restricting movement for about a quarter of the Italian population in regions that serve as the country’s economic engine.

The move represents the most sweeping effort outside China to stop the spread of the coronavirus and is tantamount to sacrificing the Italian economy in the short term to save it from the ravages of the virus in the long term.

By taking such tough measures, Italy, which is suffering the worst outbreak in Europe, sent a signal that restrictive clampdowns at odds with some Western democracies’ core values may be necessary to contain and defeat the virus.

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March 9, 2020

Monday

THE DOZEN federal officials charged with defending America against the coronavirus typically devoted only five or 10 minutes to talk about testing, several participants recalled.

And although President Trump has repeatedly promised large-scale testing, interviews with more than 50 current and former public health officials, administration officials, senior scientists and company executives show that it has not happened.The reason for that? Technical flaws, regulatory hurdles, business-as-usual bureaucracies and lack of leadership at multiple levels.

The result was a lost month when the world’s richest country – armed with some of the most highly trained scientists and infectious disease specialists – squandered its best chance of containing the virus’ spread.Instead, Americans were left largely blind to the scale of looming public health catastrophe.

THE ILLNESS caused by the novel coronavirus has a name now: Covid-19.It’s a shorthand version of coronavirus disease 2019.

COMPANIES around the world will take on as much as $1 trillion of new debt in 2020 as they try to shore up their finances against the coronavirus, a new study of 900 top firms has estimated.

The unprecedented increase will see total global corporate debt jump by 12 percent to around $9.3 trillion, adding to years of accumulation that has left the world’s most indebted firms owing as much as many medium-sized countries.

March 10, 2020

Tuesday

THE FAST-SPREADING coronavirus and a plunge in oil prices set off a chain reaction in financial markets on Monday, a self-perpetuating downward cycle that experts say could inflict serious harm on the global economy.

What started last month as unease about a potential economic slowdown in China has evolved into a borderline panic, with the S&P 500 on Monday crashing nearly 8 percent, leading the stock market to its worst drop in more than a decade.The mayhem is threatening to roil the underlying global financial system and the abilities of companies large and small to survive a potential economic monsoon – a downward spiral that is fed and intensified by these destructive forces.

The odds of such a storm grew after an unexpected fight between Russia and Saudi Arabia.After failing to reach an agreement about how much oil to produce and sell on international markets, Saudi Arabia announced it would quickly ramp up production.Oil prices had been falling as investors fretted about a possible recession.On Monday, they plummeted over 20 percent – the sharpest decline since the first Persian Gulf War.

PRESIDENT TRUMP announced that he would work with Congress on tax cuts and other measures after the stock market’s plummet.

The president, who played down the virus threat earlier in the day, was clearly unsettled by the plunging markets and the potential effect on his re-election prospects.He told reporters he will meet with Republican congressional leaders to discuss several ideas, but he died not provide any details.

THE CORONAVIRUS keeps getting closer and closer to President Trump.

Two Republican members of Congress who have spent time with him in recent days, including one who just rode with him on Air Force One, put themselves into quarantine following exposure to the virus at a Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) last month in Maryland.

Also putting himself into isolation was Mark Meadows, the president’s newly designated White House chief of staff.Meadows, who was named to the role only on Friday, encountered the same infected attendee as the other two congressmen at the CPAC gathering.

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March 18, 2020

Thursday

My computer crashed a few days ago and I’ve been without one.So, what follows are newspaper headlines from those days:

March 11, Wednesday:Biden easily won Missouri, Mississippi and North Dakota yesterday, and now he owns such a substantial lead that many Democrats are calling for Sanders to drop out of the race.Sanders needs to win 65 percent of the remaining states to win the nomination, and for all practical purposes that appears insurmountable.Sanders is considering what to do.

The numbers of Americans infected with the coronavirus is on track to exceed 1,000 soon.As it stands, the number passed 850 yesterday afternoon, up from just more than 300 Friday.There have been 26 deaths.Colleges across the nation are extending spring breaks.Tests, swabs, masks, ventilators and more are in short supply.

And Trump said yesterday: Just stay calm.It will go away.

He did propose a temporary halt of payroll taxes that could cost $700 billion, rivaling both the financial bailout of 2018 and the economic stimulus measure that followed.Congress didn’t appear too eager to pass it, but the stock market liked it.The Dow went up more than 1,000 points, erasing at least some of the sting from a 2,000-plus point drop from the day before.

March 12, Thursday:The coronavirus is taking over everything.The World Health Organization declared the coronavirus to be a global pandemic and warned everyone that it’s going to get worse. Trump halted travel from Europe, everywhere except the United Kingdom.The Dow dropped more than 6 percent.Many colleges are telling students to say home and are planning video lessons.The NCAA’s men’s and women’s basketball tournaments – March Madness – will be played, but without fans present. Sanders says he will participate in Sunday’s two-person debate with Biden.

March 13, Friday: Wall Street suffered its worst one-day drop since the Black Monday debacle in 1987.The S&P500 alone sank 9.5 percent.

Trump added the United Kingdom to his list of European countries that are now barred from sending commercial flights to America.

The coronavirus numbers in America continue to grow.More than 1,500 are now ill, and at least 39 have died.The National Institutes of Health admits that testing is failing and says there could be 10 ill persons for each one who is discovered.

The NCAA has canceled the basketball tournaments. Disneyland is closed.States are beginning to limit the numbers of people who can gather in one place.In New York, for example, crowds of more than 500 persons are banned, including all Broadway productions.

March 14, Saturday: President Trump declared a national emergency to respond to the coronavirus, and Wall Street responded with a major rally.The S&P500 closed up by 9 percent.

Trump says he has been exposed to the virus and most likely will be tested.

The news around the world continues to be bad.The number of ill persons in the United States has surpassed 1,500. The Masters Golf Tournament has been canceled.The Louvre is closed.Several leading government officials throughout the world have fallen ill.And hospitals everywhere are bracing for the worst.Biggest problem with the hospitals continues to be a lack of necessary supplies, plus a looming lack of space and ventilators.Should a hospital find itself in need of more ventilators than it has, it could mean they will have to pick and choose who lives and who dies.

Delegate count:Biden 881, Sanders 725.To win outright, 1,991 delegates are necessary.

March 15, Sunday:Trump tested negative for the coronavirus.

Georgia postponed its March 24 presidential primary.

March 16, Monday:The Federal Reserve cut interest rates to virtually zero and said it will buy $500 billion of treasury securities and $200 billion of mortgage debt in the coming months.

In South Carolina, and several other states, the governor has ordered all K-12 schools and state colleges and universities closed.

Biden and Sanders sparred on national television last night, but nothing major came of it.Both severely criticized Trump’s handling of the coronavirus attack and both said they could do better.Much better.

March 17, Tuesday:The Fed’s attempt to cool the stock market Sunday failed miserably as stocks saw their worst day in three decades Monday.

High school and college spring sports have been canceled in South Carolina and across the nation.Several primaries might be postponed.

Trump urges Americans to be cautious and tells them not to gather in groups of 10 or more.

Florida, Illinois, Ohio and Arizona will hold primaries Tuesday, although Ohio wants its postponed.Biden is expected to do well in all four states.

March 18, Wednesday:Biden easily won Florida, Illinois and Arizona yesterday, but Ohio was canceled at the last minute due to the – what else? – coronavirus.

The Trump administration calls for urgent action to speed $1 trillion (that’s trillion, with a T) into the economy, including sending $250 billion to millions of Americans.

In the United States, as of 6 p.m. yesterday, there were 5,300 known ill and about 100 deaths.

In South Carolina, the hospitality industry says it will lay off 1,600 workers.Myrtle Beach, which is the state’s major tourist attraction, has lost its traveling sports tournaments, the region’s typical Can- Am Days, conventions, and group travels.Hotel occupancy has been as low as 20 percent.

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March 19, 2020

Thursday

THE WALL STREET Journal reported in early afternoon today that US cases of Covid-19 now top 10,000 in the United States.Italy just passed China with the most reported deaths, 3,249. China says it found no new cases yesterday, except for those imported from other countries.Trump is considering encouraging Americans not to travel abroad.

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March 20, 2020

Friday

Everything in the news these days concerns the coronavirus.Typically, television newscasts devote little or nothing to anything that doesn’t involve it.Newspapers’ front pages are bare of anything but those stories, and precious little on the inside pages tell anything but virus stories.

Today’s New York Times was especially depressing.It revealed that the Trump administration’s Department of Health and Human Services ran a series of exercises from January through August of last year to test how ready America was for a pandemic for which no treatment existed.The results: We are so pathetically unready that we could expect (can expect?) that 110 million Americans would be sickened, 7.7 million would be hospitalized, and 586,000 would die.The report was labeled not to be disclosed, and shelved.It has never been revealed to the public until now.

It is not out of the question that the report could come true.Hospitals around the nation continue to battle dire shortages of masks, surgical gowns and eye gear to protect them from the virus.Doctors and nurses cannot even protect themselves while treating victims.

And there is so much more going on, virtually all of it bad.

The State Department told Americans not to travel overseas, and those Americans who are overseas now to come home immediately or take the chance of being stranded indefinitely.Some already face that problem because travel from some countries to America already has been shut down, so the military is being called to help.

Until now the virus had been thought to cause most harm to elderly and weak people, but new statistics show 40 percent of hospitalized people are under 40.Some very young children, who once were thought to be immune, are dying.

A global race is on to find a silver bullet for the virus, but even if one is found today it will be at least a year before it will become available.And then there is the matter of production.No one knows how long it would take to manufacture and deliver enough of the medicine worldwide to stop the pandemic.

One hope is that the coronavirus will be like most flu viruses and melt away in summer’s heat.That would give researchers a little time to work on a vaccine, but so far that’s only a hope.

The Washington Post reported today that it took three months to reach 100,000 coronavirus cases worldwide. The second 100,000 only took 12 days.

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March 21, 2020

Saturday

THE LATEST Covid-19 numbers for America:17,000 people sick, 214 dead.Across Europe, there have been nearly 100,000 cases and 6,000 deaths.

New York and Illinois joined California in adopting measures designed to cloister tens of millions of people in their homes, and other states are expected to do the same. By the end of the weekend it is expected that one of every five Americans will be under orders to stay in their homes.

And the Market continues to reflect the pain.The Dow’s numbers are lower than they were when Trump moved into the White House. It was the Market’s worst week since 2008.Crude oil, which had peaked with per-barrel costs in the high 50s or 60s, is now less than $20 a barrel.

Evidence is piling up that wealthy people and important people are having little trouble getting tested, but poor people are being pretty much ignored.Example:Every player and coach of at least one NBA team has been tested, but poor people find it almost impossible to get a test.

Finally, congressional Democrats and a growing list of governors have been demanding Trump use the Defense Production Act to force American industries to manufacture critical equipment that hospitals across the nation so desperately need.Trump said on Wednesday that he was considering invoking the law, but on Thursday he said it should be up to the governors to obtain the equipment.

We’re not a shipping clerk, he said.

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March 22, 2020

Sunday

ECONOMISTS ARE NOW SAYING the possibility that our economy may sink into a recession is no longer likely.It’s a certainty, but the numbers to prove it just aren’t in yet.

A recession is declared when the economy shrinks two consecutive quarters.Greg Daco, the chief economist at Oxford Economics, says he expects the economy will shrink 0.4 percent in the first quarter of this year and 12 percent in the second, which would be the largest quarterly contraction on record.Goldman Sachs disagrees.Sachs says the second-quarter drop will be 24 percent.

South Korea and the United States were warned about the coronavirus on the same day, and today South Korea has it well under control and the United States does not.Not even nearly.The United States is two weeks behind Italy, which now has nearly 50,000 reported illnesses and 4,000 dead.

A major cause of this is Donald Trump, and that’s not an opinion.It’s an observable fact.While Trump did shut down most air travel from China, which bought us some time, he did nothing to take advantage of that time.While Trump fiddled, South Korea started setting up testing and getting needed medical equipment to the right places.

The New York Times put it this way today:

Mr. Trump’s performance on the national stage in recent weeks has put on display the traits that Democrats and some Republicans consider so jarring – the profound need for personal praise, the propensity to blame others, the lack of human empathy, the penchant for rewriting history, the disregard for the expertise, the distortion of facts, the impatience with scrutiny or criticism.For years, skeptics expressed concern about how he would handle a genuine crisis, and now they know.

Trump is featured in the daily televised Coronavirus press conferences, and health officials and scientists have constantly contradicted him.He once promised a vaccine soon when the professionals warn it will take at least a year.He said that plenty of tests were available at the same time governors struggled to find one.He said millions of masks were available while all over the nation doctors were using the same masks several times, or even making their own.Pundits have suggested that news reporters should quit covering the conferences or at least call them propaganda.

And yet, a poll last Friday by ABC and Ipsos showed 55 percent of the American people think Trump is doing a good job handling the crisis, up from 43 percent a week ago.A Reuters/Ipsos poll the same day put the numbers at 48 percent, up from 38 percent a week ago.

Fox News has been terrible.For two crucial weeks in late February and early March, its hosts talked about the real story involving the coronavirus:It was a Democratic- and media-led plot against Trump.It’s hard to tell whether Fox follows Trump’s lead or vice versa.

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March 23, 2020

Monday

A LITTLE BIT of possibly good news might be breaking -- and if that sounds iffy it’s because it is iffy.

China, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan have demonstrated that, with furious efforts, the coronavirus can be brought under control.

Add that to the growing understanding that the virus has at least one weakness.Health officials have discovered that most often it affects clusters of people, which they say is important because they can contain clusters.

So, it appears that all that’s necessary for health officials to defeat this virus is extraordinary levels of coordination and money from the country’s leaders and extraordinary levels of trust and cooperation from the citizens, with emphasis on the word extraordinary.

But although the government is beginning to do some good things – Congress is about to approve a $1.5 trillion relief bill and the Fed said today it will inject limitless amounts of money into the economy – neither the president nor the citizens are doing their part.Trump has the authority under Defense Production Act to order industries to manufacture the medical supplies that hospitals across the nation are begging for, but so far he has refused to use it because, he says, the supplies are unnecessary.As for the citizens, they are gathering in large clusters all over the nation to party or just be together.

ON THE CAMPAIGN front, Trump continues to use his daily coronavirus press briefings as campaign rallies, while Biden and Sanders sit quietly in their homes. Biden has started looking at possible vice president possibilities (he has said he will choose a woman) while Sanders appears to be considering his options.Emanations from his staff indicate he knows he cannot win the nomination, but by staying in the race he might be able to pull Biden to the left.

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March 24, 2020

Tuesday

A WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION official said the coronavirus infections are accelerating so rapidly that America might become the new epicenter of the global crisis.New York City, which has become the nation’s epicenter, has 25,000 confirmed cases, and the rate of infection is doubling every three days.

Across the nation, more than 46,000 coronavirus cases have been confirmed, although experts say the true number is maybe 10 times higher. On Monday, US deaths surpassed 100 in a single day for the first time.

Nearly 100 million Americans are under orders to stay home, and the US surgeon general says that is the only way to stop this crisis.

But Trump says containment measures are hurting the economy, so he wants the US opened up by Easter (April 12). … We cannot let the cure be worse than the problem itself.

That statement horrified health officials.Dr.Anthony S. Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, says following that advice would cause countless more people to fall ill and countless more to die.

Trump is still refusing to invoke the Defense Production Act that would give him the power to force manufacturers to make the medical equipment hospitals so badly need.He insists it is unnecessary because all the equipment hospitals need or ever will need is being manufactured now.

But again, facts show otherwise.For example, Malaysia, which manufactures three out of every four gloves hospitals worldwide use, has cut the workforce that makes them in half in order to protect workers from the illness.

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March 25, 2020

Wednesday

THE WHITE HOUSE is working with Oracle software to promote unproven coronavirus treatments, including those two malaria drugs that Trump has been promoting as game changers.Five White House senior officials familiar with the project say the software likely will be used to collect information about off-label use of the drugs.

The news has alarmed Fauci and other health officials.They say the program would amount to a sprawling crowd-sourced clinical trial without the usual controls of the F.D.A.

IN EARLY MARCH, when the number of coronavirus cases was still low in America, several polls showed 40 percent of Republicans said they were not at all worried about the disease spreading, while virtually 100 percent of Democrats were worried.Today, however, the numbers are coming closer together as more and more Republicans see the problem.

HOARDING has become a problem, and the largest single item to be hoarded seems to be toilet paper.Toilet paper!

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March 26, 2020

Thursday

THE CORONAVIRUS situation as it appears this morning:

United States:More than 63,000 people have tested positive in every state, D.C., and three US territories.About 900 have died.

New York, the nation’s epicenter:Gov.Andrew Cuomo warns that as many as 140,000 coronavirus victims could flood hospitals that now have a capacity of 53,000.They will need 30,000 ventilators but they only have 4,000.New York City reports 16,800 confirmed cases, 2,800 hospitalizations, and 200 deaths as of Wednesday evening.

Brazil and Mexico:The presidents of both nations, who together govern more than half of Latin America’s population, are scoffing at calls for businesses to shut down and people to self-quarantine.They say the measures are more devastating to people’s welfare than the virus is, which distresses health officials.They say that in a region with high poverty rates, where hundreds of millions of people live in close quarters without access to proper sanitation or health care, that approach creates an ideal breeding ground for the virus, with devastating consequences for public health, the economy and the social fabric.

Around the world:South Africans were told that as of today, and lasting three weeks, liquor sales will be forbidden, and people will not be allowed to walk their dogs.…Spain turned an Olympic-size skating rink into a morgue, and in London and New York convention centers are being converted into hospitals.…Ireland has effectively nationalized private hospitals and clinics. … France, which has been under lockdown for a week, reports that it has arrested more than 100,000 people who broke social distancing rules.…Some 150,000 crewmen on commercial ships have been forced into continued labor because no ports will allow them to disembark.

SIGNS OF THE TIMES:Animal shelters are facing a sudden increase in the number of pets that are being left with them.People losing their jobs just can’t afford to keep them, but others, stuck at home alone, are accepting foster animals…Photos from space are showing clearing skies just about everywhere because so much around the world is shut down and thus less fuel is being used.…The oil glut is causing everyone to run out of storage space for it.…Since US government guidelines say groups must limit themselves to no more than 10 people, funeral homes find themselves having to prohibit bereaved persons from attending the funerals of even their most beloved relatives.

THE SENATE has approved that $2 trillion relief bill, although everyone involved seems to think it will be little more than a down payment on what will be necessary.

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March 27, 2002

Friday

AS OF ABOUT6 p.m. yesterday, the United States counted more than 801,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19, making us the nation with the most cases.We’ve even passed China and Italy.

But the people who do the counting say those numbers are woefully inaccurate.The numbers represent only confirmed