Disruption frenzy: Nations try to slow virus, aid economies
Judie Shape, center, who has tested positive for the coronavirus, but isn't showing symptoms, presses her hand against her window after a visit through the window and on the phone with her daughter Lori Spencer, left, and her son-in-law Michael Spencer, Tuesday, March 17, 2020, at the Life Care Center in Kirkland, Wash., near Seattle. In-person visits are not allowed at the nursing home, which is at the center of the outbreak of the new coronavirus in the United States. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Trucks are stuck in traffic jams for 60 kilometers (36 miles) on Lithuanian side to enter Poland through Kalvarija-Budzisko check point, 230 km (144 miles) west of Vilnius, Lithuania, Tuesday, March 17, 2020. Traffic jams swelled along borders and travelers appealed to their governments for help getting home Tuesday as countries in Europe and beyond imposed strict controls along their frontiers and grappled with the challenge of allowing the flow of goods but restricting people to slow the spread of the coronavirus. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms. F…
Police officers wearing protective masks check papers at a control point at the Champs Elysees avenue in Paris, Tuesday, March 17, 2020. France is imposing nationwide restrictions on how far from their homes people can go and for what purpose as part of the country's strategy to stop the spread of the new coronavirus. 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. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
People line up to enter in a shop to buy supplies in Barcelona, Spain, Tuesday, March 17, 2020. Spain will mobilize 200 billion euros or the equivalent to one fifth of the country's annual output in loans, credit guarantees and subsidies for workers and vulnerable citizens, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced Tuesday. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms. For some, it can cause more severe illness, especially in older adults and people with existing health problems. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
A nurse holds a temperature gun used to measure people's temperatures, a precaution against the spread of the new coronavirus, while processing incoming Haitians at the border crossing Jimani, in the Dominican Republic, Tuesday, March 17, 2020. 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. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)
Trucks are jammed on the motorway A4 near Bautzen, Germany, Tuesday, March 17, 2020. Because of the controls at the border with Poland, a traffic jam formed on the Autobahn 4 between Dresden and Goerlitz, which, according to police, had grown to a length of 40 kilometers by noon. 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. (Robert Michael/dpa via AP)
A police officer speaks to a car driver in Paris, Tuesday, March 17, 2020. French President Emmanuel Macron said that starting on Tuesday, people would be allowed to leave the place they live only for necessary activities such as shopping for food, going to work or taking a walk. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms. For some it can cause more severe illness. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
People wearing protective masks as a precaution against the spread of the new coronavirus are reflected on a bus window, in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, March 17, 2020. President Nicolas Maduro ordered citizens to stay home, and to wear a mask when in public. The vast majority of people recover from the new virus. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
Swiss Border Guard control a French citizen at the Franco-Swiss border at the Jougne Customs office, in Vallorbe, during the Covid-19 Coronavirus pandemic, in Vallorbe, Switzerland, Tuesday, March 17, 2020. From 17 March 2020 until further notice, Switzerland's authorities proclaiming the state of necessity to fight against the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus causing the Covid-19 disease. (Laurent Gillieron/Keystone via AP)
A Pakistani volunteer checks the body temperature of passengers arriving at a railway station in Peshawar, Pakistan, Tuesday, March 17, 2020. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms. For some it can cause more severe illness. (AP Photo/Muhammad Sajjad)
Spanish police officers controls the identity of a woman close to the border between Spain and France near the Pyrenees Spanish village of Dantxarinea, northern Spain, Tuesday, March 17, 2020. Spain is restoring border controls and severely restricting who can enter the country. Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska announced Monday that only Spaniards or residents in Spain, people who work just across the border or who have a compelling need will be allowed through. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms. For some it can cause more severe illness. (AP…
The UME (Emergency Army Unit) attend the train station in Granada, Spain Tuesday March 17, 2020. Police checked passports and IDs at the Pyrenees' border with France and along the 1,200 kilometer shared border with Portugal, as Spain re-established controls for incoming and outgoing travellers to stem the new COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms. For some, it can cause more severe illness, especially in older adults and people with existing health problems. (AP Photo/Carlos Gil)
S.F., a 16-year-old Greek graffiti artist, spray-paints a design, a woman wearing a face mask referring to protection against coronavirus, on the roof of his apartment block in Athens, Tuesday, March 17, 2020. Greece has imposed a wide range of public safety measures to try and contain the coronavirus outbreak, including school and store closures. The vast majority of people recover from the new coronavirus. According to the World Health Organization, most people recover in about two to six weeks, depending on the severity of the illness. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
Vehicles enter the United States as a minivan drives to Canada in the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel in Detroit, Monday, March 16, 2020. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he is closing his country's borders to anyone not a citizen, an American or a permanent resident amid the coronavirus outbreak. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
BERLIN (AP) — Mass disruptions shuddered around the globe as governments struggled to slow the spread of the coronavirus while trying to keep afloat their economies. The impact included border traffic jams in Lithuania, the deaths of 17 elderly residents in one Madrid nursing home and a bus service halt in Detroit when drivers didn't show up for work.
European Union leaders agreed to shut down the bloc's external borders for 30 days. The final U.S. state to confirm a case, West Virginia, showed the virus has spread nationwide, and entertainment shutdowns reached the glitzy casinos on the Las Vegas Strip as Nevada's governor ordered all non-essential businesses to close.
The administration of President Donald Trump was considering a plan to immediately return to Mexico all people who cross the southern border illegally, according to two administration officials who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because the plan hasn’t been finalized.
Increasingly worried about the economic fallout of the global shutdown, the U.S., Britain and the Netherlands announced rescue packages totaling hundreds of billions of dollars, while longtime International Monetary Fund critic Venezuela asked the institution for a $5 billion loan.
But it was everyday people who suffered most.
Miguel Aguirre, his wife and two children were the only people on a normally bustling street near San Francisco's City Hall, a day after six area counties issued a “shelter-in-place” order requiring most residents to leave their homes only for food, medicine or exercise for three weeks — the most sweeping lockdown in the U.S. On Tuesday morning, only two coffee shops on the street were open. Both were empty.
Aguirre said he and his wife, janitors at a Boys and Girls Club, heard about the order on TV, but showed up to work anyway because they need the money. His supervisor texted him to leave.
“If we don't work, we don't eat,” said Aguirre, who brought his two daughters along because schools were shuttered. He had already lost his second job, at a hotel, when tourism conferences began canceling a month ago.
In Brussels, Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, said there had been "a unanimous and united approach,” to the decision to prohibit most foreigners from entering the EU for 30 days.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said European leaders agreed in a conference call to the commission's proposal for an entry ban to the bloc — along with Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Britain — with "very, very limited exceptions." Germany will implement the decision immediately.
On Monday, the EU issued guidelines to ease the flow of critical goods like food and medicine, while helping individual nations restrict non-essential travel.
But on Tuesday it was chaos on many borders with traffic backed up for dozens of kilometers (miles).
“We are all desperate, cold and sleepless here for a third day," said Janina Stukiene, who was stuck in Lithuania on the border with Poland with her husband and son. "We just want to go home.”
The line of cars and trucks in Lithuania was about 60 kilometers (37 miles) long after Poland closed its border. Similar traffic jams were visible on the borders with Germany and the Czech Republic.
French President Emmanuel Macron tightened internal guidelines, allowing people to leave home only to buy food, go to work or do essential tasks. He said people had not complied with earlier guidelines and “we are at war.”
In Italy, infections jumped to 27,980. With 2,503 deaths, Italy accounts for a third of the global death toll.
Spain, the fourth-most infected country, saw its cases rise by more than 2,000 in one day to 11,178. Deaths from COVID-19 jumped to 491, a toll that included 17 elderly residents of a Madrid nursing home who died over five days.
Among them was the 86-year-old diabetic grandmother of Ainhoa Ruiz.
“We feel totally helpless and devastated because my grandma spent her last week only with her husband and caretakers but no other relatives,” Ruiz said, adding that her main worry is now the health of her grandfather, who is 87 and remained by his wife during her last days.
The global number of cases worldwide exceeds 198,000, though 81,000 of them have recovered, mostly in China.
The virus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough, for most people, but severe illness is more likely in the elderly and people with existing health problems. COVID-19 has killed over 7,900 people.
As the pandemic intensified in Europe and spread deeper into the Americas and Africa, the ebbing of cases where the virus was first detected late last year was dramatic. The central Chinese city of Wuhan reported just one new case Wednesday for the second day, after seeing thousands of new cases per day at its peak.
Major Asian stock markets were higher Wednesday after Wall Street rebounded on Trump's promise of aid to get the U.S. economy through the pandemic. Still, a growing number of traders see a recession likely, if not already here.
The White House proposed a roughly $850 billion rescue package — a sweeping stimulus not seen since the Great Recession of 2008 — and called for its rapid approval. It would provide relief for small businesses, $50 billion for the airline industry and a big tax cut for wage-earners, said two people familiar with the request who described it on the condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak publicly.
In Britain, the government unveiled a massive economic support package. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said his government will “act like any wartime government and do whatever it takes to support the economy.”
Among the measures, Treasury chief Rishi Sunak said the government would provide 330 billion pounds ($405 billion) worth of government-backed loans and guarantees for small and large businesses.
In the U.S., the death toll surpassed 100, and officials urged older Americans and those with health problems to stay home. They also recommended all group gatherings be capped at 10 people. California's governor said most of the state's schools would probably be closed until the fall.
The pandemic roiled U.S. primary elections Tuesday in four states. Ohio called off the vote hours before polls were to open but voting went on in Illinois, Arizona and Florida. The big question was whether coronavirus would affect turnout.
Problems arose, including in Florida, which has the most delegates up for grabs. In one county, two dozen poll workers dropped out, leaving staff scrambling to train replacements. “We are at the honest end of the rope,” Elections Supervisor Paul Lux said.
New York City's mayor warned that residents should be prepared for the possibility of a shelter-in-place order within days. Mayor Bill de Blasio said he wants city and state officials to decide within 48 hours, given the fast spread of the virus.
In Britain, Johnson told people to eliminate unnecessary contact with others, work from home where possible and avoid bars, restaurants, theaters and other venues. Schools remained open for the time being.
Some scientists, and many worried Britons, have said the government should have acted sooner.
Britain’s dramatic escalation of restrictions was sparked by new scientific evidence suggesting 250,000 people in the U.K. and more than 1 million in the U.S. might die if the country did not suppress the disease's spread.
The analysis, published by Imperial College London, drew on the latest data from China and Italy. It found that a strategy of “mitigation” — slowing but not stopping the spread of the virus while protecting vulnerable groups like the elderly — would still lead to a huge number of cases that would overwhelm the health care system.
And in Detroit, bus riders were stranded after most drivers didn't report to work, apparently concerned about the virus and confused as to whether Michigan's new public gathering restrictions included vehicles loaded with commuters.
The city's bus service was canceled at 8 a.m. Surprised riders tried to get rides from family and friends.
“Just now?" a maintenance man, Amadou Sanders, asked. “How am I going to get to work?”
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Sullivan reported from Minneapolis. Associated Press writers Elliot Spagat in San Diego, Colleen Long in Washington, Alan Clendenning in Phoenix, Lorne Cook in Brussels, Frank Jordans, Kirsten Grieshaber and Geir Moulson in Berlin; Jocelyn Gecker in San Francisco, Ed White in Detroit, Sylvie Corbet in Paris, Aritz Parra in Madrid, Adam Geller in New York, Mike Corder in Amsterdam, Jill Lawless and Maria Cheng in London, Liudas Dapkus in Vilnius, Lithuania, Colleen Barry in Milan, Italy and Karel Janicek in Prague.
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The Associated Press receives support for health and science coverage from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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Follow AP coverage of the virus outbreak at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak