It’s Monday, March 23. Rand Paul of Kentucky tested positive for the coronavirus—the first U.S. senator to do so. While his results were pending, he went to work, the gym, and the pool.
In the rest of today’s newsletter: The COVID-19 pandemic meets Washington gridlock; what Dr. Fauci told our White House correspondent; and the opportunity the people in power seize upon during a pandemic.
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« TODAY IN POLITICS »
(MARK MAKELA / BARCROFT MEDIA / GETTY / THE ATLANTIC)
You know the parameters of social distancing well. You know the forecasts for the pandemic-fueled economic recession. You may also be wondering what America’s politicians and policy experts are doing to mitigate the one-two punch of a public-health and financial crisis. Let’s start with Congress.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have forged an unlikely partnership to negotiate the terms of various economic rescue packages (including a Families First bill that got President Trump’s signature last week).
Still, hiccups have been plentiful: While Senate Republicans and Democrats spar over the next wave of fiscal relief, small businesses are already going belly-up and workers are losing their jobs every day. Congress seems to be a step behind the country’s reality, our staff writer Annie Lowery argues: “Many businesses are already insolvent, have already shut down, have already lost their employees.”
Within the White House, Dr. Anthony Fauci has become the go-to medical expert on-camera as well as behind the scenes. He’s been working with presidents since the Reagan years, and he’s never seen a disease like COVID-19 or a president like Trump, Fauci told my colleague Peter Nicholas:
I think, in some respects, they welcome my voice out there telling the truth. I’m going to keep doing it. And no matter what happens to me, I’m going to keep doing it.
Read Peter’s full interview with Dr. Fauci.
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We are continuing our coverage of the coronavirus and have made some of our most essential stories free for everyone to read. Let us know if you have specific questions about the virus—or if you have a personal experience you’d like to share with us. You can reply directly to this newsletter, or send a note to our team here.
—Christian Paz
« ARGUMENT OF THE DAY »
(AXEL SCHMIDT / REUTERS)
The People in Charge Seize Their Opportunity
Around the world, rulers are using the pandemic as an excuse to grab more power. And the public is going along with it, Anne Applebaum argues.
On March 13—Friday the 13th, as it happened—my husband was driving down a Polish highway when he turned on the news and learned that the country’s borders would shut down in 24 hours. He pulled over and called me. I bought a ticket from London to Warsaw minutes later. I don’t live there all of the time, but my husband is Polish, the only house I own is in rural Poland, and I wanted to be in it. The next morning, Heathrow Airport was spookily empty except for the Warsaw flight, which was packed with people trying to get one of the last commercial trips back into their country. During check-in, agents were refusing to board passengers without a Polish passport (I have one) or residency documents. Then someone realized that the new rules went into effect only at midnight, and so I witnessed a conversation between one of the stewards and two non-Polish passengers: “You realize that you might not be able to fly out again. You realize that you may be in Warsaw for a very long time …”
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« THE CORONAVIRUS READER »
(CHRIS CARLSON / AP IMAGES)
How else is the public debate changing on coronavirus? From immigration to film festivals, society is still understanding the impact of pandemic.
+ How can Immigration and Customs Enforcement protect immigrants held in detention centers from the virus? Release nonviolent detainees, this former acting ICE chief argues.
+ Social distancing must continue. But it has to be done right (and shouldn’t be let up solely because of economic concerns), these public-health experts write.
+ That “unprecedented drop in human contact across the planet is our best chance to save lives.” But how do we fight loneliness and save our social relationships after the storm?
You can keep up with The Atlantic’s most crucial coronavirus coverage here.
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Today’s newsletter was written by Christian Paz, a Politics fellow. It was edited by Shan Wang, who oversees newsletters.
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