memeorandum: Coronavirus: Northern Italy to ‘quarantine 16 million people’ (BBC)

Official: White House didn't want to tell seniors not to fly — NEW YORK (AP) — The White House overruled health officials who wanted to recommend that elderly and physically fragile Americans be advised not to fly on commercial airlines because of the new coronavirus, a federal official told The Associated Press.

Adam Rogers / Wired:

Trump's Coronavirus Press Event Was Even Worse Than It Looked — His remarks at the CDC on Friday were misguided, misleading, and show how misinformation could hamper Covid-19 containment efforts. — On a visit to the Atlanta headquarters of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Friday …

Discussion: USA Today, Twin Cities, Washington Post, The Hill and 89.3 KPCC

Washington Post:

Coronavirus continues its rapid spread, confounding efforts by global leaders — Washington DC confirms its first case while U.S., global death toll rises — Efforts to contain the coronavirus outbreak showed signs of faltering on Saturday as Florida reported the U.S.'s first deaths outside …

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA

New York Times:

Inside Trump Administration, Debate Raged Over What to Tell Public — The administration's response to the coronavirus has repeatedly matched public health experts against a hesitant White House, where worry of panic dominates. — WASHINGTON — After weeks of conflicting signals …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Washington Post:

Squandered time: How the Trump administration lost control of the coronavirus crisis — The coronavirus had already begun to spiral out of control when Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, during routine Senate testimony, made a surprising claim. — “As of today, I can announce …

Discussion: Raw Story

Dan Diamond / Politico:

Trump's mismanagement helped fuel coronavirus crisis — On Friday, as coronavirus infections rapidly multiplied aboard a cruise ship marooned off the coast of California, health department officials and Vice President Mike Pence came up with a plan to evacuate thousands of passengers …

Discussion: Bloomberg and Raw Story

Los Angeles Times:

California man had coronavirus before he boarded Grand Princess, cruise ship official says — A California man who died of the novel coronavirus brought it on board the Grand Princess, a cruise ship official said Saturday, suggesting the virus has been in the state much longer than originally believed.

Discussion: New York Post

The Hill:
CDC has tested 1,583 people for coronavirus

Discussion: Shero

Washington Post:
What went wrong with the coronavirus tests in the U.S.

Discussion: New York Times

Greg Clary / CNN: CPAC attendee tested positive for coronavirus

Bloomberg: U.S. Has Tested Fewer Than 6,000 Virus Samples, FDA Says

Kim Bellware / Washington Post:

Matt Gaetz made light of coronavirus by wearing a gas mask. Now one of his constituents has died. — Days after Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) wore an enormous gas mask during a House floor vote on an emergency funding package for the coronavirus response, the congressman announced that a resident …

Discussion: Congressman Matt Gaetz, floridahealth.gov, New York Post, POLITICUSUSA, HuffPost and UPI

Gillian Brockell / Washington Post:

Trump 'didn't know people died from the flu.' It killed his grandfather. — In Atlanta Friday, President Trump talked about the number of people infected with the novel coronavirus in other countries vs. the United States. He also compared coronavirus with influenza.

Discussion: The Independent, The National Interest and Source Politics

Josh Dawsey / Washington Post:

When an emergency room suspected I had coronavirus, things got serious fast — The snaking check-in line at the emergency room last Friday and the scores of sickly patients seeking comfort in the spartan lobby presaged a long, dreadful morning. — Then something worse happened …

Washington Post:

Live updates: More than 1,200 new cases reported in Italy in past 24 hours; New York has 21 additional cases — New York confirmed 21 new coronavirus cases Saturday, and Italy reported that country's biggest daily increase in infections since the outbreak there began.

Discussion: Digby's Hullabaloo, Variety and UPI

New York Times:

Erik Prince Recruits Ex-Spies to Help Infiltrate Liberal Groups — Mr. Prince, a contractor close to the Trump administration, contacted veteran spies for operations by Project Veritas, the conservative group known for conducting stings on news organizations and other groups.

Discussion: Slate, Common Dreams, Balloon Juice, CNN, The Week, The Gateway Pundit, The Hill and Raw Story

Lorenzo Tondo / The Guardian:

Italy set to quarantine whole of Lombardy due to coronavirus — Government's draft decree would impose fines on anyone caught entering or leaving northern region — The Italian government is to lockdown the northern region of Lombardy, as it battles to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

Discussion: Bloomberg and Mother Jones

BBC:

Coronavirus: Northern Italy to ‘quarantine 16 million people’ — Italy is set to lock down at least 16 million people in the region of Lombardy and in 11 other provinces in the north and east of the country. — The mandatory quarantine will last until early April.

Wall Street Journal:
Italy Plans Large-Scale Lockdown in Country's North to Fight Coronavirus

Discussion: New York Post and The Verge

Jason Horowitz / New York Times: Italy Locks Down Much of the Country's North

Jonathan Allen / NBC News:

Why Bernie Sanders may be Joe Biden's best surrogate — Analysis: When the Vermont senator calls himself the race's true progressive, it pushes many voters whose top priority is beating Trump toward the former vice president. — Bernie Sanders is stacking the rest of his chips …

Discussion: Politico and Breitbart

Alice Miranda Ollstein / Politico:

First coronavirus case in D.C. is from community spread, officials say — Public health officials in Washington, D.C., have confirmed the city's first known case of coronavirus, Mayor Muriel Bowser told reporters Saturday night. — The infected man is a D.C. resident in his 50s who started exhibiting symptoms in late February.

Discussion: Associated Press

Brianne Pfannenstiel / Des Moines Register:

Iowa Poll: Joni Ernst's approval rating slips as she mounts reelection campaign — U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst's approval rating has fallen among all Iowans as she begins mounting her re-election campaign, but a plurality of Iowa voters say they would definitely vote to re-elect her.

CBS News:

Fiona Hill says Vladimir Putin has U.S. “exactly where he wants us” — In her first interview since the impeachment inquiry, President Trump's former top adviser on Russia tells 60 Minutes the Russians didn't invent partisan divides in America, but “they understand how to exploit them.”

Discussion: Politico

The Boston Globe:

Prayers in Vegas, slumped shoulders in N.H. — inside the final days of Warren's campaign — LAS VEGAS — It was debate day, and on the 33rd floor of the grand Bellagio hotel, high above a city of spectacle and risk, Senator Elizabeth Warren was ready to pray.It was a ritual she and her husband …

Jon Schuppe / NBC News:

Google tracked his bike ride past a burglarized home. That made him a suspect. — “I was using an app to see how many miles I rode my bike and now it was putting me at the scene of the crime,” the man said. — The email arrived on a Tuesday afternoon in January, startling Zachary McCoy …

Discussion: INSIDER and The Verge

New York Times:

Coronavirus in N.Y.: Cuomo Declares State of Emergency — The announcement came as the number of patients in New York rose to 76, including a man who is apparently an Uber driver in Queens. — ALBANY, N.Y. — Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo declared a state of emergency on Saturday as the number …

Discussion: Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, Gothamist and Slate

Alexa Ura / The Texas Tribune:

Dallas County asks for Super Tuesday recount after discovering it missed some ballots — In a petition filed late Friday in state district court, the county is now seeking to perform a recount of backup paper ballots. — Dallas County officials are seeking a recount of the March 3 primary results …

Maureen Dowd / New York Times:

Trump's Crazy Fantasy World — In what The Spectator calls “the Year of the Drunken Uncle,” three old guys vie for the presidency amid coronavirus fears and a careering stock market. — WASHINGTON — The cruel insults to Joe Biden's mental acuity are flying fast and ferocious on Fox News.

Discussion: Political Wire and Raw Story

Victoria Ward / Telegraph:

Prince Andrew hires General Pinochet's former lawyer as he fights FBI Epstein probe — Clare Montgomery QC, the leading expert on extradition law, whose clients have included Augusto Pinochet and Nirav Modi has been hired — The Duke of York has hired Britain's most respected extradition lawyer …

Taylor Locke / CNBC:

Amtrak suspends nonstop Acela service between DC and New York due to coronavirus — The Acela nonstop service will be temporarily suspended starting Tuesday, March 10 until Tuesday, May 26. — Amtrak has also waived change fees on all existing or new reservations made before April 30.

Discussion: Mediaite

Michael Levenson / New York Times:

Florida Woman Changed Voters' Party Affiliations, Officials Say — Cheryl A. Hall falsified 10 registration forms, at least six of which enrolled Democratic and independent voters as Republicans, said the authorities, who are eyeing an additional 109 forms.

Ross Douthat / New York Times:

The Coronavirus Is Coming for Trump's Presidency — Will a nationalist president be undone by his underreaction to a foreign threat? — On Jan. 31, over a month ago, the Trump administration made an excellent decision: In an effort to limit the spread of the coronavirus …