from ZeroHedge:

Summary:

• Scott Gottlieb says US can still avoid “Italy-like” outcome


• Cuomo closes Broadway, bans all events in NY with over 500 ppl, reduces venue max capacity by 50%


• UK reports 2 more deaths


• Trudeau and wife to self-quarantine after wife reports flu-like symptoms


• PA. Gov. Tom Wolf shuts down much of Montgomery County


• 2nd Utah Jazz player tests positive


• NJ cutting off nightclub liquor sales after 10pm


• Deaths in Italy above 1,000

• NHL “pauses” play


• Major League Baseball will delay start to 2020 season


• Dr. Fauci says test shortage is major government ‘failing’


• Rick Scott 2nd Senator to self-quarantine over virus


• Senate cancels recess, will stay open next week


• Reporter claims Gobert was careless in the lockerroom


• 2020 champions league tournament postponed until next year


• US Major League soccer suspends play


• Trump says we may need to extend travel ban


• Reports claim once again that Merkel is ready to whip out the checkbook


• Goldman asks workers in NY to work from home in ‘staggered shifts’


• EU officials condemned Trump’s travel ban


• Trump says ‘markets are going to be fine’


• Spain has approved a €2.8 billion rescue package


• Olympic torch lit in front of just 100 spectators


• La Liga suspends season after Real Madrid player tests positive


• 3 F1 racers quarantined


• Blackstone advises portfolio companies to draw down revolving credit lines


• NHL rumored to be planning a league play suspension as playoffs begin


• Passenger on JetBlue flight from NY to FLA tests positive for virus


• Spanish cabinet being tested for coronavirus


• Scandinavia begins shuttering schools


• Iran reaches out to 3 million Iranians who may have been infected


• Market participants wary of dissipating bond market liquidity


• Global deaths pass 4,600

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Update (1500ET):  NBC News has just confirmed that MLB plans to announce plans to delay the start of the 2020 season and suspend Spring Training, which we mentioned below.

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Update (1440ET): Earlier local media reports claimed that the total presumptive positive cases in PA. has climbed to 21, including a doctor at a children’s hospital in Philadelphia. Gov. Tom Wolf announced massive closings in Montgomery County, a suburban county near Philly, after the number of cases in that county climbed to 13, more than half of the state’s total, according to CBS 3 Philly.

A doctor at Saint Christopher’s Hospital for Children has tested positive at a local lab, and his sample is now being sent to the CDC, according to Drexel University officials. The doctor is an independent physician with admitting privileges at St. Christophers. He was last at the hospital on Feb. 26.

In other news, the CDC announced Thursday that it has tested 11,000 “specimens”, which doesn’t mean 11,000 people, as most people are tested at least twice. But CNBC also noted that “drive thru testing” in at least one state. In Minnesota, the Mayo Clinic in Rochester has launched “drive thru” testing allowing patients to drop off samples after a phone conversation with a doctor. Patients must be directed by a doctor before their sample will be accepted and tested.

Read part of the clinic’s statement below:

Mayo Clinic is conducting a drive-through process in Rochester to collect COVID-19 specimens for testing. Transmission of the coronavirus is increasing nationwide, and other institutions have successfully used the drive-through approach.

Patients who meet criteria for testing are directed to the location. Mayo Clinic staff collect the specimens, using appropriate precautions, and send them to the Minnesota Department of Health for analysis. This process reduces the need for other critically constrained resources.

Patients are required to have a phone screening first to determine if testing is appropriate. If approved, patients then will be directed to the drive-through location. There is no additional charge for the drive-through service.

We’ve also found the clip from today’s Congressional testimony where Dr. Fauci delivered a withering criticism of the US’s virus response.

Read More @ ZeroHedge.com