Trump’s Desperate, Last-Ditch Effort To Hike Tensions With Iran-- This Might Be The Final Stretch For His Failed Policy Of Maximum Pressure

Iranian civilians are endangered by recent sabotage carried out  against both military and civilian targets. Here a woman sells spices in the bazaar. Photo: Reese Erlich

-by Reese Erlich
author, The Iran Agenda Today: The Real Story Inside Iran and What's Wrong with U.S. Policy.

During the past month, Iran has suffered a half-dozen explosions and fires at military and civilian sites. A bomb blew up near the Parchin missile base outside Tehran, Iran’s capital. Fires broke out at an electric power station and aboard seven ships in a southern port city.

Iranian government authorities say some of the incidents were accidents. But the most serious, it appears, was an act of sabotage.

On July 2, a blast ripped through the main assembly hall at Natanz, a facility that produces centrifuge parts essential for enriching uranium for Iran’s nuclear power program.

No one officially took credit for the sabotage, but the New York Times reported that a “Middle East intelligence” source admitted that Israel was behind the bombing. An Israeli newspaper later identified the source as Yossi Cohen, head of the Mossad intelligence agency.

Analysts say such a brazen attack, which constitutes an act of war, would need the approval of officials in Washington, D.C.

“If the US did not participate in the attack directly, at the very least it gave Israel its consent,” Muhammad Sahimi, a professor at the University of Southern California and Iran expert, says in an interview.

Washington and Tel Aviv think such attacks, along with the unilateral U.S. sanctions, are a low-risk means of pushing back on Iran. They are an escalation of Washington’s “maximum pressure” campaign—which has notably failed and will likely be abandoned after the U.S. presidential election.

“There’s a sense that there’s a bit of desperation right now” in both capitals, says Trita Parsi, executive vice president and co-founder of the Quincy Institute, an anti-interventionist think tank in Washington, D.C. He likens the attempts to those of medieval archers fighting a losing battle: “Empty your quiver... shoot all your arrows.”

October surprise?

Some analysts speculate that the Trump Administration is seeking to provoke Iran into military retaliation. Trump could then launch a war, rally support at home, and win the election. It’s a classic “October Surprise” or even a “Wag the Dog” scenario.

But Foad Izadi does not agree with that analysis.

“Iran is not Iraq,” Izadi, an assistant professor of American studies at the University of Tehran, tells me by phone from Tehran. “Any overt war runs the danger of serious US casualties. He should know, after being President for almost four years, attacking Iran has consequences.”

Izadi does not think that “starting a new war with Iran a few months before the election” is in Trump’s interest. “Even a limited war is not useful for him.”

But that doesn’t preclude other forms of U.S. aggression.

On July 23, a U.S. fighter jet flew close to an Iranian civilian airliner on a routine flight from Tehran, as it crossed Syria on its way to Beirut, Lebanon. The U.S. military claimed to be conducting a “visual inspection” of the plane in order to “ensure the safety of coalition personnel at At Tanf garrison,” says Captain Bill Urban, spokesperson for US Central Command.

Urban claimed the F-15 fighter jet kept 1,000 yards away from the airliner. But a video shot by passengers shows a jet flying much closer. The proximity of the F-15 forced the Iranian pilot to drop 14,000 feet in four minutes, injuring several passengers.

According to Izadi, the US military has no business “inspecting” a civilian airliner flying in a normal civilian air corridor over Syria. In fact, he says, the United States “has no right to be in Syria at all.”

The Trump Administration keeps several hundred troops in Syria in defiance of the Syrian government and without authorization from the United Nations or any other international body.

Iranians are particularly sensitive about US interactions with civilian planes. In 1988, the U.S. Navy shot down an Iranian airliner, killing all 290 passengers and crew. After initially providing false information about where and how fast the plane was flying, Washington admitted to shooting down the airliner and paid compensation to the victims’ families.

“These things unify the Iranian people,” Izadi says. “Whether they like the government or not, Iranians don’t want to be on a plane that will be shot down.”

Iranian response

To date, the Iranian government has not overtly responded to the U.S. provocations. It seems more likely that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is waiting for the U.S. election on November 3, which could result in the election of Joe Biden.

“Iranians are holding their fire, playing the long game,” Parsi says. “They fear it may be a trap to give Trump an excuse to go farther.”

Iran’s conservative hardliners, meanwhile, denounce Rouhani as vacillating in the face of a US and Israeli onslaught. But Parsi says these hardliners “are playing a political game. They understand the logic of not doing anything for now, but that doesn’t prevent them from calling Rouhani weak.”

Sahimi, a close observer of Iranian politics, agrees that “there is a lot of ‘hot’ rhetoric against President Rouhani and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif by the hardliners. But I do not expect any practical action in the near future.”

Depending on what policy the United States adopts after the elections, Sahimi expects “the response to come at a later time and in a manner and at locations where neither Israel nor the US would expect.”

Biden has pledged, if elected, to reverse course on Iran. Izadi believes a Biden Administration would change the Trump policy of maximum pressure. “Whether doing it through rejoining the nuclear agreement or coming up with some other policies, we have to wait and see,” he says.

Parsi, who is familiar with the views of Biden’s Iran advisors, says the new administration would likely call for “compliance for compliance.”

“Biden could lift sanctions by executive order without rejoining the nuclear accord,” he says. “That’s a necessary step, but not sufficient.” The new administration will also have to work with Congress and lay the groundwork for restoring the nuclear accord.

Despite the current crisis, Izadi says, “I’m optimistic. Trump’s policies are not working. The U.S. will have to change, and the change will be for the best.”

Trump's Veto Stands-- He Is Free To Attack Iran At Will

Blood On Their Hands by Nancy Ohanian

On Thursday, the Senate attempted to override Trump's veto of the joint resolution that directed him to remove American armed forced from hostilities against Iran that hadn't been authorized by Congress. There was never any chance an override was in the cards-- not with 44 Republicans firmly committed to backing anything and everything Trump does. Every Senate Democrat voted to override but only 6 Republicans had the guts (or sense) to join them:

Lamar Alexander (R-TN)
Bill Cassidy (R-LA)
Susan Collins (R-ME)
Mike Lee (R-UT)
Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
Rand Paul (R-KY)

After the vote, Al Gross, the independent running on the Democratic line in Alaska, noted that "Yet again, party-line Dan Sullivan put National Republicans first, and left Alaska behind. Alaskans don’t believe in party run politics especially when it means putting our military members at risk without oversight and careful consideration. Considering our needs or interests has never been something Dan Sullivan takes to heart so it’s not surprising he voted this way. Dan’s like lap dog for the national Republicans, and Alaskans deserve a real, independent leader to put Alaskans first, whether the president likes it or not."

Had Gross been in the Senate, both Alaska senators would have voted to override. Something tells me Murkowski is hoping that's the outcome in November anyway.

There was no vote in the House, but it's worth remembering that when it passed the House on March 11, there were just 6 no good, dirty, fake Democrats who sided with Trump and the GOP:

• Anthony Brindisi (Blue Dog-NY)
• Kendra Horn (Blue Dog-OK)
• Elaine Luria (New Dem-VA)
• Ben McAdams (Blue Dog-UT)
• Stephanie Murphy (Blue Dog-FL)
• Max Rose (Blue Dog-NY)

The only one of these war-monger fake Dems with a primary os Kendra Horn, where she is being challenged by progressive Democrat Tom Guild. Yesterday, he told OK-05 voters that "Under no circumstances should America become engaged in military action in Iran without prior congressional approval. I am deeply disappointed that my June 30 primary opponent Rep. Horn gave the current president or any president carte blanche to start another costly war in the Middle East. During this widespread and destructive pandemic and unprecedented meltdown in the American economy, we should be rebuilding and investing in America, not engaging in more unauthorized international military actions. The American people are tired to the point of exhaustion with America’s endless wars."

Blue America's most recently endorsed candidate, West Virginia progressive Cathy Kunkel, noted that the Republican in the seat she's running for, Alex Mooney, "the hypocritical Republican Congressman from WV-02, was the only Republican to cosponsor legislation (HR 1274) repealing the Authorization for Use of Military Force, yet to vote against this resolution. When push came to shove, support for Trump in an election year was more important than his previous belief in restoring Congressional authority to make war. H.R. 1274 cosponsor list show that Thomas Massie (KY) and Justin Amash (MI) were the only other Republican co-sponsors, and both were consistent in supporting the resolution to remove U.S. troops from hostilities with Iran)."

Please consider contributing to Tom's and Cathy's campaigns by clicking on the Blue America 2020 congressional primary thermometer above and giving what you can.

Foreign Correspondent: U.S. Beats War Drums in Middle East-- Leaders In Washington And Tehran Say They Don’t Want A Full-Scale War, But They Are Playing A Dangerous Game

U.S. soldiers are increasingly disliked in Iraq. Photo: Reese Erlich

-by Reese Erlich,
Author, The Iran Agenda Today

While the world focuses on the coronavirus pandemic, tensions between the U.S. and Iran are heating up.

The two countries are engaging in tit-for-tat military attacks that threaten a wider war. In mid-March, Washington officials accused an Iran-allied militia of launching rockets at a US military base in Iraq, killing two American soldiers and one British soldier. The Pentagon retaliated with a missile strike against the group Kataib Hezbollah in Iraq, killing militiamen, five Iraqi servicemen, and a civilian who were also at the base. On March 26 rockets once again hit near the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad’s Green Zone.

The Pentagon sent two aircraft carriers to the region, claiming in a March 19 Navy statement that the U.S. is protecting “freedom of navigation and [the] free flow of commerce.” Threatening a possible military attack on Iran, the Navy said the carriers “provide the combatant commander significant striking power for contingency operations.”

Leaders in Washington and Tehran say they don’t want a full-scale war, but they are playing a dangerous game. And the people of Iraq will suffer the consequences.

“Iraq has become a proxy war between the U.S. and Iran,” says Raed Jarrar, an Iraqi-born human rights activist and writer based in Washington, D.C., in a phone interview. “Iraq is paying in blood and treasure.”

How it all began

In 2018, U.S. President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled out of the nuclear accord with Iran and imposed harsh sanctions on Tehran. Iran waited a year to see if the European signatories to the accord-- Britain, France, and Germany--  would live up to the agreement by engaging in normal trade and investment. The Europeans knuckled under to Trump, so Iran decided to slam down its fist.

By mid-2019, oil tankers from US-allied countries came under attack. Iran seized a U.K. tanker and shot down a US drone. Iran also pulled back from some provisions of the nuclear accord.

At the end of 2019, Iran-allied militias launched rocket and mortar attacks on U.S. bases in Iraq. Washington portrays these militias as tools of Iran. Groups such as Kataib Hezbollah do receive arms and training from Iran, but they are also now part of the Iraqi army.

The U.S. picks its favorites within the Iraqi military as well, arming and training Kurdish militias and Iraqi army special forces.

Kataib Hezbollah and similar Iran-allied militias initially bore the brunt of fighting ISIS, according to Patrick Theros, a former US ambassador to Qatar and now a strategic advisor to the Gulf International think tank in Washington, D.C.

“The militias are not Iranian controlled,” Theros tells me in a phone interview. “The Iranians can’t just send an order and be confident it will be obeyed.”

But the Trump Administration acts as if the militias are extensions of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, as seen in the January 3 assassination of Iranian military leader Qasem Soleinmani and Iraqi militia head Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.

Assassinations backfire

Those assassinations were a huge mistake, according to Nader Talebzadeh, an analyst and influential TV host in Iran. “What the American President did was unify the Iranian people and took things to a different level,” he tells me in an interview.

Ordinary Iraqis were even more outraged at the murder of al-Muhandis, who was an extremely popular leader in the fight against ISIS, according to Theros.

“We’re killing Iraqis, not Iranians,” Theros says. “That affects the attitudes toward us.”

The Iraqi parliament passed a resolution calling for the withdrawal of all foreign troops. Iraqi military leaders demanded that Washington get permission from top Iraqi leadership prior to launching another retaliatory raid.

Trump responded to these assertions of Iraqi sovereignty by threatening to impose harsh sanctions and seize Iraq’s central bank reserves held by the Federal Reserve Bank in New York.

“That makes us look like an occupying force,” Theros notes wryly.

Resentment of Iran

Iraqis have plenty of legitimate complaints against their leaders in Tehran. Iranian troops entered Iraq to assist the fight against ISIS, but stayed to spread Iranian influence. Many resent Iran’s role in supporting brutal and corrupt Iraqi politicians.

Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis took to the streets in late 2019, protesting both the US and Iranian presence. Demonstrators burned down two Iranian consulates. Ordinary Iraqis were furious at the lack of electricity, water, and widespread government corruption. Iranian-allied militias and government forces brutally suppressed the peaceful demonstrations, killing more than 600 people and injuring tens of thousands.

The demonstrations forced the resignation of Prime Minister Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi on March 1. Adnan al-Zurufi was appointed the new prime minister, but parliament must confirm him by mid-April. Al-Zurufi had lived in the US for years and holds dual U.S./Iraqi citizenship. He returned to Iraq after the 2003 US invasion, and Washington installed him as governor of Najaf province.

Iraqi politicians are wheeling and dealing over al-Zurufi’s nomination. He has US backing and is hoping for Iranian support as well.

The opposition street protestors see al-Zurufi as part of the old establishment they oppose, but their numbers have dwindled. While thousands had occupied Baghdad’s Tahrir Square at the height of protests last year, only a few hundred remain today.

But Theros says the world shouldn’t write off Iraq’s protest movement. “Unless the government addresses the issues they were protesting, they will be back,” he says. “It’s gone dormant, but it’s not dead.”

U.S. policy failure

Iran currently faces a series of crises: low international oil prices, major flooding in the south, and a spreading coronavirus pandemic.

Harsh, unilateral U.S. sanctions have severely damaged the Iranian economy but have not changed Iran’s policies in the region. Nor has U.S. military action.

Nevertheless, the Trump Administration is pressuring the new Iraqi prime minister to cut off imports of Iranian gas and electricity, in keeping with US sanctions. For the moment, Washington has given Iraq waivers to allow trade to continue. Many Iraqis don’t like Iran but the economies of the two countries are deeply intertwined.

“They can’t do it,” Theros says. “They have no choice but to choose Iran over the U.S.”

So the ball is in the U.S.’ court. Trump can continue his “maximum pressure campaign” against Iran and face continued Iraqi attacks on US troops. Or he can back off to focus on domestic concerns and avoid a wider war.

Iranians can wait. They may yet see regime change in Washington this November, long before it comes to Tehran.

Around The World With COVID-19

Probably too late, Iran is finally warning its citizens that millions of Iranians could die in the pandemic if they ignore the health guidelines. Those are basically the same health guidelines virtually no one is following in any of the Trump counties and states. Until recently Iran has followed the same basic guidelines as Trump-- basically ignoring the outbreak and hoping it would go away. There are no accurate numbers available from Iran but you get stories about bodies piling in morgues, mass graves and many thousands of critically ill people in swamped hospitals without the capacity to care for them.

In announcing the new warning, the Iranian state TV journalist, Dr. Afruz Eslami, cited a study by Tehran’s prestigious Sharif University of Technology, which offered three scenarios: If people cooperate fully now, Iran will see 120,000 infections and 12,000 deaths before the outbreak is over; if they offer medium cooperation, there will be 300,000 cases and 110,000 deaths.

But if people fail to follow any guidance, it could collapse Iran’s already-strained medical system, Eslami said. If the “medical facilities are not sufficient, there will be 4 million cases, and 3.5 million people will die,” she said.

...Underlining that urgency was the fatwa issued by Khamenei, which prohibited “unnecessary” travel. It comes as the public ignored repeated warnings and pleas from security forces. Such a decree is rare by Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters.

Some Iranian media later said Khamenei hadn’t issued a fatwa, though semiofficial news agencies believed to be close to the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said the order had been made.

Late Monday night, angry crowds stormed the courtyards of the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad and the Fatima Masumeh shrine in Qom. Many people visit the shrine in Qom 24 hours a day, seven days a week, touching and kissing the shrine.That has worried health officials, who for weeks wanted Iran’s Shiite clergy to close them.

State TV had announced the closures earlier in the day, sparking the demonstrations.

“We are here to say that Tehran is damn wrong to do that!” one Shiite cleric shouted at the shrine in Mashhad, according to online video. Others joined him in chanting: “The health minister is damn wrong to do that, the president is damn wrong to do that!”

Police later dispersed the crowds and made arrests. Religious authorities and a prominent Qom seminary called the demonstration an “insult” to the shrine.

Iran’s shrines draw Shiite pilgrims from all over, likely contributing to the virus’ regional spread. Saudi Arabia has closed off Islam’s holiest sites and on Tuesday said it would halt communal Friday prayers in the kingdom.

President Hassan Rouhani said that despite the closures, “our soul is closer to the saints more than at any time.”

State TV reported teams were deployed to screen travelers leaving major cities in 13 provinces, including the capital, Tehran. But Iran has 31 provinces and authorities haven’t tried to lock down the country the way its allies Iraq and Lebanon have done.

The teams check travelers and send those with fevers to quarantine centers. Iran has been urging people to stay home, but many ignore the call.

In apparent efforts to try to curb the spread, Iran has released 85,000 prisoners on temporary leave, judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili said. That number included half of all “security-related” prisoners, he said without elaborating. Western nations have urged Iran to release dual nationals and others, alleging they are used as bargaining chips in negotiations.

Dozens of Iranian officials have tested positive and 78 year old Ayatollah Hashem Bathaei, a member of the Assembly of Experts, which has the power to appoint or dismiss Iran’s supreme leader, died on Monday.

Ahmad Amirabadi represents Qom is the Majlis (Parliament) and he says that "The coronavirus outbreak situation in Qom is not good. In my opinion, the government's control of the spread of the disease has failed. The government's fight against the coronavirus is zero. To date, the nurses in the hospitals have no appropriate [protective] clothing for the conditions of the quarantine and they are treating patients in fear and horror. The nurses have had many problems so far, but have few resources. Unfortunately, the government is not as fearful as it should be, and is not treating the issue as a crisis. It is true that we must maintain calm, but we must not reflect the scope of the crisis [to the public] as if nothing were happening. Ten people are dying every day in Qom from coronavirus. In the past two weeks, up to last night, some 50 coronavirus patients have died in Qom, and the blame rests on the health minister. Unfortunately, three weeks have passed since the virus reached Qom, but the authorities have informed [the public of this] only recently. It is true that 250 people are now quarantined, but there are not enough resources in Qom, and sometimes not enough masks in the pharmacies [for the public]. At a secret Majlis session I asked the health minister to quarantine Qom, and I even argued with him about the lies he is telling the public, because the circumstances are not as the government is telling the public, and the situation in Qom is critical... The government did not want to release the news about the coronavirus so as not to frighten the public... All this time, since the outbreak of the virus in Qom, 32 people in quarantine have died... Two children were diagnosed with it, [and] even the president of Qom University of Medical Sciences was infected, and in light of the critical situation a substitute [for him] must be chosen as soon as possible. The nurses have no means of protection, despite the health minister's statements that since this morning 7,000 [sets of protective] clothing have been sent to the nurses. I don't know if these statements are true or false. The government has so far taken no special action against the coronavirus... In the past 48 hours, four opthalmologists were sent to Qom, but they fled overnight. According to statements by the Qom University of Medical Sciences president, the first deaths from coronavirus were on February 13."

And now for the raging generational war. The Wall Street Journal published a piece by 3 reporters in Europe-- Bojan Pancevski in Berlin, Stacy Meichtry in Paris and Xavier Fontdegloria in Barcelona. I suppose if they would have added a reporter in the U.S. they would have had to talk about the anger building among young people in America towards the elderly, for so much because of coronavirus but because of the Green New Deal, Medicare-for-All, free public colleges and the whole progressive agenda being shredded so the brain dead old Democrats can put brain dead old Biden up against Trump. But it was just the three Europeans. "Scientists and government officials fighting the coronavirus epidemic," they wrote, "say they have a problem: Carefree youths. As authorities moved to restrict social gatherings last week, bars and restaurants from New York to Berlin filled up with revelers, illegal 'lockdown parties' popped up in France and Belgium, and campuses in the U.S. lit up for end-of-the-world dorm parties."

The idea is that because there have been reports-- only partially true-- that young-- under 50-- coronavirus patients experience mild or no symptoms and all the really bad cases are in people over 50, the young are pissed off because of the extreme measures societies are taking to combat the pandemic. I might add-- although the 3 reporters didn't-- that a Dutch study last week said that 50% of the patients in intensive care in Holland are under 50, including a 16 year old and a 39 year old marathon runner. The reporters do acknowledge that "scientists say tests have shown children and young adults are no less likely than older people to get infected and transmit the virus. Epidemiologists are growing concerned that the millennial pushback against social-distancing measures-- and an emerging generational divide about how the disease is perceived-- could undo all efforts to slow the spread of the virus and put vulnerable people at high risk." Young people, primarily in the U.S.-- but everywhere where social distancing recommendations aren't enforced-- are not listening.

College students are partying like it's 1999.

“People were not ready to give up their lifestyle without one last hurrah,” said Ben Weissenbach, a Princeton undergraduate English major who was critical of some of the partying. “At a really privileged place like Princeton, we don’t tend to even consider the possibility that our bubble could be popped.”

In an email to all students on Friday, the university announced stricter measures and penalties for offenders, saying “we are disheartened to see that so many students are failing to heed these protective measures and engaging in disruptive behavior.”

In a display of juvenile gallows humor, the hashtag #BoomerRemover, a nickname for the novel coronavirus, briefly trended on Twitter last weekend.

Across Europe, where social life is shutting down faster than in the U.S., a divide is spreading between the young, many of whom say they don’t fear the virus, and their elders, including politicians and scientists, whose alarm about the illness is growing by the day.

In Berlin, a European clubbing hot spot, authorities ordered the closure of all bars and clubs on Saturday. Yet many establishments ignored the decree, forcing police to forcibly shut down some 63 establishments across the city.

That night, the Ernst basement bar in the trendy district of Kreuzberg was packed with patrons enjoying loud electronica. “Beware: Coronavirus” was sprayed on a bench near the entrance.

Inside the stylish Wagemut cocktail bar, a young woman pretended to sneeze in someone’s face, unleashing thunderous laughter.

On Sunday, Berlin health officials said 42 people were thought to have infected themselves in Berlin clubs. Some of those were club-hopping, spreading the virus as they went.

“This is the attitude of people who are part of this nightlife,” said Lutz Leichsenring, a director of the association of Berlin club owners. “So what? You get the flu, you’re not going to die.”

Last week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel herself, in her first press conference on the epidemic, urged young people to respect the new social restrictions for their grandparents’ sake.

Despite the pointed fingers and occasional excesses, many young people bristle at the accusation of selfishness, saying the new social constraints are disproportionate and unfairly target their generation.

“They’re preventing us from living,” said Timothée Thierry, a 30-year-old statistician at France’s health ministry. He spoke on Sunday, after the government shut down bars but before it locked down the entire country.

In Italy, which has been on lockdown for days, young people, especially students, face a choice between returning to their parents’ homes or remaining cooped up in small apartments, desperate for a social outlet.

One student in the Piedmont region of northwestern Italy said she sneaked out of her apartment to attend a dinner party because she was feeling depressed from days of isolation. The party was only a 10-minute walk away. Once there she joined four other people, drinking wine and eating around the dinner table.

Just before midnight, the police knocked on the door and asked for the identification cards and phone numbers of everyone in the group. They ordered the revelers to return home, warning them that their information was being kept on file. Each person was subject to a hefty fine or jail-time for attending the party, the police said, according to the student.

Some say they are less frustrated by the prospect of extreme confinement than they are doubtful it could ever work in the West, which prizes individualism and freedom.

“If I get sick, I will spend some days at home to avoid spreading it to others,” said Monica Rubio, 19, who was having a late breakfast with three friends late last week in Barcelona, Spain, one of Europe’s most heavily affected countries.

“Otherwise I won’t change my life because of it. I can’t imagine people would stop shaking hands, kissing or hugging. It is deeply entrenched in our society.”

In Asia, there have been fewer complaints from authorities about younger people flouting social-distancing rules, but with the epicenter of the pandemic now shifting to Europe, the sense of urgency, palpable at the peak of the Chinese epidemic, has begun to recede in the East.

Mong Kok, a busy shopping hub in Hong Kong’s Kowloon district, has been noticeably busier than in previous weeks, with many young people tentatively returning to their pre-coronavirus weekend routines. Despite the greater crowds, many youthful bystanders still wear surgical masks and keep hand sanitizer close to hand, even attached to rucksacks.

“I think it’s quite boring staying inside. Teens and young people you see, they’re stuck at home and out of the office. It’s quite hard,” said Hailey Cheng, 27, as a street performer tried to fire up a lackluster audience nearby.

On a recent night in the semiautonomous city, Peel Street, a thoroughfare lined with bars and popular with expats, thronged with hundreds of maskless drinkers. A band played in the lower half of the street, where people stood shoulder to shoulder.

“I stayed at home for two months. I’m not staying any more,” said Ryan, 26, who was walking with his friends down the main strip of nearby Lan Kwai Fong, a series of streets filled with bars and clubs. “Life goes on.”

“We worry,” said Nicole, 25. “But either you worry yourself to death or you drink yourself to death.”

Welcome to Thailand

And countries with huge tourist industries? Thailand is pretty loose about regulations when it comes to nightlife and yesterday they announced they are finally closing down schools, bars, movie theaters, cockfighting arenas, kick boxing matches and other entertainment centers.

The planned measures come after new cases jumped by nearly threefold in the space of a week to reach 147. Thirty-three new coronavirus infections were reported on Monday. One person has died of the respiratory illness in Thailand.

Restaurants will probably be allowed to remain open if they take precautions against coronavirus contagion such as social distancing, Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam said.

But he added that two clusters of infections linked to a bar and a crowded boxing match showed the need to limit public gatherings. He also recommended that government employees work from home if they can.

...Some businesses have already acted on their own, temporarily shutting their doors as customer numbers have dwindled.

Jumbaree Parlick, who owns a pub in one of Bangkok’s busiest nightlife districts, closed it down for the first time in over 40 years due to a lack of customers. “I think it’s not worth it to stay open. Even if the government hadn’t ordered it, we ought to close ourselves,” she said.

Foreign Correspondent: Am I the Next Typhoid Mary? My First-Hand Account Of Coronavirus Quarantine, After A Trip To Iran.

Erlich wears protective clothing when interacting with family

This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center

-by Reese Erlich
@ReeseErlich

On February 22, I left Iran after a week of covering the country’s parliamentary elections. Ten days later, my nose started running like a faucet. Normally, I would assume it’s a cold, pop some antihistamines, and proceed with my work.

But these are not normal times.

Symptoms of the coronavirus include heavy breathing, fever, cough, and—yes—a runny nose. To be on the safe side, I decided to visit Kaiser Oakland, my ever-so-friendly health care provider.

Times are definitely not normal at the doctor’s office. Each registration station has a photocopied sheet listing symptoms of COVID-19, the flu-like disease contracted from the coronavirus. I tell the nurse about my journey to Iran, a country with one of the world’s highest COVID-19 death rates.

She hands me a face mask and shows me how to put it on. The hot air circulating from my breathing makes the mask uncomfortable. But what’s a little discomfort compared to the possibility of infecting the city of Oakland?

The doctor enters the exam room, and I repeat my concern about possible infection. He hears the words coronavirus and Iran, and bolts for the door. He pauses only to ask again: “Iran?”

That Tehran taxi driver

My mind flashes back to that taxi driver in Tehran. He lived about 80 miles from Tehran in the city of Qom, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak. Iran had discovered only a handful of coronavirus infections at that point, so we joked about the driver’s health. Now I wonder if that’s the source of my infection.

I sit in the exam room reading the New York Times on my phone. I hear some rustling outside. A new doctor, Dr. Wilson Tse, enters wearing not exactly a hazmat suit, but a full length surgical gown, latex gloves, and a face mask.

We discuss whether my symptoms warrant taking the coronavirus test. I have written about the coronavirus and the importance of not panicking. If everyone with a runny nose crams the emergency rooms, there would be no space for seriously ill people. Given the limited number of coronavirus testing kits, public health facilities must choose to test the most serious cases.

That advice is fine until I become one of the cases.

Boston or Bust

As I sit in the doctor’s office, I consider my situation. In just a few days, I am scheduled to depart for a speaking tour at Harvard and other Boston area universities. The trip had been planned for months, and I really don’t want to cancel.

On the other hand, I certainly don’t want to spread the virus, becoming the Typhoid Mary of Boston. Nor am I anxious to die from COVID-19. I could see the opening line of my obituary: “Reese Erlich, the award-winning journalist who late in life spread the coronavirus to Boston, killing hundreds...”

So what are my options? Dr. Tse calls Dr. Sumanth Rajagopal of Kaiser’s infectious disease department. I am told that I can self-quarantine for 14 days, starting on the day I first noticed symptoms. That means not leaving the house or coming in contact with anyone, including my wife. We would have to live in separate rooms, use separate bathrooms, and prepare separate meals.

Or we could ask the Alameda County Health Department to test me for the coronavirus and only impose the full quarantine if it came back positive. In the early stages of the epidemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) only allowed testing for a limited group of people exposed to the virus from China. But now the criteria have widened to include people like me.

My case, says Dr. Rajagopal, is borderline. So he calls Alameda County officials, and because of the unusual nature of my case, they call the CDC in Atlanta.

Infected and contagious

Meanwhile, Kaiser assumes I’m infected and contagious. I’m sitting on one of those uncomfortable plastic chairs that doctors’ offices always provide. I need to urinate, but Kaiser would have had to cordon off that bathroom and scrub it down before anyone could use it again. So I am given one of those plastic thingies with a wide opening and snap-on cap to pee in.  Once I leave the exam room, it must be thoroughly scrubbed down as well. After a two-hour wait, the decision comes back whether I would be tested. The answer is yes.

Poor Dr. Tse, who had already destroyed his previous personal protective equipment, must now don a new gown, gloves, and mask. He sticks a long, thin swab further up my nose than I thought possible. Same for the throat swab. He seals the swabs in plastic and prepares them for pick-up by the county health workers. They say the results would be back from the health department in 24-48 hours. We’ll see.

This quarantine business is serious. It pits the collective health of the community against individual rights. Sometimes the measures seem extreme. In early March, one whole floor of a downtown San Francisco office tower was closed because two employees had come in contact with an infected person. They didn’t necessarily have the virus; they just had contact with someone who did.

After writing about quarantines elsewhere in the world, for the first time I was entering that world myself. It’s no walk in the park—literally. I can't even walk to the local park when nobody is there.

Quarantine begins

Amy Pine from the Alameda County Public Health Department gives me a call. She explains that the county has issued an order of isolation prohibiting me from leaving the house. I can have no visitors nor contact with the aforementioned wife.

The order of isolation includes this ominous warning: “Violation or failure to comply with this order may result in civil detention and is a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment, fine, or both.”

“Where public health is in danger, health officers have quite a bit of power,” Pine says. “We want all people safe.”

But Pine, when I ask, says she knows of no cases where coronavirus carriers have been jailed. That’s reassuring.

Afterward, she calls me to explain a staff member will drop off some PPE (Personal Protective Equipment as I’ve now learned to call it). The staffer will drop a box on my front porch, leave, and then phone me.

I naively suggest that she ring the doorbell, which I assure her I haven’t touched in years. Who rings their own doorbell? But the staffer phoned me from the safety of her car. One can’t be too careful, can one?

Then about 44 hours after my Kaiser visit, a county public health worker called to say I had tested negative for the coronavirus. By then it wasn’t really a surprise. None of my Iranian colleagues had shown signs of infection. And I had been symptom free since that one day of a runny nose. I probably had a cold or allergy.

Hindsight

My experience raises an important question. Should I have done anything different? Did I waste valuable public health resources for what turned out to be a severe runny nose?

Normally, I wouldn't have gone to a doctor at the first sign of my symptoms. I would have waited to see if more serious problems developed. That’s still the best advice for the general public. But, given my Iran trip, I had a much higher possibility of exposure. So I don’t regret my actions, nor do the doctors involved.

I dodged a bullet this time. My experience was quite mild compared to those undergoing long quarantine periods. I have the advantage of good health insurance, good care and a house big enough to accommodate the quarantine. Many Americans don't.

But I developed a new appreciation of handling epidemics. My hat, gown, and gloves are off to public health professionals everywhere.

The Worst Democrats In Congress Voted With The GOP This Week On Two Super Important Bills. Want To Know Who?

There were two important bills Congress passed on Wednesday-- a bad one and a good one. The bad one was a reauthorization of the USA Freedom Act (FISA). It passed 278-136. 75 Democrats and 60 Republicans voted against it. The Blue Dogs, New Dems and the corrupt Military Industrial Complex supporters led the way. Which Democrats voted against it? You know... the good ones like Ro Khanna (D-CA), Ted Lieu (D-CA), Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), AOC (D-NY), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Andy Levin (D-MI), Judy Chu (D-CA), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Maxine Waters (D-CA), Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), Joe Neguse (D-CO), Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ), Chuy García (D-IL), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA)... the ones you'd expect. And the bad guys? 152 Democrats joined with most of the GOP to pass this, many of them all the regular suspects like this couple of dozen shitheads:

• Steny Hoyer (Majority Leader-MD)
• Jim Clyburn (Biden Resuscitator-SC)
• Cheri Bustos (DCCC chair-IL)
• Anthony Brindisi (Blue Dog-NY)
• Max Rose (Blue Dog-NY)
• Dan Lipinski (Blue Dog-IL)
• Kendra Horn (Blue Dog-OK)
• Kurt Schrader (Blue Dog-OR)
• Jim Costa (Blue Dog-CA)
• Josh Gottheimer (Blue Dog-NJ)
• Xochitl Torres Small (Blue Dog-NM)
• Collin Peterson (Blue Dog-MN)
• Tom O'Halleran (Blue Dog-AZ)
• Henry Cuellar (Blue Dog-TX)
• Stephanie Murphy (Blue Dog-FL)
• Joe Cunningham (Blue Dog-SC)
• Mikie Sherrill (Blue Dog-NJ)
• Greg Meeks (New Dem-NY)
• Debbie Wasserman Schultz (New Dem-FL)
• Joe Morelle (New Dem-NY)
• Stephen Lynch (New Dem-MA)
• Pete Aguilar (Blue Dog-CA)
• Gil Cisneros (New Dem-CA)
• Harley Rouda (New Dem-CA)

Those 24 were just a representative sample of all the bad Democrats who voted for an especially bad bill that reauthorizes the unchecked domestic spying powers of what is now Trump's intelligence-gathering bureaus, such as the unwarranted collection of phone records. I asked some of the candidates running for Congress whose opponents voted for the bill. Liam O'Mara, the Riverside County progressive Democrat taking on Trump sycophant Ken Calvert responded with his own question: "How is it that a country which prides itself on freedom is so quick to limit freedoms in the name of security? There is no cause for spying on the communications of American citizens as a whole, and the Orwellian name of the USA FREEDOM Act should not be allowed to obscure its purpose. Calvert voted to let the NSA watch your calls; I would have voted no."

Eva Putzova, the Arizona progressive taking on Blue Dog and "ex"-Republican Tom O'Halleran who voted to reauthorize the domestic spying bill (and against the war powers bill). He can always be counted on to vote with the Republicans on any important legislation. Eva told us this morning that his vote "to join with the Trump administration and the GOP and reauthorize Section 215 of the Patriot Act that allows government spying and surveillance on American citizens is reprehensible. This provision allows the unwarranted collection of phone records of hundreds of millions of people in the United States. It would give Attorney General Barr the authority to engage in surveillance of the administration's political rivals. Is this what the incumbent and my opponent wants? Growing up in pre-1989 Czechoslovakia, I'm too familiar with tools of totalitarian regimes used to terrorize their own citizens and the Patriot Act is just like that. When I am in Congress I will vote to repeal the Patriot Act and all other intrusive government spying and surveillance programs that interfere with our rights under the Constitution."

So that was the bad bill. The good bill that passed was a bicameral directive to removes all U.S. armed forces deployed against Iran without congressional approval. It passed 227 to 186. Six fucked-up fake Democrats voted with the Republicans to stop this. If you see one of these in the street, you should throw a runny fruit pie in their face:

• Anthony Brindisi (Blue Dog-NY)
• Max Rose (Blue Dog-NY)
• Stephanie Murphy (Blue Dog-FL)
• Ben McAdams (Blue Dog-UT)
• Kendra Horn (Blue Dog-OK)
• Elaine Luria (New Dem-VA)

And if you live in one of their districts... Well, you know what to do. Oklahoma's 5th district would be a good one to start in. Blue Dog Kendra Horn has one of the most disgraceful voting records of any Democrat in Congress-- craven, cowardly and conservative. She has no business being in Congress at all and was never anything more than a lesser-of-two evils candidate. Progressive Tom Guild is running against her this cycle, in part because of voters like the two she screwed up on this week-- voting for domestic spying and against peace With Iran. "Under no circumstances," said Guild today, "should American troops fight in Iran without prior congressional approval. I’m deeply disappointed that Horn gave the current volatile and impulsive president or any president carte blanche to start another costly endless war in the Middle East. Enough is Enough!"

What Happens When Elderly Officials In The U.S. Start Dying From COVID-19, The Way They Are In Iran?

CoronavirusCzar Pence by Nancy Ohanian

CNN reported that Trumpanzee is "dodging responsibility as the coronavirus outbreak morphs into a global pandemic swiftly spreading across America and stock markets tank. He's instead accusing Democrats and the media of inflaming the crisis. The deflection campaign is a fresh example of Trump deploying his trusted method for winning his battles: flinging disinformation, alternative facts and biting attacks at his enemies. But the President's efforts to create an alternative reality are being badly outpaced by the facts of an emergency that defies political pressure."

So... the mainstream media is finally starting to recognize-- in this case Peter Baker of the NY Times that Señor Trumpanzee can't tweet away-- or gaslight into oblivion-- COVID-19. "Defending against criticism of his handling of the coronavirus, President Trump suggested the other day that he could hardly have been expected to be ready for such an unexpected crisis. 'Who would have thought?' he asked during a visit to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the nerve center for the government’s response to the outbreak. 'Who would have thought we would even be having the subject?' Actually, quite a few people would have thought, and did-- including the officials in his own White House who were in charge of preparing for just such a pandemic only to have their office shut down in a reorganization in 2018. 'The threat of pandemic flu is the No. 1 health security concern,' one of the officials said the day before that happened two years ago. 'Are we ready to respond? I fear the answer is no.' For a president who lives in the moment, rarely planning too far ahead, the coronavirus has proved to be a leadership challenge he was not prepared for either. The outbreak that has rattled the nation does not respond to Mr. Trump’s favorite instruments of power: It cannot be cowed by Twitter posts, it cannot be shot down by drones, it cannot be overcome by party solidarity, it cannot be overpowered by campaign rally chants."

Baker noted that Trump, "who is at his strongest politically when he has a human enemy to attack, has seemed less certain of how to take on an invisible killer. The role of calming natural leader is not one that has come easily as he struggles to find the balance between public reassurance and Panglossian dismissiveness. He has predicted that the virus will 'miraculously' disappear on its own with warmer weather, suggested a vaccine will be available soon and insisted anyone who wants to be tested can be-- all overstated or inaccurate."

He has expressed an astonishing lack of knowledge while at the same time claiming to be a medical savant. He has treated the crisis as a partisan battle, wearing his red Keep America Great campaign cap to the C.D.C. and calling the governor presiding over the state with the highest death toll a “snake.” He even admitted that he wanted to leave passengers stranded on a cruise ship rather than see statistics for the number of cases on American soil go up because it would look bad.

“If we really want to talk about what is going to potentially create panic in this country, it’s an administration that’s just not being straight with the American public about the extent of this epidemic and the real-life consequences that could be put upon Americans,” Senator Christopher S. Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut, said Sunday on Face the Nation on CBS.

Dr. Jonathan S. Reiner, a prominent cardiologist who treated former Vice President Dick Cheney and wrote a book with him, said he was convinced that the Trump administration failed to move more quickly to test for the virus after it emerged in China because the White House did not want to admit the scope of the threat.

“When the story is finally written,” he said on Sunday, “we’ll come to understand that tens of thousands of lives were placed at risk because of a political decision made by the president.”

Not millions? We'll see. Trump is continuing to make light of the pandemic with a schedule that has included nothing but fundraisers and golfing and with tweets like this one Monday morning:

As if exposure of the top echelons of his government to COVID-19 at CPAC and AIPAC wasn't bad enough, many of the ones who need to be watched closely, were at a lavish birthday party at Mar-A-Lago for for Don, Jr's girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle, including Trump cronies Mike Pence, Lindsey Graham, Rudy Giuliani, Tucker Carlson and Matt Gaetz, although we have no confirmation that Gaetz was wearing his gas-mask.

[Trumpanzee] has also taken a business-as-usual approach to the rest of his schedule, refusing to cancel campaign rallies, fund-raisers or social events even as other large gatherings of Americans are scrubbed. Asked by a reporter on Saturday night if he was worried that infections were getting closer to the White House, Mr. Trump said, “No, I’m not concerned at all.”

...Trump happily introduced his visitor, President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil, to Mr. Carlson and other guests in a video shared on social media, boasting that he “gave him a good gift” by not imposing tariffs on Brazil and “that made him much more popular.” Mr. Bolsonaro laughed and agreed. A smiling Mr. Pence turned to the camera and playfully said, “Sí.”

The first lady did not make the trip to Florida, but she faced a fiddling-while-Rome-burns blowback of her own over the weekend after posting online photographs of herself in a hard hat overseeing the privately financed construction of a new tennis pavilion at the White House.

“I encourage everyone who chooses to be negative & question my work at the @WhiteHouse to take time and contribute something good & productive in their own communities,” she wrote on Twitter on Saturday, adding her anti-bullying slogan, “#BeBest.”

By the president’s own account, the coronavirus has been an education for him. He has acknowledged that “I didn’t know people died from the flu”-- tens of thousands, in fact, each year in the United States-- even though, as the Washington Post pointed out, his own grandfather died of influenza during the 1918 epidemic.

But he has credited himself with instinctive understanding of the science. “I like this stuff. I really get it,” he said at the C.D.C. on Friday. “People are surprised that I understand it. Every one of these doctors said, ‘How do you know so much about this?’ Maybe I have a natural ability. Maybe I should have done that instead of running for president.”

Mr. Trump rejected criticism of the slow distribution of test kits, framing it in terms evoking his battle against impeachment. “The tests are all perfect,” he told reporters, “like the letter was perfect. The transcription was perfect, right?”-- a reference to the rough transcript of his telephone call with Ukraine’s president that led to his own impeachment for abuse of power.

The president’s less-than-perfect pronouncements, however, left public health officials straining to reconcile them on the Sunday talk shows. Asked on CNN’s “State of the Union” about a White House aide’s assertion that the coronavirus had been “contained,” Dr. Jerome M. Adams, the surgeon general, said: “Well, this is a novel virus. It’s a new situation. And the messaging, quite frankly, is hard.”

Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, also appeared to walk back the president’s claim that “anyone who wants a test can get a test,” saying on Fox News Sunday that it would actually be up to a doctor.

Mr. Trump has become such a polarizing figure that even when he is not necessarily wrong, many do not trust him. On Sean Hannity’s Fox News show last week, he called the World Health Organization’s estimated fatality rate of 3.4 percent “a false number,” saying “my hunch” was that it would be under 1 percent. It sounded as if he were substituting his uneducated “hunch” for the judgment of professionals.

But in fact, he was reflecting what he had been told by health experts, including Dr. Fauci and Dr. Robert R. Redfield, the C.D.C. director, who have concluded that once the full scope of unreported infections is known, the number of deaths will most likely represent a smaller share, possibly “considerably less than” 1 percent. The W.H.O. has also said the rate may fall.

Still, at his appearance at the C.D.C., Mr. Trump had no explanation for why his White House shut down the Directorate for Global Health Security and Biodefense established at the National Security Council in 2016 by President Barack Obama after the 2014 Ebola outbreak, stammering to suggest the coronavirus had been a surprise.

“Well, I just don’t think-- I just don’t think that somebody is going to-- without seeing something, like we saw something happening in China,” Mr. Trump said. “As soon as they saw that happening, they essentially-- not from the White House. I mean, you know, we don’t need a lab in the White House. But they saw something happening.”

Elizabeth Cameron set up the global health security directorate at the White House for Mr. Obama before turning it over to Rear Adm. R. Timothy Ziemer, who ran it for Mr. Trump until May 2018, when he was pushed out and the directorate folded into other parts of the National Security Council. Had it still been around, it would have been charged with preparing for exactly the situation now facing the country.

“I think it would have made a difference,” Ms. Cameron said on Sunday. “Monitoring and preparing for every eventuality and having a person and a directorate accountable for that is really important and could have been important in this case.”

Politico's Nancy Cook noted that some on Team Trumpanzee "are talking up the opportunity to finally achieve stricter border security, wider tax cuts and reduced reliance on Chinese manufacturing amid the spread of the coronavirus throughout the U.S. Some officials see it as a narrow opening to offset the political damage from the coronavirus outbreak and deliver-- or at least, talk about-- some of the president’s longstanding promises... Shutting down borders or cutting taxes would not halt the spread of the virus, which is now being spread person-to-person within the U.S. and which scientists are still struggling to understand. The ideas, however, are central to Trump’s popularity with his base heading his 2020 re-election race, and the outbreak gives both the president and his top aides a new space to re-introduce their favorite approaches amid the uncertainty." And, right on cue, the banksters-- may they all catch it and die-- are demanding deregulation to fight coronavirus. "As coronavirus panic hits the U.S., a financial lobbying group is attempting to use the crisis to push through the deregulation of its industry. The Bank Policy Institute (BPI), a Washington-based lobbying organization representing many of the nation’s largest banks, released a set of proposals this week, the most important of which recommends that the Federal Reserve lower capital requirements to zero. This would mean banks could lend an unlimited amount without having any assets or wealth to back it up. It also advocated relaxing the so-called 'stress tests' that force banks to show that they can withstand economic shocks. This, it claims, would help America fight the COVID-19 virus. The report’s lead author was BPI CEO Greg Baer, former Managing Director of JP Morgan Chase. The recommendations have been condemned as incoherent and 'transparently opportunistic' by Jeremy Krass of the University of Michigan School of Business. 'The whole idea of capital requirements and stress-testing banks is to make sure they have enough cushion to absorb losses' in a period of economic crisis, Kress told the Washington Post. Now that the economy has gone into a sudden shock, Wall Street wants those regulations lifted."

Rumors are rampant in Iran that all the top mullahs and ayatollahs have flown to Kish, a remote island in the Persian Gulf, and that all commercial flights to the island have been cancelled. Washington Post reporters Felicia Sonmez, Kim Bellware and Juliet Eilperin wrote about the worldwide freakout, noting that "uncertainty continued to permeate the response effort, amid muddled directives from the Trump administration and reports of some patients unable to access testing.

"The government of Iran is being as dishonest-- and incompetent-- about the pandemic as Trump is. And now Iran's government is reaping what it was sewn. The Atlantic reported yesterday that the coronavirus is killing members of the government, including higher-ups. "Soon we learned of three other senior officials who not only contracted the virus but were killed by it: Mohammad Mirmohammadi, a member of a senior advisory council to Iran's supreme leader, and Hossein Sheikholeslam and Hadi Khosrowshahi, both former high-level diplomats. Mohammad Sadr, another member of the council, announced his infection last week, as did Ebtekar’s fellow cabinet member Reza Rahmani. Recently, the speaker of parliament said 23 of his fellow members of parliament had tested positive. Two of them, Mohammad Ali Ramezani (February 29) and Fatemeh Rehber (March 7), have died."

I'm assuming that the Iranian officials dying are old. You know were else there are tons of deadwood old officials? THat's right, DC. And it's isn't just AIPAC and CPAC members who are scared out of their wits. I'm hearing that Pelosi is looking for consensus to shut down Congress, maybe as soon as this week. (Why bother? It's already too late.) NBC's Kasie Hunt and Alex Moe reported over the weekend on personal congressional anxiety. "'Members are very nervous,' a senior Democratic leadership aide said. 'There's a lot of concern that members could bring it home.' Another source said members from districts and states where the virus is spreading are also concerned about being able to remain at home to help handle the crisis."

NBC reported that members are pressuring Pelosi about a recess but I was told by one of Pelosi's congressional allies two weeks ago, that Pelosi had been working on a recess in late February, although "some members were urging Congress to stay the course to "show leadership in a time of great anxiety" and conduct oversight of the Trump administration's response.

Members should "follow the very advice we're giving the country: wash our hands, avoid contact with anyone exhibiting symptoms, stay home if we're sick and ensure our staffs are doing the same," one lawmaker told NBC News.

But the virus is spreading rapidly, and the first case in Washington, D.C., was announced Saturday night.

The Capitol building is open to scheduled public tours-- tourists travel from all over the world to visit, and the Capitol Hill office buildings are open to members of the public, who can freely walk the hallways as long as they pass through a basic magnetometer screening.

Pelosi so far has been careful not to sound alarmist and has continued to rely on the advice of the Capitol physician in making decisions about the grounds. The top four congressional leaders in both parties-- Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), and Chuck Schumer (D-NY) Pelosi and Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA)-- met with top Capitol building staff to discuss the coronavirus last week.

Pelosi told reporters Thursday: "You cannot test everybody who comes in the front door of the Capitol. [You actually can-- and should.]

"It is unreasonable and probably in some ways not focused enough on what needs to be focused on," she said, adding that the office of the Capitol physician would be making the decisions on protocols.

Congress as a whole could be more susceptible to dangerous symptoms of the coronavirus than the public in general. Sixty-six senators are over age 60-- two-thirds of the body-- with more than a quarter over 70. The average age of House members is 57.6 years, according to the Congressional Research Service.

Many members "are concerned, particularly older members and a number who have conditions that make them more susceptible," a source said.

The stock market opening was scary yesterday-- down 7%-- but imagine how much scarier it will be when announcements are made that some elderly famous people have died-- especially politicians. 37 members of Congress were born before 1945, making them over 75 years old. Here are the half dozen oldest:

• Don Young (R-AK)- 87
• Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)- 87
• Chuck Grassley (R-IA)- 87
• Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI)- 87
• Richard Shelby (R-AL)- 86
• James Inhofe (R-OK)- 86

How would Congress go on without them? I asked a few of the sharpest minds running for Congress this cycle. Lauren Ashcraft, the New York City progressive taking on Carolyn Maloney in a district that spans parts of Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens told me that "Coronavirus exposes all of the holes in our system that risk our lives for profit.  Only 10 states have sick leave laws. People work through illnesses so they don’t lose their homes. Uninsured people seeking testing or treatment for coronavirus will get massive hospital bills. We don’t have enough care providers, because people are afraid of accumulating 6 figures of student debt. We deserve better, and in order to get there, we need to elect people-powered representatives who fight and advocate for us rather than just co-sponsor bills."

She's right-- and she's going to get nothing but support from Arizona progressive Eva Putzova. "In the face of the coronavirus threat," Eva told me this morning, "it is clearer than ever that we need universal healthcare like the expanded Medicare for All. People need to have full access to medical care without having to worry about cost. We also need universal paid sick leave for all workers so they can stay at home without fear of losing their jobs. Otherwise people will go to work even if they are infected and spread the virus to others. Finally, we need a new President and a new Congress that believes in science, fully funds public health research, and does not cater to corporate interests who are only concerned with profit at the expense of human lives."

McKayla Wilkes, the progressive taking on Steny Hoyer in southern Maryland, has been talking with voters about this pandemic and how badly the Trump regime has responded-- but its a symptom of a systemic problem as well. "While Trump has certainly botched the COVID-19 virus response," she told me today, "the slow devolution of our healthcare system has been a multi-decade project. Insurance industry, pharmaceutical companies, and private hospitals run on razor-thin profit margins, and are in a position to deny care if there is no financial incentive to do so. Unfortunately politicians like my opponent Steny Hoyer have, over time, given these companies the keys to our healthcare system. Vaccines, protective wear, and even hand sanitizer, is rationed to those who can afford it, as opposed to those who need it."

Rachel Ventura also feels that the outbreak "exemplifies why the U.S. needs a Medicare for All system so those who get sick can go to the doctor and receive the treatment they need, or be quarantined so as not to infect others. Additionally, it illustrates why we need paid medical leave or standardized sick days so people who get sick can afford to take a few days off of work. Under the current system a person could contract the coronavirus and go to work in the fast food industry or a clerk position and potentially infect hundreds of other people before their 8-hour work shift is over. Often times the short-sighted conservative mindset is one that worries about self interest without worrying about the good of the community as a whole. The COVID-19 outbreak demonstrates why it is important to consider the community as a whole and the health of our community. If one of us gets sick, we could all get sick. Lastly, Congress has allocated 8 billion dollars now toward the disease. Over $300 million will be used to make a vaccine. Moderna, Johnson and Johnson, and Inovio race to create a vaccine and rake in profits, whereas Bernie Sanders has called for the vaccine to be free to the public. If tax dollars are subsidizing the vaccine then it should be available at no cost. We must have a system to incentivizes being healthy and not one that focuses on profits from the sick." She continued:

It is unfortunate that Donald Trump has categorized the two most serious modern crises, the climate crisis and now the COVID-19 outbreak as hoaxes. Scientists have been warning about the outbreak for over a month now and a recent report shows that we won’t have the facilities or staff to handle the crisis. The 700 vacancies at the CDC from Trump’s hiring freeze only worsen the situation.

According to Dr. Specht, a biologist and engineer who serves as the director of science and technology for The Good Food Institute, we could be out of hospital beds and protective masks by May 8th. This outbreak if not contained could turn into a large-scale pandemic that puts Americans from all walks of life at risk. With an adequately funded Center for Disease Control (CDC) and Medicare for All System, the United States would be better suited to combat the growing epidemic.

Jim Harper, a progressive Democrat running in the blue district near Chicago, noted that "At every turn, Trump works to undermine confidence in government and handcuff government's ability to confront big problems. This crisis shows why we need strong institutions and leadership, and, of course, the President and his enablers in Congress are derelict in their duties. Lives are at stake, but Trump is far more concerned with the stock market than supporting our public health infrastructure. His behavior is immoral and shameful."

Shahid Buttar, the progressive who emerged from California's jungle primary as the alternative to Pelosi, told us that "Trump’s approach to the coronavirus has been to bury his head in the sand and continue his habit of answering any question with lies. Rather than blithely dismiss its potential impacts, a responsible leader would have started by ensuring that immigrants could access healthcare without fearing ICE deportation-- to prevent accelerating contagion, if not to advance civil rights. Short of universal healthcare, the administration could also make emergency funds available to ensure that Americans suffering symptoms can get tested. Supporting paid family and sick leave would also help protect public health by keeping sick people out of the workplace, and settings where their dedication to feed their families currently places their neighbors at risk."

Queens New Dem Greg Meeks doesn't rock any boats as long as his payoffs keep coming in. His progressive opponent, Shaniyat Chowdhury, is the opposite-- no corruption/lots of boat shaking. "While Trump continues to ignore the pandemic of the coronavirus," he told us this morning, "we should be talking about this being all the reason why Medicare for All is very important. It costs thousands of dollars to even get tested for the virus. The people who are most likely to get the virus are seniors. Joe Biden was on MSNBC last night, saying he would veto Medicare for All even with bipartisan support. Both him and Trump want to cut Social Security. They do not want seniors to have health care covered for vision, hearing, or dental. The only candidate who wants to guarantee health care so everyone can see a doctor, is Bernie Sanders. We need to elect someone who will work in the interest of the American people and not the health insurance CEO’s."