As the numbers continued to get worse, the day when we all know someone who has COVID-19—maybe even someone who has been killed by it—is getting closer, all too fast. This weekend, Surgeon General Jerome Adams went on the Sunday talk shows to warn that the coming week “is going to be our Pearl Harbor moment, our 9/11 moment, only it’s not going to be localized.” Despite that dire prediction, though, Adams didn’t go beyond Trump administration policy when it comes to Republican governors who have refused to issue stay-at-home orders. It’s not just Republican governors, either. Regular-people Republicans are not taking this seriously enough.
The weekend also brought major intrigue in the personal protective equipment department. Around the world, shipments of masks and other PPE are being confiscated or bought out from under the noses of other countries, seemingly by the U.S. government. In some cases, the federal government is seizing shipments going to American states. But why? Part of an answer may have come Sunday with an AP report that the Trump administration waited until mid-March to start ordering pandemic supplies. So if the administration wants to look like it has the situation under control, it has a lot of catching up to do.
● In other news, Donald Trump used coronavirus as cover for firing the intelligence community inspector general who brought the Ukraine whistleblower report to Congress.
● Former vice president and presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden said the Democratic National Convention may be a virtual event, even after being postponed to August.
● The small-business loan program in coronavirus relief legislation is not looking good.
● United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson was admitted to the hospital after previously having tested positive for COVID-19. The hospitalization was described as a “precautionary measure.”
● ProPublica confirmed what trash the Trump family’s values are, investigating and finding that the Trump Organization has given nothing to efforts to fight coronavirus or help the people it’s harming.
● Captain Brett Crozier, fired by the Navy for warning that COVID-19 was spreading on his ship, has the disease himself.
● Evangelical churches run smack into coronavirus' lethal reality, but some continue to resist. And Easter is coming.
● Asian-American communities continue to face discrimination and abuse over coronavirus, with one woman requiring stitches to her face after an attack.