What A Day - The Social Distancing Network

Episode Date: March 16, 2020

Covid-19 continues to upend events, entire healthcare systems, and economies worldwide. We discuss the latest updates, including a new CDC recommendation on gatherings of 50 people or more and a bill working its way through congress that would help workers who’s jobs have been affected by the pandemic. Sunday brought us the first one-on-one debate between former VP Joe Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders. The two candidates were asked about everything from their hand hygiene to their prior, extensive voting records. And in headlines: Bill Gates steps away from Microsoft, Disney gives us Babu Frik early, and Israeli opposition leader Benny Gantz wins a thin majority in Israel.

It's Monday, March 16th. I'm Akilah Hughes. And I'm Gideon Resnick. And this is What A Day coming to you from two apartments on opposite sides of Hollywood, California. Yeah, we're so far away and yet I've never felt closer. I'm 95% certain I'm using this microphone wrong. So as we said, we're recording the show from home today. And our goal here, as always, is just to keep you informed but not overwhelmed. So that's what we're going to keep doing on today's show, the Democratic debate, some headlines, but first, a bunch of updates about COVID-19, the coronavirus. Yeah, there's lots of news going on as the pandemic continues

to upend events, schools, entire healthcare systems, and economies worldwide. Today, we are going to focus on the United States and what actions states, localities, businesses, and finally, the federal government are taking to slow the spread of the virus and its economic effects. Akilah, take it away. There's been endless news this weekend. We're all talking about it. Let's hop in. So the CDC is now recommending that all events and gatherings of 50 people or more be canceled for the next eight weeks nationwide. So that's curtains for the Kentucky Derby, the Masters, concerts, many weddings, conferences, and sporting events. You know, this is massive and unprecedented. The CDC says the guidance doesn't apply to day-to-day

operations of schools, colleges, or businesses, though. But the idea here is to prevent the virus from spreading further. Right, exactly. And businesses, cities, and states are kind of stepping up as well, right? That's right. So in Massachusetts, California, and Illinois, all bars and entertainment venues are being closed and restaurants are restricted. Ohio has ordered all bars, entertainment venues and restaurants to close. New York City, which has held out on closing its public schools, just reversed that decision yesterday. And a lot of retailers are closing down worldwide for the time being. Patagonia and Apple were the most high profile, although Apple is open in China. But Wynn Resorts and MDM Resorts in Vegas are shutting down for two weeks starting Tuesday.

Again, this is all about making sure our health care systems don't get overwhelmed with new cases, just like we've seen in Italy, and steps we might have been able to avoid if our federal government hadn't failed on containing this earlier. Bleak, but true. But going back to the federal government and D.C., there's a bill working its way through Congress called the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. The House passed it late on Friday, around midnight or so. What do we know that's actually in this bill? Right.

So this all went down on Friday, and it was kind of a crazy day of negotiations between Nancy Pelosi, who was running things in the House, and the White House. So at one point, House members were waiting for Trump to tweet his support for the deal before they could move forward, which is honestly not the way I'd want the government to be run, but whatever. In terms of what's in the bill, here's the biggies. There's two weeks of paid sick leave for workers and up to three months of paid family and medical leave. But, and this is a really big but, that doesn't apply to workers at companies with more than 500 employees or small businesses who could be put out of business by providing the benefit. This is a big gaping hole that leaves out all but 20 percent of Americans. According to reports, congressional Republicans in the White House pushed for the exemptions. The second big thing in the bill is that it pays for free coronavirus testing for every American that gets tested, even people who are uninsured. The big but here,

though, is that while this takes care of the cost of testing, it doesn't solve the problem that we don't have enough tests. So we'll have more on that later this week and, you know, until we get those tests. Then there's also increased funding for food assistance and unemployment insurance. Reportedly, there are some technical issues with the bill that need to be worked out. And so we may need to see an updated version. And maybe that'll get voted on again as soon as today. Right. We'll watch out for that, of course. But all of these measures are meant to support people who are hurt by the economic impacts of the mass shutdowns that we're seeing, and to make sure that everyone has the economic ability to follow the advice of health officials and stay home when

they're sick. So what does the Senate have to say the advice of health officials and stay home when they are sick. So what does the Senate have to say about all of this? Well, by Friday, Mitch McConnell had sent the Senate home for the weekend. So that's not great. You know, like they literally left early for the weekend in the middle of a pandemic. But fine. Leadership is different to some people. But hopefully they'll take up the House bill early this week. And there won't be, you know, all these other holdups. Like you said, the bill is about helping people out. But it's also about demonstrating that the government can rapidly and effectively respond to this crisis. That's a huge part of making sure people don't panic is feeling like there's someone in charge that can handle it.

Right, exactly. And especially when it seems like there hasn't been as of late. But speaking to that panic, there's one measure of that in the stock market. We'll see how it responds today. But to that end, over the weekend, the Federal Reserve took some emergency actions on the economy. What do we need to know about those? Yeah. So the Fed is trying to prevent the health crisis from becoming a financial one also. On Sunday, they cut interest rates to almost zero, which hasn't happened since the 2008 financial crisis. And they also said they'd back $700 billion in government debt. And that's just to prevent a debt crisis. You know, this all comes after other drastic moves from the Fed last week, which they said weren't bold enough. So really what they're trying to do is they're going further. And the goal is to demonstrate that they're going to keep things stable and functional. Meanwhile, Trump said on

Saturday that he could remove the head of the Fed, which is a crazy thing to say in the midst of a crisis when you are trying to project any kind of stability at all. Yes, not ideal. Well, we'll have more later this week on what this all means for the economy and not just the markets, but the actual economy that we all live in. Stay tuned for that. Hey, gang. So lots going on in the world. Everything's feeling pretty overwhelming and dire. And since we've been covering this for almost two months and will be for the foreseeable future, we wanted to take a beat to slow down, be human beings, and talk about how we're doing in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

So Gideon, how are you feeling? I'm okay for now. You know, trying to do the normal stuff, checking in with folks, taking it day by day, looking for good recs on how to waste my time inside. Akilah, have you watched or listened to anything great in this brave new world that we're now living through? Yeah, yeah. Let's see. I've been listening to the new Tame Impala album. I kind of slept on it, but it is very relaxing, very chill.

Check it out. And I saw Goodfellas for the first time. So gotta say things are going really well. 30 years after the opening, you know, very, you're catching up quickly. You know, never too soon. say akin to taking a walk around the block, I don't really have a segment name yet. So if you're listening, tweet at us and give us suggestions for what to call this daily interlude and keep listening to our show every day. We're going to keep you posted on what snacks we're getting into new and innovative designs on pillow forts. And maybe a few experts will Sunday brought us the first one-on-one debate between former Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders. The two candidates were asked about everything from the coronavirus pandemic to their hand hygiene, personal weaknesses, and prior extensive voting records. There was an elbow bump and no live

audience for a beautiful change. Gideon, let's start with what the two of them had to say about the current global pandemic right out the gate. Yeah, so we did end up getting a little bit of a preview of their arguments over the course of the last week when both Biden and Sanders were giving speeches on the coronavirus while they were kind of sequestered in Vermont and Delaware, respectively. But both heavily criticized the Trump administration on Sunday night, and they were in agreement about the emergency actions that needed to take place. But where they differed is that Sanders used the crisis as a moment to validate his push for Medicare for all. But overall, the first chunk of the debate was dominated by the topic.

And here is how Biden responded to the first question. There are three pieces of this. First of all, I have to take care of those who, in fact, are exposed or likely to be exposed to the virus. And that means we have to do testing. We have to get the testing kits up and ready. I would have the World Health Organization. I take advantage of the test kits they have available to us, even though the president says a million or more are coming, let's just get all the tests we can done as quickly as we can. Secondly, I would make sure that every state in the union had at least 10 places where they had drive-through testing arrangements. I would also, at this point, deal with the need to begin to plan for the need for

additional hospital beds. We have that capacity in the Department of Defense, as well as with the need to begin to plan for the need for additional hospital beds. We have that capacity in the Department of Defense as well as with the FEMA. And they can set up 100 bed, 500 bed hospitals in tents quickly. We have to lay all that out, but we have to deal with the economic fallout quickly. And that means making sure the people who, in fact, lose their job, don't get a paycheck, can't pay their mortgage, are able to pay it and pay them now and do it now. Yes, we're talking about the health fallout and then the economic fallout, too. And then Sanders was asked a similar question at the start of the debate. Well, firstly, we have got to do, whether or not I'm president, is to shut this president

up right now because he is undermining the doctors and the scientists who are trying to help the American people. It is unacceptable for him to be blabbering with unfactual information, which is confusing the general public. Second of all, what we need to do, and I'm glad that he has called a state of national emergency, what we have got to do is move aggressively to make sure that every person in this country finally understands that when they get sick with the coronavirus, that all payments will be made, that they don't have to worry about coming up with money for testing. They don't have to worry about coming up with money for treatment. This is an unprecedented moment in American history. Now, I obviously believe in Medicare for all. I will fight for that as president. But right now in this emergency,

I want every person in this country to understand that when you get sick, you go to the doctor. When you get sick, if you have the virus, that will be paid for. Do not worry about the cost right now because we're in the middle of a national emergency. Yeah. So there were all kinds of questions pertaining to the coronavirus, and it very clearly overshadowed much of the debate. Right. And both of these guys were way more coherent off the cuff, just speaking extemporaneously about this than Trump has been in prepared speeches. So at least we feel like secure in that. But anyways, the Biden campaign also seemed to

have had some news plan for this debate amid all of the talk about this pandemic. Right. So Biden made this statement at some point during the debate where he said that he would definitively pick a woman as vice president, should he be the nominee. And then, you know, Sanders was asked the same question. And he said something in all likelihood that he would as well. But I think the reason that Biden did it is it reflects a little bit how he is now in this strong position to win the nomination and is trying to put this image of him against Trump already in voters' minds. He's trying to preview a general election. Additionally, to that end, Biden has been adopting some policies of his rivals in this apparent effort to try to make overtures to the

left. We'll see if it ends up working. But two examples of that over the weekend, Biden said that he supported policy to make public colleges and universities tuition free for students with families whose incomes are under $125,000. Now that mirrors an older stance from Sanders on the issue of free college. Biden also took on a warrant bankruptcy plan that, funnily enough, would reverse a bill that he championed in 2005. Yeah. Well, the debate wasn't really all forward looking, though. Sanders and Biden spent a lot of time litigating their extensive voting records. So what were some of the key exchanges on that? Yeah, so this was a pretty significant section kind of in the second third of the debate. But Sanders went after Biden on prior

Senate comments regarding cuts to Social Security. Biden went after Sanders on prior gun legislation votes. There was a section on the 2008 financial bailout as well. And Sanders brought up Biden's prior trade stances and Iraq war vote. But the tone of it was largely substantive and mostly respectful with both candidates, again, at different times, pledging to support the other should they end up being the eventual nominee. But I think that it felt a little bit like a seesaw from the conversation around the current pandemic that was through large parts of the all in our houses? So yeah, I felt that as well. Well, those exchanges were bookended by the most important story in the world, as we've said, coronavirus. We've talked before about how it's impacting everything in this campaign, but now it's also leading to changes in the actual primary calendar. Gideon, what's the latest on that? Yeah, so primary voting has actually been

postponed outright in some places like Louisiana and Georgia. They both set later dates for when they're actually going to have people vote in the presidential primary. But on Tuesday, four big states are still set to vote and they are sticking to the schedule. They did make some changes though. Yeah. Ohio has started moving polling locations away from areas with higher populations of older people, and they're expanding curbside drop-offs for absentee ballots. Then two large counties in Illinois are going to allow vote-by-mail ballots to be issued to all nursing home residents. Florida is also moving polling stations too. And the Arizona Secretary of State's office is encouraging vote by mail if people can.

There's also early vote that is already in, but we're going to have to see how turnout, in addition to that, is on Tuesday, given the state of the world that we're in. Right. All right. Well, we're going to keep you updated on the story as it progresses. But also head over to votesaveamerica.com where they're updating as the new changes come in. That is VoteSafeAmerica.com. And now for some ads. Let's wrap up with some headlines. Headlines. Israeli opposition leader Benny Gantz won support from a narrow majority of lawmakers over the weekend. This could mean Gantz becomes Israel's next prime minister, unseating current right-wing prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who's had the spot for the past 11 years. There's still no guarantee Gantz will get a majority coalition in parliament, but he's set to be recognized as prime minister-designate starting today.

Netanyahu's pending corruption trial has been pushed to May due to coronavirus, a move some critics saw as an attempt by the justice minister he hired to extend his record-breaking term. Mr. Bibi, please get the virus's name out of your mouth, sir. The app that taught me the renegade dance, TikTok, announced it would stop using moderators based in China to monitor content overseas. Some consider this an effort by the app's parent company, ByteDance Inc., to address concerns about how they could be influenced by the Chinese government. As a Chinese-owned media company, TikTok could theoretically censor political statements or other content that the Chinese government doesn't like. Even just last week, TikTok announced the creation of a new facility in LA that would let people view how teams at the company moderate its content. ByteDance is still under review by Congress for potential national security risks after the company bought the now-dead lip-syncing app Musical.ly in 2017.

A lot of suspicious stuff with all of those names. Normcore icon Bill Gates has stepped down from Microsoft's board of directors after founding the company 45 years ago. Gates made his announcement through a LinkedIn post, which you would know about if you had just accepted his request to connect. And he added that it does not mean he's stepping away from Microsoft entirely. This decision marks an effort to quote, dedicate more time to philanthropic priorities for Gates. He and his wife have donated tens of billions of dollars through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. But we also hope he finds time to do stuff for fun, i.e. roll around on that big green hill from the background in Windows XP.

I love that hill. All right. Disney made Star Wars The Rise of Skywalker available to stream on Sunday ahead of its scheduled release dates as a way to create, quote, some fun and joy during this challenging period. Thank you. Because a daily dose of Babu Frick, the baby alien from the movie who fixes robots, is actually my physician-recommended

treatment for anxiety. Disney also released Frozen 2 on Disney+, and not to be left behind on the COVID content release wave, Donald Glover dropped a surprise album on his website called Donald Glover Presents. It's a banger, but was removed from his website within 12 hours. BRB, while I use my free time to learn hacking. I will not be practicing social distancing from Mr. Frick.

And those are the headlines. Gideon and I have been keeping you up to date on coronavirus, and we're now bringing in some reinforcements. Epidemiologist, former public health official, and host of America Dissected, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, is back with a new season to give us updates on the pandemic and everything you need to know. It's calm, factual, and in language that makes sense.

There will be new episodes on Tuesdays and Fridays. Find them in the America Dissected feeds wherever you listen to podcasts. That's all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, strum us a riff, and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading and not just the S's on Skittles like me, What A Day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at crooked.com slash subscribe.

I'm Akilah Hughes. I'm Gideon Resnick. And don't miss your daily Babu Frick. We're no longer in the same room, so this is gonna be wonky. What A Day is a product of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Charlotte Landis. Sonia Tunn is our assistant producer. Our head writer is John Milstein, and our senior producer is Katie Long.

Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka.