US relief checks begin arriving as economic damage piles up

WASHINGTON (AP) — Government relief checks began arriving in Americans’ bank accounts as the economic damage to the U.S. from the coronavirus piled up Wednesday and sluggish sales at reopened stores in Europe and China made it clear that business won’t necessarily bounce right back when the crisis eases.

With many factories shut down, American industrial output shriveled in March, registering its biggest decline since the U.S. demobilized in 1946 at the end of World War II. Retail sales fell by an unprecedented 8.7%, with April expected to be far worse.

The world's biggest economy began issuing one-time payments this week to tens of millions of people as part of its $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief package, with adults receiving up to $1,200 each and $500 per child to help them pay the rent or cover other bills. The checks will be directly deposited into accounts or mailed to households in the coming weeks, depending on how people filed their tax returns.

Among those receiving a check was Jacqueline Gonzalez, a 32-year-old single mother who was laid off from her job as a bartender and lives with her mother, a teacher, in Miami Lakes, Florida. Gonzalez paid her car insurance and gave her mother $500 for rent. She has signed up for food stamps.

“There is no other form of income for us right now. We have no other choice. We can’t work from home,” she said. “We’re just sitting here. Bills are racking up.”

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What you need to know today about the virus outbreak

Nations around the world reacted with alarm to news that President Donald Trump put a halt to American payments to the World Health Organization, pending a review of its warnings about the coronavirus and China. Health experts warned the move could jeopardize global efforts to stop the coronavirus pandemic.

In explaining the decision, Trump blamed the WHO for not doing enough to stop the virus and for being too lenient on China.

Here are some of AP’s top stories Wednesday on the world’s coronavirus pandemic. Follow APNews.com/VirusOutbreak for updates through the day and APNews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak for stories explaining some of its complexities.

WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY:

— An investigation by The Associated Press has found that six days of delays by China — from Jan. 14 to Jan. 20 — in alerting the public to the growing dangers of the virus set the stage for a pandemic that has upended the lives of millions, sideswiped the global economy and cost nearly 127,000 lives.

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China didn't warn public of likely pandemic for 6 key days

In the six days after top Chinese officials secretly determined they likely were facing a pandemic from a new coronavirus, the city of Wuhan at the epicenter of the disease hosted a mass banquet for tens of thousands of people; millions began travelling through for Lunar New Year celebrations.

President Xi Jinping warned the public on the seventh day, Jan. 20. But by that time, more than 3,000 people had been infected during almost a week of public silence, according to internal documents obtained by The Associated Press and expert estimates based on retrospective infection data.

Six days.

That delay from Jan. 14 to Jan. 20 was neither the first mistake made by Chinese officials at all levels in confronting the outbreak, nor the longest lag, as governments around the world have dragged their feet for weeks and even months in addressing the virus.

But the delay by the first country to face the new coronavirus came at a critical time — the beginning of the outbreak. China’s attempt to walk a line between alerting the public and avoiding panic set the stage for a pandemic that has infected more than 2 million people and taken more than 133,000 lives.

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Powerful GOP allies propel Trump effort to reopen economy

WASHINGTON (AP) — Leading Republicans say the coronavirus shutdown cannot go on. Car-honking activists swarmed a statehouse Wednesday to protest stay-home restrictions. Capitol Hill staff are quietly drafting bills to undo the just-passed rescue aid and push Americans back to work.

Behind President Donald Trump's effort to accelerate re-opening the U.S. economy during the pandemic is a contingent of GOP allies eager to have his back.

“It’s very much time to start having that conversation and start figuring that out,” said Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., who has shared his views with Trump.

The push to revive the economy is being influenced and amplified by a potent alliance of big money business interests, religious freedom conservatives and small-government activists, some with direct dial to Trump. They are gaining currency as a counter-point to the health professionals who warn of potentially deadly consequences from easing coronavirus stay-home restrictions too soon.

The mobilization is reminiscent of the tea party rebellion a decade ago, when conservatives roared against federal intervention in recession recovery. It’s drawing a similar band of deficit hawks alarmed by the $2.2 trillion rescue package, religious congregants who say their right to worship is being violated and conservative lawmakers warning of a slide toward big government “socialism” with expanded safety net programs.

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Feds under pressure to publicly track nursing home outbreaks

NEW YORK (AP) — Federal health officials are coming under increasing pressure to start publicly tracking coronavirus infections and deaths in nursing homes amid criticism they have not been transparent about the scope of outbreaks across the country that have already claimed thousands of lives.

Experts say the lack of tracking and transparency has been a major blind spot, and that publicizing outbreaks as they happen could not only alert nearby communities and anguished relatives but also help officials see where to focus testing and other safety measures.

“This is basic public health — you track this, you study it, and you learn from it,” said David Grabowski, who specializes in health care policy at Harvard Medical School. He said it’s difficult to have confidence in officials’ ability to contain the virus if they aren’t tracking where it has struck and why.

Such an action by the agencies that oversee the nation’s 15,000 nursing homes is seen as long overdue, coming more than a month after a nursing home in Washington state became the first COVID-19 hot spot in the U.S. with an outbreak that ultimately killed 43 people and a near-daily drumbeat of new cases that in some cases has forced entire homes to be evacuated.

Because the federal government has not been releasing a count, The Associated Press has been keeping its own running tally of nursing home outbreak deaths based on media reports and state health departments. The AP’s latest count of at least 4,817 deaths is up from about 450 just two weeks ago.

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China tries to revive economy but consumer engine sputters

BEIJING (AP) — China, where the coronavirus pandemic started in December, is cautiously trying to get back to business, but it’s not easy when many millions of workers are wary of spending much or even going out.

Factories and shops nationwide shut down starting in late January. Millions of families were told to stay home under unprecedented controls that have been copied by the United States, Europe and India.

The ruling Communist Party says the outbreak, which killed more than 3,340 people among more than 82,341 confirmed cases as of Thursday, is under control. But the damage to Chinese lives and the economy is lingering.

Truck salesman Zhang Hu is living the dilemma holding back the recovery. The 27-year-old from the central city of Zhengzhou has gone back to work, but with few people looking to buy 20-ton trucks, his income has fallen by half. Like many millions of others, he is pinching pennies.

“I put off plans to change cars and spend almost nothing on eating out or entertainment,” he said. “I have no idea when the situation will turn better.

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Tech companies step up fight against bad coronavirus info

CHICAGO (AP) — Potentially dangerous coronavirus misinformation has spread from continent to continent like the pandemic itself, forcing the world’s largest tech companies to take unprecedented action to protect public health.

Facebook, Google and others have begun using algorithms, new rules and factual warnings to knock down harmful coronavirus conspiracy theories, questionable ads and unproven remedies that regularly crop up on their services — and which could jeopardize lives.

Health officials, critics and others who have long implored the tech companies to step up their response to viral falsehoods have welcomed the new effort, saying the platforms are now working faster than ever to scrub their sites of coronavirus misinformation.

“It was definitely, within the companies, a shift,” said Andy Pattison, manager of digital solutions for the World Health Organization, who for nearly two years has urged companies like Facebook to take more aggressive action against anti-vaccination misinformation.

Pattison said he and his team now directly flag misleading coronavirus information and, at times, lobby for it to be removed from Facebook, Google and Google's YouTube service.

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California to give cash payments to immigrants hurt by virus

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California will be the first state to give cash to immigrants living in the country illegally who are hurt by the coronavirus, offering $500 apiece to 150,000 adults who were left out of the $2.2 trillion stimulus package approved by Congress.

Many Americans began receiving $1,200 checks from the federal government this week, and others who are unemployed are getting an additional $600 a week from the government that has ordered them to stay home and disrupted what had been a roaring economy.

But people living in the country illegally are not eligible for any of that money, and advocates have been pushing for states to fill in the gap. Wednesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced he would spend $75 million of taxpayer money to create a Disaster Relief Fund for immigrants living in the country illegally.

“We feel a deep sense of gratitude for people that are in fear of deportations that are still addressing essential needs of tens of millions of Californians,” said Newsom, who noted 10% of the state’s workforce are immigrants living in the country illegally who paid more than $2.5 billion in state and local taxes last year.

Senate Republican Leader Shannon Grove said Newsom should spend the money instead on food banks, equipment for students to continue their education online and local governments struggling with revenue losses.

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Report: Halladay on drugs, doing stunts when plane crashed

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Baseball Hall of Famer Roy Halladay had high levels of amphetamines in his system and was doing extreme acrobatics when he lost control of his small plane and nosedived into the Gulf of Mexico in 2017, killing him, a National Transportation Safety Board report issued Wednesday said.

Halladay had amphetamine levels about 10 times therapeutic levels in his blood along with a high level of morphine and an anti-depressant that can impair judgement as he performed high-pitch climbs and steep turns, sometimes within 5 feet (1.5 metres) of the water, the report says about the Nov. 7, 2017, crash off the coast of Florida.

The manoeuvrs put loads of nearly two-times gravity on the plane, an Icon A5 Halladay had purchased a month earlier. On the last manoeuvr, Halladay entered a steep climb and his speed fell to about 85 miles per hour (135 kph). The propeller-driven plane went into a nosedive and smashed into the water. The report says Halladay, 40, died of blunt force trauma and drowning.

The report does not give a final reason for the crash. That is expected to be issued soon.

About a week before the crash, the former Toronto Blue Jays and Philadelphia Phillies star had flown the plane under Tampa Bay's iconic Skyway Bridge, posting on social media, “flying the Icon A5 over the water is like flying a fighter jet!”

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Tired of 'Frozen?' Stream these less obvious kids movies

NEW YORK (AP) — Weeks of quarantine with kids have a way of burning through a movie collection.

Even with the libraries of streaming services like Netflix, Amazon, Disney Plus and others, there are plenty of households that have already had their fill of “Frozen” and overdosed on “Onward.” In the best of times, the canon for kids movies can feel limiting. Disney overwhelms.

But there’s a wider world of movies out there for young ones. We’ll assume they’ve already accrued a solid foundation of some of the essentials: “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” “The Iron Giant,” Pixar, the Muppets, et cetera. So here’s a few slightly further afield options — all available to stream, rent or are free — that your kids might not have seen.

— “Fly Away Home”: The outlines of this 1996 film, with Anna Paquin and Jeff Daniels, suggest a familiar and schmaltzy kind of family movie, but it’s handled with such grace that it rises above the ordinary. Also, the geese are really great. A 13-year-old (Paquin) moves in with her estranged father (Daniels) in rural Canada after the death of her mother. She adopts an abandoned nest of goose eggs, raises them and teaches them to fly South for the winter. Available to stream on the Criterion Channel. The director, Carroll Ballard, and the cinematographer, Caleb Deschanel, also crafted a movie of pastoral beauty and sweet child-animal camaraderie in 1979’s “Black Stallion,” which is streaming on Amazon Prime.

-- “Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro”: For streaming Studio Ghibli films, we’ll have to wait until they collectively hit HBO Max when it launches in May. (They are available outside the U.S. on Netflix.) They are so good — among the most wondrous in cinema — you might just go ahead and buy copies of “My Neighbor Totoro,” “Spirited Away” and “Princess Mononoke.” But for now, you can stream the feature-film directing debut of Hayao Miyazaki, the animation master and co-founder of Ghibli. “The Castle of Cagliostro,” on Netflix, isn’t as well-known as Miyazaki’s best. But the director’s verve and imagination is already on display in this, a caper that continues the exploits of the debonair thief Arsène Lupin. Here Lupin discovers the loot from a casino heist is counterfeit.

News from © The Associated Press, 2020