White House moves to protect Trump, staff against coronavirus

Monitoring Desk

WASHINGTON: The White House puts in place new measures today to protect President Trump and his staff during the coronavirus outbreak, including taking the temperature of a-nyone who enters the complex, such as visitors and members of the press corps.

The steps expanded on screenings the White House began on Saturday for anyone who gets close to Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, who is leading the administration’s response to the virus.

Officials greet staff, reporters and camera workers by swiping their foreheads with a temporal thermometer. Only those with a reading of 99.6 degrees Fahrenheit (37.6 degrees Celsius) or less are allowed entry into the complex.

“In order to keep the entire White House complex safe and healthy, beginning Monday morning, temperature checks will be conducted on everyone who enters campus,” spokesman Deere says.

Inside the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room, an orange sign taped to the back of many seats lets reporters know that it is to remain unoccupied during briefings to ensure social distancing. The White House Correspondents’ Association calls on all members to stay home or work remotely if they can do so and to keep a bare level of staffing at the White House.

“We understand these restrictions are deeply disruptive to our members and their ability to do their jobs. But we are forced to take these steps to do our part to ensure that there is a healthy pool available to cover the president and inform the public during this critical time,” the association’s board says in an overnight email to members.

‘Sell US Dollars’: Morgan Stanley’s Advice to Investors Amid Wall Street Panic: With the Federal Reserve taking emergency action to stabilise the economy and calm down panicky markets, strategists suggest that longer-term investors might start to consider adding more equity risk to portfolios.

Morgan Stanley is recommending that investors sell the US dollar as financial markets have taken an economic hit from the coronavirus-induced worries.

In a Friday report seen by Bloomberg, Morgan Stanley analysts write that “the time has come to sell the US dollar”. They expect the US currency to weaken because of an “interrelation combination of aggressive (Federal Reserve) stimulus and a tactical risk rebound”. Their advice is to buy the euro versus the US dollar with a target of 1.16 and a “fairly wide stop” at 1.08 and the Australian dollar versus the US dollar with a target of 0.68 and a stop of 0.60.

Negative investor sentiment has widened credit spreads and pulled global equities into the bear-market zone (a bear market occurs when an index falls at least 20 percent from the most recent high).

US stocks plummeted into a bear market on Thursday – with the Dow witnessing its fastest slide since the Great Depression – after President Trump announced a ban on most travel from Europe but apparently failed to completely quell investors’ concerns over the handling of the coronavirus pandemic. (AP)