CORONAVIRUS UPDATE: March 20th

Glenn gives the latest coronavirus numbers, updating YOU on everything needed to know as Americans and officials monitor China's new COVID-19 virus:

Daily Stats as of 5:30 AM CT (from John's Hopkins)

  • Total Confirmed Cases Worldwide: 252,014 (up from 225,237 yesterday)
  • Total Confirmed Deaths Worldwide: 10,405 (up from 9,276 yesterday)
  • Total Confirmed Recovered Worldwide: 89,044 (up from 85,823 yesterday)
  • 182 Countries have confirmed cases (up from 176 yesterday), 4 more have suspected cases. Officially, only 13 countries on earth do not have at least 1 case of COVID-19.
  • 5% of Active Cases are considered serious (requiring hospitalization) steady from 5% yesterday but down from 19% just 3 weeks ago
  • US has 14,366 Confirmed Cases and 217 Deaths, up from 9,464 cases and 155 deaths yesterday
Governor of California Issues Shelter In Place Order for Entire State https://www.npr.org/2020/03/20/818764136/california-issues-stay-at-home-order-as-coronavirus-infections-rise
  • Residents told to stay at home unless they need to leave to acquire food, medicine, medical care or for other emergencies.
  • Speaking at a late evening news conference in Sacramento, Newsom said his directive "goes into force and effect this evening and we are confident that the people of the state of California will abide by it, will do the right thing."
  • He said compliance would rely heavily on "social pressure," and not law enforcement.
  • No time-frame was given for how long the order would remain in place.
  • "We're going to keep the grocery stores open," he said. "We're going to make sure that you're getting critical medical supplies. You can still take your kids outside, practicing common sense and social distancing. You can still walk your dog."
  • Essential travel included trips to the grocery store, gas stations, farmers' markets, food banks, convenience stores, take-out and delivery restaurants, banks and ATMs.
  • The directive also exempts critical infrastructure such as food and agriculture, healthcare, transportation, energy and financial services.
California Shelter In Place Comes After Governor Projected 50% of Population Would Get COVID-19 by May https://thehill.com/policy/defense/488547-california-projects-56-percent-of-the-population-will-be-infected-over-8-week
  • California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in an official letter to the Trump administration that 56 percent of the state's population — 25.5 million people — is projected to be infected with the coronavirus over an eight-week period, according to the Los Angeles Times who received a copy of the letter: https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/3.18.20-Letter-USNS-Mercy-Hospital-Ship.pdf
  • In the letter, Newsom asked President Trump to deploy the USNS Mercy hospital ship to the port of Los Angeles until September of this year "to help decompress our current healthcare delivery system in the Los Angeles region in response to the COVID-19 outbreak."
  • A spokesperson for the governor's office stated: "Governor Newsom has been honest about the threat of the virus and its impact on the health and welfare of Californians. This projection shows why it's so critical that Californians take action to slow the spread of the disease – and those mitigation efforts aren't taken into account in those numbers. The state is deploying every resource at its disposal to meet this challenge, and we continue to ask for the federal government's assistance in this fight."
  • California has approximately 8,500 Intensive Care beds, and over 80% are already occupied, according to the LA Times.
  • COVID-19 Has a Serious Complication rate such that about 5-6% of patients require hospitalization, including about 4% who require Intensive care.
  • The average stay in Intensive Care due to COVID-19 is 20 days, according to the WHO.
  • If 25.5 Million people get COVID-19 over 8 weeks, and 4% require Intensive care, that is 1,147,500 people who require Intensive Care, lasting an average of 20 days each.
  • Yes: 8,500 beds exist, but over 1 Million beds may be needed over the next two months....Just in California.
In Related News, Marijuana Dispensaries Deemed Essential Under California Shelter In Place Order https://nypost.com/2020/03/20/las-cannabis-dispensaries-deemed-essential-under-emergency-coronavirus-order/
  • The "safer at home" emergency order just announced by California requires all indoor malls, shopping centers, playgrounds and nonessential retail businesses to close effective midnight tonight.
  • LA County specifically set a date of April 19th, 2020, for all non-essential businesses to be closed.
  • However, allowed to operate — as long as they observe proper social-distancing guidelines and do not include more than 10 people in one place — are a list of essential services including city and county government services, grocery stores, hardware stores and, Marijuana Dispensaries.
  • Such stores are considered exempt due to being "medically necessary".
  • Also remaining open will be Liquor stores, officially deamed to be 'food or convenience store" businesses.
  • State Liquor stores in several other states, including Utah, New Hampshire and Deleware have already been closed.
Conspiracy Corner: CA Government Been Planning For COVID-19 Shutdown & Outbreak, Medical Emergency Since January... http://www.capradio.org/articles/2020/02/25/map-last-week-gov-newsom-made-286-sites-available-for-homelessness-solutions-heres-where-they-are/Turns Out Having Lots of TP Not a Bad Idea...Nearly Half of COVID-19 Victims Present With Digestive Issues & Diarrhea https://www.cbsnews.com/news/coronavirus-digestive-symptoms-diarrhea-almost-half-of-patients/
  • Diarrhea and other digestive symptoms presenting in nearly half of coronavirus patients, Chinese researchers said in a new study.
  • Most patients with COVID-19 do have respiratory symptoms, but these findings from the early stages of the outbreak show that digestive problems are also prevalent in nearly half of patients with COVID-19.
  • "Clinicians must bear in mind that digestive symptoms, such as diarrhea, may be a presenting feature of COVID-19, and that the index of suspicion may need to be raised earlier in these cases rather than waiting for respiratory symptoms to emerge," wrote the investigators from the Wuhan Medical Treatment Expert Group for COVID-19 in early March.
  • The researchers analyzed data from 204 COVID-19 patients, average age of 55, who were admitted to three hospitals in the Hubei province between Jan. 18 and Feb. 28, 2020. The average time from symptom onset to hospital admission was 8.1 days.
  • However, the finding showed that patients with digestive symptoms had a longer time from symptom onset to hospital admission than patients without digestive symptoms, 9 days versus 7.3 days.
  • This suggests that patients with digestive symptoms sought care later because they didn't yet suspect they had COVID-19 due to a lack of respiratory symptoms, such as cough or shortness of breath, the researchers explained.
  • Patients with digestive symptoms had a variety of problems, including loss of appetite (nearly 84%), diarrhea (29%), vomiting (0.8%) and abdominal pain (0.4%).
  • As the severity of the disease increased, digestive symptoms became more serious, the researchers found.
  • Patients without digestive symptoms were more likely to be cured and discharged than those with digestive symptoms (60% versus 34%), according to the study published March 18 in the American Journal of Gastroenterology.
  • "In this study, COVID-19 patients with digestive symptoms have a worse clinical outcome and higher risk of [death] compared to those without digestive symptoms, emphasizing the importance of including symptoms like diarrhea to suspect COVID-19 early in the disease course before respiratory symptoms develop," Dr. Brennan Spiegel, journal co-editor-in-chief, said in a journal news release.
Trump Administration Makes Anti-Malaria Drug Available for COVID-19 Patients https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-fda-experimental-drugs-coronavirus
  • President Trump announced Thursday that the Food and Drug Administration is making experimental drugs available as part of the ongoing effort to tackle the spread of COVID-19.
  • Trump announced at a White House press briefing that chloroquine, a drug designed for use in malaria, will be made available to administer to patients.
  • He said it was one of a number of antiviral therapies to limit the symptoms of the virus that the administration is trying to get to Americans as quickly as possible.
  • "I have directed the FDA to eliminate rules and bureaucracy so work can proceed rapidly, quickly and fast," Trump said. "We have to remove every barrier."
  • FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn explained during the press conference it would be allowed under what's known "compassionate use" -- where doctors can request to use the experimental drug and get permission from the FDA to give to patients.
  • Hahn also said he didn't want to give "false hope" but said he was hopeful about the treatments.
  • "Chloroquine is not a cure for Coronavirus, but may be effective at treating respiratory symptoms and helping more patients recover," he said in a statement.
SARS-CoV-2 More Infectious For Longer Period Than SARS-1 https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3076022/coronavirus-infects-faster-and-lasts-longer-sars-raising-new
  • The virus causing COVID-19 infects faster and lasts longer than SARS, raising new containment challenges, Chinese studies suggest.
  • Researchers found that on average, infected people expel virus particles from their bodies for a relatively long period of 20 days, even before symptoms appear.
  • Such a long asymptomatic spread period may explain why the virus has spread so quickly in Italy, Spain and other areas.
  • Findings indicate longer quarantine periods may be needed for patients, according to researchers from the China-Japan Friendship Hospital, who published in the medical journal Lancet.
  • The virus also remains persistent in the feces of children, suggesting it can be transmitted through a fecal-oral transmission route – meaning that contaminated feces from the infected child is somehow ingested by another person.
  • The study was issued by a team of Doctors which included China National Health Commission expert Dr. Cao Bin.
Walmart Giving Employees Cash Bonuses To Help Them Cope with COVID-19 https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/walmart-giving-over-500-million-in-early-bonuses-to-employees-because-of-the-coronavirus-outbreak
  • In total Walmart is paying over $500 Million in early cash bonuses to employees this week.
  • Walmart announced it would be giving out nearly $550 million in early bonuses to its hourly employees amid the coronavirus outbreak.
  • "Walmart associates have gone above and beyond the call of duty in serving our customers during these unprecedented times," Walmart's CEO Doug McMillon told the Hill on Thursday. "We want to reward our associates for their hard work and recognize them for the work that is in front of us."
  • The company is giving full-time hourly employees a bonus of $300, while part-time workers will get $150. The store is also planning on moving up its quarterly bonuses to April for its associates.
  • The company also said it would be hiring another 150,000 people through May.
  • "Millions of Americans who are usually employed at this time are temporarily out of work, and at the same time we're currently seeing strong demand in our stores," McMillon said. "We're looking for people who see Walmart as a chance to earn some extra money and perform a vital service to their community."
Cities Urging People To NOT Flush Disinfecting Wipes Down Toilet https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2020/03/18/coronavirus-disinfecting-wipes-being-flushed-down-toilets-causing-major-pipe-problems/
  • First, Don't "Wipe" with Disinfecting Wipes. Clorox and Lysol type disinfectant wipes are meant for surfaces, not human bodies. Several children have been brought in with 'burns' from parents who are using Clorox wipes during diaper changes.
  • Second, cities are begging residents to NOT flush disinfectant wipes down toilets, they are NOT intended for sewers and do not break down in sewage systems.
  • A message on the City of San Francisco's public utility website read, "Please read the instructions on the package before flushing anything down the toilet. Use common sense. Don't be stupid."

Trump’s secret war in the Caribbean EXPOSED — It’s not about drugs

Bloomberg / Contributor | Getty Images

The president’s moves in Venezuela, Guyana, and Colombia aren’t about drugs. They’re about re-establishing America’s sovereignty across the Western Hemisphere.

For decades, we’ve been told America’s wars are about drugs, democracy, or “defending freedom.” But look closer at what’s unfolding off the coast of Venezuela, and you’ll see something far more strategic taking shape. Donald Trump’s so-called drug war isn’t about fentanyl or cocaine. It’s about control — and a rebirth of American sovereignty.

The aim of Trump’s ‘drug war’ is to keep the hemisphere’s oil, minerals, and manufacturing within the Western family and out of Beijing’s hands.

The president understands something the foreign policy class forgot long ago: The world doesn’t respect apologies. It respects strength.

While the global elites in Davos tout the Great Reset, Trump is building something entirely different — a new architecture of power based on regional independence, not global dependence. His quiet campaign in the Western Hemisphere may one day be remembered as the second Monroe Doctrine.

Venezuela sits at the center of it all. It holds the world’s largest crude oil reserves — oil perfectly suited for America’s Gulf refineries. For years, China and Russia have treated Venezuela like a pawn on their chessboard, offering predatory loans in exchange for control of those resources. The result has been a corrupt, communist state sitting in our own back yard. For too long, Washington shrugged. Not any more.The naval exercises in the Caribbean, the sanctions, the patrols — they’re not about drug smugglers. They’re about evicting China from our hemisphere.

Trump is using the old “drug war” playbook to wage a new kind of war — an economic and strategic one — without firing a shot at our actual enemies. The goal is simple: Keep the hemisphere’s oil, minerals, and manufacturing within the Western family and out of Beijing’s hands.

Beyond Venezuela

Just east of Venezuela lies Guyana, a country most Americans couldn’t find on a map a year ago. Then ExxonMobil struck oil, and suddenly Guyana became the newest front in a quiet geopolitical contest. Washington is helping defend those offshore platforms, build radar systems, and secure undersea cables — not for charity, but for strategy. Control energy, data, and shipping lanes, and you control the future.

Moreover, Colombia — a country once defined by cartels — is now positioned as the hinge between two oceans and two continents. It guards the Panama Canal and sits atop rare-earth minerals every modern economy needs. Decades of American presence there weren’t just about cocaine interdiction; they were about maintaining leverage over the arteries of global trade. Trump sees that clearly.

PEDRO MATTEY / Contributor | Getty Images

All of these recent news items — from the military drills in the Caribbean to the trade negotiations — reflect a new vision of American power. Not global policing. Not endless nation-building. It’s about strategic sovereignty.

It’s the same philosophy driving Trump’s approach to NATO, the Middle East, and Asia. We’ll stand with you — but you’ll stand on your own two feet. The days of American taxpayers funding global security while our own borders collapse are over.

Trump’s Monroe Doctrine

Critics will call it “isolationism.” It isn’t. It’s realism. It’s recognizing that America’s strength comes not from fighting other people’s wars but from securing our own energy, our own supply lines, our own hemisphere. The first Monroe Doctrine warned foreign powers to stay out of the Americas. The second one — Trump’s — says we’ll defend them, but we’ll no longer be their bank or their babysitter.

Historians may one day mark this moment as the start of a new era — when America stopped apologizing for its own interests and started rebuilding its sovereignty, one barrel, one chip, and one border at a time.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Antifa isn’t “leaderless” — It’s an organized machine of violence

Jeff J Mitchell / Staff | Getty Images

The mob rises where men of courage fall silent. The lesson from Portland, Chicago, and other blue cities is simple: Appeasing radicals doesn’t buy peace — it only rents humiliation.

Parts of America, like Portland and Chicago, now resemble occupied territory. Progressive city governments have surrendered control to street militias, leaving citizens, journalists, and even federal officers to face violent anarchists without protection.

Take Portland, where Antifa has terrorized the city for more than 100 consecutive nights. Federal officers trying to keep order face nightly assaults while local officials do nothing. Independent journalists, such as Nick Sortor, have even been arrested for documenting the chaos. Sortor and Blaze News reporter Julio Rosas later testified at the White House about Antifa’s violence — testimony that corporate media outlets buried.

Antifa is organized, funded, and emboldened.

Chicago offers the same grim picture. Federal agents have been stalked, ambushed, and denied backup from local police while under siege from mobs. Calls for help went unanswered, putting lives in danger. This is more than disorder; it is open defiance of federal authority and a violation of the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause.

A history of violence

For years, the legacy media and left-wing think tanks have portrayed Antifa as “decentralized” and “leaderless.” The opposite is true. Antifa is organized, disciplined, and well-funded. Groups like Rose City Antifa in Oregon, the Elm Fork John Brown Gun Club in Texas, and Jane’s Revenge operate as coordinated street militias. Legal fronts such as the National Lawyers Guild provide protection, while crowdfunding networks and international supporters funnel money directly to the movement.

The claim that Antifa lacks structure is a convenient myth — one that’s cost Americans dearly.

History reminds us what happens when mobs go unchecked. The French Revolution, Weimar Germany, Mao’s Red Guards — every one began with chaos on the streets. But it wasn’t random. Today’s radicals follow the same playbook: Exploit disorder, intimidate opponents, and seize moral power while the state looks away.

Dismember the dragon

The Trump administration’s decision to designate Antifa a domestic terrorist organization was long overdue. The label finally acknowledged what citizens already knew: Antifa functions as a militant enterprise, recruiting and radicalizing youth for coordinated violence nationwide.

But naming the threat isn’t enough. The movement’s financiers, organizers, and enablers must also face justice. Every dollar that funds Antifa’s destruction should be traced, seized, and exposed.

AFP Contributor / Contributor | Getty Images

This fight transcends party lines. It’s not about left versus right; it’s about civilization versus anarchy. When politicians and judges excuse or ignore mob violence, they imperil the republic itself. Americans must reject silence and cowardice while street militias operate with impunity.

Antifa is organized, funded, and emboldened. The violence in Portland and Chicago is deliberate, not spontaneous. If America fails to confront it decisively, the price won’t just be broken cities — it will be the erosion of the republic itself.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

URGENT: Supreme Court case could redefine religious liberty

Drew Angerer / Staff | Getty Images

The state is effectively silencing professionals who dare speak truths about gender and sexuality, redefining faith-guided speech as illegal.

This week, free speech is once again on the line before the U.S. Supreme Court. At stake is whether Americans still have the right to talk about faith, morality, and truth in their private practice without the government’s permission.

The case comes out of Colorado, where lawmakers in 2019 passed a ban on what they call “conversion therapy.” The law prohibits licensed counselors from trying to change a minor’s gender identity or sexual orientation, including their behaviors or gender expression. The law specifically targets Christian counselors who serve clients attempting to overcome gender dysphoria and not fall prey to the transgender ideology.

The root of this case isn’t about therapy. It’s about erasing a worldview.

The law does include one convenient exception. Counselors are free to “assist” a person who wants to transition genders but not someone who wants to affirm their biological sex. In other words, you can help a child move in one direction — one that is in line with the state’s progressive ideology — but not the other.

Think about that for a moment. The state is saying that a counselor can’t even discuss changing behavior with a client. Isn’t that the whole point of counseling?

One‑sided freedom

Kaley Chiles, a licensed professional counselor in Colorado Springs, has been one of the victims of this blatant attack on the First Amendment. Chiles has dedicated her practice to helping clients dealing with addiction, trauma, sexuality struggles, and gender dysphoria. She’s also a Christian who serves patients seeking guidance rooted in biblical teaching.

Before 2019, she could counsel minors according to her faith. She could talk about biblical morality, identity, and the path to wholeness. When the state outlawed that speech, she stopped. She followed the law — and then she sued.

Her case, Chiles v. Salazar, is now before the Supreme Court. Justices heard oral arguments on Tuesday. The question: Is counseling a form of speech or merely a government‑regulated service?

If the court rules the wrong way, it won’t just silence therapists. It could muzzle pastors, teachers, parents — anyone who believes in truth grounded in something higher than the state.

Censored belief

I believe marriage between a man and a woman is ordained by God. I believe that family — mother, father, child — is central to His design for humanity.

I believe that men and women are created in God’s image, with divine purpose and eternal worth. Gender isn’t an accessory; it’s part of who we are.

I believe the command to “be fruitful and multiply” still stands, that the power to create life is sacred, and that it belongs within marriage between a man and a woman.

And I believe that when we abandon these principles — when we treat sex as recreation, when we dissolve families, when we forget our vows — society fractures.

Are those statements controversial now? Maybe. But if this case goes against Chiles, those statements and others could soon be illegal to say aloud in public.

Faith on trial

In Colorado today, a counselor cannot sit down with a 15‑year‑old who’s struggling with gender identity and say, “You were made in God’s image, and He does not make mistakes.” That is now considered hate speech.

That’s the “freedom” the modern left is offering — freedom to affirm, but never to question. Freedom to comply, but never to dissent. The same movement that claims to champion tolerance now demands silence from anyone who disagrees. The root of this case isn’t about therapy. It’s about erasing a worldview.

The real test

No matter what happens at the Supreme Court, we cannot stop speaking the truth. These beliefs aren’t political slogans. For me, they are the product of years of wrestling, searching, and learning through pain and grace what actually leads to peace. For us, they are the fundamental principles that lead to a flourishing life. We cannot balk at standing for truth.

Maybe that’s why God allows these moments — moments when believers are pushed to the wall. They force us to ask hard questions: What is true? What is worth standing for? What is worth dying for — and living for?

If we answer those questions honestly, we’ll find not just truth, but freedom.

The state doesn’t grant real freedom — and it certainly isn’t defined by Colorado legislators. Real freedom comes from God. And the day we forget that, the First Amendment will mean nothing at all.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Get ready for sparks to fly. For the first time in years, Glenn will come face-to-face with Megyn Kelly — and this time, he’s the one in the hot seat. On October 25, 2025, at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, Glenn joins Megyn on her “Megyn Kelly Live Tour” for a no-holds-barred conversation that promises laughs, surprises, and maybe even a few uncomfortable questions.

What will happen when two of America’s sharpest voices collide under the spotlight? Will Glenn finally reveal the major announcement he’s been teasing on the radio for weeks? You’ll have to be there to find out.

This promises to be more than just an interview — it’s a live showdown packed with wit, honesty, and the kind of energy you can only feel if you are in the room. Tickets are selling fast, so don’t miss your chance to see Glenn like you’ve never seen him before.

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