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: 735,135 (up from 524,478 Friday)
  
• Total Confirmed Deaths Worldwide: 34,807 (up from 24,369 Friday)
• Total Confirmed Recovered Worldwide: 155,950 (up from 125,490 Friday)
• 5% of Active Cases are considered serious (requiring hospitalization) Steady from 5% Yesterday, but down from 19% high back in February
• Note that 11% of US Confirmed Cases require Hospitalization, roughly on par with Italy who is at 12% requiring hospitalization.
• US has 142,746 Confirmed Cases and 2,489 Deaths, up from 85,749 cases and 1,304 deaths Friday
• In the US, 20,220 citizens are officially hospitalized with COVID-19, another 6,402 with presumptive-positive cases (waiting test results)
• The United States of America now leads the world in total confirmed cases, with 45,000 more cases than Italy (although Italy leads the world in Deaths with 10,799 officially dead)
• US has 2,489 Dead vs 4,562 Recovered and 2,970 in Critical Condition
• The US Currently has 135,695 Active Cases of COVID-19, with less than 0.5% of the total US population actually tested: 851,578 Tests Resulted in 16.5% Confirmed Positive Cases for COVID-19 (note US policy has been to test only patients with positive-symptoms or known exposure to confirmed-infected persons, resulting in high net-positive results vs other countries).

• The Trump Administration extends recommendations for extreme social distancing, closed schools and houses of worship, work-from-home, and severe travel restrictions through April 30th.
• The move was based on a simple model: 100-200k deaths if we continued shut-down vs 2-3 Million deaths if we lifted the shutdown in early April.
• "How do you decide it's ok to let millions of Americans die? You don't." He said during a Rose Garden press conference. "I won't do that."
• The updated timeline comes as the US President Donald Trump says the death toll from the virus is likely to continue to climb for another two weeks, and estimates that recovery is likely by June 1.
• Trump said his earlier plan to lift the restrictions by Easter, on April 12, was only "aspirational". "Nothing would be worse than declaring victory before the victory is won," Trump said.
• Officials in the White House coronavirus task force, including Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Deborah Birx, Deputy to Vice-President Mike Pence, have estimated that COVID-19 would kill as many as 2.2 million Americans if mitigation measures were not in place.

• 911 Emergency system in New York City & Tri-State Area is receiving over 7,000 calls per day, more than at any time since September 11th, 2001.
• The System has broken 3 records this past week, with nearly 8,700 calls on Thursday.
• Many calls are for people with high-fevers and flu-like symptoms including severe cough, chills and difficulty breathing.
• "It's all a war zone," one of the paramedics said. "There is no way we can respond to this many emergency calls."
• Because of the high-risk of COVID-19 infection, many life-saving procedures have been suspended, including CPR and artificial respiration.
• By Friday, more than 206 emergency medical technicians from the NY Fire Department had tested positive for COVID-19. Another 750 NYPD officers have also tested positive, and more than 10% of New York's police force is currently offline due to infection or Quarantine due to suspected infection.
• One Paramedic who chose not to be named estimated that over 20% of 9-11 calls are going unanswered. "I can see them on my screen, with no units responding," he said.

• Residents posted pictures of make-shift field hospitals being set up in Central Park in Manhattan.
• Dozens of people worked in a drizzle to erect the facility for an expected influx of COVID-19 patients at the epicenter of the US COVID-19 pandemic.
• Samaritan's Purse, a US-based Christian global relief agency, is setting up the hospital on the park's East Meadow lawn, where workers in face masks unloaded a white tarp and other equipment on the grass.
• "There are lots of cases here in New York and a lot of people that need help," said Elliott Tenpenny, a doctor and team leader for Samaritan's Purse COVID-19 Response Team.
• "The hospitals all over the city are filling up and they need as much help as they can get. That's why we're here."
• He said the charity was working with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Mount Sinai, with the aim of receiving patients within two days.
• Unlike other temporary facilities going up in the New York region, this site will have the equipment and personnel necessary to handle COVID-19 patients. Tenpenny called it a "respiratory focused field hospital" which will have a capacity of 68 patients, and the doctors and nurses to treat them.
• Samaritan's Purse has set up a similar temporary hospital in Cremona, Italy, the country with the highest COVID-19 death toll.

• CDC issues stark travel warning for New York, New Jersey & Connecticut residents, urging residents not to travel out of their home states except in case of emergencies.
• Florida restricting travel from New York, Louisianna, Mississippi amid the outbreak, forcing travelers to either turn around or submit to mandatory 14-day Quarantine.
• Florida's governor has indefinitely closed Vacation rentals to any out of state travelers, notifying existing renters to 'finish your stay' and return to home states or face mandatory Quarantines and fines for violations. https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/news/2020/03/28/florida-coronavirus-cases-pass-4000-border-checkpoints-vacation-rentals-suspended/2934407001/
• New Hampshire and Rhode Island both restrict travel from New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, including those with vacation or summer homes in the state. Both states are using National Guard troops to enforce travel restrictions and requiring 14-day Quarantines on any out of state travelers. https://news.yahoo.com/rhode-island-police-hunt-down211405349.html https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-27/rhode-island-police-to-hunt-down-new-yorkers-seeking-refuge
• Hawaii has arrested 2 and issued warnings to more than 70 tourists who violated shelter-in-place warnings. https://www.staradvertiser.com/2020/03/26/breaking-news/kauai-police-launch-checkpoints-to-enforce-lockdown-compliance/
• Nevada reportedly considering closing the border to California, according to the Los Angeles Times.

• "Mexico's response was late, wrong and slow, and many people are going to die," said Dr. Carlos del Rio, an infectious disease specialist at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. "There's no reason to believe the virus here should behave differently among this population. Cases are growing exponentially."
• President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of Mexico was still hugging and kissing constituents. As recently as eight days ago, he urged them to keep eating out at restaurants.
• Stung by global criticism and disapproving national polls, the leftist populist widely known as AMLO began to shift in recent days.
• Schools were closed on March 20; four days later, the country's 51 testing sites broadened their reach to include testing as many as 2,200 persons per day, mostly in Mexico City.
• Finally, on Saturday, March 28th, the deputy health minister called on Mexicans to stay home, saying it was the "last opportunity" to slow down the virus, with more than 20,000 confirmed infected.
• "It may be too late. Thousands may die," said Dr del Rio.

• In India, hundreds of thousands of day-laborers were suddenly homeless due to COVID-19 travel restrictions and work shut-downs.
• Many day-laborers are used to being provided dorm-like beds while on the job, but with work-sites closed down and national transportation systems offline, parks and public spaces are suddenly filled with thousands of men sleeping on sidewalks and in open fields.
• Soup kitchens in Delhi, the capital, have been overwhelmed. "We normally get a thousand people per day," said one worker. "Today more than 10,000 people lined up before we served our first bowl."
• So far, more than a dozen migrant laborers have lost their lives in different parts of the country as they tried to return to their home, hospital officials said.
• Thousands of migrants in Delhi, including whole families, packed their pots, pans and blankets into rucksacks, some balancing children on their shoulders as they walked along interstate highways.
• Some planned to walk hundreds of miles. But as they reached the Delhi border, many were beaten back by the police under orders to now allow any crossings until further notice.

• Protectionist measures by national governments during the coronavirus crisis could provoke food shortages around the world, the UN's food body has warned.
• A shortage of field workers brought on by the virus crisis and a move towards protectionism – tariffs and export bans – mean problems could quickly appear in the coming weeks, Maximo Torero, Chief Economist of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation said.
• "The worst that can happen is that governments restrict the flow of food," he said. "All measures against free trade will be counterproductive. Now is not the time for restrictions or putting in place trade barriers. Now is the time to protect the flow of food around the world."
• "We need to be careful not to break the food value chain and the logistics or we will be looking at problems with fresh vegetables and fruits soon," said Torero. "Fruit and vegetables are also very labor-intensive... if the labor force is threatened because people can't move then you have a problem."
• Warnings from the UN come as the EU reportedly plans to provide transportation of more than 70,000 farmworkers from Eastern Europe to France, Belgium and Spain to help with planting season. https://thehill.com/policy/international/489783-united-nations-warns-of-global-food-shortage-caused-by-coronavirus
• Warnings were less severe in the US, which relies less on global food production for domestic consumption. "There is plenty of food in the US system," said Sonny Perdue, US Secretary of Agriculture. "The US is a net exporter of food supplies, so we can just keep more of our food at home this year."

• A study from consulting firm McKinsey & Company estimates the total GDP impact of COVID-19 could exceed $1 Trillion per month starting from March, 2020.
• The study includes only economic losses in the Private sector and did not calculate the impact of Government-funded bailouts or spending, and future economic losses due to higher debt payments.
• McKinsey estimates losses in the Oil/Gas sector to exceed 50% for 2020 compared to prior forecasts, and for US retail to suffer losses in excess of 25% compared to 2019.
• "In a Word: Catastrophic," said lead author of the study. "We'll be digging out from this hole for years to come."
• McKinsey's study noted its estimates did not include official economic figures for Q1, 2020, expected to be released by the US Government in the coming week.
• Overall, McKinsey is estimating a broad U-shaped recovery starting in Q3, 2020, but said it was entirely dependent on how quickly US companies could return workers to productivity as well as the impact to the global demand for US goods & technology.
• "We don't yet know how the World will recover from COVID-19 or how long it will take. There are more unknowns than there are knowns," the study concluded.

Government Quietly Prepares a Bank Rescue Plan - Just In Case https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/27/congress-coronavirus-bank-rescue-152501

• Just days after the FDIC issued a video urging Americans to not withdrawn cash from Banks, reports emerge that the US Senate and Treasury are working on separate plans to prevent banks from becoming unstable amid the COVID-19 Pandemic.
• Plans range from limiting withdrawals for foreign investors and savers, as well as providing extra liquidity to banks to cover US Consumer withdrawals up to $10,000.
• Washington's move to stand behind the banking industry underscores the aggressive efforts underway by officials throughout the government to prepare for the worst — including potential runs on deposits as the economic outlook darkens.
• "The banks are in very good shape, but people are panicking anyway," said Karen Petrou, a managing partner at Federal Financial Analytics who advises bank executives on policy issues.
• The Federal Reserve Insurance Corporation (FDIC) recently released a one-minute video encouraging people to keep their money in banks.
• In the video, Chairman Jelena McWilliams emphasizes that hoarding cash in mattresses in 1933 "didn't pan out well for so many people." The video is intended to discourage a bank run.
• "The last thing you should be doing is pulling your money out of the banks now, thinking that it's going to be safe for someplace else," she said in the video.
• The FDIC has more than $2.05 billion in cash reserves, as well as a $100 billion credit line with the US Treasury to cover bank runs, according to a 2018 US Government audit.
• US Consumers have more than $1.7 Trillion deposited at US Banks, not including home-equity loans or lines of credit.

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: 542,478 (up from 486,702 Yesterday)
  
• Total Confirmed Deaths Worldwide: 24,369 (up from 22,022 Yesterday)
• Total Confirmed Recovered Worldwide: 125,490 (up from 117,448 Yesterday)
• 5% of Active Cases are considered serious (requiring hospitalization) UP from 4% Yesterday, but down from 19% in February
• Note that 7% of US Confirmed Cases require Hospitalization
• US has 85,749 Confirmed cases and 1,304 Deaths, up from 65,581 cases and 1,036 deaths yesterday
• The United States of America now leads the world in total confirmed cases, with 4,409 more cases than China
• US has 1,868 officially recovered, against 1,304 deaths

• The UK should now be able to cope with the spread of the COVID-19 virus, according to one of the leading epidemiologists advising the UK government.
• Neil Ferguson at Imperial College London gave evidence yesterday to the UK's parliamentary select committee on science and technology.
• He said that expected increases in National Health Service capacity and ongoing restrictions to people's movements make him "reasonably confident" the health service can cope when the predicted peak of the epidemic arrives in two or three weeks.
• UK deaths from the disease are now unlikely to exceed 20,000, he said, and could be much lower.
• His previous and dire prediction, from just 10 days ago, was that as many as 500,000 Brittons would likely die.
• The need for intensive care beds will get very close to capacity in some areas, but won't be breached at a national level, said Ferguson.
• The new projections are based on computer simulations of the virus spreading, which take into account the properties of the virus, the reduced transmission between people asked to stay at home and the capacity of hospitals, particularly intensive care units.
• "We'll be paying for this year for decades to come," Ferguson said. "But if people follow the Government's guidelines, we'll be able to cope."

• Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, has confirmed he tested positive for COVID-19
• "Over the last 24 hours I have developed mild symptoms and tested positive for coronavirus," he said via Twitter.
• "I am now self-isolating, but I will continue to lead the government's response via video-conference as we fight this virus."
• Mr. Johnson, whose partner Carrie Symonds is pregnant, will isolate for 2-weeks, a spokesperson confirmed.
• "Together we will beat this. #StayHomeSaveLives."

• The governor of the central Mexican state of Puebla told reporters Wednesday that poor people "are immune" from the coronavirus.
• During his remarks, which broadcast live on YouTube and Facebook, Gov. Luis Miguel Barbosa posed a question, asking reporters which people were infected at the moment.
• "The majority are wealthy people, you know," he said, answering his own question. "If you're rich you're at risk, but if you're poor, no, well us poor, we are immune."
• There is no scientific evidence to suggest the virus affects people differently due to economic status. His remarks sparked an uproar on social media, with many questioning why a government official would spread information that has no basis in fact.
• Barbosa noted that many of those who contracted the virus had recently traveled, suggesting a link between wealth and travel.

• President Donald Trump suggested that Americans should consider giving up the tradition of greeting each other with a hand-shake -- forever.
• Trump has set a goal of returning Americans back to work by Easter, despite the coronavirus outbreak, but he said at a White House news conference on Thursday that they shouldn't entirely abandon "social distancing" practices, especially shaking hands.
• "Maybe people aren't going to be shaking hands anymore," Trump said, adding that he had discussed the practice with Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
• "He was saying the regular flu would be cut down by quite a bit if we didn't do that - if we didn't shake hands," Trump said.

• Vegan and plant-based can be seen in proportions that appear recently stocked at grocery stores across the US.
• "Not even in a crisis will folks buy the plant-based hot dogs," Tweeted one observant citizen with a picture of the frozen food aisle baren except for tofu hot dogs.
• "Let's face it, they taste like crap. I'd rather starve," said another via Twitter. "Not enough mustard in the world to cover-up that stuff."
• Another user closed the book on the topic, "Two observations today from the grocery store. Plant-based fake-meats are not desired - and people need to smile more! Good day!"

• In no small feat of bravery, Massie stands alone against a tyranny born of fear.
• Furious lawmakers voiced serious concerns on Capitol Hill late Thursday that a Republican House member could "go rogue" and possibly scuttle a vote on the $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus package.
• Fox News is told there is deep worry on both sides of the aisle that Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., could try to sidetrack House plans to quickly approve the coronavirus bill via a "voice vote" -- a verbal exercise in which those in favor shout yea, and those opposed holler nay. The loudest side would prevail.
• "It's the Thomas Massie show," said one senior Republican source who asked to not be identified.
• "He is going to do it," a senior Republican leadership source told Fox News, explaining that leadership had tried every type of arm twisting -- and it's not working.
• The source said he was actively calling members and telling them to get on planes in the morning to come back to Washington so that a quorum of 216 members could be established if Massie were to demand one.
• The source explained that Massie got a very forceful call from a member of the House Freedom Caucus urging him to allow the voice vote, but Massie won't budge.
• The 880-page coronavirus stimulus package would amount to the largest economic relief bill in the history of the U.S. for individuals, large corporations, and small businesses -- and its unanimous passage in the Senate came despite grave concerns on both sides about whether it involved too much spending or not enough.
• Massie did not respond to multiple requests for comment late Thursday. It was unclear exactly why he may want to delay the bill, which some lawmakers have said contains too much wasteful spending -- including $25 million for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. and $10 million to fund US Salmon hatcheries in Alaska.