Trump takes aim at WHO as US economic outlooks worsens
WASHINGTON (AP) — With new U.S. economic numbers highlighting the
rough road ahead for a hoped-for rebound, President Donald Trump on
Friday took aim at the World Health Organization and China, blaming both
for their roles in the pandemic’s devastation.
Trump announced
that the United States will end its support for WHO, charging it didn’t
respond adequately to the health crisis because of China’s “total
control” over the global organization. Trump said Chinese officials
“ignored” their reporting obligations to the WHO and pressured the
agency to mislead the world when the virus was first discovered.
Earlier
Friday, U.S. Commerce Department statistics showed a record-shattering
13.6% drop in spending in April, a day after a federal jobs report
showed another 2 million-plus Americans went out of work last week. The
depth of the spending drop is particularly damaging because consumer
spending is the primary driver of the economy.
The bad economic
news was echoed in Europe, where an extensive social welfare net was
showing signs of fraying, as protests erupted for a second day in Spain
against layoffs by French carmaker Renault and Italy’s chief central
banker warned that “uncertainty is rife.”
Some U.S. states were
going ahead with steps to reopen businesses and leisure activities
needed to spur spending and restore jobs, but there were also reminders
of the risks of moving too quickly.
In Missouri, officials said
they were trying to notify “mass numbers of unknown people” after
someone who attended crowded pool parties Memorial Day weekend at the
Lake of the Ozarks tested positive for COVID-19. Video of the parties
circulated widely online, with many people criticizing revelers for
flouting social distancing guidelines.
Arkansas over the past
week has seen a steady rise in active coronavirus cases, following moves
by Gov. Asa Hutchinson to reopen businesses shuttered during the
pandemic.
Health officials on Thursday announced the number of
active cases, excluding people who have recovered or died, hit a new
high of 1,830 in the state, which has had a total of 6,538 cases.
Arkansas also hit a record for a one-day increase in infections in the
community, meaning ones that don’t include the incarcerated.
“We’re
not going to go back, but we want people to follow those guidelines,
make sure they do everything they can to avoid the spread and we can get
through this,” Hutchinson said.
However, a rural Northern
California county decided to temporarily rescind its order allowing
reopening of restaurants, shopping and other services after its first
coronavirus cases developed.
Lassen County had no reported
coronavirus cases until May 22, when state data showed it was one of
only two California counties with zero cases. But as of Wednesday, the
county of 30,000 people had reported five known cases. Lassen County had
started reopening businesses under state rules on May 11.
New
York City, meanwhile, was on track to begin reopening June 8 as the
state gradually loosens restrictions, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Friday.
The
nation’s worst pandemic hot spot was meeting goals set for hospital
rates and testing, will “stockpile” personal protective equipment like
masks and will focus on infection rates in outbreak areas by ZIP code,
he said. He made the remarks as a large swath of upstate New York got
the go-ahead Friday to reopen hair salons, retail shops and offices
under strict guidelines. New York City remains the only region of the
state that hasn’t started reopening.
A federal public health study
released Friday shed more light on the contagion’s beginnings in the
United States. The most comprehensive federal study to date concluded
that the spark that started the U.S. coronavirus epidemic arrived during
a three-week window from mid-January to early February, before the
nation halted travel from China.
Some people have claimed
Americans were getting sick from the coronavirus as early as November
and that infections were spreading in the U.S. before any case was
identified, said Dr. Robert Redfield, the head of the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention. Redfield said the study “puts data into
the discussion.”
The U.S. Commerce Department figures showed that
consumers are unable or reluctant to spend, even as incomes soared 10.5%
in April, reflecting billions of dollars in government payments in the
form of unemployment aid and stimulus checks.
However, wages and
salaries — normally the key component of overall income — sank by an
annualized $740 billion in April. By contrast, income in the form of
government support jumped by an annualized $3 trillion. That form of
income will likely fade in coming months as government aid programs
expire.
Until Friday’s spending report for April, a revised 6.9%
decline in March had been the record for the steepest one-month fall in
records dating to 1959.
Debate in Congress over whether to extend
the $600 a week in federally provided benefits to the unemployed looked
sure to intensify, with the number of people receiving the aid now
topping 30 million — one in five workers. The money, included in a
government relief package enacted in March, is set to expire July 31.
The
latest job-loss figures from the U.S. Labor Department brought to 41
million the running total of Americans who have filed for unemployment
since shutdowns took hold in mid-March.
Adam DuPaul, owner of City
Barber Shop in Keene, New Hampshire, said he applied for unemployment
as soon as the state expanded eligibility to include self-employed
workers in mid-March, but still hasn’t “gotten a dime.”
Though
hair salons and barbershops were allowed to reopen earlier this month,
he wanted to wait due to safety concerns, but he’s feeling he has no
choice now.
“I truly feel like I’m forced to open this coming
Monday,” DuPaul said. “I really want to get back to what I love, but I
don’t want to feel unsafe doing it.”
Elsewhere, New Zealand said
it has all but eradicated the coronavirus with just one person in the
nation of 5 million known to be infected. But developments were grim in
other nations, with India reporting a record increase in cases, and
Pakistan and Russia record numbers of deaths.
In the first major
increase since France started gradually reopening on May 11, authorities
there reported more than 3,000 new daily nfections. It was not
immediately clear if the spike was due to a greater availability of
testing.
Worldwide, the virus has infected about 5.9 million people and killed about 360,000, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. The true dimensions of the disaster are widely believed to be significantly greater, with experts saying many victims died without ever being tested.
Sewell reported from Cincinnati. Associated Press writer Holly Ramer contributed from Concord, New Hampshire, with AP reporters from around the world also contributing.