CEDAR KNOLLS, N.J. — Many shoppers at the local Walmart had the same question on Friday morning: “Where do I find your hand sanitizer?” The answer: Nowhere. Employees at the Cedar Knolls store showed shopper after shopper shelves devoid of any hand sanitizer. When an employee found a lone small box of travel…
Many times in many countries, political leaders have tried to censor health officials and play down the risks of infection just as epidemics approached. This strategy has almost never worked, historians and former health officials said. And ultimately, if there are more deaths than leaders blithely predict, it destroys the reputations of the…
Investors, fearing that the spread of the coronavirus is tipping the global economy into a recession, handed the stock market its largest weekly loss since the 2008 financial crisis on Friday amid worries that one of the longest economic expansions in history may be coming to an end. With the virus now detected…
Here’s what you need to know: New case in California raises prospect of local, person-to-person spread. A second person in Northern California has been infected with the coronavirus without having any known risk factors, such as travel to China or exposure to somebody known to be infected. The findings hints that the coronavirus may already…
For weeks, public health experts have been watching to see whether factory shutdowns and shipping problems in China caused by the coronavirus epidemic will cause drug shortages in the United States. Late Thursday, the Food and Drug Administration issued a statement noting that one drug is now in short supply because of problems related to…
All eyes have been on the coronavirus since it crept up in Wuhan, China, in late 2019. Since then, the virus has sickened tens of thousands of people in more than three dozen countries, and its quick advance across Asia, the Middle East and Europe has raised fears that a pandemic could be on the…
There are two ways to fight epidemics: the medieval and the modern. The modern way is to surrender to the power of the pathogens: Acknowledge that they are unstoppable and to try to soften the blow with 20th-century inventions, including new vaccines, antibiotics, hospital ventilators and thermal cameras searching for people with fevers. The medieval…
Here’s what you need to know: ImageCommuters in Tokyo on Friday. Credit…Charly Triballeau/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Fears that a global pandemic is inevitable take hold. Financial markets around the world continued their relentless plunge on Friday, with European exchanges all declining more than 2 percent. Wall Street seemed poised to follow in what could…
BANGKOK — The Chinese woman hailed the cab and said she wanted to go to the hospital. The Thai taxi driver got stuck in traffic because that’s what often happens in Bangkok. To pass the time, the woman took out her phone and, leaning forward, pointed out some tourist sites she might want to visit.…
WASHINGTON — The White House moved on Thursday to tighten control of coronavirus messaging by government health officials and scientists, directing them to coordinate all statements and public appearances with the office of Vice President Mike Pence, according to several officials familiar with the new approach. But on a day that the White House sought…