What's Happening: Life feels surreal; celebrities infected

By Associated Press 14 March 2020, 12:00AM

The coronavirus pandemic has lent a surreal quality to the lives of millions of people around the globe. It has disrupted daily routines, overwhelmed hospitals, shuttered schools and offices and halted many sporting and entertainment events. If that weren't enough, many are also forced to grapple with fears about the financial toll, from lost jobs and businesses to shrinking retirement accounts.

These are some of the latest developments on Friday:

PEOPLE CONFRONT DISRUPTED ROUTINES

The intensifying spread of COVID-19 beyond Asia has dashed hopes for a quick containment, even with travel and social events curbed drastically. People fretted over the health risks to the elderly, threatened jobs and dwindling savings, while caring for children staying home from shuttered schools. China, where the outbreak emerged late last year, still accounts for more than 60% of global infections. But on Friday it reported just eight new cases and seven deaths. With China’s caseload slowing, its government was helping other countries with its expertise, sending a medical crew to Italy and surplus supplies to Iran.

COUNTRIES CLOSED OFF, STATES OF EMERGENCY

Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez declared that a state of emergency would take effect Saturday and last two weeks, allowing him to mobilize the military and other resources as the number of infections rose fast to 4,200 with 120 deaths. Switzerland, the Czech Republic and Ukraine were among countries imposing new restrictions at their borders. The Czech Republic, where a 30-day state of emergency has been declared, barred entry to people coming from 15 high-risk countries. Meanwhile, travelers struggled with a U.S. ban on the entry of many foreign travelers about to take effect while the European Union contemplated checks at the union's internal borders. Greece’s Culture Ministry shut all museums and archaeological sites in the country.

LEADERS AND CELEBRITIES INFECTED

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's wife Sophie Grégoire Trudeau is in isolation after testing positive for COVID-19, leaving the prime minister to go into isolation for 14 days as well even though he has no symptoms. Francis Suarez, the mayor of the U.S. city in Florida tested positive. He had met with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s communications director, Fábio Wajngarten, who tested positive just days after traveling with Bolsonaro to a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump and senior aides in Florida. Others infected include a trusted adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and Australia's home affairs minister who had recently met in Washington, D.C., with U.S. Attorney-General William Barr and Trump's daughter, Ivanka. Meanwhile, actor Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson remain isolated in a hospital in Australia after testing positive for the new coronavirus.

A DOWNER FOR AMSTERDAM'S MARIJUANA SMOKERS

The coronavirus could be a downer for those wanting to get high in one of Amsterdam’s world-famous “coffee shops.” A marijuana-selling cafe in the Dutch capital has stationed a scanner at the door that checks visitors’ temperatures and turns away anyone with a fever. On Friday morning, trade was still brisk at the Prix d’Ami coffee shop in the tourist center of Amsterdam. The scanner went off once while an AP photographer visited, but a second reading for the female visitor was all clear and she was allowed in. Manager Youri Florijn said the numbers of tourists were declining, but customers keep coming.

AMERICAN LIFE UPENDED

After first striking Asia, and then Europe, now America, too, is upending routines as the coronavirus affects just about every facet of American life. Most big tech companies in San Francisco and Seattle have told employees to work from home, emptying out the downtown neighborhoods that are a hub for tech and venture capital firms. The change came on suddenly and many feel unprepared. Across the nation, parents struggled to take care of children kept home from schools while families worried about dwindling retirement savings and the health of elderly parents. Even the Boston Marathon was postponed from April 20 until Sept. 14.

ASIAN COUNTRIES SEEK TO STOP VIRUS' RETURN

Just as the spread of the disease is stabilizing in much of Asia, following a major outbreak in China and sizable ones in South Korea and Japan, it's popping up in new hotspots around the world. That has prompted those three nations to take measures to prevent the new coronavirus from coming back to where it first broke out. The South Korean government, which recently was complaining about global efforts to stop people arriving from the country, is now introducing new screening and border controls on people arriving from abroad, to prevent the reintroduction of the virus.

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The Associated Press receives support for health and science coverage from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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Follow AP coverage of the virus outbreak at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak

By Associated Press 14 March 2020, 12:00AM

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