What's Happening: Inmates seek release, wars weaken defense
Laurie Kuypers, a registered nurse, reaches into a car to take a nasopharyngeal swab from a patient at a drive-through COVID-19 coronavirus testing station for University of Washington Medicine patients Tuesday, March 17, 2020, in Seattle. The appointment-only drive-through clinic began a day earlier. Health authorities in Washington reported more COVID19 deaths in the state that has been hardest hit by the outbreak. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
A woman looks at the few items left in the fresh meat and poultry fridges in a Johannesburg supermarket, Wednesday, March 18, 2020, amid panic-buying due to the coronavirus outbreak. For most people the virus causes only mild or moderate symptoms. For others it can cause more severe illness, especially in older adults and people with existing health problems. (AP Photo/Denis Farrell)
A police officer walks in the empty Trocadero square, in Paris, Wednesday, March 18, 2020. French President Emmanuel Macron said that for 15 days starting at noon on Tuesday, people will be allowed to leave the place they live only for necessary activities such as shopping for food, going to work or taking a walk. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms. For some it can cause more severe illness, especially in older adults and people with existing health problems. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
A man wearing a face mask travels by train in Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday, March 18, 2020. Spain will mobilize 200 billion euros or the equivalent to one fifth of the country's annual output in loans, credit guarantees and subsidies for workers and vulnerable citizens, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced Tuesday. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms. For some, it can cause more severe illness, especially in older adults and people with existing health problems. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
A security employee sits at the entrance of a drive-thru COVID-19 testing area at the Oktoberfest beer festival ground 'Theresienwiese' in Munich, Germany, Wednesday, March 18, 2020. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
Police officers check a pedestrian in Boulogne Billancourt, Wednesday, March 18, 2020. French President Emmanuel Macron said that for 15 days, people will be allowed to leave the place they live only for necessary activities such as shopping for food, going to work or taking a walk. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms. For some it can cause more severe illness, especially in older adults and people with existing health problems. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
A federal police officer crosses an empty bridge over the Tigris River in Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, March 18, 2020. Iraq announced a weeklong curfew to help fight the spread of the virus. For most people, the virus causes only mild or moderate symptoms. For some it can cause more severe illness. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
Medical staff members arrive for a duty shift at Dongsan Hospital in Daegu, South Korea, Wednesday, March 18, 2020. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. (Lee Moo-ryul/Newsis via AP)
A woman wears a mask as she commutes during rush hour on a subway, Tuesday, March 17, 2020 in New York. The subway is normally crowded but many people are staying home out of concern for the spread of coronavirus. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
A man talks on his mobile phone outside a closed tennis club in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Wednesday, March 18, 2020. The Dutch government ordered all Dutch schools, cafes, restaurants, coffeeshops, sex clubs and sport and fitness clubs to be closed as the government sought to prevent the further spread of coronavirus in the Netherlands. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
A street artist waits for tourists on an empty Dam Square. around noon outside the Royal Palace, rear, in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Wednesday, March 18, 2020. The Dutch government ordered all Dutch schools, cafes, restaurants, coffeeshops, sex clubs and sport and fitness clubs to be closed as the government sought to prevent the further spread of coronavirus in the Netherlands. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including…
Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, top, delivers a speech to explain measures under the state of emergency to an almost empty parliament while the majority of lawmakers follow the session online, in Madrid, Spain, Wednesday March 18, 2020. Spain will mobilize 200 billion euros or the equivalent to one fifth of the country's annual output in loans, credit guarantees and subsidies for workers and vulnerable citizens Pedro Sanchez announced earlier. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms. For some, it can cause more severe illness, especially in older adult…
People queue at ticket machines at Heathrow airport in London, Wednesday, March 18, 2020. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)
Syrian Sami Jawabreh wears a mask and gloves, as he rearranges fruits on display for sale at his shop, in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, March 18, 2020. Lebanon has been taking strict measures to limit the spread of the coronavirus closing restaurants and nightclubs as well as schools and universities. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms. For some it can cause more severe illness. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
A cleaner worker cleans the pavement of Plaza Mayor square in Madrid downtown, Spain, Wednesday, March 18, 2020. Spain will mobilize 200 billion euros or the equivalent to one fifth of the country's annual output in loans, credit guarantees and subsidies for workers and vulnerable citizens, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced Tuesday. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms. For some, it can cause more severe illness, especially in older adults and people with existing health problems. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Istituto Clinico Casalpalocco Covid 3 hospital Medical Director Antonio Marchesi wears a mask as he gives a tour for the media of ICU positions set up at the private clinic to tend to coronavirus patients, in Casalpalocco, on the outskirts of Rome, Wednesday, March 18, 2020. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms. For some it can cause more severe illness, especially in older adults and people with existing health problems. (Mauro Scrobogna/LaPresse via AP)
People line up to enter in a supermarket to buy supplies in Brussels, Wednesday, March 18, 2020. Belgium has ordered further lockdown measures starting Wednesday, following in the steps of European neighbours Italy, Spain and France. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
An empty Westminster Bridge in London, Wednesday, March 18, 2020. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia.(AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
People line-up as they wait to enter in a supermarket in Rome, Wednesday, March 18, 2020. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms. For some it can cause more severe illness, especially in older adults and people with existing health problems. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
The closed entrance of a park due to coronavirus in Lille, northern France, Wednesday, March 18, 2020. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms. For some it can cause more severe illness. (AP Photo/Michel Spingler)
A man sunbathes on Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Wednesday, March 18, 2020. Firemen have been blaring recordings that urge beachgoers to stay home as a preventive measure against the spread of the new coronavirus. The vast majority of people recover from the new virus. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)
Closed shops are seen in old Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, March 18, 2020. Iraq announced a weeklong curfew to help fight the spread of the COVID-19 virus. For most people, the virus causes only mild or moderate symptoms. For some it can cause more severe illness. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)
These are some of the latest developments Wednesday in the world's coronavirus pandemic:
NUMBER OF WORLDWIDE CASES TOPS 200,000
The number of people infected worldwide surpassed the 200,000 mark. Deaths topped 8,000, but the number of people considered recovered reached over 82,000, according to a tally kept by Johns Hopkins University. The countries with the most confirmed cases were China, Italy, Iran, Spain and Germany. The countries with the most confirmed deaths were China, Italy, Iran, Spain and France.
GOVERNMENTS GRAPPLE WITH BORDER CLOSURES
Governments grappled with how to implement border closures and lockdowns that caused transportation chaos and imperiled economies but which authorities said y are needed to slow the spread of the virus. European Union leaders agreed to shut down the bloc’s external borders and ban entry of most foreigners for 30 days. The United States and Canada were working on a mutual ban on nonessential travel between the two countries.
WAR-RAVAGED MIDDLE EAST COUNTRIES FACE NEW SCOURGE
Long-running wars and conflicts across the Middle East have wrecked potential defenses against coronavirus outbreaks, leaving millions vulnerable in Yemen, Libya, Syria, Afghanistan, the Gaza Strip and elsewhere. Health care systems have been gutted; war has damaged key infrastructure. Several of the countries are carved up among opposing factions, rival claimant governments or armed groups, impeding any possible nationwide strategies to protect public health. Further complicating the response in countries with long-running conflicts, hundreds of thousands of people driven from their homes by fighting are crowded in close quarters in tent camps or improper housing.
PRISON INMATES SEEK COMPASSIONATE RELEASE
America’s nearly 7,000 jails, prisons and correction facilities are an ideal breeding ground for the coronavirus, as dangerous as nursing homes and cruise ships but far less sanitary. That has prompted some inmates to plead for compassionate release or home detention. Among them are President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney, Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff, the former head of the Cali drug cartel and dozens of inmates at New York City’s Rikers Island, part of a jail system that lost an employee to the virus this week.
RESPECTING PERSONAL SPACE
The novel coronavirus has rapidly redefined the concept of respecting personal space for Italians, as well as for South Koreans, Filipinos, Americans, Spaniards and citizens of many other crowded parts of the world. In hard-hit Italy, a nationwide decree that took effect last week obliges people to stay at least 1 meter (about 40 inches) apart. Overnight, habits were turned upside down in a tactile society where walking arm-in-arm with friends, kissing neighbors in greeting and patting the heads of babies are the norm. Whether acting under government orders or following basic public health advice, people are putting distance between themselves to keep the coronavirus away.
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AMERICANS FIND IT HARD TO DO NOTHING
Americans are used to thinking themselves as the kind of people who fight crises with tough action. That is making the key recommendation in this pandemic — staying home — hard for many people. The central mythology across much of the country’s history, from the Puritans to the frontier to 9/11, has been about getting up and going out to do what needs to be done — not staying home, being quiet and practicing what can look a whole lot like inaction. A recent meme popping up everywhere on social media this week says: “Your grandparents were called to war. You’re being called to sit on your couch. You can do this.” Staying home also is proving challenging for people in France and Italy, where police are ticketing individuals without valid reasons for being out and about.
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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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