Your Wednesday Evening Briefing

March 18, 2020

Your Wednesday Evening Briefing

By Remy Tumin, Jonathan Wolfe and Marcus Payadue

Good evening. Here’s the latest.

Philip Cheung for The New York Times

1. The details of a $1 trillion economic stabilization package are coming into focus.

The Trump administration asked Congress for $500 billion to cover two separate waves of direct payments to American taxpayers in the next several weeks and another $300 billion to help small businesses affected by the coronavirus pandemic. The package also calls for $50 billion for secured loans for the airline industry and $150 billion in loans for other sectors of the economy.

President Trump also moved to send military hospital ships to New York and California (which could take weeks), and to invoke a law allowing the federal government to order U.S. industries to produce critically needed medical equipment.

The Senate approved a bill to provide sick leave, jobless benefits, free coronavirus testing and other aid. Mr. Trump is expected to sign it. Above, an empty Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco.

However, the U.S. is facing shortages of tests, hospital beds and equipment like ventilators, swabs and face masks.

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Robert Neubecker

2. U.S. stocks plunged. The Dow fell below where it was when President Trump was inaugurated.

The S&P 500 fell about 5 percent, stocks in Europe were sharply lower and oil prices cratered. The swing came a day after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin warned Republican lawmakers that the unemployment rate in the U.S. could approach 20 percent without the intervention of robust economic stimulus measures.

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We’re launching a new information hub for questions about your money during the pandemic. It offers financial strategies and information on government benefits and free services.

Before Gap announced it was closing starting Thursday, many workers expressed growing anxiety. John Taggart for The New York Times

3. Here’s how economic disparities are playing out in the crisis.

Even as Americans have been warned to avoid groups or to shelter in place, many low-wage workers are being asked to keep working and commuting to jobs that potentially put them at risk of exposure.

Chains like T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, Kohl’s and Starbucks remain staffed and open. Gap stores, like the one above in Brooklyn, N.Y., are closing on Thursday.

“I’m scared to go to work, but if I don’t go I won’t get paid, and I have a one-year-old at home,” wrote one employee on an internal messaging board. “Please please please close all stores.”

And while large firms like Amazon and Wells Fargo are going to great lengths to protect some workers, janitors are often not among them.

And immigrants may be among the least able to self-isolate or seek medical help, fearing the loss of a chance at a green card under Trump administration rules or, if they’re undocumented, coming into the cross-hairs of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Chandan Khanna/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

4. In Florida, the government has been slow to protect its elderly population, falling behind on testing and refusing to close beaches, which are packed with young spring breakers. Above, today in Miami Beach.

And older Americans across the country face enforced isolation — itself a health threat — as community centers, like the one above in New York City, close.

Young people in Germany are finding common human and economic cause with older people, and some of Europe’s climate activists are taking comfort in seeing that governments can take large-scale action — if they truly understand the danger.

Glenn Harvey

5. If you’re working from home:

Tech issues like shoddy Wi-Fi, low-quality video calls and uncomfortable work stations can make life hard. Here’s what you can do to make working from home a little easier.

A few other tips for maintaining your sanity and health:

By now you know to wash your hands — but don’t forget to moisturize. Here are T Magazine’s favorite dermatologist-approved lotions to soothe hands in a time of assiduous scrubbing.
Everyone’s talking about canned tuna. Here’s how Sam Sifton, our Food editor, makes it delicious.
Bookstores are hosting book groups via videoconference calls and providing curbside book pickups.
Should you still be going out? Take it from George Takei, Fat Joe, Dan Rather, Hilary Duff and more celebrities in this Opinion video: No.

Erin Schaff/The New York Times

6. Bernie Sanders is “assessing his options.”

That was the word from his campaign after the Vermont senator lost all three states in Tuesday’s Democratic primaries. Joe Biden’s sweep of Florida, Illinois and Arizona put him firmly on track to become the party’s presidential nominee.

Advisers to Mr. Sanders said he was not suspending his campaign, but they sent an email to supporters without asking for donations and stopped actively advertising on Facebook — steps that other candidates have taken before dropping out.

Meanwhile, the last Republican primary challenger to President Trump, the former Gov. William Weld of Massachusetts, said he was ending his campaign.

Mustafa Saeed

7. Two stories of women in volatile societies.

In the conservative, breakaway territory of Somaliland, there is a sign that life may be changing for women: More female athletes are participating in an annual running event that includes a marathon and a 10-kilometer race.

And in Ukraine, about 80 percent of the country’s railroad traffic controllers and safety officers are women. Railroad crossings in Ukraine are almost fully automated — and yet the railroad women persist, acting as a kind of safety net the Ukrainian railway companies have deemed still necessary.

Karsten Moran for The New York Times

8. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston turn 150 this year.

As traditional museums find themselves in the hot seat after the decades-long surge of identity politics, our art critic took the opportunity to offer museums a five-point plan to save their souls. (The Met expects to be closed until July because of the coronavirus, projecting a total shortfall of close to $100 million.)

“They need to acknowledge the often conflicted relationship between aesthetics and ethics. They need to address what their collections leave out. They need to reconsider their own role as history-tellers and history-inventors,” he writes. “In short, they need to redefine what ‘encyclopedic’ and ‘museum’ and ‘art’ can mean.”

Erin Simkin/Hulu

9. And now, an entertainment break.

We asked Celeste Ng, Ann Patchett, Min Jin Lee, Erik Larson and other notable authors about the books that bring them comfort. They include “The Princess Bride,” “I Capture the Castle,” and “News of the World.”

Ms. Ng’s “Little Fires Everywhere” has been turned into a Hulu mini-series with Kerry Washington and Reese Witherspoon, above, playing moms divided on nearly everything. Here’s our review.

But no matter what show you’re watching, there always seems to be something — face touching or even communal snack plates — to remind you that times have changed, our TV critic writes.

Shedd Aquarium

10. Finally, exploring the zoo from the comfort of your home.

The coronavirus means field trips are canceled until further notice, but that doesn’t mean you can’t delight in seeing your favorite animals. Hippos, otters and penguins can be viewed through webcams, virtual tours and “home safaris.” And at one aquarium, penguins freely strolled through the exhibits.

“We know there’s probably a lot of families at home,” the Dallas Zoo’s president and chief executive said, “and we hope to offer a respite from other news that’s bombarding people.”

Hope you find some joy tonight.

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