vox--2020-03-10--How the coronavirus outbreak is roiling the film and entertainment industries

The Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak , which was first identified in China in December , has had sweeping effects in the public health , business , and travel sectors , among others .
And while the repercussions for the entertainment industry may seem to pale in comparison to the clear threat the virus poses to human life , the ripple effects do have implications for the people around the world who make a living producing and distributing movies , music , and more .
The immense and lucrative Chinese film industry was almost immediately hit as movie theaters across the country @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Hollywood soon began to feel the effects too , and as time passes , the impact of the coronavirus on the global film and entertainment industries will certainly grow .
Consequences of the outbreak on these industries could range from lowered attendance at film festivals and disruptions in film distribution , to delayed or canceled movie releases and concert dates , to curtailed on-location film shoots .
Financial ramifications will likely be felt by studios , filmmakers , theater owners , and more for months , or even years .
Here are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the entertainment industry in response to the outbreak .
Most recently , several movies ( including the upcoming James Bond movie No Time to Die and Peter Rabbit 2 ) have been delayed , and major cultural events have been postponed or canceled , including SXSW and the Emerald City Comic Con .
• K-pop concerts canceled , including BTS shows : On February 28 , the hugely popular K-pop group BTS canceled a series of planned concerts in Seoul .
The shows were scheduled for April 11 and 12 and April 18 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Stadium .
The group ’ s management agency said that the decision was made due to the impossibility of predicting the scale of the outbreak in South Korea come April and cited the health and safety of the musicians themselves , workers , and concertgoers .
Two hundred thousand fans were expected to attend .
Days earlier , BTS had asked fans to avoid a series of TV appearances scheduled to promote their newest album , Map Of The Soul : 7 , which had originally been planned to include studio audiences .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ a streamed press conference .
“ Health is always on our minds these days , and our messages of facing your inner self and loving yourself are ultimately only possible when you ’ re healthy , especially since it is very risky outside these days , ” one of the singers , Jimin , said .
” I hope you take care of yourself.
” The entire Korean entertainment sector has been affected by the outbreak , and K-pop has been hit particularly hard , with groups including GOT7 , WINNER , Sechs @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and others canceling scheduled tour dates .
Variety reported that box office revenue in South Korea was down 30-40 percent in January 2020 compared to previous years .
• SXSW canceled : On March 6 , the city of Austin declared a state of disaster , requiring the cancellation of public gatherings and events for the near future .
The most notable of those is the cancellation of South by Southwest , the annual music , film , TV , and technology festival that serves as a significant financial powerhouse for the city @ @ @ @ @ @ @ full of major companies — including Netflix , Apple , Amazon , WarnerMedia , Facebook , Twitter , TikTok , Mashable , Intel , and more — dropping out of the well-attended event , canceling panels , premieres , and other appearances .
Days later , SXSW organizers announced that they had laid off one-third of the festival ’ s employees in what they called “ a necessary , but heartbreaking , step.
” • Emerald City Comic Con delayed : The organizing body behind Emerald City Comic Con , the largest convention @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , announced on March 6 that it will postpone the event until sometime this summer .
The event was to run March 12-16 .
“ We did everything that we could to run the event as planned , but ultimately , we are following the guidance of the local public health officials indicating that conventions should now be postponed , ” convention organizers Reedpop said in a statement published on the Emerald City Comic Con website .
• Cannes Film Festival remains in question : The 2020 edition of the Cannes Film Festival @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the world , is still in question following the French government ’ s ban on gatherings of more than 1,000 people through at least the end of May .
( The festival is slated to take place May 12-23 and draws thousands of industries and press from around the globe each year . )
The Festival issued a statement on February 28 after the first case of coronavirus in nearby Nice , France , was confirmed by the city ’ s mayor , saying that organizers were monitoring the situation but planned @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( Cannes is a seaside resort town located on the French Riviera , about 30 km from Nice . )
Variety reported on March 10 that the festival ’ s organizers had previously elected not to carry a buy-back option on its insurance , meaning that if the event is canceled , the festival will not be able to rely on an insurance claim to recoup its costs .
Meanwhile , on March 10 , the UK sales outfit GFM became the first film industry company to confirm that it would not be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Chinese movies scrapped theatrical release and premiere online : The biggest films of China ’ s year are usually scheduled to release during the Lunar New Year holiday , near the end of January , but mounting fears of the coronavirus and public reticence to be in crowded spaces caused distributors to voluntarily cancel or postpone several film releases .
Huanxi , distributor of the Chinese blockbuster Lost in Russia , announced on January 22 that the film would premiere online for free .
Promotional materials encouraged audiences to “ stay safely at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ your mom.
” On January 31 , Enter the Fat Dragon became the second major Chinese film to premiere online , as theaters are closed by order of the government .
• Mulan Chinese release delayed : Disney ’ s live-action version of Mulan was set for worldwide release on March 27 , but on February 4 , Disney ’ s ( now-outgoing ) CEO Bob Iger confirmed to CNBC that the film was unlikely to be released in China that day since theaters remain closed by order of the government .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , stars Chinese American actress Liu Yifei , and features Chinese superstars like Gong Li , Jet Li , and Donnie Yen — was expected to rake in substantial revenue at the Chinese box office .
It ’ s unclear when the film will be released in China .
Other high-profile American releases , such as Oscar Best Picture nominees Jojo Rabbit and 1917 , also saw their planned Chinese February release dates canceled .
• No Time to Die : On February 16 , MGM announced that it would cancel the Chinese @ @ @ @ @ @ @ new James Bond movie , No Time To Die , which was scheduled for April .
On March 4 , the studio announced that it had delayed the film ’ s release until late November , making the film the first major tentpole release to be delayed worldwide .
• Sonic the Hedgehog : On February 24 , Paramount Pictures announced that it would delay the release of Sonic the Hedgehog in China , with a new release date to be determined .
• Peter Rabbit 2 : On March 10 , Sony @ @ @ @ @ @ @ release of Peter Rabbit 2 : The Runaway from late March/early April to August .
Film and TV productions halted , altered , or shut down • Jia Zhangke project delayed : At the Berlin Film Festival in February , famed Chinese director Jia Zhangke ( Ash Is Purest White , A Touch of Sin ) told Indiewire that production on his new film , which was slated to begin in April , was delayed indefinitely .
Jia spoke with Indiewire at the Berlin Film Festival , where his documentary Swimming Out Till @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he said that before he left , he ’ d feared his flight to Berlin would be canceled , and that some of his collaborators chose not to make the trip .
Regarding his next film , he said : For some film companies and studios involved in pre-production , a lot of costs are going down the drain , and those that already started production have to be somehow cut short or suspended .
Some of them are already in the process of distributing films and they ’ ve paid for a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The economy is now taking a huge hit , and I think the investment side will be hugely impacted as well.
” • Mission : Impossible production paused : On February 26 , Paramount Pictures announced that it had halted a planned three-week shoot in Venice for the seventh installment in the Mission : Impossible franchise .
“ Out of an abundance of caution for the safety and well-being of our cast and crew , and efforts of the local Venetian government to halt public gatherings in response to the threat of coronavirus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for our three-week shoot in Venice , the scheduled first leg of an extensive production for Mission : Impossible 7 , ” a Paramount spokesperson told the Hollywood Reporter .
“ During this hiatus we want to be mindful of the concerns of the crew and are allowing them to return home until production starts .
We will continue to monitor this situation , and work alongside health and government officials as it evolves.
” • The Amazing Race production halted : On February 28 , CBS had only filmed three episodes of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s 33rd season , located in the UK , when the network announced that the show would be suspending production until further notice .
“ Due to increased concerns and uncertainty regarding the coronavirus around the world , CBS and the producers of The Amazing Race have taken the precautionary measure of temporarily suspending production on the 33rd season of the series , ” the network said in a statement .
“ All contestants and production staff are in the process of returning home.
” • Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune tape without @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to comment , sources told the Hollywood Reporter on March 9 that scheduled tapings of the shows would go forward without a live studio audience .
The measure was taken partly as a precaution for the health of Jeopardy host Alex Trebek , who is fighting stage 4 pancreatic cancer .
• Chinese movie theaters shut down : Hoping to contain the coronavirus outbreak , on January 23 the Chinese government decided to temporarily shut down movie theaters throughout the country until further notice .
A total film production shutdown soon followed .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Year holiday in late January , during which movie theaters typically see an uptick in ticket sales , amounted to a staggering $ 1 billion , according to analysts .
• Chinese cultural attractions closed : Other cultural attractions and institutions in China that have been closed to the public include Tiananmen Square ’ s National Museum of China , the Forbidden City , and a section of the Great Wall of China located near Beijing .
• Shanghai and Hong Kong Disneyland parks shut down : On January 25 , Disney shut @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the coronavirus .
The park is a major revenue generator , with 11.8 million guests in 2018 , 50 percent from outside the Shanghai region , and an estimated $ 1 billion in annual revenue and $ 50 million in operating profit .
A day after Shanghai Disneyland ’ s closure , Hong Kong Disneyland shut down .
• Italian cultural sites closed : In February , a number of major museums in Venice , Milan , Turin , and other northern Italian cities were closed as part of the government ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and annual Carnivale celebrations stopped early .
By early March , with the country under complete lockdown , cultural sites across Italy were closed , including the Colosseum and Pompeii .
We will continue to update this article as the story develops .

The Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic, which was first identified in China in December, has had sweeping effects in the public health, business, and travel sectors, among others. And while the repercussions for the entertainment industry may seem to pale in comparison to the clear threat the virus poses to human life, the ripple effects do have implications for the people around the world who make a living producing and distributing movies, music, and more.
The immense and lucrative Chinese film industry was hit almost immediately as movie theaters across the country were closed and major releases were delayed. Hollywood soon began to feel the effects, too, and as time passes, the impacts of the coronavirus on the global film and entertainment industries continue to be vast.
Consequences of the pandemic on these industries could range from lowered attendance at film festivals and disruptions in film distribution to delayed or canceled movie releases and concert dates to curtailed on-location film shoots. Financial ramifications will likely be felt by studios, filmmakers, theater owners, and more for months or even years.
Here are the biggest and most significant developments in the entertainment industry in response to the pandemic. Most recently, Disney announced more delays to several of its biggest films slated for 2020, including West Side Story and Black Widow.
Major entertainment festival cancellations and postponements
K-pop concerts canceled, including BTS shows: On February 28, the hugely popular K-pop group BTS canceled a series of concerts in Seoul. The shows were scheduled for April 11 and 12 and April 18 and 19 at Seoul’s Olympic Stadium. The group’s management agency said the decision was made due to the impossibility of predicting the scale of the outbreak in South Korea come April and cited the health and safety of the musicians themselves, workers, and concertgoers. Two hundred thousand fans were expected to attend.
Days earlier, BTS had asked fans to avoid a series of TV appearances scheduled to promote their newest album, Map of the Soul: 7, which had originally been planned to include studio audiences. The group also appealed to fans via a streamed press conference. “Health is always on our minds these days, and our messages of facing your inner self and loving yourself are ultimately only possible when you’re healthy, especially since it is very risky outside these days,” one of the singers, Jimin, said. ”I hope you take care of yourself.”
The entire Korean entertainment sector has been affected by the outbreak, and K-pop has been hit particularly hard, with groups including GOT7, Winner, Sechs Kies, (G) I-DLE, and others canceling scheduled tour dates. Variety reported that box office revenue in South Korea was down 30 to 40 percent in January 2020 compared to previous years.
SXSW canceled: On March 6, the city of Austin, Texas, declared a state of disaster, requiring the cancellation of public gatherings and events for the near future. The most notable of those is the cancellation of South by Southwest, the annual music, film, TV, and technology festival that serves as a significant financial powerhouse for the city.
The announcement came after a week full of major companies — including Netflix, Apple, Amazon, WarnerMedia, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Mashable, Intel, and more — dropping out of the well-attended event, canceling panels, premieres, and other appearances. Days later, SXSW organizers announced that they had laid off one-third of the festival’s employees in what they called “a necessary, but heartbreaking, step.”
Emerald City Comic Con delayed: The organizing body behind Emerald City Comic Con, the largest convention of its kind in Seattle, Washington, announced on March 6 that it will postpone the event until sometime this summer. The event was scheduled to run from March 12 to 16.
“We did everything that we could to run the event as planned, but ultimately, we are following the guidance of the local public health officials indicating that conventions should now be postponed,” convention organizers Reedpop said in a statement published on the Emerald City Comic Con website.
Cannes Film Festival delayed: Initially, the 2020 edition of the Cannes Film Festival, arguably the most prestigious film festival in the world, was left in limbo following an announcement from the festival’s organizers on March 19 that the gathering could be delayed until “late June or early July,” or another time. (The festival had been slated to take place May 12 to 23 and draws thousands of industries and press from around the globe each year.) The festival first issued a statement on February 28 after the first case of coronavirus in nearby Nice, France, was confirmed by the city’s mayor, saying that organizers were monitoring the situation but planned for the festival to go forward. (Cannes is a seaside resort town located on the French Riviera, about 30 km from Nice.)
By late spring, the organizers announced that the 2020 edition would be canceled. All films that would have played in the official and sidebar programs at the festival will bear the official Cannes seal when released in theaters or potentially at partner festivals in the fall, such as those that take place in Venice and Toronto. They announced these selections on June 3.
Coachella delayed, then canceled: Goldenvoice, the organizers of Coachella — one of the largest annual music festivals in the US — announced on March 10 that the festival would be postponed due to concerns about Covid-19. Another Goldenvoice festival, the country-music-oriented Stagecoach, was also delayed.
The Indio, California-based event was originally set to run for two weekends (April 10-12 and April 17-19), with the same talent lineup performing both weekends. The postponement moved Coachella to October 9-11 and October 16-18; Stagecoach 2020 was pushed back from April to October 23-25.
But on June 10, both events were canceled by an order from the public health officer of Riverside County, California.
Electronics Entertainment Expo (E3) canceled: The 2020 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) — the single biggest trade show in the video game industry — has been canceled. The Entertainment Software Association, which organizes the event, announced that it would not go forward with the annual event due to coronavirus fears in California, where E3 takes place. The event was scheduled for June 9 to 11.
The organization said it will contact exhibitors and attendees about receiving full refunds for passes, and that it is considering ways to “coordinate an online experience” in lieu of the in-person event. It also maintains that E3 will return next year as planned.
The NBA suspended basketball games: A player on the Utah Jazz tested positive for coronavirus on March 11, leading NBA officials to call off that night’s Jazz game just before tip-off. As a further precautionary measure, the league issued a statement that it would suspend the basketball season “until further notice.”
Prior to putting an early pause on the rest of the season, the NBA made other efforts to protect players and fans. The league barred media from locker rooms and publicly considered having teams play to empty arenas before ultimately stopping play altogether.
Games resumed on July 30.
2020 Tokyo Olympics delayed: On March 24, following pressure from athletes and multiple nations’ Olympic committees, the International Olympic Committee and Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe announced that the 2020 Summer Olympics would be postponed, possibly until 2021; on March 30, the dates were set for July 23-August 8, 2021.
San Diego Comic-Con 2020 canceled: On April 17, the organizers of San Diego Comic-Con announced that the yearly fan convention will not go on as planned in 2020. The event will resume once again in July 2021 at the San Diego Convention Center. The cancellation marks the first time in Comic-Con’s 50-year history that the event, the largest convention of its kind in the US, will not take place.
Major film release dates postponed or canceled
Warner Bros. changes release plans: On April 20, Warner Bros. announced changes to its slate. The Batman, starring Robert Pattinson, shifted from a release date of June 25, 2021, to October 1, 2021. The Many Saints of Newark, a prequel to The Sopranos, was delayed from September 25, 2020, to March 12, 2021. King Richard, a biopic about Venus and Serena Williams’ father starring Will Smith, shifted from November 25, 2020, to November 19, 2021. An untitled Elvis movie moved from October 1, 2021 to November 5, 2021.
Two DC titles also shifted dates: Shazam! 2 is delayed from April 1, 2022 to November 4, 2022, and The Flash moved from July 1, 2022, to June 3, 2022.
On April 21, the studio announced that the big-screen adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights, originally set for June 26, 2020, would move to June 18, 2021, because of pandemic-related post-production delays. Malignant, a thriller from Aquaman director James Wan that had originally been scheduled for August 14 was pulled from the release schedule.
On June 12, the studio announced that Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, previously slated for release on July 17, would move to July 31. Wonder Woman 1984, which was set for August 14, moved to October 2. (Wonder Woman 1984 previously shifted from June to August.)
On July 20, with case numbers rising around the US and most theaters remaining closed, Warner Bros. announced that Tenet’s release would be delayed indefinitely. A week later, the studio announced that the film would be released on a staggered schedule: on August 26 in 70 international territories and then in select US theaters beginning September 3.
On September 11, the studio announced that it had delayed Wonder Woman 1984 again, reportedly until Christmas.
Related Wonder Woman 1984 has been postponed until August 14
Newest Pixar film delayed: On April 13, Disney announced that Pixar’s latest release, Soul, would open on November 20, 2020. The film was previously set to open on June 19.
Disney makes sweeping changes to release calendar: On April 3, Disney made huge changes to its release calendar, setting dates for movies it had previously pulled without a date and moving others. Mulan was set to open on July 24, 2020, while Jungle Cruise, which had been set to release that day, moved to July 30, 2021. An untitled Indiana Jones film moved from July 9, 2021, to July 29, 2022.
Changes in the MCU calendar also set off a domino effect. Black Widow was newly set for November 6, 2020, while the previous release on that date, Shang-Chi, shifted to May 7, 2021. Originally, Doctor Strange 2 was set to release on that date; it’s now set to open November 5, 2021, displacing Thor: Love and Thunder until February 28, 2022. Black Panther 2 is still currently set for May 6, 2022, and Captain Marvel 2 moved from July 22 to July 8, 2022.
Disney also owns 20th Century Films and Searchlight Films, which had a number of changes. The Ryan Reynolds film Free Guy moved from July 3 to December 11, 2020. West Side Story is still set for December 18 and Ridley Scott’s The Last Duel for Christmas Day.
On July 23, however, Disney announced a series of sweeping scheduling changes once again. Mulan was pulled off the release calendar, indefinitely delaying its debut. Disney also took Wes Anderson’s newest film, The French Dispatch, off the calendar indefinitely, after it had initially moved from July 24 to October 16, 2020. Disney moved its upcoming trio of Star Wars movies forward by one year; they’re now slated to release in 2023, 2025, and 2027. And James Cameron’s Avatar sequels were moved back by a year as well, with the first set to premiere in December 2022.
The August 28 date for Disney’s The New Mutants remains August 28, for now; it was originally slated for April 3. And a release date for The Woman in the Window (originally slated for May 15) has not been set yet.
On August 4, Disney announced that Mulan would be released on its Disney+ streaming service. Subscribers will pay an additional $29.99 to rent the movie, available September 4. In territories where Disney+ is not available, Mulan will open in theaters that same day. (Notably, Disney+ is not available in China.)
On September 23, Disney announced more sweeping changes to its release schedule. Black Widow, originally set for November 6, is now slated to open on May 7, 2021. That delay shifted release dates for several other movies in the MCU, including Eternals (from February 12, 2021, to November 5, 2021) and Shang-Chi (from May 7, 2021, to July 9, 2021).
West Side Story, which had been set to release in the prime awards-season slot of December 18, 2020, will now open a full year later on December 10, 2021. The King’s Man — which had initially been set to open in September 2020, then delayed into 2021 — now has a release date of February 16, 2021. And Deep Water, starring Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas, moved from November 13, 2020, to August 13, 2021.
A number of Disney’s films — among them Soul, the latest from Pixar — are still set for 2020 release. Soul has retained its November 20 date, at least for now. Death on the Nile shifted from October 23 to December 18. And the horror film The Empty Man is now set to open on October 23 rather than December 4.
Sony delays nearly all its movies until 2021: On March 30, Sony announced that nearly all of its summer tentpole films would be delayed until late 2020 or early 2021. Delayed movies include Kevin Hart’s Fatherhood, Jared Leto’s Morbius, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Uncharted, and the previously delayed Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway. The only film that appeared unaffected was the Spider-Man: Far From Home sequel, which is still set for theatrical release on July 16, 2020.
NBCUniversal to release major films digitally: In an unprecedented move, NBCUniversal announced on March 16 that it would make some movies available digitally the same day they are released in movie theaters that remain open, including Trolls World Tour, which is set to hit theaters on April 10. Movies currently in theatrical release will also be available on-demand, including The Hunt, The Invisible Man, and Emma. Movies are available for a 48-hour rental period for $19.99 in the US and an equivalent price abroad.
No Time to Die: On February 16, MGM announced that it would cancel the Chinese premiere and publicity tour planned for the new James Bond movie, No Time To Die, which was scheduled for April. On March 4, the studio announced that it had delayed the film’s release until November 25, making the film the first major tentpole release to be delayed worldwide. The film’s release date moved again on June 12, from November 25 to November 20.
Paramount changes release dates: On March 12, John Krasinski, director of Paramount’s A Quiet Place Part II, announced via Twitter that the movie’s March 19 release date would be delayed. “One of the things I’m most proud of is that people have said our movie is one you have to see all together. Well due to the ever-changing circumstances of what’s going on in the world around us, now is clearly not the right time to do that,” he wrote. “As insanely excited as we are for all of you to see this movie ... I’m gonna wait to release the film till we CAN see it all together! So here’s to our group movie date! See you soon!”
On July 23, Paramount announced that the Quiet Place sequel would be pushed to April 23, 2021. Top Gun Maverick was also delayed from December 23, 2020 to July 2, 2021. And that bumped Jackass, previously scheduled for July 2, 2021, to September 3, 2021.
Fast and Furious 9: On March 12, Universal Pictures announced that it would delay the release date of the ninth installment in the Fast and Furious franchise by 11 months, from May 22 to April 2, 2021.
Chinese movies scrapped theatrical release and premiere online: The biggest films of China’s year are usually scheduled to release during the Lunar New Year holiday, near the end of January, but mounting fears of the coronavirus and public reticence to be in crowded spaces caused distributors to voluntarily cancel or postpone several film releases. Huanxi, distributor of the Chinese blockbuster Lost in Russia, announced on January 22 that the film would premiere online for free. Promotional materials encouraged audiences to “stay safely at home and watch Lost in Russia with your mom.” On January 31, Enter the Fat Dragon became the second major Chinese film to premiere online, as theaters are closed by order of the government.
Film and TV productions halted, altered, or shut down
Saturday Night Live aired remotely produced content: On April 9, the producers of Saturday Night Live, which had been on hiatus since mid-March, announced that new, remotely produced material would air on NBC in the show’s usual Saturday night slot, 11:30 pm on April 11, including a “Weekend Update” segment.
The coronavirus has touched Saturday Night Live in at least two ways. The show’s long-time music supervisor, Hal Willner, passed away on April 7 at the age of 64; he was not formally diagnosed with the virus but had consistent symptoms. And Michael Che, one of the show’s co-head writers and co-anchor with Colin Jost of “Weekend Update,” announced via social media on April 6 that his grandmother had passed away from coronavirus complications.
The show joined other late-night comedy shows, such as NBC’s The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and Late Night with Seth Meyers, CBS’s The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, in creating comedy content remotely.
Eurovision canceled: On March 18, the organizers of the Eurovision Song Contest announced via Twitter that the 2020 edition of the event was canceled. The event had been planned for May.
TV shows suspend production: Hundreds of shows have delayed or suspended production, including Apple’s The Morning Show and Little America; Netflix shows including Russian Doll; the CW’s Riverdale; NBC shows including the Chicago dramas and The Kelly Clarkson Show; CBS shows including the NCIS dramas, The Amazing Race, and Survivor; and many more.
Late-night shows suspend production or tape without a studio audience: Originally, on March 11, producers of shows including NBC’s The Tonight Show (hosted by Jimmy Fallon) and Late Night With Seth Meyers, CBS’s Late Show With Stephen Colbert, TBS’s Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, and Comedy Central’s Daily Show (hosted by Trevor Noah) all announced they would begin taping without a live studio audience on March 16.
A day later, NBC announced that The Tonight Show and Late Night would suspend production beginning the week of March 16; Stephen Colbert also announced that the Late Show would suspend production. All three shows were already scheduled to go into hiatus on March 23. On March 13, Jimmy Kimmel Live also suspended production. Most shows eventually began producing remotely, often with hosts and guests working from home studios.
Disney suspends live-action production: On March 13, Disney announced that production on its live-action movies would suspend production. Affected films include The Little Mermaid, a Home Alone reboot, and Peter Pan. Earlier in the day, production on Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of Ten Rings had been suspended due to director Destin Daniel Cretton’s decision to self-isolate upon advice of a doctor. (Marvel is owned by Disney.)
Jia Zhangke project delayed: At the Berlin Film Festival in February, famed Chinese director Jia Zhangke (Ash Is Purest White, A Touch of Sin) told Indiewire that production on his new film, which was slated to begin in April, was delayed indefinitely. Jia spoke with Indiewire at the Berlin Film Festival, where his documentary Swimming Out Till the Sea Turns Blue premiered. But he said that before he left, he’d feared his flight to Berlin would be canceled, and that some of his collaborators chose not to make the trip. Regarding his next film, he said:
For some film companies and studios involved in pre-production, a lot of costs are going down the drain, and those that already started production have to be somehow cut short or suspended. Some of them are already in the process of distributing films and they’ve paid for a lot of promotion and PR costs. The economy is now taking a huge hit, and I think the investment side will be hugely impacted as well.
Mission: Impossible production paused: On February 26, Paramount Pictures announced that it had halted a planned three-week shoot in Venice for the seventh installment in the Mission: Impossible franchise. “Out of an abundance of caution for the safety and well-being of our cast and crew, and efforts of the local Venetian government to halt public gatherings in response to the threat of coronavirus, we are altering the production plan for our three-week shoot in Venice, the scheduled first leg of an extensive production for Mission: Impossible 7,” a Paramount spokesperson told the Hollywood Reporter. “During this hiatus we want to be mindful of the concerns of the crew and are allowing them to return home until production starts. We will continue to monitor this situation, and work alongside health and government officials as it evolves.”
Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune tape without a studio audience: Though Sony declined to comment, sources told the Hollywood Reporter on March 9 that scheduled tapings of the shows would go forward without a live studio audience. The measure was taken partly as a precaution for the health of Jeopardy host Alex Trebek, who has stage 4 pancreatic cancer.
Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson announce they’ve contracted the virus: One of Hollywood’s biggest stars, Tom Hanks, announced that he and his wife Rita Wilson had contracted the coronavirus while shooting Baz Luhrmann’s untitled Elvis Presley film in Australia:
In a message posted publicly on March 11, Hanks was his typical upbeat self:
Well, now. What to do next? The Medical Officials have protocols that must be followed. We Hanks’ will be tested, observed, and isolated for as long as public health and safety requires. Not much more to it than a one-day-at-a-time approach, no? We’ll keep the world posted and updated. Take care of yourselves!
Entertainment venues and attractions shut down
All Disney parks shut down: On January 25, Disney shut down its Shanghai Disneyland park over fears of the coronavirus. The park is a major revenue generator, with 11.8 million guests in 2018, 50 percent from outside the Shanghai region, and an estimated $1 billion in annual revenue and $50 million in operating profit. A day after Shanghai Disneyland’s closure, Hong Kong Disneyland shut down. Both Disney parks in Japan closed on February 29 and Disney announced on March 11 that they will remain closed through at least the end of April.
Late in the day on March 12, Disneyland in California announced it would close the following day; by that evening, the company announced that all of its parks would close, including those in Florida and Disneyland Paris (where three staff had previously tested positive for coronavirus).
In July, Disney World reopened amid a spike in Florida coronavirus cases.
North American movie theaters shut down: On March 13, a number of theaters and theater chains, including AMC Theatres, and the Canadian chain Cineplex, announced that they would be reducing the number of tickets sold to screenings by as much as 50 percent in order to enable patrons to sit further apart as part of “social distancing” measures.
On March 15, theaters in New York and Los Angeles were shut down by order of their respective mayors. On March 16, Regal announced it would shut down all of its 543 US theaters indefinitely; later in the day, AMC followed suit.
New York City cultural sites closed: On March 12, major cultural sites in New York City began to close, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Other institutions canceled programming for the month of March, such as the New York Public Library and Carnegie Hall.
Within days, the Metropolitan Museum of Art announced that it anticipated staying closed through July and laying off much of its staff. On March 19, the Metropolitan Opera laid off all of its union employees, including musicians and chorus.
Broadway shows closed: On March 12, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that beginning at 5:00 pm, Broadway would be closed, part of a ban on gatherings of more than 500 people. On April 8, the Broadway League announced that theaters would remain closed through June, and probably longer. On June 29, the League extended the shutdown through January 3, 2021.
West End closes: On March 16, London’s West End shut down, following Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s speech urging Britons to avoid public spaces. The theaters, including the Royal Opera House, will stay closed indefinitely. As of June, the West End closures remained in effect through at least August 2.
Italian cultural sites closed: In February, a number of major museums in Venice, Milan, Turin, and other northern Italian cities were closed as part of the government’s aggressive attempt to contain the virus, and annual Carnivale celebrations stopped early. By early March, with the country under complete lockdown, cultural sites across Italy were closed, including the Colosseum and Pompeii.
Chinese movie theaters shut down for months, tentatively begin to reopen, then re-close: Hoping to contain the coronavirus outbreak, on January 23 the Chinese government temporarily shut down movie theaters throughout the country until further notice. A total film production shutdown soon followed. Loss of revenue over the Lunar New Year holiday in late January, during which movie theaters typically see an uptick in ticket sales, amounted to a staggering $1 billion, according to analysts.
By March 23, about 500 cinemas had reopened in China, roughly 5 percent of the cinemas in the country that were open before the outbreak. Variety reported that box office earnings remained minimal. But by March 27, they were closed again. Some Chinese movie theaters began to open in late July.
We will continue to update this article as the story develops.


vox--2020-03-10--Why James Carville thinks Trump will lose

After working for Bill Clinton during Clinton ’ s long-shot presidential campaign in the early ’ 90s , Democratic political strategist James Carville gained a reputation for being a shrewd and salty political strategist .
And he ’ s basically been on TV ever since , says Today , Explained host Sean Rameswaram .
So what does a 70-something-year-old white man think about the three 70-something-year-old white men who are vying for the presidency right now ?
Do Democrats need to change their strategy online to win the 2020 election ?
And in Carville ’ s dream scenario , which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nomination , who does he think would be the best vice presidential pick ?
Listen to the full episode of Today , Explained — Vox ’ s daily explainer podcast — to hear the answers .
Below is a lightly edited transcript of Carville ’ s conversation with Rameswaram .
Subscribe to Today , Explained wherever you get your podcasts , including : Apple Podcasts , Google Podcasts , Spotify and Stitcher .
It seems like what you were calling for in your conversation with our colleague Sean Illing was for the Democratic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rally around a moderate candidate who could win the election .
This moderate , this word that people throw out .
In other words , if you ’ re not Bernie Sanders , you ’ re part of the moderate wing of the Democratic Party .
It ’ s a bullshit word .
I don ’ t consider myself a moderate .
I consider myself a liberal .
But it doesn ’ t matter because it ’ s just become a convenient way to describe anybody that is not Bernie Sanders .
And @ @ @ @ @ @ @ historically be some pretty liberal positions going into this race .
Do you think there ’ s something to be said that Bernie Sanders , being such a progressive , could have excited a younger base and perhaps that way taken the — No , no , that ’ s the equivalent of climate denial or creationism .
You ’ re not going to change the turnout model .
It ’ s never been done and it ’ s not going to be done .
So you weren ’ t impressed by Bernie @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
I mean , Bernie can ’ t .
He has no relationship with the most important constituency in the Democratic Party : African Americans .
The newest and most exciting demographic in a Democratic Party are these college-educated white voters , particularly women .
He has no relationship with them .
They came out and voted against him in droves .
He got a third of the California Democrats .
I ’ m sorry .
I ’ m just not that impressed .
Let ’ s talk about Joe for a minute @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , “ It ’ s the economy , stupid.
” The economy has been in pretty good shape until these Covid-19-related dips recently .
How does Biden do against Donald Trump in a race where Trump plans on bragging about how well he ’ s done with the economy ?
So he inherits a country .
It has 2 percent growth .
He sticks a trillion dollars ’ worth of stimulus , gives a green light for every polluter to go .
And what do we get ?
Drum roll , please ... @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The Republicans got 44.8 in 2018 .
His approval on FiveThirtyEight is 43.4 .
Whatever he did , it didn ’ t .
There ’ s 55 percent of the country that wants to not be for this guy .
That ’ s a big number .
We should do everything we can to maximize that number .
Political parties don ’ t exist to make arguments .
They exist to win elections .
Without power , there is nothing .
It ’ s all a bunch of people sitting around talking @ @ @ @ @ @ @ take your point .
But Trump , of course , lost the popular vote in 2016 and still won the Electoral College .
So in the states that matter here , do you think people are feeling like the economy is good and thus maybe we should just vote for the incumbent ?
Or do you think they ’ re hurting and thus Joe Biden has a strong argument ?
All of the evidence I see is people do not want Trump back .
But we got to run a strong persuasion campaign @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Wisconsin , in Florida .
We can ’ t go with this urban strategy that we are the growing party .
Eighteen percent of the country elects 52 senators .
Take that , urban strategy .
The party has to have a majoritarian instinct .
We ’ ve got to be skilled enough to excite our most important voters , African Americans , to get our own new exciting demographic out , these college-educated women , and also to cut into the margins in the more rural and small-town parts of Pennsylvania , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
And I think we can do that .
What do you think the strongest argument Vice President Biden can make in states like Pennsylvania , Michigan , Florida , Wisconsin might be ?
“ I want to get Trump out of there .
You ’ re not going to live like this anymore.
” You know , “ You ’ re not going to be waking up to tweets.
” And , “ People that are trying to inspire young people are not to have this for an example ; we ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ run the government.
” But , I mean , Democrats are hoping that Biden will convince people who voted for Donald Trump in 2016 to switch their vote back to the Democratic Party .
Is the argument that we ’ ve got to get Trump out of there as strong as an argument that might appeal more to things that affect their lives personally ?
What you do is you talk about things that affect their lives personally .
You think they think that Trump ’ s done something about prescription drug prices @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tax cut went to anybody but the richest people in the country ?
You think that people are not so stupid that they know Donald Trump went to Davos and while he was in Davos said he was going to cut Medicare after he was elected again ?
And he ’ s probably ruined morale in the diplomatic corps .
They ’ ve tried to hollow out the CDC and NIH , I don ’ t know .
That don ’ t seem very good to me .
We ’ ve added a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ economy , which I don ’ t think is a very good idea at all .
We ’ ve abandoned any environmental regulation .
We ’ ve just become , the government has become an assistance center for the fossil fuel industry .
We ’ ve pitted one American against another American .
We ’ ve told citizens of the United States that they should go back to the country they came from .
It ’ s the most repulsive thing anybody can say about anything in this country .
I think it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
None of us needs to go back anyway , you ’ re here .
What do you think it says that he ’ s got near-record approval ratings with the Republican base ?
That it ’ s a personality cult .
The Republican voter very much wants Donald Trump where he is .
And the way to deal with this is defeat Republican politicians and then get power and win the Senate back .
And , you know , look at where you got to win a Senate seat .
You got @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ ve got two in Georgia .
You ’ ve got to hold Alabama .
You ’ ve got a shot in Texas .
You should win Arizona .
You should win Colorado .
You now got a shot in Montana .
Believe it or not , you got a shot in Kansas .
You ’ re probably ahead in Maine .
You got ta hold Michigan .
That ’ s the reality of politics .
This is an opportunity that you just don ’ t see very often in politics .
I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ come in if we ’ re smart , we have a chance to run the table in November .

After working for Bill Clinton during Clinton’s long-shot presidential campaign in the early ’90s, Democratic political strategist James Carville gained a reputation for being a shrewd and salty political strategist. And he’s basically been on TV ever since, says Today, Explained host Sean Rameswaram.
So what does a 70-something-year-old white man think about the three 70-something-year-old white men who are vying for the presidency right now? Do Democrats need to change their strategy online to win the 2020 election? And in Carville’s dream scenario, which Rameswaram points out is clearly a Biden nomination, who does he think would be the best vice presidential pick?
Listen to the full episode of Today, Explained — Vox’s daily explainer podcast — to hear the answers. Below is a lightly edited transcript of Carville’s conversation with Rameswaram.
Subscribe to Today, Explained wherever you get your podcasts, including: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and Stitcher.
Sean Rameswaram
It seems like what you were calling for in your conversation with our colleague Sean Illing was for the Democratic Party to get its act together and rally around a moderate candidate who could win the election.
James Carville
This moderate, this word that people throw out. In other words, if you’re not Bernie Sanders, you’re part of the moderate wing of the Democratic Party. It’s a bullshit word. I don’t consider myself a moderate. I consider myself a liberal. But it doesn’t matter because it’s just become a convenient way to describe anybody that is not Bernie Sanders. And the Democratic Party has taken what would historically be some pretty liberal positions going into this race.
Sean Rameswaram
Do you think there’s something to be said that Bernie Sanders, being such a progressive, could have excited a younger base and perhaps that way taken the —
James Carville
No, no, that’s the equivalent of climate denial or creationism. You’re not going to change the turnout model. It’s never been done and it’s not going to be done.
Sean Rameswaram
So you weren’t impressed by Bernie’s win in California?
James Carville
No. I mean, Bernie can’t. He has no relationship with the most important constituency in the Democratic Party: African Americans. The newest and most exciting demographic in a Democratic Party are these college-educated white voters, particularly women. He has no relationship with them. They came out and voted against him in droves. He got a third of the California Democrats. I’m sorry. I’m just not that impressed.
Sean Rameswaram
Let’s talk about Joe for a minute here. A smart man once said, “It’s the economy, stupid.” The economy has been in pretty good shape until these Covid-19-related dips recently. How does Biden do against Donald Trump in a race where Trump plans on bragging about how well he’s done with the economy?
James Carville
So he inherits a country. It has 2 percent growth. He sticks a trillion dollars’ worth of stimulus, gives a green light for every polluter to go. And what do we get? Drum roll, please ... 2.1. Trump got 46.1 in 2016. The Republicans got 44.8 in 2018. His approval on FiveThirtyEight is 43.4. Whatever he did, it didn’t.
There’s 55 percent of the country that wants to not be for this guy. That’s a big number. We should do everything we can to maximize that number. Political parties don’t exist to make arguments. They exist to win elections. Without power, there is nothing. It’s all a bunch of people sitting around talking to each other in cities.
Sean Rameswaram
I take your point. But Trump, of course, lost the popular vote in 2016 and still won the Electoral College. So in the states that matter here, do you think people are feeling like the economy is good and thus maybe we should just vote for the incumbent? Or do you think they’re hurting and thus Joe Biden has a strong argument?
James Carville
All of the evidence I see is people do not want Trump back. But we got to run a strong persuasion campaign in Pennsylvania, in Michigan, in Wisconsin, in Florida. We can’t go with this urban strategy that we are the growing party. Eighteen percent of the country elects 52 senators. Take that, urban strategy. The party has to have a majoritarian instinct. We’ve got to be skilled enough to excite our most important voters, African Americans, to get our own new exciting demographic out, these college-educated women, and also to cut into the margins in the more rural and small-town parts of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, places like that. And I think we can do that.
Sean Rameswaram
What do you think the strongest argument Vice President Biden can make in states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, Florida, Wisconsin might be?
James Carville
“I want to get Trump out of there. You’re not going to live like this anymore.” You know, “You’re not going to be waking up to tweets.” And, “People that are trying to inspire young people are not to have this for an example; we’re going to put competent people to run the government.”
Sean Rameswaram
But, I mean, Democrats are hoping that Biden will convince people who voted for Donald Trump in 2016 to switch their vote back to the Democratic Party. Is the argument that we’ve got to get Trump out of there as strong as an argument that might appeal more to things that affect their lives personally?
James Carville
What you do is you talk about things that affect their lives personally. You think they think that Trump’s done something about prescription drug prices? You think they think that his tax cut went to anybody but the richest people in the country? You think that people are not so stupid that they know Donald Trump went to Davos and while he was in Davos said he was going to cut Medicare after he was elected again?
And he’s probably ruined morale in the diplomatic corps. They’ve tried to hollow out the CDC and NIH, I don’t know. That don’t seem very good to me. We’ve added a trillion dollars in debt in a functioning economy, which I don’t think is a very good idea at all. We’ve abandoned any environmental regulation. We’ve just become, the government has become an assistance center for the fossil fuel industry. We’ve pitted one American against another American. We’ve told citizens of the United States that they should go back to the country they came from. It’s the most repulsive thing anybody can say about anything in this country. I think it’s just a violation of everything. None of us needs to go back anyway, you’re here.
Sean Rameswaram
What do you think it says that he’s got near-record approval ratings with the Republican base?
James Carville
That it’s a personality cult. The Republican voter very much wants Donald Trump where he is. And the way to deal with this is defeat Republican politicians and then get power and win the Senate back. And, you know, look at where you got to win a Senate seat. You gotta win in North Carolina. You’ve got two in Georgia. You’ve got to hold Alabama. You’ve got a shot in Texas. You should win Arizona. You should win Colorado. You now got a shot in Montana. Believe it or not, you got a shot in Kansas. You’re probably ahead in Maine. You gotta hold Michigan. That’s the reality of politics. This is an opportunity that you just don’t see very often in politics. I mean, we have a chance to come in if we’re smart, we have a chance to run the table in November.


vox--2020-03-10--Italy’s coronavirus crisis could be America’s

Three weeks ago , Italy barely had a coronavirus problem .
Back then , when there were just three confirmed cases , shops and cafes were open , tourists flowed in and out of the country ’ s magnificent holiday destinations , and quarantines were relegated to history : 14th-century Venice during the Black Death .
Now , Italy has the second-highest number of reported Covid-19 cases and deaths outside China : more than 10,100 , and more than 630 , respectively , as of March 10 .
Those figures are higher than that of two other coronavirus outbreak centers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ higher than that of any other country in Europe .
In an effort to slow the spread of infection , the government on Monday announced an extraordinary measure for a Western democracy — one that hasn ’ t been tried in modern times at the country level : The entire peninsula was put under quarantine orders until , at least , April 3 .
Even weddings and funerals are banned .
One big reason for the extreme response : The coronavirus has overwhelmed the country ’ s health system , particularly in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the hospital beds in Lombardy , the hardest-hit province , are being occupied by coronavirus patients , according to Bloomberg .
Intensive care units are overloaded while elective surgeries have been canceled in the process to free up beds .
Stories abound on social media about doctors rationing care , having to choose who among the needy patients showing up should get treatment .
But hidden behind the official Covid-19 numbers is a much broader health crisis , accumulating across the country .
Even greater than the official coronavirus toll may be the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ system : The pregnant women and babies , cancer and HIV patients , and children in need of vaccines who are now less likely to get the health care they need .
“ Most health systems are pretty streamlined and ... so an excessive increase [ in patients ] rapidly strains resources , ” said Richard Neher , a University of Basel researcher who has been modeling how Covid-19 could stress hospital demand .
“ If you react too late , you ’ re in trouble.
” “ What is very clear , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ drastic reduction in transmission of the virus , health systems will be overwhelmed.
” In other words , Italy ’ s situation today could be any country ’ s situation tomorrow .
Lombardy — one of the wealthiest regions in Europe — shows how an outbreak , almost overnight , can spiral into a full-fledged crisis when officials don ’ t prepare and react too slowly .
And that surge , many believe , is coming to the US very soon .
It ’ s not clear why Italy ’ s cases ramped @ @ @ @ @ @ @ February , Italy had only a few identified Covid-19 cases .
By February 23 , Italian officials reported 76 confirmed cases to the WHO .
Two days later , that number grew to 229 .
The case and death toll rose exponentially from there while people with the virus who ’ d come from Italy were identified in countries as far and wide as Nigeria , Switzerland , Brazil , and Spain .
At that time , the rapid rise in identified cases — both within the country and among travelers — was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control mission went to Italy to figure out what was going on .
Authorities meanwhile scrambled to impose severe measures to try to stop the virus .
In the country ’ s north , sporting , religious , and cultural events were canceled along with university classes .
Anyone who tried to enter or leave the areas in Lombardy where the outbreak was occurring faced fines .
The severity of the response rivaled only that of China ’ s .
It ’ s not clear why @ @ @ @ @ @ @ quickly relative to other European countries , but there are several competing theories .
One is that an aggressive testing campaign centered in Lombardy — a wealthy region in the north — inflated the problem at a time when other countries have lagged in detecting cases .
Another is that intense spread of the virus in the hospital system , before doctors realized there was a problem , may have amplified the outbreak .
Some 10 percent of medical workers in Lombardy have been infected , according to a March 3 Washington Post @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 5 percent of those infected in the country .
( Bolstering this explanation : The WHO-ECDC joint mission report suggests Italy should work on its infection prevention and control measures in hospitals . )
There ’ s also speculation about whether Italy ’ s burden is particularly severe because of the country ’ s aging population .
Covid-19 is known to hit the elderly particularly hard .
That , along with the fast rise in confirmed cases , has tested the limits of the health system .
“ We are seeing a high @ @ @ @ @ @ @ our intensive care units ( ICUs ) , in the range of 10 per cent of all positive patient [ s ] , ” Italian doctors warned in a public letter .
“ We wish to convey a strong message : Get ready !
” Covid-19 projections suggest the disease is on track to spike in the US In many countries , perhaps including Italy , once officials have started testing more broadly for Covid-19 , they find more cases .
Testing so far in the US has been painfully inept and sluggish @ @ @ @ @ @ @ experts expect an uptick in Covid-19 cases in America .
For evidence , look at the projections coming out of America ’ s largest outbreak , in Washington state , where there are 179 cases to date .
According to Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center computational biologist Trevor Bedford , Covid-19 may have been spreading in Seattle since at least mid-January , long before any spread was officially confirmed there , as Stat ’ s Helen Branswell first reported .
Bedford has been working with Nextstrain , an open-source project that tracks the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ including Covid-19 .
He also used data from specimens collected to monitor flu activity in Seattle , which were then repurposed to look for coronavirus cases .
As of March 10 , he and his colleagues estimated , there were as many as 1,100 cases in Seattle alone .
“ The Seattle data implies there ’ s undetected community transmission , ” said Bedford ’ s colleague Emma Hodcroft , co-developer of Nextstrain .
“ It tells us [ Covid-19 ] is circulating widely enough that random people who don ’ t think @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s just Washington , though .
To date , the entire country is severely lagging in its testing capacity .
As of March 8 , only 1,700 Americans had been checked for the virus — a number that pales in comparison to the 50,000 who have been tested in Italy or the 23,000 tested in the UK , according to an analysis by Business Insider .
A new preprint on the scale of US spread estimated that , by March 1 , there were already 9,484 Covid-19 cases in the US .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ than the 754 cases reported nationally .
“ Looking at all the signs , and there are many , it would be shocking to me if we didn ’ t have large numbers of cases undetected , silently transmitting in the community , in multiple countries and regions , ” said Lawrence Gostin , a Georgetown University global expert .
If cases more than double every week — like they appear to being doing now in Italy — the US may soon be facing its own crisis .
“ I don ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ] something specific to what Italy did .
It ’ s just that if the virus had a chance to spread undetected , it ’ s hard to make up that time , ” said Hodcroft .
“ The Italian situation should be a big wakeup call to the rest of Europe and the US.
” What America and other countries need to do now While Italy ’ s economy is already in a nosedive , we don ’ t yet know the extent of the damage stemming from the country ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , however , it ’ ll be significant , said Gostin .
“ What we ’ ve learned from all past outbreaks is that when you have a stressed health system — many more people die of other diseases than they do of the actual outbreak disease.
” During the Ebola epidemic of 2014-16 , for example , people living in the countries at the center of the outbreak failed to have their basic medical needs met .
In the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo , interruptions in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ outbreak .
In China ’ s Covid-19 epidemic , numerous stories have already emerged about cancer patients awaiting treatments who were turned away , and HIV patients who ran short on their drugs .
That ’ s not to mention the economic and psychological toll outbreaks can have .
So what should America be doing now to prevent this kind of collateral damage ?
First , health officials need to find ways to flatten the epidemic curve of the outbreak .
And this starts with social distancing measures , like canceling mass public @ @ @ @ @ @ @ home , and even shutting schools and universities , if necessary .
“ What ’ s dangerous about an outbreak is when everyone gets it at same time and a health system can ’ t react , ” explained Steven Hoffman , the director of York University ’ s Global Health Strategy Lab .
“ The whole goal of social distancing measures is to decrease the epidemic ’ s peak ” and take that pressure off the health system .
In Italy , those measures weren ’ t implemented proactively — only as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to see coronavirus cases climb .
Besides slowing transmission of the virus , though , there are many other things health officials should be doing right now to prepare for a surge .
And they go far beyond the basics , such as making sure hospital beds and intensive care units are freed up to meet patient demand , that health professionals have access to personal protective equipment ( including masks ) , and that there are enough ventilators to support the 10 percent of the potential Covid-19 patients who will need help @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , a vast effort to test and identify people with the virus , trace all their contacts , and quarantine the potentially exposed was key to tamping down the epidemic there , according to Bruce Aylward , the director of a World Health Organization mission to China .
Chinese officials also reduced barriers to people seeking Covid-19 tests by offering them for free , and in some cases , sent health professionals into peoples ’ homes to swab potentially infected individuals for the virus .
Last but not least , China enhanced its @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from showing up at pharmacies , clinics , and hospitals , Aylward explained : This kind of approach is long overdue in America , even outside of a pandemic threat , said Tom Frieden , the ex-director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention .
“ There are over 100 million Americans with chronic conditions and people need to be on their medications for diabetes , seizure disorder , and high blood pressure .
That [ care ] needs to not get interrupted.
” And that means states and the federal government @ @ @ @ @ @ @ services to patients online right now , he added .
Another even more basic step is making sure patients know when to show up in clinics , when to get tested , and when to stay home , said Jennifer Nuzzo , an infectious disease expert and senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security .
“ My first worry is about people rushing to the ER because they are seeking information or testing , ” she said .
“ That happened in the 2009 H1N1 pandemic .
And that alone @ @ @ @ @ @ @ health systems.
” These measures might go further than the mass quarantine Italy is currently trying out , and the one China implemented .
“ This ... resembles methods used in medieval times , ” said Hoffman .
“ Once you institute that , not only are you putting the people within that [ quarantine ] at risk — you ’ re also encouraging a lot of other people who might not have left the area to flee.
” A preliminary modeling study focused on Wuhan — the city at the center of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lockdown there only delayed the epidemic ’ s progression by three to five days .
“ Yes , three days is better than nothing but not when it comes at the expense we saw [ in China ] and the expense that will continue to be incurred for decades to come , ” Hoffman added .
“ Think of the psychological trauma on those people who were bolted into their homes , who had to explain the situation to their children .
“ That will leave a lasting impression— all for three days @ @ @ @ @ @ @ isolated , when they don ’ t feel safe or dignified , “ they are going to react and take actions that are not helpful for public health , ” Hoffman said .
That counterreaction is something Italy may soon have to contend with — and other countries too , if they don ’ t prepare now .

Three weeks ago, Italy barely had a coronavirus problem. Back then, when there were just three confirmed cases, shops and cafes were open, tourists flowed in and out of the country’s magnificent holiday destinations, and quarantines were relegated to history: 14th-century Venice during the Black Death.
Now, Italy has the highest number of reported Covid-19 cases and deaths outside China: more than 15,000 and 1,000, respectively, as of March 13. Those figures are greater than that of two other coronavirus hot zones — Iran and South Korea. And they’re why the focus of the Covid-19 pandemic has now shifted to Europe.
“Europe has now become the epicenter... with more reported cases and deaths than the rest of the world combined, apart from China,” said World Health Organization director general Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Friday. Europe is also reporting more cases each day than China at the height of its epidemic, he added.
In an effort to slow the spread of infection, the Italian government on Monday announced an extraordinary measure for a Western democracy — one that hasn’t been tried in modern times at the country level: The entire peninsula was put under quarantine orders until at least April 3. Some 60 million Italians were asked to stay home.
By Wednesday, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte added new coronavirus restrictions, ordering most businesses — except grocery stores and pharmacies — closed.
The major reason for the extreme response: Cases in Italy escalated fast and the coronavirus overwhelmed the country’s health system, particularly in the north. More than 80 percent of the hospital beds in Lombardy, the hardest-hit province, are being occupied by coronavirus patients, according to Bloomberg. Intensive care units are overloaded while elective surgeries have been canceled in the process to free up beds. Stories abound on social media about doctors struggling to meet their patients’ needs.
But hidden behind the official Covid-19 numbers is a much broader health crisis, rapidly accumulating across the country. Even greater than the official coronavirus toll may be the collateral damage wrought by an overstretched health system: the pregnant women and babies, cancer and HIV patients, and children in need of vaccines who are now less likely to get the health care they need.
“Most health systems are pretty streamlined and ... so an excessive increase [in patients] rapidly strains resources,” said Richard Neher, a University of Basel researcher who has been modeling how Covid-19 could stress hospital demand. “If you react too late, you’re in trouble.”
“What is very clear,” Neher added: “Without a drastic reduction in transmission of the virus, health systems will be overwhelmed.”
In other words, Italy’s situation today could be any country’s situation tomorrow. Lombardy — one of the wealthiest regions in Europe — shows how an outbreak, almost overnight, can spiral into a full-fledged crisis when officials don’t prepare and react too slowly. And that surge, many believe, is coming to the US and other countries in Europe very soon.
It’s not clear why Italy’s cases ramped up so fast
At the beginning of February, Italy had only a few identified Covid-19 cases. By February 23, Italian officials reported 76 confirmed cases to the World Health Organization. Two days later, that number grew to 229. The case and death toll rose exponentially from there while people with the virus who’d come from Italy were identified in countries as far and wide as Nigeria, Switzerland, and Brazil.
At that time, the rapid rise in coronavirus cases — both within the country and among travelers — was so concerning, a joint WHO and European Center for Disease Prevention and Control mission went to Italy to figure out what was going on. Authorities, meanwhile, scrambled to impose severe measures to try to stop the virus. In the country’s north, sporting, religious, and cultural events were canceled along with university classes. Anyone who tried to enter or leave the areas in Lombardy where the outbreak was occurring faced fines. The severity of the response rivaled only that of China.
On Monday, the response escalated even further. The government effectively stopped movement across the country, asking people to leave home only for essential work and necessities, like food. All public gatherings and meeting places — theaters, gyms, ski resorts, clubs, schools, sporting events, even weddings and funerals — were also shut down. On Wednesday, Conte announced all shops, except for grocery stores and pharmacies, would be shuttered.
It’s not clear why Italy’s Covid-19 outbreak spiraled so quickly relative to other European countries, but there are several competing theories.
One is that an aggressive testing campaign centered in wealthy Lombardy has inflated the problem at a time when other countries have lagged in detecting cases. Relatedly, the government started looking for the virus too late. Matteo Renzi, a former Italian prime minister, pointed out that the virus had been spreading in Italy for 10 days before health officials realized. So Italy was forced into reaction mode — something other countries should avoid, Renzi told the New York Times. “Today the red zone is Italy,” he warned. In 10 days, Madrid, Paris, and Berlin may be in the same situation.
It appears we are a week or so behind Italy. A ban on flights from Europe isn’t going to change that. More decisive federal action — massive testing and social distancing — appears to be necessary to “flatten the curve.” pic.twitter.com/GP1YcNpuFs — Atul Gawande (@Atul_Gawande) March 12, 2020
Another theory is that intense spread of the virus in the hospital system, before doctors realized there was a problem, may have amplified the outbreak. Some 10 percent of medical workers in Lombardy have been infected, according to a March 3 Washington Post report, and health workers account for 5 percent of those infected in the country. (Bolstering this explanation: The WHO-ECDC joint mission report suggests Italy should work on its infection prevention and control measures in hospitals.)
There’s also speculation about whether Italy’s burden is particularly severe because of the country’s aging population. Covid-19 is known to hit older adults particularly hard. That, along with the fast rise in confirmed cases, has tested the limits of the health system.
In a public letter, Italian doctors had a similar warning for the world: “We are seeing a high percentage of positive cases being admitted to our intensive care units (ICUs), in the range of 10 per cent of all positive patient[s].
“We wish to convey a strong message: Get ready!” Italy, they warn, is more of a harbinger of what’s to come around the world than a unique hot zone.
Covid-19 projections suggest the disease is on track to spike in the US
In many countries, perhaps including Italy, once officials have started testing more broadly for Covid-19, they find more cases. And testing so far in the US has been painfully inept and sluggish. As it ramps up, experts expect an uptick in Covid-19 cases in America.
For evidence, look at the projections coming out of America’s largest outbreak, in Washington state, where there are 457 cases to date.
According to Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center computational biologist Trevor Bedford, Covid-19 may have been spreading in Seattle since at least mid-January, long before any spread was officially confirmed there, as Stat’s Helen Branswell first reported. Bedford has been working with Nextstrain, an open source project that tracks the spread of pathogens around the world, including Covid-19. He also used data from specimens collected to monitor flu activity in Seattle, which were then repurposed to look for coronavirus cases.
As of March 10, he and his colleagues estimated, there were as many as 1,100 cases in Seattle alone.
“The Seattle data implies there’s undetected community transmission,” said Bedford’s colleague Emma Hodcroft, co-developer of Nextstrain. “It tells us [Covid-19] is circulating widely enough that random people who don’t think they have coronavirus have it.”
That’s just Washington, though. The entire country is severely lagging in its testing capacity. As of March 8, only 1,700 Americans had been checked for the virus — a number that pales in comparison to the 50,000 who have been tested in Italy or the 23,000 tested in the UK, according to an analysis by Business Insider.
A new preprint on the scale of US spread estimated that, by March 1, there were already 9,484 Covid-19 cases in the US. That’s about nine times the 1,034 cases reported nationally.
“Looking at all the signs, and there are many, it would be shocking to me if we didn’t have large numbers of cases undetected, silently transmitting in the community, in multiple countries and regions,” said Lawrence Gostin, the director of the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University.
If cases more than double every week — as they appear to be doing in Italy — the US may soon be facing its own crisis.
“I don’t think [what happened in Italy is] something specific to what Italy did. It’s just that if the virus had a chance to spread undetected, it’s hard to make up that time,” said Hodcroft. “The Italian situation should be a big wake-up call to the rest of Europe and the US.”
What America and other countries need to do now
While Italy’s economy is already in a nosedive, we don’t yet know the extent of the damage stemming from the country’s overwhelmed health system. We can expect, however, it’ll be significant, said Gostin. “What we’ve learned from all past outbreaks is that when you have a stressed health system, many more people die of other diseases than they do of the actual outbreak disease.”
This is the "Italy's in trouble because they are have a national health system" nonsense
To be clear:
MDs per 1,000: Italy 4.0, USA 2.6
Hosp beds per 1,000: Italy 3.2, USA 2.8
The problem is surge of COVID19 has overwhelmed northern Italian hospitals
This can happen here https://t.co/kp3IqxIbJu — Ashish K. Jha (@ashishkjha) March 9, 2020
During the Ebola epidemic of 2014-’16, for example, people living in the countries at the center of the outbreak failed to have their basic medical needs met. In the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, interruptions in routine vaccinations helped spark a massive measles outbreak. In China’s Covid-19 epidemic, numerous stories have already emerged about cancer patients awaiting treatments who were turned away, and HIV patients who ran short on their drugs. That’s not to mention the economic and psychological toll outbreaks can have.
So what should America and other countries do now to prevent this kind of collateral damage?
First, health officials need to find ways to flatten the epidemic curve of the outbreak. And this starts with social distancing measures, like canceling mass public gatherings, encouraging employees to work from home, and even shutting schools and universities, if necessary.
“What’s dangerous about an outbreak is when everyone gets [the disease] at the same time and a health system can’t react,” explained Steven Hoffman, the director of York University’s Global Strategy Lab. “The whole goal of social distancing measures is to decrease the epidemic’s peak” and take that pressure off the health system.
In Italy, those measures weren’t implemented proactively — only as a desperate countermeasure after health officials started to see coronavirus cases climb. And other countries that haven’t yet recorded a spike in cases have time to be proactive.
Besides slowing transmission of the virus, though, there are many other things health officials should be doing right now to prepare for a surge. And they go far beyond the basics, such as making sure hospital beds and intensive care units are freed up to meet patient demand, that health professionals have access to personal protective equipment (including masks), and that there are enough ventilators to support the 10 percent of the potential Covid-19 patients who will need help breathing to stay alive.
In China, a vast effort to test and identify people with the virus, trace all their contacts, and quarantine the potentially exposed was key to tamping down the epidemic there, according to Bruce Aylward, the director of a World Health Organization mission to China. Chinese officials also reduced barriers to people seeking Covid-19 tests by offering them for free, and in some cases, sent health professionals into people’s homes to swab potentially infected individuals for the virus.
Last but not least, China enhanced its digital health care capacity to keep people from showing up at pharmacies, clinics, and hospitals, Aylward explained:
Normally a prescription in China can’t last for more than a month. But they increased it to three months to make sure people didn’t run out [when they had to close a lot of their hospitals]. Another thing: Prescriptions could be done online and through WeChat [instead of requiring a doctor appointment]. And they set up a delivery system for medications for affected populations.
This kind of approach is long overdue in America, even outside of a pandemic threat, said Tom Frieden, the former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “There are over 100 million Americans with chronic conditions and people need to be on their medications for diabetes, seizure disorder, and high blood pressure. That [care] needs to not get interrupted.” And that means states and the federal government should be looking at how to deliver services to patients online right now, he added.
Another even more basic step is making sure patients know when to show up in clinics, when to get tested, and when to stay home, said Jennifer Nuzzo, an infectious disease expert and senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.
“My first worry is about people rushing to the ER because they are seeking information or testing,” she said. “That happened in the 2009 H1N1 pandemic. And that alone is going to put a strain on health systems.”
I don’t see this data supporting mass quarantines at all, in fact, the opposite, with evidence based public health measures we know work: isolation of infected people, robust tracing & testing of their contacts, self-quarantine, and prepared and protected healthcare workers. https://t.co/rzprvu1NeW — Dr Alexandra Phelan (@alexandraphelan) March 10, 2020
These measures should go further than the mass quarantine Italy is currently trying out. “This ... resembles methods used in medieval times,” said Hoffman. “Once you institute that, not only are you putting the people within that [quarantine] at risk — you’re also encouraging a lot of other people who might not have left the area to flee.”
A preliminary modeling study focused on Wuhan — the city at the center of China’s outbreak — showed the lockdown there only delayed the epidemic’s progression by three to five days. “Yes, three days is better than nothing but not when it comes at the expense we saw [in China] and the expense that will continue to be incurred for decades to come,” Hoffman added. “Think of the psychological trauma on those people who were bolted into their homes, who had to explain the situation to their children.
“That will leave a lasting impression— all for three days’ delay.”
When people are socially isolated, when they don’t feel safe or dignified, “they are going to react and take actions that are not helpful for public health,” Hoffman added. That counterreaction is something Italy may soon have to contend with — and other countries too, if they don’t prepare now.