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(CNN) - Starting today, you will notice that CNN is using the term pandemic to describe the current coronavirus outbreak. It is not a decision we take lightly. While we know it sounds alarming, it should not cause panic.
So why now? The World Health Organization hasn't called the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. Nor has the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
But many epidemiologists and public health experts argue the world is already experiencing a pandemic because of the novel coronavirus. There are now over 100,000 cases and over 3,000 deaths attributed to this new virus. In one day last week, the number of new cases outside of China, where the virus originated, was nearly 9 times higher than the number of new cases in China. This virus has found a foothold on every continent except for Antarctica. In several countries, the number of cases continues to climb.
Some of those countries "have had sustained community transmission of a substantial sort," said Dr. William Schaffner, a Vanderbilt University professor and longtime adviser to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Put that together, that spells pandemic." '
- CNN,
Why CNN is calling the novel coronavirus outbreak a pandemic, March 9, 2020
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(CNN) - President Donald Trump is dodging responsibility as the coronavirus outbreak morphs into a global pandemic swiftly spreading across America and stock markets tank. He's instead accusing Democrats and the media of inflaming the crisis.
The deflection campaign is a fresh example of Trump deploying his trusted method for winning his battles: flinging disinformation, alternative facts and biting attacks at his enemies.
But the President's efforts to create an alternative reality are being badly outpaced by the facts of an emergency that defies political pressure. The total number of cases in the US has soared past 560. His upbeat public rhetoric is also starkly at odds with increasingly dire warnings from inside his own administration about draconian steps that may need to be taken.
Trump's leadership will come under new scrutiny Monday after a bruising open to the week on Wall Street where trading was halted after the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 7%. CNN's Kevin Liptak reported there is now growing distrust between public health officials and the White House's political team with the former trying to present a realistic picture to the public while Trump aides seek to minimize the virus.'
- CNN,
Trump dodges responsibility as coronavirus spreads and markets crash, March 9, 2020
ContextTrump in Meltdown Mode Over His Own Fake News, March 10, 2020
Coronavirus: US Republicans self-quarantine amid outbreak, March 10, 2020
Pope limits public blessings to help against virus spread, March 7, 2020
US military faces challenge to keep Pentagon functioning as coronavirus pandemic spreads, March 10, 2020
(Trump Admin Incompetence) - '..workers were potentially exposed to coronavirus because appropriate steps were not taken to protect them..''..doubt on Trump team's coronavirus response .. the virus could bring severe disruption to American life..'