Axios

Joe Biden said during a virtual fundraiser on Thursday night that his staff is working with President Trump and his team to set up a call about the coronavirus and how he can help.

The state of play: "Yesterday, the Trump administration suggested I should call the president to offer my help," Biden said, chuckling. "Well, I’m happy to hear he’ll take my call; my team's working with him to set it up."

President Trump decried "extreme partisan investigations" into the administration's handling of the coronavirus crisis at Thursday's White House task force briefing.

Why it matters: Delays in mass deployment of testing kits to detect COVID-19 and shortages of personal protective gear in the U.S. have exacerbated the public health crisis that has killed more than 5,800 Americans as of Thursday.

It’s already hard to envision the world we lived in one month ago.

Flashback: A WHO report from March 1 shows a total of 7,169 coronavirus cases outside of China, with just seven countries having recorded even a single fatality and the total death toll under 3,000, including China.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Thursday that oil companies are eligible for aid from new lending programs the Federal Reserve is setting up, but not direct loans from his department.

Why it matters: U.S. producers are facing financial distress from the price collapse that stems from COVID-19 causing an unprecedented drop in oil demand, and the Saudi-Russia price war.

The coronavirus is spreading most widely in countries that should be among the best equipped to handle it. There's no reason to expect that to remain the case.

Where things stand: 88% of new coronavirus cases confirmed on Wednesday came within the OECD club of wealthy nations, which together account for just 17% of the world's population. While that data is based on uneven and inadequate testing, Europe and North America are clearly in the eye of the storm.

Policy responses to the global coronavirus crisis have been every-country-for-itself and — in the case of the U.S. and China — tinged with geopolitics.

The flipside: The scientific work underway to understand the virus and develop a vaccine has been globalized on an unprecedented scale.

President Trump accused Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of being "missing in action" during the coronavirus crisis, writing in a scathing letter on Thursday that Schumer's focus on the "ridiculous impeachment hoax" resulted in New York being ill-prepared for the pandemic.

Why it matters: It's a blistering response to Schumer urging Trump to assign a senior military officer to enforce the Defense Production Act to produce more medical supplies.

Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly relieved the captain of nuclear aircraft carrier the U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt after he sent a letter to officials pleading for help when members of his crew contracted the coronavirus.

The big picture: Capt. Brett Crozier's four-page letter was leaked to the San Francisco Chronicle earlier this week, quickly garnering national attention after Crozier pleaded for more resources and space to quarantine crew members offshore.

Grocery delivery company Instacart says that beginning next week it will make free safety kits with face masks, hand sanitizer and a thermometer available to the workers who shop for its customers and distribute masks to in-store workers amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Why it matters: Some Instacart workers began a strike on Monday to put pressure on the company to provide them with benefits, safety supplies and additional pay as they — and delivery workers at large — have become a lifeline for many Americans staying in their homes amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Go deeper: Virus spread emphasizes precariousness of gig economy work

At a time of crisis, we tend to crave certainty — the one thing we have less of than ever.

The big picture: The markets, of course, are full of uncertainty. Record-high volatility (just look at the oil price today) indicates that price discovery is breaking down.

Gay men, bisexual men and their female partners can now donate blood after a three-month waiting period, instead of the previously required 12-month span, the Food and Drug Administration announced Thursday.

What's happening: The Red Cross says the novel coronavirus pandemic has caused "a severe blood shortage," as more states issue stay-at-home orders and cities enter lockdowns to fight the spread of COVID-19.

What happens after a war? Two weeks ago, that question may have resulted in cautiously optimistic answers about America's ability to bounce back from its current crisis. Now, things aren't so clear.

Why it matters: Wars are — generally — over when they're over; then the post-war rebuilding can begin. Pandemics don't work that way; their effects reverberate for decades.

Over the last four decades, Americans' personal space at work has steadily shrunk.

Why it matters: Companies around the country were able to abruptly send their employees home to curb the spread of the coronavirus, but bringing those panicked employees back after the pandemic won't be so easy — especially to increasingly cramped, open-plan offices.

Venture capital-backed startups will become eligible for $350 billion in small business loans guaranteed by the federal government, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told the Axios Pro Rata Podcast on Thursday: "I just got off the phone with Treasury Secretary Mnuchin and this is going to be solved."

Roughly 3.5 million Americans likely lost their health insurance just in the past two weeks, according to an analysis of state and federal data from the Economic Policy Institute. That's over one-third of the people who have filed unemployment claims.

Why it matters: The coronavirus pandemic is wiping away people's jobs and health insurance at the same time people are at risk of contracting a deadly disease, and in the process is exposing the flaws of tying health coverage to employment. Medicaid will pick up a lot of these people.

Anthony Fauci, director of the National Insitute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on Thursday he feels safe even as his security has been stepped up following "growing threats to his personal safety."

Why it matters: As the top U.S. infectious disease expert, Fauci plays a leading and highly visible role in the U.S. response to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Oil prices surged Thursday after President Trump tweeted that Saudi Arabia and Russia were preparing to jointly cut oil production, but then gave back much of the gain as neither country offered confirmation of his claims.

But, but, but: Saudi Arabia said in a statement it's calling for an "urgent meeting" of the OPEC+ and a group of other countries, including Russia.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Thursday the creation of a new House committee addressing the coronavirus crisis, led by House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.).

The big picture: Pelosi said that the new committee would oversee "all aspects" of the federal response to the pandemic, including the $2 trillion stimulus bill. She specifically cited the Truman Committee, formed in 1941 to address inefficiencies and profiteering during World War II, as a guide.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp stated Wednesday that he learned within the last day that asymptomatic individuals can transfer the coronavirus.

What Kemp is saying: "Now those individuals could have been infecting people before they ever felt bad, but we didn't know that until the last 24 hours." During the press conference, Kemp said this "new" information pushed him to order a shelter-in-place order, calling it a "game-changer," AP writes.

Google will begin to allow some advertisers to run ads across its platforms that address the coronavirus, according to a Google memo sent to clients and obtained by Axios.

Why it matters: Democrats have argued that in banning attack ads targeting President Trump's response to the coronavirus pandemic, including on YouTube, Google was shielding his campaign in a critical election year.

The scuttling of November's pivotal UN climate conference is the starkest sign yet of how coronavirus is throwing a wrench into efforts to combat global warming. But like the wider relationship between the coronavirus and climate initiatives, the ramifications are ... complicated.

Driving the news: UN officials announced Wednesday that the annual summit to be held in Glasgow, Scotland, is postponed until some unknown time next year.

Oil prices climbed Thursday morning as traders are responding to President Trump's comments yesterday evening that Russia and Saudi Arabia could soon mend fences on oil supply policy, per the Financial Times.

Driving the news: Trump told reporters that he believes, based on his recent calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Saudi crown prince, that "they will work it out over the next few days."

Google said that it's providing more than $6.5 million in funding to fact-checkers and nonprofits fighting misinformation around the world, with an immediate focus on the coronavirus.

Why it matters: Google wants to be proactive throughout the coronavirus crisis to support the spread of accurate and safe information.

Baseball probably isn't coming back any time soon. Fantasy baseball, on the other hand, can still live on. And in that life, interested parties — like myself — have stumbled upon a strategy to adapt to our new reality.

The state of play: Without the pandemic, we'd be exactly one week into the 2020 regular season right now. But with the season delayed, certain players' fantasy values could change drastically.

Job losses over the past month have likely been worse than even some of the more extreme economic estimates, and are expected to get worse.

Driving the news: Led by small businesses, U.S. companies cut payrolls by 27,000 in early March, ADP's latest private payrolls report showed Wednesday, in a surge of cuts that predated many municipalities' mandated business closures.

6.6 million people filed for unemployment last week, a staggering number that eclipses the record set just days ago amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to government data released Thursday.

Why it matters: Efforts to contain the outbreak are continuing to create a jobs crisis, causing the sharpest spikes in unemployment filings in American history.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu re-entered self-quarantine on Thursday after his health minister, Yaakov Litzman, tested positive for coronavirus, according to the prime minister's office.

Why it matters: The development comes less than 24 hours after Netanyahu exited several days of self-quarantine after one of his aides tested positive last week. Litzman's infection is even more damaging to Israeli senior government officials, including Netanyahu's national security adviser and the director of the Mossad, as many were in close contact with him in the past week and now face self-isolation.

The PepsiCo Foundation announced Thursday the largest grant in its 62-year history — a $45 million program that includes 50 million nutritious meals for at-risk people amid the coronavirus outbreak, distributed by food banks and other partners around the world.

The state of play: Among the recipients are students whose schools are closed. Meals have already been shipped to Alaska, the Bronx, the Chickasaw Nation in Oklahoma, and many other places, a company official told Axios.

Something surprising is unfolding amid the finger-pointing and war-gaming about the coronavirus threat to America: A general consensus is forming about the next 60 days of wait and pain.

Why it matters: America has a chance to return to some semblance of normal in late May or June, gradually and perhaps geographically, but anything extending beyond that would still be too catastrophic to consider.

Florida's slow response to the coronavirus may have set the stage for a disastrous outcome in one of the country's most vulnerable states.

Driving the news: Gov. Ron DeSantis issued a statewide stay-at-home order yesterday, but there's bipartisan concern that he held off too long, letting the virus spread too far, before finally taking steps that many other governors embraced weeks ago.

Doctors, nurses and other health care workers are afraid for their health — and in some cases their lives — as the mounting coronavirus outbreak closes in on a health care system that doesn't have enough equipment and overworks its people.

What they're saying: "It's a mess, and there's no help," Alan Roth, a doctor at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center in Queens, New York, said last week. "We have been left out to dry."

Experts are convinced we are on the precipice of a domestic violence crisis fueled by anxiety, stay-at-home rules and economic uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The big picture: There is already early evidence of increased intensity of abuse of people in unhealthy relationships. But given that many are unlikely to seek help until things are more stable — either by calling hotlines or by leaving for shelters — we likely won’t know the full extent of the abuse until the virus outbreak subsides.

For years, Crisis Text Line has served as a 21st-century version of the call-in hotline, helping a largely young clientele manage life's challenges via text message. With the coronavirus outbreak, the line is now serving a new role as well — offering aid to a broader audience struggling to deal with a rapidly changed reality.

Why it matters: In addition to the direct health threat posed by the coronavirus, the pandemic and restrictions aimed at stemming it have led to all manner of anxieties, from health fears to money worries to social concerns.

Grand Canyon National Park has closed following a request from health officials, the National Park Service said in a statement Wednesday.

The big picture: A resident in the park's South Rim complex tested positive for the novel coronavirus Tuesday, per azcentral.com. The NPS told the Washington Post seven of its workers have tested positive for COVID-19. More than 100 of its sites have shut but 300 others remain open, WashPost notes. Some employees will get environmental hazard pay, the outlet reports. The Statue of Liberty, Yellowstone and the Golden Gate National Recreation Area are among the sites to have closed, per the NPS.

Go deeper: National Park Service suspends entrance fees at parks

Social Security recipients who typically don't file tax returns will automatically receive their coronavirus stimulus payment, the Treasury Department said on Wednesday, reversing its original statement.

Why it matters: The Internal Revenue Service issued guidance Monday that Americans "who typically do not file a tax return will need to file a simple tax return" to access the funds, prompting criticism from both Democratic and Republican lawmakers.

The Trump administration has decided not to reopen enrollment to uninsured Americans for the Affordable Care Act's Healthcare.gov marketplaces, an official confirmed to Axios Wednesday.

Driving the news: President Trump said last week he was considering the move in response to the novel coronavirus outbreak, notes Politico, which first reported the news.

The White House Correspondents Association on Wednesday voted to remove One America News Network from the press briefing rotation after one of the outlet's reporters broke social-distancing guidelines amid the novel coronavirus outbreak.

The big picture: The WHCA imposed a seating policy for President Trump's press briefings to prevent reporters from crowding and abide by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's social-distancing recommendations. But OANN reporter Chanel Rion twice attended the briefings without an assigned seat.