Page 2 - AT

A2 UP FRONT
Wednesday 26 February 2020
Trump, U.S. officials send mixed messages on virus risk here

Continued from Front R-Ala., told Azar, Trump's ray of Washington said the
top health official. The two administration's handling of
He said the situation is "very faced each other at a the crisis has been "unac-
well under control in our budget hearing that turned ceptable."
country." into a forum for assessing "We cannot afford to plan
Later, economic adviser U.S. readiness. on the cheap or at the last
Larry Kudlow portrayed the Shelby said if the virus minute," she said.
stock market's slide as a keeps spreading, "it could "I'm deeply concerned
buying opportunity for in- be an existential threat to that we are way behind
vestors. "Our economy is in a lot of people in this coun- the eight-ball on this," she
good shape," said Kudlow. try." He chairs the powerful added.
"This virus won't last forever. Appropriations Committee, In an indication of the
We have contained it." which sets spending levels challenges, Azar said the
But Dr. Nancy Messonnier, for federal agencies. government currently has
who leads work on respira- Azar said that nearly two stockpiled 30 million special
tory diseases for the Cent- months after the first alarms N95 respirator masks but
ers for Disease Control and were raised, there's no evi- 300 million would be need-
Prevention, told report- Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar testifies dence the virus has spread ed to protect health care
ers that "it's not so much a before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee on President here beyond patients in- workers in an outbreak.
question of if this will hap- Donald Trump's budget request for fiscal year 2021, on Capitol fected overseas and a few Azar told senators that U.S.
pen anymore, but rather Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2020. close relatives. He credited cases currently total 57.
more a question of exactly Associated Press travel controls and manda- That includes 14 who either
when this will happen – and unable to contain the new said Health and Human tory quarantines, adding traveled to China or were
how many people in this virus by quarantining trave- Services Secretary Alex that government scientists close relatives of travelers;
country will have severe ill- lers coming to the U.S. Azar. are working to develop a three Americans repatri-
ness." Now, they want people to "The immediate risk to the vaccine and to perfect a ated from Wuhan, the epi-
U.S. health officials say start thinking about differ- general American public test for detecting the virus. center of the outbreak in
there's no mixed messag- ent kinds of measures they remains low, but that has "We cannot hermetically China; and 40 passengers
ing — they have previously might see if the virus starts the potential to change seal off the United States returned home from the
warned that they expect spreading, including clos- quickly," he added. to a virus and we need to cruise ship Diamond Prin-
some spread around the ing schools and encourag- Tuesday morning on Capi- be realistic about that," cess.
country. The message ing telework. Those steps tol Hill, senators of both po- the health chief acknowl- The White House budget
has become more urgent were taken during the 2009 litical parties questioned edged. "We'll have more office said the $2.5 billion
as they work to educate H1N1 flu pandemic. whether the White House's cases in the United States, would be used for vaccine
Americans about the risk, "Part of preparedness is request for $2.5 billion and we've been very trans- development, treatment
and about the steps that an educated population would be enough. parent about that." If it and protective equipment,
would happen if they are thinking about the future," "If you low-ball something happens, "we'll work to miti- but Democrats immediate-
like this, you'll pay for it gate those." ly slammed the request as
later," Sen. Richard Shelby, Democratic Sen. Patty Mur- insufficient. q

Banks made $233.1 billion in

profits in 2019, regulator says

By KEN SWEET
AP Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — The
banking industry collec-
tively made $233.1 billion in
profits in 2019, the Federal
Deposit Insurance Corpo-
ration said Tuesday, the in-
dustry's second-most profit-
able year ever.
The slight drop in profits
from 2018 is due to the drop
in interest rates, which hap-
pened in the second half
of last year. The Federal In this Nov. 23, 2015 file photo, a customer uses an ATM at a
Reserve cut its benchmark Bank of America in New York.
interest rate three times, in Associated Press
an effort to shore up the The impact of interest a healthy — and incred-
U.S. economy, which was rates were more notice- ibly profitable — industry.
facing difficulties from the able in the fourth quar- The number of "problem
U.S.-China trade war and ter. Bank profits in the last banks," or banks that are at
a slowing manufacturing three months of the year risk of failing, fell to 51 in the
sector. were down nearly 7% from fourth quarter.
The small drop in profits is a year earlier, mostly due That's the lowest number of
the first time the banking in- lower interest income. problem banks since 2006,
dustry saw a full-year drop The FDIC's look at the right before the financial
in profits since 2013. banking industry reflects crisis.q