Coronavirus Update: Markets drop after expanded U.S. travel ban, Congress closed to visitors

The financial markets opened Thursday with losses, following President Trump saying the night before that the U.S. will impose a 30-ban on European travel.

The president said after the markets opened to losses: "It's going to all bounce back, and it’s going to bounce back very big."

Capitol Hill was shutter at about the same time U.S. stock market began trading, following an overnight statement from Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell that one of her congressional staffers has tested positive for the virus. 

The complex of roughly 12-buildings is now closed for public tours – amid a fast-growing list of closures and cancellations that includes cancelled college classes and New York's annual St. Patrick's Day being cancelled. 

Also on Thursday, the Brazilian media reports that a senior Brazilian official recently with President Trump at Mar-a-Lago days has tested positive for the virus.

There are now 132,993 confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide and 4,946 related deaths – including 1394 cases in the U.S. and 39 deaths. 

Earlier This Week

On Wednesday night, President Trump, in a primetime Oval Office announcement, but a 30 ban to travel to Europe, with the exception of Ireland and the United Kingdom.  

Hours later, the NBA announced that it has suspended its season, following a Utah Jazz player testing positive. And star actor Tom Hanks announced that he and wife Rita Wilson are infected. 

U.S. financial markets are projected to recover Tuesday from Monday’s record losses, with overseas futures markets up before trading begins on Wall Street.

The Dow on Monday lost more than 2,000 points -- the biggest single-day drop since the 2008 Great Recession.

The gains in the futures markets follow President Trump on Monday night trying to provide some economic relief from the virus outbreak. The president says he will ask Congress for payroll taxes cuts and relief for hourly workers. 

Also on Monday, the president’s incoming chief of staff, GOP Rep. Mark Meadow, said he might have come in contact with a person with the coronavirus and will self quarantine. Two other Republican congressmen who recently have been near the president – Matt Gaetz of Florida, and Doug Collins of Georgia – have also have self quarantined.  

On Monday, two cruise ships kept off  U.S. shores over concerns about coronavirus infection docked and allow passengers to disembark. 

In Florida, passengers from the Regal Princess got off the ship, after tests for two crew members suspected of having the virus came back negative.

In California, the Grand Princess, on which 21 people have tested positive for the virus, received clearance over the weekend to allow passengers to disembark Monday. This ship has sat off the coast of San Francisco for about five days while officials decide what to do. 

Rick Cotton — the head of Port Authority for New York and New Jersey — has tested positive for the coronavirus, said Governor Andrew Cuomo late Monday morning.

The infected director has been touring local airports and other transit facilities. Cotton is now quarantined and working from home, as a number of his staff are tested for the virus.

Cuomo himself may have been in contact with the director while he was infected. The Governor has not been tested, but says he is an “improbably positive,” indicating that he is unlikely to have the virus.

New York is currently in a state of emergency, reporting a total of 142 confirmed cases of the illness.

This past weekend, Italy took an unprecedented step to control its coronavirus outbreak — putting much of its northern region on lockdown.

The Italian government made the decision late Saturday. The region has about 16 million residents. The order essentially cancels all public events, closes gyms and limits stores hours.

Italy reportedly has 5,883 cases of the illness, the most in Europe. 

District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser on Saturday announced the first positive test in the capital city. “Late this afternoon, testing at the Public Health Lab at the DC Department of Forensic Sciences yielded its first presumptive positive coronavirus (COVID-19) case,” the city said. 

The District on Sunday confirmed a second case.

Meanwhile, two major political events attended by the nation’s leaders announced attendees had tested positive.

The Conservative Political Action Committee, where President Trump attended, said one attendee had tested positive, while the AIPAC pro-Israel group said two attendees at its conference had the virus. Vice President Mike Pence and many members of Congress attended that event.

Bowser has for now decided not to declare a state of emergency. 

“We put the safety of D.C. residents first,” the mayor said at a press conference. “We are following the science.”

Florida health officials reported two deaths from the coronavirus, the first to be reported in America outside the West Coast where precautions were expanding to college campuses.

The deaths announced Friday night in Florida's Lee and Santa Rose counties brought the death toll to 17 in the United States with more than 300 confirmed cases.

The two Florida victims were both in their 70s and had recently been involved in international travel, officials said. 

On the West Coast, where the virus has been more widespread, college campuses began taking extra precautions that included ordering students to take tests and instruction away from the classroom.The University of Washington said it is canceling in-person classes requiring students to attend class and take tests remotely.

Stanford University likewise announced late Friday students would not attend classrooms, with tests moving to a take-home format.

Meanwhile, Kentucky, Hawaii, Minnesota, and South Carolina reported their first confirmed cases of the virus while California confirmed that 21 people on a cruise ship off it coast also tested positive.

President Trump and U.S. health officials urged calm, saying most cases that will emerge in America will be mild and that aggressive action is being taken to stem the spread and identify new cases. The administration also began to take steps to address the potential economic fallout.

"It will end. People have to remain calm," Trump said as he toured the Centers for Disease Control headquarters in Atlanta.

The White House said Friday it is formulating an economic plan to address the impact that the spreading coronavirus is projected to have on the U.S. economy that will focus on “timely and targeted” measures. 

Economic adviser Larry Kudlow told reporters that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and other top administration officials and agencies are discussing “timely and targeted micro measures” that would help specific sectors of the economy. Among them, he said, would be small businesses and workers who would lose wages and perhaps the airline industry -- which is already reporting a downturn.  

“Not large, sweeping, hundreds and hundred of billions of dollars that do not effect incentives and growth in any permanent way,” Kudlow told Bloomberg TV.

There are now more than 200 coronavirus cases and 14 virus-related deaths being reported in the U.S.

Kudlow also said Friday that no plans have been finalized because the virus, which started in China, is just starting to spread in the U.S. -- from Washington state to East Coast states including New York and now Maryland. 

“Stay tuned. Stay with us. We might have more to say about this sometime next week,” he said. “We just need to keep gathering as many facts and information as we can before we come up with something specific.” 

He made clear that Trump is not looking for a large stimulus package and said the president has been talking all week with leaders from industries projected to be hit hardest by the virus. 

The Washington Post reports that the administration is considering deferring taxes for such industries as hospitality, cruise, travel and airline.