* * * * * * MONDAY, APRIL 13, 2020 ~ VOL. CCLXXV NO. 86 WSJ.com HHHH $4 .00

Lastweek: DJIA 23719.37 À 2666.84 12.7% NASDAQ 8153.58 À 10.6% STOXX600 331.80 À 7.4% 10-YR. TREASURY g 1 12/32 , yield 0.722% OIL $22.76 g $5.58 EURO $1.0936 YEN 108.35

OPEC,Oil AlliesSeal DealTo CutOutputPlunge in demand inthe virus’s wake spurs23 nations to withhold9.7 million barrels a day

BY KAREN LANGLEY

cility in Dearborn, Mich., en-gineers plastered a confer-ence-room wall with yellowsticky notes last week, mock-ing up a factory layout toproduce the machines. Someonly weeks ago had been im-mersed in the launch of thenew Ford Bronco SUV.

At a GM plant in Kokomo,Ind., factory workers in sur-gical masks and latex gloveslearned how to whittle to-gether circuit boards andconnect tiny tubes on testventilators. Production thereis scheduled to start thisweek.

The intricate machinesPleaseturntopageA10

Assembly-line workers atAmerica’s largest auto mak-ers, ordered to turn theirskills from vehicles to venti-lators, must first mastertweezers and tiny screwdriv-ers.

That is one of the manysteps ahead in the race toconvert car plants to medi-cal-supply factories beforethe coronavirus pandemicreaches its peak in the U.S.General Motors Co. and FordMotor Co. hope to head off ashortage of the lifesavingmachines but have onlyweeks to deliver them.

At a Ford engineering fa-

BY MIKE COLIAS

Copy That: Walkie-TalkiesAre No Longer Over and Out

i i i

People stuck at home in pandemicembrace the World War II-era device

While attorney Eric Monzotook part in a bankruptcy-courtvideoconference last month, hekept an eye on his new link tothe world outside the guestbedroom of his Delawarehome: a Pokemon-themed yel-low walkie-talkie.

A family friend gavehis 6-year-old twinstwo of the push-to-talkdevices last year, for away to talk to eachother from differentparts of the house.

Now that the houseis also an office, schooland playground,thanks to coronavirus stay-home rules, he finds walkie-talkies are also the most effi-cient way to keep tabs on his

children and vice versa. Hisdaughter regularly radios in toask her dad how he’s doingand to make sure he looks outthe window to watch her on

the monkey bars.“Who knew that I

would be using it?” saidMr. Monzo, a restruc-turing and insolvencypartner at law firmMorris James LLP. “Iam trying to juggle lifeand work and save busi-nesses and save myfamily’s health, and weare finding a new wayto communicate.”

The humble walkie-talkie and other push-

to-talk two-way communica-tions, whose consumer useseemed to be going the way of

PleaseturntopageA10

BY SARAH KROUSE

SPORTSYoung athletes usefree time and

technology to improvetheir games. A14

BLACK

FORD

FAMILY

LIFE & ARTSDuty comes first forthree pregnant

physicians on duty inthe same ER. A11

BEVER

LYDORS

EYSaudi Arabia, Russia and the

U.S. will lead a multinationalcoalition in major oil-produc-tion cuts after a drop in de-mand due to the coronaviruscrisis and a Saudi-Russian feuddevastated oil prices.

As part of the agreement,sealed Sunday after PresidentTrump helped resolve a Saudistandoff with Mexico, 23 coun-tries committed to withhold col-lectively 9.7 million barrels aday of oil from global markets.The deal was designed to ad-dress a mounting oil glut result-ing from the pandemic’s erosionof demand and seeks to with-hold a record amount of crudefrom markets—more than 13%of world production. The U.S.had never been so active in forg-ing a pact like this.

On a hastily convened confer-ence call with delegates from the13-nation Organization of the Pe-troleum Exporting Countries andothers, including Russia, partici-pants raced to strike a deal be-fore oil markets openedMonday.

In Asian trading early Mon-day, U.S. crude was 5.5% higherat $24 a barrel, while Brentcrude was up 4.5% to $32.90 abarrel.

Mr. Trump and his represen-PleaseturntopageA2

By Benoit Faucon,Summer Said

and Timothy Puko

Rejoicing in Solitude as Pandemic Changes Easter Rituals

IN PRAYER: A worshiper attended an Easter service at Trinity Baptist Church in San Antonio, Texas, on Sunday. Aroundthe world, Christians adjusted their ways of celebrating the holiday amid concerns over spreading the coronavirus. A18

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As social-distancing require-ments curbed Easter celebra-tions around the world, officialswarned that early signs of suc-

cess in slowing the spread ofthe new coronavirus shouldn’tbring a quick lifting of lock-down orders.

The U.S. leads the world inthe number of confirmed cases,at more than 557,000, and fatal-ities, at over 22,000, surpassing

By Talal Ansari,Sadie Gurman

and Courtney McBride

Italy’s death toll, according todata from Johns Hopkins Uni-versity. Globally, the number ofconfirmed coronavirus casestopped 1.8 million on Sunday.

In Italy, which has a smallerpopulation than the U.S. andwhere the number of confirmednew cases has trended down formany days, the death toll hit19,899.

Under restrictions imposedto battle the pandemic, millionsof Catholics and Protestantsmarked Easter, the holiest dayon the Christian calendar, inisolation at home, in many

cases watching priests or minis-ters on TV or over the internet.

At the Vatican, Pope Francisproclaimed what he called a“contagion of hope” after he of-fered Mass in a near-empty St.Peter’s Basilica.

In the U.S., health officialsand state and local leaders ex-pressed caution about reopen-ing the U.S. economy by May 1,a date some Trump administra-tion officials have posed as apossible time for easing restric-tions.

The debate about when toPleaseturntopageA6

Officials Mull Lockdown EndAgainst Risk of Virus Rebound

Earnings Pose Test for MarketU.K. Leader Leaves Hospital

Prime Minister Boris Johnson was released from thehospital and is continuing to recover from coronavirus. A8

THECORONAVIRUSPANDEMICSome schools curtailmeal deliveries, A3

A new push for disclosureby nursing facilities, A7

Taiwan’s success on virusstirs China tensions, A9

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DOWNINGST

REET

/REU

TERS

Oil CEO wants Texas to cutoutput as demand drops.... B3

leading them to furlough em-ployees and drastically cutspending as they try to stayafloat.

Despite the turmoil, stockshave rallied over the past threeweeks on early indications thatsocial-distancing practices arehelping to slow the spread ofthe virus. The S&P 500 climbed12% last week, its best weeklyperformance since 1974, and ithas rallied 25% from its March23 low. The index is still down14% for the year.

“It’s been remarkable towatch markets just climbhigher and higher,” said EmilyRoland, co-chief investmentstrategist at John Hancock In-vestment Management. “We

PleaseturntopageA4

The kickoff of earnings sea-son this week will give inves-tors a first glimpse of the im-pact of the coronavirusshutdown on corporate prof-its—and potentially clues aboutthe outlook for the rest of theyear.

Those results will offer a testfor a stock market that is at-tempting to rebound after abruising selloff. The pandemicis expected to cause a severeeconomic contraction and asharp decline in corporate earn-ings in 2020. What remains un-known is the extent of the dam-age.

Companies from GeneralElectric Co. to FedEx Corp. andStarbucks Corp. have warnedthey can no longer forecasttheir own results in a period of

such uncertainty. Businessesacross the country said revenuehas evaporated following stay-at-home orders and the closureof nonessential businesses,

Ford, GMRetoolFor VentilatorsAuto giants trade drills for tweezersto mass-produce lifesaving machines

INSIDE

Source: FactSet

S&P500 earnings growth

30

–20

–10

0

10

20

%

’17 ’18 ’19 ’202016

ESTIMATES

James Mackintosh: Downturnthreatens to leave scars...... B1

CONTENTSBusiness & Finance B2,5Business News....... B3Crossword.............. A14Heard on Street... B10Life & Arts...... A11-13Markets...................... B9

Opinion.............. A15-17Outlook....................... A2Sports....................... A14Technology................ B4U.S. News............. A2-3Weather................... A14World News......... A18

s 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.All Rights Reserved

>

What’sNews

As social-distancing re-quirements curbed Easter cel-ebrations around the world,officials warned that earlysigns of success in slowingthe spread of the coronavirusshouldn’t mean a quick liftingof lockdown orders. A1, A18 Lawmakers are drawingup proposals for the federalgovernment to guarantee pri-vate companies’ paychecksduring the pandemic. A4 A partisan impasse overfresh relief spending contin-ued, as funds for a small-busi-ness loan program dwindledand state leaders called formore federal aid. A4 Johnson left the hospi-tal and is continuing to re-cover from the coronavi-rus as recorded deathsfrom Covid-19 in the U.K.passed the 10,000 mark. A8U.S. tariffs on Chinese im-ports are exacerbatingshortages of products neededto fight the coronavirus, sayfirms seeking exemptions. A7The recent lapse of a set ofsurveillance powers has begunto limit theFBI’s ability to pur-sue some terrorismand espio-nage suspects, a top JusticeDepartment official said. A3 Cities along the Missis-sippi River are fightingCovid-19-related stressesjust as officials face springflooding and the cominghurricane season. A3 Congo faces a setback inthe fight against Ebola, dash-ing hopes that an outbreakdating to 2018 could for-mally be declared over. A16

Saudi Arabia, Russiaand the U.S. will lead a

multinational coalition inmajor oil-production cutsafter a drop in demand dueto the coronavirus crisisand a Saudi-Russian feuddevastated crude prices. A1Parsley Energy isworkingto conserve cash and cutdrilling to keep costs low asthe industry faces one of theworst demand drops ever. B3 The start of earningsseason this week will giveinvestors a first glimpse ofthe impact of the corona-virus shutdown on corpo-rate profits. A1, B9 The biggest tech compa-nies are pursuing talent assome startups lay offworkers and others freezehiring amid the pandemic. B1 The $2 trillion stimuluspackage passed last monthincluded all that airlines re-quested, and some restraintsthey find difficult to accept.B1 Facebook’s ad-auctionprices plunged betweenFebruary and March, ac-cording to executives at sev-eral companies that do busi-ness on the platform. B4Smithfield Foodswill keepits Sioux Falls, S.D., pork plantclosed indefinitely at thestate governor’s urgingamid the pandemic. B3Finance chiefs are tacklingthe challenge of maintainingcorporate liquidity during thecoronavirus pandemic. B5Mexican stock exchangechief Ruiz Sacristán died, amonth after he tested posi-tive for the coronavirus. B5

Business&Finance

World-Wide

JOURNAL REPORT5G, What’s Next:

Who’s Winning the KeyHigh-Tech Battles. R1-10

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A2 | Monday, April 13, 2020 * * * * * THEWALL STREET JOURNAL.

U.S. NEWS

Mr. Obstfeld said.

P olicy makers are realiz-ing that in public-healthemergencies, as in war-

time, worries about budgetdeficits go out the window,said Mark Harrison, emeritusprofessor of history at War-wick University and an authorof books on the economics ofboth world wars.

In the U.S., governmentdebt could soon rise to 130%or 140% of gross domesticproduct, versus around 100%last year and higher than af-ter World War II, when debtreached around 120% of GDP,estimates Mr. Obstfeld.

Such a burden is only sus-tainable if interest rates re-

main low. That has beenaided by central banks, whichhave recently lowered ratesand switched their focus fromcontrolling inflation to di-rectly supporting govern-ments and businesses.

The Federal Reserve andEuropean Central Bank re-cently introduced open-endedbond-buying programs thatecho the Fed’s actions duringand after World War II, whenthe central bank committedto pin long-term government-borrowing costs below 2.5%.

The Fed’s actions “are asclose to monetary financing ofthe deficit as we have come”and risk some inflation downthe road, said Mr. Obstfeld.High inflation after World War

THE OUTLOOK | By Tom Fairless and Jason Douglas

Spending Grows in Virus’s WakeW orld leaders from

President Trump toPresident Emmanuel

Macron of France and QueenElizabeth II of Britain have in-voked the wartime spirit asthey rally citizens to defeatthe new coronavirus.

Like the great wars of the20th century, some analystsand historians think the cur-rent crisis could fuel a newera of big government inwhich public officials controlmore of the levers of theeconomy, for better or worse.

“National institutions tendto get significantly betterfunding during wartime, andit’s very difficult to reversethat when people are used toit,” said Tony Travers, a pro-fessor of government at theLondon School of Economicswho advises the U.K. govern-ment.

During World Wars I andII, government spending rosesharply in the U.S., U.K. andother countries to financewartime production and re-search, and it remainedhigher after fighting ended.

To be sure, wartime analo-gies only go so far. Peopleand businesses are hunkeringdown, not mobilizing forcombat, and nations aren’tfighting one another but acommon enemy—the virus.

But as the pandemic hasescalated, Western govern-ments have made economicinterventions long consideredunthinkable outside wartime:They have pledged astronomi-cal sums to support strickenbusinesses and workers, ca-

joled or ordered chunks of in-dustry to shut down or switchproduction to essential goods,seized control of supply linesto procure vital equipment,and considered making in-vestments in key sectors suchas airlines.

Major central banks havepledged to buy nearly unlim-ited amounts of sovereigndebt to backstop governmentborrowing. Meanwhile, worldpowers are in a technologicalrace to find a vaccine.

When the crisis is over, “itwill be very hard for any gov-ernment not to increasespending on health” or tofund new areas such as medi-cal research and vaccine pro-duction, said Mr. Travers.

A similar shift happenedafter the depravations ofWorld War II, when countrieslike the U.K. pushed up taxesto finance sweeping newsafety nets, including univer-sal health care.

In the U.S., “the virus couldimprove prospects for someaspects of social safety nets,such as in health care,” saidMaurice Obstfeld, a formerchief economist at the Inter-national Monetary Fund whoteaches at the University ofCalifornia, Berkeley.

Some decisions go even fur-ther than World War II, withgovernments around theworld directly supporting thepay of millions of idle workers.

“You won’t necessarily havebig government programs, butyou could have extensive in-tervention” in economic areasdeemed critical, such as trade,

II helped the U.S. governmentreduce its debt as a share ofeconomic output, without ac-tually paying it down.

The analogies are imper-fect. During World WarII, allied nations includ-

ing the U.S., the U.K. and theSoviet Union gave over asmuch as half their nationaloutput to producing aircraft,warships, weapons, and othermaterials and equipment es-sential for the war effort, saidAdam Tooze, a professor ofhistory at Columbia Univer-sity whose work has focusedon war and financial crises.

The goal of policy makersnow, unlike in wartime, isn’tto reorient the whole economytoward fighting the virus butto do almost the reverse, Mr.Tooze said: Shut most of itdown to prevent spread. Usingidle factories to make facemasks and ventilators isworthwhile but would accountfor a tiny fraction of GDP, incontrast to the vast resourcesmobilized to fight a war.

And while major econo-mies grew rapidly at the startof World War II, they are nowshrinking. That means gov-ernments need to do morewith less money, triggering anexplosive rise in borrowing.

The scale of new deficitssuggests governments won’tbe able to control their debtsthrough spending cuts, as theU.K. and other countries didafter the financial crisis.

“It’s hard not to see highertaxes,” which is linked to abigger state, Mr. Travers said.

WORLDWAR I WORLDWAR II FINANCIAL CRISIS

Government spending as a percentage of GDP

Source: International Monetary FundKathryn Tam/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Note: Data not available for Germany (1914–24, 1935–49); Japan (1944–46); Figures for 2019 areestimates; Japan estimates 2018–19

70

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

%

1900 ’10 ’20 ’30 ’40 ’50 ’60 ’70 ’80 ’90 2000 ’10

Germany

JapanU.K.

U.S.

ECONOMICCALENDAR

Data out this week is ex-pected to show the effects ofshutdown and social-distancingorders on the economy.

TuesdayThe International Monetary

Fund releases its world eco-nomic outlook. The forecast islikely to offer a sober start to aweek of spring meetings thatwill focus on fallout from thenew coronavirus—and be con-ducted virtually because of thepandemic.

China trade data for March isexpected to reflect subdued de-mand at home and weaknessabroad as countries grappledwith the virus.

WednesdayU.S. retail sales for March are

expected to plunge, reflectingthe mandatory closure of restau-rants, malls and nonessentialstores, as well as heightenedcaution among consumers amidmass layoffs and increasing un-certainty.

U.S. industrial production forMarch is likely to falter amidglobal supply-chain disruptions,falling energy prices and weakglobal demand for many goods.

ThursdayU.S. jobless claims have

surged, with nearly 17 millionAmericans filing for unemploy-ment benefits since mid-March.Economists are estimating an-other bleak reading for the weekended April 11.

FridayChina’s economy likely con-

tracted in the first quarter. Econ-omists expect one of the worstquarterly gross domestic productreadings since the countrylaunched a program of economicreforms in the 1970s.

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As of 7:01 p.m. EDT Friday,reported U.S. fatalities fromthe coronavirus stood at18,586, according to data gath-ered by Johns Hopkins Univer-sity. In some editions Satur-day, a Page One article aboutthe contagion’s impact onnursing homes and other se-nior facilities in the U.S. incor-rectly gave the number as

18,849, which was the deathtoll in Italy at the time.

An Exchange article Satur-day about David Calhoun, Boe-ing Co.’s chief executive offi-cer, was accompanied by aphoto of former CEO DennisMuilenburg. The caption in-correctly said the photo wasof Mr. Calhoun.

Readers can alert The Wall Street Journal to any errors in news articles byemailing wsjcontact@wsj.com or by calling 888-410-2667.

CORRECTIONS AMPLIFICATIONS

U.S.WATCH

Mississippi Emergency Man-agement Agency director GregMichel said one person killedwas in Walthall County, twowere killed in Lawrence Countyand three were killed in Jeffer-son Davis County. All threecounties are more than an hour’sdrive south of Jackson, near theLouisiana state line.

The National Weather Service

said strong winds swept throughother parts of Mississippi, and atornado was spotted north ofMeridian near the Alabama stateline.

Before the storms movedinto Mississippi, the weatherservice reported multiple torna-does and damaging winds overmuch of northern Louisiana.

—Associated Press

SUPREME COURT

Ruling Sought OverTexas Abortion Order

Abortion providers asked theSupreme Court to relax a Texasexecutive order that bans nearlyall abortions during the public-health crisis created by the newcoronavirus.

Providers have been battlingthe state since a March 22 orderby Texas Republican Gov. GregAbbott barred nonessential med-ical procedures, citing a need topreserve protective medicalequipment and other resourcesfor the treatment of coronaviruspatients. State Attorney GeneralKen Paxton, also a Republican,has interpreted the order to ap-ply to abortions.

Texas argues that abortionshouldn’t get an exemption frompandemic-related restrictions.Abortion-rights supporters sayTexas and other conservative-ledstates are using the pandemic topursue an antiabortion agenda.

Twice a federal judge in Aus-tin has issued temporary re-straining orders blocking thestate from enforcing its ban infull. And twice a federal appealscourt has stepped in to let theTexas ban stay in place.

—Brent Kendall

ALASKA

Biden Is Winner ofVote-by-Mail Primary

Joe Biden, the presumptiveDemocratic presidential nominee,won Alaska’s Democratic pri-mary days after his last remain-ing rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders ofVermont, ended his White

House bid.The former vice president

won the state with 55.3% of thevote compared with 44.7% forthe senator, according to theAlaska Democratic Party. Alaskavoted entirely by mail becauseof the coronavirus, as the stateparty had suspended in-personvoting.

—Joshua Jamerson

MISSISSIPPI

Fierce Storms LeaveAt Least Six Dead

Strong storms pounded theSouth on Sunday, killing at leastsix people in south Mississippiand damaging up to 300 homesand other buildings in northernLouisiana.

The curbs will mitigate someissues in oil markets, but someanalysts said they were too lit-tle, too late. Amid travel restric-tions and work stoppages, oilconsumption is expected to fallby as much as 30 million barrelsa day this month.

Under the final deal disclosedSunday, Mexico will cut 100,000barrels a day of output, some250,000 barrels fewer thanSaudi Arabia initially wanted.Delegates were told that the U.S.pledged to compensate for theMexican amount with 300,000barrels of reductions of its own.

It couldn’t be determinedwhether that was in addition toother U.S. cuts, or how the U.S.cuts would be implemented.

In the end, the U.S. appearsto be yielding little, with SaudiArabia, Russia and their otheroil allies expected to bear thebrunt of the work rebalancingthe historic glut. Some of thecuts are expected to coincidewith a natural decline in produc-tion due to falling prices.

The U.S., Canada, Brazil andGroup of 20 countries thataren’t part of OPEC will holdback 4 million to 5 million bar-rels a day, OPEC said in a draftnews release.

Canada wasn’t asked to im-pose production cuts on its oilproducers, said Sonya Savage,energy minister for the provinceof Alberta, where most of Can-ada’s oil is buried. Instead, thedecrease will come via market

withhold 20 million barrels aday of supplies from the market,OPEC said in the draft release.

Oil prices are down 40% sinceearly March, when Saudi Arabiaand Russia failed to agree on anemergency plan to address thesupply glut. After the disagree-ment, Saudi Arabia embarked onan aggressive price war in an at-tempt to grab market sharefrom Russia, a key rival.

The international deal hadstalled three times in recentdays, with scheduled votes can-celed and ministers repeatedlydismissed and called back, a se-nior White House official said.

Tensions grew inside theWhite House on Sunday after-noon after a fourth vote didn’tstart at the scheduled time. Sev-eral officials believed it was thelast chance for a deal. Mr.Trump made another round ofcalls to keep leaders at the table,the White House official said.

For decades, Mr. Trump hasbeen a vociferous opponent ofthe cartel, deeming its efforts anevil force that squeezed U.S. mo-torists. But the Saudi-Russiaprice war’s threat to the U.S. oilindustry led to what seemed tobe a change of heart. In additionto prodding both sides, the U.S.has also warned it would retali-ate if Saudi Arabia didn’t turnoff the spigots. On April 4, Mr.Trump threatened tariffs oncrude imports.

— Michael C. Bendercontributed to this article.

tatives weren’t present at Sun-day’s meeting. But leaders in theoil industry had prodded Mr.Trump to press international ri-vals to cut supply before itcaused a wave of U.S. bankrupt-cies. In recent days, Mr. Trumpcalled the Saudi leadership andPresident Andrés Manuel LópezObrador of Mexico. Last month,he had urged the Saudi andRussian leaders to call a cease-fire in their price war againsteach other.

Without the deal, the globaloil industry would have run outof storage in the next few weeks,and prices would have crashed,hitting financial markets, saidDaniel Yergin, vice chairman ofenergy consultancy IHS Markit.“This restrains the build-up ofinventories, which will reducethe pressure on prices whennormality returns,” he said.

Still, investors remain con-cerned that the cuts might notbe enough to support higherprices in the coming weeks asworld-wide lockdowns havepummeled demand for gasoline,diesel and jet fuel.

ContinuedfromPageOne

ProducersWill CutOil Output

forces, as companies tend to cutproduction voluntarily whenprices drop, she said.

The American Petroleum In-stitute, the largest oil and gastrade group in the U.S., praisedthe deal. “We welcome today’sannouncement of an agreementby other producing nations tofollow the lead of the global mar-ketplace—and U.S. producers—toreduce supply,” the group’sleader, Mike Sommers, said.

In addition, Saudi Arabia, theUnited Arab Emirates and Ku-wait have agreed to cut a com-bined two million barrels a day

above their quota, Oil MinisterBijan Zanganeh of Iran said in atelevised interview.

Industrialized nations thatare part of the International En-ergy Agency are set to announcecrude purchases to fill their na-tional inventories as a way totake some surplus oil off themarket, according to people fa-miliar with the matter.

Overall, the measures, com-bined with existing sanctions onIran and Venezuela and outagesin hot spots like Libya, could

Investors worry thecurbs might not beenough to supporthigher prices.

Neighbors and family helped clean up a home in Monroe, La., after it sustained heavy storm damage Sunday. The same weather system claimed at least six lives in Mississippi.

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had 5,600 reported cases ofCovid-19 and 235 deaths as ofSunday—one of the highestrates in the nation—is expect-ing cases to peak soon. Theriver has been high enough thatthe U.S. Army Corps of Engi-neers on April 3 opened theBonnet Carre Spillway to re-duce flooding in New Orleansfor an unprecedented third yearin a row.

Ms. Cantrell is also worriedabout the approaching hurri-cane season, which starts June1. She said the city of 391,000has to take into accountwhether it will still be dealingwith large numbers of Covid-19patients in hospitals and itsconvention center in the eventthat a hurricane requires amass evacuation. “We’re re-evaluating our emergency planright now,” she said.

Mayor Errick D. Simmons ofGreenville, Miss., said the cityof 34,000 has been facingheavy rains and a rising riverthat has also shut down re-pairs from last year’s flooding,which caused some $4 millionin damage.

Some residents are still intemporary housing from lastyear’s floods, and now the cityis dealing with mass unemploy-ment from the coronavirusshutdown. With a poverty rateof 30.6%, the mayor said, “wehave almost no capacity to dealwith this at all.”

East St. Louis, Ill., a poorand largely African-Americancity directly across the riverfrom St. Louis, Mo., is also indire straits financially.

The city normally gets about60% of its general-fund revenuefrom the Casino Queen, a river-boat casino that is shut downalong with all other nonessen-tial businesses in the state. Cityofficials said they also recentlyended a several-month periodin which payments from thestate were diverted to under-funded police and fire pensionfunds.

“We were just coming offthe cusp of that and then weget hit with the coronavirus,”said Mayor Robert Eastern III.

The city of 27,000, which isin a county with 173 cases ofCovid-19 and seven deaths, isworking with the NationalGuard to set up a testing facil-ity, the mayor said. It is alsoeyeing flood levels closely.

Damage from last year’sflooding means the jail at CityHall and a veterans home are atrisk of flooding and evacuationif necessary repairs to the city’sstorm and sewer drains aren’tundertaken soon.

“It’s a very scary time forour city,” Mr. Eastern said.

Cities along the MississippiRiver are fighting emergencieson two fronts: Covid-19 isstraining health-care systemsand hitting tax revenue just asofficials are faced with springflooding and the coming hurri-cane season.

“We are dealing with someunprecedented times in localgovernment to manage two di-sasters simultaneously,” saidSharon Weston Broome, mayorof Baton Rouge, La., and co-chair of the Mississippi RiverCities and Towns Initiative,which represents about 100mayors.

These cities have beenscrambling to get enough per-sonal protective gear for medi-cal workers on the front linesof the coronavirus fight—aswell as to first responders whocould be called upon for floodevacuations. Meanwhile, repairfrom last year’s flooding hasbeen delayed due to high waterin New Orleans and elsewhere,and East St. Louis is scramblingto build a Covid-19 testing siteand complete flood repairsamid a financial emergency.

This is all playing out in cit-ies where more than 10,000people had been diagnosedwith Covid-19.

The U.S. is coming off one ofthe wettest years on recordwith some of the worst flood-ing ever seen in many places.

The Mississippi has beenhigh for several weeks as snowmelted in the north and a bigrain system moved through thecenter of the country, saidCorey Loveland, service coordi-nation hydrologist with theNorth Central River ForecastCenter of the National WeatherService.

“We’re at a critical timewhen we’re vulnerable to anyadditional rainfall,” he said.

Now, the highest river levelfrom snowmelt—what riverwatchers call a crest—is beyondDavenport, Iowa, and workingits way south. A storm systemstretching from the Southwestinto the Great Lakes this pastweekend could bring floodingand prolong the crest. The nextfew weeks, however, are ex-pected to be mostly dry, allow-ing the surge from snowmelt towork its way south without toomuch additional flooding.

“Once this flood works itsway through, right now we’renot expecting a second round,”said Shawn Carter, a hydrolo-gist with the weather service’sNational Water Center in Tus-caloosa, Ala.

New Orleans Mayor LaToyaCantrell said her city, which

BY JOE BARRETT

River TownsGo From OneCrisis to Next

Some school districts havehalted meal deliveries to stu-dents after the deaths of twodelivery bus drivers and grow-ing worries over worker safety.

Now, these districts—closeddue to the coronavirus pan-demic—are rethinking food dis-tribution, citing the spread ofthe virus and difficulty main-taining social distancing whilehanding out meals.

“We didn’t know if we couldassure the safety of our stu-dents, their families or our busdrivers,” said Kevin Hampton,spokesman in the Ferguson-Flo-rissant School District in Mis-souri, which suspended fooddeliveries by bus last week.

Many recipients of meal de-liveries are low-income stu-dents, who depended on dailyschool meals before the spreadof the new coronavirus forcedschool closures.

At the start of the pandemic,school districts throughout thecountry made serving meals apriority and scrambled to orga-nize deliveries and pickups.Some were reluctant to closeschools out of fear studentswouldn’t have enough to eat.

About 26 million public-school students, just over halfin the U.S., are considered low-income and rely on free or re-

duced-price meals at school. Inrecent years, school districtsand government agencies haveincreased focus on feeding stu-dents, even providing them din-ner after school.

The Ferguson-Florissant dis-trict said April 5 that one of itsbus drivers tested positive forthe coronavirus and died thatday. Another bus driver, whodied the day prior after a pro-longed illness, had symptomsassociated with the virus. Four

other employees in the districthave tested positive.

The drivers last worked inthe district on March 20. Dis-trict officials said they don’tbelieve that students or fami-lies came in contact with thedrivers or the other employeeswho tested positive. The dis-trict, which serves a mostlypoor student body in the St.Louis metro area, said it isseeking safer alternatives forfood service and hopes to havesomething in place this week.

One idea being considered iscooperating with neighboringdistricts in a regional food op-eration to limit staffing and re-duce contact.

Norwalk Public Schools inConnecticut stopped deliveringmeals to bus stops and makingdoor-to-door deliveries to spe-cial-needs students over safetyconcerns as community trans-mission of the virus spread.The district of about 11,700 stu-dents is now providing a drive-through service at 10 locations,or people can walk up to re-trieve meals.

Norwalk parent Saleska Que-sada-Rodriguez has begun pick-ing up the meals and deliveringit to some homes in her area.“These kids are really some ofthe most vulnerable,” she said.

But parents like TraceySmith, who lives in Norwalkbut isn’t in Ms. Quesada-Rodri-guez’s delivery area, are strug-gling. Ms. Smith is concernednot only about the change infood service but why it hap-pened. The Norwalk Hournewspaper reported that a busdriver for the district died fromthe coronavirus. Norwalkschool officials declined tocomment on the issue, citingprivacy rules.

Ms. Smith said because sheis disabled, she can’t drive toget the food for her daughter

and granddaughter. Before thechange, she said she used herwalker to go four houses downto a bus stop to get the food.

“They didn’t look at the factthat a lot of people aren’t ableto get to those areas,” Ms.Smith said of the pickup sites.She said a friend has helpedprovide them with some food.

A Norwalk school officialsaid that it was a difficult deci-sion to scale back the deliveryoperation but that it was neces-sary to reduce the number ofemployees working outsidetheir homes, from about 200 tofewer than 50.

Some school districts havelessened exposure to theirworkers by using third-partybusinesses to deliver food. Jef-ferson County Schools, a36,000-student district in Bir-mingham, Ala., has ended itsdrive-through meal linesstaffed by cafeteria workersand teachers and is now havingan outside company distributemeals curbside from varioussites.

“Many of our people whoare cafeteria workers are older,more at-risk to the virus, andsingle women,” said JeffersonCounty Superintendent WalterGonsoulin Jr. “If they get sick,who takes care of their family?”

—Ben Keslingcontributed to this article.

BY TAWNELL D. HOBBS

Schools Curtail Meal Deliveries,Fearing Safety of Drivers, Families

Gemini Middle School staffer Nikho Seham prepares meals for students, families and members of the community to pick up in Niles, Ill.

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‘These kids arereally some of themost vulnerable,’said one parent.

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lance provisions to expire lastmonth, said John Demers, thehead of the department’s na-tional-security division, in aninterview.

“The House legislation in-cludes important reforms toFISA and reauthorizes nationalsecurity tools that we wouldhave used, but have not in theweeks since the law expired,”Mr. Demers said, referring tothe Foreign Intelligence Sur-veillance Act, a decades-old lawthat has recently endured bi-partisan scrutiny..

Focused on addressing thecoronavirus pandemic, lawmak-ers left Washington last monthwithout renewing three FISA-enabled intelligence tools,

which expired on March 15.The issue was left unre-

solved in part due to compet-ing factions within both politi-cal sparties disagreeing overwhich privacy measures to addto the proposed legislation ex-tending the authorities, as wellas inconsistent signals from theTrump administration.

The prospect of a prolongedperiod without the national-se-curity authorities created inthe wake of the Sept. 11, 2001,terrorist attacks has alarmedcurrent and former intelligenceand law-enforcement officials.They warned that the FederalBureau of Investigation, espe-cially, now lacks a critical toolit uses to access a wide variety

of business records deemed rel-evant to continuing terrorismor espionage investigations.

The other expired powers al-low investigators to easilywiretap a suspect who hasswitched phones—known asroving wiretaps—and surveil aso-called lone wolf terroristwho doesn’t possess any dis-cernible ties to a foreign ter-rorist organization.

The business-records provi-sion can allow for investiga-tions that were taking place be-fore March 15 to continueunencumbered. Mr. Demers ac-knowledged that officials were“considering right now”whether to try to file somebusiness-records applications

using that part of the law.He also said investigators

haven’t been able to obtain re-newals for existing roving wire-taps since the law’s expiration,but declined to quantify howmany.

Privacy advocates have chal-lenged claims that the expira-tion of the tools jeopardizesnational security.

“Clearly, the sky hasn’tfallen,” said Elizabeth Goitein,co-director of the national se-curity program at the BrennanCenter for Justice, a public-pol-icy think tank founded by for-mer law clerks of the late Su-preme Court Justice William J.Brennan Jr.

“What we are seeing is that

the intelligence community hasturned into the boy who criedwolf, because they are alwayspainting the most dire pictureif they lose an authority.”

With rank-and-file membersof Congress out of town andleadership of both parties fo-cused on the coronavirus pan-demic, it remains unknownwhen lawmakers will be able topass legislation renewing thesurveillance authorities.

The pandemic is affectingother aspects of national secu-rity investigations, a court fil-ing shows. Some changesplanned in the wake of a De-cember watchdog report aretemporarily on hold, the filingsaid.

WASHINGTON—The recentlapse of a set of federal surveil-lance powers has begun to limitthe FBI’s ability to pursue someterrorism and espionage sus-pects, a top Justice Departmentofficial said, outlining how theripple effects of the coronaviruspandemic are being felt acrossU.S. national security efforts.

The Justice Department hasbeen unable to obtain certainwiretaps and to file requests toobtain business records fromcompanies in connection withnational-security investigationsbetween five and 10 times sinceCongress allowed the surveil-

BY ARUNA VISWANATHAAND DUSTIN VOLZ

Surveillance Law’s Lapse Limits Terror Probes, Justice Official Says

As Washington state reelsfrom the coronavirus pan-demic, its local RepublicanParty has a backup plan incase it isn’t possible for hun-dreds of people to gather inJune to pick delegates to theRepublican National Conven-tion two months later.

The state’s “virtual” con-vention plan, which it is em-ploying for smaller, localmeetings, could be a model forthe two national parties if thepandemic lingers and disruptstheir gatherings scheduled forAugust. Republicans are set tomeet in Charlotte, N.C., to for-mally nominate PresidentTrump for November, whileDemocratic delegates are ex-pected to choose former VicePresident Joe Biden as theircandidate in Milwaukee.

Washington RepublicanParty Chairman Caleb Heim-lich said he realized by mid-

March that hundreds of peoplecouldn’t safely gather for localmeetings to elect delegates forthe state gathering. He en-listed political tech startupVoter Science to quickly builda platform for voting, pairedwith Zoom videoconferencingfor participants to interact,

“This is such an unprece-dented situation that we haveto be open to alternativemethods,” Mr. Heimlich said.“This is forced change.”

A number of Democraticand Republican state partiesare using or seeking digitalplatforms to host virtual con-ventions at the state and dis-trict level in the run-up to thenational events. The technol-ogy includes a mix of secureelectronic voting and video orphone conferences.

Republicans and Democratsat the national level are stillplanning for in-person conven-tions. It is unclear how thoseevents would proceed, how-

ever, if public-health expertsare still warning against biggatherings.

At least one virtual conven-tion has been held at the statelevel. The North Dakota Demo-cratic-Nonpartisan LeagueParty conducted electronicvoting in late March.

Party Chairwoman KylieOversen said once the firstCovid-19 case was reported in

North Dakota, she and herstaff devised an alternativeplan for its state convention.The party used Simply Voting,a balloting platform.

It created an invite-onlyFacebook group for state con-vention delegates and peopleseeking endorsements for lo-cal races. Ms. Oversen said anew page was launched withinthe party website to host can-didates’ personal statementsor videos.

Ms. Oversen gaveled in vot-ing through Facebook Live.Over a five-hour period, about500 people voted through theSimply Voting platform, shesaid, adding that she helped afew older people who didn’thave access to the internet orhad trouble logging in.

“It’s invaluable in creatingsome of those connections on-line and jump-starting what iscertain to be a very differentcampaign cycle,” Ms. Oversensaid.

BY EMILY GLAZER

State Parties Pick Delegates Virtually

Kylie Oversen, chairwoman ofthe North Dakota Democratic-Nonpartisan League Party, onFacebook Live.

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WASHINGTON—U.S. law-makers are drawing up pro-posals for the federal govern-ment to guarantee privatecompanies’ paychecks duringthe coronavirus pandemic toarrest soaring job losses, aim-ing to fill holes in last month’said package.

The plans from Rep.Pramila Jayapal (D., Wash.)and Sen. Josh Hawley (R., Mo.)differ in the level of govern-ment aid that they would pro-vide and the degree to whichthey have been developed. Butboth would put the U.S. on atrack similar to those thathave been taken in countriessuch as France and Denmark—and could spark a rethinkingof some cornerstone elementsof the $2.2 trillion economicrescue enacted two weeks ago.

“We need a proposal that isgoing to match the scale of thecrisis,” Ms. Jayapal said.

BY SIOBHAN HUGHESAND ERIC MORATH

THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

The plans would both lastfor the duration of the healthcrisis instead of standing as apermanent feature of the U.S.safety net, and neither is in-tended to serve as a form ofuniversal basic income, inwhich citizens are guaranteeda basic income even withoutworking. And while paychecksupport hasn’t been embracedby party leaders as a part ofthe next economic-rescue pack-age, the idea is gaining a seri-ous look within Congress amidfrustration with programsrolled out in recent weeks.

“We must stop mass layoffsif we are going to avoid a de-pression,” said Damon Silvers,policy director and specialcounsel to the AFL-CIO, anumbrella organization for agroup of unions that representabout 12.5 million people. “Weurge lawmakers to pay closeattention to this importantproposal,” referring to Ms.Jayapal’s plan.

Under her plan, companiesthat shut down or suffer a de-cline in demand as a result ofthe pandemic would be eligi-ble to receive money from thegovernment to cover the costsof payroll and related benefits,as well as rent and utili-

LawmakersSeek to CoverPaychecksPlans aim to stem joblosses, provide payrollfunds for companieshurt by pandemic

ties. Ms. Jayapal, the co-chairof the Congressional Progres-sive Caucus, which representsnearly 100 House Democrats,is calling for guaranteeingworkers’ wages for threemonths, up to an annual salaryof $100,000 a worker.

The guarantees would be re-newed monthly after that, untila government gauge of con-sumer spending increasesnearly to the level before thepandemic closed big parts ofthe economy. Some economistsare predicting the labor marketwon’t fully recover until2023. Her plan would be retro-active to March 1, so compa-nies that already laid off work-ers could still benefit if they

hired the workers back. Toguard against fraud, companieswould have to certify to theTreasury Department that theirbusiness had been impaired;another potential safeguardcould be to tie the level of aidto the decline in revenues.

The plan would be an alter-native to the programs avail-able through last month’s eco-nomic rescue package, so thatcompanies would have tochoose to participate in thepaycheck-guarantee program,or loans, grants and other pro-grams aimed at both small andlarge businesses run by enti-ties including the Treasury,the Federal Reserve and theSmall Business Administration.

Mr. Hawley is floating asimilar idea. He has called fora government guarantee of80% of wages up to the na-tional median, with bonusesfor firms that rehire laid-offworkers. His office said thathe is working to build supportfor the idea within the Senate,and Ms. Jayapal said that theiroffices are in conversationabout finding common ground.

Under the Hawley proposal,the backstopping of wageswould also be retroactive, ap-plying to workers laid off inMarch who are rehired inApril or May by their formeremployers. His proposal has agoal similar to that of Ms. Jay-apal’s: to benefit workers by

allowing them to avoid thelong-term scarring effects oflayoffs and help businesses bygiving them a ready workforcewhen the economy restarts.

“Workers ought to be ableto keep their jobs,” Mr. Hawleysaid. “It’ll put us in a positionto come back stronger.”

Nearly 16.8 million Ameri-cans—or one in 10 U.S. work-ers—sought unemploymentbenefits in the three weeksended April 4. Economists ex-pect another five millionAmericans sought the bene-fits in the week ended April 11,and economists surveyed byThe Wall Street Journal expectthe unemployment rate to hit13% in June.

People in line last week to apply for unemployment benefits in Fort Smith, Ark. The idea of paycheck support is gaining a look in Congress.

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more than half its $350 billiontotal, according to Sen. MarcoRubio (R., Fla.), chairman of theSenate Small Business and En-trepreneurship Committee. Ad-ministration officials have saidthe program could run out ofmoney this week.

Senate Majority LeaderMitch McConnell (R., Ky.) andHouse Minority Leader KevinMcCarthy (R., Calif.) reiteratedSaturday their desire to approveonly small-business aid in theshort term, writing that furtheraction should wait for futurelegislation. President Trump hasalso called for speedy passage ofa measure focused just on smallbusiness.

Democrats want changes tothe small-business program tohelp firms that were initiallyshut out of the loans receivefunds going forward.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D.,Md.) said in an interview Satur-day that the Senate should domore than just increase thesmall-business funding. “Wealso need to ensure the fundsare going to everybody whoneeds it, not just businesseswith the best banking connec-tions,” he said.

Democrats also say addi-tional aid to state and local gov-

ernments is just as urgent as ex-panding the small-businessprogram. The National Gover-nors Association—led by Mary-land GOP Gov. Larry Hogan andNew York Gov. Andrew Cuomo,a Democrat—called on the fed-eral government to provide im-mediately $500 billion in aid tostate governments.

The pair warned Saturdaythat without new funding,states—whose budgets havebeen decimated by the pan-demic—may soon need to cutother kservices. They said fed-eral aid shouldn’t be limited tocoronavirus-related expenses.

“In the absence of unre-stricted fiscal support of at least

$500 billion from the federalgovernment, states will have toconfront the prospect of signifi-cant reductions to critically im-portant services all across thiscountry,” Messrs. Hogan andCuomo said.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi(D., Calif.), responding to thegovernors’ statement, wrote in atweet Saturday that “Democratswill continue to push for ur-gently needed funds for stateand local governments” in theinterim emergency bill.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphysaid on CBS Sunday that he andhis counterparts in New York,Connecticut and Pennsylvaniaestimate their four states aloneneed $100 billion in cash assis-tance. The Democrat said thathis state is “constantly and per-sistently” seeking assistancefrom the federal government tosecure personal protectiveequipment and ventilators.

Smaller cities shut out of thelast relief bill have also askedCongress for aid to stave offbudget cuts to police forces andfire departments.

Republicans have indicatedthey are open to providing morefunding to state and local gov-ernments and hospitals—but ina later bill.

WASHINGTON—A partisanimpasse over fresh coronavirusrelief spending stretchedthrough the holiday weekend, asfunds for a small-business loanprogram dwindled and stateleaders called for additional fed-eral aid.

Republican lawmakers wantto add $250 billion to the $350billion small-business-supportplan approved in late March.While Democrats say they, too,support more money for thefund, they also want to expandaccess to the loans. In addition,they want to include $100 bil-lion for hospitals and $150 bil-lion for state and local govern-ments along with the small-business aid.

Competing efforts to approvenew pandemic aid failed lastweek in the Senate, when Demo-crats blocked stand-alone small-business funds and Republicansobjected to the broader Demo-cratic proposal.

Lawmakers are seekingagreement early this week. Thesmall-business program, createdin a $2.2 trillion relief bill thatpassed last month, has ap-proved $178 billion in loans—

BY ANDREW DUEHRENAND KRISTINA PETERSON

Next Aid Is Debated as Small-Business Loans Dwindle

Sen. Mitch McConnell

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rants—where profits are ex-pected to sink 32% from a yearearlier, according to FactSet.

Marriott International Inc.,for one, has begun furloughingwhat it expects will be tens ofthousands of employees, whiletemporarily closing propertiesand curbing other spending.Shares of the company, whichhas withdrawn its financial guid-ance, are down 46% this year.

Meanwhile, earnings amongenergy companies, which havebeen hit both by an unprece-dented drop in demand and theprice war between Saudi Arabiaand Russia, are expected toplummet 52%.

Both Exxon Mobil Corp. andChevron Corp. have slashedtheir capital spending plans inresponse to the crash in oilprices. Those stocks are offmore than 30% in 2020.

One of the brighter spots isexpected to be the communica-tion-services sector, which in-cludes Facebook Inc. and Googleparent Alphabet Inc.

Earnings among those com-panies are projected to grow by7.8%, down from an expected17% growth at the end of lastyear. Analysts are calling forprofits at Facebook to morethan double, despite a slow-down in advertising due to thepandemic. Its shares are down15% this year, in line with thebroader market.

“We’re looking forward toearnings season with a particu-lar fascination to see what welearn about different compa-nies’ business models,”MorganStanley’s Ms. Shalett said.

“There is more uncertaintyfor this quarter than almostany quarter I can remember,”said Bob Doll, chief equitystrategist and senior portfoliomanager at Nuveen. “My guessis somewhere between a halfand three-quarters of analystshave yet to take a knife to theirearnings [estimates] becausethey don’t know what knife totake to them and how deep tocut.”

The range of estimates re-flects the deep uncertaintyabout the path ahead. FactSetprojects a 9% year-over-yeardecline in earnings for all of

2020, based on analysts’ expec-tations for individual compa-nies in the S&P 500, a sharp re-versal from the 9.2% growthanticipated as last year ended.

Such a decline pales in com-parison with the profit collapseforecast by big banks.

BofA Global Research proj-ects a 29% drop in per-shareearnings this year, an estimatethat incorporates “cataclysmiclosses in travel, restaurants andother industries directly im-pacted by social distancing.”Goldman Sachs has predictedprofits will decline 33%, whilecautioning that in a more pain-

ful slowdown, the decline couldbe 57%.

The second quarter is ex-pected to see the brunt of thedamage based on the currentscale of the shutdown. Profitsamong companies in the S&P500 are projected to drop 21% inthe current quarter after sinking11% in the first three months ofthe year, according to FactSetestimates. In the second half,profits are expected to continueshrinking, but at a slower pace,falling 9.6% in the third quarterand 1.6% in the fourth.

“We’ve never, ever, ever seena sudden stop of the economy,”

said Lisa Shalett, chief invest-ment officer at Morgan StanleyWealth Management. “That’swhy this is going to be such ascrutinized petri dish, if youwill, of an experiment for peo-ple to understand, really, whatare the companies that have atrue resilient and recurring rev-enue stream?”

First-quarter earnings fore-casts have dropped for all 11sectors in the S&P 500. Thepain is projected to be particu-larly acute among companies inthe consumer-discretionarygroup—a category that includeshotels, cruise lines and restau-

30%

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Energy As of April 9

Materials

Allsectors

IndustrialsConsumerdiscretionary

Consumer staples

Health care

Financials

TechnologyCommunications

Utilities

Real estate

CHANGE IN SHARE PRICES

Source: FactSet

CHANGEINEARNINGS

Earnings estimateas of Dec. 31

S&P500first-quarter earnings estimates, by sectorWith price performance since the S&P 500’s peak on Feb. 19

haven’t really seen markets re-flect the full extent of the dam-age that coronavirus is havingto corporate profitability.”

For that reason, some ana-lysts worry the stock market ison the cusp of a reckoning andanother painful selloff could bein store if corporate profitsplunge. Others fear WallStreet’s current earnings esti-mates don’t fully reflect the ex-tent of the expected damage.Because projections for earn-ings are an important part ofhow stocks are valued, theopaque view into corporateprofits suggests major indexescould see more volatility ahead.

Big banks including JPMor-gan Chase & Co. and Bank ofAmerica Corp., along withhealth-insurance giant United-Health Group Inc., transporta-tion bellwether J.B. Hunt Trans-port Services Inc. and health-products company Johnson &Johnson, will be among the firstbig companies to open theirbooks this week.

While those results will be ofgreat interest, investors willmore carefully scrutinize com-ments from executives for indi-cations of what will come laterthis year.

ContinuedfromPageOne

EarningsPose TestFor Market

U.S. Olympic-SportsGroups Seek Help

Unlike many other promi-nent Olympic nations, the U.S.has no government-fundedsports ministry.

Now, governing bodies areseeking help from the one placethey didn’t get it before: theU.S. government.

The federal economic-rescuepackage allows certain employ-ers to apply for loans to coverpayroll, rent and utilities. Sportsgoverning bodies believe theymeet the criteria, including hav-ing fewer than 500 employees,and they are seeking or plan toseek aid alongside tens of thou-sands of businesses and non-profits.

“I think every NGB will ap-ply,” said Max Cobb, presidentand CEO of U.S. Biathlon andchair of the National GoverningBodies Council. “I know some ofthem are still struggling withgetting all the documentsneeded together.”

The recent postponement ofthe Tokyo 2020 Games to July2021 has mangled U.S. Olympic

sports’ typical funding model.Weeks ago, the U.S. Olympic &Paralympic Committee, whichpays for itself mainly throughcorporate sponsorships andbroadcast-rights fees, polled 50NGBs, concluding that they andtheir athletes stood to lose upto $800 million in revenuethrough August, in part due toevent cancellations.

Congress declined a requestfrom the USOPC to grant theNGBs and athletes $200 millionas part of the roughly $2 trillionrescue package. That denialcame on the heels of conten-tious dealings with the Olympiccommittee and its handling ofsexual-abuse cases, in particular.

Now, the sports governingbodies under the USOPC’s pur-view are seeking governmenthelp on their own, in an effortto stem the tide of furloughs,layoffs and program cuts.

It varies from year to yearand group to group, but collec-tively NGBs receive less than10% of their annual revenuefrom the USOPC. Some receivesupport from internationalsports federations, but NGBsmust pay most operating costs.

—Rachel Bachman

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handled the virus early on. Mr.Trump himself stoked questionsabout Dr. Fauci’s fate by retweet-ing a message Sunday nightfrom a former Republican con-gressional candidate, who endedher tweet, “Time to #FireFauci.”

Mr. Trump did not repeatthose words but shared themwith his nearly 77million follow-ers. Mr. Trump has been knownto have been frustrated with Dr.Fauci, who has called for strictsocial distancing measures tocombat the virus. But Dr. Faucihas also drawn praise from thepresident, who listened to his

advice in agreeing to extend so-cial distancing guidelinesthrough the end of April.

New York Gov. AndrewCuomo said that while hospital-izations in the state were down,758 people died on Saturday,bringing the number of thosewho have succumbed toCovid-19, the respiratory diseaseresulting from the virus, to9,385, the highest toll for a state.

“That’s the one number thatI look forward to seeing drop assoon as I open my eyes in themorning,” Mr. Cuomo said.

Over the weekend, Mr.

Cuomo said New York wouldlook at how other countries areapproaching the issue of re-opening, while keeping in mindthe possibility of a second waveof infections.

Whatever form reopeningwould take, Mr. Cuomo said de-cisions would follow consulta-tion with counties within thestate and neighboring states.

Mr. Cuomo said New Yorkwould have difficulty reopeningwithout federal help, as the statehas spent billions of dollars oncombating the pandemic.

“Without federal assistance,

A woman in a Robin costume showed her appreciation Saturday outside a hospital in Leesburg, Va.

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557,300U.S. cases

1,850,220World-wide cases

22,079U.S. deaths

114,215World-wide deaths

41,759U.S. recoveries

430,455World-wide recoveries

Coronavirus Daily UpdateAs of 10:55 p.m. EDT April 12

Source: Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering

ago and thought he had anagreement to conduct 88,000tests a month, or about 3,000tests a day. He subsequentlylearned that the federal gov-ernment was taking over pur-chasing and distribution of thetests.

Instead, Illinois received 15Abbott machines and 120 car-tridges. “That’s eight tests permachine for all of Illinois,” Mr.Pritzker, a Democrat, said.

The frustration over howthe Abbott tests are beingdoled out underscores theTrump administration’s strug-gle to respond to national

testing shortages. While morecoronavirus tests have beenmade available in recentweeks, via private laboratoriesthat now have FDA approval,results can take days. High-volume tests have been ham-pered by inaccurate results,delays and technical problems.

During a press conferencelast week, President Trumptouted the Abbott tests, whichdeliver results in under 15minutes, as “a whole new ball-game” in the fight against thenew coronavirus.

In a statement, U.S. Healthand Human Services spokes-

woman Mia Heck said the fed-eral government had pur-chased limited quantities forstate labs because it wanted toallow enough for hospitals tobuy as well. Ms. Heck saidstates could order more sup-plies through the Centers forDisease Control and Preven-tion. She didn’t respond to aquestion about why 49 statesreceived a similar number oftests and machines, whichprocess one test at a time.

Despite having the third-smallest population of anystate, Alaska received 50 ma-chines to ramp up testing in

remote areas, she said.HHS said it had also pur-

chased 250 Abbott machinesfor the Indian Health Service,which provides health care for2.6 million Native Americans.Tori Kitcheyan, chairwoman ofthe National Indian HealthBoard, said the number of in-dividual cartridges availablefor those machines wasn’tenough for tribal members liv-ing on remote reservationswith limited access to anyCovid-19 testing.

Abbott is manufacturing50,000 cartridges daily andhas vowed to continue in-

THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

creasing production. As of Fri-day, it had shipped nearly halfa million cartridges to doctors’offices, universities and labo-ratories that have placed theirown orders, a spokeswomansaid, in addition to those pur-chased by the federal govern-ment. The rapid-test machinescost $4,500 per device, whileeach cartridge costs $40.

Detroit, was able to buy anddeploy a large number of Ab-bott’s rapid tests shortly afterthe company got approvalfrom the FDA on March 27.The quick results helped re-shape the city’s response tothe virus.

Since the start of themonth, Detroit has adminis-tered more than 1,000 tests,initially focusing on first re-sponders and bus drivers whohad been in quarantine, saidJohn Roach, a spokesman forthe mayor. The city has al-ready purchased 4,000 addi-tional tests from Abbott andrecently said that rapid testswould be used at nursinghomes and homeless shelters.

For states, their compara-tively tiny number of Abbotttests can’t make that sort ofimpact. Officials in New York,at the center of the coronavi-rus outbreak, said their Abbottdevices wouldn’t be used untilenough cartridges arrived tomake them practical.

In Louisiana, another hotspot, Gov. John Bel Edwardssaid his administration hadhoped to deploy the Abbotttests to help health-care work-ers statewide so they couldstay on the job and preservepersonal protective equip-ment. “We have the machines,but not necessarily the car-tridges to make a big differ-ence,” Mr. Edwards said.

A rapid test for the newcoronavirus that was toutedby the White House as a game-changing development hasproved vexing for state offi-cials, who say the federal gov-ernment has failed to provideenough necessary equipment.

“It’s incredibly frustrating,”said New Hampshire Gov.Chris Sununu, whose state got15 of Abbott Laboratories’testing machines for Covid-19,the illness caused by the newcoronavirus—and cartridges toconduct only about 100 tests.Mr. Sununu, speaking at anews conference, said most ofthe machines would sit idleuntil he could figure out howto get more of the cartridges,one of which is needed tocomplete each test.

“There was a lot of hype onthis nationally,” the Republi-can governor said. “To have 13of these devices and no way touse them—I’m banging myhead against the wall.”

After conducting a bulkpurchase with Abbott, the fed-eral government this monthgave every state except Alaska15 devices and 120 cartridges,regardless of its population orseverity of its coronavirus out-break.

In Illinois, where AbbottLaboratories is based, Gov. J.B.Pritzker said he spoke to thecompany more than a week

By Dan Frosch, DeannaPaul and Ian Lovett

States Can’t Get Enough Rapid TestsSome governors sayU.S. government hasn’tmet pledge to provideall needed equipment

Covid-19 tests are conducted in Lowell, Mass. The federal government gave every state except Alaska 15 devices and 120 cartridges.

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how does this state economycome back? How do we reallystart to fund schools?” he said.

Mr. Cuomo said he andMary-land Gov. Larry Hogan have is-sued a joint statement calling for$500 billion in funding for stategovernments. Mr. Hogan, a Re-publican, and Mr. Cuomo, aDemocrat, are chairman and vicechairman, respectively, of theNational Governors Association.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy,whose state has the second-highest number of positivecases, said on CNN that while hewould like to be able to restartbusiness, “I fear, if we open uptoo early…we could be pouringgasoline on the fire, even inad-vertently.”

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker saidhe has been speaking with econ-omists, scientists and industryleaders on how to properly re-open businesses and have resi-dents return to work, noting alower death rate reported Sun-day signaled that the crisismight be stabilizing in the hard-hit state. Mr. Pritzker said 43people died in the state fromCovid-19 in the last 24 hours, thelowest number in six days.

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchin-son hasn’t issued a stay-at-homeorder for state residents but hasimposed some restrictions tostem the spread of the novelcoronavirus. “You cannot lockdown, you cannot shelter inplace for six months,” the Re-publican said, but “if we need todo more, we will do more.”

One key to reopening will befurther testing, including anti-body tests that detect who hasbeen infected and recovered, theFDA’s Mr. Hahn said. He ex-pressed concern that some avail-able antibody tests “haven’tgone through the FDA scientificreview,” adding that “havingwildly inaccurate tests” is worsethan having no tests.

For New York, Mr. Cuomosigned an executive order to al-low for more people to adminis-ter antibody tests. “We have to

get that test to scale, and thisexecutive order will help dothat,” he said.

Another issue will be whetherthe disease rebounds after anymidyear lull.

“I hope we don’t have a re-bound,” Dr. Fauci said, “but if wedo, and that certainly is a possi-bility, hopefully we’ll be able torespond to that rebound in amuch more effective way thanwhat we have seen now in Janu-ary, March, February.”

More than 114,000 peoplehave died world-wide fromCovid-19, according to the JohnsHopkins data.

Although the U.S. has themost deaths of any nation,America’s rate of 6.25 deaths per100,000 people was behind thatof Italy, with 32.22 deaths per100,000 people, and Spain, with35.54 deaths per 100,000.

In France, where a lockdownhas been enforced for fourweeks, health authorities saidthe pandemic has plateaued butwarned it may take more than amonth before people can gradu-ally resume normal life. “The or-der of the day is not deconfine-ment, it’s even more strictrespect for confinement mea-sures,” France’s top health offi-cial, Jérôme Salomon, said onSaturday.

Churches held Easter servicesin front of few or no parishio-ners, though many livestreamedor televised services.

In New York City, CardinalTimothy Dolan preached in anear-empty St. Patrick’s Cathe-dral, focusing on the theme of theempty tomb discovered by Jesus’friends on Easter morning.

“We hear plenty about empti-ness these days, don’t we, thanksto the dreaded pandemic,”Cardi-nal Dolan said. But, he concluded:“Emptiness might be a blessing,not a curse, as the God of the liv-ing fills us with light, meaning,resolve, hope and life.”

—Jennifer Calfasand Francis X. Rocca

contributed to this article.

reopen focuses on several datapoints officials are closelywatching, including the numberof new infections, death counts,the number of admissions tohospital intensive care units andthe number of ICU patients be-ing put on ventilators.

“We see the light at the endof the tunnel,” Food and DrugAdministration CommissionerStephen Hahn said on ABC.“But I think it’s just too earlyfor us to say whether May 1 isthat date.”

The decision on lifting re-strictions and encouraging busi-nesses to restart rests mainlywith state and local officials,but White House guidance canhave a big impact. When to doso has been the subject of vigor-ous debates within the medicalcommunity, and the Trump ad-ministration is taking note, Mr.Hahn said.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, directorof the National Institute of Al-lergy and Infectious Diseases,told CNN that some limitedopenings might be possible byMay. “I think it could probablystart, at least in some ways,maybe next month,” he said.

But Dr. Fauci added that “it’snot going to be a light switchthat we say, it is now June,July, click, the light switch goesback on.”

On the show, Dr. Fauci alsosaid that had the governmentimposed restrictions earlier,“you could have saved lives.”

That comment prompted aTwitter backlash from conserva-tive supporters of PresidentTrump sensitive to argumentsthat the administration hadmis-

ContinuedfromPageOne

RiskMulledOn LiftingLockdowns

The British government hastouted “immunity passports”as a near-term way of loosen-ing the coronavirus-inspiredlockdown that is threateningto bring the U.K.’s economy toa standstill. Rolling them outis proving complicated.

The effort would rely ontesting to identify those whohave contracted and recoveredfrom the disease caused by thenew virus, by identifying spe-cific antibodies—tailor-madeproteins produced by the bodyto neutralize viruses and otherinvaders—in the blood.

These antibody tests aredifferent from the swab testsaimed at determining whethera person carries the virus.They are the same as the onesbeing rolled out in many coun-tries, including the U.S., aspart of long-term campaignsaimed at determining whatproportion of the populationhas been infected by the newcoronavirus, and gauging im-munity at a national level.

In the U.K., however, offi-cials have proposed usingthem at an individual level, toprovide people assurancesthat they can leave lockdownwithout risk of contracting thedisease, known as Covid-19.

The prospect is tantalizing.Immune workers could returnto jobs. Health-care employeescould go to work without fearof contracting the virus. Peo-ple could visit elderly relativesagain, confident they wouldn’tpass on the virus.

Other countries, includingthe U.S., also are consideringthe use of immunity passports.“This is something that’s be-ing discussed,” Anthony Fauci,director of the National Insti-tute of Allergy and InfectiousDiseases and a member of theWhite House Coronavirus TaskForce, told CNN. “It might ac-tually have some merit undercertain circumstances.”

But antibody tests are chal-lenging to develop. An accuratetest must detect an antibodythat is unique to SARS-CoV-2,the virus that causes the dis-

ease. The immune system pro-duces a medley of antibodiesin response to any pathogen,some of which may also be de-

ployed in fending off closelyrelated viruses. A test thatpicked up one of those wouldproduce false-positive results,and risk sending someone backto work who wasn’t immune.

Once the right antibody hasbeen identified, biologists alsomust ensure that it is potentenough to beat a future en-counter with the virus.

“For the coronavirus, it isstill difficult to answer thatquestion,” said Bernard Bine-truy, a research director withFrenchmedical institute Inserm.

Doctors and scientists saythey hope that antibodies willprovide a degree of immunityagainst the coronavirus but

caution that they need moretime to assess what concentra-tion is necessary and how longany protection will last.

“Even if people knowthey’ve had the virus, we haveno idea how long the immu-nity will last,” said LouiseCosby, a professor of microbi-ology at Queen’s UniversityBelfast. “Everybody’s operat-ing with a lack of knowledge.”

Another issue is that incountries that have imposedlockdowns to limit the spreadof the virus, the number ofpeople with effective immu-nity—and therefore who couldbe eligible for immunity certif-icates—might be limited.

BY DENISE ROLANDAND DAVID GAUTHIER-VILLARS

Effort to Identify People With Immunity Stumbles

In the U.K., officialshoped antibody testswould clear some toleave lockdown.

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THEWALL STREET JOURNAL. * * * * Monday, April 13, 2020 | A7

BY JAEWON KANG

Samuel Harshbarger is get-ting used to the 12-hour shifts.

The 32-year-old stocker fora Kroger Co. store in Hunting-ton, W.Va., has added 20 hoursto his typical 40-hour work-week. The coronavirus pan-demic pushed up demand forgroceries, and folks like Mr.Harshbarger rank among thenation’s most essential work-ers.

He is starting work as earlyas 4 a.m., three hours earlierthan the typical time for clock-ing in. He carries heavy palletsof food to shelves and assistsanxious customers until as lateas 6 p.m.

“By the end of the day, I’mdefinitely worn out,” said Mr.Harshbarger, who startedworking at Kroger nearly fiveyears ago. The Cincinnati-

based grocery giant is givingfull-time workers like him aone-time $300 bonus and a $2-per-hour raise through themiddle of April.

Mr. Harshbarger is orderingitems and replenishing shelvesmore frequently. Paper prod-ucts, rice, canned food andbottled water are selling fast.

Recently, he restocked paperproducts that were disappear-ing in less than an hour. Mr.Harshbarger is refilling palletsof bottled water four times aday rather than once, each ofwhich can weigh 2,000 pounds.

“You bring out canned vege-tables, and people will want tostop you before you can get itstocked,” he said.

Consumers started prepar-ing for home quarantine inMarch, buying loads of shelf-stable foods and cleaningitems. “The first initial weekwas one of the most stressfultimes I’ve had since workinghere,” Mr. Harshbarger said.

This surge in demand hasforced grocers to set a limit onhow many products Mr. Harsh-barger and other stockers canorder from warehouses thatstore products from food com-panies. The cap varies dailyand ranges from 1,300 to 2,600items. For some fast-selling

products, like Conagra BrandsInc.’s Chef Boyardee cannedgoods, Mr. Harshbarger canonly order a certain number ofcases at a time.

In addition to replenishingthe shelves, Mr. Harshbargerhas started filling online or-ders. More customers are try-ing grocery pickup as theyavoid public places altogether.One day this week, Mr. Harsh-

barger spent four of his 12hours at work packing onlineorders. Other times, he is thesole stocker on the floor whenhis team members are helpingget bags ready for pickup.

“When you’re the only one,you have a lot that’s got to bedone,” he said.

Mr. Harshbarger said someshoppers are conscious of so-cial-distancing while others ig-

nore guidelines and bring theirfamilies. Some are visitingstores to get out of theirhouse—not shop with purpose.His interaction with customersis changing, too. They aren’t asfriendly as they were beforethe health crisis and get irkedby empty shelves.

“Customers are a lot morescared,” he said. “There aresome customers who are just

trying to shop for the day.When they come in and we’reout of products, they can getfrustrated.”

Supermarkets, includingKroger, are limiting the num-ber of customers that can beinside its stores, installingplexiglass guards at cashiersand putting markers that indi-cate where shoppers can wait.Last week, his store receivedgloves and paper masks for itsworkers.

Still, Mr. Harshbarger saidhe doesn’t feel protected atwork and thinks Kroger shouldlimit people in the store to oneper cart. A Kroger spokes-woman said the company hasno plans to limit the number ofcustomers per cart.

“The whole time I’m work-ing, it’s on my mind. If I starthearing someone cough, that’sin the back of my mind,” hesaid.

To decompress, Mr. Harsh-barger takes 15-minute breaksin the backroom where he willplay Pokémon Go on his phoneand listen to rock bands likeFall Out Boy and Panic! at theDisco. Increasingly, he has hadto skip them to finish his tasks.

“I’m just trying to take itday by day,” Mr. Harshbargersaid.

As the newcoronavirusforces bigchanges inhow we

work, The Wall Street Journalis looking at how differentpeople are coping with thestresses and risks. For earlierarticles in the series, visitwsj.com/makingitwork.

Samuel Harshbarger at the Kroger store in Huntington, W.Va., where he works as a stocker.

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THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

Cardiologists say theyaren’t surprised that Covid-19takes a heavier toll on heart-disease patients. So have SARSand MERS, two other corona-viruses, as well as severe in-fluenza. Still, they are takenaback by the huge numbers ofsuch cases. “I have never seensuch a volume of patientscome in all at once and all beso critically ill,” said SahilParikh, an interventional car-diologist at Columbia Univer-sity Irving Medical Center inNew York City.

Scientists say they don’tfully understand why cardio-vascular disease puts peopleat such increased risk. TheAmerican Heart Association isfunding research to learnmore.

Many of these patients areolder, more prone to hyperten-sion, and already more vulner-

able because immune systemsnaturally weaken with ad-vanced age. But high bloodpressure, coronary-artery dis-ease and other heart condi-tions put many younger peo-ple at increased risk, too.

About 46% of Americanadults have high blood pres-sure, according to guidelinesby the American College ofCardiology and the AHA. Afri-can-Americans, who have thehighest mortality from cardio-vascular disease of all racialand ethnic groups in the U.S.,are being infected and dyingfrom the new virus at dispro-portionately high rates.

Because so little is known,even people who have theirhigh blood pressure under

control and don’t have anyother risk factors are advisedto take extra precautionsagainst Covid-19 infection.

“My gut feeling is hyperten-sion as a single entity—not as-sociated with any other car-diovascular disease ordiabetes or obesity or smokingor vaping—probably is notmuch of an increased risk fac-tor, but we don’t know that,”said Mariell Jessup, the AHA’schief science and medical offi-cer. “We just have to urgegreat caution for everyone.”

Cardiologists also worrythat patients who are stuck athome or recently unemployedare missing out on medica-tions and care. They are par-ticularly concerned that pa-tients may stop taking blood-pressure medications followingreports that certain types—an-giotensin-converting enzymeor ACE-inhibitors and angio-tensin receptor blockers—could increase the risk ofCovid-19 infection. Severalmedical societies have said pa-tients should remain on thedrugs because evidence of in-creased infection risk is weak.

Doctors have reported asurprisingly high number ofCovid-19 cases in which pa-tients developed symptoms ofa heart attack. Instead, theywere found to have myocardi-tis, an inflammation of theheart muscle that can cause aweakening of its function andincrease its susceptibility torhythm disorders, said Dr.Parikh, the Columbia cardiolo-gist.

“Patients will come to thehospital presenting for all theworld like a heart attack,” saidDr. Parikh. Normally, such pa-tients are whisked to a car-diac-catheterization lab toidentify and treat blockages.Now, cardiologists take pa-tients who could have Covid-19to the emergency departmentfirst for an assessment, hesaid.

People with cardiovasculardisease face more life-threat-ening complications and asubstantially higher risk ofdeath from the new coronavi-rus, according to data and re-ports from doctors in severalcountries, and even those withsimple high blood pressure arebeing urged to take extra careagainst infection.

Among the complicationsare conditions that put thesepatients’ already strainedhearts under additional stress.While Covid-19 is a respiratorydisease, doctors increasinglyreport that some patients de-velop cardiovascular complica-tions such as heart-rhythmdisorders, blood clots and in-flammation causing chest painthat mimics a heart attack.

These complications can bedeadly. “We’ve certainly seencardiac arrests,” said MatthewTomey, director of the cardiacintensive-care unit at MountSinai Morningside Hospital inNew York City.

“It’s very clear that there isa cardiovascular involvementin Covid-19 disease,” said NirUriel, director of advancedheart failure and cardiactransplantation at New York-Presbyterian Hospital.

These complications alsostrike Covid-19 patients whowere otherwise healthy, butpeople with heart disease havemore trouble because theircardiovascular systems are al-ready impaired, Dr. Uriel said.

Cardiovascular disease isthe most common and deadli-est so far of several underly-ing conditions that make somepeople more vulnerable to theravages of Covid-19, a diseasethat causes barely an ache orpain for some who are in-fected but sends others toICUs for weeks. People withdiabetes, chronic lung diseaseand cancer are also at risk, ac-cording to several studies.

BY BETSY MCKAY

Heart ProblemsRaise Death Risk

Federal health regulatorsare expected to push the nurs-ing-home industry to informresidents, their families andstaff quickly when facilitiesconfirm Covid-19 cases, accord-ing to people with knowledgeof the matter.

The Centers for Medicareand Medicaid Services couldannounce the move as early asthis week, the people said.

It isn’t clear whether CMSwill order facilities to disclosecases to family, residents andstaff, or strongly recommendit. Nor is it clear whether thefederal government will takeaction to gather all the dataand release total figures on thespread of the virus in nursinghomes.

CMS is working with otherfederal agencies to explore ac-tions that would improve trans-parency about the pandemic, aCMS spokesman said. “Theagency remains committed togreater transparency,” he said.

Ahead of a CMS move, twoleading industry groups put outstatements this weekend urgingmembers to disclose cases tofamilies, staff and residents.

“Long-term care facilitiessupport transparency to ourresidents, families and otherstakeholders because knowl-edge is pivotal during a pan-demic and our public health of-ficials need to know where tosend urgently needed re-sources,” the American HealthCare Association said Sunday.

The CMS move would followa report in The Wall StreetJournal highlighting the limitedpublic information about casesinside the facilities, and thepatchwork of rules governingrelease of the information.

More than 2,100 facilitiesacross the country were hit byCovid-19 by Friday, and therewere more than 2,300 deaths,according to data supplied by37 states.

The virus’s impact on nurs-ing homes, assisted-living cen-ters and other elder-care facili-ties was far greater than themost recent tally released bythe Centers for Disease Controland Prevention. In late March,the agency reported more than400 facilities had been hit bythe virus, but it said the figurerepresented a snapshot, and itdoesn’t keep a list of affectedlocations.

And experts say the truenumbers are likely significantlyhigher than the Journal’s tally.Not every state provided infor-mation. Some states that re-ported a number for senior-care facilities with Covid-19cases didn’t say how many peo-ple from the places have died.

The federal governmenthasn’t been formally trackingor regularly releasing data oncoronavirus infections in nurs-ing homes and other elder-carefacilities.

BY ANNA WILDE MATHEWSAND JON KAMP

NursingHomesFace PushTo Disclose

Mainland China's death rateby underlying condition†

0 60%20% 40%

Cardiovascular disease

Diabetes

Chronic respiratory disease

Hypertension

Cancer

None

U.S. patients’underlying conditions*

Sources: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services; JAMA; Chinese Center for Disease Controland Prevention

Note: *As of March 30, 2020; †As of February 11, 2020.

0 60%20% 40%

Hypertension

Obesity

Chronicmetabolic disease

Chronic lung disease

Diabetes

Cardiovascular disease

ICU patientswith underlyingconditions in Lombardy, Italy

Among 1,591 cases

Among 416 cases

Among 178 cases

Among 44,672 cases

0 60%20% 40%

Hypertension

Cardiovascular disease

High cholesterol

Diabetes

Cancer

Chronic lung disease

Clinical outcome of patientsinWuhan, China

Remained in hospital

Without cardiac injuryWith cardiac injury

Discharged

Died

0 80%20% 40% 60%

Heart ProblemsCovid-19 patientswith cardiovascular issues fareworsethan others...

...compounding the threat in areaswhere such issues are common

Grocery Demand Adds to a Stocker’s Load, and Paycheck

WASHINGTON—Compa-nies asking for exemptionsfrom the Trump administra-tion’s tariffs on Chinese im-ports say widespread shortagesof hand sanitizer, disinfectantsand other products needed tocombat the spread of the coro-navirus are being exacerbatedby the levies.

Medical-supply companiesand other importers have fileddozens of requests for tariffrelief in recent weeks, publicfilings show. These businessessay the levies are increasingthe costs of products neededto fight the pandemic and are,in some cases, contributing toshortages.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’schemical maker Lubrizol Corp.

asked U.S. officials to removethe 25% tariff on glutaralde-hyde, a disinfectant the com-pany says is so effective atkilling the coronavirus that itsChinese distributor donated itto Wuhan hospitals.

Berry Global Group Inc.,which makes sanitary wipes atits Benson, N.C., factory, saidtariffs on viscose rayon fibers“are a significant financial im-position” in a time when com-pany officials are struggling to

keep up with orders.George Kenhan, a Florida

import specialist, said he hasgotten calls from a handful ofclients who noticed the hand-sanitizer shortage and tooksteps to bring it in from Chi-nese partners to sell to thepublic. The extra cost has ei-ther discouraged importersfrom ordering as much handsanitizer or deciding to importit at all, he said. “It will hand-cuff the importers becausethey’re not going to be able tobring in as much,” he said.

The White House referredquestions to the U.S. TradeRepresentative’s Office, whichdecides what products to placeunder tariff. It didn’t respondto a request for comment.

The Wall Street Journal re-ported last month that theUSTR granted company-re-

quested exclusions for morethan 100 medical items im-ported from China, includingface masks, stethoscope cov-ers, examination gloves andoperating-room-table covers.

On March 20, the USTRopened a special docket to re-view requests for virus-relatedtariff exclusions. “Notably, theimposition of tariffs on certainChinese imports has not re-sulted in an overall decline inthe availability of needed med-ical equipment and supplies,”it said at the time.

Since then, medical-supplycompanies and others havefiled requests saying tariffs arehitting chemicals, equipment,parts for devices and otheritems needed in the fightagainst coronavirus, but whichmay not be readily identifiableas medically related.

BY KATY STECH FEREKAND JOSH ZUMBRUN

Tariffs Exacerbate Hand Sanitizer ShortagesMedical Supply ChainShare of imports fromChina

Source: Trade Data MonitorNote: Some categories include items that may have non-medical uses

0% 10025 50 75Regular thermometers

Plastic face shields

Textile facemasks

Protective surgical garments

Thermometers, infrared and other

Ventilators

Hand sanitizer

Health workers bring a patient into an ambulance in Brooklyn, N.Y.

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People stuck at homemay bemissing outon blood­pressuremedications.

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A8 | Monday, April 13, 2020 * * THEWALL STREET JOURNAL.

THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

Musicians performing on a rooftop last week in Prague, one of the first European capitals to lock down.

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Street, but his conditionquickly deteriorated. News hehad been taken into intensivecare and administered oxygento help ease his breathingfanned worries about the dan-gers posed by the virus.

Carrie Symonds, Mr. John-son’s fiancée, with whom he isexpecting a child, said she oweda debt of gratitude to the staffof the NHS that she wouldnever be able to repay.

“There were times lastweek that were very dark in-deed,” she said on on Twitter.“My heart goes out to all thosein similar situations, worriedsick about our loved ones.”

The severity of Mr. Johnson’sillness raised the prospect of apower vacuum as Britain ap-proached the worst of the un-precedented public-health crisis.

In addition to testing the re-silience of Britain’s state health-care service, the pandemic alsoprompted the government toinstruct millions of citizens tostay at home, badly disruptingthe economy and presenting thechallenge of how to restart itonce the spread of the virus isconsidered to be under control.

The U.K. Treasury saidThursday it plans to dip into anoverdraft facility at the Bank of

England to help finance spend-ing, a sign the government’sneed for cash is rising as itpumps money to stricken busi-nesses and households.

British officials Sunday saidthe death toll from Covid-19had passed 10,000 to reach10,612 after 737 additional peo-ple were reported to have died.The figures don’t includedeaths outside hospitals, out inthe community or in facilitiessuch as care homes. Matt Han-cock, Britain’s health secretary,told a news briefing there aresigns that the numbers of freshinfections and hospitalizationswere beginning to flatten, butpeople should continue practic-ing social distancing to preventfurther infections.

“The future of this virus isunknown,” Mr. Hancock said.

The lockdown, in whichpeople are encouraged to stayhome except for essentialtasks or brief exercise, will re-main in place at least until theend of this week, when offi-cials are scheduled to discussthe matter, and likely for lon-ger to slow the spread of thevirus, officials have said.

Britain’s informal code ofgovernment doesn’t designatea vice prime minister who au-tomatically takes charge whenthe leader is incapacitated. Onfalling ill, Mr. Johnson handedthose duties to Foreign Secre-tary Dominic Raab, who is ex-pected to continue the role un-til the prime minister hasrecovered further.

The British government hasbeen criticized by oppositionparties and some medical ex-perts for an unorthodox strat-egy to address the coronavi-rus. They say it waited toolong to impose stringent so-cial-distancing measures.

Mr. Johnson’s governmenthas also been criticized for notmass testing people to identifypotential carriers and thosewho have contracted the virusbut have recovered and arenow immune.

U.K. Prime Minister BorisJohnson has left the hospitaland is continuing to recoverfrom coronavirus, as recordeddeaths from the illness acrossBritain and Northern Irelandpassed the 10,000 mark.

Mr. Johnson, 55 years old,will spend some time at Che-quers, the country residenceof British prime ministers, ashis government begins to as-sess when and how to ease thelockdown restrictions intro-duced to limit the spread ofthe infection, or whether toextend them.

“On the advice of his medi-cal team, the P.M. will not beimmediately returning towork,” a spokesman said.

In a video message releasedafter his discharge, Mr. John-son thanked the staff of Brit-ain’s National Health Service,or NHS, for saving his life af-ter he was admitted to St.Thomas’ Hospital in Londonon April 5; he mentioned doc-tors and nurses by name. Heurged people to continue prac-ticing social distancing andstay home whenever possibleto ease the burden on thecountry’s health-care system.

“Because although wemourn every day those whoare taken from us in such num-bers and though the struggle isby no means over, we are nowmaking progress in this incred-ible national battle againstcoronavirus—a fight we neverpicked against an enemy westill don’t entirely under-stand,” Mr. Johnson said. “Weare making progress in this na-tional battle because the Brit-ish people formed a humanshield around this country’sgreatest national asset, ourNational Health Service.”

He initially had tried toshake off the symptoms ofCovid-19, the disease causedby the new coronavirus, whileisolating himself in his apart-ment at No. 10 Downing

BY JAMES HOOKWAY

U.K. Leader ReturnsHome to Recuperate

U.S.Italy

Spain

U.K.

Germany

Steep ClimbBritsh officials saidcoronavirus deaths topped10,000 on Sunday.

Cumulative deaths

Sources: Johns Hopkins CSSE (U.K., U.S.,Germany); governments (Italy, Spain)

Note: As of April 12, 6 p.m. EDT

20,000

0

5,000

10,000

15,000

March April

Across Western Europe, hos-pitals overflow with peoplesickened by the new coronavi-rus and morgues struggle tokeep up with the mountingnumber of dead. In nations tothe east, however, infectionshave largely been kept undercontrol and governments arestarting to loosen lockdowns.

The difference is stark. BySunday, Spain had lost 350 peo-ple per million of its populationto Covid-19, Italy 322, Belgium314, France 202 and Britain 145,according to Johns HopkinsUniversity data. Romania, incontrast, had lost 15 per mil-lion, the Czech Republic 12, Po-land 5 and Slovakia 0.4.

A big reason for the discrep-ancy: The poorer countries ofCentral and Eastern Europe,fearing their relatively weakhealth-care systems would beoverwhelmed by the virus,moved more quickly to enactstrict social-distancing rulesand restrict movement to con-tain outbreaks.

Their speed and decisive-ness, public-health experts say,were critical for these coun-

tries, where populations areolder and doctors fewer than inthe West and where hospitalsaren’t as well equipped for aflood of seriously ill patients.

It also helped that the viruswas slower to appear in the re-gion, which receives fewer in-tercontinental travelers thantheir hard-hit counterparts.

As the new coronavirusspread, Germans celebratedCarnival, Italians flocked tosoccer games and Britonspacked concert stadiums. In theU.S., spring breakers partiedand filled Gulf Coast beacheswell into March. Those eventslater proved to have had a so-called super-spreader effect,disseminating the virus widely.

Britain didn’t go into fulllockdown until March 24, afterconfirming more than 8,000cases and losing 422 lives. Bycontrast, the Czech Republicclosed its schools and its bor-ders, shutting down a lucrativetourist industry, on March 12,less than two weeks after itsfirst confirmed case and whenit had recorded about 100known infections. Slovakia de-clared a state of emergencythat same day, six days and 21cases into its own outbreak.The next day, Poland orderedborders, bars, dine-in restau-rants and shopping malls to

close, after confirming 17 casesover nine days.

“We were sure our hospitalswere not able to withstand thesituation,” said Czech HealthMinister Adam Vojtěch. “Wehad to react.”

The day Prague went intolockdown, U.K. Prime MinisterBoris Johnson told citizens theycould continue attending Masssporting events. Two days ear-lier, President Trump said,“We’re prepared, and we’re do-ing a great job with it. And itwill go away. Just stay calm. Itwill go away.”

In many Western countries,policy makers hesitated to im-pose curbs, out of concern forthe economic fallout and be-cause they feared their popula-tions wouldn’t adhere to social-distancing rules for a prolongedperiod. British government be-havioral studies made publiclast month found that peoplewere unlikely to obey lockdownrules for weeks. The U.K. hasbeen under heavy restrictionssince March 23, with no plansannounced to lift them.

Countries that went intolockdowns earlier are nowmoving to restart at least somepublic life. Health authoritiesexpect the cases to swell again,potentially compelling anotherround of restrictions.

East Europe Controls SpreadMore Effectively ThanWest

By Bojan Pancevskiin Berlin and

Drew Hinshawin Warsaw, Poland

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THEWALL STREET JOURNAL. Monday, April 13, 2020 | A9

THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

million people.That Taiwan achieved this

despite its exclusion from theWorld Health Organization—atBeijing’s behest—has reinforcedconfidence among many Tai-wanese in standing up to whatthey see as China’s bullying.

For years, Beijing hasworked to isolate Taiwan bykeeping it out of internationalinstitutions including the WHO,a United Nations agency, whilepoaching Taipei’s diplomaticpartners, which now numberjust 15 states.

Anger in Taiwan againstsuch tactics helped PresidentTsai Ing-wen win re-election ina landslide in January. Ms. Tsaihad vowed to resist authoritar-ian encroachment from China’sCommunist Party.

For Beijing, Taiwan’s suc-cessful pandemic responseposes two challenges, undercut-ting the Communist Party’sclaims to superiority over lib-eral democracies, and bolster-ing a sense of local identityamong the Taiwanese who ob-ject to China’s efforts to isolateand assimilate the island.

For Ms. Tsai, Taiwan’s coro-navirus track record offers an

opportunity to burnish the is-land democracy’s global stand-ing. Officials from the U.S.,Japan and the European Union,among others, have praised Tai-wan’s response, and some havesaid the WHO should have lis-tened to Taiwanese health au-thorities, who said they hadraised concerns about human-to-human transmission long beforeChina confirmed it on Jan. 20.

President Trump, who hasblamed Beijing for mishandlingthe pandemic, last monthsigned into law a commitmentto advocate Taiwan’s participa-tion in international bodies likethe WHO, and Washington hascontinued sending warshipsthrough the Taiwan Strait in asignal to Beijing, most recentlythis week.

“This attention to Taiwan,respect for Taiwan and suddensupport for Taiwan is obviouslyirksome for Beijing,” said Jona-than Sullivan, director of ChinaPrograms at the University ofNottingham Asia Research In-stitute. China, he added, “is un-likely to accept this outcomegraciously.”

—Joyu Wangcontributed to this article.

The coronavirus pandemic isstoking long-simmering ten-sions between China and Tai-wan, underscoring differencesbetween their political systemsand deepening resentment to-ward Beijing.

In recent weeks, Beijing andTaipei have escalated rhetoricaccusing one another of ex-ploiting the pandemic for polit-ical ends, even as they competeto provide medical supplies andexpertise to coronavirus-hitcountries.

Beijing, which claims Taiwanas its own territory, also ac-cused Taipei of pursuing inde-pendence, while sending mili-tary aircraft and civilian fishingvessels to test Taiwanese con-trol over its airspace and wa-ters in recent weeks.

While Beijing has claimedsuccess in curbing the coronavi-rus after locking down much ofmainland China for twomonths, Taiwan has won globalplaudits for an early and less-coercive epidemic responsethat has limited the contagionto 385 confirmed infections andsix deaths among its nearly 24

BY CHUN HAN WONG

Taiwan’s Virus SuccessStirs China Tensions

Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen, center, visited a military base last week.

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INDONESIA

Krakatau Eruption IsLongest Since 2018

Indonesia’s Anak Krakatau vol-cano spewed ash into the sky inthe longest eruption since the ex-plosive collapse of the islandcaused a deadly tsunami in 2018,scientists said.

Closed-circuit TV from Indone-sia’s Center for Volcanology andGeological Disaster Mitigationshowed lava flares Friday night.The agency said the volcano wascontinuously erupting until Satur-day morning. A level 2 alert sta-tus was in place, the second-high-est on a scale of four.

There were no casualties re-ported in the eruption, which blewa column of ash 1,640 feet intothe air. The 2018 eruption causeda tsunami along the coasts of Su-matra and Java, killing 430 people.

Anak Krakatau is the offspringof the famous Krakatau volcano,whose monumental eruption in1883 triggered a period of globalcooling.

—Associated Press

ISRAEL

Netanyahu BoostedBy President’s Ruling

Israel’s president on Sundayrejected a request to extend co-alition talks between the coun-try’s two most powerful politicalparties—appearing to give aboost to Prime Minister Benja-min Netanyahu and pushing thenation toward an unprecedentedfourth consecutive election injust over a year.

The decision by President Re-uven Rivlin capped a turnaroundin the fortunes of Mr. Netan-yahu, who just a month ago wasfighting for his political survivalas he prepared to go on trial oncorruption charges. His chal-lenger, Blue and White partyleader Benny Gantz, now facesan uphill struggle as he races tosalvage a power-sharing dealwith Mr. Netanyahu.

Mr. Rivlin last month gaveMr. Gantz the task of forming anew government, after a narrowmajority of lawmakers endorsedhim as prime minister in thewake of March 2 elections. Withhis parliamentary majority, Mr.Gantz began work on legislationthat would have prevented Mr.

Netanyahu from serving asprime minister in the future.

But in an about-face, Mr.Gantz accepted an invitation fromMr. Netanyahu to form a “na-tional emergency” government toconfront the then-burgeoning cor-onavirus outbreak.

Mr. Gantz froze the anti-Ne-tanyahu legislation and acceptedthe post of parliament speakeras he began talks on a rotationagreement in which both menwould serve as prime minister.The turnabout prompted Mr.Gantz’s main partner—the secu-lar and middle-class Yesh Atidparty—to bolt, causing his Blueand White alliance to disinte-grate and leaving it at less thanhalf its original strength.

In the meantime, unity talkswith Mr. Netanyahu stalled, re-portedly over issues that have lit-tle to do with the pandemic.

Israeli media have reportedthat Mr. Netanyahu insisted onpushing ahead with his plans toannex parts of the Israeli-occu-pied West Bank and demandedmore influence over judicial ap-pointments.

Claiming that he was close toa deal, Mr. Gantz on Saturdayasked Mr. Rivlin for a two-weekextension.

But on Sunday, Mr. Rivlin re-jected the request, citing the“current circumstances.” He saidhe was giving both Mr. Gantzand Mr. Netanyahu until theoriginal deadline, at midnightMonday, to reach a deal, andwould consider giving them ex-tra time only if both said theywere close to agreement.

The looming deadline, alongwith the coronavirus crisis, hasplaced Mr. Netanyahu in a muchstronger position.

—Associated Press

UNITED KINGDOM

Assange Partner SaysThey Had Children

Julian Assange’s partner re-vealed Sunday that she hadtwo children with him while helived inside the Ecuadorian Em-bassy in London, and she issueda plea for the WikiLeaksfounder to be released fromprison over fears for his healthduring the coronavirus pan-demic.

Mr. Assange has been im-prisoned at London’s Belmarshprison since police dragged himout of the embassy a year ago.He is awaiting a May 18 hearingon his extradition to the U.S.,where he faces espionagecharges over the activities ofWikiLeaks.

In a video uploaded to You-Tube, Stella Moris said she metMr. Assange in 2011 when shehelped his legal team, and thatthey got together four yearslater. Ms. Moris says their chil-dren are 3-year-old Gabriel and1-year-old Max.

Ms. Moris said in a state-ment last month in support ofMr. Assange’s bail applicationthat she had gone “to greatlengths to shelter our childrenfrom the climate that surroundshim.” Mr. Assange respected herwish for privacy, she wrote inthe statement, which was datedMarch 24 and seen by the As-sociated Press.

Jennifer Robinson, counsel toMr. Assange and WikiLeaks anda barrister at Doughty StreetChambers, said Ms. Moris had“not taken this decision lightly,having fiercely protected herfamily’s privacy for many years.”

—Associated Press

Anak Krakatau volcano, whose eruption in 2018 killed hundreds ofpeople, blew a column of ash 1,640 feet into the air late Friday.

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WORLDWATCH

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A10 | Monday, April 13, 2020 THEWALL STREET JOURNAL.

Workers prepared last week to build ventilators at a General Motors facility in Kokomo, Ind., where GM and Ventec Life Systems arecollaborating to produce the machines. GM plans to set up hundreds of workers there.

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Sophie Hobson and husband James Colacicchi with their gadgets.

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NV and Toyota Motor Co. alsohave initiated ventilator pro-duction plans, though GM andFord are furthest along.

Forecasts of how many newventilators are needed forCovid-19 patients vary widely.Neil Carpenter, who is workingon Covid-19 response planningfor health-care consultants Ar-ray Advisors, estimated around25,000. More would be neededif there is a second wave of in-fection, he said.

“The number of people whomight get sick is very unpre-dictable,” Mr. Carpenter said.“The production of ventilatorsis one of the few variables wecan control.”

Ford isn’t worried aboutmaking too many, Chief Execu-tive Jim Hackett said in an in-terview: “We’ve just put ourhead down, and we’re building.”

The automotive industry hasa history of meeting nationalemergencies. During World WarII, GM built tanks and ammuni-tion. Ford made B-24 Liberatorbombers at a factory about 5miles from where the companyplans to make ventilators. Forddeveloped an “iron lung” forpolio patients in the 1940s.

Ventilators, which are aboutthe size of a desktop printer,pump air into the lungs of pa-tients who can’t breathe ontheir own, a symptom in theworst Covid-19 cases. The de-vices are made with hundredsof parts, including valves, blow-ers, tubes, electronics and soft-ware that regulates how muchoxygen reaches the lungs and

with how much air pressure.The machines weren’t de-

signed for high-volume produc-tion, such as the assembly-lineautomation used to churn outan F-150 pickup truck everyminute.

Ventilator companies haverelatively limited supply chainsbecause they manufacture insmall numbers. That has forcedGM and Ford to create supplylines and assembly systemsfrom scratch.

Last week, at the Ford engi-neering center, workers re-moved computer monitors fromthe tops of hundreds of stand-ing desks. They were shippedto a factory in Ypsilanti, Mich.,to be used as work stations.

Inside the 64-year-old fac-tory, which makes oil pumpsand hybrid-car batteries,among other things, two shiftsof about 260 employees eachwill work in one-minute inter-

vals to install their piece of theventilator, said Adrian Price,the Ford director overseeingthe operation. As they are built,the machines will be carriedfrom one standing desk to thenext on trays, he said.

Ford and GE officials saidthey licensed a ventilator de-sign from a Florida manufac-turer that uses fewer parts,which could accelerate massproduction.

Employees at the firm, AironCorp., assemble ventilators byhand, producing about 10 aweek. Ford, which invented themoving assembly line in 1913, isdesigning steps to speed upmanufacturing to make 7,200 aweek.

An Airon ventilator was de-livered to Ford’s engineeringcenter in Dearborn, Mich.,around 10 p.m. on March 27. Bylate the next morning, a teamof nearly two dozen engineers

had picked the machine apart,scattering valves, tubes andelectronic bits across confer-ence room tables, Mr. Pricesaid. They took photos and vid-eos of each part and laid themout in order of how they mightbe assembled.

More than 500 workers havevolunteered to work at the fac-tory despite the risk of infec-tion. More than 15 auto-factoryworkers in the Midwest havedied from Covid-19, the UnitedAuto Workers has said. Itwasn’t known if any contractedthe virus on the job.

At both Ford and GM, work-ers will be stationed at least 6feet apart and wear medical-grade face masks, precautionslikely to foreshadow factory lifeafter companies officials andunion leaders restart produc-tion at auto plants.

The companies pivoted toventilator manufacturing inmid-March, around the timetheir factories and the rest ofthe U.S. economy were closing.

GM began working withVentec Life Systems, a smallSeattle-area ventilator maker.On March 19, four GM engi-neers flew to Seattle to look atthe inner workings of the Ven-tec machines. Ventec sharedspecs and diagrams for theirventilator’s roughly 700 com-ponents.

The following weekend, GMlined up nearly 100 suppliers.On Saturday night, GM pur-chasing chief Shilpan Amin wasa few dozen parts short ofmeeting a deadline set by Chief

typically are assembled at therate of dozens a week. GM andFord plan to produce 80,000 bylate summer, more than the es-timated total number now inU.S. hospitals.

Even if the companies hittheir targets, the ventilatorsmay not come in time for hos-pitals to handle the patientsurge in many hard-hit areas.“To produce a ventilator in twomonths doesn’t do anything forme,” New York Gov. AndrewCuomo said in a TV interview.

The switch from vehicles toventilators requires more thana dash of American ingenuity.Cars and engines are built onassembly lines with powerdrills and robotic welding ma-chines. Ventilators are made atworkbenches with hand tools.

“You’ve got to bring 1,200people up to speed on pro-cesses that they’ve not everdone before,” said Gerald John-son, GM’s global manufacturingchief. Assembly-line workerstook dexterity tests to makesure they were up to the job.

Supply chainsWhile sedans and ventilators

are vastly different, auto mak-ers are expert at marshalingsupply chains and manufactur-ing parts and finished productsto meet exacting specificationsand safety regulations in massvolume.

GM on Wednesday got a$490 million first federal con-tract to deliver 30,000 ventila-tors by August for the nationalstockpile. The contract camenearly two weeks after Presi-dent Trump criticized the com-pany and invoked the DefenseProduction Act to press theauto maker to move faster. Thecompany said it was alreadyadvancing on the project at thetime.

The U.S. also signed a $647million contract with Nether-lands-based Royal Philips NVfor delivery of 43,000 ventila-tors by the end of the year.

Ford is working with GeneralElectric Co. to make 50,000ventilators by early July. To-gether, the three manufacturerscould meet the White Housetarget of 100,000 new ventila-tors produced by summer. Fordand GE are in contract talkswith the Trump administration.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles

ContinuedfromPageOne

the transistor radio, are gettinga new life in the midst of apandemic.

Children are using them tostay in touch without hoggingthe Wi-Fi bandwidth parentsneed for videoconferences. Co-workers are turning to walkie-talkie devices and apps toavoid having to type or dial asthey work remotely. Spousesand roommates are using themto stay in touch as they workin different corners of homes.

“Scones in the living room?Over!” one of Lucy Powderly’shousemates said through awalkie-talkie app on theirsmartphones one afternoon.

“I was just about to ask thesame thing! Over!” Ms. Pow-derly replied.

Shared scones and morningPilates are among the few so-cial interactions Ms. Powderlyand her housemates can enjoyas they quarantine together in

ContinuedfromPageOne

Brighton, England. The Univer-sity of Sussex student pressesthe walkie-talkie app through-out the day to instantly sayhello to her sisters, whom shehasn’t been able to visit inweeks. “It’s like they’re withyou,” she said.

“We’re so desperate forcommunication and social in-teraction at a time when we’reall so physically distant fromeach other,” Ms. Powderly said.Walkie-talkie-style communica-tion is more immediate thancalling on the phone, typingout a text message or even ini-

tiating a FaceTime video ses-sion, she added.

Mobile two-way radios dateto the late 1930s but werepretty clunky at first. Shortlybefore World War II, engineersat Galvin Manufacturing Corp.,predecessor to Motorola Solu-tions Inc., developed a modelthat a soldier could use withone hand, a boon to battlefieldcommunications. Among otherthings it helped the forces thatlanded on the beaches at Nor-mandy stay in contact witheach other and with officersaboard ships.

Walkie-talkies have had along life ever since with public-safety officials and work crewsin certain businesses such asmining, not to mention Holly-wood, in productions such as“Jurassic Park,” “Ghostbusters”and Netflix’s “Stranger Things.”

As the coronavirus reshapeshow people live and work, thesimplicity and immediacy ofthe push-to-talk feature hasgained greater appeal.

Motorola Solutions has seenan increase in demand forwalkie-talkies since the begin-ning of March, a spokeswomansaid, driven by consumers, bybusinesses such as restaurantscoordinating curbside pickups,and by health-care organiza-tions with staff that need toquickly communicate.

Sophie Hobson and her hus-band work in separate cornersof their two-level London flatand radio each other for lunchand tea breaks using yellowMotorola walkie-talkies, whichhe once acquired for his fishingtrips.

“Are you ready for lunch?Over,” they’ll ask, or one willsummon the other by saying,“Come in, come in, are youthere? Over.”

“It’s quite an overwhelmingsituation at the moment,” said

Ms. Hobson, head of communi-cations at a charity called theSchool for Social Entrepre-neurs. “I think finding a littlebit of fun in and amongst it allis really important for yourwell-being and for your rela-tionship.”

Maggie Beasley and a friendfrom her third-grade class, wholives in a nearby house inHumble, Texas, use a pair ofwalkie-talkies to communicatenow that they can’t play inperson. Sitting in a beanbagchair in her front yard in lateMarch, the 9-year-old de-scribed the blue slime she hadmade to her friend across theroad.

The Beasley family begandistancing themselves fromfriends several weeks ago be-cause Maggie’s father is a fire-fighter and a paramedic ex-posed to sick patients. Thedecision led to “a lot of tearsfrom the kids,” said Maggie’smother, Tara, so they havebent some rules to make thechange easier.

“Never in my life have I al-lowed slime, but here we are,”said Ms. Beasley.

Maggie made a fort withumbrellas and towels one daywhen it started to rain so shecould stay at her post outside

looking at her friend whiletalking over the walkie-talkie.

In his southwest Arkansasneighborhood, Nichole Holze’s8-year-old son has startedplaying Battleship from hiskitchen table with a friend inCalifornia using a walkie-talkie-style, push-to-talk radiodevice called a Relay Go, whichuses cell service. Each boy usesone to announce his latestmove and exchange jokes whilethey play.

“It’s nice for a quick check-in and just kind of brightenseveryone’s mood a bit,” Ms.Holze said.

Leanee Marsh is at homewith three children whileteaching seventh-grade scienceremotely in the suburbs ofCharleston, S.C. Her 9-year-olddaughter, whom Ms. Marshdeems too young for a cell-phone, uses a walkie-talkie-likedevice to talk to friends, in-cluding some the family hadplanned to see during a can-celed Easter trip to Michigan.

“Being able to talk to peoplethat they were looking forwardto seeing—it doesn’t take theplace of that but it definitelyhelps,” she said. “It’s a way tohave a conversation withsomeone other than theirmom.”

Executive Mary Barra. Heblasted an email to GM’s nearly20,000 suppliers with detailedsketches and measurements forwhat he needed.

Michael Bugbee, a directorat Chicago-area auto supplierTenneco Inc., had planned tospend that weekend playingoutside with his children. Aftera call from GM, he spent hourson conference calls in his homeoffice.

Within 10 days, Mr. Bugbee’scompany was producing wiringharnesses, normally used toconnect to headlights and turnsignals, for the GM-Ventec ven-tilator. “That process normallymight take six months to ayear,” he said.

Tight deadlinesGM this week plans to set up

hundreds of workers at the fa-cility in Kokomo, an idled facil-ity that previously made elec-tronic components for enginecontrols and air bags. Officefurniture and carpeting werehauled out to make way forhundreds of new work stations.

Tight deadlines for the man-ufacturing makeover put pres-sure on suppliers but also offeropportunity.

Todd Olson, chief executiveof Twin City Die Castings inMinneapolis, had planned tospend the weekend of March 21calling lenders to warn themthat auto-plant shutdowns weredrying up company revenue.

Then he got a call from hisGM purchasing manager askingif Mr. Olson could make a smallpiston for a compressor in aventilator, among other compo-nents. Mr. Olson spent hours onthe phone with materials andtooling suppliers. Within aweek, his factory was churningout its first ventilator parts.

“The speed this is moving,”he said, “I’ve never seen any-thing like it.”

Ventilator DemandVentilators are usually built atthe rate of dozens aweek. GMand Ford plan to produce80,000 by late summer.

Projected ventilators neededby day in theU.S.*

Source: IHME*Assuming full social distancing through May.

Jan.

40,000

0

10,000

20,000

30,000

Uncertaintyrange

March May July

Ford, GMRetool forVentilators

Walkie-Talkies GetNew Life

FROM PAGE ONE

Ford engineers in Dearborn, Mich., used sticky notes to mock up the layout of a ventilator production facility on the wall. left, and GM employees in Kokomo, right.

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THEWALL STREET JOURNAL. * * Monday, April 13, 2020 | A10A

STATE STREET | By Jimmy Vielkind

Governor Says He’s Not Running, but White House Talk PersistsDespite an

elevated na-tional profilefrom his man-agement ofthe coronavi-

rus crisis and chatter insome political circles, theidea that New York Gov. An-drew Cuomo would enterthis year’s presidential cam-paign is little more than afever dream.

Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat inhis third term, has become aregular presence on nationaltelevision as his daily brief-ings on the state’s responseare carried by cable networksand light up social media.

They have been a contrastwith President Trump, ob-servers said, in both sub-stance and tone. At the sametime, they have filled a voidon the political left as the

Democratic primary contestbetween former Vice Presi-dent Joe Biden and U.S. Sen.Bernie Sanders receded, andended last week.

“You almost have a dailysplit screen happening be-tween the White House andAlbany,” said JonathanRosen, a Democratic politicalconsultant and co-founder ofBerlinRosen, a communica-tions firm based in New York.

Mr. Rosen said he isn’tnormally a Cuomo boosterbut tweeted on March 24that delegates to the Demo-cratic National Conventionshould make Mr. Cuomotheir presidential nominee.

Two polls last week showhe isn’t alone in his thinking.A Rasmussen Reports surveyshowed an almost equalshare of Democrats believedMessrs. Cuomo and Biden

should be the party’s stan-dard-bearer. The Club forGrowth PAC, which normallysupports Republicans, said apoll it commissioned found52% of Democrats preferredMr. Cuomo to Mr. Biden.

A Quinnipiac Universitypoll released Wednesdayfound 59% of respondentsaround the country approvedof Mr. Cuomo’s response tothe pandemic, comparedwith 46% for Mr. Trump. Thebiggest takeaway is that 60%of the 2,077 voters surveyedsaid they knew enough ofthe governor to have anopinion of him, up from 47%in the summer of 2014, thelast time Quinnipiac askedabout Mr. Cuomo in a na-tional poll.

Mechanically, it is nownext to impossible for thegovernor to enter the race.

Even supporters of the ideaacknowledge Mr. Bidenwould have to decline or be-come unable to accept theDemocratic nomination—leading to a floor vote at theparty convention—for Mr.Cuomo to have a shot.

“It looks good on paper,except for the part about nothaving any delegates,” saidNathan Gonzales, a nonparti-san political analyst who isthe editor and publisher ofInside Elections.

Mr. Cuomo is disliked byactivists in the party’s pro-gressive wing, includingmany supporters of Mr.Sanders, and Mr. Gonzaleswondered how he couldbring them into the fold. LisSmith, a senior adviser toformer South Bend, Ind.,Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s cam-paign, wondered why Mr.

Cuomo should be consideredover some of the two dozenpeople who actually did runfor president.

“There’s no doubt that hehas been the breakout starduring this crisis, but realis-tically this is a Twitter feverdream,” said Ms. Smith, whoalso advised Mr. Cuomo’s2018 re-election bid. “We’vegone through months andmonths of primaries andcaucuses and campaigning,and the idea that we’re go-ing to overturn that by fiatis fantastical.”

And Mr. Cuomo himselfhas said, repeatedly, that heisn’t running, has no plans torun and wishes to remain inhis current post. On Satur-day, he called the specula-tion about replacing Mr. Bi-den “flattering” but“irrelevant.” Mr. Cuomo said

he had no interest in a cabi-net position, and that beinggovernor was “the most im-portant job to me that Icould ever have.”

Regardless, the new atten-tion on Mr. Cuomo couldgive him more of a role inthe rest of the presidentialcampaign, said Jay Jacobs,chairman of the New YorkState Democratic Committee.

“If I were Joe Biden and Iwere going into a fall elec-tion, one guy I’d make sure Iwas sending all around thecountry as a surrogate is An-drew Cuomo,” Mr. Jacobssaid. “And if Andrew Cuomoisn’t considered for a key-note speech [at the conven-tion], following in the foot-steps of his father, thatwould be a big mistake.”

jimmy.vielkind@wsj.com

“One break in the link couldbreak everything.”

On Friday, area health-careproviders started seeing initialdetails about disbursementsfrom a $30 billion grant fromthe federal government, partof a $100 billion federal relieffund for hospitals and otherhealth-care providers.

The disbursements, deter-mined by the U.S. Departmentof Health and Human Services,are being given to health-careproviders across the country

and distributed based on a pro-portionate share of 2019 Medi-care fee-for-service payments.

Bea Grause, president of theHealthcare Association of NewYork State, a trade group, saidshe appreciates that funding isbeginning to flow to NewYork, but opposes how thefunds were allocated.

The methodology used byHealth and Human Services“did nothing to prioritize sup-port for Covid-19 hot spotslike New York,” she said.

Mr. Raske called the distri-bution methodology “woefullyinsufficient,” disadvantagingproviders with a high numberof patients who are insuredthrough Medicaid, as is thecase with New York City’s hos-pital systems.

Mr. Raske and others work-ing on negotiations with fed-eral officials about the fundingsay they anticipate that thenext tranche of federal reliefwill be prioritized to hot spots.

“You gotta get dollars flow-

GREATER NEW YORK

ing to places that are needed,”he said.

A spokeswoman for Healthand Human Services said theagency is moving as fast as pos-sible to provide relief to Ameri-can health-care providers, andthe methodology used movesinitial payments to providerswithout requiring an individual-ized application process.

“This is just the first distri-bution,” said the spokes-woman. “Health and HumanServices and the Administra-tion will rapidly disburse addi-tional distributions to provid-ers in areas particularlyimpacted by the Covid-19 out-break and providers that werenot proportionately reflectedin the first distribution such aschildren’s hospitals, pediatri-cians and Medicaid providers.”

A spokeswoman for NewYork City Mayor Bill de Blasiosaid spending for the Covid-19response reached a total of$77 million last week, up from$2 million the first week ofMarch, for New York CityHealth + Hospitals, the city’spublic system with 11 hospitalsserving the neediest NewYorkers. Total spending for theCovid-19 response across thecity is just over $500 millionand those costs are expectedto continue to rise, she said.

The costs are a particular hit

to a cash-strapped system thatwas finally in the black last fallafter years of financial woes.

“We need the federal gov-ernment to focus the distribu-tion of stimulus funds desig-nated for hospitals on NYC’sHealth + Hospitals, which is atthe epicenter of the outbreakand must continue to providecritical care to the most vul-nerable New Yorkers,” said themayor’s spokeswoman.

Steven Corwin, the presi-dent and chief executive ofNewYork-Presbyterian, one ofthe city’s largest privatehealth-care systems, said thesystem will take a $1 billionhit over a three- to four-monthperiod. He expects to recoversome, but not all, of thosecosts from federal sources.

The system has 280 days ofcash on hand, he said, and itscredit lines were increased to$800 million. Some $350 mil-lion has been drawn downfrom that line of credit, saidDr. Corwin.

Hospital staff is still receiv-ing normal paychecks, he said,and workers haven’t been fur-loughed. “For our long-termhealth as an organization andfor the confidence our physi-cians have in us and workershave in us, we didn’t want togo the route of furloughingand cutting salaries,” he said.

New York City’s academichospital systems are losingsome $350 million to $450million a month each as theyrespond to a surge of patientswith the novel coronavirus,while its independent andsmaller hospital systems arebeing pushed to the financialbrink and may soon be unableto make payroll, according to atop official.

The mounting cost to thecity’s regional hospitals is be-cause of surging labor costs,capital and equipment expenses,and dramatic losses in revenuefrom elective procedures thathave been postponed, accordingto Kenneth E. Raske, presidentof the Greater New York Hospi-tal Association, a trade grouprepresenting some 160 areahospitals and health systems.

Independent and smallerhospital systems, he said, “havetheir backs against the wall.”

“Some will be pushed to thefinancial brink and may not beable to make payroll in aweek, or two,” said Mr. Raske.

BY MELANIE GRAYCE WEST

Hospitals Losing Millions of DollarsSurging labor costs,equipment expensesand lost revenue aretaking mounting toll

Crews cleaning last week in an ambulance bay at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan.

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same thing,” said Gov. AndrewCuomo on Sunday, speaking ofthe general improving trend.

At the same time, Mr.Cuomo and other officials, in-cluding New York City MayorBill de Blasio, noted that thedeath toll remained high.

On Sunday, the state re-ported 758 deaths over the pre-vious 24 hours. That broughtthe cumulative statewide fatali-ties from the virus to 9,385.New York City has accountedfor 6,898 of the deaths.

The rapid spread of the coro-navirus prompted concern fromstate and city officials that thecity’s health-care system wouldbe taxed to the breaking pointlast week.

In the end, the city made itthrough. That was partly be-cause of the flattening of thecurve. But the state and cityalso benefited from an influx

of badly needed medical sup-plies and equipment.

Mr. de Blasio said Sundaythat the city had enough ven-tilators for the week ahead.

Mr. Cuomo also said in aFriday interview with ABC’s“Good Morning America” thatthe state had increased its hos-pital-bed capacity from 53,000to 90,000 over the past month.

Despite the hopeful signs,public officials cautioned localresidents against relaxingtheir guard and thus contrib-uting to a new spread of thevirus. They also indicated anyeasing of stay-at-home restric-tions was at least weeks away.

The key to a post-pandemicrecovery rested in medicaltesting, officials said, so thatthose who ventured back towork don’t risk spreading thevirus or contracting it them-selves. Mr. Cuomo said Friday

that not only was the corona-virus test itself needed for therecovery, but also one that de-tected whether someone hadthe antibody.

Mr. Cuomo said the statealone couldn’t produce themillions of tests required, eventhrough partnerships with theprivate sector, and he calledupon the federal governmentto assist.

Mr. De Blasio said Sundaythe city would soon be open-ing new testing centers in allfive boroughs.

Mr. Cuomo also said Sundaythat any attempts to reopenthe state would have to be co-ordinated on a regional level.New York has worked withNew Jersey and Connecticut inits effort to mitigate the vi-rus’s spread.

“We need to be smart in theway we reopen,” he said.

New Yorkers headed into anew week with notes of cau-tious optimism from theirelected leaders after enduringthe toughest days to date inthe coronavirus pandemic.

The state reported Sundaythat the net number of hospi-talized patients, factoring inadmittances and discharges,increased by 53 on Saturday,the lowest daily sum sinceNew York started trackingsuch figures related to thenew coronavirus almost amonth ago. The peak daily in-crease, on April 2, was 1,427.

The news fell in line withother evidence that the pan-demic may be plateauing state-wide. The net number of intu-bated patients actually declinedby 26 on Friday, for example.

“It’s all reaffirming the

BY CHARLES PASSY

Officials Voice Cautious OptimismPeople strolled on the Coney Island Boardwalk in Brooklyn on Easter Sunday. Despite signs that measures to slow coronavirus infections areworking, officials warned residents against relaxing their guard and said any easing of stay-at-home restrictions was at least weeks away.

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Any decision to close NewYork City public schools forthe remainder of the academicyear is premature and must becoordinated with other dis-tricts in New York, New Jerseyand Connecticut, New YorkGov. Andrew Cuomo said.

“I do not know what we willbe doing in June,” the Demo-cratic governor said at a Sun-day news conference.

Mr. Cuomo was respondingto Mayor Bill de Blasio’s an-nouncement on Saturday thatNew York City would keep itspublic-school system, the larg-est in the country, shut for therest of the school year to stemthe spread of the novel coro-navirus. The system, whichhas been closed since March16, won’t reopen classroomsuntil September out of cautionfor students, faculty and staff,Mr. de Blasio said. The cityhas been using remote learn-ing for its students.

Mr. Cuomo challenged themayor’s announcement on Sat-urday, calling it “an opinion.”

On Sunday, Mr. Cuomo saidall schools in the state wouldremain closed until they weresafe to reopen but said therewas no timeline for when thatwould be.

“Whatever plan we come upwith will be driven by dataand science,” he said.

Mr. Cuomo said he plannedto talk to the governors ofNew Jersey and Connecticutabout a coordinated effort toreopen the economies andschools in the three states.Any decision on schools wouldaffect the economy, he said.

“If you say the schools areclosed through June, you areeffectively saying businessesare closed through June,” hesaid.

The governor issued an ex-

ecutive order on March 18 re-quiring state approval for anylocal ordinances. He previ-ously ordered all schools inthe state to remain closed un-til April 29.

Mr. de Blasio on Sunday de-fended his decision to closethe city’s public schoolsthrough June, saying he con-sulted with health and educa-tion experts before making theannouncement. He said he in-formed the governor’s officeof his decision before tellingthe public.

“Our job is to protect thechildren of New York City,”said the mayor, a Democrat.

The mayor said Saturdaythat the city’s Department ofEducation would enact a five-point plan to help teachers,students, and their familiesadapt to extended remotelearning, including an ex-

panded parent help line andmore creative programming.

All students who need elec-tronic tablets like iPads willalso get them by the end ofApril, city Schools ChancellorRichard Carranza said.

Michael Mulgrew, the presi-dent of the United Federationof Teachers, which represents116,000 city teachers, agreedwith the mayor’s decision onkeeping schools closed for theremainder of the academic year.

“Keeping school buildingsclosed is unquestionably theright decision,” he said.

More than 40 union mem-bers have died from the coro-navirus, Mr. Mulgrew said.

BY KATIE HONANAND LEE HAWKINS

No Decision Yet onSchools, Cuomo Says

‘Whatever plan wecome up with willbe driven by dataand science.’

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doesn’t in order to make surethe system doesn’t becomemore overwhelmed than it is.”

Dropping patients off at thehospital is also taking longer,due to backlogs in the emer-gency room, said Capt. JacobFinkelstein, 24. That meansmore volunteers are workingeveryday, all day, he said.

“It really is an exhaustingstate. I think that it in ways ishow we are able to getthrough it—by just constantlypushing,” he said, “as opposedto stopping and processingwhat’s going on and how crazyit is.”

Former Capt. Ariel Douek,who grew up in Teaneck andmet his wife in the volunteercorps, comes back to help asmuch as he can, especiallynow.

“It’s going to be a huge is-sue if we don’t have peoplestepping up as EMTs, asnurses and doctors,” said Mr.Douek, 32, who lives in theBronx. “This isn’t the type ofthing where I can step away

and not help.”The ambulance corps nor-

mally focuses on the health ofthe people calling for help, butduring this crisis, the teamhas to be equally aware of thehealth of its members, said Dr.Eliyahu Cooper, 36, medical di-rector for the corps.

At the beginning of the out-break, the corps had to deter-mine the size of crews re-sponding to calls, what

additional equipment wasneeded and had to developguidelines for checking for po-tential symptoms of the volun-teers, Dr. Cooper said. Theyalso began treating any callsinvolving respiratory issuesand fevers as a possibleCovid-19 case out of an abun-dance of caution, he said.

Andy Rudin, president ofthe Teaneck Volunteer Ambu-lance Corps, handles procure-

ment of personal-protectiveequipment for the group butstill rides on calls. Like therest of the volunteers, hecomes home uncertain if hewill infect his wife and 7-year-old daughter.

“There is no doubt there isa fear that I could have poten-tially come home with it atsome point,” said Mr. Rudin,33, who grew up in Teaneckand lives in Manhattan.

As Mr. Levin returned towork Friday, he said he is stillfrightened. Not enough isknown about the disease torule out reinfection, he said,and he doesn’t want to messwith his plan to start medicalschool in July at the RutgersRobert Wood Johnson MedicalSchool.

“If I die now, does that limitthe good I’ll be able to do as adoctor later?” Mr. Levin said.“But at the same time, I haveto ask myself, will I be able toforgive myself if I don’t actwhen I feel that I may be ableto help?”

Teaneck, N.J., Volunteer Ambulance Corps member Joe Horowitz loads a patient into an ambulance. Below, volunteers at corps headquarters.

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Staying homesaves lives.

For more information, visit

coronavirus.gov

GREATER NEW YORK

ered and never had to be hos-pitalized, he said. And Mr.Levin, who also recovered, re-turned to the ambulance corpsfor emergency calls on Friday.

The ambulance corps, a do-nation-funded group of un-paid volunteers, has con-fronted nearly twice as manyemergency calls in recentdays. The nationwide shortageof personal-protective equip-ment has forced them toscour for leads on medical-equipment suppliers.

In addition to Mr. Levin,four other members have con-tracted Covid-19. One addi-tional member was recentlyhospitalized and is awaitingtest results. Another 40 arebeing monitored due to possi-ble exposure to the illness.About 30% of the volunteercorps isn’t going on calls be-cause they are in high-riskgroups or have loved oneswho are.

Teaneck Mayor MohammedHameeduddin said the ambu-lance corps, founded morethan 80 years ago, is an insti-tution in the township.

“They mean everything tothe town. They are first re-sponders who do this job, dayin and day out, without anycompensation whatsoever,”Mr. Hameeduddin said. “Andthen we ask them to reallyput their lives on the line aswell as putting their familiesat risk.”

In Bergen County, theCovid-19 outbreak has un-folded like a mass-casualtyevent, turning EMS respond-ers into gatekeepers of thehospital system, Mr. Levinsaid.

“Our job in EMS is essen-tially the waiting room of anER,” Mr. Levin said. “We haveto decide who really needs ahospital right now and who

On emergency call afteremergency call, Teaneck Vol-unteer Ambulance Corpsmember C.J. Levin trans-ported Covid-19 patients,knowing each interaction in-creased his risk.

The 25-year-old emergencymedical technician worriedabout infecting his parents,with whom he lived in Tea-neck, the center of New Jer-sey’s coronavirus crisis. Butjust as he was packing a bagand planning to move out oftheir home on March 18, hecame down with body achesand a fever. He got tested thatday, and the results came backpositive.

Then his fear came true:His parents also became in-fected with the new coronavi-rus, likely contracting it fromtheir son. They had chestpains, fever and a cough, andwere sick for about twoweeks, he said.

“I was sick, up at night,terrified that my parents weregoing to die because of me,”said Mr. Levin, who came outof quarantine in the basementto take care of them. “We areall bringing this home to ourfamilies, and it’s terrifying.”

The 120-member TeaneckVolunteer Ambulance Corpshas been on the front lines asthe coronavirus rippedthrough Bergen County, whichincludes Teaneck. It respondsto all medical-emergency callswithin the town. With about40,000 residents, Teaneck has560 cases or about 1,378 casesper 100,000 people. That iscomparatively more than NewYork City, about 6 milessoutheast of Teaneck, whichhas 1,044 cases per 100,000people.

Mr. Levin’s parents recov-

BY JOSEPH DE AVILA

A VolunteerEMS CrewPresses On

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phone and video, says Bruce J.Schwartz, president of the Ameri-can Psychiatric Association. Be-cause of a national shortage ofmental health providers, however, itcan sometimes be difficult to obtaina new patient appointment. Dr.Schwartz is warning patients toavoid turning to alcohol and drugs,which some people use to self-med-icate their anxiety and depression.

With normal schedules and rou-tines likely impossible, it is impor-tant for people with depressionand anxiety to create new ones,says Aarti Gupta, a clinical psy-chologist in Palo Alto, Calif. “Whenthe world feels so chaotic, youneed to find organization and pre-dictability,” she says.

She recommends setting regularwake and sleep times. (Insomnia isa risk factor for depression.) Shealso directs her patients to sched-ule pleasurable activities every day.

Since getting out of bed in themorning can be difficult for peoplewith depression, Dr. Wright sug-gests setting the alarm on yourclock or phone and then “put it as

far away from your bed as possi-ble,” she says. “You have to forceyourself to get out of your bed.”And since research has found thatexercise can alleviate depressionsymptoms, Dr. Wright recommendssleeping in workout clothes. “Youmight be more motivated to workout,” she says.

Jenny Meyer, 45, was first diag-nosed with depression when shewas a teenager. She had a relapselast fall, but recovered with thehelp of antidepressant medicationand the support of friends and col-leagues at the startup companyshe founded in Houston. But shehas struggled since she’s been onlockdown: She had what she callsa “tank day” recently, when shecould barely get out of bed, thefirst she’s had in six months. “Mybest days are when I have lunchand two coffees out meeting withexecutives. You can’t do that,” shesays. “It’s the uncertainty of whatthe new normal could be.”

Ms. Meyer, who lives with her18-year-old daughter, is coping byrunning more in her neighbor-

hood. She’s added to the wall ofinspirational quotes in her homeoffice. And she’s talking to herbest friend every day and cookingwith her daughter.

Reaching out to friends andfamily for support is key, saysGary Sachs, a clinical associateprofessor of psychiatry at HarvardMedical School. Dr. Sachs sayshe’s also finding that those pa-tients who are giving assistance toothers, too, are “finding they actu-ally feel better than they had be-fore,” he says.

Ms. Egerdal in Minnesota saysshe’s been feeling better in recentdays. She called her primary-carephysician and is considering goingback on antidepressant medica-tion. She’s going for walks withfriends—6 feet apart. She’s doingZoom meetings with her bookclub. And when she wakes up inthe middle of the night, she’slaughing along to clips of the CarolBurnett Show on YouTube. “In-stead of thinking about what youdon’t have, you can think aboutwhat you do,” she says.

YOUR HEALTH | SUMATHI REDDY

Duty Comes First in the ERThree pregnant physicians at the same hospital stay on the job; ‘I feel my baby kicking all the time while I’m working’

From left, physiciansMichele Callahan,Elizabeth Clayborne andTu Carol Nguyen.

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WORK

Elizabeth Claybornesees death and illnessall around her as anemergency-room doc-tor amid the corona-virus pandemic.

But the 36-year-old physician atUM Prince George’s Hospital Cen-ter in Cheverly, Md., is constantlyreminded of the life inside of her.Dr. Clayborne is seven monthspregnant, due to have a baby girlon June 18.

“I feel my baby kicking all thetime while I’m working,” she says.“It is a reminder that I’m not bymyself when I’m serving on thefront lines.”

Though given the option of tak-ing an unpaid leave of absence, Dr.Clayborne has chosen to work fornow. The decision was fueled by anunusual situation at her hospital:She is one of three ER doctors whoare pregnant. “All of us leaving atthe same time would put a fairlysignificant strain on our staffing,”

she says. “So we decided to ask ad-ministration for shifts that are a lit-tle less risky so that we can con-tinue to help the group andcontinue working.” All three arejuggling their pregnancies with de-manding jobs and toddlers at home.

Pregnant women aren’t believedto be at an increased risk of con-tracting Covid-19, and there is noevidence that the new coronavirusis transmitted from mother to fetus,though experts caution there isn’tmuch data yet. Some babies havetested positive for Covid-19, but it isunclear if the transmission occurredduring pregnancy or delivery.

Groups such as The AmericanCollege of Obstetricians and Gyne-cologists, the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine and the Centers forDisease Control and Preventionrecommend pregnant health-careworkers follow the same guide-lines as other health-care workers.But they say hospitals may want tolimit the exposure of pregnant

gree of risk,” says Douglas Mayo,chairman of UM Prince George’sHospital Center’s emergency de-partment. “We’ve talked about giv-ing them options all the way fromnot working any clinical shifts orseeing patients to doing whatthey’re doing now.”

The hospital has personal protec-tive equipment, but supplies arelimited and doctors reuse their res-pirator masks. They use them for aweek or two until they are visiblysoiled or damaged, says MicheleCallahan, another of the three preg-nant emergency-room physicians.

Dr. Callahan is more than 32weeks pregnant and due on May30. She worries about the risk ofbecoming infected and having tobe on a ventilator, and the poten-tial effects on her unborn child.She also worries about whetherher husband will be allowed intothe delivery room, and who willtake care of her 2-year-old son,Parker. If it is her parents, she isconcerned he could unknowinglypass on the virus to them if he’sasymptomatic, as experts saymany children seem to be.

Dr. Callahan says she has beenexposed to a handful of patientswho ended up being positive forCovid-19, but she hasn’t yet donean intubation on a patient who hastested positive for the virus.

“But I’m sure that’s coming,”she says. “Our workplace is tryingto minimize our exposure as preg-nant women, but sometimes weget so busy that multiple patientswill come in who are critically ill,and it may get to the point wherewe’re going to have to be doingthat because that’s our job.”

The doctors have small children,spouses, and caregivers at homewhom they are trying to protect.That means rituals that includechanging clothes at the end oftheir shift or in the garage, throw-ing clothes into the laundry everyday and showering right whenthey get home. All work equipmentis wiped down and stowed in thecar or at the hospital.

Still, Dr. Nguyen says even oneor two of them not working in theER right now would be a signifi-cant strain on their group.

“There’s some level of sense ofduty to want to help your col-leagues out during this pandemic,”she says. “I don’t know who elsewould be doing it if all of us de-cided not to do it anymore. Therewould be no one.”

positive for Covid-19.“I’ve definitely had contact” with

Covid-19 patients, says Tu CarolNguyen, 35, another of the threepregnant emergency physicians. Herbaby is due July 28. “We werewearing the appropriate [personalprotective equipment].”

Dr. Nguyen, who also has a 1-year-old son, said she had to do anintubation recently on a patientwho later tested positive forCovid-19 while the physician work-ing with her saw another patientsuspected of having the virus.

Their hospital is an affiliate ofthe University of Maryland Medi-cal System, which instituted a pol-icy where at-risk staff such aspregnant women and those withunderlying medical conditions canbe excused from caring forCovid-19 patients.

“It’s always about risk reduc-tion, but obviously we all knowand they know that just steppingin the door puts you at some de-

health-care providers to Covid-19patients, if staffing levels permit.

Dr. Clayborne knows she is tak-ing a risk. Her 17-month-old, Ada,was born five weeks early, so shehas a higher chance of having apreterm birth. She and her col-

leagues say they make their deci-sions to stay on a day-to-day basis.

Their hospital has arranged itso the pregnant ER doctors aren’ton the same shift and work withanother physician who can assistwith such procedures as intuba-tions and resuscitations. But theystill see patients who later test

“All of us leaving at thesame time would put afairly significant strain

on our staffing.”

DURING THE TWO weeks afterMinnesota issued its stay-at-homeorder in response to the Covid-19pandemic, Jane Egerdal cried ev-ery day.

Ms. Egerdal, 62, has a history ofdepression. Almost overnight, thethings she had been doing to suc-cessfully cope with her condition—going to the gym, meeting friendsat coffee shops, her job as a schoolnurse—disappeared.

“I lost that network of peopleand sense of job and purpose,”says Ms. Egerdal, who lives alonein Faribault, Minn. “The lonelinessis unbearable.”

The pandemic isupending everyone’slives. But it has beenparticularly destabi-lizing for the mil-lions of people whodeal with depressionand anxiety.

Many people areworried about theirown health and thehealth of their loved ones. Thestress of job losses and the shred-ding of routines and support sys-tems can exacerbate symptomsand make relapse more likely, saysCharles B. Nemeroff, chair of thedepartment of psychiatry at theUniversity of Texas at Austin’s DellMedical School. Studies havefound a link between social isola-tion and depression. And the un-certainty can fuel the feelings ofhopelessness and helplessness thatare a hallmark of depression, saysC. Vaile Wright, director of clinicalresearch and quality at the Ameri-can Psychological Association.

“We still don’t have a greathandle on the virus. There’s nocure or vaccine. There’s not a lotIL

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to feel very hopeful about,” Dr.Wright says.

About 22% of Americans ages 13and older have an anxiety disordereach year, and 9.4% have a mooddisorder, including major depres-sion and bipolar disorder, accord-ing to a study published in 2012 inthe International Journal of Meth-ods in Psychiatric Research. About32% will have an anxiety disorderduring their lifetimes and 17.5%will have a mood disorder, accord-ing to the same study.

More than one-third of Ameri-cans say the pandemic is having a“serious impact” on their mentalhealth, according to a survey re-leased March 25 by the American

Psychiatric Associ-ation. The NationalAlliance on MentalIllness, an advo-cacy group, sayscalls and emails toits help line havejumped 40% in thepast two weeks.Most people men-tion Covid-19, says

Dawn Brown, NAMI’s director ofcommunity engagement.

Crisis Text Line, a servicestaffed by trained volunteers whooffer 24/7 support via text, hasseen demand in the U.S. rise by40% since March 16. The mostcommon issues its users, about75% of whom are younger than 25years old, are now mentioning areanxiety, depression and suicidalthoughts, says Bob Filbin, co-founder and chief data scientist.

The most evidence-based treat-ments for depression and anxietydisorders are antidepressant medi-cations like Prozac and Lexapro andtalk therapy. Many psychiatristsand other mental health clinicianshave pivoted to offer treatment via

BY ANDREA PETERSEN

Coping With DepressionDuring the Pandemic

22percent of Americans 13 andolder with an anxiety disorder

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LIFE & ARTS

The couple was in good shape,but not prepared for the elevationor the rainy conditions. Theycompleted 11 of the 17 summits upStratton. Participants ride a gon-dola down. “I thought I was anendurance athlete because I’d runa marathon, but this made me re-alize I had no concept of endur-ance,” she says. Two hours afterfinishing and swearing they’dnever do it again, they signed upfor the following year’s Vermontevent, which they completed in34.5 hours.

Ms. Egan says she has been sur-prised that posts on the 29029Facebook group are still focused ontraining and gear, with few men-tions of possible event cancellation.The couple has made serious ad-justments to their workouts, but atthis point, Ms. Egan says she’s justgoing through the motions of train-ing. “The event was supposed to bethe highlight of my year,” she says.“Given what’s going on in theworld, my excitement around theevent has disappeared.”FR

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Christine Eganpulling a sled onthe beach, above,and with herhusband aftercompleting 29029Vermont in October.

The WorkoutTraining to climb a mountain in herrelatively flat section of Long Islandrequires ingenuity. Once a week, thecouple would go to Stony BrookUniversity and climb stairs inweighted vests for at least twohours. Now the university, whereDr. Egan normally teaches once aweek, is closed and has been turnedinto a drive-through testing centerfor coronavirus.

She says pulling a 130-poundweighted sled was the closest they

could get to simu-lating uphillclimbing. The cou-ple would borrowweighted platesfrom CrossFit,where they

trained five days a week, and dragthe sled around their neighbor-hood for up to two hours. “Thecrossing guard would always mockus, but we ignore the jokes,” shesays. With CrossFit now closed,they are left with a 38-pound sledand no weights. To improvise, theyplan to drive 30 minutes to a hillso they can pull the sled up re-peatedly. “One of us will drive thecar to the top of the hill and bringthe sled back down and then we’llswitch,” she says.

ANDREA JOYCE HEIMER, an art-ist and former horse trainer,paints folksy figures who live sideby side, yet are isolated. Ms.Heimer’s suburban subjects cook,sew, exercise and sleep in roomsthat evoke cramped dollhouses,but their blank expressions conveyan unsettling strain.

The coronavirus pandemic nowhas the artist living out that veryscenario at her home and studio inFerndale, Wash., a small city al-most 100 miles north of Seattle.

Ms. Heimer spent the past yearmaking paintingsshe shipped toNew York in mid-March for a soloshow that was toopen last weekat Half Gallery.The public-healthcrisis postponedthe exhibit andleft her seques-tered at home with an empty stu-dio and no easy way to restock herart supplies.

“I paint my disconnected feel-ings,” she said, “so this is a subjectmatter I know well, but I still feltsuddenly lost.”

Ms. Heimer, who is 39 years old,is emblematic of an entire genera-tion of artists caught up in quar-antine. New York artist GeorgeCondo is making a series ofcrayon-pencil-and-ink portraitscalled “Distanced Figures”—withtitles like “Together and Apart.”Vaughn Spann, who lives in NewHaven, Conn., had stepped awayfrom his signature series rainbowpaintings a few months ago butsaid he returned to them amid thelockdown because he’s been think-ing more about society’s need for

“continual optimism.”Artists accustomed to collabo-

rating with foundries or fabrica-tors, or managing studios buzzingwith assistants, must now copewith whatever materials they haveat home. Many have turned tohand-made art to express theirfeelings about a world turned up-side down. “For artists, it’s allabout art therapy now,” said HalfGallery owner Bill Powers. “It’s theonly terrain where they still haveany control.”

It is unclear if, or how, the pan-demic will affect the overall trajec-tory of art history, but it already is

changing Ms.Heimer’s prac-tice. Growing upin Great Falls,Mont., the artistsaid, she strug-gled with clini-cal depressionmade worse bythe “strained re-lationship” she

had with the family who adoptedher. She did manage to bond withher grandmother, who kept a kilnand invited her to paint pottery.“Making things was almost the onlytime I got praised,” she said.

Fifteen years ago, she moved toWashington from Montana. Shewent on to train horses for a livingbut turned to art around 2012when her therapist encouraged herto paint her emotions. Instead, Ms.Heimer began painting panoramicmemories from her small-town ad-olescence, such as slumber partiesand pillow fights as well ascrushes on boys and neighborhooddisputes that disguised racial ten-sions. For some, her work is remi-niscent of Grandma Moses’s folkpaintings or Thornton Wilder’splay, “Our Town,” but with an

In Quarantine,An Artist

Changes Course

It is unclear if, or how,the pandemic will affectthe overall trajectory

of art history.

added layer of goth-girl sass.Her interiors often feature ornate

wallpaper, she said, in part becausepainting patterns relaxes her. Overthe years, her tiny characters haveevolved from looking like lithe fig-ures on Greek vases to chunkier,Lego-like villagers from the video-game “Minecraft.” Ms. Heimer saidshe has been influenced by PieterBruegel’s medieval peasant scenesas well as 19th-century drawings byNative Americans.

“I’m drawn to people who makegiant worlds in the smallestspaces,” she said.

One painting she shipped to NewYork for her now-postponed showdepicts people lying in beds orbrushing their teeth in a house sur-rounded by birds that appear to be

craftsman she uses is under quar-antine in Seattle. Before, she said,she never really sketched ahead ofmaking her paintings. These daysshe is practicing with oil pastelsand a sketchbook she had handy.Ms. Heimer said she tries to spendup to eight hours each day com-pleting one drawing.

In sharp contrast with her signa-ture style, the new drawings depictoversize people crammed intorooms too small for them, clusteredtogether rather than living apart.

“Bodies have become more im-portant to our conversations now,”Ms. Heimer said. “We’re constantlythinking about how clean ourhands are and how close we are toothers.” She is calling the new se-ries “People Waiting.”

making a racket. The title is “TheMigrating Swans Always Woke UsUp At Dawn During The Month OfMarch And Made The Dogs BarkToo.” Recent works such as this onesell for up to $20,000.

Half Gallery plans to mount Ms.Heimer’s show this summer. Thegallery’s Mr. Powers said he hasopened an online viewing room sopeople can see at least one of herworks before the exhibit.

Now, she spends days with hercat Meatball for company, textingfriends and pledging to make andtrade artworks with fellow artists.Looking around her home studio,Ms. Heimer realized she had usedall the wood panels on which shetypically paints. Ordering morewould have to wait, since the

Artist Andrea Joyce Heimer, above left, has turned to drawing after an exhibition of her paintings, including this 2020acrylic on panel, above, that was slated to open at a New York gallery this month was postponed until this summer.

ANDRE

AJO

YCEHEIMER

(2)

THE NEPALESE government hasclosed Mount Everest for the restof this year’s climbing season as aresult of the global coronaviruspandemic. But that hasn’t deterredChristine Egan from training tohike 29,029 vertical feet, the eleva-tion of the world’s highest peak.

Ms. Egan, 51, is preparing for29029, a challenge where partici-pants have 36 hours over two daysto ascend a stand-in mountainmultiple times. All of those tripscombine to equal the elevation ofMount Everest.

She anticipates that the compe-tition she is signed up for, involv-ing 15 climbs up Bald Mountainnear Sun Valley, Idaho, will bepostponed, but is using her work-outs as motivation to keephealthy and get outdoors. (TheJune event has yet to be canceled,though officials are closely watch-ing government recommendationsand will act accordingly, an eventspokesman says.)

Organizers of the series rent aprivate mountain for the three-night, 250-person competitions.The events feature a base campvillage complete with glampingaccommodations, food and alco-hol, bonfires and bands. Pre-event, participants can sit in onlectures from pro athletes, adven-turers and coaches.

Ms. Egan, a health coach inBayport, N.Y., and mother of chil-dren ages 23, 21 and 19, at-tempted her first 29029 event in2018 at Stratton Mountain in Ver-mont. She had seen a post aboutthe challenge on Facebook and de-cided it would be the perfect wayto celebrate her 50th birthday, aswell as being eight years breastcancer-free. She also enlisted herhusband, Frank Egan, an ortho-dontist. “He thought I was crazy,because we could have taken a re-ally nice trip for the same amountof money,” she says.

The event requires participantsto hike through the night. Last year,the couple prepared by donningheadlamps and hiking starting aslate as 1 a.m. Ms. Egan says theyare skipping the night training thisyear. They are still getting out for10-mile walks in weighted vests ona local beach. “The walks are nolonger really about training for anevent,” she says. “They get us out-side in nature and that’s what iskeeping us sane and healthy duringthese uncertain times.”

The DietMs. Egan and her husband are vege-tarians. “We are really particularabout our food,” she says. “I have toknow every ingredient.” They usu-ally rely on their CSA—communitysupported agriculture shares in alocal farm—for fresh produce, buttheir winter subscription just endedand summer doesn’t start until Me-morial Day. “Usually during the lullfarm stands pitch in, but nothing isopen,” says Ms. Egan. “I set myalarm at 6:30 a.m. today so I couldorder a box of produce from a farmbefore they sold out.” The couplemakes smoothies for breakfast.Lunch is often a riff on dinner. So ifthey have tortilla soup with blackbeans for dinner, lunch might beblack bean stew with a sweet po-tato. Virtuous eating habits go outthe window during the big climb.

The Gear and CostMs. Egan trains wearing a Hyper-wear weight vest ($200). She isdevoted to Injinji Run Original toesocks ($13 a pair) and On Cloud-flyer Waterproof sneakers ($180).She packed nine pairs of each forher first event and used them alldue to rain. The 29029 event reg-istration cost $4,195 and includesthree nights’ glamping accommo-dations, four days of food and bev-erages, daily training plans andweekly coaching calls.

WHAT’S YOUR WORKOUT? | JEN MURPHY

Still Training to ClimbWith the Event in Doubt

BY KELLY CROW

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THEWALL STREET JOURNAL. Monday, April 13, 2020 | A13

EARLY IN THE AFTERNOON ofApril 10, pianist Fred Hersch satdown at his keyboard and doveinto the Rodgers and Hammersteinclassic “This Nearly Was Mine.”The tune from “South Pacific” is agreat match for Mr. Hersch, a ven-erated musician known for his aus-tere elegance. He captured thewistful mood of the piece and inhis improvisations he hinted atmore complex emotions before re-solving it with a hopeful flourish.

The only thing missing was ap-plause. Mr. Hersch routinely per-forms in leading jazz clubs andconcert halls. This time, though, hewas in his living room— his perfor-mance seen by many thousands offans via Facebook Live on theircomputers or phones. In the pastfew weeks, Mr. Hersch has pre-sented single-song gigs daily at 1p.m. EDT, often featuring works byClifford Brown, Billy Joel, JoniMitchell and Thelonious Monk.

In a move that gives new mean-ing to the word “improvisation,”Mr. Hersch is one of many leadingjazz performers who have re-sponded to the closing of clubs andother venues by turning their livingspaces into performance venues.Many of these livestreamed perfor-mances typically occur on Face-book Live (where an account is nota prerequisite for viewing), whileothers can be seen on Instagram,YouTube or on specially createdplatforms. In addition, presentingorganizations are responding to thesituation by curating series of theirarchived performances, and someupstart organizations have begunsponsoring festivals of musiciansplaying in safe spaces and intimatesettings, all of them making honey-sweetened, mint-garnished lemon-ade out of lemons.

Since the early days of socialmedia, musicians have been postingperformance clips, but a turningpoint in this trend came last monthwhen Cecile McLorin Salvant, whohas won three Grammy Awards,and pianist Sullivan Fortner per-formed in her living room, stream-ing the concert on Facebook Live,where it can still be seen. In anearly two-hour gig that has re-ceived more than 150,000 views sofar, the duo played new material aswell as older repertoire. Shortly af-ter, Mr. Hersch began his Tune ofthe Day series, and a few days laterharpist Brandee Younger and bass-ist Dezron Douglas began what

BY MARTIN JOHNSON

LIFE & ARTS

with each other’s tendencies, all ofwhich gave you an immediate sensethat they must often jam togetherat home. Mr. Frisell performed asolo set that alternated betweenscruffy, edgy sounds and tenderones; the set list was highlighted bya poignant rendition of “New York,New York” and closed with “WeShall Overcome.”

Organizations big and smallhave also jumped into the fray.Jazz at Lincoln Center is updatingits YouTube channel—often postingconcerts, panels and educationalprogramming. And its blog offers acomprehensive listing of daily jazzlivestreams. SFJazz has begun a se-ries of archived shows called “Fri-days at Five,” where for $5 viewerscan watch four concerts from re-cent seasons. The Jazz Gallery hasbegun a series of online program-ming that includes Zoom chatswith musicians, archived showsand interviews.

Not all of these online perfor-mances are solos and duos. Veteransaxophonist Chad Lefkowitz-Brownhas, by adapting cinema’s split-screen aesthetic to the virtualworld to feature groups of musi-cians and sometimes the wholeband onscreen at once, created avirtual big band with 18 musiciansand posted the number “Easy toLove” on his YouTube channel.That Cole Porter evergreen radiatesnew vibrancy in a flashy arrange-ment by Steven Feifke. And Mr.Brown, in his video edits, capturesthe momentum of the performance,showcasing each horn section andsolo with breathtaking ease. Mr.Brown and Mr. Feifke are workingon an arrangement of “Giant Steps”for this ensemble.

Many of these performances haverougher edges than concert hall ap-pearances. Most of these musiciansare well accustomed to walking on-stage in front of large crowds. Click-ing a button on their phone to begina show and hearing no responsefrom an audience must be jarring tothem. But without exception, agroove is found within a tune or two.It’s as if the daily rushes become thedirector’s cut in minutes.

There’s an emerging subgenrebuilding. Perhaps several years fromnow, enterprising labels will offerthe complete livestreams of variousartists to capture the time when weall sheltered at home and concerthalls and jazz clubs were shuttered.

Mr. Johnson writes about jazz forthe Journal. CL

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have become weekly performanceson their Facebook pages, Fridaymornings at 11 EDT, that showcasetheir virtuosity and rapport.

Mr. Douglas and Ms. Youngerwere participants in “Live FromOur Living Rooms,” a weeklong se-ries that concluded April 7 and fea-tured luminaries like guitarist BillFrisell and pianist Chick Corea andsuch fellow up-and-comers as vo-

calist/guitarist Becca Stevens andthe duo of bassist Linda May HanOh and pianist Fabian Almazan.The site, which describes itself as“an online music festival and fund-raiser” was put together by threemusicians—Thana Alexa, OwenBroder and Sirintip—and the non-profit organization MusicTalks withthe aim of providing financial sup-port to unemployed musicians.

The festival’s 23 concerts andfive workshops will be archived atthe site though April 15 and warrantinvestigation. Ms. Oh and Mr. Alma-zan’s joint performance was daz-zling. They are married to one an-other, and here the setting offerednew insights into them as artists.Rhythms and tempos shifted on adime; there was a familiarity withcomplex material and, of course,

Clockwise from top left: Fred Hersch; Brandee Younger; Linda May Han Oh; and Cecile McLorin Salvant

THE STAYING INSIDE GUIDE—MUSIC

Taking ImprovisationTo aWhole New Level

©2020Dow Jones & Co., Inc. All rights reserved. 6DJ7852

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P2JW104000-0-A01300-1--------XA

A14 | Monday, April 13, 2020 THEWALL STREET JOURNAL.

WeatherShown are today’s noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.

City Hi Lo W Hi Lo W City Hi Lo W Hi Lo WToday Tomorrow Today Tomorrow

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Anchorage 40 33 sh 42 37 shAtlanta 76 49 pc 75 47 pcAustin 65 43 s 68 43 pcBaltimore 76 44 t 58 39 pcBoise 53 30 s 60 43 sBoston 61 45 r 57 38 pcBurlington 64 39 r 50 32 cCharlotte 81 48 t 70 46 sChicago 43 29 pc 45 28 pcCleveland 61 32 r 48 30 cDallas 58 41 s 57 38 cDenver 31 15 sf 41 19 pcDetroit 57 31 c 46 27 cHonolulu 81 70 pc 82 72 pcHouston 72 52 s 76 48 pcIndianapolis 47 32 c 47 30 cKansas City 46 28 pc 49 32 pcLas Vegas 73 52 pc 69 52 sLittle Rock 57 39 sh 55 34 cLos Angeles 66 53 pc 73 50 pcMiami 89 79 s 90 80 sMilwaukee 43 28 sn 44 25 cMinneapolis 37 19 sf 36 20 cNashville 58 39 pc 56 34 pcNew Orleans 82 63 pc 81 59 cNew York City 68 46 t 60 42 pcOklahoma City 50 31 pc 44 29 c

Omaha 43 25 pc 47 23 pcOrlando 95 72 s 93 74 cPhiladelphia 71 44 t 58 40 sPhoenix 78 59 pc 80 57 sPittsburgh 65 32 t 47 30 pcPortland, Maine 55 43 r 55 37 pcPortland, Ore. 67 42 s 69 49 sSacramento 76 49 s 77 49 sSt. Louis 48 34 pc 51 36 cSalt Lake City 48 30 pc 52 42 sSan Francisco 67 50 s 70 50 sSanta Fe 42 22 sn 49 21 sSeattle 62 41 pc 64 47 sSioux Falls 36 16 sf 37 14 cWash., D.C. 78 47 t 59 40 s

Amsterdam 50 40 pc 49 36 pcAthens 70 54 s 70 57 pcBaghdad 81 56 pc 85 57 pcBangkok 87 77 t 91 79 tBeijing 82 47 s 81 50 pcBerlin 51 33 pc 51 39 pcBrussels 52 35 pc 52 35 pcBuenos Aires 66 52 r 65 52 sDubai 94 78 c 91 78 pcDublin 48 33 s 56 36 sEdinburgh 47 34 pc 55 38 s

Frankfurt 59 35 c 54 35 sGeneva 68 40 c 58 35 sHavana 94 70 s 94 71 sHong Kong 73 66 pc 74 67 pcIstanbul 59 50 s 67 50 pcJakarta 90 77 t 90 76 tJerusalem 65 49 s 69 50 sJohannesburg 79 58 pc 72 50 cLondon 54 36 pc 56 38 pcMadrid 65 50 t 67 50 pcManila 92 80 t 89 79 shMelbourne 66 56 pc 72 62 cMexico City 85 56 pc 86 56 sMilan 72 51 c 73 45 sMoscow 58 48 c 54 35 shMumbai 95 81 pc 95 83 pcParis 65 37 pc 56 40 sRio de Janeiro 78 70 pc 82 74 sRiyadh 81 66 pc 85 62 pcRome 68 53 c 65 44 pcSan Juan 85 76 pc 85 75 shSeoul 68 39 pc 65 39 pcShanghai 67 50 pc 70 55 cSingapore 89 79 pc 90 79 pcSydney 71 55 pc 75 58 sTaipei City 72 54 s 76 59 pcTokyo 61 47 r 60 49 sToronto 60 31 r 45 28 pcVancouver 56 39 c 56 44 pcWarsaw 62 31 t 50 34 pcZurich 69 32 c 53 30 pc

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BOTTOM’SUP! | By Joe HansenAcross1 Bit of ointment

4 Belgrade native

8 Wearer ofdreadlocks,perhaps

13 Hosp. area that’sclosely monitored

14 Prepare to peepthrough akeyhole

16 Called out?

17 Pecan orpistachio

18 The Gem State

19 2016 Disney filmwith a Polynesianheroine

20 Drawing room?

22 Rainbowprojector

23 “Very funny!”

24 Tax filer’s no.

25 Girder lifter

26 Raison d’___

28 Dribble on a bib

30 Influentialthrash metalband

32 Roman garment

33 Satchel

36 Serpentinecreature killedby Hercules

37 Deg. for aprofessor

38 Economic decline

40 Affirmativeanswer

41 Clear hurdles,say

43 Stickers sold by45-Across

44 Holey cheese

45 Org. with aneagle logo

46 Rose garden pest

48 Machinery part

50 Beehive Statetribe

53 Big bet

54 Tantalizing trait

56 Likely to change

57 Sweaters and thelike

58 Greek vowel

59 “We ___ please”

60 Decade divisions

61 2020’s Chinesezodiac animal

TheWSJ Daily Crossword | Edited by Mike Shenk

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

13 14 15 16

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30 31 32 33 34 35

36 37 38 39

40 41 42 43

44 45

46 47 48 49 50 51 52

53 54 55

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62 63 64

s

Solve this puzzle online and discuss it atWSJ.com/Puzzles.

62 Fix, as a lining

63 Board under abed

64 Hog enclosure

Down1 Someone’s in thekitchen with her

2 Honda’s luxurybrand

3 Clash

4 Improv bit

5 Ultimateconsumer

6 Enjoys a novel

7 Hidden frompublic view

8 Cuts of beef

9 Unconcernedwith right andwrong

10 Iberian nation

11 Anxious

12 Driver of“Marriage Story”

15 Bath bathroom

21 Lusty woodlandgod

25 Machinery part

27 Hitchcock classic

29 Fishing pole

30 Bashful

31 Corrosivesolution

33 Misleading piecesof advice

34 Guitar accessory

35 Lyft driversconsult it

37 Dell products

39 Eagerly absorb

42 Lend a hand

43 Large Indonesianisland

44 Many an Iranian

46 Sitcom pal ofKate

47 Purplish fruits

49 Relating to a lineof rotation

51 Troublecontinually

52 Dark blue-gray

53 Miles off

54 Wild blue yonder

55 “Hey! Look here!”

Previous Puzzle’s Solution

The contest answer is GRILLED HAMAND CHEESE.As hinted at in the clue to 40-Across’s “Matchingpair that bookends,” take the answers in the gridthat start and end with the same letter: AGRA, TILT,SLEDS, SHAMS, SANDS, OCHO, DEED and ASEA.The sandwiched letters spell the contest answer.

A G R A A S A H I A D A MG U A M N O D A T T I L TA S D F S L E D S M A T SS H A M S I N A M E S SS I R O A K B E D P R YI N S I N C E R E U S O F A

V I M H E D E R I KS L I C E S O F B R E A D

T H E E S U N A I MS A N D S R E A C T E D T OE G G P S I I K E R I D

T R A I N E R S C O N EO C H O T A L O N H O G SD E E D I M B U E I L L SD O N E N E A T O A S E A

main closed indefinitely. But kidsare resourceful. And the Blackfordsisters are still finding ways towork on their basketball skills.

They happen to have one thingthat Giannis Antetokounmpowishes he owned: a home basket-ball hoop. NBA players can get intopalatial gyms whenever they want.Or at least they could. Even theworld’s greatest shooter built anoutdoor hoop to have a place toshoot when he was locked out ofhis team’s practice facility. “It tookme back to playing the game whenI was a kid,” Stephen Curry said.

But a few of those kids alreadyhad an outdoor ball, a basket andeach other. That was everythingthe Blackfords needed to keepplaying through a pandemic.

They also had a product calledHomeCourt, which has been Ap-ple’s most popular sports app formost of the past month, more pop-ular than ESPN, the NBA or theNFL’s apps. Adults have Zoom. Kidshave HomeCourt.

This basketball app turns anyshooting workout on any rim intoa trove of data. It’s powered by ar-

The world is so weird at the mo-ment that Morgan and her sistersare now shooting more than NBAteams. They shoot layups. Theyshoot from the mid-range. Theyeven shoot 3-pointers after mea-suring their very own line.

“We had it in chalk, but it kindof erased,” Mackenzie said.

“Multiple times,” said ColleenBlackford, their mother. “And nowwe’re out of chalk.”

They have also encountered an-other problem of playing outdoors:weather. Sometimes they go insidetheir garage for HomeCourt’s cus-tomized skills workouts. “Andsometimes we shoot in the rain,”Morgan said.

Their father likes to dress ap-propriately when he rebounds forthem. His daughters in shorts liketo remind him that he looks ridicu-lous in a wool cap and gloves.

“Don’t let them fool you,” DarrinBlackford said. “It’s cold outthere.”

The early results of this naturalexperiment in youth sports areoddly promising. Their focus on in-dividual skills is almost like a sab-

batical from the endless scrim-mages, games and tournaments ofyouth basketball. And they’re eachgetting something different frombeing on the driveway at the sametime. Morgan is tracking her prog-ress through her statistics. Mack-enzie is perfecting the consistencyof her shot’s arc. Marissa is experi-menting with her left hand.

They don’t have the competitionof playing games with their friendsagainst complete strangers.They’re trying to manufacture itfor themselves. The shooting con-tests between the sisters getheated, and they’re even battlingtheir own teammates in Home-Court’s drills and workouts.

They still don’t know the nexttime they’ll play basketball withother people. The only thing theycan do in the meantime is exactlywhat they’ve been doing. So theykeep shooting. And before long theBlackford sisters might be shootingin a place that’s not their driveway.

“I want to play Division I bas-ketball,” said Morgan.

“Me, too,” Mackenzie said.“Me, three,” Marissa said.

Not too long ago, when life wasnormal, Morgan Blackford had aroutine. She went to high schooltoo early in the morning. She hadsports practice in the afternoon.She did homework too late atnight.

Morgan has another routinenow. She wakes up, finishes her as-signments and walks outside toplay basketball until it’s too darkto play basketball.

“Basically my whole day,” Mor-gan says, “is school and basket-ball.”

Morgan, Mackenzie and MarissaBlackford—15, 14 and 12 yearsold—have been stuck at home inthe suburbs for nearly a monthnow. Their house is their school.It’s also their basketball court.

This disruption to everyday lifeis one of the most unsettling con-sequences of the pandemic. It’s mi-nor in theory but feels major whenit’s your reality. A talented fresh-man starter on her school’s varsitybasketball team, Morgan was untilrecently a regular at her local rec-reational center, where she wouldtake about 300 shots per day. Butonce the lockdown began, the onlything she could practice with otherpeople was social distancing.

That’s when Morgan set herquarantine goal: 1,000 shots perday. She hasn’t taken a day offsince. She was outside so late onenight last week that she watchedthe sky turn from blue to pitchblack and had trouble seeing thelast of those 1,000 shots. “So mydad got a flashlight,” Morgan said.

This is not just happening in theBlackford family driveway in Solon,Ohio. Morgan, her sisters and kidsaround the world suddenly havefree time and free technology.They’re using both to improve atbasketball.

In the three weeks since March20, the shot-tracking app Home-Court recorded 5 times more shotsand 25 times more dribbles than inthe prior month, according to thecompany’s data. At this time lastyear, the app had logged a total of10 million dribbles. Now it’s seeingmore than 12 million dribbles perday.

“We’re really trying to take ad-vantage,” Morgan said, “to makeourselves better.”

The past month will be the for-mative event for an entire genera-tion of developing athletes. Butwhen you look at the Blackfords,you can see how that might not besuch a bad thing. There is a longhistory of plague years producingunexpected outcomes, and thismay turn out to be the sports ver-sion of Shakespeare writing “KingLear” in quarantine.

This is harder in some placesand impossible in others. The rimshave been removed from parks insome cities, and suburban gyms re-

BY BEN COHEN

ShootingHoops Through a PandemicYouth athletes are using free time and technology to improve their games. Just ask the Blackford sisters.

BLACK

FORD

FAMILY

They’re stuck at home. They can’t go to school or see their friends. But Morgan, Marissa and Mackenzie Blackford are playing basketball in their driveway.

tificial intelligence and the smartpremise that phones can be trans-formative basketball equipment,and it turned out to be prescient ina way that no amount of artificialintelligence could have predicted.The only places to play basketballthese days are home courts.

Not long after schools across

the U.S. were shut down, the com-pany behind HomeCourt made theproduct free. It was around thistime when the Blackfords installedthe app, moved a tripod to theirdriveway and began shooting.

Morgan started on March 21. ByMarch 22, she’d made 500 shots.She was up to 1,000 by the nextday, 5,000 by the next week and10,000 by last week.

They happen to have onething that Giannis

Antetokounmpo wisheshe owned: a hoop.

SPORTS

P2JW104000-0-A01400-1--------XA

THEWALL STREET JOURNAL. Monday, April 13, 2020 | A15

The DismalOverreachersRadical UncertaintyBy John Kay and Mervyn King(Norton, 528 pages, $30)

BOOKSHELF | By Joseph C. Sternberg

Rarely is a book’s publication as well-timed as John Kayand Mervyn King’s “Radical Uncertainty: Decision-Making Beyond the Numbers.” We’re in the grip of a

global pandemic that we don’t understand and must makeimmediate choices that balance the demands of our healthagainst the needs of our economy.

The main advice to emerge from this book is: Don’t askan economist. Economics has claimed for itself the right toaddress health policy and many other issues outside itsusual orbits. “Radical Uncertainty” reminds us howinappropriate that is. Chemists, plumbers and doctorsidentify problems within their subject areas, then developtools with which to solve them. Economists appear unbiddenon any doorstep they please with a box of mostly uselesstools in search of problems.

Messrs. Kay and King should know. They’ve spent theircareers inside the academic and monetary-policy establish-ment. Mr. King ran the Bank of England for a decade, including

during the 2008 panic.Their field, they note, is

dominated by probabilisticmethods. Politicians and theiradvisers assess risks with theaid of statistical tools derivedfrom games of chance, in thehope that scientificallyquantifying risk will allowthem to make intelligent trade-offs about the future. “Formore than half a century asingle approach to rationalchoice under uncertainty hasdominated economics,” the

authors write. “Agents optimize,subject to defined constraints. They list

possible courses of action, define theconsequences of the various alternatives, and evaluate theseconsequences. Then they select the best available option.”

There’s a place for those tools, but economics habituallyoverreaches. Modern economists assume that whateveroutcome their models predict must be axiomatically rational.When human beings fail to act according to these predictions,it is taken as a failure of the people, not the model.

This insulting assumption, Messrs. Kay and King point out,is at the heart of microeconomics’ behavioral turn and theproliferation of “nudge” quackery in policy-making circles.The same tic enters macroeconomics as an appeal toexogenous shifts or shocks to explain economic crises themodels didn’t see coming or about which economists simplyhave chosen not to fret.

Yet life is not a game of chance. “Radical Uncertainty”usefully, though tediously, catalogs all the reasons why aclose study of blackjack or roulette doesn’t yield analyticaltools of use for public-policy problems. It’s a shame thismeandering recitation of mathematical history, business-school case studies and economics-department minutiaeisn’t shorter and crisper for a general audience, since thefundamental insights are correct.

Card games are “small worlds,” in a phrase from themid-20th-century economist Jimmie Savage that the authorsuse throughout. The rules are well-defined, all possibleoutcomes known, the inputs fully quantifiable and the gamesrun repeatedly.

None of that is true for a “large-world” event such as apandemic or a financial crisis. Decisions must be made beforebasic facts, such as a disease’s rate of transmission or whatproportion of the infected develop symptoms, are understood.Meanwhile politicians no longer seem to know what questionsthey want answered. Probability can tell you how likely you areto win a hand of blackjack because you know what “winning”means. But should we define winning against Covid-19 as theminimization of infection? Or merely slowing the flow of newcases into our hospitals—and if so, to what rate?

Unlike with blackjack, we’re dealt only one hand. Theterrible truth is that every time a politician makes a decision,families might lose a parent or child, or be cast into aneconomic tailspin from which they may never recover.Faced with such radical uncertainty, “real households, realbusinesses and real governments do not optimize; they cope.”

These fundamental uncertainties aren’t unique to apandemic, although the stakes are unusually high. Writingbefore the new coronavirus, Messrs. Kay and King find plentyof other examples. Corporate-strategy documents, they note,are designed to lend a false air of probabilistic precision towhat is at best a guess about the market. Economists measurethe economic impact of public-works projects by feedinginvented numbers into faulty models, deriving outputs thatenter the public realm with an undeserved aura of certainty.

The authors argue instead for a return to a narrative formof decision-making that pretends to less precision and offersmore scope for human intuition. Lloyd’s of London operatedin such a way for centuries, we are told, setting premiums toinsure against unquantifiable risks—such as the likelihoodthat a rare art collection might be stolen—through thehunches of individual human underwriters.

Politicians appear to be taking this approach to Covid-19.Britain’s early, relatively laissez-faire approach didn’trespond adequately to the intuition of voters worried abouta fatally overstretched health service; a lockdown ensued,justified by only one of several available models. PresidentTrump’s tug-of-war with himself over reopening the U.S.economy by Easter can be read charitably as an attempt totake the narrative temperature of the American public.

This approach makes use of a powerful tool economistsdespise—politics—to settle on a decision the public findstolerable. Alas, another fruitful solution to decision-makingis largely absent from the book: not making policy at all.

This may not be possible or desirable in special circum-stances such as a global pandemic, but most things ourgovernments do aren’t that special. Must they really nudge ustoward optimal soda consumption via taxation, or manage theeconomy’s growth and contraction through the manipulationof interest rates, when they don’t really know what constitutes“optimal” in either case?

If you’re radically uncertain about what to do, doing nothingis often the best option.

Mr. Sternberg, the Journal’s Political Economics columnist,is author of “The Theft of a Decade: How the Baby Boomers Stolethe Millennials’ Economic Future.”

Economists have claimed the right to addressmany issues outside their discipline’s orbit.This book reminds us how inappropriate that is.

When News Suppression Hits Home

I ndia has seen a sharperosion in civil libertiesunder the government of

the Hindu nationalist PrimeMinister Narendra Modi.“Journalists, academics, andothers have faced harassmentand intimidation when ad-dressing politically sensitivetopics,” Freedom House ob-serves in a recent report.

The extent of this intimi-dation has become personallyapparent. My journalistbrother, Siddharth Varadara-jan, was served notice Fri-day—coincidentally, his 55thbirthday—to appear beforethe police of Uttar Pradesh,India’s most populous state,and answer charges that hehas violated several laws.

Siddharth, who works inNew Delhi, is founding editorof the Wire, a leading onlinenews portal. He published anews story that showed thechief minister of UttarPradesh, Yogi Adityanath, in

a deservedly poor light. TheWire reported that Mr.Adityanath, a preacher-turned-politician, had at-tended a sizable religiousgathering in Ayodhya—atown regarded as the birth-place of the Hindu deityRama—in obvious violation of

a national coronavirus lock-down. It misattributed aquote to Mr. Adityanath, butthe error was promptly cor-rected and is clearly acknowl-edged at the story’s end.

Two readers alleged thatthe story was disrespectful ofMr. Adityanath. One of themsaid it caused him “anguish,”Both filed a complaint withthe police in Ayodhya. In re-sponse, my brother has beencharged with six different

crimes: disobeying an orderof a public official, spreadinga rumor against a religiouscommunity with intent tocause a riot, using a com-puter to impersonate some-one, transmitting obscenematerial online, disobeying apublic official in a time ofepidemic, and spreading a ru-mor with the intention tocause panic.

These charges are so evi-dently incongruous as a re-sponse to a news report thatone has to conclude they werebrought against Siddharth tointimidate him and tie him upin litigation for severalmonths. While much of themedia has turned turtle, heand the Wire haven’t flinchedfrom criticizing Messrs. Modiand Adityanath.

On April 10, several UttarPradesh policemen, some inplain clothes, showed upoutside my brother’s homein New Delhi to serve paperson him that require him toappear at a police station in

Ayodhya on April 14. (Indiawill still be on lockdown onthat day.) His wife, NandiniSundar, a college professor,intercepted them on theroad outside. She insistedthat they hand the papersover to her. After demur-ring—one cop said that therules didn’t allow him toserve papers to women andchildren—they did as sheasked.

I spoke to Nandini, whosaid: “At a time when there’sa pandemic lockdown, whenevery cop is deployed to en-force the lockdown, sendingan SUV-load of cops 700 kilo-meters”—around 435 miles—“from Ayodhya to Delhi toserve papers on Siddharth isastonishing.”

The whole affair, she said,“reeks of bad intentions.They want to silence the freemedia.”

Mr. Varadarajan is execu-tive editor at Stanford Uni-versity’s Hoover Institution.

By Tunku Varadarajan

My brother in Indiafaces criminal chargesfor reporting a story.

OPINION

With 30 min-utes’ notice, Igot invited toa dinner withthe writerTom Wolfe indot-com eraPalo Alto, Ca-lif. Oddly, I ar-rived first andwas led to acorner table

for four, where I grabbed thebest seat, overlooking the res-taurant. Wolfe arrived late,dressed in white, naturally,and sat opposite me—his backto the restaurant. He askedquestions about Silicon Valleyand then told stories of tryingout for the New York Giants asa pitcher and getting cut be-cause he only had a sinker andno fastball. Great metaphor,actually. Eventually other din-ers figured out who was in thehouse, and I watched with de-light as the chirping in theroom grew deafening.

I recalled this recently whilerereading his December 1987American Spectator article,“The Great Relearning.” In1968, San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury Free Clinic was ob-serving all sorts of long-gonediseases. That’s because hip-pies had become prone to“sweep aside all codes and re-straints from the past andstart out from zero,” and thuswere “relearning the laws ofhygiene by getting the mange,the grunge, the itch, thetwitch, the thrush, the scroff,the rot.” There was a longpostwar economic expansion,and it was almost as if every-thing useful had already beeninvented. Heck we were ex-

Coronavirus Shatters Complacencyploring space and going to themoon. It meant an entire gen-eration could spend their par-ents’ money, drop out and re-write the rules.

Sound familiar? The longboom that ran from the 1980suntil last month, with a fewtemporary interruptions, cre-ated chronic complacency. Ev-erything was so easy. No onereally knew where stuff camefrom anymore. The internetjust worked, without even adial tone. Click and a bookshowed up at your house. Clickagain and a car picked you up.Again and someone rented youa spare bedroom. Too easy.Medicine just showed up atpharmacies. Milk and cookiesoverflowed store shelves. Somedreamed of utopia.

Soon modernity was sweptaside to “start out from zero,”as many Americans old andmostly young embraced social-ism and demanded big govern-ment and the end of capital-ism. People got their politicalviews from comedians andTeen Vogue. Just one shortmonth ago, 1,548,025 Califor-nians actually voted foravowed socialist Bernie Sand-ers. Amazing. Like “Night ofthe Living Dead,” antimoder-nity took over parts of thebody politic. How stupid—amental grunge, mental scroffand mental rot.

We were a rich culture ob-sessed with a climate “crisis”based on centurylong modelsthat are as pie-in-the-sky ascurrent doomsday pandemicmodels. Activists insisted thathousing, health care and col-lege were human rights. A can-cel culture viewed the world,

as Jeffrey Tucker of the Ameri-can Institute for Economic Re-search writes, as “marred byappropriation, microaggres-sion, identitarian denialism,and structural racism/sexism/imperialism.” Take your pick.Yes, awareness is importantfor those slandered, held back,disadvantaged. But should “so-cial justice” decompose Amer-ica’s entire $22 trillion econ-omy? No thanks.

When times were good,this swept-away thinking wasgiven free rein, and then itran wild. Only four monthsago, in an obvious case of mis-placed priorities, Congressappropriated $25 million forthe Centers for Disease Con-trol and Prevention to studygun violence.

Bizarrely, the world theseantimodern mental twitcherswere pining for has the samestench as the lockdown we’renow in. Today we have 17 mil-lion freshly unemployed, but. . . carbon emissions haveplummeted, dolphins returnedto Venice, wolves walk thestreets of San Francisco andpot use is at an all-time high.Unicorns and equality every-where? Not quite. Pollutionand crime are down becausewe’re all basically in prison.It’s awful. Set us free.

Fortunately, the joke’s on

them. Modernity rules. We’d allstarve save for digitized supplychains. We instantly sequencekiller-virus DNA. We 3-D printventilator parts, stream enter-tainment everywhere, Door-Dash takeout food, Zoom vir-tual happy hours and watchalmost-realistic baseball simu-lations from “MLB The Show20” (though I miss real sports).All modern flourishes, defi-nitely not provided by “startfrom zero” cave dwellers.

There will be relearning forsure—with progress comesquestions. Is technology evil ormostly useful to solve prob-lems? Will robots kill jobs orsave lives? Do we protect pri-vacy or track movement dur-ing a pandemic? Do we trustgovernment?

Social relearning is inevita-ble. For a while anyway, nomore high-fives, nonfamilyhugging, air kisses, Seinfeldianclose-talkers, overcrowded res-taurants, eating bats—goodriddance to all. But no way arewe starting from zero. I’d bethalf as many Californianswould vote for Bernie today(though Anthony Fauci mightget a million votes).

We can’t go backward. Thegood news is that modernity isunbridled. So let’s try to holdoff on repeating past mistakes.Be wary of California Gov.Gavin Newsom’s recent scroffypromise of a “progressiveagenda” to “reshape how wedo business.” Instead, marketsneed to keep providing capitalto fund great ideas that willcreate a safe future. That’s thedefining feature of a free soci-ety. Mental rot is not.

Write to kessler@wsj.com.

The pandemic hasawakened us fromclimate nightmaresand socialist dreams.

INSIDEVIEWBy AndyKessler

P r e s i d e n tTrump is un-happy withthe responseof the WorldHealth Organ-ization toCovid-19 andhas promisedto take a“good look” atits U.S. fund-

ing. Hallelujah. If the coronavi-rus prompts a Washington au-dit of the practices of theWHO, a devastating storm willhave blown some good.

A review of the WHO’sWestern Hemisphere subsid-iary, the Pan American HealthOrganization, or PAHO, is alsoin order. Its record of support-ing antidemocratic regimesseeking to destabilize legiti-mate governments weakenspublic health rather thanstrengthening it.

The U.S. once played a leadrole at PAHO, and the organi-zation achieved substantialgains against infectious dis-eases. In the 1950s and 1960s,dengue fever was eradicated inmost of the region.

Yet while American tax-payer dollars still fund roughlyhalf PAHO’s budget, seriousmedical influence at the or-ganization has waned. In itsplace are ideologues who carrywater for the Cuban militarydictatorship and its medicalexport business.

Havana boasts about send-ing medical personnel abroadas if it runs a charity. But gov-ernments pay Havana for Cu-ban health-care workers, whothen receive a miserly stipend

Audit the WHO’s Pan American Armfrom the regime, which leavesthem in poverty. The dictator-ship profits by keeping thelion’s share of the income.

This is human traffickingand it violates internationallaw and the laws by which theWHO is governed. As I re-ported in January, Cuban med-ics who escaped the programare suing PAHO in U.S. federalcourt. They allege that whenBrazilian law and congressionalopposition got in the way oflaunching the scheme, PAHOstepped in as a financial inter-mediary to launder the illegalpayments of a secret Cuba-Bra-zil agreement. On April 3 thevenue for that suit was movedto Washington.

The deal was exposed whenBrazilian journalists won therelease of Brazilian documentsconnected with the Cubanmedical missions. These in-clude the minutes of a Febru-ary 2017 meeting in Havana ofCuban, Brazilian and PAHO of-ficials, which I have seen.PAHO told me in January that“it is false to state” that Brazilwas engaged in human traf-ficking with Cuba and thatPAHO “would never participatein any activity or program re-lated to human trafficking.”

But the minutes outline howthe three parties strategized aresponse to legal challengesfiled in Brazil by Cuban work-ers demanding to receive theirfull pay as per Brazilian law.The Cuban vice minister ofhealth expressed concernabout the potential legal pit-falls for Havana’s moneymak-ing arrangement with Braziland demanded that Brazil find

a solution that would fulfill thecommitment it had made toCuba under the agreement.

According to the minutes,PAHO legal counsel Heidi Jimé-nez, acting “on behalf ofPAHO,” committed to enforcingthe commitments Brazil hadmade under the agreement.Ms. Jiménez further commit-ted to preparing for the attor-ney general of Brazil “an offi-cial response . . . to the legalactions put forth by the [Cu-ban] doctors.” PAHO didn’t re-ply to requests for comment.

PAHO’s complicity in mak-ing chattel out of Cuban work-ers is appalling. But the moreoutrageous aspect of its part-nership with Havana may turnout to be the health outcomesfor the region.

Cuban doctors, who escapedfrom various assignmentsaround Latin America, testi-fied at a State Departmentevent in 2019 in New York.One doctor said that when nopatients visited the clinic inBolivia where she worked, herboss in Havana instructed herto invent names and illnessesto provide “statistics.” Logi-cally, this created an illusionthat Cuban medicine was serv-ing a great need abroad andcuring the sick.

According to her testimony,

doctors were also told to req-uisition medical supplies andpharmaceuticals for patientswho didn’t exist. This wouldhave allowed Farmacuba, astate-owned pharmaceuticalcompany, to sell its products tohost countries. Farmacuba alsocollects a fee as an intermedi-ary between medical suppliersin China, India and Russia andits “clients” in Latin America.When products arrived, thedoctor said, the Cuban medicswere instructed to destroythem. Another doctor saidspreading regime propagandawas part of his job.

A further public-healthproblem generated by Cuba isits “Latin American School ofMedicine,” which educates Cu-bans and students from aroundthe region. Yet when Cuba-trained doctors return to theirhome countries they oftendon’t pass muster. As far backas 2012, the University of CostaRica found that most graduatesof Cuban medicine were un-qualified to practice in thatcountry. In 2015 Chile’s El Mer-curio reported that out of 787Cuban-educated doctors inChile more than half couldn’tpass local medical-board examseven on the fourth try.

Cuba’s medical scams aimedat earning hard currency andspreading communist propa-ganda have created a falsesense of progress in the battleagainst infectious diseases inthe region. Before PAHO getsanother dime of U.S. funding,it ought to explain why it aidsHavana’s phony health-careschemes.

Write to O’Grady@wsj.com.

PAHO shouldn’t get adime of U.S. fundinguntil it stops carryingwater for Cuba.

AMERICASBy MaryAnastasiaO’Grady

P2JW104000-0-A01500-1--------XA

A16 | Monday, April 13, 2020 THEWALL STREET JOURNAL.

The Fed’s Loan Relief Must Be Non-PoliticalIn “The Fed’s New Mission To Save

the Economy” (op-ed, April 7), GaryCohn and Glenn Hutchins argue thatthe Federal Reserve should take apage from sovereign-wealth funds asit administers its emergency direct-lending program for small- and me-dium-sized businesses, including “rig-orous disclosure, independentoversight boards, and investment de-cision-making by professional staffs.”The authors argue that such practiceslead to “portfolios that are commer-cially sound and faithful to the legis-lative mandate.”

An area where rigorous disclosureand tight control will, in fact, bemost critical is the “investment deci-sion-making by professional staffs.”Otherwise there is a risk that the Fedwill, intentionally or not, end upmolding the economy that emergesfrom the crisis in ways that run coun-ter to the purpose of the rescue. Thelegislative mandate for this programis the economic preservation of busi-

nesses and jobs, not profit maximiza-tion and certainly not using invest-ment to change the composition ofthe American economy to fit the pref-erences of those making investmentdecisions.

As such, the Fed and whatever pri-vate-sector partners it uses should belimited in their discretion and fullytransparent as to how and why theyassess what investments to make andhow to price risk. For example, con-troversial concepts like environmen-tal, social and governance investing(ESG) were not endorsed by Congressand therefore should not bear on theFed’s decision-making. Congressmeant to preserve the jobs and busi-nesses that exist today when it au-thorized spending trillions of dollars,not allow the Federal Reserve to re-shape the composition of the post-crisis American economy.

BRIAN KNIGHTMercatus Center

Arlington, Va.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Letters intended for publication shouldbe addressed to: The Editor, 1211 Avenueof the Americas, New York, NY 10036,or emailed to wsj.ltrs@wsj.com. Pleaseinclude your city and state. All lettersare subject to editing, and unpublishedletters can be neither acknowledged norreturned. “Just wait until that woman I’m

dating hears about your behavior.”

THEWALL STREET JOURNAL

PPP Loan Program: Ponderous, BureaucraticI have spent time recently helping

multimillion-dollar business clientsprepare for the Paycheck ProtectionProgram. But I also wonder about lo-cal, small firms equally devastated bythe virus—the immigrant barberswho have cut my hair for over 20years, or the bike racer whose shophas helped me and my children buymore bikes than I can count (“SmallFirms See Hiccups Applying for NewLoans,” Page One, April 4). I doubtany of them are paying lawyers forthat advice. I hope that I will see allof them again, once the pandemichas eased.

Only bureaucrats who haven’tstepped outside the Beltway bubblewould create such obstacles for thecash help small businesses need im-mediately. I understand the needfor rules to prevent abuse. How-ever, in a holy season for severalfaiths, perhaps a better approach tohelp such hard workers would havebeen what I heard in a sermon—hope and trust—and cash availableimmediately.

STANLEY P. JASKIEWICZLansdale, Pa.

Federal emergency-relief programs(think Deepwater Horizon, Hurricane

Katrina and others) are typicallyslow to execute. Many of their in-tended beneficiaries wind up waitingmonths, if not years, to receive help.The current emergency lending effortdwarfs any of those regional disas-ters. It demands a much more radicalapproach to provide funds quickly tosmall businesses.

Neither the Small Business Admin-istration nor the nation’s big banksare equipped to process, approve anddisburse millions of small loans. Thatisn’t their business model. The SBAdoesn’t have the luxury of buildingits own capabilities. Instead it shouldturn to the new breed of fintechlenders, such as OnDeck, Kabbageand others, whose business is builtaround rapid, low-cost digital pro-cessing of loans to small- and me-dium-size businesses. Their scalableunderwriting platforms and agilebusiness culture are ideal for this ef-fort. Renting their capabilities to thegovernment could be attractive tothem, an excellent way to turbo-charge the new loan program, andsupport badly needed competition inour banking system.

JONATHAN HAKIMCEO, Cignifi Inc.

Boston

Oddly, Hospitals, M.D.s, Facing Hard Times“Busy Hospitals, Doctors Caught

in Financial Vise” (Page One, April 2)highlights a very important and po-tentially long-lasting impact of thecoronavirus, the health of the health-care industry. A part of the financialstrain in medicine arises from can-celing all elective surgery. I am anorthopedic surgeon who performselective hip replacements. Since mid-March we haven’t performed surgery.The rationale was to save resourcessuch as masks in anticipation for therush of Covid-19 patients. Since pro-tective equipment is very differentfrom surgical gowns, surgical masksaren’t N95, and most patients whoundergo elective surgery go homewithin one to two days, one could ar-gue this shutdown of elective sur-gery was premature. The financialstruggle that is occurring and willcontinue for years to come is be-

cause my colleagues and I aren’t per-forming important elective surgery.

Meanwhile, ambulatory surgerycenters that don’t have the capabilityto take care of Covid-19 patients areat risk of shutting their doors by thecrushing restrictions that affect allbusinesses, but specifically the can-cellation of all elective surgery. In2008 more than 20 million surgerieswere performed in ambulatory sur-gery centers.

We cannot continue to deny medi-cal care to the masses when a logi-cal, surgical approach exists. Withadded screening and testing forCovid-19 along with routine preoper-ative lab tests, patients can moveforward with much needed surgeryin a reasonably safe fashion. We shutdown a large portion of health careprematurely; let us not wait too longto resume this vital function of ahealthy society.

TIMOTHY JACKSON, M.D.Pasadena, Calif.What Would Ike Do About

Current Oil Price Collapse?Your editorial “Pain in the Oil

Patch” (April 1) emphasizes business-government cooperation in a crisis.President Dwight D. Eisenhower suc-cessfully managed two related criseswith some of the elements presenttoday.

In 1956, Egypt nationalized theSuez Canal, resulting in military inva-sion by Britain, France and Israel. Ourgovernment organized the MiddleEast Emergency Committee with ma-jor oil companies under the DefenseProduction Act of 1950. Washingtonpressed invading governments towithdraw their forces, successfully.

Then the Texas Railroad Commis-sion balked at increasing productionto stabilize world oil markets. At apress conference on Feb. 6, 1957,Eisenhower characteristically men-tioned using “conference and argu-ment” to achieve compliance but thenalluded to other actions because “itmust be done.” Prof. Robert O. Keo-hane of Princeton University, in hisfine book “After Hegemony,” notesthat “faced with this barely veiledthreat” the commission got in line.

Ike always got the job done.PROF. ARTHUR I. CYRCarthage College

Kenosha, Wis.

Pepper ...And Salt

Psychology of Facing SomeLosses Among Your Group

Regarding Holman W. Jenkins,Jr.’s “Was Dr. Strangelove an Epide-miologist?” (Business World, April4): In the very early morning dark,standing on the troopship deck,waiting to go over the side into thelanding boat, and nervously watch-ing the shells exploding on our tar-get, Platoon Sergeant Winklercalmed us by noting that only 10%of us wouldn’t be coming back. Inour immortal youth we each turnedto the men on our right and left,and said: “You poor bastard.”

JIM SHRIVERCarlsbad, Calif.

It’s Still America, Virus or Not

Americans by and large have willinglyobeyed the government’s shelter-in-place and social-distancing orders, but

that doesn’t seem tobe enoughfor some public officials.They’re indulging their innerbully in ways that over timewill erode public support forbehavior that can reduce thespread of the coronavirus.

One problem is excessive enforcement. Somestate and local officials taskedwith implement-ing shelter-at-home orders appear either tomis-understand the edicts they are meant to carryout or to suffer from a lack of discernment. Po-lice officers in Brighton, Colo., handcuffed aman for playing with his wife and six-year-olddaughter on a nearly empty softball field—though the order police claimed he had violatedbarred only groups of five or more.

In public parks inWashington, D.C., and else-where, police officers are prohibiting localsfrom sitting on park benches, even if they arealone. In Philadelphia, police officers draggedaman from a public bus for notwearing amask.He had evidently refused to exit the bus whenasked, but the officers’ conduct—given the of-fense—appears excessive.

In their defense these officers are carryingout the orders of elected officials, and inmanycases those orders are unclear orworse. In Lou-isville, Ky., Mayor Greg Fischer prohibitedChristian believers from gathering on EasterSunday—including in “drive-thru” services inwhich worshippers remained in their vehicles.Themayor’s positionwas neither constitution-ally nor epidemiologically sound.

A local congregation sued, arguing themayorhad violated their right to free exercise of reli-gion. Federal Judge Justin Walker, in a cogentdecision issued over the weekend, stayed themayor’s hand. President Trump recently nomi-nated JudgeWalker to the D.C. Circuit Court ofAppeals, as noted in these columns. His defenseof religious liberty won’t endear him to SenateDemocrats.

Perhaps the most excessive decrees havecome fromMichigan Gov. GretchenWhitmer. Inaddition to shutting down “non-essential” busi-nesses, as many other governors have done,

Gov. Whitmer has barred Michiganders fromtraveling to each other’s homes. “All public andprivate gatherings of any size are prohibited,”

the Governor explained at apress conference. “People canstill leave the house for out-door activities,” she gener-ously allowed, and outdoor ac-tivities “are still permitted aslong as they’re taking place

outside of six feet from anyone else.”Michigan state officials also have imposed a

series of heavy-handed restrictions, includingbans on supposedly “non-essential” sections ofsupermarkets, which have accordingly been cor-doned off. Under Gov.Whitmer’s order aMichi-gander can buy a bag of candy or a lotteryticket, but not a pack of seeds or a can of paint.He can enjoy a boat ride by himself or with hisdog—but not if his boat has a motor. The logicof these seemingly arbitrary distinctionsmustelude most Americans.

As these limits on liberty drag on, the courtswill be askedwith growing frequency to rule onwhether mayors and governors have the au-thority to decide which businesses must shutdown andwhichmay remain open, what prod-ucts the latter may sell, and whether religiousbelievers may be barred from gathering in aparking lot while remaining in their cars. Pub-lic-health emergencies give government offi-cials wide latitude. But the First Amendmentstill bars government from prohibiting the freeexercise of religion and still guarantees theright to free assembly.

Government officials would be better ad-vised to governwith a lighter hand. The corona-virus threat isn’t going away until we have avaccine or better treatments, and Americanswill have to practice some form of social dis-tancing and self-quarantine for many moremonths once the government allows the econ-omy to reopen.

Decrees like those from theMichigan Gover-nor’s office and their capricious enforcementrun the risk of encouragingmass civil disobedi-ence that will undermine the point of the or-ders. Better—for reasons of public health andAmerican constitutionalism—to treat Ameri-cans as responsible citizens.

Draconian orders willundermine support forsocial distancing.

3M Isn’t a Coronavirus Villain

W hen President Trump singled out3M for exporting some of its N95respirator masks, the American

company instantly becamethe face of corporate profi-teering at the expense of ordi-nary Americans.

On April 2 the Presidenttweeted, “We hit 3M hard to-day after seeing what theywere doing with their Masks. ‘P Act’ [DefenseProduction Act] all the way. Big surprise tomany in government as to what they were do-ing—will have a big price to pay!”

Last week the company reached a deal withthe White House. Under its terms, 3M will beallowed to sell its masks from the U.S. to Can-ada and Latin America, but it will import 166.5million masks over the next three months,mostly from its plant in China.

The President says he’s satisfied with thedeal. But the question is how fair this interven-tion was in the first place. As the Minnesota-based giant pointed out in its original re-sponse, it had already doubled its global outputof masks in response to the virus to 1.1 billiona year, and it had invested in more capacity todouble that again. The company furtherpointed out that it is a critical supplier ofmasks to Canada and Latin America, and itrightly raised the “significant humanitarianimplications” of cutting them off from masksthey had lawfully ordered.

Not to mention the resentment such amovecreates or, worse, the retaliation it invites. Both

are going to increase given last week’s joint an-nouncement by U.S. Customs and Border Protec-tion and the Federal Emergency Management

Agency that Customswill seizeexports of personal protectiveequipment at the border.FEMA will then determinewhether the goods should bereturned for use in the U.S.,purchased by the U.S. govern-

ment, or be allowed to be exported.Within some parts of the Administration,

the Covid-19 crisis has been regarded as aconvenient means to advance a more restric-tive trade policy. But whatever Washingtoncan do to keep goods manufactured here fromleaving our borders, other nations can do thesame to ensure goods manufactured theredon’t leave their borders. This is not a waranyone wins, especially when expanding sup-ply is critical.

Many U.S. manufacturers, not merely thosemaking medical supplies, have already learnedfrom this crisis how vulnerable they can bewhen their supply chains are so dependent onone country—in this case, China. But privatebusiness is always more nimble in respondingto emergencies than federal bureaucracies.And while it’s not popular with the trade pro-tectionists, access to world markets gives com-panies more flexibility as they struggle toadapt to disruptions.

We’re glad the White House and 3M haveworked it out. But where does 3M go to get itsreputation back?

If the U.S. blocksmedical exports, sowill other countries.

New York’s Incurable Spenders

Gov. AndrewCuomo says that Congress’s$2.2 trillion coronavirus bill short-changedNewYork, but then the $177 bil-

lion blowout budget he signedrecently suggests that Albanydoesn’t think it has to practiceany spending discipline.

The state budget is $2 bil-lion larger than last year’s de-spite what Mr. Cuomo sayscould be a $10 billion hit to revenues this yearon top of a $6 billion deficit before the coronavi-rus. Legislators didn’t even attempt to triagespending or rationalize priorities.

The budget authorizes a $3 billion RestoreMother Nature Bond to “adapt to the intensify-ing impacts of climate change, and reduce emis-sions.” It also includes a 7.5% refundable taxcredit for green jobs and a 5% investment taxcredit for green projects. Expect everyNewYorkbusiness to claim it’s “green.”

There are also hundreds ofmillions of dollarsof more pork for upstate New York to make upforMr. Cuomo’s ban on fracking, which the bud-getmade permanent. The politiciansmade sureto help themselves toowith $100million in pub-lic campaign financing, including up to $375,000for state Senate candidates and $175,000 for As-sembly candidates.

AlthoughNewYork hospitals are running onempty, the budget cuts $400 million that theyusually get for treating uninsured patients.“Hospitals are gettingmoremoney [from Con-

gress] than almost any other area the state bud-get covers,” Mr. Cuomo said. So he’s takingmoney fromhospitals to fund his climate agenda

and Albany’s incumbent re-election campaigns.

Mr. Cuomo did pushthrough some sensibleMedic-aid reforms that cap long-term managed care enroll-ment, but this violates the

“maintenance of effort” requirement that Con-gress imposed as a condition for a 6.2 percent-age-point increase in federal Medicaid fundingmatch for states. The New York Governor isjoining the party of GOP governors who opposesuch restrictions.

“Why would the federal government say,‘I’m going to trample the state’s right to rede-sign its Medicaid program, that it runs—thatsaves money?’”Mr. Cuomo said the other day.“I don’t even know what the political interestis they’re trying to protect.” He can thankDemocrats in Washington for tucking in thisMedicaid poison pill.

The New York budget allows Medicaid cutsto be postponed so the state doesn’t lose federaldollars. It also authorizes the state to borrow$11billion to finance its deficits. Congress has di-rected the Federal Reserve to set up a facility tolend to state and local governments, but in thecase of NewYork it will be financing a state gov-ernment that is spending as if the coronavirusdidn’t exist.

Coronavirus? Albanyspends as usual as it

awaits a federal bailout.

REVIEW & OUTLOOK

OPINION

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THEWALL STREET JOURNAL. Monday, April 13, 2020 | A17

T he intense measures andrestrictions to combatCovid-19 are a necessaryhardship to prevent awider and more devastat-

ing epidemic. But even after the epi-demic subsides, the virus will remaina threat until there is an effectivevaccine. America needs a plan to re-duce that threat, and business lead-ers can play a big part.

As employees return to work, per-haps as early as May, employers canoffer screening at their place of busi-ness. Rapid diagnosis and contain-ment will be a critical part of limit-ing spread. Bringing these activitiesinto the workplace would make themmore widespread and routine, andcan be done in conjunction with ef-forts to expand testing throughoutthe health-care system.

People who have signs of respira-tory illness should see a doctor. Butmany Covid-19 patients have mild orno symptoms. Without prompt test-ing to differentiate mild colds fromthe novel coronavirus, people couldspread the virus unknowingly. Porta-ble and relatively inexpensive testingplatforms can be brought to busi-nesses in mobile vans or deployedon-site and administered by profes-sionals. Testing companies are ramp-ing up supply, and businesses can

The Employer Will Test You Nowstart placing orders now.

This should be part of a broaderemployer effort to fight respiratoryillnesses in the workplace. Employershave long offered flu vaccines andpassed out hand sanitizer in the win-ter. This coronavirus should betreated similarly, with employers in-vested in protecting workers. Untilthere is a vaccine, preventingCovid-19 outbreaks will dependmostly on testing, isolation and trac-ing the contacts of people who testpositive. Workplace testing wouldcatch the disease where it spreads—especially for employees who can’twork remotely and risk infection bycoming in contact with many othersduring the day, such as store clerks.

Systems on the market are wellsuited to this mission. The GeneXpertby Cepheid is a highly sensitive ma-chine that uses a chemical processcalled polymerase chain reaction totest for infection by detecting the vi-ral RNA. This machine doesn’t re-quire complicated sample prep oreven a perfect swab of the nose andthroat. It can use a relatively smallsample of upper-airway secretions todiscriminate a positive test from anegative one precisely. Cepheid saidit is expanding its production of testkits and the machines that run them.Other testing systems in develop-ment may have the same potential.

For businesses that can’t easilybring testing to the work site, there

are other options. They can workwith companies developing homecollection tests, which would helpmake this technology availablesooner, or could contract with phar-macies running screening programs.States could sponsor collaborativetesting programs and allow small

businesses to join. Government couldfinancially support these efforts forhigher-risk businesses that may nothave capital available to expand test-ing, such as grocery stores.

Many testing platforms can alsodistinguish Covid-19 from the flu,which can help employers keep theirworkplace healthy. If testing for re-spiratory illnesses becomes a stan-dard business practice, medical com-panies will respond with moreinnovation in creating efficient andaccurate testing platforms. Compa-nies will invest in developing prod-ucts that are simple to use, such asswab sticks that screen for virusesand give an immediate, readable re-sult to the user. Greater demandfrom employers will increase supply

of these screening systems.Business leaders can help in other

ways. When someone is diagnosedwith Covid-19 and can be safely man-aged at home, the prudent course isto allow the patient to self-isolate forthe duration of the illness. Work-place testing programs should alsowork with the local health depart-ment to ensure contact tracing. Butthese employees need to be compen-sated for missed work, or many willbe reluctant to forfeit pay for a milddisease. Business leaders should ex-pand paid sick leave to all employeesfor the duration of a Covid-19 illness.Nobody should have to fear losing in-come for doing the right thing ofstaying at home to reduce thespread.

As the epidemic is brought undercontrol, and the country begins tocontemplate reopening, employerscan help Americans return to work—safely.

Dr. Gottlieb is a resident fellow atthe American Enterprise Instituteand was commissioner of the Foodand Drug Administration, 2017-19.He serves on the boards of Pfizer andIllumina and is a partner at the ven-ture-capital firm New Enterprise As-sociates. Ms. Silvis is a senior vicepresident at Tempus Inc. and wasdeputy director of the FDA’s medicaldevice center and the agency’s chiefof staff, 2017-19.

By Scott GottliebAnd Lauren Silvis

Reopening the economywill depend on companiesdiagnosing coronaviruscases in the workplace.

WeNeedPoliticians

In a PandemicBy George Gilder

OPINION

Biden-Cuomo Is the Way to Beat Trump

T he Democrats’ overriding im-perative is to oust DonaldTrump. Their other ambi-

tions—putting a woman on the ticket,the Green New Deal, Medicare forAll—should be put on hold. They areirrelevant to the purpose at hand.

The Democrats’ job isn’t to per-suade the already-persuaded but toattract and reassure the unwoke—themillions of independents, conserva-tive Democrats and discomfited Re-publicans who urgently seek a decent,plausible alternative to Mr. Trump.This election will be decided by theplague-on-both-their-houses center,by voters who now feel homeless.

Joe Biden will be the Democraticnominee. New York Gov. AndrewCuomo should be his running mate.The latest poll by Fox News showsMr. Biden running dead even againstMr. Trump, 42% to 42%, having lostan 8-point lead since the coronavi-rus’s arrival in America. Twentyyears after the hanging chads of Flor-

ida, the U.S. electorate is still split,with eerie precision, right down themiddle.

Mr. Biden has reason to worry. Butincluding Mr. Cuomo on the ticket—aleader who is being battle-vetted asstrong, calm, competent and bless-edly nonideological in the thick of thecrisis—is the best bet to draw enoughvotes from the disconsolate ambiva-lents to give Democrats the winningedge.

Sometimes in chess, you have tosacrifice your queen in the interestof toppling the opponent’s king—orexchanging her in the heat of battlefor a couple of bishops and a rook.Before the pandemic, Mr. Bidenpromised he would put a woman onthe ticket. It was one of those mis-takes of the moment that politiciansmake—like Teddy Roosevelt promis-ing right after the 1904 election notto run for another term, or John Mc-Cain naming Sarah Palin as his run-ning mate.

Mr. Biden would pay a price forgoing back on his promise. He couldmitigate the perceived betrayal bymaking clear that Democraticwomen would gain at least twobishops and two rooks—that a Bidenadministration would establish a fe-male team of rivals, favoring Eliza-beth Warren, Amy Klobuchar, Ka-mala Harris and other women forcabinet posts and top White Housejobs.

Would Mr. Cuomo accept the sec-ond spot? Should Mr. Biden lose in2020, the governor would be ideallysituated for a presidential run in2024. And if Mr. Biden wins? He is 77,and counting—almost certainly a

one-term president if elected, andtherefore an instant lame duck. Hecould offer the Biden-Cuomo partner-ship as a promise of continuity inpower. He could cast Mr. Cuomo in aCEO role, in charge of managing thedetails of government, while he, aspresident, would be a kind of chair-man, setting overall policy. Mr.Cuomo is a strong-minded, even au-tocratic character and might be diffi-cult to control. But he couldn’t over-rule the president. And Mr. Biden’schoosing a strong No. 2 would itselfbe a sign of strength.

Mr. Cuomo would be Mr. Biden’sheir apparent. That is one reason Mr.Cuomo might like the deal—and onereason Democratic women might findit intolerable. If Mr. Cuomo ran forpresident in 2024 and again in 2028,the Democrats could have no womanat the top of their ticket until 2032.

But we can’t see that far ahead.We proceed from day to day. Mr.Trump is now—the One Big Thing forDemocrats, the Carthago delenda est.If Biden-Cuomo wins, all sorts ofrooks and bishops and knights (in-cluding a vice-presidential spot on aCuomo ticket in 2024) will come intoplay once this crisis is past.

The hard dynamics of the 2020race are entirely uncertain. Mr.Trump’s performance as leader dur-ing this pandemic will be decisive—and will depend on outcomes still un-known.

The imperfect need not becomethe enemy of the good. To put itmildly, Mr. Biden’s age and appear-ance of fragility and weakness createshadows in voters’ minds. Mr.Cuomo’s strong presence on theticket, and in a Biden administration,would give millions of unhappy vot-ers sufficient hope to abandon theexhausting Mr. Trump and take achance on a Biden-Cuomo continuum.Those are the voters who will decidethe election in November.

Mr. Morrow is a senior fellow atthe Ethics and Public Policy Center.

By Lance Morrow

The former vice presidentpromised a female runningmate, but the world haschanged since then.

From the Toronto Star, March 20:

This horoscope column includessome suggestions that are contrary tothe advice to socially distance or self-quarantine which have been urged bylocal health agencies, the provincialand Canadian governments. That isbecause these horoscopes were writ-ten a few weeks ago, before thesewarnings were issued.

To allow us to focus on reportingthe news, some aspects of putting to-gether a news site routinely takeplace a couple of weeks in advance.. . . Over the next few weeks, you willnotice the tone of our horoscope col-umn will change to reflect the timewe find ourselves living in. In themeantime, please follow the advice ofpublic health agencies and the gov-ernment first.

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T he U.S. economy has been cra-tered less by the coronavirusthan by the response to it—

driven by the undemocratic ideathat “science” should rule, evenwhen much of the science and thedata behind it remain in dispute.

We’re told in this plague yearthat politicians have no role—in es-sence, that the people have no realrights against consensus science,which can demand that we forfeitour liberties and suspend the Con-stitution. Political leaders, electedto exercise judgment on our behalf,must defer to doctors, because theviral threat is addressable onlythrough medical expertise.

Yet since many liken fighting thecoronavirus to war, we should re-member that in war admirals andgenerals defer to civilian author-ity—to the president, as commanderin chief, on matters of strategy andto Congress on matters of budget.This is not a design flaw but how afree people governs itself, even in aperilous crisis. It is how we bringthe largest possible perspective todecision-making.

The demands of health-care ex-perts are not greater than the de-mands of the economy, for a verysimple reason: The health-care sys-tem is not separate from the econ-omy but a crucial part of it. Thehealth-care system saves lives; theeconomy provides everything weneed to live. The damage beingdone to the economy—if sustained—could easily cost more lives world-wide than the coronavirus.

There are not, and never will be,scientific answers to all publicproblems. Scientific expertise andspecialization inform good policy,but they should never be the finalword. To navigate successfully be-tween competing interests or com-peting calamities, between war andpeace, and even between deadlypandemics and deadly economic de-pressions, we need politics—andpoliticians.

The American system of govern-ment asserts these truths: that thepeople have an ineradicable right togovern themselves, that politics ishow we exercise our free will, andthat rather than reflexively defer-ring to experts, we should defer asmuch as possible to the principlesof freedom and common sense.

Common sense says that if a dis-ease threatens to kill millions of el-derly people already afflicted bydisease, those people should be se-questered and protected. But therest of us should proceed with ourwork, taking prudent precautions,even if some of us die anyway.

Anthony Fauci is undoubtedly afine physician, but he is not in a po-sition to cure what ails us. We arebeset by more than a virus; we arebeset by bad ideas about what gov-ernment can and should do, andabout who should be making crucialdecisions.

It may be a hard truth for manyto grant, especially because somany in the media hate the presi-dent with a fever that itself seems acontagion, but an optimistic, patri-otic, practical-minded politician likeDonald Trump, who over the pastfew years presided over a period ofsingular economic success, is ex-actly the man to provide the cor-rect, if undoubtedly painful, cure forthe current crisis. We may not envyhim his decisions, but he is in thebest position to make them.

Mr. Gilder is author of “Life AfterGoogle: The Fall of Big Data and theRise of the Blockchain Economy.”

The conceit that everyonemust bow to ‘science’ isnot only undemocratic butdangerous in its own right.

A Medical Family Faces the Coronavirus

E lmhurst Hospital in the NewYork City borough of Queens isground zero in America’s coro-

navirus pandemic. Lines of worriedpeople, including many who havesymptoms consistent with Covid-19,queue in front of this 545-bed facilitywhere 13 people died in a single 24-hour period. Photographer NancySiesel was taking pictures outsidethe hospital when surgeon MelissaFana, noticing Ms. Siesel’s blue ban-dana wrapped around her face, calledher to her car to offer an N95 facemask—the preferred, ubiquitouslysold-out form of protection.

Dr. Fana, 42, is chief of breastsurgery at Southside Hospital, a pri-vately owned facility in the Long Is-land city of Bay Shore, N.Y. Most ofher family works in health care.“Both of my parents immigratedhere from the Dominican Republic,”

she says in a phone interview.“There are four of us siblings. Myolder sister, Janice, is a registerednurse at Elmhurst Hospital in theemergency room. My younger sister,Roseann Perez, is a board-certifiedchild psychiatrist. She works at ur-gent care in Queens Hospital Center.Her husband is also a registerednurse who works at the emergencyroom at Elmhurst Hospital.” Rose-ann, whose employer is part of thepublic New York system, is out sickwith Covid-19.

Dr. Fana worried that Janice wastreating Covid-19 patients withoutappropriate protective gear, so shebought packages of N95s at wildlyinflated prices on eBay and Amazonand through back channels. She wasdelivering them to Janice and hercolleagues when she ran into Ms.Siesel.

The doctor invited the photogra-pher to accompany her inside thehospital. Her photos are reminiscentof the 1971 film “The AndromedaStrain,” in which government scien-tists in Hazmat suits race to try tocontain an alien micro-organismthey don’t know enough about.

In his daily press briefings NewYork Gov. Andrew Cuomo often be-moans the fragmented nature of thestate’s hospital organizations, bifur-cated between public and private,

some jam-packed like Elmhurst whileothers remain under capacity.

Dr. Fana tells a tale of two hospi-tals, of two different worlds. “I’m nota frontline worker,” she says. “A per-son in my position has guilt aboutmy siblings being frontline workers.I work for a large health system thathas been excellent. They’ve done anexcellent job at providing protectionfor their employees and excellentworkflow recommendations sothere’s not a lot of mystery on whatto do and how to proceed and howto protect yourself and your pa-tients. My sister doesn’t.”

So Dr. Fana “spends money I don’thave” to buy dozens of N95 maskson the black market. It’s not uncom-mon for them to cost $5 to $20apiece. Until January, they sold forabout 58 cents.

According to Dr. Fana, physiciansgather in private Facebook groups todiscuss how to source black-marketmasks. “I wouldn’t even consider thatto be supreme price gouging. I’ve justseen in the past few weeks on Ama-zon and eBay selling a 10-pack ofmasks, sometimes two 3-M N95masks—or not even N95 masks, justparticulate masks—for as much as

$100 or $200 for two masks. For $100apiece, which is unfathomable.”

Online retailers have attempted tocrack down on coronavirus pricegouging. But vendors are clever.They delete their listings immedi-ately after making a sale.

The crisis has prompted Dr. Fanato question her basic assumptionsabout the country’s preparedness. “Inever imagined that I would have topurchase N95 masks. I envisionedthat if we really were hit hard withthis virus, the government would re-lease PPE”—personal protectiveequipment—“to society.”

But the personal stress is themost pronounced. “My younger sis-ter is Covid-positive. The circum-stances leading to that may havebeen lack of proper PPE. Fortunatelyshe didn’t deteriorate. She isn’t criti-cally ill. She’s 40 years old; her oxy-gen saturation was decreasing. Wewere totally terrified. We wereworking in health care but she washome, trying to get better, and Igrew very concerned for our remain-ing family members who work inmedicine.”

Now, Dr. Fana has been deployedto cover Southside’s medicine uniton the frontline.

Mr. Rall is a political cartoonist,columnist and author of the graphicbiography “Bernie: Revised 2020Edition.”

By Ted Rall

Dr. Fana, a surgeon, comeswith masks for her sister, ahospital nurse. Anothersister contracted Covid-19.

NANCY

SIES

EL

Surgeon Melissa Fana (left) delivers masks to nurse Janice Fana, her sister.

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A18 | Monday, April 13, 2020 THEWALL STREET JOURNAL.

MEXICO CITY—Many LatinAmerican countries are an-nouncing hefty support pack-ages to keep businesses afloatduring the economic downturnfrom the coronavirus. ButMexico’s nationalist leader isgiving the private sector thecold shoulder, leading to grow-ing friction between the gov-ernment and business in theU.S.’s largest trading partner.

President Andrés ManuelLópez Obrador has ruled out

WORLD NEWS

sanctions during the pandemicand a reaffirmation of solidar-ity within the European Union,whose unity has been strainedby the crisis.

Yet nothing he has saidsince the start of the pan-demic has stirred as much in-terest as his use of traditionalsymbols, especially his bless-ing of Rome and the world onthe rainy night of March 27,when he stood alone in anempty St. Peter’s Square, hold-ing up a gold monstrance con-taining the Blessed Sacrament.

That ceremony also fea-tured a “miraculous crucifix,”which normally hangs in aRome church, and which devo-tees carried through thestreets during an outbreak ofthe plague in the 16th Century.

Some say such relics can bepowerful signs of hope thatresonate even beyond theranks of believers.

“The Catholic Church is themost stable institution in theworld; it’s got a 2,000-yearhistory of continuity,” said theRev. John O’Malley, a churchhistorian at Georgetown Uni-versity. “It’s lived through allkinds of upheavals and some-how or other has survived. Sothis is not the end of every-thing. The church is a goodsymbol of that.”

—Ian Lovett contributedto this article.

tice and the environment.The pope observed a long

silence in lieu of a homily atMass on Sunday, but after-ward, in his traditional Eastermessage “to the city [of Rome]and the world,” the pope con-soled victims of Covid-19, therespiratory disease caused bythe novel coronavirus, andthanked health-care workers.

The pope called for forgive-ness or reduction of the debtowed by poorer countries, therelaxation of international

Jenkins said the effect couldbe different in developingcountries.

“In Africa or Asia, you couldimagine an upsurge of healingmovements and healingchurches when all kinds of sec-ular medicine have failed,” hesaid, recalling the rise of suchmovements in Africa duringthe 1918 influenza pandemic.

In another view, the lock-downs are an opportunity forChristian leaders to stresstheir teachings on social jus-

Yet history suggests thatthe devastating effects of thepandemic, on the economy aswell as public health, couldweaken religious faith in someparts of the world.

“For the West, this could bea really catastrophic blow forinstitutional religion,” saidPhilip Jenkins, a professor ofhistory at Baylor University,who noted that the 2008 eco-nomic crisis was followed by asharp decline in religious affil-iation among Americans. Mr.

over the internet.In New York City, epicenter

of the U.S. coronavirus out-break, Cardinal Timothy Dolanpreached in a near-empty St.Patrick’s Cathedral, focusingon the theme of the emptytomb discovered by Jesus’friends on Easter morning.

“We hear plenty aboutemptiness these days, don’twe, thanks to the dreadedpandemic. ... Empty chairs athome where those we cher-ished use to sit with us. Emptychurches,” Cardinal Dolansaid, but concluded: “Empti-ness might be a blessing, not acurse, as the God of the livingfills us with light, meaning, re-solve, hope and life.”

This year’s Easter wasmarked not only by the un-precedented circumstance ofchurches closed world-widebut by uncertainty over thepandemic’s duration and itsconsequences for society, in-cluding religious life.

“We do not know what willbe our life after the lock-down,” said Bishop BroderickPabillo, leader of the CatholicArchdiocese of Manila, in hisEaster message on Friday. “Wewill rise up, hopefully not togo back to our former way oflife...We will rise up withgreater trust in our God, whonever leaves us and who sus-tains us in difficult times.”

ROME—Celebrating Easterin the shadow of the coronavi-rus pandemic, Pope Francis onSunday proclaimed what hecalled a “contagion of hope,”after he offered Mass in anear-empty St. Peter’s Basilica.

Speaking before just a hand-ful of people, the pontiff calledfor the “victory of love over theroot of evil, a victory that doesnot bypass suffering and death,but passes through them, open-ing a path in the abyss, trans-forming evil into good.”

Similar scenes played out inchurches large and smallthroughout the world.

Easter, which Catholics andProtestants observed on Sun-day and Orthodox Christianswill celebrate on April 19, is theholiest day on the Christiancalendar, when the faithful be-lieve that Jesus rose from dead.

Under restrictions imposedin response to the pandemic,millions marked the day inisolation at home, unable toreceive Communion but inmany cases watching theirpriests or ministers on TV or

produces nonpartisan analysisfor members of Congress.

But the move to encouragewild animal sales abroad,while banned at home, “couldspread the risk to global mar-kets,” the report said.

China is a major exporter ofmedicines and medical equip-ment, but the new tax incen-tives made no mention ofgoods in short supply duringthe pandemic, including per-sonal protective equipment formedical workers.

China’s Finance Ministrydidn’t respond to a request tocomment. Neither did the Chi-nese Embassy in Washington,D.C. Many countries, includingChina and the U.S., have putexport restrictions on medical-equipment exports due toglobal shortages.

China’s exports of wild ani-mals and animal parts are mi-nuscule compared with thevast volumes of goods Chinaships abroad. China’s live rep-tile exports—which are almostentirely edible reptiles—go pri-marily to Vietnam, with morethan $1 million of sales in totalduring January and Februaryof this year, according to Chinacustoms statistics tabulated byTrade Data Monitor.

Even small amounts of ex-ports could pose a risk, shouldwild animals prove to be thesource of pandemics, as someChinese reports suggest. TheU.S. was the biggest importerof China’s animal products usedin pharmaceuticals, such ascivet and beaver, buying around$865,000 over January andFebruary 2020, according tothe data.

Chinese authorities haveshut down domestic wild-ani-mal traders on fears theirgoods sparked the coronaviruspandemic. Now officials areoffering tax incentives to themultibillion-dollar animal-products industry to shipsome of the creatures over-seas, according to Chinesegovernment documents.

China’s National People’sCongress on Feb. 24 imposed aban on the sale and consump-tion of wild animals in thecountry. “The prominent prob-lem of recklessly eating wildanimals and its potential riskto public health have arousedwide public concern,” aspokesman said at the time,according to state media.

Less than a month later,China’s Ministry of Financeand tax authority said theywould raise value-added taxrebates on nearly 1,500 Chi-nese products, including offer-ing a 9% rebate on the exportof animal products such as edi-ble snakes and turtles, primatemeat, beaver and civet musk,and rhino horns, a Chinesegovernment document shows.

China’s economy is strug-gling amid a global downturnand a prolonged trade warwith the U.S. The govern-ment’s new tax incentives aretied to a broad array of ex-ports, designed to supportChinese industries from steeland construction to agricul-tural products, according to areport by the U.S. Congressio-nal Research Service, which

BY KATE O’KEEFFEAND EVA XIAO

Beijing Offers TaxBreaks for Exports ofSome Wild Animals

BY FRANCIS X. ROCCA

World Christians Mark Easter in IsolationPope Francis, holdingMass in St. Peter’sBasilica, proclaims a‘contagion of hope’

Pope Francis celebrated Easter Mass on Sunday in a near-empty St. Peter’s Basilica.

EVANDRO

INET

TI/ZUMAPR

ESS

China said it would offer tax incentives on the export of someChinese products including civet musk. Above, a civet cat.

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break can formally be declaredexhausted. Aid agencieswarned Congo could now facea “triple emergency” as au-thorities dealt with lingeringcases of Ebola even as it mobi-lizes for a surge in the corona-virus alongside the instabilityand violence that has rackedswaths of the country formore than a decade.

Congo on Sunday reportedthat the number of confirmedcoronavirus cases rose to 234with 20 deaths, just a fractionof the numbers in wealthier na-tions like the U.S., now the epi-center of the pandemic. Yet thecountry has only 65 ventilatorsfor 80 million people spreadover a land mass the size ofWestern Europe. The govern-ment is facing an ultimatumfrom health workers to im-prove their pay or risk a strikeby mid-April. Amid dwindlingexports earnings, Congo, theworld’s top source of cobalt,could tumble into a deep reces-sion, the World Bank haswarned. Cobalt is a key ingre-dient in electric-car batteries.

The government is in talkswith the International Mone-tary Fund for an emergencybailout.

Congolese doctors, many ofwhom have already shiftedfrom working on Ebola to thecoronavirus, say their coun-try’s experience offers les-sons—and hope—for a world

bracing for the next stage ofthe coronavirus pandemic.

Last year, the spread of Eb-ola seemed unstoppable inCongo, a nation bedeviled byconflict, poverty and corrup-tion. The infection is less con-tagious but considerably moredeadly than coronavirus, with66% of cases resulting indeath. Lengthy experiencewith Ebola and other infec-tious disease emergencies likeHIV/Aids and malaria is one ofthe reasons why a cluster of

African authorities are betterprepared for disease epidem-ics than some outsiders mightassume. “You cannot call your-self a soldier if you have neverbeen to war,” said Dr. DiafukaSaila-Ngita. “We have been towar with this disease with oursmall army.”

Halting the spread has beena punishing grind that fre-quently lurched into violence.Health-care workers foundthemselves targeted—both bymilitias that have ravaged thearea for nearly 25 years and

by locals who thought theywere part of a Western plot.

At one point Doctors With-out Borders and other foreignaid groups pulled their staffsout of the towns as treatmentcenters were torched.

One of the women who re-mained was Pamela Kiyangal-iya, part of a small band ofsurvivors-turned-health-work-ers called the Guardians of theIll, who became first respond-ers to Ebola patients in Congo.Their previous infectionsmeant they were the only peo-ple who could treat the illsafely.

“The people of Butembo fi-nally understood the Eb-ola virus was real when therewere a lot of deaths amongus,” said Ms. Kiyangaliya, whotreated hundreds of infectedpeople after she recoveredfrom the disease. “The mostimportant thing was to inte-grate us survivors into the re-sponse and involve the pastorsat church to communicate pro-tective measures.”

Ms. Kiyangaliya has re-turned to her old job as a hair-dresser, running a salon fromher home in Butembo.

“We were supposed to becelebrating, but now I’m wor-ried,” she said. “What are theauthorities doing about it? Westill don’t know.”

—Julia Steerscontributed to this article.

Modeste Bakwanamaha wasexpecting to spend EasterSunday leading the Demo-cratic Republic of Congo incelebration as he formally de-clared the end of the world’ssecond-most-deadly Ebola out-break. Instead, the mayor ofBeni, the town at the epicenterof a two-year battle against adisease that has left almost2,300 people dead, spent hisday visiting the bodies of thefirst new Ebola victims in al-most two months at a clinicthat has already been repur-posed for fighting a new en-emy: coronavirus.

The World Health Organiza-tion unexpectedly reportedtwo new cases of Ebola in Benion Friday and Sunday, dashinghopes that the outbreak,which began in August 2018,could formally be declaredover on Sunday after two in-cubation periods, or 42 days.The news is a blow for thedoctors, government officialsand volunteers who have bat-tled the first Ebola outbreakinside an active conflict zoneperched next to the porousborders of three nations.

The setback, which under-scores how difficult it is toeradicate a virus, means it willlikely take another couple ofmonths to be sure the out-

BY JOE PARKINSONAND NICHOLAS BARIYO

Congo Faces Setback in Ebola FightThe outbreak isn’t yet at an end. Above, an Ebola treatment center in Bunia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, in November 2018.

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Aid agencies warnthe country couldnow face a surge inthe coronavirus.

roughly $1,000 each to house-holds and businesses withfewer than 10 employees.

The moves stand in con-trast to other Latin Americancountries embarking on moreaggressive stimulus to counterthe economic hit.

“The authorities seem to beunderestimating the economicimpact of the viral pandemicand the need for a deeper re-orientation of fiscal policy,” Al-berto Ramos, Goldman Sachs’schief economist for Latin Amer-ica, said in a note to clients.

shop, this dry cleaner, to allthe people who earn their liv-ing day-to-day, with their ser-vices, with their efforts,” saidCarlos Salazar, president ofthe business chamber.

So far, Mr. López Obradorhasn’t agreed to any of the pro-posals, business leaders say. Ina speech Sunday laying out hisplan to counter the pandemic’shit, he ruled out taking on moredebt or any big jump in spend-ing, including private-sectorcredit. Instead, he offered sev-eral million small loans of

As measures restrictingwork and mobility begin tocause steep job losses, thecountry’s leading businesschamber recently asked thegovernment to offer a large-scale program of federallyguaranteed loans to keep work-ers employed, and to defertaxes and employer social-se-curity contributions until theworst of the pandemic passes.

“We’ve tried to give oursupport to this problem, tothis beauty salon, to this littlestationery store, this corner

low in relations between Mex-ico’s leader and much of itsbusiness community. Mr. LópezObrador has already cast doubton the security of capital in-vestments by canceling largeprivate-sector projects, includ-ing a new airport under con-struction outside Mexico Cityand a beer plant in the north-ern state of Baja California.

Business owners worry thatwithout government support,Mexico’s economy could sufferthrough a deeper downturn asa result of the pandemic.

tax breaks or other kinds ofhelp for businesses, sayingthose policies amount to ahandout to the rich. Instead,he wants to focus the govern-ment’s aid on the country’spoor, including Mexico’s vastunderground economy ofstreet vendors.

“Why do the poor comefirst? Because we must showhumanity, we must show soli-darity,” Mr. López Obradorsaid Tuesday in his morningpress conference.

The comments mark a new

BY ROBBIE WHELAN

Mexican Leader Resists Economic Relief for Businesses

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© 2020 Dow Jones & Company. All Rights Reserved. * * THEWALL STREET JOURNAL. Monday, April 13, 2020 | B1

TECHNOLOGY: FACEBOOK’S AD RATES FALL AS VIRUS CRIMPS SPENDING B4

LastWeek: S&P 2789.82 À 12.10% S&PFIN À 19.12% S&P IT À 10.59% DJTRANS À 12.75% WSJ$ IDX g 1.65% LIBOR3M 1.219 NIKKEI 19498.50 À 9.42% Seemore atWSJ.com/Markets

BUSINESS&FINANCE

concern than the debilitatingeffect on workers of a longspell of unemployment, thethreat of faster deglobaliza-tion, the potential politicalpressure for more govern-ment spending and highertaxes, let alone the grandscale of the debt being takenon by both the public andprivate sectors.

But studies have shownthat the impact of big bear

markets can linger in theminds of those hit hard bythem long after they havesunk into the history booksfor everyone else. In theshort run, the scale of theloss is also likely to encour-age caution among thosewith less financial experi-ence about returning to themarket, just as it did in2009.

“Younger people are more

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Prashay Deo, a 29-year-oldin Austin, Texas, is amongthose considering tech giantsfor his next opportunity. Untillast month, Mr. Deo worked asa city launcher for the buzzySan Francisco rental startupSonder, an Airbnb-like com-pany that last year hit a bil-lion-dollar valuation. Mr. Deotraveled the world, helping toquickly hire staffers andlaunch rentals in places suchas Dubai and Vancouver, Brit-ish Columbia. The position“was a dream come true,” Mr.Deo said. Last month, he waslet go with hundreds of others.

PleaseturntopageB4

tional résumés, a sign thecompany may be looking tohire additional students, saidDrew Pascarella, associatedean of M.B.A. programs atthe school. The school is send-ing 12 M.B.A.s from the classof 2020 to Amazon. The com-pany says as of April 10 it had20,000 open tech jobs.

“Given the level of uncer-tainty we face, working forApple, with its $200 billioncash pile, or Amazon, whichcan deliver the world to a so-cially distanced customerbase, seems more comfortingthan working for a startupburning cash,” he said.

teams as it tries to combatmisinformation and focus onsocial issues such as electionintegrity, said Miranda Kal-inowski, a vice president of re-cruiting at the social-network-ing company.

Apple hired aggressivelyduring the financial crisis, cur-rent and former employeessay, and Chief Executive TimCook has indicated in commu-nication with staff that it willdo so again, according to peo-ple close to the company.

Amazon in March reachedout to Cornell University’s SCJohnson Graduate School ofManagement, requesting addi-

nology recruiters say.“This is a great time” for

some of the industry’s biggestplayers, said Martha Heller,chief executive of tech recruit-ing firm Heller Search Associ-ates, noting that stability is aselling point now. “The big,500-pound gorilla has alwayscome in and hired fromsmaller, less-stable compa-nies—you’re just seeing thebeginning of an increase inthat.”

Facebook is hiring design-ers, researchers and engineer-ing talent, along with profes-sionals to work in its policy,legal and global operations

Inc.’s Google and Amazon.comInc. are pursuing software en-gineers, data scientists, prod-uct designers and others.Facebook Inc. says usage hasspiked during the coronaviruscrisis and it is committed topolicing platforms ahead ofthe 2020 presidential election,so it will hire more than10,000 people this year forcritical roles on its productand engineering teams.

The current moment maygive well-capitalized tech com-panies a chance to poachskilled workers who until re-cently were gravitating tosmaller upstarts, veteran tech-

The biggest players in techare hoovering up talent in themidst of the coronavirus pan-demic.

As some of Silicon Valley’smost-promising startups layoff workers and others freezehiring, established companiesincluding Apple Inc., Alphabet

BY CHIP CUTTERAND PATRICK THOMAS

Large Tech Companies Hunt for TalentPandemic sets offsearch for softwareengineers, scientistsat Apple, Google

per with close to 30% of themarket. The sprawling Albanyfactory, one of six that maketoilet paper, is P&G’s second-largest U.S. plant. It makesproducts that generate roughly$1.3 billion in annual sales, ac-cording to the Georgia Manu-facturing Alliance.

The factory has ramped upproduction by 20% of both toi-let paper and paper towels,even as it revamps its opera-tions to keep its roughly 600workers healthy. Among othermeasures, it has instituted pre-shift temperature checks andstaggered start times. P&G de-clined to comment on whetheremployees have tested positive.

The plant sits in a midsizetown of 75,000 people ravagedby the new coronavirus. Morethan 1,150 people have testedpositive in Dougherty County,which includes Albany, and 72

have died as of Sunday. Morepeople have died in the countythan in Fulton County, whichincludes Atlanta and has a pop-ulation more than 10 timeslarger.

Health officials trace thespread of coronavirus in Albanyto a late-February funeral thatdrew more than 100 mourners,including a man who later diedof Covid-19, the illness tied tothe new coronavirus.

In mid-March, Albany MayorBo Dorough received word fromcounty health officials that afew residents had tested posi-tive for coronavirus. Officialsthought the cases were isolatedinstances. “We thought it wasan anomaly,” Mr. Dorough said.“But after those three deaths,things just started to cascadedownward and it hasn’tstopped since.”

The community and the fac-

tory have been through roughstretches. Albany has amongthe state’s highest rates ofcrime and poverty. In 2018, ahurricane wiped out power fordays to thousands in the com-munity. A year before that, atornado leveled the warehouseat the P&G complex.

Around the same time Mr.Dorough was learning of thefirst deaths in his town, execu-tives at P&G’s Cincinnati head-quarters were strategizingabout how to ramp up produc-tion. The company had alreadymobilized safety plans in theU.S. that it had previously putin place in China, the com-pany’s second-largest market.

“I started to realize, thisisn’t going to skip over us,”said Rick McLeod, who over-sees product supply for P&G’sfamily care unit, which includestoilet paper. “There were cues

that this is going to be a bigdeal. Then the floodgatesopened and everyone realizedthe seriousness.”

The state of Georgia and theU.S. Department of HomelandSecurity consider the plant anessential business, so it has re-mained open as offices, shopsand restaurants close through-out the rest of the state.

Demand for toilet paper shotup in the outbreak’s initialweeks, doubling in the secondweek of March, according toNielsen.

Before the surge, Americansspent roughly $9 billion a yearon toilet paper. The internetflooded with memes and jokesabout toilet-tissue scarcity, aswell as tales of serious panic.P&G added a prerecorded mes-sage to Charmin’s toll-free linespecifically for people hunting

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Almost every day an em-ployee at Procter & GambleCo.’s plant in Albany, Ga., a townwith one of the nation’s highestrates of coronavirus, learns thatsomeone close has become seri-ously ill or died of Covid-19.

There is little time for conso-lation between co-workers. Theyare all racing to churn out oneof the most in-demand productsin America: toilet paper.

“It’s a lot quieter here than itused to be,” said John Patterson,a 16-year veteran of the plant,which makes Charmin toilet pa-per alongside Bounty paper tow-els. Workers, who must stay 6feet apart, console one anotherover headsets and on video calls.

P&G, which produces house-hold staples from Tide deter-gent to Pampers diapers, is thebiggest U.S. maker of toilet pa-

BY SHARON TERLEP

AsVirus Impact Grows, Factory Keeps GoingP&G makes nearly 30% of the U.S.’s toilet paper. Its plant in Albany, Ga., has raised production even as it tries to protect its workers in a city hard hit by the new coronavirus.

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INSIDESTREETWISE | By James Mackintosh

Downturn Threatens to Scar a GenerationThe coro-

navirus pan-demic willeventually bebehind us,maybe soon,

maybe not. Either way, thescars will long persist for anentire generation of inves-tors and future managersnow living through what israpidly becoming the deep-est downturn since WorldWar II.

Investors in their forma-tive years have just discov-ered that stocks come withbig risks attached. Unlessthere is a rapid recovery—the V-shaped economicbounce many are hopingfor—these investors couldtake 2020 as their referencepoint for bad news and havea lower appetite for riskthroughout their lives. Thatmeans holding less in stockbut also that as they advancethrough the corporate ranksthey put less companymoney into uncertain proj-ects, hitting future invest-ment; fewer may opt to takethe big financial risk of set-ting up their own businesses.

This sort of financial scar-ring is less of an immediate

sensitive to economic newsbecause their experience ismuch shorter than for anolder person who has beenthrough bad times before,”says Stefan Nagel, a financeprofessor at the Universityof Chicago Booth School ofBusiness. “It’s this youngergeneration that over the nextyear will tend to be morepessimistic about returnsand risky assets and choosemore conservative portfo-lios.”

Prof. Nagel and UlrikeMalmendier, a finance andeconomics professor at theUniversity of California,Berkeley, also found thatlong-term attitudes towardrisk are affected by the per-sonal experience of investingwhen younger. Those whostarted out with years ofpoor equity performancetended to avoid stocks, whilethose who grew up in bettertimes were less influencedby a turn for the worse inmarkets.

It isn’t just private inves-tors whose approach to riskis shaped by early personalexperience. Prof. Malmendierand others found that chief

PleaseturntopageB5

CyAfter crashes such as in 1929, 1974 and 2000, it can take stocksa long time to regain their prior peaks.

S&P500,monthly

Source: Prof. Robert Shiller, Yale UniversityNote: Data are plotted on a logarithmic scale to show changes in the index proportional to its value.

5

25

125

625

3125

1900 ’20 ’40 ’60 ’80 2000 ’20

The $2 trillion stimuluspackage passed last month in-cluded everything airlines re-quested, and some restrictionsthey find difficult to swallow.

The aid offer includes $50billion, half in direct payrollassistance and half in loansand loan guarantees. But the$25 billion to pay salaries andbenefits this summer comeswith more strings than thelargest airlines were hopingfor. Treasury Secretary StevenMnuchin told chief executivesof the largest airlines Fridaythat 30% of that money is tobe repaid and that they willneed to offer stock warrantson about 10% of the loanamount, which thegovernment could convert toshares later.

That surprised some airlineindustry officials who hadbelieved the money would bein the form of grants, accord-ing to people familiar withthose discussions. Airline ex-ecutives spent the weekenddiscussing concerns with anindustry trade group and seek-ing to negotiate adjustmentsto those conditions with theTreasury Department, federalofficials and airline industryleaders said.

Treasury Department offi-cials defended the terms ofthe assistance.

“We’ve attempted to treateveryone equitably and do notintend to get into individualnegotiations that would re-quire changes across themethodology,” Brent McIntosh,the Treasury undersecretaryfor international affairs, saidin an interview Sunday.

Other conditions to the aidinclude a block on laying offworkers or slashing salariesuntil October, and require-ments that airlines maintain acertain level of service to thecities in their networks. Theymust also refrain from buyingback shares or paying divi-dends, and agree to limits onexecutive compensation. Air-lines haven’t raised objectionsto those requirements.

Unions that pushed for pay-roll grants said requiring someof the funds to be repaid couldlead to layoffs and burden air-lines with more debt, makingtheir path to recovery moreuncertain.

“This is wrong, this is notwhat the bill intended,” saidSara Nelson, president of theunion that represents flightattendants at United AirlinesHoldings Inc. and severalother airlines.

Mr. McIntosh, who is coor-dinating the Treasury’s airlineassistance program, disagreedwith that interpretation. “It’sclearly consistent with the lawCongress passed,” he said.

The law gives the Treasurysecretary discretion to deter-mine what constitutes appro-priate compensation, and spe-cifically refers to warrants,options, preferred stock, debtsecurities, notes or other fi-nancial instruments.

To determine what the gov-PleaseturntopageB2

BY ALISON SIDERAND KATE DAVIDSON

AirlinesHesitateOverTermsOfAid

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B2 | Monday, April 13, 2020 THEWALL STREET JOURNAL.

INDEX TO BUSINESSESThese indexes cite notable references to most parent companies and businesspeoplein today’s edition. Articles on regional page inserts aren’t cited in these indexes.

AAbbott Laboratories...A6Alibaba Group HoldingR2

Ally Financial..............B9Alphabet .....A4,B1,B4,R2Amazon.com...............B1Apple...........................B1AT&T.......................R5,R8

BBaidu...........................R2Bank of America...A4,B9Bausch Health............A7Berkshire Hathaway...A7Berry Global Group.....A7

CCellular OperatorsAssociation of India.R4

Chevron.......................A4Cisco Systems.............R2Citigroup......................B9CrowdStrike Holdings.B4

DDelta Air Lines ...........B2Didi Chuxing TechnologyR3

E - GElectronic Arts............B4Energizer Holdings.....A7EOG Resources ...........B3Exxon Mobil...........A4,B3Facebook...........A4,B1,B4FedEx...........................A1

General Electric..........A1General Motors.....A7,R3Goldman Sachs GroupA4, B9

GoPro...........................A7H - I

Hasbro.........................B4Huawei TechnologiesR1,R4,R9

Huawei Technologies ......Intel.............................R8InterDigital..................R2International BusinessMachines...................R3

JJ.B. Hunt TransportServices....................A4

Johnson & Johnson....A4JPMorgan Chase ..A4,B9

M - NMarriott InternationalA4

Mattel..........................B4Microsoft.....................R2Morgan Stanley..........B9Motorola Solutions ..A10Nippon Telegraph &Telephone............R8,R9

Nokia......................R2,R4O- Q

Occidental Petroleum.B3Parsley Energy............B3Pivotal Commware.....R5

Pony.ai.........................R3Procter & Gamble.......B1Qualcomm..............R2,R9

SSamsung ElectronicsR3,R9

SemiconductorManufacturingInternational.............R3

Service Corp.International...........B10

Smithfield Foods........B3Sprint ..........................R5Starbucks....................A1

TTaiwan SemiconductorManufacturing..........R3

Telefon L.M. EricssonR2,R4,R5

T-Mobile US...........R5,R8Twitter ........................B4

UUnited Airlines............B1UnitedHealth Group...A4

VVerizon CommunicationsR5,R8

Vistabeam...................R8W

Wells Fargo.................B9Z

ZTE..............................R4Zynga...........................B4

INDEX TO PEOPLE

BUSINESS & FINANCE

some of which hadn’t yet re-ceived terms—said some air-line officials were taken abackby the terms offered to themajor airlines. “There wassome surprise there would bea loan component of a grantelement of the law,” Mr. No-vak said.

The Treasury Departmentsaid Friday that small airlinesin line for less than $100 mil-lion won’t need to provide fi-nancial stakes or repayment inexchange for grants.

Even with governmentfunds, airlines includingUnited and Delta Air LinesInc. had warned they willlikely emerge from the crisissmaller. Travel demand hasbeen decimated as the re-sponse to the coronavirus pan-demic has left many people

homebound, and governmentshave closed off internationalborders. Passenger volume hasdropped 95%.

U.S. airlines have slashedflying by some 70%, and theremaining flights are oftennearly empty. Thousands ofairline workers have volun-teered for unpaid leave.

Providing airlines a cash in-fusion has been contentioussince airlines first raised theidea in March.

Airlines wanted to avoidthe bureaucratic hang-ups thatmade it difficult for them toaccess government loans after9/11, and they wanted to avoidtaking on more debt thatcould cripple them when theimmediate crisis passes.

Labor unions representingflight attendants, pilots and

other aviation workers cham-pioned the grants, arguingthat they would protect work-ers and keep jobs intact.

Republicans and some Dem-ocrats were initially reluctantto sign off on what they per-ceived to be a bailout. The fi-nal approved wording of thelegislation was precise andfiercely debated, with lawmak-ers settling on a provision thatwould allow Mr. Mnuchin totake a financial stake in air-lines in exchange for grants—but not require his doing so.

Unions and some lawmak-ers had urged Mr. Mnuchin notto demand equity stakes inairlines, fearing that suchterms would be so onerousthat airlines might refuse themoney—something that couldlead to layoffs or bankruptcies.

ernment should receive forproviding payroll assistance,Treasury Department officialsanalyzed what portion of thefunds would ultimately benefitU.S. taxpayers—for example,through taxes collected on thefunds and savings on unem-ployment benefits that wouldhave gone to laid-off airlineworkers.

Mr. McIntosh said Treasuryofficials determined that thegovernment should receivecompensation for about 30%of the aid. Treasury officialsplanned to have further dis-cussions with some airlinesMonday. Once companies de-cide whether to accept thegovernment terms, officialsexpect they can get money tocarriers quickly.

The agreements would stip-ulate the conditions underwhich warrants would convertto stock, but officials were stillin discussions with airlinesover the weekend about theexact contours of those terms.Treasury Department officialsweren’t inclined to make sub-stantive changes to otherterms.

George Novak, president ofthe National Air Carrier Asso-ciation, a trade group thatrepresents low cost carriers—

ContinuedfrompageB1

U.S. carriers have slashed flying by some 70%. Above, a ticket counter in Salt Lake City in late March.

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their shifts. Start times andlunch breaks are staggered toavoid lines at the doors or peo-ple sitting close on breaks. Thecafeteria has no salad bar oropen food, just prepackagedoptions. Team meetings aregenerally held over video, evenif everyone is at the plant.

Mr. Patterson, the P&G plantveteran, said the hardest thingis having to maintain distancefrom friends and family whoare struggling.

“In other times we could bethere to console folks in theirtime of need, really display thatSouthern hospitality,” he said,recalling the aftermath of thehurricane and tornado that hitAlbany. His wife, who is a fur-loughed nurse, is teaching theirfive children at home sinceschools shut down.

Work, he said, is a consola-tion. “We’ve been able to de-liver more than I’ve ever seenus do before,” he said. “Pleaselet folks know that Charmin ison the way.”

was in her early 40s. Earlierthat day, he learned that an Al-bany employee lost their father.

“The more we can serve ourconsumers the better it is foreveryone,” he said. “If they canjust see some product in thestore, it will help. There’s asense of pride of being able todeliver that thing that’s soneeded right now.”

Increasing production whilekeeping workers safe is a chal-lenge for many U.S. employers,from meatpackers to factoriesmaking hospital ventilators.P&G has started producing facemasks and hand sanitizer forits employees, as well as formedical workers.

Overtime is eschewed be-cause putting workers on anextra shift with a different crewexposes more people shouldsomeone become infected. If aworker becomes ill, their entireteam goes into quarantine.

P&G, at all its factories in-cluding Albany, checks workers’temperatures at the start of

rus’s spread.P&G CEO David Taylor,

whose early career included athree-year stint in the 1980s asan operations manager of theAlbany factory, directed a cor-porate jet to be sent to Georgiato retrieve the workers andtake them home to Missouriand Pennsylvania.

Mr. McLeod, the P&G execu-tive, also started his career atthe Albany plant and lived therenearly a decade. His voicecracked as he talked about a re-tired technician, in her late 60s,whom he supervised in hisearly days who died of Covid-19,along with her daughter, who

A big toilet paper operationcould churn out a few millionindividual paper rolls a day,with that number varying sig-nificantly based on how manylines the factory devotes to toi-let paper and the type and sizeof each roll, said Mr. Rager ofFastmarkets.

Quickly changing over a lineor adding production at an-other factory wasn’t an optionfor P&G. But in Albany, P&Ghad an idled piece of equip-ment that, if put to use, couldincrease volume.

Setting up the equipment tohelp make the current product,and staffing it with workerstrained to use it, would typi-cally take months for Albany’steam of 10 technicians.

So P&G sent a half-dozen en-gineers from other plants tohelp. The equipment was oper-ational within two weeks, butthe company had another prob-lem. The engineers’ returnflights had been canceled asairlines shut down amid the vi-

tricately pieced-together parts,which costs billions of dollarsand takes months to build.

Bathroom tissue begins withwood chips that are turned intopulp. The machinery cleans thepulp and feeds it through mas-sive rollers that soak out anywater. The pulp is then chemi-cally whitened and then spreadon a screen and put through ahot dryer, emerging as a deli-cate sheet of paper that getsrotated into a spool. A singlespool can hold close to 50 milesof paper, which is then em-bossed both for aesthetics andto thicken the sheets.

A separate machine con-structs cardboard into tubesroughly five-feet long. Twosheets of the finished paper arecombined to make two-ply tis-sue, which is then wrappedaround the cardboard tubes. Amachine seals the roll with alight glue and then a circularsaw cuts the long roll into bath-room-sized rolls that are pack-aged and loaded for delivery.

for toilet paper.While Americans aren’t us-

ing more toilet paper amid thepandemic, they are goingthrough substantially more athome. The thin, scratchy tissuefound in office bathrooms andpublic restrooms is differentenough that it is generally builtat separate plants—with differ-ent supply chains—and can’t beredirected to store shelvesovernight, said analyst Jona-than Rager of Fastmarkets RISI,an analytics firm specialized inthe pulp and paper industry.

Making toilet paper in bulkrequires a massive machine, afour-story-tall collection of in-

ContinuedfrompageB1

AAramaki, Yuzo.............R9

BBarr, William...............R2Berdichevskiy, AndreyR3Binetruy, Bernard.......A6Bock, Laszlo................B4

CCalhoun, David............A2Chen, Jay.....................R4Coleman, John............R5Cook, Tim....................B1Cosby, Louise..............A6

DDimon, James.............B9Doll, Bob .....................A4

EEchevarria, Rick..........R8Ernst, Ricardo.............R5Esper, Mark.................R4

FFarm Saechou.............R8

GGallagher, Matt...........B3

Godement, François....R4H

Heller, Martha.............B1Herrera, J.C.................B4Herskind, Nikolaj........R3

IIyer, Krish....................R5

JJaishankar, JaishankarR4

Jielong, Duan..............R4K

Kania, Elsa..................R3Katagiri, Yoshihiro......R9Kuoppamaki, Karri......R5Kwok, Robby...............B4

LLarsen, Matt...............R8Lewis, Jim...................R3

MMalladi, Durga............R5Mathews, Rajan..........R4Mavrakis, Dimitris......R2McLeod, Rick...............B1Muilenburg, Dennis....A2

NNakamura, Taiji...........R8Neville, Alexis.............B4

PPangalos, Mene..........A6Pascarella, Drew.........B1

RRezza, Giovanni..........A6Roland, Emily..............A1

SSa, Paul de..................R8Shalett, Lisa...............A4Sheffield, Bryan..........B3Skilton, Mark..............R5Stankey, John.............R8Sullivan, James...........R4

TTaylor, David...............B2Triolo, Paul..................R2

VVestberg, Hans...........R5

WWang, Dan..................R2Whitty, Chris..............A6

Billy Lee was making chickenmarsala and texting a neighborwhen they both realized theyhad something the otherwanted.

So they met at the fence be-tween their backyards in Jack-son, N.J., and Mr. Lee used amechanical grabber to passover a heaping plate of the dishcovered in foil. Then, he re-trieved something even morevaluable from his neighbor: a12-pack of toilet paper.

“I think it was a great trade,”said the 30-year-old manager ofa fondue restaurant. “Theywere big rolls—like industrialsize. It works for me.”

As Americans have stockedup to hunker down during thecoronavirus pandemic, thehumble roll of toilet paper re-mains one of the hottest com-modities at the supermarket.Once an item tossed thought-lessly into shopping carts, it hasbecome hard to get as peoplehoard.

That has raised its profile tonear luxury status and made ita sort of currency—like salt inancient Rome or cigarettes inprison.

This can lead to some roughnegotiating.

Edyta Pachowicz was on thephone last month with a friendwho had been out of town andwas desperately trying to findtoilet paper.

Ms. Pachowicz, a 45-year-oldartist in Los Angeles, had a 12-pack, but considering the needsof herself and her little boy, shesaid, “I can give you one roll.”

Her friend, Dalia MacPhee,hesitated for a moment, Ms. Pa-chowicz said, then made an of-fer: “Listen, here’s what I’m go-ing to do. If I leave you withone roll, and you give me therest, I’ll give you the dress.”

Ms. MacPhee, 43, is a de-signer with her own clothing

line, and Ms. Pachowicz saidshe had been trying for a fewyears to persuade her to giveher a particular print dress,which retails for $100 to $120.

So Ms. Pachowicz took theoffer. “If worse comes to worst,in like two days, I’ll get moretoilet paper, but I’ll have thedress forever,” she said.

“She went down to the oneroll, but she got this greatdress,” Ms. MacPhee said. “Itwas a fair trade.”

Many restaurants havestarted giving out rolls of toiletpaper with their takeout or-ders—as kind of a reverse tipfor their customers. Some peo-ple really need the rolls, othersappreciate the novelty.

Justin LaRocque, co-ownerof the Spud Jr., a pub in EastGrand Forks, Minn., gives outrolls with take-out orders over$25 whenever he’s able to getthem in stock. “We’re all fight-

ing over the same customers,”he said.

Manufacturers say they areramping up toilet paper pro-duction, but people are stillbuying it at a fast clip. Sincepeople aren’t actually usingmore, supply and demand willeventually balance out, analystssay.

In early March, Leslie Gold-man had 600 boxes of GirlScout cookies on her diningroom table and a fear thatcookie booths would soon beshut down by the virus.

“Needless to say, we werekind of like panicking,” said Ms.Goldman, a 40-year-old stay-at-home mom of three in HighlandTownship, Mich.

So she and her 10-year-olddaughter, Alyssa, decided to of-fer a roll of toilet paper as asweetener with every five boxesof cookies.

Over the next few days, they

set up shop at a hardware storeand a craft store—and thecookies sold like hot cakes—thanks in part to the 28 rolls oftoilet paper the family donatedto the cause. Sure enough, GirlScouts of the USA on March 16recommended the shutdown ofall face-to-face cookie sales.

Most of the Tagalongs, Sa-moas and Thin Mints weregone. “We sold all but 18 boxes,which we obviously are eating,”Ms. Goldman said.

When he made the ChickenMarsala trade, Mr. Lee wasn’tquite out of toilet paper, but hewas getting close.

Now, Mr. Lee is in goodshape, but he suspects hisneighbor might have more totrade. “I have this hunch thatmy neighbor has more and he’sjust waiting to find out what Icook next, which would bestrangely diabolical, but I re-spect the move,” he said.

BY JOE BARRETT

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THEWALL STREET JOURNAL. Monday, April 13, 2020 | B3

ergy industry. “I recognize, un-fortunately, it’s not the time forthat,” he said.

Mr. Sheffield pointed in par-ticular to Mr. Gallagher’s quickdecision in mid-March to hedgea substantial majority of Pars-ley’s crude production through2020 and 2021. If oil prices re-main in the low- to mid-$20s abarrel range, the value of Pars-ley’s oil hedges could be morethan $1 billion, up from roughly$350 million at the end of Feb-

ruary. That should allow thecompany to hold net debt to lessthan 2.5 times pretax earnings,Mr. Sheffield said.

Mr. Sheffield, Parsley’s co-founder, poachedMr. Gallagher adecade ago from Pioneer NaturalResources Co., the company runby his father, Scott Sheffield.Mr. Gallagher had a talent forexplaining the nitty-gritty of theoil patch to generalists, aftertraveling with the elder Mr.Sheffield on investor trips.

Mr. Gallagher is nowworkingclosely with the elder Mr. Shef-field on the effort to persuadeTexas regulators to back outputcuts. The idea has drawn oppo-sition from larger companieslike Exxon Mobil Corp., EOGResources Inc. and OccidentalPetroleum Corp., which havesaid statewide cuts won’t liftprices and would only disadvan-tage Texas producers.

—Rebecca Elliottcontributed to this article.

Matt Gallagher, one of the youngest chief executives in the energy industry, at a site in Midland, Texas.

JAMES

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IN/PARS

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ERGY

One of the youngest chief ex-ecutives in the American oilpatch is slashing spending tosurvive a crash in crude prices,while trying to convince Texasto curtail output for the firsttime since the 1970s.

Matt Gallagher, the 37-year-old leader of Parsley EnergyInc., is working to conserve cashand cut drilling to keep costs lowat his company as the oil indus-try faces one of the worst de-mand drops ever because of thecoronavirus pandemic.

From his home in Austin, Mr.Gallagher is also trying to rallyfellow Texas oil producers tosupport a mandatory cut in pro-duction, a controversial idea inan industry where wildcattersfrown at government interven-tion, and one that has put hiscompany at odds with several ofthe industry’s largest drillers.

The Railroad Commission ofTexas, which regulates thestate’s oil industry, is set to dis-cuss the proposal on Tuesday.

“It’s a way to put a tourni-

BY COLLIN EATON quet on the bleeding,” said Mr.Gallagher, who believes thatwithout broad U.S. market inter-ventions and access to capital,America’s world-leading oil pro-duction could be halved to about6 million barrels a day by 2022.“We’re fighting for a base pulsein the American oil-and-gas in-dustry for the next few years.”

Mr. Gallagher’s emergingleadership role is no surprise tothose who know the third-gen-eration oilman, a former Indianahigh school quarterback andfootball player at the ColoradoSchool of Mines who was nick-named “Smoothie” for his calmdemeanor.

Colleagues said Mr. Gal-lagher’s conservative approachmakes him stand out amongbombastic Texas oilmen, as doeshis attention to line-item detailsand preoccupation with costsand debt. One of his first initia-tives since becoming CEO earlylast year was to scrap plans tobuild an employee meetingroom. The decision saved$300,000 in costs for audiovi-sual equipment alone.

He also has been an outspo-ken critic of natural gas flaringin West Texas, one of the indus-try’s most controversial prac-tices, calling it a “black eye” forthe industry because flaring re-leases carbon dioxide into theatmosphere.

Parsley’s shares have fallenabout 62% from the start of theyear as oil prices have fallen,compared with a 56% drop for abroad index of U.S. oil-and-gascompanies. Oil prices have tum-bled 63% this year.

Amid the pandemic, Mr. Gal-lagher has used virtual meetingswith engineers and accountantsto drill into costs and other de-tails, said Bryan Sheffield, Pars-ley’s executive chairman andprevious CEO. Those, Mr. Shef-field acknowledged, are thingshe likely wouldn’t have exam-ined as closely during his owntenure as chief.

Mr. Sheffield, a self-described“deal junkie,” said he had fo-cused mainly on growing thecompany in its early days, astrategy that has fallen out offavor with investors in the en-

Oil CEOWants Texas to CutOutput as Demand Drops

Smithfield Foods Inc. willkeep its Sioux Falls, S.D. porkplant closed indefinitely at theurging of the state’s governor,though the company’s chiefexecutive warned of dire con-sequences for farmers andconsumers.

South Dakota GovernorKristi Noem on Saturdaycalled on Smithfield to keepthe plant closed after linkingit to 238 cases of the new cor-onavirus, representing more

BY JACOB BUNGE

Other plants have slowedtheir operations, with someemployees falling ill and oth-ers staying home for fear ofcontracting the virus, or tocare for children amid schoolclosures.

The Trump administrationis developing a plan to providecoronavirus tests and otherresources to U.S. food-process-ing plants, The Wall StreetJournal reported last week, tohelp boost workers’ confi-dence and keep the food sys-tem operating. On Friday, JBSsaid the federal and state gov-ernments would supply teststo its Greeley, Colo. plant,where growing levels of caseshave led to hundreds of work-ers staying home, according tocompany and union officials.

ploys about 3,700 people andaccounts for 4% to 5% of U.S.pork production, according toSmithfield, which is owned byHong Kong-based meat con-glomerate WH Group.

The plant closure followedsimilar moves this month byJBS USA Holdings Inc., whichtemporarily closed a Pennsyl-vania plant that slaughterscattle and produces groundbeef. Cargill Inc. also closed aPennsylvania beef plant, andEmpire Kosher Poultry Inc.,the largest U.S. kosher chickensupplier, closed its Pennsylva-nia plant early for the annualPassover holiday break. TysonFoods Inc. temporarily shut anIowa pork plant after abouttwo dozen employees testedpositive.

stocked if our plants are notrunning.”

Smithfield’s plant closure ispart of a deepening conun-drum for food companies thatmust balance workers’ healthwith the need to keep the U.S.food system working, and re-plenish grocery-store shelveswhile restaurants across thecountry remain shut. Peopledelivering packages for Ama-zon.com Inc., working super-market checkout aisles andstaffing food plants are per-forming what government offi-cials and company executivescall essential services, thoughfear for their own health andfrustration with employers hasled some to walk off the joband demand more protections.

The Smithfield plant em-

the continuity of operations tofeed the nation,” she wrote inthe letter with Sioux FallsMayor Paul TenHaken.

Smithfield’s Chief ExecutiveKen Sullivan said on Sundaysaid the plant would stayclosed after a previously an-nounced plan to close forthree days. But he warned thatthe 550 farmers who supplythe plant will no longer have aplace to send their hogs, andthat not operating the plant’sprocessing lines will make itharder to keep grocery storesstocked with pork.

“We have a stark choice asa nation: We are either goingto produce food or not, evenin the face of Covid-19,” Mr.Sullivan said. “It is impossibleto keep our grocery stores

than half of all cases in thecounty. Smithfield’s plant andother meatpacking facilitiesaround the country haveemerged as Covid-19 hotspots,with unions and advocacygroups warning that closequarters for workers on pro-cessing lines raises the risk ofinfection.

Ms. Noem, South Dakota’sgovernor, acknowledgedSmithfield’s efforts to mitigateCovid-19’s spread among itsplant employees, but wrote ina letter to Smithfield that thecompany could do more.

“As a critical infrastructureemployer for the nation’s foodsupply chain and a major em-ployer in Sioux Falls, it is cru-cial that Smithfield have ahealthy workforce to ensure

BUSINESS NEWS

Smithfield Pork Plant to Remain ClosedMeatpacking facility islinked to 239 cases ofCovid-19; CEO warnsof effects on farmers

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B4 | Monday, April 13, 2020 THEWALL STREET JOURNAL.

TECHNOLOGY WSJ.com/Tech

who live in Long Island, N.Y.His wife, Laura, is playingMahjong with friends using an-other web-browser app,

One of Mr. Rosenthal’sfriends used to make cookiesfor the group when they playedface to face. This week, though,this friend dropped off home-made dough so they could baketheir own batch. Mr. Rosenthalwas thrilled. “They’re reallygood cookies,” he said.

Monopoly, Life,Battleship and Clue

These Hasbro-owned clas-sics cost between $2.99 and$3.99 and are available on iOSand Android devices. Devel-oped by Marmalade Game Stu-dio, the games in some casescome with options such as theability to play short sessions.

Monopoly aficionados maywant to try the “house rules”option, which lets players re-ceive a reward for landing on“Free Parking.”

Items including specialtyboards and tokens cost extra,

company has more than 200open positions and is seeing a“noticeable” increase in appli-cations and employee referralsfor those, Mr. Kwok said. An-ecdotally, he is hearing of em-ployees from startups andother previously fast-growingbusinesses gravitating to Slacknow. The company, which em-ployed 2,045 people as of Jan.31, is also accelerating somehiring for customer-supportroles to keep up with a surgein inquiries.

Recruiters say technologyroles exist at plenty of non-consumer-facing companies,too. Cybersecurity firmCrowdStrike Holdings Inc.,which provides cloud-basedsecurity technology, is hiring

for a variety of engineeringand sales positions. Applica-tions have risen for some ofits roughly 250 job openings,said Alexis Neville, vice presi-dent of talent acquisition.

“We are getting an influx ofpeople that have either beenlaid off or are very nervousabout the industry they arein,” she said.

Most of Crowdstrike’s rolesare for remote workers. Posi-tions that do require employ-ees to relocate will be allowedto start from home until it issafe for them to come in, saidJ.C. Herrera, the company’schief human-resources officer.

Companies in a position tohire may benefit in the longterm, according to veterans of

past economic downturns. Onetech recruiter noted Googlehas posted many new open-ings in the past few weeks.The company didn’t respondto a request for comment.Laszlo Bock, the former headof human resources at Googlewho now runs behavioral-change startup Humu Inc.,said some of Google’s keyearly hires came onboard afterbeing laid off elsewhere dur-ing the dot-com bust.

“If you have a lot of re-sources and you’re hiring andother companies are strug-gling, that’s when you pick offthe right people,” Mr. Bocksaid.

—Tripp Mickle contributedto this article.

Amazon in March reached out to Cornell University for more resumes. Company headquarters.

JOHNMOORE

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TYIM

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like a “1935 Atlantic City” ver-sion of Monopoly or additionalversions of Clue characterssuch as Peacock and Orchid.Also, because the apps auto-mate much of the experience,like picking up cards and mov-ing characters, it isn’t as fun asthe physical versions.

Yahtzee, Scrabble andWords With Friends

Game developer Scopely Inc.makes mobile versions of twomore Hasbro classics, Yahtzeeand Scrabble. (Hasbro co-ownsthe rights to the latter withMattel Inc.) Called YahtzeeWith Buddies and Scrabble Go,they are free to download fromthe major app stores, and withthe latter, you can play it on acomputer via Facebook.com onthe game’s profile page.

Both show ads and in-apppurchase offers. For manygames, you can pay to removeads.

Pogo.com, a free site fromvideogame giant ElectronicArts Inc., offers a desktop ver-

sion of Scrabble. It shows adsthat can be removed by sub-scribing to a monthly servicethat costs $6.99 a month or$39.99 for a one-year plan. Ithas several dozen other games,but most are single-player andI found its interface a bit toughto navigate. A spokesman forEA said the company is work-ing to make the platform moreresponsive for a better user ex-perience.

Zynga Inc. offers a freeScrabble-like alternative formobile devices, “Words WithFriends.” It has been aroundfor more than a decade. Thegameplay and board are simi-lar to Scrabble, but with somedistinctions such as differentpoint values for letters. Itshows video ads and offersplayers the option to watchmore in exchange for virtualcurrency to buy virtual perks.

Card games, checkersand chess

PlayingCards.io is a freewebsite from independentgame developer Rob Middletonof San Francisco, who createdit for fun in his spare time. Itlets groups of users play justabout any card game, with theoption to create custom decks.The site features grids forplaying games such as check-ers, chess and others.

PlayingCards.io doesn’tshow ads, though its privacypolicy says it may one day takeusers’ information to developand display content and adver-tising, which is fairly common.Also keep in mind that unlikethe board games mentionedabove, PlayingCards.io’s virtualtabletop games are entirelymanual. You must click oncards to turn them over, movethem off the screen when nec-essary and keep tabs on whatyour opponent is doing.

Playing board games andcards has always been a staplepastime for friends and family.But as we wait out the pan-demic, not everyone has accessto their favorite Scrabble nem-esis or poker cohorts.

Fortunately, the internet of-fers a range of classic gamesthat can be played with far-flung opponents. All you needis a mobile device or a webbrowser, and many options arefree or sold at a discount inbundles.

Given that classics such asMonopoly and Battleship weredesigned for playing with oth-ers in person, their onlinecounterparts might seem like aless than ideal substitute. Butjust as people are using video-chat apps to hold virtual happyhours, you can use these, too,to see your opponent cringewhen she lands on your Board-walk with a hotel price of$2,000.

Michael Rosenthal recentlyresumed his monthly cardgame with seven friends in hisBannockburn, Ill., neighbor-hood by moving it online. Theyare playing two nights a weekusing PlayingCards.io, a freeweb-browser app, and Zoom,which is available on browsersand mobile devices. He dis-plays them side by side on alarge computer screen.

The experience is so immer-sive that “you forget you’re notin the same room,” said Mr.Rosenthal, a 41-year-old execu-tive for a market-researchcompany who is working fromhome.

Two of his three daughters,whose schools closed downthree weeks ago, are using thesame applications almost dailyto play the card game Rummywith Mr. Rosenthal’s parents,

BY SARAH E. NEEDLEMAN

Game Night Sees a RevivalAs Classics Are Found Online

Karen and David Rosenthal of Long Island, N.Y., play online Rummy with their granddaughters, who live in Bannockburn, Ill.

Some Basics toKnow About BeforeYou Begin Playing

The rules for the onlineversions of these classicgames are the same or similarto their analog equivalents.Most also call for the samenumber of players.

In most cases, playing agame with people you knowrequires each player to createan account with the applicationand choose a username.

Next, search for each otherby username and select an op-tion to connect or become“friends.” Many applications

help streamline this process byletting users invite their phoneor social-media contacts toparticipate.

Don’t want strangers crash-ing your party? Fortunately,most games allow you to cre-ate a private experience withyour friends by sending them alink or code that allows themto join you.

Note that if you are using asmartphone or tablet, you aregoing to need a second deviceto video chat to see your op-ponent. But for laptop andcomputer gamers, gettingaway with just one might bepossible if your screen is bigenough to have two windowsside by side.

Mr. Deo, who has alsoworked for Apple, said he hassubmitted about 30 applica-tions so far to a range of em-ployers. He also established aSlack channel to help formerco-workers connect and net-work. Already, some of hislaid-off colleagues have beenhired by Facebook.

“I do think most people willend up landing at bigger com-panies,” Mr. Deo said.

Interviewing in the era ofcoronavirus lockdowns meansgetting to know companiesfrom a distance. Slack Tech-nologies Inc., based in SanFrancisco, previously broughtcandidates to its offices forfour or five hours of face-to-face meetings with hiringmanagers, said Robby Kwok,the company’s senior vicepresident of people. Now itconducts interviews by video-conference and is breaking upinterviews across multipledays.

Recruiters tell candidatesthat it is OK if a child appearsor the background isn’t quiet.“All of us understand,” Mr.Kwok said.

Slack, which is experiencinga surge in usage, said it issticking to staffing plans madebefore the pandemic. The

ContinuedfrompageB1

Tech FirmsGo on HuntFor Talent

new strategic questions formany advertisers.

Facebook declined to com-ment, but said on March 24 thatrising use of its apps and ser-vices wouldn’t protect it fromexpected declines in digital ad-vertising across the globe. Thecompany plans to report its nextquarterly earnings on April 29.

The drop in ad rates is mak-ing Facebook advertisers decidewhether to take advantage byreaching more potential cus-tomers—or by pocketing thesavings heading into an ex-tremely uncertain economy.

“Right now the cost is in theadvertisers’ favor,” said DougRozen, chief media officer ofDentsu Inc.-owned ad agency360i. “We have clients askingus if they should be spending tobudget or spending to goal:They might have $100,000 toreach 1,000 people, but becausemedia is cheaper right now, ifthey spend $100,000, theymight reach 2,000 people.”

“Our view is to spend to goalright now,” Mr. Rozen said.Marketers might need the

money later in the year if theeconomy improves and adprices leap, he said.

Facebook was acceleratingits efforts to attract advertis-ers’ TV budgets this year wellbefore the pandemic forcedsports leagues to suspend playand delayed the Olympics until2021, depriving marketers ofanticipated big, live audiences.

But in March, Facebook pro-posed to ad buyers that its videoad offerings could be a suitablelanding spot for ad dollars beingreallocated from sports sponsor-ships and media, according tosenior ad agency executives andan email reviewed by The WallStreet Journal.

“Many ad agencies have be-gun the process of reallocatingbudgets previously earmarkedfor live sports into other con-tent categories, and in somecases, even adding additionaldollars,” said Mike Evans, se-nior vice president of demandfacilitation at SpotX Inc., atechnology company that helpspublishers sell video ads.

Other ad sellers are also inpursuit. Snap Inc., for example,has been pitching a package ofsports content and audienceson its Snapchat platform, ar-guing that fans are still watch-ing sports-related content, oneof the senior agency execu-tives said.

Facebook Inc.’s ad businessis feeling the impact of the newcoronavirus.

Even as people stuck in theirhomes spend more time on so-cial media, advertisers are pull-ing back during the economicshock now under way.

Facebook is trying to keepwhat spending it can, partly bychasing ad budgets that wereonce intended for televisedsports, according to senior adagency executives familiar withthe matter.

Prices in Facebook’s ad auc-tions nonetheless plunged be-tween February and March, ac-cording to executives at severalcompanies that do business onthe platform.

The cost to put an ad infront of Facebook users 1,000times in March dropped 15% to20% from February, accordingto a recent analysis by one ad-vertising holding company’sbuying group.

Such rates fell about 25% inthe same time frame for the dig-ital marketing agencyWpromoteLLC, which said it managesmore than $130 million in an-nual ad spending on Facebook.

The decline was 20% at 4CInsights Inc., a marketing tech-nology company that helpedbrands manage $350 million inad spending across major techplatforms including Facebook,Instagram and Twitter Inc.from January to March.

“I would characterize Face-book ads as being quite thebargain right now,” said AaronGoldman, chief marketing offi-cer at 4C.

While prices were down, to-tal ad spending on Facebookand Instagram through 4C wasup 2% in March compared withFebruary, Mr. Goldman added.Absent the pandemic, he said hewould have expected month-to-month growth of at least 10%.

March ad spending on Face-book and Instagram through 4Cwas down 5% from March 2019,Mr. Goldman said. Without thecoronavirus, he said he wouldhave expected a 30% increase.

“This is the impact of thepandemic: It has slowed Face-book’s growth,” he said.

Facebook isn’t alone: The costof 1,000 impressions fell 22% onFacebook sibling Instagram fromFebruary to March, Mr. Goldmansaid. YouTube, part of AlphabetInc.’s Google, also saw a 15% to20% drop in prices from Febru-ary to March, according to thead-holding buying group.

And advertisers are pullingback in all sorts of media.

But Facebook’s popularityamong marketers, includingsmall businesses and direct-to-consumer brands that rely on itfor sales, mean low ad pricescreate both opportunities and

BY SAHIL PATEL

Facebook Ad RatesFall as PandemicCrimps Spending

The cost of 1,000 adimpressions inMarch fell 15% to20% fromFebruary.

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THEWALL STREET JOURNAL. Monday, April 13, 2020 | B5

extend maturities andstrengthen their liquidity buf-fer. Fortune 500 companieshave about $981 billion in ma-turities between now and theend of next year, according todata from Dealogic Inc.

Anheuser-Busch InBev SAsaid last week that one of itssubsidiaries issued $6 billionin new bonds. The brewerplans to hold the proceeds ascash while conditions remainuncertain, and use them to re-duce debt as market condi-tions normalize. “At any giventime, we work to have enoughcash on hand to meet our li-quidity needs for more thanone year, especially in times ofincreased volatility,” said Lau-ren Abbott, vice president ofinvestor relations at the Bel-gium-based company.

Howard Hughes Corp., a

Dallas-based real-estate devel-oper, raised $600 million latelast month through an equityissue and a parallel privateplacement. Together with ex-isting cash, Howard Hughesnow has about $1 billion athand. “This will help us sur-vive this, independent of howdeep or how long this pan-demic will be,” Chief Financial

BUSINESS & FINANCE

commercial paper, a $4 trillionbackstop for money-marketfunds, corporate-bond pur-chases and direct bridge loansto businesses.

On Thursday, the Fed said itwould expand lending pro-grams to companies withweaker credit ratings, includ-ing those that have had theircreditworthiness downgradedsince the outbreak of the coro-navirus in the U.S. The centralbank said it would offer loansfor small businesses—theMain Street Landing Pro-gram—which comes atop for-givable loans for payroll costsfrom the Small Business Ad-ministration.

Meanwhile, companies arelooking to expand their capitalbuffers. Mr. Zechmeister, for in-stance, has tested borrowingfrom the company’s existing $1billion credit facility to makesure additional liquidity wouldbe ready for use as needed. Thecompany, which held $448 mil-lion in cash and cash equiva-lents at the end of December,also is examining accounts re-ceivable and overdue paymentsto manage its liquidity position,Mr. Zechmeister said.

Covestro AG, a German spe-cialty-plastics maker, drewdown on existing €500 million($547 million) working-capitalfacilities and secured a €225million loan as it looks to ac-celerate existing cost-cuttingplans and reduces capital ex-penditures, CFO Thomas Toep-fer said.

Other companies, such asFord Motor Co. and Children’sPlace Inc., have suspended div-idends, while AT&T Inc., JP-Morgan Chase & Co. and oth-ers have halted share-repurchase plans.

Some businesses haveturned to the bond market to

Officer David O’Reilly said.Some CFOs are attempting

to avoid struggles their com-panies faced during the finan-cial crisis. Sonic AutomotiveInc., a Charlotte, N.C.-basedcar-dealership chain, defaulteddue to a distressed-debt ex-change in 2009. In recentweeks, the company has drawndown credit lines and commu-nicated with banking partnersto ensure assistance in secur-ing other lines if needed,Sonic CFO Heath Byrd said.

“We all know the banks arein very good shape, which issuch a blessing in hindsight that2009 happened and createdthose liquidity ratios to be bet-ter for the banks,” he said.

Some lenders are shrinkinglines of credit they have withtheir customers to minimizethe risk of company defaultsand bankruptcies. In recentweeks, that credit crunch haspushed some companies closerto breaching debt covenants.Coal supplier Murray EnergyCorp. said it is concerned itmay breach covenants in itsbankruptcy loan after its fi-nances were hit hard by thepandemic and beleagueredcoal markets.

Access to public debt mar-kets and new bank loans islimited for many companies,depending on the health of the

business and their credit rat-ing. Companies whose debtwas barely investment gradeat the start of the pandemiclikely will struggle to meettheir debt obligations, saidNilly Essaides, a senior re-search director at HackettGroup Inc.

Rating firms have down-graded a flurry of companiesin recent weeks, which can re-duce firms’ access to the pub-lic markets or result in ahigher cost of debt.

Companies need to examinetheir debt covenants and keepthe communication open withrating firms and debtors beforedefaulting, Ms. Essaides said.

The pandemic also hasprompted CFOs to considerdebt issuance as far as fouryears into the future. Compa-nies that might be planning toissue debt in 2021 or 2022 canlock in financing at current in-terest rates with a hedge. “Ifrates go lower, you might re-gret that you entered thehedge,” said Amol Dhargalkar,managing director at finan-cial-risk adviser Chatham Fi-nancial Corp.

As an alternative, compa-nies may rely on cash pooling,the internal shifting of moneyfrom cash-rich entities tothose that are cash-starved,Ms. Essaides said.

Finance chiefs are tacklingone of the biggest businesschallenges during the corona-virus pandemic: maintainingliquidity.

The lockdown of significantparts of the world economy isresulting in revenue declinesfor hotel operators, airlines,retailers, car manufacturersand many other companies.Businesses also are navigatingsupply-chain disruption and asurge in costs related to thetransition to remote work.

Companies are cutting ex-penses—not for profit, but topreserve cash—and idlingplants and furloughing or lay-ing off employees to ensurethey survive. CFOs are leadingthe charge in extending creditlines, bolstering emergencycash reserves and tapping bondmarkets, as they revise debtstrategies and seek to avoidmistakes from past crises.

“As we look forward with-out knowing exactly wherethis is headed—the depth andthe length of the strain on theeconomy—liquidity is thenumber one question thatrises to the top of the list interms of viability of a busi-ness,” said Mike Zechmeister,finance chief of freight brokerC.H. Robinson Worldwide Inc.

In recent weeks, the FederalReserve has unveiled variousmeasures aimed at alleviatingcredit stress and providingcompanies with access to capi-tal, including purchases of

BY MARK MAURERAND NINA TRENTMANN

Finance Chiefs Aim to Preserve CashTo maintain liquidity,CFOs are extendingcredit lines andtapping bond markets

CFO Thomas Toepfer says Covestro is reducing spending.

SASC

HAST

EINBA

CH/EPA

/SHUTT

ERST

OCK

BUSINESSWATCH

tors or masks and workingfrom home. But Prof. Ouyangsays: “The scarring effect ofthis recession is probably go-ing to be more severe thanof any past recessions.”

M uch will depend onhow quickly theeconomy and mar-

kets recover—and so farstocks have put in an ex-traordinary rebound.

Still, the psychological im-pact of the coronavirus re-cession could be accentuatedby the realization that pan-demic risks had been ig-nored and now need to bepriced in, says Laura Veld-kamp, a finance professor atColumbia University’s gradu-ate school of business, whostudies the impact on mar-kets of rare events.

“If we say that pandemicsare the new normal, thenpeople will be much morehesitant to take risks,” shesays.

Households and compa-nies would want more sav-ings and less risk to protectagainst possible future shut-downs, while governmentswould need to stockpileemergency equipment andensure they could rapidlymanufacture more withintheir own borders.

Even if the pandemiccomes to be regarded as aone-off, many people will be

reluctant to socialize oncethe lockdown ends, extend-ing the pain for companiesand economies that rely ontourism, travel, eating outand mass events.

Others will be desperateto see their friends afterweeks of enforced isolation;there is no way to be surewhich will be the more pow-erful desire.

“You’re a social animal,but you’re also a rational an-imal,” says José Viñals,chairman of Standard Char-tered and a former Interna-tional Monetary Fund offi-cial. “People are likely to bemore cautious. This is notjust going back to whatthings used to be like. It’s adifferent world.”

H is biggest worry, andthat of many othereconomists I spoke to,

is that the recession willpush countries to pull backfrom globalization evenfaster, encouraged by the ob-vious excuse of making sup-ply chains more secure. “Weknow what the economiccosts of these things canbe—it would impoverish usall,” he says.

As investors start to pricein a rapid recovery, theyshould consider the dangerthat scars from the recessionmay weaken the economy foryears to come.

executives who were youngadults during the Great De-pression were less likely toleverage up their firms thanthose who grew up in hap-pier times.

Even Federal Reserve pol-icy makers, who are im-mersed in financial historyand theory, are heavily influ-enced by their early experi-ences of inflation.

T here is a more directeffect on small start-ups. Min Ouyang, an

associate professor at Bei-jing’s Tsinghua University,found that in past recessionsthe scarring of entrepre-neurs from the collapse ofcash flow outweighed thebeneficial economical effectsof forcing weak companiesto shut down.

Government support mea-sures will reduce the impactof the shutdowns on somesmall businesses, while oth-ers innovate to survive bytaking up food delivery,shifting to making ventila-

ContinuedfrompageB1

DownturnThreatensScarring

MEXICAN STOCK EXCHANGE

Chairman Dies AfterContracting Virus

The chairman of the Mexicanstock exchange died Sunday, amonth after he tested positivefor the coronavirus, the ex-change said. “Bolsa Mexicana deValores SAB is deeply saddenedto inform that its chairman,Jaime Ruiz Sacristán, passedaway today,” the exchange said.

The exchange reported onMarch 13 that Mr. Ruiz Sacris-tán, who was 70 years old, hadtested positive for the virus. Itdidn’t give details of the causeof his death Sunday. Mr. RuizSacristán was among severaldozen wealthy Mexicans whocontracted the virus during atrip to Vail, Colo.

—Anthony Harrup

MEDITERRANEAN SHIPPING

Network Outage,Considered Attack

Mediterranean Shipping Co.,the world’s second largest con-tainer line, said Friday it hasbeen hit by a network outage.

“We confirm that MSC is cur-

rently experiencing a networkoutage on one of the data cen-ters in Geneva which affects theavailability of some of our digitaltools,” the Switzerland-basedcompany said.

“We do not rule out the pos-sibility of a malware,” the com-pany added, saying it is evaluat-ing the situation and has downthe servers at its headquartersas a safety measure.

Cyberattacks have the poten-tial to cripple the operations ofshipping and logistics companiesfor weeks, leaving loaded shipsstranded at sea and terminal op-erations suspended.

MSC moves around 16% of allcontainers on a fleet of about570 vessels.

—Costas Paris

MARKETING

Departments HelpNavigate Pandemic

While companies’ marketingdepartments haven’t beenspared by cost-cutting measuresduring the pandemic, marketingteams are being relied on tohelp companies weather the cri-sis—and help them be readywhen customers start leaving

their homes again.Many marketers are adjusting

their business models and tryingto get the word out on thosechanges while spending less onmarketing, or hoping certain ac-tions speak for themselves.

Even as layoffs extended intothe marketing department atthe hospitality startup SonderHoldings Inc., the company founda way to bring in new renters.

“We had to make sometough decisions about how tomove forward to actually justsurvive, and then to thrive afterthis crisis is over,” said ShrutiChalla, vice president of revenue.

In addition to making cuts,the company decided to createan extended-stay business lineoffering discounted accommoda-tions to people who neededshelter because of the virus. Itused Facebook, Craigslist andsearch-engine marketing tospread the word to strandedtravelers, students who gotlocked out of their housing andhealth-care workers who wantedto keep any risk of the virus outof their own homes.

Sonder’s occupancy rates are40% to 50% as a result, Ms.Challa said.

—Nat Ives

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES

The MarketplaceADVERTISEMENT

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P2JW104000-0-B00500-1--------XA

B6 | Monday, April 13, 2020 THEWALL STREET JOURNAL.

New to the Market

PublicOfferings of Stock

IPOs in theU.S.MarketNone expected thisweek

LockupExpirationsBelow, companieswhose officers and other insiderswill becomeeligibleto sell shares in their newly public companies for the first time. Suchsales canmove the stock’s price.

Lockup Offer Offer amt Through Lockupexpiration Issue date Issuer Symbol price($) ($mil.) Friday (%) provision

April 14 Oct. 17, ’19 BellRingBrands BRBR 14.00 525.0 20.6 180 days

Sources: Dealogic; DowJonesMarketData

IPOScorecardPerformance of IPOs,most-recent listed first

%ChgFrom %ChgFromCompany SYMBOL Friday3s Offer 1st-day Company SYMBOL Friday3s Offer 1st-dayIPOdate/Offer price close ($) price close IPOdate/Offer price close ($) price close

Keros Thera 21.57 34.8 7.4 LifeSci Acquisition 10.00 ... –2.4KROSApril 8/$16.00 LSACUMarch 6/$10.00

Zentalis Pharmaceuticals 24.31 35.1 4.8 GFLEnvironmental 15.37 –19.1 –8.5ZNTLApril 3/$18.00 GFLMarch 2/$19.00

Imara 15.90 –0.6 6.0 PassageBio 17.08 –5.1 –23.1IMRAMarch 12/$16.00 PASGFeb. 28/$18.00

DFPHealthcareAcquisitions 9.96 –0.4 –2.4 Zhongchao 2.40 –40.0 –40.0DFPHUMarch 9/$10.00 ZCMDFeb. 24/$4.00

Flying EagleAcquisition 10.06 0.6 –3.3 dMYTechnologyGrp 9.90 –1.0 –4.3FEAC.UMarch 6/$10.00 DMYT.UTFeb. 21/$10.00

Sources: DowJonesMarketData; FactSet

Other StockOfferingsSecondaries and follow-ons expected thisweek in theU.S.marketNone expected thisweek

Off theShelf“Shelf registrations” allowa company to prepare a stock or bond forsale,without selling thewhole issue at once. Corporations sell asconditions become favorable. Here are the shelf sales, or takedowns,over the lastweek:

Takedowndate/ Deal valueIssuer/Industry Registration date ($mil.) Bookrunner(s)

HEXOCorp April 8 $28.5 CanaccordGenuityHealthcare Dec. 20,318

Public andPrivateBorrowingTreasurysMonday, April 13 Thursday, April 16

Auction of 13 and 26week bills; Auction of 4 and8week bills;announced onApril 9; settles onApril 16 announced onApril 14; settles onApril 21

Commodities andCurrencies

LastWeek YTDClose Net chg %Chg % chg

DJCommodity 492.24 12.09 2.52 -23.36TR/CCCRB Index 127.82 -0.14 -0.11 -31.20

Crude oil,$per barrel 22.76 -5.58 -19.69 -62.73

Natural gas,$/MMBtu 1.733 0.112 6.91 -20.83Gold,$per troy oz. 1736.20 102.50 6.27 14.26

U.S. Dollar Index 99.52 -1.06 -1.05 3.25

WSJDollar Index 93.51 -1.57 -1.65 4.41

Euro, per dollar 0.9145 -0.0115 -1.24 2.55

Yen, per dollar 108.35 -0.17 -0.16 -0.27U.K. pound, in dollars 1.24 0.0181 1.48 -6.13

52-WeekLow Close(l) High %Chg

DJCommodity 451.81 l 647.86 -22.33

TR/CCCRB Index 118.50 l 188.36 -31.77Crude oil,$per barrel 20.09 l 66.30 -64.20Natural gas,$/MMBtu 1.552 l 2.862 -34.95Gold,$per troy oz. 1269.30 l1736.20 34.74

U.S. Dollar Index 94.90 l 102.82 2.62WSJDollar Index 89.47 l 97.02 3.85Euro, per dollar 0.8742 l 0.9352 3.34Yen, per dollar 102.37 l 112.20 -3.27U.K. pound, in dollars 1.15 l 1.33 -4.80

Treasury yield curveYield to maturity of current bills,notes and bonds

0.00

1.00

2.00

3.00

4.00%

1

month(s)3 6 1

years2 3 5 710 30

maturity

t

Tradeweb ICE Thursday Close

t

One year ago

Forex RaceYen, euro vs. dollar; dollar vs.major U.S. trading partners

–8

–4

0

4

8%

2019 2020

Euros

Yens

WSJ Dollar indexs

Sources: Tradeweb ICEU.S. Treasury Close; Tullett Prebon; DowJonesMarketData

CorporateBorrowingRatesandYieldsSpread+/- Treasurys,

Yield (%) in basis pts, 52-wkRange Total ReturnBond total return index Last Wkago Last Low High 52-wk 3-yr

U.S. Treasury, Barclays 0.580 0.550 13.82 5.81U.S. TreasuryLong, Barclays 1.290 1.210 35.39 13.46Aggregate, Barclays 1.470 1.580 83 39 127 10.12 5.06Fixed-RateMBS, Barclays 1.150 1.320 41 28 132 7.73 4.15HighYield 100, ICEBofA 7.371 8.804 688 271 1018 -5.58 1.14MuniMaster, ICEBofA 1.733 2.197 28 -12 29 4.46 3.66EMBIGlobal, J.P.Morgan 6.415 6.701 562 277 662 -4.07 0.71

Sources: J.P.Morgan; S&PDowJones Indices; BloombergBarclays; ICEDataServices

ConsumerRates andReturns to InvestorU.S. consumer ratesA consumer rate against itsbenchmark over the past year

0.00

1.00

2.00

3.00

4.00%

2019M J J A S O N D J

2020F M A

t

30-year fixed-ratemortgage

t

10-year Treasurynote yield

Selected rates30-yearmortgage, Rate

Bankrate.comavg†: 3.75%HomeLoansToday 3.00%Centennial, CO 866-919-2064

Charter Bank 3.13%EauClaire,WI 715-832-4254

MidwestHeritageBank, FSB 3.25%WestDesMoines, IA 800-782-0521

CambridgeSavingsBank 3.50%Cambridge,MA 888-418-5626

TBKBank, SSB 3.50%Dallas, TX 214-365-6900

Yield/Rate (%) 52-WeekRange (%) 3-yr chgInterest rate Last (l)Week ago Low 0 2 4 6 8 High (pct pts)

Federal-funds rate target 0.00-0.25 0.00-0.25 1.00 l 2.25 -0.75Prime rate* 3.25 3.25 3.25 l 5.50 -0.75Libor, 3-month 1.22 1.37 0.74 l 2.60 0.06Moneymarket, annual yield 0.32 0.34 0.32 l 0.78 -0.02Five-year CD, annual yield 0.89 0.91 0.89 l 2.01 -0.4130-yearmortgage, fixed† 3.75 3.88 3.52 l 4.34 -0.3215-yearmortgage, fixed† 3.28 3.38 2.95 l 3.73 -0.02Jumbomortgages, $510,400-plus† 3.82 4.00 3.54 l 4.71 -0.80Five-year adjmortgage (ARM)† 3.49 3.29 3.29 l 4.78 0.14New-car loan, 48-month 4.27 4.40 4.27 l 4.81 1.05Bankrate.com rates based on survey of over 4,800 online banks. *Base rate posted by 70% of the nation's largestbanks.† Excludes closing costs.

Sources: FactSet; Dow JonesMarket Data; Bankrate.com

Dow Jones Industrial Average

23719.37s2666.84, or 12.67% last weekHigh, low, open and close for each ofthe past 52 weeks

Year agoLast

Trailing P/E ratioP/E estimate *Dividend yieldAll-time high

18.47 18.24

15.40 16.26

3.76 2.19

29551.42, 02/12/20

16000

18000

20000

22000

24000

26000

28000

30000

A M J J A S O N D J F M A

Current divisor 0.14579812049809

Bars measure the point change from Monday's open

tt

Week's high

Week's low

Monday's open

Friday's close Monday's open

Friday's closeDOWN UP

Primarymarket t

t Composite

65-day moving average

200-day moving average

NYSE weekly volume, in billions of shares

0122436

A M J J A S O N D J F M

S&P 500 Index2789.82 s301.17, or 12.10% last weekHigh, low, open and close for each ofthe past 52 weeks

Year agoLast

Trailing P/E ratio *P/E estimate *Dividend yield *All-time high

19.49 21.72

16.10 17.32

2.42 1.94

3386.15, 02/19/20

2000

2200

2400

2600

2800

3000

3200

3400

A M J J A S O N D J F M A

65-day moving average

200-day moving average

Nasdaq Composite

s 780.49, or 10.59%last week

8200

7850

7500

71502

April3 6 7 8 9

DJ US TSM

s 3215.13, or 12.93%last week

27900

26600

25300

240002

April3 6 7 8 9

International Stock IndexesLatestWeek 52-WeekRange YTD

Region/Country Index Close % chg Low Close High % chg

World TheGlobalDow 2583.14 9.25 2138.97 • 3300.22 –20.5DJGlobal Index 357.88 10.71 292.30 • 444.78 –17.5DJGlobal exU.S. 208.13 8.33 174.38 • 267.54 –21.0

Americas DJAmericas 642.21 12.62 512.68 • 796.10 –15.6Brazil SaoPauloBovespa 77681.94 11.71 63569.62 • 119527.63 –32.8Canada S&P/TSXComp 14166.63 9.49 11228.49 • 17944.06 –17.0Mexico S&P/BMV IPC 34567.78 4.51 32964.22 • 45902.68 –20.61Chile Santiago IPSA 2696.02 4.02 2045.49 • 3849.38 –19.2

EMEA StoxxEurope600 331.80 7.36 279.66 • 433.90 –20.2StoxxEurope50 2794.23 4.76 2383.14 • 3539.12 –17.9

Eurozone EuroStoxx 315.99 8.80 261.53 • 421.34 –21.8EuroStoxx50 2892.79 8.63 2385.82 • 3865.18 –22.8

Austria ATX 2184.06 11.15 1630.84 • 3301.38 –31.5Belgium Bel-20 3092.39 8.24 2528.77 • 4198.31 –21.8France CAC40 4506.85 8.48 3754.84 • 6111.24 –24.6Germany DAX 10564.74 10.91 8441.71 • 13789.00 –20.3Greece AthexComposite 607.29 12.31 484.40 • 948.64 –33.8Israel TelAviv 1337.04 5.37 1171.21 • 1751.79 –20.6Italy FTSEMIB 17621.62 7.55 14894 • 25478 –25.0Netherlands AEX 508.04 7.76 404.10 • 629.23 –16.0Portugal PSI 20 4196.31 5.63 3596.08 • 5435.85 –19.5Russia RTS Index 1142.07 8.78 832.26 • 1646.60 –26.3SouthAfrica FTSE/JSEAll-Share 48011.56 7.65 37963.01 • 59544.80 –15.9Spain IBEX35 7070.60 7.43 6107.2 • 10083.6 –26.0Sweden OMXStockholm 574.44 8.03 478.95 • 732.67 –15.6Switzerland SwissMarket 9452.83 2.28 8160.79 • 11263.01 –11.0U.K. FTSE 100 5842.66 7.89 4993.89 • 7686.61 –22.5

Asia-PacificAustralia S&P/ASX200 5387.30 6.31 4546.0 • 7162.5 –19.4China Shanghai Composite 2796.63 1.18 2660.17 • 3270.80 –8.3HongKong HangSeng 24300.33 4.58 21696.13 • 30129.87 –13.8India S&PBSESensex 31159.62 12.93 25981.24 • 41952.63 –24.5Japan Nikkei StockAvg 19498.50 9.42 16552.83 • 24083.51 –17.6Malaysia FTSEBursaMalaysiaKLCI 1357.50 2.02 1219.72 • 1691.00 –14.6Singapore Straits Times 2571.32 7.62 2233.48 • 3407.02 –20.2SouthKorea Kospi 1860.70 7.84 1457.64 • 2267.25 –15.3Taiwan TAIEX 10157.61 5.11 8681.34 • 12179.81 –15.3

Source: FactSet; DowJonesMarketData

Financial FlashbackThe Wall Street Journal, April 13, 1993Intel’s profit nearly tripled in the first quarter to $548million, reflecting heavy demand for its 486 chip andtight cost controls.

MajorU.S. Stock-Market IndexesLatestWeek 52-Week % chg

High Low Close Net chg % chg Low Close (l) High %chg YTD 3-yr. ann.DowJones

Industrial Average 24008.99 21693.63 23719.37 2666.84 12.67 18591.93 l 29551.42 -9.3 -16.9 4.7TransportationAvg 8425.45 7569.12 8236.92 931.61 12.75 6703.63 l 11304.97 -23.6 -24.4 -3.3UtilityAverage 837.96 731.81 827.83 121.82 17.25 610.89 l 960.89 6.5 -5.8 5.8Total StockMarket 28358.46 25762.94 28075.87 3215.12 12.93 22462.76 l 34631.28 -5.7 -15.0 4.8Barron's 400 589.69 540.87 581.79 81.32 16.25 455.11 l 746.64 -18.0 -20.5 -2.1

NasdaqStockMarket

NasdaqComposite 8227.91 7617.79 8153.58 780.49 10.59 6860.67 l 9817.18 2.6 -9.1 11.5Nasdaq 100 8334.23 7763.09 8238.53 710.42 9.44 6978.02 l 9718.73 8.5 -5.7 15.0

S&P

500 Index 2818.57 2574.57 2789.82 301.17 12.10 2237.40 l 3386.15 -3.4 -13.6 5.8MidCap400 1609.34 1397.84 1586.37 248.42 18.57 1218.55 l 2106.12 -18.7 -23.1 -2.4SmallCap600 745.16 645.21 743.23 120.88 19.42 595.67 l 1041.03 -23.0 -27.2 -3.5

Other Indexes

Russell 2000 1250.13 1085.88 1246.73 194.67 18.50 991.16 l 1705.22 -21.1 -25.3 -3.0NYSEComposite 11272.48 10233.04 11136.61 1255.98 12.71 8777.38 l 14183.2 -13.6 -20.0 -0.9Value Line 395.52 343.20 389.80 61.80 18.84 305.71 l 562.05 -28.8 -29.4 -8.9NYSEArcaBiotech 4788.79 4517.73 4734.18 323.30 7.33 3855.67 l 5313.05 -6.9 -6.6 10.8NYSEArcaPharma 614.51 588.80 611.78 30.56 5.26 494.36 l 670.32 3.8 -6.4 6.4KBWBank 76.31 63.23 75.26 15.07 25.04 56.19 l 114.12 -22.9 -33.6 -6.1PHLX§Gold/Silver 98.57 86.53 98.22 13.86 16.43 66.14 l 111.51 29.3 -8.1 4.5PHLX§Oil Service 30.97 24.38 28.33 4.272 17.76 21.47 l 102.39 -71.5 -63.8 -44.8PHLX§Semiconductor 1673.65 1508.74 1601.73 158.69 11.00 1286.84 l 1979.5 8.5 -13.4 17.0CBOEVolatility 47.51 41.39 41.67 -5.13 -10.96 11.54 l 82.69 220.0 202.4 47.9

§NasdaqPHLX Sources: FactSet; DowJonesMarketData

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BenchmarkYields andRatesBenchmarkYields andRates

MARKETS DIGEST

CurrenciesU.S.-dollar foreign-exchange rates in lateNewYork trading

US$vs,Fri YTD chg

Country/currency inUS$ perUS$ (%)

Americas

Argentina peso .0155 64.6249 7.9Brazil real .1958 5.1070 27.1Canada dollar .7167 1.3954 7.4Chile peso .001181 846.50 14.5Colombiapeso .000261 3827.00 16.6EcuadorUSdollar 1 1 unchMexico peso .0422 23.6706 25.1Uruguay peso .02336 42.8000 15.2Asia-PacificAustralian dollar .6349 1.5751 10.5China yuan .1421 7.0361 1.0HongKong dollar .1290 7.7532 –0.5India rupee .01313 76.177 6.8Indonesia rupiah .0000630 15868 14.3Japan yen .009230 108.35 –0.3Kazakhstan tenge .002324 430.27 12.7Macau pataca .1259 7.9397 –1.0Malaysia ringgit .2320 4.3098 5.4NewZealand dollar .6083 1.6439 10.7Pakistan rupee .00599 166.975 7.7Philippines peso .0198 50.521 –0.4Singapore dollar .7082 1.4121 4.9SouthKoreawon .0008254 1211.55 4.9Sri Lanka rupee .0052367 190.96 5.3Taiwan dollar .03340 29.944 0.1Thailand baht .03061 32.670 9.8Vietnam dong .00004267 23438 1.1

US$vs,Fri YTD chg

Country/currency inUS$ perUS$ (%)

Europe

CzechRep. koruna .04046 24.716 9.0Denmark krone .1465 6.8266 2.5Euro area euro 1.0936 .9145 2.6Hungary forint .003091 323.57 9.6Iceland krona .007015 142.56 17.7Norway krone .0980 10.2027 16.2Poland zloty .2402 4.1633 9.8Russia ruble .01355 73.791 18.9Sweden krona .1006 9.9415 6.1Switzerland franc 1.0362 .9651 –0.2Turkey lira .1493 6.6974 12.6Ukraine hryvnia .0366 27.2992 15.3UK pound 1.2447 .8034 6.5Middle East/Africa

Bahrain dinar 2.6508 .3773 0.1Egypt pound .0634 15.7685 –1.7Israel shekel .2795 3.5784 3.6Kuwait dinar 3.2144 .3111 2.6Oman sul rial 2.5957 .3853 0.1Qatar rial .2746 3.642 –0.04SaudiArabia riyal .2657 3.7642 0.3SouthAfrica rand .0557 17.9689 28.4

Close Net Chg %Chg YTD%Chg

WSJDollar Index 93.51 –0.05–0.05 4.41

Sources: Tullett Prebon, DowJonesMarketData

AWeek in the Life of theDJIAA look at how the Dow Jones Industrial Average component stocksdid in the past week and howmuch each moved the index. The DJIAgained 2,666.84 points, or 12.67%, on the week. A $1 change in theprice of any DJIA stock = 6.86-point change in the average. To date,a $1,000 investment on Dec. 31 in each current DJIA stockcomponent would have returned $25,392, or a loss of 15.36%, on the$30,000 investment, including reinvested dividends.

TheWeek’sAction

Pct Stock price Point chg $1,000 Invested(year-end '19)

chg (%) change in average* Company Symbol Close $1,000

30.71 8.59 58.92 Dow DOW $36.56 $680

29.60 14.78 101.37 RaytheonTechnologies RTX 64.71 736

28.83 21.22 145.54 AmericanExpress AXP 94.82 769

25.41 37.33 256.04 GoldmanSachs GS 184.26 806

22.26 18.71 128.33 JPMorganChase JPM 102.76 750

21.94 27.32 187.38 Boeing BA 151.84 469

16.88 15.85 108.71 Travelers TRV 109.74 807

15.09 34.64 237.59 UnitedHealthGroup UNH 264.13 902

14.58 23.37 160.29 McDonald’s MCD 183.70 936

14.38 21.84 149.80 Visa V 173.69 926

14.26 15.16 103.98 IBM IBM 121.50 916

12.78 22.83 156.59 HomeDepot HD 201.53 929

12.25 9.20 63.10 Chevron CVX 84.31 708

11.80 5.17 35.46 Coca-Cola KO 49.00 893

11.31 10.62 72.84 WaltDisney DIS 104.50 723

11.01 26.58 182.31 Apple AAPL 267.99 915

10.46 13.99 95.95 3M MMM 147.78 845

10.06 7.93 54.39 Nike NKE 86.79 859

10.00 3.92 26.89 ExxonMobil XOM 43.13 627

9.03 10.36 71.06 Caterpillar CAT 125.03 853

8.18 6.24 42.80 Merck MRK 82.49 914

8.01 3.26 22.36 Walgreens WBA 43.98 753

7.35 11.31 77.57 Microsoft MSFT 165.14 1,050

5.56 3.01 20.64 Intel INTC 57.14 959

5.48 2.14 14.68 CiscoSystems CSCO 41.20 873

5.26 7.06 48.42 Johnson&Johnson JNJ 141.23 974

5.20 1.75 12.00 Pfizer PFE 35.39 913

5.01 2.74 18.79 Verizon VZ 57.44 955

1.94 2.32 15.91 Walmart WMT 121.80 1,030

–0.36 –0.42 –2.88 Procter&Gamble PG 114.66 923

*Based onComposite price. DJIA is calculated on primary-market price.Source: DowJonesMarketData; FactSet.

P2JW104000-0-B00600-1--------XA

THEWALL STREET JOURNAL. Monday, April 13, 2020 | B7

Insider-TradingSpotlightTrading by ‘insiders’ of a corporation, such as a company’s CEO, vice president or director, potentially conveysnew information about the prospects of a company. Insiders are required to report large trades to theSECwithin twobusiness days. Here’s a look at the biggest individual trades by insiders, based on data received byThomsonFinancial onApril 10, and year-to-date stock performance of the companyKEY: B: beneficial owner ofmore than 10%of a security class CB: chairman CEO: chief executive officer CFO: chief financial officerCO: chief operating officer D: director DO: director and beneficial owner GC: general counsel H: officer, director and beneficial ownerI: indirect transaction filed through a trust, insider spouse,minor child or other O: officer OD: officer and director P: presidentUT:unknown VP: vice president Excludes pure options transactions

Biggestweekly individual tradesBased on reports filedwith regulators this pastweek

No. of shrs in Price range ($) $Value

Date(s) Company Symbol Insider Title trans (000s) in transaction (000s) Close ($) Ytd (%)

BuyersApr. 1 Carvana CVNA E. Garcia BI 556 45.00 25,000 61.35 -33.4

Apr. 1-3 HDSupplyHoldings HDS L.Wolfe DI 268 25.76-26.98 7,018 32.07 -20.3

Apr. 3 Equinix EQIX W.Luby D 5 632.22 3,161 686.94 17.7

Apr. 3 NexPointResidential Trust NXRT J. Dondero PI 95 21.81 2,061 29.51 -34.4

Apr. 3 MGMResorts International MGM P. Salem D 195 10.40 2,027 14.55 -56.3

Apr. 3-7 NGMBiopharmaceuticals NGM D.Goeddel DOI 138 12.41-14.38 1,960 15.27 -17.4

Apr. 3-7 P. Svennilson DOI 138 12.41-14.38 1,960Apr. 8 D. Goeddel DOI 113 14.95 1,683Apr. 8 P. Svennilson DOI 113 14.95 1,683

Apr. 2 Cardlytics CDLX C. Sosin BI 48 30.90 1,474 43.68 -30.5

Apr. 3 ScienceApplications International SAIC N. Keene CEOI 14 70.42-71.66 1,012 78.30 -10.0

Apr. 9 SimplyGoodFoods SMPL N.Ghez D 30 15.81-16.82 489 15.79 -44.7

Apr. 9 C. Daley D 10 16.77 168

Apr. 3-7 Liquidity Services LQDT W.Angrick CEOI 114 4.05-4.44 484 4.76 -20.1

Apr. 6-7 NexPointReal Estate Finance NREF J. Dondero PI 44 8.30-9.39 392 10.95

Mar. 10 BancorpSouthBank BXS J. Campbell D 16* 21.46 335 23.04 -26.6

Apr. 6 LyondellBasell Industries LYB B. Patel CEOI 5 49.35 230 58.93 -37.6

Apr. 3 Kohl's KSS J. Prising D 18 11.15 200 19.91 -60.9

SellersApr. 1 Workday WDAY D.Duffield DOI 407 121.67-125.50 50,013 145.41 -11.6

Apr. 6 lululemonathletica LULU D.Wilson DI 259 188.92-194.62 50,000 203.51 -12.2

Apr. 6-8 NVIDIA NVDA M.Stevens DI 100 261.20-269.13 26,432 262.95 11.8

Apr. 6-7 Monolithic PowerSystems MPWR M.Hsing CEO 114 170.00 19,333 167.93 -5.7

Apr. 6 Xencor XNCR J. Stafford BI 645 27.10-31.84 17,686 30.84 -10.3

Apr. 7-8 ZoomVideoCommunications ZM E. Yuan CEO 140 110.73-125.49 16,548 124.51 83.0

Apr. 6-7 BlackKnight BKI W.Foley CB 250 61.56-62.26 15,495 63.48 -1.6

Apr. 7-9 Uber Technologies UBER G. Camp DI 510 26.10-28.60 13,780 27.11 -8.8

Apr. 8-9 Masimo MASI J. Kiani CEO 70 185.27-185.59 12,979 185.42 17.3

Apr. 3-6 J. Kiani CEO 64 185.07-185.65 11,898

Apr. 7-9 Credit Acceptance CACC D. Foss B 40 267.48-324.04 11,896 317.17 -28.3

Apr. 2-6 D. Foss B 35 240.78-255.70 8,735

Apr. 6-7 BiohavenPharmaceutical Holding BHVN J. Childs D 350 30.54-33.26 11,068 36.24 -33.4

Apr. 7 Apple AAPL L.Maestri CFO 41 260.10-269.44 10,858 267.99 -8.7

Apr. 2 J.Williams CO 41 238.03-244.98 9,914

Apr. 6 Moody's MCO R.Mcdaniel CEO 43 218.47-230.76 9,533 241.68 1.8

Apr. 1 FortySeven FTSV C. Takimoto O 79 95.42 7,557

Apr. 8 Zscaler ZS R. Canessa CFO 110 65.00 7,150 62.59 34.6

* Half the transactionswere indirect **Twoday transactionp - Pink Sheets

Buying and selling by sectorBased on actual transaction dates in reports received this pastweek

Sector Buying Selling Sector Buying Selling

Basic Industries 13,458 1,231,725 Finance 956,526 28,740,349

Business services 104,134 535,971 Health care 66,070 60,590,523

Capital goods 0 0 Industrial 0 18,423,246

Consumer durables 22,350 0 Media 373,149 11,295,595

Consumer nondurables 291,203 56,196,218 Technology 47,885 56,542,865

Consumer services 365,105 2,704,667 Transportation 0 0

Energy 350,805 185,780 Utilities 15,377 487,511

Sources: ThomsonFinancial; DowJonesMarketData

Friday

Energy

Coal,C.Aplc.,12500Btu,1.2SO2-r,w n.a.Coal,PwdrRvrBsn,8800Btu,0.8SO2-r,w n.a.

Metals

Gold, per troy ozEngelhard industrial ClosedEngelhard fabricated n.a.Handy&Harmanbase ClosedHandy&Harman fabricated ClosedLBMAGold PriceAM *1662.50LBMAGold Price PM *1680.65Krugerrand,wholesale-e ClosedMaple Leaf-e ClosedAmericanEagle-e ClosedMexican peso-e ClosedAustria crown-e ClosedAustria phil-e ClosedSilver, troy oz.Engelhard industrial ClosedEngelhard fabricated n.a.Handy&Harmanbase ClosedHandy&Harman fabricated ClosedLBMAspot price *£12.2000(U.S.$ equivalent) *15.1750Coins,wholesale $1,000 face-a ClosedOthermetalsLBMAPlatinumPrice PM *735.0Platinum,Engelhard industrial ClosedPlatinum,Engelhard fabricated n.a.

Friday

Palladium,Engelhard industrial ClosedPalladium,Engelhard fabricated n.a.Aluminum, LME, $ permetric ton *1428.5Copper,Comex spot ClosedIronOre, 62%FeCFRChina-s ClosedShreddedScrap, USMidwest-s,m 280Steel, HRCUSA, FOBMidwestMill-s Closed

Fibers andTextiles

Burlap,10-oz,40-inchNYyd-n,w 0.5700Cotton,1 1/16 std lw-mdMphs-u ClosedCotlook 'A' Index-t *64.45Hides,hvy native steers piece fob-u ClosedWool,64s,staple,Terr del-u,w Closed

Grains andFeeds

Barley,top-qualityMnpls-u ClosedBran,wheatmiddlings, KC-u 110Corn,No. 2 yellow,Cent IL-bp,u ClosedCorn gluten feed,Midwest-u,w 119.5Corn glutenmeal,Midwest-u,w 492.7Cottonseedmeal-u,w 295Hominy feed,Cent IL-u,w 108Meat-bonemeal,50%proMnpls-u,w 228Oats,No.2milling,Mnpls-u ClosedRice, LongGrainMilled, No. 2AR-u,w 26.50Sorghum,(Milo)No.2Gulf-u ClosedSoybeanMeal,Cent IL,rail,ton48%-u n.a.Soybeans,No.1 yllw IL-bp,u ClosedWheat,Spring14%-proMnpls-u ClosedWheat,No.2 soft red,St.Louis-bp,u Closed

Friday

Wheat -Hard - KC (USDA) $ per bu-u ClosedWheat,No.1softwhite,Portld,OR-u Closed

Food

Beef,carcass equiv. indexchoice 1-3,600-900 lbs.-u Closedselect 1-3,600-900 lbs.-u ClosedBroilers, National compwtd. avg.-u,w 0.6661Butter,AAChicago ClosedCheddar cheese,bbl,Chicago ClosedCheddar cheese,blk,Chicago ClosedMilk,Nonfat dry,Chicago lb. ClosedCoffee,Brazilian,Comp n.a.Coffee,Colombian, NY n.a.Eggs,largewhite,Chicago-u 2.8250Flour,hardwinter KC 15.15Hams,17-20 lbs,Mid-US fob-u n.a.Hogs,Iowa-So.Minnesota-u 46.14Pork bellies,12-14 lbMidUS-u n.a.Pork loins,13-19 lbMidUS-u 1.0695Steers,Tex.-Okla. Choice-u n.a.Steers,feeder,Okla. City-u,w 136.69

Fats andOils

Corn oil,crudewet/drymill wtd. avg.-u,w n.a.Grease,choicewhite,Chicago-h 0.2300Lard,Chicago-u n.a.Soybean oil,crude;Centl IL-u n.a.Tallow,bleach;Chicago-h 0.2900Tallow,edible,Chicago-u 0.3450

KEY TO CODES: A=ask; B=bid; BP=country elevator bids to producers; C=corrected; E=Manfra,Tordella & Brooks; G=ICE; H=American Commodities Brokerage Co;M=monthly; N=nominal; n.a.=not quoted or not available; R=SNL Energy; S=Platts-TSI; T=Cotlook Limited; U=USDA;W=weekly, Z=not quoted. *Data as of 4/9

Source:WSJMarket Data Group

CashPrices Friday, April 10, 2020These prices reflect buying and selling of a variety of actual or “physical” commodities in themarketplace—separate from the futures price on an exchange,which reflectswhat the commoditymight beworth in futuremonths.

WSJ.com/commodities

Borrowing Benchmarks | WSJ.com/bonds

MoneyRates April 10, 2020

Key annual interest rates paid to borrowor lendmoney inU.S. and internationalmarkets. Rates beloware aguide to general levels but don’t always represent actual transactions.

InflationMarch index ChgFrom (%)

level Feb. '20March '19

U.S. consumer price indexAll items 258.115 –0.22 1.5Core 267.312 0.02 2.1

International rates

Week 52-WeekLatest ago High Low

Prime ratesU.S. 3.25 3.25 5.50 3.25Canada 2.45 2.45 3.95 2.45Japan 1.475 1.475 1.475 1.475

PolicyRatesEuro zone 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00Switzerland 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50Britain 0.10 0.10 0.75 0.10Australia 0.25 0.25 1.50 0.25

Overnight repurchaseU.S. 0.08 0.05 3.40 -0.07

U.S. government rates

Discount0.25 0.25 3.00 0.25

Federal fundsEffective rate 0.0800 0.0900 2.4800 0.0800

Week —52-WEEK—Latest ago High Low

High 0.1500 0.1500 3.0000 0.1500Low 0.0300 0.0500 2.4400 0.0200Bid 0.0500 0.0300 2.4400 0.0100Offer 0.0700 0.1200 2.5000 0.0500

Treasury bill auction4weeks 0.190 0.090 2.400 0.00013weeks 0.125 0.085 2.400 0.00026weeks 0.160 0.100 2.400 0.080

Secondarymarket

FannieMae30-yearmortgage yields

30days 2.372 2.433 3.857 2.28160days 2.442 2.480 3.884 2.341

Other short-term rates

Week 52-WeekLatest ago high low

Callmoney2.00 2.00 4.25 2.00

Notes ondata:U.S. prime rate is the base rate on corporate loans posted by at least 70%of the 10 largestU.S. banks,and is effectiveMarch 16, 2020.Other prime rates aren’t directly comparable; lending practices varywidely by location; Discount rate is effectiveMarch 16, 2020.DTCCGCFRepo Index is DepositoryTrust&Clearing Corp.'sweighted average for overnight trades in applicable CUSIPs. Value traded is inbillions ofU.S. dollars.Federal-funds rates are Tullett Prebon rates as of 5:30 p.m. ET.Sources: Federal Reserve; Bureau of Labor Statistics; DTCC; FactSet;Tullett Prebon Information, Ltd.

Commercial paper (AA financial)

90days n.a. n.a. 2.58 0.58

Libor

Onemonth 0.81400 0.98163 2.48738 0.61163Threemonth 1.21888 1.37300 2.60100 0.74050Sixmonth 1.22588 1.20488 2.63850 0.73538One year 1.05088 1.06013 2.76188 0.74350

Euro Libor

Onemonth -0.379 -0.389 -0.379 -0.621Threemonth -0.212 -0.241 -0.212 -0.539Sixmonth -0.139 -0.178 -0.139 -0.491One year -0.126 -0.164 -0.126 -0.441

Value 52-WeekLatest Traded High Low

DTCCGCFRepo Index

Treasury 0.106 23.960 6.007 0.002MBS 0.126 71.020 6.699 0.011

Week —52-WEEK—Latest ago High Low

General Equity FundsAdamsDiversified Equity ADX 15.79 13.57 -14.1 -0.4BoulderGrowth& Income BIF 11.75 9.82 -16.4 -8.2Central Secs CET 33.46 28.37 -15.2 0.3CohenStrsCEOppFd FOF 10.57 10.49 -0.8 -9.7EVTxAdvDivIncm EVT 19.39 18.47 -4.7 -13.7GabelliDiv&IncTr GDV NA 15.93 NA -22.0Gabelli Equity Tr GAB NA 4.63 NA -15.8GeneralAmer GAM NA 29.39 NA -8.1JHancockTaxAdvDiv HTD 21.13 19.73 -6.6 -16.2LibrtyAllStr Eq USA 5.59 5.35 -4.3 -5.5RoyceMicro-CapTr RMT 7.09 6.05 -14.7 -21.2RoyceValue Trust RVT 12.20 10.48 -14.1 -20.1Source Capital SOR 37.00 31.67 -14.4 -11.2Tri-Continental TY 25.88 22.44 -13.3 -10.3SpecializedEquity FundsAberdeenGlb PremProp AWP 5.41 4.66 -13.9 -15.2AdamsNatural Resources PEO 11.71 9.83 -16.1 -38.6AllianzGIAI &TechOpps AIO NA 16.72 NA NSGINFJDivInt&PremStr NFJ NA 10.44 NA -7.7ASAGold&PrecMet Ltd ASA 14.24 12.19 -14.4 20.8BREnhC&I CII 14.77 13.85 -6.2 -8.7BlackRock Energy&Res BGR 7.64 7.45 -2.5 -34.5BlackRock EqEnhDiv BDJ 7.68 7.09 -7.7 -11.8BlackRock EnhGlbl Div BOE 10.02 9.10 -9.2 -9.9BlackRock Enh Intl Div BGY 5.39 4.84 -10.2 -9.7BlackRockHlth Sci Tr II BMEZ 19.33 19.00 -1.7 NSBlackRockHlth Sciences BME 37.65 38.08 +1.1 2.1BlackRockRes&Comm BCX 6.39 5.55 -13.1 -28.0BlackRockSci&TechTr II BSTZ 18.70 18.27 -2.3 NSBlackRockSci&TechTrust BST 29.76 30.05 +1.0 -1.7BlackRockUtl Inf &Pwr BUI 18.32 18.84 +2.8 -6.3CBREClrnGlbRlEst IGR 6.95 5.84 -16.0 -15.4CLEARBRIDGEENGYMDSOPP EMO NA 1.74 NA -80.1CLEARBRIDGEMLP&MDSTMTR CTR NA 1.96 NA -78.0ClearBridgeMLP&Midstm CEM NA 2.51 NA -78.1Cntr Cst BrkfldMLP&EI CEN 1.14 1.07 -6.1 -84.5ChnStrInfr UTF 22.34 20.30 -9.1 -12.6COHEN&STEERSMLP INC&E MIE 1.91 1.85 -3.1 -78.6Cohen&SteersQualInc RQI 11.91 10.41 -12.6 -13.4CohenStrsREITPref RNP 20.86 18.79 -9.9 -2.4Cohen&Steers TotRet RFI 12.22 11.58 -5.2 -6.5Columbia Sel PrmTechGr STK 18.66 19.98 +7.1 -0.8DNPSelect Income DNP 8.99 10.72 +19.2 0.4Duff&PhUti&Infra Inc Fd DPG 11.52 10.69 -7.2 -21.9EtnVncEqtyInc EOI 13.65 12.90 -5.5 -5.9EtnVncEqtyIncoII EOS 15.22 14.96 -1.7 -4.8EVRskMnDvsEqInc ETJ 9.11 8.93 -2.0 5.0ETnVncTxMgdBuyWrtInc ETB NA 13.04 NA -8.1EtnVncTxMgdBuyWrtOpp ETV 12.39 12.72 +2.7 -7.8EvTxMnDvsEqInc ETY 10.53 10.10 -4.1 -5.2EtnVncTxMgdGlbB ETW 8.62 8.03 -6.8 -11.5EVTxMnGblDvEqInc EXG 7.26 6.86 -5.5 -8.9First Trust Energy IncG FEN 11.76 10.60 -9.9 -47.6

Listed are the 300 largest closed-end funds asmeasured by assets. Closed-end funds sell a limitednumber of shares and invest the proceeds in securities.Unlike open-end funds, closed-ends generally do notbuy their shares back from investors who wish to cashin their holdings. Instead, fund shares trade on a stockexchange. NA signifies that the information is notavailable or not applicable. NS signifies fund not inexistence of entire period. 12 month yield is computedby dividing income dividends paid (during the previoustwelve months for periods ending at month-end orduring the previous fifty-two weeks for periods endingat any time other than month-end) by the latestmonth-end market price adjusted for capital gainsdistributions.

Source: Lipper

Thursday, April 9, 202052wk

Prem TtlFund (SYM) NAV Close /Disc Ret

InvestmentGradeBondFundsBlRck CoreBond BHK 14.79 13.91 -5.9 5.9BRCredit Alloc Inc BTZ 13.12 12.83 -2.2 7.7InvescoBond VBF 19.77 18.98 -4.0 4.5JHan Income JHS 14.68 14.19 -3.3 4.7MFS Intmdt MIN 3.97 3.69 -7.1 9.5WesternAsset Inf-Lk Inc WIA NA 10.99 NA 3.9WesternAsset Inf-LkO&I WIW NA 10.29 NA 4.5LoanParticipationFundsApollo Senior Floating AFT NA 12.37 NA 10.2BRDebt Strategy DSU 10.13 9.52 -6.0 9.9BRF/R Inc Str FRA 12.25 11.26 -8.1 8.8BlackRock FloatngRt Inc BGT 11.88 10.79 -9.2 8.6Blackstone /GSOStrat BGB NA 11.08 NA 12.7Blackstone/GSOSr Flt Rt BSL NA 12.47 NA 11.0Eagle Point Credit ECC NA 7.92 NA 35.0EtnVncFltRteInc EFT 12.20 10.89 -10.7 10.0EVSenFlRtTr EFR 11.97 10.75 -10.2 10.2EVSnrIncm EVF 5.67 4.99 -12.0 9.3FT/Sr FltgRte Inc 2 FCT 12.02 10.64 -11.5 9.4FT/Sr FltgRte 2022TgTr FIV 8.62 8.01 -7.1 4.8Highland Income HFRO 12.47 9.53 -23.6 10.8InvDYCrOpp VTA 9.78 8.72 -10.8 10.4InvSnrIncTr VVR 3.97 3.52 -11.3 8.5NuveenCredit Strat Inc JQC NA 6.23 NA 21.3NuvFloatRateIncFd JFR NA 8.00 NA 9.7NuvFloatRteIncOppty JRO NA 7.98 NA 9.9NuveenSenior Income NSL NA 4.60 NA 10.0PionrFltRate Tr PHD 9.62 8.54 -11.2 8.9HighYieldBondFundsAllianceBernGlHiIncm AWF 10.95 9.86 -10.0 8.5Angel Oak FS Inc Trm FINS NA 17.50 NA NSBaringsGlb SDHYBd BGH 12.40 11.74 -5.3 15.7BRCorporateHY HYT 9.63 9.75 +1.2 10.2BlackRock LtdDur Inc BLW 14.34 13.47 -6.1 8.4Brookfield Real Asst Inc RA 17.99 16.30 -9.4 16.2CrSuisHighYld DHY 2.05 1.93 -5.9 11.9DoubleLine Inc Sol DSL NA 14.22 NA 13.8DoubleLineYldOpps DLY NA NA NA NSFirst TrHi Inc Lng/Shrt FSD 14.38 12.84 -10.7 10.6IVYHIGH INCOMEOPP IVH 12.04 11.03 -8.4 12.0NeubHgYldStrt NHS 10.38 9.70 -6.6 12.2NexPointStratOppty NHF 17.06 9.38 -45.0 27.8NuveenCrdtOpps 2022TT JCO NA 7.98 NA 7.0NuveenGlobal High Inc JGH NA 12.31 NA 10.9NuveenHINov 2021 Tgt JHB NA 8.90 NA 5.7PGIMGlobal HighYield GHY NA 11.80 NA 11.1PGIMHighYield Bond ISD NA 12.48 NA 10.6PioneerHilncmTr PHT 7.40 6.96 -5.9 11.5Wells Fargo IncomeOppty EAD NA 6.75 NA 11.1WstAstHIF II HIX NA 5.51 NA 11.3WesternAssetHi IncOpp HIO NA 4.40 NA 8.6WesternAssetHi YldDO HYI NA 13.39 NA 8.8OtherDomestic TaxableBondFundsApollo Tactical Income AIF NA 11.98 NA 10.6AresDynamic CrdtAlloc ARDC NA 10.89 NA 11.9Barings Corporate Inv MCI NA 12.94 NA 10.3BlackRockMlt-Sctr Inc BIT 14.31 13.75 -3.9 11.9BlackRock TaxMuni Bd BBN 22.57 23.03 +2.0 6.2DoubleLine:Oppor Crdt Fd DBL NA 17.91 NA 8.2Duff&PhUtil Cor DUC 9.19 8.97 -2.4 5.5EVLmtDurIncm EVV 12.01 11.00 -8.4 9.6Franklin LtdDur Income FTF 8.81 8.28 -6.0 13.0JHan Investors JHI 14.92 13.78 -7.6 10.0KKR IncomeOpportunities KIO NA 11.05 NA 14.0MFSCharter MCR 8.28 7.74 -6.5 9.6

Prem12MoFund (SYM) NAV Close /Disc Yld

NuveenTaxableMuni Inc NBB NA 19.76 NA 6.1PIMCOCorp& IncOppty PTY NA 14.73 NA 12.3PIMCOCorp& Inc Strat PCN NA 15.53 NA 10.5PIMCOHilnco PHK NA 5.34 NA 15.0PIMCO IncmStrFd PFL NA 9.29 NA 12.7PIMCO IncmStrFd II PFN NA 8.40 NA 12.6PutnamMas Int PIM 4.11 4.16 +1.2 8.8PutnamPrem Inc PPT 4.55 4.64 +2.0 9.2Wells FargoMulti-Sector ERC NA 10.31 NA 12.4World IncomeFundsAbrdnAP IncFd FAX 4.15 3.53 -14.9 6.6BrndywnGLBGlb IncOppts BWG NA 11.19 NA 7.4EtnVncStDivInc EVG NA 11.55 NA 8.1MSEmMktDomDebt EDD 6.33 5.34 -15.6 10.3PIMCODynCrd&Mrt Inc PCI NA 18.96 NA 14.9PIMCODynamic Income PDI NA 24.70 NA 13.8PIMCO IncomeOpportunity PKO NA 22.03 NA 11.2PIMCOStratg Inc RCS NA 6.70 NA 12.1TempletonEm Inc TEI NA 7.77 NA 10.1TempltnGlbl Inc GIM NA 5.50 NA 7.0WstAstEmergDebt EMD NA 11.11 NA 11.4WesternAssetGl CrDOp GDO NA 15.44 NA 8.8NationalMuni BondFundsAllBerNatlMunInc AFB 14.26 13.25 -7.1 4.3BlckRk InvQMun BKN 15.45 14.85 -3.9 4.5BlackRockMuni 2030Tgt BTT 24.75 23.32 -5.8 3.3BlackRockMuni BFK 13.34 13.05 -2.2 5.0BlackRockMuni II BLE 13.85 14.05 +1.4 5.2BlckRkMuni IncQly BYM 14.69 13.49 -8.2 4.4BRMuniAssets Fd MUA 13.23 12.84 -2.9 4.7BRMuniEnhanced MEN 11.45 10.63 -7.2 4.5BRMuniHoldingsQly MFL 13.88 13.22 -4.8 4.3BRMHQly 2 MUE 13.27 12.26 -7.6 4.5BRMuniHoldngs MHD 15.67 15.29 -2.4 4.8BRMuniVest Fd MVF 8.97 8.53 -4.9 5.3BRMuniVest 2 MVT 14.06 13.21 -6.0 5.0BRMuniYield Fd MYD 13.78 12.94 -6.1 5.3BRMuniYieldQlty MQY 15.27 14.50 -5.0 4.4BRMuniYldQlty2 MQT 13.28 12.06 -9.2 4.3BRMuniYldQly 3 MYI 13.89 12.51 -9.9 4.3BNYMellonMuni Bd Infra DMB 13.18 12.57 -4.6 5.1BNYMellonStrMuni Bond DSM 7.62 7.16 -6.0 5.5BNYMellonStratMuni LEO 7.82 7.61 -2.7 5.6DWSMuni Inc KTF 11.90 10.47 -12.0 4.6EVMuniBd EIM 13.53 12.49 -7.7 4.2EVMuniIncm EVN 13.16 12.21 -7.2 4.7EVNatMuniOpp EOT 20.13 19.15 -4.9 4.6InvAdvMuIncTrII VKI 11.32 10.43 -7.9 5.2InvescoMuniOp OIA 7.02 6.90 -1.7 5.5InvescoMuOppTr VMO 12.67 11.89 -6.2 5.2InvescoMuTr VKQ 12.66 11.84 -6.5 5.1InvescoQual Inc IQI 12.86 11.77 -8.5 5.1InvTrInvGrMu VGM 13.08 12.07 -7.7 5.0InvescoValMunInc IIM 15.61 14.23 -8.8 4.9MAINSTAY:MKDEFTRMUNOP MMD 19.57 19.76 +1.0 5.3NeubrgrBrm NBH 14.17 13.52 -4.6 5.1NuveenAMT-FrMuVal NUW NA 15.26 NA 3.6NuveenAMT-FrQltyMun I NEA NA 13.84 NA 4.7NuveenAMT-FrMuCI NVG NA 14.89 NA 5.3NuveenEnhMuni Val NEV NA 13.46 NA 5.2Nuveen IntDurMunTerm NID NA 12.75 NA 3.9NuveenMuCrdtOpps NMCO NA 11.33 NA NSNuvMuni Credit Income NZF NA 14.07 NA 5.5NuvMuniHiIncOpp NMZ NA 12.47 NA 5.7NuveenMuni Val NUV NA 9.89 NA 3.8NuveenQualityMuni Inc NAD NA 13.95 NA 4.6NuveenSel TF NXP NA 15.25 NA 3.6NuveenSel TF 2 NXQ NA 14.50 NA 3.5PIMCOMuniInc PMF NA 13.08 NA 5.5PIMCOMuniIncII PML NA 12.82 NA 6.0PimcoMuni III PMX NA 10.85 NA 5.6PioneerHilncAdv MAV 11.70 10.28 -12.1 4.5PioneerMunHiIcmT MHI 12.57 11.26 -10.4 5.0PutnamMgd Inc PMM 7.41 7.06 -4.7 5.3PutnamMuniOpp PMO 12.85 12.05 -6.2 5.3RiverNorthMgdDurMun I RMM NA 17.88 NA NS

Prem12MoFund (SYM) NAV Close /Disc Yld

First Tr EnhancedEq FFA 13.90 13.30 -4.3 -5.5FirstTrEnergyInfra FIF 10.99 10.06 -8.5 -31.9FirstTrMLPEner&Inc FEI 5.97 4.96 -16.9 -53.1Gabelli Healthcare GRX NA 9.64 NA -2.1GabUtility GUT NA 6.74 NA 8.1GAMCOGlGold&NatRes GGN NA 3.34 NA -11.9JHanFinl Opptys BTO 21.34 20.95 -1.8 -32.3Neuberger BrmnMLP&EI NML 2.87 2.15 -25.1 -70.6NubrgrRlEstSec NRO 3.88 3.60 -7.2 -21.2NuvDow30DynOverwrite DIAX NA 13.38 NA -19.2NuveenNasdaq 100DynOv QQQX NA 20.42 NA -3.8NuvReal Est JRS NA 7.61 NA -19.7NuveenRl Asst Inc&Gro JRI NA 11.26 NA -24.8NuvS&P500DynOvFd SPXX NA 12.70 NA -12.8NuvSP500BuyIncFd BXMX NA 10.89 NA -11.0ReavesUtilityIncome UTG 30.39 29.00 -4.6 -9.7Tortoise Enrgy Infra Crp TYG NA 3.15 NA -85.1TortoiseMidstreamEnrgy NTG NA 1.35 NA -89.2Income&PreferredStockFundsCalamosStratTot CSQ 11.08 10.85 -2.1 -8.4CohenStrsLtdDurPref&Inc LDP 21.74 22.10 +1.7 -1.2CohenStrsSelPref&Income PSF 22.73 24.11 +6.1 -5.1FirstTrIntDurPref&Inc FPF 19.83 19.68 -0.8 -5.3JHanPrefInc HPI 16.69 17.66 +5.8 -17.9JHPrefIncII HPF 16.40 16.73 +2.0 -18.7HnckJPfdInco III HPS 14.69 14.99 +2.0 -14.8JHanPrm PDT 12.31 12.97 +5.4 -17.2LMPCapInco SCD NA 9.26 NA -21.2NuveenPref & IncOpp JPC NA 8.00 NA -11.0NuveenFd JPS NA 8.00 NA -7.3NuveenPref & Inc Term JPI NA 19.91 NA -8.7TCWStrat Income TSI NA 5.43 NA 5.6Convertible Sec's. FundsAdvntCnvrtbl&IncFd AVK 12.99 11.55 -11.1 -15.0GI Conv& Inc NCV NA 3.85 NA -27.7AGI Conv& Inc II NCZ NA 3.40 NA -27.8AGIDvs Inc&Conv ACV NA 19.80 NA -5.7AGI Eqty&Conv Inc NIE NA 19.64 NA -2.9CalamosConvHi CHY 9.76 9.88 +1.2 -1.9CalmosConvOp CHI 9.27 8.86 -4.4 -7.1WorldEquity FundsAberdeenEmgMkts Eq Inc AEF 6.34 5.47 -13.7 -25.7AberdeenTotDynDiv AOD 8.10 7.12 -12.1 -9.3CalamosGloDynInc CHW 6.44 6.21 -3.6 -16.4CdnGenl Inv CGI 29.46 20.75 -29.6 -14.8China CHN 22.47 19.10 -15.0 -4.2EVTxAdvGlbDivInc ETG 14.03 13.25 -5.6 -10.8EtnVncTxAdvOpp ETO 19.15 19.73 +3.0 -12.0GabelliMultimedia GGT NA 6.10 NA -17.0GDLFund GDL NA 7.90 NA -12.6HighlandGlobal Alloc HGLB 8.84 4.93 -44.2 -56.5India Fund IFN 16.35 14.29 -12.6 -24.5JapanSmaller Cap JOF NA 6.95 NA -14.2MSChinaShrFd CAF 22.27 18.76 -15.8 -19.5MS India IIF 15.96 13.25 -17.0 -36.8NewGermany GF 14.43 12.59 -12.8 -10.4TempletonDragon TDF 20.46 17.60 -14.0 -3.9TempletonEmMkt EMF 13.65 11.93 -12.6 -16.4VirtusTotalRetFd ZF 8.23 8.05 -2.2 -5.6Wells FargoGl DivOppty EOD NA 4.05 NA -13.6

U.S.MortgageBondFundsBlckRk Income BKT 6.31 5.89 -6.7 7.1InvescoHI 2023Tgt Term IHIT 7.94 8.35 +5.2 7.4

52wkPrem Ttl

Fund (SYM) NAV Close /Disc Ret

Prem12MoFund (SYM) NAV Close /Disc Yld

52wkPrem Ttl

Fund (SYM) NAV Close /Disc Ret

ACAPStrategic:A 19.70 NA NA 18.1ACAPStrategic:W 14.65 NA NA 19.1BMOLGMFrontME;I 6.19 NA NA -31.4CalamosGlbTotRet CGO 9.36 9.55 +2.0 -14.8

LoanParticipationFunds1WSCredit Income NA NA NA 7.0AlphCntrc PrimeMerid In 9.76 NA NA NSAngel OakStr Crdt:Inst NA NA NA 8.5AxonicAlternative Inc NA NA NA 4.2Blackstone/GSOFREID NA NA NA 8.0Blackstone/GSOFREI I NA NA NA 8.4Blackstone/GSOFREI T NA NA NA 7.7Blackstone/GSOFREI T-I NA NA NA NSBlackstone/GSOFREIU NA NA NA NSBlstn CommntyDev 9.37 NA NA 3.7BNYMAlcntr GlbMSCr Fd NA NA NA NSCLIFFWATERCLFD;I 10.08 NA NA 1.5CNRStrategic Credit 7.26 NA NA 10.8FedProj&TrFinanceTendr 9.76 NA NA 3.9FSGlobal CrdtOpptysD NA NA NA 8.4GarrisonCapital Inc GARS NA 1.75 NA NASchrdrsOpp Inc;A 22.56 NA NA NSSchrdrsOpp Inc;A2 NA NA NA NSSchrdrsOpp Inc;I 22.57 NA NA NSSchrdrsOpp Inc;SDR 22.57 NA NA NSInvescoSr LoanA 5.58 NA NA 5.7InvescoSr LoanC 5.60 NA NA 4.8InvescoSr Loan IB 5.58 NA NA 6.0InvescoSr Loan IC 5.58 NA NA 5.8InvescoSr LoanY 5.58 NA NA 6.0HighYieldBondFundsGriffin InstAccess Cd:A NA NA NA 8.1Griffin InstAccess Cd:C NA NA NA 8.0Griffin InstAccess Cd:F NA NA NA 8.0Griffin InstAccess Cd:I NA NA NA 8.0Griffin InstAccess Cd:L NA NA NA 8.1PIMCOFlexible Cr I;A-2 7.74 NA NA NSPIMCOFlexible Cr I;A-4 7.74 NA NA 11.7PIMCOFlexible Cr I;Inst 7.74 NA NA 12.7PionrILSBridge NA NA NA 0.0WAMiddleMktDbt NA NA NA 10.4WAMiddleMkt Inc NA NA NA 11.4OtherDomestic TaxableBondFundsAmBeaconApollo TR:T 9.56 NA NA NSAmBeaconApollo TR:Y 9.56 NA NA 3.4AmBeaconSPEnh Inc:T 8.50 NA NA NSAmBeaconSPEnh Inc:Y 8.50 NA NA 6.0BRCredit Strat;Inst 8.66 NA NA 5.6BlackRockMlt-SctrOppty 70.73 NA NA 10.6BlackRockMlt-SecOpp II 70.47 NA NA NSCarlyle Tact Pvt Cred:A NA NA NA 9.1Carlyle Tact Pvt Cred:I NA NA NA 10.0Carlyle Tact Pvt Cred:L NA NA NA 9.5Carlyle Tact Pvt Cred:N NA NA NA NSCarlyle Tact Pvt Cred:Y NA NA NA 9.7CIONAresDvsfd Crdt;A NA NA NA 6.4CIONAresDvsfd Crdt;C NA NA NA 6.4CIONAresDvsfd Crdt;I NA NA NA 6.4CIONAresDvsfd Crdt;L NA NA NA 6.4CIONAresDvsfd Crdt;U NA NA NA NSCIONAresDvsfd Crdt;W NA NA NA 6.4CNRSelect Strategies 10.91 NA NA 0.0GLBeyond Income 1.10 NA NA NEKKRCREDITOPPTY;I NA NA NA NSLordAbbett CredOpps Fd 8.20 NA NA NSLordAbbett CredOpps Fd 8.20 NA NA 9.3Palmer SquareOpp Inc NA NA NA 8.0Resource Credit Inc:A NA NA NA 9.3Resource Credit Inc:C NA NA NA 8.4Resource Credit Inc:I NA NA NA 9.6Resource Credit Inc:L NA NA NA 9.0Resource Credit Inc:W NA NA NA 9.3Thrivent Church Ln&Inc:S 10.67 NA NA 3.2World IncomeFundsDestra Int&Evt-DvnCrd:A 21.75 NA NA 6.4Destra Int&Evt-DvnCrd:I 21.75 NA NA 6.7Destra Int&Evt-DvnCrd:L 21.75 NA NA 6.1Destra Int&Evt-DvnCrd:T 21.75 NA NA 5.8NationalMuni BondFundsPIMCOFlexMun Inc;A-3 NA NA NA NSPIMCOFlexMun Inc;Inst NA NA NA 3.2Tortoise Tax-AdvSoc Inf 9.39 NA NA 5.0

Prem12MoFund (SYM) NAV Close /Disc Yld

CLOSED‑END FUNDS

WesternAssetMgdMuni MMU NA 12.05 NA 5.2WestnAsstMuDefOppTr MTT NA 19.18 NA 4.4Single StateMuni BondBlackRock CAMun BFZ 14.70 12.71 -13.5 3.8BRMHCAQly Fd Inc MUC 15.01 13.51 -10.0 4.0BRMHNJQly MUJ 14.95 13.17 -11.9 4.8BRMHNYQly MHN 14.35 12.83 -10.6 4.2BRMuniYld CA MYC 14.92 13.37 -10.4 4.0BRMuniYld CAQly MCA 15.06 13.47 -10.6 4.2BRMuniYldMIQly MIY 15.20 13.23 -13.0 4.5BRMuniYldNJ MYJ 14.99 13.71 -8.5 5.3BRMuniYldNYQly MYN 13.80 12.40 -10.1 4.1EVCAMuniBd EVM 12.25 10.84 -11.5 4.3EatonVanceNYMuni Bd ENX 12.83 11.29 -12.0 4.1InvCaValMuIncTr VCV 12.83 11.57 -9.8 4.8InvPAValMuIncTr VPV 13.33 11.87 -11.0 5.0InvTrInvGrNYMu VTN 13.54 11.90 -12.1 4.9NuveenCAAMT-FQualMI NKX NA 14.55 NA 4.3NuveenCAVal NCA NA 9.89 NA 3.4NuveenCAQtyMuInc NAC NA 14.11 NA 4.6NuveenMDQualMuni Inc NMY NA 12.77 NA 4.1NuveenMIQualMuni Inc NUM NA 13.50 NA 3.9NuvNJQualMuni Inc NXJ NA 13.35 NA 4.7NuveenNYAMT/FrQualMI NRK NA 12.64 NA 4.3NuveenNYQualMuni Inc NAN NA 13.29 NA 4.3NuveenOHQualMuni Inc NUO NA 14.63 NA 3.5NuveenPAQualMuni Inc NQP NA 13.39 NA 4.5NuveenVAQltyMun Inc NPV NA 12.99 NA 4.0PIMCOCA PCQ NA 16.07 NA 5.6PIMCOCAMuniII PCK NA 8.31 NA 4.8PimcoCAMuni III PZC NA 9.76 NA 5.0

Prem12MoFund (SYM) NAV Close /Disc Yld

SpecializedEquity FundsBluerock Total Inc+RE:A 30.32 NA NA 6.2Bluerock Total Inc+RE:C 29.01 NA NA 5.4Bluerock Total Inc+RE:I 30.85 NA NA 6.5Bluerock Total Inc+RE:L 30.11 NA NA 5.9CCReal Estate Income;A 7.23 NA NA -19.6CCReal Estate Income;Ad 6.89 NA NA -24.3CCReal Estate Income;C 7.00 NA NA -23.4CCReal Estate Income;I 7.23 NA NA -19.6CCReal Estate Income;T 7.01 NA NA -20.8Clarion PartnersREI D NA NA NA NSClarion PartnersREI I NA NA NA NSClarion PartnersREI S NA NA NA NSClarion PartnersREI T NA NA NA NSNexPointHCOpp;A 15.12 NA NA -2.9NexPointHCOpp;C 14.89 NA NA -3.6NexPointRlEstStrat;A 14.26 NA NA -24.7NexPointRlEstStrat;C 14.41 NA NA -24.9NexPointRlEstStrat;Z 14.40 NA NA -24.2PREDEX;I 26.05 NA NA 3.7PREDEX;T 26.12 NA NA 3.7PREDEX;W 26.12 NA NA 3.7Principal DvsSel RAA 19.88 NA NA NSPrincipal DvsSel RA Ins 19.89 NA NA NSPrincipal DvsSel RAY 19.92 NA NA NSSharesPost 100;A 30.56 NA NA 4.6SharesPost 100:I 30.74 NA NA 4.9SharesPost 100:L 30.40 NA NA 4.4USQCoreReal Estate:I 25.59 NA NA 3.7USQCoreReal Estate:IS 25.59 NA NA 3.7Versus CapMMgrRE Inc:I 26.82 NA NA NEVersus Capital Real Asst 24.40 NA NA -0.2WildermuthEndwmnt:A 13.62 NA NA 5.2WildermuthEndwmnt:C 13.20 NA NA 4.4WildermuthEndowment:I 13.75 NA NA 5.5Income&PreferredStockFundsA3Alternative Cr 10.34 NA NA NSCalamos L/SEqty andDI CPZ 17.17 15.54 -9.5 NSDestraMulti-Altrntv;A 12.10 NA NA -5.9DestraMulti-Altrntv;C 11.63 NA NA -6.6DestraMulti-Altrntv;I 12.33 NA NA -5.6DestraMulti-Altrntv;L 11.78 NA NA -6.4Flat RockOpportunity 15.76 NA NA -11.4VariantAltrntv Inc:Inst 26.31 NA NA 9.4VariantAltrntv Inc:Inv 26.32 NA NA 9.2Convertible Sec's. FundsCalmosDynConv and Inc CCD 17.59 17.37 -1.3 -5.0WorldEquity Funds

52wkPrem Ttl

Fund (SYM) NAV Close /Disc Ret

P2JW104000-0-B00700-1--------XA

B8 | Monday, April 13, 2020 THEWALL STREET JOURNAL.

In uncertaintimes, you can becertain of this:Your generositywill deliverhope and helpto those whoneed it most.

Today, thanks to donors like you,The Salvation Army is helping those affected by COVID-19.

We are there for the most vulnerable in our community. For those whose wages are gone, for

those who need food, for those who have no place to call home, and for so many others who

desperately need help and hope in this time of crisis. To see how you can continue to make a

difference in your community, give today at SalvationArmyUSA.org.

P2JW104000-0-B00800-1--------XA

THEWALL STREET JOURNAL. Monday, April 13, 2020 | B9

THE TICKER | Market events coming this week

MondayNomajorevents scheduled

Tuesday

Import price indexFeb., previous down0.5%March, expected down3%

Earnings expected*Estimate/YearAgo($)

Fastenal 0.34/0.34FirstRepublicBank

1.04/1.26J.B.HuntTransportServices 1.01/1.09Johnson&Johnson

2.03/2.10JPMorganChase

1.89/2.65WellsFargo 0.39/1.20

Wednesday

Business inventoriesJan., previous down0.1%Feb., expected down0.4%

Capacity utilizationFeb., previous 77%March, expected 73.9%

EIA status reportPrevious change in stocks inmillions of barrels

Crude-oil stocks up 15.2Gasoline stocks up 10.5Distillates up 0.5

EmpireManufacturingMar., previous -21.5Apr., expected -30

Industrial productionFeb., previous up 0.6%Mar., expected down4.1%

Mort. bankers indexesPurch., previous

down12%Refinan., prev. down19%

Retail sales, ex. autosFeb., previous down0.4%Mar., expected down5.2%

Retail salesFeb., previous down0.5%Mar., expected down8%

Earnings expected*Estimate/YearAgo($)

Bank ofAmerica0.49/0.70

Charles Schwab0.62/0.69

Citigroup 1.07/1.87GoldmanSachs 3.23/5.71U.S. Bancorp 0.61/1.00UnitedHealth 3.63/3.73

Thursday

BuildingPermitsFeb., previous 1.464mil.Mar., expected 1.250mil.

EIA report: natural gasPrevious change in stocks inbillions of cubic feet

up38

HousingStartsFeb., previous 1.599mil.Mar., expected 1.340mil.

Initial jobless claimsPrevious 6,610,000Expected 5,000,000

PhiladelphiaFedsurveyMar., previous -12.7Apr., expected -30

Earnings expected*Estimate/YearAgo($)

Abbott Laboratories0.62/0.63

Bank ofNewYorkMellon0.90/0.94

BlackRock 6.32/6.61IntuitiveSurgical

2.69/2.61KeyCorp 0.18/0.38SonocoProducts

0.84/0.85

Friday

Leading indicatorsFeb., previous up 0.1%March, expected

down7.2%

Earnings expected*Estimate/YearAgo($)

Citizens Financial0.39/0.92

KansasCity Southern1.76/1.54

Regions Financial0.22/0.38

Schlumberger 0.26/0.30StateStreet 1.34/1.24

Johnson & Johnson will report earnings Tuesday. A company display in New York’s Central Park last year.

THEO

WARG

O/G

ETTY

IMAGES

FORGOOD+FOUNDA

TION

* FACTSET ESTIMATES EARNINGS-PER-SHARE ESTIMATES DON’T INCLUDE EXTRAORDINARY ITEMS (LOSSES IN PARENTHESES) NOTE: FORECASTSARE FROM DOW JONES WEEKLY SURVEY OF ECONOMISTS

BANKING & FINANCE

drew its 2020 forecast, citinguncertainty around the pan-demic’s damage to U.S. busi-nesses and households. A “sig-nificant number” of thecompany’s auto customershave chosen to defer theirpayments for as many as 120days, Ally said.

Investors will want to knowwhat the bank results signalabout the broader economy.

Delinquent loans andcharge-offs were at or nearpostcrisis lows going into theyear. Analysts think delinquen-cies remained relatively low inthe first quarter as well. Butmany lenders are offering for-bearance programs that couldmask loans under pressure.

Commercial and industrialloans, used by small busi-nesses, are the first categorywhere delinquencies will rise,analysts said. And loans tocompanies in industries essen-tially shut down by the virus—hospitality, tourism, restau-rants—could soon be hit hard.

Analysts expect that bankswill squirrel away more moneyfor potential loan losses,which could drag down re-sults.

The fall in interest rateswill also weigh on earnings.The Federal Reserve slashedits benchmark rate to near

zero last month to try to bol-ster a U.S. economy starting toshow signs of weakness.

Falling interest rates erodebanks’ profits by limiting howmuch they can charge on loans.Net interest margin, whichmeasures how profitably bankscan lend out depositors’ funds,is expected to decline.

Fee income, often a life vestfor banks amid declining inter-est rates, will have little powerto right the ship this time.Many of the strategies banksare employing to deal with theeconomic crisis, such as waiv-ing certain fees, will dragdown nonlending income. Andexternal factors, including re-strictions on corporate traveland a freeze on much mergersand acquisitions activity, willput pressure on banks’ pay-ments businesses and corpo-rate advisory businesses.

The pandemic has alreadydamped housing demand. Ameasure of home-purchase ap-plications recently fell for thefourth consecutive week, to itslowest level since 2015.

The pressure on nearly allparts of the banking businessmodel means banks have fewlevers to pull to boost earn-ings. Cutting expenses, a tried-and-true path to improvedprofit, will be hard when thebanks are spending money todeal with the pandemic—in-cluding bonuses for front-lineworkers, equipment for em-ployees to work from homeand the cleaning of branchesand corporate offices.

An exception will be tradingarms, which likely benefitedfrom the 20% drop in the S&P500 in the first quarter.

When U.S. banks reportfirst-quarter earnings thisweek, investors will get thebest impression yet of how thecoronavirus pandemic isweighing on the U.S. financialsector.

The first three months of2020 presented banks withtheir most formidable chal-lenges in recent memory—near-zero interest rates and afree-falling U.S. economy thatthreatens to upend almost alltheir business lines.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. andWells Fargo & Co. report re-sults on Tuesday. GoldmanSachs Group Inc., Bank ofAmerica Corp. and CitigroupInc. follow on Wednesday.Morgan Stanley is expected toreport later in the week.

KBW analysts expect largebanks’ earnings to drop by23% in the first quarter com-pared with a year earlier.

Lackluster earnings will puteven more pressure on bankstocks. The KBW Nasdaq BankIndex plummeted 42% in thefirst quarter, its worst start toa year on record. Share pricesof the four largest banks weredown between 35% and 47% inthe quarter.

“It should be expected thatour earnings will be downmeaningfully in 2020,” JPMor-gan Chief Executive James Di-mon said in a letter to share-holders last week.

Other banks have revised orabandoned guidance issuedjust a few months ago.

Ally Financial Inc., one ofthe country’s largest auto-fi-nance lenders, recently with-

BY ORLA MCCAFFREY

Banks to Give Peek at Sector’s Challenges

JPMorgan Chase & Co. is among the companies reporting earnings this week.

MARY

ALTAFF

ER/A

SSOCIAT

EDPR

ESS

Delinquent loanswere at or nearpostcrisis lows goinginto the year.

Feb. 25CDC says itexpects virus tospread in the U.S.

March 16Federal Reserveslashes rates to arange between0% and 0.25%.

Index performance, year to date

Sources: FactSet (indexes); Federal Reserve (deposits, loan volume); Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (asset qualitiy)Note: Index performance through Friday

10

–50

–40

–30

–20

–10

0

%

Jan. Feb.

March April

S&P 500

–14%

KBWNasdaqBanking

–34%

Rate of noncurrent loans andcharge-offs

6

0

2

4

%

2010 ’15 ’19

Noncurrent rate

Charge-off rate

Weekly commercial bank deposits,change from a year earlier

10

0

5

%

Feb. MarchJan.

Commercial and industrial loanvolume, change

10

0

5

%

2019 ’20

Bond-market volatility hasdropped, sending a positivesignal for the U.S. stockmarket.

A measure of bond-marketvolatility known as the ICE Bo-fAML U.S. Bond Market OptionVolatility Estimate Index re-cently hit the lowest level

since early February, beforeU.S. stocks entered a bear mar-ket and fears of a recession in-tensified.

The measure jumped dra-matically during the marketturmoil in March and has nowreceded to average levels overthe past decade.

Meanwhile, the Cboe Vola-tility Index—a measure of

stock-market volatility—closedThursday at 41.67, well abovethe average level of roughly 18that the index has recordedsince 2009.

“Volatility within the stockand bond markets has recentlyparted company,” Jim Paulsen,chief investment strategist atthe Leuthold Group, said in aresearch note earlier last week.

On March 19, both indexeswere near their highest levelsin history, according to theLeuthold Group. The drop inbond-market volatility com-pared with stock volatility hashappened previously andtends to be followed by strongstock returns, the firm said.That was the case in Februaryand December of 2018, the

firm said.“This relatively rare condi-

tion of intense stock marketfear, combined with a generallycalm bond market, has provedto be a powerful combinationfor ensuing stock-market re-turns,” Mr. Paulsen said.

It is a sharp shift from lastyear, when measures in thebond market were flashing red

while stock-market volatilityreceded. For example, a widelyfollowed bond-market signalknown as the yield curve wasalso indicating that a recessionwas on the horizon.

The S&P 500 gained 12%last week, its best weekly per-formance since 1974. Marketswere closed Friday for theGood Friday holiday.

BY GUNJAN BANERJI

LowerBond-MarketVolatilityOffersEncouragingSignforStocks

Fed toWeigh Firms’Virus Response

WASHINGTON—The FederalReserve has for a decade madeup hypothetical doomsday sce-narios to test the ability of bigbanks to withstand a crisis. Thisyear banks—including JPMorganChase & Co., Bank of AmericaCorp. and Goldman Sachs GroupInc.—will be tested against a realone: the coronavirus pandemic.

The Fed said Friday it is ad-justing its annual “stress tests”for banks to incorporate lenders’performance during the corona-virus-triggered downturn, whichis worse than the hypotheticalscenarios that the central bankpreviously planned to use.

The annual tests for the big-gest banks are meant to gaugeif lenders would survive a reces-sion that sends the stock mar-ket plunging, oil into a tailspin,loan defaults rising and unem-

ployment to record highs. RandalQuarles, the Fed’s vice chairmanfor supervision, signaled that theexisting tests were no longer asufficient means by themselvesto measure bank health.

“The right thing to do is forus to continue our stress testsbut as part of them to analyzehow banks’ portfolios are re-sponding to real, current events,not just to the hypotheticalevent that we announced earlierthis year,” Mr. Quarles said,speaking in an online discussion.

The Fed’s approach contrastswith some overseas policy mak-ers that have canceled the testsfor 2020, reasoning that wouldalleviate operational burdens onfirms during the outbreak.

Mr. Quarles provided few de-tails for how the central bankwould incorporate real-worldstresses into this year’s tests,suggesting the Fed was stillironing out the details. Banks’balance sheets are growing, asthey take on deposits and lend

more. Mr. Quarles said the Fed’sanalysis of the results would in-form its supervision and regula-tion of the financial sector.

Banks were required to sub-mit plans showing how theywould weather a deep recessionand maintain sufficient capitalby Monday. The Fed will an-nounce the results of the testsby the end of June.

Some economists have pre-dicted that the current downturncould be sharper and reach fur-ther than the worst-case sce-nario on this year’s test.

For instance, the Fed’s hypo-thetical severe recession imag-ined U.S. gross domestic productdropping 9.9% in the secondquarter and unemployment hit-ting 6.1% by the end of June.

Economists surveyed by TheWall Street Journal this monthpredicted GDP would contract atan annual rate of 25% in thesecond quarter, and unemploy-ment would hit 13% in June.

—Andrew Ackerman

P2JW104000-0-B00900-1--------XA

B10 | Monday, April 13, 2020 THEWALL STREET JOURNAL.

pectancy. They have risen in nineout of 10 years since and the onedrop was nowhere as sharp.

People feeling a financial pinchare less likely to pay thousands ofdollars for a service they hopethey won’t need for many years. Ifthey do, then they might opt for acheaper option such as a less-or-nate casket.

The long-term trend towardnormally cheaper cremation in-stead of burial has long been aheadwind for death-care providers.That is, if they can make the saleat all: During the pandemic, peoplelocked down aren’t only worriedabout their nest eggs and salariesbut also far less likely to encoun-ter a funeral salesperson, at leastface-to-face.

During the last bear market,Service Corp. shares had a mi-nus-78% total return, falling farmore sharply than the S&P 500. Sofar, they are outperforming themarket slightly. If the period of so-cial distancing lasts months, andespecially if the recent recovery inshare prices proves fleeting, bet-ting on further outperformancecould be a grave error.

—Spencer Jakab

If the coronavirus has shown usanything, it is how vulnerable globalsupply chains really are—both to apandemic and to the breakdown oftrust and cooperation that follows.Widespread limits on exports ofmedical goods like masks, pricegouging and diverted cargoes arelikely to create permanent changesin the medical equipment supplychain once the pandemic ebbs.

But what about that even moreprecious commodity, food?

The U.S., Europe and otherwealthy regions are unlikely to expe-rience serious problems, althoughprices could rise significantly forsome items, like fresh produce. Butpoorer countries could struggle. Un-necessary restrictions on food ex-ports by big producers risk exacer-bating the problem.

In late March, the United NationsFood and Agriculture Organizationwarned that disruptions to foodsupply chains could materialize inApril and May. Vietnam, the world’sthird-largest rice exporter, tempo-rarily banned the signing of newrice export contracts on March 25.Rice futures have surged 12% sinceearly March and are now up nearly40% from a year ago. Wheat futuresalso have shot higher. Russia,Ukraine and Kazakhstan have an-nounced or are considering new re-strictions on shipments.

Unlike N95 masks and ventilators,the problem for food supply isn’t alack of production capacity. Har-vests have been good and stockpilesare abundant. Rice inventories arenear a record high according to theU.N., and the organization still ex-

pects 763 million metric tons ofglobal wheat production in 2020,comparable with 2019.

Instead, the problem is gettingfood out of the fields and ontotrucks, ships and trains as logisticsnetworks seize up and agriculturallabor becomes scarce. Fresh produceand seafood, which don’t keep well,are particularly vulnerable.Throughout Western Europe, mi-grant laborers from northern Africaor other areas who usually workfields are locked out of the conti-nent. France’s agriculture ministerhas asked the country’s newly un-employed to step up and help withthe spring harvest. France needs

about 200,000 workers over thenext three months, according to thecountry’s main farmers’ union.

One concern is that a vicious cy-cle of export controls, limited trans-port capacity and stockpiling by bigfood importers could further driveup prices and create problems forthe most vulnerable nations eventhough overall food production re-mains robust. The president ofEgypt, which is the world’s largestwheat buyer, has ordered officials toboost the size of the nation’s foodreserves. Top rice importer the Phil-ippines is planning to boost pur-chases, the country’s cabinet secre-tary said last week.

The pandemic has highlightedhow natural disasters tend to do themost damage to those on precariousground economically. Vulnerable na-tions—for example, those in theHorn of Africa struggling with lo-custs—could find themselves con-fronting health and economic crisesas the virus hits local food produc-tion, countries with surplus produc-tion hoard abundant supplies andglobal transport capacity seizes up.

Investors watching critical medi-cal supplies dry up in the U.S. andEurope shouldn’t worry about simi-lar shortages of food. But tangledsupply chains and multiplying ex-port restrictions risk a deeper eco-nomic downturn, and a higher hu-man cost, in the developing world.

—Nathaniel Taplin

SupplySpotlightMisses KeyCommodity

Transport, laborshortage put food at risk

Rice future price

Source: Refinitiv

$15

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

per hundredweight

’18 ’19 ’202017

Trying to think of businessesthat couldn't only hold their ownbut possibly prosper in the pan-demic would make for a very shortlist. One that comes to mind is thedeath-care industry, but the oppo-site may be true.

People are deferring all sorts ofpurchases, particularly when itcomes to services, but we can’t domuch to postpone the end of life.Even before the pandemic, compa-nies like Service Corp. Interna-tional, with a 15% market share offunerals in North America, werepositioned for decades of growthas the baby boom generation aged.Some 2.84 million Americans diedin 2018 and the Census Bureau ex-pects that to reach 3.6 millionin 2037.

Sadly, some of those peoplepassed away prematurely asCovid-19, a respiratory ailmentcaused by the coronavirus, becamea leading cause of death in recentdays for Americans. But a com-pany in the funeral business de-pends much more on economicthan on mortality indicators in theshort run. A major recession andstock-market slump could impactit severely.

A large part of Service Corp.’ssales are “pre-need,” in whichsalespeople sell a cemetery plot,funeral service or both to peoplewho may have many years leftto live.

The funds are generally placedin a trust and invested until theservices are rendered. The com-pany can earn money from any ex-cess return or be on the hook iffunds are insufficient to cover fu-ture promises. Its “backlog” isaround $12 billion, while it had$3.23 billion in sales in 2019.

Back in 2008, when stocks lastentered a bear market, ServiceCorp.’s various trusts slumped byaround 25%. The company’s salesalso fell in both 2008 and 2009,despite no sudden jump in life ex-

Death Industry Is NoHaven in a Pandemic

Share-price and index performance,year to date

Source: FactSet

20

–30

–20

–10

0

10

%

Jan. Feb. March April

ServiceCorp. International S&P500

The U.S. is unlikely to experience serious issue, although prices could rise.

AMYKA

TZ/ZUMAPR

ESS

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© 2020 Dow Jones & Company. All Rights Reserved. THEWALL STREET JOURNAL. Monday, April 13, 2020 | R1

administration is weighing new curbs de-signed to hamper China’s ability to makeleading-edge semiconductors, according topeople familiar with the matter. The chair-man of Chinese telecom giant HuaweiTechnologies Co. warned last month thatBeijing would impose its own restrictionsif the U.S. moves forward with that plan.The most visible technological battle has

been over 5G, the superfast cellular networksthat promise to be the foundation for tomor-row’s technologies. The U.S. government hastaken extraordinary measures to try tothwart Huawei, the cellular-technologyleader that Washington considers a cyber-security threat.The battle has also extended to other tech-

nologies that, like 5G, are not life-altering to-day but could transform how we live, workand fight wars in the not-so-distant future.Artificial intelligence is often touted as the

PleaseturntopageR2

DOUG CHAYKA

JOURNAL REPORT

5G:WHAT’SNEXT

BY ASA FITCH AND STU WOO

THE U.S. VS. CHINA

Who’sWinningThe Key

High‑TechBattles?5G. Quantum computing.AI. Autonomous cars.

Semiconductors. How thecountries compare in thesecrucial areas of innovation.

IN A WORLD where geopolitical power isincreasingly linked to technologicaladvancement, the U.S. has long led itsrivals. American companies make some ofthe world’s fastest computers, deadliest jetfighters and most capable robots.

But China’s growing economy—nowthe world’s second largest—and huge gov-ernment investments in technologies areeating away at that edge like never before.

Such progress has spurred PresidentTrump’s all-out trade and economic battlewith Beijing, encompassing tariffs, export

controls and a crackdown on Chinese scientistsallegedly stealing American companies’ secrets.

It’s not clear yet how the economic devasta-tion wrought by the coronavirus will change therivalry, but one thing is certain: The diseasehasn’t done much to cool tensions. The Trump >

WIRE OR WAVE?

A partisandebate simmersover how todeliver 5Gservice to theunderserved. R8

INSIDEA TEST FOR ALLIANCES

The U.S. wants itsEuropean allies tokeep Huawei out oftheir 5G networks.Most are resisting. R4

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R2 | Monday, April 13, 2020 THEWALL STREET JOURNAL.

JOURNAL REPORT | 5G

more than 60% of a wireless car-rier’s 5G capital expenditurescould go to cellular equipment,such as radios, a market Huaweileads. “All the money is in radio,”says Dimitris Mavrakis, 5G re-search director at market-advi-sory firm ABI Research.Huawei’s technologically ad-

vanced cellular equipment, andits ability to churn it out quickly,helped China quickly roll out 5G,turning much of the nation into apotential lab for 5G-dependenttechnology, such as self-drivingcars. Meanwhile, airwave restric-tions have slowed the construc-tion of U.S. 5G networks.Still, it would be premature to

declare China the winner in the5G race, especially since Washing-ton has further tools to slow Hua-wei’s dominance in both the cellu-lar-equipment industry andsmartphone business, in which itis also a global leader.“Federal agencies in Washing-

ton are currently debating

whether and how to tighten sanc-tions on Huawei,” says Dan Wang,a Beijing-based technology ana-lyst at research firm GavekalDragonomics. “If they do, thenHuawei’s operations will be dis-rupted in major ways, such that itmay have difficulty makingsmartphones and 5G equipment.”

EDGE GOES TO: China

Artificial intelligence

Three years ago, Beijing declaredits intention to be the world

A crew forVerizon worksto update acell tower tohandle thenew 5G

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Growing InfluenceAgrowing field-weighted citationimpact of Chinese AI researchersreflects advances in AI researchinfluence. The U.S. leads theworldin influential AI research.

Field-weighted citation impact ofU.S. and ChineseAI authors,indexed to global average

Source: The AI Index 2019 Annual Report

Note: FWCI uses the number of citations apublication receives to gauge its influence within afield and globally.

2.0

0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2000 ’05 ’10 ’15

Global average

China

U.S.

Pursuit of IntelligenceBy 2006, China outpaced the U.S.in number of AI publications.

Number of AI papers tracked byScopus*

Source: The AI Index 2019 Annual Report*Scopus collects data on abstracts and citations.

25

0

5

10

15

20

thousand

2000 ’05 ’10 ’15

China

U.S.

leader in AI by 2030, envisioninga domestic industry alone worthsome $150 billion.China’s publicly traded tech gi-

ants, including Alibaba GroupHolding Ltd. and Baidu Inc., haveplowed billions of dollars into AIresearch and set up labs in Chinaand Silicon Valley, taking advan-tage of the latter’s openness. Thathas made them juggernauts, out-shining global rivals in areas in-cluding e-commerce algorithmsand facial recognition. China’shuge population, surveillance in-frastructure and more lax atti-tude on privacy rights generatehuge volumes of data, which pro-duces ever-smarter AI.But while China may contrib-

ute more AI research and beahead in some important subsetsof AI, like facial recognition, it’snot ahead in all of them. Andwhen it comes to research intoartificial general intelligence, orAI with broader, humanlike think-ing abilities, the large U.S. compa-nies—Microsoft Corp., AlphabetInc.’s Google and others—areclearly leading, says Paul Triolo,an analyst at political-risk con-sulting firm Eurasia Group. Amer-ican tech giants have untoldamounts of money to spend onAI, which they’re using in recom-mendation engines, targeted ad-vertising and automatic filteringof obscene or otherwise bannedpictures and videos, among otherareas. Some also sell AI services,letting companies, governmentsand police departments tap intothe power of their algorithms.

linchpin of a new industrial revolution,with applications such as augmented real-ity and remote surgery. Quantum comput-ing could help discover new drugs and de-cipher encrypted data once thoughtuncrackable. Autonomous vehicles couldfundamentally revamp our transportationsystems and infrastructure and the way weall get around. Advanced computer chipsact as digital brains that orchestrate it all.Here is how the technology battle be-

tween the U.S. and China is shaping upin some of the most important areas ofinnovation.

5G

Attorney General William Barr made itclear where the U.S. stood in 5G in Febru-ary by suggesting that Washington and itsallies should consider taking a financialinterest in Huawei rivals Nokia Corp. andEricsson AB. Both are based in Europe.The White House later dismissed the

idea of buying either company, but Mr.Barr’s remarks still emphasized how thereis no American giant to challenge Huawei,the world’s biggest maker of telecomequipment, such as the radio hardwarethat hangs on cellular towers.After bad bets, what remained of one-

time American champions Lucent and Mo-torola were acquired by Finland’s Nokiaand Sweden’s Ericsson. They in turn havegone through layoffs and unprofitabilitywhile competing with Huawei, whichgained nearly the combined market shareof its European rivals via its cutting-edgeproducts and low prices.The U.S. has some 5G players. Cisco

Systems Inc. is the largest maker of thebehind-the-scenes routers and switchesthat connect to cellular equipment. Qual-comm Inc. and InterDigital Inc. are lead-ing intellectual-property companies earn-ing royalties for cellular-technologypatents.But those markets are comparatively

small, and Huawei is a player in both. And

ContinuedfrompageR1TheU.S. vs.China

In Tech

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60%+The portion of

wireless carriers’capital spending thatcould go to cellularequipment, such as

radios, a marketHuawei leads.

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THEWALL STREET JOURNAL. Monday, April 13, 2020 | R3

JOURNAL REPORT | 5G

Selectmajormilestones in thedevelopment of quantumcomputing power

1998

OxfordUniversity

2000

LosAlamosNational Laboratory

2006

Institute for QuantumComputing,Perimeter Institute forTheoretical Physics,MIT

2007

D-Wave Systems

2017

IBM

2018

2-qubitquantumcomputer

12-qubit

28-qubitquantumannealingcomputer

50-qubit

72-qubitquantumchip

Source: news reports

Google

7-qubit

ready the world’s biggest car mar-ket, and the country’s regulatory en-vironment—such as restrictions onaccessing maps on national-securitygrounds, as well as requiring foreigncompanies to partner with localones—favors domestic championstrying to win the market there,which include Baidu, Didi ChuxingTechnology Co. and Pony.ai. “It willbe difficult for American companiesto be competitive,” says Nikolaj Her-skind, of Scandinavian consultingfirm Qvartz.China’s huge population will give

Chinese companies more data theycan use to refine autonomous-vehi-cle technology. It also helps thatthe Chinese are more willing to tryself-driving cars. While 48% ofAmericans said in a 2020 Deloittesurvey that they thought autono-mous vehicles were unsafe, only35% of Chinese respondentsthought the same thing.China’s lead in 5G infrastructure

means its car companies can test,in real-world conditions, how thewireless technology can be used tobeam map and traffic data to cars,or even remotely control vehicles insome situations.But given how governments in-

tensely regulate self-driving cartests and technology, says AndreyBerdichevskiy, director of Deloitte’sFuture of Mobility Solution Center,the most likely outcome of the au-tonomous-vehicle technology raceis a bifurcated world—similar tohow the U.S. and China are devel-oping their own ecosystems forother hardware and software.“I expect U.S. and Chinese play-

ers to first become successful intheir home markets, but regula-tions and consumer perceptionmakes it harder for either side toflourish on the other’s territorywithout a local partner,” Mr. Berdi-chevskiy says.The edge goes to: U.S., for now.

Mr. Fitch, a Wall Street Journalreporter in San Francisco, can bereached at asa.fitch@wsj.com.Mr. Woo, a Wall Street Journalreporter formerly based inBeijing, can be reached atstu.woo@wsj.com.

48%of Americans thoughtautonomous vehicleswere unsafe,according to a Deloittesurvey, compared withonly 35% of Chineserespondents.

Left, Sundar Pichai, Alphabet Inc.’s chief executive officer, witha Google quantum computer at a lab in Santa Barbara, Calif.Above, physicist Pan Jianwei, dubbed China’s ‘father ofquantum,’ works at a lab of the University of Science andTechnology of China in Hefei. The U.S. has the lead in quantumcomputing, but China is ahead in quantum communications.

Competing self-driving cars indevelopment include GM’s ChevyBolt EV, above, and the robo taxiat left from China’s Baidu and automaker FAW.

China is poised tocome out aheadin the long termin thedevelopmentof self-drivingcars.

Semiconductors

China has spent tens of billions ofdollars over decades trying to geta leg up in semiconductors, es-sential ingredients in the race forfaster computers and smart-phones and more-sophisticatedweaponry. Statistics from theSemiconductor Industry Associa-tion, based in Washington, D.C.,suggest U.S. exports of chips toChina have stayed around thesame level for years, and thatChinese companies haven’t gainedtremendous market share, evendomestically. About 47.5% of chipssold in China were American as of2018, according to SIA figures.China’s neighbors have made a

prominent place for themselves inthe global semiconductor supplychain, with South Korea’s Sam-sung Electronics Co. becoming adominant smartphone and chipsupplier and Taiwan Semicon-ductor Manufacturing Co. be-coming the world’s largest con-tract chip manufacturer.That’s a model that China

could never seem to replicate.The country’s leading chip maker,Semiconductor ManufacturingInternational Corp., isn’t able toproduce the most cutting-edgechips with the smallest transis-tors. Some estimates suggestChina is five to seven years be-hind the U.S. and Taiwan on chiptechnology, but it may take longerfor China to catch up because cut-ting-edge chips are a moving tar-get. By the time China is able tomake chips that compete with thebest available today, the rest ofthe industry will likely have takenanother leap ahead.That said, China has surprised

U.S. officials by replacing Ameri-can chips in many of its compa-nies’ electronic devices with acombination of domestic chips andones sourced from non-U.S. com-panies. Huawei’s newest phablets,launched last year, didn’t includeany U.S. chips, according to a tear-down of the devices commissionedby the investment bank UBS.For the short term, China’s

semiconductor strategy is fo-cused on reducing reliance onthe U.S., which often means find-ing other non-Chinese substi-

The U.S. produces some of theworld’s best AI research and tal-ent because of its combination ofleading universities, deep-pock-eted tech companies and anopenness to ideas and peoplefrom across the globe—areaswhere the U.S. has a sustainableadvantage, at least in the me-dium term. Not shutting downacademic and commercial ex-changes with Canadian, Euro-pean, Israeli and even Chineseexperts is crucial for the U.S. tomaintain the advantages it has,Mr. Triolo says.“In some sense the AI industry

is still in its infancy, and many arecontributing to its growth andmaturity,” he says. “This may bemore important than the level offunding in determining the suc-cess of U.S. companies in leverag-ing AI in new and important sec-tors like autonomous driving andhealth care.”

EDGE GOES TO: U.S.,but it’s close.

Quantum Computing

Unlike today’s computers, whichuse streams of ones and zeros toencode data, quantum computersuse atom-scale quirks that allowparticles to exist in more thantwo states. That added complex-ity gives them the ability to pro-cess more information morequickly, potentially far exceedingthe power of supercomputers.Harnessing that potential will

probably take a decade or more.Today’s quantum computershave a relatively small numberof quantum bits, or qubits, withwhich to make calculations. Itwill not be easy to get to thepoint where there’s enough ofthem to perform hard calcula-tions quickly.Because quantum computers

eventually could be powerful

enough to defeat current meth-ods of encryption and run com-plex simulations to discover newdrugs, the field has attracted agroundswell of investment fromprivate capital sources and gov-ernments.The U.S. is the clear world

leader in the construction ofquantum computers. Google lastyear claimed its 54-qubit ma-chine, which excels at measuringprobabilities in randomly out-putted numbers, achieved “quan-tum supremacy,” making a calcu-lation that wasn’t possible—or,at least, not practical—on a clas-sical computer. InternationalBusiness Machines Corp., an-other American company thathas a quantum computer rivalingGoogle’s, disputed that result,saying the calculation actuallycould be performed with a su-percomputer in a reasonableamount of time. Chinese scien-tists have built quantum com-puters, but analysts say they’reyears behind the U.S.Quantum technology, however,

goes beyond computers and ex-tends into using quantum prop-erties to communicate quicklyand securely. That’s where Chinamay have the advantage. Led byPan Jian-Wei, dubbed China’s“father of quantum,” the countryhas pushed the envelope inquantum communications, sen-sors and radar—all areas withpossible military applications.The country in 2016 launched asatellite, called Micius, that usesphoton beams in a quantumstate that makes transmissionsimpervious to interception. It’sbuilding a huge quantum-infor-

mation-sciences lab in eastChina, a project with a $10 bil-lion price tag.So the scorecard is split: The

U.S. leads in quantum comput-ing, and China leads in quantumcommunications and encryption.The future is hard to forecastbecause advances that will shapethe field are likely still decadesoff, says Elsa Kania, a researcherat the Center for a New Ameri-can Security, a think tank basedin Washington, D.C.“We’re at a relatively early

stage of what I think can bemore accurately characterized asa marathon,” she says.

EDGE GOES TO: U.S. inquantum computing, Chinain quantum communications

China hardware

U.S. hardwareChina software

U.S. software

Patent FrenzyChina has exponentially increasedthe number of quantum informa-tion technology (QIT) patents,largely in software.Number of QITpatent families*by priority country andtechnology type

Source: Patinformatics

*By earliest publication year. A patent family is a setof patent applications covering similar technicalcontent.

500

0

100

200

300

400

1995 2000 ’05 ’10 ’15

tutes. In the long term, though,many industry observers thinkit’s a matter of when, not if,China’s huge investments in chipmaking finally pay off.“If you’re willing to spend bil-

lions of dollars for dozens ofyears, eventually you’ll get there,”says Jim Lewis, a senior vicepresident at the Center for Stra-tegic and International Studies, aWashington, D.C., think tank.

EDGE GOES TO: U.S.

Autonomous Vehicles

Silicon Valley businesses such asGoogle’s Waymo and GeneralMotors Co.’s Cruise got a headstart on testing driverless-cartechnology, helping give U.S.companies the early lead in sen-sor hardware, such as the cam-eras and radar needed to detectobstacles on the road. And theU.S. dominance of the semicon-ductor industry gives Americancompanies the edge in makingthe chips that will essentially bethe brains of such vehicles.Chinese companies were two

to three years behind interna-tional rivals in the important ca-pabilities needed for self-drivingcars, McKinsey & Co. said in areport last year.But in the long term, China is

poised to come out ahead. It is al-

China’s semiconductor technologygapwith leading chip-makers,by chip size

1960 ’70 ’80 ’90 2000 ’10 ’20

Yearmadeby leadingglobalchip-maker

Yearmade byChinese chip-makers

25 to 30millimeters*

5microns

3microns

0.8microns

0.13microns

40 nanometers†

28 nanometers†

16 years

14

19

10

1-2

1-2

1-2

Source: Journal of International Commerce andEconomics

*1 millimeter = 1000 microns †1 micron = 1000nanometers

P2JW104000-0-R00300-1--------XA

R4 | Monday, April 13, 2020 THEWALL STREET JOURNAL.

JOURNAL REPORT | 5G

Europeantelecomsargue thatHuawei’s

equipment ismuch cheaper

and moreadvanced

than that ofits rivals.

BY ERIC BELLMAN

NEW DELHI—When President DonaldTrump visited India in February, hewas expected to try to pressurePrime Minister Narendra Modi to jointhe U.S. in banning use of equipmentfrom Huawei Technologies Co. in thebuilding of India’s next-generation 5Gnetworks.Mr. Trump said they discussed the

importance of building secure 5G sys-tems. Mr. Modi’s office wouldn’t dis-close what was said.But the world’s largest democracy is

giving signs that it won’t be pressuredinto limiting its options. India is al-ready allowing Chinese technologycompanies Huawei and ZTE Corp. toparticipate in 5G trials and was stilldeciding whether restrictions areneeded, External Affairs Minister Sub-rahmanyam Jaishankar told The WallStreet Journal back in January.“We have agreed to trials for every-

body, but that’s a preliminary step,” Mr.Jaishankar said. “I would say, I don’tthink it’s a subject for purely politics.”India is one of the world’s largest

and most competitive telecommunica-tions markets—and one with some ofthe most room to grow. While expan-sion in most mature telecommunica-tions markets has slowed, India will be

adding around 171 million new wirelessinternet subscribers in the next fiveyears, according to estimates fromGSMA Intelligence. That is twice thenumber expected to be added in Chinaand the U.S. combined.Those worried about Huawei argue

that it has to comply with demands ofthe authoritarian Chinese government,making it a potential tool for espio-nage. Huawei has repeatedly said suchconcerns are unfounded. Its founderhas said his company has never spiedfor the Chinese government and won’tin the future.Policy makers and phone companies

in India, meanwhile, aren’t persuadedso far that Huawei’s equipment pres-ents a security threat for India’s tele-com networks. Some powerful localvoices argue that the risk is small andis far outweighed by Huawei’s compet-itive prices and capabilities. “Operators[in India] have always supported non-discriminatory, technology-neutral se-lection criteria by government,” saysRajan Mathews, director of the Cellu-lar Operators Association of India.“Operators see no specific securityconcerns with the use of Chineseequipment in their networks.”India is just starting to test 5G sys-

tems, and the size of its 1.3-billion-per-son market means its eventual deci- FR

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During arecent tripto Europe,Mike Pompeopressed NATOallies to shunHuawei.

sion could make or break the Trumpadministration’s campaign to preventHuawei’s dominance of 5G around theworld. Pressure from the U.S. to pick aside presents a painful dilemma notjust for India but also for other devel-oping countries. As developing nationsbegin to update their internet infra-structures, Huawei is a potentially crit-ical supplier and financer of equipmentat competitive prices. Bowing to U.S.demands to shun the company couldmean falling behind technologically orpaying more for non-Chinese gear.India is scheduled to start auction-

ing its 5G rights this year—a necessarystep before network con-struction can begin. Inthe meantime, telecom-munications companieswant to know how muchfreedom they will have,once the rights havebeen purchased, to buyequipment, analysts say.With 5G likely to costmore than $30 billion toinstall in India, lettingHuawei compete couldsignificantly lower pro-jected costs and allowthe network to reach fur-ther into India’s rural hin-terlands where most ofthe country lives.Huawei’s hopes for In-

dia were apparent at oneof the largest industryevents held in New Delhi

last year, the India Mobile Congress. Huaweiwas one of the main sponsors of the eventand had the largest booths demonstrating how5G could be used in India for everything fromsmart cities and surveillance to speeding upairport security and virtual-reality teaching.“We hope to play a key role in bringing the

latest and the best solutions to make India 5G-ready…in the domains of education, agriculture,health care, etc.,” Jay Chen, chief executive ofHuawei India, says.

Rajesh Roy contributed to this article. Mr.Bellman is deputy bureau chief of The WallStreet Journal’s New Delhi bureau. Emaileric.bellman@wsj.com and rajesh.roy@wsj.com.

Attendees ata New Delhievent test aphone madeby Huawei

Technologies.

IndiaCould Be Key Player in U.S.Effort to Thwart Huawei in 5G

about,” U.S. Defense Secretary MarkEsper said in February. “And thatwould undermine the alliance.”The U.S. hasn’t declassified any ev-

idence concerning Huawei. The com-pany has repeatedly said it doesn’tconduct espionage on behalf of theChinese state and that the U.S. is us-ing cybersecurity concerns as a pre-tense to contain a rival company. Hua-wei has often been able to undercutcompetitors on pricing, thanks inpart to tens of billions of dollars instate financing.“In the name of national security,

the U.S. uses its power to suppressand sanction Huawei,” said China’sambassador to Hungary, Duan Jielong,in a recent speech. “It’s trying toforce China to swallow bitter fruitthat would harm its sovereignty andsecurity, and China must fight back.”Huawei didn’t respond to requests

for comment for this article.

The Russia factorTo be sure, European governments maystill roll back Huawei participation intheir countries’ networks, some ana-lysts say. And a couple of EuropeanUnion countries that border Russiahave backed Washington. Last year, Po-land jailed a Huawei executive on espi-onage charges, accusing him of crimesthat the Polish government says aretoo sensitive to detail publicly. Warsawhas offered the U.S. assurances it willallow only a “trusted partner” to con-struct 5G equipment. Estonia has madea similar pledge.But those commitments have been

largely motivated not by fears ofChina, but of Russia, as governmentslook to curry favor with the U.S., theonly military power they view as ca-pable of effectively deterring Moscow.Elsewhere on the continent, access

to China’s economy has usually wonout over American security concerns.Telecoms have pressured their gov-ernments, arguing that Huawei’sequipment is significantly cheaperthan that of its rivals Ericsson orNokia, and years ahead technologi-cally. The coronavirus crisis hasdriven down telecom profits, creatingadded pressure to go with the cheap-est supplier. Small countries havesought to leapfrog larger economiesby rushing to roll out 5G, using Hua-wei equipment. And broadly, leadersare wary of choosing sides in a costlyU.S.-China rivalry.“The more the Trump administra-

tion asks for open-ended, 100% state-ments saying ‘We won’t use Huawei,’the less it is likely to get it, quite sim-ply because this implies choosingsides,” says François Godement, se-nior adviser for Asia at the InstitutMontaigne, a nonprofit think tank inParis that proposes public-policy solu-tions to French agencies and busi-nesses. “Deep down, I don’t think theU.S. can make Europeans move on thebasis of the threats….People very of-ten shrug their shoulders and say, ‘Wedon’t know what they’ll do, and theydon’t know what they’ll do, anyway.’ ”

Mr. Hinshaw is a Wall StreetJournal reporter based in Warsaw.Email drew.hinshaw@wsj.com.

America’s global cam-paign to prevent HuaweiTechnologies frombuilding the next genera-tion of superfast internethas faltered on the conti-nent where Washington

finds some of its closest allies: Europe.For months until the coronavirus

pandemic, America’s top officials criss-crossed the continent, arguing that theChinese company is an espionagethreat, subservient to its authoritariangovernment. For Europe to transmitdata on networks using Huawei 5Gequipment would offer Beijing an easyway to spy on the sensitive informa-tion that will soon power automatedfactories, advanced hospitals, self-driv-ing cars and more, said U.S. officials.The risks are considered so high

that senior officials like Secretary ofState Mike Pompeo warned that theU.S. may roll back its decades-old se-curity and intelligence partnershipswith allies in the North AtlanticTreaty Organization who don’t heedtheir warning.Huawei rejects the accusations and

Chinese diplomacy has fought back,

with ambassadors threatening tocurtail imports from countries thatban the company.It all boils down to what Euro-

pean governments value more:America’s security umbrella or ac-cess to China’s $12 trillion economy.So far, Europe has mostly chosen

China, declining to follow the U.S.’shard-line position. Large powers andclose allies like the U.K. and Ger-many have balked, telling the Trumpadministration that their own inter-nal cybersecurity agencies can moni-tor Huawei equipment and keep itsecure. Telecommunications compa-nies in small countries, like Hungary,have already started rolling out 5Gwith Huawei as a partner, shruggingoff threats that the U.S. will curtaildefense cooperation if they proceed.The U.S. threats have been coun-

terproductive, says James Sullivan,head of cyber research at the RoyalUnited Services Institute for Defenceand Security Studies in London. “It’sbecome a sort of zero-sum game, andfar too all-or-nothing,” he says. “The5G ship has sailed, nations have madetheir decision. It comes down to howdo you do risk management?”

Charges and denialsThe contest over who builds thenext layer of internet infrastructurein Europe is a key battle in a

broader conflict between the U.S.and China, as Washington tries tomaintain its technological and se-curity advantages over Beijing. TheU.S. has sought to contain China’sadvancing high-tech sector by re-stricting exports of specializedproducts like microchips to China,while blocking some tech firmsfrom sharing sensitive kinds of ad-vanced research with Chinese com-panies.American officials expect 5G in-

ternet will prove to be some of themost critical infrastructure for thenext major technological break-throughs. The network is expectedto allow for advances like automatedfactories, remote monitoring of med-ical patients and huge leaps in artifi-cial intelligence. Washington wantsthat information channeled alongnetworks owned by companies fromallied, democratic states.The U.S. Justice Department has

charged Huawei with racketeeringand stealing source code and otherintellectual property from its rivals.The department hasn’t shied awayfrom issuing strong ultimatums toU.S. allies, whose trade and militarysecrets, it warns, would be easier tosteal over 5G networks.“The concern still remains that if

countries choose to go the Huaweiroute, it could well jeopardize all theinformation sharing, intelligencesharing that we’ve been talking

AlliesWaryofU.S. StanceSo far, the U.S. mostly hasfailed to convince Europeto take a hard line on 5Gand Huawei

BY DREWHINSHAW

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THEWALL STREET JOURNAL. Monday, April 13, 2020 | R5

JOURNAL REPORT | 5G

“I need a number!” VerizonCommunications Inc.’s chiefexecutive called to his seniornetwork lieutenant shortlybefore the carrier reportedfourth-quarter earnings.

Hans Vestberg wanted to be able tobroadcast to Wall Street analysts howmany cities the carrier would light upwith faster 5G service in 2020.It is early days for 5G networks,

but each large U.S. wireless carrier islooking to differentiate its service,touting the number of markets it has

reached and the benefits of the typeof airwaves it is using.Three flavors of 5G coverage are

emerging, shaped by the spectrumeach U.S. carrier is using to powerit. That is leading to increasinglynasty marketing spats over what 5Gactually is.Verizon’s 5G is based on high-fre-

quency millimeter-wave spectrumthat delivers ultrafast speeds butcan’t travel far or easily penetratehard materials. The carrier has fo-cused on building out service inhubs like stadiums and pitchingbusinesses on its ability to deliverlocalized private networks.Sprint Corp.’s early 5G service in

nine cities, meanwhile, relied onmid-band spectrum, which is consid-ered the sweet spot for the next-generation service because it offersbroad coverage and the signals pen-etrate walls easily. Most of Sprint’scustomers will transition to T-Mo-bile US Inc., along with Sprint’sspectrum holdings, now that the car-riers’ merger has closed.T-Mobile relied primarily on low-

band spectrum for its early 5G cov-erage, which it launched nationwidelate last year. That low-band spec-trum travels long distances but canoffer speeds comparable to 4G. Thecompany has used millimeter-wavespectrum for 5G service in someparts of a few cities.Karri Kuoppamaki, T-Mobile vice

president of network technology andstrategy, said late last year before T-Mobile’s 5G launch that it was “justa starting point” that the carrierwould build on, particularly as itgains more spectrum from Sprint.AT&T Inc., meanwhile, uses milli-

meter-wave spectrum for the 5G ser-vice it builds for businesses andhubs like sports arenas, and low-band spectrum for consumers. Thecompany has said it would offer na-tionwide 5G coverage by the end ofthe second quarter.“The truth is that you need all of

the above,” from low- to high-bandspectrum, to maximize the way 5Gservice is used, says Durga Malladi,senior vice president of 5G at Qual-comm Inc., which designs semicon-ductors used in mobile phones. Thisyear and next, U.S. carriers willbroaden their coverage using otherspectrum bands as they repurposeairwaves currently used for 3G andimplement technology that sharesspectrum in the same band between4G and 5G users, he adds.Countries like Germany and South

Korea have made mid-band spec-trum the centerpiece of their 5G roll-outs, but those airwaves in the U.S.have been tied up by governmentsquabbles and competing uses.The Federal Communications

Commission has said it would auc-

BY JAMES RUNDLE

The rollout of 5G has the potentialto transform the supply chain—amongother things, helping companies moreprecisely measure consumer demand,cut waste and react in real time as sit-uations change.“I believe it will bring as fundamen-

tal a transformation of our world asthe introduction of the internet,” saysÅsa Tamsons, head of business areatechnologies and new businesses atEricsson AB. Here are some of theways 5G will influence the supplychains of the future.

Supply and demandPart of the problem with modern sup-ply chains is that, often, businessesand their suppliers have only a vagueidea of where goods are at any onepoint in time, what condition they arein and whether they are even neededat their destination.The technology already exists to

measure these data points, but thereare limits in current 4G networks tohow many sensors, cameras and otherinternet-connected devices can be sup-ported at any one time. The enhancedbandwidth and stability that 5G offerswill enable far more devices to be liveon a single connection, allowing muchmore gathering and sharing of data ingranular detail.Ricardo Ernst, a professor at

Georgetown University’s McDonoughSchool of Business, says this new levelof analytical capability will help solveone of the toughest challenges forsupply-chain management: figuring outhow much of something people wantat any particular moment.

Granular data on product sales andmovements, and customer behavior, willenable companies to adequately preparetheir supply chains to meet demand.

Food wasteInventory surplus is an economic issuefor all sectors, but for food and agri-culture, oversupply introduces environ-mental concerns as well. Experts saythis is an area where 5G can have amarked effect.Up to 30% of all food is lost or

wasted, according to an August reportfrom the United Nations. Oversupply ingrocery stores and other retail environ-ments is a major source of overallwaste, according to the U.S. Depart-ment of Agriculture.5G can help by enabling real-time

data transmissions to monitor failures inrefrigerated containers, for instance,which will mitigate food loss, says Erics-son’s Ms. Tamsons. John Coleman, chiefinformation officer at West Chester, Pa.-based transport company A. Duie PyleInc., says that the enhanced data vol-umes and speed of 5G will also allow forgreater route optimization, taking intoaccount traffic and other information.FR

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vest in their own communications infrastructureor to create hyperlocal networks for specific uses,such as for a factory or manufacturing plant.“We’re still likely years away from small and

midsize enterprises and consumers feeling the im-pact of the ‘trickle down’ effect,” says Krish Iyer,head of industry relations and strategic partner-ships at Stamps.com Inc.’s ShipStation, which de-velops e-commerce software.A more immediate benefit for supply-chain spe-

cialists will be the ability for wireless 5G to side-step aging infrastructure that would otherwise beprohibitively expensive to replace, says Ranjit Gill,chief information officer at pharmaceutical distrib-utor McKesson Corp.’s U.K. business.

Mr. Rundle is a reporter for The Wall StreetJournal in New York City. Email him atjames.rundle@wsj.com.

The enhanceddata volumesand speed of5G will allowfor greaterdelivery-routeoptimization.

Antennae like these on a build-ing in Manhattan are sproutingas 5G networks are built.

ForU.S.Carriers, 5G

Comes inThreeDifferent Flavors

Amarketing battle is breakingout, as wireless companies usedifferent varieties of spectrum

Low-band Mid-band High-band

This workswell across long distancesandwill cover rural areas. Speedswilltypically be greater than 4G but slowerthan other 5G signals.

Carriers are hunting formore of theseairwaves, which offer greater speedswhile covering relatively largedistances.

Highermillimeter-wave frequenciesprovide the fastest speeds—if you’renear an antenna. Also, signals can’talways penetratewalls.

ThreeRoads to 5GAsU.S. carriers roll out the latest generation of cellular networking, the speed and range you’ll get depends inpart on your location—and the frequency of the signal.

Source: the carriers

Supply chains using artificial intel-ligence and blockchain also will helpin such areas of environmental con-cern as “energy, scarce water suppliesand climate-security threats,” saysMark Skilton, a professor of practiceat Britain’s Warwick Business School.Businesses will incur fewer oversup-plies of goods, reducing their impacton the environment by producing lesswaste and requiring fewer deliveries.

Infrastructure overhaulTaking advantage of 5G will requirenew software and infrastructure in-vestment. That’s why in the shortterm, at least, the real benefits of 5Gwill largely be realized by multinationalcorporations with the resources to in-

How5GCould TransformSupply Chains

tion C-band frequencies, which areused by satellite companies to carryTV signals, this year. That spectrumhas sat in limbo as regulators decidedhow best to compensate the satellitefirms, generate revenue for the U.S.Treasury and make the airwavesavailable to carriers quickly.AT&T and Verizon are expected to

be interested bidders. Verizon hasbeen peppered with questions fromWall Street analysts about whether ithas adequate spectrum to expand itscoverage and how it is overcomingsome of the challenges posed by milli-meter-wave spectrum.“The initial performance of [milli-

meter-wave] spectrum has beenworse than promised in terms of thecoverage it provides,” analysts at re-search firm LightShed Partners wrotein a January note that said Verizonhas less spectrum than AT&T and thenew T-Mobile even though it hasmore customers.Verizon’s Mr. Vestberg, in an inter-

view, says the company has the spec-trum and assets it needs to execute

its 5G rollout. The company in Febru-ary committed to bringing millimeter-wave-based 5G to more than 60 citiesby the end of 2020, and in March,amid the coronavirus crisis, vowed toincrease its capital spending this year.It is unclear how severely the pan-demic will financially impact the ma-jor carriers, all of which have closedsome retail locations.After the Super Bowl, Verizon exec-

utives hosted major shareholders in-cluding Fidelity Investments in Miamito showcase its 5G service. It dis-played equipment from vendors in-cluding Ericsson AB and PivotalCommware. The Pivotal equipmenthelps pull millimeter-wave 5G signalsindoors and around corners.AT&T has strengthened its spec-

trum portfolio and network infra-structure in recent years by winninga competition to operate a federallybacked communications system foremergency responders called FirstNet.The $6.5 billion contract gave the

carrier a swath of airwaves that it canuse to serve first responders as wellas its commercial network. The con-tract has helped cover the cost of net-work improvements that the carriersays will accelerate its 5G rollout. Forexample, when AT&T sends a crew toa tower to make FirstNet-related im-provements, the company also de-ploys 5G-ready equipment.

Ms. Krouse is a Wall Street Journalreporter in New York City. Email herat sarah.krouse@wsj.com.

Each of the big U.S.carriers is trying toset itself apart fromthe others in 5G.

BY SARAH KROUSE

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R6 | Monday, April 13, 2020 THEWALL STREET JOURNAL. THEWALL STREET JOURNAL. Monday, April 13, 2020 | R7

PAID ADVERTISEMENT

The Wall Street Journal news organization was not involved in the creation of this content.

PAID ADVERTISEMENT

AT&T and University of Missouri Deliver 5G Courseto Students

AT&T and the University of Missouri launched “Connectivityand 5G,” a new immersive 5G course that will explorethe impact of advanced wireless technology on campusenvironments. Studentswill earn course credit for projectsthat could inform new use cases and user experiences inindustries like education, healthcare, public safety, sports,entertainment and more.

The curriculum uses an interdisciplinary approach withstudents and instructors from a variety of fields of studyincluding arts & sciences, business, engineering, journalismand education. The combined strengths of each academic

discipline are meant to inspire innovation and creativeproblem-solving. The students also have access to AT&Tmentors, who will provide support and input as thesemester progresses.

Some of the world’s greatest innovations come to lifeon college campuses. 5G, the next generation of wirelesstechnology, will revolutionize the way people, devices andexperiences are connected. AT&T brings together thepower of our network — our employees, our technologyand organizations — to collaborate with universities toenable a future where vision and discoveries collide.

Purdue’s College of Engineering ConductingResearch with AT&T 5G

Purdue University’s College of Engineering and theIndiana Economic Development Corporation are workingwith AT&T to create an urban test bed for 5G-basedresearch and development. Located in the newly launchedIndiana 5G Zone in Indianapolis, the lab will use AT&T’s 5Gmillimeter wave network (5G+) and commercially availableMulti-access Edge Computing (MEC) technologies to helpsociety by advancing precision agriculture, enhance publicsafety by improving disaster recovery, and explore newuse cases where business and community intersect — likesmart cities.

Also a build-out in the Purdue Research Lab in WestLafayette, Indiana is expected to be complete as earlyas spring 2020. Once complete, the Lab will accelerateacademic research and innovation already underway toadvance 5G’s potential in other areas, including advancedmanufacturing, smart cities and IoT, and rural broadbandand agricultural technology for disaster response.

Some of the world’s greatest innovations come to lifeon college campuses. 5G, the next generation of wirelesstechnology, will revolutionize the way people, devices andexperiences are connected.

Tyndall Air Force Base to Use AT&T 5G Services

The U.S. Air Force is working with AT&T to help it createa “Smart Base of the Future” at Tyndall Air Force Base(Tyndall), starting with AT&T’s 5G service, which it deliveredto the base in February 2020.

Tyndall suffered catastrophic structural damage in 2018caused by Hurricane Michael’s Category 5, 160-mph winds.AT&T is comprehensively rebuilding and modernizingcommunications infrastructure and capabilities acrossTyndall. It is providing future-forward networking capabilitiespowered by AT&T 5G to support augmented and virtualreality, IoT, and a broad array of innovative technologies.

The Air Force also plans to equip its first responders andeligible public safety users at Tyndall with FirstNet — the

nationwide, dedicated communications platform purpose-built for public safety. FirstNet operates on a dedicated corenetwork that supports enhanced security and providesalways-on priority and preemption services for Tyndall’scontingency and disaster response operations.

Tyndall has already experienced the benefits of FirstNet.Following HurricaneMichael, AT&T personnel arrived onsiteat Tyndall within 30 minutes of being contacted by the AirForce. Within hours, the AT&T team established temporarycommunications capabilities in support of Tyndall’simmediate storm response and recovery efforts usingFirstNet network capabilities and devices.

Nellis Air Force Base Selects AT&T to Provide 5G andFirstNet Services

Under a new agreement with Nellis Air Force Base, AT&Twill provide AT&T 5G services to the base in SouthernNevada. We will also deliver FirstNet — the nationwidepublic safety communications platform — to eligible publicsafety personnel across Nellis.

AT&T will equip Nellis with 5G infrastructure to supportwireless data and voice services connecting the base’smore than 40,000 Air Force personnel, their families, andretirees. It will provide wireless high-speed external andin-building connectivity across Nellis’ flight line, facilities,dormitories, and the Mike O’Callaghan Military MedicalCenter. In addition to deploying 5G, we are also set to

deliver FirstNet capabilities across the base for eligible firstresponder and public safety personnel.

AT&T’s approach to 5G is based on a new set of networksecurity standards that will ultimately offer improvedencryption protections for wireless communications.New security features will eventually include enhancedcapabilities to detect and respond to cybersecurity threatswhile helping to protect subscriber identities, networkaccess and device authentication.

2020 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved. All marks used herein are the property of their respective owners.©

Today we’re building 5G on America’s Best Network to deliverthe critical connectivity businesses need while giving them thetools it takes to make tomorrow’s 5G applications a reality.

Learn more at att.com/5GforBiz

Keeping businessesmoving forward.

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R8 | Monday, April 13, 2020 THEWALL STREET JOURNAL.

JOURNAL REPORT | 5G

telehealth projects. But the aidstopped short of plowing moremoney into other broadband-devel-opment programs.The promise of 5G cellular stan-

dards, meanwhile, makes wirelesstechnology a leading contender forareas where companies consider fi-ber too expensive. A home with awireless hot spot could connect to5G cell towers more cheaply whileproviding downloads nearing fiber-like speeds. On the other hand, pro-ponents of fiber-optic infrastructuresay hard-wired homes benefit frommore-reliable connections that areless likely to become obsolete in afew years.Cellphone carriers including Veri-

zon Communications Inc. and T-Mo-bile US Inc. say new wireless technol-ogies will let them serve more home-broadband subscribers withoutsending a technician to wire up acustomer’s house. The companieshave promised to build profitable ser-vices where other wireless broadbandcompanies, like Clearwire Corp., havefailed to build a viable business, butthey have yet to detail how manywireless homes they serve.AT&T Chief Operating Officer

John Stankey told analysts in a re-cent conference call that the com-pany is “not as optimistic as maybesome are” about wireless home-in-ternet business models and would

need for faster fiber-optic landlines.Before he dropped out of the presi-

dential race, Democratic candidateBernie Sanders pitched a $150 billiongrant program that would fund pub-licly owned municipal broadband net-works. The funding would only go to-ward open-access networks, a modelthat usually favors fiber-optic infra-structure.Fiber advocates say a hard wire to

the home will last the longest withoutrequiring a costly replacement in a fewyears. A cellphone tower that couldserve some disconnected homes todaymight become congested tomorrow.“Clearly, if you put cost aside, fiber

is still the gold standard,” says Paulde Sa, an analyst at telecom advisoryQuadra Partners. “Do you need thegold standard? That is a very legiti-mate debate.”Fiber boosters acknowledge that

the shovel-in-the-ground businessmodel demands more capital andsometimes requires more state in-volvement. But they say it is an in-vestment that delivers proven eco-nomic benefits.Fiber and wireless service aren’t al-

ways at odds. Matt Larsen, chief exec-utive of rural wireless-broadband pro-vider Vistabeam, says his Nebraska-based company competes with fiber-optic lines in some areas while inothers it relies on the local wired in-ternet provider to carry his customers’data back to the broader internet. “Ifyou go by speed, fiber’s always goingto be faster, but we have some low-cost packages,” he says.

Mr. FitzGerald is a reporter for TheWall Street Journal in Washington.Email him atdrew.fitzgerald@wsj.com.

Fiber opticcable networks,like the one beingworked on herein Wiggins, Colo.,are an alternativeto wireless broad-band service.

Companies See the 2021Olympicsas a Chance to TryOutNew5G-Enabled Technologies

BY RIVER DAVIS

YOKOSUKA, Japan—The shuttlecock isflying as two champion badminton play-ers exchange shots. The action is furi-ous, but an onlooker can stray onto thecourt for a closer look without fear ofgetting hurt.That’s because the match is be-

tween two 3-D holograms simulatingthe real contest. They are projected insuch high definition that spectatorscan see the muscles in their legsclench and unclench, without virtual-reality headsets or other gear.The demonstration at a Nippon

Telegraph & Telephone research facil-ity south of Tokyo is part of prepara-tions for the Summer Olympic Games,which have been postponed until 2021as the coronavirus pandemic spreadsworld-wide. But while the Games willnot go on as planned, the technologycompanies plan to use there is anearly glimpse at how 5G could changesports viewing in the years to come.With 5G wireless data technology,

spectators in Tokyo may get the chanceto watch holograms mirror the movesthe actual Olympians are making, inreal time, in an arena 15 miles west ofthe city center, according to NTT.In Japan, commercial 5G services

began to roll out last month. NTT sayswith another year of time it will beable to further improve its hologram

demonstration. By 2021, “we’re plan-ning to develop the technology so thatit will project even more realistic, ultra-high-definition 8K video of the ath-letes,” says a spokesman for NTT.If sporting-event shutdowns con-

tinue due to the spread of coronavirus,“holograms could even be used to al-low spectators to watch certain eventsfrom different, more safe, locations,”he adds.

‘Technology accelerator’Companies see the Games as a chanceto experiment with new technologies.The 2021 Olympic Games will be thefirst held since 5G began to spreadworld-wide in 2019.“The Olympics have always been a

technology accelerator, from the cre-ation of instant replay after the 1960Winter Games to the adoption of colorTV after the 1968 Games. It’s an idealplatform to trial breakthrough innova-tions and accelerate adoption world-wide,” says Rick Echevarria, vice presi-dent and general manager of Intel’sOlympics Program.The forthcoming Olympic Games

will bring “immersive virtual-reality ex-periences that will allow sports fans toengage with their favorite sports inmore ways,” he says.Intel, the VR technology provider for

the Games, is looking at running a ser-

vice called Intel True VR using 5G networks atOlympic sites. The service draws footage frommultiple camera pods, each holding as many as12 cameras, installed around an arena.Viewers in the U.S. and elsewhere will be

able to don a VR headset and look around theopening ceremony in Tokyo, or watch eventsincluding boxing, track and field, and gymnas-tics from vantage points such as a front-rowseat or the eye line of the athletes. “It’s notlike passively watching TV. You’ll feel likeyou’re really standing right next to the gym-nasts,” says Intel spokeswoman Farm Saechou.

Cutting the cordTrue VR already offers coverage of Na-tional Basketball Association games(which, of course, have been sus-pended in the face of the Covid-19threat) and National Football Leaguegames, but it has been hampered bylags. When viewers move their headswithout an immediate change in whatthey are seeing, it can lead to intensemotion sickness. 5G speeds will helpiron out that issue, Ms. Saechou says.For regular sports viewing, 5G’s abil-

ity to carry high-definition images withonly a few milliseconds of latency mayaccelerate the trend of people givingup traditional cable TV. Thirty percentof sports fans said they stream livesports on their smartphone or tablet,according to a 2018 Google sportsviewing survey.In a year’s time, Intel’s VR service

may be accessible to a wider popula-tion as VR devices like headsets gainin popularity.The hologram demonstration sug-

gests live viewing is another applica-tion of 5G. NTT engineer Taiji Naka-mura says 5G networks can transmitand project the holograms with lessthan one second of lag. The uses mayextend beyond watching sports. In thefuture, a tennis school might use 5Gnetworks to project Rafael Nadal onthe court to model a backhand for stu-dents, he says, adding: “It would haveto be a very rich school, though.”

Ms. Davis is a reporter in The WallStreet Journal’s Tokyo bureau. Emailher at river.davis@wsj.com.

Holograms in ajudo match atan NTT lab, in ademonstrationof technologythat could beused in theTokyo Olympics.

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Speedier 5G wireless technology is rekin-dling a long-running debate over the bestway to reach America’s internet deadzones: by wire or by wave.All online activity at some point

passes over a fiber-optic cable, the work-horse of the physical internet. But broad-

band companies have several choices for serving the“last mile” of a neighborhood internet connection,from fiber to coaxial cable to wireless radio waves.The question of how best to serve those custom-

ers gained more urgency over the past month as thecoronavirus pandemic closed schools across the U.S.,forcing tens of millions of pupils to study fromhome. Smartphones are hardly ideal for doing home-work and taking tests, which puts students withouthome internet service at a disadvantage to theirmore connected peers.About 21 million U.S. households lack broadband

service, which the Federal Communications Commis-sion defines as an internet connection offeringdownload speeds of 25 megabits per second orfaster. The problem is especially acute in rural ar-eas. Most near-term efforts to reach those discon-nected homes have come from the private sector. A$2 trillion aid bill Congress passed in March in-cluded some extra funding for the Rural UtilitiesService, a program run by the U.S. Agriculture De-partment, and $200 million of grants for urgent

BY DREW FITZGERALD

A Partisan DebateOver Dead Zones

The question of which technologyshould be used has taken on asurprising political dimension

instead focus more on new fiber op-tic lines.But the argument over which

technology is better suited to thetask is more than a debate about en-gineering. It has gained a politicaltinge, too. The Trump administra-tion has touted its federal policiesdesigned to spur 5G network invest-ments as an answer to the digital di-vide that has kept millions of Ameri-can households disconnected fromhigh-quality internet service.Speaking at a 2019 White House

event highlighting the administra-tion’s 5G-friendly policies, PresidentTrump said the administration’swireless push would “get networksbuilt in rural America faster and atmuch, much lower cost than it iseven today.”

T-Mobile this month closed itspurchase of Sprint Corp. The hard-fought merger cleared federal regu-lators partly because of the carrier’spromises to improve rural wirelessservice. T-Mobile last year also un-veiled a plan to send free internethot spots to up to 10 million homes,offering a cablelike service to fami-lies that lack affordable service.On the other side of the political

aisle, some Democratic lawmakerssay the hype around wireless home-internet service is overshadowing the

About21millionU.S. households have noaccess to broadband.

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THEWALL STREET JOURNAL. Monday, April 13, 2020 | R9

JOURNAL REPORT | 5G

the parent of Japan’s top mobile-phone provider, NTT Docomo, whichis aiming for 6G speeds topping 100gigabits per second.Saving three seconds on a movie

download is a marginal benefit, butevery second is crucial for autono-mous vehicles. To coordinate trafficinvolving multiple self-driving cars,live footage from the vehicles needsto be sent to remote computers foranalysis before instructions can berelayed back. With 5G, the minimumtime required for this back-and-forthis about seven seconds, says Mr.Aramaki, which is too slow to sup-port the widespread use of autono-mous vehicles—too much can gowrong on a crowded road in sevenseconds. With 6G, the back-and-forthcan happen with no delay, he says.Futurists also are imagining a

world where robots, manipulated re-

motely by doctors, perform surgeryon patients without any potentiallydangerous lag time. In the businessworld, meetings could be attendedby high-resolution holograms mim-icking in real time the movements ofpeople working remotely. In facto-ries, 6G will provide the bandwidthand speed needed to support farmore production by unmanned,cloud-connected machines.

Hurdles to clearAll this will require overcomingplenty of technical challenges, as themessy rollout of 5G in the U.S. ishighlighting. To achieve faster net-work speeds, telecom providers of-ten seek to use high frequencies inthe millimeter-wave spectrum—gen-erally 24 gigahertz or higher. Thosefrequencies struggle to carry data

6G willallowadvanceson theroads, inhospitalsand infactories.

Wait a minute,6G? Isn’t 5G justgetting started?Indeed it is.

But the rollout ofa global telecom-mu n i c a t i o n s

standard isn’t the work of a day, sosome people are already thinkingabout what the sixth generation ofwireless technology will look like. Theyare envisioning speeds 10 timesgreater than the fifth generation nowbeginning to reach consumers, andmore bandwidth to handle new data-hogging devices including autonomouscars and unmanned factory equipment.“With 5G, the things you can do

that are beyond 4G are enormous, but5G still doesn’t quite reach the levelthat we want to be at,” says YoshihiroKatagiri, a planning director atJapan’s Ministry of Internal Affairsand Communications, which is incharge of telecommunications.The International Telecommunica-

tion Union, a United Nations agencythat coordinates global wirelessstandards, set up an initiative in2018 to identify and research thepost-5G technologies that are ex-pected to emerge in 2030 and be-yond. From Japan to South Korea,China, Finland and the U.S., coun-tries are already vying to get theirpreferences on the list.So, what kind of technological ad-

vances are we talking about?For one, 6G will allow a much

greater fulfillment of the potential ofautonomous vehicles than 5G can. Amore-familiar application—moviedownloads—illustrates why that’s thecase. With 5G, the maximum data-transfer speed is about 10 gigabits persecond, so a two-hour high-definitionmovie could be downloaded in threeseconds. “6G will allow that movie tobe downloaded instantly,” says YuzoAramaki, a spokesman for NipponTelegraph & Telephone Corp. NTT isM

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BY RIVER DAVIS

over long distances and through phys-ical obstacles. While 5G is expected toreach frequencies of around 30 giga-hertz to 50 gigahertz in Japan, NTTDocomo expects 6G to be carried onfrequencies exceeding 100 gigahertz.Already the higher frequencies

used in 5G have led to service-qualityproblems and slow rollouts during5G’s initial stages. One problem isthat those frequencies require morebase stations—the sites that act ascommon connection points for localwireless networks—which can pro-voke opposition from communitiesand building owners.Transmitting more data at faster

speeds also requires extra energy.Phones with 5G service have beenknown to overheat and drop serviceback to 4G in the U.S. These issueswill likely be amplified with the evenspeedier and higher-capacity 6G.“Right now as the world transfers

from 4G to 5G, we are looking closelyat the technological issues that comeup so that we prepare for them inadvance next time,” says Mr. Kata-giri, the Japanese official in chargeof 6G planning.

Angling for businessCompanies that make base stations,transmitters and the like want tomake sure their technology is in-cluded in the next standard. They in-clude the companies already at thecore of 5G, such as the U.S.’s Qual-comm Inc., which stands on top with11.4% of the global share of essential5G patents. It is followed by China’sHuawei Technologies Co., with 11.1%,and South Korea’s Samsung Electron-ics Co. with 9.2%, according to tele-communications consulting firm Cy-ber Creative Institute Co.If all goes to plan, it will take about

a decade for 6G to be ready for con-sumers. So mark your calendar for aJournal Report on 6G around 2030—and a preview of 7G.

Ms. Davis is a Wall Street Journalreporter in Tokyo. She can bereached at river.davis@wsj.com.

It’s Time toConsider...6GA look at what’s ahead

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