AP: In battle against virus, Trump restricts travel from Europe
“Taking dramatic action, President Donald Trump sharply restricted passenger travel from 26 European nations to the U.S. and moved to ease the economic cost of a viral pandemic that is roiling global financial markets and disrupting the daily lives of Americans. Trump, in a rare Oval Office address to the nation Wednesday night, said the monthlong restriction on travel would begin late Friday, at midnight. After days of playing down the coronavirus threat, he blamed Europe for not acting quickly enough to address the ‘foreign virus’ and claimed that U.S. clusters were ‘seeded’ by European travelers…” (Colvin et al., 3/12).

The Guardian: E.U. condemns Trump coronavirus travel ban as Ireland shuts schools
“The E.U. has condemned Donald Trump’s unilateral ban on travel from 26 European countries as urgent efforts to contain the rapid spread of the coronavirus pandemic continued to upend daily life for millions of people around the world. … In a joint statement on Thursday, the presidents of the European Commission and European Council defended Europe’s record in managing the pandemic and sharply criticized the White House for its failure to consult its allies…” (Henley, 3/12).

POLITICO: America’s national security machine stares down a viral threat
“As a lethal virus sweeps the globe, U.S. national security officials are closely monitoring how the disease is affecting closed societies like China, Iran, and North Korea, trying to gauge to what extent officials in those countries have been covering up the extent of the outbreak. They’re also wrestling with a complex question closer to home: how to prevent the virus from spreading inside the nation’s intelligence and defense agencies themselves…” (Bertrand, 3/12).

Additional coverage of the U.S. government’s response to COVID-19 is available from Financial Times, The Hill (2), POLITICO (2), Reuters, STAT, USA TODAY, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post.