Health

"The Federal Emergency Management Agency warned last year that a pandemic caused by a novel strain of influenza would cripple the country's response capabilities by driving millions of people into overwhelmed hospitals. The report, which was written before the new coronavirus first surfaced in China, offered these prescient predictions: The deluge of patients would create "a shortage of medical supplies, equipment, beds, and healthcare workers."

"Russia and Saudi Arabia have called off their brutal price war and are now pushing dozens of major crude producers toward a deal that would slash production and help stabilize a market that's been rocked by the coronavirus pandemic."

"This map shows every rural county in America, areas where the coronavirus outbreak initially was slow to spread. Humboldt County in Northern California was the first rural county to report a case, on Feb. 20, a month after the virus first reached the U.S."

"It was Wednesday, March 11, when life began to turn upside down for Lee Householder and his 42 employees at Project:Homes, a nonprofit that does energy efficiency retrofits in Virginia."

"Some local officials are disappointed the federal government will end funding for coronavirus testing sites this Friday. In a few places those sites will close as a result. This as criticism continues that not enough testing is available."

"Coronavirus patients in areas that had high levels of air pollution before the pandemic are more likely to die from the infection than patients in cleaner parts of the country, according to a new nationwide study that offers the first clear link between long-term exposure to pollution and Covid-19 death rates."

"The renewable-energy business is expected to keep growing, though more slowly, in contrast to fossil fuel companies, which have been hammered by low oil and gas prices."

"With the coronavirus already stretching supplies and budgets, local leaders worry that a flood could overwhelm them."

"The United Nations’ biodiversity chief has called for a global ban on wildlife markets – such as the one in Wuhan, China, believed to be the starting point of the coronavirus outbreak – to prevent future pandemics."