Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly addresses a news conference Tuesday in Topeka, Kan., after announcing the closure of schools K-12 throughout the state for the rest of the school year. John Hanna/AP hide caption
Updated at 11:41 a.m. ET
The school year has come to an abrupt end for students across Kansas.
Gov. Laura Kelly announced that she has ordered classes K-12 to be closed for the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year, citing fears about the spread of the coronavirus disease COVID-19 and the "unprecedented emergency" it presents.
"This was not an easy decision to make," Kelly said in a statement issued Tuesday.
"It came after close consultation with the education professionals who represent local school boards, school administrators and local teachers," she explained. "These unprecedented circumstances threaten the safety of our students and the professionals who work with them every day and we must respond accordingly."
Kelly's executive order makes Kansas the first state to shut down its public schools for the remainder of the school year — an extraordinary step that other states so far have been reluctant to take, despite a raft of temporary class closures across the U.S.
All told, three-quarters of all K-12 students in the U.S. — including those in Michigan, Massachusetts and Kentucky — have seen their schools shuttered for a span of several weeks, though officials there hope students will still be able to return before summer sets in. It's worth noting that the school year in Kansas begins and ends several weeks earlier than it does in most other states.
Governors in Ohio and California, however, suggested that it might be just a matter of time before their states follow Kansas' lead. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has stopped short of making it official, but at a news conference Tuesday, he told reporters that "it's unlikely that many of these schools — few if any — will open before the summer break."
"This is a very sobering thing to say," Newsom added. "I don't want to mislead you."
Temporary closure of U.S.-Canada border
President Trump has announced that the border between the U.S. and Canada will be closed in an attempt to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus. The president announced the closure in a tweet posted Wednesday.
"We will be, by mutual consent, temporarily closing our Northern Border with Canada to non-essential traffic," Trump said, adding that "trade will not be affected."
We will be, by mutual consent, temporarily closing our Northern Border with Canada to non-essential traffic. Trade will not be affected. Details to follow!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 18, 2020
Trump gave no further details on the border closure. The announcement came just hours after the U.S. death toll from COVID-19 crossed a sobering threshold, topping 100 deaths.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau confirmed the decision during a news conference at his home in Ottawa on Wednesday.
"Travelers will no longer be permitted to cross the border for recreation and tourism," Trudeau said. "In both our countries, we are encouraging people to stay home. We're telling our citizens not to visit their neighbors if they don't absolutely have to. This collaborative and reciprocal measure is an extension of that prudent approach."
The move is just the latest of a series of border shutdowns announced recently across the world, as countries seek to tamp down on travel in an effort to slow the spread of the global pandemic.
Trump administration asks for tens of billions in emergency funds
The request to Congress, which asks for an additional $45.8 billion, is intended to support the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, states' public health response and research resources at the National Institutes of Health. It is in addition to a House-approved relief package that's expected to go before the Senate on Wednesday.
"The aim of this request is to maintain that capacity and ensure that resource needs created by the pandemic response are met," Russ Vought, acting director of the Office of Management and Budget, said in a letter to Vice President Pence
Vought noted that his office is "currently in active dialogue" with lawmakers about the additional proposal, which is separate from a massive stimulus package that's expected to include payments to individuals, families and businesses affected by the outbreak.
"It is not intended as a broad-based solution to the major economic dislocation wrought by the virus, nor is it the primary means by which the Federal Government plans to address the hardships of families, individuals, and communities who have been touched by the disease."
President Trump leads a meeting with travel and tourism industry executives at the White House on Tuesday, to discuss the federal economic response to the coronavirus outbreak. Drew Angerer/Getty Images hide caption
U.S. and China ratchet up fight over who deserves blame
As countries across the globe grapple with the pandemic, tensions between the two countries have escalated.
The Trump administration is accusing China — where the coronavirus was first reported — of mishandling the initial outbreak, saying it kept valuable data from its people and global health experts. And officials have increasingly attempted to tie the virus to China when describing it publicly.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, for one, referred to it as the "Wuhan virus" — in a reference to the epicenter of the outbreak in China — no fewer than six times during a news conference Tuesday. The State Department repeated this phrasing in posts on its official Twitter and Facebook accounts.
And on Wednesday, President Trump himself referred to the coronavirus in a tweet as the "Chinese virus," as he has several times before — despite international guidelines advise against linking geographical names, animal species or people's names to disease names because it is stigmatizing.
Trump, in comments Tuesday, defended his right to blame China: "I had to call it where it came from. It did come from China," he said. "So I think it is a very accurate term."
Beijing has lashed out at the Trump administration, accusing it of racism and claiming that the virus originated in the U.S. and was spread to China by the U.S. military.
Despite all of this, Pompeo said Tuesday, "Now is not the time for recrimination. Now is the time to solve this global pandemic."
-- by NPR International Affairs Correspondent Jackie Northam
Honda suspends production at North American plants
The automaker announced Wednesday that it is halting production at its automobile plants in the U.S., Canada and Mexico for a span of six days, beginning Monday. In a statement explaining the decision, Honda cited "an anticipated decline in market demand" due to the global pandemic.
Honda promised to continue to fully pay more than 27,000 employees who will be affected by the suspension, at plants in Ohio, Georgia, Indiana and Alabama, along with sites in Mexico and Canada. Honda also intends to perform a "deep clean" of the production facilities during that time.
"This production adjustment also will allow Honda associates to better prepare and adjust family plans in relation to regional directives to close schools to stop the spread of the COVID-19 virus," the automaker said.
"This will enable working parents to determine how best to manage the needs of children staying home from school and other required lifestyle adjustments."
Puerto Rico asks the FAA to halt flights to the island
Puerto Rico Gov. Wanda Vázquez revealed that she has asked the Federal Aviation Administration to suspend domestic and international flights to the U.S. territory, as local authorities seek to contain the virus.
Vázquez said the requested ban would exempt emergency services. Puerto Rico has already imposed some of the strictest restrictions in the U.S., including a curfew and the two-week closure of most businesses across the island.
"Until a few days ago, we had no cases of COVID-19 coronavirus, and now, due to the arrival of tourists, both by boat and by plane, we have five positive cases," she said in a statement Wednesday.
"We do not want more cases in Puerto Rico, and the only way to prevent more people infected with this virus from arriving is by taking greater controls regarding the arrival of travelers. We need assistance from the federal government to allow us to control air travel."
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