The Evening: 25K Deaths, Global Recession, Uncle John’s Band and More

April 14, 2020

More than 25,000 Deaths in U.S.

More than 25,000 people have died from the virus in the U.S., with nearly 600,000 confirmed infections, and the governors of California and Oregon on Tuesday laid out a framework to reopen public life and businesses in their states, as the Washington Post reports.

Global Recession

The global economy has almost certainly entered a recession affecting most of the world, with a severity unmatched by anything aside from the Great Depression, the International Monetary Fund said Tuesday, as the WSJ’s Josh Zumbrun reports .

Dive Deeper: “Breaking down the G20 Covid-19 Fiscal Response,” by CSIS’s Stephanie Segal and Dylan Gerstel.

Global Cases near 2 Million as Some Nations Begin to See a Path out of Lockdown

With confirmed cases of the coronavirus nearing the 2 million mark, and close to 120,000 dead, the pandemic remains a potent threat around the world even as some countries begin to take careful steps to lift restrictions intended to suffocate the virus, as the NYT reports .

On the Horizon

China’s technology ambitions appeared imperiled by Covid-19, but the pandemic is already providing new opportunities for China’s rise as a technology power and global provider of digital infrastructure, write CSIS's Jude Blanchette and Jonathan Hillman.

CSIS’s “On the Horizon” series offers insights into the more fundamental changes we might anticipate for our future social and economic world as a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic.

CSIS Executive Education

We invite you to apply to Unpacking the Defense Enterprise, a a three-day live, online course exploring defense strategy, budgetary and technical issues, and future challenges and opportunities in the U.S. defense enterprise.

Video Shorts

Check out CSIS’s new series of video shorts: “Testify,” "What's Happening," "Preview," and “High Resolution.” And don’t forget to subscribe to the CSIS YouTube Channel !

In That Number

3%

The International Monetary Fund, in a new outlook, said the world economy is expected to contract by 3% in 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic causes nations around the world to close down, compared with a contraction of 0.1% in 2009, the worst year of the previous recession.

Source: International Monetary Fund (IMF)

Critical Quote

“We don’t have a king; we have a president.”

— Governor Andrew Cuomo (D-NY)

iDeas Lab

A new commentary from the CSIS Simon Chair features an interactive map tracking the G20 countries' major fiscal actions in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and related economic downturn.

The Andreas C. Dracopoulos iDeas Lab at CSIS enhances our research with the latest in cutting-edge web technologies, design, and video.

Optics

(Photo credit: Johannes Eisele/AFP via Getty Images). Street performer Robert John Burck, known as The Naked Cowboy, plays guitar in Times Square today.

Recommended Reading

“Latin America: On the Verge of an Unprecedented Turn in the Covid-19 Pandemic?” by CSIS’s Michael Matera.

Online Events

Tomorrow, at 10:00 a.m., CSIS’s Project on Prosperity and Development will convene a group of diverse experts for a virtual conversation on the role of the private, public, and civil sectors in restarting the economic engine after the Covid-19 pandemic.

Later, at 1:00 p.m., CSIS’s Project on Prosperity and Development will also host a virtual fireside chat with USAID Deputy Administrator Bonnie Glick to launch the Agency's first-ever Digital Strategy.

Also, at 12:00 p.m., the Center for Global Development will hold a discussion via webinar with United Nations Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock to discuss the impacts of Covid-19 on fragile states and refugee communities.

Video

CSIS senior fellow Erol Yayboke unpacks the crisis at the Greek-Turkish border and how the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted global migration, in a new episode of High Resolution.

Podcasts

In the latest episode of the Coronavirus Crisis Update, Susan Glasser, staff writer at The New Yorker joins me and Steve Morrison to discuss her insights into President Trump and the White House’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Listen on Apple Podcasts & Spotify.

Smiles

I don’t know about you all, but I needed this one today. In the words of Grateful Dead archivist David Lemieux, this version of the Dead performing “ Uncle John’s Band ,” a song they performed more than 330 times during their career, is “one of the very best.” The Dead dipped into their archives to release it a couple of weeks ago. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

And, as you can see in the margins of this link, the Dead is raising money for Music Cares Covid-19 Relief Fund.