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The title may not reflect the content of this report on Admiral Giroir who heads the U.S. coronavirus testing effort. He is a pediatrician who worked for hospitals in Texas before heading a vaccine project at Texas A&M University.  Internal politics led to his resigning from the effort to build a vaccine development capability with pharmaceutical companies at Texas A&M. Most of the rest of this report shows a physician who is determined to pursue big projects such as the one he is tackling today. President Trump appointed him to lead FDA, and to be the Assistant Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. With the missteps of Secretary Azar testing suffered in the early months of the crisis as reported in the WSJ. Adm. Giroir has taken a leading role since  this period. He also heads the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps of 6200 staff playing a vital role. On March 13 he was asked to lead the effort in testing.  He comes to this role with experience in the field of vaccines realizing that "the challenges are not just biological but engineering." New technology would be needed to make massive amounts of vaccine. His idea is that transformational efforts are needed. His idea for a billion dose per month facility in Texas did not work, yet he worked on it for about 5 years from 2010 to 2015 at Texas A&M University, at one point being the vice chancellor. He was selected by Texas Governor Perry as chairman of the task force in Texas in 2014 to oversee the effort to fight the Ebola virus. He now is in a position to bring all his experience and aspirations to tackle the coronavirus, cutting through much of the red tape and bureaucracy, and pulling together the effort combining science of pharmaceutical companies with the technology of manufacturing billions of vaccine doses in a record time. Today he sees capacity for testing reaching 40-50 million tests a month by September 2020.   ...

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Admiral Giroir, Assistant Secretary of Health Services, tells a Senate committee led by Lamar Alexander and senator Murray that the U.S. should have capability for 40 to 50 million tests a month by September. Current testing target for May of the U.S. government is about 12.9 million tests a month. 

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In a Senate hearing Dr. Fauci, head National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Dr. Redfield, head of CDC, and Dr. Hahn, head of the FDA, answered questions from U.S. Senators including committee chairman Lamar Alexander and Senator Murray. Dr. Fauci told senators that with some states reopening without meeting federal guidelines that include seeing an extended period of falling numbers of cases and deaths, "there is a real risk you could trigger an outbreak ... that could set you back rather than going forward."  Dr Fauci is concerned about the situation in the fall when schools and colleges reopen with possible spread. In other comments Robert Redfield the CDC head told the committee- "timely testing is vital to reopen America, increased contact tracing is critical." Redfield says CDC has created a state by state assessment of contact tracing and was working with states on these surveillance systems. This contact tracing effort is one of the less developed areas in which the focus is being shifted to along with testing capabilities. Admiral Giror who heads testing capability buildup says 40 to 50 million tests should be available by September 2020, so that hotspots could be addressed quickly. ...

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France and the EU countries have taken a positive attitude to wearing masks, distributing masks, learning from Asian countries. A positive development to tackle virus.

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Britain's prime minister Boris Johnson lays out the rules for reopening in a 50 page document. It says people should use masks in public transport and outside. It also recommends people not use the subways at this time but use cars, bicycles or walking to work as better alternatives. Subway stations such as Waterloo were relatively quiet as people practiced guidelines and acted cautiously. The rules were seen as confusing but the prime minister says the reopening is much more complex than the closing which simply said "stay at home."

People were advised to work from home when possible and gave people in construction the ability to get back to work. Restaurants, hair salons, shops remain closed till a later stage. There is concern that cases could spike again and the prime minister clearly stated this would mean putting the brakes again. Britain is the second highest in deaths after the U.S. 

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With fewer and fewer good startup companies and massive amounts of capital wasted on startups that did not produce either jobs or lasting value questions are being raised about the startup culture and role of startups in a growing economy. The coronavirus has speeded up the process- already underway was a lack of quality in startup companies, now these companies that were wasting capital are facing a completely different environment. Reasons given for their situation are the lack of job creation over last two decades from startups. The startup founders being many just out of college or with a few years of experience, lack of accumulated experience in industry of founders, the glamour that had nothing behind it except the search for quick results. Primarily though the reason is that it takes time to build good companies that also create good jobs and add to the country's GDP, and this means additions to technology, bringing experience and building up of experience of founders, that patience and persistence is lacking in today's startup culture and startup companies. There is a bigger problem and this is a problem for all of society and the whole nation in every country. This is the misallocation of capital, the erratic shift away from infrastructure, public services, health services and education, and employment in the national interest, that form the backbone of the economy of any country. It is in this sense that the shift in capital allocation, away from misallocation on a massive scale, has to be made in the national interest, interest of society, interest of the people.  ...

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Indian prime minister Modi talks to chief ministers of all the Indian states by videoconference as he prepares for gradual reopening of the economy. A key concern- that the coronavirus should not spread to rural areas. Chief ministers were asked for their ideas on reopening. Indian railways sets up train services to take 45 million migrant workers to their home regions.

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This report in Indian Express says the bullet train project between Mumbai and Ahmedabad in India remains on track with members of JICC in Japan meeting with senior officers of India's NHSRCL, and chief project managers.

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The Hindustan Times provides this look at the construction of a new 1000 bed hospital in Bandra Kurla complex exhibition area of Mumbai  that will be used for isolation of coronavirus cases. The hospital will be ready in time to tackle an expected further surge in cases in Mumbai by the end of May. The hospital will be equipped to handle another 5000 beds says the Mumbai municipal authority, MMRDA. Several hospitals are being built such as this one to tackle the surge in cases as Mumbai has about 25% of cases in India of coronavirus.

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What is life like for millions of laborers in the construction industry in India, for migrant workers, for household help, for small electrical and bicycle shops, for security workers, as India gradually reopens and more people get back to work. The Hindustan Times provides this look at pictures of these workers, their earnings during lockdown and their return to work.

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Warnings to governments and leaders in industry and pharmaceutical research about epidemic preparedness by Bill Gates were ignored. He spent hundreds of millions of dollars to develop new vaccines and create disease tracking systems. But only governments could tackle this problem. He tells the WSJ in an interview that he feels terrible and that he wishes he had done more. His fear that a once in a century pandemic has come true. Governments did respond to the public health preparation needs as reported in France 24 to both SARS and the H1N1, both in Britain and France. It was the disbanding of this effort in the period of the global financial crisis and the eurozone financial crisis that led to the level of unpreparedness that Western Europe finds itself in today. This was caused by irresponsible banking practices. The response was austerity measures in Britain, France, Germany and Spain that led to leaving public health system investment being neglected, without fixing the original source of the problem. Misallocation of capital and lopsided priorities continued through most of the period leading up to the pandemic. There is a lot that Gates and other public spirited leaders could do now do in the new reordering of priorities and shifting the allocation of capital to public services and investments in infrastructure, and supply chain renewal to safeguard national interests. Today he is working with pharmaceutical executives and governments to produce billions of doses of vaccines while they are being tested. His foundation has reserved space in a manufacturing plant so that production can begin quickly once an effective vaccine is found. He says nobody has made 7 billion vaccines so that it will need all the help that it can get and international cooperation.  In an earlier interview with WSJ he told the interviewer in November 2014 that the world as a whole did not have preparedness. France and Britain prepared and then abandoned the effort for epidemic response by 2012 following the global financial and eurozone financial crises. Gates repeated the warning to 2016 presidential candidates in the U.S.  In 2017 at the Munich Security Conference he reminded people- "getting ready for a global pandemic is every bit as important as nuclear deterrence and avoiding a climate catastrophe." One focus of Gates was to come up with faster ways to a vaccine by using ready made components and then customizing it. This is an approach being adopted today by Oxford scientists and by Quidel Corp. in the U.S.   ...

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The White House faces alarm as the U.S. president's valet and vice president Mike Pence's press secretary tests positive for the coronavirus. The cramped quarters at the White House and lack of the recommended social distancing at meetings of the U.S. president, most of the meetings being conducted maskless, are also cause for concern. 

Admiral Gilday of the Joint Chiefs will quarantine for one week. Self-isolating for 2 weeks are Dr. Fauci, Dr Redfield head of the CDC, and Dr. Hahn head of the FDA.

A senior economic adviser to president Trump, Kevin Hassett, says on CBS television program "Face the Nation" that it is scary to go to work now.

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On May 11, NYT shows the rail network in India opening with the first trains taking 45 million migrants to homes in all parts of the country. Australia calls for an international inquiry into the cause of the coronavirus pandemic and its origins in China. Russia begins a cautious reopening with the governors of provinces having powers for reopening based on local conditions. In Spain restrictions are gradually being lifted but the major cities of Barcelona and Madrid are still in lockdown. And as Germany the first country to reopen opens up its business and schools the crucial R ratio of reproduction of the virus -with 1 being the number at which it grows again and below 1 showing control of spread- moves up to above 1.

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Prof. David Spiegelhalter of Cambridge University is critical of the British government for not finding out how many people may be infected by coronavirus. He says he is not telling how anybody should feel or what they should be worried about, but at least the people's anxiety should be proportional to the risks they actually face. His estimate is that based on the death rate of 1% its possible that there could be 3.5 million people in Britain who are infected with coronavirus or higher. Sir Spiegelhalter is professor at Cambridge University for the public understanding of science. He says this "basic information" is essential in making the decision such as how far and when to go out of lockdown, and that the British government has failed to do this in a timely manner required for tackling coronavirus without risking more lives.

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The British public is very conservative when it comes to reopening. 73% support prioritizing the health of citizens only 17% say prioritize the economy. This is the highest of industrialized nations, Japan being the next highest with 60% supporting prioritizing health only 16% in Japan saying the economy.  For Boris Johnson as he makes the speech on Sunday May 10 on reopening the political margin for error in decision is nonexistent. Britain's tabloid press and other media simply took the idea that to heck with it lets reopen reflecting a lack of caution in the headlines after Mr. Johnson expressed his intention to reopen. After seeing this Johnson and his closest advisers met without his hawkish ministers to reflect on what was happening in the country. The British government's scientific advisers say whether there are 100,000 deaths by the end of the year depends on many factors including testing, contact tracing, the way the lockdown is eased, the situation at nursing homes, and other government action  to prevent a resurgence in infections. At the meeting with Gove, Sunak Raab and Hancock, Mr Johnson stepped back and reversed any plans except for mild reopening- giving people more time outside for exercize, opening limited locations such as garden centres and advising strongly to wear masks on public transport. Both Johnson and Dominic Cummings his adviser had coronavirus, and Johnson spent some time in ICU. They know the impact of the coronavirus from their own personal experience.  For Johnson there is only one chance, Tory senior advisers say the public will forgive mistakes going into coronavirus, but will never forgive mistakes getting out of cotronavirus. He told Keir Starmer of Labour in parliament that he bitterly regrets what has happened in nursing homes. The scientists have warned him that the staff at nursing homes could seed communities once again. And that the coronavurus R ratio (1 being the level it starts growing again) could go up back to 1. This is the situation on May 10 as Johnson prepares to speak to the nation on Sunday at 7 pm, as he shifts to "maximum caution." ...

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The National Health Service in Britain already had a backlog of 4.4 million cases in February 2020. It now has another 1.3 million added to this during the coronavirus interruptions of service. Estimates are for this to go up to 7.2 million by September. 3.5 million people will need an outpatient appointment this month as services restart.