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Freelancing Freaks — Digital currencies move from talk to action 1.5M ratings Digital currencies move from talk to action
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Last year, when hopping on a plane to discuss trending business topics was normal, the notion of a world with digital currencies was all the rage at two Fortune conferences.Last June, in Montauk, N.Y., Facebook-affiliated Libra had just released some details about its plans.It was the talk of Brainstorm Finance.Closer to the end of the year, at the Fortune Global Tech Forum in Guangzhou, a hot topic was the Chinese government’s intention to launch a digital currency.
Now that we’re all grounded, digital currencies have moved from talk to action, at least in some cases and some places.

Libra has grown quieter and perhaps less ambitious, though the coalition of companies and investors Facebook assembled to work on it continues.

In China, meanwhile, the People’s Bank of China has begun a limited test of an actual digital currency that couldn’t be more different than the so-called cryptocurrencies of libertarian fever dreams, like Bitcoin.
China’s experimental currency, which doesn’t have a name yet—Silicon Valley would have done better at this, at least—will be tightly controlled by the Chinese government.Right now it is noodling with using the currency for transit payments, a modest start.
But it is a start.As Jen Wieczner reports in the current issue of Fortune , “fintech” companies of all stripes are getting a boost from their role in moving money during the pandemic.And Coinbase’s Michael Casey argued in a Fortune essay that the U.S.runs the risk of letting China build a big lead if it doesn’t get its act together soon.
***
Speaking of the U.S.not having its act together, I highly recommend this lucid, important essay by Jim Yong Kim former president of the World Bank, about what’s needed to move forward to fight the pandemic.

He argues that only by using five—and all five are required—tools can the pandemic be beaten: social distancing, contact tracing, testing, isolation, and treatment.It’s simple, but extremely difficult to pull off.
***
For my next Data Sheet conversation, I’ll be chatting with longtime tech analyst Gene Munster about how he sees the investing environment playing out.The call is live on Wednesday, April 29, at 10 a.m.Pacific/1 p.m.Eastern.Once again, I’ll take your questions via chat.

(This call will be audio only: you have permission to multi-task.) Register here to listen and participate.
Adam Lashinsky Permalink More you might like
The U.S.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has become a focal point for criticism of the American government’s coronavirus response, blamed for botching tests that would have helped track the illness in its early days, and then receding from the Trump administration’s public messaging.
In a nearly hour-long interview with Bloomberg News, CDC Director Robert Redfield predicted that the CDC would emerge with its reputation and capabilities intact, even improved, from an outbreak that has infected at least 465,000 Americans, caused more than 16,000 deaths, and is projected to kill thousands more.
“We continue to be the premier public-health institution in the world,” Redfield told Bloomberg, addressing questions about the agency’s response to the virus, its public role, and its future.
The CDC was founded in 1946 as the Communicable Disease Center, charged with making sure that malaria didn’t spread across the nation.

With a $7.28 billion annual budget and 10,000 employees in the U.S.and abroad, it’s one of the world’s foremost public-health agencies, charged with defending the nation against disease and protecting the health and well-being of Americans.But the coronavirus pandemic has tested the agency like never before, including a high-profile misstep during an important window when the virus might have been contained.
“We didn’t get ahead of the outbreak.And the CDC in its history would have always gotten ahead of the outbreak,” said Eric Topol, founder and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute in La Jolla, California, citing the agency’s work on Ebola, Zika and other diseases that have threatened the world.

“Lives have been lost.It’s not just the CDC.It’s the entire government.” Test troubles
In January, as the outbreak expanded in China, the CDC’s scientists developed a test for the virus at the agency’s labs.On Feb.

4, the CDC was cleared to send out hundreds of test kits to state and local public-health labs, part of a stepped-up program to identify infections and track their contacts.The test kits were crucial to the U.S.effort to contain the disease while there were still less than 20 known cases in the country.
“I think history will lay the facts down correct,” Redfield said.“The real truth is, CDC did its job really in a record time and developed the test within seven to 10 days” from when the virus’s genetic sequence became available.
Unfortunately, the version of the test the CDC sent to labs failed to work for most.

It took eight days for the CDC to announce the problem, and more time to get new kits out and modify existing ones.
“We then said, don’t use it, let us take it back,” he said.“And in a couple weeks we figured it out, we corrected it and got it out.”
Those weeks, however, were crucial.By the time the CDC shipped new versions of its test out, the virus had already started to spread inside the U.S., eventually setting off clusters of infections in New York, Seattle, and California.
The CDC encouraged other authorities, including the Food and Drug Administration, to allow hospitals and commercial labs to get tests on the market faster.But ensuring that America had widespread testing capacity for the novel pathogen ultimately was not the CDC’s job, Redfield said.
“It was really the responsibility of the private sector and the clinical medicine apparatus to develop these tests for clinical medicine,” he said.

“That’s the part that’s still frustrating some people.”
Other parts of government share responsibility.It took weeks for the FDA to begin issuing emergency authorizations for other tests, after problems with the CDC kits emerged, for example.But the errors cost crucial time, said Topol.
“The singular egregious failure was the lack of having a test ready, at scale, with all that was happening in China,” said Topol.“It was their job to be ready for the worst-case scenario.

Ready to do millions of tests throughout the country.Because that didn’t occur, everything that has happened since then is attributable to that failure.’’
Redfield maintains that that’s a misunderstanding of the agency’s responsibilities, and predicted the CDC would come out of the pandemic stronger.“Our public-health capacity for decades to come is going to be strengthened, the core capabilities are going to be finally brought to where they need to be,” he said.“We’re going to have laboratory capacity that has enormous redundancy.” Where’s the CDC?
Redfield, 68, is a devout Catholic and a noted virologist who has done extensive research and clinical work on HIV and AIDs.He served for 20 years in the U.S.Army Medical Corps, and after his retirement founded the Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland with two other renowned HIV researchers.He’s led the CDC for two years, taking over from President Donald Trump’s first director, Brenda Fitzgerald, who resigned from the agency after buying stock in a tobacco company shortly after taking the job.
While Redfield has never had a reputation for seeking the spotlight, the CDC’s public presence looks far different than when the outbreak began.Through early March, its experts held regular briefings to educate the public on the virus and the government’s attempts to contain it.

In recent weeks, Trump has taken on responsibility for briefing the public himself, with a rotating cast of officials that rarely includes the CDC, but often includes a mix of conflicting scientific claims and medical advice put forth by the president that are then gently walked back by other members of government.
Redfield was a regular presence at the government’s briefings early on.

But as the White House and Trump have taken over, he’s receded.Since March 14, according to an analysis of transcripts, he’s appeared only four times at the Trump-led White House briefings that are broadcast across the U.S.and serve as the administration’s most visible and best-covered message to the public about the virus.Most days, no one from the CDC appears at the briefings at all.
The CDC’s last public briefing of its own took place over a month ago, on March 9.Asked where the decision to end the agency’s briefings had come from, Redfield said he didn’t know.

“I just know that our regular briefing was discontinued,” he said.
A Trump administration official said Redfield attends task force meetings by phone when he’s in Atlanta and in person when in Washington.The official said the White House briefings cover much of the same material that CDC briefings did, so it doesn’t make sense to hold both.

The official said he did not know who decided to discontinue the CDC’s own briefings.
Redfield said the agency is focused on getting its recommendations on how to stop the spread of the disease out through other channels, not on appearing at high-profile briefings.
“I don’t think that the press briefings, at the end of the day, with all the different things, is really the place to do that,” Redfield said.“It’s more how do we maximize our public-health message to the components of the American public who are involved in public health.”
“You may not see them on the television, or you may not read about them, or hear them on the radio, but we’re constantly communicating with the American public to make sure they get the best information that CDC has to give them,” Redfield said.Redfield cited guidance on the agency’s website and more narrowly tailored outreach to medical workers, faith communities, business leaders, and nursing homes, including daily telephone calls that draw up to 40,000 participants.
As questions have arisen about the CDC’s role in recent days, Redfield has become more outwardly visible.He gave an interview to the health news publication Stat published on April 4, defending the agency’s performance, and appeared at a CNN event on April 9.

He’s also engaged in appearances on local, often conservative, talk radio, reported Politico , which characterized his role as a trusted voice speaking to Trump’s base.
Before they stopped, the CDC’s briefings were a reliable source of information about the virus and the government’s response.They also proved prescient about the impact on the U.S., at a time when the White House was downplaying the situation and calling the virus nearly contained and unlikely to have a major impact.
Almost three weeks before the White House called for significant social distancing measures to stop the spread of the virus, one of the CDC’s top infectious-disease experts warned that Americans needed to start preparing for dramatic changes, including the possibility of closing schools, sporting events, and other elements of daily life.The official, Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, warned of a serious outbreak in the U.S.
“It’s not so much a question of if this will happen anymore but rather more a question of exactly when this will happen and how many people in this country will have severe illness,” Messonnier said at the Feb.

25 briefing .
Messonnier, whose comments helped spark a drop in the U.S.

stock market , hasn’t spoken publicly in recent weeks.The closing of the channel between the agency and the public leaves the nation less prepared, one of Redfield’s predecessors said.
“Let’s be frank: they are our No.1 experts in how to address a pandemic of respiratory illness,” Tom Frieden, who led the CDC under then-president Barack Obama, said on call with reporters in early April.“If all of us had been hearing from Doctor Nancy Messonnier every day for the past five to six weeks, we as a country and families and as individuals would be much better prepared.” (Frieden is currently chief executive of Resolve to Save Lives, which is funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies, whose founder, Michael Bloomberg, is also founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP.) Changing role
Redfield said that as the pandemic spread, the public face of the government’s response naturally shifted up the government ranks.What began as a response led by Messionnier’s center within the CDC rapidly escalated to the entire agency, and then to the U.S.Department of Health and Human Services, and eventually to one led by the White House.
“I think it’s important to see how this response has gone from a CDC center, to CDC, to the Department of Health and Human Services, to an all-of-government response,” he said.
But as the responsibility for leading the response has shifted, confusion over what information is right and what’s wrong has grown, as well.
The dynamic was on display in mid-March as authorities began to bar public gatherings.On March 16, citing “lack of federal direction,” governors of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut said they would limit gatherings to 50 people.Later the same day, the Trump advised against gatherings of more than 10 nationwide.
“They have lost the role of being the public-facing agency,” said Lorien Abroms, an expert on health communications at George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health.

The danger is more chaos as the country grapples with the fast-moving crisis, she said.
“We have different parts of the government saying different things,” Abroms said.“People started by being confused and not knowing who to follow.”
In late March, more than 80% of Americans said they trusted the agency for reliable information on the coronavirus, according to a poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation, a health research group.That is a remarkable number when the country is divided and overall faith in institutions is low.Almost as many people said they trusted state leaders, the World Health Organization, and Anthony Fauci , a National Institutes of Health scientist who has taken on the role of expert-in-chief at the White House sessions.Less than half said they trusted Trump or the news media.
The CDC’s latest health recommendation is that Americans wear a facial covering when out in public , part of an effort to reduce spread of the virus, in particular by people who may not have symptoms.
Redfield said he carries a face covering his wife made him from a bandanna and rubber bands, and he wears it in situations when he cannot maintain the recommended six-foot distance from others.
“It’s only a recommendation,” Trump told reporters on April 3, the day the CDC’s mask recommendations came out.

“You don’t have to do it.” More coronavirus coverage from Fortune :
—Everything you should know about mortgage forbearance and skipping payments—VIDEO: 401(k) withdrawal penalties waived for anyone hurt by COVID-19
Subscribe to Outbreak , a daily newsletter roundup of stories on the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on global business.It’s free to get it in your inbox.Mystery of Kim Jong Un’s health continues to grow
Speculation about Kim Jong Un’s health intensified over the weekend after tantalizing — yet unverified — reports about a visit by a Chinese medical team and movements of the North Korean leader’s armored train.
China sent a team including doctors and senior diplomats to advise its neighbor and longtime ally, Reuters reported on Saturday, citing three people familiar with the matter.

Meanwhile, a train resembling one long used by North Korean rulers was parked last week near a coastal leadership compound in Wonsan, according to an analysis of satellite imagery released Sunday by the website 38 North.A prominent South Korea adviser also rejected the notion that Kim was ailing or dead.
“Our government position is firm,” Moon Chung-in, a foreign policy adviser to South Korean President Moon Jae-in, told CNN.“He has been staying in the Wonsan area since April 13” with “no suspicious movements” detected.
The latest developments shed little immediate light about the 36-year-old ruler, who U.S.officials said they were told had been in critical condition after cardiovascular surgery.

Kim — a heavy smoker who has gained considerable weight since taking power in 2011 — hasn’t appeared in state media for two weeks, and missed April 15 birthday celebrations for his late grandfather, state founder Kim Il Sung, for the first time.
The episode renews longstanding questions about the stability of a regime built on iron-fisted authority and a cult of personality for Kim, who has no known successor.Health scares have been a common occurrence over the years, and the leader’s medical condition is a closely-guarded subject in one of the world’s most secretive states.
Any leadership change in North Korea could increase the threat of instability on China’s border and raise questions about control of the country’s expanding nuclear arsenal.Kim has also been central to U.S.President Donald Trump’s so far unsuccessful efforts to get him to reduce his weapons stockpile.
The mystery sent journalists, diplomats and non-proliferation experts scouring satellite images, state news outlets and unverified social media feeds for clues about Kim.The hashtag #kimjongundead was the among the top subjects trending globally Saturday on Twitter.The name of his younger sister Kim Yo Jong — a potential successor — was also trending in the U.S.
“Information about the serious state of health of our Marshal Kim Jong Un is false and malicious,” Korean Friendship Association head Alejandro Cao de ­Benos said in a tweet Saturday.

Cao, who was featured in the 2015 documentary “The Propaganda Game,” didn’t say where he got the information and declined further comment when contacted by Bloomberg News.
Kim similarly disappeared from state media for six weeks in 2014, prompting speculation that he had been sidelined by gout, an ankle injury or was even overthrown in a coup.

He subsequently showed up walking with a cane during a visit to a new residential block.
A delegation led by a senior member of the Chinese Communist Party’s International Liaison Department — which manages relations with North Korea — departed Beijing on Thursday, Reuters said, adding it wasn’t able to immediately determine what the trip signaled about Kim’s health.Officials with the U.S.National Security Council declined to comment on Saturday.
Speculation about Kim’s condition accelerated after Seoul-based news site Daily NK, reported April 20 that the North Korean leader was recovering from surgery, citing one unidentified person inside the country.CNN reported a short time later that Kim was in “grave danger.”
Trump has since said he believed the CNN report was “incorrect,” saying he heard “they used old documents.” South Korean officials said repeatedly last week that they believed Kim was conducting “normal activities” in a rural part of the country assisted by close aides, and that they detected no unusual movements by the regime.
The presence of Kim’s train in Wonsan, about 230 kilometers (143 miles) east of Pyongyang, potentially fits with the South Korean account.

The area has received intense interest from Kim in recent years, hosting an expanding leadership compound, a large tourism development project and numerous weapons tests.
The train, which Kim took to his failed summit with Trump in Hanoi, arrived at a nearby railway station on or before April 21, 38 North wrote, citing satellite imagery.The train was spotted again at the station on April 23, and appeared to be repositioned for departure.
North Korea’s eastern coast saw a burst of military activity on April 14, including cruise missile tests and fighter jet maneuvers, that at the time appeared to be timed to coincide with South Korean parliamentary elections.The next day, Kim was absent from events marking his grandfather’s birthday, known as the Day of the Sun and North Korea’s most politically significant holiday.
Although state media has continued to publish messages exchanged between Kim and dignitaries, such as a letter sent to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Wednesday, reports included no fresh images and made no mention of new events attended by the leader.

Kim was similarly missing from events Saturday marking the anniversary of the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army, although he also didn’t attend the events last year.More coronavirus coverage from Fortune :
— Bill Gates explains how to beat the coronavirus pandemic—The 3-pronged approach to defeating the coronavirus —Why the coronavirus crisis makes moral leadership more important than ever—VIDEO: 401(k) withdrawal penalties waived for anyone hurt by COVID-19
Subscribe to Outbreak , a daily newsletter roundup of stories on the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on global business.

It’s free to get it in your inbox.
Billionaire Bill Gates is funding production of the seven most promising ideas for a vaccine as he refocuses his philanthropic work on the deadly coronavirus.
“If everything went perfectly, we’d be in scale manufacturing within a year,” Gates said on CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS.”“It could be as long as two years.”
The world’s second-richest man said vaccine production will probably not start in September, as some have said.
“ Dr.Fauci and I have been fairly consistent to say 18 months to create expectations that are not too high,” Gates said, referring to Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a member of the White House coronavirus task force.
The availability of testing for the coronavirus has been a sore spot in the U.S.for months.President Donald Trump tweeted on Saturday that the U.S.“just passed 5 million Tests, far more than any other country.”
Just looking at raw numbers misses the true picture, Gates said.
“This focus on the number of tests understates the cacophony and the mistakes we’ve made in the testing system ,” Gates said.

“ The wrong people are being tested , and any time you don’t get results in less than 24 hours, the value of the test is dramatically reduced.”
The philanthropist and co-founder of Microsoft Corp.said his best-case scenario for a phased reopening of the economy is to “pick the high-value activities like school, manufacturing and construction, and figure out a way to do those with masks and distancing.” Schools
“If we can figure out how to do K-through-12 in the fall, that would be good,” Gates said, adding that the U.S.may even be able to open colleges “if we’re creative about it.”
“It will probably be in August where we know what’s the protocol, how many schools are opening up, and we won’t really know enough until pretty close to the start,” he said.
Gates also warned that trying to rush a reopening and generating “exponential” growth in COVID-19 cases “will be seeding other parts of the country,” comparing it to the infection spreading via international travel in early 2020.
Microsoft shares, at around $174, are up about 10% for the year to date, even though major market indexes are down and some companies’ stocks have been hammered.
“Tech companies in some ways benefit from an acceleration of a move towards digital approaches, even though the next few years they’ll have a lot of customers that they’ll be helping out, giving free licenses to, where things won’t be as strong,” Gates said.
Earlier, in an interview with the Financial Times, Gates said that his Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, with an endowment exceeding $40 billion, will give “total attention” to COVID-19.
The foundation has contributed $250 million to help counter the coronavirus so far, and is re-purposing units dedicated to fighting other diseases to join in the battle against the pandemic.
Gates defended the World Health Organization against accusations from Trump that the body had mishandled the virus response.
“WHO is clearly very, very important and should actually get extra support to perform their role during this epidemic,” he told the FT.

More coronavirus coverage from Fortune :
— Bill Gates explains how to beat the coronavirus pandemic—The 3-pronged approach to defeating the coronavirus —Why the coronavirus crisis makes moral leadership more important than ever—VIDEO: 401(k) withdrawal penalties waived for anyone hurt by COVID-19
Subscribe to Outbreak , a daily newsletter roundup of stories on the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on global business.It’s free to get it in your inbox.

world,’ it’s just .