The bill includes $180 billion in health care spending, designating $100 billion for hospitals and care providers that are the hardest hit in responding to the coronavirus since the first U.S. case of the illness was confirmed Jan. 20.

In Syria, an open-ended nightly curfew took effect Wednesday at 6 p.m. local time (1600 GMT). State TV showed police patrolling the empty streets of Damascus and other main cities.

In the United States, where deaths passed 1,050 and about 70,000 people were infected, the damage from the widespread economic shutdown was made plain when the number of people applying for unemployment benefits last week was nearly five times the old record, set in 1982.

Unlike in the U.S., where an almost $2 trillion economic relief plan is in the works, Haiti doesn't have any such resources to give similar support to its people.

The news naturally raised concerns for the pope’s health, but sources say that Monsignor Pezzoli has not recently been in contact with Pope Francis.

In a pandemic, no one is safe unless we are all safe, writes Thomas J. Reese, S.J. In the United States, we did not prepare for a pandemic, but it is not too late for solidarity.