Emergency rooms would likely be swamped, overflowing into “surge tents” outside. Intensive care units might fill to capacity. Test kits and masks could run low. And medical personnel would almost certainly get overwhelmed.

Federal officials on Monday released groundbreaking rules that will let patients download their electronic health records and other health care data onto their smartphones.

Quarantines. Cruise ships idling offshore. Silicon Valley workers holed up at home. Dwindling international trade, and the possibility of sustained damage to the fifth largest economy in the world.

The United States is one of the only rich countries not requiring employers to give their workers paid time off when they’re sick. It has become an urgent issue for more Americans because of the coronavirus outbreak.

Most House Democrats who won Republican seats don’t support it. Even if Democrats win control of the Senate, they’ll be well short of a supermajority to overcome a filibuster.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s plan is aimed at distancing vulnerable Democrats from Medicare for All and other proposals being pushed by the party’s presidential contenders.