U(D54G1D)y+#!z!$!?!" Donna Shalala PAGE A27 EDITORIAL, OP-ED A26-27 WASHINGTON — The Trump administration said on Monday that nearly a million tests could be administered for the coronavirus in the United States by the end of this week, a significant escalation of screening as the American death toll reached six and U.S. in- fections topped 100. Private companies and aca- demic laboratories have been pulled in to develop and validate their own coronavirus tests, a move to get around a government bottleneck after a halting start, and to widen the range and num- ber of Americans screened for the virus, Dr. Stephen Hahn, the com- missioner of the Food and Drug Administration, said Monday at a White House briefing. The testing expansion comes as the world moves in a more coordi- nated fashion to confront the virus and its threat to health and the global economy. The Group of 7 in- dustrialized nations is expected to hold an emergency call on Tues- day to synchronize a multination- al effort to stimulate economic growth, the first such effort since the global financial crisis more than a decade ago. The World Bank and the Inter- national Monetary Fund signaled they were also ready to provide assistance, particularly to poor nations. Monetary policymakers from Japan to Europe on Monday pledged to act as needed to stem any economic fallout as infections spread. And U.S. stock prices Tapping Private Labs, U.S. Seeks Nearly a Million Tests This Week By NOAH WEILAND and EMILY COCHRANE John Briones took precautions in Times Square on Monday after New York’s first case of coronavirus infection was confirmed. DAVE SANDERS FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES Continued on Page A12 Late last year, a group of first- term House Democrats, anxious over the party’s fractious presi- dential race, convened a series of discussions intended to spur unity. Led by Representatives Col- in Allred of Texas and Haley Stevens of Michigan, they consid- ered issuing a collective endorse- ment of one moderate candidate. The group held phone calls with Joseph R. Biden Jr., Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg. But the lawmakers could not agree: Some were torn among the op- tions, and others worried about alienating voters at home who backed other contenders, like Senators Bernie Sanders and Eliz- abeth Warren. A few issued solo endorsements of Mr. Biden, but the grander plan disintegrated. “There was not time to reach consensus over one candidate,” said Ms. Stevens, who eventually endorsed Michael R. Bloomberg, recalling the “fast-moving” blur of the lead-up to Iowa. That effort was just one in a se- ries of abandoned or ineffective plans to rally the moderate wing of the Democratic Party, and the leaders and institutions of the po- litical establishment, behind a sin- gle formidable contender who could stop the ascent of Mr. Sand- ers, a democratic socialist promis- ing a revolution in government. An attempt to have the powerful Democratic machine in Nevada back Mr. Biden, for instance, fiz- zled when the former vice presi- dent finished fifth in New Hamp- The Party Establishment Kept Stumbling as Sanders Surged By JONATHAN MARTIN and ALEXANDER BURNS Continued on Page A18 WASHINGTON — The Su- preme Court agreed on Monday to hear a third major challenge to the Affordable Care Act, setting up likely arguments this fall in a case that could wipe out President Barack Obama’s signature do- mestic achievement. The court granted requests from Democratic state officials and House members who wanted to thrust the fate of the Affordable Care Act into the public eye just as Americans prepare to vote this November. The Supreme Court did not say when it would hear the case, but under its ordinary prac- tices, arguments would be held in the fall and a decision would land in the spring or summer of 2021. Democrats, who consider health care a winning issue and worry about possible changes in the composition of the Supreme Court, had urged the justices to act quickly even though lower courts had not issued definitive rulings. They wanted to focus po- litical attention on the health law’s most popular provisions — like guaranteed coverage for pre-ex- isting medical conditions, emer- gency care, prescription drugs and maternity care — and to en- sure that the case was decided while justices who had rejected earlier challenges to the law re- main on the court. In the meantime, the law re- mains almost entirely intact but faces an uncertain future. The case the justices will hear was brought by Republican state officials, who argued that when Congress in 2017 zeroed out the penalty for failing to obtain health insurance, lawmakers rendered the entire law unconstitutional. The Trump administration sided For 3rd Time, Supreme Court Will Hear Major Challenge to Affordable Care Act By ADAM LIPTAK and ABBY GOODNOUGH Continued on Page A15 DALLAS — In a last-minute bid to unite the moderate wing of the Democratic Party, Senator Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg on Monday threw their support be- hind a presidential campaign ri- val, Joseph R. Biden Jr., giving him an extraordinary boost ahead of the Super Tuesday primaries that promised to test his strength against the liberal front-runner, Senator Bernie Sanders. Even by the standards of the tu- multuous 2020 campaign, the dual endorsement from Ms. Klobuchar and Mr. Buttigieg — and their joint appearances with Mr. Biden at campaign events in Dallas on Monday night — was remarkable. Rarely, if ever, have opponents joined forces so dramatically, as Ms. Klobuchar and Mr. Buttigieg went from campaigning at full tilt in the South Carolina primary on Saturday to joining on a political rescue mission for a former com- petitor, Mr. Biden, whom they had once regarded as a spent force. Ms. Klobuchar, who sought to appeal to the same moderate vot- ers as Mr. Biden and Mr. Buttigieg, and focused her cam- paign on calling the Democratic Party’s attention to Midwestern states like her native Minnesota, withdrew from the race on Mon- day afternoon after intensive con- versations with her aides follow- ing Mr. Biden’s thumping victory in South Carolina. Rather than delivering a tradi- tional concession speech, Ms. Klobuchar told associates she wanted to leverage her exit to help Mr. Biden and headed directly for the joint rally. Before a roaring crowd in Dallas, she hailed her for- mer rival as a candidate who could “bring our country togeth- er” and restore “decency and dig- nity” to the presidency. Mr. Buttigieg, for his part, en- dorsed Mr. Biden at a pre-rally stop on Monday evening; he said Mr. Biden would “restore the soul” of the nation as president. And Mr. Biden offered Mr. Buttigieg the highest compliment in his person- al vocabulary, several times lik- ening the young politician to his own son, Beau, who died of brain cancer in 2015. For the three moderates, as well as for Mr. Sanders and other re- maining candidates, the crucial question hanging over the fast- moving events was whether any of it would make a difference in Tuesday’s primaries across 15 states and territories, including the critical battlegrounds of Cali- fornia and Texas. Millions of voters are expected to go to the polls, but many states have had early voting underway; more than 2.3 million Democratic and independent ballots have al- ready been processed in Califor- nia. Mr. Sanders has significant head starts in many of the Super Tuesday states and beyond: His popularity has risen in recent weeks, and so has Democratic vot- ers’ estimation of his electability in a race with President Trump. The Vermont senator has a muscular national grass-roots or- ganization, backed by the most fearsome online fund-raising ma- chine in Democratic politics — one that collected more than $46 mil- lion last month, far outdistancing every other candidate in the race. Mr. Sanders signaled on Mon- Rivals Swiftly Back Biden In a Push to Stop Sanders Klobuchar Exits Race, Joining Buttigieg in a Realignment Before Super Tuesday This article is by Alexander Burns, Jonathan Martin and Nick Corasaniti. Senator Amy Klobuchar with Joseph R. Biden Jr. on Monday. TODD HEISLER/THE NEW YORK TIMES Continued on Page A19 Jack Welch, who led General Electric through two decades of extraordinary corporate prosperity, was 84. PAGE B1 BUSINESS B1-8 ‘Manager of the Century’ Dies Mary Lovelace O’Neal, with a new solo show, discusses her art. Above, “Run- ning With My Black Panthers.” PAGE C1 ARTS C1-8 Visions of an ‘Unruly Nature’ Bees dance. Wild dogs sneeze. Meer- kats, above, mew. Ants carry one an- other to new colonies. There are many ways nonhumans cast votes. PAGE D1 SCIENCE TIMES D1-6 Political Animals Israel’s prime minister appears to have bested his challenger in the country’s third election in a year, and come close to winning a majority. PAGE A6 INTERNATIONAL A4-10 Exit Polls Point to Netanyahu Though deliberations were mostly civil, the stress of five days of debate over Harvey Weinstein’s fate got to some jurors, and several got sick. PAGE A24 NEW YORK A24-25 Inside the Weinstein Jury James Lipton focused on actors’ craft, not gossip, as the host of the Bravo television series “Inside the Actors Studio.” He was 93. PAGE B13 OBITUARIES B12-13 He Questioned the Stars An alarming series of injuries to top World Cup ski racers is forcing the sport to re-evaluate its methods. PAGE B9 SPORTSTUESDAY B9-11 Painful Season on the Slopes A preview run is the time for a play to be fine-tuned, or, sometimes, for not-so- minor changes to be made. PAGE C1 When the Stage Isn’t Quite Set YouTube’s progress in curbing the spread of conspiracy theories has been uneven, a study says. PAGE B1 Still a Platform for End Times European Union talks come first for Britain, and Washington isn’t likely to deal in an election year. PAGE A10 U.S.-U.K. Trade Deal Drags The coronavirus has found a crack in the nation’s public health armor, and it is not one that scien- tists foresaw: diagnostic testing. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention botched its first attempt to mass produce a diag- nostic test kit, a discovery made only after officials had shipped hundreds of kits to state laborato- ries. A promised replacement took several weeks, and still did not permit state and local laboratories to make final diagnoses. And the C.D.C. essentially ensured that Americans would be tested in very few numbers by imposing stringent and narrow criteria, critics say. On Monday, after mounting criticism of the federal response, Trump administration officials promised a rapid expansion of the country’s testing capacities. With the help of private companies and academic centers, as many as a million diagnostic tests could be administered by the end of this week, said Dr. Stephen Hahn, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. But many scientists wonder if the moves come too late. As of Monday evening, 103 Americans were infected with the coronavirus in the United States. Six deaths have been reported. Dozens of patients, in several states, may have caught the virus in their communities, suggesting C.D.C.’s Missteps in Screening Left Potential for Virus’s Spread This article is by Roni Caryn Rabin, Knvul Sheikh and Katie Thomas. Continued on Page A13 DARKO BANDIC/ASSOCIATED PRESS Thousands of migrants have flocked to the increasingly violent Turkish-Greek border. Page A4. The Long Road Out of Syria SEATTLE — Movie nights have been canceled. Residents are re- stricted to their rooms, their meals delivered by workers in protective gear. Ambulances come and go, taking elderly pa- tients who have fallen ill to the hospital two miles away. Life Care Center, which adver- tises a “homelike and welcoming atmosphere” in the Seattle suburb of Kirkland, has become the focal point of the coronavirus outbreak in the United States. Four of the six people who have died of the vi- rus in this country were residents of the 190-bed nursing care facili- ty. Several other residents and at least one employee have tested positive. One-quarter of the city’s fire- fighters are in quarantine as a re- sult of recent visits, and officials said on Monday that some have developed flu-like symptoms. Relatives of those inside the nursing care facility, urged to keep away, worry about who might be next. “When is it going to end?” said Debbie Delosangeles of Monroe, Wash. She has not been able to see or speak to her 85-year-old mother, who has dementia, since before some residents grew ill last In Northwest, Growing Fears Of Who’s Next By MIKE BAKER and KAREN WEISE Continued on Page A12 VOL. CLXIX . . . No. 58,621 © 2020 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, TUESDAY, MARCH 3, 2020 Late Edition Today, cloudy, mild, showers, high 60. Tonight, cloudy with showers, low 45. Tomorrow, breezy, mild, peri- odic sunshine, high 56. Windy west. Weather map appears on Page A28. $3.00