The latest: There have been more than 1.1 million coronavirus cases in the United States, according to the Johns Hopkins University tally.The virus has killed nearly 65,000 people in the U.S., according to Hopkins.The FDA issued an emergency-use authorization on Friday for remdesivir in hospitalized patients with severe COVID-19.New York became the latest state to close schools for the remainder of the academic year. At least 43 states have ordered or recommended that schools not reopen.States across the U.S. have called for more antibody tests to be done, while others have begun hiring contact tracers to get a glimpse into how widespread the virus has been.The CDC said international travel and lack of testing fueled spread of the virus in the early days of U.S. outbreak.Gorgeous spring weather across the United States and Europe on Saturday drew people cooped up inside for weeks outside to soak in the sun, even as additional coronavirus hot spots in Russia and Pakistan emerged.Though grateful to be outdoors, people were still wary — masks were worn everywhere, even on southern U.S. beaches and by some joggers in Spain. A New York City farmer’s market enforced the familiar 6 feet of space between people waiting to buy spring flowers. Mothers in Central Park reminded their kids to give people space. And small groups of picnickers kept their safe distances, while joggers moved past each other without a glance.Retired New York attorney Stan Neustadter pulled down his mask to say it’s been important to his spirit to get out. “Why live like a rabbit? Plus I’m approaching 78, I’ve had a great run,” Neustadter said.Police and park officials were spread out across New York City, which sent out 1,000 officers to enforce social distancing on the warmest day since mid-March. But they were more likely to break up large groups, leaving the nuisances of social distancing and hanging out safely outside to New Yorkers themselves.New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said people need to go outside and enjoy the warm weather.“Go for a walk, but respect the social distancing and wear a mask,” Cuomo saidPelosi, McConnell decline offer to use rapid tests on House lawmakersHouse Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell issued a joint statement Saturday “respectfully” declining an offer from the Trump administration to deploy rapid coronavirus testing capabilities to Capitol Hill.“Our country’s testing capacities are continuing to scale up nationwide and Congress wants to keep directing resources to the front-line facilities where they can do the most good the most quickly,” Pelosi and McConnell wrote in the statement.“Consistent with CDC guidelines, Congress will use the current testing protocols that the Office of the Attending Physician has put in place until these speedier technologies become more widely available,” they also said.Blue Angels, Thunderbirds fly over 3 US cities to honor healthcare workersThe U.S. Navy Blue Angels and US Air Force Thunderbirds are honoring frontline healthcare workers and first responders battling coronavirus with flights on Saturday.The planes will fly over Baltimore, Washington, DC, and Atlanta today, according to a news release.“America Strong is a way for both teams to show appreciation to the thousands of doctors, nurses, first responders and essential workers out there serving on the frontline day-in and day-out,” Cmdr. Brian Kesselring, the Blue Angels commanding officer and flight leader for the flyover, said in the release. “This is an extraordinary and unprecedented time but we will get through this. We are all in this together,” he added.NY hospital workers to gather data from patients to target new infectionsHospitals in New York will now ask patients specific demographic questions to try and figure out where new coronavirus cases are coming from, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said at a news conference Saturday.He said there has been about 900 new infections a day across the state.”If you find a specific place or pattern that is generating infections, then you can attack it, but you have to find it first,” Cuomo said.He said hospital workers will ask new patients about what community they live in within the boroughs, as well as their occupation and how they travel.”Are these infections that are being spread in the home? Or are they front line workers, which means they’re getting up every day, they’re getting on public transit, they’re going to work and maybe they’re getting it on public transit, maybe they’re getting it at the work place,” Cuomo said.The governor said this data will be collected over the next few days.First weekend of loosened restrictions under way in many statesFor the first time in weeks, residents in some states across the country will be able to return to weekend routines after governors began easing restrictions put in place to combat the coronavirus.That might mean going to a movie in Georgia, working out with a personal trainer in Colorado or dropping by a dispensary in Nevada.More than 30 states have begun easing social distancing restrictions — some doing away with stay-at-home orders altogether while others loosen measures to allow some businesses to reopen.And more measures will be wiped out starting Monday. Gyms and fitness centers will reopen in Arkansas on May 4, while hair salons will follow May 6. In Northern California’s Yuba and Sutter counties, restaurants, tattoo parlors and shopping malls will all be allowed to open Monday, which will also be the first workday for many offices in Colorado, with operations limited to 50% capacity.In Montana, bars and breweries will also be allowed to provide some in-establishment services starting Monday.The changes come even as experts warned Friday that prematurely lifting measures could be deadly.”You’re making a big mistake. It’s going to cost lives,” Dr. Irwin Redlener, a pediatrician and disaster preparedness specialist at Columbia University Medical Center, told CNN Friday.In a report, Redlener and Joseph Fair, a senior fellow in pandemic policy at Texas A&M University, said no city or state should begin to reduce restrictions until coronavirus infections have been steadily decreasing for 10 days to two weeks, and not until enough tests are available to track just how many people really are infected.”We implore you to do everything in your power to make sure we have the testing and contact tracing we need to move forward safely. Until we get there, it is inappropriate and dangerous to reopen local businesses,” Redlener wrote in a letter accompanying the report.But the country continues to lag behind in testing and, months since the beginning of the outbreak, is still unable to perform the millions of tests that economists and public heath experts said last month will be required before measures can be safely lifted.PGlmcmFtZSBpZD0iaHR2LWNvdmlkLW1hcCIgc3JjPSJodHRwczovL2NvdmlkLTE5LWFzc2V0cy5odHZ0b29scy51cy9pbmRleC5odG1sIiBzY3JvbGw9Im5vIiBzdHlsZT0iYm9yZGVyOm5vbmU7Ij48L2lmcmFtZT4KCDC: Summer will be critical in fight against virusHow the country fares in the next few months will be “critical” in the fight against coronavirus and how it will evolve in the fall, Dr. Anne Schuchat, the principal deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday.”The more we intensify the testing and expand the public health capacity and assure that our hospital capacity and material to support the hospitals is adequate or has excess, the better we’re going to be in the fall,” Schuchat said in an interview with JAMA Network.Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease doctor, said this week that he believes a second round of the virus is “inevitable” and how deadly that round is will be determined by how prepared the U.S. is.”If by that time we have put into place all of the countermeasures that you need to address this, we should do reasonably well,” he said. “If we don’t do that successfully, we could be in for a bad fall and a bad winter.”Fauci has also warned that lifting measures prematurely could lead to a rebound of the virus that could put the U.S. in the “same boat that we were a few weeks ago.”Protest over orders leads to more than two dozen arrestsMany governors have faced resistance in the recent weeks from residents who want lockdown measures lifted and businesses reopened.In California, more than 30 people were arrested Friday during a demonstration at the state capitol building to protest Gov. Gavin Newsom’s stay-at-home order, CNN affiliate KCRA reported. More than 1,000 people had gathered, some waving American flags and signs against the order.”This disease doesn’t know if you’re a protester, a Democrat, a Republican,” the governor said Friday. “Protect yourself, protect your family, your kids, your parents, your grandparents, your neighbors.””I appreciate expression, points of view,” Newsom said, “but we’re interested in evidence, and the evidence shows some good things, but some yellow flags of caution.”Newsom said the state is “days, not weeks” away from beginning to lift restrictions.”I just want folks to know that we are getting very close to making really meaningful augmentations to that stay-at-home order,” the governor said in his daily coronavirus briefing.Up to 3,000 people also gathered in Huntington Beach Friday to protest Newsom’s order this week to close all Orange County beaches.The governor issued the order after scolding beachgoers that packed some shores in the state during scorching temperatures last weekend.FDA approves remdesivirMeanwhile, the Food and Drug Administration approved the experimental drug remdesivir as treatment for hospitalized patients with severe coronavirus, the agency said Friday.This is the first authorized therapy for the virus in the country, FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn said. “This is an important clinical advance that showed a statistically significant reduction in time to recovery for patients with COVID-19 and is the first authorized therapy for COVID-19.” Hahn said.The drug was approved just days after researchers said it might help patients recover more quickly from the infection.In an emergency-use authorization Friday, the agency said the benefits of using the drug outweighed the risks. 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The latest:
- There have been more than 1.1 million coronavirus cases in the United States, according to the Johns Hopkins University tally.
- The virus has killed nearly 65,000 people in the U.S., according to Hopkins.
- The FDA issued an emergency-use authorization on Friday for remdesivir in hospitalized patients with severe COVID-19.
- New York became the latest state to close schools for the remainder of the academic year. At least 43 states have ordered or recommended that schools not reopen.
- States across the U.S. have called for more antibody tests to be done, while others have begun hiring contact tracers to get a glimpse into how widespread the virus has been.
- The CDC said international travel and lack of testing fueled spread of the virus in the early days of U.S. outbreak.
Gorgeous spring weather across the United States and Europe on Saturday drew people cooped up inside for weeks outside to soak in the sun, even as additional coronavirus hot spots in Russia and Pakistan emerged.
Though grateful to be outdoors, people were still wary — masks were worn everywhere, even on southern U.S. beaches and by some joggers in Spain. A New York City farmer’s market enforced the familiar 6 feet of space between people waiting to buy spring flowers. Mothers in Central Park reminded their kids to give people space. And small groups of picnickers kept their safe distances, while joggers moved past each other without a glance.
Retired New York attorney Stan Neustadter pulled down his mask to say it’s been important to his spirit to get out. “Why live like a rabbit? Plus I’m approaching 78, I’ve had a great run,” Neustadter said.
Police and park officials were spread out across New York City, which sent out 1,000 officers to enforce social distancing on the warmest day since mid-March. But they were more likely to break up large groups, leaving the nuisances of social distancing and hanging out safely outside to New Yorkers themselves.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said people need to go outside and enjoy the warm weather.
“Go for a walk, but respect the social distancing and wear a mask,” Cuomo said
Pelosi, McConnell decline offer to use rapid tests on House lawmakers
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell issued a joint statement Saturday “respectfully” declining an offer from the Trump administration to deploy rapid coronavirus testing capabilities to Capitol Hill.
“Our country’s testing capacities are continuing to scale up nationwide and Congress wants to keep directing resources to the front-line facilities where they can do the most good the most quickly,” Pelosi and McConnell wrote in the statement.
“Consistent with CDC guidelines, Congress will use the current testing protocols that the Office of the Attending Physician has put in place until these speedier technologies become more widely available,” they also said.
Blue Angels, Thunderbirds fly over 3 US cities to honor healthcare workers
The U.S. Navy Blue Angels and US Air Force Thunderbirds are honoring frontline healthcare workers and first responders battling coronavirus with flights on Saturday.
The planes will fly over Baltimore, Washington, DC, and Atlanta today, according to a news release.
“America Strong is a way for both teams to show appreciation to the thousands of doctors, nurses, first responders and essential workers out there serving on the frontline day-in and day-out,” Cmdr. Brian Kesselring, the Blue Angels commanding officer and flight leader for the flyover, said in the release. “This is an extraordinary and unprecedented time but we will get through this. We are all in this together,” he added.
NY hospital workers to gather data from patients to target new infections
Hospitals in New York will now ask patients specific demographic questions to try and figure out where new coronavirus cases are coming from, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said at a news conference Saturday.
He said there has been about 900 new infections a day across the state.
“If you find a specific place or pattern that is generating infections, then you can attack it, but you have to find it first,” Cuomo said.
He said hospital workers will ask new patients about what community they live in within the boroughs, as well as their occupation and how they travel.
“Are these infections that are being spread in the home? Or are they front line workers, which means they’re getting up every day, they’re getting on public transit, they’re going to work and maybe they’re getting it on public transit, maybe they’re getting it at the work place,” Cuomo said.
The governor said this data will be collected over the next few days.
First weekend of loosened restrictions under way in many states
For the first time in weeks, residents in some states across the country will be able to return to weekend routines after governors began easing restrictions put in place to combat the coronavirus.
That might mean going to a movie in Georgia, working out with a personal trainer in Colorado or dropping by a dispensary in Nevada.
More than 30 states have begun easing social distancing restrictions — some doing away with stay-at-home orders altogether while others loosen measures to allow some businesses to reopen.
And more measures will be wiped out starting Monday. Gyms and fitness centers will reopen in Arkansas on May 4, while hair salons will follow May 6. In Northern California’s Yuba and Sutter counties, restaurants, tattoo parlors and shopping malls will all be allowed to open Monday, which will also be the first workday for many offices in Colorado, with operations limited to 50% capacity.
In Montana, bars and breweries will also be allowed to provide some in-establishment services starting Monday.
The changes come even as experts warned Friday that prematurely lifting measures could be deadly.
“You’re making a big mistake. It’s going to cost lives,” Dr. Irwin Redlener, a pediatrician and disaster preparedness specialist at Columbia University Medical Center, told CNN Friday.
In a report, Redlener and Joseph Fair, a senior fellow in pandemic policy at Texas A&M University, said no city or state should begin to reduce restrictions until coronavirus infections have been steadily decreasing for 10 days to two weeks, and not until enough tests are available to track just how many people really are infected.
“We implore you to do everything in your power to make sure we have the testing and contact tracing we need to move forward safely. Until we get there, it is inappropriate and dangerous to reopen local businesses,” Redlener wrote in a letter accompanying the report.
But the country continues to lag behind in testing and, months since the beginning of the outbreak, is still unable to perform the millions of tests that economists and public heath experts said last month will be required before measures can be safely lifted.
CDC: Summer will be critical in fight against virus
How the country fares in the next few months will be “critical” in the fight against coronavirus and how it will evolve in the fall, Dr. Anne Schuchat, the principal deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday.
“The more we intensify the testing and expand the public health capacity and assure that our hospital capacity and material to support the hospitals is adequate or has excess, the better we’re going to be in the fall,” Schuchat said in an interview with JAMA Network.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease doctor, said this week that he believes a second round of the virus is “inevitable” and how deadly that round is will be determined by how prepared the U.S. is.
“If by that time we have put into place all of the countermeasures that you need to address this, we should do reasonably well,” he said. “If we don’t do that successfully, we could be in for a bad fall and a bad winter.”
Fauci has also warned that lifting measures prematurely could lead to a rebound of the virus that could put the U.S. in the “same boat that we were a few weeks ago.”
Protest over orders leads to more than two dozen arrests
Many governors have faced resistance in the recent weeks from residents who want lockdown measures lifted and businesses reopened.
In California, more than 30 people were arrested Friday during a demonstration at the state capitol building to protest Gov. Gavin Newsom’s stay-at-home order, CNN affiliate KCRA reported.
More than 1,000 people had gathered, some waving American flags and signs against the order.
“This disease doesn’t know if you’re a protester, a Democrat, a Republican,” the governor said Friday. “Protect yourself, protect your family, your kids, your parents, your grandparents, your neighbors.”
“I appreciate expression, points of view,” Newsom said, “but we’re interested in evidence, and the evidence shows some good things, but some yellow flags of caution.”
Newsom said the state is “days, not weeks” away from beginning to lift restrictions.
“I just want folks to know that we are getting very close to making really meaningful augmentations to that stay-at-home order,” the governor said in his daily coronavirus briefing.
Up to 3,000 people also gathered in Huntington Beach Friday to protest Newsom’s order this week to close all Orange County beaches.
The governor issued the order after scolding beachgoers that packed some shores in the state during scorching temperatures last weekend.
FDA approves remdesivir
Meanwhile, the Food and Drug Administration approved the experimental drug remdesivir as treatment for hospitalized patients with severe coronavirus, the agency said Friday.
This is the first authorized therapy for the virus in the country, FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn said.
“This is an important clinical advance that showed a statistically significant reduction in time to recovery for patients with COVID-19 and is the first authorized therapy for COVID-19.” Hahn said.
The drug was approved just days after researchers said it might help patients recover more quickly from the infection.
In an emergency-use authorization Friday, the agency said the benefits of using the drug outweighed the risks.
