Coronavirus live updates: US cases surpass 300,000; officials expect surge of deaths; CDC recommends face masks in public
The U.S. surpassed 300,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Saturday as President Donald Trump and health officials warned the upcoming week would bring a surge of deaths.
Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, said multiple virus hot spots may see peak fatalities in the next week. The coming weeks will be a “very, very deadly period, unfortunately,” said Trump.
Birx joined other health experts in imploring the public to continue practicing recommended social distancing measures.
Dr. Anthony Fauci said those efforts are particularly important in the coming days to prevent future deadly outbreaks: “The virus has no place to go if you’re physically separated.”
Trump repeatedly expressed a desire to soon reopen the economy, saying he was optimistic that sports stadiums could again be full within months.
The nation's death toll stood at 8,476, according to the Johns Hopkins University data dashboard at 10 p.m. ET. Worldwide, the death toll was more than 64,000, with about 1.2 million people infected.
Our live blog is being updated throughout the day. Refresh for the latest news, and get updates in your inbox with The Daily Briefing. More headlines:
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Medical military personnel headed to New York City to battle coronavirus
Trump said Saturday he is deploying 1,000 medical personnel to New York City to help battle the coronavirus.
Personnel to be deployed will include doctors, nurses, respiratory specialists and others, Trump announced at a White House news briefing Saturday.
“We've been doing it, but now we're doing it on a larger basis,” Trump said.
Trump did not say from which branches of the services the officials will be deployed. But he said they will be sent Sunday and Monday to New York, “where they’re needed most.”
Trump said Defense Secretary Mark Esper would provide more details about the deployments Sunday.
--Joel Shannon
New York getting ventilators from China, Oregon
New York is getting 1,000 life-saving ventilators from China to aid its battle against the virus, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a press briefing Saturday.
Another 500 of the breathing machines will be moved from upstate New York to downstate hospitals being hit hardest by COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, Cuomo said.
The state of Oregon is also sending 140 ventilators to New York, where thousands of new infections are confirmed daily.
"We’re all in the same battle here, and the battle is stopping the spread of the virus," Cuomo said.
The 1,000 ventilators from China were expected to arrive Saturday at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City. The Chinese government facilitated the effort connected to Alibaba, the massive online retailer in China, Cuomo said.
– David Robinson
United Airlines slashes flights at Newark, LaGuardia
United Airlines is drastically reducing operations at two New York-area airports.
The temporary reductions at Newark Liberty International Airport and LaGuardia Airport take effect Sunday and will last at least three weeks, according to a letter to United employees obtained by USA TODAY.
At Newark, one of United's hubs, the carrier will drop from its current 139 flights per day to 62 destinations to 15 daily flights to just nine destinations.
At LaGuardia, United will go from 18 flights per day to four destinations to two daily flights to one destination.
United, like all carriers, has slashed flights in recent weeks as business and leisure travel has dried up due to coronavirus fears.
– Gary Dinges
Amazon Prime Day likely postponed
Amazon Prime Day, also known as Black Friday in July, is likely to be postponed because of the coronavirus.
According to internal meeting notes acquired by media outlets including USA TODAY and Vice News, the company's general counsel David Zapolsky says "Prime Day will be pushed off at least until August."
Amazon officials reached for comment Saturday declined to comment.
The retail giant started its annual summer sale in 2015 as a way to reward members of its Prime subscription. The big sale has been held annually in July.
- Kelly Tyko
CDC recommends wearing cloth face masks in public
The Trump administration is advising people to start wearing face masks in public to stop the spread of the coronavirus, a reversal on previous guidance that urged people not to wear masks.
President Donald Trump said at a White House news conference Friday that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines are strictly voluntary. “You can do it – you don’t have to do it. It’s only a recommendation.”
Surgeon General Jerome Adams detailed the new recommendations Friday, acknowledging the evolving guidance has been “confusing to the American people.”
Adams stressed the new recommendation pertained to non-medical, cloth face coverings and do not replace current social distancing guidance. The general public should not begin wearing medical-grade equipment, Adams said, as such measures should be reserved for the medical industry.
How to make your own face marks: Here's a pattern and instructions
2 cruise passengers dead as ship with virus cases docks
Two passengers have died who were on board the Princess Cruises ship that docked in Miami on Saturday with at least a dozen people on board who have tested positive for the virus.
"All of us at Princess Cruises are deeply saddened to report that two guests passed away on Coral Princess," the company said in a statement Saturday. "Our hearts go out to their family, friends, and all who are impacted by this loss. All of us at Princess Cruises offer our sincere condolences."
The causes of death were not initially disclosed.
Photos:Coral Princess docks in Miami with virus patients aboard
Disembarkation of the Coral Princess at Port Miami is expected to span several days and will begin with those who need medical care. Passengers who are healthy and fit to fly are expected to begin disembarking Sunday, the cruise line said, and they will be transferred directly from the ship to Miami International Airport for flights home.
– Rasha Ali
Crime rates plunge as pandemic keeps residents indoors
Crime rates plummeted in cities and counties across the U.S. over the second half of March as the coronavirus pandemic drove millions of residents to stay inside their homes.
Police logged dramatically fewer calls for service, crime incidents and arrests in the last two weeks of March than each of the previous six weeks, a USA TODAY analysis of crime data published by 53 law enforcement agencies in two dozen states found.
Massive drops in traffic and person stops — as much as 92% in some jurisdictions — helped drive sharp declines in drug offenses and DUIs. Thefts and residential burglaries decreased with fewer stores open and homes unoccupied, and some agencies logged fewer assaults and robberies. Bookings into each of nearly two dozen county jails monitored by the news organization fell by at least a quarter since February.
But cases of domestic violence have spiked in Maryland's Montgomery County, where police saw a 21% increase in such calls over the last two weeks, an average of 39 per day.
– Kenny Jacoby, Mike Stucka and Kristine Phillips
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COVID-19 is bringing a quantum shift to the way America shops
As the nation continues to grapple with the growing coronavirus crisis, retailers including Walmart, Target and Costco are limiting how many shoppers can enter stores to encourage social distancing.
Some retailers are taking limits even further. Wisconsin-based Menards will no longer allow children under 16 to be in any of its stores due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, part of the USA TODAY Network, reported Friday.
Menards spokesman Jeff Abbott also said the home improvement chain plans to start taking shoppers' and employees' temperatures across the company's 300-plus stores.
And in Miami Beach starting April 7, all customers and employees will need to wear masks inside grocery stores, restaurants and pharmacies, an emergency measure approved by the South Florida city Friday.
– Kelly Tyko
IRS could be slow getting stimulus checks out
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is promising that millions of Americans will receive $1,200 stimulus checks in just two weeks, but some tax experts and congressional officials are warning it may take much longer.
Antiquated technology and staff reductions at the Internal Revenue Service have seriously hampered the agency’s ability to process checks in such a short period and could mean delays in sending the money to anxious Americans who are counting on the cash to get them through hard times caused by the coronavirus pandemic, experts say.
The Trump administration’s quick timeline for getting the stimulus checks into the hands of Americans is once again calling attention to aging technology and other problems that have shadowed the IRS for years – issues that will pose a serious challenge for the agency as it scrambles to meet the check delivery deadline.
– Michael Collins
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• NBA donates 1 million masks to New York for essential workers.
• Don't be bored at home: The 15 most popular hobbies to start during the coronavirus pandemic.
Dem senators seek inquiry into Navy's handling of pandemic, Crozier firing
Democratic senators are calling on the Pentagon Inspector General to investigate the Navy's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and its firing of a captain for raising concerns about its slow response to the outbreak aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt.
One of the lead authors of the letter, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, said Friday the Navy lacks the ability to test sailors for the coronavirus on many of its ships.
The Roosevelt's Capt. Brett Crozier was fired this week after sending a letter saying sailors could die from the outbreak without prompt assistance.
Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly said Crozier's failure to respect the chain of command resulted in a loss of trust and confidence in his ability to lead. He said that medical personnel and assistance were en route when Crozier sent his letter.
Trump has defended the firing, calling Crozier's letter asking for help for the sailors of the USS Theodore Roosevelt "not appropriate."
Trump said he did not make the decision to fire Crozier, but he disagreed with Crozier's actions and suggested the captain was at fault for the coronavirus infections on board because he docked the ship in Vietnam.
– Tom Vanden Brook, Nicholas Wu
Some soon-to-be moms weigh home births over crowded hospitals
As many hospitals are transformed into overwhelmed coronavirus battle stations, more expectant mothers are deciding it's safer to give birth at home.
"Hospitals may soon, like in Italy, run out of beds, and they are running out of supplies," said Erika McBee, a nurse in Rockville, Maryland, due in the summer with her first baby. "They are likely to soon be crawling with disease, which is not the best place to bring your newborn with no immune system into the world."
About 1% of births in the United States occur at home, according to the National Institutes of Health and Science. It's too early to say whether COVID-19 will change that statistic in any significant way, but anecdotal evidence shows more women exploring it now.
In its updated COVID-19 guidance, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists maintains that hospitals and accredited birth centers are safe places for delivery and "continues to recommend following existing evidence-based guidance regarding home birth." Read more here.
– Mary Nahorniak
FEMA says it has sent millions of respirators and ventilators to states
The Federal Emergency Management Agency said it’s exhausting all resources to meet the demands of states seeking medical supplies to treat the coronavirus, adding that the national stockpile alone can’t fulfill the requests by state governments.
FEMA spokeswoman Janet Montesi said FEMA has delivered or sent states millions of N-95 masks, surgical masks, face shields and hospital gowns from the national stockpile.
As of April 2, the agency has shipped 11.6 million N-95 respirators, 26.3 million surgical masks, 5.2 million face shields and 8,100 ventilators, among other medical supplies.
Montesi also pointed to the agency's efforts to expedite supplies from the global market, including a flight on March 29, which delivered 80 tons of equipment from Asia to New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Additional flights landed in Chicago on March 30, Miami on March 31, Los Angeles on April 1 as well as in Chicago and Columbus, Ohio, early Friday.
FEMA has scheduled additional flights and is adding more daily, she added.
– Courtney Subramanian
Google uses location data to track social distancing success
A new tool from Google uses anonymized location data to calculate which communities are reducing traffic in public places.
The Community Mobility Reports tool estimates the change in visits and length of stay at retail and recreation locations, grocery and pharmacy stores, parks, workplaces and other locations.
The regularly-updated data, shown as a percentage compared to a baseline, is available for at least 130 countries and regions.
“In addition to other resources public health officials might have, we hope these reports will help support decisions about how to manage the COVID-19 pandemic,” reads a Friday Google blog post by executives Jen Fitzpatrick and Karen DeSalvo.
The data comes from users who opted in to the Location History setting, the blog post says. The company says it uses privacy tools to assure an individual person's location remains anonymous.
– Joel Shannon
Wisconsin's GOP lawmakers reject bid to delay election over virus
Republicans lawmakers who control the Wisconsin legislature rejected Gov. Tony Evers' last-minute plea Friday to stop people from voting together on Tuesday to prevent thousands from being exposed to the coronavirus.
The GOP leaders instead criticized Evers for also calling for the election to move to May 19 — a reversal from pushing to keep the election date in place — and not asking them to take action before Friday.
Milwaukee election officials said Friday they only had enough poll workers to open five voting locations for Tuesday's election, which could draw as many as 50,000 voters — putting thousands at risk of infection.
Evers called a special legislative session for 4 p.m. Saturday to extend the election date to May 19 and convert the contest entirely to a mail-in election.
– Molly Beck, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
How many cases of coronavirus in US?
The United States had more than 311,000 cases of coronavirus as of Saturday nand more than 8,400 deaths.
More coronavirus news and information from USA TODAY
• Tracking coronavirus:See the U.S. outbreak, state by state.
• Support Local: Here's how you can help save a business in your community.
• Hope, exhaustion, fear:Health workers in quiet areas prep for COVID-19 chaos while colleagues in other cities rush in
• Fact check: Did the Obama administration deplete the federal stockpile of N95 masks?
• The U.S. exported millions in masks and ventilators ahead of the coronavirus crisis. Now we need them.
