Coronavirus US live: cases still increasing in two dozen states amid push to reopen

Donald Trump has indicated he’ll return to Florida on Saturday to watch the SpaceX launch. The mission was postponed just 17 minutes before launch time due to the weather.

The California health officer credited with leading the nation’s first regional shelter-in-place order expressed concerns that governor Gavin Newsom may be reopening the state too quickly.

The Guardian’s Vivian Ho reports:

Earlier this month, Newsom modified the statewide stay-at-home order to allow retailers to offer curbside pickup. In the weeks that followed, Newsom expanded the modifications to allow counties that had not been as affected by the virus as others to apply for looser restrictions. As of Tuesday, 47 out of the state’s 58 counties have self-attested, and will be allowed to reopen hair salons, offices, some schools, all with modifications.

“The pace at which the state has made these modifications is concerning to me,” said Dr Sara Cody, health director in Santa Clara county, location of what is believed to be the first Covid-related death in the country.

Cody voiced these concerns at a local board of supervisors meeting on Tuesday, where she called for the county to take a more cautious approach. Since the start of the stay-at-home order, local variance has taken precedence, meaning if a county health officer called for stricter measures than the state order, then the county would comply with the county order.

Cody continued: “We can’t see the effect of any of these changes, the effect on Covid, for at least 14 days, an incubation period, and 21 days is even better,” she said. “So the state modifications are being made without a real understanding of the consequences of what the last move has been and with the possibly serious effects for health and possibly serious risks of an exponential growth in cases and therefore a risk to social and economic well-being.”

In particular, Cody had reservations about Newsom’s decision to authorize county health officers to allow religious, cultural and political gatherings of 100 people, a move she said “poses a very serious risk of the spread of Covid-19, based on probability alone”.

Cody’s concerns come as California crossed the threshold on Wednesday of more than 100,000 positive cases – 101,229 to be exact. The state is reporting 3,894 deaths. Santa Clara has had 2,675 cases and 24 deaths.

The planned SpaceX mission was scrapped due to bad weather with just 16 minutes to go until its scheduled launch.

Officials said they would plan for another launch attempt on Saturday afternoon. The mission will be the first manned space launch from American soil since 2011.

Follow the Guardian’s live coverage for more updates:

Trump is taking a tour of the Kennedy Space Center, in advance of today’s scheduled SpaceX launch, which is less than an hour away.

The president wished the astronauts on board good luck, saying the mission was a “dangerous business, but they’re the best there is.”

House speaker Nancy Pelosi criticized the idea of holding an in-person presidential convention amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“I don’t think there’s anyone who would say at this point that tens of thousands of people should come together for a political event — no matter how great an ego trip it is for somebody,” Pelosi told reporters on Capitol Hill.

The biting comment comes as Trump has demanded a “guarantee” from North Carolina’s Democratic governor that the Republican convention can take place in an arena at full capacity.

Realistically, no governor can offer that guarantee right now because it’s still unclear what health precautions will be necessary this summer to limit the spread of coronavirus.

Joe Biden has openly acknowledged that the Democratic convention may need to be held virtually due to the pandemic.

The House will vote on a bill to reauthorize three expired surveillance programs this afternoon, despite uncertainty about whether Democrats have the votes to pass the bill.

Trump tweeted last night that Republicans should vote against the FISA bill, linking it to the surveillance conducted by the Obama administration that led to the resignation of former national security adviser Michael Flynn. The president repeated that sentiment in a tweet this afternoon.

House Republican leadership is now whipping members to vote against the bill, and attorney general William Barr has urged Trump to veto the bill if it passes. On top of that, some lawmakers on the right and the left have voiced concerns about legal protections for those targeted by surveillance.

So even if House speaker Nancy Pelosi can secure enough support for the bill to get it passed, she likely will not have enough votes to override the president’s likely veto, which would send lawmakers back to the drawing board on getting the programs reauthorized.