Coronavirus US live: majority of Americans support stay-home orders, poll shows

Donald Trump and conservative supporters have backed away from hyping the hydroxychloroquine as a potential cure for the coronavirus, The Guardian’s Kenya Evelyn reports:

Fox News staffers have also pivoted from promoting the anti-malarial drug.

The dial-back came as a new report showed that a recent US trial of hydroxychloroquine had not gone well – and before a senior government doctor who led efforts to produce a Covid-19 vaccine told the New York Times he believed he was sacked because he pressed for rigorous testing of the supposed treatment.

“Obviously there have been some very good reports,” Trump said in response to questions about hydroxychloroquine at a Tuesday press briefing. “Perhaps this one’s not a good report, but we’ll be looking at it.”

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The doctor who was of the federal agency overseeing research into a coronavirus vaccine said he was ousted from his post after he questioned the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malarial drug that the president has often touted.

Rick Bright, tho was the director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), was reassigned to a role with fewer responsibilities, according to a statement from his lawyer. The New York Times first reported the news.

“While I am prepared to look at all options and to think ‘outside the box’ for effective treatments, I rightly resisted efforts to provide an unproven drug on demand to the American public,” Bright said in the statement to the Times.

“I am speaking out because to combat this deadly virus, science — not politics or cronyism — has to lead the way,” said the career official who had led BARDA since 2016.

Mail-in ballots can still be delivered without a stamp, the Guardian’s Sam Levine reports :

Ballots without postage will still be delivered to local boards of elections, the United States Postal Service said in a statement Wednesday. “As required by federal law, appropriate postage must be affixed to all mailpieces entering into the U.S. Postal Service mail stream. It is the Postal Service’s policy not to delay the delivery of completed Absentee or Vote-By-Mail ballots even if no postage has been affixed or if the postage is insufficient,” Martha Johnson, a USPS spokeswoman said in a statement.

“In cases where a ballot enters the mailstream without the proper amount of postage, the Postal Service will collect postage from the appropriate Board of Elections.”The Postal Service did not immediately respond to an inquiry on whether its policy applied to other election materials, such as a request for an absentee ballot. The Postal Service’s policy is not new (it gave a nearly identical statement in 2018), but many voters may not know they can put a ballot in the mail if they can’t get a stamp.

The policy could have increased significance this year as it comes amid a national push to get states to pay for mail-in votes in November. Congressional Democrats are trying to secure funding to assist states in doing this in November and there are lawsuits in Georgia and Pennsylvania to force the state to pay for postage. Congressional Democrats are also trying to secure federal funding for states to pay for postage.

Two pet cats in New York state have tested positive for the coronavirus, marking the first cases in companion animals in the United States, the Department of Agriculture and the Centers for Disease Control announced Wednesday.

The cats, which had mild respiratory illnesses and are expected to fully recover, are believed to have contracted the virus from people in their households or neighborhoods, officials said. The tests on the felines did not come at the expense of humans as they are conducted veterinary labs using different chemicals.

Federal authorities stressed “there is no evidence that pets play a role in spreading the virus”, but are recommending that any pet owners who have tested positive for Covid-19 avoid contact with their animals as much as possible.

A small number of confirmed cases of the virus have been found in animals worldwide, including seven lions and tigers at the Bronx Zoo earlier this month.

Montana governor Steve Bullock announced the first phase of a staggered reopening for the state on Wednesday, lifting some of the restrictions that went into effect nearly a month ago.

Bullock said churches will be permitted to hold services on Sunday and restaurants, breweries, distilleries and bars can reopen beginning Monday as long as they practice social distancing. Local school districts will have the option to return to in-classroom teaching starting on 7 May, the governor added.

“There are very few states in the country that can say they have seen the number of positive cases decline over these past weeks. Montana can say that because, together, we have made that decline in cases possible,” Bullock said in a release. “While there is reason for optimism this is not a time for celebration. I am going to ask Montanans to continue to go to great lengths to protect one another, to continue looking out for our neighbors who need it the most, and to continue being vigilant in every step we take.”

Montana reached 439 total cases on Wednesday, after two weeks of flattening the curve. A total of 14 people have died statewide.

Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell said he would support letting states declare bankruptcy over the costs of the coronavirus response, as the Kentucky Republican expresses opposition to Congress allocating more funding to the states.

“I would certainly be in favor of allowing states to use the bankruptcy route. It saves some cities. And there’s no good reason for it not to be available,” McConnell told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt.

“My guess is their first choice would be for the federal government to borrow money from future generations to send it down to them now so they don’t have to do that. That’s not something I’m going to be in favor of.”

Democrats lobbied to include more funding for states in the latest coronavirus relief bill, but Republicans pushed back against that proposal, and the final $484 billion bill includes no money for local or state governments.

The National Governors Association has said states need an additional $500 billion to cover the costs associated with responding to the crisis, and Trump has indicated he would support including state funding in the next relief bill.

Change of plans: the House will not vote tomorrow on a measure that would temporarily allow members to vote by proxy.

House speaker Nancy Pelosi reportedly told her leadership team in a phone call this morning that the chamber would not vote on the measure tomorrow, and she would instead form a bipartisan task force to further examine remote voting.

House Republicans have voiced ardent opposition to the measure, but Democrats, who control the chamber, would likely have the votes to get the proposal approved regardless.

However, Pelosi reportedly decided not to force the measure through after a long conversation today with House minority leader Kevin McCarthy.

Former vice president Al Gore has endorsed Joe Biden’s presidential campaign and will appear alongside the presumptive Democratic nominee for a virtual Earth Day event in about 30 minutes.

“This is the clearest most definitive choice in a national election that the United States of American has ever faced, especially for people who care about the climate,” Gore told the AP.

The climate activist argued that Biden was the obvious general election choice for anyone who wanted the US to take concrete steps to address climate change.

“If there is any person in America who cares about the climate crisis and has any doubt whatsoever about the importance of voting for Joe Biden this November, I want to emphasize to that person in as strong a way as I possibly can: This is not complicated,” Gore said. “This is not rocket science. This is not a close call.”

The White House is dubiously claiming the CDC director was misquoted when he warned that the second wave of coronavirus could be worse than the first.

The newly installed White House press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, claimed CDC director Robert Redfield was referring to the seasonal flu when he warned about the danger of a second wave this winter.

But Redfield’s quote to the Washington Post clearly shows otherwise. “There’s a possibility that the assault of the virus on our nation next winter will actually be even more difficult than the one we just went through,” Redfield told the Post yesterday.

“And when I’ve said this to others, they kind of put their head back, they don’t understand what I mean.” He added, “We’re going to have the flu epidemic and the coronavirus epidemic at the same time.”

Trump similarly claimed earlier today that Redfield had been “totally misquoted” and said the CDC director would put out a statement clarifying his claim, but Redfield does not appear to have done so.