Coronavirus US news: New York breaks its record for largest single-day Covid-19 death toll

CNN says that the vice president is not allowing top health officials to appear on the network, in order to pressure them to carry the president’s daily pressers.

From CNN:

Vice President Mike Pence’s office reversed course on Thursday afternoon, after declining for days to allow the nation’s top health officials to appear on CNN and discuss the coronavirus pandemic, in what was an attempt to pressure the network into carrying the White House’s lengthy daily briefings in full.

After this story was published, Pence’s office allowed for the booking of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Robert Redfield for CNN’s Thursday night coronavirus town hall. Dr. Anthony Fauci was also booked for Friday on “New Day.”Trump makes 86 false claims over two weeks, including whoppers about Bloomberg, Pelosi and Social SecurityPreviously, Pence’s office, which is responsible for booking the officials on networks during the pandemic, said it would only allow experts such as Fauci or Dr. Deborah Birx to appear on CNN if the network televised the portion of the White House briefings that includes the vice president and other coronavirus task force members. CNN often only broadcasts President Donald Trump’s question and answer session, which sometimes includes the health care officials, live on-air.

Nine civil rights groups in the South have called for regional officials to issue protective measures for people who work at or are detained at correctional and juvenile facilities.

“Government officials to implement desperately needed protections against Covid-19 infection and deaths in correctional and juvenile facilities throughout the South, which disproportionately incarcerate Black individuals,” the groups wrote in a statement. “With poor health outcomes, inadequate access to health care, and elevated poverty rates, the South, which incarcerates a larger portion of its population than any other region in the nation, is exceptionally vulnerable to a widespread outbreak of COVID-19 in its facilities.”

Hi there, it’s Maanvi Singh, reporting from the West Coast.

Joe Biden hold a wide lead over Donald Trump, according to a new CNN poll.

The former vice president leads 53% to 42% among registered voters. The poll also found that voters trusted Biden more to handle the response to the coronavirus pandemic, healthcare and helping the middle class. Of those polled, 52% said they trusted Biden, compared to 43% tho trusted Trump to handle to the coronavirus crisis.

Senior White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said the US economy may be reopened on a “rolling basis.”

“The next month or two, we should be able to restart at least on a rolling basis,” Kudlowtold Fox Business. “Our intent here was, is to try to relieve people of the enormous difficult hardships they are suffering through no fault of their own.”

Trump reportedly intends to form a second coronavirus task force with an eye on reopening the economy by the end of April, which could create tension with the White House’s health experts, who have warned against easing social distancing restrictions too quickly.

The Guardian’s Mario Koran reports on the latest from California:

While cases in California continue to rise, data is revealing promising points. For the first time in his daily press conferences, governor Gavin Newsom said, he could report that the number of patients admitted to ICUs dropped by 1.9%.

He cautioned, however, that a modest, one-day drop could be a statistical blip. Hospitalizations ticked up 4.1% over the past 24 hours, to 2,825 patients.

The racial disparities in deaths and Covid-19 cases that have surfaced in other states like Louisiana have so far not played out in California. While the data remains incomplete, with just over half of cases broken down by race, the trends so far track roughly with the demographics of the state’s population.

While the governor offered optimism and hope, he warned that the worst may be yet to come.

“The peak we projected is different from the one advertised by academics in other states,” he said. “Within California, we believe the peak extends into May, not in the next week or two.”

The Guardian’s Mario Koran reports on the latest from California:

In California, where coronavirus cases have topped 18,300, officials are offering relief to frontline workers in the form of hotel rooms for free or at “deep discount” rates to provide lodging if they’ve been exposed to the virus and don’t want to return home, governor Gavin Newsom said at an afternoon press conference.

United, Southwest, Alaska and Delta airlines have additionally promised to cover travel costs for healthcare professionals working on the front lines.

“Those are the four airlines that have met this moment”, Newsom said.

The governor also responded to fear expressed by Californians who said the state was giving away its precious stockpile of equipment to other states like New York and New Jersey. For the moment, there’s enough to share, he said: California has 8,000 ventilators, about 32 percent of its stash, within its hospital system that aren’t currently being used.

“We thought it was the right thing to do, but also the responsible thing to do as American citizens to save lives”, Newsom said of the effort to assist other states. After states use ventilators, they have agreed to send them back to California.

Over the past month officials in California have cobbled together a healthy supply of ventilators, boosting its stash from 7,500 ventilators a month ago to the 11,750 it currently has.

Trump lashed out against the Wall Street Journal after the newspaper published a critical editorial about his daily briefings on the government’s response to coronavirus.

“The Wall Street Journal always ‘forgets’ to mention that the ratings for the White House Press Briefings are ‘through the roof,’” Trump wrote in a tweet, dismissing the newspaper as “Fake News.”

Trump’s tweet came about an hour after Fox News ran a segment on the editorial, which expressed disappointment that the daily White House briefings had become “all about the President.”

“The briefings began as a good idea to educate the public about the dangers of the virus, how Americans should change their behavior, and what the government is doing to combat it,” the Journal’s editorial board wrote.

“But sometime in the last three weeks Mr. Trump seems to have concluded that the briefings could be a showcase for him. Perhaps they substitute in his mind for the campaign rallies he can no longer hold because of the risks. Perhaps he resented the media adulation that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has been receiving for his daily show. Whatever the reason, the briefings are now all about the President.”

The White House distributed a fact sheet on coronavirus to reporters, who will now be tested for the virus before attending the daily briefing.

The White House also said that it would only alert reporters of their results if a test came back positive.

The White House press office announced today that it would start administering rapid coronavirus tests to reporters after one journalist, who was last at the White House on Tuesday, started developing symptoms.

Bernie Sanders’ campaign will continue providing health care coverage for its employees through the end of October, even though the Vermont senator suspended his presidential bid yesterday.

In comparison, former presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg is facing two lawsuits after he dismissed staffers eight months earlier than promised.

One lawsuit accused Bloomberg of having “deprived [staffers] of promised income and health care benefits, leaving them and their families potentially uninsured in the face of a global pandemic.”

Joe Biden has released a new plan to “help ease the economic burden on working people” amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The presumptive Democratic nominee proposed lowering the Medicare eligibility age to 60 and forgive student debt from public universities for those making less than $125,000.

“I believe that as we are being plunged into what is likely to be one of the most volatile and difficult economic times in this country’s recent history, we can take these critical steps to help make it easier for working people to make ends meet,” Biden wrote in a Medium post detailing the plan.

The former vice president specifically credited Bernie Sanders, who dropped out of the race yesterday, for helping to bring these proposals forward.

“Senator Sanders and his supporters can take pride in their work in laying the groundwork for these ideas, and I’m proud to adopt them as part of my campaign at this critical moment in responding to the coronavirus crisis,” Biden wrote.

After Sanders announced his decision to suspend his campaign yesterday, Biden made a pitch to his supporters, pledging to address their priorities in his campaign. The effort reflects Biden’s need to unify the party and win over Sanders’ supporters in order to defeat Trump in November.

Trump celebrated the news that Boris Johnson has been moved out of the intensive care unit, wishing the British prime minister a speedy recovery.

The White House said it would start administering coronavirus tests to reporters attending the daily briefing after one journalist who was recently at the White House started showing symptoms.

The White House Correspondents’ Association said the affected reporter was last at the White House on Tuesday, and the person’s test results are expected later today.

“Out of an abundance of caution, the White House Medical Unit is going to conduct a COVID-19 test on all members of the press who plan to participate in today’s task force briefing, including correspondents, photographers, and technicians,” the White House press office said in a statement.

The White House announced last week that anyone seeing Trump or Vice President Mike Pence would take a rapid coronavirus test to prevent them from catching it.

Congressman Neal Dunn has tested positive for coronavirus, becoming the second members of Florida’s congressional delegation to contract the virus.

Dunn’s office said in a statement that he was not feeling well on Monday and received a coronavirus test, which just came back positive.

“Congressman Dunn is feeling great and currently quarantining himself at home per CDC guidelines and working on Phase IV of the Administration’s response to this pandemic,” his office said in a statement. “He expects a full recovery soon.”

Dunn’s diagnosis comes about a month after fellow Florida Republican Mario Diaz-Balart became one of the first two members of Congress to test positive for coronavirus.