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Updated
Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
11:05
Pelosi announces formation of House select committee on coronavirus
09:25
Los Angeles mayor urges all residents to wear masks
09:11
Trump again claims New York got off to a ‘late start’
08:55
6.6 million Americans filed for unemployment last week
08:43
Biden predicts Democratic convention will be delayed
11:15
House speaker Nancy Pelosi was asked during her weekly press conference whether she supported a review of the events leading up to the coronavirus crisis.
Bennie Thompson, the chairman of the House homeland security committee, has drafted a bill to form a commission in the style of the 9/11 commission to examine the government’s response to coronavirus.
Pelosi said she was open to the idea if the commission were bipartisan and not focused on attributing blame but rather determining what lessons can be learned for future crises.
11:12
House speaker Nancy Pelosi said the new select committee on coronavirus would ensure aid money goes to American families and prevent waste of funds.
Pelosi compared the panel to the Truman Committee, which rooted out waste and corruption in defense spending during World War II. The commitee ultimately saved the government millions of dollars.
11:05
Pelosi announces formation of House select committee on coronavirus
House speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the formation of select committee on the coronavirus crisis during her weekly press conference.
Pelosi said House majority whip Jim Clyburn will chair the committee, which will be made up of members from both parties.
The speaker noted the committee would work to ensure the aid money allocated in the $2 trillion stimulus bill is spent wisely.
Updated
10:54
House speaker Nancy Pelosi is holding her weekly press conference over the phone, providing an update on the congressional response to coronavirus.
Pelosi opened the conference call by urging all the reporters listening to stay hydrated and keep washing their hands.
The speaker added, “You can never dance too much, especially when you’re home.”
10:47
Michigan is closing K-12 schools for the remainder of the academic year, encouraging educators to continue virtually teaching their students.
“My No. 1 priority right now is protecting Michigan families from the spread of COVID-19,” governor Gretchen Whitmer said.
“For the sake of our students, their families and the more than 100,000 teachers and staff in our state, I have made the difficult decision to close our school facilities for the remainder of the school year.”
Several other states, including California and Kansas, have already announced schools will be closed for the remainder of the academic year.
With some projections saying coronavirus deaths will continue into the summer, it seems likely other states will have to follow suit.
10:35
The Guardian’s Sam Levine reports:
The speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives said efforts to make it easier to vote by mail in the state amid the COVID-19 pandemic would harm Republicans.
The comments come days after President Donald Trump said the same thing. Trump dismissed Democratic-efforts to make it easier to vote by mail, saying “you’d never have a Republican elected in this country again.”
Asked about those comments on Wednesday, Georgia House Speaker David Ralston, a Republican, said he agreed.
“The president said it best. This will be extremely devastating to Republicans and conservatives in Georgia,” he said in an interview with FetchYourNews.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is sending a request for a mail-in ballot to 6.9 million registered active voters ahead of the state’s May primary. There is a push for states to encourage voting by mail during the coronavirus pandemic so that people don’t have to gather at the polls and risk transmission of the virus.
Ralston noted that turnout in previous primaries was far from 100% and seemed concerned that more people could vote if they were able to mail in their ballots. “Every registered voter is going to get one of these … this will certainly drive up turnout.”
Ralston also said he was concerned about paying for postage for mail-in ballots, as well as potential voter fraud, which is extremely rare.
10:27
Banks are warning the $350 billion small business loan program may not be ready by Friday as scheduled.
Politico reports:
The lenders complain that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin boxed them in with an unrealistic deadline and that the ground rules they’ve been given for the program, which is intended to deliver rapid aid to a huge number of ailing businesses, could delay the assistance for weeks or longer.
The banks, which will be responsible for processing loan applications and doling out money, are expecting millions of applications from businesses. Some fear a disaster that could dwarf the failed kickoff of the Obamacare enrollment web site in 2013.
The loan program, which was established in the $2 trillion stimulus bill, is being viewed as a lifeline for small businesses, many of whom have already had to lay off workers.
The unemployment claims report this morning showed that a record 6.65 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week.
10:08
Georgia’s governor said he only learned days ago that those with coronavirus who show no symptoms can still spread the virus, an astounding claim from a state leader considering health experts have been warning about asymptomatic transmissions for weeks.
Andisheh Nouraee
(@andishehnouraee)A stunning admission of deadly ignorance from Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, who says he only just learned that asymptomatic people can transmit #Covid19. “[I]ndividuals could have been infecting people before they ever felt bad, but we didn’t know that until the last 24 hours.” pic.twitter.com/T7NZWk2GDR
April 2, 2020
Announcing a statewide “stay at home” order yesterday, Republican governor Brian Kemp said, “Individuals could have been infecting people before they ever felt bad, but we didn’t know that until the last 24 hours.”
In reality, health experts have been saying for weeks that those without symptoms can still spread the virus, thus the need for all Americans to practice social distancing.
The director of the CDC, Dr Robert Redfield, warned in an NPR interview broadcoast Monday that up to a a quarter of those infected with coronavirus may not show symptoms.
09:56
Here is a visual to help conceptualize the scale of US job losses, as covered in this morning’s unemployment claims report:
Joshua Benton
(@jbenton)Remember that dramatic Page 1 of the @nytimes last Friday, with the enormous spike showing 3.3 million unemployment claims?
To save the Times graphics team the trouble, this is what the same page would look like with today’s 6.6 million unemployment claims. pic.twitter.com/IQwZRUA13S
April 2, 2020
A record 6.65 million Americans filed for unemployment last week, bringing the two-week total of unemployment claims to 9.95 million as businesses lay off workers in the face of the pandemic.
09:42
Trump is again putting the onus on states to have adequate medical supplies to deal with the pandemic, as many hospitals warn they are running dangerously low on personal protective equipment.
The president said some states “have insatiable appetites & are never satisfied.” “The complainers should … have been stocked up and ready long before this crisis hit,” Trump wrote in a tweet.
Donald J. Trump
(@realDonaldTrump)….have been stocked up and ready long before this crisis hit. Other states are thrilled with the job we have done. Sending many Ventilators today, with thousands being built. 51 large cargo planes coming in with medical supplies. Prefer sending directly to hospitals.
April 2, 2020
In recent days, Trump has repeatedly tried to shift focus away from the federal government and toward the states as the country grapples with how to respond to coronavirus.
But a number of governors from both parties have said that they need more leadership and supplies from the federal government to protect their residents.
09:25
Los Angeles mayor urges all residents to wear masks
LA mayor Eric Garcetti is urging all of the city’s four million residents to wear masks when they go outside, although that recommendation does not currently apply to the rest of the state.
The AP reports:
Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday he’s focused instead on keeping people inside. He also announced the state may need 66,000 additional hospital beds, 16,000 more than previously forecast, to handle the crush of illnesses expected during the second part of May.
At an afternoon news conference, Mayor Eric Garcetti said he had been awaiting advice from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on mask-wearing but with the COVID-19 rate surging had decided to wait no longer.
The mayor said all 4 million residents who are performing essential tasks such as food shopping should wear homemade, non-medical face coverings, or even bandannas, as people in other COVID-19-struck countries have done.
Trump said during yesterday’s press conference that Americans can consider wearing masks or scarves to cover their faces when they go outside.
“It doesn’t have to be a mask. It can be a scarf,” Trump said. “What I do see people doing here is using scarves. And I think in a certain way, depending on the fabric, I think in a certain way, a scarf is better, it’s actually better.”
Other administration officials have said the CDC is examining whether to recommend more widespread usage of face masks after originally saying masks should be reserved for medical professionals.
Updated
09:11
Trump again claims New York got off to a ‘late start’
As the number of unemployment claims surges, Trump has turned his attention to mocking Democratic senator Chuck Schumer and criticizing New York’s response to coronavirus.
Donald J. Trump
(@realDonaldTrump)…It wouldn’t matter if you got ten times what was needed, it would never be good enough. Unlike other states, New York unfortunately got off to a late start. You should have pushed harder. Stop complaining & find out where all of these supplies are going. Cuomo working hard!
April 2, 2020
The president’s tweet comes a day after Schumer told CNN that the country is facing “a dramatic shortage of all the needed supplies” and complained that “we have no one really in charge.”
Schumer called on the administration to select “one person, a military person, a general who knows how to deal with logistics and order mastering, who knows command and control” to coordinate the federal government’s use of the Defense Production Act to speed up the production of medical equipment.
Trump belitted Schumer as “Cryin’ Chuck,” one of the president’s oft-repeated taunts, and claimed New York had “got off to a late start” responding to the virus, while still crediting governor Andrew Cuomo for “working hard.”
Trump first made this “late start” claim earlier this week, and it prompted pushback from Cuomo’s communications director, who said it was the federal government that had fumbled its early response.
Dani Lever
(@Dani_Lever)This is not the time to debate but the states were not slow to respond – the federal government was absent. https://t.co/Q8v7kWJxmM
April 1, 2020
08:55
6.6 million Americans filed for unemployment last week
The latest unemployment numbers paint a devastating picture of a country facing mass job losses as a pandemic kills thousands of Americans.
According to the latest report from the labor department, 6.65 million Americans filed for unemployment last week, doubling the record-setting 3.3 million figure a week earlier.
The Guardian’s Dominic Rushe and Lauren Aratani report:
As reports emerged of long lines at unemployment offices, jammed phone lines and broken websites across the US, the federal labor department said Thursday that a new record number of people sought benefits after losing their jobs in the week ending 27 March.
Some 3.3 million had filed for unemployment the previous week, bringing total claims to 9.95 million for the two weeks. More people have filed for unemployment in the last two weeks than filed in the last six months.
The US now faces the sharpest rise in unemployment in its history, a surge that is already highlighting income inequality across the nation and comes as the global economy goes into a nosedive that is likely to exacerbate the situation in the months ahead.
Because many Americans’ health insurance is tied to their employment, these job losses also mean millions of people are losing coverage as the number of coronavirus cases continues to steeply rise.
08:43
Biden predicts Democratic convention will be delayed
Good morning, live blog readers!
The coronavirus pandemic has completely upended the American healthcare system, economy and presidential election, and the tumult is just beginning.
Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden acknowledged last night that the party’s nominating convention, which is scheduled to begin 13 July, will likely have to be postponed.
“I doubt whether the Democratic convention is going to be able to be held in mid-July, early July,” Biden told Jimmy Fallon, host of The Tonight Show. “I think it’s going to have to move into August.”
The Republican nominating convention is scheduled to begin 24 August, and Donald Trump has dismissed questions about whether it should be postponed or made into a virtual event.
If Republicans move forward with their convention, Democrats will almost certainly try to find a way to still hold theirs, or they will risk conceding a major campaign opportunity to Trump.
But with some projections saying America will continue to see coronavirus deaths into July, there’s real skepticism about how these major events will happen at all.
Updated
Source: Elections - theguardian.com
