Live updates: States move to reopen as U.S. coronavirus cases near 1 million; White House issues testing guidance
Here are some significant developments:
- Patients with certain cancers are nearly three times more likely to die of covid-19 than non-cancer patients, according to a new study.
- New Zealand’s month-long lockdown ended Tuesday, after officials said they had almost entirely eradicated the coronavirus.
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention added six new symptoms, including sore throat and loss of sense of smell, suggesting that health experts are learning more about how the virus affects patients.
- Britain’s health authority warned physicians about an apparent rise in the number of children with “a multi-system inflammatory state requiring intensive care” that may be related to covid-19.
- Days after floating the idea of injecting highly toxic disinfectants to fight covid-19, Trump said he didn’t know why emergency hotlines were flooded with calls asking about the idea. “I can’t imagine,” Trump said.
- U.S. intelligence agencies warned Trump about the coronavirus in more than a dozen classified briefings in January and February, while he continued to downplay the threat.
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7:58 p.m.
Schumer accuses McConnell of ‘subterfuge’ as sparring over state aid continues
Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer on Tuesday accused Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of “subterfuge,” arguing that he was undermining efforts to provide additional federal aid to states and localities impacted by the coronavirus.
Schumer (D-N.Y.) took issue with comments from McConnell (R-Ky.) on Monday suggesting that any legislation that provides such aid should also include some sort of a “liability shield” that would prevent businesses from being sued by customers and perhaps employees who contract the coronavirus, an idea that has been under consideration at the White House.
“And now he’s coming in with some little subterfuge,” Schumer said during an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe."
“He says we don’t want to give the aid until we make sure there’s no liability. Well does that mean if a boss tells a worker ‘you’ve got to work next to somebody who has no mask,’ that that worker can’t protect him or herself, and the boss is immune for liability?”
The debate over federal aid for states and localities is expected to be front and center when Congress returns to Washington next week with competing priorities from Democrats and Republicans about next steps in responding to the pandemic.
Democrats are determined to offer hundreds of billions of dollars in assistance to states that have seen large losses of tax revenue during the coronavirus outbreak — an idea that McConnell and other leading Republicans have been reluctant to embrace.
In a radio interview Monday, McConnell said that “before we start sending additional money down to states and localities, I want to make sure we protect the people we’ve already sent assistance to, who are going to be set up for an avalanche of lawsuits if we don’t act.”
On MSNBC, Schumer also pressed the case that the Senate should be holding oversight hearings on how the Trump administration has responded to the pandemic.
“The executive branch has failed miserably at implementing almost all of the things Congress has passed, and I’ve never seen an administration so bad at enacting the laws that Congress has put together,” he said.
7:46 p.m.
Some businesses won’t return relief funds despite pressure from Trump administration
A handful of publicly traded companies say they aren’t planning to return loans received from a small-business rescue program, despite pressure from the Trump administration to repay the funds.
Companies in the hotel, cruise ship and medical-device sectors said they are qualified to receive the money under the Paycheck Protection Program and need the funds to stay in business. Their resistance comes days after the Small Business Administration suggested dozens of publicly held companies should give back money received from the Paycheck Protection Program by May 7.
The agency said public companies with “substantial market value” and the ability to raise money through capital markets were not the intended recipients of the funds.
7:31 p.m.
Leader of North Carolina anti-lockdown group says she tested positive for the virus
One of the leaders of a group demanding an end to North Carolina’s coronavirus restrictions said she tested positive for the virus, writing on the group’s Facebook page that she had been denied her rights and “forced” to stay in her home.
Audrey Whitlock, one of the administrators of ReOpen NC, said in a post obtained by local television station CBS 17 that her quarantine ended Sunday. The disclosure that she was infected with the virus was included in a lengthy post decrying Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s lockdown order, which is set to end May 8.
“As an asymptomatic COVID19 positive patient (quarantine ends 4/26) another concern I have is the treatment of COVID patients as it relates to other communicable diseases,” Whitlock said in the post. “I have been forced to quarantine in my home for 2 weeks.”
The group protested outside the North Carolina General Assembly on April 21. Whitlock told radio station WFAE she had not attended that or “any events for ReOpen NC.”
In her Facebook post, she claimed that the quarantine violated her rights.
“The reality is that modern society has not been able to eradicate contagious viruses,” Whitlock wrote. “A typical public health quarantine would occur in a medical facility. I have been told not to participate in public or private accommodations as requested by the government, and therefore denied my 1st amendment right of freedom of religion.”
She added: “If I were an essential employee, I would be denied access to my job by my employer and the government, though compensated, those with other communicable diseases are afforded the right to work. It has been insinuated by others that if I go out, I could be arrested for denying a quarantine order.”
Whitlock said she planned to attend a protest set for Tuesday.
7:28 p.m.
Americans support state restrictions on businesses, Post-U. Md. poll finds
Americans overwhelmingly support state-imposed restrictions on businesses and the size of public gatherings to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. They also back a temporary halt to immigration, as ordered by President Trump, to deal with the crisis, according to a Washington Post-University of Maryland poll.
The poll finds that Americans’ concerns about becoming seriously ill from the virus have not eased in the past week and shows that Americans continue to give their governors significantly higher ratings than they offer Trump, who still draws mostly negative reviews for his handling of the crisis.
7:20 p.m.
Argentina bans flights until Sept. 1, in one of world’s most intensive travel restrictions
Argentina announced this week that all commercial flights will be banned to and from the country until Sept. 1 — a restrictive measure that makes the country an outlier as others move toward reopening.
The decree, released by Argentina’s National Civil Aviation Administration on Monday, means that airlines cannot sell any tickets for flights to or from the country in the next four months. Industry groups have warned that the measure could lead to thousands of job losses.
In a joint statement, industry bodies wrote to the government to express their “deep concern regarding this resolution, especially since no consultation process took place.”
“This decision directly affects the future of the entire commercial aviation value chain in Argentina and the region, including domestic and international airlines, tourism and related sectors, putting at risk thousands of jobs,” said the statement, signed by the Airports Council International-Latin America and Caribbean, the Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association and the International Air Transport Association.
The statement said that the travel and tourism sectors contribute 10 percent of Argentina’s gross domestic product and that nearly 1 in 10 jobs in the country are in these industries.
Under President Alberto Fernández, the country has already been under strict lockdown since March. The measures were recently extended to May 10, although restrictions in some smaller cities are being eased.
Government supporters argue that these preventive measures have allowed the country to contain its outbreak. Argentina has recorded just over 4,000 cases and fewer than 200 deaths. Neighboring Brazil, meanwhile, opted for laxer measures and has confirmed more than 67,000 cases and more than 4,600 deaths.
New super PAC ad says Trump has ‘put America first’ — in coronavirus cases
A super PAC supporting former vice president Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, debuted a searing television ad Tuesday that says President Trump has made good on his campaign pledge to “put America first” in at least one respect: coronavirus cases.
The 30-second spot by Priorities USA is airing in three battleground states — Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania — that were key to Trump’s 2016 victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton.
It offers a potential preview of how Democrats will seek to use the pandemic against Trump heading into November. The group says the new ad is part of an ongoing $65 million television campaign to oust Trump.
“Donald Trump said he would put America first and now he has,” a narrator says as images of masked hospital workers and patients flash across the screen. “The United States leads the world in coronavirus cases.”
A graph showing the rising number of deaths in the country follows, as the narrator says the U.S. toll is twice as high as any other country’s.
“Downplaying the threat, ignoring the experts, refusing to prepare. Donald Trump is failing America,” he says.
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. At a news conference Monday at the White House, Trump was asked whether a president who oversaw more American deaths than during the Vietnam War deserves reelection. He said the death toll would have been far greater if not for his actions.
“I think we made a lot of really good decisions,” Trump said, citing an early move to curtail travel from China, increased production of ventilators and the growing availability of testing.
6:44 p.m.
In countries easing restrictions, officials closely watch for clues about virus impact
BERLIN — As Germany and other countries gradually ease restrictions, officials continue to closely monitor community transmission of the coronavirus — as measured by a range of metrics including the basic reproduction number.
On Tuesday, Germany’s governmental Robert Koch Institute said the country’s basic reproduction number had ticked up to 0.96 again, meaning that every infected German spreads the coronavirus to about one other person on average.
Although the rise from last Thursday’s estimate of 0.9 alarmed some who have criticized the reopening of many businesses in the country as too soon, German officials cautioned that the increase should not be taken as evidence of a worsening of the virus outbreak.
Researchers still disagree on the potential number of people each infected person could spread the virus to in the absence of public health interventions, with estimates ranging widely between 1.4 and 5.7 on average. German officials have warned that the basic reproduction number should remain below one to avoid a new surge in cases.
During a news conference in mid-April, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said a rise to 1.1 would mean that the German health system would reach its capacity by this fall.
“So that’s where you can see how little the margin is,” she said at the time. “But it is thin ice. ... Really a situation where caution is the order of the day, and not overconfidence.”
Lothar Wieler, president of the Robert Koch Institute, suggested Tuesday that the latest uptick in the figure should not be over-interpreted. Other figures — including testing and overall health-system capacity — should also be taken into account, he said.
The basic reproduction number “is important,” said Wieler, but he added: “It’s not helpful if the public debate only revolves around one factor.”
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