Our live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic in the US has ended for the day. Follow the latest developments from around the globe here.
Admiral Brett Giroir, director of US coronavirus testing, said the federal government will continue to help states procure supplies for testing, despite new guidelines that describe it as a “supplier of last resort” in obtaining tests.
“Some of the larger companies, the testing companies, we need to make sure that the states that have a certain machine or a certain test are adequately supplied until we get 10 times the amount that we need,” he added.
Giroir described supplies like swabs as a “small, fragile ecosystem right now.”
Starting as early as late next week, Giroir said, “for say, swabs and media, we know what the plan is.
“We’re going to be sending the states what they need every week without them asking,” he said.
There are at least 985,443 cases of coronavirus in the US, and at least 55,952 people have died, according to Johns Hopkins University’s tally of cases.
On Monday, Johns Hopkins reported 19,658 new cases and 1,071 reported deaths.
The totals include cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, as well as repatriated cases.
The Javits Convention Center field hospital in New York City has treated 1,093 patients so far, according to Northwell Health spokesperson Terry Lynam.
The center was treating 74 patients as of Monday night.
The USNS Comfort, a hospital ship that was docked in the New York City harbor, discharged its last patient Sunday, Lynam previously confirmed to CNN. The Comfort treated both coronavirus and non-coronavirus patients.
CNN’s Ryan Brown previously reported the USNS Comfort will depart New York as early as the end of the month, according to a US Navy official.
Indiana residents can now access free mental health resources online that have been vetted by experts, Gov. Eric Holcomb announced today.
The resources will be on a new website, BeWellIndiana.org, launched by the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration, and are designed to help with anxiety, depression and other mental health issues caused by the pandemic. It includes information for people experiencing first-time issues as well as existing mental health concerns.
Initially, BeWellIndiana.org will focus on the various mental health challenges due to Covid-19, but will continue to evolve as a resource beyond the current crisis.
The site will have information ranging from coping mechanisms, crisis counseling, how to self-monitor for signs of stress, domestic violence resources, substance use disorder and recovery and tips for helping children, youth and teens.
Videos featuring medical experts, people in recovery and other practicing Indiana clinicians addressing specific mental health topics are also available on the site.
San Francisco needs to increase testing by two to three times the current rate before the city can relax the current health orders, Public Health Officer Dr. Grant Colfax said at a news conference Monday.
San Francisco has tested a total of 15,610 people, according to the city’s Covid-19 data tracker. At least 1,424 people tested positive.
Colfax also said the city cannot return to normalcy until there is a sustained decline in the number of people hospitalized.
“We need numbers to start dropping significantly and just stay down for several weeks,” Colfax said. “That could happen if we continue on our current course.”
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp announced Monday the state’s shelter-in-place remains in effect until April 30.
Some businesses, including hair and nail salons, tattoo parlors and bowling alleys, were allowed to reopen on last Friday. Restaurants and movie theaters were allowed to open Monday.
The governor said a team continues to monitor state data and guidance from the White House and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“We’re going to be making some decisions, most likely in the next couple of days, of what the next week, two weeks or month looks like based on that data,” Kemp said.
President Trump said he “never even thought” of changing the date of the upcoming presidential election on November 3, despite former Vice President Biden suggesting Trump would attempt a delay.
Trump also added that Biden never said he would try to delay the election — despite Biden saying those words exactly during a virtual fundraiser last week, according to a pool report.
“Mark my words: I think he is gonna try to kick back the election somehow, come up with some rationale why it can’t be held,” Biden said on the call.
Trump cannot unilaterally change the date of the election in November, as it has been set into law by federal statute and Congress would have to approve such a move.
However, that has not stopped some Democrats from worrying that he will try to do so, and voters asked the previously large field of Democratic presidential candidates if they had concerns that Trump would try to delay the election or refuse to leave office if he were defeated in November.
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Face masks will be required for flight attendants during every mainline and regional flight starting May 1, American Airlines said in a statement Monday.
The airline will also begin distributing personal protective equipment, including sanitizing wipes or gels and a face mask to customers in early May “as supplies and operational conditions allow.”
The Los Angeles Lakers received and repaid an approximately $4.6 million Payroll Protection Program loan, a source told CNN.
The L.A. Lakers qualify as a small business because the organization only has 303 part-time and full-time employees.
The organization repaid the loan “within days” of receiving it after realizing that the government’s funds had been depleted.
A source told CNN the team is not planning to furlough or lay off any of its employees and that its top executives agreed to defer 20% of their salaries to ensure team employees could be paid.
The Lakers have contributed to a fund, along with the L.A. Clippers and L.A. Kings, to provide financial support to employees of the Staples Center. Last week the Lakers joined other Los Angeles area professional sports teams to create “Teams for LA” to benefit the Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles.
President Trump was asked about his retweet of someone who claimed Democrats had inflated the coronavirus mortality rate, deflecting from addressing the actual claim by suggesting China was not accurately reporting coronavirus infection numbers.
“Do you believe that’s true, that there’s some sort of conspiracy theory regarding the number of infections states are reporting?” a reporter at Monday’s Rose Garden news conference asked.
Trump replied, “Well I can only say what we’re doing. We’re reporting very accurately.”
“If you look at other countries, other countries are not. You could look at China. You could look at numerous countries where I don’t think those are right numbers. I can only say what we’re doing. It’s very important to us to accurate reporting. And that’s what we’re doing,” he added.
CNN’s Daniel Dale has fact-checked the claim in Trump’s retweet.
The tweet alleged that people had tried to oust Trump through illegitimate means before the pandemic, then added: “Do you really think these lunatics wouldn’t inflate the mortality rates by underreporting the infection rates in an attempt to steal the election?”
However, there is no basis for the suggestion that Trump opponents are inflating the coronavirus mortality rate to try to “steal the election.”
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President Trump says he takes no responsibility for a spike in people using disinfectants improperly after he suggested ingesting disinfectant as a cure for coronavirus last week.
When asked about the increase, Trump said, “I can’t imagine why.”
He answered, “No, I don’t” when asked if he takes any responsibility for the numbers.
Some context: Trump asked his medical team to look into the possibility of using disinfectants as a way to cure the virus inside the body during a coronavirus briefing last Thursday.
He has since claimed that the comments were “sarcastic.”
As CNN has previously reported, Gov. Larry Hogan said Sunday his state experienced hundreds of calls from people across Maryland asking whether injecting or ingesting disinfectants was an effective way to combat coronavirus.
“I think it is critical that the President of the United States, when people are really scared and in the middle of this worldwide pandemic, that in these press conferences, that we really get the facts out there,” he told Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation on Sunday.
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President Trump described governors as “as thrilled as they can be” over the administration’s response to the coronavirus, hours after a meeting with state leaders on Monday.
“It could have been stopped,” Trump added, “and it could’ve been stopped short, but somebody a long time ago it seems decided not to do it that way, and the whole world is suffering because of it, 184 countries at least.”
The President has made similar statements about the Chinese government’s response to the virus at briefings in recent weeks.
Trump added that his administration “has encouraged the governors to leverage unused testing capacity in states.”
“Very few understood that we have tremendous capacity,” he said adding that the administration, “provided each governor with a list of names, addresses, and phone numbers of the labs where they could find additional testing capacity in their states.”
President Trump defended Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, who downplayed the impact of coronavirus in the early stages of the pandemic.
“I think it’s a very unfair question because you have many great professionals, some of them you have great respect for, and you have many people in the other party… that have said the same thing and with even more confidence,” Trump said when asked about Azar’s role. “So a lot of people didn’t get that right.”
Trump’s comments come after Trump denied in a tweet Sunday he was about to fire Azar.
He wrote in the tweet, “Reports that H.H.S. Secretary @AlexAzar is going to be ‘fired’ by me” are false.
A senior administration official told CNN Saturday evening that White House officials were discussing plans to replace Azar following a spate of criticism of the early response to the coronavirus outbreak.
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President Trump and the White House Coronavirus Task Force released additional guidance on how states should proceed with the reopening their economies and scale up testing.
Dr. Deborah Birx and Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary Dr. Brett Giroir presented the eight-part plan at a press briefing on Monday.
Giroir said the eight parts are grouped into three distinct phases. He said the US has accomplished all parts of the first two phases, and are now working to fulfill stage three by supporting reopening state economies.
Here’s what the blueprint suggests:
Stage 1: Launch
Stage 2: Scale
Stage 3: Support opening up again
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp called on residents to “take advantage” of the state’s resources and get tested.
Kemp said Monday that they’ve “given a total of 127,169 tests.” While Kemp acknowledged an increase in their testings numbers, he said, “We realize we have to continue to do more.”
At least 23,773 cases of coronavirus and 942 deaths have been reported in Georgia, Kemp said.
President Trump announced a “blueprint” to set guidance on how states should handle coronavirus, distinguishing the roles between states and the federal government.
“We are continuing to rapidly expand our capacity and confident that we have enough testing to begin reopening and the reopening process. We want to get our country open. And the testing is not going to be a problem at all. In fact it’s going to be one of the great assets that we have,” he said.
Trump added: “Today we releasing additional guidance on testing to inform the states as they develop their plans for a phased and very safe reopening. Our blueprint describes how states should unlock their full capacity, expand the number of testing, establish monitoring systems to detect local outbreaks on the testing platform, and conduct contact tracing. We have it all.”
A White House official told CNN the goal was to help each state reach the ability to test at least 2% of its residents, with a particular focus on vulnerable populations and emergency workers.
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There has been at least 983,848 coronavirus cases in the US, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. At least 55,735 people have died from the virus.
On Monday, Johns Hopkins reported 18,063 new cases and 854 reported deaths.
The totals include cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, as well as repatriated cases.
President Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, and members of the coronavirus task force briefed the nation’s governors Monday afternoon on a new testing blueprint.
According to audio of the call obtained by CNN, Trump said the US has now completed 5.4 million tests and the number of tests being performed each day has “began to skyrocket,” citing more than 200,000 tests performed last Wednesday. He praised governors who have implemented testing strategies and contracted with the public and private sector to get what they need.
Trump noted newly-released funding for the Paycheck Protection Program.
He then told the governors that as long as they continue to combat the virus with “unity, strength and resolve” – “for the most part… not in all cases but for the most part we have” — that the US would get “safely and confidently back to work.”
Trump turned the call over to Pence, who said that Monday’s blueprint announcement is a “continuation” of the April 16 phased reopening guidelines.
“It is science-based and, hopefully, will give you great confidence going forward,” Pence said, noting that the task force believes there is currently the testing capacity for every state to meet the testing criteria for phase one.
“We’ve seen a rapid expansion of testing,” Pence said.
Carnival Cruise Line is using its own cruise ships in North America to transport crew members home to ports in Asia, Europe and Latin America during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a statement from the cruise line.
According to statistics released by Miami’s US Coast Guard 7th District last week, 87 cruise ships with nearly 65,000 crew members were in the district’s area of responsibility, which includes the Bahamas and the Caribbean.
Carnival did not provide CNN with the total number of crew members who are currently sailing home.
“As the company moves to safe operational manning levels during our pause in operations, we have begun the process of returning healthy crew members to their home countries throughout the world utilizing some of our fleet as transport given the limited number of commercial flights and charter options,” the statement said.
The Carnival Ecstasy cruise ship left Jacksonville, Florida, this weekend and was headed to India, according to a US Customs and Border Protection Instagram post.
According to Carnival, the cruise line’s “27 ships have been docked at homeports or anchored at sea since mid-March with no guests on board, only crew members.”
