Our live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic in the US has ended for the day. Get the latest updates from around the globe here.
There are at least 1,413,012 cases of coronavirus in the US and at least 85,581 people have died, according to Johns Hopkins University’s tally of cases.
Johns Hopkins on Thursday reported 22,606 new cases and 1,462 deaths.
The totals include cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, as well as repatriated cases.
Cook County in Illinois has replaced Queens County in New York as the single US county with the highest number of coronavirus cases, according to data generated by Johns Hopkins University.
Cook County, which includes Chicago and surrounding areas, has reported 58,457 cases. It is the largest county by population in Illinois, and the second largest in the country.
Queens County, which is one of five counties that makes up New York City, has reported 57,178 cases.
All Los Angeles County residents must wear face masks when outside their homes, Health Director Barbara Ferrer said at a news conference today.
Ferrer said face coverings are not needed while exercising alone but should be kept nearby at all times.
“As I’ve noted before, the reason you wear a cloth face covering is so you can protect other people from your respiratory droplets,” Ferrer added.
Some context: Mayor Eric Garcetti’s announcement yesterday on face coverings applies to nearly 4 million residents in Los Angeles.
The announcement from Ferrer today applies to over 10 million residents in Los Angeles County.
As of Thursday, 1,709 L.A. County residents have died due to Covid-19, Ferrer said.
Massachusetts reported 1,685 new coronavirus cases Thursday and 167 new deaths, according to the state’s Department of Public Health.
The state now has 82,182 total confirmed cases and 5,482 deaths, according to the state health website.
The state had a peak of 3,079 new coronavirus cases on April 23 and one day later, it recorded 193 coronavirus deaths, a high.
Carnival Corporation has announced layoffs, furloughs, reduced work weeks and salary reductions with the majority of the impact occurring at the corporate and regional headquarters in Florida, California and Washington state.
In Florida alone, 820 positions will be eliminated and another 537 employees will be furloughed out of a workforce of about 3,000 employees in the state, according a statement that Carnival provided to CNN.
Job eliminations are permanent, Carnival said. The furlough is for six months, with the ability to reinstate employees ahead of time.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a health advisory to thousands of doctors across the country Thursday, advising them to be on the lookout for a troubling new syndrome that may be associated with Covid-19 infection.
The syndrome, called multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), has been seen in children across Europe and in at least 18 states, plus Washington, DC.
“CDC is requesting healthcare providers report suspected cases to public health authorities to better characterize this newly recognized condition in the pediatric population,” the advisory said.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released six “decision trees” Thursday aimed at helping businesses, communities, schools, camps, daycares and mass transit decide on whether it’s safe to reopen.
The “decision trees” are not part of a much-anticipated, lengthy and detailed document that has been delayed at least once.
The six documents posted on the CDC’s website Thursday provide step-by-step guidance advising employers, for instance, to encourage social distancing, hand washing and intensified cleaning.
The “decision trees” are very similar, with small adjustments to account for the differences between school, for example, and restaurants.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said state will allow gatherings of 10 people or less starting May 22.
He recommended gatherings take place outside whenever possible. Beshear added that people should remain six feet apart from anyone who is not a part of their household.
The governor also said Kentucky will let its travel ban expire on May 22.
“The travel ban has been very important to where we are and to flattening the curve, and we still need to be very careful about where we travel to,” Beshear said.
As it prepares to loosen more economic restrictions Saturday, Idaho will make personal protective equipment available to any business that needs it to reopen.
“We don’t want the lack of access to PPE to inhibit small businesses from opening,” Gov. Brad Little said in a statement Thursday.
The state set up a website where businesses can order the supplies at cost. The state warned businesses that they can’t guarantee how quickly an order can be filled, but hopes to get materials faster by buying in bulk. Items that can be ordered include disposable masks, medical-grade gloves and hand sanitizer.
Idaho’s stage two reopening begins March 16.
Restaurants will be allowed to return to dine-in services. Gyms and salons can open with social distancing.
Theaters will remain closed, and gatherings are limited to 10 people.
The president of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) said the trading floor will look different when it reopens to a subset of floor brokers on May 26.
Floor brokers will return in smaller numbers, wear protective masks and follow “strict social-distancing requirements, enforced by a new choreography” that defines spaces where each person may work on the floor, according to an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal from Stacey Cunningham, the president of the NYSE.
Cunningham wrote that “designated market makers” will largely continue to do their jobs away from the floor.
NYSE will require all visitors to avoid public transportation, Cunningham said, adding that floor brokers and visitors will be screened and have their temperatures taken as they enter the building. Those who do not pass the check will not be allowed to enter until they test negative for Covid-19, or self quarantine, Cunningham wrote.
The NYSE will not resume its regular schedule of events and most of the rest of the building will remain “largely empty” as many employees will continue to work remotely, Cunningham said.
A daily regimen of “thorough cleaning and sanitation” of the floor will be implemented, Cunningham said.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker wants to return to his office in Springfield next week after self-isolating when a staffer tested positive for Covid-19.
“Well right now my staff and I are isolating at home, and we’re working with (Illinois Department of Public Health) to determine how long we’ll have to do this. I’d like to return to Springfield probably mid-late next week, for the opportunity to be there during session, but I just need to get sign off from the experts, from the doctors,” Pritzker said Thursday during a virtual news conference.
Pritzker tested negative for Covid-19 on Monday, according to a statement from his office.
He said he plans to follow the same safety precautions Covid-19 as he did before self-isolating.
The Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) has processed six times more unemployment claims during the period of March 1 through May 9, 2020 than “the equivalent time period of the 2008-2009 great recession,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Thursday.
Pritzker said during a news conference that more than 1,076,000 claims have been filed in Illinois between March 1 and May 9, as the coronavirus pandemic swept through the state.
In addition to regular unemployment services, the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program opened on Monday in Illinois.
Pritzker said IDES processed more than 50,000 applications under the umbrella of this program, which includes self-employed and independent contractors. Official filing numbers for the PUA program will be reported starting May 21.
The governor also announced that Illinois will partner with Coursera, an online training website, to offer free virtual job training and professional certificate programs through the end of 2020 for unemployed individuals in the state.
A religious rights group headed by the pastor of a North Carolina church has filed a lawsuit against restrictions put in place in the state by executive orders signed by Gov. Roy Cooper.
In the complaint, the group alleged the executive orders are unconstitutional because they treat religious gatherings less favorably than similar secular gatherings, which they say is a violation of the First Amendment of the Constitution.
The complaint said “absent emergency relief from this court all members and/or attendees of the Plaintiff’s entities will suffer immediate and irreparable injury form the threat of civil and criminal prosecution for the mere act of gathering for free exercise of region and in assembling for worship.”
The lawsuit is asking for a temporary restraining order.
Asked about the lawsuit during a news conference Thursday, Cooper responded, “We don’t want churches to become hotspots for this virus.”
It is about 5:15 p.m. ET in New York and a lot has happened with the coronavirus pandemic. Read up on the biggest headlines below:
Disney’s Broadway production of “Frozen” will not reopen, according to a statement issued Thursday, which cites the “industry-wide shut down and resulting economic fallout” as the reason behind the decision.
The final performance was on March 11 after having played 825 performances.
There are at least 1,405,961 cases of coronavirus in the US and at least 85,194 people have died, according to Johns Hopkins University’s tally of cases.
Johns Hopkins on Thursday reported 15,555 new cases and 1,075 deaths.
The totals include cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, as well as repatriated cases.
As some colleges and universities are announcing their decisions to hold classes virtually in the fall, one school in Maine is exploring a different path: not re-opening at all in the fall, until students can be safely back on campus in January 2021.
David Greene, president of Colby College, a private liberal arts in Waterville, Maine, tells CNN, “I would rather open in January and go into next summer and have two full semesters worth of in person instruction, if it were safer to do it at that time than it were earlier in the fall.”
A definitive decision about reopening is not expected until early July when school officials hope to get more clarity and information from medical officials about the progression of testing and therapeutics.
While Greene is not ruling out the possibility of offering virtual classes for the fall semester, he is torn by the chorus he is hearing from students and faculty who miss the on-campus experience. “From both sides there’s a strong interest in having people back as long as it’s safe to do so,” he said.
Safety protocols could involve “testing members of the community on a regular basis both for antibodies and for infection.”
Greene said he has set up a task force of 10 different working groups as they focus on what reopening will look like. The groups will focus on testing, supply chain issues, personal protective equipment, cleaning, and housing.
Gov. Ron DeSantis announced he has approved Miami-Dade County’s reopening plan, which kicks off Monday.
The request included reopening restaurants at 50% capacity.
The governor said Miami-Dade’s proposal will be approved and added that he would make a further announcement on the matter tomorrow from Jacksonville.
President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida is telling members the club will partially re-open this weekend, and guests will need to maintain social distancing guidelines.
In an email sent to members, guests are told that the main house, where Trump often takes up residence, along with the spa, gym, and tennis courts will remain closed, and the Beach Club will open under new guidelines through June 28.
Mar-a-Lago’s staff will be enforcing social distancing guidelines for members who visit the Beach Club and says loungers and tables will be spaced six feet apart and “on the pool deck and in the pool/jacuzzi.”
The club is also conducting a heightened cleaning regime. Restrooms will be “thoroughly sanitized hourly” and the club will have “sanitizing stations” spread around the pool deck.
It is unclear whether Trump will return to the property before the season ends. He normally visits the club during winter months.
The last time he visited the club was in early March as the coronavirus pandemic was taking hold.
The President generally stops going to his Florida resort after Mother’s Day, opting for his Bedminster Golf Club in New Jersey over the summer.
Several Trump Organization golf properties also reopened last week, including the Trump Doral in Florida. The Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, also reopened this month, and the Trump National Golf Club Washington, DC, in Potomac Falls, Virginia, is also open.
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