March 28 coronavirus news

Our live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic has moved here.

Holland America's Zaandam cruise ship enters Panama Bay on Friday, March 27.

The Zaandam cruise ship has been given permission to cross the Panama Canal and will then head toward Florida, according to a press release issued by the Panama Canal Saturday.

The green light comes a day after the Panama Canal said on Twitter the Zaandam would not be able to use the canal to get to Florida because the ship had passengers on board who tested positive for coronavirus.

Four “older” guests have died on the Zaandam and two others have tested positive for coronavirus. The cause and manner of death for the individuals who have died has not been determined yet. More than 130 others have displayed flu-like symptoms, according to the cruise line.

Panama’s Ministry of Health approved the passage of the Zaandam for “humanitarian reasons,” the release said.

No passengers or crew members will be allowed to disembark on Panamanian territory, the statement said.

The ship was scheduled to cross the Panama Canal on April 1, but passage could happen earlier, according to the Panama Canal.

There are a total of 1,243 guests and 586 crew on board the Zaandam. The ship departed Buenos Aires, Argentina, on March 7 and was scheduled to sail to Chile, but has been denied access to ports.

A New York police officer patrols Times Square on March 28.

At least 696 members of the New York Police Department have tested positive for coronavirus, according to a daily coronavirus report from the NYPD.  

There are 608 uniformed members and 88 civilian members who have tested positive.  

About 12% of the department’s uniformed workforce – or 4,342 employees – were out sick on Saturday, the report said.

President Donald Trump said in a tweet that after consulting with the governors of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, he is asking the CDC to issue “a strong Travel Advisory” to be administered by those governors, in consultation with the federal government.

Trump said a “quarantine will not be necessary.” This comes after he said earlier Saturday that he’s considering mandatory short-term (two-week) quarantine on New York, certain parts of New Jersey and Connecticut. Trump’s suggestion of a mandatory quarantine was strongly opposed by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who questioned whether it would be legal.

Medical workers take a patient on a gurney into United Memorial Medical Center in Houston, Texas, on March 19.

More than 2,000 people have died from the coronavirus in the United States as of 7:45 p.m. EST Saturday, according to a CNN count compiled through data on state health department websites.

There are 2,010 deaths reported as of Saturday. The US reached 1,000 deaths on Thursday.

There are at least 117,688 cases of coronavirus in the US as of Saturday, according to CNN Health’s tally of cases that are detected and tested through US public health systems.

For the most up-to-date U.S. numbers compiled by CNN, please check this map which automatically refreshes every 10 minutes: 

https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2020/health/coronavirus-us-maps-and-cases/

Twitch, the video streaming platform for gamers, says it has raised more than $2.2 million so far for the World Health Organization’s Covid-19 Solidarity Response Fund.

Twitch is hosting a livestreamed concert to raise the money. Musicians, athletes, gamers and celebrities performed live from their homes for the 12-hour Twitch charity event. John Legend, Garth Brooks and Barry Gibb were among the many who performed for hundreds of thousands watching online.

Sting, Shaggy and Diplo are slated to close the live event at 11:30 p.m. ET, according to Twitch’s website. 

A nurse at a downtown New Orleans hospital has described to CNN the very difficult conditions at the facility. The nurse, who did not want to be identified out of fear that speaking to the media could lead to employment repercussions, described the situation at the hospital after finishing a shift two days ago.

The nurse told CNN that while the situation at the hospital is dire, the staff are in better shape than some.

“We are being asked to recycle our N95 masks. We only have 16 unused ventilators left in hospital. We’ve been told the surrounding hospitals are at max capacity without ventilators, leaving our hospital and one other major hospitals left to care for these patients,” the nurse said. “EMS are having to recruit volunteer EMT workers to help as New Orleans EMS paramedics are either in quarantine for exposure or sick themselves.”

The nurse offered a grim prediction:

A physician assistant working in the emergency room of a hospital in the New York borough of Queens described an “every man for themselves” atmosphere surrounding personal protective equipment (PPE). CNN is not naming this health care worker because they feared repercussions at the hospital for speaking to the media. 

This physician assistant told CNN staff were informed two days ago that they would have to make their N95 mask last for five days and that they have been given tips by management about how to keep them clean.

PPE is being prioritized for those staff working with intubated patients, who are the most at risk of infection, the physician’s assistant said. Intubation is when a tube is inserted through the mouth and into the patient’s airway, so the patient can be placed on a ventilator to assist with breathing.

The physician assistant hasn’t heard when the hospital will receive more supplies. 

The physician assistant described a crowded ER that is essentially doubling as an intensive care unit due to the large numbers of people who need to be intubated due to Covid-19. 

“There’s patients everywhere,” the physician assistant said.

Chairs and stretchers are being brought in to compensate for the influx of patients. Oxygen supplies are being replaced constantly. 

“I think that no one ever expected to need this many supplies in a short period of time,” the worker said.

The ER worker emphasized that they felt the hospital administration and management’s support of staff has been “pretty impressive” and that they have been checking in on the ER staff’s needs, even helping staff members find hotel rooms so that they do not need to go home and possibly sicken their families.

The physician assistant wanted to emphasize to the public the importance of social distancing to help stop the spread of the virus.

“You need to stay home, you need to stay away from people” they told CNN.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks during a press conference at the Javits Center on March 27.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo told CNN he would sue Rhode Island if they did not roll back a policy of stopping all cars with New York license plates, but that he expects the two states will be able to work it out amicably.

“That clearly is unconstitutional,” Cuomo said, adding he understands Rhode Island’s goal of trying to slow the spread of coronavirus.

“But there’s a point of absurdity, and I think what Rhode Island did is at the point of absurdity. Again, it is not even legal,” he said.

No state should be using police to prohibit interstate travel in any way, Cuomo said.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will write letters to households across the UK urging people to stay home, according to a Downing Street statement on Saturday.

The Prime Minister’s letters will be sent to 30 million households next week and will say the following:

UK residents will receive a leaflet outlining the government’s coronavirus advice, with clear explanations of symptoms, rules on leaving the house and rules on self-isolating with symptoms. The letters and leaflets are expected to cost $7.2 million (£5.8 million) to print and distribute.

The statement added that Johnson “is continuing to lead the Government’s response to coronavirus as he self isolates after testing positive for the virus.”

A nearly empty street in Detroit, Michigan, on March 24.

At least 215 million Americans are under stay-at-home or shelter-in-place orders as of 6 p.m. ET Saturday, according to a CNN count.

States have announced additional orders that will take effect late Saturday and Monday.

By Sunday morning, at least 216.9 million Americans will be under the same orders and by Monday that number will jump to at least 225 million.

This count includes local city and county orders as well. The numbers were tallied using census data.

President Donald Trump said Saturday he’s considering mandatory short-term (two-week) quarantine on New York, certain parts of New Jersey and Connecticut. Trump says it’d be an enforceable quarantine. 

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo told CNN locking down states isn’t legal and would lead to “total mayhem.” He called Trump’s suggestion a “federal declaration of war” on states.

Cuomo says New York is the financial sector of the country and it’d be paralyzed if the state was put on lockdown. 

“How would you ever operationally stop goods from coming to New York, New Jersey and Connecticut? … I can’t believe he’s considering that,” Cuomo said.

“As a governor, I’m not going to close down my borders.”

People visit a beach in Clearwater Beach, Florida, on March 18.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis says questions about his decision to not to issue a statewide mandate closing Florida’s beaches during spring break is “more of a political issue.”

The New York City subway is being “packed like sardines,” but a family sitting outside in “sunshine, heat and humidity, that’s not as big as a problem,” DeSantis said.

DeSantis says he did impose “10-person limit” for groups and local officials maintained limited access to beaches for residents. Several Florida beaches were closed by local officials in Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River counties. 

On Friday, DeSantis said he’s suspending vacation rentals in Florida for the next two weeks and is planning to extend an executive order to require travelers coming from Louisiana to Florida to do a mandatory 14-day self-quarantine or isolation period. The order currently applies to travelers coming to Florida from airports in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

A technician prepares samples for coronavirus testing at a laboratory in Long Island, New York.

There are at least 113,805 cases of the novel coronavirus in the United States, according to CNN Health’s tally of cases that are detected and tested in the US through US public health systems.

At least 1,892 people have died in the United States from coronavirus. 

For the most up-to-date US numbers compiled by CNN, please check this map which automatically refreshes every 10 minutes.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Saturday that he will be increasing travel restrictions in Canada for anyone showing symptoms of coronavirus.

Officials have encouraged people to stay home, especially if they are developing or have developed symptoms of the virus, Trudeau said.

“You need to stay home, you need to isolate, you need to not travel,” he said.

Trudeau added that while Canadians have been largely respecting the travel restrictions, the additional restriction will help “formalize some of the domestic travel rules.”

A hospital worker stands outside Lions Gate Hospital in British Columbia, on Thursday, March 19.

Canadian health officials on Sunday corrected erroneous data reported during a press conference held Saturday, saying that younger generations account for 12% of hospitalizations, not 30% as previously stated.

In a tweet, Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer, Dr. Theresa Tam apologized for the error and said: “I misspoke on the percentage of hospitalized cases.”

“The case report forms lag behind the real time data, while they provide more in depth information for epidemiological analysis,” the statement said.

Other notable observations from the Public Health Agency of Canada analysis on Saturday showed that people over 60 were more likely to be hospitalized with 56% going to hospital for treatment. Of those, more than half were admitted to intensive care.

The information showed that most of the new cases in Canada were from community transmission and not from travel.

“We have now completed tests for over 184,000 people in Canada which is more than 84,000 additional people tested since Monday. In terms of the severity of Covid 19 in Canada, the percentage of cases that require hospitalization is approximately 7%. About 3% are critically ill and 1% of cases have been fatal,” Tam said on Saturday.

UPDATE: This post was updated to reflect the latest data from Canadian officials. 

Italian schools will remain closed beyond the initial April 3 deadline, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced from Rome on Saturday.

The decision on suspending nonessential production activities will be taken next week, Conte said.

“We know this measure has a great impact, it’s very costly, but our priority is the health of citizens,” Conte said.

Italy allocated $4.8 billion (€4.3 billion) to provide food and medicine for victims of the economic crisis triggered by the coronavirus lockdown, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced from Rome Saturday. 

 Next week, that funding and an additional $446 million (€400 million) from the Italian Civil Protection Agency will be given to mayors to “distribute bonuses to families or food packages,” Conte said.

Health workers Cyril Lamriben, left, and Noemie Biamba take care of a 51-year-old woman suspected of having coronavirus in Paris, France, on Saturday, March 28.

France’s confirmed number of coronavirus cases jumped by 4,611 cases in one day, pushing the total number of cases to 37,575, according to the French government report on Saturday.

The latest government figures report 2,314 Covid-19 deaths in France, an increase of 319 deaths from yesterday.

France has 4,273 coronavirus patients in intensive care units.

A Chicago baby is the first infant death in the US associated with coronavirus, Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said Saturday.

An investigation into the cause of death is underway, Ezike said.

The death of a child younger than one year with coronavirus has previously been reported in China. That child had a pre-existing condition.