April 13 coronavirus news

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Asked at a news conference Monday if Louisiana would follow suit if President Trump announced plans to loosen or lift Covid-19 social distancing guidelines, Gov. John Bel Edwards said it is too early to know, but that he would be working with the White House coronavirus task force. 

“Well, it’s just too early to know and (Trump) is talking about some time after April the 30th; don’t know exactly what timeline that looks like and he’s also indicated that what he does may not be uniformly implemented in all states at the same time, because you have … some states that are obviously more impacted than others,” he said, adding that Louisiana is one of those hotspots.

Edwards went on to say that he would be working with Trump and the task force.

Singapore reported 386 new cases of novel coronavirus on Monday.

It’s the largest single-day increase since the outbreak began in the country, according to the Ministry of Health.

This brings the country’s total to 2,918, with all the new cases identified as locally transmitted cases, the ministry said.

Among the new cases, 280 have been linked to known clusters, of which the vast majority are foreign workers residing in dormitories. Twelve others are linked to existing cases, while 94 are still pending contact tracing.

Meanwhile, a 65-year-old male has died of complications resulting from coronavirus Monday, bringing the national death toll to nine.

During Monday’s task force briefing, the White House presented a digital montage of TV and radio clips of President Trump’s early actions with the coronavirus. One clip featured audio from New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman, who can be heard describing how the President was criticized for his early travel ban from China.

Facts First: The Haberman quotes are misleading as they edit out one of her key points: that the President’s travel restriction was one of the last actions he took to address the coronavirus for weeks.

Here’s the Haberman quote as it was presented by the White House video:

According to a transcript of The Daily podcast from March 25, here’s the end of the quote, including a key point at the end that was left out of the White House presentation:

“At the end of the day, it was probably effective, because it did actually take a pretty aggressive measure against the spread of the virus. The problem is, it was one of the last things that he did for several weeks.”

According to the transcript, the Daily’s host Michael Barbaro asks a follow up question: “So the right decision in retrospect, but not accompanied by similar actions that might have contained transmission.”

Haberman responded: “That’s exactly right. In the same way that George W. Bush was criticized for his “Mission Accomplished” banner about Iraq, the president treated that moment as if it was his mission accomplished moment. He did not do anything after that in terms of alerting the public, or telling people to be safe, or telling people to take precautions. And it basically squandered several weeks within the US.”

As Haberman pointed out on Twitter, she went on to say that the President “treated that travel limitation as a Mission Accomplished moment,” harkening back to former President George W. Bush.

US President Donald Trump speaks during the daily briefing of the White House Coronavirus Task Force at the White House on April 13, in Washington.

President Trump lashed out at criticism of his handling of the coronavirus crisis during a grievance-fueled appearance from the White House.

The appearance only affirmed the impression that some of Trump’s chief concerns amid the global public health disaster are how his performance is viewed in the media and whether he’s being fairly judged.

He clearly did not believe that was the case Monday. He stepped to the podium armed with a video meant to frame his response in a positive light after his initial handling of the crisis has come under increasing scrutiny.

After it aired, Trump grew increasingly irate as reporters probed the time line of his response, claiming the criticism wasn’t fair and that he’d handled the outbreak effectively.

“Everything we did was right,” Trump insisted after an extended tirade against negative coverage.

Pressed later about his authority to reopen parts of the country, Trump delivered an eyebrow-raising statement asserting absolute control over the country.

He later added he would issue reports backing up his claim, which legal experts say isn’t supported by the Constitution.

Keep reading.

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Gov. Gavin Newsom on April 9 in Rancho Cordova, California.

California will spend $42 million to protect foster kids and vulnerable families during the coronavirus pandemic.

Much of that money will be spent on 59,000 youth in foster care across the state, and by providing an extra $200 per month for the 25,000 most at-risk families in an effort to help keep vulnerable families together.

Other programs receiving extra funding include family resource centers, expanding telephone helplines, and providing laptops and cell phones for foster children in need of that technology.

Gov. Gavin Newsom described how he grew up in a family with his foster brother, Steven Ashby. He noted that caring for at-risk children is a challenge, especially because visits from Child Protective Services are limited under the stay-at-home orders.

Without school and other activities, reports are down, the governor said.

The timeline for emancipation of teens aging out of the system will be extended, permitting them to remain in foster care for the time being.

Responding to criticism of his administration’s response to the coronavirus, President Donald Trump touted his decision to limit travel from areas which had more coronavirus cases than the US at the time.

Trump told reporters Monday, “I did a ban on China, you think that was easy? Then I did a ban on Europe and many said it was an incredible thing to do.”

Asked later about whether he’d be willing to lift travel restrictions as part of opening up the country, Trump added, “Right now we have a very strong ban. We will keep it that way until they heal.”

Facts First: It’s misleading to call the travel restrictions Trump announced against China and Europe a ban because they contained multiple exemptions. Only foreign nationals who had been in China, Europe’s Schengen area, the UK or Ireland within the past 14 days are outright banned from entering the US.

As of February 2, US citizens who had been in China’s Hubei province in the two weeks prior to their return to the United States are subject to a mandatory quarantine of up to 14 days upon their return to the US. American citizens returning from the rest of mainland China may also face up to 14 days of quarantine after undergoing health screenings at selected ports of entry. 

The broader European travel suspension Trump announced on March 11 applied to the 26 countries in the Schengen area, a European zone in which people can move freely across internal borders without being subjected to border checks. While Trump initially identified the United Kingdom as exempt, additional countries that are not in the Schengen area and thus also exempt from the restrictions include Ireland, Croatia, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Serbia, Armenia, Montenegro, Belarus and Russia. As of March 14, the ban was expanded to include foreign nationals traveling from UK and Ireland.

The restrictions also did not apply to US citizens returning from Europe as well as permanent US residents and certain family members of both citizens and permanent residents.

You can read more about the European travel restrictions here.

A study by the Italian Health Institute (ISS) analyzed the characteristics of the evolution of the Covid-19 infection in Italy and concluded it bore similarities to what happened in Wuhan, China.

The report says the Italian cluster “showed worse clinical outcomes” in elderly males with previous health conditions, resembling the most at risk patients in Wuhan.

According to the institute, the initial reproduction number or R0 — the average number of people who will catch the disease from a single infected person — was 2.96 in the region of Lombardy, one of the most affected. The study says that by mid-February, the R0 had edged up slightly to three.

Silvio Brusaferro, head of the ISS had said during his weekly briefing that R0 levels should ideally be below one to flatten the Covid-19 curve. 

“Initial R0 at 2.96 in Lombardia, explains the high case-load and rapid geographical spread observed. Overall Rt [the virus’ transmission rate at a given time] in Italian regions is currently decreasing albeit with large diversities across the country, supporting the importance of combined non-pharmacological control measures,” the report says.

In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the NFL and the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) have reached an agreement on modifications to the rules regarding offseason workout programs and minicamps.

CNN has obtained a memo of those changes, dated Monday, from the NFL Management Council to chief executives, presidents, general managers and head coaches.

Starting next week, there will be a “Virtual Period” portion of the offseason program while team facilities remain closed, and later there will be an “On-Field Period” for when team facilities reopen. The virtual period will start April 20 until May 15.

During the virtual period, teams can conduct classroom instruction, workouts, and non-football educational programs using Skype, or any other appropriate platform, on a “virtual” basis.

When team facilities reopen for the on-field period, teams may resume offseason workout programs, including all permissible on-field activities, under the customary rules in the collective bargaining agreement.

The reopening of team facilities will occur in accordance with protocols established by the NFL, conforming with federal, state and local rules and regulations, and only after consultation with the NFLPA, which will be made widely known to teams at the appropriate time. 

If one or more NFL team facility remain closed for any period of time, all team facilities will remain closed during that period.

As it has been in previous years, the program is voluntary to players. Veteran players who participate are to be paid the $235 daily minimum amount, and players with offseason workout bonuses must be credited for their participation in those sessions.

Each team may elect to continue its offseason workout program beginning May 18, either under a virtual format or under an on-field format, depending upon conditions.

The virtual period will end and the on-field period will begin for all teams at any point during the offseason workout program when all NFL team facilities have reopened.

All offseason workout programs end for all teams on June 26.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards gives an update on the spread of coronavirus in the state of Louisiana, on Thursday, April 9, in Baton Rouge.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said he will issue a proclamation Tuesday ordering public schools to remain closed for the rest of the academic year because of the novel coronavirus.

Edwards explained that distance learning would continue at a news conference Monday.

An envelope containing a 2020 census letter mailed to a U.S. resident is shown in Detroit on April 5.

President Trump said he will ask for a “major delay” to the 2020 Census to make sure it is completed safely and accurately.

Trump said that the Census Bureau will ask Congress for a 120 day extension — an extension he feels is not long enough.

“In addition as millions of Americans continue to complete their questionnaire online, the Census Bureau asked Congress for a 120 day extension. I don’t know if you even have to ask them. This is called an act of God. This is called a situation that has to be — they have to give it and I think 120 days isn’t nearly enough,” Trump said.

Why the Census Bureau is asking for an extension: The late revisions to the census data collection timeline means officials need more time to compile the data that is used to apportion members of Congress among the states, as well as the data that states use to draw congressional districts. 

Federal law requires some of that data be compiled before the end of this year, so being granted the extension would allow the final counts to be delivered to the President in April and July of 2021.

Watch:

President Trump said the White House will announce tomorrow the creation of a committee — or multiple committees — focused on reopening the country in the weeks ahead.

“We’ve also as you’ve probably heard, developed a committee. We’re actually calling it a number of committees with the most prominent people in the country, the most successful people in the various fields, and we’ll be announcing them tomorrow,” Trump said at the coronavirus task force briefing. 

The President said his team is debating the blueprint for opening parts of the country, something he said he expects to happen “quickly.” 

CNN has reported that White House chief of staff Mark Meadows is expected to chair the economic working group and that Ivanka Trump is expected to play a role in it as well.

Watch:

President Donald Trump watches as a White House produced video plays during a briefing about the coronavirus at the White House on Monday, April 13, in Washington.

During Monday’s coronavirus task force press briefing, the White House screened a campaign-style montage of clips attempting to positively frame President Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

The video featured commentators saying early in the virus’ spread that the coronavirus wasn’t as big as the flu and governors thanking the President and the task force. It also outlined a timeline of the President taking “decisive action” during the pandemic, “even as partisans sniped and criticized.”

At one point in the video, an audio clip from New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman played. Haberman is heard saying the President’s move to issue China travel restrictions was “probably effective.”

Haberman was one of the authors of a lengthy Times report detailing “Trump’s failure” on the coronavirus.

As the clip of Haberman’s voice played, the President could be seen looking at reporters, smiling and pointing to the screen. 

After the screening, Trump said, “It’s very sad when people write false stories … mostly from the New York Times.”

Haberman’s quote was part of an appearance on the New York Times podcast The Daily. The quote from Haberman omits a final sentence, in which Haberman concludes that though the measure was probably effective, “The problem is, it was one of the last things that he did for several weeks.”

“I mean, if you had libel laws, they would have been out of business,” he continued, later saying that the Times story was “a fake.”

Asked how the video was produced, Trump said, “That was done by a group in the office.”

“They were just pieced together over the last two hours,” he continued, saying that there were likely “over a hundred more clips” available.

The President also confirmed that the campaign-style video was put together by White House staff — federal government employees.

“This was done by (White House Social Media Director) Dan (Scavino) and a group of people just put it together in a period of probably less than two hours,” he said.

Asked why he felt the need to put the video together, Trump said, “Because we’re getting fake news and I’d like to have it corrected.”

CNN’s Em Steck contributed to this report.

An ambulance pulls up as nurses outside a triage tent for the Emergency Department at the Harborview Medical Center hospital put on gowns and other protective gear at the start of their shift on Thursday, April 2, in Seattle.

Every new patient at three hospital campuses in Seattle is now being tested for coronavirus as they are admitted. 

The policy started today and was announced by University of Washington Medicine — which operates Harborview Medical Center, University of Washington Medical Center-Montlake and University of Washington Medical Center-Northwest. Previously, Covid-19 tests were only administered to patients experiencing known coronavirus symptoms.

The facilities said most of the tests can now be examined on-site by UW Medicine, with results the same day.

A man, wearing face mask to protect from coronavirus, rests on swing during a self-isolation regime due to coronavirus, in a Square in Moscow, Russia, Monday, April 13.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said the coronavirus outbreak in Russia is worsening, warning Monday that the number of seriously ill patients is on the rise. 

“We are seeing that the situation is changing every single day and regrettably not for the better. The number of sick people is increasing along with the number of serious cases,” Putin told officials during a televised conference on Monday. 

Speaking to Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova, Healthcare Minister Mikhail Murashko and Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin, Putin highlighted that the viral outbreak in other parts of Russia is projected to be behind Moscow by approximately three to four weeks. He called on local officials not to waste time. 

“This means that they still have time. But this time can disappear very quickly; it must not be wasted but used in the most effective way possible,” Putin urged. 

“The next few weeks will largely determine the situation, and this is why all our actions, including preventive measures on site and the organization of the entire healthcare system should be most rational and taken on the safe side with due account of all factors,” he continued. 

According to the John Hopkins University, at least 18,328 cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in Russia, while at least 148 deaths have so far been recorded.  

Florida Surgeon General Scott Rivkees said social distancing would be the new normal until a vaccine is developed.

Despite both Rivkees and DeSantis saying at the governor’s briefing that the state is experiencing a plateau, Jared Moskowitz, the state’s director of emergency management, noted that the current models forecast the peak will occur on April 26. 

“The model has changed on Florida three times,” Moskowitz said. “It was May 4, then the 21st of April and now it’s the 26th of April. We continue to watch the model as new data is gathered and we will continue to prepare accordingly.”

There are at least 577,307 cases of coronavirus in the United States and at least 23,219 people have died, according to Johns Hopkins University’s tally of cases.

So far on Monday, Johns Hopkins has reported 20,0007 new cases and 1,140 reported deaths. 

The totals include cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, as well as all repatriated cases. 

President Trump said he is not going to fire Dr. Anthony Fauci, a key member of his administration’s coronavirus task force, despite retweeting a call to fire Fauci this morning.

At his daily coronavirus press briefing, a reporter asked Trump if he noticed the #FireFauci hashtag when he retweeted the post. The President acknowledged he saw it and responded “I retweeted somebody” and then added “that is somebody’s opinion.”

The President said that him and Fauci are on the same page saying, “we have been from the beginning.”

Watch:

Dr. Anthony Fauci, who is a key member of the Trump administration’s coronavirus task force, told reporters he didn’t mean to suggest anything during his interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper that President Trump was at fault for not intervening in the coronavirus pandemic sooner in the year.

When asked by a reporter on receiving “pushback” from Trump about the recommendation to mitigate, Fauci responded he didn’t mean to use that word to describe it.

“That was a wrong choice of words. When people discuss, they say this will maybe have a harmful effect on this or that, it was a poor choice of word,” he said.

Fauci was referencing comments he made Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” where he suggested the United States should have responded earlier in the year to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

“I mean, obviously, you could logically say that if you had a process that was ongoing and you started mitigation earlier, you could have saved lives,” Fauci said on “State of the Union” when asked if social distancing and stay-at-home measures could have prevented deaths had they been put in place in February, instead of mid-March.

“Obviously, no one is going to deny that. But what goes into those decisions is complicated,” added Fauci. “But you’re right, I mean, obviously, if we had right from the very beginning shut everything down, it may have been a little bit different. But there was a lot of pushback about shutting things down back then.”

Trump’s initial handling of the crisis has come under increasing scrutiny as it’s been revealed that administration and health officials were sounding alarms for weeks before Trump took decisive actions such as calling for social distancing measures.

Trump has disputed his administration was slow to respond and has called for the economy to be reopened quickly, potentially by the beginning of May, despite health officials’ warnings that doing so could risk a resurgence.

Watch:

Dr. Lee Norman, secretary for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, answers questions about the coronavirus pandemic with Gov. Laura Kelly during a news conference on Monday, March 23.

A Kansas health official says the state’s first outbreak tied to a religious gathering resulted in four deaths and 46 positive cases.  

Dr. Lee Norman, the secretary for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, said at a news conference today the outbreak started in Wyandotte County and has since spread into nine other counties.

Norman says his agency is monitoring 23 outbreaks in Kansas — five of those are tied to religious gatherings, 12 are in long-term care facilities, three have been tied to big businesses, one to a correctional facility and two have been tied to group living arrangements.  

Some context: Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly issued an order before Easter Sunday that temporarily banned mass gatherings of 10 or more people meant to limit religious gatherings.