The latest developments on the coronavirus pandemic for April 24, 2020
NEW YORK - FOX 5 NY is updating this blog with the latest developments on the coronavirus outbreak so you can get the information in one spot.
10:49 PM: A 93-year-old Canadian hospital patient and military veteran went viral this week after reciting a warm and much-needed poem, titled, “A Smile Can Be Contagious.”
9:57 PM: The top Navy officer has recommended the reinstatement of the aircraft carrier captain fired for sending a fraught email to commanders pleading for faster action to protect his crew from a coronavirus outbreak, officials familiar with the investigation said Friday.
8:58 PM: FDNY members join Mayor Bill de Blasio in honoring #HealthcareHeroes at NYC Health System Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn.
8:24 PM: Even as the confirmed U.S. death toll from coronavirus rose past 50,000, salons, spas and barbershops reopened Friday in Georgia and Oklahoma with a green light from their Republican governors, who eased lockdown orders despite health experts' warnings.
7:50 PM: President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence repeatedly told Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp that they approved of his aggressive plan to allow businesses to reopen, just a day before Trump pulled an about-face and publicly bashed the plan, according to two administration officials.
7:02 PM: Advocates are calling on Governor Andrew Cuomo to release inmates who are elderly, have a compromised immune system or are within a year of their release date due to the danger of coronavirus in prisons.
6:27 PM: Walt Disney World posted a story on its Instagram stating that they will stream Magic Kingdom's 'Happily Ever After' firework show on Friday night.
5:58 PM: Another Navy ship at sea has reported a coronavirus outbreak and is returning to port, the Navy said Friday.
5:01 PM: Federal prosecutors charged a New York retailer Friday with hoarding tons of disposable masks, surgical gowns and hand sanitizer in a Long Island warehouse and selling the items at huge markups.
4:12 PM: The Food and Drug Administration issued a warning Friday against using malaria drugs hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine to treat COVID-19 outside of a hospital setting or formal clinical trial.
3:42 PM: According to New Jersey Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli, New Jersey has seen a 17 percent decrease in people hospitalized due to coronavirus from its previous high, a 6.6 percent decrease in people in ICU from its previous high, and people on ventilators decreased 12 percent from its previous high.
3:29 PM: Murphy says he is signing an Executive Order to allow renters to direct their landlords to use their security deposit to pay their rent. The state has also created a FAQ section for tenants and landlords about their rights and responsibilities at covid19.nj.gov/renter
3:24 PM: Murphy says he had a productive call with Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin on New Jersey’s money issues.
3:17 PM: Murphy says he needs to see more slowing of infections before he begins considering reopening the state.
3:14 PM: New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy says that the state now has over 100,000 total coronavirus cases, while the death toll has reached 5,617.
3:02 PM: Many small businesses are trying to navigate through the COVID-19 pandemic, some forced to lay off workers, shutter their doors, with no luck getting federal assistance. But financial experts say there are some ways to keep the cash coming in even if you’re not getting a lifeline from the government.
2:31 PM: Coronavirus-related staffing shortages at chicken processing plants will lead farms in Maryland and Delaware to destroy nearly 2 million chickens.
2:03 PM: Melania Trump is sending blankets, caps and other gifts to hospitals in 10 states, including some hit hardest by the new coronavirus outbreak, for use by medical staff and children who are patients.
1:45 PM: A recession caused by the coronavirus pandemic and a burst of government spending on testing, health care and aid to businesses and households will nearly quadruple the government’s budget deficit to $3.7 trillion, the Congressional Budget Office said Friday.
The 2020 budget deficit will explode after four coronavirus response bills passed by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump promise to pile more than $2 trillion onto the $24.6 trillion national debt in just the remaining six months of the current fiscal year, according to the CBO.
That's more than double the deficit record set during President Barack Obama’s first year in office.
The CBO said lawmakers eventually will be forced to tackle the government’s chronic financial woes, if for no other reason than the looming insolvency of Social Security and Medicare.
1:15 PM: A spokesman for Defense Secretary Mark Esper says the Pentagon chief will meet Friday with the Navy’s top admiral for a briefing on a report that is expected to determine the fate of Capt. Brett Crozier.
Crozier was relieved of command of the USS Theodore Roosevelt after he pleaded for more urgent help with a coronavirus outbreak among his crew. Jonathan Hoffman, the chief Pentagon spokesman, says Esper is keeping an open mind about Crozier. The Navy has said it would not rule out reinstating Crozier.
Just days after the acting Navy secretary, Thomas Modly, fired Crozier, Modly resigned amid strong criticism of his handling of the matter. More than 800 members of the Roosevelt crew have tested positive for coronavirus and one died.
1:10 PM: Turkey’s health ministry has announced 109 new deaths from COVID-19, bringing the death toll to 2,600.
1:05 PM: The British government says 684 more people with the coronavirus have died in U.K. hospitals, increasing the total reported to 19,506.
12:40 PM: President Donald Trump signed a $484 billion bill Friday to aid employers and hospitals under stress from the coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 50,000 Americans and devastated broad swaths of the economy. https://www.fox5ny.com/news/trump-signs-484-billion-measure-to-aid-employers-hospitals
12:18 PM: Cuomo ends briefing.
12:10 PM: Cuomo asked about VP Pence saying that 16 states have submitted their reopening plans. Is New York on the list? And how many tests do you need to do for antibody testing to feel comfortable to have data.
Cuomo: We are not in the first 16 in terms of the numbers on the data. We will have a statewide plan and a regional analysis. The CDC says you need two weeks of flat or declining numbers. By the fed's CDC guidelines we are not there yet. Even by a region, we have to do two weeks of declining.
Cuomo: You can never do enough testing.
State official: We are in 15 locations downstate today.
Dr. Zucker: We are giving people test results when they ask for them.
12:09 PM: Cuomo: New York is the number one donor state. Kentucky was the number three state that took out that they took in. They were taking our dollars out of the pot. Just give me my money back, Senator. It's just ridiculous.
12:04 PM: Cuomo asked when an announcement would be made on schools reopening.
Cuomo: About one week so we give people that notice.
12:03 PM: Cuomo asked about rent freezes and extending moratoriums
Cuomo: We are looking at all options.
12:02 PM: Are you sending absentee ballots.
Melissa De Rosa: We are sending an absentee ballot application. We don 't think it's under the governor's right to send out a ballot.
12:00 PM: Cuomo asked about mail-in voting and if polls will be open.
Cuomo: Polls will be open or they vote by absentee. There is no other way to do it.
11:59 AM: Cuomo asked about using bleach and UV rays to treat coronavirus that President Trump suggested.
Cuomo: I know nothing about UV rays.
Dr. Howard Zucker: These are chemicals you would not ingest. As we know these are chemicals we won't let our children ingest and we keep them away from cabinets.
11:56 AM: Cuomo reads letter he received from a retired farmer hunkered down in northeast Kansas. "If you could would you please give this mask to a nurse or doctor in your state. Keep on doing what you're doing so well." A farmer in northeast Kansas his wife has one lung and diabetes. He has five masks. You want to talk about a snapshot of humanity. You send one mask to New York to help a nurse or a doctor. How beautiful is that. There is the nursing home that sent 100 ventilators into NYC when they needed it. It's that generosity of spirit that makes up from the ugliness you see.
11:53 AM: Cuomo: My grandmother, Mary, on my father's side, I would tell her I met this girl or this guy, and they're nice. And she said, how do you know they're nice? You really get to see character when things get hard. It's almost as if the pressure forces their character and the weaknesses explode or the strengths explode. This is what we've gone through. You see people who you didn't see anything from rise to the occasion. The best of humanity rises to the surface. The strength in people and the beauty in people you see.
11:52 AM: Cuomo: Looking ahead, more testing. New York is doing more testing than any other country, per capita, in the world. Watch the spread of the virus as it gets warmer. Maintain social distancing. Plan on a reopening.
11:51 AM: Cuomo: I asked the Board of Elections to send out every voter a postage paid ballot.
11:48 AM: We are going to see a $13.3 billion shortfall. New York State was very strong when this happened. Our government spending has been at record lows. Tax rates are lower today than the day I took office. Then this economic tsunami hits. Everyone is home, not getting a pay check so the revenue projections are way down. Then its been suggested that states declare bankrupty. Pass a law allowing states declare bankruptcy. To your suggestion Senator McConnell, pass the law, I dare, you. And then go to the President to sign this bill declaring the states can declare bankruptcy. It will be the first time in our nation's history.
11:45 AM: Cuomo: We've been working on disinfecting protocols. The virus can live on plastic surfaces and stainless steel, vinyl car seats, a seat on a bus or a pole on a bus, for 72 hours. Up to four hours on copper. It can live in droplets that can hang in the air for three hours.
11:44 AM: Cuomo: Who's job is it to warn us about these pandemics? The President says the World Health Organization so he's stopped funding. Let's find out. It will happen again. Bank on it.
11:38 AM: Cuomo: This is our first global pandemic. Last November, December we knew China had an outbreak. Feb. 2 the President ordered a travel ban from China. March 1 we had the first case in the state of NY. By March 19, we had a state close down. Research now finds that the virus was spreading wildly in Italy in February. There were likely 28,000 cases in US and 10,000 in NY in February. The flu did not come from China to New York, it came from Europe. Approximtely 13,000 flights bringing 2.2 million people from January to March at the airports in NY and NJ. We acted two months after the China outbreak. When you look back, does anyone think the virus was still in China waiting for us to act? Some say knowing the number of flights coming in from Italy was like watching a horrible train wreck in action. We left a back door open. The virus had left China by the time we did the ban. An outbreak anywhere is an outbreak everywhere. When they say its in China, just assume its in the U.S. the next day. That has to be the operating mentally.
11:37 AM: Cuomo: If we just reopen without social distancing and other measures, we will have a sharp increase. People are talking about a second wave. What is happened and what should learn from what has happened thus far?
11:35 AM: Cuomo: Some projections has the decline at 5,000 people in hospitals between now and June. How fast is the decline and how low is the decline? The variable be dependent on what we do. Are we socially distancing? Are we testing? How fast do we reopen? How do we reopen? You answer those questions and you determine the rate of decline.
11:33 AM: Cuomo: All evidence suggests we are on the downside on the curve. The new people coming to the hospital is 1300 new infections every day. The number of lives lost is at 422. It is still devastating news.
11:32 AM: NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo holds daily coronavirus briefing. Watch live at this link: https://fox5ny.com/live
11:06 AM: De Blasio: Let me conclude and just say, that the important thing going forward is to be blunt about it. Be honest. We know how badly these disparities played out. I'm going to be blunt about it. We will shine a lot on what we just lived through. Everyone, you are doing a good job fighting this. I will talk to you again Sunday.
10:58 AM: De Blasio asked about data on testing in hard-hit areas and the possibility of duplication. Also, de Blasio was asked about death certificates, and people not getting access to death certificates.
De Blasio: It's very painful for a family to be fighting for a death certificate. I'm not going to blame any agency when in March and into April, folks were trying to make things work. We need to get that fixed. Whatever resources they need we will give them.
Dr. Barbot: We are committed to counting every COVID-19 death. We were making sure the deaths were registered electronically and that took longer than we wanted. We will look at the systems issues to make sure no one has to wait that long.
De Blasio: To the media, if you know of a family struggling to get a death certificate, let City Hall know.
Dr. Barbot: The turnaround time depends on the funeral directors and from our end from 24-48 hours.
De Blasio: We are going to press funeral homes. If there are problems, I want to hear about it.
10:56 AM: De Blasio asked when community health centers details will be provided.
De Blasio: On the tele-townhall, people will get a lot of feedback. On telemedicine, its a big deal with 250 health providers. That has ramifications for 10s of thousands of their patients. We want to expand that. We are going to have an announcement shortly on community-based testing centers. It's a brand new initiative. We are putting things in play that have not been there before.
10:51 AM: De Blasio we are hearing the meals program is plagued with problems, especially Kosher meals. Also, have you decided what businesses can open first, second and third.
De Blasio: This program is providing 10 million meals in April. If you got more evidence, give it to me. The Kosher food issue, that they ran out in one or more sites, we don't want that to happen. They are going to stock up more at those sites. If there are more examples of seniors not getting food, let's see it and we ill address it.
De Blasio: We have started those discussions on the restart. An initial thinking that we have is that you avoid a lot of people in the first instance coming to work. We want to make sure that hose who come back to work can socially distance. It's going to be a careful, steady approach. We are clearly not there yet.
10:47 AM: De Blasio asked about disparity and what was done to prepare for that reality.
De Blasio: You either have to understand the basic theory of the case or you cannot. This was a very rapid evolution and it was all about protecting the hospitals and the healthcare workers. The public hospitals were going to bare the brunt. We did not know until the evidence came out the extent that it will impact the public hospitals and the health care workers that come from those communities. Elmhurst Hospital became the painful example. The strategy was hospital -centric. If we didn't throw everything into the hospitals, we would be in a much different situation.
10:43 AM: De Blasio asked the different numbers that are reported that could be infected.
De Blasio: As Dr. Barbot said, at least one million New Yorkers have been infected. 15-20 percent of the population is what we're thinking, too right now. I'd love it to be a lower number.
Dr. Barbot: From the beginning, we have been clear we learn more and more about this virus from the healthcare perspective and the clinical perspective. Its worthwhile focusing on the most severe. Early on, some people who thought they had allergies may have had COVID-19. As we go on in this response, we will continue to look at the number of New Yorkers exposed and infected.
10:40 AM: De Blasio asked about how testing and tracing will be carried out.
Dr. Barbot: The basics are the same. Requiring that anyone testing positive stay in quarantine for 14 days. The how this will be carried out will be through disease detectives and technology.
10:38 AM: De Blasio asked if one of the doctors could explain why injecting yourself with disinfectant can happen.
De Barbot: We take for granted directions are going to be followed the way they are stated. Very clearly, disinfectants are not intended for ingestion either mouth, ears or breathing them in in any way, shape or form.
10:31 AM: De Blasio asked about ongoing open space discussions and health benefits to creating more open space.
De Blasio: We want to work with the city council to address the problem. There are lots of interesting ideas out there that we can work on together. I spoke with Commissioner Trachtenberg and COmmissioner Shea. The plans across the country do not work for our reality. Commissioner Shea says the number of officers coming back has increased but it's far lower than what he normally has. I worry about vehicles going onto pedestrian streets.
Dr. Oxiris Barbot: There are tremendous health benefits to being outdoors. There are creative solutions that we can identify. We have to be mindful of minimizing unintended consequences that would put us in a position where the solution is worse than the problem.
10:30 AM: De Blasio asked about tests for first responders getting tested for virus.
De Blasio: We are hopeful but there are still unanswered questions. I think we should use antibody testing. It's been a little hard to resolve making sure that its the most reliable. The science still isn't 100 percent clear. Antibody testing is not a rock solid guarantee that you can't get it again. We'll have more to say soon. We are trying to get it right.
10:24 AM: De Blasio asked about the Vernon Houses in Brooklyn without gas for weeks and why they are receiving snacks and not meals from the city.
De Blasio: It's horrible. I feel for everyone who lives in that development. The gas goes out and it requires a massive repair. These buildings are 50, 60, 70 years ago. They should have been rehabbed decades ago. These buildings require going floor by floor and apartment by apartment. It's horrible it takes so long but there is a reason why it takes so long.
10:21 AM: De Blasio asked about lawsuit from corrections union and the 24-hour shifts ending and going back to work without being confirmed to be negative.
De Blasio: When there is a lawsuit I have to be careful with my words. Our door is always open. We prefer to resolve things without a lawsuit. I can that there should never have been 24 hour shifts. That was a horrible mistake. This was just a dumb managerial mistake and one that I don't accept.
The test is not the only way to know if someone is well enough to come back.
10:19 AM: De Blasio asked about how his family is doing.
De Blasio: Thank you. We are all experiencing the same challenging reality of being cooped up but I admire how people have shown resilience. For my family, we are used to being out in this world. It's really strange not to be connected to people. I particularly miss the restaurants of this city. Dante is going stir crazy. That's not surprising for a 20 year old but he's connecting with his friends and trying to make sense of it all. He's someone who loves to go out in the city. He has a lot of friends. He's finding his way through.
10:19 AM: De Blasio makes statement in Spanish.
10:17 AM: De Blasio: As I close, I have talked to you about these disparities. The important thing, is we are going to beat them back. We will do that together.
10:15 AM: De Blasio: We have plain, good news. All the indicators are down.
Admitted to the hospital are down to 176 from 227.
Daily number in ICUs, down 786 from 796.
PErcentage positive citywide to 30 percent from 32 percent
Public labs at 52 percent down from 57 percent.
10:14 AM: De Blasio: The moratorium on evictions needs to be extended to 60 days after the end of this crisis.
10:09 AM: De Blasio: Tenants need more help. That comes to our rent guidelines board. It put out a report that was very confusing to people. Give them a rent freeze. Let's get this done. The State of New York has more that it needs to do. Let renters use their security deposits to pay the rent now. There should be a plan to let people defer the rent. They can pay it back over a matter of time. You can't ask people to come up with money they don't have.
10:06 AM: De Blasio: You will never be evicted during this crisis. If someone need a place to be while they are sick, we have those hotels to make. That is a decision for doctors to make and not landlords. Call 311 if you are having an issue with your landlord. We will provide legal service for free if you need it. If you are threatened with eviction, pick up at that phone to 311 so we can help you.
10:02 AM: De Blasio: The last piece, telemedicine. It allows you to have that direct connection with a trained provider. And we will do proactive health calls.
10:00 AM: De Blasio: The grassroots outreach means to reach people in every conceivable way from voices they trust and they know. 1.1 million bilingual calls have been made. We have used the cities social media in 24 languages. Four tele-town halls with faith leaders will reach 10s of thousands of folks. We are creating webinars with health officials and other agencies. We are going to start soon with community-based health clinics.
You can watch live at this link: https://fox5ny.com/live
9:59 AM: De Blasio: We have now initiated a $10 million public awareness campaign aimed at the hardest-hit communities. An additional piece, direct mail, gives people another option to receive information.We will send out mailers to 3.4 mailers in English, Spanish and Chinese.
9:58 AM: De Blasio: We are adding additional testing sites today and three more next week at NYCHA run by H& H. They will be able to do about 10,000 tests per week as we get more capacity. That's what we've done to strengthen public health care.
9:55 AM: De Blasio: When I came into office, the public hospitals were on the verge of shutting down. We didn't. We invested billions to keep our public hospitals open because it was the right thing to do. Thank God those actions helped us reinforce our public hospitals ahead of this pandemic. They have been heroic. The folks at Health and Hospitals, thank you. You have been heroic.
9:52 AM: De Blasio: It's time to fight with everything we got. When we laid out the facts about these disparities we wanted to show what was going on. I laid out the four-point action plan that we continue to build.
Point 1: to protect and preserve our hospitals. Point 2: a massive public awareness campaign.Point 3: Outreach into the communities. Last, telemedicine, to get advice and guidance whenever people need it.
It's about focusing on people to get well.
9:48 AM: De Blasio: This virus has infected everyone equally. I remember when Tom Hanks was infected. But beyond that there was a larger truth that was occurring. The more we got evidence, this virus in fact discriminates. It seeks out those who are most vulnerable. Those with pre-existing conditions and on folks who have not had as much access to healthcare. It comes back to the painful reality of structural racism.
9:47 AM: NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio holds daily coronavirus briefing.
8:58 AM: The parent company of Lysol and another disinfectant warned Friday that its products should not be used as an internal treatment for the coronavirus after President Donald Trump wondered about the prospect during a White House briefing.
MORE: https://www.fox5ny.com/news/dont-inject-disinfectants-lysol-warns-as-trump-raises-idea
8:10 AM: New York State & New York City Coronavirus Latest Statistics
· New York State: 263,460 cases; 20,982 deaths
· New York City: 145,855 cases; 16,388 deaths
7:53 AM: Starbucks announced Thursday that the company would be extending its current free coffee offer to front-line workers and first responders through the end of May.
7:39 AM: President Donald Trump will be holding a signing ceremony Friday for a bill providing a nearly $500 billion infusion of coronavirus spending, rushing new relief to employers and hospitals buckling under the strain of a pandemic that has claimed almost 50,000 American lives and one in six U.S. jobs.
MORE: https://www.fox5ny.com/news/trump-set-to-sign-bill-with-nearly-500b-more-in-coronavirus-aid
7:00 AM: Watch 'Good Day New York' at this link: https://fox5ny.com/live
5:14 AM: Landlords in Venice, California are calling Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Bonin “exploitative” and “predatory” after Bonin pitched a proposal to use federal stimulus money to buy up distressed properties that go “belly up” and turn them around into housing for the homeless.
5:07 AM: A San Jose, California mother and wife has become the nation's first COVID-19 death after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) completed a postmortem test and determined she had the new coronavirus.
MORE: https://www.fox5ny.com/news/san-jose-woman-believed-to-be-nations-first-covid-19-death-remembered