Summary
- During the White House coronavirus briefing, Dr Brett Giroir, the Assistant Secretary for Health, said the US will need to conduct at least 4.5m tests a month before its safe to move into Phase 1 of the administration’s Opening Up America Again plan. The president was less measured in his assessment, insisting that many states were ready to reopen, despite a lack of testing and evidence that the number of cases are decreasing.
- South Dakota governor Kristi Noem announced Friday that her state would begin a clinical trial of hydroxychloroquine to fight the coronavirus. “South Dakota is now the first state in America to launch a statewide, state-backed clinical trial of hydroxychloroquine to fight Covid-19,” Noem said in remarks sent out by her office.
- Washington governor Jay Inslee said Trump was “fomenting domestic rebellion” with his tweets about liberating states under stay-at-home orders. Trump’s tweets echoed messaging from right-wing protesters who have demonstrated against the orders, and they raised concerns that the president’s supporters would feel encouraged to ignore social distancing guidelines.
- Andrew Cuomo criticized Trump after the president lashed out against the New York governor in a tweet. In response to Trump’s suggestion that Cuomo should “spend more time ‘doing’ and less time ‘complaining’,” the governor said, “If he’s sitting home watching TV, maybe he should get up and go to work.”
- California is nearing 1,000 coronavirus deaths. Governor Gavin Newsom said California recorded 95 deaths yesterday, making it the deadliest day so far and bringing the state’s total death toll to 985.
- Joe Biden accused Trump of trying to “rewrite history” on how he first responded to coronavirus. “The uncomfortable truth is that Donald Trump left American exposed and vulnerable to this pandemic,” Biden said in a new video. “He ignored the warnings of health experts and the intelligence agencies and put his trust in China’s leaders instead.”
- The US daily coronavirus death toll hit a new record yesterday. According to the Wall Street Journal, 4,591 Americans died over 24 hours, nearly doubling the record of 2,569 that was set on Wednesday. The country’s total death currently stands at 34,614.
Updated
Has the coronavirus pandemic “peaked” in the US?
A model relied upon by the White House, from the University of Washington, estimates that the virus will “peter out” in May and then essentially grind to a halt by the summer. This is based on the experiences of China and Italy, previous coronavirus hotspots.
But this model, like all predictions, is dynamic and depends upon the application of measures such as social distancing to slow the rate of transmission. Other forecasts have been more pessimistic, warning that it will be difficult to tame the spread of the virus until well after summer. Premature relaxation of restrictions on gatherings of people could see a second, much more severe, increase in infections.
The sheer size of the US, as well as its large population, means that there will be several ‘peaks’ at different times across the country. While the situation may be starting to stabilize somewhat in New York, areas in the heart of the country have yet to see the worst of the virus.”That is going to be confusing for people,” said Doug Burgum, governor of North Dakota. “If wow, New York had all these deaths and they are opening up, why aren’t we opening? That will be a communication challenge for us, but we have to just keep monitoring and see where we are going on this.”
The press briefing has ended. We’ll have more analysis from the Guardian’s David Smith coming soon — stay tuned.
I didn’t quite notice this exact phrasing when Trump was discussing rallies...
Note: this tweet was later deleted by the user.
Updated
The president skirted questions about how the businesses could reopen without schools reopening as well.
“It’s a good question, I think the schools are going to be open soon,” he said. The White House’s own plan to “Open Up America Again” suggests that schools and organized youth activities “that are currently closed should remain closed” during Phase 1.
“I hope we’re gonna have rallies. I think they’ll be bigger than ever,” Trump said.
When the rallies have to be spaced out, with attendees spaced out, “it loses a lot of flavor,” Trump noted.
On the protestors who gathered around the country and flouted distancing measures, Trump said, “They seem to be very responsible people to me.”
Here’s more background on those protests:
Asked to address his “LIBERATE” tweets, Trump said he is “very comfortable” with what he posted.
He noted that some states are going too far with social distancing measures. “I think some things are too tough,” he said. “And if you look at some of the states you just mentioned, that it’s too tough.”
But states are currently following federal guidelines encouraging Americans to stay home.
Updated
In order to enter Phase 1 of the plan to reopen the country, the US needs to be doing about 4.5m tests per month, Giroir said.
By the end of April, the US will have access to 5m more swabs, which will help speed up those efforts, he noted.
The public health officials on the task force have outlined the different types of tests available, including antibody or serology tests that check for immunity and RNA tests that check for the presence of the virus.
Yesterday, to speed up testing and address supply shortages, the FDA announced that it would allow a broader range of swabs to be used for tests, including some that would be easier to manufacture.
But the messaging from Dr Birx, Dr Fauci, and Dr Brett Giroir, the Assistant Secretary for Health, is that there will be enough testing, soon. Trump, meanwhile, has been insisting that the testing capacity is already where it needs to be.
“If about 1 out of 10 people are positive,” Giroir said, then health officials know that they are testing enough people.
“We’re working with states to unlock the full potential” for them to conduct up to a million tests a month, Dr Deborah Birx said.
Experts are advising laboratories and assessing what their needs and shortages are.
Updated
Dr Anthony Fauci made the point that it’s a “reasonable assumption” that if someone has developed antibodies for the virus, they’ve had the infection and are protected. But scientists aren’t sure how long that antibody protection lasts.
In South Korea, a growing number of recovered patients appear to be relapsing. Korean authorities reported that 163 patients have tested positive for the virus after making a full recovery.
“We need to be humble and modest that we don’t know everything” about Covid-19, Fauci said.
Updated
Fact check: Testing again
“Our best scientists and health experts assess that states today have enough tests to implement the criteria of phase one if they choose to do that,” Mike Pence said.
Physicians groups, academic labs, and local leaders have all said they do not have the ability to do enough testing. One example is Rhode Island. Here’s some reporting from the AP, from earlier today:
Trump has promoted a 15-minute test developed by Abbott Laboratories as a “game changer.” Federal officials initially distributed 15 machines to public health labs in U.S. states and territories, along with 250 to the Indian Health Service. Alaska received 50.
But governors say they didn’t get enough cartridges needed to run large numbers of the tests.
Rhode Island received only 120, much fewer than they were promised. Raimondo said when the state tried to get more, Abbott and others that make the test cartridges directed her to the federal government, which in turn told her to go directly to the companies. The state has now received 850 tests, far fewer than it requested, Raimondo said Friday.
“Following the announcement of our reopening guidelines, there have been some very partisan voices in the media and politics who have spread false and misleading information about our testing capacities,” Trump said.
State and local leaders have complained that they are having trouble getting equipment, including swabs, needed to ramp up testing.
Fact Check: Testing
Trump is touring the US’ testing capacity.
Overall, the US had administered more than 3.5m coronavirus tests so far, according to the Covid Tracking Project. Recently, it matched the rate of testing per capita of South Korea, though other countries, including Germany, we have tested a larger proportion of its population.
From a very slow start, the US, with a population of 329 million, had ramped up to a testing rate of one in every 100 people — similar to South Korea. Germany has done even better, testing every 1 in 63 people.
The UK, however, is behind, having tested only 1 in 230 people.
In America, despite the recent increase in testing, backlogs are reported in labs across the country, and many people with symptoms — including health workers — are still struggling to access tests.
Trump says he will be sending out $19bn in relief to farmers, in addition to $28bn $ in bailout money sent to farmers to offset the impacts of his administration’s tariffs on imports.
The additional aid will take the form of “direct payments to farmers as well as mass purchases of dairy, meat and agricultural produce to get that food to the people in need,” he said.
Updated
The White House coronavirus briefing has begun
Stay tuned for fact checks and analysis.
South Dakota governor announces clinical trial of hydroxychloroquine
The Guardian’s Daniel Strauss reports from DC:
South Dakota governor Kristi Noem announced Friday that her state would begin a clinical trial of hydroxychloroquine to fight the coronavirus.
“South Dakota is now the first state in America to launch a statewide, state-backed clinical trial of hydroxychloroquine to fight COVID-19,” Noem said in remarks sent out by her office. “We’re testing it both as a therapeutic to treat the disease and as a preventative measure. There have been many success stories about the effectiveness of this drug. Hopefully, our trial will gather the science, facts, and data to support those success stories.”
Hydroxychloroquine is an anti-malarial drug that some hope could be effective against the coronavirus pandemic. But studies have been inconclusive on the effectiveness of the drug on the coronavirus. Donald Trump and some other Republicans have still recommended using the drug.
Noem has been criticized for responding too slowly to the pandemic. South Dakota has not issued a stay at home order and has experienced a 205 percent hike coronavirus cases, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
In her remarks, Noem said it’s up to individuals to be responsible about the pandemic.
“Though I’ve taken some criticism from the mainstream media for our targeted, thoughtful approach, the data and the facts continue to show that the people of South Dakota have taken my guidance seriously,” Noem said. “As I’ve said before, my role with respect to public safety is something I take very seriously. But the people themselves are primarily responsible for their safety. They are the ones entrusted with expansive freedoms - they are free to exercise their rights to work, worship, and play - or to stay at home, or to conduct social distancing.”
Noem said the South Dakota Department of Health’s projections show a reduction in coronavirus cases.
“This week, Department of Health staff along with chief medical officials from Avera, Monument, and Sanford presented updated projections that show a further flattening of our curve,” Noem said. “In total, thanks to the diligence of South Dakotans, we’ve cut our peak hospitalization projections by 75 percent. “
After the president tweeted “LIBERATE MINNESOTA!” on Friday morning, as well as “LIBERATE MICHIGAN!” and “LIBERATE VIRGINIA, and save your great 2nd Amendment. It is under siege!” online far-right communities speculated over whether Trump was advocating armed conflict, NBC reports:
Anti-government sentiment has percolated among far-right extremists in recent weeks over the stay-at-home orders governors have issued to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Trump’s tweets, however, pushed many online extremist communities to speculate whether the president was advocating for armed conflict, an event they’ve termed “the boogaloo,” for which many far-right activists have been gearing up and advocating since last year.
There were sharp increases on Twitter in terms associated with conspiracies such as QAnon and the “boogaloo” term immediately following the president’s tweets, according to the Network Contagion Research Institute, an independent nonprofit group of scientists and engineers that tracks and reports on misinformation and hate speech across social media.
Posts about the “boogaloo” on Twitter skyrocketed in the hours after the president’s tweets, with more than 1,000 tweets featuring the term, some of which received hundreds of retweets.
Hi there it’s Maanvi, blogging from the West Coast.
Soon, we’ll be covering the White House press briefing, and fact-checking the president’s claims.
In the meantime, Samantha Power, the former US ambassador to the United Nations during the Obama administration, has taken on the president on Twitter. Refuting Donald Trump’s assertion that Barack Obama and Joe Biden “were a disaster in handling the H1N1 swine flu,” Powers refuted that the FDA approved a test kit within two weeks of the identification of an outbreak.
Facts on #H1N1: Within 2 wks of the id of the outbreak,@FDA approved CDC-created test kits. By September 2009 FDA had approved 4 influenza vaccines. During the crisis @CDCgov released 11 million treatment courses of Tamiflu & Relenza. #Obama led & USG agencies saved lives. https://t.co/4VL8C07o8u
— Samantha Power (@SamanthaJPower) April 17, 2020
Indeed, in 2009, soon after the CDC raised concerns about a virulent new strain of swine flu circulating in California and Texas, Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, then the Food and Drug Administration’s principal deputy commissioner, has test kits swiftly approved through an FDA process called “Emergency Use Authorization.”
Updated
Today so far
That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Maanvi Singh, will take over the blog for the next few hours.
Here’s where the day stands so far:
- Washington governor Jay Inslee said Trump was “fomenting domestic rebellion” with his tweets about liberating states under stay-at-home orders. Trump’s tweets echoed messaging from right-wing protesters who have demonstrated against the orders, and they raised concerns that the president’s supporters would feel encouraged to ignore social distancing guidelines.
- Andrew Cuomo criticized Trump after the president lashed out against the New York governor in a tweet. In response to Trump’s suggestion that Cuomo should “spend more time ‘doing’ and less time ‘complaining,’” the governor said, “If he’s sitting home watching TV, maybe he should get up and go to work.”
- California is nearing 1,000 coronavirus deaths. Governor Gavin Newsom said California recorded 95 deaths yesterday, making it the deadliest day so far and bringing the state’s total death toll to 985.
- Joe Biden accused Trump of trying to “rewrite history” on how he first responded to coronavirus. “The uncomfortable truth is that Donald Trump left American exposed and vulnerable to this pandemic,” Biden said in a new video. “He ignored the warnings of health experts and the intelligence agencies and put his trust in China’s leaders instead.”
- The US daily coronavirus death toll hit a new record yesterday. According to the Wall Street Journal, 4,591 Americans died over 24 hours, nearly doubling the record of 2,569 that was set on Wednesday. The country’s total death currently stands at 34,614.
Maanvi will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
Washington governor: Trump is 'fomenting domestic rebellion and spreading lies'
Jay Inslee, the Democratic governor of Washington state, accused Trump of “fomenting domestic rebellion and spreading lies” with his tweets about liberating states currently under stay-at-home orders.
The president is fomenting domestic rebellion and spreading lies - even while his own administration says the virus is real, it is deadly and we have a long way to go before restrictions can be lifted. 2/7
— Governor Jay Inslee (@GovInslee) April 17, 2020
“Yesterday, the president told the nation science would guide his plan for easing restrictions. The White House released a sensible plan to resume economic activity,” Inslee wrote in a tweet. “24 hrs later he is off the rails, ignoring his own plan and spewing dangerous, anti-democratic rhetoric.”
At yesterday’s news conference, Trump said governors should be “empowered” to make their own decisions about how and when to reopen their states.
But the president’s tweets today echoed messaging from right-wing protesters, some of whom have ignored social distancing guidelines to demonstrate against the stay-at-home orders in Michigan and Minnesota.
Washington state was one of the first states to report an outbreak of coronavirus, and 590 residents have already died from the virus.
Minnesota governor Tim Walz said he has been unable to reach the president or the vice president to decipher the meaning of Trump’s “LIBERATE MINNESOTA!” tweet.
Gov. Tim Walz says he tried to call President Trump and Vice President Pence in the last couple of hours and doesn’t know what to make of Trump's “Liberate Minnesota” tweet.
— Sabrina Siddiqui (@SabrinaSiddiqui) April 17, 2020
Walz says his call has not been returned.
The Democratic governor told the Wall Street Journal that his calls to the White House in the past couple of hours have gone unreturned.
Trump’s tweet echoed messaging from right-wing protesters who have expressed outrage about stay-at-home orders meant to limit the spread of coronavirus.
Walz has issued a statewide stay-at-home order, which is currently in effect until at least May 4, and hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the governor’s mansion earlier today to protest the order, completely ignoring social distancing guidelines.
Trump’s surprising announcement yesterday that gyms would be included in “phase one” of the economy reopening reportedly came one day after the president spoke to the chairman of SoulCycle’s parent company.
The Daily Beast reports:
The inclusion struck public health experts as bizarre. ‘Gyms are like a petri dish,’ said Laurence Gostin, the director of the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University. ‘People are close to one another, they’re sweating, they’re coughing and sneezing, they’re touching multiple surfaces, they’re sharing equipment, they’re indoors. Literally all of the heightened risk factors for COVID transmission are all entwined together in a gym.’
The White House’s guidance included mitigation measures that would ostensibly minimize the risk of transmission at gyms that opt to reopen, including ‘strict physical distancing and sanitation protocols.’ But Gostin said he’s not convinced that the risks of transmission could be sufficiently minimized. ...
The decision on gyms came a day after Trump’s phone call with sixteen business leaders including Stephen Ross, the founder and chairman of the Related Companies. That firm’s portfolio includes Equinox Holdings, which owns its own eponymous chain of luxury gyms as well as fitness brands SoulCycle, Blink Fitness, and Pure Yoga.
Those businesses, like the larger fitness industry, have been hit particularly hard by the coronavirus. SoulCycle has slashed payroll and furloughed employees. Equinox and Blink have both frozen membership charges.
Ross has previously faced backlash for his connections to Trump. When it was announced last summer that Ross would host a Hamptons fundraiser for the president’s reelection campaign, a number of SoulCycle and Equinox customers said they would boycott the companies.
The Guardian’s Mario Koran reports on the latest from California:
As California’s death toll climbs, state leaders are sketching a plan to battle the other front of the pandemic: the economic fallout.
“We are now in a pandemic-induced recession here in the state of California,” governor Gavin Newsom said.
Already 3.1 m people in California have filed for unemployment since 12 March, helping raise the unemployment rate to 5.3%. But that figure doesn’t capture all state residents who are out of work.
In response to the rising unemployment, Newsom said he’s formed an economic recovery panel to guide California back to job growth.
The board will be led by former presidential candidate Tom Steyer. Joining him will be Newsom’s chief of staff, Ann O’Leary, Apple CEO Tim Cook, former chair of the Federal Reserve Janet Yellen and Disney head Robert Iger.
The 80-member group will also include all four of California’s living ex-governors: Jerry Brown, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Gray Davis and Pete Wilson.
California nears 1,000 coronavirus deaths
The Guardian’s Mario Koran reports on the latest from California:
California is nearing the grim milestone of 1,000 deaths attributed to the coronavirus, a mark that governor Gavin Newsom said “we hoped we would never see.”
Yesterday saw 95 deaths across the Golden State, California’s deadliest day so far. That brings California’s total death toll to 985.
Six US states have already seen at least 1,000 deaths from the virus: New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Michigan, Illinois and Louisiana.
Meanwhile, California’s rate of hospitalizations for Covid-19 cases indicates that it’s still premature to lift social distancing restrictions. While adminissions to ICUs dropped by 1.4% yesterday, hospitalizations overall ticked up by 1.2%.
House minority leader Kevin McCarthy said lawmakers were making some progress on the next coronavirus relief bill.
“I think we got a little [progress],” the California Republican told Politico. “Only because the pressure is mounting in the Democratic conference.”
Republicans and Democrats have been at a stalemate over the scope of the bill, with Democrats pushing for more money for hospitals and state and local governments as well as the small business loan program known as the Paycheck Protection Program.
Republicans have argued the next bill should be focused solely on PPP, which was originally granted $350bn in funds from the stimulus package and ran out of money yesterday.
McCarthy expressed openness to giving money to hospitals but not state governments. “A deal would look like the PPP,” McCarthy said. “You could possibly get some hospital [funds]. I think that would be the deal. I don’t think you’d get any state money.”
Governors have warned their states are running desperately low on cash, and the National Governors Association said last week that states need $500bn from Congress to adequately address the current crisis.
Updated
Twitter said Trump’s tweets calling for states with stay-at-home orders to be liberated did not violate the platform’s rules, according to a New York Times reporter.
NEW — From a @twitter spokesperson: the “LIBERATE” tweets by @realdonaldtrump do not violate rules prohibiting content that is “a clear call to action that could directly pose a risk to people’s health or well-being.” Trump’s tweets are “vague and unclear” re: any harmful intent.
— Michael D. Shear (@shearm) April 17, 2020
A Twitter spokesperson said Trump’s tweets were “vague and unclear” and thus did not constitute a clear threat, even though a number of people raised concerns that the messages might encourage the president’s supporters to ignored stay-at-home orders and jeopardize their health.
Hours after the president sent the tweets, an anti-lockdown protest occurred outside the Minnesota governor’s mansion, and footage showed hundreds of demonstrators standing close together and not wearing masks.
Florida governor OKs reopening beaches, parks
Florida governor Ron DeSantis green lit some municipalities to start opening parks and beaches. In a news conference in Fort Lauderdale, the governor said permissions would be given if reopening can be done safely, with social distancing guidelines still in place.
The AP reports:
The governor said it was important for people to have outlets for getting exercise, sunshine and fresh air.
“Do it in a good way. Do it in a safe way,” DeSantis said.
Florida officials were criticized for leaving beaches open during part of the spring break period last month. Most counties closed their beaches in response or kept them open under very restrictive conditions. Other more high-profile beaches in South Florida including Miami Beach were closed by state order.
Florida’s northern beaches became among the first to allow beach-goers to return, permitting residents to walk, bike, hike, fish, run, or swim during limited hours beginning Friday afternoon. Crowds of more than 50 people would still be banned.
Texas to close schools for rest of academic year
Texas governor Greg Abbott ordered schools remain closed through the remainder of the school year. The Republican governor announced the order in a Friday news conference.
From the El Paso Times:
Abbott previously ordered schools closed to students until May 4, but did not rule out extending his order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
He said Friday the team of doctors advising his office determined “it would be unsafe for students to gather in schools for the foreseeable future.”
The Texas Education Agency, the state entity overseeing primary and secondary education, released a statement in support of the decision.
TEA statement in support of @GovAbbott’s statewide closure of schools for the remainder of the 2019-20 academic year #TxEd #StayHomeTexas #ApartTogether pic.twitter.com/M5IXaEDkWv
— Texas Education Agency (@teainfo) April 17, 2020
According to the Times, the order applies to public, charter and private K-12 schools, and higher education institutions.
Florida officials attempted blocking COVID-19 data from public
The Miami Herald reports that as Gov. Ron DeSantis touted Florida as one of the most transparent states in coronavirus reporting, state attorneys and lawmakers attempted to block COVID-19 information from being released to the public.
From the Herald:
Emails and phone conference appointments obtained through a public records request show that, while medical examiners across Florida had already released details about deaths in their counties, attorneys for the state spent more than a week trying to convince their counterparts in Miami-Dade County not to provide that information to the Herald.
CNN reports call between Pence, Democrats did not go as planned
CNN is reporting that a call between Vice President Mike Pence and top Democratic senators to discuss the administration’s response to the coronavirus outbreak did not go as planned.
From CNN’s Lauren Fox:
Call with Pence and Democratic senators did not go well, according to one Democratic source: “It got to the point that Senator Angus King just said to Pence.. 'I have never been so mad about a phone call in my life.'"
— Lauren Fox (@FoxReports) April 17, 2020
Fox went on to confirm that Hawaii senator Brian Schultz to her Democrats were frustrated with the administration’s delays, relaying that officials still had not “assessed how many tests they need every day.”
Updated
Sen. Kamala Harris: "Trump abandoned the role of president"
California senator Kamala Harris, in an interview with Vice News, slammed President Donald Trump for his handling of the coronavirus outbreak. In the interview, the senator called the delayed response to social distancing recommendations, and roll out of testing, directly responsible for the country’s more than 680,000 cases, and 30,000 deaths.
The senator is among a short list of women rumor to be considered as former vice President Joe Biden’s running mate in the 2020 Presidential Election.
From Vice News’ senior editor Hayley Jones:
“[Trump’s] not going to act like a president. He doesn’t understand the job.” —@KamalaHarris pic.twitter.com/2q1ygoIOBd
— Hayley Jones (@HayleyCJones) April 17, 2020
Hundreds of protesters have gathered outside the Minnesota governors’ mansion to protest the statewide stay-at-home order.
Footage of the protest showed demonstrators standing closely together and not wearing masks, potentially risking spread of coronavirus at the event.
Almost no masks and no regard for social distancing guidelines outside of the Governor’s Residence. @MPRnews pic.twitter.com/8aMLHSHYzA
— Evan Frost (@efrostee) April 17, 2020
Videos also showed protesters waving Americans flags and at least one “Trump 2020” flag as they demonstrated against Democratic governor Tim Walz’s stay-at-home order, which is in effect until at least May 4.
Trump wrote in a tweet earlier today, “LIBERATE MINNESOTA!” The tweet echoed messaging from right-wing protesters in recent days and raised concerns that the president’s supporters would feel encouraged to ignore social distancing guidelines, as the Minnesota demonstrators are doing.
Biden accuses Trump of leaving America vulnerable to coronavirus
Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has just released a video message on Twitter attacking the president for his response to the coronavirus pandemic.
He’s also not impressed with how China has handled data on the outbreak that began there late last year.
“As I speak, China is censoring research on Covid-19, making it harder for the rest of us to beat the virus,” Biden begins in his message from home in Delaware.
He then goes on: “President Trump is not doing enough about it. The uncomfortable truth is that Donald Trump left American exposed and vulnerable to this pandemic. He ignored the warnings of health experts and the intelligence agencies and put his trust in China’s leaders instead.
“And now, we’re all paying the price.”
The former vice president in Barack Obama’s administration goes on to say that the Trump administration reduced the US’s readiness for a pandemic.
Then says Trump was “more interested in his trade deal with China than about the virus, which had already come to America.”
Biden pinpoints February as a crucial time when Trump was not acting on his experts’ advice - echoing piercing questions from the press at the particularly tumultuous White House press briefing last Monday.
The uncomfortable truth is that Donald Trump left America exposed and vulnerable to this pandemic. He ignored the warnings of health experts and intelligence agencies and put his trust in China's leaders instead. Now, we're all paying the price.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) April 17, 2020
Let me explain how we got here: pic.twitter.com/esvCaGki9V
Updated
Coronavirus spread in New Jersey dropping "dramatically"
New Jersey governor Phil Murphy has just reported that, in New Jersey, 323 people died of Covid-19 yesterday.
Although a horrific number for a one day toll, bringing the state’s total to 3,840 deaths from the disease, it nevertheless gave the governor a spark of hope.
A total of 362 people had died in the state the day before. Murphy said, according to Reuters.
He said the rate of spread of coronavirus in New Jersey has “dropped dramatically”.
The Guardian’s Sam Levine reports:
Voting rights groups are continuing to pressure Congress to include funding for expanding vote by mail in the next coronavirus stimulus package.
Stand Up America, a progressive advocacy group, said Friday they had made 20,000 phone calls to members of congress urging them to include at least $4 billion in funding for expanding voting. They urged members to support expanding vote by mail, as well as measures like expanded early voting and online voter registration.
Activists made a similar push for funding ahead of the last stimulus bill, and Congress included $400 million in the measure, a significant amount, but only a small fraction of what states said they needed.
Republicans, including Donald Trump, have resisted these efforts, saying they are designed to help Democrats win elections. Switching to vote by mail has no partisan effects, according to a recent study by researchers at Stanford.
“States need funding now to expand vote-by-mail and early voting—and to ensure that we protect all poll workers and voters. Unless Congress acts now, voters may be forced to choose between protecting their health and casting their ballot this fall,” said Sean Eldridge, the president and founder of Stand Up America.
Today so far
Here’s where the day stands so far:
-
Andrew Cuomo criticized Trump after the president lashed out against the New York governor in a tweet. In response to Trump’s suggestion that Cuomo should “spend more time ‘doing’ and less time ‘complaining,’” the governor said, “If he’s sitting home watching TV, maybe he should get up and go to work.” Cuomo went on to offer some of his harshest criticism of Trump since the start of the current crisis.
- Trump said three states should be liberated from their stay-at-home orders. “LIBERATE VIRGINIA, and save your great 2nd Amendment. It is under siege!” Trump said. The tweet echoes messaging from far-right protesters and raised concerns that the president’s supporters would feel encouraged to ignore stay-at-home orders.
- The US daily coronavirus death toll hit a new record yesterday. According to the Wall Street Journal, 4,591 people died over 24 hours, nearly doubling the record of 2,569 that was set on Wednesday.
The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
Trump again lashed out against Andrew Cuomo over Twitter, mocking the New York governor for “ridiculously” requesting 40,000 ventilators.
Cuomo ridiculously wanted “40 thousand Ventilators”. We gave him a small fraction of that number, and it was plenty. State should have had them in stockpile!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 17, 2020
“State should have had them in stockpile!” Trump tweeted.
Cuomo said late last month that the state needed 30,000 ventilators to address the surge in coronavirus cases, and the governor emphasized at his press conference today that his requests were based on the federal government’s projections of the outbreak.
“Read your own report next time before you criticize,” Cuomo said of Trump.
Cuomo briefing summary
New York governor Andrew Cuomo just wrapped up his daily briefing on the state’s response to coronavirus.
Here’s some of what he said:
-
Cuomo criticized Trump for inaction after the president lashed out against the governor in a tweet. Trump suggested Cuomo should do “spend more time ‘doing’ and less time ‘complaining.’” When asked about the tweet, Cuomo replied, “If he’s sitting home watching TV, maybe he should get up and go to work.”
- Cuomo’s comments represented some of his harshest criticism of Trump since the start of the crisis. The Democratic governor has generally tried to avoid getting involved in fights with Trump to protect New York’s relationship with the federal government, but Cuomo said the president was asking to be thanked for merely doing his job. “This was your role as president,” Cuomo said.
- Cuomo demanded more funding for states, as governors have received the bulk of responsibility for reopening. The governor said the federal government could not expect states to take on so many duties without giving them additional funding. “That is passing the buck without passing the bucks,” Cuomo said.
- Coronavirus hospitalizations are “undeniably on the decline” in New York, Cuomo said. But the state’s daily death toll from the virus remains high and stable. Another 630 New Yorkers died of coronavirus yesterday, marking a slight increase from Wednesday’s death toll of 606.
Updated
New York governor Andrew Cuomo reiterated that the federal government must be involved in expanding testing capacity, after Trump tweeted it was up to the states to make tests more widely available.
“If we don’t have federal help on testing, that’s a real problem,” Cuomo said.
The governor warned that if the federal government does not get involved, states could face an alarming shortage of tests, as they did for personal protective equipment at the onset of the coronavirus crisis.
Trump sent a series of tweets trying to deflect responsibility for the coronavirus crisis, suggesting states are the ones who need to expand testing capacity.
The States have to step up their TESTING!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 17, 2020
However, a number of governors from both parties have said they need assistance from the federal government to make testing more widely available.
“The federal government cannot wash its hand of this,” Cuomo said at the beginning of his briefing. “We cannot do it without federal help.”
New York governor Andrew Cuomo emphasized the states had the power to reopen the economy, as guaranteed by the Constitution.
“He’s doing nothing,” Cuomo said of Trump after the president sent a critical tweet about the governor. “All he’s doing is walking in front of the parade.”
This is some of the strongest criticism Cuomo has offered of Trump since the start of the coronavirus crisis, as the governor has tried to avoid fighting with the president to protect the state’s relationship with the federal government.
New York governor Andrew Cuomo said he was grateful for some of the steps that the federal government has taken, such as sending the Navy hospital ship Comfort to New York Harbor.
But the Democratic governor emphasized those steps were part of Trump’s responsibility as president. “I’m saying thank you for doing your job,” Cuomo said. “This was your role as president.”
Cuomo reiterated that the numbers New York used to project how many hospital beds the state would need, which Trump complained were overstated, were based on figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In response to Trump’s critical tweet, New York governor Andrew Cuomo said that federal and state governments cannot stop working to address the effects of coronavirus.
“It’s not over,” Cuomo said. “We have a lot more to do.”
Cuomo also emphasized that, while Trump has now acknowledged governors will decide how and when to reopen the economy, governors already had that power from the 10th Amendment of the Constitution.
“I didn’t need the president of the United States to tell me I’m governor,” Cuomo said.
Cuomo: Maybe Trump should 'get up and go to work'
New York governor Andrew Cuomo responded to Trump’s tweet suggesting he should “spend more time ‘doing’ and less time ‘complaining.’”
The Demcratic governor, who has tried to avoid getting entangled in fights with the president, replied, “If he’s sitting home watching TV, maybe he should get up and go to work.”
Cuomo also noted the projected number of beds that New York said it needed, which Trump complained was overblown, was based on numbers provided by the White House coronavirus task force. “They’re your projections, Mr President,” Cuomo said.
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Trump lashes out against Cuomo as governor holds briefing
Trump lashed out aginst Andrew Cuomo as the New York governor held his daily briefing on the state’s response to coronavirus.
Cuomo said moments ago that the federal government could not put so much responsibility on the states in terms of reopening the economy without giving them substantially more funding. “That is passing the buck without passing the bucks,” Cuomo said.
....testing that you should be doing. We have given New York far more money, help and equipment than any other state, by far, & these great men & women who did the job never hear you say thanks. Your numbers are not good. Less talk and more action!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 17, 2020
Trump quickly responded over Twitter. “Governor Cuomo should spend more time ‘doing’ and less time ‘complaining,’” said the president, who has taken to holding daily briefings that have sometimes run for more than two hours. “Less talk and more action!”
Trump also pointed out that New York has received more assistance than any other state, but of course that’s because New York has seen far more coronavirus cases and deaths than any other US state so far.
New York governor Andrew Cuomo emphasized that economic concerns cannot outweigh public health as the states looks toward reopening.
“Yes, everybody wants the economy running, but everybody wants to be safe, too,” Cuomo said.
The governor has said the rate of infection needs to continue to fall before New York’s economy can fully reopen.
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Donald Trump’s call on Twitter to “liberate” three key election states run by Democratic governors – Minnesota, Michigan and Virginia – has alarmed many commentators on the left and right.
As Media Matters’ Matt Gertz has noted, the outburst came shortly after a Fox News segment on anti-lockdown protesters:
Minutes after a Fox News segment on a protest against social distancing measures outside the Minnesota governor's office, by conservative "Liberate Minnesota" group, Trump tweets "LIBERATE MINNESOTA!"
— Matthew Gertz (@MattGertz) April 17, 2020
Left, Fox's America's Newsroom, 11:19 a.m.
Right, Trump, 11:21 a.m. pic.twitter.com/RvFV68oOCb
A recent poll also suggests Trump’s demands are significantly out of step with the thinking of a majority of Americans:
Reminder as Trump tweets about ‘liberating' Democratic-run states:
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) April 17, 2020
A Pew poll out yesterday found that about twice as many Americans say their greater concern is that state governments will lift restrictions on public activity too quickly (66%-32%).
Here’s how people have been responding elsewhere:
"liberate the country from the will of the majority" is a pretty good summary of where the republican party is these days pic.twitter.com/LjUDzSZMOV
— b-boy bouiebaisse (@jbouie) April 17, 2020
Nearly 30,000 people in the U.S. have died from COVID-19, including over 200 Virginians, and the president is tweeting aggressive appeals to gun rights activists https://t.co/C4IEFyUWjp
— Grace Segers (@Grace_Segers) April 17, 2020
Trump's reckless rhetoric could encourage--let's be honest, it will encourage, and it's intended to encourage--his followers to ignore lawful state orders. It will lead to lawless acts that endanger the well-being of other Americans. Republicans, conservatives--you ok with that? https://t.co/GREvhBfrBM
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) April 17, 2020
LIBERATE AMERICA from Trump’s failure to come up with a plan for testing.
— Jon Favreau (@jonfavs) April 17, 2020
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New York governor Andrew Cuomo said states were asking for $500 billion in economic relief, but it’s unclear how much of that would go to New York.
Democratic lawmakers are pushing for the next coronavirus relief bill to include more funding for state and local governments, as well as hospitals.
However, Republicans have advocated for a bill only granting additional funds to the small business loan program created by the stimulus package, arguing lawmakers should wait on other negotiations.
New York governor Andrew Cuomo got a little personal during his daily briefing, explaining how the coronavirus quarantine had given him more quality time with his daughters.
Cuomo said his interactions with his daughter had become “so superficial,” and the unexpected time at home had allowed him to get to know them better.
“They’re not four, five, six, seven, ten years old anymore,” Cuomo said of his three daughters. “They’re grown up.”
Cuoma also said his current inability to see his elderly mother had made him regret not spending more time with her. “I know I’ve learned a lot on a personal level,” Cuomo said.
Cuomo demands more state funding
New York governor Andrew Cuomo insisted states needed more funding to tackle the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic.
Cuomo said the federal government’s guidelines on reopening, which put the onus on governors to decide how and when to reopen, are appropriate.
But Cuomo added that it was unrealistic for the federal government to put so much responsibility on the states without giving them more money to implement their decisions.
“That is passing the buck without passing the bucks,” Cuomo said.
New York governor Andrew Cuomo said he would issue an executive order requiring the state’s public and private labs to work with the government to prioritize coronavirus testing.
But Cuomo emphasized it would not be possible to substantially expand testing capacity without a partnership between the federal government and state governments.
“The federal government cannot wash its hand of this,” Cuomo said. “We cannot do it without federal help.”
New York governor Andrew Cuomo said the state was looking ahead to reopening, even as officials continue to pay close attention to the rate of infection spread.
“The situation we’re in now is unsustainable,” Cuomo said, acknowleding people cannot indefinitely stay at home as the current order requires.
But Cuomo reiterated that the state would need to substantially expand testing in order to fully reopen without risking a surge in infections.
New York coronavirus hospitalizations 'undeniably on the decline,' Cuomo says
New York governor Andrew Cuomo said coronavirus hospitalizations in the state had once again slightly declined yesterday.
Cuomo said the net change in hospitalizations is “undeniably on the decline,” as many coronavirus patients recover and are released from the hospital.
But New York’s daily death toll remains high and stable. Another 630 New Yorkers died of the virus yesterday, marking a slight increase from Wednesday’s death toll of 606.
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Trump: 'Liberate' states under stay-at-home orders
Trump has sent a string of incendiary tweets calling on states currently under stay-at-home orders to be liberated.
LIBERATE MINNESOTA!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 17, 2020
LIBERATE MICHIGAN!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 17, 2020
LIBERATE VIRGINIA, and save your great 2nd Amendment. It is under siege!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 17, 2020
The surprising tweets come a day after Trump released the federal guidelines on reopening the economy and acknowledged governors would make the ultimate decision on how and when to reopen their states.
“Governors will be empowered to tailor an approach that meets the diverse circumstances of their own states,” Trump said at yesterday’s press conference. “Every state is very different.”
Updated
Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and fixer, is reportedly being released from prison because of the coronavirus pandemic, allowing him to serve the remainder of his sentence in home confinement.
The AP reports:
Cohen is currently locked up at FCI Otisville in New York after pleading guilty to numerous charges, including campaign finance fraud and lying to Congress. He will remain under quarantine for 14 days before he is released. Federal statistics show 14 inmates and seven staff members at the prison have tested positive for the coronavirus.
After he is released, Cohen will serve the remainder of his sentence at home, according to [a source].
Cohen began serving his sentence last May and was originally scheduled to be released in November 2021. His reported release comes as prison advocates have been pushing government officials to transfer more inmates to home confinement, particularly those who are in facilities deemed high-risk.
The Guardian’s Sam Levine reports:
Switching to a vote by mail system modestly increases turnout, but doesn’t favor one party over another, according to a new study.
The study by researchers at Stanford University offers direct evidence to rebut Donald Trump and others who claim Democrats are pushing to make it easier to vote by mail during the Covid-19 pandemic to boost their political fortunes.
The Stanford study focused on California, Utah and Washington -- all states that gradually phased in vote-by-mail across counties. They found that it didn’t benefit Democrats and increased turnout by 2%.
“We find that vote-by-mail has no apparent effect on either the share of turned-out voters who are Democrats or the share of votes that go to Democratic candidates, on average, although these latter estimates are a bit less precise,” the researchers wrote.
States across the country are scrambling to quickly implement vote-by-mail processes to ensure that people around the country can vote without having the risk their health. Several states are mailing absentee ballot applications to active voters and easing restrictions on who can cast an absentee ballot.
Republicans in Texas and Louisiana, so far, have been unwilling to ease those restrictions. In Georgia, House Speaker David Ralston said moving to mail-in balloting would be “devastating” to conservatives.
Georgia House Speaker David Ralston (R) says efforts to expand vote by mail will hurt Republicans. "This will be extremely devastating to Republicans and conservatives in Georgia." (h/t @markniesse)https://t.co/2bg16pfUFm
— Sam Levine (@srl) April 2, 2020
“Our view is that this shouldn’t be controversial if what people are worried about is that this electoral system would have some kind of partisan slant -- we don’t see that,” said Dan Thompson, one of the researchers who worked on the study, said in an interview.
The authors of the study, which has yet to be published, noted that their study only compared a switch to vote by mail to voting in person under normal voting circumstances, not during a pandemic like Covid-19.
“If, for example, we thought that people in one particular class were incredibly likely to vote for one party, and they were disproportionately affected by the virus, the virus itself might have a partisan impact on the election,” Thompson said. “Correcting that effect by allowing people to vote by mail instead could ultimately result in returning to normal in terms of the partisan dynamics.”
China raises Wuhan's coronavirus death toll by 50%
China has revised the coronavirus death toll in its Wuhan region, where cases of the virus first appeared, from 2,579 to 3,869, marking a 50% increase.
Beijing defended the revision, claiming officials had conducted a “statistical verification” of the death toll and denying there had been any cover-up of the extent of the outbreak.
Public health experts have cast doubt upon China’s reported numbers, and the heightened activity of funeral homes in the Wuhan region indicates the coronavirus death toll there may be closer to 42,000.
For more updates on the revision, follow the Guardian’s global coronavirus blog:
All non-essential permitted events in New York will be canceled for the month of May, mayor Bill de Blasio announced this morning.
De Blasio said he is also considering canceling all concerts, parades and large gatherings scheduled for June. “We’re far from out of the woods,” he said.
The mayor emphasized that, while New York has seen hopeful indicators that the city is flattening the curve, the economy cannot fully reopen until widespread coronavirus testing is available.
Echoing New York governor Andrew Cuomo’s comments yesterday, de Blasio asked for the federal government to help expand testing capacity.
Trump referred to Congress’ extended recess due to the coronavirus pandemic as an “endless vacation” in a tweet criticizing Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer.
“Today people started losing their jobs because of Crazy Nancy Pelosi, Cryin’ Chuck Schumer, and the Radical Left, Do Nothing Democrats, who should immediately come back to Washington and approve legislation to help families in America. End your ENDLESS VACATION!” Trump wrote in the tweet.
Trump appears to be referencing the Paycheck Protection Program, which ran out of money yesterday. Republicans have been pushing a bill to give more money to the small business loan program, which was created by the stimulus package last month.
But Democrats are demanding that the bill also include more money for hospitals and state and local governments, leaving lawmakers at a stalemate.
Trump’s demand that members of Congress return to Washington comes two days after DC mayor Muriel Bowser extended the city’s stay-at-home order until May 15 as coronavirus cases in the region continue to climb.
The number of coronavirus tests being conducted each week in the US has hit a wall, just as public health experts warn the country needs to substantially ramp up testing to reopen the economy.
Axios reports:
Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, said he thinks we need to be doing 500,000 tests a day for the foreseeable future.
Nationwide testing capacity steadily increased for weeks, but has appeared to hit a wall around 145,000 tests a day. Several factors are holding it back:
- Supply shortages for key test ingredients, swabs, test kits, and personal protective equipment.
- Poor coordination: Some labs have excess testing capacity, but aren’t being sent samples from the providers collecting them.
- Rules about who gets tested: Many states have limited testing to the sickest patients, and caseloads are dropping overall. But clinicians often have discretion as to who they test.
Many health experts have warned that states will see a surge in coronavirus cases once the economy reopens if they do not have enough tests to identify and isolate new patients.
Joe Biden told donors in a virtual fundraiser last night that he is already considering his potential cabinet if he wins the election in November.
“I promise you that has already begun,” the assumed Democratic nominee said. “Sounds presumptuous. ... I don’t want it to sound like that, but it has to happen and that’s why the transition team is already being put together.”
Biden interestingly said some Republicans have reached out to him about potentially serving in his administration, which could spark concern among some Democrats.
“I have had literally several hundred serious, serious players who have been held positions in every department in the federal government who have said, including some Republicans, who have said if you win, I want to come back. I’m ready to serve,” Biden said.
The former vice president received some criticism when he said in August, “There’s an awful lot of really good Republicans out there. ... I get in trouble for saying that with Democrats, but the truth of the matter is, every time we ever got in trouble with our administration, remember who got sent up to Capitol Hill to fix it? Me. Because they know I respect the other team.”
Trump’s deference to governors yesterday as he unveiled federal guidelines on reopening the economy was a marked shift from earlier in the week.
Reading from prepared remarks, Trump said governors should take a “phased and deliberate approach to reopening their individual states.”
“We are not opening all at once, but one careful step at a time, and some states will be able to open up sooner than others,” Trump said, as a number of states and cities announced they would extend their stay-at-home orders until at least May 15.
“Governors will be empowered to tailor an approach that meets the diverse circumstances of their own states,” Trump said. “Every state is very different.”
The president saying governors would be “empowered” to make their own decisions on when to ease restrictions is a rather different message from earlier in the week, when Trump falsely claimed he had “total” authority to reopen the country.
On a call with governors yesterday, Trump similarly told the state leaders that they would be able to “call your own shots” about reopening, indicating the president is recognizing he will not have much say in when states start to reopen schools and non-essential businesses.
A wave of planned anti-lockdown demonstrations that have broken out around the country included far-right groups as well as more mainstream Republicans.
While protesters in Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and other states claim to speak for ordinary citizens, many are also supported by street-fighting rightwing groups like the Proud Boys, conservative armed militia groups, religious fundamentalists, anti-vaccination groups and other elements of the radical right.
On Wednesday in Lansing, Michigan, a protest put together by two Republican-connected not-for-profits was explicitly devised to cause gridlock in the city, and for a time blocked the entrance to a local hospital.
It was organized by the Michigan Conservative Coalition, which Michigan state corporate filings show has also operated under the name of Michigan Trump Republicans. It was also heavily promoted by the Michigan Freedom Fund, a group linked to Trump cabinet member Betsy DeVos.
But the protest also attracted far right protest groups who have been present at pro-Trump and gun rights rallies in Michigan throughout the Trump presidency.
Placards identified the Michigan Proud Boys as participants in the vehicle convoy. Near the state house, local radio interviewed a man who identified himself as “Phil Odinson”.
In fact the man is Phil Robinson, the prime mover in a group called the Michigan Liberty Militia, whose Facebook page features pictures of firearms, warnings of civil war, celebrations of Norse paganism, and memes ultimately sourced from white nationalist groups like Patriot Front.
US daily death toll jumps as White House issues plan to reopen country
Good morning, live blog readers.
The White House and a number of states are looking ahead to reopening the economy, but the severe effects of the coronavirus pandemic are still being felt across the country.
The country’s daily death toll hit a new record of 4,591 people yesterday, according to the Wall Street Journal. That figure is nearly double that of the previous record of 2,569, which was set on Wednesday.
Overall, the US has recorded 33,286 deaths from coronavirus and confirmed 671,425 cases of the virus, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
As the death toll continued to rise, the White Hosue released federal guidelines on a phased reopening for states, although the decision on when and how to reopen will ultimately lie with goverors.
But Dr Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, acknowledged the country still faced a long road ahead. A “light switch on and off is the exact opposite of what you see here,” Fauci said. “You don’t get to phase one until you get through the gating.”
Updated
