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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Maanvi Singh in Oakland, Joan E Greve Washington (earlier) and Joanna Walters in New York

Trump says it's time to reopen businesses: 'Will some people be affected badly? Yes' – as it happened

Donald Trump visits a face mask production facility in Phoenix, Arizona, on 5 May.
Donald Trump visits a face mask production facility in Phoenix, Arizona, on 5 May.
 Photograph: Tom Brenner/Reuters

  • The White House is looking to wind down its coronavirus task force in the coming weeks. Mike Pence said that the pandemic response may be transferred to federal agencies in late May or early June.
  • As the president pivots to reopening the economy, the US coronavirus death toll has surpassed 70,000. In an interview with David Muir of ABC News, Trump acknowledged that deaths may rise as restrictions are scaled back. “As horrible as that is, I mean you’re talking about filling up Yankee stadium with death— it’s probably going to be higher than that” he said.
  • Thanks to decisions by federal judges, Virginia voters will not have to abide by rules requiring a witness signature to vote absentee, and Bernie Sanders and other candidates will be back on the primary ballot in New York. Both states are holding primaries in June.
  • The New York governor, Andrew Cuomo, said the state’s reopening plan would not include a “trade-off” between the economy and public health. “To me, a human life is priceless,” Cuomo said.
  • California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, similarly warned that the state would need to continue observing social distancing restrictions until a vaccine is developed. “We’re not going back to normal,” Newsom said.
  • A poll showed majorities of Americans oppose reopening most businesses. Despite the president’s push to reopen the economy, more than 7 in 10 Americans do not think movie theaters, gyms or nail salons should reopen at this time.
  • Ousted government scientist Dr Rick Bright filed his whistleblower complaint with the office of special counsel. Bright, the former director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, has claimed he was moved to a less important role for refusing to promote hydroxychloroquine as a potential coronavirus treatment.
  • Republican senators are set to fast track Trump loyalist John Ratcliffe’s confirmation as director of national intelligence. The congressman sat through Senate confirmation hearings today, only nine months after being forced to withdraw for having exaggerated his security experience.

A judge has restored Bernie Sanders and other Democratic presidential candidates who have dropped out of the race to the New York ballot.

New York is holding a primary on 23 June. Although Sanders has dropped out and endorsed Joe Biden, the Vermont senator urged supporters to vote for him in the remaining primaries, so that he can amass delegates and better influence the Democratic party platform.

Report: Financial shocks of the coronavirus pandemic have hit Black and Hispanic Americans hardest

In a report, the Pew research center found that 61% of Hispanic Americans and 44% of Black Americans said in April that they or someone in their household had lost a job or wages.

Moreover, nearly three-quarters of Black (73%) and Hispanic adults (70%) said they did not have funds to cover three months of expenses. About half of white adults said the same.

Explainer: Why is the White House ending the coronavirus taskforce?

The Trump administration is poised to break up the White House coronavirus taskforce, the public face of the US response to the virus, even as experts warn that the worst is yet to come. Here is what we know so far about the taskforce and where the US stands in its response to Covid-19.

What is the coronavirus taskforce?

Days after public health officials announced the first confirmed case of Covid-19 on US soil on 21 January, the White House announced that it had formed a taskforce that would lead the federal government’s response to the pandemic. The group, it said, would work together to monitor, contain and mitigate the spread of the virus in the US and keep the public informed about important public health and travel guidance.

By March, as the US reported thousands of new cases of Covid-19 every day, the taskforce gave daily press briefings, ostensibly to update Americans about the public health emergency.

But at the end of April, the briefings stopped. The last press conference was held on 24 April. According to reports, Trump’s advisers said his daily appearances were hurting his chance of re-election in November, especially after he suggested – with no evidence – that disinfectant could fight the virus in human bodies.

Why is the White House ending the coronavirus taskforce?

Pence insisted that “it really is all a reflection of the tremendous progress we’ve made as a country”, despite data on the continuing public health risk.

Recently there has been some tension in messaging about the virus from key members of the group.

Fauci has cautioned that the US needs to have enough testing capacity to reopen safely, and is not yet at that stage. Fauci said the US will need to double its current level of testing within several weeks.

“I don’t think there’s a chance that this virus is just going to disappear,” he told National Geographic. “It’s going to be around, and if given the opportunity, it will resurge.”

But acknowledging that the US is still behind on testing does not chime with Trump’s messaging.

In recent days, Trump has started to amp up talk about reopening the economy, saying Tuesday morning that it was “going to happen pretty fast”.

Virginia voters will not have to obtain a witness signature to vote absentee

In a victory for voting rights advocates, a federal judge approved a partial settlement challenging a requirement that Virginia voters who want to vote by mail have to open their ballot in front of a witness and have the witness sign the sealed envelope after voting.

Now, voters who can’t safely find a witness won’t have to comply with the requirement for the state’s primary on 23 June.

Trump: 'Probably' more than 70,000 Americans will die

The president said that. that 60,000 to 70,000 Americans dying “as horrible as that is, I mean you’re talking about filling up Yankee stadium with death— it’s probably going to be higher than that.”

The US death toll has already topped 70,000, and experts warn that the worst is yet to come.

Recently, an influential model that the White House coronavirus task force references shifted up its projection. The model itself has been criticized for being overly optimistic. But Trump has often pointed to the projections to highlight that the US has not reached the worst-case scenarios modeled by early projections.

The president’s recent assertions that the country should reopen for businesses despite the risks Have come under fire. Read more:

Updated

The president is repeating some of the same misleading claims he’s made during daily task force briefings. Just now, he said that his administration inherited “broken tests”.

Fact check: The novel coronavirus did not exist during the Obama administration, and they could not have made a test for the infection back then.

I missed this detail from the president’s appearance in Arizona:

Donald Trump’s interview with ABC has just begun to air. “The decision to close the country was the biggest decision I’ve had to make,” Trump told ABC’s David Muir. “The people want to go back to work.”

The Democratic National Committee’s War Room director has condemned the president’s assertion that the country should reopen for business even though people could be “affected badly”.

“Donald Trump is knowingly putting American lives at risk to further his political interests, it’s as simple as that,” said Daniel Wessel. “Trump has declared ‘mission accomplished’ while the virus continues to spread, and he just admitted that a rush to reopen the country too quickly could cause unnecessary deaths. This level of neglect is astonishing even for a president who has always put himself first.”

The president has wrapped up a speech at the Honeywell mask facility in Arizona.

Opinion: Will Americans ever forgive Trump for his heartless lack of compassion

Francine Prose writes for The Guardian:

To exist at this moment is to navigate (or try to fend off) the flood of grief that threatens to submerge even our rare, buoyant moments. We mourn the death of friends and relatives, the absence of human contact and the everyday pleasures we once took for granted. We can’t stop thinking about the tens of thousands of families facing hunger, bankruptcy and homelessness even as they struggle to endure the loss of someone they dearly loved.

What’s striking, if not surprising, is that this deluge of sorrow has run dry at the door to the Oval Office.

One’s heart goes out to the reporters who have sifted through the Donald Trump’s press briefings on the current pandemic – hour after hour of bombast, self-promotion, vitriol, lies and recklessly unscientific speculation – for any evidence of sympathy for those who are in pain. It’s hardly a shock to learn that our president’s expressions of care and compassion have occupied a total of less than five minutes, out of all that time.

After all, a man who mocked a disabled journalist and boasted about grabbing women wasn’t elected for the depths of his kindness and the purity of his moral conscience. And it seems unrealistically optimistic to have hoped that the extremity of this crisis should have inspired, in our leader, a deep and essential change of heart.

Arguably, few politicians seek (and are elected to) office out of an excess of compassion. Even those who respond to catastrophe in more appropriately “human” ways – George W Bush mourning the victims of 9/11, Obama tearing up at the site of the Sandy Hook school shooting – have been parochial in their sympathies; there was little ceremonial grieving for the innocent child-casualties of our bombing and drone strikes in the Middle East.

And yet we can’t help thinking how much less worried we would be if a humane, competent, well-informed adult was making the decisions that affect us all. Though we’ve learned that Franklin Delano Roosevelt turned away refugees from Hitler’s Europe, we can still imagine how comforting it was, for those who lived through the Great Depression, hearing his radio speeches: absorbing their message of reassurance and hope, his determination to comprehend and mitigate the sufferings of our nation.

Updated

Trump struck a similar tone while speaking with ABC. “It’s possible there will be some” deaths, the president said, but “we have to get our country back.”

A full interview with the network will air at 6:30 ET.

Trump: 'Will some people be affected badly? Yes.'

Hi there, it’s Maanvi Singh, blogging from the west coast.

Donald Trump, speaking in Arizona, said it’s time to reopen businesses. “Will some people be affected? Yes. Will some people be affected badly? Yes. But we have to get our country open and we have to get it open soon,” he said.

“I’m viewing our great citizens of this country to a certain extent and to a large extent as warriors,” the president said.

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:

  • Vice-president Mike Pence said the White House is looking to wind down its coronavirus task force in the coming weeks. The potential disbanding of the group is being discussed even as one projection warns the country’s daily coronavirus death toll could reach 3,000 by 1 June.
  • The US coronavirus death toll has surpassed 70,000. The country’s death toll continues to steadily rise, even as Trump attempts to pivot to focus on reopening the economy.
  • The New York governor, Andrew Cuomo, said the state’s reopening plan would not include a “trade-off” between the economy and public health. “To me, a human life is priceless,” Cuomo said. California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, similarly warned that the state would need to continue observing social distancing restrictions until a vaccine is developed. “We’re not going back to normal,” Newsom said.
  • A poll showed majorities of Americans oppose reopening most businesses. Despite the president’s push to reopen the economy, more than 7 in 10 Americans do not think movie theaters, gyms or nail salons should reopen at this time.
  • Dr Rick Bright filed his whistleblower complaint with the office of special counsel. Bright, the former director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, has claimed he was moved to a less important role for refusing to promote hydroxychloroquine as a potential coronavirus treatment.

Maanvi will have more coming up, so stay tuned.

Updated

The Guardian’s Mario Koran reports on the latest from California:

California governor Gavin Newsom announced this week that retailers will be allowed to reopen their businesses starting on Friday, more than six weeks after the governor issued a statewide stay-at-home order.

As the state enters “phase 2” of reopening, shops selling books, clothing, sporting goods, flowers or anything else that a customer can purchase through curbside pickup will be able to open again, if they implement certain modifications.

Newsom had words today for rural Yuba and Sutter Counties, north of Sacramento, which last week issued a measure in defiance of the statewide order that allowed restaurants, salons and tattoo parlors to reopen.

“They’re making a big mistake, they’re putting their public at risk” and undermining the state’s progress, said Newsom. The overwhelming number of Californians are “playing by the rules” and complying with state guidance, the governor added.

Deals have been reached with three beach communities in southern California — Huntington Beach, Dana Point and Seal Beach — that will allow beaches to reopen as long as physical distance is maintained and other precautions are in place.

In the meantime, California continues to build its army of contract tracers, or “disease detectives” as Newsom has called them, which the governor expects will allow the state to have access to real-time data and move toward reopening in an informed way. California is aiming to enlist 20,000 tracers in the months to come, and training for the first cohort is now underway.

Newsom: 'We’re not going back to normal'

The Guardian’s Mario Koran reports on the latest from California:

California is looking to gingerly ease restrictions up and down the state, but state and local leaders say this is no time to do away with physical distancing and other precautions that have played a part in keeping coronavirus case numbers steady, relative to states like New York.

“This cannot be a choice between public health and reopening the economy,” said Sacramento mayor Darrell Steinberg, who joined California governor Gavin Newsom for today’s press conference.

In terms of reopening the state, “It is not a question of if, it is not a question of when, it is a question of how,” Steinberg said. Public safety must continue to be part of the equation as the state heads toward a “new normal” where businesses begin to reopen, with conditions, he added.

“We’re not going back to normal,” Newsom said. “It’s a new normal with adaptations and modifications, until we get to immunity and a vaccine.”

The cautionary comments from Newsom and Steinberg come as the White House looks to wind down its coronavirus task force in the coming weeks, even though the country’s death toll continues to steadily rise.

Meanwhile, California tallied 1,275 new cases in the past 24 hours, which the governor said was encouraging. Despite the state’s expanded testing capacity — 100,000 tests have been performed in just three days — he described the numbers as holding relatively steady.

Republican senator Lamar Alexander said that Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell and House speaker Nancy Pelosi should accept Trump’s offer to make rapid coronavirus testing available to lawmakers.

“From a public health point of view, this is not mostly about protecting members of Congress. It is about protecting the people members might infect. Bringing 100 or 535 members from across the country to Washington, D.C.—a coronavirus hotspot—and then sending them home each weekend creates a highly efficient virus spreading machine,” Alexander said in a new statement.

McConnell and Pelosi jointly rejected Trump’s offer this weekend, saying they did not think tests should be used on lawmakers when states were still seeking to expand testing capacity. The attending physician of the Capitol has warned he does not have enough tests to proactively test each member of the Senate, which returned to session yesterday.

“The country will soon be able to test two million Americans each week,” said Alexander, the chair of the Senate health, education, labor and pensions committee. “This is enough to test 535 members of Congress each week before they go home to make sure they don’t spread the disease from a virus hotspot into every section of the country.”

Both Trump and House minority leader Kevin McCarthy have suggested McConnell and Pelosi should reconsider their decision.

Trump’s press secretary has responded to the vice president’s comments that the White House is looking to wind down the coronavirus task force in the coming weeks.

Press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said the White House would still be “involving medical experts” in decisions related to the coronavirus response.

But McEnany did not push back on Pence’s claim that the White House was looking to wind down the task force by late May or early June.

In comparison, Dr Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, said it was not true that the group was winding down. “I’ve been in every task force meeting, and that’s not what they are doing,” Fauci said.

The discrepancy could indicate the president has not been keeping the task force’s health experts in the loop on potentially disbanding.

Vice President Mike Pence said the White House was looking at Memorial Day weekend in late May as a potential target date for winding down the coronavirus task force.

“I think we’re starting to look at the Memorial Day window, early June window as a time when we could begin to transition back to having our agencies begin to manage -- begin to manage our national response in a more traditional manner,” Pence said.

It’s worth noting that one projection shows the country’s daily coronavirus death toll couch reach up to 3,000 by June 1 if social distancing restrictions are relaxed too quickly, meaning it’s possible the task force will be winding down as thousands of Americans are dying every day from the virus.

The vice president added that the White House has already started discussing a potential transition plan with FEMA. “I think we’re having conversations about [winding down the task force] and about what the proper time is for the task force to complete its work and for the ongoing efforts to take place on an agency-by-agency level,” Pence said. “And we’ve already begun to talk about a transition plan with FEMA.”

But Dr Deborah Birx, the coordinator of the task force, added to Pence’s comments, “We’ll still keep a close eye on the data because we have very good data now. It took us a while to build that capacity. And we’ll make sure that, you know, we’re watching that at a federal level.”

Updated

Trump arrives in Arizona

The US president has alighted from Air Force One in Phoenix, Arizona, and was met by the state’s governor, Doug Ducey, whose tweet Trump earlier retweeted.

There are various debates on social media about why the president has chosen his first big trip outside Washington, DC, since late March, when the coronavirus outbreak began escalating in the US, to revolve around visiting a production line.

Albeit that it produces masks for medical workers, this trip is not revolving around a hospital, or medical workers who are working in the most trying circumstances outside a war zone, or families in mourning.

The trip isn’t all about industry, the president is holding a roundtable discussion on supporting Native Americans, then touring Honeywell International mask production assembly line and then giving a speech, before returning to the White House tonight.

It remains to be seen if he will wear a mask at the Honeywell site.

Updated

Ousted vaccine expert files whistleblower complaint

Dr Rick Bright, the former director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority who says he was demoted for refusing to promote hydroxychloroquine, has officially filed his whistleblower complaint with the office of special counsel.

The AP reports:

Bright also said the Trump administration rejected his warnings on COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus. Bright said he ‘acted with urgency’ to address the growing spread of COVID-19 after the World Health Organization issued a warning in January.

He said he ‘encountered resistance from HHS leadership, including Health and Human Services Secretary (Alex) Azar, who appeared intent on downplaying this catastrophic event.’

Bright alleges in the complaint that political appointees at the Department of Health and Human Services had tried to promote hydroxychloroquine ‘as a panacea.’ The officials also ‘demanded that New York and New Jersey be ‘flooded’ with these drugs, which were imported from factories in Pakistan and India that had not been inspected by the FDA,’ the complaint says.

But Bright opposed broad use of the drug, arguing the scientific evidence wasn’t there to back up its use in coronavirus patients. He felt an urgent need to tell the public that there wasn’t enough scientific evidence to support using the drugs for COVID-19 patients, the complaint states.

In a statement issued late last month, Bright said, “While I am prepared to look at all options and to think ‘outside the box’ for effective treatments, I rightly resisted efforts to provide an unproven drug on demand to the American public.”

Lawyers for Bright announced about two weeks ago that he intended to file a whistleblower complaint after being moved from his influential role helping to oversee the production of a coronavirus vaccine to a much smaller role.

Pence confirms report the White House is looking to wind down taskforce

Vice President Mike Pence confirmed the New York Times’ report that the White House is having “conversations” about winding down its coronavirus task force.

Dr Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, denied the report, but it appears the health expert may be out of the loop on the president’s thinking.

If the group were disbanded, it would almost certainly intensify concerns that Trump is sidelining health experts as he increasingly focuses on reopening the US economy.

Updated

Dr Anthony Fauci denied that the White House is looking to wind down its coronavirus task force in the coming weeks.

“That’s not true,” the infectious disease expert told CBS News. “I’ve been in every task force meeting, and that’s not what they are doing.”

Fauci is scheduled to testify before the Senate’s health, education, labor and pensions committee next Tuesday, where senators will almost certainly ask him about the task force’s recent activity.

The news that Trump is considering winding down the White House coronavirus task force comes as the president has largely abandoned the group’s daily briefings.

The president and the health experts on the task force were previoulsy holding daily updates on the coronavirus response, but Trump appears to have dropped the briefings since his infamous suggestion that Americans ingest disinfectants to protect against the virus.

Trump has increasingly found other venues to take questions from reporters about the coronavirus response, including a White House recognition ceremony for first responders and this morning’s walk out to Marine One before flying to Arizona.

White House looking to wind down coronavirus task force - report

The White House is reportedly looking to wind down the coronavirus task force in the coming weeks, even as the rate of new coronavirus infections continue to rise in most of the country.

The New York Times reports:

A top adviser to Vice President Mike Pence who has helped oversee the task force, Olivia Troye, has told senior officials involved in the task force to expect the group to wind down within weeks, a notice echoed by other top White House officials. While the task force met Tuesday at the White House, Monday’s meeting was canceled, and a Saturday session, a staple of recent months, was never held. ...

A senior administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss internal deliberations, said the task force will be winding down as the White House moves toward Phase One of Mr. Trump’s plan to ‘open up’ the country. The focus now will be on therapeutics, vaccine development and testing, the official said. ...

A group led by Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, has been functioning as something of a shadow task force. That group is likely to continue working; among other issues, Mr. Kushner is said to be discussing a new role for someone to oversee development of therapeutic treatments.

The report comes as the US coronavirus death toll surpassed 70,000, with one projection warning the country’s daily death toll could reach 3,000 by June 1 if social distancing restrictions are relaxed too quickly.

The news also comes just hours after the Washington Post reported one volunteer for Kushner’s coronavirus response effort was so alarmed by the team’s mismanagement that the person filed a complaint with the House oversight committee.

US coronavirus death toll surpasses 70,000

The US coronavirus death toll has surpassed 70,000, according to the data compiled by Johns Hopkins Univeristy.

According to the university’s numbers, 70,115 Americans have now died of the virus, representing more than a quarter of all coronavirus deaths reported across the world.

The US has also reported more cases of the virus than any other country in the world. As of this afternoon, the US has confirmed 1,192,119 cases of coronavirus.

New York remains the state that has suffered the most coronavirus deaths, losing at least 24,999 residents to the virus. But while New York has recently seen a decrease in its number of coronavirus cases and deaths, other states are still on the rise.

Today is Cinco de Mayo, and Trump has chosen to celebrate the holiday by retweeting a photo from exactly four years ago showing him eating a taco bowl.

“Remember this?” Trump wrote of the photo, which he first shared during the 2016 campaign. The original caption on the photo says, “The best taco bowls are made in Trump Tower Grill. I love Hispanics!”

When it was first tweeted, the photo quickly became the subject of criticism and mockery, considering Trump began his presidential campaign by saying some Mexican immigrants were “rapists” who brought drugs into the US.

“When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best,” Trump said in June 2015. “They’re sending people that have a lot of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”

Updated

Former Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg criticized Trump for blocking Dr Anthony Fauci from testifying to the House.

Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, warned that blocking the infectious disease expert’s testimony is “a gift for those seeking to discredit American global leadership.”

Buttigieg specificially pointed to an article from a state-run Chinese outlet that argues “this U.S. administration has simply dropped the ball because of either self-conceited arrogance or gross negligence, or both.”

Buttigieg’s warning come hours after Trump said he did not believe Fauci should testify before the Democratic-controlled House because it would be a “set-up.” The expert is scheduled to appear before the Republican-controlled Senate.

Today so far

Here’s where the day stands so far:

  • New York governor Andrew Cuomo said the state’s reopening plan would not be a “trade-off” between the economy and public health. “To me, a human life is priceless,” Cuomo said. The governor’s comments came after Trump told reporters this morning, “We did everything right, but now it’s time to go back to work.”
  • Trump claimed (without any evidence) that Democrats want the government’s response to coronavirus to fail. The president said before leaving for Arizona today, “They frankly want our situation to be unsuccessful, which means death.” Trump added that Dr Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, would not testify before the Democratic-controlled House because it’s a “set-up.”
  • A poll showed large majorities of Americans oppose reopening most businesses. More than 7 in 10 Americans said movie theaters, nail salons and gyms should not yet reopen in their states, despite Trump’s insistence that the economy must start reopening.

The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned.

Volunteer for Kushner's coronavirus response effort filed complaint - report

A volunteer for Jared Kushner’s coronavirus response effort was so worried about the mismanagement of the team that the person reportedly filed a complaint with the House oversight committee.

The Washington Post reports:

The coronavirus response being spearheaded by President Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, has relied in part on volunteers from consulting and private equity firms with little expertise in the tasks to which they were assigned, exacerbating chronic problems in obtaining supplies for hospitals and other needs, according to numerous government officials and a volunteer involved in the effort.

About two dozen employees from Boston Consulting Group, Insight, McKinsey and other firms have volunteered their time — some on paid vacation leave from their jobs and others without pay — to aid the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, according to administration officials and others familiar with the arrangement.

Although some of the volunteers have relevant backgrounds and experience, many others were poorly matched with the jobs they were assigned, including those given the task of securing personal protective equipment, or PPE, for hospitals nationwide, according to a complaint filed last month with the House Oversight Committee.

The complaint, obtained by The Washington Post, was submitted by a volunteer who has since left the group and who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution from the administration. Key elements of the complaint were confirmed by six administration officials and one outside adviser to the effort ...

The document alleges that the team responsible for PPE had little success in helping the government secure such equipment, in part because none of the team’s members had significant experience in health care, procurement or supply-chain operations. In addition, none of the volunteers had existing relationships with manufacturers or a clear understanding of customs requirements or Food and Drug Administration rules, according to the complaint and two senior administration officials.

The reported complaint will likely intensify concerns about whether the administration is prepared for a potential surge in infections if social distancing restrictions are relaxed too quickly.

Senator Richard Burr, the chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, said he hopes to fast-track the nomination of congressman John Ratcliffe as the director of national intelligence.

“I think he did a very successful job,” Burr said of Ratcliffe’s confirmation hearing this morning. “It’s my intent to run this nomination as quickly through the committee as —possibly next week and then hopefully work with the majority leader to get it to the floor.”

Most Senate Democrats are unlikely to support Ratcliffe’s nomination, especially considering Trump previously rescinded the congressman’s DNI nomination over concerns about his record.

But Ratcliffe still faces a good chance of confirmation considering Republicans control the Senate and have largely signaled support for his nomination.

Cuomo: New York's reopening plan 'doesn’t have a trade-off'

New York governor Andrew Cuomo asked, “How much is a human life worth?” at his daily press conference, implicitly criticizing states which have rushed to reopen their economies in recent weeks.

“The faster we reopen the lower the economic costs, but the higher the human costs because the more lives lost. That, my friends, is the decision we are really making,” said Cuomo.

“To me ... a human life is priceless,” Cuomo later added. “Our reopening plan doesn’t have a trade-off.” New York’s reopening plan, he said, would have a “circuit breaker” to reimpose restrictions if the coronavirus begins to rapidly spread and send people into hospitals.

He also called on federal leaders to provide aid to states. Economic restrictions have blown state budgets wide open. The virus left New York with a $13bn deficit.

“The debate now is – the blue states have the coronavirus… the Republicans are saying we don’t want to give money to the blue states,” said Cuomo. The virus, he said, doesn’t kill Democrats or Republicans, “It kills Americans.”

He added, “If we can’t get past this now, when can we ever get past it?”

Updated

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said the projection showing up to 3,000 daily coronavirus deaths by June 1 was “based on faulty assumptions.”

“The Johns Hopkins’ study being pushed around by the media as factual is based on faulty assumptions and is in no way representative of any federal government projections and, as Johns Hopkins stated, should not be taken as a forecast,” McEnany said in a statement.

She went on to echo Trump’s comments moments ago, saying, “This ‘study’ considered zero mitigation, meaning it was conducted as though no federal guidelines were in place, no contract tracing, no expansion of testing, while removing all shelter in place protocols laid out in the phased approach of the Opening Up America Again guidelines for individuals with co-morbidities.”

Justin Lessler, the epidemiologist who created the model, did say that the projection “was not in any way intended to be a forecast,” but he added that the numbers demonstrated how infections could spiral out of control if social distancing restrictions are relaxed too quickly. “There are reopening scenarios where it could get out of control very quickly,” Lessler said.

Wearing a mask in public, keeping distance from others and frequently washing your hands may have a compounded benefit – persuading others in your community to do the same.

Social cues from friends and family – in addition to guidance from health officials – are important to encouraging Americans to take precautions to avoid spreading the coronavirus, according to recent research.

The findings come from Yale’s Program on Climate Change Communication, who has made similar conclusions about how perceived social norms drive individual action to thwart the climate crisis.

The working paper, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, says this “horizontal” communication is key, particularly for Americans who don’t trust information from authorities. “The conventional approach to promoting preventive behaviors in a public health crisis is ‘top-down’ communication from authority figures, opinion leaders, and mainstream media Outlets,” the paper says. “However, some traditional, official information sources are perceived as partisan. This means that for some audiences, critical information about recommended behaviors comes from sources they do not trust.”

People surveyed were more likely to engage in certain protective behaviors if they thought their friends and family members were as well. At the top of the list were: no longer shaking hands, covering their mouths and noses when coughing and sneezing, keeping six feet from others and washing hands.

Updated

Trump said he would wear a mask in Arizona, where he will visit a facility that has been producing face masks to help limit the spread of coronavirus.

Asked about whether he would cover his face, the president told reporters, “I think it’s a mask facility, right? If it’s a mask facility, I will, yeah. I don’t know if it’s a mask facility.”

According to the president’s public schedule, he will paricipate in a tour of the company Honeywell’s mask production assembly line in Phoenix, Arizona.

Trump has been generally resistant to wearing a mask, even as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended that Americans cover their faces to mitigate the spread of the virus.

Vice President Mike Pence was also criticized last week for not wearing a mask while visiting the Mayo Clinic facilities in Minnesota, despite the clinic’s requirement to do so. Pence later acknowledged he should have worn a mask during the visit.

Trump says 'we did everything right' despite criticism

Trump made a fair amount of news while taking questions from reporters before leaving for his trip to Arizona, where he will visit a facility producing face masks.

The president was asked about the internal document obtained by the New York Times, which included a projection indicating the country’s daily coronavirus death toll could reach 3,000 by June 1.

Trump claimed that projection assumed no efforts to mitigate the spread of the virus, so it would not be accurate. “That’s a report with no mitigation,” Trump said. “But we’re doing a lot of mitigation.”

But the creator of the projection said yesterday that the numbers, while not finalized, represent the potential effects of states reopening too quickly. “There are reopening scenarios where it could get out of control very quickly,” epidemiologist Justin Lessler said.

And yet moments ago, Trump once again expressed support for states starting to relax social distancing restrictions, despite concerns that it could cause a surge in infections. “We did everything right, but now it’s time to go back to work,” Trump said.

Trump said moments ago that Dr Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, could not testify before the Democratic-controlled House because it was a “set-up.”

But days ago, the White House said Fauci could not testify because it would be “counterproductive” to take him away from his work responding to the pandemic.

“While the Trump Administration continues its whole-of-government response to COVID-19, including safely opening up America again and expediting vaccine development, it is counterproductive to have the very individuals involved in those efforts appearing at congressional hearings,” White House spokesman Judd Deere said Friday. “We are committed to working with Congress to offer testimony at the appropriate time.”

However, that explanation seemed a little questionable once it was confirmed that Fauci would be testifiying before the Republican-controlled Senate.

Trump: Fauci can't testify before House because it is a 'set-up'

Taking questions from reporters before leaving for a trip to Arizona, Trump confirmed Dr Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease specialist, would testify before the Senate but not the House.

Asked why he would not let Fauci testify before the Democratic-controlled House, Trump said, “Because the House is a set-up. The House is a bunch of Trump haters.”

The president then alarmingly accused Democrats of wanting the country’s response to coronavirus to fail. “They frankly want our situation to be unsuccessful, which means death,” Trump said, providing no evidence for the sensational accusation.

Some of the president’s allies have similarly claimed, without any kind of proof, that Democrats are resisting the reopening of the economy to hurt Trump’s chances of reelection.

But that baseless argument ignores the fact that large majorities of Americans are opposed to reopening businesses like movie theaters, dine-in restaurants and nail salons.

Congressman John Ratcliffe has already provided some answers at his Senate confirmation hearing that will likely cause some alarm among Trump’s critics.

For example, the potential director of national intelligence said of Russia’s meddling in US elections, “They may have been successful in [sowing discord], but they have not been successful in changing votes or the outcome of any election.”

That is not necessarily true. Although no votes appear to have been directly falsified by Russia in the 2016 election, it is not known whether the Kremlin’s disinformation campaign made the difference in Trump’s victory.

Asked whether he agreed with the Senate intelligence committee’s conclusion that Russia interfered to help Trump in the 2016 race, Ratcliffe replied, “I have no reason to dispute the committee’s finding.” But he added that he also had no reason to dispute the findings of House intelligence committee, which did not reach that conclusion.

Ratcliffe testifies in Senate confirmation hearing

In some non-coronavirus news: Republican congressman John Ratcliffe is testifying before the Senate intelligence committee this morning after being nominated to become the next director of national intelligence.

Ratcliffe is sure to face tough questions from the panel’s Democratic members, considering Trump previously rescinded the congressman’s nomination for the job over concerns about his record.

Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the committee, opened his remarks by saying he was willing to give Ratcliffe the benefit of the doubt, but he added, “I don’t see what has changed since last summer when the president decided not to proceed with your nomination over concerns about your inexperience, partisanship and past statements that seemed to embellish your record.”

However, Ratcliffe still faces a good chance of being confirmed considering the panel and the Senate as a whole are both controlled by Republicans.

New York state is reporting another 1,700 deaths at nursing homes and adult-care facilities, as governor Andrew Cuomo faces questions over how he has handled oversight of the facilities, which have become particularly vulnerable to outbreaks.

The AP reports:

At least 4,813 people have died from COVID-19 in the state’s nursing homes since March 1, according to a tally released by [Cuomo’s] administration late Monday that, for the first time, includes people believed to have been killed by the coronavirus before their diagnoses could be confirmed by a lab test.

Exactly how many nursing home residents have died remains uncertain despite the state’s latest disclosure, as the list doesn’t [specify] nursing home residents who were transferred to hospitals before dying.

The revised list shows that 22 nursing homes, largely in New York City and Long Island, have reported at least 40 deaths.

Cuomo has said the state will launch an investigation of nursing homes to determine whether the facilities followed proper protocols on sanitization and personal protective equipment.

But nursing home operators have accused Cuomo’s administration of providing inadequate support amid the crisis, noting that their facilities were required to readmit virus patients once hospitals deemed them to be medically stable, potentially causing a surge in cases.

Americans oppose reopening most businesses, poll says

Despite the president’s shift to focus on reopening the economy, large majorities of Americans say they do not believe most businesses should reopen at this time.

According to a new Washington Post-University of Maryland poll, 74% of Americans said they were opposed to reopening dine-in restaurants and nail salons in their states. More than 8 in 10 Americans (82%) said movie theaters should not be allowed to reopen in their states.

Gun stores, barbershops and hair salons, retail shops and golf courses all received a majority “no” vote on whether they should be allowed to reopen.

The results also provide a likely reason why Americans remain opposed to reopening: the poll found that 63% of Americans are still worried about becoming seriously ill from coronavirus, which is almost identical to the number from two weeks ago.

All of this paints a very glaring picture that Trump and his allies are not successfully carrying along the rest of the country as they try to focus on reopening.

Good morning. This is Joan Greve, taking over the blog for Joanna Walters.

Trump and his allies are signaling a desire to focus on reopening the economy, even as coronavirus projections suggest relaxing social distancing restrictions too quickly could cause thousands of additional deaths.

Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie told CNN yesterday, “Of course, everybody wants to save every life they can -- but the question is, towards what end, ultimately?”

Christie, who led Trump’s 2016 transition team, added, “Are there ways that we can ... thread the middle here to allow that there are going to be deaths, and there are going to be deaths no matter what?”

CNN’s Dana Bash pressed the former Republican governor on whether Americans should accept reopening even as one projection suggests the country could see up to 3,000 deaths a day by June 1. “They’re going to have to,” Christie said.

But there are some polls out this morning showing that, despite Christie’s alarming advice, Americans are not willing to go along with reopening if it means thousands of additional deaths. More on that in a minute ...

Donald Trump is effectively abandoning a public health strategy for the coronavirus pandemic and showing “clear willingness to trade lives for the Dow Jones”, critics say.

A leaked internal White House report predicts the daily death toll from the virus could reach about 3,000 on 1 June, almost double the current tally of about 1,750, the New York Times revealed on Monday.

Yet at the same time, Trump has scrapped daily coronavirus taskforce briefings and marginalized his medical experts in favour of economic officials flooding the airwaves to urge states to reopen for business – even amid rising infection rates.

“They’ve decided in a very utilitarian kind of way that the political damage from a collapsed economy is greater than the political damage from losing as many as 90,000 more Americans just in June,” said Rick Wilson, a former Republican strategist. “We’re witnessing the full-scale application of a kind of grisly realpolitik that is a clear willingness to trade lives for the Dow Jones.”

The latest comments from Anthony Fauci, the long-time director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and the most senior public health expert on the White House coronavirus task force, will turn your head.

He was interviewed on CNN and also did an interview for National Geographic.

He discussed with CNN’s Chris Cuomo last night to what extent America’s state, national and local leaders are willing to accept more sickness and death from coronavirus in order to release the stifled social and economic energy of the country.

“It’s the balance of something that’s a very difficult choice,” Fauci said.

Then he went on: “How many deaths and how much suffering are you willing to accept to get back to what you want to be some form of normality sooner rather than later?” he asked.

That’s a question that Donald Trump is now asking out loud, effectively, as are some others. More on that in a moment.

Fauci also accompanied his question with this point, after a discussion of forecasts yesterday that showed a projected doubling of deaths, almost, in the case of a rushed reopening, saying:

“When we have a lot of virus activity and you know that you are able to contain it to a certain degree” with the kinds of mitigating measures we’ve been practicing, such as social distancing and wearing masks in public “and you start to leapfrog over some of these, you are inviting a rebound [of coronavirus cases] . And rebound is going to give you spikes and spikes are going to give you the kind of numbers” being discussed.

Meanwhile, in National Geographic interview, Fauci said the scientific evidence was “very, very strongly leaning toward” the conclusion that the virus originated in nature and jumped from animals to humans.

That was after secretary of state Mike Pompeo contradicted his own intelligence and military chiefs and, without any evidence details, said there was “enormous evidence” that the coronavirus originated in a Chinese lab and also was probably manmade.

Fauci asks how many deaths is US willing to accept

Good morning, US live blog readers, it’s a very lively start to the day and there is a lot going on in the world of politics and the coronavirus. Our principal blogger Joanie Greve will be with you at the top of the hour, but let’s get going.

Here’s what’s in the news today so far:

  • Top US public health expert Dr Anthony Fauci is rhetorically asking America this question: “How many deaths and how much suffering are you willing to accept to get back to what you want to be some form of normality sooner rather than later?” That’s from a CNN interview last night.
  • Fauci also warned that “you are going to get a rebound” in the number of coronavirus cases in the US if there is a “premature” rush to reopen society and business. This as a number of top models forecast a likely surge in new cases and deaths.
  • Donald Trump has promised/warned (depending on your view) that his White House coronavirus briefings will be back soon because “everyone” enjoys them especially, he admitted in an interview with the New York Post, him – and...those ratings.
  • Meanwhile, Chinese state TV called the US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, “insane” for suggesting (against the opinions of the US’s intelligence and military leaders – and Dr Fauci!) that the coronavirus at the root of the pandemic was probably made in a lab in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
  • The US president is visiting Arizona today to tour a Honeywell production line that’s churning out surgical face masks. Air Force One has been wheeled out for the president’s journey for the first time since late March.
  • As of today, the US has almost 1.2m confirmed coronavirus cases and has an official death toll of 68,934.

Updated

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