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

Trump says federal distancing guidelines could extend into summer – as it happened

Summary

  • During the daily White House press briefing, the DHS’ Bill Bryan presented emerging research suggesting that sunlight, heat and humidity could slow the coronavirus. “Our most striking observation to date is the powerful effect that solar light appears to have on killing the virus, both surfaces and in the air,” he said. But the findings have not been peer-reviewed or published in a medical journal. Previous research has suggested that sunlight is unlikely to kill the novel coronavirus.
  • Donald Trump suggested that light and disinfectant could be injected into people’s bodies as a cure for coronavirus. His public health advisors immediately played down the idea. Medics warn that attempting such at thing at home is very dangerous and could be fatal.
  • The president ignored questions about Dr Rick Bright, who said he would file a whistleblower complaint after being removed from his role overseeing the development of a coronavirus vaccine. Bright said he was removed from his post overseeing the development of a coronavirus vaccine at the department of health and human services because he refused to promote hydroxychloroquine as a potential coronavirus treatment. Trump has repeatedly touted the drug as a cure despite limited evidence.
  • The House approved a $484bn coronavirus relief bill, which the president said he would sign into law. The package would boost a depleted loan program for small businesses and provide funding for hospitals and coronavirus testing efforts. Only five representatives voted against the bill. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez was the only one to oppose it, maintaining that it didn’t provide enough relief for medical facilities.
  • Congress also approved a resolution to create a select committee to review the distribution of coronavirus relief funds. The final vote was 212-182 and fell exactly along party lines, with Republicans unanimously voting against the Democratic proposal. .
  • Few Americans trust Trump as a source for information on the pandemic. According to a new AP/NORC poll, only 23% of Americans say they have high levels of trust in the information the president shares. Another 21% say they have a moderate amount of trust in his information.
  • New York governor Andrew Cuomo fiercely criticized Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell for suggesting states should declare bankruptcy instead of receiving more federal funds. The Democratic governor called McConnell’s suggestion “one of the really dumb ideas of all time,” and he said McConnell’s warning against “bailouts” for Democratic states was “irresponsible” and “reckless.”
  • Elizabeth Warren announced her older brother died of coronavirus this week. The Massachusetts senator and former presidential candidate had not previously disclosed that her brother, Don Reed Herring, had tested positive for the virus.

More info on sunlight and the coronavirus

While the president’s suggestions that light and disinfectact could be injected into people as a cure for the coronavirus has attracted the most attention tonight, we’ve also been wondering about the emerging research that the DHS’s Bill Bryan presented during the daily White House briefing.

“Our most striking observation to date is the powerful effect that solar light appears to have on killing the virus, both surfaces and in the air,” Bryan said. The research he referenced has yet to be published or validated.

David Brenner, who directs the Center for Radiological Research at Columbia University Medical Center told The Guardian that “Prima facie, the suggestion that solar light will have an effect on the Covid-19 pandemic seems implausible.”

There are different types of UV light: UVA and UVB are the ones we encounter as the ones that can cause sunburns, tanning and sun damage. UVC gets mostly filtered out by the Earth’s ozone later — “there is almost no UVC in the sunlight that reaches us,” Brenner says.

But it’s mostly UVC light that contains antimicrobial properties.

Brenner’s research looks into a type of UVC light that he and his colleagues believe has the potential to kill the Covid-19 virus, while being safe for exposure to humans.

Here’s a belated fact check, courtesy of CNN.

Medics are reminding the public to disregard Trump’s suggestion that disinfectant could be injected into the body to cure coronavirus.

Updated

Hydroxychloroquine – an old anti-malarial drug that is today more commonly used to treat lupus – has become another partisan political wedge issue in the US: conservative politicians and media figures have hyped studies that support the theory that the drug is a potential treatment.

And on Wednesday, Rick Bright, the head of a US government agency charged with investing in treatments and responses for pandemics, said he was forced out of his job over his resistance to the administration’s “misguided directives” promoting “broad use” of the drug, which he said “clearly lack scientific merit”.

The limited evidence around hydroxychloroquine so far has come in a steady stream of scientific studies, often as soon as they are posted online as “preprints” – ie before they have gone through the rigorous vetting process known as peer review. None of the studies that have been released meet the gold standard for demonstrating a drug’s effectiveness – a large-scale, double-blinded randomized controlled trial (RCT), though multiple trials of that kind are under way.

While the world awaits those results, here’s a guide to some of the studies released thus far:

During the briefing, the president evaded questions about Rick Bright, the vaccine expert who says he was removed from his post after resisting the president’s push to use hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for coronavirus without proper vetting and testing. Bright said he would file a whistleblower complaint, after being reassigned from his post overseeing the development of a coronavirus vaccine.

Read more:

Updated

Fact check: Testing

As he does almost daily during his briefings, Trump repeated the claim that the US has done “more tests than all other countries combined”. This is not true.

Moreover, overall, the US had administered more than 4.6m coronavirus tests, according to the Covid Tracking Project. From a very slow start, the US, with a population of 329m, had ramped up to a testing rate of one in every 71 people – a bit better than to South Korea’s rate of 1 in every 90 people. But Germany has done even better, testing every 1 in 63 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.

Updated

The briefing has ended.

Trump finished by criticizing the media (“CNN is fake news. Don’t talk to me.”), the “fake Russia, Russia, Russia deal” and the “illegal witch hunt,” and implying that the media is giving Joe Biden “a pass”.

The president is “not happy about Brian Kemp” Trump said, referring to the governor of Georgia, who has moved ahead with a plan to reopen businesses despite criticisms from the president and other Republican and Democratic lawmakers.

“I don’t want this thing to flare up because you’re deciding to do something that’s not in the guidelines,” Trump said.

Fact check: Blue states and coronavirus

“It is interesting the states that are having trouble are blue,” Trump said. “The states that seem to have the problem happen to be Democrat.”

That’s not really the case. Although New York and Washington, both led by Democratic governors, experienced devastating surges, red states led by Republicans have suffered too.

For the Guardian, Josh Wood compared the fates of Kentucky (led by a Democrat) and Tennesee (led by a Republican):

“Medical doctors,” should see “if there any way to apply light and heat to cure”, the president said. He asked Dr Deborah Birx if that’s possible.

Fevers are the body’s way of apply heat to treat itself, but she hasn’t heard of it being used as a treatment, she responded.

“It’s just a suggestion,” Trump said. “If heat is good and if sunlight it good, that’s. a great thing as far as I’m concerned.”

Will federal distancing guidelines be extended until summer?

“We may, we may go beyond that - we’ll have to see where it is. Until we feel it’s safe, we’re going to be extending,” Trump said.

The president’s message today is much different than what he’s said earlier this week.

We cannot immediately fact-check Bryan on the emerging research he is presenting on the effect of heat, light, and humidity on the coronavirus, but we’ll circle back to it. As I noted earlier, while there are a few preliminary studies suggest that hotter temperatures could slow the virus, most of this research so far has not been through a rigorous process of peer review.

Updated

The DHS’s Bryan is asked about the president’s suggestions that disinfectants be injected into a person.

“We don’t do that within our lab,” Bryan said.

“Maybe it works, maybe it doesn’t work,” Trump interjected — but a disinfectant like isopropyl alcohol definitely has an effect on “stationary objects.”

Note: If you are not a stationary object and are, in fact, a person, please follow medical advice and do not inject disinfectant into your body.

Updated

Congress passes coronavirus relief package

Representatives voted 388-5 in favor of the $484bn package.

“Supposing you brought the light inside the body - either through the skin or some other way,” Trump wondered. He also mused about ways to use disinfectants on people, “by injections inside or almost a cleaning.”

“It’d be interesting to check that,” the president said. “You’d have to use medical doctors.”

The DHS has worked with Johns Hopkins to test how the virus in droplets of saliva and respiratory fluids survives at different temperatures, Bryan said.

The virus survives best indoors, in dry conditions. UV rays and hotter, more humid temps cut down the halflife of the virus.

Updated

Both Trump and Mike Pence have referenced research that the virus will fade in warm weather. The president said “you won’t even believe” how the virus reacts to sunlight.

Preliminary studies, which have not been peer-reviewed, indicate that warm weather could slow the virus. Some researchers think that some Southeast Asian countries, like Cambodia and the Philippines, were spared larger outbreaks because of their hot, humid climate. But there have several outbreaks in other warm areas. The science is far from conclusive on whether the virus is seasonal.

Bill Bryan, who heads the science and technology directorate at the Department of Homeland Security, is presenting more information on how the virus reacts to heat, humidity and light.

Updated

While the briefing is underway, Congress is voting on the $484bn package for small businesses. Only five representatives have voted against the deal, Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Republicans Thomas Massie, Jody Hice, Ken Buck, and Andy Biggs.

Ocasio-Cortez has maintained that the bill doesn’t go far enough in providing relief for hospitals and coronavirus testing effots.

“We’re very close to a vaccine,” Trump said, before immediately contradicting himself. “We’re not close on testing” the vaccine, he clarified.

Public health officials have said that it will take at least a year to 18 months to test and approve a vaccine.

“Harvard, Princeton, Stanford and other institutions” will return funds to the federal government, Trump said.

The president had a public dispute with Harvard this week. Education secretary Betsy DeVos yesterday also called on “elite, wealthy institutions” should not take relief funds intended for struggling educational institutions.

After initially refusing to comply with Trump’s demand that they return the funds, Harvard announced it would return $8.6m in taxpayer funds.

The daily coronavirus briefing has begun

Stay tuned for live coverage and fact-checking

The owner of the Ruth’s Chris Steak House chain said the company could return $20m in federal loans intended for small businesses. This week, Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, said the government would ask bigcompanies to return money after the Payroll Protection Program, created to help companies cover payroll and expenses, ran out of money last week.

Congress is expecting to add an additional $320bn to the fund.

Hi there, it’s Maanvi, blogging from the West Coast.

First up, Nancy Pelosi demonstrates distancing:

Earlier, her technique was less effective.

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:

  • Dr Rick Bright said he would file a whistleblower complaint after being removed from his role overseeing the development of a coronavirus vaccine. Bright has claimed he was moved to a less important role at the department of health and human services because he refused to promote the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as a potential coronavirus treatment. Despite limited evidence, Trump has touted the drug as a potential “game changer” in coronavirus treatment.
  • The House approved a resolution to create a select committee to review the distribution of coronavirus relief funds. The final vote was 212-182 and fell exactly along party lines, with Republicans unanimously voting against the Democratic proposal. The House will soon vote on the nearly $500 billion coronavirus relief bill passed by the Senate yesterday.
  • Few Americans trust Trump as a source for information on the pandemic. According to a new AP/NORC poll, only 23% of Americans say they have high levels of trust in the information the president shares. Another 21% say they have a moderate amount of trust in his information.
  • New York governor Andrew Cuomo fiercely criticized Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell for suggesting states should declare bankruptcy instead of receiving more federal funds. The Democratic governor called McConnell’s suggestion “one of the really dumb ideas of all time,” and he said McConnell’s warning against “bailouts” for Democratic states was “irresponsible” and “reckless.”
  • Elizabeth Warren announced her older brother died of coronavirus this week. The Massachusetts senator and former presidential candidate had not previously disclosed that her brother, Don Reed Herring, had tested positive for the virus.

Maanvi will have more coming up, so stay tuned.

House approves select committee on coronavirus along party lines

The House has voted exactly along party lines to create a select committee to review the distribution of coronavirus relief funds.

The final vote was 212-182, and it took an hour and a half to complete because members were asked to vote in staggered groups to limit the risk of coronavirus spread.

Despite concerns about lawmakers traveling to Washington as the DC region remains under stay-at-home orders, only 35 members did not return to the Capitol to cast their votes.

The House will now take a 15-minute recess to have the chamber cleaned, and members will then return to vote on the nearly $500 billion coronavirus relief package.

When asked about Dr Rick Bright’s claim that he was ousted from his role at HHS because he refused to echo questionable claims regarding potential coronavirus treatments, Trump pleaded ignorance.

“I never heard of him,” the president said at his press conference yesterday. “If a guy says he was pushed out of a job, maybe he was, maybe he wasn’t. You’d have to hear the other side. I don’t know who he is.”

But some of the president’s critics raised concerns that Bright’s demotion was further evidence of the administration’s efforts to sideline experts in the middle of a pandemic.

Ron Klain, who oversaw the Obama administration’s response to the Ebola outbreak, warned the White House was trying to “put politics ahead of science and safety.”

Dr Rick Bright formerly served as the director of the department of health and human services’ Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, or Barda, and as the deputy assistant secretary for preparedness and response, but he was recently demoted to a much smaller role at the National Institutes of Health.

Bright said in a statement yesterday that he believed he was ousted because he refused to back some of Trump’s questionable claims about coronavirus.

“Specifically, and contrary to misguided directives, I limited the broad use of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, promoted by the administration as a panacea, but which clearly lack scientific merit,” 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.”

Ousted vaccine expert to file whistleblower complaint

Dr Rick Bright, the vaccine expert who claims he was ousted from his role helping to oversee the development of a coronavirus vaccine because he challenged Trump’s claims on hydroxychloroquine, is filing a whistleblower complaint against the government.

Lawyers for Bright said the complaint would detail “the retaliatory treatment to which he was subjected by HHS political leadership after raising appropriate science-based concerns.”

Trump has touted the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as a potential “game changer” in coronavirus treatment, even though evidence of its effectiveness is anecdotal at best.

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

In response to the economic fallout triggered by the coronavirus, California is putting in place protections for those facing debts, governor Gavin Newsom announced today.

Twenty-one loan services in California agreed to a 90-day forbearance on student loan debt, with no impact to credit scores — a move that could mean relief for more than 1.1 million Californians. Illinois has already planned to implement a similar measure.

Additionally, Newsom has signed an executive order that prevents debt collectors from garnishing the $1,200 checks provided by the CARES Act.

“No debt collector can take those direct payments from the CARES Act any longer in the state of California, and you can take back those funds that were taken by these collectors”, Newsom said.

The order will be retroactive; if debt collectors have already garnished those funds, they’ll have to give it back, Newsom said. The pause on debt-collection will not apply to those who owe financial support to children and former spouses, or those who owe restitution to courts and victims.

While the number of coronavirus cases has in some ways stabilized, with hospitalizations and ICU admissions down by 4.4 and 1.2% respectively, the state of California is not yet out of the woods.

Yesterday marked a grim milestone in California, with 115 coronavirus deaths recorded, marking the state’s deadliest day so far and an 8.5% increase from the previous day.

The treasury department has issued new guidance on the Paycheck Protection Program making it harder for publicly traded companies to receive small-business loans.

“Borrowers still must certify in good faith that their PPP loan request is necessary,” the guidance reads. “[I]t is unlikely that a public company with substantial market value and access to capital markets will be able to make the required certification in good faith, and such a company should be prepared to demonstrate to SBA, upon request, the basis for its certification.”

The guidance goes on to add, “Any borrower that applied for a PPP loan prior to the issuance of this guidance and repays the loan in full by May 7, 2020 will be deemed by SBA to have made the required certification in good faith.”

In effect, this gives publicly traded companies two weeks to return the money they may have already received in order to avoid scrutiny from the federal government.

The administration has attracted criticism for allocating nearly $600 million of the PPP’s funds to publicly traded companies, especially considering so many small businesses were not able to have their applications processed before the program ran out of money last week.

The House is about to pass a bill that would give PPP an additional $320 billion in funds, and the treasury department is clearly looking to avoid additional criticism as the program gets up and running again.

Few Americans trust Trump as a source of coronavirus information, poll finds

A new poll finds that most Americans do not trust Trump as a source of information on the coronavirus pandemic.

According to a new AP/NORC poll, only 23% of Americans say they have high levels of trust in the information Trump shares. Another 21% say they have a moderate amount of trust in his information.

Like the president’s overall approval rating for his handling of the crisis, these numbers vary drastically when broken down by party affiliation.

While only 22% of Republicans say they have little or no trust in Trump’s information, 84% of Democrats say they have little to no trust in the president as a source of coronavirus information.

The poll comes as Trump continues to hold long daily press conferences on the pandemic, during which the president has frequently shared false or misleading information about the virus.

The House is now voting on whether to establish a select committee to oversee the proper distribution of coronavirus relief funds, which is expected to break largely along party lines but will likely still pass thanks to Democratic support.

House speaker Nancy Pelosi has already cast her vote, and she is now standing at the back of the chamber helping to direct foot traffic as members vote in staggered groups to limit the risk of spreading the virus.

The vote will take longer to complete because of these precautions, but once the count has been finalized, the chamber will be thoroughly cleaned before members return to vote on the nearly $500 billion coronavirus relief bill.

A new spokesperson for the deaprtment of health and human services sent a series of now-deleted racist tweets about Chinese people and coronavirus.

CNN reports:

Michael Caputo, a longtime New York Republican political operative who worked on Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, was appointed last week as Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at HHS, a prominent communications role at the department which serves a central role in the federal government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Caputo, a prolific user who often tweeted insults and profanity, recently erased nearly his entire Twitter history from before April 12. CNN’s KFile used the Internet Archive’s Way Back Machine to review more than 1300 deleted tweets and retweets from late February to early April many of which were regarding the rapidly spreading coronavirus. ...

In a series of tweets on March 12, Caputo responded to a baseless conspiracy theory that the United States brought the coronavirus to Wuhan, China, by tweeting that ‘millions of Chinese suck the blood out of rabid bats as an appetizer and eat the ass out of anteaters.’

He followed up at another user, ‘Don’t you have a bat to eat?’ and tweeted at another user named, ‘You’re very convincing, Wang.’

Caputo also used his account to attack Democratic lawmakers and journalist as Trump received criticism for his administration’s early response to coronavirus.

Gordon Sondland, the former US ambassador to the EU and a star witness in Trump’s impeachment trial, received a small business loan from the Paycheck Protection Program.

A spokesperson for Provenance Hotels, the hotel chain Sondland founded, confirmed to Bloomberg News that the company had been approved for a PPP loan.

Sondland, who was recalled from his post as EU ambassador two days after Trump was acuitted in his Senate impeachment trial, has a net worth of at least $78 million.

The administration has been criticized for its handling of the PPP program, as small businesses complain larger companies have gotten priority in receiving loans.

The burger chain Shake Shack announced earlier this week that it would return a $10 million PPP loan amid criticism.

Congresswoman Maxine Waters said she was dedicating the next coronavirus relief bill to her sister, who is dying of the virus in St. Louis.

“I not only rise in support of this legislation,” the California Democrat said on the House floor. “I also would like to rise in support of what we’re doing for the health care enhancement act in this bill.

“And I’m going to take a moment to dedicate this legislation to my dear sister who is dying in a hospital in St. Louis, Mo., right now infected by the coronavirus.”

Senator Elizabeth Warren similarly announced earlier today that her older brother, Don Reed Herring, died of coronavirus earlier this week.

Waters went on to say that Congress must now turn its attention to the next coronavirus relief bill in order to “provide more funding for people hurting by the exploding economic fallout of the pandemic.”

Dr Deborah Birx reportedly had to convince Trump to come out against Georgia’s plan to start reopening non-essential businesses this Friday.

Trump said during yesterday’s press conference that he disagreed “strongly” with Georgia governor Brian Kemp’s reopening plan, which many public health experts have warned is dangerously hasty.

That criticism represented a reversal from Trump, who expressed confidence in Kemp’s leadership a day before coming out against the plan.

CNN has the details on how Birx convinced Trump to reconsider his position:

At a meeting before Wednesday’s briefing, task force members discussed the likelihood of being asked about [Kemp’s] controversial move to open up many businesses such as nail salons and bowling alleys, [a White House] source added. ...

During the meeting, Dr. Anthony Fauci and other task force members said if the scientists were not in agreement with Trump on the Georgia issue during the news conference it would pose a problem.

‘I cannot defend this publicly,’ Fauci said to others at the meeting, the source said. Members of the group agreed it was necessary to attempt to change Trump’s mind on the subject.

They then asked Dr. Deborah Birx, the panel’s coordinator, to try to convince Trump to oppose Kemp’s move. She had a private meeting with the President just prior to the news conference and successfully convinced him to denounce Kemp’s decision.

Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer said she would likely extend the state’s stay-at-home order while looking at allowing some activties with restrictions in place, emphasizing that the state’s reopening would take place in waves.

“It will permit some activity if our numbers continue to go down and our testing continues to go up,” the Democratic governor told MSNBC this morning. “But It’s too early to say precisely what each wave looks like and when it happens.”

Whitmer similarly told CNN this morning that the reopening process had to be “strategic and thoughtful,” as many public health experts express concern about the handful of Republican governors who are planning to soon relax restrictions.

Whitmer has faced protests in her state over the stay-at-home order, with thousands of people ignoring social distancing guidelines to demonstrate against the order outside the state capitol.

“The worst irony that could come about from these demonstrations is that they force us to stay in this posture longer than we’re already planning to,” Whitmer told MSNBC. “That’s the last thing any of us wants.”

Despite the protests, a new Fox News poll shows Whitmer is still broadly popular in the state, with 63% of Michigan voters approving of her job performance. In comparison, Trump has a 47% approval rating among Michigan voters.

Condolences pour in for Warren over brother's Covid-19 death

Elizabeth Warren upon dropping out of the 2020 race in March.
Elizabeth Warren upon dropping out of the 2020 race in March. Photograph: Steven Senne/AP

Messages of sympathy are being sent across social media for Massachusetts Senator and former presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren after she announced this morning that the oldest of her three brothers died of coronavirus earlier this week.

Former presidential rivals in the 2020 race for the Democratic nomination, Pete Buttigieg and Beto O’Rourke have tweeted.

Buttigieg.

Warren has also received condolences via Twitter from congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Deb Haaland, women who spoke out against Harvey Weinstein, including Patricia Arquette and Alyssa Milano, and Monica Lewinsky.

There have been some incredibly spiteful, trollish tweets, perhaps inevitably, but the blog prefers not to go into details.

Updated

Today so far

Here’s where the day stands so far:

  • Another 4.4 million Americans filed for unemployment last week. The latest figures from the labor department mean that more than 26 million Americans have filed for unemployment benefits since states’ economies started shutting down due to the pandemic.
  • Andrew Cuomo fiercely criticized Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell for suggesting states should declare bankruptcy instead of receiving more federal money. Cuomo described McConnell’s suggestion as “one of the really dumb ideas of all time,” and he said McConnell’s warning against “bailouts” for Democrat states was “irresponsible” and “reckless.”
  • The House will vote on the next coronavirus relief bill later today. The chamber is expected to easily pass the nearly $500 billion bill, which Trump has already said he would sign.

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

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 covered:

  • Cuomo criticized Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell for suggesting states should declare bankruptcy rather than receive more federal money. Cuomo dismissed McConnell’s suggestion as “dumb,” “irresponsible” and “reckless.” The governor noted McConnell has warned against “bailouts” of Democratic states that have been hard hit by coronavirus, which prompted Cuomo to remind reporters that McConnell’s home state of Kentucky is far more dependent on federal money than New York.
  • New York state will launch an investigation of nursing homes’ handling of coroanvirus. The investigation will be jointly conducted by the state department of health and the state attorney general, and it comes as officials have been criticized for their oversight of long-term care facilities, where nearly a quarter of New York’s coronavirus deaths have occurred.
  • New York’s coronavirus death rate may be lower than some estimates indicated. A study of 3,000 antibody tests from across the state indicated that 13.9% of New Yorkers have coronavirus antibodies. Considering the state’s death toll of 15,740, the death rate would be 0.5%, which is lower than some estimates predicted. But Cuomo warned the death rate could change as the state begins to more thoroughly account for coronavirus deaths that occurred at home.
  • Another 438 New Yorkers died of coronavirus yesterday. Wednesday’s death toll represents a slight decline from Tuesday, but Cuomo warned that the state’s daily death toll remains troublingly high. “That number is not coming down as fast as we would like it to come down,” Cuomo said.

New York governor Andrew Cuomo is correct that Kentucky, the home state of Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, is particularly dependent on federal funding.

“New York puts in more money into the federal pot than it takes out,” Cuomo said moments ago, criticizing McConnell for suggesting states that are hard hit by coronavirus should declare bankruptcy.

“His state takes out more than it puts in. Sen. McConnell, who’s getting bailed out here? It’s your state that is living on the money that we generate. Your state is getting bailed out. Not my state.”

A WalletHub study released last month found that Kentucky is the fifth most federally dependent state in the country. New York ranked 25th.

New York governor Andrew Cuomo criticized Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell for suggesting Democratic states were looking for a bailout with coronavirus relief money.

Cuomo noted that New York produces much more revenue for the federal government than Kentucky, McConnell’s home state, does.

“It’s your state that is living on the money that we generate,” Cuomo said. “Your state is being bailed out, not my state.”

Asked by a reporter whether he has spoken to McConnell or whether he intends to, Cuomo said no and no.

Cuomo criticizes McConnell for suggesting states declare bankruptcy

New York governor Andrew Cuomo criticized Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell for suggesting states should declare bankruptcy rather than receive more federal funding.

During an interview yesterday, McConnell said, “I would certainly be in favor of allowing states to use the bankruptcy route. It saves some cities. And there’s no good reason for it not to be available. My guess is their first choice would be for the federal government to borrow money from future generations to send it down to them now so they don’t have to do that. That’s not something I’m going to be in favor of.”

Cuomo, who has repeatedly demanded that Congress provide more funding for states to cover the costs of the coronavirus crisis, said McConnell’s suggestion was “one of the really dumb ideas of all time.”

The governor warned that states declaring bankruptcies could cause “a collapse of this national economy.”

Cuomo also lamabasted McConnell for suggesting relief money for states would represent a bailout for Democratic states, which have generally been harder hit by the virus.

“If there’s ever a time for humanity and decency, now’s the time,” Cuomo said. “How irresponsible and how reckless.”

New York's coronavirus death rate may be lower than estimated

New York governor Andrew Cuomo announced that a study of antibody tests from across the state indicates the coronavirus death rate may be lower than some estimates.

Cuomo said that 3,000 antibody tests conducted across New York indicate 13.9% of state residents are positive for antibodies.

But those figures vary dramatically by region. While 21.2% of New York City residents tested positive, only 3.6% of residents from upstate New York have the antibodies.

Cuomo said a 13.9% infection rate would translate to 2.7 million people infected statewide. Considering the more than 15,000 deaths recorded by the state, New York’s coronavirus death rate is approximately 0.5%, which is lower than some estimates had predicted.

But Cuomo acknowledged that statistic could change as the state starts to account for more coronavirus deaths that took place at home, which have so far largely not been included in the official death toll.

Cuomo announces investigation of nursing homes

New York governor Andrew Cuomo announced the state would launch an investigation into nursing homes’ handling of coronavirus.

Cuomo said the investigation would be jointly overseen by the state department of health and the state attorney general.

The governor empashized that nursing homes must be taking every possible step to limit the spread of coronavirus, warning that facilities found to be negligent could be subjected to a fine or lose their license.

Nearly a quarter of New York’s 15,740 coronavirus deaths have come from long-term care facilities, prompting criticism of officials’ oversight of the facilities.

Another 438 New Yorkers died of coronavirus yesterday

New York governor Andrew Cuomo said the overall number of coronavirus hospitalizations was down again, part of a days-long decline.

But Cuomo noted the number of new coronavirus hospitalizations was relatively flat at roughly 1,300, which is “not great nws.”

The state’s daily death toll remains high, with another 438 New Yorkers dying of the virus yesterday. That represents a decrease from last week’s numbers, but daily death tolls have been flat this week.

Cuomo said of the daily death toll, “That number is not coming down as fast as we would like it to come down.”

New York governor Andrew Cuomo will give his daily briefing on the state’s response to coronavirus in about five minutes.

Cuomo said at yesterday’s briefing that he would make an announcement today about the state’s nursing homes, which have been particularly hard hit by coronavirus.

The governor has described nursing homes as “ground zero” in the fight against coronavirus, as nearly a quarter of the state’s 15,302 deaths have come from long-term care facilities.

Many of the House members present on Capitol Hill today are wearing masks in the chamber, although a few Republican members were seen not covering their faces.

House speaker Nancy Pelosi used a white bandana to cover her face but removed it while she was delivering her floor speech.

When congressman Tom Cole, the top Republican on the House rules committee, started speaking, he said he would mirror Pelosi’s mask usage.

“I’m going to follow her example,” Cole said. “think we should keep our mask on when we’re doing our normal business but take them off when we’re speaking and thank you for setting that example, Madam Speaker.”

Don Reed Herring, senator Elizabeth Warren’s brother who has just died of coronavirus, was a Vietnam War veteran, which Warren often mentioned on the campaign trail.

The Boston Globe reports:

Herring was born in 1933 and attended the University of Oklahoma, but did not graduate, before enlisting in the Air Force, where he flew B-47 and B-52 bombers. He flew 288 combat missions in Vietnam, eventually becoming a B-52 squadron pilot and a squadron aircraft commander. He earned numerous decorations before retiring in 1973 as a lieutenant colonel and starting an auto-detailing business. In her statement, Warren described Herring as a natural leader with a quick, crooked smile.

Warren had not previously disclosed her brother had tested positive for the virus. According to the Globe, he was hospitalized for pneumonia in February and then moved to a rehabilitation center, which had seen other cases of coroanvirus. He was later brought to the intensive care unit of a nearby hospital, where he died.

Elizabeth Warren says her older brother, Don Reed Herring, has died of coronavirus

Warren said of the loss, “I’m grateful to the nurses and frontline staff who took care of him, but it’s hard to know that there was no family to hold his hand or to say ‘I love you’ one more time—and no funeral for those of us who loved him to hold each other close. I’ll miss you dearly my brother.”

Warren frequently mentioned her three brothers on the campaign trail when she was running for president, and Herring appeared in a campaign video reminiscing about growing up with the senator.

Updated

The House is in session, and the Democratic chairman of the rules committee, Jim McGovern, has taken to the floor wearing a mask honoring his hometown football team, the New England Patriots.

McGovern expressed disappointment that members would not be voting a proposal to temporarily allow voting by proxy as long as the coronavirus crisis lasts.

House speaker Nancy Pelosi had planned to bring the matter up for a vote today, but she delayed that amid vocal Republican opposition to the proposal. McGovern warned the status quo in the House was “unacceptable and dangerous.”

Updated

As the coronavirus crisis struck the US, health and human services secretary Alex Azar appointed Brian Harrison, who most recently ran a dog-breeding business, to oversee the department’s daily response to coronavirus.

The unusual decision was one of a number of errors and misjudgements from Azar earlier this year that hobbled the country’s initial response to the outbreak.

Reuters reports:

[A]t the dawn of the coronavirus crisis, Azar appointed his most trusted aide and chief of staff, Harrison, as HHS’s main coordinator for the government’s response to the virus.

Harrison, 37, was an unusual choice, with no formal education in public health, management, or medicine and with only limited experience in the fields. In 2006, he joined HHS in a one-year stint as a ‘Confidential Assistant’ to Azar, who was then deputy secretary. He also had posts working for Vice President Dick Cheney, the Department of Defense and a Washington public relations company.

Before joining the Trump Administration in January 2018, Harrison’s official HHS biography says, he ‘ran a small business in Texas.’ The biography does not disclose the name or nature of that business, but his personal financial disclosure forms show that from 2012 until 2018 he ran a company called Dallas Labradoodles.

The company sells Australian Labradoodles, a breed that is a cross between a Labrador Retriever and a Poodle. He sold it in April 2018, his financial disclosure form said. HHS emailed Reuters that the sale price was $225,000.

Azar has been repeatedly criticized for overestimating the country’s preparedness as the first coronavirus case was confirmed in the US. The cabinet secretary claimed the virus was “potentially serious” but insisted America had a “playbook” to address it.

In reality, delays in testing and initial downplaying of the virus’ severity cost the US crucial weeks in its early response to the outbreak.

This is Joan Greve in Washington, taking over for Jo Walters.

The House will convene at 10 am ET to vote on two measures, the latest coronavirus relief bill and a resoulution to form a select committee on the coronavirus crisis, which would oversee proper distribution of government funds from the relief packages.

The House will first debate both measures and then move on to voting, which should start at around 1:30pm ET. Members will vote in staggered groups to limit the risk of spreading coronavirus, and the chamber will also be cleaned between votes, so the process will take longer than usual.

The relief bill is expected to pass easily, and Trump has already indicated he will sign it. But the resolution establishing the select committee will likely produce a party-line vote, although Democrats should still be able to get the measure approved.

Another 4.4. million Americans file for unemployment

The Guardian’s Dominic Rushe and Amanda Holpuch report:

An additional 4.4 million Americans filed for unemployment last week adding to a total of over 26 million since the coronavirus pandemic shutdown swathes of the US and brought its economy to a standstill.

The latest department of labor figures show the pace of layoffs appears to have slowed slightly but a backlog of claims mean millions more are likely to file in the coming weeks. States across the country are encountering problems with the sheer number of people applying for unemployment benefits.

In Florida, already bedevilled by the widespread collapse of its already flawed benefits system, just 14.2% of the more than 668,000 claims filed since 15 March have been paid. In Ohio, claimants now have to file on a specific day of the week, depending on the first letter of their last name, to ease congestion. Washington residents are complaining that the state’s website crashes or takes hours to respond.

Veterans Affairs medical workers sickened by coronavirus and dying

VA health care facilities are struggling with shortages of workers and the equipment necessary to protect employees from contracting the virus.

At least 1,900 VA health care workers have become sick with the coronavirus, according to agency documents obtained by The Associated Press.

Twenty have died. Another 3,600 of the 300,000-plus VA health care employees are quarantined and unable to work because they have been exposed to the virus, according to VA figures.

The Labor Department is now investigating, and several Democrats in Congress plan to send a letter Thursday calling on Donald Trump to invoke the Defense Production Act to get more supplies for VA health facilities.

The VA, responsible for the health care of 9 million military veterans, denied it was short of supplies and stressed that it follows federal health guidelines when rationing personal protective equipment like masks and gloves, the AP writes. Full story here.

Updated

The president has taken to retweeting his tweets from earlier in the week. Here are two examples that he retweeted moments ago that tell you a lot about what’s going on in the Oval Office.

And:

House to vote today on fourth coronavirus crisis aid package

Good morning, US blog readers, there’s a busy day in store so welcome to our live politics and coronavirus news updates.

Here’s some of what’s coming up.

  • Hundreds of members of the House of Representatives will gather in Washington this morning to pass a $484bn coronavirus relief bill, bringing the unprecedented total of funds approved for the crisis to nearly $3tn. The latest tranche covers more support for small businesses and extra funds for hospitals and testing. The next bill could include funds for states.
  • The tension continues as a raft of states start preparing to reopen their economies in steps, with disagreement about whether some are moving too far too fast. Even Donald Trump, who was earlier urging the country to reopen and initially played down the seriousness of coronavirus, has criticized Georgia for beginning its business reopening tomorrow.
  • The latest unemployment figures will be released at 8.30am ET and we’ll have a full story and the news live in our separate business blog, here.

Updated

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