The US now has the third-highest number of coronavirus cases in the world, as New York mayor Bill de Blasio implores Donald Trump for more federal assistance and warns that the city’s 11 public hospitals only have enough medical supplies to last for the next week.
The Senate reached yet another stalemate over a $2trn (£1.7trn) economic stimulus package on Monday after Democrats have argued that the Republican-led bill amounts to a “slush fund” for the president and his corporate allies in its present form.
Republican majority leader Mitch McConnell hit back, saying that “our nation cannot afford a game of chicken" as both sides moved to reassure the public that they are “very close” to coming to an agreement on the bailout.
The president has meanwhile continued to push to re-open the US from its effective shutdown within weeks, rather than months, as the White House approaches the end of a 15-day shuttering next week.
He said: "Our country wasn't built to be shut down."
After arguing that business as usual should continue in the coming weeks to keep the economy moving, he said that doctors in his administration haven't "endorsed" easing those restrictions but he claimed "they're OK with it".
Asked whether any health officials agree that guidelines should be eased within a week, the president said: "If it were up to the doctors, they may say, 'Let's keep it shut down. Let's shut down the entire world.'"
The president also promoted the use of a controversial drug that will begin trials this week to determine its efficacy combatting the virus. A man in Arizona died after trying to recreate the drug from an aquarium cleaner, days after Mr Trump had contradicted his own health officials in declaring it a "game changer" against the virus.
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After arguing that business as usual should continue in the coming weeks to keep the economy moving, Donald Trump says that doctors in his administration haven't "endorsed" easing restrictions but he said: "I think they're OK with it, and I'm OK with it."
Asked whether any health officials agree that guidelines should be eased within a week, the president said: "If it were up to the doctors, they may say, 'Let's keep it shut down. Let's shut down the entire world.'"
Dr Deborah Birx suggests "social distancing" orders will last only one more week, referring to orders to stay away from others to prevent spreading the virus as a "15-day challenge."
Pence also echoed the "15-day period", signaling the administration's eagerness to restart the economy.
The president said "I'm not looking at months" and repeated claims that stalling the economy could be as dangerous as exposure.
Dr Birx said she had a fever over the weekend — the president and Attorney Generally William Barr laughed — but had tested negative for the virus.
Asked whether any health officials agree that guidelines should be eased within a week, the president said: "If it were up to the doctors, they may say, 'Let's keep it shut down. Let's shut down the entire world.'"
Dr Deborah Birx says that self-swabbing coronavirus tests will be available in the US later this week.
Vice President Mike Pence says that 313,000 tests have been completed. Self-collected nasal swabs will "expedite the testing process" and reduce exposure to health workers, he said. He also said it would reduce the use of personal protective equipment.
Dr Birx says that 28 per cent of all coronavirus tests in New York City are coming back positive, whereas only 8 per cent of people being tested in the rest of the US have positive results: "Clearly, the virus had been circulating there for a number of weeks to have this level of penetrance into the general community."
Dr Anthony Fauci is missing from another White House briefing on coronavirus, while Donald Trump promotes a controversial drug that has not been proven to combat the virus.
The president said that he intends to "reopen" the US economy by June without assurance that the threat of the virus will have subdued.
"Our country wasn't built to be shut down," he said. "We'll be back in business pretty soon."
Meet the man leading the Trump administration's response to the virus:
The US Senate appears to have reached a stalemate over a GOP-led stimulus package after Democrats lined up a second time on Monday to vote against the bill, over concerns that it prioritises corporate and business bailouts over the needs of working Americas facing dramatic unemployment numbers in the wake of the coronavirus crisis.
Democrats have criticised Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for rushing through procedural votes without a bipartisan deal. The 49-46 vote was largely on party lines.
A key point of the deadlock is a $500bn plan for loans to companies and states without enough transparency to determine what happens with those funds, Democrats say.
Army field hospitals will soon arrive in New York and Seattle to support a growing number of coronavirus patients, according to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Mark Milley. He said those cities could expect to receive the mobile hospitals within 72 hours or less.
Each hospital will house 200 beds and 48 intensive care beds.
They will also be equipped with 11 ventilators in each hospital.
He said: "I don't want to see doctors having to make a choice of who gets to live and who has to die because they don't have the equipment to save their lives."
The president has flip-flopped on using the act since he issued an order that invoked it last week. Yesterday, he conflated the measure with nationalisation, comparing it to Venezuelan socialism, while officials and health workers across the US are clamoring for supplies and facing dramatic shortages of facemasks, ventilators, respirators and other needs. Trump insists companies are making those items voluntarily.
On his podcast, Senator Cruz said: "You can't build a ventilator overnight ... And if we wake up two weeks from now and instead of 11,000 cases, we've got 200,000 cases or a million cases, it might be too late then.”
Senator Cruz was the first senator to quarantine himself from the virus.
A man has died and a woman is in critical condition after ingesting chloroquine phosphate, one of the anti-malaria drugs that Donald Trump has promoted as a coronavirus treatment despite warnings from health officials that it has not been safely tested or proven to treat the virus.
The Banner health system in Arizona reported that a man and a woman, a couple in their 60s, ingested chloroquine phosphate, "an additive commonly used at aquariums to clean fish tanks", and within 30 minutes were admitted to a hospital.
Dr Daniel Brooks, Banner Poison and Drug Information Center medical director, said: “Given the uncertainty around COVID-19, we understand that people are trying to find new ways to prevent or treat this virus, but self-medicating is not the way to do so ... The last thing that we want right now is to inundate our emergency departments with patients who believe they found a vague and risky solution that could potentially jeopardize their health.”
Donald Trump has signed an executive order barring "hoarding [and] price gouging of supplies needed in our war against" the coronavirus, according to White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham.
No other details about the order have been provided.
A coalition of apparel brands and textile manufacturers — including Hanes and Fruit of the Loom — are using their supply chains to "fast-track the manufacturing of medical face masks", according to the National Council of Textile Organizations.
The council attributed the move to the White House after Donald Trump said he has fielded calls from companies offering to support efforts to combat the coronavirus pandemic.
Trump has not yet officially invoked the Defense Production Act, a war-time measure which he could use to mandate companies to speed the manufacturing of critically needed medical equipment.
The companies expect are expected to begin production this week and have shipments ready by mid-week.
Within four to five weeks, the companies are expected to produce up to 10 million masks a week for the US and Central America, according to the council.
Los Angeles officials say that 5,000 people will be tested for coronavirus each day after the county obtained 20,000 tests, which will be offered to residents at no cost.
Officials also are working with a South Korean company to obtain another 100,000 tests available a week, with capacity to perform 30,000 tests a day.
There are 536 confirmed cases in the county. At least seven people have died.
Donald Trump is fielding concerns from conservatives who say the economic damage from the coronavirus would outweigh the already overwhelming health risks, as the administration nears the end of a 15-day period set to expire at the end of the month.
According to the Washington Post, the president is has been "canvassing his advisers, GOP Senators and other allies about what his course of action should be, according to a senior administration official."
The news follows Science magazine's interview with Dr Anthony Fauci, who revealed that he's "trying his best" to manage the internal public health response after the president has repeatedly contradicted his own top health official.
Olympic committee member says 2020 games postponed to 2021
The 2020 summer Olympics in Tokyo will be postponed to 2021, according to International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound.
In an interview with USA Today, he said that "postponement has been decided" following concerns about the growing coronavirus pandemic.
He said: "The parameters going forward have not been determined, but the Games are not going to start on July 24, that much I know.”
In a statement, the committee said "it is the right of every IOC Member to interpret the decision of the IOC [Executive Board] which was announced yesterday.”
On Sunday, the IOC said it was increasing its “scenario-planning” for the state of its 2020 games.
In a letter to athletes, the IOC president said that “cancellation would not solve any problem and would help nobody".
Virginia Governor Ralph Northram has closed all Virginia schools "at least" through this academic year.
While schools across the US have closed to prevent the spread of coronavirus, some school districts have definitively closed for the rest of the academic year, which ends later this spring.
Kansas will keep schools closed through the rest of the academic year, while Florida has canceled all testing for the year. While some states have proposed make-up days, many have warned parents and staff that the closures could remain until the fall.
In a lengthy statement, Senator Rand Paul — who announced he had a positive coronavirus test on Sunday — says that more Americans should be tested for Covid-19 if even they're not showing symptoms, after he was roundly criticised for maintaining his regular schedule, including swimming, after he waited for results.
He said: "For those who want to criticise me for lack of quarantine, realise that if the rules on testing had been followed to a T, I would never have been tested and would still be walking around the halls of the Capitol."
His statement follows attacks from other lawmakers at the capitol as well as doctors who have said that the senator, who also is an MD, has "violated his basic oath of being a physician" by endangering other people.
Up to 1,000 inmates to be released from New Jersey prisons under coronavirus threat
Chief Justice Stuart Rabner of the New Jersey Supreme Court ordered the release of hundreds of inmates in the state to reduce jail populations and "mitigate risks" of coronavirus infections.
The order impacts inmates who are detained for probation violations, municipal court convictions, disorderly persons offense, and fourth-degree or petty crimes. The order goes into effect on Tuesday.
Inmates who have tested positive for the virus will not be released.
The order follows pressure from health workers and advocates across the US warning of potential mass emergencies in prison systems that are exposed to the virus.
In his latest campaign broadcast from Delaware, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden criticised Donald Trump's response to coronavirus, saying that the president has used daily White House briefings for "political attacks or to lash out at the press.”
He said: "Trump keeps saying that he’s a wartime president. Well, start to act like one ... To paraphrase a frustrated President Lincoln, writing to an inactive General McClellan during the Civil War, ‘If you don’t want to use the army, may I borrow it?'”
US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said military officials are planning to deploy health workers and field hospitals to New York City and Seattle this week, pending approval from FEMA.
He said: "We are looking at hospitals and equipment and medical professionals, and my aim is to get them out this week."
