New York state governor Andrew Cuomo has said the New York subway will close between 1am and 5am from 7 May to allow the MTA to disinfect the carriages, train and stations, and protect essential workers from contracting coronavirus
House speaker Nancy Pelosi was careful not to criticize Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell for calling senators back to Washington starting next week.
Pelosi and majority leader Steny Hoyer originally said the House would also return next week, but they reversed that decision after a consultation with the Capitol’s attending physician.
The office of the director of national intelligence has released an unusual statement saying officials do not believe coronavirus was manmade, echoing many health experts.
“The Intelligence Community also concurs with the wide scientific consensus that the COVID-19 virus was not manmade or genetically modified,” the statement reads.
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Mike Pence’s office has dubiously argued the vice president does not need to wear a mask because he is regularly tested for coronavirus.
The vice president faced questions about his lack of mask usage earlier this month after a photo circulated of a mask-less Pence greeting Colorado governor Jared Polis, who was wearing a mask in the picture.
Vice President Mike Pence was criticized for ignoring mask guidelines when visiting the Mayo Clinic facilities in Minnesota today.
Footage of Pence’s visit showed the vice president not covering his face as he met with the clinic’s employees and at least one patient.
PENCE flouts Mayo Clinic policy that everyone on campus wear a mask, even as he meets with staff and a patient. pic.twitter.com/kfo64KQDhU
Mayo Clinic had informed @VP of the masking policy prior to his arrival today.
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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.
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.
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.”
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer says reopening has to be "strategic and thoughtful": "I've heard governors across the country, on both sides of the aisle, say it's not going to be like flipping a light switch, we're not just going to go back to pre-Covid 19 posture" pic.twitter.com/6gGHbUkFPC
Continue reading...The New York governor on Thursday fiercely criticised Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell for suggesting states should declare bankruptcy instead of receiving more federal aid. Andrew Cuomo described McConnell’s suggestion as ‘one of the really dumb ideas of all time’ and said the warning against ‘bailouts’ for Democrat states was ‘irresponsible and reckless’
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America’s addiction to mass incarceration could almost double its number of deaths from coronavirus, with jails acting as incubators of the disease and spreading a further 100,000 fatalities across the US.
The startling warning comes from groundbreaking modeling by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and academic researchers, released on Wednesday.
Related: Mass incarceration could add 100,000 deaths to US coronavirus toll, study finds
Continue reading...Andrew Cuomo has said he would not allow political pressure to determine the timetable on when to lift the state's lockdown. The New York governor acknowledged the current situation is 'unsustainable', but added: 'I also know more people will die if we are not smart.'
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New York governor Andrew Cuomo said it would be a “major, major undertaking” to develop a plan on reopening the state’s schools.
Cuomo emphasized no school district was allowed to reopen at the moment, as the state has mandated schools to remain closed for now.
New York governor Andrew Cuomo said some hospitals in the state would send the results of its hydroxychloroquine trials to federal health officials today.
Cuomo declined to describe the results of the trials, focused on whether the anti-malaria drug can help treat coronavirus patients.
Continue reading...As Mr ‘Total Authority’ keeps his focus firmly on re-election, he risks lives far beyond the United States
Many had wondered what would happen when Donald Trump, failed salesman and gameshow host, faced a real crisis. Now they know. The man who pledged to stop “American carnage” in his inaugural address now owns it. Covid-19 has crowned him lord of misrule.
That’s fitting for a man who last week claimed to exercise “total authority”. Andrew Cuomo, the New York governor who understands what leadership means, reminded him the US does not do kings. But Trump and America’s last monarch, George III, share much in common, tyranny-wise.
Trump is more instinctive dictator than democrat, in the style of his favourite potentate, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Just look at his recent threat to shut down Congress, and his enthusiasm for suppressing minority voter turnout.
It’s worth recalling that old King George became mentally ill, since Trumpism is clearly dangerous for your health. It’s beyond reasonable dispute that his coronavirus posturing, preening, prevarication and paranoia fatally hindered the early US response.
New York governor criticises Donald Trump during a briefing on the spread of coronavirus in the state after the US president lashed out against Cuomo in a tweet.
Trump’s tweet suggested Cuomo should spend more time ‘doing’ and less time ‘complaining'. The governor said: 'If he’s sitting at home watching TV, maybe he should get up and go to work'
New York governor Andrew Cuomo reiterated that the federal government must be involved in expanding testing capacity, after Trump tweeted it was up to the states to make tests more widely available.
“If we don’t have federal help on testing, that’s a real problem,” Cuomo said.
Trump sent a series of tweets trying to deflect responsibility for the coronavirus crisis, suggesting states are the ones who need to expand testing capacity.
The States have to step up their TESTING!
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House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s spokesperson corrected Trump’s claim that she had deleted a tweet containing her comments from late February encouraging people to visit Chinatown.
Pelosi’s spokesperson said the clip the president tweeted was from local news coverage and had never been posted on the speaker’s account.
Fact check: We never posted this video. It’s obviously local TV coverage of the Speaker visiting Chinatown in San Francisco three weeks prior to the shelter-in-place order. https://t.co/sVCqbkD0DF
Trump lashed out against Nancy Pelosi after the House speaker accused the president of causing unnecessary deaths through his handling of the coronavirus crisis.
Trump criticized Pelosi for saying in late February, before there were any confirmed cases of coronavirus in San Francisco, that people should continue to visit the city’s Chinatown neighborhood.
It was a pleasure to try my hand at making fortune cookies at the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory (with a little guidance from owner Kevin Chan, of course).
The message inside?
“United We Stand.” pic.twitter.com/3piGq4yKXq
Related: 'Please visit Chinatown': coronavirus fears empty San Francisco district
Continue reading...The governor, Andrew Cuomo, has announced New York will maintain lockdown measures for at least 30 more days until 16 May to stop the spread of coronavirus.
Cuomo said the shutdown had worked in flattening the curve of infection
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Kari Paul here, logging out for the night. Below are some top stories to be aware of from the last few hours:
For those of us on the West Coast wondering “what’s next?” here is a pretty comprehensive look at what needs to be done to reopen California, written by two medical doctors.
In short, to reopen we will need much more access to testing so we can localize and isolate new cases of the virus, and restrictions on large gatherings will likely persist for awhile. In other words, we are all going to be working from home and washing our hands constantly for the foreseeable future.
Continue reading...The New York governor has brushed off Donald Trump's claim that the president has the ultimate say on when and how to reopen the economy. Andrew Cuomo says Trump's assertion is inaccurate and unconstitutional, adding: 'There are many things you can debate in the constitution because they are ambiguous. This is not one of those things that is ambiguous.'
Continue reading...New York governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City mayor Bill de Blasio once again had differing opinions on who has authority to implement certain Covid-19 policies.
This time, it involved De Blasio’s announcement on Saturday morning that New York City’s school district, which oversees 1.1 million students, would shutter for the rest of the academic year to try to slow the spread of the coronavirus. De Blasio said his administration was forging a “comprehensive plan” to safely reopen schools in September and that “next year is going to have to be the greatest academic year New York public schools have ever had”.
Continue reading...The New York governor has said the state is seeing the effect of physical distancing and that the curve of coronavirus cases is starting to flatten, despite the largest single-day death toll increase on Tuesday. However, he emphasised that citizens need to continue to be vigilant
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The White House is reportedly having discussions about reopening the economy next month, which could cause friction with health experts who have warned against lifting “stay at home” orders too quickly.
CNN reports:
Officials said the options being discussed on reopening the country vary widely in scope, from recommendations on benchmarks for when individual states can begin easing restrictions to a nationwide ‘big bang’ that Trump previewed Tuesday evening on Fox News. The officials said the conversations were still preliminary and would likely evolve over the course of the next weeks.
Still, some officials have even begun mulling the type of event Trump may want to mark the day when nationwide restrictions are lifted after he suggested a ‘big celebration’ when the crisis is over. ...
At some point, the president is going to have to look at Drs. Fauci and Birx and say, we're opening on May 1. Give me your best guidance on protocols, but we cannot deny our people their basic freedoms any longer.
Barack Obama called for a “robust system of testing and monitoring” to confront the coronavirus crisis.
Social distancing bends the curve and relieves some pressure on our heroic medical professionals. But in order to shift off current policies, the key will be a robust system of testing and monitoring – something we have yet to put in place nationwide. https://t.co/evkTSrzReB
Continue reading...The New York governor has announced he is doubling the fine for violating his ‘stay at home’ order to $1,000 after ‘unacceptable laxness’ over the weekend. ‘If I can’t convince you to show discipline for yourself, then show discipline for other people,’ Andrew Cuomo told rule-breakers
The New York governor said the Chinese government would facilitate a donation of 1,000 ventilators to arrive into JFK airport on Saturday. Cuomo said: ‘This is a big deal and it’s going to make a significant difference for us. We’re not at the apex so we’re still in the stage where we have the luxury – if you will – of gathering as much as we can.’