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US coronavirus live: New York deaths rise to 728 as Trump floats three-state quarantine
US coronavirus live: Trump floats three-state quarantine as New York deaths rise to 728
(32 minutes later)
Cuomo confirms deaths rise but says daily New York hospitalizations and ICU admissions down, while president considers ‘hotspot’ quarantine
Trump mulls measures for New York, New Jersey and Connecticut while Cuomo says daily hospitalizations and ICU admissions down – follow the latest live
Some of the toplines from New York governor Andrew Cuomo’s daily briefing, which ended moments ago:
Cuomo said the price of a ventilator has increased from $25,000 when the state began purchasing to about $45,000 today due to the spike in demand
New York pharmacies have been asked to deliver medications free of charge
President Trump has approved four additional temporary hospital sites with a total capacity of 4,000 additional beds
Cuomo says 600 beds will be reserved for coronavirus patients only at three of the purpose-built sites
The number of New York coronavirus cases increased to 52,318 and deaths to 728 – but hospitalizations dropped from 847 on Friday from 1,154 on Thursday
Cuomo says he did not discuss a potential “enforceable quarantine” for New York, New Jersey and Connecticut in reference to Trump’s comments on the North Lawn only moments earlier
The New York police department saw its third coronavirus death on Saturday, with the passing of a detective, the New York Post reported. The detective, who worked at a precinct station house in Manhattan’s Harlem neighborhood, was 48. An NYPD administrative aide, and a department janitor, died Thursday due to Covid-19. On Friday, the police department said Friday that 442 uniformed, and 70 civilian, members tested positive for coronavirus. There were 4,111 uniformed employees who called out sick, comprising 11.4% of NYPD’s uniformed workforce.
Cuomo says he believes the broad distribution of a home test for people, to ensure the state is on the downside of the apex, is the most direct route toward re-opening the economy. “Get those home tests that other countries are starting to use and let people test themselves,” he says. “You could get to a point where you say ... do the test, you’re negative, go to work, period.”
The governor adds that he is against raising taxes to generate more revenue in the state budget: “I don’t know how you raise taxes on people who are out of work and their business has closed because the government needs more funding. I don’t know how you do that now.”
Cuomo says he did not discuss a potential “enforceable quarantine” for New York, New Jersey and Connecticut when he spoke with President Trump earlier today. “I haven’t had those conversations,” he says. “I don’t even know what that means.”
Cuomo says he did not discuss a potential “enforceable quarantine” for New York, New Jersey and Connecticut when he spoke with President Trump earlier today. “I haven’t had those conversations,” he says. “I don’t even know what that means.”
His response to a follow-up question about Trump’s proposed quarantine on the North Lawn: “I don’t even know what that means. I don’t know how that could be legally enforceable. And from a medical point of view I don’t know what you would be accomplishing. But I can tell you I don’t even like the sound of it. Not even understanding what it is, I don’t even like the sound of it.”
His response to a follow-up question about Trump’s proposed quarantine on the North Lawn: “I don’t even know what that means. I don’t know how that could be legally enforceable. And from a medical point of view I don’t know what you would be accomplishing. But I can tell you I don’t even like the sound of it. Not even understanding what it is, I don’t even like the sound of it.”
He adds: “Mandatory quarantine is a scary concept because it sounds like you’re saying to people: ‘You can’t leave this district.’”
In New York, Cuomo is now being asked about Trump’s remarks.
In New York, Cuomo is now being asked about Trump’s remarks.
He spoke to the president “about the ship coming up and the four sites”, he says, adding: “I didn’t speak to him about any quarantine.”
He spoke to the president “about the ship coming up and the four sites”, he says, adding: “I didn’t speak to him about any quarantine.”
More from the White House pool about Trump’s remarks during his trip to Norfolk, Virginia about a potential quarantine for New York and neighbouring states:
More from the White House pool about Trump’s remarks during his trip to Norfolk, Virginia about a potential quarantine for New York and neighbouring states:
Pool reporter Emily Goodin of the Daily Mail adds: “Please note there is a limited pool of seven traveling with [Trump] so we can employ safe social distancing practices with an empty seat in between each of us on the plane. Additionally, the pool underwent a temperature check … before boarding.”
Pool reporter Emily Goodin of the Daily Mail adds: “Please note there is a limited pool of seven traveling with [Trump] so we can employ safe social distancing practices with an empty seat in between each of us on the plane. Additionally, the pool underwent a temperature check … before boarding.”
Cuomo says they can’t have a scenario where states are competing against each other for equipment like ventilators. He suggests the federal government could act as a single purchasing agent and distribute the equipment to the states – or the states could set up a consortium on their own.
Cuomo says they can’t have a scenario where states are competing against each other for equipment like ventilators. He suggests the federal government could act as a single purchasing agent and distribute the equipment to the states – or the states could set up a consortium on their own.
“You can’t have a situation where 50 states are competing for the same essential equipment,” he says. “This is not the way to do business. We need a nationwide buying consortium. ... This is something that needs to be worked out, not just for this but for the future.”
“You can’t have a situation where 50 states are competing for the same essential equipment,” he says. “This is not the way to do business. We need a nationwide buying consortium. ... This is something that needs to be worked out, not just for this but for the future.”
Here’s the White House pool report on what Trump said just now:
Here’s the White House pool report on what Trump said just now:
The report adds that Trump’s helicopter departed for his trip to Norfolk, Virginia with new chief of staff Mark Meadows also on board.
The report adds that Trump’s helicopter departed for his trip to Norfolk, Virginia with new chief of staff Mark Meadows also on board.
Cuomo says there are 7,328 people who have been hospitalized with 1,755 people in ICUs, but notes that daily hospitalizations and ICU admissions went down yesterday. The bad news: total deaths in New York are up to 728 from 519 yesterday.
Cuomo says there are 7,328 people who have been hospitalized with 1,755 people in ICUs, but notes that daily hospitalizations and ICU admissions went down yesterday. The bad news: total deaths in New York are up to 728 from 519 yesterday.
“I wouldn’t put too much stock in any one number. The overall trend is still up,” Cuomo says. “The numbers drive the policy.”
“I wouldn’t put too much stock in any one number. The overall trend is still up,” Cuomo says. “The numbers drive the policy.”
He also says New York’s department of health will begin a new test to see if individuals who were infected with coronavirus developed antibodies to the disease, saying: “It could be a big breakthrough”
He also says New York’s department of health will begin a new test to see if individuals who were infected with coronavirus developed antibodies to the disease, saying: “It could be a big breakthrough”
While Andrew Cuomo speaks in New York, Donald Trump has been speaking about New York, in Washington:
While Andrew Cuomo speaks in New York, Donald Trump has been speaking about New York, in Washington:
According to Idrees Ali of Reuters, the president also said “quarantine would also be considered on New Jersey and Connecticut, would rather not do it but may need it”.
According to Idrees Ali of Reuters, the president also said “quarantine would also be considered on New Jersey and Connecticut, would rather not do it but may need it”.
Cuomo hasn’t mentioned possible quarantine of New York yet.
Cuomo hasn’t mentioned possible quarantine of New York yet.
The president is due in Norfolk, Virginia later, for the departure of the USNS Comfort, a hospital ship destined for New York harbour.
The president is due in Norfolk, Virginia later, for the departure of the USNS Comfort, a hospital ship destined for New York harbour.
Cuomo told his press conference he had spoken to the president today, and Trump had approved four more emergency hospital facilities like the one built at the Javits Center in Manhattan by the Army Corps of Engineers and the national guard, which Cuomo said will open on Monday. The new facilities will be built in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island.
Cuomo told his press conference he had spoken to the president today, and Trump had approved four more emergency hospital facilities like the one built at the Javits Center in Manhattan by the Army Corps of Engineers and the national guard, which Cuomo said will open on Monday. The new facilities will be built in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island.
Cuomo says the federal government has authoried four more field hosptials with a total capacity of 4,000 additional beds. They will be located in the four outer boroughs of Brooklyn (the Cruise Ship Terminal), Queens (the Aqueduct Racetrack), Staten Island (CUNY Staten Island) and the Bronx (the NY Expo Center). He adds there will be a shift to coronavirus-only hospitals to further limit the risk of spread. “This is smart and we’re going to isolate 600 beds for just this treatment,” he says.
Cuomo says the federal government has authorized four more field hospitals with a total capacity of 4,000 additional beds. They will be located in the four outer boroughs of Brooklyn (the Cruise Ship Terminal), Queens (the Aqueduct Racetrack), Staten Island (CUNY Staten Island) and the Bronx (the NY Expo Center). He adds there will be a shift to coronavirus-only hospitals to further limit the risk of spread. “This is smart and we’re going to isolate 600 beds for just this treatment,” he says.
Also, the New York state presidential primary scheduled for April 28 has been re-scheduled for 23 June.
Also, the New York state presidential primary scheduled for April 28 has been re-scheduled for 23 June.
Cuomo says that local hospitals statewide must stop operating as individual institutions and start cooperating to help deal with the anticipated rush. “We need the local health systems to think more holistically,” he says. “You can have a single hospital get overwhelmed within that system. ... The local health systems have to change their orientation where it’s not hospital by hospital, which is the normal culture.”
Cuomo says that local hospitals statewide must stop operating as individual institutions and start cooperating to help deal with the anticipated rush. “We need the local health systems to think more holistically,” he says. “You can have a single hospital get overwhelmed within that system. ... The local health systems have to change their orientation where it’s not hospital by hospital, which is the normal culture.”
If downstate hospitals become overwhelmed, those patients may be moved upstate. He adds: “Patients can and should be moved among those local hospitals as the need requires. staff can and should be moved among those local hospitals as the circumstances require.”
If downstate hospitals become overwhelmed, those patients may be moved upstate. He adds: “Patients can and should be moved among those local hospitals as the need requires. staff can and should be moved among those local hospitals as the circumstances require.”
Cuomo is showing off a bag-valve mask, a manual ventilator that helps people breathe. The National Guard is being trained to manually operate them, but it’s anything but optimal. “If we have to turn to this device on any large-scale basis, that is not an acceptable situation,” he says. “Short answer: No, thank you.”
He says there are 4,000 ventilators from the federal government are in the stockpile, meaning a big shortfall must be made up in the 14 to 21 days before the apex. He says the ventilators were $25,000 apiece when the state began buying, but they’re up to $45,000 today due to the demand. And because the state is approximately $15bn in debt, there is “no interest in inflating the number of ventilators than we actually need”.
New York governor Andrew Cuomo starts off his daily briefing saying he only knew it was Saturday because it said so on his alarm clock: “It’s literally like one day blending into the other.”
He points out that China’s first Covid-19 case was 12 weeks ago, New York’s first case was on 1 March, and that city schools closed only 10 days ago.
“Keep it all in perspective in this disorienting time,” he says.
From police roadblocks in the Florida Keys, national guard troops knocking on doors in Rhode Island in attempt to “hunt down” New Yorkers, and city leaders nationwide threatening fines for residents found out in the open, the effect of the coronavirus pandemic on personal freedoms was becoming clearer on Saturday, as the death toll continued to rise.
Measures in Rhode Island attracted harsh words from the American Civil Liberties Union, which criticized what it saw as the “blunderbuss approach” of state troopers stopping vehicles from New York and ordering occupants into quarantine.
According to researchers at Johns Hopkins University, New York state led the nation with more than 46,000 confirmed cases by Saturday morning, compared to Rhode Island’s 203.
“Under the Fourth Amendment, having a New York state license plate simply does not, and cannot, constitute probable cause to allow police to stop a car and interrogate the driver, no matter how laudable the goal of the stop may be,” Steven Brown, executive director of the Rhode Island’s ACLU chapter, said in a statement.
“The ACLU recognizes that strong measures are needed to address the public health crisis but giving the state police the power to stop … cars that are merely traveling through the state is a blunderbuss approach that cannot be justified in light of its substantial impact on civil liberties.”
Gina Raimondo, the Rhode Island governor, implemented the policy in a two-pronged attempt to keep out or contain visitors from New York. Another controversial measure saw the national guard, in the words of the New York Post, “hunting down” New Yorkers by going door to door, beginning on Saturday.
Any found would be ordered into a 14-day quarantine and face fines or jail time for refusing to comply.
“Right now we have a pinpointed risk. That risk is New York City,” Raidondo said in a press conference on Friday.
New Yorkers are personae non gratae in other areas of the country, too, with governors in Florida, Maryland, South Carolina and Texas imposing quarantine restrictions.
They are also not wanted out of doors in their own city, Mayor Bill De Blasio threatening fines of $500 for groups congregating in parks or places of worship.
Meanwhile in the Florida Keys, state law enforcement officials set up roadblocks this weekend at the top of the 125-mile island chain, to stop non-residents getting in.
“As much as we love our visitors, we’d like them to stay away until we can get this thing under control. These are extraordinary times, not just here but globally,” Heather Carruthers, the Monroe county mayor, told reporters.
Donald Trump has approved a major disaster declaration for Michigan following his public back-and-forth with state governor Gretchen Whitmer over the federal government’s response to the pandemic.
More than 3,600 people in Michigan have been confirmed to have Covid-19 with at least 92 dead, mostly from the three counties in the Detroit metro area.
A Huffington Post feature published Friday took a hard look at how America’s poorest big city is uniquely unprepared for what’s ahead.
We’re awaiting New York governor Andrew Cuomo’s daily press briefing from Albany.
As the US has surpassed Italy and China to become the country with the world’s most known cases of coronavirus – 104,713 as of this morning – nearly half of those (46,094) have been recorded in New York. And while the rate of new cases may be slowing, Cuomo said yesterday that he expects the demand for hospitalization to peak in 21 days and the state is creating a stockpile of medical equipment in preparation for that “apex” accordingly.
Former New York mayor and Trump personal attorney Rudy Giuliani fired off a tweet on Friday that included misinformation about potential Covid-19 treatment and Michigan governor Gretcher Whitmer – and was subsequently deleted by the social media platform for violating its rules, Mediaite reports.
Giuliani, a key player in an impeachment drama that ended in Trump’s acquittal only last month but can now seem an event from the distant past, tweeted that “hydroxychloroquine has been shown to have a %100 effective rate treating Covid-19 Yet Democrat Gretchen Whitmer is threatening doctors who prescribe it.”
The tweet was comprised of “direct quotes” from Charlie Kirk, an avowed Trump booster, Mediate noted, adding that the page which once held Giuliani’s tweet now states: “This Tweet violated the Twitter Rules.” Kirk’s tweet was similarly axed.
Giuliani and Kirk’s promotion of hydroxychloroquine is not out of the blue: it’s one of several drugs Trump has touted as possible coronavirus treatments, without support from public health officials.
“I sure as hell think we ought to give it a try,” Trump has said of the common anti-malaria medication. He has also maintained that the drug, taken in combination with popular antibiotic azithromycin, could be “one of the biggest game changers in the history of medicine”.
Dr Anthony Fauci, Trump’s top infectious diseases adviser, was one of the public health experts who contradicted such claims, warning there was mere “anecdotal evidence” of efficacy.
In Arizona, a man died after he and his wife took chloroquine phosphate, a chemical used in the cleaning of fish tanks that is also in hydroxychloroquine.
“Trump kept saying it was basically pretty much a cure,” the man’s widow told NBC, advising: “Don’t take anything. Don’t believe anything. Don’t believe anything that the president says and his people … call your doctor.”
Donald Trump has not attacked New York governor Andrew Cuomo much recently, certainly in comparison to Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan and Jay Inslee of Washington, Democrats leading other states with severe coronavirus problems.
But the New York governor’s brother, Chris Cuomo, has attacked Trump.
On Friday night the CNN host slammed the president’s response to the coronavirus, saying Trump’s personality traits “are literally making us sick”:
Cuomo said Trump’s “ignorance” and “arrogance” – including his statement that “I don’t believe you need 40,000 or 30,000 ventilators” – stood at odds with communities needs in fighting this outbreak.
Cuomo also criticized Trump’s comments about governors during his White House coronavirus briefing Friday, when Trump said: “I want them to be appreciative … if they don’t treat you right, I don’t call.”
The younger Cuomo said:
One would expect Trump to hit back – he regularly criticises the CNN host and has employed “Fredo”, after the ineffective and doomed younger Corleone brother played by John Cazale in the Godfather movies, as an abusive nickname.
The former Republican senator Tom Coburn has died at 72, according to a newspaper in his native Oklahoma.
The Oklahoman published a statement from the senator’s family and said he died after “a long fight with prostate cancer”. Coburn, the paper said:
Coburn was a doctor who resigned his Senate seat following his cancer diagnosis.
“This decision isn’t about my health, my prognosis or even my hopes and desires,” he said then.
“As a citizen, I am now convinced that I can best serve my own children and grandchildren by shifting my focus elsewhere.”
One such effort was in support of rightwing efforts to call a Constitutional Convention, in an attempt to dramatically restrict the powers of the US federal government.
“We’re in a battle for the future of our country,” Coburn told the annual convention of the American Legislative Exchange Council (Alec) in New Orleans in August 2018. “We’re either going to become a socialist, Marxist country like western Europe, or we’re going to be free. As far as me and my family and my guns, I’m going to be free.”
Coburn died as Congress passed and Donald Trump signed the $2.2tn CARES Act, a huge stimulus bill aimed at bailing out US businesses and tax payers during the economic crash caused by the coronavirus outbreak.
According to a friend quoted by the Oklahoman on Saturday, the former senator was “fighting up to the very end. He was fighting for all of the things he still believed in.”
Among Trump’s tweets on Friday night were retweets in support of Trish Regan, a TV host who left Fox Business after saying Democrats were using the coronavirus outbreak in their attempts to bring the president down.
“Can’t say enough wonderful things about [Trish Regan],” read one missive retweeted by Trump, calling her “one of the few conservatives in cable television … a great patriot and great friend”.
Another, tweeting a story from the far-right site Gateway Pundit, was headlined: “FOX Business Network Fires [Regan] for Telling the Truth About How Liberal Media Was Using Coronavirus to Take Down Trump.”
Here’s how we reported Regan’s original comments:
According to CNN media reporter and host Brian Stelter, meanwhile, “it should be noted that Regan’s commentary, while reprehensible, wasn’t much different than what Fox’s main stars were saying. Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham, as I previously reported, both downplayed the virus and suggested it was being used by the media to ‘bludgeon’ Trump.”
Trump himself regularly complains about Democrats allegedly politicising the coronavirus outbreak. Perhaps, then, Regan was more vulnerable simply because she was not so big a name in the Fox News and Business firmament. After all, Hannity has a direct line to the president:
Good morning, and welcome to another day of Guardian coverage of the coronavirus outbreak in the US.
Donald Trump was up early on Saturday, tweeting complaints about “the Lamestream media”. Various stories have got the president’s goat, including one which said he has consulted New York Yankees star, drugs cheat and partner of Jennifer Lopez Alex Rodriguez about how to tackle the crisis.
ABC News put that one down to “multiple sources”. The president said: “When you see, ‘five sources say’, don’t believe the story…”
So that was fun.
Trump has also been pursuing attacks on governors he doesn’t like, particularly Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, a Democrat he claimed with no discernible irony was “way in over her head”, “doesn’t have a clue” and “likes blaming everyone for her own ineptitude!”
Trump does have official business to attend to on Saturday, traveling to Norfolk, Virginia to deliver remarks as the USNS Comfort hospital ship sets sail for New York harbour. At the White House briefing on Friday, the 73-year-old president was asked: “Given that older Americans are advised to stay at home and avoid travel, is it absolutely necessary for you to go to Norfolk, Virginia tomorrow to wave goodbye to the ship?”
“No,” Trump answered, “but I have spirit for the country.”
“I think it’s great if I go to Virginia,” he added. “… It’s a tiny trip. And I think it’s a good thing when I go over there and I say thank you. It doesn’t mean I’m going to be hugging people and it doesn’t mean that I’m going to be shaking people’s hands and everything, but I think it sends a signal when the president is able to go there and say thank you. So, we’ll be careful.”
Trump is due to leave the White House at midday, perhaps a first chance to pass comment on new developments in the crisis.
According to researchers at Johns Hopkins University, as of Saturday morning more than 100,000 US cases had been confirmed and 1,541 people had died. Nearly 45,000 of those cases and more than 500 of those deaths happened in New York state. Expect to hear more from Governor Andrew Cuomo, the Democrat widely said to be having a “good crisis” as a leader, later.
Bryan Armen Graham will be here soon to take you through the day. In the meantime, here’s a selection of further reading:
