Our live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic in the US has ended for the day. Follow the latest developments from around the globe here.
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, speaking at a news conference on Wednesday, said he wants to reopen the state in three phases beginning May 8.
The governor’s office broke down the phases into three colors: red, yellow and green:
By the numbers: Pennsylvania has a total of 35,684 Covid-19 cases and 1,622 deaths, Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said during a news conference today.
The state will not allow people to completely go back to work until there are less than 50 cases per 100,000 people for 14 days, the governor said.
Seven additional big cats at New York’s Bronx Zoo have tested positive for Covid-19, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society, the non-profit organization that runs the zoo.
That makes a total of eight big cats who contracted coronavirus at the famed zoo in New York City.
Some context: Three tigers and three African lions exhibited symptoms in early April when the zoo announced a 4-year-old Malayan tiger, named Nadia, tested positive for the virus. Testing on these six cats now confirm they have Covid-19. One more tiger also tested positive despite showing no symptoms.
The zoo says all eight animals are behaving normally and eating well.
The cats were infected by a staff member, although it is unclear how the infection occurred.
Preventive measure are now in place for all staff who are caring for cats in the four zoos run by the Wildlife Conservation Society in New York. They include the Bronx Zoo, the Central Park Zoo in Manhattan, the Prospect Park Zoo in Brooklyn and the Queens Zoo.
The zoos have been closed since March 16.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp responded on Twitter to President Trump’s comments that he disagreed “strongly” with the decision to reopen some businesses in the state.
More on this: Trump, speaking at the coronavirus press briefing, said he thought it was “too soon” to reopen certain businesses in Georgia
“I told the governor of Georgia Brian Kemp that I disagree strongly with his decision to open certain facilities, which are in violation of the phase one guidelines for the incredible people of Georgia,” Trump said during his coronavirus task force briefing this afternoon.
Kemp, a Republican and staunch ally of Trump, on Monday announced Georgia would allow nail salons, massage therapists, bowling alleys and gyms to open Friday.
The largest union representing Las Vegas casino workers is condemning the mayor’s call for those businesses to reopen immediately.
Some context: Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman said on CNN today that businesses — including casinos — should reopen, but offered no guidance on how to do it safely.
“They better figure it out. That’s their job,” Goodman said. “That’s not the mayor’s job.”
The Culinary Union says it supports Gov. Steve Sisolak’s decision to keep casinos closed, adding, “The Culinary Union is majority women and people of color, and we are not expendable.”
Goodman does not have jurisdiction over the major casinos on The Strip, which are located outside of the Las Vegas city limits and are governed by Clark County.
Commissioner Michael Naft wrote on Twitter that “[Mayor Goodman’s] defiance of Gov. Sisolak’s stay-at-home order is reckless and dangerous.”
The Nevada Gaming Control Board says it is not yet safe for the state’s casinos to reopen.
“According to Governor Sisolak’s medical advisory team, the data related to the spread of COVID-19 does not support the reopening of gaming establishments in Nevada at this time,” the board says in a written statement.
President Trump said Wednesday that he would be tasking an existing White House council, led by Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, with determining how to assist minority communities impacted by coronavirus.
The President also said he would be asking South Carolina Republican Sen. Tim Scott to assist in the effort.
“The council will seek input from the private sector and community leaders on how we can best support minority and distressed communities,” Trump said.
According to an executive order establishing the council, it was originally created “ to carry out my Administration’s plan to encourage public and private investment in urban and economically distressed areas, including qualified opportunity zones.”
Fourth of July celebrations will be held on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. this year, President Trump announced today at his coronavirus briefing.
Last year, Trump held a Fourth of July celebration at the Lincoln Memorial in what was called a “Salute to America.” The event included remarks from the President, military tank displays, music from military bands and military flyovers.
Trump said that attendance for the Washington event will likely be limited to “25% of what we had last year.”
“This year, most likely, we’ll be standing 6 feet apart,” he added.
The President also compared his Fourth of July celebration turnout at the Lincoln Memorial with Martin Luther King Jr.’s.
“I saw a magnificent picture of Dr. Martin Luther King and I saw a magnificent picture of our event last year and both of them were maxed out. It was beautiful to see. Beautiful — very similar,” Trump said.
Infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci championed the mitigation efforts implemented across the US and considers them the “basis for our being able to say that we can now think seriously about reopening America.”
Fauci’s comments come after numerous states, including Georgia and Tennessee, have said they would reopen parts of their economies soon.
Fauci concluded his remarks with a request for lawmakers around the country to be careful to avoid a “rebound” of coronavirus cases.
“I plead with the American public, with the governors, with the mayors for the people with the responsibility, although I know one has the lead to leapfrog over things, don’t do that. Do it in a measured way. This is a successful formula. The problem is if we don’t do that, there is a likelihood that we’ll have a rebound. And the one way not to reopen the economy is to have a rebound that we can’t take care of,” he said.
See Dr. Fauci’s message here:
CNN’s Anderson Cooper clashed with Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman this afternoon in a must-see interview.
Watch it in full here:
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt said today businesses in his state can start reopening this week.
His plan involves three phases and “will not move to the next phase until the data tells us that it’s safe to do so,” Stitt said.
Starting on Friday, Stitt said “personal care businesses” can reopen for appointments “only if they adhere to strict sanitation protocols” and are in communities that do not have more restrictions in place. Those businesses include hair and nail salons, barbershops, spas, and pet groomers.
Stitt said restaurants, dining rooms, movie theaters, sporting venues and gyms can open on May 1 if they maintain “strict social distancing and sanitation protocols.”
He also said that places of worship can reopen for in-person meetings or worship on May 1 but noted that staff and volunteers will need to wear masks when interacting with the public.
Bars, however, will remain closed
He stressed “even as things begin to open, it is so important that we continue to practice social distancing.”
“This is a careful and measured approach designed to protect our most vulnerable will safely easing Oklahomans back to work,” he said.
President Trump said he signed his immigration executive order before the coronavirus press briefing.
The order is expected to temporarily halt the issuance of new green cards and work visas — steps that had already effectively been in place amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Trump continued: “We have to take care of our patients, we have to take care of our great American workers and that’s what we’re doing. So I just signed it just before coming into the room, and very important.”
Watch Trump’s announcement here:
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced an incremental plan to open specific businesses over the next few weeks.
If the openings go well, he said, the state will open up even more businesses on May 4.
On April 27, elective surgeries will be allowed in clinics and hospitals, but they have to be simple procedures that don’t require an overnight stay. The patient has to have been tested for exposure to COVID-19 before the procedure and must not have any underlying health conditions.
Here’s a timeline of the reopenings:
Hutchinson said he is very comfortable with these target dates and that they must continue to operate in a sequential fashion so that they can measure results.
President Trump said he disagreed “strongly” with Gov. Brian Kemp’s decision to open up parts of Georgia’s economy while the coronavirus pandemic continues to threaten the state.
Some context: Kemp, a Republican and staunch ally of Trump, on Monday announced Georgia would allow nail salons, massage therapists, bowling alleys and gyms to open Friday.
In-person church services can resume. And restaurants and movie theaters can open Monday. His order also bars cities from imposing their own restrictions on businesses.
It’s the most aggressive move yet to reopen a state’s economy as Trump optimistically pushes for a May 1 end to some statewide lockdowns. It also came as a surprise to mayors and some members of Kemp’s own coronavirus task force.
Watch the moment here:
President Trump defended the decision to reopen states amid the coronavirus pandemic, saying the virus will not “be coming back” in as many cases as the US saw earlier this year.
“And if it comes back, though, it won’t be coming back in the form that it was. It will be coming back in smaller doses that we can contain. What (CDC Director Robert Redfield) was saying and I spoke to him at great length, he was saying if it should come back together, now you have the flu and you have the embers of corona,” Trump said.
He continued: “But in my opinion, from everything I’ve seen, it can never be like anything we’ve witnessed right now. What we’ve just gone through, we will not go through. You could have some embers of corona, and you could have a big flu system … We will not go through what we went through for the last two months.”
Reporter to Trump: How can you say the virus will not come back at the same level?
The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention clarified comments he made to the Washington Post about how the second coronavirus outbreak could emerge this winter in conjunction with the flu season to make for an even more dire health crisis.
“There’s a possibility that the assault of the virus on our nation next winter will actually be even more difficult than the one we just went through,” CDC Director Robert Redfield said in a story published Tuesday. “And when I’ve said this to others, they kind of put their head back, they don’t understand what I mean.”
Speaking moments ago at the White House, Redfield said that the second wave “could be more difficult, more complicated” and not “worse.”
Watch here:
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said Wednesday that 150,000 Covid-19 tests will arrive in Colorado from South Korea by the end of the week, plus 150,000 swabs coming in May.
The state is partnering with Colorado State University to expand testing at skilled nursing facilities, including asymptomatic workers. Officials are also working to deploy “hundreds of thousands of antibody tests,” Polis said.
Polis said he will relax the stay-at-home order due to expire on April 26, and Colorado will move to a “safer-at-home” phase starting on April 27.
There are at least 846,982 cases of coronavirus in the US and at least 46,609 people have died, according to Johns Hopkins University’s tally of cases.
As states begin to include “probable deaths” in their counts, so will JHU. In the upcoming days, these changes may show as surges of deaths in the United States.
On Wednesday, Johns Hopkins reported 22,093 new cases and 1,567 reported deaths.
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said Wednesday he will likely not extend the state’s shelter-in-place order, which is set to expire Monday.
Reeves suggested he might narrow the directive to apply only to the state’s high-risk population, such as the elderly and those with preexisting conditions.
He said steps to fully reopen the state’s economy might take weeks, and could happen incrementally by region or county. He promised the process would be cautious and gradual.
Reeves signaled a final decision on Mississippi’s shelter-in-place order will come by the end of the week.
Montana’s stay-at-home order will be lifted Sunday, as part of a gradual and phased reopening of the state, Gov. Steve Bullock tweeted today.
His phase one measures outlined in a statement include giving local school districts the option to return to in-classroom learning beginning May 7.
Places of worship can become operational on April 26 in a manner consistent with social distancing between people who are not members of the same household.
Main street and retail businesses can become operational on or after April 27 if they can adhere to requirements to limit capacity and maintain strict physical distancing. Employers are directed to develop policies to keep employees and customers safe including teleworking when possible, enforcing social distancing protocols, and other measures.
Restaurants, bars, breweries, and distilleries can begin providing some in-establishment services beginning May 4.
Businesses where groups gather without the ability to social distance including movie theaters, gyms, and other places of assembly will remain closed.
Montana’s travel quarantine will remain in effect.
“Our new normal is going to look different. This virus isn’t gone from Montana. So as we turn to support our main street businesses and get more families back to work during this time – as we should – we must also be sure to continue looking out for those around us and protecting everyone around us,” Bullock said.
“Once we begin to reopen, we want to be able to stay open. Our personal responsibility to protect those around us – particularly those most vulnerable – remains just as important as any time during this pandemic.”
The Nevada Gaming Control Board has put out guidelines for the reopening of gaming establishments in the state once the temporary closures end.
Nevada operations are currently closed under the state’s stay-at-home order. The guidelines would go into effect once that order is lifted or changed by the governor.
Establishments must send a reopening plan to the audit and enforcement divisions at least seven days before reopening, or as soon as possible, the memo said.
The board also listed 18 procedures that licensees should follow and have in place when reopening including that the establishment must comply with all prescribed local, state and federal Covid-19 heath requirements.
