Coronavirus US live: New York ordered to increase hospital capacity as surgeon general issues warning | US news

McConnell described some Democrat’s decision to vote against the stimulus bill as akin to a: “Leftwing episode of supermarket sweep.”

“They ought to be embarrassed Mr President… this is not a juicy political opportunity, this is a national emergency,” he says.

“Today is the day this has to stop.”

“Republicans understand that a national emergency stands for bipartisanship.”

Chuck Schumer, the Democratic minority leader is now speaking to respond.

Mitch McConnell is now speaking on the floor of the US senate. He’s tearing into Democratic senators who voted against a stimulus bill last night.

“This is the moment to debate new regulations that have nothing to do with this crisis,” he says, arguing his colleagues are pushing regulations against certain industries that are not relevant to the coronavirus crisis.

You can watch along live here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6V9u-MlU2Tw&list=PL_sEtMR4aiVftiSK1mP2yYZclCNaU5lza

Governors in Michigan and Massachusetts became the latest state executives to order statewide stay at home orders.

Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker said on Monday that the restrictions would go into effect on Tuesday at noon and will be in effect until at least April 7.

Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer issued a news release on Monday morning saying her order would come into effect on Tuesday morning and would remain in place for at least another three weeks.

As with other stay-at-home orders, essential services like grocery stores and pharmacies will remain open.

Other states that have issued similar orders include: California, New York, Louisiana, Illinois, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Cuomo confirms his administration is examining clemency for older inmates in the state’s prison system.

He also adds that, as of today, no frontline medical worker, should go without masks or other protective wear. This follows an earlier announcement from manufacturers that a large order of respirator masks was being delivered to New York today:

“Today we can get masks to anyone who needs them. And gowns. I can’t promise that for next week or the week after… today there is no-one we can’t cover,” he says.

Cuomo says that coronavirus pandemic should serve as a lesson for the state on how to be better prepared for another outbreak in the future.

“We have to learn from this, because we were not ready to deal with it… let’s at least learn from this to prepare for the next situation.”

He ends his prepared remarks by ending on a positive.

“Life is going to be quieter for the next months,” he says, adding it was a “blessing” that he would be forced to spend more time in isolation with his family and children.

An addendum to the post below:

There are now 12,305 confirmed cases in New York City, further confirmation that the five boroughs are a major Covid-19 hotspot.

Cuomo says that New York state now has 20,875 confirmed Covid-19 cases, including 5,707 cases confirmed today.

13% of those cases have required hospitalization, with 24% of those hospitalized needed ICU care.

There have now been 157 coronavirus deaths in the state.

“New York has by far the greatest need in the country,” he says, urging the US government to direct funding to the state.

“Fund the need.”

Cuomo urges Donald Trump to invoke the Defense Production Act, which would allow the government to direct private companies to produce more frontline equipment needed by hospitals and doctors to fight the virus.

Trump has resisted this thus far.

Andrew Cuomo says he will sign an emergency order today instructing all hospitals to increase their bed capacity by 50%, and will also request that hospitals endeavor to expand their bed capacity by 100%.

He says the state currently has a 53,000 bed capacity, which needs to be doubled according to recent to projects to 110,000.

He says New York is now testing 16,000 a day, which is per capita the highest rate in the world. Higher, even, than South Korea.

New York governor Andrew Cuomo has begun a press conference, we’ll bring you live updates as they happen.

You can watch along here (h/t Washington Post):

Former Democratic presidential candidate and Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar has announced that her husband John has coronavirus.

In a released posted on Medium, the senator writes:

I have news that many Americans are facing right now: my husband John has the coronavirus. We just got the test results at 7 a.m. this morning. While I cannot see him and he is of course cut off from all visitors, our daughter Abigail and I are constantly calling and texting and emailing. We love him very much and pray for his recovery. He is exhausted and sick but a very strong and resilient person.

The full message is here: https://medium.com/@Amy_Klobuchar/statement-from-senator-amy-klobuchar-c4195302844

Nasa astronauts who have lived on the international space station, enduring months of close quartered surroundings and isolation, have been sharing advice on how to manage living arrangements during self-isolation.

Peggy Whitson, the world’s 1st female commander of the the International Space Station advised: “You have to be able to communicate effectively… that is the most important thing you have to be able to do.”

Scott Kelly, another retired Nasa astronaut who lived on the International Space Station for a full year, advised those in self isolation to make sure they plan out their days. “Having a schedule is critical to helping us get through this,” he said.

Donald Trump has posted two videos to Twitter, one which includes expert advise on social distancing from the lead doctors and scientists on the White House’s coronavirus task force.

The other is a direct message from Trump. It is seemingly unscripted. The president states:

“Wash your hands, good hygiene, all of that, but social distancing. Keep away, it’s going to have no place to go… and as president I just want to thank you for the incredible job you’re all doing. There is spirit in our country like never before.

“We pull together as a unit. We pull together as a country. We will prevail together.”

US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin appeared on CNBC this morning to urge Democratic lawmakers to pass a stimulus bill that failed a critical vote in the US senate on Sunday.

Yesterday, the senate failed to advance a “shell” stimulus bill, after Democrats accused Republicans of walking back areas of agreement, including expansion of unemployment insurance. The bill failed on a 47-47 vote.

Mnuchin urged the senate to pass legislation and said he was working to speed direct cash deposits to US workers -estimated at $3000 for a family of four – and support payroll to small business for two months.

“This is a massive amount of liquidity to American workers as we set up these other programs,” Mnuchin said.

“The president is fully determined, we are using all our tools to pump massive amounts of liquidity, and working with the federal reserve, to support the US economy in an unprecedented situation when the government has shut down major parts of the economy.”

Dr Anthony Fauci, head of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has made comments alluding to the difficulties of briefing the public on Covid-19 alongside Donald Trump.

Trump has used a number of recent press conferences at the White House to push falsehoods on the virus and potential cures.

Fauci, a key member of the president’s coronavirus task force spoke briefly to Science magazine in an interview published on Sunday.

Dr Fauci, 79, was asked how it felt to “stand there as the representative of truth and facts [when] things are being said that aren’t true and aren’t factual”.

“I can’t jump in front of the microphone and push him down,” he said. “OK, he said it. Let’s try and get it corrected for the next time.”

That, Dr Fauci said, involved members of the White House coronavirus task force who, “the next time they sit down with him and talk about what he’s going to say, they will say, ‘By the way, Mr President, be careful about this and don’t say that.’”

My colleague Martin Pengelly has more on that interview and Fauci’s increasingly difficult position in this piece:

Welcome to our live coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic in the United States.

We start with comments made this morning by US surgeon general Dr Jerome Adams who appeared on NBC Today, warning Americans: “This week it’s going to get bad.”

He added: “We really need to come together as a nation…we really really need everyone to stay at home.”

Adams offered a stark warning to a few major US cities that have seen a spike in cases recently, using the nation’s Covid-19 hotspot, New York, as an important reminder: “We don’t want Dallas or New Orleans or Chicago to turn into the next New York. It means everyone needs to be taking the right steps right now.”

Adams said that testing around the country has “significantly increased”. But cautioned that “We aren’t testing the people who are at highest risk right now…We need to make sure we’re prioritizing testing for our health care workers.”

We’ll also be following developments in Congress today following a key vote failure in the Senate yesterday on the Coronavirus stimulus bill, as well as news from impacted states and tracking how the markets fare.