Previous coronavirus daily briefing updates, March 29-31
By
Staff, AccuWeather
Published Apr 2, 2020 7:25 PM EDT
Current daily briefings on the coronavirus can be found here. Scroll below to read precious reports, listed in eastern time.
More than 50 sites in the national park system have closed their gates due to the spread of the coronavirus. “The National Park Service is modifying its operations on a park-by-park basis in accordance with the latest guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and state and local public health authorities,” the National Park Service said. “Before visiting, please check with individual parks regarding changes to park operations.“ People that do visit the national parks, or any other outdoor recreation area, are encouraged to practice social distancing by remaining at least six feet away from other visitors.
Some of the more popular national parks that are closed include:
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Yellowstone National Park
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Yosemite National Park
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Joshua Tree National Park
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Glacier National Park
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Rocky Mountain National Park
A magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck Idaho, shaking a hospital about 65 miles south of the epicenter, but the quake didn’t interfere with the treatment of patients, the Associated Press reported. The hospital, St. Luke’s Wood River Medical Center, in Blaine County is in a region with the highest per-capita rates of known coronavirus cases in the nation outside of New York City and surrounding counties.
A doughnut shop in Rochester, New York, is honoring Dr. Anthony Fauci, the longtime head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, in a sweet way. Donuts Delite is selling donuts featuring the face of Dr. Fauci in appreciation for all the contributions he has done for COVID-19 research. Nick Semeraro, the owner of the business, said they have already sold thousands of doughnuts. “It started as a thank you,” Semeraro told WHAM-TV. “It’s sticking, and I think it’s great. People are stuck at home and what’s happening is, it’s starting conversations. Whether they pick it up for someone, it starts that thinking outside of the box and giving back.”
Walmart plans to take the temperatures of employees and provide them with masks within the next two weeks. The company will turn away workers who record a temperature of 100 degrees or more and they will be paid for reporting to work, said Dan Barlett, Walmart’s executive vice president of corporate affairs.
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf announced the indefinite closure of all schools and non-essential businesses. This closure will remain enforced for as long as it is necessary to control the spread of COVID-19 in Pennsylvania. “If we want to save lives, we must continue to distance ourselves from each other,” Wolf said. He then expressed concern for the warmer days ahead. “We’re starting to get into warmer weather and absolutely, spring fever is going to set in,” Wolf said. “That’s going to make even more difficult for us to choose to stay home. But stay home we must.”
Toronto Mayor John Tory canceled all major city events, including conferences, festivals and cultural programs until July to ensure the health of citizens. The city has confirmed more than 790 cases of COVID-19, with eight deaths attributed to the virus. "This is not an easy decision to make, but it is necessary to protect the public and to save lives," Tory said.
COVID-19 gave U.S. stocks a historic beating in the first quarter of 2020. According to CNBC, the Dow's 410-point slide on Tuesday pushed the index to the single-worst first quarter in its history -- a precipitous drop of 23.2%. Not to be outdone, the S&P 500 also had its worst first quarter ever, CNBC reported, dropping 20% for the period ending on March 31. The Dow also suffered its worst overall quarter since 1987, according to AFP.
Nearly 100 planes are parked at Pittsburgh International airport due to the decline in passenger traffic amid the COVID-19 outbreak. Officials found a way to accommodate the grounded planes while safely maintaining airport operations. “We start by identifying which areas we can use on the airfield at no impact to operations,” said Patrick Carreno, vice president of airport operations at Pittsburg International. “We start with aprons and other areas where you would typically park aircraft. After that, we consider using taxiways and runways.” Grounded planes also take up space on the tarmac in Phoenix at the Sky Harbor International Airport.
Grounded planes at Pittsburg International airport. Blue Sky News/Pittsburgh International Airport.
As COVID-19 continues to spread across the country, millions of parents are looking for ways to keep their children active while quarantined. Steven Kalifowitz, a parent from New York City, told AccuWeather reporter Dexter Henry that quarantine life is forcing parents to get more creative with what activities they can do with their children while indoors. “We all get together and do jumping jacks and push-ups,” Kalifowitz said. “Anything that we can do just to keep each other active and playful and just have fun together.” The start of spring is another challenge for parents, as days are longer, and children want to go out to the playground to interact friends. Lindsay Jackson, a parent from the Bronx, expressed her concern about the empty playgrounds since the pandemic started. “Playgrounds are usually filled with people people,” said Jackson. “And to not see that is kind of scary at first.”
Watch the full report here.
Sant Joan de Deu Children’s Hospital in Barcelona recently shared a video on Twitter to highlight the hard work of its cleaning staff. In the video, doctors and nurses are seen thanking the cleaning staff with "a well-deserved applause" for all the work they’re doing during these “exceptional circumstances” caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The hospital also thanked the security, and kitchen and infrastructure staff who are also working tirelessly. Currently, Spain is the third-most affected country by this pandemic in terms of confirmed cases, with more than 94,000 and is second in fatalities with more than 8,200.
A Van Gogh painting was stolen early Monday from a Dutch museum that has been closed since March 12 due to coronavirus concerns. Singer Laren museum director Jan Rudolph de Lorm said that he was “shocked and unbelievably annoyed” for the loss of the painting titled “The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring 1884.” Although the value of this work is not known, Van Gogh’s paintings are worth millions of dollars when they go on sale at auctions. Police are still investigating the theft, according to The Associated Press.
A COVID-19 test that can produce results in five minutes may soon be available at your local urgent care clinic. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a new coronavirus test that gives positive results in five minutes, and negative results in about 13 minutes. Shares of the medical-device maker Abbott Laboratories soared after the company revealed plans to supply 50,000 of these five-minute tests a day starting April 1, said John Frels, vice president of research and development at Abbott Diagnostics.
As an increasing number of people are staying indoors during this pandemic, animals have returned to their habitats. This is the case in San Antonio, where fish of up to two inches have been spotted in the river along the normally bustling river walk. A dry start to the year and fewer tourists taking boat rides due to the increasing concern for the coronavirus pandemic have contributed to the water clearing up, making these sightings possible. San Antonio resident Daniela Castaneda told AccuWeather reporter Jonathan Petramala that she was surprised by this, “I’ve never seen fish inside the river," she said. "It’s a new experience seeing that.”
(Photo/Daniela Castaneda)
The coronavirus infection rate in Italy has hit a "plateau" one of the country's top health officials said, according to The Associated Press. “The curve suggests we are at the plateau," Dr. Silvio Brusaferro said. "We have to confirm it, because arriving at the plateau doesn’t mean we have conquered the peak and we’re done. It means now we should start to see the decline if we continue to place maximum attention on what we do every day.” Brusaferro cautioned against lifting the country's nationwide lockdown and stay-at-home restrictions. Italy has a confirmed case count of 105,792 -- second only the U.S. and over 12,400 deaths, more than any other country.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and member of the White House's coronavirus task force, told CNN Tuesday that he's starting to see "glimmers that [social distancing] is actually having some dampening effect" on the virus in the U.S. "You're starting to see that the daily increases are not in that steep incline, they're starting to be able to possibly flatten out... that's what we really are trying to attain," he said.
However, Fauci cautioned that the next couple of weeks are a "critical time" and there still needs to be intensive mitigation efforts. "We clearly are seeing cases going up, the people in New York are in a difficult situation and what they're trying to do appropriately is make the best of it by opening up facilities that might decompress the surge of cases that they're having," Fauci said, citing the reconfiguration of the Javits Convention Center and the arrival of the USNS Comfort in New York Harbor. "We are still in a very difficult situation. We hope and I believe it will happen that we may start seeing a turnaround, but we haven't seen it yet. We're just pushing on the mitigation to hope that we do see that turnaround."
New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell visited the city's convention center earlier this week where additional hospital beds are being built in order to free up ICU beds at nearby hospitals for the most critically ill. The Big Easy is one of the hotspots in the U.S. for the COVID-19 pandemic, with nearly 1,500 confirmed cases and 86 deaths.
Collin Arnold, the director of the New Orleans Office of Homeland Security, told CNN Tuesday that the city is tracking a mortality rate of about 5%. “Our rate of infection is very high & unfortunately, so are our numbers of hospitalizations & deaths. We’re preparing for this to be very significant,” Arnold said. The AccuWeather five-day forecast for New Orleans shows another warmup coming for the area, with a 10-degree increase in temperature from Wednesday to Sunday.
Much has been written about how the weather may limit or hinder the spread of SARS-CoV-2, but could the virus actually hinder meteorologists' ability to forecast the weather? As AccuWeather's John Roach reported, there has been a major cutback in the number of aircraft flights that generate vital weather data. This data is used routinely to improve the forecasts created by national weather prediction centers across the globe -- and this is all happening at just about the worst possible time.
Japan's capital city of Tokyo reported its highest daily number of COVID-19 infections on Tuesday, as the total number of cases in the country surpassed 2,000, Reuters reported. More than 70 new cases were reported in the city. “This is the greatest increase up to now and is certainly of high concern, and I’m worried about what tomorrow’s figures might show,” Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike said, according to Reuters.
A look at the AccuWeather five-day forecast for Tokyo shows conditions are expected to warm up by late this week, following several days of cool and damp weather.
"Heartbeat of America" comes to life atop the Empire State Building. Two of the most iconic landmarks around the world are lighting up in support of the global battle against COVID-19. In midtown Manhattan, the Empire State Building management said that as of Monday evening "our signature white lights will be replaced by the heartbeat of America with a white and red siren in the mast for heroic emergency workers on the front line of the fight." In Egypt, a similar sight materialized on the side of the Great Pyramid of Giza. The message "Stay safe, Stay at Home, Thank you to those keeping us safe," was projected onto one side of the ancient landmark in a show of solidarity as the global crisis drags on.
"COVID-19 is far from over in Asia and the Pacific." Those were the words of Dr. Takeshi Kasai, the World Health Organization's regional director for the Western Pacific on Tuesday. After first emerging late in 2019 in China's Hubei province the virus quickly spread to South Korea and Japan. In recent weeks, signs of normal life have started to emerge in China and South Korea as confirmed numbers of new cases declined. At the same time, the rest of the world has struggled to contain the spread of the contagion.
Despite the recent drop in numbers, Kasai said many countries across Asia and the Pacific are still reporting their first cases, some are picking up significant numbers of imported cases, and others are detecting community transmission."This is going to be a long-term battle, and we cannot let down our guard," Kasai said.
Spain on Tuesday reported 849 new COVID-19-related fatalities, the highest daily number reported in the country since the outbreak began. The country has reported more than 8,100 total deaths which is second worldwide behind Italy, which has more than 11,500 confirmed deaths. The mounting number of cases are straining Spain's health system, The Associated Press reported, with hospitals in at least half of the country's 17 regions "at or very near" their ICU bed limits. The AP said that more than 10,000 medical workers are infected. Spain has reported over 94,000 total infections.
In this Friday, March 27, 2020 health care workers assist a patient at one of the intensive care units (ICU) at German Trias i Pujol hospital in Badalona, in the Barcelona province, Spain. (AP Photo/Anna Surinyach)
(AP Photo/Anna Surinyach)
In the U.S, Monday marked the deadliest day yet as more than 500 fatalities from COVID-19 pushed the total toll above 3,000 in the country, more than the total number of victims killed in the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. Here are the latest updated totals from Johns Hopkins University:
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Total confirmed cases: 788,522
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Total deaths: 37,878
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Total recoveries: 166,768
Italians have been under lockdown for three weeks with the restrictions due to end on Friday, but the Italian government just announced a continuation of the lockdown to prevent further spread, according to CNBC. “Our evaluation is that all containment measures should be extended at least until Easter (April 12). The government will move in this direction,” Health Minister Roberto Speranza said in a statement.
Confirmed U.S. coronavirus deaths surpass 3,000. Dr. Anthony Fauci said he anticipates coronavirus will return in the fall, however, the second outbreak will be different compared to before because there will be better testing and contact trace. “What we’re going through now is more than just lessons learned, it’s going to be things we have available to us that we didn’t have before,” Fauci said.
U.S. stocks rose on Monday, rebounding again amid the ongoing market volatility. Meanwhile, the price of oil plummeted. Oil is down more than 50% this month, according to Barrons.
The major decline in air travel demand due to the coronavirus has made American Airlines decide to apply for government aid. The airline company said they will also offer partial pay to entice workers off of payroll. Fewer flights could also have implications on the accuracy of weather forecasting heading into severe weather season. Read the full story about how flights can provide critical weather information for meteorologists.
Tom Hanks and his wife, Rita Wilson, are back in the U.S. after more than two weeks of self-quarantine in Australia. The actor thanked everyone who helped him and his wife after being diagnosed with COVID-19 earlier this month. "Many, many thanks to everyone in Australia who looked after us. Their care and guidance made possible our return to the USA," Hanks said on Twitter. The couple is carrying on with sheltering in place and social distancing like missions of others across the country.
Friends hold rainy-day picnic in a park while social distancing. Two friends in Northern New Jersey let neither the strict social distancing restrictions mandated in the Garden State nor the bad weather stop them from spending a little time together on Sunday. Larissa Silva, 25, and Maria Paiva, 27, both of Hohokus, NJ, backed their cars up close to one another -- but not too close -- in a parking lot in neighboring Ridgewood and sat under the trunk doors, and chatted. They took a moment to answer some questions from AccuWeather about an interesting sign of the times.
"We're having a picnic, actually," Silva told AccuWeather. Paiva added that they were being careful to maintain proper social distancing recommendations. The two said it's been tough sheltering in place for the last two weeks, and that they use FaceTime and WhatsApp to communicate. But, "sometimes we just need to leave the house a little bit," Paiva said. The two are originally from Brazil and work as au pairs in Hohokus, which is situated in Bergen County about 25 miles northwest of New York City. Bergen County has been New Jersey's COVID-19 hotspot with nearly 2,500 of the state's 16,000 COVID-19 cases.
Larissa Silva, 25, (L) and Maria Paiva, 27, hold a rainy-day picnic while social distancing at a park in Ridgewood, NJ, on Sunday, March 29, 2020. New Jersey had more than 16,000 cases of COVID-19 and the governor has issued strict stay-at-home orders for all but essential workers. (AccuWeather)
(AccuWeather)
Companies are stepping up to produce masks and ventilators for overwhelmed hospitals. L.L.Bean is using material from its dog beds to make medical masks, while GE Healthcare and Ford Motor Company plan to produce 50,000 ventilators in the next 100 days.
New York Rep. Nydia Velázquez was diagnosed with a “presumed coronavirus infection” on Sunday. Velázquez is currently self-isolating at home after developing “the abrupt onset of muscle aches, fevers, nasal congestion and stomach upset.” Days before her symptoms, Velazquez was on the House floor and at a ceremony with Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Representative Kevin McCarthy on Friday.Five members of Congress were diagnosed with coronavirus before Velazquez, The Hill reported.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced a stay-at-home order for South Florida residents through mid-May, as coronavirus cases continue to increase in the area. During his announcement on Monday, DeSantis cited that Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties account for 60% of the total number of cases in the state, with more than 3,200 confirmed cases. Florida has more than 5,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 63 residents have died as a result of the disease.
Severe weather ignited across the central U.S. on Saturday, spinning up two dozen tornadoes. The most substantial tornado was an EF3 twister that ravaged parts of Jonesboro, Arkansas, including the home of Jared Burks, a resident physician at a local hospital who has been on the frontlines of the battle against COVID-19 and living separately from his family in the process. A story that verged on the tragic, however, has taken a heartwarming turn and AccuWeather's Monica Danielle has all the details on the remarkable way people have rallied around the family -- and the viral photo that started it all.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan issued a state-wide stay-at-home order on Monday, the latest of 28 states across the country to instruct residents to avoid leaving their homes unless it is absolutely crucial. “This is a deadly public health crisis. We are no longer asking or suggesting that Marylanders stay home—we are directing them to do so,” Hogan said. People arriving in Maryland from another state have also been directed to self-quarantine for 14 days.
The USNS Comfort, a Navy hospital ship, arrived in New York Harbor on an overcast Monday morning after passing the Statue of Liberty to assist in the treatment of patients in need of urgent care for non-COVID-19 related health conditions. NPR reported the ship has about 1,000 hospital beds and 12 operating rooms. The Comfort was previously deployed to New York City after the Sept.11 terrorist attacks. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the added hospital capacity the ship brings will help to save lives. "This day will be remembered," Cuomo said.
The USNS Comfort passes the Statue of Liberty as it enters New York Harbor during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in New York City, U.S., March 30, 2020. REUTERS/Mike Segar
(REUTERS / Mike Segar)
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Monday that the COVID-19 pandemic "is straining health systems in many countries." "The rapidly increasing demand on health facilities and health workers threatens to leave some health systems overstretched and unable to operate effectively," Tedros said in a media briefing. He later added that the organization is working "intensively with several parties to increase access to life-saving products "including diagnostics, PPE, medical oxygen, ventilators and more."
WHO officials also said some early research has shown that some drugs "may have an impact" on fighting the virus, according to CNBC. Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO's heath emergencies program said, “some preliminary data from non-randomized studies, observational studies, that indicate some drugs and some drug cocktails may have an impact,” but cautioned that there is still no "proven effective therapeutic or drug against COVID-19."
New York Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said there are over 700 members of the NYPD that have contracted COVID-19 and that number was expected to spike to around 900 on Monday, The New York Post reported. At least three members of the department have died due to COVID-19, Shea said. Cedric Dixon, a 48-year-old detective who worked in the 32nd precinct in Harlem died Saturday, and was the first uniformed officer to pass away, according to the Post.
Italy reported a decline in COVID-19 fatalities for the second straight day on Sunday, but the country will continue to enforce strict containment measures going forward, Reuters reported. This includes banning all sporting events for the month of April and possibly maintaining the ban on non-essential activities through April 18, Reuters said, citing Italian officials. The country's Civil Protection Agency said there were 756 new fatalities on Sunday, 133 fewer than the 889 deaths reported on Saturday. Italy's death tolls stands at 10,779, which is higher than any other country in the world.
An emergency hospital has been constructed in Central Park to treat the wave of COVID-19 patients that is overwhelming city hospitals. The field hospital is located in the park's East Meadow and is made out of tents. When it opens on Tuesday, it will consist of a respiratory care unit, according to NY1, and include ICU facilities. The structure was put together by a volunteer organization called Samaritan's Purse. The makeshift hospital, built in the place that serves as the city's official location for weather records, is a replica of an emergency hospital that was constructed a few weeks ago in Northern Italy. New York City is the epicenter of the outbreak in the U.S., with at least 776 fatalities blamed on the illness and more than 33,000 confirmed cases.
A Samaritan's Purse crew works on building a 68 bed emergency field hospital specially equipped with a respiratory unit in New York's Central Park across from The Mount Sinai Hospital, Sunday, March 29, 2020. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
(AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
The Tokyo Olympics have a new start date. After officially moving the games to 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic, officials announced Monday that the 2020 Games will now take place from July 23 to Aug. 8, 2021. Olympic organizers made the decision to postpone last week while facing mounting pressure to delay the Games from Olympic athletes and federations worldwide.
The failure to practice social distancing could hit New York City residents in their wallets, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Sunday. While he called them a last resort, de Blasio said police officers have been authorized to issue fines of $250 to $500 to individuals congregating in public spaces and failing to disperse.
At the beginning of the week, the weather will cooperate with the city’s efforts, as rain is expected through Monday and Tuesday. However, sunnier days at the end of the week could push more people outside and re-congest public spaces, as building high pressure in the eastern U.S. will bring warmer conditions in from the South.
Here are the latest updated totals, compiled by researchers from Johns Hopkins University:
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Total confirmed cases: 724,945
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Total deaths: 34,041
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Total recovered: 152,314
President Donald Trump extended social distancing guidelines until April 30. On Sunday, he said he expects things to turn around by June 1, with the peak of the outbreak hitting around Easter, NBC reported.
A man walk alone on the promenade under the FDR drive in Lower Manhattan, Sunday, March 29, 2020. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
To combat the spread of COVID-19 within the confines of prisons, New York will release 600 parole violators from the city jails. Three-hundred non-violent prisoners being held in Rikers Island were also released last week by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. According to New York Daily News, 1,100 people will be released from prisons across the city and state.
Country music singer Joe Diffie died Sunday at the age of 61 due to complications from COVID-19, NBC News reports. On Friday, Diffie announced in a statement that he had tested positive for the virus.
All 280 state parks in California are no longer allowing visitors traveling by vehicle, while some are closing entirely. The new closures come after a "surge" of visitors on Saturday made social distancing practices impossible, according to a news release issued on Sunday. Campgrounds, museums and visitors centers at the parks were previously closed.
Director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN on Saturday that "we don't really have any firm idea" on how COVID-19 will continue to spread in the U.S., but said the country could see millions of cases and somewhere between 100,000 to 200,000 deaths related to the virus. "We're going to have millions of cases, but I just don’t think that we really need to make a projection when it’s such a moving target," Fauci said.
The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the world surpassed 700,000 on Sunday afternoon, reaching 704,095. Just one day prior the case count hit 600,000. So far, 33,509 deaths have been reported to be related to the virus and 148,824 cases have recovered, according to Johns Hopkins University.
A checkpoint on I-95 in Florida has been set up to stop and screen travelers from the New York City area, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said during a press conference, News 4 Jax reports. On Friday, a similar checkpoint on Interstate 10 popped up to screen travelers coming from Louisiana.
U.S. coronavirus deaths surpass 2,200, with at least 125,433 cases, according to Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center. Global deaths rise more than 32,000 with more than 691,00 cases total worldwide.
At least 8,503 people are in hospitals across New York for coronavirus, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a press conference on Sunday. There are 59,313 confirmed cases across New York, and at least 172,360 people have been tested, Cuomo said. Non-essential workforce in New York was directed to continue to work from home until at least April 15, Cuomo tweeted.
There are 730 New York Police department officers and 96 civilian NYPD employees infected with coronavirus, according to law enforcement officials.
India’s prime minister apologized to the country’s underprivileged and asked for forgiveness after a nationwide lockdown forced thousands of jobless laborers to walk from cities to their home villages. “I extend a heartfelt apology to all countrymen,” Narendra Modi said, The Washington Post reported. “When it comes to my underprivileged brothers and sisters, they must be wondering about the kind of prime minister they have, who has pushed them to the brink. My wholehearted apologies, especially to them.”
Vietnam will suspend all inbound international passenger flights to contain the spread of coronavirus in the coming two weeks, the government said in a statement on Saturday.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s wife has recovered from coronavirus and received clearance from her doctor and Ottawa Public Health after being ill since March 12. “I am feeling so much better,” Sophie Gregoire Trudeau said on social media, according to the Associated Press.
Approximately 100 scientists and crew members are stuck aboard a ship in the arctic because the relief crew that is supposed to replace the members could spread the virus.
Previous coverage:
Click here for previous daily briefings on the coronavirus outbreak from March 26-28.
Click here for previous daily briefings on the coronavirus outbreak.
Reporting by Lauren Fox, John Murphy, Brian Lada, Mark Puleo, Maria Antonieta Valery Gil, Kevin Byrne, Chaffin Mitchell, Adriana Navarro, Dexter Henry, Bill Wadell, Jonathan Petramala, and Monica Danielle
Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
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News / Health
Previous coronavirus daily briefing updates, March 29-31
By Staff, AccuWeather
Published Apr 2, 2020 7:25 PM EDT
Current daily briefings on the coronavirus can be found here. Scroll below to read precious reports, listed in eastern time.
March 31, 10:00 p.m.
More than 50 sites in the national park system have closed their gates due to the spread of the coronavirus. “The National Park Service is modifying its operations on a park-by-park basis in accordance with the latest guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and state and local public health authorities,” the National Park Service said. “Before visiting, please check with individual parks regarding changes to park operations.“ People that do visit the national parks, or any other outdoor recreation area, are encouraged to practice social distancing by remaining at least six feet away from other visitors.
Some of the more popular national parks that are closed include:
Yellowstone National Park
Yosemite National Park
Joshua Tree National Park
Glacier National Park
Rocky Mountain National Park
March 31, 9:15 p.m.
A magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck Idaho, shaking a hospital about 65 miles south of the epicenter, but the quake didn’t interfere with the treatment of patients, the Associated Press reported. The hospital, St. Luke’s Wood River Medical Center, in Blaine County is in a region with the highest per-capita rates of known coronavirus cases in the nation outside of New York City and surrounding counties.
March 31, 8:55 p.m.
A doughnut shop in Rochester, New York, is honoring Dr. Anthony Fauci, the longtime head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, in a sweet way. Donuts Delite is selling donuts featuring the face of Dr. Fauci in appreciation for all the contributions he has done for COVID-19 research. Nick Semeraro, the owner of the business, said they have already sold thousands of doughnuts. “It started as a thank you,” Semeraro told WHAM-TV. “It’s sticking, and I think it’s great. People are stuck at home and what’s happening is, it’s starting conversations. Whether they pick it up for someone, it starts that thinking outside of the box and giving back.”
March 31, 7:17 p.m.
Walmart plans to take the temperatures of employees and provide them with masks within the next two weeks. The company will turn away workers who record a temperature of 100 degrees or more and they will be paid for reporting to work, said Dan Barlett, Walmart’s executive vice president of corporate affairs.
March 31, 6:39 p.m.
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf announced the indefinite closure of all schools and non-essential businesses. This closure will remain enforced for as long as it is necessary to control the spread of COVID-19 in Pennsylvania. “If we want to save lives, we must continue to distance ourselves from each other,” Wolf said. He then expressed concern for the warmer days ahead. “We’re starting to get into warmer weather and absolutely, spring fever is going to set in,” Wolf said. “That’s going to make even more difficult for us to choose to stay home. But stay home we must.”
March 31, 5:55 p.m.
Toronto Mayor John Tory canceled all major city events, including conferences, festivals and cultural programs until July to ensure the health of citizens. The city has confirmed more than 790 cases of COVID-19, with eight deaths attributed to the virus. "This is not an easy decision to make, but it is necessary to protect the public and to save lives," Tory said.
March 31, 5:35 p.m.
COVID-19 gave U.S. stocks a historic beating in the first quarter of 2020. According to CNBC, the Dow's 410-point slide on Tuesday pushed the index to the single-worst first quarter in its history -- a precipitous drop of 23.2%. Not to be outdone, the S&P 500 also had its worst first quarter ever, CNBC reported, dropping 20% for the period ending on March 31. The Dow also suffered its worst overall quarter since 1987, according to AFP.
March 31, 5:10 p.m.
Nearly 100 planes are parked at Pittsburgh International airport due to the decline in passenger traffic amid the COVID-19 outbreak. Officials found a way to accommodate the grounded planes while safely maintaining airport operations. “We start by identifying which areas we can use on the airfield at no impact to operations,” said Patrick Carreno, vice president of airport operations at Pittsburg International. “We start with aprons and other areas where you would typically park aircraft. After that, we consider using taxiways and runways.” Grounded planes also take up space on the tarmac in Phoenix at the Sky Harbor International Airport.
Grounded planes at Pittsburg International airport. Blue Sky News/Pittsburgh International Airport.
March 31, 4:30 p.m.
As COVID-19 continues to spread across the country, millions of parents are looking for ways to keep their children active while quarantined. Steven Kalifowitz, a parent from New York City, told AccuWeather reporter Dexter Henry that quarantine life is forcing parents to get more creative with what activities they can do with their children while indoors. “We all get together and do jumping jacks and push-ups,” Kalifowitz said. “Anything that we can do just to keep each other active and playful and just have fun together.” The start of spring is another challenge for parents, as days are longer, and children want to go out to the playground to interact friends. Lindsay Jackson, a parent from the Bronx, expressed her concern about the empty playgrounds since the pandemic started. “Playgrounds are usually filled with people people,” said Jackson. “And to not see that is kind of scary at first.”
Watch the full report here.
March 31, 3:45 p.m.
Sant Joan de Deu Children’s Hospital in Barcelona recently shared a video on Twitter to highlight the hard work of its cleaning staff. In the video, doctors and nurses are seen thanking the cleaning staff with "a well-deserved applause" for all the work they’re doing during these “exceptional circumstances” caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The hospital also thanked the security, and kitchen and infrastructure staff who are also working tirelessly. Currently, Spain is the third-most affected country by this pandemic in terms of confirmed cases, with more than 94,000 and is second in fatalities with more than 8,200.
March 31, 2:54 p.m.
A Van Gogh painting was stolen early Monday from a Dutch museum that has been closed since March 12 due to coronavirus concerns. Singer Laren museum director Jan Rudolph de Lorm said that he was “shocked and unbelievably annoyed” for the loss of the painting titled “The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring 1884.” Although the value of this work is not known, Van Gogh’s paintings are worth millions of dollars when they go on sale at auctions. Police are still investigating the theft, according to The Associated Press.
March 31, 2:29 p.m.
A COVID-19 test that can produce results in five minutes may soon be available at your local urgent care clinic. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a new coronavirus test that gives positive results in five minutes, and negative results in about 13 minutes. Shares of the medical-device maker Abbott Laboratories soared after the company revealed plans to supply 50,000 of these five-minute tests a day starting April 1, said John Frels, vice president of research and development at Abbott Diagnostics.
March 31, 2:02 p.m.
As an increasing number of people are staying indoors during this pandemic, animals have returned to their habitats. This is the case in San Antonio, where fish of up to two inches have been spotted in the river along the normally bustling river walk. A dry start to the year and fewer tourists taking boat rides due to the increasing concern for the coronavirus pandemic have contributed to the water clearing up, making these sightings possible. San Antonio resident Daniela Castaneda told AccuWeather reporter Jonathan Petramala that she was surprised by this, “I’ve never seen fish inside the river," she said. "It’s a new experience seeing that.”
(Photo/Daniela Castaneda)
March 31, 12:50 p.m.
The coronavirus infection rate in Italy has hit a "plateau" one of the country's top health officials said, according to The Associated Press. “The curve suggests we are at the plateau," Dr. Silvio Brusaferro said. "We have to confirm it, because arriving at the plateau doesn’t mean we have conquered the peak and we’re done. It means now we should start to see the decline if we continue to place maximum attention on what we do every day.” Brusaferro cautioned against lifting the country's nationwide lockdown and stay-at-home restrictions. Italy has a confirmed case count of 105,792 -- second only the U.S. and over 12,400 deaths, more than any other country.
March 31, 12:36 p.m.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and member of the White House's coronavirus task force, told CNN Tuesday that he's starting to see "glimmers that [social distancing] is actually having some dampening effect" on the virus in the U.S. "You're starting to see that the daily increases are not in that steep incline, they're starting to be able to possibly flatten out... that's what we really are trying to attain," he said.
However, Fauci cautioned that the next couple of weeks are a "critical time" and there still needs to be intensive mitigation efforts. "We clearly are seeing cases going up, the people in New York are in a difficult situation and what they're trying to do appropriately is make the best of it by opening up facilities that might decompress the surge of cases that they're having," Fauci said, citing the reconfiguration of the Javits Convention Center and the arrival of the USNS Comfort in New York Harbor. "We are still in a very difficult situation. We hope and I believe it will happen that we may start seeing a turnaround, but we haven't seen it yet. We're just pushing on the mitigation to hope that we do see that turnaround."
March 31,11:38 a.m.
New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell visited the city's convention center earlier this week where additional hospital beds are being built in order to free up ICU beds at nearby hospitals for the most critically ill. The Big Easy is one of the hotspots in the U.S. for the COVID-19 pandemic, with nearly 1,500 confirmed cases and 86 deaths.
Collin Arnold, the director of the New Orleans Office of Homeland Security, told CNN Tuesday that the city is tracking a mortality rate of about 5%. “Our rate of infection is very high & unfortunately, so are our numbers of hospitalizations & deaths. We’re preparing for this to be very significant,” Arnold said. The AccuWeather five-day forecast for New Orleans shows another warmup coming for the area, with a 10-degree increase in temperature from Wednesday to Sunday.
(Image/AccuWeather)
March 31, 10:46 a.m.
Much has been written about how the weather may limit or hinder the spread of SARS-CoV-2, but could the virus actually hinder meteorologists' ability to forecast the weather? As AccuWeather's John Roach reported, there has been a major cutback in the number of aircraft flights that generate vital weather data. This data is used routinely to improve the forecasts created by national weather prediction centers across the globe -- and this is all happening at just about the worst possible time.
March 31, 10:11 a.m.
Japan's capital city of Tokyo reported its highest daily number of COVID-19 infections on Tuesday, as the total number of cases in the country surpassed 2,000, Reuters reported. More than 70 new cases were reported in the city. “This is the greatest increase up to now and is certainly of high concern, and I’m worried about what tomorrow’s figures might show,” Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike said, according to Reuters.
A look at the AccuWeather five-day forecast for Tokyo shows conditions are expected to warm up by late this week, following several days of cool and damp weather.
(Image/AccuWeather)
March 31, 9 a.m.
"Heartbeat of America" comes to life atop the Empire State Building. Two of the most iconic landmarks around the world are lighting up in support of the global battle against COVID-19. In midtown Manhattan, the Empire State Building management said that as of Monday evening "our signature white lights will be replaced by the heartbeat of America with a white and red siren in the mast for heroic emergency workers on the front line of the fight." In Egypt, a similar sight materialized on the side of the Great Pyramid of Giza. The message "Stay safe, Stay at Home, Thank you to those keeping us safe," was projected onto one side of the ancient landmark in a show of solidarity as the global crisis drags on.
March 31, 8:42 a.m.
"COVID-19 is far from over in Asia and the Pacific." Those were the words of Dr. Takeshi Kasai, the World Health Organization's regional director for the Western Pacific on Tuesday. After first emerging late in 2019 in China's Hubei province the virus quickly spread to South Korea and Japan. In recent weeks, signs of normal life have started to emerge in China and South Korea as confirmed numbers of new cases declined. At the same time, the rest of the world has struggled to contain the spread of the contagion.
Despite the recent drop in numbers, Kasai said many countries across Asia and the Pacific are still reporting their first cases, some are picking up significant numbers of imported cases, and others are detecting community transmission."This is going to be a long-term battle, and we cannot let down our guard," Kasai said.
March 31, 7:53 a.m.
Spain on Tuesday reported 849 new COVID-19-related fatalities, the highest daily number reported in the country since the outbreak began. The country has reported more than 8,100 total deaths which is second worldwide behind Italy, which has more than 11,500 confirmed deaths. The mounting number of cases are straining Spain's health system, The Associated Press reported, with hospitals in at least half of the country's 17 regions "at or very near" their ICU bed limits. The AP said that more than 10,000 medical workers are infected. Spain has reported over 94,000 total infections.
In this Friday, March 27, 2020 health care workers assist a patient at one of the intensive care units (ICU) at German Trias i Pujol hospital in Badalona, in the Barcelona province, Spain. (AP Photo/Anna Surinyach)
March 31, 6:46 a.m.
In the U.S, Monday marked the deadliest day yet as more than 500 fatalities from COVID-19 pushed the total toll above 3,000 in the country, more than the total number of victims killed in the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. Here are the latest updated totals from Johns Hopkins University:
Total confirmed cases: 788,522
Total deaths: 37,878
Total recoveries: 166,768
March 30, 9:50 p.m.
Italians have been under lockdown for three weeks with the restrictions due to end on Friday, but the Italian government just announced a continuation of the lockdown to prevent further spread, according to CNBC. “Our evaluation is that all containment measures should be extended at least until Easter (April 12). The government will move in this direction,” Health Minister Roberto Speranza said in a statement.
March 30, 9:15 p.m.
Confirmed U.S. coronavirus deaths surpass 3,000. Dr. Anthony Fauci said he anticipates coronavirus will return in the fall, however, the second outbreak will be different compared to before because there will be better testing and contact trace. “What we’re going through now is more than just lessons learned, it’s going to be things we have available to us that we didn’t have before,” Fauci said.
March 30, 8:45 p.m.
U.S. stocks rose on Monday, rebounding again amid the ongoing market volatility. Meanwhile, the price of oil plummeted. Oil is down more than 50% this month, according to Barrons.
March 30, 8:28 p.m.
The major decline in air travel demand due to the coronavirus has made American Airlines decide to apply for government aid. The airline company said they will also offer partial pay to entice workers off of payroll. Fewer flights could also have implications on the accuracy of weather forecasting heading into severe weather season. Read the full story about how flights can provide critical weather information for meteorologists.
March 30, 7:30 p.m.
Tom Hanks and his wife, Rita Wilson, are back in the U.S. after more than two weeks of self-quarantine in Australia. The actor thanked everyone who helped him and his wife after being diagnosed with COVID-19 earlier this month. "Many, many thanks to everyone in Australia who looked after us. Their care and guidance made possible our return to the USA," Hanks said on Twitter. The couple is carrying on with sheltering in place and social distancing like missions of others across the country.
March 30, 6:35 p.m.
Friends hold rainy-day picnic in a park while social distancing. Two friends in Northern New Jersey let neither the strict social distancing restrictions mandated in the Garden State nor the bad weather stop them from spending a little time together on Sunday. Larissa Silva, 25, and Maria Paiva, 27, both of Hohokus, NJ, backed their cars up close to one another -- but not too close -- in a parking lot in neighboring Ridgewood and sat under the trunk doors, and chatted. They took a moment to answer some questions from AccuWeather about an interesting sign of the times.
"We're having a picnic, actually," Silva told AccuWeather. Paiva added that they were being careful to maintain proper social distancing recommendations. The two said it's been tough sheltering in place for the last two weeks, and that they use FaceTime and WhatsApp to communicate. But, "sometimes we just need to leave the house a little bit," Paiva said. The two are originally from Brazil and work as au pairs in Hohokus, which is situated in Bergen County about 25 miles northwest of New York City. Bergen County has been New Jersey's COVID-19 hotspot with nearly 2,500 of the state's 16,000 COVID-19 cases.
Larissa Silva, 25, (L) and Maria Paiva, 27, hold a rainy-day picnic while social distancing at a park in Ridgewood, NJ, on Sunday, March 29, 2020. New Jersey had more than 16,000 cases of COVID-19 and the governor has issued strict stay-at-home orders for all but essential workers. (AccuWeather)
March 30, 5:21 p.m.
Companies are stepping up to produce masks and ventilators for overwhelmed hospitals. L.L.Bean is using material from its dog beds to make medical masks, while GE Healthcare and Ford Motor Company plan to produce 50,000 ventilators in the next 100 days.
March 30, 4:28 p.m.
New York Rep. Nydia Velázquez was diagnosed with a “presumed coronavirus infection” on Sunday. Velázquez is currently self-isolating at home after developing “the abrupt onset of muscle aches, fevers, nasal congestion and stomach upset.” Days before her symptoms, Velazquez was on the House floor and at a ceremony with Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Representative Kevin McCarthy on Friday.Five members of Congress were diagnosed with coronavirus before Velazquez, The Hill reported.
March 30, 3:35 p.m.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced a stay-at-home order for South Florida residents through mid-May, as coronavirus cases continue to increase in the area. During his announcement on Monday, DeSantis cited that Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties account for 60% of the total number of cases in the state, with more than 3,200 confirmed cases. Florida has more than 5,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 63 residents have died as a result of the disease.
March 30, 2:42 p.m.
Severe weather ignited across the central U.S. on Saturday, spinning up two dozen tornadoes. The most substantial tornado was an EF3 twister that ravaged parts of Jonesboro, Arkansas, including the home of Jared Burks, a resident physician at a local hospital who has been on the frontlines of the battle against COVID-19 and living separately from his family in the process. A story that verged on the tragic, however, has taken a heartwarming turn and AccuWeather's Monica Danielle has all the details on the remarkable way people have rallied around the family -- and the viral photo that started it all.
March 30, 1:19 p.m.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan issued a state-wide stay-at-home order on Monday, the latest of 28 states across the country to instruct residents to avoid leaving their homes unless it is absolutely crucial. “This is a deadly public health crisis. We are no longer asking or suggesting that Marylanders stay home—we are directing them to do so,” Hogan said. People arriving in Maryland from another state have also been directed to self-quarantine for 14 days.
March 30, 12:53 p.m.
The USNS Comfort, a Navy hospital ship, arrived in New York Harbor on an overcast Monday morning after passing the Statue of Liberty to assist in the treatment of patients in need of urgent care for non-COVID-19 related health conditions. NPR reported the ship has about 1,000 hospital beds and 12 operating rooms. The Comfort was previously deployed to New York City after the Sept.11 terrorist attacks. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the added hospital capacity the ship brings will help to save lives. "This day will be remembered," Cuomo said.
The USNS Comfort passes the Statue of Liberty as it enters New York Harbor during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in New York City, U.S., March 30, 2020. REUTERS/Mike Segar
March 30, 12:37 p.m.
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Monday that the COVID-19 pandemic "is straining health systems in many countries." "The rapidly increasing demand on health facilities and health workers threatens to leave some health systems overstretched and unable to operate effectively," Tedros said in a media briefing. He later added that the organization is working "intensively with several parties to increase access to life-saving products "including diagnostics, PPE, medical oxygen, ventilators and more."
WHO officials also said some early research has shown that some drugs "may have an impact" on fighting the virus, according to CNBC. Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO's heath emergencies program said, “some preliminary data from non-randomized studies, observational studies, that indicate some drugs and some drug cocktails may have an impact,” but cautioned that there is still no "proven effective therapeutic or drug against COVID-19."
March 30, 11:24 a.m.
New York Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said there are over 700 members of the NYPD that have contracted COVID-19 and that number was expected to spike to around 900 on Monday, The New York Post reported. At least three members of the department have died due to COVID-19, Shea said. Cedric Dixon, a 48-year-old detective who worked in the 32nd precinct in Harlem died Saturday, and was the first uniformed officer to pass away, according to the Post.
March 30, 10:03 a.m.
Italy reported a decline in COVID-19 fatalities for the second straight day on Sunday, but the country will continue to enforce strict containment measures going forward, Reuters reported. This includes banning all sporting events for the month of April and possibly maintaining the ban on non-essential activities through April 18, Reuters said, citing Italian officials. The country's Civil Protection Agency said there were 756 new fatalities on Sunday, 133 fewer than the 889 deaths reported on Saturday. Italy's death tolls stands at 10,779, which is higher than any other country in the world.
March 30, 9:33 a.m.
An emergency hospital has been constructed in Central Park to treat the wave of COVID-19 patients that is overwhelming city hospitals. The field hospital is located in the park's East Meadow and is made out of tents. When it opens on Tuesday, it will consist of a respiratory care unit, according to NY1, and include ICU facilities. The structure was put together by a volunteer organization called Samaritan's Purse. The makeshift hospital, built in the place that serves as the city's official location for weather records, is a replica of an emergency hospital that was constructed a few weeks ago in Northern Italy. New York City is the epicenter of the outbreak in the U.S., with at least 776 fatalities blamed on the illness and more than 33,000 confirmed cases.
A Samaritan's Purse crew works on building a 68 bed emergency field hospital specially equipped with a respiratory unit in New York's Central Park across from The Mount Sinai Hospital, Sunday, March 29, 2020. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
March 30, 8:19 a.m.
The Tokyo Olympics have a new start date. After officially moving the games to 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic, officials announced Monday that the 2020 Games will now take place from July 23 to Aug. 8, 2021. Olympic organizers made the decision to postpone last week while facing mounting pressure to delay the Games from Olympic athletes and federations worldwide.
March 30, 7:28 a.m.
The failure to practice social distancing could hit New York City residents in their wallets, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Sunday. While he called them a last resort, de Blasio said police officers have been authorized to issue fines of $250 to $500 to individuals congregating in public spaces and failing to disperse.
At the beginning of the week, the weather will cooperate with the city’s efforts, as rain is expected through Monday and Tuesday. However, sunnier days at the end of the week could push more people outside and re-congest public spaces, as building high pressure in the eastern U.S. will bring warmer conditions in from the South.
March 30, 6:33 a.m.
Here are the latest updated totals, compiled by researchers from Johns Hopkins University:
Total confirmed cases: 724,945
Total deaths: 34,041
Total recovered: 152,314
March 29, 7:28 p.m.
President Donald Trump extended social distancing guidelines until April 30. On Sunday, he said he expects things to turn around by June 1, with the peak of the outbreak hitting around Easter, NBC reported.
A man walk alone on the promenade under the FDR drive in Lower Manhattan, Sunday, March 29, 2020. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
March 29, 6:20 p.m.
To combat the spread of COVID-19 within the confines of prisons, New York will release 600 parole violators from the city jails. Three-hundred non-violent prisoners being held in Rikers Island were also released last week by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. According to New York Daily News, 1,100 people will be released from prisons across the city and state.
March 29, 5:30 p.m.
Country music singer Joe Diffie died Sunday at the age of 61 due to complications from COVID-19, NBC News reports. On Friday, Diffie announced in a statement that he had tested positive for the virus.
March 29, 4:37 p.m.
All 280 state parks in California are no longer allowing visitors traveling by vehicle, while some are closing entirely. The new closures come after a "surge" of visitors on Saturday made social distancing practices impossible, according to a news release issued on Sunday. Campgrounds, museums and visitors centers at the parks were previously closed.
March 29, 3:30 p.m.
Director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN on Saturday that "we don't really have any firm idea" on how COVID-19 will continue to spread in the U.S., but said the country could see millions of cases and somewhere between 100,000 to 200,000 deaths related to the virus. "We're going to have millions of cases, but I just don’t think that we really need to make a projection when it’s such a moving target," Fauci said.
March 29, 2:18 p.m.
The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the world surpassed 700,000 on Sunday afternoon, reaching 704,095. Just one day prior the case count hit 600,000. So far, 33,509 deaths have been reported to be related to the virus and 148,824 cases have recovered, according to Johns Hopkins University.
March 29, 2:00 p.m.
A checkpoint on I-95 in Florida has been set up to stop and screen travelers from the New York City area, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said during a press conference, News 4 Jax reports. On Friday, a similar checkpoint on Interstate 10 popped up to screen travelers coming from Louisiana.
March 29, 1:00 p.m.
U.S. coronavirus deaths surpass 2,200, with at least 125,433 cases, according to Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center. Global deaths rise more than 32,000 with more than 691,00 cases total worldwide.
March 29, 12:00 p.m.
At least 8,503 people are in hospitals across New York for coronavirus, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a press conference on Sunday. There are 59,313 confirmed cases across New York, and at least 172,360 people have been tested, Cuomo said. Non-essential workforce in New York was directed to continue to work from home until at least April 15, Cuomo tweeted.
March 29, 11:30 a.m.
There are 730 New York Police department officers and 96 civilian NYPD employees infected with coronavirus, according to law enforcement officials.
March 29, 11:00 a.m.
India’s prime minister apologized to the country’s underprivileged and asked for forgiveness after a nationwide lockdown forced thousands of jobless laborers to walk from cities to their home villages. “I extend a heartfelt apology to all countrymen,” Narendra Modi said, The Washington Post reported. “When it comes to my underprivileged brothers and sisters, they must be wondering about the kind of prime minister they have, who has pushed them to the brink. My wholehearted apologies, especially to them.”
March 29, 10:30 a.m.
Vietnam will suspend all inbound international passenger flights to contain the spread of coronavirus in the coming two weeks, the government said in a statement on Saturday.
March 29, 9:45 a.m.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s wife has recovered from coronavirus and received clearance from her doctor and Ottawa Public Health after being ill since March 12. “I am feeling so much better,” Sophie Gregoire Trudeau said on social media, according to the Associated Press.
March 29, 8:00 a.m.
Approximately 100 scientists and crew members are stuck aboard a ship in the arctic because the relief crew that is supposed to replace the members could spread the virus.
Previous coverage:
Click here for previous daily briefings on the coronavirus outbreak from March 26-28.
Click here for previous daily briefings on the coronavirus outbreak.
Reporting by Lauren Fox, John Murphy, Brian Lada, Mark Puleo, Maria Antonieta Valery Gil, Kevin Byrne, Chaffin Mitchell, Adriana Navarro, Dexter Henry, Bill Wadell, Jonathan Petramala, and Monica Danielle
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