Coronavirus USA news summary: cases and deaths - 2 May
Coronavirus live USA: latest Covid-19 updates - 2 May
US coronavirus update: 16:00 EST / 13:00 PST Saturday 2 May (22:00 CEST)
According to the latest figures published by Johns Hopkins University, 3,402,409 cases have been detected worldwide, with 242,010 deaths and 1,070,330 people now recovering.
In the USA, there have been 1,122,870 cases with 64,577 deaths. 164,015 people have recovered from the virus.
For all the latest updates on the coronavirus pandemic in the USA, please head over to our daily live blog for Sunday 3 May here.
When Covid-19 homemade masks make you question humanity
Mask logic
When the mask that is meant to prevent you from spreading the virus makes it difficult to breathe, here's one solution that you should immediately ignore.
Mexican protests
Families in a poor satellite city of Mexico's capital with one of the country's highest tallies of the coronavirus have staged protests to demand news of sick relatives and the return of the bodies of the dead after videos surfaced showing cadavers at a hospital.
One video of the Las Americas general hospital in Ecatepec that was posted to social media showed several bagged bodies on stretchers, some in a small room and others outside lined against a courtyard wall.
'The only thing I demand is that they give me the full body of my son,' Maria Dolores Carrillo told television program Imagen on Friday evening after her son died at the hospital. Another video from Friday showed upset family members who had apparently forced their way into the hospital. They shouted in a crowded hallway in a confrontation with police, demanding news of their relatives.
Older NBA staff a worry
The NBA will have to decide who is considered essential game staff should play resume amid the coronavirus pandemic, ESPN reported. One of the concerns weighing on NBA teams is the age of people typically deemed essential to a team, such as a member of the coaching staff or a general manager, or whether they have a preexisting medical condition.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has identified people 65 or older or people of any age with an underlying medical condition as being more susceptible to Covid-19.
'Based on all the information that we have today, probably people over 60 with preexisting conditions can't go, for sure, no matter what their titles are,' one unidentified general manager told ESPN. 'Whether it's a father of the star player or whether it's the general manager of the team, they can't go there.'
Currently, there are six NBA head coaches who are 60 and older, with three 65 and older: Alvin Gentry, New Orleans Pelicans, 65; Mike D'Antoni, Houston Rockets, 68; and Gregg Popovich, San Antonio Spurs, 71.
Cruising for trouble
'On land, more than 300,000 people worldwide had contracted the deadly coronavirus, and the governor of California had just ordered all 39 million residents to stay at home. But as the Celebrity Eclipse cruise ship steamed north across the Pacific Ocean on March 21, hundreds of passengers crammed together on the ship’s pool deck and overlooking gangways.'
A fascinating look at how some of those off the mainland continued despite the signs.
Texas hold 'em
Unwanted records being seen in the southern state and this article tries to understand what is going on.
US "missed chances to stop Covid-19 spread" says health official
Dr Anne Schuchat of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said in an article that the US failed to respond to the coronavirus outbreak in Europe in time and should have issued travel alerts earlier.
“There will be debates about should we have started much sooner, or did we go too far too fast," Dr Schuchat said.
Buffett's Berkshire posts nearly $50 billion loss
Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc is being hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, posting a record quarterly net loss of nearly $50 billion on Saturday and saying performance is suffering in several major operating businesses.
Berkshire said most of its more than 90 businesses have faced "relatively minor to severe" negative effects from COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus, with revenue slowing considerably in April even at businesses deemed "essential."
The BNSF railroad saw shipping volumes fall, Geico set aside money for car insurance premiums it doesn't expect to collect, and some businesses cut wages and furloughed workers. Retailers such as See's Candies and the Nebraska Furniture Mart closed stores.
Buffett also allowed Berkshire's cash stake to rise to a record $137.3 billion from $128 billion at the end of 2019.
That reflected the 89-year-old billionaire's inability to make large, "elephant" size acquisitions, now in its fifth year, and caution in buying more stocks. Berkshire repurchased $1.7 billion of its own stock.
Berkshire's first-quarter net loss totaled $49.75 billion, or $30,653 per Class A share, reflecting $54.52 billion of losses from investments, mainly common stocks. A year earlier, net earnings totaled $21.66 billion, or $13,209 per share.
An accounting rule requires Berkshire to report unrealized stock losses and gains with earnings. This causes huge swings in Berkshire's net results that Buffett considers meaningless. Quarterly operating profit, which Buffett considers a better performance measure, rose 6% to $5.87 billion, or about $3,624 per Class A share, from $5.56 billion, or about $3,388 per share.
Coronavirus: Can I be fired if I stay home sick?
The world as we know it is changing and more companies are going remote with their inability to meet in groups such as offices and meeting rooms. People who can work from home have been allowed to do so at an increasing rate but there are jobs which people can not do remotely. Can I stay home without the fear of being fired?
The fall-out from the coronavirus is yet to be fully understood but many experts believe those growing up at a time after it will be defined by it.
'Once Upon a Virus': China mocks U.S. coronavirus response in Lego-like animation
(Reuters) - China has published a short animation titled "Once Upon a Virus" mocking the U.S. response to the new coronavirus using Lego-like figures to represent the two countries.
Washington and Beijing are locked in a war of words over the origins of the disease, which emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan and has grown into a global pandemic.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday he was confident the coronavirus may have originated in a Chinese virology lab, but declined to describe the evidence.
In the animation posted online by China's official Xinhua news agency, red curtains open to reveal a stage featuring Lego-like figures in the form of a terracotta warrior wearing a face mask and the Statue of Liberty. "We discovered a new virus," says the warrior.
"So what?" replies the Statue of Liberty. "It's only a flu."
As the warrior issues warnings about the virus and counts off the grim milestones in China's outbreak, the Statue of Liberty replies dismissively with echoes of Trump's press conferences in which he played down the severity of the illness.
"Are you listening to yourselves?" asks the warrior as the statue begins to turn red with fever and gets hooked up to an intravenous drip. "We are always correct, even though we contradict ourselves," the statue replies.
"That's what I love about you Americans, your consistency," says the warrior.
The United States and other countries have accused China of misleading the world about the severity of the outbreak, and there are growing calls for an international inquiry into the origins of the virus.
In an interview with Reuters, Trump said he believes China’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic is proof that Beijing “will do anything they can” to make him lose his re-election bid in November.
Remdesivir gets FDA approval to treat Covid-19 patients - Trump
There is hope that remdesivir could be the answer to the coronavirus. The Food and Drug Administration has granted emergency use authorisation for Gilead’s remdesivir drug to treat the coronavirus, the president said on Friday.
Conservative groups advising White House push fast reopening, not testing
Conservative groups advising the White House have issued an array of coronavirus economic reopening plans with a common theme - Americans should go back to work immediately to halt the economic and societal damage from prolonged lockdowns.
The Trump administration's response to the coronavirus has coalesced in recent days around the same message - the need to reopen quickly. The White House did not renew federal guidelines on social distancing that expired April 30, and President Donald
Trump is expected to go to Arizona next week, after a month without travel
Just as the virus has infected the states unevenly, some state and local governments are opening malls, movie theaters and hairdressers while others remain in the stay-at-home posture that at one point kept most of America's 320 million people indoors.
Both the White House and the groups advising it are missing detailed, centralized plans for virus testing and containment, which many health officials, historians, and economists say are needed to avoid a new surge of infections and longer-term economic damage.
A Harvard University study published last week argued that 5 million tests per day by early June would be needed to deliver a "safe social reopening."
Such testing would need to ramp up to 20 million a day to fully remobilize the economy, the researchers said.
While Trump has said that number would be reached "very soon," his top coronavirus testing official, Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services Brett Giroir, told Time magazine on Tuesday that there was "absolutely no way on Earth, on this planet or any other planet, that we can do 20 million tests a day, or even five million tests a day.”
Coronavirus: can Covid-19 be spread through water?
Can Covid-19 be spread through water?
Although it has been proven that SARS is transmittable through untreated water, there is currently no evidence that Covid-19 can be considered a waterborne disease.
Apple advice
The Covid-19 screening app developed by tech giant Apple has been updated on Friday with new information about coronavirus symptoms and tips related to face masks.
No Cohen Covid-19 freedom
President Donald Trump‘s former attorney, Michael Cohen, will not be released from prison early, despite previously being told he would leave due to coronavirus fears.
Tyson Foods hit by Covid-19 spread
Around 890 employees at a Tyson Foods pork-processing plant in Logansport, Indiana, have tested positive for Covid-19, a report from NBC News finds.
Fauci will not testify, White House confirms
Top U.S. health official Anthony Fauci will not testify next week to a congressional committee examining the Trump administration's response to the coronavirus pandemic, the White House said on Friday, calling it 'counterproductive' to have individuals involved in the response testify.
The White House issued an emailed statement after a spokesman for the Congressional committee holding the hearing said the committee had been informed by Trump administration officials that Fauci had been blocked from testifying.
'While the Trump Administration continues its whole-of-government response to Covid-19, including safely opening up America again and expediting vaccine development, it is counter-productive to have the very individuals involved in those efforts appearing at Congressional hearings,' White House spokesman Judd Deere said in a statement to Reuters.
Remdesivir gets FDA approval to treat Covid-19 patients - Trump
Remdesivir to the rescue?
The Food and Drug Administration has granted emergency use authorisation for Gilead’s remdesivir drug to treat the coronavirus, the president said on Friday.
US Covid-19 live blog - welcome
Hello and welcome to another day full of news surrounding the impact and effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
We'll be here all day with an ear to the ground, an eye on the news, and as few fingers in the air as possible.