New York City plans on having July 4th fireworks, mayor says
From CNN’s Mark Morales
Fireworks are launched from the Brooklyn Bridge during Macy's Independence Day fireworks show on July 4, 2019 in New York City. Gary Hershorn/Getty Images
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio says there will be a Macy’s July 4th celebration with fireworks, though no details have been hashed out yet.
De Blasio said he spoke with Macy’s CEO Jeff Gennette. who agreed that the company wanted to celebrate in some way.
“One way or another, the show will go on,” de Blasio said, adding that fireworks will be a part of the plan.
“This is a day we cannot miss," de Blasio said. "There’s no day like the Fourth of July."
The mayor said there are a lot of questions that need to be answered between now and the celebration, but that the city will conduct the celebration “in a way that’s safe and smart.”
Earlier this week, de Blasio announced that New York City has canceled all non-essential permitted events in June.
11:28 a.m. ET, April 22, 2020
NYC mayor says there will be more coronavirus testing for public housing residents
From CNN’s Mark Morales
People line up at a new testing tent outside Gotham Health in Brooklyn, New York. Braulio Jatar/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said there will be increased coronavirus testing to serve the estimated 400,000 people live in public housing locations around the city.
Six new testing sites with the priority for NYC Housing Authority (NYCHA) residents will be opened over the next two weeks he said. Three sites – in Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Manhattan – will open Friday. Three others – in Brooklyn, Queens and Harlem – will open next week.
Hand sanitizer will be given to thousands of seniors in NYCHA facilities, and all public housing residents will receive face coverings and gloves.
The mayor also discussed an expanded free door-to-door meal distribution to NYCHA building seniors so no one will “miss out on the food they need,” and a $5 million investment for free tablets and internet service to 10,000 NYCHA seniors “so they can stay in touch with family and loved ones and access the services they need.”
10:58 a.m. ET, April 22, 2020
White House supports Georgia's decision to reopen, despite concerns from public health experts
From CNN's Kristen Holmes and Kaitlan Collins
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp listens to a question from the press during a tour of a temporary hospital at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta on April 16. Ron Harris/Pool/AP
Both Vice President Mike Pence and President Trump called Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Tuesday night to express support for the governor’s decision to reopen his state, offering praise and complimenting him on the job he’s doing, according to a source familiar with the call.
Another person familiar with the call said it went well.
The governor, who made the announcement on reopening his state Monday, did not inform White House beforehand, according to a source familiar with the decision. The source added that Kemp made the decision at least a day before the announcement.
Kemp's decision has drawn criticism from public health experts who have repeatedly stressed the dangers of relaxing social distancing measures too early.
Georgia hit its projected peak for daily deaths on April 7, according to an influential model often cited by the White House.
But that same model, from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, says that Georgia shouldn't start relaxing social distancing until after June 15 -- when the state can begin considering other measures to contain the virus, such as contact tracing and isolation.
CNN's Nick Valencia reported that Candice Broce, Gov. Kemp’s communications and deputy executive counsel, defended the governor’s announcement, saying the state has satisfied all criteria required by the White House to reopen.
She called any suggestion otherwise "inaccurate."
10:25 a.m. ET, April 22, 2020
NYC mayor announces new initiative to test and trace Covid-19 cases
From CNN’s Mark Morales
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio unveiled details on a new initiative called "test and trace," the steps and measures he says would get the city to a low-level transmission phase.
"This is how we ultimately defeat this disease," de Blasio said this morning.
The mayor gave what he called broad strokes to the approach to the plan, which is based on widespread testing for the disease. If a patient is found to be Covid-19 positive, determining who they have been in contact with and testing those people.
"Plenty of sites and plenty of tests," de Blasio said.
The goal is to make testing available in every community, provide immediate assessment isolation and support, rapidly trace contacts and have more testing available in May.
People who test positive will be immediately assessed, isolated, monitored and supported at home or in a hotel or hospital, the mayor said.
De Blasio said he would like to identify widespread collection sites to minimize the burden on hospitals and the health care system. The city will also conduct interviews with positive patients to determine who they have been in close contact with.
"If you were in close contact with your cousin, then we want to talk to your cousin," he said. "It’s going to take thousands and thousands of people to do this right and we’re putting those people together now."
10:39 a.m. ET, April 22, 2020
Houston mayor says reopening too soon could "undo sacrifices" that people have made
From CNN's Adrienne Vogt
Sylvester Turner, mayor of Houston, attends the US Conference of Mayors in Boston on June 8, 2018. Scott Eisen/Getty Images
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said Monday that "there are more important things than living" during the coronavirus pandemic, pushing for a reopening opening of the state’s economy.
But Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner thinks that could upend progress that the state has made in fighting the virus.
"I don't think it's an either/or, and I don't think you have to provide those type of choices. I simply think you just have to listen to what the doctors are saying, take their advice. … You don't have to sacrifice one group in order to save another," Turner said.
Turner said he agrees that some hospitals can start performing elective surgeries, but reopening shouldn’t go further than that.
"We shut down early in this city. So the things that have been put in place are working. But you have to be very careful if you open up too soon. You will undo all the sacrifices people made."
Turner also stressed that this health crisis should not be made political.
"It has no respect of persons or parties or social or economic status," he said, adding that 70% of the deaths in the city have been people of color. Turner also reiterated that his city needs more widespread testing in order to gauge the reopening of the economy, referring to the response when Hurricane Harvey hit the area in 2017.
"You can look on the radar and you knew where the storm was, when it was going to hit, when it was going to exit. For us with this particular challenge, the radar happens to be testing. And it needs to be widespread and it needs to be robust," he said.
9:42 a.m. ET, April 22, 2020
US stocks rebound
From CNN’s Anneken Tappe
US stocks opened higher today, rebounding after two days of losses brought on by the collapse of oil prices.
The oil market continues to be in distress, as global benchmark prices fall to their lowest level since 1999. US oil remains around $14.
Tyson suspends operations at Iowa plant after suspected coronavirus outbreak
From CNN’s Dianne Gallagher and Pamela Kirkland
A Tyson Fresh Meats plant is seen in Waterloo, Iowa, on an unknown date. Jeff Reinitz/The Courier/AP
Tyson Fresh Meats has announced plans to indefinitely suspend operations at its Waterloo, Iowa, pork plant “mid-week until further notice."
The plant is one of the city's largest employers, with some 3,000 workers, many of them immigrants and people of color who don't have the best access to health care.
The announcement comes as local officials in Black Hawk County, Iowa, had urged the plant to close voluntarily after a suspected outbreak of Covid-19.
“Protecting our team members is our top priority and the reason we’ve implemented numerous safety measures during this challenging and unprecedented time,” Steve Stouffer, group president of Tyson Fresh Meats said in a statement. “Despite our continued efforts to keep our people safe while fulfilling our critical role of feeding American families, the combination of worker absenteeism, COVID-19 cases and community concerns has resulted in our decision to stop production.”
The Black Hawk County health department announced Tuesday that 182 of the county's 374 cases are linked to the Tyson Waterloo plant.
The Board of Health voted yesterday to pass a proclamation urging Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and Tyson Foods to temporarily close the Waterloo plant for deep cleaning and to test employees.
Last week, two dozen local and state elected officials — including Waterloo's Mayor — sent a letter formally requesting Tyson shut down the plant due to the outbreak. Mayor Quentin Hart told CNN he was afraid if action wasn't taken soon, his city could be the "next hot spot."
10:33 a.m. ET, April 22, 2020
US should focus on its own tests, not comparisons to other countries, Dr. Sanjay Gupta says
From CNN's Adrienne Vogt
Dr. Sanjay Gupta said the US needs to focus on its lack of testing in the country — not on how we compare to other countries.
While answering viewers' questions this morning, he was asked about the US's testing numbers.
“At the White House briefings, it’s often mentioned that the US has done more testing than any other country. Is that true? Wouldn't it be more accurate to compare testing numbers by the amount of tests administered per million people?” the viewer asked.
Here's how Gupta answered:
"The answer is yes … You want to basically get a large enough sample size for the data to be meaningful. And you know what? I don't care about other countries, frankly. We keep saying, but we're doing more than other countries. It doesn't matter. That doesn't matter. There are countries doing better than us and there are countries doing worse than us in terms of testing. What matters right now here is here. And what we know is we need to be doing way more testing than we're doing. Maybe a million or so tests a day; I think we're around 150, 160,000 a day. And the reason you want to do that much testing is you get a better idea of where the virus is, how it’s spreading and how to contain it."
Gupta said the US has the "strategies to be able to contain this virus."
"This is a solvable problem. I want to make this clear. We have the strategies to be able to contain this virus. It’s not going to be easy. But we know how to do it," he added.
Watch more:
9:22 a.m. ET, April 22, 2020
Is it safe to get a haircut right now?
From CNN's Adrienne Vogt
Dr. Sanjay Gupta answered viewers’ questions about coronavirus on CNN’s New Day. Here’s what he had to say about haircuts as Georgia Gov. Kemp announced that some businesses, including hair salons, can reopen in the state starting this week.
On viewer asked: “Is it safe to go to a barber for a haircut? If unsafe, what precautions should the barber take and what precautions should I take?”
Here's how he responded:
“You can't keep a safe social distance when you’re getting your hair cut. … We may get to the point where people can get such rapid testing that we can know if people are infected or not, and that would help in terms of people being able to go out and do things like haircuts. But we're not at that point. We're not at that point here in Georgia or in any place in the country.”
