Coronavirus pandemic in the US

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh said May 4 is "too early” to reopen after the Massachusetts governor promised "clarity" on reopening the state on that date.

Earlier today, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker said that later this week he would “create clarity” on reopening the state on May 4.

Walsh said that the city is working with the state to determine which public health benchmarks need to be met to determine reopening. 

“We are building a framework for short-, medium- and long-term recovery," he said. 

“We cannot afford any mistakes and we can’t wait for the coronavirus to go away to take next steps," Walsh added. 

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said the state is "just weeks away, not months away, from making meaningful changes to our stay-at-home order.”

He warned the public about the need to continue to abide by social distancing guidelines and chastised beachgoers in Ventura and Orange County for flocking to the coastlines on Saturday in particular.

There were no citations issued, but some people were given warnings for defying stay-at-home orders. Newsom warned that more aggressive enforcement could come if the guidelines and procedures are flouted.

The governor reiterated that the state’s lifting of restrictions will be “driven by data that’s driven by our behavior.”

Key West, Florida, will reopen parks, beaches and recreational facilities to local residents effective today, according to a letter from City Manager Greg Veliz posted on the city’s official Facebook page.

Veliz added that the city is monitoring any reopening announcements made by Gov. Ron DeSantis so the city can respond to the needs of Key West.

The Florida Keys have been closed to visitors since the coronavirus outbreak. The closure is enforced with a checkpoint.

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The National Basketball Association announced today that it is targeting a date no earlier than May 8 to allow individual workouts at NBA team facilities in cities not subject to government restrictions. 

The May 8 date is a week later than ESPN reported over the weekend.

The NBA informed its teams of the decision today, according to a statement from the league. For cities where government restrictions remain in place, the league will work with teams to identify alternatives.

Restrictions put in place by the NBA would include no more than four players permitted at a facility at one time, no coaching allowed and no group activity such as scrimmages or practices. Players are prohibited from using non-team facilities.

The White House will release two documents today about coronavirus testing, a person familiar with the plan tells CNN.

The first will be a testing overview that looks at what the administration has done to ramp up testing, including strengthening the US supply chain for collection supplies and testing kits, and the second will be a "testing blueprint" that provides guidance for increasing testing as states begin to reopen. 

It's still not entirely clear what will be on the second document, but it is expected to explain how the administration views the roles of federal, state and local governments in addition to the private sector when it comes to testing. 

The blueprint document will also have guidance about establishing coronavirus monitoring systems and rapid response plans. 

When it comes to antibody tests for people who believe they may have had the coronavirus, “from my perspective I would say they're not ready for prime time," Dr. Richard Besser, former acting director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Monday during a virtual chat with Stat.

Besser said he’s worried some countries are already considering the idea of immunity passports based on antibody tests when “the science isn't there yet to be able to say what those tests mean.”

"I worry that people will get a false sense of security and they can change their behavior based on the results of that test, or have a false sense of concern if it's a test that isn't detecting protections that they may actually have.”

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez announced the county’s first Covid-19 walk-up testing site today.

The new testing site is located at Holy Family Catholic Church in North Miami.

Walk-up testing sites are geared toward providing testing opportunities to underserved communities and people who do not own cars.

While this is the first walk-up testing site in Miami-Dade County, similar sites have been set up in other parts of the state in the past few weeks.

New York City has had at least 11,708 confirmed coronavirus deaths and 5,228 probable coronavirus deaths, according to the city website.

The total number of confirmed coronavirus deaths and probable coronavirus deaths in New York City is 16,936.

The New York City Health Department defines probable deaths as people who did not have a positive Covid-19 laboratory test, but their death certificate lists as the cause of death “COVID-19” or an equivalent.

There have been 156,100 coronavirus cases in the city, and about 40,000 people have been hospitalized, according to the city.

The New York State Board of Elections voted to cancel the presidential primary scheduled for June 23 during a call with the board on Monday. 

Douglas Kellner, the co-chair of the New York State Board of Elections, told CNN the two Democratic election commissioners — himself and Andrew Spano — have the power under the election law to cancel the election.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued an executive order last month moving the primary from its originally scheduled date of April 28 to June.

He responded to the board’s vote in his news conference today, saying, “I’m not going to second guess the board of elections there are a number of, I know there are a lot of election employees, employees of boards of elections who are nervous about conducting elections. But I’ll leave it up to the board of elections.”

Jay Jacobs, chairman of the New York State Democratic Committee, told CNN in a phone interview Monday afternoon that he agreed with the decision to cancel the state's presidential primary contest.

Jacobs said it was a "necessary move" by the New York election officials to protect the health and safety of voters and poll workers.

He noted that the outcome was essentially “pre-determined” since Sen. Bernie Sanders dropped out of the Democratic race and emphasized the need to protect voters amid the coronavirus pandemic.

"We've stopped all non-essential business. This certainly is a non-essential primary if ever there was one," Jacobs said.