By Meg Wagner, Elise Hammond, Mike Hayes and Emma Reynolds, CNN
From CNN's Jessica King
Face masks will be required for flight attendants during every mainline and regional flight starting May 1, American Airlines said in a statement Monday.
The airline will also begin distributing personal protective equipment, including sanitizing wipes or gels and a face mask to customers in early May “as supplies and operational conditions allow.”
From CNN's Kevin Dotson
The Los Angeles Lakers received and repaid an approximately $4.6 million Payroll Protection Program loan, a source told CNN.
The L.A. Lakers qualify as a small business because the organization only has 303 part-time and full-time employees.
The organization repaid the loan "within days" of receiving it after realizing that the government's funds had been depleted.
A source told CNN the team is not planning to furlough or lay off any of its employees and that its top executives agreed to defer 20% of their salaries to ensure team employees could be paid.
The Lakers have contributed to a fund, along with the L.A. Clippers and L.A. Kings, to provide financial support to employees of the Staples Center. Last week the Lakers joined other Los Angeles area professional sports teams to create "Teams for LA" to benefit the Mayor's Fund for Los Angeles.
From CNN's Maegan Vazquez
President Trump was asked about his retweet of someone who claimed Democrats had inflated the coronavirus mortality rate, deflecting from addressing the actual claim by suggesting China was not accurately reporting coronavirus infection numbers.
“Do you believe that’s true, that there’s some sort of conspiracy theory regarding the number of infections states are reporting?” a reporter at Monday’s Rose Garden news conference asked.
Trump replied, “Well I can only say what we’re doing. We’re reporting very accurately.”
“If you look at other countries, other countries are not. You could look at China. You could look at numerous countries where I don’t think those are right numbers. I can only say what we’re doing. It’s very important to us to accurate reporting. And that’s what we’re doing,” he added.
CNN’s Daniel Dale has fact-checked the claim in Trump’s retweet.
The tweet alleged that people had tried to oust Trump through illegitimate means before the pandemic, then added: "Do you really think these lunatics wouldn't inflate the mortality rates by underreporting the infection rates in an attempt to steal the election?"
However, there is no basis for the suggestion that Trump opponents are inflating the coronavirus mortality rate to try to "steal the election."
Watch:
From CNN's Nikki Carvajal
President Trump says he takes no responsibility for a spike in people using disinfectants improperly after he suggested ingesting disinfectant as a cure for coronavirus last week.
When asked about the increase, Trump said, "I can't imagine why."
He answered, “No, I don’t" when asked if he takes any responsibility for the numbers.
Some context: Trump asked his medical team to look into the possibility of using disinfectants as a way to cure the virus inside the body during a coronavirus briefing last Thursday.
He has since claimed that the comments were “sarcastic.”
As CNN has previously reported, Gov. Larry Hogan said Sunday his state experienced hundreds of calls from people across Maryland asking whether injecting or ingesting disinfectants was an effective way to combat coronavirus.
“I think it is critical that the President of the United States, when people are really scared and in the middle of this worldwide pandemic, that in these press conferences, that we really get the facts out there,” he told Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation on Sunday.
Watch:
From CNN's Nikki Carvajal
President Trump described governors as “as thrilled as they can be” over the administration's response to the coronavirus, hours after a meeting with state leaders on Monday.
“We had a fantastic call with the governors today,” the President said during a Rose Garden briefing. “And I would say that today are as thrilled as they can be considering that to the fact is that there has been so much unnecessary death in this country.”
“It could have been stopped,” Trump added, “and it could've been stopped short, but somebody a long time ago it seems decided not to do it that way, and the whole world is suffering because of it, 184 countries at least.”
The President has made similar statements about the Chinese government’s response to the virus at briefings in recent weeks.
Trump added that his administration “has encouraged the governors to leverage unused testing capacity in states.”
“Very few understood that we have tremendous capacity,” he said adding that the administration, “provided each governor with a list of names, addresses, and phone numbers of the labs where they could find additional testing capacity in their states."
From CNN's Nikki Carvajal
President Trump defended Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, who downplayed the impact of coronavirus in the early stages of the pandemic.
“I think it’s a very unfair question because you have many great professionals, some of them you have great respect for, and you have many people in the other party… that have said the same thing and with even more confidence,” Trump said when asked about Azar's role. “So a lot of people didn’t get that right."
Trump's comments come after Trump denied in a tweet Sunday he was about to fire Azar.
He wrote in the tweet, “Reports that H.H.S. Secretary @AlexAzar is going to be ‘fired’ by me” are false.
A senior administration official told CNN Saturday evening that White House officials were discussing plans to replace Azar following a spate of criticism of the early response to the coronavirus outbreak.
Watch:
From CNN's Elise Hammond
President Trump and the White House Coronavirus Task Force released additional guidance on how states should proceed with the reopening their economies and scale up testing.
Dr. Deborah Birx and Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary Dr. Brett Giroir presented the eight-part plan at a press briefing on Monday.
Giroir said the eight parts are grouped into three distinct phases. He said the US has accomplished all parts of the first two phases, and are now working to fulfill stage three by supporting reopening state economies.
Here's what the blueprint suggests:
Stage 1: Launch
Stage 2: Scale
Stage 3: Support opening up again
From CNN's Lindsay Benson
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp called on residents to "take advantage" of the state's resources and get tested.
Kemp said Monday that they've "given a total of 127,169 tests." While Kemp acknowledged an increase in their testings numbers, he said, "We realize we have to continue to do more."
"We have the tests, we have the physicians, we have the sites, and we have the bandwidth. What we need now is more Georgians to participate. Right now, all symptomatic Georgians can take advantage of this resource. And I'm calling on anyone who is experiencing symptoms consistent with Covid, consistent with Covid-19 to take us up on this offer," Kemp said.
At least 23,773 cases of coronavirus and 942 deaths have been reported in Georgia, Kemp said.
President Trump announced a "blueprint" to set guidance on how states should handle coronavirus, distinguishing the roles between states and the federal government.
"We are continuing to rapidly expand our capacity and confident that we have enough testing to begin reopening and the reopening process. We want to get our country open. And the testing is not going to be a problem at all. In fact it's going to be one of the great assets that we have," he said.
Trump added: "Today we releasing additional guidance on testing to inform the states as they develop their plans for a phased and very safe reopening. Our blueprint describes how states should unlock their full capacity, expand the number of testing, establish monitoring systems to detect local outbreaks on the testing platform, and conduct contact tracing. We have it all."
A White House official told CNN the goal was to help each state reach the ability to test at least 2% of its residents, with a particular focus on vulnerable populations and emergency workers.
Watch:
