Coronavirus pandemic in the US

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said Tuesday the current stay-at-home order will not be extended beyond Thursday, April 30. 

Ivey said she will instead issue a safer-at-home order that will go into effect at 6 p.m. ET Thursday. 

Under the new order, all employers, retail stores and beaches will be allowed to open subject to good sanitation and social distancing rules, the governor said. 

Ivey said the state is not out of the woods.

She encouraged all Alabamians to stay home and follow good sanitation practices. 

When the Supreme Court hears arguments next month by phone for the first time in the court's history, the justices will change their normal protocol and try to avoid their familiar interruptions.

The justices will ask their questions in order of seniority, with Chief Justice John Roberts going first, the court announced today.

Under normal circumstances, the court is considered a "hot bench," with justices frequently interrupting each other and the lawyers before them. Roberts has had to step in as a kind of traffic cop at certain times.

Under the new system that will be in place for arguments beginning on Monday, a justice will get the chance to exhaust his or her line of questioning before the next justice begins.

If there is time, according to a release from Kathy Arberg, the Court's public information officer, any remaining questions can be asked after the first round is over.

Arberg said the changes were made in "keeping with public health guidance in response to Covid-19."

In all, the court will hear 10 cases over the next two weeks. The most noteworthy cases fall on May 12 concerning President Trump's bid to shield his financial records from release.

The sessions will mark the first time in history that members of the public will be able to listen in to arguments real time.

Keep reading.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy announced 402 additional fatalities, bringing the total to 6,442 deaths related to Covid-19 in the state.

An additional 2,887 positive cases were reported in New Jersey, pushing the statewide total to 113,856.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said Monday her state is doing everything it can to keep the meat supply chain up and running.

“This is essential, critical to keeping the food supply chain moving, “ she said at her daily news briefing.

When asked about recent outbreaks in meat processing facilities in her state, Reynolds pointed to the fact Iowa produces 10% of nation’s food supply.

Reynolds said the meat processing plants are working with the state to ensure proper safety measures are being taken to protect both the workers and the supply chain.

She said temperature checks, mandatory face masks, partitions, new attendance policies, and social distancing are being used to keep workers safe.

Reynolds issued a warning if processing plants are closed down saying, “We're going to really be dealing with some significant issues going forward not only from a food supply, protein effort, but the cost of food as well.”

There has been at least 994,625 cases of coronavirus in the US, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

At least 56,749 people have died from the virus.

The totals include cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, as well as repatriated cases.

Troy Sneed, a Grammy nominated gospel singer and record label founder, has died of complications from Covid-19, his publicist Bill Carpenter confirmed to CNN.

Sneed was 52.

Known for gospel radio hits, including "My Heart Says Yes" and "Worked It Out," Sneed died Monday at a hospital in Jacksonville, Florida.

President Trump said Tuesday that he expects to sign an executive order later in the day related to the food supply chain.

“We’re going to sign an executive order today, I believe, and that’ll solve any liability problems,” Trump told reporters during an Oval Office spray with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

The President said the administration is working with Tyson Foods on the issue. 

The President also underscored that “there’s plenty of supply. It’s distribution.”

“It was a unique circumstance because of liability,” he added.

The President did not provide any further details.

As some states start to reopen, Georgia is projected to see its number of daily coronavirus deaths nearly double by early August, according to a model shared by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and created by independent researcher Youyang Gu.

The epidemiological model provides projections for 40 countries and every US state.

Out of the 12 states in the US Southeast –– Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia –– the model’s projections for Georgia are the only projections that assume statewide social distancing will be relaxed starting on May 1 to reflect Gov. Brian Kemp's orders to reopen the state.

The projections for the state of Georgia show the highest uptick in deaths per day between May and August for the region.

With the assumption of relaxed social distancing, the model predicts that the number of Covid-19 deaths per day in Georgia will jump from 32 people dying on May 1 to a projected 63 people dying per day by August 4. 

Currently, a total of 995 people have died from Covid-19 in Georgia, according to the model, and it projects that number could climb to 4,691 by August 4. 

The projection for total deaths in the state provides a range of estimates between 1,686 deaths on the lower end to up to 15,620 deaths on the higher end.

President Trump said Tuesday that his administration is working with airlines to conduct temperature checks and coronavirus tests on international passengers coming into the United States.

Trump said during an Oval Office meeting with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis that the US is “setting up a system where we do some testing and we’re working with the airlines on that, testing on the plane, getting on the plane.”

The President also said his team is “looking at” and will “probably” require testing and face masks on international flights.  

The President claimed he did that “with China” and Europe, but coronavirus tests haven’t necessarily been administered to passengers from those areas traveling into the US Health screenings, including temperature checks, have been conducted on international travelers.

At one point, the President raised the possibility of travel restrictions on Latin America but appeared to back off.