Coronavirus pandemic in the US

The Pennsylvania Department of Health says there are 1,214 additional positive cases of Covid-19, bringing the statewide total to 43,264. All 67 counties in Pennsylvania have cases. The state is now reporting 1,716 deaths. 

“As we see the number of new Covid-19 cases continuously change across the state that does not mean we can stop practicing social distancing,” Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said in a news release.

Waffle House’s CEO Walt Ehmer said that he has seen “a little bit more traffic” in restaurants that have opened limited in-dining operations, but people are still largely practicing social distancing guidelines. 

Ehmer said Waffle House, which is headquartered in Georgia, is following CDC and state guidelines on reopening. They’ve cut down capacity in restaurants so people can sit at least six feet apart, he said. 

Waffle House is famous for almost never shutting down its restaurants. It typically only closes during major disasters like hurricanes or storms. The Federal Emergency Management Agency even coined the term "Waffle House Index" to measure the effect of a natural disaster on an area. 

Ehmer noted that customers have been placing to-go orders for the past six weeks.

“People do seem to value a little bit of a sense of normalcy and a hope that maybe better days are ahead, but it is definitely a gradual process that will take us to the next stage of this,” he said. 

But Ehmer said that while he is pleased with unemployment help given to Americans so far, he is uneasy about the long-term economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic. 

“Long-term is what we're pretty concerned about at this time in terms of what will the ultimate impact to the economy be with so many people being out of work for so long,” he said. 

As the meat supply chain and hog farmers continue to suffer from Covid-19 outbreaks in processing plants, an economist at Kerns & Associates, the firm employed by the National Pork Board, estimates more than 1.5 million hogs will have to be destroyed in the coming weeks as farmers simply run out of space to maintain them.  

Meyer said there were around 600,000 hogs last week that did not go to slaughter and around 900,000 this week. Meyer estimates the cost of raising each hog is around $140, a total loss if the animal doesn't go through processing.  

"The real issue is that nobody wants to be here and do this," Meyer said of the toll the pandemic is taking on hog farmers. "There's no way to plan for something like this. You can't plan for a once in a 100 year event." 

CLARIFICATION: The headline has been updated to clarify that an economist from the National Pork Board estimated 1.5 million hogs will have to be killed in coming weeks.

There are at least 989,357 cases of coronavirus in the US, and at least 56,386 people have died, according to Johns Hopkins University's tally of cases in the United States,

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

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said on a phone call with reporters today that Democratic leaders came to the judgment late Monday that the House will not come back next week, a reversal from the plan they advanced yesterday afternoon.

Hoyer said the attending physician's points that the numbers in D.C. are still going up and the surrounding area is a hotspot, as well as the fact that the next coronavirus relief package will “not be definitely ready to be considered next week” contributed to the decision.

All New York City high school seniors are going to be celebrated in a citywide virtual graduation, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced this morning.

The city will bring together “some very special guests” to celebrate the graduating class, he said. "Expect it to be something very special and very memorable,” de Blasio added. 

Additional details are expected in the weeks ahead.

Top US infectious disease doctor Anthony Fauci said today "I'm almost certain it will come back" when he was asked about the possibility of a second wave of Covid-19 hitting later this year.

He said that the virus has "globally spread" — noting that we are starting to see cases in parts of Southern Africa. "It's not going to disappear from the planet," he said.

Fauci said that if the virus returns later this year, "how we handle it...will determine our fate."

He said that if "countermeasures" that are being discussed are executed, "we should do reasonably well," otherwise the country could see a "bad fall" and "bad winter."

Farmers are facing a crisis as meat plants close during the coronavirus pandemic, according to Iowa pork producer and president-elect of the National Pork Producers Council Jen Sorenson. 

As plants producing 33% of the nation’s pork supplies have closed, Sorenson said farmers are on the brink of bankruptcy.  

“We’re in a downward spiral. If we don't do something quickly, we'll see further consolidation and loss of thousands of family farms,” she told CNN’s Jim Sciutto. 

Three of the nation's largest pork processing plants have been temporarily shut down because of coronavirus concerns among workers. House Agriculture Chairman Collin Peterson said yesterday that farmers now have a huge overstock of pigs that must be euthanized — estimating that there are roughly 60,000 to 70,000 pigs a day that could be killed in order to make space at farms. Peterson said the country could see pork shortages in grocery stores by next week, but Sorenson says the biggest crisis is on farms right now.  

 “The crisis is our hogs that are backing up, they have no place to go, we have new hogs coming into our barns. And we need a solution, we need our county, state and federal, local officials to work together and wrap our arms around the food chain and try and keep these plants open,” she said. 

Concerns about the health of the US meat supply continue to grow, as more meat processing plants shut down due to coronavirus outbreaks. 

Hog farmers are sounding the alarm: They have too many hogs and nowhere to send to them due to the plants closing down. House Agriculture Chairman Collin Peterson said Monday that farmers will have to kill roughly 60,000 to 70,000 pigs a day in order to make space at farms.

What this means for shoppers: Experts still tell CNN that, while the food supply chain is vulnerable, consumers will be the least impacted — a lack of variety and some temporary scarcity in certain types of meat, but do not predict not an overall "meat shortage"

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with Occupational Safety and Health Administration, published new, interim guidelines on Sunday advising meat and poultry processing facilities to create a Covid-19 assessment and control plan, along with suggestions for what that plan should include. 

The CDC said that these workplaces should identify an on-site coordinator who is responsible for Covid-19 assessments and control planning, be knowledgeable in virus prevention, while also making sure all employees know how to contact them with any concerns.