Coronavirus pandemic in the US

Dr. Anthony Fauci said everyone who needs a test will be able to get a test by the end of May or beginning of June.

"Everyone who needs a test, according to the way we're approaching the identification, isolation, contact tracing, keeping the country safe and healthy, that hopefully we should see that as we get towards the end of May, the beginning of June," he told CNN's Jake Tapper on Tuesday.

He said that timeline was given to him by the groups responsible for the testing.

“I take them for their word. If that doesn’t happen, I am going to go to them and say, 'What happened? Why didn’t it happen? How could we fix it?'" Fauci said.

He said needing a test is much different than just wanting a test.

"A lot of times people say, I want a test, and it’s not part of a strategic approach. But needing is important," he said.

Vice President Mike Pence told reporters Tuesday that he didn’t wear a face mask while touring the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota because he’s tested for coronavirus regularly.

“As Vice President of the United States, I’m tested for the coronavirus on a regular basis and everyone who is around me is tested for the coronavirus. And when the CDC issued guidelines about wearing a mask, it was their recognition that people that may have the coronavirus could prevent the possibility of conveying the virus to someone else by wearing a mask,” Pence said.

CNN previously reported that while Pence didn’t wear a mask, everyone around him did. Pence was told of the new rules before he visited, the clinic said on Twitter, a post that was subsequently deleted.

Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN's Jake Tapper today that there needs to be a “productive partnership” between the federal government and states on testing.

He added that one of the problems has been getting the test to people who need them, “we’re not connecting the dots.”

He said states can’t be left on their own on the one hand and on the other hand “the federal government can’t do it by its self.”

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Connecticut reported an increase of 315 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, the lowest number of new infections reported “in weeks,” Gov. Ned Lamont said in a news conference.

There are at least 26,312 cases of Covid-19 in the state.

Hospitalizations were slightly down on Tuesday. There were 1,732 hospitalizations in the state, a decrease of 26 since Monday.

The big curves in the state — which occurred mostly in the southern portion — are continuing to “bend down,” the governor said, though he, and the state's Public Health Department’s top epidemiologist, Dr. Matthew Carter, stressed that the numbers are still high. 

Lamont also noted that the unemployment rate in Connecticut is currently north of 20% — the likes of which the state hasn’t seen “since the Great Depression.”

President Trump said the worst of the coronavirus is over in the United States during an event at the White House Tuesday, and when pressed by reporters, once again said he thinks the virus is going to “go away.”

In remarks at an event celebrating the second round of funding for the Paycheck Protection Program, the President said, “our experts believe the worst days of our pandemic are behind us.”

He was asked later how he could be so sure when the country is only beginning to reopen. 

Trump significantly walked back his certainty that a vaccine would be developed quickly.

“I think that like other things, we’re going to hopefully we’re going to come up with a vaccine. You never know about a vaccine,” he said. “Tremendous progress has been made we think on a vaccine. You always have to say think, and then you have to test it, and that takes a period of time.” 

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A new program would provide masks to as many Utah residents as possible, the state's Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox said at a news conference today.

The “mask for every Utahan” program will allow residents to request a mask from the state free of charge.

The masks will be manufactured by Utah-based businesses, according to Cox. He said in addition to providing masks for residents, the program will save at least 200 jobs in the state.

Cox said that once the initial mask order is placed, it could take up to three weeks to have them delivered.

President Trump said Tuesday that in addition to his friend Stanley Chera, he’s lost three other friends to coronavirus.

The President also said he’s spoken to at least three families of other individuals who have died from coronavirus.

“I’ve spoken to three, maybe four families (of individuals who have died of coronavirus) unrelated to me. I lost a very good friend. I also lost three other friends,” Trump said during an event in the East Room of the White House.

He added: “Two of them I didn’t know as well, but they were friends, people I did business with.”

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The past 24 hours have seen more people in Illinois die due to Covid-19 than any other day yet, Illinois Department of Public Health Director, Dr. Ngozi Ezike announced at a news conference Tuesday.

Ezike announced 144 new Covid-19 related deaths, bringing the state death total to 2,125.

The state has seen 2,219 new cases of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours. This brings the state total to 48,102 cases, Ezike said.

US stocks lost steam after a buoyant market open, finishing the day lower.

Here's what happened today: