Coronavirus pandemic in the US

The USNS Comfort, a hospital ship that was docked in the New York City to assist with the city's coronavirus response, will depart on Thursday, according to a press release form the US military.

The Comfort will return to Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia, where it will wait for "future tasking for Covid-19 operations in support of FEMA," the release said.

The USNS Comfort arrived in New York City on March 30 and was originally tasked with providing care to non-coronavirus patients, but quickly started treating all patients regardless of their Covid-19 status.

Maine Gov. Janet Mills announced today that the state will extend its stay-at-home order until May 31.

“Today, I am announcing that I will extend the stay at home order, in the form of a new stay safer at home executive order. This order will be effective through May 31," Mills said.

She said the order, "will allow Maine people to continue to engage in activities that are already permitted such as occasional grocery shopping, exercise; but it will also be modified to allow us to participate in the safe and gradual reopening, restarting of our economy.”

As California moves closer toward lifting restrictions, Gov. Gavin Newsom is floating the idea of starting the next school year in late July or early August.

Newsom cited a significant loss in learning during the virtual model implemented by districts across the state.

“We have to make up for those gaps that may have occurred over this time,” State Health Director Sonia Angell said, explaining the plan to move forward

Reopening schools and child care will take more planning, Angell said, and precautions, including face coverings and physical distancing, must remain in place.

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice said in a press conference Tuesday that his administration plans to reopen local businesses Thursday.

Justice announced 37 people have died due to coronavirus since the beginning of the pandemic, but said the positive test result rate was under 3% Monday and today.

Should the positive testing rate fall under 3% again tomorrow, certain healthcare-related businesses will be permitted to open Thursday, Justice said.

Those qualifying businesses include pharmacies, chiropractors, dentists, psychologists, physical therapists, social workers and others. Daycare workers will be tested for the virus beginning this week and will reopen should all working personnel test negative. 

All businesses reopening will require personnel to sanitize, physically distance and wear face coverings.

Phase two: If this week continues on track, more businesses will be permitted to open next Monday, Justice said.

This second phase will include small businesses with less than 10 employees, outdoor dining at restaurants, salons and dog groomers. 

Places of worship are also expected to be included in that second phase but capacity will be restricted.

Erin Strine was flying home to be with her family after her grandmother passed away and was shocked to be on a packed American Airlines flight with people who were not wearing masks.

Strine, who took video of the packed flight, said an announcement was made after she boarded that passengers would not be able to move their seats and would not be able to social distance because the flight was full.

“It was a scary thing to experience,” Strine told CNN’s Brooke Baldwin.

“I would’ve felt a little better knowing that everyone had been required to wear masks,“ she said.

American Airlines announced today that the company would require flight attendants to wear face masks starting May 1.

This comes after JetBlue became the first airline to require passengers to wear face coverings starting May 4.

Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants, said while face masks alone aren’t enough, requiring them on flights does keep “everyone safer.”

Nelson added that coronavirus safety requirements should be consistent and that there needs to be a federal mandate for aviation policy regarding the virus across the board.

She said that the rest of the world is “heads above” where the US currently is.

“Canada put this in place a week ago. Other countries around the world have had this in place for several weeks and months and we need to be leaders again among the world and take the best precautions for our health and safety,” Nelson said.

Brown University President Christina Paxson said opening colleges and universities in the fall is key for viability.

Financial stressors existed before the pandemic during the last decade for higher education, Paxson told CNN's Brooke Baldwin.

Brown is making a plan, but Paxson doesn’t know if it will be implemented, echoing what she wrote in her New York Times op-ed Monday. She said it will depend on what happens with the pandemic in the coming months.

Testing, tracing and separating those who are exposed or sick are all part of the plan, Paxson said.

“It won’t be, if we can do this, a normal academic year, it will be different. We are going to have to spend a lot of times working with our students helping them understand what they need to do to responsibly keep themselves and their community safe,” she said.

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New York City has had at least 11,820 confirmed coronavirus deaths and 5,395 probable coronavirus deaths, according to the city website.

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.

The total number of confirmed coronavirus deaths and probable coronavirus deaths in New York City is 17,215.

There have been 157,713 coronavirus cases in the city and approximately 40,578 people have been hospitalized, according to the city.

Tripadvisor announced today that it will lay off 900 employees, or roughly 25% of its workforce, because of the coronavirus pandemic's impact on demand for travel.

More than 600 employees working in the US and Canada and nearly 300 employees working outside those two countries will be affected.

The company also said it would put a "number" of employees on furlough for an unspecified time and shutter its San Francisco and Boston offices.

TripAdvisor's stock is down 40% for the year.

Colorado received more than $10 million from the US Department of Health and Human Services to provide additional funding for epidemiological work and lab testing in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a press release from the Colorado State Joint Information Center.

The funding is part of various federal aid programs which provide assistance to states dealing with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

The CDC will provide further guidance on the specific spending parameters later this week, but generally the money is for a two-year period and is intended to go towards programs that "enhance case investigation, contact tracing, and outbreak response, especially in high-risk settings and among at-risk populations," for example, the statement said.