Coronavirus pandemic in the US

President Trump outlined additional steps the administration will take to protect seniors from coronavirus, saying the Federal Emergency Management Agency will send supplemental shipments of personal protective equipment to all 15,400 Medicaid and Medicare certified nursing homes in America.

He also said that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will provide states with $81 million dollars from the CARES Act to increase inspections of nursing homes.

Trump announced that a new rule will be finalized this week requiring information about coronavirus cases in nursing homes to be reported directly to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and testing data be posted online. The new rule will also require nursing homes to report cases to residents and their family members. 

The President also announced the formation of the “Coronavirus Commission for Safety and Quality in Nursing Homes.”

Trump said the commission will be made up of leading industry experts, doctors and scientists, resident and patient advocates and others. The commission will convene in May and issue recommendations for additional steps to protect seniors, he added.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is launching a campaign to distribute face masks to North Carolina’s energy and food supply workers, Michael Sprayberry, the state director of Emergency Management, announced Thursday.

Sprayberry said that FEMA will ship the masks directly to companies for workers who have jobs where social distancing is difficult.

North Carolina Emergency Management will also receive an additional 149,000 cloth masks to distribute to workers in the food supply chain.

JBS has announced that it is partially reopening its plant in Worthington, Minnesota, "to provide producers with a humane euthanasia option for market hogs," the company said in a statement today.

A small staff of "approximately 10 to 20 team members" will facilitate the process of putting down hogs that farmers are unable to keep and feed on their farms, the company statement said. JBS anticipates that approximately 13,000 hogs could be euthanized per day, the statement said. 

Hog carcasses will be rendered, sent to landfills, composted or buried, the statement added.

Some background: JBS announced the plant's closure last Monday over Covid-19 concerns. The Worthington plant employs more than 2,000 people and processes 20,000 hogs per day, according to an earlier a company statement.

Minnesota Congressman Collin Peterson said all plant employees were tested for Covid-19 over the past weekend. He said "close to 500" tested positive.

Los Angeles County will not provide coronavirus testing for low risk and asymptomatic residents, according to Health Services Director Christina Ghaly.

Ghaly said the focus will instead be on people living in institutional settings like nursing homes, homeless shelters and jails. That includes both people with symptoms and those without.

Ghaly acknowledged the psychological reassurance of knowing whether you are infected, but warned that a test captures only one moment in time.

Those who wouldn’t necessarily qualify for testing in Los Angeles County can still go to the city to be tested. People showing symptoms will be prioritized.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine confirmed today that the state’s stay-at-home order, which was set to expire May 1, will be extended with certain exceptions.

The governor said people can certainly continue to go to the grocery store, they can meet with their own family in a home, they can take walks, and “they can do a number of different things.”

“The social distancing is really the key to about everything, and people just keeping that distance. And that’s what we need to continue to do as we move to get back to work,” DeWine added.

Utah state epidemiologist Angela Dunn said that the state saw a 3.5% growth rate of Covid-19 cases in the past day, up to 4,495 total cases statewide. 

The total number of hospitalizations rose slightly to 383, up 13 from the day before but the state is not reporting any additional deaths over the past day. As of Thursday, 45 people have died in Utah.

Some more context: Earlier today, Utah Gov. Gary Herbert issued an executive order that will place Utah under a lower, “moderate risk” protocol beginning on midnight May 1, according to a statement on the governor’s website. 

Restaurants and bars will open for dine-in services but with “strict requirements.” The requirements include limiting tables to groups of 10, enforcing social distancing, and face coverings for staff. 

Dunn said that there will be some individuals who need to continue to practice extra precautions to prevent infection. These individuals include those over the age of 65, individuals at long-term care facilities and those who have underlying health conditions. 

Tyson Foods said it will temporarily stop operations at its Dakota City, Nebraska, beef facility to complete a deep cleaning of the entire plant, according to a statement released by the company.

The statement said the facility will stop operations between May 1 through May 4.

Tyson said the plant is one of the largest beef processing plant in the country, employing about 4,300 people and producing enough beef to feed about 1.8 million people a day.

"However, with increased absenteeism over the last few weeks, the company has scaled back production," the statement said.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency will coordinate the shipment of personal protective equipment to more than 15,000 nursing homes across the country starting next week, if not sooner, according to a document obtained by CNN.

The shipment includes “more than 7.1 million surgical masks, nearly 32.3 million gloves, more than 922,000 goggles and other eye protection, and nearly 9.7 million gowns.”

The equipment is only being shipped to Medicaid and Medicare-certified nursing homes based on input from the American Health Care Association.

The document, dated April 24, notes that facilities may not receive notification prior to the shipment arriving, citing a large number of nursing homes.

“However, as possible, FEMA will provide notification to a state prior to shipments arriving at their Medicaid/ Medicare-certified facilities,” it notes.

The first shipments are targeted for New York City metro area and northern New Jersey. The rest will be sent to other hotspots around the country. Shipments are expected to be completed in mid-June, the document says.

North Carolina reported 561 new positive coronavirus tests on Thursday, the state’s largest daily increase since the pandemic began, according to Dr. Mandy Cohen, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.

Cohen explained that the increase is due to an increase in testing and that overall trends remain positive. North Carolina processed 6,000 tests on Wednesday.

“We remain optimistic that trends will be stable enough to move into phase one next week,” Cohen asserted in a Thursday press conference, referencing the governor’s three-phase plan for reopening the state.

North Carolina has reported 10,509 total positive coronavirus cases and 378 deaths.