States reopen in US as coronavirus pandemic persists

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly tweeted Monday that the state's "safer-at-home" order has ended.

Libraries and childcare facilities also may open, she said.

Phase Two will occur no sooner than May 18, which includes bars and clubs reopening at 50%, according to Kelly's “Ad Astra: A Plan to Reopen Kansas” website.

Phase Three will take effect no sooner than June 1, which includes schools reopening and nonessential travel resuming, according to Kelly.

Read Kelly's tweet:

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson visited businesses Monday as the state began reopening stores, but he did not wear a mask even when greeting others wearing face coverings. 

When asked why he did not wear a mask at an outdoor store in Springfield and a thrift store in Joplin, the governor responded, “I chose not to.”

Parson went on to say, “If you want to wear a mask when you go into a business, then wear a mask. But if you don’t, I don’t think it’s government’s place to regulate that.”

Parson did wear a mask when visiting a Covid-19 temporary intensive care unit at a Springfield hospital, but he declined to weigh in why many legislators were not covering their faces as they returned to work at the Capitol. 

“The House of Representatives need to make that choice, not the governor’s office for them," he said.

By the numbers: The state Department of Health and Senior Services reported 358 new Covid-19 cases Monday, the highest single day number reported in Missouri since the start of the outbreak. 

Parson downplayed the increase in the one-day total, saying, “The numbers –– you can pick any of them out and make any case you want.”

Massachusetts reported 1,000 new positive cases of coronavirus today, bringing the statewide total to 69,087, according to numbers released by the health department.

The commonwealth reported 86 new deaths, bringing the total to 4,090.

Five percent of all cases across Massachusetts are currently hospitalized.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said the state will have to borrow funds from the federal government to pay unemployment claims.

“This pandemic is bigger that even the state of California,” Newsom said, focusing on the economic damage resulting from the stay-at-home order. “Just like that, conditions have radically changed.”

More than 4 million Californians have filed for unemployment since mid-March, and the state has already paid out $7.8 billion in claims.

“The last time we had to source unemployment at this scale, $10-plus billion during the last great recession, we were able to claw back and pay that back. That would be a process that we would once again engage in to pay back any obligations we have,” the governor said. “We are good for our word.”

Newsom is set to present a revised version of California’s budget on May 14.

The South Dakota Department of Health will conduct a Covid-19 “mass testing event” at the Smithfield Food pork processing plant in Sioux Falls, Gov. Kristi Noem announced Monday. 

The testing will be optional and will include Smithfield employees, their families and household contacts, Noem said.

While the state “encourages every single employee to participate," it is not a requirement for them to return to work. 

She added that she expects it will “just be a matter of a day or two” before operations resume at the plant.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conducted a walkthrough of the Smithfield plant this morning, Noem said.

The governor said the US Department of Agriculture, the CDC and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) will be overseeing operations at the Smithfield plant going forward under the utilization of the Defense Production Act.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said he has been in talks with the National Guard to use non-medical members to work in nursing homes.

The governor and Department of Health spokesperson Judith Persichilli are requesting members of the National Guard to work in janitorial, kitchen, security, logistics and general purpose roles, among other non-medical positions, they said.

A statement from the governor's office said they "are in ongoing discussions as to how to best serve New Jersey’s long-term care facilities and keep elderly and vulnerable populations safe during this pandemic."

Murphy said he was hoping to hear something soon on the status of the discussions.

New York City has 13,536 confirmed coronavirus deaths and 5,373 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 18,909.

There have been 170,534 coronavirus cases in the city and approximately 43,045 people have been hospitalized, according to the city.

The data is from the New York City Health Department and was updated on May 4 at 1 p.m., according to the website.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer warned today that reopening the state too soon could lead to a second shutdown.

She said the lockdown would continue “until at least May 15” and end “when public health experts and data say it’s safe.”

On politics and testing supplies: Asked about tensions with the state legislature, Whitmer said, “I’m happy to work with the legislature. I think ideally we all get on the same page here. But what I can’t do is negotiate like this is a political issue. This is a public health issue.”

President Trump posted a tweet Sunday criticizing Whitmer for not saying she needed testing supplies on a call with the White House.

In response, the governor said, “I believe that we have some swabs that are going to be coming in from the federal government – they’re not here yet. And that’s why we’re not going to stop making people understand we still have needs that haven’t been met.”

The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington (IHME), says it has revised its models for predicting coronavirus, and is now forecasting at least 134,000 deaths in the US by August 4.

Speaking on Monday, IHME Director Dr. Christopher Murray said they have had a “major revision in our modeling strategy.” 

His team is now using a hybrid approach, and is gathering “mobility data as it gets reported through four different cell phone providers.” He said most importantly, they are using data to “reflect the effect of premature relaxation of social distance, which has a substantial effect.”

“The effect of this shift in modeling framework, is that the number of deaths that we forecast out to August 4, now increases to 134,000 deaths,” Murray said.

Murray said there is “longer tail of deaths,” meaning it will be a slower decline in some states. 

He said he is aware of reports of other coronavirus models that project a sharp increase in US cases and deaths, but added IHME numbers are “nowhere near that level.”

The New York Times said a Trump administration model projected a steep rise in cases and deaths, projecting about 3,000 daily deaths by June 1. A federal spokesperson tells CNN the modeling numbers in the report obtained by the Times are not from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

Murray said while IHME has heard about the model, “our understanding is that model will not be released.” 

He continued: “I don't think there's a consensus within the government on different modeling groups on that model.”