States reopen in US as coronavirus pandemic persists

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said New York City will immediately begin handing out free face coverings to residents.

The mayor said the city intends to give out 7.5 million face masks and cloth face coverings.

In terms of where they'll be handed out, the mayor said parks "will be one focal point," as well as public housing and food distribution centers. He added that New York Police Department officers will be carrying a supply of face coverings to hand out as well.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said this morning, "For the first time since March, we actually start a week with enough of all of the PPEs we need" in New York City.

De Blasio said that every hospital and nursing home in the city will get the medical supplies including N95 masks and gowns "for the week ahead."

"We have a little breathing room," the mayor added.

US stocks kicked the new week off lower as tensions between the United States and China are rising.

What's this about: President Trump last week threatened China could face new tariffs over its handling of the coronavirus outbreak. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said over the weekend there is "enormous evidence" that the virus originated in a laboratory in Wuhan.

Here's how the markets opened the week:

More context: US airline stocks opened lower after Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett dumped his entire stake in the four airline stocks that company had owned.

American, United, Delta and Southwest Airlines all fell after Buffet disclosed he sold his shares because he believes it will take years for air travel to recover from the coronavirus crisis.

After spending more than a month in quarantine due to the Covid-19 pandemic, crew members onboard Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruise Line ships are one step closer to disembarking.

In a letter to employees, Celebrity Cruises says they will agree to strict guidelines set forth from the US Centers for Disease Control in order to disembark crew members safely.

Under the agreed upon guidelines, cruise lines will begin transferring certain crew members by nationality onto different ships around the world. American crew on ships close to the United States will be repatriated with private transportation beginning as soon as possible, presumably in the next week, the letter stated. American crew members in Asia will be flown home from the Philippines as soon as the Manila airport reopens.

Crew members who do not wish to evacuate the ship will continue to receive room and board accommodations, the letter stated. 

Celebrity Cruises said so far, nearly 3,300 crew members have safely disembarked including 122 Americans who arrived home via commercial flights and private transportation.

US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said it is “too hard to tell” whether international travel will resume this year.

During an appearance on Fox business this morning, he said, "Too hard to tell at this point, Maria. I hope down the road, it is."

Mnuchin also repeated an update the Administration made Sunday on Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funding, saying that $175 billion of the $310 billion has been used. In this round of funding, 2.2 million loans have been processed, the average size $79,000.

“We really see this is going directly to small businesses,” he said – after criticism during the last round that the loans went to some larger businesses. He noted that the last round of funding processed 1.7 million loans.

“There were some hiccups with the systems,” he conceded, but “now the systems are up and running,” predicting 60 million people will be impacted by this round.

Mnuchin was pressed on whether there might be flexibility for businesses regarding PPP loans. He said it was “not designed as a loan, it was really designed as a grant” and pointed small businesses toward other loan programs available to help with overhead costs. 

He was pressed again on this with the examples of restaurants, most of which will not be able to reopen under statewide guidelines at full capacity to generate the revenue to rehire their staffs and forgive their loans within the time frame specified by the PPP legislation.

“This is the way the program was designed by Congress… I don’t have the flexibility to change that,” he said.

President Trump, Mnuchin said, is “sympathetic to the restaurant industry.”

It's Monday morning in the US. Here's what you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic to start your week:

It took a global pandemic for the Supreme Court, an institution rooted in tradition and precedent, to change how it conducts its business. 

In lieu of the pomp and circumstance associated with the highest court in the land, where lawyers are still presented with quill pens, television cameras are not allowed and only those lucky enough to get inside the building can hear the proceedings live, on Monday morning the justices will conduct their business over a simple fiber optic cable. 

To some, teleconferences are the new normal as the world grapples with social distancing, but for the justices and arguing counsel, the change will impact how the court digests its cases and how the lawyers prepare.

"I never thought the day would come when high on my list of pre-argument worries was how to keep my dog from interrupting," veteran lawyer Lisa Blatt, who will argue the first case, told CNN. 

On top of that, the justices will also break another tradition: They will let the public listen in real time. Numerous outlets, including CNN.com, will broadcast the proceedings live.

The experiment will begin Monday morning at 10:00 a.m., and play out for six argument sessions over two weeks. The court will work out the kinks in a couple of under-the-radar cases to start, but will build toward some of the biggest cases of the term -- including the duel over President Donald Trump's financial and tax records.

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Los Angeles-based photographer Erin Sullivan has found an unconventional way to satiate her penchant for exploration while under a stay-at-home order because of the coronavirus pandemic. 

Sullivan let her creativity go wild in her latest photo series, "Our Great Indoors." In it, she constructs fantastical landscapes from common household objects found in her apartment, such as pancakes, pillow cases and raincoats. 

Sullivan's career as a travel photographer has brought her to some of the most beautiful places around the world. These excursions helped her prepare for more than 40 days in self-quarantine.

So far, she's made an ice cave out of sheets and pillows, a paper bag canyon, a broccoli forest and a jello lake.

Read more about Sullivan's projects.

In his final moments, Ananda Mooliya reassured his wife and two sons that he was fine, though they could hear his labored breathing from the next room, over the sound of the TV.

His wife, Rajni Attavar, made soup for him. Mooliya struggled out of bed. With the help of eldest son, Amith, the 56-year-old subway station agent made his way to a kitchen chair in their Corona, Queens, home. Sweat beaded on his face. His mouth was open.

"I wiped his face," Attavar recalled through tears. "Then I called out his name. He didn't respond."

She sprinkled water on his head. Amith checked his father's weakening pulse. His younger son, Akshay Mooliya, 16, called 911. EMTs arrived and, for about 10 minutes, aided his breathing with a respiratory device.

They then covered him with a white blanket on the kitchen floor.

It was April 8 at 9:37 p.m., according to his death certificate. Immediate cause of death was listed as "Recent Influenza-Like Illness (Possible COVID-19)." Several hours would pass before his body was lifted off the floor and taken to a morgue -- and nearly three weeks before his cremation, family members said.

The handling of Mooliya's body isn't unusual in these times.

The coronavirus death toll has overwhelmed health care workers, morgues, funeral homes, crematories and cemeteries. Body bags pile up across the city that became epicenter of the pandemic.

Read more: 'So many more deaths than we could have ever imagined.' This is how America's largest city deals with its dead