Coronavirus pandemic in the US

Since the reopening of parks last Wednesday, Miami-Dade Police have issued 459 violations and has made one arrest, according to the department’s press office.

According to the department, the violations included verbal warnings for noncompliance of reopening rules, like wearing masks, social distancing, no picnics and no large gatherings. Strict operation hours are also enforced. In one case, there were about 30 people congregated at a park taking graduation pictures, per police.

As for the arrest, Miami-Dade Police say a 35-year-old man was arrested Saturday at Hobie Beach for resisting an officer without violence and a health and safety violation, two misdemeanors. Police say the man was running with his dog on a closed beach. An officer told the man to run on the pavement. Later, the officer saw the same man with his dog on the waterline. At that point, the man provided the officer with a fake name and ignored the officer’s command, per police.

Miami-Dade Police say there is no booking photo because the man was issued a promise to appear.

According to MDPD no parks have been closed in the county due to non-compliance by park goers.

Yesterday, Miami Beach Police announced it had issued nearly 8,000 warnings over the weekend for people violating social distancing and face mask rules. Miami Beach Police announced the closure of South Pointe Park until further notice, due to non-compliance.

Miami Beach is in Miami-Dade County.

Schools should be ready to reopen in phases, perhaps starting with reduced hours, before returning to full activity amid the coronavirus pandemic, a large pediatricians’ group said Tuesday.

Schools should also plan for intermittent closures in the future if the virus begins to rebound, the American Academy of Pediatrics said in new guidance.

So far, 46 states and Washington, DC, have announced school closures through the end of the academic year. Four more states have widespread closures but have not decided whether to cancel the rest of the school year.

A lot depends on factors that cannot yet be predicted: how the virus is spreading both nationally and in local communities, how much testing is available, and whether state and local health departments are able to control spread via testing and contact tracing, the group said.

Schools will also have to be ready to clean and sanitize all areas, screen, monitor and test students and staff and limit student interactions. That may include having students stay in one room, with teachers moving from class to class.

The organization indicated it supports efforts to get back to school if it can be done safely.

“Such districts may also experience a widened divide in academic progress, with certain children able to access distance learning and continue to grow academically, while others might experience difficulty accessing or engaging with virtual instruction,” the guidance said.

In a memo that went out to about 11,500 workers, United Airlines’ EVP for Human Resources, Kate Gebo, says its management and administrative team could be reduced by at least 30% in October after funding from the CARES Act runs out.

In the meantime, the airline is asking these workers to take 20 unpaid days off. Some are being asked to work a four-day work week.

More context: It’s the latest in a series of memos that have come to light from United, including one from its COO telling workers to consider voluntarily leaving the company and one from its chief pilot warning of furloughs.

Gebo also told workers they should consider leaving the company voluntarily.

“At this point, we’re planning for an M&A population that will be at least 30% smaller than it is today, with some work groups impacted more significantly than others. Affected employees will be notified in mid to late July for an October 1 effective date. Given the upcoming reductions, I have to ask each of you to seriously consider if choosing a voluntary separation with a robust benefits package might be right for you,” she wrote.

House Democratic leaders say they plan to move forward with investigations into the US response to the coronavirus crisis despite President Trump rejecting calls for witnesses to testify and Republicans not yet cooperating with their plans to move ahead with new oversight plans.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer both told CNN the House would proceed with its reviews into the US response and how nearly a $3 trillion worth of federal programs are being implemented.

Hoyer said that the House would soon begin conducting its hearings "virtually" and said they would move ahead regardless of what the GOP decides to do.

"This President has done everything in his power to undermine the Congress' constitutional responsibility to conduct oversight of the executive branch," Hoyer said.

Some background: The comments come after the White House said no members of the coronavirus task force would testify in May before Congress unless approved by Trump's chief of staff Mark Meadows.

Trump called the House a “bunch of Trump haters” when asked why Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, would testify before the Senate next week — but not the House this week.

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Michigan Medicine, the medical center which includes the University of Michigan’s medical school, announced a plan today to claw its way out of $230 million in projected losses this and next fiscal year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The changes will include cuts to personnel and infrastructure, according to a release on Michigan Medicine’s website.

At least 1,400 employees will be either laid off or furloughed, while 300 additional vacancies will go unfilled due to a hiring freeze. A new inpatient facility that had been planned will also halt construction.

The necessary cutbacks come after the medical center was forced to cancel elective procedures and suspend many services.

Runge is among those taking a pay cut. His salary will be decreased by 20% and he has asked many leaders and department chairs to take salary cuts ranging from 5% to 15% of their current salaries.

The center announced it will be phasing out other services and perks to save money. These include suspending merit increases, retirement matches, tuition reimbursement, supply reduction, consulting and discretionary expenses.

A Covid-19 Employee Emergency Needs Fund will give grants to employees with the fewest resources in need of financial help due to the pandemic, the release said.

Pennsylvania on Tuesday reported 554 new coronavirus-related deaths, according to the state's Department of Health.

It is important to note that the large increase is due to the state reconciling data from multiple different sources. The deaths occurred over the past two weeks, and did not all occur in a 24-hour span.

The total number of deaths in the state is now 3,012. 

At least 2,029 people were residents in nursing or personal care facilities, according to the health department.

Pennsylvania also reported 865 new cases of coronavirus on Tuesday, bringing the statewide total to 50,957.

At least 11 employees at the Bornstein Seafoods processing facility in Astoria, Oregon, have tested positive for Covid-19, Clatsop County Public Health Department said in a statement released Monday.

The company has closed its Astoria facilities and is “closely following direction from the Public Health Department,” the statement said.

All remaining staff that have not yet been tested will be tested today, Dr. Michael McNickle, Public Health Director for the Clatsop County Department of Public Health told CNN today.

“We have already begun contact tracing and all staff who tested positive are under self-quarantine,” he said.

A long-term disaster morgue at Brooklyn’s 39th Street Pier is now operating, according to the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner (OCME). 

The disaster morgue, where human remains are frozen inside trucks, was established to ease the stress that overwhelmed funeral directors in New York City are experiencing from the unprecedented amount of deaths due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

On Monday, funeral home directors, faith leaders, morgue operators, cemeteries joined OCME on a conference call, according to Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams.

“Even a public health crisis of this magnitude should not get in the way of treating decedents with basic dignity,” he said in a press release Monday.

OCME outlined three recent policy changes to help the “death care system” operate in a smoother fashion:

Michael Lanotte, executive director of the New York State Funeral Directors Association, told CNN the Brooklyn morgue would reduce the pressure on the city's overloaded funeral industry.

“The additional morgue operating hours will also help funeral directors by providing them with evening hours for transfers since they spend the vast majority of the daytime hours conducting funerals, making arrangements and answering calls from families seeking their services,” said Lanotte. 

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo again called for more federal funding for states during the coronavirus pandemic.

"What the government does will literally determine how many people live or die,” Cuomo said. 

Cuomo responded to President Trump’s comments to the New York Post that blue-state bailouts are unfair to Republican states. 

According to the governor, New York state has a $13 billion deficit due to the coronavirus pandemic’s effect on the economy. Cuomo said that New York has contributed more money to the federal government than the government has given back. 

“It’s not a blue-state issue. Every state has coronavirus cases. This is not any mismanagement by the states,. If anything, the mismanagement has been on behalf of the federal government, and that's where the mismanagement have gone back decades,” he said. 

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