Coronavirus pandemic in the US

Hospitals across the United States are seeing fewer stroke patients coming to their facilities for care — and a new paper ties that trend to the coronavirus pandemic.

The paper, published Friday in the New England Journal of Medicine as a letter to the editor, suggests that the number of patients in the United States undergoing imaging for stroke evaluation has decreased by 39% since before the pandemic.

"These are stroke patients who need to be treated," said Dr. Greg Albers, director of the Stanford Stroke Center and professor of neurology at Stanford University, who was an author of the letter. 

Albers called the 39% drop in stroke patients "unheard of."

In the letter, researchers from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Stanford University in California wrote that they examined data on 231,753 stroke patients who underwent neuroimaging in 856 hospitals in the United States from July 1, 2019 through April 27.

The data showed that the number of patients who underwent imaging decreased from 1.18 patients per day per hospital in February to 0.72 patients per day per hospital in late March and early April.

"We were very surprised to see that many people of all ages, and even those with severe strokes, were not presenting to the hospital for evaluation and treatment. Even in states with few Covid cases, patients were hesitant to be seen in ERs," Albers said.

US stocks rallied all day Friday in spite of the worst monthly jobs report on record.

The market has brushed off bleak labor market data, including the staggeringly high weekly jobless claims, over the past weeks. Friday was no exception.

The April report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics said the US economy lost 20.5 million jobs, bringing the unemployment rate to 14.7%. It was the worst monthly report in history, in terms of both jobs lost and the unemployment rate.

Here's where things stand:

Remember: As stocks settle after the trading day, levels might still change slightly.

Indiana has 675 new positive coronavirus cases, bringing the statewide total to 23,146, according to State Health Commissioner Dr. Kristina Box.

There were 33 new confirmed deaths announced today for a total of 1,328, plus 119 total suspected but unconfirmed deaths, Box said.

Intensive care unit and ventilator capacity is holding steady in the state, Box noted.

Delta Air Lines said it is temporarily halting service at 10 airports in an effort to reduce health risks for its employees. The airports are in metropolitan areas with other airports nearby, the airline said in a statement Friday.

While Delta said the move is to protect its frontline employees at those airports, like all airlines, it has seen a major reduction in passengers during the pandemic. 

Routes will be shuttered to airports such as Chicago Midway. The airline will instead funnel passengers through the O’Hare International Airport.

“Delta will continue providing essential service to impacted communities via neighboring airports,” the statement said.

Delta is the world’s second largest airline. The airline on Monday began mandating that passengers wear face coverings on flights.

The airline said it still may suspend service to other airports as well, citing a request that the Department of Transportation is still reviewing to suspend operations at nine more airports.

California is reporting a more than 20% unemployment rate, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Friday.

Newsom said unemployment numbers are lagging and warned, “Let me reassure you, those numbers underestimate the rate in this country.”

Paying for unemployment: The governor said he will present a balanced budget next week, as is constitutionally required. Newsom is projecting tens of billions of revenue shortfall, when that revised budget is released on May 14.

Once again, Newsom cried out for the help of the federal government.

“We cannot do justice to the 40 million Americans – Republicans and Democrats – in this state that need us now more than ever without the support of the federal government, period," he said.

On Monday, Newsom said the state will need to borrow funds from the federal government to pay unemployment claims.

Phase one of North Carolina's reopening efforts will start at 5 p.m. today, Gov. Roy Cooper said.

Secretary of North Carolina Department of Health and Human Service Dr. Mandy Cohen also announced today that testing is now available for anyone exposed to Covid-19. 

"We also want anyone who has been exposed to Covid-19 to get a test whether or not you're having symptoms. So you don't have to have symptoms in order to get a test," Cohen said.

North Carolina has a total of 13,868 Covid-19 cases and 527 deaths.

The six staffers who deplaned from Air Force 2 at Joint Base Andrews earlier this morning tested for negative for coronavirus, a senior administration official told the pool traveling with Vice President Pence.

This comes after Katie Miller, Vice President Mike Pence’s press secretary, tested positive for coronavirus. 

President Trump said that Miller has not come into contact with him but noted that she has been in contact with Pence.

Pence was traveling to Des Moines, Iowa, to participate in a discussion with faith leaders on responsible religious and spiritual gatherings, followed by a roundtable on securing the food supply this morning.

See the latest on the White House's response:

President Trump said on Friday that the White House is “in no rush” to pass additional stimulus funds in response to coronavirus. 

The President added that his administration had moved quickly to distribute the money already allocated by Congress, which he said they did. Although he noted that some money is stalled due to “state machinery, you know they have old computers.”

Trump also claimed that Democrats wanted to send funds that way and they should take responsibility for stalled funds.

Some background: CNN’s Manu Raju reported earlier that Republican leadership in the House and Senate don’t want to move forward with phase four yet, with divisions internally over a number of issues like aid to states and cities.

There will likely be GOP resistance to the rescue package House Democrats are in the process of drafting. They could vote on it as soon as next week.

All registered voters in California will receive a mail-in ballot for the November election, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced during his daily pandemic briefing.

The state is not moving to mail-only, however, and in-person voting will remain an option.

“This election is slated to be the most consequential election of our lifetime,” Secretary of State Alex Padilla said. “We remain committed to providing as many safe, in-person opportunities to as possible on and before Election Day.”

The postage on ballots will be pre-paid, Padilla added.