Coronavirus pandemic in the US

More than half of the US airline fleet is now sitting idle, according to new numbers from the industry. 

At least 3,162 planes were grounded on Sunday, representing 51% of the fleet, according to Airlines for America, which represents major air carriers. 

The measure includes planes that have not flown in the last seven days.   

The figure has hovered just shy of the 50% mark for several weeks. On Sunday, the group provided figures that showed 3,046 planes — or about 49% — were grounded as of Thursday. 

The aircraft are not needed because airlines have removed from their schedules 73% of domestic departures and 94% of international departures, according to Airlines for America. 

Taking planes out of service and cancelling flights can increase the number of passengers on a given flight. There has been a slight uptick in the number of people flying as well.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city's schools are still poised to be open this fall, but he noted that officials are watching the pediatric multi-inflammatory syndrome linked to coronavirus as they assess what's best for students.

What this is about: Last week, New York State Department of Health reported some children have developed an inflammatory syndrome possibly linked to the coronavirus. 

"Thankfully most children with COVID-19 only experience mild symptoms, but in some, a dangerous inflammatory syndrome can develop," New York State Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker said in a statement.

New York is investigating if the cases contradict the belief that children are less at risk for coronavirus and what other hospitals should look out for, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said.

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin phoned in to CNBC this morning as the stock market opened down.

Mnuchin said "most" states are cooperating with federal guidelines as they begin the process of reopening. Responding to Tesla CEO Elon Musk's threat over the weekend to move the company's headquarters out of California after local officials refused to let the company reopen its Fremont factory, Mnuchin said he agreed with Musk.

Mnuchin said that there were "ongoing discussions" in the administration on how to assess which states are deserving of federal aid. He reiterated that the President and congressional Republicans are against "bailing out" state pensions. Mnuchin said although Democrats have expressed a desire to "throw a lot of money" at the problem of state aid, he has not heard from Democrats that they are willing to put money toward state pensions either. 

"I think it's very clear there is not going to be bipartisan support that bails out states from previous problems," Mnuchin said. He also highlighted lending facilities opened by the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department to help states with cash flow issues.

Asked why he would not view the issue of states that rely heavily on sales tax revenues laying off workers as they face budget shortfalls with immediacy, Mnuchin said the CARES Act did give lot of money to the states, which was intended for coronavirus-related expenses, not for lost revenues. He said the federal government recently gave states more flexibility in allowing the use of these funds to keep first responders employed.

"The issue of lost revenues is a complicated issue. These are taxing authorities on their own, different states tax different ways. Some states have more issues. Some states have less issues," Mnuchin said, adding that he will continue to discuss the issue with President Trump and Congress.

The World Health Organization says 110 potential Covid-19 vaccines are in development around the world, according to documents posted on the organization’s website today.

Eight of the potential vaccines are in clinical trials, including groups from the United States, the UK and China.

Another 102 groups from around the world are in pre-clinical evaluation, including groups at the University of Tokyo, Tulane University, University of Alberta and the University of Pittsburgh — up from 100 on May 5, according to WHO.

Abbott Laboratories received its second Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to produce a coronavirus antibody test, according to a statement by Abbott on Monday. 

Abbott said the company plans to ship its serology-based blood test on the Alinity i system with nearly 30 million antibody tests globally in May and “capacity for 60 million tests in June.”  

The first serology test by Abbott was approved for an EUA on April 26 and runs on Abbott’s ARCHITECT system. 

The EUA has not posted to the FDA website at this time. CNN has reached out to the FDA, but has not heard back.

Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan says consumer spending is picking up, with averages over the last four weeks equaling those of fall 2017.

"If you look at the spending by the consumers of Bank of America today, in the last four weeks, spending averaged about what it did in the fall of 2017," he said,

The Bank of America research team has predicted that the economy would be down this quarter by about 30% and then by 1% in the next quarter, he added.

Comparing to a general fall in consumer demand which results in a crisis, this was a shutdown. But as states reopen, industries like medical services will recover faster but restaurants might take longer, he said, adding that a fourth stimulus bill should target people and institutions most affected during this crisis.

Moynihan also denied allegations in the lawsuit filed against Bank of America and other big banks, arguing that applications for higher loan amounts were prioritized over small players in the first round of Congress-approved funding for small business owners.

Of the 300,000 small businesses that Bank of America provides to, 98% have less than 100 employees, and about 80% have less than 10 employees, he added.

The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union said Monday that it estimates at least 30 meatpacking plant workers have died, and more than 10,000 meat plant workers have been infected or exposed to Covid-19. 

The union also continued its call for the White House to make the current US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for safe meat plant operations mandatory, especially in light of 14 plants reopening since President Trump announced his executive order. 

House Democrats are finalizing their new stimulus bill and could unveil their massive bill within the next day, according to Democratic sources, with one senior aide saying it’s more likely that the bill will be introduced tomorrow.

That means the House of Representatives could still vote later this week on the bill and a rules change to allow House members to vote on the floor remotely and allow committee action to proceed remotely. Democratic leaders have said House members would get 72 hours notice before any floor vote.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer’s office said today the earliest a vote could happen is Friday 

Party leaders will have a call with their caucus at 4:00pm today to discuss their plans.

The bill would be an opening salvo in the debate about whether to add more stimulus to the economy, which the White House and Senate Republican leaders have so far resisted as they say they want to evaluate how nearly $3 trillion worth of rescue programs are being implemented.

An online course to train contact tracers in New York is now available through Johns Hopkins' Bloomberg School of Public Health, Bloomberg Philanthropies and New York State, according to a joint statement released today. 

The free online course was launched to “help train a new cadre of contact tracers to reach and assist people exposed to the virus. Taking and passing this course will be a requirement for thousands of contact tracers being hired by the state of New York to fight the pandemic.” 

The course teaches the basics of interviewing people who have been diagnosed with Covid-19, finding their close contacts and providing them support during their quarantine. 

The program hopes to have 6,400 to 17,000 tracers statewide, depending on the total number of coronavirus cases. 

It is available to anyone in the world, “whether they are interested in becoming a contact tracer or just want to understand the process” the statement said.