By Elise Hammond, Mike Hayes and Meg Wagner, CNN
From CNN’s Alec Snyder
Massachusetts crossed the 5,000 death threshold after reporting another 129 deaths for a new total of 5,108, according to Gov. Charlie Baker.
The governor said Massachusetts had 669 new positive cases yesterday — that is about 12% of the people who were tested yesterday.
There are at least 1,356,037 cases of coronavirus in the US, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.
At least 81,571 Americans have died.
Johns Hopkins has reported 8,649 new cases and 889 reported deaths on Tuesday.
The totals includes cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, as well as repatriated cases.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo said today that New York needs about $61 billion in federal support or the state will have to reduce spending.
"We need $61 billion in federal support, or we will wind up aggravating the situation," he said.
Cuomo delivered these remarks after House Democrats introduced a new coronavirus relief bill this afternoon. The 1,815-page bill has a price tag expected to be more than $3 trillion –– an amount that would stand as the largest relief package in history.
From CNN's Laura Ly
The New York State Department of Health is investigating about 100 cases of what may be a Covid-19 related illness in children with symptoms similar to Kawasaki disease and toxic shock like syndrome, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said during an ongoing press conference Tuesday.
"This is truly a disturbing situation," Cuomo said.
About 29% of the cases are in children between the ages of 5 to 9, Cuomo said. Another 28% of cases are in children between 10 and 14 years old, according to state data.
Cuomo said the Department of Heath is telling hospitals to prioritize testing for children who are showing these symptoms.
From CNN's Julian Cummings
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said today that while trend lines in the state are in the right direction, the state is not out of the woods yet.
“The number of new cases continues in a positive trend,” he said.
Murphy also cited data showing that New Jersey leads the nation in new cases, hospitalizations, and deaths per 100,000 residents.
“We can make the argument that no state is as impacted as ours," he said.
Murphy said there are 898 new cases of Covid-19, bringing the total number of cases in the state to 140,743. He also reported 198 new deaths, bringing the total deaths in the state to 9,508.
This is the first time New Jersey has reported under 1,000 new cases in a single day since March 25.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said today during his daily coronavirus press briefing that at least 195 more people have died in the past day from Covid-19.
Cuomo said the death rate is "up a little bit from the day before" — yesterday, the governor reported 161 deaths — but he noted "overall, the trend is down" for coronavirus deaths.
WATCH:
From CNN's Julian Cummings
All residents and staff at long-term care facilities in the New Jersey are to be tested by May 26, as per a new directive from the state's department of health, Gov. Phil Murphy announced at a press conference.
Follow up testing for residents and staff must be done a week later at the latest.
All long-term care facilities must confirm to the department of health that they have updated their outbreak prevention plan to meet the directive no later than May 19, according to Murphy.
From CNN's Eric Weisbrod
NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy’s message to us back on Earth during the coronavirus pandemic is that there’s “hope in being united.”
In an interview with CNN’s Rachel Crane for Go There, Cassidy said people should work together and do their part to keep the planet and its people healthy.
“Just like the three of us here working in harmony to conduct our daily missions effective and safely, that’s what we should be doing on Earth, is 7 billion people working effectively and safely to accomplish a mission: that’s keep Earth healthy, keep the people healthy," Cassidy said.
"Now that’s easier said than done. It requires everybody to pitch in and do their part. But that is step one. Each individual taking ownership and doing your part, doing the right thing. And together as a crew on planet Earth we can make anything happen," Cassidy added.
From CNN’s Dianne Gallagher
Twenty state attorneys general sent a letter to the White House Tuesday criticizing the use of the Defense Production Act and asking for "immediate action to ensure the safety of these essential workers" at meat and poultry plants across the country.
"Without adequate and enforceable mandates to protect worker safety, your Executive Order may perpetuate this spread of illness and death," the letter said.
"Without making these standards mandatory and taking decisive action to enforce them, the Administration will fail in its duty to provide meaningful protection to workers that have been deemed essential to maintaining our food supply. The toll may be thousands more falling victim to this disease," the letter continues.
The state attorneys general, who are all Democrats, asked President Donald Trump to strengthen the current interim CDC and OSHA guidelines, as well as make them mandatory with "vigorous and robust federal enforcement."
The letter ends, saying, "By implementing mandatory and effective worker safety standards, and by working together on the myriad other challenges facing the country, we believe we can achieve that goal and overcome this historic threat to the health and well-being of our country and our people."
The Attorneys General who signed the letter are of Maryland, California, Colorado, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.
