Coronavirus pandemic in the US

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced today that beginning May 31 childcare providers in the state will be able to reopen with reduced numbers of children in each classroom and intensified cleaning and hand-washing practices.

Childcare providers will be wearing masks, temperature checks will occur regularly, and children will be required to wash their hands upon arrival, throughout the day, and before pickup, according to adviser Joni Close, president of the Sisters of Charity Foundation of Canton.

Preschool classes will only be allowed a maximum number for nine children, while classes with infants and toddlers will only be allowed six per classroom.

DeWine emphasized that there is no playbook for childcare during Covid-19, saying the state must learn and make changes as it moves forward. The governor said Ohio therefore also intends to fund a research project to study best practices for controlling the spread of Covid-19 in childcare settings.

As Ohio’s childcare providers will need assistance when they reopen, the state will be utilizing over $60 million in federal CARES Act funding to provide reopening grants.

 Day camps will also open the same day as daycares, Lt. Gov. Jon Husted announced.

The Federal Reserve Bank has released a report detailing just how unequally the coronavirus-induced economic downturn is hitting Americans.

On one hand, lower-income people are getting slammed. Nearly 40% of those with a household income below $40,000 reported a job loss in March, according to the Economic Well-Being of US Households report.

At the same time, for the majority of adults, their income and ability to pay current bills appeared to remain generally stable during the initial weeks of the coronavirus pandemic.

Also essentially unchanged was the percentage of people who reported they could pay off an unexpected $400 emergency expense entirely using cash, savings, or a credit card at the next statement.

What this all means: The findings back up other reports that show that lower-income Americans, as well as black and Hispanic people, are bearing the brunt of the outbreak's financial fallout. They are more likely to work in sectors that are laying off or furloughing workers, such as food services.

More than one in five Americans have filed initial jobless claims since the pandemic began. 

From the start of March through early April 2020, 19% of adults said they lost a job, were furloughed or had their hours reduced, the report found. More than one-third of these folks expected to have difficulty paying their bills in April. 

Some 64% of adults who reported a job loss or reduction in hours expected to be able to pay all their bills in full in April, compared to 85% of those without an employment disruption. 

But nine in 10 people who lost a job reported that their employer indicated that they would return to work, though their bosses did not say when that would occur. 

Just over half of workers did at least some work from home in the last week of March, and 41% did all of it remotely. That's a big jump from October when only 7% of those employed by others usually worked from home.

Those with college degrees were more likely to telecommute. Some 63% of workers with at least a bachelor's degree worked entirely from home, but only 20% of those with high school education or less did so.

Last month, 108-year-old Sylvia Goldscholl of Allendale, New Jersey, was diagnosed with Covid-19.

Today Goldscholl has recovered from the virus, Gov. Phil Murphy said at a news conference.

The governor added: “A tremendous life. A tremendous spirit, A tremendous show of strength. A tremendous role model for all of the rest of us."

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said that the state's Department of Health is "now looking at 110 cases of Covid-related illness in children."

The governor said the age of patients range from less than 1 years old to 21 years old. 

He called this a "very frightening development."

Watch:

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said certain regions of New York are still on track to reopen Friday.

For those areas reopening, local government is now tasked with daily monitoring of numbers, business compliance, individual compliance and to “react immediately” if numbers change, the governor said.

“Phased reopening does not mean the problem has gone away," Cuomo said.

Watch:

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he spoke to President Trump today about the state's funding issues and the administration agreed to expedite $3.9 billion in funding to the state for the Metropolitan Transit Association.

Cuomo said that Trump sent the first installment today.

He added that the MTA "desperately needs funding because the ridership is way down" on account of people staying home.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said today that state had 157 more deaths yesterday from Covid-19.

The number of deaths are down compared to 166 the day before.

Cuomo called the death toll "still terrible" but "heading in the right direction" in terms of daily decline.

North America’s largest shopping and entertainment complex – the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota — will reopen on June 1, according to a statement. 

The announcement comes a day after Gov. Tim Walz announced he would let his state’s stay home order expire and allow non-essential businesses to reopen beginning Monday. 

There are at least 1,216 new cases of Covid-19 in New Jersey, bringing the total number of cases in the state to 142,704, Gov. Phil Murphy announced at a press conference.

There were at least 244 new deaths reported and 9,946 total deaths in the state, according to Murphy.