Coronavirus pandemic in the US

With offices, retail and restaurants in Connecticut opening with restrictions today, all 50 states are on the path to reopening. 

Gov. Ned Lamont said salons and barber shops, which were originally slated to reopen today as the phase one plan kicks off, are now opening on June 1 to align with neighboring Massachusetts and Rhode Island. 

Connecticut is testing symptomatic and asymptomatic first-responders right now, and Lamont said that will be his “template” for community spread. Health officials have also warned him about the possibility of a second surge in the fall. 

Lamont said that while he is worried about people adhering to all guidelines, the state is taking different regulations into account, and residents have largely taken restrictions seriously. 

Lamont also responded to President Trump’s remark yesterday that the high number of Covid-19 cases is a “badge of honor” because it means the US is testing more people.

“No, the number of people infected is no badge of honor. It's a tragedy. But perhaps what he meant to say is that if the percentage of people who are being tested lower and lower test positive, that's a good sign,” Lamont said. 

Sen. Tom Carper, the top Democrat on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, asked Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler at an oversight hearing Wednesday to commit to investigating whether exposure to air pollution causes a worse outcome for Covid-19 patients.

 Wheeler did not directly commit to investigating the issue.

“Would you commit to reallocate unused EPA funds to study whether exposure to air pollution causes people with Covid-19 to have worse outcomes or more difficult recoveries, or to be more susceptible to other diseases once they have recovered. Could you commit to doing that, please?”

More from the exchange: Carper said there was a Harvard study that found links between air pollution and Covid-19 mortalities. 

Wheeler responded: “We're looking at those research areas when there's a lot of other people are researching that as of now, you know the Harvard study that you mentioned, although the Harvard study has a number of issues and problems that Sen. (John Barrasso) mentioned, the other study in your staff report that you issued yesterday evening or early this morning.”

Carper later asked Wheeler if he would "stop writing rules that make things actually worse not better?"

Wheeler responded, "All of our rules make things better, sir."

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the state is partnering with Northwell Health, the largest health system in the state, to test faith-based communities in New York City.

He said about 8,000 antibody tests have been conducted so far.

The overall NYC rate in these communities is 19.9%. Overall, 27% of individuals tested positive for Covid-19 antibodies.

Here is a breakdown by borough of preliminary antibody test results at church sites:

“The spread is continuing in those communities,” Cuomo said.

Watch here:

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said that the state has conducted research in New York City, and data shows high positive coronavirus rates and continued high community spread in certain communities. 

Communities hardest-hit are located in ZIP codes that are lower-income and have high Hispanic and African American populations. 

“That's where the cases are still coming from. That's where the virus is still spreading,” Cuomo said.

The governor thanked politicians and community leaders for spearheading an effort to mobilize churches as coronavirus test sites. He said that testing will be expanded to more churches and public housing developments in the city. 

“We want to now take the next step, which is outreach programs, getting the PPE into the community, getting the hand sanitizer into the community, explaining social distancing and why that's so important, and explain how this virus spreads. It's a public health education effort,” Cuomo said. 

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said starting Thursday, religious communities statewide will be allowed to hold small ceremonies.

He said he's encouraging religious communities to consider holding drive-in services in parking lots, and he added that he understands people's desire to get back to their places of worship.

"As a former alter boy, I get it," he said. "I think those religious ceremonies can be very comforting."

Cuomo said he is convening the Interfaith Advisory Council to discuss a proposal to safely bring back religious services across all faiths.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said today that Covid-19 deaths in the state were "up a little bit" yesterday.

Daily deaths increased from 105 to 112 yesterday, the governor said.

Other key indicators -- hospitalizations, new cases, ICU admin -- were all down and "heading in the right direction," the governor said.

He noted "it was a long road down" in terms of these figures.

Watch here:

A spokesperson confirmed Monday that the Texas health department had been combining antibody test numbers with active infection test numbers when reporting overall data to the public, an indication that the positivity rate number could be skewed, though it's not clear by how much. 

Chris Van Duysen, a spokesperson for the Texas Department of State Health Services, said in an email Monday that the state "will be separating the numbers out this week" and is "working to integrate that into our online reporting."

His comment came after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott was asked at a press conference Monday if the state is combining the two numbers in its public data, following a report by the Texas Observer that the state health department confirmed it was combining them.

Abbott said Monday that the state is not presently combining the numbers but did not acknowledge that it had been in the past.

Texas State Rep. Chris Turner, who leads the House Democratic Caucus, found Abbott's statement puzzling and reached out to the health department after the press conference.

"They confirmed to my staff that in fact the testing total does include the antibody test. They said they would be breaking those out later in the week," Turner said. "But for now the total number of tests reported includes both types of test."

Turner argued that combining the numbers "really muddies the data" and "indicates that our testing total is inflated."

The Department of State Health Services did not provide CNN more specifics Tuesday on what percentage of the total tests being reported are antibody tests.

The numbers: As of Wednesday morning, the department's website said the state had a total of 744,937 tests. At least 23,601 of those are from public labs, while 721,336 are from private labs.

The state is reporting a total of 49,912 positive cases. The state's coronavirus dashboard did not yet reflect a distinction in antibody tests versus active virus tests. 

Abbott has been touting the low positivity rate in the state. It's unclear how many of those positive cases are from antibody tests or active infection tests.

More on the tests: Viral infection tests are usually conducted through nasal swabs and look for the virus’ genetic material, which may be evidence of an active infection.

Antibody tests use blood samples to look for evidence of past infection. Critics argue that combining the two tests in overall testing data makes it harder to present an accurate picture of the timeline of spread in a given area and could overstate a state’s ability to track active infections.

The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union said Wednesday that at least 68 grocery store workers at companies it represents have died as a result of the Covid-19 virus. 

The UFCW also said 10,000 grocery store employees have been sickened or exposed to Covid-19. The union said that is a 200% increase over the past 5 weeks, according to internal estimates. 

The union also noted that they have not received internal estimates on the number of their workers that have died or become sick from the grocers their union workers are employed by.

As of last Friday, at least 65 grocery workers have died and 9,810 workers have tested positive for or been exposed to Covid-19, according to the UFCW, citing internal data. 

The union has also been vocally opposed to grocery stores that have phased out their “hero pay” programs.

CNN has previously reported that Kroger, the country’s largest supermarket chain, is ended its "hero pay" bonuses over the weekend. 

The "Hero bonus" is a "a $2 premium" above an employee's standard base rate of pay implemented on March 31, according to the company.

Kroger also announced last week the company would pay a one-time "Thank You Pay" that will be $400 for full-time associates and $200 for part-time associates. 

Final appreciation pay will be given to Kroger employees by May 23. 

Two out of the three indicators the city measures have dropped as of Monday, said New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio who added, “It’s a good day, we want to have great days though.”

Here's where things stand:

The city is doing more testing, according to the mayor, noting they're still doing 20,000 tests a day and growing rapidly.

“The percentages are coming back better,” de Blasio said. 

The data is current as of Monday.