Coronavirus pandemic in the US

Vice President Mike Pence said Wednesday that the US is considering additional travel restrictions for South America. 

Pence told reporters in Florida the administration is “watching very carefully” what’s taking place in South America and Brazil, specifically, regarding additional cases, and said they are “considering additional travel restrictions, not just including Brazil but other countries.”

He noted that travel restrictions were part of the administration’s strategy early on.

Some background: Yesterday, President Trump was asked if he was considering a travel ban on Latin America, and Brazil in particular, which now has the third highest number of diagnosed coronavirus cases in the world.

“We are considering it,” Trump said.

Williams College announced it is reducing the minimum number of required courses per semester from four to three and will cancel its Winter Study for January 2021. A decision about whether students will resume the fall semester in-person has not yet been made.

The small liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts, announced that changing the number of credits required would also change the number of courses required for graduation, according to a letter sent Tuesday to the Williams community from college president Maud Mandel.

Mandel also wrote that a working group is continuing to identify the operation requirements that would be necessary to consider opening for a residential fall semester.

Vermont Secretary of Agriculture, Food, and Market Anson Tebbetts said dairy farmers are facing an uncertain future amid the coronavirus pandemic. 

“The financial impact has already hit farm families and the forecast is dismal for June, July, and August with estimated milk prices hitting historic lows. It could well extend into the fall,” Tebbetts said at a news conference with Gov. Phil Scott. 

Vermont cheesemakers have reported sales losses ranging from 50% to 95% due to demand drying up in cities like New York, Boston, and DC.   

Small farms are projected to lose $58,000 in annual income due to milk price declines, medium farms are expected to lose $117,000 in annual income, and large farms could see $1.16 million in income losses, Tebbetts said. 

Vermont’s new economic relief and recovery package will provide grants to dairy farmers that would “provide relief and hope,” the secretary said. 

World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the organization is "looking into" President Trump’s threat to cut its US funding. 

What is this about: Earlier this week, Trump sent a letter to WHO telling the agency he plans to permanently pull US funding if WHO does not commit to improvements in the next 30 days.  

Asked to expand about his plans to address the ultimatum, Tedros said, "So the answer is simply, we have received the letter, and we're looking into it.”  

Tedros said the WHO budget is “very small” – at $2.3 billion a year, it’s comparable to a medium-sized hospital in a developed world.  

“The objectives are to increase funding and improve the quality of the funding itself,” Tedros said. 

A university in South Carolina announced that it is shutting down the men's varsity lacrosse and the varsity baseball teams in response to financial hardships caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina, announced the sports cuts Monday along with other budget reductions including salary cuts and staff furloughs, according to a statement posted on the school's website.

Furman University is a private school with around 2,700 students and is a member of the Southern Conference.

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.