Coronavirus pandemic in the US

Universal Orlando has presented a plan to begin a phased reopening of its theme parks on June 1, initially only for its own team members.

The presentation was made today at a virtual meeting of the Orange County Economic Recovery Task Force.

Here's how the reopening would work:

This plan will now be evaluated by Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings, who said Wednesday that he plans to make a recommendation to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis within 12 to 24 hours.

Part of that evaluation period involves county staff making site visits.

Universal has theme parks in Orlando, Los Angeles, Japan and Singapore, all of which are temporarily closed.

“If I would have known then what I know now, I would have shut down sooner,” Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo acknowledged Thursday.

“There’s no doubt about that,” she continued. “But I didn’t.” 

The governor was reflecting on a Columbia University model that shows that 36,000 lives nationwide could have been saved if social distancing began just one week earlier. 

Raimondo said her goal to “stay in front of the virus” drives her “obsession” with contact tracing, testing, and mask wearing to create an early warning system.

The governor argued the three measures will allow her state to identify specific outbreaks early and “put a lid on it.”

“I never again want to have a 17% unemployment rate,” Raimondo said. “I want to open school in the fall. I do not want to close school again.”

Ohio’s Lt. Gov. Jon Husted announced today that wedding venues and catering and banquet centers will be allowed to reopen under similar guidelines as restaurants, effective June 1.

Crowd sizes will be limited to 300 for the immediate future, and guidelines include 6 feet between tables and no congregating, Husted said.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order Thursday lifting air travel restrictions, a press release from his office announced.

The order immediately stops all restriction that mandated quarantines for travelers coming from several states, according to the release.

Separately, the governor also announced a phased reopening of drivers license offices in the state starting on Tuesday.

The four-phase plan includes regional reopenings of Northwest and West offices first, with the North and Southeast offices opening in June.

Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted announced today, that skills training for all sports, will be allowed to resume starting May 26, including contact sports like football, basketball, and lacrosse, as safety protocols can be followed. 

This includes, but is not limited to, weight training, agility skills and other types of conditioning, Husted said.

According to the Husted, this decision was a joint effort between the state’s working group, that was looking at these issues, and the Ohio High School Athletic Association.

“We do know that skills training and conditioning for student athletes is important to start now,” Husted said.  

However, tournaments, games, and competitions for contact sports will still not be allowed.

President Trump’s top economic adviser Larry Kudlow said Thursday that extending unemployment benefits to Americans impacted by the coronavirus pandemic might be a disincentive for people to return to work and get the economy reopened.

The latest numbers: Another 2.4 million Americans filed for first-time benefits last week on a seasonally adjusted basis, the Department of Labor reported on Thursday.

In total, 38.6 million people have filed for initial unemployment aid since mid-March, when lockdowns began in full force across the country. That corresponds to 23.7% of the March US labor force.

President Trump and his top economic advisers have said that recovery is contingent upon a swift, but safe, reopening of the economy.

The President has applauded governors who have bucked the advice of medical experts and even the Center for Disease Control, who warn against a hasty reopening, and has advocated to jumpstart sectors that are critical to economic growth.

It's past 2 p.m. on the East Coast. Here’s what you’ve missed: 

Trump visits Ford plant in Michigan: The President is touring a Michigan Ford plant soon that has been repurposed to manufacture ventilators and personal protective equipment to help in the coronavirus response. Everyone at the Ford manufacturing plant will be required to wear a mask.

As he departed the White House for the state, the President did not commit to wearing a mask at the plant. “Well I don't know, we’re gonna look at it. A lot of people have asked me that question. I want our country to get back to normal. I want to normalize,” Trump said. 

California to reopen further: More than two-thirds of the counties in California are moving ahead with reopening further, including San Diego, Sacramento, and Santa Barbara counties. The 40 counties that have been approved will move ahead into "expanded phase two" of reopening, which allows dining in restaurants and shopping in stores.

Cases in New York are down, but governor says it's "still too early" to decide on schools reopening in the fall: New York Gov. Cuomo said today that the state’s coronavirus cases were down to levels before the “Covid-19 crisis hit us, and we started that spike.” The governor said the state is now starting contact tracing operations and noted that he’s waiting to see what developments are made in possible treatments and vaccines before making a call on school reopenings.

Another 2.4 million Americans filed for unemployment last week: It was the ninth week of claims in the millions, but the seventh week in a row that the number declined from the week before. Continued claims rose to 25.1 million for the week that ended May 9 –– a 2.5 million increase from the prior week.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Thursday there is a “strong likelihood” that another stimulus bill will be needed to keep the economy afloat. 

With new labs reporting coronavirus tests for the first time, Louisiana’s newly reported positive Covid-19 cases saw a spike on Thursday.

Of the newly reported cases, 62% are from labs reporting for the first time with some tests dating back to March, according to the Department of Health. 

LDH posted on their dashboard that only 506 of the 1,188 new cases are actually new.

Over 305,000 tests have been conducted with the results of 19,411 tests being reported since Wednesday.

There are 21 new deaths, bringing the total to 2,506. Hospitalizations and ventilator usage continue to drop, with just 884 people hospitalized statewide and 107 total patients on ventilators.

Orleans Parish had just 21 new cases on Thursday while Jefferson Parish saw an increase of 47 new cases, bringing their totals to 6904 and 7175 respectively.

There were no deaths in Orleans Parish on Thursday while Jefferson Parish is reporting 1 since Wednesday’s report.

Facebook will begin ramping up remote hiring by focusing on advanced engineering positions first, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said. Entry-level hires will largely not be eligible for remote hiring, he said. 

Geographically, Facebook will focus first on areas close by to its existing offices, including Portland, San Diego, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, Zuckerberg said. 

A second priority will be to create newer “hubs” of employees in areas where Facebook currently has less of a presence — beginning with Atlanta, Dallas and Denver, he said. 

Compensation in these areas could well be lower than in the Bay Area, Zuckerberg acknowledged.