Coronavirus pandemic in the US

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Thursday that CVS Health will open 44 new drive-through Covid-19 testing sites across the state that will utilize self-swab tests. Results will be available within three days.  

Here are more details about the testing:

You can find the full list of the new testing sites here.

Abbott said the state hopes to scale the number of CVS drive-through testing sites to 80 by the end of May.  

A CEO of a home health group told the Senate Aging Committee that he’s “never seen the system so stressed.”  

Dr. Steven Landers, president and CEO of the Visiting Nurse Association Health Group, outlined how the healthcare system has been hurting as a result of the pandemic.

Landers was speaking at the “Caring for Seniors Amid the Covid-19 Crisis” Senate hearing on Thursday.

R. Tamara Konetzka, a professor in the department of public health sciences at the University of Chicago also spoke at the hearing.

“Nursing home residents are ill-equipped to monitor their own care, to advocate for themselves, or to exert political influence," Konetzka said.

Konetzka said it’s estimated that at least one-third of all Covid-19 deaths are in nursing homes, adding that statistic is unsurprising.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city is making progress toward reopening based on the latest numbers of cases and hospitalizations.

People admitted to hospital for suspected coronavirus cases is down from 63 to 60, and patients in public hospital system’s ICUs are down from 483 to 477

However, the percentage of those who tested positive for coronavirus now stands at 9%, which is a slight uptick. It was eight percent. 

The numbers are data from Tuesday.

“We’ve had several days in single digits,” de Blasio said referring to the percentage of those who tested positive, add that last 10 days have all been below 15%.

In the coming days, the mayor said the city will be addressing how it will use this data for “small, smart steps” to reopen in June when the city expects to meet the seven state criteria required for reopening.

The Archdiocese of New York – a community of 2.81 million Catholics across the city and several state counties – believes “public worship can continue to take place safely in an era of social distancing” and is expected to discuss preparations that are underway for the re-opening of the archdiocese’s 288 parishes upon the approval by health and state officials.

Here are some of the measures in the proposed reopening plan:

CDC guidelines for faith-based organizations encourages limiting large gatherings, relying on virtual or outdoor services where possible, using a stationary collection box and promoting the use of face coverings at all gatherings.

As every state in the US is now in some phase of reopening, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said now is not the time to "pull back completely" on physical separation.  

"If you look at the curves in our country, it isn't like everything is dramatically going down," Fauci told actress Julia Roberts in a #PasstheMic interview released Thursday by the anti-poverty organization ONE. 

Fauci also said developed countries have a "moral responsibility" to include people from the developing world in trials for a potential Covid-19 vaccine. 

"There is, what I consider the moral commitment to do this, but also, there's enlightened self interest. And the enlightened self interest is that if you don't control an outbreak in the developing world, is gonna come right around and bite you the next season. So unless you completely stop this, you're not gonna wall yourself off from the developing world," he said.

Fauci also spoke of what a return to normalcy will look like, saying we should think of it more as a "new normal." 

"If the normal is the being [aware] of our vulnerability to these type of things, that's looking at it in a positive, potentially constructive way," he added.

Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed sounded the alarm Wednesday on an apparent ICU bed shortage in his Alabama city and said sick residents are being diverted to Birmingham as a result.  

The mayor gave a rundown of the current status of ICU beds in the region saying: Baptist East Hospital is short by 3 beds, Baptist South Hospital has zero, Baptist Health in Prattville has zero. and Jackson Hospital has one.   

Reed said many patients in Montgomery area hospitals are not from Montgomery, but rather, from rural areas where the health care systems cannot meet the needs of the community. The result has been an overwhelmed hospital system, the mayor said. 

US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Robert Redfield said the coronavirus could “reground” itself in the northern hemisphere in later this year, and he does not rule out the possibility of new lockdown measures and restrictions.

“We’ve seen evidence that the concerns it would go south in the southern hemisphere like flu [are coming true], and you’re seeing what’s happening in Brazil now,” Redfield told the Financial Times in an exclusive interview.

Remember: Brazil just saw its biggest single-day increase in the number of cases, adding to the concern is that the flu virus also begins to spread in the fall.

Redfield said he could not guarantee that another lockdown in the United States would not be needed. If the country experiences a bad flu season and is also forced to contend with a resurgence of coronavirus, Redfield said that could put a lot of stress on the health system.

Redfield raised similar concerns about a fall resurgence of the virus in an interview with CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta in February. 

Restaurant owners in New York are getting creative as they prepare to welcome customers back into their businesses for dine-in services.

CNN's Shimon Prokupecz explained some of the things you might see when you go to eat at a restaurant:

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has said the state will be reopened in phases. While some regions have already entered phase one, phase two will use more of a business-by-business analysis and a matrix that determines each business's overall importance and risk in reopening.

Restaurant owners say they expect it to be about two months before they feel like they can reopen safely, Prokupecz reported.

Macy's released its preliminary earnings for the first quarter and said it expects it lost as much as $1.1 billion between February and May, blaming its losses on lockdown measures that governments imposed because of coronavirus.

The company was forced to close stores on March 18 because of the coronavirus outbreak, causing sales to plunge by as much as 45%, the company said Thursday.

Macy's began reopening stores on May 4 — just a couple days after its first fiscal quarter came to a close. As of this week, it has about 190 Macy's and Bloomingdale's stores open. The company hopes to have more than 500 stores open by mid-June. 

Macy's is limiting the number of customers allowed inside stores that are reopening and installing social distancing signs and markers. 

Customers will be required to use hand sanitizer before trying on jewelry or watches. And Macy's has suspended ear piercings, bra fittings and tailoring services.