Coronavirus pandemic in the US

Organizers of the Wisconsin State Fair have announced that they are cancelling this year's fair in a statement released today.

“We understand the magnitude of disappointment you may be feeling. We feel it too," Kathleen O’Leary, CEO of Wisconsin State Fair Park, said in the statement.

The event is the largest event in the state of Wisconsin, drawing more than one million people over the course of 11 days, the statement notes.

Organizers considered "countless options" to modify the fair and make it safe to hold amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the fair's site explains. 

Neighboring Minnesota cancelled its own state fair last Friday.

The House of Representatives is now voting on bipartisan legislation to make changes to the Paycheck Protection Program set up to help struggling small businesses with emergency loans during the pandemic, the latest effort on Capitol Hill to address economic fallout from the Covid-19 crisis.

The legislation – titled the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act – was introduced by Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas and Democratic Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota. It is intended to make loans more accessible under the program by making its terms of use more flexible. 

Why this is happening now: The push to make fixes to the loan program comes as Democrats and Republicans have yet to reach agreement over how to move forward with a new, sweeping coronavirus relief package. But sponsors of the bill argue that fixes to the Paycheck Protection Program can't wait until Congress comes to a consensus on a bigger package.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said “more progress” is needed on contact tracing in New York City to meet the metrics to begin reopening in phase one. 

Cuomo said a big focus for reopening is ensuring the mass public transportation is not “overcrowded” and is also safe and clean. 

The governor said the city’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority is disinfecting every train and every bus on a daily basis 

“They're piloting the use of UVA technology to kill the virus in cars, so they're using science to get ready for this,” Cuomo added. 

The governor also said the state is focusing on targeting community spread in the city's “hot spots.” 

“Because if you look at New York City, there are very different stories within the city,” Cuomo said.

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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called it a “sad time as we observe over 100,000 people in our country dying of the coronavirus,” adding that it is “a scar on our nation that we could not save them.”

She added that “the answer is testing,” and “in order to heal we have to know the gravity of the problem.”

Pelosi said later, that she herself has not been tested for coronavirus or antibodies.

Pelosi called President Trump’s targeting of social media companies and expected executive order against them “silly.” 

“It’s silly, but let’s say this, it’s a distraction,” she added, arguing the focus instead should be on the coronavirus pandemic right now.

Montgomery, Alabama, Mayor Steven Reed said the whole city only had two available ICU beds this morning amid the coronavirus pandemic.  

“We have not gotten out of this, and unfortunately, people believe that the pandemic is over, and they believe that we get chance to determine when things go back to normal, and we don't. So I'm certainly concerned about those who may be sick and those who may have some illnesses not being able to get the attention they may need,” he continued.

Reed said he understands that residents “have Covid fatigue” and are itching to return to living life how they did before the pandemic, but it’s not time to let up yet.

“We can't fast-forward to the end of this movie, and we're trying to do that right now in the way we're approaching this process, and I think that's why we're seeing the spikes — not only in Montgomery but also throughout Alabama. And that is problematic for our business owners, it's problematic for our schools, it's problematic for our hospitals, our first responders and our entire community,” he said. 

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New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said today he is signing an Executive Order that will authorize private businesses in the state to deny entry to people who do not wear a mask or a face covering.

He continued: "If you don't want to wear a mask, fine, you don't have the right to go into that store owner if that store does not want you to."

Cuomo noted that the state has delivered more than 8 million masks for New York City, many which went to public housing, food banks, churches and homeless shelters. He added that they are bringing in a million more masks today.

"The masks work. They work," the governor said.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said that 74 people died yesterday in the state from the coronavirus. He called this "relatively positive news" compared to the higher daily death toll number the state was previously seeing.

Cuomo said that hospitalizations, intubations, and new Covid-19 cases are also down in the state. "That is all very very good news," he said.

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Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley said he was “very confident that a vaccine” for coronavirus “will be on line beginning sometime in the fall and we’ll have, the goal is to have upward of three hundred million doses by the first of January.”

Milley made the comments Thursday during an online town hall with US forces and Defense Department staff alongside Defense Secretary Mark Esper. 

Esper and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar are leading a task force unveiled earlier this month by President Trump called ‘Operation Warp Speed’ that is working to develop a coronavirus vaccine by the end of the year.

Nine businesses in Borough Park Brooklyn have been shut down in the last 48 hours, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said, adding it is “idiotic” to try to open a business that will be legally allowed to “open in as little as a week or two.”

Responding to a question from a reporter, de Blasio explained that those businesses were told they were not to be open and stopped operating. He added that the sheriff’s department has been working this. 

“If any of them are found in operation again that begins with a $1,000 daily fine," he said.

“If you don’t, you’re going to suffer this kind of consequence, it makes no sense," he added.

Earlier in response to a more general question about businesses deciding to reopen early, de Blasio said, “Businesses are not supposed to make up their own rules and jump the gun, it’s just, it’s really clear.”