March 25 coronavirus news

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson is asking President Trump to issue a major disaster declaration for the entire state due to coronavirus.

Parson hopes a declaration like this would "provide federal assistance for state and local Covid-19 pandemic preparedness and emergency response efforts," the governor's office said in a news release.

Missouri has been in a state of emergency since March 13. There are eight confirmed deaths in the state due to coronavirus.

The State Department is tracking 50,000 Americans who might seek assistance in returning to the US, the head of the State Department’s repatriation task force said Wednesday. A dramatic increase from an estimated 13,500 Americans on Monday.

The number is more than triple the figure the State Department was tracking just two days ago. On Monday, a senior State Department official said they were looking at approximately 13,500 Americans abroad who were seeking US assistance.

Brownlee, who heads the Department’s repatriation task force, said Wednesday that they had repatriated “over 9,000 people from some 28 countries.”

“We're planning on another 66 flights over the next nine days or so,” he said. “We have some 9.000 people scheduled – identified for those flights and we hope to move those numbers up.”

California has distributed 24.5 million N95 masks and has placed orders for another 100 million more, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced at a news conference Wednesday. 

Some context: Describing the "Herculean effort" underway, the governor said it is taking shape and noted that British billionaire Richard Branson has committed to a 747 airplane, and that Elon Musk has given 1,225 ventilators.

New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell is asking for "clean scrubs" because she said Tulane Hospital is running low on supplies.

In a series of tweets, she asked the community for donations of “matched sets of green cotton surgical scrubs.”

Cantrell said the donations, which are going to a group called “Supplies for Saints,” will be for health care workers on the frontlines of the epidemic.

Refuting the mayor's tweets, Tulane Hospital told CNN an attempt to sanitize scrubs may have been misinterpreted.

"Tulane Health System currently has an adequate supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) to meet patient demands, and that includes scrubs," the hospital said.

CNN's Phil Mattingly is answering your questions on the Senate stimulus package. There's not a clear answer on if college students will qualify for stimulus checks. Here's why, according to Mattingly:

The Colorado Hospital Association is warning that without social distancing, hospitals across the state may not be able to meet the demand for ICU beds.

Lonborg points to a 2018 count of ICU beds across the state that shows Colorado has 973 ICU beds and 10,293 total hospital beds, but warns, “it should be understood that the 2018 numbers reported in this spreadsheet are the baseline, not the current level of ICU and CCU beds in the state, which will now be higher.”

As it confronts the initial surge of Covid-19 patients, Lonborg said that CHA is currently assessing the number of ventilators across the state.

“So when we know that number, we will have to ask: do we have a model to help us understand what the need may be so we have enough? And if we don’t have enough, how far off are we?” Lonborg said.

CNN's Phil Mattingly is answering your questions on the Senate stimulus package. Many of you asked if retired seniors will get stimulus checks. Here's what Mattingly said:

The number of cases in California is climbing steadily and now stands at 2,535, with 53 deaths, according to Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Of these positive cases, over half those infected are between the ages of 18 and 49 and 37 are under the age of 18.

The governor is urging people to abide by stay-at-home orders, imploring the public that “half way is no way.”

“We can defeat this virus, but we can’t defeat it unless we commit to fulfilling our individual obligations and our collective responsibilities to meet this moment. The stay home order is real,” Newsom said. “Don’t think for a second that we’re a day or two away from lifting that order, we’re not even a week or two away.”

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said he does not support passing the phase three coronavirus stimulus bill via unanimous consent.

McCarthy split with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has said repeatedly that she hopes to pass the package by unanimous consent — a move that would keep members from having to return to Washington during the pandemic.

Any one member can block a unanimous consent request.

A voice vote would involve debate on the floor and would also not require most members to return to the Capitol, unless a member requested a recorded roll call vote.

“I think that achieves our goal by not slowing the process down, but giving us time to read the bill and making sure that it gets through,” McCarthy said of passing the measure by voice vote. “I want to make sure we review it, but do not slow it down, and be able to move this to the President’s desk as soon as possible.”

McCarthy also said he agrees with the group of GOP senators who have taken issue with the bill’s handling of unemployment insurance.

“Yes, that’s a problem,” McCarthy said. “This is not a time, when all of America is trying to come together, that someone should benefit and get a higher payment than they’re actually earning while they’re working, by taking money from a taxpayer to pay it.”