March 26 coronavirus news

Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo today said she is “mandating, not suggesting” a 14-day self-quarantine for anyone traveling to her state from New York.

The executive order – effective immediately – also applies to anyone who has traveled to New York in the last 14 days.  

The governor said she plans to execute the mandate by stationing members of the National Guard at bus terminals and train stations and will require anyone arriving from New York to check in and provide their contact information.

State police have also been instructed to flag down cars with New York state license plates as they come into Rhode Island. 

Raimondo said Rhode Island has added 33 cases of coronavirus since yesterday, bringing the state’s total to 165 cases. 

Fifty detainees in Illinois have been tested for coronavirus after "exhibiting flu-like symptoms" at one of the largest jails in the country, according to a Cook County Sheriff’s Office statement. 

According to the statement, of those detainees at Cook County Department of Corrections:

Additionally, four correctional staffers and one deputy have tested positive, the statement said.

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice announced that 20 residents at a nursing home in Morgantown and eight staffers have tested positive for novel coronavirus.  

Justice said he has appointed Dr. Clay Marsh to coordinate the state's response and preparedness as the virus continues to spread.

"It gives us one more layer of expertise and one more layer of affiliation with hospital," Justice said.

By the numbers: CNN has counted at least 52 Covid-19 cases in West Virginia as of Thursday afternoon.

There have been 170 new cases of coronavirus and three new deaths reported in the state of Indiana, according to State Health Commissioner Kris Box.

Box said that Indiana has now reported a total of 645 cases and 17 deaths statewide.

The new fatalities were reported in Jasper, Putnam and Franklin counties.

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker today announced that his administration has submitted a request to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the President for federal disaster declaration assistance in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Baker also announced that a former Boston Medical Center facility, the Newton Pavilion, will be temporarily reopened to help treat the city's homeless population during the pandemic.

According to the governor, the facility has the capacity for about 250 beds.

Massachusetts Secretary of Health and Human Services Marylou Sudders spoke about personal protective equipment supplies for the state today, saying “in order for us to have sufficient supplies in the Commonwealth, and since the command center was stood up, we've placed more than $15 million in orders for PPE and are working with suppliers to expedite shipping to the Commonwealth.”

Chicago's bike trails, paths and green spaces will be closed until the "threat to our lives is over," Chicago Mayor

Lori Lightfoot said at a news briefing today. 

Lightfoot addressed Chicagoans who continued to congregate in public areas in large numbers, while the state is under a stay-at-home order.

"Your continued failure to abide by these orders" could lead to more deaths, Lightfoot said. 

Chicago's is closing its lakefront from north to south, effective immediately. Chicago Police will ramp up patrol and are prepared to give warnings and citations and, if necessary, arrests will be made, Lightfoot said.

"You must stay at home, period," Lightfoot said. 

While the world collectively shelters in place to protect against coronavirus, medical professionals flock to the front lines to work long hours tending to a burgeoning number of infected people.

One of them is Dr. Nicola Sgarbi, 35, who unknowingly became part of a growing photo trend of health workers coping with this exponential rise in sick patients.

Sgarbi is a doctor in training who works in the ICU of the civil hospital of Baggiovara in Modena, Italy.

Almost everything about Sgarbi's shift on March 13 was part of his new normal since the outbreak: working 12 hours to treat Covid-19 patients while wearing protective equipment. But at about 8 p.m. that day, he stripped off his face mask and snapped a quick selfie, something he rarely does.

Sgarbi's photo was posted on Facebook and Reddit, where it was shared more than 75,000 times and voted on at least 119,000 times, respectively. The photo drew worldwide praise and comparisons to "Batman and Superman rolled into one," among other things.

Since then, numerous photos and stories of health workers in and out of protective gear have been posted around the internet. Each one captures the physical and emotional toll this pandemic is taking.

See people around the world celebrating health care workers:

The $2 trillion economic aid package unveiled Wednesday contains several provisions to help small businesses in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Overall, small business groups are pleased some assistance is coming. But they also stress the package — which includes close to $400 billion in aid for small business owners — is still not enough to save Main Street.

The provisions are also unlikely to save those small businesses that will have to come up with cash to stay afloat until they can actually get the government's aid money in hand.

"There's no way many can keep going," said John Arensmeyer, CEO of Small Business Majority, a national small business advocacy group.

Speed will be key to helping any small business survive, especially when it comes to dispensing the forgivable loans that will be available to owners who keep paying their employees during the crisis.

Bolivia’s electoral tribunal said on Thursday it had proposed new dates for the country’s presidential elections to help contain the spread of coronavirus.

The electoral tribunal recommended to Bolivia’s legislative assembly that elections be postponed from May 3 and held sometime between June 7 and Sept. 6.

Bolivia’s electoral tribunal warned last week that the May 3 elections would be difficult to hold since the country’s quarantine order impedes the body from carrying out preparatory activities.

An interim government has ruled Bolivia since former President Evo Morales fled the country following allegations of fraud in an October vote that would have given him a fourth term in office. Morales has said he was the victim of a coup.