March 29 coronavirus news

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a travel advisory on Saturday, urging residents of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut “to refrain from non-essential domestic travel for 14 days effective immediately.”

Employees of critical infrastructure industries, including but not limited to trucking, public health professionals, financial services, and food supply, were exempt from the advisory. 

Those working in these critical infrastructure industries, as defined by the Department of Homeland Security, were deemed to need to keep a normal work schedule.

According to the CDC, the governors of the three states will have “full discretion” on how to implement this advisory.

As the number of people infected with the novel coronavirus rises above 50,000 in New York, more than 4,300 uniformed employees of the New York Police Department (NYPD) called in sick on Saturday.

According to a daily coronavirus report from the NYPD, that's 12% of the uniformed workforce.

So far, 696 members of the NYPD have tested positive for the coronavirus, including 608 uniformed members and 88 civilian members.

A cruise ship with two confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus and more than 130 people on board with "flu-like symptoms" will be allowed to pass through the Panama Canal, authorities said Saturday.

Four guests have already died on board the Zaandam. Their cause of death has not been confirmed.

On Friday, Panama Canal officials said any ships with passengers or crew diagnosed with the virus would not be allowed through.

But the Panama Ministry of Health has made an exception for the Zaandam. "The Panama Canal supports all the efforts that are being made to make it easier for the passengers and crew of the Zaandam cruiser to reunite with their families,” the Panama Canal authorities said in a statement.

The Zaandam departed Buenos Aires, Argentina, on March 7 and was originally scheduled to sail to Chile but has been denied access at various ports.

President Donald Trump said in a tweet that, after consulting with the governors of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, he is asking the CDC to issue "a strong Travel Advisory" to be administered by those governors, in consultation with the federal government.

Trump said a "quarantine will not be necessary." This comes after he said earlier Saturday that he's considering mandatory short-term (two-week) quarantine on New York, certain parts of New Jersey and Connecticut. Trump's suggestion of a mandatory quarantine was strongly opposed by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who questioned whether it would be legal.

More than 2,000 people have died from the coronavirus in the United States as of Saturday evening, according to a CNN count compiled through data on state health department websites.

So far, there have been 2,010 deaths reported across the country. The US reached 1,000 deaths on Thursday.

There were at least 117,688 cases of coronavirus in the United States as of Saturday, according to CNN Health's tally of cases detected and tested through US public health systems.

For the most up-to-date US numbers compiled by CNN, please check this map which automatically refreshes every 10 minutes:

https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2020/health/coronavirus-us-maps-and-cases/

A nurse at a downtown New Orleans hospital has described to CNN the very difficult conditions at the facility. The nurse, who did not want to be identified out of fear that speaking to the media could lead to employment repercussions, described the situation at the hospital after finishing a shift two days ago.

The nurse told CNN that while the situation at the hospital is dire, the staff are in better shape than some.

“We are being asked to recycle our N95 masks. We only have 16 unused ventilators left in hospital. We’ve been told the surrounding hospitals are at max capacity without ventilators, leaving our hospital and one other major hospitals left to care for these patients," the nurse said. "EMS are having to recruit volunteer EMT workers to help as New Orleans EMS paramedics are either in quarantine for exposure or sick themselves."

The nurse offered a grim prediction:

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will write letters to households across the UK urging people to stay home, according to a Downing Street statement on Saturday.

The Prime Minister's letters will be sent to 30 million households next week and will say the following:

UK residents will receive a leaflet outlining the government’s coronavirus advice, with clear explanations of symptoms, rules on leaving the house and rules on self-isolating with symptoms. The letters and leaflets are expected to cost $7.2 million (£5.8 million) to print and distribute.

The statement added that Johnson "is continuing to lead the Government’s response to coronavirus as he self isolates after testing positive for the virus."