April 2 coronavirus news

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has announced his state is now under a stay-at-home order.

The order will stay in effect until April 14.

In just 18 days this year, Connecticut has surpassed the total number of unemployment claims made in all of of 2019, Gov. Ned Lamont announced today.

Connecticut had 180,000 total unemployment claims last year. Over the last 18 days this year, the state has received 220,000 claims, Lamont said.

Addressing the overall budget issues, Lamont said, “We are prepared for a lot in this state but nobody is prepared for the scale of what we have been confronted over the last few months and what we can expect for at least the next three months.”

President Trump says he is invoking the Defense Production Act (DPA) to clear up supply chain problems encountered in the manufacturing of medical ventilators. 

The statement also said this order will help domestic manufacturers “secure the supplies they need to build ventilators needed to defeat the virus.”

The use of the DPA will remove supply chain obstacles that threaten the production of ventilators, the statement added.

“Today’s order will save lives by removing obstacles in the supply chain that threaten the rapid production of ventilators,” the statement said.

The order directs Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar to "use any and all authority available under the Act to facilitate the supply of materials to the appropriate subsidiary or affiliate of the following entities for the production of ventilators:  General Electric Company; Hill-Rom Holdings, Inc.; Medtronic Public Limited Company; ResMed Inc.; Royal Philips N.V.; and Vyaire Medical, Inc." 

There are at least 1,002,159 cases of coronavirus globally, according to Johns Hopkins University's tally.

The total includes confirmed cases from 180 countries and regions.

So far, 51,485 people have died worldwide from the virus.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom was stern when asked today about California churches remaining open during the pandemic.

Newsom asked those not practicing physical distancing to reconsider and indicated social pressure is the first step to adherence.

As far as enforcement goes, the governor deferred to local authorities, but promised specific offenders would be addressed.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said he will extend the state's executive order to stay at home until April 30.

In the order, Edwards listed all businesses and services that should be closed; he did not mention anything about religious services.

Some context: Earlier this week, the pastor of a Louisiana church was charged with misdemeanors for holding church services despite the order on gatherings from the government. 

Edwards did say that there should be no gatherings in groups of more than 10.

Schools will remain closed through April 30 and new guidance will come from the Department of Education in the coming days on what the rest of the school year will look like, Edwards said.

Connecticut has 267 new coronavirus cases and 27 new deaths, Gov. Ned Lamont announced Thursday afternoon.

The state now has a total of 3,824 confirmed cases and a total of 112 deaths.

A total of 827 patients are currently hospitalized.

Job loss in California is climbing rapidly and stands at 1.9 million unemployment claims, Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a news conference today.

Over the past week, claims have been coming in at a rate of about 111,000 per day, Newsom said.. 

Unemployment checks usually take about three weeks to turn around in California. Through reorganization, about 1,000 workers are being brought in to administer the claims surge.

Providing more support: The governor outlined a few of new programs for small businesses and independent contractors.

The first is a one year reprieve on sales tax payments, a bridge loan with no penalties or interest. 

Another program – the Paycheck Protection Program – starts Friday and will lend up to $10 million to small companies in order to pay their employees. Those loans will be eligible for a federal repayment grant, but at least 75% of the money must be used for payroll.

Additionally, the governor said $50 million is being added to the state’s infrastructure bank for micro loans – those would be payable to people not eligible for small business loans.

Newsom also noted a partnership between Fresno company Bitwise and Silicon Valley giants LinkedIn and SalesForce. That group has created onwardca.org, a website that matches unemployed workers with open jobs. It is specifically focused on healthcare, agriculture, logistics and grocers.

Michigan has 1,457 new coronavirus cases and 80 new deaths, according to the state's website.

There are now 10,791 total cases in the state.

So far, 417 people have died from coronavirus in Michigan.