April 2 coronavirus news

By Ben Westcott, Helen Regan, Adam Renton, Rob Picheta, Meg Wagner and Mike Hayes, CNN

Updated 11:23 p.m. ET, April 2, 2020
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2:39 p.m. ET, April 2, 2020

Ohio extends stay-at-home order until next month

The state of Ohio has extended its stay-at-home order for all non essential workers and businesses until May 1, Gov. Mike DeWine said during a news conference.

The previous order was set to expire on Monday, DeWine said.

Anyone coming into the state has been asked to quarantine for 14 days. Exceptions can be made based on locations and work schedules, according to DeWine.

Additional provisions in the new order include a dispute resolution panel, stores establishing new occupancy numbers to account for social distancing and stores creating lines for social distancing, DeWine said.

The dispute resolution panel is for cases where similar businesses are being treated differently in different health districts. There are 113 health districts in the state, DeWine said.

The state will not be regulating weddings or funerals and will be leaving "it up to people's good judgment," DeWine said. Receptions have to follow rules, not more than 10 people coming together.

State parks will remain open — but they could be closed if people don't stick to social distancing guidelines, DeWine said.

2:00 p.m. ET, April 2, 2020

Live now: Lisa Ling and Andrew Yang discuss coronavirus and racism

Lisa Ling and Andrew Yang are live now, discussing coronavirus and racism.

You can watch it below:

1:46 p.m. ET, April 2, 2020

Trump approves disaster declaration in Virginia

From CNN's Jason Hoffman and Betsy Klein 

President Trump has approved a disaster declaration for Virginia in response to coronavirus.

This is the 33rd such declaration Trump has made in response to the coronavirus pandemic, including 29 states, the Northern Mariana Islands, the District of Columbia, Guam and Puerto Rico.

Virginia has 1,652 confirmed coronavirus cases and 35 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

1:42 p.m. ET, April 2, 2020

There are now at least 226,374 coronavirus cases in the US

There are at least 226,374 cases of coronavirus in the US and 5,316 people have died, according to Johns Hopkins University's tally of cases.

The total includes cases from all 50 states, Washington, DC, and other US territories, as well as all repatriated cases.

Wyoming is the only state not reporting a death from coronavirus.

1:39 p.m. ET, April 2, 2020

Louisiana reports more than 2,700 new coronavirus cases

From CNN's Kay Jones 

The state of Louisiana has reported 2,726 new Covid-19 cases today and an additional 37 deaths.

There are 1,639 patients hospitalized and 507 patients on ventilators, according to the Department of Health.

Orleans Parish, which includes New Orleans, still has the most cases in the state with 3,148 cases and 125 deaths. Jefferson Parish had 2,178 cases and 73 deaths.

In a radio interview this morning, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said there would be a huge spike in numbers today due to more test results coming back.

1:35 p.m. ET, April 2, 2020

Massachusetts governor says peak number of hospitalizations could come in 8 days

POOL/WCVB
POOL/WCVB

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker said today that based on projections, they estimate the state could see between 47,000 to 172,00 cases of coronavirus during the course of the pandemic.

Baker said that’s approximately 0.7% to 2.5% of the total population of Massachusetts.

The modeling also indicated that hospitalizations would potentially peak between April 10 and April 20, Baker said.

The governor added that the model is based on Wuhan and Massachusetts has factors that could improve the projections, for example, they have less population density, less smokers, and they implemented social distancing measures.

1:33 p.m. ET, April 2, 2020

Oklahoma orders residents to stay home until April 30

From CNN's Melissa Alonso

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt has issued a stay-at-home order for all 77 counties in the state until April 30, Stitt said in a series of tweets Wednesday night.  

All non-essential businesses will remain closed during this time; that includes, gyms, barbers, tattoo and massage parlors, Stitt said. 

"I don’t make these decisions lightly but based on the data, we need to take action," Stitt said. 

Oklahoma has 3.943 million residents, according to the US Census Bureau. 

1:15 p.m. ET, April 2, 2020

New Jersey has 3,489 new confirmed cases of Covid-19

News 12 New Jersey
News 12 New Jersey

The state of New Jersey has 3,489 new positive cases of Covid-19, Gov. Phil Murphy announced in a press conference today.

To date, 25,590 people across the state have tested positive for Covid-19, Murphy said.  

There are 537 people who have died from the coronavirus in New Jersey. That number includes 182 additional deaths confirmed in the last 24 hours, the governor announced.  

1:02 p.m. ET, April 2, 2020

Some Americans could wait 20 weeks to receive stimulus checks, IRS says

From CNN's Manu Raju and Lauren Fox

President Donald Trump signs the coronavirus stimulus relief package in the Oval Office at the White House, Friday, March 27, as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarty, and Vice President Mike Pence watch. 
President Donald Trump signs the coronavirus stimulus relief package in the Oval Office at the White House, Friday, March 27, as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarty, and Vice President Mike Pence watch.  Evan Vucci/AP/FILE

Americans likely won't begin to see direct payments from the coronavirus stimulus bill until at least April 13 and it could take 20 weeks for all the checks to be mailed, Trump administration officials told lawmakers, according to a House Democratic memo obtained by CNN.

The timeline means tens of millions of Americans will have to wait to get badly needed assistance, despite repeated suggestions from Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin that the money would go out as soon as April 6.

Mnuchin said this past Sunday after passage of the $2.2 trillion stimulus bill that payments would not go out until mid-April.

Some context: CNN reported in March that former IRS officials said the wait would likely be weeks or months.

Initially, the IRS will make about 60 million payments, likely in the week of April 13, for taxpayers who provided their direct deposit information through their 2018 or 2019 tax returns, the memo from the House Ways and Means Committee says.

Three weeks later, on the week of May 4, the IRS expects to start issuing paper checks to individuals whose bank information isn't already on file, a process that will take much longer.

According to the committee, the paper checks will be issued at a rate of about 5 million per week, and that it could take up to 20 weeks to issue all the checks. Individuals with the lowest income, based on adjusted gross income, will receive their checks first.