April 3 coronavirus news

By Joshua Berlinger, Ben Westcott, Adam Renton, Rob Picheta, Meg Wagner and Mike Hayes, CNN

Updated 8:02 a.m. ET, April 4, 2020

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2:49 p.m. ET, April 3, 2020

White House to give rapid Covid-19 screening tests to anyone in close contact with Trump and Pence

From CNN's Jim Acosta

A White House official confirmed reports that it will give rapid Covid-19 screening tests to anyone who comes in close contact with both President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.

“As the physician to the President and White House Operations continue to protect the health and safety of the President and Vice President, starting today anyone who is expected to be in close proximity to either of them will be administered a COVID-19 test to evaluate for pre-symptomatic or asymptomatic carriers status to limit inadvertent transmission," Deputy White House Press Secretary Judd Deere said in a statement.

The White House has been conducting temperature checks for those close to Trump and Pence since March 14.

2:43 p.m. ET, April 3, 2020

Rhode Island governor announces 3 field hospital sites

From CNN's Carma Hassan

Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo says the state is readying for a surge of coronavirus patients.

Right now, the state plans to set up three field hospitals: one at the Rhode Island Convention Center, one at a former bank and the last at a former Lowe’s warehouse building.

“We believe that those three sites alone will get us well over a thousand additional hospital beds,” Raimondo said.

2:40 p.m. ET, April 3, 2020

WHO supports countries in their decisions around masks, official says

From CNN Health's Jacqueline Howard

Dr. Mike Ryan, WHO executive director of health emergencies programme World Health Organization

While the World Health Organization has not changed its position on whether the general public should wear face masks during the coronavirus pandemic, it will support individual countries in making their own national recommendations around mask wearing.

"We can certainly see circumstances in which the use of masks — both homemade and cloth masks — at the community level may help in an overall comprehensive response to this disease, and we will support governments in making those decisions based on the situation they find themselves in in terms of transmission," Dr. Mike Ryan, WHO executive director of health emergencies programme, said during a media briefing in Geneva on Friday.

Ryan said that wearing a mask in public doesn't necessarily protect the person wearing it, but rather helps to limit that person's likelihood of infecting others if that person is sick.

2:19 p.m. ET, April 3, 2020

Turkey makes masks mandatory in public and shuts down traffic in 30 areas

From CNN's Gul Tuysuz

A woman, wearing a mask and gloves walks by a statue in Istanbul, Friday, April 3. Emrah Gurel/AP

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan just announced stricter measures to combat the spread of coronavirus.

Here's a look at the measures:

Masks will be mandatory in supermarkets, bazaars and work places, Erdogan said in a televised address today.
Vehicular traffic is prohibited in and out of 30 major metropolitan areas as well as the province of Zonguldak, where there are high numbers of chronic respiratory illness, Erdogan said. Intercity travel is already restricted by plane and bus in Turkey. The new measure applies to private vehicles.
The new measures also extend the scope of aged-based mandatory lockdown to people under the age of 20, Erdogan said. Turkey previously instituted a forced quarantine for people over the age of 65 and for people with chronic illnesses.

2:06 p.m. ET, April 3, 2020

New Jersey is "a weekish behind New York" on coronavirus curve, Fauci says

New Jersey looks to be a week behind New York state on the Covid-19 curve, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci told New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy.

“He looks at us as part of the New York metro area, it looked to him like we are a weekish behind New York," Murphy said in a press conference.

2:14 p.m. ET, April 3, 2020

More than 12,000 new coronavirus cases have been reported so far in the US today

A sign hangs in a park overlooking the Manhattan skyline on April 2, 2020 as seen from Weehawken, New Jersey, on Thursday, April 2. Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images

There are at least 258,214 cases of coronavirus in the US, according to Johns Hopkins University's tally of cases in the United States.

There are 6,605 people who have died in the US from coronavirus.

So far, on Friday, 12,641 new cases and 547 deaths have been reported, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins.

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.

2:03 p.m. ET, April 3, 2020

Army Corps of Engineers say they have received 750 requests for possible hospital facilities

From CNN's Jamie Crawford

Lt. Gen. Todd Semonite, commander of the Army Corps of Engineers said to date, they have received 750 requests for site assessments across the country to look into possible facilities that could be used in the coronavirus response.

Semonite said the Corps has completed 673 of those site assessments.

He said to date the Army Corps of Engineers are “not resource strained” in terms of being able to carry out site assessments as they continue their work running and setting up treatment sites across the United States.

1:27 p.m. ET, April 3, 2020

United Airlines working with mayor to fly healthcare workers to NYC

From CNN’s Cristina Alesci

In partnership with the mayor’s office, United Airlines will announce a program to provide free round-trip flights for medical volunteers from across the country who want to help in frontline fight against the Covid-19 crisis in New York City, according to United Airlines spokeswoman Karen Twigg May.

May says that United is working with government agencies in other hotspots to expand the service to other places.

In addition, May said there’s no cap on the number of free flights United will offer to volunteers.

“We will fly as many volunteers as our operation can support on any route we offer to NY,” May said.

1:20 p.m. ET, April 3, 2020

FDA to allow China's KN95 mask to be used in US as alternative for N95 masks

From CNN's Geneva Sands and Cristina Alesci

Workers produce KN95 face masks at a 3M mask factory in Shanghai, on March 10. Ren Long/Xinhua/Getty Images/FILE

The US Food and Drug Administration on Friday changed its position on a sought-after type of respirator from China, the KN95, announcing that the agency will authorize the mask for use in healthcare settings if it meets certain criteria.

In response to continued respirator shortages, the FDA issued new guidance, authorizing KN95 respirators if certain criteria are met, including evidence demonstrating that the respirator is authentic.

The move comes after conflicting government guidance caused confusion over how these masks should be used and whether they could be imported into the US.

The FDA did not include these masks on its initial guidance for emergency use issued last month, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the KN95 masks are “expected to be suitable alternatives” to the N95 masks during the coronavirus pandemic when supplies are short.

The differing guidance left suppliers hesitant to ship masks and US buyers wary of purchasing them.

On March 28th, the FDA listed masks from six countries, including Mexico and Brazil, that it found “appropriate to protect public health or safety,” but left the Chinese masks off the list.