By Joshua Berlinger, Ben Westcott, Adam Renton, Rob Picheta, Meg Wagner and Mike Hayes, CNN
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.
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.
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.
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.
From CNN's Geneva Sands and Cristina Alesci
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.
From CNN's Julian Cummings
The state of New Jersey has 4,372 new positive cases of Covid-19, Gov. Phil Murphy announced in a press conference.
To date, 29,895 people across the state have tested positive for Covid-19, Murphy said.
A total of 646 people have died as a result of Covid-19 in New Jersey. That number includes 113 additional deaths confirmed in the last 24 hours, the governor announced.
From CNN's Manu Raju and Haley Byrd
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday that Democrats could put on hold a host of their infrastructure priorities and instead advance a new stimulus measure that mirrors the historic $2.2 trillion stimulus package President Trump signed into law last week.
“The acceleration of the coronavirus demands that we double down on the downpayment we made in CARES by passing a CARES 2 package. We must extend and expand this bipartisan legislation to meet the needs of the American people," she said in a statement on Friday.
She added: “It is imperative that we go bigger and further assisting small business, to go longer in unemployment benefits and provide additional resources to process UI claims and to give families additional direct payments. We must also provide the desperately needed resources for our hospitals, community health centers, health systems and health workers on the frontlines of this crisis. We cannot succeed in defeating this virus unless we more strongly support state and local governments with significantly more resources.”
Earlier on Friday: Pelosi indicated the Democrats’ infrastructure priorities, which they have advocated for as part of another legislative response to the pandemic, could be pushed off for a later bill.
There are at least 257,773 cases of coronavirus in the US, according to Johns Hopkins University's tally of cases in the country.
There are 6,586 people who have died in the US from coronavirus.
So far, on Friday, 12,200 new cases and 528 deaths have been reported, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins.
The total includes cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, as well as all repatriated cases. Wyoming is the only state not reporting a death from coronavirus.
Fom CNN's Seb Shukla
Heathrow Airport will “transition to single runway operations” due to the “unprecedented impact that the coronavirus outbreak is having on Heathrow’s operation.”
In a statement to CNN, Heathrow said that single runway operations will commence on April 6. The airport will alternate which runway is used on a weekly basis: 27R or 09L.
The statement continued to say that Heathrow will remain open so that it can “play a crucial role in helping to secure vital medical goods and food for the nation during the unprecedented epidemic."
The change is the latest change at all major London airports due to the coronavirus outbreak.
London City airport closed last month to all commercial and private flights. London Gatwick airport also closed the North Terminal.
