April 5 coronavirus news

President Donald Trump said he would wear a face mask if he "thought it was important." Trump was asked at the White House briefing Sunday about his wife Melania Trump, who for days has tweeted encouraging the use of masks.

"She likes the idea of wearing it," Trump said, "A lot of people do."

Trump said he would wear one.

"I'm just generally not in a, like, I should, would you like me to wear one right now in answering your question? That would be a little awkward I guess."

"I would wear one if I thought it was important," he said.

Asked if his family in New York would start wearing masks and if he was encouraging them to wear them, Trump answered: "Wouldn’t be surprised."

Dr. Anthony Fauci said he tested negative for coronavirus Saturday when asked why he wasn't wearing a face mask.

"The major reason to wear a face mask is to protect you from infecting you," Fauci said. "I had my test yesterday and it’s negative."

President Trump added: "Very good answer."

At one New York hospital emergency room, six patients went into cardiac arrest in a span of 40 minutes. Four died before they made it out of the ER. It's not chaos, but to an onlooker, it seems like hell.

"They're so sick you lose them in a heartbeat, they're that sick," respiratory therapist Julie Eason told CNN. "They're talking to you and then a few minutes later you're putting a tube down their throat and you're hoping that you can set the ventilator in such a way that it actually helps them."

This is the truth of what coronavirus is doing to thousands of Americans, and likely will to many thousand more. It has been largely unseen because visitors are not allowed to be in hospitals, and everyone else is staying home.

CNN was invited to witness the scenes inside the University Hospital of Brooklyn, New York, part of the SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University. All the patients the hospital treats now are suffering from coronavirus. The hospital is one of three in the state ordered by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to dedicate itself entirely to dealing with the pandemic.

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Hydroxychloroquine will be used in a trial of 3,000 patients at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan, and the results will be tracked in a formal study, Vice President Mike Pence announced Sunday.

Pence added that they are "more than prepared" to make hydroxychloroquine available to doctor's offices and pharmacies in the Detroit area "as they deem appropriate."

Rear Adm. John Polowczyk of the Supply Chain Logistics Task Force said that the government is working to put out millions of doses of hydroxychloroquine into areas with increasing number of coronavirus cases.

President Donald Trump has frequently claimed the drug has high efficacy against Covid-19 despite no evidence the drug is effective and safe for preventing or treating the coronavirus.

However, there is no "definitive information to be able to make any comment" on whether the drug can be used to treat coronavirus, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, at the White House briefing on Saturday. There are currently no products approved by the US Food and Drug Administration to prevent Covid-19.

The Department of Veterans Affairs will open about 1,500 beds at hospitals in multiple states to civilians to alleviate the burden on civilian hospitals, according VA Secretary Robert Wilkie.

"We provide a bridge from the federal government to states and localities during these emergencies," Wilkie said.

In the metropolitan New York area, the VA is opening up approximately 100 beds in Brooklyn, Manhattan and East Orange in New Jersey, Wilkie said.

Louisiana will gain access to the VA medical center in Shreveport, Wilkie said.

In Michigan, access to hospital beds will be provided in both Ann Arbor and Detroit as as providing a pharmaceutical trailer for the state's use, Wilkie said.

Wilkie said the VA will help Massachusetts officials "in their efforts to protect the most vulnerable citizens in two of their nursing homes."

President Donald Trump showed optimism during a press briefing Sunday evening about the government's response to the coronavirus pandemic.

In an interview this morning, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease and a member of the White House coronavirus task force, said the government is struggling to get the coronavirus under control.

Italy has recorded its lowest death rate in a 24-hour period with 525 deaths, the Italian Civil Protection Ministry said Sunday.

A total of 15,877 people have died of Covid-19 in Italy. There was a small decrease in patients in critical condition with hospital intensive care units reporting 17 fewer patients. A total of 2,972 new cases have been diagnosed, another decline, bringing the total active cases to 91,246. 

A total of 21,815 people have recovered from the coronavirus, an increase of 819. There are now almost 130,000 coronavirus cases in Italy.

Italy has been in a lockdown for almost four weeks now.

President Donald Trump claimed Sunday that 1.6 million people in the United States have been tested for coronavirus and been given results.

"That's far more than any country’s been able to do," Trump said.

He also said that Abbott Laboratories will produce 1,200 of its new 15-minute coronavirus test weekly. Abbott's test was approved by the Food and Drug Administration on March 27.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to stay in the hospital overnight, a Downing Street source told CNN on Sunday.

Johnson was admitted to the hospital on Sunday night in what Downing Street said in a statement was a "precautionary step" given that the "Prime Minister continues to have persistent symptoms of coronavirus ten days after testing positive for the virus."

Johnson was diagnosed with coronavirus on March 27.

US President Donald Trump wished Johnson well during a Sunday night press briefing.

"I want to express our nation’s well wishes to Prime Minister Boris Johnson as he wages his own personal fight with the virus," Trump said. "All Americans are praying for him. He’s a friend of mine, he’s a great gentleman and a great leader."

"I’m hopeful and sure that he’s going to be fine," Trump said. 

The Department of Homeland Security and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are finalizing new restrictions that are expected to prohibit cruise ship passengers and crew arriving in the US from boarding domestic commercial flights, according to a person briefed on the matter and an administration official.

The restrictions would apply even to people not showing symptoms and would require 14-day quarantines for cruise passengers and crew. 

While officials are working on the new protocols, they have not been finalized, according to the sources.

These new protocols would likely be agreements between cruise ship companies and the government, requiring that they be followed for these ships to dock at specific ports, the administration official said.

The official said that there could be a range of exceptions and specific circumstances that would divert from the new protocols, specifically as it relates to foreigners on the ships.

If adopted, the new restrictions would limit cruise passengers and crew to flying on charter aircraft. 

The US Coast Guard said Saturday there are 114 cruise ships, carrying 93,000 crew members, either in or near US ports and waters.

This includes 73 cruise ships, with 52,000 crew members, moored or anchored in US ports and anchorages. Another 41 cruise ships, with 41,000 crew members, are underway and still in vicinity of the United States. The cruise industry has an ongoing obligation for the care, safety and welfare of their seafarers.