April 6 coronavirus news

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon used his annual shareholder letter to detail just how bad he thinks the US economy can get from the coronavirus pandemic. 

Dimon expects a "bad recession," he wrote in the letter released Monday.

In the most adverse scenario — which he said he hopes is unlikely — gross domestic product could plunge at a 35% annual rate in the second quarter and that a downturn would last through the rest of the year. The unemployment rate would spike as high as 14% in this environment. 

But Dimon added that "this scenario is quite severe and, we hope, unlikely." And even if the worst case situation bears out, JPMorgan Chase still plans to lend an additional $150 billion to its customers. 

Still, he said there will be a "major recession."

Dimon stressed that the bank is in solid shape and has a "fortress" balance sheet. That is allowing JPMorgan Chase to step up lending to small businesses and consumers in this time of crisis.

The bank is now accepting applications for the Small Business Administration's Paycheck Protection Program loans after a rocky start to the process Friday morning. 

Dimon praised the Federal Reserve and other global central bankers — as well as lawmakers — for taking quick action to try to stimulate the economy with lower rates and fiscal support for those in need. 

"We applaud the speed with which the federal government and the Federal Reserve ... put together a stimulus package and other funding benefits to help individuals, businesses, and state and local entities across the United States and beyond," Dimon said.

Admiral Dr. Brett Giroir, assistant secretary for health at the US Department of Health and Human Services, said Monday that New York, New Jersey and Detroit will see peaks in hospitalizations and deaths due to coronavirus this week — and it will happen in other US cities in the weeks to come.

In an interview on "Today," Giroir said "all our predictions, all our models, and we know from the data we see and health care workers we talk to is — for New York and New Jersey and Detroit, this week is going to be the peak week."  

Giroir explained peak "reflects infections that occurred two or three weeks ago, adding, "we may be seeing the worst upon us right now in terms of outcomes." 

Giroir said other parts of the US, such as New Orleans, will see a peak in hospitalizations and deaths in the coming weeks. "We'll see some rolling peaks across the country as the next few weeks unfold," Giroir told NBC's Savannah Guthrie. 

CVS, in partnership with government agencies, is adding two drive-through coronavirus testing sites less than a week after CNN reported on the anemic progress of a program President Trump touted as part of his solution to expand testing. 

The retailer announced it’s using a new rapid coronavirus test, which can provide results in less than 15 minutes and was approved by US Food and Drug Administration under an emergency authorization last week, according to a company press release.

Its two new locations — in Georgia and Rhode Island — will utilize licensed health care providers from its MinuteClinic, the company’s retail medical clinic, to oversee the testing, said the press release. The retailer made clear that the sites will not be located at CVS Pharmacy or MinuteClinic locations.

Some background: Under fire for the lack of testing, the Trump administration on March 13 announced a public-private partnership between the government and major retailers including CVS, Target, Walmart and Walgreens. Vice President Mike Pence said the program "laid the foundation" to help meet the nation's testing needs by giving a "little bit of their parking lot so that people can come by and do a drive-by test."

But the administration’s celebrated announcement hasn't come close to being fulfilled.

While these retailers have approximately 30,000 locations combined, the Department of Health and Human Services confirmed last week that only five locations from these major retailers were offering drive-thru testing — and none are open to the general public at the time. Instead, the sites were only testing healthcare workers and first responders. The one site CVS previously opened in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts was also testing senior citizens with symptoms. 

After CNN’s story on March 31, Walmart announced a plan to open a drive-thru coronavirus testing site for first responders and healthcare workers in Arkansas — it’s third location in the U.S. 

For its two new locations, CVS will not be using its parking lot. Instead it worked with local government officials to identify parking lots that are easily accessible and able to accommodate multiple lanes of cars at one time: one at a multi-level parking garage at the Georgia Institute of Technology. The other — in Rhode Island — will be located at Twin Rivers Casino.  

Unlike previously opened testing drive throughs, the new CVS locations will be testing a broader population. People who meet US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criteria, in addition to state residency and age guidelines, are eligible for testing. Patients will need to pre-register in advance online at CVS.com in order to schedule a same-day time slot for testing, said the release. 

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins contributed to this report

France is heading for the worst economic downturn since World War II, the country’s Minister of the Economy and Finance Bruno Le Maire says.

In a Senate hearing today, he said the economy’s worst year since the war was during the 2009 financial crisis when it contracted by 2.9 percent.

“We are likely to be well beyond -2.9% this year,” Le Maire said.

He had previously warned that the economic shock from the coronavirus pandemic would be brutal.

US stocks rallied at Monday’s open following some encouraging data that showed a slowdown in coronavirus infections in multiple countries.

Here's what happened at the opening:

 This is a shortened week, as exchanges are closed for Good Friday.

A US Navy official tells CNN that 173 crew members of the USS Theodore Roosevelt have now tested positive for coronavirus. 

About 61% of the crew has been tested. Approximately 2,000 people have been evacuated from the ship and moved ashore. 

Remember: The Navy said it wanted to move 2,700 ashore by Friday so they are still behind schedule.

White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said he was qualified to engage and disagree with Dr. Anthony Fauci on the use of an anti-malarial drug as a coronavirus treatment — which is not yet proven as effective. 

“My qualifications in terms of looking at the science is that I’m a social scientist,” he told CNN’s John Berman on “New Day.”

“I have a Ph.D. And I understand how to read statistical studies, whether it’s in medicine, the law, economics or whatever," he added.

CNN previously reported that a heated argument broke out in the Situation Room over the weekend, where Navarro feuded with other officials on the unproven efficacy of hydroxychloroquine in treating coronavirus, according to sources.

While discussing the latest on the anti-malaria drug, an exasperated Navarro lashed out at Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, who has urged caution around the drug.

Watch the moment:

Admiral Dr. Brett Giroir, the assistant secretary for US Department of Health and Human Services, acknowledged that "testing is tight" for Covid-19.

"We are really going hospital to hospital to try to assure that the tests are available and I'm meeting with hospital associations from all the metroplex areas," Giroir added.

He said there would be "a million-plus" tests this week.

"We are not going to have tens of millions of tests this week — but we will have a million-plus tests, plus all the thousands of hospitals who do their own tests. That should be efficient to take care of the load we're going to see this week."

Admiral Dr. Brett Giroir, the assistant secretary for health at the US Department of Health and Human Services, urged the country to continue social distancing efforts.  

Over the weekend by Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, urged Americans to stay home, saying "This is the moment to not be going to the grocery store, not going to the pharmacy."

Giroir said he agreed with Birx, and explained, "That does not mean go without medication. If you need to go to the pharmacy to get your medications, if you need to get groceries, do it. But don't go every day ... Do it as infrequently as possible."

"Anything you can do to protect yourself, to avoid yourself from getting this virus and being in the hospital for a month or potentially facing death, I think it's advised to do that," Giroir told NBC's Savannah Guthrie.