April 7 coronavirus news

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the USNS Comfort docked in New York City will now treat patients with coronavirus. 

The ship was originally planned to treat non-coronavirus patients, to open up capacity at the city's on-shore hospitals.

He said President Trump “moved expeditiously” with the Department of Defense to make the switch.

“I want to thank the President for moving as quickly as he did,” Cuomo said. 

The ship, which is typically a 1,000-bed hospital, will now have 500 beds, since Covid-19 patients require more space for treatment and equipment, the governor explained. The Comfort, as well as the hospital set up at the Javits Center, are “a welcome overload relief to the hospital system, which is already extraordinarily stressed,” he said.

WATCH:

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said at least 5,489 people across the state have died from coronavirus — that's up from 4,758 yesterday

"That is the largest single day increase," he said.

There are 138,836 total cases in the state.

Cuomo broke down the number of deaths each day over the past few days:

WATCH:

The coronavirus pandemic is overwhelming, and one of the most excruciating parts for many people is the feeling of utter helplessness in the face of widespread suffering and hardship.

Here's how to help local homeless communities during the coronavirus pandemic.

And here's how to give to charities that support homeless communities:

CNN’s Impact Your World has compiled a list of donation opportunities and tips to help those affected by the crisis. You can read the full list here.

Economic difficulties due to the coronavirus pandemic are worsening, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a news conference this morning.

“When it comes to the economic battle, when it comes to battling to make sure that people have the food they need, that situation is not getting better, it's getting worse,” he said, citing job losses and reduced paychecks. 

He added:

Wisconsin is holding its primary as scheduled today despite public health concerns from the coronavirus pandemic. 

CNN's Omar Jimenez is at a polling site in Milwaukee. A line has formed as voters try to stay apart from each other.

Earlier today, Dr. Jerome Adams, the US Surgeon General, urged Wisconsin voters to maintain a safe six-foot distance from other voters and wear a face cloth or covering as they head to the polls.  

"If you're going to exercise your right to vote, do it as safely as possible," Adams told NBC's Savannah Guthrie. 

Some background: Every other state with an election scheduled for April postponed their contest or shifted it to by-mail voting only.

But Republicans in Wisconsin who have insisted on holding the election on schedule won two legal battles yesterday, as the state Supreme Court blocked Democratic Gov. Tony Evers' bid to delay it until June and the US Supreme Court reversed a lower court's ruling that gave voters six extra days to return their ballots by mail.

This week Vice President Mike Pence will hold four conference calls to brief House Democrats, House Republicans, Senate Democrats and Senate Republicans on coronavirus, according to spokesperson Katie Miller. 

The House calls are scheduled for tomorrow and the Senate calls will be on Thursday, according to a source involved with planning.

After their call with the Vice President, House Democrats will also have a call with former Health and Human Services secretary Sylvia Burwell.

At least 11,008 people have died due to coronavirus across the United States, according to a tally from Johns Hopkins University.

Johns Hopkins is reporting 368,449 cases in the United States. 

David Lat spent 17 days hospitalized with Covid-19, including six days on a ventilator before being discharged last week. 

“It was like a scene out of ‘ER’ or ‘Chicago Hope’ or something. But I have no recollection of my time on the ventilator, which is interesting because I've since read that some ventilator patients have hallucinations, delusions. I don’t remember anything,” said Lat, a lawyer and legal writer whose tweets during his time in the hospital were shared widely on social media.

While he was in good health, didn’t smoke and has run two New York City marathons, he told CNN’s Alisyn Camerota he did experience exercise-induced asthma. 

“There probably are a lot of people out there who have conditions that are similar that don't make a big impact on their day-to-day lives, but they should be aware of because if you get coronavirus or Covid-19, it can make things a lot worse for you,” he said. 

He said he was treated with a few different drugs, including hydroxychloroquine and Zithromax, but doctors were unable to tell him definitely if they helped him recover.

President Trump told reporters last night that he had asked US medical companies to "help" with the treatment of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is currently in intensive care after he tested positive for Covid-19 nearly two weeks ago. 

While the spirit of Trump's offer was no doubt sincere and greeted with gratitude in Downing Street, it is unlikely to have been welcomed — at least at a political level. 

One of the UK government's top priorities during this time has been to keep the public calm and reiterate its total confidence in the National Health Service.

In an off-camera briefing today, Johnson’s official spokesperson said the UK government was in "constant contact" with the US government, but that he was "confident" Johnson was getting the "best care from the NHS" and that any decision regarding his treatment would decided by Johnson's doctors — who are NHS doctors. 

Those of you with British friends will be familiar with tone in this message — thank you, but please stop. 

The optics of an unpopular US president offering US services that are not available on the NHS is one of the least helpful things that Trump could have done during this time. Which is probably why Downing Street was so quick to bat away any suggestion that the PM's doctors would countenance taking him up on the offer. 

WATCH: