April 8 coronavirus news

Dr. Anthony Fauci told lawmakers today that the White House coronavirus task force is working on establishing a framework for how Americans will be able to return to normalcy, according to a source.

Fauci held a call today with Democratic House members. On it, he was asked about antibody testing and tracking that the White House task force has been working on in terms of developing a timeframe toward normalcy.

Fauci told lawmakers that the White House task force was working on it last night.

But remember: This is an ongoing conversation. 

Another source said that Vice President Mike Pence was very complimentary on the call of governors — including Democrats — for helping to slow the spread of the disease. Pence cited local and state leaders in Washington and California as having made a significant contribution in helping to slow the spread.

There are 7,026 hospitalizations in New Jersey which include Covid-19 positive patients and persons under investigation for coronavirus, according to Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli.

There are 1,617 people in critical care and 97% of those patients in critical care, 1,576, are on ventilators.

Overall, of the more than 7,000 individuals in hospitals, about 22% are on ventilation, Persichilli said.

Of the seven laboratories sending their testing results to the governor’s office, 94,525 tests have been performed to date in New Jersey and 41,550 are positive, for a rate of 44%, which Murphy said has “crept up slowly.”

Among the deaths in the state, 61% people are white, 22% are black, 6% are Asian and the state is still reviewing 112 cases, according to Persichilli.

Additionally, there are now 231 long-term care facilities in the state that have reported at least one Covid-19 case, Persichilli said.

There are at least 402,923 cases of coronavirus in the US, according to Johns Hopkins University's tally.

At least 13,007 people have died in the US from coronavirus. 

The totals 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 or territory that is not reporting a death from coronavirus.

So far on Wednesday, Johns Hopkins has reported 4,114 new cases and 112 reported deaths.  

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy ordered all non-essential construction across the state to cease indefinitely, effective at 8 p.m. ET on Friday.

Exceptions to this order include projects at hospitals and schools, building of affordable housing and emergency services, among other limited instances, Murphy announced in Wednesday’s press conference.

Additionally, the governor is ordering all essential retail-grocery stores and pharmacies to indefinitely limit their number of customers in their stores to 50% of their current approved capacity, and ordered that customers and employees must wear face coverings.

Stores must also provide special shopping hours for high risk individuals.

The restrictions are to be implemented across the state.

More people in the United States have died from coronavirus than during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic.

According to Johns Hopkins University's tally, at least 12,936 people have died in the United States from coronavirus. 

According to an estimate from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, H1N1 killed 12,469 people in the United States from April 12, 2009, to April 10, 2010. 

The CDC estimates there were 60.8 million H1N1 cases across the United States during that year. To date, there are more than 400,000 novel coronavirus cases reported in the United States, according to Johns Hopkins.  

The CDC’s numbers on H1N1 are estimates they tallied during the yearlong span in which H1N1 blanketed the US. Johns Hopkins has been collecting data directly from state and local health officials since the first case appeared in the United States in late January. 

Data suggests that coronavirus infection rates are higher for black and Hispanic residents of New York, according to Gov. Andrew Cuomo. 

In New York City, 34% of deaths from coronavirus are Hispanic while 28% of deaths are black. Respectively, those numbers are 14% and 18% for the rest of the state.

The figures are disproportionate as compared to each population in the state. Cuomo said that the state is going to immediately start more testing in minority communities. 

Cuomo referenced how minority communities are affected in natural disasters, such as in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. 

New Jersey has seen 3,088 new positive tests for Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, Gov. Phil Murphy said Wednesday in a press conference, bringing the total number of cases in the state to 47,437.

There have been 275 deaths reported in the past 24 hours, bringing the statewide total to 1,504.

New York. Gov Andrew Cuomo said all voters in the state will be able to cast their votes by absentee ballot this year.

Cuomo had previously moved the state's primary from April 28 until June 23.

"I've seen lines of people on television voting in other states. This is totally nonsensical," Cuomo said. "All New Yorkers can vote absentee on June 23."

Some background: Wisconsin held its primary as scheduled yesterday despite the pandemic. Long lines of voters, many of them wearing face masks, stretched for blocks through Milwaukee.

Republicans had insisted on keeping the election on schedule, winning two legal battles Monday, as the state Supreme Court blocked Democratic Gov. Tony Evers' bid to delay it until June.

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New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the state will make an additional $600 payment to all who filed for unemployment during the coronavirus crisis.

"The federal government says they will reimburse us for it, but people need money now in their pocket. So, New York will be doing that immediately," he said.

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