April 9 coronavirus news

The US economy should rebound fairly quickly when businesses reopen after the coronavirus lockdown ends, said Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell this morning.

Just how quickly the economy can reopen following the outbreak, however, is dependent on the path of the virus, Powell said on a Brookings Institute webinar this morning.

One way or another, the second quarter will be a weak one, he said: "We do expect to see very low economic output and big increases in initial claims and unemployment."

While the Fed has no influence on the government's fiscal policies, Powell said we are likely to see more fiscal support from Washington.

This is what the great fiscal power of the US is for, to protect the people the best we can from the hardships they're facing," Powell said. "At the Fed, we do all we can to shepherd the economy through this difficult time."

This morning, the central bank announced another $2.3 trillion loan package.

The Fed is flexible on when all of its support programs will end, Powell said. Once they get wound down, this would be done gradually.

Some experts are worried that reopening the economy and relaxing restrictions on stay-at-home orders would cause the number of coronavirus cases to rebound.

This is because the population does not have immunity to the virus yet, according to Anne Rimoin, a professor in the Department of Epidemiology at UCLA.

Other factors that make it dangerous to relax guidelines right now is the lack of a vaccine, other therapeutics and the ability to conduct wide-spread testing, Rimoin said.

"This is frustrating, but lives are at stake. We're seeing the impact of the lack of social distancing and the lack of early action throughout the country at this point and throughout the world. We have to let the global data speak," she said.

Beginning tomorrow, AdventHealth Centra Care will test for Covid-19 at the Daytona International Speedway in Florida, the company announced in a press release Thursday.

The tests will be available to anyone who meets the criteria for testing, as set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the release said.

A doctor’s order in not required for testing.

President Trump is preparing to announce a second coronavirus task force solely focused on reopening the nation's economy, multiple sources tell CNN.

Senior aides such as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow have been solely focused on the issue of restarting a wounded American economy for weeks, along with a coterie of aides.

But in recent days, inside and outside advisers have appealed to Trump to formally create a separate task force in order to streamline the process so it can focus primarily on reopening the economy. This task force would likely include senior staff from the Treasury Department, the National Economic Council, the Labor Department and the Department of Commerce.

But it wouldn't only have administration officials involved. There has been outreach to figures such as Gary Cohn, Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman, Art Laffer and even major sports teams and well-known athletes.

Other Trump allies have proposed naming a recovery "czar" from the private sector to oversee efforts to revive the consumer economy and address unemployment after coronavirus forced the closure of businesses across sectors.

Influential conservatives have floated Laffer as the leader of the task force, and he has presented some ideas to senior White House aides on a plan to revive the economy. His plans have included a proposal to tax nonprofits, cut the pay of some public officials and offer a payroll tax holiday.

Trump awarded Laffer a presidential medal of freedom last year, but the White House hasn't yet offered him a position on a new panel, according to a senior administration official.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf announced all schools will remain closed for the remainder of the 2019-2020 academic year.

Students and families may continue to pick up meals at designated sites, according to the release.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio criticized the federal government for not helping New Yorkers gain access to coronavirus testing.

He reiterated the call from the city and state for widespread testing:

Earlier today, Johns Hopkins University said there were about 1,480,000 coronavirus cases reported across the world.

Hours before this, however, the university said the global case count had surpassed 1.5 million.

What's behind the discrepancy: Johns Hopkins told CNN that as researchers reviewed the data, they noticed some duplications in France.

Here's how Johns Hopkins explained this in a statement:

As of 10:15 a.m. ET, Johns Hopkins University is reporting more than 1,502,000 cases across the world.

The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office in Chicago announced the opening of its surge center Thursday to expand capacity and ease overcrowding at hospital morgues due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The 66,000-square foot refrigerated warehouse will have the capacity to hold more than 2,000 bodies, according to a release from the county.

The county has also acquired 14 refrigerated trailers and is in the process of securing six more to support the surge center. The trailers will be prepositioned at hospitals that are experiencing surges so their morgues are not overwhelmed.

In a statement Thursday, the Medical Examiner’s Office said they plan to scale up their existing case management system to accommodate the caseload at the surge center.

“We are the last physicians these individuals will ever have and we take that responsibility very seriously,” said Cook County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Ponni Arunkumar. “We treat these patients with dignity and respect. We treat them the way we would want our loved ones to be treated.”

There are now cases of coronavirus affecting US Navy ships beyond the USS Theodore Roosevelt. 

In addition to the Roosevelt, the USS Ronald Reagan — which is currently in Yokuska, Japan, in maintenance — has 15 positive cases. Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff John Hyten also said Thursday that there is a “small outbreak” of coronavirus on the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz.