April 10 coronavirus news

Massachusetts had its single biggest day for confirmed Covid-19 cases on Thursday with 2,151 new cases reported, Gov. Charlie Baker said on Friday.

The state conducted “well over” 7,000 coronavirus tests on Thursday, the governor added.

The percent of people testing positive for the virus has increased over the past few weeks, the governor said. It reached a new high on Monday of 30%, and has remained in that range throughout the week. On Thursday, 29% of the tests were positive.

There were 70 new fatalities in the commonwealth on Thursday. Overall, the governor said, Massachusetts has roughly a 2.7% case fatality rate.

Following the guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as other states, Massachusetts Department of Public Health is issuing an advisory recommending people wear a mask or cover their face in public.

President Trump said he will "certainly listen" to health experts when it comes to returning to normalcy and removing social distancing guidelines.

Trump's aides have begun intensive discussions on a plan to reopen the US economy as soon as the start of May, according to people familiar with the deliberations — though health experts warn it's far too early to declare mission accomplished and begin removing social distancing protocols.

CNN's Jim Acosta asked Trump if he'll listen to health officials if they advise him it's too soon to open.

"If they come back to you, sir, and say 'Before May the 1st — we can't open on May the 1st,' will you listen?" he asked.

"Remember, I understand the other side of the argument very well. Because I look at both sides of an argument. I will listen to them very carefully, though," Trump added.

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Dr. Deborah Birx said for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic hit, she is seeing a leveling of the curve in the United States.

Birx, an HIV researcher and the White House coronavirus response coordinator, said that a lot of this is due to an improvement of the situation in New York and mitigation steps individuals took in the New York metro area. 

However, she cautioned that the US has "not reached the peak" of coronavirus infections.

US Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams pulled out his asthma inhaler during today's White House briefing to prove that even "if you look fit" you could be at risk of getting coronavirus.

Adams was addressing data that shows coronavirus is disproportionately impacting people of color. He noted that people of color are not "biologically or genetically predisposed to get Covid-19." But that they "are socially predisposed to coronavirus exposure."

"It's alarming, but it's not surprising that people of color have a greater burden of chronic health conditions," he said, noting that those conditions might include high blood pressure and asthma.

"As a matter of fact, I've been carrying around an inhaler in my pocket for 40 years out of fear of having a fatal asthma attack," he said as he pulled out the inhaler. "And I hope that showing you this inhaler shows little kids with asthma all across the country that they can grow up to be Surgeon General one day."

He continued:

FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn said the federal government has provided guidance to manufacturers to make cloth gowns — as opposed to the plastic ones typically used — for health care workers.

He also said the FDA revised guidance regarding the laundering of gowns "because gowns are another issue in terms of supply" that health care workers fighting coronavirus are facing.

"This is not something that normally happens around the country," he said.

Hahn said this is an effort to "increase the number of gowns" available for health care workers with "no further regulatory red tape to go into circulation."

Infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci commended the steps Americans are taking to socially distance but warned that the country as a whole should not "be pulling back."

Dr. Deborah Birx, an HIV researcher and the White House coronavirus response coordinator, struck a similar tone. She commended the Washington and Baltimore areas for their adherence to social distancing guidelines, while cautioning that the US has "not reached the peak" of coronavirus infections.

"I know last week, we asked a lot of people in the Washington and Baltimore area to consolidate, not go out frequently to grocery stores or pharmacies. You can see that's having a huge impact, so it's really about the encouraging signs that we see. But as encouraging as they are, we have not reached the peak, and so every day, we need to continue to do what we did yesterday and the week before and the week before that. So in the end, that will take us across the peak and down the other side," Birx said.

The US has more than 475,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and nearly 18,000 deaths, according to a tally from Johns Hopkins University.

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President Trump said that the death toll from coronavirus could end up being “substantially below” the 100,000 deaths predicted by models last week.

“It looks like we're headed to a number substantially below the 100,000, that would be the low mark,” Trump said.

Trump said that the American people have shown tremendous "resolve” to help lower the projections.

The President noted that 60,000 deaths is still a significant number, but it is much lower that original projections.

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President Trump, who noted that he's in contact with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, said the number of hospital beds being used across the state is "substantially reduced."

"You have the numbers of beds being used, we're just saying are substantially reduced. That's usually the sign that it's heading in the downward curve," Trump said.

Earlier today, Cuomo noted that the change in ICU admissions is "a negative number" today — the first time since the coronavirus pandemic started — but struck a more cautious tone.

He said he was "cautiously optimistic" that the infection rate is slowing, but emphasized that New York continues to lose a "tremendous number of lives."

President Trump says the number coronavirus deaths in the US will be "substantially below the 100,000" figure projected by health experts as cities like Detroit and New Orleans turn a corner in terms of infections.

Some context: The state of Louisiana Friday reported an increase of 970 new Covid-19 cases in 24 hours with a total of 19,253 cases and an additional 53 deaths. The state reported that there are 2,054 people hospitalized.  

Orleans Parish continues to have the most cases with 5,416 cases and 225 deaths. Jefferson Parish is reporting 4,678 cases and 165 deaths. 

Detroit health officials reported 249 new Covid-19 cases in the city Thursday, a slight decline from days prior, according to the city's health website. 

There were 525 cases reported in the city on April 4, the highest for a single day there so far. Since then, daily reported cases have showed a steady but slow decline, Detroit's health department epidemic curve shows.