April 10 coronavirus news

Seventy people at a San Francisco homeless shelter have tested positive for the coronavirus, Mayor London Breed announced Friday at a news conference, calling the development “troubling.”

The outbreak occurred at the MSC South homeless shelter, one of the biggest shelters in the city, where 68 residents and two staff members have been infected, she said. On any given night, the shelter can accommodate as many as 340 people, but it is now only serving about 100 residents.

“We knew congregate living settings had the potential of being hotspots, so we have been preparing for that,” Breed said.

 Breed said city officials are converting the shelter into a “medical facility.”  

“We’re on top of it,” she added.

Louisiana has 19,253 coronavirus cases and 755 deaths in total, Gov. John Bel Edwards said on Friday during a press conference.

The city of Houston is closing its parks and trails for the weekend to try to keep people from spreading the coronavirus over the Easter holiday — and officers will be out watching for violators. 

Police Chief Art Acevedo said in a Friday afternoon press conference they will be out "on foot, on bicycles, on specialized vehicles and on horseback" to look for people violating the rules and are prepared to issue citations. 

Acevedo said they have enough manpower to monitor the parks despite having 82 officers under quarantine.

Under a state order, Texas churches can hold in-person Easter services as long as social distancing rules are followed, but Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said at the news conference that he hopes they won’t. 

"It's not an issue of fear,” Turner said. “It's an issue of keeping the members safe.”

The influential coronavirus model by the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation now calls today the peak day for new deaths, and revises several key numbers slightly.

The model update, released this afternoon, keeps peak hospital resource use on Saturday. But it moves peak death numbers to today instead of Sunday, and the number now peaks at a projected 1,983 — down from about 2,200 in an earlier version.

As for overall projected deaths, the model now projects about 61,500 in the US by August, compared to about 60,000 earlier this week

IHME has constantly been updating the model as new real-time data comes in. 

Remember: The model assumes full social distancing measures in place through the end of May. But the real future of those measures is unclear as the federal and state governments weigh plans to reopen schools, businesses and other parts of society.

Los Angeles County has extended its "Safer at Home" order to May 15, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health Director Dr. Barbara Ferrer announced in a press conference today.

The order was set to expire on April 19.

By the numbers: There are now 8,430 confirmed cases and 241 deaths in Los Angeles County.

The state of Illinois on Friday reported 1,465 more cases of Covid-19 and 68 additional deaths.

The statewide total is now 17,887 cases with 596 deaths, according to Dr. Ngozi Ezike, the Illinois Public Health director.

New York City mayor Bill de Blasio said the bodies being buried on Hart Island are not just coronavirus victims. Rather, the mass grave is used for any unclaimed bodies — people who have died from any number of diseases and conditions.

"These are people who no one after a period of time has claimed them and not just Covid victims, but victims of all diseases all reasons for fatality and they are being buried," de Blasio said.

He added that if a family member ever shows up, " the body would be given to the family"

De Blasio was asked about Hart Island after tweeting about it earlier today: 

 Moments ago, President Trump also mentioned the mass grave at Hart Island.

"New York has experienced something that has been absolutely horrific. I saw Hart Island yesterday, I saw those people being buried yesterday," Trump said at a news conference.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he plans to issue an executive order next week with guidelines on reopening businesses in the state. 

“We will focus on protecting lives, while protecting livelihoods. We can do both,” Abbott said at a news conference in Austin today.

Asked whether testing would be increased in the state in order to open up the economy, Abbott said, “Testing will be a component of it. We want to open up, but we want to open up safely.” He said more detail would be announced next week.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Friday there have been 11,449 positive coronavirus cases across the state and 221 fatalities.

As of Friday afternoon, about 116,000 people have been tested for Covid-19 in Texas, and there have been 1,532 hospitalizations, Abbott announced at a press conference. 

The governor said 1,366 people recovered from Covid-19, having been symptom-free for a 14 day period after contracting the virus, a statistic the state has begun tracking as well.