April 12 coronavirus news

Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN that he “can’t guarantee” that it will be safe for people to vote in person during the general presidential election in November.

Fauci, the top infectious disease doctor in the US, added that he doesn’t want to be a “pessimistic person” but “there is always the possibility… as we get into next fall, and the beginning of early winter, that we could see a rebound.”

Another 737 people have died from coronavirus in the United Kingdom, taking the country’s death toll to 10,612 according to new figures from the Department of Health and Social Care.

These figures are current as of 5 p.m. (12 p.m. ET) April 11.

The update shows that 84,279 people have tested positive since the outbreak began.

Read a tweet from the department:

United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson says he finds it hard to find the words to thank those who saved his life, saying “things could have gone either way” while he was in hospital.

Johnson was discharged from hospital on Sunday after being treated for coronavirus, including three nights in intensive care.

He said health care worker's courage and devotion stood out.

“I have seen the personal courage not just of the doctors and nurses but of everyone, the cleaners, the cooks, the health care workers of every description — physios, radiographers, pharmacists — who have kept coming to work, kept putting themselves in harm’s way, kept risking this deadly virus," Johnson said.

Johnson used the message to personally name some of the health care workers who looked after him, including two nurses – one from New Zealand and one from Portugal – who stood by his bedside.

Johnson will now spend some time recovering at the prime minister’s countryside retreat.

Watch the address on Twitter:

Dr. David Nabarro, the World Health Organization’s special envoy on Covid-19, warned that the virus will not necessarily come in waves like influenza.

In an interview on NBC, Nabarro said the WHO thinks “it is going to be a virus that stalks the human race for quite a long time to come,” until a vaccine is developed.

Moving forward, he said there will be small outbreaks “sporadically,” and it is crucial that every community has a “defense shield” to isolate cases and prevent a large outbreak.

When asked if the world’s curve of coronavirus cases is flattening, Nabarro said that although there are signs of the flattening the curve in Europe and the US, the WHO is “still very worried and still very much on high alert,” particularly for countries with weaker health systems.

Nabarro emphasized the global nature of the coronavirus problem, and called for greater cooperation between world leaders, saying, “I would like leaders to be a little more cooperative, yes please.”

Some context: President Trump last week accused the WHO of not confronting the virus aggressively enough in its early stages, being too friendly towards China in its work and said there would have been fewer deaths if the organization had given “correct analysis.”

Nabarro defended the WHO saying it must work with the information it is given by governments, and that “we believe what we’ve got, we work with what we’ve got.”

He also mentioned how China allowed the WHO to investigate inside the country in February, and there were no restrictions placed on the team there, which included some American doctors, he noted.

Nabarro further said that he “loves” the WHO’s partnership with the United States, and that the director of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has spoken directly with Trump.

New Jersey's governor said the peak of the state's coronavirus cases could still be ahead.

Phil Murphy spoke to CNN this morning, saying some studies project that the state is in its peak, while a more "sobering reality" has New Jersey peaking many weeks from now, and in higher numbers. 

Murphy emphasized that the recovery of health care workers takes priority over economic recovery.

"I fear if we open too early without making that recovery we could be pouring gas on the fire," Murphy said.

The governor said he's working with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to agree on a regional testing strategy.

Starting Monday, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is requiring all city workers who come in contact with the public while on duty to wear face coverings.

De Blasio said the city has already provided 1.4 million face coverings to city workers and will provide more as necessary. 

Addressing the economic hardship that the city is facing, New York City is establishing a new initiative to hire New Yorkers to do “absolutely crucial and heroic work in our hospital systems,” and that will be expanded to voluntary and independent hospitals as well, the mayor said.

To all New Yorkers looking for work, de Blasio said, “join a team of heroes.”

New York City Health & Hospital will be hiring 500 non-clinical staff for roles like patient transport, clerical staff and cleaning staff.

These will be temporary jobs beginning with a 90 day assignment, the mayor added.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said he wants to have community testing for coronavirus available by the end of next week.

De Blasio said at a press conference Sunday he will be asking for 110,000 individualized tests from the federal government to make this a reality while setting up new testing centers in targeted communities.

By the end of next week, de Blasio intends to set up Health and Hospitals testing centers in East New York, Brooklyn; Morrisania Bronx; Harlem, New York; Jamaica, Queens and Clifton, Staten Island.

This push for widespread community testing is part of "phase two," de Blasio said.

He said communities of color, lower income communities, immigrant communities, and vulnerable “folks who haven’t had the healthcare they needed and deserved throughout their life” have been impacted.

These new testing centers also provide an opportunity to put some people back to work. De Blasio said the new sites, as well as public hospitals, and eventually private and voluntary systems, are hiring temporary, non-clinical staff.

These will include things like helping to transport patients, cleaning and maintenance of facilities.

"I want to do everything I can to give people back their livelihood," de Blasio said.

Dr. Anthony Fauci said some lives would have been saved if mitigation efforts to control the coronavirus pandemic had been instituted earlier.

Fauci, the nation’s top infectious doctor, was responding to a question after reports that he and other federal health officials were recommending mitigation efforts like social distancing to President Trump as early as mid-February.

When asked why the President didn’t recommend social distancing guidelines until mid-March – about three weeks after the nation’s top health experts wanted to recommend they be put in place – Fauci said, “We look at it from a pure health standpoint. We make a recommendation. Often, the recommendation is taken. Sometimes it’s not. But we – it is what it is. We are where we are right now.”

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said “based on everything we know” the city will have enough ventilators to get through this coming week.

The rate of increase this past week in ventilator use has slowed with an average of 70 more intubations daily, down from 200 to 300, the mayor said.

De Blasio said he thought this week was going to be “much worse," saying it was a “different” week than the one expected.

Once this crisis hit he said the city went into a “crisis standard." Based on this standard, the city will have N95 surgical masks and gloves for the week ahead. He said, however, there will be barely enough face shields and surgical gowns for the week ahead, said de Blasio.