May 2 coronavirus news

Oprah Winfrey invited fans into her home (virtually) Friday night for a spiritual discussion.

Winfrey kicked off the 24-hour global livestream event called "The Call to Unite," organized in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Her discussion featured the event's organizer, Timothy Shriver, as well as Bishop T.D. Jakes and Eckhart Tolle, a spiritual leader and bestselling author.

Tolle said: "When you experience adversity in your life, it is even more important to be in the present moment. If you do not, you suffer a lot ... when you move to the present moment you might realize ... there's a lot to be grateful for in this moment."

The coronavirus pandemic is nowhere near over -- but in some parts of the world, governments are slowly opening up for business.

Here's a roundup:

Japan had 261 new coronavirus cases and 26 deaths yesterday, according to the country's health ministry.

The nationwide state of emergency was set to lift on May 6, but Prime Minster Shinzo Abe said on Friday that the government plans to extend it for about a month. The final decision will be made Monday, he said.

Japan has had a total of 15,257 coronavirus cases and 471 deaths.

A California couple was arrested at a Hawaii hotel on Thursday for allegedly violating the island state's mandatory 14-day quarantine for travelers.

Officials say the couple, from California's Citrus Heights, came to Honolulu on their honeymoon and arrived at the hotel late Wednesday, when a front desk manager informed them about the self-quarantine order.

The couple allegedly told the manager that airport personnel told them contradictory information, and after further discussion of the rules, the Californians “scoffed at him again and then left the hotel,” according to a press release from Hawaii's COVID-19 Joint Information Center.

The couple, aged 20 and 26, subsequently returned to the hotel with a pizza after midnight, and refused to sign the quarantine acknowledgment, officials say.

The couple was informed again Thursday morning that they were in violation of the state’s quarantine requirements before being arrested, according to the release.

Hawaii Gov. David Ige issued a mandatory 14-day quarantine for all passengers arriving in the state after March 26, and continuing through May 31.

Editor's note: Kara Alaimo, an associate professor of public relations at Hofstra University, was spokeswoman for international affairs in the Treasury Department during the Obama administration. The opinions expressed in this commentary are her own.

Early Wednesday morning, Tesla CEO and self-styled futurist Elon Musk called on Twitter for the government to "FREE AMERICA NOW." He also tweeted, "Give people their freedom back!" On a Tesla earnings call later that day, Musk called stay-at-home orders "fascist."

His words were tone deaf and, for someone with over 33 million Twitter followers to call on the government to end its lockdown, they were also dangerous. Musk is advocating for behavior that would lead to more Covid-19 related deaths in the US.

And while Musk did later tweet, "Yes, reopen with care & appropriate protection, but don't put everyone under de facto house arrest," we are not there yet.

Musk is perhaps frustrated because Tesla factories in New York and California have been shuttered for the time being. Perhaps he thinks that he can tweet them open and help his car business. If this is the case, he is likely to be sorely mistaken. Americans are a lot smarter than Musk is revealing himself to be, and though Tesla reported a Q1 profit -- a surprise to many -- this week, I predict that Musk's ill-advised tweets will negatively impact his business.

In fact, the factory was only closed in March after appearing to operate in violation of a county order limiting activities of nonessential businesses for days. If Musk feels this strongly about opening up the country, then he should tell the public exactly how he plans on safely getting his factory workers back to work. 

Read the full op-ed here:

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Elon Musk is using his power to be selfish

The novel coronavirus has infected more than 3.34 million people worldwide and killed at least 238,500, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Here are the five countries with the highest figures:

Thousands of people gathered in California's Huntington Beach on Friday to protest the governor's order to close all Orange County beaches.

Between 2,500 and 3,000 people took part, according to Huntington Beach Police Chief Robert Handy.

Most of them didn't have masks -- despite recommendations from public health officials that people must wear masks and socially distance in public.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom urged the protesters to look after themselves.

US President Donald Trump has discussed the projected number of deaths from coronavirus, saying that “hopefully we are going to come in below that 100,000 lives lost.”

Trump said Friday that thanks to the steps Americans have taken as part of the 30 days to slow the spread guidelines, “we have saved thousands and thousands of lives. I can even make that, if you want, hundreds of thousands of lives.”

Trump said the 100,000 figure is a “horrible number nevertheless,” and added that coronavirus “should have been stopped at the source, but it wasn’t.”

The 100,000 predicted deaths is a higher number than Trump has used in recent weeks -- previously, he had been predicting up to 70,000 people dying from the virus.

The New York Police Department will have more than 1,000 police officers on foot, bikes and in vehicles to enforce social distancing during the weekend.

The NYPD said the officers will also educate the public about proper social distancing procedures, “so we can all help stop the spread of the coronavirus and keep all New Yorkers safe and healthy.”

Temperatures could reach 72 degrees in New York City on Saturday and 78 degrees on Sunday.