May 10 coronavirus news

Gov. Andrew Cuomo reported that New York has seen 207 coronavirus-related deaths over the past 24 hours.

Cuomo also said the state recorded 521 new coronavirus cases, which brings New York "back to where we started this hellish journey," he said during a new conference Sunday.

In regards to the number of deaths, Cuomo said the number is "still terribly high but better."

On May 8, Cuomo said 226 people had died from Covid-19 in the state.

A key coronavirus model often cited by the White House now predicts more deaths in the US, a shift that a top researcher tied to “explosive increases in mobility in a number of states.” 

The model, from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington, now forecasts 137,000 deaths in the US by August, up from an earlier prediction of about 134,000.

Dr. Christopher Murray, the IHME director, discussed the model on CBS today.

“We’re seeing just explosive increases in mobility in a number of states that we expect will translate into more cases and deaths in ten days from now,” Murray said.

In a press release, Murray said the model is not yet predicting a resurgence or “return to exponential growth” of the epidemic in the US. But cell phone data still shows Americans moving more – which suggests more infections to come.

IHME is also seeing more cases and deaths than expected in certain places, “but it’s mostly mobility that’s driving up the numbers.” Some of that is the result of relaxed social distancing measures, Murray said.

“We’re seeing increases in mobility even in anticipation of the relaxation of social distancing, but there’s definitely a correlation – the places that are taking off the social distancing mandates, the bump in mobility appears to be larger," he said.

Some context: The top five states in terms of increasing mobility, Murray said, are Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and Georgia.

A number of other states have seen a 15-20% percentage point in mobility, according to an IHME press release: Alabama, Alaska, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

While the model only forecasts until August, IHME said later projections will likely extend into October – and will include potential effects of students returning to school. 

This Mother's Day feels very different than most as people across the world cope with the coronavirus pandemic.

That means many people aren't able to see their mom in person or hug them. They are keeping their mom safe by staying home or coming up with creative and virtual ways to celebrate the women in their lives.

President Barack Obama wished Michelle happy Mother's Day with a tweet that said, "Even if you can't give the moms in your life a hug today, I hope you can give them an extra thank you today."

Where stay-at-home orders stand: Several states such Illinois and Michigan still have stay-at-home orders in place.

But, at the same time, more than 45 states have relaxed restrictions on some combination of businesses, services or parks, hoping to lift economies. Some states are even starting to lift those shelter-in-place guidelines.

Most recently, California, one of the first states to implement a stay-at-home order, is set to begin loosening some restrictions Friday. Rhode Island's statewide stay-at-home order will also expire Friday and businesses will be allowed to reopen.

Read Obama's tweet:

White House Economic Adviser Kevin Hassett admitted “there is no downside” to increased coronavirus testing in the US.

Where Trump stands on testing: During a meeting last Wednesday with Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, Trump said, "The media likes to say we have the most cases, but we do, by far, the most testing. If we did very little testing, we wouldn't have the most cases. So, in a way, by doing all of this testing, we make ourselves look bad.”

The day before, talking to the press on the South Lawn, Trump said “We have the best testing anywhere in the world, not even close."

Trump last month told CNN that the US is “…giving out millions of tests every day. We are doing it exponentially. We're picking up and what we'll be doing in the very near future will be going to certain areas of our country and do massive testing.”

About 90% of the state of Ohio is set to open even after a recent uptick in new Covid-19 cases, Gov. Mike DeWine announced on Fox News Sunday.

“I look at kind of a 21-day rule. We are really at a plateau with hospitalizations. We are at a plateau with deaths. We are at a plateau in regard to new cases, so they do go up and down," he said.

DeWine said "it's really a risk no matter what we do."

He said part of doing two things at once is continuing safety measures that are already in place.

"The virus is still out there, it's still very, very dangerous. We have to keep the distancing. People should wear masks, wash their hands. I mean, these are basic things that we have to do. We can't let up," DeWine said.

Trump administration officials continued to predict dire, depression era-level unemployment numbers for the month of May, days after the April unemployment rate hit 17%. 

White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett told CNN on Sunday that he thinks the United States unemployment rate will "probably" be "close to 20%" in the May jobs report, noting this number will depend on what happens with the virus and with the economy as some states begin to reopen.

Hassett said that the middle of the summer will be a "transition phase." He hopes the Congressional Budget Office's prediction for growth in the third and fourth quarters of the year will be right.

"If you remember that we basically stopped the greatest economy on Earth to save lives and I think that we're very glad we've saved lots of lives. We're very glad that we've done that," Hassett said, adding that the CBO's projection for growth in the second half of the year is not a mystery.

Larry Kudlow, the chairman of the White House’s National Economic Council, also acknowledged challenges for May but projected some optimism moving forward. 

Economic rebound: Several of the administration’s economic advisers also predicted a rebound in the second half of the year. 

Kudlow predicted “20 percent economic growth” in the last six months of 2020.

During an interview on “Fox News Sunday,” Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin acknowledged that the US is likely to have a “very, very bad second quarter” followed by what he predicted would be a “bounce back.”

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio responded to recent New York Police Department interactions with the public that involved social distancing or mask-wearing measures.

He referenced one interaction in particular that was caught on video last weekend. De Blasio called the "troubling" video from the lower east side "an instance of the wrong approach to policing."

CNN previously reported on this video. 

While he championed the success the city has had in “deescalating” and lowering the temperature between police and community and improving relationships, de Blasio noted, “We certainly have seen one video in particular and there have been some others that have raised concern."

The city said it is increasing public servants who are educating, providing face coverings, reminding of the rules and “helping people to get it right.” 

He also noted that the numbers of summonses and arrests are “extraordinarily low” given the population of New Yorkers.

Some context: More than 80% of those who were issued summonses for social distancing violations in New York City were people of color.

The data revealed 374 summonses were handed out from March 16 to May 5, averaging less than 10 summonses a day over the 42-day period.

And of that total, 193 of those issued summonses were black and 111 were Hispanic, according to the New York Police Department.

All told, 81% of people issued summonses were black and Latino.

Healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson is looking to produce a billion coronavirus vaccines for next year, according to Dr. Paul Stoffels, the company’s chief scientific officer.

“We start clinical trials in September and hopefully have data by the end of the year,” Stoffels said Sunday on ABC, adding that the company is “now working towards one billion vaccines for next year.”

Johnson & Johnson is upscaling manufacturing and will start producing the vaccine later this year, he said.

Stoffels said “clinical trials will need to be done to show that it is effective, and that will take some time.”

New York City is reporting at least 38 cases of a multi-system inflammatory syndrome in young children that could be related to coronavirus, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Sunday during a news briefing.

Of the verified cases, 47% have tested positive for Covid-19 and of those who tested negative, 81% of the children had the antibodies, de Blasio said.

There are nine other pending cases being investigated across the city, de Blasio said.

At least one child has died from multi-system inflammatory syndrome in New York City, which the mayor called “deeply, deeply troubling."

The mayor said Health and Hospital systems will be conducting antibody testing for all children who exhibit any of the symptoms related to multi-system inflammatory syndrome.

The guidance was also given to city pediatricians.

Statewide: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said yesterday that three children died from this inflammatory syndrome in the state.

These children had symptoms similar to Kawasaki disease and toxic-shock like syndrome, more generally, inflammation that ultimately causes heart problems, Cuomo said.