June 5 coronavirus news

New York City is seeing nearly double the amount of people in Covid-19 hospital admissions, Mayor Bill de Blasio said during Friday’s news conference, referring to the number as “meaningful movement.”

At least 84 people were admitted to hospitals across the city as of June 3, the mayor said, up from 48 admissions reported the day before.

ICU admissions were at 344 Wednesday, which is below the city’s goal of 400, de Blasio said.

The percentage of people that are testing positive for Covid-19 is at 4% and that number is “very good,” de Blasio said.

The government of Spain is aiming to reopen the country for tourism in July. The prime ministers of Spain and Italy sent a joint letter Thursday to the European Commission President, Ursula Von der Leyen, asking her to take the lead so that in the European Union, "the lifting of restrictions at our internal borders must be carried out in coordinated, non-discriminatory manner," the letter stated.

Just over half of Spain's population will advance next Monday to the final phase of de-escalation, allowing for more activities and movement, as the government lifts additional confinement measures that have been in place since March to battle the coronavirus pandemic, the government announced Friday.

Parts of Spain advance to phase 3 of reopening: Starting next Monday, “52% of the Spanish population will be in phase 3 and 48% in phase 2,” Illa said.

No part of Spain will remain in the more restrictive phase 1.

Officials say the territories with the least amount of new coronavirus cases and the best preparation for any new outbreaks advance to phase 3, including the nation's prime beach areas - Spain's Balearic and Canary Islands, and Andalusia, with its long Mediterranean coastline.

But the Madrid region and the Barcelona metropolitan area, will move only to Phase 2, which allows indoor restaurant seating and shopping centers to reopen, but only at 40 percent of their client capacity. The two largest cities were the hardest hit areas in Spain by the coronavirus.

Starting on June 8th, the territories in phase 3 will be managed by their respective regional governments, instead of the Spanish government, and the regions can decide if a particular territory is ready “to finish the state of alarm and move on to the new normality. This could be before June 21st,” Illa said.

Some context: Spain and Italy are among the hardest hit countries in Europe by Covid-19, and their potent tourism sectors have suffered, so the two prime ministers called on the EC to base the border openings on "common, clear and epidemiological criteria."

Various EU countries have talked of opening borders, closed due to Covid-19, at different times. Spain's parliament approved this week a final extension to the nation's state of emergency, that began on March 14 and will now continue until June 21, or just over three months in all.

The Health Minister once again today called for prudence in these final steps of the de-escalation process, so as not to go back in the fight against Covid-19.

For the first time, the University of Pennsylvania will be "test-optional" and will not require the SAT or ACT exams for the 2020-21 first-year or transfer admission cycles. 

The university said it sees the tests as "one piece of a more comprehensive evaluation process that considers individual students in the context of their academic and personal experiences."

The university said it will continue to "follow the rules and regulations of the Ivy League in the recruitment of student-athletes to the institution."

In April, the College Board announced that If schools haven't reopened by the fall, students will be able to take the SAT from home.

CORRECTION: The photo caption in this post has been updated to reflect the building in the photo is College Hall.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced in a news conference today that the city would launch mobile testing sites next week and is still on track to reopen on Monday.

Nearly 32,000 construction sites are eligible to restart during this initial reopening phase, de Blasio said.

The city will deploy two trucks to two neighborhoods, one in Queens and the other in the Bronx, to do Covid-19 diagnostic tests for residents in those areas, de Blasio said.

The city is looking to have up to 10 trucks in July. There will be walk-ins, with a capacity of 80 tests per truck per day.

The mayor said people need to be reminded that testing is “always free, it is easy, it's fast and it is coming to you.” 

de Blasio explained that the idea for the initiative arose after the city government spoke to community members about what their needs were in battling the virus.

The mayor said mobile testing is needed in "neighborhoods hit hard so that people can more easily connect with testing."

"I want every New Yorker to get tested," de Blasio said. He added that he “strongly urges” anyone who has been to any of the protests to get tested.

Here are the details of the mobile testing program:

US stocks rocketed higher Friday morning after the US Labor Department said America added 2.5 million jobs last month.

That shocking announcement confirmed investors’ hopes that the economy was starting to bounce back from the depths of the coronavirus pandemic.

Here is where things stood at opening:

Universal Studios Florida, Universal's Islands of Adventure and Universal's Volcano Bay are set to reopen to the public today with limited attendance.

Here are the new guidelines for guests:

The company tweeted out a video outlining its new guidelines for park visitors.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed off on Universal's plans, the company said. The reopening proposal was presented last month at a virtual meeting of the Orange County Economic Recovery Task Force. The task force approved the proposal, as did Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings.

The company released their park hours in a tweet this morning:

Mosques across Indonesia's capital city of Jakarta reopened Friday for the first time in three months.

The mass prayer led by Indonesia's President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) at the Baiturrahim Mosque, the Presidential Palace Complex, was the first to be held at the mosque since the implementation of large-scale social distancing in Jakarta due to Covid-19, according to state-run news Antara .  

In line with the country's health protocols to curb the spread of Covid-19, the president wore a mask and had to undergo a body temperature check-up before entering the mosque.

Friday's prayer was performed in accordance with stringent health protocols, including body temperature scanning and implementation of physical distancing among worshipers, according to information from the press, media and the Information Bureau of the Presidential Secretariat.

Among the reopening measures, worshipers are required to carry along their own respective prayer equipment, wear masks, and wash in accordance with the Islamic teachings before visiting the mosque. 

The capacity of the mosque has been temporarily reduced to only 150 worshipers, from its normal capacity of 750 worshipers.

Some context: Indonesia is home to the world's largest Muslim population. But as Covid-19 cases were rapidly increasing, the government declared a national public health emergency on March 31.

A holiday travel ban was imposed on all road, air and sea during Ramadan, Islam's holiest month; and tens of thousands of troops were deployed at checkpoints to enforce the regulations to prevent the disease from further spreading.

The US economy gained 2.5 million American jobs in May. The unemployment rate fell to 13.3%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ jobs report.

Economists expected the unemployment rate to be even worse in May, rising to nearly 20%. But the gradual reopening of the economy actually added new jobs rather than eliminating further positions.

The labor market rebounded from April's drastic losses, when a revised 20.7 million jobs vanished. The unemployment rate last month soared to 14.7% as businesses shut during the coronavirus lockdown.

The fight against the coronavirus will not be over “until there is no virus anywhere in the world,” according to World Health Organization (WHO) spokesperson Dr. Margaret Harris.

Speaking at a press briefing in Geneva, Harris confirmed that there have been “upticks” of the virus in countries which have eased measures, but she said that she was “not talking specifically about Europe”.

The World Health Organization has continually affirmed that countries easing measures should do so gradually and cautiously.