April 14 coronavirus news

Honolulu will begin requiring people to wear facial coverings when visiting essential businesses starting Monday. 

Mayor Kirk Caldwell said the new requirement applies to businesses like grocery stores. People will not be required to have a commercially-produced mask, he said.

The mayor said the order does not apply to people working in offices that are not open to the public, although facial coverings are still recommended at those businesses. People also must cover their faces when riding public transportation.

To avoid confusion, Caldwell said there is one major exception to the rule: no one should wear a mask in a bank.

“Usually when people go into a bank with a mask, it's not a good outcome,” Caldwell said.

The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), which represents over 900,000 grocery workers, said today that 30 union members have died from coronavirus.

UFCW said another nearly 3,000 food and grocery workers “have been directly impacted by COVID-19,” based on reports from local unions.

Perrone continued: “While tens of millions of Americans were told to work from home for their safety, grocery store and food workers have never had that option. More must be done to protect them and our food supply now.”

The directly impacted workers include those who have tested positive for Covid-19, missed work due to self-quarantine, are awaiting test results, have been hospitalized or are symptomatic, the union said. 

The UFCW says it representing 1.3 million people in grocery stores, meatpacking, food processing, retail shops and other industries and has members in all 50 US states, Canada and Puerto Rico.

The largest professional association of physicians, the American Medical Association, labeled President Trump’s announcement that he will put a hold on funding for the World Health Organization as “dangerous.”

AMA President Dr. Patrice A. Harris issued a statement today in response to Trump's announcement.

Here's a portion of her statement:

What we know: During a White House press briefing today, Trump announced he will halting funding while a review is conducted.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker praised President Trump for saying during the White House press briefing that it was up to the states to decide when to reopen their economies.

He added: "I think (New York) Gov. (Andrew) Cuomo had it right when he said that the President is not a king. He's President of the United States of America. And so we're looking forward to evaluating what it is that we're going to do going forward. The most important thing that we'll do is focus on the safety and health of the people of our states. In my case, you know, I've made it clear, we need testing, tracing, contact tracing, and we need a treatment. Put that together with readily available PPE, and then you can start to talk about how you will reopen an economy."

On the issue of acquiring supplies, Pritzker said he isn't relying on the federal government for help.

"We've gotten very little help from the federal government," he said. "It's fine. I've given up on any promises that had been made. I hope something will get delivered from the federal government, but I don't expect it anymore."

The surgery chair of a New York City hospital says more patients are departing than arriving.

Dr. Craig Smith of the New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center also said the number of patients in the Intensive Care Unit and on ventilators appears to be leveling off at two hospitals who are bearing the brunt of those cases.

Smith wrote these details in a daily note to faculty and staff.

There are also less autopsies: Smith says autopsies have become uncommon in most settings, notes “phone consent is not considered acceptable”

He added: "Because phone consent is not considered acceptable—a significant hurdle when visitors are not allowed. We are pursuing solutions to that unintended consequence of an administrative policy that was less often objectionable pre-pandemic.”

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins pressed President Trump on his previous praise for China’s transparency on coronavirus.

“China has been working very hard to contain the coronavirus. The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency. It will all work out well. In particular, on behalf of the American People, I want to thank President Xi!” Trump tweeted on Jan. 24, as he and his administration downplayed the outbreak.

Days later, Trump announced he was banning foreign nationals who had traveled to China from entering the US.

“I don’t talk about China’s transparency,” Trump claimed in the Rose Garden Tuesday, citing his travel ban as evidence.

“I was the one person that wanted to do it. You know why? Because I don’t believe everything I hear,” Trump said of his travel ban decision.

According to Johns Hopkins University's tally of cases in the United States, there are at least 602,989 cases of coronavirus in the United States.

On Tuesday, Johns Hopkins reported 20,382 new cases in the United States.

San Francisco Pride has decided to cancel its parade and celebration this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, the organization announced in a statement today.

The two day event in San Francisco, scheduled for June 27 and 28, would have marked San Francisco Pride’s 50th anniversary with over a million attendees, according to the statement.

“This was not a decision we arrived at lightly,” San Francisco Pride Executive Director Fred Lopez said.

Nonprofit event producers are working to determine alternate ways to celebrate the 50th anniversary through digital platforms.

SF Pride will join other Pride organizations in a worldwide “Virtual Global Pride” event on June 27.

President Trump says he'll soon reveal details and guidelines for reopening the country but appeared to acknowledge that individual state governors will ultimately determine when to reverse stay-at-home orders.

Only a day earlier, Trump insisted he had absolute authority to determine when states would be able to reopen their economies.

But his message Tuesday was different. He said governors would determine their own plans. And while he said he was authorizing them to do it, there wasn't any evidence they would require such sign-off.

Trump said he would be "authorizing each individual governor of each individual state to implement a reopening and a very powerful reopening plan of their state."

He said he would soon speak to all 50 governors about the plans, and indicated some states without major outbreaks could potentially open before May 1.

He said his administration would work to hold governors accountable for the plans.

But he said they'd be working closely with the states.

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