April 14 coronavirus news

Nebraska Crossing Outlets says it will fully open its doors on April 24 for brick and mortar shopping.

The outlets will allow its more than 80 tenants to invite customers to shop in what it called a “soft opening.”

Nebraska Crossing Outlets, near Omaha, would become one of the first malls to fully open back up across the country.

Owner and developer Rod Yates told CNN his tenants, which include several global retail brands, asked to use his outdoor outlet as a case study to see what best practices are necessary to start opening storefronts across the country and globe. 

“We’ll experiment, we're going to walk, we're going to be very, very cautious,” he added.  

The mall has largely been open for individual stores to fulfill curbside pick-up orders but haven’t let customers actually inside the stores. This soft opening would change that. The outlet mall is home to retailers like Nike, Adidas, Polo Ralph Lauren, Kate Spade among others.

Some background: Nebraska is one of seven states in the US to have no official stay-at-home order. With less than 1,000 cases statewide, Gov. Pete Ricketts ordered businesses like hair salons, tattoo parlors and strip clubs to be closed until May 31 but only “urged” individuals to practice social distancing guidelines without making them mandatory.

The state’s peak is expected around May 2, eight days after the outlet mall reopens.

Yates said he’s communicated with Ricketts about the outdoor mall opening, saying the governor cautioned against creating any mass opening events — leading to the “soft opening” that will gradually transition to a full opening in May, according to a letter sent to stores.

As a precaution, Yates said the mall bought 100 of infrared forehead thermometers to give to each store, encouraging them to take the temperatures of employees and possibly even customers. But the use is not mandatory. Covid-19 can be contagious even when those infected don’t have fevers.

Yates said he will also leave crowd size regulation up to individual stores. The outdoor mall sits on more than 40 acres of land, Yates said, but shop sizes vary so creating a one-size fits all mandate for stores isn’t ideal. He does not expect all stores will participate in the opening. 

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Tuesday that the state will have access to 1 million N95 masks.

He said Florida's Emergency Management Department will also be delivering 1.2 million​procedure masks, 100,000 face shields, 500,000 gloves, 60,000 containers of hand sanitizer, and 35,000 gowns.

In total, DeSantis said the state will have distributed:

This post was updated to accurately reflect the number of gowns.

President Trump's trade adviser Peter Navarro appeared on Fox News after the White House briefing to defend the President’s WHO funding halt and discuss how it could impact US-China relations.

“The World Health Organization is a single failure during this epidemic. They basically hid information from the public, they failed to call this a pandemic long after others had rightfully done so. There is blood on their hands. I think President Trump is absolutely correct to have a full investigation of how that happened and what China’s role might’ve been to that," Navarro said.

Pressed on how this could impact future trade negotiations with China, he called those “interesting questions” but went on to talk about supply chains.

Asked again later in the interview how coronavirus will impact the US-China relationship, Navarro said, “We have to find out where it originated. We have to understand why China did not tell us for six weeks in which we lost precious time preparing for a pandemic.”

He continued: “This is something we will not forget: China was basically vacuuming up the world’s PPE around the world so that we didn’t have it in New York and people didn’t have it in Milan. That’s a question that has to be answered. The question going forward is will they provide the PPE to the world as we go through this crisis without strings?”

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.