April 16 coronavirus news

People might soon be able to perform their own test swabs for Covid-19 at home with a newly designed, Q-tip-style swab, the US Food and Drug Administration said today.

The FDA said it had worked with US Cotton to design the swabs, which are shorter than the swabs used by technicians, doctors or nurses to collect samples to test people for Covid-19 infection.

The swabs currently used are long and must be directed deep into the nose – a process that is uncomfortable and can make people sneeze potentially infectious particles.

The new swab is shorter and can collect a sample from the front of the nose, the FDA said.

The FDA also said US Cotton plans to manufacture large quantities of these swabs.

Commercially available cosmetic Q-tips are not suitable for use in testing because their cotton fibers absorb too much snot.

Dr. Deborah Birx underscored that vulnerable populations need to continue to be monitored for potential coronavirus outbreaks as states prepare to reopen their economy.

Birx said the federal government will be conducting “sentinel surveillance throughout nursing homes, throughout inner-city federal clinics, throughout indigenous populations to really be able to find early alerts of asymptomatic individuals in the community and both for the syndromic cases.”

CNN previously reported on the new guidelines for “opening up America again,” which offer federal guidance advising when states should allow people back into the community and workplaces.

“We did not put a timeline on any of the phases. We want the governors, with the data that they have, community by community, to be setting up those timelines,” Birx said.

There are three phases to the “opening up America again” plan, and Birx called phase three “returning to our new normal.”

President Trump said certain states that are not battling a coronavirus outbreak could open for business as soon as Friday if they meet the criteria laid out by the White House today.

“If you look at Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota – that’s a lot different than New York, it’s a lot different than New Jersey,” Trump said at the coronavirus task force briefing.

The President said the current Centers for Disease Control and Prevention social distancing guidelines should remain in place unless a governor determines it has gone 14 days with a low-enough number of cases to satisfy the new reopening guidelines.

“They’ll be in place, dependent on what the governor wants to do,” he said.

Trump said states could open tomorrow if they retroactively determine they’ve hit the two-week mark, allowing them to move onto the next “phase” of the new guidelines.

Trump noted that if a governor acted too quickly to open its businesses and allow mass gatherings, the administration would be “expressing ourselves very strongly.”

“We have large sections of the country right now that can start thinking about opening,” he said.

The President noted that he asked officials today in meetings why the recommendations included that people wear masks in public, even in an area that has not seen many Covid-19 cases, when things return to a version of normal. He said he was told that is to protect locals “if someone should come in from an area that isn’t so successful” in mitigating the spread of the virus.

Trump said 29 states are “in that ballgame” of being able to consider reopening in the days ahead.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease specialist, said just because the country may start using the phased plan to slowly reopen the economy, "it's not game over."

He said at the daily coronavirus briefing that there are checks built in to each phase to ensure safety above everything else — even if that means things don't go completely back to "normal."

Fauci said it is important to continue to take measures to prevent the spread of the virus until there is a vaccine.

"It may very well be that as we go the cycle around there will be this virus that wants to come back to us. I think we will be able to handle that," Fauci said.

Missouri’s stay-at-home order will be extended through May 3, according to an announcement Thursday from the governor’s office. 

Parson said he is cautiously optimistic that “Missouri is beginning to slow the course of the infection.”

He said the state's ability to reopen the economy after May 3 depends on how quickly they can expand testing and the supply of personal protective equipment for health care workers.

Today on a call with the nation's governors about reopening the economy after the coronavirus, several governors pressed President Trump over lack of testing. 

According a source familiar, the administration focused on the two main private sector firms, Quest and Labcorp, saying both of them still had capacity to conduct more tests.

But, as this source notes, this does not address one of the biggest problems many states face, not just a lack of tests, but lack of materials needed for the testing, such as swabs.

During the call, the White House insisted that they had shipments of the swabs getting ready to go out, which should make the testing easier. However, the source pointed out that the administration has been promising this for more than a month.

The other problem with private testing is that it still takes multiple days to get the results.

At one point, the administration also said that not all states were using their public state labs to their capacity.

During his announcement about new guidelines from the federal government, President Trump made a complete reversal in course from remarks earlier this week where he suggested he had “absolute authority” to reopen the country.

Trump suggested Thursday that governors will be empowered to make the decisions regarding stay-at-home orders and will be supported by the federal government.

“Governors will be empowered to tailor an approach that meets the diverse circumstances of their own states, every state is very different. They’re all beautiful, we love them all, but they’re very, very different. They need to remain closed, we will allow them to do that. And if they believe it is time to reopen, we will provide them the freedom and guidance to accomplish that task and very, very quickly, depending on what they want to do,” Trump said at the coronavirus task force press briefing.

He continued: “We are also encouraging states to work together to harmonize their regional efforts. We’ll have numerous cases where states have worked, and will be working, very, very closely together.”

CNN reported details of the proposal earlier Thursday. 

There has now been at least 658,263 cases of coronavirus in the US, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

At least 32,186 people in the country have died from coronavirus.

As states begin to include “probable deaths” in their counts, so will Johns Hopkins University. In the upcoming days, these changes may show as surges of deaths in the United States. 

Today, Johns Hopkins reported 20,152 new cases and 1,342 reported deaths. 

The totals include cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, as well as all repatriated cases. 

President Trump announced a proposed measure to reopen the economy in three phases at today's daily coronavirus briefing.

Earlier today Trump gave state governors the proposed plan.

CNN reported on the recommendations sent to governors earlier Thursday. 

The plan outlines the “proposed state or regional gating criteria” for each phase. It includes when to reopen restaurants, bars, gyms and public spaces and gives guidance for employers, as well as phasing in nonessential travel.

In the first phase of reopening, the document suggests schools that are currently closed should remain so. Large venues can operate under strict social distancing protocols. Gyms can open as long as they maintain social distancing guidelines, but bars should remain shuttered.

The President said that because states are all different, governors will make decisions based on individual needs.

"If they need to remain closed, we will allow them to do that. If they believe it is time to reopen, we will provide them the freedom and guidance to accomplish that task and very, very quickly depending on what they want to do," he said.

The phased plan also encourages employers to enact social distancing, temperature checks, testing and sanitation practices.

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