April 16 coronavirus news

Around 75% of all new cases recorded on Monday and Tuesday in New Mexico occurred in the northwest corner of the state's Navajo Nation counties, Cabinet Secretary for Health and Human Services Department Dr. David Scrase said in a news conference on Wednesday.

The counties where the cases occurred were McKinley, San Juan, and Sandoval.

"It is a very vulnerable population, so we are doubly concerned to see the rate of cases in this part of the state combined with these other social determinants of health and socioeconomic factors that may make people even more vulnerable."

Bending the curve: At the same news conference, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced that the state is bending the curve. Grisham said New Mexico is in a perfect position to partner with the federal government to pilot surveillance, research, and contact tracing in the state.

"We are getting the federal government to pay attention to this as a public health national security and national emergency issue that requires them to lead in a national public health response. New Mexico can help them make the right decisions and get the right data."

Separately, she said that New Mexico is not doing a mail-in election. Every New Mexican who would like to vote by absentee ballot will have to mail in a request. 

New Mexico has reported at least 1,484 coronavirus cases, with 36 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. 

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said last month he had obtained more than 1,000 ventilators to help California hospitals treating patients infected with the coronavirus, an effort Gov. Gavin Newsom hailed as “heroic.”

Now, more than three weeks later, the governor’s office says none of the promised ventilators have been received by hospitals.

At a March 23 news conference, Newsom said the devices, which can provide life-saving support to patients infected with the virus, had already arrived in Los Angeles and were on their way to hospitals in need.

"I told you a few days ago that he was likely to have 1,000 ventilators this week," Newsom said. "They've arrived in Los Angeles, and Elon Musk is already working with hospital association and others to get those ventilators out. It’s a heroic effort."

Shortly after the dramatic announcement, Musk said in a tweet: “China had an oversupply, so we bought 1255 FDA-approved ResMed, Philips & Medtronic ventilators on Friday night & airshipped them to LA. If you want a free ventilator installed, please let us know!”

But despite the claims, none of the ventilators promised by Musk have been delivered to hospitals, according to the governor's office.

Spokespersons for Tesla did not return CNN requests for comment. The news was first reported by the Sacramento Bee.

Some background: Major US companies like Ford and Apple have also announced plans to produce ventilators and donate face masks for health care workers treating patients infected with the virus.

Last week, Newsom reassured residents that California now has enough ventilators to meet its projected needs, after some questioned his decision to lend 500 machines to other states in crisis. 

UPDATE: After this post was initially published, Elon Musk responded on Twitter. CNN has more reporting on this story here.

RELATED

Elon Musk says he sent ventilators to California hospitals, they say they got something else instead

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned again Wednesday that the national lockdown would continue for weeks to come even though the country has, so far, been spared the worst of Covid-19.

Canada reported 28,205 cases on Wednesday and 1,008 deaths. Nearly half of those deaths were related to outbreaks in long-term care facilities. Still, per capita, Canada has had fewer cases and deaths than the United States and most European countries.

But Trudeau says that doesn’t mean the country is reopening anytime soon, and certainly not by May 1.

"It would be terrible if we were to release restrictions too early and find out we're suddenly back in another big wave of Covid-19," he said, adding that any reopening would happen in phases.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti told CNN's Wolf Blitzer concerts and sporting events will not be allowed in the city until 2021.

Garcetti said unless there is a vaccine or a pharmaceutical intervention, there won't be mass gatherings like concerts and sporting events in Los Angeles until next year.

Watch:

Dairy farmers in California are being forced to dump milk due to an enormous decrease in demand with schools and restaurants remaining closed during the statewide stay-at-home order.

As the shelter-in-place orders increased throughout March and restaurants were forced to close, 50% of the customer base was eliminated almost overnight, according to Western United Dairies CEO Anja Raudabaugh, who represents over 860 dairy farm families in California.

Restaurant chains like TGI Friday’s and Applebee’s are huge customers of the dairy industry, but they stopped placing orders in the middle of March, Raudabaugh said.

The demand also significantly decreased with school closures and lunch programs shutting down. While schools are still delivering drive-through meals, the demand is not even close to what it was, Raudabaugh said.

California dairy farmers saw the biggest impact from these two sectors and it caused a tremendous amount of distribution challenges.

Plants are now running at about 150% of their capacity, according to Raudabaugh.

US stock futures were down in after-hours trading on Wednesday after the Dow and S&P logged their worst trading day since April 1.

Dow futures were down 157 points, or about 0.6%. S&P 500 futures were down about 0.7% and Nasdaq futures were down about 0.7%. 

Stocks plummeted on Wednesday following a plethora of negative economic data and weak earnings. 

The Dow dipped 445 points, or 1.9%. The S&P dropped 2.2% and the Nasdaq dropped 1.4%, paring its longest four-day winning streak since early February. Both the Dow and S&P 500 logged its worst day since April 1. 

Bank of America and Citigroup saw weak bank earnings as they prepare for loan defaults incurred from the pandemic. Bank of America's first quarter profits dropped by 45%. The bank announced on Wednesday it has set aside $4.8 billion for credit losses linked to the virus.

Economic data released on Wednesday also saw sharp declines. Retail sales in March tumbled 8.7%, the worst monthly decline since the department began tracking data in 1992.

Thursday's weekly jobless claims report is expected to post another 5.1 million people who have filed for unemployment benefits.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she thinks any discussions on reopening the US economy must be based on health care and science.

Pelosi went on to say that's why testing is critical. She added that the US still doesn't have "the appropriate, adequate testing" to identify the challenge.

"So really we have been delinquent. We have to have a change in that," she said. "It's one thing to say well, it wasn't done right. But there's no excuse for us to not do it right as we go forward. It's so obvious. Almost sinful."