April 16 coronavirus news

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.

Watch:

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster has proposed the state legislature come back in late June, since coronavirus is expected to peak in mid-May.

By June, coronavirus will be on the downside of its’ peak and businesses should be opening around that time, McMaster said.

“We expect to be back in business by then. That way the government won’t shut down and no one needs to have any concerns about the government shutting down. We will not let the government shut down and it will continue into the next fiscal year,” he said.

McMaster said South Carolinians cannot let their guard down and asked that they continue to follow stay-at-home orders and social distancing protocols.

As part of his unveiling of new reopening guidelines, President Trump is expected to announce Thursday a new effort to bolster contact tracing in states, according to a person familiar with the plans.

The effort will include the hiring of hundreds of staffers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to perform tracing in states and helping states pay for new teams to contact people who have tested positive to see who they have interacted with.

The effort is meant to prevent new outbreaks in places as they begin to reopen. The new workers would supplement existing contact tracing efforts in state and local health departments.

Health experts, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, have cited contact tracing — along with testing and isolating cases — as essential to reopening efforts.

Earlier, CNN reported that teams from the CDC are being sent to the eight states — New Mexico, Wyoming, Idaho, Alaska, North Dakota, Kentucky, West Virginia and Ohio — to bolster contact tracing efforts in order to help contain Covid-19.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Thursday a new program that will provide emergency monetary relief for up to 20,000 “immigrant workers and their families, who have largely been excluded from federal COVID-19 relief programs.”

New York City is partnering with the Open Society Foundations to establish the $20 million fund, according to a statement from de Blasio’s office.

Thirty-three people died from coronavirus at the Andover Subacute and Rehabilitation Center II, one of New Jersey's largest nursing homes, the state Department of Health told CNN in a statement.

New Jersey previously said there were 19 deaths related to coronavirus at the facility.

Andover Police on Monday evening received a tip that led them to the facility's morgue, where they found 17 bodies, one of the responding officers told CNN.

"The staff was clearly overwhelmed and probably short-staffed," Andover Police Chief Eric Danielson, one of the responding officers, told CNN. "The residents were expiring. Why? We're not sure if it's from Covid-19 or from other diseases, but we tried our best to ease the burden."

This post has been updated with the latest figures.

There are at least 654,301 cases of coronavirus in the US and at least 31,628 people have died, according to Johns Hopkins University's tally of cases.

On Thursday, Johns Hopkins reported 16,190 new cases and 784 reported deaths. 

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

All public and private schools in New Hampshire will remain closed for the rest of the school year and students will continue remote learning, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu said at a news conference on Thursday. 

Sununu said the decision was made to prevent the transmission of Covid-19. 

Sununu called for developing innovative ways to handle graduation and summer programs. 

Germany will begin adjusting to a “new normal” as the government lifts some restrictions previously imposed to limit the spread of coronavirus, German Health Minister Jens Spahn said Thursday.

He cautioned that the country will not be “like it was before."

“The number of new infections in Germany is down, and this has given us a chance to reopen, step-by-step. And that is important – step-by-step to a new normal. This won’t be like it was before,” Spahn told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour. 

“This needs a step-by-step approach, of that I am very much convinced. This is a new virus, this is a new situation and, because of that, we are very cautious,” Spahn said. 

Spahn said citizens would need to continue practicing social distancing and wearing masks for "months" to come. 

The Department of Defense has revised their figures for Covid-19 cases across the department with a slightly lower figure.

As of 5 a.m. ET Thursday, 2,889 service members tested positive for Covid-19, including two US service members who have died from coronavirus. This figure is lower than Tuesday when the figure was higher at 3,022 service members.

Two Pentagon officials said the discrepancy was due to miscounting in the Army but the Army has not yet responded with an on-the-record response.

"We strive to release information as quickly and accurately as possible," the Pentagon said in a statement. "The Department of Defense will continue to refine our reporting to the public.”

There are now at least 4,695 positive cases across the entire Department of Defense.