April 17 coronavirus news

At least 1,842 new coronavirus cases were reported in Illinois in the past 24 hours, said Dr. Ngozi Ezike, the state's public health director. It is the largest number of new cases in a single day in the state.

There are now at least 27,575 cases of coronavirus in Illinois, and at 1,134 people have died from the disease, Ezike said.  

“Please continue to stay home. Continue washing your hands, wear a mask if you must leave. Everyone's effort is appreciated. It's noticed your efforts have shown that they can flatten the curve. So proud to be in this state, and see how we have responded to this pandemic,” Ezike said.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said Friday there is a global supply chain breakdown, and governors need more help from the federal government. 

He went on to say they specifically need assistance with testing supplies and personal protective equipment.

Cooper said he wants to ease restrictions, but public safety has to come first. 

The governor also announced a new partnership with three state universities: University of North Carolina, East Carolina University and Duke University. 

The goal, he said, is to address three areas: testing, tracing and trending.

Cooper believes it will show the true number of Covid-19 cases, and its spread. The information, he said, will help state officials determine when to start easing restrictions. 

“I know we can do this, there is no perfect sequence or timing, but there is health guidance, business guidance, and common sense," Cooper said.

There are at least 5,859 coronavirus cases and at least 152 deaths in the state.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said in-person classes will remain closed through the end of the academic year.

However, the governor reiterated distance learning will continue.

“I’ve said time and time again, our decisions must follow the science and the science says our students can’t go back to their normal routine this school year,” Pritzker said.

He continued: “Over the last month, Illinois’ schools have stepped up and faced the many challenges of Covid-19 with generosity, creativity, and a resolute focus on caring for students, parents and communities. I am confident that our schools will manage and expand the learning opportunities for all our children who will be working from home over the coming weeks.”

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California is “now in a pandemic-induced recession,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said Friday.

Unemployment currently stands at 5.3% in the state with a whopping 3.1 million people filing claims in just the past four weeks.

“These are sober and challenging times,” he said.

“As California goes, so goes the nation,” the governor added.

Newsom also announced a new advisory committee that designed a series of plans for economic recovery.

The advisory includes four former governors — Republicans Arnold Schwarzenegger and Pete Wilson and Democrats Gray Davis and Jerry Brown. The council chair is former presidential candidate Tom Steyer. 

Celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck said more coronavirus testing is needed to get customers back into restaurants and halt the restaurant industry’s financial bleeding.

Puck said he’d love to open his restaurants again, but he predicts that even if he could, not many people would feel safe going out to eat in large groups yet. He said he is most worried about the future of small mom-and-pop restaurants. 

“We employ the most people in the country next to the government, and we are the backbone of America,” Puck said.  

He also wants to see insurance companies getting involved with helping restaurants, in addition to the federal government.

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At least 24 states have mandated the closure of schools through the end of the academic year. 

Officials in at least five other states have recommended statewide closures. 

Maine's Department of Education is starting to examine going back to school in the fall.

"100% brick and mortar is very ambitious," Maine's Education Commissioner Pender Makin told CNN.  

Some US states may be able to relax some aspects of social distancing measures as early as May 4, according to the researchers behind an influential model often cited by the White House.

The relaxations could come so long as “robust containment strategies” are implemented to prevent a second wave of infections, according to a statement from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington (IHME).

The states that could open as early as May 4 include Vermont, West Virginia, Montana and Hawaii.

However, other states – including Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Utah, Arkansas and Oklahoma – may need to wait until late June or early July, according to IHME.

Strategies for safely relaxing some social distancing include widely implemented testing, contact tracing and isolation of confirmed cases, and restricting large gatherings, according to the researchers.

The modelers cautioned that decisions by states to relax social distancing should be informed by meeting critical metrics closer to these dates, including a very low number of estimated infections in the community – less than one estimated infection per 1 million people.

More data: The researchers announced that the peak number of daily deaths in the US may have peaked two days ago, and the model is now estimating 60,308 (estimated range of 34,063 to 140,381) deaths across the US by August 4, down from 68,841 as predicted on April 13.

The estimates for total US deaths have been revised downward based in part on newly available cell phone data that provide a window on mobility patterns, according to IHME.

“We are seeing the numbers decline because some state and local governments, and, equally important, individuals around the country have stepped up to protect their families, their neighbors, and friends and coworkers by reducing physical contact,” IHME director Dr. Christopher Murray said in a statement.

Between 50 and 85 times more people may have been infected with Covid-19 than have been confirmed by health officials in Santa Clara County, California, according to a study released Friday as a preprint.

The study used an antibody blood test to estimate how many people had been infected with Covid-19 in the past. Other tests, such as those performed with nasal swabs or saliva, test for the virus' genetic material, which does not persist long after recovery, as antibodies do.

What the numbers say: The study estimated that 2.49% to 4.16% of people in Santa Clara had been infected with Covid-19 by April 1. This represents between 48,000 and 81,000 people, which is 50 to 85 times what county officials recorded by that date: 956 confirmed cases.

Similar efforts to estimate local antibody prevalence have launched in places like Miami-Dade County, Florida; San Miguel County, Colorado; and Los Angeles, California. The National Institutes of Health has a similar effort underway, as well.

Bhattacharya said information from these studies will not only give researchers a better idea on antibody prevalence, but they will also vastly improve projections and disease modeling. Experts have said it's clear there have been more people infected than we've tested for, but it's unclear how much higher that number could be.

"All of the projection models have this as an input: how many people have been infected today," Bhattacharya said.