April 2 coronavirus news

New Yorkers are now advised to wear a face covering when outside and near other people, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a press conference today.

De Blasio stressed that it does not mean that New Yorkers should wear a medical mask when outside and that they should be left for healthcare workers.

The guidance come after a study was released yesterday about asymptomatic spread of coronavirus.

“When you wear the face covering you are protecting everyone else,” de Blasio added.

The order to wear a face covering does not replaces social distancing orders, de Blasio said.

New York state will conduct a nightly, hospital-by-hospital, supply inventory survey to see how each hospital is stocked when it comes to supplies needed to fight the coronavirus pandemic, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced today.

All hospitals are also being asked to contribute supplies they don’t currently need to a central stockpile so the state can distribute supplies to hospitals with the greatest need.

“Rather than having all these regional systems and public systems, private systems, et cetera, we have a central stockpile. We are asking all the hospitals to contribute what they have to that central stockpile, and then we will disburse on a need basis,” Cuomo added. “You know, some hospitals have more supplies than they're using. We're saying, don't hoard supplies. Let's put all the supplies in the central stockpile, and then we will draw down from the central stockpile, and we will monitor this literally on a daily basis.

The Life Care Center nursing home home in Kirkland, Washington, which was an epicenter of Covid-19 cases in the early days of the pandemic, now faces a fine of more than $611,000 and loss of its Medicare and Medicaid funding if it does not correct a variety of problems that stem from its handling of the disease outbreak at its facility.

Inspectors for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) found three "immediate jeopardy" deficiencies as well as several other, less severe, issues when they first visited the facility from March 6 to March 16, a summary for that visit shows.

"There was no evidence the facility recognized all possible systemic risks and concerns related to this known outbreak," the report adds.

Other serious issues identified by inspectors were a failure to "ensure timely notification of public health authorities" and to make available "emergency physician services 24 hours a day during the outbreak crisis."

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson has not yet signed off on a statewide stay-at-home order, but indicated in a Thursday press conference that this could change soon.

Parson noted Missouri's social distancing requirements are set to expire shortly.

“We said we would evaluate (the next step) at the end of that order. That time is coming," he added.

Parson said he plans to announce more information on Friday. He said officials are trying to determine whether “essential businesses” could be classified differently in urban and rural parts of Missouri if there were a statewide order.

The state’s most populous counties already have put their own stay-at-home orders into effect covering more than two million Missourians. 

After issuing a stay-at-home executive order on Wednesday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed another executive order today that overrides any conflicting orders put in place by local governments. 

It's an about-face for the governor. Earlier in the Covid-19 crisis, when he was criticized for not closing the state’s beaches, the governor said the move was because he wanted cities and counties to make their own decisions.  

Desantis said at a Thursday news briefing that he did not believe the government had the authority to close church.

Remember: Hillsborough County is one of the local governments affected by DeSantis' superseding order. The county enacted its own order limiting social gatherings to ten or fewer people. The county sheriff arrested popular pastor Rodney Howard-Browne for continuing to hold large church services in violation of the order. 

But the state's new stay-at-home order includes "attending religious services conducted in churches, synagogues and house of worship" as essential activities.  

The stay-at-home order starts Friday and will expire on April 30. 

The commander of the USS Theodore Roosevelt who in a memo warned Navy leadership that more action was needed for the Covid-19 outbreak on the ship is expected to be relieved of duty for being suspected of leaking the memo, a defense official tells CNN

Capt. Brett Crozier wrote in the memo, "We are not at war. Sailors do not need to die. If we do not act now, we are failing to properly take care of our most trusted asset — our Sailors," Capt. Brett Crozier wrote in a memo to the Navy's Pacific Fleet, three US defense officials have confirmed to CNN.

The US Navy aircraft carrier where an outbreak of the coronavirus has spread to over 100 sailors in recent days.

The US Navy declined to comment.

Reuters was first to report this story. 

Watch:

There are at least 236,339 cases of coronavirus in the US and 5,648 people have died,

according to Johns Hopkins University's tally of cases in the United States.

So far, on Thursday, 19,617 new cases have been reported and 511 people have died, according to the tally by Johns Hopkins. 

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

Wyoming is the only state not reporting a death from coronavirus.

Gov. Mike DeWine announced today that Ohio's stay-at-home order will be extended until May 1.

All travelers entering the state are also required to quarantine for 14 days.

 All K-12 schools in Indiana “shall provide instruction via remote learning “ for remainder of the school year," according to an executive order signed by Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb,

All school buildings shall remained closed. More in the order here