April 4 coronavirus news

President Trump said that this week and next will probably be the toughest in the fight against coronavirus and that “there will be a lot of death.”

While speaking at the coronavirus task force briefing on Saturday, Trump painted a grim picture of the next two weeks, but added that there will be less death than if certain mitigation steps were not taken.

Watch:

California Gov. Gavin Newsom provided the following data on coronavirus cases in the state in a press conference Saturday:

President Trump has approved disaster declarations for Wisconsin and Nebraska in response to coronavirus.

These are the 40th and 41st such declarations he has made in response to the coronavirus pandemic, including 36 states, the US Virgin islands, the Northern Mariana Islands, Washington, DC, Guam and Puerto Rico.

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson has directed vacation rental properties, motels and hotels not to issue occupancy to "out of state recreational travelers" in an executive order issued Saturday.  

It's been a challenge as "people leave New Orleans or they go from another hot spot, they see the opportunity to come to Arkansas," Hutchinson said at a press briefing. 

Occupancy should only be issued to health care workers, first responders, airline crew, journalists, Covid-19 patients or work related travelers, Hutchinson says.

Hutchinson has not issued a stay-at-home order "primarily because most people are making responsible choices," Hutchinson said in a statement Friday.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said that 126,700 individuals have been tested for coronavirus statewide, according to a press conference he held on Saturday

“That testing number may sound high to some. It is low to many others and certainly to me,” Newsom said.

Out of the 126,700 tests that have been administered, the state is still waiting on results for 13,000 individuals.

"We have substantially reduced that backlog, a lot of that had to do with the commercial labs stepping up,” Newsom said. 

The governor admittedly "owned up" to the largest county in the state not providing data collection in real time to Californians saying, “you deserve better and more and we are going to do just that.”

What else is being done: In the last week or so, Newsom’s office created a newly formed task force led by private and public sector leaders tasked with handling coronavirus testing headed by co-chairs Paul Markovich, president and CEO of Blue Shield of California, and Dr. Charity Dean, an Assistant Director at California Dept. of Public Health.

JPMorgan Chase is still having issues processing the thousands of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) applications it received through the online portal that went live Friday, according to an executive familiar with the process.

The problem isn’t tied to JPM’s system—it stems from the lack of clear guidance from the government about the program’s requirements and the lack of a streamlined way to transfer information from the bank’s customers to the Small Business Administration (SBA) on day one, said the person.  

It’s becoming clear that the government didn’t plan this out well and that the volume is greater than it expected, the person said.

Officials at the Treasury Department and SBA pushed back on the criticism, citing the fact that smaller lenders have been able to process the application.

“Billions of dollars in loans have been registered on the very first day of activity. We are continuing to update guidance and work with lenders to ensure that all eligible borrowers and lenders are able to participate in this critical program to provide much-needed relief to hardworking Americans and businesses,” said a Treasury spokesman.

But it appears the administration rolled out the program before providing the larger lenders the tools they need to process large volumes, said the person familiar with JP Morgan Chase’s progress in processing the PPP applications.

A bottleneck: Right now, on the front end, the bank’s online portals are taking thousands of applications, but the applications are getting stuck because the back-end requires bank representatives to call each applicant for more information.

That’s because the front-end online application has been streamlined to the most basic questions, which don’t give the bank enough information to complete the SBA form. As a result, a bank rep has to call each applicant. 

“The volume is going to be small in the beginning,” said the person.

There are now 300,915 cases of coronavirus and 8,162 deaths in the US, according to Johns Hopkins University's tally.

On Saturday, at least 22,962 new cases and at least 1,010 new deaths were reported in the US, according to Johns Hopkins.

Dr. Wayne Riley, the president of the SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York, said medical staff will have to start using rain ponchos and garbage bags instead of surgical gowns.

Riley told CNN the medical center only has enough gowns to last about one and half days.

A panel of experts have been answering your questions about life in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

Here are some of the most common questions:

Q: Should I worry about contracting the virus from mail and newspapers?

A: Dr. Darria Long, emergency room physician: "There is not evidence you may contract the coronavirus from mail and newspapers but that said if you want to be on the safer side we know that Covid can live on cardboard for about 24 hours. If you want to take the extra precaution you can effectively quarantine that mail, say in your garage or someplace, for about 24 hours then open it up and wash your hands well after you do it."

Q: There's a lot of talk about social distancing but what do you do when you are on an overcrowded subway or bus?

A: Dr. Darria Long, emergency room physician: "For one, of course, maintain social distancing as much as you can. If you can stay six feet away from other people on the bus or subway, do so. Other than that, I would absolutely want someone to be wearing a mask the entire time they are on there, even a cloth mask. Then you can do two other things. You can wear an outer layer you carefully remove when you get out of the subway or bus or wear gloves. But key point, we are seeing a lot of people wear gloves and I do have t say you have to remove them carefully or you eliminate the effect. So you pinch the outer glove with one hand and take your clean finger to remove the other so you're not touching the outside. Of course wash your hands afterwards."

Q: How do I talk to my 65-year-old father about limiting his visits to the store without sounding like I am scolding him?

A: Dr. Gail Saltz, psychiatrist and psychoanalyst: "The relationships that are happening between adult children and their parents and kids who suddenly arrive back home, there is pressure going on and anxiety going on that things are being heard in critical ways or people are saying things in irritable ways which is all very understandable. But if you realize that your parent is used to being 'the parent' and you simply say, hey, I love you and I'm really just worried about you so I'm asking you not to do this because I understand it puts you at greater risk and for me, my worry, my anxiety, I would really feel better if you wouldn't do it which is different than saying, hey. I know better and I told you so."

Q: Mosquito season is about to start. Should we be concerned about mosquitos transmitting Covid-19?

A: Dr. Darria Long, emergency room physician: "We know mosquitos can carry other viruses, but there is not evidence right now they can actually transmit coronavirus from one person to another."