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VIRUS OUTBREAK-NEW YORK
Cuomo: Feds must help with testing. Trump: Stop complaining
NEW YORK (AP) — Gov. Andrew Cuomo and President Donald Trump have once again tussled publicly, this time over wide-scale coronavirus testing. The Democratic governor said Friday that the federal government was doing too little to help states reopen their outbreak-stricken economies by making sure they can perform mass diagnostic testing. The Republican president responded on Twitter that the federal government came through on ventilators and thousands of hospital beds for New York, yet Cuomo seemed ungrateful. Friday’s flare-up of their rivarly played out during one of Cuomo’s widely watched briefings. A reporter read Trump’s tweets to Cuomo, and the governor responded with his own barbs.
BC-VIRUS OUTBREAK-THE LATEST
The Latest: Japan passes 10K cases; Abe stresses distancing
Japan had 556 new cases of the coronavirus, bringing a national total to 9,795, the country’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said Saturday. With an addition of 712 others from a cruise ship quarantined near Tokyo earlier this year, Japan now has 10,507 cases. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expanded his April 7 state of emergency to all of Japan on Thursday. He is concerned that people are not observing the government-requested social distancing as much as they should.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-PORK PLANTS
Officials implore Tyson to close plant amid virus outbreak
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — More than a dozen Iowa elected officials implored Tyson Fresh Meats to close their Waterloo pork processing plant, saying the coronavirus is spreading among workers and is endangering not only employees of the plant but the entire community. Mayors, county officials and state legislators signed the letter that was sent to Tyson on Thursday. The 19 officials said at a Friday news conference they had only received confirmation from the company that it had received the letter but no other action .The officials also accused Gov. Kim Reynolds of misleading Iowans on the seriousness of the outbreak and for failure to take action to close the plant.
AP-VIRUS OUTBREAK-REOPENING WORSHIP
Trump consults faith leaders on phased-in reopening
NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump is bringing faith leaders into a discussion about a phased-in return to broader in-person worship after weeks of religious services largely shifting online in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Trump held a call with faith leaders one day after his White House included houses of worship among “large venues” that could be able to reopen while observing “strict physical distancing protocols” in the first stage of a three-part plan to reopen the U.S. economy, which has been frozen by the toll of the highly contagious virus.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-MICHAEL COHEN
Ex-Trump lawyer Cohen to serve out prison sentence at home
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s former lawyer and longtime fixer Michael Cohen will be released from federal prison to serve the remainder of his sentence in home confinement because of the coronavirus pandemic. That’s according to a Justice Department official and another person familiar with the matter. Cohen is locked up at FCI Otisville in New York. He pleaded guilty to numerous charges, including campaign finance fraud and lying to Congress. He’ll remain under quarantine for 14 days before he is released. Federal statistics show 14 inmates and seven staff members at the prison have tested positive for coronavirus.
AP-US-VIRUS-OUTBREAK-PROTESTS
Pro-Trump protesters push back on stay-at-home orders
A growing number of protests are being staged across the U.S. to oppose stay-at-home orders amid the coronavirus pandemic. In places like Oklahoma, Texas and Virginia, small-government groups, supporters of President Donald Trump, anti-vaccine advocates and others have united behind a deep suspicion of efforts to shut down daily life to slow the spread of the coronavirus. As their frustration grows, they’ve started to openly defy the social distancing rules to put pressure on governors to ease them. Some of the protests have been small events, promoted via recently created Facebook groups. Others are backed by groups with ties to Trump.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-TESTING TROUBLES
No plan in sight: Test troubles cloud Trump recovery effort
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States is struggling to test enough people for the novel coronavirus so officials can track and control the spread of the disease. That's a crucial first step to reopening parts of the economy, as President Donald Trump is pushing to do by May 1. Trump's plan hinges on a downward trajectory of positive tests. It's been more than a month since he said "anybody who wants a test, can get a test.” Today, the reality on the ground is much different. People report being unable to get tested, and health workers say supply shortages make more testing impossible.
AP-US-VIRUS-OUTBREAK-CONGRESS
Senator tells VP failed virus testing is 'dereliction'
WASHINGTON (AP) — Frustration boiled over into anger as Democratic senators pressed Vice President Mike Pence on coronavirus testing during a private conference call Friday. Maine Sen. Angus King told Pence the administration’s failure to develop an adequate national testing regime is a “dereliction of duty,” according to a person who joined the call but was unauthorized to discuss it and granted anonymity. King, an independent, told administration officials he has “never been so mad about a phone call in my life." The criticism comes as Republicans say they are willing to accept Democratic demands for additional federal funding for hospitals to break a stalemate over the administration’s $250 billion request for a small-business payroll program that's run out of money. Talk continue this weekend.
ABSENTEE BALLOTS-WITNESS REQUIREMENT
Virginia sued over witness requirement for absentee ballots
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union is asking a federal court to block Virginia election officials from requiring that absentee voters find a witness to watch them sign their ballots during the COVID-19 pandemic. The ACLU filed a lawsuit on behalf of three voters and the League of Women Voters. The lawsuit says the witness requirement could cause “massive disenfranchisement” of Virginia voters. Under state law, any voter who submits an absentee ballot by mail must open the envelope containing the ballot in front of another person, fill out the ballot and then ask the witness to sign the outside of the ballot envelope before it is mailed.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-DEPORTEES
Scant testing in US migration system risks spreading virus
GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Migrants' advocates are warning that the Trump administration’s failure to test all but a small percentage of detained immigrants for the novel coronavirus may be spreading the disease through the United States’ sprawling system of detention centers and then to Central America and elswhere aboard regular deportation flights. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has confirmed 105 cases of the virus in at least 25 separate detention facilities, along with at least 25 employees. In Guatemala, fears are rising that the flights may have seeded the country with an untold number of undetected cases. Several cases of local infection are already believed to be linked to deportees.
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