More than 1,000 people died of coronavirus in the United States on Wednesday alone as the country braced for what President Donald Trump predicted would be a “horrific” couple of weeks.
Trump and federal health officials predicted a “very painful” period in the country’s fight against the public health emergency.
“We’re going to have a couple of weeks, starting pretty much now, but especially a few days from now, that are going to be horrific,” Trump said at the White House.
The U.S. death toll was at 5,138 early Thursday, according to the Johns Hopkins University data dashboard.
Worldwide, the virus has killed more than 47,200 and infected nearly 940,000.
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Los Angeles mayor to residents: Start wearing masks to curb coronavirus
The mayor of Los Angeles on Wednesday told everyone in the nation’s second-largest city to start wearing masks to combat the coronavirus, but California’s governor isn’t ready to take that idea statewide.
Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday he’s focused instead on keeping people inside. He also announced the state may need 66,000 additional hospital beds, 16,000 more than previously forecast, to handle the crush of illnesses expected during the second part of May.
At an afternoon news conference, Mayor Eric Garcetti said he had been awaiting advice from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on mask-wearing but with the COVID-19 rate surging had decided to wait no longer.
California engineer runs train off track in attempted attack of Navy ship
A California man faces federal charges after officials allege he ran a train “at full speed off the end of rail tracks” near the U.S. Naval Ship Mercy, the 1,000-bed floating hospital that arrived in the Port of Los Angeles last week amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Eduardo Moreno, 44, of San Pedro was charged Wednesday with one count of train wrecking after the Tuesday incident, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement. Moreno told police he believed the Mercy had “an alternate purpose related to COVID-19 or a government takeover,” according to the DOJ.
Moreno told law enforcement officers he “intentionally derailed and crashed the train near the Mercy.” The train Moreno was conducting crashed through several barriers and came to a rest nearly 250 yards away from the Mercy, according to the DOJ statement. Nobody was injured.
– Jordan Culver
Asian stocks mixed after Wall Street slides again amid economic turmoil
Asian stocks were meandering Thursday after a White House warning that as many as 240,000 Americans might die of the coronavirus sent Wall Street tumbling once again.
Benchmarks in Tokyo and Hong Kong opened lower but were trading higher by midday, and losses in early trading were smaller than Wall Street’s 4.4% overnight fall. Shanghai opened down but gained 0.3% at mid-morning while Seoul advanced 1.9%.
U.S. futures were higher.
The U.S. warning added to anxiety among investors who are trying to figure out how long and deep this history-making global economic downturn might be.
Donald Trump considers restricting domestic air travel amid coronavirus
President Donald Trump said his administration is looking at ordering airlines to cut back on domestic flights in an effort to quell the spread of the coronavirus between cities already under siege by the pandemic.
“You have them going, in some cases, from hot spot to hot spot,” Trump said about commercial planes.
But Trump added that he’s aware of the hardship additional restrictions would impose on air carriers. “Once you do that, you are clamping down on an industry that is desperately needed,” Trump said.
Airlines have drastically reduced flight schedules in the face of plummeting passenger volume between cities. Trump has also imposed a ban on foreign nationals visiting the U.S. from China and most of Europe. He also has imposed restrictions on non-essential travel from Mexico and Canada.
– Chris Woodyard
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo: COVID-19 deaths will peak at end of April,
New York state’s death toll from the coronavirus continued its sharp ascent with 391 people dying the in latest 24-hour period, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. The virus has killed nearly 2,000 in the state, nearly half the U.S. total.
“That number will continue to go up,” Cuomo said. “That is people who have been on ventilators for a period of time. If you go on a ventilator, there’s roughly only a 20% chance that you will come off the ventilator. The longer you’re on the ventilator, the lower the chance you’ll come off.”
Cuomo also said there were 83,712 confirmed cases as of Wednesday afternoon, an increase of 7,917. Models indicate the apex of the coronavirus outbreak in the state will hit “roughly at the end of April, which means another month of this,” Cuomo said. He added that the model could change over time.
More coronavirus news and information from USA TODAY
Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Nevada joins states with stay-at-home orders
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he would be issuing an order for residents to stay at home for the next 30 days and only leave for essential services. DeSantis said the order will go into effect Friday at 12:01 a.m.
DeSantis had previously resisted issuing a stay-at-home order but said Wednesday he decided to issue the mandate when President Donald Trump extended the national social distancing guidelines for an additional 30 days.
Georgia, Mississippi and Nevada followed suit Wednesday, leaving less than 15 states without such orders.
Coronavirus in America: How all 50 states are responding to this public health emergency.
– Jim Little, Pensacola News Journal
Wimbledon tennis tourney canceled for first time since World War II
In a move that had been signaled strongly over the last week, the All England Club officially canceled Wimbledon for 2020, citing the “likely trajectory” of the coronavirus outbreak in the United Kingdom and the logistical impossibility of setting up the event at a point later in the summer.
It will be the first time Wimbledon hasn’t crowned a champion since the tennis tournament paused from 1940 to 1945 because of World War II.
– Dan Wolken
Companies trim 401(k) contributions
More corporations are looking to temporarily halt 401(k) contributions, trying to cut costs as the coronavirus crisis hits their revenue and profits, labor attorneys said.
It’s another way companies are trying to contain mounting losses, along with millions of layoffs and employee furloughs. For workers, those moves put a big dent in family budgets and retirement plans, which are already battered by the stock market’s plunge.
Joy Napier-Joyce, head of the employee benefits practice at the law firm Jackson Lewis, said calls about canceling 401(k) matching ramped up over the past two weeks.
“In anticipation of an economic downturn, employers are looking at the ability to suspend those contributions for this year, or the near future, to help with expenses,” Napier-Joyce said.
– Dalvin Brown
Contributing: The Associated Press
