A group of friends in Delaware have joined a face mask sewing movement that's been growing across the United States in light of personal protective equipment (PPE) shortages for health care workers. 

Friends Megan Jackson, Jennifer Brzezicki and Lindsey Cooke were compelled to start sewing masks for donation to local Delaware hospitals in honor of Jackson's mother who died last year. She worked as a receptionist at a home health care facility and was hospitalized at Kent General during her final days. Jackson said the ICU staff at the hospital were "absolutely incredible" during her mother's time there. They plan to donate some of the masks to that hospital, the home health care facility her mother worked for, and any other local facility that's in need and will accept the donations. 

"The fabric ones we make are used as a last resort but they’re taking anything they can get at this point," Jackson said.

Brzezicki said the group won't stop making the masks until there's no longer a need for them. "They [health care workers] need to have something that is going to give them the ability to keep themselves safe," she said.

"Curb Your Enthusiasm" star Larry David appeared in a public service announcement Tuesday that urged California residents to take advantage of the opportunity to stay home and binge television amid the coronavirus pandemic.

David, 72, was featured in a short clip from the California governor’s office that urged people to take coronavirus seriously and practice social distancing. The state has been under a stay-at-home order issued by Gov. Gavin Newsom since March 19.

“I basically want to address the idiots out there — and you know who you are. I don't know what you're doing, you’re going out, you’re socializing too close — it’s not good,” David said. “You’re hurting old people like me.”

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President Trump on Tuesday said Americans could use scarves as makeshift protective masks as the nation grapples with a shortage of protective gear amid the coronavirus outbreak. 

"You know, you can use a scarf, a lot of people have scarves," Trump told reporters during a news conference at the White House. "My feeling is if people want to do it there is certainly no harm to it. I would say do it rather than going out to get a mask." 

Personal protective equipment, or PPE, including surgical and N95 masks, are in short supply in the U.S., and tensions have arisen between hospital systems and staff in many states over a lack of proper PPE for medical workers.

An increasing number of U.S. residents are choosing to cover their noses and mouths with makeshift masks, including bandannas, scarves or other wraps, when going into public. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines indicate that wearing a mask is unnecessary for healthy individuals, but the agency is now considering changing those recommendations. 

During the White House coronavirus task force briefing, Dr. Deborah Birx broke down the estimated deaths in the U.S. from COVID-19 if the federal social distancing regulations are followed through April 30.

She said 1.5 to 2.2 million Americans could've died without intervention measures, but still says 100,000 to 240,000 could die.

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster issued an order Tuesday to close all non-essential businesses in the state. 

McMaster's order comes after millions of other Americans are under orders from their local authorities to stay at home as part of an effort to slow the spread of coronavirus as the world fights the pandemic. The governor insisted Tuesday that many of the state's residents have followed social distancing guidelines without authorities needing to issue a shelter-in-place order.  

The non-essential business order comes a day after McMaster ordered public beaches closed. He cited "behavior observed" over the weekend that violated social distancing guidelines put forth by public health officials.

Dr. Linda Bell, the state's epidemiologist, said Tuesday that South Carolina is at 54 percent capacity of hospital beds as the state hits 1083 confirmed cases and 22 deaths due to coronavirus. 

A husband who was exposed to the coronavirus hid that he was feeling ill so he could visit his wife in the maternity unit of an upstate New York hospital.

The man told the truth only after his wife also began showing symptoms. UR Medicine said Monday it will begin taking the temperature of visitors to its hospitals' maternity units.

"It was purely an honor system before," spokesman Chip Partner told the Democrat and Chronicle, which first reported the incident. "Now we're adding the temperature check."

Read the full story here. 

A group of medical students in New York City are working to help distribute personal protective equipment (PPE) to area hospitals amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

After confirmed cases of the virus began popping up in the US, medical student Sami Lux started collecting extra respiration masks from the lab where she worked in order to give them to local hospitals; from there the organization “PPE2NYC” was created. 

PPE2NYC works with donors both locally and across the world, to help connect them with NYC-area hospitals who are in need of PPE.

Dr. Fiona Shehaj, a cardiologist at Richmond University Medical Center on Staten Island, was one of the recipients of the PPE. She said, “It’s been amazing that everyone, even our neighbors have been willing to help. We’re very appreciative and very touched that everyone has been able to help so much.”

As coronavirus cases continue to rise, a growing number of Americans are opting to cover their noses and mouths with makeshift masks, including bandannas, scarves or other wraps, when venturing into public.

While the science behind whether masks can prevent a person from catching the coronavirus hasn't changed (a mask does not help a healthy person avoid infection), public guidance may be shifting.

Read more here.

A pair of new ads released Wednesday in support of Joe Biden draw contrasts between how the former vice president would handle the coronavirus pandemic with President Trump's response. 

In one, a digital ad released by Biden’s presidential campaign, Biden says the country is heading to “war” against the virus and calls on Americans to do more to protect their fellow “soldiers” on the front line — specifically the doctors, nurses, health care workers, first responders, firefighters and police who are “caring for others more than themselves.”

Another ad, released by the pro-Biden Super PAC “Unite the Country,” argues that Trump has failed the presidential test of leadership, allowing the Coronavirus to “spread unchecked across America.”

The 30-second ad, which does not mention the former vice president, will air nationwide on both broadcast and cable television, according to Unite the Country. It is the first significant move by any Democratic entity to use the pandemic in a significant paid advertising campaign.

A Louisiana pastor who continues to flout a ban on large gatherings was issued a summons from police for violating the governor's executive order.

The pastor, Mark Anthony Spell, who goes by Tony Spell, of Life Tabernacle Church, told NBC News in a brief phone interview Tuesday afternoon that police had visited his home and gave him a summons for the six services he has held since March 16 when Gov. John Bel Edwards announced an order against gatherings of more than 50 people.

"Mr. Spell made his intentions to continue to violate the law clear," Central Police Chief Roger Corcoran said. "Instead of showing the strength and resilience of our community during this difficult time, Mr. Spell has chosen to embarrass us for his own self-promotion."

Read the full story here.