Travel restrictions to Mexico and Canada extended
The Department of Homeland Security announced Monday that it would continue its travel restrictions with Canada and Mexico for another 30 days.
“In close collaboration, the US, Mexico, and Canada have each agreed to extend restrictions on non-essential travel across their shared borders for 30 additional days," Acting Secretary Chad Wolf said in a statement. "As President Trump stated last week, border control, travel restrictions and other limitations remain critical to slowing the spread and allowing the phased opening of the country.”
The U.S. and Canada announced on March 18 that they were limiting travel for nonessential traffic, with the U.S. making a similar announcement about travel to Mexico two days later.
NYC LGBTQ Pride March canceled for first time in half-century
The NYC Pride March has been canceled for the first time in a half-century, along with all in-person events leading up to the annual June event, which draws millions of participants and revelers every year.
Heritage of Pride, the organization that runs the march, made the announcement on Monday, shortly after New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio announced the cancellation of all large event permits for the month of June during a coronavirus briefing.
“This probably will not surprise you,” De Blasio said, before announcing the cancellation of June's Celebrate Israel, Puerto Rican Day and LGBTQ pride parades. The mayor promised these events would go on in some format "when it's the right time."
Photo: A moment of silence in Madrid
Mayor Bill de Blasio says New York City is in desperate need of surgical gowns
Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday that New York City is in desperate need of surgical gowns.
De Blasio said the city did not have enough gowns to get through the week.
"I am making an appeal to the federal government," de Blasio said at a news conference. "We need more surgical gowns in New York City and we need them now."
The mayor credited White House trade adviser Peter Navarro who is now coordinating the country's medical supply chain with providing the city 265,000 Tyvek suits and enough waterproof fabric to make 400,000 gowns.
Congressional leaders, Trump administration near deal on interim coronavirus aid bill
Congressional leaders and the Trump administration are nearing an agreement on an interim coronavirus aid bill to further help small businesses and hospitals across the country.
The deal is expected to include $310 billion more for the federal government’s new Paycheck Protection Program, which was created in the last major relief package to help small businesses survive amid the coronavirus outbreak and ran out of funding last week. The interim measure is also expected to provide $75 billion more for hospitals and possibly $25 billion for testing.
Despite calls from governors, including New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, for funding to directly assist state and local governments, the legislation would exclude that money as well as funding for food stamps — Democratic priorities that Republicans argue can be negotiated in the next relief bill expected in the coming weeks.
Broadway star Nick Cordero's wife on his coronavirus leg amputation: 'It was life or leg'
The wife of Broadway star Nick Cordero has opened up about the surgery to have his right leg amputated two days ago as he remains in a medically induced coma battling coronavirus.
"It came down to a point where honestly it was life or leg, and we had to choose life,'' Amanda Kloots said on the "TODAY" show Monday. "I choose life."
Cordero, 41, had his leg amputated on Saturday at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles after he struggled with blood clots while on a ventilator and an ECMO machine, which helps oxygenate the blood.
"They put the ECMO machine in him to save his life," Kloots said. "It was literally to save his life, and it did, thank God. And sometimes the repercussion of putting that machine on can cause some blood issues, and it did with his leg."
Ex-FDA chief says U.S. likely won't have broad-based coronavirus testing until September
Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said Monday that the U.S. likely won’t have broad-based testing for the coronavirus in place until September.
“We're not going to be there. We're not going to be there in May, we're not going to be there in June, hopefully we'll be there by September,” Gottlieb said in an interview on NBC’s “Today” show.
Gottlieb said some states that haven’t been hit hard by the coronavirus are ready to begin reopening slowly in the beginning of May.
As other states reopen, he said that the U.S. won’t have the optimal amount of testing and contact tracing in place to “to do the work of tracking down everyone who is sick, or who might have been in contact with people who [are] sick.”
China denies coronavirus originated from Wuhan lab
Chinese officials on Monday spoke out against President Donald Trump's remarks about suspicions that the coronavirus outbreak originated from a laboratory in the city of Wuhan.
Media reports last week, which have not been verified by NBC News, suggested the outbreak could have been caused by a naturally occurring virus transmitted to a lab staffer by mistake. In response, Trump had mused "a lot of strange things are happening" regarding the origins of the disease.
But China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a press conference that such remarks are irresponsible, spread conspiracy theories and politicize the crisis. He added that the Wuhan Institute of Virology has strict management systems and there is no evidence nor logic to suggest it caused the outbreak.
Coronavirus batters the Navajo Nation, and it's about to get worse
On March 17, when the Navajo Nation saw its first COVID-19 case, the reservation's limited health facilities sprang into action.
"We basically changed our hospital from an acute care hospital and an ambulatory care clinic to one that could take care of respiratory care patients," said Dr. Diana Hu, a pediatrician at one of the reservation hospitals. "And that transition happened over a period of about seven days."
It didn't take long for one case to turn into two, and then 20. As of Monday, the Navajo Nation, which sprawls across three states, had 1,197 positive coronavirus cases. It has a per capita infection rate 10 times higher than that of neighboring Arizona and the third-highest infection rate in the country behind those of New York and New Jersey. Forty-four people have died, more than in 14 other states.