April 19 coronavirus news

New York state will undertake the “most aggressive” statewide antibody testing survey in the nation over the next week, according to Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Cuomo said they will sample thousands of people across the state to find out if they have antibodies.

“That will tell us for the first time what percent of the population actually has had the coronavirus and is now at least short term immune to the virus," he said.

The New York State Department of Health will be running the tests over the next week.

The state will have to work with the White House to assist with the supply chain and coordinate private labs, Cuomo said.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said "this is only halftime" in the battle against the coronavirus pandemic in New York.

The governor said at his daily press conference today that the battle has not been won yet and any plan to reopen the economy has to be based on data and testing.

Cuomo said New York needs to learn from this experience and focus on rebuilding.

Cuomo said the second phase of the state's plan to reopen the economy will require New Yorkers to do no harm, be smarter and develop new testing and learn the lessons to build back better.

Cuomo also thanked the 95,000 medical professionals from inside and outside the state that have helped with coronavirus response efforts, saying it reminds him of the help the state received after 9/11.

He said just as it did then, the support gives us “confidence” that “were not in it alone.”

Cuomo has spoken to Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker and told him that if they have to scramble, New York is going to “be there for you.”

New York has identified 400 ventilators to bring over to Massachusetts “on 24 hours notice” should they need it, Cuomo said.

There are 507 New Yorkers who have died due to coronavirus across the state over the past 24 hours, according to Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Nursing homes continue to be a source of "really disturbing situations," Cuomo said today during a news conference.  

At least 540 people died Friday in New York, the governor said as a news conference yesterday.

Speaking today at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in Manhasset, New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo shared Sunday that hospitalizations across the state are on the decline.

Cuomo added: "If the data holds and if this trend holds, we are past the high point and all indications at this point is that we are on the descent. Whether or not the descent continues depends on what we do but right now we're on the descent."

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told CNN that he thinks it will only be months, not years, before the US economy recovers from the impact of the coronavirus.

Mnuchin said that once the economy reopens he believes there will be a “big rebound.”

Some economists are very skeptical of any claims of a quick economic recovery.

United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson has “absolutely been leading our nation’s effort to combat the coronavirus” since the moment “it became clear that there were challenges in terms of coronavirus developing in China,” Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said at the Downing Street press conference Sunday.

In response to a question over Johnson’s lack of attendance at five Cobra meetings in January and February, Williamson said Johnson has been “making sure that resources and money is not an issue or concern for any department, especially for health services." Cobra refers to interdepartmental government meetings called in times of crisis.

Johnson first chaired a coronavirus Cobra meeting on March 2.

“But the focus that the prime minister was putting on this, and has continued to put on this, has meant that this is the whole government effort,” he added.

Williamson responded to criticism about the government’s response to acquiring personal protective equipment (PPE). He said the government has been trying to secure PPE “from the first moment” scientific advice highlighted “we were facing a real challenge in terms of the coronavirus."

“What we have seen over the last few months is an enormous effort – it’s a national effort, but also an international effort to secure PPE from right around the globe,” he added. 

It is still unknown whether being infected with the coronavirus and recovering will give you immunity from the virus in the future, Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, said on CBS today.

When asked whether the US could see a resurgence in cases, like in South Korea, and if that was a result of those being infected not building immunity, Birx said “those are questions we still have scientifically.” 

Aside from HIV, people who contract most infectious diseases and recover develop antibodies, which often means people are immune.

But “we just don’t know if it’s immunity for a month, immunity for six months, immunity for six years,” Birx said. 

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan has responded to the Trump administration’s claim that governors have plenty of coronavirus tests and should just get to work on testing.

To “say we aren’t doing our job, is just absolutely false," Hogan told CNN on Sunday.

Hogan said he and other governors are doing everything they can to push toward the reopening of their economies in a safe manner.

“To encourage people to go protest the plan that you just made recommendations on, on Thursday, it just doesn’t make any sense,” Hogan added.

Hogan summed up his thoughts on the mixed messages coming from the White House by saying, “we’re sending completely conflicting messages out to the governors and to the people, as if we should ignore federal policy and federal recommendations.”

Some context: Since the earlier days of the crisis, the nation's governors and the Trump administration have tangled over whether the much-needed expansion of testing capacity is the responsibility of the states or the federal government.

Exasperated after a week in which industry leaders, governors, Democratic senators and even allies warned Trump and Vice President Mike Pence that the nation cannot get back to business-as-usual without a substantial increase in testing nationally, Trump faulted governors Saturday for not moving quickly enough to ramp up capacity in their states.

Pushing back on Trump's insistence that the federal government should merely serve as a backstop for states, several governors have argued that Trump's hope for reopening the economy cannot happen until there is adequate testing in their states and that they need federal aid to do that.

But during a White House briefing Saturday, the President lashed out at governors for complaining and charged that testing is simply the latest coronavirus issue that Democrats are politicizing to convince Americans that Trump is mishandling the coronavirus response.

Children will not be able to return to schools in the United Kingdom until the government has achieved its five point plan to ensure it is safe to adjust any of the current coronavirus measures, Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said at the daily Downing Street news conference on Sunday.  

Some context: The number of people who have died in UK hospitals due to coronavirus has increased to 16,060, the Department of Health said Sunday.

The government said Sunday that 120,067 people have now tested positive for coronavirus.