April 24, 2020
(WJW) — Coronavirus deaths in the United States have passed 50,000, according to Johns Hopkins University and Medicine.
As of Friday, there were 50,031 deaths in the country. The number accounts for about 26 percent of 192,125 fatalities worldwide.
According to Johns Hopkins research, there have been 2,736,979 confirmed cases in the world. There have been 870,468 cases in the U.S.
6 P.M.
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Even as the confirmed U.S. death toll from coronavirus has soared past 50,000, Georgia, Oklahoma and Alaska began loosening lockdown orders on their pandemic-wounded businesses, despite warnings from health experts that the steps toward normalcy might be happening too soon. Republican governors in Georgia and Oklahoma allowed salons, spas and barbershops to reopen Tuesday, while Alaska opened the way for restaurants to resume dine-in service and retail shops and other businesses to open their doors, all with limitations. Though limited in scope, and subject to social-distancing restrictions, the reopenings marked a symbolic milestone in the debate raging worldwide as to how quickly political leaders should lift lockdown orders.
5 P.M.
WASHINGTON (AP) — One of the lasting legacies of the coronavirus pandemic will be staggering deficits in the United States. The Congressional Budget Office projected Friday that deficits will grow to $3.7 trillion in 2020, fueled largely by the four coronavirus relief laws signed by President Donald Trump. Those bills promise to pile more than $2 trillion onto the $24.6 trillion national debt in just the remaining six months of the current fiscal year. It all adds up to federal debt and deficit figures reaching levels unparalleled since World War II. Those deficits are nearly certain to persist for a generation.
3:30 P.M.
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — State and local governments across the United States have obtained more than 30 million doses of a malaria drug touted by President Donald Trump to treat patients with the new coronavirus despite warnings from doctors that more research is needed. The states acquired the medication as Trump regularly promoted it from the podium in White House briefings. The Associated Press’ reporting shows at least 22 states and Washington, D.C., secured shipments of the drug, hydroxychloroquine. Sixteen of those states were were won by Trump in 2016, although five of them including North Carolina and Louisiana are now led by Democratic governors.
3 P.M.
- (CNN) — More than 88 million people received their stimulus payments last week, totaling nearly $158 billion, the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service said Friday. That leaves about 62 million people who are still waiting for the cash payments authorized by Congress in March. The data shows that as of April 17, the greatest number of payments went to California, where 9.1 million taxpayers received a total of $15.9 billion. Texans received the second most money so far, followed by Florida, New York and then Pennsylvania. Individuals are due up to $1,200 and married couples can receive up to $2,400. The amount falls as income goes up, eventually phasing out for the highest-income earners. The process of sending out the money is ongoing and it could take months before everyone eligible receives it.
12 P.M.
- President Trump and the Coronavirus Task Force are scheduled to hold a briefing at 5 p.m.
- Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and Lt. Governor Jon Husted will speak on the state’s coronavirus response at 2 p.m.
9:30 A.M.
- WASHINGTON (AP) — One out of every four American adults say someone in their household has lost a job to the coronavirus pandemic, but the vast majority expect those former jobs will return once the crisis passes, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
- NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are opening higher on Wall Street, but not enough to erase the market’s losses for the week. The S&P 500 rose 0.6% in early trading Friday.
8:00 A.M.
CUYAHOGA COUNTY, Ohio (WJW) – Cuyahoga County has the most deaths of any county in the state of Ohio.
That’s according to numbers from the Ohio Department of Health that breaks down the cases in every county. Cuyahoga County has 83 deaths according to state records.
Sixty-four of those are coming from the Cuyahoga County Board of Health.
The City of Cleveland reports 21 COVID-19 fatalities.
7:00 A.M.
(AP) — President Donald Trump will be holding a signing ceremony Friday for a bill providing a nearly $500 billion infusion of coronavirus spending, rushing new relief to employers and hospitals buckling under the strain of a pandemic that has claimed almost 50,000 American lives and one in six U.S. jobs.
The measure passed Congress almost unanimously Thursday, but the lopsided tally belies a potentially bumpier path ahead as battle lines are being formed for much more ambitious future legislation that may prove far more difficult to maneuver through Congress.
Anchoring the bill is the Trump administration’s $250 billion funding request to replenish a fund to help small- and medium-size businesses with payroll, rent and other expenses. The payroll program provides forgivable loans so businesses can continue paying workers while forced to stay closed for social distancing and stay-at-home orders.
It also contains $100 billion demanded by Democrats for hospitals and a nationwide testing program, along with a $60 billion set-aside for small banks and an alternative network of community development banks that focus on development in urban neighborhoods and rural areas ignored by many lenders. There’s also $60 billion for small-business loans and grants delivered through the Small Business Administration’s existing disaster aid program.
6:45 A.M.
(CNN) — Claiming an average of 44 lives each day, coronavirus has now become the leading cause of death in Los Angeles County, Health Director Barbara Ferrer said.
There were 68 new deaths reported in Los Angeles today, bringing the county’s total to 797 — more than half of all of those confirmed across the state.
At least 1,533 have died in California from the virus. Health officials have said that number may rise as they investigate the deaths of earlier victims who had not been tested for coronavirus.
Usually in Los Angeles County, heart disease is the leading cause of death — taking about 31 lives per day, Ferrer said.
6:30 A.M.
- 2,719,522 confirmed coronavirus cases in the world
- 191,228 deaths around the world
- 869,172 confirmed cases in the U.S.
- 50,372 deaths in the U.S.
- 14,694 confirmed cases in Ohio
- 656 deaths in Ohio
Coronavirus resources
- Click here for more about coronavirus and animals
- Click here for coronavirus symptoms
- Click here for coronavirus basics
- Click here for more on how COVID-19 spreads
- The Ohio hotline for coronavirus questions is 1-844-4-ASK-ODH