New York
Total Number of Confirmed Deaths in U.S. Surpasses Italy
For the first time, the government has declared all 50 states a major disaster for the same event. Some pastors plan to hold Easter services despite stay-at-home guidance.
The United States has passed Italy to become the country with the most coronavirus deaths.
However, as a proportion of the total population in the U.S., virus deaths remain at about one-sixth of those in hard-hit Italy or Spain.
More than 19,700 people in the U.S. have died due to complications from the coronavirus as of Saturday afternoon, according to data from the Johns Hopkins University dashboard.
Friday, the U.S. saw its highest daily death count yet, at 2,108.
Italy’s death toll was at 19,468 and Spain, the nation with the third-most fatalities, had 16,353 reported deaths. Worldwide, the death count has surpassed 104,000.
The US coronavirus crisis is widely recognized to have been exacerbated by slow federal responses and patchwork state-level approaches.
“The shortcomings of Mr Trump’s performance have played out with remarkable transparency as part of his daily effort to dominate television screens and the national conversation,” the Times reported, referring to the president’s rambling and falsehood-ridden press briefings from the White House, which even Republican allies believe are hurting his popularity.
In a Saturday night interview with Jeanine Pirro on Fox News, Mr. Trump said the decision on whether to reopen the country is the “toughest” he has ever faced, but he intends to make it “fairly soon” with input from political, business and medical leaders.
“It’s going to be based on a lot of facts and on instinct also,” Mr. Trump said. “Whether we like it or not, there is a certain instinct to it. But we have to get our country back. People want to get back. They want to get back to work.”
U.S. daily death rate tops 2,000 for first time
As U.S. health officials anticipated an imminent peak in daily deaths from the novel coronavirus, the number of people confirmed dead in a single day topped 2,000 for the first time Friday.
About 60 percent of the fatalities reported Friday were from three states: New York (777), New Jersey (232) and Michigan (205).