April 5, 2020 8:02 am
SEATTLE (AP) – Experts and health officials who are trying to plan a response to the coronavirus outbreak are missing a critical piece of information – the number of health care workers who have tested positive for the disease. Washington state faced the first major outbreak of COVID-19 in the nation, but health officials have not kept track of how many doctors and nurses have the disease. New York, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, also lacks infection figures for medical staff. Experts who create models for how the coronavirus will affect the country’s health care system say they want the data to better determine how severely hospitals will be hit.
April 5, 2020 7:58 am
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) – Divers and boats searched in the Chesapeake Bay for the bodies of the daughter and a grandson of former Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend after they didn’t return from a canoe ride. Maryland Natural Resources Police say the search was suspended Saturday night and would resume Sunday morning. Police and Kennedy Townsend have called the search a recovery operation. The missing canoeists are Maeve Kennedy Townsend McKean and her 8-year-old son Gideon. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend is the eldest daughter of the late U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and the niece of the late President John F. Kennedy.
April 5, 2020 7:56 am
NEW YORK (AP) – Gov. Andrew Cuomo says New York has secured a planeload of ventilators from China, and Oregon is sending a shipment of its own to battle the coronavirus pandemic at its U.S. core. But the governor’s startling plan to force hospitals elsewhere in the state to give spare ventilators to the fight in New York City apparently hasn’t yet materialized, a day after he ordered them to surrender 20% of any unused supply to the National Guard for temporary redistribution. Cuomo said Saturday the Chinese government facilitated a 1,000-ventilator donation from billionaires Jack Ma and Joseph Tsai, who co-founded the e-commerce giant Alibaba. Cuomo also said Oregon volunteered to send 140 more breathing machines.
April 5, 2020 7:54 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Tens of thousands of U.S. medical workers are suddenly out of work as casualties of measures to prioritize coronavirus patients at hospitals and of the economic troubles the crisis is creating. Hospitals are plucking professionals from the industry to treat the burgeoning numbers of people with COVID-19, but others are being left behind. Many nurse anesthetists in Pennsylvania have been laid off, though they are particularly critical to the coronavirus response. Big-city specialist groups, tiny hospitals and big multistate systems are seeing big revenue dropoffs. Minnesota reported that over 13,600 practitioners or technicians filed unemployment claims in the last half of March.
April 5, 2020 7:53 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump is suggesting that he fired the inspector general for the intelligence community in retaliation for impeachment, saying the official was wrong to provide an anonymous whistleblower complaint to Congress as the law requires. In remarks to reporters on Saturday, Trump called Michael Atkinson a “disgrace” and accused him of passing along to Congress a “fake report.” Atkinson had determined the complaint was urgent and credible and therefore was required by law to disclose it to Congress. His ouster, announced late Friday, came under immediate fire from Democrats and a handful of Republicans.
April 5, 2020 7:52 am
VATICAN CITY (AP) – Pope Francis is celebrating Palm Sunday Mass without the public, since the traditional ceremony in St. Peter’s Square was scrapped because of the coronavirus pandemic. Normally, tens of thousands of Romans, tourists and pilgrims, clutching olive tree branches or palm fronds, would have flocked to an outdoor Mass. Instead, Francis on Sunday was leading the ceremony inside St. Peter’s Basilica, which seemed even more cavernous than usual because it was so empty. Aides, a few invited prelates and nuns and altar servers were present. Appearing pensive, Francis blessed the braided palms held by others, then held one himself.
April 5, 2020 7:49 am
NEW YORK (AP) – The U.S. is warning of many more coronavirus deaths in the days ahead, as the global pandemic mutes traditional observances from family grave-cleaning ceremonies in China to Palm Sunday for Christians. Italy and Spain, the two hardest-hit European nations, expressed hope that the crisis is peaking in their countries, while a chaotic scramble for desperately needed medical equipment and protective gear engulfed the United States. The number of confirmed infections topped 1.2 million globally, including more than 300,000 in the U.S., and the death toll neared 65,000. President Donald Trump warned of many deaths to come in the United States.
April 5, 2020 7:43 am
ALLEGHENY CO., Pa. (WPXI) — A wrong-way car crash on Interstate 376 caused part of the Parkway West to shut down Friday night. According to investigators, the two-vehicle accident happened around 10 p.m. on I-376 westbound between Exit 57 (Moon Township) and Exit 56 (McClaren Road/Aten Road). PennDOT said all westbound lanes between the Moon Business Loop and the McClaren Road interchanges were closed as crews worked to clear the area. Traffic was being diverted at Exit 57 until the scene cleared around 11:15 p.m. Investigators said Findlay Township police were trying to conduct a traffic stop when the driver took off, going the wrong way down the Parkway West. The driver smashed into a police SUV. The driver, 43-year-old Michael Morelli, was taken to Allegheny General Hospital for treatment of his injuries. The officer, Neil Cridge, was taken to UPMC Mercy hospital for treatment. Police said charges are pending against Morelli.
April 5, 2020 7:41 am
MORGANTOWN (WPXI) — The sale of alcohol in one West Virginia county is being limited significantly, officials announced Saturday. Health officials said you now must have an official W.Va. ID to purchase liquor in Monongalia County, which lies on the Pa. state border. After state liquor stores were shut down in Pennsylvania, many people drove across state lines to purchase liquor. However, that will no longer be the case in at least one W.Va. county. Surrounding counties in the state have not issued a similar ban at this point.
April 5, 2020 4:22 am
Pennsylvania’s governor says residents should wear face coverings in public to help slow the spread of the coronavirus. Gov. Tom Wolf urged Pennsylvanians to make their own cloth masks and put them on when they go to the grocery store, pharmacy and other places where people congregate. He spoke a few hours before the federal government issued its own recommendation for Americans to wear face coverings. The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported more than 1,400 additional people have tested positive for the virus, bringing the total number to over 8,420. There were 12 new deaths for a statewide toll of 102.
