President Donald Trump speaks during a coronavirus task force briefing at the White House, Friday, April 10, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
By Jill Colvin and Darline Superville
At the end of a week officials had warned would be this generation's Pearl Harbor, White House officials pointed to hopeful signs Friday that the spread of the coronavirus could be slowing, even as President Donald Trump insisted he would not move to reopen the country until it is safe.
At the same time, Trump said he would be announcing the launch of what he dubbed the "Opening Our Country" task force next Tuesday to work toward that goal.
"I want to get it open as soon as possible," he said at a Good Friday briefing while adding: "The facts are going to determine what I do."
With the economy reeling and job losses soaring, Trump has been itching to reopen the country, drawing alarm from health experts who warn that doing so too quickly could spark a deadly resurgence that could undermine current distancing efforts.
But Trump, who had once set Easter Sunday as the date he hoped people in certain parts of the country might begin to return to work and pack church pews, said he would continue to listen to health experts like Drs. Anthony Fauci and Deborah Birx as he considers what he described as the "biggest decision I've ever had to make."
"I listen to them about everything," he claimed, adding: "We're not doing anything until we know that this country is going be healthy. We don't want to go back and start doing it over again."
Trump's comments came at the end of a week that officials had warned would be a devastating one for the country. Hours earlier, Johns Hopkins University announced that the worldwide death toll from the coronavirus had hit a bleak milestone: 100,000 people. That includes about 18,000 in the U.S., where about half-million people have been confirmed infected.
More than 40 percent of the deaths in the U.S so far have happened in New York state, which reported 777 new deaths on Friday.
But there were also signs of hope, with state officials reporting that the number of people in intensive care dropped for the first time there since mid-March. Hospitalizations are also slowing, with 290 new patients admitted in a single day versus daily increases of more than 1,000 last week.
While bemoaning the death numbers as "so horrible," Trump also said, "Tremendous progress is being made."
"In the midst of grief and pain, we're seeing clear signs that our aggressive strategy is saving countless lives," he said, pointing to models that are now forecasting far fewer U.S. deaths than had originally been predicted.
Health experts have warned, however, that if the country rolls back restrictions too quickly, case levels could once again begin to soar, especially without widespread testing to determine who might be a carrier of the virus. While the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. And research has shown that people can be highly infectious even if they are not displaying symptoms.
"When we decide, at a proper time, when we're going to be relaxing some of the restrictions, there's no doubt you're going to see cases," he said. "The question is how you respond to them."
David Nelson, Chief Strategist at Belpointe, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he says that Wednesday's market movement shows a rotation back into the industries that were hit hard in January, but says his eyes are firmly fixed on the January CPI data set to be released Thursday.
Russia is preparing alongside Belarus for reportedly one of the largest joint military exercises ever held. Some analysts are concerned this could be a disguise for a real attack, while the Kremlin contends that the exercise is meant to confront potential "unprecedented security threats." Christian Whiton, a former State Department senior advisor, joined Cheddar News to break down the still tense situation. "While it could of course be a prelude to invasion, it seems like the Biden administration is signaling that if you look at Europeans, the Germans and Macron … who just met with Putin, they seem to be thinking that maybe this is a show of force by Russia intended at political intimidation, not actual invasion," said Whiton.
Truckers in Canada have blockaded the Ambassador Bridge, the busiest border crossing between Canada and the U.S. protesting a COVID-19 vaccine mandate. Cheddar News spoke with Samir Kapadia, head of trade practice at the Vogal Group, about how this impacts trade between the two countries.
New York City is not only dealing with the ongoing pandemic, it’s also facing a surge in crime. President Biden recently traveled to New York to meet with the city’s new mayor, Eric Adams, to discuss the rise in crime and gun violence.
The president praised Mayor Adams' crimefighting agenda and unveiled a new federal initiative to curb the flow of illegal weapons from the south. Josefa Velásquez, Senior Reporter for THE CITY, joined Cheddar's Fast Forward to talk about how the mayor is battling this increase in crime in his first weeks in office.
The Democratic governors of New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, and Oregon say they will lift mask requirements for schools in the coming weeks, reflecting a nationwide shift away from restrictions. Cheddar News speaks with internist Dr. Vivek Cherian whether it's safe to relax the regulation.
Amazon warehouse workers in Alabama are set to begin voting to unionize for a second time after workers at the facility in the town of Bessemer overwhelmingly voted against forming a union during an election early last year; but in November, the National Labor Relations Board overturned the vote, upholding a union challenge of the results which argued that Amazon undermined the conditions for a fair election. Another round of ballots will now be mailed out to works at the warehouse for a so-called re-run election. Director of Labor and Employment Studies at San Francisco State University John Logan and National Field Director for Our Revolution Mike Oles joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
David Daley, author of the book 'Unrigged: How Americans Are Battling Back to Save Democracy,' joins Cheddar News to discuss redistricting battles taking place across the U.S.
