Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, has warned that it is too early to relax coronavirus restrictions on Americans as the U.S. death toll climbed past 18,500 on Friday, according to an NBC News tally.
“Now is no time to back off,” Fauci said Friday, as the number of confirmed cases across the country continues to rise. By Friday evening 170,512 cases had been confirmed in New York state alone.
Globally, more than 102,000 deaths have now been recorded and the number of confirmed cases has surpassed 1.6 million, according to Johns Hopkins University. As a result, some countries are considering tighter lockdown measures as millions prepare for religious celebrations this weekend.
Meanwhile, current and former U.S. officials have told NBC News that American spy agencies collected raw intelligence hinting at a public health crisis in Wuhan, China, in November, but the information was not understood as the first warning signs of an impending global pandemic.
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Olympic gold medalist to complete Ironman at home to raise money for healthcare workers
Olympic gold medalist and three-time winner of the Ironman Triathlon World Championship, Jan Frodeno will be supporting healthcare workers combatting the outbreak by completing an Ironman triathlon at his home in Spain on Saturday.
The German athlete is live-streaming his 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bicycle ride and a 26.22-mile marathon run on Facebook. It is widely considered one of the most difficult one-day sporting events in the world.
“I want to use this event to support those who are currently doing the competition in the hospitals day in and day out,” he said on social media.
South Korea to strap electronic wristbands on those who defy quarantine
South Korea’s government has said it will strap electronic wristbands on people who defy self-quarantine orders after two weeks of preparation and manufacturing as it tightens monitoring to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
Officials said stricter controls are required because some of the 57,000 people who are under orders to stay home have slipped out by leaving behind smartphones with tracking apps. Plans for broader use of wristbands were scaled back after objections by human rights and legal activists.
Senior Health Ministry official Yoon Tae-ho on Saturday acknowledged the privacy and civil liberty concerns surrounding the bands, which will be enforced through police and local administrative officials after two weeks of preparation and manufacturing.
However, he said authorities need more effective monitoring tools because the number of people placed under self-quarantine has ballooned after the country began enforcing 14-day quarantines on all passengers arriving from abroad on Apr. 1 amid worsening outbreaks in Europe and the United States. Other Korean officials said the government lacked legal authority to compel people to wear the wristbands and that they would be asked to sign consent forms.
Kentucky gov. says anyone who attends Easter services will be quarantined
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear implored residents to avoid gathering this weekend for the Easter holiday, warning that anyone who violates the state’s stay-at-home order will be subject to a 14-day mandatory self-quarantine.
Beshear said the state will record license plate information of people seen attending mass gatherings and turn that information over to local public health officials. Quarantine notices will then be delivered in person.
The announcement was made on Good Friday, one of the holidays leading into Easter Sunday.
Court lifts part of order blocking Texas abortion ban
AUSTIN, Texas — A federal appeals court on Friday partially rescinded a lower-court order that had largely blocked the enforcement of an abortion ban in Texas during the coronavirus pandemic.
By a 2-1 vote, the three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld enforcement of an executive order by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott that includes abortion among non-essential medical procedures banned during the state of emergency.
However, the appeals court allowed the procedure to go ahead if delays would place the pregnancy beyond the 22-week state cutoff for abortions.
