Coronavirus live updates: More American deaths than on 9/11; US projections of 240,000; Dow’s worst 1st quarter ever – USA TODAY

The coronavirusdeath tollsurged past 3,800on Tuesday, eclipsing the total from the 9/11 terror attacks as New York City traded "Ground Zero" for "epicenter."

Near where the World Trade Center towers collapsed more than 18 years ago, Wall Street capped a debacle of its own Tuesday inthe month after reaching dizzying heights.

More than 900 people have died from COVID-19 in Manhattanalone, and the city was opening temporary hospitals in a convention center, a Navy ship and Central Park. Refrigeration trucks were serving as temporary morgues.

Still, the nation's top health expert found some reason for hope, saying social distancing was working and that the rate of increase ofNew York City cases might be starting to slow.

More than 500 deaths were reported nationwide Monday, the highest daily total since the first American died six weeks ago. The U.S. death tollhas now surpassed China, where the pandemic began late last year.

Cities and states tightened stay-at-home restrictions. Thousands of retailers across the nation, large and small, closed their doors, and many furloughed employees. Gunshops in Los Angeles won a reprieve, however, when authoritiesretracted an order to close them. Sheriff Alex Villanueva said hes heeding a federal Department of Homeland Security advisory issued that listed gun and ammunition dealers as essential critical infrastructure workers.

The United States hadmore than 186,000 confirmed casesTuesday afternoon, according to the Johns Hopkins University data dashboard. Worldwide, more than 855,000 peoplehave been infected with the virus and more than 42,000 have died.

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Estimates of between 100,000 and 240,000 Americans dying this year because of the coronavirus convinced President Donald Trump to extend social distancing guidelines, federal public officials said.

And that grim scenario would be worse without intervention, with a projection of as many as 2.2 million deaths,according toWhite House coronavirus response coordinator Deborah Birx.

Presented to the president over the weekend, the data explains why Trump backed down from an earlier notion of reopening the country by Easter, or potentially relaxing restrictions in parts of the nation that were not hit as hard, officials said. Trump announced Sunday he would extend social distancing guidelines through April 30.

Our country is in the midst of a great national trial, Trump said at Tuesday's briefing. Were going to go through a very tough two weeks.

The administration's top health officials, including Anthony Fauci, director of the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, warned that models are not always accurate and will be influenced by how seriously Americans take orders to avoid contact with others.Trump and others have said April could be a particularly deadly month in the ongoing battle with the virus.

-- John Fritze

In a briefing Tuesday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that"Americans who wish to return home from abroad should (do) so immediately and make arrangements to accomplish that."

While Pompeo said his repatriation task force remains committed to bringing all Americans home, he said the window to do itis closing.

"We do not know how long the commercial flights in your countries may continue to operate," he said. "We can't guarantee the U.S. government's ability to arrange charter flights indefinitely where commercial options no longer exist."

In the meantime, he urged Americans to register with their nearest embassy or consulate or do so online via STEP, the State Department's Smart Traveler Enrollment Program, which provides citizens with safety alerts about local conditions and a communication link to their families back home.

Jayme Deerwester

U.S. stocks slumped Tuesday andthe Dow concluded its worst first quartereveras the coronavirus pandemic battered huge swaths of the global economy.

Stocks snapped the longest-ever bull market in history this month, swiftly retreating from records in mid-February after the outlook for the U.S. economy dimmed. The pandemic forcedlockdowns andtravelrestrictions, weighing on businesses across the world.

The Standard and Poors 500 fell 1.6% to close the month at 2,584.59, as broad lossesin the real estate and utility sectors, which are perceived as safer, offset mild gains in beaten-up energy shares. The broad index was off 20% this quarter, its worst such period since 2008.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 410.32 points to end at 21,917.16.The blue-chip average shed 23% in the first three months of the year, its worst-ever performance over that stretch. Both averages posted their worst monthlydeclines since 2008.

-- Jessica Menton

Struggling U.S. airlines must keep flying if they accept coronavirus aid, with proposed minimum service levels spelled out by aviation regulators.

The U.S. Department of Transportation said in a filing that participating airlines must maintain flights to all U.S. destinations they served before March 1 unless they are granted an exemption.

The requirement would be in effect through Sept. 30 but is subject to extension. International flights are exempt due to the State Department's March 19 advisory alert urging Americans to avoid all international travel.

Dawn Gilbertson

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the face of the national effort to curb the coronavirus crisis,offered a glimmer of hope Tuesday, saying social distancing was working and that the rate of increase of cases in New York City might be slowing.

"You are starting to see that the daily increases are not in that steep incline," Fauci said in an interview on CNN. "They are startingto be able to possibly flatten out."

Fauci,director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, also said a recommendation that all Americans wear masks was "under very active consideration" by the federal task force on the crisis.

But it won't happen until the supply is sufficient to ensure that all health care workers are adequately equipped, he added. Faucialso stressed thatthe masks would do little to protect the wearerbut could help keep themfrom spreading the disease.

Chris Cuomo, a CNN journalist and brother of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, said he has tested positive for the virus. Cuomo said on Twitter that he had fever, chills and shortness of breath and is self-isolating in the basement of his home. "I just hope I didn't give it to the kids and (wife) Cristina," Cuomo said, adding that he will continue to appear on CNN from his basement.

"He's going to be fine," the governorsaid at his daily news conference."He's young, in good shape, strong. Not as strong as he thinks, but he will be fine."

A 68-bed emergency field hospital erected in Central Park wasset to receive patients infected with the coronavirus starting Tuesday.A team of 72 doctors, nurses and other health care workers from Samaritan's Purse, an evangelical Christian disaster-relief organization, have mobilized the facility, which is equipped with 10 ventilators.

The hospitalhas partnered with New Yorks Mount Sinai Health System and will prioritize moving overflow patients from the Brooklyn and Queens Mount Sinai branchesso they can resume respiratory care treatment.

The relief effort is not without some controversy, however.Because of anti-LGBTQ comments made in the past by Samaritan's Purse's founder,Franklin Graham, the group has faced backlash.

New York state senator Brad Hoylman posted a statement to his verified Twitter account in which he called onGraham "to publicly assure LGBTQ New Yorkers that they will receivethe same treatment as anyone else at the Central Park field hospital."

Lorenzo Reyes

A field stretcher in the field hospital being set up in Central Park.(Photo: Anthony Behar, SIPA USA)

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, comparing buying ventilators to online auctions, said the Federal Emergency Management Agency basically bigfooted individual states and drove up prices.Cuomosaid he believes FEMA shouldve been the purchasing agent for medical equipment before becoming the sole distributor to states in need.

Its like being on eBay with 50 other states, bidding on a ventilator, Cuomo said.You see the bid go up 'cause California bid. Illinois bid. Florida bid. New York bid. California rebids. Thats literally what were doing. I mean, how inefficient. And then, FEMA gets involved and FEMA starts bidding. And now FEMA is bidding on top of the 50, so FEMA is driving up the price. What sense does this make?

Cuomo released data indicating his statehad more than 75,000 positive cases including more than 9,000 new cases with a death toll of 1,550, as of Tuesday morning. He also said New York tests far more than any other state.

Lorenzo Reyes

The captain of an aircraft carrier is asking the U.S. Navy to step in to evacuate and isolate its crew as cases of thecoronavirushave broken out amongmembers.

In a four-page letter dated Monday and first obtained by theSan Francisco Chronicle, Navy CaptainBrett Crozier of the USS Theodore Roosevelt said"decisive action" was required to prevent deaths from the virus, and that the sailors on board were unable to comply with social-distancingguidelines because of the ship's close quarters.

Crozier wrote that"we are not at war, and therefore cannot allow a single Sailor to perish as a result of this pandemic unnecessarily."

The Navyreported March 24that three sailors had tested positive and been airlifted to a hospital in the Pacific. By Thursday, the number of infected sailors had jumped to 23.

-- Jeanine Santucci

Louisiana suffered its deadliest coronavirus day Tuesday with 54 deaths and 1,212 new cases, the state health department reported.

Tuesday'sstartling spike brings the total number of COVID-19-related deaths in Louisiana to 239 and cases to 5,237.

The state's Public Health department also reports that one-third of the ventilators across Louisianawont be suitable for coronavirus patients because they are of the emergency portable variety, whichdont work well for a long-term respiratory illnesslike COVID-19.

The health department also reported 12 new nursing homes with coronavirus "clusters" for a total of 40, almost 12% of the state's436 nursing homes or long-term care facilities.A cluster is identified as two or more cases that appear to be connected.

There are now confirmed cases in 60 of the state's 64 parishes.

Much of the world is locked in the same life-and-death struggle the U.S. faces. The number of worldwide, confirmed coronavirus cases surpassed 838,000 on Tuesday, while Italy's tally surpassed 105,000. The U.S. has more than any nation with more than 175,000, although availability of testing and national populations are factorsin the totals.

Italy has had the most deaths: more than 12,000. That includes 812 on Monday, up from 756 on Sunday. Spain has seen more than 8,200 deaths, including 849 on Monday, its highest total to date.

"We need every country to keep responding detecting, isolating, treating cases and tracing contacts, plus physical distancing," said Dr. Takeshi Kasai, the World Health Organizations regional director for the Western Pacific. "We know it works! And all countries need to keep preparing for large-scale community transmission."

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The World Health Organization is urging nations adopting strict stay-at-home orders to take care of their poor populations struggling to survive under the restrictions. Even the wealthiest nations have citizens who face dire consequences, warned Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO's director general. Tedrossays he grew up poor in Ethiopia and knows what it means to have to worry about where the next meal will come from.

"I know that many people have to work every single day to win their daily bread," Tedros said. "If were limiting movement, what is going to happen to these people? Each and every country, based on their situation, must answer this question.

Macy's is furloughing a majorityof its 125,00 workers and Kohl's will do the same with 85,000 employees as the severe economic disruptions caused by the coronavirus stay-at-home drive roll through the retail industry. Gap Inc., which owns the Gap, Banana Republic and Old Navy, also announced that it would be "pausing pay" for the majority of store workers in the U.S. and Canada until stores are reopen.

"While the digital business remains open, we have lost the majority of our sales due to the store closures,"Macy's said in astatement.

Other sectors of the economy have already been hammered. Last week, Cheesecake Factory saidit would furlough 41,000 hourly workers and cut executive pay. And hotel giants Hilton, Hyatt and Marriott have all announcedfurloughs.

Brett Molina

Mexico has declareda national public health emergencybecause ofthe COVID-19 pandemic, ordering the suspension of nonessential activity until April 30. The country has reported 28 deaths and more than 1,000 confirmed cases. The emergency declarationissued byMexicos General Health Council requires a stop to nonessential public, private and social events and is intended to slow the spread of the virus.Schools inMexico hadalready closedand will now remain closed until at least April 30.

Daniel Borunda, El Paso Times

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The novel coronavirus has prompted social distancing measures around the world. One researcher believes what's being done isn't enough.

Lydia Bourouiba, an associate professor at MIT, has researched the dynamics of exhalations (coughs and sneezes, for instance) for years at The Fluid Dynamics of Disease Transmission Laboratory and found exhalations cause gaseous clouds that can travel up to 27 feet.

Her research could have implications for the global COVID-19 pandemic, though measures called for by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the WHO call for six and three feet of space, respectively.

Theres an urgency in revising the guidelines currently being given by the WHO and the CDC on the needs for protective equipment, particularly for the front-line health care workers, Bourouiba told USA TODAY.

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Coronavirus live updates: More American deaths than on 9/11; US projections of 240,000; Dow's worst 1st quarter ever - USA TODAY