Trump, Musk boosted online interest in antimalarial drugs, study finds
The number of deaths in the U.S. totaled more than 60,000 as of Wednesday evening, according to NBC News' tally, while the global death toll climbed over 226,000, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The growing U.S. death toll hasn't prevented some states from relaxing their lockdowns, including Florida, which announced it would begin lifting stay-at-home orders on Monday.
Meanwhile, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Wednesday that an experimental drug for the coronavirus has a proven benefit.
"The data shows that remdesivir has a clear-cut, significant, positive effect in diminishing the time to recovery," Fauci said at the White House on Wednesday.
Here's what to know about the coronavirus, plus a timeline of the most critical moments:
- MAPS: Confirmed cases in the U.S. and worldwide, confirmed deaths in the U.S. and globally.
- Reopening America: See what states across the U.S. are starting to reopen.
This live coverage has now ended. Continue reading April 30 coronavirus news.
Download the NBC News app for latest updates on the coronavirus outbreak.
Dennis Romero
417d ago / 2:38 AM UTC
Trump, Musk boosted online interest in antimalarial drugs, study finds
Online interest in purchasing drugs touted by President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk spiked in late March after both weighed in, a new analysis published by the journal JAMA Internal Medicine found.
Musk tweeted March 16 that antimalarial drug chloroquine was "maybe worth considering," and Trump said March 19 that chloroquine and related drug hydroxychloroquine showed "very, very encouraging early results," though Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, disagreed.
University researchers based at Oxford, Harvard, UC San Diego and Johns Hopkins measured a 1,389 percent surge in online searches about purchasing hydroxychloroquine after Trump first touted the drug. "This could be evidence that thousands of Americans were interested in purchasing these drugs," study co-author Mark Dredze of Johns Hopkins University said in a statement.
In April, a drumbeat of headlines dashed high hopes for the drugs and for a combination also touted by Trump, one including antibiotic azithromycin. In fact the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said the drugs should not be tried outside a hospital setting.
On March 22 an Arizona man died after ingesting chloroquine phosphate, a parasite treatment for fish, believing it would protect him from coronavirus. His wife said the couple believed the substance was the drug endorsed by the president.
- Share this -
417d ago / 1:26 AM UTC
Canceled graduations hit hard for first-generation students
April 29, 202003:31
- Share this -
Dennis Romero
417d ago / 1:14 AM UTC
California's food supply could stave off meat shortage
SAN DIEGO - California isn't immune to pork, beef and chicken supply issues, but it does have its own food ecosystem that includes an abundance of fish and the availability of regional beef and chicken, experts say.
This could keep the state's appetite for protein satiated in the weeks to come as some analysts predict a coast-to-coast meat shortage. On Tuesday President Donald Trump ordered processing plants to stay open as a matter of national security.
But California, with its own fishing fleet, chicken processors and a dairy industry that serves the nation is somewhat sheltered.
- Share this -
417d ago / 3:05 AM UTC
Los Angeles to offer free coronavirus tests to all residents
Los Angeles to offer free coronavirus testing to all residents
April 30, 202001:11
Los Angeles will begin offering free coronavirus tests to all residents no matter if they have symptoms or not, Mayor Eric Garcetti said Wednesday.
Garcetti said that all residents of Los Angeles County can get the tests. The website to schedule tests says it is open to any county resident regardless of symptoms. Those with symptoms will be given priority.
The mayor said he believes Los Angeles is the first major city to offer tests to all residents. He said they now have enough testing capacity to handle the increased tests.
Testing rules had previously been relaxed to allow grocery store workers, first responders and other essential workers with exposure to the virus to get tests regardless of whether they have symptoms. Health officials say that even those without symptoms can spread the virus.
- Share this -
417d ago / 12:56 AM UTC
ER doctor who died by suicide was in 'untenable' situation, sister says
The sister of an emergency room doctor who died by suicide while helping fight the coronavirus pandemic said that before her death, Dr. Lorna Breen had been in an "untenable" situation.
Speaking to "TODAY's" Savannah Guthrie, Jennifer Feist said her sister was overcome by a grim combination of events. She contracted the virus, which Feist believed "altered her brain." Eventually, Breen returned to work.
- Share this -
417d ago / 12:14 AM UTC
States to allow elective surgeries at hospitals again
States to allow elective surgeries at hospitals again
April 29, 202002:15
The coronavirus pandemic forced hospitals to cancel elective surgeries, causing major anxiety for patients and a loss in income for the health care industry. In March alone, some 43,000 health care workers lost their jobs.
- Share this -
Grace Dille
417d ago / 12:01 AM UTC
New York City plans to move 1,000 homeless people out of shelters into hotels each week
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Wednesday that 1,000 homeless individuals will move out of shelters into hotels this week, with an additional 1,000 individuals each week as needed.
“The priority will be on folks in those larger congregate shelters that are having more trouble with this social distancing,” de Blasio said during a press conference.
This comes after 6,000 homeless individuals have successfully been moved into hotels, which is more than one-third of New York’s single adult homeless population, according to the NYC Department of Social Services.
Over 770 homeless individuals in the city have tested positive for COVID-19, including 660 cases among those experiencing sheltered homelessness, according to data from DSS. These positive cases have occurred across approximately 166 shelter locations.
- Share this -
417d ago / 12:18 AM UTC
Trump to visit Arizona next week, first travel away from White House in weeks
Trump announces he will travel to Arizona after saying he would like to ‘get out’ of White House
April 29, 202001:29
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he plans to visit Arizona next week and potentially Ohio "very soon," marking one of the few times the president has left the White House in several weeks amid the coronavirus pandemic.
"I think I’m going to Arizona next week, and we look forward to that," Trump said during a roundtable event with business leaders at the White House.
Trump, has rarely left the White House amid the outbreak, said that the purpose of his visit to Arizona was "industry" related because it was "too soon for the big, for the big everybody get-together-and-stand-next-to-each other crowds."
Trump’s last campaign rally was March 2 in North Carolina and spent the following weekend at his Florida resort where he met with the president of Brazil. Since then, his only public appearance outside the White House was on March 28 when he traveled to Norfolk, Va. to see off the USNS Comfort hospital ship as it made its way to New York.
- Share this -
417d ago / 11:02 PM UTC
A map of states that have begun reopening
Some states are starting to reopen and lift lockdowns, even as the battle against the coronavirus rages on. See our state-by-state breakdown: https://t.co/g86GOhu1fT pic.twitter.com/W3SsoeBvk1
— NBC News Graphics (@NBCNewsGraphics) April 29, 2020
- Share this -
417d ago / 10:50 PM UTC
IRS says it's paid out $207 billion in stimulus checks
The Internal Revenue Service on Wednesday said it's already paid out $207 billion in coronavirus stimulus checks.
"The IRS and Treasury have executed an extraordinary task by delivering more than 130 million Economic Impact Payments, totaling more than $207 billion, to Americans in less than 30 days," the agency said in a statement.
The total number of payouts since Friday is surprising because the IRS and Treasury Department said then they had sent out 88 million payments totaling about $158 billion since checks started going out April 11. About 150 million Americans are eligible for the checks.
The one-time payments were included as part of the $2 trillion coronavirus package Congress passed in March.
- Share this -
417d ago / 9:55 PM UTC
Florida to begin lifting stay-at-home order on Monday
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis unveiled a plan Wednesday to lift the state's stay-at-home orders amid the coronavirus crisis that he called "safe, smart, and step-by-step."
The plan will go into effect on Monday in every county except Dade, Palm Beach and Broward counties, where most of the Covid-19 cases in the state have been reported, DeSantis said.
But before DeSantis released any details, he took a swipe at the "doom and gloom" media and critics who faulted him for the state's slow response to the unfolding crisis.
- Share this -
Dennis Romero
417d ago / 2:38 AM UTC
Trump, Musk boosted online interest in antimalarial drugs, study finds
Online interest in purchasing drugs touted by President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk spiked in late March after both weighed in, a new analysis published by the journal JAMA Internal Medicine found.
Musk tweeted March 16 that antimalarial drug chloroquine was "maybe worth considering," and Trump said March 19 that chloroquine and related drug hydroxychloroquine showed "very, very encouraging early results," though Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, disagreed.
University researchers based at Oxford, Harvard, UC San Diego and Johns Hopkins measured a 1,389 percent surge in online searches about purchasing hydroxychloroquine after Trump first touted the drug. "This could be evidence that thousands of Americans were interested in purchasing these drugs," study co-author Mark Dredze of Johns Hopkins University said in a statement.
In April, a drumbeat of headlines dashed high hopes for the drugs and for a combination also touted by Trump, one including antibiotic azithromycin. In fact the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said the drugs should not be tried outside a hospital setting.
On March 22 an Arizona man died after ingesting chloroquine phosphate, a parasite treatment for fish, believing it would protect him from coronavirus. His wife said the couple believed the substance was the drug endorsed by the president.
- Share this -
417d ago / 1:26 AM UTC
Canceled graduations hit hard for first-generation students
April 29, 202003:31
- Share this -
Dennis Romero
417d ago / 1:14 AM UTC
California's food supply could stave off meat shortage
SAN DIEGO - California isn't immune to pork, beef and chicken supply issues, but it does have its own food ecosystem that includes an abundance of fish and the availability of regional beef and chicken, experts say.
This could keep the state's appetite for protein satiated in the weeks to come as some analysts predict a coast-to-coast meat shortage. On Tuesday President Donald Trump ordered processing plants to stay open as a matter of national security.
But California, with its own fishing fleet, chicken processors and a dairy industry that serves the nation is somewhat sheltered.
- Share this -
417d ago / 3:05 AM UTC
Los Angeles to offer free coronavirus tests to all residents
Los Angeles to offer free coronavirus testing to all residents
April 30, 202001:11
Los Angeles will begin offering free coronavirus tests to all residents no matter if they have symptoms or not, Mayor Eric Garcetti said Wednesday.
Garcetti said that all residents of Los Angeles County can get the tests. The website to schedule tests says it is open to any county resident regardless of symptoms. Those with symptoms will be given priority.
The mayor said he believes Los Angeles is the first major city to offer tests to all residents. He said they now have enough testing capacity to handle the increased tests.
Testing rules had previously been relaxed to allow grocery store workers, first responders and other essential workers with exposure to the virus to get tests regardless of whether they have symptoms. Health officials say that even those without symptoms can spread the virus.
- Share this -
417d ago / 12:56 AM UTC
ER doctor who died by suicide was in 'untenable' situation, sister says
The sister of an emergency room doctor who died by suicide while helping fight the coronavirus pandemic said that before her death, Dr. Lorna Breen had been in an "untenable" situation.
Speaking to "TODAY's" Savannah Guthrie, Jennifer Feist said her sister was overcome by a grim combination of events. She contracted the virus, which Feist believed "altered her brain." Eventually, Breen returned to work.
- Share this -
417d ago / 12:14 AM UTC
States to allow elective surgeries at hospitals again
States to allow elective surgeries at hospitals again
April 29, 202002:15
The coronavirus pandemic forced hospitals to cancel elective surgeries, causing major anxiety for patients and a loss in income for the health care industry. In March alone, some 43,000 health care workers lost their jobs.
- Share this -
Grace Dille
417d ago / 12:01 AM UTC
New York City plans to move 1,000 homeless people out of shelters into hotels each week
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Wednesday that 1,000 homeless individuals will move out of shelters into hotels this week, with an additional 1,000 individuals each week as needed.
“The priority will be on folks in those larger congregate shelters that are having more trouble with this social distancing,” de Blasio said during a press conference.
This comes after 6,000 homeless individuals have successfully been moved into hotels, which is more than one-third of New York’s single adult homeless population, according to the NYC Department of Social Services.
Over 770 homeless individuals in the city have tested positive for COVID-19, including 660 cases among those experiencing sheltered homelessness, according to data from DSS. These positive cases have occurred across approximately 166 shelter locations.
- Share this -
417d ago / 12:18 AM UTC
Trump to visit Arizona next week, first travel away from White House in weeks
Trump announces he will travel to Arizona after saying he would like to ‘get out’ of White House
April 29, 202001:29
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he plans to visit Arizona next week and potentially Ohio "very soon," marking one of the few times the president has left the White House in several weeks amid the coronavirus pandemic.
"I think I’m going to Arizona next week, and we look forward to that," Trump said during a roundtable event with business leaders at the White House.
Trump, has rarely left the White House amid the outbreak, said that the purpose of his visit to Arizona was "industry" related because it was "too soon for the big, for the big everybody get-together-and-stand-next-to-each other crowds."
Trump’s last campaign rally was March 2 in North Carolina and spent the following weekend at his Florida resort where he met with the president of Brazil. Since then, his only public appearance outside the White House was on March 28 when he traveled to Norfolk, Va. to see off the USNS Comfort hospital ship as it made its way to New York.
- Share this -
417d ago / 11:02 PM UTC
A map of states that have begun reopening
Some states are starting to reopen and lift lockdowns, even as the battle against the coronavirus rages on. See our state-by-state breakdown: https://t.co/g86GOhu1fT pic.twitter.com/W3SsoeBvk1
— NBC News Graphics (@NBCNewsGraphics) April 29, 2020
- Share this -
417d ago / 10:50 PM UTC
IRS says it's paid out $207 billion in stimulus checks
The Internal Revenue Service on Wednesday said it's already paid out $207 billion in coronavirus stimulus checks.
"The IRS and Treasury have executed an extraordinary task by delivering more than 130 million Economic Impact Payments, totaling more than $207 billion, to Americans in less than 30 days," the agency said in a statement.
The total number of payouts since Friday is surprising because the IRS and Treasury Department said then they had sent out 88 million payments totaling about $158 billion since checks started going out April 11. About 150 million Americans are eligible for the checks.
The one-time payments were included as part of the $2 trillion coronavirus package Congress passed in March.
- Share this -
417d ago / 9:55 PM UTC
Florida to begin lifting stay-at-home order on Monday
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis unveiled a plan Wednesday to lift the state's stay-at-home orders amid the coronavirus crisis that he called "safe, smart, and step-by-step."
The plan will go into effect on Monday in every county except Dade, Palm Beach and Broward counties, where most of the Covid-19 cases in the state have been reported, DeSantis said.
But before DeSantis released any details, he took a swipe at the "doom and gloom" media and critics who faulted him for the state's slow response to the unfolding crisis.
- Share this -
Theodore L. Caputi
Economics & Health Researcher
My research interests include public health, health innovation, and health care.