Coronavirus live updates: US overtakes China for most cases in world; stocks rally despite record unemployment claims – USA TODAY

China is no longer the global leader in cases of the virus that originated in its soil. The U.S., with about one-fourth the number of people of the world’s most populous country, overtook China and Italy in confirmed coronavirus cases on Thursday.

That dubious distinction took place on a day when jobless claims smashed a record and U.S. deaths surged near 1,200 as the coronavirus tightened its grip on America. Still, the prospect of a stimulus package soon becoming reality helped propel a third consecutive stock market rally.

Despite the continued increase in cases of COVID-19, President Donald Trump repeated his recent message that the country needs to get back to work. 

“The mortality rate is way, way down,” Trump said. “The people that actually die, that percentage is much lower than I expected.”

The Labor Department, in announcing the unemployment claims numbers for last week, said what Americans already knew – that layoffs hit the hospitality and food service industries particularly hard. Other industries that struggled included health care and social assistance, arts, entertainment and recreation, transportation and warehousing, and manufacturing industries, Labor said.

Congress was trying to supply a ray of hope. The House is scheduled to take up a Senate-passed, $2 trillion emergency aid proposal Friday. Swift passage was expected – after an initial hangup, the package flew through the Senate on Wednesday night by a vote of 96-0. President Donald Trump has expressed a willingness to sign the measure. 

The stimulus comes as confirmed coronavirus cases in America surpassed 82,000, leading to 1,178 deaths by late afternoon. The global death toll was more than 23,000; and total confirmed cases went past 526,000, according to the Johns Hopkins University data dashboard.

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U.S. the world leader in COVID-19 cases

The U.S. surged past China and Italy to become the planet’s most infected nation Thursday, a stark milestone in the coronavirus era — and a reminder of its deadly, culture-changing effects on American life.

The Johns Hopkins University dash board showed the U.S. with 82,404 COVID-19 infections as of 6 p.m., ET, moving past Italy (80,589) and China (81,782). More than 1,100 people have died in the U.S.

Part of the reason for the nation’s top ranking is cause and effect: The U.S. has drastically ramped up its testing protocols to identify infected people and those who may be carriers of the virus. As testing has increased, so has the number of confirmed cases.

But the new numbers also reflect a slow roll-out of the measures to combat the virus, especially an initial lack of testing capabilities that left officials unable to identify how quickly the disease was spreading and where to focus resources.

— Mike James

Trump: ‘Our country has to go back to work’

At the briefing of the Coronavirus Task Force, right around the time the U.S. was surging past China in case total, Trump stuck to his recent theme.

“We’re going to be practicing social distancing and washing hands, but our country has to go back to work,” he said. “I think it’s going to happen pretty quickly.”

Trump suggested the process may begin in areas of the nation that haven’t been hit as hard by the pandemic.

Trump also announced the USNS Comfort will sail for New York City on Saturday and is scheduled to arrive Monday, about three weeks earlier than expected. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has long asked for help as his state has the highest number of cases in the nation.

Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, said 55% of all cases are coming out of the New York City area.

— Heather Tucker

Record 3.3 million people apply for unemployment benefits

The number of Americans filing initial applications for unemployment benefits jumped nearly twelvefold to a record 3.3 million last week, the Labor Department said, offering the most vivid evidence yet of the coronavirus’s widespread damage to the economy. The total was well above the 1.5 million claims economists had forecast, according to the median estimate of those surveyed by Bloomberg.

The pandemic has set off the most abrupt near-shutdown of the economy in history. Many restaurants, shops, movie theaters, sports arenas and other gathering spots were compelled to close their doors or scale back service – and lay off staff.

– Paul Davidson

Stocks surge for 3rd day in a row

U.S. stocks notched their first three-day rally in six weeks on hopes that Congress will quickly approve a coronavirus rescue package for the economy while the outbreak in China is showing signs that it has been largely contained.

The Dow Jones industrial average climbed 1,351.62 points, or 6.4%, to close at 22,552.17. The blue-chip average has advanced more than 20% over the past three days, its biggest three-day gain since 1931. The Standard & Poor’s 500 added 6.2% to finish at 2,630.07. 

The gains came despite the daunting number of claims following a wave of layoffs from the coronavirus pandemic. 

“Record unemployment data is horrible news, but we knew it was going to be terrible,” said Joe Conroy, founder of Maryland-based Harford Retirement Planners. “Most people agree that we’re in a recession. What’s helped prop up the market are signs that China is starting to contain the virus.”

— Jessica Menton

Death toll rises in New York

One hundred people in New York state died Wednesday from the coronavirus, the state’s single deadliest day since the virus at the center of a global pandemic first hit, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. The surge of deaths pushed New York’s total count to 385 since the beginning of March, when the state found its first confirmed case of COVID-19.

New York remains the epicenter of the U.S. coronavirus outbreak with 37,258 confirmed cases – almost half of the national total as of Thursday afternoon. Cuomo said the outbreak’s peak in the state is still at least two weeks away, and the state was battling to make room in hospitals and obtain ventilators.

“I don’t want to sugarcoat the situation,” Cuomo said. “The situation is not easy. But easy times don’t forge character. It’s the tough times that forge character.”

Meanwhile, public officials of upstate towns where New York-area residents have second homes are strongly urging them not to travel there.

– Joseph Spector

13 die in 24 hours at one NYC hospital

At least 13 patients died in 24 hours at one hospital in New York City, currently the epicenter of the U.S. outbreak. Elmhurst Hospital, part of the city’s public hospital system, said the 13 deaths were consistent with the number of intensive care unit patients the hospital was treating at the time.

The deaths occurred from Tuesday to Wednesday at the Queens hospital. The city has confirmed over 20,011 cases, leading to 280 deaths. “Elmhurst is at the center of this crisis,” hospital spokesperson Christopher Miller said. “It’s the No. 1 priority of our public hospital system right now.”

– Ryan W. Miller

Stimulus package checks expected soon

The House is expected to vote Friday on the stimulus package. Highlights include direct payments of up to $1,200 for most individuals and $2,400 for most married couples filing jointly, with an extra $500 for each child. Here’s how you can calculate the amount of stimulus money your household can expect. 

Unemployment insurance benefits would be expanded, increasing the maximum benefit by $600 a week for up to four months. Benefits would be available to workers who are part-time, self-employed or part of the gig economy. People who are still unemployed after state benefits end could get an additional 13 weeks of help. Food assistance programs would get a boost, and homeowners with federally backed mortgages would be protected from foreclosures for as long as 180 days. Students with federal loans could suspend payments until October.

– Maureen Groppe and Ledyard King

Is Florida the next New York?

Florida has come under fire after its beaches remained jammed with spring breakers last week, and Gov. Ron DeSantis has ignored calls to issue a statewide shelter-in-place order.

That may contribute to the state becoming the next hot spot for COVID-19, a chilling possibility considering the elderly are the most likely to die from the disease and Florida is home to nearly four million people 65 and over, the second-highest number in the U.S. behind California.

Hospitals and doctors around the state say they still don’t have nearly enough testing kits and can’t get the ones they have analyzed fast enough, echoing complaints from state health officials across the country. Health officials have completed 27,000 tests so far in Florida, while New York is doing more than 18,000 tests a day. 

— Alan Gomez

Chicago mayor: 40,000 hospitalizations expected

Mayor Lori Lightfoot implored Chicago residents to “stay home, save lives” in an address to the city, warning there could be tens of thousands of hospitalizations in the coming weeks.

“We could be expecting upwards of 40,000 hospitalizations in the coming weeks,” Lightfoot said. “Not 40,000 cases, but 40,000 people who require acute care in a hospital setting. That number will break our healthcare system.”

Crowds of hundreds of people have been seen congregating along the city’s lakefront in recent days, which a fiery Lightfoot called a “blatant violation” of Illinois’s stay-at-home order. She warned future violators would be arrested and Thursday closed the city’s lakefront trail, 606 trail and Riverwalk, along with adjacent parks and beaches.

President Donald Trump on Thursday approved a major disaster declaration for Illinois, freeing federal funding.

— Grace Hauck

Tesla to make ventilators; hockey helmet firm to make face masks

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the company’s solar-panel factory in Buffalo, New York, hopes to begin ventilator production “as soon as humanly possible.” Musk tweeted that “we will do anything in our power to help the citizens of New York.” New York actually invested $750 million to help build the plant. Cuomo said the state, which has about 12,000 ventilators, may need as many as 40,000 in the next few weeks as the coronavirus outbreak races toward its peak in the state.

And Bauer, a hockey equipment manufacturing company, said it has shifted its focus to make products like masks and shields for medical professionals.

– Joseph Spector and Chris Bumbaca

China closes borders to keep COVID-19 from returning

China temporarily barred most foreigners from entering the country as it seeks to curb the number of imported coronavirus cases. The foreign ministry said even foreign citizens with residence permits will be prevented from entering starting Saturday. Diplomatic workers will be exempt, and foreign citizens coming to China for “necessary economic, trade, scientific or technological activities or out of emergency humanitarian needs” can still apply for visas. Most countries have halted or severely curbed international travelers in a bid to curb the pandemic.

The coronavirus emerged in China late last year before spreading around the globe. The outbreak in China has been largely controlled, however, and life has been returning to normal across the country.

2-month-old Tennessean tests positive, has mild symptoms

A 2-month-old who has tested positive for COVID-19 in Nashville could be the youngest pandemic patient in the nation, officials say. City health officials said metro Nashville had 36 new cases in 24 hours. Alex Jahangir, the city’s coronavirus task force chair, said the infant has mild symptoms and is home “doing well.” 

Children appear to be at lower risk for the harshest effects of COVID-19 than adults, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but they are not immune to the disease. 

– Yihyun Jeong

Louisiana pastor defies social distancing; service draws 1,000

A Louisiana pastor continues to defy the state’s orders prohibiting gatherings of more than 50 people by holding services drawing over 1,000 attendees about 15 miles northeast of Baton Rouge. 

The Rev. Tony Spell, who claims that congregants at Life Tabernacle Church in Central City have been cured of cancer and HIV, said that coronavirus is “politically motivated.” Spell says churchgoers bused in from five different parishes in Louisiana have attended his church every Sunday despite state recommendations against mass gatherings.

“If they close every door in this city, then I will close my doors,” Spell told CNN. “But you can’t say the retailers are essential but the church is not. That is a persecution of the faith.”

– Joshua Bote

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WHO: World ‘squandered first window of opportunity’ to curb outbreak

World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus scolded world leaders for wasting precious time in the fight against the virus. He called it “public enemy No. 1” and asked countries to follow a series of protocols, including expanding training and deployment of health care workers.

“The time to act was actually more than a month ago or two months ago,” he said. ”We squandered the first window of opportunity …  this is a second opportunity, which we should not squander and do everything to suppress and control this virus.”

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Sister Jean is back with different March Madness message

Sister Jean Dolores-Schmidt, who became a March Madness star in 2018 during Loyola-Chicago’s Cinderella run in the NCAA tournament, made another March appearance Thursday. Now she stars in a PSA video released by the school urging people to stay at home to help curb the pandemic.

“What we’ve been asked to do by government officials … and others in authority is not an easy thing to do,” said Sister Jean, who turned 100 in August. “But we must do it. We must not only do it, but we have to do it as a team in order to aid our global arena.”

Another well-known college basketball figure, longtime TV commentator Dick Vitale, is making a plea for public officials to put lives ahead of an economic recovery.

– Scott Gleeson

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Contributing: The Associated Press