♦ President Trump said Monday that he will sign an executive order “to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States” because of the coronavirus.
♦ The state reported Monday that the death toll from the coronavirus outbreak in Massachusetts had risen by 103 cases to 1,809, up from 1,706 the day before. The number of confirmed coronavirus cases climbed by 1,566 to 39,643.
♦ The Trump administration and congressional leaders are closing in on a $400 billion-plus deal that could pass the Senate as soon as Monday to renew funding for a small business loan program that recently ran out of money.
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♦ In recent weeks, the US has seen the first rollout of blood tests for coronavirus antibodies, widely heralded as crucial tools to assess the reach of the pandemic in the US, restart the economy, and reintegrate society. But for all their promise, the tests — intended to signal whether people may have built immunity to the virus — are already raising alarms.
♦ Here’s a look at the non-essential business closure order, stay-at-home advisory, and other rules in place.
♦ Resources: When should I wear a mask? What are the symptoms of coronavirus? If you have a question, ask the Globe here.
♦ A look at all the coronavirus cases in Massachusetts.
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Database: Coronavirus cases by nursing home and assisted living facility
The state on Monday released a list of coronavirus cases by nursing homes and assisted living facilities. Use the table and search function below to look up a specific nursing home and see how many cases have been reported.
Baker expected to discuss school closures Tuesday
By Bianca Vázquez Toness, Martin Finucane, and Travis Andersen, Globe Staff
Governor Charlie Baker is expected to make an announcement regarding school closures when he addresses the media at noon Tuesday.
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On a weekly conference call with school superintendents Tuesday morning, Education Commissioner Jeffrey Riley said the governor would announce a decision regarding whether to close schools past May 4 at Tuesday’s press conference, but wouldn’t reveal Baker’s decision, according to two people who were on the call.
Cuomo to meet with Trump at White House to press for federal testing help
By Associated Press
NEW YORK — New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo will head to the White House on Tuesday as he seeks billions in federal aid and help with coronavirus testing.
The Democratic governor and Republican president have alternately praised and criticized each other over their respective responses to the outbreak. The pair traded barbs as recently as Friday, when Trump said Cuomo should get to work after the governor argued that the federal government needed to lead in ramping up mass testing.
Tacko Fall and Jaylen Brown show off their quarantine hobbies and dish on teammates on Instagram
By Nicole Yang, Boston.com Staff
Tacko Fall’s new quarantine hobby appears to be coming along.
Fall, who recently started teaching himself how to play the guitar, showed off his skills for teammate Jaylen Brown during a live story on the NBA’s Instagram account Monday afternoon.
“Let me hear something, bro,” Brown asked.
One question amid coronavirus pandemic: when will N.H. beaches reopen?
By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff
New Hampshire could reopen its beaches in the coming months, but any plan to do so will likely include input from Maine and Massachusetts, Granite State Governor Chris Sununu’s office said Tuesday.
Sununu’s spokesman, Benjamin Vihstadt, said in an e-mail that the governor is “working with all stakeholders to formulate a potential plan as to how state beaches, along with other industries, could open in a phased approach in a safe and responsible manner in the coming months.”
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60 residents of Brewster nursing home test positive for coronavirus
By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff
Sixty residents of a Brewster nursing home have tested positive for COVID-19 amid the ongoing pandemic, town officials said.
In a statement, the town said that as of Monday, 60 out of 92 residents of Pleasant Bay Nursing and Rehabilitation Center had tested positive, following three rounds of testing that began April 10. Five residents remain untested, the statement said.
For the elderly, coronavirus is not necessarily a death sentence. But it can feel like one
By Dasia Moore, Globe Staff
When Leonidas Romero returned home to Chelsea on April 15, the first thing the 92-year-old asked for was a shower. The second thing he wanted was a bowl of his daughter’s homemade chicken soup.
After weeks in the hospital fighting COVID-19, Romero and his daughter, Carolina — who also had been sick with the virus — were eager to celebrate.
As the pandemic’s death toll climbs, driven largely by victims in their 80s and above, Romero’s story might seem like an outlier: A lone survivor who beat back a death sentence. But just how rare Romero’s recovery is remains unknown. And absent any meaningful data about how many older people survive and recover, fear has spread far quicker than the virus.
Officials link 7 Wisconsin coronavirus cases to in-person voting
By Associated Press
MILWAUKEE — Officials have identified seven people who appear to have contracted the coronavirus through activities related to the April 7 election in Wisconsin, Milwaukee’s health commissioner said.
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Commissioner Jeanette Kowalik said six of the cases involve Milwaukee voters and one is a Milwaukee poll worker, the Journal Sentinel reported.
Parents, you can’t replace teachers while homeschooling. But you can do this
By David Bulley
I have a secret to share with parents and guardians who are worried about homeschooling kids during the pandemic.
When classroom teachers like me are out for the day, we don’t trust substitutes to deliver our normal educational content. Instead, we leave written instructions for the students directly, or we tell the sub to put on a movie.
Guess what? You are now the long-term substitutes. And, quite frankly, you are not capable of teaching the entire normal curriculum. So please: Stop worrying about trying to accomplish the impossible.
US stocks fall as oil rout continues
By Robert Brand, Bloomberg
The oil meltdown accelerated, with huge losses sweeping through markets as the world runs out of places to store unwanted crude and grapples with negative pricing.
West Texas Intermediate plunged below zero on Monday for the first time in history with the contract for May nearing expiration, leaving traders in a panic as they tried to avoid taking delivery of physical barrels. On Tuesday the losses spread to the next month -- highlighting the massive glut in the market causing the rout rather than any technical quirk.
Deal reached on major parts of $500b virus aid, Schumer says
By the Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday agreement has been reached on “every major issue” of a nearly $500 billion coronavirus aid package for small businesses, as well as additional help for hospitals and COVID-19 virus testing.
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Schumer said post-midnight talks among Democratic and Republican leaders, along with top Trump administration officials produced a breakthrough agreement on the package.
“We have a deal and I think we’ll pass it today,” Schumer said Tuesday morning on CNN. He cautioned that staff are still “dotting the I’s and crossing the T’s.”
An inside look at baseball in South Korea as the KBO prepares to resume playing
By Julian McWilliams, Globe Staff
When Josh Herzenberg landed in South Korea on Feb. 15, he thought he had walked into an apocalypse.
Herzenberg, the quality control coach and pitching coordinator for the Lotte Giants of the Korean Baseball Organization, had been with the team in Australia since Jan. 27 for spring training. Warnings of COVID-19 slowly started making its way to Korea.
“When I got off the plane here on the 15th everything was shut down,” Herzenberg said during a phone interview. “The stores were open and that was about it.”
After approximately a two-week quarantine, Herzenberg said, everything slowly started to open up. He then got back to work.
Analysis: The coronavirus outbreak has helped Trump get the immigration crackdown he’s long pursued — and provided him with a new foil
By Jazmine Ulloa, Globe Staff
WASHINGTON – Since the coronavirus mushroomed into a global health crisis this winter, President Trump has used the aggressive practices that public health experts have recommended to combat the pandemic to advance some of the most stringent immigration actions at the nation’s southern border since he took office.
Federal officials have implemented the tightest border controls in decades, instantly deporting or turning away refugees, asylum seekers, and young migrants attempting to cross into the US without parents or guardians. At the same time, the administration has moved so slowly to release people from detention centers and shut down immigration courts, it has sparked legal challenges from immigrant rights groups that argue the centers and courts have become infection hot spots.
Then on Monday night, Trump announced on Twitter that he would sign an executive order to temporarily suspend all immigration into the US “in light of the attack from the Invisible Enemy, as well as the need to protect the jobs of our GREAT American Citizens.” He provided no further details on how he would do it or for how long.
In effect, the coronavirus pandemic has allowed Trump, using his authority to respond to a national emergency, to enact the type of strict immigration crackdown he had been been unable to put in place because of opposition from Congress and the courts.
Most rate Trump’s coronavirus response negatively and expect crowds will be unsafe until summer, poll finds
By Scott Clement and Dan Balz, Washington Post
Most Americans expect no immediate easing of the health risks associated with the coronavirus pandemic, despite calls by President Donald Trump and others to begin reopening the economy quickly. A majority say it could be June or later before it will be safe for larger gatherings to take place again, according to a Washington Post-University of Maryland poll.
Most Americans - 54% - give the president negative marks for his handling of the outbreak in this country and offer mixed reviews for the federal government as a whole. By contrast, 72% of Americans give positive ratings to the governors of their states for the way they have dealt with the crisis, with workers also rating their employers positively.
With casinos closed, R.I. is watching its revenue evaporate. Will it ever recover?
By Dan McGowan, Globe Staff
PROVIDENCE – Remember when competition was the biggest headache for Twin River in Rhode Island?
Last August, the company that owns casinos in Lincoln and Tiverton announced it would lay off dozens of dealers after a decline in table game revenue was attributed to the opening of the Encore Boston Harbor casino.
Eight months later, the company is confronting an entirely different crisis. The coronavirus has forced the casinos to close indefinitely, sending hundreds of workers to the unemployment line and forcing state leaders to watch as Rhode Island’s third-largest source of tax revenue evaporates before their eyes.
Italy looks to start reopening in May
Associated Press
Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte on Tuesday confirmed that Italy can start reopening on May 4, but he doused any hopes of a total loosening of some of the strictest lockdown measures in a western democracy.
“Many citizens are tired of the efforts that have been made so far and would like a significant loosening of these measures, or even their total abolition," Conte said in a Facebook post, adding that “a decision of that kind would be irresponsible.”
Conte indicated that moves to relax the restrictions would be announced by the end of the week, and that they would take into account the different circumstances among regions.
Oil prices go negative. What does that mean?
By Cathy Bussewitz, Associated Press
NEW YORK — The world is awash in oil, there’s little demand for it and we’re running out of places to put it.
That in a nutshell explains Monday’s strange and unprecedented action in the market for crude oil futures contracts, where traders essentially offered to pay someone else to deal with the oil they were due to have delivered next month.
WHO car used to transport swab samples attacked
Associated Press
A car used by the World Health Organization to transport swab samples to be tested for the COVID-19 virus has been attacked in western Myanmar, killing the driver and wounding a passenger.
The Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported Tuesday that the vehicle bearing a U.N. license plate was attacked in Rakhine State en route to Yangon late Monday afternoon.
Rakhine has been the scene of bitter fighting between the government and the Arakan Army, an ethnic guerrilla group fighting for autonomy in Rakhine State. Each side blamed the other for the Monday attack.
The coronavirus cancels Oktoberfest in Germany
Associated Press
This year’s Oktoberfest in Munich has been called off because of the coronavirus pandemic. The cancellation of the world-famous annual celebration of beer, which was supposed to run from Sept. 19 to Oct. 4, underlines expectations that the way back to normal life will be very long.
The Oktoberfest typically draws about 6 million visitors every year to the packed festival grounds in Bavaria’s capital.
Bavarian governor Markus Soeder said after meeting Munich’s mayor Tuesday: “We agreed that the risk is simply too high.” He added that “you can neither keep your distance nor work with facial protection” at the Oktoberfest.
UN calls for scaling up all efforts to confront pandemic
By Edith M. Lederer, Associated Press
The UN General Assembly approved a resolution Monday night calling for global action to rapidly scale up development, manufacturing and access to medicine, vaccines and medical equipment to confront the new coronavirus pandemic.
The Mexican-drafted resolution requests U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to work with the World Health Organization and recommend options to ensure timely and equitable access to testing, medical supplies, drugs and future coronavirus vaccines for all in need, especially in developing countries.
It reaffirms the fundamental role of the United Nations system in coordinating the global response to control and contain the spread of COVID-19 and in supporting the 193 U.N. member states, “and in this regard acknowledges the crucial leading role played by the World Health Organization.”
Georgia, Tennessee and South Carolina say businesses can reopen soon
By Rick Rojas, Scott Dodd and Michael Cooper, New York Times
Residents of Georgia will be allowed Friday to return to the gym and get haircuts, pedicures, massages and tattoos. Next Monday, they can dine again in restaurants and go to the movies.
With that announcement, Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia on Monday joined officials in other states who are moving ahead with plans to relax restrictions intended to curb the spread of the coronavirus, despite signs that the outbreak is just beginning to strike some parts of the country.
In Tennessee, Gov. Bill Lee said Monday that he was not extending his “safer-at-home” order that is set to expire April 30. According to his office, “the vast majority of businesses in 89 counties” will be allowed to reopen May 1. Businesses in Ohio are expected to reopen on that date as well.
NOAA to allow boats to fish without monitors into May
Associated Press
The federal government is extending its suspension of the requirement for at-sea monitors in some East Coast fisheries until May.
Some fishing boats are required to carry workers on board who collect data about commercial fishing. They're called observers or at-sea monitors, and the data they gather helps inform federal management of fisheries.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said its waiving the requirement in some Northeast fisheries until May 2. The agency waived the requirement to help prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Tom Brady ejected from Tampa park closed because of pandemic
By The Associated Press
TAMPA, Fla. — Six Super Bowl rings may get you special treatment in a lot of places but former Patriots quarterback Tom Brady learned Monday that it won’t get you anything when you’re caught working out in a park that is closed to the public due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said during a news briefing Monday that the new Buccaneers quarterback was spotted working out by himself at a park downtown by staff patrol. The staffer went over to tell him he had to leave and she recognized the man to be the 42-year-old Brady.
“He’s been sighted,” Castor said.
Trump says he’ll ‘suspend immigration,’ offers no details
Associated Press
President Donald Trump said Monday that he will sign an executive order “to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States” because of the coronavirus.
“In light of the attack from the Invisible Enemy, as well as the need to protect the jobs of our GREAT American Citizens, I will be signing an Executive Order to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States!” Trump tweeted.
He offered no details as to what immigration programs might be affected by the order. The White House did not immediately elaborate on Trump’s tweeted announcement.
Small-business owners across region await lifeline from Congress
By Jon Chesto, Globe Staff
The fierce race for Paycheck Protection Program funds has been on hold, but small-business owners and their bankers are lining up for a second round. Negotiators in Congress are reportedly close to a deal that would add about $300 billion to the program. The initial allocation ran out last Thursday — nearly $350 billion spoken for, in less than two weeks.
For small businesses struggling with pandemic-related shutdowns, this program represents an important lifeline. The aid comes in the form of 1 percent interest loans, of up to $10 million, but most or all can be forgiven if certain employment goals are met.
The Great American Rescue is leaving minority businesses behind
By Shirley Leung, Globe Columnist
Who is getting left behind in the Great American Business Rescue?
It’s the same as always: the smallest firms.
The federal government is printing trillions of dollars like never before to save the economy, and yet the moms and pops who need it the most may never see a penny.
And that’s bad news, perhaps more so for entrepreneurs of color, whose businesses are overwhelmingly small and who already face significant obstacles.
Mass General models show flattening curve; COVID-19 patients not expected to overwhelm the system during this week’s surge
By Liz Kowalczyk, Globe Staff
Doctors and mathematicians at Massachusetts General Hospital, part of a little-known modeling team, are now optimistic that the number of coronavirus patients has plateaued at their institution, as well as in their larger hospital network, and will not overwhelm clinicians.
The Mass. General predictions come at a time when the state is considered a national hotspot for COVID-19 and when data show 100 to 150 Massachusetts residents dying daily from the virus. But analysts at the hospital believe that the crush of very sick patients at its doors is unlikely to get worse — and could start to ease in a week.
Red Sox will pay full-time employees through May
By Peter Abraham, Globe Staff
The Red Sox informed full-time employees Monday that their salaries are guaranteed through at least May 31.
The decision was made after Major League Baseball informed teams that commissioner Rob Manfred will suspend uniform employee contracts as of May 1. That gives teams the option to furlough baseball operations employees or cut their salaries because of the COVID-19 pandemic. That includes major and minor-league managers, coaches, scouts, trainers, and other staff members, about 9,000 in people in all across baseball.
Mass. reports 1,566 new coronavirus cases, 103 new deaths; Walsh warns police will keep dispersing crowds
By Martin Finucane, Travis Andersen, Danny McDonald and Jaclyn Reiss, Globe Staff
The state reported Monday that the death toll from the coronavirus outbreak in Massachusetts had risen by 103 cases to 1,809, up from 1,706 the day before. The number of confirmed coronavirus cases climbed by 1,566 to 39,643. The Department of Public Health also reported a total of 169,398 people in the state had been tested, up from 162,241 a day earlier.
As the number of COVID-19 infections climbed, Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh warned Monday that police will continue dispersing crowds that gather amid the ongoing pandemic and said officials are considering expanding the 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew beyond May 4.
Restaurants flood hospitals with food donations, despite hardships
By Anissa Gardizy, Globe Correspondent
When a friend told Tokuma Kobayashi last week that workers at a local hospital needed food amid the pandemic, the Japanese-restaurant owner donated 150 meals, without hesitation.
His readiness to give belies the fact that times are tough at Red White on Newbury Street. Kobayashi had to let go of seven employees because of the coronavirus crisis and its devastating impact on the restaurant industry.
While his Boston restaurant is barely surviving, Kobayashi said he doesn’t have time to worry about his own hardships — he’s far more concerned about hospital workers having healthy food.
State revises guidelines for who gets ventilators in crisis, following complaints about equity
By Andy Rosen, Globe Staff
Massachusetts has revised its guidelines for who should get lifesaving medical care in if hospitals become overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients, a shift that comes in response to widespread concern that the state’s initial plan would allow more people from disadvantaged groups to die.
The guidelines, which are not mandatory, are intended to help shape the decisions hospitals would make if they do not have enough life-saving equipment, such as ventilators, to serve every patient in need.
Baker signs bill blocking evictions during coronavirus
By Tim Logan, Globe Staff
Evictions are officially on hold in Massachusetts.
Gov. Charlie Baker signed a bill Monday blocking all eviction and foreclosure proceedings in the state for the duration of the coronavirus crisis.
The measure, which won final passage in the Legislature on Friday, would prohibit landlords from filing eviction cases, unless the health or safety of other tenants is at risk, for the next four months or until 45 days after the coronavirus state of emergency is lifted. It would also protect homeowners from being foreclosed upon and keep many small businesses from being evicted from their storefronts if they’re unable to pay rent.
Hospitals redeploy thousands of health care workers to respond to COVID-19 crisis
By Priyanka Dayal McCluskey, Globe Staff
On a normal day, Dr. Mitchel Harris, chief of orthopedic surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital, would meet with patients in his clinic or see them in the operating room, where he’d fix their broken bones and torn tendons.
Yet recently he worked a very different job: as a scribe hunched over a laptop, diligently taking notes, in a makeshift clinic for patients with COVID-19 symptoms.
She mapped out a perfect plan for Boston Marathon Monday. Just one thing was missing, and it wasn’t the race
By Nicole Yang, Boston.com Staff
After crossing the Boston Marathon finish line alone Monday morning, Lindsay Devers checked her phone and thought to herself, “I’m an idiot.”
Devers, a 30-something nurse anesthetist at Massachusetts General Hospital, thought she had mapped everything out perfectly for her debut marathon. She had trained for five months leading up to the race’s postponement, the first in its 124-year history, and wasn’t ready to wait until the rescheduled date in September to cross the finish line.
Georgia governor says restaurants, gyms, hair salons and other businesses may begin to reopen
By Associated Press
ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Monday rolled out aggressive plans to reopen the state’s economy, saying many businesses shuttered to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus may reopen their doors as early as Friday.
Kemp announced that gyms, hair salons, bowling alleys and tattoo parlors are among businesses that may reopen Friday — as long as owners follow strict social distancing and hygiene requirements. By Monday, movie theaters may resume selling tickets and restaurants limited to takeout orders can go back to limited dine-in service.
Boston releases map of coronavirus testing sites
Public health authorities in Boston on Monday unveiled a map showing community health centers in the city where testing for COVID-19 is now available. Combined with area hospitals, 15 testing sites are now available in the city alone.
The interactive map, which includes hours of operation, addresses, and contact information for the centers, can be found at boston.gov/coronavirus and bphc.org/coronavirus.
‘Just surreal silence.’ A closer look at the Boston Marathon start and finish lines on what should have been race day
By Nicole Yang, Boston.com Staff
HOPKINTON — The Boston Marathon start line was eerily empty on Patriots’ Day.
Blue cones were placed in nearly every parking spot around Hopkinton’s Echo Lake Park, and several police cruisers patrolled the area in hopes of preventing rogue runners from beginning the 26.2-mile trek from its usual spot.
“No Parking on Mon.,” read a solar traffic message board. “Tow Zone.”
Florida slowest state in US to process unemployment claims
By Bobby Caina Calvan, The Associated Press
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — As unemployment surged during the early weeks of the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S., Florida processed its hundreds of thousands of new claims more slowly than any other state, according to federal data.
The state is already among the most inhospitable places to be unemployed, and the economic downturn has only added to the misery. Now Florida finds itself frantically trying to catch up as it lags behind other large states and neighbors in the South.
With the US coronavirus death toll standing at more than 40,000, some manufacturers reopen amid fierce political heat
By Colleen Long, Gene Johnson and Mike Corder, Associated Press
The death toll in the US stood at more than 40,000 — the highest in the world — with over 750,000 confirmed infections, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. The true figures are believed to be much higher, in part because of limited testing and difficulties in counting the dead.
Protesters have taken to the streets in places such as Michigan, Ohio and Virginia, complaining that the shutdowns are destroying their livelihoods and trampling their rights. Defying the social-distancing rules and, in some cases, wearing no masks, demonstrators have berated their governors and demanded the firing of Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious-disease expert.
But Fauci warned: “Unless we get the virus under control, the real recovery economically is not going to happen.”
CMS orders nursing homes to alert residents, families to coronavirus cases
By Robert Weisman, Globe Staff
The top federal regulator of nursing homes ordered them on Monday to alert residents and their families to COVID-19 outbreaks.
Starting this week, skilled nursing facilities — serving an old and frail population at highest risk for the novel coronavirus — also will be required to report cases and deaths to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where they’ll be used as an “early predictor” of states and regions where the disease is spreading.
CDC warns against improper use of cleaning supplies, disinfectants to fight coronavirus; increase in reports to poison control centers
By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff
Poison control centers reported a sharp increase in reports of chemical exposure to cleaners and disinfectants between January and March, as people began using sanitizers and other items with greater frequency amid the coronavirus pandemic, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday.
The CDC disclosed the information Monday in its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
Coronavirus recession could plunge tens of millions into poverty, new report warns
By Christopher Ingraham, The Washington Post
The coronavirus recession that has sparked unprecedented job losses will likely drive US poverty rates to five-decade highs, according to new projections from Columbia University researchers.
If unemployment hits 30% and stays there, as a recent Federal Reserve report has warned, one widely used measure of poverty would skyrocket more than 50%, from 12.4% to 18.9%, according to report by Zachary Parolin and Christopher Wimer at the Center on Poverty and Social Policy.
Boris Johnson and his ministers criticized for response to coronavirus threat
By William Booth, The Washington Post
LONDON - The coronavirus epidemic in Britain has reached the blame phase, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his ministers coming under criticism that they underestimated the threat, were slow to act and are bungling the response.
Over the weekend, the most-talked-about article was a Sunday Times report, headlined “38 days when Britain sleepwalked into disaster,” which revealed that Johnson failed to attend five high-level emergency meetings called to prepare for the outbreak in January and February.
Mayor Walsh warns police will keep disbursing crowds; suggests night curfew could be extended beyond May 4
By Martin Finucane and Travis Andersen, Globe Staff
Mayor Martin J. Walsh on Monday warned that police will continue disbursing crowds that gather amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and said officials are considering expanding the 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew beyond May 4.
Speaking during a briefing outside City Hall, Walsh also said “kids aren’t going back to school” on May 4 and that he’s “not too confident we’ll have [a resumption] of school this year,” adding that there “could be a different looking situation in the classrooms” in September.
Whole Foods Market employee who died from coronavirus was tireless worker, son says
By Emily Sweeney, Globe Staff
The Whole Foods Market employee who died from COVID-19 is being remembered by his family as a tireless worker.
Leon Marin, 53, of Lynn, died April 15 after contracting COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, according to his family.
Marin’s son, Jose, said his father usually held down two to three jobs at a time and hardly ever called out sick or missed a day of work.
Oil prices collapse to unprecedented levels
By Catherine Ngai, Olivia Raimonde and Alex Longley, Bloomberg
Oil plunged below $1 a barrel as the coronavirus pandemic ravages global economies, threatening to erase an entire decade of demand growth, slashing thousands of jobs and wiping out hundreds of billions of dollars from company valuations.
Industrial and economic activity is grinding to a halt as governments around the globe extend shutdowns due to the swift spread of the coronavirus. Oil has faced its own knock-on effects with a market massively oversupplied and nowhere to put physical barrels of crude. An unprecedented output deal by OPEC and allied members a week ago to curb supply is proving too little too late in the face a one-third collapse in global demand.
NESN will reunite the 2011 Bruins to watch their Stanley Cup clincher
By Chad Finn, Globe Staff
Even in these quarantined times, the Bruins and NESN have found a fun way to get the band back together.
When NESN rebroadcasts Game 7 of the 2011 Stanley Cup Final Tuesday night (8:30 p.m.), a 4-0 victory over the Vancouver Canucks that clinched the Bruins’ first championship since ’72, viewers will be able to watch it with some especially good and insightful company.
Trump says governors play ‘political game’ with coronavirus tests
By Alan Suderman, Aamer Madhani and Jill Colvin, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Trump accused Democrats on Monday of playing “a very dangerous political game” by insisting there is a shortage of tests for the coronavirus, and Vice President Mike Pence told governors the federal government is working around-the-clock to help them ramp up testing.
The vice president sought to soften the Trump administration’s message with governors amid growing clamor from the states for a national testing strategy to help secure in-demand supplies like testing swabs and chemical reagents. Trump said Sunday that he could use the Defense Production Act to compel one company to manufacture swabs.
The roar of Revolutionary muskets wasn’t heard in Lexington on Patriots Day 2020
By John R. Ellement and Joanne Rathe Strohmeyerr, Globe Staff
LEXINGTON - This year, there was no roar of muskets on the Lexington Green.
The annual commemoration of the battle between Minutemen and British Army soldiers on April 19, 1775, that began with armed hostilities between King George III and Colonial rebels did not take place Monday for only the second time in the last 48 years.
“It’s an annual ritual. It’s really the best day of the year for us. It’s better than Christmas. This is what we live for,’’ said Sam Doran, adjutant of the Minutemen . “It hurt not being able to do it. But we know it was necessary right now and we are looking ahead to 2021.”
WHO head warns worst of coronavirus is still ahead
By Associated Press
GENEVA (AP) — The head of the World Health Organization has warned that “the worst is yet ahead of us” in the coronavirus outbreak, raising new alarm bells about the pandemic just as many countries are beginning to ease restrictive measures.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus didn’t specify exactly why he believes that the outbreak that has infected nearly 2.5 million people and killed over 166,000, according to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University, could get worse. Some people, though, have pointed to the likely future spread of the illness through Africa, where health systems are far less developed.
Amid the crisis, sports are slowly drifting back into our consciousness
By Tara Sullivan, Globe Columnist
ESPN’s Michael Jordan documentary “The Last Dance” is the latest, and so far greatest, entry into the great sports void in our viewing landscape, an event big enough to bring us together in front of our television sets in a way we haven’t had reason to do for more than a month now.
And when you consider last week’s WNBA draft as the model for the virtual modus operandi we eagerly anticipate when the NFL Draft begins Thursday, the fading memory of real sports action is beginning to take on some color again.
Free meals available for adults in Boston amid coronavirus pandemic
By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff
The city of Boston is offering free meals to adults at multiple sites amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The Boston Public Health Commission provided details in a Twitter message Monday morning.
“Starting today there will be sites all over the City providing free meals for adults in Boston,” the commission tweeted. “Thanks to @BOSfoodaccess, @YMCA_Boston @projectbread @CityOfBoston for helping to keep Bostonians fed during this #COVID19 crisis.”
4/20 fizzle: Pot industry tested as coronavirus slams economy
By Michael R. Blood, Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — The unofficial holiday celebrating all things cannabis arrived Monday as the nation’s emerging legal marijuana market braces for an economic blow from the coronavirus crisis, with many consumers reducing spending or going underground for deals.
It was supposed to be a long weekend of festivals and music culminating on April 20, or 4/20, the code for marijuana’s high holiday. Instead, it has been reduced to an online replica because of stay-at-home orders to curb the pandemic.
Virtual parties and video chats are replacing vast outdoor smoking sessions to mark the rise of legalization and celebrate cannabis culture. The origins of the annual celebration are believed to be tied to a group of Northern California high school friends, who used the code as slang for smoking pot in the early 1970s.
Vocational schools across Mass. donate 13,000 masks, 140,000 gloves to organizations across state
By Matt Berg, Globe Correspondent
After Massachusetts schools closed in March to stem the spread of the coronavirus, 27 vocational schools joined together to donate over 13,000 masks, 140,000 gloves, and other valuable supplies to support first responders and medical professionals fighting on the front lines of the pandemic.
Rhode Island reports five more deaths and 339 more cases of coronavirus
By Edward Fitzpatrick, Globe Staff
PROVIDENCE — Five more Rhode Islanders have died from the coronavirus, bringing the state death toll to 155, the state Department of Health reported on Monday.
Another 339 people have tested positive test for the virus, which causes the COVID-19 respiratory illness, bringing the total number of cases to 5,090, the Department of Health reported.
Maine reports one new death, total coronavirus cases up to 875
By Matt Berg, Globe Correspondent
The Maine Center for Disease Control reported one death and eight cases of coronavirus across the state Monday morning, bringing the total death toll to 35 and case count to 875.
Harvard grad students say remote teaching during coronavirus pandemic leading to ‘workplace abuses’
By Katie Johnston, Globe Staff
A month ago, Chance Bonar had never even heard of Zoom, let alone taught a Harvard class using it. He’d never had to answer questions from students on an online chatboard during class, or edit a professor’s recorded lecture to post online.
But now the Harvard PhD candidate is doing all those things and more as he navigates the world of remote teaching during the coronavirus pandemic. And that includes helping professors who are relying heavily on him and other graduate student teachers — known as teaching fellows — to help them figure it out, too.
Do I want a ventilator? Coronavirus prompts more people to consider, or revisit, end-of-life care
By Naomi Martin, Globe Staff
They confront death daily, but the young doctors rarely pondered their own mortality until the coronavirus pandemic, when clinicians like them started dying.
During an overnight lull last month, five Massachusetts General Hospital residents in their 20s and 30s recorded their health care proxies, naming who would make medical decisions for them if they became too sick to.
“We were feeling our own vulnerability,” said Dr. Samuel Slavin, who tweeted a photo of the residents with their forms, hoping to inspire others to follow suit. “COVID increased the feeling of urgency, but that was on top of the fact that we all knew this is something that everyone should have on file.”
Carpenters union ends walkout over coronavirus safety
By Tim Logan, Globe Staff
Two weeks after pulling its members off job sites across Massachusetts over coronavirus safety concerns, the state’s biggest construction union said they may return to work.
The North Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters, which represents about 10,000 workers in Massachusetts, told members over the weekend that its okay to return to work if they feel it is safe. The union is asking contractors to submit COVID-19 safety plans before bringing union carpenters back, but said they believe so-called essential work — which includes health care, housing. and school projects — can move forward.
Self-employed, independent contractors, and ‘gig’ workers now invited to apply for state unemployment benefits
By Sean P. Murphy, Globe Staff
Tens of thousands of workers who are self-employed, independent contractor, freelancers, or “gig" workers, on Monday morning became eligible for the first time to apply for newly expanded unemployment insurance, the state announced.
Online applications are here.
The acceptance of online applications for unemployment benefits by the state began about 10 days ahead of the previously announced schedule.
White House to hold call with governors on testing supplies
By Jill Colvin, Associated Press
After insisting it was up to governors to ramp up coronavirus testing in their states, the Trump administration is finally acknowledging their pleas for help.
Vice President Mike Pence will lead a teleconference with the nation's governors Monday morning from FEMA headquarters in response to calls for a national testing strategy to help secure in-demand supplies like testing swabs and chemical reagents — a day after Trump announced that he would be using the Defense Production Act to compel one company to manufacture swabs.
Pence will “review what more they can do and do together to develop locally tailored testing strategies,” Trump said at a White House news conference Sunday. “We want to help them out.”
Read the Boston Athletic Association’s message to front-line coronavirus workers on Marathon Monday
By Andrew Mahoney, Globe Staff
The Boston Marathon may not be going on today, but the Boston Athletic Association still had a message for the city and its workers on the front line for Patriots Day.
Dr. Fauci says reopening too quickly will backfire
By Associated Press
The top infectious-disease expert in the United States has a message for protesters who are ignoring their governors’ stay-at-home orders and calling for him to be fired over his guidelines.
Dr. Anthony Fauci says the message is “this is something that is hurting from the standpoint of economics, from the standpoint of things that have nothing to do with the virus.”
Coronavirus demands grow, but Mass. Legislature’s gears still grind slowly
By Matt Stout and Victoria McGrane, Globe Staff
In New Jersey, state lawmakers moved a dozen bills in a single day last week, all via remote voting. Michigan legislators were checked for fevers before voting to extend the governor’s emergency powers. New York lawmakers managed to pass a $177 billion budget.
But in Massachusetts, where the Legislature remains in session 41 days into a state of emergency, it has not tweaked the process for its primary job: to pass laws.
That inaction has left a branch of government with roots in colonial times to operate not only without crucial public debate, but critics say, the nimbleness needed to meet the COVID-19 pandemic’s increasing demands — all while Governor Charlie Baker operates with vast emergency powers.
As economy crumbles, Warren, other Mass. lawmakers push Trump to waive state’s share of disaster costs
By Matt Stout, Globe Staff
With the state barreling into — or already in — a pandemic-fueled recession, members of Massachusetts’s federal delegation are urging President Trump to waive a requirement the state help cover certain costs in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, a move that could free up millions in funding at the state level.
The lawmakers warned that Massachusetts is staring down “dramatic shortfalls to state and municipal revenues” amid the public health crisis, which some economists estimate could send tax receipts plummeting by billions of dollars and batter even reliable sectors of the local economy.
Trump last month issued a major disaster declaration for Massachusetts, which under the federal assistance program will be reimbursed for 75 percent of response-related costs, including what it spends to quarantine homeless families and first responders, according to Governor Charlie Baker’s office.
Reports suggest many have had coronavirus with no symptoms
By Marilynn Marchione, Associated Press
A flood of new research suggests that far more people have had the coronavirus without any symptoms, fueling hope that it will turn out to be much less lethal than originally feared.
While that’s clearly good news, it also means it’s impossible to know who around you may be contagious. That complicates decisions about returning to work, school and normal life.
In the last week, reports of silent infections have come from a homeless shelter in Boston, a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier, pregnant women at a New York hospital, several European countries and California.
On Marathon Monday, a Boston Marathon official remains at home in Providence, recalling another crisis
By Edward Fitzpatrick, Globe Staff
Here it is, the third Monday in April — Patriots’ Day, the unofficial start of spring in New England, the day when some of the world’s swiftest runners usually stand at the starting line in Hopkinton, poised to run the most famous of foot races, the Boston Marathon.
But this year, the runners remain home. And Joann Flaminio remains in Providence — her blue blazer still in the closet.
Flaminio served as president of the Boston Athletic Association from 2010 to 2017, becoming the first woman to hold that position, and she is still a member of the BAA Board of Governors.
Since 1897, when 15 runners lined up at Metcalf’s Mill in Ashland, the Boston Marathon has been run each year without fail. And until now, the event had never been postponed — not even in 1918, when it was run in the form of a military relay as the United States faced the twin perils of World War I and a global influenza pandemic.
But this year, another global pandemic — the coronavirus outbreak, which has claimed some 165,000 lives, including more than 40,500 Americans — forced the BAA to postpone the marathon until Sept. 14.
R.I. group seeking old sleep apnea machines for new use amid ventilator shortage
By Edward Fitzpatrick, Globe Staff
The Boston Globe’s weekly Ocean State Innovators column features a Q&A with Rhode Island innovators who are starting new businesses and nonprofits, conducting groundbreaking research, and reshaping the state’s economy.
This week’s Ocean State Innovators conversation is with Alex Hornstein, leader of the VentilatorProject.Org.
Stocks sink under weight of another collapse in oil prices
By Stan Choe, Associated Press
NEW YORK — Stocks are falling in early trading on Wall Street Monday, as energy stocks get hammered by the latest collapse in the price of oil.
The S&P 500 was down 1% after the first 15 minutes of trading, ahead of a busy week where dozens of CEOs at the biggest U.S. companies are scheduled to show investors how badly the coronavirus outbreak hit their profits in the first three months of the year.
Shake Shack will return its entire $10 million US government loan
By Bloomberg News
Shake Shack, the US-based burger chain, will return its entire $10 million loan from the U.S. government, the company’s leaders said in a statement, amid widespread criticism over who got access to the funds aimed at saving small businesses before they were depleted.
More than a dozen publicly traded companies with revenue topping $100 million received funds before the program ran out of money, according to a Bloomberg review of regulatory filings. Lawmakers in Congress are said to be near an agreement to top up the loan program, while also providing new funds for hospitals and coronavirus testing.
Here’s how to watch some of the best Boston Marathon moments this Patriots Day
By Brittany Bowker, Globe Staff
It is a Marathon-less Monday, and many across the state are probably feeling the constraints of the coronavirus pandemic more prominently than usual. For the first time since 1896, the 26.2 miles connecting Hopkinton to Boylston Street will sit quiet as thousands of runners and devoted spectators shelter at home.
But many networks are stepping up to help fill the void this Patriots Day. We can’t run. But we can rerun.
India reports biggest one-day virus spike as lockdown eased
By The Associated Press
India recorded its biggest single-day spike in coronavirus cases on Monday as the government eased one of the world’s strictest lockdowns to allow some manufacturing and agricultural activity to resume.
An additional 1,553 cases were reported over 24 hours, raising the national total past 17,000. At least 543 people have died from COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the virus, and epidemiologists forecast the peak may not be reached before June.
The shelter-in-place orders imposed in India on March 24 halted all but essential services. Starting Monday, limited industry and farming were allowed to resume where employers could meet social distancing and hygiene norms, and migrant workers can travel within states to factories, farms and other work sites.