16 things to know for today about coronavirus

Welcome to The Hill’s daily roundup of coronavirus news. 

America has hit 100,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with almost 1,500 deaths.

The House passed, and President Trump signed, the $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus legislation, the largest emergency spending bill in U.S. history.

Trump also invoked the Defense Production Act for the first time, to make General Motors manufacture respirators. But we don’t actually know how many respirators the administration needs, or how many they want from GM. 

Meanwhile, more states are enacting quarantines or outright travel bans, and the coronavirus is inexorably making its way through Congress.  

 

Here’s what you need to know today:   

• The U.S. passed a new milestone as it hit more than 100,000 known coronavirus cases. Peter Sullivan has the details.
• President Trump signed the bipartisan $2 trillion economic relief package, which lawmakers are hoping will blunt some of the economic impact from the coronavirus pandemic. Morgan Chalfant has more.
• The legislation passed the House early on Friday, but it was not without some drama. Leaders in both parties had to unite to foil an attempted blockade by Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican who had driven to Washington for the vote and requested a recorded tally, which requires the participation of at least half of all sitting House members. That had lawmakers scrambling to get on flights from across the country. Mike Lillis details how it went down.
• Trump invited a handful of Republicans to the bill signing ceremony at the White House, but excluded Democrats. Most notably, he snubbed Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Read more from Scott Wong.
• It took a little over a week, but Trump officially invoked the Defense Production Act. He wants to compel General Motors to produce ventilators, after negotiations between the company and the administration reportedly broke down over price. Brett Samuels has the details.
• Trump tapped White House trade adviser Peter Navarro to become the national Defense Production Act policy coordinator. Morgan Chalfant and Sylvan Lane have more.
• Two more members of Congress have announced they tested positive for the coronavirus: Reps. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) and Joe Cunningham (D-S.C.). Both members have been in self-quarantine at home, and did not vote on the stimulus bill. More on the members who have tested positive here.

 

In the states: 

• New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) on Friday pushed back on President Trump’s assertion that his state does not really need thousands more ventilators to fight the coronavirus outbreak there. “I operate on facts,” Cuomo said. Peter has more.
• Cuomo also said he plans to ask President Trump for the authorization to build four additional temporary hospitals. Marty Johnson has details here.
• In Arizona, a Democratic congressman expressed frustration with the Trump administration after health officials warned that the state may soon be unable to continue testing people for COVID-19 because of a lack of testing kits. Nathaniel Weixel has the full story here.
• Tal Axelrod reports that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) announced a mandatory 14-day self-quarantine on any travelers entering the state from Louisiana, which has seen an explosion of coronavirus cases. He already issued an executive order requiring people arriving from New York or New Jersey to self-isolate for two weeks.
• And in Massachusetts, Gov. Charlie Baker (R) said that any person entering the state will now be instructed to self-quarantine for two weeks. Baker was the first governor in the lower 48 states to make such an announcement. Edward Moreno has more.

 

Elsewhere: 

• Italy’s death toll from the coronavirus surged to more than 9,000 Friday as the country reported another 919 fatalities in one day. More from Tal here.
• Trump spoke with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who announced earlier today that he had tested positive. Brett has the story here.
• Public health officials are warning that a massive ramp-up in the number of tests for the coronavirus, coupled with disruptions to the global supply chain, are creating new shortages of some of the chemicals needed to process those tests. Reid Wilson explains it here.

 

One Interesting Thing:

• While the U.S. government has struggled to deal with the impact of the coronavirus, and panicked Americans inundated grocery stores leading to shortages, here is a really cool story about how a regional grocery chain in Texas called HEB was prepared, running simulations and using its experience with natural disasters to get ahead of the pandemic.