Friday Morning C-19 Update

HERE'S YOUR FRIDAY MORNING UPDATE.....

2 DEATHS REPORTED IN NORTH DAKOTA YESTERDAY.....ONE A Man in his 60s from Stark County with underlying health conditions who acquired COVID-19 through community spread...NO INFORMATION YET ON THE OTHER....IT BRINGS THE TOTAL FATALITIES TO 6....18 INDIVIDUALS TESTED POSITIVE, BRINGING THE TOTAL TO 269....CASS COUNTY WITH 6 NEW CASES THURSDAY, AND 83 TOTAL.... THERE IS ALSO NOW A FIRST CASE IN RICHLAND COUNTY - THE WAHPETON AREA.....14 ARE CURRENTLY HOSPITALIZED, DOWN 2 FROM WEDNESDAY......101 HAVE RECOVERED AND ALMOST 9-THOUSAND HAVE BEEN TESTED.

ELEVEN MORE HAVE DIED IN MINNESOTA - THE HIGHEST NUMBER IN ANY SINGLE DAY YET...NOW A TOTAL OF 50.....Three of the 11 who died were in their 70s, four were in their 80s and four were in their 90s.....88 NEW CASES THURSDAY, AND THE TOTAL CONFIRMED POSITIVE NOW STANDS AT 1,242....

NO FATALITIES IN SOUTH DAKOTA....THE TOTAL REMAINING AT SIX......54 NEW POSITIVE TESTS THERE THURSDAY....447 NOW TOTAL..... ABOUT 7-THOUSAND HAVE BEEN TESTED....

ACROSS THE U-S .....JUST OVER 17-HUNDRED NEW DEATHS - AND ABOUT 30-THOUSAND NEW CASES, THE HIGHEST SINGLE DAY TOTAL YET.......BRINGING THE TOTAL NUMBER OF AMERICANS TO DIE AT 16,512.... - FOUR THOUSAND MORE THAN DIED DURING THE SWINE FLU CRISIS OF 2009............WITH THE TOTAL NUMBER TO TEST POSITIVE MORE THAN 465-THOUSAND..........BUT....ON THE BRIGHT SIDE, MORE THAN 25-THOUSAND HAVE HAD THE VIRUS AND RECOVERED...

worldwide THE DEATH TOLL JUMPED BY ABOUT 7-THOUSAND ....CURRENTLY STANDING AT JUST UNDER 97-THOUSAND....IT'S LIKELY THAT BY THE TIME WE VISIT WITH YOU TONIGHT AT FIVE....THE WORLDWIDE DEATH TOLL WILL BE OVER 100,000.....THERE ARE NOW MORE THAN 1.6 MILLION CONFIRMED CASES........... WHILE MORE THAN 350-THOUSAND have had the virus worldwide and have recovered...

SOME COMPARISONS FOR YOU....THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION SAYS BETWEEN 300-THOUSAND AND 650-THOUSAND PEOPLE DIE OF THE FLU WORLDWIDE EACH YEAR...WE'RE ABOUT TO HIT 100-THOUSAND ON THE CORONAVIRUS...

IN THE U-S .....THE CDC ESTIMATES THAT ABOUT 40-THOUSAND AMERICANS HAVE DIED OF INFLUENZA SINCE OCTOBER 1...OUR CORONAVIRUS DEATH COUNT IS NOW NEARING 17-THOUSAND...

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LET'S TAKE A LOOK AT YOUR FRIDAY MORNING HEADLINES.

THE US ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS HAS LAID OUT PLANS FOR THE FARGODOME TO BE CONVERTED INTO A MAKESHIFT HEALTH CARE FACILITY TO HELP WITH THE POTENTIAL SPREAD OF COVID 19.....Fargo Mayor Tim Mahoney says the state is prepared to set up about 200 beds in the indoor facility.....The National Guard has already set up more than 200 cots at the University of Mary Fieldhouse in Bismarck.

Senate Democrats on Thursday blocked a Republican push to unanimously pass a bill to put $250 billion more into a loan program for small businesses devastated by the coronavirus pandemic....REPUBLICANS SAY THE MONEY WOULD GO TO THE PAYCHECK PROTECTION PROGRAM, THE INITIATIVE THAT WOULD ALLOW LOANS TO BE FORGIVEN IF BUSINESSES KEEP EMPLOYEES ON PAYROLL...DEMOCRATS SAY THAT ANY NEW MEASURES NEED TO INCLUDE JUST AS MUCH MONEY FOR HOSPITALS AND STATES....

THE SINGLE DAY DEATH COUNT IN MN HITS A HIGH WATER MARK AT 11 YESTERDAY....GOVERNOR TIM WALZ SAYS ITS JUST ANOTHER REMINDER THAT EVEN THOUGH SOME NUMBERS ARE ENCOURAGING, WE NEED TO PREPARE FOR THINGS TO GET WORSE BEFORE THEY GET BETTER.....SOT....to this point in MN, 37 OF THE 50 TO PASS AWAY HAVE BEEN OVER THE AGE OF 70....NO ONE UNDER THE AGE OF 50 HAS DIED....THE AVERAGE AGE OF DEATH IS 87.

THINGS ARE GETTING TESTY IN MINNESOTA REGARDING GOVERNOR TIM WALZ'S EXTENSION OF THE STAY AT HOME ORDER...ORIGINALLY SET TO EXPIRE TODAY, IT WAS EXTENDED WEDNESDAY TO MAY 4TH....Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka, A REPUBLICAN, IS QUESTIONING THE state's projections that between 3,000 and 5,000 Minnesotans could require hospitalization at the disease's peak, and said Walz's move to extend the stay at home order was a unilateral decision....HE TWEETED - "We are ready for the surge now. Why shut MN business down for a NY sized surge? We have to get on with our lives."

A DEBATE IS EMERGING FROM THE GOVERNORS OF ND AND MN.....MINNESOTA'S WALZ WAS ASKED ABOUT ND'S BURGUM COMMENTING THAT PEOPLE IN NORTH DAKOTA SHOULD FEEL LIKE THEY CAN VISIT THEIR LAKE HOMES IN MINNESOTA THIS SUMMER....WALZ SAYS IN HIS STATE THERE IS NO NON-ESSENTIAL TRAVEL.....BOTH SAY THEY ENJOY A GOOD RELATIONSHIP AND THEY WOULD VISIT SOON ABOUT THE MATTER....

6.6 MILLION AMERICANS FILED FOR UNEMPLOYMENT LAST WEEK, MAKING MORE THAN 17 MILLION TO DO SO IN THE LAST 3 WEEKS...THAT REPRESENTS ABOUT 10% OF THE NATIONS WORK FORCE...IN NORTH DAKOTA A NEW HIGH WATER MARK MORE THAN 16-THOUSAND CLAIMS filed last week... IN MINNESOTA, ABOUT 18,700 people applied for unemployment insurance WEDNESDAY, bringing the total number of jobless claims in the state to JUST OVER 385-THOUSAND....STATE OFFICIALS SAY THERE IS SOME GOOD NEWS, AS EVERY DAY THIS WEEK, CLAIMS HAVE BEEN LESS THAN THE SAME DAY LAST WEEK....

MN DEPT OF HEALTH COMMISSIONER JAN Malcolm addressed allegations WEDNESDAY THAT THE DEPT IS directing medical professionals to rule "SUSPECTED" deaths due to COVID-19 as confirmed deaths.....State Sen. Scott Jensen,  who is a doctor, said ON CHRIS BERG'S 630 POV SHOW THIS WEEK THAT he received a letter from THE HEALTH DEPT SPELLING OUT THE REQUEST AND SAID HE WAS CONCERENED THAT THE ORDERS WOULD  artificially inflate DEATH NUMBERS......MALCOLM SAYS DOCTORS SHOULD STILL SPECIFY IF A CASE IS SUSPECTED OR CONFIRMED....BUT If testing is never ordered, or if the cause of death isn’t updated for a confirmed case, the death will remain a suspected COVID-19 death....THIS SHE SAYS is similar to the way the CDC has handled deaths due to natural disasters and other infectious diseases....SHE ADDED THAT There’s absolutely no political motivation to increase the number of deaths that are reported.

some TAX RELIEF FOR MN AND ND BUSINESSES....BOTH GOVERNORS TODAY  extended the grace period on sales and use tax for businesses, restaurants, bars and other places of public accommodation. While they should still file their returns before the due dates, businesses with a monthly sales and use tax payment due April 20 will now have until May 20 to pay without penalties or interest.South Dakota health officials on Wednesday reported that 80 workers at Smithfield Foods in Sioux Falls had tested positive for COVID-19.... the plant IS PLANNING TO temporarily close for deep cleaning over the weekend.SOME HOPE FOR HARD HIT NEW YORK CITY....FIRST THE BAD NEWS, another one-day high for coronavirus deaths on Wednesday, AT 799, but the number of hospitalizations and admissions to intensive care units are down....Health officials reported about 200 new hospital admissions on Wednesday, one of the lowest numbers since the outbreak began in the state. Additionally, 84 people were admitted to intensive care units, the lowest since mid-March.

THE NATION'S FINANCIAL MARKETS FELT OPTIMISTIC AS WELL....THE DOW JONES THURSDAY, WAS UP NEARLY 300 POINTS TO FINISH JUST UNDER 24-THOUSAND

President Trump has the highest approval rating of his time in office, according to a Fox News poll released Thursday......The Fox News poll found 49 percent of registered voters approve of Trump, his highest point since becoming president. The approval rating is a slight increase from 48 percent in March and 47 percent in February.....The president’s disapproval rating dipped to 49 percent.

JPMorgan SAYS SECOND QUARTER GDP MAY DROP 40% DUE TO THE VIRUS....THE GDP IS DEFINED AS THE SUM TOTAL OF THE US ECONOMY'S GOODS AND SERVICES...In an earlier forecast, they said second-quarter GDP would be down 25%.

The economists, however, continue to see a second-half recovery, based on the assumption that disruptions from the pandemic fade by June.U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been moved out of intensive care as his condition improves...

HE'D BEEN THERE SINCE MONDAY AFTER TAKING A TURN FOR THE WORSE LAST WEEKEND...HE WAS GIVEN OXYGEN IN ICU BUT WAS NEVER ON A VENTILATOR