(NEW YORK) — Here are today’s In Crisis headlines:
Pre-trial hearing today for officer charged in Daunte Wright shooting
An afternoon hearing is scheduled today in Minnesota’s Hennepin County District Court for Kim Potter, the white former Brooklyn Center, MN, police officer charged with second-degree manslaughter in the April 11 shooting death of 20-year-old Black man Daunte Wright. Potter shot wright in his car during a struggle, with video recording her shouting “I’ll tase you!” It was later revealed that Potter believed she was holding her Taser when she instead shot Wright with her service pistol. Potter resigned from her job two days later and on April 14 was arrested and charged with second-degree manslaughter in the shooting. The purpose of today’s hearing is to review evidence and determine if there’s probable cause for the case to proceed.
Today is Tax Day
If you haven’t already filed your 2020 taxes or requested an extension, today is the last day for you to do so. As they did last year, the Internal Revenue Service and Treasury Department delayed the usual April 15 federal and state income tax deadline this year, due to the pandemic. Residents of Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma have until June 15 to file their income tax returns — the IRS has granted an additional extension for those states in the wake of the severe winter storms there in February.
COVID-19 numbers
Here’s the latest data on COVID-19 coronavirus infections, deaths and vaccinations.
Latest reported COVID-19 numbers globally per Johns Hopkins University
Global diagnosed cases: 163,120,093
Global deaths: 3,380,516. The United States has the most deaths of any single country, with 585,970.
Number of countries/regions: at least 192
Latest reported COVID-19 numbers in the United States per Johns Hopkins University
There are at least 32,941,112 reported cases in 50 states + the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam. This is more than in any other country.
U.S. deaths: at least 585,970. California has the greatest number of reported deaths in the U.S., with 62,690.
U.S. total people tested: 452,383,182
The greatest number of reported COVID-19 cases in the U.S. is in California, with 3,768,805 confirmed cases out of a total state population of 39.51 million. This ranks third in the world after England, which has 3,887,487 cases, and Maharashtra, India, which leads the world with 5,378,452 reported cases. Texas is second in the U.S., with 2,929,109 confirmed cases out of a total state population of 29 million.
Latest reported COVID-19 vaccination numbers in the United States
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports a total of 344,503,495 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been distributed in the U.S. Of those, 272,925,411 doses have been administered, with 157,132,234 people receiving at least one dose and 122,999,721 people fully vaccinated, representing 47.3% and 37% of the total U.S. population, respectively. The Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines each require two doses to be effective. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine requires a single dose to be effective.
Companies announce new mask policies in wake of CDC guidance; nurses push back
Although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced last week that fully vaccinated Americans can forego the mask is most cases while indoors at public places, companies are debating to what degree they should change their policies. Beginning today, Starbucks says masks will be optional for fully vaccinated customers, though individual store policies will also depend on local regulations. Walmart, which lifted mask regulations for customers on Friday, now says employees will no longer be required to wear masks if they’re fully vaccinated starting Tuesday. Likewise, Target will no longer require fully vaccinated customers and employees to wear face coverings in stores, except where it’s required by local regulations.
National Nurses United, the country’s largest union of registered nurses, has condemned the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s new guidance. Over the weekend, the union said the change to mask recommendations is “not based in science” and that it is “a huge blow to our efforts at confronting this virus and the pandemic.” CDC Director Doctor Rochelle Walensky told ABC’s This Week Sunday that the guidelines allow individuals to make their own decisions about their health. “This is not permission for widespread removal of masks,” said Dr. Walensky. “For those who are vaccinated, it may take some time for them to feel comfortable removing their masks. But also that these decisions have to be made at the jurisdictional level, at the community level.”
CDC increases COVID-19 deaths forecast as daily news cases decline
The U.S. is currently averaging around 33,000 new COVID-19 cases every day, down by 22.8% in the last week alone, according to the latest data compiled by ABC News. The U.S. reported around 230,000 cases over the last seven days, marking the lowest weekly case total in months. By comparison, in early January, the country reported single days with over 250,000 new cases. The encouraging news comes as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has again updated its forecast for COVID-19 deaths. They’re now estimating the U.S. will see a total of 591,000 to 602,000 reported fatalities by the week ending June 5.
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
