Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia on lockdown as coronavirus cases, deaths mount

Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia announced new “stay at home” orders Monday that imposed severe restrictions on residents, joining a growing number of states that have passed near-total lockdowns in response to the escalating coronavirus outbreak.

The forced isolation came as the tally of COVID-19 cases and deaths mount while disrupting the lives of millions of Americans.

At the White House, President Trump said the public should steel for at least another 30 days of essentially putting their lives on hold, saying the peak death rate isn’t expected to come for another two weeks.

Instead of relaxing recently issued federal “social distancing” guidelines, he said they’ll be “very much as they are, maybe toughened up a bit.”

“Really, we have no other choice,” Mr. Trump said. “This is a very vital 30 days. We’re sort of putting it all on the line.”

The president said that down the road, he could potentially envision an America where everyone wears a protective mask in public.

“It’s certainly something we could discuss,” Mr. Trump said. “We’ll take a look at it — for a period of time. Not forever.”

Residents in Maryland, Virginia and D.C. were ordered to stay home except in extremely limited circumstances, with exceptions allowed to obtain goods like groceries, seek medical care, or engage in outdoor activities like jogging or hiking as long as people adhere to proper social distancing guidelines.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan called the COVID-19 a “deadly public health crisis.”

“We are no longer asking or suggesting that Marylanders stay home. We are directing them to do so,” said Mr. Hogan, a Republican.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat, issued a similar directive.

“We need everyone to take this seriously and act responsibly,” he said. “Our message to Virginians is clear: Stay home.”

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said residents who willfully violate the city’s new stay-at-home order could be guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to a fine of up to $5,000 and/or imprisonment of up to three months.

In Maryland, violators could face a fine of up to $5,000 and/or up to a year in jail. In Virginia, the punishment could be a fine of up to $2,500 and/or up to a year in jail.

At the Rose Garden press briefing, Mr. Trump was asked specifically about Mr. Northam’s June 10 time frame for his order, which extends far beyond the latest end date for the new federal guidance.

“We’re letting the governors do pretty much what they want with our supervision,” Mr. Trump said. “Some go further than others.”

There are more than 775,000 positive coronavirus cases worldwide and more than 37,000 deaths, according to a tracker from Johns Hopkins University. In the U.S., there are more than 160,000 cases and more than 2,900 deaths.

Mr. Trump on March 16 asked the American people to work and learn at home, to avoid crowds and nonessential travel, and to use carryout instead of dining inside restaurants.

He hoped to loosen those rules by the end of March and get things up and running by Easter. But on Sunday, he announced he was extending that guidance until April 30 after seeing models that said up to 2 million people could die if the virus was left unchecked.

Dr. Deborah Birx, the U.S. coronavirus response coordinator, said that collectively, states are moving in the same general direction.

“These recommendations are recommendations that the globe is using,” Dr. Birx said. “And so we really do recommend that every governor, every mayor looks very carefully and ensures that their communities are utilizing these [guidelines].”

In addition to the 8,100 ventilators already being shipped to states from the national stockpile, Mr. Trump said more than 1,000 additional ventilators are set to be shipped in the next 48 hours to states around the country that have been pleading for help.

He said there are about 10,000 ventilators in reserve and predicted there will be enough to go around in the coming weeks, despite forecasts from governors across the country that they remain well short of their expected needs.

The president spoke by phone with governors Monday to get an update on the supplies they need for their respective states.

He also touted several private companies that have stepped up to produce ventilators, which are crucial for treating patients who have tested positive for COVID-19, and that shipments would soon be going to Italy, France, and Spain.

“The fact that we’re doing so many so quickly is a tribute to our great companies,” he said.

The positive spin came amid grim projections about the expected death toll in the U.S.

Earlier in the day, Dr. Birx had said the U.S. could see hundreds of thousands of deaths from the virus even if Americans almost uniformly stuck to the guidelines and actively worked to stop the spread.

“If we do things together well, almost perfectly, we could get in the range of 100,000 to 200,000 fatalities. We don’t even want to see that,” Dr. Birx said on NBC’s “Today” program.

The coronavirus was discovered in Wuhan, China, in December. It killed thousands in China before the epicenter shifted to South Korea and then Europe and the Americas.

Italy has seen the worst death toll, with more than 11,500, followed by Spain at more than 7,300.

New York, the hardest-hit U.S. state in the coronavirus outbreak, got some support on Monday with the arrival of the USNS Comfort, a “floating hospital” ship, in Manhattan.

The Comfort has capacity for 1,000 beds, which are expected to help free up space in the city’s hospitals for COVID-19 patients.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said the arrival of the ship was welcome news, though he estimated that New York City needs to triple its hospital capacity by May. He said they started the month with about 20,000 working hospital beds in New York City.

“It is a daunting task, but we got a big, big boost … this is like adding a whole [other] hospital to New York City,” Mr. de Blasio said.

The mayor said entire hospitals will have to effectively transform into all-intensive care units to get through the coming weeks.

“That’s how dire, that’s how tough this situation is,” he said.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said there are now more than 1,200 coronavirus-related deaths in the state and at least 66,497 positive cases. Both numbers are far and away the most of any state in the country.

Mr. Cuomo pleaded with out-of-state health-care workers to come to New York to help out if they were in a position to do so.

“As governor of New York, I am asking health care professionals across the country: If you don’t have a health care crisis in your community, please come help us in New York now,” he said. “We’ll return the favor.”

Mr. Cuomo had already put the state on near-total lockdown, ordering non-essential employees to work from home and shuttering bars and restaurants, except for carry-out orders.

The governor has suggested recently that some of the social distancing rules he imposed on New York could be working, pointing to a declining rate of hospitalizations.

But he said Monday there is still too much “density” in New York City, saying the city has been unsuccessfully trying to reduce density in playgrounds.

“If that continues, we’ll take a mandatory action to close down playgrounds, as harsh as that sounds,” Mr. Cuomo said. “But it can actually save people’s lives.”

In a grim reminder of the toll the coronavirus is taking on New York, a makeshift emergency hospital site popped up in Central Park in recent days.

As the virus wreaks havoc on the U.S. economy, Mr. Trump last week signed into law a $2.2 trillion financial rescue package that includes $350 billion to help small businesses make payroll, among other provisions.

Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin said Monday that the money for the small business loans should be available by the end of the week.

That “will be at lightning speed,” Mr. Mnuchin said on Fox Business Network.

He said they expect the $350 billion in small business loans will cover about 50% of the private workforce.

The Small Business Administration loans are intended to cover eight weeks of payroll and about 25% of overhead for qualifying companies with 500 or fewer employees. If the companies use the money to bring back or pay employees the loan will be forgiven.

“If we run out of money and this is a huge success, we will absolutely go back to Congress and ask for more money,” he said.

He also said that the direct deposit checks of at least $1,200 would be showing up in Americans’ accounts in three weeks. The checks were another major part of the package Congress passed in response to the escalating coronavirus outbreak.

Mr. Mnuchin said the existing package should help sustain the U.S. economy for the next 8-12 weeks.