Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. Former U.S. Treasury Secretary and Iraq war critic Paul O’Neill dies at 84: WSJ

Paul O'Neill, the blunt-spoken former head of Alcoa Corp who was fired after two rocky years as U.S. President George W. Bush's Treasury secretary, died on Saturday at the age of 84 at his home in Pittsburgh, the Wall Street Journal reported. His family said he had been treated for lung cancer and his death was unrelated to the novel coronavirus, the WSJ reported. Protective gear, cellphone, video chats: How America's clergy minister to COVID-19 patients

Reverend Manuel Dorantes closed his eyes, took a breath to calm his fear and prayed when word came that Cardinal Blase Joseph Cupich had put out a call for volunteers. Cupich, archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago, needed two dozen young priests to take on the sacred duty of administering the last rites to those dying from the new and highly contagious coronavirus. U.S. announces $19 billion coronavirus aid for farmers, food buys for poor

President Donald Trump on Friday announced a $19 billion relief program to help U.S. farmers cope with the impact of the coronavirus, including $16 billion in direct payments to producers and mass purchases of meat, dairy, vegetables and other products. The U.S. Agriculture Department is partnering with regional and local distributors to purchase $3 billion in such farm goods to be distributed to food banks, churches and aid groups as millions of Americans face unemployment with much of the economy shut down. New York Governor sounds optimistic note as coronavirus numbers improve

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Saturday that a recent drop in hospitalizations and other improving metrics indicated the state may be past the peak of its coronavirus crisis and on a path toward stabilizing its battered healthcare system. Cuomo's cautiously upbeat report at a daily briefing came as the daily death toll across the state, the epicenter of the pandemic in the United States, dropped to 540 on April 17, down from 630 a day earlier and the lowest in more than two weeks. North Dakota coronavirus cases spike with outbreak at GE wind power plant

North Dakota reported a spike in novel coronavirus cases on Saturday after more people tested positive at a wind power factory run by a unit of General Electric, posing a challenge to the state's plan to re-open as early as May 1. A total of 110 people associated with the LM Wind Power factory in Grand Forks have now tested positive following a screening of about half of its 900 workers this week, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum told a briefing. U.S. CDC reports 690,714 coronavirus cases, 35,443 deaths

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Saturday reported 690,714 cases of new coronavirus, an increase of 29,002 cases from its previous count, and said that the number of deaths had risen by 2,394 to 35,443. The CDC reported its tally of cases of the respiratory illness known as COVID-19, caused by a new coronavirus, as of 4 pm ET on April 17, compared with its count a day earlier. (https://bit.ly/2IVY1JT) U.S. stay-at-home frustration spreads; coronavirus-battered New York says may be past the worst

Demonstrations to demand an end to stay-at-home measures that have pummelled the U.S. economy spread to Texas on Saturday as the governor at the epicentre of the U.S. coronavirus crisis said his state of New York may finally be past the worst. New York, which has recorded nearly half the country's deaths from COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the highly infectious virus, on Saturday reported 540 coronavirus-related deaths for April 17, down from 630 a day earlier and the lowest daily tally since April 1. Trump: Some states to begin lifting coronavirus restrictions in coming days

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday that Texas and Vermont will allow certain businesses to reopen on Monday while still observing coronavirus-related precautions and Montana will begin lifting restrictions on Friday. "We continue to see a number of positive signs that the virus has passed its peak," Trump told reporters at a daily briefing. Adherence to social distancing spurs dip in projected U.S. coronavirus deaths

Better-than-expected social distancing practices have led an influential research model to lower its projected U.S. coronavirus death toll by 12%, while predicting some states may be able to safely begin easing restrictions as early as May 4. The University of Washington's predictive model, regularly updated and often cited by state public health authorities and White House officials, projected on Friday that the virus will take 60,308 U.S. lives by Aug. 4, down from 68,841 deaths forecast earlier in the week. Exclusive: Amazon deploys thermal cameras at warehouses to scan for fevers faster

Amazon.com Inc has started to use thermal cameras at its warehouses to speed up screening for feverish workers who could be infected with the coronavirus, employees told Reuters. The cameras in effect measure how much heat people emit relative to their surroundings. They require less time and contact than forehead thermometers, earlier adopted by Amazon, the workers said.