US Domestic News Roundup: Outbid and left hanging, U.S. states scramble for ventilators; Trump to unveil council to re-open the country after coronavirus pandemic and more

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Empty churches, food drive mark start of Easter weekend in coronavirus-hit U.S.

Political leaders and health experts urged Americans celebrating Good Friday and the Easter weekend under threat of the coronavirus to avoid church gatherings and observe the holidays at home as the U.S. death toll from COVID-19 surpassed 18,600. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government's top infectious disease expert, and other health officials pointed to declining rates of coronavirus hospitalizations and admissions to intensive care units - particularly in hard-hit New York state - as signs that social distancing measures are paying off.

U.S. coronavirus cases top 500,000: Reuters tally

U.S. coronavirus cases topped 500,000 on Friday, according to a Reuters tally, although there are signs that Americans staying home was helping to curb new infections. Confirmed U.S. cases of the COVID-19 illness caused by the virus have been rising by 30,000 to 35,000 cases a day as testing becomes more available. Globally, there have been over 1.6 million confirmed cases, with the death toll topping 100,000 on Friday.

Empty pews, empty collection baskets: coronavirus hits U.S. church finances

St. Anselm Roman Catholic Church in New York's Brooklyn borough is used to limping along, month after month, at a budget deficit of several thousand dollars a week. But the church that sits in the city that is the epicenter of the U.S. coronavirus pandemic could always count on Easter. Last year, its Easter pew collection brought in $11,651. That was more than twice an average Sunday and, coupled with the church's online Easter donations of $2,500, enough to cover its weekly operating expenses of $13,000, according to church records.

He smiled to comfort his COVID-19 patient - then he realized his mask was leaking

Sam remembers the moment he realized he could no longer smile at patients. He was helping a nervous man suffering from COVID-19 at the New York City hospital where he works as a nurse. The patient cracked a joke, and Sam laughed. Then he felt air in his eye. "It was a bleak moment," he said.

Trump to unveil council to re-open the country after coronavirus pandemic

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that he will soon be announcing a second coronavirus task force, creating a council to focus on re-opening the country after the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic passes. "We will be announcing that in a short while. Probably Tuesday," Trump told reporters during the daily coronavirus task force briefing.

Seattle-area nursing home hit with wrongful death lawsuit over coronavirus death

A woman whose mother died of the coronavirus at a Seattle-area nursing home that was ravaged by the COVID-19 outbreak filed a wrongful death lawsuit on Friday against the company that owns the facility. Debbie de los Angeles, whose mother Twilla Morin, 85, died on March 4 at the Life Care Center in Kirkland, Washington of COVID-19 sued its parent company, Life Care Centers of America, alleging the company concealed vital facts about the outbreak before her mother died.

Trump says he thinks U.S. will lose fewer than 100,000 lives to coronavirus

President Donald Trump said on Friday that he thinks the United States will lose fewer than the initially projected 100,000 lives to COVID-19. Trump suggested that the United States is nearing its peak infection rate and said the nationwide number of new coronavirus cases is flattening, with the situations in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Detroit, Michigan, stabilizing.

New U.S. projections show summer spike if coronavirus restrictions lifted: NYT

New U.S. government figures show novel coronavirus infections will spike during the summer if stay-at-home orders are lifted after 30 days as planned, the New York Times reported on Friday. If President Donald Trump lifts shelter-in-place orders after 30 days, the death toll is estimated to reach 200,000, the New York Times reported, citing new projections it obtained from the Departments of Homeland Security (DHS) and Health and Human Services.

Outbid and left hanging, U.S. states scramble for ventilators

On the final Thursday in March the Arkansas team in charge of procuring ventilators thought they had scored a coup: a vendor had agreed to sell them 500 of the breathing machines critical to keeping COVID-19 patients alive at $19,000 each. The next day they were told the deal had vanished because a buyer representing New York was offering to purchase 10,000 units, pay cash upfront and double the price, a deal the vendor could not turn down. Reuters could not independently verify that New York bought the ventilators.

New York 'cautiously optimistic' with first daily drop in ICU COVID-19 patients

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Friday that the number of coronavirus patients in intensive care units across the state dropped in the last day, offering a glimmer of hope that the surge in critical care hospitalizations might be leveling off. Cuomo said there were 17 fewer patients in the state's intensive care units on Thursday than a day prior. This was the first time that group of patients has decreased in a day since the outbreak took hold and a sign that social distancing measures are successfully reducing the virus' spread.