Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. Beyond Trump's Wall: the Americans riding out coronavirus in Latin America

Some Americans, from young backpackers to retirees, are hunkering down for the coronavirus pandemic far from home in Latin America, saying they feel safer and see no point in scrambling to return. While thousands of Americans sought help from the government or private security firms to evacuate, others chose to stay, worried about what they see as a skyrocketing U.S. caseload made worse by laxer containment measures. Pentagon looking to provide up to 100,000 body bags for civilians in virus outbreak

The Pentagon is looking to provide up to 100,000 body bags for use by civilian authorities as the coronavirus outbreak worsens in the United States with a high death toll expected in coming weeks. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has requested 100,000 such bags to the U.S. Department of Defense, a Pentagon official told Reuters on Wednesday. Trump says U.S. will soon have more ventilators than it needs for virus victims

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday the United States will soon have more ventilators than it needs and there will be enough eventually to send some to other countries. Many state governors complain they do not have enough of ventilators at present to meet the urgent need. For Mohawk community that straddles Canada and U.S., the border is no barrier to coronavirus

Canada and the United States have closed their border to non-essential traffic to limit the spread of the new coronavirus, but one rural corner of the vast frontier remains open: an indigenous territory that straddles the two countries. The Akwesasne Mohawk go to the supermarket in Cornwall, Ontario. Nurses from Massena, New York, work at the Akwesasne health facility in Quebec whose parking lot is in New York. The three communities, minutes apart by car, have historic economic and social ties. U.S. senators join calls for Americans to don masks to slow coronavirus spread

Two U.S. senators joined a growing call on Wednesday for Americans to cover their mouths and noses when they venture outside, as health officials consider recommending that everyone in the country don face masks to limit the spread of the coronavirus. Democrat Michael Bennet of Colorado said his wife, Susan Daggett, was among the many Americans sewing handmade protective masks and promised to send one to Senator Pat Toomey, the Pennsylvania Republican joining him in the push for wider mask use. Trump considers canceling domestic flights to coronavirus hot spots

President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he was considering a plan to halt flights to U.S. coronavirus hot spots as the United States struggles to contain a pandemic projected to kill at least 100,000 people. "We're certainly looking at it, but once you do that you really are clamping down an industry that is desperately needed," Trump told a White House news briefing. U.S. lawmakers want 9/11-style commission to probe coronavirus crisis

A group of U.S. House of Representatives Democrats set out plans on Wednesday for a task force to investigate the country's handling of the coronavirus crisis, similar to the "9/11 Commission" that reviewed the Sept. 11 attacks. Representative Bennie Thompson, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said he would introduce in the coming days legislation to create a 25-member panel modeled on the one that recommended changes in counter-terrorism strategy after the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington. State Department to Americans abroad: Repatriation flights can't continue indefinitely

Americans abroad still lack a sense of urgency to get back home even though the coronavirus pandemic has intensified, a senior State Department official said on Wednesday, urging them to return now unless they are prepared to remain overseas indefinitely. "If you were on a beach when an earthquake struck, you wouldn't just stand there, waiting for the coming tsunami. You would head for higher ground immediately," said Ian Brownlee, principal deputy assistant secretary in the Bureau of Consular Affairs at the State Department, told reporters in a teleconference. New York scolds 'selfish' residents, California intensive care beds running out

The governor of New York on Wednesday clamped down harder on public gatherings in the face of the coronavirus, calling residents "selfish" for refusing to stay home as California's governor warned his state may run out of intensive care beds and ventilators next month. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo told New York City police to more aggressively enforce rules for social distancing as deaths in the state shot up to nearly 2,000. Trump says US will increase counter-narcotics efforts in East Pacific, Caribbean

U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that the United States will deploy Navy ships in the Caribbean and East Pacific to prevent drug cartels for taking advantage of the coronavirus pandemic and smuggling more narcotics. Trump, joined by Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley at a White House briefing, said the move is needed because there is a "growing threat" that cartels and criminals will try to take advantage of the pandemic.