Coronavirus live updates: USNS Comfort arrives in New York City; Anthony Fauci defends social distancing; US death toll tops 3,100

President Donald Trump said more than a million Americans have been tested for the coronavirus and the nation's premiere public health expert vigorously defended Trump's decision to extend social distancing measures as a battle to contain the coronavirus gained steam Monday.

“We have no other choice,” Trump said Monday evening of the social distancing extension.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on CNN that coronavirus infections and deaths in New York and elsewhere have not begun decreasing "within the time frame that was originally estimated." Fauci said he showed Trump the data and the president quickly agreed with the recommendation to extend the guidelines through the end of April.

"It would not have been a good idea to pull back at a time when you really needed to be pressing your foot on the pedal as opposed to on the brakes," Fauci said.

The U.S. death total had surpassed 3,100 and there were more than 164,000 confirmed cases early Tuesday, according to the Johns Hopkins University data dashboard. Just last week, Trump said he wanted the country – most notably, the economy – “raring to go” by Easter. That was before Fauci said Sunday that 100,000 to 200,000 Americans could die because of the virus.

The global death count was more than 37,800 as of early Tuesday, and there were more than 786,000 confirmed cases.

Donald Trump extends social distancing guidelines to slow coronavirus spread President Donald Trump is extending the voluntary national shutdown for a month as sickness and death from the coronavirus pandemic rises in the U.S.

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North America's largest conference center to become temporary hospital

Officials in Illinois announced plans Monday to convert Chicago’s McCormick Place Convention Center into an Alternate Care Facility with a capacity for up to 3,000 COVID-19 patients.

The build-out will take place in phases over the next several weeks, officials said. Governor J.B. Pritzker has activated 30 Airmen from the Illinois National Guard to assist with the general labor associated with the project, according to the governor’s office. Construction will be supported by $15 million in federal funding from FEMA to support the Army Corps’ construction plan, the office said.

Illinois is seeing a surge of coronavirus cases, with a total of 5,057 cases, including 73 deaths, as of Monday, according to the Illinois Department of Health. “The cases that I report do not capture all of the cases in Illinois of COVID-19,” IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said in a press conference Monday. “We know that we’re not testing everyone.”

– Grace Hauck

First U.S. service member dies of coronavirus, Pentagon announces

A New Jersey National Guardsman is the first U.S. service member to die of COVID-19, the Pentagon announced Monday night. The Guardsman died Saturday and had been hospitalized since March 21.

Earlier Monday, the Pentagon had announced that the number of COVID-19 cases among troops, their families and civilian employees had surpassed 1,000. There were 1,043 cases compared with 613 on Friday, a 70% increase. There are 569 troops with the virus, 26 of whom are hospitalized.

The disease has forced the Pentagon to shutter recruiting facilities, scrap major training exercises, halt travel and enforce social distancing on its posts. Units that are needed for rapid deployment to hot spots around the globe are being sequestered to keep them from becoming infected.

– Tom Vanden Brook

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo calls for out-of-state help amid coronavirus crisis

Cuomo called on nurses and doctors from across the country, if the situation in their home states isn’t urgent, to travel to New York to mitigate the outbreak.

“In this battle, the troops are our healthcare professionals,” Cuomo said. “We need relief. We need relief for nurses working 12-hour shifts. We need relief for doctors. Help us now and we will return the favor.”

Cuomo also faced questions about the state’s stockpile of personal protective equipment like face masks after President Donald Trump rhetorically asked on Sunday if masks were “going out the back door.”

Cuomo said that while he’s not “unwilling to tangle” with Trump on other issues, he would rather keep the focus on the coronavirus and asked that Trump “just tell the truth” about the federal response.

“I am not engaging the President in politics,” Cuomo said. “My only goal is to engage the President in partnership.”

Navy hospital ship with 1,000 beds arrives in New York City harbor

The USNS Comfort, a Navy hospital ship with 1,000 beds and 12 operating rooms, arrived in New York harbor Monday and could be ready for patients as soon as Tuesday. The ship will be used for non-coronavirus patients to help alleviate the strain on local area hospitals.

“The number of beds we had in the beginning of March has to triple by May,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday. “It’s a daunting task, but we got a big, big boost."

According to the Johns Hopkins University data dashboard, New York City has reported more than 36,000 confirmed cases – almost a quarter of the nation's cases – and 790 deaths. One reason for the spike in confirmed cases is aggressive testing. Still, the CDC, citing “extensive community transmission,” has insisted that residents in New Jersey, Connecticut and New York refrain from non-essential travel for 14 days.

Coronavirus: Social distancing key to fighting COVID-19 Social distancing matters. Here is how to do it and how it can help curb the COVID-19 pandemic.

Trump says he extended guidelines to April 30 on advice of health experts

Trump said Monday that he extended guidelines for social distancing to April 30 because the outbreak is not expected to peak before Easter, less than two weeks away.

"We don't want to do it too soon," Trump said in a phone interview on the Fox & Friends morning show.

Trump issued social distancing guidelines earlier this month for a 15-day period that would have ended Tuesday. Over the weekend, however, health officials advised him that the number of cases is still rising and it is too early to ease calls for social distancing and people staying at home. He announced the extension Sunday.

"We have to get this thing gone," Trump said.

– David Jackson

Anthony Fauci: Millions of Americans will be infected; 100,000 could die

Millions of Americans will likely be infected by the coronavirus before the crisis is over and more than 100,000 could die despite aggressive efforts to curb the outbreak, Fauci told CNN on Monday. He noted that, two years ago, the flu killed more than 60,000 Americans and "this is clearly worse" than the flu.

Fauci said he recommended that Trump extend the guidelines because New York and other cities were continuing to see an increase in confirmed case and in deaths, and other cities are likely to follow.

"You want to start seeing some flattening out and turning around of the curve," Fauci told CNN. "It wasn't doing that."

Fauci said Trump was not a hard sell: "He looked at the data and he got it right away. ... He just shook his head and said 'I guess we gotta do it.'"

Donald Trump: Over 1 million Americans tested for coronavirus

President Donald Trump touted a new coronavirus test that produces results in minutes as opposed to days and announced Monday that more than 1 million Americans have been tested for the disease.

“The numbers have been incredible on testing,” Trump said. “In the days ahead we’re going to go even faster on testing.”

Trump has previously discussed a new test from Chicago-based Abbott that can produce results in minutes. The president said over the weekend that the Food and Drug Administration was able to approve the test in four weeks instead of the normal months-long approval process.

A box containing the test was placed next to Trump in the Rose Garden on Monday, complete with its own presidential seal.

“This is the first one on the line,” Trump said of the new test, calling it “highly accurate.”

The Trump administration has been under fire for weeks for not rolling tests out quickly enough to assess the scope of the virus. FDA Administrator Stephen Hahn said the tests would begin rolling out tomorrow.

– John Fritze and Courtney Subramanian

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis balks at allowing cruise ships to dock

Holland America's MS Zaandam and MS Rotterdam cruise ships are headed toward Florida but may not find a warm welcome in Fort Lauderdale from Gov. Ron DeSantis. The cruise line said the Panama Canal Authority had granted permission for the ships to transit the canal.

Four elderly passengers on the Zaandam died, though their causes of death have not been disclosed. Another 73 guests and 116 crew members have reported flu-like symptoms. Symptoms of the flu and coronavirus are similar. DeSantis said it would be “a mistake” to bring the cruise ship passengers into South Florida for treatment because the state already has a high number of new coronavirus infections and that number is growing. He said the area’s hospital beds need to be saved for residents and not “foreign nationals.”

– David Oliver and Morgan Hines

Amazon workers at NYC warehouse plan walkout, want better pay, protections

Amazon employees at a New York City warehouse were planning a walkout for Monday, demanding better pay and protections against COVID-19. Employees at Staten Island fulfillment center will strike until the building is sanitized in the wake of several workers testing positive for the coronavirus, says Chris Smalls, a manager assistant who is coordinating the walkout.

"We're not returning to work until they close the building down,'' says Smalls, adding that roughly 5,000 employees work at the building during the course of a week. "They know at lunch time, when they clock out, do not return.''

– Charisse Jones

Prince Charles no longer in self-isolation after positive coronavirus test

Prince Charles was out of self-isolation after testing positive for the coronavirus, his royal residence, Clarence House, confirmed.

The heir to the British throne, 71, was under self-isolation for seven days and is now operating under the current standard government and medical restrictions that apply nationwide in accordance with the U.K.'s National Health Service. In the U.S., the CDC recommends 14 days of self-isolation.

– Anika Reed

Stocks rally as volatility rules markets

Stocks showed modest gains Monday despite the deepening coronavirus pandemic. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 200 points ahead of what could be another volatile week on Wall Street. The Dow tumbled more than 900 points on Friday. Standard & Poor’s 500 futures lost 1.5%.

The stock market has shed more than 20% since touching records just over a month ago. Despite Friday's losses, the Dow still notched its biggest weekly gain since 1938, helped by promises from Congress and the Federal Reserve to provide aid for the economy and markets.

“Volatility will likely persist,” says Rusty Vanneman, chief investment officer at Orion Advisor Solutions. “It’s a race against the clock right now."

– Jessica Menton

Nursing homes report scores of positive test

Seventy-four residents of a Tennessee nursing home and 66 at a Maryland facility have tested positive for the coronavirus, authorities say. In Nashville, two of the residents have died. In Mount Airy, Md., one resident has died.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said multiple state agencies and Pleasant View Nursing Home workers are taking "urgent steps to protect additional residents and staff" who may have been exposed. Carroll County Health Officer Ed Singer said the victim was a man in his 90s with underlying health conditions.

In Tennessee, 33 Gallatin Center for Rehabilitation and Healing staff members also tested positive for the coronavirus and are isolating at home, Gov. Bob Lee's office said.

Outbreaks in nursing homes raise critical concerns because the elderly and those with underlying health issues are considered most at risk from the virus. One of the most lethal outbreaks took place in Kirkland, Wash., where more than 30 deaths have been linked to the Life Care Center.

– Holly Meyer, The Tennessean

Delayed Summer Olympics to kick off in July 2021

Less than a week after announcing that the Summer Games in Japan would be postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic, organizers have decided on a new start date of July 23, 2021, according to an International Olympic Committee spokesman. The closing ceremony will be held on Aug. 8. The Tokyo Olympics had previously been set to start almost exactly one year earlier, running from July 24 through Aug. 9.

– Tom Schad

More coronavirus news and information from USA TODAY

Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu, staff temporarily isolate themselves

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his staff will temporarily isolate themselves pending an epidemiological study that is expected to reveal that he was not exposed to the coronavirus, his office said.

Netanyahu's office denied reports that a decision had been made to quarantine him for a week after his parliamentary adviser, Rivka Paluch, was diagnosed with the virus. Israel has more than 4,300 confirmed cases and 16 deaths.