On a day of relentless and sobering news about the coronavirus, California Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled an alarming projection: More than half the 40-plus million people in his state will contract COVID-19 in the next eight weeks.

That statement was part of Newsom's appeal to President Donald Trump asking for federal help. Newsom also wrote to Congress requesting $1 billion in funding to stem the crisis. By Thursday evening, Newsom ordered Californians to stay home.

Earlier on Thursday, Italy's death toll surpassed China's, Saints coach Sean Payton became the first known case of COVID-19 in the NFL and U.S. health officials warned the coronavirus can be dangerous for young people too, as the life-altering pandemic continued to rattle the world.

The hunt for a medical remedy intensified. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn said it could take “three to six months” to develop new therapies to fight the coronavirus. The agency is also scouring several currently approved drugs.

The global death toll passed 10,000; there were nearly 245,000 confirmed cases. In the U.S., deaths jumped to 205 across 25 states – including the first reported fatalities in Maryland, Mississippi and Oklahoma. There were more than 14,200 confirmed cases, up from about 1,600 a week earlier, when there were 40 reported deaths.

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Newsom: 25 million Californians will be infected, orders residents to stay home

The stunning figure Newsom revealed is based on state estimates he outlined in a letter sent to Trump on Wednesday.

"We project that roughly 56 percent of our population -- 25.5 million people -- will be infected with the virus over an eight week period," Newsom wrote, asking Trump to station the USNS Mercy Hospital Ship in Los Angeles immediately and keep it there until September to ease strains on hospitals.

Thursday evening, Newsom ordered all residents to stay home. Newsom said how long the order is in place depends on people's behaviors and how well the state is able to contain the virus.

"There's a social contract here, people I think recognize the need to do more to meet this situation," he said, adding that experts have been doing pandemic planning in California for more than a decade.

In a separate letter to congressional leaders Thursday, Newsom said California would likely need more than $1 billion in federal assistance as the number of coronavirus cases in the state continue to multiply.

As of Wednesday evening, 675 people in California had tested positive for coronavirus and 16 had died, according to the California Department of Public Health.

– Sam Metz, Palm Springs (Calif.) Desert Sun

Pennsylvania orders statewide closure of non-life-sustaining businesses

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf on Thursday ordered the closure of "non-life-sustaining" businesses to try to limit the spread of the virus within the state.

The businesses considered "non-life-sustaining" needed to close their physical locations by 8 p.m. Thursday. If they're not closed by Saturday, they'll face punishment including "citations, fines, or license suspensions," according to the governor's office.

“To protect the health and safety of all Pennsylvanians, we need to take more aggressive mitigation actions,” Wolf said in a statement. “This virus is an invisible danger that could be present everywhere. We need to act with the strength we use against any other severe threat. And, we need to act now before the illness spreads more widely.”

A list of business considered "life-sustaining" can be found here. The list also includes nearly 150 types of businesses that can't continue physical operations under the order. Pennsylvania had 206 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus as of late Thursday night and one death in the state, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

– Jordan Culver

Italy surpasses China for most deaths

Italy marked a grim milestone Thursday as its death toll from the global coronavirus outbreak surpassed China's. Italy's total of 3,405 includes an average of more than 350 deaths a day since March 15, according to World Health Organization data.The country has the world's second-oldest population after Japan, and most of the dead are from its elderly population.

A number of other factors are also being blamed for the virus's ferocious grip on Italy. They include an utterly overwhelmed health care system and a failure to quickly impose a national lockdown. Italy represents a stark illustration of how the virus has swept through communities at breakneck speed, upending daily routines and threatening to usher in the most serious economic recession in decades.

China's National Commission reported an uptick Thurdsay in foreign cases – but no domestically transmitted cases of the virus, the first time since it started recording them in January. COVID-19 emerged in Wuhan, in China's central Hubei province, in December.

– Kim Hjelmgaard

Hawaii may mandate 14-day quarantine for air passengers

Hawaii Lt. Gov. Josh Green posted his recommendations for battling coronavirus in Hawaii to Twitter early Thursday, which included a mandatory 14-day quarantine for both residents and visitors coming to the islands.

"I don’t want to be alarmist, but our entire community needs to take this seriously," Green wrote. His recommendations included suspension of all nonessential travel to Hawaii until April 30 and "anyone who comes to Hawaii gets two weeks quarantine."

While numbers in Hawaii are still low, health officials said the official count for patients on the islands diagnosed with coronavirus rose from 10 to 26 Thursday.

– Andrea Mandell and Bryan Alexander

U.S. and Mexican officials working on closing border to 'non-essential' travel

U.S. and Mexican officials are working on an agreement to ban "non-essential" travel between their border along the same lines of the deal that the U.S. announced this week with Canada, a Trump administration official said. Trade would be exempted.

There are 118 confirmed coronavirus cases currently in Mexico and over 13,600 in the U.S, according to Johns Hopkins data.

For tourists, Mexico is the seventh most-visited country around the world, according to Mexico tourism data, and 26 million U.S. travelers visited Mexico from January to August 2019, according to the U.S. National Travel and Tourism Office.

– David Oliver

NFL's first case of coronavirus: Saints head coach Sean Payton

The New Orleans head coach told ESPN he has tested positive for COVID-19.

"This is not just about social distancing," Payton told the network. "It's shutting down here for a week to two weeks. If people understand the curve, and understand the bump, we can easily work together as a country to reduce it.''

Payton becomes the first known case of the coronavirus in the NFL, which is in its offseason and just opened the free agent signing and trade period.

There have been several confirmed cases in the NBA, including Brooklyn Nets superstar Kevin Durant, as well as the NHL, baseball's minor leagues and in European soccer leagues.

Young people endangered, too

Americans of all ages have faced serious health complications amid the new coronavirus outbreak, a federal health report says. New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that among the roughly 12% of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. known to need hospitalizations, about one in five were among people ages 20 to 44. The CDC report tracked the health outcomes from Feb. 12 to March 16 for the 2,449 COVID-19 patients in the U.S. whose ages were known.

The data still indicates older Americans face the higher risk of hospitalization, admission to an intensive care unit or even death, the report says.

– Ryan Miller

State Department: Do not travel abroad

The Department of State is advising Americans not to travel internationally, the strongest U.S. alert yet as the pandemic continued its steady march across the globe.

The department on Thursday issued a Level 4 advisory for travel abroad — "do not travel" — only four days after it issued a Level 3 advisory — "reconsider travel."

"In countries where commercial departure options remain available, U.S. citizens who live in the United States should arrange for immediate return to the United States, unless they are prepared to remain abroad for an indefinite period," the advisory said. "U.S. citizens who live abroad should avoid all international travel."

-- Curtis Tate

Hundreds of Americans stuck overseas

Hundreds of Americans overseas are struggling to get home, trapped in a global freeze on international travel and mass quarantines. Besieged by pleas for help, the State Department and its embassies around the world have offered little to no assistance, some stranded travelers say.

Stuck in the Philippines, Chris Pierce and his wife, Nila, have contacted American embassies in Manila and Cebu via email and phone 70 times. No response, they say. "I do realize they are probably overwhelmed," Chris Pierce told USA TODAY. "But at the same time, all U.S. citizens should be a priority. ... I can't help but feel we are abandoned."

– Deirdre Shesgreen and Morgan Hines

FDA examining treatment with existing drugs

Besides working on developing new therapies specifically designed to address the coronavirus, Hahn said the agency is examining the value of several currently approved drugs.

President Donald Trump mentioned at least two drugs that researchers are studying. One of them, hydroxychloroquine, has long been approved for malaria. Another drug, remdesivir, is an experimental antiviral. Trump expressed optimism about the drugs, but Hahn said the agency was still studying their efficacy.

Kirsten Hokeness, an immunologist who teaches at Bryant University in Rhode Island, said the obvious benefit of existing drugs is they've already been approved for other treatments by the FDA.

However, "there are still many questions that remain when using a pre-approved drug for another use, including how effective it will be cross-label and whether we’ll be able to dose it in a way that it is effective but won’t be harmful to the body,'' she said. "But having these drugs already through most of the approval process makes them good options for treatment.''

– John Fritze

$1,000 checks in three weeks?

The Trump administration wants checks of $1,000 per person and $500 per child to go out within three weeks of Congress passing a stimulus package, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, said a deal was close.

"The plan is $500 billion in two tranches,” Mnuchin said on Fox Business’ "Mornings with Maria." “The first one would be $1,000 per person, $500 per child."

Six weeks later, if needed, "we'll deliver another $3,000," he said. Mnuchin said he also wanted $300 billion to go toward small businesses for “hiring people, keeping people on the payroll." Another $200 billion would secure lending to airlines and other critical industries, he said.

– Nicholas Wu

No substitute for toilet paper

The toilet paper shortage is leading some people to resort to other ways of wiping, and it caused a major problem for the Redding, California, sewer system Wednesday night.

Someone apparently used shredded T-shirts when they didn't have toilet t, wastewater management officials said. As a result, one of the city's sewers backed up at a lift station and workers had to take quick action to avert a dangerous spill.

If you don't have toilet paper, city wastewater officials have this advice for other materials: "Bag it. Don't flush it."

"Anything aside from toilet paper works to create a sewer backup, putting our larger sewer system, our water system and our community at risk for another health crisis," the city said.

-- Mike Chapman, Redding Record Searchlight

Corpus Christi: Largest city without cases

With a population of 305,000, Corpus Christi, Texas, is the largest U.S. city with no confirmed cases of coronavirus, followed by Fort Wayne, Indiana (estimated 267,633) and Chesapeake, Viriginia (242,634), according to A-J Media’s research.

As of Thursday, Corpus Christi and Nueces County had no confirmed cases. But residents of the the gulf port city shouldn't take the news lightly. Several people have been tested over the past few days, and while so far results have come back negative, results for many others are pending.

The first drive-thru testing site in Corpus Christi opened Thursday.

– Alexandria Rodriguez, Corpus Christi (Texas) Caller Times

Chicago school closures extended

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who had been holding off on extending school closures as she awaited a decision from the state, made the move on her own Thursday

Lightfoot said in a televised address to the city that public schools would remain shut through April 20, three weeks longer than the initial plan.

She made the announcement shortly after Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker updated the state count for coronavirus cases, which increased to 442, compared to 288 on Wednesday. Pritzker said last week that all schools in the state -- public and private -- would close from March 17-30, and he's expected to prolong that shutdown.

US trajectory: Will we follow Italy?

The U.S. could soon find out whether it's likely to be the next South Korea or the next Italy when it comes to the acceleration of coronavirus cases and deaths. South Korea managed to "flatten the curve" with aggressive action. A data analysis by USA TODAY finds that America’s trajectory is trending toward Italy’s, where circumstances are more dire.

"When you're on an exponential curve, every moment is dangerous," Francis Collins, the director of the National Institutes of Health, told USA TODAY.

The CDC's worst-case-scenario is that up to 210 million Americans will be infected by December. Under this forecast, 21 million people would need hospitalization and 200,000 to 1.7 million could die. Collins said that if the U.S. takes drastic measures "we should certainly be able to blunt" the curve. "But let's be clear: There's going to be a very rough road." Read more here.

– Kim Hjelmgaard and Jim Sergent

Las Vegas airport tower shut down

The air traffic control tower at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas was closed temporarily Thursday after a controller tested positive for COVID-19, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

The airport "is open with operations continuing at a reduced rate due to the closure of the ATC tower," according to a Twitter post from the airport Thursday.

According to the FAA, some arriving flights in Las Vegas were delayed an average of six hours and 37 minutes.

The tower was shuttered for a “deep and thorough cleaning,” FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said in a statement. “The agency is working to determine how many air traffic controllers will have to self-isolate from being exposed to the controller who tested positive or areas the controller worked in.”

– Curtis Tate

Infected congressman Ben McAdams: 'The worst cold I've ever had'

Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., on Wednesday announced that he has tested positive, becoming the first known member of Congress to contract the virus. Hours later, Rep. Ben McAdams, a Democrat from Utah, announced he had tested positive.

“I'm feeling pretty bad. I think this is probably the worst cold I've ever had, but (I am) getting by," McAdams told NBC News’ TODAY from quarantine Thursday. He said his family is "not leaving the house for anything.” McAdams and some other members of Congress say lawmakers should be able to vote remotely to avoid traveling back and forth to Washington. At least 15 lawmakers so far have gone into self-quarantine.

– Christal Hayes, USA TODAY, and David DeMille, St. George (Utah) Spectrum & Daily News

Stock market opens lower, edges higher

U.S. stocks opened lower once again Thursday but rebounded to modest gains a day after Wednesday's 6%-plus crash. The Dow has lost nearly all of its gains since Trump's inauguration. Shares in Asia failed to hold onto opening gains Thursday, skidding further after the latest sell-off on Wall Street amid fears of a prolonged coronavirus-induced recession.

The New York Stock Exchange said it will temporarily close its trading floor and move to electronic trading effective Monday. “NYSE’s trading floors provide unique value to issuers and investors, but our markets are fully capable of operating in an all-electronic fashion,” said Stacey Cunningham, president of the New York Stock Exchange.

– Jessica Menton

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Kohl's closes 1,100 stores

Kohl's Corp. is closing all of its approximately 1,100 retail stores nationwide in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Kohl's stores will close at 7 p.m. local time Thursday, the company announced in a news release. The stores will be closed at least until April 1.

The company said it would pay its store employees two weeks' salary.

Customers will still be able to shop through the Kohl's website and app. Earlier this week, Kohl's announced it would reduce the hours its stores were open because of a "softening" in sales.

– Sarah Hauer, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

NYC mayor mobilizing Medical Reserve Corps

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio urged retired health care workers to join the city's battle against COVID-19, saying the 9,000-member Medical Reserve Corps would be mobilized immediately on a voluntary basis. The group includes mostly retired health care workers, but de Blasio said anyone with health care training would be welcome to volunteer.

"If you are a health care worker, you have any appropriate training, we need you and we need you right away," de Blasio said in a recording published Thursday on social media. "Your city needs you now."

The city is seeing a boom in cases, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the USNS Comfort will be deployed to New York harbor next month. The 1,000-bed hospital ship has 12 fully equipped operating rooms and "will significantly increase New York's hospital surge capacity," Cuomo said in a statement.

More coronavirus headlines, tips and information:

Florida distillery drops booze for sanitizer

A Florida craft distillery has halted making alcoholic beverages in favor of hand sanitizer – and it's giving the stuff away for free. Copper Bottom Craft Distillery in Holly Hill announced the BYOB offer – you bring the bottle, they will fill it – on Wednesday. Within hours they had given away 20 gallons, mostly in 4-ounce pours. Customers included representatives from a sheriff’s office and a fire department. There were obstetricians, medical clinic workers, school teachers and service industry professionals.

“We’re just trying to spread some goodwill,” said Jenni Craig, who owns the business with her husband, Jeremy, and his parents. “This is a crazy time going on right now, and we want to do what we can to help.”

– Suzanne Hirt, Daytona Beach News-Journal

How many cases of coronavirus in US?

Here are additional important stories from USA TODAY on coronavirus:

Canned goods and non-perishables are selling out. Here's where you can still buy them.

Some people refuse to "social distance." Psychologists explain why.

Is there any "good news" related to the coronavirus? Perhaps, in reduced air pollution and carbon emissions — and in some places, lives saved.

The risk to pregnant women from coronavirus appears low. But there's not enough data.

When will school reopen? No date in sight.

They booked Palm Springs trips before the pandemic. Now they can't get refunds.

When will coronavirus end? What wartime and human kindness can tell us about what happens next.

Contributing: The Associated Press