Coronavirus US news: Trump tells Americans to 'enjoy their living rooms' and says army may assist states battling deadly pandemic

Las Vegas casinos ask for financial support as outbreak hits tourist hotspots

 Casinos have joined the airline industry in asking congress for emergency financial help as Las Vegas and other tourist destinations take a severe hit from the coronavirus outbreak.

The American Gaming Association (AGA) issued a statement to The Washington Post on Monday, saying that with the $260bn (£212bn) industry at a “near standstill”, additional funds are needed to support casino companies and their employees.

“As state governments close casinos as a part of the urgent public health response to Covid-19, elected leaders should move just as urgently to support the workers and businesses who will bear the brunt of those effects,” said the AGA. “Our immediate priorities are actions that provide liquidity to allow us to support employees.”

Democratic primaries in chaos as Washington state declared for Joe Biden

The Democratic presidential primary is currently consumed with uncertainty after leaders in Ohio called off Tuesday's election just hours before polls were set to open, citing the need to combat the new coronavirus.

Officials in Florida, Arizona and Illinois said so far they will move forward with the vote. 

Not since New York City postponed its mayoral primary on the day of 11 September 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center has an election been pushed off in such a high-profile, far-reaching way. Ohio governor Mike DeWine initially asked a court to delay the vote and when a judge refused to do so the state's health director declared a health emergency that would prevent the polls from opening. 

The decision was a reminder that the most elemental act of American democracy - voting - will be severely tested on Tuesday as several states hold presidential primaries while also confronting the impact of a global pandemic. The contests are playing out as the virus' impact is becoming more tangible with schools closing across the country, workers staying home and restaurants and bars shuttering. 

The rapidly shifting developments amounted to a kind of chaos rarely seen in an election season. And it may not end soon as some states that have presidential contests in the coming weeks have already moved to postpone them and others were being pressed to follow. 

Campaigns spent Monday sifting through data and talking to contacts on the ground to assess the impact of the coronavirus on turnout in places that will hold elections on Tuesday. Former vice president Joe Biden is moving closer to securing the Democratic presidential nomination but could face a setback if the older voters who tend to support him don't show up. Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, meanwhile, can't afford to lose support from young voters who have been his most loyal supporters. 

The tumult has left the campaign in a state of suspended animation. In-person rallies have been replaced with sometimes-awkward virtual events. 

Sanders, the last Democrat standing between Biden and the nomination, isn't planning to drop out. His campaign looked to have nowhere to go after a big loss last week in Michigan, and another blow landed on Monday night when Biden was declared the winner of the primary in Washington state, giving him victories in five out of six states that voted 10 March. Yet Sanders' top advisers see no downside to staying in the race as they assess how the coming days and weeks unfold. 

Sanders staged a virtual rally on Monday night featuring himself, rocker Neil Young and activist actress Daryl Hannah. He also released a video criticising Biden for suggesting as a senator that he'd be willing to cut Social Security benefits - a line of attack he employed frequently during Sunday's debate. 

"I don't have to tell anybody that we are living in a very unprecedented and strange moment in the history of our country," Sanders said, urging supporters that it may be time to "rethink our value system, rethink many of the systems we operate under." 

Sanders' team had expected Biden to do well in all four states set to vote on Tuesday. But the Vermont senator has also cast some doubt about the entire process, saying no one should risk being infected while voting and noting that it's important "to make sure that everybody who wants to vote has the right to vote, and that may not be the case now." 

Still, Sanders faces an increasingly tough path to the nomination. About half of the delegates in the Democratic primary have already been awarded and, if Biden has another big night Tuesday, he will pad an already large and perhaps insurmountable lead. Sanders trails Biden by more than 150 delegates nationally, meaning he'd need to win more than 57 per cent of those yet to be allocated to clinch the Democratic nomination. 

Biden's campaign is trying not to look presumptuous about its prospects at this sensitive moment. Still, the former vice president is making moves to rally more voters to his campaign, including his announcement during the debate that he would choose a woman as a running mate. 

Congressman Cedric Richmond of Louisiana, one of Biden's campaign co-chairs, said the former vice president has "started the process of looking at people seriously." 

Only 37 per cent of US voters trust Trump's response to coronavirus crisis

Less than 40 per cent of Americans trust what Donald Trump says about the coronavirus outbreak and less than half approve of his response, according to a new poll out hours before the president called the disease a "Chinese virus."

A NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll released on Tuesday shows 45 per cent of registered voters approve of  Trump's handling of the public health crisis, which has closed restaurants, bars, schools, movie theatres and other entities around the country and prompted an ongoing stock market cratering.

Only 37 per cent of registered voters reported having a "A great deal/A good amount" of trust in the information Trump gives about the virus and his administration's response. Until last Monday, the president at least two dozen times downplayed the scope and severity of the outbreak, which he is now acknowledging could throw the American economy into a recession.

Here's more from John T Bennett.

Video emerges of Trump discussing closure of pandemic team in 2018 days after he denied knowing about it

A video has emerged of Trump talking about cutting the US pandemic response team in 2018 – days after claiming that he knew nothing about the disbanded White House unit.

The president said of the pandemic team that “some of the people we’ve cut they haven’t been used for many, many years and if we ever need them we can get them very quickly and rather then spending the money”.

“I’m a business person, I don’t like having thousands of people around when you don’t need them,” he added. 

Trump has rightly come under fire in recent days for his decision to disband the National Security Council directorate at the White House responsible for planning the US’s preparedness for future pandemics.

The unit had been established under Barack Obama in 2014 after the Ebola outbreak.

Here's more from Gino Spocchia.

Mitch McConnell says Senate won't adjourn until coronavirus bill passed

Here's the latest from the Kentucky Republican and majority leader, who once delighted in the nickname "the Grim Reaper" but presumably won't thank us for reminding you of that now.

“The House of Representatives may have left town but the Senate is right here at work. We’re crafting the major legislation that the American people deserve in the face of this major challenge and it’s my intention that the Senate will not adjourn until we have passed significant and bold new steps above and beyond what the House has passed,” Mitch McConnell says, adding: “To help our strong nation and our strong underlying economy weather this storm.”

“Our healthcare system and our doctors, nurses and other frontline professionals are gearing up for what seems very likely to be the most significant nationwide challenge they have faced in generations,” he  added.

“At every level this new challenge is testing our nation and its institutions.”

'If coronavirus affects the election, it's likely to be in Trump's favour'

In the last hour, Trump has returned to his more familiar, unhinged tone, attacking Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer and using the ludicrous hashtag "#KILLTHEVIRUS".

For Indy Voices, Justin Lee has this warning against Democratic complacency as many left-leaning voters lazily assume his disastrous handling of this epidemic will translate into a win for their nominee.

New York governor has 'no plans whatsoever' to quarantine city as Atlanta airport closes unnused terminals

New York's governor Andrew Cuomo, the subject of an angry tweet from Trump earlier, has said he has "no plans whatsoever" to quarantine the city.

He revealed he has since spoken to the president and appealed for help from the federal government: "I said to the president... I put my hand out in partnership. I want to work together 100%. I want your help. I need your help."

City mayor Bill de Blasio appeared on CNN's New Day this morning to discuss  plans for safeguarding the Big Apple and refused to rule out telling people to stay indoors.

"Right now we have taken a series of steps to reduce the number of people who are circulating around," he said. "But we're going to look at all other options, and it could get to that for sure."

Meanwhile, Hartsfield Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia, has temporarily closed its north and south domestic terminal checkpoints due to "declining demand," CNN reports.

White House officials mockingly referring to coronavirus as 'Kung-Flu'

With Trump already under fire for using the phrase "Chinese Virus" (twice) in tweets, a CBS reporter at the White House has encountered further evidence of racist mockery over the pandemic from an unnamed member of the administration.

Maryland postpones primary as Biden hits back at Trump over attack on Michigan governor

State governor Larry Hogan has made his the fifth to postpone its Democratic primary as a result of the virus, following on from Ohio, Georgia, Louisiana and Kentucky.

Meanwhile, here's Diamond Joe gallantly defending the honour of Gretchen Whitmer after Trump griped about her earlier.

Coronavirus crisis 'worse than 9/11' for airlines, says Steve Mnuchin

Woah.

What a spectacularly ill-considered comparison from the US Treasury secretary, speaking just now at a press conference with Trump addressing the economic consequences of Covid-19 as air travel dries up.

Also not inspiring confidence is vice president Mike Pence, who has asked construction companies to donate their face masks to hospitals and not order more.

This is what the president himself had to say:

But here's Danielle Zoellner on Mnuchin.