'Hospitals without walls:' Pres. Trump's admin makes health care changes to address patient surge

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump's administration  announced temporary regulatory waivers that allow hospitals to provide care at other locations to make room for patients.It’s called “hospitals without walls.”“They could use a college dormitory, a gymnasium,” Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma said Tuesday, March 31.The new program is creating room for critical coronavirus cases while continuing to give uninfected patients the care they need.“It allows hospitals to provide services off-site,” Verma added.Verma said the agency is changing the rules to pay for patients’ treatment outside of hospitals and clinics, with FEMA helping expand hospital space in states across the country.Verma said this initiative adds to the work they have done and allows more involvement on the local level.“What we want to do is empower local communities to start thinking about this and to use the resources that they already have in their community," she said.The CMS waivers will allow hospitals to transfer uninfected patients to the sites, making room for those testing positive for coronavirus.As far as filling the new spaces with supplies, Verma said they want to make sure health care workers have the tools they need to save lives.“FEMA sent a very special force of people that are working to find supplies.

President Trump, other lawmakers call for release of low-risk inmates to protect them from COVID-19

WASHINGTON -- The Federal Bureau of Prisons is changing its guidelines to protect guards and prisoners from coronavirus.Some lawmakers, including President Donald Trump, are even considering releasing low-risk prisoners.While most Americans are trying to stay apart, social distancing is nearly impossible for the nation’s prison population.“Let’s keep in mind, you know, the least of these and make sure they’re being protected and not disposable,” Senator Kamala Harris said.Senator Kamala Harris called on the Federal Bureau of Prisons to release low-risk inmates from their custody and she demanded the department provide details on how it will slow the spread of the virus within its walls.“The incarcerated are not going to be immune to it if they have not taken the appropriate precautionary steps,” Harris said.At a press briefing last week, President Trump said he’s even considering prisoner release.“We’re talking about totally non-violent prisoners, we’re actually looking at that yes,” President Trump said.President Trump said he is considering an executive order to release some prisoners but hasn’t said much about it since.The idea’s getting some pushback and not just from Republicans.“I don’t think that’s where the major emphasis needs to go,” Representative John Garamendi, D-California, said.Democrat John Garamendi says lawmakers should make sure inmates are kept safe but says releasing prisoners goes too far.“Certainly there’s going to be infections in our prisons.

Biden endorses MPS, Racine school referendums

MADISON — Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden came out in support of a pair of Wisconsin school district referendums on Tuesday, a week before the state's presidential primary election.The highly unusual move of a presidential candidate weighing in on a local school referendum comes as Biden and other candidates have been sidelined due to the coronavirus pandemic.

1,200+ confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Wisconsin, 16K+ test negative

MILWAUKEE — The total positive cases of coronavirus in Wisconsin rose to 1,221 on Monday, March 30, Wisconsin Department of Health Services officials said.

Pres. Trump extends federal social distancing guidance for 30 days as virus spreads

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Bracing the nation for a grim death toll, President Donald Trump on Sunday, March 29 extended the voluntary national shutdown for a month, bowing to public-health experts who told him the coronavirus pandemic could claim over 100,000 lives in the U.S., perhaps significantly more, if not enough is done to fight it.It was a stark shift in tone by the president, who only days ago mused about the country reopening in a few weeks.

COVID-19: Mayor Barrett announces former nun retirement home opening for homeless

MILWAUKEE -- Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett on Sunday, March 29 announced a new plan to house those "with unstable housing" amid the coronavirus pandemic.

President Trump: No quarantine, but travel advisory for NY, CT and NJ

NORFOLK, Va. — President Donald Trump backed away from calling for a quarantine for coronavirus hotspots in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, instead directing Saturday night that a “strong Travel Advisory” be issued to stem the spread of the outbreak.After consulting with the White House task force leading the federal response and the governors of the three affected states, President Trump said: "I have asked the @CDCgov to issue a strong Travel Advisory, to be administered by the Governors, in consultation with the Federal Government.

'Pandemonium:' Aaron Rodgers details return to US from Peru on radio show

GREEN BAY -- In a phone interview with The Pat McAfee Show, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers shared that he is back at his home in California after returning from Peru, leaving shortly before the country went on lockdown due to COVID-19.In the interview, which was posted March 27, Rodgers said he had left Peru nine days earlier -- March 18.

President Trump boosts virus aid, warns governors to be 'appreciative'

WASHINGTON — After days of desperate pleas from the nation’s governors, President Donald Trump took a round of steps to expand the federal government’s role in helping produce critically needed supplies to fight the coronavirus pandemic even as he warned the leaders of hard-hit states not to cross him.“I want them to be appreciative,” President Trump said Friday after the White House announced that he would be using the powers granted to him under the Korean War-era Defense Production Act to try to compel auto giant General Motors to produce ventilators.Yet President Trump — who hours earlier had suggested the need for the devices was being overblown — rejected any criticism of the federal government's response to a ballooning public health crisis that a month ago he predicted would be over by now.“We have done a hell of a job," President Trump said, as he sent an ominous message to state and local leaders who have been urging the federal government to do more to help them save lives.President Trump said he had instructed Vice President Mike Pence not to call the governors of Washington or Michigan — two coronavirus hotspots — because of their public criticism. “If they don’t treat you right, I don't call,” Trump said.The comments came after President Trump unveiled a slew of executive actions to bolster states' capacities to respond to the pandemic, including authorizing Defense Secretary Mark Esper to call up an unspecified number of federal reservists to help with the coronavirus response.Friday's invocation “should demonstrate clearly to all that we will not hesitate to use the full authority of the federal government to combat this crisis," President Trump said.President Trump had been saying for more than a week that he was reluctant to use the Defense Production Act — even after he invoked it — because companies were already doing what he wanted and he didn't need arm-twisting to make them comply.Yet President Trump continued to suggest that states' own failures were to blame for the needed intervention. “Normally these would be bought for states, just so you understand,” he said.The president has been under growing pressure from the nation's governors to do more to bolster supplies, despite the perceived risks of speaking out.

President Trump seeks to force General Motors to produce ventilators

DETROIT — President Donald Trump issued an order Friday that seeks to force General Motors to produce ventilators for coronavirus patients under the Defense Production Act.President Trump said negotiations with General Motors had been productive, “but our fight against the virus is too urgent to allow the give-and-take of the contracting process to continue to run its normal course.”President Trump said “GM was wasting time” and that his actions will help ensure the quick production of ventilators that will save American lives.Previously President Trump has been reluctant to use the act to force businesses to contribute to the coronavirus fight.

President Trump signs $2.2T stimulus after swift congressional votes

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump signed an unprecedented $2.2 trillion economic rescue package into law Friday, after swift and near-unanimous action by Congress to support businesses, rush resources to overburdened health care providers and help struggling families during the deepening coronavirus epidemic.Acting with unity and resolve unseen since the 9/11 attacks, Washington moved urgently to stem an economic free fall caused by widespread restrictions meant to slow the spread of the virus that have shuttered schools, closed businesses and brought American life in many places to a virtual standstill.“This will deliver urgently needed relief," President Trump said as he signed the bill in the Oval Office, flanked only by Republican lawmakers.