US coronavirus cases top 1 million

The United States now has more than 1 million people infected by the coronavirus, but the nation's epicenter of New York reported its lowest daily death toll of the month Tuesday.

About 30 percent of the US cases have occurred in New York state, followed by New Jersey, Massachusetts, California and Pennsylvania.

In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo said 335 deaths attributed to COVID-19 were reported statewide in the 24-hour period ending at midnight Tuesday, raising the total to 17,638, among 295,106 confirmed cases.

"Every day, I think maybe today's the day the nightmare will be over, but it's not," he said. "You see this number is, basically, reducing, but not at a tremendous rate.

Cuomo also criticized major health organizations, saying they didn't respond to the outbreak quickly enough.

"Where was the whole international health community?" he asked. "Where was the whole national host of experts, the WHO (World Health Organization), the NIH (National Institutes on Health), the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), that whole alphabet soup of agencies? Where was everyone?

In an exhibition to raise New York City's spirits, squadrons of the US Navy Blue Angels jets and US Air Force Thunderbirds jets performed a joint flyover before heading over New Jersey and Pennsylvania in a tribute to front-line responders and essential workers fighting the pandemic.

A few hundred protesters chanting "Open New Jersey now!" gathered in the state capital of Trenton on Tuesday, calling on Governor Phil Murphy to lift the near-lockdown orders he put in place five weeks ago, nj.com reported. More than 6,400 of the state's residents have died of COVID-19.

In Washington, US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that his administration is considering requiring travelers on certain incoming international flights to undergo temperature and virus checks to help stop the coronavirus' spread.

"We're looking at doing it on the international flights coming out of areas that are heavily infected," Trump said at the White House, where he met with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. "We will be looking into that in the very near future.

"Maybe it's a combination of both," Trump said on whether the federal government or the airlines would conduct the testing.

Trump spoke during an event showcasing the Paycheck Protection Program, a loan program designed to help small businesses weather the pandemic.

The president said the Small Business Administration has processed more loans in 14 days than it has in the previous 14 years.

DeSantis made the trip to Washington two days before Florida's state-at-home order is set to expire; he praised The Sunshine State's response to the pandemic.

"I mean, you go from DC, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois — you name it — Florida's done better," the Republican politician said.

"And I'm not criticizing those states, but everyone in the media was saying Florida was going to be like New York or Italy, and that has not happened because we understood we have a big, diverse state," he added, touting "a tailored and measured approach" that "did less damage to our state going forward".

"We have challenges; this is not an easy situation," the first-term governor said. "We've had people in the hospital, but we're now in a situation where I have less than 500 people in a state of 22 million on ventilators as of last night, and I have 6,500 ventilators sitting idle throughout the state of Florida."

As of 7:30 pm EDT Tuesday, Florida had more than 32,800 confirmed cases of the virus, with 1,171 deaths. The populous Miami-Dade region had the highest number of fatalities with 324.

Also in the capital, it was announced that the House of Representatives will not return to Washington next week as planned, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said. He said House leaders received a warning from the chamber's physician that there is a health risk to lawmakers amid a rising number of coronavirus infections in Washington DC.

Meanwhile, Trump was expected to sign an executive order Tuesday meant to stave off a shortage of chicken, pork and other meat on American supermarket shelves because of the coronavirus.

The order will use the Defense Production Act to classify meat processing as critical infrastructure to keep production plants open.

The order comes after industry leaders warned that consumers could see meat shortages in a matter of days after workers at major facilities tested positive for the virus. A senior White House official said the administration was working to prevent a situation in which a majority of processing plants shut down for a period of time, which could lead to an 80 percent drop in the availability of meat in supermarkets.

In California, schoolchildren could return to the classroom by late July, though likely with modifications, Governor Gavin Newsom said Tuesday as he outlined plans for easing stay-at-home orders.

Newsom acknowledged there have been "learning losses" as parents have sought to teach their children from home since most schools and classrooms closed in mid-March.

The Democratic governor also outlined a four-phase plan to gradually reopen when coronavirus hospitalization rates begin to stabilize.

Sections of the economy such as manufacturing and retail will begin operating again in the coming weeks, possibly through curbside pickup at stores with the latter. Childcare and summer schools, along with parks, trails and other outdoor spaces also may reopen.

The pandemic could kill more than 74,000 Americans by Aug 4, compared with an April 22 forecast of some 67,600, according to the University of Washington's predictive model. Globally, coronavirus cases have topped 3 million since the outbreak began in Wuhan, China, late last year. The United States, has five times as many cases as the next hardest-hit countries of Italy, Spain and France.

The coronavirus has killed more people in the US than the seasonal flu in recent years, except for the 2017-2018 season, according to the CDC. Flu deaths range from a low of 12,000 in the 2011-2012 season to a high of 61,000 during 2017-2018.

US coronavirus deaths fall far short of the Spanish Flu, which began in 1918 and killed 675,000 Americans, according to the CDC.

Stay-at-home orders to try to curb the spread of the virus have pounded the economy, with the number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits over the last five weeks jumping to 26.5 million.

About a dozen states are beginning to relax restrictions.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this story.