Coronavirus updates: Visitors flock to Jacksonville beaches after they reopen for exercise and activity

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• Global cases: More than 2,214,800
• Global deaths: At least 150,948
• US cases: More than 683,700
• US deaths: At least 34,575

The data above was compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Starting Monday, Walmart is requiring employees to wear masks in stores, clubs, distribution and fulfillment centers, as well as in our corporate offices. The company said it will also ask customers to wear face coverings when shopping. It's also announcing that it is extending its emergency leave policy through the end of May.

"We have evolved our policy on face coverings from optional to mandatory as public health guidance has shifted," the company said in a statement. "The CDC now recommends wearing face coverings in public settings, including grocery stores, to help curb the spread of the virus." —Jennifer Elias

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The USNS Comfort hospital ship holds fewer than 80 patients in New York City, leaving nearly 90% of its available space unused after its emergency dispatch to the U.S. epicenter of the coronavirus crisis. 

Shortly after arriving from its home port in Norfolk, Virginia, the military's floating lifesaver was adjusted to receive coronavirus patients, halving its 1,000-bed capacity. As of Friday, 71 of the USNS Comfort's 500 beds were occupied.

During a White House briefing Friday, President Donald Trump said the lack of patients on the ship showed that New York City was healing.

"They didn't need it, that's a good thing. That's such a good thing. I think that shows that New York's making progress," Trump said.

On Friday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said that his state is still struggling to contain the coronavirus outbreak citing nearly 2,000 hospitalizations daily. —Amanda Macias

Crowds flocked to the beaches in Jacksonville, Florida after they reopened specifically for exercise and activity purposes, including walking, swimming and biking.

The reopening comes with restrictions and hours. Visitors are asked to remain six feet from people and certain items are banned, including sunbathing, towels and chairs as well as any group activities, according to local news reports.

Florida's governor on Friday gave the green light for some beaches and parks to reopen if it can be done safely, and north Florida beaches became among the first to allow people to return since closures because of the coronavirus.

Mayor Lenny Curry said Duval County beaches were reopening Friday afternoon with restricted hours, and they can only be used for walking, biking, hiking, fishing, running, swimming, taking care of pets and surfing.

The beaches will be open from 6 to 11 a.m. and 5 to 8 p.m., Curry said in a video posted to social media. Gatherings of 50 or more people are prohibited and people must still practice social distancing. —Jennifer Elias, Associated Press

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President Donald Trump on Friday announced a $19 billion relief program to help farmers cope with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic through a package that will include direct payment and mass purchases of produce, meat and other products.

"These are great people, great Americans, never complain, never complain - they just do what they have to do," Trump said while announcing the farm aid program, which he said will have $16 billion in direct payments.

U.S. Department of Agriculture in a statement said it will partner with regional and local distributors to purchase $3 billion in fresh produce, dairy and meat. —Reuters

Tech companies will be key to supporting California's growing "army" of coronavirus contact tracers and ultimately reopening the state, Gov. Gavin Newsom told CNBC.

Newsom's plan for reopening the state is highly dependent on the capacity to test widely for the virus and to conduct contact tracing, whereby personnel identify and track people who came into contact with an infected individual. He said California-based tech companies are key to the effort.

"We're so pleased with the work Mark Zuckerberg has been doing to support the open access of appropriate data in an anonymized way, in a non-individual or personalized way, including Apple and Google and others," he said on CNBC's "Fast Money." "That is really going to help us with the technology platforms to help us supplement or support the efforts of the individual tracers, an army that we're all starting to build and train..." —Will Feuer, Hannah Miller

The World Health Organization said that China revised its Covid-19 infection counts "to leave no case undocumented" and that other countries will also likely need to amend their own data as systems around the world are overwhelmed.

Wuhan, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in China, added 325 confirmed cases and 1,290 deaths to the city's Covid-19 count after "a city-wide investigation," state media reported earlier Friday.

"This was done in an attempt to leave no case undocumented," Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO's lead scientist on Covid-19, said at a news briefing from the agency's Geneva headquarters. "They looked at the funeral service systems. They looked at hospital systems. They looked at laboratories to see if there were any duplications or if there were any cases missing." —Will Feuer, Noah Higgins-Dunn

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy announced their picks to sit on the five-person board overseeing a $500 billion bailout fund intended to help ailing businesses weather the coronavirus pandemic.

McConnell said he has chosen Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., for the spot, while McCarthy picked Rep. French Hill, R-Ark.

The fund, run by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will work with the Federal Reserve to deploy $4 trillion into the U.S. economy.

As part of the $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief bill signed into law last month, McConnell, McCarthy, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer will each choose a representative for the board overseeing the $500 billion fund. Pelosi and McConnell will choose the committee's chair, in consultation with McCarthy and Schumer. —Lauren Hirsch

Macy's is looking for ways to use its real estate during the coronavirus pandemic to come up with cash, according to a Bloomberg report. 

The department store chain is looking to issue new bonds backed by some of its real estate, excluding its flagship Herald Square location, along with other assets, the report said, citing people familiar with the discussions. 

The interest rate and maturity of the debt is still under discussion, and plans remain fluid and could shift course, it said. 

Macy's stock recently was down less than 1% in after-hours trading. Shares had closed Friday up nearly 3%, having tumbled 65% this year. Macy's has a market cap of about $1.8 billion. —Lauren Thomas

JPMorgan Chase says it has closed more small business relief loans than any other bank, but it still has a huge mountain of applications from business owners who are now in limbo. 

The bank has disbursed $14 billion in loans for the government's $350 billion coronavirus relief effort, according to the company. But it has about $26 billion worth of applications from hundreds of thousands of business owners that could go forward if Congress secures more funding for the Paycheck Protection Program, it said.

"Chase has secured more funding for small businesses than anyone else in the industry," spokeswoman Trish Wexler said in a statement. "We're fully prepared to help many, many more once additional funding is approved. We're proud to support businesses that collectively employ more than a million hard-working Americans." —Hugh Son

The CEO of real estate brokerage Redfin said that demand for homes has shifted to rural areas as people react to the coronavirus pandemic and look to move out of dense urban areas.

"We have seen that people are more interested in that house at the foot of the mountains by the lake," Glenn Kelman said on CNBC's "Closing Bell." "Rural demand is much stronger right now than urban demand, and that's a flip from where it's been for the longest time, where everybody wanted to live in the city. We'll see how it comes back, but there seems to be a profound, psychological change among consumers who are looking for houses." 

The coronavirus pandemic has led to ballooning unemployment in the United States, and construction has paused in many cities across the country. Governors in many states, including in the northeastern part of the country, have extended their orders for staying at home into mid-May. 

There has not been a big drop in home prices, Kelman said, because new listings have declined more than demand from buyers. Kelman said buying demand is down about 20%, but listing demand is down about 60%, which has kept prices from falling. —Jesse Pound

Veterans and their family members will automatically receive coronavirus stimulus checks from the federal government without further action required from those individuals, the Treasury Department and the IRS announced Friday. 

There had been earlier confusion as to whether as many as 2 million veterans would miss out on the one-time federal payments.

It was among the latest snafus for the $290 billion program, which was created as part of the $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief package enacted last month. —Greg Iacurci

The National Basketball Association and the National Basketball Players Association announced that they have reached an agreement regarding reductions in player compensation during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a joint statement.

The agreement stipulates that in order to give players a more gradual salary reduction schedule, reductions of 25% will begin with the players' twice-a-month payment due May 15. The organizations also agreed on how to reduce player compensation in the event of the permanent cancellation of the current regular season or playoff games because of the pandemic.The collective bargaining agreement between the NBA and NBPA stipulates that the compensation of all NBA roster players shall be reduced in the event of a "force majeure" event, such as an epidemic or government order, using a formula based on the number of games missed. —Hannah Miller

San Francisco Mayor London Breed announced a new health order Friday requiring city residents and workers to wear face coverings at essential businesses and on public transportation. The order goes into effect at 11:59 p.m. on Friday, but will not be enforced until April 22.

Transportation workers and other essential employees who interact with the public must also wear face coverings. Businesses are also required to take "reasonable steps" to bar entry and refuse service to those not wearing face coverings.

The new rule is supposed to help the city prepare for a future lifting of its current shelter-in-place policy and reduce transmission of the virus, according to the order. —Hannah Miller

Boeing is planning to resume production at its Philadelphia facility in Ridley Township on Monday after suspending operations for two weeks.

The company said it would stagger shifts and require employees to abide by new physical distancing measures in order to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

Boeing said Thursday that commercial aircraft production would resume at its Seattle-area factories as early as Monday. —Amanda Macias

Stocks surged after a report said a Gilead Sciences drug showed some effectiveness in treating the coronavirus, giving investors some hope there could be a treatment solution that helps the country reopen faster from the widespread shutdowns that have plunged the economy into a recession.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 704 points, or 3%. The S&P 500 traded 2.7% higher, while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.4%. —Fred Imbert

President Donald Trump urged Michigan, Minnesota and Virginia to "LIBERATE," compounding the pressure on state leaders to start loosening their strict social distancing measures amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The president's exhortations on Twitter came a day after the White House issued new federal guidelines on "reopening" the economy, providing states and regions with a broad pathway toward easing their restrictions on businesses and individual residents.

The tweets — which marked Trump's most aggressive calls yet for state economies to reopen — also echoed an increasing number of protests around the country, led mainly by his supporters, demanding governors change their social distancing rules. The three states Trump targeted have Democratic governors. —Kevin Breuninger

Billionaire philanthropist Tom Steyer, who launched an expensive unsuccessful presidential campaign, will co-chair a task force in California that will focus on getting the economy up and running again.

The panel, announced by Gov. Gavin Newsom, will be composed of more than 70 members including former Chair of the Federal Reserve Janet Yellen, Disney Executive Chairman Bob Iger and Apple CEO Tim Cook.

The task force's goal is to help Californian's recover as fast as possible from the economic calamity resulting from the coronavirus. The economic task force will meet twice a month through 2020. —Yasmin Khorram

The global death toll from the coronavirus pandemic crossed 150,000, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, just one week after hitting the 100,000 benchmark.

The U.S. leads the world in deaths, with at least 34,575. Italy continues to see high mortality rates, with more than 22,000 deaths. The death tolls in Spain and France are each approaching 20,000. 

The virus has infected more than 2.2 million globally in the roughly four months since it originated in China. —Sara Salinas

Retailers, restaurants and hotels — on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic — got a combined 18% of the $342 billion allocated as of Thursday under the a new federal government program to help small firms keep paying their employees during widespread shutdown, data from the agency running the program showed.

Construction firms — the single industry with the largest take, got about 13% of the total. In all the SBA had funded 1.66 million loans. Firms in Texas, California and New York together accounted for about 23% of all loans so far.

The data doesn't include the final $7 billion of money that has been allocated under the program. The Trump administration is negotiating with Congress over adding an additional $250 billion to the pot. —Reuters

Nissan Motor is extending the shutdown of its four U.S. manufacturing facilities until mid-May.

The Japanese automaker has moved the reopening of its plants several times as Covid-19 continues to spread across the U.S. The most recent plan kept the facilities closed through April. The plants have been down since March 20.

Nissan, in a release, said it "will continue to monitor the situation closely and make adjustments as needed."

The company employs more than 14,000 employees in the U.S., including 10,000 hourly manufacturing workers. —Michael Wayland

Walmart said it's reached its goal of hiring 150,000 people to keep up with demand for groceries, sewing machines, beard trimmers and other items during the pandemic. Now, it said it plans to hire 50,000 additional employees.

The retailer received over 1 million applications and has averaged 5,000 hires per day, Walmart's chief people officer Donna Morris said on the company's website. She said about 85% have been hired for temporary or part-time roles, but some will become permanent.

Walmart announced plans to grow its workforce in mid-March. To accelerate hiring, it shortened its hiring process from two weeks to 24 hours, allowed candidates to apply with a text message. The company worked with more than 70 companies to find workers displaced by furloughs in hard-hit industries, such as restaurants and hotels. —Melissa Repko

Biotech stocks surged after new details on a closely watched clinical trial lifted hopes that scientists may be close to a treatment for the coronavirus.

The IBB, an ETF that tracks biotech's biggest players, was up more than 3% after health-care publication STAT News revealed early impressions from one of Gilead Sciences' clinical trials for antiviral drug remdesivir. The University of Chicago found that patients with Covid-19 had "rapid recoveries in fever and respiratory symptoms" and were discharged in less than a week, according to STAT.

News that biotech firm Moderna received $483 million in federal funds for its vaccine development also boosted the sector higher.

While infectious disease experts caution against jumping to conclusions, saying the new details of the Gilead trial are purely anecdotal, retail investors are "hungry" for good news on the virus, analysts say. Those investors could be taking their hunger and channeling it into buying shares, they said. —Berkeley Lovelace Jr. 

For the first time in 50 years, San Diego Comic-Con has been canceled.

Organizers behind the annual event announced the pop culture celebration would no longer occur in July due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. The show will return in 2021.

Although not the largest comic convention in the U.S., San Diego Comic-Con, often called SDCC, is one of the most prestigious in the entertainment world. Here Hollywood unveils new projects, teases upcoming films and announces new cast members to hit shows and movie franchises. —Sarah Whitten

The World Health Organization issued a warning about coronavirus testing, saying there's no evidence serological tests can show whether a person has immunity or no longer at risk of becoming reinfected.

"These antibody tests will be able to measure that level of serology presence, that level of antibodies, but that does not mean that somebody with antibodies" are immune,  Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, head of WHO's emerging diseases and zoonosis unit, told reporters during a press conference at the agency's headquarters in Geneva.

So-called serological, or antibody, tests indicate whether a person has had Covid-19 in the past and was either asymptomatic or recovered.

Kerkhove said that WHO officials discovered many countries suggesting these tests would be able to "capture what they think will be a measure of immunity."

"Right now, we have no evidence that the use of a serological test can show that an individual is immune or protected from reinfection," she said. —Berkeley Lovelace Jr., Will Feuer

How prevalent is Covid-19?

It's a difficult question to answer, given the lack of available tests and the fact that some people who have been exposed to the virus exhibit mild symptoms or no symptoms at all. 

Two research groups, assisted by a team of volunteers, sought to get a better sense of the true prevalence in Santa Clara County in Northern California, which was one of the first places in the U.S. where community spread was detected. They tested 3,300 people by asking the volunteers to show up to one of three testing sites locally.

In a study published on Friday, the researchers, many of whom hailed from Stanford University, noted that the results suggest that Covid-19 could be far more widespread than the official counts suggest. —Christina Farr

The PGA Tour is looking to be the first major sport to return to action following the coronavirus outbreak, but there will be one key change when players return to the links for the June 8 Charles Schwab Challenge. There will be no spectators in the stands.

PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan appeared on CNBC's "Squawk Alley" to talk about golf's return and how the decision was made at a time when coronavirus has infected more than 2 million people around the globe. 

Monahan said the Tour didn't take the decision lightly and he and his team spent an inordinate amount of time thinking about the logistics of the return and getting feedback from their players.

"We've had over 10 conference calls, some lasting two hours, as we've thought about our resumption," Monahan said.

The discussions have included Jordan Spieth, Kevin Kisner, Charley Hoffman and about a dozen other players who sit on the Tour's policy boards. 

"Our players are eager to return, excited to inspire this country, but also know that in announcing the schedule, we are going to do so in a safe and responsible way," Monahan said. —Jessica Golden

Chris Myers applied for a forgivable loan from the federal government. He's running his business as if the additional lifeline may not be on its way..

"I'm just cobbling enough work together to try covering my studio rent and a little bit of incidentals," said the Baltimore-based photographer. Hospitals and colleges are his usual clients, and he's expanded into taking more freelance photojournalism work with local magazines.

"Hopefully, I don't beat up my bank account too much – 90% to 95% of business is gone right now, so I'm just keeping the lights on," Myers said.

Myers is among the millions of entrepreneurs who applied for a slice of the $349 billion Paycheck Protection Program or PPP. It's been five days since he's applied, and he's still not sure whether he'll receive funding. –Darla Mercado

Britain launched a task force to support efforts to make a coronavirus vaccine available to the public as quickly as possible.

The government said 21 new research projects would get funding from a 14 million pound investment pool "to rapidly progress treatments and vaccines."

The task force will include AstraZeneca and research charity the Wellcome Trust.

A million doses of a potential Covid-19 vaccine being developed by British scientists at Oxford University are already being manufactured, even before trials prove whether it is effective, the team said.

"UK scientists are working as fast as they can to find a vaccine that fights coronavirus, saving and protecting people's lives. We stand firmly behind them in their efforts," Business Minister Alok Sharma said. —Reuters

Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia told CNBC the federal government is helping states deal with the crush of Americans filing for unemployment insurance and the guidelines for paying out an additional federal coronavirus stipend.

On top of the jobless benefits provided by the states, last month's $2.2 trillion coronavirus rescue package passed by Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump allocated $600 per week from the federal government for up to four months.

"About two-thirds of the states are now making those payments," Scalia said. "We want to help them succeed in getting these payments out to workers." —Matthew J. Belvedere

Deaths from the Covid-19 epidemic in Italy rose by 575, up from 525 the day before, while the number of new cases declined slightly to 3,493 from a previous 3,786.

The daily tallies extend the broadly stable situation in place over the last 12 days.

This plateau is down considerably from peaks reached around the end of March, but the downtrend has not proceeded as was widely hoped in a country that has been in lockdown for almost six weeks.

The total death toll since the outbreak in Italy came to light on Feb. 21 rose to 22,745, the Civil Protection Agency said, the second-highest in the world after that of the United States.

The number of officially confirmed cases climbed to 172,434 the third-highest global tally, behind those of the United States and Spain. —Reuters

France said Friday there is no evidence of a link between the coronavirus and the work of the P4 research laboratory in the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the pandemic started.

"We would like to make it clear that there is to this day no factual evidence corroborating the information recently circulating in the United States press that establishes a link between the origins of Covid-19 and the work of the P4 laboratory of Wuhan, China," an official at President Emmanuel Macron's office said. —Reuters

New York is still struggling to contain the coronavirus outbreak across the state with 2,000 new hospitalizations a day, even as public officials make plans to gradually reopen parts of the economy for business, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said.

Governors across the nation are desperate to loosen restrictions and reopen businesses that were shuttered to help curb the outbreak that has killed more than 33,300 people in the U.S. since emerging from Wuhan, China less than four months ago.

"The situation we have now is unsustainable. People can't stay in their homes for this length of time, they can't stay out of work. You can't keep the economy closed forever. You just can't," Cuomo said. "Society can't handle it personally or economically. So now we're moving into another phase, which is this reopening phase." —Noah Higgins-Dunn, Will Feuer

More than 10 million people tuned in to watch celebrities sing along to iconic Disney songs Thursday night.

The "Disney Family Singalong," which was hosted by Ryan Seacrest and aired on ABC, featured videos of Beyonce, Ariana Grande, Darren Criss, Josh Groban, Josh Gad and more singing hit Disney tunes like "Gaston," "Be Our Guest" and "You've Got a Friend in Me."

Disney's singalong special is just one way that entertainment companies are altering their programming during the coronavirus outbreak. With more people unable to leave their homes due to social distancing measures, traditional television and film studios have had to be creative in order to deliver content.

Late-night shows have moved their shows into their own homes and utilized video messaging services to interview guests. —Sarah Whitten

To those who know him, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is built for this moment. 

It was a little more than a month ago that Silver struck first, suspending games due to the coronavirus pandemic and triggering a wave of shutdowns from other leagues just as U.S. cities began implementing stay-at-home orders.

Silver received praise for being the first commissioner to step up, showing responsibility and leadership when he shut down the National Basketball Association after Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for Covid-19.

The thing is, being first also carries expectations. And for Silver, who turns 58 this month, expectations are high as he oversees a league in the middle of a global crisis with no clear sign of recovery.

Across the nation, small businesses are suffering, millions have applied for unemployment benefits and the stock market has seen wild swings almost daily. Usually, the sports industry is relatively immune to economic turmoil, but the coronavirus changed that.

And there might not be a league in the world that will take a financial hit as big as the NBA, considering the events that served as a prelude. Before the pandemic forced Silver to suspend play as of March 11, the NBA lost two icons — Kobe Bryant and former commissioner David Stern — and the Houston Rockets general manager made a flub on Twitter that threatened the league's lucrative prospects in China. Few can doubt the NBA has endured a difficult 2019-2020 campaign.

"This is the ultimate case study for a sport," said Marty Conway, an adjunct professor at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business. —Jabari Young

While following stay-at-home orders due to the Covid-19 pandemic, everyone has reacted differently —some recommend increasing productivity, others say to focus on mental health or take time to organize your space.

And then there's the uncertainty of the job and financial markets.

But according to Sallie Krawcheck, co-founder and CEO of digital investment platform Ellevest, giving yourself an hour to "freak" each day is important.

"You've got to compartmentalize," Krawcheck said during a LinkedIn "Business Unusual" Q&A on Thursday. "What I would suggest you try to do is give yourself the time and the space to be nervous, uncertain and scared, and look at the news obsessively that you know you're not supposed to."

"You know, do all that stuff. Give yourself an hour a day, I'm just going to like, freak. Maybe if you had a psychologist on here, maybe they would say that isn't healthy, but I'm a business person," she said.

According to Lynn Bufka, clinical psychologist and senior director at the American Psychological Association, "you have to find your own way through this," even if that means taking time to "freak." —Taylor Locke

More than 2.9 million homeowners have taken advantage of a program designed to provide relief to holders of government-backed mortgages, part of the coronavirus CARES Act relief package.

This represents 5.5% of all active mortgages, according to Black Knight, a mortgage data and analytics company that is now tracking the growing numbers daily. 

The program allows borrowers to delay their monthly payments for a year. Those payments are then tacked on to the end of the loan, or paid back over time in a mortgage modification. Borrowers must tell their mortgage servicers that they have had financial hardship due to the coronavirus pandemic, but they do not have to provide any proof.

The 2.9 million loans in forbearance as of Thursday account for $651 billion in unpaid principal and include 4.9% of all government-sponsored enterprise loans (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) and 7.6% of all FHA/VA loans.

"In these times, it is essential to both our industry and for the benefit of the entire U.S. economy to have a clear understanding of the magnitude of the mortgage forbearance situation," said Black Knight CEO Anthony Jabbour. —Diana Olick

Procter & Gamble said Friday that the pandemic is spurring U.S. consumers to wash more loads of laundry every week, with more items of clothing being washed after being worn once. The Tide owner also said sales of its Swiffer and Mr. Clean products got a boost from consumers who are cleaning up more spills from home-cooked meals.

But not all of P&G's products are getting a boost from habits resulting from the crisis. P&G CFO and COO Jon Moeller said people are shaving less frequently compared to before the coronavirus crisis, which will hurt demand for its Gillette and Venus razors.

P&G reported Friday that U.S. sales surged 10% in the fiscal third quarter. —Amelia Lucas 

As many as 9.2 million workers are at risk of losing their employer-provided health insurance, according to the latest estimates from the Economic Policy Institute. 

To help fill that gap, telemedicine companies are offering check-ups and other services for free or at discounted rates. Honeybee Health found several telehealth companies offering discounted services, ranging from $15 to $89. 

CNBC Make It confirmed that seven telemedicine companies are offering completely free virtual doctor's visits for those affected by the coronavirus, although some restrictions do apply. We will continue to update if more providers offer free options. —Megan Leonhardt 

Vox Media will furlough 9% of its roughly 1,200 employees and reduce hours for another 1% until July 31 in an effort to curb costs, according to an internal e-mail. The actions are in response to a plunge in advertising revenue during coronavirus quarantines.

Vox Media, which owns digital media sites such as Vox.com, SBNation, Eater and New York Magazine, will also temporarily cut annual salaries above $130,000 from May 1 to July 31, Chief Executive Officer Jim Bankoff wrote in the e-mail, which CNBC has reviewed. —Alex Sherman 

St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard proposed what he sees as the best economic solution to the coronavirus crisis: Pay full costs for any firm that comes up with a test for the virus that can assure the public that it's safe to resume activity.

Doing so, he said Friday, would create a "gold rush" of testing that would help offset the steep damage already done by the economic shutdown.

"That would end the crisis," he said during a webinar presented by the Reinventing Bretton Woods Committee. —Jeff Cox 

New York City is canceling concerts, festivals and other all nonessential events through May and considering the same for June as the city seeks to drive down  coronavirus infection rates throughout the city, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Friday.

De Blasio said this means the Brooklyn Half Marathon and SummerStage in Central Park will be canceled. Such events, he said, go "against everything that we need to do to fight back the coronavirus." —William Feuer, Noah Higgins-Dunn