WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR)- The White House coronavirus task force will hold a briefing Friday on the country’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
President Donald Trump has attended the past briefings.
As of Friday morning, the U.S. has reported over 16,000 deaths related to the coronavirus, and more than 467,000 confirmed cases.
New York state has more coronavirus cases than any other country in the world, CNN reports.
The federal Health and Human Services Department says it’s releasing the first $30 billion in grants provided by the stimulus bill to help keep the U.S. health care system operating during the coronavirus outbreak, according to the Associated Press.
Congress provided $100 billion for the health care system in the $2 trillion stimulus bill.
Officials say the relief funds will go to hospitals and doctors through Medicare and will be based on their billings to the program last year. Hospitals are supposed to use some of the money to cover COVID-19 treatment for the uninsured, although an independent study earlier this week suggests it may not be enough.
Modeling from the University of Washington suggests a peak in the U.S. daily death toll Sunday, at 2,212 deaths from COVID-19 on Easter Sunday. That model accounts for social distancing in its projections, with a total death count projection just over 60,000.
The Associated Press and CNN Newsource contributed to this story
