White House asks everyone who left NYC area to self-quarantine for coronavirus; Trump pushes to ease restrictions by mid-April against expert advice

California will stop transferring inmates or accepting new ones in state prisons for the next 30 days, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said Tuesday evening.

The state’s prison system — one of the largest in the country — reported on Sunday that an inmate tested positive for the novel coronavirus, spurring already heightened fears that an outbreak could spread among an especially vulnerable population. Five employees across four other facilities also tested positive.

With inmates sharing small cells, going into crowded day rooms and sleeping just feet away from toilets, public health officials have worried that prisons are ripe for spreading the virus. At least 21 inmates in New York City jails have tested positive for the coronavirus, including some at the Rikers Island lockup.

Newsom’s order will affect California’s 35 state prisons and four youth correctional facilities. Any inmates who have not been taken to prison will remain in county custody, presumably in jails.

He also ordered state officials to conduct all scheduled parole hearings by video for 60 days, starting on April 13. That directive allows these in-person proceedings — which involve a long list of people, including lawyers, inmates, families and state employees — to be go ahead remotely.

The Justice Department’s second-highest ranking official on Tuesday told federal law enforcement officials across the country that they should consider using terrorism laws to investigate and prosecute those who try to intentionally infect others with covid-19.

The guidance came in a memorandum from Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey A. Rosen, addressing the many potential crimes prosecutors might encounter in the wake of the global pandemic. Rosen wrote that among the wrongdoing officials might see is “the purposeful exposure and infection of others with COVID-19.”

“Because coronavirus appears to meet the statutory definition of a ‘biological agent’ "under federal law, Rosen wrote, “such acts potentially could implicate the Nation’s terrorism-related statutes.” He cited particular laws governing the development and possession of biological agents for use as a weapon, threats by wire and mail, and false information and hoaxes regarding biological weapons.

"Threats or attempts to use covid-19 as a weapon against Americans will not be tolerated,” Rosen wrote.

The guidance, thus far, appears to be theoretical. So far, the only coronavirus-related case the Justice Department has brought is a civil lawsuit against a website claiming to distribute coronavirus vaccines, which do not exist. Rosen’s memo also seemed to address a wide array of potential crimes stemming from the pandemic, ranging from people selling fake cures to businesses hoarding medical supplies in a way that might break the law.

The Los Angeles County sheriff said Tuesday that gun shops are not following public health precautions and have remained open because of a “loophole” in the county’s orders.

“We’ve received complaints from particular businesses who have not been adhering to the social distancing,” Sheriff Alex Villanueva said Tuesday during a news conference. “Chief among them have been gun shops, nightclubs, bars and strip clubs.”

While the loophole allowing shops in the county to remain open is sorted out, Villanueva said people shouldn’t be “panic gun buying and rushing to stores, which is what we are seeing.”

Gun stores have closed elsewhere in California, as well as in Virginia, New Jersey and New York, which didn’t include gun stores among the essential businesses that can stay open, such as grocery stores, pharmacies and gas stations.

Pennsylvania had also closed down firearm dealers. However, after Pennsylvania Supreme Court justices narrowly dismissed a lawsuit filed by a gun shop that challenged the authority of Gov. Tom Wolf (D) to close businesses determined to be “non-life-sustaining,” Wolf has “allowed gun shops to reopen on a limited basis,” the Associated Press reported Tuesday night.

Wolf’s office did not announce the policy change, but an updated list of restrictions on businesses listed firearms dealers as not able to continue physical operations, except for noted exceptions like only being able to sell by individual appointment and sanitizing.

Second Amendment proponents argue access to guns, especially during a crisis, is essential.

At Salt Lake City International Airport, huge groups of people regularly crowd around arrival gates, awaiting family members returning from lengthy mission trips around the country and abroad.

But some members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints faced criticism this week after throngs of people violated social distancing guidelines and gathered at the airport to welcome home missionaries whose trips were cut short by the coronavirus pandemic.

Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox tweeted that he was “really disappointed in the behavior we saw from missionary families” at the airport. “I get it, I’ve been there (and still have a child serving), but this is unacceptable,” he wrote. “In a time of shared sacrifice, we must do better to save lives."

Gov. Gary R. Herbert tweeted that only missionaries’ parents should meet them at the airport and that they should “not be met by groups of family or friends.”

“Large welcome parties are dangerous and could greatly increase the spread of coronavirus in our state,” he wrote.

Missionary work is a rite of passage for many young Mormons. The church, which is based in Salt Lake City, said in a statement that “substantial numbers of missionaries will likely need to be returned to their home nations” amid the coronavirus outbreak. Missionaries returning home are being asked to self-isolate for 14 days.

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RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro called for an end to mass isolation, criticized school closings and said the country must return to normalcy in an extraordinary Tuesday evening address that is sure to further inflame a country already bitterly divided over his response to the coronavirus crisis.

Calling the disease covid-19 a “little flu” and a “little cold,” he alleged politicians and the media had recklessly incited panic — even as the number of coronavirus cases in Brazil skyrocketed in recent days, reaching more than 2,200 cases and 46 deaths on Tuesday night.

“Most of the media has been countervailing,” he said. “They spread the sensation of dread, having as the flagship the high number of victims in Italy. The perfect scenario to be used by the media to spread hysteria throughout the country.”

Almost since the beginning of the coronavirus crisis, Bolsonaro has sought to minimize the scope and lethality of the disease. He has called it a “fantasy” and lamented the “hysteria” surrounding it. He has repeatedly criticized the governors in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro for moving to stem the outbreak by closing malls, churches and schools and banning large gatherings.

Now, as the number of cases rise in Brazil — Latin America’s epicenter of the outbreak — public opposition is building against his laissez-faire handling of the crisis. Only 35 percent of the population, according to recent polling, think he is doing either a good or great job managing the public-health emergency.

Every night, people in the biggest cities are clanging pots from their windows — called panelaços — in protests of his governance. Even as Bolsonaro spoke Tuesday evening, the panelaços could be heard ringing in the cities.

Students returned to Liberty University after spring break this week, even as colleges and universities across the country have sent students home to try to slow the spread of covid-19.

Earlier this month, Jerry Falwell Jr., the school’s president, said on Fox News that people were overreacting to the coronavirus pandemic and that the campus would open as usual this week. A few days later, after Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) banned gatherings of 100 people or more, Falwell reversed course and said most classes would be conducted online.

Concerned about Liberty University’s move, the governor directed his chief of staff to call Falwell on Tuesday, according to Northam spokeswoman Alena Yarmosky. She confirmed that the two spoke but did not indicate that the issue had been resolved.

“All Virginia colleges and universities have a responsibility to comply with public health directions and protect the safety of their students, faculty and larger communities,” Yarmosky said. “Liberty University is no exception.”

Some colleges with international students or homeless students don’t have the option of telling them to leave campus, the staffer said. But those student populations are relatively small, so social distancing can be maintained.

In an interview with The Washington Post on Tuesday, Falwell said Liberty is “abiding by the letter of the law.” He said he told the governor’s chief of staff that what Liberty was doing was no different from what other schools were doing.

“But we’re Liberty,” Falwell said, “so we get picked on.”

Falwell said the university is taking precautions in consultation with health experts, including switching to online instruction for most classes, cleaning surfaces hourly and serving meals as takeout only. Signs on chairs remind people not to sit too close together, he said, and students are using only every third computer in the computer center. The fitness center was limited to 10 people at a time, he said, but the school planned to close it Tuesday night.

Falwell said 1,000 to 2,000 students were on campus this week, including those renting apartments in town. “I’m guessing,” he said. “We really don’t know.”

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Deborah Birx, the response coordinator for the White House coronavirus task force, said Tuesday that a surge in cases on Long Island suggests people fleeing New York City are infecting others.

Long Island executives reported about 5,000 total cases -- almost 3,000 in Nassau County and close to 2,000 in Suffolk County, which covers the eastern two-thirds of the island, including the tony Hamptons. The two jurisdictions have a combined population of around 3 million.

Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone reported 422 new cases and four deaths Tuesday. It was the sixth consecutive day of virus-related deaths, he said.

Nassau County Executive Laura Curran said there were more than 400 new cases Tuesday and one death. Since the outbreak began, 10 have died.

“Right now, we are in a crisis period that we need to do everything we can to prevent a system overload,” Bellone said in a Facebook video.

People leaving the New York metro area should self-quarantine for 14 days, Brix said.

“Everyone who has left New York over the last few days, because of the rate of the number of cases, you may have been exposed before you left New York,” she said. “No matter where they have gone, whether it’s Florida, North Carolina or out to far reaches of Long Island. We are starting to see new cases across Long Island that suggest people have left the city.”

In anticipation of a worsening novel coronavirus outbreak in New York City correctional facilities, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced plans Tuesday to release select inmates from jail, including about 300 Rikers Island inmates who have less than one year left to serve and committed low-level offenses.

The city had already released 75 inmates but was working to identify inmates who shouldn’t be incarcerated during the pandemic, which de Blasio defined as anyone over 70 or who have preexisting conditions including asthma, diabetes or heart disease.

“No one over 70, no one with one of those five preexisting conditions should be in our jail system right now,” de Blasio said during a news conference. “We have to work through some intense, complicated legal issues, case by case.”

De Blasio said the legal procedure varies but that offenders could mostly be released either by him or by the state or a district attorney. He won’t release inmates serving time for domestic violence or sexual assault, he said.

At least 17 corrections staff members and 21 inmates have tested positive for the virus as of Saturday, according to Jacqueline Sherman, the interim chair of the Board of Corrections, the independent oversight agency for the city’s jails.

After transferring out of the Rikers Island jail complex, 68-year-old former film producer Harvey Weinstein tested positive for the coronavirus at a state prison near Buffalo on Monday.

“It is likely these people have been in hundreds of housing areas and common areas over recent weeks and have been in close contact with many other people in custody and staff,” Sherman wrote in a letter. “Given the nature of jails (e.g. dense housing areas and structural barriers to social distancing, hygiene, and sanitation), the number of patients diagnosed with COVID-19 is certain to rise exponentially.”