 Welcome to Tuesday's Overnight Health Care. President Trump said he would halt funding for the World Health Organization and review how it handled the coronavirus response. The president also eased up on his claims that he has sole authority to decide when to reopen the nation's economy. Meanwhile, a new report from the CDC is showing the toll COVID-19 is putting on health workers. And in the U.S. the death toll from the outbreak surpassed 25,000. We'll start at the White House... Trump to halt WHO funding President Trump on Tuesday said his administration will halt funding to the World Health Organization (WHO) pending a review of the global body for what he described as its mismanagement of the coronavirus outbreak. Trump said at a White House briefing that the United States would suspend funding to the organization while officials conduct a review "to assess the World Health Organization's role in severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus." The president criticized the WHO for opposing large-scale travel restrictions and accused it of failing to quickly vet and share accurate information on COVID-19. "The WHO's attack on travel restrictions put political correctness above life-saving measures," Trump said in the Rose Garden. "The reality is that the WHO failed to adequately obtain, vet and share information in a timely and transparent fashion." Read more here. AMA blasts move: Tuesday's announcement immediately triggered backlash from the health community. The American Medical Association (AMA) swiftly issued a statement calling the move a "dangerous step in the wrong direction" and urging Trump to reconsider. "Fighting a global pandemic requires international cooperation and reliance on science and data. Cutting funding to the WHO – rather than focusing on solutions – is a dangerous move at a precarious moment for the world," the AMA said. Read more here. Related: GOP senators target WHO as part of coronavirus probe Trump eases back on asserting power on reopening President Trump on Tuesday said he would authorize the country's governors to reopen their individual economies as they see fit, a sharp reversal from a day earlier when he asserted he had "total" authority to dictate when to lift social distancing guidelines. Trump said he would speak in the coming days with all 50 governors to discuss how to reopen the economy, which has cratered due to the coronavirus pandemic. "I will be speaking to all 50 governors very shortly and I will then be authorizing each individual governor of each individual state to implement a reopening and a very powerful reopening plan of their state in a time and a manner as most appropriate," Trump said during a news conference in the White House Rose Garden. But Trump still expects some control: He acknowledged that some states would ready sooner than others. But Trump warned that the White House would stop states from opening too soon if they did not appear ready. Read more here. Why the change: The announcement amounted to a face-saving move for Trump, who was insistent a day earlier that he, not governors, would determine when Americans could go back to work, describing his authority as "total." But those remarks sparked criticism from governors across the country and from lawmakers in his own party. Related: Trump sparks GOP backlash with claim of 'total' power to reopen the country On The Trail: Governors rebuke Trump for claiming 'total' authority Draft Trump plan calls for 'phased reopening' A draft Trump administration plan for reopening the U.S. economy calls for a "phased re-opening" that varies across locations depending on local conditions. The Washington Post obtained the draft executive summary of the plan, which it reported had been worked on by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). While no plan has been finalized or announced, the draft plan calls for a step-by-step reopening of the country, and says officials should be ready to retighten social distancing measures if conditions worsen. More details on the plan here. California, Oregon outline plans for reopening state economies California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and Oregon Gov. Kate Brown (D) on Tuesday laid out respective plans for opening nonessential businesses and restarting public life in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic. Spoiler alert: it's not going to happen quickly. During their respective press conferences, both governors mixed optimism for the future with the realism of the present. Neither said they would rush into it. In California, Newsom said the state's decision to modify its stay-at-home order and reopen the economy will be based on six factors, including the ability to widely test and trace people who have been exposed to the coronavirus. In Oregon, Brown offered a similar framework for slowing the growth of new COVID-19 cases based on a robust public health infrastructure and adequate personal protective equipment for health care workers and first responders. Contrast with Trump: President Trump has been feeling pressure from outside conservatives and his economic advisers to "open up" the country by May 1. Social distancing measures have been working to lessen the worst possible outcome from the virus, and Trump may think that's enough evidence that everything has worked perfectly, and we can stop. He wants to have a positive economic message to run on for re-election. Read more here. Related: California governor dismisses sporting events, mass gatherings as unlikely without vaccine Abortion-rights groups seek to block Tennessee, Louisiana bans on surgical abortions during coronavirus crisis Abortion-rights groups on Tuesday asked federal courts to block statewide bans on surgical abortions in Louisiana and Tennessee during the coronavirus pandemic. The lawsuits, brought by Planned Parenthood, the Center for Reproductive Rights and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on behalf of abortion clinics in Tennessee and Louisiana, challenge abortion bans that state officials implemented to preserve medical resources for the coronavirus response. "All signs indicate that this crisis will not be over soon, and patients cannot wait until it is. Leading medical experts have been clear that COVID-19 responses should not ban abortion care," said Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights. Context: Abortion rights groups have filed lawsuits in five other states, with temporary restraining orders granted in Alabama, Ohio and Oklahoma. A ban on medication and surgical abortions in Texas -- part of the governor's emergency order postponing elective procedures -- has been the subject of fast-moving litigation in recent weeks; The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed its ruling in Texas Monday, allowing medication abortion to continue in the state. However, most surgical abortions are still banned in the state under Texas' emergency order on elective surgeries. Advocates also filed a lawsuit a lawsuit against a similar emergency ban in Arkansas this week. Read more here. More state news: DC mayor says coronavirus cases could peak earlier than expected Connecticut governor: no restrictions lifted before May 20th US virus death toll passes 25,000 The coronavirus death toll in the U.S. surpassed 25,000 people on Tuesday, according to the count by Johns Hopkins University. As of Tuesday afternoon, the U.S. has reported 598,670 cases and 25,239 deaths. The milestone comes as the federal government begins to consider the process of reopening the country and scaling back social distancing guidelines. Read more here. Related: Multiple states see deadliest day since beginning of coronavirus outbreak Fauci: 'We're not there yet' on system to safely reopen economy Anthony Fauci on Tuesday said that the country does not yet have the system it needs in place to be able to start reopening the economy safely. Experts say that in order to ease up on blunt measures to curb the coronavirus pandemic like stay-at-home orders, the United States needs to have a much higher testing capacity and the ability to trace who infected people have been in contact with so they can be isolated as well. Those capabilities are not fully in place yet, Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told The Associated Press in an interview Tuesday. "We have to have something in place that is efficient and that we can rely on, and we're not there yet," he said. Read more here. And more from Fauci: Fauci says daily press briefings are important but 'really draining' CDC: More than 9,000 health workers have tested positive for coronavirus At least 9,282 health care workers in the U.S. have contracted the coronavirus in a two-month period, leading to 27 deaths, according to a report released Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The report offered the first broad look at how COVID-19 is affecting the health of doctors, nurses and other medical professionals who are at greater risk of getting the virus because of their exposure to patients. However, the CDC said the figures in the report should be considered on the lower end since many cases have likely gone "unidentified or unreported." Between Feb. 12 and April 9, there were 315,531 coronavirus cases reported to the CDC, but 84 percent of those were missing information about whether the patient was a health care worker. States report data to the CDC on a voluntary basis, often leading to wide gaps in the figures. Why it matters: Hospitals around the country are facing shortages of critical protective gear as the supply chain is strained by the pandemic. A report from the Department of Health and Human Services inspector general released last week found "severe" shortages of COVID-19 tests for health workers and "widespread" shortfalls of protective equipment. The CDC report didn't say workers were getting sick because they didn't have the necessary gear, but it did note the importance of ensuring they are properly equipped. It also noted that more than half of cases among health workers came from exposure to COVID-19 patients. Red more here. Labs push back on White House testing claims citing lack of critical supplies Academic medical labs pushed back Tuesday on the Trump administration's assertion that they are under-utilizing COVID-19 testing equipment that could help increase the country's diagnostic testing capacity. The message from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC): It's not as simple as turning on a machine that's just sitting there unused. The machines aren't being run because there aren't enough of the critical supplies needed to run them. What they need: Reagents, swabs, personal protective equipment and specialized testing kits designed by companies to be used with their own machines are all in short supply. White House view: During White House briefings, Birx has repeatedly mentioned a test manufactured by Abbot that runs on the m2000 machine. Those machines are mostly found in hospitals and academic medical centers. On Monday, Birx said Abbot sent a million tests to labs across the country, but only 250,000 have been used in three-weeks worth of work, and that 75 percent of the machines were not being used. On the ground: Many labs only have one machine, and under perfect circumstances with adequate testing supplies, those machines can run 470 tests per day, and get results in about 6 hours. And at times, either the federal government or other labs have been given priority on getting the materials from the manufacturer. Read more here. More from the administration: Trump announces new initiative for hospitals to lend unused ventilators to areas of need Trump meets with recovered coronavirus patients Barr says government may not impose special restrictions on religious gatherings Trump to share guidelines on reopening economy this week, Kudlow says COVID-19 fatality rates vary widely, leaving questions for scientists The COVID-19 outbreak that has infected more than half a million Americans is killing people or causing them to become seriously ill at vastly different rates in different states, baffling scientists who are still learning about the coronavirus that causes the illness. The virus so far has killed at least 23,529 people in the United States, a case fatality rate of just over 4 percent. But the true mortality rate of COVID-19 is almost certainly much lower. Studies have shown that many infected with the virus show no symptoms, or nothing worse than a common cold, suggesting that the actual number of people who have contracted the virus is much larger than the 579,390 who had tested positive as of Tuesday morning. Where do we stand: The United States is trending better than the global average case fatality rate, according to data compiled by the European Centers for Disease Control. But the U.S. is faring worse than places like Germany and South Korea, where aggressive testing regimes have identified more people with the coronavirus -- and therefore, more people who show few if any symptoms and are most likely to recover. Read more here. More in The Hill: Food supply worries grow after outbreak closes Smithfield meat plant Health insurers warn of higher premiums without coronavirus help Many employees on Capitol Hill now required to wear masks Senate delays expected return until May Democrats offer bill to help unemployed stay on employer-based insurance What we're reading Study sees need for some social distancing into 2022 to curb coronavirus (STAT) Lesson from Singapore: why we may need to think bigger (The New York Times) Rural hospitals shut out of stimulus loans face financial crisis (Politico) Pediatric practices struggle to adapt and survive amid COVID-19 (Kaiser Health News) State by state COVID-19 checkpoints targeting out-of-state residents draw complaints and legal scrutiny (Washington Post) Massachusetts recruits 1,000 'contact tracers' to battle COVID-19 (WBUR) Is marijuana essential? Recreational firms tussle with Baker in court (Boston Globe) Amid pandemic, Newsom faces scrutiny over $1B face-mask deal (CalMatters) | 
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