By Jeff Overley

Law360 (April 23, 2020, 10:52 PM EDT) -- Federal regulators on Thursday gave hospitals more time to apply for $10 billion in coronavirus relief funding, New York's governor announced that infections may be far more widespread than currently known, and the Trump administration said that summer weather may ease the devastating COVID-19 pandemic.

The developments occurred against the backdrop of a nationwide death toll that late Thursday was nearly at 50,000, according to Johns Hopkins University, which is counting 5,000 deaths in New York City that local officials have deemed probable albeit unconfirmed.

Here are four key developments to know.

HHS Extends Deadline on $10B Provider Fund

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services late Thursday pushed back the deadline for hospitals in the nation's hardest hit areas to seek cash from a special $10 billion pool. The new deadline is 3 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Saturday, compared to the previous deadline of midnight Pacific Standard Time on Thursday.

"The decision to extend the deadline was made in consultation with hospitals and hospital associations, and the extension will not delay the start of the distribution of these funds to high-impact areas, starting next week," HHS said in a statement.

The $10 billion comes from a $100 billion pot of rescue dollars for providers that Congress included in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, known as the CARES Act. HHS on Wednesday detailed its allocation plans for much of the money; hospitals have already received emails about the information they must submit to obtain shares of the $10 billion, according to the department.

The $100 billion will be supplemented by an extra $75 billion for health care in a new, half-trillion-dollar relief package that was poised to become law late Thursday.

Bigger Case Count Possible in NY

During a Thursday briefing, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo reported that testing of 3,000 Empire State residents found coronavirus antibodies — an indicator of past infection — in nearly 14% of participants.

Extrapolated to the state's population of 19.5 million people, that could indicate that infections have occurred in 2.7 million New Yorkers — about 10 times the confirmed case count, which late Thursday stood at nearly 265,000.

Cuomo cautioned that the numbers were preliminary, and he noted that they were obtained from people at grocery stores and other retail venues, as opposed to people who have avoided leaving home at all.

"The sample was, by definition, people who were outside the home, so we have to analyze that," the governor said. "What does that do to the numbers?"

The White House's coronavirus task force has expressed hope that antibody tests will identify individuals who were infected with the coronavirus but didn't develop symptoms and may now have immunity, allowing them to rejoin the workforce.

But the task force has also noted that antibody tests have proved unreliable in some other countries, generating false positives and false negatives. An official at the New York City Department of Health, in a letter that was posted online this week, also cautioned against the reliability of antibody tests.

If New York's antibody tests prove to be relatively accurate and the test's results prove to be representative, it would suggest that COVID-19 isn't as deadly as currently believed, although likely still much more lethal than the seasonal flu.

Almost 16,000 confirmed fatalities have occurred in New York. That number doesn't include the 5,000 presumed deaths in New York City, which has more than 10,000 official fatalities.

Trump Admin. Says Summer Could Tame Virus

At the White House's nightly COVID-19 briefing, officials announced that preliminary, unconfirmed studies suggest that the novel coronavirus is susceptible to sunlight, heat and humidity. That raised the prospect that COVID-19 could wane during the summer months, buying the nation time to fortify itself for a possible resurgence in the fall or winter.

"Our most striking observation to date is the powerful effect that solar light appears to have on killing the virus," William N. Bryan, a high-ranking scientific officer at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, told reporters Thursday. "We've seen a similar effect with both temperature and humidity as well, where increasing the temperature or humidity or both is generally less favorable to the virus."

Bryan acknowledged that the coronavirus has found a foothold in warmer areas, including New Orleans and Miami. He also cautioned that rising mercury in July and August wouldn't eliminate the need for social distancing.

"It would irresponsible for us to say that we feel that the summer is just going to totally kill the virus," Bryan said. "That is not the case."

The expressions of optimism came on the heels of disappointing news from researchers this week who reported that COVID-19 patients treated with the drug hydroxychloroquine died at a significantly higher rate than patients who didn't use it.

President Donald Trump, who repeatedly touted hydroxychloroquine despite known safety risks and a lack of proven benefits for COVID-19, on Thursday night told reporters that he hadn't viewed the hydroxychloroquine study, which has been widely shared online since Tuesday.

"I have not seen it," Trump said.

The president also batted away questions Thursday night about Dr. Rick Bright, an HHS official who this week said he experienced workplace retaliation because he opposed widespread use of hydroxychloroquine. Trump replied, "Next question."

Political Tensions Start Creeping In

The coronavirus crisis has brought members of Congress together to pass several large relief bills with overwhelming bipartisan majorities, and the comity and quick action could be boosting public opinion of Congress. Polls aggregated by RealClearPolitics show average approval at 29% — the highest level in about a decade.

But there were signs Thursday of mounting political friction, much of it centered on whether Congress should send billions of dollars in financial relief to states that have seen their budgets decimated by a widespread freeze on business activity.

At his Thursday news briefing, Cuomo, a Democrat, eviscerated Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., for suggesting this week that states should seek bankruptcy protection instead of asking Uncle Sam for help.

"If there was ever a time to stop your … obsessive political bias and anger — which is what it's morphed into, just a political anger — now is the time," Cuomo said in remarks directed at McConnell.

COVID-19 has disproportionately affected left-leaning states with large urban populations. McConnell has described financial relief for states as "blue state bailouts" and suggested that their dire financial straits stem from overly generous public pensions.

Cuomo fired back Thursday by asserting that New York sends $116 billion more to the U.S. treasury on an annual basis than it receives, while Kentucky receives $148 billion more than it contributes. The numbers could not immediately be verified.

"Sen. McConnell, who's getting bailed out here?" Cuomo asked.

Representatives of McConnell did not respond to requests for comment.

Trump was asked about the fracas, and he offered some support for McConnell's view, singling out Illinois and contending that the state had "a lot of problems long before the virus came in."

"It is interesting," the president added, "that the states that are in trouble do happen to be blue."

--Editing by Emily Kokoll.

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