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2:40 p.m.: Florida closes all bars, limits beach access

All bars and nightclubs in Florida will close for the next 30 days, but unlike other states, Florida will keep restaurants open.

Florida restaurants must limit access to 50% capacity and stagger seating to keep customers at least 6 feet apart, according to an executive order issued by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

The governor is directing residents to follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance by limiting their gatherings to no more than 10 persons.

1:30 p.m.: Italy's death toll reaches 2,500

At least 345 Italians have died from COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, bringing the death toll to 2,503, according to Italy's Civil Protection Agency.

Italy has the second-highest number of fatalities from coronavirus, following China.

Italy has been on lockdown now with a total of 31,506 confirmed cases.

\"PHOTO:
Angelo Carconi/EPA via Shutterstock
PHOTO: A view of the empty Piazza del Popolo square during the emergency blockade of Coronavirus in Rome, March 17, 2020. Italy now has more than 27,000 covid-19 cases, 2,158 are dead and 2,749 are recovered.
>

12:25 p.m.: White House looking to send cash directly to Americans

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the administration is looking at sending checks directly to American households that are hurting – possibly within the next two weeks.

\"The president has instructed me, we have to do this now. This is now,\" Mnuchin said at a White House briefing Tuesday.

Mncuhin also said there's every intention to keep the markets open, though he floated the possibility of shortening market operating hours if that was deemed necessary.

\"Americans should know that we are going to do everything to make sure that they have access to money to their banks, to the money in their 401k, and to the money in stocks,” he said.

\"After Sept. 11, the only reason why the markets were [closed] was because the technology was disrupted,\" he said, explaining there are no such problems in this moment of crisis.

\"PHOTO:
Octavio Jones/AP, FILE
PHOTO: Carmine's Ybor restaurant is closed early due to the coronavirus pandemic keeping patrons away in the Ybor City neighborhood in Tampa, Fla., March 16, 2020.
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President Donald Trump wouldn't get into too many details about a possible stimulus plan but emphasized that the government is \"going big.\"

Referring to the virus as an \"invisible enemy,\" the president expressed resolve to prop up the economy as needed.

“We don’t want airlines going out of business, we don’t want people losing their jobs and not having money to live when they were doing well four weeks ago,” Trump said.

12:01 p.m.: Law enforcement scales back across US

Law enforcement agencies across the U.S. are curtailing low-level operations in the face of the coronavirus outbreak.

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Mike Segar/Reuters
PHOTO: New York State Police Troopers are fitted for N95 protective masks at a New York State emergency operations incident command center during the coronavirus outbreak in New Rochelle, N.Y., March 17, 2020.
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Some agencies are limiting police runs to only violent or serious incidents and are opting to handle other reports via citations, phone calls or online reports. The measures are designed to cut back on person-to-person contact, like the number of people going through police stations and jails.

In Chicago, police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi told ABC News \"that certain crimes can be handled via citation and misdemeanor summons as opposed to physical arrest.\"

In Tulsa, Oklahoma, police told residents that if they \"need to make a police report and there is no suspect present, please consider using our online reporting system.\"

In Brooklyn, New York, prosecutors said they'll \"immediately decline to prosecute low-level offenses that don’t jeopardize public safety.”

11:17 a.m.: 8th TSA officer tests positive

A TSA officer at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport has tested positive for COVID-19.

The officer's last work day was March 17, the agency said.

This marks the 8th TSA officer to test positive for COVID-19. The other cases are in California, Florida and Georgia.

With the coronavirus outbreak, the TSA has screened 5 million fewer people in the first two weeks of March 2020 compared to 2019.

The airline industry has \"ground to a halt,\" Mnuchin said Tuesday, calling coronavirus \"worse than 9/11\" for airlines.

\"PHOTO:
Tyrone Siu/Reuters
PHOTO: Passengers wear protective suits, amid the outbreak of coronavirus, at Hong Kong International Airport, Hong Kong, China March 17, 2020.
>

Spending on travel in the U.S. is expected to fall by $355 billion for the year, which is six times the impact of Sept. 11, according to an analysis released Tuesday by the U.S. Travel Association.

10:55 a.m.: New York governor preaches kindness in time of 'chaos'

In New York state -- home to 19.5 million people -- all schools are closed for two weeks.

Restaurants in the state are restricted to only takeout and delivery. Bars and gyms are also shuttered, and more closings statewide could help continue to flatten the curve, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday.

Twelve people have died in New York state. The state has 1,374 cases of coronavirus.

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Brendan McDermid/Reuters
PHOTO: A man walks through a nearly empty Times Square - 42nd St. subway station during the morning rush in New York City, March 16, 2020.
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Cuomo said he's worried the rising number of cases will crash the health care system, noting the 19% hospitalization rate among those infected.

\"We have to get down that rate of spread,\" he said. \"We cannot accommodate the numbers that demand on the hospital system.\"

Cuomo said the state is working to create more space in hospitals and temporarily build other facilities to house the sick.

The governor then got personal, opening up at his news conference about how difficult it is to not see and hug his own daughter during this time of \"chaos.\"

\"It is a hard time on every level,\" he said. \"It is a frightening time on every level.\"

\"PHOTO:
Mark Lennihan/AP
PHOTO: Subway passengers space out their seating during a during rush hour on a subway, March 17, 2020 in New York City. The subway is normally crowded but many people are staying home out of concern for the spread of coronavirus.
>

He urged New Yorkers to \"be a little bit more loving, a little bit more compassionate, a little bit more comforting, a little bit more cooperative. And we will get through this time.\"

\"We will lose people, yes. Like we lose people every year with the flu,\" Cuomo said. \"We're gonna be challenged and tested.\"

Cuomo also stressed that the federal government needs to do more. \"We cannot do this on our own,\" he said.

9:34 a.m.: San Francisco Bay Area residents shelter in place

Six counties in the San Francisco Bay Area are moving forward with isolation procedures, ordering residents to shelter in place for non-essential activities.

\"PHOTO:
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
PHOTO: Two pedestrians cross an empty street, on March 16, 2020 in San Francisco.
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\"PHOTO:
Stephen Lam/Reuters
PHOTO: An empty tapioca milk tea store is seen on Irving Street prior to the citywide shelter in place order, amid the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, in San Francisco.
>

At least 11 people have died from coronavirus in California.

Gov. Gavin Newsom is closing all dine-in restaurants, health clubs and gyms in the Golden State. Newsom also told residents they should stop gathering in groups entirely for the foreseeable future.

This is what panic looks like inside a #SiliconValley supermarket after shoppers wiped it out following the #bayarealockdown shelter-in-place announcement. Stay safe, friends. pic.twitter.com/TTRtblmgww

— Chris Nguyen (@ChrisNguyenABC7) March 17, 2020

Now THIS is how we form a line at a grocery store. 🙌🏽 @BiRiteSF #SocialDistancing pic.twitter.com/doeYuekNOK

— Reggie Aqui (@reggieaqui) March 17, 2020

8:10 a.m.: Millennials must protect older generations, says Dr. Birx

White House coronavirus response coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx stressed that \"the army of millennials\" must be taking \"every single precaution to protect their parents and grandparents.\"

\"PHOTO:
Eduardo Munoz/Reuters
PHOTO: Empty chairs are seen at the deck of a local restaurant that is closed due to the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Hoboken, N.J., March 16, 2020.
>

\"If you look at every large city across America at the census bar graph, you'll see that in every single case the largest numbers, about 22% in many cities, are millennials,\" Birx said Tuesday in an interview with \"Good Morning America.\"

She went on, \"The millennials are incredibly good about getting information out in a clear way, but more importantly, they are incredibly good about understanding how to protect one another, how to protect their parents and how to protect their grandparents. Right now we need the army of millennials out there doing everything that they can to protect themselves from getting infected because we know a lot of their cases will be mild or asymptomatic, and making sure that they're doing every single precaution to protect their parents and grandparents.\"

\"PHOTO:
Yana Paskova/Reuters
PHOTO: Hand sanitizer is seen inside Darrell's Diner amidst coronavirus-related event cancellations in The Villages, Fla., ahead of the upcoming Democratic primary, March 14, 2020.
>

Dr. Birx also compared the new pandemic to the fight against HIV/AIDS.

\"We know a lot more than we knew in the early days of HIV,\" she said. \"It was really inspiring to me to watch people who were sick themselves going to the street not because it was going to help them but because it would help the group coming behind them. They were already too ill. I guess that's what I'm asking every American to do now, to do whatever they can to help the Americans ahead of them, to make sure they don't get infected.\"

6:16 a.m.: Iran's coronavirus death toll climbs to 988

Iran says COVID-19 has killed 135 more people, a 13% spike that has raised the death toll to 988. Iran has over 16,000 total coronavirus cases.

What to know about coronavirus:

6:04 a.m.: France goes into lockdown

French President Emmanuel Macron announced that the borders at the entrance to the EU and the Schengen area are closed beginning Tuesday at noon.

All trips between non-European and European countries will be suspended for 30 days, but French nationals will be allowed to return to France.

\"We are at war,\" Macron said in his televised address Monday.

\"Outdoor gatherings, family or friendly gatherings will no longer be allowed, meeting friends in the park, family, in the street will not be possible\" he added in his address to the nation, advising French people to \"read,\" \"find a sense of the essential\" and \"the meaning of things.\"

Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said all pedestrians, commuters, passengers and drivers must be able to justify their trips with a downloadable document that includes a reason.

\"Stay at home,\" Castaner said. \"These are confinement measures along the lines of our Italian and Spanish neighbors.\"

The penalty for infraction to these rules will be a 38 euro ($42 U.S.) fine, which will be quickly raised to 135 euros.

Exceptions are made for when trips are essential, such as seeking health care or helping a dependent relative. Other exceptions include exercising or walking one's dog.

5:00 a.m.: Russia mobilizes to shield economy from impact of coronavirus

With a total of 93 recorded cases so far, Russia’s government is moving to prepare a broad spectrum of measures to try to shield the country’s economy from the impact of the coronavirus outbreak.

In addition to a $4 billion support fund, the state will also increase state guarantees for some companies by enlarging the list of firms deemed strategically important. It is looking at delaying tax payments, as well as penalties for businesses, as well as short-term loans. The Russian rouble currency has strengthened in response to some of the announcements.

Russia’s foreign ministry has also called on the U.S. to lift sanctions on Iran that it says are preventing it from combating the coronavirus outbreak effectively.

Iran has recently said it is suffering from a shortage of key medical equipment and medicines needed due to the sanctions imposed as part of the U.S.' \"maximum pressure\" campaign.

Russia’s foreign ministry has accused the U.S. of putting millions of Iranians at risk and called on it to lift them immediately and end its \"inhuman policy.\"

ABC News' Brian Hartman, Mike Levine, Aaron Katersky, Josh Margolin, Jordyn Phelps, Mina Kaji and Will Gretsky contributed to this report.==

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