The IRS will start issuing electronic coronavirus stimulus payments to Americans beginning April 9, but the agency won't begin issuing paper checks until April 24, in today's bite-sized hospital and health industry news from the District of Columbia, Nevada, and New York.
- District of Columbia: In accordance with the recently enacted $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus law, the IRS will start issuing electronic payments to Americans beginning April 9, according to a plan circulated throughout the agency on Thursday. The agency on April 24 also will begin issuing approximately $30 million in paper checks to Americans for whom the federal government lacks banking information. IRS plans to issue paper checks to Americans with the lowest incomes first and distribute about five million paper checks per week, meaning it's possible some Americans with higher incomes won't receive checks until September (Rein, Washington Post, 4/2).
- Nevada: Renown Regional Medical Center announced that it will convert its parking garage into hospital rooms, citing a need to increase the facility's capacity due to a growing number of patients with Covid-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. The hospital said the rooms will have lighting, water, technology, and hospital beds. The hospital plans to increase its capacity by 300 beds overall, but does not know how many beds will be located in the garage (Paavola, Becker's Hospital Review, 4/3).
- New York: A tiger at the Bronx Zoo has tested positive for the new coronavirus, making it the first animal of its kind known to be infected with the virus in the United States, according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The 4-year-old Malayan tiger, named Nadia, was tested for the virus after she and other tigers and lions at the zoo developed a dry cough. USDA said it believes a zoo employee spread the virus to the big cats, and the animals are expected to recover (Law/Leung, TIME, 4/6).