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As U.S. states and countries around the world look to boost their economies by loosening restrictions, coronavirus infections continue to spread, with more than a million new infections world-wide in less than two weeks. Globally there are more than 5.1 million recorded cases of the coronavirus, up from 3.85 million two weeks ago, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, and more than 333,000 deaths. In the U.S., there have been nearly 1.58 million confirmed infections. The death toll reached 94,702, including 1,222 deaths recorded between 8 p.m. Wednesday and the same time Thursday, a Wall Street Journal analysis of Johns Hopkins data showed. (Craymer, 5/22)

Fresh data from Michigan, one of the states hardest hit by the new coronavirus, show that a testing shortfall there is likely fueling a substantial undercount of deaths attributed to Covid-19 and points to the broader challenge of tracking deaths from the disease nationwide. An exclusive Wall Street Journal analysis of death certificates indicates that Michigan could have undercounted hundreds of fatalities connected to Covid-19 during a period in March and April when deaths had surged above normal levels. (Jones and Kamp, 5/21)

Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio deflected blame Thursday in the wake of a bombshell study confirming that New York’s elected leaders stalled when it was time to take action on battling the spread of the coronavirus. An analysis by Columbia University released Wednesday night concluded that if New York acted even one week earlier in ordering people to stay home and mandating social distancing, it would have spared more than 17,000 lives in the New York metro area. (Gronewold, Goldenberg and Durkin, 5/21)

Epidemiologists with the Washington State Department of Health believe COVID-19-related deaths are likely being undercounted in Washington. In a virtual briefing with reporters Thursday, DOH officials said tracking COVID-19 death data is not an easy task."There are a number of nuances to the data that we report and often it is very difficult – especially quickly – to make an assessment on the cause of death," said Dr. Katie Hutchison, Health Statistics Manager for the Washington State Department of Health. (McCarron, 5/21)

Another 539 lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases brought the total so far to 18,200 in Minnesota, which is among a minority of states in which the global pandemic of the infectious disease is still peaking. The Minnesota Department of Health on Thursday reported another 32 deaths associated with COVID-19, a respiratory disease caused by a novel coronavirus. That was a single-day high for the state and brought the death toll of the pandemic to 809. Long-term care residents made up 28 of the newly reported deaths and 663 total. (Olson, 5/21)

Clark County reported 84 new COVID-19 cases and six additional deaths over the preceding day, according to data posted Thursday by the Southern Nevada Health District. The cases brought the total for the county to 5,734 and the fatalities pushed the death toll to 320. The district also reported 21 additional hospitalizations, substantially above the daily average of nearly eight over the preceding week. That pushed the hospitalization rate among those who have tested positive for COVID-19 slightly higher, to 21.08 percent. (Brunker, 5/21)

A day after threatening to withhold federal funding from Michigan, President Trump visited a Ford plant in Ypsilanti and held his fire, delivering a re-election pitch for himself in a battleground state where his campaign advisers have become increasingly concerned that his support is declining. After falsely claiming the state was engaged in voter fraud and had acted illegally by sending out absentee ballot applications to millions of voters, Mr. Trump dropped his criticism of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, and other state officials. (Karni, 5/21)

Making his first visit to Michigan since the coronavirus pandemic began in the U.S., President Donald Trump on Thursday praised the ingenuity and pluck of Ford Motor Co. and its employees for turning its Ypsilanti components plant into a ventilator factory. In remarks after a brief tour of the plant and a sit-down with African American officials, ministers and Republican U.S. Senate candidate John James, Trump noted Ford's quick turnaround in ramping up ventilator production, but said it's time to get the American economy — and especially manufacturing — roaring again. (Spangler, 5/21)

Surrounded by Ford executives wearing masks, Trump told reporters he had put one on out of the view of cameras. “I had one on before. I wore one in the back area. I didn’t want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it,” Trump said. When asked if Trump was told it was acceptable not to wear a mask in the plant, Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford said, “It’s up to him.” (Mason and Klayman, 5/21)

For a moment, he also teasingly held up a clear shield in front of his face. A statement from Ford said that Bill Ford, the company’s executive chairman, “encouraged President Trump to wear a mask when he arrived” and said the president wore it during “a private viewing of three Ford GTs from over the years” before removing it. The United Auto Workers union noted in a statement that “some in his entourage’” declined face masks and said “it is vitally important that our members continue to follow the protocols that have been put in place to safeguard them, their families and their communities.” (Superville and Lemire, 5/22)

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's coronavirus response order calls for people to wear masks in close quarters and Ford policy requires it. But Ford said it was Trump and the White House's decision whether he would wear one or not. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, meanwhile, asked Trump to wear a mask during his visit as well. (Spangler, 5/21)

For two days before President Trump’s visit on Thursday to a Ford factory in Michigan, controversy raged over whether he would — or should — wear a surgical mask while he was there. Ford had put out the word that masks were mandatory in the Ypsilanti factory — which is making personal protective equipment — though Trump had previously made it clear that, counter to federal recommendations and Michigan law, he didn’t see masks as his kind of thing. So the Michigan attorney general put out a statement imploring the president to comply. (Farhi, 5/21)

Instead, Trump — who publicly prizes strength and symbols of masculinity including height, firm handshakes and deep voices — suggested he considers it unseemly or unpresidential to be seen in a mask. Trump said he had worn a mask in another area of the plant, “where they preferred it,” but declined to wear one in view of the cameras. (Gearan, 5/21)

The trip was Mr. Trump’s third foray in as many weeks to a key state for the 2020 election, and it perhaps was the most tense politically, coming amid Mr. Trump’s protracted clash with the state’s Democratic governor over her coronavirus-response policies, including stay-at-home orders. It also occurred as Mr. Trump has criticized the state’s plans to send absentee ballot applications to all registered voters and as floods devastated the central part of the state. (Lucey, 5/21)

Since resuming their travel schedules, President Trump and Vice President Pence have focused on battleground states crucial to their reelection chances, staging official government events at a time when presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden and his top surrogates say they are unable to safely return to the campaign trail. (Nakamura, 5/21)

During a tour of a Ford plant in Michigan, a reporter asked the president if he was concerned about a potential second wave of the illness. “People say that’s a very distinct possibility. It’s standard. And we’re going to put out the fires. We’re not gonna close the country. We’re going to put out the fires — whether it’s an ember or a flame, we’re going to put it out. But we’re not closing our country.” (Reiss, 5/21)

“Whether it’s an ember or a flame, we’re going to put it out. But we’re not closing our country,” the president continued. All 50 states have announced plans to begin loosening restrictions meant to curb the spread of the coronavirus, opening their economies at varying speeds so that Americans can begin to return to normal life. (Chalfant, 5/21)

As U.S. businesses prepare for gradual reopenings, the number of Americans filing for unemployment seems to be leveling off. Still, the Labor Department says more than 38 million people sought jobless benefits in the past nine weeks. But as he departed for Michigan to tour a Ford factory now making ventilators, President Trump insisted that economic recovery is imminent. Yamiche Alcindor reports. (Alcindor, 5/21)

At the intersection of Rawsonville and Textile Roads, on a slender stretch of turf that runs the length of a half-deserted strip mall, Kathryn Prater and Kelra Rise are dancing. The longtime friends, white women in their early 40s, haven’t had much to celebrate recently. Rise lost her job as a shipping clerk two months ago and is now uninsured and struggling to get by; Prater, a school bus driver, will receive her final paycheck in two weeks with no obvious prospect of income thereafter. Their pain is representative of Michigan on the whole, a state battered by Covid-19 to the tune of 5,000 deaths; a state crushed under the weight of a 22 percent unemployment rate; and now, a state reeling from a 500-year flood in mid-Michigan that has displaced tens of thousands of people. If America has a headache, Michigan has a migraine. (Alberta, 5/21)

By threatening on Wednesday to withhold federal grants to Michigan and Nevada if those states send absentee ballots or applications to voters, President Trump has taken his latest stand against what is increasingly viewed as a necessary option for voting amid a pandemic. What he has not done is stop anyone from getting an absentee ballot. In the face of a pandemic, what was already limited opposition to letting voters mail in their ballots has withered. Eleven of the 16 states that limit who can vote absentee have eased their election rules this spring to let anyone cast an absentee ballot in upcoming primary elections — and in some cases, in November as well. Another state, Texas, is fighting a court order to do so. (Wines, 5/21)

After a listening session with African American leaders from the state — in which the group discussed the disproportionate impact the disease has had on Michigan’s black population — the conversation immediately turned to Trump’s fresh threat to withhold federal funds from Michigan if they moved forward with a mail-in voting plan. Trump fielded a reporter’s question on the issue, then spent several minutes detailing a litany of hypothetical mail-in voter fraud examples, without offering evidence that such wrongdoing has occurred. “Who knows who’s signing it? Who knows it gets to your house? Who knows if they don't pirate?” he said. “Obviously there's going to be fraud. We're not babies.” But Trump declined to say what funds he might withhold from Michigan. (McGraw, 5/21)

Republicans are seeking to join a high-stakes voting rights battle in Florida, claiming that Democrat-aligned groups are using the coronavirus outbreak as an excuse to strike down voting laws. The Republican National Committee, the Republican Party of Florida and the National Republican Congressional Committee on Thursday asked a federal judge for permission to intervene in a lawsuit brought against Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, and state and local election officials. (Fineout, 5/21)

A Trump election conspiracy theory has fallen apart after Florida’s law enforcement agency said it had found no widespread voter fraud in the 2018 races for Senate and governor. President Donald Trump had complained repeatedly about election “fraud” and theft in heavily populated, Democrat-rich Broward and Palm Beach counties, which had slowly but erratically updated their vote totals after polls closed on Election Day. (Caputo, 5/21)

Republican congressional candidate Darrell Issa and a conservative group are suing to block California’s move to an all-mail November election. They are legally challenging Gov. Gavin Newsom’s directive that elections officials mail every registered voter a ballot for the November election, making California the first state to switch to vote by mail due to coronavirus concerns. Newsom called the move a necessary response to the pandemic since voters at crowded vote centers could be exposed if they cast in-person ballots. (White, 5/21)

“A Trump enemy statement,” he said of one study. “A political hit job,” he said of another. As President Donald Trump pushes to reopen the country despite warnings from doctors about the consequences of moving too quickly during the coronavirus crisis, he has been lashing out at scientists whose conclusions he doesn’t like. (Colvin, 5/22)

A group of 77 Nobel laureates has asked for an investigation into the cancellation of a federal grant to EcoHealth Alliance, a group that researches bat coronaviruses in China. The pre-eminent scientists characterized the explanation for the decision by the National Institutes of Health as “preposterous.” The agency said the investigation into the sources of pandemics did not fit “with program goals and agency priorities.” The Nobel recipients said the grant was canceled “just a few days after President Trump responded to a question from a reporter who erroneously claimed that the grant awarded millions of dollars to investigators in Wuhan.” President Trump said the grant would be ended immediately. (Gorman, 5/21)

On Feb. 23, with the coronavirus silently spreading in American cities, President Trump made a breezy pronouncement about the new disease: “We have it very much under control in this country.” By April 16, with more than 30,000 people dead, Trump said the country had “made great progress” fighting the pandemic. Two weeks later, as the death toll passed 60,000, his son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner, described the administration’s response as a “great success story.” (Bidgood, 5/21)

President Trump said Thursday he will lower flags on government buildings to half-staff to honor the almost 100,000 Americans who have died of coronavirus."I will be lowering the flags on all Federal Buildings and National Monuments to half-staff over the next three days in memory of the Americans we have lost to the CoronaVirus," Trump tweeted. He noted flags will remain at half-staff on Monday for Memorial Day. (Samuels, 5/21)

As President Trump has promoted hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for the coronavirus and claimed to be taking it himself, he has continued to make inaccurate or incomplete statements about the drug. Here is a fact check of his recent claims. (Qiu, 5/21)

CDC Director Robert Redfield on Thursday denied reports that the White House rejected his agency's draft guidelines for reopening the country and wouldn't commit to resuming regular briefings as states continue lifting coronavirus lockdowns. Redfield, in an interview with POLITICO, said reports of the White House stifling his agency are inaccurate and that the coronavirus task force gave constructive criticism on the draft guidelines that were revised and quietly released this week. (Ehley, 5/21)

Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, said the public will begin “seeing more” of him and other public health officials after weeks without making official press appearances. During a CNN Global Town Hall, network anchor Anderson Cooper said that many Americans want to hear from Fauci, Deborah Birx and others on the White House coronavirus task force every day. The last time Fauci was at the podium at the White House was April 22. (Moreno, 5/21)

In other news, going into Memorial Day, Trump continues to make false claims about the veterans "Choice" program —

President Donald Trump is putting forth a false “Choice” when he boasts about a program aimed at improving veterans’ health care by steering more patients to the private sector. Heading toward the Memorial Day weekend, Trump bragged anew that he got the Veterans Choice program passed so veterans now can choose to go to private doctors immediately for care if they have to wait too long for appointments at government-run VA medical facilities. (Yen, 5/22)

U.S. regulators are moving ahead with a crackdown on scores of antibody tests for the coronavirus that have not yet been shown to work. The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday published a list of more than two dozen test makers that have failed to file applications to remain on the market or already pulled their products. The agency said in a statement that it expects the tests “will not be marketed or distributed.” It was unclear if any of the companies would face additional penalties. (Perrone, 5/21)

Federal regulators are investigating a Texas laboratory that a Florida hospital chain dropped last week because of delayed and unreliable COVID-19 test results. AdventHealth, which has 45 hospitals in nine states, terminated its Florida contract with MicroGen DX due to concerns about the validity of some of the 60,000 tests MicroGen had processed for the system because the lab left them at room temperature for days, according to an AdventHealth statement. (Gallion and O'lDonnell, 5/21)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has acknowledged that it is mixing the results of two different kinds of tests in the agency's tally of testing for the coronavirus, raising concerns among some scientists that it could be creating an inaccurate picture of the state of the pandemic in the United States. The CDC combines the results of genetic tests that spot people who are actively infected, mostly by using a process known as polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, with results from another, known as serology testing, which looks for antibodies in people's blood. Antibody testing is used to identify people who were previously infected. (Stein, 5/21)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) acknowledged Thursday that it is combining the results from viral and antibody COVID-19 tests when reporting the country's testing totals, despite marked differences between the tests. First reported by NPR's WLRN station in Miami, the practice has drawn ire from U.S. health experts who  say combining the tests inhibits the agency's ability to discern the country's actual testing capacity. (Johnson, 5/21)

It's still not certain that antibodies measured by such a test would protect him from catching the virus again. And if the antibodies are protective, it's unknown how strong that protection might be or how long it might last. There are also questions about the reliability of many antibody tests being sold. Researchers are urgently trying to answer those uncertainties and figure how best to conduct antibody testing. (Stein, 5/21)

Gov. Brian Kemp said Thursday he has ordered a review of how the state is reporting coronavirus figures, and he asked the public to have patience with health officials after a string of missteps raised questions about the accuracy of the latest data about the outbreak. “We’re not perfect. We make mistakes,” said Kemp of the criticism over mistakes in reporting data on COVID-19 in the state public health data website. He said increased pressure to more quickly update the data has likely contributed to the errors. (Bluestein and Mariano, 5/21)

When a stay-at-home order in March all but closed the revered labs of the gene-editing pioneer Jennifer Doudna, her team at the University of California, Berkeley dropped everything and started testing for the coronavirus. They expected their institute to be inundated with samples since it was offering the service for free, with support from philanthropies. But there were few takers. (Thomas, 5/21)

Kaiser Health News: Congress Said COVID-19 Tests Should Be Free — But Who’s Paying?
Hospitals around the country are afraid to send out hundreds of thousands of bills related to COVID-19 testing. That’s because Congress mandated there would be no copays and no out-of-pocket costs for patients. But many employers with self-funded health plans seem to believe they’re exempt from the rules. When testing kits were still scarce, Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, fired up its clinical labs. It almost single-handedly took over testing in much of Tennessee. (Farmer, 5/22)

A number of commercially available COVID-19 antibody tests, which look at a patient’s blood for signs of past infection, did not pass Mayo Clinic quality screening or meet their expectations for use, researchers from the hospital concluded in a joint investigation by the clinic and ABC News. One rapid finger-prick test even wrongly displayed a positive result for antibodies after researchers decided to use a saline-like solution, instead of a blood sample, to see what happened. An automatic fail, doctors said. (Abdelmalek and Christie, 5/21)

Just three of the nine Bay Area counties are conducting enough daily coronavirus tests to meet state standards to safely reopen — yet all are moving forward to lift shelter-in-place restrictions. Napa, Solano and Marin counties say they have met the testing benchmark set by Gov. Gavin Newsom — at least 150 tests per 100,000 people each day, the number Harvard researchers estimate will capture most positive cases in a community. Sonoma County may also be meeting the state benchmark, based on the tests it conducted Wednesday. (Ho, 5/21)

Scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration warned on Thursday they expect a busy hurricane season this year, potentially sending a higher-than-normal number of storms across the Atlantic and straining U.S. emergency services that are already stretched thin because of the coronavirus pandemic. NOAA forecast the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season that runs from June through November will include 13 to 19 named storms, with six to 10 possible hurricanes. Three to six of those could become "major" hurricanes of Category 3 or higher, with top winds of at least 111 mph and the potential to trigger major disasters. (Tamborrino and Colman, 5/21)

Overall, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said 13 to 19 named storms will develop. This number includes tropical storms, which contain wind speeds of 39 mph or higher. Storms become hurricanes when winds reach 74 mph. Of the predicted six to 10 hurricanes, three to six could be major, packing wind speeds of 111 mph or higher. (Rice, 5/21)

"Nearly all seasonal projections that have been issued by various agencies, institutions and private forecasting companies call for this season to be quite busy," CNN meteorologist Taylor Ward says. Almost all of the projections call for an above average number of hurricanes -- more than six -- for this season, which begins June 1. Some are even calling for an "extremely active" season of more than nine hurricanes. (Chinchar and Jones, 5/21)

Expanding its pursuit of an inoculation against the coronavirus, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said on Thursday it would provide “up to $1.2 billion” to the drug company AstraZeneca to develop a potential vaccine from a laboratory at Oxford University. The deal with AstraZeneca is the fourth and by far the largest vaccine research agreement that the department has disclosed. The money will pay for a Phase 3 clinical trial of a potential vaccine in the United States this summer with about 30,000 volunteers. (Kirkpatrick, 5/21)

Under the deal, the government will bankroll a 30,000-person vaccine trial in the U.S. starting in the summer, plus the ramp-up of manufacturing capacity to make at least 300 million doses. The first doses will be ready in the fall should the vaccine prove effective, it said. Alex Azar, the Health and Human Services secretary, called the deal a “major milestone” in the administration’s effort—code-named “Operation Warp Speed”—to make a safe, effective vaccine widely available to Americans by 2021. (Roland, 5/21)

While not yet proven to be effective against the coronavirus, vaccines are seen by world leaders as the only real way to restart their stalled economies, and even to get an edge over global competitors. After President Donald Trump demanded a vaccine, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) agreed to provide up to $1.2 billion to accelerate British drugmaker AstraZeneca’s vaccine development and secure 300 million doses for the United States. (Aakash B, Baulconbridge and Holton, 5/21)

The moves underscore the frantic efforts to develop a Covid-19 vaccine as quickly as possible as the novel coronavirus has so far infected nearly 4.8 million people and claimed more than 318,000 lives across the globe, according to the World Health Organization. In the U.S., the number of infections has exceeded 1.47 million people and caused more than 89,200 deaths. (Silverman, 5/21)

In other news —

With a little luck and a lot of science, the world might in the not-too-distant future get vaccines against Covid-19. But those vaccines won’t necessarily prevent all or even most infections. In the public imagination, vaccines are often seen effectively as cure-alls, like inoculations against measles. Rather than those vaccines, however, the Covid-19 vaccines in development may be more like those that protect against influenza — reducing the risk of contracting the disease, and of experiencing severe symptoms should infection occur, a number of experts told STAT. (Branswell, 5/22)

British researchers testing an experimental vaccine against the new coronavirus are moving into advanced studies and aim to immunize more than 10,000 people to determine if the shot works. Last month, scientists at Oxford University began immunizing more than 1,000 volunteers with their vaccine candidate in a preliminary trial designed to test the shot’s safety. On Friday, the scientists announced they now aim to vaccinate 10,260 people across Britain, including older people and children. (Cheng and Neergaard, 5/22)

Moderna Inc., a nearly 10-year-old Massachusetts-based biotech company, is suddenly the talk of the scientific community after they announced this week "positive" indications from their early work on a potential vaccine against the novel coronavirus. Not all of it is complimentary. (Rubin, 5/21)

A sailboat race from Cape Cod to the island of Nantucket has marked the unofficial beginning of summer for the last 49 years. But the Figawi regatta, which raises money for veterans over Memorial Day weekend, will not involve any actual boats this year. Instead, organizers will host a virtual cocktail party from a boathouse, among other online events. At first, regulars vowed to sail from Hyannis to Nantucket anyway, said Shelley Hill, executive director of Figawi Charities. “But as time went on and everybody learned more,” she said, “that idea has gone away.” (Stockman, 5/22)

Even with all 50 states taking steps to reopen their economies, this Memorial Day weekend will not resemble any in decades. In many places, beaches and parks will be open, but groups will asked to stay six feet apart; restaurants will only be serving customers outside; and bars will be closed in what is customarily one of the year’s biggest drinking weekends. “A Memorial Day party would be great,” said Michael Williamson of the Michigan State University Black Alumni, who is organizing an online kickoff party for his local chapter on Friday night. “Bars and clubs aren’t open right now, so we are doing everything virtual.” (Layne, 5/21)

The O’Connors’ summer travel plans involve several trips—to the backyard. With a family visit to Sacramento, Calif., on hold, and her three children’s summer camps and swimming lessons canceled, 37-year-old Glenda O’Connor says she is buckling down at home in Portland, Ore. She recently spent more than $700 on outdoor upgrades including a movie projector for her children, Fiona, 6, Gabriel, 3 and Cecilia, 1. (Chaker and Needleman, 5/21)

When the first coronavirus shutdowns were announced in March, hoteliers in the Appalachian town of Gadsden, Alabama, said they did not want to host visitors from other states. So, Hugh Stump, executive director of Greater Gadsden Area Tourism, told them that as private businesses, they could deny lodging to people for reasons other than age, race, religion and other protected categories. “If somebody’s coming from New York, and you’re worried about New York, you don’t have to allow them in your hotel,” Stump advised.  (Simpson, 5/21)

The coronavirus pandemic continues its deadly march through rural counties and small towns across the country, led by flareups in Southern and Midwestern states that are becoming new epicenters of the outbreak. Almost 80 percent of Americans now live in counties where the virus is spreading widely, according to an analysis by the Brookings Institution demographer William Frey. In the last week, 176 counties have started to see substantial spread of the virus. The vast majority of those, 159, are smaller exurban or rural counties. (Wilson, 5/21)

In the Hamptons, the locals have put up barricades to limit parking and deployed enforcement officers to ticket outsiders. Jersey Shore towns have banned short-term leases and Airbnb rentals. The Suffolk County executive’s office taunted Mayor Bill de Blasio: “Do your job. Figure out a plan to safely reopen your beaches.” Since the coronavirus pandemic began, tensions have repeatedly flared over whether too many New York City residents have decamped to outlying vacation areas, potentially taking the virus with them. But now the region appears on the brink of a full-fledged (and nasty) battle over beaches, touched off by the city’s decision to keep its shoreline closed. (Kilgannon, 5/22)

Sheltering in place could be a little uncomfortable this long holiday weekend as temperatures climb toward 80 in San Francisco and as high as the 90s inland, according to the National Weather Service. What would normally be perfect weather for Memorial Day weekend activities — camping, big backyard barbecues, hanging out at the beach — could be torture for those without air conditioning or simply itching to get out of the house. But parks officials, tourism promoters and public health officers remind people that shelter-in-place orders remain in effect and they should stay home even though it may be warm. (Cabanatuan, 5/21)

Memorial Day weekend has long been something to look forward to: a weekend away, or an afternoon by the grill. But in the early days of the state’s slow reemergence from a monthslong lockdown, Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh is approaching the holiday with something closer to dread. Cautioning residents that the pandemic is only in its early stages, Walsh issued warnings about the coming weekend: No beach parties. No playdates. No pickup games. Instead, Walsh urged vigilance in a fight that is only just beginning. (McDonald, 5/21)

Georgia officials are preparing for an increase in Memorial Day travel that will test the state’s coronavirus response strategy as more stir-crazy residents are expected to return to the roadways and visit parks, beaches and other destinations. Mark Williams, commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources, said most of the agency’s law enforcement division officers will be assigned to patrol waterways over the weekend. (Bluestein, 5/22)

Universal Orlando is aiming to reopen its theme parks in early June, a resort official said Thursday, more than two months after the company joined crosstown rivals Disney World and SeaWorld in closing their gates to stop the spread of the new coronavirus. Universal Orlando executive John Sprouls asked Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings for approval to open the company’s theme parks as early as June 5, the Orlando Sentinel reported. (5/21)

Most states have lifted strict coronavirus lockdowns, but many restrictions remain in place as the pandemic remains a health threat. Here are the states that are mostly open, partially open and mostly closed when it comes to rules meant to limit the spread of COVID-19. (Cohn and Coleman, 5/21)

Kaiser Health News: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: When It Comes To COVID-19, States Are On Their Own
At least so far, states that reopened their economies are not seeing a major spike in cases of COVID-19. But it remains unclear if that is because the coronavirus is not spreading, because the data is lagging or because the data is being manipulated. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump said he’s taking the controversial antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine as a preventive measure after he was exposed to a White House valet who tested positive for the coronavirus. (5/21)

Kaiser Health News: The 30-Somethings Who Fled Big Cities To Shelter With Mom And Dad
It took three weeks, but Lawrence and Arlene Maze finally persuaded their younger son, Gregory, of Los Angeles, to get on a flight home to Austin. “He basically shut his business down to come here and has to restart his business when it’s safe,” his father said. “It was a very difficult decision.” Alex Rose, a 33-year-old event producer and recording artist, didn’t need much persuasion. She spent a couple of weeks alone in her 500-square-foot Hollywood apartment, taking long walks to break up the days. In mid-March, her event bookings and performances began to disappear. Then a neighbor showed her video of an arsonist setting trash can fires on their street and she saw the melted cans next to her building. (Jayson, 5/22)

People's adherence to COVID-19 shelter in place orders is influenced by friends and family even in other states, according to a new working paper. For that reason, researchers said failure to coordinate the lifting of such orders comes at a substantial cost. The paper, released Thursday by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Initiative on the Digital Economy, found that people's behavior in a given area is "significantly influenced" by policies and behaviors in other, sometimes distant, regions because of their social interdependence. (Bannow, 5/21)

Shaggy, quarantine-weary residents in New Hampshire were free to visit a hair salon nearly two weeks ago. In Massachusetts, that long-awaited luxury will be allowed next week. But in New York, some residents could be waiting quite a while longer. Absent a clear, cohesive federal blueprint for reopening, governors across the country have been decision-makers in their own high-stakes gambit, choosing how to reopen and when. What’s emerged is a dizzying, sometimes discordant patchwork of plans that scientists and public health experts say may come at a great cost. (Lazar and Freyer, 5/21)

After months of lockdowns, all states have now eased restrictions in some capacity, and many are relying on data to tell them when it is safe to move to the next phase of reopening. But each state has its own idea of what that data should be. The Wall Street Journal reviewed the metrics outlined by 10 states that have significant case numbers and published clearly defined reopening plans. The differences in the data they consider—and the conclusions they draw from it—show a stark divide in the governments’ priorities. (Huth, 5/21)

The National Guard sent guidance to state governments on Thursday to wind down troops’ federal deployment for coronavirus relief work on June 24, even as administration officials say an extension is still under discussion. The guidance, obtained by POLITICO, says Guard members’ federal mission, known as Title 32, “should culminate no later than 10 June 2020” to allow for two weeks of self-quarantine before transitioning back to the community. (Ollstein, 5/21)

As America’s response to the coronavirus pandemic splits along partisan lines, a Reuters analysis may help explain why: Death rates in Democratic areas are triple those in Republican ones. By Wednesday, U.S. counties that voted for Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election reported 39 coronavirus deaths per 100,000 residents, according to an analysis of demographic and public health data. (Sullivan, 5/21)

More than 600 physicians signed a letter organized in part by a conservative group that warns President Trump against a lengthy economic shutdown because of the coronavirus. The doctors call such closures a "mass casualty" event. The letter was spearheaded by Simone Gold, a California emergency medical specialist. Jenny Beth Martin, the cofounder of Tea Party Patriots, helped organize the letter and get it to the White House. (Weixel and Chalfant, 5/21)

After weeks of insisting the Washington, D.C., area is not ready to end its pandemic-induced lockdown, Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser now says the numbers are pointing to the start of a gradual reopening process at the end of the month. Bowser on Thursday penciled in Friday, May 29 as a potential start date for phase 1 of the District of Columbia’s proposed three-phase reopening plan. That includes restaurants allowing outdoor patio seating, non-essential businesses offering curbside pickup and hair salons and barbers operating by appointment at limited capacity. (Khalil, 5/22)

The burning of a church in northern Mississippi this week is being investigated as arson because of a spray-painted message at the scene that seemed to criticize the church’s defiance of coronavirus restrictions. First Pentecostal Church had sued the city of Holly Springs, Miss., which is about an hour southeast of Memphis, arguing that its stay-at-home order had violated the church’s right to free speech and interfered with its members’ ability to worship. (Bogel-Burroughs, 5/22)

First Pentecostal Church in Holly Springs, Mississippi, burned down Wednesday morning, news outlets reported. When investigators from the Marshall County Sheriff’s Office got to the scene, they found graffiti in the church parking lot that read: “Bet you stay home now you hypokrites.” “We’ve kind of racked our brains and we have no idea,” Jerry Waldrop, the pastor of the church, said. “No enemies that we know of. We don’t know anyone that we even think could be capable of doing something like this.” (5/21)

The state allowed churches and other houses of worship to remain open as essential businesses, but faith leaders were asked to be more cautious as the coronavirus spread. (Pereira, 5/21)

Leaders of two of Minnesota’s largest faith groups are planning to resume indoor worship services next week in defiance of the governor’s order, saying it’s “extreme and prejudicial” to put religious gatherings in a reopening category similar to that of tattoo parlors or hair salons and subject them to limits stricter than those placed on retail stores. In a conference-call news conference Thursday, Archbishop Bernard Hebda, Catholic leader for the state, and the Rev. Lucas Woodford, president of the Minnesota South District of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, said they were fine with restrictions earlier in the pandemic. (Boorstein, 5/21)

When Iesha Sekou began passing out surgical masks and disposable gloves in Harlem early in the pandemic, some people laughed and said she was taking things too far. It was an unfamiliar role for Ms. Sekou, the founder of a nonprofit that usually works to prevent gang violence. But as deaths from the virus mounted in predominantly black neighborhoods like the one where Ms. Sekou’s group operates, people started chasing her and her workers down the street to get supplies, she said. (Southall, 5/22)

As New York City’s outdoor season begins with Memorial Day, police are shifting the focus of their enforcement of social-distancing rules, limiting an emphasis on punitive measures and concentrating on breaking up large groups. New York Police Department officers have been tasked with enforcing emergency measures to contain the new coronavirus in New York City since Mayor Bill de Blasio declared a state of emergency on March 13 as the city emerged as the center of the pandemic in the U.S. (Chapman, 5/21)

More than 100 police officers in the U.S. have died from COVID-19 after fighting the virus on the front lines, according to a report from the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) obtained by The Hill via email Thursday. The FOP said in total, 111 police officers have died from the disease since the onset of the pandemic, but noted that the tally was reported deaths, not confirmed deaths. The group described the coronavirus pandemic as both a public health and public safety crisis. (Johnson, 5/21)

More than 4,300 recovering coronavirus patients were sent to New York’s already vulnerable nursing homes under a controversial state directive that was ultimately scrapped amid criticisms it was accelerating the nation’s deadliest outbreaks, according to a count by The Associated Press. (Condon, Peltz and Mustian, 5/22)

The Abbott Terrace Health Center in Waterbury, where 41 residents have died from the coronavirus, has been cited by regulators for infection control violations and fined three times by the state and federal governments over the last several years. It has the lowest nursing home overall rating issued by the federal government — one star, for "much below average." About 40 miles away, the Kimberly Hall North nursing home in Windsor has the highest rating, five stars, issued by CMS. It has had one infection control citation, but no state or federal fines, over the past several years. Yet 43 residents there have died from the virus. (5/21)

A recently launched federal effort to collect data on the impact of the coronavirus in nursing homes will leave the full toll unclear, because a new rule doesn’t require facilities to report deaths and infections that occurred before early May. The new rule, issued May 8, compels nursing homes to submit data on coronavirus cases and associated deaths to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. According to a form posted on the CDC website, the information only has to go back to the week leading up to their first filing, which was supposed to occur by May 17, while older data is optional. Nursing homes will provide current data at least weekly going forward. (Wilde Mathews, 5/21)

While much of the attention related to COVID-19’s impact on vulnerable populations has focused on deaths at nursing homes, infection rates are remarkably high in another kind of residential setting: state-operated centers for adults with cognitive or behavioral disabilities. As of Thursday, more than 1 in 5 people living in these developmental centers had tested positive for the novel coronavirus, state data shows. That’s more than double the infection rate seen in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, where confirmed cases account for about 7% of residents, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. (Smith Richards and Cohen, 5/22)

Nursing homes serving mostly minority populations are twice as likely to experience a deadly coronavirus outbreak as those with mostly white residents, according to new research on the devastating impact the highly contagious illness is having on vulnerable residential care facilities. “Our biggest predictor was race,” said R. Tamara Konetzka, a professor at the University of Chicago who led the study. “The higher percent white residents in a facility, the less likely that facility has had a single case or a single death.” (Pecorin and Mosk, 5/21)

Two days after the state released a long sought-after list of nursing homes where COVID-19 has infected or killed residents or staff, Pennsylvania’s top health official admitted there are errors in the data. “I have heard that there were a small number of errors,” Secretary of Health Rachel Levine said Thursday, after being confronted by lawmakers who said facilities in their districts were reporting different numbers of cases than the state had posted on its website. “We’re correcting those.” (Pattani, 5/21)

Each of their stories was different, but common strains repeat: Of humility and generosity; of finding joy in the unpretentious; of a sharp mind disappearing into fog or a hale body betrayed by age. And, of service, in war or in peace, that often went unspoken when they returned home. In their final years, these veterans found their place at the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home in Massachusetts. And in their final days, as the coronavirus engulfed the home and killed more than 70, they found battle again. (Goldman and Sedensky, 5/22)

A viral Facebook post falsely claiming new federal legislation would allow the government to forcibly remove people from their homes is an example of one of the many messaging challenges facing Georgia’s growing team of contact tracers. The state Department of Public Health wants to quadruple the number of tracers it employs in the weeks ahead, to upwards of 1,000, as it looks to contain the spread of COVID-19. It’s now embarking on a mini public relations campaign to explain to Georgians what contact tracing is — and clear up a bevy of misconceptions about the kind of information the state is collecting. (Hallerman, 5/22)

As layoffs continue to mount, one job is in demand in almost all 50 states and urgently requires workers. To safely reopen the U.S. economy, the nation needs an army of contact tracers—at least 184,000 of them, according to one estimate by researchers at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has said as many as 17,000 tracers will be hired in the coming months in New York state alone. (Dill, 5/21)

Carrie Moran made the cold call while Maria Ramirez, a Spanish-speaking health assistant, crouched over the speakerphone at the edge of the desk. “Did they call you yet with your results?” Ramirez said, interpreting for the Maryland man in his 30s on the other end of the line. He said no. “We’re calling to let you know that you tested positive for covid-19.” “Oh, sí,” the man replied softly after a pause. (Wiggins, 5/21)

Marylanders might soon receive phone calls from “MD COVID," and though it may be tempting to let it ring, the state’s reopening and recovery could depend on enough people answering. The state has hired about 1,400 contact tracers tasked with tracking down those who have been exposed to the coronavirus as part of its plan to move the state toward a safe and complete reopening. (Miller, 5/21)

The union for corrections officers at one of the U.S. federal prisons hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic has filed a U.S. Labor Department complaint alleging that prison managers failed to isolate several inmates who tested positive for the illness. The complaint came from a federal prison in Oakdale, Louisiana, where eight inmates have died of the COVID-19 illness caused by the novel coronavirus. (Lynch, 5/21)

The city of Montgomery, Alabama, which has only one intensive care unit bed left, is sending sick patients to Birmingham, more than an hour away, officials said. Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed said on Wednesday that of the four regional hospitals, one is short three ICU beds, two have no ICU beds, and one has just one bed. "Right now, if you are from Montgomery, and you need an ICU bed, you are in trouble," Reed said at a press conference. "If you're from central Alabama, and you need an ICU bed, you may not be able to get one." (Lemos and Waldrop, 5/21)

The nonprofit blood service provider Vitalant is urging the Las Vegas community to donate blood in response to a critical shortage. Stay-at-home recommendations stemming from the coronavirus pandemic led to cancellations of 205 blood drives in Southern Nevada — and the loss of more than 5,400 uncollected blood donations — since March, according to the organization. And the resumption of surgeries and other medical procedures as stay-at-home restrictions were lifted also has resulted in a 25 percent increase in the need for blood in the past several weeks. (Hynes, 5/21)

Emergency medical reinforcements began work on Thursday at a small Southern California hospital straining to cope with a recent surge in coronavirus patients, some of them turned away from overwhelmed hospitals across the border in Mexico. A group of a dozen registered nurses, a respiratory therapist and three physicians was sent by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, joining a separate contingent of seven nurses from the California Department of Public Health. (Gorman, 5/21)

Los Angeles County has reached a promising new milestone in its fight to control the spread of the highly infectious coronavirus. The transmission rate in the nation’s most populous county, home to 56% of COVID-19 deaths in California, is now in its best position since the magnitude of the outbreak became clear in March. (Lin, 5/21)

Georgia’s early move to start easing stay-at-home restrictions nearly a month ago has done little to stem the state’s flood of unemployment claims — illustrating how hard it is to bring jobs back while consumers are still afraid to go outside. Weekly applications for jobless benefits have remained so elevated that Georgia now leads the country in terms of the proportion of its workforce applying for unemployment assistance. A staggering 40.3 percent of the state's workers — two out of every five — has filed for unemployment insurance payments since the coronavirus pandemic led to widespread shutdowns in mid-March, a POLITICO review of Labor Department data shows. (Cassella, 5/21)

San Francisco is joining other U.S. cities in authorizing homeless tent encampments in response to the coronavirus pandemic, a move officials have long resisted but are now reluctantly embracing to safeguard homeless people. About 80 tents are now neatly spaced out on a wide street near San Francisco City Hall as part of a “safe sleeping village” opened last week. The area between the city’s central library and its Asian Art Museum is fenced off to outsiders, monitored around the clock and provides meals, showers, clean water and trash pickup. (Har and Chea, 5/22)

A small cadre of MIT’s researchers are beginning to test what could become daily practices at the university as it tries to reopen the campus to faculty and students amid the coronavirus pandemic. MIT is among the first institutions in the Greater Boston area to outline detailed plans for how it will resume its research operations, a nearly $4 billion-a-year enterprise that involves more than 12,000 scientists, students, and staff. The university has opened three lab buildings and is testing its protocols on about 400 people. That’s just a small fraction of its research community, but it offers a window on what could be life ahead. (Fernandes, 5/21)

Among the shaggy-headed masses, there was a collective sigh of relief when Governor Charlie Baker gave hair salons and barbershops the go-ahead to resume business on May 25 in the state’s first phase of reopening. But those who have booked appointments for next week should anticipate the bare minimum: no more packed waiting rooms, no magazines or beverages, and chairs separated by 6 feet. And since everyone will have to wear a mask, the time-honored barbershop chat might be on the short side. (Gardizy, 5/21)

Nine children in Georgia are now confirmed to have a mysterious new illness that’s likely linked to COVID-19, the state’s Department of Public Health said Thursday. The DPH is continuing to review the cases of about half a dozen other children who might have MIS-C, or Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children, as it was recently named by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. State officials are still trying to eliminate other illnesses and to determine if the children, who range in age from toddlers to teenagers, have COVID-19 or the antibodies triggered by the virus. Some cases have been reported in children whose coronavirus exposure was well past. (Oliviero, 5/21)

Georgia’s top government and educational leaders have formed working groups this week to plan for reopening schools in the fall as the federal government released long-awaited safety guidance. The 72 members on the K-12 “restart” working groups appointed by Gov. Brian Kemp and state school Superintendent Richard Woods include current and past teachers of the year, rural and suburban metro Atlanta school superintendents (Coweta and Fayette counties), administrators from Fulton County Schools, public health officials, education organization leaders and state agencies. (Tagami, 5/21)

A judge has tossed a lawsuit filed by Republican lawmakers that challenged Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's use of emergency powers to lockdown the state amid the coronavirus pandemic. Michigan Court of Claims Judge Cynthia Stephens sided with the governor, a Democrat, in an opinion issued Thursday afternoon that ends the lawsuit. Legal experts had said such an outcome was likely. Republicans vowed to appeal the judge's ruling. (Reindl, 5/21)

As coronavirus cases and deaths continue to decline in Michigan, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Thursday that she is lifting portions of her earlier stay-at-home order and reopening more parts of Michigan's economy. Effective immediately, she said, people across Michigan are allowed to engage in social gatherings of no more than 10 people, which had been restricted, provided they wear face covering if in close spaces and try to maintain social distancing of 6 feet or more when around people they don't live with. (Spangler, 5/21)

It’s not a good omen for the upcoming Memorial Day weekend start of the “100 deadliest days” of driving each year during summer: Fatal accidents already increased in Utah even as traffic thinned during coronavirus stay-at-home orders. “When traffic has been reduced by sometimes 50% of the vehicles on the road, we’re seeing an increase in fatalities. And that really doesn’t make sense,” said Utah Department of Transportation spokesman John Gleason at an event urging safe summer driving. (Davidson, 5/21)

The Kaysville City Council — in a revolt against Mayor Katie Witt — was considering turning on sprinklers and cutting power to a city park to stop a protest concert she backed there that openly aimed to defy state COVID-19 restrictions. Word about these possible city actions was enough Thursday to chase away the May 30 concert, featuring country star Collin Raye, which now will move to the Studio Ranch Amphitheater near Grantsville. (Davidson, 5/21)

Alaska has eased pandemic-related restrictions on health care office visits, and officials are encouraging residents to get back to their health care routines — especially immunizations. On Wednesday, the Anchorage Office of Emergency Management issued a public message urging residents to return to practices like regular physicals, women’s health care visits and children’s vaccinations. The state has seen a 49% drop in immunizations this April compared to April 2019, according to Matthew Bobo, manager for the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services’ immunization program. (Goodykoontz, 5/21)

Like many other Anchorage residents following the COVID-19 “hunker down” order, nurse practitioner Holly Fisk suddenly found herself stuck working mostly from home. Fisk and her two young children soon grew restless. “There’s only so many puzzles you can do,” she said. (Goodykoontz, 5/20)

After Gov. Mike Dunleavy announced that a full reopening of the state’s economy is set to begin Friday, University of Alaska President Jim Johnsen cautioned that fully reopening college campuses is not yet possible. “We will likely have a more conservative approach than the state or local communities,” Johnsen said Wednesday during a briefing with the governor. (Goodykoontz, 5/20)

When students finally return to school, sweeping changes will be in place to help stop the spread of coronavirus. Items such as masks and hand sanitizer will be familiar sights in stuffed backpacks. Classes and school buses will have fewer people while some office meetings will be conducted by video conference, experts say. (Karimi, Almasy and Hanna, 5/22)

The coronavirus test wasn't as bad as Celeste Torres imagined. Standing outside a dorm at the University of California, San Diego, Torres stuck a swab up a nostril, scanned a QR code, and went on with the day. "The process itself was about five minutes," Torres says, "I did cry a little bit just because it's, I guess, a natural reaction." (Nadworny, 5/22)

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said it is too early to tell if New York schools will reopen this fall, as a grim picture emerged of historic job losses in the tri-state area from the region’s economic shutdown. There will be no summer school in New York this year, Mr. Cuomo said at a press conference Thursday. The state will issue guidelines in June for resuming school in the fall, and each district must also submit a reopening plan to the state by July in preparation for a potential reopening in September, he said. (De Avila, 5/21)

Students in the nation’s capital should not return to full, in-person learning until there is a reliable vaccine or cure for the novel coronavirus, according to recommendations released Thursday by a group of advisers appointed by D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser. The report by Bowser’s ReOpen DC Advisory Group divides the city’s reopening into four phases, with the fourth phase triggered when there is a vaccine or cure. It recommends that before that, students should return to campuses on modified schedules, switching between in-person and distance learning depending on the day. (Stein, 5/21)

Alabama schools are typically busy places during the summer, hosting academic summer school, enrichment activities, athletic tryouts and workouts, and other extracurriculars like band camps. And now, as of June 1, they can resume their summer schedules, but with a lot of new guidelines from the Alabama State Department of Education. (Crain, 5/22)

The weather is getting warmer. The days are getting longer. Some stores are reopening. And California is slowly easing up on the sheltering restrictions placed on us during this pandemic. In other words, we’re getting out of our homes a little more after weeks of a statewide shutdown. But this isn’t the same world we remember from before. There are new questions about personal contact and social distancing. There are fresh concerns about infection in the environment around us. The Chronicle talked to some health experts about how we can best navigate the Bay Area without contracting the coronavirus. (Whiting, 5/21)

Researchers who examined the lungs of patients killed by covid-19 found evidence that it attacks the lining of blood vessels there, a critical difference from the lungs of people who died of the flu, according to a report published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine. Critical parts of the lungs of patients infected by the novel coronavirus also suffered many microscopic blood clots and appeared to respond to the attack by growing tiny new blood vessels, the researchers reported. (Bernstein, 5/21)

The coronavirus primarily spreads from person to person and not easily from a contaminated surface. That is the takeaway from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which this month updated its “How COVID-19 Spreads” website. The revised guidance now states, in headline-size type, “The virus spreads easily between people.” It also notes that the coronavirus, which causes the disease covid-19, “is spreading very easily and sustainably between people.” (Guarino and Achenbach, 5/21)

In new guidance for mathematical modelers and public health officials, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is estimating that about a third of coronavirus infections are asymptomatic. The CDC also says its "best estimate" is that 0.4% of people who show symptoms and have Covid-19 will die, and the agency estimates that 40% of coronavirus transmission is occurring before people feel sick. (Azad, 5/22)

Sweden has revealed that despite adopting more relaxed measures to control coronavirus, only 7.3% of people in Stockholm had developed the antibodies needed to fight the disease by late April. The figure, which Sweden's Public Health Authority confirmed to CNN, is roughly similar to other countries that have data and well below the 70-90% needed to create "herd immunity" in a population. It comes after the country adopted a very different strategy to stop the spread of coronavirus to other countries by only imposing very light restrictions on daily life. (Kennedy, 5/21)

As lockdowns ease across the world, keeping the new coronavirus at bay will depend on people seeking a test or self-isolating if they suspect they have symptoms. But, five months after the virus emerged, national health authorities don’t agree on how to define those symptoms. In countries that describe the symptoms more narrowly, including the U.K. and up to last month the U.S., some people with the disease may have been unable to get tested and may have unknowingly spread the disease by mingling in the community. (Sugden, 5/22)

An investigation into a wedding-related COVID-19 outbreak in Jordan found a high transmission rate and a high rate of asymptomatic carriers, researchers from Jordan reported yesterday in Emerging Infectious Diseases. The outbreak occurred in the middle of March when Jordan had only one confirmed case, but it led to a surge of cases that a month later made up 24% of all COVID-19 cases in Jordan and helped spur a lockdown in the city of Irbid, where the wedding took place. (5/21)

U.S. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said on Thursday another stimulus package to deal with the impact of the coronavirus was “not too far off.” “I think there is a high likelihood we will do another rescue package,” McConnell told Fox News Channel in an interview. “But we need to be able to measure the impact of what we’ve already done, what we did right, what we did wrong ... We’re not quite ready to intelligently lay down the next step, but it’s not too far off.” (5/21)

McConnell's remarks come amid growing calls from within his caucus for the Senate to pass another coronavirus bill, which would be the fifth piece of legislation passed by Congress to address the fallout from the pandemic, by the end of the June. McConnell said during the Fox News interview that the next bill will not resemble a roughly $3 trillion bill that passed the House along party lines last week, and vowed that the White House and Senate Republicans will be on the same page. (Carney, 5/21)

Reconsideration of jobless aid is fast becoming the focus of congressional debate over the next virus aid package. After the Senate decided to take a “pause” on new pandemic proposals, senators faced mounting pressure to act before leaving town for a weeklong Memorial Day break. Republicans are staking out plans to phase out coronavirus-related unemployment benefits to encourage Americans to go back to work.. The Senate also began efforts to fast-track an extension of a popular small business lending program. (Mascaro, 5/22)

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Thursday slammed the House’s new rule to allow proxy voting on the chamber floor — and hinted that he might not take up legislation passed under this procedure. The Kentucky Republican’s comments are the latest GOP salvo against the plan, pushed through the House last week on a party-line vote by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.). It will first be used when the House returns next week to take up a Senate-passed reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. (Desiderio and Bresnahahn, 5/21)

The Senate was unable to finalize a deal to extend the amount of time companies have to spend loans obtained through the Paycheck Protection Program, putting off the likely passage of revised small-business aid rules to next month. Amid broad bipartisan support, senators worked on Thursday to coalesce around a plan to double the time period to 16 weeks, but failed to garner unanimous consent on the agreement before leaving for a Memorial Day recess. The PPP is intended to help small businesses keep workers employed and pay other expenses during the coronavirus pandemic. (Hayashi and Andrews, 5/21)

A bipartisan group of senators on Thursday reached agreement on a bill that would ease restrictions on emergency small business loans that are designed to curb massive layoffs during the Covid-19 pandemic. The government-backed loans can be forgiven if employers agree to maintain their payrolls. But businesses say the loan terms are too onerous, with much of the economy shut down for longer than lawmakers expected when they designed the so-called Paycheck Protection Program. (Warmbrodt, 5/21)

After threatening to block the Memorial Day recess, Cory Gardner will get one of his signature bills on the Senate floor. Yet his likely opponent this November says he's still a pushover to Mitch McConnell. The Senate recessed on Thursday afternoon after Gardner called the idea of leaving Washington "unfathomable" without more action on coronavirus. But Gardner and several other Republicans facing tough reelection races did see some movement on their key priorities. (Everett, 5/21)

The coronavirus pandemic poses the most serious threat “in our lifetimes” to the Federal Reserve’s goals of maintaining strong employment and stable prices, Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Richard Clarida said Thursday. Mr. Clarida said he expected the shock to demand for goods and services to be more severe than the hit to the economy’s capacity to supply them, putting downward pressure on inflation. (Timiraos, 5/21)

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Thursday said there is a "strong likelihood" that another coronavirus relief bill will be needed as more states start to reopen and the economy struggles to stabilize. "We're going to carefully review the next few weeks," Mnuchin said in an interview with The Hill's Bob Cusack during a virtual event. "I think there is a strong likelihood we will need another bill, but we just have $3 trillion we're pumping into the economy." "We're going to step back for a few weeks and think very clearly how we need to spend more money and if we need to do that," he added. (Jagoda, 5/21)

A man who tried to get $20 million in federal aid for distressed businesses affected by the coronavirus created two bogus businesses and falsely claimed he was trying to procure COVID-19 tests and protective equipment in an official capacity for New York state, authorities said Thursday. Muge Ma, 36, also claimed he was paying millions of dollars to hundreds of workers when he was really his only employee, working out of his posh $1.5 million Manhattan condominium, federal authorities said as they announced his arrest. (5/21)

Even as states begin to reopen for business, a further 2.4 million workers joined the nation’s unemployment rolls last week, and there is growing concern among economists that many of the lost jobs are gone for good. The Labor Department’s report of new jobless claims, released Thursday, brought the total to 38.6 million since mid-March, when the coronavirus outbreak forced widespread shutdowns. While workers and their employers have expressed optimism that most of the joblessness will be temporary, many who are studying the pandemic’s impact are increasingly worried about the employment situation. (Cohen, 5/21)

The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits in the two months since the coronavirus took hold in the U.S. has swelled to nearly 39 million, the government reported Thursday, even as states from coast to coast gradually reopen their economies and let people go back to work. More than 2.4 million people filed for unemployment last week in the latest wave of layoffs from the business shutdowns that have brought the economy to its knees, the Labor Department said. That brings the running total to a staggering 38.6 million, a job-market collapse unprecedented in its speed. (Rugaber and Kirka, 5/22)

The economic impact of the pandemic is staggering. The latest numbers on unemployment claims came out this morning: 2.4 million workers filed for unemployment last week, which means at least 38.6 million Americans — about 23.4 percent of the workforce — have lost their jobs over the past nine weeks as the coronavirus pandemic continues to ravage the economy. (For some context: In normal times, the number of weekly unemployment claims usually hovers around a couple hundred thousand.) (Kingsberry, 5/21)

That's more than one in five American workers using an unemployment insurance system first established decades ago to serve a very different population. It was 1935 and the country was struggling to emerge from the Great Depression. The system's focus was people who worked in medium-to-large manufacturing or in trade industries, says Indivar Dutta-Gupta, co-executive director of the Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality. (Donevan and Hsu, 5/21)

Millions of newly impoverished people are turning to the charitable organizations known as food banks. Mile-long lines of cars, waiting for bags of free food, have become one of the most striking images of the current economic crisis. Donations are up, too, including from a new billion-dollar government effort called the Farmers to Families Food Box Program. (Charles, 5/22)

California state lawmakers unleashed their frustrations about the state's unemployment system Thursday, demanding answers from an agency director about the problems their jobless constituents have endured trying to access the financial lifeline during the pandemic. "We’ve never heard the type of suffering people are experiencing right now," said Assemblyman David Chiu (D-San Francisco). "The feedback we’re getting is atrocious." (Murphy, 5/21)

Facebook said on Thursday that it would allow many employees to work from home permanently. But there’s a catch: They may not be able to keep their big Silicon Valley salaries in more affordable parts of the country. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive, told workers during a staff meeting that was livestreamed on his Facebook page that within a decade as many as half of the company’s more than 48,000 employees would work from home. (Conger, 5/21)

Growing up as the oldest girl among 10 siblings in a large Catholic family in Detroit, Mary Kay Henry learned the power of collective action at an early age. Sometimes, she and her older brother would have to get all their siblings ready for school, packing lunches, getting kids dressed and shepherding everyone on to the bus. “When there’s a group that shares a mission and everybody has a job to do, things that seem impossible are possible,” she said. “That’s my guiding star.” (Gelles, 5/22)

Amazon announced Thursday that another one of its warehouse workers died from complications associated with the coronavirus. The recent death marks eight employees the tech giant has lost because of the disease. The employee who passed was a woman who had been with the company since November 2018. She was staffed at Amazon's fulfillment center just outside of Cleveland in North Randall, Ohio, according to NBC News. (Johnson, 5/21)

Companies from major retailers and package carriers to local restaurants and hair salons are awakening to a new economic reality in the age of the new coronavirus: Being open for business is almost as hard as being closed. Facing higher costs to keep workers and customers safe and an indefinite period of suppressed demand, businesses are navigating an ever-narrower path to profitability. To make the math work, some businesses are cutting services and jobs. Others are raising prices, including imposing coronavirus-related fees aimed at getting customers to share some of the expenses. (Grossman, 5/22)

It started with silence, or something close to silence, or perhaps it was simply the absence of a low-level hum that nobody knew was humming until it stopped. In the quiet we realized that, until the pandemic arrived, we had lived in a vast, elaborate, whirring contraption that delivered culture and commerce at spectacular speeds, with astonishing efficiency. Logistics — the science of making Thing A and delivering it to Point B — had become a national art form, the corporate answer to jazz, stand-up comedy and end-zone dances. America was like an operating system that upgraded itself so regularly that its design and endless enhancements were taken for granted. (Segal, 5/22)

In other supply chain news —

Al Wulfekuhle was just a kid when he started raising pigs, helping his dad run the family farm in an eastern Iowa town even smaller than this one. By the time he was 19, he was running his own place, called to a profession that wasn’t glamorous or even remotely easy but made him feel like he was doing something important. “It’s a noble profession, being a farmer,” he said. “You’re essential because you’re trying to feed the world.” When Wulfekuhle was starting out, business was good, prices were high. (Bailey, 5/21)

Meat processing plants across the country are struggling with outbreaks of the coronavirus. That includes the Tyson Foods chicken processing facility in Wilkes County, N.C.More than 2,200 workers were tested at the Wilkesboro plant and 570 were positive for the coronavirus. Tyson said a majority of the workers who had the virus didn't show any symptoms. (Brown, 5/21)

As the coronavirus steamrolls the global order, reproductive health care practitioners and advocates are struggling to maintain access to contraception and abortions. Lockdowns and disrupted supply chains have prompted a flurry of action in the sector as governments, practitioners and advocates react to a crisis that has highlighted the often tenuous access to sexual health care products and services. (Webber, 5/21)

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Republicans are demanding that Attorney General William Barr investigate Planned Parenthood centers that got emergency small business loans under a government program intended to avert layoffs. In a letter Thursday to Barr, 27 GOP senators led by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and McConnell said Planned Parenthood affiliates received about $80 million in loans under the so-called Paycheck Protection Program but should have been ineligible — a claim that Planned Parenthood disputes. (Warmbrodt, 5/21)

In New York City, African Americans and Latinos are two times more likely to be hospitalized and to die from COVID than white Americans, according to local officials' figures. Chicago blacks are three times more likely and Latinos twice as likely to die from the virus than whites, city data shows. (Kim and Vann, 5/21)

The devastating toll of coronavirus is far-reaching, but the impact of the pandemic is particularly acute among black Americans and Latinos, who are nearly three times as likely to personally know someone who has died from the virus than white Americans, according to a new ABC News/Ipsos poll released Friday. Thirty percent of black adults and 26% of Latino adults in the country said they know a victim of the coronavirus, who died either from the disease or from complications related to the virus. For white adults, the corresponding figure is 10%. (Karson and Scanlan, 5/22)

Raymond Copeland took pride in his work and being called one of "New York's strongest." The New York City Department of Sanitation worker even bought a plaque to display in his car reading "strongest," a nod to the epithet for the city agency, his daughter said. When the city began to shut down and most people were told to stay at home amid the coronavirus pandemic, Copeland found himself among the grocery store clerks, bus drivers, janitors and more newly-classified "essential" workers who continued to go to work every day. Copeland died of complications from COVID-19 on April 5, approximately a week after falling ill, [his daughter, Naeemah] Seifullah said. (Thorbecke, 5/22)

With mental health resources in high demand during the coronavirus pandemic, one doctor has stepped up to give tips online and through her book to help others cope. Dr. Rheeda Walker created a guide for people of color who cannot afford or do not have access to mental health help called "The Unapologetic Guide to Black Mental Health: Navigate an Unequal System, Learn Tools for Emotional Wellness, and Get the Help You Deserve." The book has seen a spike in demand due to COVID-19 and has been called a saving grace by the likes of hip-hop radio personality Charlamagne tha God, who is outspoken on mental health in the black community. (Cruz, 5/22)

In Mississippi, the country’s poorest state, Cassandra Rollins says she has a million questions. Her daughter, Shalondra Rollins, a bright-eyed teacher and mother of two, was the first person on record to die from the coronavirus, COVID-19, in Hinds County. Home of the state’s capital, Jackson, nearly three-quarters of the county's population is estimated to be black. Rollins, who was already reeling from the death of her son last year says her grief is now so raw that it feels like an open wound. (Smith, Walker, Curry, Garcia, Park and Rivas, 5/21)

The summer of 2020 is shaping up to be anything but normal. Will camps be open? What about day care? What will kids stuck at home do all day long? With so many families sheltering in place and parents juggling work and child-care responsibilities, drowning is probably low on the list of concerns. But it’s this exact scenario that can lead to kids being unsupervised around water — even momentarily — with tragic results. Jenny Bennett, an emergency-room nurse and mother of four from Tomball, Texas, experienced it firsthand. (Lewis, 5/22)

The corner of Lafayette and East Fourth Street in New York used to be a busy thoroughfare, with coffee shops, gyms, bus routes and hurried students walking between classes at N.Y.U. But since mid-March, all the usual sounds of Lower Manhattan — car horns, idle chatter and the frequent rumble of the subway down below — have been replaced by the low hum of wind and birds. (Bui and Badger, 5/22)

As many as 20 states across the country are reporting a rapid decrease in the number of children receiving their routine vaccinations over the past few months, according to a nationwide survey conducted by ABC News. The sudden decline comes as many Americans are fearful to visit their doctors' offices for routine check-ups amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. (Santucci, Faulders, Rubin, Bhatt and Pecorin, 5/22)

Some governments are considering using a blood test to determine whether people can return to work, school and other public activities during the coronavirus pandemic. Lack of certain antibodies would mean you don't have an "immunity passport" and are therefore not allowed to venture out in public. Those who have them would be issued certificates to roam and restart economies -- so the vulnerable can stay home.But the World Health Organization and other experts say that's a terrible idea. (Karimi and Fox, 5/22)

In April, as the coronavirus was ravaging New York, Susan Jones learned her older brother had been diagnosed with a blood cancer. His supervisor at work launched a GoFundMe page to help with costs, and Jones shared it on Facebook. What happened next stunned her. (Noveck, 5/22)

Airports this Memorial Day weekend are likely to be far emptier than usual, but people who plan to travel can expect to encounter lots of changes and new inconveniences. Take security. As travelers wait in line to be screened, they can expect to see signs and other markings reminding them to maintain their distance from one another, the Transportation Security Administration said on Thursday. The agents checking identification and boarding passes will be wearings masks, gloves and, in some cases, eye protection. (Chokshi, 5/21)

Even as they battle a virus that has claimed more than 90,000 lives in the U.S., hospitals are scrambling to address another onslaught: a mental-health crisis in their ranks. As the Covid-19 pandemic grinds on into its third month, many doctors and nurses on the front lines say they are physically and emotionally drained. The psychological burdens are felt across the spectrum of hospital staff, from specialists being rerouted to Covid-19 care, to emergency-medicine workers dealing with low stocks of protective gear and the recurring loss of patients who are forced to die alone. (Chen, 5/21)

When Crystal Holloway entered the room on the 14th floor of Northwestern Memorial Hospital to introduce herself to a new patient, Tanya Adell-O’Neal was so out of breath, Holloway remembered, she could barely speak. But she got out a few crucial words: “I have to tell you,” Holloway, an ICU nurse, remembered Adell-O’Neal saying. “I’m a nurse myself.”“I was like, ‘Oh, God …’” Holloway recalled. “Like, ‘I hope that she’s not critiquing me … critiquing my techniques.’ That was absolutely the first thing I thought.” (Jaffe, 5/22)

Two studies published today in JAMA Network Open reveal a 1% COVID-19 infection rate in healthcare workers (HCWs) in hospitals in the southern Netherlands and Wuhan, China, but with higher rates in HCWs who reported no exposure to COVID-19 patients. The first study, involving 9,705 HCWs screened at two teaching hospitals in Breda and Tilburg, the Netherlands, identified 1,353 who reported fever or respiratory symptoms. Of those workers, 86 (6.4%) tested positive for the novel coronavirus, representing 0.9% of all HCWs. Only 3 (3.5%) reported exposure to a patient who tested positive for COVID-19. (Van Beusekom, 5/21)

Most attempts to use artificial intelligence to transcribe doctor visits are aimed at limiting documentation burdens for physicians and making it easier to load clinical information into electronic health records. A new company founded by a cardiologist at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) is flipping that script: It is focused on transcribing visits for patients, documenting key details about their visits on a personalized app that they control. (Ross, 5/22)

Kaiser Health News: Coronavirus Tests The Value Of Artificial Intelligence In Medicine
Dr. Albert Hsiao and his colleagues at the University of California-San Diego health system had been working for 18 months on an artificial intelligence program designed to help doctors identify pneumonia on a chest X-ray. When the coronavirus hit the United States, they decided to see what it could do. The researchers quickly deployed the application, which dots X-ray images with spots of color where there may be lung damage or other signs of pneumonia. (Gold, 5/22)

The COVID-19 pandemic shifted telemedicine from an outlier to a necessity almost overnight, and doctors say they can't see ever going back to their old model of care. "It's hard to imagine us going back to doing everything in the office," said Joe Kvedar, MD, president-elect of the American Telemedicine Association in Arlington, Virginia, "It's more convenient, patients are happier, we get the information we need, and we can open up more slots for other patients." (Van Beusekom, 5/21)

When a man in Seoul tested positive for the new coronavirus in May, South Korean authorities were able to confirm his wide-ranging movements in and outside the city in minutes, including five bars and clubs he visited on a recent night out. (Shin, Jin and Smith, 5/22)

People arriving in the U.K. will have to quarantine themselves for 14 days and could be fined 1,000 pounds ($1,220) if they fail to comply under a plan being announced Friday by the British government. Home Secretary Priti Patel will set out details of the measures, which have already sparked confusion and criticism from airlines, airports and lockdown-weary Britons wondering whether they will get to take a vacation aboard this summer. (Lawless, 5/22)

The members of Malaysia’s Parliament, wearing face masks to match their crisp white uniforms, convened this week in the vast lower house chamber for the first time this year. Malaysia’s king, Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, sat on an ornate golden throne and spoke for half an hour. No questions were allowed. No votes were taken. Afterward, Parliament was adjourned until July. This is what passes today for democracy in Malaysia. (Paddock, 5/22)

The last time they faced a proposal that would have curbed their autonomy from mainland China, Hong Kong residents flooded the city’s streets, stormed its legislature and clashed with police amid flames and clouds of tear gas. They stared down local leaders, who they said were doing the bidding of Beijing, and ultimately the government relented. But Hong Kong’s pro-democracy opposition movement is now confronting a far mightier foe: Beijing itself. (Wang and Ramzy, 5/22)

The coronavirus pandemic accelerated across Latin America, Russia and the Indian subcontinent on Friday even as curves flattened and reopening was underway in much of Europe, Asia and the United States. Many governments say they have to shift their focus to saving jobs that are vanishing as quickly as the virus can spread. In the United States and China, the world’s two largest economies, unemployment is soaring. (Hinnant, Saaliq and Biller, 5/22)

At the end of Italy’s coronavirus lockdown, one of the camels broke free. On a narrow field surrounded by low-rise apartments, bus stops and a tangled ribbon of highway ramps, the camel scampered past lions, which leapt against their cage. It distracted the acrobats practicing their flips on an aerial hoop and sauntered toward the languid, pregnant tiger, and stalls of horses and African Watusi bulls. An animal tamer, wearing a welding helmet as he attended to some repairs, quickly chased the camel down. (Horowitz, 5/22)

When confronted with disaster, believing that everything will change is all too easy. How is it possible to write poems after Auschwitz, to enjoy a Sunday stroll in Lower Manhattan following 9/11, or, indeed, to dine in restaurants after a pandemic kills hundreds of thousands of people in the span of a few cruel months? In 1974, the sociologist Jib Fowles coined the term chronocentrism, “the belief that one’s own times are paramount, that other periods pale in comparison.” The past few weeks have, understandably, confronted us with an especially loud chorus of chronocentric voices claiming that we are on the cusp of unprecedented change. Academics, intellectuals, politicians, and entrepreneurs have made sweeping pronouncements about the transformations that the pandemic will spur. (Mounk, 5/21)

Nadia began coughing on March 27. The 4-year-old Malayan tiger’s keepers at the Bronx Zoo in New York City also noticed she wasn’t finishing her daily allotment of raw meat. Concerned, they called in Paul Calle, the zoo’s head veterinarian. The team immobilized and anesthetized Nadia, so she could be put through a series of X-rays, ultrasounds, and routine blood work to look for known causes of respiratory disease in cats. “Since New York City is the epicenter for Covid in the U.S.,” said Calle, “we wanted to make sure we checked her for that, too.” (Peeples, 5/18)

When Kelsey Foster started hiking the Appalachian Trail in early March, she had left her whole life behind — her job, her apartment, her family. The mood was still lighthearted as news about the coronavirus trickled out to hikers in those first few days. “There started being kind of jokes about it, like, ‘You left society at the right time,’” Ms. Foster said. “‘There’s no way to social distance better than being a backpacker.’” But by the end of the month, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, the organization that leads management of the trail, which crosses 14 states along its 2,190-mile route from Georgia to Maine, was urging hikers to stay away. (Yuhas, 5/21)

In late February, the virus expert Nevan Krogan called an early morning meeting at his UCSF lab in Mission Bay and told 20 fellow scientists that their lives were about to change. The new coronavirus, which emerged in China, was now spreading from person to person in California. Health authorities had just confirmed it. Soon the virus known as SARS-CoV-2 would be everywhere, Krogan realized, and many were bound to die. But maybe the San Francisco scientists could do something to help, Krogan told the group, if they agreed to work through the night at the lab, achieving in months or weeks what normally would take years, racing to complete one big project. (Fagone, 5/1)

It was a Friday in the hospital after a particularly grueling week when Dr. Foluso Fakorede, the only cardiologist in Bolivar County, Mississippi, walked into Room 336. Henry Dotstry lay on a cot, his gray curls puffed on a pillow. Fakorede smelled the circumstances — a rancid whiff, like dead mice. He asked a nurse to undress the wound on Dotstry’s left foot, then slipped on nitrile gloves to examine the damage. Dotstry’s calf had swelled to nearly the size of his thigh. The tops of his toes were dark; his sole was yellow, oozing. Fakorede’s gut clenched. Fuck, he thought. It’s rotten. Fakorede, who’d been asked to consult on the case, peeled off his gloves and read over Dotstry’s chart: He was 67, never smoked. His ultrasound results showed that the circulation in his legs was poor. Uncontrolled diabetes, it seemed, had constricted the blood flow to his foot, and without it, the infection would not heal. A surgeon had typed up his recommendation. It began: “Mr. Dotstry has limited options.” (Presser, 5/19)

Muhammad Rehman Shirzad squints against the late afternoon sun as he scrambles up the side of a steep ravine in the district of Surobi on the eastern edge of Afghanistan’s Kabul Province. This rugged gorge, only an hour’s drive from the national capital, is a far cry from the sprawling pink-and-red poppy fields that have long put Afghanistan at the heart of the global heroin trade. But these high, rocky outcroppings are home to a plant that may soon play as central a role in the country’s drug economy as the infamous opium poppy. Rehman, a forensic scientist with the Afghan government’s Forensic Medicine Directorate, stops to catch his breath and scans the uneven ground ahead. He is searching for Ephedra sinica, a hardy, sage-colored shrub that grows abundantly across central and northern Afghanistan. The plant contains a naturally-occurring stimulant called ephedrine — the synthetic version of which is a common ingredient in decongestants and weight loss pills, and is often used to make crystal methamphetamine. (Hendricks, 5/20)

What ever happened to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention? The nation’s public health agency, long considered world-class, a source of expertise, rapid response and trusted communications in multiple disease outbreaks, has been sidelined in the largest public health emergency of the past century. The American people are worse off for it. The CDC and the voice of its scientists must be restored. Last Sunday, President Trump’s White House trade adviser, Peter Navarro, complained that the CDC “really let the country down with the testing.” According to The Post, Deborah Birx, who is overseeing the administration’s coronavirus task force, confronted Robert Redfield, the director of the CDC, at a White House meeting, saying she was frustrated at the agency’s antiquated system for tracking virus data. “There is nothing from the CDC that I can trust,” she was quoted by sources as saying. (5/21)

Less than 1% of Americans live in nursing homes, yet these facilities account for between 15% and 25% of Covid-19 cases and half of all deaths from the disease in some states; in Minnesota, nursing home residents and workers account for 81% of all Covid-19 deaths. If we hope to contain SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, until we have better treatments or a vaccine, we need a concerted national testing effort focused on nursing homes. From a public health perspective, they are not only areas of focused harm but are also wells of infection that may keep the pandemic rolling unless we take drastic steps. (Donald H. Taylor, Jr., 5/22)

The mean arterial pressure was well over 100 and the patient’s heart rate was racing. In an emergency room hastily converted into an I.C.U., abnormal vital signs were not unusual. Intubated coronavirus patients lined the unit, ventilators and IV pumps crammed in between their beds. The patients needed fluids, sedatives, paralytics, antibiotics. Some needed heparin (a blood thinner) for the raging blood clots that Covid-19 incited. Others whose blood pressure had plummeted were being given vasopressors. (Danielle Ofri, 5/22)

When the official counts began to show that covid-19 was hitting black communities in America with a particularly deadly punch, I had to admit to feeling dread on two levels.The first was a deep concern about widespread illness and death in majority-black counties and Zip codes. The second wave was a deep-seated concern about how the rest of America would respond to that.­­ (­­­Michele L. Norris, 5/21)

Mourning is still occurring in America, particularly among people of color. Former President Barack Obama highlighted it in his speech to the Class of 2020, saying that the “pandemic has shaken up the status quo and laid bare a lot of our country’s deep-seated problems.” When Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot was recently asked about the fact that 70% of those who have died from COVID-19 in Chicago are African Americans, she called the news “absolutely shocking” and “really hard for me to take…in.” While I appreciate Mayor Lightfoot’s emphatic response, as an African-American health professional I must disagree with her on one critical point: Nothing about this outcome is shocking. (Christie Lawrence, 5/21)

President Trump said this week that he was taking the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine as a measure against Covid-19, the illness caused by SARS-CoV-2. This, even though he is not known to have tested positive for the virus or to have any symptoms of the disease — and even though scientific evidence is growing that the drug offers no benefit to Covid-19 patients and could be dangerous to some people. The president’s decision is puzzling. And yet it does highlight the urgent need to devote more attention and resources to drugs that can prevent Covid-19 or stop mild cases from getting worse. (Richard Malley and Marc Lipsitch, 5/22)

There have been approximately 5 million confirmed cases of Covid-19 around the world. I’m one of them. In March, my partner, a sheriff’s deputy and first responder in New Hampshire, tested positive for the disease. A few weeks later, so did I. Our symptoms varied, and his were more severe than mine. We both feel fortunate to have recovered. But, like millions of others who have done so, we’ve been left with a burning question: Now what? Are we now immune from future infection? And, if so, for how long? (Alexander Spinelli, 5/21)

In the coming months, much conversation will be centered around how to mitigate and prepare for pandemics like COVID-19. As we look at the death toll from this disease, reports show that many of the people who died had obesity and other related ailments including Type 2 diabetes. There’s a clear correlation between death rate and obesity and diabetes — the more severe, the higher the death rate. One way to mitigate these problems is to put nutrition at the forefront of the conversation. With a healthy population, America is better prepared to fight viruses or other unforeseen health concerns. (Jeff S. Volek, 5/21)

My husband, our first-grade child, and I managed to get on what was likely one of the last planes out of Nicaragua the day President Trump banned overseas flights from Europe due to the Covid-19 outbreak. It was an abrupt end to our latest journey to a part of the world where cervical cancer, which I study, often means a premature death with disastrous consequences for the family that is left behind. (Emma McKim Mitchell, 5/22)

The best prophet, Thomas Hobbes once wrote, is the best guesser. That would seem to be the last word on our capacity to predict the future: We can’t. But it is a truth humans have never been able to accept. People facing immediate danger want to hear an authoritative voice they can draw assurance from; they want to be told what will occur, how they should prepare, and that all will be well. We are not well designed, it seems, to live in uncertainty. Rousseau exaggerated only slightly when he said that when things are truly important, we prefer to be wrong than to believe nothing at all. The history of humanity is the history of impatience. (Mark Lilla, 5/22)

I live alone in New York City, and the only human I have had contact with since COVID imprisoned us all in place is my best friend, Herb, who comes over for dinner. We are both older and therefore at risk and quarantine-wise, we are in harmony. We see only one another, we do not go out without masks and, when sheltering in place finally ends, we have the same plan on when to return to movies and restaurants, which is never. But I see a problem ahead. Close friends and I have started discussing Add-Ons, as in: “If you’re not seeing anyone but Herb, and I’m not seeing anyone but my husband, what would be wrong with us meeting in the park and sitting six feet apart and having a sandwich? Or you could come up to my place, wash your hands, sit on the couch and I would make you a cup of coffee. In fact, I could make us dinner. Why not? Nobody is sick here.” (Joyce Walder, 5/22)

President Trump’s top priority throughout the covid-19 crisis and his presidency has been protecting the health and well-being of Americans. Nothing exemplifies this leadership like our new Operation Warp Speed, which is marshaling the world’s best minds to develop and deploy a vaccine in record time. The sacrifices Americans have made through social distancing have helped slow the spread of the virus and save lives. Moving forward, we need to confront the misconception that going back to “normal life” just means balancing the health risks of reopening against the economic costs of aggressive social distancing. Returning to normal isn’t about balancing health vs. the economy. It’s about balancing health vs. health: the health risks of covid-19 balanced against the health, social and economic costs of keeping Main Streets across the United States closed for business. (Secretary of Health and Human Services, Alex M. Azar, 5/21)

If reopening—and staying open—is the goal, the most important question that workplaces, schools, restaurants and retailers should be asking isn’t how to maintain social distancing on their premises. Nor is it how to disinfect workspaces or whether to mandate face masks. The most important question is what they will do when an employee, customer, teacher or student tests positive for Covid-19, and what they will do if that person dies. Thinking clearly about how to handle new infections is critical to building and maintaining public confidence in reopening efforts. If organizations bungle their responses to new infections that occur within their facilities, it will serve as an invitation for political leaders again to engage in the knee-jerk, fear-fueled policy making that led us down the road of ineffectual lockdowns in the first place. (Joseph A. Ladapo, 5/21)

As our nation faces the historic challenge of COVID-19, the public health risks of confining people in close quarters in jails and prisons have received significant attention. However, much less attention has been paid to the public health risks of confining people in psychiatric hospitals. That must change. We must reduce the population of psychiatric hospitals for the safety and lives of patients, staff, and their families. (Ira Burnim, 5/21)

“It tires me to talk to rich men,” said Teddy Roosevelt, himself a product of wealth. “You expect a man of millions, the head of a great industry, to be a man worth hearing. But as a rule, they don’t know anything outside their own businesses.” Had T.R. spent time with Bill Gates, the polymath who predicted the pandemic in a TED Talk, he likely would have made an exception. (Timothy Egan, 5/22)