One hundred thousand Americans may die; the Senate, the House of Representatives, and the Supreme Court take different approaches to reopening; and beautiful spring weather is enticing people to ignore social distancing. Get coronavirus updates from over the weekend and this morning:
- As of this morning, the world has more than 3.5 million confirmed cases, and nearly a quarter of a million people have died. At home we’ve had almost 1.2 million confirmed cases and almost 68,000 deaths. Worldwide 1.1 million have recovered, and in the U.S. recoveries total 180,000.
- President Trump now says as many as 100,000 Americans will die from COVID-19. But even as he acknowledged that the coronavirus has been deadlier than he had previously predicted, he pressed to reopen the country.
- The coordinator for White House coronavirus response efforts says it is “devastatingly worrisome” to see crowds of demonstrators protesting stay-at-home orders while also refusing to follow social distancing guidelines or wear masks. Stillwater, OK, withdrew its mandate to wear masks after it was met with threats of violence. And a security guard at a store in Michigan was fatally shot, reportedly after asking a customer to wear one.
- The United States Senate will reopen today, while the Congress stays away and the Supreme Court hears its first-ever case via teleconference (which the public can listen to live). Re-opening part of Capitol Hill poses health risks not just for the lawmakers but the cooks, cleaners, police officers and other workers who keep the lights on at the Capitol complex.
- As a result of coronavirus, as many as 1 in 4 people in the United States may face hunger.
- Seven states in the Northeast are banding together to purchase PPE, ventilators, and other needed equipment.
- U.S. weapons makers have teamed up with medical device companies to increase the supply of ventilators that can be used to combat the coronavirus pandemic.
- Warm weather was too hard to resist for people across the country who crowded beaches and parks. Mobile phone data shows that more Americans are choosing to leave home despite orders.
- Experts are trying to figure out why the coronavirus is so capricious, walloping some places and sparing others.
- Millions of people were allowed to return to work in Italy Monday as Europe’s longest lockdown started to ease, while countries from Iceland to India took a patchwork of steps to loosen coronavirus restrictions.
- In Russia the number of infections has been rising quickly over the past few days, fueling concerns that the nation’s hospitals could be overwhelmed.
- Tanzania pulled from circulation test kits that had returned positive results on samples taken from a goat and a pawpaw.
- For 47 days and nights, staff and residents of a nursing home in France quarantined themselves together to wait out the pandemic. Coronavirus tests conducted on the residents and staff all came back negative.
- No, you can’t live out the quarantine on a private island at Disney World.
- An 11-year-old girl wrote a letter to thank her mail carrier. Virtually the entire USPS responded.
- Thinking about murder hornets in the U.S. probably isn’t the distraction you need.