New predictions for the U.S. are moving in the wrong direction. An uplifting connection between Ireland and Native American tribes. And an early instance of COVID-19 in Europe. Here’s the latest news about coronavirus:
- The world now has more than 3.6 million confirmed cases. More than a quarter of a million people have died, while almost 1.2 million have recovered. Here in the U.S., we’re approaching 1.2 million confirmed cases. With almost 69,000 deaths we’ve lost nearly twice as many people as Italy and the U.K, the next-deadliest outbreaks. But we’ve also had more than 187,000 recoveries.
- An analysis prepared by several Trump administration departments projects that the number of coronavirus deaths will increase to about 3,000 each day by early June. New infections could reach 200,000 a day. Another new model shows we could have nearly 135,000 deaths by August, an increase that reflects the easing of social distancing already underway.
- Texas, Georgia and other southern states are leading the way in letting stay at home orders expire and gradually allowing people go about their business. But the early days of the opening in Texas show that many residents are staying home anyway.
- The Food and Drug Administration is stiffening its rules to counteract what some have called a Wild West of antibody testing for the coronavirus.
- Fifteen children have been hospitalized in New York with a mysterious syndrome that appears to be related to COVID. The syndrome has also been reported in several European countries.
- The virus is burning through communities where the economy centers around raising hogs and cattle and processing their meat, including the hot spots of Waterloo, Iowa, Grand Island, Nebraska, and Worthington, Minnesota.
- Donations to native American tribes who have been badly hit by the coronavirus crisis are coming in from Ireland as they repay a debt dating back to the 19th-century potato famine.
- Classes in tents. Roommates assigned based on coronavirus antibody tests. Residences set aside for quarantined students. U.S. college life could look dramatically different when classes resume in the fall.
- Intelligence shared between the U.S., United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand indicates that it's “highly unlikely” the coronavirus originated in a lab in Wuhan, China. Meanwhile, an internal Chinese report warns that Beijing faces a rising wave of hostility in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak that could tip relations with the United States into confrontation.
- Read a collection of first-hand accounts from health care workers around the world.
- South Korea reported its lowest daily increase in coronavirus cases since Feb. 18, as the country restarts professional sports and prepares to reopen schools.
- As Britain undergoes what will likely turn out to be Europe’s worst outbreak, the government has come under criticism from scientists, who say it has neglected the fundamentals of epidemic control.
- French doctors say they found a COVID-19 patient from December. If verified, this finding would show that the virus was already circulating in Europe at that time—well before the first known cases were diagnosed there.
- A graphic designer is adapting famous book covers to reflect the times.
- Creative parents are finding charming photographic ways to take their children on adventures without leaving home.