An informed guide to the global outbreak, with the latest developments and expert advice about prevention and treatment. |
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New York creaks back to life |
Once the epicenter of the pandemic, the city has seen more than 210,000 people infected and nearly 22,000 die. In its darkest moments, the city was losing a resident every other minute to the virus, and the health care system nearly hit a breaking point. |
But the situation has been improving for some time. New infections are down to about 500 a day, around half as many as there were a few weeks ago, and the daily death toll has hovered around 30 for the last few days. |
As many as 400,000 workers are expected to return to their jobs in the first phase of reopening, which allows retail stores to open for pickup and resumes construction and manufacturing work. |
Our colleague Christina Goldbaum, who covers New York, said the streets were mostly empty, but the return of some routines of urban life — “grabbing a two dollar coffee from the local bodega, rushing onto trains during the morning commute, hearing the bangs from construction sites echo between buildings” — offered a sense of normalcy. |
The reopening has been complicated by massive protests for racial justice, which have led some business owners to adjust their plans because of looting or damage. Officials have asked protesters to get tested and have warned that residents should still be cautious as the virus continues to replicate throughout the city. |
“We’re still in what I would say is a moderate transmission phase,” said Dr. Oxiris Barbot, the city’s health commissioner. “Meaning that there are still on a daily basis, hundreds of people that are newly diagnosed.” |
A kiwi success story: After announcing that it had no new coronavirus cases, New Zealand lifted all restrictions on public life — allowing people to remove their masks, shelve social distancing rules and return to something like pre-pandemic normalcy. The country of five million appears to have eradicated the virus after a severe lockdown beginning in March and closing its border to almost all travelers. |
Epidemiologists weigh their risks |
More than 40 percent said that, barring a vaccine or treatment for the virus, they would wait a year or more before attending a wedding or funeral, or meeting up with someone they didn’t know well. The activity they were most likely to forgo forever? Hugging or shaking hands with a friend. “I think the handshake is dead,” one scientist responded. |
But not all normalcy is lost: More than half of the epidemiologists said they might be willing to dine at a restaurant within three months to a year. And there are a few things they would considering doing now, including visiting the doctor, getting a haircut and taking an overnight vacation. |
National unease: Even as states lift restrictions, many Americans aren’t ready to return to their pre-pandemic lives. Two-thirds of voters would be uncomfortable getting on a plane or attending a large gathering, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. And 63 percent say they now always wear a mask when interacting with others in public. |
- Casinos in Las Vegas have reopened, with dealers behind Plexiglas, frequently sanitized dice and temperature checks. But the city faces extreme contact-tracing challenges.
- Boston is one of the few places in the U.S. where some hospitals have allowed priests to perform the Catholic practice known as last rites, after they were trained to safely anoint Covid-19 patients.
- Canada reopened its border with the U.S. to allow in immediate family members of Canadian citizens and permanent residents.
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What else we’re following |
- Officials at the World Health Organization said patients without symptoms aren’t driving the spread of the virus, calling asymptomatic spread “very rare,” CNBC reports.
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended sweeping changes to American offices. In some cases, the rules will transform workaday offices into fortified sites resembling biohazard labs.
- A new study found that shutdown orders prevented 60 million infections in the U.S. and about 285 million in China, according to The Washington Post.
- The virus has found fertile ground in large rural families. Some crowded households in remote areas are more deadly than city blocks, The Wall Street Journal reports.
- How do you provide food aid during a pandemic? Just look to the Sikhs, who have long provided free meals on a mass scale as an essential part of their faith.
- Health officials said a dozen new cases in Pennsylvania can be traced to a recent “beach house gathering” on the Jersey Shore, The New York Post reports.
- Greta Thunberg, the 17-year-old climate activist, is calling on other climate activists to avoid large protests and move their organizing online amid the outbreak, reports The Verge.
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| My daughter and I are on opposite coasts. I screenshot The Times mini crossword puzzle of the day from my email and send it to her. She emails it back completed, commenting on the difficulty level. This daily ritual helps us both feel connected when we can’t visit in person as often as we normally would’ve. |
| — Jeff Dickerson, Mount Tabor, N.J. |
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