During a much-anticipated hearing on Tuesday, top federal health officials will be grilled on whether the country is ready to reopen. The line of questioning from Democratic senators will focus on problems in the testing supply chain, workplace safety standards for businesses that opt to reopen, and why key steps to contain the coronavirus pandemic weren’t taken earlier.
President Trump claimed at a Monday news conference that the United States has “prevailed” in testing more people for coronavirus infections than any other nation. But countries such as Italy, Germany and Canada have tested a much larger share of their populations.
Here are some significant developments:
- Most White House officials will be asked to wear masks in public spaces, but aides say that President Trump is unlikely to follow suit.
- A Colorado restaurant that flouted the state’s stay-at-home order to open on Mother’s Day has been ordered to shut down.
- Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious-diseases expert, says it’s “feasible” that the NFL could have a fall season, though likely one without any football fans seated in the stands.
- The Trump administration plans to issue an alert that Chinese hackers are trying to steal information from researchers working to develop a coronavirus vaccine, which the Chinese government denies.
- Tesla CEO Elon Musk defied local ordinances to reopen a California factory, daring officials to arrest him.
May 12, 2020 at 1:10 AM EDT
Washington State restaurants will have to keep customer logs when they reopen
Restaurants in Washington State that want to reopen their dining rooms will have to keep a daily log of customers, state health officials said Monday.
Washington, which had the nation’s first coronavirus outbreak, has allowed some activities to resume as part of the first phase of the state’s gradual reopening. Restaurants aren’t allowed to seat patrons until phase two, but Gov. Jay Inslee (D) is authorizing some small counties that haven’t reported any coronavirus cases for three weeks to reopen on an accelerated timeline. As of Monday, eight small counties, many of them located in rural eastern Washington, had entered phase two.
Restaurants in those communities that want to reopen will have to meet a series of guidelines laid out Monday by the governor’s office, including keeping their dining rooms at half capacity and ensuring that buffets and salad bars remain closed. All menus and condiments must be single-use, and customers are “strongly” encouraged to wear masks when not seated at their tables.
Restaurants offering table service also have to record the names of all customers that come in, along with their phone numbers and email addresses. Officials said Monday that the log should be kept for 30 days, and would be used for contact tracing if an outbreak occurs.
The requirements will stay in place as other parts of the state begin to reopen.
By Antonia Farzan
May 12, 2020 at 12:50 AM EDT
Perspective: Pregnant women are urged to avoid stress. What happens when a pandemic makes that impossible?
A few days before schools and offices started to shut down around New York City in March, I developed a cough. Then came low-grade flu-like symptoms, clicking sounds in my lungs and total loss of taste and smell. I spent hours on the phone that week with doctors and nurses, all of whom told me to stay home, isolate and avoid emergency rooms if possible. I recovered without getting tested for the novel coronavirus.
My main concern while sick was my pregnancy. Despite the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidance that transmission of the coronavirus during pregnancy is unlikely, I knew there were still many unknowns. As my stress mounted about not being able to access testing or know whether the baby was okay, I also became stressed about being stressed.
By Ambreen Ali
May 12, 2020 at 12:22 AM EDT
In rural France, the coronavirus bolstered a sense of community and isolation
PARIS — In December 2018, a handful of “yellow vest” protesters walked 482 miles from Lozère, a district in southern France, to the presidential palace in Paris. They collected grievances from people they met along the way: people who felt isolated, forgotten by the government, socially and economically disconnected from the French capital.
Now, in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, isolation has become a means of survival, and the people of Lozère have found themselves at something of an advantage. As of Friday, only 20 people in the district had been found to have had the coronavirus, with just two of them hospitalized. Lozère is the only district in metropolitan France to count just one coronavirus death.
By James McAuley
May 12, 2020 at 12:20 AM EDT
Trump claims U.S. outpaces world in coronavirus testing, but numbers tell different story
Amid criticism that the United States has not done enough to test its population for coronavirus infections as cases have soared, President Trump claimed Monday that his administration is besting the world in testing and that it will help states expand such efforts, which are a key element of lifting the safety restrictions that have shuttered much of the economy since March.
But the White House event Monday afternoon amounted to an acknowledgment that there is not yet enough testing capacity across the United States, even as more than 40 states are in some stage of lifting restrictions on travel, work and school.
By Anne Gearan, Brady Dennis, Philip Rucker and John Wagner
May 12, 2020 at 12:20 AM EDT
White House implements stringent mask policy — but not for Trump
Three days after a top aide to Vice President Pence tested positive for the deadly coronavirus — throwing President Trump and his team into an anxious frenzy — the White House made official for its employees what have long been prescribed for the public at large: masks.
A memo Monday instructed most White House officials to wear masks or face coverings in the West Wing, as well as avoid “unnecessary visits” there — directives to prevent the novel coronavirus from spreading further inside the presidential compound.
The request does not apply to staff members seated at their desks if they are “appropriately socially distanced,” and Trump is not expected to wear a mask in the White House, aides said.
By Ashley Parker, Josh Dawsey and Philip Rucker
