Many governors from states such as Texas, Minnesota, Vermont ,and Montana, have gradually begun to reopen. Many announced dates for easing certain restrictions on Friday. President Trump shared broader guidelines on Thursday but will ultimately leave specific plans up to governors.
What We Know:
- Hundreds of nursing homes in areas with outbreaks have repeatedly violated infection control rules, a Washington Post analysis found. Of about 650 homes with publicly reported coronavirus cases, 40 percent have been cited more than once for violations related to infection control.
- As officials weigh reopening the economy, experts still do not have a definite answer as to how deadly COVID-19 is. Without widespread testing, it remains nearly impossible to determine precisely the lethality of the virus. Because of this, officials could be heavily undercounting the real number of cases.
- Trump announced at Friday’s White House briefing that the federal government will reportedly spend roughly $19 billion on a financial relief program to aid U.S. farmers and ranchers struggling due to the coronavirus pandemic.
- Stocks gained for a second straight week on investor optimism over governments taking baby steps toward opening their economies and on early signs that science may be gaining on the coronavirus.
- China’s gross domestic product shrank for the first time in decades as the coronavirus pandemic delivered a devastating blow to the world’s second-largest economy, it may be a glimpse of what may be to come around the world.
Moreover, the death toll in Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak in China, was revised upward by 50 percent on Friday. The change followed widespread criticism of China’s data, although officials offered several reasons for the revision, including at-home deaths that were not included in earlier statistics.
