This is the Coronavirus Briefing, an informed guide to the global outbreak. Sign up here to get the briefing by email.
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America’s 50 states have all begun to reopen, but in vastly different ways.
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Brazil authorized the use of hydroxychloroquine for coronavirus patients, even though it has not been shown to offer them any benefit and carries dangers.
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Amnesty International denounced Singapore for handing down death sentences over Zoom calls during the country’s lockdown.
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Get the latest updates here, plus maps and a tracker for U.S. metro areas.
Disasters complicate pandemics, and vice versa.
The flooding in Central Michigan and the powerful cyclone plowing into South Asia are showing us how the measures we take to be safe from one kind of calamity can heighten our danger from another.
When a dam bursts or a ferocious storm bears down, the people in harm’s way must evacuate their homes and find shelter — the opposite of staying at home and maintaining social distancing. So fleeing the flood exposes you to the coronavirus, and fleeing the coronavirus exposes you to the flood.
Cyclone Amphan, one of the strongest Indian Ocean storms in decades, slammed into the east coast of India on Wednesday and menaced Bangladesh. Both countries are densely populated, and both are under lockdown orders.
More than three million people living in swampy coastal areas of the two nations evacuated to emergency cyclone shelters. But some of the shelters were only half-full, because of widespread fear of packing into places where the virus could spread easily.
And in Michigan, after two dams on the Tittabawassee River failed on Tuesday, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer implored residents to evacuate immediately — but also to keep following social-distancing precautions, which she acknowledged would not be easy in shelters.
“To go through this in the midst of a global pandemic is almost unthinkable,” the governor said. “But we are here, and to the best of our ability, we are going to navigate this together.”
At a high school in Midland, Mich., volunteers in masks set up cots and air mattresses six feet apart, encouraged people to sanitize their hands every two hours and frequently wiped down surfaces with disinfectant, The Detroit Free Press reported.
“Everything is just so weird right now,” one evacuee at the school told the paper. “I’m just waiting for the meteor.”
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New York City hospitals enter a new phase
New York City hospitals have seen a sharp drop in coronavirus patients and have begun to transition to the next stage in their fight against the outbreak.
Our correspondent Sheri Fink has covered the pandemic from inside the city’s hospitals since the beginning. We asked her about the new reality.
What is the biggest change you’ve seen?
Right now, the big noticeable change is in the emergency rooms. All the staff is covered in protective gear, filling the emergency room, and there are very few patients.
How have staff members been faring emotionally?
There’s this strange thing happening where everyone is thanking them and clapping for them, but they are grappling with guilt because they couldn’t save everybody. Doctors, nurses and hospital staff are used to life and death, but they’re not used to death on this scale, and they’re not used to feeling so helpless.
What are the hospitals up against now?
They’re facing a number of challenges. They can’t start elective surgeries because of an executive order from the governor that currently bans them — and that affects the bottom line. They’re also concerned that people aren’t coming to their clinics, so they face this challenge of convincing the public that it’s safe. And also, they don’t know what lies ahead. There are a lot of people who are convinced that there’s going to be a second wave in the fall, or even mini-waves. So they’re having to prepare for every scenario, while they are still grappling with the previous ones.
The hurdles in the race for a vaccine
More than 100 research teams are working on vaccines for the coronavirus, with early results offering hope that one will be released in record time — perhaps sometime next year. But finding a safe, effective vaccine is just part of the puzzle: It also has to be produced and distributed.
Manufacturing vaccines is very complex, and no single company will be able to meet the global demand. And along with a vaccine — or better, several — we’ll also need all of the necessary supplies, like syringes, vials and bandages; shortages of any of them could create a bottleneck, too.
One thing the European Union hopes won’t get in the way: fights over intellectual property rights. The union has proposed a voluntary pool for sharing vaccine patents.
Getting closer: A prototype vaccine has been found to protect monkeys from the coronavirus, and may point the way to effective human vaccines.
Different routes: Scientists are taking at least four main approaches to developing a vaccine, some well established (they worked for diseases like chickenpox and measles) and others still highly experimental.
Curbed enthusiasm: News of a small but promising human trial for a vaccine developed by a biotech company, Moderna, lifted hopes and stock markets this week. But several vaccine experts told the medical news site Stat that it was all but impossible to assess the findings because the company had released very little information.
Reopenings
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Connecticut has allowed restaurants, offices, stores and malls to reopen, with safety measures in place.
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In New York State, religious gatherings of up to 10 people can resume, and visitors will once again be allowed at 16 hospitals.
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Though fear and anxiety linger in Hong Kong, the city is humming back to life, our China correspondent Vivian Wang reports.
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The reopening situation in California is evolving rapidly. Our Q. and A. explains what you need to know.
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Face shields, sneeze guards, temperature checks: See how businesses in Spain and Italy are adapting to a new world.
Here’s a roundup of reopenings and remaining restrictions in all 50 states.
What you can do
Increase your internet speed. Our Tech Fix columnist explains how to diagnose and, when possible, fix a lousy connection. One tip: If your router is more than five years old, it should be replaced.
Take a cue from Times journalists. Our reporters, critics and editors have started Google Docs with their quarantine recommendations. Check out the horrors movies they’re watching, the books they’re buying and the food they’re cooking.
Go camping at home. If you have a backyard, throw up a tent, roast s’mores over a fire pit and enjoy the novelty of sleeping somewhere else — while still having access to your own bathrooms.
What else we’re following
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention quietly released more detailed guidance for reopening safely, after the White House had shelved an earlier version.
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Being cut off from support systems at school is taking a toll on the mental health of American children.
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As some workers return to office buildings, they may face unexpected health threats, like built-up bacteria in stagnant plumbing systems that can cause Legionnaires’ disease.
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In an extraordinary shift in policy, hundreds of unaccompanied migrant children and teenagers have been quickly deported by U.S. authorities during the pandemic without a chance to speak to a social worker or plead for asylum.
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Some people who have survived the coronavirus say they have been shunned by relatives and friends.
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Residents in 11 of the world’s most overvisited tourist destinations told The Times about the bittersweets ways the crisis has transformed where they live.
What you’re doing
We are a family of seven kids, and Mom sends out a writing prompt each day. It’s usually a question or something to reflect on, but it’s interesting to read all the responses. Prompts have ranged from what was your favorite and least favorite childhood meal to what is the thing you miss most during stay-at-home. We are spread out all over, but this helps us to stay connected.
— Elise Edwards, Washington, D.C.
Let us know how you’re dealing with the outbreak. Send us a response here, and we may feature it in an upcoming newsletter.
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Lara Takenaga and Jonathan Wolfe helped write today’s newsletter.
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