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Coronavirus Briefing: What Happened Today - The New York Times

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This is the Coronavirus Briefing, an informed guide to the global outbreak. Sign up here to get the briefing by email.

Credit...The New York Times

This afternoon we received a grim note from Mitch Smith, one of the reporters who keep track of The Times’s database of coronavirus-related deaths: “We crossed 100,000 known deaths at about 3:40 E.T. with new data from Illinois.”

One hundred thousand deaths. It’s a staggering toll, larger than the number of American casualties in every military conflict since the Korean War. As we pass this milestone — one that, just last month, President Trump predicted we would never reach — we are reminded how quickly this all happened, and how incomplete our knowledge of the virus remains.

A new study revises the timeline for when the virus began to spread in the West. According to an analysis of the virus’s genome, the earliest known infections in the United States and Europe petered out before they could ignite outbreaks. Instead, the study says, the pandemic was seeded weeks later by a different set of infections.

Carl Zimmer, who writes about science for The Times, said the study demonstrated that most people who get the virus do not end up passing it on; rather, outbreaks stem from a small number of super-spreaders.

“The virus probably arrived a number of times in the United States, before the virus showed up that really set off some of these big outbreaks,” Carl told us.

If correct, the study backs up what public health experts have been arguing for months: that in order to identify the people who could become super-spreaders, we needed rigorous contact tracing and testing early on.

“If there had been large-scale testing in the United States, as there was in South Korea, we could have seen these little sparks of the virus showing up and could have kept an eye on them to see if any were leading to outbreaks,” Carl said. “Instead, scientists are having to be historians now.”

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They saw it coming over a decade ago: Government-supported researchers predicted that a pandemic would one day cause a severe shortage of medical masks. To prepare, multiple federal agencies urged hospitals and policymakers to consider stockpiling elastomeric respirators — industrial masks that can be cleaned and reused, and are certified to protect as well as N95 masks. But the warnings went unheeded.

Now, even as U.S. hospitals face a severe shortage of N95s, the Trump administration has not tried to produce or distribute more elastomerics, a Times investigation found. At the same time, federal regulators have allowed single-use N95s to be worn multiple times and cleaned using unproven decontamination methods.

While elastomerics have practical challenges, like fitting and cleaning, they have failed to catch on largely because of their industrial look and a general reluctance to consider alternatives to N95s, which had been cheap and plentiful before the coronavirus struck.

But administrators at hospitals where elastomerics are being used have credited them with helping to prevent shortages of protective equipment, and health care workers have praised them.

Maggie Astor, one of our political reporters based in New York, became sick with Covid-19 in late March. She wrote about the ordeal and shared some valuable insight, especially on how to maintain a healthy state of mind during the illness:

Having Covid-19 is intensely stressful. It’s not unusual to feel depressed or anxious, or to have panic attacks. Don’t be embarrassed to talk to your doctor about your mental health — it’s just as important as your physical health.

It’s also OK to not be OK. You don’t have to handle this “well,” whatever that means. You just have to get through each day. So go ahead and cry, binge Netflix, do a jigsaw puzzle, reread the entire “Animorphs” series — whatever gets you through the day.

Some people have mild symptoms for the first few days and then suddenly get sicker. Some have fevers that go up and down repeatedly. Some are sick for two weeks straight, then have a few symptom-free days, then relapse. Some have lingering symptoms for months.

This is both maddening and very common. Give yourself as much time to rest as your job and financial situation will allow.

  • The National Hockey League announced a plan to complete its season, with a 24-team playoff tournament hosted in empty arenas in two hub cities.

  • Spain began 10 days of national mourning for victims of the virus. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez waited to begin the period until the whole country had entered its first reopening phase.

  • After months of lockdown, many people in Italy are hitting the beach, and some are flouting social-distancing measures.

  • In Switzerland, events of up to 300 people and spontaneous gatherings of up to 30 will be allowed starting June 6.

Here’s a roundup of reopenings and restrictions in all 50 states.

The Coronavirus Outbreak

  • Frequently Asked Questions and Advice

    Updated May 27, 2020

    • What are the symptoms of coronavirus?

      Common symptoms include fever, a dry cough, fatigue and difficulty breathing or shortness of breath. Some of these symptoms overlap with those of the flu, making detection difficult, but runny noses and stuffy sinuses are less common. The C.D.C. has also added chills, muscle pain, sore throat, headache and a new loss of the sense of taste or smell as symptoms to look out for. Most people fall ill five to seven days after exposure, but symptoms may appear in as few as two days or as many as 14 days.

    • How can I protect myself while flying?

      If air travel is unavoidable, there are some steps you can take to protect yourself. Most important: Wash your hands often, and stop touching your face. If possible, choose a window seat. A study from Emory University found that during flu season, the safest place to sit on a plane is by a window, as people sitting in window seats had less contact with potentially sick people. Disinfect hard surfaces. When you get to your seat and your hands are clean, use disinfecting wipes to clean the hard surfaces at your seat like the head and arm rest, the seatbelt buckle, the remote, screen, seat back pocket and the tray table. If the seat is hard and nonporous or leather or pleather, you can wipe that down, too. (Using wipes on upholstered seats could lead to a wet seat and spreading of germs rather than killing them.)

    • How many people have lost their jobs due to coronavirus in the U.S.?

      Over 38 million people have filed for unemployment since March. One in five who were working in February reported losing a job or being furloughed in March or the beginning of April, data from a Federal Reserve survey released on May 14 showed, and that pain was highly concentrated among low earners. Fully 39 percent of former workers living in a household earning $40,000 or less lost work, compared with 13 percent in those making more than $100,000, a Fed official said.

    • Is ‘Covid toe’ a symptom of the disease?

      There is an uptick in people reporting symptoms of chilblains, which are painful red or purple lesions that typically appear in the winter on fingers or toes. The lesions are emerging as yet another symptom of infection with the new coronavirus. Chilblains are caused by inflammation in small blood vessels in reaction to cold or damp conditions, but they are usually common in the coldest winter months. Federal health officials do not include toe lesions in the list of coronavirus symptoms, but some dermatologists are pushing for a change, saying so-called Covid toe should be sufficient grounds for testing.

    • Should I wear a mask?

      The C.D.C. has recommended that all Americans wear cloth masks if they go out in public. This is a shift in federal guidance reflecting new concerns that the coronavirus is being spread by infected people who have no symptoms. Until now, the C.D.C., like the W.H.O., has advised that ordinary people don’t need to wear masks unless they are sick and coughing. Part of the reason was to preserve medical-grade masks for health care workers who desperately need them at a time when they are in continuously short supply. Masks don’t replace hand washing and social distancing.

    • What should I do if I feel sick?

      If you’ve been exposed to the coronavirus or think you have, and have a fever or symptoms like a cough or difficulty breathing, call a doctor. They should give you advice on whether you should be tested, how to get tested, and how to seek medical treatment without potentially infecting or exposing others.

    • How can I help?

      Charity Navigator, which evaluates charities using a numbers-based system, has a running list of nonprofits working in communities affected by the outbreak. You can give blood through the American Red Cross, and World Central Kitchen has stepped in to distribute meals in major cities.

Take time to disconnect. Overcome Zoom fatigue by designating certain times of the day to be device-free. If you want to decline a call, you don’t need a big excuse — just be honest.

Have a good first date. Getting to know someone virtually? It’s helpful to start with your cameras off, come prepared with a few questions and have a loose plan for the meetup.

Prepare your pup for alone time. Dogs may experience behavioral issues once their owners start leaving home more often. Help transition them to a less social life by leaving them in a familiar safe space and finding new ways to engage their brains.

I shop for two other senior families. When shopping, I take my iPhone and do FaceTime with one of the family members, walk around the store, and they can see the products. It’s like they’re right there with me in a virtual sense, picking out their own groceries.

— Lynne Shapiro, Brea, Calif.

Let us know how you’re dealing with the outbreak. Send us a response here, and we may feature it in an upcoming newsletter.

Sign up here to get the briefing by email.

Carole Landry contributed reporting.

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