With stay-at-home restrictions in states such as Alabama, Tennessee and Texas expiring on May 1, millions of Americans will be able to return to stores, restaurants and movie theaters on Friday. Though the death toll from the coronavirus continues to grow, more than half of U.S. states will have eased coronavirus-related restrictions or started preparing to reopen by the end of the week.
Absent of guidance from the federal government, governors across the United States have taken wildly disparate approaches toward balancing public health demands with the need to reopen their state economies. In perhaps the most dramatic example of how these competing priorities have inflamed bitter partisan battles, armed demonstrators stormed Michigan’s state Capitol on Thursday to protest Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s strict stay-at-home order.
Here are some significant developments:
- More than 3.8 million people applied for unemployment benefits last week, bringing the total number of claims filed in the past six weeks to more than 30 million. That figure indicates that nearly 1 in 5 Americans have sought unemployment benefits — a number unprecedented in U.S. history.
- Nearly 900 employees at a Tyson Foods plant in Indiana have tested positive for the coronavirus. A Washington Post investigation found that three of the country’s major meat processors, including Tyson, failed to provide adequate protective gear for workers and that some employees said they were told to continue working while sick.
- U.S. officials are beginning to explore possible retaliation against China for its handling of the pandemic, such as demanding financial compensation. But some members of the Trump administration have warned that the move could strain tensions at a time when China is sending much-needed medical supplies to aid the American response.
- Despite widespread speculation that the coronavirus could have accidentally escaped from a laboratory in Wuhan, China, that did extensive research on how pathogens are spread by bats, there is no evidence of any connection between the two.
- Vice President Pence’s office threatened to retaliate against a reporter who revealed that Pence’s own staff told journalists to wear masks during a Tuesday visit to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., where Pence was photographed maskless, in violation of the medical facility’s policy.
May 1, 2020 at 2: 35 AM EDT
Boeing raises $25 billion in massive bond sale, turns down bailout funds
Boeing has raised $25 billion in a massive debt sale, allowing it to avoid tapping a $17 billion coronavirus bailout fund meant to shore up businesses critical to national security.
The company announced Thursday that it would not accept any additional funding from private or government sources before the bond sale closes Monday. The announcement came ahead of the Friday deadline to accept federal funding through the $2 trillion Cares Act. Federal funds could still filter through to the company’s 17,000 suppliers; Boeing has suggested the broader aerospace manufacturing industry should receive at least $60 billion to see it through the crisis.
By Aaron Gregg and Christian Davenport
May 1, 2020 at 1: 51 AM EDT
China wasn’t wild about Mike Pompeo before the virus. It’s really gunning for him now.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is, according to the official Chinese narrative, an “enemy of humankind” practicing “highly venomous” diplomacy. He’s a “super-spreader” of a “political virus.” He’s a “rumor monger” with a “dark mind.”
This past week, the organs of the Chinese state have unleashed surprisingly personal salvos against America’s top diplomat in a manner reminiscent of the way North Korea used to speak about then-national security adviser John Bolton.
In response to Pompeo’s relentless attacks on Beijing over the coronavirus outbreak — including unsupported claims that the virus could have leaked from a Wuhan lab — China’s most-watched nightly news broadcast has devoted prime airtime to lambasting the secretary of state.
By Anna Fifield
May 1, 2020 at 1: 42 AM EDT
France will encourage cycling post-lockdown by paying for some bike repairs
In an effort to cut down on car traffic and avoid overcrowding on public transit, France will help cover the cost of bike repairs when the country’s nationwide lockdown ends on May 11.
Worried that people will start driving to work when restrictions are lifted, leading to a massive increase in air pollution, France’s environmental ministry on Wednesday announced a 20-million euro (roughly $22 million) plan to encourage cycling instead. As part of the package, the government is offering a stipend of about $55 per person that can be used for new chains, brakes, tires or whatever else they need to get their bikes street-ready.
The funds will also be used to create temporary parking spots for bicycles, and make free lessons available to adults who have never learned how to ride a bike. A separate initiative, which is still in the works, aims to subsidize up to roughly $438 in travel costs for people who commute to work by bike.
By Antonia Farzan
May 1, 2020 at 1: 29 AM EDT
Amazon sales soar as worried consumers shop from home, but costs rise
SEATTLE — The massive shopping surge fueled by the coronavirus pandemic caught Amazon unprepared, even as it drove a 26 percent jump in first-quarter revenue, the company said Thursday.
Now, Amazon plans to spend at least $4 billion in the current quarter to add warehouse and delivery workers, test its staff and provide them with personal protective gear so it can unclog its network that still struggles to meet customer demand for household staples such as toilet paper and bleach. (Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.)
By Jay Greene
May 1, 2020 at 1: 03 AM EDT
A Japanese aquarium wants you to FaceTime with its lonely eels
If you’ve ever wanted to video chat with an eel, the coronavirus lockdown could provide your chance.
In one of the stranger requests to come out of the global pandemic, Tokyo’s Sumida Aquarium is inviting people to take part in a “face-showing festival” for the benefit of its slippery residents, who appear to have forgotten how to behave around humans.
“Let us make an emergency plea,” the aquarium wrote on Twitter this week, according to Agence France-Presse. “Could you show your face to our garden eels from your home?”
The aquarium has been closed for two months, and during that time, the eels have gotten used to a world where visitors aren’t constantly peering into their tanks. They’re now so unaccustomed to people that they burrow into the sand and hide whenever their keepers walk by — which makes it hard for the keepers to check up on their health.
To help the wary eels become reacquainted with humans, aquarium staff are setting up five tablets outside the tanks and inviting people to call the eels on FaceTime. Waving and talking to the eels is encouraged, but shouting is not, due to the animals’ sensitive nature.
The “face-showing festival” will take place from May 3 to May 5, during the peak of Japan’s Golden Week holiday. Typically, the holiday is a busy time for travel, but authorities have urged people to help contain the spread of the coronavirus by staying at home instead — giving them plenty of time to call up some eels.
By Antonia Farzan
May 1, 2020 at 1: 01 AM EDT
Coronavirus hits European economies but governments help shield workers
BRUSSELS — The coronavirus pandemic has dealt Europe an economic wallop on par with that in the United States, but Europe has more successfully managed to shield workers, according to data released Thursday.
The European economy shrank by 3.5 percent in the first quarter of the year, the sharpest decline on record. The U.S. economy contracted by an annualized 4.8 percent during the same period.
The contrast shows the effect of Europe’s starkly different approach to fighting the economy-busting effects of the pandemic, with many governments intervening to subsidize private-sector salaries.
By Michael Birnbaum
May 1, 2020 at 12: 44 AM EDT
How 10 Americans are navigating the coronavirus economy
An artist wakes before 4 a.m. to report to her new job at a grocery store. A restaurant manager tearfully lays off his staff and gives away meals. A personal trainer begins making his own plastic face shields.
These Americans are among 10 people whose journeys The Washington Post will follow over the coming months, as they and millions of others navigate the trail of economic devastation the coronavirus pandemic has left in its wake. They are telling their stories to Post reporters, and The Post is publishing excerpts, edited only for length, from those conversations.
By Rachel Siegel, Kanyakrit Vongkiatkajorn, Renae Merle, Julie Vitkovskaya and Jena McGregor
May 1, 2020 at 12: 34 AM EDT
Democrats question McConnell’s decision to return Senate to business
A prominent Democrat suggested Thursday that the Senate’s return to work next week would put support workers on Capitol Hill — many of them racial minorities — at undue risk of contracting covid-19.
The comment from Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), a former presidential candidate, was an implicit criticism of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s decision to convene the chamber after a month-long hiatus prompted by the coronavirus pandemic, and it highlighted significant discomfort on Capitol Hill over a return to legislative business — even with social distancing precautions in place.
By Mike DeBonis and Paul Kane
May 1, 2020 at 12: 26 AM EDT
Analysis: Betsy DeVos finds new pot of cash to push education agenda: federal relief money
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has found a new pot of cash with which to pursue her school “choice” agenda: money from the $2 trillion coronavirus relief package Congress passed to boost the economy as it deals with the pandemic.
DeVos, who has made it her top priority as education secretary to find alternatives to traditional public school districts, announced this week that she is starting a competition for states to apply for “rethinking” education grants.
By Valerie Strauss
May 1, 2020 at 12: 22 AM EDT
As White House’s social distancing guidelines expire, health experts worry mixed messages will spur public complacency
As the federal government’s social distancing guidelines expire Thursday to be replaced by less stringent advice, health officials worry some governors may relax the measures prematurely and the public will become complacent — even as an estimated 20,000 new cases of the disease caused by the coronavirus are reported daily.
By Yasmeen Abutaleb and Rachel Weiner
May 1, 2020 at 12: 13 AM EDT
More airlines move to make masks mandatory for travelers
Momentum is growing behind the push to require passengers to wear masks when they fly, in hopes of providing an extra layer of protection against the spread of the novel coronavirus.
On Thursday, American, Delta, Frontier and United announced that starting this month, passengers would be required to wear masks or facial coverings when they fly. The shift comes after JetBlue announced a similar policy Monday.
Crew members also will be required to wear masks, the airlines said.
By Lori Aratani
May 1, 2020 at 12: 10 AM EDT
Administration describes a dash for a coronavirus vaccine that would be available in January
The Trump administration is racing to develop a coronavirus vaccine that could be fielded nationwide by January, U.S. officials said Thursday, as national stay-at-home guidance expired.
The January timeline represents a fast pace for vaccine development but still means there would be no fail-safe protection from the novel coronavirus until long after most Americans are likely to have returned to work or school and until after the November presidential election.
Anthony S. Fauci, the United States’ top infectious-disease specialist, said the goal is production of hundreds of millions of doses by January, an effort dubbed “Operation Warp Speed.”
By Anne Gearan, Felicia Sonmez and Erica Werner
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