PARIS President Emmanuel Macrons government has beaten back the coronavirus, prevented mass layoffs, propped up the salaries of the unemployed, staved off long food lines, and achieved a lower death rate than its neighbors, Germany excepted.
Mr. Macron ordered a strict lockdown that lasted nearly two months, and when it was over the virus was barely circulating. But while the early response could be faulted for some sluggishness and a shortage of masks, and more than 29,000 people died, France has fared better than many in the pandemic, especially when compared with the United States, Italy, Spain and especially Britain.
Just dont tell that to the French, who resent Mr. Macron for it more than ever.
The French expect much of their leaders, and almost always find them wanting. Mr. Macron is no exception. In fact, the better the results, the less willing, it seems, the French are to applaud their president. That pattern has held virtually since Mr. Macron took office in 2017, casting a shadow over a term expiring in two years.
Mr. Macron reduced unemployment and created more jobs, but the French resented him for loosening labor protections. He evened out the countrys helter-skelter pension system, and there were months of strikes by aggrieved unions and citizens distrustful of his intentions.
Even as the French celebrated their provisional release from lockdown this week with the much-anticipated partial reopening of cafes and restaurants, the coronavirus has only reinforced the paradox of the presidents uneasy relationship with his own citizens.
Deconfinement is going pretty well, said Olivier Galland, a sociologist at the National Center for Scientific Research. But the French dont seem satisfied. But I dont think they can ever be satisfied.
On Friday the head of the governments scientific council, the immunologist Jean-Franois Delfraissy, declared the epidemic under control in France, in an interview on French radio. Still, the French, far more than their European neighbors, have judged the governments performance in response to the health crisis harshly.
Distrust is a structural element of French society, stable and well-established, Mr. Galland wrote in a recent paper on The Great Depression of the French for Telos, a widely followed political science website.
On average, over half of Europes citizens, outside of France, view their governments performance in response to the virus favorably, even in countries with far worse records. In France, 66 percent have an unfavorable view, according to a recent Figaro poll.
Mr. Macron stiffened and looked impatient when he was asked recently on French television about his unpopularity.
Look, I dont sit around feeling sorry for myself, he said. Im looking ahead.
For decades this country has known doubt and division, Mr. Macron added. I dont believe in miracles. This distrustful France exists. It hasnt changed.
Whatever credit Frances government gets from its success in dealing with the virus has gone instead to Mr. Macrons understated prime minister, douard Philippe.
The news is pretty good, Mr. Philippe said simply last week, after looking at the post-lockdown results. Over 60 percent found him convincing in a poll by the independent Odoxa polling firm for Le Figaro and France-Info.
In a sign of his political ascendancy, Mr. Philippe was on the cover of this weeks LObs, a popular weekly newsmagazine, with the headline, The Tough Guy.
Can Macron do without douard Philippe? the magazine asked, alighting on speculation that Mr. Macron would jettison a prime minister who has stolen the spotlight once the crisis ended.
Yet the governments measures a tightly enforced lockdown, mobilization of French technology like high-speed trains to save patients, and closely followed counsel from scientists were Mr. Macrons. That is the French way: the president decides, and the nation follows.
But that means Mr. Macron takes the blame, too, for the early shortage of masks, which the government did not initially admit to and a spokeswoman minimized. The affair riled the French media for several weeks, but has since largely dropped from view. On the streets some wear masks but many do not.
Whats most problematic is that were actually being lied to, said Marie Balaril, 27, a social-sciences instructor at a Paris university, as she recalled the governments refusal to acknowledge that the country had faced a mask shortage.
The president has vigorously defended his record. Lets be honest, Mr. Macron said in the recent television interview. At the beginning of March nobody was talking about masks.
When I look around, nobody was ready, he said. Nobody. Nobody.
The per capita death rate in France is higher than the United States, with more than 100,000 deaths. But France has a population density a key variable in the epidemic more than three times greater. Frances hospitalization and death curves have been in sharp decline since about the second week of April.
In contrast to those on the street, many experts and others interviewed gave the government good marks.
Guillaume Chiche, a parliamentarian who recently deserted Mr. Macrons party another sign of the French presidents waning popularity said the governments actions were very strong.
Now, they seem logical. But at the time they were anything but neutral, Mr. Chiche said, pointing to the moves to prop up salaries, ban religious ceremonies, and impose the lockdown. I think they made choices that were optimal.
Updated June 5, 2020
The unemployment rate fell to 13.3 percent in May, the Labor Department said on June 5, an unexpected improvement in the nations job market as hiring rebounded faster than economists expected. Economists had forecast the unemployment rate to increase to as much as 20 percent, after it hit 14.7 percent in April, which was the highest since the government began keeping official statistics after World War II. But the unemployment rate dipped instead, with employers adding 2.5 million jobs, after more than 20 million jobs were lost in April.
Mass protests against police brutality that have brought thousands of people onto the streets in cities across America are raising the specter of new coronavirus outbreaks, prompting political leaders, physicians and public health experts to warn that the crowds could cause a surge in cases. While many political leaders affirmed the right of protesters to express themselves, they urged the demonstrators to wear face masks and maintain social distancing, both to protect themselves and to prevent further community spread of the virus. Some infectious disease experts were reassured by the fact that the protests were held outdoors, saying the open air settings could mitigate the risk of transmission.
Exercise researchers and physicians have some blunt advice for those of us aiming to return to regular exercise now: Start slowly and then rev up your workouts, also slowly. American adults tended to be about 12 percent less active after the stay-at-home mandates began in March than they were in January. But there are steps you can take to ease your way back into regular exercise safely. First, start at no more than 50 percent of the exercise you were doing before Covid, says Dr. Monica Rho, the chief of musculoskeletal medicine at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago. Thread in some preparatory squats, too, she advises. When you havent been exercising, you lose muscle mass. Expect some muscle twinges after these preliminary, post-lockdown sessions, especially a day or two later. But sudden or increasing pain during exercise is a clarion call to stop and return home.
States are reopening bit by bit. This means that more public spaces are available for use and more and more businesses are being allowed to open again. The federal government is largely leaving the decision up to states, and some state leaders are leaving the decision up to local authorities. Even if you arent being told to stay at home, its still a good idea to limit trips outside and your interaction with other people.
Touching contaminated objects and then infecting ourselves with the germs is not typically how the virus spreads. But it can happen. A number of studies of flu, rhinovirus, coronavirus and other microbes have shown that respiratory illnesses, including the new coronavirus, can spread by touching contaminated surfaces, particularly in places like day care centers, offices and hospitals. But a long chain of events has to happen for the disease to spread that way. The best way to protect yourself from coronavirus whether its surface transmission or close human contact is still social distancing, washing your hands, not touching your face and wearing masks.
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.
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.)
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 dont 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 dont replace hand washing and social distancing.
If youve 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.
Still, he joined 13 other members of parliament who deserted the French presidents party in May, depriving it of its majority a symbolic blow widely interpreted in the French media as an ominous sign for Mr. Macrons future.
Mr. Chiche, an ex-Socialist, has been one of the presidents critics on the left, a group judging him too favorable to business and urging him to define a new horizon, as Mr. Chiche put it.
Frederic Keck, an anthropologist and biosecurity expert, also at the National Center for Scientific Research, called Mr. Macrons handling of the pandemic pretty good.
Very centralized management around the president. Very French, but also relatively efficient, he said.
This dissatisfaction is the reflection of an excessive demand for security, Mr. Keck added. But he, too, noted that Mr. Macron was not getting much credit.
Over half the French approve of the governments reopening plan. But they dont approve of Mr. Macron: Just 30 to 40 percent judged him up to dealing with the epidemic. In another Figaro poll, 62 percent of respondents found Mr. Macrons manner arrogant and authoritarian.
In some ways Mr. Macron is his own worst enemy, with a style that can come off as imperious. His speeches during the crisis were lengthy and literary, both trademarks. He first reproached the French for lacking a sense of responsibilities, then later praised them for their discipline.
He likes these lyrical effusions, and people just arent keen on that, Mr. Galland said.
In the recent television appearance, Mr. Macron was shown meeting a group of unhappy top chefs by videoconference from the lyse Palace.
The chefs some of the most famous names in French cuisine, including Alain Ducasse didnt conceal their frustration at being forced to stay closed during the lockdown.
Were not optimistic about the survival of about half of our restaurants, Mr. Ducasse said.
Mr. Macron was not impressed. He smiled slightly at the grumbling, then administered a lesson to the complaining chefs.
Look, I like liberty as much as you, Mr. Macron said. But what youve got to remember is that its good to exercise this liberty in a country like France. Its good to live in a country where the state is strong.
He added, pointedly, There are other countries where the state is letting people fail.
Constant Meheut contributed reporting.
Two nurses in the pediatric intensive care unit at Children's National Hospital in Washington, D.C., communicate via walkie-talkie, as one helps on floor with COVID-19 patients and her colleague stands by to assist. Eman Mohammed for NPR hide caption
Two nurses in the pediatric intensive care unit at Children's National Hospital in Washington, D.C., communicate via walkie-talkie, as one helps on floor with COVID-19 patients and her colleague stands by to assist.
The first sign that something was wrong came with stomach pains. It was April 30, and 9-year-old Kyree McBride wasn't feeling well.
His mother, Tammie Hairston, thought it might have been something that he ate. But soon, young McBride was battling a 102-degree fever.
Worried he may have contracted the coronavirus, Hairston took her son to the hospital. "It was a quick in and out of the emergency room," she said. Doctors told her to take him home and monitor him.
The fever, though, didn't break. In a telemedicine call with McBride's doctor a few days later, Hairston was told to hang tight. Then the stomach pains came back, stronger this time. Then vomiting. Later, Kyree's skin began to develop a reddish hue.
By the time he was finally admitted to Children's National Hospital in Washington, D.C., more than a week later, doctors determined that although he was negative for COVID-19, he had developed antibodies for the coronavirus.
It was a sign he'd already been infected and recovered from COVID-19. And it mirrored what they had been seeing in dozens of young patients who since the start of the pandemic have been diagnosed with a condition known as Multisystem-Inflammatory Syndrome in Children, or MIS-C.
Since April, when cases of the syndrome were first detected in Europe, doctors have been puzzling over the mysterious new condition, one they're attributing to complications linked to COVID-19. While early research suggests the condition is rare, experts are still racing to answer even the most basic questions about the illness, such as why some children are more susceptible than others, how to safely treat it and what it might mean for their long-term health.
The connection to COVID-19
Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, young children have been the least likely of all age groups to become seriously ill with the virus, though they can still become infected and spread it.
When they do become infected, they often don't exhibit symptoms, making it nearly impossible for parents to know whether they have the coronavirus or may be at risk for MIS-C.
The majority of known cases have been concentrated on the East Coast. New York state has reported more than 150 cases. Washington has seen more than 30 cases, according to Children's National. Cases have also been reported in a handful of other states, including California, Louisiana, Mississippi and Washington state.
The youngest confirmed patient was just a few weeks old. At least four children one in Louisiana and three in New York are reported to have died from the condition.
"A new phenomenon for us"
Children's National has been one of the leading hospitals in the nation treating patients with MIS-C. Doctors there have seen 35 patients with the syndrome since the end of April, according to a hospital spokesperson. But the exact number has been difficult to pinpoint, in part because the condition is so new and because the diagnostic guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are still loosely defined.
"It's definitely a new phenomenon for us, and it definitely has a lot of implications that we are all quite concerned about," said Dr. Michael Bell, the chief of critical care medicine at Children's National.
Dr. Roberta DeBiasi, the hospital's chief of pediatric infectious diseases, says staff has seen the syndrome manifest itself in a variety ways.
The first, which has drawn the most attention, appears to mimic Kawasaki disease, an inflammatory illness that causes inflammation in the blood vessels, particularly the coronary arteries.
Patients showing these symptoms are "the most obvious type" of cases, said DeBiasi. "They may have very high fevers, red eyes, red lips, red tongue. They may have a rash over their body. They may have a swollen lymph node, swelling of their hands and feet."
In other cases, patients might exhibit "lots of inflammation," according to DeBiasi. Like McBride, they may also experience severe abdominal pain.
The many unknowns
The good news at Children's National is that they have not had a child die from MIS-C.
"We really have a way of ... identifying them early, treating them early so that kids don't get sicker," said Karen Smith, the chief of hospitalist medicine at Children's.
Despite that success, doctors are still trying to understand a key question about the condition: when children are getting it.
"Is this acute viral? Is this post-infectious? Is it a combination? We've got to figure this out in our patient cohort," DeBiasi said.
The majority of the hospital's MIS-C patients do not test positive for the coronavirus, yet they have the antibodies that signal they've recovered from the virus. That implies a post-infection response in which kids' immune systems are overreacting to the coronavirus after fighting off an active infection, DeBiasi said.
A nurse prepares to process a COVID-19 testing kit for results at the laboratory at Children's National. Eman Mohammed for NPR hide caption
A nurse prepares to process a COVID-19 testing kit for results at the laboratory at Children's National.
A rapid-testing device is used to test patient's samples for COVID-19 at a laboratory at Children's National. Eman Mohammed for NPR hide caption
A rapid-testing device is used to test patient's samples for COVID-19 at a laboratory at Children's National.
Doctors are also trying to figure out which children are getting MIS-C. Initially, there were no reported cases of the condition in China or on America's West Coast. One possible explanation for the regional disparity in the U.S., DeBiasi said, could stem from the theory that the West Coast was hit by a variant of the coronavirus from China, while the East Coast was hit by one from Europe
DeBiasi also wonders whether some kids, as with adult populations, are more vulnerable as a result of health disparities.
"There does seem to be more infection and severity in some of the racial or ethnic groups or perhaps even genetic predispositions," she said.
But she suspects the answer might be simpler. Children could be getting sick as a result of continued exposure to the coronavirus spreading in their community.
"I think what's happening here is these kids that are being re-exposed out in the community to a virus that they saw and made an appropriate immune response to, initially," she said, adding that now, "that immune response is just inappropriately revved up."
However, given the uncertainty, doctors at Children's say they are trying to be conservative when it comes to diagnosing MIS-C because the treatments involved can strain young, growing bodies.
Nurses from the pediatric intensive care unit put away protective equipment in order to sanitize it after being used by a staff member at the Children's National Hospital. Eman Mohammed for NPR hide caption
Nurses from the pediatric intensive care unit put away protective equipment in order to sanitize it after being used by a staff member at the Children's National Hospital.
There are also concerns about possible long-term risks from the illness.
The children with MIS-C who end up in critical care often have inflammation in their heart and in other organs, said Bell of the hospital's critical care division. He considers, as one example, the lifelong effects on a 5-year-old who has MIS-C.
"If she has some terrible swelling from it, which could be coronary arteries that get dilated, and might have heart attacks when she's 6, that's going to affect her for 70 years of life expectancy," he said. "Yes, fewer kids get this. Fewer kids get critically ill with it. But it's not like there's not a huge impact to child's health."
"I try to keep an eye on him"
Kyree McBride is feeling better, but he's still low energy. At a recent checkup, doctors gave him a heart monitor because his heart is arrhythmic.
Hairston, his mother, continues to frantically monitor him.
"I'm always feeling his head and making sure he don't have any more fevers and asking him, you know, every hour on the hour, 'Are you OK? Are you feeling OK? Let me feel your head,' " she said.
The hospital was a scary time for McBride, and she worries that he'll be hesitant to tell her if something else goes wrong.
"I try to keep an eye on him," Hairston said.
She advises other parents to be watchful, and, if in doubt, to take their child to the hospital.
Care home residents are on course to make up more than half the deaths caused directly or indirectly by the coronavirus crisis in England, according to a new analysis.
The study warns that the death toll by the end of June from Covid-19 infections and other excess deaths is likely to approach 59,000 across the entire English population, of which about 34,000 (57%) will have been care home residents.
The estimate, produced by the major healthcare business consultancy LaingBuisson, includes people who list a care home as their primary residence, wherever they died including those who died in hospital.
It is based on data from the Office for National Statistics, as well as the analysts own modelling of the number of care home resident deaths likely to have occurred in the absence of the pandemic.
The new study coincides with mounting concerns over the failure to protect care homes earlier in the pandemic. Senior care industry figures point to the decision to move some hospital patients back to care homes in mid-March. There have also been complaints that non-Covid-related healthcare became less accessible to homes during the height of the pandemic, leading to extra deaths.
It also emerged last week that Public Health England (PHE) warned in February that elderly people should not be discharged from hospitals to care homes if there was a serious risk of passing on the virus.
However, a letter sent to care providers from NHS England and the government on 19 March, which aimed to free up hospital capacity, ordered the safe and rapid discharge of those people who no longer need to be in a hospital bed. The new default will be discharge home today.
Figures released by NHS England show 25,060 patients were moved from hospitals to care homes between 17 March and mid-April, when guidance was formally changed to ensure testing took place.
[The treatment of care home residents is a] scandal which is just emerging
William Laing, the author of the new analysis on excess deaths among care home residents, said their treatment was a scandal which is just emerging. He said he believed a series of failings were behind the high number of excess deaths.
At the peak of the crisis, there were widespread reports of normal medical support simply being removed from care homes, he said. Ambulances would not turn up to take emergencies to hospital, since capacity had to be kept clear for Covid cases.
In-person GP house calls were replaced with occasional telephone calls. In the absence of any expectation of active medical support, care home residents were encouraged to consider what instructions they should give in the case of serious illness from whatever cause, with many opting for DNR (Do Not Resuscitate).
At the same time, care homes were being asked by NHS Trusts to accept discharges without knowing the coronavirus status of the patient concerned. Meanwhile, shortages of PPE [personal protective equipment] must have aided transmission.
The scenario described here absence of normal medical care exacerbated by PPE shortages - is the only one that can satisfactorily explain the concentration of collateral damage (non-Covid excess deaths) as well as Covid deaths within the care home population.
Martin Green, chief executive of Care England, said: I saw letters from GPs sent to care homes saying we will not be doing consultations, we will not be sending people to hospital. I think theres a real issue that lots of people just were denied access to hospital.
Things are now getting better, but it just wont be about how we maintain that position. As the lockdown starts to ease in other parts of the society, people would expect it to ease in care homes, and care homes are desperate to be able to get families back in contact with residents, and there are serious risks there. Youre going to have to have testing on a very regular basis. You might be having to test once a week in care homes.
Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents trusts, said that while there was an issue around the transfer of some patients over a small number of days in March, there was no mass movement of patients into care homes without tests and that hospitals worked closely with homes. They were trying to balance two priorities - how on the one hand do we get patients discharged [to create capacity for possible Covid-19 patients], but also, how do we protect the care sector?
Layla Moran, the Lib Dem MP, warned: Vulnerable care home residents and workers were effectively abandoned without adequate access to testing or PPE. This has become the biggest scandal of the whole pandemic. Those responsible will need to be held to account in an inquiry once the crisis is over.
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When Amira Chowdhury joined a protest in Philadelphia against police violence on Monday, she wore a mask to protect herself and others against the coronavirus. But when officers launched tear gas into the crowd, Chowdhury pulled off her mask as she gasped for air. I couldnt breathe, she said. I felt like I was choking to death.
Chowdhury was on a part of the Vine Street Expressway that ran underground. Everyone panicked as gas drifted into the dark, semi-enclosed space, she said. People stomped over her as they scrambled away. Bruised, she scaled a fence to escape. But the tear gas found her later that evening, inside her own house; as police unleashed it on protesters in her predominantly black neighborhood in West Philadelphia, it seeped in.
I cant even be in my own house without escaping the violence of the state, said Chowdhury, a rising senior at the University of Pennsylvania. On Wednesday, she said her throat still felt dry, like it was clogged with ash.
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The Philadelphia protest was one of many instances in recent days in which police launched tear gas a toxic substance that can cause lung damage into crowds. In a statement, Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said that officers had no choice but to release it after protesters threw rocks at them and refused to disperse, and that officers also used nonchemical white smoke to minimize the amount of the irritant while maintaining a deterrent visual effect. She called it a means to safely [defuse] a volatile and dangerous situation.
But tear gas is not safe, according to a number of experts interviewed by ProPublica. It has been found to cause long-term health consequences and can hurt those who arent the intended targets, including people inside their homes.
This would be enough of a problem in normal times, but now, experts say, the widespread, sometimes indiscriminate use of tear gas on American civilians in the midst of a respiratory pandemic threatens to worsen the coronavirus, along with racial disparities in its spread and who dies from it.
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As an immunologist, it scares me, said Dr. Purvi Parikh, an allergy and immunology doctor at NYU Langone Health. We just got through a brutal two months, and Im really scared this will bring a second wave [of COVID-19] sooner.
It puts black communities in an impossible situation, said Dr. Joseph Nwadiuko, an internist and researcher at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. Thirteen of the 15 coronavirus patients in the intensive care unit where he works are black, he said. I worry that one of the compounding effects of structural racism is youll see a second wave of black patients, including those who were out there defending their lives.
On Tuesday, an open letter signed by nearly 1,300 medical and public health professionals urged the police to stop using tear gas, smoke, or other respiratory irritants, which could increase risk for COVID-19 by making the respiratory tract more susceptible to infection, exacerbating existing inflammation, and inducing coughing.
Heres what you need to know about tear gas and how its being used by law enforcement in recent days.
Tear gas can cause long-term harm, by making people more susceptible to contracting influenza, pneumonia and other illnesses.
Tear gas is the generic term for a class of compounds that cause a burning sensation. Most law enforcement agencies in the U.S., including the Philadelphia Police Department this week, use a chemical called CS, short for 2-chlorobenzalmalononitrile.
CS activates a specific pain receptor, one thats also triggered by eating wasabi, said Sven-Eric Jordt, a professor of anesthesiology at Duke University. But CS is much more powerful, up to 100,000 times stronger than the sting from wasabi, he said.
They are really pain nerve gases. They are designed to induce pain.
CS is particularly painful when it gets on your skin or in your eyes. (Doctors have advised protesters not to wear contact lenses.) When inhaled, the pain induces people to cough. The compound degrades the mucus membranes in your eyes, nose, mouth and lungs the layers of cells that help protect people from viruses and bacteria.
Scientists know little about how CS affects the general public. The most comprehensive studies were conducted by the U.S. military on thousands of recruits who were exposed to tear gas during training exercises. Afterward, it left them at higher risk for contracting influenza, pneumonia, bronchitis and other respiratory illnesses.
The soldiers were generally healthier than the average person, with fewer underlying conditions like asthma or heart disease. Studies of civilians in Turkey found that people who are repeatedly exposed to tear gas are more likely to have chronic bronchitis or chest pains and coughing that can last for weeks. It may also be linked to miscarriages.
The effects worsen as people are repeatedly exposed to higher doses, Jordt said, but its hard to measure the concentrations of tear gas during chaotic protests, and many who are affected will be reluctant or afraid to seek medical help.
Parikh, the Langone Health doctor, is particularly worried about children at the protests. Their lungs and immune system are still developing, and tear gas could lead to neurological problems or permanent skin or eye damage if its not washed off quickly.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, severe tear gas poisoning, particularly if the gas was released in an enclosed space can blind or kill people through chemical burns and respiratory failure. Prisoners with respiratory conditions have died after inhaling tear gas in poorly ventilated areas. On Wednesday, an inmate at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn died after guards sprayed him with pepper spray, another kind of tear gas that causes similar health effects as CS.
In a statement, the U.S. Department of Justices Bureau of Prisons said the inmate, Jamel Floyd, was caught breaking the cell door window with a metal object and became increasingly disruptive and potentially harmful to himself and others. Medical staff immediately responded to assess the inmate, found Mr. Floyd to be unresponsive, and instantly initiated life-saving measures. An investigation is underway.
Tear gas can increase the spread of the coronavirus and might make some people more vulnerable to catching it.
Its too early to know exactly how tear gas affects coronavirus patients. But Parikh said they both cause lung inflammation. Anything thats an irritant can cause that same inflammatory response, she said. Your lungs can fill with mucus and it can be very difficult to breathe. The muscles narrow; its almost like breathing through a straw.
People with asthma and other respiratory illnesses already have higher baseline inflammation that makes them more susceptible to catching infections like the flu or the common cold, Parikh said, so tear gas could trigger an asthma attack or weaken the bodys ability to stave off COVID-19.
If your lungs are already wheezing and coughing, working hard to expel this tear gas or this irritant, its unable to have that reserve to fight off any infection, whether a virus or bacteria, she said.
Talia Smith, a graduate student at the University of Nebraska, said it only took a whiff of tear gas to trigger an asthma attack when she was protesting in Omaha last Friday. She could barely feel it in her eyes, but her throat just immediately started closing, she said. Smith had brought her inhaler, but the medication inside was running low. Shed only had one asthma attack in her life before this. Smith had a burning feeling in her chest for days afterward, and she went to get tested for the coronavirus; the results are pending. She worries that if she catches the virus while still feeling the effects of the gas, shed be fighting off the disease while her lungs arent at full capacity.
Parikh said theres not enough data on asthma and the coronavirus in general. While asthmatics are at higher risk for all respiratory infections, asthma isnt among the top chronic conditions for the most severe coronavirus patients. We are still seeing many asthmatics get it, so its too soon to say theres no risk at all, she said.
Tear gas weakens the demonstrators protections against the coronavirus, said Dr. Abraar Karan, a physician at Harvard Medical School whos working on the coronavirus response. Infections increase when people cough or talk loudly, he said, and even if someone is wearing a mask, when theyre hit with tear gas, theyll take off the mask as theyre coughing. Not only are you vigorously coughing, youre vigorously inhaling to try and get more air in. Panic can cause a stampede, forcing people into close proximity as theyre expelling large droplets from their mouths, he said, perfectly describing the situation that Chowdhury experienced on Monday.
Karan said hes worried that protests could turn into superspreading events, yet he also understands why people feel they must be there. At the same time, Im worried about my patients whove been destroyed by systemic racism. So racism is killing them as much as a pandemic is.
It will take at least another week before researchers can study whether the protests led to outbreaks. Even then, it will be hard to tell whether the infections were caused solely by the large gatherings or whether tear gas contributed to the increase.
Protesters arent the only people at risk. Tear gas is entering homes and businesses.
Jordt said he was surprised by the sheer quantity of tear gas used by police in recent days, based on what hes seen in online videos and news clips. Instead of reserving it for the most extreme situations, its more like fumigating and flushing people out, he said. Tear gas has become a 1st line response, not a last resort, he added in an email.
Because many protests are occurring in residential neighborhoods, tear gas is now seeping into homes. Parikh compared it to secondhand smoke. Its a terrible situation, she said. To be honest theres not much you can do.
Chowdhury, the UPenn student who participated in the Philadelphia protest, said she couldnt keep out the gas, even when she stuffed T-shirts and towels under the doors and windows. She could still smell it the next morning.
If the gas gets indoors, people should wipe down their countertops and other surfaces with large amounts of water and soap, Jordt said. Any food that wasnt in a closed container could be contaminated and should be thrown out, and in extreme cases with large amounts of tear gas, residents and business owners may need to contact fire departments for recommendations of professional cleaning services, he added.
Companies like Aftermath offer services for biohazard and infection control. Its websites section on tear gas removal says the chemical leaves behind residue that can present serious health hazards if not properly treated. ... Tear gas residue can seep into porous materials like furniture, mattresses, clothing, carpet and even hardwood floors, and continue to irritate the mucous membranes of anyone residing in or visiting the property long after the incident.
Police tactics and tools can make matters worse.
There are many different forms of tear gas and many ways to use it, said Anna Feigenbaum, the author of a recent book on the history of tear gas and an associate professor of communication and digital media at Bournemouth University in England.
Police can spray it from cans, shoot canisters or throw grenades. Manufacturers sell grenades that produce light and noise as they expel tear gas and triple-chaser canisters that break into multiple pieces when they land so the gas can cover a larger area.
The technology for deploying tear gas is advancing far more quickly than scientists understanding of the impacts, Jordt said. While use of these [compounds] is escalating, there is a vacuum of research to back up the safety of high-level use.
Feigenbaum said the current situation is dangerous because law enforcement has used tear gas at close range, in enclosed spaces, in large quantities, fired directly at people, used [it] offensively as a weapon and in conjunction with rubber-coated bullets as a force multiplier.
Last weekend, a college student in Indiana lost his eye when a tear gas canister hit his face.
Tear gas is banned in international warfare, but it is classified as a riot control agent that law enforcement can use for crowd control. Yet instead of calming the situation, tear gas can sometimes cause counter aggression, Jordt said. It just doesnt work well, and it hits the weakest people the most, and causes the most complications in them.
One of the most controversial events occurred on Monday, when law enforcement in Washington, D.C., used tear gas on peaceful demonstrators to clear the way so President Donald Trump could walk to a nearby church for a photo op. A statement from the U.S. Park Police said they used pepper balls with an unspecified irritant powder and smoke canisters. (A reporter with WUSA9 tweeted photos on Thursday of CS containers that he and his team said they found at the site.) The CDC uses tear gas as the catch-all term for many riot control compounds with similar effects.
Monica Sanders, who lives across the river in Alexandria, Virginia, said she could see the smoke from her house, like something from a dystopian reality.
A University of Delaware professor who specializes in disaster management, Sanders said shed thought about attending that protest but decided against it because her lungs were still weak from an earlier infection that might have been the coronavirus. Although she never got tested, Sanders said she came down with a respiratory illness in mid-February that almost sent her to the emergency room. She is a triathlete with no history of asthma. Last October, she swam a 5K race. Today, she cant even swim a mile.
She said, There are other ways to do crowd control that dont involve creating respiratory ailments during a pandemic, in a city that doesnt have enough [medical] supplies.
Maya Eliahou and Caroline Chen contributed reporting.
Are you a public health worker, medical provider, elected official, patient or other COVID-19 expert? Help make sure our journalism is responsible and focused on the right issues.
The 50 wealthiest people in America have publicly donated about $1 billion for coronavirus relief that's a big number, but it adds up to a very small fraction of their combined net worth: less than 0.1%, according to a new survey from the Washington Post.
The survey also found that nearly a third of these billionaires haven't announced any donations, though some who haven't contributed personally point to donations given through their corporations.
"Even many of the billionaires who have announced donations to Covid-19 relief efforts have given amounts that are relatively paltry when compared to the median net worth of an American household, which registers at $97,300," write Roxanne Roberts and Will Hobson of the Post.
Roberts and Hobson used this number to calculate what these billionaires' donations would equate to for the median American. For example, Jeff Bezos, the richest man in the world with a net worth of $143 billion, has donated $125 million. That's equivalent to about $85 for the median American donor, according to the Post's calculations.
Leading the way in terms of amount of personal donations are Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates and Twitter and Square CEO Jack Dorsey.
Gates, who's been one of the most outspoken public figures from the beginning of the pandemic, has donated roughly $300 million through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. That translates into about $283 for the median American.
Dorsey isn't among the 50th wealthiest Americans (he ranks No. 147), but he has pledged $1 billion in equity from Square. That's a large chunk of his net worth, about 28%, and equates to more than $27,000 for the median American. You can see exactly where his money is going on this spreadsheet he created.
Hedge fund manager Ray Dalio has been the most generous among America's 50th wealthiest individuals in terms of donations relative to net worth. He's given more than $100 million of his $18 billion fortune, or about $589 for the median American.
But when it comes to billionaire donations for coronavirus relief, Gates, Dorsey and Dalio are "the exception, not the rule," the Post reports, pointing out that donations from some billionaires, including business magnate Donald Newhouse and Los Angeles Rams owner Stan Kroenke, are equivalent to less than $10 for the median American.
Critics of the nation's wealthiest individuals are quick to point out that they're the ones getting richer during the pandemic: American billionaires saw their fortunes climb $434 billion between mid-March and mid-May, according to a new report from Americans for Tax Fairness and the Institute for Policy Studies' Program for Inequality.
The five richest Americans Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Warren Buffett and Larry Ellison saw their combined fortunes soar by $76 billion.
Don't miss:5 books Bill Gates recommends reading right now
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Scientist Xinhua Yan works in the lab at Moderna in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Feb. 28, 2020.
David L. Ryan | Boston Globe | Getty Images
More Covid-19 vaccines are being developed by researchers in the United States than in any other country, according to the WHO.
The WHO's most recent update on global vaccine development projects, published Tuesday, showed there are currentlyat least133vaccines being tested around the world.
U.S. institutions are working on the highest number of these 42 according to the WHO's list, and Chinese research facilities are working on 19, meaning China is developing the second-highest number of vaccines.
Of the 133 vaccines, 10 vaccines are in the clinical trial phase (meaning they are being tested on human volunteers) and 123vaccines are in the preclinical trial phase.
China is working on more projects in the clinical trial phase than any other country, with the U.S. following close behind.
Projects that have progressed to clinical trials include Moderna's potential vaccine, which the U.S. company said generated some positive data in early tests last month. However, vaccine experts later expressed skepticismabout the company's data. The firm's chairman told CNBC that it would never put out data on its vaccine that varied from "reality."
Another vaccine undergoing human trials is being developed at Oxford University in England, which pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca has agreed to manufacture and distribute at cost. The project, which aims to roll out 30 million doses of the immunization in the U.K. within months if successful, recently received $1 billion in U.S. government funding.
At least 123further potential vaccines are being investigated around the world, according to the WHO, but these are in the earlier "preclinical evaluation" phase of trials meaning they may never be tested on humans.
A number of the projects listed by the WHO are cross-border collaborations, meaning researchers in more than one country are contributing.
Regionally, Europe has the most Covid-19 vaccines in development, with experts at 56 European institutions looking for potential immunizations. There are 54 vaccine projects being conducted across North America, and 25 vaccines being researched in the Asia-Pacific region, according to the WHO's data.
Despite hundreds of scientists looking for a vaccine for the new coronavirus, however, experts have warned that an effective immunization for Covid-19 may never be found. Many have also warned that any successful vaccine would take around 12 to 18 months to be safely rolled out to the market.
Experts have also warned that even if an effective vaccine becomes available,significant logistical challenges will remainaround distributing enough doses for the global population.
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services reported 189 new cases of COVID-19 Saturday, bringing the statewide total to 14,442 since the outbreak began. There have been 809 deaths across Missouri from COVID-19, which is up 10 from Friday.State health officials said that increased testing will be reflected in the numbers. Additionally, some counties are catching up on reporting.The state said it has tested a total of 229,867 people through PCR testing a test that looks for the virus in the nose, throat or other areas of the respiratory tract to determine if there is an active infection and 6.2% of those were positive. The state said it has tested28,480 through serology testing a test that looks for antibodies in the blood and 3.9% of those were positive.[ DHSS COVID-19 DATA DASHBOARD ]The area with the highest concentration of cases remains in the St. Louis area. Data released Saturday shows St. Louis County accounts for 5,029 of the 14,442 cases in the state. St. Louis city reports 1,919 cases and St. Charles County reports 835 cases.The DHSS reports 1,501 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Kansas City, Missouri, and 696 cases in eastern Jackson County. Health officials said there have been 27 deaths in Kansas City, and Jackson County reports 22 total.The state also lists 226 total cases in Clay County (outside of Kansas City), 77 in Platte and 102 in Cass County.
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services reported 189 new cases of COVID-19 Saturday, bringing the statewide total to 14,442 since the outbreak began. There have been 809 deaths across Missouri from COVID-19, which is up 10 from Friday.
State health officials said that increased testing will be reflected in the numbers. Additionally, some counties are catching up on reporting.
The state said it has tested a total of 229,867 people through PCR testing a test that looks for the virus in the nose, throat or other areas of the respiratory tract to determine if there is an active infection and 6.2% of those were positive. The state said it has tested28,480 through serology testing a test that looks for antibodies in the blood and 3.9% of those were positive.
[ DHSS COVID-19 DATA DASHBOARD ]
The area with the highest concentration of cases remains in the St. Louis area. Data released Saturday shows St. Louis County accounts for 5,029 of the 14,442 cases in the state. St. Louis city reports 1,919 cases and St. Charles County reports 835 cases.
The DHSS reports 1,501 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Kansas City, Missouri, and 696 cases in eastern Jackson County. Health officials said there have been 27 deaths in Kansas City, and Jackson County reports 22 total.
The state also lists 226 total cases in Clay County (outside of Kansas City), 77 in Platte and 102 in Cass County.
June 6, 2020, 9:02 AM
6 min read
6 min read
As evidence mounts that the virus that causes COVID-19 can be transmitted through your eyes, researchers suggest that people in high-risk categories should wear eye protection, in addition to practicing social distancing and wearing a mask.
People in high-risk categories, as indicated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, include older adults and people of any age who have serious underlying medical conditions, in addition to frontline workers.
The CDC has not issued formal guidance to the general public for eye protection wear, only for health care workers.
The agency website says that people should wear eye protection in "areas with moderate to substantial community transmission" but that in areas with little to no community transmission "eye protection is considered optional, unless otherwise indicated as part of standard precautions."
When it comes to coronavirus transmission through the eyes, it's not just touching your eyes that is potentially dangerous. Research suggests that the virus can also possibly transmit through the eyes, mouth and nose, from direct exposure of a droplet from coughing, sneezing or even yelling.
Nurse Amy Tyson adjusts her personal protective equipment before caring for a COVID-19 patient in the Intensive Care Unit at Sharp Memorial Hospital amidst the coronavirus pandemic on May 6, 2020, in San Diego.
A recent study published in Lancet reviewed the risk of viral transmission with social distancing, face covering and eye protection. Although not conclusive, this large study suggests that you are three times less likely to get COVID-19 if you wear eye protection.
Specifically, the study shows that face shields, goggles and glasses were associated with a lower risk of infection compared to no eye covering, with a reduction of risk to 6% from 16%.
Hospitals and health care settings have different policies in place to protect individuals from COVID-19 transmission through the eyes, according to Dr. Todd Ellerin, chief of infection prevention at South Shore Health.
"It is my recommendation that for our patients, our universal precautions should include wearing a mask, a face shield, and hand hygiene," he told ABC News.
Medical workers don personal protective equipment before entering the room of a patient with COVID-19 in a Stamford Hospital intensive care unit, on April 24, 2020, in Stamford, Conn.
But what about outside of the hospital, in everyday life?
According to some researchers, it might be a good idea for everyday people to don eye protection in addition to a mask - especially if you have an underlying medical condition or you work in a job with a lot of interface with the public, such as at a grocery store.
"We know from feline and mouse models of other coronaviruses that infection through the eye is possible. However, given the above evidence, wearing eye protection in high-risk situations seems prudent," said Dr. Vincente Diaz, specialist in ocular immunology and infectious diseases and assistant professor of clinical ophthalmology at Yale University School of Medicine.
"If choosing between glasses and contacts, glasses can provide an additional protective barrier. If in a situation where one may come in contact with COVID positive patients, PPE with a shield can provide more protection."
We are still learning about COVID-19, but from what we do know, this highly contagious virus can introduce itself to the body through many entries. If worn, eye protection should be used with the other transmission-mitigating measures, including a face mask, social distancing and basic hand hygiene.
Ayodola Adigun, M.D., is a fellow in child and adolescent psychiatry at Yale University and contributor to the ABC News Medical Unit.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. Eighteen new cases of Covid 19 were discovered in West Virginia in the last 12 hours. Saturdays numbers released by the West Virginia DHHR reflected 2,131 cases of the virus since Fridays update.
The cumulative of positive cases compared to the number of tests administered was 1.94 percent. The daily percent positive was .93 percent.
There have been 84 deaths in West Virginia attributed to the Covid 19 Corona virus. The number took a jump Friday when five deaths were announced. DHHR officials reported no additional fatalities from he virus on Saturday.
As of Saturday 109,657 tests have been performed in West Virginia. Those tests continued for a second day in McDowell, Harrison, and Ohio Counties. Those tests are available to anyone seeking to be tested and are part of the ongoing effort to provide free tests to those in minority communities and the medically under served in West Virginia.
As the global death toll of Covid-19 surpasses 390,000, the spread of the virus continues to accelerate in parts of Latin America and Eastern Europe, according to the World Health Organization.
Daily new confirmed cases are pushing new highs, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, with an all-time high of 130,400 new cases confirmed around the world on Wednesday.
Brazil is the second hardest hit country in terms of number of cases, with the third highest deaths in the world, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Despite that, Reuters reported that President Jair Bolsonaro threatened to pull out of the WHO.
In Asia, India's cases surpassed those of Italy, making it the sixth hardest hit country by numbers of case, according to Hopkins data.
In the U.S., cases have been on a gradual rise since Memorial Day weekend, a CNBC analysis of Hopkins data shows. The country is nonetheless pushing forward with reopening. Some of the largest Las Vegas casinos reopened on Thursday, and New York City, the epicenter of the U.S. outbreak, is slated to move into its first phase of reopening on Monday.
This is CNBC's live blog covering all the latest news on the coronavirus outbreak. This blog will be updated throughout the day as the news breaks.
The data above was compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
An Hindu priest of the Bade Hanuman temple sanitises the wall of Hanuman temple after the government eased restrictions as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 coronavirus, in Allahabad on June 5, 2020.
Sanjay Kanojia | AFP | Getty Images
3:28 p.m. Singapore time India's Ministry of Health reported another 9,887 confirmed cases of coronavirus, taking its total to 236,657. That now makes India the sixth hardest hit country as its cumulative cases top those of Italy, according to Hopkins data.
India also reported another 294 deaths, bringing its total to 6,642, according to the health ministry. Christine Wang
10:26 a.m. Singapore time Reuters reported that President Jair Bolsonaro threatened to pull Brazil out of the World Health Organization. He told journalists the country would consider leaving the agency, unless it ceases to be a "partisan political organization," Reuters reported.
On Thursday, Brazil reported a record number of daily deaths from the disease, taking the country's death toll past that of Italy's. Brazil now has the second highest number of confirmed cases and third highest death toll globally, according to Hopkins data.
Health officials have repeatedly that ideally countries would not ease lockdowns until coronavirus transmission rates fall. Bolsonaro has continued to push for lifting restrictions, arguing that the economic damage is greater than the health risks, Reuters reported.
An editorial in a local newspaper said, according to Reuters, that it has been about 100 days since Bolsonaro called the virus a "little flu" and now Covid-19 is "killing a Brazilian per minute." Christine Wang
6:40 p.m. ET In March and April, shares of Boeing and Airbus were at multiyear lows, as orders for planes dried up and losses mounted amid the pandemic.
In two of the past four months, Airbus recorded zero orders for new planes, and for May some analysts expect Boeing to post a fifth straight month of no order growth, CNBC's Phil LeBeau reports. The order drought forced both companies to lower production schedules and to plan for thousands of job cuts.
The outlook still looks rough for the plane makers, but shares of Boeing and Airbus are both up more than 40% in the last month as air travel is showing signs of recovery. The Transportation Security Administration screened 391,882 people at airport security checkpoints in the U.S., the highest number of screenings since March 22. Chris Eudaily
A man enters a Shoe City store as Los Angeles County retail businesses reopen while the COVID-19 pandemic continues on May 27, 2020 in Glendale, California.
David McNew | Getty Images
5 30 p.m. ETCalifornia is set to lift major restrictions next week, include allowing schools and day camps to reopen statewide. Counties that have met certain health criteria can also reopen bars, gyms, campgrounds and professional sports, according to the Associated Press.
Most of the new businesses allowed to reopen are part of the third phase in the state's reopening plan. Hannah Miller
4:30 p.m. ETThe Women's National Basketball Association is considering resuming a 22-game season starting July 24, according to a report from ESPN.
Players would receive 60% of their normal salaries under the plan, but details have not been released concerning player housing or play-off structure. The report follows the National Basketball Association's approval of a plan that would include resuming the season on July 31 with 22 teams in Florida. Hannah Miller
3:49 p.m. ET A surprisingly strong May jobs report has widened the gulf between Republicans and Democrats on how to proceed with the economic recovery from the coronavirus.
After the U.S. gained 2.5 million jobs for the month, President Donald Trump outlined a fairly short list of priorities such as a payroll tax cut and more stimulus checks for Americans. Vice President Mike Pence told CNBC that the White House would be "open" to more relief for state and local governments to cover budget crunches created by the pandemic.
Despite the gains, the U.S. unemployment rate fell to 13.3%, a level still higher than at any point after the 2008 financial crisis.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said not injecting more money into the economy now would jeopardize the progress made in May. They want more aid for states and municipalities, additional direct payments and an extension of the enhanced federal unemployment benefit, among other provisions.Congress likely will not consider another economic rescue package for weeks. Jacob Pramuk
3:07 p.m. ET White House health advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNBC that the question of whether to reopen schools in the fall has a "complicated answer" and will depend on the coronavirus' transmission in certain regions of the U.S.
"When you're talking about getting back to a degree of normality and school openings and things like that, it's always related to the level of activity of the virus," he said.
Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said new infections will begin to creep up in the fall and winter months. A second wave of infections later this year is preventable, he said, but it's "the efficiency and effectiveness in which we put the manpower, the systems, the tests to identify, isolate and contact trace, that will determine how successful we are in preventing that wave."
Fauci also said he has "no doubt" that Americans who aren't wearing face masks, especially in large crowds, are increasing the risk of spreading the coronavirus.
His comment came a day after the director of the CDC said he worried Americans aren't following the agency's advice, which includes wearing cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain.Noah Higgins-Dunn, Berkeley Lovelace Jr.
2:55 p.m. ET Hollywood is eager to get cameras rolling again, but the industry wants to ensure sets are as safe as possible.
Until a vaccine is widely distributed, film production is going to need to establish a new normal. Making movies and television has always been a very collaborative endeavor. However, many of the on-set jobs are done in close proximity, and adding a 6 foot social distancing rule could make that work much more difficult.
CNBC spoke with four film industry experts to get a sense of how crews could adapt to temporary Covid-19 regulations and how film production as a whole, from script to final edit, could be altered forever.
Ultimately, these restrictions could change the types of scripts that are written and optioned and could be a chance for independent projects to flourish.Sarah Whitten
2:46 p.m. ET The coronavirus pandemic is continuing to take its toll on the global automotive industry from U.S. automakers tofamed luxury carmakers such as Bentley and Aston Martin.
Volkswagen-owned Bentley said it plans to eliminate up to 1,000 jobs, nearly a quarter of its workforce, through a "voluntary release" program as its business plans have been "clearly derailed by the impact of the pandemic."
Bentley's cuts come a day after fellow British automakerAston Martinsaid it plans to cut up to 500 jobs, "reflecting lower than originally planned production volumes and improved productivity across the business." It employs about 2,600 people globally.Michael Wayland
2:29 p.m. ET The number of fatalities from Covid-19 in New York state was 42 on Thursday, hitting an all-time low since the outbreak began, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. The state also reported the lowest number of total hospitalizations to date.
In late May, the number of lives lost from the virus fell below 100 for the first time since March 24. The daily death toll has been on a steady decline from the height of the state's outbreak in March and early April when close to 800 people were dying every day, according to state data.
Cuomo said New York was able to make significant progress because of its residents, who "changed their fundamental behaviors" and followed social distancing guidelines.
"Eight weeks ago we had 800. Eight weeks. 800 people dying to 42 people dying in eight weeks. Amazing. 'How did you do that?' I did nothing," he said.Jasmine Kim
People wearing masks and gloves wait to checkout at Walmart on April 03, 2020 in Uniondale, New York.
Al Bello | Getty Images
2:05 p.m. ET The World Health Organization said it recommends that governments ask everyone to wear fabric face masks in public in hopes of reducing the spread of Covid-19, updated guidance released by the organizationstates, according to Reuters.
Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO technical lead expert on Covid-19, told Reuters the organization is specifically recommending a fabric face mask because it is a non-medical mask.
The WHO has previously said there was not enough evidence in support or against the use of face masks, though the organization has always recommended them for someone who is sick or who is caring for that person, according to Reuters.
The WHO continues to recommend that all health-care workers dealing with patients who have been diagnosed with or are suspected of having Covid-19 should wear medical masks, Reuters reported. The WHO now recommends, however, that any staff member in contact with patients or residents in clinics, hospitals, care homes or long-term facilities should also wear masks at all times.Alex Harring
1:40 p.m. ET The record gain in jobs last month is the latest data point that suggests a sharp recovery for the U.S. economy from the pandemic-induced recession.
Unemployment is still above 13%, but payrolls, along with travel demand and oil prices, have made big gains in recent weeks.Jesse Pound
1:26 p.m.ET States that were among the earliest to reopen nonessential businesses and lift restrictions on households are doing "tremendous business," President Donald Trump said, though daily new cases in some of those states are gradually rising.
Trump cited Florida, Georgia and South Carolina specifically, all of which had some of the earliest and most ambitious reopening plans. Some epidemiologists criticized plans in states like Florida and Georgia to reopen businesses even as the daily rate of coronavirus infection continued to climb, defying federal guidance.
Some reopened states, including Florida, have seen cases begin to rise. On Thursday, Florida reported 1,419 new coronavirus cases, its biggest single-day increase since Florida's Department of Health began publishing data on the outbreak.
"Look at what's going on in Florida, it's incredible,"Trump said at a news briefing to discuss better-than-expected jobs numbers. "If you look at so many different places that have opened up ...the ones that are most energetic about opening they are doing tremendous business and this is what these numbers are all about."Will Feuer
1:00 p.m. ET Scientists in the U.K.stopped a large trialof hydroxychloroquine after initial results showed no evidence of the anti-malaria drug's benefit in treating Covid-19.
Martin Landray, an Oxford University professor who is co-leading the trial, said patients will stop being enrolled in the trial immediately as it is "not a treatment" for Covid-19.
"We reviewed the data and concluded there is no evidence of a beneficial effect of hydroxychloroquine in patients hospitalized with Covid, and decided to stop enrolling patients to the hydroxychloroquine arm with immediate effect," Landray said.
The decision comes one day after The Lancetretracted an influential study that raised alarmsabout the safety of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, which have been considered experimental Covid-19 treatments.
The authors of the study requested the retraction as the data underlying the paper, which they were not directly involved in the collection of, was placed under scrutiny.Alex Harring
A medical worker wears a protective mask as he rides on a Citi Bike outside the Mount Sinai Hospital entrance in Manhattan during the the COVID-19 shutdown on April 26, 2020 in New York City.
Roy Rochlin | Getty Images
12:31 p.m. ET Wednesday marked the first day of no confirmed coronavirus deaths in New York City since March, according to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
The city's first confirmed death from coronavirus came on March 11, with deaths peaking April 7 at a high of 590, according to the city's data. Confirmed deaths have declined since then, falling below 100 on May 9, CNBC's Will Feuer reports.
The number of confirmed Covid-19 deaths account for patients who tested positive for the virus. There were three "probable" coronavirus deaths on Wednesday, meaning the individuals had symptoms of the virus but had not yet been tested, the city reported.
In New York City alone, more than 202,319 people have been infected by Covid-19, and the city has reported 16,992 confirmed deaths. New York City is set to enter phase one of reopening Monday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. To meet the state's reopening criteria, the city still needs to increase its share of hospital beds available and expand its number of contract tracers deployed. Suzanne Blake
11:37 a.m. ET The U.S. produced 2 million coronavirus vaccine doses that are "ready to go" once scientists figure out whether it is safe and effective, President Donald Trump announced from the White House.
The Trump administration has selected five companies as the most likely candidates to produce a vaccine for the coronavirus, according to the New York Times.
Trump didn't say Friday which ones have started vaccine production. The U.S. government has been working with biotech firm Moderna on a potential vaccine. The company expects to begin a late-stage trial in July.Berkeley Lovelace, Jr.
Close-up of blue logo on sign with facade of headquarters buildings in background near the headquarters of Apple Computers in the Silicon Valley, Cupertino, California, August 26, 2018.
Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images
9:32 a.m. ET Apple is offering employees Covid-19 nasal swab tests as they return to work, according to a Bloomberg report which cited people familiar with the process.
Employees will also have their temperature taken and they'll be required to wear masks around the office, the report stated.
Apple reportedly intends to keep many of its break-room kitchens closed and it will limit the number of people gathering in confined spaces like elevators.
Apple is one of the first big tech firms to start bringing employees back to the office and the company's approach contrasts with other Silicon Valley firms like Google, Facebook and Twitter.Sam Shead
9:21 a.m. ET A new study revealed that widely used drugs to control high blood pressure may help protect against severe Covid-19.
Overall, coronavirus patients with high blood pressure have an increased risk of death and a higher likelihood of needing mechanical ventilation, researchers in the European Heart Journal reported.
The study found patients taking any type of blood pressure drug had a lower risk of death from the virus than those who were not taking any medicine for hypertension.The evidence so far is from observational studies rather than randomized trials.
"We were quite surprised that these results did not support our initial hypothesis; in fact, the results were in the opposite direction, with a trend in favor of ACE inhibitors and ARBs," said coauthor Fei Li of Xijing Hospital in Xi'an, China.Suzanne Blake
8:45 a.m. ET The jobless rate declined to 13.3%, according to data from the Labor Department, far better than economists were expecting and indicated that an economic turnaround could be close at hand.
Employment stunningly rose by 2.5 million in May, by far the biggest one-month jobs gain in U.S. history since at least 1939.
Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been expecting payrolls to drop by 8.333 million and the unemployment rate to rise to 19.5% from April's 14.7%.
Read a full report on the U.S. jobless rate from CNBC's Jeff Cox.Melodie Warner
8:10 a.m. ET Spain's Health Minister Salvador Illa told a news conference that lockdown measures in the cities of Madrid and Barcelona will be scaled back starting next week.
People will be allowed to eat and drink inside bars and restaurants starting Monday, with children able to play outside at any time of day.
Currently customers of bars and restaurants in the two major cities are only able to eat and drink on outdoor terraces, and children's playtime is restricted to dedicated slots.
More than 240,000 people in Spain have contracted the coronavirus, with 27,133 dying of Covid-19 so far, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Spain has recorded the fifth-highest number of confirmed Covid-19 cases worldwide, behind the U.S., Brazil, Russia and the U.K. Sam Meredith
7:30 a.m. ET There is "no question" that the coronavirus will spread among the George Floyd protesters filling the streets in cities across the U.S., but it will take a number of weeks to detect an uptick in cases, former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr.Scott Gottliebsaid.
"It's still a little early to see the impact. You probably want to wait two weeks and a couple replication cycles, or maybe three replications cycles, before you see it," he said in an interview with CNBC's "Squawk Box." "It's a younger crowd, more likely to have asymptomatic illness, so if it starts chains of transmission it's going to take time for those chains to grow into the kinds of numbers where you could detect it."
The U.S. is already beginning to see an uptick since about Memorial Day weekend, when some states eased restrictions on businesses and outdoor areas like beaches. Some states still have an "expanding epidemic," Gottlieb said, adding that we'll have to wait and see what the impact of the protests will be.
"There will be cases coming out of it. There's no question about it," he said. "Whether or not we see an epidemic in these states, that's harder to tell."Will Feuer
Disclosure: Scott Gottlieb is a CNBC contributor and is a member of the boards of Pfizer and biotech company Illumina.
Gravediggers carry the coffin of Avelino Fernandes Filho, 74, during his funeral who passed away from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, May 18, 2020.
Ricardo Moraes | Reuters
6:56 a.m. ET Countries around the world that have eased restrictions meant to curb the spread of the virus have begun to see upticks in infections, the World Health Organization said.
"On upticks, yes we have seen in countries around the world I'm not talking specifically about Europe when the lockdowns ease, when the social distancing measures ease, people sometimes interpret this as 'OK, it's over'," WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris told a U.N. briefing in Geneva, according to Reuters.
"It's not over,"she said, according to Reuters. She added that U.S. protesters should take precautions when gathering. "It's not over until there is no virus anywhere in the world."Will Feuer
Read CNBC's previous coronavirus live coverage here: Brazil's death toll surpasses Italy's, Lancet retracts hydroxychloroquine study
