Coronavirus Quick Hits: More States Open Up as the U.S. Death Toll Passes 50,000

Here are some of the major coronavirus developments making headlines right now . . .

1.  The U.S. death toll passed 50,000 on Friday, and now stands at over 200,000 worldwide.  Earlier this month, the White House said the best case scenario was 60,000 total deaths here.  Now it looks like we’ll pass that in the next few days.

2.  There was some good news for New York though.  For the first time all month, fewer than 400 new deaths were reported in New York state yesterday.

3.  Meanwhile, a bunch of other states are set to open back up early this week.  Including Colorado, Mississippi, Minnesota, Montana, and Tennessee.  We still don’t have enough testing to know how many people might be contagious though.  (The “New York Times” has a good map that shows when each state might open up.)

4.  Officials in Maryland, New York, and Illinois saw a spike in calls to poison control about exposure to disinfectants over the weekend.  That’s after President Trump’s press briefing last week where he wondered if patients could be treated by “injecting” them.  (There’s also been a huge spike in people mixing cleaning products lately.  So it’s possible some of the calls were about that.)

5.  Meanwhile, President Trump skipped his briefing on Saturday, saying they feel like a waste of time because of how they’re covered.  Quote, “They get record ratings, and the American people get nothing but Fake News.”  He also bashed Fox News for their coverage.  Now sources claim the White House plans to shift its focus, and talk more about boosting the economy.

6.  The World Health Organization says there’s no evidence yet that having the virus creates antibodies that would make you immune.  But don’t read too much into that.  It IS how other coronaviruses work.  And ongoing studies in South Korea suggest it does create antibodies.  There’s just not enough evidence yet to say anything definitive.

7.  In a new interview yesterday, the chairman of the board at Tyson Foods said the “food supply chain is breaking” due to less demand, and because they’ve had to shut down some of their meatpacking plants.  So it could cause a temporary shortage later on while they ramp back up.

8.  A new report found more than 200 large, public companies applied for at least $855 million in PPP loans that were supposed to go to small businesses.