Coronavirus Briefing: Who Makes the Rules?

May 7, 2020

An informed guide to the global outbreak, with the latest developments and expert advice about prevention and treatment.

(Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here.)

By Patrick J. Lyons

With another 3.2 million new claims last week, one-fifth of the American labor force has filed for unemployment since mid-March.
The governor of Texas said people in his state would not be jailed for defiantly reopening businesses.
Poland postponed its presidential election, set for Sunday, amid concerns that it could not be conducted safely or fairly now.
Get the latest updates here plus maps, a tracker for U.S. metro areas, and full coverage.

The White House rejects C.D.C. guidelines for reopening safely

To prepare for the day when stay-at-home orders would be eased, public health experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention drew up guidelines detailing what schools, restaurants, churches and other gathering places should do to reopen safely.

But when the agency submitted them to the White House, a battle erupted. Some members of the coronavirus task force complained that the guidelines, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times, were too prescriptive, and requested revisions.

President Trump has been desperate to reopen the economy as quickly as possible, and his aides thought that following the C.D.C.'s safety guidelines would slow the process and be bad for business.

The guidelines for houses of worship ran into especially fierce resistance, a federal official said, with complaints raised that telling churches how to conduct services safely would infringe on religious freedom.

States rush ahead regardless: The guidance the Trump administration has issued for states to start reopening their economies is being widely ignored. According to the criteria, a state should not relax restrictions until its daily case count has been falling for two weeks and steadily fewer tests are coming back positive. But more than half of the 30 states that are reopening now fail on one or both counts.

Not waiting to be told: An analysis of consumer spending data by our colleagues at The Upshot shows that Americans began hunkering down on their own, days or weeks before officials issued social distancing guidelines and stay-at-home orders.

Consumers were spending less, traveling less, dining out less and working less outside the home. Small businesses were scaling back employment and even closing up shop.

That suggests, they write, that people will also choose their own moment to emerge and reopen their businesses and their wallets and will not necessarily jump when governors say.

The Times is providing free access to much of our coronavirus coverage, and our Coronavirus Briefing newsletter — like all of our newsletters — is free. Please consider supporting our journalism with a subscription.

Covid-19 is striking Latinos with particular force

Epidemiologists around the U.S. have noticed an unsettling disparity: Latinos are contracting the virus at higher rates than the population as a whole.

In Iowa, Latinos account for more than 20 percent of coronavirus cases, though they make up only 6 percent of the population. In Washington State, it's 31 percent of cases, compared with 13 percent of the population.

Public health experts believe it may be because many Latinos work in low-paying jobs on the front lines and lack access to health care. They also tend to have higher than average rates of diabetes and other underlying conditions that increase their vulnerability.

The disparities are largest in states like Oregon, Washington and Utah, whose Latino communities are newer and less established. In states like California, Arizona and New Mexico, longstanding Latino communities with more resources have infection rates that are closer to those of non-Hispanics.

Racial disparities in Britain: Black people in England and Wales are twice as likely to die from the coronavirus as white people. Experts attribute the disparity to underlying health and social inequalities.

And in New York City, video images of disputes between police officers and minority residents have raised questions about whether there is a racist double standard in how social distance rules are being enforced.

Promising news on the immunity front

A new study of 1,343 people in the New York area found that nearly everyone who has had the coronavirus — even those who experienced only mild symptoms — makes antibodies at levels that may confer future protection against the disease.

There had been worries that some patients seemed to have few or no antibodies, but the new study suggests that it's a matter of when the test is administered: People with meager results in the first few days after recovery often developed healthy amounts of antibodies later on. The researchers recommended waiting three weeks after the onset of symptoms.

Scientists don't yet know for certain whether the antibodies confer immunity. But if they do, the new study suggests that nearly everyone who recovers from Covid-19 will have immunity.

Killing the virus with light: Special ultraviolet light fixtures installed on walls or ceilings could play a role in reducing the spread of the virus. The technology, known as "upper-room ultraviolet germicidal irradiation," is already used to disinfect the air in hospitals, but stores and restaurants could do the same to reassure jittery customers.

New York was the virus's main gateway to the U.S.

The coronavirus outbreak in New York City has been the primary source of infections around the United States, researchers have found, as both visitors and locals carried it across the country before stay-home orders were imposed.

How do they know? Genetic studies, travel histories and outbreak models connect the dots. "We now have enough data to feel pretty confident that New York was the primary gateway for the rest of the country," said Nathan Grubaugh, an epidemiologist at the Yale School of Public Health.

Reopenings

Soccer teams in Germany, Italy and Spain have resumed training in the hope of restarting their seasons.
In India, a lethal gas leak that killed at least 11 people may have resulted from a rush to reopen a chemical plant.
Millions of people in Italy have returned to work, but schools, nurseries, day care centers and summer camps remain closed, leaving many parents to worry about having to choose between jobs and family.

Here's a roundup of restrictions in all 50 states.

What you can do

Make a sourdough starter. Can't find yeast at the grocery store? With a little patience, you can achieve leavening with your own homemade starter, using water and flour along with potatoes, dried fruit or many other ingredients.

Have a good cry. There are emotional benefits to losing control (within reason) for a little while during tough times. You might also find a little relief in venting to a trusted friend, indulging in a favorite dessert or just curling up in the fetal position.

Join our movie club. Every week our film critics A.O. Scott and Manohla Dargis watch a classic movie and discuss it. This week it was Spike Lee's "Do the Right Thing," and yes, they said it's still a great movie, 31 years later.

What else we're following

The coronavirus, or bits of it, may linger in semen, researchers ion China say — but sexual transmission of the virus still seems very unlikely.
While we are on the subject, here is how the coronavirus may be changing the dating game — for the better.
Decades of ownership by private equity firms gutted many nursing homes financially and left them ill-equipped to cope with the coronavirus outbreak, according to an analysis by The Times.
Henry Grabar writes in Slate about how short the "bladder's leash" has become: The lack of access to (or willingness to risk using) public restrooms may constrain the reopening of society.

What you're doing

Each of our family members makes a PowerPoint presentation on something of interest, and then we draw names out of a hat to see who has to present it. It is hysterical to watch someone make a presentation when they have no understanding of the topic and have no idea what is on the next slide. Our topics have ranged from Aristotle's rhetoric to a ranking of my daughter's ex-boyfriends.

— Colleen D'Angelo, Dublin, Ohio

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

Lara Takenaga, Jonathan Wolfe and Tom Wright-Piersanti helped write today's newsletter.

Email your thoughts to briefing@nytimes.com. Did a friend forward you the briefing? Sign up here.

Need help? Review our newsletter help page or contact us for assistance.

You received this email because you signed up for Coronavirus Briefing from The New York Times.

To stop receiving these emails, unsubscribe or manage your email preferences.

Subscribe to The Times

|Get The New York Times app

Connect with us on: