Nurses lay on the ground to represent colleagues who died in their fight against the new coronavirus pandemic, during a protest marking International Nurses Day, in Brasilia, Brazil, Tuesday, May 12, 2020. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
The Associated Press
Thousands of new coronavirus infections are being reported daily, many of them job-related, even as President Donald Trump urges people to return to work.
There are plenty of new infections outside the workplace, including in nursing homes, and among retired and unemployed people. Yet all of the 15 U.S. counties with the highest per capita infection rates between April 28 and May 5 are homes to meatpacking and poultry-processing plants or state prisons, according to data compiled by The Associated Press.
There's been a spike of new infections among construction workers in Austin, Texas, where that sector recently returned to work. Even the White House has proven vulnerable, with positive coronavirus tests for one of Trump's valets and Vice President Mike Pence's press secretary.
Here are some of AP's top stories Tuesday on the world's coronavirus pandemic. Follow APNews.com/VirusOutbreak for updates through the day and APNews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak for stories explaining some of its complexities.
WHAT'S HAPPENING TODAY:
- Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, warned Congress Tuesday that if the country reopens too soon during the coronavirus pandemic, it will bring 'œneedless suffering and death.'ť Fauci was among the experts who testified before a Senate panel.
- As the pandemic stretches on, a new type of internet matchmaking is helping hospitals get scarce supplies. Numerous online platforms and charity projects have popped up to match hospitals in need with exchanges, loans or donations of personal protective equipment, ventilators and even doctors.
- Homeland Security Investigations, an arm of the Department of Homeland Security, is leading a nationwide crackdown on people seeking to use the virus to perpetrate frauds, from selling counterfeit products to fake cures. It has opened over 370 cases and so far arrested 11 people in an effort it calls 'œOperation Stolen Promise.'ť
- Faced with overwhelmed hospitals and surging coronavirus deaths, Brazilian state and city governments are lurching forward with mandatory lockdowns against the will of President Jair Bolsonaro, who says job losses are more damaging than COVID-19.
- The economic paralysis caused by the coronavirus led in April to the steepest month-to-month fall in U.S. consumer prices since the 2008 financial crisis - a 0.8% drop that was driven by a plunge in gasoline prices. On Tuesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi unveiled a more than $3 trillion coronavirus aid package that would provide nearly $1 trillion for states and cities, 'œhazard pay'ť for essential workers and a new round of cash payments to individuals. Top GOP senators flatly rejected the House bill.
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WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:
For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death. The vast majority of people recover.
Here are the symptoms of the virus compared with the common flu.
One of the best ways to prevent spread of the virus is washing your hands with soap and water. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends first washing with warm or cold water and then lathering soap for 20 seconds to get it on the backs of hands, between fingers and under fingernails before rinsing off.
You should wash your phone, too. Here's how.
TRACKING THE VIRUS: Drill down and zoom in at the individual county level, and you can access numbers that will show you the situation where you are, and where loved ones or people you're worried about live.
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ONE NUMBER:
- 5: A fire at St. George Hospital in St. Petersburg, Russia, killed five coronavirus patients. Emergency officials said all five had been put on ventilators. Russia has reported more than 220,000 confirmed cases and 2,009 deaths - but international health experts say those numbers undercount the country's outbreak.
IN OTHER NEWS:
- RECLINER DJs: Retirees in multiple states have become volunteer DJs for a new online radio hour known as 'œRadio Recliner.'ť The 60-minute show began airing last month, starting with retirees in middle Tennessee, recording from their recliners while quarantined.
- HOME OFFICES TO STAY: When workers around the world eventually return to their desks, they'll find many changes due to the pandemic. For a start, fewer people will go back to their offices as the coronavirus crisis makes working from home more accepted, health concerns linger and companies weigh rent savings and productivity benefits.
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Follow AP coverage of the virus outbreak at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak
People wearing face masks and gloves to protect against coronavirus, observe social distancing guidelines as they go down the subway on the escalator in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, May 12, 2020. From Tuesday onward, wearing face masks and latex gloves is mandatory for people using Moscow's public transport. President Vladimir Putin on Monday declared an end to a partial economic shutdown across Russia due to the coronavirus pandemic, but he said that many restrictions will remain in place. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
The Associated Press
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases speaks remotely during a virtual Senate Committee for Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions hearing, Tuesday, May 12, 2020 on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Win McNamee/Pool via AP)
The Associated Press
A man spits water on rail tracks as passengers line up their bags on the railway station platform to reserve their spots in boarding queue in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, May 12, 2020. India is reopening some of its colossal rail network as the country looks at easing its nearly seven-week strict lockdown amid an increase in coronavirus infections. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
The Associated Press
Workers clean the elevators of a business building in Tokyo Tuesday, May 12, 2020. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has announced that Japan extend a state of emergency until end of May. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
The Associated Press
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., speaks about the so-called Heroes Act, Tuesday, May 12, 2020 on Capitol Hill in Washington. Pelosi unveiled a more than $3 trillion coronavirus aid package Tuesday, providing nearly $1 trillion for states and cities, 'hazard pay' for essential workers and a new round of cash payments to individuals. (Graeme Jennings/Pool via AP)
The Associated Press
This photo shows the Tesla plant Tuesday, May 12, 2020, in Fremont, Calif. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has emerged as a champion of defying stay-home orders intended to stop the coronavirus from spreading. He reopened Tesla's San Francisco Bay Area factory on Monday and President Donald Trump is supporting that decision. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)
The Associated Press
An investigator is seen through a broken window at the scene of a fire at St. George Hospital in St. Petersburg, Russia, Tuesday, May 12, 2020. A fire at St. George Hospital has killed five coronavirus patients. Russian emergency officials said all five had been put on ventilators. The emergency officials told the state Tass new agency the fire broke out in an intensive care unit and was put out within half an hour. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky)
The Associated Press
A Russian Emergency Situation worker disinfects people leaving a hospital near the scene of a fire at St. George Hospital in St. Petersburg, Russia, Tuesday, May 12, 2020. A fire at St. George Hospital has killed five coronavirus patients. Russian emergency officials said all five had been put on ventilators. The emergency officials told the state Tass new agency the fire broke out in an intensive care unit and was put out within half an hour. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky)
The Associated Press
FILE - In this Monday, April 6, 2020 file photo, a man washes his hands to curb the spread of the new coronavirus in Juba, South Sudan. For the first time, COVID-19 has been confirmed in a crowded civilian protection camp in South Sudan's capital, the United Nations said Tuesday, May 12, 2020, a worrying development in a country that's one of the world's least prepared for the spread of the coronavirus. (AP Photo, File)
The Associated Press
A woman wears a ' smart helmet ' scanner which measures the body temperature of passengers for possible coronavirus symptoms, at Rome's Leonardo da Vinci international airport in Fiumicino, Tuesday, May 12, 2020. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
The Associated Press
In this April 15, 2020 photo provided by the Afya Foundation, four volunteer retired nurses count and box donated sterile surgical gowns for distribution to New York City metro area hospitals, federally qualified health centers, and community agencies at the Afya Foundation warehouse in Yonkers, N.Y. (Mary Grace Padaguan/Afya Foundation via AP)
The Associated Press
FILE - In this Thursday, June 15, 2017 file photo Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks to the media after his annual televised call-in show as his press secretary Dmitry Peskov, right, smiles in Moscow, Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Peskov said Tuesday May 12, 2020, that he is hospitalized with the coronavirus. The announcement comes just a day after Putin said Russia was successful in slowing down infections and announced easing some of the nationwide lockdown restrictions. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)
The Associated Press