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The latest
On Wednesday, Montgomery, Ala., Mayor Steven Reed
announced his city was facing a crisis: the hospitals were out of ICU
beds. “Right now, if you’re from Montgomery, and you need
an ICU bed, you’re in trouble … our health-care system has been maxed
out.” Reed said. The news came as a
research team warned that a second wave of coronavirus infections was
likely in the South —
Dallas, Houston, southeast Florida, the entire state of Alabama —
where reopening has happened rapidly, and other counties with cases
on the rise.
Sweeping measures to prevent the spread were announced on March 15
— a federal warning against large gatherings, health screenings at
airports, states of emergency declared by governors and mayors. But
what if they had been announced just a week before? A new study from
Columbia University has the possible answer: If
social distancing had been in place seven days earlier, the
United States could have prevented 36,000 deaths through early May.
Months into the pandemic, physicians keep learning new
things about covid-19 and the way it attacks our bodies.
The severe, Kawasaki-like
inflammatory condition that doctors have recently reported in
children appears to also affect young adults. More reason for
concern: teens and young adults have more of an “overwhelming”
response involving the heart and multiple organs, an
NYU doctor told The Post.
Ahead of President Trump’s trip this afternoon to a Ford
manufacturing plant in Ypsilanti, Mich., the
state’s attorney general implored him to wear a face mask on his tour,
citing a “legal responsibility” — and said Trump would be asked not
to return if he does not do so. Trump appears
to have not worn a mask on the tour,
though he told reporters he did wear one in another area “where they
preferred it." The
president said he “didn’t want to give the press the pleasure of
seeing it.”
As Trump has urged communities to reopen and cheered on
order-defying protesters, places such as Ypsilanti are struggling to
contain the virus. Nearly one in 100 residents has
tested positive or is presumed positive, but the area didn't get a
testing site until early May, after local leaders fought for one. The
city's mayor was not invited to the president's event, but she had a
message for him: “I would let him know that his
dishonesty cost lives,” Lois E. Allen-Richardson said.
The pandemic is dramatically changing the way we will shop.
Retailers that have spent years encouraging customers to linger. Not
anymore. Gone are the days of trying on makeup or
playing with toys in the aisles. The focus now is on making shopping
faster, easier and safer. This
is what you can expect when you head to a reopened store.
Other
important news
The White House and Republican lawmakers want
to begin rolling back expanded benefits for the unemployed, as
2.4 million more people filed jobless claims last week.
Three
decades before this pandemic, Anthony Fauci took heat from AIDS
protesters. (Look back at some incredible photos.)
Trump’s promise of ‘Warp Speed’ is
fueling the anti-vaccine movement in fertile corners of the web.
Reopening
guidance for churches is delayed after the White House and CDC
disagree.
Expanding AmeriCorps could
turn new grads into an army of contact tracers. It just needs
funding.
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Live updates and more
Track
deaths and confirmed cases in the U.S. and across
the world.
Where
states are reopening and
what the rules are in each one.
Post
reporters across the world are publishing
live dispatches 24 hours a day.
Read
the latest about what's
happening in the D.C. area.
Submit
a question and The Post may answer it in a future
story, live chat or newsletter.
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Your questions, answered
“Where is all the toilet paper going? Charmin and other
manufacturers say they are producing 24/7. I haven't been able to buy
any since March 6. I realize this is not the No. 1 problem we face,
but I'm still curious as to how so much could be produced and not
show up on grocery shelves.” —Eileen in Minnesota
Ah yes, the elusive roll of toilet paper, universal
symbol of American quarantine culture. TP shortages have been a
constant since the early days of the pandemic, when manufacturers assured
us they'd be temporary. They were not. Why?
"Early on it was straight-up panic hoarding, but more
recently it's gotten a little complicated," Post business
reporter Laura
Reiley said.
It's a three-ply problem, if you will. First, all those
stay-at-home orders have led to more stay-at-home pooping.
"Companies have estimated that 40 percent more toilet paper is
being used at home than during normal times," Reiley said.
Second, retailers can't simply restock their shelves with
office-grade toilet paper when they run out of the plush stuff.
"Toilet paper destined for commercial use is different than the Charmin,
etc., we use at home," Reiley said. "It is often made of
recycled material and isn't the quilted multi-ply we buy for home.
Often those rolls are bigger, fit into different kinds of dispensers,
and so forth. So that toilet paper destined for commercial use is
sitting in limbo with no takers."
And the final layer of the problem: "Because profit margins
are low for toilet paper, the companies that produce it have just
enough equipment to fill ordinary orders," Reiley said.
"Even running the machinery around the clock, companies haven't
been able to keep up with retail demand."
If you're in desperate need, she recommends scouting out smaller
shops, convenience store and dollar stores that might not have been
picked clean. "Everyone has been swarming the big box stores for
it, so outsmart them and look elsewhere."
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Today’s top reads
Find more stories, analysis and op-eds about the outbreak on
our coronavirus
page, including:
- Top White House
economic adviser expresses uncertainty about recovery despite
Trump’s confidence
- For many fans, the
absence of sports feels like a loss. Psychologists say that’s
normal.
- Before the state
acted, this Maryland county launched a contact-tracing army
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Just following the rules
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