Category: International

The United States had 71,000 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday. Back in June, Dr. Anthony Fauci said he wouldn’t be surprised to see 100,00 cases per day. That grim prediction is getting closer to reality.

While the economy is in a recession and tens of millions of people have lost jobs, some big banks are enjoying huge profits.

Three unemployed workers from different parts of the country share what options they have once the federal CARES Act benefits expire at the end of July.

Indivar Dutta-Gupta, co-executive director of Georgetown University’s Center on Poverty and Inequality, told NPR that the expiration of CARES Act benefits will not only hurt those workers relying on them — but the economy as a whole.

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Until now, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has collected important information about COVID-19 hospitalizations and equipment from around the country. The Trump Administration now says hospitals must stop reporting that data to the CDC and instead send information to a different federal database.

Meanwhile, four states have agreed to share driver’s license records to help the Trump administration produce citizenship data. NPR’s Hansi Lo Wang reports this data could be used for redrawing voting districts.

And some imported surgical masks are turning out to be defective. Sellers of the masks are touting FDA certificates but those certificates are useless.

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A lot of Americans are having trouble getting a coronavirus test. If they do get one, they may have to wait more than a week for results.

On Tuesday, some of the country’s biggest banks announced their second quarter results. The bottom line? The pandemic and the economy can’t be separated.

Walmart, the nation’s largest retailer, announced they will require customers to wear masks beginning next week. Small businesses around the country are already dealing with fallout when customers refuse.

And in a surprise move, Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced they will rescind regulations barring international students from staying in the U.S. if their colleges don’t offer in-person classes this fall.

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Admiral Brett Giroir of the White House coronavirus task force tells NPR that the United States is still growing testing capacity. Positivity rates in parts of the South suggest there is a long way to go.

Teachers, parents and public health officials around the country are trying to figure out what do to in the fall. The Trump administration says schools should re-open, but individual school districts will ultimately decide. Some already have: Los Angeles and San Diego announced this week school will resume remote-only.

And while Disneyland in Hong Kong shut down after dozens of new cases there, Walt Disney World in Florida reopened after 15,000 were reported on a single day over the weekend.

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Governors in Southern states like Louisiana are starting to come around to mask mandates, but not all residents are following suit.

On Sunday, Florida reported more than 15,000 positive coronavirus cases. At Jackson Memorial Hospital in South Florida, director of medical ICU Dr. David J. De La Zerda says beds are running and low — and so are nurses to staff them.

And the NFL’s Washington, D.C.-based team is officially changing its name and logo. Activist Crystal Echo Hawk says she cried when she heard the news.

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Every weekday afternoon, Kelly McEvers and the hosts of NPR’s All Things Considered — Ailsa Chang, Audie Cornish, Mary Louise Kelly and Ari Shapiro — help you consider the major stories of the day in less than 15 minutes, featuring the reporting and storytelling resources of NPR.

The President traveled to Florida today. It’s one of three states that just set records for new daily deaths from the coronavirus. Trump’s trip there included a stop at a fundraiser for his re-election campaign.

Several Republican-run groups including The Lincoln Project are opposing that campaign, running slick political ads aimed at an audience of one. Ari Shaprio explains.

And Asma Khalid reports GOP opposition to the President draws a lot of attention, but it’s unclear whether voters are moved by the messaging.

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With so many new coronavirus cases, testing labs are falling behind and people are waiting days for results.

On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled President Trump was not immune from a grand jury subpoena for his financial records. But Americans are not likely to see the president’s taxes before Election Day.

There were nearly 2.4 million new applications for state and federal unemployment benefits last week, according to the Labor Department. After four straight months of people applying for unemployment by the millions, NPR’s Scott Horsley reports there are growing signs it won’t be getting better anytime soon.

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The U.S. Supreme Court has made it more difficult for women to get access to birth control. The opinion upheld a Trump administration rule that allows employers to use religious or moral reasons to deny birth control coverage.

The United States has more than 3 million confirmed cases of the coronavirus and is still facing the same problems from the early days of the pandemic, including a lack of PPE, slow testing and not enough contact tracing.

Doctors are using a new antigen test that is a faster way to spot people infected with the coronavirus. NPR’s Rob Stein reports it’s cheaper and simpler but may be less reliable.

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The Australian state of Victoria, which includes Melbourne, just started a new six-week lockdown. The state just recorded a record number of new daily cases: 191.

Education and public health experts agree it’s important that kids get back to school in the fall. The question is how to do it safely. NPR’s Anya Kamenetz reports on some radical ideas for reopening.

Some experts say there’s increasing evidence that COVID-19 is transmitted through particles that travel through the air when we breathe. The World Health Organization has been cautious about confirming that idea.

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