By Melissa Macaya, Mike Hayes, Meg Wagner and Zamira Rahim, CNN
From CNN’s Anneken Tappe
At least 2.4 million people filed for first-time unemployment benefits last week, which ended with May 16.
It was the ninth week of claims in the millions, but the seventh week in a row that the number declined from the week before.
Continued claims rose to 25.1 million for the week that ended May 9 –– a 2.5 million increase from the prior week.
From CNN's Manu Raju
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer have sent a letter to President Donald Trump requesting that flags be flown half staff "on all public buildings in the country" when the Covid-19 death toll in the US reaches 100,000.
“Respectful of them and the loss to our country, we are writing to request that you order flags to be flown at half staff on all public buildings in our country on the sad day of reckoning when we reach 100,000 deaths. It would serve as a national expression of grief so needed by everyone in our country," the letter said.
You can read the full letter here.
The latest numbers: At least 93,439 people have died from coronavirus in the US, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.
From CNN's Adrienne Vogt
Erin Bromage, an epidemiology expert and biology professor, joined CNN’s "New Day" to discuss how to safely celebrate the Memorial Day holiday.
Can people have a safe barbecue?
“We can do it safer, but never safely enough,” Bromage says.
Some tips from him:
Are masks needed at a backyard gathering?
“If you’ve got loud friends, yes,” Bromage says.
“Again, if you can maintain the distance while you're outside, you are fine without masks unless you're in an area that is a bit of a hotspot at the moment. Have them with you. … The more households you have, then you may want to think about having masks.”
Can guests go inside your house to use the bathroom?
“Indoors [is] the most risky environment we have for transmission of this virus. But … there's things that you can do to make it just a little bit safer," Bromage says.
He shared these tips:
Can people go in the pool?
“Pool water that is properly maintained — and that is important, properly maintained — will be safe,” Bromage says, adding that social distance with people from other households should be maintained in the water too.
Alcohol complicates things
“When we drink a little, we get a little closer, we get a little more touchy … We just need to be careful with that,” Bromage says. He warns that there should be a plan for getting rid of bottles and other garbage quickly after a barbecue to minimize the risk of transmission.
Watch:
From CNN's Amanda Watts
A new report found that at least 151,964 Americans died due to alcohol, drugs or suicide in 2018 and it warns Covid-19 could exacerbate the so-called “deaths of despair.”
The study by Trust for America’s Health and Well Being Trust showed deaths due to alcohol and suicide rose, while drug overdose deaths declined from the previous year.
“While still disturbingly high, the 2018 data is the first time since 1999, when the current data collection began, that there has not been a sizable increase in the alcohol, drugs and suicide deaths per 100,000 rate,” according to a statement from Well Being Trust.
In 2018, alcohol deaths rose 4% for the year and suicide deaths were up 2%. Death rates for opioids declined, but the death rates for synthetic opioids such as fentanyl increased, as did death rates for methamphetamine, ecstasy and prescription stimulants.
The report said that drug-induced deaths among American Indians, Asians, blacks and Latinos all increased from 2017.
“The profound racial health disparities seen in these data show that many ethnic minority groups are being left behind in our response efforts,” said Dr. Benjamin Miller, chief strategy officer with Well Being Trust.
Remember: Well Being Trust, a national public health group, also sounded the alarm earlier this month saying as many as 75,000 American’s could die because of drug or alcohol misuse and suicide as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Economic downturns, stress due to isolation and a global pandemic could significantly increase these types of deaths, it said.
From CNN's Greg Wallace
The Transportation Security Administration said it is making some changes to its security screening procedures at airports, but did not include passenger temperature screening in its list — something a federal official has told CNN the agency is considering.
The changes include several ways to prevent officers from handling travelers' belongings and travelers from handling shared X-ray bins.
The agency said passengers should hang onto their boarding passes, rather than handing them to TSA officers, to prevent cross contamination. Instead, officers will visually review the boarding pass.
The TSA also said that when a bag does not pass X-ray screening, passengers may be responsible for unpacking the bag and sending it through the X-ray machine again, rather than an officer searching through it by hand.
The agency is encouraging travelers to pack food items in a clear plastic bag to make it easier for officers to check them. Food items sometimes require further inspection by TSA.
Read more here.
The novel coronavirus has infected more than 5 million people worldwide and killed at least 328,000. If you're just tuning in, here are the latest headlines:
From CNN's Ariane de Vogue
The Supreme Court and courts across the country will see an increasing number of pandemic-related disputes in the coming weeks concerning prison conditions and whether prisons are violating the constitutional rights of inmates by failing to adequately protect them against the coronavirus.
Inmates are raising concerns about what they call the deliberate indifference of prison officials during a serious public health crisis and asking for home confinement or appropriate resources to improve hygiene and block the spread of Covid-19. For their part, state and federal officials are pushing back hard arguing that they are trying to respond to evolving risks while battling an unprecedented global pandemic.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor sent up a flare up this month after inmates argued that their prison conditions amounted to cruel and unusual punishment.
"It has long been said that a society's worth can be judged by taking stock of its prisons," Sotomayor wrote.
"That is all the truer in this pandemic, where inmates everywhere have been rendered vulnerable and often powerless to protect themselves from harm."
The issue is further complicated by the fact that federal law that governs prison conditions requires an inmate to exhaust a grievance process set up by correctional officials before turning to litigation.
That system was put in place to keep frivolous litigation out of courts and give prisons the chance to remedy a problem before a lawsuit. But it never envisioned a pandemic like Covid-19 that is ripping through prisons filled with at-risk inmates.
Read more here.
From CNN's Isaac Yee and Shawn Deng
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has lashed out at US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo amid a growing war of words between Beijing and Washington.
“[Pompeo] has played to perfection the part of an extremely irresponsible politician, but his numerous lies have bankrupted his credibility in the world,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Zhao Lijian said on Thursday.
Zhao also questioned the US response to the coronavirus pandemic, asking “why didn’t the US government take any prevention measures from January through til March, why did it advise people not wear masks for so long, why did it fail to stem the spread of virus[?].”
Tensions over the pandemic and trade have reignited tensions between the US and China in recent weeks.
The Trump administration announced Wednesday that it had approved another potential arms sale to Taiwan.
Zhao said in response: “China is firmly opposed to the US arms sales to Taiwan and has made solemn representations to the US. We urge the US side to strictly abide by the one-China principle and the provisions of the three Sino-US joint communiques, and stop arms sales to Taiwan and military links between the United States and Taiwan to avoid further damage to Sino-US relations and peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.”
President Trump criticized China's response to the pandemic in a series of tweets posted late Wednesday night, accusing Beijing of "trying desperately to deflect the pain and carnage that their country spread throughout the world."
He claimed the Chinese government "could have easily stopped the plague, but they didn’t!"
“The Chinese government has always adhered an open, transparent, and responsible attitude, and insisted on speaking with facts," Zhao responded on Thursday.
"Who is going all out to safeguard people's lives and health, and who is doing everything in their power to promote international cooperation? I believe that justice is [in] people’s heart[s], and the world will see [that] clearly."
From CNN's Faith Karimi and Steve Almasy
A series of US states have been combining two different types of coronavirus test results in their total numbers, potentially providing a muddled picture of the pandemic as the nation eases restrictions.
Virginia, Texas, Georgia, and Vermont have said they've been adding two numbers to their daily totals: viral test results and antibody test results.
Why this is a problem: Combining the two types of tests overstates a state's testing ability, a crucial metric as nearly all states ease coronavirus restrictions. Experts have consistently emphasized that for states to reopen, there has to be adequate testing and tracing.
"Public health officials need to know how many people in my state or my community currently have Covid-19. They also need to learn how many people had it in the past and potentially are immune to it," said Elizabeth Cohen, CNN's senior medical correspondent. "Those are two completely different things."
States' response: Texas, Virginia and Vermont said they've recognized the data issue and moved to fix it in the past few days.
Georgia health officials said they've been adding both tests to their daily totals since April in line with the methodology from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Read more here:
