Coronavirus pandemic in the US

Retail sales of the anti-malarial drug President Trump has promoted as a potential coronavirus cure — and claims to be taking himself — have been soaring.

The drug, hydroxychloroquine, has been around for decades but was thrust into the spotlight this spring when Trump began mentioning its name dozens of times during coronavirus briefings.

While it had not been approved for this use, and still hasn't, he urged Americans to "try it."

Amid the growing public attention on the medication, its sales doubled from March 2019 to more than $50 million in March of this year, according to market research firm IQVIA, which tracks prescriptions dispensed by retail pharmacies including large chains and mail-order companies.

While the FDA recently cautioned against the use of the drug to treat coronavirus patients outside of hospitals, that warning came after more than 830,000 prescriptions for the drug were filled for the generic and name-brand version of the drug, Plaquenil, in March — up from roughly 460,000 prescriptions written during the same time last year.

The IQVIA data did not yet include April figures and did not capture prescriptions administered to patients in nursing homes through long-term care pharmacies or at hospitals. Data from Premier Inc, a health care purchasing company for more than 4,000 hospitals, shows that hospitals saw a 260% surge in hydroxychloroquine orders in March compared to typical demand.

Some context: As sales have increased, so has scrutiny over the medication's safety and efficacy in treating Covid-19.

Currently, the drug is only FDA-approved to treat or prevent malaria or to treat autoimmune conditions such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. While so-called off label prescribing of the drug to treat other conditions is legal, it has not been found by the federal government to be safe or effective for any other uses.

The FDA's warning said the agency was aware of reports of "serious heart-related adverse events and death in patients with COVID-19" who were taking hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine, a more toxic variation, either on their own or in conjunction with other medications that affect the heart such as azithromycin.

The agency said in April that the drug should only be used for Covid-19 patients when they can be monitored in the hospital or are enrolled in clinical trials. In a statement this week, the FDA Commissioner said "the decision to take any drug is ultimately a decision between a patient and their doctor."

Do you have information about hydroxychloroquine? Email us at watchdog@cnn.com

The Trump Administration is expected to release guidance on reopening places of worship today or tomorrow, a senior administration official tells CNN.

The guidance was initially delayed because some officials believed the proposals were too detailed and would be impossible for churches and others to achieve. 

There was talk of putting out no guidance at all, but President Trump had conversations with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials and urged them to issue something.  

The coronavirus task force went over the guidance and took the last steps in finalizing it at yesterday's task force meeting, an official says. It's not clear what the final draft will look like.

Seriously ill Covid-19 patients who were treated with hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine were more likely to die or develop dangerous heart arrhythmias, according to a large observational study published Friday in the medical journal The Lancet.

Researchers analyzed data from more than 96,000 patients with confirmed Covid-19 from 671 hospitals. All were hospitalized from late December to mid-April, and had died or been discharged by April 21.

Just below 15,000 patients were treated with the antimalarial drugs hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine, or one of those drugs combined with an antibiotic.

All four of those treatments were linked with a higher risk of dying in the hospital. About 1 in 11 patients in the control group died in the hospital. About 1 in 6 patients treated with chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine alone died in the hospital. About 1 in 5 treated with chloroquine and an antibiotic died and almost 1 in 4 treated with hydroxychloroquine and an antibiotic died. 

Researchers also found that serious cardiac arrhythmias were more common among patients receiving any of the four treatments. The largest increase was among the group treated with hydroxychloroquine and an antibiotic; 8% of those patients developed a heart arrhythmia, compared with 0.3% of patients in the control group.

Some context: The drug, hydroxychloroquine, has been around for decades but was thrust into the spotlight this spring when Trump began mentioning its name dozens of times during coronavirus briefings. While it had not been approved for this use, and still hasn't, he urged Americans to "try it."

With limited service at restaurants across the country, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is warning of heightened rodent activity.  

“Rodents rely on the food and waste generated by these establishments,” the CDC said, adding that areas “have reported an increase in rodent activity as rodents search for new sources of food.”  

The CDC said rodent control programs may see a spike in service requests and “reports of unusual or aggressive rodent behavior.”  

Some context: It is not uncommon for the rodent population to decline and swell during natural disasters. 

The CDC says during these times, it is important to continue to practice safe rodent control like removing food sources, water and shelter for rodents.

Garbage should be disposed of frequently and areas with signs of rodent activity should be thoroughly cleaned.  

As the US enters Memorial Day weekend, beach towns are gearing up for visitors during the coronavirus pandemic.

Here are some of the guidelines being implemented by some cities along the East Coast: 

Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey

Mayor Paul Kanitra has called in a town engineer to map out how many groups can be on the beach, and officials will cut people off when they reach capacity. 

Lifeguards will have bandanas around their necks that they can pull up if they need to interact with someone, and their bags will contain personal protective equipment like masks, gowns, and gloves, according to Kanitra. 

He also said on CNN’s “New Day” that he expects July and August will be “absolutely slammed,” and they are trying to anticipate that now.

Daytona Beach, Florida 

Beach-goers in Daytona Beach will be required to place their towels and chairs 10 feet away from other groups, Mayor Derrick Henry said. 

“We’re not trying to arrest people if they do not remain separate. We just give them the information, and by and large, they're compliant,” Henry said. 

The mayor said that masks are not mandatory on the beach. 

Henry said that while no additional lifeguard mandates have been made, the sheriff’s department is considering some changes to rescue procedures because the surf there is rough right now.

“It’s a quagmire, to say the least. It's a big concern,” Henry said.  

Watch more:

Virginia Beach, Virginia 

While the beach has so far been open for fishing and exercise, beach-goers will now be able to sit and sunbathe, Deputy City Manager Ron Williams said. 

There will also now be 100 to 125 beach ambassadors keeping an eye out on guidelines.  

“If we don't get voluntary compliance to it, a beach ambassador, they'll ask for law enforcement to come and enforce the executive orders for the distancing,” Williams said. 

Other restrictions on Virginia Beach include:

Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, the director of the division of infectious disease at University of Alabama at Birmingham, warned of the spike of Covid-19 cases in Alabama as Memorial Day weekend approaches, saying it has "the potential to get out of control." 

Marrazzo's remarks come after the mayor of Montgomery sounded the alarm over the shortage of intensive care unit beds in the city's hospitals. 

Marrazzo added that she's worried that with the arrival of the holiday weekend and the loosening of restrictions in the state, the spread of coronavirus "is going to go like prairie fire." 

"It's been smoldering, we've had a lid on it," Marrazzo told CNN. "But it is now really having the potential to get out of control."

The novel coronavirus has infected more than 5.1 million people and killed at least 333,000 worldwide, according to the Johns Hopkins University tally.

If you're just joining us, here's the latest on the pandemic:

Watching the coronavirus political fight play out might leave you with the belief that there are essentially two camps: the first that wants the economy to open up at almost any cost, and the second that wants nonessential businesses to stay shut down.

Those who are who are pouring into state capitols, demanding reopenings, are not speaking for anything close to a majority. However, a closer look at the data reveals, however, that there's a large middle ground consisting of Americans willing to open up some businesses.

Take a look at the most recent Quinnipiac University poll, for example. At first glance, the data seems a lot like most of what we're accustomed to. The vast majority (75%) of voters are for a slower reopening of the economy, if reopening quickly means making the spread of coronavirus worse. This echoes other polling that generally finds that shutdowns are pretty popular and that more folks are worried about reopening too quickly than they are about reopening slowly.

And indeed, there are a number of activities that a clear majority of voters don't think are safe or that they simply will not do. A large 74% think it's unsafe to get on an airplane in the Quinnipiac poll. In a Kaiser Family Foundation poll, 81% of Americans say it's unlikely they'd attend a sports event in the next three months. A sizable 68% think it's unlikely they'll stay at a hotel or vacation rental.

Yet a number of these same people aren't as opposed to other nonessential activities.

Read more here.

The Navajo Nation has announced another weekend lockdown, which will begin on Friday evening and end early Monday morning.

The Navajo Nation spans parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah and reported a population of 173,667 on the 2010 census.

At least 4,434 coronavirus cases have been recorded among its people, with 147 total deaths, meaning the nation has surpassed New York and New Jersey as having the highest per-capita infection rate in the US.

The Nation has one of the strictest stay-at-home orders in the country. For the last few months it has imposed weekend lockdowns to prevent members from being outside and risking infection but case numbers have continued to rise.