Axios

Millions of children around the world are endangered by the coronavirus pandemic, despite being a low-risk age group to contract COVID-19, the United Nations warned in a report released this week.

The big picture: Lack of schooling, poverty caused by lost family income, malnourishment, and risk of abuse while staying at home all pose dangers to children during the crisis.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture plans to spend $16 billion on direct payments to farmers, ranchers and producers "who experience unprecedented losses" during the coronavirus pandemic, Secretary Sonny Perdue said at Friday's White House press briefing.

What's happening: There's been an upsurge in demand for food banks across the country in the face of mass unemployment and school closures. Meanwhile, U.S. farmers and food companies have decreased production in response to dwindling demand, as restaurants and businesses close.

Hundreds of meat plant workers across the country have fallen ill with the coronavirus, leading to a slowdown in output and surge in prices.

By the numbers, per Bloomberg: The price of wholesale pork rose by 7.2% to 55.86 cents a pound Thursday — the largest increase in more than two years. Choice-grade beef prices rose to a one-month high of $2.36 a pound, climbing for six straight days through Thursday.

Today President Trump began fueling reopening protests in some blue states.

What he's saying: "LIBERATE MICHIGAN! ... LIBERATE MINNESOTA! ... LIBERATE VIRGINIA, and save your great 2nd Amendment. It is under siege!"

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told the Wall Street Journal Friday that he supports adding funding for hospitals alongside an additional $250 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), designed to help small businesses survive the coronavirus shutdown.

The state of play: McCarthy's signal could break a stalemate between Republicans and Democrats on refilling the PPP, which ran out of money on Thursday — just two weeks after it launched.

Face masks have become a necessity in public life so all Americans can protect themselves and prevent the spread of the coronavirus, but medical masks can be hard to come by.

Why it matters: Some states and businesses are requiring patrons to wear some type of protective facial gear in order to enter establishments or be in public. Global mask shortages have made it difficult for even health care workers and essential workers to properly protect themselves in riskier environments.

Celebrities, like Dr. Phil and Dr. Oz, have endorsed plans for states to slowly reopen their economies, while the country's lead immunology expert, Anthony Fauci, has offered words of caution.

The big picture: As several famous doctors have gone on-air with major news networks, including Fox News, "[t]he conflicting views ... highlight how expert advice on the coronavirus has been undermined by celebrity doctors with little to no infectious disease experience," the Washington Post writes.

The next round of coronavirus economic stimulus could include money to rebuild the nation's roads and bridges, similar to the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 that put millions of people to work building U.S. interstates.

Why it matters: America's crumbling bridges are in desperate need of repair, it's true. But this is also an opportunity to make sure we have the necessary infrastructure to support tomorrow's transportation needs.

Congress' $50 billion rescue package for U.S. airlines will help keep the carriers alive — and their employees on the payroll amid the coronavirus crisis — until the end of September. After that, the outlook is grim.

What's happening: The airline industry is reeling, with air travel down as much as 95% since the coronavirus stopped Americans in their places in mid-March. Even as a hopeful President Trump begins to prepare for the reopening of the U.S. economy, it will likely be years before airlines bounce back to pre-crisis levels.

New applications are suspended for the Paycheck Protection Program for small businesses after its fund ran out Thursday, unless and until congressional Democrats and Republicans settle their differences and pass a $250 billion expansion.

Why it matters: For many small businesses, this moratorium on a key coronavirus stimulus package could prove lethal.

Vox Media is furloughing 9% of its staff from May 1 through July 31, with health insurance premiums being fully covered, a source familiar with the moves tells Axios.

Why it matters: It's one of the many media companies forced to take drastic measures to survive the economic fallout of the coronavirus.

Consensus seems to be building globally around the idea that Bluetooth-based contact tracing could be a practical use of technology to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

Why it matters: Both governments and advocacy groups agree that using Bluetooth to sense the proximity of users' phones could be more effective and less of a civil rights problem than tapping location-based data that apps and service providers often collect.

Roughly 22 million Americans have lost their jobs amid the coronavirus shutdown over the past four weeks — a figure that roughly equals the cumulative workforce of 23 states, as noted by the New York Times' Peter Baker.

Why it matters: The U.S. has lost more jobs in the past month than it has gained in the 11 years since the end of the Great Recession, leaving a huge swath of the country financially vulnerable during a pandemic.

At least 50% more people died in China's coronavirus epicenter of Wuhan than previously announced, with the death toll jumping from 2,579 to 3,869, official state media admitted Friday, AP reports.

Why it matters: China's numbers have come under fierce criticism. The change shows that Beijing is likely responding to both domestic and international pressure regarding how it evaluates the number of dead in Wuhan.

The coronavirus pandemic is accelerating a years-long decline in coal-fired electricity.

The state of play: Weaker electricity demand and super-low natural gas prices, both driven by the pandemic, have prompted coal to drop to just 15% of the U.S. electricity mix for the first time in modern history, according to a new analysis of government data by consultancy Rhodium Group.

Facebook and Instagram have new messages on their streams that are highlighting Affordable Care Act coverage and the HealthCare.gov website for anyone who "has recently lost a job" during the coronavirus outbreak.

The bottom line: A Facebook spokesperson told Axios the Trump administration did not pay for these digital spaces, and instead the companies are running the messages "as a PSA." ACA plans will be sources of coverage for some of the newly unemployed, but Medicaid will likely be doing a lot of the heavy lifting.

Reopening any state in the U.S. right now — even the ones with low caseloads — would be a big risk.

The big picture: Places with low caseloads can easily become hotspots if they don't plan correctly. And no state has a plan to address the increase in coronavirus cases that looser social distancing will likely bring.

President Trump's reopening plan includes lots of hurdles for states, but the key factor for him was that he got to fire the pistol.

Why it matters: Even though he’s delegating to governors, Trump didn’t want them to call the reopening first. And if he waited until next week he would’ve been trailing in several red-state governors’ wake.

The number of coronavirus diagnostic tests being completed every day has plateaued over the last week — at a number that falls far short of what experts say is needed.

Between the lines: Some states are testing more than others, but we’ve got a long way to go before we’re ready to safely resume normal life. Otherwise, the virus will easily be able to spread undetected.

President Trump's former personal lawyer — and longtime fixer — Michael Cohen will be released from prison to serve the remainder of his three-year sentence in home confinement due to coronavirus concerns, CNN first reported and Cohen's lawyer Lanny Davis confirmed to Axios.

Flashback: Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to multiple financial crimes, lying to Congress and campaign finance violations.

"Probable" coronavirus deaths reported by New York City's health department caused overall U.S. fatalities to spike on Thursday. Nearly 33,000 Americans have died, per Johns Hopkins data.

What's happening: The city is now accounting for New Yorkers who did not test positive for the coronavirus, but whose death certificates list COVID-19 as a suspected cause of death. As more states log probable cases, the country's death toll will increase.