Axios

Wuhan — the original epicenter of the coronavirus — has ordered all residents be tested for COVID-19 within 10 days following six new infections reported over the weekend, China state media announced Tuesday.

The state of play: The city's first confirmed COVID-19 case since early April was seen in an 89-year-old man on Saturday, the New York Times writes, and five asymptomatic cases were reported Monday.

Russia is reporting the most novel coronavirus cases in the world outside of the U.S., per Johns Hopkins data.

The big picture: Russia first reported a surge of more than 35,000 cases between April 30 and May 3. The country has reported more than 2,100 deaths as of Tuesday afternoon, a significantly lower number than the other most-affected countries such as Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom.

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) criticized the Trump administration's coronavirus testing coordinator Adm. Brett Giroir at a Senate hearing Tuesday, accusing him of framing U.S. testing data in a politically positive light: "I find our testing record nothing to celebrate whatsoever."

The big picture: At a press briefing Monday, President Trump and Giroir touted the fact that the U.S. has now conducted more tests per capita than South Korea. But Romney argued those claims are misleading because South Korea conducted tests much earlier on and no longer needs to test as many people as their case numbers fall.

House Democrats released Tuesday their phase 4 $3 trillion coronavirus relief proposal that would provide billions of additional aid to state and local governments, hospitals and other Democratic priorities.

The state of play: The 1,815-page HEROES Act, which the House is expected to consider on Friday, hasn't been negotiated with congressional Republicans and the Trump administration — and is expected to die in the Senate.

The coronavirus pandemic is pushing back major astronomy projects and threatening to unravel some of the gains made toward increasing diversity among researchers in the field.

Why it matters: Depending on how long the crisis lasts, it could affect our understanding of the cosmos for years to come by delaying scientific efforts that will help find new asteroids and gather data about distant stars and galaxies.

The U.S. will "without a doubt" have more coronavirus infections and deaths in the fall and winter if effective testing, contact tracing and social distancing measures are not scaled up to adequate levels, Anthony Fauci told Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) at a hearing Tuesday.

The big picture: Fauci said he expects testing will be adequate by the end of the summer or early fall, but that if it isn't, "we run the risk of having a resurgence. President Trump claimed on Monday that the U.S. has "met the moment and prevailed" with regard to testing, contradicting several of his own health officials.

Weather forecasts draw on data collected by commercial aircraft, and the sudden drop in passenger flights may be impacting meteorology as we head into hurricane season. Dan digs in with the Washington Post's Andrew Freedman.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) told Anthony Fauci during a Senate hearing that he doesn't believe Fauci, the government's top infectious diseases expert, is the "end-all" for coronavirus decisions, arguing that there are "people on the other side" who say there will not be a surge if the U.S. reopens its economy.

What they're saying: "As much as I respect you, Dr. Fauci, I don't think you're the end-all. I don't think you're the one person who gets to make a decision. We can listen to your advice, but there are people on the other side saying there is not going to be a surge and that we can safely open the economy, and the facts will bear this out."

Anthony Fauci testified to a Senate committee on Tuesday that the "consequences could be really serious" for states and cities that reopen without meeting federal guidelines.

Why it matters: Dozens of states have taken steps to reopen their economies, but few — if any — have met the Trump administration's recommendations for a 14-day "downward trajectory" in reported cases and infrastructure for "robust" testing and contact tracing capabilities.

The American Federation of Teachers launched several capstone lesson plans Tuesday to help K-12 teachers measure student progress during school closures and overcome the challenges of a remote learning setting.

Why it matters: The coronavirus pandemic has exposed the inequalities students face when forced to learn from home, and how teachers must adapt to individual needs like limited broadband or mobile-only devices.

The Trump administration unveiled a new proposal Monday, in which privately negotiated prices between hospitals and private health insurers would inform how Medicare pays for future health care services.

Yes, but: Hospitals are suing over the original price transparency regulation, so this proposal would get thrown in the trash if hospitals win in court.

The latest sign that driving is coming back? Analysis from the data science company Descartes Labs shows substantial increases in mobility in recent weeks after driving reached its pandemic-related trough about a month ago.

Why it matters: The revival of travel in the U.S. and worldwide will affect how quickly oil demand recovers from its unprecedented collapse (if it ever indeed comes all the way back).

Vice President Mike Pence, in an interview last week with "Axios on HBO," didn't embrace the routine wearing of face masks in the White House — even after two West Wing regulars tested positive for the coronavirus.

Why it matters: President Trump makes a point of not wearing a mask, and Pence, with the exception of an Indiana trip, has mostly followed suit — even as the White House recommends them for other Americans.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's longtime spokesman and close adviser Dmitry Peskov has been hospitalized after testing positive for coronavirus, Russian news agencies report, following positive tests for several other senior officials, including Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.

Why it matters: The virus is now inside Putin's inner circle. The Russian president has been conducting meetings by video conference, though, and Peskov says he hasn't seen Putin in over a month. Russia's outbreak is among the world's fastest-growing, and is likely far more severe even than the official numbers suggest.

Nearly 40% of all respondents and 47% of those who say they’re still working reported saving the government stimulus payment they received, a new survey of over 3,000 U.S. adults from CivicScience finds.

Why it matters: "This is a shift from prior studies indicating that paying down debt/bills and buying necessities were higher priority than saving for those planning to receive payments," CivicScience analysts note.

Already facing an industry-wide recession coming into the year, the coronavirus pandemic has leveled the global transportation industry and pushed U.S. freight volume to its largest year-over-year percentage decline since the Association of American Railroads began collecting data in 1989.

By the numbers: The total number of originated carloads on U.S. railroads last month averaged 196,107 per week, "easily the lowest weekly average for any month since before January 1988, when our data began," AAR analysts wrote in the latest monthly assessment of the industry, "Real Time Indicators."

Expectations for U.S. stock earnings in the first quarter are the lowest since the global financial crisis, and may suffer more than global peers this year.

What's happening: Blended estimates imply a -13.7% decline in S&P 500 earnings, while in Europe, Japan and emerging markets the fall has been much bigger, "of the order of -31 to -34%," Deutsche Bank research analysts write in a note to clients.

The Federal Reserve's unprecedented response to the coronavirus pandemic has not helped it win the battle for public opinion as a little more than half of Americans indicate they don't trust the central bank, per the latest Axios-Ipsos Coronavirus Index.

Why it matters: As an unelected institution that has been granted the power to independently oversee monetary policy by Congress, the Fed's power "is contingent on securing as well as maintaining broad political and public support," Mark Spindel and Sarah Binder wrote in their 2017 book "The Myth of Independence: How Congress Governs the Federal Reserve."

Dr. Anthony Fauci's goal for his testimony on the Hill today — to warn the country of the dangers of reopening too quickly — precisely undercuts what President Trump and the White House are trying to achieve this week.

The state of play: Trump and his team built its messaging this week around convincing Americans that they had enough testing and personal protective equipment to begin to safely return to work — and Trump has been publicly chiding blue-state governors for keeping their states closed longer than he'd like.

In a best-case scenario, just half of Americans would participate in a voluntary coronavirus "contact tracing" program tracked with cell phones, according to the latest installment of the Axios-Ipsos Coronavirus Index.

Why it matters: A strong contact tracing program — identifying people who have the virus and isolating those who have come into contact with them — is the key to letting other people get back to their lives, according to public health experts.

Our contact tracing capabilities aren’t where they need to be nationally, and some experts are questioning whether the old-timey public health tool will ever be successfully used to keep coronavirus outbreaks under control in the U.S.

Between the lines: One of the biggest vulnerabilities in the strategy is that, in the U.S. at least, it relies on public buy-in — something that is far from guaranteed.

Corporate America is getting closer to a return to the office, but Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff told "Axios on HBO" that it won't be a return to normal.

The big picture: When American office workers do start going back to work, they will find a host of new policies and practices, ranging from appointments to ride an elevator to temperature checks to restrictions on movement throughout the office.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told "Axios on HBO" that there isn't yet enough information to determine whether or not the coronavirus outbreak resulted from an accident at a Chinese lab.

What he's saying: "I'm not ruling out that it could be a lab accident, and some experts have not ruled it out either," said Rubio. "Though I can't prove it and no one can because we don't have enough information to disprove it or prove it."