Axios

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) extended the state's stay-at-home order through June 12, via an executive order on Friday.

Why it matters: Michigan now has a stay-at-home order that is set to outlast all other states, per a New York Times analysis. Nearly every state across the U.S. has taken steps to at least reopen certain regions and industries that are seen as "low-risk" for spreading the virus.

Go deeper: Trump eases up on threat to withhold funding to Michigan over mail-in ballots

The Health and Human Services inspector general will begin examining how effectively the agency distributed $50 billion to health care providers to weather the coronavirus pandemic, the watchdog said on Friday.

The big picture: This oversight only captures a portion of one piece of the federal aid that hospitals and health care providers are eligible to receive.

Solving the mystery of how the coronavirus affects children has gained steam, as doctors try to determine if there's a link between COVID-19 and kids with a severe inflammatory illness, and researchers try to pin down their contagiousness before schools reopen.

Driving the news: New York state's health department is investigating 161 cases of the illness in children. Three youths in the state have died: an 18-year-old girl, a 5-year-old boy and a 7-year-old boy, per Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

President Trump wants to throw open the houses of worship "right now," claiming they are essential services.

What he's saying: “The governors need to do the right thing and allow these very important essential places of faith to open right now. For this weekend. If they don’t do it, I will override the governors," he said during a press conference on Friday.

The coronavirus pandemic "reached a milestone in Africa" on Friday, as the World Health Organization says the virus has spread to every country on the continent, with over 100,000 confirmed cases.

The big picture: Africa’s low mortality rate associated with COVID-19 may be caused in part by 60% of the continents' population is under the age of 25, according to early analysis by the WHO. Adults over 65 are at a higher risk of dying or being hospitalized due to the coronavirus, per the CDC.

President Trump announced Friday that he was declaring churches and places of worship as "essential places that provide essential services," and said that he would override governors to allow them to open "right now."

What he's saying: "Some governors have deemed liquor stores and abortion clinics as essential, but have left out churches and other houses of worship. It's not right," Trump said from the White House podium.

At least a dozen electric vehicle startups with dreams of becoming the next Tesla are suddenly in limbo, hoping they can hang on through the coronavirus pandemic for a chance to deliver on their long-shot ambitions.

The big picture: Building a car company from scratch is extraordinarily difficult, requiring billions of dollars in capital. Tesla made it, but not without a few harrowing brushes with death. Add the economic uncertainty of a global pandemic, and the stunning collapse in oil prices, and the odds of success are even lower.

Editor’s note: The study referenced in this story has been retracted by the medical journal The Lancet due to questions on the veracity of its primary data sources. Read more here.

Coronavirus patients who took hydroxychloroquine or its related drug chloroquine were more likely to die or develop an irregular heart rhythm that can lead to sudden cardiac death, compared to those who did nothing, a retrospective review published in The Lancet shows.

Why it matters: Despite warnings from the Food and Drug Administration, President Trump has insisted the anti-malarial drug as a "game-changer" and admitted he has taken it as a preventative even though the drug is unproven.

The Senate failed millions of small businesses Thursday by ending its week without passing an extension to the number of weeks that PPP loan recipients have to use their funds.

Why it matters: People may lose their jobs while politicians dither.

A team of Google veterans and others is launching the nonprofit CVKey Project to help communities restart amid the coronavirus pandemic. Its centerpiece, for now, is an app to let venues assess the health risk a particular person poses and whether to admit them.

Why it matters: There are a lot of ideas on how best to store data about coronavirus risk and exposures, but privacy concerns abound as well.

The National Association of City Transportation Officials has released a document, called "Streets for Pandemic Response and Recovery," to make it easier for city planners to adapt their streetscapes to the shifting pressures of the coronavirus pandemic.

Why it matters: The scope and duration of the changes could affect urban air quality, carbon emissions and could even influence post-crisis oil demand.

Sales of Hormel products — including Skippy peanut butter and Spam — to groceries skyrocketed, thanks to food stockpiling and the quarantine diet.

Why it matters: Some companies are seeing business collapse as Americans lock down, while others are getting a lift as people shelter in place.

Before the coronavirus hit, 1.7 million jobless workers were collecting unemployment benefits, but two months later, the coronavirus pandemic has left more than 25 million workers on the unemployment rolls.

Why it matters: The number of new claims applications continues to be devastatingly high, though the pace has steadily slowed from the peak. Continued claims, which show the number of Americans on unemployment rolls after the initial application, keep climbing to new weekly records.

Investors are getting acquainted with a new class of CEOs, who are making crucial decisions about how to steer the companies that are in some cases taking the worst hit from the coronavirus crisis.

The problem: No one has experience dealing with an economy-shuttering global pandemic.

As sports and leagues around the world desperately try to figure a way back to competition, golf seems primed to set the standard for which all other sports will strive.

The state of play: Though leagues like South Korea's KBO, Germany's Bundesliga, and even NASCAR here in the States have already begun competing again, golf seems uniquely suited to avoid any coronavirus-related setbacks.

She can't be a soccer mom because soccer's canceled. She's not a conventional security mom since America's biggest threat is now measured in microns. In an election year defined by the coronavirus, the new voter to watch is the Zoom mom.

Why it matters: The presidency may hinge on the women's vote — how many white, suburban women who backed President Trump in 2016 will abandon him now, and how many women of color who stayed home four years ago will turn out for Joe Biden.

The novel coronavirus has killed almost 100,000 people in the U.S. and well over 300,000 worldwide. And though it's easy to become fixated on the statistics, the people who have died were mothers, fathers, siblings and friends.

The big picture: Many of those who have died from the virus had committed themselves to the health and well-being of others, in ways big and small — from high-level researchers to emergency room doctors to family caregivers.

Republicans are still less worried about the coronavirus than Democrats or independents, even as it spreads out from primarily urban areas into suburban and rural Republican-leaning areas.

Why it matters: The virus doesn't care about politics or geography. High-risk behavior in places where the virus is spreading is the recipe for an outbreak.

Questions about the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic are beginning to overtake questions about the virus itself, according to a new analysis of Google search data from around the world.

Why it matters: Even with the global death toll rising, search data indicates that the coronavirus has become a fact of life for much of the world. Now, people have more questions about jobs, unemployment, furloughs and government aid.

NIAID Director Anthony Fauci said he's "cautiously optimistic" about a Moderna coronavirus vaccine that appeared to generate antibody responses to the virus in a small number of patients, at a CNN town hall on Thursday.

What he's saying: "Although the numbers were limited, it was quite good news because it reached and went over an important hurdle in the development of vaccines. That's the reason why I'm cautiously optimistic about it."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday confirmed that it has been combining the results of diagnostic coronavirus tests and coronavirus antibody tests, The Atlantic reports.

Why it matters: Including antibody test results distorts data on the prevalence of the coronavirus and can overstate the ability to safely begin the reopening process.

NIAID Director Anthony Fauci advised states that are reopening "to be on the alert" for "little blips" of infections as stay-at-home restrictions are lifted across the U.S., at a CNN coronavirus town hall on Thursday.

Why it matters: Nearly every state in the U.S. has taken steps to reopen certain regions and industries that are seen as "low-risk" for spreading the virus, per a New York Times analysis.

The coronavirus does not spread easily from touching surfaces or objects, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention emphasizes in recently updated guidance.

Why it matters: The virus can last on surfaces from hours to days, depending on the material, according to a widely referenced study in the New England Journal of Medicine. But, person-to-person spread is currently thought to be the primary way the virus is transmitted, the CDC says.