A former employee at Florida's health department says that a top official told her to "manipulate" data to encourage public support for the state's reopening plan in rural counties, the Tampa Bay Times reports.
Driving the news: Rebekah Jones, who helped design Florida's coronavirus data tracker, was fired from her position this week after what she says was a dispute over how much information about infections and deaths should be made public, per the AP.
The coronavirus pandemic has pushed many people to buy groceries and supplies in bulk, but nearly 23.5 million Americans who live far from supermarkets don’t have that option.
Why it matters: Low-income households in food deserts — more than a mile from a supermarket in a city or suburbs or more than 10 miles in rural areas — often struggle with having enough to eat, and the global pandemic has exacerbated that circumstance. Their access to fresh produce and meat continues to decrease, and they often turn instead to fast food or processed foods, according to the Agriculture Department.
A 77-year-old woman with underlying health conditions has died from the coronavirus in Gaza, health authorities announced Saturday, per the New York Times.
Why it matters: This marks the first confirmed fatality due to the virus in the Gaza Strip, which has reported 55 COVID-19 infections, per the Times.
Vox, the far-right party in Spain, protested the government's handling of the novel coronavirus in droves on Saturday. The protestors called for Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to resign, per the New York Times.
The big picture: Spain began reopening its economy in stages this month. Small businesses and restaurants can offer counter service and appointments as of this week, and limited tourist activity is allowed, per the first phase of the country's reopening.
The Trump administration's lead coronavirus task force coordinator said Friday that Washington, D.C., and its surrounding suburbs have some of the highest rates of positive coronavirus tests in the U.S., The Washington Post reports.
Why it matters: D.C., along with its Virginia and Maryland outskirts, have enforced similar restrictions and stay-at-home orders as other communities across the country, but aren't seeing the same results. Deborah Birx said 42 states have a less-than-10% positive-test rate.
84 people died in New York state from the coronavirus on Friday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said at a briefing on Saturday.
Why it matters: This is the first time that less than 100 people have died from the virus in one day in New York since late March, Cuomo said. The state —particularly New York City — has been an epicenter of the virus in the U.S., and is still reporting the most cases in the country, per Johns Hopkins data.
The spread of the novel coronavirus has not slowed in 24 states, according to a new model by Imperial College London that forecasts infection spikes as more people travel and leave their homes in the coming weeks.
Why it matters: Nearly every state across the U.S. has taken steps to reopen their economies partially or completely, including some regions and industries that are deemed "low-risk" for spreading the virus, per a New York Times analysis.
President Trump traveled to his club in Sterling, Virginia on Saturday for his first golfing trip since early March, when the coronavirus pandemic first began to steamroll across the U.S.
Driving the news: White House coronavirus coordinator Deborah Birx advised at a news briefing on Friday that outdoor activities that allow for social distancing, such as golfing, can safely be enjoyed over Memorial Day weekend.
Many Muslim health care workers in the U.S. have been observing the fasting required during the holy month of Ramadan, despite the demands of treating coronavirus patients.
What they're saying: Aasim I. Padela, an emergency medicine physician at the University of Chicago Medical Center, told Axios some frontline health care workers, like those in New York, were concerned that they might risk dehydration with added PPE.
Many Illinois residents are traveling to the five neighboring states that have eased or removed coronavirus restrictions, as Gov. J.B. Pritzker has extended most stay-at-home orders through the end of May, The Washington Post reports.
Why it matters: Pritzker warned, “People who are traveling across the border and ... gathering in large groups and who are going into restaurants or bars ... will asymptomatically come back to Illinois and spread it."
Coronavirus testing is barely scratching the surface in much of the developing world.
By the numbers: Americans are more than 200 times as likely to have been tested as people in countries like Nigeria and Somalia, according to data compiled by the International Rescue Committee (IRC).
Brazil is reporting more confirmed coronavirus cases than any country in the world other than the U.S., Johns Hopkins data indicated on Friday evening.
The big picture: Prolonged lapses in testing and tracking, documented by the Washington Post in April, led to severely undercounted death tolls in the country as it emerged as an epicenter of the virus in Latin America.
The Trump administration warned Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti on Friday that a "long-term lockdown" of the city "may be both arbitrary and unlawful," in a letter from Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband.
Where it stands: L.A. County is reporting the most coronavirus cases and fatalities in California, with 42,063 cases and 2,016 deaths as of Thursday, data from the state health department show.
