The U.S. reported more than 1,000 coronavirus-related deaths on Tuesday for the first time since May 29, according to the COVID-19 Tracking Project.
Why it matters: Deaths from COVID-19 had slowed after months of lockdowns, but they're starting to tick back up again as new infections and hospitalizations continue to surge across the country.
The pool of American workers on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic is getting a lot bigger.
The big picture: Just as grocery and delivery workers found themselves fighting a crisis they didn't sign up for back in March, teachers, hairstylists and temperature checkers are part of a new wave of workers who are now in harm's way as the pandemic rages on.
President Trump admitted at his first coronavirus press briefing since April that the outbreak in the U.S. will "probably, unfortunately get worse before it gets better," adding: "Something I don't like saying about things, but that's the way it is."
Why it matters: For weeks, Trump has dismissed the rise in infections as a product of more testing, insisting that the coronavirus will "just disappear" one day. He repeated that claim on Tuesday, but called the surge in cases in the South "concerning" and urged all Americans to wear a mask when social distancing is not possible: "Whether you like the mask or not, they have an impact."
Some parents are refusing to let a pandemic cancel their kids' senior proms.
Driving the news: Nearly 100 recent New Hampshire high school grads got dressed up last weekend for a private prom, AP reports, one of several held around the country.
Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN around 4 p.m. Tuesday that he has not been invited to President Trump's 5 p.m. coronavirus press briefing, and that he most recently spoke to the president last week.
Why it matters: The press briefing will be Trump's first since he ended them in April at the request of aides who believed they were hurting his poll numbers. Even as coronavirus cases surge across the U.S., the briefing will not feature Fauci, the nation's top infectious-diseases expert.
Four U.S. and European airlines are asking government leaders to begin a joint coronavirus testing program so that transatlantic travel can resume.
Why it matters: Flights between the U.S. and Europe are a huge source of profit for the airline industry, which has collapsed since the pandemic hit. But government restrictions effectively prevent all non-essential travel between the regions.
White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin were deployed to Capitol Hill on Tuesday to brief the Senate Republican conference, alongside Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, on the details of the GOP coronavirus stimulus bill.
Driving the news: The Senate Republican lunch descended into chaos, several GOP lawmakers said, revealing that the White House and Republican senators remain far apart on key priorities in the next economic package.
The number of people infected with COVID-19 in 10 regions analyzed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention could be six to 24 times higher than the reported rates, according to data released by the agency Tuesday.
The big picture: The analysis, based on antibody tests, shows that many people who did not exhibit symptoms may have been unknowingly spreading the virus within their communities.
Thanks in part to pandemic-driven disruptions of conventional meat, sales and interest in plant-based alternatives are taking off, changing the future of food.
Why it matters: Meat-processing plants have proven especially vulnerable to the coronavirus outbreaksand meat consumption adds to climate change. Better-tasting alternatives could shrink that environmental footprint while solidifying the supply chain for protein.
Intel has now spent $30 million of the $50 million it pledged in April to help address the coronavirus outbreak, including money for remote health and distance learning. The company says it has learned some key lessons along the way.
Why it matters: Lots of tech companies announced large pandemic relief plans. It's worth checking back to see how those efforts turned out.
"In Oklahoma, one of the poorest states, unemployment — which reached a record 14.7 percent in April — has pushed many to the point of desperation, with savings depleted, cars repossessed and homes sold for cash," the WashPost's Annie Gowen reports.
John Jolley, a 58-year-old single father, "arrived in the parking lot of the River Spirit Expo center in Tulsa around 9 p.m. on a sultry night" for one of the state's "mega-processing events."
"Dozens more sat in the parking lot overnight with Jolley, unable to get their questions answered through the unemployment agency’s overloaded phone system."
Coronavirus hotspots have seen a surge of new infections in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities.
Why it matters: Older and sicker people are at much higher risk for serious illness and death, and are at risk from these growing outbreaks despite efforts to protect elder-care facilities.
New clinical trial data from two experimental coronavirus vaccines — one from Oxford University and AstraZeneca in the United Kingdom, and the other from CanSino Biologics in China — are providing cautious optimism in the race to combat the pandemic.
The big picture: Science has never moved this fast to develop a vaccine. And researchers are still several months away from a clearer idea of whether the leading candidates help people generate robust immune responses to this virus.
A rising number of Americans — now nearly one in three — don't believe the virus' death toll is as high as the official count, despite surging new infections and hospitalizations, per this week's installment of the Axios-Ipsos Coronavirus Index.
Between the lines: Republicans, Fox News watchers and people who say they have no main source of news are driving this trend.
EU leaders agreed to a €750 billion ($857 billion) post-pandemic economic recovery package, summit chair Charles Michel confirmed in a tweet early Tuesday local time, stating: "Deal!"
Why it matters: French President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement the agreement that was unanimously approved by all 27 EU leaders after almost five days of intense negotiations in Brussels marked "a historic day for Europe."
A judge in Hidalgo County, Texas ordered all county residents on Monday to shelter at home from Wednesday until midnight on August 5 due to rising coronavirus cases in the state.
Zoom in: Hidalgo County is reporting more coronavirus fatalities than all other counties outside of Harris, Dallas and Tarrant, but the the sixth-most coronavirus infections in the state, per Texas' health department.
Vaccines from the U.K., U.S. and China are sprinting ahead in a global race that involves at least 197 vaccine candidates and is producing geopolitical clashes even as it promises a possible pandemic escape route.
Driving the news: The first two candidates to reach phase three trials — one from the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca, the other from China — both appear safe and produce immune responses, according to preliminary results published today in The Lancet.
