Leading members of former President Trump's White House coronavirus task force opened up on the pressures of working in the administration in a CNN special report, broadcast Sunday.
Of note: In CNN's "COVID War: The Pandemic Doctors Speak Out," Anthony Fauci recalled that Trump tweeting "LIBERATE" blue states in order to push them to reopen "hit me like a punch to the chest," while Deborah Birx said "fault No.1" with the administration was it didn't "provide consistent messaging to the American people."
Record torrential rainfall lashing Tennessee has flooded Nashville-area buildings and resulted in the deaths of at least four people, authorities said Sunday.
Details: Nashville Mayor John Cooper (D) told a briefing that 7 inches of rain had fallen in two days in Nashville — the second highest on record. Authorities told the briefing at least 130 people were rescued from the floods overnight.
The World Health Organization's probe into the COVID-19 pandemic origins is not an investigation, it's "essentially a highly chaperoned, highly curated study tour," a WHO adviser and former Clinton administration official told CBS' "60 Minutes" Sunday.
Why it matters: Jamie Metzl's comments that China's government set the mission's ground rules and had "veto power" over who could be on the research team add to concerns raised by the Biden administration and others that the Chinese Communist Party may have interfered in the investigation.
Cities around the world were turning landmark lights off Saturday for Earth Hour, with this year's theme highlighting the link between the destruction of nature and increasing outbreaks of diseases like COVID-19.
The big picture: City landmarks around the world went dark for an hour at 8:30p.m. to mark global action on climate change. Organizer WWF said in a statement, "COVID-19 has given us a stark warning of the risks, vulnerabilities and inequalities of our interconnected systems."
5,000 masked music fans packed into the Palau Sant Jordi arena in Barcelona, Spain, Saturday for a rock concert with no social distancing, as part of a study into the effectiveness of same-day COVID screenings.
Why it matters: Organizers say Spanish rock group Love of Lesbian's concert is the "first commercial event of this size held in Europe during the pandemic," AP notes. The event is an exception to Spain's four-person limits on gatherings in enclosed spaces, per Euronews.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is threatening to sue the federal government if the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) doesn't allow cruises to restart by the summer.
Why it matters: Florida is at the heart of the U.S. cruise industry, with Miami, Port Everglades and Port Canaveral among the busiest ports in the world. Millions of passengers pass through in a typical year. It's worth billions of dollars for the state's economy, per AP.
