Meat processing plants to be kept open under Defense Production Act

On Tuesday, President Trump signed an executive order to keep the nation’s meat packing plants open. Many of the plants have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The five-page order, ABC News reports, mandates that critical food supply operations stay open under the Defense Production Act. Read more.

Today’s top stories

In race for vaccine, Oxford University group leaps ahead

Scientists at Oxford had a head start on a vaccine. They say it could be available in September.

Virus’s latest lethal surprise: Mysterious blood clots

Doctors say the cause of blood clots in COVID-19 patients isn’t completely clear, but there are several possible explanations.

FTC commissioner warns about fake COVID-19 cures

Since the beginning of January, the FTC has fielded nearly 30,000 reports of scams and frauds involving losses in excess of $20 million.

Why millions of Americans can’t collect unemployment

The Economic Policy Institute estimates that an additional 8 million to 13 million laid-off workers are missing out on unemployment checks.

Quarantined with a chronic illness: How ‘high risk’ groups can manage their health

It is especially difficult to have a chronic condition right now, but experts say there are systems in place to help.

Pug becomes 1st U.S. dog to test positive

North Carolina dog Winston tested positive for the coronavirus, but experts say there is no evidence yet that pets can pass the virus to humans.

Inside an ‘army’ of COVID-19 contact tracers

It’s not always easy to retrace the steps of a coronavirus patient, especially if they went to a crowded place like a grocery store.

‘Just too much’: How remote learning is breaking parents

With teachers relegated to screens, parents have to play class aide, counselor and cafeteria worker — all while trying to do their own jobs — during a pandemic.

Can ‘herd immunity’ really help us fight coronavirus?

There’s a lot of talk about how achieving herd immunity is the key to reopening the economy, but it could have devastating consequences.

‘You’re our hero’: Plasma recipient meets his donor

“There just aren’t enough thank-yous in the world to tell you what your donation has done,” COVID-19 survivor Jimmie Hayden told plasma donor David Herrmann.

New York ER doctor shares how she lives with the anxiety of the coronavirus pandemic

Emergency physician Arabia Mollette works 12-hour shifts in the East New York-Brownsville section of Brooklyn, N.Y., attending to COVID-19 patients. Her story is similar in many ways to hundreds of doctors all over the city, but her motivation is especially personal. She’s lost family and loved ones to the virus, and, despite bouts of anxiety and insomnia, she pushes on each day to serve the community.

California could begin new school year as early as July, Gov. Newsom says

Concerned about students’ potential learning loss, schools are considering starting the next academic year early, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said. “We recognize there’s been a learning loss because of this disruption. We’re concerned about that learning loss even into the summer,” Newsom said. “Our kids have lost a lot with this disruption … And you can either, you know, roll over and just accept that or you can do something about it. So that’s our thinking.” Read more.

Pence visits COVID-19 patients at Mayo Clinic — without mask

Vice President Mike Pence on Tuesday traveled to Minnesota where he met with doctors and coronavirus patients at the Mayo Clinic.

During one stop, Pence, who was joined by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Rep. Jim Hagedorn, R-Minn., and others, was the only person not wearing a protective mask — going against the recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control, the White House coronavirus task force and the Mayo Clinic, which called him out in a tweet.

“Mayo Clinic had informed @VP of the masking policy prior to his arrival today,” read the tweet, which was later deleted.

Breaking: U.S. passes 1 million confirmed cases

There have now been more than 1 million confirmed coronavirus cases in the United States, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. More than more 56,000 have died from COVID-19-related complications.

The first known U.S. case of COVID-19 was reported on Jan. 21. On April 10, there were more than 500,000 cases.

Cuomo: ‘We have gone to hell and back’

At his daily coronavirus briefing Tuesday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said that despite a death toll that continues to mount, the state has done a “tremendous” job in combatting the virus.

“We have gone to hell and back,” Cuomo said. “What we’ve done has been tremendous … but we have to remain vigilant.”

The governor announced 335 new deaths attributed to COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, bringing the official death toll to 17,638. But Cuomo stressed that initial projections were far more grim.

“We changed reality,” he said. “We literally saved lives [but] we can’t now negate what we’ve accomplished.”

Cuomo also said it’s clear to him that the pandemic exposed a failure of the U.S. public health system for not responding early to the threat of the virus spreading from China to the United States.

He also suggested the media was partly to blame.

“Where was the New York Times? Where was the Wall Street Journal?” Cuomo asked aloud. “Where were our bugel blowers?”