Uptick in covid-19 hospitalizations linked to reopening

The World Health Organization is warning that countries could face a second peak in covid-19 cases, even before we enter a second wave of infections. North America, Southeast Asia and Europe could be scaling back restrictions too quickly, WHO emergencies program head Mike Ryan said, which could result in a rapid acceleration in the emergence of case clusters. “We need to be also cognizant of the fact that the disease can jump up at any time," Ryan said. "We cannot make assumptions that just because the disease is on the way down now that it’s going to keep going down.” United States cases Updated May 26 at 10:20 PM local Confirmed 1,716,155 +19,281 Deaths 100,175 +716 Recovered 360,917 +8,305 Former Food and Drug Administration commissioner Scott Gottlieb linked the increase in covid-19 hospitalizations to states lifting restrictions. “We now see a trend in an uptick in hospitalizations. It’s a small uptick, but it is an uptick, and it is unmistakable, and it is probably a result of reopening,” he said Tuesday morning in an interview on CNBC. “I’m concerned that there are people who think that this is the all-clear.” The number of Tyson Foods employees with covid-19 has exploded from less than 1,600 a month ago to more than 7,000 today, according to a Washington Post analysis. Meat companies have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on protective gear, paid leave and ventilation systems. Despite the safety precautions, the industry has still seen a significant surge in cases, showing how difficult it is to get back to normal, even in essential fields such as food processing. Local officials were stunned by raucous Memorial Day weekend festivities, even as covid-19 killed at least 2,000 more people in the U.S. At a flashy club in Houston, dozens splashed around the pool. In rural North Carolina, thousands packed the stands without masks at a speedway. And in Daytona Beach, Fla., hundreds danced in the street and on top of cars near the boardwalk. The events led local officials to sound the alarm, warning that consequences could be dire. The nation’s political leaders honored generations of war dead on Memorial Day, with former vice president Joe Biden wearing a mask and President Trump going without. Hours later, Trump retweeted a Fox News commentator criticizing Biden for wearing one, which sparked backlash from critics who questioned whether they valued Biden looking “cool” more than efforts to slow the spread of a deadly virus. (Analysis: Trump’s seeding of a culture war over masks just got a lot less subtle.) We’re swimming in statistics, trends, models, projections, infection rates and death tolls, but even the experts are struggling to make sense of the numbers. With the fuzzy science, people are forced to do their own calculations and estimates, and figure out what’s safe and what isn’t. Read about the challenges we all face to interpret the uncertainty and the basic questions still unanswered. With a simple Airbnb reservation, an American couple, their two dogs, a Chinese couple and their set of newborn twins have created an unexpected temporary family in a Salt Lake City suburb. A month-long reservation turned into more than three, and now all of the adults eat together, play games and hike together, and care for the new babies. Other important news A visual story: How one French town made going to the beach safe again. The WHO has halted its global trial of hydroxychloroquine, citing a new study that found a significantly higher risk of death. The Trump administration will begin enforcing a Brazil travel ban two days early, as the nation outpaces the United States’s daily death toll. Trump threatened to move the Republican National Convention out of North Carolina, accusing the governor of being in a “shutdown mood.” Why so many Latinos are getting coronavirus.

Live updates and more Track deaths and confirmed cases in the U.S. and across the world.  Where states are reopening and what the rules are in each one. Post reporters across the world are publishing live dispatches 24 hours a day. Read the latest about what's happening in the D.C. area.  Submit a question and The Post may answer it in a future story, live chat or newsletter.

Your questions, answered “What is required to go to a food bank? Do you have to prove that you need food?” —Ellen in Arizona There is no shame in asking for help. Around 37 million people lived in households that were food insecure at some time during 2018, according to the Department of Agriculture, which means they were uncertain of having enough food or unable to get it.