THE BIG STORY How to crush the virus
Beating back the coronavirus is possible, and a bunch of places around the world seem to have done it — South Korea reported zero new infections today, Hong Kong has it under control, and New Zealand and Australia are close to stopping the spread. We can do it here too, and we know what needs to be done — the big question is whether we will actually do it.
The method used across the world to stop the virus from flaring up again once things reopen is called contact tracing — following up every positive test by notifying everyone that person came into contact with while they were infectious, and telling them to stay at home to avoid spreading the virus. It’s a proven method that dates back centuries, and we already do it on a smaller scale to tackle some disease outbreaks here in the US.
Smartphones and the internet can potentially make such a system much more efficient, but first and foremost it requires a lot of people. A team of BuzzFeed News reporters took a deep dive into the preparations for a contact tracing system here in the US. Will we get it done? Will we screw it up? The big lesson for now is we’ll need to hire a lot of people to make this work – 300,000, by some estimates. Currently, there are about 8,000 people doing it.
 STAYING ON TOP OF THIS Detention is even deadlier right now One of the riskiest places in America right now for catching the virus is inside any kind of detention facility, and more stories are emerging of how hard inmates are being hit. Earlier this month 71 people being held in immigration detention facilities in the Northeast were relocated to Texas, in an effort to ease overcrowding. But since then, 21 of them have tested positive, Hamed Aleaziz reports, with some blaming the conditions in which they were transported.
This week, 30-year-old Andrea Circle Bear became the first confirmed case of a woman dying of the coronavirus in federal custody, Salvador Hernandez reports — she gave birth while hooked up to a ventilator almost a month ago. She was serving a 26-month sentence after being convicted of maintaining a drug-involved premises.
And one of the worst hotspots in the country is the federal prison on Terminal Island in Los Angeles, where 443 of the prison’s 1,055 inmates have tested positive for COVID-19, the LA Times reports.
 SNAPSHOTS California Sen. Kamala Harris is introducing a new bill addressing the racial disparities in coronavirus cases. The bill would create a federal task force focused on limiting the impact of the virus on communities of color.
Experts advising the Italian government are warning the country’s hospitals could be overwhelmed for a second time as it prepares to lifts its lockdown. Countries across Europe are preparing to slowly reopen.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk described the coronavirus response as “fascist” during the company’s quarterly earnings call for investors yesterday. “This is not democratic,” he said. “This is not freedom. Give people back their goddamn freedom.”
Brazil has now recorded more coronavirus deaths than China, and is by far the hardest-hit country in Latin America. But its president, Jair Bolsonaro, is still skeptical of the problem.
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A REPLY GUY GETS PAID Don’t let anybody tell you tweeting isn’t worth it
Yaron Oren-Pines, an electrical engineer and entrepreneur in California, has been a big Donald Trump fan for years, showing up in his mentions since 2011. In late March, when Trump tweeted about the need for ventilators, Oren-Pines was right there in the replies once more: “We can supply ICU Ventilators, invasive and noninvasive. Have someone call me URGENT,” he wrote.
 Three days later, New York state paid Oren-Pines $69 million, Rosalind Adams and Ken Bensinger report. The state ordered 1,450 ventilators from him, although it’s unclear exactly how or where he was planning on getting them. A source in the state government says the purchase was made based on a recommendation from the White House coronavirus taskforce.
The ventilators never arrived — the order has been canceled and the state is now trying to get its money back. “Neither me nor my company is providing any comment on this,” Oren-Pines said when contacted by phone. Keep an eye out for him in Trump’s mentions though. ZOOM WEDDINGS You may now kiss the bride, but please mute your speaker
The lockdown has canceled pretty much everything you may have planned to be doing right about now, but love always finds a way. Some couples are still going ahead with their wedding plans, even if it means getting married in front of a laptop, with friends and family looking on via shaky internet connections.
“The dress code was ‘Zoom formal, pants optional.’ And when Mark Van Name and Jen O’Leary got married in their New York City apartment Saturday afternoon, their virtual guests dressed for the occasion,” reports Julia Reinstein.
"They wore tuxedos on top with shorts on the bottom. They donned pearls, T-shirts, cocktail dresses, swim trunks, and festive hats. One friend, a doctor at a hospital, called in wearing scrubs and a face mask.”
“The one thing Mark wanted to make sure was on the invite was that pants were optional,” O’Leary said. He got his wish, and may they live happily ever after.
 CONGRATS, GABE A new member of the BuzzFeed News family
If you’re a BuzzFeed News reader, you’re probably familiar with the wonderful work of Gabriel Sanchez, our photo essay editor. He puts together beautiful pieces based on amazing photography from around the world, and when it was time for his wife Kelly to give birth in New York City last week, of course he had a camera on hand.
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