The Rundown: CDC Releases Reopening Guidelines

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday released an edited version of their delayed guidance for reopening from coronavirus shutdowns. Posted were six one-page "decision tool" documents for schools, workplaces, camps, childcare centers, mass transit systems, and bars and restaurants that tell them what they should consider before reopening. AP reported last week that the CDC drafted the guidance more than a month ago, but it was initially been shelved by the administration. Additionally, the original guidance was much more extensive, running to some 57 pages more, which haven't been posted.

A government vaccine scientist who filed a whistleblower complaint after his ouster last month as head of a Health and Human Services biodefense agency testified before a House committee yesterday, charging that the U.S. still doesn't have a comprehensive plan against the coronavirus in critical areas including masks, testing, treatments and vaccines. Rick Bright said, "Our window of opportunity is closing," and warned that the U.S. could face, quote, "the darkest winter in modern history" if there's a second wave.

Bright claims he was removed from his job after repeatedly warning those above him that the coronavirus outbreak was going to be worse than the public was being told, and after he opposed a White House directive to allow widespread access to hydroxychloroquine, a drug President Trump was pushing to treat the virus, which the Food and Drug Administration has recently warned against using. Bright also spoke about his repeated attempts without success to get the production of respirator masks ramped up. President Trump yesterday called Bright an "angry, disgruntled employee."

The Labor Department reported Thursday that 2.98M Americans applied for unemployment benefits for the first time last week, bringing the total to more than 36 million people over the past two months due to the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic. The weekly number has been steadily falling in recent weeks, even as the total number is historically high.

In other developments:

• Death and Case Count: As of last night, there have been more than 85,900 deaths in the U.S., according to Johns Hopkins University's count, and more than 1,417,000 confirmed cases.
• CDC Alerts Doctors About Syndrome in Children: After several days of warnings from New York state officials about a mysterious inflammatory condition being seen in children that's believed to be linked to the coronavirus, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an alert to doctors Thursday about the rare condition, called multisystem inflammatory syndrome. It's been reported in at least 110 children in New York, and three have died. The syndrome affects blood vessels and organs and has symptoms including persistent fever, rash, abdominal pain and vomiting.
• Talking Loudly Can Transmit Virus: A new study found that talking loudly produces enough droplets to transmit the coronavirus to someone else, and that the droplets can remain in the air for eight minutes or longer. The researchers also said that there's a "substantial probability" that speaking at a normal volume can also cause transmission of the virus "in confined environments."

➤BURR STEPS ASIDE AS SENATE INTELLIGENCE CHAIR AMID FBI PROBE OF STOCK SALES: Senator Richard Burr stepped aside as the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee yesterday amid an FBI investigation of stock sales he made at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. The influential North Carolina Republican took the step hours after FBI agents went to his home with a warrant to search his cellphone, calling the situation a "distraction" from the committee's work, but he denied any wrongdoing. The FBI is looking into whether Burr used advance information he got as part of his position in Congress to sell as much as $1.7 million in stocks days before the coronavirus caused markets to plunge. While acknowledging he made the sales because of the virus, Burr says he relied only on "public news reports" for the information.

➤ATTORNEYS FOR ARBERY CASE DEFENDANTS SAY NOT TO RUSH TO JUDGEMENT: Attorneys for the two white men charged with murder in the February fatal shooting of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery, a black man who was running through their Georgia neighborhood, warned yesterday against rushing to judgment. Bob Rubion and Jason Sheffield, who are representing Travis McMichael, said that while the shooting was captured on cellphone video, a lot is still unknown about the events leading up to the killing.

Terry McMichael attorneys

McMichael's father, Gregory McMichael, is also charged, and one of his attorneys, Laura Hogue, said, "So often the public accepts a narrative driven by an incomplete set of facts, one that vilifies a good person, based on a rush to judgment, which has happened in this case." The McMichaels weren't arrested until last week, after the video surfaced and led to outrage. They had told police they grabbed weapons and drove after Arbery because they thought he looked like a possible burglar who'd been seen on surveillance video. They also said Arbery was fatally shot in a struggle over Travis McMichael's gun.

Attorneys for Arbery's parents said yesterday, "We agree with the attorneys for Travis McMichael that the justice system affords all citizens the presumption of innocence and that there shouldn’t be a rush to judgment or stereotyping. We only wish that their client . . . had provided that same presumption of innocence to Ahmaud Arbery before chasing and killing him."

➤AP: PLAYERS' UNION HAS ASKED MLB FOR FINANCIAL DOCUMENTS: The baseball players' union has asked MLB for financial documents that describe the industry's finances, the Associated Press reported yesterday (May 14th), as agreement is being sought on a plan for starting up a coronavirus-delayed season. The owners have okayed the plan, which would have the season start in early July, but a proposal for a players to get a percentage of their 2020 salaries based on a revenue split is a major stumbling block to getting their approval.

USAToday

➤NASCAR PLANS TO RACE IN FIVE STATES IN JUNE: NASCAR announced Thursday (May 14th) that it plans to hold its June races in five states -- Tennessee, Georgia, Virginia, Florida and Alabama -- all of them held without fans. The Cup Series is set to return from its coronavirus shutdown on Sunday at Darlington Raceway in South Carolina. NASCAR has set plans for 20 races, including nine in the Cup series.

➤FORMER MLB MANAGER ART HOWE IN ICU WITH CORONAVIRUS: Former Major League Baseball manager and one-time player Art Howe is in intensive care at a Houston hospital with the coronavirus. The 73-year-old Howe, who's best known as the manager of the Oakland Athletics teams in the late 1990s and early 2000s, told Houston TV station KPRC that he first began feeling symptoms on May 3rd, tested positive, and tried to get through it at home. But he was taken to the hospital by ambulance on Tuesday after his symptoms got worse. He said he needs to get 24 hours without a fever before he can be released.