Covid-19

President Donald Trump has promised that the stock market will surge even bigger and better than ever, but his staff is trying to downplay the predictions to manage expectations.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has been widely criticized by health experts for prematurely reopening non-essential businesses in his state, and even President Donald Trump — who has been calling for states to ease coronavirus-related restrictions sooner rather than later — asserted that Kemp was moving too quickly. Now, more criticism is coming Kemp’s way over reports that the Georgia Department of Public Health’s website showed a decrease in new coronavirus infections in parts of the state where no such decreases were occurring.

President Donald Trump on Monday called it a "very positive day" in the fight against the novel coronavirus as the United States passed the grim milestone of 90,000 deaths from the pandemic.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order March 31 that told Texans to stay home in April except for essential activity. On May 1, that order expired and Abbott announced his formal reopening plan, intended to be completed in phases. On Monday, gyms and fitness centers were the latest to be allowed to reopen, following earlier allowances for restaurants, retailers and salons.

In the 2016 election, there were two distinct types of Trump voters: (1) the hardcore MAGA base and (2) independents who weren’t fond of Donald Trump but disliked the Democratic presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton, even more. Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel clearly fell into the first category, making substantial donations to Trump’s campaign and speaking at the 2016 Republican National Convention. But journalists Lachlan Cartwright, Asawin Suebsaeng and Lachlan Markay, in the Daily Beast, report that Thiel has “taken on a dramatically reduced — if not altogether nonexistent — role in pushing for Trump 2020.” And Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic is likely to blame.

President Vladimir Putin was forced to intervene personally on Monday in the epidemic sweeping Russia's North Caucasus region of Dagestan, as local officials described the coronavirus situation as a "catastrophe."

US biotech firm Moderna reported promising early results on Monday from the first clinical tests of an experimental vaccine against the novel coronavirus performed on a small number of volunteers.

Using dogs’ powerful sense of smell to detect people with Covid-19 could revolutionize how the disease is identified and tracked, according to scientists in the UK who on Saturday were awarded government funding to research the theory.

Esquire columnist Charlie Pierce wrote Monday that he can't help but notice Republicans making "mistakes" that seem to downplay the seriousness of the coronavirus.

During an interview on Fox News this Monday, Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar was asked about comments from White House trade adviser Peter Navarro, who said that the CDC's "bad testing" set the U.S. back in the fight against coronavirus. According to Azar, the remarks from his fellow Trump administration official were "inaccurate" and "inappropriate."

Ideally, the Democratic National Committee would not only like to see its party win the presidential race and increase its majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, but also, flip the U.S. Senate — where Republicans slightly increased their majority in the 2018 midterms. Flipping the Senate this year is an uphill climb for Democrats, but it’s doable. And according to Joan E. Greve, a Washington, DC correspondent for the British publication The Guardian, the coronavirus pandemic and the GOP’s response to it are giving Democrats more optimism about their chances of retaking the Senate.