The confirmed number of deaths in the United States from the global coronavirus pandemic has passed 50,000, according to a tally compiled by Johns Hopkins University from government figures.
The coronavirus has killed more than 190,000 people worldwide, including more than 100,000 in Europe. The true numbers could be far higher worldwide, and new cases are surging in Africa and Latin America as outbreaks subside in some places that were hit earlier.
Some U.S. governors have begun loosening up despite warnings from health authorities that it may be too soon to do so without sparking a second wave of infections.
A major meatpacking plant in northern Colorado that closed because of an outbreak that killed four workers was set to reopen Friday after a two-week disinfection, even as some questioned how employees can maintain social distancing inside the facility.
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On the economic front, few experts foresee a downturn as severe as the Great Depression, when unemployment remained above 14% from 1931 to 1940, peaking at 25%. But unemployment is considered likely to remain elevated well into next year and probably beyond, and will surely top the 10% peak of the 2008-09 recession.
President Donald Trump is holding a signing ceremony Friday for a bill providing a nearly $500 billion infusion of coronavirus spending, rushing new relief to employers and hospitals.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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