COVID-19

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo speaks during a Coronavirus Briefing at Northwell Feinstein Institute For Medical Research earlier this month.

National

New York Extends Stay At Home Order, Allows Some Areas To Begin Reopening

1:58pm May 15, 2020

by Brakkton Booker

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is extending the state's stay at home order to May 28. Some areas of the state have been given the green light to enter Phase One of reopening beginning Friday.

Health & Safety

Countries Slammed Their Borders Shut To Stop Coronavirus. But Is It Doing Any Good?

1:28pm May 15, 2020

An analysis by NPR finds many nations are tossing aside international health regulations and imposing strict travel restrictions. Experts say the benefits are likely to be small.

Craig Boddie and Evette Jourdain, both mail carriers in Palm Beach, Fla., spoke for a remote StoryCorps conversation last month about the job risks created by the coronavirus outbreak.

National

'We're Like A Lifeline': Postal Workers Fight Fear To Work During Pandemic

12:47pm May 15, 2020

Mail carriers Craig Boddie and Evette Jourdain spoke for a remote StoryCorps conversation about how the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S. has added stress to their essential jobs.

Queue Listen Now

Business

Amid COVID Closures And Layoffs, Some Local Businesses Thrive

10:55am May 15, 2020

by David Ford

Earlier this month, North Carolina began Phase 1 of reopening.

Queue Listen Now

Retail Spending Plummets As Coronavirus Crisis Freezes Economy

Pandemic Hits Spending Hard; 79% Dive In Clothing Sales Leads A Record Plunge

10:46am May 15, 2020

by Alina Selyukh

Retail sales saw record drops for the second month in a row. Other categories with huge declines included a 59% dive in furniture sales and 29% decreases in department stores and gas stations.

Queue Listen Now

A health worker wearing personal protective equipment in the Kutupalong Rohingya refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, last month. On Thursday, Bangladesh reported the area's first confirmed coronavirus infections.

World News

COVID-19 Has Arrived In Rohingya Refugee Camps And Aid Workers Fear The Worst

10:46am May 15, 2020

by Michael Sullivan

Crowded, unsanitary conditions in the camps — located across the border from Myanmar in Bangladesh — threaten a rapid escalation of infections among the 1 million refugees living there.

What The 1918 Flu Can Teach Us About Handling Today's Pandemic

9:36am May 15, 2020

Public health has come a long way since the deadly flu, but we find ourselves in an oddly similar moment, using many of the same measures employed in 1918, a medical historian says.

Sam Sterling skis over a crusty layer of snow in the mountains off the Denali Highway in Interior Alaska this month.

National

While The Tourists Are Away, Alaskans Will Play

5:01am May 15, 2020

by Nathaniel Herz

Normally Alaskans endure a crush of summer tourists and restricted access to some sites. But in this season of staycations they'll have the run of the place, and are being courted with special deals.

A medical worker helps a man suspected of infection with the coronavirus out of an ambulance at a hospital in Kommunarka, outside Moscow.

Russia Defends Its Tally Of Coronavirus Deaths After Reports Of Undercounting

11:07pm May 14, 2020

by Charles Maynes

Russia has the world's second-highest confirmed coronavirus case number but ranks 18th in officially reported fatalities from the virus.

The Jersey Shore is central to the state's identity, Gov. Phil Murphy said Thursday, announcing that all New Jersey beaches can reopen soon. Here, a woman walks on the beach this month in Belmar, N.J.

National

'The Jersey Shore Will Be Open In Time For Memorial Day,' Gov. Murphy Says

5:41pm May 14, 2020

by Bill Chappell

New Jersey has more than 142,700 COVID-19 cases, and the rate of positive test results is 22%. But the governor says the spread of the coronavirus has continued to slow.