THE BIG STORY

Facebook’s coronavirus intervention

The debate over how Facebook should moderate the content posted by its billions of users has been raging for years, and the company’s policy has typically been messy and haphazardly enforced. But it’s taken a much more aggressive stance in response to the coronavirus pandemic, Alex Kantrowitz reports.

The company has instructed its moderators to remove posts containing lines like “social distancing doesn’t work” — anything that contradicts the best available recommendations on keeping people safe. It has never before made such a direct intervention into such a contentious topic.

“We decided we would remove content that directly contradicted [the WHO] and could contribute to risk of imminent physical harm,” said Monika Bickert, Facebook’s head of global policy management.

The big question now is whether this is a one-off, or the beginning of a new approach from the company. “Removing coronavirus misinformation could make its largely hands-off approach to other harm-causing misinformation — such as on climate denialism and anti-vaccine advocacy — harder to defend,” Kantrowitz reports. “It will also place Facebook squarely in the middle of a political battle in the US.”

Ben Kothe / BuzzFeed News; NIAID

STAYING ON TOP OF THIS

WHO puts hydroxychloroquine on hold

The World Health Organization is pausing trials of hydroxychloroquine, the malaria drug that was once held up by many — including President Trump and his supporters — as a potential cure for the coronavirus. The pause comes after a major international study found the drug offered no significant benefits to those taking it, but increased their risk of death.

The WHO is running its own international study to test various potential coronavirus cures, working with hospitals in 35 countries to test drugs including hydroxychloroquine. President Trump recently told a press briefing that he was personally taking the drug on advice from his medical staff, but in an interview on Sunday said he’d stopped taking it.

The WHO Director General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announced the suspension of the trial on Monday. “The executive group has implemented a temporary pause of the hydroxychloroquine arm within the Solidarity study… while the safety data is reviewed,” he said. “The other arms of the trial are continuing.”

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SNAPSHOTS

Two hair stylists in Missouri exposed more than 140 people to the coronavirus by working while infected. Public health officials are tracing all those exposed to check if any caught the virus.

A Guatemalan man died in ICE custody after testing positive for the coronavirus. Santiago Baten-Oxlaj, 34, had been granted permission to return to Guatemala and was waiting to leave when he died, ICE confirmed.

An Illinois man has been arrested after grabbing a TV reporter and shouting obscenities at her as she filmed a segment. “You violated my personal space. You grabbed me. You scared me. Was it worth it?" reporter Gaynor Hall wrote after the incident.

Footage of hundreds of people at pool parties in the Ozarks raised eyebrows over the Memorial Day weekend. “Now that I think about it, probably not a great idea, but there [is] no law when you're drinking the Claw," one attendee told BuzzFeed News.

Scott Pasmore/Twitter

NATURE IS HEALING

Expanding your quarantine circle

The sun is shining, states are slowly reopening, and the daily death toll is in decline. Is now the time to cautiously start seeing some friends again? Walks in the park seem fine, right? But what about settling down for a picnic? What about….*whispers*....visiting someone else’s house?

Clarissa-Jan Lim spoke to public health experts to get their advice on whether now is the time to start socializing again — and if it is, how to do it safely. One thing many emphasized is there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to this stuff: where you are matters a lot, and staying safe in Kansas is very different to staying safe in New York City.

But in short, there are ways to see people and stay safe – and they begin with good judgement about who you’re seeing. “Number one, I think you need to trust that group of people, let's say that's a family, or a friend, or a couple,” said Dr. Gerardo Chowell, a professor at the Georgia State University School of Public Health. “If that circle you want to join has been in quarantine vigorously — the same way you have — I think it's fine, the risk is pretty low.”

May the sun shine on your face this week,

Tom