Evening Briefing

The increasingly grim numbers of new coronavirus cases in the U.S. are causing governors, many of whom hurried to reopen their economies against the advice of health experts, to pause—if not reverse—those plans. Arizona, Florida, Colorado and Texas forced bars and nightclubs to close in recent days, while Arizona expanded the shutdown to gyms, water parks and movie theaters. New York City and some states are delaying or reconsidering allowing restaurants to resume indoor dining. The patchwork of local and state ordinances is difficult for business owners to navigate. Even those who approve of shutdowns are frustrated at the sudden changes in direction, which are costing them thousands of dollars in lost merchandise and forcing them to lay off people they just brought back. —Josh Petri

Here are today’s top stories

The U.S. is preparing to roll out long-delayed sanctions to punish senior Chinese officials over human-rights abuses against Muslims in Xinjiang, part of a toughening of the administration’s stance toward Beijing after it unveiled a law enabling it to crush civil liberties and dissent in Hong Kong.

As nations around the world try to get their economies humming again, the number of coronavirus tests coming back positive has turned into the metric to watch. Five percent or below is the threshold to reopen safely; 10% is troubling; 20% outrageous. In Mexico, it stands at 50%. In the U.S., cases rose by 46,065 from a day earlier, to 2.66 million. California reported 9,740 new infections, its biggest-ever daily jump. President Donald Trump said Wednesday he thinks masks are “good” but that he’s still not convinced they should be mandatory. The comments came one day after Surgeon General Jerome Adams said: “Please, please, please wear a face covering when you go out in public.” Globally, there have been over 10.5 million confirmed cases and 512,689 deaths.

The Food and Drug Administration’s new standards on coronavirus vaccine development may dampen Wall Street’s long-shot bet that one would appear by year’s end. (Medical experts have said 2021 is a safer wager, though nothing is guaranteed.) Drug and vaccine developers are taking part in a Trump administration program meant to develop a vaccine faster, though details remain scant. An early trial of an experimental medicine from Pfizer and BioNtech showed promise. We’re tracking all the vaccine candidates here.

The coming wave of coronavirus recession evictions won’t impact Americans equally. The majority of eviction filings are in Black and immigrant neighborhoods, a new study finds.

Billionaires gave 37 times as much in political contributions in the last U.S. election as they did 10 years earlier, according to a new study. They are also playing a much larger role in the political process. In 2008, donations from billionaires were less than 1% of all political contributions. By 2018 they made up almost 10%.

Just as 2020 seemed like it might be a breakthrough year for corporations looking to combat climate change, the novel coronavirus emerged. By the time March came around, corporate leaders were more concerned with talk of financial survival. So sudden was the shift that a Bloomberg analysis of Standard & Poor’s 500 companies found climate change-related discussions dropped 50% during first-quarter earnings calls.

What you’ll need to know tomorrow

Here are today’s top stories

What you’ll need to know tomorrow

What you’ll want to read tonight in Businessweek

The Man Who Stole Dozens of Super Bowl Rings