THE BIG STORY

Are we near the peak of the coronavirus crisis?

It’s still too early to know if things will get worse from here, especially with the outbreak spreading in different ways across the country. But there are signs that at its epicenter in New York and New Jersey, the growth of the virus and its death toll may be slowing. Nationally, the number of daily deaths have decreased in recent days — from more than 2,000 in a single day on Friday to 1,877 on Saturday and 1,557 on Sunday. That was driven by a slowdown in New York, where the daily death toll peaked at 799 last week but has been lower every day since.

“I believe the worst is over if we continue to be smart,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said yesterday, stressing that this will only be the case if people remain committed to social distancing and keep following public health guidelines. “The worst can be over, and it is over, unless we do something reckless.”

BuzzFeed News has a new tool for tracking coronavirus cases county by county, across America. You can enter your address here and get all the details of how the outbreak has affected your county, and browse others near you — or anywhere — to compare. I’m writing this from King’s County, New York, where about 1 in every 100 people have already tested positive, and more than 2,000 have died – 79 deaths for every 100,000 people. The ambulance sirens outside my window have been almost constant, and I’ll never forget them.

STAYING ON TOP OF THIS

Bernie gets on Team Biden

Berne Sanders got behind Joe Biden’s presidential campaign yesterday, joining his daily livestream to announce his endorsement and talk about how the two would work together during the 2020 election and beyond.

“I'm asking every Democrat, I'm asking every independent, I'm asking a lot of Republicans, to come together in this campaign to support your candidacy, which I endorse, to make certain that we defeat somebody who I believe — and I’m speaking just for myself now — is the most dangerous president in the modern history of this country,” Sanders told Biden during the livestream.

Sanders said members of his campaign team are now working with the Biden campaign on a number of task forces focused on issues that have been central to the Sanders movement in recent years, including health care, the economy, and education.

“If I am the nominee, which it looks like now you just made me, I’m going to need you,” Biden replied, “not just to campaign, but to govern.”

SNAPSHOTS

Arkansas is the sixth state to temporarily outlaw abortion during the coronavirus crisis. The ACLU is challenging the order.

Thailand has recorded a disturbing first: the first known case of someone being infected with the virus from a dead body.

Amazon fired another employee involved in workplace organizing, this time at a warehouse in Minnesota. The fired worker told BuzzFeed News that he has been advocating for better working conditions, as well as improved cleaning and worker safety measures to protect staff against the coronavirus.

Some chiropractors are emerging as dangerous sources of misinformation about the coronavirus. One recently told more than 21 million viewers on Facebook to drink tonic water if they experience symptoms of the virus.

A livestream by the tonic guy. (via Facebook)

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ZUMPED

Julia Moser got dumped...via Zoom.

“It didn't help that the internet connection wasn’t great so we kept freezing,” she writes. “It was very surreal — I couldn’t help but think of the episode of 30 Rock where Liz Lemon and Floyd end their long-distance relationship the same way.”

“I’m no stranger to breakups. It took me most of 2017 to get over my only serious relationship, and I’ve had a few smaller heartaches since then. But there is something particularly bruising about this happening in the midst of a global public health crisis. I can’t have my friends come over and bring me sheet cake and wine. Crying over FaceTime to your sister isn’t the same as getting to wipe your snot on her shoulder IRL.”

There is, at least tentatively, a word for this, invented by the Guardian and inspired by Moser’s story: the act of dumping someone over Zoom is hereby known as Zumping. You’re welcome.

WEEEEEE

That escalated

A 64-year-old manager at a French defense company was given a pretty incredible surprise gift by his colleagues: A flight in a military fighter jet. He’d never flown in one before, and never really shown interest in doing so, but that’s what friends are for: pressuring you into doing terrifying stuff that you’re only vaguely pretending to be comfortable with.

So he showed up for his flight, nervously went through the pre-flight briefing, got strapped into the seat behind the pilot, and took off. Things quickly went to shit, reports David Mack, who read the French government report of what happened next.

Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety

“As the pilot leveled off and the plane was subjected to a negative gravitational load factor, which can create the feeling of being upside down, the passenger reached for something to hold onto, but inadvertently grabbed the ejector handle,” Mack reports. He was then blasted out of the cockpit, parachuting to the ground with only minor injuries.

On some level we’re all that 64-year-old Frenchman, frantically pulling the ejector handle on 2020,
Tom