Your Wednesday Evening Briefing

April 8, 2020

Your Wednesday Evening Briefing

By Lara Takenaga and Marcus Payadue

Good evening. Here’s the latest.

Jonah Markowitz for The New York Times

1. New York State has more cases of the coronavirus than any single country in the world, with nearly 150,000 people who have tested positive.

And the news gets worse: The state reported its highest single-day death toll on Wednesday — 779 — bringing its total to at least 6,298. Above, the beginnings of a makeshift morgue in Manhattan. Here’s the latest.

It’s unlikely that any response by the state or New York City could have stopped the virus, but in the early stages, when fast action was critical, officials were hampered by confused guidance, unheeded warnings, delayed decisions and political infighting, Times reporters found.

While the virus spread early and rapidly on the East and West Coasts, its reach was slower in rural America. But that’s not the case now: More than two-thirds of rural counties have at least one confirmed case, as the virus spreads deep into corners that people had hoped would be shielded.

And in the Midwest, the Cook County jail in Chicago is now the largest known source of U.S. infections.

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Sanders Campaign, via Reuters

2. Bernie Sanders is out, establishing Joe Biden as the presumptive Democratic nominee against President Trump.

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“In this most desperate hour, I cannot in good conscience continue to mount a campaign that cannot win and which would interfere with the important work required of all of us in this difficult hour,” Mr. Sanders said. [Watch the video.]

The Vermont senator’s quest for the White House began in relative obscurity but ultimately elevated him as a champion of the American working class.

The pandemic has overtaken all other issues in the campaign and may well turn the election into a one-issue debate over Mr. Trump’s record in the crisis, our reporters write in an analysis.

David McNew/Getty Images

3. The roar of urban life has turned into a whisper.

Around the world, seismometers built to detect earthquakes have revealed just how quiet urban areas have become. Above, a highway in Los Angeles in late March.

With cars, trains and industries ground to a halt, geoscientists have observed a precipitous drop in noise levels.

Electricity usage in the U.S. has also declined significantly. Over the last three weeks, as stores, offices and factories went dark, the lower usage has suggested a drop in economic activity on par with that of the Great Recession.

Jenn Ackerman for The New York Times

4. Tenants across the U.S. are unable to pay their rent.

With the unprecedented spike in unemployment, landlords like Bruce Brunner, above in Minneapolis, have seen their collections plunge. April payments have been reduced, deferred or withheld, and May could be even worse.

And as people struggle to meet their basic needs, food banks have seen soaring demand.

Millions are seeking assistance, but the system wasn’t designed to handle a national crisis. A shortage of donations and volunteer workers has compounded the issue.

Jenna Schoenefeld for The New York Times

5. When we order takeout or delivery food, are we supporting local businesses — or putting workers at risk?

For our California restaurant critic, Tejal Rao, there’s no easy answer. The risk of the virus to workers is only getting higher, but many small food businesses that are essential to their communities can’t afford to close. Above, Sugarfish in Beverly Hills.

In New York, some neighborhood grocers and restaurants that have served loyal customers for decades without interruption are adapting to survive.

And across the hospitality industry, businesses are finding ways to respond to the crisis. These include many shuttered hotels that have reopened their doors to workers on the front lines.

6. Passover begins at sundown, and this year’s will be a little different.

We asked Jewish families across the U.S. to share reflections on the Passover story in this strange time.

“We have obligations to do things that are helpful to a community of people,” wrote Eleanor Mintz, whose family’s Seder in 1928 is pictured above. “We take that obligation seriously, the obligation to tell this story in every generation. That is what we do.”

Not only are people skipping large in-person Seders this year, but the food on their tables — and in their pantries — may also deviate from tradition, as some bend the rules for the hardships created by the pandemic.

Are you hosting a digital gathering? Our new podcast “Together Apart” has 10 tips to make it work.

Tony Cenicola/The New York Times

7. Don’t expect a baby boom in nine months.

Though millions are hunkered down at home, the economic turmoil caused by the coronavirus will most likely discourage couples from having children, demographers say.

History may also offer some guidance. The original baby boom, between 1946 and 1964, took place in an era of postwar euphoria and financial stability. And researchers have found little evidence of past disasters affecting birthrates.

Joe Lingeman for The New York Times

8. The world is clamoring for jigsaw puzzles.

With about half of humanity on lockdown, many people have turned to the quiet hobby to kill time and find solace. Even Australia’s prime minister, Scott Morrison, has called the puzzles “essential.”

But ramping up production isn’t easy, with each new puzzle taking weeks to create, as companies see demand surge past Christmas levels.

Looking for a different challenge? Jennifer George — the granddaughter of Rube Goldberg, a cartoonist known for designing absurdly elaborate contraptions to do the simplest tasks — has invited people to build devices that drop a bar of soap into someone’s hand in 10 to 20 steps.

Todd St. John

9. How will artificial intelligence shape our lives?

Our special report examines the different ways A.I. technology will affect us as it evolves. Here are a few:

To improve how food is processed, machines are being trained to consider qualities such as sweetness, shape and seasonality.
Machine-learning applications are helping scientists sift through an ocean’s worth of data to monitor, study and track wildlife like humpback whales.
Companies are harnessing the pattern-recognizing power of A.I. to revolutionize coaching, detect and predict injuries, and improve analytics.

NASA

10. And finally, NASA is going retro.

The “worm” logo, designed for the space agency in the 1970s and sidelined in 1992, will head to orbit again. With its minimalist twisting of red letters, the familiar symbol will adorn a SpaceX rocket scheduled to take two astronauts to the International Space Station in May.

The old logo was revived to commemorate a milestone: It will be the first time since 2011 that astronauts will launch into orbit from the U.S. Needless to say, fans of the worm are ecstatic.

“I’m just over the moon that they did this,” said a graphic artist who helped revive the design.

Have an out-of-this-world evening.

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