AP News in Brief at 12:04 a.m. EDT

Global death toll tops 200,000 as some virus lockdowns eased

ATLANTA (AP) — As the global death toll from the coronavirus surpassed 200,000 on Saturday, countries took cautious steps toward easing lockdowns imposed amid the pandemic, but fears of a surge in infections made even some outbreak-wounded businesses reluctant to reopen.

The states of Georgia, Oklahoma and Alaska started loosening restrictions on businesses despite warnings from experts that such steps might be premature.

Shawn Gingrich, CEO and founder of Lion’s Den Fitness, decided after the Georgia governor’s announcement that his Atlanta gym would remain closed for now.

“We’ve sacrificed so much already,” Gingrich said. “I feel like if we do this too soon, we’ll see a spike in cases and we’re back to square one.”

Others were eager to get back to business, with precautions. Russ Anderson, who owns four tattoo studios in south Georgia, said he “couldn’t get up out of my chair quick enough” when restrictions were lifted. His main shop served 50 or 60 customers Friday when it reopened, with customers and tattoo artists wearing masks, he said.

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Many states fall short of mandate to track virus exposure

ATLANTA (AP) — As more states push to reopen their economies, many are falling short on one of the federal government’s essential criteria for doing so — having an efficient system to track people who have been physically near a person infected with the coronavius.

An Associated Press review found a patchwork of systems around the country for so-called contact tracing, with many states unable to keep up with caseloads and scrambling to hire and train enough people to handle the task for the months ahead. The effort is far less than what public health experts say is needed to guard against a resurgence of the virus.

The result is a wide array of strategies and little national co-ordination. With few exceptions, most states reviewed by AP are going it alone. Many other countries dealing with the pandemic are taking a national approach to testing.

As late as Friday, the website for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said detailed guidance on contact tracing for states was “forthcoming.”

“We’ll not ever control the whole country unless we have the same strategy,” said Dr. Cyrus Shahpar, a former CDC official. “Right now, that’s not what we’re doing.”

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In Trump’s shadow, Congress-at-home eyes reboot during virus

WASHINGTON (AP) — They long for what’s being lost: the ability to publicly question officials at committee hearings, to chat across the aisle, to speak from the House and Senate floor for all of America, and history, to hear.

Congress wants its voice back.

With no real plan to reopen Capitol Hill any time soon, the coronavirus shutdown poses an existential crisis that’s pushing Congress ever so reluctantly toward the 21st century option of remote legislating from home.

“It’s the ability to be an equal branch of government,” said Rep. Katie Porter, a freshman Democrat from California.

Divisions are fierce, but so too is the sense of what is being lost. Every day lawmakers shelter at home, their public role is being visibly diminished. While they are approving record sums of virus aid, they are ceding authority to oversee the effort and tackle next steps.

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Satellite imagery finds likely Kim train amid health rumours

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A train likely belonging to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been parked at his compound on the country’s east coast since last week, satellite imagery showed, amid speculation about his health that has been caused, in part, by a long period out of the public eye.

The satellite photos released by 38 North, a website specializing in North Korea studies, don’t say anything about Kim’s potential health problems, and they echo South Korean government intelligence that Kim is staying outside of the capital, Pyongyang. Seoul has also repeatedly indicated that there have been no unusual signs that could indicate health problems for Kim.

That hasn’t stopped growing unconfirmed rumours and media reports about Kim’s health that have emerged since he missed an April 15 commemoration of the 108th birthday of his grandfather, North Korea founder Kim Il Sung.

Kim Jong Un is the third generation of his family to rule North Korea, and he hadn’t missed the April 15 event, one of the year’s most important for the North, since assuming power after his father Kim Jong Il’s death in late 2011.

Kim’s health is of crucial importance because of worries that the serious illness or death of a leader venerated with near godlike passion by millions of North Koreans could cause instability in the impoverished, nuclear-armed country.

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What you need to know today about the virus outbreak

Some governments have begun easing their coronavirus restrictions, with India reopening neighbourhood stores that serve many of its 1.3 billion people. In the U.S., Georgia, Oklahoma and Alaska have also begun loosening restrictions despite warnings from health officials that it may be too soon.

The role of the U.S. Congress is being visibly diminished despite approving record sums of virus aid. But changing the rules to allow lawmakers to cast votes or hold hearings from home would be unprecedented in House and Senate history — the Constitution requires lawmakers be “present” for most action.

The coronavirus lockdown is proving a particularly trying ordeal in France for children with disabilities and their families who are struggling to care for them at home now that special schools and support programs have been shut down.

The global death toll from COVID-19 stands at more than 200,000.

Here are some of AP’s top stories Saturday on the world’s coronavirus pandemic. Follow APNews.com/VirusOutbreak for updates through the day and APNews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak for stories explaining some of its complexities.

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Disinfectant riff is latest of many Trump science clashes

WASHINGTON (AP) — What President Donald Trump says and does often flies in the face of mainstream science. Coronavirus and the idea of injecting disinfectants is only the latest episode.

When a rare solar eclipse happened in 2017, astronomers and eye doctors repeatedly warned people not to stare directly at the sun without protection. Photos show Trump looked anyway. He later donned protective glasses.

For decades, scientists have called climate change a pressing issue, pointing to data, physics and chemistry. Trump regularly called it a hoax until recently. He also claims that noise from wind turbines — which he refers to as windmills — causes cancer, which is not accurate. He’s also claimed that exercise will deplete the finite amount of energy a body has, while doctors tell people that exercise is critical to good health.

When Trump wanted to defend his warning that Alabama was threatened by Hurricane Dorian last year, he displayed an official weather map that had been altered with a marker to extend the danger areas. Alabama National Weather Service meteorologists were chastised by their agency chief when they issued tweets to reassure worried residents that they were not in the path of the hurricane.

On Thursday, Trump raised the idea of injections of disinfectant to fight the coronavirus, which health officials warned would be dangerous. The president later claimed he was being sarcastic, although the transcript of his remarks suggests otherwise. Trump also suggested ultraviolet light, even internal light, could be a possible preventative measure, contrary to scientific advice.

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The week that was: Caught between safety, restarting economy

NEW YORK (AP) — In Spain, children will be allowed to go outside again. In the U.S. state of Georgia, a handful of businesses opened their doors, performing manicures and haircuts in masks. Auto workers are in factories, but producing ventilators, not cars.

The world is taking steps to reopen. But as a debate over getting back to business raged with urgency, in often politicized tones, it became clear that reopening the world’s economy will be far more complex than suddenly shutting it down.

Brazil’s hospitals are warning they are overwhelmed. Doctors in an ICU unit in New York saved a patient’s life, but have lost many more. A cemetery could not keep up. The toll grew deeper in nursing homes, where workers and the frail cannot escape the spread.

There is yearning for recovery, and both hope and fear about the consequences of returning to the world. Here is a guide to some of AP’s best coverage this week across the globe:

HEALTH AND SCIENCE

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Thousands demonstrate against Israeli coalition deal

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Several thousand Israelis rallied Saturday to demonstrate against a unity government deal reached last week that leaves Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in power as he prepares to go on trial for corruption charges.

The protesters oppose having Netanyahu as prime minister as long as he is a criminal suspect. The protesters say the unity government agreement, which gives Netanyahu influence over the appointment of judges and legal officials, “crushes democracy” and is meant to rescue Netanyahu from his legal troubles.

Netanyahu is scheduled to face trial next month on charges of fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes. He denies the charges.

The protest filled central Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square, although demonstrators maintained distance from each other in line with health regulations in place for weeks meant to halt the spread of the coronavirus. Protesters, wearing face masks, waved Israeli flags and signs calling out Netanyahu for corruption.

Netanyahu and former military chief Benny Gantz, leader of the Blue and White party, signed the power-sharing agreement after weeks of negotiations for what they termed a “national emergency” government meant to steer the country through the coronavirus outbreak.

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“I just can’t do this.” Harried parents forgo home school

Frustration is mounting as more families across the U.S. enter their second or even third week of distance learning — and some overwhelmed parents say it will be their last.

Amid the barrage of learning apps, video meet-ups and emailed assignments that pass as pandemic home school, some frustrated and exhausted parents are choosing to disconnect entirely for the rest of the academic year. Others are cramming all their children’s school work into the weekend or taking days off work to help their kids with a week’s worth of assignments in one day.

“We tried to make it work the first week. We put together a schedule, and what we found is that forcing a child who is that young into a fake teaching situation is really, really hard,” said Alexandra Nicholson, whose son is in kindergarten in a town outside Boston.

“I’d rather have him watch classic Godzilla movies and play in the yard and pretend to be a Jedi rather than figure out basic math.”

That stress is only compounded for families with multiple children in different grades, or when parents work long hours outside the home. In some cases, older siblings must watch younger ones during the day, leaving no time for school work.

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Stoop show: Brooklyn accordionist entertains neighbours

NEW YORK (AP) — Paul Stein felt useless — stuck in his Brooklyn brownstone apartment, watching his neighbours suffer deprivations as COVID-19 swept the city.

Then, on television, the retired public-sector lawyer and political activist saw people around the world rallying: “I saw people in France and Italy banging pots and pans out their windows, clapping and singing from balconies. I wanted to do this in my neighbourhood. “

He knew what he had to do.

He took out his accordion. And he played.

His stage is the steps leading up to his building, his stoop. “For as long as people have been hanging out on their stoops and socializing with their neighbours, they’ve been doing it from their stoops,” he said. “The natural acoustics of the narrow street bring the music to my neighbours.”

The Associated Press