April 8, 2020 — A roundup of the latest news about COVID-19

Here’s the latest news on COVID-19 in the U.S. and around the world:

• Worldwide, more than 1,440,000 cases have been confirmed, with 83,000 deaths and 308,000 recoveries. In the U.S., we’ve nearly hit 400,000 cases, with almost 13,000 dead and almost 23,000 recovered. Yesterday the U.S. had the largest single-day death toll of any country in the world.
• Hopes for a plateau in New York may have been premature. The state saw the most deaths in one day yet from Monday to Tuesday, with 731 lost. Nearby New Jersey and Connecticut also marked their worst single-day totals. 
• Lack of adequate testing and inconsistent protocols mean the death toll in the U.S. is likely to be vastly undercounted.
• See when prediction models say coronavirus deaths will peak in your state.
• If your state runs short on ventilators, how will health officials decide who gets one?
• In a phenomenon seen all over the world, some patients seem to be getting better after about a week. Then they suddenly crash. Some doctors and researchers think they may know why.
• If you live in an area with higher levels of air pollution, you’re more likely to die from COVID-19, finds new research from Harvard.
• Los Angeles is trying to protect the homeless—and by extension, the city’s most vulnerable people—by moving them into hotels.
• In hard-hit New York City, a luxury hotel transformed itself into a dorm for hospital workers.
• Grammy-winning singer-songwriter John Prine has died from complications of the coronavirus.
• How New Zealand is crushing the curve.
• Does quarantine have you eating mass-produced comfort foods of your childhood? You’re not alone.
• As pressures ease on hospital ICUs in Italy and Spain, the pandemic’s emotional toll on health care workers is becoming clear.
• Passover begins tonight. Many will celebrate the first seder virtually. And on Saturday, dozens of stars including Idina Menzel, Benn Platt, and Cynthia Erivo will perform a free live stream event, Saturday Night Seder.  
• It turns out, the giant pandas only wanted a little privacy.