June 10, 2020 — A roundup of the latest news about COVID-19

Confusion erupts again over asymptomatic spread of COVID-19. Nineteen states are seeing new cases increase. And the race for a vaccine gets complicated. Get caught up on coronavirus developments at home and around the world:

• As of this morning, the world has seen 7.26 million confirmed cases. Almost 412,000 people have lost their lives, while almost 3.39 million have recovered. The number of infections is rising faster than ever, but many countries have decided that this is the moment to ease lockdown restrictions. Here in the U.S., we’re fast approaching 2 million confirmed cases. Just over 112,000 Americans have died, and another 525,000 have recovered.

• In Texas, North and South Carolina, California, Oregon, Arkansas, Mississippi, Utah, and Arizona, an increasing number of patients have been hospitalized since the holiday weekend because of coronavirus infections. Arizona again told hospitals to activate coronavirus emergency plans after cases spiked following reopening, turning it into a U.S. virus hotspot. It’s one of 19 states with the trend of new coronavirus cases still increasing. While 24 are trending downward, seven states’ trends are holding steady. 

• Once upon a time, developing a new vaccine was a step-by-step process that went from concept, to design, to tests in humans, to regulatory approval, to manufacturing. The process could take a decade or more. But the urgent need for a COVID-19 vaccine has radically changed all that. Now, some steps are happening concurrently. Meanwhile, the top teams rushing to develop coronavirus vaccines are alerting governments, health officials, and shareholders that they may have a big problem: The outbreaks in their countries may be getting too small to quickly determine whether vaccines work.

• For the fortunate COVID-19 patients who survive intensive care and long stretches on ventilators, the journey home can be an arduous and lonely one. Their survival is testament to the lifesaving value of some of the world’s most sophisticated medical interventions, but their deficits reveal the toll of the disease and of hospitalization itself. 

• After three months of near total blackout of cinemas nationwide, movie theaters are preparing to reopen — even if it means only a few titles on the marquee and showings limited to as little as 25% capacity.