June 11, 2020 — A roundup of the latest news about COVID-19

The U.S. now has more than 2 million confirmed cases — and we could see 200,000 deaths by fall. More than a dozen states are seeing spikes a few weeks after lifting restrictions. And educators, health experts, and politicians are trying to figure out what the next school year will look like. Here are the latest coronavirus headlines from around the world:

• Worldwide we now have 7.4 million confirmed cases. More than 417,000 people have died and 3.48 million have recovered. Yesterday the U.S. passed the 2-million mark for confirmed cases. We’ve had almost 113,000 deaths so far, and an influential model cited by the White House issued a dire prediction, saying the country’s death toll could reach 169,890 by Oct. 1, with a possible range of about 133,000 to 290,000 deaths.

• More than a dozen states are showing new highs in the number of positive coronavirus cases or hospitalizations, according to Washington Post data, a few weeks after lifting restrictions on most businesses and large gatherings. The spikes provide disturbing data points for the ongoing tug of war between federal, state, and local officials weighing the economic costs of restrictions meant to stop the spread of the virus with the human cost of lifting them. “When you look at states like Arizona and Texas, South Carolina, North Carolina — those are where the big outbreaks are right now; Florida to some degree seems to be going up — it’s not a second wave. They never really got rid of the first wave,” former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb said this morning.

• Once lauded around the world for how it tackled the outbreak, South Korea is now counting dozens of new cases in a resurgence mostly concentrated around the capital where half of the nation’s 51 million people live. It’s a stark warning for the rest of the world. 

• Paraguay’s coronavirus camps, obligatory for anyone entering the South American country, have garnered praise from international health bodies for helping stem the spread of the epidemic. Around 65% of Paraguay’s confirmed cases have been confined to the shelters, government data show, as the rest of the country has slowly reopened. But the isolation centers exact a heavy toll.