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

Reopening the economy isn’t as simple as making a pronouncement. The CDC has been forced to take a back seat, and experts are worried. And the world is entering a period of high-stakes experimentation. Catch up on what’s happening at home and everywhere:

• As of this morning the world is approaching 3.9 million confirmed cases. Deaths total more than 270,000 and nearly 1.3 million have recovered. In the U.S., we’re at nearly 1.26 million confirmed cases. Nearly 76,000 people have died, and another 195,000 have recovered.

• With coronavirus testing still lagging behind targets, health officials are searching for other ways to assess the spread of the outbreak. One possibility? Looking at what we flush.

• For a group of Brooklyn Muslims, the holy month of Ramadan is a blur: They fast during daylight hours, pray repeatedly, and every night go to Manhattan’s Herald Square, where in the shadow of Macy’s they provide food for as many as 200 people.

• The world is entering a period of high-stakes experimentation, with cities and countries serving as open-air laboratories for how to most safely and effectively reopen amid the coronavirus.

• Coronavirus canceled his Mount Everest climb, so a Seattle man will climb his porch steps 5,683 times to ‘summit’ #AtHomeEverest.