coronavirus pandemic

Harry Potter fans and roller coaster lovers are streaming back into Universal Orlando Resort this week. Universal Orlando reopened to passholders Wednesday and Thursday, and it will allow the general public back in Friday.

The coronavirus epidemic in the U.S. is expanding and the country still has not put the necessary infrastructure in place to prevent a major second wave in the fall, former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb said.

The NHL cleared the way for players to return to practice rinks next week and firmed up its playoff format even as a ninth player tested positive for the coronavirus.

Mexico President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is urging the country to remain calm as Mexico registers the second straight day ofescalating coronavirus death numbers rivaling those coming out of Brazil or the United States

Mask use was spotty among customers as casinos in Las Vegas and throughout Nevada reopened Thursday for the first time since March

When the coronavirus erupted at a nursing home near Seattle in late February, disease detectives from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention quickly descended. They soon discovered two factors fueling the virus’ spread: Nurses were working while sick. And some of those sick nurses were working at other nursing homes. In the months since then, between a quarter and…

Although every state is looking for ways to reopen and restart the economy, the U.S. leads the world in both coronavirus cases and fatalities, with over 1.7 million cases and over 104,000 deaths, according to a tally from Johns Hopkins University.

The coronavirus pandemic is slowly releasing its grip on the sports world. Fans already are thinking about returning to stadiums and arenas. But what awaits them could be unlike anything they have ever seen.

The coronavirus pandemic has created a staggering child care crisis that threatens to undermine the tentative reopening of the U.S. economy, forcing many parents to choose between work and looking after their kids

As if trips to the grocery store weren’t nerve-racking enough, U.S. shoppers lately have seen the costs of meat, eggs and even potatoes soar as the coronavirus has disrupted processing plants and distribution networks.

A divided Supreme Court on Friday rejected an emergency appeal by a California church that challenged state limits on attendance at worship services that have been imposed to contain the spread of the coronavirus. Over the dissent of the four more conservative justices, Chief Justice John Roberts joined the court’s four liberals in turning away a request from the...

The NCAA has released a long and detailed plan to help schools bring athletes back to campus during the pandemic

More than 41 million Americans have filed for unemployment since the start of the coronavirus pandemic two months ago, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

A Georgia man has been charged in federal court with trying to swindle a foreign government out of $317 million in exchange for a huge shipment of masks to protect against the coronavirus that didn’t really exist.

Some Americans may be unwittingly throwing their long-awaited stimulus check in the trash. That’s because, starting last week, the Treasury Department and the IRS started sending out economic impact payments in regular white envelopes that could be confused for junk mail. While some people have already received their payment as a direct deposit or paper check in the mail, almost 4...

The United States leads the world in both coronavirus cases and fatalities. And on Wednesday, it reached another grim milestone as the nationwide death toll surpassed 100,000, according to NBC News’ tally.

The owners of Liberty Tree Tavern in Elgin have decided to do the opposite of the many bars and restaurants across the country recommending or requiring patrons to wear masks as they reopen during the coronavirus pandemic.

California will send every registered voter in the state a mail-in ballot for the November general election. But President Donald Trump falsely said, on Twitter and at the White House, that the ballots would go to “anyone living in the state, no matter who they are or how they got there” and “people that aren’t citizens.”

New estimates of the number of asymptomatic people with the coronavirus suggest that “silent” COVID-19 is much more prevalent than once thought, according to two studies published Wednesday.

The United States reached another grim milestone Wednesday as the nationwide deaths from the coronavirus surpassed 100,000, according to NBC News’ tally. There are nearly 1.7 million confirmed cases.

Public pools in the U.S. will look very different this summer if they open at all with the coronavirus threat still looming

Flying this summer is predicted to be more tedious than in the past, but experts say the pandemic is pushing positive change at airports at breakneck speed.  What’s on the horizon? Imagine shorter lines, cruising through checkpoints and not touching anything — except for your mobile phone — from your car door to your airplane seat. In fact, the technology…

Like millions of Americans, Oceanside resident Rob Wetzel is working from home during the coronavirus pandemic, spending more time on his computer and phone. He doesn’t know when or how it happened, but his online passwords were stolen.  “I got an email and the subject of the email was my password to this special program that I use and...

Joe Biden says President Donald Trump is a “fool” who is “stoking deaths” for suggesting that wearing a mask in public to combat the spread of the coronavirus is anything other than a sign of leadership

Sens. Dianne Feinstein of California, Kelly Loeffler of Georgia and Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma have been informed that the Justice Department has closed investigations into their stock trades.

A rookie at the major league minimum would keep about 47% of his original salary this year while multimillionaire stars Mike Trout and Gerrit Cole would lose more than 77% under a sliding-scale proposal by big league teams that players found “extremely disappointing.”

This Memorial Day was unlike any other. Although states have begun to ease their stay-at-home orders, many restrictions on public spaces and social gatherings remained in place for the unofficial start of summer.

The COVID-19 pandemic is causing Baylor Scott & White Health to lay off 3% of its employees.

Baylor made the announcement Tuesday.

In addition to the layoffs, they will furlough a number of other workers, temporarily reduce the salaries of senior executives and leave open positions vacant.

As lockdowns ease across the United States, Americans are getting out of the house to celebrate the unofficial start of the summer. President Donald Trump himself marked Memorial Day weekend with a round of golf — his first in more than two months.

The coronavirus hasn’t been kind to car owners

Memorial Day is meant to pay tribute to veterans who have perished

As lockdowns ease across the United States, millions of Americans are set to take tentative steps outdoors to celebrate Memorial Day. But public health officials are still concerned that if people congregate in crowds or engage in other risky behavior, the coronavirus could come roaring back.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says he won’t fire his chief aide for allegedly violating the national coronavirus lockdown rules that he helped to create.

Betty White is “doing very well” at 98 years old and is keeping busy in quarantine during the coronavirus pandemic, a representative for the actress told TODAY.

One of New Zealand’s largest media organizations is being sold for a single dollar to its chief executive

The California murder trial of real estate heir Robert Durst is likely to move to a new venue this summer, depending on how a judge rules on a defense motion for a mistrial.

A Springfield hairstylist served 84 clients over eight days while experiencing symptoms of coronavirus, and now a coworker is sick, health officials said.

The coronavirus is disrupting the education of millions of Americans enrolled career and technical programs in different ways than traditional college students because what they learn is largely hands-on

Citing a threat of the coronavirus from Mexico, the Trump administration has banned hundreds of thousands of people from crossing the southern border with emergency measures that prohibit nonessential traffic and reject asylum seekers without a hearing

A Navy veteran who used to land aircraft on carriers in the dead of night during WWII celebrated his 99th birthday Friday with a drive-by celebration in Del Mar, California. It was a milestone birthday for Admiral Don Shelton. Friends and families turned out by car to help celebrate. And although drive-by birthdays are about the only way to celebrate…

During Walmart’s earnings call this week, CEO Doug McMillon said the big-box retailer has seen different phases of shopping during the coronavirus pandemic. First, he said, customers stockpiled food and household essentials. Later, they sought out items that helped them work, learn and entertain themselves during long days at home.  In the final weeks of April, another trend emerged: Customers were...

The U.S. Department of Justice sent a letter to the mayor of Los Angeles warning that an extension of the coronavirus stay-at-home orders may be unlawful

As states continue to reopen after weeks-long shutdowns shuttered businesses, the number of unemployed Americans continues to rise. On Thursday, the Labor Department announced 2.4 million people sought jobless benefits last week, bringing the total to nearly 39 million in the past two months.

In announcing that he has been taking hydroxychloroquine to prevent COVID-19, President Donald Trump made a series of inaccurate, unsubstantiated or misleading statements related to the drug, which remains an unproven treatment against the coronavirus: Trump said he started taking hydroxychloroquine because he thinks “it’s good” and has “heard a lot of good stories.” But there is no published...

The federal Bureau of Prisons will begin moving about 6,800 inmates from local detention centers across the U.S. after severely curtailing inmate movement for several months

It’s been more than six months since President Donald Trump claimed to have started his annual physical at Walter Reed hospital but the White House is declining to explain why he has yet to complete the yearly doctor’s examination. Senior administration officials did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment about the delay — despite Trump announcing this week he was...

Just as the name suggests, the trikini has three pieces. A top, bottoms and — you guessed it — a matching, waterproof face mask.

Something is finally clear in the uncertain NBA.

President Donald Trump is putting forth a false choice when he boasts about a program aimed at improving veterans’ health care by steering more patients to the private sector.

New guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and research from one of the top universities in the country released Wednesday emphasize the importance of lockdowns in the battle against the coronavirus. However, all 50 states have already begun to ease their stay-at-home orders.

As states reopen to the public during the coronavirus pandemic, retailers, hotels, movie theaters and sports stadiums are all looking for ways to keep patrons and staff safe.  Many of these businesses have been closed since mid-March to help stop the spread of the virus, and they are eager to rehire staff and welcome back customers and the billions of dollars they bring....

Americans’ views on the federal and state government handling of the coronavirus crisis are starting to sour — yet President Donald Trump’s personal approval rating has remained steady

More than 10% of households in a survey last week said they couldn’t get enough of the food they needed.

The USS Theodore Roosevelt has left Guam and gone out to sea for training after nearly two months sidelined at the pier with a coronavirus outbreak.

As all 50 states ease their lockdowns against the coronavirus, public health officials in some states are being accused of bungling infection statistics or even deliberately using a little sleight of hand to make things look better than they are.

The U.S., Canada and Mexico have agreed to extend their agreements to keep their shared borders closed to non-essential travel to June 21 during the coronavirus pandemic.

The coronavirus pandemic is highlighting President Donald Trump’s suspicion of scientific and medical expertise.

The U.S. is indefinitely extending a policy of strict border enforcement because of the COVID-19 outbreak.

President Donald Trump on Monday said he is taking the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine to prevent symptoms should he get coronavirus. The drug has not yet been proven to be effective.

At a White House meeting with fellow Republicans, President Donald Trump said, without evidence, that the coronavirus “is going to go away without a vaccine.” While it’s impossible to predict the future, experts say it’s unlikely that the virus will simply go away. His son Eric went even further in a May 16 interview, claiming that coronavirus “will magically...

The graphs below illustrate the distribution of new coronavirus cases and deaths in the U.S. While New York accounted for the lion’s share of new cases and deaths in March and April, its numbers have declined since May while some states have increased. Tap or hover to see new daily cases and deaths across the country. States with the...

One of the first professional athletic events to allow spectators into the arena will be a sport known for its wild, dangerous action.

When Toyota introduced two new vehicles Monday, its executives didn’t brag about them from an elaborate stage inside a convention center.

J.C. Penney will permanently close nearly 30% of its 846 stores as part of a restructuring under bankruptcy protection.

Former President Barack Obama slammed U.S. politicians for their handling of the coronavirus pandemic in a virtual commencement address for graduating high school seniors across the country on Saturday night.

Routine vaccinations for young children in the United States fell during the first half of this year as more Americans skipped routine doctor visits and stayed home due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to a report published Monday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC warned that measles outbreaks could result from fewer vaccinations. The CDC analyzed…

As businesses are reopening in more of the U.S., an overwhelming majority of states still fall short of the COVID-19 testing levels that public health experts say are necessary to safely ease lockdowns and avoid another deadly wave of outbreaks, according to an Associated Press analysis.

It’s been seven weeks since Congress unleashed more than $2 trillion to help deal with the coronavirus crisis, and seven weeks since lawmakers created an oversight commission that’s supposed to keep track of how all that money is spent.

The future looks grim for the Class of 2020

On a weekend when many pandemic-weary people emerged from weeks of lockdown, leaders in the U.S. and Europe  are weighing the risks and rewards of lifting COVID-19 restrictions knowing that a vaccine could take years to develop

The grandstands were completely empty

As government orders shuttered public libraries to slow the spread of coronavirus, some have turned to official and unofficial book-sharing means to satisfy their desire for new reading material

Most Americans give the U.S. Postal Service high marks for its work getting mail to far-flung corners of the country each day. Yet it’s not popular with President Donald Trump. He’s threatened to block the U.S. Postal Service from any coronavirus relief funding unless it hikes package rates for Amazon and other large customers.

While many local businesses slowly reopen, San Diego, California bars remain shut down because of the public health order. That means thousands of local bartenders who relied on tips, are now struggling to figure out whether or not they need to carve out a new career path.

History sometimes comes from everywhere

Labor economist Teresa Ghilarducci began studying retirement in 2008, when the Great Recession was making it impossible for millions of Americans to retire. “The phenomenon of Granny working in McDonald’s really started to ramp up,” said Ghilarducci, who leads the Retirement Equity Lab at The New School in New York.  Yet, as bad as it was then, she sees the current Covid-19 recession...

Gone are the days of leisurely browsing the aisles of grocery stores.  Instead, customers are getting used to new grocery store fixtures: Mask-wearing employees, plexiglass barriers at cash registers, one-way aisles and antibacterial wipe dispensers. Some of those will become the norm. Others will fade away as coronavirus cases decline. But many analysts predict the pandemic will change how customers stock...

Restaurants can reopen in New Orleans but must take reservations and limit the number of diners

How will the coronavirus change how we work? That’s one of the big questions the Bay Area Council posed to CEO’s and other top level executives and their responses offer an interesting perspective on the future of work in Silicon Valley and beyond.

There’s a troubling new reality for law enforcement in the age of the coronavirus

Whistleblower Rick Bright warned on Thursday that the U.S. lacks a plan to produce and fairly distribute a coronavirus vaccine when it becomes available. The nation could face “the darkest winter in modern history” unless leaders act decisively, he told a congressional panel.

A man suspected of killing a woman in Denver was released from prison three weeks before the slaying due to concerns over the coronavirus

J.C. Penney, weighed down by debt and battered by the coronavirus, has filed for bankruptcy.

The Wuhan Institute of Virology received $600,000 as part of a larger five-year U.S. government grant to a U.S.-based nonprofit studying emerging infectious diseases. But President Donald Trump put the figure at $7.5 million, saying he “ended it.” We asked the White House where the $7.5 million figure may have come from, but we haven’t received a response. False...

As the White House Coronavirus Task Force begins to fade from public view and health professionals take a back seat to President Donald Trump’s economic team, a new group of counselors has started to dominate the president’s thinking on the pandemic: a less official but potentially more significant re-election task force. Made up of familiar campaign staff, senior White House...

Stocks managed to close modestly higher on Wall Street Friday after a day of wobbling between gains and losses

President Donald Trump has suggested multiple times that a coronavirus vaccine could come within months, an accelerated timeline that prominent health experts and veteran vaccine developers say is unlikely absent a miracle. “We’re looking to get it by the end of the year if we can, maybe before,” Trump said Friday during in a Rose Garden event centered on his administration’s efforts...

J.C. Penney is planning to file for bankruptcy in the next day, people familiar with the matter tell CNBC.

U.S. health officials have released part of some long-delayed specific guidance that schools, businesses, and other organizations can use as states reopen from coronavirus shutdowns.

The most comprehensive national study to date has found that convalescent plasma appears to be safe to use on COVID-19 patients, a promising development in the race to find a treatment for the deadly virus. But the study didn’t determine whether the treatment works, NBC News reported. A team of more than 5,000 doctors from over 2,000 hospitals and laboratories…

It will be a summer in the South for NASCAR: The stock car series says it will stick to Tennessee, Georgia, Virginia, Florida and Alabama for June races — all of them without fans.

Whistleblower Rick Bright warned on Thursday that the U.S. lacks a plan to produce and fairly distribute a coronavirus vaccine when it becomes available. The nation could face “the darkest winter in modern history” unless leaders act decisively, he told a congressional panel.

The Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra is canceling Concerts in the Garden for the summer season of 2020. The symphony orchestra released a statement saying it was “a difficult, but necessary decision to cancel the 30th annual event.” The cancellation comes amid coronavirus concerns and to keep safety precautions in place. The FWSO is allowing ticket holders to exchange the tickets,…

The coronavirus pandemic may continue into the latter half of the decade, a senior global health official has warned, as the death toll of the virus approaches the grim milestone of 300,000. Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, the World Health Organization’s chief scientist, told the Financial Times’ Global Boardroom webinar on Wednesday: “I would say in a four to five-year timeframe, we...

Sales of wine, spirits and other alcoholic beverages have risen during the coronavirus pandemic like foam in a freshly poured glass of beer. Just not for some craft brewers.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court has struck down Gov. Tony Evers’ stay-at-home restrictions.

As the nation enters a third month of economic devastation, the coronavirus is proving ruinous to state budgets

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, warned bluntly Tuesday of “really serious” consequences of suffering, death and deeper economic damage if state and local officials lift stay-at-home orders too quickly, even as President Donald Trump pushes them to act to right a free-falling economy.

Major League Soccer is looking at the possibility of resuming the season this summer with all teams playing in Orlando, Florida

Six Flags will require reservations and payment in advance from guests when the parks reopen. The company says the new process will allow parks to plan, clean and ensure safe social distancing ahead of time. The reservation process is not open yet, but will be available once parks reopening dates are announced. Six Flags Over Texas and Hurricane Harbor in…