What you need to know today about the virus outbreak
Signs placed outside a barricaded entrance to a coronavirus testing location state the location is closed for the day in Dallas, Tuesday, March 31, 2020. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
A woman watches from a park bench as the Samaritan's Purse crew and medical personnel work on preparing to open a 68 bed emergency field hospital specially equipped with a respiratory unit in New York's Central Park, Tuesday, March 31, 2020, in New York. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
A health worker wearing a face mask to protect from coronavirus, looks out of from a window at a nursing home in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday, March 31, 2020. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Eric Manzanares walks past a closed tattoo shop amid concerns of COVID-19 spreading in the Deep Ellum section of Dallas, Tuesday, March 31, 2020. For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
A worker sprays disinfectant to sanitize Duomo square, as the city main landmark, the gothic cathedral, stands out in background, in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, March 31, 2020. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Abbott Northwestern Hospital used carts to deliver some of the 1,500 flowering spring plants donated by Bachman's Floral, Home & Garden in appreciation of the efforts of health care workers responding to the Coronavirus pandemic Tuesday, March 31, 2020 in Minneapolis. (Anthony Souffle/Star Tribune via AP)
A woman her protective face mask balances her large-sized cup while watching her smart phone in Taipei, Taiwan, Tuesday, March 31, 2020. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
A municipal worker wearing protective gear sprays disinfectant to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus, on a street in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 31, 2020. In Lebanon, a criminal court ordered the release of 46 prisoners who were being held without trial to protect them from getting infected, the state-run National News Agency reported. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
People prepare places to sleep in area marked by painted boxes on the ground of a parking lot at a makeshift camp for the homeless Monday, March 30, 2020, in Las Vegas. Officials opened part of a parking lot as a makeshift homeless shelter after a local shelter closed when a man staying there tested positive for the coronavirus. (AP Photo/John Locher)
A man wearing a face mask to protect against catching the coronavirus walks past a window display of rainbows in the windows of the famous London department store Harrods in London, Tuesday, March 31, 2020. Rainbows in windows are being used to show hope in the fight against Covid-19, they were first used in Italy with the message 'Tutto andra' bene," or "Everything will turn out OK,", the Harrods version reads 'We'llGet Through This Together- Sunnier Days Ahead. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
Thai Buddhist monks wear face shields to protect themselves from new coronavirus as they walk to collect alms from devotees in Bangkok, Thailand, Tuesday, March 31, 2020. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
Unused rental cars are stored in the parking lot of Dodger Stadium as downtown Los Angeles is seen in the background, Tuesday, March 31, 2020, in Los Angeles. Dodger Stadium and Angel Stadium are housing the cars as companies are left with a surplus of unused vehicles and limited capacity to store them. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
A daughter of a migrant laborer who has been quarantined with her parents while they were on their way to their village, waits for her father to return with food packets at a government school in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, March 31, 2020. India is adding more resources to tackle its increase in coronavirus cases by announcing that private hospitals may be requisitioned to help treat virus patients, and turning railway cars and a motor racing circuit into makeshift quarantine facilities. The steps were taken after a nationwide lockdown announced last week by Prime Minister Narendra Modi led to…
Members of the Connecticut National Guard move sports equipment from a field house to a football and soccer field before unloading supplies for a "surge" hospital that is being constructed to help out during the current coronavirus crisis, Tuesday, March 31, 2020, at Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven. The 250-bed field hospital will facilitate overflow in the event that regional hospitals treating COVID-19 patients reach capacity. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)
The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus climbed past 3,500 Tuesday, eclipsing China’s official count. President Donald Trump warned Americans to brace for a “rough two-week period” as public health experts projected 100,000 to 240,000 people could die in the U.S. even if Americans follow social-distancing guidelines.
In hard-hit New York, the mammoth convention center started taking patients to ease the burden on the city’s overwhelmed health system and the tennis center where the U.S. Open is held was being turned into a hospital.
There have been more than 850,000 global infections and more than 42,000 deaths worldwide.
Here are some of AP’s top stories Tuesday on the world’s coronavirus pandemic. Follow APNews.com/VirusOutbreak for updates through the day and APNews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak for stories explaining some of its complexities.
WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY:
— President Donald Trump warns Americans to brace for a “rough two-week period” ahead as the White House released new projections that there could be 100,000 to 240,000 deaths in the U.S. from the coronavirus pandemic even if current social distancing guidelines are maintained. Public health officials stressed the number could be less if people change their behavior.
—The Army Field Band's mission is bringing the military's story and music to the American people. And they're not letting the coronavirus get in the way. When the unit was recalled to Fort Meade, Maryland, amid the COVID-19 outbreak, members quickly set up a studio and began live-streaming daily concerts.
— The coronavirus pandemic has injected anxiety and uncertainty among pregnant women during an already stressful time and while science about risks is mostly reassuring, doctors want clearer answers, too.
— China’s manufacturing rebounded in March as authorities relaxed anti-disease controls and allowed factories to reopen, an official survey showed Tuesday. But an industry group said the economy has yet to fully recover.
— As schools, workplaces and public services shut down in the age of coronavirus, online connections are keeping Americans in touch with vital institutions and each other. But that’s not much of an option when fast internet service is hard to come by.
___
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:
For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death. The vast majority of people recover.
Here are the symptoms of the virus compared with the common flu.
One of the best ways to prevent spread of the virus is washing your hands with soap and water. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends first washing with warm or cold water and then lathering soap for 20 seconds to get it on the backs of hands, between fingers and under fingernails before rinsing off.
You should wash your phone, too. Here’s how.
TRACKING THE VIRUS: Drill down and zoom in at the individual county level, and you can access numbers that will show you the situation where you are, and where loved ones or people you’re worried about live.
___
ONE NUMBER:
— 479: The countdown clock is ticking again for the Tokyo Olympics. The digital model outside Tokyo Station was switched on almost immediately after organizers announced the new dates. They will now be held from July 23 to Aug. 8, 2021. The clock reads 479 days to go.
IN OTHER NEWS:
— A South Korean shoe cobbler plans to donate parts of his property to help support people facing economic difficulties.
— With trips to beloved salons and barbershops on hold because of the coronavirus, some are cutting new bangs, turning to over-the-counter color or picking up electric clippers and scissors to work on the heads of loved ones, while others are letting nature take its course.
— The reappearance of Wuhan’s favorite breakfast noodles is a tasty sign that life is slowly getting back to normal in the Chinese city originally at the epicenter of the global cornavirus outbreak.
___
Follow AP coverage of the virus outbreak at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak