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Coronavirus Watch: Death toll hits grisly milestone; drug debate rages

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The U.S. death toll hit 10,000, debate swirled over a drug touted by President Donald Trump and an animal tested positive for coronavirus.

This is Monday's Coronavirus Watch from the Paste BN Network. As Americans embark on what could be the worst week yet, here is the latest news and information, as of 2 p.m. ET. 

  • The U.S. death toll hit a grisly milestone of 10,000, per the John Hopkins coronavirus database. That's more than the number of battle deaths from six U.S. wars combined, according to data from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. There are more than 347,000 confirmed cases across the nation, per the database. 
  • Globally, there are more than 1.3 million cases and 72,000 deaths. 
  • Controversy surrounding hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug touted by President Trump as a possible treatment for coronavirus, was brought to center stage Monday when White House adviser Peter Navarro vigorously defended the drug in an interview with CNN's John Berman. Less than 24 hours prior, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the research on the drug was "at best suggestive."
  • "I let (Fauci) speak for himself, John, but I would have two words for you: second opinion," Navarro, director of the White House Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, told Berman. "Doctors disagree about things all the time."
  • Trump said Sunday that the U.S. was starting to see "light at the end of the tunnel," but acknowledged that the next two weeks will still be "very difficult." Surgeon General Jerome Adams says this week could be the nation's "hardest and saddest" so far.
  • The state of Washington, where the first U.S. case of coronavirus was confirmed, will be doling out more than 400 ventilators to states in need of them, Gov. Jay Inslee said. A forecast from the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation suggests the state hit peak hospital resource demand last Thursday.
  • British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was admitted to a hospital Sunday, more than a week after he tested positive for coronavirus. 10 Downing Street called the move a "precautionary step." He is "still very much in charge of the government," Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick told the BBC.
  • A tiger at the Bronx Zoo in New York City tested positive for coronavirus, the first known instance of a tiger being infected with the virus, federal officials said.
  • Counties across the nation are using hotels, sports arenas and their own public spaces to house first responders, patients and homeless people during the pandemic.

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– Jay Cannon, Paste BN Network and Wires Editor, @JayTCannon on Twitter

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