Coronavirus Watch: Deadliest day yet

Nearly 2,000 people died Tuesday due to complications from the coronavirus, the deadliest day the U.S. has seen since the virus first appeared here three months ago.

It's Wednesday, and this is the Coronavirus Watch from Paste BN Network. 

Here's the latest news, as of 1:30 p.m. ET:

• The U.S. surpassed 400,000 confirmed cases and 13,000 deaths. See a map here.
• Wuhan, China, where the virus originated, celebrated the end of its 76-day lockdown. Streets in the city of 11 million people were clogged with traffic and long lines formed at the airport, train and bus stations as thousands streamed out of the city to return to homes and jobs elsewhere.
• Black Americans are overwhelmingly dying of the coronavirus at much higher rates compared to others in some major cities. But most federal officials and states are not keeping track or releasing racial data on coronavirus victims.
• Talks are under way between the Trump administration and Congress on another recovery package. A second round of payments to Americans is part of the discussion. 
• Attorney General William Barr and local sheriffs have released inmates to prevent outbreaks, but Immigration and Customs Enforcement has not followed suit. ICE has more than 34,000 detainees, 60% of whom have no criminal record. 
• The people in Florida who are known to be infected visited at least 46 states and traveled to every continent except Antarctica in the weeks before they tested positive for COVID-19, a Paste BN Network-Florida analysis found.

What do you want to know about the coronavirus? Submit your questions here and we'll answer them in our reader Q&A. 

Linda from Dracut, Massachusetts, asks: If you think you had the virus but weren't tested, shouldn't you get tested now to see if you have the antibodies and can donate plasma?

Yes, but that's not widely available yet, and not everybody qualifies.

Antibody tests can determine if someone had – and recovered from – COVID-19. The tests can tell doctors which staff members may have immunity to the virus and can help researchers figure out how many people were asymptomatic. The tests also are also crucial for vaccine production because, to prove a vaccine works, you must show antibody production in someone who hasn’t been exposed to COVID-19.

Dozens of institutions nationwide are participating in the National Covid-19 Convalescent Plasma Project, where people who were exposed to or contracted COVID-19 about three weeks ago and recovered can donate the plasma in their blood to people who are currently sick. If you tested positive and fully recovered, you can register on the Plasma Project's website to see whether you are eligible and if there's a plasma donation program near you.

A few other ways to connect with Paste BN:

• Join our Facebook group, where you can get the latest information, talk about the news and get answers to your questions. 
• The pandemic is stressful, so we've launched a new newsletter called Staying Apart, Together that provides some wisdom and distractions. Sign up here.

And finally, thank you for subscribing. These are some crazy times and we appreciate you trusting the Paste BN Network. 

— Rachel Aretakis, breaking news editor, @raretakis, and Grace Hauck, breaking news reporter, @grace_hauck