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Coronavirus Watch: Beaches in NY, NJ to open for Memorial Day weekend

Rachel Aretakis   | Paste BN

New York and New Jersey are opening state beaches for Memorial Day weekend — but keep your social distance.

It's Friday and this is the Coronavirus Watch from the Paste BN Network. Here's the latest news, as of 12:45 p.m. ET:

  • Global deaths pass 300,000: Meanwhile, no country approaches even half of the more than 85,000 American lives lost.
  • The House is expected to pass a historic $3 trillion stimulus proposal that includes more $1,200 checks, but it will likely get a cool reception in the Senate.
  • Social distancing has dropped significantly: Though a majority of Americans still say they're isolating themselves, a new poll finds that number has dropped by 17 percentage points.
  • Ivanka Trump wears a mask at the White House: The daughter and senior adviser to the president told Paste BN that's one reason the president doesn't have to wear a mask. 
  • Beaches reopening in time for Memorial Day: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said today that state beaches will open on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend. Yesterday, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy announced his state's beaches would open May 22. 
  • CDC's reopening guidelines come up a little ... short: The highly anticipated guide ended up being six one-page documents. The CDC had prepared more extensive guidelines but were shelved by the Trump administration, the Associated Press reports.  
  • 25% of restaurants may not reopen: That's the forecast from the reservation service OpenTable, whose bookings on Wednesday had shrunk by 95% compared to May 13 of last year, Bloomberg reported.
  • Trump blasted by prestigious medical journal: The Lancet condemns the president and his administration for undermining the CDC and calls on Americans to elect a president in 2021 "who will understand that public health should not be guided by partisan politics."
  • Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says he mistakenly accused the Obama administration of not leaving a plan for Trump on how to deal with a pandemic. “They did leave behind a plan. So, I clearly made a mistake in that regard," he told Fox News on Thursday night.

We're looking for your questions on the nation reopening: Submit them here so we can address your concerns in a new story posting next week. 

We appreciate you trusting the Paste BN Network with this important information. Thank you for subscribing.

– Rachel Aretakis, breaking news editor, @raretakis

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