Coronavirus Watch: How to stay safe at restaurants, cook-outs

During its first full media briefing since early March, top officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged Americans to continue taking precautions to prevent the spread of the corornavirus.

The pandemic is not over, said Dr. Jay Butler, CDC’s Deputy Director of Infectious Diseases and COVID-19. "The vast majority of Americans still have not been exposed to this virus," he said.

It's Saturday, and this is the Coronavirus Watch from the Paste BN Network. Here's the most significant news of the day, as of 12:30 p.m. ET:

• The CDC released new guidelines for safely holding and attending events and gatherings, as well as precautions to take when going out to the bank, gym, nail salons, libraries, restaurants or cook-outs. Here's the gist: The closer you are to other people, the longer you interact with them and the more people involved in the interaction, the higher the chance of COVID-19 spread.
• More than 2 million people have tested positive for the virus in the U.S., and more than 114,000 have died. See the numbers in your area here
• Worldwide, more than 7.7 million people have tested positive for the virus, and 426,000 have died. Brazil on Saturday surpassed Britain's deaths in the No. 2 spot behind the U.S. India reported a record daily new cases. And in China, parts of Beijing have been locked down.

Do you have questions about the coronavirus? You can submit them through this form, and we'll answer them! Did protests fuel COVID-19 cases? Are we already in a second wave? We answer those questions here.

As always, thank you for subscribing! We appreciate you trusting the Paste BN Network with this important information.

– Grace Hauck, Paste BN breaking news reporter, @grace_hauck