Counting Up and Down: The US surpassed 50,000 coronavirus deaths in the past 24 hours; 51,949 Americans have died with no immediate end in sight, 1,986 of them in the last day.

  President Trump at his daily briefing said that the underlying numbers are encouraging. Last week, roughly 38% of the tests in New York were positive,” he said. “This week that number is down to 28%.”

  New York State has had 21,411 deaths, 16,646 of them in New York City.

  New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said, “All the evidence suggests we’re on the downside of the curve. We’re headed down. Net change in hospitalizations is down. Net change in intubations is down again and they have been down for a while.”

Slow Opening: Several states have already begun a gradual re-start of their economies, opening everything from beaches to barber shops. Some restaurants are opening with tables spread far apart.

  Restrictions have been lightened in Alaska, Georgia, Oklahoma, and South Carolina.

Voo Doo Medicine: President Trump claimed yesterday that he was only being “sarcastic” when he claimed that disinfectants and light therapy might cure the coronavirus.

  One thing he’s not known for is humor. Anyone who’s seen what he said and how he said it knows he was dead serious.

  No one took it out of context. Here’s what Dr. Trump said; “And then I see the disinfectant where it knocks it out in a minute, one minute, and is there a way we can do something like that? Like injection inside or almost a cleaning because, you see, it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number in the lungs, so it’d be interesting to check that.”

  The makers of Lysol specifically said in a statement, don’t check that out. The company said “under no circumstance should our disinfectant products be administered into the human body (through injection, ingestion or any other route).”

 White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, backing up her boss, blamed the media Friday for the unflattering reports following his absurd remarks. She said, “Leave it to the media to irresponsibly take President Trump out of context and run with negative headlines.”

  McEnany is a Harvard law school graduate and this was her first cooperation with The Big Lie. One of the most dangerous things in the world today, aside from the coronavirus, is that you cannot believe a word the President of the United States says, or evidently, his new press secretary.

New Rules: President Trump took no questions at yesterday’s briefing. It’s usually during the Q&A that he makes a gaffe that dominates the day’s headlines. The Associated Press reports that the White House is considering changing the briefing format to curtail the President’s often embarrassing role.

 Jonathan Martin and Maggie Haberman write in The NY Times that Trump’s erratic performance has Republicans worried that they’re going to lose big in the fall.

  They say, “His daily news briefings on the coronavirus outbreak are inflicting grave damage on his political standing, Republicans believe, and his recent remarks about combating the virus with sunlight and disinfectant were a breaking point for a number of senior party officials.”

Sudden Death: One of the many things that are scary about the pandemic, aside from President Trump’s handling of the crisis, is that people in their 30s and 40s who are afflicted with it are dying of strokes of the nature that usually hit people in their 70s.

Bar the Door: President Trump and his anti-immigration aide Stephen Miller have taken advantage of the pandemic to advance their fight against immigration into the US. Trump ordered a 60-day halt to all legal immigration in order to — he says — save American jobs.

  In the recording of a conference call with Trump supporters, Miller says, “The first and most important thing is to turn off the faucet of new immigrant labor — mission accomplished — with signing that executive order.” Miller also said that the effort will have to include shutting off the flow of seasonal workers even though they do work you can’t get Americans to do.  

Seasick: The Navy recommends reinstatement of the aircraft carrier captain who was dismissed after the leak of a letter in which he pleaded with commanders to recognize he had a big problem on board with the coronavirus. Captain Brett Crozier appears to have been very popular aboard the USS Roosevelt and the defense secretary is considering the Navy’s recommendation. 

  The coronavirus continues to rip through the Navy like an anti-ship missile. At least a dozen sailors on the guided-missile destroyer USS Kidd have been diagnosed, and that makes it pretty certain there will be more. Since Crozier’s departure, about 850 crew members from the  Roosevelt have been dropped by the virus. 

The Bulletin Board: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who’s been the counter-Trump during the pandemic, yesterday challenged Senate majority Leader Mitch McConnell to go ahead and let the states go bankrupt. Congress would have to pass a law to make it possible. “You want to send a signal to the markets that this nation is in real trouble, you want to send an international message that the economy is in turmoil? Do that,” Cuomo said. — Vice President Joe Biden has stepped up his warning that President Trump might delay the fall election to hold on to office. “Mark my words, I think he is going to try to kick back the election somehow, come up with some rationale why it can’t be held,” Biden said at a fund-raiser this week. — An asteroid on schedule to pass earth next week looks like it’s wearing a face mask. 

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