10 things you need to know today: April 29, 2020

U.S. COVID-19 death toll surpasses that of Vietnam War, Hillary Clinton endorses Joe Biden, and more

Biden and Clinton
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1. U.S. COVID-19 death toll surpasses that of Vietnam War

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the United States passed 1 million on Tuesday. The death toll has now reached more than 57,000, according to Johns Hopkins University. That surpasses the American death toll in the Vietnam War. The news came in a week when several states have started letting many non-essential businesses reopen for the first time in more than a month, despite warnings from public health officials that lifting stay-at-home orders before more testing and contact tracing is possible risks fueling a deadly second wave of infections. The number of new infections reported nationwide has been trending lower, but a surge on April 24 set a one-day record of 36,200 new cases.

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.