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July2nd: WashingtonPost Coronavirus Update

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In the wind

The United States added 4.8 million jobs in June, according to a government survey, prompting President Trump to say the economy was “roaring back” from the coronavirus recession. But the nominally massive jobs number is undercut by context, The Post's business desk wrote.

More than 14 million people have not been rehired after losing their jobs this year, leaving the official unemployment rate higher than at any point during the Great Depression. The survey was conducted in mid-June, before infection rates began to spike again, forcing several states to abruptly halt their economic reopening plans and sending many workers back home. Last week, 1.4 million people filed new unemployment claims.

Federal Reserve officials raised concerns that a new wave of infections could trigger an even deeper recession, according to newly released notes from the central bank's meeting in early June. The country's daily rate of new infections has more than doubled since that meeting was held.

And the Congressional Budget Office predicted Thursday that the unemployment rate will stay above pre-pandemic levels through 2030.

About 8,300 more people died of heart problems during the first three months of the pandemic than would have died in a typical spring, according to a Post analysis of federal data from five hard-hit states. The analysis suggests that many people avoided hospitals for fear of catching covid-19, and consequently died of something else.

Despite emerging evidence that the coronavirus may have mutated into a more contagious form since it began to spread, the director of the National Institutes of Health told senators Thursday that vaccines now in development should work against it. “It’s a fairly well-behaved virus that we think we ought to be able to tackle effectively with a vaccine strategy,” Francis Collins said.

Meanwhile, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn said on “Good Morning America” that the country is on track to have a working vaccine by year's end or early 2021 — a target many health experts have said is overly optimistic.

Florida reported a single-day high of 10,000 new coronavirus infections Thursday, approaching the national record set by New York earlier in the pandemic.

Brazil's virtually unchecked coronavirus outbreak, second-worst in the world, is making the country an attractive proving ground for researchers racing to find a vaccine.

Insiders at Moderna, the biopharmaceutical company leading the U.S. race for a vaccine, have sold hundreds of millions of dollars in stock since the company secured a government partnership.

As cases spike in California, some are second-guessing the state's decision to reject testing help from a Chinese company.

Trump's poorly attended, virus-adjacent campaign rally in Tulsa last month created a cascade of problems, including sick staffers, quarantined Secret Service agents and accusations of irregular testing procedures.