May 19, 2020 - PBS NewsHour full episode

Russia has announced nearly 10,000 new COVID-19 infections in just the last day, bringing its national total close to 300,000. Half of the cases are in Moscow, where health care workers say protective gear and training for how to treat the disease are lacking. Meanwhile, there are questions about why Russia's official virus deaths are relatively low. Special correspondent Julia Chapman reports.

President Trump joined a Republican Senate luncheon Tuesday, where he defended his reported use of controversial antimalarial medication hydroxychloroquine. He also said he would temporarily waive regulations that could complicate business openings or slow economic growth. Meanwhile, senators from the two parties diverged on when and how to provide more pandemic relief. Yamiche Alcindor reports.

Top U.S. economic officials are being pressed for answers about government relief efforts amid COVID-19. Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Pat Toomey sits on the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, as well as the Congressional Oversight Commission that monitors spending from the CARES Act. Toomey joins Judy Woodruff to discuss why he isn’t ready to deliver more federal aid to states.

Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown is the highest-ranking Democrat on the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, which held hearings Tuesday about the federal government’s pandemic relief efforts. Brown joins Judy Woodruff to discuss why he fears new virus outbreaks as workplaces reopen, the administration’s economic priorities and the possibility of “massive” layoffs in struggling states.

In our news wrap Tuesday, officials in India and Bangladesh began evacuating millions of people in advance of a powerful tropical cyclone. Packing heavy rain and winds over 100 miles per hour, it's expected to make landfall Wednesday. Also, former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn is asking a federal appeals court to order that his criminal case be dismissed.

Nursing homes across the country are facing a desperate situation during the coronavirus pandemic. In 17 states, more than half of reported COVID-19 deaths have been at these facilities. Chronic staffing shortages, made worse by the virus, and inadequate infection control procedures exacerbate the threat amid the population that is the most vulnerable. Lisa Desjardins reports.

Amid a global pandemic comes a novel about a global pandemic. Lawrence Wright wrote “The End of October” before the new coronavirus was discovered in China, but some of its chapters feel ripped from today’s headlines. Wright joins Jeffrey Brown to discuss returning to fiction after years in journalism and what inspired his prescient story. It's part of our arts and culture series, Canvas.

California was one of the first U.S. states to see a significant outbreak of the novel coronavirus, but in the past few weeks, the curve of infection there has flattened. As a result, Gov. Gavin Newsom has announced plans to loosen some restrictions. He joins Judy Woodruff to discuss COVID-19 trends in his state, the data he’s using to make decisions and what he needs from the federal government.