May 21, 2020 - PBS NewsHour full episode

The Washington, D.C., metropolitan area is one of three regions where cases of the coronavirus are plateauing, instead of declining. It includes parts of Virginia, whose governor, Ralph Northam, approved the phased reopening of most of his state last week. Northam, a medical doctor, joins Judy Woodruff to discuss continuing outbreaks in Northern Virginia and how to vote safely during a pandemic.

As U.S. businesses prepare for gradual reopenings, the number of Americans filing for unemployment seems to be leveling off. Still, the Labor Department says more than 38 million people sought jobless benefits in the past nine weeks. But as he departed for Michigan to tour a Ford factory now making ventilators, President Trump insisted that economic recovery is imminent. Yamiche Alcindor reports.

A newly released analysis of coronavirus' spread in the U.S. suggests a haunting hypothetical: that if social distancing and stay-at-home orders had been implemented only a week earlier, more than 30,000 lives might have been saved. But that alternate scenario relies upon computer-based modeling that has its limitations. Miles O’Brien joins Judy Woodruff to discuss how this data can be useful.

In our news wrap Thursday, about 10 million people in Bangladesh lack electricity in the aftermath of a powerful cyclone. The storm, which also hit coastal India, packed winds of up to 118 miles per hour when it made landfall. Also, China is considering a new security bill that could restrict opposition activity in Hong Kong, after months of pro-democracy protests in the semi-autonomous territory.

President Trump said Thursday he will begin withdrawing from a key post-Cold War agreement with Russia and more than 30 other nations. The Open Skies Treaty allows regulated overflights of Russia, the U.S. and Europe by Russian and American planes to ensure no military action is in the process of launching. Nick Schifrin talks to Marshall Billingslea, presidential special envoy for arms control.

For more than two months, the toll of unemployment in the U.S. has grown each week. The retail sector, which was already struggling before the pandemic, is among the hardest hit, with stores closed or at reduced capacity and consumers nervous about spending money. And many economists believe these lost jobs will not be returning anytime soon. Economics correspondent Paul Solman reports.

U.S. transit workers have been hit hard by the coronavirus. More than 120 have died from the disease just within New York City Transit, and drivers and transport workers represent the second-largest share of work-related cases, according to a Harvard study. Sarah Feinberg, interim president of New York City Transit, joins William Brangham to discuss reducing risks for these essential workers.

During this unprecedented crisis, we all have questions -- and the NewsHour is turning to experts for answers. In this edition of Ask Us, virologist Angela Rasmussen of Columbia University joins Amna Nawaz to take viewer questions on transmission of the novel coronavirus, including whether it can be contracted from swimming pools and street surfaces.