North America

(AP) --- The Latest on the coronavirus pandemic. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death.

TOP OF THE HOUR:

— Hawaii reports no new virus cases for the first time in nearly two months

— Louisiana to hire at least 250 contact tracers.

— U.S.-China dispute disrupts U.N. resolution on the pandemic.

— COVID-19 deaths spike in Ohio nursing homes.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — The decision to shelve detailed advice from the nation’s top disease control experts for reopening communities during the coronavirus pandemic came from the highest levels of the White House, according to internal government emails obtained by The Associated Press.

The files also show that after the AP reported Thursday that the guidance document had been buried, the Trump administration ordered key parts of it to be fast-tracked for approval.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The coronavirus crisis has sent U.S. unemployment surging to 14.7%, a level last seen when the country was in the throes of the Depression and President Franklin D. Roosevelt was assuring Americans that the only thing to fear was fear itself.

And because of government errors and the particular way the Labor Department measures the job market, the true picture is even worse. By some calculations, the unemployment rate stands at 23.6%, not far from the Depression peak of nearly 25%.

United Nations, May 8 (AP) UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Friday the coronavirus pandemic keeps unleashing a tsunami of hate and xenophobia, scapegoating and scare-mongering.

The UN chief said anti-foreigner sentiment has surged online and in the streets, anti-Semitic conspiracy theories have spread, and COVID-19-related anti-Muslim attacks have occurred.

WASHINGTON, May 7. /TASS/: US President Donald Trump told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in a phone call on Thursday that the US was ready to provide assistance to any country amid the coronavirus pandemic, including Russia, White House Deputy Press Secretary Judd Deere said.

NEW YORK/BOSTON (Reuters) - When American companies recently applied for U.S. government loans meant to help small businesses survive the coronavirus crisis, they had to certify they needed the cash to cover basic needs like salaries and rent. The money, up to $10 million, was meant to tide them over for eight weeks.

WASHINGTON, May 7 (Xinhua) -- A senior U.S. Federal Reserve official warned on Thursday that the United States could fall into recession again in 2021 if reopening the economy too quickly with a resurgence of the coronavirus.

"The less optimistic scenario is that we open too quickly and see a significant second wave of the virus. Not only would this be a health catastrophe, but it would reverse the recovery as well," Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank President Patrick Harker told the Chicago Council on Global Affairs via Zoom.

WASHINGTON, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Former U.S. Ambassador to China Max Baucus said that the U.S. government's anti-China rhetoric reminded him of the McCarthy era.

"The administration's rhetoric is so strong against China. It's over the top. We're entering a kind of an era which is similar to Joe McCarthy back when he was red-baiting the State Department, attacking communism," Baucus said in an interview with CNN on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly 3.2 million laid-off workers applied for unemployment benefits last week as the business shutdowns caused by the viral outbreak deepened the worst U.S. economic catastrophe in decades.

Roughly 33.5 million people have now filed for jobless aid in the seven weeks since the coronavirus began forcing millions of companies to close their doors and slash their workforces. That is the equivalent of one in five Americans who had been employed back in February, when the unemployment rate had reached a 50-year low of just 3.5%.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Defense Department has begun barring the enlistment of would-be military recruits who have been hospitalized for the coronavirus, unless they get a special medical waiver.

Under a Pentagon memo signed Wednesday, applicants who have tested positive for the virus but did not require hospitalization will be allowed to enlist, as long as all health and other requirements are met.