May 22 coronavirus news

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The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention acknowledged on Friday it had been mixing together results from viral and antibody tests on its website. The CDC says it’s planning to separate those numbers in the coming weeks, but experts say the current method is unhelpful and potentially misleading.

That’s because antibody tests aren’t used to diagnose current infections or determine whether someone is potentially contagious. Instead, they indicate whether someone has been exposed to the virus in the past.

CDC spokesperson Kristen Nordlund described the agency’s practice to CNN on Thursday and confirmed it the next day. “Initially, when CDC launched its website and its laboratory test reporting, viral testing (tests for current infection) were far more commonly used nationwide than serology testing (tests for past infection),” she said in an email.

Combining numbers from antibody and viral tests pushes up the total number of tests conducted in the US. But antibody tests are often intended for the general public – not just people with suspected infections – so they can skew a key indicator of how the pandemic is progressing: the percent of tests that come back positive.

The CDC’s method also makes it appear that the US has greater capacity to test than it really does, at least when it comes to identifying current infections.

There have been at least 1,600,481 cases of coronavirus in the US and at least 95,921 people have died from the virus, according to a tally from Johns Hopkins University.

Johns Hopkins reported 23,334 new cases and 1,219 deaths on Friday.  

The totals include cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, as well as repatriated cases.  

Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak said he hopes to allow the state's casinos to reopen on June 4.

The governor announced Friday that the state’s Gaming Control Board will make a final decision in its next meeting on Tuesday

In a tweet, the governor said the reopening will be “pending the evaluation of trends in our data.” Currently, the state is in phase one of its reopening plan, and Sisolak says he expects to have a date for phase two on Tuesday.

Nevada casinos have been closed since March 17. Many casinos have already announced new health safety measure to take effect when they reopen, and the Wynn Las Vegas announced Friday it will be reopening five of its restaurants on May 29.

Georgetown men’s basketball coach and former NBA star Patrick Ewing says he has tested positive for Covid-19.

In a statement, Georgetown University said Ewing is "under care and isolated at a local hospital."

"He is the only member of the Georgetown men's basketball program to have tested positive for the virus," the university said.

The Brazilian health ministry said Friday the country registered a record 20,803 new cases of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide case total to 330,890.

By CNN calculations, the number tops Russia’s 326,448 cases. For now, that makes Brazil the country with the second highest total number of confirmed cases worldwide after the United States.

More on this: Johns Hopkins University has not yet updated its global map of coronavirus cases to reflect the new Brazilian numbers.

Brazil recorded 1,001 new coronavirus deaths over the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide death toll to 21,048.

The head of the Justice Department’s civil rights division wrote in a strongly-worded letter Friday to Los Angeles officials that he was concerned that the mayor and county health director were taking "an arbitrary and heavy-handed approach to continuing stay-at-home requirements.”

The letter from Eric Dreiband, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division, came in response to comments from Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, who asserted in a "Good Morning America" interview last week that the city will “never be completely open until we have a cure” for the coronavirus, which has claimed more than 3,600 lives in California.

“I think we have to all recognize that we’re not moving beyond Covid-19, we’re learning to live with it,” Garcetti said.

Dreiband also noted recent remarks by Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer, who said last week that “with all certainty” a form of stay-home restrictions will remain in place for the county’s 10 million residents “for the next three months.” Ferrer later clarified her remarks, saying “while the Safer at Home orders will remain in place over the next few months, restrictions will be gradually relaxed.”

Earlier this month, California began reopening the state’s economy, allowing some retail shops, manufacturers, and logistics businesses to return on May 8. At least 43 of the state’s 58 counties have been allowed to open even further, allowing additional retail shopping and dining in restaurants. Los Angeles, however, where more than 2,000 deaths linked to the coronavirus have been recorded, has moved more slowly.

The DOJ's warning: Dreiband warned in his letter to Garcetti and Ferrer that the continued restrictions may be “arbitrary and unlawful.”

While local officials can impose restrictions on citizens to protect their safety during emergencies, Dreiband warned that “the Constitution and federal statutory law prohibit arbitrary, unreasonable actions.”

“Simply put, there is no pandemic exception to the U.S. Constitution and its Bill of Rights,” he said.

Peruvian President Martin Vizcarra announced Friday that a national state of emergency, which includes mandatory social isolation measures, will be extended through June 30.

He announced that “a national state of emergency is being declared from Monday, May 25 until June 30, including obligatory social isolation, quarantine, due to the grave circumstances that affect the life of the nation due to Covid-19,” according to state news agency Andina.

Vizcarra first declared a nationwide state of emergency, which included mandatory self-quarantine and closed the country’s borders, on March 15.

With the current extension, Peru will be under a state of emergency for at least three and a half months.

There have been at least 1,598,631 cases of coronavirus in the US and at least 95,847 people have died, according to Johns Hopkins University's tally.

Johns Hopkins reported 21,484 new cases and 1,145 deaths on Friday. 

The totals include cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, as well as repatriated cases.