THE BIG STORY

We’re pinning a lot of hope on these tests working

Almost everyone agrees that returning to normal, or at least a weird new normal, will depend on everyone being able to get tested quickly and easily. And not just tested to see if they’re infected, but also to find out if they're one of the many people who may have already had the virus and recovered from it.

Those people would theoretically have immunity, in a similar way to someone who has been vaccinated. That would be a very useful thing to know, especially for frontline workers in areas like healthcare, education and retail. So we’ve got a lot riding on these coronavirus immunity tests that are currently being rolled out.

But how well do they work? That’s a bit of a gray area right now, Stephanie Lee and Dan Vergano report. To speed things up, the FDA has loosened its regulations on approving the tests, and the result is a whole bunch of different tests, of varying levels of accuracy, and not a lot of clarity about where we go from here.

Michael Chang, a doctor in Huntsville, Alabama, said he researched studies on a number of commercially available tests. But he said he couldn’t independently confirm if they work as advertised, the way he would usually — he just doesn’t have the time. “You take it at face value,” he said. “We don’t live in normal times. It’s a leap of faith."

A coronavirus antibody test (Jens Meyer / AP)

A CORRECTION

The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is in South Dakota. In yesterday's newsletter I wrote it was in North Dakota. My bad!

STAYING ON TOP OF THIS

5.2 million people filed for unemployment last week

It’s the fourth consecutive week where millions of Americans have filed for unemployment, bringing the total to about 22 million. The numbers are unlike anything seen in living memory — the only comparable period of job losses is the Great Depression.

Here’s how last week’s unemployment claims compare to recent weeks and those of the past year:

And here’s how they compare to everything in the last 20 years, including the Great Recession of 2008.

SNAPSHOTS

A growing number of landlords have been asking for sex in exchange for rent. Tenants advocates say they’ve seen a surge in complaints in recent weeks.

A prison in Michigan has one of the highest coronavirus infection rates of any such facility in the country. Data shows 10% of prisoners and 21% of staff have tested positive.

YouTube star Vitaly Zdorovetskiy was arrested in Miami Beach this weekend for attacking a female jogger. He “tackled her to the ground, straddled her, then punched her with closed fists in the face and chest” according to a police report.

South Korea yesterday held the largest national election since the coronavirus pandemic began. Voter turnout was the highest it has been in 28 years.

YouTuber Vitaly Zdorovetskiy (via Facebook / Vitaly Zdorovetskiy)

HELP US KEEP QUALITY NEWS FREE FOR ALL

BuzzFeed News is throwing everything we’ve got at covering the coronavirus pandemic, and more than ever before, we need your help to keep all this going. You can support our global newsroom by becoming a BuzzFeed News member. Our members help us keep our quality news free and available to everyone in the world, and you can join for just $5 a month (or whatever you can afford). If you’ve enjoyed our work and want to support it, please sign up.

COVER YOUR FACE

Masks are becoming mandatory

It was only a couple of weeks ago that health officials first began recommending that everyone consider wearing a face mask to limit the spread of the coronavirus. Now, the masks are becoming mandatory in many of the places hardest hit by the outbreak.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo yesterday announced a statewide order requiring people to wear them wherever they can’t always stick to social distancing measures, such as on public transit or in stores. Customers and employees will be required to wear masks at all essential businesses in Pennsylvania, as will all people entering supermarkets in New Jersey. Similar rules have been rolled out in jurisdictions across Southern California, and in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC.

Want to make your own face mask? If you’re handy with a needle and thread, here’s a video showing exactly how to make one. And if you’re…less handy, here’s a guide to putting one together with the things you probably already have lying around the house.

TOUGH TIMES FOR JOAO CORONA

All he wants to do is game in peace

Until recently, the biggest issue the 24-year old Londoner would have with his last name was people making bad jokes about the popular Mexican beer brand. But now, things have...escalated.

Joao Corona, in simpler times.

He’s been playing League of Legends online since 2014, originally with the username "Squid Corona." Last year he managed to claim the cleaner handle: “Corona.” But when he tried to login this month, he got a message saying he needed to change it. He contacted the customer support staff, explaining that it’s his real name. “I was assuming it would just be very simple, like it was an automatic thing," he told BuzzFeed News

Nope. They said he’d have to change his username, given the sensitivity of the situation. He posted about it in an online forum and heard from other players with potentially sensitive names — including Jehovah’s Thiccness (!!!) — who said they’ve never had any issues. "They let me get away with anus dominator lmao," said one person.

But there’s hope on the horizon for Joao Corona. "We don’t think forcing a name change in this instance is in line with our policies,” a spokesperson for the game developer said. “So we’ll be looking into this situation."

Learn from Joao Corona today: never compromise on being exactly who you are,
Tom