More than 2,400 U.S. coronavirus deaths reported Wednesday; officials respond after Trump suspends WHO funding

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases surpassed 2 million worldwide on Wednesday, though experts say the virus has in all likelihood infected far more people. The outbreak has spread across all continents except Antarctica, with a known death toll of 120,000 people. Nearly a quarter of the global deaths have been reported in the United States, including more than 2,400 on Wednesday alone as leaders in Washington and around the country grapple with how to safely lift restrictions.

Here are some significant developments:

• At Wednesday’s White House coronavirus briefing, President Trump threatened to shut down both chambers of Congress to allow him to fill vacancies in his administration without Senate approval.
• The director of the World Health Organization said he is “reviewing the impact on our work of any withdrawal of U.S. funding” after Trump said he intends to halt payments to the U.N. agency. Close U.S. allies said they disagreed with the move and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Trump’s decision is “dangerous, illegal and will be swiftly challenged.”
• A federal emergency loan program intended to get money quickly into the hands of American small businesses has all but collapsed under an unprecedented crush of applications and a shortage of funds.
• Protesters in Lansing, Mich., gathered in their vehicles and in crowds in front of the state capitol to rally against stay-at-home orders.
• Clinicians around the world are seeing evidence that the coronavirus isn’t just destroying lungs; it may be causing heart inflammation, acute kidney disease, neurological malfunction, blood clots, intestinal damage and liver problems, as well.
• The Trump administration has awarded bulk contracts to third-party vendors in a scramble to obtain N95 respirator masks, paying the companies nearly eight times what it would have spent in January and February.

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