Coronavirus Live Updates: F.D.A. Issues Emergency Approval for Virus Drug as More States Reopen

More than 4,000 workers in U.S. meatpacking plants have been diagnosed with the virus.

RIGHT NOW

The White House is preventing Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the government’s top expert on infectious diseases, from testifying before the House next week.

Here’s what you need to know:

• Some governors face growing resistance as many businesses open their doors around the country.
• The F.D.A. issues the expected authorization for emergency use of a new virus treatment.
• The White House blocks Fauci from appearing before Congress.
• New Jersey is now reporting more virus deaths than New York.
• Michigan’s governor will ease some restrictions after armed protests and a tweet from Trump.
• A nuclear power plant in Georgia has confirmed an outbreak involving 171 workers.
• More than 4,000 workers in meatpacking plants have the virus, the C.D.C. saT
• Shoppers are seen at Oxygen Room Beauty Bar in San Antonio, Texas amid the first day of a rollback of shelter in place mandate in response to COVID-19.

Cred

Some governors face growing resistance as many businesses open their doors around the country.

In Houston, the gleaming Galleria Mall was open again, but not all of its stores, and the ample close-in parking suggested some customers were wary of returning. In Mobile, Ala., a venerable boutique decided to reopen with one dressing room, so it could be disinfected between uses. And in Galveston, Tex., beachgoers returned to the shore.

The sweeping orders that kept roughly nine out of 10 Americans at home in recent weeks gave way on Friday to a patchwork of state and local measures allowing millions of people to return to restaurants, movie theaters and malls for the first time in a month or more.

Iowa loosened restrictions in some counties, but not others. In Davenport, which is still under restrictions, Glory Smith, 41, questioned that logic, since the virus does not respect county boundaries.

“It is like having a smoking section on a plane or in a restaurant,” she said. “It doesn’t work.”

But as more states, like Texas, began to reopen on Friday, the governors of California, Illinois, Louisiana and Michigan contended with challenges to their authority to shutter at least some parts of public life.

President Trump has voiced support for protests against restrictions, even as federal guidance urged Americans to avoid large gatherings to help stem the spread of the virus. The Justice Department has signaled that it might endorse court challenges pushing back against some rules.

In addition to Texas, reopenings of certain businesses or public spaces were expected on Friday in Alabama, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, North Dakota, Utah and Wyoming. In Colorado and Oklahoma, which had already made moves to reopen, Friday marked an expansion, with new businesses set to reopen. And in Tennessee, a stay-at-home order expired at 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, making Friday the first day where more movement was permitted.

By next week, nearly half the states will have made moves toward reopening their economies. In some states, reopenings have happened even as cases were still increasing or remaining steady, raising concerns among public health experts about a surge in new cases that might not be detectable for up to two weeks.

As some states and localities eased restrictions, others extended them.

Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington said Friday that he was extending the state’s stay-at-home order until at least the end of May.

“I would like to tell you that you can make reservations on June 1, but I cannot,” he said.

In New Mexico, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham authorized a lockdown of the town of Gallup on Friday in an effort to curtail virus surging deaths that have the state’s tribal nations on edge.

The Navajo Nation has been grappling with a severe outbreak: As of Thursday, the tribal nation had reported a total of 2,141 cases and 71 confirmed deaths. The Navajo Nation’s president, Jonathan Nez, said he fully supported the lockdown order. “We have many members of the Navajo Nation that reside in Gallup and many that travel in the area and their health and safety is always our top priority,” said Mr. Nez. Said

Some cities and states are seeing increasing cases of the virus like Massachusetts; Worthington, Minn., a city in the southwest corner of the state; and Green Bay, Wis., which were singled out in a recent federal government briefing obtained by The Times.

 The briefing also noted that federal officials are monitoring North Carolina, where cases have increased and stay-at-home orders are set to expire on May 8.