Some US producers, states reopening amid political pressure

SEATTLE (AP) — Boeing and at least one other U.S. heavy-equipment manufacturer resumed production and some states rolled out aggressive reopening plans Monday, despite nationwide concerns there is not enough testing yet to keep the coronavirus from rebounding.

In one of the most forceful moves yet, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp announced plans to restart the state's economy before the end of the week. Kemp said gyms, hair salons, bowling alleys and tattoo parlours could reopen Friday, as long as owners followed strict social distancing and hygiene requirements.

Boeing said it was putting about 27,000 people back to work this week building passenger jets at its Seattle-area plants, with virus-slowing precautions in place, including face masks and staggered shifts. Doosan Bobcat, a farm equipment maker and North Dakota's largest manufacturer, announced the return of about 2,200 workers at three factories around the state.

The reopenings came amid economic gloom, as oil futures plunged below zero on Monday and stocks and Treasury yields also dropped on Wall Street. The cost to have a barrel of U.S. crude delivered in May plummeted to negative $37.63. It was at roughly $60 at the start of the year.

Elsewhere around the world, step-by-step reopenings were underway in Europe, where the crisis has begun to ebb in places such as Italy, Spain and Germany. Parts of the continent are perhaps weeks ahead of the U.S. on the infection curve of the virus, which has killed about 170,000 people worldwide, according to a tally kept by Johns Hopkins University.

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South Korea looking into reports about Kim Jong Un's health

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The South Korean government on Tuesday was looking into U.S. media reports saying North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was in fragile condition after surgery.

Officials from South Korea’s Unification Ministry and National Intelligence Service said they couldn’t immediately confirm the report. CNN cited an anonymous U.S. official who said Kim was in “grave danger” after an unspecified surgery.

The Unification Ministry, which deals with inter-Korean affairs, said it couldn’t confirm another report by Daily NK, which cited anonymous sources to report that Kim was recovering from heart surgery in the capital Pyongyang and that his condition was improving.

Speculation about Kim’s health was raised after he missed the celebration of his late grandfather and state founder Kim Il Sung on April 15.

Credible information about North Korea and especially its leadership is difficult to obtain and even intelligence agencies have been wrong about its inner workings in the past.

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Trump says he'll 'suspend immigration,' offers no details

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Monday that he will sign an executive order “to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States” because of the coronavirus.

“In light of the attack from the Invisible Enemy, as well as the need to protect the jobs of our GREAT American Citizens, I will be signing an Executive Order to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States!” Trump tweeted.

He offered no details as to what immigration programs might be affected by the order. The White House did not immediately elaborate on Trump's tweeted announcement.

Trump has taken credit for his restrictions on travel to the U.S. from China and hard-hit European countries, arguing it contributed to slowing the spread of the virus in the U.S. But he has yet to extend those restrictions to other nations now experiencing virus outbreaks.

Due to the pandemic, almost all visa processing by the State Department, including immigrant visas, has been suspended for weeks.

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What you need to know today about the virus outbreak

Boeing said it will put about 27,000 people back to work this week building passenger jets at its Seattle-area plants, with virus-slowing precautions in place, including face masks and staggered shifts. The modest reopenings come amid protests in some states by people who say it's time to get back to work.

Boeing is among a small number of manufacturers around the U.S. that geared up Monday to resume production amid pressure from President Donald Trump to reopen the economy and resistance from governors who warn there is not enough testing yet to keep the new coronavirus from rebounding. Maryland secured 500,000 tests from South Korea after the governor's Korean American wife negotiated the shipment.

The moves are accompanied by signs of economic gloom as oil futures plunged below zero to a historic low. Stocks and Treasury yields also dropped on Wall Street.

Here are some of AP’s top stories Monday on the world’s coronavirus pandemic. Follow APNews.com/VirusOutbreak for updates through the day and APNews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak for stories explaining some of its complexities.

WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY:

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Rampage leaves 18 dead in Canada's worst mass shooting

TORONTO (AP) — Police fanned out across more than a dozen crime scenes Monday after a rampage by a gunman disguised as a police officer left at least 18 dead and homes in smouldering ruins in rural communities across Nova Scotia — the deadliest mass shooting in Canada’s history.

Officials said the suspect, identified as 51-year-old Gabriel Wortman, also died in the weekend attack. Authorities did not provide a motive for the killings.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police Chief Superintendent Chris Leather told a news conference Monday that police expect to find more victims once they are able to comb through all the crime scenes, some of which were houses set ablaze as victims were inside, adhering to government calls to stay at home because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Leather said police teams were spread out at 16 locations across central and northern Nova Scotia. He said some of the victims knew Wortman, and some didn’t.

“We’re relatively confident we’ve identified all the crime scenes," Leather said. “We have had five structure fires, most of those being residences, and we believe there may be victims still within the remains of those homes which burnt to the ground."

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Oil price goes negative as demand collapses; stocks dip

BANGKOK (AP) — Asian shares skidded on Tuesday after U.S. oil futures plunged below zero as storage for crude runs close to full amid a worldwide glut as demand collapses due to the pandemic.

Shares fell in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Shanghai but New York stock futures edged higher after the S&P 500 sank 1.8% overnight, giving up some big gains from last week.

In a stunning development, the cost to have a barrel of U.S. crude delivered in May plummeted to negative $37.63. It was at roughly $60 at the start of the year.

Traders are still paying more than $20 for a barrel of U.S. oil to be delivered in June, which analysts consider to be closer to the “true” price of oil. Crude to be delivered next month, meanwhile, is running up against a stark problem: traders are running out of places to keep it, as factories, automobiles and airplanes sit idled around the world.

“We could merely be in the eye of the hurricane as the epicenters of its rage remain centred around demand devastation and crude oil oversupply," Stephen Innes of AxiCorp. said in a commentary.

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3 killed by suspected tornado, lightning as storms hit South

HEADLAND, Ala. (AP) — Suspected tornadoes killed at least two people as severe weather blasted the Deep South, and a house fire believed started by lightning claimed a third person, officials said Monday.

Jerry Oliver Williams, 61, died late Sunday night when winds flipped the home Williams shared with his wife and child in a rural Alabama county, authorities said. The area was under a tornado warning at the time.

“He was in a mobile home, and the mobile home was destroyed by a tornado. He was in the wreckage of the mobile home. His wife and child were with him, and they were OK,” said Coroner Derek Wright of Alabama's Henry County.

A suspected twister also resulted in one death in Marion County, Mississippi, said Coroner Jessie Graham. Jerry Johnson, 70, died when his home took a “direct hit” from the storm in the Sandy Hook community, Graham said.

The National Weather Service said it had received reports of large hail and broken power poles in the area, and emergency management officials said 20 homes were damaged.

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Mid-April in America is an unforgiving time, and now this

For a generation, mid-April has delivered some of American life’s most cataclysmic moments — a week when young men have shot up schools, terrorists have blown up fellow humans, members of a religious sect have burned to death in their compound and environmental calamity has sullied the ocean.

Now, as those traumatic, unwelcome anniversaries of the past 27 years roll by in the space of a single spring week, overlay one of the most disruptive moments in all of American history, even as it is still unfolding: the coronavirus, and the efforts to contain it.

What is it about this one particular week in April, anyway? And what does it mean — for survivors, and for all Americans — to move through this barrage of violent memories knowing that life as we know it, at least for now, has gone away?

“In April, things tend to happen. I don’t think it’s an accident that a lot of events take place in April. That’s the month that people have been waiting for,” says John Baick, a historian at Western New England University in Massachusetts.

He has been noticing the propensity for upheaval in April since he was in college. “There is,” Baick says, “something about the spring that goes against rationality.”

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2 types of testing look for COVID-19 infections new and old

WASHINGTON (AP) — Testing is critical to controlling the coronavirus and eventually easing restrictions that have halted daily life for most Americans. But there's been confusion about what kinds of tests are available and what they actually measure.

There are still just two main types in the U.S. One tells you if you have an active infection with the coronavirus, whether you have symptoms or not. The other checks to see if you were previously infected at some point and fought it off.

Currently, almost all testing in hospitals, clinics and drive-thru sites uses the first testing method, to help doctors detect and treat people with active COVID-19.

The other method — known as antibody testing — is still getting rolling. But eventually experts predict the blood test will play a key role in allowing many Americans to safely return to work and school by identifying those who are likely immune from the virus.

Neither test can can be done at home yet.

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4/20 uncertainty: Marijuana industry tested in virus crisis

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The unofficial holiday celebrating all things cannabis arrives Monday as the nation’s emerging legal marijuana market braces for an economic blow from the coronavirus crisis, with many consumers reducing spending or going underground for deals.

It was supposed to be a long weekend of festivals and music culminating on April 20, or 4/20, the code for marijuana’s high holiday. Instead, it has been reduced to an online replica because of stay-at-home orders to curb the pandemic.

Virtual parties and video chats are replacing vast outdoor smoking sessions to mark the rise of legalization and celebrate cannabis culture. The origins of the annual celebration are believed tied to a group of Northern California high school friends, who used the code as slang for smoking pot in the early 1970s.

“Stay home,” the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML, said bluntly. San Francisco Mayor London Breed threatened arrests: “We will not tolerate anyone coming to San Francisco for 4/20 this year."

For businesses, 4/20 is usually their once-a-year Black Friday, when sales soar. Instead, they are reporting up-and-down buying and pondering an uncertain future.

News from © The Associated Press, 2020