Tuesday, April 14, 2020 | View in browser

Good morning.

We’re covering a brewing battle between the federal government and the states over lifting coronavirus restrictions, Bernie Sanders’s endorsement of Joe Biden, and the results from last week’s elections in Wisconsin.

By Chris Stanford

Power struggle over virus limits

Hours after two groups of governors announced on Monday that they were starting to plan the eventual easing of restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic, President Trump asserted that the decision would be his.

“When somebody is the president of the United States, the authority is total,” Mr. Trump said, though he offered no legal or constitutional basis for his claim. Vice President Mike Pence later said that the administration would issue guidelines for states.

Gov. Tom Wolf of Pennsylvania, one of seven governors in the Northeast who agreed to draw up a plan for reopening businesses and schools, said, “Seeing as we had the responsibility for closing the state down, I think we probably have the primary responsibility for opening it up.” The governors of California, Oregon and Washington announced a similar pact.

Here are the latest updates from the U.S. and around the world, as well as maps of the pandemic.

We’re also tracking the virus’s growth rate in hundreds of U.S. metro areas.

In other developments:

■ Mr. Trump used Monday’s coronavirus briefing to defend his response to the pandemic, presenting a campaign-style video to denounce criticism that he moved too slowly. He also invited Dr. Anthony Fauci to “clarify” comments that were seen as critical of him.

■ The backlog for coronavirus testing in New Jersey, which has the country’s second-highest caseload, has been getting worse, officials say.

■ A sailor from the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt who had the virus died, two weeks after the ship’s captain requested help with an outbreak onboard.

■ The Census Bureau said it had been hamstrung by the pandemic and would ask Congress for a four-month delay in delivering the data used to reapportion the House of Representatives and political districts nationwide.

■ Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India extended a nationwide lockdown for nearly three more weeks.

■ President Vladimir Putin offered a bleak assessment of Russia’s preparedness, warning senior officials: “We have a lot of problems, and we don’t have much to brag about.”

■ “I would rather be at school”: We asked students, from kindergarten to 12th grade, what it’s like to learn from home. Here’s the answer, in their own words and drawings.

The details: We’ve compiled expert guidance on several subjects, including health, money and travel.

The Times is providing free access to much of our coronavirus coverage, and our Coronavirus Briefing newsletter — like all of our newsletters — is free. Please consider supporting our journalism with a subscription.

Grocery shopping in Livermore, Calif., last week. On some days, shoppers cannot find eggs, flour or other staples. Max Whittaker for The New York Times

A food chain under stress

The U.S. supply chain is showing signs of strain, as workers in meat processing plants, warehouses and grocery stores fall ill.

Industry leaders and observers say the supply itself remains robust but acknowledge that shortages could increase.

“Consumers like to have a lot of different choices, and the reality is, in the short term, we just don’t have the labor to make that happen,” said Christine McCracken, a meat industry analyst.

There is no evidence that the virus can be transmitted through food or its packaging, according to the Department of Agriculture.

Another angle: Evidence suggests it’s not just government restrictions that have chilled U.S. economic activity: Workers and consumers are behaving differently because of their own concerns about the virus. As a result, it’s likely that the economy will recover slowly even after limits are eased.

The Biden-Sanders alliance

Less than a week after Senator Bernie Sanders withdrew from the Democratic presidential race, he endorsed Joe Biden, a major step in attempting to unify a party in which the former vice president still faces deep skepticism from many younger, progressive voters.

Related: A liberal Democratic challenger upset an incumbent judge to win a State Supreme Court seat in Wisconsin, which on Monday released the final tallies from last week’s election. Here are the full results.

Go deeper: The Wisconsin results showed that a U.S. Supreme Court decision not to extend the deadline to vote by mail resulted in the disenfranchisement of thousands of voters. As of Monday, 185,000 absentee ballots remained outstanding.

Another angle: Our executive editor, Dean Baquet, discussed The Times’s decision not to immediately report on a sexual assault allegation against Mr. Biden. (The article, published over the weekend, is here. Today’s episode of “The Daily” is also about the allegation.)

If you have 5 minutes, this is worth it

What doctors wish they’d known

Sarah Blesener for The New York Times

A month after the first coronavirus patients started arriving at hospitals in the New York City area, doctors have started sharing what it has been like to re-engineer a city’s health care systems, their practice and their personal lives. Above, Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn.

Certain ironclad emergency medical practices — such as when to use ventilators — have dissolved almost overnight.

“What we thought we knew, we don’t know,” said an intensive care physician at Lincoln Medical Center in the Bronx.

Here’s what else is happening

A river throttled: Researchers found that engineers in China appeared to have limited the flow of the Mekong River, leading to record low water levels in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.

Emil Sergel

Snapshot: Above, Anna Carlsson running with her dog in Sweden. Runners are finding innovative ways to log miles, whether it involves sprinting across a frozen lake or laps in their backyards.

52 Places, revisited: Our former columnist, now at home in New York, reached out to friends he made on his trip around the world to learn how they’re faring during the pandemic.

Late-night comedy: After Bernie Sanders endorsed Joe Biden over live-streamed video, Jimmy Kimmel said: “That’s a very powerful message for the country — if two 80-year-old men can successfully log into a Zoom meeting, anything is possible.”

What we’re watching: This Twitter video of surgeons holding a cello and piano recital at a New York hospital. Shira Ovide, who writes our On Tech newsletter, says: “I felt better, for 40 seconds.”

Now, a break from the news

Melissa Clark

Cook: A starchy grain bowl makes use of those sturdy vegetables filling up your fridge, giving you most of the benefits of a salad — even when you’re out of lettuce.

Listen: There are new tracks from Laura Marling, Twenty One Pilots and Frank Ocean. Our “Playlist” walks you through them.

Cope: Here’s how to cut hair now. And why, perhaps, you should start a coronavirus diary. (To record all your weird, unsettling dreams?) You should definitely be cooking with condiments, and substituting ingredients to suit what you have on hand.

Here’s our full collection of ideas on what to read, cook, watch and do while staying safe at home.

And now for the Back Story on …

Voices of the pandemic

Screaming children, worried employees and anxious grocery shoppers: On Monday’s episode of “The Daily,” our reporters asked people around the U.S. about their new realities.

Here’s an excerpt from one conversation between Campbell Robertson, our correspondent in Pittsburgh, and his neighbor Tanying Dong, who works in public law and has been at home with her three sons while her husband works in a hospital.

How is it going today?

It was a relatively calm morning. I had Yan do some homework. I had the other two just watch TV. I tried to get some work done midmorning, which I did. I finished one project. My oldest one had one major tantrum where he was just screaming because he couldn’t find his sweatshirt.

Oh no.

It’s, like, his favorite sweatshirt. It turned out, it was on one of the strollers outside. Like, why would you leave it in the stroller?

Illustration by Joana Avillez

How are the 3- and 5-year-olds today?

I have been just generally letting them float along and whatever they want to do. Occasionally they’ll get sick of the TV, and they’ll want to just come upstairs and do something non-TV-related, and it’s good and bad. It’s like, oh, that’s nice. You’re using your imagination. But on the other hand, it’s like, please just go watch TV and don’t destroy the house.

The little one just likes to kind of run laps around the house, which is great because that kind of wears him out a little bit.

I think, generally, we’re settling into a routine. That first two weeks was rough.

Why?

Just having a hard time accepting that, Oh, my God, all three of my kids are going to be home all the time and I’m going to be pretty much by myself with them the entire time. And, Oh, my God, how am I going to handle this? Because I’ve never had to do this.

Right now they’re used to being at home, they’re used to this, whatever this is.

That’s it for this briefing. See you next time.

— Chris

Thank you
Melissa Clark provided the recipe, and Theodore Kim and Jahaan Singh provided the rest of the break from the news. You can reach the team at briefing@nytimes.com.

P.S.
• We’re listening to “The Daily.” Today’s episode is about an allegation of sexual assault against Joe Biden.
• Here’s today’s Mini Crossword, and a clue: Make laugh (five letters). You can find all our puzzles here.
• Times journalists will discuss the role of gender in coronavirus research with Caroline Criado Perez, author of the award-winning book “Invisible Women,” during a group call with readers at 4 p.m. Eastern today. R.S.V.P. here.