 Welcome to the Coronavirus Weekly Brief. We're your hosts, I'm David Sturman, and I'm Alyssa Sallick-Virk with New America. Here are the headlines you need to know. City and state officials across the country have expressed concerns that protests following the death of George Floyd while he was in the custody of Minneapolis police on May 25th could further the spread of the coronavirus. Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, Minnesota Health Commissioner, Jan Malcolm, New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo, and DC Mayor Muriel Bowser have all expressed concerns over the spread of the virus following the protests. The New York Times reported that New York City officials urged protesters to get tested for coronavirus. Dr. Theodore Long, who runs New York City's contact tracing effort, urged other precautions in addition to getting tested, commenting, quote, We strongly encourage anybody who is out in the protests to wear a mask, practice proper hand hygiene, and to the extent possible, socially distance, so we know that's not always going to be feasible, unquote. Some public health experts suggest the risk of spread may be limited because of the youth of many of the protesters and the protests outside nature, which can help disperse the virus according to the New York Times and Washington Post. Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University, commented, The outdoor air dilutes the virus and reduces infectious dose that may be out there, and if there are breezes blowing, that further dilutes the virus in the air. However, others like Dr. Howard Markell, a medical historian, warned of the similarities to parades that helped spike cases during the 1918 flu, noting, Yes, the protests are outside, but they are all really close to each other, and in those cases being outside doesn't protect you nearly as much. Meanwhile, police crowd control methods, including the use of tear gas that can make people cough and the movement of protesters into tight dense areas, can pose their own risks of furthering the spread of coronavirus. Many protesters are aware and concerned about the risks, but determined that it was necessary to protest. Breonna Petrosko, who was part of the New York City protests, told Time, Our country has the sickness, we have to be out there. This is the only way we're going to be heard. In the past two months, according to the Wall Street Journal, a number of countries that have reopened schools report that there has not been an increase in coronavirus infections as a result. Countries with higher rates of infections, like Italy and the United States, have been hesitant to reopen schools for fear of triggering an increase in infections. But health experts and researchers have said that there have not been any notable clusters of infection in elementary schools that have reopened, suggesting that children aren't significant spreaders of the coronavirus. Denmark, Austria, Norway, Finland, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand have not had outbreaks in schools or daycare centers. Denmark was the first Western country to reopen schools on April 15th and put a monitoring system in place to detect an increase in infections and track its source. According to Austrian officials, no increase has been observed in schools or kindergartens since they reopened on May 18th. It seems that it is rare for children to develop serious COVID-19 symptoms and these findings would indicate that they are also not significant spreaders of the virus, but the reasons why are still puzzling scientists. On Friday, President Trump announced that he would cut ties to the World Health Organization, claiming the UN body has been complicit in the worldwide spread of coronavirus. President Trump's announcement to pull out of the WHO came with numerous other complaints about the Chinese government and is part of rising tensions between Beijing and Washington amid the pandemic. The US has traditionally been the WHO's principal contributor, providing between $400 and $500 million a year in funding. However, in recent weeks, this contribution has come under increased scrutiny. President Trump declared his decision to leave the WHO in the White House Rose Garden saying, quote, we have detailed reforms that they must make and engage with directly, but they have refused to act. We will be today terminating our relationship with the WHO. A new report published in Cell indicates that coronavirus infections originate in the nose. Researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill followed how the virus manifests in the respiratory tract, and quote, found a gradient of infectivity that decreases from the upper to the lower respiratory tract. The most easily infected cells are in the nasal cavity, unquote, writes nature. Further, this quote gradient mapped neatly onto the distribution of cells that express ACE2, a protein that SARS-CoV-2 uses to enter cells, unquote. The virus binds to the ACE2 receptor, which is found on many types of cells, including in the lungs, kidneys, and intestines. According to the study's researchers, aerosols containing virus can deposit the highest concentrations of virus, unquote, the nasal cavity is a fertile site for early SARS-CoV-2 infection, unquote. The report concludes that if the nose is the initial site where a coronavirus infection takes hold, quote, these studies argue for the widespread use of masks, unquote, that can protect the nasal passages from, quote, aerosol, large droplet, and mechanical exposure, unquote. Therapeutic strategies that lower the concentration of the virus in the nose early in the disease, such as topical antivirals or immune modulation, may also be helpful. Two of Islam's holiest sites reopened on Sunday for the first time in over two months. In Jerusalem, al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third holiest site, allowed worshipers to enter for dawn prayers. Officials took temperatures and handed out masks at the door and reminded people to follow social distancing guidelines. In Saudi Arabia, 90,000 mosques reopened, including parts of the Prophet's Mosque in Medina, which is considered Islam's second holiest site. About 3,000 people attended prayers there on Sunday. Zikaban in Mecca, Islam's holiest site, remains closed. Latin America is quickly becoming the next epicenter of the coronavirus. According to the Pan-American Health Organization's Director of Communicable Diseases, Dr. Marcos Espinal, quote, Latin America is the new epicenter, unquote, of the coronavirus. There are nearly 920,000 confirmed coronavirus cases throughout the region of 33 countries. Further, almost 50,000 have died from COVID-19 or related complications. Epidemiologists and researchers believe that, quote, faulty government response coupled with Latin America's unique economic and public health situation led to the severity of the current outbreak, unquote, report CNN, unquote, things are likely to get worse, unquote. Part of the problem has either been a source of tests or government's hesitation to test. Espinal said of this lack of testing, quote, the official numbers provide a false sense of security. The number of cases is not showing close to the magnitude of the problem, unquote. Brazil and Mexico fall in this category in particular. Their governments have not tested to scale and have largely ignored global health warnings from the World Health Organization and other countries. Other countries were quick to close down. For example, Peru, Chile and Ecuador shut their borders to international travel in March. However, by May, Peru had the second highest number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the region, followed by Chile. Some experts believe poor public health systems contributed to the widespreading of coronavirus cases in these countries, despite best efforts, in addition to a large number of daily wage workers who, quote, must go into the streets every day to ply their wares, be it selling tacos, shining shoes, or cleaning houses, unquote, report CNN. Close to 55% of workers in Latin America support, quote, the informal economy, totaling nearly 140 million people, unquote, reports the World Economic Forum. Many of these individuals also work in confined living spaces with multiple people, which makes social distancing nearly impossible. Drexel University Dean and epidemiologist Diaz Roo says of the spread of the virus throughout Latin America, quote, I think we're going to see significantly more deaths than we've seen so far, unquote. To see our daily brief, go to the address in our show notes and follow us on Twitter at New America ISP. Tune in next Monday for our next episode.