C.D.C. Labs Were Contaminated, Delaying Coronavirus Testing, Officials Say

Sloppy laboratory practices at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention caused contamination that rendered the nation’s first coronavirus tests ineffective, federal officials confirmed on Saturday. Two of the three C.D.C. laboratories in Atlanta that created the coronavirus test kits violated their own manufacturing standards, resulting in the agency sending tests that did not work…

Germany Begins Broad Antibody Testing to Assess Spread of Coronavirus; Israel Relaxes Restrictions: Live Coverage

Here’s what you need to know: ImageDr. Dafni Metaxa take a blood sample in a Munich household as part of random sampling for antibodies to the coronavirus.Credit…Laetitia Vancon for The New York Times Germany, seeking a path out of lockdown, begins broad random testing for antibodies. While other nations are still struggling to test for…

The Coronavirus in America: The Year Ahead

The coronavirus is spreading from America’s biggest cities to its suburbs, and has begun encroaching on the nation’s rural regions. The virus is believed to have infected millions of citizens and has killed more than 34,000. Yet President Trump this week proposed guidelines for reopening the economy and suggested that a swath of the United…

The Food Chain’s Weakest Link: Slaughterhouses

The modern American slaughterhouse is a very different place from the one that Upton Sinclair depicted in his early-20th-century novel, “The Jungle.” Many are giant, sleek refrigerated assembly lines, staffed mostly by unionized workers who slice, debone and “gut snatch” hog and beef carcasses, under constant oversight of government inspectors. The jobs are often grueling…