Trump moves the goalposts — again

New models revise US coronavirus death toll projections upward; the Philippines forces its largest broadcaster off the air. Tonight's Sentences was written by Cameron Peters. TOP NEWS Could the US see 3,000 daily Covid-19 deaths by June? Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images - As the coronavirus pandemic wears on, projections of the US death toll are beginning to rise. On Monday, the New York Times obtained an internal Trump administration document that projected a rising death toll that could reach 3,000 deaths per day by June 1. [[NYT / Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Eileen Sullivan](] - Also on Monday, a University of Washington model previously cited by the administration revised its death toll estimate upward. Now, the model suggests that there could be as many as 135,000 US Covid-19 deaths by early August. [[Washington Post / William Wan, Lenny Bernstein, Laurie McGinley, and Josh Dawsey](] - Even President Donald Trump revised his personal projection for the pandemic death toll upward in a Fox News town hall on Sunday, again moving the goalposts for his administration’s response. “We're going to lose anywhere from 75, 80 to 100,000 people,” Trump said, just two weeks after predicting only 60,000 deaths. [[ABC News / Jordyn Phelps and Ben Gittleson](] - According to a Covid-19 tracker from Johns Hopkins University, there have already been some 69,000 deaths from the virus in the US alone — more than the number of Americans who died in the Vietnam War. [[Johns Hopkins](] - Nonetheless, around the country states are beginning to take steps toward reopening. In California, some businesses will be allowed to reopen, with limitations, on Friday; other states, such as Georgia and Iowa, are moving to reopen far more quickly and less cautiously than California. [[NPR / Hannah Hagemann](] - As the new models suggest, it’s likely that the push to reopen will lead to another spike in coronavirus cases and deaths in coming weeks. And despite the GOP’s desire to get back business as usual, polling suggests that most Americans are still opposed to reopening. [[CNN / Stephen Collinson](] - Reopening businesses is also putting workers in a tough spot. As Vox’s Emily Stewart writes, “unemployment insurance doesn’t have an ‘afraid of dying’ clause.” As a result, many workers are being forced to choose between a paycheck and their health. [[Vox / Emily Stewart](] - With a vaccine likely still months away, the best solution to reopen safely, according to many experts, is widespread testing and contact tracing. For contact tracing to be truly effective, though, some 100,000 “disease detectives” might be needed — and the US is nowhere close to that number yet. [[Vox / Dylan Scott](] - And the US continues to be afflicted by a widespread testing shortage. The federal government has largely failed at coordinating a unified approach to testing, and the result, as Bloomberg writes, is a “free-for-all among states that drives up prices, eats up time, and ultimately dictates how many tests a state can do and how prepared it will be.” [[Bloomberg / Emma Court and Olivia Carville](] Press freedom and the pandemic - On Tuesday, the largest broadcasting network in the Philippines was forced off the air when its franchise expired. The network, ABS-CBN, has repeatedly been the target of threats from the Philippines’ strongman president, Rodrigo Duterte. [[Washington Post / Regine Cabato](] - The channel could still regain access to the airwaves if the Philippines’ Congress renews its franchise; ABS-CBN could also appeal the cease-and-desist order in court. [[The Guardian / Rebecca Ratcliffe](] - But the government’s decision to force the network off the air is bad news for press freedom. “It sends a clear message: What Duterte wants, Duterte gets,” the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines said. “He intends to silence the critical media and intimidate everyone else into submission.” [[NYT / Jason Gutierrez](] - And the Philippines isn’t the only country where press freedom is under attack: In India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has seized on the coronavirus as an excuse to curb press freedom. That trend isn’t new — during protests earlier this year, Hindu nationalists harassed or assaulted more than a dozen reporters. [[Columbia Journalism Review / Lewis Page](] - Last month, Reporters Without Borders concluded that the pandemic amplified many existing threats to press freedom. The group’s annual press freedom report pointed to China, Hungary, India, and the Philippines, among others, as states where the press is under fire. [[Al Jazeera](] MISCELLANEOUS The pharmaceutical company Pfizer is beginning human trials in the US for a potential coronavirus vaccine. [[NPR / Joe Palca](] - The Senate is holding a confirmation hearing for Rep. John Ratcliffe, Trump’s controversial pick for director of national intelligence, on Tuesday. [[NYT / Julian E. Barnes and Nicholas Fandos](] - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said Monday night that his government has detained two Americans. Maduro claimed they were part of a coup attempt. [[CNN / Claudia Dominguez](] - Barack and Michelle Obama will give a virtual commencement address for all of the students who are missing out on in-person graduations this spring. [[Twitter / Barack Obama](] - More cute animals at the Oregon Zoo are exactly what we need to get through lockdown. [[Twitter / Oregon Zoo](] VERBATIM "The justifications were laughable; it was clear to any reasonable observer that they were turfed for whistleblowing. Management could have objected to the event, or demanded that outsiders be excluded, or that leadership be represented. ... Instead, they just fired the activists." [[Amazon vice president Tim Bray on his decision to resign over the firing of employee activists](] WATCH THIS [The coronavirus lockdowns don't have to lead to mass unemployment.]( Millions of Americans have lost their jobs in the coronavirus lockdowns. But it didn't have to be that way — and it's not too late for the US to change course. 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