Roy Horn, part of iconic magician duo, dies with coronavirus; Pence staffer tests positive

[Washington Post]

The pandemic’s devastating economic toll came into sharp focus Friday, via grim data about the U.S. workforce: More than 20 million jobs disappeared from payrolls in April — wiping out a decade of gains in a single month as the unemployment rate jumped to 14.7 percent, highest since the Great Depression.

Despite that, the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged more than 455 points, or 1.9 percent. The three major U.S. indexes ended the week with across-the-board gains.

Meanwhile, a member of Vice President Pence’s staff, Katie Miller, tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Miller is Pence’s press secretary and wife of senior adviser Stephen Miller. A day earlier, officials said one of President Trump’s personal valets had tested positive.

Here are some significant developments:

• Roy Horn — one half of the famed magic duo Siegfried & Roy, known for shows with exotic animals — has died of complications from the coronavirus at age 75.
• Eligible Americans who are still waiting on their $1,200 stimulus payment have until noon on May 13, to use the “Get My Payment” portal to input direct deposit information to avoid having to wait for a check in the mail, the IRS said Friday.
• California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed an executive order requiring that all registered voters receive mail ballots for November’s general election. Voters won’t be required to use them, but will not have to choose between safety concerns and voting, he said.
• The Office of Special Counsel has determined that there are “reasonable grounds” to believe that a former top vaccine official, Rick Bright, was removed from his post last month for retaliatory reasons and plans to recommend that he be reinstated.
• Florida and Mississippi became the latest states to announce steps toward reopening. To see where your state stands, check out our interactive reopening map.
• With the confirmed U.S. death toll surpassing 75,000, researchers are warning of an additional 75,000 “deaths of despair.”
• Frustrated doctors say some hospitals with surges of coronavirus patients haven’t been able to get remdesivir, an experimental drug that is the first and only treatment for covid-19.

By Kim Bellware, Miriam Berger, Mark Berman, John Wagner, Brittany Shammas, Steven Goff, Michael Brice-Saddler, Hannah Knowles and Colby Itkowitz