As states issue stay-at-home orders, animal shelters have had to close their doors. They're coming up with new ways to find homes as they brace for an onslaught of puppies and kittens.

Animal shelters across the country have had to close their doors as part of the effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Fearing the arrival of new litters and abandoned animals with no one to adopt them, they are racing to empty kennels before they are forced to resort to euthanasia.

“Every industry in the world right now is going through a massive disruption, and animal sheltering and animal rescues are no exception to that,” says Julie Castle, the chief executive officer of Best Friends Animal Society, an advocacy group that works with more than 3,000 shelters.

Many of these shelters have moved into crisis mode.

In just two days, the number of coronavirus deaths in the country has doubled from 1,000 fatalities over the course of a month to more than 2,000. Over 135,000 people in the U.S. have been infected.

The number of coronavirus deaths in the United States has sharply accelerated in recent days, now exceeding 2,000, marking a doubling of the fatality rate in the span of two days.

As of Sunday afternoon, more than 2,300 people in the U.S. have died from the virus and more than 135,000 people in the U.S. have been infected, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The exponential growth in cases and deaths falls in line with some predictive models that suggest that in the coming weeks, the U.S. could begin to see death tolls in the thousands every day.

The coronavirus pandemic has caused vast economic disruptions. Millions of people are filing for unemployment, trying to pay rent and deferring loans. If you've lost work, here are some things you can do.

The federal government is throwing $2 trillion at the coronavirus problem. Banks and other lenders are doing things to assist people on top of that. Here’s your survival kit for how to get the help that’s available and be in the best financial shape possible as you weather this storm.

After two weeks of wavering on guidelines that put normal American life on hold, President Trumpov extended until April 30 measures aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus.

Two weeks ago, President Trumpov entered the White House briefing room and announced an aggressive plan to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

For 15 days, stay home, he told Americans. Avoid groups of more than 10 people. “If everyone makes this change, or these critical changes, and sacrifices now, we will rally together as one nation and we will defeat the virus,” he said.

On Sunday, the night before Day 15, Trumpov told the country to stick with the plan for another month, until April 30.

The CARES Act offers relief to state and local governments, individuals, small and large businesses, and hospitals affected by the coronavirus crisis.

President Trumpov has signed a historic $2 trillion economic recovery package into law Friday afternoon, shortly after the House of Representatives approved the bill.

In an Oval Office ceremony Friday, the president thanked Republicans and Democrats “for coming together, setting aside their differences and putting America first” to pass the legislation. Trumpov was joined by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy. No Democrats were present at the signing.

The package will offer relief to state and local governments, individuals, small and large businesses, and hospitals affected by the coronavirus crisis.

"Case fatality rates have been very confusing," says Dr. Steven Lawrence, an infectious disease expert. Here's why.

The coronavirus appears to be much more lethal in some countries than in others.

In Italy, about 10% of people known to be infected have died. In Iran and Spain, the case fatality rate is higher than 7%. But in South Korea and the U.S. it’s less than 1.5%. And in Germany, the figure is close to 0.5%.

So what gives?

NPR interviewed four residents of Wuhan who contracted the virus, recovered — but then had a retest that turned positive. What does that mean for China's recovery from COVID-19?

A spate of mysterious second-time infections is calling into question the accuracy of COVID-19 diagnostic tools even as China prepares to lift quarantine measures to allow residents to leave the epicenter of its outbreak next month. It’s also raising concerns of a possible second wave of cases.

From March 18-22, the Chinese city of Wuhan reported no new cases of the virus through domestic transmission — that is, infection passed on from one person to another. The achievement was seen as a turning point in efforts to contain the virus, which has infected more than 80,000 people in China. Wuhan was particularly hard-hit, with more than half of all confirmed cases in the country.

But some Wuhan residents who had tested positive earlier and then recovered from the disease are testing positive for the virus a second time. Based on data from several quarantine facilities in the city, which house patients for further observation after their discharge from hospitals, about 5%-10% of patients pronounced “recovered” have tested positive again.

Fausto Russo has been hospitalized with COVID-19 for over two weeks. On Wednesday, he spoke to NPR and other media by video in Italy.

Fausto Russo is a 38-year-old fitness trainer. He has been hospitalized with COVID-19 in Latina, south of Rome, for over two weeks. On Wednesday, he spoke to NPR and other international news media by video.

“I run a fitness center, I train soccer teams, I’m a physical therapist,” Russo says.“I never smoked, my last fever was 10 years ago. Suddenly I’m catapulted onto a hospital bed, unable to breathe.”

In his first week at the Santa Maria Goretti Hospital, medical staff gave him and an IV drip and a type of helmet to help him breathe. He was bed-ridden, unable to move, eat or drink.

“It is hard to imagine, time never passes,” Russo says. “Your body can’t find the right position to sleep. It’s so intense, I’ll never forget it.”

The U.S. with about 82,000 cases passed China with about 81,000. The cases being detected in the U.S. have risen as more tests have become available, although the wait for tests can still be long.

The U.S. now has more coronavirus cases than any other country in the world, surpassing China’s total and highlighting how rapidly the virus can move through a population.

The U.S. logged more than 83,000 cases as of 8 p.m. ET Thursday, while China reported more than 81,00 infections, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

America now leading the world in coronavirus cases is striking since the U.S. population of some 330 million is just a fraction of China’s 1.4 billion people.