Elizabeth Warren says Joe Biden is "credible and convincing" Senator Elizabeth Warren said today she believed Joe Biden’s comments on the sexual assault allegation were “credible and convincing”. “I saw the reports of what Ms [Tara] Reade said, I saw an interview with vice-president Biden. I appreciate that the vice-president took a lot of questions, tough questions. And he answered them directly and respectfully. The vice-president’s answers were credible and convincing,” the senator and former presidential candidate said, according to a CNN reporter. Warren has said she would accept an offer to be Biden’s running mate. The latest from the Guardian’s David Smith on Tara Reade: In these extraordinary times, the Guardian’s editorial independence has never been more important. Because no one sets our agenda, or edits our editor, we can keep delivering quality, trustworthy, fact-checked journalism each and every day. Free from commercial or political bias, we can report fearlessly on world events and challenge those in power. Your support protects the Guardian’s independence. We believe every one of us deserves equal access to accurate news and calm explanation. No matter how unpredictable the future feels, we will remain with you, delivering high quality news so we can all make critical decisions about our lives, health and security – based on fact, not fiction. Support the Guardian from as little as $1 – and it only takes a minute. Thank you. Arizona has also announced moves to ease the state’s coronavirus restrictions, with the governor announcing that barbers, salons and additional retailers can reopen this Friday. Indoor service at restaurants will resume on Monday, 11 May. Gyms, pools and bars remain closed. The state has released guidances for restaurants, saying they should accommodate physical distancing, limit parties to no more than 10 people and operate at reduced capacity. Field organizers for Joe Biden’s campaign have ratified a union contract, the first time in history that a major party’s presumptive nominee has a union agreement for staff. The contract covers organizers across the country and gives workers a $15 minimum wage, overtime pay and a grievance process, HuffPost reported today. The campaign said the agreement would lead organizers’ annual pay to increase by an average of $1,900 and that it currently covers roughly 100 staffers, according to the news site. Nancy Pelosi, the House speaker, has defended her decision not to expand rapid testing for members of Congress in a CNN interview, saying the tests will remain prioritized for frontline workers. Following criticism about the fact that rapid testing was not available to Congress, Trump told Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, and Pelosi that Capitol Hill could have access to rapid testing. But the two leaders declined. “Our country’s testing capacities are continuing to scale up nationwide and Congress wants to keep directing resources to the frontline facilities where they can do the most good the most quickly,” McConnell and Pelosi said in a joint statement over the weekend. The White House has access to rapid testing. More states across the US have made moves to ease Covid-19 restrictions today. In Mississippi, the governor, Tate Reeves, announced that starting Thursday, restaurants can fully resume outdoor dining and indoor dining if servers wear masks and there is no more than 50% capacity. Additionally, groups of 20 people will now be allowed to gather. Barbershops and salons remain closed. In Florida, a wide range of sectors reopened today, including indoor dining, beaches and non-essential retailers. The reopening excluded three hard-hit counties, Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach. Health experts have warned the state’s moves were premature, and today officials reported 819 new cases and 20 more deaths. In Washington state, the governor announced today that some businesses could reopen as early as this week with a new order allowing smaller counties to apply for exemptions from ongoing lockdowns if they have a population of less than 75,000 and have not had a Covid-19 case in the last three weeks. In Kentucky, the state is easing healthcare restrictions, allowing hospitals and clinics on Wednesday to resume outpatient surgeries and other invasive procedures that have been on hold. Three people are facing charges in the fatal shooting of a Michigan security guard who refused to let a customer enter a Family Dollar store without a mask. Calvin Munerlyn was shot Friday at the store north of downtown Flint after telling Sharmel Teague’s daughter she had to leave because she lacked a mask, according to Genesee county prosecutor David Leyton. Teague, 45, argued with Munerlyn, 43, before leaving. Two men later came to the store, the AP reported, and Teague; her husband, Larry Teague, 44; and Ramonyea Bishop, 23; are now charged with first-degree premeditated murder and gun charges. From the AP: Larry Teague was also charged with violating governor Gretchen Whitmer’s executive order mandating that all customers and employees must wear face coverings inside grocery stores, Leyton said. Witnesses identified Bishop as the man who shot Munerlyn in the back of the head, Leyton said. Sharmel Teague has been arrested. Police were looking for her husband and son. No information has been released about the daughter, who has not been charged in the shooting. The tragic shooting happened after armed protesters gathered inside the state capitol to oppose Covid lockdowns. More from my colleague Lois Beckett: The influential Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington (IHME), has revised a key piece of coronavirus modeling - almost doubling its prediction of the number of Americans likely to be killed by coronavirus, forecasting at least 134,000 deaths in the US by early August. Previously it had predicted just over 74,000 deaths. The IHME’s modeling has been cited by the White House coronavirus task force at its once-frequent briefings, which petered out last week. Christopher Murray, director of the IHME, said the team is gathering data about Americans’ mobility and pointed out that, among other factors influencing the upward trajectory, key data are being studied and processed to “reflect the effect of premature relaxation of social distance, which has a substantial effect”. The university is planning to issue further details, as many states coast to coast plan partial a reopening of society and business. The IHME revision comes as reports on the White House’s internal projections have raised questions about the safety of reopening strategies across the country. More from the Guardian on coronavirus modeling: In the last two weeks, Trump’s public death toll predictions have jumped from 50,000 to 60,000 to 70,000 to potentially as high as 100,000, CNN notes in this helpful timeline: While death toll predictions can be challenging for experts, who are often forced to revise projections as the pandemic continues, Trump’s public statements suggest he is “more concerned with shaping perceptions in the current moment than with how something might be perceived in the future”, CNN noted. That means “offering projections that seem unrealistically low from the moment he utters them”. Notably, in late February, the president said the spread of Covid-19 in the US was not inevitable and the danger to Americans “remains very low”. He predicted that the number of cases diagnosed in the country, just 15 that time, could fall to zero in “a few days”. French president Emmanuel Macron said he is confident that the United States will join a global pledge for research to find a vaccine against the new coronavirus. World leaders, organizations and banks on Monday pledged to give 7.4 billion euros ($8 billion) during a videoconference summit hosted by the European Union. The US, along with Russia, were notably absent from the event, the AP writes. Macron, who donated 500 million euros on behalf of France, noted that the US “are on the sidelines” but added that it doesn’t compromise or slow down the initiative. Speaking from the Elysee palace in Paris, he said he discussed the issue with President Donald Trump and is convinced that the US will at some point join the initiative, consisting in finding a vaccine as quickly as possible and making it available to all countries. Macron added that his government is in permanent dialogue with the Trump administration and with American companies. The Guardian has covered more on this topic in our global coronavirus live blog. Hi all - Sam Levin here in Los Angeles, taking over our live coverage for the rest of the day. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is scaling back its policy of allowing Covid-19 blood tests to hit the market without first proving that they worked. The FDA is now requiring that companies show their tests or could otherwise have them pulled from the market, the AP reports. The move comes amid growing concerns that some sellers have made false or misleading claims about the accuracy of their tests: Under pressure to increase testing options, the FDA in March essentially allowed companies to begin selling tests as long as they notified the agency of their plans and provided disclaimers, including that they were not FDA approved. The policy was intended to allow “flexibility” needed to quickly ramp up production, officials said. “However, flexibility never meant we would allow fraud,” Dr. Anand Shah, an FDA deputy commissioner, said in a statement. “We unfortunately see unscrupulous actors marketing fraudulent test kits and using the pandemic as an opportunity to take advantage of Americans.” Here’s my colleague Maanvi Singh’s recent explainer on the coronavirus antibody tests and how they work: California to reopen some businesses on Friday The Guardian’s Vivian Ho reports on the latest developments in California: Some California retailers will be allowed to reopen their businesses starting on Friday, governor Gavin Newsom said at his daily briefing. Shops selling books, clothing, sporting goods, flowers or anything else that a customer can purchase through curbside pickup will have to follow certain modifications, but they will be able to open and operate once again, Newsom said. “We are entering into the next phase this week.” he said. “End of the week, with modifications, we will allow retail to start operating across the spectrum.” “This is a very positive sign and it has only happened for one reason: the data says it can happen,” Newsom said. Newsom acknowledged that some regions of that state will require stricter guidelines than the state guidelines, while other regions will not. The six Bay Area counties that led the charge in becoming the first to issue a stay-at-home order in the nation has experienced a much higher rate of infection than more rural areas of the state. Last week, Yuba and Sutter counties, located north of Sacramento, issued a measure that defied the state’s order and reopened businesses starting Monday. Modoc county, located on the Nevada border, was the first to begin pushing for a reopening. “Our rural lifestyle and the fact that many of our residents have been abiding by the guidelines has kept us at zero,” said Modoc county sheriff Tex Dowdy in a statement. “We are the perfect choice to pilot a reopening in the state.”