In the United States, where deaths passed 1,050 and about 70,000 people were infected, the damage from the widespread economic shutdown was made plain when the number of people applying for unemployment benefits last week was nearly five times the old record, set in 1982.

Unlike in the U.S., where an almost $2 trillion economic relief plan is in the works, Haiti doesn't have any such resources to give similar support to its people.

The news naturally raised concerns for the pope’s health, but sources say that Monsignor Pezzoli has not recently been in contact with Pope Francis.

In a pandemic, no one is safe unless we are all safe, writes Thomas J. Reese, S.J. In the United States, we did not prepare for a pandemic, but it is not too late for solidarity.

The medical and humanitarian emergency unfolding before their eyes has made it clear that the Western health care system of centralized hospital care cannot handle this and future epidemics and needs to shift toward more community-focused care.

Brother John-Sebastian Laird-Hammond, 59, was soon to join the Franciscan friars of the Immaculate Conception Province in New York.