Nearly a quarter million people in the United States could die as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, Trump administration officials said Tuesday. 

The New York Times reported this week that almost a dozen Liberty University students have come down with COVID-19 symptoms since the school reopened last week. But Liberty University officials have since pushed back on these claims, calling the Times story “fake news”. Now, students are choosing sides in who they believe is telling the truth.

US officials have accused China of spreading disinformation, and even some Chinese residents have expressed skepticism about the numbers.

Florida announced a stay-at-home order, and officials weighed recommending more Americans wear masks. Here are the latest coronavirus updates.

A Russian military transport plane was headed to the United States on Wednesday carrying tons of medical equipment and masks to help Washington fight the coronavirus outbreak, Russian state TV reported and a U.S. official said.

“It is better to die on your feet than live on your knees!” Lukashenko, who hit the ice for a weekend hockey game, said.

"Despite everything I experienced along the way, they deported me the next day," one indigenous teenager from Guatemala told CBS News.

President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that Navy ships are being moved toward Venezuela as his administration beefs up counter-narcotics operations in the Caribbean following a U.S. drug indictment against Nicolás Maduro. “The Venezuelan people continue to suffer tremendously due to Maduro and his criminal control over the country, and drug traffickers are seizing on this lawlessness,” Defense Secretary Mark Esper said after the president's announcement. The deployment is one of the largest U.S. military operations in the region since the 1989 invasion of Panama to remove Gen. Manuel Noriega from power and bring him to the U.S. to face drug charges.

The U.S. government raced to build hundreds of makeshift hospitals to ease the strain on overwhelmed healthcare systems as the United States marked 700 deaths in a single day from COVID-19 for the first time on Tuesday. Nearly half those deaths were in New York state, still the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio pleaded for reinforcements from the Trump administration, saying the worst may still be weeks away. De Blasio, a Democrat, said he had asked the White House for an additional 1,000 nurses, 300 respiratory therapists and 150 doctors by April 5 but had yet to receive an answer from the Trump administration.

Former Vice President Joe Biden isn't afraid to reach across the aisle during this national crisis.In a press gaggle on Wednesday, Kellyanne Conway, a counselor to President Trump, snapped at Biden's apparent "criticism" of the Trump administration's response to the coronavirus. "Why doesn't Vice President Biden call the White House today and offer some support?" Conway questioned — and so Biden offered to do so."I think it's really disappointing to have President Obama's number two ... out there, criticizing, instead of saying 'hey, here is what we did that we thought was effective,' Conway said Wednesday. She repeated the criticism on Fox News and in a tweet, even though Biden had offered up both his and former President Barack Obama's advice on MSNBC Tuesday night.Biden's deputy campaign manager fired back with another statement on Wednesday, saying Biden "has been extending his advice for months" — Fox News agreed that was true. "The Obama-Biden administration even wrote a literal playbook for pandemic response, but unfortunately Trump's administration left it on the shelf," the statement continued.> Biden campaign confirms @FoxNews report that @JoeBiden is offering to call President Trump to discuss a strategy to combat the coronavirus> > Full stmt below from @KBeds pic.twitter.com/6EE0RLu0VD> > — Johnny Verhovek (@JTHVerhovek) April 1, 2020Now, the ball is in Trump's court.More stories from theweek.com The Trump administration is adding an extra barrier for Social Security recipients to get their stimulus check Washington Gov. Jay Inslee is what real coronavirus leadership looks like China is bracing for a second wave of coronavirus

Consumer advocates fear  the deal will reduce competition and lead to higher prices. But regulators and a federal judge let it proceed.

Census-taking used to spur innovation. Now, the pace of technology, and the challenge of going go door to door, could force it to adopt existing systems instead.

The best, most beautiful weather app is about to be an iOS exclusive.

Should you buy Samsung’s new Galaxy S20, S20 Plus, or S20 Ultra? Here's what you need to know before you shell out a grand.

A class action lawsuit. Rampant zoombombing. And as of today, two new zero-day vulnerabilities.

No Purell? No problem! When disinfecting gel sells out everywhere, you can just make some yourself with stuff you (maybe) already have at home.

For some longtime preppers, it's not all about bunkers and power generators.

Mohammad Mosaed, a reporter who criticized the Iranian government's response to the coronavirus pandemic, has been arrested and banned from social media.

To protect governments as well as people’s rights from coronavirus, we need to use tech as a scalpel, not a sledgehammer.

It can replicate a sense of being touched, even when there’s no one around. As the world self-isolates, that feeling is more important than ever.