| Greetings, QuickTake readers! In this edition: NYC death toll may be worse than tally, Putin ends lockdown despite record case surge, and our future climate warming is already here.  Elon Musk reopens Tesla plant Elon Musk said Monday that Tesla's factory in Fremont, California, had restarted production in open defiance of the stay-at-home order in Alameda County. "I will be on the line with everyone else," he tweeted. "If anyone is arrested, I ask that it only be me." The company told workers their furlough ended Sunday, which conflicted with California Gov. Gavin Newsom's comments that he expected Tesla's plant to reopen next week. After fending off a defamation lawsuit with the SEC last year, Musk tried his luck with the law again over the weekend. Tesla sued the county after it said the company didn't meet criteria to reopen, a move Musk called "the final straw" and threatened to move Tesla's HQ to Nevada or Texas. He tweeted, "much appreciated" in response to an offer from a Texas county to "immediately accommodate" Tesla if it chose to leave California. More: - Musk has publicly vented about virus restrictions and downplayed the risk of Covid-19 for weeks. He claimed it wasn't all that viral in January and called panic about it "dumb" in March. He also implied deaths are overstated, promoted Trump-backed antimalarial drugs, and wrongly predicted cases would be close to zero by May.
- Musk's wealth has surged along with Tesla's shares this year to more than $40 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
$ignificant figures 24,172. New York City had that many more deaths from March 11 to May 2 than officials expected based on past trends, a new study found, illustrating the collateral health-care damage of the outbreak. 7,000. Up to that many people in South Korea may have been exposed to Covid-19 from nightclubs in Itaewon visited by a 29-year-old patient earlier this month, triggering a potential second wave of infections. 24,000. The number of daily visitors allowed in Shanghai Disneyland—30% of its normal capacity—after it reopened for the first time since January with new precautions, including masks and temperature checks. Highly quotable "We have prevailed." As U.S. deaths topped 80,000, Trump sought to revel in his success at expanding virus testing during a press briefing that he abruptly ended after a testy exchange with an Asian-American reporter. "Shutting your eyes and trying to drive." The WHO warned that countries are "setting themselves up for some seriously blind driving" by reopening without having strong virus contact-tracing measures in place. "The period of non-working days is over." Vladimir Putin ended Russia's six-week economic shutdown despite a record daily rise in cases reported in the country to rank fourth-highest in the world by infections. This is not normal Danger zone. Heat and humidity "too severe for human tolerance" have hit the Persian Gulf and parts of Pakistan, with temperatures that crossed the body's "survivability threshold," causing potentially fatal overheating.  The future is now In and out. Hong Kong International Airport is testing a 40-second sanitizing booth that sprays pilots and flight attendants with an antimicrobial coating that kills bacteria on clothing and human skin.  What's good "Love sinks in." A Georgia non-profit is fighting for access to soap and water for the homeless by installing portable sinks in cities to ensure regular hand-washing among high-risk populations during the pandemic.  Now that you're caught up... Tell your friends to sign up to receive our newsletter five days a week. Follow QuickTake on Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook. BTW: Dining solo? This restaurant has one chair, one table, and serves only one guest per day. Have a look. Thanks for reading!
-Andrew Mach | 
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