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Where things stand

• Is President Trump putting “politics and cronyism ahead of science”? Those were the words chosen by Rick Bright, the doctor who had been leading the federal effort to develop a coronavirus vaccine. This week he was removed from that position at the Department of Health and Human Services and reassigned to a narrower role at the National Institutes of Health, Bright said. He had resisted Trump’s efforts to direct government money toward hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malaria drug that some have pushed as a viable coronavirus treatment despite a lack of thorough vetting by medical researchers. Bright says he thinks this is what led to his ouster.

• “I believe this transfer was in response to my insistence that the government invest the billions of dollars allocated by Congress to address the Covid-19 pandemic into safe and scientifically vetted solutions, and not in drugs, vaccines and other technologies that lack scientific merit,” Bright said in a statement to The Times. Although it did not name Trump directly, the letter made clear Bright’s dissatisfaction with how he had been treated by the administration, even before he was removed from his post. “I am speaking out because to combat this deadly virus, science — not politics or cronyism — has to lead the way,” he said.

• When the House votes on a $484 billion relief package today, it will do so in person — since there is no provision in the congressional rule book allowing for voting in absentia. Speaker Nancy Pelosi had originally hoped to change that by having the House vote on a new policy that would permit future votes to be conducted remotely. It would have been the first time in the history of Congress that lawmakers were allowed to cast votes remotely. But Republicans objected, saying that Democratic leadership had not consulted them enough and insisting that their goal remained to swiftly reopen Congress for regular business. “We’ve been through war and others, and this body has still been able to meet,” said Kevin McCarthy, the Republican leader. “Whatever we do, when it comes to voting and others, should be bipartisan.” But a compromise could be in the offing. McCarthy and Pelosi had an hourlong phone call on Wednesday, and agreed to convene a group of lawmakers from both parties to plan how the House will conduct its business as the pandemic continues.

• In New York City, which has recorded over 10,000 virus-related deaths, the City Council has unveiled a broad virus relief package aimed at helping workers, renters, homeless people and small businesses. The proposal includes a “bill of rights” for workers that provides paid sick leave for so-called gig laborers and prevents essential workers from being fired without cause. The legislation also seeks to give New Yorkers affected by the virus more time to make rent payments by preventing city officials from stepping in to collect rental debts or carry out evictions until next April. Corey Johnson, the speaker and a sponsor of the bill, has said the council is pursuing a more ambitious plan to cancel rents for those affected by the virus-related shutdown. But the legislation that the council discussed yesterday, in a videoconference session, is meant as a more short-term measure. Still, it puts the city near the forefront of municipal efforts nationwide to address tenants’ rights and poverty issues badly exacerbated by the pandemic.

Photo of the day

President Trump and Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, during Wednesday’s daily briefing.

A new poll shows a dip in Republican support for stay-at-home orders.

Even as some Republican governors take steps to reopen their states’ economies, most Americans remain wary of the virus’s threat and are willing to stay home to stop its spread, polls show.

But a shift in sentiment is occurring, particularly among Republicans — most of whom now say the worst is most likely behind us, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll released today.

While 51 percent of Americans said they thought the worst days of the pandemic still lay ahead, including nearly two-thirds of Democrats, a slim majority of Republicans said the opposite. That represents a change from late March, when another Kaiser poll found that two-thirds of Republicans expected things to get worse before getting better.

When it comes to shelter-in-place restrictions, most Americans in the new poll said they remained worthwhile; that was true across party lines. Even in states with Republican governors — who have generally been more willing to entertain lifting restrictions, and eight of whom never ordered statewide limitations at all — support remains relatively high for stay-at-home orders, regardless of respondents’ party affiliation.

Yet two in five Republicans nationwide now say that these kinds of restrictions are an unnecessary burden and are causing more harm than good. That makes Republicans more than twice as likely as independents — and exponentially more likely than Democrats — to express disillusionment with the restrictions.

Governors in some Southern states announced plans this week to begin lifting the restrictions on social distancing, though federal health officials have consistently said this could lead to a resurgence of the virus. Demonstrators, often with backing from conservative interest groups, have taken to the streets in various other states to protest the stay-at-home orders.

The mixed feelings of everyday Republicans reflected in the Kaiser poll are mirrored by the conflicting messages coming from national and state leaders. Trump has repeatedly encouraged governors to make their own decisions on when to reopen, and he has said he hopes that it can happen soon. But after Brian Kemp, the governor of Georgia, announced plans this week to reopen, Trump criticized him, saying, “I think it’s too soon.”

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