What you need to know today about the virus outbreak

When students return to school after a lengthy pandemic-induced absence, the consensus is they will have lost significant academic ground. Still unresolved for governments and educators are the questions of how — or even whether — teachers should try to make up for lost learning.

Some have proposed holding evening or Saturday classes. A Maryland senator has proposed school year-round. In California, the governor has suggested the next school year could begin as soon as July.

But any remediation plans will be complicated by social distancing mandates that may require smaller class sizes and budget cuts that appear imminent because of falling local and state revenues.

Here are some of AP’s top stories Wednesday on the world’s coronavirus pandemic. Follow APNews.com/VirusOutbreak for updates through the day and APNews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak for stories explaining some of its complexities.

WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY:

— Advice from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on how to safely reopen businesses and institutions in the midst of the pandemic included detailed instructive guidance and some more restrictive measures than the plan released by the White House last month. The guidance, which was obtained by The Associated Press and shelved by Trump administration officials, also offered recommendations to help communities decide when to shut facilities down again during future flare-ups of the virus.

— Counterfeit face masks that provide inadequate COVID-19 protection have been distributed to frontline health care workers across the country. An Associated Press investigation tracked the masks to a U.S.-certified factory in China where legitimate medical masks are made.

— A poll points to a partisan divide over whether restricting...