20,000: US death toll overtakes Italy’s as Midwest braces

Sandy Brown touches the forehead of her late husband, Freddie Lee Brown, Jr., after she cries over her late son, Freddie Lee Brown, III, right, Friday in Flint, Mich. Brown lost her 59-year-old husband and her 20-year-old son to the new coronavirus within days of each other. (Todd McInturf/Detroit News via AP)

A man and child wearing protective masks pass an encouraging message ‘Chicago Stay Strong,’ in Chicago, Saturday, chalked outside on a Roscoe Village neighborhood pub by artist Heather Gentile Collins, while people continue to contract COVID-19. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

A worshipper prays during the celebrations marking Easter, at the chapel of Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn, in Vilnius, Lithuania, Saturday. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis)

Health workers carry on a stretcher two elderly residents of a nursing home who tested positive for the new coronavirus in Barcelona, Spain, Saturday. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

CHICAGO — The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus eclipsed Italy’s for the highest in the world Saturday, surpassing 20,000, as Chicago and other cities across the Midwest braced for a potential surge in victims and moved to snuff out smoldering hot spots of contagion before they erupt.