WASHINGTON — It sounded like a great deal: The White House coronavirus task force would buy a defense company’s new cleaning machines to allow critical protective masks to be reused up to 20 times. And at $60 million for 60 machines on April 3, the price was right.

But over just a few days, the potential cost to taxpayers exploded to $413 million, according to notes of a coronavirus task force meeting obtained by NBC News. By May 1, the Pentagon pegged the ceiling at $600 million in a justification for awarding the deal without an open bidding process or an actual contract. Even worse, scientists and nurses say the recycled masks treated by these machines begin to degrade after two or three treatments, not 20, and the company says its own recent field testing has only confirmed the integrity of the masks for four cycles of use and decontamination.

Nurses in several places across the country now say they are afraid of being at greater risk of acquiring COVID-19 while using N95 masks, which they say often don’t fit correctly after just a few spins through a cleaning system that uses vapor phase hydrogen peroxide to disinfect them.

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WELLINGTON, New Zealand: New Zealand’s prime minister wants employers to consider switching to a four-day work week as a way to promote tourism, which has been hard-hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

Jacinda Ardern said in a Facebook Live video this week that people had learned a lot about flexibility and working from home during the nation’s lockdown, which was eased last week.

New Zealand’s tourism industry had accounted for about 10% of the economy, but has ground to a halt during the outbreak.

The South Pacific nation’s borders remain closed, but Ardern said that as much as 60% of tourism was domestic and that more flexible working arrangements could allow New Zealanders to travel more within their own country.

Ardern said she would encourage employers to think about whether or not a four-day work week is something that would work for their workplace, “because it certainly would help tourism all around the country.”

Coronavirus is spreading faster in Brazil than anywhere else on Earth. Doctors at a disease control center say there’s so little testing, the real number of cases could be 15 times higher. President Jair Bolsonaro, when asked about the rising death toll, said he “can’t work miracles.”

California will roll out guidelines on Memorial Day for TV, film and commercials to resume production amid the coronavirus pandemic, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday on a call with entertainment industry leaders.

"We're in real time drafting guidelines related to productions … because we anticipate rolling out on Monday, May 25th, some sectoral guidelines that would allow these counties to begin to move forward and allow some modification, allow some work to be done, allow some movement in your industry," Newsom said.

Hollywood has been at a total standstill since mid-March when Newsom issued a statewide stay-at-home order. As a result, hundreds of thousands of workers have lost their jobs and studios are scrambling to fill an unprecedented content demand from people binging shows and movies at home. 

Also on Wednesday, Tyler Perry unveiled a 30-page document for his plan to resume productions at Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta. He will require cast and crew members to be tested for coronavirus and self-isolate at home before traveling to Georgia, undergo social distancing as much as possible on set and not leave the "quarantine bubble" at any time for the designated two-week filming period.

"I want it to be abundantly clear that there was no way I could or would consider putting people back to work without a plan that takes extreme measures to try and mitigate as much risk as possible in our productions, and I think we’ve managed to do just that," Perry said in a letter to crew members.

When a grocery store was forced to close its signature salad bar to reduce the risk of spreading the coronavirus, some of its employees got creative and built an alcohol display in its wake.

"We had originally put out other fresh foods, but it didn't go over so well because everyone's been stressed out," said Rick Rodemacher, the store director of Dierbergs Markets' Manchester, Missouri location.

"A group of the employees were talking and we thought we could make good use of the empty space and make people smile if we swapped out the salad bar for one that serves alcohol."

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Highway fatality rates jumped 14 percent in March, even as U.S. roadways began emptying due to the near-nationwide coronavirus quarantine.

With significantly fewer vehicles on the road, the total number of deaths dropped an estimated 8 percent, but measured in terms of deaths per 100 million vehicle miles driven, the figure for March surged to 1.22 compared to 1.07 in March 2019, according to the National Safety Council.

Seven states posted double-digit increases, the NSC reported, with Connecticut seeing a 42 percent spike. Police across the U.S. have been reporting major increases in speeding citations and arrests, with fewer fender benders — but significant increases in severe crashes.

“People on the road have been getting the itch to drive faster,” said Susanna Gotsch, director of industry analysis for CCC Information Services, which consults with insurance companies on auto crashes.

Overall, total U.S. highway deaths rose 2 percent during the first quarter of 2019, according to the NSC.

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit Wednesday challenging the Puerto Rican government over what the group called a pair of “fake news” laws that it says authorities can use to punish reporters covering the coronavirus pandemic.

The suit, brought in federal district court, was filed on behalf of two journalists, Sandra Rodríguez Cotto and Rafelli González-Cotto. Gov. Wanda Vázquez Garced and other officials are named as defendants.

According to court documents, one of the provisions criminalizes raising “a false alarm” over an imminent catastrophe, during a state of emergency, or to “spread rumors” about “non-existing abnormalities.”

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More than 100,000 coronavirus cases have been reported to the World Health Organization in the last 24 hours, "the most in a single day since the outbreak began," Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said at a news conference Wednesday.

"We still have a long way to go in this pandemic," he said. "In the last 24 hours, there have been 106,000 cases reported to WHO — the most in a single day since the outbreak began."

He added that almost "two-thirds of these cases were reported in just four countries," although he did not specify where the cases had been recorded.

The countries with the highest number of confirmed cases are the U.S., Russia, Brazil and the United Kingdom, according to the WHO.

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World War II veteran Tom Moore raised millions for the coronavirus-battling National Health Service, and has since been made an honorary colonel and member of the England cricket team.

Hundreds of protesters turned out to protest Michigan's stay-at-home order on Wednesday — and get free haircuts.

Toting signs that read "End tyranny," "Live free or die" and accused Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of "killing small businesses," demonstrators rallied outside of the state Capitol in Lansing as part of "Operation Haircut."

Several barbers were in attendance, giving free trims to demonstrators. Some of the barbers and protesters were not wearing face coverings. Many of the demonstrators also stood within 6 feet of one another as they waited for their cuts.

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