The 10 people who mattered most on coronavirus this week

Every week during the pandemic, I am looking at the 10 leaders -- mostly politicians, but not only politicians -- whose voices and actions mattered this week in the ongoing fight against coronavirus. (You can see last week's list here.)

Worth noting: This is not organized by who is doing the best job when it comes to leading. "Leadership" tends to be a hard thing to agree on, especially in these moments. Rather, it's simply a look at whose voices are the most influential and affecting the national conversation around the virus right now.

1. (tie) Andrew Cuomo/Donald Trump: The governor of New York and the President of the United States are like the yin and yang of the coronavirus crisis. Cuomo is all hard truths and tough love. Trump is rosy predictions and vague pronouncements. And as of Friday, the two are feuding again -- with Trump tweeting that Cuomo "should spend more time 'doing and less time 'complaining,'" and Cuomo shooting back that Trump is "sitting home watching T.V. [and] maybe he should get up and go to work."

3. Gretchen Whitmer: The Michigan governor this week became a lightning rod for frustrations -- particularly acute among Trump backers -- for stringent stay-at-home directives put in place by state chief executives. "Liberate Michigan," Trump tweeted Friday in an apparent egging-on of protesters who gathered in Lansing on Wednesday in a show of unhappiness with Whitmer. Given the centrality of Michigan to both parties' electoral calculuses this fall -- and Whitmer's potential as a VP pick -- she has a bright spotlight on her right now.

4. Nancy Pelosi/Chuck Schumer: The leaders of Democrats in the House and Senate spent the week taking incoming from Republicans and the White House for their refusal to sign off on $250 billion more in small business loans without more money being added to the legislation for, among other things, hospitals. At what point do Pelosi and Schumer cut a deal with Treasury Steve Mnuchin? And what does the deal look like?

5. Anthony Fauci/Deborah Birx: The week began with whispers that Trump would remove Fauci from the coronavirus task force after the doctor suggested to Jake Tapper that earlier intervention from the federal government would have likely limited the number of deaths from coronavirus. Fauci is still on the job -- so that's something! But Trump increasingly seems to be following his gut instincts, which are pushing him to reopen the country not withstanding the warnings from the doctors.

6. Steve Mnuchin: Just weeks after cutting a bipartisan deal to pass the largest economic stimulus package in American history, Mnuchin is back at it again -- trying to find a deal to pump more money into the program designed to keep small businesses afloat amid coronavirus. As CNN's Phil Mattingly put it: "He's been everywhere. He's texting with senators when they have a problem with PPP, he's on cable, at the briefings and leading staff calls with aides to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer negotiating more money for (the Small Business Administration)."

7. Gavin Newsom: The California governor, who hasn't gotten nearly enough credit for his handling of the coronavirus in his state, released a set of criteria that would have to be met in order for his state to reopen this week. It was one of the first concrete examples of how a government might think smartly about how to balance the health peril and economic promise of beginning to restart a society.

8. Mike Pence: The vice president is still -- I think! -- the chairman of the coronavirus task force. But goodness, has he been pushed aside by Trump in terms of a public presence during the daily coronavirus daily briefings. Pence has returned to his role of nodding, loyal sidekick to Trump.

9. J.B. Pritzker: Pritzker, the governor of Illinois, is a point person on the Midwest regional compact -- announced this week -- that will make coordinated decisions about when to open their states amid the lingering threat of coronavirus. Pritzker also emerged this week as a vocal critic of the federal response; "We have gotten very little help from the federal government," Pritzker told CNN's Erin Burnett. "It's fine. I've given up on any promises that have been made."

10. Joe Biden: The de facto Democratic presidential nominee has a spot on this list solely because, well, he is the de facto Democratic presidential nominee. But Biden has really struggled to break into the coronavirus conversation.