Coronavirus/COVID-19 Update
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- The U.S. reported 44,264 new cases and 1,129 additional deaths.
- A forecast published by the CDC now projects more than 200,000 coronavirus deaths in the U.S. by September 19.
- An ensemble forecast published by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now projects more than 200,000 coronavirus deaths in the US by September 19.
- The American Medical Association, the country’s largest doctors group, sharply criticized the Trump administration’s new guidance that asymptomatic people do not need to be tested.
“Months into this pandemic, we know COVID-19 is spread by asymptomatic people. Suggesting that people without symptoms, who have known exposure to COVID-positive individuals, do not need testing is a recipe for community spread and more spikes in coronavirus.”
- CDC Director Robert Redfield announced that people who come into contact with confirmed or probable COVID-19 patients but do not have symptoms can receive tests, reversing a change that had sparked protests from the scientific and medical communities.
- Several large U.S. states including Texas are not heeding new federal health officials’ calls to reduce COVID-19 testing of some exposed to the virus, joining a broad rebuke of the Trump administration by public health leaders.
- President Trump announced that the administration has struck a $750 million deal to acquire 150 million rapid coronavirus tests to be deployed in nursing homes, schools and other areas with populations at high risk.
- A new report has added to the growing body of evidence that the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine does not help coronavirus patients get better. In fact, combining it with an antibiotic actually raises the risk of death by 27%, the study found.
- Democrats and the Trump administration made little to no progress Thursday during renewed negotiations over a COVID-19 relief package, as the two sides remain far apart on hundreds of billions of dollars in emergency aid for states, renters, the unemployed and the hungry.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D- CA) said she offered White House chief of staff Mark Meadows a concession by proposing a $2.2 trillion price tag for the entire package, down from the Democrats’ most recent demand of $2.4 trillion floated earlier this month.
- A school district in Salem County, NJ has canceled its remaining summer sports practices after a student-athlete tested positive for the coronavirus following a party with other teenagers at the Jersey Shore.
- Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) announced he will authorize all counties in the state to reopen schools for in-person classes, citing a decrease in coronavirus cases in most areas.
- Administration officials at the University of Alabama reportedly instructed professors to keep quiet about the outbreak of more than 500 coronavirus cases, instructing them in an email not to tell their students if someone in a class tests positive.
“Do not tell the rest of the class,” the email to the politics department reads, with the word “not” underlined.
- Eight players from the University of Nebraska football team are suing the Big Ten Conference, requesting an order to invalidate the Big Ten’s decision to not play football this fall because of the coronavirus pandemic.
- North Carolina State University is asking students who live on campus to move out of their housing by Sept. 6, following what the University Chancellor referred to as a “rapid spread” of coronavirus cases.
- The University of Southern California reported 104 positive cases in the last three days.
- Florida reported 3,269 new cases and 135 additional deaths – at least the third day in a row that the number of reported deaths have declined.
- Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey extended mandatory mask requirements for another 5 weeks.
- New cases of Covid-19 in Ohio are continuing to move to rural counties, Gov. Mike DeWine (R) said.
DeWine said the counties with the highest increases in the last two weeks all have a population of under 60,000.
- Minnesota recorded its first back-to-back days of double-digit coronavirus deaths since the third week of June.
- Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) announced that she is closing all bars, taverns, breweries and nightclubs in six counties because of an uptick in Covid-19 cases.
- New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) issued a new public health order effective Saturday that will relax certain occupancy restrictions, she announced today.
Houses of worship may operate at 40% capacity up from 25% in enclosed buildings and can still have services outside.
Food and drink establishments can operate indoor dining service at 25% capacity. All tables, indoors or outdoors, can have no more than six people and must be at least six feet apart.
- Hawaii Governor David Ige (D) has approved Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s (D) emergency order requiring individuals on Oahu to both stay at home and work from home for two weeks
Sources: ABC News, Associated Press, The Atlantic, Axios, Bloomberg, CBS News, CNN, Chicago Tribune, Financial Times, Forbes, Fox News,The Hill, Independent, MSNBC, NBC News, NJ.com, NPR, NY Times, Politico, Reuters, Salon, Slate, Vanity Fair, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post
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