Read Time: 4 Minutes
- The U.S. reported 31,626 new cases and 560 additional deaths.
- The United States has passed six million confirmed cases of the coronavirus since the beginning of the pandemic, according to Johns Hopkins University. The country has also passed 183,000 deaths nationwide.
- Coronavirus-related hospitalizations and deaths of children and teens are on the rise, according to data compiled by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
The share of positive coronavirus cases among children has increased in every state since spring, and nearly doubled from 5 percent in May to over 9 percent Aug. 20, according to the data.
- British drugmaker AstraZeneca – which announced Monday the U.S. launch of Phase 3 trials for its coronavirus vaccine – said its “core values to follow the science” and “put patients first,” according to a statement.
The statement came on the same day that the World Health Organization cautioned countries against rushing to develop coronavirus vaccines and to use great care in granting emergency use authorization. Those remarks appeared to be directed toward China, Russia and the United States.
- Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Monday that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) will “hopefully” unveil a new coronavirus relief bill next week.
- President Trump has retweeted a conspiracy theory falsely claiming that only about 9,000 people had “actually” died from coronavirus, instead of about 180,000. Twitter later removed the tweet, written by a user named “Mel Q,” who is also a believer of the QAnon conspiracy theory, saying it violated its rules.
- According to The Washington Post, controversial health adviser to President Trump, radiologist Scott Atlas, is advocating letting the virus infect healthy people while only protecting the elderly and vulnerable.
The approach taken in Sweden was meant to let people get on with their lives free of any virus-related restrictions, something that Atlas, who recently joined the White House task force, has been advocating.
In a statement to The Hill, via the White House, Atlas said: “There is no policy of the President or this administration of achieving herd immunity. There never has been any such policy recommended to the President or to anyone else from me. That’s a lie.”
- President Trump on Monday questioned the value of Anthony Fauci to the White House coronavirus task force, saying in an interview with Fox News he “inherited” the government’s top infectious disease expert.
“I just, I get along with him, but every once in a while he’ll come up with one that I say, ‘where did that come from?'” Trump continued. “I inherited him. He was here. He was part of this huge piece of machine.”
- The late Herman Cain’s Twitter account, now supervised by family and friends, tweeted Sunday that the coronavirus which killed Cain in July is “not as deadly as the mainstream media made it out to be.”
- There have been at least 260 Covid-19 cases associated with people who attended the motorcycle rally in Sturgis, South Dakota, in early August.
- MLB has postponed the first two games of the Oakland Athletics’ upcoming three-game series with the Seattle Mariners that was set to begin Tuesday.
- The NHL reported no cases for the 5th straight week in either of the hub cities of Toronto or Edmonton.
- The only way to find those with asymptomatic infections of Covid-19 at universities is to do aggressive testing, Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus task force coordinator, said over the weekend.
“To the college and university students, please isolate at your college,” Birx said during a news briefing. “Do not return if you’re positive and spread the virus to your family, your aunts, your uncles, your grandparents.”
- A large party is suspected as the origin for a coronavirus outbreak at New York’s SUNY Oneonta, which has led to a halt on in-person classes for at least two weeks.
Dozens of students have been suspended for violating the code of conduct.
- More than 900 University of Iowa students have reported testing positive for coronavirus as of Monday, with more than a third of the new cases being identified just since Friday. The university, which had its first day of classes last Monday, announced that 78 students who live in residence halls are in self-isolation after testing positive and 17 are in quarantine after potentially being exposed.
- On the same day Iowa State University’s director of athletics Jamie Pollard declared Cyclones fans are welcome to attend the football home opener on Sept. 12, the University of Iowa announced it was halting all sports programs until after Labor Day.
The Iowa Hawkeyes reported 93 positive tests within its athletics community in the last week.
- Just one week after the start of the fall semester, California State University, Chico is canceling all in-person classes and telling students to vacate on-campus housing over a “rapid and alarming” coronavirus outbreak on campus.
- Connecticut will extend its Covid-19 emergency declaration until February 9, 2021, Gov. Ned Lamont (D) announced Monday.
The five-month extension ensures that the state can use emergency powers to quickly respond to outbreaks, safely reopen the economy, protect and recover jobs and rapidly procure personal protective equipment.
- Movie theaters and indoor performances venues in New Jersey can reopen with restrictions on capacity starting Friday, Gov. Phil Murphy (D) announced in a tweet.
- Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) extended statewide limits on public gatherings for another two weeks.
- Florida reported 1,885 new cases, marking the lowest single day infections since June 15. There were 68 additional deaths.
- Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and White House Coronavirus advisor Scott Atlas discouraged testing individuals with no coronavirus symptoms at a Monday roundtable event in Tallahassee, Florida.
Last week, Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN “I am concerned about the interpretation of these recommendations and worried it will give people the incorrect assumption that asymptomatic spread is not of great concern. In fact it is.”
- Houston, Texas, Mayor Sylvester Turner (D) warned residents to avoid large gatherings ahead of Labor Day Weekend, saying coronavirus “is still looking for you.”
“You know what happened during Memorial Day and the Fourth of July weekend. People came together, and then the virus took off, and then you saw the numbers go up.”
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
The Past 24 Hours Or So 