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The Past 24 Hours or So – Coronavirus/COVID-19 Update

Read Time: 6 Minutes

  • The United States reported 67,023 new coronavirus cases and 1,259 new deaths. The eleventh time in twelve days over 1,000 deaths have been reported. 
  • A forecast published by the CDC projects more than 173,000 coronavirus deaths in the United States by August 22.
  • The World Health Organization reported 292,527 new Covid-19 cases, another record for daily cases reported to WHO. 
  • Researchers published harsh critiques of a study President Trump repeatedly touted on Twitter. That study by the Henry Ford Health System, claimed to show that hydroxychloroquine saved lives. The researchers dispute the validity of the study, citing multiple errors, flaws and biases in the process. 

For example, the patients in the Henry Ford study who were given hydroxychloroquine had fewer risk factors for heart disease, researchers at the University at Albany wrote.

Also, the hydroxychloroquine patients were more than twice as likely to be given steroids, a treatment known to be effective against Covid-19.

The Detroit study was not a randomized clinical trial, which helps avoid potential biases. In such trials, patients are randomly assigned to take a drug or not take it, which means the two groups should be very similar.

  • Widespread disinformation about the coronavirus pandemic fueled by the internet “has resulted in difficulties in discerning truth from fiction” and is a growing problem, The Lancet wrote in an editorial. 

The disinformation is causing a “growing mistrust in science and experts” and “poor and confusing responses by political and government leaders,” the journal wrote. The problem is compounded by some people’s use of social media as their only source of information.

The publication described those spreading misinformation on Covid-19 as “highly organized political or pseudoscientific bodies that are experienced at using nefarious techniques to propagate their narratives” and warned that they’re targeting vulnerable populations.

  • In a tweet, the president once again made the false claim that the U.S. has more cases because the nation does more testing. “Somebody please tell Congressman Clyburn, who doesn’t have a clue, that the chart he put up indicating more CASES for the U.S. than Europe, is because we do MUCH MORE testing than any other country in the World. If we had no testing, or bad testing, we would show very few CASES..”

NOTE: The percentage of people testing positive, a key measure of the true spread of the virus, has spiked.

  • The University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation warned there are not nearly enough Americans using masks to bend the curve on the coronavirus infection rate.
  • Analysts say the Trump administration’s new online COVID-19 data system that bypasses the old platform managed by the CDC contains errors and inconsistencies that lead to delays and misinformation.

The delays leave the exact numbers of available hospital beds, ventilators and other vital equipment for treating COVID-19 somewhat unknown.

Lisa Lee, a former chief science officer for public health surveillance at the CDC, told NPR, “If the information is not accurate, it could cost time — and lives.”

  • The U.S. government will pay $2.1 billion to Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline for COVID-19 vaccines to cover 50 million people and to underwrite the drug makers’ testing and manufacturing.
  • A report from the House Oversight and Reform Committee found that the Trump administration overpaid by as much as $500 million for ventilators and was slow to respond to an offer to accelerate shipments in the early days of the coronavirus outbreak. 

The Trump administration paid the manufacturer Philips $15,000 per ventilator, more than any other American purchaser. Some purchasers buying as few as just one ventilator negotiated prices down to as low as $9,327 per ventilator.

  • Dr. Fauci today reiterated his belief that a vaccine will be developed by the end of the year. “I don’t think it’s dreaming … I believe it’s a reality.”
  • A study of a Coronavirus outbreak at an overnight camp in Georgia released on Friday raises questions about the safety of students and staff in U.S. schools, as it showed a large percentage of those between the ages of six and 17 years old being infected.

A YMCA camp in Georgia saw 260 of 597 campers and staff test positive. 

The CDC found the virus “spread efficiently in a youth-centric overnight setting, resulting in high attack rates among persons in all age groups, despite efforts by camp officials to implement most recommended strategies to prevent transmission.” 

The camp required tests for all guests and staff 12 days or fewer before arriving. Masks were required for staff but not the young campers. 51% of the children 6-10 years old and 44% of children 11-17 contracted the virus.

  • House Democrats introduced a bill that would require passengers to wear masks on commercial planes and in airports in an attempt to combat the coronavirus pandemic. It also calls for a study on how the virus is transmitted in airplane cabins.
  • Microsoft’s U.S. workforce will have the option of working from home at least through January 19.
  • Blood plasma taken from coronavirus survivors and infused into hospitalized patients reduced their mortality rate by about 57%, a team of researchers reported. 
  • “Breaking Bad” star Bryan Cranston appealed to his fans to “keep wearing the damn mask,” after revealing that he contracted Covid-19.

“I was pretty strict in adhering to the protocols and still… I contracted the virus. Yep. it sounds daunting now that over 150,000 Americans are dead because of it. I was one of the lucky ones.” 

“We can prevail – but ONLY if we follow the rules together. Be well – Stay well. BC”

Cranston also shared a video of himself at the UCLA Donation Center, where he had gone to donate plasma. Scientists say people who test positive for the virus may have antibodies in their plasma that could help other coronavirus patients.

  • MLB commissioner Rob Manfred told MLBPA executive director Tony Clark that if the sport doesn’t do a better job of managing the coronavirus, it could shut down for the season as soon as Monday.
  • The Miami Marlins have eighteen players and three coaches who have tested positive for Covid-19 over the last week.
  • Friday’s game between the Cardinals and the Milwaukee Brewers was postponed because members of the St. Louis Cardinals tested positive for Covid-19.
  • Georgia Governor Brian Kemp (R)  signed two executive orders extending existing Covid-19 safety measures and extending the Public Health State of Emergency through Sept. 10.
  • Florida reported 8,983 cases and 257 new deaths, the fourth day in a row that the state has reported a record number of deaths.
  • The Sun Sentinel, a prominent South Florida newspaper, urged Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) to issue a statewide mask mandate and take other actions to stop the spread of the coronavirus across the Sunshine State.

“Far better that you require people to wear masks in public than to continue fostering conditions that will force another shutdown,” the board wrote. “Your refusal to impose a mask order — a requirement now in effect in 32 other states — is out-of-touch with the mainstream.”

  • The Alabama Department of Public Health is asking doctors to focus testing on the most vulnerable populations as a surge of coronavirus testing has resulted in a seven-day turnaround time.
  • Arkansas reported  752 new cases and 11 new deaths.

Arkansas reported a 10% positivity rate for new coronavirus cases Friday, Gov. Asa Hutchinson *R) said during an afternoon news conference.

“In terms of our positivity rate, this is not good,” Hutchinson said. “We have a lot of work to do here. We’re right at the 10% level, which is CDC recommendation, but that’s too high, we want it lower.”

  • As an Indiana school district opened, one of their students who had attended part of the school day at Greenfield-Central Junior High School tested positive for Covid-19 on the first day of class, according to a letter sent to parents.
  • Illinois reported 1,941 new cases and 21 new deaths.
  • Missouri reported 1,489 new cases and 10 new deaths.
  • Oklahoma reported 747 new cases, the lowest total of daily cases in a week, and 5 new deaths. 
  • Texas reported 8,839 new cases and 295 deaths. 
  • The Salt Lake City School District will begin the school year with remote instruction. 
  • California’s health department confirmed the first Covid-19-related death of a teenager in the state on Friday.

Sources:  ABC News, Associated Press, The Atlantic, Axios, Bloomberg, CBS News, CNN, Financial Times, Fox News,The Hill, Independent, NBC News, NJ.com, NPR, NY Times, Politico, Reuters, Salon, Slate, Vanity Fair, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post

The Past 24 Hours or So – Coronavirus/COVID-19 Update

Read Time: 6 Minutes

  • The U.S. has passed the grim milestone of 150,000 coronavirus related deaths. 
  • The U.S. recorded 66,211 new cases and 1,418 additional deaths. 
  • California, Florida and North Carolina set new records for daily coronavirus deaths Wednesday.
  • The U.S. needs to reset its response at the federal, state and local levels to get control of the Covid-19 pandemic, Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security said in a new report. 

“Unlike many countries in the world, the United States is not currently on course to get control of this epidemic,” the report says. “It is time to reset.”

  • With current Covid-19 testing results delayed, Dr. Ashish Jha, the director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, said the federal government needs to step in and distribute faster antigen tests to power through the backlog of testing and get ahead of outbreaks.

If health officials can’t quickly determine who has the virus and where it is, they can’t prevent the spread, Jha wrote in an op-ed.

  • Dr. Anthony Fauci warned of a coronavirus resurgence moving into Midwestern states. 

In Florida, Texas, Arizona, California, an increase in the percentage of positive coronavirus tests signaled a resurgence. “We’re starting to see that in some of the states now, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana and other states,” Fauci said. .

The White House coronavirus task force warned the governors that they need to get out ahead of the curve.

  • Vice President Mike Pence met with some of the doctors who were featured in a video which was shared by President Trump and was later removed from social media for misinformation.

The video claimed that masks aren’t necessary and promoted hydroxychloroquine as a cure. Both claims are contradicted by scientific studies. The most prominent person featured in the video, Stella Immanuel – who has said in the past that DNA from space aliens is being used in medicine – did not meet with Pence.

The group is backed by Tea Party Patriots. 

  • President Trump defended his retweet of a video containing false claims about the coronavirus pandemic, saying that he was “very impressed” with one of the doctors in the video due to her statements about hydroxychloroquine, despite a report revealing she has made controversial claims about aliens, reptilians running the government and demon sex.

“I think she made sense, but I know nothing about it,” Trump said. “With hydroxy, all I want to do is save lives. All I want to do is save lives.”

  • Dr. Fauci dismissed a viral video that President Trump retweeted that makes false claims about the coronavirus and features a doctor who has raised concerns about alien DNA and sex with demons: “When there’s a video out there from a bunch of people spouting something that isn’t true, the only recourse you have is to be very, very clear in presenting the scientific data that essentially contradicts that.”
  • Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said both the White House and Republicans were “very far apart” from Democrats on negotiations over the next coronavirus relief package.
  • Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX), who frequently refused to wear a mask, tested positive for COVID-19. Gohmert declared he had probably gotten the “Wuhan virus” because he had started wearing a mask — not despite it.
  • Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) announced all members and staff will be required to wear face coverings in the House.
  • The Association of American Medical Colleges chief scientific officer Dr. Ross McKinney Jr. said the U.S. could see deaths skyrocket “well into the multiple hundreds of thousands” if there is not a course correction.
  • School closures due to the pandemic were associated with a significant decline in Covid-19 cases and deaths.

States that closed schools earlier, when incidences of Covid-19 was lowest, saw the greatest declines per week, compared to states that were slowest to close schools and had the highest incidences.

  • Education Secretary Betsy DeVos argued against the need for national leadership on reopening schools.

“You know, there’s not a national superintendent nor should there be, therefore there’s not a national plan for reopening.” 

  • The House passed two bills aimed at easing the financial burden for child care amid the coronavirus pandemic. 
  • Georgetown University will begin the fall semester completely online. Earlier this month the university had planned on welcoming back about 2,000 undergraduate students to campus.
  • The shuttering of Rutgers football workouts due to six recent positive cases among players has been tied to athletes from various Rutgers sports programs, including the football team, gathering for a recent on-campus party.
  • The Atlantic Coast Conference announced that its football season will begin play during the week of Sept. 7.. ACC teams — plus partial league member Notre Dame — will play 11 games, including 10 ACC contests and one non-conference game against an opponent that resides in the home state of league members.
  • Penn State University announced that eight student-athletes tested as part of the school’s return to campus protocol have tested positive for Covid-19.
  • The outbreak on the Miami Marlins may be tied to, according to USA Today baseball insider Bob Nightengale, “at least” one Marlins player, possibly more, leaving the team hotel and going out while in Atlanta, days before the season began.
  • The US Open Championship will be held without fans at Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, New York, on Sept. 14 to 20, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced.
  • The NBA and players’ union announced that none of the 344 players tested since July 20 tested positive.
  • The NBA has unveiled a new community testing program, which will provide thousands of no-cost Covid-19 tests in Orlando and in team markets nationwide.
  • Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo (D) said her state “cannot move forward to phase four” due to the spread of coronavirus from parties. She said contacting tracing shows “we’re partying too much, social gatherings are too large.”
  • New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) said, “all the news on numbers and our status is all very good.” The state conducted 62,276 tests Tuesday with an infection rate of 1.1%. There were 5five deaths. 
  • There are 619 New Yorkers hospitalized, the lowest number since March 15.
  • Vice President Mike Pence visited an Apex, NC private school that Pence said was “in the forefront of reopening schools in America.”

North Carolina public schools are set to reopen on Aug. 17, with most students in remote learning.

Pence said,“if we’re going to open up America, we’ve got to open up schools.”

  • North Carolina reported 1,763 new cases and a single day record for deaths of 45. 
  • The North Carolina State Fair has been canceled.
  • South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R) announced,starting Monday, face masks must be worn in all state government offices and buildings.
  • For the second day in a row, Florida set another new record for Covid-19 deaths. The state reported 216 deaths and 9,446 new cases of Covid-19.

At least 54 hospitals have reached ICU capacity. Another 44 hospitals have 10% or less ICU capacity available. About 16% ICU beds are available for the entire state.

  • Florida will shutter all its state-run coronavirus testing sites from Friday to Monday due to the storm system Isaias, which is expected to become a tropical storm.
  • With cases in Indiana on the rise, the Indianapolis Public Schools administration is recommending that the upcoming school year begin with 100% remote learning for all students when school starts on August 17.
  • Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) encouraged school districts to return to in-class instruction.
  • Minnesota has 310 people who are currently hospitalized due to Covid-19, nearly half in the ICU. 
  • Oklahoma reported 848 new cases and 14 new deaths.
  • Texas reported 9,042 new cases. Texas has now surpassed New York in total coronavirus cases. 
  • Denver Public Schools will “extend 100% remote instruction” from the start of the school year until the end of the first quarter.
  • Arizona’s top emergency preparedness director, Wendy Smith-Reeve, quit in protest of the state’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. “I could no longer support the direction that the governor [Doug Ducey (R)] was going in.”
  • California added 8,755 new cases and broke the state single-day record for deaths with  197 fatalities. Though higher than desired, the positivity rate remained steady at 7.4% over the past 14 days.

Sources:  ABC News, Associated Press, The Atlantic, Axios, Bloomberg, CBS News, CNN, Financial Times, Fox News,The Hill, Independent, NBC News, NJ.com, NPR, NY Times, Politico, Reuters, Salon, Slate, Vanity Fair, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post

The Past 24 Hours or So – Coronavirus/COVID-19 Update

Read Time: 7 Minutes

  • There have been at least 4,005,414 cases of coronavirus in the United States since the start of the pandemic, and at least 143,820 people have died across the country, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
  • The CDC projects more than 164,000 coronavirus deaths in the United States by August 15. The new projections have a possible range of 158,490 to 173,431 deaths.
  • White House coronavirus task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx told a group of state and local health officials about a concerning rise in coronavirus cases in 12 cities as President Donald Trump continues to tout progress amid the coronavirus pandemic at scripted, on-message briefings this week.

“There are cities that are lagging behind and we have new increases in Miami, New Orleans, Las Vegas, San Jose, St. Louis, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, Cleveland, Nashville, Pittsburgh, Columbus and Baltimore, so we’re tracking this very closely. We’re working with the state officials to make sure we’re responding together, but when you first see that increased test positivity, that is when to start the mitigation efforts,” Birx said during the call.

  • More than 150 prominent US medical experts, scientists, teachers, nurses and others have signed a letter to political leaders urging them to shut down the country and start over to contain the surging coronavirus pandemic.

“Right now we are on a path to lose more than 200,000 American lives by November 1st. Yet, in many states people can drink in bars, get a haircut, eat inside a restaurant, get a tattoo, get a massage, and do myriad other normal, pleasant, but non-essential activities,” the letter said.

  • Cloth face coverings should have at least two layers, preferably three, to be most effective, according to new research.
  • 41% of U.S. adults have at least one underlying medical condition that may put them at a higher risk for severe Covid-19 outcomes, according to a new report published Thursday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly report, looked at five conditions that put people at risk for more severe disease from the coronavirus: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic kidney disease and obesity.

  • New CDC guidelines favor opening schools, saying children don’t suffer much from coronavirus, are less likely than adults to spread it, and suffer from being out of school.

The new guidelines, which come after demands from President Trump that the agency alter its recommendations, do recommend that local officials should consider closing schools, or keeping them closed, if there is substantial, uncontrolled transmission of the virus.

Testing of students is not recommended. 

  • President Trump called on Congress to allocate $105 billion for schools as part of the next coronavirus relief bill.

He said the money would be used to support measures like smaller class sizes, teachers aides, rearranging spaces for social distancing and masks.

Trump said “If schools do not reopen, the funding should go to parents to send their child to public, private, charter, religious or home school of their choice.”

  • A study published in The New England Journal of Medicine found that the use of hydroxychloroquine – given either alone or in combination with the antibiotic azithromycin – did not improve the conditions of hospitalized patients with mild-to-moderate Covid-19.
  • U.S. Senate Republican leaders and White House officials tried to hammer out a proposal for a fresh round of coronavirus aid on Thursday, which officials said will not include a payroll tax cut and could reduce an enhanced unemployment benefit. The text of the GOP proposal is expected to be released Monday.
  • President Trump sought to blame Democrats after Senate Republicans rejected a payroll-tax cut in the coronavirus relief package that they’re crafting with the White House. Trump has been pushing for a payroll-tax cut throughout the coronavirus pandemic, and said in a recent Fox News interview that he might not sign a relief package that doesn’t include one.

“The Democrats have stated strongly that they won’t approve a Payroll Tax Cut (too bad!). It would be great for workers.”

  • By unanimous consent, the Senate passed bipartisan legislation that would protect coronavirus relief payments from being garnished by banks and debt collectors.
  • A Politico/Morning Consult poll found that 53 percent of registered voters who participated in the survey strongly supported statewide mask mandates that would fine or even jail individuals who refused to wear a mask to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
  • Anthony Fauci revealed that he and his family, including his wife and daughters, have received “serious threats.”

“As much as people inappropriately, I think, make me somewhat of a hero… there are people who get really angry at thinking I’m interfering with their life because I’m pushing a public health agenda,” Fauci said in a new interview.

  • A resurgence in infections and a rollback of reopening plans in several states is making it difficult for people to re-enter the labor force following the pandemic lockdown. 

Thursday’s Department of Labor report indicates the jobless crisis is still at critical levels. Another 1.4 million Americans filed for first-time unemployment benefits last week, marking the first increase in initial claims in 16 weeks.

  • AMC Theatres, the world’s biggest movie theater chain, is delaying its opening once to “mid-to-late August,” the company said.
  • New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) said the state is monitoring rising coronavirus rates among younger people. 

A graphic presented during his press conference showed a 13.2% test positivity rate for individuals between the ages of 21 to 30, compared to 9.9% a week earlier. Cuomo called the statistic “a significant increase in a short period of time.”

Channeling The Beasties Boys, Cuomo said, “This is not the time to fight for your right to party.”

  • NJ had 344 new cases and 23 deaths. The positivity rate is at a comfortable 2.88%.
  • At least 20 teenagers in New Jersey have tested positive for coronavirus after they allegedly attended a house party earlier this month.

The Middletown Township Department of Health and Human Services is investigating the cluster of cases linked to a group of teens between the ages of 15 and 19.

  • New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) announced a $6 million lease emergency assistance grant program to assist small businesses with up to $10,000 in direct help to pay their rents.
  • Georgia reported 4,286 new cases and 25 new coronavirus-related deaths. 3,360. Georgians have now succumbed to the virus. Hospitalizations grew by 431.
  • Florida reported 10,249 new cases and 173 additional deaths, breaking the previous record of 156 deaths on July 16
  • The City of Miami issued 115 tickets for face mask violations this week, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said. “We have written 115 tickets,” Suarez said. 

The breakdown for tickets issues includes, “59 warnings, 41 $50 tickets, 15 $100 tickets and we have closed 15 businesses, 10 for 24 hours and five for 10 hours,” Suarez added.

  • Tennessee reported 37 new coronavirus deaths, a record single-day total for the state. The state also added 2,570 new coronavirus cases. Its highest one-day total in 10 days.
  • Arkansas reported 1,013 new positive cases.
  • Ten hospitals in Mississippi have no ICU beds available, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves (R) said. 
  • Louisiana reported 2,408 new coronavirus cases, bringing the state total to over 100,000 cases for the pandemic. There were 16 new fatalities.
  • Louisiana hospitals have paused elective surgeries as Covid-19 hospitalizations increase.
  • Mayor Joe Hogsett (D) mandated bars and nightclubs in Indianapolis to close through August 12.

Social gatherings, including wedding receptions, banquets, and club meetings, won’t be allowed to exceed 50 individuals.

  • Illinois announced 1,624 new cases – the highest daily total of cases since May 25. The state’s seven-day positivity rate of 3.4% remains promising.

There were 20 new deaths. The state also reported that 1,473 people are hospitalized with 309 in intensive care units and 135 on ventilators – below concerning levels.

  • Missouri reported 1,637 new cases, a record single-day increase, and  20 new deaths. 
  • Texas reported 9,507 new cases and 173 deaths.
  • New Mexico recorded an all-time high number of 343 new cases.
  • New Mexico will delay in-person classes through at least Labor Day, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) said.

Schools may begin online learning in August. After Labor Day, New Mexico will phase in a hybrid model bringing the youngest students back to school first.

  • Arizona reported at least 89 new Covid-19 related deaths. The state has now lost over 3,000 people to Covid-19.

Arizona is currently seeing a 42.61 death rate per 100,000 people and an alarmingly high 12.5% positivity rate.

  • Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) signed an order extending the closure of bars, gyms and water parks for another two weeks.
  • Ducey said classes need to begin on time this year, even if they start with learning from home.
  • Arizona emergency rooms are rationing coronavirus tests as cases surge. Dr. Frank LoVecchio, an ER physician, said doctors are rationing Covid-19 tests due to testing problems.  

“We’re overwhelmed with regard to testing.” Many labs have a nine-day wait for testing results, which is “kind of ridiculous,” he said. 

“Sometimes there’s no swabs, sometimes there’s no reagent, sometimes the lab is backed up.”  “…Our country did not prioritize testing; our country did not streamline this. Other countries that streamlined testing did a little bit better.”

  • California reported its highest single-day death toll since the pandemic began with 157 deaths. The state added 12,040 more confirmed cases. This is the second highest daily uptick, following only yesterday’s reported high of 12,807.

The positivity rate in the Golden State over the past two weeks stands at 7.6% – over 50% higher than desired. 

  • A Claremont, CA 13-year-old boy, who had tested negative and had been isolating in his room after experiencing COVID-19 symptoms, died. An autopsy report to determine Maxx’s cause of death, and whether he had COVID-19, is expected

Sources:  ABC News, Associated Press, The Atlantic, Axios, Bloomberg, CBS News, CNN, Financial Times, Fox News,The Hill, Independent, NBC News, NJ.com, NPR, NY Times, Politico, Reuters, Salon, Slate, Vanity Fair, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post

The Past 24 Hours or So – Coronavirus/COVID-19 Update

Read Time: 7 Minutes

  • There were 64,534 new cases and 1,082 reported deaths reported in the United States.
  • The number of confirmed coronavirus cases reported worldwide reached 15,000,424, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The global Covid-19 death toll rose to 617,832. 

The United States leads the world in total confirmed cases, nearing 4 million.

  • The first reported COVID-19 case in the U.S. came on January 21. After 99 days, on April 28, 1 million Americans became infected. It took just 43 days after that to reach 2 million cases on June 11. 28 days later, on July 8, the US reached 3 million cases. The 4 millionth case could come just two weeks after that.

NOTE: Testing volume has increased, but not to a level that would justify the large increase in positive results.

  • During a live-streamed event, Dr. Anthony Fauci said he doesn’t think COVID-19 will ever be fully eradicated, but noted it can be controlled. “I don’t see this disappearing the way SARS 1 did,” contradicting President Trump, who reiterated his claim Tuesday evening that the virus would disappear.
  • Dr. Deborah Birx said the statistic she watches closest is the test positivity rate because it is “the most sensitive indicator” of how the coronavirus situation is unfolding at any particular time and place.

The recommended test positivity rate is 5% or below. Wednesday’s test positivity rate for the U.S. was 8.8%, an increase of 0.215 over 7 days and 0.426 over 13 days. (The numbers were misreported for July 8)  

  • Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) criticized the Trump administration’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic saying, “I don’t think it’s been a great example for the world to see America.”
  • A federal judge denied a motion to release families in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. 
  • Members of a national nurses’ union laid pairs of shoes on the lawn of the US Capitol to honor 164 colleagues who have died while treating coronavirus patients.

“We are calling on the Senate to pass the HEROES Act, which will fully invoke the Defense Production Act to mass produce personal protective equipment, and will also create an emergency temporary standard to protect essential workers on the frontlines of this deadly pandemic.”

  • Dr. Robert Redfield said Americans should embrace “personal responsibility” and wear masks. “We’re not defenseless. We have powerful tools. Probably the most powerful tool that we have is a simple face mask,” Redfield said.
  • FEMA Administrator Peter Gaynor acknowledged testing capacity is “stressed” in some places during a House Homeland Security Committee hearing.

He said there is no shortage of swabs or media for coronavirus testing, the items his agency is responsible for overseeing, but added that testing is “stressed in locations that have increased cases, increased hospitalizations.”

  • Despite shortages in coronavirus testing supplies and lags in results, the Trump administration is still sitting on billions of dollars in unused funding that Congress allocated months ago. 

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have questions about why the money has not been used as testing continues to fall well short of the national need. 

“It’s probably a logistical problem as much as anything else, but yeah, it’s a concern,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX).

  • The White House and a key group of Senate GOP negotiators struck a deal on Wednesday for new coronavirus testing funds.
  • The forthcoming proposal, text of which is expected to be released Thursday, will provide $16 billion in new funding for coronavirus testing
  • U.S. labs won’t be able to cope with a surge in demand for Covid-19 tests in the fall during flu season, and time lags to process the tests will likely worsen, James Davis, an executive vice president at Quest Diagnostics, told the Financial Times.
  • The U.S. government has ordered 100 million doses of Pfizer and partner BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine for $1.95 billion with the option for 500 million more orders.
  • President Trump said that he would be comfortable sending his school-age son and grandchildren to school in person this fall amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The president suggested children do not transmit the coronavirus, though early evidence suggests children between 10 and 19 years old may transmit coronavirus just as much as adults. He attributed the recent rise in cases in part to racial justice protests, though early evidence suggests the protests did not cause a spike, and in part to migration from Mexico, though there is no evidence for this either.

  • The surge in coronavirus cases seen across the South and Southwest can be linked back to the traveling people did around Memorial Day, White House coronavirus task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx said.
  • Citing safety concerns for their staff, Lowe’s will not require employees to enforce customer mask mandate.
  • United Airlines is expanding its mask requirements for passengers, requiring that its fliers wear a face covering in all 360 airports United serves, at every step from check-in to baggage claim.
  • Southwest Airlines says its planes will carry only masked passengers. 
  • The president of the Olympic organizing committee says the 2021 Games may not be possible if current coronavirus conditions continue: “Whether the Olympics can be done or not is about whether humanity can beat the coronavirus.”
  • Fans attending NFL games will be required to wear masks in stadiums this season. On June 23, the league said it would let individual teams set their own capacity limits based on orders from state and local officials.
  • Two cafeterias used by White House staff members were closed and contact tracing was conducted after an employee tested positive for the coronavirus.
  • Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R) said his state’s positivity rate is lower than it was prior to reopening.

Baker reported 143 new cases of coronavirus.The seven-day average for positive tests remains at about 1.7%, he added. 

Baker praised “the work that’s continued to be done by the people of Massachusetts to do the things that we know are most successful in containing the virus and reducing the spread.”

  • Connecticut reported 127 new Covid-19 cases today and no new deaths.
  • New Jersey reported 390 new cases.
  • Baltimore City Mayor Bernard “Jack” Young (D) signed an Executive Order suspending indoor dining at restaurants and bars effective Friday. 
  • Fairfax County Public Schools in Northern Virginia, one of the largest public schools systems in the nation, has announced it will begin the school year virtually on Sept. 8.
  • Georgia’s largest school district, Gwinnett County Public Schools, announced that it will start the school year next month with full virtual instruction. 
  • Florida reported 9,785 new cases and 139 additional deaths

Included among the deaths is a  9-year-old girl from Putnam County, FL — the youngest patient to die in the state related to the coronavirus.

  • 47% of all Covid-19 deaths in Florida are linked to long-term care facilities.
  • In Florida, 53 hospitals have reached intensive care unit capacity and show zero ICU beds available.

Another 45 hospitals in the state have 10% or less ICU capacity available.

15% of all ICU beds are available across the state.

  • Broward County, FL, Mayor Dale Holness (D) said during a news conference today that ICU beds in the county are 90% filled.
  • Louisiana recorded 2,802 new cases and 60 deaths. Its highest daily death total since May 1.
  • Tulane University in New Orleans is planning for a full-campus reopening. But at least one official at Tulane — which is often ranked as one of the country’s top party schools — warned that partiers will be punished.
  • Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) extended his mask order to include all counties in the state.

All Ohio residents will be required to wear masks while in public.

  • DeWine issued a travel advisory for all individuals who come into Ohio from states with a Covid-19 positivity rate of 15% or higher. The state is recommending that those individuals self-quarantine at a hotel or at home for 14 days.
  • Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb (R) announced a statewide mask mandate to go into effect on Monday. 
  • Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) said that the state reported 1,598 new cases, its highest one-day total in the month of July.
  • Missouri reported a record single-day increase of 1,301 new cases.
  • Texas reported 9,879 new cases and a single day record 197 fatalities and a new record number of hospitalizations in the state, with 10,893.
  • Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) announced that he signed an executive order that requires residents to wear face coverings in indoor businesses and indoor public settings.
  • The Kansas State Board of Education has rejected Gov. Laura Kelly’s (D) executive order to delay the start of schools across the state. 
  • Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) announced a new mandate for the next 30 days that “last call” for alcohol in bars will be at 10 p.m. He encouraged people, instead, to get drunk at home with a small group of friends.

    “If you want to get drunk…Have three or four people over in your home, and a small event with them, not 40 people in your home.”
  • The superintendent of Seattle Public Schools is recommending that the district start the 2020-21 school year remotely.
  • Oregon Gov. Kate Brown (D) said she will be rolling back a number of the state’s reopening measures in response to a growing number of coronavirus cases.
  • California has surpassed New York as the state with the most confirmed coronavirus cases in the United States.
  • California added 12,807 coronavirus cases over the past day, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) announced.

The positivity rate remains steady at 7.4% over the past two weeks, but the one week rate is climbing and currently holds at 7.6%.

“Every decimal point causes some concern,” Newsom said.

Sources:  ABC News, Associated Press, The Atlantic, Axios, Bloomberg, CBS News, CNN, Financial Times, Fox News,The Hill, Independent, NBC News, NJ.com, NPR, NY Times, Politico, Reuters, Salon, Slate, Vanity Fair, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post

The Past 24 Hours or So – Coronavirus/COVID-19 Update

Read Time: 6 Minutes

  • A total of 56,750 cases of Covid-19 and 372 virus-related deaths were recorded in the United States on Monday. On Sunday, there were 61,487 new cases and reported 415 new fatalities.
  • President Trump told reporters at the White house Monday that he plans to resume his daily coronavirus press briefings sometime this week, “probably starting” Tuesday.
  • President Trump tweeted a photo of himself wearing a mask and said: “We are United in our effort to defeat the Invisible China Virus, and many people say that it is Patriotic to wear a face mask when you can’t socially distance. There is nobody more Patriotic than me, your favorite President!”
  • At the beginning of Vice President Mike Pence’s call with the nation’s governors, he endorsed mask-wearing in public and social distancing as ways to reduce the spread of coronavirus.

“What we have found is that masks, closing indoor bars, decreasing indoor dining capacity to 25%, continued social distancing and personal hygiene messaging are, according to the modeling, dramatically decreasing the rate of community spread,” he said.

  • Senate Republicans are clashing with the White House over whether to include new money for coronavirus testing in the next relief package. The administration is balking at including another $25 billion for COVID-19 testing. 
  • Top administration officials signaled on Monday night that a payroll-tax cut, a top priority for President Trump, is in the forthcoming Republican coronavirus aid proposal, at least for now.
  • A coronavirus vaccine being developed by Oxford University showed positive results in early trials, triggering an immune response, researchers said Monday. 
  • Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said the Trump administration hopes to pass a phase four stimulus package before the end of the month, and said that negotiations for the package will start with “another trillion dollars.”
  • Surgeon General Jerome Adams echoed President Trump, saying he does not think a national mask mandate is necessary, but at the same time urged all Americans to continue to wear face coverings.
  • Six members of US Forces Korea and four dependants have tested positive for coronavirus after arriving in South Korea from the US, bringing the total number of USFK-affiliated individuals with Covid-19 to 98.
  • The American Bankers Association, which represents large and small banks, joined other business groups in calling for its members to adopt national mask mandates “to protect the health of bank employees and customers.” 
  • Southeastern Grocers, parent company of Winn-Dixie, BI-LO and Harveys Supermarkets, is reversing course and says it will require that shoppers wear masks in its hundreds of stores throughout the Southern states.
  • The Washington Nationals have announced that Dr. Anthony Fauci will throw out the ceremonial first pitch on Opening Day on Thursday.
  • The NBA and the players union have jointly announced that there have been zero positive Covid-19 test results from the 346 players tested since July 13.
  • The National Football League and the players union have agreed on a daily Covid-19 testing protocol that will commence at the start of training camps and last for two weeks.
  • The Southwestern Athletic Conference announced Monday the postponement of all scheduled fall sports
  • In New York, hospitalizations continue to hit new lows since March 18, now at 716. The state added 519 positive tests, with a positivity rate at 1.05%, and 8 deaths.
  • New York City entered Phase 4, with caveats. Zoos and botanical gardens can open, but museums and indoor dining, permitted elsewhere in the state with limitations, will still be banned.
  • New York Gov. Cuomo (D) said it was a mistake for other state governments to listen to the President’s calls to open up during the pandemic. 

Cuomo said the federal government has been “incompetent” and “in denial” on the situation and has “pressured” states “to reopen recklessly, which they did.”

“Liberate, liberate, liberate,” he said, in reference to the President’s tweets on the matter. 

“Their mistake was they listened to the President,” he added.

  • Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) warned against the idea of the White House sidelining Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious diseases expert, saying Fauci had been more responsive to the state’s coronavirus needs than President Trump or Vice President Pence. “Dr. Fauci never let me or the people of Maryland down. I shudder to think where our country would be today without him.”
  • The Baltimore Police Department (BPD) has temporarily suspended in-service training after four trainees and two staff members tested positive for Covid-19 since Friday.
  • Georgia reported 3,243 new cases and five deaths on Sunday. The state registered 2,452 new cases and three deaths on Monday.
  • Athens, Georgia Mayor Kelly Girtz (D) said, “We are maintaining our mask mandate. The courts have not issued any cease and desist. And we believe we’re well within our rights and in fact, well within the health care guidance that we’ve been receiving nationally and internationally.”
  • Morehouse and Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, announced that students will not be returning to campus for the Fall 2020 semester.
  • The largest school district in Georgia, Gwinnett County Public Schools, said that classes will begin on Aug. 12 with online-only instruction.
  • Florida reported at least 10,347 new cases of Covid-19 and 90 additional deaths on Monday.
  • Ten of the twenty-four ICUs in Miami-Dade County, the epicenter of Florida’s coronavirus pandemic, have no beds available.
  • There are now 53 hospitals in Florida without any ICU beds.
  • Florida educators have filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the state’s emergency order that forces schools to open for in-person instruction next month.
  • The Miami-Dade Police Department issued 115 (67 individual citations and 48 business citations).

Individual citations are $100 and $500 for businesses.citations for noncompliance of county mask and social distancing orders.

  • West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice (R) reported multiple Covid-19 outbreaks in seven churches across seven counties in the state. 75 cases were reported .

He warned churchgoers to be cautious, “Please, please know that a church setting is the ideal setting to spread this virus.”

  • Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said on Monday that the city would re-tighten some restrictions on businesses, including bars and personal services, in an effort to curb recent community spread of the novel coronavirus.
  • Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) announced the largest single-day total of new Covid-19 cases in the state, with 979 newly reported cases.

According to the governor’s office, 30 cases were from children 5 years old and younger.

  • In the wake of Kentucky’s rising COVID-19 infections, Beshear has limited social gatherings to 10 people.
  • Missouri Gov. Mike Parson (R) in a radio interview stated, “These kids have got to get back to school.” “They’re at the lowest risk possible. And if they do get COVID-19, which they will — and they will when they go to school — they’re not going to the hospitals. They’re not going to have to sit in doctor’s offices. They’re going to go home and they’re going to get over it.”
  • Minnesota, which on Monday reported 900 new cases, a single-day record, also reported its first virus-related death of a child, according to the state’s health department. The department said the child was 5 years old or younger, but did not list the exact age.
  • Kansas announced on Monday more than 1,000 new cases, a single-day record.
  • Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly (D) signed an order mandating all students, teachers, faculty and visitors to public or private K-12 school buildings or facilities wear face coverings.
  • New COVID-19 cases in Texas dipped for the fourth straight day to 7,153. The statewide total on Monday went from 334,586 to 341,739. Another 64 deaths makes a total of 4,055 statewide.
  • Hidalgo County Texas’ emergency health director ordered residents to shelter-in-place and follow a 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew. The order officially goes into effect Wednesday at 12:01 a.m. and is scheduled to last until Aug. 5 at 11:59 p.m.
  • California reported a record increase of more than 11,800 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday.
  • Los Angeles County has surpassed its record for daily hospitalizations for the fourth time in the past week. There are 2,232 patients currently hospitalized with 26% of them in the intensive care units and 19% on ventilators.
  • California Interscholastic Federation announced that high school sports will not begin until December or January.
  • Bahamas Prime Minister Hubert Minnis announced that the country will block American tourists from entry as U.S. coronavirus numbers continue to surge.
  • France’s nationwide mask mandate includes fines for individuals who fail to wear a face-covering in public indoor settings. People can be fined 135 euros, or $154, if they are cited for not wearing a face mask in settings such as supermarkets, banks and other shops.

Sources:  ABC News, Associated Press, The Atlantic, Axios, Bloomberg, CBS News, CNN, Financial Times, Fox News,The Hill, Independent, NBC News, NJ.com, NPR, NY Times, Politico, Reuters, Salon, Slate, Vanity Fair, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post

The Past 24 Hours or So – Coronavirus/COVID-19 Update

Read Time: 5 Minutes

Coronavirus/COVID 19 Update

  • 75,821 new cases were reported in the U.S. on Friday – another new single day record.
  • President Trump says he will not issue a national mandate requiring Americans to wear masks in order to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.

“I want people to have a certain freedom and I don’t believe in that, no,” Trump said in a new Fox News interview. “I don’t agree with the statement that if everyone wore a mask, everything disappears,” he added referencing the CDC director saying the virus could be under control in 4-6 weeks if everyone wore masks.

  • The Business Roundtable, a top corporate lobbying group renewed calls for a “consistent federal and state guidelines on safety measures, including face coverings.”  

The group, chaired by Walmart CEO Doug McMillon which represents the CEOs of America’s biggest companies, said it has been lobbying for those mandates since April. 

  • Dr. Anthony Fauci said the U.S.needs to concentrate on what’s happening right now with coronavirus cases instead of a possible second wave in the fall.

“People keep talking about the possibility of a second wave in the fall — that’s a historic terminology related to another time and another outbreak. I think we need to concentrate on where we are right now.”

Fauci said the US is “essentially still in the first wave.”

  • Lagging test results are hampering US efforts to battle Covid-19. Many labs’ test backlog are causing delays of seven to twelve days. 
  • The White House is blocking CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield and other officials from the agency from testifying before a House Education and Labor Committee hearing on reopening schools next week.
  • A new forecast published by the CDC projects more than 157,000 coronavirus deaths in the United States by August 8.
  • Former Trump administration economist Tomas Philipson said that his team alerted the White House about the dangers of a looming pandemic about three months before Covid-19 is believed to have made its way into the United States.
  • Lowes and Home Depot will require customers to wear masks in their stores. The mask order begins on Monday at Lowes and Wednesday at Home Depot.
  • A new daily record of  237,743 new Covid-19 cases were reported to the World Health Organization. 
  • An unpublished document prepared for the White House coronavirus task force and obtained by the Center for Public Integrity recommends that 18 states in the coronavirus “red zone” for cases should roll back reopening measures amid surging cases.

The following states are in the red zone for cases:

Alabama, Arkansas. Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Nevada, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah.

  • The top three per capita states, based on the 7-day average of new cases, are:

Florida – 55.24 cases per 100,000 people

Louisiana – 44.30 cases per 100,000 people

Arizona – 43.06 cases per 100,000 people

  • Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker said that he supports local municipalities creating additional restrictions as long as they don’t negate the guidance issued by the state.
  • In Ohio, more than 1,600 new cases were reported on Friday, a single-day record.
  • A coronavirus outbreak has spread through a federal law enforcement training facility in South Carolina, prompting the national employees union to call for a halt to training.

At least 23 students and faculty have tested positive at Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Charleston

  • Georgia Public Health Commissioner Dr. Kathleen Toomey reported an increase of coronavirus cases across Georgia, “not just in urban Atlanta, but also suburban and rural areas.”

The test positivity rate in the state is on average 13.6% and hospitalizations have increased 39% over the past week.

  • The Georgia Department of Public Health reported 3,908 new confirmed casesm 28 new coronavirus-related deaths, and 301 additional hospitalizations.
  • Florida reported 11,466 new cases and 128 new deaths  The state has reported more than 100 deaths for four straight days.
  • Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said he won’t close the state’s gyms, claiming a healthy lifestyle will put people at lower risk for developing severe cases of coronavirus.

“If you are good shape you have a very, very low likelihood of ending up in significant condition as a result of the coronavirus,” DeSantis said

  • Miami Dade Mayor Carlos Giménez (R) said that the county has not exceeded the ICU capacity, although the county’s dashboard showed that the capacity is at 107%.

He explained that hospitals have the ability to add hundreds of ICU beds by converting recovery rooms into ICU rooms.

  • People in Miami, Florida, will no longer get a warning when they fail to wear a mask in public starting Monday. 

Mayor Francis Suarez (R) said the new order will require a fine for the first offense of the city’s mask order. The fine starts at $50 and increases with every additional offense.

  • Miami Beach announced a curfew beginning Saturday for most of its entertainment district, running each night from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m.
  • Broward County, Florida enacted a curfew for the entire county to help mitigate the spread of Covid-19.

The nightly curfew is from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. and will last through August 1.

  • There are 140 Miami Police employees and 41 Miami Beach Police officers currently under quarantine.
  • Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves (R)  said that unless coronavirus conditions change dramatically over the weekend, the state may add 11 counties to its mask requirement. 

Thirteen counties are already under the more restrictive order.

  • Chicago proposed reopening schools this fall with a hybrid learning model. About 50% of the student population would attend school in-person on any given day. Most high school juniors and seniors will do at-home learning full time.
  • Missouri plans to spend $15 million in federal coronavirus aid on promoting tourism in the state, Gov. Mike Parson (R) announced. 
  • Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) said that it’s critical to bring Iowa’s children back to the classroom, and schools will not be allowed to provide more than half of instruction through remote learning unless she authorizes it.
  • Texas reported 174 new Covid-19 related deaths on Friday, surpassing Thursday’s record of 129 deaths in a single day.
  • Corpus Christi Nueces County Director of Public Health Annette Rodriguez said Friday that 85 babies under the age of one have tested positive for Covid-19 there.
  • 10,120 new cases were reported in California on Friday – the state’s second highest single day total.
  • People who do not wear face coverings on California’s Manhattan Beach may face citations of up to $350.

Maskless first offenders in the Southern California beach town will be fined $100, followed by $200 and $350 citations for the second and third violations.

  • The majority of schools in California will not be reopening for in-person education this fall, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) announced.

Schools can start in-person instruction if they are in counties that have not been on the state’s monitoring list for 14 days

  • San Francisco has joined more than 30 other counties on California’s “watch list” due to a rise in Covid-19 hospitalizations, Mayor London Breed (D) said.

Sources:  ABC News, Associated Press, The Atlantic, Axios, Bloomberg, CBS News, CNN, Financial Times, Fox News,The Hill, Independent, NBC News, NJ.com, NPR, NY Times, Politico, Reuters, Salon, Slate, Vanity Fair, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post

The Past 24 Hours or So – Coronavirus/CVOID-19 Update

Read Time: 8 Minutes

  • The United States shattered its single-day record for new cases with more than 75,000 recorded. This marks the 11th time in the past month that the daily record has been broken.
  • Over 60 percent of voters say they trust Anthony Fauci but not President Trump when it comes to information on the coronavirus.
  • The antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine did not benefit non-hospitalized patients with mild symptoms according to a study in the medical journal Annals of Internal Medicine.
  • Travel bans meant to stop coronavirus from getting to the US from China came too late, according to a new analysis from the CDC.
  • The CDC abruptly removed a slew of previously public data on coronavirus hospitalizations from their website, then restored some of the data, as President Trump has announced it is sidestepping the organization and changing how hospitals report data to the federal government.
  • Dr. Anthony Fauci warned young Americans, “Not only [are] you propagating the outbreak, but you’re actually putting other people in danger.”
  • President Trump does not want to issue a nationwide mask mandate to combat the coronavirus and instead wants local governments to make their own choices, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said during a Thursday press briefing. 

“We leave it to localities to make the decisions with regard to face coverings. “Guidelines remain the same today: recommended but not required,” McEnany said.

  • “When he [the president] says open, he means open in in full, kids being able to attend each and every day at their school,” White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters at a press briefing. “The science should not stand in the way of this.” 

“The science is on our side here,” she later added.

  • Countries that reopened schools were able to do so because they first got their coronavirus cases under control.

“We have fairly reassuring data from other countries that have gone about the work of reopening schools,” Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said.

Nuzzo said countries like Austria, Denmark, Germany and Norway have been able to open their schools because they have been “taking measures to maximize safety in the school setting.’

“The key is, they have all started from a place of having low transmission and low level of illness in the surrounding communities,” Nuzzo said.

Simply put, “each of these countries had their epidemic under control,” Nuzzo added.

  • As the nation debates how to safely reopen schools, one of the main concerns is  children who may become infected at school and carry the virus back home. New data released by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that about 3.3 million older adults in the US live in a household with a school-age child.

About 7% of children, or 4.1 million, between the ages of 5 and 18 live in a household with adults 65 and older – a population that is more vulnerable to the virus.

  • Former game show host Chuck Woolery announced his son has tested positive for COVID-19.

“To further clarify and add perspective, Covid-19 is real and it is here. My son tested positive for the virus, and I feel for those suffering and especially for those who have lost loved ones,” Woolery tweeted before his account disappeared. 

On Monday, Woolery had tweeted: “The most outrageous lies are the ones about Covid 19. Everyone is lying. The CDC, Media, Democrats, our Doctors, not all but most, that we are told to trust. I think it’s all about the election and keeping the economy from coming back, which is about the election. I’m sick of it.”

  • Due to impacts from the ongoing coronavirus, NASA has delayed the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope until Halloween 2021. 
  • 72 NFL players have tested positive for Covid-19 as of July 10.
  • The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference will suspend all fall sports competition. 
  • NCAA president Mark Emmert offered a sobering statement on the state of fall sports saying, “Today, sadly, the data point in the wrong direction. If there is to be college sports in the fall, we need to get a much better handle on the pandemic.”
  • Grocery store chain Publix will require all customers to wear face coverings when entering any of their stores throughout the United States beginning July 21.

Publix joins other national retailers Target, CVS, Walmart, Kroger, Kohl’s, Starbucks, Best Buy, and Costco in requiring face coverings for shoppers.

  • Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein is calling for the upcoming coronavirus relief bill to include an amendment that would bar states that do not implement mask mandates from receiving stimulus funding.

“Wearing masks in public should be mandatory. Period.”

  • Vermont and Alaska are the only two states that did not record a death in the past week.
  • New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy announced his roughly $115 million plan to close the digital divide for all students in the state as remote learning remains part of the experience for students in the fall due to the pandemic.

This effort will include providing devices and increasing connectivity for all public school students.

  • After numerous reports of compliance issues, bars and restaurants in New York City that receive three “strikes” for failing to enforce social distancing will be forced to close, Governor Andrew Cuomo said.

In addition, bars and restaurants across the state will be allowed to serve alcohol only to patrons also ordering food, and walk-up bar service will not be allowed.

  • Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s (R) mask mandate for all Red Alert Level 3 counties goes into effect Friday. Nearly 60% of the state will be required to wear masks in public.

The governor said some of Ohio’s counties seemed to be understanding the seriousness of the spread of the virus in their communities.

“What we’re starting to see, for example in Hamilton County, some in Butler County, other counties, as they’re starting to get it and say ‘okay, we do have a problem, we don’t want to be Florida in three weeks, or four weeks,’” DeWine said.

  • Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)  stressed he is not getting involved with the state Gov. Andy Beshear’s battle to mandate mask-wearing.

“I know there’s an argument going on here in the state over whether the governor can or cannot make you wear a mask,” he said. “I’m not in that fight. But, I’m here to tell you, put it on.”

  • North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis (R) suggested the high rates of coronavirus cases and deaths among Hispanics in NC are attributed to “less consistent adherence to social distancing and wearing a mask” by the Hispanic community.

That statement stands in direct contrast to a Pew Research study that shows Hispanics are more likely than white people to wear a mask by nearly 10 percentage points, even despite the fear that they will be considered suspicious and targeted for wearing masks.

  • South Carolina reported its most Covid-19-related deaths in a single day with 69 confirmed and three probable deaths.
  • Atlanta’s mask order remains in effect, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms’ office said, despite Georgia’s governor’s earlier executive order suspending all local government mask mandates.
  • Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) is suing Atlanta’s Mayor, Keisha Lance Bottoms because she refused to abide by his new law that bans municipalities from enacting mask mandates.
  • Savannah, GA  Mayor Van Johnson said he was “furious” and “at a loss for words” when he heard Gov. Kemp was suspending all local government mask mandates despite the rise in Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations in the state.

He said he will continue to enforce the mask mandate in the city saying, “our order still stands.”

  • Florida’s health department reported 156 coronavirus deaths on Thursday, surpassing a record the state set just days before. The new deaths bring the state’s total to 4,677.
  • Florida reported 13,965 new cases, its second-highest daily total. At least 8,626 people are currently hospitalized due to the coronavirus across the state.
  • More than 50 Florida  hospitals have reached intensive care unit capacity and show zero beds available. In Miami, hospitals have reached 95% capacity.
  • Coronavirus cases in Florida’s nursing homes have soared 74% in the past month. Gov. Ron DeSantis’ plan to isolate the ill elderly isn’t stopping the spread.
  • Miami Mayor Francis Suarez (R) said that he is “very, very close” to issuing a new stay-at-home order.
  • Officials in Florida were forced to shutter the Division of Emergency Management’s operations center due to an outbreak of coronavirus.
  • The largest public school district in Alabama will be teaching remotely for at least the first nine weeks of the school year, the Mobile County superintendent announced
  • Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) announced Arkansas will require face coverings in public.
  • Wichita, Kansas area hospitals are scrambling to convert rooms into makeshift ICUs as a spike in coronavirus cases leads to a 170 percent increase in bed use.

“If these numbers continue at the same rate our hospitals will reach capacity in 2-3 weeks (sooner if we have a 4th of July bump),” Mayor Brandon Whipple (D) tweeted. “Please wear your mask.”

  • Tulsa, Oklahoma, Mayor G.T. Bynum (R) signed a new mask ordinance.
  • Some Texas counties are bringing in refrigerated trucks as morgues reach capacity.
  • The health director in Dallas County, Texas, announced that he will be issuing an order to delay in-person instruction for all local public and private schools until September 8.
  • Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner (D) thanked New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) and his state for sending teams to help set up Covid-19 testing sites in Houston.
  • Hospitals in Laredo are full and the federal government is converting a hotel into a healthcare facility.
  • Colorado will require residents to wear masks when they are visiting public indoor spaces and are not able to social distance, Gov. Jared Polis (D) said.
  • Arizona morgues are filling up: In Maricopa County, which has the most Covid-19 cases in the state, the medical examiner’s office has ordered four portable coolers to serve as morgues.
  • Arizona state health officials have announced they’re bringing nearly 600 critical care and medical-surgical nurses from out of state to help as they enhance their internal surge plans to fill staffing gaps.
  • California reported 8,544 new cases of coronavirus and 118 additional deaths on Thursday. The country’s most populous state set two more records with highs for hospitalizations and ICU admissions.
  • Los Angeles County public health director warned another stay-at-home order is likely: “We can’t take anything off the table — there’s absolutely no certainty of what exactly is going to happen next,” Dr. Barbara Ferrer said.
  • Three northern California churches are suing Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and other public health officials over a ban on singing and chanting in houses of worship during the coronavirus crisis, as public health officials say singing is one of the most high-risk ways to spread the virus.
  • University of California, San Francisco epidemiologist Dr. George Rutherford said California lacks the necessary contact tracing to adequately combat the virus.

Sources:  ABC News, Associated Press, The Atlantic, Axios, Bloomberg, CBS News, CNN, Financial Times, Fox News,The Hill, Independent, NBC News, NJ.com, NPR, NY Times, Politico, Reuters, Salon, Slate, Vanity Fair, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post

The Past 24 Hours or So – Coronavirus/COVID-19 Update

Read Time: 7 Minutes

  • The United States saw a record number of new cases Tuesday with 67,417. Wednesday registered 60,971 new diagnoses and 773 U.S. deaths.
  • A Gallup survey found mask wearing remains a political issue, with 94 percent of Democrats stating that they “always” or “very often” wear masks when outside their homes, compared to 46 percent of Republicans who said the same. 

36 percent of Republicans said they “rarely” or “never” wear a mask when going out, a position shared by only 2 percent of Democrats.

  • Young people throwing “Covid parties” in the United States has been making Dr. Anthony Fauci’s “head spin,” he said.

“When I hear about these Covid parties, it just makes my head spin. Because when you get infected, what you’re doing is you’re not in a vacuum. You are part of the propagation of the outbreak.”

  • Moderna’s chief medical officer said Wednesday that he’s “cautiously optimistic” about the biotechnology company’s Covid-19 vaccine developed in partnership with the National Institutes of Health.
  • President Trump said his trade adviser Peter Navarro made a misstep by publishing an op-ed critical of Dr. Anthony Fauci.

“He made a statement representing himself,” Trump said when questioned about the article while departing the White House. “He shouldn’t be doing that. I have a very good relationship with Anthony.”

  • The Los Angeles Times reported that President Donald Trump personally “authorized” and “encouraged” an op-ed by White House trade adviser Peter Navarro attacking Dr. Anthony Fauci.
  • Fauci said the government’s attempt to discredit him “is a bit bizarre. I don’t really fully understand it.”
  • Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said he has “total” confidence in Dr. Fauci.
  • White House trade adviser Peter Navarro’s battle with Anthony Fauci is intensifying, putting the White House in a difficult position as it struggles to downplay evidence of a rift between President Trump and one of the nation’s most trusted health experts during the coronavirus pandemic.

“This is the sort of thing that would get you fired in any other White House,” a former official said.

  • Infectious disease expert Dr. Colleen Kraft said the United States doesn’t have a handle on coronavirus, largely due to people’s behavior. 

“I’m not really sure at this point…what to say differently, except that we may be more at a toddler status, where we have to sort of learn ourselves by putting our hand over a fire to actually learn that there’s a problem.”

  • Coronavirus cases are surging in the South because states reopened too soon, not because northerners traveled to Southern destinations over Memorial Day, the Harvard Global Health Institute asserted in a statement.

“Northerners are not the cause of big outbreaks in the south,” the Institute said in a statement. “What the states that are seeing large outbreaks have in common is that they relaxed COVID-19 regulations around the same time in May.”

  • The reported death rates of patients being treated for coronavirus in intensive care units has improved since the beginning of the pandemic from 60% of patients dying to 42% at the end of May. 
  • A majority of voters oppose the Trump administration’s demand that K-12 schools and day care centers be fully opened for in-person instruction during the coming academic year.
  • Walmart will require customers to wear face coverings at all of its namesake and Sam’s Club stores, making it the largest retailer to introduce such a policy that has otherwise proven difficult to enforce without state and federal requirements.
  • Kroger, the largest U.S. supermarket chain, will require customers to wear a mask or face covering to shop in their stores.
  • Thirty-eight states reported an increase in the number of new cases from the week before.
  • Twenty-seven states have paused or rolled back plans to reopen their economies.
  • Pennsylvania, Gov. Tom Wolf (D) warned of “an unsettling climb” in new cases and moved to reduce seating capacity in restaurants and limit the size of gatherings.
  • Philadelphia plans to reopen schools in September with a hybrid of in-person and online learning, with most students physically attending school two days per week.
  • Gov. Mike DeWine (R) called for Ohioans to show unity and take action against the rapid spread of Covid-19 in the state.

At the beginning of the pandemic, it took Ohio 20 days to reach its first 1,500 total Covid-19 cases, DeWine said during a briefing. Last week, Ohio saw over 1,500 cases in a single day.

DeWine emphasized that the number of new cases is not just the result of increased testing.

“I know some say that our case numbers are increasing because we are simply doing more testing. Yes, our testing has gone up by 87%. But our number of positive cases has skyrocketed by almost 200%,” the governor said.

He encouraged Ohioans to wear masks.

  • Officials in Prince George’s County, Md., announced that students would be distance-learning through at least February.
  • Richmond, Virginia will make K-12 classes fully virtual in the fall due to the coronavirus pandemic. The school board cited research showing the illness is airborne and “highly contagious, especially indoors” for the decision.
  • Washington, DC, Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) said the district’s state of emergency will be extended — likely through October.
  • South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R) is calling on all public school districts in the state to submit plans for reopening that give parents the option to either send their children back to school, or keep them home for distance learning.
  • Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) is extending the state’s emergency coronavirus restrictions, but is not requiring citizens to wear a mask.

The order also explicitly bans Georgia’s cities and counties from ordering people to wear masks in public places. He voided orders that at least 15 local governments across the state had adopted even though Kemp had earlier said cities and counties had no power to order masks.

  • Florida reported another 10,181 cases of coronavirus.
  • Florida has hit another troubling milestone in its fight against the coronavirus: a record number of daily hospitalizations related to coronavirus infections.

WFLA 8 Florida reports that the state has recorded 453 patients as new hospital admittances on July 15.

  • Florida’s largest public health system has seen a 226% increase in coronavirus patients since June 14. 

“The biggest issue is we have a lot of aggressive noncompliant people, people that just do not believe that masking is the right thing to do,”Jackson Health System President and CEO Carlos Migoya said. 

  • Fifty-four Florida hospital ICUs have reached capacity as Miami-Dade county reports Covid-19 ventilator use is up 92%
  • Florida health officials have identified a troubling trend: approximately 33 percent, or one third, of children in Florida tested for COVID-19 yield positive results.
  • Alabama reported a record 47 COVID deaths, more per capita than Florida. 
  • Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) announced a mandatory statewide mask order, citing a 50 percent increase in new coronavirus cases over the past two weeks.
  • The International Grand Isle Tarpon Rodeo, the oldest fishing tournament in the United States, has been canceled due to COVID-19 restrictions.
  • More than 30 students from Lake Zurich High School, Illinois have tested positive for coronavirus. 
  • Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly (D) announced that she would delay the opening of schools until after Labor Day, saying that schools needed time to get masks, thermometers, hand sanitizer and other supplies. “I can’t in good conscience open schools when Kansas has numerous hot spots where cases are at an all-time high & continuing to rapidly rise,” she wrote on Twitter.
  • Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) has tested positive for coronavirus as cases in his state hit record levels just a month after he hosted Trump’s first campaign rally amid the pandemic.
  • Oklahoma has reported a record-high number of new cases. The State Department of Health said that there are at least 22,813 total cases, up at least 1,075 new cases from Tuesday.
  • Texas has set grim records for single-day deaths and new COVID-19 cases as the Lone Star State continues to get rocked by the pandemic.

The state reported 110 deaths and 10,791 new cases of the virus on Wednesday, bringing its total number of cases during the pandemic to 282,365. It was the second consecutive day that Texas broke its record for daily number of new cases.

  • TexasGov. Greg Abbott (R) issued an order mandating that most people wear face masks in public.
  • The Houston Independent School District, the seventh-largest in the country, said it would start the year virtually on Sept. 8. Students will have at least six weeks of online instruction, with a tentative plan to start in-person classes on Oct. 19.
  • Idaho experienced its deadliest day since the coronavirus pandemic began and hit a new record for cases. Eight Idohans succumbed to the disease and 550 were newly diagnosed. 
  • Montana Gov. Steve Bullock (D) issued a statewide order requiring the use of a face covering in many indoor and outdoor settings.
  • New Mexico reported its second-largest single-day Covid-19 case increase with 330 new cases.
  • Arizona has led the nation for over a month with the highest 7-day average of new coronavirus cases per 100,000 people.
  • Hospitalizations and ICU admissions for Covid-19 patients in California continue to rise in the state, setting a new record with a total of 6,745 hospitalizations and 1,886 ICU admissions.
  • Sacramento County students will not return to public school campuses in the fall, joining several other California counties that will start the academic year with online distance learning only.
  • Public school students in San Francisco will start the fall semester with classes completely online.
  • The iconic Tournament of Roses Parade, scheduled for New Year’s Day 2021  has been canceled. 

Sources:  ABC News, Associated Press, The Atlantic, Axios, Bloomberg, CBS News, CNN, Financial Times, Fox News,The Hill, Independent, NBC News, NJ.com, NPR, NY Times, Politico, Reuters, Salon, Slate, Vanity Fair, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post

The Past 24 Hours or So – Coronavirus/COVID-19 Update

Read Time: 7 Minutes

  • More than 5,000 people died from COVID-19 from July 6 to July 12, up 46% from the prior week.
  • Adm. Brett Giroir, the Trump administration’s coronavirus testing czar, rejected President Donald Trump’s suggestion that his own public health officials are liars.

“Look, we may occasionally make mistakes based on the information we have, but none of us lie. We are completely transparent with the American people,” Giroir told NBC’s “Today” show.

  • U.S. school districts hit hard by the coronavirus outbreak, under pressure from President Donald Trump to resume classes, should decide for themselves whether to reopen based on their circumstances, leading infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci said.
  • White House trade adviser Peter Navarro sharply criticized Anthony Fauci, in an op-ed published in USA Today. Navarro asserted that Fauci was “wrong about everything I have interacted with him on.”

The economic adviser pointed to Fauci’s past remarks on using the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19, comments about the falling mortality rate in the country and other remarks.

“So when you ask me whether I listen to Dr. Fauci’s advice, my answer is: only with skepticism and caution,”

  • First lady Melania Trump urged Americans to wear face coverings and maintain social distancing amid the coronavirus pandemic, tweeting a photo of herself in a mask.
  • CDC Director Robert Redfield said that if everyone in the U.S. wore a mask to help curb the spread of the coronavirus, the pandemic could be under control within weeks. 

“If we could get everybody to wear a mask right now, I really do think over the next four, six, eight weeks we could bring this epidemic under control.”

  • Redfield also urged the president and vice president to wear masks to set an example for the public. Trump has previously argued he doesn’t need to wear a face-covering because he is routinely tested for COVID-19.
  • President Trump has instructed hospitals to begin sending coronavirus-related information directly to the Department of Health and Human Services, not the CDC, in a move that could manipulate or change the information the CDC had been tracking, including how many beds are available, the number of ventilators available and how many COVID-19 patients the hospitals have.
  • Emerging evidence that the body’s immune defense against COVID-19 may be short-lived makes it even harder for vaccine developers to come up with shots fully able to protect people in future waves of infection.
  • An experimental vaccine to treat COVID-19 manufactured by Moderna was able to induce an immune response in all of the volunteers in an early-stage trial, according to data published online in a medical journal. It showed the vaccine was generally safe and well-tolerated in 45 volunteers, with no serious adverse events.
  • The U.S. economy will recover more slowly than expected amid a surge in coronavirus cases across the country, and a broad second wave of the disease could cause economic pain to deepen again, Federal Reserve officials warned.
  • Three of the largest U.S. banks said they had set aside a whopping $28 billion for loan losses, in a stark reminder that much of the economic pain from the coronavirus pandemic is still to come.
  • Iowa-based seed companies owned by billionaire Harry Stine won approval for at least six loans – totaling $2.55 million to $6.35 million – in the first round of the federal government’s pandemic aid program aimed to assist small businesses.
  • The federal government may not have the capacity to supply medical professionals with personal protective equipment amid the latest surge in coronavirus cases, according to internal administration documents obtained by NBC News.
  • “[Trump] hasn’t mentioned one thing — not one thing — about the risks he’s putting on the good people that walk into that school building,” the president of the National Education Association, Lily Eskelsen García, told The Hill.
  • Hillary Clinton joined in on criticism of President Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos as they pressure schools to reopen for in-person learning in the fall despite outbreaks in coronavirus. 

“Teachers shouldn’t be forced to choose between their lives and their jobs.” Clinton Tweeted.

  • “Hospitalizations and deaths, two of the most concerning indicators of Trump’s failed response, are already unacceptably high and they are rising,” Joe Biden said during a speech unveiling his coronavirus response plan. “It’s gotten bad enough that even Donald Trump finally decided to wear a mask in public. I’m glad he made the shift.”
  • Facing eight federal lawsuits and opposition from hundreds of universities, the Trump administration rescinded a rule that would have required international students to transfer or leave the country if their schools held classes entirely online because of the pandemic.
  • U.S. Representative Morgan Griffith (R-VA) has tested positive for the coronavirus, his office said, making him at least the 10th member of Congress with a COVID-19 infection either confirmed or presumed by doctors.
  • The border between the United States and Canada will remain closed to non-essential travel until at least August 21 due to the ongoing rise of COVID-19 cases stateside.
  • U.S. coronavirus cases rose in 46 of 50 states last week and the number of deaths rose nationally last week for the first time since mid-April and about six weeks after cases began to increase, according to a Reuters analysis.
  • New Jersey announced 28 new deaths attributed to COVID-19 and 423 additional positive tests.

Along with Vermont and New Hampshire, the Garden State is one of only three states on track to control the virus.

  • New York state plans to reopen its schools in areas where the daily infection rate is below 5% of all COVID tests. The state has averaged an infection rate of about 1% for several weeks.
  • New York Governor Andrew Cuomo added Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio and Wisconsin to the state’s quarantine list. Travelers arriving in New York from a total of 22 U.S. states are now required to quarantine for 14 days.
  • If the Philadelphia Phillies and Philadelphia Eagles play their seasons in 2020, they will do so without fans in the stands because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The city of Philadelphia announced Tuesday a ban on large events for six months.

  • A coalition including the Maryland State Education Association, the Baltimore Teachers Union and the Maryland PTA called on state officials Tuesday to start the academic year in an online-only setting as the coronavirus pandemic continues.
  • Teachers in Loudoun County, Virginia, protested outside school headquarters with one woman fully enclosed in a white lab suit and face shield holding a sign that read, “Our new school uniform.” To keep physically distant, the teachers honked their car horns in unison.
  • Florida reported a record increase on Tuesday of 133 COVID-19 deaths, raising the state’s death toll to more than 4,500.
  • Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said, “There’ll be articles saying, ‘Oh, my gosh. They’re at 90 percent.’ Well, that’s how hospitals normally run.”

Characterizing the surge of COVID-19 new cases as a “blip,” DeSantis also noted that Florida has had “a lot of different blips.” 

“We’re now at a higher blip than where we were in May and the beginning of June,” he added.

Physicians and nurses in Florida’s besieged health-care system paint a much darker picture as they struggle to keep up with a tidal wave of new cases. 

“The past two weeks [have] been crazier than at the beginning of the pandemic,” a nurse at Memorial Hospital West in Pembroke Pines outside Miami, told The Daily Beast. “Everybody is exhausted. I have never seen it like that before.”

  • Alabama reported a record increase of 40 deaths, bringing that state’s total to over 1,100.
  • Louisiana’s Attorney General Jeff Landry (R) announced Tuesday morning that he had tested positive for the coronavirus and would as a result not meet Vice President Mike Pence. 
  • Hazelwood School District in Missouri is requiring parents to sign a waiver in case children who participate in sports or other activities become infected with COVID-19 and die.

The school district said, “Like all districts, we have a sports waiver that we issue to parents who want their kids to play sports.”

  • Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer extended Michigan’s state of emergency through Aug. 11.
  • A Michigan man who stabbed a fellow customer at an area store following an argument over face masks was shot and killed by police after threatening a sheriff’s deputy with a knife, according to Michigan State Police (MSP).

The MSP’s First District said that a 77-year-old man, who was wearing a mask, and 43-year-old Sean Ruis, who was not, got into an altercation over the face coverings Tuesday morning at the Quality Dairy Store in Eaton County. 

Ruis was refused service by the store because he was not wearing a face mask, and he allegedly stabbed the 77-year-old man outside before fleeing the establishment in a car.

  • Schools from Milwaukee, WI, and Fort Bend County, Texas, joined California’s two largest school districts, Los Angeles and San Diego, in announcing plans to keep teachers and students from the close contact that classrooms demand.
  • The county Board of Education in Orange County, CA voted to approve school reopening recommendations that do not require masks for students or social distancing in schools.

The board’s recommendations reads. “Requiring children to wear masks during school is not only difficult —if not impossible to implement — but not based on science. It may even be harmful and is therefore not recommended.”

  • France held a scaled-down Bastille Day celebration, with none of the usual tanks and troops parading down Paris’s Champs Elysees avenue, in a concession to the COVID-19 epidemic still affecting Europe.
  • France will make it compulsory for people to wear masks in shops and other enclosed public spaces from next month to stop a resurgence of the COVID-19 outbreak, President Emmanuel Macron said.
  • Belgium, which has reined in the coronavirus after becoming the worst-hit mid-sized country in the world, reported zero new coronavirus-related deaths in 24 hours for the first time since March 10.

Sources:  ABC News, Associated Press, The Atlantic, Axios, Bloomberg, CBS News, CNN, Financial Times, Fox News,The Hill, Independent, NBC News, NJ.com, NPR, NY Times, Politico, Reuters, Salon, Slate, Vanity Fair, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post

The Past 24 Hours or So – Coronavirus/COVID-19 Update

Read Time: 6 Minutes

  • New data from the Kaiser Family Foundation suggests 1.47 million education professionals could face serious cases of coronavirus if schools resume. In response, some teachers are choosing early retirement, or leaving the field altogether.
  • People who have recovered from COVID-19 may lose their immunity to the virus within months, according to research released this month that found levels of antibodies that destroy the virus quickly declined and sometimes disappeared completely after peaking several weeks after patients exhibited symptoms.
  • Many people who suffered supposed “mild” cases of coronavirus and the health experts who treated them are warning people not to assume “mild” means an easy case of the virus, as many find themselves suffering long-term consequences such as lung problems among other painful issues.
  • A new study released by the Centers for Disease Control analyzed the impact a single traveller with no symptoms can have. A woman in China carrying coronavirus but not showing a single symptom took a 60-second trip in an elevator on her own which led to the infection of 71 people.
  • Drugmakers partnered with the U.S. government are on track to begin actively manufacturing a vaccine for COVID-19 by the end of the summer, an unidentified  senior administration official said on Monday.
  • Anthony Fauci blamed the surge in U.S. coronavirus cases to the country’s failure to shut down completely, then a rush to reopen too soon, and urged a commitment to guidelines to snuff out the disease.

He stressed basic protections including physical distancing, wearing masks, avoiding crowds and washing hands. “Those things, as simple as they are, can turn it around. I think we can do that and that’s what we’ve got to do,” he said.

  • Top White House aide Dan Scavino publicly attacked Anthony Fauci, sharing a cartoon of the nation’s top infectious disease expert depicted as a faucet spewing statements like “indefinite lockdown,” and “no NFL season” and also accusing him of “cowardly” voicing disagreement through leaks in the media.
  • President Trump retweeted a message from game show host Chuck Woolery that attacks the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and claims the agency and others are lying about the coronavirus pandemic, the latest example of Trump undercutting the guidance of his administration’s own public health organizations.
  • The White House is insisting that it is not sidelining Anthony Fauci after it was revealed that the nation’s top infectious disease expert has not briefed President Trump about the coronavirus pandemic in two months, even as cases surge in many parts of the country.
  • Nearly 60 public and private universities have filed a legal brief supporting a lawsuit seeking to block the Trump administration rule announced by ICE last week that would strip foreign students of visas and threaten to deport them if their colleges choose to hold virtual over in-person classes this fall due to the coronavirus pandemic.
  • The World Health Organization announced it would launch a massive investigation analyzing the global response into the coronavirus pandemic: “The magnitude of this pandemic, which has touched virtually everyone in the world, clearly deserves a commensurate evaluation.”
  • The coronavirus pandemic is raging out of control in the U.S. and will continue unless “proven measures” are taken against it, according to the World Health Organization: “If the basics aren’t followed, there is only one way this pandemic is going to go: It is going to get worse, and worse, and worse.”
  • The coronavirus pandemic stripped an estimated 5.4 million Americans of their health insurance between February and May, a stretch in which more adults became uninsured because of job losses than have ever lost coverage in a single year.
  • More than 930 employees of private contractors running U.S. immigration detention centers have tested positive for the novel coronavirus
  • Case numbers are rising in all but a handful of states. Hospitals are running out of beds. And some of the country’s biggest urban centers — Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, Phoenix, Jacksonville, Fla. — have seen out-of-control growth with few concrete signs of progress.
  • New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he’s issuing an emergency health order that requires out-of-state travelers from states with rising coronavirus cases to give local authorities their contact information when they arrive.
  • Monday, Florida added more than 12,600 additional cases, its second-highest total recorded for a single day in the pandemic.
  • Florida has 47 hospitals with no open ICU beds. Each of 25 other hospitals have just one available ICU bed. 
  • In Miami-Dade County, six hospitals have reached capacity as virus cases spike. The increase in cases caused the mayor there to roll back reopening plans by imposing a curfew and closing restaurants for indoor dining.
  • Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) admitted there are serious risks in reopening schools as coronavirus cases in the state breaks records. Rubio looked at the situation from a “cost-benefit analysis” perspective, and said while students eventually need to go back to in-person classes, right now: “The risks in reopening schools are not insignificant, but the costs of not doing so are extraordinary.”
  • As new cases continue to mount in the Southeast and West, troublesome signs are emerging elsewhere in the country. The county that includes Oklahoma City has been averaging twice as many cases as it was just two weeks ago.
  • Texas reported a small drop in COVID-19 hospitalizations on Monday, the first decline in two weeks as health officials scramble to slow the spread of the disease.

The state reported 10,405 people hospitalized with confirmed infections, down from a high of 10,410 on Sunday. While the dip itself may seem insignificant, the growth of hospitalizations has been slowing for several days now, a possible sign that it is nearing a peak.

Confirmed deaths and total cases were also down Monday; the state reported 43 deaths and 5,655 new cases.

  • “Providers in our region have urgently requested additional staffing and a myriad of medical supplies including oxygen, ventilators, personal protective equipment, and dialysis machines” Texas lawmakers wrote in a dire plea for federal help as the state battles climbing coronavirus cases. “The rapid deployment of federal resources would go a long way to alleviate and augment the local response as we continue to experience increases in COVID-19 cases.”
  • Hard-hit Houston has hit a 25.2% positivity rate, according to city health director Dr. David Persse.
  • Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner announced 1,544 new cases on Monday, bringing the city’s total to 30,965.
  • In Arizona, ICUs are 90% full, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services.
  • Arizona reported 1,357 new cases on Monday, bringing the state’s total cases to 123,824. Arizona’s positivity rate stands at 21.7%.
  • With cases surging in California, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced one of the most sweeping rollbacks of any state’s reopening plans, saying Monday that he would move to close indoor operations statewide for restaurants, wineries, movie theaters, zoos and card rooms, and bars.
  • Los Angeles and San Diego school districts will start the school year next month offering only virtual classes, a decision that comes as President Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos push for classes to be in-person and have threatened to withhold funds.
  • Ontario will ease coronavirus restrictions further in most regions excluding Toronto on July 17, moving to stage three of reopening in Canada’s most populous province, Premier Doug Ford said. 
  • Hong Kong Disneyland will reclose on Wednesday to comply with a government-directed rollback of public activities in the region following an increase in coronavirus infections

The city that seemed like one of the most successful places in controlling the virus, announced Monday evening that it would close gyms and cinemas and ban public gatherings of more than four people in response to a new wave of locally transmitted infections.

Sources: ABC News, The Atlantic, Axios, Bloomberg, CBS News, CNN, Financial Times, Fox News,The Hill, Independent, NBC News, NJ.com, NPR, NY Times, Politico, Reuters, Salon, Slate, Vanity Fair, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post