Tag: schools

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

Read Time: 6 Minutes

  • The U.S. recorded 55,134 new cases and 1,059 additional deaths. 
  • After weeks of sharp increases, there are some signs that new coronavirus cases in the United States may be plateauing at a high daily rate.

Though still alarmingly high, the seven-day daily average of new confirmed cases was just under 66,000 – the lowest it has been in the U.S. in 10 days.

  • The global coronavirus death toll surpassed 650,000.
  • A developmental vaccine created by drugmaker Moderna and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases began phase three trials.

About 30,000 adult volunteers will receive two 100 microgram injections of the candidate vaccine while a control group receives a placebo, both about four weeks apart.

  • The FDA announced, “Based on continued review of scientific data, FDA has determined that chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine are unlikely to be effective in treating #COVID19 and therefore we are revoking the emergency use authorization for these drugs.” 
  • Vice President Mike Pence assured that any coronavirus vaccine that makes it to market will be safe. “There’ll be no shortcuts,” Pence said. “There’ll be no cutting corners on safety in the development of this vaccine.”
  • The Senate Republican proposal will cut enhanced federal unemployment benefits from the current $600 to $200. 
  • President Trump’s attempts to project more somber messaging on the COVID-19 pandemic were motivated in part by data showing death rates rising in states critical to his reelection chances, the Washington Post reported

“In the past couple of weeks, senior advisors began presenting Trump with maps and data showing spikes in coronavirus cases among ‘our people’ in Republican states,” a senior administration official said. “They also shared projections predicting that virus surges could soon hit politically important states in the Midwest — including Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin.”

  • President Trump said he hasn’t seen National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien, who has tested positive for COVID-19, recently.
  • As members of his administration encourage some states to reverse their reopenings, President Trump said that governors need to loosen restrictions.

“I really do believe a lot of the governors should be opening up states that they’re not opening,” Trump said, without specifying which states should be opening.

  • During President Trump’s tour of a Fujifilm vaccine lab facility in North Carolina, he wore a mask, which is required at the facility.
  • White House Advisor Larry Kudlow wore a mask while talking to reporters. Asked why he finally decided to wear one, the 72 year old said seeing reporters wearing masks influenced his decision. He is now encouraging masks as a way to help the economy recover.
  • In a new Harvard CAPS/Harris poll, 79 percent of respondents said they support a national face mask mandate amid skyrocketing coronavirus cases in parts of the United States that have the nation going in the wrong direction compared to many other countries.

Another 70 percent said they supported the idea of local governments imposing fees on individuals who do not wear masks.

  • George Washington University in Washington, DC, announced that undergraduate courses will be given online for the fall 2020 semester.
  • The University of Notre Dame announced Monday it will withdraw from hosting the first presidential debate in September due to concerns about the coronavirus pandemic.

The debate, scheduled for Sept. 29, will now take place at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

  • Staples will require all customers to wear face coverings when entering any of their US stores.
  • Four more players on MLB’s Miami Marlins tested positive, bringing the total to fifteen infections for players and staff. 
  • After an outbreak of the coronavirus among Miami Marlins players and staff who occupied the visitor’s locker room in Philadelphia over the weekend, Monday night’s game schedule there between the Phillies and Yankees was postponed.
  • Following Monday’s postponement of two games due to Covid-19 threat, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred did not discuss canceling the season with the league’s team owners.
  • The Minnesota Vikings announced that along with head athletic trainer Eric Sugarman tested positive for COVID-19 four players were place on the reserve/COVID-19 list.
  • Daryl Ross, an Alabama pastor, said that more than 40 people who attended a revival event at his church have tested positive for the coronavirus in recent days.
  • The NCAA will allow schools to reduce their fall sports schedules, other than football, to half of a season. 
  • Monmouth University in New Jersey is cancelling all fall sports due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference will cancel all fall sports.
  • The NHL announced that of the 4,256 COVID tests administered to players from July 18th-25th, there were zero positive tests.
  • New York reported 608 new cases and 11 deaths.
  • New York state issued 132 violations to bars and restaurants for not following coronavirus-related regulations over the weekend. 
  • New Jersey reported 446 new cases and17 new confirmed deaths. The rate of transmission jumped back above the key benchmark of 1, meaning the outbreak is increasing again.
  • New Jersey has started deploying saliva-based coronavirus tests developed at Rutgers University to the state’s broad testing initiatives, allowing the state to increase its testing capacity by 30,000 a day with results within 48 hours, Gov. Phil Murphy announced.
  • The owners of the Atilis Gym in Bellmawr, NJ were arrested and subsequently released on Monday morning after they opened their facility despite a judge ruling that the state could force the gym to close. 
  • Police spent nearly five hours breaking up a mansion party in Jackson Township that grew to over 700 people Sunday night. Three people have been charged with violating the governor’s executive order limiting gatherings.
  • Pennsylvania reported 839 new cases and 4 new deaths.
  • South Carolina reported 1,226 new cases and 17 new deaths.
  • After being ordered to mediation last week, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp (R)  has withdrawn an emergency lawsuit hearing against Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms (D) and City Council over conflicting mask mandates.
  • Florida reported 8,892 new cases of and 77 new deaths.
  • In a letter, Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber (D) called out Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) for the “unprepared” and “failed” contact tracing response to Covid-19 which led to the “unconstrained growth of the virus” in Miami-Dade County.
  • Just weeks before schools must open across Florida, the numbers of new cases among children 17 and under are surging.

From July 16 to July 24, cases among children increased 8,000 – a 34% increase.

  • Coronavirus hospitalizations among children in Florida rose by more than 20 percent over a period of eight days in July.

Florida health authorities released data showing that 303 children below the age of 18 were hospitalized with COVID-19 as of July 24.

  • At least 17 anesthesiologist residents and a fellow at University of Florida Health, one of the premier university hospital systems in Florida, contracted COVID-19 earlier this month after attending a private party together.
  • Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) announced additional steps to combat the coronavirus pandemic, including closing bars and limiting indoor restaurant capacity to 25%
  • In a joint press conference, White House coronavirus task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx said that Tennessee could see rapid and widespread growth of coronavirus unless the state acts quickly to turn things around. She recommended shutting down bars and limiting indoor dining.
  • Shortly after Birx spoke, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) shot down White House adviser Deborah Birx’s recommendation to close bars and limit indoor seating at restaurants. 
  • Oklahoma reported 1,401 new cases and zero new deaths.
  • At least 123 visitors to Nevada have tested positive for the coronavirus in the weeks following their trip and returning home. 
  • California reported 6,891 new cases and 29 additional deaths.

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

  • The U.S. reported 75,193 new cases and 1,178 new deaths. An 8.09% test positivity rate. 
  • There were a record 284,196 new cases reported to the WHO. 9,753 additional Covid-19 deaths occurred worldwide. 
  • Covid-19 can be a prolonged illness, even among young adults without underlying chronic medical conditions, the CDC reported.

Of those surveyed, 35% said they still weren’t back to normal two to three weeks after testing positive.

  • Dr. Anthony Fauci said he quickly reviewed the CDC’s new guidelines on reopening schools and found them to be “a sound set of guidelines.” 

Fauci also said that it’s not a good idea to force all teachers to come back and teach in person. “So, I think when you talk about forcing teachers to come back to school, you better be careful about that and make sure you pay attention to keeping them safe, and keeping them healthy.”

As many people as possible should get vaccinated for influenza this year, as Covid-19 will complicate flu season according to Fauci.

Fauci said a Covid-19 vaccine likely won’t be “widely available” to people in the U.S. until “several months” into next year.

Another nationwide lockdown is not necessary, Fauci said. To avoid the need for one, he said that there are fundamental things that can be done by everybody – wearing a mask, avoiding crowded places, continuing to practice social distancing, closing bars and practicing good hand hygiene.

  • Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) criticized President Trump in a new interview with The Hill, accusing him of not taking the coronavirus pandemic seriously enough in its early days and calling the administration’s national testing strategy a “big failure.”
  • US Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced that newly enrolled international students won’t be allowed to enter the United States if their classes are offered online only.
  • McDonald’s will require customers to wear face masks at all of its more than 14,000 U.S.  restaurants. The policy takes effect on Aug. 1.
  • Chipotle announced they will require customers to wear masks or other face coverings.
  • Universal Studios announced it has canceled this year’s Halloween Horror Nights at its Orlando and Hollywood theme parks. 
  • St. Andrew’s Episcopal School, the private school in the Maryland suburbs attended by Barron Trump, said it was considering either a hybrid part-time plan or going back to entirely online classes.
  • The entire Michigan State University football team has been placed under a 14-day quarantine after a second staff member and student-athlete tested positive. 
  • Vermont Gov. Phil Scott (R) announced a mask mandate starting Aug. 1 for both indoor and outdoor activities where social distancing is not possible.
  • Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R) announced the state will require residents returning from out of state as well as other travelers to the Pilgrim State to quarantine for 14 days unless they can provide a negative test result for Covid-19. 
  • New York reported 650 hospitalizations – its lowest number of hospitalizations since March 18. There were nine fatalities.
  • New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) said eighty-four bars and restaurants face fines of up to $10,000 per incident for violating Covid-19 rules following compliance checks executed from July 21-23.
  • A New Jersey gym that publicly challenged statewide shutdown restrictions faces fines after being found in contempt of court Friday.

On Monday, Superior Court Judge Robert Lougy declined to find Atilis Gym of Bellmawr in contempt, but warned the owners to follow health department guidelines. The state attorney general’s office returned to court Thursday with new evidence the gym was violating the governor’s orders, and this time the judge agreed.

Gym owner Ian Smith said they will do “whatever we possibly can” to fight the decision. The gym’s doors were removed to prevent officials from padlocking them closed, and Smith said he and others would remain in the gym all day, every day.

“We will not leave this building under any circumstances unless they take us out in handcuffs.”

The gym owners also face criminal charges for remaining open during the pandemic.

  • Officials on Long Beach Island say 24 lifeguards have tested positive for the coronavirus after being together at a recent event.
  • Georgia reported 4,813 new cases – the highest number of new cases reported in a 24-hour period by the department since the pandemic began. There were 82 new deaths.
  • Florida reported 12,329 new cases and 135 additional deaths.
  • On July 4, Florida reported 5,022 Covid-19 hospitalized patients.Today, that number stands at 9,215 – an increase of 84.5%. 
  • Regarding schools opening as scheduled, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez (R) said, “I don’t know how much improvement we can make within two to four weeks, to be honest with you, and I don’t think it looks good for day one opening right now.”
  • Suarez  is urging residents to wear masks or face coverings while in their own homes to help stop the spread of COVID-19 within families. He said transmission between family members is currently the most common way for the virus to spread.
  • At least 19 people contracted Covid-19 after attending the Pickaway County Fair in Ohio, the county’s public health agency said.
  • Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) said the state is working to decrease the positivity rate from 8% currently to 5% as recommended by the CDC for reopening schools. 

“We’ve got a lot of work to do over the next 30 days.”

Hutchinson said that schools should be prepared to go back to online learning during the school year if needed.

  • Texas also reported 8,701 new cases and 196 new deaths, the second highest number of coronavirus-related deaths in a single day.
  • Harris Country, Texas is requiring all public and non-religious private schools in the county to remain closed to in-person instruction until at least Sept. 8.
  • Starr County, Texas, has issued a shelter-at-home order for residents of the county, effective until 11:59 p.m. local time on August 10. 
  • Doctors at Starr County Memorial Hospital in Rio Grande City may decide to send coronavirus patients “home to die by their loved ones” due to limited resources, officials say.
  • The Texas Testicle Festival plans to move forward with its August 1 start date. Claire Ball, an organizer with the event, said the fest was hoping to build on the 150 attendees who showed up in January.
  • Oregon recorded nine new deaths, its highest number since the outbreak began.  396  new cases were reported.
  • Arizona reported 3,349 new cases and 79 new deaths.
  • The US Supreme Court denied a petition from a church in Nevada that argued a policy limiting in-person church attendance to 50 during the coronavirus pandemic violated the Constitution.
  • California reported 9,718 new cases and 159 additional deaths, the highest number of fatalities in a single day since the start of the pandemic.

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: 7 Minutes

  • The U.S. recorded 1,042 deaths Tuesday, the first time deaths exceeded 1,000 since June 2.
  • A study published in the journal, PLoS Medicine, determined that if people washed their hands regularly, wore masks, and kept their social distance from each other, these three simple behaviors could stop most all of the Covid-19 pandemic, even without a vaccine or additional treatments.
  • According to Kate Bingham, chair of the UK Vaccine Taskforce, a vaccine may not become widely available before 2021.

“I would not assume there are any vaccines before next year. There will be some vaccines, if everything goes right, potentially at the end of this year, but that is not something I’d be going to the bank on in terms of everyone can get vaccinated by Christmas,” Bingham said.

  • President Trump receives multiple coronavirus tests every day, the White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said.
  • President Trump said he doesn’t know of a time he’s taken more than one coronavirus test in a day, directly contradicting his press secretary in the first question of his press briefing Tuesday. 
  • Trump appeared by himself in the first White House coronavirus update in three months.

Trump struck a more concerned tone about the virus. His remarks represented a notable shift in tone. Until Tuesday, he had largely downplayed the rise in cases in states like Florida, Arizona, Texas and California, and for weeks he had declined to urge the use of face masks. “It will probably, unfortunately, get worse before it gets better,” he said.

He urged Americans to wear masks, practice physical distancing and wash their hands, and he instructed young Americans to avoid bars.

“We’re asking everybody that when you are not able to socially distance, wear a mask,” Trump said. “Whether you like the mask or not, they have an impact. They’ll have an effect, and we need everything we can get.”

He also called the virus “the China virus” and repeated his false claim that the United States has one of the lowest mortality rates in the world. He said again that the virus “will disappear,” which there is no scientific evidence for, even if there is a vaccine.

He refused to acknowledge widespread problems with testing in the United States, like test shortages and slow turnaround times for results.

“We’ll be doing these quite often,” Trump said on his way out the door. 

  • Researchers at the MIT and Brigham and Women’s Hospital have designed a face mask they say is as effective as the N95 respirator. 

A typical N95 mask can be worn no more than five times in hospital settings. But the researchers announced earlier this month that the newly-designed mask could be “easily sterilized and used many times.”

  • Representatives from various pharmaceutical and biotech companies were asked during a congressional hearing whether their companies plan to sell their vaccines at cost.

– Stephen Hoge, president of Moderna, “We will not sell it at cost.” 

NOTE: Moderna received $483 million in federal funding to produce a coronavirus vaccine.

– Mene Pangalos, executive vice president for AstraZeneca, said that “under the agreement we have with BARDA for the 300 million doses, we are selling that to the government at no profit.” 

NOTE: AstraZeneca Received $1 billion from the U.S. government to produce a coronavirus vaccine.

– Julie Gerberding, executive vice president at Merck, “No, we will not be selling vaccine at cost”

NOTE: Merck received $38 million from the U.S. government to produce a coronavirus vaccine.

– Macaya Douoguih, head of clinical development for Johnson & Johnson, “We will be providing vaccine at a not-for-profit price during the emergency pandemic phase.”

NOTE: Johnson & Johnson received $456 million from the U.S. government to produce a coronavirus vaccine.

  • Only a tiny fraction of the population in the United States have antibodies to the coronavirus, indicating most people remain highly susceptible to the pathogen, according to new data from the CDC.

The agency also said the number of actual coronavirus infections is probably 10 times higher than reported cases. There are about 3.8 million reported cases. CDC data suggests the actual number of infections could be 38 million.

  • The CDC had previously recommended people who test positive isolate until they had two negative swabs for the coronavirus — but that turned out to be impractical given the shortage of tests. It now advises most people with active cases of covid-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, to isolate for 10 days after symptoms begin and 24 hours after their fever has broken. After that, they are free to leave isolation.
  • NYC public health official, Jennifer Rakeman, said that the lack of a national coronavirus testing strategy amid supply shortages and increasing demand for testing has contributed to the delay in test results across the nation.

“[A] test that takes two weeks to get a result back was a test that shouldn’t have been done,” said Rakeman. “Really anything much longer than outwards of 48 hours is not a useful test.”

  • Anthony Fauci responded to President Trump’s characterization of him as “a little bit of an alarmist” on the coronavirus pandemic, saying, “I consider myself a realist, as opposed to an alarmist.”
  • Republican Reps. Matt Gaetz, Jim Jordan and Chip Roy clashed with House Republican Conference Chairwoman Liz Cheney at a closed-door GOP meeting described by one source in the room as “a war zone” over her public support of Anthony Fauci and for previously backing a primary challenger to Republican Rep. Thomas Massie.
  • Lawmakers discussed the next stimulus bill with many Republicans raising concerns about the debt and deficit, Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) said.

Specifically, some Republicans pushed back on including direct stimulus checks in the next bill.

According to Cramer, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) also made it clear it’s still his goal to keep this GOP proposal under $1 trillion.

  • US Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams said that the country needs to lower the transmission rate of Covid-19 in order to reopen schools.
  • Vice President Mike Pence said he “wouldn’t hesitate” to send his kids back to school if they were younger. 

“Children without a serious underlying condition have a very low risk of serious outcome of the coronavirus,” Pence said.

  • Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) wants schools open, but said that his grandchildren will be distance learning. 

“My daughters are going to be more focused on distance learning right now to make sure their children are safe,” Scott said. He said “some parents are going to do it because it’s a way for their children to get a subsidized meal, things like that.”

  • Marriott Hotels will require guests to use facial coverings in its 7,300 hotels worldwide, chief executive Arne Sorenson announced.
  • Maine reported the first death in the state of someone in his 20s.
  • New Jersey state health officials reported 22 new confirmed deaths and 424 new cases.
  • New Jersey and New York added 10 states and removed Minnesota from their coronavirus quarantine travel advisory, bringing the list to 31 states that qualify as COVID-19 hotspots.

People traveling from those states — including New Jersey and New York residents returning home — are being asked to voluntarily self-quarantine for two weeks and to seek a coronavirus test in an effort to prevent a resurgence.

  • The daily Covid-19 indicators are all under desired thresholds, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said.

The daily number of people admitted to hospitals is at 52, under the 200 threshold. 

The daily number of people in ICUs is at 297, under the 375 threshold. 

The percent of people who tested positive is at 2% under the 15% threshold.

  • Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) said a surge of coronavirus infections in the central part of the state does not justify rolling back his reopening plan, despite mounting pressure from local officials to do so.
  • Georgia reported 3,413 new cases and 78 new deaths.
  • Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) reiterated a recommendation that residents “commit to wearing a mask,” even as he sues Atlanta officials for mandating them.
  • Florida reported 9,440 new cases of Covid-19 and 134 additional deaths.
  • Miami Mayor Francis Suarez (R) said that the city would assign 39 police officers to a new unit that enforces mask violations.
  • City of Miami summer camps will close this week after at least three children contracted Covid-19.
  • Less than 16% of Florida’s ICU beds are available. 54 hospitals in 27 different counties are now at 0% capacity — meaning they have no ICU beds available.
  • Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) blasted the state’s Republican attorney general for his attempts to block the governor’s coronavirus emergency orders, including a mask mandate. 

“Our entire business community supports this facial covering requirement, and sadly, our attorney general isn’t just opposing that — he recently went to court to try to overturn every single rule and restriction that we have, and to prevent me from putting any into place in the future,” Beshear said.

  • A Missouri high school has reported that 19 students and two guests have tested positive after attending a recent outdoor graduation and off-site prom.
  • Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) reported Tuesday a new high of 488 total patients hospitalized because of coronavirus. The state reported 728 new cases.
  • Mississippi reported 1,635 new cases, a record number for the second day in a row. 
  • Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) said, because of the resurgence of coronavirus, the state will remain in its phase two plan for another two weeks.
  • All public schools in New Orleans will begin the school year with virtual learning.
  • Texas reported 9,305 new Covid-19 cases and 131 new Covid-19-related fatalities.
  • 509 inmates and 3 staff members at a federal prison in Fort Worth, Texas, have tested positive for Covid-19, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
  • A Clay County nine-month-old has died from the novel coronavirus, the first death of anyone under 20 due to COVID-19 in Minnesota and among the youngest people dead due to the virus in the U.S.
  • California reported at least 9,231 new coronavirus cases. The hospitalization rate of 1.9% and 0.7% of patients in the ICU are reaching concerning highs.
  • The University of California, Berkeley will begin fall semester with “fully remote instruction.

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/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: 8 Minutes

  • The United States on Friday reached 60,000 new cases for the first time, and then the number soared to more than 68,000 — setting a single-day record for the seventh time in 11 days. 
  • The daily number of deaths from the coronavirus has risen recently in some of the nation’s most populous states, signaling a possible end to months of declining death totals nationally.

The seven-day death average in the United States reached 608 on Thursday, up from 471 earlier in July, but still a fraction of the more than 2,200 deaths the country averaged each day in mid-April, when the situation in the Northeast was at its worst.

  • Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, is warning that she expects to see an increase in coronavirus-related deaths after the number of cases in the U.S. has been trending upward over the past several weeks.
  • As European nations have cut their number of reported cases to a few hundred a day, in the United States the spread of the virus is accelerating alarmingly: The nation reported more than 59,880 cases on Thursday, setting a single-day record for the sixth time in 10 days.
  • Two-thirds of Americans disapprove of how President Trump has handled the coronavirus pandemic, the latest ABC/Ipsos poll reveals. 67 percent of respondents said that they disapproved of how the president has handled the pandemic, which has killed more than 130,000 people across the country.
  • White House trade adviser Peter Navarro is leading an effort to demand the FDA reverse course and grant a second emergency authorization for hydroxychloroquine to treat covid-19.
  • A federal judge in Boston said on Friday that a challenge to new Trump administration rules stripping visas from foreign students who planned to study entirely online in the fall was likely to succeed. But she put off any decision until next week. Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology seeking a court order to protect foreign students from losing their visas.

After the hearing, President Trump said he was ordering a review of universities’ tax-exempt status.

  • Mr. Trump said in a speech on July 4. “We show cases, 99 percent of which are totally harmless.”

In an interview with The Financial Times that was published Friday, Dr. Fauci said he was not sure of the source of the data the president was referencing.

“I’m trying to figure out where the president got that number,” Dr. Fauci said. “What I think happened is that someone told him that the general mortality is about 1 percent. And he interpreted, therefore, that 99 percent is not a problem, when that’s obviously not the case.”

“Even if it doesn’t kill you, even if it doesn’t put you in the hospital, it can make you seriously ill,” Dr. Fauci said. And he called the pandemic “the big one.”

  • Dr. Fauci revealed he last saw Trump in person at the White House on June 2 — and said he has not briefed the president for at least two months.
  • In a joint statement, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Federation of Teachers, the National Education Association and The School Superintendents Association, said that schools in places with a high community spread of the virus should not be pushed to reopen, especially if local public health officials have advised otherwise.
  • White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow told reporters that it was important for schools to reopen in the fall despite risks.

Kudlow told reporters. “Just go back to school, we can do that.” “And you know, you can social distance, you can get your temperature taken, you can be tested, you can have distancing — come on, it’s not that hard.”

  • House Education and Labor Committee Chairman Bobby Scott is calling on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield to testify before the committee later this month on how teachers, staff and students can safely return to classrooms across the country amid the coronavirus pandemic.
  • Scientists warn of a potential wave of coronavirus-related brain damage as new evidence suggests COVID-19 can lead to severe neurological complications, including inflammation, psychosis and delirium.
  • Autopsies of patients who have died from COVID-19 have shown a “dramatic” increase in the number of blood clots affecting major and minor blood vessels as well as “almost every organ” in the human body, according to a top New York pathologist.
  • In one month, cases in the U.S. military have more than doubled, according to Pentagon data, a disturbing surge that mirrors a similar trend seen across the country.
  • At least six states reported single-day records for new cases: Georgia, Utah, Montana, North Carolina, Iowa and Ohio.
  • Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) announced the state will require all residents to wear masks in public for 30 days, citing an “explosion” of cases of COVID-19. The mask mandate will apply to most forward-facing businesses such as retailers and restaurants, and as outdoor spaces where social distancing is impossible.
  • South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said that the sale of all alcoholic drinks in restaurants and bars would be banned beginning Saturday night, saying he was concerned about spread among young people. 
  • Alabama state Sen. Del Marsh (R) told reporters that he would “like to see more people” contract COVID-19 in order to create herd immunity in the state. Marsh made the comment when asked about Alabama setting a new daily record for COVID-19 cases after the state reported 2,164 cases on Thursday.

“I’m not as concerned as much as the number of cases — and in fact, quite honestly — I want to see more people, because we start reaching an immunity as more people have it and get through it.”

  • Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced she’s rolling back her city’s reopening, saying the state, “reopened in a reckless manner and the people of our city and state are suffering the consequences.”
  • Florida officials on Friday announced 11,433 new cases, nearing the single-day record for new cases the state reported on July 4. The state also reported on Friday that there were 93 new deaths, a day after setting a single-day reporting record with 120 deaths.
  • Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) disagreed with Dr. Anthony Fauci, saying he doesn’t think his state reopened too early.

“I think there was really no justification to not move forward,” DeSantis said according to The South Florida Sun Sentinel while discussing reopening phases of the state.

His defense comes amid criticism of the state as it sees climbing coronavirus cases, and also follows Fauci saying on FiveThirtyEight’s weekly “PODCAST-19” that he thought the state rushed through reopening phases.

“Despite the guidelines and the recommendations to open up carefully and prudently, some states skipped over those and just opened up too quickly,” Fauci said on the podcast. “Certainly Florida … I think, jumped over a couple of checkpoints.”

  • Louisiana has been seeing an average of more than 1,000 new cases a day this month for the first time since April.
  • On Friday, Ohio reported 1,525 new cases, exceeding the previous single-day record it had set back in April.

Gov. Mike DeWine (R) called the state’s recent increase in cases and hospitalizations “significant” and ordered people in hard-hit counties to wear masks. The average number of new cases a day in the state this month is twice what it was last month.

  • Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) signed an order requiring people in the state to wear masks in indoor public spaces and in crowded outdoor areas, and requiring businesses to turn away people without masks. It is punishable by a $500 fine.
  • Iowa is reporting an average of more than 400 cases a day this month for the first time since May.
  • In a move that could set up a clash with Gov. Kristi Noem (R) who has fought against coronavirus checkpoints on tribal lands, The Oglala Sioux tribe is locking down its South Dakota reservation for a 72-hour period as it seeks to prevent spikes in coronavirus cases.
  • Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) signaled that he might impose a new economic “lockdown” if the state is unable to reverse the caseloads and hospitalizations that have made it a leading U.S. hot spot in the pandemic.

Mr. Abbott bluntly predicted that “things will get worse” and said that he may take steps even more drastic than his statewide face-mask requirement, which has angered members of his own party.

  • Nevada’s governor Steve Sisolak (D) said that as of 11:59 p.m. on Friday, the state will close bars in some counties. Bars in Las Vegas and Reno that don’t serve food will be affected by the restrictions.
  • The Arizona Department of Health Services announced the state broke another daily coronavirus case record on Friday with more than 4,200 more cases reported, with health officials also revealing that 89 percent of intensive care units in the state are full.
  • As coronavirus cases spike in Arizona, morgues are reporting that they are nearing capacity and some are even requesting refrigerated trucks.
  • The Los Angeles teachers union called on the Los Angeles Unified School District on Friday to keep campuses closed when the semester begins on Aug. 18 and to focus on preparing for distance learning in the fall, the union said in a statement.
  • The New York Times tracked over 200 ICE deportation flights from March to June — and confirmed that hundreds of detainees with Covid-19 were returned to 11 countries around the world.
  • Hong Kong, which has been lauded for its aggressive handling of the outbreak, is confronting a third wave of infections, and on Friday shut down its school system.
  • A large takeout order from a KFC in Australia led the police to more than a dozen people hiding at a house party and more than 26,000 Australian dollars in Covid-19 fines, the authorities said Friday.

Chief Commissioner Shane Patton of the Victoria police announced the hefty fine at a news conference, saying that 16 people had broken coronavirus restrictions by attending a surprise birthday at a home in Dandenong, a suburb of Melbourne.

Sources:  ABC News, The Atlantic, Axios, Bloomberg, CBS News, CNN, Financial Times, Fox News,The Hill, NBC News, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 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

  • After President Trump criticized the CDC’s guidelines on reopening schools, Vice President Pence suggested the agency would release new guidance. But in a tense exchange with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on Thursday, the CDC’s director said new guidance would not be “a revision of the guidelines.”
  • Keeping schools closed in the coming academic year is a greater risk to children’s health than reopening them, even amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Robert Redfield, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
  • Education Secretary Betsy DeVos encouraged school districts to “think creatively” about how to reopen: “This doesn’t have to look like exactly like it did a year or two ago. Think creatively about how you do it, but do it. This has to happen.”
  • Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she is “very confident” Democrats and Republicans in Congress will agree on strong new coronavirus relief legislation after lawmakers return from their July break.
  • The World Health Organization released new guidelines on the transmission of the coronavirus that acknowledge reports of airborne transmission of the virus that causes COVID-19, but stopped short of confirming that the virus spreads through the air.
  • In an emotional address World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus Tedros urged nations to unify in the fight against the coronavirus. “We must come together in a global conversation to take these hard-won lessons and turn them into action. My friends, make no mistake, the greatest threat we face now is not the virus itself, rather, it’s the lack of leadership and solidarity at the global and national levels.” 
  • U.S. states that have driven a record surge in coronavirus cases may now be slipping backward in their economic recovery, as cell phone data shows retail visits in high case-growth locations falling below the rest of the country.
  • Trump complained on Hannity tonight that the media keeps reporting on coronavirus cases. He said, “All the time, ‘cases.’ And those cases get better. In most — most cases — in almost — I mean, literally, in most cases, they automatically cure. They automatically get better.”
  • Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert and a key member of the White House coronavirus task force, called on U.S. states experiencing a surge in coronavirus infections to “seriously look at shutting down.”

“We’ve got to tighten things up,” Fauci said.

  • Later, Fauci walked back his statement, saying instead that states like California, Arizona, Texas and Florida should think about “pausing their opening process… I don’t think we need to go back to an extreme of shutting down.”
  • A reporter who works at the White House has tested positive for the coronavirus, in the first known case among the White House press corps.
  • More than 1,000 employees of the TSA have tested positive for the coronavirus, about 900 of those are airport screeners. More than 640 of the employees have recovered while six have died. 
  • The surge in coronavirus cases, which as of Wednesday had set new daily-case records five times in nine days, is being driven largely by states that were among the first to ease virus restrictions as they moved to reopen their economies.

Epidemiologists had warned that reopening could lead to waves of new infections if it was done before the virus was contained, and before contact tracing was sufficiently ramped up enough to contain future outbreaks.

  • Hospitals across the South and West are being flooded with virus patients, forcing them to cancel elective surgeries and discharge patients early as they try to keep beds available.

“When hospitals and health care assistants talk about surge capacity, they’re often talking about a single event,” said John Sinnott, chief epidemiologist at Tampa General Hospital. “But what we’re having now is the equivalent of a bus accident a day, every day, and it just keeps adding.”

  • At least five states set single-day records for new cases on Thursday: Alabama with 2,200, Idaho with 527, Missouri with 950, Montana with 95, and Oregon with 371.
  • Average daily cases in New York are down 52 percent since the state began to reopen in late May.
  • Mayor Bill de Blasio extended New York City’s prohibition on large public gatherings through Sept. 30, adding the West Indian American Day Parade, the Dominican Day Parade and the Feast of San Gennaro will be canceled.
  • Cases in Massachusetts are down 83 percent.
  • Gov. Andy Beshear announced that Kentuckians will be required to wear face coverings in many public settings, including any indoor space in which it is difficult to maintain six-foot social distancing.
  • South Carolina, one of the first states to let retail stores reopen, has seen its average daily case count rise to 1,570, up from 143 from when the state began to reopen in late April, a 999 percent increase.
  • In South Carolina, National Guard troops are being called in soon to help insert intravenous lines and check blood pressure. At the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, patients can wait as long as four hours before being seen in emergency rooms.
  • Tennessee recorded its highest single-day death toll on Thursday, with 22.
  • In Georgia, where the governor’s moves to reopen swiftly in late April were criticized as too aggressive by Mr. Trump — who had generally been pushing states to move faster to reopen — cases have risen by 245 percent.
  • Florida coronavirus death toll hit 4,000 and set a record for single day deaths with 120. More than 8,900 new cases were confirmed, bringing total positive cases to 232,718.
  • When asked about the rising numbers of cases in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis said, “There’s no need to be panicked. There’s no need to be fearful.” 
  • Florida Gov. DeSantis: “If you can do Home Depot, if you can do Walmart, you can definitely do the schools.”

NOTE: Most people don’t spend 7 hours a day, 5 days a week in retail establishments.

  • In Florida, more than 40 intensive care units in 21 counties have hit capacity and have no beds available.
  • At Miami television station, WPLG Local 10, at least nine employees, including a news anchor, have come down with Covid-19 or tested positive, and another 150 people linked to the station were awaiting test results.
  • Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves (R) issued an executive order for 13 counties in the state to require face masks and put limits on businesses as coronavirus cases climb. The order bans indoor social gatherings larger than 10 people, and outdoor gatherings of more than 20 people, among other restrictions on businesses. As of Thursday, Mississippi health officials have confirmed 33,591 cases of coronavirus and 1,204 deaths.
  • In Mississippi, five of the state’s largest hospitals have already run out of I.C.U. beds for critical patients.
  • Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is threatening to impose stricter mask laws amid a spike in coronavirus cases and mounting evidence that some residents aren’t taking precautions seriously.
  • The state of Wisconsin reported 754 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, its highest number of reported cases in one day since the pandemic began.
  • On Wednesday, Texas recorded 119 deaths from the virus, the most in a single day in the state. Thursday the state added another 105 deaths. Texas has recorded more than 235,000 cases and more than 2,990 deaths.
  • Nearly 9,700 people were in Texas hospitals on Thursday, the highest number since the pandemic began.
  • Dr. Diego Maselli Caceres at University Hospital in San Antonio, Texas, said he had watched a sevenfold increase in Covid-19 patients needing intensive care over the past month, filling up three floors of the hospital instead of one.
  • In an effort to free up hospital bed space, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott extended a ban on elective procedures to new sections of the state.
  • A state judge on Thursday declined to reverse Houston’s decision to cancel the Texas Republican convention’s in-person events because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Judge Larry Weiman rejected the state GOP’s request for a temporary restraining order.

  • California, once seen as a model for how to contain the virus, has seen an alarming increase in new cases, which are up 275 percent since May 25.
  • California reported an average of 8,077 new cases a day for the past week, as of Wednesday, according to a NY Times database. The state’s positivity rate has been 7.3 percent per day, on average over the past week.
  • The top Republican in New Hampshire – where Mr. Trump is scheduled to hold a rally on Saturday –  has already said he would skip the large gathering as a health precaution.

“I’m not going to put myself in the middle of a crowd of thousands of people,” Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire said.

  • One day after Harvard and MIT sued to stop the policy change from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced they intend to file a lawsuit against the Trump administration to block it from forcing out international students whose schools in the U.S. move their courses online because of the coronavirus pandemic.
  • The Big Ten will adopt a conference-only scheduling model for the 2020 college football season stemming from concerns of playing amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • Starbucks said it would require face masks inside all U.S. locations beginning July 15. It said that in some locations not under government mandates, customers without masks would be able to place orders at drive-throughs or with curbside pickup.
  • The intensive care unit at the Papa Giovanni XXIII hospital in Bergamo, one of the Italian provinces most affected by the virus, hit a milestone this week: It had no Covid-19 cases, for the first time in 137 days.
  • Since the pandemic began, aid groups warned that the virus might prove devastating for a rebel-held Syrian province packed with displaced people and hampered by battered medical facilities.

On Thursday, medics there reported the first confirmed case.

  • Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that Israel had reopened parts of its economy too early, as virus cases in the country have continued to rise sharply.

“I take responsibility for this measure and I take responsibility for fixing it.”

  • India recorded nearly 25,000 new infections on Thursday, its highest single-day total.

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