vaccine – The Past 24 Hours Or So

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

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The U.S. reported 31,626 new cases and 560 additional deaths.

The United States has passed six million confirmed cases of the coronavirus since the beginning of the pandemic, according to Johns Hopkins University. The country has also passed 183,000 deaths nationwide.

Coronavirus-related hospitalizations and deaths of children and teens are on the rise, according to data compiled by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The share of positive coronavirus cases among children has increased in every state since spring, and nearly doubled from 5 percent in May to over 9 percent Aug. 20, according to the data.

British drugmaker AstraZeneca – which announced Monday the U.S. launch of Phase 3 trials for its coronavirus vaccine – said its “core values to follow the science” and “put patients first,” according to a statement.

The statement came on the same day that the World Health Organization cautioned countries against rushing to develop coronavirus vaccines and to use great care in granting emergency use authorization. Those remarks appeared to be directed toward China, Russia and the United States.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Monday that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) will “hopefully” unveil a new coronavirus relief bill next week.

President Trump has retweeted a conspiracy theory falsely claiming that only about 9,000 people had “actually” died from coronavirus, instead of about 180,000. Twitter later removed the tweet, written by a user named “Mel Q,” who is also a believer of the QAnon conspiracy theory, saying it violated its rules.

According to The Washington Post, controversial health adviser to President Trump, radiologist Scott Atlas, is advocating letting the virus infect healthy people while only protecting the elderly and vulnerable.

The approach taken in Sweden was meant to let people get on with their lives free of any virus-related restrictions, something that Atlas, who recently joined the White House task force, has been advocating.

In a statement to The Hill, via the White House, Atlas said: “There is no policy of the President or this administration of achieving herd immunity. There never has been any such policy recommended to the President or to anyone else from me. That’s a lie.”

President Trump on Monday questioned the value of Anthony Fauci to the White House coronavirus task force, saying in an interview with Fox News he “inherited” the government’s top infectious disease expert.

“I just, I get along with him, but every once in a while he’ll come up with one that I say, ‘where did that come from?'” Trump continued. “I inherited him. He was here. He was part of this huge piece of machine.”

The late Herman Cain’s Twitter account, now supervised by family and friends, tweeted Sunday that the coronavirus which killed Cain in July is “not as deadly as the mainstream media made it out to be.”

There have been at least 260 Covid-19 cases associated with people who attended the motorcycle rally in Sturgis, South Dakota, in early August.

MLB has postponed the first two games of the Oakland Athletics’ upcoming three-game series with the Seattle Mariners that was set to begin Tuesday.

The NHL reported no cases for the 5th straight week in either of the hub cities of Toronto or Edmonton.

The only way to find those with asymptomatic infections of Covid-19 at universities is to do aggressive testing, Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus task force coordinator, said over the weekend.

“To the college and university students, please isolate at your college,” Birx said during a news briefing. “Do not return if you’re positive and spread the virus to your family, your aunts, your uncles, your grandparents.”

A large party is suspected as the origin for a coronavirus outbreak at New York’s SUNY Oneonta, which has led to a halt on in-person classes for at least two weeks.

Dozens of students have been suspended for violating the code of conduct.

More than 900 University of Iowa students have reported testing positive for coronavirus as of Monday, with more than a third of the new cases being identified just since Friday. The university, which had its first day of classes last Monday, announced that 78 students who live in residence halls are in self-isolation after testing positive and 17 are in quarantine after potentially being exposed.

On the same day Iowa State University’s director of athletics Jamie Pollard declared Cyclones fans are welcome to attend the football home opener on Sept. 12, the University of Iowa announced it was halting all sports programs until after Labor Day.

The Iowa Hawkeyes reported 93 positive tests within its athletics community in the last week.

Just one week after the start of the fall semester, California State University, Chico is canceling all in-person classes and telling students to vacate on-campus housing over a “rapid and alarming” coronavirus outbreak on campus.

Connecticut will extend its Covid-19 emergency declaration until February 9, 2021, Gov. Ned Lamont (D) announced Monday.

The five-month extension ensures that the state can use emergency powers to quickly respond to outbreaks, safely reopen the economy, protect and recover jobs and rapidly procure personal protective equipment.

Movie theaters and indoor performances venues in New Jersey can reopen with restrictions on capacity starting Friday, Gov. Phil Murphy (D) announced in a tweet.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) extended statewide limits on public gatherings for another two weeks.

Florida reported 1,885 new cases, marking the lowest single day infections since June 15. There were 68 additional deaths.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and White House Coronavirus advisor Scott Atlas discouraged testing individuals with no coronavirus symptoms at a Monday roundtable event in Tallahassee, Florida.

Last week, Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN “I am concerned about the interpretation of these recommendations and worried it will give people the incorrect assumption that asymptomatic spread is not of great concern. In fact it is.”

Houston, Texas, Mayor Sylvester Turner (D) warned residents to avoid large gatherings ahead of Labor Day Weekend, saying coronavirus “is still looking for you.”

“You know what happened during Memorial Day and the Fourth of July weekend. People came together, and then the virus took off, and then you saw the numbers go up.”

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

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

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The U.S. reported 39,452 new cases and 475 additional deaths.

At least 25,143,423 people have been infected with Covid-19 worldwide and at least 845,414 people have died.

White House coronavirus response coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx said Sunday that she is optimistic about the prospect of a vaccine for COVID-19 being developed by the end of 2020, but cautioned Americans should “do the right thing” until it was released.

FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn said in a new interview that he is willing to fast-track a coronavirus vaccine before clinical trials are complete if it is determined to be “appropriate.” Hahn stressed politics would play no part in such a move.

Citing criticism of government agencies and increasing public distrust of vaccines, several prominent physicians and experts are calling for the creation of an independent commission to review data from coronavirus vaccine trials before a vaccine is allowed on the market.

The FDA regulates vaccines, and its approval is all that’s needed to put one on the market. The physicians fear, however, that after several government blunders during the pandemic, a layer of review independent from the government is needed to give Americans confidence that the shot is safe and effective.

After weeks of stalemated talks, the odds are rising that any deal on a fifth coronavirus relief package will be tied to legislation to prevent a government shutdown.

The House is set to leave until after the election by October 2, giving lawmakers one month to get a deal on another coronavirus bill; and, government agencies cannot run when the next fiscal year begins on October 1 without new funding from Congress.

A GOP Colorado lawmaker and conservative activist Michelle Malkin have filed a lawsuit against Gov. Jared Polis (D) and other government agencies over their coronavirus prevention orders including a mask mandate, alleging it’s an overstep of power, as Republicans fight back against their governors over mask orders and business closures during the pandemic.

Twitter took down a tweet containing a false claim about coronavirus death statistics Sunday afternoon that was made by a supporter of the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory – a post that President Donald Trump had retweeted earlier Sunday.

Teachers unions and parents throughout the country are filing lawsuits regarding school reopenings during the pandemic. Teachers suing over what they say are unsafe and politically motivated timetables for reopening schools that risk exposing personnel to the coronavirus pandemic.

Parents dissatisfied with web-based teaching alternatives, are suing to force state officials to reopen physical schools sooner.

The Oakland Athletics and Houston Astros game scheduled for Sunday was postponed following a positive coronavirus test in the Athletics’ organization.

An unidentified player scheduled to play in this week’s US Open has tested positive for coronavirus and has been withdrawn from the tournament.

Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, announced on Sunday that it would be suspending in-person classes for two weeks following the identification of 103 active Covid-19 cases on campus.

Police in New Brunswick, NJ busted a huge house party near Rutgers University. According to reports, around 100 college kids packed into a backyard for a raging party. There were no masks or face coverings, no social distancing, and apparently no acknowledgement that a global pandemic rages on.

Georgia reported 1,298 new COVID-19 cases – marking the first time the state has reported under 1,300 cases in over two months. The state also reported an additional 28 deaths.

Florida 2,583 new cases and 14 additional deaths – the lowest daily death figure reported by the state since June 22.

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

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The U.S. reported 46,546 new cases and 1,023 additional deaths.

A model from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington that previously has been cited by the White House now forecasts that more than 317,000 people in the U.S. will die from Covid-19 by December.

Several states are not heeding new federal health officials’ calls to reduce COVID-19 testing, joining a broad rebuke of the Trump administration by public health leaders.

Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Texas, New Jersey and New York all plan to continue to test asymptomatic people who have been exposed to COVID-19, despite new guidance from the CDC.

Groups representing local health departments asked the CDC to reverse a change to coronavirus testing guidance that they argue would hurt their ability to slow the spread of the disease.

“CDC’s own data suggest that perhaps as many as 40 percent of COVID-19 cases are attributable to asymptomatic transmission. Changing testing guidelines to suggest that close contacts to confirmed positives without symptoms do not need to be tested is inconsistent with the science and the data.”

NOTE: The Trump administration’s moves pressuring science agencies to take controversial steps on the coronavirus are threatening to undermine public confidence in health experts.

Top FDA spokeswoman Emily Miller has been removed from her position after just eleven days on the job. Her ouster comes amid the backlash the agency is facing for issuing an emergency authorization for convalescent plasma to treat COVID-19 patients.

The FDA extended emergency use authorization for remdesivir to all patients hospitalized for coronavirus, regardless of the severity of their disease.

Operation Warp Speed, the White House’s race for a Covid-19 vaccine, will likely continue if Donald Trump loses the presidential election in November, Paul Mango, deputy chief of staff for policy at the US Department of Health and Human Services said.

Pharmacists will be able to administer the Covid-19 vaccine to children and adults once a vaccine becomes available, Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the CDC said.

The coronavirus pandemic has had an especially harsh impact on people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and they need special support. Many have lost the critical support they need and cannot advocate for themselves.

White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said that President Trump would be willing to sign a coronavirus relief package totaling $1.3 trillion, an increase over the $1.1 trillion proposed by Senate Republicans but well short of the $2.2 trillion relief package House Democrats have demanded.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has stood firm in her demand for a $2.2 trillion relief package.

A senior White House official told CNN that “everybody” in America will get COVID-19. The White House statement is consistent with Trump’s reported desire to execute a “herd immunity” pandemic response. Experts say such a plan would kill millions.

Children and young people are far less likely than adults to get severe cases of COVID-19 infection, and death from the pandemic disease among children is rare, according to a new UK research study.

Researchers for the first time have identified a 25-year-old man living in Reno, Nevada, who tested positive for the virus in April after showing mild illness. He got sick again in late May and developed more severe COVID-19.

Dozens of Secret Service agents who protect President Trump and Vice President Pence have either contracted the coronavirus or were benched after coming in contact with people infected with COVID-19.

Two attendees and two event support staff at the Republican National Convention in North Carolina tested positive for COVID-19.

Singer-songwriter Van Morrison is launching a campaign encouraging his fellow artists to fight against “pseudo-science” surrounding the coronavirus pandemic, warning that false claims are delaying efforts to slow its spread.

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday his government was doing everything possible to avoid another nationwide coronavirus lockdown but added it would be dangerous to rule out any scenario.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the coronavirus pandemic was likely to worsen in coming months, and that life would not return to normal until a vaccine to combat it had been developed.

Texas Christian University in Fort Worth is reporting 447 active cases of Covid-19 among students and university employees.

About 65% of all K-12 Vermont students will participate in remote learning at least three or four days a week.

Health officials in Massachusetts and Rhode Island confirmed a bachelorette party that occurred last month in the Ocean State is now linked to nearly 20 COVID-19 cases. “Everyone who went to that wedding except one person tested positive for COVID,” Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R) said.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said schools are still on track to start in-person learning on Sept. 10.

Youth sports will also return on or around Sept. 15, with a permit required to restart leagues. Leagues receiving permits will be given three strikes of violating health and Covid-19 guidelines before having their play suspended.

A 1-year-old African-American boy from Covid-19 in Cobb County, just outside of Atlanta, became the youngest Covid-19 death reported in the state.

The Colorado Supreme Court declined to hear a case challenging Gov. Jared Polis’ (D) statewide mask order.

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

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The U.S. reported 43,440 new cases and 1,249 additional deaths.

The number of Americans newly diagnosed with the coronavirus is falling — a development experts say most likely reflects more mask-wearing but also insufficient testing — even as the disease continues to claim nearly 1,000 lives in the U.S. each day.

About 43,000 new cases are being reported daily across the country, down 21% from early August.

Moderna Inc said its experimental COVID-19 vaccine induced immune responses in older adults similar to those in younger participants, offering hope that it will be effective in people considered to be at high risk for severe complications from the coronavirus.

Health care workers should be the first to get vaccinated against coronavirus if and when a vaccine becomes available, vaccine advisers suggested Wednesday.

Abbott Laboratories received emergency use approval from the FDA for its rapid coronavirus tests, which can render results in 15 minutes as opposed to several days and are priced at about $5 each.

The CDC was instructed by higher-ups within the Trump administration to modify its coronavirus testing guidelines this week to exclude people who do not have symptoms of Covid-19 — even if they have been recently exposed to the virus, according to two federal health officials.

One official said the directive came from the top down. Another said the guidelines were not written by the CDC but were imposed.

The Trump administration’s coronavirus testing coordinator Adm. Brett Giroir is denying reports that political officials pressured the CDC into narrowing its guidelines about who should be tested for COVID-19.

Dr. Anthony Fauci said he was undergoing surgery during the task force meeting when the CDC discussed updating coronavirus testing guidelines. He said he was “concerned about the interpretation of these recommendations” and was “worried it will give people the incorrect assumption that asymptomatic spread is not of great concern.”

More than 26,000 coronavirus cases have been reported at U.S. universities since the beginning of the pandemic, according to a new survey. At least 64 deaths have been identified at more than 750 institutions.

Airbnb is the latest company to signal that it is bracing for a long pandemic, telling employees they can work from home through next summer, even if their offices reopen before then.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy announced Wednesday that he will be signing an executive order to allow New Jersey gyms to reopen on Tuesday, with a maximum indoor capacity of 25%.

Additionally, fitness classes must adhere to one customer for every 200 square feet, all members and staff must wear masks, logs must be kept of all gym members and staff, six feet distance must be kept between all gym equipment and all equipment needs to be sanitized.

Democratic State Legislators in Georgia issued a press release Wednesday morning to “urge Gov. Brian Kemp (R) to issue a statewide mandate requiring masks or face coverings in public.”

The North Texas Poison Center said it has received 46 calls related to people ingesting bleach since August 1. Health officials are attributing the troubling increase to inaccurate and misleading information circulating online related to COVID-19 treatment.

California will not abide by new guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that do not recommend Covid-19 testing for those without symptoms, Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a news conference.

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

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The U.S. reported 36,679 new cases and 1,147 additional deaths.

The scientific community warned that the Trump administration “grossly misrepresented” its claim that convalescent blood plasma curtails COVID-19 deaths by 35%. Experts were perplexed by the source of that figure since it does not appear in any of the documents issued by FDA or by the Mayo Clinic, which led the study on which emergency authorization was based.

The brunt of the criticism was leveled at FDA Commissioner Stephen M. Hahn, MD, who said that 35 out of 100 COVID-19 patients “would have been saved because of the administration of plasma.” Several statisticians and scientists criticized what they said was a gross overstatement of the benefits, with some calling for him to walk back his comments. Hahn did so on Monday.

The World Health Organization warned that the use of plasma from recovered coronavirus patients as a treatment for COVID-19 does not provide “conclusive” results and remains experimental despite President Trump issuing emergency authorization and touting it as a “breakthrough.”

Since August 6, when the last report came out, there have been 74,160 new cases in children in the U.S., bumping the total from 358,469 to 432,629, an increase of roughly 21% in only 14 days.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, is warning against prematurely distributing a potential coronavirus vaccine through emergency use authorization, saying it could negatively harm the testing for other vaccines.

State and local government officials say FEMA has indicated it might no longer provide reimbursements for personal protective equipment and other supplies needed to fight coronavirus.

As part of new guidance for workplace safety, the CDC said employees at retail and service industry jobs should not attempt to force customers to follow COVID-19 prevention policies, such as wearing a mask, if the customers appear to be upset or violent.

“Don’t argue with a customer if they make threats or become violent,” the CDC said.

The North Dakota Department of Health says COVID-19 cases linked to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally earlier this month in South Dakota have been confirmed in eight states. Cases linked to the massive rally have quickly climbed, initially starting with a dozen cases reported to now more than 100.

Iowa State University announced it has 130 reported cases of Covid-19 on campus after the school’s first week of class.

Los Angeles Chargers, Los Angeles Rams and SoFi Stadium announced that Rams and Chargers games will be held without fans in attendance until further notice.

Three Republicans in the Ohio House have prepared articles of impeachment against GOP Gov. Mike DeWine, alleging he violated residents’ civil liberties by issuing a stay-at-home order and requiring them to wear masks, claiming the face-covering rule “promotes fear, turns neighbors against neighbors, and contracts the economy by making people fearful to leave their homes.”

Georgia reported 2,236 new cases and 107 additional deaths.

For the second week in a row, Georgia is among the worst in the nation for new coronavirus cases. Georgia is currently third in the country for the seven-day average of new cases per 100,000, with 23.40 cases per 100,000.

Governor Brian Kemp (R) remains unwilling to mandate masks statewide, something public health officials say would help improve the state’s abysmal standing.

Florida confirmed nearly 9,000 new COVID-19 cases among children within 15 days in August as schools reopen, according to state data released Tuesday.

The Florida Department of Health recorded a total of 48,730 confirmed coronavirus cases among children, according to a report with data through Monday. The data shows an increase of 8,995 confirmed cases since the previous report, which included data from 15 days earlier, on Aug. 9.

Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Giménez (R) announced that restaurants can resume indoor dining at 50% capacity starting Monday.

Mississippi reported 801 new cases and 67 additional deaths.

There were 144 new cases involving teachers and 292 involving students in Mississippi during the week of Aug. 17 to 21. There were 31 outbreaks last week and 584 teachers and 3,913 students are currently quarantined due to Covid-19 exposure.

Shelters in Texas will be stocked with PEE, use social distancing to separate people and have testing available, Gov. Greg Abbott (R) said in a press conference as the state prepares for Hurricane Laura.

San Francisco International Airport will become the first U.S. airport to provide free on-site rapid coronavirus testing for its employees. SFO announced Monday that it will use Dignity Health’s GoHealth Urgent Care to administer testing inside the airport, with results in about 15 minutes.

Los Angeles County reported 989 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus Tuesday — the first time since June it has reported fewer than 1,000 new cases in a day.

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

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The U.S. reported 34,567 new cases and 449 additional deaths.

New cases appear to be declining in many states. At least 25 states reported fewer cases in the past week compared to the previous week. Another 14 states have a steady amount of new cases.

China has been giving an experimental coronavirus vaccine candidate to frontline workers since July, a senior Chinese health official announced. Zheng Zhongwei, director of the National Health Commission’s science and technology development center said that the Chinese government authorized the emergency use of a vaccine on July 22. The “emergency” vaccine appears to be China’s first in use outside of clinical trials.

The head of the FDA said criticism for his praise of convalescent plasma treatment was warranted, but denied the decision to authorize the emergency use of the treatment for COVID-19 patients was politically motivated.

The EPA said it has granted emergency approval for American Airlines to use a disinfectant against the coronavirus on certain surfaces that lasts for up to seven days, and is studying whether it could be effective in places like schools.

Republican National Committee officials were warned by Mecklenburg County, N.C., health officials about a failure by some convention attendees to wear masks or practice social distancing following the roll call vote.

Zoom video conferencing app experienced outages in some parts of the world. In the United States, the problem mainly affected those in the East Coast.

Atlanta Public Schools tweeted that the Zoom outage interrupted online education on its first day of classes.

Ohio State University issued 228 interim suspensions on Monday to students who they say have broken the university’s Covid-19 regulations.

The University of Notre Dame added a total of 50 additional cases of Covid-19 over the weekend.

The University of Missouri has 159 active student Covid-19 cases. Monday was the first day of classes.

Twelve students at Duke University tested positive for coronavirus out of a total of 4,497 tests performed for the week of Aug. 15 to 21.

Georgia Tech reported 51 new cases of COVID-19.

University of Alabama reported 566 cases of COVID-19 since August 19.

The University of Kansas has issued disciplinary actions against two fraternities for hosting social events this weekend in violation of county and university health guidelines on Covid-19.

More than 100 students from the University of Southern California are under a 14-day quarantine due to a coronavirus outbreak among students who live in the university’s off-campus housing.

For the fourth consecutive week the NHL announced zero positive COVID-19 tests results from its Toronto and Edmonton bubbles.

Across an eight-day period from August 12 to 20, zero NFL players tested positive for COVID-19 on 23,260 administered tests.

Olympic legend Usain Bolt says he’s self-isolating while awaiting his Covid-19 testing results.

There are now 27 cases of Covid-19 in Minnesota linked to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally that took place in South Dakota earlier this month.

Danbury, Connecticut, is facing a “serious outbreak” of Covid-19 stemming mostly from recent domestic and international travel, according to a statement attached to Governor Ned Lamont’s latest Covid-19 update.

Between August 2 and 20, there were at least 178 new Covid-19 cases reported in Danbury, compared to the 40 new cases that were recorded in the prior two week period.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and NY Health and Hospitals will be setting up new Covid-19 testing sites at John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia airports in New York City for incoming passengers.

New York State saw a 0.66% reported infection rate, the lowest the state has had since the pandemic began.

Florida reported 2,258 new cases and 72 additional deaths.

A Florida judge temporarily halted a statewide order that would have forced schools to reopen for in-person classes this month amid the coronavirus pandemic or risk losing funding.

The Miami Dolphins announced that a maximum of 13,000 fans will be allowed to the opening game against the Buffalo Bills on September 20.

Masks will be mandatory for all fans entering the Hard Rock Stadium.

Coronavirus testing sites in Louisiana have been suspended through Wednesday as the state prepares for Tropical Storms Marco and Laura.

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

The Past 24 Hours or So

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Coronavirus/COVID-19

The U.S. reported 38,234 new cases and 572 additional deaths.

President Trump would be willing to sign a bill that included Postal Service funding and reform – but only if Democrats agreed to include other economic relief measures along with it, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said Sunday.

The FDA authorized the use of blood plasma from patients who have recovered from COVID-19 as a treatment for the disease.

The president began his announcement of the FDA issuance of emergency use authorization for convalescent plasma as potential treatment for COVID-19 with a xenophobic comment.

FDA commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn said that his organization makes decisions “on data only,” denying he was pressured by the White House to issue an emergency use authorization for convalescent plasma.

A federal judge in Washington state temporarily blocked Education Secretary Betsy DeVos from enforcing a controversial rule that directs states to give private schools a bigger share of federal coronavirus aid than Congress had intended.

East Carolina University Interim Chancellor Ron Mitchelson announced in a letter that they are moving to online classes, just two weeks after welcoming students back on campus.

The University of Kentucky began a second phase of Covid-19 testing Sunday, testing 5,500 students who belong to fraternities and sororities.

University President Eli Capilouto wrote. “We believe a number of factors associated with communal living spaces likely contributed to the high positivity rates in these residences.”

University of Alabama President Stuart R. Bell asked students, faculty and staff to work together to follow safety protocols so the university can finish the fall semester with in-person classes. Bell said there will be consequences, including suspension, for not following the rules on and off campus.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) said that officials are staging helicopters, C-130 transport aircraft, high-profile vehicles, sheltering teams, disinfecting teams and mobile testing squads to help mitigate the spread of Covid-19 during Hurricane Marco and Tropical Storm Laura.

California surpassed 12,000 Covid-19-related fatalities as the state reported 146 new deaths Sunday, bringing the state’s total number of 12,134.

Trump Administration

White House chief of staff Mark Meadows on Sunday dodged questions about President Donald Trump’s embrace of QAnon days after the president said followers of the conspiracy theory “love our country.”

“We don’t even know what it is,” Meadows told “Fox News Sunday” after host Chris Wallace asked whether the president would denounce QAnon, which the FBI has labeled a potential domestic terror threat.

The impetus behind the president’s “FDA/Deep state” tweet seems to come from the president’s trade adviser, Peter Navarro, who accused the FDA of being part of the “Deep State” during a meeting that was supposed to be about COVID-19 and the Strategic National Stockpile.

According to two sources in the meeting, Navarro had aggressively confronted FDA officials, saying, “You are all Deep State and you need to get on Trump Time.” (That’s the expression Navarro uses to describe the speed that he says Trump demands.)

Sources familiar with the situation said Navarro has been venting at the FDA for weeks at what he perceives as its slowness to approve therapeutics to fight COVID-19 and help the U.S. “bring our medical supply chain home.”

A third senior administration official said Navarro — a fervent proponent of hydroxychloroquine — remained angry at the FDA for saying the drug didn’t work against COVID-19.

White House counselor Kellyanne Conway will depart her position in the Trump administration at the end of the month to focus on family matters, she said in a statement late Sunday.

“This is completely my choice and my voice,” Conway said. “In time, I will announce future plans. For now, and for my beloved children, it will be less drama, more mama.”

Conway’s husband, George, separately wrote on Twitter that he would be leaving his role with the Lincoln Project, a group of anti-Trump Republicans, for similar reasons.

Protests/Racial and Social Issues

Santa Clara University in California is conducting an investigation after a Black assistant professor at the school said she and her brother were harassed by campus security in a recent encounter.

Demonstrators in Detroit were back on the street in Detroit on Sunday to talk about the arrests by police of 42 people during a protest the night before over the presence of federal agents in the city.

“We were standing in the middle of the street and they arrested us,” Tristan Taylor, of Detroit Will Breathe, told a crowd of about 50 people. “The issue isn’t that they arrested us. The issue is the brutality. When you do something to get arrested you expect arrest, but not brutally beaten. We weren’t doing anything to get brutally beaten.”

Sgt. Nicole Kirkwood, a police spokeswoman, said protesters blocked all lanes of traffic early Sunday by standing in an intersection. “Dozen of warnings were given to them before any arrests were made,” Kirkwood said. “They were advised they were blocking traffic by blocking all four lanes of Woodward and John R and that they were assembling unlawfully.”

“DPD is not going to “tolerate people blocking the public streets,” she said.

Presidential Campaign

A federal judge in Pennsylvania halted the Trump campaign’s lawsuit against the state over how it sends and counts mail-in ballots.

Nicholas Ranjan of the U.S. District Court in the Western District of Pennsylvania, who was appointed by President Trump, ruled that Trump’s lawsuit against the secretary of state and 67 county election boards should be put on hold while state court cases about voting move forward.

Joe Biden told ABC “World News Tonight” anchor David Muir that everybody should pay “their fair share.”

“I will raise taxes for anybody making over $400,000,” Biden told Muir, adding, “no new taxes” would be raised for anyone making under $400,000.

Trump tweeted that ballot drop-off boxes “are not Covid sanitized. A big fraud!”

After Trump sent the tweet, Twitter took action, saying, “We placed a public interest notice on this Tweet for violating our Civic Integrity Policy for making misleading health claims that could potentially dissuade people from participation in voting.”

Fifty-seven percent of Republicans believe the over 176,000 deaths from the coronavirus is “acceptable,” and hold positive views of the US response to the pandemic.

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

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The U.S. reported 47,146 new cases and 1,134 additional deaths.

At least 175,204 Americans have died from the coronavirus, according to the latest data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Covid-19 deaths in the U.S. should start dropping around parts of the country by next week, CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield said, as Americans stick to mitigation efforts that help curb the spread of the virus.

Mitigation measures like controlling crowds and shutting down bars work, Redfield said, but it takes time until they’re reflected in the numbers.

The death toll from the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S. could spike to as high as 6,000 people a day by December in the worst-case scenario, according to Dr. Chris Murray, the chair of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.

Researchers predict the more likely scenario of the number of daily deaths will decrease slowly in September – then rise to nearly 2,000 a day by the start of December.

The number of serious mortgage delinquencies rose to a 10-year high in July, according to a report released Friday by financial data firm Black Knight.

The number of homes with mortgage payments more than 90 days past due but not in foreclosure rose by 376,000 in July to a total of 2.25 million.

A new analysis of 194 countries, published by the Centre for Economic Policy Research and the World Economic Forum, has definitively shown that countries led by women had “systematically and significantly better” COVID-19 outcomes, often locking down earlier and therefore suffering half as many deaths on average as those led by men.

“Our results clearly indicate that women leaders reacted more quickly and decisively in the face of potential fatalities.”

The Infectious Diseases Society of America has revised its coronavirus treatment guidelines, recommending that anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine not be used for COVID-19 patients at all.

“IDSA’s expert guidelines panel concluded that higher certainty benefits (e.g., mortality reduction) for the use of these treatments are now highly unlikely even if additional high quality data would become available,” the group said in a statement obtained by Bloomberg News.

Dr. Anthony Fauci weighed in on the national debate to reopen schools, saying a unilateral approach will not work, and recommending each area shape their plans for virtual or in-person classes around the local coronavirus positive test rates.

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said he would shut down the U.S. to blunt the spread of the coronavirus if scientific advisers said such a move was necessary.

“I will be prepared to do whatever it takes to save lives because we cannot get the country moving until we control the virus,” Biden said.

Thirty-six students at Purdue University in Indiana have been suspended by school officials after taking part in a gathering held by the Circle Pines Cooperative, a fraternity-like organization unique to Purdue’s campus. The students were suspended over violations of the school’s coronavirus guidelines, while the Circle Pines Cooperative itself had been ordered to suspend operations.

Vanderbilt University athletics program has revealed that an unspecified number of members of the football team have tested positive for Covid-19.

Public schools in Boston will start the year remotely on Sept. 21 with a phased in approach to returning students to the classroom.

The Dallas Independent School District will start the academic year with full remote learning through at least Oct. 6.

Just over a week after announcing the Kentucky Derby would allow fans in the stands to witness the 146th edition, organizers have changed their minds. The rescheduled Run for the Roses will now be held without spectators.

Major League Baseball has announced two additional New York Mets games – the team’s games this weekend versus the New York Yankees have been postponed due to Covid-19 concerns.

Over 700 participants are slated to take part in the reenactment of the historic Civil War Battle of Gettysburg this weekend.

When asked about whether masks will be enforced for the event, Kirk Davis of the Gettysburg Battlefield Preservation Association said “some men will be wearing masks, some will not. They’ll be absolutely at least six feet apart.”

Due to the volume and crowd size of the event, organizers will place particular emphasis on social distancing even during the reenactment.

He added that anyone going inside buildings or in the museums would be required to wear masks, and room occupancies cannot exceed 15 people.

At least 26 people spread across three states have been diagnosed with COVID-19 in connection to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, and one has been hospitalized. The event drew hundreds of thousands of people despite fears of the pandemic.

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu tweeted Friday that effective immediately, all restaurants in the state can go to 100% capacity for indoor dining.

Arkansas reported 887 new cases and 22 additional deaths. This is the largest number of deaths recorded since the pandemic began, and the fourth highest day of Covid-19 cases in the state, Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) said.

A federal judge in Louisiana has ruled that the governor’s order mandating the closure of bars due to COVID-19 concerns was constitutional, shutting down a challenge from several bar owners in the state.

Covid-19 hospitalization rates in Los Angeles County are the lowest since April, Mayor Eric Garcetti (D) announced at a press conference.

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

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Coronavirus/COVID-19

The U.S. reported 46,436 new cases and 1,356 additional deaths. Test Positivity Rate has increased every day this week – from 5.531% on Sunday to 6.802% on Thursday.

Thanks to safety protocols like masks and social distancing, new case trends are now “going in the right direction,” said Adm. Dr. Brett Giroir, the Trump administration official overseeing US coronavirus testing.

Despite the hopeful signs, now isn’t a time to let up or ease measures, he cautioned.

“This could turn around very quickly if we’re not careful,” Giroir said. “We saw that early on after Memorial Day and the couple weeks afterward that sort of started the current outbreak.”

Superspreading events – when one or a few infected people cause a cascade of transmissions – may be especially important in driving the coronavirus pandemic in rural areas.

Health officials across the country have reported superspreading events related to birthday parties, funerals, conferences and other large gatherings. “About 2% of cases were directly responsible for 20% of all infections,” researchers wrote in their report, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The Trump administration appears to be reversing course and giving COVID-19 hospital data collection duties back to the the CDC, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing comments from White House Coronavirus Task Force Coordinator Deborah Birx.

Last month, the administration abruptly informed hospitals that they were to stop submitting COVID-19 data to the CDC, and instead begin logging it with TeleTracking, a private firm based in Pittsburgh, rather than the CDC. The rapid change and lack of clear communication from the administration led to weeks of chaos.

Peter Marks, director of the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research who will help decide the fate of a coronavirus vaccine has vowed to resign if the Trump administration approves a vaccine before it is shown to be safe and effective.

At a campaign stop in Old Forge, PA, Trump criticized the Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D) for not having already totally reopened the state, “You’re governor has you in a shutdown. Like, what’s going on? Shutdown Wolf – he’s gonna destroy your soul.” He then claimed that public health measures to slow the spread of coronavirus are “more dangerous than the virus”

Trump again compared the U.S. to New Zealand saying, “They had a massive breakout yesterday.” New Zealand reported 5 new cases Wednesday – bringing their total active cases to 101. The U.S. had over 45,000 new cases.

U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA) tested positive for coronavirus and has decided to self-quarantine for 14 days. The senator is contacting those with whom he may have had contact.

The White House has formally declared that teachers are essential workers as part of its effort to encourage schools around the country to reopen for in-person learning.

The move is just the latest in the administration’s campaign to pressure districts into bringing back students this fall. The essential worker designation provides guidance for educators that is only voluntary; it calls on teachers to return to the classroom even after potential exposure.

MLB announced that because of two positive tests for Covid-19 in the New York Mets’ organization, Thursday’s Mets game against the Miami Marlins at Marlins Park has been postponed.

Additionally, Friday’s scheduled game between the Mets and New York Yankees at Citi Field has been postponed “out of an abundance of caution.”

East Carolina University has paused football activities indefinitely. A news alert on the university’s website said the school has identified a cluster of Covid-19 cases within the university’s football team and Clement Hall, which is a university residence hall.

North Carolina State University will move all undergraduate classes online starting Monday because of Covid-19 clusters from large parties.

University officials have received “reports of large parties in off-campus apartments,” and identified “three Covid-19 clusters in off-campus and greek village houses” in the last two days.

Florida State University has confirmed 42 students on campus have tested positive for COVID-19 over a two-week period.

Boston University issued a new policy that allows students who die while attending the school to receive their degree posthumously.

Laurie Santos, head of Yale University’s Silliman College, has warned students to “emotionally prepare” for people to die from COVID-19 when in-person classes begin this month.

In an email, Santos wrote, “We all should be emotionally prepared for widespread infections — and possibly deaths — in our community. You should emotionally prepare for the fact that your residential college life will look more like a hospital unit than a residential college.”

Just over one week into the school year, more than 300 students and teachers have had to quarantine in Martin County, Florida.

Connecticut is currently trending at a 0.8% positivity rate for Covid-19 and is well within the self-imposed metrics to reopen schools in two weeks, Gov. Ned Lamont (D) said.

New York City teachers threatened to strike or bring legal action unless the largest U.S. school district implements a more rigorous COVID-19 testing plan and other safety measures before reopening schools next month.

Philadelphia will permit indoor dining to resume Sept. 8, under specific restrictions.

Restaurants cannot be filled to more than 25% capacity and no more than four diners are allowed per table. There will be no bar service and alcohol can only be served with a meal.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said there has been a significant decrease in coronavirus cases in urban areas, but the state has experienced an increase in cases in rural areas.

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves (R) has issued social distancing measures for college and university outdoor stadiums and game day events.

Everyone 6 years old and up must wear a mask. Everyone must practice social distancing with people not in their household. Stadium capacity is limited to 25%. No pregame tailgating or rallies outside the stadium are permitted.

A teenage girl in Southern California has died from the coronavirus, Orange County health officials announced.

The girl had “significant underlying medical conditions,” officials said in a news release without providing further details about the child or her health conditions.

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

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Coronavirus/COVID-19

The U.S. reported 45,103 new cases and 1,416 additional deaths.

In the past 14 days, there have been 1,133,409 new cases (Test Positivity Rate of 7.302%) and 14,779 Americans have died.

Top World Health Organization officials are warning that the coronavirus outbreak is now spreading fastest among younger people. COVID-19 is increasingly being transmitted by people in their 20s and 30s in many countries, including the United States, where restrictions on public life have relaxed in recent weeks.

Dr. Anthony Fauci said health care professionals need to continue to “make recommendations and policy based on data and evidence.”

“Speculations, anecdotal, those kinds of opinions, really need to be put aside,” he said while speaking during a George Washington University webinar.

The University of Illinois has received FDA authorization for a fast saliva test that gives results in about three hours.

The Trump administration will allow coronavirus tests developed by individual laboratories — including commercial facilities run by Quest Diagnostics and LabCorp — to be used without an FDA review, a decision that public health experts warn could lead to broad use of flawed tests.

Operation Warp Speed chief adviser Moncef Slaoui said he expects a coronavirus vaccine to be widely available sometime next year – perhaps between April and June.

President Trump highlighted New Zealand’s fresh coronavirus outbreak for the second time this week, while claiming the U.S. has done a good job of containing the virus.

“New Zealand had a big outbreak, and other countries that were held up to try and make us look not as good as we should look, because we have done an incredible job,” Trump said at a news briefing on Wednesday.

NOTE: New Zealand reported six new cases on Wednesday.

Newlyweds, Tyler and Melanie Tapajna, of Parma, Ohio, originally scheduled a 150-person wedding reception; but, the pandemic caused a change to their plans.

Instead of canceling the food they had ordered, they turned their canceled reception into an act of service by donating the catered food for their reception to a local women’s shelter.

After a small backyard wedding with immediate family members, the groom in his tuxedo and the bride in her wedding dress kept their face masks on and put on gloves and hairnets to serve the food to about 150 women and children at the shelter.

A union representing Iowa public school teachers and the Iowa City Community School District announced it will sue Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds over the state’s plan to reopen schools in the fall. The plan requires classes operate at 50 percent capacity in person, and superintendents who do not abide by the guidance could have their licenses revoked, while students would be at risk of not receiving credit.

The Detroit Federation of Teachers voted overwhelmingly to authorize a safety strike over concerns about the school district’s reopening plan.

No NBA players within the Disney World based campus have tested positive for Covid-19, the league reported.

The College Board announced that 178,600 out of 402,000 students who signed up to take the SAT and SAT Subject Tests on Aug. 29 will not be able to do so.

Boston University and Emerson College both reported positive cases of Covid-19 as students return to campus.

Several UConn students have been removed from campus housing after an unapproved gathering in a residence hall.

Reports indicate that students were not wearing masks or following social distancing guidelines.

North Carolina State University has identified two additional Covid-19 clusters at two sorority houses on campus, according to a release on the school’s website.

The Alpha Delta Pi Sorority House has reported seven positive cases and the Kappa Delta Sorority House has six positive cases.

At least 13 members of Phi Delta Theta fraternity at Kansas State University have tested positive for COVID-19 just one day after in-person classes began for the semester.

Massachusetts will require all schoolchildren to get influenza vaccines to stay enrolled in public schools and daycares.

Florida reported 4,115 new cases and 174 additional deaths – surpassing 10,000 total deaths.

Kentucky reported 655 new cases and 12 additional deaths. Of the new cases, 91 or 14% are children.

More than half of Kentucky counties are in the Covid-19 “danger zone” Gov. Andy Beshear (D) announced.

“According to White House data, 20 Kentucky counties are in the red zone with a positivity rate of 10 percent or higher, and dozens more are in the 5-10 percent positivity rate yellow zone,” Beshear said via Twitter.

Videos which appeared on social media depicting large numbers of people not properly social distancing in strip clubs and hookah lounges have spurred Nashville Health department officials into checking on social distancing compliance at these establishments.

Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) signed an executive order declaring that an emergency exists for Louisiana’s November election because of Covid-19.

According to Edwards, Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin’s plan “does not provide for absentee mail-in voting options for people who are at high risk” for coronavirus.

Illinois reported 2,264 new cases – the highest daily number of cases reported since May 24 – and 25 additional deaths.

1,970 K-12 students and 328 school staff in Mississippi have been quarantined in the state due to possible exposure to Covid-19.

Sources: ABC News, Associated Press, The Atlantic, Axios, Bloomberg, CBS News, CNN, Chicago Tribune, 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