July 14 coronavirus news

By Jessie Yeung, Steve George, Tara John, Meg Wagner, Mike Hayes and Melissa Macaya, CNN

Updated 12:50 AM ET, Wed July 15, 2020
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11:22 p.m. ET, July 14, 2020

Japan defense minister says outbreak at Okinawa US military bases is a “very serious situation”  

From CNN's Kaori Enjoji and Junko Ogura in Tokyo

Japans Defence Minister Taro Kono waits for US Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun (not pictured) prior to their bilateral meeting in Tokyo on July 10.
Japans Defence Minister Taro Kono waits for US Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun (not pictured) prior to their bilateral meeting in Tokyo on July 10. Behrouz Mehri/Pool/AFP/Getty Images

The outbreak of coronavirus cases at US military bases in Japan is "extremely serious," said Japanese Defense Minister Taro Kono on Tuesday.

A total of 100 US military personnel and their families have so far been diagnosed with Covid-19 across six US Military facilities in Japan since early July. 

The US Marine Corps Air Station Futenma on Okinawa, with 71 confirmed cases, is the worst-impacted location.

Patients on commercial planes: Three US personnel, who tested positive after arriving in Tokyo over the weekend, took commercial flight en route to Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in Yamaguchi Prefecture -- despite guidelines prohibiting them from using public transportation on Tuesday.

“It is an extremely serious situation. I asked the US side to strictly punish them and to take a serious action to prevent recurrence in the future,” Kono said.

Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki is arriving in Tokyo today to seek help from the Japanese government to press for more disclosure from the US military, and halt the arrivals of new US military personnel from outside Japan.

11:22 p.m. ET, July 14, 2020

Brazil president refuses to confirm latest coronavirus test

From CNN's Rodrigo Pedroso in Sao Paulo and Juliana Arini in Cuiabá

The office of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro told CNN late Tuesday it could not confirm if the President has taken a new coronavirus test, or when information regarding any testing of the country's leader may be made available.

Bolsonaro announced he tested positive for the virus last week.

Earlier, he told CNN affiliate CNN Brasil that he would do another RT-PCR test again today for Covid-19 to see if the virus is still active in his body.

“I look forward to the result because I can't stand this routine of staying at home. I'm feeling good,” he said Monday night.

10:16 p.m. ET, July 14, 2020

The US reported more than 61,000 cases today

The United States now has at least 3,424,304 cases of coronavirus and 136,432 related deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

On Tuesday, the country saw 61,248 new cases and 827 reported deaths. 

The totals include cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, as well as repatriated cases. 

Follow our live tracker of US cases here:

7:59 p.m. ET, July 14, 2020

Health experts raise concerns about emergency use authorizations for Covid-19 vaccines

From CNN’s Wes Bruer

Health experts testifying before the House Oversight Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy expressed concerns that a Covid-19 vaccine would have to be distributed under a US Food and Drug Administration’s emergency use authorization. 

Emergency use authorization from the FDA is not the same as approval, but when there is no available or accessible alternative, it’s a signal from regulators that the likely benefits of a product seem to outweigh the risks.

The experts testified at a Tuesday hearing and cautioned against rushing a vaccine before Phase 3 clinical trials are complete. They urged decision makers to balance the need for urgency with transparency. 

Here's what the experts said:

  • Dr. Bruce Gellin, president of global immunization at the Sabin Vaccine Institute, said he “strongly recommends that any vaccine being considered for any type of approval by the FDA be reviewed in an open, public meeting of the FDA Vaccine and Related Biological Product Advisory Committee.” Gellin added that “if a vaccine used under an EUA turns out to be ineffective or raise safety concerns and users are unclear if the vaccine was unapproved, a crisis could occur undermining confidence in all vaccines.”
  • Dr. Jesse Goodman, director of the Center on Medical Product Access, Safety and Stewardship a Georgetown University, said that while issuing an EUA to distribute a vaccine in an area with a severe Covid-19 outbreak could be appropriate, “experience has shown the public may interpret an EUA as the same as an approval.”
  • Dr. Jason Schwartz, assistant professor of health policy at Yale University, echoed those concerns, saying he would also be worries that an EUA “would not be understood to be different from full approval” of a vaccine. 
  • Dr. Ruth Karron, director of the Center for Immunization Research at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg said “decisions may need to be made about issuing EUAs for one or more vaccines with data that are promising but incomplete,” which would raise questions about the risk and benefits to those in high-risk groups.  

8:01 p.m. ET, July 14, 2020

More than 1 million coronavirus tests have been conducted in Tennessee

From CNN's Janine Mack

Vehicles line up at a drive through testing center at Robertson County Fairgrounds in Springfield, Tennessee, on April 18.
Vehicles line up at a drive through testing center at Robertson County Fairgrounds in Springfield, Tennessee, on April 18. Brett Carlsen/Getty Images

At least 1,071,320 coronavirus tests have been conducted in Tennessee since the pandemic began in March, the state's Department of Health reported today.

There have been at least 66,788 cases of coronavirus in the state and at least 767 people have died from the virus since the pandemic began, according to the health department.

During a news conference on Tuesday, Gov. Bill Lee said his state went from testing a few hundred people a day to more than a million people. He claimed that anyone can get tested in the state.

7:36 p.m. ET, July 14, 2020

Colorado governor says state's coronavirus cases are trending upward

From CNN's Raja Razek

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis speaks during a press conference on Tuesday.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis speaks during a press conference on Tuesday. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis/Facebook

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said Covid-19 cases have been trending upward in the state.

"In terms of new cases, we continue to have an upward trend. Twelve of the last 14 days have had an upward trend," Polis said in a news conference on Tuesday.

"And hospitalizations, 11 of the last 14 days have had an upward trend in the seven-day moving average. Cases are growing slowly but consistently, and that is the wrong trend ... We want to see them decreasing slowly but consistently," he added.

The governor also spoke about the importance of wearing masks, and encouraged the public to do so. 

"What we are doing is close but isn't quite working, and we need to do better, and that means reducing our social interactions," he added.

As for hospital capacity, Polis said that the state is not concerned about bed capacity in intensive care units at the time. The state has 552 ICU beds open.

"One of the reasons we want Coloradans to do better early is, we don't want to have to take extraordinary measures as we had to in April to free up additional beds," the governor said. 

Colorado has a total of 37,686 Covid-19 cases and at least 1,589 people have died from the virus in the state.

Note: These numbers were released by Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN's database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project.

7:20 p.m. ET, July 14, 2020

It's official: The CDC wants you to wear a mask        

From CNN's Maggie Fox

Commuters arrive at Boston's South Station on Tuesday.
Commuters arrive at Boston's South Station on Tuesday. Craig F. Walker/The Boston Globe/Getty Images

The science shows face masks work both to protect the wearer and to protect others from coronavirus, and everyone needs to wear one when around other people in public, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday.

Even cloth face masks help enough to be worthwhile, three top CDC officials said in a commentary published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

“While community use of face coverings has increased substantially, particularly in jurisdictions with mandatory orders, resistance continues,” CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield, CDC’s chief medical officer Dr. John Brooks and Deputy Director for Infectious Diseases Dr. Jay Butler said in a joint editorial.

There is “ample evidence” that people who have no symptoms and may not realize they are infected may be driving the ongoing surge in infections, they wrote.

Redfield has been increasingly vocal about his support for the use of face masks, and the CDC published details on Tuesday of a study that found two hairdressers in Springfield, Missouri, who were infected with coronavirus did not infect any of 139 clients they worked with, probably because they wore face masks.

“Covering mouths and noses with filtering materials serves two purposes: personal protection against inhalation of harmful pathogens and particulates, and source control to prevent exposing others to infectious microbes that may be expelled during respiration,” the three officials wrote.  

Even homemade, cloth masks help. “Cloth face coverings can substantially limit forward dispersion of exhaled respirations that contain potentially infectious respiratory particles in the 1- to 10-nanometer range that includes aerosol-sized particles, and recent research of household textiles’ performance when used as source control suggests cloth face coverings may be able to do so with acceptable efficiency and breathability,” they wrote.

“However, face covering is not needed all the time. It is probably safe for individuals and safe for others to drive alone or to walk or jog alone on an uncrowded route without a face covering,” they advised.

“But when individuals choose to go out or must be close to others in public, a cloth face covering can help reduce the spread of COVID-19 from asymptomatic individuals or others.”

Health experts need to spread the message, the CDC said. “Innovation is needed to extend their physical comfort and ease of use,” they added. 

“At this critical juncture when COVID-19 is resurging, broad adoption of cloth face coverings is a civic duty, a small sacrifice reliant on a highly effective low-tech solution that can help turn the tide favorably in national and global efforts against COVID-19.”

7:13 p.m. ET, July 14, 2020

Venezuela surpasses 10,000 Covid-19 cases

From CNN's Stefano Pozzebon in Bogota, Colombia

People walk past the National Assembly building in Caracas, Venezuela, on Tuesday.
People walk past the National Assembly building in Caracas, Venezuela, on Tuesday. Federico Parra/AFP/Getty Images

Venezuela topped 10,000 confirmed coronavirus cases on Tuesday, according to data collected by the Venezuelan government led by embattled President Nicolás Maduro. 

The government recorded 303 new cases on Tuesday, Maduro said in a televised speech in Caracas, bringing the total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases to 10,010 cases. 

Three new deaths from the virus were also reported Tuesday, Maduro said, bringing Venezuela's Covid-19 death toll to 96 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic in March. 

Venezuela's capital, Caracas, and the surrounding area registered 98 new cases Tuesday, nearly a third of the country's 303 new cases, and will return to strict lockdown measures beginning Wednesday, the Maduro government announced earlier Tuesday. 

The Venezuelan opposition as well as international organization have questioned the government's ability to properly track and report Covid-19 cases.

7:02 p.m. ET, July 14, 2020

Miami Beach bans short-term rentals due to Covid-19 surge

From CNN’s Rosa Flores

A view of Miami Beach, Florida, on July 4.
A view of Miami Beach, Florida, on July 4. Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images

As coronavirus cases surge in Florida, Miami Beach is sacrificing a key source of money from visitors. 

Starting Thursday, the city is suspending short-term rentals and ordering those properties closed.

“Short-term and vacation rentals shall cancel all existing reservations, and shall refrain from accepting new guests or making new reservations,” the city’s order said.

The order does not provide a timeline for when the ban will be reconsidered.