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117 Posts
Ohio State pauses all voluntary workouts following latest positive coronavirus tests
From CNN's Homero De La Fuente
Ohio Stadium, also known as the Horseshoe, at The Ohio State University.
Shutterstock
The Ohio State Department of Athletics announced today that the school has paused all voluntary workouts, “following the results of its most recent Covid-19 testing of student-athletes.”
The school is not sharing infection data publicly because “it could lead to the identification of specific individuals and compromise their medical privacy,” the university’s athletics department said in its statement.
The pause affects men’s and women’s basketball, field hockey, football, men’s and women’s soccer and women’s volleyball.
Earlier Wednesday, the University of North Carolina suspended its football program’s voluntary workout program after 37 players and staff tested positive for Covid-19.
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Coronavirus may have arrived in the US from China, but most of the spread was domestic, model suggests
From CNN’s Naomi Thomas
Coronavirus was probably spreading widely across the US in February, new modeling data suggests, and it only took a few imported cases from other countries to set off rapid spread inside the borders.
While direct imports from China and other countries may have been responsible for the early introduction of Covid-19 to the US, most spread was state to state, researchers led by a team at Northeastern University in Boston reported.
“We estimate widespread community transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in February, 2020,” a team led by Northeastern’s Laboratory for the Modeling of Biological and Socio-technical Systems wrote on MedRxiv, a pre-print server. Their work has not been peer-reviewed.
The US announced restrictions on travel from China on Jan. 31. The researchers say their modeling study suggests the restrictions came far too late.
“Importations from mainland China may be relevant in seeding the epidemic in January, but then play a small role in the COVID-19 expansion in the US because of the travel restrictions imposed to/from mainland China after January 23, 2020,” they wrote.
The model jibes with evidence from several studies that suggest there were already a significant number of infections in the US by the time the travel restrictions were announced on January 31, the researchers wrote.
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University of Wisconsin reports new Covid-19 cases
From CNN's Kevin Dotson
Bascom Hall and a statue of Abraham Lincoln are seen on the campus of the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Shutterstock
The University of Wisconsin athletic department has announced that more student-athletes have tested positive for Covid-19 since the school’s initial round of testing a month ago.
Seven Wisconsin student-athletes in total have now tested positive after two initially tested positive last month.
Wisconsin Athletics says it is isolating individuals who have tested positive, and the UW Athletics’ Infection Response Team is monitoring them.
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Fauci defends Pence's optimism on coronavirus, says he's doing "a very good job"
From CNN’s Shelby Lin Erdman
Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, listens during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing in Washington, DC, on June 30.
Al Drago/Pool/Getty Images
The nation’s leading infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said White House coronavirus task force leader Vice President Mike Pence is doing “a very good job.”
Fauci and task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx regularly sound the alarm about the pandemic at briefings or in interviews while Pence has touted what a good job the Trump administration is doing.
“In fairness to the vice president, the vice president understands that but he is trying in his role as the vice president to really, in a certain sense, also point out some of the things that are going well,” Fauci told the Wall Street Journal in a podcast Wednesday.
“I look at the data, I analyze the data and I give my best opinion based on the evidence,” Fauci said.
He said there are many facets to the task force discussions on the pandemic and that he and his colleagues are primarily focused on public health. Pence, he said, has other concerns.
“There’s the issue and the need, from an economic standpoint, to get open. So all of that goes into the mix and then you see the kind of recommendations that go out but you know as a member of the task force, I’m telling you that we have a serious situation that we really do need to address.”
Fauci said the public health and economic policies need to work in tandem. Other health experts worry that President Trump has pushed his economic priorities at the expense of American lives. So far more than 132,000 Americans have died from Covid-19.
“We shouldn’t think of it as one against the other because once you start thinking there’s public health and there’s the economy opening it looks like they’re opposing forces,” Fauci said.
“So, what we’re trying to do is to get the public health message, if heard and implemented, be actually a gateway to facilitate opening and an easier way instead of there’s guys are on this side and those guys and ladies are on the other side.”
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Atlanta mayor says she is signing an order to mandate masks in the city
From CNN's Pierre Meilhan
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms.
Source: CNN
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said she will be signing an order on Wednesday to mandate masks in her city to try to slow down the number of coronavirus infections.
“We’ve seen other cities in Georgia mandate masks. And we’ve decided to give it a moment just to see what the governor and the state’s response would be to these other cities mandating masks. I am signing an order today to do the same in Atlanta,” Bottoms told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer in The Situation Room.
She said Covid-19 numbers are going “through the roof” and local hospitals are filling up very quickly.
“All of the experts that I’m hearing from are saying that to help slow the spread we need to mandate masks. And that is what we’re going to do in Atlanta and hopefully it will help some,” Bottoms said.
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Pomona College will not welcome back students in the fall
From CNN's Elizabeth Hartfield
Pomona College, located in Los Angeles County, California, will not be welcoming back students for the fall semester and will continue remote learning, the president of the college announced in a letter Wednesday.
The college said that the school would be reaching out to international students in the coming days with updates on how they planned to address the guidance issued by Immigration and Customs Enforcement earlier this week.
In a news release Monday, ICE said that students who fall under certain visas “may not take a full online course load and remain in the United States,” adding, “The U.S. Department of State will not issue visas to students enrolled in schools and/or programs that are fully online for the fall semester nor will U.S. Customs and Border Protection permit these students to enter the United States.”
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Ivy League postpones all fall sports
From CNN's Homero De La Fuente
In this November 17, 2018 file photo, Yale quarterback Griffin O'Connor, left, tries to elude Harvard linebacker Cameron Kline (52) while scrambling for a gain during the first half of an NCAA college football game at Fenway Park in Boston.
Charles Krupa/AP
The Ivy League Council of Presidents announced on Wednesday the conference will be postponing all fall sports for the 2020 season due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Ivy League Council of Presidents becomes the first Division I conference to postpone its fall sports, including college football and basketball until January 1. Division II’s Morehouse and other Division III schools have canceled their seasons completely.
In March, the conference faced criticism for being the first to cancel its men and women’s basketball conference tournaments because of the concerns of Covid-19, but other major conferences shortly followed suit.
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Texas reports highest number of Covid-19 deaths in a single day
From CNN's Ashley Killough and Raja Razek
A man gets tested for coronavirus at a Covid-19 testing center on July 7 in Austin, Texas.
Sergio Flores/Getty Images
Texas reported 98 Covid-19-related deaths on Wednesday, the highest single-day increase in coronavirus fatalities.
The total number of Covid-19 deaths in the state now stands at 2,813.
The state also hit a 15% Covid-19 positivity rate, a record high.
Texas also recorded 9,979 new coronavirus cases — the second highest number on record for the state. The total number of Covid-19 cases in the state is 220,564.
To note: These numbers were released by the Texas Health and Human Services, and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project.
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Brazil is not removing employees who had contact with Bolsonaro from the office
From CNN's Rodrigo Pedroso
The Brazilian government said it will not remove employees who recently had contact with President Jair Bolsonaro from the office after he tested positive for Covid-19.
Brazil’s General Secretary of the Republic released an official statement saying, “There is no medical protocol, either from the Ministry of Health or the WHO, that recommends isolation measures by simple contact with positive cases.”
The government offered guidance to public employees, telling them “to seek medical assistance when they experience symptoms related to Covid-19, to assess the need for testing.”
If someone is suspected to have symptoms, the government said, “The employees are advised to stay at home until the exams results.”
More on this: According to the World Health Organization (WHO), an infected person can start transmitting the virus in the six days before the onset of symptoms. WHO recommends that a person who has had close contact with an infected person should spend 14 days in social isolation and away from the workplace.
Bolsonaro announced Tuesday that he tested positive for Covid-19 after having a reported fever the day before.
The Brazilian president participated in his normal agenda over the past week, holding meetings with businessmen, politicians and public authorities.But after announcing his diagnosis Tuesday in person in front of media, Bolsonaro has worked via video conferences, according to the president’s press office.
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Study finds a wide variety of symptoms in kids with coronavirus
From CNN's Lauren Mascarenhas
Coronavirus causes a wide variety of symptoms in children, and targeted testing of kids may miss cases, a study published in an American Academy of Pediatrics journal finds.
Dr. Rabia Agha and colleagues from Maimonides Children’s General Hospital in Brooklyn studied 22 children with coronavirus who were admitted to the hospital over four weeks between March and April, when local transmission was widespread.
They found that most of the patients did not have classic coronavirus symptoms, in contrast to what is seen in adults and some pediatric reports from China.
The patients had a wide variety of symptoms and circumstances. Almost half of the 22 patients were less than a year old. Fifteen patients had a fever. Nine had respiratory symptoms. Two had seizures. Sixteen had no known contact with a Covid-19 patient, and two were entirely asymptomatic. None of the patients in the study died.
The researchers initially followed guidelines from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, only testing patients with fever, cough and shortness of breath, those who had traveled to high risk countries and those who had close contact with a confirmed coronavirus case. As the rate of infections increased, they started testing all admitted patients, regardless of their symptoms.
Of the four patients who required mechanical ventilation, only one did not have an underlying health condition – an otherwise healthy child who suffered a cardiac arrest. Three of the patients on ventilators qualified for compassionate use of the antiviral drug remdesivir and were eventually taken off the ventilators.
Seven patients who were hospitalized for non-Covid symptoms, including bacterial infections, appendicitis and inflamed muscles, tested positive for the virus. The researchers say it is unclear how large a role coronavirus played in their illness.
The youngest patient in the study, who was 11 days old with a healthy mother, was likely infected by asymptomatic family members at home.
The Maimonides team said infection rates at a particular time and region, rather than confirmed contact alone, should drive testing strategies, noting that 41% of the patients they studied would have been overlooked because they did not meet the then-recommended coronavirus testing criteria.
“Testing of all hospitalized patients will not only identify cases early in the course of their admission process, but will also help prevent inadvertent exposure of other patients and health care workers, assist in cohorting infected patients and aid in conservation of personal protective equipment.”
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37 football players and staff at University of North Carolina test positive for Covid-19
From CNN's David Close
The University of North Carolina has suspended the football program’s voluntary workout program after 37 players and staff tested positive for Covid-19.
The Orange County Health Department in North Carolina determined the number of results to be a cluster forcing the Tar Heels to halt activities. The school says it administered 429 tests to players, coaches and staff with roughly 12% returning positive for coronavirus.
The university did not disclose the severity of symptoms of the 37 people who contracted the virus.
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Website to volunteer for Covid-19 vaccine trials in US is now live
From CNN's Elizabeth Cohen
A new website that allows people to volunteer to take part in Covid-19 vaccine clinical trials in the US is now live.
The website – coronaviruspreventionnetwork.org – will handle registration for the four large vaccine studies expected to start this summer and fall, and any others that follow.
The US Department of Health and Human Services announced the website Wednesday, along with the appointment of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle as the coordinating center for vaccine clinical trials run by the Covid-19 Prevention Network, which is funded by the National Institutes of Health.
On the new website, anyone interested in joining a vaccine study can fill out a quick questionnaire. After registering, your information will be sent to the study site closest to you.
Several of the questions are designed to assess how likely you are to become infected and sick with Covid-19, including your race, what kind of work you do, and how many people you come into contact with on a daily basis. Based on those answers, you might be rejected.
People who don’t get out much, and who wear a mask when they do leave home would not make the best study subjects. That’s because the point of the study is to see if the vaccine protects people from getting sick with Covid-19. If people who mostly stay home get vaccinated, and they don’t get sick with Covid-19, it’s hard to know if the vaccine protected them or if their lifestyle kept them away from the virus in the first place.
Some context: It’s unclear exactly how many volunteers will be needed for all the vaccine trials.
In a June interview, National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins told CNN each trial would have around 30,000 volunteers, but a statement Wednesday from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center said there will be 10,000 to 30,000 volunteers per trial.
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Brazil surpasses 1.7 million coronavirus cases
From CNN's Rodrigo Pedroso
Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro stands with his arms crossed outside the official presidential residence, Alvorada Palace, in Brasilia, Brazil, Wednesday, July 8.
Eraldo Peres/AP
The number of coronavirus cases in Brazil surpassed 1.7 million on Wednesday after the country’s health ministry recorded 44,571 new cases in the past 24 hours.
The country’s total number of confirmed cases is 1,713,160, according to the Brazil’s health ministry.
The ministry also reported 1,223 new Covid-19 fatalities, bringing the nationwide death toll to 67,964.
This comes after Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro announced Tuesday he tested positive for the virus, maintaining his less serious approach to the pandemic by taking his mask off during the news conference and telling young people, “if you are affected by the virus, rest assured that, for you, the possibility of something more serious is close to zero.”
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Covid-19 rates are rising in Los Angeles County
From CNN's Cheri Mossburg and Jenn Selva
Coronavirus cases, infection rates, and hospitalizations are rising in Los Angeles County, Health Director Barbara Ferrer said today.
The average daily case count is up a staggering 84% in the past month, going from 1,300 in the beginning of June to 2,400 today.
“Our cases are rising, the rate of infection is increasing, and the number of hospitalizations is up,” she added.
Even a small increase in the fatality rate is worrisome, Ferrer said, as deaths tend to lag behind case increases.
Additionally, the intensive care unit at a Southern California hospital has reached full capacity after receiving an influx of coronavirus patients, prompting the medical facility to open a surge space for additional room.
“There is a limit to how much we can serve, and we can’t continue on the path we are on right now,” Dr. John Fankhauser, CEO at Ventura County Medical Center, said today, adding that the ICU at the facility is now “full.”
There are currently 71 coronavirus patients hospitalized in the county’s eight hospitals, and 31 are currently in ICUs, Ventura County Health Director Rigo Vargas said.
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CDC guidelines are the minimum of what should be done to reopen schools, says health expert
From CNN's Andrea Kane
Public health expert Dr. Ashish Jha.
Source: CNN
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for reopening schools are the minimum of what the country should be doing to make sure that schools can reopen and stay open, public health expert Dr. Ashish Jha told CNN today.
Jha added that the spread of Covid-19 in the community must be kept under control for schools to open safely – something that is not happening in multiple hotspots around the country.
“We, in those hotspots, can’t afford to have indoor gatherings of 10 or more,” Jha said.
Jha said it is “cavalier” to say it would be safe to open schools because the virus does not make children sick as often as it does adults. Kids can and do get sick, and kids can spread the virus to adults, Jha noted.
Jha also disputed remarks made by Vice President Mike Pence and Coronavirus Task Force Response Coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx, who said they are seeing encouraging trends in hotspots like Texas, Arizona and Florida.
Jha said he sees the numbers as going up, not down.
“I’m looking at the same data that they are, and I’m not seeing it. I wish they, I hope that they’re right,” he said. “But positivity rates in my mind are continuing to go up in Arizona and Texas and Florida. Cases are going up, hospitalizations are going up, and now I think we have very clear evidence that death rates are starting to go up in these in these places as well.”
Across the country: Jha said national coronavirus infection numbers do not give a complete view.
He said while infection rates are going down in some places, like New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts, they are spiking in other parts of the country, such as Texas, Arizona, Florida, South Carolina, Mississippi and Nevada.
“If you put both of them together in the same picture, it looks flat,” he said.
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White House says Trump and CDC are "very much" on the same page, despite tweets
From CNN's Allie Malloy
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany.
Win McNamee/Getty Images
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins that President Trump and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are “very much” on the same page — despite Trump tweeting: “I disagree with the CDC.”
“I would note that the CDC is very much on the same page as the President — which is why you heard the CDC director today underscore these are not prescriptive, these are not requirements and that there will be supplemental guidelines. So they’re on the same page,” McEnany said Wednesday.
Trump tweeted seven hours earlier: “I disagree with @CDCgov on their very tough & expensive guidelines for opening schools. While they want them open, they are asking school to do very impractical things. I will be meeting with them!!!”
Collins also asked McEnany why the President won’t attend task force meetings so he can talk about guidelines and other issues.
“(Trump) is routinely briefed about the coronavirus each and every day that relevant information is brought to him on the big decisions and then he moves forward in the way that’s best for our country,” McEnany responded.
CNN has reported that Trump has not attended a coronavirus task force meeting since April.
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New Orleans issues stricter guidelines for bars and restaurants following increase in Covid-19 cases
From CNN's Kay Jones
A waitress takes an order during lunch at Royal House Oyster Bar on May 22, in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Sean Gardner/Getty Images
New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell announced new restrictions on bars and restaurants in the city as cases of Covid-19 steadily increase across the city.
Cantrell said during a news conference today that bars and restaurants will be limited to 25 patrons in total inside and that no bar seating will be allowed.
She also said masks will be required at all times, other than when patrons are eating and drinking.
The new restrictions go into effect at 6 a.m. on July 11.
Videos taken on Bourbon Street last weekend showed it crowded with people, many of whom did not have masks on.
More context: There were 81 new cases reported in Orleans Parish on Wednesday for a total of 8,287 cases, according to the state’s Department of Health.
The city has a 10.03% positivity rate of tests conducted to date.
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Los Angeles health director hopes schools can reopen in August
From CNN's Cheri Mossburg
Los Angeles County expects to issue guidance on reopening schools within the week, according to Health Director Barbara Ferrer.
Ferrer said she remains hopeful that cases stabilize by the end of July so districts can resume classes in mid-August.
The county plans on reopening schools once the data shows it is safe to do so, she said.
“We would never open any other sectors without looking at our data. You absolutely would not want to open a sector when you thought that the result of reopening would be an explosion of outbreaks within that sector,” Ferrer said.
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Rhode Island governor calls Trump's remarks on reopening schools "dishonest and reckless"
From CNN's Lauren del Valle
Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo sits during a news conference Monday, June 22, in Providence.
David Goldman/AP
Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo announced 41 new cases and two deaths related to Covid-19 Wednesday while denouncing President Trump’s remarks about reopening schools.
Asked about Trump’s comments threatening to fine states that don’t reopen schools, Raimondo said, “I just, I think it’s irresponsible, dishonest and reckless.”
The governor said $50 million has been allocated to assist school districts in taking necessary precautions due to Covid-19.
About the state’s reopening: Rhode Island beaches were crowded over the July 4 holiday, but no beach parking lots were ever at capacity, according to Raimondo. State officials handed out masks at beach entry points and asked beachgoers to disperse in the event of large groups congregating, she said.
As food and drink establishments have reopened in Rhode Island, state officials have found 10% are not in compliance with social distancing advisories and allow too much crowding.
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26 Mississippi legislators have tested positive for Covid-19, officials say
From CNN's James Froio and Jamiel Lynch
Mississippi legislators, staff and Capitol employees take advantage of a drive-thru Covid-19 testing center on the Capitol grounds in Jackson, Miss., on Monday, July 6.
Rogelio V. Solis/AP
Mississippi Health Department Dr. Thomas Dobbs said the state is continuing to work on an outbreak that resulted in several legislators testing positive for coronavirus.
More on this: Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves has tested negative for Covid-19, his office announced on Tuesday, while the Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann and State House Speaker Philip Gunn have both tested positive.
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Houston mayor cancels in-person GOP convention
From CNN's Raja Razek
In this file photo, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner addresses the U.S. Conference of Mayors 86th annual Winter Meeting at the Capitol Hilton January 25, 2018 in Washington.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said he “instructed the Houston Forst Corporation to exercise its right contractually in canceling State’s Republican Convention.”
“Today I instructed the Houston Forst Corporation to exercise its right contractually in cancelling the State’s Republican Convention that was set to take place next week at GRB. #COVID19,” the mayor tweeted.
Turner said Covid-19 is prevalent in Houston and he must do his part to help combat and mitigate the virus.
“The public health concern for our first responders, convention workers, and those who would have attended weighed heavily in our decision making. #Houston is in the midst of a global health crisis and we are doing everything in our power to combat #COVID19,” Turner tweeted.
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California governor says schools will reopen when the data shows it is safe to do so
From CNN's Cheri Mossburg and Stella Chan
Schools grounds stand empty at the Miguel Contreras Learning Complex before the new restrictions went into effect at midnight as the the coronavirus pandemic spreads on March 19, in Los Angeles, California.
David McNew/Getty Images
California schools will reopen when the data shows it is safe to do so, according to California Gov. Gavin Newsom
“I’m not worried about the latest tweets,” he said, in a thinly veiled reference to President Trump.
“We need to address safely reopening schools. That to me is non-negotiable,” the governor said at a news conference.
Reopening schools will be based on local conditions in the state, but Newsom added that “we must insist upon learning at the beginning of the school year.”
“Given our current data and the ongoing community transmission of this deadly virus, it’s prudent that school districts prepare a distance learning back-up plan that is ready to be implemented in the event that our data shows us this is the safest path forward,” the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health said in a statement to CNN.
Anticipating that schools will continue to be a topic of conversation, Newsom implored the public that reopening is contingent on behavior.
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Illinois reports more than 950 new Covid-19 cases
From CNN's Kay Jones and Brad Parks
The Illinois Department of Public Health reported 980 new Covid-19 cases across the state on Wednesday, bringing the total to 149,432.
This is the highest number of daily cases reported since June 5, according to the the department’s website.
According to a statement from the department, positivity rate for cases between July 1 and July 7 is 2.6%.
The department also reported a total of 1,518 patients hospitalized due to the virus, with 331 in intensive care. There are a total of 7,099 deaths statewide.
To note: These figures were released by Illinois Department of Public Health, and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project.
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Here's the latest coronavirus update from Louisiana
From CNN's Pierre Meilhan
The number of people contracting Covid-19 in Louisiana are getting younger and more White people, Gov. John Bel Edwards said Wednesday.
There’s a smaller percentage of younger patients in intensive care unit beds and on ventilators, Edwards told reporters in Baton Rouge.
The total number of Covid-19 cases in Louisiana is 70,151, according to the state’s Department of Health.
“People in Louisiana have a role to play,” he said. “It’s important (to wear masks) any time outside your home.”
The governor said the state’s goal is to open up schools on time but it needs to be done safely.
If on-campus learning resumes, Edwards said it won’t look like the way it did before the coronavirus pandemic.
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One-third of Americans missed their July housing payments due to Covid-19, survey says
From CNN's Alison Kosik
Thirty-two percent of Americans did not make a full, on-time housing payment in July due to the continued economic fallout of the coronavirus, according to online rental platform Apartment List.
This is the fourth straight month of a “historically high” number of Americans unable to pay their full hosing bill, the survey released on Wednesday found, and up slightly from 30% in June. Missed payments continue to hit renters, young and low-income households, and residents of dense urban areas the hardest.
And as eviction moratoriums and unemployment benefits expire across the country, Apartment List says that Americans worry missed payments could lead to them losing their homes.
“As overdue bills pile up, there is growing concern that a wave of evictions and foreclosures will hit the housing market,” the survey showed. “While eviction protections today vary dramatically from place to place, our survey shows widespread and growing concern about housing insecurity.”
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Utah reports record number of new Covid-19 cases
From CNN’s Konstantin Toropin
Utah has reported a record-high number of new Covid-19 cases over the last 24 hours — 715, state health data shows.
This is the highest daily case increase the state has reported, according to records that go back to early March.
Although the state has reported several sharp spikes in daily cases over the last few weeks, the state’s overall Covid-19 case trend is steady, according to both the state’s epidemic curve and CNN’s analysis of Johns Hopkins University data.
Utah does not have a statewide mask order in place but at least two counties, Salt Lake and Summit, have been given permission by Gov. Gary Herbert to enact county-wide mandates, according to CNN affiliate KSTU.
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Summer camp closes after Covid-19 outbreak in Arkansas
From CNN’s Rebekah Riess
Camp Ozark, a summer camp facility located in Mount Ida, Arkansas, has temporarily closed down after an outbreak of Covid-19, according to Dr. Nate Smith, the state’s cabinet secretary for the Department of Health.
Asked how the outbreak at the summer camp will inform his decision about reopening schools in the fall, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said “it simply means that whenever we reconvene, we’re going to have to adhere to those public health guidelines very strictly and not ignore, not that the summer camps did, but that we realize that when you have that congregation of people, it’s going to be a challenging environment that you’ve got to work with.”
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Tulsa is seeing an increase of Covid-19 cases after a week of declining numbers
From CNN's Kay Jones
Dr. Bruce Dart
Tulsa Department of Health
Dr. Bruce Dart, executive director of the Tulsa Health Department, said that there was a 20% decline in new Covid-19 cases the week of June 28 through July 4. However, he said there are high numbers being reported this week —nearly 500 new cases in two days — and the trends are showing that those numbers will increase.
Tulsa Health Department reported 266 new cases today, bringing the total number in the county to at least 4,571.
When asked if the cases are going up due to the rally President Trump held on June 20, Dart said that there were several large events a little over two weeks ago, which is about right. “I guess we just connect the dots.”
Mayor G.T. Bynum said the rally along with the large “serious seven” events — such as weddings, religious events and more — informed an executive order that goes into effect tomorrow requiring events with more than 500 people to receive guidance from the health department to evaluate safety plans. Event organizers and health officials will work on a case-by-case bases to make safe decisions in relation to the event, according to the executive order.
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Illinois expands Covid-19 mobile testing program
From CNN's Raja Razek
Gov. J.B. Pritzker
Pool
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Wednesday the expansion of the state’s Covid-19 testing program to bring testing to areas most in need.
The mobile testing sites would offer free drive-thru and walk-up tests to any Illinois resident who wants to be tested, according to the statement. The mobile teams are in addition to the already existing 11 free, state-run drive-thru and walk-up testing sites in the state.
Additionally, the National Guard will transition state-run testing sites to contract workers, according to the statement.
“More than 500 Illinois National Guard (ILNG) members will conclude their missions at the eleven state-run testing sites this month, with contract staffers supporting those sites going forward,” the statement read.
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Covid-19 hospitalizations in California are up 44%, governor says
From CNN's Cheri Mossburg
A woman wears a face-covering while walking past a sign leading to the Emergency section at the Los Angeles County+USC Medical Center in Los Angeles, on July 2.
Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images
Coronavirus hospitalizations in California are up 44% over the past two weeks, Gov. Gavin Newsom said today in a news conference. That translates to about 6,100 patients.
The number of patients in intensive care has climbed by 34% in the past 14 days.
California has added 11,694 additional cases, but Newsom cautions that approximately 2,000 of those are from a backlog in Los Angeles County. This brings the total number of cases to nearly 290,000.
California’s seven-day positivity rate is about 8%, Newsom said, and the 14-day rate stands at 7.1%. The state is averaging more than 100,000 tests each day.
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8 steps schools should take when they reopen, according to a former CDC head's advocacy group
From CNN Health’s Andrea Kane
Vital Strategies
It could be impossible to operate schools safely in communities where coronavirus infections are out of control, Dr. Tom Frieden, former director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said today.
Frieden is now CEO of Resolve to Save Lives, an advocacy and public health consultancy group that has put together a plan for how to reopen schools safely.
“The hard truth is that there is no route to zero risk of Covid-19 in the near future, but we can reduce the risk with careful planning and precautions,” Frieden said while speaking at a livestream event today. “But here’s the bottom line: The single most important thing we can do to keep our schools safe has nothing to do with what happens in schools – it’s how well we can control Covid in the community.”
He said that right now, because there are places around the country where the virus is spreading explosively, “it would be difficult — if not impossible — to operate schools safely there until the virus is under better control in those communities.”
When the time comes to reopen schools, Resolve to Save Lives introduced an eight-point plan “designed to complement evidence-based guidelines, such as that from the CDC, and to help education leaders make important decisions for each state and school district,” Frieden said.
The eight points are:
Shield the most vulnerable
Reduce risk wherever possible, which may mean re-engineering the school environment
Keep the virus out by restricting access and requiring visitors to wear face masks and wash their hands
Reduce occupancy, which may include a split shift or a week-on/week-off schedule
Reduce mixing by dividing students into smaller groups
Have teachers and students wear masks all day long
Implement new health and safety protocols, including more frequent cleaning
Prepare for cases; have protocol in place for when Covid-19 cases develop
“We don’t live in an ideal world, and we don’t have all the information we wish we had about how to protect our children’s health and future. We need to use the best available information to continue to learn so we can figure out how to improve the safety of our children at schools, the robustness of our society and of our economy,” Frieden said.
He said reopening schools is something we must do to more fully open our society and our economy.
“We can succeed if we take careful steps forward and respond rapidly to new information or cases. Our children’s future depends on it,” he said.
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Brazil's president vetoes parts of law that protects indigenous people against Covid-19
From CNN’s Rodrigo Pedroso in Sao Paulo
Andressa Anholete/Getty Images/FILE
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro vetoed several points of a law aimed at protecting indigenous communities against Covid-19 on Wednesday, according to the government’s Official Gazette.
He vetoed points that assured access to drinking water, free distribution of hygiene products like soap and toothpaste, cleaning and disinfection materials for indigenous communities and mandatory emergency funds for indigenous people’s health.
Parts that dealt with the emergency provision of additional hospital beds and intensive care units to indigenous people, and the acquisition of ventilators and blood oxygenation machines were also turned down.
More on this: The law establishes an emergency plan to combat the pandemic in indigenous territories and asserts that indigenous peoples and other traditional communities are considered “groups in situations of extreme vulnerability” and at high risk for public health emergencies.
The text, approved by the country’s Congress on May 21 and by the Senate on June 16, still has to go back to Congress, which will decide whether to approve presidential vetoes.
The publication of the law with Boslonaro’s vetoes takes place on the same day Supreme Court judge Luis Roberto Barroso ordered the federal government to take measures to protect indigenous communities against Covid-19.
Barroso asked for the creation of a national emergency plan, the installation of sanitary barriers and the establishment of a “Situation Room” to manage the response to the disease in indigenous territories.
For isolated and recently contacted indigenous people, the judge ordered the removal of outsiders from indigenous lands.
The action, which mandates that all indigenous people must have access to the public indigenous health system, was initiated by the Association of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB)
The latest numbers: According to APIB, until June 7, more than 12,000 indigenous people were infected with novel coronavirus, and at least 445 died since the beginning of the pandemic in the country. According to the Brazilian Indigenous Health service (SESAI), 3,421 indigenous people were infected and 184 died of the virus since the beginning of the pandemic.
SESAI only counts indigenous people living in indigenous territories, not urban centers.
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Clinical trials have begun for inhaled version of remdesivir
From CNN's Wes Bruer
Gilead Sciences, the maker of remdesivir, has announced the start of clinical trials for an inhaled version of the antiviral drug to treat Covid-19 patients who do not require hospitalization.
The trial will be comprised of 60 healthy individuals ages 18-45 in the US to determine the safety and tolerability of the drug in this format.
Remdesivir, which is currently administered intravenously through infusions, is the only drug that has an emergency use authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration to treat coronavirus infections.
“Additional clinical trials evaluating remdesivir in combination with anti-inflammatory medicines, in vulnerable patient populations and in outpatient settings are ongoing or planned to initiate in the near future,” the statement said.
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Covid-19 hospitalizations up 70% in Miami-Dade County
From CNN's Rosa Flores and Sara Weisfeldt
In the past 13 days, Florida’s Miami-Dade County has seen a 70% increase in the number of Covid-19 patients being hospitalized.
The number of intensive care unit beds being used has risen to 84% and the use of ventilators is at 116%, according to the latest data released by Miami-Dade County government.
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Chile continues downward trend of daily Covid-19 cases as two regions ease lockdowns
From CNN's Tatiana Arias
A medical worker takes a swab sample from a senior resident for COVID-19 test in San Miguel of Santiago, Chile, Tuesday, July 7.
Xinhua/NTB Scanpix/ZUMA Press
Chile’s Ministry of Health reported 2,064 new cases of coronavirus Wednesday, bringing the country’s total to 303,083.
The number of new cases represent an increase of 0.69% in the last 24 hours, the lowest figure recorded since early May, according to CNN’s count.
However, health authorities reported 139 new deaths on Wednesday, a sharp increase of 2.16% on the new number of daily deaths since July 4 – bringing the death toll to 6,573.
Lockdown easing measures were announced Wednesday for the regions of Aysen and Los Rios and they will take effect starting next Monday.
For those regions, sporting events of 10 people maximum in enclosed spaces and up to 50 in open areas are now permitted.
People older than 75 can now go outside once a day. Theaters, cinemas, restaurants and cafes can operate at a 25% maximum capacity, according to Chile’s authorities.
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West Virginia sets September 8 as target date for reopening schools
From CNN’s Alec Snyder
Gov. Jim Justice
West Virginia Governor's office
West Virginia is setting up September 8 as its target date for reopening schools across the state, Gov. Jim Justice said Wednesday in a news conference.
The governor said the state feels ready to start now if it was safe but said he knows and believes it is too early. Gov. Justice also voiced his support for President Trump and his hopes for his reelection in the fall as part of a passing statement about Trump’s desire to get kids back to school.
Positive case rates continue to increase in West Virginia, the governor said. The positivity rate in the state is under 2%, but that rate has varied from testing period to testing period.
Justice faced pushback for using CARES Act funds toward road and highway rehabilitation and repairs across the state but defended his actions Wednesday with the justification that the state has extra money that he’d otherwise have to give back at the end of the year if it didn’t get claimed.
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Florida's Miami-Dade County reports 28% Covid-19 positivity rate
From CNN's Rosa Flores and Sara Weisfeldt
Miami-Dade County officials reported a 28% Covid-19 positivity rate on Wednesday, according to data released by Mayor Carlos Giménez’s office. The positivity rate is tracked daily by the county.
Giménez’s office said the goal is to not exceed a positivity rate of 10%. The county has exceeded the 10% mark for the past 14 days. The current 14-day average is 23%, the data shows.
Remember: Apositivity rate is the percentage of people who test positive for the virus of those overall who have been tested.
So, as more and more people are being tested, the focus is shifting to the positivity rate — how many of those tested are actually infected.
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New York City has more than 23,000 confirmed and probable Covid-19 deaths
The New York City Health Department defines probable deaths as people who did not have a positive Covid-19 laboratory test, but their death certificate lists as the cause of death “Covid-19” or an equivalent.
The total number of confirmed coronavirus deaths and probable coronavirus deaths in New York City is 23,224.
There have been 214,570 coronavirus cases in the city and 55,280 people have been hospitalized, according to the city.
The data is from the New York City Health Department and was updated on July 8 at 1 p.m., according to the website.
To note: The numbers may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project.
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Reopening schools is essential, but "we can't just charge forward," former CDC director says
From CNN's Andrea Kane
Dr. Tom Frieden
Vital Strategies
Schools must reopen, but they have to do so safely, former US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Dr. Tom Frieden said Wednesday.
“Education is essential. Interruptions in education because of coronavirus have cost millions of students precious little time and have slowed or stalled educational progress,” Frieden, who is now CEO of the advocacy and public health consultancy group Resolve to Save Lives, said during a livestream event to outline the organization’s blueprint for how to reopen schools safely.
However, he warned, “we can’t just charge forward.”
“That’s not going to work, because of what happened in Arizona, Texas, Florida and elsewhere: one step forward too fast, many steps backward, and for a long time. Trying to open schools without accounting for and protecting students and staff from Covid is going to backfire,” said Frieden.
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There are no ICU beds available in 42 Florida hospitals
From CNN's Randi Kaye and Melissa Alonso
There are currently 42 Florida hospitals that are at zero capacity for intensive care unit beds.
This is down from 56 hospitals reported on Tuesday, according to Florida’s Agency for Healthcare Administration (AHCA).
On Wednesday, 54 hospitals around the state were at 10% capacity or less, according to the AHCA dashboard.
“Hospitals have the ability to convert beds and bring additional ICU beds online in a surge situation when necessary,” the AHCA said in a statement to CNN.
Boca Raton Hospital in Palm Beach County normally has 230 adult ICU beds, there are just 11 available; lowering their capacity to 4.56%, according to AHCA.
Miami-Dade County has 992 adult ICU beds in its hospitals but currently 170 are available, 17.14% capacity, AHCA data shows.
“The state has established a field hospital at the Miami Beach Convention Center with over 450 beds to allow for even greater capacity if necessary,” the AHCA statement said.
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Broward County schools could remain closed despite Florida mandate to reopen in the fall
From CNN’s Rosa Flores and Sara Weisfeldt
Despite Florida’s order to reopen schools in “brick and mortar” fashion in the fall, Broward County Schools could remain closed because Broward County is still in phase one of the reopening plan, according to Robert Runcie, Broward County Public Schools Superintendent.
Earlier today, school superintendent Alberto Carvalho of Miami-Dade County — which is directly south of Broward County — tweeted his school system would “ONLY proceed with in-person schooling” if Miami-Dade County successfully transitioned to phase two. Miami-Dade is currently in phase one.
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New Jersey governor: There are coronavirus "flare ups" due to out-of-state travel
From CNN's Kristina Sgueglia
Gov. Phil Murphy
Pool
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said the state reported 335 new Covid-19 cases, bringing its total to more than 174,000.
The daily positivity rate for tests recorded on Monday is 3.23%, Murphy said, even though the state has been hovering at about 2%. The number of tests counted Monday was very low, which may account for the increase, Murphy said.
The governor added that there have been “a couple flare ups” related to out-of-state travel.
“There’s another increment of risk we’re getting from folks coming in from other states that have exploded and continue to explode,” he said.
He added that the system “so far so good has worked spotting some of these flare ups relating to out-of-state travel, as well as some knucklehead behavior in state.”
Remember: New Jersey, along with New York and Connecticut, require travelers coming from at least 19 states with high coronavirus rates to quarantine for at least two weeks once they enter the state.
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Coronavirus cases, hospitalizations, and deaths are declining in Canada, prime minister says
From CNN’s James Froio
CTV Network
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the number of coronavirus cases, hospitalizations, and deaths are declining across the country.
“Canada has one of the most ambitious and comprehensive plans to counter the economic impacts of this pandemic,” he added.
Trudeau said they increased financial support to “vulnerable groups like seniors and students” and those who lost their jobs during the pandemic, as well as provided loans to businesses.
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Spain's outbreaks present "a worrying situation," health minister says
From CNN's Laura Pérez Maestro
Healthcare workers gather samples collected at a temporary testing centre for the novel coronavirus in the Spanish Basque city of Ordizia on Wednesday, July 8.
Ander Gillenea/AFP/Getty Images
Spanish Health Minister, Salvador Illa, told a Catalan Radio on Wednesday, that the outbreaks in the country present “a worrying situation.”
Spain registered 257 new cases on Wednesday, over half of them linked to outbreaks in Catalonia, Aragon, Galicia and Andalusia.
The total number of cases in the country is at least 252,513. The government’s data also shows that four people died from coronavirus in Spain in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of coronavirus-related deaths to 28,396.
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New Jersey makes changes to allow for more restaurants to have outdoor dining
From CNN's Kristina Sgueglia
Gov. Phil Murphy
Pool
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy is making changes to allow for more restaurants to have outdoor dining.
The state will be explicitly allowing areas with fixed roofs with at least two open sides, comprising at least 50% of the total wall space, to be considered outdoors “in light of their airflow.”
He reiterated today, “we are just not ready to open up indoor dining.”
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United warning 45% of frontline workforce could be furloughed this fall
From CNN’s Pete Muntean
A pilot walks by United Airlines planes as they sit parked at gates at San Francisco International Airport on April 12 in San Francisco.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Clobbered by the coronavirus pandemic, United Airlines is sending warning letters nearly half of its frontline workforce that they could be furloughed when restrictions on a federal bailout expire October 1.
The world’s third-largest airline says 36,000 workers — including 15,000 flight attendants, 11,000 customer service and gate agents, 5,550 maintenance employees and 2,250 pilots — are about to receive 60-day mass layoff notices. The reductions are in addition to furloughs of office-based employees the company previously said it would cut.
The Wednesday announcement paints a grim picture for an air travel recovery only days after United announced it would ramp up its schedule in August.
The airline is operating only a quarter of flights compared to last year and says that planes are, on average, 55% full. United executives say demand for air travel has slipped recently in markets such as New York, where bookings at its Newark hub dropped as Covid cases surged.
United executives told reporters the company has done everything it can to protect employees — urging them to take early retirement and voluntary separation plans and aggressively raising millions in new money — but the airline is still hemorrhaging $40 million each day.
The airline, which reached an agreement this week with the Treasury Department to tap a loan fund, is also not counting on another round of relief to pass Congress.
“We do not feel like we can count on additional federal government support to survive and we have to take steps to protect the company and protect the long-term interest of the company and the prospects for united employees,” a company executive said.
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Here are the latest coronavirus updates from New York state
From CNN's Melanie Schuman
People stand in line outside The Shops at Columbus Circle on July 7,
Noam Galai/Getty Images
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced new details on reopening plans and provided updates on coronavirus case numbers at a briefing today.
Here’s what you need to know:
Schools: By July 31, local school districts across the state will have to submit their plans including protocols and how they will reopen. On August 1-7, the state will announce a decision on whether or not those schools reopen.
Malls: Beginning Friday, malls can open in phase four regions so long as they have enhanced HVAC filtration system and measures in place. The Department of Health is asking for malls to install MERV-13 filters or the highest compatible filter for their current system which can filter out coronavirus.
Hospitalizations: There were 841 hospitalizations across New York state as of Tuesday and 97 intubations – the first time the latter number is under 100 and first time this low since March 16. There were 11 deaths on July 7 — nine in hospitals and two in nursing homes.
Testing: In New York City, 1.2% of those tested over the last five days were positive. Cuomo debunked the theory that there are more positive cases across the country because of testing, citing the rise in hospitalizations.
Quarantine list: Nineteen states are on a quarantine list, including the three additions announced Tuesday – Delaware, Kansas and Oklahoma. New York, New Jersey and Connecticut issued a travel advisory last month that requires people arriving from states with high coronavirus rates to quarantine for 14 days.
One thing to note: The numbers were released by the state Department of Health and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project.
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How the US went from zero coronavirus cases to 3 million in 170 days
That’s almost two times more than the second hardest-hit nation, Brazil, which has reported more than 1.6 million cases.
Here’s a quick timeline of how quickly the virus spread in the US:
Jan. 21: The US reports its first reported case.
99 days later: At least 1 million Americans have been infected
43 days later: The US reports more than 2 million cases
28 days later: The US reached 3 million cases
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Pence says White House will be "respectful" of states that can't reopen schools
From CNN's Kevin Liptak
The White House will be “very respectful” of states and local communities who determine they cannot fully reopen schools, Vice President Mike Pence said Wednesday.
Despite President Trump’s insistence that all schools reopen, and his vow to pressure governors to do that, Pence acknowledged there could be places where case counts prevent a full return to classrooms.
“I think we would account for the fact that while we hope every school in America is able to open this fall, there may be some states and local communities that given cases or positivity in that community may adjust to either a certain set of days or certain limitations,” Pence said.
He said the federal government would work with localities where outbreaks prevent a full return to in-person schooling.
Asked about Trump’s threat earlier Wednesday to withhold funding to schools that do not reopen, Pence noted that most education funding comes from states but said that in discussions with Congress about new funding, “we’re going to be looking for a way to give states a strong incentive and encouragement to get kids back to school.”
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CDC director says guidance is not intended to be used to keep schools closed
From CNN's Adrienne Vogt
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Robert Redfield said agency guidance on schools should not be utilized to keep schools closed.
“The guidance that CDC continues to put out for schools K-12 and higher learning is intentional for reopening and keeping our schools open,” Redfield said.
The CDC will issue new guidance on reopening schools next week.
Redfield said his agency is willing to work with individual school districts to advise them on the different strategies outlined in the updated guidance.
“We’re prepared to work with all the school districts and schools to help them facilitate their development of their own unique plan to accomplish that,” he said.
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Gov. Cuomo on Trump's "threat" about school funding: "You're not going to bully New Yorkers"
From CNN's Melanie Schuman
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks during a press briefing in New York on July 8.
NY1/Pool
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo brushed off President Trump’s “threat” about defunding states if governors don’t reopen schools.
“You’re not going to bully New Yorkers. That’s not going to happen, right?” he said.
The state spends about $70 billion on education each year and only $3 billion comes from the federal government. Those federal funds go to the students most in need, according to Jim Malatras, president of the State University of New York’s Empire State College and working on the governor’s task force for reopening.
Expanding on potential schools reopening in the fall, Cuomo said specific district plans can be denied, accepted or districts can be asked for alterations.
Following those decisions, the state will make a global decision as to whether any school district can reopen.
He said it’s possible to have a regional reopening and he acknowledged concerns about teachers’ safety.
Responding to a reporter’s question about greenlighting the proposed New York City plan for reopening, Cuomo said ideally you would make the decision the night before. “I don’t have the luxury of waiting for the night before. Our institutional, systemic drop-dead date is the first week in August,” he said.
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Birx lays out "encouraging" trends for coronavirus in Arizona, Texas and Florida
From CNN's Maegan Vazquez
White House coronavirus task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx speaks during a White House coronavirus disease task force briefing at the U.S. Education Department in Washington, DC., on July 8.
Pool
White House coronavirus task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx said Wednesday that the Trump administration is seeing some “encouraging” trends in Arizona, Texas and Florida — three of the hotspot states seeing a surge of coronavirus cases across the sunbelt.
Birx also referenced a stabilizing of emergency room visits for Covid-19-like symptoms in Arizona, calling it “an early indicator and we find that encouraging.”
Similarly, in Florida, Birx said, they are starting to see “early suggestions of decreasing emergency room visits for the symptoms of Covid and some stability starting in that (test positivity rate) hoping that heralds a stability in the number of daily reported cases.”
However, CNN’s health team notes that they are not hearing the same when it comes to hospitalizations.
“We also understand that we went through a holiday weekend and holiday weekends can impact data on both ends — underreporting through the weekend and catch up reporting on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday after a holiday weekend,” she added.
“Texas is in a similar situation with their (test positivity rate),” Birx said.
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States with surges should return to "phase one" guidelines, Birx says
From CNN's Kevin Liptak
People living in states with coronavirus surges should return to the White House’s original “phase one” recommendations on gatherings, Dr. Deborah Birx said on Wednesday.
Citing guidelines like wearing face masks and avoiding bars and indoor events, Birx said those steps should be resumed in order to bring cases back under control.
She said they are “asking the American people in those counties and in those states to not only use those face coverings, not going to bars, not going to indoor dining, but really not gathering in homes either. And decreasing those gatherings back down to our phase one recommendation, which was 10 or less.”
Birx touted the importance of mask-wearing and said “any kind of indoor gathering” should be avoided in places experiencing a spike in cases.
President Trump has repeatedly said the economy should not be shut down again, even as cases increase.
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Pence says new CDC school guidelines coming next week: "It's time" to get kids back to school
From CNN's Sam Fossum
Vice President Mike Pence leads a White House coronavirus disease task force briefing at the U.S. Education Department in Washington, DC., on July 8.
Carlos Barria/Reuters
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will issue new guidance on reopening schools next week after President Trump dismissed their current recommendations as “very tough & expensive.”
Speaking at a briefing by the White House coronavirus task force, Vice President Mike Pence said the new guidance would be “part of a five-part series of recommendations that will give all new tools to our schools.”
“We’re absolutely determined to work in partnership with our states to give the guidance for states and communities to be able to safely reopen our schools,” Pence said.
Still, he repeated a statement made a day earlier by the CDC’s director that the agency’s guidelines should not act as a barrier to reopening schools.
“As the President made clear yesterday it’s time. It’s time for us to get our kids back to school,” Pence said.
Some context: Earlier Wednesday, Trump accused the CDC of producing “very tough & expensive guidelines for opening schools,” saying he disagreed with the health agency’s recommendations.
“While they want them open, they are asking schools to do very impractical things,” Trump wrote. “I will be meeting with them!!!”
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Pence says medical personnel are being sent to states with surging cases
Vice President Mike Pence said the White House coronavirus task force is focusing their efforts in states where half of the new cases have arisen, including Arizona, Florida and California. Pence said governors have described a need for personnel.
Pence is holding a briefing alongside Dr. Deborah Birx, White House coronavirus response coordinator; Brett Giroir, assistant Secretary for Health; Robert Redfield, the head of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Alex Azar, Health and Human Services secretary; and Betsy DeVos, Education secretary. Those in attendance are wearing masks.
Pence, who took off his mask to speak, is making comments now.
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More than 3 million coronavirus cases have been reported in the US
The US has the most cases of coronavirus of any country in the world. Brazil — which has more than 1.6 million, according to Johns Hopkins’ tally — is the second most impacted country. India had the third most cases, with more than 700,000.
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Hialeah, Florida, mayor: There needs to be a united message “from the top to the bottom”
From CNN's Adrienne Vogt
“Mixed messages” are confusing people and leading to the spread of coronavirus in Florida, says Carlos Hernandez, the mayor of Hialeah, a city in Miami-Dade County.
“That’s making it very difficult at the city levels because people are getting different messages from the federal government, state government — even here at the county, we’re getting mixed messages,” Herandez said.
The Republican mayor said the lack of contact tracing is “not acceptable.” He said he is not aware of any contact tracing being done in his city by state officials.
“This is something that if we don’t unite and if we don’t all take care of each other, again, we’re going to find ourselves in a very critical situation very soon in south Florida,” he said.
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New York will make a decision in August on schools reopening, governor says
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo today laid out the timeline for how the state will make the decisions about reopening schools in the fall.
School districts will submit their plans for reopening by the end of the month, the governor said during a coronavirus briefing today. After that, Cuomo said, the state will “look at the data in that first week” of August and “we’ll make a decision” on reopening schools.
Cuomo said that the state “will open the schools if it’s safe.”
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Travelers from 19 states must quarantine if they travel to Northeastern states
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the state is adding three new states to its quarantine list: Delaware, Kansas and Oklahoma.
That means that travelers from 19 states are required to quarantine for two weeks after they enter New York, Cuomo said. New Jersey and Connecticut are also requiring travelers from those 19 states to quarantine.
After touting low hospitalization and intubation rates in the state, Cuomo said he also had some “bad news” to share.
“Bad news is everything around us, frankly,” Cuomo said, noting that a virus “anywhere” means it’s a threat everywhere.
Cuomo said that people flying to New York from the 19 states on the quarantine list will be given a form on their flights asking them to report where they’re coming from, where they’re staying and informing them of the need to quarantine.
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New Jersey will require face coverings outdoors when social distancing isn't possible
From CNN's Elizabeth Joseph
People wait in line at the entrance to an amusement pier on July 3 in Wildwood, New Jersey.
Mark Makela/Getty Images
New Jersey will require people to wear face coverings while outdoors when social distancing isn’t possible, Gov. Phil Murphy said on MSNBC this morning.
“You’re going to at least get a warning if not something stronger,” he said.
Murphy is expected to announce an executive order outlining the outdoor face covering policy during his 1:00 p.m. ET news conference, his office told CNN.
Read more about the states requiring people to wear masks when out in public here.
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Phoenix faces a "huge testing shortage," mayor says
From CNN's Aditi Sangal
A man is administered a COVID-19 test in his car at a drive-thru testing site in Phoenix on June 27.
Matt York/AP
As coronavirus cases in Arizona continue to surge, Mayor Kate Gallego says Phoenix is facing “a huge testing shortage.”
“People have been in line for eight hours in a hot car while they ache, waiting for a test,” she said. “We are five months in in the United States of America. People who want a test should not have to wait that long.”
Gallego says there is a need for low-barrier testing. She requested the federal government and the Federal Emergency Management Agency for mass testing sites in Phoenix, but that request has been denied.
William Haseltine, a former Harvard Medical School professor, claimed that Arizona is implementing a crisis standard of care, which means, “if you’re old, you get sent home without care and you die.”
“Unfortunately, our medical professionals don’t have the resources they need and so they are being asked to make difficult decisions,” Gallego said, responding to Haseltine’s comments. She emphasized that people experiencing emergency conditions such as a heart attack should still go to the emergency room and that they will receive care.
Medical professionals are exhausted and asking for reinforcements, while warning that “the worst is yet to come,” Gallego says.
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SOON: White House coronavirus task force holds briefing as US nears 3 million cases
Vice President Mike Pence and members of the White House coronavirus task force are set to hold a briefing at 11:30 a.m. ET from the Department of Education.
The briefing comes as at least 35 states are seeing an increase in new Covid-19 cases compared to the previous week and as the country nears 3 million cases.
New cases in the US continue to rise at a record rate, with the country reporting more than 60,000 cases yesterday — its highest single daily count since the pandemic began.
Here’s a look at how new cases have progressed over time:
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Florida records nearly 10,000 more coronavirus cases
From CNN's Melissa Alonso
Lines of cars wait at a drive-through coronavirus testing site on July 5 outside Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.
Wilfredo Lee/AP
Florida health officials are reporting at least 9,989 new Covid-19 cases for the state on Wednesday, according to data from Florida Department of Health.
The record for the most daily coronavirus cases in a single day in the state, which was set last week, is more than 11,400.
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Russia digs twin trenches around quarantined Siberian village
From CNN's Darya Tarasova and Zamira Rahim
A view shows a trench dug by local authorities around a remote Siberian village of Shuluta to enforce a quarantine on July 6 in Republic of Buryatia, Russia.
Reuters
Authorities have dug double trenches around the rural Siberian village of Shuluta to prevent people from entering and exiting the area during its coronavirus quarantine.
Dozens of villagers have contracted Covid-19 during the pandemic, reported Reuters news agency. Officials believe the disease spread in Shuluta after residents took part in a traditional shaman ritual on June 10 performed by an infected woman, according to Reuters.
The twin trenches were constructed on June 29 after people tried to enter the remote village by car, said Dora Khamaganova, a local administration official. They also prevent tourists who are visiting the nearby Tunka National Park from entering Shuluta.
Khamaganova’s post added that authorities are doing everything they can to limit the entry and exit of people from Shuluta.
At least 37 people living in the village have contracted coronavirus, out of a population of 390, reported Reuters.
According to Khamaganova’s post, Ivan Alheev, the head of administration for the Tunka region, said that two residents of the villages of Shuluta and nearby Torah had known about their positive coronavirus results and will face prosecution at the end of quarantine.
Russia has 699,749 cases of coronavirus, the fourth highest total in the world, according to Johns Hopkins University.
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Fauci still "cautiously optimistic" about having Covid-19 vaccine by the end of the year
From CNN Health's Jacqueline Howard
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on June 30 in Washington, DC.
Al Drago/Pool/Getty Images
The United States is still on track to possibly have a Covid-19 vaccine by the end of year or early next year, but the nation’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, warned there is still some uncertainty.
In a video message and presentation shown during a virtual panel held by the United Nations Academic Impact initiative on Wednesday, Fauci noted that many vaccine candidates currently are being studied, including the biotechnology company Moderna’s mRNA vaccine, whose phase three trial was recently delayed to start later this month or in early August.
Promising results so far from that vaccine candidate and some others “makes me cautiously optimistic, although you can never, ever predict with any certainty whether a vaccine is going to be safe and effective,” Fauci said during the presentation.
He continued:
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Atlanta mayor expected to mandate face masks in the city
From CNN's Nick Valencia
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms speaks during a Senate Democrats' Special Committee on the Climate Crisis on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC., on July 17, 2019.
Andrew Harnik/AP
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms is expected to sign an executive order that will mandate facial coverings in the city.
Michael Smith, a spokesperson for the mayor told CNN that “details are forthcoming.”
The face mask development was first reported by WABE.
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NYC will use a combination of in-person and remote learning if schools open in the fall, mayor says
From CNN's Kristina Sgueglia
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio speaks during a press conference in New York on July 8.
NYC Media
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Wednesday that if schools reopen in the fall, the approach will be “blended learning” — meaning “at some points in the week, you’re learning in person in the classroom; at other points of the week, you’re learning remotely.”
Remember: New York state has not decided if schools will be open in September but has asked each of the 700 districts to come up with a plan.
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Trump threatens to cut funding to schools that do not reopen
From CNN's Betsy Klein
President Donald Trump speaks during an event at the White House on July 7.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
President Trump tweeted Wednesday his disagreement with the US Centers from Disease Control and Prevention’s guidelines for safely reopening schools, calling their recommendations “very tough” and “expensive.”
He also threatened he “may cut off funding” to schools that do not reopen, though the bulk of public school funding comes from state and local governments.
The CDC’s guidelines encourage hygiene, the use of cloth face coverings and staying home when appropriate. It also suggests staggered scheduling, a back-up staffing plan, modified seating layouts to allow social distancing, physical barriers and closing of communal spaces.
Trump, who has advocated for reopening states as cases surge, said Tuesday he would pressure governors to reopen schools this fall during a discussion with educators, administrators, students, and parents.
“We hope that most schools are going to be open,” Trump said at a White House event, baselessly claiming that some places will want to stay closed “for political reasons.”
“They think it’s going to be good for them politically, so they keep the schools closed,” the President alleged without evidence. “No way.”
“We’re very much going to put pressure on governors and everybody else to open the schools, to get them open,” Trump said, who has been anxious to reopen America to kickstart the economy and otherwise move on from the pandemic, despite its resurgence.
About school funding: Most funding for America’s schools comes from the state and local level — over 90%, according to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, but schools do get some targeted funding from the Department of Education. That federal funding often affects the nation’s most vulnerable students.
But educators and administrators have called on the federal government to supplement funding for personal protective equipment and other resources, such as additional school buses, to reconfigure classrooms in order to safely reopen.
Republicans in the Senate are planning to unveil a stimulus bill that includes federal spending to re-open schools and childcare facilities. Democrats have also included proposals to get schools re-opened in their stimulus proposals.
Trump told Nextstarin an interview Tuesday that he had time to consider school reopening.
“Well, we have a long time to think about the school stuff. Because, you know. But we want to have the schools open,” Trump said. “I would say that when we talk about the fall, that seems like a long time. It’s a long time.”
But many school districts in the south, where coronavirus cases are rising, begin the school year in just a few short weeks.
And while the President is hopeful the pandemic will improve over the next month, a trusted model from the University of Washington is forecasting an uptick in deaths this fall and increased its death toll projection to over 208,000 deaths by November.
CNN’s Sara Murray, Kristen Holmes, Maegan Vazquez, Ben Tinker and Fredreka Schouten contributed to this report.
WATCH ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA TEACHERS UNION PRESIDENT RESPOND:
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In May, Florida's governor called Jacksonville a success. Now, it's a Covid-19 hotspot.
From CNN's Sara Weisfeldt, Rosa Flores and Melissa Alonso
The federal government on Tuesday deemed Jacksonville, Florida a Covid-19 hotspot and said it will temporarily increase surge testing efforts there, according to a Department of Health and Human Services press release.
Jacksonville is one of three cities identified by the department as having “significant increases” in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations, according to a HHS press release. The other two hotspots are Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Edinburg, Texas.
Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry is currently in quarantine after coming into contact with someone who had tested positive for coronavirus.
The current situation in Florida is a stark contrast from two months ago, when Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis defended the reopening of beaches and asked critics to send apologies.
At a press briefing on May 4th, DeSantis said this about Jacksonville:
Surgeon General says masks are "the most important thing," but still doesn't support a nationwide mandate
From CNN Health's Jacqueline Howard
US Surgeon General Jerome Adams holds a face mask during a coronavirus briefing at the White House on April 22.
Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images
US Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams has called wearing a mask or face covering “the most important thing” that people can do right now to allow the nation to open and stay open.
“We have the ability to slow the spread of Covid if we wear face coverings. It’s the most important thing in my opinion that we can do that will allow us to open and stay open,” Adams told the local news station FOX 5 in Washington, DC, on Wednesday morning.
“Coronavirus can get bad really quickly, but I want people to understand that we can improve the coronavirus rates really quickly in the course of two to three weeks,” Adams said. “There are studies that show that you can decrease the spread of coronavirus by 60%, 70% if you can get 80-plus% of people wearing face coverings when they go out in public.”
Yet Adams added that he still does not support a nationwide mandate for face coverings — he said that someone has to explain how such a mandate would “actually function” and he worries about “over-policing.”
“I support local and state mask mandates if governors and mayors want to do that, but I think we have to help educate people. We’ve got to make sure the enforcement mechanism is something that’s not going to be overly onerous. People are more likely to cooperate if they know why they’re doing that and if they actually know how they’re going to benefit,” Adams said. “I’d rather help educate you and have you choose to do it than to force people to do it.”
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Australia's Melbourne goes into lockdown for 6 weeks as coronavirus cases increase
Police officers and health care workers are stationed outside a public housing tower that is locked down in Melbourne on July 8.
James Ross/AAP Image/AP
It’s just past midnight in Melbourne, which means the Australian city has gone into a six-week lockdown following a rise in coronavirus cases.
Melbourne has a population of almost five million people who will be affected by the measure.
Under the new “Stay at Home” stage three lockdown, the only reasons residents will be able to leave home is for grocery shopping, caregiving, exercise or work. Police and the army will monitor roadblocks to clamp down on people who do not need to be outside.
Before today, 31 local government areas of Metropolitan Melbourne were already at stage 3, and a residential block housing around three thousand residents were in hard lockdown.
Victoria State Premier Daniel Andrews posted on his verified Facebook page that “I know people will be feeling a lot of different emotions tonight. No one wants to be in this situation. But in the absence of a vaccine, the only way to defeat this virus is to deprive it of what it needs to spread.”
Andrews warned in a post that “for every restriction that you break and all the health advice that you ignore – the consequence maybe someone’s life. Now more than ever, we need Victorians to play their part. Lives are counting on it.”
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Scotland lifts quarantine for countries on UK list, except Serbia and Spain
From CNN's From Niamh Kennedy in Dublin
Scotland will lift the quarantine requirement for travelers arriving from the same countries on the British government’s exemption list, except for Serbia and Spain, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced at a news conference Wednesday.
Passengers who arrive in Scotland starting on July 10, traveling from any of the 57 countries on the green and amber lists, which includes the likes of Germany and Norway, will not have to self-isolate for 14 days.
A key criteria for inclusion on the list was having a prevalence rate of coronavirus “below or not significantly higher than Scotland,” Sturgeon explained, adding that it was on this basis the government took the “difficult decision” to exclude Spain and Serbia from the ease of restrictions.
Sturgeon cited Joint Bias Security Centre data which stated that Spain has a prevalence rate of 330 cases per 100,000 people, while the Scottish coronavirus prevalence rate currently stands at 28 cases for every 100,000 people. This compares to a whole UK rate of 180 per 100,000 people.
Sturgeon said the Scottish Cabinet “cannot in good conscience at this stage lift restrictions for people arriving on Spain” and expressed her “concerns about Serbia” and its recent outbreak, which has prompted neighboring countries to close their borders. She affirmed that this decision is “evidence driven” and will be reviewed on July 20.
Some background: Last week, Spain and Scotland were both included in a list of countries whose travelers would be allowed into England without having to quarantine for 14 days. The United States was not on the list.
The list, which comes into effect on July 10, will open foreign travel to English vacationers after four months of lockdown, just in time for the peak travel period, provided there are no restrictions in place at the destinations.
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Stocks inch higher as Covid-19 cases rise around the country
From CNN’s Anneken Tappe
US stocks inched up at the opening bell in New York, but it’s a rather quiet day on Wall Street. After Tuesday’s losses, no new records are on the horizon on Wednesday.
And with the second-quarter earnings season not properly starting until next week, and little data on the economic calendar, stocks are lacking an obvious catalyst.
In recent sessions, a quiet news day has meant that investors worried about rising Covid-19 infections across America.
Here’s how the market opened:
The Dow opened 0.2%, or 62 points, higher.
The S&P 500 kicked off 0.3% higher.
The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.6%.
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Covid-19 patient who tested positive for the virus twice shares his story: "It just flat kicked my butt"
From CNN's Adrienne Vogt
Adam Stadler on CNN's "New Day" on July 8.
CNN
A Texas man, Adam Stadler, said his second bout of coronavirus was “a hundred times worse than the first time.”
Stadler experienced muscles aches, fatigue, joint pains, shortness of breath and loss of sense and smell.
Stadler says he first got sick with coronavirus back on March 29. A month later, he got so sick that he was hospitalized for 10 days and developed a pulmonary embolism. He then tested negative twice, developed shingles, and tested positive for coronavirus again on June 21.
Dr. Joseph Varon on CNN's "New Day" on July 8.
CNN
His physician Dr. Joseph Varon, chief of staff at Union Memorial Medical Center in Houston, said Stadler’s case shows that people still need to be vigilant.
Asked if Stadler’s two negative Covid-19 tests could have been false negatives and therefore he did not catch the virus again, Varon said it was a possibility.
Stadler’s wife also developed symptoms, and she was diagnosed with double pneumonia. Stadler said his son still considers coronavirus a “hoax,” and he wishes his son would wear a mask and socially distance.
“This has been the worst three or four months that I have ever experienced in my life,” Stadler said.
He’s on short-term disability with his job, and he’s thankful he and his wife had a bit of money saved up to tide them over. Stadler said he is still feeling the cognitive effects of the virus.
Important note: Doctors are still undecided on whether Covid-19 reinfection can occur this early in the pandemic.
While top infectious disease experts say it is likely that there is some degree of immunity from a prior infection, it is unclear how long that could last. So, what may appear to be “reinfection” could just be non-infectious traces of the virus, which have been known to linger in some patients for upwards of 6 to 8 weeks.
It is also possible that a patient may have had a false-positive antibody test, and that a later Covid-19 infection is in fact their first.
Watch the interview:
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More people have died in Africa from coronavirus than during worst Ebola outbreak
From CNN's Amanda Watts
In Africa, more people have now died in the coronavirus pandemic than during the Ebola outbreak that lasted from 2014 until 2016, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday.
Coronavirus infections across Africa have topped 500,000 according to WHO.
“With more than a third of countries in Africa doubling their cases over the past month, the threat of Covid-19 overwhelming fragile health systems on the continent is escalating,” Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Director for Africa, said.
WHO said some countries are seeing a “sharp rise in cases,” while others are showing “some signs of progress,” as a handful of areas are seeing a downward trend over the last month.
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Brooks Brothers files for bankruptcy
From CNN’s Jordan Valinsky
People walk past a Brooks Brothers store in Boston on May 11.
Jim Davis/The Boston Globe/Getty Images
Brooks Brothers, the 200-year-old menswear retailer that has dressed 40 US presidents and unofficially became the outfitter of Wall Street bankers, has filed for bankruptcy.
The privately held company had been struggling as business attire grew more casual in recent years. But it has been decimated by the coronavirus pandemic, which sent demand for suits plummeting. Many employees working from home have opted for far more relaxed looks of t-shirts and sweatpants rather than pinstripe suits and custom shirts.
Brooks Brothers filed for Chapter 11 early Wednesday in a Delaware court. It had warned in June it would lay off nearly 700 workers in three states and is seeking a buyer because coronavirus destroyed its business.
The company has been evaluating various strategic options, including a potential sale. But it has struggled to find a buyer.
The retailer is reportedly in the process of shuttering 20% of its 250 US stores. According to the bankruptcy filing, Brooks Brothers has secured $75 million in financing to continue operating.
Background on the company: Brooks Brothers opened its first store in 1818 near Wall Street. Years later, it began making ready-made suits for men that couldn’t wait for a tailor. In 1896, the retailer invented the original button-down polo shirt and has offered many other first of its kind clothing, including the madras prints and the chunky shetland sweater.
Claudio Del Vecchio, Brooks Brothers’ owner, bought the brand in 2001 from Marks and Spencer for $225 million. He helped expand the brand’s appeal beyond men, including women’s clothing, kids and home items. He told the New York Times last month that its American factories “never made money” and planned to move some operations overseas to preserve cash.
Some more context: Brooks Brothers is the latest iconic retailer to go bankrupt. J.Crew, Neiman Marcus, JCPenney have all filed in recent months, partly citing slumping sales from the virus.
The pandemic hit Brooks Brothers especially hard because some workers were forced to work from home, eliminating the need for new suits and dressier clothes.
GlobalData Retail said in a note Wednesday that year-over-year sales of men’s formal clothing fell by 74% between April and June.
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Miami-Dade County mayor on contact tracing: It’s taking longer than I hoped
From CNN's Adrienne Vogt
Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Giménez on CNN's "New Day" on July 8.
CNN
At a news conference yesterday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis indicated that Miami-Dade County “should be able to do” contact tracing.
“The contact tracing is actually a purview of the state,” Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Giménez told CNN’s John Berman this morning. “…We are willing to help in any way that we can.”
Giménez added that contract tracing, while useful, may not be as helpful with this novel coronavirus because of so many asymptomatic cases.
Giménez added that he would not be comfortable opening schools at the end of August if coronavirus cases continue to surge, despite a state order to open.
Miami-Dade County has become an epicenter of the Covid-19 crisis in Florida. The 14-day average positivity rate in Miami-Dade County is 23%, according to data released by the county government. The positivity rate on July 7 was 27%.
Watch:
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Miami-Dade schools could remain closed despite Florida's mandate to reopen this fall
From CNN's Rosa Flores and Sara Weisfeldt
Despite a mandate issued by Florida’s Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran requiring all schools to reopen in “brick and mortar” fashion in the fall, Miami-Dade County schools will only reopen for in-person classes if the county moves to phase two of the reopening plan.
The announcement was made in a tweet by Alberto Carvalho, superintendent of Miami-Dade County Public Schools.
The county is currently still in phase one, Carvalho said. “The well-being of students and employees remains our top priority,” Carvalho said.
The county has become the epicenter of the Covid-19 crisis in Florida. In the past 13 days, the county has seen a staggering increase in the number of Covid-19 patients being hospitalized (87%), in the number of ICU beds being used (91%) and in the use of ventilators (108%), according to the latest data released by Miami-Dade County Government.
The 14-day average positivity rate in the county is 23%, according to data released by county government. The positivity rate on July 7 was 27%.
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There would be "huge spike" if Florida tracked probable cases, ex-data official says
From CNN's Adrienne Vogt
Rebekah Jones on CNN's "New Day" on July 8.
CNN
Rebekah Jones, the data official behind Florida’s Covid-19 dashboard who launched her own dashboard after she said she was removed from the state’s project, said that she doesn’t see an end in sight to the state’s coronavirus surge.
Florida doesn’t track probable coronavirus cases, Jones explained. When people are tested as they arrive at the ER, “that doesn’t count as an active hospitalization until their positive test result is received by [the Florida Department of Health].”
Some background: Jones was removed from the dashboard after the Florida DOH said she had “exhibited a repeated course of insubordination” during her tenure there.
“I was flat-out told repeatedly that we were not adding hospitalization data, even though all of our epidemiologists said it was one of the most important indicators of how our health care system is handling the influx of cases,” she said.
She said she has contacts at the Department of Health who occasionally give her documentation, and many counties are at 70-80% capacity.
“The data out there is available. They just don’t make it public themselves,” Jones said.
Jones added that her data shows that the highest percent increase of coronavirus cases has been under 18, whereas the lowest percent increase in the last week compared to previous weeks was in the 18 to 35 age group.
Watch:
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UK government announces plan to boost economy during pandemic
From CNN's Chris Liakos
Rishi Sunak, UK finance minister, speaks at a press conference in London on March 17.
Matt Dunham/Pool/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
The UK Finance Minister has announced a major spending plan to create jobs in the UK as the government looks to boost its recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.
Rishi Sunak announced plans to boost youth employment, create green jobs and encourage employers to bring back furloughed workers by introducing a new job retention scheme which will see the government paying a 1,000-pound bonus for each furloughed employee who is still employed as of Jan. 31, 2021.
Sunak also announced cuts in property tax and a 4 billion-pound sales tax cut for the hospitality industry. 80% of hospitality firms stopped trading in April and 1.4 million hospitality workers have been furloughed – the highest proportions of any sector, according to the UK Treasury.
The cost of the government’s schemes included up to 9 billion pounds for rehiring furloughed workers, a 2 billion-pound plan to hire younger workers and 2 billion pounds worth of grants for green home improvements to create green jobs.
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Harvard and MIT sue Trump administration for possibly forcing international students to leave
From CNN's Priscilla Alvarez
Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Wednesday sued the Trump administration over its guidance not allowing foreign students to take online-only courses this fall semester.
Harvard announced earlier this week that all course instruction will be delivered online, including for students living on-campus. In a statement provided to CNN, the university said the guidance stands to affect approximately 5,000 international students.
MIT president L. Rafael Reif said in a statement that the measure “disrupts our international students’ lives and jeopardizes their academic and research pursuits.”
“Our international students now have many questions – about their visas, their health, their families and their ability to continue working toward an MIT degree. Unspoken, but unmistakable, is one more question: Am I welcome? At MIT, the answer, unequivocally, is yes,” Reif continued.
Some background: Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced Monday that international studentswho are pursuing degrees in the United States will have to leave the country or risk deportation if their universities switch to online-only courses.
Visa requirements for students have always been strict and coming to the US to take online-only courses has been prohibited. ICE maintained that prohibition in its guidance, while providing some flexibility for hybrid models, meaning a mix of online and in-person classes.
In an FAQ published by the agency, the Department of Homeland Security reasoned that “all students scheduled to study at a US institution in the fall will be able to do so, though some will be required to study from abroad if their presence is not required for any in-person classes in the United States.”
How Covid-19 is impacting the GOP's planned convention in Florida
From CNN's Fredreka Schouten, Dan Merica and Kate Sullivan
The surge in coronavirus cases in Florida is creating fresh headaches for Republicans who are scrambling to raise money and quickly organize a political convention in the state after President Donald Trump abandoned plans to accept his party’s nomination in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Florida, the site of next month’s scaled-down convention, is now one of the nation’s hotspots for the virus, raising concerns about how many Republicans will travel to Jacksonville and risk transmission to witness Trump’s acceptance speech inside the city’s 15,000-seat VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena.
The quadrennial political conventions typically are splashy, made-for-TV affairs that require years of planning and tens of millions of dollars to stage.
But the pandemic has upended plans for both political parties. The Democratic National Convention Committee has scaled back its August convention considerably and advised state delegates not to plan to travel to the convention site in Milwaukee.
On the Republican side, three GOP senators – Iowa’s Chuck Grassley, Tennessee’s Lamar Alexander and Maine’s Susan Collins – said this week that they would skip the events in Jacksonville. Grassley, who at 86 is the oldest Republican in the US Senate, specifically cited concerns about Covid-19.
Convention organizers announced Monday they would test Jacksonville attendees daily for the coronavirus but did not provide details about the testing protocols. The gathering is slated for August 24-27, with Trump likely to deliver his acceptance speech on the last day if organizers stick to the original convention schedule.
Hospital personnel take the bodies of two people said to have died from Covid-19 to a morgue in the Shahr-e Rey neighborhood in southern Tehran, Iran, on June 20.
Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto/AP
Iran recorded 153 new coronavirus deaths on Wednesday, pushing the total to more than 12,000, health ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said on state television.
At least 2,691 new daily cases were also recorded, bringing the total to 248,379, she added during the news conference.
Iranian daily death numbers continue to rise over the past month despite showing a slowdown in cases in May. On Tuesday, the health ministry recorded 200 fatalities, the highest since the pandemic hit the nation.
The increase in numbers forced Iran to reimpose some restrictions last Sunday, including mandating mask-wearing in certain public areas.
On Saturday, President Hassan Rouhani said some Iranians are hiding their coronavirus infections, the presidency’s website said.
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Iraq reports another record for daily Covid-19 cases
From CNN’s Hamdi Alkhshali and Aqeel Najim
Iraq on Wednesday reported at least 2,741 new coronavirus cases, the highest daily tally recorded in the country since the pandemic began.
This brings the total number of reported Covid-19 cases in Iraq to 67,442 according to the health ministry.
The health ministry also reported 94 new coronavirus related deaths, bringing the death toll to at least 2,779 across the country.
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The US is nearing 3 million coronavirus cases. Here's what you need to know today.
It’s Wednesday morning in the US, and the country has recorded more than 2,996,000 cases of coronavirus, according to the latest tally from Johns Hopkins University.
Here are the latest updates on the pandemic across the US:
A warning from Fauci: Dr. Anthony Fauci urged Americans not to take comfort in the dropping death rate among coronavirus patients in the US even as Trump touts the trend as evidence of a successful response to the virus. “It’s a false narrative to take comfort in a lower rate of death,” Fauci said.
Where cases are rising: At least 35 states are reporting an increase in coronavirus cases in the past week compared to the previous week. Just three states are seeing a decrease in cases. Here’s a look at where case trends stand across the country:
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A Phoenix hotel houses homeless coronavirus patients. Here's what it's like inside
From CNN's Rebecca Grandahl and Theresa Waldrop
David Lindstrom is 58, homeless – and has Covid-19.
“It’s not a fun trip. It kinda makes you feel like you got ran over by a Mack Truck,” Lindstrom said of having the virus. “Your body aches. Just to get out of bed, it’s like an effort, to go to the bathroom.”
But Lindstrom has a bed and a bathroom, and he’s safely quarantined and cared for at a hotel in downtown Phoenix, thanks to a cooperation between Maricopa County and Circle the City, a non-profit health care provider for the homeless.
Around the country, cities and counties are grappling with how to deal with the spread of coronavirus among the homeless, an especially vulnerable population. They are often unable to protect themselves by the simplest of actions, such as hand-washing, health experts say, and they seldom have access to quality health care.
Circle the City has 136 rooms at the Phoenix Inn available for the program, which was approved by the City Council on May 6.
Lindstrom is one of more than 100 homeless people with Covid-19 who have benefited from the program so far, according to Michelle Smith, a registered nurse at the inn.
Once a homeless person tests positive for the virus, they can opt to be quarantined at the inn, where they have a private room with a queen bed, TV, telephone and a bathroom. If in need of fresh air, they can step out onto an open-air walkway.
A nurse checks in on the patients twice a day, according to Smith, and the inn is staffed through the night.
Border community straddling Australian states cleaved in two by coronavirus lockdown
From CNN's Angus Watson and Nectar Gan in Albury
As Australia has shut the border between its two most populous states to contain the spread of the coronavirus, tens of thousands of people living close to the dividing line have found their community cleaved in two.
Located on each side of the Murray river that separates New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria, the twin cities of Albury and Wodonga, more commonly referred to as Albury-Wodonga, have long operated as one community and one economy.
Many of their 100,000 residents cross the border to travel to work and school every day. Businesses run on both sides of the river. The two cities even share the same hospital, located in Albury on the NSW side but covered by Victoria’s health system.
But that border was sealed on Wednesday, as authorities scrambled to prevent a second wave of infections spreading across the country. Over the past few weeks, Victoria has struggled to contain a sudden reemergence of coronavirus in Melbourne, as case numbers have continued to rise.
Authorities blocked major roads between Victoria and NSW after midnight – the first time in 100 years since the border was last closed during the Spanish flu pandemic.
People from Victoria are banned from entering NSW, but exemptions are made for some purposes and professions, including cross-border residents in settlements like Albury-Wodonga.
Online applications for cross-border permits started on Tuesday night, but the website crashed just 45 minutes after launching as 44,000 people applied, according to Australian national broadcaster ABC.
US admirals in South China Sea: Everyone wears a mask
From CNN's Brad Lendon, Ivan Watson and Rebecca Wright
Two US Navy admirals in charge of a rare South China Sea exercise say “extraordinary” coronavirus measures taken by the service, including requiring all sailors to wear face masks, have left their aircraft carrier strike groups in a high state of readiness in one of the most tense maritime environments in the world.
The Navy’s response to the pandemic comes after one of its Pacific-based carriers, the USS Theodore Roosevelt, was crippled for weeks earlier this year by an outbreak that infected hundreds of its crew.
“We’ve taken extraordinary measures to protect our sailors from Covid, but that said it remains a real threat and requires constant vigilance,” Rear Adm. George Wikoff, commander of Carrier Strike Group 5, led by the USS Ronald Reagan, said Wednesday in a phone call about the South China Sea deployment.
“The entire team underway, everyone on board, is required to wear a mask,” Wikoff said.
The Navy has also spaced out mealtimes, instituted social distancing and brought aboard specialists including microbiologists and extra health personnel, said Wikoff and Adm. James Kirk, commander of Carrier Strike Group 11, led by the USS Nimitz.
“Those measures have all been effective, and we are sailing Covid-free right now,” Wikoff said.
Wikoff and Kirk spoke to CNN after leading their groups, totaling more than 12,000 sailors and aviators, in a dual-carrier deployment to South China Sea, the first time two of the US Navy’s massive warships have exercised in the region in six years.
The deployment, which saw the two carriers and their escorts operate 24 hours a day while launching hundreds of aircraft sorties daily, comes as the US itself is struggling with a surge in Covid-19 cases and how to stem infection rates.
Hospital in UK PM's constituency closed to emergencies due to Covid-19 outbreak
From CNN's Mick Krever and Sharon Braithwaite in London
A hospital in UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s west London parliamentary constituency has been closed to emergency admissions due to a coronavirus outbreak among staff.
The coronavirus outbreak at Hillingdon Hospital was declared on July 3, the Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said in a statement. As of Tuesday, “70 members of staff are now isolating, a number of whom have tested positive for Covid-19,” the statement said.
“As a result, the Trust has taken the precautionary decision to close Hillingdon Hospital to emergency ambulances and emergency admissions. The Trust is managing the outbreak in line with Public Health England guidance.”
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Trump's decision to withdraw from WHO is "really sad," says Special Envoy
From CNN's Niamh Kennedy and Nadine Schmidt
Dr. David Nabarro speaks at a press conference in Geneva, Switzerland, on January 26, 2017.
Martial Trezzini/EPA/Shutterstock
President Donald Trump’s move to formally withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization (WHO) is “really sad,” according to WHO Special Envoy on Covid-19 Dr. David Nabarro.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4 on Wednesday, Nabarro voiced his sadness at the President’s decision to pull funding in the midst of “a massive health crisis.”
Nabarro, who is one of six special envoys on Covid-19, said he feared that the global health crisis was ”going to get much worse in the next six months,” and that there was still a lot to be discovered about the virus.
Nabarro said that WHO was “underfunded” and “working flat out” during the pandemic. He added that he was sure that the American people “by and large want to be part of the global response and will be a bit confused about why this has happened.”
Nabarro stressed the need for international cooperation, saying that “all world leaders and all world nations must work together to deal with this virus.” The US pulling out “is just not frankly what the world’s people need,” he said.
German Health Minister Jens Spahn made a similar point, describing the official announcement of the US’ withdrawal from WHO – which goes into effect in July next year – as a “bitter setback for international cooperation.”
“We need more international cooperation to fight pandemics, not less. Global infection dynamics show that coordinated action is required,” he tweeted Wednesday.
Trump had denounced the US’ contribution to WHO – $400-500 million – in comparison to China’s and consistently accused the organization of aiding China in allegedly covering up the origins of the virus and allowing its spread.
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Israel had the coronavirus under control. What happened?
From CNN's Oren Liebermann
Funeral workers carry the body of a Covid-19 patient at a cemetery in the central Israeli city of Rehovot on April 21.
Gil Cohen Magen/Xinhua/Getty Images
For months, Israel appeared to be an international model of coronavirus success.
With early travel restrictions and sweeping closures, the Startup Nation had largely contained the spread of Covid-19, recording a mortality rate that was far better than many countries in the Western world. As coronavirus tore across the United States and Europe, Israel was comfortably moving towards reopening.
Lest there be any doubt about who led the country through these difficult times, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu routinely held evening press conferences to remind everyone, warning about the newest challenges and taking credit for the latest victories.
On April 18, almost exactly two months after Israel discovered its first case of coronavirus, Netanyahu declared that the country had succeeded in its fight against coronavirus, setting an example for the world “in safeguarding life and blocking the outbreak of the pandemic.” He predicted Israel would set an example in restarting the economy as well.
If only the story ended there.
Israel’s first wave of coronavirus was a success story, but the second wave its health experts are cataloguing appears to be on track for a very different ending.
Hong Kong reports 24 new coronavirus cases following a surge in locally transmitted infections
From Isaac Yee and Vanesse Chan in Hong Kong
Hong Kong reported 24 new coronavirus cases Wednesday including 19 locally transmitted infections and five imported cases, as officials warned of a possible “exponential growth of cases.”
The 19 locally transmitted infections were spread across clusters linked to elderly care homes and restaurants in the city, according to Dr. Chuang Shuk-kwan of the Center for Health Protection. She added that five of the new locally transmitted cases could not be traced.
Chuang warned that “there could be a sudden exponential growth of cases” and “it is possible there could be a major outbreak” following the latest increase. On Tuesday, health officials said that the rise in cases could be described as “the third wave” for Hong Kong.
Of the 19 new locally transmitted cases, four were taxi drivers, according to Chuang, who added that one of the clusters was at a restaurant that is popular with taxi drivers.
When asked whether the government would tighten social distancing measures, Chuang said: “I think it is time for us to tighten our social measures, but as to the extent, that depends on the higher government decisions.”
Authorities have yet to announce new social distancing measures in response to the latest surge in cases.
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Texas and Arizona ER doctors say they are losing hope as hospitals reach capacity
From CNN's Madeline Holcombe
As concerns over the capacity of hospitals resurface amid surging Covid-19 cases, two emergency room doctors in the United States say they worry about where the pandemic could take them next.
Dr. Mina Tran, an emergency room doctor in Texas, said 70 to 80% of her patients have been admitted with upper respiratory or coronavirus complaints.
In Arizona, which saw its lowest-ever number of available ICU beds Tuesday, Dr. Murtaza Akhter told CNN’s Don Lemon that so many patients are coming in, he is already having to make tough decisions over resources.
With a rise in hospitalization rates across the US, doctors like Akhter are reporting waiting lists for ICU beds and having to decide who will be admitted for treatment and who will not.
Surges in hospitalization and infection rates have followed larger crowds gathering in newly reopened public spaces. Every state has launched its plan to reopen, and 35 are currently seeing more new cases reported compared to last week.
Tran applauded Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s decision to close down bars once again but said she does think the state was too quick to open back up.
While many states have paused or rolled back reopening in light of a resurgence of cases, Akhter said seeing individuals continue to disregard safe practices as his emergency room treats coronavirus patients makes him feel like he is “losing hope.”
Austria imposes restrictions on travelers from Bulgaria, Moldova and Romania
From CNN’s Nadine Schmidt
Austria has introduced restrictions for people arriving from Bulgaria, Moldova and Romania because of a deterioration in the containment of the coronavirus pandemic in these countries, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz announced Wednesday.
Anyone arriving in Austria from those three countries will have to present a negative Covid-19 test or be forced to quarantine for 14 days. Kurz said the measures were being implemented after spikes in the number of Austrian cases were traced back to travelers from those nations.
“Anyone who is not adhering to the 14-day quarantine and who tested positive upon returning from these countries is committing a criminal offense,” Kurz said.
Health checks will also be reintroduced at the Hungarian and Serbian borders. To that end, 1,800 police officers will be deployed and all buses will be checked. “Please do not travel to these countries,” Kurz said.
Last week, Austria announced travel warnings for the whole of the Western Balkans. At least 170 recent cases of coronavirus infection in Austria were linked to people returning from these regions.
Travelers from the United Kingdom, Portugal, Sweden and Turkey are also subject to restrictions in Austria.
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Covid-19 hospitalizations and ventilator use rise sharply in Florida's Miami-Dade County
From CNN’s Rosa Flores and Sara Weisfeldt
Florida’s Miami-Dade County has seen a staggering 87% increase in the number of Covid-19 patients being hospitalized in the past 13 days.
There has also been a 91% increase in the number of ICU beds being used over that same period and an increase of 108% in the use of ventilators, according to the latest data released by Miami-Dade County government.
The number of patients in ICU beds has climbed from 180 on June 25 to 343 as of July 7, according to the data. There were 1,656 Covid-19 patients in hospital as of July 7, with 175 on ventilators, up from 885 patients in hospital on June 25, when there were 84 on ventilators.
The state reports there are currently962 ICU beds available in Florida, which is 16% of the total.
The 14-day average positivity rate in Miami-Dade County is 23%, according to data released by county government. The positivity rate on July 7 was 27%.
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Israeli Defense Minister enters self-quarantine after suspected coronavirus exposure
From CNN's Oren Liebermann in Jerusalem
Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz has said he will enter self-quarantine after coming into suspected contact Sunday evening with a woman who has tested positive for coronavirus.
Gantz, who also serves as Alternate Prime Minister, said the decision to isolate was his own initiative and that he would undergo a coronavirus test and an epidemiological survey.
According to a statement from his office, Gantz “feels good” and will manage the affairs of his office from self-isolation.
It’s not the first time Israel’s top officials have entered self-quarantine. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went into isolation on at least two separate occasions, once in late March and once in early April. Netanyahu tested negative for coronavirus.
In addition, former Health Minister Yaakov Litzman tested positive for coronavirus and went into isolation in early April. He has since recovered.
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Passengers on flight from virus hotspot Melbourne to Sydney allowed to disembark without health screening
From CNN's Sophie Jeong in Seoul, Angus Watson in Albury and Anna Kam in Hong Kong
Passengers from a flight from Melbourne to Sydney were allowed to disembark without undergoing health screening before the interstate lockdown came into effect on Tuesday midnight.
“There was an issue at the airport where passengers were disembarked when the health screening team were screening another airline,” New South Wales Chief Health Officer Dr. Kerry Chant said in a press conference on Wednesday.
Chant said that the airport had now put in protocols to ensure that nobody can leave without health screening being carried out first.
Contact tracing is underway to find the people involved. “We are in the process of tracing them up. If anyone has traveled in breach of any orders, we will report them to police and take the appropriate action depending on whether anyone is symptomatic to ensure the community is protected,” Chant told reporters in Sydney.
Jetstar airline released a statement on Wednesday about the JQ520 flight from Melbourne to Sydney saying that: “Together with Sydney Airport, we have refined our disembarkation procedures to prevent this situation from occurring again.”
The airline has provided the aircraft manifest to New South Wales health officials, to assist with contact tracing.
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US reports more than 60,000 cases on Tuesday -- its highest single day count
From CNN's Joe Sutton
The United States reported 60,021 new coronavirus cases and 1,195 deaths on Tuesday, according to Johns Hopkins University.
It’s the highest number of cases reported in a single day in the US since the pandemic began.
The US is close to 3 million infections. In total, there are 2,996,098 reported coronavirus cases in the country and 131,480 people have died.
The totals include cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other U.S. territories, as well as repatriated cases.
Lately, a lot of health and elected officials have been using one term an awful lot: positivity rate.
What it means: That’s the percentage of people who test positive for the virus of those overall who have been tested. So, as more and more people are being tested, the focus is shifting to the positivity rate – how many of those tested are actually infected.
Here’s an example: Miami-Dade County in Florida, where the number of cases is skyrocketing, on Sunday reported a 26% positivity rate. So, for every 100 people tested, 26% of them tested positive for coronavirus.
A lot of officials point to a rising positivity rate to counter arguments that the increase in case numbers is simply the result of more people being tested.
One million foreign students risk being frozen out of US colleges. Some might never come back
From CNN's Julia Hollingsworth
In two months, 19-year-old Tianyu Fang is due to start his first semester at one of the most-prestigious schools in America: Stanford University in California. Now, the Chinese national isn’t sure if he’ll make it.
Fang is one of the million or so international students who could be made to leave the United States if their universities switch to online-only learning, under a rule announced by Washington on Monday. Those who don’t leave voluntarily face deportation.
Some universities have announced they will deliver all courses online due to the coronavirus pandemic. Others are still planning to run classes on campus, but with the US outbreak still not under control, there’s a risk that those institutions could go remote,too.
More than half of international students in the US come from Asia. In the 2018-2019 academic year, 370,000 students were from China, 202,000 from India, and 52,000 from South Korea.
Travel restrictions: The pandemic is already complicating efforts to return to the US for studies. There are few flights between the US and China, where international arrivals have to quarantine for two weeks. For those already in the US, it may be harder for some students to get home than others.
The decision could impact the US economy: In 2018, students from China, India and South Korea alone contributed more than $25 billionto the economy, according to non-profit Institute of International Education. If students are forced to leave the country, they may not be willing to continue paying tuition fees to study remotely from a different time zone.
Missed opportunities: If international students are sent home early, it’s not just their education that will be impacted. Students could end up missing out on job opportunities – often one of the reasons they might have chosen to study in the US in the first place.
Beijing continues to report zero new coronavirus cases since wholesale food market outbreak
From journalist Vanesse Chan in Hong Kong
A medical worker wearing a protective suit takes a swab at a temporary test station on July 6, in Beijing.
Lintao Zhang/Getty Images
Beijing reported zero new coronavirus cases on Tuesday – marking the second consecutive day without any new infections in the Chinese capital since the Xinfadi wholesale food market cluster was discovered on June 11, China’s National Health Commission (NHC) said today.
Meanwhile, China continued to report a single-digit rise in new Covid-19 cases in the mainland as seven new imported cases were registered on Tuesday, which is one less than the day before.
Out of the new cases, four were reported in Inner Mongolia, and one each in Shanxi, Guangdong and Yunnan, the NHC said.
There were no new coronavirus-related deaths recorded in the past day.
Six asymptomatic cases were reported on Tuesday, the health authority said, adding that 117 asymptomatic patients are still under medical observation.
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Police fire tear gas at protesters in Serbian capital
From CNN’s Milena Veselinovic
Protesters scuffle with police in front of the National Assembly building in Belgrade, on July 7, as Serbian police fired tear gas to disperse thousands of protesters angry at the return of a weekend coronavirus curfew.
Oliver Bunic/AFP/Getty Images
Police in the Serbian capital Belgrade fired tear gas at protesters demonstrating against the country’s President Aleksandar Vucic after he announced a weekend-long curfew to try to combat a surge in coronavirus cases.
Video from the scene showed at least several hundred demonstrators gathered around Serbia’s Parliament where scuffles erupted, prompting riot police to fire thick plumes of tear gas.
Some protesters also threw objects at the police, video showed.
On Tuesday, Serbia recorded its highest daily death toll from Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic, with the country’s President calling the situation in Belgrade “alarming.”
But protesters told CNN affiliate N1 they were angry because the government allowed the virus to spike out of control by lifting most restrictions in early May, meaning bars and nightclubs were able to operate at full capacity.
The protesters also said the government lifted restrictions in order to hold a general election in June – the first Europe country to do so during the pandemic. Campaign rallies – with little or no social distancing – were held.
As they surrounded the Parliament building in central Belgrade, protesters chanted “arrest Vucic” and “treason.” A small group of protesters managed to enter the Parliament’s lobby before they were pushed out by the police.
The Balkan nation initially implemented one of Europe’s strictest lockdowns to tackle the Covid-19 outbreak, with nightly and weekend-long curfews across the country and over 65s banned from leaving their homes.
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Gravedigger takes Covid-19 more seriously than Brazil's President
From CNN's Bill Weir in São Paulo
Adenilson Costa has worked at the Vila Formosa graveyard for a quarter of a century and he says he has never seen the fresh graves fill up so fast.
Families are hustled through funerals, Costa said, each given no more than 10 or 15 minutes to say goodbye so the cemetery can manage up to 80 burials a day at this site on the outskirts of Sao Paulo.
“That makes us very shocked, very sad, because it is the last greeting they will give to the loved one that they lost and they do not have time,” Costa said.
He spoke on a momentous day for Brazil – a day when the Health Ministry announced more than 45,000 new cases of Covid-19 in the country, one of them the President, Jair Bolsonaro.
Bolsonaro has spent months downplaying the spread of the lethal virus, even as Brazil became the country with the second-most cases – and deaths – behind only the United States.
And while gravedigger Costa is shocked by the rate of death, Bolsonaro told many of his citizens they had nothing to worry about, as he announced he himself had the virus.
"Emerging evidence" of airborne transmission of coronavirus, WHO says
From CNN’s Shelby Lin Erdman
A woman wearing a face mask walks past a Boardwalk store with signs warning patrons of mask requirements on July 3, in Wildwood, New Jersey.
Mark Makela/Getty Images
The World Health Organization confirmed there is “emerging evidence” of airborne transmission of the coronavirus.
It comes after 239 scientists published a letter urging the agency to be more forthcoming about the likelihood that people can catch the virus from droplets floating in the air.
Infectious disease epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkove, with WHO’s Health Emergencies Program, said many of the letter’s signatories are engineers, “which adds to growing knowledge about the importance of ventilation.”
She said the WHO is working on a scientific brief summarizing the current knowledge around transmission of the coronavirus, which should be available in the coming weeks.
Alleganzi cautioned that more research is still needed on Covid-19 transmission.
“These are fields of research that are really growing and for which there is some evidence emerging but is not definitive,” she said.
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Trump leans into old failures in push to reopen schools as virus roars
Analysis from CNN's Stephen Collinson
US President Donald Trump participates in an event in the East Room at the White House on July 7 in Washington, DC.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
President Donald Trump’s new push to open schools shows he’s learned nothing from calamities sparked by his demands for premature state openings.
The coronavirus pandemic is again rearing out of control, rising in a majority of states as a new warning comes that more than 200,000 Americans could be dead by Election Day.
But Trump barreled forward anyway, failing to offer detailed proposals for how schools could open safely next month even as he admitted he planned to crank up pressure on governors to do what he wants.
He also delivered a fresh rebuke to his government’s top infectious disease specialist, Dr. Anthony Fauci, who had dismissed the President’s discredited claims that the US has the world’s lowest mortality rate.
And Trump conjured another wishful prediction: that the worsening battle against the virus, which has already killed 130,000 Americans and infected 3 million, would be far less serious within weeks.
Schools: Trump’s self-serving implication that his opponents want to keep schools closed to hurt him politically ignores the complicated concerns that administrators, teachers and parents harbor over the prospect of schools staying closed – and the dangers that are inherent in getting classes up and running again.
Economy: The US economy is now threatened by a second slump if the virus gets so bad that states and cities are forced back into lockdown. Trump’s administration falls short on all those key strategies and even now is ignoring best practices and the evidence of what worked elsewhere in a bid to crank up the economy, deemed vital to the President’s reelection hopes.
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The US is about to reach 3 million coronavirus cases. Here's what happened in the days leading up to it
From CNN's Nicole Chavez
The coronavirus pandemic is ravaging parts of the US and affecting numerous aspects of American life. The number of confirmed coronavirus cases is nearing 3 million.
While the future of the pandemic in the US is still unclear, here’s what has happened in the last few days.
Trump addressed crowds at Mount Rushmore: During his remarks, the US President mentioned the virus once, at the very top of his remarks, thanking those working to fight it.
Beaches were packed for the Fourth of July: Some Americans altered their traditional Fourth of July celebrations while others flocked to beaches to enjoy the holiday weekend.
People have waited several hours to get tested: Covid-19 testing capacity has increased considerably since March but the recent surge of cases is causing long lines to get tested and slow results.
Some hospitals reached capacity: Dozens of intensive care units at Florida hospitals near Miami, Orlando and Tampa have hit capacity and there are concerns that more hospitals could be next.
A debate over school reopenings has emerged: Florida schools have been ordered to reopen in August but teachers in some of the state’s largest school districts are pushing back.
MLS is coming back despite coronavirus concerns:Major League Soccer’s MLS is Back Tournament kicks off on Wednesday after more than a dozen people, including FC Dallas and Nashville SC players have tested positive for the virus.
Australian Prime Minister says coronavirus outbreak in Melbourne is serious but not surprising
From CNN's Anna Coren in Hong Kong and Sugam Pokharel in Atlanta
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaks to the media on June 29, in Sydney.
Mark Kolbe/Getty Images
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the latest coronavirus outbreak in the city of Melbourne is “particularly serious” but added that it is “not surprising and that’s why we need to continue to focus on our effort and work together.”
As Melbourne prepares to go into lockdown from midnight Wednesday, Morrison said, “We’re all Melbournians now when it comes to the challenges we face.”
More than 800 federal public servants are helping with the door-to-door health effort in the state of Victoria, he announced.
Morrison said he will be taking a proposal to the National Cabinet to reduce the number of international flights arriving in the country.
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Fauci says he’s "strongly in favor" of local mask mandates
From CNN's Shelby Lin Erdman
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, wears a face covering as he listens during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing in Washington, DC, on June 30.
Al Drago/AFP/Getty Images
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the US’s top infectious disease expert, said he’s “strongly in favor” of local mask mandates to help control the spread of the coronavirus.
“When you look at what we can do that we know works, it’s the use of masks, physical distance and avoiding crowds,” Fauci said at a press conference on Tuesday with Sen. Doug Jones, an Alabama Democrat.
As of Monday, 35 states plus Washington DC and Puerto Rico, had some type of mask requirement order in place as coronavirus cases surge in parts of the United States. Hospital ICUs are near capacity in some areas, including Florida and Texas.
Fauci, a member of the White House coronavirus task force, said he’d like to see consistency in using face coverings to slow the spread of the deadly virus.
“Individual mandates, wherever they come from, I think are important because when people get a signal that you may or may not want to wear a mask, which means it may or may not be helpful, that’s a very confusing signal,” he said.
“So, if you’re saying it doesn’t matter whether you put it on or take it off, you’re giving a wrong, mixed signal. The signal should be: Wear a mask. Period.”
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Fauci warns of a "false complacency" from lower coronavirus death rate
From CNN’s Shelby Lin Erdman
Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, listens during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing in Washington, DC, on June 30.
Al Drago/AFP/Getty Images
Dr. Anthony Fauci warned against a false sense of security from the decreasing coronavirus mortality rate in the United States.
“It’s a false narrative to take comfort in a lower rate of death,” the nation’s top infectious disease expert cautioned in a press conference on Tuesday with Sen. Doug Jones, an Alabama Democrat.
“There’s so many other things that are very dangerous and bad about this virus, don’t get yourself into false complacency,” Fauci urged.
Fauci, the director of the National Institutes on Allergy and Infectious Diseases, made the comment as the White House repeatedly pointed to the falling death rate from Covid-19 cases as proof the virus is under control. Coronavirus cases have actually surged in states across the South and Southwest and hospitals in some areas are reaching ICU capacity.
Latin America and the Caribbean surpass 3 million Covid-19 cases
From CNN's Chandler Thornton and Claudia Dominguez in Atlanta
Nurses transfer a coronavirus patient to the Critical Patients Unit, at Barros Luco Hospital on June 24 in Santiago, Chile. Martin
Martin Bernetti/AFP/Getty Images
Latin American and Caribbean countries have recorded more than 3 million Covid-19 cases combined as of Tuesday evening, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The following 33 countries are included in this region:
Brazil; Peru; Chile; Mexico; Ecuador; Colombia; Argentina–Dominican Republic; Panama; Bolivia; Guatemala; Honduras; Haiti; El Salvador; Venezuela; Cuba; Nicaragua-; Costa Rica; Paraguay; Uruguay; Jamaica; Guyana; Suriname; Trinidad and Tobago; The Bahamas; Barbados; Saint Vincent and the Grenadines; Antigua and Barbuda’; Grenada; Belize; Saint Lucia; Dominica; and Saint Kitts and Nevis.
The combined total stands at 3,010,954 confirmed cases, according to JHU’s tally.
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56 Florida hospital ICUs have hit capacity
From CNN’s Rosa Flores, Sara Weisfeldt, Nicole Chavez and Madeline Holcombe
The worsening coronavirus pandemic hit a series of somber peaks across the United States on Tuesday, renewing fears that more hospitals could be overloaded with Covid-19 patients.
At least 56 intensive care units in Florida hospitals reached capacity on Tuesday, state officials said. Another 35 hospitals show ICU bed availability of 10% or less, according to the Agency for Health Care Administration in that state.
As nearly 3 million confirmed coronavirus cases were reported in the US, the need for testing has increased. That has led federal officials to set up new testing sites in Florida, Louisiana and Texas. But major diagnostic companies have said they are facing testing delays.
Hospitals in Texas and Florida are flooded with critical Covid-19 patients and some local and state officials have made face coverings mandatory.
Last week, the country averaged just under 50,000 new cases daily – the highest rate recorded, and twice as high as a month ago.
Mexico shows no signs of slowing down coronavirus spread after another day of high numbers
From journalist Karol Suarez in Mexico City and CNN's Tatiana Arias in Atlanta
Vendors in an appliance parts supply store tend to clients from behind a plastic sheet to reduce the spread of coronavirus, in central Mexico City, on Monday, July 6.
Rebecca Blackwell/AP
Mexico reported 6,258 confirmed coronavirus cases on Tuesday, as the country shows no signs of stemming the spread of the virus despite continuing with reopening measures.
With Tuesday’s increase, the nationwide total of confirmed Covid-19 cases stands at 268,008, according to the Mexican Health Ministry.
The ministry also reported 895 new deaths, nearly doubling Monday’s increase. Mexico’s death toll from the virus stands at 32,014, the world’s fifth-highest total.
Since Mexico entered its “new normal” phase of reopening on June 1, the number of Covid-19 cases and deaths has almost tripled in the country.
According to official data tallied by CNN, the number of coronavirus cases in Mexico has risen by 180% since June 1, and the number of deaths has also increased by 206% during the same period of time.
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Coronavirus cases in Victoria climb by 134 as Melbourne prepares to go into lockdown
From Angus Watson in Albury-Wodonga, Australia and Sophie Jeong in Seoul
Lines of Healthcare professionals are seen entering the North Melbourne Public Housing tower complex on July 8, in Melbourne.
Darrian Traynor/Getty Images
The Australian state of Victoria recorded 134 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, bringing the total number of infections in the state to 2,942, Premier Daniel Andrews announced Wednesday.
Among the new cases, 123 are under investigation while 11 were linked to contained outbreaks.
A total of 75 people from the nine public housing towers in the city of Melbourne have tested positive, Andrews said, adding that more than one million tests have now been conducted in the state since January 1.
Melbourne and Mitchell Shire, a regional area of Victoria, will go into the Stage 3 lockdown from 11:59 p.m, meaning residents will no longer be allowed to leave their homes unless it’s for grocery shopping, caregiving, exercise or work, for six weeks, the premier announced on Tuesday.
“I think a sense of complacency has crept into us as we let our frustrations get the better of us. I think that each one know someone who has not been following the rules as well as they should have. I think each of us know that we have got no choice by to take very, very difficult steps,” Andrews said.
In a statement on Wednesday, the state government said Victoria Police will also “dramatically” increase police presence in and around metropolitan Melbourne to enforce the lockdown, including 264 Australian Defense Force members assisting with on-ground operations.
Police will continue to make house visits and patrol public places all over Victoria, according to the statement.
Victoria Police have undertaken 810 spot checks in the past 24 hours at homes, businesses and non-essential services across the state, the government said.
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Coronavirus lockdown measures extended in Colombia
From CNN's Stefano Pozzebon in Cucuta
A health worker conducts a coronavirus test on July 6 in Bogota, Colombia.
Juan Barreto/AFP/Getty Images
Colombia’s President Ivan Duque extended lockdown measures until at least August 1, as the country reported a record number of new coronavirus cases on Tuesday.
The announcement on Colombian television came as the country registered 149 new coronavirus deaths and 4,213 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours. This is the highest daily count of new cases since the beginning of the pandemic, according to data collected by the Colombian Ministry of Health.
Duque also announced that mayors in cities less impacted by the pandemic will have the authority to allow partial reopenings of restaurants, museums and churches starting July 15.
The government will also evaluate allowing domestic flights in selected cities, Duque said.
Colombia has recorded a total of 124,494 coronavirus cases, according to the Ministry of Health. The majority of cases are reported in the capital city of Bogota and the northern Atlantic coast.
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California's coronavirus hospitalizations remain at all-time high
From CNN's Cheri Mossburg
Coronavirus hospitalizations in California are reaching new levels, with nearly 6,000 Covid-19 patients.
This is a 3.4% one-day increase as almost 200 more patients were admitted. There are also a record number of Covid-19 patients in intensive care units, according to data from California Department of Public Health.
CDPH is recording at least 6,448 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic, adding 111 fatalities in today’s report.
The positivity rate in California over the past two weeks stands at 6.8% with about 4.9 million tests conducted to date.
NOTE: These numbers were released by the California Department of Public Health, and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project
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Covid-19 deaths and hospitalizations in Ohio are up, governor says
From CNN's Kristina Sgueglia
Ohio reported 948 Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours – a number that Ohio Governor Mike DeWine says is “down a little bit” from where it’s been “but certainly is up significantly from where it was three weeks ago.”
That is above the 21-day average of 804 which continues to increase “as these numbers continue to go up,” he said at a news conference Tuesday.
The deaths are up over the average, with 43 reported in the last 24 hours, DeWine said
Hospitalizations are “significantly up” with a report of 134 in the last 24 hours “as well as the ICU admissions,” he said.
Hospital admissions are “creeping up,” he said, adding that is “obviously of some …concern.”
Some context: Ohio is one of at least 31 states that have showed an upward trend in average new daily cases, CNN reported.
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Texas county judge wants to issue stay-at-home order
From CNN's Adrienne Vogt
Lina Hidalgo, judge of Harris County, Texas, which includes the city of Houston, is advocating for a stay-at-home order in her county as coronavirus cases rise.
Hidalgo, the chief administrator of the county, said that she doesn’t want to shut the economy again, but a patchwork method won’t quell coronavirus in the long run.
“A long-term solution based on data instead of wishful thinking is what’s going to put our economy in the position to succeed,” Hidalgo told CNN’s Kate Bolduan.
Texas has more than 200,000 Covid-19 cases, and Harris County has more than 37,000 cases so far.
Hidalgo said that a mask mandate will not solely bring the number of cases down, which is why she’s looking for a stay-at-home order as well.
“We can’t just put our head in the sand and hope that somehow it’s going to go differently over here,” she said.
