June 12 coronavirus news

Despite a continued rise in confirmed cases of coronavirus in California, schools, gyms, movie theaters, and bars can reopen with modifications beginning today across much of the state.

Film and television productions are also able to send people back to work after months of closures to prevent the spread of the virus effectively shuttered Hollywood.

The reopening comes after California reported nearly its highest single-day total of confirmed new cases of the coronavirus on Thursday, with more than 3,000 new infections. Los Angeles County, the epicenter of the pandemic in the state, also reported its second highest number of new cases on Thursday with 1,857 infections and 46 deaths. 

But while the state continues to see a rise in new cases, the California Department of Public Health gave the green light for an expanded reopening, including hotels, day camps, museums, zoos, and professional sports without live audiences, with approval from county health officers. Indoor movie theaters can also reopen today.

Not everywhere is reopening: While most counties across the state will further resume their economies on Friday, some regions, such as the Bay Area, are taking a more conservative approach, holding off on reopening some businesses and services until later this summer. And a number of other industries and activities, including nail salons, theme parks, public events and gatherings, in-person college courses, and convention centers remain closed statewide.

While California's schools are allowed to reopen today, most are aiming to do so with the new school year in the fall. Schools and childcare facilities will be given thermometers, face shields, masks, face coverings, and hand sanitizer for safety. According to the guidance for schools, the California Department of Public Health recommends implementing distance inside and outside the classroom, limit sharing, intensifying cleaning, disinfection, and ventilation as well as training teachers and staff to educate families and students on proper hygiene, the use of face coverings, and physical distancing. 

Here's the restrictions for industries that are reopening:

Chile's Ministry of Health reported 6,754 new cases of novel coronavirus on Friday.

That's the highest number of daily cases reported by the country since March 3, when the first case was announced.

The country has reported at least 160,846 cases of coronavirus and 2,870 fatalities, according to health authorities.

On Tuesday, Chile announced a new counting method for Covid-19-related deaths. 

According to Jaime Mañalich, the minister of health, on Tuesday, the number of daily reported deaths will now be based on information exchanged between the Civil Registry and a database from the Ministry of Health with records of positive cases. 

According to CNN's tally of cases, Chile reported its second highest daily number of cases on June 7 with 6,405 new cases.

At least 114,126 people have died from coronavirus in the US, according to Johns Hopkins University's tally of cases.

There has also been at least 2,033,003 cases of coronavirus in the US, according to the tally.

So far on Friday, Johns Hopkins reported 9,618 new cases and 308 deaths. 

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

Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of the World Health Organization’s Health Emergencies Program, said they are "concerned that some countries are having difficulties in exiting the so-called lockdowns as they're seeing increases of cases again."

“First and foremost, most of the world right now is still very much in the throes of the first wave of this pandemic,” Ryan said during a briefing Friday, adding though that many countries have been able to flatten the curve and are slowly making their way out of lockdowns.

“There must be an alternative to lockdown because in the absence of lockdown, the virus will tend to spread again. So the question is, what have you got to replace lockdown with?” Ryan asked.

He pointed countries towards a strong public health system, testing and tracking cases, and educating the population to help as lockdowns are lifted.

“It's very easy for me to sit here and say that that is difficult to achieve in any circumstance,” he said. “But it is the only way to sustain the next number of months while we wait for other interventions. And again we have to say that we really hope we have an effective vaccine in time, but there are no guarantees.”

“We have to learn to live with the virus,” Ryan said. 

There have been a record number of Covid-19 cases reported in the last 24 hours, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said during a news conference Friday.

There were 10,816 cases on Thursday and now there were 11,547 cases, he added.

At least 207 of the newly identified cases were in correctional institutions while the rest are community cases, Hutchinson said.

The television, film and streaming production industry in Georgia is back open for business, according to a statement from Gov. Brian Kemp.

Kemp announced the industries plan to bring back and hire an estimated 40,000 production workers in the state for an expected 75 production projects that with invest over $2 billion into Georgia’s economy, the statement said. 

According to the statement, this announcement follows the “COVID-19: Georgia Best Practices for Film and Television” production guide for studios provided by the Georgia Film Office, that complements the safety protocols recently released by the Industry-Wide Labor-Management Safety Committee Task Force, which will help to ensure a safe workplace environment and reduce the spread of the virus.

Several California jurisdictions do not require residents to wear masks in public as the state moves into various stages of reopening.

The Orange County health director recently resigned after receiving threats for her face coverings mandate. Yesterday, days after her departure, the interim health officer relaxed the order. Movie theaters, gyms, and hotels are reopening today in the county.

Riverside County ended the mandatory mask order in late April after their cases started to level off. The health department strongly recommends face coverings and some business can require it of patrons, according to Jose Arballo, Jr., public information officer for the county health department.

San Bernardino suggests several options to those who want to cover up and encourages people to do so.

Fresno, Kern, and San Joaquin counties do not require a face covering, according to county health department sites.

Ventura County recommends mask wearing though municipalities can require it. The city of Ojai requires employees and customers at essential businesses to wear face coverings.

While not required in Sacramento County, health officials look to an "if you can, you should" approach to face coverings, according to the county public information officer. 

“In spite of recent re-openings, the virus risk is still here,” said Dr. Peter Beilenson, director of Health Services. “We have seen an increase in Covid cases and hospitalizations recently, in large part due to social gatherings, and to keep these cases down we need to remember to be sensible while we’re being sociable.” 

These eight counties are among the top 15 most populous in the state.

California has at least 143,646 coronavirus cases including 4,940 deaths.

The National Basketball Association has laid out its plans to conduct coronavirus testing as 22 teams prepare to restart the 2019-2020 season in July.

According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, the league will require Covid-19 testing for teams from June 23 to June 30 as part of the league’s health and safety initiative to begin play.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski is reporting that players from outside of the United States will need to report to their home team markets by June 15 while players in the states will need to report by June 22.

Both reporters say the league is now targeting July 30 as the start date to the season.

The NBA has not responded to CNN’s request for details regarding these reports.

Officials at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would not confirm on Friday whether there have been striking increases in Covid-19 hospitalizations in certain states, but said they will "monitor very closely" that metric and others during the coronavirus pandemic.

The agency uses a number of metrics beyond hospitalization and testing numbers to track the outbreak, including intensive care admissions and "emergency department utilization for Covid-like illness," Butler said.

"Because the test results in and of themselves only reflect a bit of the transmission that occurs. We know that some people don’t develop symptoms. We know that of those who develop symptoms, not everyone will be tested," he said.

CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield added that expanded testing in certain “vulnerable populations” such as nursing homes may also be contributing to the increases.

Some background: On Wednesday, data that CNN aggregated from the Covid Tracking Project from May 25 to June 9 showed that the number of patients hospitalized due to coronavirus infection has gone up in at least a dozen states that are tracking hospitalization data: Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas and Utah.