August 12 coronavirus news

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Wednesday that he “can’t speculate” as to whether another stimulus bill will pass in the near-term, days after negotiations came to a stalemate. He also called for a capital gains tax cut and made a rare (for him) criticism of Joe Biden’s economic policies.

He railed against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who he said are “just not willing to compromise.”

His message to negotiators: “Let’s do this,” suggesting that there could be an approximately $1 trillion bill now and perhaps another later this year or in early 2021.

“This will be the fifth bill, we can always come back later in the year, or in January, and do a sixth bill, we don't need to do everything at once… Our view is, let's spend a little over a trillion dollars on areas of the economy that are going to be very impactful now, that we can agree on. And if we need to do more, we'll come back and do more and work together but now is the time to have bipartisan support,” he said.

Mnuchin also reiterated the President’s suggestion that the administration is considering a capital gains tax cut, which would require legislation.

“Well, the President like would like to do, capital gains tax cuts and we do need legislation to do what we want on that front,” he said, going on to explain how previous similar cuts stimulated economic investment.

“That's what we need now because of Covid. So I think for the next few years while we recover, we should reduce those capital gains,” he added, going on to, in an unusual move for Mnuchin, criticize Joe Biden for voting against a capital gains reduction in 2003 and drawing contrasts on policy with the Democratic ticket.

“So again you see two very different economic policies. One is tax more and hurt the economy, one is create selective tax cuts regulatory relief and economic agenda trades that will stimulate the economy,” he said.

Researchers in the US and across the world are continuing their work developing vaccines for Covid-19.

Here's where things stand this morning:

Quickly performing facility-wide coronavirus testing after a Covid-19 case is identified might help control its transmission among residents and health care workers, according to research published Tuesday in the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Nursing homes are some of the highest risk environments for contracting Covid-19 in the US.

Authors from the CDC compiled data from seven state and local health departments that conducted facility-wide testing in a total of 288 nursing homes from March 24 to June 14.

The researchers found that health departments in Arkansas, Detroit, New Mexico, Utah and Vermont performed facility-wide Covid-19 tests in 93 nursing homes, which helped authorities detect new cases in 79% of facilities.

As well as being a high risk environment for elderly patients, nursing homes also pose a health risk to the employees who work there.

More than 900 US health care workers have died of Covid-19, according to a news release from the Kaiser Family Foundation published Wednesday.

Five European countries have recorded a drop in Covid-19 cases even as most nations in the continent grapple with rising levels of infection, according to a report by the European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC).

Portugal, Sweden, Croatia, Latvia and Slovenia have all recorded a decreasing trend in the number of new infections in the past two weeks, while the rest of the continent has seen an uptick in reported cases per 100,000 people.

The positive signs come as the UEFA Champions League finals kick-off in Lisbon. 

UEFA made the decision to host the final stages of the competition in the Portuguese capital in June, attributing the decision to the country’s reputation as a “safe and low-risk Covid-19 destination” at the time, compared to other European nations.

Looking specifically at the Lisbon region, the ECDC report says the 14-day trend for the area also shows a “decrease” in the number of cases. 

On Tuesday, Portuguese health authorities reported an additional 120 infections from the novel coronavirus in the entire country, a 0.2% increase on the previous day, for a total of 52,945 cases diagnosed since the outbreak began.

The novel coronavirus has infected more than 20 million people globally and killed more than 742,000. Here are some of today's key developments:

Russia raised eyebrows on Tuesday when it announced the world's first approved coronavirus vaccine for public use.

President Vladimir Putin says his own daughter has already received it, but testing is yet to be completed and experts are skeptical about how quickly the vaccine has been registered.

Here's a summary of what we know -- and don't know -- so far.

Is the Russian vaccine safe and effective?

The short answer is that we don't know. Russia has released no scientific data on its vaccine testing and CNN is unable to verify claims about its safety or effectiveness. But Russia says the vaccine has passed through Phase 1 and Phase 2 trials which were completed on August 1.

A Phase 3 trial on more than 2,000 people only began today. Typically Phase 3 trials are conducted on tens of thousands of people.

How did Russia pull this off so quickly?

In April, Russia enacted a law which eliminated the need for a Phase 3 vaccine trial before approval.

Approval now means the coronavirus vaccine can be distributed even as Phase 3 tests get underway -- though practically speaking, mass-manufactured doses aren't expected to be ready for weeks.

"They're not as far ahead as other vaccines," Neal said, noting that Moderna and Oxford's vaccines have already begun Phase 3 trials. Critics say Russia's haste is partly due to political pressure from the Kremlin, which is keen to portray the country as a global scientific force.

Read our full Q and A here:

RELATED

What we know -- and don't know -- about Russia's 'Sputnik V' vaccine

Are parents really supposed to be reassured by all this talk about "mild" cases of Covid-19 in children? What about the unfortunate "few" youngsters who have died or come down with a strange and severe associated illness?

No parent wants to take the odds that their child might be the exception to the rule.

As a number of schools and universities across the country have begun classes or are moving forward with plans to begin full or partial in-person instruction in the coming weeks, fears among families are on the rise.

The question looms: Will our children be safe?

Read more:

RELATED

Can you tell if your child is sick from Covid-19? We asked pediatricians

As Texas soars past 500,000 Covid-19 cases, state officials are redoubling their efforts to get residents to wear masks and practice social distancing, after suggesting that the surge has been driven by people letting their guard down.

Texas has been at the center of the resurgence of coronavirus cases along with California and Florida, which are both reporting thousands of new daily cases. Though Texas officials initially came under scrutiny for downplaying the severity of the virus' spread and acting slowly to pull back plans for reopening, Abbott said during a news conference Tuesday that the state is ramping up distribution of personal protective equipment and encouraging Texans to wear masks and socially distance.

Read more:

RELATED

Texans are seeing how dangerous coronavirus can be as cases soar past 500,000

German health minister Jens Spahn has strongly criticized Russia’s approval of a coronavirus vaccine, saying Moscow is not “transparent” and that a vaccine without proper testing could be “dangerous.”

Spahn made the remarks in a radio interview with the broadcaster Deutschlandfunk. 

Spahn criticized what he called Russian authorities’ lack of transparency.

Russia approved the vaccine before Phase 3 trials began Wednesday.

Moscow has released no data from the Phase 1 and 2 trials and CNN is unable to verify the vaccine's safety and effectiveness.