The latest on the coronavirus pandemic

After two days of witness testimony, closing arguments in the temporary injunction hearing in the Florida Education Association v. Gov. Ron DeSantis were presented Friday, bringing the virtual court proceeding to a close.

Florida Judge Charles Dodson instructed the parties in the case to provide him with briefs, no more than 15 pages long, by 5 p.m. today. 

The details of the case: The lawsuit was filed on July 20 by the FEA, the largest teacher’s union in Florida, in an effort to stop the implementation of the emergency order issued by Florida’s Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran, which requires school districts to reopen for in-person instruction five days a week.

The FEA argued that the emergency order is “arbitrary and capricious” and therefore in violation of the state’s constitution. The teachers union said the decision to reopen schools safely should be up to local school boards and should not be arbitrarily made by the governor and the education commissioner, who decided that all schools should be ready to reopen by Aug. 31.

They also said that the reopening time-table should be based on recommendations by medical experts, who say the positivity rate should be 5% or lower and no county in Florida has less than 5% positivity rate. Not following the emergency order, the FEA argued, results in losing funding. 

Attorneys representing DeSantis agreed that “there’s no question” that failing to follow the emergency order results in a reduction of funding. 

The governor’s lawyers went on to argue that the governor and the state’s education commissioner have a duty, under the Florida constitution, to provide students with a high quality education.

What's next: Dodson said yesterday, he plans to review the briefs over the weekend and make a ruling early next week.

Rhode Island’s successful reopening of childcare centers is an example of how to limit the spread of Covid-19, Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said during a briefing on Friday.

Redfield’s comments coincided with the early release of an analysis in the CDC’s weekly report about Covid-19 transmissions during June and July after Rhode Island reopened childcare programs. It found that possible secondary transmission was identified in only four of the 666 programs that had been allowed to reopen.

The CDC analysis documented what happened when Rhode Island reopened childcare programs on June 1, after a nearly three-month closure, through the end of July.

When childcare programs reopened, the state was experiencing low transmission relative to other US states, but community transmission of the virus increased during the last two weeks of July.

During that time, there were at least 33 confirmed and 19 probable infections. Of the confirmed and probable cases, 30 were children and 22 were adults, including 20 teachers and two parents. Three-quarters of the cases occurred in mid to late July, when incidence in the state was increasing.

Dr. Robert Redfield, the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said he didn’t think that teachers needed to be officially declared essential workers.

Vice President Mike Pence confirmed Friday that the administration had designated teachers essential workers. He said this means, in part, that like doctors and law enforcement officers, teachers may continue to work even after exposure to a confirmed case of Covid-19, provided they remain asymptomatic. This designation is part of the administration’s aggressive campaign to pressure districts to bring students back this fall.

Redfield said infected teachers should be isolated and not be in the classroom.

“I do think it's very important to have a well thought out, step-by-step approach to a single case versus whether there's multiple cases in the same classroom, whether there's multiple cases in multiple classrooms, and to work for the schools to then respond to those in a measured way,” Redfield said.

Local communities should decide when it is safe to open schools, he said. And schools should follow CDC guidelines on removing and isolating anyone with a coronavirus infection in doing the appropriate contact tracing and cleaning.

“In order for schools to reopen and stay open, we have to have the confidence of teachers that it's safe for them to go back and do their job,” Redfield said. “I always said I want to reopen these schools, because it's in the best public interest of K through 12 so as I mentioned, but it's got to be done safely and sensibly, it’s got to be flexible and it's got to be done in concert with teachers and parents and students decisions having confidence in that reopening.”

As Lebanon’s latest curfew went into effect Friday evening, the country reported 628 new cases of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours.

This is a new daily high for the number of infections recorded since the beginning of the pandemic, the country’s Ministry of Public Health said.

The latest recorded cases brings the country's total case count to 11,580. There were also three new fatalities recorded in the last 24 hours, raising the national death toll to 117, the ministry said.

A new daily countrywide curfew went into effect on Friday starting from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. local time. This daily curfew is part of the latest lockdown restrictions. All but essential businesses must remain closed during the curfew.

Lebanon has seen the number of new Covid-19 cases more than double since the Beirut port blast on Aug. 4 which killed at least 180 people, wounded around 6,000 people and displaced approximately 300,000 people.

Public schools in Boston will start the year remotely on Sept. 21 with a phased in approach to returning students to the classroom, Mayor Marty Walsh said Friday. 

The mayor also explained why the city made the decision to start the school year remotely.

“We feel this is the best approach to educate our children. It created a staggered approach for students to return to the classroom in a safe and careful way. It’s the best way to tackle the opportunity gaps in our city,” Walsh said.

As of yesterday, Boston had 31 new cases of Covid-19 for a total of 15,018 cases.

It’s both easier and more difficult the fight the coronavirus pandemic than it was to battle the 1918 influenza pandemic, World Health Organization officials said Friday.

“We have a disadvantage — globalization, closeness, connectedness — but an advantage of better technology.” 

The 1918 flu pandemic took just under two years to pass, Tedros said. He said he hopes to finish this pandemic in “less than two years.”

After that, the H1N1 strain that killed tens of millions of people joined the regular, seasonal mix of influenza viruses. 

“It took three waves to infect most of the susceptible individuals, then settled down probably into a seasonal pattern,” Dr. Mike Ryan, WHO executive director of Health Emergencies Program. “Very often” a pandemic virus will settle into a seasonal pattern over time, he said. 

“But this virus is not displaying a similar wave-like pattern,” Ryan said

Instead of passing in waves that offer respites, coronavirus can be suppressed with strict measures but rebounds quickly, Ryan said. “Clearly, when the disease is not under control, it jumps straight back up,” he said. 

But the 1918 flu passed and so will this pandemic, he said.

“Human beings are resilient. We are a resilient species and we will get through this,” Ryan said.

The World Health Organization and UNICEF will be issuing guidance on the use of masks in children, Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO infectious disease epidemiologist, said during a Friday briefing. 

Van Kerkhove said the guidance will be broken up by age range. The guidance will be for decision makers and educators “about when and where masks can be used.” 

Dr. Mike Ryan, WHO executive director of Health Emergencies Program, said “masks are a great tool” especially in the context of schools. But he warns they should not take the place of other public health measures.  

Ryan said getting kids back to school is a “complex equation,” and wearing masks is just one part of it. 

“In fact it would decrease the benefits of masks if people closed physical distance, don’t wash their hands," Ryan added.

Van Kerkhove said the guidance should be issued in the coming days, if not sooner.

The Southeastern Conference has announced expanded Covid-19 protocols for fall athletics, adding new cardiac evaluations and a third weekly test during weeks of competition. 

Initially, the SEC had mandated a cardiac evaluation following isolation for those athletes who tested positive. Now, the conference’s task force is expanding cardiac evaluation by requiring a troponin level, electrocardiogram, echocardiogram and a medical evaluation by a physician before an athlete can return to activity.

In addition, the SEC – at the recommendation of its medical guidance task force – will implement a third weekly rapid diagnostic test for athletes competing in sports with a high risk of close contact. 

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey release a statement:

The 14 members of the SEC have committed to honoring the scholarship of any student-athlete who opts out of playing in the fall of 2020 due to Covid-19 concerns.

Major League Baseball has announced two additional New York Mets games have been postponed due to Covid-19 concerns.

The team’s weekend home set versus the New York Yankees is off — which means four Mets games in total have now been postponed.

With two members of the Mets organization testing positive for coronavirus, the league says it wants to allow more time for additional testing and contact tracing before the team takes the field again. 

Meanwhile, Major League Baseball has released its latest Covid-19 testing figures from the past week, revealing 0.05% samples are new positives — an increase of .02% from the previous week.

The report, announced in conjunction with the players union, does not indicate which players tested positive.

Seven of the 12,485 samples were new positives: three players and four staff members.