September 3 coronavirus news

Stay-at-home orders issued across the United States in the spring appeared to work at keeping people home, new cellphone data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows.

The researchers also found that in areas where orders were lifted or expired, movement "significantly increased" immediately afterward.

“Reduced population movement helps prevent close contact among persons outside the household, potentially limiting exposure to persons infected with SARS-CoV-2,” the researchers from the CDC and the Georgia Tech Research Institute wrote in the CDC’s weekly report.

The study included data on stay-at-home orders issued by states, the District of Columbia and five US territories between March 1 and May 31.

The researchers, from the CDC and the Georgia Tech Research Institute, examined those orders and analyzed anonymous location data from mobile devices. They used the location data to estimate movements by county, based on the percentage of devices that moved each day beyond 150 meters of its most common nighttime location, which the researchers assumed was the home.

Some people could have more than one mobile device, the researchers noted. Plus media attention around Covid-19 and the cancellation of events could also have influenced people to stay home.

"These findings can inform future public policies to reduce community spread of COVID-19,” the researchers wrote.

The number of US prescriptions for hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine were significantly higher in March and April than in the same period in 2019, and the providers prescribing them were different, according to new research published in the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report on Thursday. 

The drugs are typically used to treat autoimmune diseases and to prevent malaria, but early in the pandemic, were touted by President Trump and others as a possible Covid-19 treatment. On March 20, the US Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use authorization for the drugs to treat Covid-19. The EUA was rescinded on June 15.

To identify differences in prescriptions for these drugs, researchers looked at prescriptions dispensed through US outpatient retail pharmacies from January to June 2019 and 2020. “The overall estimated number of hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine prescriptions dispensed in March and April 2020 increased from 819,906 in 2019 to 1,312,859 in 2020,” said the authors. 

New prescriptions — defined as those dispensed to a patient without a history of prescription for the medications in the last 12 months — went from 30,737 in March 2019 to 222,382 in March 2020, and from 31,748 in April 2019 to 106,184 in April 2020.

The prescribers of the drugs also changed. New prescriptions by specialists who didn’t typically prescribe these medications increased from 1,143 in February 2020 to 75,569 in March 2020 — an 80-fold increase from March 2019. In March and April 2020, 54% of new prescriptions were written by primary care prescribers.

There was a 16-fold increase in new hydroxychloroquine prescriptions for adult men, which the authors said was notable because historically, women are more likely to be receive those prescriptions.

By May and June of 2020, the numbers of new prescriptions and those from non-routine prescribers were declining and approaching 2019 numbers, the authors wrote.

“These declines might have been influenced by publication of additional studies indicating that the medications were not found to be effective for treatment of COVID-19 and by FDA safety warning,” the researchers wrote.

“If prescribing or prescribed these drugs, providers and patients should be familiar with the potential for drug interactions and adverse events associated with hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine use,” the authors wrote.

Delaware Gov. John Carney announced the extension of the state of emergency declaration in the state to combat the spread of Covid-19 and urged residents to "stay vigilant" during Labor Day weekend.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said that casinos can reopen on Wednesday, on the condition they have enhanced air filtration systems installed.

They are allowed to have a 25% max capacity, and the capacity will be monitored at the door with the New York State gaming commission taking the lead as the enforcement agency.

Table games won’t be allowed on the casino floors unless they can figure out how to put physical barriers between players and dealers, until barriers are approved by the gaming commission, table games are not allowed, according to the governor. There will no beverage service allowed on the gaming floor. 

Shopping malls in New York City are also permitted to reopen on Wednesday with a 50% capacity, as long as they too have enhanced air filtration devices installed. Masks and social distancing will be required as well. 

Cuomo announced the state conducted 88,000 tests on Wednesday with 898 positive tests recorded, bringing the positivity rate to .99%. There were at least seven Covid-19 deaths reported on Wednesday. 

Cuomo said the Covid-19 news out of Western New York is, “not good news,” with positivity rate reaching 1.9%. 

The Nasdaq Composite tumbled nearly 5% and the Dow fell 700 points — or 2.6% — on Thursday

The S&P was down 3.4%.

Stocks tumbled just one day after hitting a record high. The Nasdaq had climbed above 12,000 points for the first time in history Wednesday.

So what's happening? Well for one, the Nasdaq has been outperforming the other two major stock indexes — the Dow and the S&P 500 — for months, so investors might just be taking making some adjustments after Wednesday's record highs. The Nasdaq remains up nearly 30% in 2020, far outpacing its counterparts. 

But there are also technical reasons for Thursday's decline. As US-China relations sour, investors are moving money out of tech, which could get hit the hardest from a potential increase in tariffs.

The Big Tech companies such as Amazon, Google and Microsoft, all of which are part of the Nasdaq, have become the safe-haven investment of the summer. But investors have beginning to wonder when the rally will run out of steam, either because of increased regulation or because the economy as a whole picks up enough to void the need for safety picks altogether.

At least 100 people have died in Cuba from the coronavirus, the country's top epidemiologist said Thursday.

In a briefing, Dr. Alfredo Duran Garcia reported two new coronavirus related deaths and 88 new cases of the virus.

To date, Cuba has reported 4,214 cases of the coronavirus.

Earlier the Cuban government said the spread of the virus was under control and had begun to reopen the communist-run island. 

But after additional outbreaks in Havana, the Cuban government earlier this month shut down travel to and from the Cuban capital and instituted a nightly curfew.

Ohio State University reported a total of 269 new cases of coronavirus in students on Monday, according to the most recent data available on the school’s dashboard.

The university has reported a total of at least 882 cases since mid-August, and averaged a positivity rate of 4.5% for the last week.  

The school has 165 quarantine and isolation beds left available out of a total of 414, the dashboard shows. So far, 198 isolation beds are in use, as are an additional 98 quarantine beds. 

Remember: The school updates its data for 24 hour periods when the complete testing set is available, meaning the latest reported data can lag.  

As families try to navigate going back to school during the coronavirus pandemic, "Sesame Street" and CNN are teaming up for the "The ABCs of Back to School, A CNN/Sesame Street Town Hall for Families."

CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta and anchor Erica Hill will moderate the 60-minute special scheduled to air on CNN on Saturday Sept. 12 at 10 a.m. ET.

They will be joined by Sesame Street Muppets and school-aged children in a variety of learning environments, with Elmo going to preschool during the week, Big Bird in hybrid learning and Rosita fully remote. The trio will be joined by Abby Cadabby and her brother Rudy, Super Grover and other friends from Sesame Street.

Parents can send in their questions below, along with their full names and phone numbers.

A decision to have indoor dining in New York City will be made in September, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Thursday adding that the decision could come as soon as tomorrow.

The mayor made the comment during Thursday’s Covid-19 press conference as reporters asked the mayor about a lawsuit filed by city officials to allow limited indoor dining.

“I said this week we will come to a decision in the next day and definitely in the month of September and give guidance based on all the facts and data,” de Blasio said.