The latest on the Covid-19 pandemic as Olympics approach

By Meg Wagner, Melissa Macaya, Melissa Mahtani, Mike Hayes and Veronica Rocha, CNN

Updated 10:09 PM ET, Tue July 20, 2021
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3:44 p.m. ET, July 20, 2021

400 is a "huge" number for child Covid-19 deaths, CDC director says

From CNN's Virginia Langmaid

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky speaks during a Senate hearing on May 19, in Washington, DC.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky speaks during a Senate hearing on May 19, in Washington, DC. (Greg Nash/Pool/Getty Images)

In a Senate hearing on Tuesday, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky pushed back on certain framings of US child deaths from Covid-19.

“One thing I just want to note with the children is I think we fall into this flawed thinking of saying that only 400 of these 600,000 deaths from Covid-19 have been in children,” she said.

“Children are not supposed to die. And so 400 is a huge amount for respiratory season,” Walensky said.

2:23 p.m. ET, July 20, 2021

UK reports highest number of Covid-19 deaths since March 

From CNN's Rob Iddiols

The UK reported 46,558 new Covid-19 cases and 96 more deaths on Tuesday, according to government data.  

The latest figures reflect the highest number of fatalities from coronavirus in a single day since March, during the tail end of the country’s second wave. 

It comes the day following England’s "Freedom Day" when all lockdown restrictions were lifted despite the sharp rise in cases. 

The data indicates there were 745 new admissions to hospital with Covid-19 on Monday, for a total of 4,500 over the past seven days. 

More than 68% of the adult population have now received their second dose of a coronavirus vaccine, with 143,560 second doses administered on Monday, the data shows. 

3:26 p.m. ET, July 20, 2021

Top Arkansas official expects "significant outbreaks" of Covid-19 within the school system this year

From CNN's Sarah Braner

Dr. Jose Romero, secretary of health for the Arkansas Health Department, said, “I expect to see, this year, significant outbreaks [of Covid-19] within the school system.”

“What's already telling me that that's going to happen are the number of daycare closures that have occurred because of outbreaks occurring, and the camp exposures and closures that are occurring,” he said at a US News and World Report event on vaccine inequity and misinformation on Tuesday.

“What I’m trying to do publicly and privately with my own patients is stress the importance of the mask," Romero added.

Some context: Arkansas is one of at least nine states that have banned districts from requiring masks in schools, according to CNN analysis. Romero said that “we’re considering, as an incentive for masking, considering our quarantine recommendations for school,” saying that if an individual has tested positive but the people exposed have been wearing a mask and are asymptomatic, they may not have to quarantine.  

“We have one major children's hospital here in the state,” he said. “That hospital already has a significant number of children with Covid in their hospital, and they're being burdened by an upsurge in RSV – respiratory syncytial virus – being seen across the country, in particular, in the south.”

“What we're seeing now is that they're full, that they have a limited supply of beds. In three weeks when we start school, this will exacerbate, and that's what I'm very, very concerned about.”

According to the most recent data, just over 35% of the state’s population is fully vaccinated; nationally, nearly 49% of the total US population has been fully vaccinated. 

 

1:54 p.m. ET, July 20, 2021

Unvaccinated children "can and should" wear masks in US schools, CDC director says

From CNN's Virginia Langmaid

Masked school children are seen in Stamford, Connecticut, in September 2020.
Masked school children are seen in Stamford, Connecticut, in September 2020. John Moore/Getty Images

Children who are not vaccinated should continue to wear masks in schools, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said Tuesday.

“For those children who are not able to be vaccinated, they can and should wear a mask in those school settings and we have said that in our guidance,” Walensky told a Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pension hearing. 

“I think it's critically important that our schools be open for full in-person learning in the fall,” she said. 

Walensky said the “highest and most important thing” is to get people vaccinated.

“The best thing would be to have everybody vaccinated who can be vaccinated. Surround unvaccinated children who are not yet eligible with people who are vaccinated to protect them," she said.

1:57 p.m. ET, July 20, 2021

Further CDC recommendations on masks and travel still pending in the US, director says

From CNN's Virginia Langmaid

J. Scott Applewhite/Pool/AP
J. Scott Applewhite/Pool/AP

Updated guidance is coming about mask use and travel, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said Tuesday.

“The discussion about masking on federal aviation and ships is an interagency process, not simply with CDC. I will say a lot has changed since May 13,” Walensky said in a hearing held by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

In May, the CDC announced that people fully vaccinated against Covid-19 do not need to wear masks or practice social distancing indoors or outdoors, except under certain circumstances. At that time, the CDC said the requirement to wear masks during travel — on buses, trains, planes and public transportation — still stood.

But today, Walensky said they are "continuing those conversations."

“We now have a variant circulating in this country that is, you know, at the time was less than 3%, and is now 83%. And much more transmissible.” Walensky has said 83% of all samples sequenced from people newly infected with coronavirus are the Delta, or B.1.617.2 variant.

“We are continuing those conversations,” Walensky said. “And we'll continue to revisit that as we learn more about vaccine efficacy, as we learn more about transmission in the context of vaccination, and as we understand more about the Delta variant.”

1:28 p.m. ET, July 20, 2021

The Olympics are 3 days away. Here's what you need to know about the pandemic right now.

From CNN's Elise Hammond

A medal tray is displayed during an unveiling event on June 3 in Tokyo.
A medal tray is displayed during an unveiling event on June 3 in Tokyo. Issei Kato/Pool/Getty Images

With the start of the Tokyo Olympics just days away, Covid-19 cases are rising across the United States and in other countries around the world.

Here are the top headlines you need to know this Tuesday.

The Olympics

  • Tokyo reported at least 1,387 new Covid-19 cases today. The number of infections linked to the Games has risen to 71, organizers said. This includes two American athletes.
  • First lady Jill Biden still intends to travel to Tokyo tomorrow for the Games, saying it was important to her and President Biden that the administration was represented at the highest level despite a number of reported Covid-19 cases among athletes, according to the White House.
  • Japan's Emperor Naruhito will be attending the opening ceremony without any other member of the imperial family, officials said.
  • Tokyo 2020 CEO Toshiro Muto is not ruling out an 11th-hour cancellation of the Olympics Games amid rising Covid-19 cases, saying, "We cannot predict what the epidemic will look like in the future."

Hotspots

  • India: The number of excess deaths reported during the country's Covid-19 pandemic could be up to 10 times the official Covid-19 death toll, a working paper published by the US-based Center for Global Development said. 
  • Indonesia: The president said the country will extend its restrictions to curb Covid-19 to July 25. Indonesia reported more than 38,000 new cases on Tuesday.
  • Hong Kong: The review for the much anticipated Hong Kong – Singapore travel bubble has been delayed to late August, Hong Kong government said. Plans for a travel bubble between the two Asian cities were already postponed for a second time in May because of a Covid-19 outbreaks in Singapore. 
  • The United States: US Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra signed a renewal of the determination that the US remains under a "public health emergency" due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Read more about what that means here.

Delta Variant

  • The Delta variant of Covid-19 now makes up more than 80% of sequenced samples in the United States, the CDC said.

Vaccines

  • The United States will begin shipping more than three million additional Covid-19 vaccines to certain Central American countries on Tuesday, a White House official said. That will include places like Honduras, El Salvador, Panama and Guatemala.

You can get a more detailed breakdown of Covid-19 around the world here.

1:11 p.m. ET, July 20, 2021

There have been prior breakthrough cases among White House staff, press secretary says 

From CNN's Betsy Klein

Susan Walsh/AP
Susan Walsh/AP

White House press secretary Jen Psaki acknowledged that there have been prior breakthrough cases among White House staffers in addition to the fully vaccinated official who CNN reported on Tuesday tested positive for Covid-19.

"There have been. I will say that we, according to an agreement we made during the transition to be transparent and make information available, we committed that we would release information proactively if it is commissioned officers," Psaki said when asked if there had been other breakthrough cases among White House staff.

CNN reported earlier Tuesday that a White House official and a senior aide in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office, who are both fully vaccinated, have tested positive for Covid-19. Axios was first to report the breakthrough cases.

Psaki later clarified the White House official who tested positive was not a commissioned officer, but declined to say what office the official worked in, citing privacy concerns. None of the other positive cases were commissioned officers, either, she said, explaining that the White House would have proactively released that information.

Psaki declined to say how many breakthrough cases had been recorded, or what level of staff was affected.

She also confirmed the case reported earlier Tuesday on the record.

"Yesterday, a fully vaccinated White House official tested positive for Covid-19 off campus. In accordance with our rigorous Covid-19 protocols, the official remains off campus as they wait for confirmatory PCR test," Psaki said.

12:50 p.m. ET, July 20, 2021

First lady Jill Biden is still planning to attend the Olympics

From CNN's Betsy Klein

First lady Jill Biden arrives to speak at a campaign rally in November 2020 in Pittsburgh.
First lady Jill Biden arrives to speak at a campaign rally in November 2020 in Pittsburgh. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

The White House reiterated first lady Jill Biden’s intent to travel to Tokyo beginning Wednesday for the Summer Olympic Games, saying it was important to her and President Biden that the administration was represented at the highest level despite a number of reported Covid-19 cases among athletes.  

“There's been no change, she's still planning on attending the games,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters, adding, “The President, the first lady felt it was important to have the delegation lead at the highest level. So she is looking forward to continuing her travels.” 

Biden and her colleagues, Psaki said, “will be following very strict safety and health protocols limiting engagement with the public, keeping our footprint as small as possible.” 

The first lady is set to depart for Japan, by way of Alaska, on Wednesday. She will stop in Anchorage and visit the Alaska Native Medical Center before flying on to Tokyo. 

 

12:59 p.m. ET, July 20, 2021

Japan's Emperor to attend the Olympics opening ceremony alone 

From CNN's Mayumi Maruyama in Atlanta

Japan's Emperor Naruhito speaks during a press conference in February 2020 in Tokyo, Japan.
Japan's Emperor Naruhito speaks during a press conference in February 2020 in Tokyo, Japan. Rodrigo Reyes Marin/Pool/Getty Images

Japan's Emperor Naruhito will be attending the opening ceremony without any other member of the imperial family, according to national broadcaster NHK citing the Imperial Household Agency on Tuesday.

The agency says that the decision was made in keeping with the plans for other Olympic officials who are also attending unaccompanied by their spouses.

The Emperor is due to declare the Olympics open at the ceremony on Friday at the National Stadium in Tokyo.

On the day before the ceremony, the Emperor will receive a courtesy call at the Imperial Palace by senior officials of the International Olympic Committee, including President Thomas Bach, according to national broadcaster NHK.