Editors note:This is a live account of COVID-19 updates from Tuesday, July 14, as the day unfolded. It is no longer being updated.Click hereto see all the most recent news about the pandemic, andclick hereto find additional resources.

As coronavirus cases continue to spike in the United States, President Donald Trump is pushing to reopen the economy andthe White House is working to undercut its most trusted coronavirus expert.

In Washington state on Monday, health officials released two unusual numbers related to the pandemic, reporting 39 fewer deaths and a record-high 1,101 additional cases.

Throughout Tuesday, on this page, well be posting Seattle Times journalists updates on the outbreak and its effects on the Seattle area, the Pacific Northwest and the world. Updates from Monday can be found here, and all our coronavirus coverage can be found here.

OLYMPIA Counties in Washington state wont be able to relax restrictions further for at least two weeks as confirmed cases of the new coronavirus climb around the state, Gov. Jay Inslee announced Tuesday.

And with a steady increase in cases across Washington, the governor, in a news conference, warned he may have to roll back parts of the gradual reopening made in recent months since the pandemic peaked here.

As the virus roars back across chunks of America, Washington, so far, has avoided the steep rise in confirmed cases and hospitalizations seen in Arizona, Florida and elsewhere.

But Inslee said the current rise of confirmed cases here along with an estimated transmission rate indicating infected people are spreading the virus to others leaves Washington in a dangerous position if left unchecked.

Read the full story here.

Joseph O'Sullivan

Researchers on Tuesday reported strong evidence that the coronavirus can be transmitted from a pregnant woman to a fetus.

A baby born in a Paris hospital in March to a mother with COVID-19 tested positive for the virus and developed symptoms of inflammation in his brain, said Dr. Daniele De Luca, who led the research team and is chief of the division of pediatrics and neonatal critical care at Paris-Saclay University Hospitals. The baby, now more than 3 months old, recovered without treatment and is very much improved, almost clinically normal, De Luca said, adding that the mother, who needed oxygen during the delivery, is healthy.

De Luca said the virus appeared to have been transmitted through the placenta of the 23-year-old mother.

The New York Times

The state Department of Health (DOH) is refining how it records deaths as it works to better track the coronavirus pandemic.

So far, anytime someone with a positive COVID-19 diagnosis dies, DOH has been attributing those deaths to the virus, said Katie Hutchinson, heath statistics manager for DOH.

In the vast majority of those cases, COVID-19 was the cause of the persons death. But sometimes, people with COVID-19 happen to die of something else. Or, they have incomplete death certificates and the state isnt immediately sure whether COVID-19 played a role.

To differentiate among these, DOH on Monday began classifying deaths of people with COVID-19 into four categories: Confirmed, pending, suspect and non-COVID-19-related.

DOH has removed deaths from the official tally when it determined COVID-19 was not the primary cause. Hutchinson said the agency plans to continue doing so.

Read the full story here.

Ryan Blethen

In the last five months, Amazon job listings decreased about 19% globally, but still number more than 30,000. In the companys headquarters city of Seattle, listings are off 36%.

Amazon has more openings in Seattle about 7,300 than any other single location, down from about 11,500 in early February.

That was before the coronavirus pandemic upended all aspects of life, driving a wave of business to Amazon which made 175,000 temporary hires in its warehouses and transportation network this spring while much of the rest of the economy shut down, causing widespread unemployment.

The Seattle-areas role as a technology hub has insulated it to a certain extent. King Countys unemployment rate was 14.3% in May. (The June update is due next week.) But employment in the information industry, which includes many technology jobs, was up 2.8% in 12 months ended in May.

Read the full story here.

Benjamin Romano

Its been two weeks since Seattle Public Schools releasedpreliminary detailsabout its plan to reopen buildings in the fall. Now, amid heightened debate across the region and the country about the health risks of resuming instruction in person, the teachers union and some School Board members are searching for alternatives.

This week, the Seattle Education Association issued a statement opposing in-person teaching in the fall, calling it reckless under current conditions and advocating 100% remote learning. The union is currently bargaining with the school district over work conditions for this fall.

At the same time, a few School Board members are drafting anambitious alternativeto the complex reopening plan the district had previously proposed: two hours of instruction outdoors on most days, and remote learning in most other cases. School buildings would be reserved for a narrow list of activities, including special-education services and support for remote learning.

Read the full story here.

Dahlia Bazzaz

Doctors say employers should not use COVID-19 antibody tests to decide whether employees are safe to return to work, yet such testing is being promoted by lab companies and hospitals to businesses through back to work programs.

The idea is tantalizing: If scientists knew a COVID-19 infection caused the body to produce antibodies that reliably protect against re-infection, determining whos safe to return to work could be as simple as a well-designed blood test.

Yet the American Medical Association, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Minnesota Department of Health each say the evidence backing test accuracy and protectiveness from antibodies is not yet strong enough. Even the lab companies and hospitals admit they cant offer immunity certificates to people who have the antibodies today.

We dont know what level of antibodies makes someone immune to COVID-19. All we can tell is that the person has been exposed, said Dr. Susan Bailey, a Texas allergist and immunologist who is president of the American Medical Association. We dont necessarily know what that immune response means, in terms of someones ability to go back to work or to school.

Read the full story here.

Minneapolis Star Tribune

State health officials confirmed 547 new COVID-19 cases in Washington on Tuesday, and five new deaths.

The update brings the states totals to 42,304 cases and 1,404 deaths, meaning about 3.3% of people diagnosed in Washington have died, according to the state Department of Health (DOH). The data is as of 11:59 p.m. Monday.

So far, 718,234 tests for the novel coronavirus have been conducted in the state, per DOH. Of those, 5.9% have come back positive.

The state has confirmed 12,213 diagnoses and 624 deaths in King County, the state's most populous, accounting for a little less than half of the state's death toll.

Nicole Brodeur

Consumers should take extra precautions with their hand sanitizer, according to Public Health - Seattle & King County, which warned against products that may cause methanol poisoning.

The agency sent out a series of tweets, including a list of 11 manufacturers whose products should be avoided.

Another tweet noted the signs of methanol poisoning, including headache, blurred vision or blindness, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, loss of coordination and decreased alertness. Anyone experiencing symptoms should call Washington Poison Center at 1-800-222-1222.

Public Health also urged consumers to only choose a sanitizer that is at least 60 percent alcohol; to avoid products that say FDA approved, since the are no sanitizers that are approved by the agency; and keep hand sanitizers out of the reach of children and supervise their use.

BATON ROUGE, La. Vice President Mike Pence insisted Tuesday the countrys schools should reopen to in-person instruction for students, making the point in Louisiana as the state has reemerged as one of the nations hot spots for the coronavirus only months after signs pointed to a successful outbreak response.

Appearing at Louisiana State University, the Republican vice president described the nation as in a much better position today to deal with the pandemic even as virus cases surge across much of the country. He and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos called for students at every level from elementary school through college to return to classrooms, with Pence calling that critical to reopening the country.

Its the right thing to do for our children. Its also the right thing to do for families, Pence said at Tiger Stadium, where he met with Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, members of the congressional delegation and state higher education officials.

Read the full story here.

The Associated Press

BILLINGS, Mont. It was meant to be a last line of defense to protect the most vulnerable as the coronavirus spread across the United States: Montana officials offered free testing in May for staff and residents at assisted living and long-term care facilities.

But not all of them followed through, according to state data, including a facility in Billings, Montanas largest city, that cares for people with dementia and other memory problems. The virus has infected almost every resident there and killed eight since July 6, accounting for almost a quarter of Montanas 34 confirmed deaths. Thirty-six employees also have tested positive.

Read the full story here.

The Associated Press

A coronavirus vaccine being tested in Seattle triggered strong immune responses in 45 volunteers, according topreliminary resultspublished Tuesday in the New England Journal of Medicine.

After two doses of the vaccine, volunteers neutralizing antibody responses were higher than the average levels seen in the blood of people who had been infected with the novel coronavirus.

Volunteers were first injectedin Seattleon March 16, marking the first human tests on any coronavirus vaccine. Since then, the field has exploded, with more than 20 experimental vaccines now in human trials and more than 100 in preclinical stages.

Dr. Lisa Jackson, a senior investigator at Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle, is lead author of the new report.

I think the results are encouraging, she said.

The speed with which the trials have progressed is also impressive. Processes that usually take years or even decades are now being accomplished in a matter of months, Jackson said.

Read the full story here.

Sandi Doughton

In 1984, scientists discovered the virus at the root of an alarming epidemic that was sickening otherwise healthy young men with aggressive cancers and rare, life-threatening pneumonias.

The discovery of HIV was a long-awaited moment, and Health and Human Services Secretary Margaret Heckler vowed that the scourge of AIDS would soon end. A vaccine would be ready for testing within two years, she proclaimed.

Yet another terrible disease is about to yield to patience, persistence and outright genius, Heckler said.

Thirty-six years later, there still is no HIV vaccine. But instead of a cautionary tale of scientific hubris, that still-continuing effort is leading to even greater confidence in the search for a coronavirus vaccine, from some of the same researchers who have spent their careers seeking a cure for AIDS.

Those decades of research into HIV have taught scientists an enormous amount about the immune system, honed vaccine technologies now being repurposed against the coronavirus and created a worldwide infrastructure of clinical trial networks that can be pivoted from HIV to the pathogen that causes the disease COVID-19.

Read the full story here.

The Washington Post

Facing eight federal lawsuits and opposition from hundreds of universities, the Trump administration on Tuesday rescinded a rule that would have required international students to transfer or leave the country if their schools held classes entirely online because of the pandemic.

The decision was announced at the start of a hearing in a federal lawsuit in Boston brought by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs said federal immigration authorities agreed to pull the July 6 directive and return to the status quo.

A lawyer representing the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said only that the judges characterization was correct.

The announcement brings relief to thousands of international students who had been at risk of being deported from the country, along with hundreds of universities that were scrambling to reassess their plans for the fall in light of the policy.

Read the story here.

The Associated Press

The U.S. and Canada are poised to extend their agreement to keep their shared border closed to nonessential travel to Aug. 21, but a final confirmation has not been given, a person familiar with the matter said Tuesday.

The agreement would likely extend the closure by another 30 days. The official was not authorized to speak publicly ahead of an announcement this week, and spoke on condition of anonymity. The restrictions were announced on March 18 and were extended in April, May and June.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said this week that a decision on the border would be announced later this week.

Were going to continue to work hard to keep Canadians safe and to keep our economies flowing, and we will have more to say later, Trudeau said.

Mexican Foreign Affairs Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said on Friday that an opening between the U.S. and Mexico wouldnt be prudent right now, given that coronavirus cases in the states of the southern United States, California, New Mexico, Arizona and Texas, are on the rise.

Most Canadians fear a reopening. The U.S. has more confirmed cases and deaths from COVID-19 than any country in the world while Canada has flattened the epidemic curve.

Read the story here.

The Associated Press

Hawaiis governor said Monday he will wait another month to waive a 14-day quarantine requirement for out-of-state travelers who test negative for COVID-19, citing increasing virus cases in Hawaii, uncontrolled outbreaks in several U.S. mainland states and a shortage of testing supplies.

The testing plan, as announced last month, was scheduled to take effect Aug. 1. It's now postponed to Sept. 1.

Many in Hawaiis business community had been looking forward to the testing program, as it would make it easier for tourists to visit and potentially boost the economy. The quarantine requirement has virtually shut down tourism to the state since it took effect in late March. Hotels have closed and the unemployment rate stands at 22.6%, the second highest in the nation.

Gov. David Ige said at a news conference he and the states mayors, whom he consulted, understood the gravity of the choices they were presented with. On the one hand, he said, Hawaii could have an uncontrolled surge of COVID-19 if it reopened. On the other, delaying the traveler testing program would risk further economic damage.

Read the story here.

The Associated Press

Hong Kong implemented its strictest suite of social distancing measures yet as the Asian financial hub looks set to be the first in the region where a new outbreak surpasses previous waves in severity.

Bars, gyms and beaches will be closed, public gatherings limited to four people, and fines will be doled out to those refusing to wear masks on public transportation as authorities try to slow a growing resurgence. Officials said they detected 40 local cases on Tuesday, bringing the total outbreak to 224 people in about a week.

The breadth of Hong Kongs social distancing measures reflects the large proportion of cases of unknown origins, which grew to a record of 24 out of 40 local cases on Tuesday. Because officials cannot identify where the infections are centered, they cant deploy less disruptive targeted measures like in South Korea and Japan, and have instead levied broad policies for the whole city.

Read the story here.

Bloomberg

Medics in white coats replaced uniformed soldiers as stars of Frances Bastille Day ceremonies Tuesday, as the usual grandiose military parade in Paris was recalibrated to honor medics who died fighting COVID-19, supermarket cashiers, postal workers and other heroes of the pandemic.

Yet for thousands of participants in a protest across town, the national homage wasnt nearly enough to make up for missteps by French President Emmanuel Macron and his government before and during the coronavirus pandemic. Riot police sprayed tear gas and unruly demonstrators hurled smoke bombs as the largely peaceful demonstrators marched to Bastille plaza, where the French Revolution was born on July 14, 1789.

The contrasting scenes marked a Bastille Day unlike any other, overshadowed by fears of resurgent infections in a country where more than 30,000 people have already lost their lives to the coronavirus.

With tears in their eyes or smiles on their faces, medical workers stood silently as lengthy applause in their honor rang out over the Place de la Concorde in central Paris from Macron, the head of the World Health Organization and 2,000 other guests. A military choir sang the Marseillaise national anthem, and troops unfurled an enormous French tricolor flag across the plaza.

Link:

Coronavirus daily news updates, July 14: What to know today about COVID-19 in the Seattle area, Washington state and the world - Seattle Times