Dr. Glenn Lopez administered a standard test for the coronavirus to Daniel Contreras at a mobile clinic in South Los Angeles last week. Though highly accurate, such tests can take days or more to process. Mario Tama/Getty Images hide caption

Dr. Glenn Lopez administered a standard test for the coronavirus to Daniel Contreras at a mobile clinic in South Los Angeles last week. Though highly accurate, such tests can take days or more to process.

Anybody who has waited for hours in line for a coronavirus test, or who has had to wait a week or more for results, knows there has to be a better way. In fact, the next generation of tests will focus on speed.

But what should the Food and Drug Administration do with a rapid test that is comparatively cheap but much less accurate than the tests currently on the market? A test like that is ready to go up for FDA approval, and some scientists argue it could be valuable despite its shortcomings.

At first blush, you wouldn't want a medical test to be pushing out untrustworthy results. And that's certainly the case for a medical diagnosis. But rapid test could be valuable if used to screen large numbers of people for infection repeatedly and frequently.

For example, some of the rapid tests under development don't detect the virus in a person who is in the early or late stages of infection they only catch an infection at its peak. Dr. Michael Mina at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health says that's OK, under certain circumstances.

"As long as you're using the test on a pretty frequent basis," Mina says, "you will be more likely than not to catch the person on the day they might go out and transmit. And they'll know to stay home."

To be useful, such tests need to be widely available and affordable, he says. "I envision a time when everyone can order a pack of 50 tests for $50 and have those and use them every other day for a couple of months."

When it comes to controlling the epidemic, that could be an appealing alternative to the current laboratory-based system, an overburdened process that has become a serious bottleneck. These days, some people are waiting a week or more for results, and by then they have potentially spread the virus to others.

Highly accurate at-home tests are probably many months away. But Mina argues they could be here sooner if the FDA would not demand that tests for the coronavirus meet really high accuracy standards of 80 percent or better.

A Massachusetts-based startup called E25Bio has developed this sort of rapid test. Founder and Chief Technology Officer Irene Bosch says her firm has field-tested it in hospitals. "What we learned is that the test is able to be very efficient for people who have a lot of virus," she says.

It's nowhere near as good at detecting low levels of virus. But you can have the most sensitive test in the world, she says, and if you only test people once a month, that test, too, will miss a lot of people who are infected. So, her company is focusing on quick, easy and cheap.

"These are very simple strips," she says. "They're [like] miniaturized pregnancy tests. So, you can imagine you can't find anything more simple than this."

The sample for this test would come via a swab of the nose or mouth. Results would be available within 15 minutes, according to the manufacturer. Most important is the price.

"The test has to be affordable. It cannot work if it's not affordable," Bosch says. "Right now it might cost $3 to make it [or] $4 to make it. So affordable will be what it costs."

E25Bio would like to set the price at cost, though for the start-up company to stay in business, Bosch says, the test would need a government subsidy. The company has a local partner that's poised to produce a million of these tests a week, she says, adding that another company in the United Kingdom is poised to produce 8 million tests a day.

E25Bio has asked the governor of Massachusetts to approve the rapid test for sale not for use at home just yet, but in pharmacies and out in the community.

To bring people back to work, or teachers and students back to the classroom safely, "this is the kind of test you need," Bosch says.

The company would like to pair the test with a smartphone app. The app would take a photo of the test result and upload it to a public database. The information would be stripped of personal details and precise location, but if people volunteered to take this step, she says, the public could crowdsource information about the spread of the coronavirus that would be useful to researchers. The information would also be available to public health authorities.

The company is in talks with the FDA about approving this test, even though it would be a departure for the federal agency, which has so far required a higher level of accuracy.

She isn't sure how the FDA is responding to the company's request. "This is a Pandora's box and this like is a black box," she says with a laugh.

In other words, the FDA doesn't want to take an action that backfires, and it also doesn't tend to reveal its thinking as it deliberates. The FDA told NPR that the agency weighs the benefits and risks of all coronavirus tests, but didn't elaborate on its thinking about this novel testing strategy.

"There's always a tradeoff here. There's no free lunch," says Trevor Martin, chief executive officer of the Bay Area biotech startup, Mammoth Biosciences. His company is also making a rapid test, based on the gene-editing technology CRISPR. Though CRISPR is best known for its ability to edit DNA, part of that process involves pinpointing specific sequences. And by targeting the coronavirus' genetic sequence, this approach can be highly accurate, he says.

"Our goal is to have a test that delivers extremely high-quality results with a single test. The same as you would get in a lab, or better," Martin says.

His company's test isn't likely to be on the market until the end of the year, which seems like the distant future, considering the pace of the epidemic. He agrees tests need to be affordable, but he didn't name a price range for the test.

Martin says precision has a place in controlling the epidemic, too. A test that can detect very low levels of virus is more likely to pick up someone with a mild infection, even in the absence of symptoms. And that's "super important if you want to prevent spread," he says.

Other labs are pursuing tests based on CRISPR as well. And two companies have temporary approval by the FDA to sell a rapid test that detects certain proteins antigens from the coronavirus. These antigen tests are less accurate than the standard PCR tests, which detect genetic material from the virus. The average wholesale price for antigen tests is in the $20 range. Such tests are currently in limited supply, and available at hospitals, medical clinics and some doctor's offices.

It's unlikely that there will be one single testing solution for the coronavirus, and the best blend of approaches is still a work in progress.

You can contact NPR Science Correspondent Richard Harris at rharris@npr.org.

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How An At-Home Test For COVID-19 Could Help Control The Pandemic : Shots - Health News - NPR

Despite the sharp uptick in cases he acknowledged and a US death toll that now exceeds 142,000, Trump declared that "it's all going to work out. And it is working out."

He suggested children do not transmit the coronavirus, though early evidence suggests children can and do. He attributed the recent rise in cases in part to racial justice protests, though early evidence suggests the protests did not cause a spike, and in part to migration from Mexico, though there is no evidence for this either.

Trump also claimed that he has done more for Black Americans than anyone else with the "possible exception" of President Abraham Lincoln. That is transparently ridiculous.

Here is a look at some of Trump's claims and the facts behind them.

Trump suggests Mexico to blame

In assigning blame for the uptick in coronavirus cases, Trump also suggested that Mexico was responsible, even though public health officials haven't publicly made this same accusation.

"Likely also contributing were also sharing a 2,000-mile border with Mexico, as we know very well, and cases are surging in Mexico, unfortunately," Trump said on Wednesday.

Referring to his proposed US-Mexico border wall, Trump added, "It was really meant for a different purpose, but it worked out very well for what we're doing right now and the pandemic."

Facts First: Trump didn't provide any evidence to back up his claims, and the nation's top public health officials aren't blaming Mexico for the US pandemic. Also, cases are spiking in states that don't share a border with Mexico -- like Florida, Louisiana and Idaho -- undercutting Trump's implication that border-crossers are bringing the disease into the US en masse. It's worth noting that the virus first flared in places such as Washington State, New York and New Jersey, thousands of miles away from the Mexican border.

After the briefing, CNN's Chief Medical Correspondent Sanjay Gupta said there isn't medical evidence supporting Trump's assertions. "I don't think there's any data specifically on Mexico," Gupta said. "We actually looked up to see if there was any data on that, and I didn't find any."

There is also a logic problem with Trump's comments. On one hand, he's blaming Mexico for the US spike. But he's also saying that the border barriers have successfully kept out the virus.

Kids transmitting the virus

During Wednesday's briefing, Trump continued to advocate for schools opening in the fall. In support of this he claimed that "a lot of people" say children "don't transmit" coronavirus.

"They don't catch it easily, they don't bring it home easily," Trump added. "And if they do catch it, they get better fast."

According to one recent study from the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, children between 10 and 19 years old may transmit coronavirus just as much as adults.

"Although the detection rate for contacts of preschool-aged children was lower, young children may show higher attack rates when the school closure ends, contributing to community transmission of Covid-19," the study said.

As a result, even though children appear to be affected less commonly or severely than adults, returning to school still poses certain risks.

Protests and the rise in cases

Trump said there were a "number" of causes for the recent spike in coronavirus cases. He cited some uncontroversial possible contributors, such as Americans returning to bars and increasing their travel.

The first cause he listed, though, was the racial justice protests that swept the country following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in late May.

"Cases started to rise among young Americans shortly after demonstrations...which presumably triggered a broader relaxation of mitigation nationwide," Trump said.

Obama and Chicago

CNN's Kaitlan Collins noted that in 2016 Trump said that it was President Barack Obama's fault that homicides were up in Chicago. She questioned Trump, "Why was it the President's fault then and not your fault now?"

Trump claimed that Obama "was invited in and he did a poor job. President Obama could've gone into Chicago. He couldn't have solved the problem and he didn't."

Since his early days in office, Trump has suggested sending the National Guard to curb gun violence in Chicago. Chicago's history with the National Guard is tumultuous, most notably during the 1968 Chicago riots and later at the 1968 Democratic National Convention.

Chicago wants a federal presence in the city

After Trump announced plans to send a "surge of federal law enforcement" to Chicago this week after the city experienced more gun violence, he claimed that Chicago will "want us to go in, full blast."

"I think in their own way they want us to go in, full blast. There will be a time when they're going to want us to go in full blast, but right now we are sending extra people to help. We are arresting a lot of people that have been very bad," the President said.

Facts First: This is an overstatement and needs context. The mayor of Chicago, who has a testy relationship with Trump, has cautiously welcomed federal law enforcement into the city to help combat its gun violence, but noted that federal agents were not welcome to "terrorize our residents."

But by Tuesday, Lightfoot cautiously embraced Trump's federal law enforcement to help combat Chicago's gun violence so long as the agents remain focused on gun violence.

Trump and Black Americans

But Trump's response to Biden's assertion was also wrong.

Facts First: While we give Trump lots of latitude to express opinions, this one is simply ridiculous even if he is only comparing himself to previous presidents and excluding other Black heroes. It's absurd to say Lincoln is a "possible" exception; emancipating the slaves was obviously more important for Black Americans than anything Trump has done. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act, monumental bills whose impact dwarfed the impact of any legislation Trump has signed.

CNN's Andrea Kane contributed to this fact check.

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Fact check: Trump falsely suggests kids don't transmit coronavirus and that US case surge is due in part to protests and Mexican migration - CNN

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Boris Johnson has admitted the government did not understand coronavirus during the "first few weeks and months" of the UK outbreak.

The PM told BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg there were "very open questions" about whether the lockdown had started too late.

Mr Johnson also spoke of "lessons to be learned" and said ministers could have done some things "differently".

Labour accused the government of "mishandling" the crisis.

More than 45,000 people in the UK have died after testing positive for coronavirus, government figures show, with almost 300,000 cases confirmed.

Last week, Mr Johnson promised an "independent" inquiry into the pandemic, but no details have been given of its scope or timing.

Previously, the prime minister has said he took the "right decisions at the right time", based on the advice of scientists.

But, in an interview with Laura Kuenssberg to mark the first anniversary of his entering Downing Street, he said: "We didn't understand [the virus] in the way that we would have liked in the first few weeks and months.

"And I think, probably, the single thing that we didn't see at the beginning was the extent to which it was being transmitted asymptomatically from person to person."

Mr Johnson wants to use the government's experience of what happened during the pandemic to speed up his agenda, to "double down on levelling up", as he puts it in his peculiar political jargon.

In other words, to push ahead with more determination, and less fudge in Whitehall, with the changes that he says will actually improve the lives of voters, particularly those who voted Tory for the first time in 2019.

While preparing the NHS for a potential second surge, he clearly wants to concentrate on what's next, not what's gone before.

But perhaps until the government is really ready to acknowledge what has happened, the questions will continue - and the public may still feel anxious about whether they can really trust ministers to handle a second surge next time round.

Just as 366 days ago, optimism is Boris Johnson's trademark.

But if the last few months have shown anything, it is that the real challenge of life in power, is that events that can surprise.

The prime minister added: "I think it's fair to say that there are things that we need to learn about how we handled it in the early stages...There will be plenty of opportunities to learn the lessons of what happened."

The UK went into full lockdown in late March, which critics say was too late and cost lives.

Mr Johnson said: "Maybe there were things we could have done differently, and of course there will be time to understand what exactly we could have done, or done differently."

He added that these were still "very open questions as far as [scientists] are concerned, and there will be a time, obviously, to consider all those issues".

On Friday, the government announced that 30 million people in England would be offered a flu vaccine this year, to reduce pressure on the NHS in case of a surge in coronavirus infections during the autumn and winter.

Mr Johnson said this was in addition to increased testing and tracing and more procurement of personal protective equipment, adding: "What people really want to focus on now is what are we doing to prepare for the next phase."

He said: "We mourn every one of the of those who lost their lives and our thoughts are very much with their with their families. And I take full responsibility for everything that government did."

The prime minister, who was himself placed in intensive care in April after contracting coronavirus, said he would "very soon" set out an new measures to deal with obesity, seen as an added risk factor for patients.

In December, Mr Johnson's Conservative Party pulled off a convincing general election win over Jeremy Corbyn's Labour, after promising to "level up" all parts of the UK.

And, despite the economic damage caused by coronavirus in the past four months or so, the prime minister promised to create more nurses, doctors, hospitals and police, saying his government's priorities were "exactly what they always have been except more so. We're doubling down."

"The agenda is what it was when I stood on the steps of Downing Street a year ago, but we want to go further and we want to go faster."

Mr Johnson reminisced about first entering No 10 as prime minister on 24 July 2019, saying it "was very exciting, and everybody seemed to be in a very good mood" and "happy, upbeat". He added that coronavirus had caused many "difficulties" since then.

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"Psychologically it's been an extraordinary time for the country," Mr Johnson said,

"But I also know that this is a nation with incredible natural resilience, and fortitude and imagination. And I think we will bounce back really much stronger than ever before."

For Labour, shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said: "Boris Johnson has finally admitted the government has mishandled its response to the coronavirus.

"It was too slow to acknowledge the threat of the virus, too slow to enter lockdown and too slow to take this crisis seriously."

The threat of a second wave of infections was "still very real", he added, while it was "imperative the government learns the lessons of its mistakes so we can help to save lives".

Acting Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said an "immediate" coronavirus inquiry was "essential", and that the prime minister had shown "no remorse" for his "catastrophic mistakes".

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Coronavirus: We could have done things differently, says PM - BBC News

In June, public health officials in Oregon said they could pinpoint many of the states new COVID-19 infections to outbreaks at nursing homes, food processing plants and a northeastern Oregon church.

But in the past few weeks that has dramatically changed: Large outbreaks have been surfacing less frequently and public health officials say theyre increasingly struggling to identify the circumstances under which Oregonians are becoming exposed to the coronavirus.

The states latest weekly report of new infections reflects just that. It outlines the number of new infections across the state by ZIP code from July 13-19, the latest week for which data is available. For many parts of Oregon, the report offers no clues for why new infections are on the rise.

Last week, contact tracers couldnt identify the source of a record 48% of new infections. The Oregon Health Authority has said it needs to keep that figure below 30 percent to keep the virus at bay.

Heres a ZIP code breakdown of where the virus spread in the highest numbers in the week July 13-19:

#1: 97838 -- Hermiston

This is the states viral epicenter, and the situation continues to worsen at an accelerating rate. This ZIP code recorded 212 new infections from July 13-19 -- jumping from 629 known cases to 841 cases since the start of the pandemic. Thats a 33% increase in just a week.

This ZIP code, which encompasses the northeastern Oregon city of Hermiston, now has surpassed the Newport ZIP code of 97365 as the Oregon ZIP code with the most cases per capita -- about 322 cases per every 10,000 people. Thats about nine times higher than the average per capita rate statewide, which stands at about 37 cases per 10,000 residents.

The biggest single contributor to the weeks explosive growth in 97838 appears to be 37 cases reported from a new outbreak at the nursing home Regency Hermiston Nursing and Rehab Center. One person has died.

Workplace outbreaks have been contributing to the numbers slightly. Fifteen people have fallen ill from a new outbreak at Good Shepherd Hospital.

Ten new cases also were traced to a new outbreak at the Walmart Supercenter store in Hermiston. An existing outbreak at the Walmart Distribution Center more than three miles away grew by eight cases, to a total of 23.

But much of the spread appeared to be out through what public health officials have deemed sporadic spread.

The rising number of cases in Hermiston is so concerning that Oregon State University announced Wednesday that it will test an estimated 400 to 500 randomly selected people in the community this weekend to better understand the prevalence of the disease there. The researchers also plan to test the citys sewage system for the prevalence of the virus.

#2: 97071 -- Woodburn

This ZIP code encompasses Woodburn and some rural lands around it. Cases here climbed by 69, to a total of 435.

This area is home to a number of agricultural facilities and workers, who are known to be disproportionately affected by the virus reach. But whats fueling the increase isnt clear.

The Oregon Health Authority only reported two small active outbreaks at workplaces during the week ending July 19. An outbreak at the meat processing company BrucePac at 380 S. Pacific Highway has amounted to five cases so far. An existing outbreak at the MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility grew by one case, from six cases to seven.

This ZIP code has 144 cases per 10,000 residents, about four times higher than the per capita rate across the state.

#3: 97914 -- Ontario

This ZIP code sits just west of the Oregon-Idaho border. Infections here rose by 67 cases, to a total of 374.

Long-term adult care facilities appear to be driving some of the increase. An outbreak at Brookdale Assisted Living grew by seven, to 39 total cases. Three people have died in relation to that outbreak so far -- two of them during the week July 13-19.

A new outbreak of five cases was reported at Dorian Place Assisted Living.

On top of that, an outbreak at the Snake River Correctional Institution grew by two cases, from 117 to 119. The Oregon Health Authority also reported a new outbreak of five cases at the Walmart Supercenter store in Ontario.

This ZIP code has 195 cases per 10,000 residents, about five times higher than statewide average.

#4: 97233 -- Southeast Portland and Gresham

This area is making yet another appearance on this weekly list of ZIP codes with the most new infections in Oregon.

It encompasses a chunk of Southeast Portland that stretches east into Greshams Rockwood neighborhood -- and David Douglas High School and the blocks between Southeast 122nd and 202nd avenues.

Cases in 97233 grew by 66, to a total of 424. No recent workplace, nursing home, church or daycare outbreaks appear to have contributed to the numbers here. In the past, the Multnomah County health officials have said a high percentage of residents in this area are essential workers who are at greater risk of being exposed to the virus and the disease is spreading in clusters in these residents families and as these residents socialize with each other.

The per capita rate of infections here, at 103 per 10,000 residents, is close to three times the state average.

#5: 97080 -- Gresham

This area includes the southern parts of Gresham and some outlying areas, from Jenne Butte Park in the west to Oxbow Regional Park in the east. Its a mix of businesses, homes and rural lands.

Cases here grew by 64 from one week to the next, bringing the total cases to 244. Thats an increase of about 36%.

Its unclear whats driving the growth in cases here. The Oregon Health Authority reported no outbreaks in workplaces or elsewhere. But 97080 is next to a contiguous cluster of east Portland and Gresham ZIP codes -- 97230, 97233 and 97236 -- where the virus has been spreading persistently.

The per capita rate of infections in 97080 isnt much higher than the statewide average, though -- with about 55 infections per 10,000 residents here, compared to about 37 per 10,000 residents statewide.

#6: 97236 -- Southeast Portland

This ZIP code has made frequent appearances on the weekly list of most new infections in the state.

Infections in 97236 grew by 50 over the week, reaching a total of 439.

Its unclear whats driving the increase, because the Oregon Health Authority has reported no outbreaks in workplaces or elsewhere in this ZIP code recently.

Public health officials have said in the past that the virus is spreading at a steady clip in 97236 because of the high number of essential workers living here who are at greater risk of being exposed to the virus. They have been unknowingly transmitting it within their own families and as they socialize with others outside their households, officials said.

The per capita rate of new cases in 97236 is 107 per 10,000 residents, close to triple the statewide average.

#7: 97801 -- Pendleton

New infections here grew by 47, to a total of 192 since the pandemic began.

The northwestern edge of the Pendleton areas 97801 borders the northeastern edge of the Hermiston areas 97838, which is the states hottest coronavirus spot per capita. So given its close proximity, its no surprise that the Pendleton ZIP code is experiencing a surge in cases.

An ongoing outbreak at the Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution doubled from 14 to 28 from July 13-19.

Cases at the Hill Meat Company grew by one, to 10 cases.

The prevalence of the disease in the Pendleton area is still relatively low compared to neighboring Hermiston. In the Pendleton ZIP code, infections stood at about 91 per 10,000 residents -- about 2.5 times more prevalent than the average statewide.

#8: 97701 -- Bend

This ZIP code covers a large swath of northern Bend and areas to the east and west.

Cases here more than doubled -- growing by 42, to a total of 112.

Its unclear whats driving the outbreak in 97701, but the neighboring ZIP code of 97702 saw a new outbreak at Mt. Bachelor Memory Care of 31 cases.

Overall, the per capita rate of cases in 97701 is still relatively low, given the small number of new infections in previous weeks and months. About 28 per 10,000 residents have been infected -- below the statewide average of about 37.

#9: 97230 -- Northeast Portland

This area covers residential and industrial districts just south of the Columbia River, from Northeast 122nd Avenue to 201st Avenue.

Cases here rose by 41, to 254 total cases.

The Oregon Health Authority reported no outbreaks at workplaces, nursing homes, churches or elsewhere in 97230.

The per capita rate of cases was 63 per 10,000 residents, about 1.7 times the statewide rate.

#10: 97882 -- Umatilla

This northeastern ZIP code, just south of the Oregon-Washington border, saw 40 new cases -- with cases climbing from 163 to 203. Thats a 25% jump.

The Oregon Health Authority reported a new outbreak this month at the plastic pipe manufacturer, JM Eagle in Umatilla, with 10 cases.

Besides that, its unclear whats driving the outbreak, but the ZIP code borders the states hottest coronavirus spot, Hermiston.

The per capita rate of infections in 97882 is 250 per 10,000 residents -- thats more than six times the statewide average.

Coronavirus in Oregon: Latest news | Live map tracker |Text alerts | Newsletter

-- Aimee Green; agreen@oregonian.com; @o_aimee

Oregonian staffer Mark Friesen contributed to this story.

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Coronavirus cases grew the most in these 10 Oregon ZIP codes this past week - OregonLive

A Los Angeles police officer who was an expectant father of twins died Friday after battling coronavirus since late May, officials said.

Valentin Val Martinez, who worked as a patrol officer in the Mission division area of the San Fernando Valley, is the LAPDs first sworn officer to die after contracting the virus, but the second employee to succumb to the deadly respiratory illness.

Officer Martinez passed away after a long, courageous battle with COVID-19, Chief Michel Moore said in an email to employees obtained by KTLA.

The 45-year-old is survived by his partner Megan Flynn, who is 20 weeks pregnant with twins, as well as by his mother and siblings, officials said.

Our hearts and prayers go out to his loved ones, friends, and his Mission Area family as they grieve the loss of a fallen hero, Moores email read. I am authorizing the wearing of the mourning band in honor of Officer Martinez.

In a statement, the Los Angeles Police Protective League also sent love and unwavering support to Martinezs family.

He was a hero lost way too early in life, the statement read.

In a tweet, the Mission station thanked Martinez for 13 years of service.

We are deeply sadden by this horrible news, the tweet read.

A GoFundMe page created to help with funeral expenses described Martinez as a loving partner and valued colleague.

According to the fundraising page, Martinez tested positive for coronavirus in late May and it is believed he contracted it while working.

He fought COVID at home for one week before being rushed to Henry Mayo Hospital in Santa Clarita with worsening symptoms, the page reads.

Martinez was then transferred to a hospital in Santa Monica, where he was on a life support machine and his condition worsened, according to the page.

Val fought for his life every hour, but unfortunately Val passed away, the page reads. All of the doctors who cared for Val did an amazing job and we are very, very grateful.

Another fundraising page said Martinez and Flynn were expecting boys.

A trust fund has also been set up for the Martinez family and anyone interested in donating can mail checks to the Los Angeles Police Federal Credit Union: P.O. Box 10188, Van Nuys, 91410. Checks should be payable to Blue Ribbon Trust for Valentin Martinez, and the account number is 2080491 S4.50.

As of Wednesday, the LAPD had a total of 437 employees who had tested positive for coronavirus, officials said. In addition, 254 employees were self-isolating and recovering after being expose, and 237 had returned to work.

Erica McAdoo, who worked as a senior detention officer at LAPDs Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, died July 3 after a weekslong battle with COVID-19.

Today we lost Officer Valentin Martinez, who tragically fell to COVID-19. He worked as a patrol officer within @LAPDMission, dedicating his life to the people of LA. To his partner Megan, his mother, and siblingsour deepest condolences.

Ofcr Martinez, May God welcome you home. pic.twitter.com/rHObUO2lkz

Today we lost one of our own, Officer Valentin "Val" Martinez #38701 to COVID-19. We are deeply sadden by this horrible news. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and all his loved ones. Thank you for your 13 years of service. Rest Easy Brother EOW 07/24/20 pic.twitter.com/LRF4ZuXIKY

Today we mourn with our LAPD family @LAPDMission after the passing of Police Officer Valentin "Val" Martinez #38701. A 13 year veteran of the Department, Val lost his battle with COVID-19 today. Our condolences to his family, friends and colleagues. Rest In Peace, sir. pic.twitter.com/VHBmlpkfQ6

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LAPD officer who died after battling coronavirus was father-to-be - KTLA Los Angeles

The U.S. now has more than 4 million confirmed cases of COVID-19. The grim milestone is a reminder of how much more rapidly the virus is spreading this summer, having gone from 3 million cases to 4 million in just 15 days.

Washington state is reacting to its own recent uptick in infections by imposing expanded mask requirements and stricter limitations on bars, restaurants, gyms and other places people congregate. Plus, more schools are announcing theyll teach mostly or completely online this fall.

Throughout Friday, on this page, well be posting updates on the pandemic and its effects on the Seattle area, the Pacific Northwest and the world. Updates from Thursday can be foundhere, and all our coronavirus coverage can be foundhere.

Jack Forst and Don Garcy have been close friends longer than most elderly couples have been married.

For years they were neighbors in Longwood, Fla., where Forst was a marketing and sales executive for a beverage company and Garcy ran an insurance office. For the last decade theyve lived near one another in The Villages, a sprawling retirement community not far from their old homes.

But when they met at a Starbucks on a recent weekday morning, their greeting was infused with the fear thathas gripped many across this state.

My wifes in quarantine, Forst called across the lobby.

Garcy, 84, nodded but didnt speak, as if a bemusedcharacter in a John Updike novel. He had recently finished two months in quarantine himself, and has become so accustomed to the blue cotton face mask he wears that he sometimes tries to eat with it on.

Word of a new COVID-19 case isn't so much news as it is a conversation starter in the Villages, a master-planned community that has over 132,000 residents, three ZIP codes and 55 golf courses. News of rising infections arrive with unnerving frequency.

Forst and Garcy didnt expect their lives to spool out this way, worrying about a pandemic in a nation on edge. But this America they had endured Vietnam, civil rights marches, Kennedy assassinations, recessions, terrorist attacks and the scandal of Watergate is somehow different, less certain when it takes stock of itself in an age of fresh graves and hoped-for vaccines.

COVID-19 has ravaged Florida, with more than 237,000 people testing positive and 2,013 dying from the virus in July alone. A record 173 Floridians died from the virus Thursday, an average of more than one every eight minutes. And that has taken a heavy toll on residents older than 65, who account for just 13% of the states coronavirus cases but 82% of the fatalities.

Read the story here.

Los Angeles Times

The coronavirus transformed Floridas nursing homes into closely guarded fortresses beginning in March, with the state banning family visits, isolating infected residents in separate wings and now requiring staff be tested every two weeks. But the explosion of cases statewide is proving that is not enough.

The numbers are already showing the grim reality, underscoring how mask compliance and restrictions in the outside world impact the states most vulnerable. In the past three weeks, cases have gone from about 2,000 to some 4,800 at Florida nursing homes. Roughly 2,550 long-term care residents and staff have died overall, accounting for about 45% of all virus deaths in Florida.

Where you see COVID hot spots, our anxiety level in our centers automatically goes up. Our vigilance goes through the roof, said Luke Neumann, a vice president at Palm Garden, which has 14 facilities across Florida.

Thats how societies are judged in part by how you care for the weak and aged, Neumann said.

Florida recorded 173 new coronavirus deaths Thursday, a daily high that pushed its toll from the pandemic to more than 5,500. Deaths inside nursing homes have also been on the rise, averaging about 40 per day in the last week after those numbers had dropped in mid-June to lower than 20 deaths per day.

Read the story here.

The Associated Press

The top U.S. public health agency issued a full-throated call to reopen schools in a package of new resources posted on its website Thursday night that opened with a statement listing numerous benefits for children of being in school, while downplaying the potential health risks.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published the new guidance two weeks after President Donald Trump criticized its earlier recommendations on school reopenings as very tough and expensive, ramping up an anguished national debate over the question of how soon children should return to classrooms. As the president was criticizing the initial CDC recommendations, a document from the agency surfaced that detailed the risks of reopening and the steps that districts were taking to minimize those risks.

Reopening schools creates opportunity to invest in the education, well-being and future of one of Americas greatest assets our children while taking every precaution to protect students, teachers, staff and all their families, the new opening statement said.

The package of materials began with the opening statement, titled The Importance of Reopening Americas Schools This Fall, anddescribed children as being at low risk for being infected by or transmitting the coronavirus, even though the science on both aspects is far from settled.

The best available evidence indicates if children become infected, they are far less likely to suffer severe symptoms, the statement said. At the same time, the harms attributed to closed schools on the social, emotional, and behavioral health, economic well-being, and academic achievement of children, in both the short- and long-term, are well-known and significant.

Read the story here.

The New York Times

New rules on wearing masks in England went into effect Friday, with people entering shops, banks and supermarkets now required to wear face coverings, while Romania reported a record for daily infections and new cases nearly doubled in France.

People in England can be fined as much as 100 pounds ($127) by police if they refuse. The British government had given mixed signals for weeks before deciding on the policy. Places like restaurants, pubs, gyms and hairdressers are exempt.

John Apter, the national chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, said officers would be available as a last resort but added that he hopes the public will continue to do the right thing to protect other citizens.

In Belgium, health authorities said a 3-year-old girl has died after testing positive for COVID-19 as new infections surged 89% from the previous week.

Belgian authorities have bolstered up restrictions to slow the spread of coronavirus, including making masks mandatory in crowded outdoor public spaces. Belgium has been hard hit by the pandemic, with 64,847 cases and 9,812 deaths registered so far.

Overall, Europe has seen over 201,000 deaths in the pandemic, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. Experts say the true toll from the coronavirus worldwide is much higher, due to limited testing and other issues.

Read the story here.

The Associated Press

Nearly half of Americans whose families experienced a layoff during the coronavirus pandemic believe those jobs are lost forever, a new poll shows, a sign of increasing pessimism that would translate into about 10 million workers needing to find a new employer, if not a new occupation.

Its a sharp change after initial optimism the jobs would return, as temporary cutbacks give way to shuttered businesses, bankruptcies and lasting payroll cuts. In April, 78% of those in households with a job loss thought theyd be temporary. Now, 47% think that lost job is definitely or probably not coming back, according to the latest poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

The poll is the latest sign the solid hiring of May and June, as some states lifted stay-at-home orders and the economy began to recover, may wane as the year goes on. Adding to the challenge: Many students will begin the school year online, making it harder for parents to take jobs outside their homes.

Honestly, at this point, theres not going to be a job to go back to, said Tonica Daley, 35, who lives in Riverside, California, and has four children ranging from 3 to 18 years old. The kids are going to do virtual school, and there is no day care.

Read the story here.

The Associated Press

Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night nor COVID-19 stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.

Except for the pandemic mention, these words have long been the unofficial motto of U.S. Postal Service letter carriers. They were chiseled in granite on the monumental 1912 New York General Post Office. They are lived daily by hundreds of thousands of postal workers.

For their fellow citizens, the mail has assumed new importance, with millions shut in by the pandemic.

The Postal Service,the most popular of federal agencies, is essential, affordable and goes everywhere. As in the 1918 influenza pandemic, the agency has continued its logistical feat during COVID-19. Meanwhile, at least 12,000 of its workers have been infected and 67 have died.

Columnist Jon Talton writes that unfortunately, President Donald Trump has long been an enemy of the Postal Service, repeatingthe false assertionthat it loses money by delivering for Amazon, calling the agency a joke and threatening to strangle its funding.

Now, his new postmaster general, Louis DeJoy, isimposing draconian cutbacks, including eliminating overtime.

Inan internal memoobtained by The Washington Post, DeJoy states that USPS must make immediate, lasting and impactful changes in our operations and in our culture.

Read Talton's column here.

Jon Talton

Kris Higginson

No matter how you feel about it, the humble mask is now the worlds most ubiquitous accessory, both a practical safeguard and a political symbol for many.

Fashion designer Luly Yang and other Seattleites are on the cutting edge, "so excited" about a chance to make things better with their creations which are quickly becoming a lifeline for the industry.

Not since humans invented shoes and undies has a single item of dress caught on so quickly, spanning borders, cultures and generations.

Chris Talbott / Special to The Seattle Times

A series of jaw-dropping new numberssuggests America isbadly losing the fightagainst the coronavirus.

Gov. Jay Inslee has announced sweeping new restrictions on bars, restaurants, fitness centers and more as coronavirus cases rise, and a stricter mask order takes effect tomorrow. Here's what you need to know, and where that leaves us on the activities you can (and can't) do in each Washington county.

A Renton doctor knew she had COVID-19 and kept working at a nursing home, telling nobody that she was infected while she spread the virus, a lawsuit alleges.

The virus killed one Floridian every eight minutes yesterday, on average, leaving residents of one retirement community fearing who will be next. And how did things get so dire in California, where coronavirus cases have rocketed past 400,000? "We got impatient," an epidemiologist explains. This is a health expert's "worst nightmare," and we might not even be halfway through it, Dr. Anthony Fauci said yesterday.

An Eastside tech executive took $5.5 million in fraudulent virus relief funds, federal officials say.

President Donald Trump has scrapped plans for a four-night Republican National Convention celebration in the pandemic hot spot of Florida.

The school year will begin remotely, the Lake Washington and Tacoma districts have announced, joining other major public-school systems around the region. WSU and Seattle U will teach almost all classes remotely this fall as well, and UW is working on sharply limiting its in-person classes. Meanwhile, as Trump calls for schools to fully reopen, his son's school will not.

Want major coronavirus stories sent to you via text message?Text the word COVID to 855-480-9667 or enter your phone number below.

Seattle Times staff & news services

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Coronavirus daily news updates, July 24: What to know today about COVID-19 in the Seattle area, Washington state and the world - Seattle Times

Another round of stimulus checks could soon be headed to Americans.

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said Thursday the Republican stimulus plan includes more direct payments to help Americans struggling amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Our proposal is the exact same provision as last time, Mnuchin said, according to Bloomberg.

That would mean individuals earning up to $75,000 would receive a $1,200 payment for themselves with an additional $500 for dependent children. Couples earning up to $150,000 would qualify for the full amounts. After that, payments drop based on income, capped at $99,000 for singles and $198,000 for couples.

The last round of stimulus money went to 160 million Americans.

See all of AL.coms coronavirus coverage here.

Here are the latest coronavirus headlines:

Mayors urge people to wear masks at home

Two Florida mayors are asking residents to wear masks inside their homes to help lower the spread of coronavirus between families.

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez and Miami-Dade County MayorCarlos Gimenez said wearing masks inside would protect vulnerable members of multi-generational households.

Because we have such a high level of positivity rate here in Miami-Dade, you also need to start thinking about maintaining a distance also from your loved ones for a while, Gimenez said. Yes, I know Its a sacrifice, but do so because, again, just because its your son or your daughter or your cousin or your mother or your father, doesnt mean they dont have (COVID_19.)

Florida reported another 10,273 new COVID cases and 173 deaths on Thursday.

California reports record number of daily fatalities

California has reported a record number of daily fatalities.

On Thursday, the state reported 157 new deaths, bringing the its total to 8,027. California has now surpassed New York to have the nations highest number of COVID-19 cases.

As of Thursday, California has more than 421,000 cases compared to New York, which has more than 409,000.

County fair tied to 22 cases

At least 22 cases of coronavirus have been linked to an Ohio county fair held at the end of June, officials said.

Health officials said at least 19 attendees of a Pickaway, Ohio fair contracted the virus and three passed it on to another family member. One person who attended the fair died but an investigation is ongoing as to how they contracted the virus.

White House area cafeteria closes over coronavirus concerns

A White House area cafeteria is closed after a worker tested positive for coronavirus.

The cafeteria in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, part of the White House complex, was closed this week. It is unclear how long it will remain closed but its believed to be at least two weeks while contract tracing is conducted.

The EEOB cafeteria is located across West Executive Ave. from the West Wing.

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Coronavirus update: Another round of $1,200 checks part of stimulus proposal - AL.com

Boris Johnson has conceded there were things we could have done differently over Covid-19, and admitted the government did not understand the virus in the first few weeks and months.

In a sometimes combative interview with the BBC, the prime minister repeatedly refused to discuss any lessons that could be learned before a possible second wave of Covid-19 this winter, saying it was not the moment to run a kind of inquiry into what happened in the past.

But Johnson admitted there were very open questions about whether the lockdown had started too late. Recollecting that period, Johnson said the single thing that we didnt see at the beginning was the extent to which coronavirus could be transmitted asymptomatically between people, meaning it had spread further than believed in the UK before the lockdown was imposed.

Several of the governments own scientific advisers have said the lockdown came too late. Prof John Edmunds, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), said in June the decision cost a lot of lives.

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But the PM rejected the idea that changes in policy over lockdown, mask use and mass testing meant the government response could, as Edmunds said, be portrayed as a story of delay that sadly cost lives. The UK went into lockdown at the end of March.

Johnson said the UK, in common with many other countries, had been taken by surprise at the extent to which coronavirus could be spread by people not showing any symptoms, and insisted the government had stuck to medical advice like glue.

But after repeated questioning about whether better decisions could have been made, given the UKs 45,000-plus confirmed deaths, the highest in Europe, and if some scientific advice could have been incorrect, Johnson eventually conceded errors were possible.

Maybe there were things we could have done differently, as Ive said, and of course there will be time to understand what exactly we could have done, or done differently, he said. But what I think the public wants us to do now is to focus on getting the preparations ready for what, as I say, could be a resurgence of the virus this winter.

Last week, Johnson committed for the first time to holding an independent inquiry into the UK response to the pandemic, telling MPs in the Commons only that this would be in the future.

In the BBC interview, held to mark his first year in office, Johnson stressed how hard it was to initially cope with a mass outbreak of a new virus: I think when you look back at this crisis, everybody can see that this was something that was new, that we didnt understand in the way that we would have liked in the first few weeks and months.

He added: If you look at the timing of every single piece of advice that we got from our advisers, from Sage, you will find that whenever they said that we needed to take a particular step, actually, we stuck to that advice like glue, Johnson said.

He repeatedly sought to avoid discussing mistakes that could have been made, saying there would be plenty of time by the way to look back at all the other things that we need to learn.

He added: I think what people really want to focus on now is what are we doing to prepare for the next phase, because if I may say so, youre talking about this as though its in the past and its not, its in the present.

Earlier this week the government announced the flu vaccine would be offered to everyone over 50 in England up to 30 million people this winter in an attempt to prevent the NHS being overwhelmed by a second wave of coronavirus.

On his own experiences with coronavirus, which involved a brief stay in intensive care, Johnson highlighted his weight, and a government campaign being launched next week on obesity, seen as a risk factor for Covid-19.

Thats why we need to tackle our national struggle with obesity, he said. Typically our great country tends to be a little bit fatter than many other countries in Europe. So you asked about my own personal circumstances, and one of the lessons I drew from that is the need for us all to be fitter and healthier.

See the article here:

Boris Johnson says coronavirus could have been handled differently - The Guardian

Coronavirus outbreaks have hit staff working in the close quarters of Colorado nursing homes, prisons and jails, food-manufacturing plants and restaurants. Add construction workers to that list, as the number of job sites with outbreaks continues to rise.

The latest from the coronavirus outbreak in Colorado:

>> FULL COVERAGE

A construction crew building a school in Kit Carson fell ill with the virus, sickening 26 workers this summer. Thirteen workers were infected while building off-campus student housing for Colorado State University in Fort Collins.

In Rifle, a crew working on a hospital project ended up with 15 workers with COVID-19, forcing construction to halt. And in the Denver area, a landscaping company had 14 workers infected with COVID-19 including two deaths and an insulation company had 15 workers with the virus.

Several of the outbreaks, including the one at Alpha Insulation and Waterproofing, have been resolved, but there are at least eight active outbreaks involving construction crews in Colorado, according to the state health departments weekly outbreak list. Alpha Insulation, which has several offices throughout the United States, declined to talk about how the outbreak started, the efforts to contain its spread or where their staff was working when employees were infected.

In an effort to respect our staffs privacy, Alpha will not release any information about those affected, company spokeswoman Ericka Brause said.

The hospital project in Garfield County, where 15 workers were sick and forced to isolate, was put on hold last month after several workers came down with symptoms. Public health workers who investigated the outbreak and conducted dozens of phone interviews to determine who was exposed said the virus spread because workers grew lax about wearing their masks.

They were working in an enclosed space and we all get complacent, said Carrie Godes, a public health specialist at Garfield County Public Health. Its a good take-away lesson for all of us in our work environment. We feel a false sense of security.

Godes said workers at the Rifle construction site would wear their masks when new people were on the job, but when it was just their regular crew, they didnt always wear masks or didnt wear them correctly.

Put that mask on, inside especially, she said.

All 15 workers are recovering and no new cases have been reported in several days, but under state health department guidelines, the outbreak isnt considered resolved until 28 days from the last infection. The construction company working on the project, FCI Constructors, declined an interview request about the outbreak. Grand River Health said in a news release that the outbreak is not expected to delay the opening of its care center, planned for January.

Cheyenne County public health officials did not respond to numerous emails and phone messages from The Colorado Sun requesting information about the outbreak tied to the school building construction in Kit Carson. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment said 26 workers tested positive for the virus, and that the outbreak began in mid-May.

Construction outbreaks that have been resolved include Schommer Construction in El Paso, the Origin Hotel in Westminster, the Del Rio Hotel construction site in La Plata County and the Bespoke Uptown project in Denver. An Arapahoe County landscaping company, Keesen Landscape, had 12 cases of the virus and two deaths, according to the state health department.

State public health officials are urging construction companies to limit the number of workers per crew to the minimum number of people possible to do the work safely, to keep workers 6 feet apart if possible and to limit contact with visitors to job sites. They have also asked that companies do temperature checks and monitor workers for symptoms.

The latest state outbreak list, released Wednesday, includes active outbreaks among workers at four grocery stores and 26 restaurants. Outbreaks are also ongoing at 13 correctional facilities, including the Pueblo Youth Services Center.

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Outbreaks at nursing homes and senior living centers have dominated the list for months, but the spread is slowing in those facilities. The list includes 932 deaths of residents of senior facilities, including 778 that have been confirmed by a lab and 154 that are suspected as COVID-19 deaths.

There have been 3,330 cases of the virus among residents and more than 2,600 among staff. Seven workers at the facilities have died.

Nearly 50 nursing homes and senior living centers are dealing with outbreaks still considered active, but the majority of outbreaks at those facilities 126 are now resolved.

State public health officials said outbreaks at nursing homes have been curbed through a combination of no-visitor policies, frequent virus testing and shipments of personal protective equipment for staff.

Visitation is now allowed, but is limited to outdoors.

The work in these facilities is not finished, the Colorado Joint Information Center, which handles media requests about the virus, said in an emailed statement.

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Coronavirus has struck construction sites across Colorado, including a school and off-campus housing project - The Colorado Sun

NEIDL has been working with live samples of the coronavirus since March, when it received a sample that was derived from the U.S.s first diagnosed case: a thirty-five-year-old man in Washington State who had recently returned from Wuhan. But its staff had been making plans to investigate the virus since January, when early reports of its rapid spread convinced them that it would proliferate worldwide and lead to severe outbreaks in the U.S. They immediately began writing protocols for using the virus and submitting requests for approval from B.U. In March, institutions at B.U., including NEIDL, received 1.9 million dollars in funding from the Massachusetts Consortium on Pathogen Readiness, part of a hundred-and-fifteen-million-dollar grantcordinated by the Dean of Harvard Medical School and financed by a Chinese investment fundto support researchers working in the Boston area and Guangzhou.

In the U.S., most of the B.S.L.-4 labs are in government or military facilities, but NEIDL, despite its origin as part of a federal initiative, operates on an open academic model. We work with absolute transparency, its director, Ronald Corley, told me. We have to have the trust of the public, so everything we do is known and communicated freely. In the past two years, Corley, a lanky microbiologist in his seventies, has recruited fourteen scientists to join the center, looking for researchers with a wide range of expertise. The staff of NEIDL and its affiliates includes experts in the basic biology of the deadliest pathogens, in animal models that can be used to mimic the progress of human diseases, and in effective treatments and potential vaccines. Corley believes in giving them the freedom to pursue their hunches without being micromanaged. From the outset, he organized the centers COVID-19 research on the presumption that it would be, as recent evidence has borne out, an evolving targetand that progress would more likely come from a cluster of approaches than from a single breakthrough.

Since Donald Trump took office, his Administration has worked to systematically disassemble key elements of federal pandemic planning. In 2018, it largely disbanded the National Security Council unit responsible for pandemic preparedness, which was formed during the Obama Administration, after having ignored the councils playbook for fighting pandemics. It removed Rick Bright, from his job as a Health and Human Services official in charge of vaccine development, after he submitted a three-hundred-page complaint about the Administrations coronavirus response. Most recently, the White House directed the National Institutes of Health to cut off federal grant funding to the EcoHealth Alliance, an organization headquartered in New York that studies the global spread of viruses from animals to humans, and which collaborated on research about coronaviruses with researchers based in China.

But some aspects of the countrys pandemic planning have managed to survive, in large part because they were designed as enduring homes of scientific inquiry into the most dangerous biological threats. NEIDL was conceived to be at once independent of politics and ready to respond in a cohesive way to a national emergency. Its approach represents the polar opposite of the warp speed language popularized for the public.

Theres lots of good work going on across the globe, Corley said. Theres also a lot of junk, because people are rushing. The issue is not just sloppiness; laboratories are inherently artificial environments, and even the most careful work can yield apparent breakthroughs that turn out to be artifacts of the experimental process. When a virus infects human cells grown in a lab, it can mutate slightly. It is possible to spend years developing a therapy for an altered form of a pathogen only to find that that therapy brings no benefit to patients. Corley and his team have been sequencing the genes of their virus samples repeatedly as they work, in order to make sure that the pathogen is not morphing into a form that no longer corresponds with what was originally retrieved from the Seattle patienta time-consuming, but necessary, precaution.

As Corley led me on a tour of the facility and introduced me to its researchers, I got a sense of NEIDLs institutional preference for care over speed. Anthony Griffiths, a virologist and an Ebola expert whose focus is on animal modelling, stated the value of deliberate science plainly. I learned lessons from Ebola. I understand speed, he told me. But, if you do science in a rush, you are at risk of going down the garden path. Griffiths hopes to use observations of the progress of the disease in animal hostsgenetically manipulated mice, golden Syrian hamsters, and rhesus monkeysto learn about its mechanisms and to test possible treatments. This could help determine how much virus has to be present to cause infection, and what the routes to inoculation might be, with the aim of uncovering the dynamics of human immunity against the coronavirus. I would love to be first, but were not going to be, he told me. But we want to put ourselves in the best position to do the kind of work that can help understand the performance of the vaccine, and what its limitations may prove to be.

Griffiths works closely with Nahid Bhadelia, an infectious-diseases physician at Boston Medical Center who is an expert in emerging pathogens. In 2014, during the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, she was part of a W.H.O. team that treated patients and training local caregivers. Part of her role is to draw the attention of NEIDL scientists to evolving and unexplained clinical findings of COVID-19, such as those that Fauci highlighted, so that they investigate them in the laboratory. For example, she has observed patients who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, then repeatedly tested negative, and then tested positive again. Have they become reinfected or has their immunity waned? she said. Or were they just shedding virus from the initial infection? With scientists at NEIDL, she is working to take a chronological sequence of virus samples from such patients. Genetic analysis can show whether a patient was carrying the same pathogen at different times, or whether the virus mutated in a way that outflanked the persons immune response. This work will ultimately make it easier to assess the likely potency of prospective vaccines. Bhadelia has also noted that some patients who were not terribly sick, meaning they werent in the I.C.U, nonetheless appear to have residual problems with cognition. Such persistent effects could potentially be modelled in animal studies at NEIDL.

Rob Davey, an Australian microbiologist with a wry sense of humor and hyperkinetic way of talking, is an expert on discovering novel treatments for pathogens. In 2018, while he was working with the biotech company Regeneron, Davey helped identify a kind of antibody that successfully treated Ebola in animal test subjects by latching onto viral proteins and blocking the microbe from entering cells. These antibodies ultimately became treatments for patients with the infection. Since he began working on COVID-19, he has been looking for agents with the potential to disrupt the progress of the disease. He is currently screening almost seven thousand chemicals that he obtained from the Broad Institute (the joint HarvardM.I.T. enterprise that specializes in assembling large libraries of chemical compounds), along with an additional thirty-two hundred provided by B.U. Some of these compounds are drugs already in use for illnesses including diabetes, hypertension, and migraine. If Daveys screening process indicates that one of them has potential as a COVID-19 treatment, testing on patients could follow quickly, since they already have F.D.A. approval.

See more here:

The Long Game of Coronavirus Research - The New Yorker

Find developments on the coronavirus pandemic and the plan for recovery in the U.S. and Washington state.

Where cases stand in Washington:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released resources for parents, teachers and schools Thursday as they consider whether to reopen this fall and whether children should go back amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The resources include a "Decision-Making Tool" for parents and caregivers to help them weigh the risks and benefits of going back. It's a checklist with 30 questions that weighs the risks of COVID-19, whether the child and their school are ready, the child's ability to learn from home and the child's academic and social well-being.

Gov. Jay Inslee has announced plans to implement more restrictions on businesses, wedding ceremonies, funerals and fitness centers in Washington to continue to limit the spread of COVID-19 as the state is seeing a resurgence of cases.

Indoor dining at restaurants will now be limited to members of the same household only. For counties in Phase 3, there may only be five people at a table and total occupancy cannot exceed 50%. Previously, counties in Phase 3 could have 10 people or less to a table at a restaurant and 75% occupancy.

Cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. reached a significant, concerning mark on Thursday, topping more than 4 million in total.

The milestone comes a day after the global total of coronavirus cases passed 15 million. And the nation got another dose of bad economic news Thursday as the number of laid-off workers seeking jobless benefits rose last week for the first time since late March, intensifying concerns the resurgent coronavirus is stalling or even reversing the economic recovery.

Washington State University updated its plans Thursday for students attending the school in the fall of 2020.

The university announced on its website it will only offer online learning in the fall. All undergraduate courses at WSU Pullman will be done remotely with extremely limited exceptions for in-person instruction. Other WSU campuses will announce their plans at a later date.

The number of laid-off Americans seeking unemployment benefits rose last week for the first time since the pandemic struck in March, evidence of the deepening economic pain the outbreak is causing to the economy.

The rise in weekly jobless claims to 1.4 million underscores the outsize role the unemployment insurance system is playing among the nations safety net programs just when a $600 weekly federal aid payment for the jobless is set to expire at the end of this week.

Senate Republicans and the White House reached tentative agreement for more testing funds in the next COVID-19 relief package, but deep disagreements over the scope of the $1 trillion in federal aid remain ahead of Thursday's expected roll out.

Facing a GOP revolt, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was preparing a handful of separate COVID-19 aid bills, according to a top lawmaker involved in the negotiations. McConnell is set to unveil the package on Thursday, according to a Republican unauthorized to discuss the private talks and granted anonymity.

As the 2020-21 school year gets closer in Washington state, many school districts are announcing plans for how education will continue in the fall amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Here is a list of the school districts in western Washington that have announced whether they will be conductingvvvv in-person learning, remote learning or a combination of both.

Original post:

What you need to know about coronavirus Thursday, July 23 - KING5.com

Nearly a month ago, there were 49 cases at the ICE detention center in Farmville, Virginia, which holds adult males. Now, of the 360 immigrants in custody at the center, there are 268 confirmed cases of coronavirus currently under isolation or monitoring, according to agency statistics.

"We're just stuck in here. We can't do anything about it," said a 39-year-old detainee who agreed to share his experience on condition CNN not use his name.

"Some people are worried, sad, because they worry about their families, they worry about being deported," said the detainee, who tested positive for coronavirus in early July.

"A humanitarian crisis is rapidly unfolding at Farmville Detention Center," reads a complaint in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia filed Tuesday by the National Immigration Project, Legal Aid Justice Center and Gibson Dunn.

At Farmville, lawyers attribute the rise in cases to an agency effort to transfer detainees to provide for social distancing.

In early June, 74 detainees were transferred to the Farmville center from facilities in Arizona and Florida and quarantined. They were eventually tested after three detainees had confirmed cases.

Of the 74 detainees transferred, 51 eventually tested positive for coronavirus. Up until then, the center had few to no cases.

Prior to the transfer, the director of the Farmville facility, Jeffrey Crawford, relayed concerns from the center's medical director to ICE about new intakes into the facility, according to a court filing obtained by CNN.

ICE, according to the filing, proposed quarantining any new intakes at another Virginia location for 14 days before transferring them to Farmville. But that wasn't possible for the transfers coming from facilities in Arizona and Florida. Lawyers say that's where the problem began.

"In June, when this started to happen and reports started coming out that people were sick with Covid ... what they originally said is this is just the transfers," said Sirine Shebaya, executive director of the National Immigration Project. "And then eventually they started testing and realized 'oh, it's everywhere.'"

Crawford maintained that "none of the 74 detainees were exposed to the general population" and detailed precautionary measures put in place to stem the spread of the virus, according to the court filing.

But detainees said that despite measures to separate those with confirmed cases, there continued to be intermingling, particularly with the staff members attending those who are separated and then engaging with the general population.

In a statement to CNN, ICE said it's "ramped up its efforts to protect and care for detainees in its custody by providing face masks, procuring additional handwashing stations and most recently, administering comprehensive testing of all detainees."

"The majority of those who tested positive are asymptomatic, but are being closely monitored and receiving appropriate medical care," ICE said, adding that medical checks are done twice daily, including a temperature screening and medication disbursement. "Detainees who have tested negative will be retested and are being held separately from positive detainees"

But that's still done little to quell the concerns of detainees in the facility.

"People are still scared," said Brian Casson, an immigration attorney representing two detainees at the Farmville facility. "The people who don't have results back are worried they're going to get it or have it. I haven't had any clients test negative. I just had one client who tested inconclusive."

ICE said it doesn't deliberately move detainees who have tested positive for coronavirus between its detention facilities, but conceded there "have been some instances where positive cases have been transported by ICE."

The inspector general similarly found issues related to social distancing, stating in the report that "facilities reported concerns with their inability to practice social distancing among detainees, and to isolate or quarantine individuals who may be infected with COVID-19."

Concerns over conditions have prompted a litany of lawsuits nationwide to release detainees and put measures in place to protect those in custody.

Shebaya is involved in three lawsuits relating to Farmville, calling for release of some detainees and challenging conditions at the detention center.

"At this point we're trying to figure out what we can do to make this better for people in the inside," Shebaya said.

See the original post:

Nearly 75% of detainees at US immigration facility in Virginia have coronavirus - CNN

Most people in the United States are still highly susceptible to catching the new coronavirus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. As the virus silently spreads, scientists are scrambling to study its prevalence, broadcast the latest guidance, develop a vaccine and invent new ways to test people for antibodies.

In Washington state, most registered voters said in a new poll that they wear masks regularly and believe reopening should be at least paused for the time being.

Throughout Wednesday, on this page, well be posting updates on the pandemic and its effects on the Seattle area, the Pacific Northwest and the world. Updates from Tuesday can be foundhere, and all our coronavirus coverage can be foundhere.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. As parts of the nation struggle with a worse coronavirus outbreak than during its high points last spring in other states, Illinois, where officials continue to congratulate residents for keeping the new virus in check, announced Wednesday an increasing number of newly confirmed infections.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker and his state public health director, Dr. Ngoze Ezike, made public pleas to wear masks when outside the home and continue physical distancing and conscientious hygiene to stem the spread of the highly contagious and potentially deadly coronavirus.

The state on Wednesday reported Julys highest one-day total at nearly 1,600 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, prompting a warning from the Democratic governor.

States including Arizona, California, Florida, Louisiana and Texas have seen some July surges that surpassed what any of the hardest-hit states saw in April. Meanwhile, Illinois, which many believe was slower and more deliberate in re-opening its economy and reducing restrictions on social interaction, had kept numbers of new cases steady.

Associated Press

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown announced Wednesday that she is expanding the states current COVID-19 mask order to also apply to children as young as 5 and that she is decreasing the allowed capacity of indoor venues from 250 people to 100.

The governor said these new mandates, which go into effect Friday, are necessary to help slow the increasing spread of coronavirus. On Tuesday, the total number of confirmed and presumptive virus cases in the state topped 15,000.

When we see the numbers rise, we must respond, Brown said.

Currently, anyone who is 12 years or older must wear masks inside public spaces and in outdoor areas where they can not stay six feet away from others. The mandate will now apply to anyone 5 years or older.

These younger children can be infected by COVID-19. These younger children live with families, said Dr. Dean Sidelinger, epidemiologist for the Oregon State Health Authority.

In conjunction with the mask expansion, Oregons Department of Education announced that students will be required to wear face coverings during in-person instruction if they return to the classroom in the fall. The department will distribute 5 million face coverings to school districts for students and employees to wear to help with the new requirement.

Read the full story here.

The Associated Press

To give businesses, shoppers and diners more room outside, the City of Seattle will soon waive permit costs for restaurants and retail stores that want to close streets near their establishments.

We must all fight the rising numbers of COVID-19 cases in our region," Mayor Jenny Durkan said in a statement. "As we are seeing increasing cases from social gatherings and indoor dining, we can create additional opportunities for our restaurants and businesses to safely operate outdoors."

For qualifying businesses, the city will waive usual permit costs, but businesses will still have to cover other expenses like barricades and temporary no-parking signs. Those applying to close a portion of the street will have to demonstrate support from neighboring businesses and residents of proposed street closures, the mayors office said in a news release.

Its the latest effort to keep people outside as the city returns to shopping and dining. Last month, Seattle announced it would waive sidewalk permit fees to make it easier for restaurants to seat people outdoors.

So far, the Seattle Department of Transportation has received 92 applications for sidewalk cafs and curb space permits, the city said. The city has yet to release more details about which businesses will be eligible for the new street closure fee waivers. Businesses can start applying July 29.

Heidi Groover

State health officials confirmed 672 new COVID-19 cases and three more deaths in Washington as of Monday night.

The update brings the states totals to 49,247 cases and 1,468 deaths, meaning about 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. Tuesday.

So far, 855,152 tests for the novel coronavirus have been conducted in the state, per DOH, with about 5.8% of those coming back positive. Over the past week, about 5.5% of tests in Washington have been positive.

In King County, the state's most populous, state health officials have confirmed 13,627 diagnoses and 638 deaths, accounting for 43.5% of the states COVID-19 death toll.

Brendan Kiley

Fearing another grim wave of nursing home deaths as COVID-19 cases rebound, President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced his administration will provide $5 billion to help facilities counter the virus.

The move follows Democratic presidential candidate Joe Bidens recent unveiling of a family caregiver plan that aims to greatly expand and subsidize alternatives to institutional care for frail older adults. Both men are competing for seniors votes against a backdrop of eroding political support for Trump among older Americans.

I want to send a message of support and hope to every senior citizen, Trump said at the White House. The light is starting to shine and we will get there very quickly.

The $5 billion announced Wednesday is part of a package, including efforts to facilitate ongoing testing of nursing home staff, providing states a weekly list of facilities with increased COVID-19 cases, and offering additional training and support for the homes.

Advocates and industry have been pressing the administration and Congress for weeks to provide more financial assistance and support for nursing homes. An earlier White House recommendation to test all residents and staff has had mixed results. Nursing homes already have received $4.9 billion from pandemic relief funds approved by Congress.

Read the full story here.

The Associated Press

When Sophie Cunningham, a guard for the WNBAs Phoenix Mercury, returned to training last week after a bout with COVID-19, she made an announcement that startled fans. She said she believed she had been infected twice once in March and then again in June or July.

They said you can only get it once, but Ive had it twice, she told reporters Thursday. Hopefully, Im done with it.

As the United States marks its sixth month since the arrival of the virus, Cunninghams story is among a growing number of reports of people getting COVID-19, recovering and then falling sick again assertions, that if proved, could complicate efforts to make a long-lasting vaccine, or to achieve herd immunity where most of the population has become immune to the virus.

Doctors emphasize there is no evidence of widespread vulnerability to reinfection and that it is difficult to know what to make of these cases in the absence of detailed lab work, or medical studies documenting reinfections. Some people could be suffering from a reemergence of the same illness from virus that had been lurking somewhere in their body, or they could have been hit with a different virus with similar symptoms. Their positive COVID-19 tests could have been false positives a not-insignificant possibility given accuracy issues with some tests or picked up dead remnants of virus, as authorities believe happened in hundreds of people who tested positive after recovering in South Korea.

You cant extrapolate those anecdotal, first-person observations to the entire population and make sweeping conclusions about how the virus works, said Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at Columbia University.

There is still not enough evidence, or sufficient time since the virus first struck to draw firm conclusions about how people develop immunity to COVID-19, how long it might last or what might make it less robust in some individuals than in others.

Read the full story here.

The Washington Post

Virtual instruction. Mandated masks. Physical distancing. The start of school will look very different this year because of the coronavirus and thats OK with the vast majority of Americans.

Only about 1 in 10 Americans think daycare centers, preschools or K-12 schools should open this fall without restrictions, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs. Most think mask requirements and other safety measures are necessary to restart in-person instruction, and roughly 3 in 10 say that teaching kids in classrooms shouldnt happen at all.

The findings are a sharp contrast to the picture that President Donald Trump paints as he pressures schools to reopen. The Republican president claims to have wide support for a full reopening, arguing that Democrats oppose it for political reasons.

Few schools, however, plan to return to business as usual.

Read the full story here.

The Associated Press

New research suggests that antibodies the immune system makes to fight the new coronavirus may only last a few months in people with mild illness, but that doesnt mean protection also is gone or that it wont be possible to develop an effective vaccine.

Infection with this coronavirus does not necessarily generate lifetime immunity, but antibodies are only part of the story, said Dr. Buddy Creech, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University. He had no role in the work, published Tuesday in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The immune system remembers how to make fresh antibodies if needed and other parts of it also can mount an attack, he said.

Read the full story here.

The Associated Press

Self-collected swabs that only go partway up the nostril are almost as good as swabs administered by health care workers in identifying serious cases of the novel coronavirus, a new study from the University of Washington found.

Among people with "meaningful" viral loads, the home swabs detected 95% of the cases that were detected by clinical tests, the study found. The home swabs, which patients can use to test themselves, are less invasive than the nasopharyngeal swabs typically used by health care workers testing for the virus, which go much deeper in the nostril.

In total, the home tests identified 80% of the cases detected by clinical tests.

It matters less if swabs dont detect the cases with very little virus, because theyre not likely to be very symptomatic and less likely to infect others, said Dr. Helen Chu, a UW professor of medicine and the study's senior author.

There are several advantages in accurate home testing for the virus: Patients don't have to go out if they're not feeling well, which reduces the chances of the disease spreading and also preserves protective equipment used by health care workers to conduct tests.

"This approach is safe and scalable in the pandemic setting, permitting widespread testing of symptomatic participants early in illness and the potential for prompt self-isolation and contract tracing," the study's authors wrote in JAMA Network Open, published by the American Medical Association.

The study involved 185 participants who were tested with self-administered tests, clinician-collected tests or both.

David Gutman

Police in Bolivias major cities have recovered the bodies of hundreds of suspected victims of the coronavirus from homes, vehicles and, in some instances, the streets. Hospitals are full of COVID-19 patients and short of staff, keeping their gates closed and hanging out signs that say: There is no space.

And the Bolivian government says the peak of the outbreak is not expected until August.

Desperation is growing in one of Latin Americas poorest countries, which seems overwhelmed by the virus even as it endures political turmoil stemming from a flawed election and the ouster of President Evo Morales last year. A plan to hold elections in September, seen as a key to stabilizing its democracy, is increasingly in doubt as the pandemic worsens.

Read the full story here.

The Associated Press

As a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the University of Washingtons mens basketball game vs. Tulane in China has been canceled, the Pac-12 announced Wednesday.

The Pac-12 China Game was scheduled to be played Nov. 14 atthe BaoshanSports Center in Shanghai, which hosted Arizona State and Colorado in the 2019 game.

The decision to cancel the 2020 Pac-12 China Game is hardly surprising considering the coronavirus impact on sports.

Two weeks ago, the Pac-12 canceled nonconference games in football, mens and womens soccer and womens volleyball.

Read the full story here.

Percy Allen

A new snapshot of the frantic global response to the coronavirus pandemic shows some of the worlds largest government donors of humanitarian aid are buckling under the strain: Funding commitments, for the virus and otherwise, have dropped by a third from the same period last year.

The analysis by the U.K.-based Development Initiatives, obtained in advance by The Associated Press, offers a rare real-time look at the notoriously difficult to track world of aid.

At a time when billions of people are struggling with the pandemic and the ensuing economic collapse on top of long-running disasters like famine, drought or unrest more, not less, money is urgently needed. New virus protection equipment must be bought for almost everything, from maternity wards in African villages to womens shelters in Syrian refugee camps.

We have not seen substantial funding for COVID, yet the situation is going to get worse, Rosalind Crowther, South Sudan country director for the aid group CARE, told the AP in May, saying some donors have backtracked on earlier commitments. The group runs two dozen health centers, more than 40 feeding centers and a safe house in one of the worlds most fragile countries after civil war.

During the first five months of this year, overall aid commitments from the largest government donors were $16.9 billion, down from $23.9 billion in the same period last year, according to the new analysis, which drew on data from the United States, the United Kingdom, European Union institutions, Germany, France, Canada and others.

Many of these donors notably the U.K., whose aid commitments have dropped by nearly 50% from last year, according to the analysis are struggling as their economies contract.

Read the story here.

Cara Anna, The Associated Press

With coronavirus cases rising in Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser said Wednesday she will issue an executive order making face masks mandatory outside homes an unprecedented step in the nations capital.

Bowser said the order would include enforcement language detailing possible fines for violations.

After saying they had successfully blunted the infection curve in the city earlier this summer, health officials say the infection numbers have slowly crept upward, reaching triple digits on Wednesday for the first time in weeks.

Limited exceptions to the order, according to material distributed by Bowsers office, include children under age 3, people actively eating or drinking and people vigorously exercising outdoors while not close to anyone else.

In most cases, if youre outside your home. you should have a mask on, Bowser said.

Health Department director Dr. LaQuandra Nesbitt says her office is particularly concerned with data that show most new infections arent coming from people in quarantine or on the contact trace list of an infected person. That, she said, indicates a high level of community spread. Nesbit also said the percentage of people hospitalized who are under age 40 has nearly doubled in the month of July.

Read the story here.

The Associated Press

Bellevue School District will hold classes online in the fall, after similar announcements from other Seattle-area districts such as Kent and Northshore.

In an email sent to staff members on Wednesday, Bellevue superintendent Ivan Duran said he made the call after meeting with county health officials.

Last week, a report from the Bellevue-based Institute for Disease Modeling warned against reopening schools in King County unless transmission rates decrease.

Dr. Jeffrey Duchin, King County health officer, called the report "sobering."

Seattle Public Schools haven't made an announcement regarding its plans, but the district is facing pressure to start the school year remotely from its teachers union.

Dahlia Bazzaz

Gov. Jay Inslee's effort to use catchphrases from the 2004 teen comedy "Mean Girls" to make masks popular is meeting mixed reviews from the Twitterverse.

On Wednesday, Inslee posted a picture of himself behind a pink mask on Twitter with the words: "Stop trying to make 'fetch' happen. Make masks happen. #OnWednesdaysWeWearPink"

The lines about "fetch" and wearing pink on Wednesday are uttered by Regina George, the super popular mean girl leader of the Plastics clique in Tina Fey's movie about social acceptance.

In the movie, George informs newcomer Cady Heron about the group's color dress code and tells her insecure friend, Gretchen Wieners, that it's pointless to keep using "fetch" as a synonym for "cool."

"Gretchen, stop trying to makefetch happen!" George says unkindly.

The idea for using the Mean Girls pink line came from U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., who is leading the effort on Capitol Hill.

Here is the original post:

Coronavirus daily news updates, July 22: What to know today about COVID-19 in the Seattle area, Washington state and the world - Seattle Times

The novel coronavirus pandemic has now killed more than 613,000 people worldwide.

Over 14.8 million people across the globe have been diagnosed with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new respiratory virus, according to data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. The actual numbers are believed to be much higher due to testing shortages, many unreported cases and suspicions that some governments are hiding or downplaying the scope of their nations' outbreaks.

The United States has become the worst-affected country, with more than 3.8 million diagnosed cases and at least 141,845 deaths.

Latest headlines:

Here is how the news is developing today. All times Eastern. Check back for updates.

Younger people are continuing to drive new COVID-19 infections in Los Angeles County, health department officials said.

The county reported 2,741 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, of which 57% were people under age 41.

However an overwhelming majority of all deaths -- nearly 75% -- are in people over the age of 65, Director of Public Health Barbara Ferrer said. That age group accounts for 11% of all cases.

"The tragedy of what we are witnessing is that many of our younger residents are interacting with each other and not adhering to the recommended prevention measures, while our older residents continue to experience the results of this increased spread with the worst health outcomes, including death," Ferrer said.

The county has 161,673 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 4,154 deaths.

Statewide, California reported 400,769 total cases on Tuesday. That number will likely edge out New York's statewide total -- currently at 408,181 -- on Wednesday.

Texas reported a new record number of COVID-19 hospitalizations on Tuesday.

There are 10,848 patients currently hospitalized statewide, according to state data. Hospitalizations have remained above 10,000 since July 10.

The state saw 9,305 new cases on Monday, for a total of 341,739. There were 131 new fatalities, bringing the statewide total to 4,151.

The testing positivity rate was 15.05% as of Monday.

At President Donald Trump's first briefing focused on the coronavirus crisis in nearly three months, he encouraged people to wear masks and said that the pandemic will "get worse before it gets better."

"Whether you like the mask or not, they have an impact," said Trump, who, except on rare occcasions is usually seen not wearing one. At Tuesday's briefing, he said he wears a mask "when I need."

President Donald Trump points to a reporter for a question during a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) response news briefing at the White House in Washington, July 21, 2020.

The return of the briefings comes as cases of the coronavirus have surged in the country, particularly in the South.

"It will probably, unfortunately get worse before it gets better," Trump said. "That's the way it is."

The president said getting a vaccine "remains a top priority." Two vaccine candidates are entering clinical trials this month, and four others will in the coming weeks, Trump said. The military is ready to distribute them whenever they're ready, he added.

Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Deborah Birx, fixtures at past briefings, were not in attendance Tuesday. Birx was "right outside," Trump said when a reporter asked where they were.

The briefing lasted about half an hour, in contrast to previous briefings, some of which came close to two hours long.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN Tuesday afternoon that he had not been invited to President Donald Trump's 5 p.m. White House briefing.

"I was not invited up to this point," Fauci said prior to the briefing. "I'm assuming that I'm not going to be there, because it's going to be in just a short while, and I'm still here at the NIH [National Institutes of Health]."

Asked when was the last time he spoke to the president, Fauci said he had a "good, long conversation with him towards the end of last week."

A nurse beckons to people in a car at a newly opened mega drive-thru site at El Paso Community College Valle Verde campus on July 21, 2020 in El Paso, Texas.

Fauci also responded to Trump's characterization on Fox News on Sunday that the nation's top expert on infectious diseases is an "alarmist."

"People have their opinion about my reaction to things," Fauci said. "I consider myself more of a realist than an alarmist."

Five months into the pandemic, Fauci said the U.S. testing system is "patchy."

People exercise on the lawn of the state capitol in Lansing, Mich., July 21, 2020. The fitness workout and rally on the Michigan State Capitol lawn is intended to spotlight the benefits of exercise during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"It isn't as uniform as we would like," he said. "We need to do better, particularly when you're dealing with the surges that we're seeing now in some of the southern states."

Asked what Americans need to do to slow the spread, Fauci said universal mask wearing, closing bars, physical distancing and good hand hygiene.

"It's not rocket science," he said.

As hospitalizations rise, Louisiana is extending its Phase 2 restrictions until Aug. 7, Gov. John Bel Edwards announced Tuesday.

For the next two weeks, masks are mandatory across the state, crowds are limited to 50 people, and bars must be take-out only.

Maria Jones, center, sits at an outdoor table with her mother Stacey Jones at El Paso Mexican Grill on Magazine Street in New Orleans, July 9, 2020. A sharp increase in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations is forcing bars in the good-time-loving, tourist-dependent city to shut down again just a month after they were allowed to partially reopen.

Louisiana is ranks second in the nation per capita in COVID-19 cases, the governor said.

The Nobel Prize banquet has been canceled for the first time in over 60 years due to the pandemic, the Nobel Foundation said Tuesday.

Usually all the Laureates and their families gather in Stockholm and Oslo in December and a traditional Nobel Banquet is held at the Stockholm City Hall.

This year, the award ceremony will still take place in Oslo and Stockholm on Dec. 10, but with "new formats that both comply with social distancing restrictions and take into account that only some or perhaps no Laureates will participate on site," the foundation said in a statement.

The banquet will be canceled because the event hosts over 1,000 people in an indoor space, the foundation said.

The Nobel Prizes will be announced in October as usual.

From the outset, officials in hard-hit California have envisioned reopening as a "dimmer switch," making modifications based on the ongoing data, California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said Tuesday.

Insignia Hair Salon stylist Regina Muslimova gives a haircut in the parking lot behind the salon, July 21, 2020, in Walnut Creek, California. The salon reopened its doors to clients for haircuts a day after California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced guidance for barbershops and hair salons to offer haircuts in an outdoor setting. According to the new guidelines, "outdoor operations may be conducted under a tent, canopy, or other sun shelter as long as no more than one side is closed, allowing sufficient outdoor air movement."

"The overall health and well-being of Californians will always guide our decisions," he said, adding that state officials are open to adapting approaches.

A medical worker wears protective clothing in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of St John's Regional Medical Center in Oxnard, Calif., July 9, 2020.

Motorists line up to take a coronavirus test at Dodger Stadium, July 16, 2020, in Los Angeles.

"Our goal has always been to box the virus in with clear sector guidance ... as well as testing and contact tracing," Ghaly said.

Regarding contact tracing, Ghaly said, "we need to continue to scale it up ... even despite the fact that high levels of transmission have made traditional contact tracing impractical and difficult to do."

From left, manager Dave Roberts, Bob Geren, and Dino Ebel line up for the National Anthem for a preseason game against the Arizona Diamondbacks during the COVID-19 pandemic at Dodger Stadium on July 20, 2020, in Los Angeles.

"Contact tracing is a tried-and-true method in public health," Ghaly said. "At the level of transmission that we're seeing across the state, even a very, very robust contact tracing program ... will have a hard time teaching out to every single case."

Thousands of state staff members have been trained and are ready to be deployed to counties, Ghaly said.

A San Diego county nurse works at a newly opened drive through testing site at a closed high school in Imperial Beach, Calif., July 16, 2020.

"As we build up the capacity county by county ... there are gonna be some novel and important approaches to reach out to contacts," he continued.

If COVID-19 positive people can make "that initial reach out ... that's another important way to reduce transmission," he said.

The Trump administration says it is working with hospitals on accommodations for religious leaders to visit patients and health care workers.

Roger Severino, director of the Office for Civil Rights at the Health and Human Services Department, told reporters Tuesday that the administration has helped to resolve several issues so far, including a medical student who didn't want to shave his beard but was told the N95 respirator wouldn't fit properly otherwise.

The student, who was on rotation at Staten Island University Hospital in New York City, was allowed to use a powered air purifying respirator instead, Severino said.

"This was a win-win situation," Severino said. "It avoided the difficult and painful situation of having to force someone to choose between their deeply held religious beliefs and pursuing the practice of medicine."

In another case, the Trump administration intervened when a Maryland woman was told in June that her husband couldn't receive visitors after being in a serious motorcycle accident. The hospital did not believe he was close to death and thought visitors presented safety concerns.

The Health and Human Services Department intervened and a priest was allowed to visit, Severino said.

"Spiritual needs don't exist only at the point of death" Severino said.

The South Carolina National Guard is sending about 40 medics to five hospitals to help respond to a COVID-19 surge, officials said Tuesday.

Georgetown County and Horry County have reported over 4,000 new coronavirus cases since July 1, hospital officials said.

All local hospitals are at or near capacity in their ICU, emergency and inpatient care departments, officials said.

Ten new states have been added to New York and New Jersey's travel advisory list.

The new states are: Alaska, Delaware, Indiana, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Virginia and Washington.

Seattle Mariners outfielder Kyle Lewis, center right, stretches with teammates at baseball practice in Seattle, July 7, 2020.

Diane Tomey cleans a classroom at McClelland Elementary School, June 22, 2020, in Indianapolis.

Those states join: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, New Mexico, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin.

Minnesota has been removed from the list.

Travelers headed to New York, New Jersey or Connecticut from those states must quarantine for two weeks.

People gather at the beach in Ocean City, Md., on July 3, 2020.

The quarantine applies to states with a positive test rate higher than 10 per 100,000 residents over a one-week average, or any state with a 10% or higher positivity rate over a one-week average.

In Highlands County, Florida, parents must sign a COVID-19 waiver for students to take part in extracurricular activities this summer and during the upcoming school year, reported ABC affiliate WFTS.

The waiver asks that parents agree to check their children's temperature each day, visually inspect their children for signs of illness and confirm that the children have not been in contact with a coronavirus-positive person in the last two weeks. Parents also must agree to promptly pick up their children if they show signs of illness and to keep their children at home until they are illness-free for at least 72 hours without medicine.

The waiver is meant to remind parents that participating in any activity now carries a risk, Deputy Superintendent Andrew Lethbridge told WFTS.

In hard-hit Florida, five counties -- Hernando, Monroe, Nassau, Okeechobee and Putnam -- had no available ICU beds as of Tuesday morning, according to the state's Agency for Healthcare Administration.

A National Guard troop directs cars as people are tested by healthcare workers at the COVID-19 drive-thru testing center at Hard Rock Stadium, in Miami Gardens, Fla., as the coronavirus pandemic continues, July 19, 2020.

Of the adult ICU beds across the state, just 16.47% are available, the agency said.

Those numbers are expected to fluctuate throughout the day.

At least 21,780 coronavirus patients in Florida have been hospitalized since the pandemic began -- up 517 from Monday, according to the state's Department of Health.

Miami-Dade County, which includes Miami, and Bay County, which includes Panama City, are especially hard hit.

Juan Carlos, a host at Ocean 10 restaurant, stands at the entrance of the restaurant to turn customers away as a curfew from 8pm to 6am is put in place on July 18, 2020, in Miami Beach, Fla. The city put the curfew back into place to fight the spread of the coronavirus which has spiked in after the reopening of businesses.

A Miami Beach police officer directs people out of the entertainment district as a curfew from 8pm to 6am is put in place to combat the spread of the coronavirus on July 18, 2020, in Miami Beach, Fla.

Miami-Dade County has a one-day positivity rate of 19.2% while Bay County's one-day positivity rate stands at 24.4%, according to the state's Department of Health.

Florida's overall positivity rate is now at 13.62% as the state's number of COVID-19 cases reaches 369,834.

A DMV licensing center in Wayne, New Jersey, is closing for one week after an employee tested positive, state officials announced Tuesday.

The facility will be sanitized and the employee will quarantine for two weeks.

Officials in Calhoun County, Alabama, about 70 miles east of Birmingham, are pleading with residents to wear masks as COVID-19 cases surge in the area.

Of the county's 814 coronavirus cases, 430 of those were reported in just the last two weeks, Michael Barton, Director of Emergency Management for Calhoun County, said Monday.

"This is alarming," Barton said, adding that hospitals are at an "all-time high in reaching our capacity."

One local hospital had five COVID-19 patients two weeks ago. That hospital now has 44 patients.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey issued a mandatory statewide mask requirement last week.

"Make sure that you wear your mask and you adhere to all of the standards and guidelines that you possibly can," urged Joe Weaver, CEO at the local Stringfellow Memorial Hospital. "We know it's restrictive, but at the same time, there's no other thing. There's nothing else that we can do at this point in time."

Russia's first vaccine against the novel coronavirus is ready, First Deputy Defense Minister Ruslan Tsalikov told Argumenty i Fakty newspaper.

The vaccine was created by military specialists and scientists of the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology.

"Final assessments on the results of testing by our specialists and scientists of the National Research Center have been already made. At the moment of release all volunteers without exception developed immunity against the coronavirus and felt normal. So, the first domestic vaccine against the novel coronavirus infection is ready," Tsalikov told the newspaper.

The U.S. Bureau of Prisons announced late Monday a third COVID-related death at FMC Carswell, a specialized federal medical prison for women in Fort Worth, Texas.

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Fauci says he wasn't invited to White House briefing - ABC News

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The cuts come next.

The latest news from the Texas comptroller that the state will have $11.6 billion less to spend in its current budget than lawmakers expected leads straight to a conversation about which programs and services in the state budget are expendable.

That conversation is already underway. The timing is tricky. A lot of the lawmakers wholl make those budget decisions are campaigning for reelection in November. The Legislature will be in session in January just six months from now to revise the current budget and write the next one.

And the budgeteers are working without all of the information theyd like to have.

Despite their efforts, the states forecasting flashlights dont shine very far into the darkness. Comptroller Glenn Hegar, revenue estimator Tom Currah and their crew have the sales, franchise, oil and gas, and other tax results from the last quarter to guide them, but everything else is guesswork. When will the states businesses be fully open and operating? When will the oil and gas industry rebound? How is anyone supposed to know when the pandemic will be effectively controlled? When will schools open, and does that mean parents can return to work?

The Texas economy is never easy to predict. Its worse now.

Hegar built that into his latest projections. Its important to note that this revised estimate carries unprecedented uncertainty, he said in the cover letter to state leaders.

Thats a comptrollers way of saying, Hey, there are so many things we dont know, and these numbers might be crazy. Good luck out there!

Lawmakers knew they were going to be in a financial bind as soon as businesses started closing in the spring. Before most economists were willing to do so, Hegar said the states economy was in a recession. He told lawmakers to expect a midsummer revision to the fiscal forecast with billions cut from his earlier projection. State leaders asked agencies to detail 5% proposed cuts in spending.

The comptrollers new numbers include new estimates of how much money will be available in a state savings account known as the rainy day fund. Its lower than before, at $8.8 billion, but thats enough to cover his newly projected shortfall ($4.6 billion) if lawmakers want to hit that account instead of making cuts. Theyll have to find a way to cover large expected deficits in their Medicaid budget, but they might also be getting more relief/response money from the federal government.

The current budget isnt really the problem.

What comes after the current budget is the hard part. In January, lawmakers will write the 2022-23 budget. Theyll have a little more information about the pandemic, a little more information about the state of the economy, and a great deal of uncertainty about how much money will roll into the state treasury, and when.

Republicans in control of state government for most of the last two decades have written the last nine state budgets. The programs that might be on the block this time have their support. And its safe to say the Democrats dreaming of winning a majority in the Texas House arent eager to cut services, either.

But if the past is the guide, legislators are likely to cut spending. The last big dip in state finance came after the global financial crisis in 2008. Texas legislators put together a two-year budget in 2009 that had considerable support from federal stimulus funds. But the economic troubles lingered after the stimulus, and a projected shortfall of $27 billion in 2011 led to deep budget cuts notably including cuts to public education that affected Texas schools for years.

If big cuts are in order, education and health and human services are the biggest spending categories in the Texas budget.

Most other spending targets, however attractive, arent big enough to cover a hole of the size Hegar has described. And the two big ones are hard to hit.

The legislative session in 2019 might seem like ancient history, but that session was marked by a new state commitment to public school finance. Lawmakers said they would increase the states share of the cost of schools. They increased overall spending. And they did all of that in response to the 2018 elections, when voters focused on support for public education showed enough strength to win the attention of the Republicans in control of state government.

It would be politically risky to cut public education in the session after that, especially with the states top elected officials on their way to a 2022 election cycle. So is cutting funding in health and human services agencies especially the ones at the front of responses to the pandemic and the recession.

But it could happen. Theyll have to cut somewhere.

Disclosure: The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

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Coronavirus in Texas is hitting the state budget now - The Texas Tribune

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You can get vitamin D in three ways:

1. Your skin produces it when exposed to sunlight.

2. You get it when eating a diet of foods that naturally contain it, like fish or egg yolks, or that have been fortified with it, like milk.

3. You take a supplement, like a multivitamin.

Given this, weve naturally been looking at it in regard to COVID-19; in general, theres been a lot of studies from an associative point of view. For example, countries with higher rates of vitamin D have had lower rates of coronavirus infection. One Italian study found that people who reported taking vitamin D supplements were less likely to be infected; another Italian study found lower levels of vitamin D in COVID-19 patients than theyd expect to find in the population. A U.S. study found that lower vitamin D levels were associated with increased COVID-19 risk. There also have been a couple of studies that have failed to find a link.

What we dont have is a randomized, controlled trial (RCT) in which we give some people vitamin D, and some people a placebo, and see if theres any difference in COVID-19 infections. When weve run huge RCTs on vitamin D supplements with cancer and cardiovascular diseases, weve found nothing. And honestly, its not hard to think of reasons why people with low vitamin D would be more likely to have COVID-19: People who are low on vitamin D might spend more time indoors, where theyre more likely to be infected. Sick people stay inside. And sunlight itself may have therapeutic qualities in general.

Ive typically avoided writing about treatments without RCTs to back them up, but Im making an exception because vitamin D is super safe. Unless you take huge quantities of it, youre going to be just fine. In general, getting out in the sun for just a few minutes a day is really helpful, and a vitamin supplement may help too. This is a very-low-risk, potentially-medium-reward thing you can do.

Smoking isnt a big risk factor

Smoking is terrible for you. You shouldnt do it. I just want to make that clear.

And yet, smoking doesnt appear to make the virus worse.

Heres the research. One study found that countries with higher rates of smoking actually had fewer coronavirus deaths. One comprehensive look at 18 peer-reviewed studies and 12 pre-print studies found that, when you adjusted for age and gender, smoking prevalence among hospitalized patients was about one-third of what youd expect if smoking had no impact.

What about nonhospitalized patients, people who just test positive? Looks like we get similar results. In Israel, they looked at their 114,000 tests and found that 9.8% of those with the disease were smokers, compared to 19.4% of the negative tests.

Heck, we can even do this analysis in Utah. In 2018, 9.2% of Utahs population smoked. But only 5.1% of Utah coronavirus cases have been current smokers, and only 4.7% of our hospitalized cases. Some of that discrepancy is due to lower smoking rates in the aging population, but that doesnt explain all of it.

Whats going on here? There are a whole bunch of hypotheses. One that would explain it most easily is that people who smoke are used to having respiratory symptoms like coughing and trouble breathing, so they dont go in to get tested for the virus. (There are arguments against this, such as that serological surveys also seem to show the same smoking split.) Another is that people with preexisting conditions that make COVID-19 worse may be more likely to quit smoking. Yet another is that smokers choose to socialize outside more due to their smoking.

But there are some explanations that might explain it from a biological perspective. One is that nicotine inhibits the production of inflammatory cytokines, the bodys proteins that we see elevated levels of during the cytokine storm late stages of the disease, where essentially your immune system is attacking the body.

Its also possible that having your lungs coated with a thin layer of tar and toxins is normally awful but in this case has the side effect of preventing coronaviruses from being able to infect lung cells. (Generally, smokers have a higher risk of flu, but there is at least one team of scientists who think the shape of the coronavirus and how it attaches to cells might make this different.)

Look, smoking is more likely to kill you than the coronavirus is, so dont start smoking on the back of this research. Im sure that theres some sort of bad-journalism Razzie award for those who advocate that their readers smoke, and I dont want to win it. But if you are a smoker, hopefully this reduces your stress somewhat.

Were clearly getting more and more tools to treat the coronavirus effectively.

Remember what a big deal it was when we gave a Utahn blood plasma transfusions from someone who had already recovered from the disease back in April? In that case, loss of life looked so likely that they were willing to experiment. The patient got better.

Weve now done over 20,000 of these plasma treatments in the United States, and we know theyre quite safe. Serious adverse effects were found in fewer than 1% of patients. Mortality for patients declined from 12% to 8.6%. The Mayo Clinic also notes that now there is sufficient donation to meet most of the demand.

You may also remember the dexamethasone finding, that this steroid given orally in late-stage COVID-19 patients really had an impact on mortality. One recent study of another steroid, methylprednisolone, found that prolonged, low-dose treatment was associated with a significantly lower hazard of death 71% lower, in fact. Thats really good!

Again, these arent drugs you should be taking at home, because the steroids will hurt your immune system. But for those who are in COVID-19-induced cytokine storm, it seems like a good bet. Its also good news for the cost of treatment: Methylprednisolone costs about $10, and is widely available.

As a result of these treatments, its becoming more clear that fewer sick people are dying.

The best data comes from England, where were seeing death rates go down significantly among people who are hospitalized with the disease.

In all, the rate in England has gone from about 6% of hospitalized cases dying at the beginning of April to about 1.5% at the end of June. Thats a big difference!

Improvements in treatment is just one reason for the four-fold difference, and probably doesnt explain all of it. Other possible explanations: that the most vulnerable were more likely to die first; people may be more likely to enter the hospital with COVID-19 symptoms than they were in the past; and people who caught the coronavirus earlier when no precautions were being taken may have gotten a larger dose and therefore a more potent case of the disease.

In Utah, the data needed for this calculation isnt public: We dont know exactly when deaths occurred or when they were first hospitalized. Over the entirety of the pandemic, there have been 2,109 hospitalizations due to COVID-19, and 251 have died. Thats 12%, though that also counts the deaths of people who never made it to the hospital for one reason or another. The difference between Utahs and Englands numbers may reflect fewer people going to the hospital in Utah than in England, a lower standard of care, or a difference in measurement. We just dont know.

The U.S. picture shows that deaths are certainly up as a result of our recent coronavirus spike, but perhaps less than anticipated so far. I expect that death trend to follow the case trend overall, but a more muted wave of deaths wouldnt be just good news, it would be great news.

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Good coronavirus news: A vitamin that may help, improved treatments and a relief for smokers - Salt Lake Tribune

The BDN is making the most crucial coverage of the coronavirus pandemic and its economic impact in Maine free for all readers. Click here for all coronavirus stories. You can join others committed to safeguarding this vital public service by purchasing a subscription or donating directly to the newsroom.

More than two dozen new coronavirus cases were reported on Wednesday as the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention determined a number of previously reported cases to be false positives.

Twenty-eight new cases of the coronavirus were reported Wednesday, according to Maine CDC spokesperson Robert Long. He said 25 of those cases were confirmed and three probable. That brings the total cases reported since the outbreak began in March to 3,723.

Of those, 3,321 had been confirmed positive, while 402 were classified as probable cases, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

New cases were tallied in Androscoggin (2), Cumberland (13), Franklin (1), Hancock (2), Kennebec (3), Sagadahoc (3) and York (3) counties. Daily changes in county-level data may vary from new case reports as the Maine CDC continues to investigate cases and revise past data.

No new deaths were reported Wednesday, leaving the statewide death toll at 118. Nearly all deaths have been in Mainers over age 60.

Wednesdays cumulative total remains steady because the Maine CDC determined 24 probable cases, including 19 associated with a summer camp, were false positives, Long said Wednesday. Maine CDC Director Nirav Shah on Tuesday attributed those false positives from the summer camp, which he did not identify, to less reliable technology it used for testing.

Another four previously reported confirmed cases were determined to involve people from out of state and are no longer being counted as Maine cases, bringing the net increase in cumulative cases to 21.

So far, 377 Mainers have been hospitalized at some point with COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. Of those, 10 people are currently hospitalized, with eight in critical care and four on ventilators.

Meanwhile, 25 more people have recovered from the coronavirus, bringing total recoveries to 3,216. That means there are 389 active and likely cases in the state, down from 414 on Tuesday.

A majority of the cases 2,072 have been in Mainers under age 50, while more cases have been reported in women than men, according to the Maine CDC.

As of Wednesday, there have been 147,923 negative test results out of 153,125 overall. Just under 3 percent of all tests have come back positive, Maine CDC data show.

The coronavirus has hit hardest in Cumberland County, where 1,974 cases have been reported and where the bulk of virus deaths 68 have been concentrated. It is one of four counties the others are Androscoggin, Penobscot and York, with 513, 136 and 602 cases, respectively where community transmission has been confirmed, according to the Maine CDC.

There are two criteria for establishing community transmission: at least 10 confirmed cases and that at least 25 percent of those are not connected to either known cases or travel. That second condition has not yet been satisfied in other counties.

Other cases have been reported in Aroostook (30), Franklin (45), Hancock (21), Kennebec (153), Knox (25), Lincoln (31), Oxford (48), Piscataquis (4), Sagadahoc (39), Somerset (32), Waldo (60) and Washington (6) counties. Information about where another four cases were reported wasnt immediately available Wednesday morning.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the coronavirus has sickened 3,925,025 people in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as caused 142,401 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.

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28 new coronavirus cases have been reported in Maine - Bangor Daily News

This spring, as countries around the world told people to stay home to slow the spread of the coronavirus, doctors in neonatal intensive care units were noticing something strange: Premature births were falling, in some cases drastically.

It started with doctors in Ireland and Denmark. Each team, unaware of the others work, crunched the numbers from its own region or country and found that during the lockdowns, premature births especially the earliest, most dangerous cases had plummeted. When they shared their findings, they heard similar anecdotal reports from other countries.

They dont know what caused the drop in premature births, and can only speculate as to the factors in lockdown that might have contributed. But further research might help doctors, scientists and parents-to-be understand the causes of premature birth and ways to prevent it, which have been elusive until now. Their studies are not yet peer reviewed, and have been posted only on preprint servers. In some cases the changes amounted to only a few missing babies per hospital. But they represented significant reductions from the norm, and some experts in premature birth think the research is worthy of additional investigation.

These results are compelling, said Dr. Denise Jamieson, an obstetrician at Emory Universitys School of Medicine in Atlanta.

About one in 10 U.S. babies is born early. Pregnancy usually lasts about 40 weeks, and any delivery before 37 weeks is considered preterm. The costs to children and their families financially, emotionally and in long-term health effects can be great. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, babies born premature, especially before 32 weeks, are at higher risk of vision and hearing problems, cerebral palsy and death.

The best way to avoid these costs would be to prevent early births in the first place, said Dr. Roy Philip, a neonatologist at University Maternity Hospital Limerick in Ireland.

Dr. Philip had been vacationing abroad when his country entered lockdown on March 12, and he noticed something unusual when he returned to work in late March. He asked why there had been no orders while he was gone for the breast milk-based fortifier that doctors feed to the hospitals tiniest preemies. The hospitals staff said that there had been no need, because none of these babies had been born all month.

Intrigued, Dr. Philip and his colleagues compared the hospitals births so far in 2020 with births between January and April in every year since 2001 more than 30,000 in all. They looked at birth weights, a useful proxy for very premature birth.

Initially I thought, There is some mistake in the numbers, Dr. Philip said.

Over the past two decades, babies under 3.3 pounds, classified as very low birth weight, accounted for about eight out of every thousand live births in the hospital, which serves a region of 473,000 people. In 2020, the rate was about a quarter of that. The very tiniest infants, those under 2.2 pounds and considered extremely low birth weight, usually make up three per thousand births. There should have been at least a few born that spring but there had been none.

The study period went through the end of April. By the end of June, with the national lockdown easing, Dr. Philip said there had still been very few early preemies born in his hospital. In two decades, he said, he had never seen anything like these numbers.

While the Irish team was digging into its data, researchers in Denmark were doing the same thing, driven by curiosity over a nearly empty NICU. Dr. Michael Christiansen of the Statens Serum Institut in Copenhagen and his colleagues used newborn screening data to compare births nationwide during the strictest lockdown period, March 12 to April 14, with births during the same period in the previous five years. The data set included more than 31,000 infants.

The researchers found that during the lockdown, the rate of babies born before 28 weeks had dropped by a startling 90 percent.

Anecdotes from doctors at other hospitals around the world suggest the phenomenon may have been widespread, though not universal.

Dr. Belal Alshaikh, a neonatologist at the University of Calgary in Alberta, said premature births across Calgary dropped by nearly half during the lockdown. The change was across the board, though it seemed more pronounced in the earliest babies, he said.

At Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, Dr. Irwin Reiss, a neonatologist, saw a smaller drop-off in premature births.

At Mercy Hospital for Women outside Melbourne, Australia, there were so few premature babies that administrators asked Dr. Dan Casalaz, the hospitals director of pediatrics, to figure out what was going on.

In the United States, Dr. Stephen Patrick, a neonatologist at Vanderbilt Childrens Hospital in Nashville, estimated there were about 20 percent fewer NICU babies at his hospital than usual in March. Although some sick full-term babies would stay in the NICU, Dr. Patrick said preterm babies usually made up most of the patients, and the drop-off seemed to have been driven by missing preemies.

When Dr. Patrick shared his observation on Twitter, some U.S. doctors shared similar stories. Others said their NICUs were as busy as ever. Some groups in other countries have said they didnt see a change, either.

If lockdowns prevented early births in certain places but not others, that information could help reveal causes of premature birth. The researchers speculated about potential factors.

Updated July 22, 2020

One could be rest. By staying home, some pregnant women may have experienced less stress from work and commuting, gotten more sleep and received more support from their families, the researchers said.

Women staying at home also could have avoided infections in general, not just the new coronavirus. Some viruses, such as influenza, can raise the odds of premature birth.

Air pollution, which has been linked to some early births, has also dropped during lockdowns as cars stayed off the roads.

Dr. Jamieson said the observations were surprising because she would have expected to see more preterm births during the stress of the pandemic, not less.

It seems like we have experienced tremendous stress in the U.S. due to Covid, she said.

But all pregnant women may not have experienced the lockdowns in the same way, she said, as different countries have different social safety nets in general, and the stress of unemployment and financial insecurity may have affected communities unevenly.

Some later premature births also might have been avoided during lockdowns simply because doctors werent inducing mothers for reasons like high blood pressure, Dr. Jamieson said. But that wouldnt explain a change in very early preterm births, as the Danish and Irish authors found.

The causes of preterm birth have been elusive for decades, and ways to prevent preterm births have been largely unsuccessful, Dr. Jamieson said. According to the C.D.C., premature births in the United States rose in 2018 for the fourth straight year. White women had about a 9 percent risk of premature birth in 2018, while African-American womens risk was 14 percent.

If the trends in the data are confirmed, the pandemic and lockdowns could be something like a natural experiment that might help researchers understand why premature birth happens and how to avoid it. Maybe some maternity leave should start before a mothers due date, for example.

The Danish and Irish researchers have now teamed up and are building an international group of collaborators to study how Covid lockdowns affected early births.

For years, nothing has advanced in this very important area, Dr. Christiansen said, and it seems it took a virus attack to help us get on track.

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Excerpt from:

During Coronavirus Lockdowns, Some Doctors Wondered: Where Are the Preemies? - The New York Times

The BDN is making the most crucial coverage of the coronavirus pandemic and its economic impact in Maine free for all readers. Click here for all coronavirus stories. You can join others committed to safeguarding this vital public service by purchasing a subscription or donating directly to the newsroom.

More than two dozen new coronavirus cases were reported on Wednesday as the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention determined a number of previously reported cases to be false positives.

Twenty-eight new cases of the coronavirus were reported Wednesday, according to Maine CDC spokesperson Robert Long. He said 25 of those cases were confirmed and three probable. That brings the total cases reported since the outbreak began in March to 3,723.

Of those, 3,321 had been confirmed positive, while 402 were classified as probable cases, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

No new deaths were reported Wednesday, leaving the statewide death toll at 118. Nearly all deaths have been in Mainers over age 60.

Wednesdays cumulative total remains steady because the Maine CDC determined 24 probable cases, including 19 associated with a summer camp, were false positives, Long said Wednesday. Maine CDC Director Nirav Shah on Tuesday attributed those false positives from the summer camp, which he did not identify, to less reliable technology it used for testing.

Another four previously reported confirmed cases were determined to involve people from out of state and are no longer being counted as Maine cases, bringing the net increase in cumulative cases to 21.

So far, 377 Mainers have been hospitalized at some point with COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. Of those, 10 people are currently hospitalized, with eight in critical care and four on ventilators.

Meanwhile, 25 more people have recovered from the coronavirus, bringing total recoveries to 3,216. That means there are 389 active and likely cases in the state, down from 414 on Tuesday.

Heres the latest on the coronavirus and its impact on Maine.

Congress returned to work this week still far apart on components of a fifth coronavirus stimulus package, including whether to extend the $600 weekly enhanced unemployment benefit set to expire at the end of this month. Heres whats at stake for Maine.

Visits to Maines state parks by residents are up by 35 percent so far this year compared to 2019, according to Jim Britt, spokesperson for the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry. And while much of that increase is attributable to sites in the more popular southern part of the state, the trend toward staycations has not escaped inland parks farther north, including two in Piscataquis County. Ernie Clark, BDN

While Maine is generally outperforming much of the country in its testing for the coronavirus, some health care providers are still struggling to reliably obtain the nasal swabs, transport vials and other supplies necessary to conduct those tests. Charles Eichacker, BDN

If students in Bangor return to school buildings this fall, theyll go through daily temperature scans, have meals served in classrooms where desks are at least 6 feet apart, and walk through one-way stairwells and hallways marked to keep students at a safe distance from others. Eesha Pendharkar, BDN

As of Wednesday evening, the coronavirus has sickened 3,940,592 people in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as caused 142,756 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.

Continue reading here:

July 22 evening update: The latest on the coronavirus and Maine - Bangor Daily News

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Nearly two dozen coronavirus cases have popped up in the past 10 days at Fort Yukon after community leaders took extreme measures months ago to avoid the disease.

Like other rural villages scattered around Alaska, leaders in March imposed travel bans and other restrictions far beyond those imposed by the state to protect residents in a place without an emergency room.

Fort Yukon, an Interior community of about 600 on the Yukon River 145 miles northeast of Fairbanks, reported 21 new cases as of Tuesday morning.

The first person with symptoms appeared this week someone sick enough to get medevaced on Monday, according to City Manager Andrew Firmin. The individual had to be airlifted to a hospital because the local clinic doesnt have any ventilators.

Were not set up to intubate anybody, Firmin said. We have excellent medical staff but were almost on Its Motrin or medevac.' Theres no extended-care specialists or anything like that.

But the news isnt necessarily as alarming as it sounds, local residents said. The community performed roughly 150 tests. Thats about a quarter of the population. The positive numbers account for between 3% and 4% of all residents.

Fort Yukon, the states largest Athabascan village, is made up of many extended, multigenerational families under one roof, said Dacho Alexander, a council member of the Gwichyaa Zhee Gwichin Tribal Government.

This is kind of what we had suspected from the beginning, because of the way village life is so intertwined with friends and family: once it did arrive, it would spread like wildfire. Which it has indeed, Alexander said. It was something that we were trying to avoid but we knew that it was just a matter of time before it did arrive and these types of numbers would appear.

The community had access to two rapid testing machines, one donated by the community of Venetie, he said. The high testing level reflected several factors: tests on people considered close contacts of a positive case from another community; screening for essential workers; and the expansion of testing to the citys various workforces, from tribal and city governments to the local fuel supplier.

The Fort Yukon cases arent specifically listed on Alaskas COVID-19 dashboard where health officials post daily updates on COVID-19 cases. Instead, the citys statistics are included in the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, where the state identified 29 cases as of Tuesday. Other communities, like Circle, have some cases as well.

Fort Yukon in March adopted aggressive measures in hopes of keeping out coronavirus: no travel except for cargo, essential workers, medical and law enforcement. Other measures still in place include a 14-day quarantine for travelers, masks required for anyone leaving their yard, a shelter-in-place order, and a curfew between midnight and 6 a.m. Patrols previously on snowmachine and now boat watch for incoming visitors. People at the airport watch for private planes.

Fort Yukon reopened for travel in mid-June and shut it back down again two weeks later, Firmin said. Thats when COVID-19 cases were reported in Circle. Then Fort Yukons cases began rising.

Now its hard enforcing quarantine due to state confidentiality policies that keep authorities from knowing just who is sick, Firmin said. The liquor store is closed, the gas station is curbside service only, and the Alaska Commercial Co. store is open but the city is discussing asking them to close temporarily too, he said.

The post office in Fort Yukon. (Stephen Nowers / ADN archive)

On Tuesday, the Fort Yukon post office was only letting in one person at a time, said Hans James, a city council member who manages the local radio station, where he started daily COVID-19 updates a week and a half ago.

You might say were on lockdown, James said

The sources of the local infections arent certain. People are congregating more, Firmin said. There have been several funerals in the area.

I wouldnt blame that only on funerals, Firmin said, adding that there are still essential workers coming into town. Then you have people that just dont care about the rules and are coming and going just as they please.

Statewide COVID-19 case counts are spiking, with most of the new cases in Anchorage and in younger people, though so far hospitalizations arent rising as quickly. The state hit a new daily high Monday with 141 confirmed infections in Alaskans and nonresidents. Another 109 new cases were reported Tuesday.

Most of the big numbers are in urban areas. But Fort Yukon isnt the only rural area seeing a sudden rise in confirmed cases.

More than two dozen people have tested positive for the coronavirus in the Copper River region, including 15 new cases in the past week, according to the Copper River Native Association, which expects those numbers to rise.

The state counts Copper River resident cases in the Valdez-Cordova Census Area, local officials say. As of Tuesday, a category designated other in that section showed one new case and a total of 12. The state generally uses that category for any communities smaller than 1,000 people to protect patient confidentiality.

The state numbers wont match the ones reported by the Native association.

Local tribal and health officials are tracking the virus based on positive tests administered in the region, and not the hometowns of the people who test positive like the state does, according to Melanie McGinnis, public information officer for the Copper River Native Association. The data comes from the association, Glennallen-based Cross Road Medical Center, and Gakona-based Mt. Sanford Tribal Consortium.

The Copper River region includes a combination of smaller villages such as Gulkana and Gakona; larger communities like Glennallen, a Glenn Highway hub; the dipnet fishing destination Chitina; and the Wrangell Mountains hamlet of McCarthy, which along with a small year-round population attracts summer visitors and urban Alaskans with seasonal cabins.

The intent of posting testing data is to let community members know positive cases spent time there regardless of what address their drivers license shows, McGinnis said.

Maybe theyre not a resident or plan on staying but that positive case has still spent time in our region, she said. Whether its one or one hundred positive cases, were hoping the community understands our response doesnt change: we should still be wearing masks, washing hands, and social distancing.

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Fort Yukon and Copper River communities avoided coronavirus for months. Now cases are rising in both. - Anchorage Daily News