Cowboys’ Jamize Olawale opts out amid COVID-19 pandemic, paving the way for much more creative offense in 2020 – CBS Sports

While players from the around the league file in to opt out of the 2020 NFL season due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Dallas Cowboys have mostly been spared. Although they've already had two players opt out, neither were expected to be starters this coming season, namely undrafted rookie receiver Stephen Guidry and newly-signed veteran cornerback Maurice Canady. The team did lose its first definitive starter on Sunday though, with fullback Jamize Olawale notifying the club he would join Guidry and Canady as one of only three Cowboys to sit out this year, sources confirmed to CBS Sports.

Olawale landed in Dallas by way of Oakland, having been traded by theRaidersto the Cowboys in 2018 along with a sixth-round pick in exchange for a fifth-round pick that same year. While having shown promise as a possible offensive option in his time with the Raiders, his two seasons with the Cowboys have been the polar opposite -- marred mostly by two drops that would've been walk-in touchdowns in key situations. He has been a resolute special teams player, however, and head coach Mike McCarthy has never been coy about carrying fullbacks in his offense.

The latter point plasters a question mark on how McCarthy will handle the absence of Olawale. He can either throw all of his chips into bringing undrafted rookie Sewo Olonilua up to speed as quickly as possible in a preseason-less camp, or he could experiment with an offense that doesn't require a fullback at all, which might give offensive coordinator Kellen Moore more freedom to generate plays in space for Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard.

If you didn't catch that hint, allow me to try again, this time throwing it with the passion of a Nolan Ryan fastball.

Going into 2020, the Cowboys truly have a chance to begin unleashing more two-halfback sets that utilize both Elliott and Pollard on the same play. As a first-year coordinator still learning the ropes (albeit in impressive fashion) and having to also learn how to best use Pollard in Year 1, Moore struggled to consistently field the rookie, often waxing and waning his snap count and targets over the course of the 2019 season. Having to factor in the use of Olawale played a part in the disruption(s), but with that being a non-issue in 2020 and Olonilua unlikely to instantly transcend from UDFA status to that of an NFL starter in only a matter of weeks -- and, again, without the benefit of preseason games to help aid in that cause -- it's a perfect time for Moore to get spicy with what could be a dynamic one-two punch in the Cowboys backfield.

In the instances where the team used the double halfback set last season, more often than not, it produced a gain in yardage. It's not difficult to see why -- considering how challenging it becomes for opposing linebackers to figure out if they should key in on Elliott or Pollard ahead of the snap. Add in some pre-snap motion/misdirection, and having both on the field at the same time truly does become nightmare material for defenses.

But wait, there's more, because once you toss in the wide receiver corps and tight end, the Cowboys could truly be faced with an embarrassment of riches.

While they've primarily been apt to operate with an 11 personnel setup (1 RB, 1 TE, 3 WRs), here's a chance to truly ramp up the 21 personnel (2 RBs, 1 TE, 2 WRs) with Pollard taking the place of Olawale, which would put Elliott and Pollard on the field at the same time as a playmaking tight end in Blake Jarwin with either a WR duo of Amari Cooper plus Michael Gallup, Michael Gallup plus CeeDee Lamb or CeeDee Lamb plus Amari Cooper. Digging deeper for a set they never use but should and now have the opportunity to, the team could also begin unveiling the 20 personnel more often (2 RBs, 0 TEs, 3 WRs), allowing McCarthy and Moore to put Elliott and Pollard on the field with Cooper, Gallup and Lamb, and daring the defense to cover five skill players who can do serious damage.

It's hard enough to stop one nuke, and it gets no easier when there are five pointing at you, not counting yet another prove-it year for Dak Prescott -- the motivated two-time Pro Bowler tasked with turning the keys.

It's all something for the Cowboys to seriously mull in training camp and the regular season, and would be a fantastic heel turn from the more hyper-conservative era of Jason Garrett and (mostly) Scott Linehan. In comparing Pollard's potential to what Olawale brings to the table, you'll quickly note there is no comparison at all. The latter has seven career touchdowns and 644 career yards from scrimmage, but none of those touchdowns are on his resume with Dallas, and McCarthy can't truly miss a player he's yet to actually coach. Additionally, the veteran fullback has only 13 receiving yards to go along with zero rushing yards for the Cowboys, so his main contributions truly have been on special teams, making his opt-out seemingly more of a dent in the rebuild of special teams coordinator John Fassel than to the offense.

That said, the Cowboys did pick up the contract option on Olawale this offseason, which is clear evidence McCarthy and Moore did at least have some sort of plan for him. Olawale signed a three-year deal in 2019 worth $5.4 million, and stood to hit the Cowboys cap for $1.7 million in 2020. He will instead receive a $150,000 stipend and no accrued season toward his contract expiration.

And what McCarthy and Moore just received is a chance to consistently deliver a 40 burger -- extra cheese.

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Cowboys' Jamize Olawale opts out amid COVID-19 pandemic, paving the way for much more creative offense in 2020 - CBS Sports

Snap CEO Evan Spiegel: The Covid-19 pandemic has ‘laid bare the tremendous inequity in American society’ – CNBC

Covid-19 has exacerbatedlong-standing racial disparities in the U.S., data shows. The pandemic hasdisproportionately impactedpeople of color, particularly Black people, across the country and has highlighted years of health and social inequities.

It's "been very painful to watch," Snap co-founder and CEO Evan Spiegel said on the "How Leaders Leadwith David Novak" podcast on Thursday.

"The most important thing that Covid has done, in my opinion, is it has laid bare the tremendous inequity in American society and the failures of many of our systems," Spiegel told CNBC contributor Novak, "including our health system to take care of our citizens."

"That's been most obvious because the outcomes in other countries are very different.Other countries have been able to manage this crisis more effectively."

For example, "you see Black or Latinx people in our culture are dying at higher rates, and you see that the economic impact of Covid disproportionately impacts those people who are also dying at higher rates," Spiegel said.

Indeed, Black and Hispanic residents of the U.S. have been three times as likely to be infected with SARS-CoV-2 and nearly twice as likely to die from Covid-19 as white people, according to CDC data uncovered and reported by The New York Times.

"When you see the backdrop of racism that persists in our country today exacerbated by this situation, I think generally, it's a really important step for our country to take to at least see that this problem exists," Spiegel said.

"Unless we're willing to acknowledge this problem, unless we're willing to acknowledge this history, unless we're willing to acknowledge the inequities in our system today, it's going to be very difficult to fix them."

Spiegel's hope is that it will lead to change.

"I think even in the short term, while this is an excruciating period of time, I do think this event brings us closer to a country that embodies our values over the longer term," Spiegel said.

"I think the biggest thing that [Covid-19 has] done is really laid bare the inequities in our society and the failings of our country to take care of its citizens."

Spiegel is currently worth an estimated $4.53 billion, according to Bloomberg. According to Forbes, Spiegel has donatedabout $65 million in Snap stock. He and his wife,Miranda Kerr, along with The Snap Foundation, donated $10 millionfor Covid-19 relief in Los Angeles.

Spiegel and his Snap co-founder, Bobby Murphy, have pledged to donate 13 million shares of Snap stock to the foundation, whose "mission is to develop pathways to the creative economy for underrepresented youth in Los Angeles," according to its website.

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Snap CEO Evan Spiegel: The Covid-19 pandemic has 'laid bare the tremendous inequity in American society' - CNBC

Cardinals, COVID-19 could stop Cubs before they get to St. Louis – NBC Sports Chicago

At least the Cubs got to try out that new extra-inning rule. They even got five innings of scoreless baseball from their much-maligned bullpen before the weekend was done.

But where does the hottest-starting team in the National League go next?

Nobody could be sure Sunday as worsening COVID-19 news swirled around the Cardinals during the Cubs extra-inning victory over the Pirates.

Various reports suggested as many as four more Cardinals players and staff tested positive for the coronavirus Saturday night, in addition to the four confirmed cases from earlier in the week. That led to another round of testing Sunday to confirm the results of the potentially positive cases all playing out five days before the Cubs are scheduled to open a three-game series in St. Louis.

I would imagine that were probably not playing those games this weekend. But I cant fully speak to that, veteran pitcher Jon Lester said. Thats just my opinion. Maybe theres a way where we flip the schedule around where were playing somebody else. I think guys right now just want to keep playing.

It sucks that were dealing with this, but its the nature of the beast right now. The league Im sure will alter the plans going forward. If were in St. Louis on Friday, were in St. Louis on Friday. Well figure it out, and well try to beat the Cardinals and move on to the next day. But right now, as of today, I dont see that happening.

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The Cardinals already have had four days of games postponed the second team to deal with an outbreak after the Marlins had 18 players test positive in the days following their opener in Philadelphia. The Marlins havent played in a week. Their outbreak prompted MLB to juggle the schedules of other teams impacted by the Marlins shutdown to allow them to keep playing during the week.

If the Cardinals news doesnt improve fast, it could mean a much tougherdecision for commissioner Rob Manfred, who in recent days had pledged to persist with the season, even if it meant teams would finish with different numbers of games played.

Cubs general manager Jed Hoyer said on Saturday his conversations with MLB and officials from other teams in recent days offered no sense of clarity on the viability of play during the first-week crisis even as MLB mandated safety compliance officers for each team and stressed greater adherence to protocols.

I dont think theres any consensus, Hoyer said. Our experience so far has been positive, and based on what I have viewed this is absolutely survivable. But our experience hasnt been the rule.

RELATED:Why no Cubs have expressed intent to opt out amid MLB COVID-19 outbreaks

The Cubs are the only team in the league that hasnt had a player test positive since intake testing began more than a month ago though star third baseman Kris Bryant has self-quarantined since reporting a stomachache to team officials Saturday. He has continued to test negative, was said to feel better Sunday, and might be cleared to play Monday or Tuesday depending on the results and timing of two more tests.

Whether the 7-2 Cubs and everyone else have a season to keep playing by the time he were to return much less a Cubs-Cardinals series to play Friday remains in flux.

Depending on how widespread the Cardinals outbreak becomes, the Cubs might already have faced a higher risk series in their sweep of the Pirates who faced the Cardinals five days before taking the field at Wrigley.

Those are the kinds of things you start thinking about during this, Hoyer said. Youd be crazy not to start thinking about the number of days and making sure that [the Cardinals] outbreak is under control. I think you have a right to have those concerns and ask those questions.

Thats probably the area that Im focused on right now, is that as they test, the positives have to stop before we can really have a sense of what were dealing with.

Until then, the team that has looked impressive against the Brewers, Reds and Pirates and even better in containing the virus within its bubble could be on the brink of having all its best laid plans and early performance wiped out by teams outside their bubble and factors beyond their control.

You dont want to see something go down just because of, I guess, a couple teams, said Kyle Schwarber, who drove in his sixth run Sunday, threw out a runner at the plate in the 10th and has an .851 OPS so far. Hopefully, this is something quick [with the Cards]. Hopefully, theres able to be a fix and theyre able to keep the season going.

It would be a disappointment just because you see the group in here, what weve been doing, he added. Weve been responsible in everything that were trying to do because we know were part of something greater here.

Thats about doing their part to make sure a two-month season and playoffs can be completed during a global pandemic as much as it is about doing what they can to still be one of the teams playing at that point.

The Cubs say all they can do now is show up Monday for their game against the Royals until or unless they hear otherwise.

You cant worry about Team X testing positive three or four or 10, 11 times, Lester said. We have to worry about whats in front of us.

And if the commissioner comes and says were done, then were done. And if he says play on, then we play on.

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3 Things Covid-19 Will End In Higher Ed – Forbes

BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA - JULY 22: A cyclist rides by a sign in front of the U.C. Berkeley campus on ... [+] July 22, 2020 in Berkeley, California. U.C. Berkeley announced plans on Tuesday to move to online education for the start of the school's fall semester due to the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

College Covid questions are about to be answered.

We will know in just a few weeks whether college enrollments for the fall tanked, whether schools will brave an in-person teaching model, a blend or go entirely online, whether schools can enforce social distance and mask regimens, and much more. Right now, everyone is speculating.

Back in June, Id already speculated about five things that the Covid-19 ordeal will etch on college for the long term. It has been a challenge to think of five things this Covid-19 odyssey has knocked into the dustbin, college-wise. I only came up with three.

E-mail

Using e-mail as a primary communication tool is so 2010. Its all text and push notifications now. And nothing made that more apparent than the rapid disbursement of students from campus in the Spring. Colleges found out that the best way, the only way to keep their communities informed was through their apps.

The University of North Carolina, Greensboro, which won an international award for Best Overall App among colleges, is pretty clear about what is happening.

We have been watching trends with Generation Z and one of the key observations is that they are not using email as much as previous groups, said Craig Biles, University Digital Design and Mobile Communications Developer at UNCG. Even when they do, we find they are hesitant to mingle their personal email with their school email. Push notifications give us a way to communicate that better fits their lifestyle and preferences.

It's not that e-mail will disappear; it may just shift to a secondary medium for current and upcoming college students. And this Spring, having to communicate with urgency, colleges saw a preview of what may be the new normal.

Testing Centers

Many, probably even most teachers dont give tests and exams in class anymore. Gone are the days when professors would pass around testing books or scrawl exam questions on the whiteboard and watch student hunch over and scribble. Instead, many colleges built testing centers where students could go on their own schedule and take the exam under the watchful eye of a center monitor. It made sense, more schedule flexibility, less professor time.

But due to Covid-19, colleges could not do anything in person. And many had their first large scale engagements with online testing. And, as that technology proves indispensable, putting students in another face-to-face environment to take a supervised test will seem both unnecessary and an unnecessary risk. Remote, online exam proctoring is not cheap, but neither was the old way. Upkeep of physical space and the cost of paying in-person monitors, was not nothing. Accordingly, its a cost many colleges may be happy to swap out. With colleges across the world evaluating their physical spaces for social distance, a floor and ceiling testing center may be among the first to go.

Full Tuition for Online Programs

The summary is that most students were unsatisfied with online education when they were forced into it this Spring. There were lawsuits. Nearly all (93%) said online tuition should cost less than in-person tuition. Some colleges have given in, lowering the tuition sticker price of online programs.

Its difficult to overstate what a big deal that may turn out to be.

Thats because, from the dawn of online education, schools, and the businesses that make online programs possible, have said that there is no difference between studying online or on campus. They dug in on charging the same price for each because, they insisted they were the same. And they did not want students or the public or employers to equate online with a cheap, second-rate alternative.

But now that the dam has broken, now that some schools have reduced the price of their online programs, it will be a steep challenge to go back. Consider, for example, this opening sentence in the Philadelphia Inquirer from July 28, Some colleges in the region are starting to acknowledge that taking classes online isnt quite the same as being on campus and theyre cutting tuition because of it.

That linkage will be a difficult genie to put back, especially since its seen as an acknowledgement, a confirmation of what we already knew. And as more and more colleges fold on this point, the genie will only get bigger, making it implausible that schools will be able to sell their online programs as equal to their in person ones in the future. Or charge accordingly.

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3 Things Covid-19 Will End In Higher Ed - Forbes

One day in the life of COVID-19 across L.A. shows wrenching inequities – Los Angeles Times

Faro Tabaja, owner of Waves Barbershop & Boutique in Manhattan Beach, gives a haircut to Gene Geiser. Tabaja moved the barbers chair into the entry way to create a safer environment to cut hair due to the coronavirus outbreak.

(Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times)

John Settles had just finished getting his hair cut. The Rancho Palos Verdes resident stepped out of the barbers chair and turned to check out the results. In the window of a nearby BMW.

Because the mirror at Waves Barbershop & Boutique is inside the tiny ocean view shop on Rosecrans Avenue. And the haircuts happen more or less outside, now that California is on its second COVID-19 shutdown and the only legal salon is an al fresco one.

Its hard to have a more Southern California experience than an open-air grooming session in tony Manhattan Beach, even with a late-season gloom and a slightly chilly ocean breeze.

VIDEO |

Cutting hair outside is the only way to go

That didnt stop Faro Tabaja, Waves owner, from flinging open the shops French doors first thing in the morning, dragging the shiny barbers chair to the very edge of the shop and placing it so the footrest and his clients feet stuck out of the storefront and over the sidewalk.

Men awaiting a much-needed trim cooled their heels in a pair of office chairs Tabaja had positioned across the sidewalk, hard by the parking meters. A surfer wetsuit peeled to his waist, board tucked under his arm headed to his car. A woman with pink hair strolled by with a pair of French bulldogs.

I have a mask on, Tabaja said as he snipped away at a clients salt-and-pepper locks. He has a mask on. Its a different life.

Two miles east on Rosecrans, in the Manhattan Marketplace strip mall, Posh Nails also was doing a brisk outdoor business. The seven sidewalk stations were full. Manicurists in full protective gear bent over clients hands, filing nails, scraping cuticles, brushing on polish.

RonAnn Myers of Hawthorne receives a pedicure from Hue Thi Nguyen, left, and a manicure from Tina Nguyen (no relation) right, in front of Posh Nails in Manhattan Beach.

(Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times)

Women soaked their feet, pre-pedicure, in plastic-lined tubs. An armored car rumbled by, followed by a UPS truck. Where the outdoor nail salon ended, a half dozen shoppers lined up (six feet apart, of course) waiting to get into Helens Cycles.

VIDEO |

Nail salon opens for business outdoors

Jan and Hillary Rosenfeld were out for a late afternoon manicure, a little mother-daughter bonding before Hillary leaves for the University of Wisconsin. Jan has waited out the pandemic in her Manhattan Beach home, cooking, phoning distant relatives, picking up a new hobby or two.

But on this afternoon, she was really, really happy to be outside getting her nails done.

Its nice to be able to pamper yourself, she said, adjusting her slipping face mask. It feels like a little bit of normalcy.

Maria La Ganga

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One day in the life of COVID-19 across L.A. shows wrenching inequities - Los Angeles Times

2 deaths, 58 new cases of COVID-19 reported in ND for August 1; statewide 6,660 – KX NEWS

The North Dakota Department of Health Sunday morning has confirmed 58 new cases of COVID-19 in the state during testing August 1, bringing the statewide total to 6,660.

Of the new cases, 17 were in Burleigh County and 4 were in Morton County. Williams County had 1 and Ward County had 1. Stark County logged 5 new cases.

The two deaths reported for August 1, were a woman in her 50s from Burleigh County and a man in his 70s from Grand Forks County. Both had underlying health conditions.

A total of 105 people have died with COVID-19 so far in North Dakota.

Of those, 91 are directly attributable to COVID-19 according to official death records. Another 10 deaths are where COVID-19 is not the primary cause of death. Two death records are pending.

The health department reports 5,477 people are considered recovered from the 6,660 positive cases, an increase of 81 people from July 31.

This means there are actually 1,078 active COVID-19 cases in the state as of August 1.

According to state health department numbers (which have been revised several times for specific dates), the statewide active cases first peaked on May 21 at 672 active cases, then began falling until they hit a low of 213 on June 22.

After that, the statewide active cases have once again been trending upward.

According to the numbers, 82 percent of those who have tested positive for COVID-19 in North Dakota to date have recovered from the virus.

The number of people reported recovered from COVID-19 on August 1 (81) is higher than the number of new COVID-19 cases reported that day (58).

50 people are currently hospitalized due to COVID-19 as of August 1. A total of 377 hospitalizations have been reported since data tracking began.

COVID-19 cases have been reported in all 53 of North Dakotas counties.

Other county numbers are availablehere.

A total of 157,023 unique individual tests have been conducted to date, with 150,363 coming back negative for COVID-19. The daily positivity rate for August 1 is 1.5%.

While COVID-19 is seen as a virus that mostly impacts older people, in North Dakota, 59 percent of those testing positive for the virus are under 40.

Those in the 20 to 29 year age range have the most positive cases among those tested to date.

The health department is releasing test results daily around 11:00 a.m. The results cover all testing performed the previous day.

You can read more on the daily statistics as well as other COVID-19 information and resources at the North Dakota Department of Health websitehere.

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2 deaths, 58 new cases of COVID-19 reported in ND for August 1; statewide 6,660 - KX NEWS

Thousands gather in Berlin to protest against Covid-19 restrictions – CNN

A march earlier Saturday that was criticized by police for not adhering to rules on social distancing and face masks was halted by organizers.

The march, which was named by organizers as "Day of Freedom -- The End of the Pandemic," included anti-vaccine groups and some far-right and neo-Nazi organizations. On livestreams of the event, some protesters could be heard yelling, "We are the second wave."

Current coronavirus guidelines in Germany stipulate that people must maintain a distance of 1.5 meters, or about 5 feet. Where that is not possible, face masks must be worn. Berlin police said on Twitter that most of the protesters were not adhering to social distancing rules or wearing masks.

"Our colleagues are using loud speakers to urge the adherence to the rules. We are also documenting non-compliance for possible later prosecution," Berlin police tweeted, adding that a criminal complaint was filed against one of the march's organizers for not adhering to hygiene rules.

Police warned the roughly 17,000 protesters who participated in the march they would only be allowed to participate in the demonstration if they wore face coverings and maintained social distance.

A livestream from the protest showed almost no one wearing a face mask, although the master of ceremonies told the crowd from the stage to maintain physical distance so as not to give the authorities "a pretext" for breaking up the event.

The data was published Saturday morning but reflects Friday's numbers. The last time Germany recorded a higher number of new coronavirus cases was in May.

The German government has been warning about a new spike in coronavirus cases after the pandemic had largely been brought under control.

The institute says lax enforcement of social distancing and hygiene rules as well as travelers returning from abroad are to blame for the steep rise in cases.

"Especially since it is not large 'hot spots' but smaller clusters of infections. The main risks need to clearly be named so that a more targeted prevention becomes possible," Altmaier wrote.

Starting Saturday, all travelers coming to Germany will be able to get free coronavirus tests up 72 hours after arrival, according to a new directive from Germany's health ministry.

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Thousands gather in Berlin to protest against Covid-19 restrictions - CNN

Up-And-Coming Countries Have Some Of The Largest Outbreaks Of COVID-19 : Goats and Soda – NPR

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to rage around the world, some of the largest outbreaks are in countries that fall into one particular economic category. They're not rich. They're not poor. They're middle income.

In fact, of the countries reporting the most cases globally, 6 of 7 are middle-income nations.

And they're not just any middle-income countries. They're some of the most influential players in the global south. Brazil, India, Mexico, Peru, Russia and South Africa are not only major emerging market economies, they're regional political powers.

Middle-income countries are defined by the World Bank as having annual per capita income between $1,000 and $12,000. The U.S., by comparison (the one high-income country in the top 7), has an average annual income of $66,000.

In mid-July, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa called the pandemic the "gravest crisis in the history of our democracy" as he reimposed strict lockdown measures.

South Africa has now reported nearly a half-million cases of the coronavirus. Health officials project cases to continue to rise at least into September. And the impact of the pandemic goes far beyond the number of sick or dead. South Africa's borders remain closed. Nonessential workplaces remain shut. The country's official unemployment rate, which had been in the mid-20% range, was pushed above 30% by the pandemic.

Indeed, the strain on countries in the middle-income category is tremendous. And the number of people affected is huge. According to the World Bank, 75% of the world's population live in middle-income countries.

Collectively over the past decade, these countries have lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty.

Amanda Glassman, the executive vice president of the Center for Global Development, says these countries have a lot to lose in this pandemic.

"Most of their populations in this group would fall back into poverty given a shock like this one," she says.

For instance, Brazil's economy is expected to shrink by as much as 6.5% this year because of the coronavirus crisis. Brazil has the second-highest number of cases after the U.S. Nearly 100,000 people have died. The president and several of his top ministers have been infected. And as the pandemic continues to spread, more and more Brazilians are losing work.

"Even a country like Brazil that was so wealthy, 90% of the country earned less than $10 a day," Glassman says.

"I'm worried that we're setting back the process of economic and social development that has gone so quickly over the past decade," she says. "And it will take us many years to catch back up."

The entrepreneurial spirit that made countries like India, Brazil and South Africa dynamic emerging markets also put them at greater risk of having large outbreaks. These are places with a lot of "hustle," as Glassman puts it. Their economies were global. Business travelers and tourists jetted in and out. They have decent domestic transportation networks offering the coronavirus or other pathogens easy avenues to spread. They have health systems capable of detecting the disease.

"In India, for example, they're doing a lot of testing," says Jonathon Keymer, an intelligence analyst at the global risk management firm WorldAware. "In Russia, they're doing a lot of testing. The more people you test, the more confirmed cases you're going to have."

Keymer specializes in Russia and the former Soviet bloc countries for WorldAware and has also been modeling the impact of COVID-19 in these nations.

He says some middle-income countries globally look worse than others in this pandemic simply because they are open, dynamic societies and their case numbers are being reported. But that's not true everywhere.

He points out that both Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, two middle-income former Soviet states, have reintroduced nationwide lockdowns in the past couple of weeks despite reported case numbers remaining relatively low.

"And then in Turkmenistan, which is a much more difficult place to get information about, they've closed the borders and I don't think they've officially got a single case of COVID," Keymer says. "But you can bet your bottom dollar that they've got COVID."

The World Health Organization has raised alarms about Turkmenistan despite its continued insistence that it has no cases.

But on paper at least Turkmenistan looks like it has far less of a COVID-19 problem than Peru, which has tested aggressively and openly reported results. Peru has a testing rate of roughly 70,000 tests per 1 million people a rate more than five times the global average.

Tanzania is another middle-income country reporting remarkably few infections. The east African nation actually hasn't officially reported any cases to WHO since April, when the president declared that the virus had been driven out of his country by prayer.

Even with the marked differences in middle income countries everything from governance to public sentiment to economic structure there are certain commonalities. It is clear that middle-income countries face similar risks as wealthier nations for coronavirus outbreaks but have far fewer resources to deal with them.

Interestingly, the relative wealth of a middle-income country appears to have little to do with how many infections it has.

Deborah Barros Leal Farias, a lecturer at the University of New South Wales, says the experience of middle-income countries shows that a nation's economic status doesn't determine its success in battling this pandemic. "If you take the U.S., the U.K. and Sweden, they are also having horrible numbers," Farias says. "And then you can take a country like Vietnam or Thailand and they're having phenomenal numbers."

She says the real issue in keeping case counts down even more than resources appears to be leadership.

Of the four countries with the most cases globally the U.S. and three middle-income nations: Brazil, India and Russia all have conservative or right-wing leaders who espouse populist or anti-science views.

In Brazil, President Jair Bolsonaro downplayed the seriousness of the disease as tens of thousands of Brazilians died from COVID. Even when he tested positive for it himself, Bolsonaro continued to tout the anti-malarial drug hydrochloroquine as a cure despite studies showing it wasn't effective against the virus.

Ester Sabino, a virologist at the University of Sao Paulo, says Brazil never had a cohesive national plan for how to address the outbreak and she says Bolsonaro has been a distraction.

"In April and May, the main discussion [in Brazil] was whether we should or should not use chloroquine instead of saying how do we stop this," Sabino says. "There was not a good plan. That's my opinion. A lot of time was spent on things that were not the key things for the control of the disease."

Research by Sabino and her colleagues shows there were more than 100 different introductions of the virus into Brazil in the early days of the pandemic, mostly from travelers who had been in Europe. Then the virus spread to every corner of the vast country.

Lockdowns managed to slow the initial explosive spread, but Sabino says there needs to be more focus to contain the ongoing outbreak.

"There is no magic. There is no free lunch. If you want to control epidemic, it's hard," she says. "And you have to work a lot. We can't think about politics."

And that appears to hold true regardless of whether a country is rich, poor or somewhere in the middle.

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Up-And-Coming Countries Have Some Of The Largest Outbreaks Of COVID-19 : Goats and Soda - NPR

COVID-19 totals trend down but 37 deaths in a week is a record – Cache Valley Daily

Critics say that specific information about Coronavirus infection patterns is needed for the general public to make sound decisions about their activities.

LOGAN With 506 new COVID-19 positive tests Saturday and 473 Sunday, the weekend total of 979 is the fewest reported by the state health department since mid-June as numbers are trending downward.

However, with a single COVID-19 death Sunday the state acknowledges 37 deaths which is the most in a seven-day span since the start of the pandemic in early-March.

At the same time, the Bear River Health Department found 15 new cases in the district Saturday and 20 Sunday. Among the Saturday positives, four came from Cache County and 11 were found in Box Elder County. Sundays totals broke down to 19 in Cache County and one in Rich County.

To date, there have been 2,163 positive tests recorded in the Bear River district with 1,828 in Cache County and 328 in Box Elder County with seven in Rich County.

Also, among the 2,163 total positive cases in the Bear River District, 1,771 are termed recovered.

There are still nine COVID patients from the district who are hospitalized, seven from Cache County and two from Box Elder County.

There have been 311 COVID-19 deaths in Utah. There were six Utahns who died from the disease Saturday and one Sunday.

There have been 41,175 positive tests for the disease in Utah since the start of the pandemic.

Included in the numbers reported Sunday 536,716 Utahns have been tested for the disease and the rolling seven-days average for positive tests is 447 a day. The rolling seven-day average for percent of positive lab tests is exactly 10 percent.

Currently 203 Utahns are hospitalized with COVID-19, the lowest figure of the week. The total of hospitalizations from the start of the pandemic is 2,430. The total number of cases described as recovered has grown to 29,389.

In Idaho there are currently 21,114 confirmed COVID-19 cases.

There have been 197 COVID-19 deaths in Idaho and Saturday marked the sixth consecutive day of multiple COVID deaths in the state. There have been 47 positive tests in Franklin County with six positives in Bear Lake County and eight in Oneida County.

Excerpt from:

COVID-19 totals trend down but 37 deaths in a week is a record - Cache Valley Daily

Remote Education Is A Covid-19 Retiree Opportunity For You – Forbes

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The pandemic inspired economic shutdowns have had a demonstrably negative impact on the economy. The Department of Commerces U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) issued its first preliminary estimate of second quarter Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and it was devastating.

While a second estimate will be released later this month, the BEA announced the Real GDP decreased at an annual rate of 32.9%. It attributed the decline in second quarter GDP to the response to COVID-19, as stay-at-home orders issued in March and April were partially lifted in some areas of the country in May and June, and government pandemic assistance payments were distributed to households and businesses.

This hasnt gone unnoticed by retirees. A recent survey indicates a change in attitudes.

The SimplyWise July 2020 Retirement Confidence Index reveals the following:

The bottom-line, according to Sandra Hurley, Operations Manager at Hayden Girls in Los Angeles: Unless youve done extremely well for yourself, you can probably always use a little extra income for those extra expenses. Whether its a vacation, a nicer car, or a club membership, it helps to earn some cash.

Of course, there may be more reasons than just making ends meet that might entice you to seek a side hustle in retirement.

Retirees might want, and need to earn supplemental income in retirement for personal satisfaction such as staying engaged, having a purpose, and contributing to society, says Capitola, California based Martha Shedden, President and Co-Founder of the National Association of Registered Social Security Analysts. They might have the desire to help their grown children financially, pay for grandchildrens education, travel, make home improvements, or just cover basic living costs. Many retirees are not done working when they retire from a full-time job, but are simply interested in a more flexible schedule and an opportunity to do something meaningful in these years.

By and large, however, the primary objective of a part-time job in retirement is to add a little more cash to the coffers. For one thing, it can make up for the lack of revenue from fixed income investments. Indeed, this might be needed not for luxuries, but for essentials.

The newly and nearly retired suddenly have to make up some financial ground, says Charlotte-based author of The Career Lattice Joanne Cleaver. In a low-interest-rate environment, with unprecedented economic volatility, launching a side gig can provide a potential safety net for the loss of a full-time job, or can supplement income early in retirement. This extra income can offset market losses; plump up an emergency fund to better weather future economic shocks; pay for long-term health care insurance or stoke savings for health care expenses; or pay for home improvements that support aging in place.

Even if you feel secure in retirement, you shouldnt take anything for granted. With the unpredictable political and economic environment, everyone should be planning for a more stable financial future, says Lindsey Wander, Founder and CEO of WorldWise Tutoring LLC in Chicago. Retirees could supplement their retirement income with money earned doing something fun and rewarding. Plus, when you rest, you rust; keeping an active mind slows down aging.

What can be more rewarding than passing on your years of cumulative experience, especially if it earns some income to pay those never-ending bills? And the Covid-19 shutdown may have provided just the opportunity you need to use your lifetime skills to help others.

Patti B. Black, Partner at Bridgeworth Wealth Management in Birmingham, Alabama, says, Health insurance before Medicare begins is expensive! If you find a part-time job, like helping with homeschooling, that helps offset that cost, it can significantly help boost your chances of a financially successful retirement.

What has your local school district decided to do regarding opening in the fall? Many school districts have already determined they will, at the very minimum, opt for a hybrid if not a fully remote-based teaching model for the coming fall. You may just find your services can bring home those extra dollars.

One major change that COVID-19 has brought is an increased focus in online learning, says Ryan Shuchman, Partner of Cornerstone Financial Services in Southfield, Michigan. Retirees can consider reaching back to their professional expertise and perhaps teach or tutor in a virtual environment.

Heres the real advantage of this new educational paradigm: you dont need to leave the safety of your home to deliver the service. That works both waysfor you and the student.

With the heightened awareness of school remote learning situations, retirees could help teach kids as a part time opportunity, says Brian Halbert, Retirement Advisor at WD Pensionmark in Austin, Texas. Many families will be keeping kids remote this fall, and while working from home, this might be a good opportunity for many retirees to step in as a house-teacher to back up parents. Or, another opportunity is to provide runner services for families who have to teach, work and parent throughout the day.

Sophisticated school districts will immediately seize this chance to involve the broader community into its curriculum. This is no different than bringing in paraprofessionals or consultants to teach students a very specific lesson. Depending on district policies, these might be limited to volunteers, but they might pay for these services. Beyond public school districts, home schoolers and private schools may be easier markets to enter. In either case, the wind is at your sails.

As more home-based and online education becomes a reality, skilled tutors, mentors and guides who can provide individualized attention will be crucial to keeping students engaged, says Mark Silverman, CEO of AMAVA in Menlo Park, California. With so much professional and life experience and the desire to remain socially engaged and continue earning, retirees can play an important role.

In fact, it might be better if you avoid getting caught up in public school curriculum rubrics and focus instead on your specific experiences. These life lessons that youve learned can be adopted for younger students in ways that may help take them further than the traditional three Rs.

And its not like you have to learn how to teach, either. You already have the talents necessary to teach. You actually used them already in your career. And you wont believe the demand that exists for your unique talents.

Parents definitely are looking for extra help, says Cleaver. And, people who understand how career skills transfer to the current situation can find some nifty applications of career experience to education.

Cleaver offers this specific example of something you can do, something you may have already done: One person I worked with in a recent workshop has carved out a specialty of sing-alongs of classic songs. Historically, he has done these at senior centers but its easy to use Facebook Live for virtual sing-alongs that also illustrate musical principles. Another workshop participant translated experience at a wholesale plant nursery to a yard to table consulting service that showed homeowners how to design a garden that fit their nutritional goals. Thats another concept that can be handled online using photos and online resources to pull together a design and timeline.

If this whole teaching thing is new to you, or if the idea of setting up a side business is something that youve never done before, you might prefer to start at the easiest level. Beyond that, though, especially if you find yourself motivated, the current chaos has opened a whole world to you.

Tutoring and grading jobs are one option, but savvy retirees would want to look into the online learning consultant position, says Shayne Sherman, CEO of TechLoris, in Brookline, Massachusetts. Most schools and universities have people on-campus who are available to explain programs, degrees, financing, school history, and other important concepts to students and parents alike. In a time of confusion this type of role is more important than ever, and schools are willing to hire remote workers to help with these duties.

Look, youre retired. Its not like you have too little time on your hands. You have the luxury of working at your own pace. Hurley says, Because youre no longer working full-time, you, like other retirees, have all the time in the world to really take care of preparing lessons, working with the students to make sure they understand, and generally just pay extra attention to education.

Think about it. Pandemic headlines make it sound like were becoming isolated. Some are pushing against this. You could leverage the situation to explore new personal frontiers and bring people closer together.

With so much free time that cant be spent on much else, this is one of the many positive things you can do to contribute and be recognized for it, says Allan Borch the Founder of Dotcom Dollar in Sheridan, Wyoming. One of the things you can provide to the home-based educational model is your attention and free time coupled with the experiences youve had along the line.

You may be living in a perfect coincidence of circumstances. You may think your career is over, but it may be that your true calling has appeared before you.

Retirement can lead to a lack of purpose whereas continuing to work (assuming you enjoy what you do) can be fulfilling, says Black. If you enjoy working with kids, helping homeschool may make your days more meaningful.

Everything is aligned for you to be the difference youve always wanted to be. You can make your retirement more comfortable and, at the same time, give a boost to the next generation.

Is there no better legacy than that?

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Remote Education Is A Covid-19 Retiree Opportunity For You - Forbes

Covid-19 testing delays create a public health nightmare as schools and workplaces try to reopen – CNBC

Adriana Cardenas, a medical technologist processes test samples for the coronavirus at the AdventHealth Tampa labs on June 25, 2020 in Tampa, Florida.

Octavio Jones | Getty Images

Across much of the U.S., concerned citizens are lining up to get tested for the coronavirus, only to wait a week or longer for their results to arrive.

With the country mired in its worst pandemic in a century, health experts are apoplectic about the length of the testing delays. In addition to the anxiety it causes patients, the lag time is disastrous for public health, because infected people aren't being quarantined in a timely fashion and it's impossible to retrace their steps to find others who have been exposed.

The inability for the U.S. to establish an efficient testing system, five months into the crisis, is one reason why numerous states continue to hit record infection rates and why the nation as a whole has far more cases than any other country.

"The wheels have fallen off the wagon," said Susan Butler-Wu, an associate professor of clinical pathology at the University of Southern California's Keck School of Medicine.

What's gone wrong?

A lot. At the highest level, demand for Covid-19 tests is outstripping supplies. The polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, tests are considered the most accurate on the market but, like with all tests, labs across the country can't access them fast enough.

Butler-Wu, who has a clinical microbiology lab in Los Angeles, said there's huge pressure to "test, test, test" for the virus without a coherent strategy to ensure that clinical and commercial labs have sufficient supplies.

A survey from June shared by the College of American Pathologists found that 64% of labs reported difficulty in acquiring reagents a mixture that's used in chemical analysisfor their platforms and test kits. Among respondents, 60% were struggling to get nasopharyngeal swabs to collect and transport patient samples, and more than half found it a challenge to get viral transport media to conduct the tests.

"At this point, I think testing delays are happening all over the U.S.," said Steven Pergam, an associate professor in the vaccine and infectious disease division at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. "But it depends on where patients seek care, how well funded the public health organizations are in that state and where the tests go."

Basic needs are also in short supply. Labs say they don't have enough plastic disposables, like tips and tubes. Staffing is a major problem, with lab techs already taking increased shifts and too few trained engineers available toservice the instruments when they break down.

Facilities can't forecast how many tests they'll be able to perform because they don't know when or if they'll be getting the supplies they need.

"I'd be happy to get three-quarters of what our suppliers tell us we'll receive," said Karen Kaul, chair of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at NorthShore University Health System. "It might be different for the big commercial labs but right now, at the hospital level, we are often getting 10%."

Fred Turner, CEO of Curative, a company working on Covid-19 tests, saideven the large commercial labs like Quest Diagnostics are struggling to keep up because they aren't built for rapid scaling. That's particularly true in parts of the country where Covid-19 is spiking, like the South.

"They are built for driving down margins with roughly stable volumes," Turner said.

At the heart of the failure to date is the lack of a national strategy to address the need for rapid and widespread testing. Ideally, we'd be able to open locations as needed in areas with outbreaks and to source products that could be manufactured and shipped to those locations. The government would also be funding new technology and providing grants for institutions to expand their resources.

"It would be great to put more money into diagnostics, and that's really important," said Butler-Wu. "But real money needs to go to a plan, meaning a nationalized response."

The problem is evolving. The more infection rates extend into smaller, less urban communities, the less prepared we are, because the top medical institutions tend to be centered around big cities and universities.

"The next concern for us is that rural communities won't have access to the same testing strategies and are relying more on industry and places like LabCorp,"said Pergam. "Many aren't getting quick results."

Some infectious disease experts and technologists are calling for new approaches. To ramp up to millions of testsper day, as more people look to get a clean bill of health and return to work or school, companies are developing rapid, at-home tests that can return a result in a matter of minutes.

Such tests could, in theory, be self-administered.

Whether they'll be sufficiently accurate remains a big question, but some experts say that for people who just need frequent tests so they can comfortably go to work, this method could still be useful.

"We could have a slightly less accurate test that emphasizes frequency and turnaround time," said Jeff Huber, a former Google executive who's now helping fund companies that are developing such tests.

Others say there may be a path forward for these new tests, but it could be challenging to convince the industry to adopt them.

Health care workers are seen at a pop-up COVID-19 testing clinic in Rushcutters Bay on July 29, 2020 in Sydney, Australia.

Jenny Evans | Getty Images News | Getty Images

"One of the reasons people may be slow to move in that direction is because we want every test to perform as well as the best test," said Rich Davis, a clinical microbiology lab director at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center."But that's not always possible, and adoption of a new approach requires the adoption of a new way of thinking about what the test does."

Adding to the pressures surrounding the rapidly spreading coronavius is the rapidly moving calendar. Flu season is just around the corner, and many states are preparing to reopen schools in a matter of weeks.

That means more stress on a testing infrastructure that's already suffering from extreme backlogs.

"It's very worrisome," said Kaul. "What happens when the companies making influenza reagents switch to Covid? We'd have to choose which test we perform."

Butler-Wu agrees that this could become a major problem unless things change.

"There will be a knock-on effect when it comes to testing for other conditions," she said. "Many of us are going to be made to prioritize."

WATCH: LabCorp CEO on speeding up Covid-19 test results

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Covid-19 testing delays create a public health nightmare as schools and workplaces try to reopen - CNBC

Wrong! Trump and Fauci clash over surge in COVID-19 cases, reopening of economy and hydroxychloroquine – MarketWatch

Anthony Fauci and President Trump are still at odds.

Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for three decade who has worked on the front lines of the AIDS pandemic in the 1980s and 1990s, the Ebola outbreak of 2014 to 2016 and the anthrax attacks two decades ago, testified before Congress last week that the U.S. should have taken speedier and more comprehensive action to close businesses when coronavirus first appeared in the U.S. earlier this year.

Fauci said the U.S. effectively only shut down half the economy. If you look at what happened in Europe when they shut down, or locked down, or went to shelter-in-place, however you want to describe it, they really did it to the tune of about 95% plus, he told the hearing. When you actually look at what we did, even though we shut down, even though it created a great deal of difficulty, we really functionally shut down only about 50% in the sense of the totality of the country.

President Trump hit back at Fauci on Twitter TWTR, -0.87% on Saturday evening, replying to a post by CBS News VIAC, +1.00% of Faucis testimony. Wrong! We have more cases because we have tested far more than any other country, 60,000,000. If we tested less, there would be less cases. How did Italy, France & Spain do? Now Europe sadly has flare ups. Most of our governors worked hard & smart. We will come back STRONG!

Nearly 53 million people have been tested for coronavirus in the U.S. to date, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with more than 5 million or 10% of those testing positive for the virus. Wait times of more than 10 days have become the norm for many Americans. There are, however, stories of people who have had to wait 26 days to get their results. Waiting 10 days for a test defeats the purpose of getting tested, some health professionals say.

Approximately half of the tests being performed daily are conducted by commercial labs such as Quest Diagnostics DGX, +0.24% and LabCorp. Only one state has an average turnaround time of greater than five days, said Admiral Brett Giroir, a member of the White House coronavirus task force. Five states are between four and five days. 26 states are still three days or less, and the rest are between three and four days. Turnaround times of 10 to 12 days represent outliers, he added.

The Trump administration, meanwhile, is trying to block $25 billion for states to conduct testing and contact tracing in the next coronavirus relief bill, people involved in the talks told the Washington Post this month. Democratic lawmakers, in negotiations over a new stimulus bill, have demanded $25 billion for the testing and contact-tracing, over three times what the GOP have suggested. Contact tracing identifies people who someone with COVID-19 has come into contact with.

At the U.S. House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, Fauci reiterated that there was no scientific evidence to show that hydroxychloroquine was helpful for coronavirus patients. You look at the scientific data and the evidence, and the scientific data, on trials that are valid that were randomized and controlled in the proper way; all of those trials show consistently that hydroxychloroquine is not effective in the treatment of coronavirus disease or COVID-19.

When asked by Republican Rep. Blaine Leutkemeyer from Missouri about a peer-reviewed study suggesting otherwise, Fauci said, The Henry Ford Hospital study that was published was a non-controlled retrospective cohort study that was confounded by a number of issues, including the fact that many people who were receiving hydroxychloroquine were also using corticosteroids, which we know from another study gives a clear benefit in reducing deaths with advanced disease.

So that study is a flawed study, and I think anyone who examines it carefully [would see] that it is not a randomized placebo-controlled trial. You can peer review something thats a bad study, Fauci said, adding, I would be the first one to admit it and to promote it, but I have not seen yet a randomized placebo controlled trial thats done that. I dont have any horse in the game one way or the other. I just look at the data.

Social-media sites attempted to quash a video pushing misleading information about hydroxychloroquine as a COVID-19 treatment which led to Twitter partially suspending Donald Trump Jr.s account. The video featured doctors calling hydroxychloroquine a drug used to treat malaria, lupus and rheumatoid arthritis for decades a cure for COVID, despite a growing body of scientific evidence that has not shown this to be true.

As of Sunday, COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2, had infected at least 17.9 million people globally and 4.6 million in the U.S. It had killed over 686,877 people worldwide and at least 154,793 in the U.S., according to Johns Hopkins University. Cases in California surpassed 500,000 as the state reported 7,118 new cases Saturday, with 134 new deaths, bringing the death toll in that state to 9,365. New York has the most fatalities (32,710) followed by New Jersey (15,836).

The Dow Jones Industrial Index DJIA, +0.43% closed higher Friday, as investors tracked round two of the potential fiscal stimulus. The S&P 500 SPX, +0.76% and Nasdaq Composite COMP, +1.48% alsoended the week after some of the industrys largest and most powerful players Apple AAPL, +10.46% Facebook FB, +8.17%, Amazon. AMZN, +3.69% and Google parent Alphabet Inc. GOOGL, -3.27% GOOG, -3.16% reported their results.

Related:Dr. Fauci tells MarketWatch: I would not get on a plane or eat inside a restaurant

Health professionals, economists and lawmakers are concerned about the rise in coronavirus over the last month with the rise in daily cases exceeding 1,000 for the sixth consecutive day on Saturday. The U.S. cannot afford to have a resurgence of the virus either now or in the fall, health professionals say. For one, its harder to get people to practice social distancing and stay home again, especially after theyve already abided by stay-at-home orders for more than 11 weeks.

Secondly, the effect on the economy could push the U.S. into a prolonged recession, even greater than the one already predicted by some economists, despite some observers seeing public health and economic health as an either/or scenario. Thirdly, the flu season will already be upon us in the winter and those symptoms are easily confused with those of COVID-19. Fourthly, too few people will be immune to COVID-19 after this first wave ends to support herd immunity.

Another thing to consider: Given the age profile of fatalities in the U.S. and other countries, elderly people would die in far greater numbers if the economy were restarted earlier. Paul Zak, a neuroscientist and author of The Moral Molecule: The Source of Love and Prosperity, said a trade-off between the economy and allowing (older) people to die of COVID-19 reflects that society values people on their economic output, which ignores a multitude of other factors.

Its appalling to attach a dollar number to a human life for non-economists, Colin Camerer, a professor of behavioral finance and economics at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, told MarketWatch. You can never make things perfectly safe with zero risk. We do have limited time, health-care staff, ventilators and money. What is the curve of transmission? How many people are going to die, if you open up the economy? No one is really too sure.

Trump has said he is also concerned about the impact of the pandemic and job losses on peoples mental health; some studies suggest it could lead to tragic outcomes. The growing epidemic of deaths of despair in the U.S. is also increasing due to the pandemic and another 75,000 more people will likely die from drug or alcohol misuse and suicide, according to research from the Well Being Trust, and Robert Graham Center at the American Academy of Family Physicians.

The response to the virus has been split down political lines. The American public has responded differently to the pandemic along political lines: 62% of Republicans and Republican leaners say the seriousness of COVID-19 is generally exaggerated, according to one survey, while just 31% of Democrats and Democrat leaners and 35% of independents say the same. Democrats and independents are more likely than Republicans that coronavirus is a threat.

How COVID-19 is transmitted

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Wrong! Trump and Fauci clash over surge in COVID-19 cases, reopening of economy and hydroxychloroquine - MarketWatch

Coronavirus: The hidden heroes of Indias Covid-19 wards – BBC News

Image caption Hospital assistants - or ward boys, as they are known - play a crucial role in India

One morning in June, Deep Chand spotted a distraught family member of a Covid-19 patient standing outside the coronavirus ward in a hospital in India's capital, Delhi.

The man was desperately trying to speak to a doctor or nurse to find out about the condition of his relative who was a patient in the ward.

But it was a terrible day for doctors - some patients had died, a few others were critical, and new patients were being wheeled in throughout.

So Deep Chand, who worked as a ward boy - or assistant - walked up to the man and asked if he could help.

That man was me, and I was trying to find out how my brother-in-law was doing. It had been three days since he was put on a ventilator.

Doctors usually called every day to update us, but on that day no-one seemed to have time to do that.

When Deep Chand came up to me, I mistook him for a doctor because he was wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) and I threw a volley of questions at him.

"I am a ward boy and I can't help you with these questions," he said.

I must have sounded desperate and even rude, but he responded softly, without irritation.

He told me that my brother-in-law's blood oxygen level was fine, and there had been no turn for the worse in the last 10 hours.

That's how I met Deep Chand, 28. Ward boys are nearly at the bottom of the hospital's hierarchy. They have no professional medical training, and their job is to assist doctors and nurses as well as help patients.

This includes everything from taking samples for testing, wheeling patients across the hospital for X-rays, serving them food, and sometimes just talking to them. And amid the painful chaos of the pandemic, these ward boys have become a source of support not just for patients but also for their families.

I will never forget my reassuring interaction with Deep Chand because it's just what I needed to hear while I waited for an hour outside the ward, anxious and scared. I could hear the sounds of the machines, patients yelling in pain and doctors and nurses shouting instructions at each other.

I also distinctly remember a patient pleading: "I can't breathe, please save me!"

Deep Chand's words cut through my panic and I ran to the car park to update my family - we nervously smiled at each other while standing at a safe distance.

This was the worst part - we couldn't hug or even hold hands when we desperately needed comfort. We had to maintain distance to protect each other. Not being able to hold each other - while my wife's brother was breathing through a machine - had become routine.

Even on a day the doctor told us "the next 12 hours are critical", we all broke down in our respective corners of the car park.

In the days that followed, we often relied on Deep Chand and his colleagues whenever doctors were too busy to give us updates.

We spent tense hours at home or in the hospital waiting for news from the ward.

It was difficult because the first two weeks of June saw a massive surge in Delhi's Covid-19 case numbers. Most hospitals were overrun, including the one where my brother-in-law was admitted.

In that chaos, ward boys like Deep Chand became messengers for dozens of families like ours.

I would often see them consoling families, supporting them and taking messages to those patients who were too ill even to talk on the phone.

One day when my brother-in-law's condition deteriorated, I was standing outside the ward and I broke down.

The doctor's update was factual. "We can't say anything at the moment, he is not improving."

But a ward boy walked up to me and said: "Don't worry, I have seen even severely ill patients recover."

His hopeful words gave me some relief.

When doctors keep repeating "anything can happen", the mind takes you to dark places. It made me doubt everything.

Did we pick the right hospital? Should we have listened to him instead of convincing him to go on the ventilator? It had been a tough call - he had been against it, and the doctors kept saying there wasn't much time left to waste.

My family kept crying but praying for the "miracle" Deep Chand had told us was possible.

It was one of the most difficult times in my life, and Deep Chand's kind, calming words meant a lot to me - especially when I wasn't able to speak to the doctors.

Speaking to me on the phone now, more than a month later, he says he felt the pain of the families but there was little that the doctors and nurses could do to improve communication.

"They were so busy, they somehow managed to speak to the families of serious patients once a day. It's nobody's fault - none of us were prepared for this kind of rush," he says.

Instead, it was Deep Chand and other ward boys who would share what information they could about the patient's progress - they routinely informed me about my brother-in-law's blood oxygen level.

"I can see the oxygen saturation level on the monitor and I don't mind sharing that information with families," Deep Chand says.

I also saw Deep Chand take food and letters for patients from their families.

He says he has been working as a ward boy for five years, but Covid-19 has completely changed the way he works.

He adds that being in protective equipment for 10-12 hours is painful, but it's nothing "compared to what patients and their families go through".

His colleague, Amit Kumar, nods in agreement, while speaking to me outside the Covid-19 ward one day. He says that even a little information goes a long way in reassuring families.

"Sometimes the families feel happy with little things - like when we tell them that the patient ate properly today or he smiled in the morning."

Every day, ward boys risk their lives in hospitals across the country. Hundreds of them have been infected with the virus. Some have even died. But their contribution in the fight against Covid-19 is seldom mentioned.

The ward boys I spoke to say this doesn't bother them. Deep Chand says he is not looking for special recognition.

When he was told that he would have to work in the "corona ward" at the start of the outbreak in March, he admits was concerned. "I was terrified for my safety and that of my family."

But then, he adds, he realised that he would not think twice before going into the ward if one of his family members was sick.

"Every patient is somebody's family."

That thought drove him to start working in the ward in April, and since then he has never considered quitting.

And doctors appreciate this. "Ward boys are an important part of any ICU unit," says Dr Sushila Kataria, the director of intensive care at Medanta Hospital.

"They watch our backs, they deal with discarded PPE kits and contagious samples. No doctor can work without their help," she says.

"They are also heroes in this fight like doctors and nurses."

But they are some of the lowest-paid employees in a hospital. The situation is worse in smaller towns where they are hired by contractors who lease their services to hospitals.

Sohan Lal works in a government-run hospital in the northern state of Bihar and earns 5,000 rupees ($66: 52) a month.

He says it's a paltry amount given the risk of working in a Covid-19 ward. "But I don't have any other job, so I will keep doing this. I also realise the importance of my job."

He adds that so many times he has given medicines to patients after consulting the doctor on the phone.

"Doctors seldom come for rounds more than once a day. So, patients rely on ward boys to convey their messages to the doctors."

The other tough part of their job is seeing death so closely. Deep Chand says he feels distraught when a patient he has been caring for dies.

"Sometimes patients die after spending more than two weeks with us. They almost become like our family," he says.

But, he adds, he won't stop "until we defeat corona or it defeats me".

I wanted to specially thank him the day my brother-in-law was discharged after nearly a month in the hospital. But he disconnected my call, saying "he was on duty".

A text followed: "You don't need to thank us", he wrote. "Pray for us and all medical teams working in Covid-19 wards across the world".

And he had a message too: "Please wear masks and follow social distancing."

I can't agree with him more, having seen the worst of what this virus can do.

Continued here:

Coronavirus: The hidden heroes of Indias Covid-19 wards - BBC News

Marlins forced to make roster moves during COVID-19 outbreak; here are the pitchers Miami has added – CBS Sports

The Miami Marlins have not played a game since last Sunday due to a team-wide COVID-19 outbreak that resulted in 18 players testing positive throughout the week. The Marlins have not had any positive tests over the last two days, however, and Major League Baseball set their return to the field for Tuesday vs. the Orioles. Marlins players who contracted COVID-19 will need two negative tests at least 24 hours apart before returning to action, so Miami's lineup and roster will look different on Tuesday in Baltimore than they did July 26 in Philadelphia.

While the exact parameters of Miami's outbreak are unknown, it seems that the Marlins' front office is in the process of rebuilding at least a segment of its roster -- in part because it has no choice. They made a trade early Saturday, acquiring left-handed reliever Richard Bleier from the Baltimore Orioles in exchange for a player to be named later.

Bleier is the fourth pitcher the Marlins have acquired through trade or waivers this week, joining Justin Shafer, Josh D. Smith, and Mike Morin. (Keep in mind, these pitchers have had little say in joining the team that, at least so far, has been hit the hardest by the pandemic.)

So what should the Marlins and their fans expect from the new additions? Here's a quick scouting report on some of the new Miami arms.

Richard Bleier, 33, has had the most success of anyone in the quartet. From 2016-18, he made 111 appearances and notched a 1.97 ERA. He's been limited to 55 appearances since the onset of the 2019 season, and hasn't been nearly as successful. Bleier doesn't throw hard and relies on generating soft groundball contact. He's coerced at least 55 percent grounders in each of his big-league seasons, according to Statcast.

Mike Morin, 29, has a career 87 ERA+ but continues to find work thanks to solid underlying numbers, including a 3.25 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Last season, that ratio had more to do with a lack of walks (1.8 per nine) instead of a ton of strikeouts (4.6 per nine). Morin pairs a low-90s fastball with a slow changeup that often arrives in the low-70s. Opponents hit .138 versus the parachute piece with an 84.4 mph exit velocity-against in 2019. Managing contact by keeping batters off-balance is the key to him remaining employable.

Josh D. Smith, 30, is in his second stint with the Marlins, having finished last season with the club following a waiver claim from Cleveland. (The Cincinnati Reds then claimed him off waivers in October.) Smith's fastball only averages 90 mph, but might be sneaky effective thanks to a spin rate that placed in the 99th percentile in 2019. He has a crossfire delivery and a low three-quarters/sidearm release point, suggesting he should be tough against left-handed hitters.

Justin Shafer, 28 come mid-September, has a 3.75 ERA (121 ERA+) in 40 career appearances. Pretty good, so why was he available on waivers? Because of his wild tendencies. Shafer has walked 32 batters in 48 innings, a rate that equals six per nine innings. To his credit, he's shown he can evade bats with a high-spin mid-90s fastball and a mid-80s slider.

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Marlins forced to make roster moves during COVID-19 outbreak; here are the pitchers Miami has added - CBS Sports

An Indiana school reopened for students. There was a positive COVID-19 test on day one. – USA TODAY

The Indiana Department of Education has released these guidelines to help school officials and parents decide how schools can reopen safely during the coronavirus pandemic. Wochit

INDIANAPOLIS A junior high school in Greenfield, Indiana, received news on the first day of class that a studenttested positive for the coronavirus, according to an email sent to families Thursday evening.

The student attended part of the first day of classes at Greenfield Central Junior High School. It was the first time students had been back in the school buildings since the coronavirus closed schools statewide in March.

The school district told families that its "Positive COVID-19 Test Protocol" was enacted as soon the school was alerted by the Hancock County Health Department about the positive test. The student was immediately isolated and all close contacts were determined.

A water tower in Greenfield, Indiana, Saturday, May 9, 2020.(Photo: Robert Scheer/IndyStar)

Hancock County Health Department Officer Sandra Aspy said in an emailed statement the department was notified of the student's positive test on Thursday. The department then "immediately" contacted the school.

According to the Indiana State Department of Health's COVID-19 dashboard, Hancock County has reported 597 total cases of the novel coronavirusand 37 deaths as of Friday.

Share your back-to-school coronavirus story: How are you preparing for school reopening?

Families of students considered a close contact someone who spent more than 15 minutes within six feet of an infected person were contacted Thursday night, the district said.

SuperintendentHarold Olin declined to say how many students were identified as close contacts. He said district nurses and the administration helped identify those people.

"Because we are able to narrow this list, there is no reason to disrupt the educational process for the larger group that is served within the school," Olin said in an email.

Olin did not know whether the student had symptoms. It is possible for the coronavirus to be spread even by those who are not showing symptoms.

Aspy, the health officer, said she would not release any "personally identifiable information" about the infected student or the student's close contacts.The health department declined to tell IndyStar, part of the USA TODAY Network, whether the student had symptoms, when the test was administered or how many close contacts were identified.

The district said that all areas of all schools are disinfected every night after school and special attention was given to classrooms in which the infected student was present.

A person who tests positive must isolate at home for 10 days, according to the district's reopening plan. For those with symptoms, they must be fever-free without medication for 72 hours before returning to school, in addition to quarantining for 10 days.

Olin said the district does not intend "to deviate from the plan at this time, though we are certainly willing to do that if our health department identifies more appropriate protocols and procedures for us to institute."

Back to school: National union supports teacher strikes if schools' reopening plans aren't safe enough

It's unclear when the student was tested, but getting results typically takes days, indicating the student was tested prior to the first day of school.

The Indiana Department of Education's guidance to school districts saysif students or staff have "someone in their home being tested for COVID-19," the district can exclude that person from school and recommend they quarantine for 14 days.

Aspy said anyone awaiting results should remain in isolation until results are received.

But the Greenfield district's plan for reopening schools does not offer specificguidance on what students or staff should do if they have a pending test.

Families of students at Greenfield Central Junior High School were notified on the evening of July 30 that a student had tested positive for the novel coronavirus after attending the first day of classes. The student went to school despite having been tested and not yet receiving the results.(Photo: Holly Hays/IndyStar)

What happens now:The plan after a case is reported

The plan says students and staff should stay home if sick and notify the school if they exhibit symptoms related to the novel coronavirus

The plan also says that anyone who hasclosecontact with a confirmed positive case must quarantine for 14 days before returning to school, regardless of whether they have symptoms.

Indiana's public schools are among the first in the country to start their academic years after the pandemic interrupted education nationwide in the spring.Debate continues about whether it is appropriate or safe to bring students back into schools for in-person instruction as the pandemic continues.

At the end of the school day Friday, the families of the middle school students waited in their cars to pick students up.

Some expressed frustration with the family of the student who tested positive for COVID-19, saying it was irresponsible for the student to go to school without waiting for results of the test.

I think its kind of selfish of the parents of the student," Samantha Kiefer, whose daughter is in eighth grade at the school, said, "sending their kids to school or kid to school knowing that they may or may not have it."

Sherry Root, the grandmother of an eighth and 11th grader, expects to see the overall number of cornavirus cases increase now that classes are back in session.

Maybe we came back a little early, Root said, "but I think the school is going to handle it in the best way they know how."

Laura Taylor, who was picking up her7th grader,said the school is doing the best it can to keep studentssafe. However,virtual learning seems like an inevitable outcome, especially since it took just one day for a confirmed case at the middle school and other districts are already online.

What needs to happen before we shut down? she asked.

Some area schools, including Indianapolis Public Schools and several of Marion County's township districts, have decided to restart the year virtually.

Contributing: Holly Hays and Pulliam Fellow Lydia Gerike, IndyStar

Follow IndyStar reporter Elizabeth DePompei on Twitter: @edepompei.

Follow IndyStar reporter Arika Herronon Twitter: @ArikaHerron.

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Online school?Some parents want to hire tutors, start mini schools this year. Most can't afford to

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An Indiana school reopened for students. There was a positive COVID-19 test on day one. - USA TODAY

COVID-19 Daily Update 8-1-2020 – West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources

The West Virginia Department of Health andHuman Resources (DHHR) reports as of 10:00 a.m., on August 1,2020, there have been 287,084 total confirmatorylaboratory results received for COVID-19, with 6,735 totalcases and 116 deaths.

In alignment with updated definitions fromthe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the dashboard includes probablecases which are individuals that have symptoms and either serologic (antibody)or epidemiologic (e.g., a link to a confirmed case) evidence of disease, but noconfirmatory test.

CASESPER COUNTY (Case confirmed by lab test/Probable case):Barbour (29/0), Berkeley (629/22), Boone (76/0), Braxton (8/0), Brooke(60/1), Cabell (316/9), Calhoun (6/0), Clay (17/0), Doddridge (4/0), Fayette(129/0), Gilmer (16/0), Grant (72/1), Greenbrier (85/0), Hampshire (74/0),Hancock (96/4), Hardy (53/1), Harrison (186/1), Jackson (157/0), Jefferson(282/5), Kanawha (795/13), Lewis (25/1), Lincoln (62/0), Logan (137/0), Marion(168/4), Marshall (122/2), Mason (46/0), McDowell (31/1), Mercer (139/0),Mineral (107/2), Mingo (123/2), Monongalia (893/16), Monroe (18/1), Morgan(25/1), Nicholas (30/1), Ohio (249/0), Pendleton (36/1), Pleasants (7/1),Pocahontas (40/1), Preston (100/23), Putnam (162/1), Raleigh (176/6), Randolph(204/3), Ritchie (3/0), Roane (14/0), Summers (6/0), Taylor (51/1), Tucker(10/0), Tyler (12/0), Upshur (36/2), Wayne (180/2), Webster (3/0), Wetzel(40/0), Wirt (6/0), Wood (223/11), Wyoming (21/0).

As case surveillance continues at thelocal health department level, it may reveal that those tested in a certaincounty may not be a resident of that county, or even the state as an individualin question may have crossed the state border to be tested.Such is the case of Jefferson County in this report.

Pleasenote that delays may be experienced with the reporting of information from thelocal health department to DHHR. Visitthe dashboard at http://www.coronavirus.wv.gov for more detailed information.

On July 24, 2020, Gov. Jim Justiceannounced that DHHR, the agency in charge of reporting the number of COVID-19cases, will transition from providing twice-daily updates to one report every24 hours. This is effective August 1, 2020. The next report will beposted at 10:00 a.m., August 2, 2020.

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COVID-19 Daily Update 8-1-2020 - West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources

COVID-19 Daily Update 7-30-2020 – 5 PM – West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources

TheWest Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) reports as of 5:00 p.m., on July 30,2020, there have been 277,343 totalconfirmatory laboratory results received for COVID-19, with 6,422 totalcases and 115 deaths.

DHHR has confirmed the deaths of a49-year old female from Ohio County, a59-year old male from Logan County, and an 85-year old female from Logan County.Thepassing of these West Virginians is reported with a heavy heart and we extendour sympathies to their loved ones, said Bill J. Crouch, DHHR CabinetSecretary.

In alignment with updated definitions fromthe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the dashboard includes probablecases which are individuals that have symptoms and either serologic (antibody)or epidemiologic (e.g., a link to a confirmed case) evidence of disease, but noconfirmatory test.

CASESPER COUNTY (Case confirmed by lab test/Probable case):Barbour (29/0), Berkeley (615/22), Boone (71/0), Braxton (8/0), Brooke(53/1), Cabell (300/9), Calhoun (6/0), Clay (17/0), Doddridge (4/0), Fayette(124/0), Gilmer (16/0), Grant (65/1), Greenbrier (84/0), Hampshire (70/0),Hancock (89/3), Hardy (53/1), Harrison (175/1), Jackson (157/0), Jefferson(281/5), Kanawha (743/13), Lewis (25/1), Lincoln (55/1), Logan (112/0), Marion(166/4), Marshall (119/2), Mason (45/0), McDowell (20/1), Mercer (128/0),Mineral (102/2), Mingo (111/2), Monongalia (853/16), Monroe (18/1), Morgan(24/1), Nicholas (29/1), Ohio (244/0), Pendleton (36/1), Pleasants (6/1),Pocahontas (40/1), Preston (98/22), Putnam (151/1), Raleigh (151/5), Randolph(203/3), Ritchie (3/0), Roane (14/0), Summers (5/0), Taylor (45/1), Tucker(9/0), Tyler (12/0), Upshur (36/2), Wayne (176/2), Webster (3/0), Wetzel(40/0), Wirt (6/0), Wood (220/11), Wyoming (19/0).

As case surveillance continues at thelocal health department level, it may reveal that those tested in a certaincounty may not be a resident of that county, or even the state as an individualin question may have crossed the state border to be tested.

Pleasenote that delays may be experienced with the reporting of information from thelocal health department to DHHR.

Please visit thedashboard at http://www.coronavirus.wv.gov for more detailed information.

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COVID-19 Daily Update 7-30-2020 - 5 PM - West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources

Five Months Since First Confirmed Covid-19 Case in New York, Governor Cuomo Announces Highest Number of Tests Ever Conducted in the State – ny.gov

Five months since the first confirmed COVID-19 case in New York,Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that the State conducted 82,737 COVID-19 tests yesterday the highest number of tests ever conducted in a single day in the state. 0.91 percent of those test results were positive. The governor also updated New Yorkers on the state's progress during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The number of new cases, percentage of tests that were positive and many other helpful data points are always available atforward.ny.gov.

"Today is five months since we had our first case, and yesterday we hit a record number of tests 82,737 the most tests ever conducted in a single day in this state, with 0.91 percent of results coming back positive,"Governor Cuomo said."Our future is dependent on what we do, and social distancing, wearing masks and washing hands are useful and effective tools as we combat this virus. New Yorkers should continue practicing those basic behaviors and local governments should enforce state guidance. That's what it means to be New York Tough."

Governor Cuomo also announced the State Liquor Authority and State Police Task Force visited and observed 1,103 establishments across New York City and Long Islandlast night and found violations at 41 establishments, or 4 percent.

Today's data is summarized briefly below:

Of the 82,737 tests conducted in New York State yesterday, 753, or 0.91 percent, were positive. Each region's percentage of positive tests over the last three days is as follows:

REGION

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

Capital Region

2.1%

1.1%

1.1%

Central New York

1.1%

0.5%

0.7%

Finger Lakes

0.6%

0.7%

0.9%

Long Island

1.2%

0.9%

1.1%

Mid-Hudson

1.3%

0.9%

1.0%

Mohawk Valley

0.9%

1.0%

1.1%

New York City

1.0%

0.9%

0.8%

North Country

0.3%

0.5%

0.2%

Southern Tier

0.7%

0.6%

0.8%

Western New York

0.5%

1.6%

1.1%

The Governor also confirmed 753 additional cases of novel coronavirus, bringing the statewide total to 415,767 confirmed cases in New York State. Of the 415,767 total individuals who tested positive for the virus, the geographic breakdown is as follows:

County

Total Positive

New Positive

Albany

2,515

12

Allegany

74

0

Broome

1,048

11

Cattaraugus

158

0

Cayuga

144

1

Chautauqua

231

3

Chemung

163

0

Chenango

209

2

Clinton

127

1

Columbia

519

3

Cortland

91

0

Delaware

103

1

Dutchess

4,504

14

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Five Months Since First Confirmed Covid-19 Case in New York, Governor Cuomo Announces Highest Number of Tests Ever Conducted in the State - ny.gov

COVID-19 Daily Update 7-29-2020 – 5 PM – West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources

TheWest Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) reports as of 5:00 p.m., on July 29,2020, there have been 273,988 totalconfirmatory laboratory results received for COVID-19, with 6,326 totalcases and 112 deaths.

DHHR has confirmed the death of a 74-yearold female from Mercer County. Tolose yet another West Virginian is truly heartbreaking, said Bill J. Crouch,DHHR Cabinet Secretary.

In alignment with updated definitions fromthe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the dashboard includes probablecases which are individuals that have symptoms and either serologic (antibody)or epidemiologic (e.g., a link to a confirmed case) evidence of disease, but noconfirmatory test.

CASESPER COUNTY (Case confirmed by lab test/Probable case):Barbour (29/0), Berkeley (609/22), Boone (69/0), Braxton (8/0), Brooke(53/1), Cabell (288/9), Calhoun (6/0), Clay (17/0), Doddridge (4/0), Fayette(124/0), Gilmer (14/0), Grant (65/1), Greenbrier (83/0), Hampshire (68/0),Hancock (89/3), Hardy (51/1), Harrison (175/1), Jackson (157/0), Jefferson(280/5), Kanawha (716/13), Lewis (24/1), Lincoln (54/2), Logan (106/0), Marion(163/4), Marshall (116/2), Mason (45/0), McDowell (19/1), Mercer (126/0),Mineral (100/2), Mingo (109/2), Monongalia (850/16), Monroe (18/1), Morgan(24/1), Nicholas (28/1), Ohio (243/0), Pendleton (35/1), Pleasants (6/1),Pocahontas (40/1), Preston (97/22), Putnam (146/1), Raleigh (148/5), Randolph(203/3), Ritchie (3/0), Roane (14/0), Summers (5/0), Taylor (42/1), Tucker(9/0), Tyler (11/0), Upshur (36/2), Wayne (176/2), Webster (3/0), Wetzel(40/0), Wirt (6/0), Wood (219/11), Wyoming (18/0).

As case surveillance continues at thelocal health department level, it may reveal that those tested in a certaincounty may not be a resident of that county, or even the state as an individualin question may have crossed the state border to be tested.Such is the case of Hancock, Mineral, and Pendleton counties inthis report.

Pleasenote that delays may be experienced with the reporting of information from thelocal health department to DHHR.

Please visit thedashboard at http://www.coronavirus.wv.gov for more detailed information.

Continued here:

COVID-19 Daily Update 7-29-2020 - 5 PM - West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources

COVID-19 Daily Update 7-29-20 – 10 AM – West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources

TheWest Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) reports as of 10:00 a.m., on July 29,2020, there have been 271,811 totalconfirmatory laboratory results received for COVID-19, with 6,269 totalcases and 111 deaths.

In alignment with updated definitions fromthe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the dashboard includes probablecases which are individuals that have symptoms and either serologic (antibody)or epidemiologic (e.g., a link to a confirmed case) evidence of disease, but noconfirmatory test.

CASESPER COUNTY (Case confirmed by lab test/Probable case):Barbour (29/0), Berkeley (609/22), Boone (69/0), Braxton (8/0), Brooke(52/1), Cabell (282/9), Calhoun (6/0), Clay (17/0), Doddridge (3/0), Fayette(122/0), Gilmer (14/0), Grant (65/1), Greenbrier (83/0), Hampshire (67/0),Hancock (88/5), Hardy (51/1), Harrison (170/1), Jackson (157/0), Jefferson (280/5),Kanawha (710/13), Lewis (24/1), Lincoln (54/2), Logan (103/0), Marion (158/4),Marshall (114/2), Mason (41/0), McDowell (18/1), Mercer (125/0), Mineral(101/2), Mingo (109/2), Monongalia (839/16), Monroe (18/1), Morgan (24/1),Nicholas (27/1), Ohio (241/0), Pendleton (36/1), Pleasants (6/1), Pocahontas(40/1), Preston (97/22), Putnam (146/1), Raleigh (142/5), Randolph (203/3),Ritchie (3/0), Roane (14/0), Summers (5/0), Taylor (42/1), Tucker (9/0), Tyler(11/0), Upshur (36/2), Wayne (176/2), Webster (3/0), Wetzel (40/0), Wirt (6/0),Wood (218/11), Wyoming (17/0).

As case surveillance continues at thelocal health department level, it may reveal that those tested in a certaincounty may not be a resident of that county, or even the state as an individualin question may have crossed the state border to be tested. Such is the case of Putnam County inthis report.

Pleasenote that delays may be experienced with the reporting of information from thelocal health department to DHHR.

Please visit thedashboard at http://www.coronavirus.wv.gov for more detailed information.

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COVID-19 Daily Update 7-29-20 - 10 AM - West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources