Stryker CEO Kevin Lobo discusses the state of business amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Eden Park Illumination Inc. had one product to sell beforeCovid-19: an ultraviolet light that distinguished real diamonds from fakes.

The spread of a deadly virus across the globe shifted the focus of the tiny Champaign, Ill., startup to another ultraviolet light application that it had not planned to introduce for at least two years. This one would disinfect crowded spaces.

Within weeks, the 10-person company began shipping prototypes. Eden Park has since deliveredmorethan1,000 of the lights and added a dozen workers, including a head of manufacturing.

"We have pivoted and put all our attention on this," said Eden Park Chief Executive John Yerger, who joined the company in February to help commercialize technology developed at the University of Illinois. "We are now profitable. We are about 10 times bigger in terms of sales."

The coronavirus pandemic is creating new opportunities for somesmallbusinesseseven as it raises costs and devastates sales for others. It is prompting many to re-examine their strategies and make tough decisions about how to adapt.

A store with a "Going out of Business," sign is shown in North Miami Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)

One seller of professional and college team sports apparel stuck to what it did best, gambling that gear with logos would still sell during a sports drought.

A decades-old furniture maker ramped up efforts to sell online instead of largely relying on its showrooms. A restaurant supplier boosted production of tamper-evident labels for home deliveries. An insurance brokerage sold smaller policies that are less profitable, but easier to get done.

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"Firms that are changing now are making changes to survive," said Jacqueline Kirtley, an assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. What they do after the pandemic ends, she said, "will tell us whether they pivoted or just fought the fire and survived."

Nearly one-quarter ofsmallbusinesseshave added products or services they believe will sustain long-term growth, according to a June survey for The Wall Street Journal by Vistage Worldwide Inc., an executive coaching firm. Twelve percent said they had pivoted temporarily to produce products and services to meet customer needs, according to the survey ofmorethan720 firms with $1millionto $20millionin revenue.

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The stakes are rising.Morethan150,000 Americans have died fromCovid-19. Its spread has forced manysmallfirms to cease or curb their operations.

As many as 1.4millionsmallbusinessesclosed their doors or temporarily suspended operations in the second quarter, according to Oxxford Information Technology Ltd. in Saratoga, N.Y., which tracksmorethan26millionU.S.businesseswith lessthan$10millionin annual revenue. Oxxford expects that as many as 4millionsmallbusinessescould be lost in 2020.

In this April 27, 2020 photo, a pedestrian passes a storefront available for rent on Broadway south of Canal Street in the Manhattan borough of New York. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

Increases inCovid-19cases in much of the country and fears of new outbreaks are dashing hopes of a quick recovery. The damage was evident in data released this week showing the U.S. economy shrank bymorethan9% in the June quarter, the steepest in records dating to 1947.

The number of people working at companies with fewerthan500 employees also fell 10.8% in June from its February peak, according to an analysis of ADP payroll data by Moody's Analytics.

Here is a look at the choices made -- and the lessons learned -- by Eden Park and four othersmallU.S.businessestrying to navigate through the crisis.

When Mr. Yerger joined Eden Park, he believed using UV lights to cure 3-D printing components had the greatest immediate potential to make money. Then, in March, he visited a UV light conference, just as theCovid-19outbreak was making headlines. "The interest in our product was just through the roof," he said.

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Ramping up production required shifting the culture of the company, which had operated like a research lab, to focus on commercialization. Eden Park started mapping its production process and adding automation where it could, mostly with equipment developed in-house.

There are also unknowns about how effective the lights are in curbing the spread ofCovid-19. Mr. Yerger, 59, believes the lights will make it easier for people to meet safely in densely-packed areas, though effectiveness diminishes with distance.

UVC G23 fluorescent bulb. (iStock)

"It's part of a combination of solutions. We don't claim to be the only thing the world needs."

Mr. Yerger expects demand for the lights to continue even if a vaccine curbsCovid-19's spread. "This kills any virus, any bacteria," he said. "Right now, we are putting our resources on this product," he added. "We are not going to abandon the others, but we think it will be a lot of years that this will be very viable."

Daniel McGinnis, the 60-year-old co-owner of Bleacher Bums, a retailer of college and team sports apparel, decided to stick to what he knew best, even as government-mandated shutdowns forced him to temporarily shut his five Pennsylvania and Maryland stores.

"It's going to be tough to get through this," said Mr. McGinnis in May, with store reopenings still weeks away. "If there's no in-season, our demand will be significantly less."

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Mr. McGinnis stocked up on logoed neck gaiters and bottles of hand sanitizer to sell to fans of the Philadelphia Eagles, Ohio State Buckeyes and other teams. But he mostly stuck with the hats, sweats, jerseys and jackets he's sold for 33 years.

"We are very focused," said Mr. McGinnis, who received a forgivable loan of lessthan$100,000 from the Paycheck Protection Program, a federal coronavirus rescue program. "I am a sports team fan shop."

Sales surged when Bleacher Bums stores reopened in June. At one store, the number of transactions jumped 50% versus a year earlier while average transaction size remained the same. Neck gaiters disappeared in a heartbeat.

"You're selling an emotional attachment people have to their team," Mr. McGinnis explained. Sales remain strong as some teams resume play, he added.

Online sales jumped during the store closures, but fell far short of making up for lost revenue. They fell significantly once stores reopened, but remain above last year's levels.

Bleacher Bums has brought back roughly 40 of its 60 employees. Shortened mall hours mean lower payroll costs, boosting profits.

"It was pent-up demand, and it's still continuing," Mr. McGinnis said. "Was I surprised that it happened? Yes."

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Mr. McGinnis likens running his business during the pandemic to riding a roller coaster. He'd be thrilled if sales remained at current levels, but has a pit in his stomach because of spikingCovid-19cases in other states. "I am very pessimistic about the next couple of months. I wish I didn't have to be that way."

Dwight Sargent, founder of Pompanoosuc Mills Corp., a 47-year-old contemporary furniture manufacturer and retailer, was skeptical about online retailing when social-distancing restrictions shut his company's eight retail showrooms and its East Thetford, Vt., workshop. Then the company plunged, head first, into digital marketing.

With its survival at stake, in March, Pompanoosuc laid off almost its entire 115-person workforce, including some employees who had been with the company for decades. Almost overnight, it made changes that were long overdue, but would have otherwise taken years.

Showroom managers videotaped rudimentary showroom tours on their iPhones, then posted them on the company's website so customers could shop online. Pompanoosuc sold about $210,000 of deeply-discounted furniture in three weeks and closed the first Facebook Messenger order in its history. Some of the money went to laid-off employees, who had received partial paychecks at the time of the layoffs because money was short.

Woman making online credit card payment (iStock)

Mr. Sargent, 70, photographed dining tables, chairs and desks in his flagship showroom at company headquarters, offering them online with immediate delivery and discounted pricing.

It came as a surprise and delight to Mr. Sargent when one customer snapped up a king-size bed and two night tables he had photographed just two weeks earlier.

Pompanoosuc received an $845,000 forgivable PPP loan and a $10,000 grant and $150,000 loan from theSmallBusiness Administration's disaster relief program. That money helped the company bring back workers, step up advertising and buy a new cutting machine. Pompanoosuc offered all of its workers their jobs back, handing out bonuses to encourage them to return. It plans to hire additional workers to staff the online chat function and someone to photograph furniture for online sale, a task Mr. Sargent would eagerly give up.

The furniture maker added an expanded set of home office desks and built prototypes for lower-priced offerings, such as step stools, coat hooks and lamps to attract first-time online customers.

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Order volume isn't quite up to last year's levels, but keeps improving. Mr. Sargent still plans to add another store in Philadelphia, but expects online to play a bigger role in the future. "Some of these things are exciting," he said. "We are so far behind."

Dot It Restaurant Fulfillment, an Arlington, Texas, maker of labels and other restaurant industry supplies, struggled for two years to attract interest for one of its newest products, SecureIt, a line of labels that deters tampering with home food deliveries. That changed when the pandemic hit.

Dot It soldmorethan860,000 rolls of the new labels in lessthanfour months, up from just 10,000 in the prior two years. Sales also jumped for social-distancing floor arrows, acrylic dividers and "open for takeout" signs, products that didn't even exist back in January.

"We aresmalland nimble," said Dot It President Keri Smith. "We saw the market need and adapted to it." The business is a division of National Checking Company in St. Paul, Minn., a 115-year-old family-run producer of guest checks to take food orders and register rolls to provide receipts at the end of a meal.

The new offerings allowed Dot It, which mostly works with fast-casual eateries, to add about 15,000 new restaurants to the 38,000 the company normally serves. Some restaurant chains requested help solving other challenges, such as securing gloves and napkins. Ms. Smith hopes they will remain customers even if SecureIt sales dip when the pandemic ends.

Meeting the sudden surge in demand was a challenge for the tiny printing and fulfillment company. "There were many days that myself as president, my executive leadership team, team members from purchasing, sales and customer service were all out on the floor helping move product, pack boxes, prepare orders," said 39-year-old Ms. Smith. "It really was all hands on deck."

The new offerings helped offset a decline in orders for labels for pre-wrapped sandwiches and signs announcing monthly specials. Sales fell 10% in the second quarter, not the 50% they would have otherwise, Ms. Smith said.

Dot It laid off 25 of its 100 workers after the pandemic hit, then brought staffing back up to 90 after receiving a $900,000 PPP loan.

The struggles reinforced the need to diversify. The company is looking at selling signs and other items to plant nurseries and hospitals.

"This has taught us we need to look outside restaurants," Ms. Smith said. "I think we will come out of this a different company."

Georgetown Insurance Service Inc., an insurance agency in Silver Spring, Md., prides itself on selling complex policies to middle-market customers. But the pandemic forced the 30-person company to turn its attention to smaller policies that are easier to close.

"Two weeks ago, I wrote insurance on a bridal shop that was reopening. The premium was $5,000," said Chief Executive Remmie Butchko. "This time last year, I probably would have said, 'Thanks, but no thanks,'" he said. "Right now, we can get it done."

Georgetown's traditional business model faced major challenges due to social distancing. Decisions about complex property and casualty policies often involve in-person meetings and committee approvals. "You really have to get together and look at the exhibits," said the 51-year-old Mr. Butchko. "It's very difficult by Zoom." Some insurers also stopped sending out field inspectors to do safety reviews before they issue a quote, limiting the ability of Georgetown and others to bring in new customers.

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To replace lost business, Georgetown stepped up sales of smaller, commodity-type policies that it can close under its authority, with decisions made by the business owner or a single executive, not a team. The larger,morecomplex policies it typically sells to contractors, manufacturers and wholesalers now account for lessthan10% of new sales, down from as much as 60% last year.

Mr. Butchko's agents typically find new clients by networking at Chamber of Commerce or association meetings or by knocking on doors. Now, they send emails and pick up the telephone. "You can knock on the door all you want, but no one is going to answer," Mr. Butchko said.

The approach is working, at least for now. Sales are up 15% and profits rose 4%. "We're working in the parameters we have," said Mr. Butchko, who didn't apply for federal aid. "Now, everybody's money is green."

Mr. Butchko misses hand-delivering new policies and discussing coverage terms. "We are very eager to do what we were doing before," he said.

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Covid-19 shuttered more than 1M small businesses. Here's how 5 survived - Fox Business

It was not surprising when three-quarters of the house tested positive. There were 12 people in three bedrooms, with a bathroom whose door frequently required a knock and a kitchen where dinnertime shifts extended from 5 p.m. well into the evening.

Karla Lorenzo, a Guatemalan immigrant who cleaned houses in San Francisco and Silicon Valley, lived in the big room along the driveway. Big is a relative term when a room has five people in it. She and her partner, Abel, slept in a queen-size bed along the wall. There was a crib for the baby at the foot, with the older childrens bunk bed next to that. The other housemates had similar layouts.

Living among many people, as Ms. Lorenzo put it in Spanish, you cannot really avoid your housemates. The sounds, the smells, the moods everyone is pressed against all of it, and they understood that if one of them got the coronavirus, the rest probably would.

That happened in April, and now the house is returning to health. Abel, referred to by his first name because his immigration status is uncertain, is home after three weeks in the hospital, where Ms. Lorenzo feared he would die alone gasping for air. And she is no longer squirreled in the closet where she spent days to avoid giving the virus to the children.

Now comes a second struggle: figuring out how to pay rent. Abel is back at work at a home supply store, but Ms. Lorenzos housecleaning jobs dried up and one of the other families moved out increasing the monthly bill by $850. We dont know how we are going to do it, she said.

From the early outbreaks to the economic destruction that has come after, the coronavirus pandemic has mapped itself onto Americas longstanding affordable housing problem and the gaping inequality that underlies it. To offset rising rents in a nation where one in four tenant households spend more than half of their pretax income on shelter, a multitude of low-wage service workers have piled into ever more crowded homes.

Living in overstuffed units subdivided by hinged partitions and tacked-up sheets, these households many of them retail and service workers who are unable to do their jobs from home were acutely susceptible to the viruss spread. With double-digit unemployment projected to persist through next year, the same families face losing the crowded homes that make it so easy to get sick in the first place.

To combat the virus, Americans of every income are being encouraged to wear masks and keep their distance. But for low-income families who crowd together to stretch their budgets, home has its own risks.

For these families, a good amount of the response has included triaging a decades-old shortage of affordable housing. Cities and states are renting hotel rooms for people who normally sleep on the streets. There are trailers to quarantine those whose apartments are too crowded for isolation. Fearing a wave of homelessness, governments have followed up with rental aid and moratoriums on evictions.

Combined with federal stimulus funds, and $600 a week in supplemental unemployment benefits that have just lapsed, these measures have prevented the dire predictions of mass displacement. Congress is working on another emergency package, and property owners and affordable-housing advocates have pressed for direct rental assistance.

But evictions are already ramping back up, and the longer the economic malaise continues, the more housing insecurity there will be. Some of the evicted will become homeless, but if the past is a guide, most are likely to find somewhere else to go, and that somewhere is likely to be overcrowded compounding the conditions that make it so easy to spread the virus.

We have clients struggling to choose between living in an overcrowded home or facing eviction for not being able to make rent, said Nazanin Salehi, a lawyer with the nonprofit group Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto. No matter what they decide, the risk is more exposure to this virus.

Visitors to Silicon Valley may take a wrong turn or freeway exit on the way to this or that office park and find themselves in an area like the North Central neighborhood of San Mateo, Calif. That is where Ms. Lorenzo lives on a block of faded homes on small lots, with packed driveways and cars parked liberally on the sidewalk. The scene is one side of the tech economy.

For much of the peninsula stretching south from San Francisco, there is a rough economic split. Cities and neighborhoods to the east, places like East Palo Alto, North Fair Oaks and the Belle Haven section of Menlo Park, are more overcrowded and have a larger share of low-income and Black and Latino residents, many of whom have been disproportionately affected by the virus. Towns and neighborhoods to the west, places like Hillsborough and Palo Alto, are whiter and rich.

This geography is as fundamental to how the place operates as the invention of the microchip. Every day, throngs of clerks, landscapers and elder-care workers wake up on the eastern parts and travel to homes on the western parts or to the corporate campuses of tech companies to do subcontracting work. And every night, they return to overcrowded homes.

Ms. Lorenzo was one of them. She immigrated to the United States six years ago from Guatemala with her two children, fleeing a broken relationship and looking for a new start. Now she is a green-card holder with a new partner and a 2-year-old. Until the pandemic hit, she made about $16 an hour mopping floors and vacuuming carpets in homes on the other side of the peninsula.

For a while, her wages and Abels were enough for their own small place a $1,600-a-month studio that had a bed for them and a shared mattress for the children. Then the rent jumped to $2,100. And then to $2,650.

The couple went looking for cheaper housing and roommates, a quest that has become a Bay Area ritual. Since the Great Recession, a growing share of Bay Area movers, from all but the most well-off households, have gone to homes with four or more adults from ones with one or two adults, according to a study by researchers at Stanford University and the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.

The high-end version is dressed up with a description like co-living or explained as a culturally in-tune couple sacrificing an extra bedroom in the suburbs for a life of less driving closer to the city. The low-end version is poverty. Whatever it is called, the economic calculus is the same.

Wages are higher in coastal California than in inland areas, where housing is cheaper, so all but the very rich have to make a trade-off between a commute and space. It is just that the choices for poorer workers are more extreme, like a three-hour commute from cities like Stockton or huddling together in homes where nearly every space is the site of someones bed.

Researchers define extreme overcrowding as any home that is occupied by more than one person for every room without a toilet. By this measurement, overcrowding has increased nationwide since the mid-2000s, and the problem is particularly acute in California. About 13.4 percent of rental units more than double the national average were considered overcrowded in 2018, according to the Census Bureau. San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties, which roughly outline Silicon Valley, have one of the worlds densest concentrations of billionaires as well as some of the countrys most overcrowded homes.

After the studio, Ms. Lorenzo found a $1,250-a-month room in her current home, a blue stucco house at the back of a two-unit lot, with chalk drawings on the driveway and a dirt yard in the back. There were 11 occupants after Ms. Lorenzo moved in, 12 after her younger child was born.

Dividing the rent had benefits, like allowing Ms. Lorenzo to save money and buy her first television. The childrens shared mattress from the studio was replaced with a new bunk bed. More clothes, more shoes for the children, she said, because we were limited in many things.

The catch was living with personalities, rules and understandings. Cooking privileges were on a first-come basis, which meant that the last family to use the kitchen might not eat until 9:30 p.m. There was no official time limit on the bathroom, but people knew to be fast. If anyone got a cold, everyone was exposed.

Crowded homes have been a concern practically as long as public health has been a field. Living with a pile of roommates has long been associated with faster-spreading infections, inescapable stress, irregular sleep and the effects that follow, including higher blood pressure and weakened immune systems.

But those take years to develop. The coronavirus spreads in days. By moving so fast and furiously, the virus has exposed in weeks something doctors have been worried about for generations, said Dr. Margot Kushel, an internist and director of the Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative at the University of California, San Francisco. Covid has really become a story of essential workers living in crowded housing, she said.

The sickness began, as it does, with worry.

In mid-April, after schools shut down and the children were sent home with worksheets, Abel returned from his job with a report that two of his co-workers had been out sick. He showered with the garden hose and slept in the car that night. But it was too late.

His symptoms were initially mild, before escalating to a 104-degree fever and a shortness of breath that prompted Ms. Lorenzo to take him to the hospital. The county health department, worried that a crowded home would accelerate the spread of what was confirmed to be the coronavirus, dispatched a case worker to test everyone in the house, Ms. Lorenzo said. Eight all except her children were also positive.

Ms. Lorenzo never got more than a headache and a sore throat, which in normal times would not have even prevented her from going to work. Suddenly she had to isolate herself in a house where everything was shared.

She settled on the closet, running a phone charger under the door and sitting there for six to eight hours a day, playing word games on her phone, calling relatives in Guatemala, sometimes just napping. Her 10-year-old son took over cooking meals and changing diapers. All the while, Abel was in the hospital. Improving or worsening, alive or dead, Ms. Lorenzo had no idea.

There was no communication with him, so my head was spinning, she said.

Ms. Lorenzo sprayed down the bathroom whenever she or the children used it. She avoided the kitchen and had her sister, who lives more than a half-hour away in Oakland, deliver food through the bedroom window. One time, the sister brought a thermos of hot coffee that Ms. Lorenzo said might as well have been hot water; the virus had so ruined her sense of taste that she could not tell the difference.

Still, the house got tense. One of the housemates accused Abel of infecting them. She told Ms. Lorenzo that if anyone in her family died, she would figure out a way to sue her. After that came the silent treatment no hablaba and as house relations plummeted, Ms. Lorenzo feared she would be evicted with nowhere to go.

After two weeks, a county health worker returned to test the house again. Ms. Lorenzos children were still negative, which seemed so unlikely, given the crowding, that the county retested them several times. All negative, she said. Worried that this luck would soon run out, the county moved her and the children to an emergency trailer.

They lived there for nine days, leaving only to collect stale salad and sandwiches left on an outdoor table. When they finally went home, Abel was back from the hospital.

Days of deep cleaning ensued. Ms. Lorenzo, back to health, is wondering when the world will return to some semblance of normality. Yet she feels lucky that things are not worse, because she thought her partner was going to die. We are trying to cope with it, she said. Trying to leave everything in the past.

Early in the outbreak, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York and some commentators blamed dense housing and public transit for the spread of the virus. The proof seemed as intuitive as New Yorks status as an early epicenter. The recent surge of cases in the more sprawling metropolitan areas of the South and the West has undercut that thesis, and a number of new studies suggest that density, the number of housing units per acre, is less important than crowding, the number of people per bedroom.

One widely cited report was from New York Universitys Furman Center, which found that infections were much more intense in Queens neighborhoods with high rates of overcrowding than in Manhattan neighborhoods with higher density but fewer people per unit. The link between crowding and transmission has since shown up in suburbs, rural America and Native American reservations. There is even some evidence that dense metropolitan counties, while suffering higher raw numbers of infections, have a lower death rate because it is easier to get to a hospital.

San Mateo County has been a bright spot, with a rate of about 700 coronavirus cases per 100,000, about half the rate of the state. Still, the countys cases have been concentrated in low-income households, with most coming lately from front-line workers who live in crowded multigenerational conditions, according to the county health officer.

In Chelsea, Mass., which had one of the nations worst outbreaks, there is a compelling suggestion that less-crowded quarters can help control the spread. Sleeved into the same blocks where buildings were overrun with infection are 375 subsidized apartments owned by The Neighborhood Developers, a housing nonprofit. The 968 tenants are mostly nonwhite, have the same mix of low-paid service jobs as their neighbors, and live in multistory buildings. But their units are subsidized and less crowded and so far, healthier.

The Neighborhood Developers has had eight reported cases of the coronavirus in Chelsea, or 826 per 100,000 people, about a tenth the rate of the surrounding community. Its not how many people you run into on the street but how many people you see when you come home, said Rafael Mares, executive director of The Neighborhood Developers.

The story is tempered by its rarity. The United States has a deficit of seven million apartments available to the lowest-income households, or an average of 36 available affordable units for every 100 extremely low-income family in search of one, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

In April of last year, The Neighborhood Developers opened a five-story building with 34 apartments for homeless and low-income families. It received 3,598 applications.

Stacked against a wall in Ms. Lorenzos living room are three red-and-white coolers that her sister used to fill with ice cream to sell on the street. They are furloughed because of the lack of demand and have become just another obstacle that her cooped-up children have to dodge while zipping around the house.

Abel still gets headaches and a tremor in his left arm, but the virus is gone and he is well enough to work. Ms. Lorenzo has not cleaned a house since March but recently got a new job cleaning offices. The family has also been relying on nonprofit organizations and Christian charities for staples.

Once a week Ms. Lorenzo joins the procession of cars that roll through a parking-lot food bank set up by Samaritan House, a San Mateo-based organization that has seen demand for food double and is spending $200,000 a week on rental assistance. Since April 1, 4,000 families have applied for some $8 million in assistance on rent and utilities and it hasnt even really hit yet, said Bart Charlow, Samaritan Houses chief executive.

Ms. Lorenzos name could soon be on the list. In June, the departure of the angry housemates opened up an extra bedroom, and her family spread out, with the older children moving across the hall the sort of arrangement that the San Mateo County Health Department has been recommending for years, except that it is financially unsustainable.

After taking the extra bedroom, Ms. Lorenzos familys share of the rent jumped to $2,100 from $1,250. Their savings got them through July. Now that money is gone, and August is here.

Liliana Michelena and Ben Casselman contributed reporting.

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8/1/2020

~474,621 positive cases in Florida residents and 5,407 positive cases in non-Florida residents~

The Florida Department of Health (DOH), in order to provide more comprehensive data, releases a report on COVID-19 cases in Florida once per day. The DOH COVID-19 dashboard is also providing updates once per day. The state also provides a report detailing surveillance data for every Florida county, which is available here.

In order to make the daily COVID-19 report easier to download and more accessible, the daily report will now separate case line data in a separate PDF. Both reports will continue to be updated daily. The case line data report is available here.

Test results for more than 100,500 individuals were reported to DOH as of midnight, on Friday, July 31. Today, as reported at 11 a.m., there are:

On July 31, 11.08 percent of new cases** tested positive.

There are a total of 480,028 Florida cases*** with 7,022 deaths related to COVID-19.

Since July 31, the death of one hundred seventy-four Florida residents who tested positive for COVID-19 have been reported in Bradford, Brevard, Broward, Charlotte, Citrus, Collier, Dade, Desoto, Duval, Escambia, Franklin, Gadsden, Gulf, Hernando, Highlands, Hillsborough, Indian River, Jackson, Lee, Manatee, Marion, Monroe, Okaloosa, Orange, Osceola, Palm Beach, Pinellas, Polk, Putnam, Santa Rosa, Seminole, St. Johns, St. Lucie, Sumter, Volusia and Wakulla counties.

Florida long-term care facility data:

The antibody COVID-19 test results report will be provided once a week and contains county, race and lab information on antibody COVID-19 tests conducted in Florida. The report for antibody tests conducted by private health care providers is available here and the report for antibody tests conducted at state-supported COVID-19 testing sites is available here.

More information can also be found here.

* Florida residents that are diagnosed with COVID-19 and isolated out of state are not reflected on the Florida map.

**This percentage is the number of people who test positive for the first time divided by all tests, excluding people who have previously tested positive.

***Total cases overview includes positive cases in Florida residents and non-Florida residents tested in Florida.

More Information on COVID-19

To find the most up-to-date information and guidance on COVID-19, please visit the Department of Healths dedicatedCOVID-19 webpage. For information and advisories from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), please visit the CDC COVID-19 website, this website is also available in Spanish and Creole.For more information about current travel advisories issued by the U.S. Department of State, please visit the travel advisory website.

For any other questions related to COVID-19 in Florida, please contact the Departments dedicated COVID-19 Call Center by calling1-866-779-6121.The Call Center is available 24 hours per day.Inquiries may also beemailed toCOVID-19@flhealth.gov.

About the Florida Department of Health

The Florida Department of Health, nationally accredited by the Public Health Accreditation Board, works to protect, promote and improve the health of all people in Florida through integrated state, county and community efforts.

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter at @HealthyFla. For more information please visit http://www.FloridaHealth.gov.

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20200801 Florida Department of Health Updates New COVID-19 Cases, Announces One Hundred Seventy-Nine Deaths Related to COVID-19 - Florida Disaster

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Reports: Cardinals postponed again Saturday as team endures additional positive COVID-19 tests - KMOV.com

What is a conscientious person who already wears a mask and maintains social distance to do?

Yes, said R. Alta Charo, a professor of law and bioethics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

One of the most important things to keep in mind when discussing public health is the fact that this is fundamentally a community issue, not merely an individual health concern, she said. We are all in this together. What I do affects everyone around me, and what they do affects me.

If public health experts want people to be tested, they should comply, especially if the goal is to gather critical information about how many people are infected at a given point, Professor Charo said.

Epidemiologists can use the data to determine how fast the virus is spreading and which measures are working, she said.

Taking a test, like wearing a mask, shows a desire to be a part of the solution, said Dr. K. C. Rondello, an epidemiologist at Adelphi University in Garden City, N.Y.

The virus has been difficult to control in large part because many infected people without symptoms have unknowingly spread it, he said.

More testing will help identify these hidden cases, Dr. Rondello said.

But Candace L. Upton, a professor of philosophy at the University of Denver, said people should not feel duty bound to get a test. It can even be argued that it is morally wrong to go in for a test if you have no symptoms and are not at a high risk, she said.

Until there is no longer a shortage of test kits, it is morally unjustified to test patients for Covid-19 solely for the purpose of collecting data, Professor Upton said. Because of the deficit, labs shouldnt be offering them to people who are just curious.

The priority should remain testing only those with symptoms or compromised immune systems, and essential workers and older people, she said.

Professor Upton added that testing should be done selectively even in locations where tests are readily available and where results can be delivered quickly.

The whole system is unfair, she said. And so to take advantage of surpluses in certain places in the market is to add to the injustice to people who didnt have availability in the first place.

The national failure to coordinate testing efforts shouldnt cause people with no symptoms to feel conflicted about being tested for the coronavirus, said Dr. Andrew Diamond, chief medical officer at One Medical in San Francisco, a membership-based primary care practice with offices around the country.

If there is a way for you to get tested that does not clearly and directly impair someone who is a priority, then you should get tested for sure, he said.

Molly Wallace, 24, who grew up on Marthas Vineyard, was tested after she moved back to the island from Boston in March.

She was furloughed from her job as a medical assistant and began volunteering at a testing site, Test MV, at Marthas Vineyard Regional High School, where she went to school.

Updated July 27, 2020

Ms. Wallace said that she had never had coronavirus symptoms but that she had still felt obligated to be tested. I dont want to be the person to bring Covid here, she said.

All residents and visitors to the island are encouraged to be tested at Test MV, where volunteers distribute free kits of self-administered nasal swabs, said Ms. Wallace, who is now the sites outreach coordinator.

During her interview last week, Ms. Wallace said that people typically got their results within 72 hours, or more quickly if they test positive for the virus. At the time, Marthas Vineyard stood in stark contrast to states like New York and Arizona, where lines for tests have sometimes stretched around blocks and the turnaround time for results has been days, if not weeks.

On Friday, she said the turnaround time for tests was now around seven days, because of the shortage.

Wearing a mask should feel obligatory, Dr. Diamond said, but taking a test should not.

If tests were widely available and turnaround times for results were much faster, people would have a stronger sense of obligation to get tested, he said.

Under the current circumstance, I would say its much more important to continue to do what youre doing, Dr. Diamond said. That is, wear a mask, keep six feet away from people and stay home as much as possible, he said.

Dr. Diamond added, The behavior is really the thing thats going to make the biggest difference.

Remy Tumin contributed reporting.

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Covid-19 Testing Is in Short Supply. Should You Still Get a Test? - The New York Times

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer toldCNN's "Cuomo Prime Time" on Friday night that she wastightening restrictions again in parts of Michigan after a rise in COVID-19 cases to "nip this in the bud."

She told host Chris Cuomo that Michigan had, about two months ago,been among the few in the United States in line to contain the virus but since then, some residents have been lax in efforts to control the spread"and weve seen our numbers climb."

"I'mtying to nip this in the budso we dont have to contemplate going back to a shutdown orback a phase in our re-engagement plan," she said.

MORE: Whitmer vetoes bill directing COVID-19 patients away from nursing homes

Wednesday, the governorreimposed limits in the Upper Peninsula and 17 counties in northern Michigan, capping indoor gatherings at 10 people and closing indoor bars where alcohol accounts for 70% of sales restrictions already in force in the southern part of the state.

Michigan confirmed eight coronavirus deaths Friday and 734 new cases ofCOVID-19. The seven-day average of new cases grew to 726 through Friday, compared with an average of 577 a day for the previous seven-day period.The state's overall case tally reached 81,621 and the death count hit 6,199, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.

State officials have recently cautioned about the rising cases in Michigan and urged residents to wear masks and practice social distancing so schools can reopen to in-person instruction in the fall.

"If want to have any shot ofgetting our kids safely back in school ... our actions today are going to dictate whether or not thats possible," Whitmer told Cuomo. "So thats why weve got totighten things up now."

When asked about the state's response in handling the pandemic, the governor said her administration is "letting the science and the facts dictate the decision making."

"When we see our numbers climb and we see the rate of positive cases climb,were doing more testing than ever. And thats a good thing," she said. "But we do see growth all across the state. And thats why its really important that we take action so we try to avoid this increase."

Whitmer also addressed the Clare County sheriff's Facebook post this week criticizing what he calledinconsistencies in herexecutive orders, and telling state officials to "stay in LANSING, and we will do what we will in FREE MICHIGAN!!"

"Its not popular with some, we know this," she said, but "thevast majority of people in this state are taking this seriously. Theyre doing the right thing."

Whitmer added: "I'm not going to bebullied into making decisions that I know jeopardize lives of the people that I serve. And so were going to stay tethered to the science. Were going to make decisions that are going to save peoples lives and hopefully keep this economy engaged. And it's on all of us. Every one one of us has a role to play. And if we drop our guard, then were going tojeopardizeall of the sacrifice that weve made to get us into this strong position."

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Whitmer on rising COVID-19 cases: 'Weve got to tighten things up' - The Detroit News

Donald Trump prompted a familiar barrage of criticism on Saturday by visiting one of his own golf clubs as the country remains caught in numerous intensifying crises from the raging coronavirus epidemic to anti-racism protests to the failure to extend benefits to tens of millions of jobless Americans.

Trump arrived at his Virginia golf club in the morning, according to a report from the White House pool, after leaving Washington via motorcade and dressed in his usual golfing attire of a baseball cap and a polo shirt.

CNN, which tallies Trump trips to his golf clubs, reported that the visit was Trumps 283th trip to a golf course while in office and his 376th day at a Trump property.

In the 2016 campaign, and before, Trump often lambasted then president Barack Obama for his visits to the golf course and claimed that he would be too busy to play the sport if he was president. Since taking office, Trumps visits to golf courses have far outpaced Obamas.

Trumps latest visit comes as the death toll in the US from the coronavirus tops 153,000 with more than 4.5 million positive cases by far the largest totals in the world. It also happens as Washington fails to agree on an extension to a vital $600 dollar payment to jobless Americans who will now lose that benefit.

The visit triggered much online criticism, including from some anti-Trump Republicans.

Im glad hes playing golf. Id pay him to play golf for the rest of his Presidency. The country would be much safer and much better off if all he did was golf for the next 5-6 months, tweeted Joe Walsh, a former Republican congressman who ran a brief and unsuccessful bid to oust Trump as the partys nominee in the 2020 election.

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Trump heads to his own golf club as Covid-19 surges and jobless benefits expire - The Guardian

The Hancock County Health Department notified Greenfield-Central Junior High School Thursday afternoon that one of their students, who had attended part of the school day, tested positive for Covid-19, Superintendent Harold Olin said in a letter.

Olin said the school enacted its "Positive COVID-19 Test Protocol" once school officials became aware of the positive result.

School officials immediately isolated the student within the school's clinic, and they examined the student's schedule, including transportation and extracurricular activities, to determine who had come in close contact.

As part of the district's return to in-person learning, "all areas of all schools" are already being disinfected professionally each evening, according to Olin's letter. But the superintendent noted that special attention would be given to areas and classrooms that the infected student had visited.

"We understand that this information will cause concern for some of you. It was very evident today that nearly all of our families and students were prepared to properly follow the safety protocols we have established," Olin said. "Adhering to these protocols is essential for maintaining a safe environment for all students and staff."

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Indiana student tests positive for Covid-19 on first day of school - CNN

1:07 PM ET

Jeff PassanESPN

The Philadelphia Phillies are optimistic that their last two positive COVID-19 tests -- with a coach and clubhouse attendant -- were false positives, Major League Baseball announced Saturday.

The Phillies, who are a week separated from games against the Miami Marlins with no positive tests among players through Friday's testing, are permitted to access Citizens Bank Park for staggered workouts beginning Saturday.

While three staff members have since tested positive since playing the Marlins, MLB on Saturday said "it appears that two of those individuals' tests were false positives, and it is unclear if the third individual contracted COVID-19 from Marlins players and staff based on the timing of the positive test."

False positives would be good for the Phillies because it would take the incubation period of the team's most recent exposure back to last Sunday against the Marlins, who have had 21 positive tests within their organization since that game.

The Phillies have not played since Sunday "out of an abundance of caution," MLB said Saturday, with series against the New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays being postponed.

Major League Baseball said the Phillies are currently scheduled to resume play this week with a four-game series against the Yankees -- in New York on Monday and Tuesday and at home Wednesday and Thursday.

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MLB optimistic that Phillies' last two COVID-19 tests were false positives - ESPN

Among nearly 5,000 people with developmental disabilities living in state-licensed group homes in Arizona, 320 have tested positive and 21 have died.(Photo: Ingram Publishing, Getty Images/Ingram Publishing)

People with disabilities who live in state-licensed homes and facilitieshave diedof COVID-19 at more than twicethe rate of those who live with family or own their own homes, according to state data.

The virus has killed 21people with developmental disabilities living in state-licensed settings, bringingthe death rate to about 6.5%.

Among nearly 5,000 residents, 320 have tested positive.

Those settings include group homes,which are by far the most common,or situations where a person lives alone but relies on caregivers to help with daily tasks. They also include Adult Development Homes, where familieshostresidents in their houses, and intermediate care facilities, which are similar to nursing homes.

Experts say people living in these placesmay also get delayed treatment because staff mightnot notice their symptoms as early as family would. Or, experts say, this population might be more proneto severe cases because they tend to be older and have more medical issues than those wholive with family.

Stephanie Silvera, an epidemiologist and professor of public health at Montclair State University in New Jersey, suggested that theymight suffer tougher bouts of COVID-19 becauseliving withother sick residents exposes them to larger viral loads or because they're cared for by numerous employees who could bring the virus to work.

This is all speculation, however, because the state releases such little data on the matter.

Epidemiologists and advocates interviewed by The Republic said to betterunderstand how the disease is affecting this vulnerable population they'd want to know the number of people tested, the ages of people who fell ill or died and what group homes or facilities had experiencedoutbreaks.

Families have repeatedly asked for more information during town hall meetings with the division, only to be told that sharing such data would jeopardize people's right to privacy on health matters, saidJon Meyers, executive director of the Arc of Arizona.

The Arc of Arizona is anadvocacy group for people with disabilities. Meyerstoohas requested suchinformation so his organizationcan better support people in areas hardest hit by COVID-19. The state said no, he said.

Less than 1% or 308of the 39,000-plus state disability system members who live with family or own their home have tested positive, and 3% of them have died.

"What thismeans is if you live in a group home or an intermediate care facility or an adult development home,your risk is a lot higher," Meyers said."To me that would indicate that something is not being done to keep the virus out of the residential settings."

About 6%of people with developmentaldisabilities who live in state-licensed homes or facilities have tested positive for COVID-19. That is much higher than the overall population's infection rate in Arizona of 2%.

Some of the disparity can be explained by more testing of peoplein congregate living settings, as everyone in an intermediate care facility has been tested under a government mandate.

But those residents account for a small fraction of people who live in state-licensed facilities.

The Republic asked the Department of Economic Securityfor the number of residents who'd been tested. But the Division of Developmental Disabilities, which is part of that department and charged with overseeing services for roughly 44,000 people with developmental disabilities, does nottrack that number, said Brett Bezio, spokesperson for the department.

The Arizona Department of Health Services did not answer questions about testing statistics for that population.

Epidemiologists and advocates for people with disabilities, however, said it's likely that more testing among a subset of that population doesn't explain away the entire discrepancy.

"In this situation where you're not only finding a higher proportion of cases but a higher mortality rate, that leads me tothink that may not be due to differences in testing rates alone," Silvera said.

Congregate living settings such as group homes face unique challenges during a pandemic. Maintaining a distance isn't possible when staff have to help residents with daily tasks such as bathing. Alsoemployeescome and go.

Employees are the main source of resident outbreaks,said Gina Griffiths, director of programs at the Opportunity Tree. Ahandful of her group home residents have gotten COVID-19. She couldn't say how many employees have tested positive.

Her organization requires group home staff to take their temperatures twice during ashift, though she acknowledged the absence of a fever doesn't mean someone's in the clear. None of the residents who tested positive had fevers.

But taking temperatures is at least something. Anything to chip away at the "feeling of helplessness."

"The biggest thing that we have zero control over is what is our staff is doing when they're not at work," she said."I want so much to say 'you all need to stay home and order your groceries online.'"

But she can't. Sure, she can try: She started a contest forhundreds of direct caregivers to document the ways they're social distancing. Most haven't participated.

The reality is the state only provides enough funding for these employees who administer medication, bathe and feed people and manage aggressive behavior to earnminimum wage.

Some must work other jobs to supplement their income.

"We treat them like they're flipping burgers," Griffiths said.

And now, on top of all of that, these workers have to risk getting COVID-19 on the job. Fear among staff has risen with the growing cases in Arizona. Group home administrators industry-wide continueto lose employees, either from fear of going to work or because they've been exposed to the virus and can't work.

That puts residents at even greater risk because it can undermine one of the few tactics group home directors can use to try to reduce risk.

The Opportunity Tree tries to assignindividual group home employeestojust one home to try to prevent spread from site to site. But 12%of direct care workers were out last week because they were either sick or had been exposed to the virus.So some employees hadto stretch among different homes.

Whenresidents get sickthey isolate them, either by moving them to a different house or by sending their uninfectedroommates to a different one. Opportunity Tree is paying employees extra money to move in with COVID-19 positive residents but that's not supported by state funding.

It's also setting up computers and wireless internetat all group homes to help keep residents engagedand for leadership to beable tocheck in via video chatsto make sure staff are wearing masks as required.

That's another coststate funding won't cover.

Being able to test staff regularly would be a goodway to prevent spread among residents, but group homes don't have money for that either.

Griffiths said Arizona's most recent state study on disabilityservices showed that the systemis underfunded by $250 million to $400 million.

"It created a situation where there was no other way for us to be caught other than flat-footed," said Taylor Buttrey, the Opportunity Tree's manager of cultural programming and community engagement.

Emails between Coconino County health officials show just how difficult it can be to contain virus spread in group homes.

The emails were obtained through a public records request for theDocumenting COVID-19 project at the Brown Institute for Media Innovation.

Across 16 group homes run by the Hozhoni Foundationin Flagstaff, Coconino County health officials struggled to determine which group home residents had been exposed to COVID-19 in the aftermath of a death.

A May 18 email from the county's communicable disease investigator, Marette Gebhardt,to other health officials reported that all four residents at one grouphome had tested positive.

The health officials emailed over the next few days about mass testing.

"I believe we need to include staff in this testing as well as I think there are several who either have not received their results or who continue to work with positive clients and may not be using PPE appropriately etc," wrote Kim Musselman, director of special initiatives.

But later that day Gebhardt wrote that there would be "virtually no way to nail down all staff members and test them at exactly the right time."

She wrote that there were 100 caregivers, a lot of whom "live on or frequent the reservation,"who got tested there or outside the county so there wasn't a good way to find their test results.

She determinedthrough interviews and a search ofa statedatabase that employees with COVID-19 had worked at 12 of the 16 Hozhoni Foundation homes.

VIRTUALLY NO WAY TO PROTECT: against coronavirus outbreaks at disability group homes

"We just have to accept the fact that there will be ongoing transmission and continued community exposures and they need to switch their focus to taking proper precautions at work and preventing the spread at work," Gebhardt wrote.

She said she sent the group home leadership guidance on quarantine,mask efficacy and how to use PPE correctly.

Ultimately, the county was able to track down test results for 94 Hozhoni employees, 74 of which the county tested itself, Gebhardt said in an email to The Republic.

Gebhardtsaid testing staff at the right times was one of the biggest challenges. They were being exposed to COVID-19 both at work and outside of work which made it difficult to determine the exact day of exposure. And officials needed to know that to determine the length of quarantine and the best day for testing.

They also weren't aware of who already had been tested at sites not sponsored by the county and received negative results, as only positive resultsare required to be reported to the county, Gebhardt said.

To add to the challenge, test results are reported to the county where a patient lives. So Coconino County health officials were not made aware ofCOVID-19 positive employees if they lived outside the county, Gebhardt said.

Through working with other counties and state officials, they were able to track down most of those results, though.

The county also made sure all residents were tested.

Most residents who tested positive were asymptomatic, Gebhardt said.

"The biggest challenge was the inherent nature of this disease in that once someone was exposed, time was required to determine if they became infected and would potentially infect others," Gebhart said."Although Hozhoni implemented temperature checks, symptom questionnaires, and strict rules about not working while ill, it is still very difficult to contain the spread of COVID-19 once it is circulating within a group of people."

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Despite the virus' spread in group homes, the pandemic has not devastated themto the extent that advocates had expected.

Many group homes have been able to secure adequate personal protective equipment and cleaning supplies and many agencies shuttered day programs to avoid large groups of people from gathering.

Yet some smaller group homes are struggling to find enough PPE and cleaning supplies, Meyers said. And without regular testing, containing the spread of thevirus remains elusive.

Residents of nursing homes and intermediate care facilities all received testing under an executive order. The Arc of the United Statesis trying to get the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services to mandate testing in places like group homes.

Until then, the best administrators can do is require masks and extensive cleaning, restrict visitation and resident outings,take employee and resident temperatures and moveresidents into separate buildings whenthey showsymptoms.But by then, everyone else in the house would likely have caught the virus.

Robert St. John's Glendalegroup home roommates were spared when he got sick. He tested positive for COVID-19 after a bout of vomiting, said his sister, Kat Crawford.

Kat Crawford, Kelly Solomon and Robert St. John at a family celebration in 2018.(Photo: Kat Crawford)

The 34-year-old was diagnosed in March, and his group home moved him out immediately. He spent about three months in an empty building otherwise used for day program services.

He stayed in a classroom on a roll-away bed with a DVD-player and a shower and washer and dryer down the hall. Staff would drop off meals at his door, but not enter.

He watched the movie Twister 30 times.

St. John continued to test positive until the end of June. Crawford said occasionally other sick residents joined him in the building.

"The most stressful part was that I couldn't see him," she said. "I couldn't go over and check on him. I couldn't pick him up and hang out."

Reach Caitlin McGlade atcaitlin.mcglade@arizonarepublic.comor 602-444-0582. Follow her on Twitter@caitmcglade.

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Group home residents are dying of COVID-19 at higher rates but an underfunded system sets them up for greater risk - AZCentral

A Florida man who tested positive for COVID-19 and was busted along with his wife in Key West for allegedly violating a quarantine order insisted Friday he was just walking their dog and not trying to endanger anyone.

I didnt do anything, 24-year-old Freire Interian told The Associated Press. I was just walking my dog. Its not as if I left the house to go shopping.

Interian spoke out as the coronavirus continued to cut a deadly swath through Florida with the state breaking its daily death record for the fourth day in a down with 257 new fatalities, according to the latest NBC News tally.

The numbing new figure was reported on the heels of Florida notching 253 deaths on Thursday, 216 on Wednesday, and 186 more on Tuesday -- all of which were new daily highs in a pandemic has turned the state into a COVID-19 hot spot.

Meanwhile, Florida was being menaced by Hurricane Isaias and Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency from Miami-Dade County all the way up the states Atlantic coastline a stretch that includes the counties with the biggest numbers of COVID-19 cases and deaths.

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As of Friday, Florida has reported 470,386 cases and 6,843 fatalities.

Nationwide, more than 4.5 million confirmed coronavirus cases have been reported along with 153,480 deaths, the NBC News figures show.

Interian was arrested along with his 27-year-old wife Yohana Anahi Gonzalez on Wednesday after neighbors videotaped them allegedly flouting the quarantine requirement, local officials have said.

They were each hit with misdemeanor charges of violating the state law that requires isolation or quarantine in a public health emergency and with violating emergency manages, conviction on which could send them both back to jail for up to 60 days.

Calling his arrest unfair, Interian said he was stunned when the Key West Police arrived at the house he shares with several other people.

They knocked on the door real loud, he said. I opened the door. They told me, Come on, and I asked them, Why? I was in shock.

Florida health officials, however, say Interian and Gonzalez learned they were infected on July 15 and were supposed to self-isolate for 14 days. But on July 20 they ventured out to a store and were caught doing so on video.

Interian and Gonzalez appear to be among the first people to be arrested in Florida for breaking quarantine. But they arent the first to run afoul of local quarantine regulations.

In Hawaii last month, 21 travelers were arrested for breaking the states mandatory 14-day quarantine, none of whom wound up testing positive. And in May, a 37-year-old Kentucky woman infected with COVID-19 was charged with wanton endangerment and criminal mischief after she was caught shopping for groceries while she should have been in isolation. It was the third time she had defied a quarantine order.

In other coronavirus-related developments:

Corky Siemaszko is a senior writer for NBC News Digital.

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Florida couple busted for breaking COVID-19 quarantine insists they were just walking the dog - NBC News

The first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Minnesota was announced on March 6 three months after China told to the world that patients in Wuhan were sick with pneumonia of unknown cause.

That first case was an older Ramsey County resident who had disembarked from the COVID-stricken Grand Princess cruise ship before it was quarantined. By the next week, a Carver County resident who had been in Europe was confirmed to have the virus. So was an Anoka County resident who had been traveling for work.

All three cases were in the Twin Cities metro area, which was the first place to be hit hard by the virus. Soon, medium-sized cities started to see coronavirus activity, as well as some rural parts of the state, particularly those with food processing outbreaks. But even months after the virus was first detected in the state, some rural parts of the state still saw low numbers of officially confirmed cases of the virus.

Thats started to change in recent weeks. Now some Greater Minnesota counties that had previously seen little confirmed coronavirus activity have started to see upticks in cases. And as of last weekend, with a confirmed case in Lake of the Woods County, every county in Minnesota has at least one case of COVID-19.

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The novel coronavirus first appeared in the United States big cities, with a major outbreak in New York City back in April. In Minnesota, Hennepin and Ramsey counties were early centers of the outbreak.

Carrie Henning-Smith, an assistant professor in the University of Minnesotas School of Public Health said this may have given parts of rural America a false sense of security about the virus.

We know that COVID started in the U.S. as a distinctly urban phenomenon. We were first hearing about it in Seattle and New York and New Orleans,she said.

[Since] this took a long time to spread into some rural communities, I think that false sense of security may have become heightened. I think people looked around and said Im not sick, none of my neighbors have gotten sick lets move on and move back to life as normal, Henning-Smith said.

That may be changing in some areas now. Mahnomen County, in northern Minnesota, saw new cases per capita double between the second and third weeks of July, from 5.4 cases per 10,000 residents to 10.9 the same number of cases per capita as Hennepin County. In Koochiching County, on the Canadian border, new cases went from 10.3 per 10,000 people the week of the Fourth of July to 15 per 10,000 people the following week.

Source: Minnesota Department of Health

The county had seen some coronavirus activity prior to July, but really saw an increase from 3.3 new cases per 10,000 residents to 11.1 per 10,000 residents after the Fourth of July, according to Minnesota Department of Health data. In the most recent week of data, the number of new confirmed cases had slowed slightly, to 9.5 per 10,000 residents.

Our initial surge was a group of early 20-year-olds, Borgen said. Once the restrictions were released and folks were out at the bars, sporting events, recreation leagues, that kind of was the start of it for us.

Despite that cases had been present prior, hospitalizations had been few until recently, Borgen said. As of this week, four people were hospitalized with COVID-19 in Beltrami County.

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Up until now, I think people felt a little more like If I get sick, Im not going to get very sick, Borgen said.

Some of the hospitalizations weve had were of people who were fairly young and healthy and its a small enough community that people learn pretty quickly whos in the hospital, even if we do our best to prevent any of that from coming through formal channels, she said.

While some in the community may not have seen COVID-19 as a big problem locally before, people are realizing this maybe is something that could impact me and my loved ones, Borgen said.

Before South Central Minnesotas Watonwan County saw an outbreak of COVID-19 last month, Community Health Services Manager Julia Whitcomb noted some belief in the community that the virus wasnt a concern in the area.

We did see some of those beliefs thinking its not here, so why do I need a mask or why do I need to follow social distancing, she said.

Concern heightened when cases climbed, but Whitcomb says some resumed lax mask-wearing behavior before the statewide mask order took effect on Saturday.

While geography is one factor that separates some Greater Minnesota residents feelings about the virus from others in the state, its not the only factor. The pandemic and the states handling of it has also become highly politicized, with people on the right side of the political spectrum tending to downplay the seriousness of the virus and the utility of interventions like face masks, while those on the left assume the opposite position.

Ahead of a public discussion of a local mask mandate in Alexandria that was scheduled before Gov. Tim Walzs mask mandate and took place this week, city officials said 286 people contacted the council in favor of a citywide mask mandate, while 463 people told the council they opposed such requirements.

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Many who opposed the local mask mandate cited low case counts as rationale.

Its not necessary as we have very few cases in our city. I think it will just cause tension between people, wrote one who opposed a potential local mandate.

But politics also came into play.

One employee of a senior living center in town wrote in using their work email addresses opposing the mask mandate on political grounds: This pandemic has become more political than anything because it is forcing Americans to submit to rules/regulations that do not support the constitution that this great country was built on.

But as cases climb again nationally and public health officials initially often opposed to masks on the grounds of limited supplies of medical-grade ones come to a general consensus that they are effective in slowing the virus spread, that may be changing, too.

In a Harvard/Harris poll released this week, 79 percent of respondents said they supported a national mask mandate. A Fox poll of Minnesota residents released this month found the majority of respondents, 85 percent, felt strongly or somewhat favorable towards Minnesotans who wore face masks.

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Particularly in summer, Greater Minnesota plays host to tourists from all over the state and country. Some residents worry about what that means when it comes to the accuracy of case counts in their areas.

Jen Sumption lives in Longville, Minnesota, home to the Woman Chain of Lakes, a big summer tourist destination in Cass County, where there have been 54 confirmed cases of COVID-19, according to MDH data, up from 12 a month ago.

Last week, she submitted a question to local radio station KAXE during a discussion with Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan to express concern about how case numbers are reported.

In rural Minnesota weve experienced an increase in cases as we saw an increase in out of town visitors, also the fishing opener and the Fourth of July weekend, she wrote.

If she were a Twin Cities or out-of-state resident who had been traveling up to lake country for generations, she said shed look at the states case map and might be likely to think Oh wow, Cass County, pretty consistently low, low-risk. Lets do it, she told MinnPost.

But she says that map isnt an accurate reflection of everyone whos been in Cass County: if people travel north and get sick, whether theyre tested in Cass County or back home, their result is associated with their home county.

Sumption told MinnPost that in a trip to town this week, she watched cars go by on Highway 84, the main drag through the town of 150.

I would say there were at least 20 to 25 cars that passed by where I could see their tags, and half were out-of-state, she said.

Shes concerned these travelers might see the low numbers in Cass County and let their guard down when they visit, believing the virus isnt in the community.

I think its a very false sense of security because the numbers dont actually represent the number of people who are really infected here, she said.

Walker Orenstein contributed to this report.

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COVID-19 has arrived in Greater Minnesota - MinnPost

New loans and grants announced across the continent in response to COVID-19

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved the largest emergency loan in its history on Monday, providing South Africa $4.3 billion as it deals with its most prolonged recession since World War II. The IMF said that the loan will address the severe economic impact of the Covid-19 shock as well as the challenge of debt sustainability following the pandemic. South Africa had previously received $1 billion from the New Development Bank and $300 million from the African Development Bank, and it hopes to secure up to $2 billion from the World Bank.

The IMF also approved a debt relief package worth up to $24.97 million for Burundiwith the goal of assisting the countrytoservice its debt over the next couple years. The IMF has now awarded $251.24 million in debt relief to 28 developing countriesfrom itsCatastrophe Containment and Relief Trustthis year, fundingthatit hopes will free up fiscal space for public health and economic recovery needs.

Also this week,the African Development Bank (AfDB) approved a series of pandemic-related relief packages. The bank will provide $97.7 million to Rwanda and $37.1 million to Djibouti, whilealsoawarding grants (from the banks $10 billion COVID-19 Response Facility) of $69 million to Ghana, $31.6 million to Uganda, and $53.3 million each to Gambia, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.In other AfDB news, also this week,an independent probe announced that it has cleared AfDB presidentAkinwumiAdesina of misconduct, verifying the findings of anAfDB-led inquiry earlier this year.

On Saturday, July 25,theparliament of Somalia voted to remove Prime Minister Hassan AliKhairefrom office. One-hundred and seventy of the 178 members backed the motion,which statedthatKhairefailed to pave the way for democratic electionsincludingby improving the unstable security situation posed by alShabaabmilitants.President Mohamed AbdullahiMohamed has namedDeputy Prime Minister Mahdi MohamedGuledto serve as interim prime minister,according to the presidentsoffice.

Somalia has for years set its sights on one person, one vote,or a universal suffrage election, but hasnot been able to implement the policyinthe countrysprevious two elections. In 2012, 135 clan elders chose theparliament, who in turn selectedthepresident. In 2016,14,025 clan-representatives held a run-offelectionin an airport hangar at AdenAddeInternational AirportinMogadishu. Lawmakers had aimed to hold the countrys first fully democratic election in a half century in 2021, but now that goal is shrouded in uncertainty.

Khaire, also a Norwegian citizen and former primary school teacher in Norway, was new to politics when he was named prime minister in 2017. As a memberof theHawiyeclan, he had served to balancepower with theDarod presidentin accordance with the 4.5 clan system, which traditionally has led to theDarodand Hawiye clans each taking one of the highest two positions of office.He had previously worked at the British firmSoma Oil and Gas, where he was thedirector of the Africa department.

In Mali, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)regional bloc continued to work towardbrokering a political agreementbetween President Ibrahim BoubacarKetaand a protestingopposition. Earlier this week, theECOWAS negotiators recommended a dealwherein the 31 candidates elected to the countrys parliament earlier this year under contested circumstances step down and that by-elections be held. The plan also includes an inquiry into the deaths of 11 anti-government protesters earlier this month. Although the protestors are calling forKetasresignation, ECOWAS instead called for the rapid formation of a unity government that includes the opposition. However, theopposition coalition leading the protests, known as M5-RFP or the June 5 Movement, has rejectedthe proposed ECOWAS plan.

In Cte dIvoire,the rulingRally ofHouphoutistsfor Democracy and Peace (RHDP)has nominated current President Alassane Ouattara to run for president again after the recent death of the partys former nominee and current prime minister,AmadouGon Coulibaly.Notably,earlier this year Ouattarahad alreadydeclined to run for a third terminfavorof a successor.As of this writing,Ouattara has not yet accepted the nomination, but plans to give a speech on August 6 during which experts believe he will announce his decision. Notably, theopposition claims that Ouattara is not eligibleto run again.

Read more from the original source:

Africa in the news: New funding to fight COVID-19 in Africa, Somalias prime minister voted out, and political updates in Mali and Cte dIvoire -...

This article was produced by FairWarning, a nonprofit news organization based in Southern California that focuses on public health, consumer, labor and environmental issues.

COVID-19 sent Sylvia LeRoy, a pregnant nurse working at a Brooklyn hospital in the earliest days of the pandemic, into a tailspin that left her barely responsive in a brain recovery center in New York City.

The coronavirus hit the 35-year-old with an array of maladies from severe muscle spasms to stomach issues and even a dislocated jaw, likely from when she was revived from heart failure that had to be addressed before the brain center could awaken her from a near-vegetative state.

There was another hurdle as well. LeRoys insurance would only cover 60 days at the brain recovery center, not enough time for her to make real progress, her sister Shirley Licin, who is caring for the healthy baby that LeRoy gave birth to while sick, told FairWarning. Nor would her insurance begin to cover the costs of her recovery once she left the center, from a $70,000 vehicle capable of moving her wheelchair to a highly specialized $4,000 shower chair.

It seemed obvious to her family that LeRoy got the disease at her workplace, the Brookdale University Hospital Medical Center in Brooklyn, which had been overwhelmed with COVID-19 when the outbreak started.

So they did the logical thing they filed a workers compensation claim.

It was denied.

Across the United States, workers like LeRoy face wildly varying rules about whether COVID-19 is covered as a workplace injury. More than a dozen states, including Utah, Michigan and Illinois, have changed their laws or rules since the pandemic, often so that a nurse would be presumed to have contracted the virus at work, leaving it up to the employer to prove that the worker got it someplace else.

But even among the states that have created so-called presumptions, there are significant differences, with some extending them only to hospital or emergency response workers, while others include all of those whose jobs required them to interact with the public during the pandemic.

Still others, like New York, have not made a change, forcing workers to try to document that they contracted the disease on the job. New York legislators have introduced a couple of bills, one creating a presumption for emergency responders and another that defines COVID-19 as an occupational disease, but they remain bottled up in committees.

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That leaves workers like LeRoy with the formidable task of trying to prove they contracted the virus on the job. The workers comp carrier who denied LeRoys claim, GCG Risk Management, did not respond to a request for comment.

Trying to prove where somebody contracted an infection is really difficult, Bill Smith, president of the nonprofit Workers Injury Law & Advocacy Group, said. Youve got health care workers working around individuals who are positive and you would think clearly they would be covered. They may or may not, depending on what state youre in.

Workers comp systems vary considerably from state to state, but in general, employers are required to maintain workers comp insurance, which they most often obtain from private carriers that cover worker costs for medical treatment, lost time and permanent disabilities.

These insurers make determinations on claims based on whether they believe the injury occurred on the job, as well as what treatments are warranted. Workers whose claims are denied can appeal to hearing officers and workers comp boards, and eventually in court, but in complicated cases this can take years.

The stakes are high for those with serious cases. Even if they have health insurance, they can face ruinous costs if their workers comp claims are denied.

And for survivors of those who die, the workers comp system may offer the only way to make up for their loved ones lost income.

In Greeley, Colorado, the workers comp administrator for the JBS USA meatpacking plant denied a claim from the family of Daniel Avila Loma, 65, who died of COVID-19 in late April. JBS did not respond to requests for comment.

Loma had worked at the plant for 30 years. When he got sick in March, he was working in the knife-sharpening shop, where workers dropped off their knives each day as their shifts ended. COVID-19 ran rampant at the JBS plant, which ultimately had almost 300 cases and six deaths.

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Loma, who had five children, 16 grandchildren and a great-grandson, was on a ventilator and had several strokes before he died. His wife and one of his adult sons, both disabled, lived with him.

My father was the sole provider for the household, another son, Olivier, wrote in a letter supporting a Colorado bill to create workers comp presumptions for front-line workers.

The bill failed over claims it would dramatically drive up costs for public agencies. Almost 30 businesses, associations and chambers of commerce wrote to the state Legislature that extending the COVID-19 presumption to all workers would cost $3 billion, assuming half were infected. Mack Babcock, the attorney for Lomas family, believes those estimates were wildly exaggerated.

In Ohio, Santina Curry, 45, a correctional officer at the Cuyahoga County Jail, came down with COVID-19 in March after she served breakfast to an inmate who was coughing and later tested positive. A week later, she got an excruciating headache, then a fever. She was sick for about nine weeks, and even now shes struggling with shortness of breath, which prevents her from being cleared to go back to work.

Im not able to do a lot of things, like family activities, grandkids birthday parties, she said. Im so tired.

Curry, who is getting neither disability nor unemployment benefits, has instead started a GoFundMe page to cover the costs of her illness.

Her employer, Cuyahoga County, is self-insured for workers compensation and fought the claim, and a district hearing officer at the Ohio Industrial Commission, which hears workers comp appeals, sided with the county. But Curry continues to fight for coverage and is waiting for the results of an appeal last Wednesday to a higher level hearing officer.

Her attorney, David Nager, said the county did not present evidence that Curry got the disease elsewhere, just that she failed to prove she got it at work. Cuyahoga County did not respond to a request for comment.

Ohio is one of the states that has not changed its law to shift the burden of proof to employers. Among the workers Nager is representing are truck drivers, a fast-food worker, and employees of grocery stores and hospitals.

Historically, state workers comp systems have not covered most infectious diseases. There have been exceptions, said Emily Spieler, a professor at Northeastern University School of Law in Boston and an expert on workers comp. One example would be a nurse who worked in a tuberculosis ward and contracted the disease.

But the line is usually drawn at ordinary diseases of life that someone could get as easily outside of work as on the job.

Nobody was getting compensated for getting the flu, for example, Spieler said. The question becomes, in a pandemic, where you're telling people they have to go to work, and they may or are likely to be exposed, how should the workers compensation system respond?

Since the pandemic started, 15 states have made it easier, either through laws or regulations, for workers who contracted COVID-19 to get their claims accepted, according to one tally. This often takes the form of creating a presumption for certain categories of workers. Fewer than half of the remaining states are considering legislation or other changes. The rest have done nothing.

The lack of a presumption may not doom a case. In states that have not created new rules for COVID-19, workers may still argue that the coronavirus is a work-related illness like black lung disease or a repetitive stress disorder. They have to show that their risk was higher than the general public because of exposure at work.

In some states that have not created special treatment for workers who get COVID-19, insurers are nonetheless accepting claims.

In Ohio, for instance, some employers didnt appeal when the state-run workers comp insurer approved claims, Nager said, whether it was that they didnt want to be the first jerk employer on the block or liked their employees or what.

New York insurers are rejecting most claims, Michael Gruber, the attorney for LeRoy, the Brooklyn nurse, said.

Weve had some very, very acute cases, which are very tragic, that are not being accepted, he said.

Uncertainty over the long-term effects of COVID-19 may be driving the rejections, Gruber said.

Is a person who has a positive test and has COVID-19 going to need medical treatment for the remainder of their life through medications or through occasional checkups, yearly checkups? I dont know, he said. But if they do then the workers compensation insurance company is on the hook.

Workers comp insurers may have to raise rates because of uncertainties such as these, said Steven Weisbart, chief economist of the Insurance Information Institute, an organization with more than 60 insurance company members providing data and studies.

The institute is getting reports of people having long-term health issues affecting multiple organs, from the lungs to the brain.

The long-term issues are absolutely unclear, he said. Thats a potentially big-dollar area.

Babcock, the Colorado attorney, said he hopes some insurers are rejecting claims simply because they have not had the time they have 20 days in Colorado to make a decision to investigate the validity. The rejection can buy them more time to interview the worker and others to find out if there are any obvious reasons to continue to fight the claim a spouse got it first, for instance, or it was not prevalent at work.

In Oregon, most claims have been accepted even in the absence of a law or a regulation for COVID-19 patients, Jennifer Flood, the state ombudsman for injured workers, said.

But she said that many workers with potential claims havent filed them. Workers comp insurers told her they had not received claims from workplaces where there had been known clusters.

I believe that workers are thinking, Well, the flu isn't covered if you get the flu at work, she said. She believes from anecdotal evidence that the lack of claims is a combination of workers believing they dont have a right to file, and employers telling them they dont.

The families of undocumented workers may also be reluctant to file claims, she said, even though they are entitled to workers comp benefits.

In the case of deaths, unlike illnesses covered in part by medical insurance, the workers comp system may be the only source of compensation. These cases can pay upwards of $1 million depending on the state, according to one law firm.

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In most cases, workers whose claims have been denied have little recourse outside the workers comp system, created a century ago to allow workers to get quick help while employers avoided costly lawsuits.

Its a high bar, but workers can sue in certain circumstances for instance if the employer were recklessly negligent or put workers at risk on purpose. A few such lawsuits have already been filed alleging that workplaces failed to take steps to protect workers against COVID-19 infection.

Meanwhile, in New York, Licin hopes the state Senate will move forward with the stalled bills that would help her sister, who is now back home, get her case accepted by the workers comp insurer. LeRoys case is scheduled for a hearing in September.

Its unfair on so many levels, Licin said. Obviously, I know insurance companies wont be happy. But these are people that had to go to work.

The rest is here:

Some workers sickened by COVID-19 face an extra challenge: Proving where they got it - NBC News

The actor, famed for playing chemistry teacher turned crystal meth drug lord Walter White, took to Instagram to share the news that he had been "one of the lucky ones" to survive the virus.

"Hi. About now you're probably feeling a little tied down, restricting your mobility and like me, you're tired of this!!" he wrote. "Well, I just want to encourage you to have a little more patience. I was pretty strict in adhering to the protocols and still... I contracted the virus. Yep. it sounds daunting now that over 150,000 Americans are dead because of it. I was one of the lucky ones.

"Mild symptoms. I count my blessings and urge you to keep wearing the damn mask, keep washing your hands, and stay socially distant. We can prevail - but ONLY if we follow the rules together. Be well - Stay well. BC"

The center's website states: "You may have antibodies in your plasma that attack the virus. Your donated plasma could be used for compassionate treatment or as part of a scientific trial to determine definitively if this treatment works. It can also be used to support research efforts such as making tests to check immunity to the virus."

Donors must have either tested positive for the condition or for the presence of antibodies, and need to be fully recovered -- the website states that the center only accepts donations "after you have been completely well with no symptoms for at least 14 days."

On a ticker tape across the video, Cranston said: "I was sick with covid quite early on. My symptoms were a slight headache, tightness of the chest and I lost all taste and smell!"

The footage, which has been viewed nearly 270,000 times, shows Cranston before he enters the facility, as he is prepped beforehand, and during the process.

Introducing the health worker taking the donation as Ron, he laughs and says: "I noticed Ron was a little nervous coming in this morning, a little shaky -- how's your aim, Ron?"

Ron explains the process, saying blood is taken and then separated by a centrifuge. The plasma is extracted and harvested, then the platelets and red blood cells are returned to the donor.

In a text posted across the video, Cranston writes: "The whole process took about an hour, thank god for old movies."

Viewers can then see that the actor had been watching "A Face in the Crowd," a 1957 drama starring Andy Griffith.

When shown the bags of collected plasma, Cranston says: "Beautiful... liquid gold."

Finally, he signs off on the ticker tape: "Today they collected 840ml!I'll be sure to come back and give more."

He then asks: "Have you had Covid-19? This is something that you might be able to do to," before adding a link to his post.

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Bryan Cranston says he had Covid-19 and shares a video of himself donating plasma - CNN

We're making coronavirus coverage available without a subscription as a public service. But we depend on reader support to do this work. Please consider joining others in supporting local journalism in Alaska for just $3.23 a week.

A resident of Anchorage is the 23rd Alaskan with COVID-19 to die since the pandemic began, the state reported Tuesday as virus cases continue to surge around the state.

The person who died was a man in his 60s with a history of underlying medical issues, according to Elizabeth Manning, a communications manager with the state health department.

Alaska on Tuesday reported 84 new cases among Alaskans and 36 cases among nonresidents, leading to an overall total of 2,489 active cases statewide as of Thursday.

Current hospitalizations of people with COVID-19 increased by three from the previous day to 37, new numbers on the states COVID-19 dashboard showed, and another eight hospital patients are under investigation for COVID-19. Three people with either confirmed or cases under investigation were on ventilators statewide.

In a call with reporters on Thursday, state health officials urged people who show symptoms and are waiting for a test result to isolate at home. And those who test positive for the illness should isolate until theyre better and have been cleared by public health workers.

If a person spends 15 minutes or more with someone else who ends up testing positive including the two days before someone shows symptoms or tests positive they must quarantine for two weeks, and a testing strategy cant shorten that, Dr. Anne Zink, the states chief medical officer, said during the call.

We really need people to minimize the risk of transmission during that time, Zink said.

New cases reported by the state Thursday include 42 residents of Anchorage, which also tallied one new nonresident case, and one Eagle River resident. In the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Wasilla saw seven resident cases and one nonresident case, and four Palmer residents and two Big Lake residents also tested positive.

Six Fairbanks residents and two nonresidents tested positive, as did a resident of a smaller community within the Fairbanks North Star Borough.

In the Kenai Peninsula Borough, Seward saw 23 nonresident cases while Soldotna had four new cases among residents plus one involving a nonresident, and one Kenai resident tested positive.

In the Northwest Arctic Borough, two people from Kotzebue and seven people from smaller communities tested positive, state data showed.

In Juneau, two residents and four nonresidents tested positive. The state also reported one case each among residents of Kodiak, Craig, Utqiagvik, Unalaska and smaller communities in the Bethel Census Area and the combined Yakutat and Hoonah-Angoon region.

There were also four cases among nonresidents in unknown areas, state data showed.

[Because of a high volume of comments requiring moderation, we are temporarily disabling comments on many of our articles so editors can focus on the coronavirus crisis and other coverage. We invite you to write a letter to the editor or reach out directly if youd like to communicate with us about a particular article. Thanks.]

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State reports death of Anchorage resident with COVID-19 and nearly 2500 active cases - Anchorage Daily News

TheWest Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) reports as of 10:00 a.m., on July 28,2020, there have been 268,039 totalconfirmatory laboratory results received for COVID-19, with 6,119 totalcases and 108 deaths.

DHHR has confirmed the deaths of an 87-yearold female from Wood County and a 47-year old female from Berkeley County. Wejoin with these families as they grieve the loss of their loved ones, saidBill 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 (28/0), Berkeley (600/22), Boone (68/0), Braxton (8/0), Brooke(51/1), Cabell (281/9), Calhoun (6/0), Clay (17/0), Doddridge (2/0), Fayette(121/0), Gilmer (14/0), Grant (42/1), Greenbrier (83/0), Hampshire (65/0),Hancock (86/5), Hardy (50/1), Harrison (165/1), Jackson (154/0), Jefferson(280/5), Kanawha (697/13), Lewis (24/1), Lincoln (51/2), Logan (93/0), Marion(155/4), Marshall (109/2), Mason (41/0), McDowell (16/1), Mercer (108/0),Mineral (96/2), Mingo (104/2), Monongalia (824/16), Monroe (18/1), Morgan(24/1), Nicholas (26/1), Ohio (241/0), Pendleton (27/1), Pleasants (6/1),Pocahontas (40/1), Preston (98/22), Putnam (152/1), Raleigh (134/4), Randolph(203/3), Ritchie (3/0), Roane (14/0), Summers (5/0), Taylor (38/1), Tucker(8/0), Tyler (11/0), Upshur (34/2), Wayne (174/2), 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.

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.

Link:

COVID-19 Daily Update 7-28-2020 - 10 AM - West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources

News releases | Video

July 30, 2020

Face coverings will continue to be an important and effective tool in combating the spread of COVID-19, public health experts say.

Individuals who wear face masks play a key role in limiting how fast the virus spreads in our communities, along with vigilant hand washing and physical distancing, saidJen Balkus,an epidemiologist and assistant professor in the UW Department of Epidemiology.

Because you can have COVID-19 and show no symptoms, even healthy people should wear masks to protect others in case they have the virus and dont know it.By covering your nose and mouth, masks limit the spread of droplets from coughing, sneezing and talking that might carry the novel coronavirus.

In instances where theres a high level of mask wearing, were seeing fewer infections compared to when masks are not being worn, Balkus said.

Learning to have masks on hand is a good practice and will eventually feel more normal, especially since we may be doing it for a while, she added. It might feel a little bit unfamiliar or uncomfortable or just plain awkward to be doing, but its such an important prevention tool.

The Washington State Department of Health guidelines and statewide mask directive say that people should wear a face covering at any indoor or outdoor public space where they may be within 6 feet of someone who does not live with them. The UW also has a COVID-19 face covering policy.

More information:

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Face coverings an important tool to fight COVID-19 - UW News

The Barron County Health Department is urging residents to stop unnecessary travel and avoid all gatherings following a dramatic surge of new cases of COVID-19. More than 150 new cases have been reported since mid-July, nearly half of which occurred at a food processing plant.

In the past two weeks, the number of people testing positive for COVID-19 has increased by more than 162 percent according to data from the Barron County Department of Health and Human Services. A press release issued by the department Wednesday reported 150 new cases across the county includinga cluster at a processing facility in the city of Cumberland owned by Seneca Foods, though it did not specify how many employees had gotten sick. DHS data for Barron County showed79 total positives on July 16. On Thursday, the agency reported 207 cases in the county.

Matt Henschler, Seneca Foods senior vice president of technical services, was quoted in the county announcement as saying the company is taking a "united approach"in identifying people who have tested positive or are symptomatic.

"Individuals are being isolated and monitored until cleared to resume activity,"said Henschler. "CDC guidelines regarding the preparation and management for COVID-19 are being followed."

Henschler did not respond to an interview request for this story.

Laura Sauve, thecounty health officer, also noted in the press release that the cases at the Seneca food processing facility "is not the only cause for the increase in cases."She also said the company did a good job of following CDC recommendations in hopes of preventing cases.

"This situation shows just how quickly the virus can spread,"said Sauve.

In an interview with WPR, Barron County Public Health specialist Sarah Turner said preliminary numbers show that just less than half of the 150 new county COVID-19 cases in the past two weeks could be traced to Seneca Foods. She said the health department did not know if masks had been required at the plant prior to the outbreak. Much of the other new cases in Barron County were reported in the city of Rice Lake, she said.

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"A lot of the cases outside of the outbreak (at the Cumberland facility) can be traced back to travel gatherings, crowded spaces, things like that,"Turner said.

During a Wednesday discussion with the Milwaukee Press Club, Wisconsin U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin touted a bill she co-introduced that would require the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to issue an emergency standard establishing a legal obligation for all workplaces to implement control plans to limit worker exposure to COVID-19.

"We're in the end of July," Baldwin said. "And we don't have a federal agency who's issued standards. All we have is voluntary guidelines. Sothat to me is an essential piece of it."

As of Wednesday, there had been three deaths in Barron County. Data from the DHS shows two of those deaths happened within the last week. Barron County Health's Turner said six people were hospitalized as of Thursday afternoon, with "several of them"in the intensive care unit.

Another press release from the county health department issued Wednesday urged residents to practice steps recommended in the now defunct "Safer-at-Home"executive order issued by Gov. Tony Evers and DHS Secretary Andrea Palm in March. Those include avoiding gatherings of more than 10 people indoors, stopping all unnecessary travel, not eating in restaurants or going to bars and frequent hand washing.

Turner said the county is encouraging everyone in the community to "please stay home"and isolate if they show flu-like symptoms.

"You know, one thing in our area of the world in the Midwest we have an awesome work ethic, which is a great thing,"said Turner. "But unfortunately, in times of COVID-19, it can also be not such a great thing because, you know, even outside of this Seneca outbreak, we've seen people who have gone to work symptomatic because we always go to work."

The statewide stay-at-home order was struck down by the state Supreme Court May 13. That day there were a total of 10,902 positive cases of COVID-19 reported by DHS. That number has swelled to 51,409 as of Wednesday.

On Thursday, Evers announced a statewide mask mandate aimed at slowing the spread of the disease. The order goes into effect Aug.1 and is set to expire Sept. 28 and requires individuals5 years and older to wear masks in indoor or "enclosed public places"when non-family members are present. Indoor public places, under the order, include indoor and outdoor bars, restaurants, stores, outdoor park structures and public transit. Those who don't follow the mandate could be fined up to $200.

Link:

Barron County Sees 162-Percent Increase In Positive Cases Of COVID-19 In 2 Weeks - Wisconsin Public Radio News

'); $("#expandable-weather-block .modal-body #mrd-alert"+ alertCount).append(""+val.title+""); // if (window.location.hostname == "www.kmov.com" || window.location.hostname == "www.kctv5.com" || window.location.hostname == "www.azfamily.com" || window.location.hostname == "www.kptv.com" || window.location.hostname == "www.fox5vegas.com" || window.location.hostname == "www.wfsb.com") { if (val.poly != "" && val.polyimg != "") { $("#expandable-weather-block .modal-body #mrd-alert"+ alertCount).append('"+val.ihtml+""); $("#expandable-weather-block .weather-index-alerts").show(); $("#expandable-weather-block .modal-body h2").css({"font-family":"'Fira Sans', sans-serif", "font-weight":"500", "padding-bottom":"10px"}); $("#expandable-weather-block .modal-body p").css({"font-size":"14px", "line-height":"24px"}); $("#expandable-weather-block .modal-body span.wxalertnum").css({"float":"left", "width":"40px", "height":"40px", "color":"#ffffff", "line-height":"40px", "background-color":"#888888", "border-radius":"40px", "text-align":"center", "margin-right":"12px"}); $("#expandable-weather-block .modal-body b").css("font-size", "18px"); $("#expandable-weather-block .modal-body li").css({"font-size":"14px", "line-height":"18px", "margin-bottom":"10px"}); $("#expandable-weather-block .modal-body ul").css({"margin-bottom":"24px"}); $("#expandable-weather-block .modal-body pre").css({"margin-bottom":"24px"}); $("#expandable-weather-block .modal-body img").css({"width":"100%", "margin-bottom":"20px", "borderWidth":"1px", "border-style":"solid", "border-color":"#aaaaaa"}); $("#expandable-weather-block .modal-body #mrd-alert"+ alertCount).css({"borderWidth":"0", "border-bottom-width":"1px", "border-style":"dashed", "border-color":"#aaaaaa", "padding-bottom":"10px", "margin-bottom":"40px"}); }); } function parseAlertJSON(json) { console.log(json); alertCount = 0; if (Object.keys(json.alerts).length > 0) { $("#mrd-wx-alerts .modal-body ").empty(); } $.each(json.alerts, function(key, val) { alertCount++; $("#mrd-wx-alerts .alert_count").text(alertCount); $("#mrd-wx-alerts .modal-body ").append(''); $("#mrd-wx-alerts .modal-body #mrd-alert"+ alertCount).append(""+val.title+""); // if (window.location.hostname == "www.kmov.com" || window.location.hostname == "www.kctv5.com" || window.location.hostname == "www.azfamily.com" || window.location.hostname == "www.kptv.com" || window.location.hostname == "www.fox5vegas.com" || window.location.hostname == "www.wfsb.com") { if (val.poly != "" && val.polyimg != "") { $("#mrd-wx-alerts .modal-body #mrd-alert"+ alertCount).append(''); } else if (val.fips != "" && val.fipsimg != "") { // $("#mrd-wx-alerts .modal-body #mrd-alert"+ alertCount).append(''); } // } //val.instr = val.instr.replace(/[W_]+/g," "); $("#mrd-wx-alerts .modal-body #mrd-alert"+ alertCount).append(val.dhtml+"

Instruction

See the article here:

Multnomah, Marion and Hood River counties added to Oregons COVID-19 watch list - KPTV.com