A C.D.C. report on children shows hundreds were sent to intensive care for a syndrome connected to Covid-19.

Hundreds of children in America, most of them previously healthy, have experienced an inflammatory syndrome associated with Covid-19, and most became so ill that they needed intensive care, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The syndrome, which can be deadly, has rattled parents and education officials as schools across the United States struggle with the prospect of reopening in the fall and the coronavirus continues its spread.

The researchers said that from early March to late July, the C.D.C. received reports of 570 young people ranging from infants to age 20 who met the definition of the new condition, called Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children or MIS-C. The reports came from health departments in 40 states, as well as New York City and Washington, D.C.

The patients were disproportionately people of color, echoing a pattern in adults who have been struck by the respiratory disease caused by the virus. About 40 percent were Hispanic or Latino, 33 percent were Black, and 13 percent were white, the report said. The median age was 8. About 25 percent of the patients had obesity before becoming sick.

MIS-C was first recognized in May as a condition linked to Covid-19 that appears to occur in children and young people who often had not developed any of the respiratory symptoms that are the primary way the virus attacks adults.

The syndrome, which can include a fever, rash, pinkeye, stomach distress, confusion, bluish lips, muscle weakness, racing heart rate and cardiac shock, appears to emerge days or weeks after the initial viral infection, and experts believe it may be the result of a revved-up immune system response to defeating the viruss first assault.

The C.D.C. reported that about two-thirds of the patients had no previous underlying medical conditions, and most experienced complications that involved four or more organ systems, especially the heart. Ten died. Nearly two-thirds were admitted to intensive care units for a median of five days.

Crisis negotiations between the White House and top Democrats teetered on the brink of collapse on Friday, as both sides said they remained deeply divided on an economic recovery package and President Trump indicated that he was prepared to act on his own to provide relief, although it was unclear whether he has the authority to do so.

At a news conference on Friday evening at his golf resort in Bedminster, N.J., Mr. Trump said that if an aid agreement with congressional Democrats could not be reached, he would sign executive orders reinstating a national moratorium on evictions, deferring student loan interest and payments until further notice, and enhancing unemployment benefits through the end of the year.

He also said he would defer payroll taxes, retroactive from July 1 through the end of the year.

The president did not specify how the deferral would work, and it was unclear whether he had the authority to take such an action without approval from Congress. The move, which would not help unemployed workers, faces opposition from both Democrats and Republicans in Congress.

The news conference came after a meeting between administration officials and Democratic leaders that ended with no agreement and no additional talks scheduled.

Democrats, who had earlier said they would be willing to lower their spending demands to $2 trillion from $3.4 trillion, said the White House needed to return with a higher overall price tag after Mr. Trumps negotiators declined to accept that offer. Republicans have proposed a $1 trillion plan.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, called for Democrats to lower the amount of aid for state and local governments and to provide more specifics on how they proposed to revive lapsed unemployment benefits.

While the executive orders have not been finalized, Mr. Meadows said it was likely that action would come over the weekend.

The blockaded Gaza Strip might be one of the only places in the world where no cases of community transmission of the coronavirus have been recorded a phenomenon attributed to the coastal enclaves isolation as well as to swift measures taken by its militant Hamas rulers.

But the pandemic has not left Gaza untouched.

Citing a need to combat the virus, the authorities that control Gazas borders have imposed new restrictions on movement outside the territory. That has exacerbated an already challenging situation for Palestinians who say they urgently need to travel to Israel and the West Bank.

In March, fearing an outbreak in Gaza, the Hamas authorities ordered all travelers returning to the territory by way of Israel and Egypt to enter quarantine facilities for three weeks. They could not leave quarantine until they had passed two virus tests.

The system seems to have succeeded. All 78 known infections in the territory were detected at quarantine facilities.

Still, experts did not rule out the possibility of the pandemic penetrating into the areas densely populated cities and towns.

All it takes is one small mistake, said Gerald Rockenschaub, the head of the World Health Organizations mission to the Palestinians. Theres no guarantee the virus wont get inside.

Mr. Rockenschaub warned that Gaza lacked the resources to deal with a widespread outbreak, noting that medical institutions had only about 100 adult ventilators, most of which were already in use.

Before the coronavirus hobbled the U.S. economy, many low-wage workers were already struggling to make ends meet.

After mass layoffs and a deep recession followed in the early months of the pandemic, millions of workers found themselves faced with evictions, late car payments, and crushing medical bills. For many, the main solace through the worst months of the crisis was a broad range of stimulus measures, including $600 per week in extra unemployment benefits.

But with those measures expiring, and no clear indication of whether new ones will replace them, many unemployed workers now find themselves in limbo, struggling to find work in an economy that remains significantly weakened.

Eviction moratoriums are expiring or have expired in much of the country, and a report released Friday warned that 30 million to 40 million tenants risk losing their homes in the coming months. The Paycheck Protection Program, which helped thousands of small businesses to retain workers, also ends this week.

Research from the last recession found that when unemployment benefits ran out, people cut their spending on food, medicine and other necessities, suggesting they were able to do little to prepare for the drop in income.

While wealthier families may be able to draw on savings to get by until Congress strikes a deal to prolong the stimulus, lower-income households face serious long-term consequences from even a temporary lapse in income. An eviction can make it hard to rent in the future. Having a car repossessed can make it hard to find another job. And for children, periods of hunger, homelessness and stress can have long-term effects on development and learning.

While the U.S. economy has slowly added back some jobs that vanished at the beginning of the pandemic, the unemployment rate still stands at over 10 percent. For those who may not return to work for some time, the loss of protections has only added to uncertainty about the future.

New Yorkers, by and large, have adhered to rules mandating social distancing and mask wearing. The diligence has helped keep the coronavirus under control in the city even as outbreaks have raged across the United States, primarily in the South and the West.

As the summer wears on, however, mounting reports of parties, concerts and other social events, like a recent rave under the Kosciuszko Bridge, are raising fears that New Yorks hard-earned stability may be tenuous.

Over the last few weeks, videos and photos posted on social media have shown densely packed, mask-free crowds.

Its illegal, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said at a recent news conference, referring to the partying. It not only violates public health, but it violates human decency.

The images contrast sharply with the memories of a brutal spring in New York that left tens of thousands dead, disproportionately ravaging low-income communities and neighborhoods with high numbers of Black and Latino people.

Illegal raves are growing in popularity in Europe, including in Berlin, in London and near Paris, as coronavirus lockdowns are eased across the continent but most nightclubs remain closed.

Outdoor events for hundreds in some cases, thousands organized via social media and messaging apps, are in full swing each weekend, causing headaches for police forces and lawmakers, and stirring public debate and news media panic.

Worries that nightlife activity would fuel the spread of the virus have in the meantime led Curaao, the Caribbean island, to close its bars and clubs for at least two weeks since Friday, according to the Dutch newswire ANP. The nearby island Aruba was reported to have almost 300 confirmed cases over the last five days.

When a coronavirus lockdown sealed Myanmars borders in March, the tourism industry was devastated, even if the country was spared from disease.

Now, in the hill town of Pyin Oo Lwin, owners of horse carts that used to clip-clop through streets laden with visitors are sending their animals to slaughterhouses because they can no longer afford to keep them alive.

I feel sad about selling the horse, because he is like a family member, said U Maung Win, a horse cart owner. He worked so hard to save our lives, and I could not save his life.

For months now, no tourists have come to ride through the town, with its cool breezes and pretty gardens, Mr. Maung Win said, but the horses still needed to be fed, at a cost of a couple dollars a day. The slaughterhouses paid about $500 per animal.

Mr. Maung Win, who supports a family of six, now works as a mason and is paid less than $10 a week.

Its better than nothing, he said.

With his horse and a cart painted like a fairy-tale stagecoach, Mr. Maung Win could pull in $10 in a single day, delivering tourists to the botanical gardens or cafes offering fresh strawberries. Couples posed for wedding pictures in the carriages, holding the bell-adorned reins in their intertwined hands.

Two-thirds of the 100 or so horse carts in town are now gone, Mr. Maung Win said.

I tried not to sell the horse to the slaughterhouse, but I had no choice, he said. I still feel sad talking about this.

Lucky friends, he said, had two horses. But he owned only one.

Of all the missteps by governments during the pandemic, few have had such an immediate and devastating impact as the failure to protect nursing homes. Tens of thousands of older people have died casualties not only of the virus, but of more than a decade of ignored warnings that nursing homes were vulnerable.

Public health officials around the world excluded nursing homes from their pandemic preparedness plans and omitted residents from the mathematical models used to guide their responses.

In recent months, as the United States has blundered its way into the worlds largest death toll, about 40 percent of those fatalities have been linked to long-term care centers. Yet European countries still lead the world in deaths per capita, in part because of what happened inside their nursing homes.

Spanish prosecutors are investigating cases in which residents were abandoned to die. In Sweden, overwhelmed emergency doctors have acknowledged turning away elderly patients. In Britain, the government ordered thousands of older hospital patients including some with Covid-19 back to nursing homes to make room for an expected crush of virus cases. (Similar policies were in effect in some U.S. states.)

The response in Belgium has offered a gruesome twist: Paramedics and hospitals sometimes flatly denied care to elderly people, even as hospital beds sat unused.

Paramedics had been instructed by their referral hospital not to take patients over a certain age, often 75 but sometimes as low as 65, the charity Doctors Without Borders said in a July report.

More than 5,700 residents of nursing homes in the country have died, according to newly published data. During the peak of the crisis, from March through mid-May, residents accounted for two out of every three coronavirus deaths.

The riskiest window for such transmission may be extremely brief a one- to two-day period in the week or so after a person is infected, when coronavirus levels are at their highest, according to Dr. Joshua Schiffer, a physician and mathematical modeling expert who studies infectious diseases at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. He is one of the authors of the paper.

The virus can still spread outside this window, and people outside it should not let up on measures like mask-wearing and physical distancing, Dr. Schiffer said. But the longer an infection lasts, the less likely a person is to be contagious a finding that might help experts advise when to end self-isolation.

It really is about opportunity, said Shweta Bansal, an infectious disease ecologist at Georgetown University who was not involved in the study. These processes really come together when you are not only infected, but you also dont know youre infected because you dont feel crummy.

Reporting was contributed by Iyad Abuheweila, Matt Apuzzo, Hannah Beech, Pam Belluck, Conor Dougherty, Alex Marshall, Constant Mheut, Claire Moses, Monika Pronczuk, Adam Rasgon, Thomas Rogers, Matina Stevis-Gridneff, Katherine J. Wu and Mihir Zaveri.

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Coronavirus Live Updates: Latest News and Analysis - The New York Times

In list ranking countries response to the pandemic assessed by Foreign Policy Magazine, the United States ranks near the bottom.

"If you look at the mobility data collected from cell phones in many parts of the country, we're almost back to pre-Covid levels of mobility, so we're just not being as cautious as other people are in other countries," Murray told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Friday.

"Number one, wash your hands. Number two, watch your distance -- meaning stay at least six feet from others and avoid crowded places. And number three, wear a face mask," Adams said.

Rethinking testing

One important factor to reopening the US while maintaining safety is rethinking the national strategy on testing for the virus, said Dr. Rajiv Shah, president of the Rockefeller Foundation and former USAID administrator.

Currently, only symptomatic people are frequently tested, meaning 40% to 50% of all spreaders, those who don't show symptoms, aren't being tested and told they may be contagious, he said.

"You have to know that as soon as possible, and then limit transmission from that node of contagion," he said during an Aspen Ideas webinar on Friday. "That's the whole ball game."

But even testing primarily symptomatic people been impacted by backlog, many states report.

The Virginia Department of Health reported a sharp increase of cases on Friday, but that increase came from a technical issue and a backlog from the two days prior, according to a statement.

And Miami-Dade County, the hotspot for cases in Florida, continues to struggle with a lag in testing results, according to state data obtained by CNN.

One day in the past week, testing labs reported that 19.2% of test results took more than seven days to deliver. On a different day, 45% of test results took between four and seven days.

Precautions matter for children, too

As schools reopen for the new school year, researchers are learning more about how the virus spreads among children.

A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention supports the early belief that most coronavirus cases in children appear to be either asymptomatic or mild. But, the report said, when children are hospitalized, they need the intensive care unit as often as adults do.

To slow the pandemic, the CDC said children should be encouraged to wash their hands often, keep a good physical distance away from others, and if they are 2 years of age or older, they should wear a mask when they are around people outside of their family members.

One rare but serious complication children can develop from a coronavirus infection is known as multisystem inflammatory syndrome, or MIS-C, and at least 570 cases have been reported, the CDC said.

As the pandemic continues, health care providers should be on the lookout for the syndrome that most commonly causes abdominal pain, vomiting and a skin rash.

More than 74% of the cases were among Hispanic and Black children, the CDC said.

Pandemic highlights racial disparities

For communities of color, Covid-19 has been a "double whammy" that shows the work the US needs to do to correct disparities in health and health care, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on Friday.

For example, Black Americans are more likely to have jobs that are considered essential, Fauci said, which leads to a much greater risk of being infected.

"Then there's the other thing that is really the chronic and decades-old dilemma of the social determinants of health, which is why African Americans have a higher degree of diabetes, of hypertension, of obesity, of heart disease, of chronic lung disease, of kidney disease," Fauci said. "That does not need to be. But to get corrected, you have to make a decades-long commitment to change that."

Part of that commitment has to include making resources like immediate testing and results as well as access to health care concentrated in demographics at higher risk of infection.

Trials for vaccines for Operation Warp Speed will be inclusive and diverse, chief adviser Moncef Slaoui said Friday. And once it is complete, he said they will be distributed widely.

"We are extremely cognizant of the importance of making sure that the vaccines, if and when they become available, are appropriately allocated in the population, on the basis of data ... and on the basis of need," he said.

CNN's Lauren Mascarenhas, Rebekah Riess, Gisela Crespo, Naomi Thomas, Jen Christensen and Rosa Flores contributed to this report.

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Americans are moving around too much and taking coronavirus with them, expert says - CNN

A 56-year-old man with the coronavirus attending a single church service in Ohio led to the infection's spread to at least 91 other people across five counties.

Gov. Mike DeWine posted a graphic to his Facebook page Wednesday detailing how the virus spread over a three-week period from the date of the church service on June 14 to July 4.

"It spread like wildfire," the governor said at a news conference Tuesday where the graphic was displayed. "Very, very scary."

"We have been very careful throughout this pandemic to exempt religious services from any regulations," the governor said. "The only exception to that is that we are now asking people who attend church to wear a mask."

He noted on his Facebook page that while this case of community transmission stems from a church, it can happen anywhere

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"All it takes is one person to cause tremendous #COVID19 spread," he wrote.

After the man with the coronavirus went to the church service in Ohio County in June, 53 others who had been at the same service became infected, according to the graphic shared by DeWine.

Eighteen of the these 53 spread the virus to at least one other person, the graphic shows. The man's wife, a son and a daughter also got sick.

All 91 others infected after the service showed symptoms of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, the governor said.

DeWine in a series of tweets on Tuesday also provided other examples of the virus' spread within family and friend groups.

In one case, a son living with his father who was in hospice care developed a cough and believed he had bronchitis. Family members came to visit to pay respects to his father. Five family members later tested positive for the virus, including a great-nephew, the governor said.

Separately, a man who had COVID-19 symptoms attended his brother's wedding and reception. Now, 15 people are sick, including the bride, groom and one of their grandfathers.

And in another outbreak, a person who tested positive for the virus attended a bridal shower, leading to others becoming infected. "There are now six confirmed cases and six households impacted by this outbreak," DeWine said.

"None of us want to stay away from our families and of course, it's natural to want to show affection when you see them," he tweeted Tuesday. But this virus is "lurking," he wrote. "Please try to remember that you are showing love by protecting them."

Rachel Feeley, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Health, declined on Thursday to release the name of the church where the virus spread or any details on the other cases. "We are not releasing additional information about these examples to the general public, in order to protect private health information," she said.

Feeley said that anyone who may have come into contact with people who had tested positive in these examples were notified through normal contact-tracing protocol.

On Thursday, DeWine's office said in a statement that he had tested positive for the coronavirus, but later said a second test, a PCR test, came back negative. The governor will be tested again Saturday.

Janelle Griffith is a breaking news reporter for NBC News.

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One man with coronavirus attending Ohio church service led to infection of 91 others - NBC News

From her office in the West Wing, Dr. Birx serves as a link between federal agencies the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, and others engaged in the response.

She is also the point of contact for state and local officials, and oversees the drafting of detailed reports offering guidance to the states. She briefs Mr. Pence weekly and the president at least once a week, and must contend with competing forces on the task force, which includes Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the governments top infectious disease expert, and Dr. Robert R. Redfield, the C.D.C. director. She is often the only woman in the room.

In interviews with AIDS activists and public health experts, Dr. Birx drew unfavorable comparisons with the outspoken Dr. Fauci, in whose lab she trained. Mr. Gonsalves, who has long known both of them, said he wrote in March to Drs. Birx, Fauci and Redfield, as well as Adm. Brett P. Giroir, who oversees coronavirus testing, complaining that they were parroting the president. Only Dr. Fauci replied.

Debbie is now in the position where shes saying to the emperor that those new clothes look fantastic, Mr. Gonsalves said.

But inside the White House, aides refer to Dr. Birx as Dr. Doom for her efforts to temper the presidents positive spin. And she and Dr. Fauci are not in the same situation. Dr. Fauci, 79, is nearing the end of his career and is a civil servant, which frees him to speak his mind. Dr. Birx, 64, is a political appointee who serves at the pleasure of the president.

Shes one of the hardest workers, and shes devoted to trying to get this pandemic under control, Dr. Fauci said in an interview Tuesday night.

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With Old Allies Turning Against Her, Birx Presses On Against the Coronavirus - The New York Times

EveryFridaywerecap thepast week inthe coronaviruspandemicfrom our tracking, policy analysis, polling, and journalism.

The United States remains among the worlds leaders in daily new case reports as the countrys total cases approaches 5 million with over 160,000 deaths. In the midst of this reality, the school year is beginning across the country with decisions about in-person attendance versus virtual learning continuing to roll in. The total number of deaths per day are now over 1000, reaching 1500 and 1800 on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively.

As cases continue to climb, this weeks Chart of the Week compares the United States per capita case rate to those of other countries that have opened their schools for in-person attendance and finds a big disparity with the United States having a much higher rate of community spread.

Most parents prefer opening schools later to reduce the risk of coronavirus transmission, with two-thirds of mothers and half of fathers preferring such delays. Some members of KFFs polling team wrote about this gender gap and how mothers are reporting more strain due to stress from the pandemic.

Global Cases and Deaths:Totalcases worldwide approached 20millionbetweenJuly 30 and August 6 withan increase ofapproximately1.8millionnew confirmed cases.There werealsoapproximately40,800new confirmed deaths worldwide during the period, bringing the total to nearly 715,000confirmed deaths.

U.S. Cases and Deaths:Total confirmed cases in the U.S. approached 5 million this week.Therewas anapproximateincrease of 388,600confirmed cases betweenJuly 31andAugust 6.About 7,300confirmed deaths in the past week brought the total toover160,000confirmed deaths in the U.S.

Race/Ethnicity Data:Black individuals made up a higher share of cases/deaths compared to their share of the population in32of 49states reporting cases and33 of 44states reporting deaths as of August 3.In 7 states (MI, TN, MO, IL, KS and ME) the share of COVID-19 related deaths among Black people was at least two times higher than their share of the total population.

Hispanic individuals made up a higher share of cases compared to their share of the total population in 35 of 46 states reporting cases. In 6 states (NE, WI, IA, MN, TN, and SD), Hispanic peoples share of cases was more than 3 times their share of the population. COVID-19 continues to have a sharp, disproportionate impact on American Indian/Alaska Native as well as Asian people in some states.

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This Week in Coronavirus: July 31 to August 6 - Kaiser Family Foundation

Major League Baseball had announced the postponement of Friday's contest to allow for additional testing and to complete the "contact tracing process" after one player tested positive.

In a second statement, MLB said the other two games of the series at St. Louis were postponed "out of an abundance of caution." MLB said two players and a staffer had samples that yielded positive results for the virus.

The Cardinals were cleared by MLB to travel home from Milwaukee earlier this week following a team outbreak that saw seven players and six staff members test positive for the virus.

The team has not played since July 29. Series against the Milwaukee Brewers and Detroit Tigers were postponed.

It appears the Cardinals may have been the only one of 30 teams that had positive tests during the seven-day period that ended Thursday,

Earlier Friday MLB announced it has received 13 positive tests in that time. Seven of the positive results came from players, and six came from team staffers, it said.

So far, MLB has done more than 57,000 tests, of which 141 resulted in new positives. All but two organizations have had a person test positive since testing began.

Several other teams have had games postponed. The Miami Marlins went a week without games after more than 20 people on the team tested positive in July. They have called up 11 players in the past week from their training center and they have signed several free agents.

CNN's Jill Martin and Jabari Jackson contributed to this report.

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St. Louis Cardinals have another series postponed because of positive coronavirus tests - CNN

Some party organizers have tried to respond to public concern: Covid-19 measure been taken, said a message in the WhatsApp group about Fridays event. A station at the entry will be at your disposition with facial mask and hydro alcoholic gel, it added. These were not in evidence on arrival, and only a dozen or so attendees wore masks. For most, the coronavirus seemed far from their minds.

Dancers were packed tightly in front of a D.J. In the middle of the improvised dance floor, a tall man stood with his eyes closed, moving his arms like a birds wings, transported by the music. People chatted to each other for a moment, then hugged, instant friends. Occasionally a balloon drifted above the dance floor, filled with nitrous oxide, the partys drug of choice.

One attendee, a 25-year-old architect who asked not to be named in case he was thrown out of the WhatsApp group, said hed been going to illegal raves for a couple of years. Last year, it was smaller, he said. Everybody just wants to get out now, I suppose.

Pubs and restaurants in Britain had reopened, he added, but no one in authority was thinking about dance-music culture. He would have thought twice about going to an indoor or boat party, he said, but outdoor ones seemed fine.

As the night went on, more people arrived, even a man on crutches. Someone climbed a tree at one point, and the music stopped while a security guard ordered him down. That was the closest the event came to an incident until, around 4 a.m., three police officers turned up, shining flashlights across the crowd.

They left as quickly as they arrived, but their presence was enough to send some home.

About 20 minutes later, the police returned 20 officers this time and stood in the path to the clearing. One officer said theyd agreed with the D.J. that he could keep playing until 4:30 a.m.

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At Europes Illegal Parties, Coronavirus Is the Last Thing on Anyones Mind - The New York Times

Need to stay updated on coronavirus news in Texas? Our evening roundup will help you stay on top of the day's latest updates. Sign up here.

The only Texas prison that hasnt had any staff or inmates test positive for the new coronavirus is the same one where inmates make soap and package hand sanitizer for the states lockups. Prisoners arent allowed to use the latter.

How this one unit seemingly remains untouched by a virus that has ravaged the states prison system, however, has been credited not to its soap factory, but to the prisons location and the wardens strict enforcement of the Texas Department of Criminal Justices coronavirus policy. Meanwhile, those inside prisons with hundreds of infected inmates have long reported dangerous practices. In lawsuits and letters, they have described officers without face masks, forced intermingling between infected and healthy prisoners, and limits to soap and cleaning supplies.

Texas leads the nation in prison deaths connected to the coronavirus, with a higher death toll than the federal lockups or any other state prison system. At least 112 Texas prisoners and 16 people who worked in prison units have died with the virus.

The Roach Unit is one of Texas more than 100 state-run prisons and jails, housing about 1,300 incarcerated men in the rural town of Childress in the Texas Panhandle. But none of the more than 17,700 state inmates who have tested positive for the virus were housed at Roach, according to a prison spokesperson. Nor have any of the nearly 3,700 infected prison employees worked at the unit.

Weve been lucky so far that here in the community of Childress there hasnt been a big number of coronavirus cases, said Ricardo Gutierrez, a 36-year-old inmate at the Roach Unit, in response to questions sent by The Texas Tribune. I think that helps out a lot to not get the staff infected.

After inmate visitation was canceled statewide, and most prison system transfers and all intake from county jails were temporarily halted in March and April, epidemiologists said most new prison infections were likely coming in through prison employees who contracted the virus in their communities. Childress County, with a population of about 7,000, has had only 37 people test positive for the coronavirus, according to data from the state health department.

TDCJ spokesperson Jeremy Desel said being geographically isolated helps protect the unit from the virus, but he added there is still significant traffic there for distribution of materials they produce.

In a March promotional video, TDCJ highlighted the Roach Units soap and detergent factory as an essential tool to protect against the coronavirus, showing factory machines and some of the 84 inmates who work without pay to produce things like bar soap, laundry detergent, dish soap and bleach to distribute throughout the Texas prison system and sell. Soap? We have plenty! the video title boasted.

The top way to help stop COVID-19 is simple! Wash your hands!The Centers for Disease Control says to vigorously wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds often. Soap? We have plenty!Not just a stock pile, TDCJ produces soap that is made at the Roach Unit daily. #tdcj #washhands #RoachUnit

The next month, inmates in the factory also began repackaging hand sanitizer for prison employees to use, Desel said. TDCJ has steadfastly refused to allow inmates access to hand sanitizer, part of what prompted a federal lawsuit and four-week trial scrutinizing TDCJs handling of the pandemic. Prison attorneys have argued inmates could get drunk from the hand sanitizer or use it as an accelerant to set fires. Inmates attorneys have rejected those premises, saying such abuses are rare in lockups that allow it.

Aside from its location, though, Desel said Roach is doing the same things that all units are doing to stop COVID. But prisoners tell a different story.

Since March, inmates at numerous other prisons have told their loved ones and the Tribune that staff members have only partially enforced the policies put in place by prison officials to wear masks, regularly sanitize, and stay a safe distance apart in places like dorms, showers and hallways. Many inmates have reported that officers wore masks pulled down to their chins, prisoners were taken to the showers in large groups, and inmates who tested positive for the virus were sometimes housed with those who tested negative.

But at Roach, Gutierrez said the staff are not messing around. He said in a few instances where coronavirus was suspected, the sick inmate would be promptly removed and tested, and the men on the wing the inmate lived in would be quarantined for a few days until the tests came back negative, with nurses in protective gear regularly checking them for symptoms.

Theyre doing everything that the government has mandated: social distancing, the masks, sanitizing everything, he said. This warden has gone above and beyond to make sure that everything is being done right.

Gutierrez said he gets the typical weekly amount of soap five small bars stuffed into a toilet paper roll on Friday. But since the pandemic hit the state, he said Roach inmates also get more soap and a surface cleaner every Tuesday, and more is available at lunch in the dining hall. He said inmates also were still able to go to recreation and go to common rooms, but in much smaller groups.

Michele Deitch, a senior lecturer and prison conditions expert at the University of Texas' LBJ School of Public Affairs and law school, said Gutierrezs description could make the Roach Unit a powerful example of the ways in which following TDCJ policies can help prevent an outbreak. On Thursday, 20 TDCJ lockups each had more than 300 inmates who had tested positive for the virus, with active infections often reported in large clusters of hundreds of people at once. Three units housed more than 700 inmates who had tested positive.

The official protocols may be the same throughout the system, but ultimately there are huge differences in the degree to which particular facilities are following those protocols, she said. If they are taking the steps that they should be taking, they can reduce the spread of it within the facility if it does come in it doesnt have to become like a spread of wildfire.

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

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The Roach Unit is the only Texas prison reporting zero coronavirus cases - The Texas Tribune

Oregons new coronavirus case count exceeded 400 for the first time this month, with state authorities announcing 423 new cases and nine new deaths Friday.

Multnomah County saw one of its highest new confirmed and presumed case totals, reporting over 100 new cases for only the fourth time since the pandemic began. The percent of statewide tests to come back positive also surpassed 7%, marking one of the few times thats happened in recent months.

The numbers come even as state health officials found a relative flat-line in the spread of the disease, with each infected person infecting, on average, one other person. At current infection rates, Oregon Health Authority officials expect to see 1,000 new cases per day through late August, though only a fraction of those would be identified.

Where the new cases are by county: Baker (1), Benton (3), Clackamas (16), Clatsop (1), Columbia (2), Deschutes (18), Douglas (3), Grant (1), Hood River (3), Jackson (12), Jefferson (5), Josephine (3), Klamath (1), Lane (13), Lincoln (1), Linn (6), Malheur (21), Marion (47), Morrow (21), Multnomah (110), Polk (7), Umatilla (53), Union (2), Wasco (3), Washington (53) and Yamhill (17).

New fatalities: Oregons 340th death linked to coronavirus is a 90-year-old Clackamas County man with underlying medical conditions. He tested positive July 30 and died Aug. 5. State officials are confirming where he died.

Oregons 341st death is an 80-year-old Deschutes County woman. She tested positive July 20 and died July 31. State officials are confirming where she died and whether she had underlying medical conditions.

Oregons 342nd death is an 80-year-old Jackson County man with underlying medical conditions. He tested positive July 15 and died Aug. 6. State officials are confirming where he died.

Oregons 343rd death is a 75-year-old Jefferson County man with underlying medical conditions. He tested positive July 10 and died Aug. 5 at St. Charles Medical Center in Bend.

Oregons 344th death is a 64-year-old Klamath County man with underlying medical conditions. He tested positive July 27 and died Aug. 6 at Sky Lakes Medical Center in Klamath Falls.

Oregons 345th death is an 88-year-old Malheur County man who tested positive July 28 and died Aug. 2 in his residence. State officials are confirmed if the man had underlying medical conditions.

Oregons 346th death is a 75-year-old Marion County man with underlying medical conditions who tested positive July 8 and died Aug. 5 in his home.

Oregons 347th death is 94-year-old Umatilla County man with underlying medical conditions. He tested positive July 16 and died Aug. 4 in his home.

Oregons 348th death is a 93-year-old Yamhill County woman who tested positive July 28 and died Aug. 6. State officials are confirming where she died and whether she had underlying medical conditions.

The prevalence of infections: State officials Thursday reported 400 new confirmed infections out of 5,420 people tested, equaling a 7.4% positivity rate.

Who got infected: State officials reported new confirmed or presumed infections among the following age groups: 0-9 (28); 10-19 (51); 20-29 (78); 30-39 (78); 40-49 (53); 50-59 (57); 60-69 (35); 70-79 (15); 80 and older (18).

Whos in the hospital: The state Friday reported 145 Oregonians with confirmed coronavirus infections are currently in the hospital, down eight from Thursday. Oregon remains well below its capacity, with hundreds of hospital beds and ventilators available.

Since it began: Oregon has reported 20,636 confirmed or presumed infections and 348 deaths, among the lowest totals in the nation. To date, 436,619 Oregonians have been tested.

Mark Friesen contributed to this report.

-- Fedor Zarkhin

fzarkhin@oregonian.com|503-294-7674

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Coronavirus in Oregon: 423 new infections and 9 deaths - oregonlive.com

The widely circulated photo from North Paulding High School in Dallas, Ga., showed students crowded into a packed hallway on their first day back to classes since the coronavirus outbreak shuttered schools in the spring. Few were wearing masks, and there was little sign of social distancing. Then on Day 2, there was another.

The photos, which were shared on social media and cited in news reports, have quickly come to symbolize a chaotic first week back in U.S. classrooms. Schools in states where students have returned, including Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee and Indiana, have had to initiate quarantines and in some cases shut down classrooms and entire schools temporarily after positive cases emerged.

A 15-year-old student at North Paulding, Hannah Watters, was initially suspended for five days for posting images of the crowded hallways on Twitter, according to her mother, Lynne Watters, who said she filed a grievance with the school on Thursday.

By Friday, Hannah said, her suspension had been lifted and wiped from her record, with the schools principal calling her mother to tell her that she could return to class on Monday.

Although she agreed that she had breached the schools policy, which prohibits filming students and posting their images to social media without their consent, Hannah said in an interview that she did not regret doing so as the images had shed light on the crowding and lack of social distancing in her school.

My mom has always told me that she wont get mad at us if we get in trouble as long as its good trouble, Hannah said, invoking the famous phrase of Representative John Lewis, the civil rights leader who was laid to rest in Atlanta last week. Youre bettering society and bettering the world, so those consequences dont outweigh the end result.

The high school and school district did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The superintendent of the Paulding County School District, Brian Otott, had defended his systems reopening plan, saying in a letter to the community after the hallway photos circulated that the scenes were taken out of context. Students only remained in the hallways briefly while switching classes, he wrote, and the school was following recommendations issued by the Georgia Department of Education.

But he acknowledged, There is no question that the photo does not look good.

Masks are not required at the school, Mr. Otott said, though the administration strongly encourages them for students and staff members.

Wearing a mask is a personal choice, and there is no practical way to enforce a mandate to wear them, he wrote, adding that more than 2,000 students attend the high school.

Updated Aug. 7, 2020

The latest highlights as the first students return to U.S. schools.

The districts guidelines say staff members will do their best to require students to maintain social distancing, but note that it would not be possible to enforce social distancing in classrooms or on school buses unless it is a class or a bus with fewer students.

A spokesman for the Georgia Department of Public Healths northwest district, which includes Paulding County, said the agency offers advice about best practices for controlling the spread of the virus, but choices about what to do in schools are ultimately up to local officials.

Each school system makes its own decisions, said the spokesman, Logan Boss, adding that the department does not monitor schools to see if they are complying with its recommendations.

The high school opened for the school year on Monday even though there had already been reports of a coronavirus outbreak among members of the football team. Mr. Boss said he was not aware of students or staff members testing positive at North Paulding High, but he added, Theres widespread community transmission in Paulding County.

For Hannah, her return to class next week will be an anxious one. There is still the worry over the virus, and now also the stress of wondering how other students will respond to her having shared the images of the crowded hallway.

Going back, Im probably going to be just about as nervous as I was the first day of school, she said, adding that she hopes people realize that she posted the pictures to advocate for the safety of everyone in the building.

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Suspension Lifted of Georgia Student Who Posted Photos of Crowded Hall - The New York Times