The long-term effects of COVID-19, even on people who suffered a mild infection, could be far worse than was originally anticipated, according to researchers anddoctors in northern Italy.

Psychosis, insomnia, kidney disease, spinal infections, strokes, chronic tiredness and mobility issues are being identified in former coronavirus patients in Lombardy, the worst-affected region in the country.

The doctors warn that some victims may never recover from the illness and that all age groups are vulnerable.

The virus is a systemic infection that affects all the organs of the body, not, as was previously thought, just a respiratory disease, they say.

Some people may find that their ability to properly work, to concentrate, and even to take part in physical activities will be severely impaired.

The physicians warn that people who do not consider themselves in a vulnerable group and aren't concerned at contracting the disease could be putting themselves in danger of life-changing illnesses if they ignore the rules to keep safe.

They stress that the need for social distancing, hand washing, and masks is as important now as it ever was.

The warnings come amid growing concerns in northern Italy that a second wave of the virus could be imminent. Doctors in two of the main hospitals in the region have reported a handful of new cases of severely ill people with respiratory problems.

Dr Roberto Cosentini, head of emergencies at Papa Giovanni XXIII Hospital in Bergamo, oversaw the response to the virus that swept through this alpine province claiming the lives of at least 6,000 people.

He gave Sky News unprecedented access to the hospital's emergency rooms in March when the first shocking effects of the virus were broadcast around the world, changing perceptions of the scale of the problem.

Now he is leading efforts to again send a warning across the globe that COVID-19 is a lethal killer that affects the whole body, and is not going away.

"At first, initially, we thought it was a bad flu, then we thought it was a bad flu with a very bad pneumonia, it was the phase when you came here, but subsequently we discovered that it is a systemic illness with vessel damage in the whole body with renal involvement, cerebral involvement," he told me in the now silent COVID-19 emergency room that was overwhelmed a few months ago.

"So we are seeing other acute manifestations of renal failure that require dialysis; or stroke, and then acute myocardial infarction, so a lot of complications or other manifestations of the virus.

"And also now we see a significant proportion of the population with chronic damage from the virus."

One of the few positives emerging from the pandemic that caused havoc to the health service here was the creation of a unique environment where doctors and experts in different fields found themselves working together for months, effectively learning new skills. That co-operation is helping the understanding of the virus.

Dr Emanuela Catenacci is a neurosurgeon at Cremona Hospital and when we first met her in March she had been co-opted to work on the intensive care wards during the worst of the outbreak.

She is back on neurology, but crucially, whereas in the past she would have treated patients completely independent of other departments, now she can see the link. That link is COVID-19, and it's a multi-organ killer.

"In our hospital now we have a practice with immunologists, who are checking these patients, especially the most severe, those with the most severe illnesses, and they are checking not only lungs, but all the systemic manifestations of COVID pathology," she told me.

"The virus is a systemic infection, some of our apparatus organs have the biggest manifestation, such as lungs as we know, but also brain, skin, and sometimes we have vasculitis, so it's not [just] high respiratory or low respiratory infection, it's not finished [at] that," she said.

The Italian doctors' findings in their patients mirror a recent study carried out at University College London.

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Researchers identified serious neurological complications arising from COVID-19 including delirium, brain inflammation, stroke and nerve damage in 43 people aged 16 to 85.

Some of the patients had experienced no severe breathing problems at all, with the neurological disorder being the first and only sign that they had coronavirus.

An intensive testing and follow up analysis of all survivors has been launched in Bergamo. Teams of doctors examine those who have recovered on a constant basis, trying to track the changing properties of the virus.

Filippo Alcaini, 65, is one of the survivors being tested.

He was intubated in February after becoming severely ill, but recovered. He has been COVID-19-free for four months but he still has problems breathing and has periods of severe exhaustion. He accepts his ongoing condition, but sends a clear warning to people to take care not to catch the virus under any circumstances.

"To those who don't respect the rules, I wish they could have a week of what I felt, a week of feeling as bad as I have been," he told me.

"Perhaps then they understand that they cannot underestimate the many warnings and mandatory rules we have been given."

The doctors carrying out the follow-up and testing programme say they simply do not know enough about the virus to predict what is going to happen next.

"It's something very different, that changes the body of the patient," Dr Gianluca Imeri explained to me.

"We've also seen forms of asthma develop after coronavirus infections. We for sure know the damage of coronavirus is caused by inflammation, and asthma and other respiratory diseases are inflammatory diseases, and there are also some inflammatory diseases in our body that can be developed and triggered by coronavirus.

"Simple coronavirus pneumonia is something that patients will recover completely from, from a radiological point of view, but probably the biggest change is inflammation. I mean, we have seen inflammation in all of their bodies, vascular systems, and respiratory systems, so we think we have to tackle inflammation in these patients even when they recover from the acute phase of the disease."

So little is known of the virus that any long-term planning is guess work.

Doctors believe that even the youngest and mildest infected are at risk of their lives being changed forever, and it could take years to become apparent. Whole workforces could become less productive as a consequence.

The advice from Italy is simple: Don't get infected.

See more here:

Coronavirus warning from Italy: Effects of COVID-19 could be worse than first thought - Sky News

A cluster of mysterious deaths, some involving infants and children, is under scrutiny amid questions of whether the novel coronavirus lurked in California months before it was first detected. But eight weeks after Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a statewide hunt for undetected early COVID-19 deaths, the effort remains hobbled by bureaucracy and testing limits.

Among those awaiting answers is Maribeth Cortez, whose adult son, Jeremiah DeLap, died Jan. 7 in Orange County while visiting his parents. He had been healthy, suffering on a Friday from what he thought was food poisoning, and found dead in bed the following Tuesday, drowned by fluid in his lungs.

10:10 AM, Jun. 21, 2020In an earlier version of this post, Maribeth Cortez was erroneously referred to as Maribeth Ortiz.

China didnt announce its first COVID-19 death until four days later. But by DeLaps Feb. 1 funeral service, frightening stories of a deadly new virus in Wuhan dominated the news.

Everybody that knew him when they were talking to me after this all started would say, Do you think he died from that? Cortez said.

And I said, I dont know.

She still doesnt.

Preserved samples of DeLaps lungs are among tissue from more than 40 California deaths waiting for a decision by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on whether to test for COVID-19. Orange County has nine of the cases, as does Los Angeles County. Kern County has identified two respiratory deaths that might suggest COVID-19, both of young women, one of whom died Dec. 21.

Interviews and internal documents show medical examiners in Shasta, Sacramento and Santa Clara counties, meanwhile, are scrutinizing the deaths of children and babies, amid growing recognition of COVID-19 infection rates in children who show mysterious inflammatory symptoms.

A positive finding in any of the cases could dramatically rewrite the narrative of COVID-19 in the United States.

Researchers tracking the virus genetic mutations peg its jump from an unknown animal host to humans as occurring in November. Chinas first documented illnesses began in early December.

It was well into March before most California coroners and medical examiners began to routinely test decedents who fell under their jurisdiction for COVID-19, using now-familiar nasal swab tests that must be done within days of death. Even then, testing is limited to a fraction of cases those who had symptoms of respiratory failure, traveled to China or died without witness.

Checking for missed cases of COVID-19 requires examining preserved tissue, a test available only through the CDC. It took months for CDC pathologists to realize the virus had already killed people in the United States in early February. At the time, U.S. health officials believed they could control the virus spread by monitoring international travelers and isolating a dozen known infected individuals in California and four other states.

DeLap, 39, worked as a house painter in Basalt, Colo., near the Aspen ski area. He returned to his inland Riverside County hometown for Christmas, and was at the home of his roommates parents in nearby Orange County on Jan. 3 when he became sick. He thought the cause was something he ate the night before. DeLap believed he was on the mend, even going for a walk Monday, but was worsening again Tuesday morning when he spoke to his mother.

He was having trouble breathing and I told him he should try and go to the urgent care, Cortez said. He told me hed talk to me later and he went and [lay] down.

He was found dead in bed hours later, his lungs filled with fluid and his body still burning from fever.

The sudden January death of Jeremiah DeLap, 39, is among cases now considered for COVID-19 testing.

(Family photo)

The Orange County coroner ruled DeLaps death the result of severe acute lobar pneumonia, one lung so congested it had doubled in weight. But the coroner did not identify the organism infecting DeLap. The thought that it might have been the coronavirus haunted Cortez as she heard story after story of similar deaths. DeLap was an organ donor, so four weeks ago Cortez called the organization that received his tissue to ask if they will test it for COVID-19.

Unknown to Cortez, the Orange County coroner harbored similar questions. DeLaps death is among nine cases from late December to March that the county has asked the California Department of Public Health to consider. The deceased range in age from 33 to 61, and include an elderly homeless man found in his RV and a young surfer who collapsed. Initial autopsies attributed their deaths to congested lungs, pneumonia or blood clots.

If the state agency agrees, the cases will be forwarded to the CDC for more review before preserved tissue is tested for COVID-19. Los Angeles Countys medical examiner has forwarded nine cases for review but county lawyers blocked the release of details. Tissue from a 10th Los Angeles death, a 17-year-old boy who died March 18, was sent two months ago to the CDC for COVID-19 testing. It came back last week positive for two other viruses: streptococcal pneumonia and human metapneumovirus.

After the CDC confirmed a Silicon Valley tech workers Feb. 6 death as the nations first known COVID-19 fatality, Newsom called on medical examiners statewide to hunt for missed cases extending back to mid-December.

But the CDC is limiting California a state of 39 million people to just eight to 10 cases a week. The state health department has stepped in as a gatekeeper between county morgues and the federal lab.

By the end of May, the state agency had forwarded only two cases to the CDC and had 40 other deaths under state review.

Such restrictions did not exist before the COVID-19 pandemic. They are new to Dr. Deirdre Amaro, the Shasta County sheriffs forensic pathologist who relies on the CDC lab for infectious disease workups when someone dies inexplicably in her rugged, deeply forested Northern California county.

Amaro was jolted this winter by the back-to-back deaths of two children, one an infant, and local accounts of other sick children. She called a Jan. 29 meeting with county health and hospital officials. She remembers someone in the room theorizing that it was a bad year for respiratory syncytial virus, usually referred to as RSV. It is a common childhood disease that seldom kills.

Since Ive been here ... we have never had sequential cases that are pediatric deaths. I do NOT want to practice forensic pathology in a setting where that is the norm, Amaro said. The emotional/psychological toll is too great.

She had already sent tissue from one of those pediatric deaths to the CDC for testing when the California health department set up hurdles. She has since sought virus testing for another pediatric death and is awaiting a decision on whether the CDC will accept the cases.

Early reports out of China and California suggested COVID-19 had very low infection rates among children.

What has emerged now, the experience weve had on the East Coast and in Europe has been markedly different, said Dr. Roberta Lynn DeBiasi, chief of the pediatric division at Childrens National Hospital in Washington, D.C., and a co-author of several studies on COVID-19 and children.

DeBiasi is among researchers who in May began documenting growing numbers of hospitalized children with COVID-19 and symptoms normally associated with an otherwise rare inflammatory illness called Kawasaki disease. Some had high fever, joint pain and rashes. Others had abdominal pain. An alarming number show organ failure and heart damage, DeBiasi said.

Amid those reports, a California health department physician called Amaro, who in addition to her own two deaths told her of others two infants sent from Shasta County to hospitals in Sacramento.

Dr. Chante Buntin, the state health department medical consultant, wrote to Sacramento Countys coroner expressing interest in infants and children who died with what might have been COVID-like symptoms, Kawasaki-like symptoms in California during the period of December to present.

Sacramento Countys coroner has sent a single case to the CDC for testing but would not provide further details.

California has no confirmed child deaths from COVID-19. The CDC in early April listed three suspected virus-related deaths of children nationwide, but has since not updated that information. The federal health agency has, however, alerted pediatricians to watch for signs of what it now calls multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, or MIS-C.

The California Department of Public Health did not answer questions about its hunt for child deaths, and gave only limited responses to broader questions about postmortem testing. The agency did provide an email exchange in which a state epidemiologist offered to intervene on a flood of requests from California medical examiners, health departments and pathologists seeking COVID-19 testing for both deceased adults and children.

Dr. Shua Chai told the CDC that California would narrow its criteria for testing the dead, based not on the questions arising in morgues, but to fit the number of cases the CDC lab would take.

The capacity will really help drive our prioritization, Chai said.

At first the federal agency said it could handle only three to four cases a week and that it could take as long as two months to send back results. On May 1, the head of the CDCs COVID-19 mortality team suggested the federal lab would take as many as 10 a week.

Im not saying this will be acceptable by my leadership, warned Dr. Sarah Reagan-Steiner, clinical lead on the CDCs COVID-19 mortality unit. There was no response to repeated questions sent to the CDC public affairs office over several months regarding postmortem testing.

The state Health Departments press office defended the states reliance on the CDC and the federal agencys 10-case weekly limit. Medical examiners in other states are not only testing many more dead, but using other methods such as postmortem testing for antibodies.

The state agencys press office said the CDC testing is highly specialized and requires careful validation.

Other types of testing may not provide results that are as reliable as CDC testing.

In Seattle, the King County medical examiner considers death itself as a reason to test on the spot for the virus with a nasal swab.

COVID-19 is so new as an infection, and it probably affects different people in different ways, associate Medical Examiner Dr. Sharon Yarid said. So anyone who dies basically had, you know, already some reason to be tested.

King County is scanning funeral homes for cases to test and checking blood serum from older cases for signs of COVID-19 antibodies. Family members have only to ask to have a death tested for the virus.

The liberal guidelines have led to the identification of 58 additional COVID-19 deaths, including young adults, and accounting for more than one out of 10 local deaths attributed to the virus. Thats nearly double the 29 coronavirus deaths identified under the more restrictive policies of the Los Angeles County medical examiner, though Los Angeles County has more than five times the number of COVID-19 cases. (The medical examiner handles only violent, sudden, or unusual deaths, which account for a relatively small percentage of overall COVID-19 deaths.)

Yet when it comes to testing preserved tissue, Yarid is also at the mercy of the CDC. She said she has asked the federal lab to evaluate a troubling Feb. 6 death. As of last week, Yarid said she had not received an answer.

Those frustrated by the hurdle in answering the question was it COVID-19? include family members of a man found dead on a Los Angeles bus bench in late January. The Los Angeles County medical examiner-coroners office classified the death as complications of alcohol abuse, though there was no sign of recent alcohol use.

The mans brother, who asked not to be named in order to preserve family privacy, said the medical examiner has refused repeated requests to test the body for COVID-19.

They have not, they havent really gotten off of that February, March, early April mindset that we live in an environment of testing scarcity, said the brother.

Los Angeles County supervisors cited such complaints this month in telling the medical examiners office to provide COVID-19 testing for families that ask for it. A spokeswoman for the medical examiner said the office is still working out a procedure.

Not all California medical examiners are seeking CDC testing for missed COVID-19 deaths.

So you found that there were several cases that were not identified early on ... what does that tell you? Ventura County Medical Examiner Dr. Christopher Young said. How does that add to where were at with dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic right now?

San Diego officials told The Times that a paper review of more than 700 deaths turned up none that met the states written criteria deaths from Dec. 17 to March 16, with signs of respiratory failure, fever or cough, or known exposure to COVID-19 or international travel.

San Mateo County, a part of Silicon Valley home to Californias earliest COVID-19 cases, identified one suspect death.

According to agency emails, a county pathologist checked the freezer for tissue to send to the CDC, and discovered the samples had been tossed, along with tissue from everyone else who died prior to March 11.

Read more:

December deaths of California kids could be linked to coronavirus - Los Angeles Times

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People exercise in workout pods at Inspire South Bay Fitness, a gym in Redondo Beach, California, on Monday, June 15.

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Sue Stamp fits a young girl with a new pair of shoes after W.J. French and Son reopened in Southampton, England, on June 15.

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Floor supervisor Dumitru Carabasu sanitizes dice at Las Vegas' Excalibur Hotel & Casino on Thursday, June 11. It was reopening for the first time since mid-March.

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Nail technicians perform manicures and pedicures at a nail bar in Moscow on June 9. The Russian capital ended a tight lockdown that had been in place since late March.

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Commuters wear protective masks as they ride a subway train in New York on June 8.

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Parishioners are welcomed back to a Greek Orthodox church in Keilor East, Australia, on June 7. Religious services and gatherings for up to 20 people are now permitted in the state of Victoria.

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Visitors ride a roller coaster at the Universal Studios theme park in Orlando after it reopened on June 5.

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Customers stand on an escalator inside Le Printemps Haussmann, a department store in Paris, on May 28.

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A restorer cleans Michelangelo's David statue on May 27 while preparing for the reopening of the Galleria dell'Accademia in Florence, Italy.

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Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange after it reopened for in-person trading on May 26.

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A man dives into an outdoor swimming pool in Rome on May 25.

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Visitors take photos from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon shortly after sunrise on May 25. Grand Canyon National Park has partially reopened on weekends.

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Students in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, study at the Merlan school of Paillet on May 25.

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Tourists enjoy the hot weather at a beach in Bournemouth, England, on May 25.

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Visitors look at the work of artist Berlinde De Bruyckere at Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, a contemporary art foundation in Turin, Italy, on May 23.

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Jasmine Donaldson cleans a movie theater in Auckland, New Zealand, on May 22. Matakana Cinemas reopened May 28 with a reduced capacity to allow for social distancing between seats and in the foyer.

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Chinese Communist Party delegates stand for the national anthem at the opening of the National People's Congress on May 22. The annual parliamentary gathering had been postponed.

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People visit the ARoS Museum of Art in Aarhus, Denmark, on May 22. The museum opened its doors to the public after being closed for two months.

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Surfers take to the water in Lido Beach, New York, on May 21.

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People visit the reopened Blaavand Zoo in Denmark on May 21.

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People swim at a public pool in Cologne, Germany, on May 21.

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Christian Orthodox faithfuls attend a liturgy in Athens, Greece, on May 20.

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People visit Florida's Clearwater Beach on May 20. Florida opened its beaches as part of Phase 1 of its reopening.

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People walk in Naples, Italy, on May 19.

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People enjoy the water as Florida's Palm Beach County reopened some beaches on May 18. Social-distancing rules were still in effect.

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Nuns await a Mass in Rome on May 18. It was the first Mass celebrated by parish priest Marco Gnavi in more than two months.

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A worker wears protective gear while cutting a customer's hair at a salon in Nadiad, India, on May 17. India's lockdown was set to remain in place until May 31, but many salons and shops were able to reopen.

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Police walk through New York's Hudson River Park with a reminder about social distancing on May 16.

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Swimmers pay for sunbeds at the Alimos beach near Athens, Greece, on May 16.

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A customer buys eggs at a market in Kunming, China, on May 12.

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A woman takes a photo at Disneyland Shanghai after the amusement park reopened in China on May 11. The park had been closed for three and a half months. Visitors are now required to wear masks, have their temperatures taken and practice social distancing.

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People eat fries on the boardwalk in Ocean City, Maryland, on May 10.

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People exercise on a reopened promenade next to a beach in Barcelona, Spain, on May 9.

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Patrons eat at a restaurant in Bangkok, Thailand, on May 9.

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Fans cheer during a professional baseball game between the Fubon Guardians and the Uni-President Lions in New Taipei City, Taiwan, on May 8.

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Traci Hancock has her hair cut by stylist Jill Cespedes at Shampoo Salon in Fort Worth, Texas, on May 8. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced that hair salons, barber shops and tanning salons were allowed to open on Friday.

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A long line of cars forms as a KFC drive-thru reopens in Plymouth, England, on May 8.

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Sue Conklin, owner of Books Rio V, stocks her shelves in Rio Vista, California, on May 8. It was her first day back at the used bookstore since March 28.

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A man receives a haircut at Doug's Barber Shop in Houston on May 8.

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Two men wearing face masks play chess in Montevideo, Uruguay, on May 7.

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People enjoy a beach that had just reopened in Isle of Palms, South Carolina, on May 6.

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Kelly Watson puts glass in a recycling bin in Springfield, Missouri, on May 6, The Lone Pine Recycling Center had just reopened.

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Customers wait to get their nails done at the Nail Tech salon in Yuba City, California, on May 6.

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A man wears a protective face mask while visiting the Old Masters Picture Gallery in Dresden, Germany, on May 6. The gallery had been closed for more than six weeks.

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People in Athens, Greece, enjoy a sunset May 5 on the Areopagus hill near the Acropolis.

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Kayleigh Tansey and Justin Smith watch a movie in Kyle, Texas, on May 4. The EVO Entertainment movie theater reopened after Gov. Greg Abbott lifted a shelter-in-place order and allowed select businesses to open to the public at no more than 25% capacity.

Read this article:

Russia reopens ahead of Victory Day and Putin referendum -- but coronavirus threat remains - CNN

For just one day, Beijing was a Covid-free city.

On Tuesday 9 June, local authorities reported that the last active Covid-19 case had been discharged from a local hospital. City health officials appeared without face masks at the daily press conference, to announce that there were no new cases and no suspected infections. Beijing, finally, seemed to breathe a little easier. The now-ubiquitous temperature checks, at the entrance to every office building, restaurant and hutong (alleyway), were dismantled. The Lama Temple and Beijing aquarium were open to the public for the first time since January and were immediately packed to capacity. It was a beautiful summers day bright blue skies and the sharp Beijing light that glints golden on the citys tower blocks.

On Wednesday 10 June, 52-year old Mr Tang feeling inexplicably cold and exhausted bicycled alone to a hospital for a checkup and tested positive for Covid-19. Beijings 56-day streak of no locally transmitted cases was broken, and all signs seemed to indicate that an outbreak had been quietly spreading through the city for weeks.

Two months of a slow crawl towards normal city life were reversed overnight. Beijing time travelled back to February. All residential compounds around Mr Tangs residence were put under strict lockdown, and the outbreaks origin was traced to the sprawling Xinfadi wholesale market, which supplies close to 80% of the citys fruit and vegetables.

The might of Chinas public health system, honed after public criticism of the early response to Wuhan, was brought to bear. Over 100,000 contacts were identified for testing, tracing and isolation, and thousands of samples taken from stalls around the market. Xinfadi was the perfect storm for an uncontrollable new wave. In the worst-case scenario, as the key hub for the citys food supply, it had first-degree connections to most restaurants, bars and community markets across Beijing. Expand that circle by one degree, and you had every delivery worker and every restaurant-goer as a potential vector for spread.

By 12 June, 36 cases linked to the Xinfadi market were discovered. Cases began to pop up elsewhere in the country, connected to Beijing. Chinas vice-premier called the situation grave, prompting fears of more sweeping lockdowns.

Relatively speaking, it was a small outbreak. By comparison, New York City reported 292 new cases on 12 June alone. Nevertheless, Beijing was put in what health officials called wartime mode to contain the virus, mobilising medical workers like troops against an insurgency. But who it felt like war for, in this case, was determined by social class and geographic proximity.

Many of the initial cluster of cases were working-class migrants: restaurant workers who lived in the same dormitory, seafood sellers, drivers. Thousands of frontline retail workers were tested over the next few days. Videos shared on WeChat showed many being made to wait shoulder-to-shoulder for hours in crowded stadiums and parks in the searing summer heat.

In exclusion zones around multiple Beijing markets, residential lockdowns and severed transport links were patrolled by battalions of hazmat-clad volunteers. But walk around the hutongs around Beijings Art Museum an area of upscale shops and restaurants and you could see that nothing was different: barbecue stalls spilled out into the street and raucous picnics continued with face masks around the chin.

A curious tension emerged between the need to project normality, and to show decisive action. Another full lockdown would be disastrous for Beijings economy, but so would an uncontrolled outbreak. For the citys service industries, this led to confusing mixed messages. Bars in some neighbourhoods were told to stay open as normal, then close, then open for a limited time contingent on testing, then close, all within hours.

For the rest of the city, a familiar mix of dread and powerlessness returned. Over 2 million tuned into the livestreams of the daily Covid-19 press conferences, with officials now wearing face masks again. Even the memes were melancholy a popular one featured a person marked Beijing, in full plate-mail armour like a medieval knight, who is then hit by a precise arrow, marked Xinfadi, right through the helmets eye socket. The shopping district of Sanlitun, which surely features the citys highest density of cafes per capita, took on a deserted look as bars and restaurants closed.

Beijing residents are used to the city changing suddenly before their eyes, but the pandemic and its lockdowns have produced a creeping feeling that something has been lost for good. Beijingers feel as if theyve emerged into a new city and started new lives. The particular liveliness associated with Beijing street life, exemplified by the word renao (), was the first thing to disappear in lockdown, and will likely be the last to return. The cornerstones of the citys renao: live music, nightclubs, cinemas, karaoke bars, lamb skewers around tiny plastic tables on the street are all closed until further notice.

Where a reopening seemed imminent a week ago, this resurgence has pushed that possibility out into a distant future. On 18 June, officials from Chinas Center for Disease Control and Prevention said that the outbreak was already under control, but the experience has already revived familiar fears that future plans are null and void, replaced by an endless present of doom-scrolling through social media for news and rumour.

A second wave opens the possibility of a third, and a fourth. In Beijing, a city that came so close to defeating the virus for good, that means whatever happens, we dont get to go back to the city we knew.

Krish Raghav is an illustrator and writer based in Beijing

Read the original:

In Beijing it looked like coronavirus was gone. Now we're living with a second wave - The Guardian

The coronavirus is crippling Tampa Bays live-music scene.

The owners of the Orpheum in Ybor City and Skippers Smokehouse in North Tampa all announced on Instagram Saturday that employees testing positive for the coronavirus or fears that staffers had been exposed to the virus forced them to temporarily shut down their venues.

Thats also why Crowbar announced it cancelled Saturdays grand re-opening in Ybor City.

The news comes after St. Petersburgs Jannus Live announced Tuesday that it temporarily shuttered three of its businesses around the outdoor concert venue the Pelican Pub, the Landing and Detroit Liquors after an employee member tested positive for COVID-19. That also meant postponing Friday nights Pirate Flag concert.

The owners of Crowbar, the Orpheum and Skippers used social media to tell their fans to stay away until further notice.

Meanwhile in Ybor City, hundreds walked around Saturday night without masks.

Nor did they wear them in bars, clubs and restaurants potentially violating Tampa Mayor Jane Castors order requiring residents who leave their homes to wear masks indoors if they cannot stay 6-feet apart. The measure took effect Friday.

On the other side of the bay, while protesters marched through downtown St. Petersburg, more patrons wore masks and sat outside.

The latest local closings comes on the heels of the states highest single-day report of positive tests, at 4,049 and the average age of those being diagnosed is getting younger.

The Orpheums owner said it closed because two employees tested positive for COVID-19. They last worked on June 13 and were asymptomatic. The entire staff was getting tested but there was no timeline yet for re-opening.

We believe we are doing the right thing in the interest of public health at this time, the owners of the Orpheum said on Instagram.

Crowbar owner Tom DeGeorge said he had hoped to be able to reopen Saturday after being closed since March. But when he learned that an employees was in contact with someone who tested positive, he said he called off the Road to Reopen event and told his entire staff to go get tested.

Were going to wait until we see these numbers going in a downward trend and then well reopen, DeGeorge said.

He lamented that, while in the waiting room to take his own test Saturday, he saw a video of a metal concert where the audience was in the mosh pit not practicing any social distancing.

He said its difficult for a responsible business to get back on track, when others are just doing whatever they want.

Skippers owners said on Instagram that they learned through contract tracing that a staffer may have been exposed to someone who tested positive. Theyve also been watching the coronavirus trends, and decided that closing was the most socially responsible thing to do.

A monetary amount, good times, delicious meals and tasty cocktails will never be more valuable than your life to us, they wrote. Therefore, we are erring on the side of extreme safety in this case.

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Urgent Update : : : Effective today and for the unforeseeable future, we are CLOSED. We will continue to post updates to social media as a reopen date becomes available. Why are we closing? : : : This morning, the Skipper's Smokehouse ownership and management have been notified that one of our employees was alerted through contact tracing that they may have been exposed to COVID-19 - this in addition to our carefully watching the numbers of positive cases and trends rise dramatically over the course of the past several days, we feel closing immediately is the most socially responsible thing for us to do to keep not only our staff but our patrons as safe as we possibly can. At this time, NONE of our staff have tested positive for COVID-19 - but, the contact trace alert is concerning to us. : : : What you can expect before we reopen? It will be required that ALL employees that work on site be tested for COVID-19 and be symptom free before returning to work. In addition to that, we will be performing extra deep cleaning processes during the closure and upon reopening. : : : We have worried this day would arrive for us and it has. There comes a time when being socially responsible and putting health, well being and safety above business as almost usual is the absolute right thing to do. A monetary amount, good times, delicious meals and tasty cocktails will never be more valuable than your life to us. Therefore, we are erring on the side of extreme safety in this case. : : : We are here to answer any questions or concerns our patrons might have - again, NO ONE has tested positive on our staff. If you have questions or concerns, you can contact us at cricket@skipperssmokehouse.com : : : We love you all so much. We appreciate just shy of four decades of your support. Now, we ask that those who disagree with this decision respect our choice to be socially responsible. Peace, Love, Good Health & Oysters

A post shared by (@skipperssmokehouse) on Jun 20, 2020 at 9:19am PDT

Other bay area businesses, such as Rollin Oats Market and Cafe and Noble Crust in St. Petersburg, have temporarily shut their doors, as well, after employees tested positive for the virus.

Before Castor dropped her mask order in Tampa, St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman ordered that employees of all city businesses must wear masks.

In his Instagram post, Crowbars owner said:

I am extremely disappointed, but Id be much more disappointed with myself if I were to try and go forward in light of this new information, he wrote. Be safe out there, folks.

Times staff writers Divya Kumar and Josh Fiallo contributed to this report.

HOW CORONAVIRUS IS SPREADING IN FLORIDA: Find the latest numbers for your county, city or zip code.

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Coronavirus shuts down Crowbar, the Orpheum and Skippers Smokehouse - Tampa Bay Times

Whats all this talk about a second wave of U.S. coronavirus cases?

In The Wall Street Journal last week, Vice President Mike Pence wrote in a piece headlined There Isnt a Coronavirus Second Wave that the nation is winning the fight against the virus.

Many public health experts, however, suggest its no time to celebrate. About 120,000 Americans have died from the new virus and daily counts of new cases in the U.S. are the highest theyve been in more than a month, driven by alarming recent increases in the South and West.

But there is at least one point of agreement: Second wave is probably the wrong term to describe whats happening.

When you have 20,000-plus infections per day, how can you talk about a second wave? said Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health. Were in the first wave. Lets get out of the first wave before you have a second wave.

Clearly there was an initial infection peak in April as cases exploded in New York City. After schools and businesses were closed across the country, the rate of new cases dropped somewhat.

But its more of a plateau, or a mesa, not the trough after a wave, said Caitlin Rivers, a disease researcher at Johns Hopkins Universitys Center for Health Security.

Scientists generally agree the nation is still in its first wave of coronavirus infections, albeit one thats dipping in some parts of the country while rising in others.

This virus is spreading around the United States and hitting different places with different intensity at different times, said Dr. Richard Besser, chief executive of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation who was acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention when a pandemic flu hit the U.S. in 2009.

Dr. Arnold Monto, a University of Michigan flu expert, echoed that sentiment.

What I would call this is continued transmission with flare-ups, he said.

Flu seasons sometimes feature a second wave of infections. But in those cases, the second wave is a distinct new surge in cases from a strain of flu that is different than the strain that caused earlier illnesses.

Thats not the case in the coronavirus epidemic.

Monto doesnt think second wave really describes whats happening now, calling it totally semantics.

Second waves are basically in the eye of the beholder, he said.

But Besser said semantics matter, because saying a first wave has passed may give people a false sense that the worst is over.

Some worry a large wave of coronavirus might occur this fall or winter after schools reopen, the weather turns colder and less humid, and people huddle inside more. That would follow seasonal patterns seen with flu and other respiratory viruses. And such a fall wave could be very bad, given that theres no vaccine or experts think most Americans havent had the virus.

But the new coronavirus so far has been spreading more episodically and sporadically than flu, and it may not follow the same playbook.

Its very difficult to make a prediction, Rivers said. We dont know the degree to which this virus is seasonal, if at all.

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Second wave of coronavirus cases? Experts say were still in the first - The Denver Post

Its a question that has haunted scientists since the pandemic began: Does everyone infected with the virus produce antibodies and if so, how long do they last?

Not very long, suggests a new study published Thursday in Nature Medicine. Antibodies protective proteins made in response to an infection may last only two to three months, especially in people who never showed symptoms while they were infected.

The conclusion does not necessarily mean that these people can be infected a second time, several experts cautioned. Even low levels of powerful neutralizing antibodies may still be protective, as are the immune systems T cells and B cells.

But the results offer a strong note of caution against the idea of immunity certificates for people who have recovered from the illness, the authors suggested.

Antibodies to other coronaviruses, including those that cause SARS and MERS, are thought to last about a year. Scientists had hoped that antibodies to the new virus might last at least as long.

Several studies have now shown that most people who are visibly ill with Covid-19 develop antibodies to the virus, although it has been unclear how long those antibodies last. The new study is the first to characterize the immune response in asymptomatic people.

The researchers compared 37 asymptomatic people to an equal number who had symptoms in the Wanzhou District of China. The investigators found that asymptomatic people mount a weaker response to the virus than those who develop symptoms.

Antibodies fell to levels below the threshold for a seropositive diagnosis in 40 percent of asymptomatic people, compared with just 13 percent of symptomatic people.

The sample size is small, however, and the researchers did not take into account protection offered by immune cells that may fight the virus on their own or make new antibodies when the virus invades. A few studies have shown that the coronavirus stimulates a robust and protective cellular immune response.

Most people are generally not aware of T cell immunity, and so much of the conversation has focused on antibody levels, said Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at Columbia University.

Apart from T cells, which can kill the virus on encounter, people who have been infected make so-called memory B cells, which can rapidly ramp up antibody production when needed.

If they find the virus again, they remember and start to make antibodies very, very quickly, said Florian Krammer, a virologist at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, who has led several studies of antibodies to the coronavirus.

In the new study, antibodies to one viral protein dropped below detectable levels. But a second set of antibodies targeting the so-called spike protein of the coronavirus needed to neutralize the virus and prevent reinfection were still present.

In fact, these antibodies seemed to show a smaller decline in asymptomatic people than in symptomatic people. The neutralizing antibody is what matters, and that tells a very different story, Dr. Krammer said.

Updated June 16, 2020

The steroid, dexamethasone, is the first treatment shown to reduce mortality in severely ill patients, according to scientists in Britain. The drug appears to reduce inflammation caused by the immune system, protecting the tissues. In the study, dexamethasone reduced deaths of patients on ventilators by one-third, and deaths of patients on oxygen by one-fifth.

The coronavirus emergency relief package gives many American workers paid leave if they need to take time off because of the virus. It gives qualified workers two weeks of paid sick leave if they are ill, quarantined or seeking diagnosis or preventive care for coronavirus, or if they are caring for sick family members. It gives 12 weeks of paid leave to people caring for children whose schools are closed or whose child care provider is unavailable because of the coronavirus. It is the first time the United States has had widespread federally mandated paid leave, and includes people who dont typically get such benefits, like part-time and gig economy workers. But the measure excludes at least half of private-sector workers, including those at the countrys largest employers, and gives small employers significant leeway to deny leave.

So far, the evidence seems to show it does. A widely cited paper published in April suggests that people are most infectious about two days before the onset of coronavirus symptoms and estimated that 44 percent of new infections were a result of transmission from people who were not yet showing symptoms. Recently, a top expert at the World Health Organization stated that transmission of the coronavirus by people who did not have symptoms was very rare, but she later walked back that statement.

Touching contaminated objects and then infecting ourselves with the germs is not typically how the virus spreads. But it can happen. A number of studies of flu, rhinovirus, coronavirus and other microbes have shown that respiratory illnesses, including the new coronavirus, can spread by touching contaminated surfaces, particularly in places like day care centers, offices and hospitals. But a long chain of events has to happen for the disease to spread that way. The best way to protect yourself from coronavirus whether its surface transmission or close human contact is still social distancing, washing your hands, not touching your face and wearing masks.

A study by European scientists is the first to document a strong statistical link between genetic variations and Covid-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. Having Type A blood was linked to a 50 percent increase in the likelihood that a patient would need to get oxygen or to go on a ventilator, according to the new study.

The unemployment rate fell to 13.3 percent in May, the Labor Department said on June 5, an unexpected improvement in the nations job market as hiring rebounded faster than economists expected. Economists had forecast the unemployment rate to increase to as much as 20 percent, after it hit 14.7 percent in April, which was the highest since the government began keeping official statistics after World War II. But the unemployment rate dipped instead, with employers adding 2.5 million jobs, after more than 20 million jobs were lost in April.

Mass protests against police brutality that have brought thousands of people onto the streets in cities across America are raising the specter of new coronavirus outbreaks, prompting political leaders, physicians and public health experts to warn that the crowds could cause a surge in cases. While many political leaders affirmed the right of protesters to express themselves, they urged the demonstrators to wear face masks and maintain social distancing, both to protect themselves and to prevent further community spread of the virus. Some infectious disease experts were reassured by the fact that the protests were held outdoors, saying the open air settings could mitigate the risk of transmission.

States are reopening bit by bit. This means that more public spaces are available for use and more and more businesses are being allowed to open again. The federal government is largely leaving the decision up to states, and some state leaders are leaving the decision up to local authorities. Even if you arent being told to stay at home, its still a good idea to limit trips outside and your interaction with other people.

Common symptoms include fever, a dry cough, fatigue and difficulty breathing or shortness of breath. Some of these symptoms overlap with those of the flu, making detection difficult, but runny noses and stuffy sinuses are less common. The C.D.C. has also added chills, muscle pain, sore throat, headache and a new loss of the sense of taste or smell as symptoms to look out for. Most people fall ill five to seven days after exposure, but symptoms may appear in as few as two days or as many as 14 days.

If air travel is unavoidable, there are some steps you can take to protect yourself. Most important: Wash your hands often, and stop touching your face. If possible, choose a window seat. A study from Emory University found that during flu season, the safest place to sit on a plane is by a window, as people sitting in window seats had less contact with potentially sick people. Disinfect hard surfaces. When you get to your seat and your hands are clean, use disinfecting wipes to clean the hard surfaces at your seat like the head and arm rest, the seatbelt buckle, the remote, screen, seat back pocket and the tray table. If the seat is hard and nonporous or leather or pleather, you can wipe that down, too. (Using wipes on upholstered seats could lead to a wet seat and spreading of germs rather than killing them.)

The C.D.C. has recommended that all Americans wear cloth masks if they go out in public. This is a shift in federal guidance reflecting new concerns that the coronavirus is being spread by infected people who have no symptoms. Until now, the C.D.C., like the W.H.O., has advised that ordinary people dont need to wear masks unless they are sick and coughing. Part of the reason was to preserve medical-grade masks for health care workers who desperately need them at a time when they are in continuously short supply. Masks dont replace hand washing and social distancing.

If youve been exposed to the coronavirus or think you have, and have a fever or symptoms like a cough or difficulty breathing, call a doctor. They should give you advice on whether you should be tested, how to get tested, and how to seek medical treatment without potentially infecting or exposing others.

A second paper, published on Thursday in the journal Nature, suggests that even low levels of antibodies might be enough to thwart the virus. It does appear that even low levels of certain antibodies have potent neutralizing capability, said Dr. Rasmussen, the Columbia University virologist. Low antibody titers dont necessarily determine whether a patient will be protected from reinfection.

Between 20 and 50 percent of those infected may never show outward signs of the illness. The new study from China, which tracked people over time to confirm that they never developed symptoms, put that number at 20 percent.

About a third of the asymptomatic people had the ground-glass opacities characteristic of Covid-19 and abnormalities in the lungs and in cell types, however.

The study also found that asymptomatic people shed virus when infected, and did so for longer than those who had symptoms. That finding is interesting because it actually might suggest that these asymptomatic patients are indeed capable of transmitting virus, Dr. Rasmussen said.

But she and other experts noted that its unclear whether the virus shed by asymptomatic people is capable of infecting others. It is important to know if they are shedding infectious virus, or just remnants of the virus, said Akiko Iwasaki, a viral immunologist at Yale University.

Dr. Iwasaki was more concerned than the other experts about the two new studies.

These reports highlight the need to develop strong vaccines, because immunity that develops naturally during infection is suboptimal and short-lived in most people, she said. We cannot rely on natural infection to achieve herd immunity.

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You May Have Antibodies After Coronavirus Infection. But Not for Long. - The New York Times

ASHEVILLE - North Carolina COVID-19 hospitalizations decreased June 21, but it still is not a good sign for the pandemic's effect on the state..

As of noon June 21, 845 people were hospitalized with the disease in the state. That's 38 fewer people than the day before, but it is the fifth-highest amount since the start of the pandemic, all coming within the last five days.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services tallied 52,801 lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 statewide as of noon June 21, an increase of 1,412 from the previous day. That is the sixth-highest one-day case increase since the start of the pandemic.

NCDHHS counts a total of 1,220 deaths associated with lab-tested COVID-19 cases statewide, an increase of eight over the previous day.

Those numbersdiffer from the Johns Hopkins University report in the graphic above.As of about 12:15 p.m. June 21, JHU counted 2,260,972 confirmed cases and 119,762 deaths as a result of COVID-19 in the Unites States. Its worldwide tally was 8,827,934 cases and 465,051 deaths.

As of about noon June 20, Buncombe County reported 487cases, up four from the previous day. The county had not updated its coronavirus dashboard by noon June 21, but the state reported 501 cases in Buncombe. The number of COVID-19 related deaths in the county remained at 36.

Confirmed cases in other Western North Carolina counties, according to state counts:

The Citizen Times is providing this story for free to readers because of the need for information about the coronavirus. We encourage you to further support local journalism by subscribing.

Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper on Friday vetoed another attempt by Republican legislators to accelerate the speed in which North Carolina commerce is being restored through his COVID-19 executive order.

Gary D. Robertson of the Associated Press reports that the vetoed measure would have allowed fitness centers and gyms shuttered since March to reopen at 50% capacity and require they follow social distancing and cleanliness rules. The bill also tried again to let still-closed bars reopen for outdoor patrons only and expand current outdoor seating for restaurants already partially reopened for sit-down service.

Two weeks ago, Cooper vetoed a bill containing help for bars and restaurants, saying legislation was the wrong way to reopen during uncertain times in which virus cases could spike. The bill vetoed Friday had offered the governor the authority to still shut down the bars and gyms under his emergency powers, but only with the agreement of the Council of State. The veto shows the "fail-safe" legislators said they gave him wasn't enough.

The Stony Fork Picnic Area in Pisgah National Forest is open.(Photo: John Boyle, jboyle@citizen-times.com)

Looking for something to do on Father's Day?

The weather is expected to be sunny and warm in the Western North Carolina mountains, and more recreation areas are now open in Pisgah National Forest, reports Karen Chvez.

These include the ultra-popular Looking Glass Falls and Picnic Area, and the picnic areas at Pink Beds, Stony Fork, Sycamore Flats, and Coontree in the Davidson River Corridor, as well as all the picnic areas along U.S. 276, and Wash Creek Road/FSR 5000, in the Pisgah Ranger District.

The Forest Service began closing some of its most popular recreation areas in late March and early April as the coronavirus pandemic swept across the country.

More: Summer starts with more Pisgah National Forest openings including Looking Glass Falls

Clarence Robinson, owner of Cooking With Comedy.(Photo: Courtesy of the YMCA)

Local food insecurity has increased during the COVID-19 shutdown, along with unemployment and uncertainty about the economic future. Since mid-March, the YMCA of Western North Carolina has scaled up its traditional nutrition outreach program to meet community needs.

Mackensy Lunsford reports that over the past three months the Y has served more than 40,000 prepared meals through its ongoing partnership with Wicked Weed and Food Connection as part of the Beers That Build initiative. The delivery program has brought meals to children, families, seniors, veterans and shelter residents.

Additionally, the YMCAs award-winning summer feeding program is partnering with three local chefs to serve healthy, delicious food at its summer day camps.

The Ys vending partners are Chef Gene Ettison of the Ettison Investment Group, Chef Aaron Mathews of McDowell Local and Chef Clarence Robinson of Cooking with Comedy Catering.

More: As need expands, Asheville chefs throw support behind YMCA's summer feeding programs

Anthony Little, left, with members of his family.(Photo: Courtesy Photo)

David Thompson reports in this story for subscribers:

Jackie Little would've said goodbye in a different way if she knew this could be the final moment with her husband of 45 years.

Little, a 63-year-old Asheville resident, watched from the parking lot as her husband's silhouette disappeared through the entrance of Mission Hospital on June 15. Anthony Little, 68, had been ill for a week and was suffering from COVID-19 symptoms. .

His wife had not been allowed to follow. Instead she remained in her car alone, amid a fog of worry and confusion.

"I was expecting to see him very soon," Jackie Little said. "He told me through FaceTime that they were going to put some tubes in him and that he'd contact me as soon as he could."

The next day, Jackie Little received a call from a Mission doctor: Anthony Little was dying.

He had tested positive for COVID-19 and had been placed on a respirator. The doctor told Jackie that her husband's kidneys were failing and to begin making end-of-life arrangements.

Read the fullstory: Coronavirus: A COVID-19 diagnosis, a death prognosis and a family's claim of Mission's disparity

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Coronavirus pandemic: What you need to know in Asheville, WNC, June 21 - Citizen Times

But critics say that instead of tackling the crisis head-on -- perhaps with a reshuffle of his ministerial team; a shakeup of government policy; or the announcement of an inquiry -- Prime Minister Boris Johnson has engaged in a tactic of an altogether more Trumpian style. He has launched a culture war.

And while his government struggles in the face of the onslaught of Covid-19, Johnson announced the merger of two big government departments -- the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), which oversees the UK government's foreign policy, and the Department for International Development (DFID), which runs aid policy. The purpose: To fulfil a policy aim favored by the conservative right that foreign aid should be tied to the UK national interest.

Johnson's government is sitting on a thumping 80-seat majority. It could do anything it wants. Yet experts say the Prime Minister -- a former journalist who is an instinctive campaigner -- appears to be indulging in what amounts to a re-election effort four years before the date of the next poll. The mystery is -- why?

"His reflex is to go back to newspaper commentary and to write columns on statues, to seed stories in the press about trans issues, because that's a way of mobilizing his own base and to throw a hornet's nest at his opponents," Robert Saunders, a British political history expert at Queen Mary University of London, told CNN.

That base is considerably larger than it used to be, and includes many voters in areas that were formerly strongholds of the opposition Labour Party, like the former industrial towns of the English Midlands, Wales and northwest England. Many of those voters were drawn to Johnson by his straightforward electoral promise to "get Brexit done."

That promise was fulfilled when Britain officially left the European Union at the end of March, and the debate switched from an ideological "in or out" battle to the practicalities of trade and fishing rights. With Brexit largely resolved in the minds of the electorate, the Conservatives might be seeking a new way to "reinforce the impression that the Labour Party only stands for liberal, educated young people, and does not really have a sense of what is going on in middle England," said Tim Bale, a professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London.

By stoking the divisions that emerged from Brexit, the Prime Minister's team "are hoping to keep the flame of polarization alive by generating other issues that are likely to trigger the same adversarial feelings," he added.

The polemicist

Johnson's dog-whistling added to the straightforward narrative of an island nation under siege, an effective distraction from more prosaic concerns like access to the single market. "A culture war is fundamentally about distraction," Saunders added. "You're trying to distract your opponent from issues that you don't want to talk about and move them onto issues that you do."

Pejorative language

Culture war issues are not just an instrumental technique "to shore up the base and expand it," Bale added. "Some people around Johnson literally believe this stuff and do think traditional British values are under threat from a 'cancel culture,' which they think is inimical to the traditions of this country."

Johnson announced the launch of a Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities, which will also examine why white working-class boys fell behind in school. Downing Street policy chief Munira Mirza has reportedly been tasked with helping to set up it up.

The Prime Minister defended his aide in Parliament on Wednesday, saying he was a huge admirer of Mirza as she is "brilliant thinker about these issues."

Johnson said the new commission would learn "very fast" what changes needed to be made, according to PA news agency.

Encouraging majoritarian fears

"Johnson is a pound shop Trump, slightly more acceptable and less utterly crass," Christine Burns, a trans campaigner and author of "Trans Britain: Our Journey from the Shadows," told CNN. "Just as Brexit emboldened people to be racist," to roll back on transgender rights at such a febrile moment "is not just emboldening people to be transphobic in their language, but also to use physical force," she warned.

The axing of the Department for International Development (DFiD) demonstrated Downing Street's preference for ideology over capacity, according to David Hudson, Professor of Politics and Development at the University of Birmingham.

"It is somewhat astonishing that it has happened right now in a middle of a pandemic [when] the government and civil service are massively stretched," Hudson told CNN. The merger, criticized by three former Prime Ministers, would lead to less transparency on how aid is spent and risks diluting DFID's poverty alleviation agenda, he said.

Johnson defended the move on Tuesday, saying: "for too long, frankly, UK overseas aid has been treated as some giant cashpoint in the sky that arrives without any reference to UK interests or to the values that the UK."

Will Johnson focus on governing rather than rule via press release as Britain's economy nosedives, the country faces "appalling levels of unemployment, and probably further waves of the pandemic?" Saunders asked.

There are one of two routes the UK could go, he added. The public's "patience for these stunts might diminish" and Johnson focusses on "talking about jobs, employment, and health policy," he said. "Or the stunts are going to have to become nastier and more divisive to hold the public's attention."

See the rest here:

Tens of thousands of Britons have died from coronavirus. But Boris Johnson is stoking a culture war. - CNN

Florida again broke its record for single-day coronavirus cases, adding 3,822 infections Friday and bringing the state total to 89,748 cases.

The state also recorded 43 new deaths and 200 additional hospitalizations. In Tampa Bay, Hillsborough and Pinellas County set new records for single-day recorded cases, adding 372 cases and 266 cases respectively.

In the past week, Florida has repeatedly hit new highs for single-day coronavirus cases. Friday was the 17th consecutive day with caseloads more than 1,000.

About a quarter of Floridas total coronavirus cases have been recorded since June 11, when the state had the highest single-day number of new cases since April.

Gov. Ron DeSantis has said the increasing number of coronavirus cases is because of expanded testing, especially to asymptomatic people and targeted populations who come in close contact with each other particularly farm workers.

About 1.5 million people have been tested statewide. DeSantis spokeswoman Helen Aguirre Ferr tweeted that the focus shouldnt be on the rising cases, but rather on Floridas preparedness and that the median age of people testing positive is younger.

More than 75 percent of Floridas adult ICU hospital beds are occupied, according to a WUSF analysis. More than 13,000 Florida residents and non-residents have been hospitalized because of the virus, and 3,197 people have died. Just over half of those deaths are tied to long-term care facilities, which will begin testing all staff every two weeks.

The number of average deaths per week has held steady with numbers from the start of the month. For the week ending June 18, there were 31 average deaths.

The Tampa Bay area added 864 cases Friday, 23 percent of the states daily total. There were also eight additional deaths, four in Hillsborough, two in Manatee and one each in Pinellas and Polk.

The new deaths include an 89-year-old Hillsborough woman, a 70-year-old Hillsborough man, a 74-year-old Hillsborough woman, an 80-year-old Hillsborough man, a 55-year-old Manatee man, a 68-year-old Manatee man, a 91-year-old Pinellas woman and a 73-year-old Polk man.

As of the latest counts, Hillsborough has 4,982 cases and 112 deaths; Pinellas has 3,153 cases and 114 deaths; Polk has 1,856 cases and 77 deaths; Manatee has 1,649 cases and 126 deaths; Pasco has 686 cases and 17 deaths; Citrus has 168 cases and 12 deaths; and Hernando has 158 cases and six deaths.

In countries that have mostly tamped down coronavirus, the U.S. numbers raise alarm.

It really does feel like the U.S. has given up, said Siouxsie Wiles, an infectious-diseases specialist at the University of Auckland in New Zealand in an interview with the Washington Post.

According to the report, in countries where cases have come back, drastic measures have been taken to control the virus. In China, 150 new cases in Beijing led to sealed-off neighborhoods, mass testing and travel restrictions.

Wiles, the specialist from New Zealand, said the U.S. rollout has affected how she sees some of our top-regarded institutions.

Ive always thought of the CDC as a reliable and trusted source of information, she told the Post. Not anymore.

HOW CORONAVIRUS IS SPREADING IN FLORIDA: Find the latest numbers for your county, city or zip code.

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Florida sets another single-day coronavirus case record with nearly 4,000 infections - Tampa Bay Times

Heres one more behavior to be hyper-aware of in order to prevent coronavirus transmission: what you do after you use the toilet.

Scientists have found that in addition to clearing out whatever business youve left behind, flushing a toilet can generate a cloud of aerosol droplets that rises nearly three feet. Those droplets may linger in the air long enough to be inhaled by a shared toilets next user, or land on surfaces in the bathroom.

This toilet plume isnt just gross. In simulations, it can carry infectious coronavirus particles that are already present in the surrounding air or recently shed in a persons stool. The research, published Tuesday in the journal Physics of Fluids, adds to growing evidence that the coronavirus can be passed not only through respiratory droplets, but through virus-laden feces, too.

And while it remains unknown whether public or shared toilets are a common point of transmission of the virus, the research highlights the need during a pandemic to rethink some of the common spaces people share.

The aerosols generated by toilets are something that weve kind of known about for a while, but many people have taken for granted, said Joshua L. Santarpia, a professor of pathology and microbiology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center who was not involved in the research. This study adds a lot of the evidence that everyone needs in order to take better action.

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Typically, the coronavirus is most at home in cells in the lungs and upper respiratory tract. But studies have found it can also dock to cell receptors in the small intestine. Patients have been reported to experience diarrhea, nausea and vomiting among other symptoms.

And researchers have found viable virus particles in patients feces, as well as traces of viral RNA on toilet bowls and sinks in their hospital isolation rooms, although experiments in the lab have suggested that material may be less likely to be infectious compared with virus that is coughed out.

A computer simulation of the toilet flushing mechanism showed that when water pours into the toilet and generates a vortex, it displaces air in the bowl. These vortices move upward and the centrifugal force pushes out about 6,000 tiny droplets and even tinier aerosol particles.

Depending on the number of inlets in the toilet, flushing can force anywhere from 40 to 60 percent of the produced aerosols high above the seat.

Its very alarming, said Ji-Xiang Wang, who studies fluid dynamics at Yangzhou University and was a co-author of the study.

Its virtually impossible to keep bathrooms sanitized all the time, and sharing a toilet may be unavoidable for family members, even when one person is sick and isolating in a separate room at home, Dr. Wang said.

As cities around the world navigate the reopening of restaurants, offices and other businesses, more and more people will also need to use public or shared restrooms. But while diners can be moved outdoors and employees spaced out, people may find it harder to practice social distancing in small bathrooms.

Aerosolized particles may still linger in single-use toilets, and bathrooms are frequently poorly ventilated spaces, which can increase the risk of exposure to infection. Users also have to consider risks from high-touch surfaces, like doorknobs and faucets.

Experience with other coronaviruses shows how quickly the fecal-oral route can lead to spread of disease. In March 2003, more than 300 people living in the Amoy Gardens apartment complex in Hong Kong got infected with the original SARS coronavirus because infectious fecal aerosols spread through faulty plumbing and ventilation systems.

While Dr. Wang acknowledged that scientists had yet to look at toilet aerosols in real-world situations involving the new coronavirus, other research has shown that viral RNA was found in shared toilet areas at one hospital in Wuhan, China.

But researchers do not know how much infectious virus is in aerosols or whether people with more severe cases of Covid-19 shed more virus than patients with milder illness, he said.

Thankfully, people can also easily prevent the spread of infections from the toilet plume.

Close the lid first and then trigger the flushing process, Dr. Wang said, which he acknowledged isnt always possible in public bathrooms.

Updated June 16, 2020

The steroid, dexamethasone, is the first treatment shown to reduce mortality in severely ill patients, according to scientists in Britain. The drug appears to reduce inflammation caused by the immune system, protecting the tissues. In the study, dexamethasone reduced deaths of patients on ventilators by one-third, and deaths of patients on oxygen by one-fifth.

The coronavirus emergency relief package gives many American workers paid leave if they need to take time off because of the virus. It gives qualified workers two weeks of paid sick leave if they are ill, quarantined or seeking diagnosis or preventive care for coronavirus, or if they are caring for sick family members. It gives 12 weeks of paid leave to people caring for children whose schools are closed or whose child care provider is unavailable because of the coronavirus. It is the first time the United States has had widespread federally mandated paid leave, and includes people who dont typically get such benefits, like part-time and gig economy workers. But the measure excludes at least half of private-sector workers, including those at the countrys largest employers, and gives small employers significant leeway to deny leave.

So far, the evidence seems to show it does. A widely cited paper published in April suggests that people are most infectious about two days before the onset of coronavirus symptoms and estimated that 44 percent of new infections were a result of transmission from people who were not yet showing symptoms. Recently, a top expert at the World Health Organization stated that transmission of the coronavirus by people who did not have symptoms was very rare, but she later walked back that statement.

Touching contaminated objects and then infecting ourselves with the germs is not typically how the virus spreads. But it can happen. A number of studies of flu, rhinovirus, coronavirus and other microbes have shown that respiratory illnesses, including the new coronavirus, can spread by touching contaminated surfaces, particularly in places like day care centers, offices and hospitals. But a long chain of events has to happen for the disease to spread that way. The best way to protect yourself from coronavirus whether its surface transmission or close human contact is still social distancing, washing your hands, not touching your face and wearing masks.

A study by European scientists is the first to document a strong statistical link between genetic variations and Covid-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. Having Type A blood was linked to a 50 percent increase in the likelihood that a patient would need to get oxygen or to go on a ventilator, according to the new study.

The unemployment rate fell to 13.3 percent in May, the Labor Department said on June 5, an unexpected improvement in the nations job market as hiring rebounded faster than economists expected. Economists had forecast the unemployment rate to increase to as much as 20 percent, after it hit 14.7 percent in April, which was the highest since the government began keeping official statistics after World War II. But the unemployment rate dipped instead, with employers adding 2.5 million jobs, after more than 20 million jobs were lost in April.

Mass protests against police brutality that have brought thousands of people onto the streets in cities across America are raising the specter of new coronavirus outbreaks, prompting political leaders, physicians and public health experts to warn that the crowds could cause a surge in cases. While many political leaders affirmed the right of protesters to express themselves, they urged the demonstrators to wear face masks and maintain social distancing, both to protect themselves and to prevent further community spread of the virus. Some infectious disease experts were reassured by the fact that the protests were held outdoors, saying the open air settings could mitigate the risk of transmission.

States are reopening bit by bit. This means that more public spaces are available for use and more and more businesses are being allowed to open again. The federal government is largely leaving the decision up to states, and some state leaders are leaving the decision up to local authorities. Even if you arent being told to stay at home, its still a good idea to limit trips outside and your interaction with other people.

Common symptoms include fever, a dry cough, fatigue and difficulty breathing or shortness of breath. Some of these symptoms overlap with those of the flu, making detection difficult, but runny noses and stuffy sinuses are less common. The C.D.C. has also added chills, muscle pain, sore throat, headache and a new loss of the sense of taste or smell as symptoms to look out for. Most people fall ill five to seven days after exposure, but symptoms may appear in as few as two days or as many as 14 days.

If air travel is unavoidable, there are some steps you can take to protect yourself. Most important: Wash your hands often, and stop touching your face. If possible, choose a window seat. A study from Emory University found that during flu season, the safest place to sit on a plane is by a window, as people sitting in window seats had less contact with potentially sick people. Disinfect hard surfaces. When you get to your seat and your hands are clean, use disinfecting wipes to clean the hard surfaces at your seat like the head and arm rest, the seatbelt buckle, the remote, screen, seat back pocket and the tray table. If the seat is hard and nonporous or leather or pleather, you can wipe that down, too. (Using wipes on upholstered seats could lead to a wet seat and spreading of germs rather than killing them.)

The C.D.C. has recommended that all Americans wear cloth masks if they go out in public. This is a shift in federal guidance reflecting new concerns that the coronavirus is being spread by infected people who have no symptoms. Until now, the C.D.C., like the W.H.O., has advised that ordinary people dont need to wear masks unless they are sick and coughing. Part of the reason was to preserve medical-grade masks for health care workers who desperately need them at a time when they are in continuously short supply. Masks dont replace hand washing and social distancing.

If youve been exposed to the coronavirus or think you have, and have a fever or symptoms like a cough or difficulty breathing, call a doctor. They should give you advice on whether you should be tested, how to get tested, and how to seek medical treatment without potentially infecting or exposing others.

You should also wash your hands frequently and thoroughly, especially if youre using a shared restroom where the toilet doesnt have a lid or the flush is automatically triggered on standing up. Avoid touching your face, and keep your mask on in the bathroom, which could prevent some exposure to the coronavirus.

Dr. Wang hopes the new research will help lead to improvements in bathroom design, including increased attention to contactless dispensers for soap and paper towels, and toilets that flush only after they have been covered with a lid.

Other experts are already considering indoor ultraviolet lights and automated disinfectant sprays that will zap the coronavirus and relieve some of the pressure on keeping public toilets clean.

And Dr. Santarpia said that Dr. Wangs study could point to a way of monitoring coronavirus clusters.

You could simply monitor samples from a shared bathroom on a daily basis, he said. And if something were to come up positive, you could then go look at everyone who was there and who they had contact with, rather than testing everybody all the time.

Visit link:

Flushing the Toilet May Fling Coronavirus Aerosols All Over - The New York Times

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The World Health Organization on Sunday reported the largest single-day increase in coronavirus cases by its count, at more than 183,000 new cases in the latest 24 hours.

The UN health agency said Brazil led the way with 54,771 cases tallied and the U.S. next at 36,617. Over 15,400 came in in India.

Experts said rising case counts can reflect multiple factors including more widespread testing as well as broader infection.

Overall in the pandemic, WHO reported 8,708,008 cases 183,020 in the last 24 hours with 461,715 deaths worldwide, with a daily increase of 4,743. More than two-thirds of those new deaths were reported in the Americas.

WATCH |Should masks be mandatory?

Spain on Sunday ended a national state of emergency after three months of lockdown, allowing its 47 million residents to freely travel around the country for the first time since March 14. Spain also dropped a 14-day quarantine for visitors from Britain and countries in Europe's visa-free Schengen travel zone to boost its vital tourism sector.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez urged people to exercise maximum public health precautions, saying that even though Europe is stabilizing, the virus is running rampant on other continents.

"The warning is clear," Sanchez said. "The virus can return and it can hit us again in a second wave, and we have to do whatever we can to avoid that at all cost."

The number of confirmed virus cases is still growing rapidly in Brazil, South Africa, the United States and other countries, especially in Latin America.

Brazil's Health Ministry said the total number of cases had risen by more than 50,000 in a day.

President Jair Bolsonaro has been downplaying the risks even as his country has now seen more than 50,000 fatalities, the second-highest death toll in the world.

South Africa reported a one-day high of 4,966 new cases on Saturday and 46 deaths. Despite the increase, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a further loosening of one of the world's strictest lockdowns. Casinos, beauty salons and sit-down restaurant service will reopen.

In the United States, the virus appeared to be spreading across the west and south. Arizona reported 3,109 new infections, just short of Friday's record, and 26 deaths. The state of Nevada also reported a new high of 445 cases.

In Europe, one meatpacking plant in northwest Germany alone has 1,029 cases, so the regional government issued a quarantine for all 6,500 workers, managers and family members at the Toennies meat processing facility in Rheda-Wiedenbrueck.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government will announce next week whether Britain will ease social distancing rules for people to remain twometres apart.

Business groups are lobbying for that to be cut to onemetre to make it easier to reopen pubs, restaurants and schools, but that could also lead to more infections.

Britain has Europe's highest virus death toll and the world's third-highest at more than 42,500 dead.

In Asia, China and South Korea reported new coronavirus cases Sunday in outbreaks that threatened to set back their recoveries.

Chinese authorities reported 25 new confirmed cases 22 in Beijing and three in neighbouring Hebei province.

They said 2.3 million people have been tested to contain the outbreak in the capital that has led to the closure of its biggest wholesale food market. The Ming Tombs, a tourist site northwest of Beijing, was closing its indoor areas as a precaution.

In South Korea, authorities reported 48 new cases. Half were in the capital, Seoul. Ten were in the central city of Daejong, suggesting the virus was spreading more widely as lockdown measures are relaxed.

Nearly 200 infections have been traced to employees at a door-to-door sales company in Seoul and at least 70 other infections are tied to a table tennis club there, but South Korean officials are reluctant to enforce stronger social distancing to avoid hurting the country's fragile economy.

In the Middle East, the Palestinian Authority reimposed restrictions in the West Bank after 86 people tested positive. Access to the city of Hebron was suspended and residents were put under a five-day curfew. The city of Nablus is to be isolated for two days.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his government will weigh possible steps to halt the spread of the coronavirus after the country has seen a major uptick of more than 300 confirmed cases in recent days.

As of 7 p.m.ET on Sunday, Canada had 101,337 confirmed and presumptive COVID-19cases, with 63,886of the cases considered recovered or resolved. A CBC News tally of deaths based on provincial information, regional health data and CBC's reporting stood at 8,471.

Quebec and Ontario continue to lead other provinces and territories for having the highest daily counts of confirmed infections.

Ontario added 175 new cases on Sunday for a total of 33,476.Quebec recorded 124 new cases for a total of 54,766 cases.

All regions of Ontario except for Toronto, Peel and Windsor-Essex entered Stage 2 of the province's phased reopening plan on Friday.

The second stage includes restaurant patios, hair salons and swimming pools. Child-care centres across Ontario can also reopen.

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Coronavirus: What's happening around the world on Sunday - CBC.ca

Texas has seen a recent uptick in the number of COVID-19 cases, with a record level of new cases and hospitalizations announced Tuesday. People are seen here Monday along the San Antonio River Walk. Eric Gay/AP hide caption

Texas has seen a recent uptick in the number of COVID-19 cases, with a record level of new cases and hospitalizations announced Tuesday. People are seen here Monday along the San Antonio River Walk.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced on Tuesday the state's highest-ever number of new COVID-19 cases: 2,622.

He also reported a second record high: 2,518 people hospitalized with the virus in Texas, up from 2,326 a day earlier.

Despite the concerning uptick in people sick with the virus, Abbott said that the reason for his news conference was to let Texans know about the "abundant" hospital capacity for treating people with COVID-19. He and other officials spent much of the briefing touting the state's hospital bed availability.

Disclosing the new record high number of hospitalizations related to COVID-19, Abbott emphasized that figure is "really a very small percentage of all the beds that are available."

Texas has so far been spared the high case numbers in other populous states. While it's the second-largest state by population, Texas currently ranks sixth in terms of cumulative case numbers.

Before releasing the number of new cases, Abbott delved into what he said accounted for the previous daily high on June 10, which had 2,504 new cases. The governor said that spike could be largely attributed to 520 positive tests of inmates in Texas prisons being reported at once as well as a data error in a rural county.

He said there are also reasons for why Tuesday's new case count was so high: tests results coming from an assisted living facility near Plano; a county south of Austin where positive cases seemed to be reported in batches; and 104 cases in one East Texas county that appear to be primarily from tests at a prison.

But he also pointed to uncareful behavior as a possible driver in some of the new cases. Abbott said there were a number of counties where a majority of those who tested positive for the coronavirus were under the age of 30, which he attributed to people going to "bar-type" settings or Memorial Day celebrations and not taking health precautions.

Abbott said that measures such as wearing masks, hand sanitizing and social distancing are what make it possible to reopen the state's economy.

Dr. John Hellerstedt, commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services, struck the same note.

"The message is we are seeing some increase in the number of COVID patients in the state. We expected this," he said. "But we are seeing it occurring at a manageable level. I really want to stress that the continued success is up to the people of the state of Texas."

Despite Abbott's emphasis on the importance of masks, he has barred Texas cities from implementing any rules that would require face coverings.

Abbott signed an executive order on April 27 that says while individuals are encouraged to wear face masks, "no jurisdiction can impose a civil or criminal penalty for failure to wear a face covering."

On Tuesday, the mayors of nine Texas cities including Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Austin, Fort Worth and El Paso sent a letter to the governor asking for the authority to set the rules and regulations on the use of face coverings.

"A one-size-fits-all approach is not the best option. We should trust local officials to make informed choices about health policy. And if mayors are given the opportunity to require face coverings, we believe our cities will be ready to help reduce the spread of this disease," they wrote. "If you do not have plans to mandate face coverings statewide, we ask that you restore the ability for local authorities to enforce the wearing of face coverings in public venues where physical distancing cannot be practiced."

Abbott said Tuesday that judges and local officials have other tools available for enforcement such as issuing fines for gatherings that don't follow state protocols.

Austin Mayor Steve Adler extended a stay-at-home warning on Monday amid the news of rising cases but that warning could only be advice to residents and not an order due to the state's preemption.

"People are confused," Adler told NPR's Steve Inskeep on Tuesday. "They just don't know at this point if it's really important to wear face coverings or not, because I think they're feeling like they're getting mixed messaging not only from state leadership but from national leadership. So we're just not getting the vigilance that we need on these efforts."

In Austin, Adler said, you'll see most everyone wearing a mask in grocery stores but not in restaurants or music clubs: "When we started opening up the economy and when the governor took away from cities the ability to make it mandatory, more and more people stopped wearing them."

Adler said he agreed with Abbott that face coverings are key to reopening parts of the economy, even if they're unpleasant for wearers.

"I know it's inconvenient. I know it's hot. I know it's a nuisance," Adler said. "And it's hard to do, and people don't like it. But at the same time, our community has to decide just how much we value the lives of folks in our community that are over 65 and older. We have to decide how much we value the lives of the communities of color that are suffering disproportionately because of this virus."

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Texas Governor Says 'No Reason Today To Be Alarmed' As Coronavirus Cases Set Record - NPR

Former Mahwah Mayor Bill Laforet said coronavirus hit him like a ton of bricks and can't even remember the first 10 days in the hospital. NorthJersey.com

New Jersey is one of three stateson track to contain COVID-19, a remarkable turnaround for a state thatonce led the country in per capita deaths, according to the nonprofit Covid Act Now.

The state's progress to "flatten the curve" of patients admitted to hospitals and dying of complications from the disease comes as states around the country that took less stringent containment measures are hitting peaks in deaths and new cases.

Not only are cases steadily decreasing in New Jersey, but the state's COVID preparedness "meets or exceeds international standards," Covid Act Now said. New York and Michigan are the other two states rated by the organizationto be on track to contain the coronavirus.

"The great work millions of you have done so far to crushthe curves has been working and we need to keep at it,"Gov. Phil Murphy, who has been criticized for reopening the state too slowly, said at his briefing Friday.

Healthcare workers at The Actors Fund Home in Englewood were honored with a car caravan thanking them for their service during the coronavirus pandemic from members 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East on June 17, 2020.(Photo: AMY NEWMAN, NORTHJERSEY.COM/ USA TODAY NETWORK)

New Jersey still leads the nation in someareas. It ranks thirdin deaths, with 12,835,and fifth in hospitalizations, Murphy said. But those have dropped off dramatically since the peak in mid-April. Andother key benchmarks show promise for a state thatis among the most densely populated.

The infection rate was 0.82 as of Thursday, which means that foreach COVID-positive person they were on average infecting 0.82 other people. Because of that,the total number of casesis shrinking, according to Covid Act Now.

The positive test rate was 1.8% as of Thursday, suggesting that there has been enough testing to detect most new cases and being able to identify and isolate people without resorting to lockdowns, the organization said.

Covid Act Now is comprised oftechnologists, epidemiologists, health expertsand public policy leaders.

New Jersey is now in the second of three stages of its reopening from widespread business lockdowns and a stay-at-home order that lasted more than two months. Nail and hair salons, barber shops, spasand tattoo parlors will be allowed to open Monday, which Murphy said will be a significant test since those are the first types of businesses where people closely interact with each other.

New Jersey: Amazon, pizza and PPE: What NJ spent $300 million on during coronavirus response

For subscribers: Movers and Shakers: Murphy's competitive streak sparked by Cuomo's police reforms

"We're going to have to be really, reallycareful, folks, on this one," Murphy said. "Everybody has to approach this with a sense of responsibility, not just for themselves but for the greater community."

Alexandra Altman, a spokeswoman for Murphy, said his "strategic and comprehensive reopening plan" prioritizes public health with policies such as social distancing and masking.

"It is clear that these aggressive efforts, as detailed by Covid Act Nows analysis, have set New Jersey as a national leader in stemming the tide of the virus as we continue to see a decrease in COVID-19 cases, infection rate, and ventilator use," Altman said in an email.

Based on the current trends, New Jersey would see a cumulative 29% of the population infected and 13,000 total deaths in 30 days, Covid Act Now said. It projected those figures to rise to 34% and 14,000, respectively, in the same period if all restrictions were lifted.

Dustin Racioppiis a reporter in the New Jersey Statehouse. For unlimited access to hiswork covering New Jerseysgovernorand political power structure,please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email:racioppi@northjersey.comTwitter:@dracioppi

Read or Share this story: https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/new-jersey/2020/06/19/nj-hits-top-ranking-coronavirus-analysis-showing-positive-trends/3221792001/

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NJ hits top ranking in coronavirus analysis, showing positive trends and signs of hope - NorthJersey.com

The number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus around the world has now topped 8 million as the World Health Organization continues to warn that while the virus has slowed in parts of Europe it is gaining speed in other parts of the world, including parts of Africa and the Americas.

The coverage on this live blog has ended but for up-to-the-minute coverage on the coronavirus,visit thelive blog from CNBC's U.S. team.

The data above was compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

The decision to exclude Sweden, from the lifting of travel restrictions between Nordic countries Finland, Denmark and Norway, following the coronavirus pandemic, "has created wounds that will take time to heal," the country's Foreign Minister Ann Linde told CNBC.

A decision not to implement a strict lockdown like its neighbors has meant that Sweden, which has seen a far higher number of coronavirus cases and deaths, has been left out of an easing of travel restrictions between the countries.

Minister Ann Linde said "people that have been very used to working as if there were no borders, have been given a very clear wake-up call that different nations (are being treated differently) and I think this will, in many people, create wounds that could be difficult to heal." Holly Ellyatt

Russian President Vladimir Putin has a "disinfection tunnel" installed at his residence to protect him from contracting the coronavirus, Russian news agencyRia Novosti reported Tuesday.

The chamber has been installed at the president's residence in Novo-Ogaryovo, according to the news agency. Anyone entering the residence has to pass through the chamber thatuses a fine mist of disinfectant solution that covers clothing and exposed areas of the body. Holly Ellyatt

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a Victory Day military parade marking the 74th anniversary of the end of World War II.

Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

12:48 p.m. Singapore time Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez said he has been diagnosed with coronavirus and will work remotely as he is being treated, Reuters reported. He is experiencing mild symptoms and his wife and two of his aides have also been diagnosed with the disease, according to Reuters.

Honduras has confirmed 9,656 cases of coronavirus and 330 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Christine Wang

9:06 a.m. Beijing time China's capital city had gone more than 50 days without domestically transmitted cases when a new cluster of cases emerged late last week, and were traced back to a major wholesale produce market in Beijing.

As of Tuesday, China's National Health Commission reported another 31 confirmed cases of local transmission in Beijing.

The city has started to reinstate some restrictions that had been relaxed in recent weeks. While these measures are less strict than the blanket bans imposed in February, they are still likely hit economic activity again. Evelyn Cheng, Christine Wang

7:20 p.m. ETAmazon is testing a wearable device at its Seattle-area warehouse that lights up and beeps if workers aren't following social distancing rules, according a memo obtained by CNBC.

Starting Wednesday, the device will be rolled out at Amazon's Kent, Washington facility. The device is a clear plastic sleeve with a clip that features an LED light and audio system, according to a memo seen by CNBC.

When workers are too close to one another, the wearable emits a loud beeping noise and the light flashes.

An Amazon spokesperson confirmed the company recently began a small-scale pilot of the wearable device at one of its warehouses. The spokesperson added that the company will use feedback from teams testing the device "to continue to iterate." It comes as Amazon has also experimented with cameras equipped with social distancing software. On Tuesday, the company announced it's rolling out "Distance Assistants" at a handful of facilities across the U.S. A camera is hooked up to a monitor and a local computing device that alerts users as they walk by whether they're maintaining proper distancing.Annie Palmer

6:25 p.m. ET Dexamethasone, a steroid that one study says effectively reduced death among Covid-19 patients, is a "good first step" to finding a cocktail of drugs that can treat the disease, Oxford University professorMartin Landray told CNBC.

"It's very likely that we'll end up with a situation where a combination of drugs are used, just as we see in HIV, just as we see in heart disease, in many other areas of medicine," said Landray, who co-led the study that found the drug to improve survival among patients. "But this is the first step. It's a good first step."

The drug is cheap, widely available in most countries and appears to be effective in treating some symptoms of the disease, Landray said. He said he hopes that researchers find other drugs that also attack other aspects of the virus and the disease it caused.Will Feuer

Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced the US Army Corps of Engineers and the state are putting up a 250-bed field hospital at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in downtown Dallas during a press conference at the Texas State Capitol in Austin, Sunday, March 29, 2020.

Tom Fox | Getty Images

5 p.m. ETTexas Gov. Greg Abbottsaid that the state has seen an increase in coronavirus cases since Memorial Day most likely due to people who didn't follow recommended social distancing practices.

The state reported an additional 2,622 cases of Covid-19 on Tuesday, a new daily high, he said. Abbott pointed to an increase in testing in state nursing homes, correctional facilities as well as some reporting delays as reasons behind jumps in daily case numbers.

However, he added that some counties have reported higher positivity rates stemming from people under 30 years old, indicating they may be going to "bar-type settings" or were infected at Memorial Day celebrations, Abbott said. "We think we can also accurately say there has been an increase especially beginning around the Memorial Day time period and going through a few weeks after that an increase in people testing positive because they may not be practicing all these safe standards," he said. He reminded residents to continue wearing face masks, washing their hands and maintaining a distance from other people.Noah Higgins-Dunn

Tracy Collie styles Roberta Skivicki's hair at Three-13 Salon, Spa and Boutique, during the phased reopening of businesses and restaurants from coronavirus disease (COVID-19) restrictions in the state, in Marietta, Georgia, April 24, 2020.

Bita Honarvar | Reuters

4:20 p.m. ETBoth Missouri and Georgia have made major progress in easing coronavirus-related restrictions.

Missouri has lifted all statewide coronavirus restrictions to "be fully open for business," according to Gov. Mike Parson. However, local officials can still put health measures in place.

Georgia now allows gatherings of up to 50 people as long as guests remain 6 feet apart. Restaurants no longer have capacity limitations and bars can now have up to 50 people or 35% of their total capacity, whichever is greater.

For more on states' reopening progress, click here. Hannah Miller

People enjoy the beach amid the coronavirus pandemic in Huntington Beach, California on June 14, 2020.

APU GOMES | AFP | Getty Images

3:30 p.m. ETThe 2020 Vans U.S. Open of Surfing has been canceled this year in Huntington Beach, California and will return in 2021 because of safety concerns over the coronavirus pandemic, event organizers announced this week.

The Vans U.S. Open of Surfing brings together the international board sports community for the largest professional sports competition and festival in the world, the event website said. "The Vans US Open of Surfing has always been about bringing people together in a healthy, fun and interactive environment, and given the size and scale of the event, we can't see a way to do that this year without sacrificing the very thing that makes it so special," said Jennifer Lau, vice president of Action Sports at IMG in a press release.Suzanne Blake

Customers visit the Apple store on Fifth Avenue in New York City.

Eduardo Munoz | Reuters

1:49 p.m. ET Apple will reopen 10 stores in New York City this week, but many of them will be "appointment only," meaning that customers need to schedule a time to buy products or get service for their computers.

It's the first time stores in New York City will be open since March, when the company shuttered its locations amid the pandemic, and a sign that business is picking up in the city.

By the end of the week, more than 200 of the company's 271 retail stores will be open. Apple requires customers to wear face masks inside its stores, and will provide masks to customers who don't have one.Kif Leswing

1:43 p.m. ET New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the U.S. Open tennis tournament will be held on schedule but without fans in attendance.

Cuomo said players and staff will be subject to robust testing, additional cleaning, extra locker room space, and dedicated housing and transportation.

While tennis fans may be happy to have a live sporting event to look forward to, some top players are voicing their concerns about their safety.

"I'll get my hazmat suit ready," Nick Kyrgios tweeted, calling the push to hold the tournament "selfish." The iconic Queens tournament is a big money generator for both New York state and the U.S. Tennis Association, generating $400 million annually.Jessica Golden

1:38 p.m. ET New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the state will allow hospitals and group homes to accept visitors at their discretion after limiting access to the facilities at the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak in mid-March. The order does not apply to the state's nursing homes, Cuomo said.

Visitors will be required to follow state guidelines, which include limiting time with patients, requiring personal protective equipment and requiring symptom and temperature checks. On Monday, the state reported its lowest three-day average of Covid-19 deaths and its lowest level of hospitalizations since the outbreak began in mid-March, Cuomo said.Noah Higgins-Dunn

Fans attend Emerald City Comic Con at Washington State Convention Center on March 1, 2018 in Seattle, Washington.

Suzi Pratt

1:30 p.m. ET With the coronavirus pandemic still looming, a number of prominent fan conventions have been canceled.

ReedPop announced that the previously postponed Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle was canceled due to safety concerns related to Covid-19. All tickets that were transferred from ECCC's March 2020 date to the August 2020 date will be automatically refunded by June 29.

The next ECCC will take place in March 2021.

Disney also revealed Monday that its upcoming Star Wars Celebration, which was set to take place in August, was canceled. The company cited public health guidelines and concerns over attendees' safety.

The next Star Wars Celebration will take place in August 2022 in California.Sarah Whitten

1:20 p.m. ET Cisco said that after helping some customers deploy remote collaboration technology and other solutions to address remote work during the pandemic, it will now offer those products and consulting services to more of its clients as solutions for faster adoption.

Though some parts of the world have begun permitting companies to reopen their offices to employees, CEO Chuck Robbins said it's still early.

Cisco has solutions that prisons can use for virtual inmate visits and technology to monitor adherence to social distancing in offices, Robbins said.Jordan Novet

COVID unit nurse Anita Pedy (left) and medical student volunteer Alan Araiza (right) check bruises on the back of COVID patient Melquiades Cervantes. In Houston, Texas.

Carolyn Cole | Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

1:04 p.m. ET Texas Covid-19 hospitalizations are up roughly 66% since Memorial Day as the state continues to reopen.

There are now 2,518 patients hospitalized with a coronavirus infection across the state's hospitals, according to data from the Texas Department of State Health Services. At least 10 states in total are showing a rise in hospitalizations, according to a CNBC analysis of data from theCOVID Tracking Project.

In recent weeks, some state and federal leaders have downplayed a recent rise in cases and hospitalizations across the U.S., tying it to an increased in testing. Infectious disease specialists note that the U.S. and other parts of the world will likely continue to see a rise in cases until there is a proven drug or effective vaccine.Berkeley Lovelace Jr.

12:28 p.m. ET Americans who can't afford the vaccine to prevent Covid-19 will get it for free, Trump administration officials announced.

Some commercial insurers have also expressed "eagerness" to cover the vaccine without a co-pay, a senior administration official told reporters during a press briefing, meaning those with insurance may also not have to pay anything out of pocket.

U.S. health officials and researchers have been fast-tracking work on vaccine development, aiming to produce 300 million doses of a potential vaccine by January. Because of the pandemic, U.S. officials are investing in multiple stages of research even though doing so could be for naught if the vaccine ends up not being effective or safe.Berkeley Lovelace Jr.

11:40 a.m. ET Dexamethasone, a cheap and widely available steroid, could have an "immediate impact" on how doctors treat Covid-19 patients, former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr.Scott Gottliebsaid.

A new study found the drug to effectively improve survival among severely sick Covid-19 patients.

"It's going to probably have an immediate impact on what doctors are doing in the ICU setting," Gottlieb said on CNBC's "Squawk Box" in response to the news."This is an important finding. It's going to change dogma."

The researchers of the study said it is the first drug to appear to improve survival among Covid-19 patients. There are still notreatments approved by the FDA to treat the disease, though Gilead's remdesivir has received an emergency use authorization.Will Feuer

A medical worker puts a sample for COVID-19 antibody testing into a test tube.

Gavriil Grigorov | TASS via Getty Images

11:23 a.m. ET Tenet Healthcare says the spike in Covid-19 cases in states like Arizona is not impeding the rebound in elective surgery at its hospitals, which are back to 95% of pre-coronavirus levels this month.

"We're busy with Covid, but we're not overwhelmed.... and we've put a lot of focus on really insuring Covid care zones are being separated from coded safe zones, and communicating that actively into the community and to the physician community, in particular, so they feel comfortable," said Tenet COO Saum Sutaria on an update call with analysts.

Sutaria noted that new Covid-19 patients in markets where cases are rising tend to be younger, in their mid-30s to mid-60s, and require less intensive care treatment.

Tenet shares rose nearly 6% in opening trade but gave up those gains late morning.Bertha Coombs

11:06 a.m. ET Homebuyer demand is up following a sudden drop at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, CNBC's Diana Olick reports.

Homebuilder sentiment went up 21 points in June to 58, the biggest monthly increase ever in the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index. Readings above 50 indicate a positive market.

In April, the reading diminished 42 points to 30. Under the homebuilder index's three elements, current sales conditions rose 21 points to 63 in June meanwhile sales expectations rose 22 points to 68. Buyer traffic went up from 22 to 43.

"As the nation reopens, housing is well-positioned to lead the economy forward," said NAHB Chairman Dean Mon, a homebuilder and developer from Shrewsbury, New Jersey. "Inventory is tight, mortgage applications are increasing, interest rates are low and confidence is rising." Suzanne Blake

Doctors wearing face masks and gloves as a preventive measure attend to a coronavirus patient at the intensive care unit of Albert Schweitzer Hospital.

Robin Utrecht | SOPA Images | LightRocket via Getty Images

9:50 a.m. ET One in five people worldwide isat risk of developing severe cases of Covid-19, scientists have estimated.

A team of researchers from the U.S., the U.K. and China estimated that 1.7 billion people or 22% of the global population are at "increased risk" of developing severe symptoms if infected with the coronavirus.

People were considered to be at increased risk if they had one or more chronic health conditions associated with greater vulnerability to the virus, such as diabetes or cardiovascular disease.

In North America, 28% of the population, or 104 million people, had at least one underlying condition that put them at increased risk of developing severe Covid-19 if they caught the virus, according to the study.Chloe Taylor

9:41 a.m. ET Treating Covid-19 patients with the generic steroid dexamethasone cut death rates by about a third for those with the most serious cases of the virus, according to data from a UK-led clinical trial.

Scientists have called the results a "major breakthrough" and the study's researchers said the generic drug should become standard care in hospitalized coronavirus patients, Reuters reports.

There are currently no approved vaccines or treatments for the coronavirus. Hannah Miller, Reuters

9:22 a.m. ET This year's CNBC Disruptor 50 listincludes at least 18 companies that say demand for their core products has more than doubled since the coronavirus crisis unleashed itself across the world. That's because many use artificial intelligence and machine learning, which are speeding the development of medical treatments to fight the virus.

Others are in the health-technology field supporting at-home testing, such as Healthy.io, which provides FDA-approved remote urinalysis, and Heal, a six-year-old start-up that provides at-home doctor visits through telemedicine.

C3.ai, a company that is so defined by artificial intelligence that it changed its name from C3 IoT a few years ago, has taken a leading role in using the technology to fight Covid-19.

The three-time Disruptor 50 company teamed up with Amazon Web Services in April to create a Covid-19 "data lake," which unifies data sets, updates them in real-time and offers researchers a clearer starting point for generating usable insights.

Tempusbuilt a drug discovery-and-development platform designed to be disease-agnostic. So when the pandemic hit, it was in a strong position to pivot and support efforts to slow the spread and to find short-term and long-term treatments.

Tempus brought a test to market in April and launched a research project examining 50,000 coronavirus-positive patients to find the most effective treatments and other insights. Lori Ioannou

AstraZeneca's building in Luton, Britain.

Tim Ireland | Xinhua News Agency | Getty Images

8:58 a.m. ET AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine would provide protection from contracting Covid-19 for around one year, CEO Pascal Soriot told Belgian radio station Bel RTL Tuesday.

The company has contracts with France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands,the U.S. and Britain to provide doses of the vaccine, Reuters reported.

Soriot said the vaccine could be ready, beginning October, "if all goes well."

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Putin has a 'disinfection tunnel,' Sweden feels isolated over coronavirus - CNBC

But because Covid-19 is transmitted by droplets via coughing or even breathing, rather than by sex, he said, there are a million more exposures from who did you work with on the set to who did you come into contact with before testing positive? Everyones happy to comply with testing because no one wants to work on a set where they can get infected.

If an infection were to occur, the production would shut down. Everyone on the set those infected and those who tested negative would be out of work. Most people in the adult film industry are independent contractors; if theyre not working, theyre not getting paid, so the incentive to keep working is high.

Back in 1998, there was an H.I.V. outbreak in the adult film industry. Marc Wallice, an adult film actor, falsified his H.I.V. test certificate and infected a handful of actresses. H.I.V. tests, at the time, were printed out on paper and could be easily forged.

Sharon Mitchell, a former actress with a doctorate in human sexuality and training taking blood samples, formed the Adult Industry Medical health care foundation that year, formalizing the protocols that would eventually become PASS.

While the acronyms and organizations have changed, and the testing improved, the general principles are the same, Mr. Stabile said.

The system brought a major shutdown in 2004 and two shorter ones in 2013.

I only perform on sets where the PASS system is in place, said Maitland Ward, an adult film star with three Adult Video News Oscars and a former star on the sitcom Boy Meets World. Professional porn follows very strict guidelines on a regular basis, Ms. Ward said. When production resumes, in addition to the coronavirus testing, extra precautions will be in place on sets, such as temperature checks and social distancing among crew members, she said.

Health screenings are the norm for us. I think the adult industry is far more prepared than mainstream film sets or other businesses. This is just one more thing we need to be cautious and vigilant about. Honestly, I think mainstream will be looking to how the adult industry handles this because we are the standard-bearer when it comes to health and safety on sets.

View original post here:

Lessons on Coronavirus Testing From the Adult Film Industry - The New York Times

With states easing coronavirus restrictions and summer weather already underway, people are figuring out how to connect with others while trying to stay safe. The search term "social distancing get together ideas" spiked 600% in popularity this week, according to a tweet from Google Trends.

However, with the ongoing pandemic and no approved treatment or vaccine for Covid-19, why are people interested in hanging out with each other despite the risk of infection?

"As humans we are driven to connect. We have a fundamental motivation to belong," said Theresa DiDonato, an associate professor of psychology at Loyola University.

Being with people can help boost self-esteem and provide a sense of meaning and purpose, according to DiDonato.

"The fact that we're in this strange situation, that we're not supposed to be in close proximity to other people, feels very unnatural to us," she said.

Even quarantining with family or roommates can still leave people craving for interactions with close friends, as they fulfill different relational needs, according to DiDonato.Wearing masks and socializing at a distance add further complication as humans often rely on facial expressions and nonverbal cues to communicate.

"Trying to follow the guidelines closely, even though it's tempting not to, becomes a real challenge," she said.

To confront these obstacles, people have had to get creative and find activities appropriate for their age and interests.

Christine Carter, a sociologist and life coach based in the San Francisco Bay Area, said her household is relying heavily on the outdoors for get-togethers. The family's four teenagers are allowed to meet outside with a small number of friends while social distancing.

"One of my daughters had a picnic birthday party where every person brought a blanket that was big enough," she said. "They spaced them all out and were able to do it in a way where everybody was around the birthday girl. She said it was actually really fun and something that they would always remember."

In addition to picnics, the family's teens have also organized social-distancing hikes with their friends. This kind of peer interaction is particularly important for young people's mental health during the pandemic, according to Carter.

"Teenagers really need a source of emotional support outside of the household, especially going through everything that they're going through," she said.

For younger children, social interaction with friends may have to be more supervised, according toMaria Zimmitti, clinical director of Georgetown Psychology, which has therapy practices in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. She recommends outdoor activities where it's easy for children to social distance from each other.

"Parents have to put on their 'camp counselor' hat," she said. "Activities can be as simple as a nature walk, picnic, riding scooters and bikes, hopscotch, sprinkler play and backyard water slides."

Families can also organize a backyard painting class where children can work on easels while staying appropriately distanced or an outdoor movie night, according to Zimmitti.

She said that these fun, simple outlets can help children build valuable social skills during the pandemic.

"Socialization is important and personal connection fosters resilience," Zimmitti said.

Social interaction is also vital for adults, according to Barton Goldsmith, a psychotherapist based in Westlake Village, California

"We're just not meant to be all alone and without other people," he said."People are wanting to reach out and they're going to find ways to do it--the problem is doing it safely."

Goldsmith said people should still stay 6 feet apart when getting together and wear masks, but that doesn't mean they can't have fun. He gave a host of safe social-distancing ideas for adults, including some that he has implemented in his own life.

For trips to the beach, he recommends bringing a large towel or blanket to help establish boundaries and make staying apart easier.

"If you get something like a king-sized bedspread, something really big, and you lay that out and you lay in the middle of it, then you've got your social distance," he said.

He added that neighborhoods can hold communal cookouts where families bring their grills to the front yard to BBQ and eat together while still social-distancing. Recently, his neighborhood has also taken to holding backyard concerts where different people take turns playing music outside.

For single adults looking for summer romance, Goldsmith recommends holding dates over video chat. Participants can order each other food and watch the same show or movie on Netflix, giving them something to talk about. They can even each make the same meal while watching a cooking tutorial video together.

"Doing this can actually allow couples to get to know each other better than they would if they were going out or hooking up," Goldsmith said.

What all of these social-distancing get-together ideas have in common is that they rely on innovation in order to help people socialize safely amid the ongoing pandemic.

"I really believe in American creativity," Goldsmith said. "We're a very creative group and we're going to figure stuff out."

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How to have summer fun amid the coronavirus pandemic - CNBC

I HotelI think everyones starting to plan ahead

Construction continued Thursday, June 18, 2020, on the 32,500-square-foot exhibit and meeting space being built at the I Hotel in Champaign.

The receiving line for a recent wedding at the I Hotel included no hugs and no contact, only flowers thrown out of the windows of cars and horns that honked in the cars that drove by.

Only six people attended the wedding, but many more came by to celebrate.

For that couple, thats probably one of the memorable things they can talk about in 10 years, I Hotel marketing manager Anne Olmstead said. Weve had a couple of weddings here very, very small weddings but were doing everything we can to try to make it perfect.

Soon, those weddings and other events will likely become larger.

The main topic of conversation at the I Hotel in anticipation of Phase 4 likely starting Friday, Olmstead said, has been not having to say, no to customers while following safety guidelines.

Phase 4 could mean having weddings and meetings consisting of 50 people or less. With its 32,500-square foot conference center expansion set to open Sept. 1, Olmstead and the hotel are itching to be able to host events that are even larger.

Itll also allow them to host more guests in Houlihans Restaurant rather than having all of them sit outside.

The I Hotel staff is already booking for the fall; its set to be packed for football games assuming they happen.

Even Moms Weekend rooms are already being booked. The hotel is offering 24-hour cancellations for COVID-related issues.

We are filled to the max on those weekends, Olmstead said. I think everyones starting to plan ahead, so thats nice to see. They want to get back into the swing of things.

Social distancing was being enforced Thursday, June 18, 2020, in the courtyard at the Illini Union in Urbana.

A few years ago, the Illini Union replaced the devices that counted people coming in and out of its doors, which previously ran on Wi-Fi and batteries, with a more accurate hard-wired system.

When they saw an accurate count of daily visitors, they were shocked.

"I think we were sorely underestimating our building traffic before we got these counters, Illini Union Director Rebecca Salzman said. Then we got an accurate count and we were like, Wow.

Each day, around 14,000 people walked in and out of the doors of the Union.

Of course, that number has dwindled as the Union has reopened. Around 600 people now walk through daily. As Illinois moves into Phase 4 of Gov. J.B. Pritzkers Restore Illinois plan, she doesnt expect that total to come close to that old number.

In some ways its sad, because its not what our normal is, Salzman said, but were also grateful that were not having to enforce capacity limits and things like that.

Signs in the hallways at the Illini Union.

Of course, the Union is only open in limited hours right now in limited capacity, with Starbucks, the Quad Shop and the Tech Zone taking visitors. Its hotel isnt open, and neither are most of the organizations housed in the building.

Most Welcome Week events at the Union have already been canceled. Entrances will be monitored, and staff are constantly cleaning high-traffic areas.

While the building wont host close to the 14,000 visitors daily that it normally does, having some students back is a welcome sight for Salzman.

We are such a social hub on campus that it does feel a little odd that its empty for the most part here, she said. Personally, Im excited, and Im also cautiously optimistic that well be able to maintain all of the guidelines and restrictions, and everybody will be cooperative and collaborate and will be thoughtful and helpful with everybody in the community.

I know that we probably are going to have some challenges, but I know that everybody here is here for the students. ... Were really excited to have them back and to decide how were going to do this in the new environment that were in.

Normally, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts would have announced its 2020-21 season to a room of donors last month, gearing up for a year of performances.

This year, though, the schedule has yet to be announced, and ticket sales are on hold. Even with Phase 4 of the Restore Illinois plan set to begin, venues might only be allowed gatherings of 50 people or less until a vaccine is distributed. Even setting aside the audience, some productions have more participants than that.

Krannert Centers Foellinger Great Hall sits empty for now with the fall season up in the air.

There are certain kinds of performances that would be very cost-prohibitive with such restrictive seating, advertising and publicity director Bridget Lee-Calfas said, but at the same time, we want to be as supportive as we can to the artists because weve been very hard-hit by these changes that have happened across our industry.

Which shows go on and how the audience would be seated during those shows are questions yet to be answered.

Krannerts performances arent exclusive to visiting artists. They house student performances throughout the year, many of which were canceled last year. How those will move forward isnt currently known.

Its been incredibly complex, of course, Lee-Calfas said. Were not just looking at the marquee professional visiting artist series. Were looking at the productions that result from the academic work from the academic units fo the College of Fine and Applied Arts.

While it awaits further direction from the university, Krannert put together two committees, one that discusses reopening, and one that discusses digital delivery of performances.

It could be some type of in-person experience, Lee-Calfas said, or it could be primarily digital delivery for a set amount of time, and of course we dont know what that set amount of time might be, either.

Normally, Krannert Art Museum welcomes back students with KAM Fest, offering free food, music and activities for around 500 students who show up.

This year, KAM Fest wont take place due to the COVID-19 pandemic, among plenty of other changes. As Illinois moves into Phase 4 of Gov. J.B. Pritzkers Restore Illinois plan, the museum is doing its best to limit the flow of visitors.

For instance, instead of concentrating its new exhibits toward the beginning of the year, the museum will spread them out.

Those who drive by Krannert Art Museum at night can see one of its latest exhibits, 'Hive,' lit up from inside, as seen above in February 2020. The museum is going light on in-person programs in the fall.

We realize that that kind of single opening didnt really match the environment, so our exhibits are opening every month or other month over the course of the year, director Jon Seydl said. Were going light on in-person programs in the fall, because we cant really plan for that, as we pivot to be able to deliver the content both in-person and remotely.

The museum experience may be different in the fall, but it will still exist. In certain areas, the building will have directions leading visitors a certain way. Other areas are wide-open enough to let people wander.

The closure of the museum has made Seydl and his team think of different ways of operating. He said that events like an artists talk may include an Instagram Live feed from the museum. While elementary school programs normally involve schools in Champaign and Urbana, they can expand their reach with remote programs.

We just totally miss our visitors and being able to be in there with the collection and exhibitions, Seydl said. We really cant wait to get back to that. On the other hand, it has opened up possibilities that we hadnt had time to think through before.

Of course, a museum visit isnt always a communal event, and Seydl is excited to simply let people in to marvel at the art.

At some point, well be open to the public again, but we just wont be able to have big gatherings, Seydl said. Theres a kind of museum visit thats perfect for social distancing.

The University of Illinois' Foellinger Auditorium, site of large lectures, variety shows, concerts, and a speech given by former President Barack Obama in September 2018, above, is in a holding pattern for fall 2020, awaiting further guidance in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

During regular years, campus groups flock to Foellinger Auditorium for their concerts, variety shows and other performances. Some events involve a few hundred people, and some pack it to its 1,400-seat capacity.

Illinois is set to move into Phase 4 of the governors reopening plan, which specifies that events of less than 50 people can take place. Auditorium facility manager Greg Burdette doesnt know exactly know what that means for that space, though.

Everything is in a holding pattern at the moment, Burdette said. Were waiting until July 1st, and then well figure out where were going from there. ... Im assuming were going to have to stick to that 50 number. I dont know what thatll mean to the groups that are renting the space. Some of them are going to be dependent on ticket sales to run their events.

Events will still likely take place at the prominent building on the south end of the Quad, like the Chinese Student and Scholar Associations Mid-Autumn Moon Gala and other variety shows. Those events just might have to take on a different form.

Burdette, who rents out the space but doesnt run events, has long pondered helping groups stream their events, which can be more complicated than some think when they arrive.

Ive been thinking about it for the last four years, Burdette said. We operate on a break-even budget, so for me to buy a $500 capture device (to connect cameras to computers), I have to plan that out. ... (The pandemic has) pushed it more to the forefront.

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Coronavirus response | Your visit to campus will be different this fall but how much? - Champaign/Urbana News-Gazette

Heres what you need to know:

Illinois makes it a misdemeanor for business owners who flout pandemic restrictions.

The owners of restaurants, bars and other establishments in Illinois that open too soon can now be charged with a Class A misdemeanor under a measure enacted by the governor.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat, filed an emergency rule on Friday that his office said was intended to prevent the spread of the coronavirus as a growing number of businesses defy stay-at-home orders across the country.

In Illinois, where a stay-at-home order remains in effect through May, a Class A misdemeanor carries a punishment of up to a year in jail and up to a $2,500 fine. The rule also applies to businesses such as barbershops and gyms, according to Mr. Pritzkers office.

Jordan Abudayyeh, a spokeswoman for Mr. Pritzker, said in an email Sunday that the measure provided an additional enforcement tool for businesses that refuse to comply with the most critical aspects of the stay-at-home order.

As of Sunday, 4,177 people had died from Covid-19 in Illinois, according to state health officials, and there have been 94,191 confirmed cases of the virus.

Conservative state lawmakers have criticized the measure. Senator Dan McConchie, a Republican and a member of the Senates Public Health Committee, called it an affront to the separation of powers in a Twitter post on Sunday.

Ms. Abudayyeh, the governors spokeswoman, said that bringing misdemeanor charges against business owners was not a first resort.

Law enforcement has relied heavily on educating business owners about the order and always first discusses the regulations with business owners to urge compliance, she said. Only businesses that pose a serious risk to public health and refuse to comply with health regulations would be issued a citation. The rule gives law enforcement a tool that may be more appropriate and less severe than closing the business altogether.

In neighboring Wisconsin last week, the state Supreme Court struck down the states stay-at-home extension, siding with Republican legislators in a high-profile challenge of the emergency authority of a statewide official during the pandemic.

Governors struggle to find the right balance on reopening.

The pain of the coronavirus shutdown, in terms of wrecked economies and shattered lives, has been unmistakable. Now, governors across the country are contemplating the risks of reopening, particularly if it produces a surge of new cases and deaths.

This is really the most crucial time, and the most dangerous time, Gov. Mike DeWine of Ohio, a Republican, said on the CNN program State of the Union on Sunday. All of this is a work in progress. We thought it was a huge risk not to open. But we also know its a huge risk in opening.

The push to reopen has been fueled by swelling frustration, as unemployment soars, businesses declare bankruptcy or announce they cannot survive the shutdowns, and fears intensify about enduring economic devastation. Some businesses have even reopened in defiance of state orders.

Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, a Democrat, said on CNN, I deeply understand the stress and anxiety that people have, that entire dreams have been torn asunder because of the shutdowns, their savings account depleted and their credit ratings destroyed.

The question is, he added, how do you toggle back and make meaningful modifications to the stay-at-home order?

But governors also acknowledged concerns about a fresh resurgence of the coronavirus, and they are haunted by images of restaurants and stores packed with patrons with uncovered faces.

This is a virus were still learning a lot about, Mr. DeWine said.

The response to the virus has been defined by the balance between trying to curb the viruss spread and trying to minimize the economic harm. In much of the country, the pendulum has swung toward favoring the economy.

The shift has come as the national figures for reported new cases of the virus have declined in recent weeks, and as more states have allowed a wider array of businesses to return to operation. More than two-thirds of states have relaxed restrictions significantly. California, New York and Washington are among those partially reopening on a regional basis. Illinois, Michigan and New Jersey remain fully shut down.

This economy will recover; it may take a while.

Jerome H. Powell, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, said that while he expected the U.S. economy to recover from the sharp and painful downturn brought about by the coronavirus, that process would take time potentially until the end of 2021.

This economy will recover; it may take a while, Mr. Powell said in a preview of the CBS program 60 Minutes, which is scheduled to air Sunday evening. It may take a period of time, it could stretch through the end of next year, we dont really know.

Asked whether the economy could recover without an effective vaccine, Mr. Powell suggested that it could make a start, but not get all the way there.

Assuming that theres not a second wave of the coronavirus, I think youll see the economy recover steadily through the second half of this year, he said. For the economy to fully recover, people will have to be fully confident, and that may have to await the arrival of a vaccine.

The interview with Mr. Powell, which CBS said was recorded on May 13, follows a blunt speech he gave the same day, warning that the economy may need more financial support to prevent permanent job losses and waves of bankruptcies.

Wondering what a coronavirus test is like? Watch Cuomo get swabbed on live TV.

transcript

transcript

Im going to show you how fast and easy it is to take the test. And demonstrate why there should be no reluctance. This is Dr. Elizabeth Dufort, who is in the appropriate P.P.E. wear. Nice to see you, doctor. You make that gown look good. Head up a little bit. Head up. Close your eyes. Close my eyes. Why do I need to close my eyes? You can question the doctor. Thats OK. Why do I need to close my eyes? For comfort. Comfort. It might make you tear a little bit. If I fall asleep? Then well have you sit down. Thats it? Thats it. Nothing else. Told you. Thank you very much, doctor. That is the whole test. Im not in pain. Im not in discomfort. Closing my eyes was a moment of relaxation. There is no reason why you should not get the test.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo provided a lasting image on Sunday for fellow New Yorkers who may be apprehensive about getting tested for the coronavirus he invited a doctor to stick a swab up his nose during his live news briefing on the pandemic.

It is so fast and so easy that even a governor can take this test, Mr. Cuomo said.

Mr. Cuomo then stood up and turned to a doctor, who was holding a cotton swab and was wearing coveralls, a face shield and gloves. Camera shutters clicked furiously as the doctor guided the swab up the Mr. Cuomos nostril.

Thats it? he said. Thats it? Nothing else?

New York has the capability of conducting 40,000 tests per day at 700 sites, said Mr. Cuomo, who noted that testing would be critical to monitoring the spread of the virus as the state begins to reopen.

There is nothing about this test that should intimidate people from not taking this test, he said.

Calling into a golf broadcast, Trump says he wants big, big stadiums loaded with people.

In a telephone appearance during a televised charity golf exhibition Sunday, President Trump said he enthusiastically supported the return of live sporting events during the pandemic.

We want to get sports back, we miss sports, Mr. Trump said during NBCs broadcast of a skins game match involving Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, Rickie Fowler and Matthew Wolff. We need sports in terms of the psyche of our country. And thats what were doing.

While Sundays exhibition was contested without spectators, Mr. Trump said he hoped that future events would be teeming with fans.

We want to get it back to where it was, we want big, big stadiums loaded with people, he said.

He later added, We want to get back to normal where you have the big crowds where theyre practically standing on top of each other, not where theyre worried.

I would love to be able to have all sports back, Dr. Fauci said. But as a health official and a physician and a scientist, I have to say, right now, when you look at the country, were not ready for that yet.

Thirteen sick sailors seemed to recover. Then they tested positive again.

Thirteen sailors aboard the virus-stricken aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt have retested positive for Covid-19 after seeming to have recovered from the disease, Navy officials said on Sunday.

The infected sailors, who had all tested negative twice before reboarding the Roosevelt in recent days, have been removed from the warship to self-quarantine. The Roosevelt has been docked in Guam since March 27 as Navy officials wrestle with how to deal with sickened sailors, disinfect the vessel and prepare for it to resume operations in the Western Pacific.

Navy officials have said they are aggressively screening and testing as crew members return to the Roosevelt after quarantining at the U.S. military base in Guam, as well as at hotels and in other lodging there. Officials on the ship are requiring masks and repeatedly cleaning and sanitizing to prevent another outbreak of the virus, which has infected about 1,100 crew members since March. One sailor has died.

About 2,900 of the 4,800 crew members are now back on board. They are under strict orders to report to doctors the slightest cough, headache or other flulike symptom. In the past week or so, the new testing even turned up a sailor who tested positive for tuberculosis. That set off a wild contact-tracing scramble that found no other cases on board, Navy officials said.

The results of the Navys latest investigation into events surrounding the Roosevelt are due by the end of this month.

Recent research in South Korea suggested that dozens of patients there who had tested positive a second time after recovering from the illness appeared to be false positives caused by lingering but likely not infectious bits of the virus.

You could feel it going through your veins. A teens battle with a virus-linked syndrome.

When a sprinkling of a reddish rash appeared on Jack McMorrows hands in mid-April, his father figured the 14-year-old was overusing hand sanitizer not a bad thing during a global pandemic.

When Jacks parents noticed that his eyes looked glossy, they attributed it to late nights of video games and TV.

When he developed a stomachache and didnt want dinner, they thought it was because I ate too many cookies or whatever, said Jack, a ninth-grader in Woodside, Queens, who loves Marvel Comics and has ambitions to teach himself Stairway to Heaven on the guitar.

But over the next 10 days, Jack felt increasingly unwell. His parents consulted his pediatricians in video appointments and took him to a weekend urgent care clinic. Then, one morning, he awoke unable to move.

He had a tennis ball-size lymph node, raging fever, racing heartbeat and dangerously low blood pressure. Pain deluged his body in a throbbing, stinging rush, he said.

You could feel it going through your veins and it was almost like someone injected you with straight-up fire, he said.

Jack, who was previously healthy, was hospitalized with heart failure that day, in a stark example of the newly discovered severe inflammatory syndrome linked to the coronavirus that has already been identified in about 200 children in the United States and Europe and killed several.

Colorado offers an alternative, much lower, count of its Covid-19 deaths.

What is the difference between deaths among Covid-19 cases and deaths due to Covid-19? In Colorado, that distinction in wording changes the total by about 30 percent.

Until Friday, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment had been including anyone who had Covid-19 at the time of death in the official total, a practice consistent with the C.D.C.s counting criteria. By that reckoning, Colorado had 1,192 deaths as of Friday.

But the state said it would now also report a lower figure those for whom the disease is considered the sole cause of death, with no other complicating factors. Counting that way knocks the states total down to 892.

Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, defended the change on Sunday.

The C.D.C. criteria include anybody who died with Covid-19, he said on Fox News. What the people of Colorado and the people of the country want to know is how many people died of Covid-19.

Health experts have warned for weeks that inconsistent reporting protocols and insufficient testing have led to an undercounting of coronavirus deaths nationally. North Dakota and Alabama have both experimented with death counts similar to Colorados new approach, but have continued to report the C.D.C.s way.

Mr. Polis acknowledged that the virus, which he called a bad bug, can be particularly dangerous for older people and people with underlying medical conditions those who would be most likely to be excluded from the states sole-cause count.

As Alaskas salmon season opens, another coronavirus case adds to concerns.

A second fisheries worker in Alaska has tested positive for the coronavirus, adding to fears that the isolated fishing towns that have so far avoided infections could face challenges as thousands of seasonal workers pour in for the start of Alaskas summer seafood rush.

State officials said the positive case was identified Friday in the city of Dillingham. The infected worker, an employee of Trident Seafoods, had recently arrived and tested positive at the end of a mandatory 14-day quarantine.

Earlier this month, a worker who had arrived in the fishing community of Cordova also tested positive.

Some locals have expressed concern about the fishing season, which began in Cordova with the pursuit of the famed Copper River salmon. In Dillingham, hospital leaders at the Bristol Bay Area Health Corporation had requested that the fishing season remain closed, arguing that the arrival of thousands of outsiders put the community at risk.

To prepare for the influx of workers, state and local government officials have put in place strict quarantine procedures, social-distancing requirements and aggressive testing. Some companies are requiring their workers to stay on site, where the seasonal crews often sleep in bunkhouses.

State officials said the worker who tested positive in Dillingham was removed from the area. None of that persons contacts in the city have so far tested positive.

Congress appears no closer to a deal on further stimulus spending.

The passage of a $3 trillion stimulus package by the House on Friday appeared to bring Congress no closer this weekend to a deal on coronavirus aid, as pleas for more assistance collided with a conservative push to wait and see whether staggered state reopenings and previous aid packages arrest the economic free-fall.

The Republican-controlled Senate is not expected to take up the legislation that the Democratic-controlled House approved on Friday. Instead, the Senate will turn to a number of pending nominations before an expected Memorial Day recess. Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged Republicans to reconsider.

Time is of the essence, she said in an interview aired Sunday on the CBS program Face the Nation. In the past bills, they put forth their proposal, and then we worked in a bipartisan way that we anticipate now.

They may think its OK to pause, but people are hungry across America, she added. Hunger doesnt take a pause.

Republican leaders have played down what Democrats say is an immediate need for relief, arguing that it was too early to allocate additional funds after Congress previously passed close to $3 trillion in relief.

Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, has laid down a red line, saying that strengthening liability protections for health workers and businesses moving to reopen must be part of any future package.

Ms. Pelosi said on Sunday that she had no red lines, but she singled out a provision in the bill passed on Friday that would strengthen federal protections for essential workers.

The best protection for our workers and their employers is to follow very good OSHA mandatory guidelines, she said, referring to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. That protects the workers, protects their lives, as well as protects the employer if they follow the guidelines. Remember, when people go to work, they go home.

The legislation the House passed on Friday, which Democratic leaders acknowledged amounted to an opening offer, faces some opposition from within their party, including in the Senate.

I think what Pelosi did in the House it is significant, said Senator Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent who caucuses with the Democrats. I have some disagreements with it, and I want to see the Senate improve on it.

Fall school openings are shrouded in uncertainty.

A major question on the minds of many parents is whether their childrens schools will reopen in the fall. So far the plans and guidelines that have emerged are a patchwork, and state leaders are divided about whether it is possible to have the schools ready in time and what it will take to do it safely.

Gov. Jared Polis of Colorado said on Sunday that starting the school year open would not guarantee that they stayed that way. There might be times, if theres an outbreak at a school, that it has to convert to online for a period of weeks until its reasonably safe to return to school, he said on Fox News Sunday.

Governor Polis said his state was considering measures like staggering start times, class schedules and breaks to minimize crowds in hallways.

California will proceed slowly and methodically in allowing crowds to gather again anywhere, including schools, Gov. Gavin Newsom said on Sunday, and that may mean that some schools in the state reopen while others remain closed.

Its all predicated on data, on science, not just observed evidence, he said on CNN. Each part of California is unique.

Both governors noted that while children were not often affected as severely by the virus as adults are, they were potential spreaders.

This is no question from an epidemiological perspective that this is a less severe, almost infinitesimal fatality rate for kids, Mr. Polis said. But the thing is, kids live with parents, they live with grandparents, kids are around teachers, so thats where it gets a little bit more complicated.

Health issues that affect minority groups are making the pandemic worse, Azar says.

Alex M. Azar II, the secretary of health and human services, suggested in televised remarks on Sunday that the high death toll from Covid-19 in the United States, compared with other nations, was due at least in part to the prevalence of underlying health issues in minority communities.

Unfortunately, the American population is very diverse, and it is a population with significant unhealthy comorbidities that do make many individuals in our communities, in particular African-American minority communities, particularly at risk, Mr. Azar said on the CNN program State of the Union, adding, That is an unfortunate legacy of our health care system that we certainly do need to address.

The host, Jake Tapper, pressed Mr. Azar on whether he was trying to place the blame for the pandemic on its victims. I want to give you an opportunity to clear it up, Mr. Tapper said, because it sounded like you were saying that the reason that there are so many dead Americans is because were unhealthier than the rest of the world, and I know thats not what you meant.

Mr. Azar responded: We have a significantly disproportionate burden of comorbidities in the United States obesity, hypertension, diabetes these are demonstrated facts that make us at risk for any type of disease burden, of course, but that doesnt mean its the fault of the American people.

The federal agency that issues visas is almost broke.

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, the federal agency that administers the countrys lawful immigration system, says it could be insolvent by summer, and has asked Congress for $1.2 billion to stay afloat.

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Illinois Threatens to Fine Defiant Businesses as Reopening Tensions Rise Nationally - The New York Times

Airports, office buildings, warehouses and restaurant chains are rushing to install new safety measures like fever-scanning cameras and infrared temperature-sensing guns. But the American Civil Liberties Union warned on Tuesday against using the tools to screen people for possible coronavirus symptoms, saying the devices were often inaccurate, ineffective and intrusive.

In a new report, Temperature Screening and Civil Liberties During an Epidemic, the A.C.L.U. said that such technologies could give people a false sense of security, potentially leading them to be less vigilant about health measures like wearing masks or social distancing. The group also cautioned that the push for widespread temperature scans during the pandemic could usher in permanent new forms of surveillance and social control.

The organizations advisory reflects a wider tension in the United States over concerns about reopening the economy at a time when the virus is still spreading undetected in various regions of country.

In particular, the report said that infrared temperature-sensing guns can be unreliable partly because they gauge skin temperature, in contrast to oral thermometers, which calculate core body temperature. The guns provide a superficial measure, the report noted, that can vary if a person is sunburned, is sweating or has just come in from outside.

Similarly, the report said that many free-standing thermal cameras, which gauge a persons temperature at a distance, can be inaccurate, finicky and may need to be frequently recalibrated.

Even if the temperature-scanning tools were more accurate, however, the A.C.L.U. said they could miss many people who were infected with the coronavirus but not running a fever.

Nobody should imagine that blanketing our public spaces with thermal sensors is going to serve as any kind of effective automated Covid detection network, Jay Stanley, a senior policy analyst with the A.C.L.U., wrote in the report, or that this technology is likely to contribute significantly to stemming the spread of the virus.

To meet surging demand from factories, warehouses and office buildings, technology makers haven been rushing to market a range of thermal cameras as coronavirus fever-screening tools. Companies have been encouraged to do so by the Food and Drug Administration. The agency said in April that it would temporarily allow device makers to market thermal cameras, which have not been vetted by federal health regulators, for temperature checks in places like warehouses and factories.

But IPVM, an independent site that tests surveillance cameras, reported this year that numerous makers of temperature scanners had overstated their accuracy or made false claims. Among other things, the site identified systems that automatically adjusted peoples temperatures to put them in the normal range or that failed to detect high fevers. The site also found companies that were marketing heat-sensing tools designed simply to detect the presence of humans, or for fire detection, as fever-screening devices.

A core issue is there are no independent tests of thermal camera performance, IPVM said in a recent overview of the technology. This has allowed manufacturers to tout products meant for body/fire detection as a fever solution, or falsely claim pinpoint accuracy at long distances.

In its report, the A.C.L.U. recommended that public health experts study the effectiveness of temperature-scanning technologies to determine if the trade-offs are worth it. Otherwise, the group said, the fever-screening systems should not be deployed.

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A.C.L.U. Warns Against Fever-Screening Tools for Coronavirus - The New York Times