Coronavirus USA summary: news, cases, deaths - 20 July
Coronavirus live USA: latest news - 20 July
US coronavirus latest: 14:30 PT / 17:30 ET on Monday 20 July (23:30 CEST)
According to the latest figures published by Johns Hopkins University, 14,608,517 cases have been detected worldwide, with 608,487 deaths and 8,201,516 people recovered.
In the USA, there have been 3,808,104 confirmed cases and 140,828 deaths, with 1,131,121 people recovered from the virus.
President Trump posts image wearing mask
In one simple tweet, Donald Trump managed to point fingers at China, claim he is the most patriotic, and that he is 'your favorite president'.
GWU Hospital doctor's new research of Covid-19 affected lungs using virtual reality
"I think it resonates with people because they're able to see it for themselves," said Dr. Keith Mortman, who worked with a company called Surgical Theater to create that virtual reality rendering of the lungs.
"I think it puts it in such a context that the general public can look at those 3D, 360-degree virtual reality images, recognize them as lungs, and recognize the abnormal portion of the lungs, and see how quickly a patient can become sick."
Royals' Junis goes on injured list after Covid-19
The Kansas City Royals placed starting pitcher Jakob Junis on the injured list as he works to regain his form after battling the coronavirus. Junis, a 27-year-old right-hander, tested positive for Covid-19 during the team's initial testing. He was cleared to return to the team a week ago.
"It's unfortunate, but I need to take a step back and get caught up before I'll be able to contribute the way I feel I'm capable to help this team," Junis remarked in a statement issued Monday.
"My start in camp after the quarantine period was delayed to a positive Covid-19 test and while I've been cleared, I am not built up to be where I need to be to start the season."
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Take Trump's cognitive test
The interview went viral on social media as the President of the United States boasted about his test score and challenged Joe Biden to take it. Now it's your turn.
President Trump's coronavirus press briefing's return
"It’s a great way to get information out to the public, Trump has said.
"So I think we’ll start that probably starting tomorrow [Tuesday], I’ll do it at 5 o’clock like we were doing, we had a good slot. A lot of people were watching."
Bahamas ban US tourists over Covid-19 worries
Bahamas Prime Minister Hubert Minnis announced over the weekend that the country will block American tourists from entry as U.S. coronavirus numbers continue to surge.
He also announced that flights to the U.S. would be stopped.
The state of the pandemic in the Bahamas, Minnis said, has grown worse “at an exponential rate” since the reopening of international borders, adding that its total cases stand at 153, including 49 new cases since the full reopening of borders July 1.
Tech shares lead Wall Street higher as potential vaccines show promise
Wall Street advanced with the Nasdaq set to reach a record closing high on Monday, as investors pivoted away from cyclical stocks in favor of market leaders while new cases of Covid-19 spiraled but there were glimmers of hope that an effective vaccine will emerge.
Tech shares provided the biggest boost to all three major U.S. stock indexes, but industrials were down, capping the Dow's gains.
Deaths in the United States from Covid-19 passed the 140,000 mark over the weekend, as cases continued to rise in 42 of 50 states. Trials of potential vaccines have shown promise. Most recently, drugs from AstraZenica, CanSino Biologics Inc and from a partnership between Pfizer Inc and German biotech firm BioNTech were safely administered and induced immune responses.
Analysing Maryland: 923 new cases
Washington DC, Maryland and Virginia reported a combined 2,049 new Covid-19 infections on Sunday, the highest single-day increase since late May.
California postpones high school sports because of coronavirus
Weeks of speculation turned to reality Monday when the California Interscholastic Federation, the state’s governing body for high school athletics, announced that the fall sports season is being delayed until 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Assuming conditions improve over the next five months, the CIF’s revised calendar calls for regional or state football playoffs to be held April 17, with the last day of section playoffs to be held April 10.
Missed mortgage payments double in Southern California
Coronavirus-linked business shutdowns have more than doubled the number of Southern California homeowners who are missing mortgage payments.
CoreLogic reports 6% of borrowers in Los Angeles and Orange counties in April were late 30 days or more with their mortgage payments vs. 2.3% delinquent a year earlier. In the Inland Empire, 7.1% of borrowers were at least up 30 days late vs. 3.5% in April 2019.
“Stay at home” orders began throttling the economy in the late winter, forcing many employers to cut jobs. Southern California unemployment was 17% in May.
Trump shares update on US vaccine progress
On the back of the positive news coming out of the UK on the issue (see below), the US President has spoken about the country's development. There wasn't much substance to his words, but he said "people are going to be pleasantly surprised."
Why did Texas remove 3,000 cases from its coronavirus count?
As the number of new cases and deaths from the coronavirus continue to surge in Texas, a widely circulated tweet about statewide data went viral Thursday, even leading U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz to share the post.
The tweet, shared by Fox 4 anchor Steve Eagar had garnered more than 25,000 retweets and 30,000 likes by Friday afternoon, and claims that the Texas Department of State Health Services removed more than 3,000 Covid-19 cases from its statewide coronavirus database because San Antonio was reporting probable cases for people who had never been tested for the disease.
"The State of Texas today had to remove 3,484 cases from its Covid-19 positive case count, because the San Antonio Health Department was reporting ‘probable’ cases for people never actually tested, as ‘confirmed’ positive cases.- TDHS," the tweet read. "What other departments make this same mistake?"
Texas in the spotlight
Early hot spots have been eclipsed by new regions in crisis. Now that so much of Texas is battling major coronavirus outbreaks, some severely ill patients have to travel long distances to receive the care they need.
Florida watch: Gov. Ron DeSantis to speak soon
The number of new coronavirus cases in Florida topped 10,000 for the fifth day in a row, with 12,523 reported on Sunday.
Oxford vaccine triggers immune response, say initial trial results
Human trials on a coronavirus vaccine being developed at Oxford University have shown that it appears to trigger a protective immune response against Covid-19.
The vaccine, called ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, has been tested on just over 1,000 people.
"Preliminary results from a phase 1/2 trial involving 1077 healthy adults found that the vaccine induced strong antibody & T cell immune responses," said results published in the medical journal The Lancet.
"Further testing is needed to confirm if the vaccine effectively protects against infection."
JP Morgan Chase chief: "We're wasting time guessing" future of US economy
Jamie Dimon, the chairman and CEO of JP Morgan Chase, says the US economy faces a highly unpredictable immediate future in the wake of the financial effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
"If you look at the base case, an adverse case, an extremely adverse case, they’re all possible and we’re just guessing at the probabilities of those things; that’s all we’re doing," Dimon said this week.
"You’re going to have a much murkier economic environment going forward than you had in May and June, and you have to be prepared for that."
He added: "We simply don’t know, and, by the way, we’re wasting time guessing."
Face masks = more freedom, says US surgeon general
Jerome Adams, the United States’ surgeon general, this week argued that wearing a face mask does not infringe upon civil liberties, but in fact serves to increases people’s freedom.
"Face coverings → less asymptomatic viral spread → more places open, and sooner!” he tweeted. “Exercise and promote your freedom by choosing to wear a face covering!"
Coronavirus US: Trump says Fauci "alarmist" as Covid-19 cases surge
Full story: Trump says Fauci "alarmist" as Covid-19 cases surge
Here's our full report on Donald Trump's interview with Fox News, in which the US president said Dr Anthony Fauci is a "little bit of an alarmist" but denied that the White House is trying to discredit him:
Second stimulus check: $40,000 income cap not expected
Second stimulus check: $40,000 income cap not expected
Bloomberg reports that a second round of coronavirus Economic Impact Payments is not likely to include an income limit as low as $40,000.
Full story:
"I'm trying not to worry too much about it, but it's hard"
The media outlet NPR has spoken to some of the out-of-work Americans who will be affected by the imminent end of the $600 weekly benefits boost, which is due to expire after July.
Fauci "a little bit of an alarmist", says Trump
US President Donald Trump has told an interview with Fox News Sunday that he has a "very good relationship" with Dr Anthony Fauci, but said the country’s top infectious disease expert is "a little bit of an alarmist".
"Dr Fauci's made some mistakes, but I have a very good - I spoke to him yesterday at length - I have a very good relationship with Dr Fauci," Trump said. "He's a little bit of an alarmist - that's OK."
Trump denied that the White House is trying to discredit Dr Fauci, but sought to provide Fox News interviewer Chris Wallace with a list of his errors.
"Look, Dr. Fauci said 'don't wear a mask'. Dr. Fauci told me not to ban China, it would be a big mistake,” Trump said. “I did it over and above his recommendation. Dr. Fauci, then, said 'you saved tens of thousands of lives.'"
Wallace then asked Trump whether his own errors discredited him, but the president claimed that this was not the case, saying he has "been right probably more than anybody else".
Long road to rebound and unemployment benefits
The front cover of today's WSJ focuses on the Senate returning to work as unemployment benefits are set to expire.
People cross the street in Huntington Beach, California, on Sunday as the US recorded 63,872 new coronavirus cases over the previous 24 hours, Johns Hopkins University reported in its real-time tally. Orange County saw a lot of protests against wearing masks. (Photo by Apu GOMES / AFP)
Contagions and deaths increase in the USA
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 67,574 new cases of coronavirus were recorded, as well as 877 deaths.
Trump: "I'll be proved right eventually, Covid-19 will disappear"
Trump defended his response to the Coronavirus pandemic, and reiterated his claim that Covid-19 will disappear “eventually” as the White House seeks to cut extra funding for testing and the CDC in the new stimulus package.
Jack Nicklaus describes Covid-19 experience
During a CBS TV broadcast Sunday at the Memorial tournament in Dublin, Ohio, legendary golfer Jack Nicklaus revealed that both he and his wife, Barbara, both tested positive for the virus in March.
Nicklaus said his wife had no Covid-19 symptoms, but he had a sore throat and a cough. He added that they were home in North Palm Beach, Florida, from 13 March “until we were done with it” on about 20 April.
Twitter disables Trump tweet over copyright complaint
Twitter Inc disabled a campaign-style video that President Donald Trump retweeted on Saturday, citing a copyright complaint.
The video, which included music from the group Linkin Park, disappeared from the president's Twitter feed late Saturday with the notification: "This media has been disabled in response to a report by the copyright owner."
Twitter removed the video, which Trump had retweeted from White House social media director Dan Scavino, after it received a Digital Millennium Copyright Act notice from Machine Shop Entertainment, according to a notice posted on the Lumen Database which collects requests for removal of online
materials.
Second stimulus check: How much will married couples receive?
Second stimulus check: How much will married couples receive?
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said that the second stimulus check could be capped at an annual income of $40,000 as Congress resumes work Monday.
Jack Nicklaus says he was ill with COVID-19 earlier this year
Jack Nicklaus, the 18-time golf major winner, said on Sunday that he was ill with COVID-19 earlier this year and his wife Barbara had also tested positive for the coronavirus.
At 80 years old, Nicklaus is in the higher risk category for being seriously ill with the disease, which has killed more than 140,000 people in the United States. He said he counted himself lucky to have come through with a relatively mild case.
Speaking during a weather delay in final round play of the Memorial Tournament that he hosts, Nicklaus said that while he had symptoms of the illness, his wife was asymptomatic. The couple self-isolated at their home in south Florida from March 13 to April 20.
"Barbara was asymptomatic, I had a sore throat and a cough, it didn't last very long," said Nicklaus in an interview with CBS. "We were very, very fortunate, we were lucky.
Second stimulus check: what is Kamala Harris' proposal of $2,000 a month?
Second stimulus check: what is Kamala Harris' proposal of $2,000 a month?
Congress is set to debate the make-up of a second stimulus package next week following the initial Economic Impact Payments in April.
Florida reports over 10,000 new COVID cases for fifth day in a row
Florida reported over 12,000 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, the fifth day in a row the state has announced over 10,000 new infections.
The virus has claimed over 140,000 lives total since the pandemic started, and Florida, California, Texas and other southern and western states shatter records every day.
Florida reported 89 new deaths on Sunday. Deaths in the state have risen by over 500, or 78%, during the last two weeks compared with the prior two weeks, according to a Reuters analysis.
Coronavirus: the complete guide to the Covid-19 pandemic
Coronavirus: the complete guide to the Covid-19 pandemic
Hello and welcome to our rolling news coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic in the United States.
The number of cases across the States continues to rise steeply, with 39 states reporting an increase in new cases from last week. California, Arizona, Texas and Florida are seeing hospital bed shortages due to the surging rise in sick patients.
The number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in the US stands at 3.7 million while the death toll is now over 140,000.