Coronavirus USA news summary: cases and deaths - 25 July
Coronavirus live US: latest news - 25/26 July
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Coronavirus USA: is Michigan going back to phase 3?
Is Michigan going back to phase 3?
Local politicians feel that it’s “probably inevitable” that the entire state will need to regress to the “flattening phase” if residents don’t take efforts to reduce the growing spread of the virus.
Pelosi slams Trump's handling of coronavirus pandemic
The Speaker of the United States House of Representatives since 2019 stated: "At every turn, President Trump has made matters worse for our country as we seek to fight the coronavirus".
Florida outstrips New York with 9,300 new coronavirus cases
Florida on Sunday became the second state after California to overtake New York, the worst-hit state at the start of the U.S. novel coronavirus outbreak, according to a Reuters tally.
Total COVID-19 cases in the Sunshine State rose by 9,300 to 423,855 on Sunday, just one place behind California, which now leads the country with 448,497 cases. New York is in third place with 415,827 cases.
Still, New York has recorded the most deaths of any U.S. state at more than 32,000 with Florida in eighth place with nearly 6,000 deaths.
On average, Florida has added more than 10,000 cases a day in July while California has been adding 8,300 cases a day and New York has been adding 700 cases.
Republican U.S. coronavirus relief bill to be unveiled Monday, Mnuchin says
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said on Sunday Republican coronavirus relief legislation will be made public on Monday and that he believes the party can move quickly with Democrats to hammer out their differences.
The most pressing issues are enhanced unemployment benefits that run out next week and liability protections from coronavirus-related lawsuits, Mnuchin said.
"We can move very quickly with the Democrats on these issues. We've moved quickly before, and I see no reason why we can't move quickly again," Mnuchin said on the "Fox News Sunday"
program.
Moderna gets further $472 million U.S. award for coronavirus vaccine development
Moderna Inc said on Sunday it has received an additional $472 million from the U.S. government's Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to support development of its novel coronavirus vaccine.
The drug maker said the additional funding will support its late-stage clinical development including the expanded Phase 3 study of Moderna's vaccine candidate.
Senator Lindsey Graham says half the Republicans will vote against stimulus package
“Half the Republicans are going to vote no to any phase 4 package, that’s just a fact,” Graham said in an interview on Fox News Sunday. That wouldn't mean it wouldn't pass the Senate though, the Republicans have 53 senators, the Democrats 45, with two independents. If the Democrats and Republican Senate leaders have reached a deal on a new package, a revolt of 26 or 27 Republicans would not be enough to stop the bill getting through the Senate.
Check out the article below to see our predicted timelines for a second stimulus check if and when a bill does get through:
Almost half of all Covid-19 deaths in Houston occurred in July
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner:
"We have reported 386 people who have died in the city ... 151 of those deaths came just in the month of July. We have had more people die in July than March, April, May, June combined."
Houston had 16 new deaths yesterday and a further 811 new cases, taking the total to 40,897.
Coronavirus USA | Stimulus Checks
Second Stimulus Check: will there be another payment in August?
When could I receive my next stimulus check?
There's a lot of variables, but if everything goes well the first checks could be being paid on and after 24 August.
Hurricane Hanna hits Texas adding to Covid-19 challenge
Hurricane Hanna batters Covid-hit Texas coast
Storm Hanna becomes the first hurricane of the 2020 season, hitting the coronavirus-troubled state of Texas. Meanwhile Gonzalo is the earliest 7th named storm in the Atlantic basin this year.
Hanna came ashore on Padre Island on Saturday afternoon as a Category 1 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale, and later made a second landfall in Eastern Kennedy County, Texas. Weakening as it headed west over land, Hanna was a tropical storm by Sunday morning, with its center about 40 miles (65 km) from Mcallen, Texas and about 65 miles (105 km) from Monterrey, Mexico, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said. At 0400 CDT (0900 GMT), Hanna's top sustained winds were around 60 miles per hour (95 kph), it said.
Read the full story
Global cases past 16 million
According to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University, the total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases worldwide now stands at over 16 million. Nearly 650,000 people have lost their lives to the novel coronavirus.
The US remains the country most badly affected by the disease with over four million people confirmed to have been infected and nearly 150,000 deaths.
The case of Hawaii
Hawaii of course is an exception compared to many territories. Extremely isolated, and also incredibly dependent on tourism. The headline is somewhat misleading though - the damage to the economy would likely have mostly happened anyway even without Hawaii's strict quarantine and other Covid-19 rules - how many people during a pandemic want to get on a plane for a minimum of five hours?
Neutralise the spike
Good news on the vaccine front. The spike on the coronavirus HAS mutated during the pandemic - a mutation that appears to make it easier for the virus to enter human cells - but this mutation doesn't appear to stop the vaccines we're developing from neutralising the virus. In fact, as the study says "the gain in infectivity provided by D614G [the mutation] came at the cost of making the virus more vulnerable to neutralizing antibodies."
Do note, the study is a preprint and hasn't been peer reviewed yet.
NBA probes Clipper's Lou Williams over strip club visit
NBA player Lou Williams is being investigated by the league for allegedly visiting a strip club after he left the Disney World coronavirus bubble to attend a funeral, US media reported.
The 33-year-old Clippers player was granted permission to leave the Orlando resort - where NBA athletes are living and working during the US Covid-19 outbreak - after the death of a friend's father, according to ESPN.
Williams was pictured in Atlanta's Magic City strip club on Thursday night, holding a drink and wearing an NBA face mask, US media said.
Reds infielder Davidson tests positive for Covid-19
Cincinnati Reds infielder Matt Davidson tested positive for Covid-19 a day after playing in their season-opener on Friday, the Major League Baseball (MLB) team said on Saturday.
Davidson, who was tested before the game, went 0-for-2 as the designated hitter as the Reds cruised to a 7-1 victory over the Detroit Tigers at the Great American Ball Park. The 29-year-old was placed on the 10-day injured list ahead of the Reds' second game of the season, a 6-4 defeat by the Tigers on Saturday.
'Of course, there is concern just like everyone dealing with this virus,' said Reds manager David Bell. 'First and foremost, we just want Matty to take care of himself. 'This has become a very close team. Everyone cares a lot about one another. We just want him to focus on getting healthy, number one. But absolutely, it crosses your mind.'
California's Newsom economic task force has star-studded cast
The governor’s group includes “a lot of great names and a lot of very talented people,’’ Rachel Michelin, president of the California Retailers Association said, but the group feels rudderless.
Other critics decry that the public has largely been kept in the dark about what the panel is discussing or how its members have influenced key decisions by the administration, such as how quickly to reopen.
The coronavirus pandemic is changing how tech companies work
Tech companies have traditionally been at the forefront of revolutionizing office space. Open floor plans have become the norm in many industries after tech companies touted the advantages they offer for collaboration and innovation. And perks like in-office gyms, child-care centers and communal cafeterias have also gained traction as companies compete to attract top talent.
But, the coronavirus may make this type of work environment a thing of the past, at least for the near future.
In an investigation recently published by South Korea’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, out of the 216 people who worked on the floor of a call center, 94 people tested positive for the virus. And employees are concerned.
Tropical Storm Gonzalo: Could it become a hurricane?
Hurricane season adds to pandemic battle
Gonzalo is the earliest 7th named storm in the Atlantic basin this year. Storm Hanna meanwhile becomes the first hurricane of the 2020 season, with warnings for the Texas coast.
What is Pooled Testing?
Testing for Covid-19 in the traditional way is laborious, time-consuming and expensive. Countries such as China, Germany, Israel and South Africa have been using Pooled Testing to gain an estimate of how active coronavirus is within their societies.
The idea is to get more out of each Covid-19 test by skimming off a small amount of material from each person’s sample, combining them into a single ‘sample’ and running the test on that. If the sample is negative, then there’s a good chance that all of the people who contributed to that sample are negative for Covid-19. If the pooled sample is positive, then technicians go back and test each sample separately to determine which one was positive.
Stimulus check: how to access the payment if I did not file the tax returns
Stimulus check: how to access the payment if I did not file the tax returns
Millions of Americans have still not received their first stimulus payment, and the hope is that any second round will find a solution to ensure the same is avoided.
More information here:
Unemployment Payments Could Be Delayed Up To 20 Weeks
(Forbes) A proposal floated by the White House and some Republicans that would tie unemployment payouts to roughly 70% of a worker’s previous wage in a next coronavirus stimulus bill could delay jobless benefits by up to 20 weeks, a new memo reported by NPR shows, leaving around 25 million Americans relying on the payments with a drastic pay cut for a lengthy period of time.
The $600 bonus unemployment payout expired in 49 states on Saturday, and will end in New York on Sunday.
Covid-19 measures are helping to reduce flu infection
Countries in the southern hemisphere such as Chile, Argentina and Uruguay are reporting lower levels of seasonal flu for the first time in years, thanks to measures to contain Covid-19.
Stimulus check: what did Mnuchin say about second payment?
What did Steve Mnuchin say about a second round of stimulus payments?
A second stimulus check, or Economic Impact Payment, is set to be in a proposed coronavirus relief package presented by Senate Republicans next week.
Read more here
Wearing a face mask will give you more freedom, not less
"If we all wore face coverings for the next four, six, eight, 12 weeks across the nation, this virus transmission would stop," said Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
If 95% of Americans wore face masks in public, it could prevent more than 45,000 deaths by November 1, according to the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.
Colorado Covid-19 outbreak linked to Bible conference
A Bible conference in Colorado that threatened to sue the state over a cease-and-desist order calling for the event to be shutdown has been linked to 34 new cases of Covid-19.
The Summer Family Bible Conference, held by Andrew Wommack Ministries and Charis Bible College from June 29 to July 3, has had 15 employees and staff members test positive, along with another 15 conference attendees and four others, according to The Pikes Peak Courier.
CDC reports 4,099,310 global Covid-19 cases
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Saturday reported 4,099,310 cases of the coronavirus, an increase of 74,818 cases from its previous daily count, and said the number of deaths had risen by 1,145 to 145,013.
The CDC reported its tally of cases of the respiratory illness known as Covid-19, caused by the new coronavirus, as of 4 p.m. ET on July 24 versus its previous report a day earlier. The CDC figures do not necessarily reflect cases reported by individual states.
Coronavirus: the complete guide to the Covid-19 pandemic
Consult the complete guide to the Coronavirus crisis
Read more here
Coronavirus live US updates: welcome
Hello and welcome to our live, United States-focused coverage of the coronavirus pandemic, which has now registered almost 4.1 million cases and over 146,000 deaths in the country, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.