Coronavirus USA: news summary for 21 September

Cruise holidays could return in the U.S. this year - CLIA

The Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), the industry body that represents the world's major cruise lines has issued a set of health protocols to be implemented as part of a phased-in, highly controlled resumption of operations. The CLIA Global Board unanimously voted to adopt all of the listed core elements for an initial restart of limited operations in thein the Caribbean, Mexico and Central America as well as operations related to U.S. ports.

The core elements include Covid-19 testing for all passengers before embarking, mandatory wearing of masks by passengers and crew, ventilation strategies and physical distancing in terminals, onboard ships, on private islands and during shore excursions.

CLIA are confident that cruises can feasibly start operating during the remainder of 2020.

Heath official to step down for mocking face masks and undermining Dr. Fauci

A public affairs official at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)  is set to "retire" following a report by the Daily Beast which identified him as the anonymous author of blog posts on a conservative website that disparaged Dr. Anthony Fauci and mocked the use of masks, a NIAID spokesperson said on Monday.

Bill Crews, a PR official at the National Institutes of Health, was also managing editor of RedState website, branded Fauci "a mask Nazi, attention-grubbing and media-whoring" and intimated that he officials who were responsible for the government's response to the Covid-19 pandemic should be executed. Crews had been writing for RedState under the streiff pseudonym for a number of years.

Houston doctor dies of Covid-19, aged 28

A Houston doctor who was diagnosed with Covid-19 over the summer has died, her family have confirmed. Dr. Adeline Fagan, who was just 28, had only recently started her second year of residency in Houston as an OB/GYN when she fell sick on 8 July. Fagan's duties were mostly delivering babies, but she was also doing a rotation in the ER and treating Covid-19 patients. 

"What started as intense flu-like symptoms escalated within the week to a hospital stay," her mother Maureen explained on a GoFundMe page which has already raised $154,718. "Adeline spent the next few weeks battling Covid and was treated with several different respiratory therapies and put on dozens of drugs. On 3 August, Adeline was intubated and placed on a ventilator".

Houston doctor dies of Covid-19, aged 28

A Houston doctor who was diagnosed with Covid-19 over the summer has died, her family have confirmed. Dr. Adeline Fagan, who was just 28, had only recently started her second year of residency in Houston as an OB/GYN when she fell sick on 8 July. Fagan's duties were mostly delivering babies, but she was also doing a rotation in the ER and treating Covid-19 patients. 

"What started as intense flu-like symptoms escalated within the week to a hospital stay," her mother Maureen explained on a GoFundMe page which has already raised $154,718. "Adeline spent the next few weeks battling Covid and was treated with several different respiratory therapies and put on dozens of drugs. On 3 August, Adeline was intubated and placed on a ventilator".

US risks "becoming numb" to coronavirus death toll, Biden warns

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has urged Americans not to let the US death toll from the coronavirus become “just statistics […] just a blur”, and again railed at President Donald Trump over his handling of the pandemic. 

Speaking at a campaign event in Wisconsin as the country’s overall number of fatalities closes in on the 200,000 mark, Biden said:  “What worries me know is we’ve been living with this pandemic for so long, I worry we’re risking becoming numb to the toll it has taken on us, on this country and on communities like this. We can’t let that happen. 

“You can't lose the ability to feel the sorrow and the loss and the anger for so many lives lost. You can't let the numbers become just statistics, background noise, just a blur that we see on the nightly news.

“200,000 moms, dads, sons, daughers, grandparents, uncles, aunts, friends, co-workers, who are no longer with us. And so many of them didn’t have to los their lives to this virus, quite frankly, if only the president had acted sooner.”

UN General Assembly held mostly virtually

Security guards stand in the empty north entrance lobby at the United Nations headquarters in New York on Monday, during the 75th annual UN General Assembly high-level debate. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the event is being held mostly virtually.

(Photo: REUTERS/Mike Segar)

Pre-school students begin in-person learning in New York

Students arrive for the first day of pre-school at Mosaic Pre-K Center in the Queens section of New York on Monday.

The reopening of New York City schools has been delayed amid concerns about preparedness during the coronavirus pandemic.

(Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP)

Continuous cough one of three main Covid-19 symptoms people are told to look out for

A new and continuous cough is one of three symptoms of Covid-19 we are told to look out for. The others are a high temperature and a loss or change of taste and smell.

A persistent cough has been defined by the NHS as “coughing a lot for more than an hour, or three or more coughing episodes in 24 hours".

“If a patient experiences any of these symptoms, we urge them to follow government guidelines, and self-isolate along with their household and get tested if at all possible,” said Prof Martin Marshall, the chair of the Royal College of GPs (RCGP).

Coronavirus could spread through the air (CDC)

(Reuters) - The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has warned that Covid-19 could spread through airborne particles that can remain suspended in the air and travel beyond six feet.

The agency previously said the virus mainly spreads from person to person through respiratory droplets when a sick person coughs, sneezes or talks. The updated guidance, posted on the agency's website on Friday, also recommended that people use air purifiers to reduce airborne germs indoors to avoid the disease from spreading.

Airborne viruses are among the most contagious, and the CDC warned that poorly-ventilated places increase the risk of spreading. The World Health Organization has said it is monitoring 'emerging evidence' of possible airborne transmission.

A small group of demonstrators protests outside the US Supreme Court on the early morning of September 21, 2020 in Washington, DC, as the group marched from the home of US Senator Lindsay Graham (R-SC) to the court. Graham is the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and will oversee the confirmation hearing for a nominated Supreme Court Justice. US President Donald Trump on Saturday said he would nominate a woman to succeed late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The president's desire to 'to move quickly' on the process, despite Democrats' vehement opposition, is likely to dominate the campaigns -- alongside other hot-button issues such as the coronavirus and America's ongoing racial reckoning -- ahead of the November 3 election. (Photo by Alex Edelman / AFP)

Coronavirus

Second stimulus check: Democrats and Republicans look to strike deal on payment

Both parties have very different perspectives on what a stimulus bill should look like, however Democrats and Republicans agree on the need for a second round of stimulus checks.

"A rare outbreak of common sense on both sides"

(Reuters) - The US Congress this week will try to pass legislation funding the federal government through mid-December, avoiding the spectacle of a government shutdown amid a pandemic and just weeks before the 3 November elections.

Prior to the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, which has set off an intense partisan battle over President Donald Trump's plan to replace her, negotiators behind the scenes last week cobbled together a bill that would keep most federal programs operating at current levels through 11 December. 

The new federal fiscal year starts on 1 October. The bill is designed to give lawmakers more time to work out federal spending through September 2021, including budgets for military operations, healthcare, national parks, space programs and airport and border security.

As the United States struggles with the coronavirus pandemic, a faltering economy, social unrest, fires consuming large swaths of the West and hurricanes in the East, any government closures for lack of funds would add to the chaos.

"I don't think anybody wants to be responsible for shutting down government on the eve of an election in the middle of a pandemic. So it's a rare outbreak of common sense on both sides," Republican Representative Tom Cole told reporters on Thursday.

Coronavirus

AstraZeneca vaccine participant suffered serious neurological disorder

Two instances of volunteers in the UK trial of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine candidate suffering neurological illnesses have raised concerns.

US to surpass grim milestone of 200,000 Covid-19 deaths

(Reuters) The death toll from the spread of coronavirus in the United States was approaching over 200,000 lives on Monday, more than double the number of fatalities in India, the country reporting the second-highest number of cases in the world.

The United States, on a weekly average, is now losing about 800 lives each day to the virus, according to a Reuters tally. That is down from a peak of 2,806 daily deaths recorded on April 15.

During the early months of the pandemic, 200,000 deaths was regarded by many as the maximum number of lives likely to be lost in the United States to the virus.

Earlier this month, President Donald Trump defended his handling of the crisis. He admitted to playing down the danger of the coronavirus early on because he did not want to "create a panic."

Farmers demonstrate for the national defense of water and against the death of Jessica Silva, a demonstrator who was killed in clashes with the National Guard during a previous protest, in Delicias, Chihuahua state, Mexico, on September 20, 2020, amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Mexico is obliged to supply the United States with water under a 1944 treaty, which Mexican President Andrés López Obrador ensures does not affect supplies on its side of the border. (Photo by Eduardo FERNANDEZ / AFP)

Brazil reports 16,389 new coronavirus cases, 363 deaths

(Reuters) Brazil recorded 16,389 additional confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in the past 24 hours, and 363 deaths from the disease, the Health Ministry said on Sunday.

The figures do not include any new cases or deaths in the Brazilian states of Tocantins, Amapa and Roraima, as state authorities did not report updated statistics on Sunday, the ministry said.

South America's largest country has registered more than 4.5 million cases of the virus since the pandemic began, according to ministry data, ranking it as the third worst outbreak in the world after the United States and India.

Nearly 137,000 people have died of the disease in Brazil, which ranks second after the United States in coronavirus deaths.

US sets record with over 1 million coronavirus tests in a day

(Reuters) The United States set a one-day record with over 1 million coronavirus diagnostic tests being performed, but the country needs 6 million to 10 million a day to bring outbreaks under control, according to various experts.

The country performed 1,061,411 tests on Saturday, according to data from The COVID Tracking Project, a volunteer-run effort to track the outbreak. The record comes after testing has fallen for several weeks.

The United States tested on average 650,000 people a day in the week ended 13 September, down from a peak in late July of over 800,000 people a day.

Since the start of the pandemic, testing shortages have hampered efforts to curb the spread of the virus.

At one point during the summer, Houston residents lined up in cars and waited hours for tests, even sleeping in their vehicles overnight. Miami saw similar lines.

Once tested, people may have to wait up to two weeks to learn if they have the virus, which has killed nearly 200,000 Americans and infected more than 6.7 million. Such delays defeat the purpose of trying to prevent further infections.

CORONAVIRUS

Stimulus checks: how many non-filers may be missing out on payment?

Millions of non-filers could be missing out on their stimulus check

The IRS says as many as nine million people who don't usually file taxes in the US may not have applied for a stimulus check despite being eligible.

Full story:

Pine-Sol added to the list of cleaners that can kill coronavirus on hard surfaces

Pine-Sol's original cleaner has been approved by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a product that can kill the coronavirus on frequently used surfaces.

The product was added to the agency's list of products expected to kill the virus after meeting the criteria for use against SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes Covid-19, an EPA spokeswoman told CNN on Sunday.

Pine-Sol was tested by a third-party laboratory that showed the disinfectant can kill the virus within 10 minutes of being used on hard, nonporous surfaces.

"With a long-standing history of being a powerful cleaner and disinfectant, Pine-Sol Original Multi-Surface Cleaner now offers the clean families have trusted through generations with the protection they need right now against the spread of SARS-Cov-2, the virus that causes Covid-19," said Chris Hyder, vice president and general manager of The Clorox Company's cleaning division.

'WiFi on Wheels' helps students overcome distance-learning difficulties

A van equipped as a mobile WiFi hotspot is used in Santa Ana, California, to help students get the internet access they need to remotely attend their classes this week. With a WiFi router attached to the dashboard and a satellite antenna on the roof, the van is helping 200 disadvantaged students in the area cope with the rigors of distance learning during the coronavirus pandemic.

(Photo by VALERIE MACON / AFP)

FBI working overtime to stop Covid-19 scams

The FBI’s Steven Merrill says the law-enforcement agency is working hard to stop the many scams that have arisen in the United States as con-artists seek to take advantage of the coronavirus pandemic.

“I’m working longer hours than ever, because we have to keep on top of these scams,” Merill told CNBC. He added: “There’s never been a shortage of greed, and the criminals’ ability to highlight these stressful times and our vulnerability is certainly apparent.”

Among the most recent ruses the FBI have caught are purported PPE providers that fail to follow through on equipment orders, and a man who has taken to YouTube with videos seeking investors in a ‘cure’ he claims to have developed for the virus.

Coronavirus live US updates: welcome

Hello and welcome to our live, United States-focused coverage of the coronavirus pandemic, which as of 19:00 ET on Sunday had registered just under 30.9 million cases and 958,500 deaths worldwide, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

In the US, the globe's worst-affected country, there have been nearly 6.8 cases, while the nation's death toll has almost reached the 200,000 mark.