The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many gyms to revamp their exercise plans. Accuweather's Dexter Henry visited a gym that is helping people get fit outdoors!
Here are the latest updates, listed in eastern time, and the most important things you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic.
America’s most popular football team’s most-dedicated fans won’t be able to buy season tickets this season. The Dallas Cowboys announced in a statement on Thursday that due to limited capacity at AT&T Stadium, only single-game ticket options will be available for the 2020 season. In its statement, the warned fans that tickets may be for seats that are "in different locations from their normal seats." On Friday, the Arizona Cardinals organization also sent an email to season ticket holders to let them know that there will be no season ticket packages this season. “You likely heard last Friday’s news that the NFL and the NFLPA agreed to cancel all 2020 preseason games. As for the regular season, it is not clear at this point how many spectators — if any — will be permitted to attend Cardinals home games in 2020,” the team said in its letter to season ticket holders, according to AZCentral.com. “As such, all previous season ticket sales have been voided. All credits currently remain on account.”
Here are the latest COVID-19 numbers, provided by researchers at Johns Hopkins University:
Confirmed cases: 17,859,763
Fatalities: 685,179
Recoveries: 10,564,263
Demand for Malaysia's "stinky produce" has spiked amid the coronavirus. Before lockdown restrictions were put into place in Malaysia, street traders were selling durians, an edible fruit from the durian tree, on roadsides. Now, the business has moved online, and with it, a giant spike in sales has emerged. Durians are grown across tropical Southeast Asia and are known as the "king of fruits" due to a creamy, golden flesh and bittersweet taste, according to AFP. However, durians have a foul overpowering smell that can be compared to rotting food and stale vomit, which led to it being banned from public transport and even hotels. After lockdown restrictions were put in place, companies with frozen durians moved their business online, and by the fifth day of sales, hundreds of orders were being made daily. Durians can cost more than $14 for about two pounds, but the high price hasn't put a damper on sales. Some durian sellers are making as many as 80 deliveries a day during the lockdown.
The ban on spectators at sports events hasn’t stood in the way of a few dedicated Enterprising Chinese Super League football fans. As the first matches of the coronavirus-impacted season kicked off over the weekend, fans rented rooms at a hotel overlooking the closed stadium. From the windows of the Sports International Hotel, which is attached to Kunshan Stadium near Suzhou, fans chanted and cheered and one fan was even pictured banging a drum out of an open window. Officials had initially attempted to cover the windows, but had later given up, Tianjin Teda fan Sam Wang had told AFP. Prices of the stadium-facing hotel rooms have since skyrocketed on game days, and the most expensive rooms at the hotels rising from about 450 yuan ($65) to around 800 ($114) yuan on game days. Rooms have since sold out for Sunday when SIPG play Hebei China Fortune, and the availability of rooms on the days of other matches seem no different. However, local media reports that football authorities will attempt to prevent a repeat, AFP reported.
Movie buffs in Venice, Italy, this week got a new venue at which to watch a film on the big screen and alongside other moviegoers. Drive-in movie theaters have experienced a remarkable resurgence during the pandemic with most movie theaters still closed down, and this phenomenon was the inspiration for a "boat-in" or "barch-in" theater in Venice, the city's first-ever such movie experience. "I had this idea during the lockdown. When the media talked about drive-ins, phase two, re-start for culture, Venice was referred to as a dead city and culture was seen as a way to have it take off again," Nicola Scopelliti, president of Barch-in collective told AFP. "So I connected these ideas and thought: ‘Why not do a cinema screening on boats?" Classic films, documentaries, and blockbuster movies are all set to be screened and as long as the movies are playing outdoors, weather will be key. And according to the AccuWeather forecast, outdoor movie-watching weather will be delightful in Venice over the next week. Watch the video below for more.
Face recognition technology has a difficult time analyzing faces behind a mask. Even the best commercial facial recognition systems have error rates as high as 50% when trying to identify masked faces, a preliminary study published by a U.S. agency on Monday found. Apple made it easier for iPhone owners to unlock their phones without Face ID earlier this year because of masks, according to The Associated Press. Marks are also thwarting attempts by authorities to identify individual people at Black Lives Matter protests and other gatherings. Tech gurus are now studying ways to improve accuracy and adapt the technology to an era in which so many people are wearing masks in public. The National Institute of Standards and Technology is launching an investigation to better understand how facial recognition performs on covered faces.
On Saturday, a gathering of approximately 17,000 people marched in Berlin, Germany, to protest against coronavirus lockdowns with signs saying ‘The end of the pandemic - freedom day.' Demonstrators said face masks and other lockdown orders violate their rights. Protesters danced and sang "We are free people!" to the tune of rock band Queen’s We Will Rock You, and "We are making noise because you are stealing our freedom!", according to BBC. Our demand is to return to democracy,” said one protester who declined to give his name, BBC reported. “The mask that enslaves us must go.” Police filed a complaint against the organizer for failing to ensure that marchers wear masks and followed social distancing measures. Some politicians criticized the protesters. “They not only endanger our health, they endanger our successes against the pandemic,” tweeted Social Democrat co-leader Saskia Esken.
People gather at the Brandenburg gate for a demonstration with the slogan ‚The end of the pandemic - freedom day' - against coronavirus restrictions in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2020. It comes amid increasing concern about an upturn in infections in Germany. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
Throughout the month of July, the U.S. reported a 20% rise of more than 25,000 coronavirus deaths and 1.87 million new positive cases. Positive COVID-19 cases doubled in 19 states, according to a Reuters tally, which brought total infections to 4.5 million. Florida, followed by California and Texas saw the biggest increases in cases. During the month of July, 33 out of the 50 U.S. states hit new one-day records in the number of cases and 19 set records for 24-hour death tolls, according to the Reuters tally. The United States reported over 77,000 new cases on July 16, which shattered single-day global records. The United States tops the list for coronavirus fatalities in the world with Johns Hopkins University reporting a death toll of 153,642 since the pandemic began late last year. Brazil was the second hardest-hit with 92,475 fatalities followed by Mexico with 46,688.
A health worker prepares to collect nasal swab samples for COVID-19 tests at a mobile testing site in Hyderabad, India, Friday, July 31, 2020. India is the third hardest-hit country by the pandemic in the world after the United States and Brazil. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)
Last week Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, tossed the first pitch at the season opener in Washington between the Yankees and Nationals. The pitch itself was well off the mark, coming up short and to the left of the home-plate circle, but the moment was memorialized into a card that has now sold a record 51,512 copies. The card was on sale for 24 hours when it broke Topps company records. "We’re excited by the popularity of Dr. Fauci’s Topps NOW card," Emily Kless, Topps communications manager said in an email. "Topps prides itself on capturing the unique moments of the MLB season, one baseball card at a time and Dr. Fauci’s inclusion in this year’s Topps NOW cards is just one way in which we are highlighting the uniqueness of the 2020 season." The company’s previous record featured Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and sold 19,306 copies. The card image features Fauci behind the home plate throwing out the first pitch during last Thursday's MLB season opening game between the Washington Nationals and the New York Yankees. "I feel a little embarrassed and humbled," Fauci told CNN about the card sales. "I hope that Yogi Berra and Mickey Mantle are not looking up at me saying, ‘What the heck is going on here?’”
Leaving home landed a Key West couple in jail after Jose Antonio Freire Interian and Yohana Anahi Gonzalez were arrested this week for violating Florida’s state law that requires a two-week quarantine for anyone who tests positive for COVID-19. According to The Washington Times, the couple was arrested on Wednesday night and were each charged with two second-degree misdemeanors after they were ordered by the Florida Department of Health in Monroe County to remain isolated, according to Florida Keys News. Their apartment complex property manager reported them to the police after spotting them allegedly grocery shopping, walking their dog, washing their car, and walking outside. The couple was released after each posted a $1,000 bail on Wednesday.
Navajo farmer Tyrone Thompson is on a mission to help people return to their roots of farming. After decades of forced relocation, assimilation and federal food distribution programs the Navajos relied less and less on the land for food, according to NPR. Thompson has taken to social media to teach traditional farming techniques like how to layer organic matter to turn dry clay into rich fertile soil. The Navajo Nation is a food desert, according to The U.S. Department of Agriculture. People travel up to 40 miles to get their groceries, but if they listen to Thompson they won’t have to anymore. “As we see the shelves emptying of food and toilet paper we kind of reconnect to our roots," Thompson says. "Some of the tools that were given by our elders and our ancestors — our planting stick and our steering sticks — those are our weapons against hunger and poverty and sickness." Researcher Brandon Francis says more people are staying home and farming now. "There has been a surge in interest," Francis says. "Seeds were hard to come by. They flew off the shelves just as fast as toilet paper did."
Here are the latest updated totals from around the world, according to researchers from Johns Hopkins University.
Confirmed cases: 17,613,859
Fatalities: 679,986
Recoveries: 10,351,577
Hackers linked to the Chinese government targeted Moderna Inc., a biotech company and U.S.-based coronavirus vaccine research developer, this year to steal data, according to a U.S. security official tracking Chinese hacking. China denied the accusation that it had any connection to the hackers who had targeted the biotech company, Reuters reported. The U.S. Justice Department publicized an indictment of two Chinese nationals accused of spying on the U.S. as well as three unnamed U.S.-based targets involved in medical research surrounding the coronavirus.
“Moderna remains highly vigilant to potential cybersecurity threats, maintaining an internal team, external support services and good working relationships with outside authorities to continuously assess threats and protect our valuable information,” company spokesman Ray Jordan told Reuters. Moderna’s vaccine is one of the few to make it to large-scale testing in the U.S., with the federal government supporting its progress with nearly half a billion dollars and helping the company run a clinical trial of up to 30,000 people.
A joint coronavirus vaccine has been approved for $2.1 billion funding from the U.S. government. Drug companies GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi Pasteur announced on Friday that the joint proposal between the two companies was able to move forward due to the approval. The companies announced in April that they would use Sanofi's flu vaccine technology and Glaxo's adjuvant to research a vaccine against COVID-19, according to CNN. Part of the deal includes producing up to 100 million doses of the vaccine next year, and an option for 500 million additional doses. Phase 1 and 2 safety study is planned for September with a Phase 3 trial by the end of the year.
There has been a 54% “marked increase” in the number of new coronavirus cases across the French mainland since last week, French health authorities confirmed. Although the rise was across all age groups, it wasn’t those above 60 who public health authorities were particularly concerned about. The rise was more significant in those between 20 to 30 years old, according to The Guardian. France also saw the first time the number of patients admitted to the hospital with COVID-19 increase in 16 weeks. The spike in cases came as the nation prepared for a heatwave that has already driven temperatures into triple digits (Fahrenheit), including Paris. More than half of those who tested positive were asymptomatic, and of those who tested positive, 69% of them were between the ages of 15 and 44. The biggest increase was among 20 to 25-year-olds, according to The Guardian.
On the latest edition of AccuWeather's Everything Under the Sun podcast, Meteorologist Dean DeVore discusses the impact COVID-19 is having on sports with special guests Kim Jones from the NFL Network, and Tom Ackerman, sports director of KMOX Radio in St. Louis. The podcast also touches on the latest forecast for Hurricane Isaias.
Give it a listen below.
Dr. Anthony Fauci warned that the coronavirus is so contagious that it may never disappear. In a House Select Subcommittee hearing on Friday, Fauci said, “I do not believe it would disappear because it’s such a highly-transmissible virus." More than 17 million people have been infected by the coronavirus with at least 673,000 being killed. The United States continues to report the most infections, having more than 4 million cases. Even though Fauci believes the virus may not disappear, he previously said it's possible world leaders and public health officials could bring it down to much lower levels, according to CNBC. Fauci also warned that there's never a guarantee that a safe and effective vaccine for the coronavirus will be made, but he remains cautiously optimistic of one.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, testifies during a House Subcommittee hearing on the Coronavirus crisis, Friday, July 31, 2020 on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Kevin Dietsch/Pool via AP)
The United States House of Representatives has canceled an August recess until coronavirus bill is passed. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer announced Friday that the planned recess for August will no longer take place until negotiations over the next coronavirus relief legislation is complete, according to CBS News. Hoyer told members and the minority leader to not schedule themselves for the next week. Usually, members of Congress take the month of August to return to their local districts. It is unknown if the Senate will also continue to work in August. A $1 trillion proposal was offered by Republicans on Monday but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer are against passing relief legislation in a "piecemeal" fashion, and instead want a single comprehensive bill.
Just hours before the first pitch was set to be thrown, a game between the St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers has been postponed after two members of the Cardinals organization tested positive for COVID-19. “We are supportive of Major League Baseball’s decision to postpone today’s game and look forward to playing our home opener as soon as conditions safely allow,” Brewers general manager David Stearns said in a statement. This is the third game of the day that was scheduled to be played but had to be postponed due to players or staff members of a team contracting the coronavirus, The Associated Press reported.
The postponements are piling up at the start of the abridged 60-game season, making the MLB work diligently to figure out how to make up the missed games. One unnamed source told The AP that one option would be to hold more doubleheaders, but shorten each game to 7 innings, rather than the traditional 9. “If the doubleheaders were to pile up for whatever reason, I would have it like in a contingency plan,” Los Angeles Angels manager Joe Maddon said. “I’m in for anything right now.”
Although the COVID-19 death rate in the U.S. continues to increase, experts say that the surge of confirmed cases appears to be leveling off. However, the virus is far from gone, as The Associated Press reported that the trend is driven by the worst-hit places – Arizona, California, Florida and Texas -- where the number of cases cases seems to be hitting a plateau. In 30 other states, infections continue to spread, as the virus epicenter seems to be shifting toward the Midwest. According to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the future of the virus is “very difficult to predict.” In the past week, the average number of COVID-19 deaths per day in the country rose by 25% from 843 to 1,057.
Data from the U.S. on COVID-19, although incomplete, shows that Native Americans have been disproportionately affected by the impacts of COVID-19. According to The New York Times, the rate of reported cases in the eight counties with the highest Native American populations is almost double the national average. In New Mexico, Native Americans and Alaska Natives, who make up up 9% of the state’s population, have accounted for nearly 40% of virus cases. Hospitalization rates published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also suggest that Native Americans are among the most-likely to become seriously ill from the virus. “I feel as though tribal nations have an affective death sentence when the scale of this pandemic, if it continues to grow, exceeds the public resources available,” Fawn Sharp, President of the Quinault Indian Nation and of the National Congress of American Indians, told the Times.
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has postponed easing lockdown restrictions in England. In an announcement made Friday, Prime Minister Johnson said that further easing of coronavirus restrictions will be delayed by at least two weeks. These restrictions were supposed to be eased starting this weekend, according to CNBC. New restrictions have been put into place for some locations in northern England after a new rise in coronavirus cases. Wedding receptions of up to 30 people will no longer be allowed starting in August along with bowling alleys and casinos remaining closed. Face coverings are expected to be mandated in more settings in England. The U.K. has almost 304,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus.
A Southern California gym that refused to shutdown amid orders, is now linked to a coronavirus cluster. The Pacific Beach gym in San Diego was forced to shut down after disobeying a county health order to close last week, according to CNN. The gym was told to close operations on July 23 but didn't shut down until July 27. It is unknown how many cases are connected to the gym, but health officials say an outbreak is considered three or more cases from different households. Businesses that violate the order are subject to a $1,000 fine. San Diego County has had over 28,000 confirmed coronavirus cases.
A 70-year-old man from Hoi An has become the first person in Vietnam to pass away due to COVID-19, according to BBC News. Before earlier this week when an outbreak was reported in a nearby resort of Da Nang, no new infections had been reported in the country since mid-April. The country has reported 546 cases since the start of the pandemic, according to Johns Hopkins University. Vietnam’s approach in handling the virus has proven to be highly affective, as authorities mandated the closure of all borders and enforced a quarantine before any cases were even confirmed. Since the report of the first death on Friday, authorities in Vietnam have started to carry out an aggressive prevention strategy to contain the virus, by opening more quarantine facilities and centers to treat infected patients. Additionally, the city of Da Nang is now undergoing a second lockdown due to the recent outbreak of 95 cases that have been reported since July 25.
On Thursday’s coronavirus briefing, WHO experts warned that young people are driving the spikes in coronavirus transmission. Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO Lead Epidemiologist on COVID-19, said that young people are “amplifying transmissions” by frequenting night clubs, where the virus is often present and can be spread very easily. “Young people must take the same precautions to protect themselves and protect others, as everyone else,” WHO Director General Tedros Adhanon Ghebreyesus said, according to AFP. “They can be leaders; they should be leaders and drivers of change.”
Just five days after Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro announced he had recovered from the coronavirus, the government reported that first lady Michelle Bolsonaro has tested positive for the virus. According to a statement released by the president’s office on Thursday, she is “in good health and will follow all established protocols.” President Bolsonaro has faced criticism for his response to the pandemic, as Brazil has the second-highest number of cases, only after the U.S. He has previously compared the virus to a “little flu,” and has tried to end stay-at-home order and restrictions across the country, despite the rapid spread of the virus.
The Hong Kong government has postponed its upcoming parliamentary election due to a rise in coronavirus cases, the BBC reports. Just over 120 new cases were reported on Friday, and the metropolitan area has reported more than 100 new daily cases for 10 straight days, the BBC said. Several weeks, ago Hong Kong had appeared to contain the virus, but now it appears to be suffering from a "third wave", the BBC reports.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam said of the outbreak that the region was in "its worst situation since January," and said "as community spread continues, the risk of a large-scale outbreak will increase." She also called the decision to postpone the election "most difficult decision I've made over the past seven months". "This postponement is entirely made based on public safety reasons, there were no political considerations," she said. The election had been scheduled to take place in September. In total, Hong Kong has over 3,200 confirmed infections and 27 deaths from the virus, the BBC reports.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam arrives for a news conference in Hong Kong, Friday, July 31, 2020. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
For the third consecutive day, Florida health officials reported a single-day record for COVID-19-related fatalities with 253 new deaths on Thursday. That figure comes in the wake of 216 fatalities on Wednesday and 186 fatalities on Tuesday, according to CBS News. Also on Thursday, the Sunshine State recorded 9,943 new cases of coronavirus, another record. All of this comes as hospital ICUs are in some cases above capacity and the state is preparing for possible impacts from Hurricane Isaias, which could take a track up along the east coast of Florida.
Here are the latest updated totals from around the world, according to researchers from Johns Hopkins University.
Confirmed cases: 17,315,750
Fatalities: 673,822
Recoveries: 10,151,894
Just before the calendar flips to August, the world saw its total number of positive case recoveries top the 10 million mark on Friday. While the statistics may not prove reliable due to differences in reporting, Brazil leads the way with 1,956,807 recoveries with the United States behind with 1,414,155.
In the U.S., no state has reported more recoveries than Texas, which has seen 260,542 people bounce back from the virus.
Across the United States, Black people are dying from COVID-19 at 2.5 times the rate of white Americans, according to The COVID Tracking Project by The Atlantic. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert and director fo the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), spoke with BET News host Marc Lamont Hill in an interview on the why the virus was disproportionately affecting Black Americans. “We don’t like to generalize, but as a demographic group the African-American community is more likely to be in a job that does not allow them to stay at home and do teleworking most of the time, they’re in essential jobs,” Fauci told Hill. “You may be in a financial or economic or employment situation where you don’t have as much control or physical separation, which is one of the ways that you prevent infection.” The Hill also points out that long-standing systemic inequalities have put Black, Indigenous, Latino and other nonwhite communities at risk of becoming sick and dying from the virus.
Fauci referred to the combination of systemic inequalities along with a vulnerability to the virus as a “double whammy,” in particular against the African-American and Latinx community. “On the other side of the coin, and this has a lot to do with long-term social determinants of health, as a demographic group, African Americans have disproportionately greater incidence of the underlying conditions that allow you to have a more unfavorable outcome, namely more serious disease, hospitalization and even death,” Fauci added. The disease he lists include diabetes, hypertension and heart disease.
Watch the full interview here:
The closure of schools in the U.S. in March may have prevented more than 40,000 deaths, according to a new study. The study suggests that states that closed schools earlier saw greater declines in cases on a week to week basis, whereas the states that closed schools later on had a higher cumulative instance of the virus. The researchers involved in the study wrote that "the analyses presented here suggest that the timing of school closure plays a role in the magnitude of changes associated with school closure." According to CNN, the researchers said the findings may not be able to be related to the reopening of schools this fall because in March when schools originally began to close less people may have been social distancing and wearing masks. "It is unclear how COVID-19 spread would be affected if schools remained open while states enacted other policies to restrict movement," the researchers said in the study. "It is possible school-related spread may be mitigated with infection-control interventions recommended by the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics, including frequent hand washing, universal mask policies, physical distancing measures, and increased sanitation procedures."
The first dog that tested positive for COVID-19 in the U.S. has died, The Hill reported. Buddy the German Shepard died on July 11. He lived in Staten Island, New York, with his family. He first began to struggle with his breathing in April and likely had lymphoma, according to National Geographic. The Mahoney family, who owned Buddy, said it was frustrating that experts did not look further into the possibility of there being a connection between the coronavirus and Buddy’s conditions. “You tell people that your dog was positive, and they look at you [as if you have] ten heads,” Allison Mahoney said. “[Buddy] was the love of our lives. ... He brought joy to everybody. I can’t wrap my head around it.”
Across the United States, Black people are dying from COVID-19 at 2.5 times the rate of white Americans, according to The COVID Tracking Project by The Atlantic. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert and director fo the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), spoke with BET News host Marc Lamont Hill in an interview on the why the virus was disproportionately affecting Black Americans. “We don’t like to generalize, but as a demographic group the African-American community is more likely to be in a job that does not allow them to stay at home and do teleworking most of the time, they’re in essential jobs,” Fauci told Hill. “You may be in a financial or economic or employment situation where you don’t have as much control or physical separation, which is one of the ways that you prevent infection.” The Hill also points out that long-standing systemic inequalities have put Black, Indigenous, Latino and other nonwhite communities at risk of becoming sick and dying from the virus.
Fauci referred to the combination of systemic inequalities along with a vulnerability to the virus as a “double whammy,” in particular against the African-American and Latinx community. “On the other side of the coin, and this has a lot to do with long-term social determinants of health, as a demographic group, African Americans have disproportionately greater incidence of the underlying conditions that allow you to have a more unfavorable outcome, namely more serious disease, hospitalization and even death,” Fauci added. The disease he lists include diabetes, hypertension and heart disease.
More than 18,000 people are under quarantine in China after the county reported an uptick in cases. At least 65% of those in quarantine are in the province of Xinjiang, NBC News said, resulting in a new round of lockdowns. Additionally, Chinese officials are ordering mass testing to get a better scope of the spread of the virus after 105 new cases were reported on Wednesday. This is a fraction of the number of new cases reported in neighboring Japan, which reached a record high number of cases on Thursday. Even after the county tallied an excess of 1,000 cases, the Japanese government said that it would not declare a state of emergency, according to NBC News.
After reporting more than 9,000 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, Texas has now recorded nearly 419,000 total cases of the coronavirus. This is higher than New York, a hotspot early in the coronavirus pandemic, which has reported nearly 413,600 cases, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Texas has also announced that it is changing the method in which deaths are confirmed and reported, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram said. “We may be able to account for some deaths now that would not previously have been reported until later under the old system,” Texas Department of State Health Services spokesman Chris Van Deusen told the publication. “This will be a more accurate reflection closer to when the deaths occur.” With this new change, Texas confirmed 313 new coronavirus-related deaths on Wednesday, the highest single-day total on record in the state.
Despite difficulties caused by the pandemic, NASA was able to successfully conduct its Mars rover launch early Thursday. According to UPI, NASA technicians and engineers worked under tight workplace restrictions during the ongoing health crisis. Thursday's rover launch was one of the few that managed to remain operational during the pandemic, UPI said.
"Our workforce has done an amazing job and here we are, we're launching to Mars in the middle of a pandemic. We already launched two astronauts ... in the middle of a pandemic," NASA deputy administrator Jim Morhard said Wednesday at the Kennedy Space Center. "Everybody worked extremely hard to make this happen during very difficult times. And the reason is to bring hope and inspiration to the country and to the world," Morhard said. Watch a video of the launch below.
The second quarter for the U.S. economy was the worst in nearly 75 years, new data released by the Commerce Department on Thursday showed. The nation's gross domestic product (GDP) plunged 32.9% during the second quarter, which is the largest decline since record-keeping began in 1947, according to Reuters. Experts believe the contraction is the worst since the Great Depression. The economic fallout is the result of the coronavirus pandemic, which has been disrupting life across the country since mid-March. The news of the second-quarter plunge comes a day after the nation reached 150,000 fatalities since the outbreak began and as Congress is haggling over the specifics of another stimulus package. “Right now, the American economy is speeding toward a fiscal cliff," Jason Reed, a finance professor at the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business, told Reuters. "Not only do we need Americans to take serious action preventing the spread of the disease, but we also need Congress to agree on another stimulus package and quickly.”
Former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain passed away after being hospitalized for weeks due to the coronavirus. “We knew when he was first hospitalized with COVID-19 that this was going to be a rough fight. He had trouble breathing and was taken to the hospital by ambulance. We all prayed that the initial meds they gave him would get his breathing back to normal, but it became clear pretty quickly that he was in for a battle,” a statement on Herman Cain’s website read. Cain was 74 and was considered to be in a high-risk group due to his history with cancer.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infection disease expert, said that another level of protection may be needed in addition to face masks. "If you have goggles or an eye shield, you should use it," Fauci told ABC News on Wednesday. This extra layer of protection would help to shield the mucosa in the eyes, a point on the body where the coronavirus can be transmitted. At this time, it is “not universally recommended” to wear goggles or an eye shield, but it would help to reduce the risk of infection even further. Fauci also added that protective gear like face masks will help to limit the spread of influenza during the upcoming flu season, but people should still get a flu shot when they become available.
Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci speaks during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, June 30, 2020. (Al Drago/Pool via AP)
Hours after Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert announced that he tested positive for COVID-19, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi revealed a new policy that requires everyone in the House of Representatives to wear a mask. The only exception to this new rule is when a member is recognized to speak. Members on the floor of the house that do not wear a face mask will be in a “serious break of decorum” and may be removed from the chambers, Pelosi said, CNBC said. Masks will be available for members that show up to the House of Representatives without a mask.
The second wave of the coronavirus in Australia is becoming worse than the first wave of infections earlier this year. On Thursday, the country reported more than 700 new cases of COVID-19 and 14 deaths, the highest daily death toll in the country so far, Reuters said. A majority of the new cases were in Victoria state, the second-most populated state in Australia. “On some days the virus wins, on other days we beat it. But I think we’ve got to be careful not to slip into some idea that there’s some golden immunity that Australia has in relation to this virus,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison said. Residents of Victoria must now wear a mask when out in public and follow new social distancing restrictions. As of Thursday, Australia has reported over 16,300 cases of COVID-19 and 190 deaths.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration expanded its list of potentially deadly hand sanitizers this week and the list included many companies that are using unsafe alcohols in their products. According to CNN, the FDA warned a company based in Mexico about using the ingredient methanol, a form of alcohol that can poison people. The FDA reported four deaths from earlier this month caused by people drinking hand sanitizer in New Mexico, as ingestion of methanol can prove fatal. Over 75 different hand sanitizer products were included in the FDA list for containing methanol and the administration is urging people to avoid using products from the manufacturers.
One death per minute. That was the grisly pace at which the United States saw COVID-19 fatalities climb on Wednesday, a day that saw the U.S. move past the threshold of 150,000 fatalities since the beginning of the outbreak, the highest in the world. Wednesday saw a total of 1,461 deaths, its most since late May according to Reuters, and represents the clear resurgence of the virus and its fatal impacts throughout the country. The weekly fatality total has risen for three consecutive weeks in the nation.
Here are the latest updated totals from around the world, according to researchers from Johns Hopkins University.
Confirmed cases: 17,053,700
Fatalities: 667,688
Recoveries: 9,974,949
The global case total moved past the 17 million mark on Thursday morning, about eight months after the world was made. aware of a cluster of cases in Wuhan, China. Three different countries have seen at least 1.5 million cases as the United States leads the way with over 4.4 million infections.
On Wednesday, the U.S. recorded its fifth day of at least 70,000 new positive cases reported. All five such days have occurred in the past two weeks.
The Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) announced a couple of COVID-19 testing sites in Florida will temporarily close in anticipation of a potential tropical storm. The agency said drive-thru and walk-up coronavirus testing sites will temporarily close at 5 p.m. on Thursday in anticipation of impacts from Potential Tropical Storm Nine. “Out of an abundance of caution to keep individuals operating and attending the sites safe. All sites have free standing structures including tents and other equipment, which cannot withstand tropical storm force winds, and could cause damage to people and property if not secured,” The FDEM said it made the decision. The storm is expected to hit South Florida with heavy rains and strong winds beginning as early as Friday.
The 120th US Open Championship will take place without spectators, the United States Golf Association announced on Wednesday. The championship is scheduled for September 17-20 at Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, New York. “Following months of consultation and scenario planning with local and state health officials, we have jointly decided that hosting the US Open without spectators will provide the best opportunity to conduct the championship safely for all involved,” said Mike Davis, CEO of the USGA, in the press release. “We will miss the excitement of the fans and what their presence brings to the championship. We look forward to welcoming them again to future U.S. Opens.” The championship was originally scheduled to be held June 18-21 on Winged Foot’s West Course but it was postponed to September due to coronavirus. In June, the organization said that the championship would be conducted without traditional qualifying.
Denver Public Schools will be 100% remote instruction from the start of the school year, which was delayed a week to Aug. 24, until the end of the first quarter which is through at least Oct. 16, a statement on the district’s website announced Wednesday. “We’ll be working hard to safely and gradually welcome all students back into schools, when health conditions allow,” District Superintendent Susana Cordova wrote in the statement. The district said that it will be working toward bringing back small groups of students for in-person learning around Sept. 8. “We expect we will return to this option during the year in response to coronavirus,” said DPS Superintendent Susana Cordova during a live news conference. According to the district, most classes will be live and services will continue for English Language Learners as well as those who need social-emotional support.
With NFL training camp set to kick off, unhygienic habits have become top of mind as an issue in need of addressing while teams are trying to keep spaces as clean as possible. New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees, who has traditionally licked his fingers before every snap, mentioned how hard it was going to be for quarterbacks to be hygienic. Brees said the act is going to be hard habit to break, especially since it helps how he plays, according to ESPN. “The whole point is to help give your hands a little tackiness so you get better grip on the ball,” Brees told ESPN. “I’ve actually been thinking about it a lot lately as I’ve started throwing again. Trying to avoid it, but it has been so habitual for so long. You don’t realize how much you touch your face and lick your fingers until COVID hit.” Former NFL tackle Ryan Harris said he didn’t need a pandemic to notice some of the unhygienic habits that happen in sports. “It’s so gross, even when there isn’t COVID,” Harris said. “And just look where he puts his hands the play before, the play after, and the play he’s running when he licks his fingers. Do the math. Honestly, there are a lot of every-day, don’t-give-it-a-second-thought things people are going to have to give a second thought about.”
The United States passed another bleak milestone on Wednesday afternoon as the nation's death toll exceeded 150,000. As AccuWeather reported about six weeks ago, the death toll is the worst of any pandemic in American history apart from the flu pandemic in 1918, which was blamed for an estimated 650,000 American fatalities. As of Wednesday, the global death toll from the coronavirus pandemic stood at more than 662,000, according to Johns Hopkins University, and more than 9.8 million worldwide have recovered.
Global coronavirus death toll and recovery numbers along with a breakdown of countries with the most fatalities and recoveries. (Johns Hopkins University)
The largest state fair in Pennsylvania was canceled on Tuesday. Organizers of the annual Bloomsburg Fair announced their decision in a Facebook post, saying that the health and safety of the community outweighed the desire to host the fair. This year’s fair would have been the 165th edition of the event, which attracts thousands of vendors and thousands of exhibitors and local artists, according to the Times Leader. “So, although many in our community will miss the fair, we look forward to providing a safe, secure and healthy even next year,” the post read. This year marks only the second year ever that the fair had to be shut down, with flooding from Tropical Storm Lee in 2011 causing the other cancelation.
Florida’s Department of Health confirmed 9,446 new cases and 216 fatalities on Wednesday, bringing the total number of cases to 451,423, with 6,333 reported deaths. According to The Miami Herald, the death toll reported on Tuesday marks the highest single-day increase in fatalities in the state. Previously, the highest single-day death toll was on Tuesday, with 186 deaths. This number does not represent every person that has died in the past 24 hours, but rather the number of fatalities reported. According to the Miami Herald, the deaths announced on a given day could be from several days earlier because the state information does not include the exact date of death.
Authorities in Bolivia declared a state of public calamity on Monday night due the economic impacts from COVID-19. The country, which has seen over 72,000 cases according to Johns Hopkins University, will now be able to lend more money from the Central Bank to divert funds toward pandemic relief efforts. “Public calamity has been declared throughout the territory of the Plurinational State of Bolivia to address the unavoidable needs of an economic nature caused by the negative effects of the coronavirus,” announced the decree published in the Official Gazette, according to Web24.news. The move was approved by interim president Jeanine Áñez, who herself is recovering from COVID-19.
After continuously refusing to wear a mask, Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert has tested positive for the coronavirus. The news come as Gohmert said that he would not wearing a mask because he was being tested regularly for the virus. “If I get it, you’ll never see me without a mask,” Gohmert told CNN in June, according to Politico. Prior to testing positive, Gohmert had been walking around the Capitol without a mask on. Chairman Jerry Nadler has expressed his concern over the violations of social distancing and safety guidelines at the Capitol, as he urged Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs and Louisiana Rep, Mike Johnson “to stop violating the safety of the members of the committee. To stop themselves out as not caring by refusing to wear their masks.”
Officials have sent a disaster team to Melbourne’s nursing homes as Australia’s second-largest city continues to deal with a COVID-19 outbreak. The response came as Victoria state, where Melbourne is located, reported 295 new cases and nine deaths, seven of these fatalities being at nursing homes. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said 13 Melbourne nursing homes were in a “critical” situation, after several staff members tested positive for the virus and were asked to self-isolate. Authorities warned that more deaths are “inevitable” among nursing home residents as the virus continues to spread in the city. Although Australia has been one of the most successful countries at containing the pandemic, Melbourne is the exception, as the city has reported thousands of infections since mid-June. As of right now, Australia has recorded about 15,600 COVID-19 cases and 176 deaths.
The coronavirus vaccine was tested on monkeys that had been deliberately infected by the coronavirus. According to a report released by researchers, the monkeys were able to quickly fight off the virus after they received the vaccine. While the vaccine did not prevent infection, it kept the virus from propagating greatly, which can result in reduced transmission according to researchers. “If you get a little infection that is cleared rapidly and doesn’t shed very long, it reduces the likelihood of transmission,” Dr. Barney S, Graham, the deputy director of the Vaccine Research Center at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told The New York Times. Although the findings do not guarantee that the vaccine will work on humans, the results are considered a big milestone in the struggle against the coronavirus pandemic. “I think we have a chance of having some protection from this vaccine, but we have to do the Phase 3 trial to find out,” Dr. Graham said. On Monday, the clinics around the country began a Phase 3 trial of the vaccine, in which they will be testing it on 30,000 people.
With a tropical storm threat brewing over the Caribbean and a potential storm track that could take what is expected to become Tropical Storm Isaias into Florida, some COVID-19 testing sites will be closed down. Health officials in Collier County, which encompasses Naples on the state's Gulf Coast, announced Tuesday that two testing clinics would be shut down ahead of any storm that may arrive. A walk-up testing site in Immokalee will close down on Thursday and one in Naples will be shuttered on Friday, officials said on Twitter. Stay tuned to AccuWeather.com for the latest on the developing tropical system, which is poised to become the ninth named storm of the 2020 hurricane season.
On Tuesday, New Jersey expanded its travel advisory to 34 states, as the virus continues to spread across the U.S. The list, which mandates travelers to voluntarily self-quarantine for 14 days if they plan to stay in the state for more than 24 hours, includes any state with a positive test rate of 10% or higher over a 7-day rolling average. People arriving from those states, including New Jersey residents, are encouraged to self-isolate and to seek a coronavirus test. The 15 states that are not included on the quarantine list are:
Colorado
Connecticut
Hawaii
Maine
Massachusetts
Michigan
New Hampshire
New York
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Dakota
Vermont
West Virginia
Wyoming
In a massively scaled-down event, about 10,000 Muslims are set to begin the annual Hajj pilgrimage today. In a normal year, about 2 million Muslims from around the world make the visit to Saudi Arabia, but foreigners were banned this year to curb the pandemic. Coronavirus tests and temperature checks were administered to visitors arriving in Mecca, according to BBC, while the pilgrims will have to quarantine before and after the visit and wear face masks at all times. According to statistics from Johns Hopkins University researchers, Saudi Arabia has seen 270,831 cases, the 13th most of any country. Temperatures are expected to actually be slightly below their historical averages, but for the desert nation, that will still mean consistent triple-digits.
The AccuWeather forecast for Mecca, Saudi Arabia, for July 29 - Aug. 1. (AccuWeather)
Hong Kong officials say they are on the verge of a “large-scale” coronavirus outbreak as new daily infections have surpassed 100 cases for the last eight days. On Wednesday, Chief Executive Carrie Lam warned all citizens of the severity of the pandemic, as she implemented tougher social distancing measures. “We are on the verge of a large-scale community outbreak, which may lead to a collapse of our hospital system and cost lives, especially of the elderly,” Lam said in a statement, according to AFP. Starting Wednesday, all Hong Kong residents are required to wear masks when they leave their homes and restaurants will only be available for takeout. Additionally, if more than two people from different households gather in public, they can face fines of up to $625. The financial hub, which was one of the first places to be hit by the virus when it first emerged in China earlier this year, had reported a halt in local transmission by June. After reaching halting transmission by June, spread reignited in recent weeks, as more than 1,000 cases have been reported since early July.
No comments:
Post a Comment