A new forecast warns that COVID-10 deaths could reach 300,000 by December without widespread use of masks. The University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation says consistent use of a facecovering would lower the figure by 70,000.
Meanwhile, negotiations over another coronavirus stimulus tumbled into a state of uncertainty Thursday night. After a three-hour meeting, Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin said the White House is still willing to do a short-term measure on unemployment if a broader deal cannot be reached..
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, who had been set to meet with President Trump on Thursday, ultimately tested negative for COVID-19. Earlier in the day, a rapid test gave him a positive reading
Here are some significant developments:
? Today’s numbers: The U.S. has recorded more than 160,000 deaths and 4.8 million cases of COVID-19, according to Johns Hopkins University. Worldwide, there have been more than 713,000 deaths and 19 million cases.
? What we’re reading: The day after officials announced that hundreds of inmates in an Arizona prison were infected with COVID-19, advocates slammed the state’s response for protecting the health of incarcerated people and called for an immediate stop to prison admissions.
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A new forecast by the University of Washington predicts the U.S. death toll from COVID-19 could hit 300,000 by December, but could be reduced by 70,000 if people consistently wear a mask.
The data from the university’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, which has been frequently cited in the past by the White House, forecast 295,011 deaths by December. Consistent use of face coverings could cut the increases in deaths by 49%, the forecast said.
IHME Director Dr. Christopher Murray described the response by the American public to the virus outbreaks as a “rollercoaster.”
He said Thursday that people tend to wear masks when infections are high, then stop protecting themselves when infections decline, “and the potentially deadly cycle starts over again.”
Murray said the recent drops in COVID-19 infections in Arizona, California, Florida and Texas appear to be driven by a combination of local mandates for mask use, bar and restaurant closures and more responsible behavior by the public.
Two million people in India have tested positive for the coronavirus, the country’s health ministry reported Friday. India, the world’s second-largest country has the third-highest caseload in the world after the United States and Brazil.
The caseload in the world’s second-most populous country has quickly expanded since the government began lifting a months-long lockdown hoping to jumpstart the economy. The Indian government is projecting negative economic growth in 2020.
India is also home to the world’s largest vaccine-maker, the Serum Institute, which has ramped up capacity to manufacture as many as a billion doses of a vaccine in development by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford, which is in phase two trials in India and England.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine tests negative after second COVID-19 test
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s second COVID-19 test came back negative Thursday evening.
DeWine, 73, tested positive for the novel coronavirus on Thursday morning using a rapid test. That test was part of the protocol to greet President Donald Trump on the tarmac at Burke Lakefront Airport in Cleveland.
DeWine then returned to Columbus and took a second COVID-19 test from Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center. That polymerase chain reaction or PCR test came back negative late Thursday night.
First lady Fran DeWine and staff members also tested negative.
– Jackie Borchardt, Jessie Balmert and Jason Lalljee, Cincinnati Enquirer
A USA TODAY analysis of Johns Hopkins data through late Thursday shows one state set records for new cases in a week while one state had a record number of deaths in a week. New case records were set in Hawaii. Record numbers of deaths were reported in Tennessee, and also Puerto Rico. The United States has reported 4,883,582 cases and 160,104 deaths.
– Mike Stucka
Los Angeles County passed the 200,000 mark Thursday for people having tested positive for COVID-19 and is closing in on 5,000 deaths.
The county, which encompasses the city of Los Angeles and all its surrounding suburbs, is already ranked highest in number of cases among counties by the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. If the county were a state, it would have a higher case count than all but Florida, Texas, New York and possibly Georgia.
With the addition of 3,290 new cases, Los Angeles County had recorded a total of 201,106 cases. Another 48 deaths were attributed to the coronavirus, bringing the total to 4,869.
The grim new totals came as officials warned against gatherings or parties like the one Monday night at a swanky mansion in the Hollywood Hills that attracted about 200 participants — with few seen wearing masks. The party, which ended in a fatal shooting, attracted widespread news coverage from TV new choppers overhead.
– Chris Woodyard
All fourth-grade students and teachers at the K-5 Thales Academy in Apex, North Carolina, which was visited by Vice President Mike Pence and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos last week, began a 14-day quarantine after an asymptomatic student tested positive for the coronavirus, according to multiple media reports.
Thales spokeswoman Holly Clark told ABC News the school was informed the student had tested positive on Monday after being infected by a family member. The student, who last attended class on Friday, had passed daily temperature and symptom checks, Clark said.
During his visit to the campus on July 29, Pence stressed that “students being together is important” for the students to get a full educational experience.
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Contributing: The Associated Press