As the U.S. approaches 5 million confirmed cases of COVID-19, the governors of six states announced Tuesday that they have formed a compact to purchase 3 million rapid, point-of-care coronavirus antigen tests.
The agreement between Maryland, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Ohio and Virginia is aimed to demonstrate to private manufacturers “that there is significant demand to scale up the production of these tests,” Maryland Gov. Larry Horgan said in a statement.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump, in an interview with Axios on Monday, defended his administration’s efforts to defend against the US epidemic, which has shown few signs of slowdown. “They’re dying, that’s right,” Trump said. “That’s what it is. But that doesn’t mean we’re not doing everything we can.”
The president said Monday that he intervened in executive action as Congress and the White House struggled to break the stalemate over some other emergency aid plan to address the effect of coronavirus on American families and the economy.
Here are some developments:
Figures Figures today: The United States recorded more than 156,000 deaths and about 4.75 million COVID-19 cases Tuesday night at Johns Hopkins University. Globally, there have been more than 698,000 deaths and 18.4 million instances.
? What We Read: How a Mysterious Enterprise Connected to the “Titanic” villain won contracts opposed to coronaviruses.
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The number of COVID-19 infections in California may not be accurate due to a technical challenge in the state formula that tracks the positive effects and tests, a senior state fitness officer said Tuesday.
Dr. Mark Ghaly, Secretary of Health and Human Services, said the seven-day state’s reported positivity rate on Monday had been “absolutely affected.” However, hospitalization data was affected, Ghaly said.
On Monday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom reported that daily instances fell by an average of 2,200 last week and that the infection rate of 6.1% fell particularly that only 8% last month.
Gov. Tate Reeves issued an order Tuesday that requires Mississippies to wear masks at public meetings and shopping over the next two weeks.
The announcement occurs as coronavirus cases and deaths continue and more than one in five COVID-19 tests in Mississippi return positive, an astonishing rate indicating a progressive infection.
Reeves said wearing a mask is irritating, but important to stop the spread of COVID-19.
“I hate it more than you’re seeing it today,” Reeves said at a press conference.
– Giacomo Bologna, Mississippi Clarion Ledger
The governors of Maryland, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Ohio and Virginia have formed a compact to purchase 3 million rapid, point-of-care coronavirus antigen tests, the governors’ offices announced Tuesday.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said in a statement that the bulk acquisition was intended to demonstrate to personal brands “that there is a significant call to increase the production of those tests,” which can provide effects in approximately 15 minutes.
“As the nation continues to face severe testing shortages and delays, this is the first interstate testing compact of its kind among governors during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Hogan’s office said. “This interstate cooperative purchasing agreement will provide a unique platform to purchase tests and associated supplies in a sustainable and cost-effective manner.”
Each state planned to acquire 500,000 antigen tests, which may temporarily stumble upon uncovered or internal protein fragments of the virus through test samples taken from swabs, made through Becton Dickinson and Quidel, they said.
At least forty-five people aboard Hurtigruten’s MS Roald Amundsen tested positive for COVID-19.
Thirty-six crew members have tested positive for COVID-19, according to Øystein Knoph, spokesperson for Hurtigruten. Nine passengers have also tested positive for COVID-19 since it became clear that there was an outbreak on board, according to the Norwegian Institute of Public Health.
The nine passengers are from six counties around Norway. Thirty-three of the 36 crew members who tested positive are Filipino and the remaining three are Norwegian, German and French citizens.
Passengers from two separate voyages on the ship had already disembarked on July 24 and on July 31 to begin their voyages home before the cruise line contacted passengers about the initial COVID-19 cases.
– David Oliver, Morgan Hines and Hannah Yasharoff
Dr. Oxiris Barbot, the New York City health commissioner resigned Tuesday, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced in a news conference.
Barbot oversaw the department as the pandemic raged in New York City, the epicenter of the U.S. outbreak in the spring. Her departure may not have come as a surprise to New Yorkers: Barbot stopped attending news conferences with the mayor in May after Barbot issued a public apology for an earlier disagreement with city officials.
“It’s transparent in the last few days that it’s time to change,” de Blasio said.
In a resignation email received through the New York Times, Barbot said he felt “deep sadness because the critical crisis of maximum physical fitness in our lives, the fitness department’s unprecedented experience in disease control was not used to the extent it could have been.” “
Barbot’s resignation “a blow” and “a primary setback in our fight opposed to the pandemic,” Mark Levine, chairman of the city council’s fitness committee, said in a statement. Dr. Dave Chokshi, a physician and associate professor at NYU School of Medicine, will update her, de Blasio said.
Epidemiologists are asking the federal government to show leadership by providing greater knowledge that is essential to prevent the pandemic.
State and local fitness officials say that providing greater knowledge is so simple that it generates scarce budgets, inefficient generation, and inconsistent reporting systems. Dr. William Schaffner, professor of Preventive Medicine and Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, warns that COVID-19 will be with us in 3 years. The same will be true for the call to knowledge.
“This virus is not going to go away,” said Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of preventive medicine and infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. “We hope to get a vaccine soon. But even when we do, other people will want to know how vaccines have an effect.”
– Christine Vestal, Stateline
A bipartisan coalition of more than 30 attorneys-general asked the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Have it invoke federal patent law to build the source and reduce the costs of the COVID-19 drug remedy.
The organization needs the federal government to allow Gilead Sciences antiviral against other brands to reduce potential shortages and decrease the value of the drug. Gilead charges $3120 for a five-day course for patients with private insurance, Medicare, or Medicaid. Remdesivir’s materials are “dangerously limited” and the value “will save it for treatment” and will weigh on state budgets, advocates-general wrote in a letter to federal agencies.
“We cannot leave the source of this essential drug to the possibility and whims of the market when it was financed in components through taxpayers’ money,” said California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, a Democrat.
Ken Alltucker
The crackdown on house vacations and other giant celebration meetings continues in some parts of the country. In Chicago, Rosa Escareno, Commissioner for Trade and Consumer Protection, tweeted that she joined the police and others to “address harmful events, meetings, parties in advertisements and residential locations.” During the first weekend of operations, 23 investigations resulted in five orders banning illegal public entertainment venues and three quick shutdowns, according to local media.
In New Jersey, 35 airbnb classified ads statewide have been suspected or removed from the online page as a result of in-house court cases that violate restrictions. Gov. Phil Murphy expressed dismay at a party in an Alpine space this week. Murphy added that if it turned out that other people were coming from outside the city, it “wouldn’t end well” for the organizers or party participants, in terms of health.
And in Michigan, fitness officials are asking other young people to act responsibly after more than a hundred teens tested positive for coronavirus after some attended at least a dozen interiors and giant gatherings, adding graduation parties and graduation events, fitness officials said Tuesday.
Ricardo Kaulessar, NorthJersey.com; Mike Davis, Asbury Park Press; Christina Hall, Detroit Free Press
Indiana University’s first-year offensive lineman, Brady Feeney, tested positive for the virus last month. His mother, Deborah Rucker, in a Facebook post, said her son was removed from teammates and had respiratory disorders severe enough to justify a visit to the emergency room. Indiana paid for Rucker to come to Bloomington to be near Feeney. Still, Rucker says schools can’t do much.
“After 14 days of hell battling the terrible virus, his school ran more tests on all those who were positive,” Rucker wrote. “Now we are facing imaginable centre problems! Matrix… In the end, even if your child’s schools do whatever it takes to protect them, they CAN’t BE the PROTECTOR!”
– Zach Osterman, Indianapolis Star
The coronavirus pandemic has created a new set of monetary barriers for millennials and Generation Z. Most do not know how their generations can go through the worst economic crisis in the world since the 1930s. According to a new report through The Harris Poll on behalf of TD Ameritrade, nearly 60% of young Americans say the pandemic has derailed their purpose of adjusting financially to their circle of family members or other support.
“Even before the economic downturn, young Americans were concerned about their finances because of stagnant wages, the emerging cost of living, and the debt burden,” says Keith Denerstein, TD Ameritrade’s director of investment products and recommendation. “Now this has been exacerbated through the pandemic.”
– Jessica Menton
Taxpayers paid $2.4 million for enthusiasts and protective clothing to a company that focuses on the global coronavirus pandemic. And it turns out that the government has paid largely in excess, suggests a USA TODAY poll.
One deal was about paying about $17,000 each for 60 fans. A broker says the sets that were delivered wholesale for about $4,000, and the government has cut contracts by more than $2,500 according to the unit. But seeking to locate data about the company and its products exposes the tangled network that the government has created depending on a growing number of intermediaries, agents and newcomers to safe emergency supplies.
“So, $17,000 is a pretty massive margin,” Bautista said. “Your ethics will have to expand to earn $15,000 on something.”
Nick Penzenstadler
The pandemic is taking place in the United States and the administration has given governors “everything they need” to fight the epidemic, President Donald Trump said in an interview with Axios. He said some governors had not used federal aid well to stem epidemics in their states. And he repeated his theme that the alarming number of instances in the United States is based on exhaustive evidence.
“It’s under control as much as you can control it. It’s a terrible scourge,” Trump said. “I think he’ll have to have a positive attitude, otherwise he’d have nothing.”
Thirty nuns, more than part of the nuns who live combined in their Michigan convent, were inflamed with COVID-19. Of these, thirteen died, adding one that recovered and then recathed, according to the authorities.
Since the 1930s, sisters have opened schools and hospitals in the suburbs of Detroit, Livonia. For generations, they taught young children and took hands from the terminals when they took their last breath. Now, survivors are usually remote and quarantined in the convent and have allowed few visitors.
“They hesitate to say they want something,” said Angela Moloney, president and ceo of the Catholic Foundation. “They sacrifice so much that they never think of themselves first. They say, ‘What can we be offering the community?’ “
– Frank Witsil, Detroit Free Press
In New Jersey: 17 nuns from Sisters of Charity in Convent Station have died
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the “biggest disruption of schooling in history,” with more than one billion academics affected by closures in more than 160 countries, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said.
Students with disabilities, those from minority or disadvantaged communities, displaced and refugee students, as well as those from remote spaces, are at increased risk of falling behind, he said. He added that the world faces a “learning crisis” before the pandemic.
“We are at a turning point for the world’s young people and other young people,” Guterres said.
Hawaii and Puerto Rico set records for new instances in one week, while four states recorded a record number of deaths in a week, according to a USA TODAY investigation of Johns Hopkins’ knowledge through Monday. A record number of deaths have been reported in Arkansas, Montana, Nevada, North Carolina and Puerto Rico.
The Puerto Rico Department of Health said it would investigate crowds of others in malls that do not comply with defense and coverage protocols.
– Mike Stucka
The Census Bureau plans to complete all counting operations until September 30, a month ahead of schedule, the workplace director announced Monday. The workplace delayed its initial date to complete the census from July 31 to October 31 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The announcement comes after President Donald Trump signed a memo on July 21 calling on the workplace not to tell undocumented immigrants about how many members of Congress are divided between states.
NFL players will have to make a decision on whether to withdraw from the 2020 season due to coronavirus considerations before four p.m. And Thursday NFL homeowners and the NFL Players Association agreed the terms Monday night, and the player framework was briefed on the deal soon after, two other people familiar with the stage told USA TODAY Sports.
They spoke under anonymity because the league and the union had not yet announced the pact. The letter of agreement ended on Monday night. NFLPA and the owners originally agreed to set the withdrawal deadline to seven days after the end of the amended collective agreement.
But with the main points of the deal economy still unresolved, and with more than 40 players retired, NFL homeowners sought to set the retirement deadline. Teams were involved in that players who probably wouldn’t make lists would simply use the opt-out clause to ensure an allocation of $150,000 to $350,000 instead of taking into account the fitness and protection of them and their families.
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Contribute: The Associated Press