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Transcript

A woman joins with other demonstrators during the
“Cancel Rent and Mortgages” rally in late June in Minneapolis. The march
was demanding the temporary cancellation of rents and mortgages as
COVID-19 batters the economy.

Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Millions of Americans are facing the threat of eviction as a
federal moratorium that has protected renters during the pandemic is set
to expire Friday.

That eviction moratorium, coupled with unemployment assistance established in the CARES Act, has helped some renters stay in their homes.

As the deadline has loomed, renters and local officials from Washington, D.C., to Houston have struggled to find a solution.

Matt Desmond of Princeton University’s Eviction Lab, which tracks evictions across the country, told NPR’s Morning Edition that
the pandemic “looks very scary for renters.” If protections expire, the
nation could face mass evictions and a rise in homelessness.

“In
some cities in the Rust Belt, you are seeing evictions go up,” he said.
“Milwaukee and Cleveland, evictions have been hovering around 40%
higher than they usually are at this time in a typical year. That’s
pretty scary.”

Here are excerpts from the Morning Edition conversation:

How many evictions did we see nationally before the pandemic?

Every
year in America, 3.7 million evictions are filed. That’s about seven
evictions filed every minute. And that number far exceeds the number of
foreclosure starts at the height of the foreclosure crisis.

So
before the pandemic, the majority of renters below the poverty line were
already spending half of their income on housing costs or more. And 1
in 4 of those families were spending over 70% of their income just on
rent and utilities. When you’re spending 70, 80% of your income on rent
and the lights, you don’t need to have a big emergency wash over your
life to get evicted. Something very small can do it.

What happens when the CARES Act expires?

No
one really knows. Some landlords are going to negotiate with their
tenants, but others are going to reach for that eviction notice.

Across
the United States, one in 20 renters faces an eviction every year. For
African American renters, that statistic is one in 11. We’ve created, in
low-income communities of color, the semipermanent renter class.

Most
white American families own their home, and they are buffered from the
exigencies of rent increases [and] from the eviction crisis. But most
Black and Latino families rent their homes, and so they’re disproportionately exposed to these problems.

What might we see in terms of evictions?

That’s
going to mean that our homeless shelter system is flooded and stressed.
Shelter systems are really important, but they’re horrible for social
distancing. You’re sleeping next to people that you don’t know; you’re
eating next to people that you don’t know. In a moment where the home is
the safest [place] to stave off this virus, exposing people to the lack
of a home is going to spread more disease and pain. An eviction comes
with this mark or blemish: a court record. And that can prevent you from
moving into safe housing in a good neighborhood. …

This is utterly preventable. And if we don’t prevent it, this is just going to cause more poverty and … disease.

Listen to the full interview at the audio link above.

Lilly Quiroz and Matt Kwong produced and edited the broadcast version of this story. Emily Alfin Johnson adapted it for the Web.

10 HRS AGO

N.Y., N.J., Connecticut Now Say Travelers From 31 Hot Spot States Must Quarantine

by
Bill Chappell

Travelers who arrive in New York, New Jersey and
Connecticut from 31 states where coronavirus statistics have been
worsening must quarantine themselves for two weeks.

Screenshot by NPR/Connecticut State Government

People traveling to New York, New Jersey and Connecticut from 31
other states are now required to self-quarantine for 14 days, after 10
states with significant community spread of the coronavirus — including
Virginia, Maryland, Indiana and Alaska — were added to a travel advisory Tuesday.

“As
infection rates increase in 41 other states, our numbers continue to
steadily decline, thanks to the hard work of New Yorkers” and a cautious
approach to reopening, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said.

“Yesterday,
we had our lowest death toll since the pandemic began — and with no
fatalities in New York City,” Cuomo added, after his state reported just
two deaths from COVID-19.

New York, New Jersey and Connecticut first announced their travel advisory on June 24,
as they sought to limit potential sources of coronavirus infection. At
the time, New York was emerging from its status as the epicenter of the
COVID-19 outbreak in the U.S.

As of last week, 22 states were
on the list of those requiring quarantines, but the advisory now covers
well over half the country. Delaware, which was removed last week, is
now back on the list. The state effectively swapped places with
Minnesota, which has dropped off.

The mandatory quarantine
applies to anyone arriving from states with a positivity test rate of
10% or higher over a seven-day rolling average. It also includes any
state where the positive test rate is higher than 10 per 100,000
residents over a seven-day rolling average. In New York state, the rules
carry a potential $2,000 fine.

The initial travel advisory
list included just nine hot spot states, such as Texas and Florida. But
it has swelled as many states endure a sharp spike in coronavirus cases
driven by economic reopenings and relaxed attitudes toward face masks
and other precautions.

Earlier this month, Florida surpassed New York’s worst-ever day for new cases, reporting more than 15,200 infections. On Monday, New York saw less than 2% of its COVID-19 tests come back positive. By contrast, Florida’s positivity rate has averaged above 10% for the past month.

“I never thought it would be this bad,” Cuomo told NBC’s TODAY Show about the course of COVID-19 in the U.S.

Last
week, New York stepped up its efforts to hold people accountable to the
quarantine rules, deploying “enforcement teams” at airports across the
state and urging people to fill out a traveler health form.

When Cuomo was asked on Tuesday whether his state’s quarantine policy is enforceable, the governor replied, “It is imperfect.”

The tristate area’s new travel advisory now covers these states:

Alaska,
Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia,
Iowa, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Missouri,
Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota, Nebraska, New
Mexico, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah,
Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.

11 HRS AGO

Record Low Mortgage Rates Put More Cash In Pockets, But May Not Boost Economy Much

by
Chris Arnold

Sheera Talpaz, seen with her daughter Ruby, is buying
her first house in Oberlin, Ohio. Low interest rates will make the
mortgage payment lower than her previous rent in California, Talpaz
says.

Richard Baker

Meanwhile, there are lots of people out of work who can’t afford
to buy a house or qualify to refinance. Many are renting and worried
about getting evicted.

And, at the end of this week, upwards of 25 million unemployed people will stop getting an extra $600 a week in federal emergency benefits. Those have been a lifeline for many.

“We’re about to fall off a cliff,” says Ken Rogoff, a Harvard economist who studies financial crises.

He
says that if Congress doesn’t extend or replace those benefits with
something substantial, “a lot of people are going to have trouble buying
food” — let alone pay their rents or mortgages. “There are a lot of
problems ahead,” Rogoff says. “I think we need to do something
dramatic.”

In a normal recession, the Federal Reserve keeping
interest rates low for mortgages and other types of loans, like it is
now, would be dramatic and Rogoff says that would be a key tool to help
boost the economy broadly.

Coronavirus Live Updates

The End Of $600 Unemployment Benefits Will Hit Millions Of Households And The Economy

When people buy houses, for example, they spend money fixing them
up. They buy dishwashers and lawn mowers and renovate kitchens. That
helps the stores and manufacturers and contractors who they spend money
with. And some of that’s happening.

But this is not a normal recession.

Take
the millions of people who are refinancing. People like Andrew McCabe, a
product manager at a health care IT company who owns a condo in
Arlington, Mass.

The Coronavirus Crisis

Zoom Call Eviction Hearings: ‘They’ll Throw Everything I Have Out On The Street’

“I’ll save about 250 bucks a month,” he says.

That means
he could go out to dinner more often, and the movies. That would help
local businesses. But he doesn’t feel safe doing that. Like so many
other people, he’s mostly hunkered down working remotely at home. So
even before refinancing, money was piling up in McCabe’s bank account.

“I easily saved several thousand dollars since I’ve been home,” he says.

So
the extra money from low interest rates isn’t likely to get many people
like McCabe to spend more, at least right now. Meanwhile, he’s watching
more local businesses go under.

Coronavirus Live Updates

‘Devastated’: As Layoffs Keep Coming, Hopes Fade That Jobs Will Return Quickly

“In Arlington, restaurants are closing down, Cambridge restaurants are closing down,” he says. “This morning, it was Flat Top Johnny’s, and every day, we hear about something else, local places that I would go that are now gone.”

So
for now, Harvard’s Rogoff says the government needs to keep pumping
trillions of dollars into the economy with unemployment assistance and
other stimulus. But he says it can’t do that forever.

So he’s siding with a growing chorus of prominent economists and business groups
who essentially say a stimulus is needed and low interest rates are
good, but maybe the single most important thing to help the economy
would be much more widespread use of masks across the whole country.

The Coronavirus Crisis

Mortgage Rates Are Near All-Time Lows As Coronavirus Worries Hit Markets

“If you’re not containing the virus, you can do all the great
monetary policy in the world,” Rogoff says. “All the great fiscal
policy, design everything well. If you’re not winning the war, you’re
losing.”

In other words, low interest rates are great. But if
the country can’t crush down the number of new coronavirus cases, the
economy can’t recover.

18 HRS AGO

Brazil Tops 80,000 COVID-19 Deaths As 2 Government Ministers Test Positive For Virus

by
Scott Neuman

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro waves to supporters
from the Alvorada Palace in Brasilia on Monday, the same day that two
more of his Cabinet ministers were diagnosed with COVID-19.

Evaristo Sa/AFP via Getty Images

Two government ministers in Brazil have tested positive for the
coronavirus as the country – second only to the U.S. in the number of
infections – surpassed 80,000 deaths from the disease.

Citizenship
Minister Onyx Lorenzoni, a close ally of President Jair Bolsonaro, and
Education Minister Milton Ribeiro announced separately their diagnoses
on social media.

In a tweet, Lorenzoni said he had begun
feeling COVID-19 symptoms on Thursday night and had received
confirmation that he was infected on Monday.

Bolsonaro himself tested positive for the coronavirus earlier this
month and two other top government officials, national security adviser
Augusto Heleno and the minister of mines and energy, Bento Albuquerque,
have also been infected.

The news that COVID-19 can’t be
contained even at the top echelons of government comes as Brazil marked a
grim milestone in the pandemic, with more than 80,000 now dead from the
disease, according to a tally kept by Johns Hopkins University. The country has more than 2.1 million confirmed infections.

Coronavirus Live Updates

Brazil’s Bolsonaro Faces Suit For Unmasking As He Announced Coronavirus Diagnosis

Bolsonaro has been accused of endangering the public with his
consistent efforts to downplay the virus, campaigning against COVID-19
shutdowns and referring to the disease as “a little flu.”

After
he was diagnosed, the president promoted the anti-malarial drug
hydroxychloroquine, which he has credited with his recovery. Despite
several studies showing no efficacy and warning about the drug’s
potential side effects, hydroxychloroquine has also been touted by
President Trump. In June, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration revoked an emergency authorization for the drug.

Coronavirus Live Updates

Brazil Must Be Open With Its Coronavirus Data, Supreme Court Justice Rules

As recently as Monday, Bolsonaro tweeted his support for the drug
and, over the weekend, he hailed it as an effective treatment for
COVID-19. Reuters reports
that on Sunday he stood a few feet away from supporters at a rally in
Brasilia as he held a box of the drug aloft to cheers from the crowd.

Following
suit, Lorenzoni, the citizenship minister, tweeted that he too was
taking a mix of drugs including chloroquine “and I already feel the
positive effects.”

19 HRS AGO

EU Agrees To $858 Billion In Grants, Loans To Bail Out Pandemic-Battered Economies

by
Scott Neuman

French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor
Angela Merkel arrive for a joint news conference at the end of the
European summit at EU headquarters in Brussels on Tuesday.

John Thys/AFP via Getty Images

European Union leaders emerged from five days of intense talks
with a landmark 750 billion euro ($858 billion) plan to rescue the
bloc’s economies amid the ongoing assault of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Exhausted
heads of state and government finally voted unanimously in Brussels
early Tuesday to jointly issue debt to be disbursed through grants and
loans to member nations as they face their worst economic downturn since
the Great Depression.

Coronavirus Live Updates

EU Leaders Meet In Hopes Of Closing Divisions Over COVID-19 Relief Package

German Chancellor Angela Merkel hailed the agreement by the
27-member group as “truly historic.” She and French President Emmanuel
Macron spearheaded the effort to push the deal through.

Negotiations
over the package pitted some of the EU’s strongest economies –
including the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and Austria — against the
grouping’s poorer states, such as Spain and Italy. At issue was how the
burden would be shared and under what conditions the money would be
disbursed.

Most notably, the wealthier nations had sought to
ensure that the rescue package be made up mostly of loans. Instead, the
huge sum will be split between 360 billion euros ($412 billion) in loans
and 390 billion euros ($446 billion) in grants that would not need to
be repaid. The money will be raised collectively by selling bonds.

In
the five days of talks in the Belgian capital, governments debated not
only the terms of the recovery package, but also a seven-year EU budget
worth about 1.1 trillion euros ($1.26 trillion).

In a news
conference, European Commission President Charles Michel called the
agreement a “pivotal moment” for Europe and said it shows the bloc’s
solidarity at a historically trying time.

“This agreement sends a concrete signal that Europe is a force for action,” Michel said.

Fear of failure was apparently strong enough to keep the
negotiations – originally scheduled to last just two days – on track for
what turned out to be a marathon session. A failed summit amid the
ongoing coronavirus crisis, many feared, would have thrown the EU’s
future as an effective bloc into doubt.

News of the deal pushed the euro to a four-month high of $1.1470.

Dutch
Prime Minister Mark Rutte, seen as a key obstacle to a deal,
acknowledged “a few clashes” during the talks but said “that’s all part
of the game.”

Merkel said Europe “has shown it is able to break new ground in a special situation.”

“Exceptional situations require exceptional measures,” she said at the news conference.

NPR’s Rob Schmitz in Berlin contributed to this report.

July 20

Christopher Nolan’s Sci-Fi Thriller ‘Tenet’ Delayed Indefinitely

by
Bob Mondello

Transcript

(L-r) John David Washington and Robert Pattinson in
Warner Bros. Pictures’ action epic “TENET,” a Warner Bros. Pictures
release.

Melinda Sue Gordon/Warner Bros. Entertainment

The blockbuster that Hollywood was counting on to jump-start a
COVID-19 delayed summer movie season won’t be busting blocks anytime
soon. Christopher Nolan’s sci-fi thriller Tenet,
originally announced for a July 17 opening, and pushed back twice, has
now been removed from the Warner Bros release calendar, in a major blow
to film exhibitors.

“We will share a new 2020 release date imminently for Tenet, Christopher Nolan’s wholly original and mind-blowing feature,” said Warner Bros. chairman Toby Emmerich in a statement.

Director Nolan — whose blockbusters Inception, Dunkirk and the Batman Dark Knight Trilogy
have made billions on the big screen — has been adamant that his
$200-million thriller would be the tent-pole that would hold up the
summer movie-going tent.

When theater chains got open, he said, Tenet
would bring the crowds. But as it became clear that theater chains
would not be fully open by this past weekend, the opening date started
slipping, first to July 31, then to Aug. 12, and now to an
as-yet-unspecified date later this year.

The Warner Bros. statement went on to say the studio would not be giving Tenet
a “traditional global day-and-date release” — industry-speak for
opening all over the planet at once — though it didn’t specify what a
non-traditional release might look like

Speculation in the film industry has been that the studio might try premiering Tenet
overseas. Nolan’s blockbusters have tended to do two-thirds of their
business in foreign territories, and some major foreign markets are
reopening as governments get the coronavirus under control, including
South Korea, Japan, China, and some areas of Europe.

What
box-office grosses might look like in a fragmented, here-and-there
release is anyone’s guess. In China and South Korea, cinemas have
reopened with stringent social distancing protocols, and fewer
screenings daily to allow for additional cleaning of theaters. An
industry operating at, say, 30% of capacity, will not be turning out a
lot of box-office records.

That will also be true at theaters
in the U.S., where not quite one-fifth of the nation’s multiplexes are
currently open for business, and very few of those in urban areas. It
would be unprecedented to premiere a major movie and not play in New
York and Los Angeles on opening weekend, but…a lot of things are
unprecedented right now.

July 20

Dr. Anthony Fauci To Throw First Pitch For Washington Nationals’ Season Opener

by
Rachel Treisman

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute
for Allergy and Infectious Diseases wore a Washington Nationals face
mask before testifying at a congressional hearing on June 30. The team
announced he will throw out the ceremonial first pitch at their season
opener on Thursday.

Kevin Dietsch/AP

When America’s pastime officially returns on Thursday, it will be
ushered in by none other than the country’s leading infectious disease
expert.

The Washington Nationals announced
Monday that Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of
Allergy and Infectious Diseases, will throw out the ceremonial first
pitch on Opening Day.

The reigning World Series champions will play the New York Yankees at home to kick off the regular season, which has been shortened from 162 to 60 games by the coronavirus pandemic.

“Dr.
Fauci has been a true champion for our country during the Covid-19
pandemic and throughout his distinguished career, so it is only fitting
that we honor him as we kick off the 2020 season and defend our World
Series Championship title,” the team said in a statement.

The Coronavirus Crisis

Baseball-Starved Fans Turn Out To Watch Middle-Aged Men Play

Fauci has been one of the country’s most visible public health
experts throughout the coronavirus pandemic. He has also been vocal
about his love of the Nats.

He wore a face mask with the
team’s name and logo to testify alongside other members of the White
House coronavirus task force at a congressional hearing last month.

And in April, when Major League Baseball was still on hiatus, Fauci spoke of wanting to see the team back in action, even if it meant games resuming without in-person spectators.

“I
think you’ll probably get enough buy-in from people who are dying to
see a baseball game, particularly me,” Fauci said. “I’m living in
Washington, we have the world champion Washington Nationals. I want to
see them play again.”

The season typically starts in April and
ends in October, but the MLB put opening day on hold because of the
pandemic. It will operate with enhanced health and safety procedures, including requiring players to use their own personal equipment when possible and practice physical distancing.

July 20

Florida Teachers Sue To Block School Coronavirus Reopening Mandate

by
Greg Allen

Middle school teacher Brittany Myers (center) stands in
protest last week at the Hillsborough County School District Office in
Tampa, Fla. Teachers and administrators have rallied against the
reopening of Florida schools due to concerns about the coronavirus.

Octavio Jones/Getty Images

Teachers in Florida are suing the state to block an emergency
order requiring schools to open next month with in-person instruction.
They say, with the surge of coronavirus cases, the order violates a
provision in the Florida Constitution requiring the state to ensure
schools are operated safely.

The emergency order, issued this
month by Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran, says all
school districts “must open brick and mortar schools at least five days a
week for all students.” The order says the final decision on whether to
reopen schools rests with local superintendents and school boards. But
it suggests funding may depend on it. The districts that submit
reopening plans approved by the state will receive full funding.

In
a lawsuit filed in Miami, the Florida Education Association, joined by
teachers and parents, says the Department of Education order defies
recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on
reopening schools safely. Besides Corcoran, the lawsuit also names the
Florida Board of Education, Gov. Ron DeSantis and Miami-Dade County
Mayor Carlos Gimenez as defendants.

The teachers union says
the Florida Constitution requires state officials, “who are charged with
overseeing the funding and operations of public education, ensure that
our schools operate safely.” Requiring schools to reopen campuses now,
the union says, “without the proper plan, resources, and safety
precautions will inevitably exacerbate the spread of the virus,
jeopardize public health, and ultimately cause longer closures.”

Coronavirus Live Updates

Florida Teachers Union Leader: ‘We Do Not Want To Be The Petri Dish For America’

Asked about the lawsuit Monday, DeSantis distanced himself from
the emergency order, which has drawn backlash from parents, teachers and
school districts since it was issued. “I didn’t give any executive
order,” he said. “That was the Department of Education.” The
commissioner and six other members of Florida’s Board of Education are
all appointed by the governor.

DeSantis has defended the mandate to reopen schools but said it’s intended as a recommendation, not a requirement.

In
a statement, Corcoran, the education commissioner, called the lawsuit
“frivolous” and “reckless,” saying he believes the teachers union
“hasn’t read nor understands” the emergency order.

The order,
he said, reiterates a Florida statute that requires schools to operate
180 days a year, which equates to five days a week for 36 weeks. The
order, Corcoran said, added online options for “families to have the
choice to decide what works best for the health and safety of their
student and family.”

July 20

Texas Doctor Says Wave Of COVID-19 Cases Hit ‘Like A Tsunami’

by
Rachel Martin

Transcript

A health care worker talks to a patient in the emergency
room at OakBend Medical Center in Richmond, Texas, on July 15.

Mark Felix/AFP via Getty Images

The U.S. Navy on Sunday
deployed five medical teams to support health workers in South Texas,
an area particularly hard hit by COVID-19. The state has had 10,000 new cases a day
on average over the last week, up 55% since the beginning of July. And
just over 4,000 people in Texas have died since the start of the
pandemic.

Dr. Jamil Madi, chief of critical care medicine at Valley Baptist Medical Center in Harlingen, Texas, tells Morning Edition that
his team has seen a surge of COVID-19 patients over the last few weeks.
The intensive care unit went from only a few patients a month ago to
95% of current beds filled. They’ve now exceeded the units traditionally
used for the ICU, he says.

“We started off with a couple of
units, which we had conventionally, and then we started to expand and
have makeshift units all over the hospital,” Madi says. “Unfortunately,
our hospital capacity right now — we have about 75% of our patients in
the hospital are COVID patients.”

Here are excerpts of the conversation.

On the types of COVID-19 patients being admitted

Portrait of Dr. Jamil Madi.

Jamil Madi

When the pandemic started a few months ago, we had some small
surges or outbreaks in the nursing homes, and they were mostly elderly
patients, obviously. And we were able to control that. … We were able
to treat them. Many of them were able to survive that. What we have
right now is completely different. We have patients of all age groups:
in their 20s and 30s and 40s and 50s and 60s coming in with either one
comorbidity — they have some hypertension, diabetes — some of them don’t
even have any comorbidities. Invariably though, a large percentage of
them have obesity. But remember, our population in that area is mostly
obese.

Of course, also our population is also mostly Hispanic. … As you know, the Hispanic population
has been hit hard, in addition to the African American population. Some
statistics and data show that they are three times more likely to get
infected with a virus and twice [as] likely to die from the virus
itself.

On how his staff is holding up after months of treating the virus

We
thought that we were immune in Texas [early on]. In Texas, when we
looked at the North, we felt bad for them and we said, “We are not going
to have that. We’re going to be OK.” But it came over, and it came over
hard, like a tsunami.

So yes, the staff is really overwhelmed, especially with the sustainability of it.

Hopefully,
people do what they need to do: Wash your hands, social distance. And
maybe we can bring down the rates and this surge.

Listen to the full interview at the audio link above.

Taylor Haney and HJ Mai produced and edited the audio story. Emily Alfin Johnson adapted it for the Web.

July 20

As Talks Open On New Coronavirus Aid Bill, Trump To Return To Daily Briefings

by
Brian Naylor

President Trump and GOP congressional leaders are
calling for a $1 trillion coronavirus relief bill targeted at “kids and
jobs.”

Evan Vucci/AP

President Trump met with Republican congressional leaders Sen.
Mitch McConnell and Rep. Kevin McCarthy on Monday to discuss the next
round of coronavirus relief funding, saying he hoped the next package
would help small businesses.

Trump also said he would revive
his daily 5 p.m. coronavirus briefings, likely starting Tuesday, noting
the need to get out information with the surge in cases. “We have had
this big flare-up in Florida, Texas, a couple of other places,” he said.

The Coronavirus Crisis

Lawmakers Are Far Apart On A New Coronavirus Relief Bill. Here Are 5 Sticking Points

Coronavirus Live Updates

The End Of $600 Unemployment Benefits Will Hit Millions Of Households And The Economy

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the priorities for the next
round of coronavirus aid would be “kids and jobs,” starting with a
trillion-dollar offer. Mnuchin said he would brief Republicans on
Capitol Hill on Tuesday and would reach out to Democrats to begin talks.

House Democrats approved a much larger aid package to the tune of $3 trillion more than two months ago, but it was never taken up in the Senate.

Mnuchin,
who served as the administration’s top negotiator for the previous
coronavirus legislation, said they want to finish a bill by the end of
the month before enhanced unemployment insurance expires, but said
Republicans are seeking a “technical fix” so that workers don’t make
more in unemployment benefits than they would otherwise make on the job.

Among
the administration’s other priorities, Mnuchin said, were tax credits
to encourage businesses to bring people back to work and to buy
protective equipment, in addition to money for schools that can open
safely — as well as liability protection for schools and businesses.

When
asked the importance in negotiations of a proposed payroll tax cut
that’s long been pushed by the president, Trump said “we’re working on
it” but also made clear it was “one of many elements” under discussion.

Trump
cited TV ratings as a reason to resume the daily briefings. “I was
doing them and we had a lot of people watching, record numbers watching
in the history of cable television, and there’s never been anything like
it.”

Trump said he would like to invite companies working on
vaccines and therapeutics for the virus to provide updates on their
progress via the daily briefings. “I think it’s a great way to get
information out to the public,” he said.

White House counselor
Kellyanne Conway told reporters last week that she hoped the daily
briefings would resume, saying that they gave the president a boost in
the polls. “His approval rating on the pandemic was higher when he was
at the podium,” Conway said.

Recent polls have put the
president’s overall approval numbers in the low 40s, and he is widely
seen as doing a poor job in leading the nation’s coronavirus response.
It was during one briefing in late April that Trump suggested people ingest disinfectants as a way of preventing COVID-19, advice that was quickly disavowed by health experts. The daily briefings ended soon after.

July 20

NFL Players Blitz Social Media To Voice Virus Concerns Before Training Camps Start

by
Brakkton Booker

Patrick Mahomes (15) of the Kansas City Chiefs, shown
here during a game in February, is one of the players speaking out on
Twitter about the NFL’s safety protocols.

Focus On Sport/Getty Images

A number of prominent NFL players raised concerns on social media
about the league’s coronavirus safety protocols as teams prepare to open
for training camps in the coming days.

The NFL and the players’ union are still negotiating the details of the league’s protocols to prevent the spread of the virus.

Players
used the hashtag #WeWantToPlay in a coordinated social media blitz
Sunday. It included marquee names such as Seattle Seahawks quarterback
Russell Wilson, Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt and reigning
Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes.

“Getting ready to report this
week hoping the @NFL will come to agreement with the safe and right
protocols so we can feel protected playing the sport we love,” Mahomes tweeted.

Wilson,
who is married to singer Ciara, cited his wife’s pregnancy as his
reason for wanting clarity in how the league will handle the safety of
players and their families.

“I am concerned,” Wilson wrote on Twitter.

“My
wife is pregnant. @NFL Training camp is about to start.. And there’s
still No Clear Plan on Player Health & Family Safety. We want to
play football but we also want to protect our loved ones.”

Watt tweeted a list of issues he said are still unclear about the testing of players.

“We still do not know if there will be daily testing, every other day testing, etc,” Watt wrote.
“We still do not know how a positive Covid test will be handled in
regards to others in close contact (in the huddle, directly engaged
with, etc.).”

Watt also pointed out that the NFL can mandate
players report to training camp regardless of whether players’ questions
or concerns are answered. He added that “if players do not show up on
time, they can be fined or considered in breach of contract.”

Rookies for the Texans and the Chiefs are slated to report to training camp on Monday. These two teams are scheduled to kick off the NFL season with a matchup on Sept. 10.

The NFL has said repeatedly that its goal is to play a full season beginning in the fall.

The players voiced their concerns on social media shortly after
the NFL announced that teams would hold full training camps, with
veterans due to report on July 28, according to NFL.com.

According
to an internal memo, rookies for other teams are scheduled to report
Tuesday, NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported. Quarterback and players
who are injured are scheduled to report to training camp on Thursday.

Pelissero
also reported Monday that talks between the NFL and the players’ union,
the NFLPA, are ongoing. One sticking point is how many preseason games
will be played ahead of the start of the regular season.

“So
it now appears likely the NFL will have either one preseason game or
none in 2020. Focus continues to be on playing a regular full season and
postseason,” he said on Twitter Monday.

Players are lobbying to have a 45-day acclimation period to help
prevent injuries, The Associated Press reported, as the league attempts
to start its preseason regimen. The wire service added that there are
still unanswered questions about what protections might be in place for
players who want to opt out of the season because of coronavirus
concerns.

July 20

The End Of $600 Unemployment Benefits Will Hit Millions Of Households And The Economy

by
Scott Horsley

Transcript

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has suggested that if
federal jobless benefits are extended, it will be in a different form
than the flat $600 per week.

Erin Scott/Pool/Getty Images

For Lorena Schneehagen, the additional $600 unemployment payment
each week during the coronavirus pandemic has held her family’s expenses
together.

She’s an out-of-work preschool teacher in Ann Arbor, Mich., whose son is about to start college.

“I need that to help pay his tuition,” Schneehagen said. “And for food and just to pay the general bills.”

Tens
of millions of Americans who lost their jobs because of the pandemic
are now in danger of having their incomes slashed for a second time. The
supplemental unemployment benefits of $600 per week that Congress
approved four months ago are set to expire at the end of this week
in most states — threatening to hurt strapped households and the U.S.
economy, as billions of dollars’ worth in spending suddenly comes to a
halt.

Politics

Lawmakers Are Far Apart On A New Coronavirus Relief Bill. Here Are 5 Sticking Points

Coronavirus Live Updates

Economist: U.S. Workers, Economy Will Suffer With End Of Federal Pandemic Benefits

As Congress comes back into session
this week, lawmakers will debate whether to extend the supplemental
benefits, which have been a lifeline for more than 30 million people
across the United States.

“The extra $600 from the government
has obviously helped me tremendously,” said bartender Courtney Woodruff,
who lost her job at a Denver brewpub. “I don’t really spend a lot. My
money is going towards rent and food right now.”

While
ordinary unemployment benefits usually cover just a fraction of a
worker’s lost wages, the additional $600 per week from the federal
government was designed to fully replace the average worker’s missing
paycheck.

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‘We Need Help’: People At Higher Coronavirus Risk Fear Losing Federal Unemployment

“Honestly, that’s made it a lot less stressful to not have to be
forced to go out and be in public with the virus,” said Stephen Pingle,
who was laid off from his job installing Internet cable and security
cameras in Nashville, Tenn.

Pingle has stopped spending on
what he calls “frivolous” items and has tried to save as much as he can.
He knows the supplemental benefits may run out soon.

“I’m
trying not to worry too much about it,” he said. “But it’s hard to keep
pushing it off, knowing that there’s potentially that massive of a
financial hit coming.”

Consider This from NPR

Money Is Flowing For Big Banks. For Unemployed Americans, It’s About To Be Cut Off

If the hit comes, it will be felt not only by the unemployed but
by grocers, landlords and the broader economy. Cutting off benefits to
so many people at once would reduce their collective spending power by
nearly $19 billion per week.

“However
you slice these numbers, we’re talking about very large amounts that
mean quite a bit to workers and to the macroeconomy,” said Ryan Nunn,
who leads applied research at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.

In
an interview last week, Nunn said the extra jobless benefits have acted
as an important crutch for the economy. Without them, the U.S. would
likely have experienced more defaults on car loans and credit card bills
and more people falling behind on their rent. That’s one reason
congressional Democrats argue that the government should keep the
$600-a-week payments flowing.

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‘Devastated’: As Layoffs Keep Coming, Hopes Fade That Jobs Will Return Quickly

“We’re never going to have our economy come back unless we
recognize that we must put money in the pockets of the American people,”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told reporters.

Some employers have complained
that the generous jobless benefits make it hard for them to attract
workers. Nunn said while ordinarily that would be a concern, there’s
little danger of a worker shortage when unemployment is in the double
digits and the virus itself is forcing new limits on economic activity.

Still, it’s a complaint that the Trump administration takes seriously.

“I’ve
heard stories of where companies are trying to get people back to work
and they won’t come because of the enhanced unemployment,” Treasury
Secretary Steven Mnuchin told CNBC. He suggested that if federal jobless benefits are extended, it will be in a different form than the flat $600 per week.

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“We’ll fix that, and we’ll figure out an extension to it that
works for companies and works for those people that will still be
unemployed,” Mnuchin said.

Schneehagen, the Michigan preschool
teacher, doesn’t expect to be called back to her old job anytime soon.
Although the school has reopened, enrollment is down. Teachers who are
working have had their hours cut, and the school is having to cut costs
even on things like air conditioning during an unseasonably hot summer.

Schneehagen has started to explore alternative work as a nanny.

“I
really think there’s going to be a crunch for jobs pretty soon,” she
said. “There aren’t that many jobs out there. And there are going to be
so many people looking in the next couple of weeks.”

July 20

‘A Wake-Up Call’: States Battle New Surge In Coronavirus Cases

by
Scott Neuman

People leave the Ocean 10 restaurant as a curfew from 8
p.m. to 6 a.m. is put in place on Saturday in Miami Beach, Fla.

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Several U.S. states reported new record-breaking coronavirus case
counts over the weekend as the nationwide death toll from COVID-19
surpassed 140,000 and President Trump insisted again that the virus
would “disappear.”

Coronavirus Live Updates

U.S. Coronavirus Deaths Top 140,000 As World Sets Daily Record In New Cases

States such as Florida, California and Kentucky were reporting
record or near-record numbers of new cases, and in Texas a hospital
official told NPR that funeral homes and morgues were overflowing from
the bodies of COVID-19 victims.

Meanwhile, in a Fox News interview
aired on Sunday, the president repeated an assertion he first made in
late February that COVID-19 would “disappear” on its own, saying that
his initial prediction would prove correct.

“I’ll be right eventually,” the president said in the interview with Fox’s Chris Wallace.

The Coronavirus Crisis

Some People ‘Have The Sniffles’: Trump Downplays The Coronavirus’s Severity

“I said it’s going to disappear. I’ll say it again: It’s going to disappear — and I’ll be right,” he said.

Asked
by Wallace if such statements “discredit” him, Trump replied: “You know
why it doesn’t discredit? Because I’ve probably been right more than
anybody else.”

However, there was no indication that the
disease would disappear anytime soon based on a snapshot of some of the
nation’s hot spots. Here’s a look at a few of them:

Shots - Health News

Tracking The Pandemic: Are Coronavirus Cases Rising Or Falling In Your State?

Florida

On Sunday, Florida reported 12,478 new cases,
its fifth consecutive day with more than 10,000 cases. That is off the
peak of 15,300 new infections reported less than a week ago, on July 12, which marked not only a record for Florida, but broke the national case-count record set by New York in early April.

The number of COVID-19 deaths in the state since the start of the pandemic surpassed 5,000 on Saturday.

Coronavirus Live Updates

What Accounts For High Coronavirus Positivity Rates Among Florida Kids?

Speaking at a news conference in St. Augustine on Saturday, Gov.
Ron DeSantis complained that headlines about the record number of cases
were unduly worrying Floridians.

He attributed the increasing number of cases to a ramping up of testing.

“It’s
important to put that in context because I think a lot of people see
cases I think they get really, really scared, and my message is ‘fear is
our enemy,’ ” DeSantis said. “And I think the other thing that gets
missed with the cases is the sheer number of people who are testing who
aren’t sick. Because I think most people see cases and they think that
many people are in the hospital.”

California

In
the past two weeks, the total number of infections has gone up by 45%,
while the number of deaths has increased statewide by 20%, according to
the Sacramento Bee.

Statewide, California has seen more than 7,600 deaths from COVID-19 with Southern California continuing to lead the grim statistics.

Coronavirus Live Updates

Most California Schools Unlikely To Open In Fall Under New State Rules

Los Angeles County had 2,722 new positive results Saturday for a
total of 153,014 cases since the beginning of the pandemic. Orange
County reported 702 new cases, while San Diego County had 625 new
positive results, according to the Mercury News.

Ninety-one new deaths were reported for the state on Saturday.

Defying an order by Gov. Gavin Newsom prohibiting indoor worship services, the Destiny Christian Church in Rocklin opened its doors on Sunday.

Pastor
Greg Fairrington prayed for Newsom in a sermon on Sunday, telling his
congregation that they were engaged in a spiritual battle against the
government for the right to worship freely, according to the Sacramento Bee.

“I
believe our call is to get the church ready for an outpouring, to get
the church ready for an awakening, but God is giving us right now in
this moment a rude awakening before he gives us the great awakening, and
for some reason God is using Destiny as a hub,” Fairrington said.

Kentucky

Kentucky
reported 979 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, its highest-ever daily
count. Three new deaths brought the number of dead from the disease in
Kentucky to 670.

The state’s Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear called the data a “wake-up call” for the state’s citizens to adhere to requirements to wear masks and to practice social distancing.

“This is a rough day for the commonwealth,” Beshear said in a statement.

“I
have faith and I have trust in the people of Kentucky,” he said. “But
today and in the days ahead we’ve got to do a whole lot better. We’re
going to have to take some more action.”

Texas

On Friday, the state’s COVID-19 deaths had risen by 161 – a record, according to the Houston Chronicle, which brought the toll for Texas to 3,798.

Ken Davis, the chief medical officer of CHRISTUS hospitals in San Antonio, told NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday, “In the hospital, there are only so many places to put bodies of the loved ones, and we’re out of space.”

“So
we’re looking ourselves for refrigerated trucks to put bodies and to
hold them, which sounds terrible, but it’s true,” he said.

Georgia

A
dramatic surge in new cases in the past month has stretched hospitals
and testing centers in Georgia to their limits, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The seven-day rolling average of new cases is four times what it was on June 15, the newspaper reports.

“It
takes days to get a test and a week or more to get results,” Dr. Harry
J. Heiman, a clinical associate professor at the Georgia State
University School of Public Health, was quoted by AJC as saying. “By
that time, (results are) not valuable to public health. The time period
in which that information would have been actionable is gone.”

Coronavirus Live Updates

Georgia’s Governor Issues Order Rescinding Local Mask Mandates

Last week, Georgia’s Gov. Brian Kemp sued
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms over a requirement for people to
wear masks in public. Kemp, while encouraging the use of masks, had
declined to issue a statewide directive. Meanwhile, Bottoms and mayors
of other major cities had issued their own citywide mask requirements.
Kemp’s suit insists that his statewide order supersedes any city
ordinances on the matter.

July 19

Global Coronavirus Deaths Surpass 600,000, With U.S. Accounting For Nearly A Quarter

by
Rachel Treisman

A billboard in Miami — where coronavirus cases continue
to surge — depicts a medical worker holding up the world. The number of
coronavirus deaths worldwide has surpassed 600,000, with more than
140,000 of those in the U.S.

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Total coronavirus deaths in the U.S. have surpassed 140,000,
reaching somber new heights as surging cases continue to break records
in parts of the country and around the world.

The U.S. passed the latest threshold late on Saturday, the same day the World Health Organization reported the largest one-day increase in global fatalities since May, with 7,360 new deaths. Global deaths had been averaging 4,600 a day in June and 4,800 in July.

According to data from the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, the virus has killed at least 603,285 people worldwide as of Sunday.

Nearly one quarter of those deaths are accounted for by the U.S.

The U.S. reports approximately 5,000 deaths each week, according to Reuters. In contrast, Canada has reported a total of 8,800 deaths since the start of the pandemic.

The WHO also reported a record number of nearly 260,000 new global coronavirus cases on Saturday.

Coronavirus Live Updates

U.S. Coronavirus Deaths Top 140,000 As World Sets Daily Record In New Cases

While some countries have nearly brought the virus under control,
others are seeing cases spike in record numbers. Brazil, India, Russia,
South Africa and Peru are next in line for the highest number of
confirmed cases after the U.S.

India surpassed
1 million confirmed cases on Friday, becoming the third country to do
so. Brazil has now reported more than 2 million cases, and the U.S.
passed the 3 million mark earlier this month.

Over the weekend, leaders around the world tightened restrictions in response to increases in cases.

In Hong Kong, which had initially managed to keep cases numbers low, Chief Executive Carrie Lam announced
its highest one-day increase in cases on Sunday — more than 100 — and
enacted new precautionary measures. She said nonessential civil servants
must work from home and face masks will be required in indoor public
spaces. Recently announced closures of bars, gyms and clubs, as well as
restaurant curfews, will be extended.

Australian states are enacting new measures in response to rising case numbers. Victoria is newly requiring people in the city of Melbourne — which is nearly two weeks into a six-week lockdown — to wear masks in public or face fines. New South Wales is imposing restrictions
on “high-risk activities” including singing in choirs, dancing at
nightclubs and bars and dining out in groups larger than 10 people.

New restrictions also took effect in Israel
on Friday, with gyms ordered to close and restaurants limited to
takeout and delivery only. Additional nonessential establishments must
close on weekends, such as stores, malls, hair salons, pools, tourist
attractions and beaches.

And officials in Ireland announced
earlier this past week that the country will delay its next phase of
reopening until mid-August, keeping bars closed and gathering limits in
place for about a month longer than planned.

Within the U.S., hard-hit states like California, Arizona and Texas have closed bars, delayed reopening plans and tightened other restrictions in recent weeks. Many have implemented statewide mask mandates. Others, like Florida, are enacting more closures and mandates at the local level.

Shots - Health News

Tracking The Pandemic: Are Coronavirus Cases Rising Or Falling In Your State?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported
more than 74,700 new cases and 918 new deaths in the U.S. on Saturday
as Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina and Wisconsin all broke
state records for the number of new cases reported in a single day.

On Sunday, South Carolina reported
2,335 new cases, marking its highest single-day increase since the
start of the pandemic, though it said 526 of those were from Friday.

Florida
reported more than 12,000 new cases on Sunday, its fifth consecutive
day of infections past the 10,000 mark. It also reported 89 new deaths.
According to Reuters, deaths in the state have risen by 78% over the
last two weeks compared with the previous two weeks.

In an interview with Fox News Sunday, President
Trump downplayed the severity of the virus and called the U.S.
mortality rate one of the lowest in the world. Of the 20 counties
currently most affected by the pandemic, the U.S. is ranked eighth
highest for its observed case-fatality ratio.

July 18

U.S. Coronavirus Deaths Top 140,000 As World Sets Daily Record In New Cases

by
Matthew S. Schwartz

,
Suzanne Nuyen

A street artist spray-paints a protective face mask over
an old mural featuring a Venezuelan Indigenous man in Caracas,
Venezuela, on Saturday. Globally, new daily cases hit an all-time high
on Saturday, the World Health Organization reports.

Matias Delacroix/AP

Updated at 4:30 a.m. ET Sunday

Over a
24-hour period, the world saw nearly 260,000 new coronavirus cases — a
new record. Deaths were also on the rise, with 7,360 new fatalities
reported Saturday in the highest one-day increase since May.

The World Health Organization announced
the numbers on Saturday. The United States, Brazil, India and South
Africa accounted for more than 165,000 of the cases. The WHO said it
included more than 11,000 new cases from Kyrgyzstan on Saturday because
of a change in reporting criteria.

Globally, nearly 600,000 people have been killed by the virus, according to data
from the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. Deaths in the U.S.
surpassed 140,000, accounting for almost a quarter of the world’s
COVID-19 fatalities.

On the testing front, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave emergency approval
on Saturday to Quest Diagnostics to use its test for active coronavirus
infections with “pooled” samples. Specimens from up to four people can
be tested together; if the results come back negative, health officials
will know that none of those individuals tested has the virus. A
positive result would be followed up by individual testing of the
samples.

FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn said sample pooling
would let more Americans be tested more quickly, while also preserving
testing supplies. “Sample pooling becomes especially important as
infection rates decline and we begin testing larger portions of the
population,” he said in a statement.

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported more than
74,000 new coronavirus cases across the U.S. on Saturday, fueled by
record or near-record increases in several states.

Arizona saw its highest daily number of deaths, reporting 147 people killed by the virus and over 2,700 new cases. The high number was reportedly partially caused by a review of death certificates. It brought the total death count in Arizona to 2,730.

North
Carolina also saw a one-day record on Saturday, announcing over 2,400
new cases. Texas reported 130 deaths on Saturday, a day after setting a
state record on Friday for most deaths in one day, with 174 people
succumbing to the virus.

In Florida, also besieged by the virus, officials confirmed
more than 10,300 new cases of the virus over the past day, with 90
deaths. That brings the death toll in Florida to more than 5,000. It’s
the first day in five days that the death count was below 100, according
to The Miami Herald.

Florida
Gov. Ron DeSantis said that one reason for the high number of cases was
that the state received 143,000 coronavirus test results that day.
“It’s important to put that in context, because I think a lot of people
see cases, I think they get really, really scared, and my message is
fear is our enemy,” DeSantis said Saturday.

The median age of
people getting infected in Florida continues to drop, DeSantis said. In
Miami-Dade County, the median age is 41; in Orange County, it’s 29; and
in Seminole County, it’s 26.

Missouri also set a record
for daily increases, with 958 new cases reported Saturday. The
seven-day average of new cases is 731, up from 560 one week earlier.

An
internal White House coronavirus task force document has placed 18
states in the “red zone,” with 100 new cases per 100,000 people last
week, the Center for Public Integrity first reported Thursday.

In
a speech Saturday, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said that
the pandemic has demonstrated how fragile the world really is.

“It
has laid bare risks we have ignored for decades: inadequate health
systems, gaps in social protection, structural inequalities,
environmental degradation, the climate crisis,” Guterres said.

July 18

Canada Says No To Home Games For Toronto Blue Jays

by
James Doubek

Rubén Tejada of the Toronto Blue Jays is pictured at an
intrasquad game at Rogers Centre earlier this month in Toronto. The team
received permission for preseason training at the stadium but the
Canadian government will not allow regular season games in Canada.

Mark Blinch/Getty Images

The Toronto Blue Jays baseball team won’t be playing in Toronto
this regular season after the Canadian government rejected a plan for
the team to host home games there.

Due to the risk of
spreading the coronavirus, the government said, it would not be safe for
the team and opposing Major League Baseball teams to travel back and
forth between the U.S. and Canada.

“Based on the best-available
public health advice, we have concluded the cross-border travel
required for MLB regular season play would not adequately protect
Canadians’ health and safety,” Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino said
in a statement Saturday.

Nonessential
travel between the two countries has been restricted since March, and
restrictions have been extended through at least most of August. Most people who do cross the border are required to quarantine for 14 days afterward.

The government said it would not grant the team an exemption to those restrictions.

Blue Jays President and CEO Mark Shapiro said in a statement that the team “completely respects the federal government’s decision.”

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“Though our team will not be playing home games at Rogers Centre
this summer, our players will take the field for the 2020 season with
the same pride and passion representative of an entire nation,” he said.
“We cannot wait until the day comes that we can play in front of our
fans again on Canadian soil.”

Toronto’s city government and Ontario had already given approval
for the Blue Jays to play on their home field, the Rogers Centre, in
downtown Toronto. An earlier proposal involved opposing teams staying
within a “bubble” of the Rogers Centre and the hotel next to it.

The
federal government had already granted the team an exemption for
preseason training at the Rogers Centre under the condition that members
had to remain isolated at the field and adjoining facilities.

The
other 29 MLB teams are all scheduled to play in their home stadiums,
without spectators, for a 60-game season beginning on July 23.

The
Blue Jays’ season opener is on July 24 against the Tampa Bay Rays in
Florida. Their home opener was originally scheduled for July 29 against
the Washington Nationals.

The team also has a training facility
in Dunedin, Fla., and will either host its regular season home games
there or in Buffalo, N.Y., the Toronto Star reported.

The
Canadian government said it remains “open to considering future restart
plans for the post-season should the risk of virus transmission
diminish.”

July 17

Most California Schools Unlikely To Open In Fall Under New State Rules

by
Jason Slotkin

Most California schools will likely remain closed when
the academic year begins, under new rules announced Friday by Gov. Gavin
Newsom.

Richard Vogel/AP

Most California schools may remain closed when the academic year
begins in the fall, according to new state directives, with a majority
of campuses likely having to shift to distance-learning instead.

Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the new rules Friday, days after ordering bars and restaurant dining rooms closed amid a surge of coronavirus cases.

The new requirements stipulate how and when schools may reopen for in-person learning when the academic school year begin. These rules
mandate social distancing and health screenings for anyone entering a
school. Staff and students in grades 3-12 would be required to wear
masks, with younger students being encouraged to do so.

Under the new rules, a county must also not be on a list of counties being monitored
for rising coronavirus infections. Thirty-two of the states 58 counties
currently don’t hit that benchmark. To open schools for in-person
instruction, those counties would have to be off that list for 14
consecutive days, according to the directives.

Newsom said schools that couldn’t reopen would have shift to distance-learning programs.

“Learning
is non-negotiable,” said Newsom in a statement. “Students, staff, and
parents all prefer in-classroom instruction, but only if it can be done
safely.”

Schools and districts that reopened would also have
to shut down if infections breached a certain threshold over a 14-day
period – 5% for schools, 25% for districts.

The directives are
on the heels of announcements that some of the state’s largest
districts had already decided to enter the academic year with no
in-person classes. Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco all recently said they planned online-only learning when students returned.

To
accommodate the shift to online learning the state has earmarked $5.3
billion to “support learning, and set requirements to ensure schools
provide rigorous and grade-appropriate instruction.”

New state
laws also require districts to provide devices and connectivity for
students and support for English learners and students with special
education needs.

July 17

What Accounts For High Coronavirus Positivity Rates Among Florida Kids?

by
Laurel Wamsley

Experts say that Florida’s high coronavirus positivity
rates among those under age 18 is likely due to who gets tested.

Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Amid all the COVID-19 figures released by Florida’s Department of
Health, one number might come as a head-scratcher: A whopping 31.1%
coronavirus positivity rate among those under 18 who are tested for the
virus, according to the state’s most recent pediatric report.

Meanwhile, Florida’s overall positivity rate is currently 18.1%.

What gives? Are kids really getting the virus at a higher rates than adults?

Not likely, says Meghan Delaney, chief of the Division of Pathology and Lab Medicine at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C.

While that high number might be surprising, Delaney says there are a few likely explanations.

One
is that children have so far not been a big focus of testing. Two, kids
who do get tested are often those who show symptoms of the disease.

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Especially when and where testing has been difficult to access,
older people and those with underlying conditions were the focus of
available tests.

As a result, fewer children have been tested, and youths who are tested for the coronavirus more often test positive.

“If
you’re not testing that many people, you tend to test the sick ones
first. That can lead to a higher rate,” Delaney says. “It’s not like 31%
of 100% of the children in the state [of Florida] have COVID. It’s more
of a reflection of 31% of the children with illness probably would have
COVID.”

And Florida is not alone in seeing such numbers. The D.C. region
had similarly high rates among children tested for the virus earlier
this year, Delaney says.

In late March, Children’s National opened a
drive-up testing site just to test children. That site operated for a
few months, Delaney says, and sometimes saw high positivity rates for
the children it tested: “It was actually above 45% for one week and then
came back down.”

Natalie Dean,
a biostatistician at the University of Florida, posits that Florida’s
high positivity rate is likely because kids are not often tested unless
they have either distinct symptoms of the virus, or exposure to a known
case.

“Not to mention the procedure involves a kid sitting still to have a swab inserted up their nose,” she adds.

The Florida Department of Health did not respond to multiple NPR requests for insight into the figures.

So what do the data so far tell us in general about children and the coronavirus?

Clearly children are getting the virus, though they are less likely than adults to experience a severe course of the disease.

According to state data on a dashboard created by University of South Florida epidemiologist Jason Salemi,
Florida residents age 19 or under account for about 10% of all cases in
the state – but only 1.6% of all hospitalizations, and four deaths.

Goats and Soda

Coronavirus Mystery: Are Kids Less Likely To Catch It Than Adults Are?

Some children who get the coronavirus do end up with multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, or MIS-C – though it’s rare. Florida’s pediatric report lists 13 known cases of MIS-C in the state.

If
you think that your children have COVID-19, it’s worthwhile to have
them tested, Delaney says. “Knowing that you’re positive changes things.
It helps contact tracers be able to trace and find other people, and it
helps prevent future transmission.”

Testing people of all ages
is crucial to getting the virus under control, she adds. “Florida
should be commended on testing a lot of kids, and they should keep
testing a lot of kids and a lot of adults because that’s how we find
where this virus is, help those people to stay away and not transmit,”
she says. “That is one of our main tools to fight the pandemic right
now.”

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