Category: Corona Virus

Dr. Carlos Vallejo, 57, and his father, Dr. Jorge Vallejo, 89, were hospitalized during the early morning hours of Father's Day. They died five weeks apart, said Carlos' son, Charlie Vallejo.

Dr. Jorge Vallejo was a retired obstetrician and gynecologist who practiced for more than 45 years in the Miami area and treated celebrities, like salsa singer Celia Cruz. He was known for delivering one of the smallest babies in the world, a 22-week-old who weighed 15 ounces.

He moved his family, including a 2-year-old Carlos, to Miami from Guantanamo, Cuba, in 1965. All three of his sons studied medicine, too.

Dr. Carlos Vallejo was on the frontlines of the pandemic, suiting up in full personal protective equipment and treating dozens of Covid-19 patients at any point in time.

Charlie Vallejo told CNN his father treated his patients like family.

"He cared too much," Charlie Vallejo said. "He died a hero."

They died weeks apart

Jorge died on June 27 while Carlos battled Covid-19 from a hospital room. His family delivered the devastating news of his father's death over FaceTime.

"(He was) surrounded by machines and no human contact so I think that kind of broke him," said Charlie Vallejo.

After three weeks in the ICU, including two weeks on a ventilator, Carlos Vallejo died on August 1. Charlie said his dad didn't have any preexisting conditions.

"He felt like a champion, you know. He was a warrior to the very end," Charlie Vallejo said.

Five members of the Vallejo family contracted coronavirus, including Carlos's wife. The family believes Carlos Vallejo was very cautious, but became infected by treating patients.

Carlos is one of over 900 US health care workers who've died from the very disease they're trying to save others from.

CNN's Scottie Andrew contributed to this report.

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Father and son doctors die of coronavirus weeks apart after being hospitalized on Father's Day - CNN

Need to stay updated on coronavirus news in Texas? Our evening roundup will help you stay on top of the day's latest updates. Sign up here.

Across Texas, teachers and staff are readying the classrooms, hallways and cafeterias that will become the next front lines in the battle with the coronavirus pandemic.

While much teaching will continue online, most of Texas' more than 1,000 school districts want to bring at least some students back to campuses.

Its a tense moment, a fraught experiment to see whether students and educators can return to campus and a semblance of a normal school year without triggering further spread of the coronavirus and debilitating weakened communities.

Educators are aware of the risks, knowing it is possible that colleagues and students could become infected, even die. But they also believe there is value in getting kids back into schools. With enough masks, plexiglass shields, hand sanitizer and other precautions, they are hopeful of keeping their students, themselves and their communities safe.

Most are turning to guidelines set by the Texas Education Agency and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, moving desks, installing dividers and putting up to signs to remind students and each other to keep a safe distance.

It's taking some creative problem-solving.

Here is how some Texas schools are getting ready for reopening.

Hula hoops and tape

In a normal school year, the Premont Ernest H. Singleton Early College Academy in Premont ISD would have about 360 students. This year, the South Texas school will start virtual learning in late August. It hopes to begin bringing students back to campus in mid-September, though special education students might return earlier.

When the school reopened briefly last June, Superintendent Steve VanMatre hit on the notion of having rambunctious elementary schoolers wear hula hoops in hallways to keep away from each other.

He was afraid kids would end up fighting with the colored rings. But the young students became adamant that no one come near their personal circle.

It seemed to work, so the hula hoops will be back.

These are kids and fun is still a big part of their day, VanMatre said. Its turned into a really really effective strategy for social distancing.

Given the relatively few cases in his county as of Tuesday there were 208 active cases and 16 deaths in a county of more than 40,000 people according to the Jim Wells County website and the fraction of students expected to come back in person, VanMatre feels confident about the measures his schools implemented.

There will be portable sinks for hand-washing, desks divided with plastic partitions and cubbies with individually bagged blocks and supplies for students.

A few teachers have taped off their desks and seating areas to create a clear marker between their space and class space. Student temperatures will be checked twice, first when they get on the bus or arrive at school and again during lunch. Arrival and dismissal times will be staggered, VanMatre said.

At the district's Premont Collegiate High School, about 230 students, 70% of its usual 330 students, are expected back on campus after the initial distance learning period, and more will be taught through live videos and webcams. Students won't always be eating in the cafeteria, and locker rooms have been turned into meeting spaces. Face masks and shields have been ordered for all students and faculty.

Until a robust coronavirus swab testing program with instant results is rolled out to schools, VanMatres thoughts of a worst-case scenario will linger.

"Absent of that I stay up a lot at night," VanMatre said. "Think about the worst-case scenario for a school superintendent. You have a student or a staff member that tests positive, gets sick and dies and you had made the decision to open schools and ask those people to come to work. That's a terrible responsibility that could have terrible consequences regardless of how well your protocols are implemented.

Internet crashes and disinfectant

Two weeks out from a return to virtual learning at Judson High School northeast of San Antonio, the school's internet went down during a professional development day, so journalism teacher PJ Cabrera switched to rearranging and disinfecting his classroom.

Teachers have to be flexible. Theyve developed school shooting plans and whipped up emergency online learning curriculums when schools suddenly went online in the spring, he said.

Adapting is part of the job, but Cabrera is increasingly frustrated that guidance from top officials is constantly changing as he tries to figure out how to best educate students in an unprecedented situation.

"I think education, in general, is as prepared as we are going to get in a situation that is incredibly foreign for everybody and a situation that is constantly changing from the county level up to the top to the state level, Cabrera said.

About 25 minutes from downtown San Antonio, the high school serves more than 2,700 students. The school plans to have remote learning for the first two weeks of the school year and hopes to bring students who meet specific criteria, like not having internet connectivity at home or being the child of a first responder, in after that. By late September the option to return to campus will be open to all students.

Paul Chapa, a world history teacher, recently cleaned up his classroom for the first time since spring break and added a poster of Disney's Cinderella castle behind his desk to use as a background for Zoom meetings with students.

Sandra Grogan, a freshman English teacher, positioned her desk under an air vent with the fan blowing air away from her.

There are some plastic partitions and warning signs about social distancing in the main office, but teachers said the only personal protection equipment the district has provided them is disinfectant spray, hand sanitizer and paper towels. The school hasn't implemented the same robust safety measures, such as social distancing signage, in hallways and common areas as other schools.

Along with getting up to speed on learning software, Cabrera, who runs the schools newspaper and yearbook, is largely focused on how to keep extracurricular activities going. The newspaper will be able to adapt more seamlessly, but Cabrera isnt sure how theyll handle putting together a yearbook when there are no activities like pep rallies and homecoming to fill its pages.

For the most part, students arent excited to go to school for their core classes like English, math and science. What excites students is the fun stuff like band and yearbook club, Cabrera said.

"In order for us to have an enriched curriculum, we still have to offer extracurriculars," Cabrera said. "We still have to get them engaged into school. How that's going to happen is going to be very, very different, but we're going to try our best to do it.

Toys aren't for sharing anymore

Teachers at San Antonio's Paul W. Ott Elementary are trying to figure out how to teach pre-kindergarteners basic concepts like sharing when its in everybodys best interest to be a little territorial.

Sharing used to be an everyday affair, but now students must stick to their own toys during socially distanced playtime. Spaces meant for groups are limited to pairs, and instead of community markers and crayons, each student will be equipped with their own baggie of school supplies not to be shared, said Madeline Bueno, school principal.

Those are the things we never thought we would have to experience, but thats where were at right now, Bueno said.

Teachers and students will pick up with virtual learning on Aug. 24, but Bueno said the Northside Independent School District has yet to announce when students can physically return to campus. Bueno expects it will likely be after Labor Day, but the date will be based on guidance from the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District.

Much of the schools safety equipment and directives came from the health district. The school has installed plexiglass, posters with health guidances and social distancing stickers on the floors. Legos and other toys in pre-K and kindergarten classrooms are individually bagged and must be cleaned by the teacher with district-provided disinfectant after each use.

Bueno gave each teacher general instructions for how to set up their classroom, but the execution varied. One teacher zip-tied baskets to the bottom of students chairs so they have a place to store their backpacks germ-free.

This will be my 23rd year setting up a classroom and I could do it in my sleep until this year because I had to think about every single thing in my room, said Carrie Gray, who teaches 5th graders.

Anticipating how students will interact with space, teachers thought through desk placement, where to put workstations and the protocol for opening up their classroom libraries, if at all. It took most teachers hours and days to get their classrooms set up as close to right as they could, Gray said.

Christina Escarcega, who teaches kindergartners, set up an interactive Bitmoji classroom that mirrors her real-life room. Shes hoping the cartoon background will put students, some who will be in a classroom for the first time in their lives, at ease.

"I want to be hopeful for the kids that they come in and they're comfortable and not scared, Escarcega said. We're not sure of their experiences they had when they were at home in the summer. We don't know if families were sick, we don't know if their parents lost their job, so hope would be the number one, to give them hope.

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What reopening Texas schools looks like during the coronavirus pandemic - The Texas Tribune

Daily briefing: Mysterious mismatch between coronavirus infections and serious disease in Africa  Nature.com

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Daily briefing: Mysterious mismatch between coronavirus infections and serious disease in Africa - Nature.com

Estimated deaths above normal, March 1 to July 25

Note: Data is most likely an undercount for some states in recent weeks.

Across the United States, at least 200,000 more people have died than usual since March, according to a New York Times analysis of estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This is about 60,000 higher than the number of deaths that have been directly linked to the coronavirus.

As the pandemic has moved south and west from its epicenter in New York City, so have the unusual patterns in deaths from all causes. That suggests that the official death counts may be substantially underestimating the overall effects of the virus, as people die from the virus as well as by other causes linked to the pandemic.

When the coronavirus took hold in the United States in March, the bulk of deaths above normal levels, or excess deaths, were in the Northeast, as New York and New Jersey saw huge surges.

The Northeast still makes up nearly half of all excess deaths in the country, though numbers in the region have drastically declined since the peak in April.

But as the number of hot spots expanded, so has the number of excess deaths across other parts of the country. Many of the recent coronavirus cases and deaths in the South and the West may have been driven largely by reopenings and relaxed social distancing restrictions.

SouthWestMidwestNortheast

Counting deaths takes time and many states are weeks or months behind in reporting. The estimates from the C.D.C. are adjusted based on how mortality data has lagged in previous years. Even with this adjustment, its possible there could be an underestimate of the complete death toll if increased mortality is causing states to lag more than they have in the past or if states have changed their reporting systems.

But comparing recent totals of deaths from all causes can provide a more complete picture of the pandemics impact than tracking only deaths of people with confirmed diagnoses.

The charts below show how much higher than usual weekly deaths have been in each state. States with the most recent peaks the week when they saw the most excess deaths during the pandemic appear first. For each state, weeks in which data may be incomplete are excluded.

Nine of the 13 states in the South started seeing excess deaths surge in July, months into the pandemic. A spike in cases in places like Texas put pressure on hospitals, echoing the chaos that ensued in New York months earlier. South Carolina, among the first states to reopen retail stores, saw deaths reach 1.6 times normal levels in mid-July.

Unlike other states in this region, Louisiana saw its excess deaths peak in April when total deaths reached 1.7 times normal levels. Medical experts said Mardi Gras gatherings most likely contributed to this spike.

In July, coronavirus deaths in Arizona surged, though new daily cases have since decreased. In California, the first state to issue a stay-at-home order this spring, coronavirus deaths climbed up in July, after a reopening that some health officials warned was too fast.

In the Midwest, some states like Michigan and Illinois saw their peaks in April. Detroit was particularly hard hit by the virus.

New York City in the first few months of the pandemic was the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, and it was plagued by staggering death totals, which peaked at more than seven times normal levels. Other areas of the Northeast, including New Jersey, Massachusetts and Connecticut also saw early surges. Over all, rates have decreased significantly since then in much of the region.

Methodology

Total death numbers are estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which are based on death certificates counted by the C.D.C. and adjusted to account for typical lags in the reporting of deaths.

Only weeks in which the C.D.C. estimates the data to be at least 90 percent complete or estimated deaths were above expected death numbers are included. Weeks in which reported deaths were less than 50 percent of the C.D.C. estimate are not included. Because states vary somewhat in their speed in reporting deaths to the federal government, state charts may have data for different time periods.

Expected deaths were calculated with a simple model based on the weekly number of all-cause deaths from 2017 to 2019 released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, adjusted to account for trends, like population changes, over time.

Additional reporting by Josh Katz and Margot Sanger-Katz.

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The True Coronavirus Toll in the U.S. Has Already Surpassed 200000 - The New York Times

The corruption of scientific results has serious consequences for human health. Climate change deniers (1, 2) and people who amplify anti-vaccine messages (3) have created dangerous, enduring myths, giving rise to new problems for which scientists must now find solutions. Now, politicians are undermining the response to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) by disregarding scientific facts and the guidance of epidemiologists (4). Simultaneously, nonscientists have asserted that Black Lives Matter protests caused increases in COVID-19 cases, when preliminary evidence suggests they were not a substantial factor (5). To combat this new misinformation, scientists must communicate clearly and dispute inaccurate, politically motivated narratives.

Preliminary evidence indicates that protests demanding justice for Black Americans, such as this one, have not caused a spike in COVID-19 infections.

Black, Native, and Latinx Americans have shouldered the greatest burden of the unscientific COVID-19 mismanagement in the United States (6). Protests against police brutality have been dismissed as nonurgent or unnecessary, despite evidence that systemic racial injustice disproportionately kills Black Americans (7). Scientific evidence, which should be at the forefront of public discussions and policy on health and civil rights, has been drowned out by political arguments.

Scientists cautiously explain uncertainties while politicians and politically motivated media outlets emphatically cast blame and misappropriate scientific evidence. Scientists cannot allow propagandists to spread lies that dismantle a reasoned response to COVID-19 or urgently needed progress toward health equity and social justice for Black Americans. Informed scientists must take a strong public stance on complex issues, emphasizing evidence to clearly communicate and contextualize scientific results to the public, not just to other scientists. Institutions must recognize that the current system of promotion and tenure devalues such communication, at a huge societal cost.

Irresponsible, unscientific voices have killed too many because of their reach and efficacy. Academic incentives must be updated to meaningfully reward outreach efforts, and scientific training should prepare scientists to discuss their findings with the public. In the meantime, scientists who have the capacity, seniority, and job security should help value and amplify the messages and motivations of those who are willing to participate in public engagement, often at the expense of career advancement. It is essential for scientists to work across disciplines and integrate multiple communication strategies to make scientific evidence understandable, engaging, and approachable.

Health equity considerations and racial and ethnic minority groups (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020).

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Controlling the coronavirus narrative - Science Magazine

9:30 AM ET

Mechelle VoepelESPN.com

No matter how long or how often she napped, Sydney Colson woke up exhausted, wanting only to go back to sleep. She was so nauseated, it was difficult to stand. When she was awake, she barely ate and couldn't taste anything. She dropped five pounds, a big loss for the lean 5-foot-8 Chicago Sky guard who tested positive for the coronavirus in late June.

"I still can't taste, but I've been scarfing food down and trying to gain some weight," Colson said, and then tried to make light of her sense of smell not returning yet, either.

"I'm telling my teammates if I stink or anything, just pull me to the side respectfully," she joked. "Don't embarrass me."

It's part of Colson's upbeat personality to make the best of a tough situation. Several of her WNBA peers have done the same. As college football and other NCAA fall sports are threatened by the coronavirus pandemic, the WNBA -- which began its season July 25 -- has thus far been successfully navigating it. The WNBA had two positive tests for COVID-19 during its initial four-day quarantine period at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, from July 6, when most players arrived, through July 10. Since then, the league has had zero positive tests among its 139 players who are in the bubble. And most of the players who've dealt with COVID-19 this year have made it back to the court. That process required at least two weeks quarantining, two consecutive negative tests and a cardiac assessment.

2 Related

Colson, who made her season debut Aug. 4, is one of 13 WNBA players who have confirmed they've tested positive for COVID-19 this year. Two other players -- centers Liz Cambage of the Las Vegas Aces and Theresa Plaisance of the Connecticut Sun -- believe they contracted the virus while playing in China over the winter, although they weren't tested for it then.

Of these 15 players, two are not competing this WNBA season: Cambage and New York Liberty guard Asia Durr, who got medical exemptions. Indiana Fever guard Erica Wheeler still hopes to play but is not yet in the WNBA's bubble. The other 12 players are all there; Connecticut guard Briann January is the most recent to make her season debut. She played nearly 16 minutes and had three assists Wednesday in a victory against the Dallas Wings.

Indiana forward Lauren Cox tested positive in early July. She has been a Type 1 diabetic since age 7, but said it was not a complicating factor in dealing with the coronavirus. The rookie never considered skipping this season, and she was eager to get to Florida once she got past her symptoms and went through protocol.

"I hadn't played in a basketball game since early March," said Cox, the No. 3 draft pick who made her WNBA debut Aug. 5 and got her first start Aug. 9. "I was honestly just excited that we were having a season."

Cox dealt with coughing and congestion from COVID-19, but said the loss of taste bothered her the most.

"You lose the enjoyment of eating," she said. "Although it was probably the healthiest that I've ever eaten in my life. I had some vegetables that I would never touch if I could taste them."

While all the WNBA players who've returned so far have said they think they are back to normal or getting there, their experiences will be part of the data that will continue to be studied regarding COVID-19's long-term and short-term effects on athletes.

"We're still so early in the process," ESPN injury analyst Stephania Bell said. "We're still in the information-gathering stage, including the cardiac manifestations.

"And let's just say you lost even 5% of your lung capacity. Is that going to be a problem? Will it show up when you play? Will you even know? They might still function the same because they were an elite athlete to begin with."

By playing at a single site, the WNBA hoped to create a bubble and keep out the pandemic. The WNBA's protocol required a week of self-quarantining and three negative tests for coronavirus before arrival at the bubble, and then four days of quarantining and continued negative tests once there.

"It wasn't an easy process," WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said. "But we're confident with the extensive health and safety protocols in place, and a process for quickly triaging issues as they arise on-site."

0:35

Chicago Sky center Stefanie Dolson says her entire family was diagnosed with COVID-19 and her mother had to be admitted to the hospital.

It has worked so far. As mentioned, only two players -- Kalani Brown and Glory Johnson of the Atlanta Dream -- tested positive after arrival in the bubble during the initial quarantine period July 6-10. Both then had to quarantine for a couple of weeks at a hotel off-site before returning to IMG.

Brown dealt with headaches, body aches, fatigue and shortness of breath. She said the mental aspect of her lengthy quarantine was as challenging as the illness, but coach Nicki Collen boosted her spirits.

"When you're in those four walls, you think about a lot of things," Brown said. "You're feeling bad; you're wondering, 'How am I going to help the team?' I got discouraged, but my coach called me, let me know everything was going to be OK."

Brown made her season debut Monday with 13 points and four rebounds in just under 11 minutes of action.

"I felt good; I lasted longer than I thought," Brown said.

Johnson was asymptomatic throughout her quarantine. Another Dream player, Courtney Williams, New York forward Megan Walker and Connecticut guard Natisha Hiedeman tested positive before they came to the bubble and also were asymptomatic. Williams and Johnson both missed the Dream's first two games, debuting July 31. Walker missed one game for the Liberty, while Hiedeman has played every game for the Sun.

Johnson mostly passed the day on FaceTime with family, including her 4-year-old twin daughters. She wasn't allowed to do something as simple as push-ups because of the coronavirus' potential impact on the heart, even for those not displaying symptoms. That's why the cardiac assessment is mandatory.

As Johnson said in a video she posted on Instagram, "Although I didn't have the health scare that many others had, this experience was a shocking reminder of how valuable life is."

January said she had one "very tough week" of extreme fatigue, congestion, body aches and headaches.

"I made it through, and after that my symptoms pretty much went away," said January, who said her senses of taste and smell returned shortly before she came to the bubble. "But once I stopped feeling symptoms, I had to wait two weeks for my cardiac test. It was a lot of testing, and a lot of waiting for my body to recover."

Her teammate Plaisance has had a challenging last several months. In mid-December while playing in China, she became ill with symptoms that match what we know now about coronavirus, including high fever, headaches, vomiting and shortness of breath. After hospital visits and IV treatment, she kept playing, but felt miserable.

"I could definitely tell a difference in my lung capacity," said Plaisance, a 6-5 center. "I didn't understand why my lungs were feeling that way. I'm used to playing a 40-minute game in China, and my lungs couldn't keep up."

2:04

Connecticut Sun player Theresa Plaisance opens up about the unknown virus she fought while playing basketball in China, months before the coronavirus outbreak.

When she came back to the United States in January, she first heard of COVID-19 and now is almost certain that's what she had. Plaisance then dealt with back issues that delayed her season debut, but she began playing on Aug. 1. She feels she's past the worst of her lung issues now.

The Aces' Cambage also was hospitalized in China in December but wasn't tested for COVID-19. Los Angeles guard Sydney Wiese played overseas in Spain, and in April became the first WNBA player to confirm a positive test.

Later that month, Chicago center Stefanie Dolson confirmed she had tested positive, as had her parents and brother. She played overseas in China during the winter, but left in January and didn't become ill until March. Wiese and Dolson both had recovered well before the WNBA season.

Phoenix Mercury guard Sophie Cunningham thinks she might have contracted the virus twice, although medical experts are still unsure if that's possible. It might be the re-emergence of the same illness.

Cunningham was first ill in March -- losing taste and smell, and having headaches -- after she returned to the United States from playing in Australia. She wasn't tested then, but did self-quarantine. In June, after working out in a gym in Missouri where she thought she was taking enough precautions, she began experiencing different symptoms, including shortness of breath, fatigue and sore throat. She tested positive on June 18.

After 32 days of quarantining at home and then at IMG on arrival in mid-July, she still played in the Mercury's opener July 25, and has appeared in every game for Phoenix.

"All that time, I couldn't do anything," Cunningham said of the quarantine period. "It was a struggle; breathing was weird. But I'm young, I'm healthy now, so I can get back in shape."

For the Liberty's Durr, COVID-19 is costing her a valuable season of development in her young career. The No. 2 draft pick in 2019 out of Louisville, she averaged 9.7 points and was limited to 18 games as a rookie because of a hip injury that required surgery. She was looking forward to making bigger strides in 2020 under a new coach in Walt Hopkins.

But she tested positive on June 8, before the WNBA's season was announced, and experienced severe enough symptoms to keep her from playing this summer. In a statement, she called her battle against the coronavirus, "complicated and arduous."

Phoenix forward Jessica Breland (who was treated for cancer in 2009-10 while in college at North Carolina) and Washington center Tina Charles (who contracted extrinsic asthma while playing in China in 2016) also received medical exemptions based on being high risk if they were to contract COVID-19. Washington forward/guard Elena Delle Donne was denied an exemption despite having had Lyme disease, but she's being paid while she rehabs after back surgery.

Among staff, Seattle Storm coach Dan Hughes, who battled cancer last year, and Los Angeles Sparks assistant Fred Williams also were both assessed as high risk and are working remotely from home.

All will be eager to return to the WNBA next year, if circumstances allow.

For the WNBA players who've battled COVID-19 this year and are still able to play, they're thankful.

"Life in the bubble, it's pretty good," Cox said. "I love the game of basketball, and I wanted to play this season. I wanted to get the experience as a rookie, to see where I'm at as far as talent-wise. Nothing was going to stop me from playing this season."

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WNBA and coronavirus -- How more than a dozen players coped and recovered - ESPN

CHICAGO More than 200,000 cases of coronavirus have been reported in Illinois, a milestone the state reached Thursday.

The past day saw another 1,834 cases of coronavirus reported, bringing Illinois total up 200,427 cases. There have likely been many more unreported cases.

The states positivity rate fell slightly to 4 percent.

The past day also saw another 24 people die from coronavirus across Illinois, including nine in Cook County. There have been at least 7,696 COVID-19 deaths across the state.

As of Wednesday night, 1,628 people were hospitalized with coronavirus in Illinois, including 383 people in the ICU and 127 people on ventilators.

Chicago is seeing an average of 299 new cases and three deaths per day as of Thursday. The citys positivity rate rose slightly to 5.1 percent.

In all, Chicago has had 64,612 confirmed cases and 2,812 deaths from COVID-19.

Dr. Allison Arwady, head of the Chicago Department of Public Health, said the citys numbers are largely holding stable, though shed rather they head down.

Of some concern is that the rest of Illinois has actually continued to uptrend even while weve been relatively stable here, Arwady said during a livestream Thursday.

Arwady and other officials have urged people to wear masks, wash their hands and practice social distancing to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

Block Club Chicagos coronavirus coverage is free for all readers. Block Club is an independent, 501(c)(3), journalist-run newsroom.

Subscribe to Block Club Chicago. Every dime we make funds reporting from Chicagos neighborhoods.

Already subscribe?Click hereto support Block Clubwith a tax-deductible donation.

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More Than 200000 Coronavirus Cases Have Now Been Reported In Illinois - Block Club Chicago

Antibody therapies could be a bridge to a coronavirus vaccine but will the world benefit?  Nature.com

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Antibody therapies could be a bridge to a coronavirus vaccine but will the world benefit? - Nature.com

Democrats and Republicans have been unable to agree on a new coronavirus aid package. The President has his own plan a handful of executive orders that would delay the federal payroll tax and provide a smaller amount of federal unemployment benefits than existed before. But those efforts would not help millions of Americans who've been out of work for months.

Find and support your local public radio station.Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi during a news conference in the U.S. Capitol on August 13. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images hide caption

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi during a news conference in the U.S. Capitol on August 13.

This episode was produced by Brianna Scott, Lee Hale and Brent Baughman with fact-checking from Anne Li. Our executive producer is Cara Tallo.

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When Will Congress Agree To More Coronavirus Aid? : Consider This from NPR - NPR

Coronavirus relief talks hit a wall once again Wednesday, as negotiators appeared completely unable to find common ground and lawmakers poised to leave Washington for the month-long August recess.

After five days with no outreach, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin called House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday to discuss a way forward, but the speaker, in a joint statement with Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, made clear that the conversation failed to break the intractable logjam.

"Democrats have compromised. Repeatedly, we have made clear to the Administration that we are willing to come down $1 trillion if they will come up $1 trillion. However, it is clear that the Administration still does not grasp the magnitude of the problems that American families are facing," the two top Democratic negotiators said.

The statement came after Mnuchin appeared on Fox Business pushing Democrats to accept a $1 trillion piecemeal package, something Pelosi and Schumer have refused, saying the size and scale of the pandemic crisis calls for sweeping legislation.

"My view on a negotiation is you agree on the things that you can agree on, pass legislation that's good for the American public, and then come back always for another bill," said Mnuchin, who, along with White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, has been negotiating with Democratic lawmakers.

White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin speak to members of the press after a meeting at the office of Speaker of the House Rep. Nancy Pelosi at the U.S. Capitol, Aug. 7, 2020 in Washington, DC.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who so far has not been present at the table with negotiators, continued to try to pin the blame for the impasse on Schumer and Pelosi.

"These two individuals are letting the wish lists of wealthy coastal elites stand between every working family in America and the additional help they deserve," McConnell, R-Ky. , said Wednesday.

Mnuchin and Democratic negotiators left the door open to future talks on Wednesday, but the two sides have hardly budged after weeks of negotiations. The broken state of the pivotal talks was shocking to even the most seasoned observers.

"It didn't enter my mind that they wouldn't get a deal," said longtime budget expert Maya MacGuineas, president of the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. "This really may be signs of complete dysfunction. It's truly scary that our lawmakers are not able to compromise in order to get something done for the American people. This situation is both more dire and the chance of them coming together is much less, and those two things combined make those observers like me worry about the ability of our lawmakers to find common ground."

With a compromise out of view and lawmakers poised to recess for the month, the path forward for any rescue bill became more fraught as any coronavirus relief aid could possibly be merged with a short-term government funding bill, called a continuing resolution or CR. And any intransigence then -- in a worst-case scenario -- might ultimately lead to a government shutdown.

"That's what it looks like," Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby said last Thursday of merging coronavirus aid with a CR, adding that passing the 12 regular annual government spending bills by the end of the fiscal year, Sept. 30, was probably not likely. "I think that's the road we're headed down -- a CR. We've been on that track for about a month or so. Unless the Democrats agree, like we have the last two years to all vote together against extraneous things other than appropriations, we're not going to have a markup. We'd just waste everybody's time. So I think we're headed for a CR. I wouldn't say it's inevitable. It's getting close, though."

Former long-time Senate budget director and appropriations staffer William Hoagland told ABC News that he thinks McConnell has always wanted it this way.

"I truly believe, with some collaboration from some current Senate staff, that McConnell has always wanted to move the COVID package to one vote in September tied to a CR," Hoagland, now a Bipartisan Policy Center senior vice president, told ABC News. "Politically, he did not want to force a vote in the Senate and lose maybe half of his caucus. He also did not want to have vulnerable GOP senators this fall take some tough votes he might not be able to control. So, despite what I understand was some statements about getting back to negotiating, with (White House Chief of Staff) Meadows on vacation this week and as you said, Schumer leaving, along with conventions upcoming, no question we are off until after Labor Day on any action.

Asked for a reaction, an aide to McConnell pointed ABC News to the Republican leader's remarks on Wednesday calling on Democrats to set aside what he referred to a "liberal wish list" and get back to the negotiating table.

One senior Senate GOP aide told ABC News that there is a possibility of a CR that would fund the government until sometime into November or potentially through mid-December, but that any final decisions had not yet been made.

To MacGuineas and Hoagland, the choice of a continuing resolution is risky.

"A CR is already a symbol of failure," MacGuineas said. "To combine that with a second failure of not passing an emergency bill that is well thought out and incredibly transparent, to have two failures smooshed into one big bill is basically a massive sign of dysfunction in all of the areas where we should be governing."

Hoagland said, "Without a resolution to a fifth stimulus package, I see no way that many of the same issues in July and early August won't reemerge on a must-do CR bill."

With jobless Americans still numbering in the multi-millions, a moratorium on evictions and utilities' shutoffs having expired and the small business loan program closed -- all due to inaction in Congress -- it remains to be seen where the political blame might land ahead of crucial elections in the fall.

Kyle Kondik, managing editor of Larry Sabato's Crystal Ball who analyzes elections for the UVA Center for Politics, sounded the alarm for Republicans, warning that that the party in power is usually the one that gets the blame if people perceive the state of the country to be in disarray on Election Day.

"To me the stakes are politically higher for Republicans to intervene in the economy. If things get really bad in the fall, they are more likely to face consequences than Democrats are," Kondik told ABC News.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi speaks, flanked by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer after meeting with the White House Chief of Staff and the US Treasury Secretary on coronavirus relief at the US Capitol in Washington, Aug. 7, 2020.

"In terms of Democrats getting blamed for a new aid package not getting passed, I just don't think it works that way. The public is so focused on the president and the party in power; therefore, they're responsible for inaction," said Kondik. "If I were a Republican, I would be trying to figure out what the federal government can do to best stave off economic calamity, and I would try to pass legislation to that effect."

But trying to put pandemic aid on a measure that keeps the federal government funded, likely an exceedingly complicated feat heading into late August and September -- when hurricanes and wildfires could also present more fiscal hurdles -- risks a shutdown, something Hoagland warned was possible.

"While I find it unfathomable that we could even be thinking about a government shutdown on top of everything else one month out from an election, that still is a risk," said Hoagland. "I always think that a shutdown is a pox on both parties. If this were to occur this time around, however, I think the administration and Senate GOP would take most of the blame."

MacGuineas thought the chances of a shutdown were almost nil.

"At some point, the grown-ups have to come out. We can't shut ourselves down when we have a virus that has basically already shut down our economy," MacGuineas said. "There are still some lines we won't cross."

ABC News' Allison Pecorin and Mariam Khan contributed to this story.

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Coronavirus relief negotiations hit another wall, talk of merging aid with government funding worries experts - ABC News