Category: Corona Virus

Mar-a-Lago was the place to see and be seen for guests who paid thousands of dollars for the privilege on New Years Eve. Diamonds and furs abounded on the red carpet. When Donald Trump arrived at his estate in Palm Beach, Florida, in high spirits and a tuxedo, he declared: Were going to have a great year, I predict.

But earlier that day, a Chinese government website had identified a pneumonia of unknown cause in the area surrounding a seafood market in Wuhan. When midnight struck and 2020 dawned, no one could have guessed how this microscopic pathogen would turn the world upside down, infecting 15 million people, killing 625,000, crippling economies and wiping out landmark events such as the Olympic Games.

America is no exception. The coronavirus pandemic has upended the presidential election, which, on Sunday, will be just one hundred days away. It has changed the issues, the way the fight is fought and quite possibly the outcome. The nations biggest economic crisis for 75 years, and worst public health crisis for a century, is an asteroid strike that has rewritten the rules of politics and left historians grasping for election year comparisons.

There is probably nothing the same as coronavirus, said Thomas Schwartz, a history professor at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. Obviously, you have issues that stir the public up: 1968 would have been Vietnam and the disturbances that had taken place in the cities. But nothing quite as universal and affecting such a wide band of Americans as the coronavirus. That is really new.

Soon after that New Years Eve celebration at Mar-a-Lago, Trump would be acquitted by Republicans at his Senate impeachment trial and triumphantly brandish the next days Washington Post front page at the White House. In his own mind, at least, he was riding a strong economy on his way to re-election, while Democrats struggled to tally results in their Iowa caucuses or settle on a unifying presidential nominee.

But the virus was on the move. On 22 January, Trump claimed that it is totally under control and is going to be just fine. On 2 February, he insisted he had stopped its spread by restricting travel from China. On 27 February, he said at the White House: One day its like a miracle it will disappear. And so it went on in what critics now say was a historic feat of denial and failure in leadership.

Covid-19 swept through New York, killing thousands of people. Trump declared himself a wartime president and held daily briefings in April but then reportedly got bored and switched emphasis to reviving the economy seen as crucial to his re-election chances. Yet while the infection and death tolls ticked up, his approval ratings ticked down.

Now it seems the old maxim of Its the economy, stupid will be replaced by Its the virus, stupid as the defining issue for voters, not least because the suffering and death have a direct impact on the economy itself: Americans have filed 52.7m unemployment claims over the past four months.

Another famous campaign question, Are you better off than you were four years ago?, now seems purely rhetorical. The Trump campaign has been forced to abandon the slogan Keep America great in favour of Make America great again, again.

Schwartz added: When Trump had the economy going gangbusters he had a stronger argument on his behalf that, despite his disruptiveness and unpleasantness, people were doing OK and things seemed to be moving ahead. But look at the polling on whether the countrys going in a good direction or a bad direction and, boy, did that spike with the bad direction since March.

Trump was arguably an unusually lucky president for his first three years, not having to face the type of major crisis that confronted many of his predecessors, enabling him to persist as a gadfly reality TV star tweeting about celebrities instead of reading national security briefs. With the eruption of the virus, that luck ran out spectacularly.

America now has 4m infections and more than 140,000 deaths, the highest tallies in the world. Cases have doubled in the past six weeks even as curves flatten in Europe.

The president continues to defend his response, pointing to travel restrictions he imposed, 50m tests conducted more than any other country and mass distribution of ventilators. Were all in this together, he said on Wednesday. And as Americans, were going to get this complete. Were going to do it properly. Weve been doing it properly. Sections of the country come up that we didnt anticipate for instance, Florida, Texas, et cetera but were working with very talented people, very brilliant people, and its all going to work out, and it is working out.

The pandemic was a moment when Trump could have proved his doubters wrong. He did not rise to the challenge

But his niece Mary Trump, author of a new family memoir, said his handling of the pandemic has been criminal. She added: It was avoidable, it was preventable and even if we hadnt gotten a hold of it right away, the statistics are pretty clear. Two weeks earlier, what, 90% of deaths could have been avoided? And they havent been, simply because he refused to wear a mask because doing so would have admitted that he was wrong about something, and that is something he cannot do.

The pandemic was a moment when Trump could have surprised the world and proved his doubters wrong. He did not rise to the challenge in the eyes of those critics. He failed to devise a national strategy on testing, rarely spoke of the victims, refused to wear a mask until recently and undermined top public health experts such as Dr Anthony Fauci.

Leon Panetta, a former defence secretary and CIA director, said: If you operate on the basic premise that crisis defines leadership, then youd have to say that this crisis has also defined the failure of leadership. That has without question impacted on politics in this country.

Its pretty clear that there are a hell of a lot of constituencies out there that feel that hes failed to lead with this issue. Theres a sense that in many ways hes basically said, Youre on your own in terms of dealing with this. He at one point said he doesnt take responsibility for whats happening with this virus and I think that sent a real message to the country that the presidents gone awol on the country at a time of crisis.

Such is the backlash that multiple opinion polls show the Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden leading Trump by double digits, and ahead in the battleground states that will decide the electoral college. The presidents best hope now might be an October surprise in the form of a coronavirus vaccine. There is no clearer example of how everything has changed than Texas, which no Democrat has won since 1976. On Wednesday, a record 197 deaths from Covid-19 were reported while a Quinnipiac poll showed Biden leading Trump 45% to 44%.

Filemon Vela, a Democratic congressman from southern Texas, said: Since the beginning of the pandemic, President Trump and our own governor, Greg Abbott, have made tactical decisions that are now resulting in the killing of Texans en masse. Any rational thinking Texan would be crazy if they voted for Donald Trump, given the way that the state is being ravaged by the virus.

Across the state, ICUs are full. Back in my home town, patients that should be in the ICU are having to wait in emergency rooms. Patients who cant get into emergency rooms are having to wait in ambulances for hours outside the hospital. It is a catastrophic situation and I believe that, when November comes around, the people of Texas are going to remember it.

Against the implacable foe of the virus, Trump has repeatedly sought to divert and distract. He seized on the Black Lives Matter protests against the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis not with healing and compassion but by attempting to stoke culture war divisions over crime and Confederate statues. Still, the pandemic persisted.

Bill Galston, a former policy adviser to President Bill Clinton, said: If the election becomes a referendum on the presidents handling of the pandemic, he cannot win. Its as simple as that and so, barring some miraculously favourable developments in the next hundred days, he has no choice but to change the subject as best as he can.

The pandemic has not only transmogrified the substance of the election but also the style. Democrats were fortunate to get most their primaries out of the way and mostly unite behind a nominee before the storm hit. Other rituals of the election year calendar campaign rallies, convention speeches, presidential debates will be unrecognisable.

So far, the altered landscape appears to be hurting Trump and helping Biden. In 2016, the Republican thrived on rambunctious rallies where crowds chanted Build the wall! and, referring to his opponent Hillary Clinton, Lock her up! The theatre seemingly gave him a blood transfusion of political energy while building a cult of personality for crowds, often in long-neglected small towns, who then fanned out to spread the word.

Last month, however, a Trump rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, drew a disappointingly small crowd amid virus fears, and another in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, was cancelled. No more have been announced. The president has also been forced to call off Republican national convention events next month in Jacksonville, Florida, where he had been planning to make a splashy acceptance speech before a cheering crowd.

Democrats will also hold a delayed and pared-down convention in Milwaukee in August, with much of it migrating online. Biden, who at 77 would be the oldest president ever elected, has been able to lie low in his basement in Wilmington, Delaware, spared from the punishment of constant campaigning and awkward encounters that could invite his notorious gaffes. Instead the pandemic plays to his perceived strengths of empathy, experience and stability.

Galston, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution thinktank in Washington, added: Nobodys ever seen anything like this and nobody knows what the net effect is going to be. I dont know to what extent the raucous Trump rallies of 2016 were instrumental to his success but what we do know is thats not a strategy that can be repeated in 2020.

But there may be no greater demonstration of the pandemics reach than polling day itself, due to take place on 3 November amid health fears, a surge of mail-in voting and a prolonged count that Trump might seek to discredit and exploit.

This week more than 30 advocacy groups and grassroots organisations joined Protect the Results, a project to mobilise millions of people should Trump contest the election results, refuse to concede after losing, or claim victory before all the votes are counted.

Panetta, a former White House chief of staff, has heard similar talk from friends. On conferences and Zoom calls and emails Im getting concern that this is not a president who has ever shown a tendency to operate with a degree of class in accepting defeat and so theres a sense that he will resist the results of the election if its close, he said.

I guess the hope for a lot of people Ive talked to is that the election results are so clear that it makes it very difficult for the president to even pretend that somehow the vote was wrong.

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'Nobodys ever seen anything like this': how coronavirus turned the US election upside down - The Guardian

Before he became Prime Minister, Boris Johnson used to be a regular cycle commuter. (Photo by Dan ... [+] Kitwood/Getty Images)

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is to tell overweight Britons they need to increase their activity levels to better fight against infection from the novel coronavirus. Being obese or overweight puts people at greater risk of serious illness or death from COVID-19, experts have said this week. Cycling to work is a key way of losing weight and changing sedentary lifestyles, Johnson will advise on Monday.

Family doctorsknown in the U.K. as general practitioners, or GPswill be encouraged to prescribe cycling as a way for patients to lose weight. GP surgeries could also participate in bicycling incentive programs, with the possibility that some people could be paid to pedal.

Johnson is also expected to announce other bicycling promotions in the week beginning July 27, with further encouragement for local authorities to instal protective cycleways.

Johnsons recommendation to cycle is part of a new nannying government strategy to reduce the impact of the virus on the NHSprevention being cheaper than a cureand will include bans on advertising junk food to children as well as forcing restaurants to display calorie counts on menus.

Active travel, such as walking and cycling, can play an important role in reducing obesity levels, with a recent comprehensive study showing that, compared to driving, cycling was shown to cause a weight loss of 0.75kg for the average person.

Daily bicycle travel leads to the lowest body mass index, according to the study which was conducted in seven European cities.

The analysis of data from seven European citiespart of the European Commission funded Physical Activity through Sustainable Transport Approaches (PASTA) projectsuggested that daily cyclists weigh less than their non-active counterparts. The research was led by Hasselt University and the Flemish Institute for Technological Research, and included researchers from Imperial College London.

Speaking during a recent visit to a GP surgery in East London, Johnson said:

Obesity is one of the real co-morbidity factors. Losing weight, frankly, is one of the ways you can reduce your own risk from coronavirus.

Perhaps more importantly, cycling is also a key way of moving moreinactivity is a killer.

The Guardians political correspondent Peter Walker describes cycling as a miracle pill (and hes got a book out in January 2021 with that title.)

Imagine if a team of scientists devised a drug which massively reduced peoples chances of developing cancer or heart disease, cutting their overall likelihood of dying early by 40%, he wrote in 2017.

That drug is already here, albeit administered in a slightly different way: its called cycling to work.

Walker added: One of the more puzzling political questions is why it is so rarely prescribed on a population-wide level. Most people recognise riding a bike makes you more healthy. But studies have shown the impact of even a relatively modest regular cycle can have near-miraculous health dividends.

In May, Johnson told the U.K. parliament that the near future should be a new golden age for cycling.

He made his comments during Prime Ministers question time and was answering a question from former transport secretary Therese Villiers who asked whether the Prime Minister would be seeking assurances from London Mayor Sadiq Khan that the London Underground tube service would soon be open to use for all who wanted to use it and not just key workers.

A cyclist makes a hand gesture to the then Mayor of London Boris Johnson as he cycles over Vauxhall ... [+] Bridge, London, to launch London's first cycle superhighway in 2015. (Photo by Ben Pruchnie/Getty Images)

A crucial part of our success now in getting transport to run safely will be running a bigger and more expansive tube service so that people can observe social distancing, replied Johnson.

Unbidden, Johnson added that there will be a huge amount of planning going to helping people to get to work other than by mass transit and this should be a new golden age for cycling.

The government later rolled out a 2-billion program to boost bicycling and walking.

Before becoming prime minister, Johnson regularly cycled in London while he was Mayor and when he was a backbench MP.

Public Health England (PHE) said on July 25 that excess weight puts people at greater risk of needing hospital admission or intensive care.

PHE chief nutritionist Dr Alison Tedstone said that being overweight or obese puts people at greater risk of serious illness or death from Covid-19, as well as from many other life-threatening diseases.

"Losing weight can bring huge benefits for health, she said, and may also help protect against the health risks of COVID-19.

She added: The case for action on obesity has never been stronger.

The U.K. has one of the highest levels of obesity in Europe, with two-thirds of adults reported as being obese or overweight.

See the rest here:

Fight Coronavirus With Miracle Pill Of Bicycling To Work, Boris Johnson To Tell Brits - Forbes

Vietnamese tourists pose for photographs on a boat touring Ha Long Bay, after the Vietnamese government eased the lockdown following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, on May 31, 2020 in Ha Long, Quang Ninh Province, Vietnam.

Linh Pham | Getty Images

CNBC is looking at how places around the world have tackled Covid-19. By talking to a wide range of experts, as well as everyday citizens, we're taking stock of what's gone well and what hasn't.

Vietnam has confirmed 412 cases of Covid-19 and reported no deaths in a country of 95.5 million. The country took strong early action to stem the spread of the virus, and many locals have now deemed the efforts to be highly successful. Some recent reports, which is still far from proven, indicates Vietnam may not have been "immunologically naive," because something resemblingSARS-COV-2 might have been circulating for years. That theory is still yet to be proven. Others have speculated that the data isn't trustworthy, but local researchers largely believe it is.

Vietnam now resembles normalcy, with its bars and restaurants open. In April, it donated hazmat suits and masks to harder-hit countries in Europe and the United States, where millions of people have been diagnosed with the virus.

Aggressive contact tracing

The first case in Vietnam was reported in late January and involved a man and his son returning to the country from Wuhan, China. A week later, the country sprung into action with a "whole government" strategy, which many believe it has been prepared for since the SARS pandemic of 2003.

People who tested positive for the virus and their close contacts were placed into quarantine camps for 14 days. The contact tracing, as outlined by the researchers from Oxford University's clinical research unit in Vietnam, incorporated three degrees of separation. People who came into close contact with people who came into close contact with someone known to be infected with the virus -- were told to isolate at home.

Strict quarantines

Dr. Julien Pham, a Vietnamese-American physician and investor living in Boston, recalls feeling apprehensive when his father announced he would be returning to Vietnam for a Buddhist pilgrimage in early March. Pham's father, who's also a doctor, traveled from France to join up with a group of more than 30 people.

"Almost immediately, the government stepped in," Pham said. Because of his connections in the country, his father was able to stay with family at home for 14 days. But by mid-March, anyone entering the country was sent straight to a quarantine center where they remained for two weeks.

A Hong Kong theme restaurant, a popular spot amongst local young people, is closed amid concerns of the spread of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) on March 26, 2020 in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Linh Pham | Getty Images

Testing capacity

At the outset of the pandemic, Vietnamurged local medical equipment companies to help them ramp up a testing program. By April, the country had already performed hundreds of thousands of tests. At that time, for every confirmed case, the government was testing almost 800 people -- by far the highest in the world.The next highest, according to data compiled by Reuters, is Taiwan, which tested 140 people for every case.

According to a research report, Vietnam went from having just two testing sites nationwide in late January to 120 by May.

"We would see hundreds of tests for every positive infection," said Binh Tran, a general partner at 500 Startups Vietnam. "They'd test neighbors, store owners, really anyone you'd been in contact with."

Early school closures and travel restrictions

The Vietnamese understood that hospital capacity was limited, and hospitals would be quickly overwhelmed if they didn't get ahead of the problem.

So schools closed for the Lunar New Year holiday at the end of January and stayed closed until mid-May. From the outset, there were restrictions on travel. Flights to and from China were suspended in February. The government closed down the country for two weeks on April 1. In some regions, the lockdowns were extended for a longer period.

"The lockdown seemed strict but everyone was compliant," said Christian Lam Pham, a deputy general director of the Dacotex Group, an international garment company with showrooms and production plants in Vietnam.

Members of anti-coronavirus team spray chemical into vehicles on a road in Thai Nguyen province, Vietnam February 7, 2020.

Kham | Reuters

Public messaging

Vietnam constantly reminded citizens to wear a mask, wash their hands and socially distance from each other. The Ministry of Health even produced a PSA where it worked with two singers to produce a catchy song about steps people can take to avoid getting the virus.

"You'd get texts regularly during lockdown to remind you to stay inside," said Stephen Turban, a former McKinsey consultant who recently moved to the country to help found a new university in Vietnam. "When you call a friend, you get a ring tone where a woman reminds you to wear a mask." For Turban, who moved to the country from San Francisco, the guidelines were crystal clear -- and he rarely saw anyone flouting them.

"There are constant societal reminders of your role," he said. According to Turban, people still wear masks in public even as the country has re-opened, largely out of habit but also a feeling of social responsibility.

Community-mindedness

When a British pilot for Vietnam Airlines developed Covid-19 in mid-March, his health quickly deteriorated. Doctors concluded that the only path forward for "patient 91" would be a lung transplant. According to the state-run Vietnam News, 26 people came forward and offered to donate part of their lung to the pilot. None of the people had any relation to the pilot. That pilot is now returning home after months on life support, according to BBC News.

"There's a concept in Vietnam that roughly translates to 'public consciousness'," said Turban, who now lives in Vietnam. "Vietnam has a robust sense that there's a shared responsibility to the community."

Protocols at hospitals to reduce the risk of infection

In Mid-February, the Ministry of Health put together a document for hospitals to guide them on screening, admission and isolation of confirmed or suspected Covid-19 cases. They also strongly encouraged the use of personal protective equipment and established protocols to disinfect surfaces and supplies. Since the SARS epidemic, when dozens of health care workers got sick, Vietnam has been investing heavily in hospital infection control.

When Dang went to a top hospital in Vietnam to drop off supplies at the height of the outbreak, she recalls a strict adherence to the guidelines.

"When we'd do deliveries in Hanoi, I remember going through three rounds of hygiene procedures just to get in the door," she said. "There was even a guard walking with me to make sure I didn't deviate on my path."

Social shaming

Similarly to other Asian countries like Taiwan, there was some social shaming of people who didn't take the virus seriously. In one notable case, an heiress who attended fashion shows in Europe contracted Covid-19 and brought it back to Vietnam. When the story got out, there was sweeping anger towards her, including a Facebook page dedicated to calling out her risky behaviors.

Some Vietnamese citizens have mixed feelings about it.

"When word got out, she was deeply shamed especially via social media. It is a shame that a young woman is pilloried on social media," said Ken Watari, a director for entrepreneurship and innovation at the Fulbright University in Vietnam. "At the same time, the public impact of that event is that it likely encouraged other Vietnamese young people to behave in a safer way."

Passengers with protective face masks walk with their luggage in the empty arrival hall of Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi, Vietnam.

MLADEN ANTONOV

Alleviating the financial impact

According to Lam Pham, a lot of businesses in the country were impacted during the lockdown. His company owns factories, which was considered an essential activity, but staff felt very nervous at times despite safety measures they implemented. He says it's been a stressful time for business owners because many faced salary reductions, late payments from buyers, and struggles to forecast the future. Now things have stabilized a bit because the country has opened back up, he says.

But many people rely on tourism, so they're concerned about the future. A lot will depend on Vietnam's success in convincing people, particularly throughout Asia, that the country is a safe place to visit.

"At the end of the day," he said. Businesses are struggling to survive and pass by this tough time."

Human rights violations

Some groups, including Human Rights Watch, have called out Vietnam's efforts to enforce quarantine and social distancing as excessive. They fear that many of the worst aspects of the response will never be shared with the media because the public is fearful of criticizing the government's response. Some have even gone as far as to determine that the entire response has been "built on repression."

Others say that people in Vietnam may be more comfortable with trading some individual liberties for greater safety during a pandemic.

"Some of us from the West may see the government quarantine facilities as quite draconian for example, but it's a tradeoff the Vietnamese have readily made, and they're quite happy with it," said Watari.

A health worker sprays disinfectant inside a Vietnam Airlines airplane to protect from the recent coronavirus outbreak, at Noi Bai airport in Hanoi, Vietnam February 21, 2020.

Kham | Reuters

Conditions at the quarantine centers

The quarantine centers are bare-bones facilities.

Trang Dang, the founder of a company called Ru9, which produces and sells mattresses in Vietnam, donated some of her own products to the centers. People sleep in bunk beds in rooms of four to six, and there are few fans, pillows and blankets. The centers do provide three meals per day, basic toiletries and Wi-Fi. Dang feels that most of the hundreds of thousands of people who spent time in a facility felt glad they did it in retrospect.

"It's a minimal sacrifice and now you have an open country," she said.

Still, the living conditions could be improved for those working at the facilities,asseveral social media posts showed them sleeping on makeshift beds outside.

"After that went viral, it spiked a lot of interest and locals felt a responsibility to donate money and supplies," she said.

HANOI, VIETNAM - FEBRUARY 03: People wear face mask while waiting to buy gold from a gold shop on the day of the God of Wealth on February 3, 2020 in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Linh Pham

Clarity around visas

Foreigners staying in Vietnam say they're searching for clarity on whether their visas will be renewed. "There's confusion about that," said Tran, who lives with his wife and children in the country. "I think many would benefit from a clear understanding on that."

Vietnam has said that foreigners who arrived before March 1 can be considered for an extension of their visa, provided they can share a letter from their embassy or consulate that they were unable to leave "due to objective reasons."

We asked every expert we spoke to for their score out of 10. (1 is the extremely poor and 10 is ideal.) It's an extremely subjective measurement, but the average across all of them was 9.

"I'd give Vietnam a 9.5 out of 10 because 10 is unachievable," said Tran.

"Given their circumstances, they've done incredibly well," added Turban.

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Vietnam took drastic early action to fight the coronavirus and has reported zero deaths - CNBC

Mr. Inslee, a Democrat, and the states secretary of health, John Wiesman, also announced masks will be required in all common spaces, like elevators, hallways, university housing and hotels, effective July 25.

Currently, masks are required in public spaces when people cannot main social distance.

The new restrictions were announced after the state reported a steady rise in new infections. By the end of last month, the seven-day average of new infections in the state was 538, according to a New York Times database. By Wednesday, that number was 920.

Starting July 30, indoor dining at restaurants and bars will be allowed only for members of the same household, according to the statement from Mr. Inslees office. Others can dine outdoors or place to-go orders.

Restaurants must also close gaming and social areas, the statement said. And indoor service at bars will be prohibited.

Occupancy at indoor movie theaters, currently at 50 percent, will be reduced to 25 percent.

Starting Aug. 6, the size of wedding ceremonies will be limited to either 30 people, or 20 percent of the facilitys indoor occupancy, whichever is smaller. Wedding receptions, though, will be prohibited.

The number of people allowed at gyms, fitness studios, indoor pools and tennis facilities will also reduced, starting July 30.

The current moratorium on evictions, Mr. Inslee said, will be extended until Oct. 15. Details on that will be released shortly, he said.

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Global Coronavirus Cases Surge, Stinging Even Places That Seemed to Have Control - The New York Times

Their mother Noehmi Esquivel, 39, and their father Carlos Garcia, 44, both died after fighting the coronavirus, the family confirmed to CNN.

Esquivel was taken to the hospital on July 2, and ended up dying the same day, her brother, Jacob Mendoza, told CNN.

"My mom spoke to her and told her that it was okay for her to go home ... and not to worry about Carlos and the boys," Mendoza said.

"[She] prayed over her in Jesus name and she passed away over the phone with my mom talking to her."

Then, just 11 days later, her husband, Carlos, landed in the hospital because of kidney problems. His family said he was recovering from coronavirus and it aggravated medical problems he was already having.

"He was barely recuperating ... [but] when he went into the hospital, he was doing well," Mendoza said.

On July 17, his fourth day in the hospital, Mendoza said Garcia's condition unexpectedly worsened.

"We had just gotten off the phone with him, and he sounded perfectly fine. He sounded like there was nothing wrong with him. And it surprised us when we got the call around one o'clock in the morning that he had passed away," he said.

Both Esquivel and Garcia had diabetes and other underlying conditions.

"It has just been very rough on us, because both of them, you know, they both had to die in the hospital by themselves because of this whole coronavirus pandemic," Mendoza said.

His father's funeral is on Tuesday at The Promise Church of Houston.

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They lost their mom and dad to coronavirus -- 15 days apart - CNN

The U.S. now has more than 4 million confirmed cases of COVID-19. The grim milestone is a reminder of how much more rapidly the virus is spreading this summer, having gone from 3 million cases to 4 million in just 15 days.

Washington state is reacting to its own recent uptick in infections by imposing expanded mask requirements and stricter limitations on bars, restaurants, gyms and other places people congregate. Plus, more schools are announcing theyll teach mostly or completely online this fall.

Throughout Friday, on this page, well be posting updates on the pandemic and its effects on the Seattle area, the Pacific Northwest and the world. Updates from Thursday can be foundhere, and all our coronavirus coverage can be foundhere.

The coronavirus transformed Floridas nursing homes into closely guarded fortresses beginning in March, with the state banning family visits, isolating infected residents in separate wings and now requiring staff be tested every two weeks. But the explosion of cases statewide is proving that is not enough.

The numbers are already showing the grim reality, underscoring how mask compliance and restrictions in the outside world impact the states most vulnerable. In the past three weeks, cases have gone from about 2,000 to some 4,800 at Florida nursing homes. Roughly 2,550 long-term care residents and staff have died overall, accounting for about 45% of all virus deaths in Florida.

Where you see COVID hot spots, our anxiety level in our centers automatically goes up. Our vigilance goes through the roof, said Luke Neumann, a vice president at Palm Garden, which has 14 facilities across Florida.

Thats how societies are judged in part by how you care for the weak and aged, Neumann said.

Florida recorded 173 new coronavirus deaths Thursday, a daily high that pushed its toll from the pandemic to more than 5,500. Deaths inside nursing homes have also been on the rise, averaging about 40 per day in the last week after those numbers had dropped in mid-June to lower than 20 deaths per day.

Read the story here.

The Associated Press

The top U.S. public health agency issued a full-throated call to reopen schools in a package of new resources posted on its website Thursday night that opened with a statement listing numerous benefits for children of being in school, while downplaying the potential health risks.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published the new guidance two weeks after President Donald Trump criticized its earlier recommendations on school reopenings as very tough and expensive, ramping up an anguished national debate over the question of how soon children should return to classrooms. As the president was criticizing the initial CDC recommendations, a document from the agency surfaced that detailed the risks of reopening and the steps that districts were taking to minimize those risks.

Reopening schools creates opportunity to invest in the education, well-being and future of one of Americas greatest assets our children while taking every precaution to protect students, teachers, staff and all their families, the new opening statement said.

The package of materials began with the opening statement, titled The Importance of Reopening Americas Schools This Fall, anddescribed children as being at low risk for being infected by or transmitting the coronavirus, even though the science on both aspects is far from settled.

The best available evidence indicates if children become infected, they are far less likely to suffer severe symptoms, the statement said. At the same time, the harms attributed to closed schools on the social, emotional, and behavioral health, economic well-being, and academic achievement of children, in both the short- and long-term, are well-known and significant.

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The New York Times

New rules on wearing masks in England went into effect Friday, with people entering shops, banks and supermarkets now required to wear face coverings, while Romania reported a record for daily infections and new cases nearly doubled in France.

People in England can be fined as much as 100 pounds ($127) by police if they refuse. The British government had given mixed signals for weeks before deciding on the policy. Places like restaurants, pubs, gyms and hairdressers are exempt.

John Apter, the national chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, said officers would be available as a last resort but added that he hopes the public will continue to do the right thing to protect other citizens.

In Belgium, health authorities said a 3-year-old girl has died after testing positive for COVID-19 as new infections surged 89% from the previous week.

Belgian authorities have bolstered up restrictions to slow the spread of coronavirus, including making masks mandatory in crowded outdoor public spaces. Belgium has been hard hit by the pandemic, with 64,847 cases and 9,812 deaths registered so far.

Overall, Europe has seen over 201,000 deaths in the pandemic, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. Experts say the true toll from the coronavirus worldwide is much higher, due to limited testing and other issues.

Read the story here.

The Associated Press

Nearly half of Americans whose families experienced a layoff during the coronavirus pandemic believe those jobs are lost forever, a new poll shows, a sign of increasing pessimism that would translate into about 10 million workers needing to find a new employer, if not a new occupation.

Its a sharp change after initial optimism the jobs would return, as temporary cutbacks give way to shuttered businesses, bankruptcies and lasting payroll cuts. In April, 78% of those in households with a job loss thought theyd be temporary. Now, 47% think that lost job is definitely or probably not coming back, according to the latest poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

The poll is the latest sign the solid hiring of May and June, as some states lifted stay-at-home orders and the economy began to recover, may wane as the year goes on. Adding to the challenge: Many students will begin the school year online, making it harder for parents to take jobs outside their homes.

Honestly, at this point, theres not going to be a job to go back to, said Tonica Daley, 35, who lives in Riverside, California, and has four children ranging from 3 to 18 years old. The kids are going to do virtual school, and there is no day care.

Read the story here.

The Associated Press

Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night nor COVID-19 stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.

Except for the pandemic mention, these words have long been the unofficial motto of U.S. Postal Service letter carriers. They were chiseled in granite on the monumental 1912 New York General Post Office. They are lived daily by hundreds of thousands of postal workers.

For their fellow citizens, the mail has assumed new importance, with millions shut in by the pandemic.

The Postal Service,the most popular of federal agencies, is essential, affordable and goes everywhere. As in the 1918 influenza pandemic, the agency has continued its logistical feat during COVID-19. Meanwhile, at least 12,000 of its workers have been infected and 67 have died.

Columnist Jon Talton writes that unfortunately, President Donald Trump has long been an enemy of the Postal Service, repeatingthe false assertionthat it loses money by delivering for Amazon, calling the agency a joke and threatening to strangle its funding.

Now, his new postmaster general, Louis DeJoy, isimposing draconian cutbacks, including eliminating overtime.

Inan internal memoobtained by The Washington Post, DeJoy states that USPS must make immediate, lasting and impactful changes in our operations and in our culture.

Read Talton's column here.

Jon Talton

Kris Higginson

No matter how you feel about it, the humble mask is now the worlds most ubiquitous accessory, both a practical safeguard and a political symbol for many.

Fashion designer Luly Yang and other Seattleites are on the cutting edge, "so excited" about a chance to make things better with their creations which are quickly becoming a lifeline for the industry.

Not since humans invented shoes and undies has a single item of dress caught on so quickly, spanning borders, cultures and generations.

Chris Talbott / Special to The Seattle Times

A series of jaw-dropping new numberssuggests America isbadly losing the fightagainst the coronavirus.

Gov. Jay Inslee has announced sweeping new restrictions on bars, restaurants, fitness centers and more as coronavirus cases rise, and a stricter mask order takes effect tomorrow. Here's what you need to know, and where that leaves us on the activities you can (and can't) do in each Washington county.

A Renton doctor knew she had COVID-19 and kept working at a nursing home, telling nobody that she was infected while she spread the virus, a lawsuit alleges.

The virus killed one Floridian every eight minutes yesterday, on average, leaving residents of one retirement community fearing who will be next. And how did things get so dire in California, where coronavirus cases have rocketed past 400,000? "We got impatient," an epidemiologist explains. This is a health expert's "worst nightmare," and we might not even be halfway through it, Dr. Anthony Fauci said yesterday.

An Eastside tech executive took $5.5 million in fraudulent virus relief funds, federal officials say.

President Donald Trump has scrapped plans for a four-night Republican National Convention celebration in the pandemic hot spot of Florida.

The school year will begin remotely, the Lake Washington and Tacoma districts have announced, joining other major public-school systems around the region. WSU and Seattle U will teach almost all classes remotely this fall as well, and UW is working on sharply limiting its in-person classes. Meanwhile, as Trump calls for schools to fully reopen, his son's school will not.

Want major coronavirus stories sent to you via text message?Text the word COVID to 855-480-9667 or enter your phone number below.

Seattle Times staff & news services

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Coronavirus daily news updates, July 24: What to know today about COVID-19 in the Seattle area, Washington state and the world - Seattle Times

During his briefing on COVID-19 response, USA TODAY

It's time to hit the reset button: Shut it down and restart. That's whatmore than 150 health professionals are urging government leaders in an open letter published earlier this week.

"Tell the American people the truth about the virus, even when its hard. Take bold action to save lives even when it means shutting down again," the letter, spearheaded by the nonprofitU.S. Public Interest Research Group, says.

Public health leaders argue in the letter that the U.S. reopened too quickly, nonessential businesses should close again, Americans should mostly stay home, and government officials need to invest more in testing, contact tracing, and personal protective equipment capacities.

"If you dont take these actions, the consequences will be measured in widespread suffering and death," according to the letter addressed to President Donald Trump, federal officials and governors.

Here are some significant developments today:

Today's stats:The U.S. has surpassed 4 million confirmed cases and has more than 144,000 deaths,according to John Hopkins University data. Worldwide cases have surpassed 15 million with more than 633,000 deaths.

What we're reading: When will a vaccine be available to the general public?To understand when pre-COVID-19 life in the U.S. can resume, USA TODAY created a panel of experts who estimate we're almost halfway to an available vaccine.

Our live blog is being updated throughout the day. Refresh for the latest news, and get updates in your inbox withThe Daily Briefing.

A staff member for Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., died of COVID-19 in a Florida hospital, the congressman announced in a statement released Friday.

Buchanan expressed his condolences and hailed Gary Tibbetts, who had worked for the congressman since 2011, as a "consummate professional and true public servant in every sense of the word."Tibbetts is the first congressional aide known to have died from COVID-19.

Nicholas Wu

Despite President Donald Trump's pleas for schools to reopen, his son's private school in the Maryland suburbs will not be welcoming students back fully onto its campus in the fall.

St. Andrews Episcopal School said it was considering whether to take a hybrid model approach, allowing some students back to campus some days, or be fully remote to startthe school year.

"As we prepare to make a decision the week of August 10 about how to best begin the school year, we will continue to follow guidance of appropriate health officials and refine both our hybrid and distance learning plans," the school said in a letter to parents.

Under its hybrid model, students in grades 7 to 12 would rotate weekly between on-campus and remote learning. According to the New York Times,Barron, 14, Trump's youngest child, has attended the school for three years.

McDonald's will require customers to wear masks or face coverings when entering its 14,000restaurants nationwide starting Aug. 1. The fast food giant is the latest business to announce it will mandate masks to help stop the spread of COVID-19 as cases spike.

"While nearly 82% of our restaurants are in states or localities that require facial coverings for both crew and customers today, its important we protect the safety of all employees and customers," McDonald's said in its statement Friday.

Kelly Tyko

Authorities faced with limited space to store bodies awaiting autopsies are now bringing in a refrigerated cooler to help as the coronavirus pandemic surges in a Mississippi county.

Hinds County Coroner Sharon Grisham-Stewart said Thursday that without a morgue space is running out to store victims of homicides, car crashes and other fatalities that require autopsies.

The surge in coronavirus cases and deaths in the county is also having an impact as bodies can no longer be sent to hospital morgues for temporary storage. Private facilities are also at capacity, the coroner said.

Justin Vicory, Mississippi Clarion Ledger

Washington, D.C., will require travelers coming to the city to self-quarantine for14 days if they are arriving from a high-risk area on nonessential travel.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said Friday that the self-quarantine requirement would take effect next week.Maryland and Virginia, which border D.C., are exempt from the order, but other states that see a seven-day moving average of new COVID-19 cases at 10 or more per 100,000 people will be affected.

New York, New Jersey and Connecticut jointly announced self-quarantine requirements last month for travelers arriving from states with high numbers of positive cases. Their hot-spot list has grown to31 states. Many other states have quarantine requirement. Read the full list here if you're planning travel.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, recently talked about heightened threats to him and his family and his security detail.Fauci made the comments on CNN's"The Axe Files" podcastand said that many of the threats come from people who are angry and believe, "I'm interfering with their life because I'm pushing a public health agenda."

In April, media outlets reported that the Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Marshals Service had stationed agents at HHS to protect Fauci.

The longtime head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseasessaid he has been a target since the early days of the HIV/AIDS pandemic as the first government official speaking out about the virus. He said he received hate mailthen but could largely ignore it. The backlash he's received during the COVID-19 pandemic, however, is ofa different magnitude, he said.

"The kind of not only hate mail but actual, serious threats against me are not good," Fauci said. "It's tough. Serious threats against me, against my family, my daughters, my wife. I mean, really? Is this the United States of America? But it's real. It really is real."

Fauci added: "Weare all trying to open up American again in away thatis safe, that we can do it in a measured fashion. But the hostility against public health issues is difficult to not only understand but difficult to even process."

In a recent interview with thebusiness news outletMarketWatch, Fauci also saidhe would not eat inside a restaurant or get on a flight given the current state of the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S.

Read this: Straight-talking Anthony Fauci has been the nation's voice on the coronavirus. Who is he?

Days from the end of enhanced unemployment benefits and a federal eviction moratorium, 24 million Americans say they have little to no chance of being able to pay next months rent, a U.S. Census Bureau survey shows.

A disproportionate share of those in danger come from Black and Hispanic households, two groups who have borne the brunt of negative health and economic impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic.

While Congress works to negotiate a new stimulus, experts warn the time to ward off an eviction and foreclosure crisis has almost run out.

We're about to fall off a massive cliff and see a major spike in evictions, said Alanna McCargo, vice president of housing finance policy at the Urban Institute.

A look atAmericans' confidence in being able to pay August rent:

Kevin Crowe, Theresa Diffendaland Carlie Procell

An overwhelming 3 out of 4 Americans support requiring people to wear masks in public, a new poll found.

Almost 90% of Democrats as well as nearly 60% of Republicans support requiring masks outside of people's homes. The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll was conducted before President Donald Trump, who had been dismissive of wearing masks despite public health officials' support, tweeted earlier this week that wearing a face covering is patriotic.

Although partisan rhetoric around masks has undermined what public health officials say is a simple step thatcan save lives,95% of Democrats and 75% of Republicans say theyre wearing face coverings when leaving the house.

The poll also foundabout two-thirds of Americans disapprove of howTrump is handling the pandemic.

The coronavirus continued rampage through the southern and western United States is almost certain to leave an especially deadly trail among Latinos, who not only represent a significant percentage of the population in those regions but often face structural conditions that make them more vulnerable.

A new study published Thursday, the first nationwide analysis of COVID-19 cases and deaths among Latinos, concludes that crowded housing arrangements and high-risk jobs in industries like meatpacking, poultry and hospitality are among the major reasons Latinos have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.

As the virus extracts a heavy toll on California, Texas and Florida the three states with the largest Latino populations the death count among the countrys biggest minority group could be staggering.

My prediction is that its very likely because the policies and practices that are needed to prevent infections and deaths are not in place, said Carlos Rodriguez-Diaz, the study's lead author.

Jorge L. Ortiz

R-0 may be the most important scientific term youve never heard of when it comes to stopping the coronavirus pandemic. USA TODAY

Parent check-list for back-to-school: Label your child's face mask with permanent marker. Have them practice putting on and taking off their mask without touching the cloth. Make a labeled, resealable plastic bag to store their mask during lunch time.Those are among thesuggestions the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has for school administrators and parentsas families prepare for school to resume in the fall.

Students should wear masks, wash their hands frequently and socially distance to protect against COVID-19 as schools reopen this fall, CDCurged in new guidance documents for administrators published Thursday. It is critically important for our public health to open schools this fall, said CDC Director Dr. RobertRedfield in a release.

CDC, the nation's top public health agency, has faced considerable political pressure from President Donald Trump and others to get schools reopened.

A key consideration for school administrators, CDC said, was COVID-19 transmission rates in their communities. But the CDC guidance offered no specific metrics for what transmission rates would require specific actions.

Elizabeth Weise

Senate Republicans were scrambling Thursday to finalizea $1 trillioncoronavirusreliefpackage that will include another round of $1,200 stimulus checks and additional funding to help schools recover from the pandemic.

GOP leaders and the White House said lateWednesday that they had agreed on key parts of the legislation, which will serve as a starting point for negotiations withDemocrats, who have already passed their own bill in the House.

But Republicans are still strugglingto put the finishing touches on the package.Congress and the White House are under pressure to clinch a deal on a freshpandemic aid package;a federal program of expanded unemployment benefits is set to run out within days.

One item that will be missing from the GOP plan isTrumps demand for a payroll tax cut. Republicans abandoned that proposal even though Trump had suggested he might not sign any bill that doesnt include it.

People who have had mild to moderate COVID-19 can come out of isolation after 10 days and don't need to be retested before going back to work, new CDC guidelines say. Symptoms, not testing, are the guide.If patients had a fever, it needs to have been gone for at least 24 hours.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention document, published Wednesday,says symptoms are a bettergauge of how infectious someone is so they are"not kept unnecessarily isolated and excluded from work or other responsibilities."

The document acknowledges that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is so new that doctors are still gathering evidence for how it works.As more data becomes available, the medical community is gaining a better understanding of how people who are infected can avoiding passing on the disease. Thenew guidelinesreflect the latest thinking.

Elizabeth Weise

PresidentDonald Trump announced Thursday he is cancelingthe Jacksonville portion of the Republican National Conventionbecause of the coronavirus pandemic, a major setback in his effortto energize his struggling bid for reelection. "The timing for this event is not right," Trump told reporters at the White House. "There's nothing more important in our country than keeping our people safe."

Trump said that he would deliver remarks to formally accept his party's nomination for president but offered no detailon where or when that will happen.The abrupt decision was not only a significant blow to his campaign but also raised questions about the president's narrative that the country is ready to reopen for business.

Trump said convention delegates will still gather in North Carolina, where the official business of the convention was set to take place, and formally nominate him for reelection.

Late Thursday,Democratic National Committee Chair Tom Perez reaffirmedthat his party will holdits national convention next month in Milwaukee, with a mostly virtual event. Delegates will vote remotely.Joe Biden has said he intends to accept the nomination in Milwaukee

John Fritze, Courtney Subramanian, Michael Collins andBill Glauber

A USA TODAY analysis of Johns Hopkins data through late Wednesday shows 12 states set records for new cases over a seven-day period whilesix states had a record number of deathsover the period. New case records were set in Alaska, California, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Utah and Wyoming. Record numbers of deaths were reported in Florida, Idaho, Nevada, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.

In Florida, the week's death toll was 824, more than twice the number of any week during the spring COVID-19 surge. Still, Gov. Ron DeSantis continued to press for in-classroom learning when schools open, some in less than three weeks. DeSantis stressed that young people face the least risk from the virus.

"It is our kids who have borne the harshest burden of the controlled measures instituted to protect against the virus, DeSantis said Wednesday.

Michael Stucka

On Facebook:There's still a lot unknown about the coronavirus. But what we do know, we're sharing with you.Join our Facebook group, "Coronavirus Watch,"to receive daily updates in your feed and chat with others in the community about COVID-19.

In your inbox:Stay up-to-date with the latest news on the coronavirus pandemic from the USA TODAY Network.Sign up for the daily Coronavirus Watch newsletter here.

Tips for coping:Every Saturday and Tuesday we'll be in your inbox, offering you a virtual hugand a little bit of solace in these difficult times.Sign up forStaying Apart, Togetherhere.

Contributing: The Associated Press

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Coronavirus updates: Health experts call for country to shut down again; Fauci says he has security after getting threats - USA TODAY

Since early in the COVID-19 pandemic, California health officials have required nursing homes to bar entry to outsiders who might bring the coronavirus in with them and trigger a deadly outbreak among the elderly, vulnerable residents.

As a result, aging parents havent seen their families in months. Many have died without a final embrace from the people they loved.

But despite requiring routine testing of residents and employees, theres one group California health officials have knowingly sent from nursing home to nursing home without first testing them for the lethal virus: state inspectors.

Interviews with eight registered nurses working as inspectors for the California Department of Public Health all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation revealed that the department has not provided coronavirus testing for the very people it is sending to make sure facilities comply with rules on infection control.

The inspectors said they are exposed to the virus on an almost daily basis and could easily be spreading the disease. One said she came down with a bad cough and tested positive for COVID-19 soon after visiting more than a dozen nursing homes in two days.

Public health officials said they had sent about 500 inspectors to the states roughly 1,200 skilled nursing facilities. Some with the worst outbreaks were visited multiple times. California was inspecting homes at triple the rate of other states, officials said.

For them to send us in without testing or screening is unconscionable, said an inspector in Southern California. I think nursing homes shouldnt let us in.

Most of the inspectors interviewed also said they have not been provided with properly fitting personal protective equipment. One inspector said she refuses to spend more than a few minutes in a nursing homes red zone, the quarantine wing reserved for COVID-positive residents, because every time she exhales wearing her ill-fitting masks, her glasses fog up.

In a brief email response to questions from The Times, California Department of Public Health Deputy Director Heidi Steinecker wrote, We do supply our staff with proper PPE, and testing; our staffs safety is important to us. She did not respond to further questions.

Tony Owens, vice president of the union that represents nursing inspectors, said he was outraged at the claim that the department was providing his members with tests and adequate protective equipment.

It doesnt square with what we hear from the field, from the nurses themselves, he said.

Later, health department spokeswoman Kate Folmar acknowledged that the department has not provided systematic testing but has encouraged inspectors to use their personal health insurance to seek testing on their own.

The failure to provide reliable, systematic testing for inspectors is crazy, just really alarming, said David Grabowski, a professor of healthcare policy at Harvard Medical School. It makes basically no sense that weve locked these facilities down since March, keeping families out, only to learn inspectors have been moving from facility to facility without being tested.

Inspectors told The Times they have faced serious obstacles when they tried to get tested on their own just like the general public. In some cases, their primary care physicians told them they didnt meet the criteria for testing. In others, their doctors said there werent enough tests available.

Why is the testing not coming to us? one inspector asked. Were government employees. Were doing this infection control ... for the government.

Nursing homes have been ground zero for the pandemic in the United States, suffering a staggering proportion of the deaths from COVID-19. As of Monday, nearly 3,000 nursing home residents and more than 100 staff had died of COVID-19 in California, accounting for nearly 40% of the deaths statewide.

Many nursing home outbreaks are believed to have been sparked by asymptomatic spread, in which people who do not know they have the virus unwittingly infect others.

Some nursing home officials said they were shocked by the states lack of a comprehensive testing regime and worry that inspectors could be dangerously efficient spreaders of the disease.

Im blown away, said Dr. Michael Wasserman, medical director of the Eisenberg Village nursing home in Reseda and president of the California Assn. of Long Term Care Medicine, which represents doctors, nurses and others working in nursing homes. So you have inspectors going around to different facilities who havent been tested? It just makes no sense.

Wasserman is not alone.

When nursing home administrators find out the inspectors havent been tested, they are absolutely, visibly shocked, an inspector from Southern California told The Times. They only let us in because were the state; theyre scared to say no.

An inspector working in Central California added: Were missing the whole point of public health 101, and were the public health department.

The lack of testing for nursing home inspectors marks the latest failure by California health officials to take the necessary measures to prevent the coronavirus from spreading to some of the states most vulnerable institutions.

Last month, a Times review of inspection records found that state health inspectors had carried out more than 1,700 COVID Focused Surveys at skilled nursing facilities but had issued just 14 infection-control citations as a result of those visits. Time and again, inspectors sent to assess nursing homes ability to contain the virus found no deficiencies at facilities that were in the midst of deadly outbreaks or about to endure one.

In early April, for example, state inspectors completed a survey of Magnolia Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Riverside and found nothing wrong. The next day, a fleet of ambulances lined up outside the home to evacuate all 83 residents after the staff refused to show up for work, terrified of the deadly infection already spreading within the facility.

In addition to nursing homes, the untested state inspectors are regularly visiting a wide range of healthcare facilities, including hospitals, surgery centers, dialysis clinics and home health centers.

State health officials said they are not aware of any outbreaks that have been caused by an inspector introducing the virus.

Folmar said the department knows of six inspectors who have tested positive since the beginning of the pandemic. Through contact tracing questions, we learned none had recently been in a facility and were working off-site at home, she said.

But contact tracing has been spotty.

Despite coming and going from buildings with outbreaks on an almost daily basis, none of the inspectors who talked to The Times said they had been interviewed by a contact tracer since the beginning of the pandemic.

Internal emails reviewed by The Times indicate that officials at the Department of Public Health have been aware for months of complaints from inspectors about unsafe working conditions.

In early July, department officials took part in a formal exchange with SEIU Local 1000, the union that represents inspectors. Among the questions presented by the union was whether inspectors would finally get tested, noting, This is a big concern for nurses.

In response, a public health management representative acknowledged that everyone else working in the health facilities visited by the inspectors is required to be tested, so failing to test the inspectors creates an inconsistency. The representative said there was no final plan to begin testing the inspectors.

The documents also discuss a myriad of problems with personal protective equipment, including distribution issues and the lack of fit-testing of medical-grade masks, known as N95s, which are recommended for people working indoors surrounded by COVID-19 patients.

Several of the inspectors interviewed by The Times said they have attended staff meetings in which their colleagues openly discussed the possibility that they are spreading the disease to nursing homes.

Were the public health department; we should be testing our people, one of them told The Times. If it was my family in that nursing home, would I want a nurse to come in, and shes not tested? I dont think so.

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California failed to test nursing home inspectors for COVID-19 - Los Angeles Times

The BDN is making the most crucial coverage of the coronavirus pandemic and its economic impact in Maine free for all readers. Click here for all coronavirus stories. You can join others committed to safeguarding this vital public service by purchasing a subscription or donating directly to the newsroom.

This story will be updated.

Another 26 cases of the new coronavirus have been reported in Maine, health officials said Friday.

Fridays report brings the total coronavirus cases reported in Maine to 3,757. Of those, 3,357 had been confirmed positive, while 400 were classified as probable cases, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

New cases were reported in Androscoggin (12), Cumberland (6), Kennebec (1), Sagadahoc (1), Somerset (1) and York (5) counties, Maine CDC data show.

The agency revised Thursdays cumulative total to 3,731, down from 3,737, meaning there was a net increase of 20 over the previous days report, state data show. As the Maine CDC continues to investigate previously reported cases, some are determined to have not been the coronavirus or coronavirus case not involving Mainers. Those are removed from the states cumulative total.

No new deaths were reported Friday, leaving the statewide death toll at 118. Nearly all deaths have been in Mainers over age 60.

So far, 378 Mainers have been hospitalized at some point with COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. Of those, 12 people are currently hospitalized, with nine in critical care and three on ventilators.

Meanwhile, 20 more people have recovered from the coronavirus, bringing total recoveries to 3,259. That means there are 380 active and probable cases in the state, which is unchanged from Thursday.

A majority of the cases 2,089 have been in Mainers under age 50, while more cases have been reported in women than men, according to the Maine CDC.

As of Friday, there have been 153,565 negative test results out of 158,838 overall. Just under 3 percent of all tests have come back positive, Maine CDC data show.

The coronavirus has hit hardest in Cumberland County, where 1,990 cases have been reported and where the bulk of virus deaths 68 have been concentrated. It is one of four counties the others are Androscoggin, Penobscot and York, with 527, 136 and 609 cases, respectively where community transmission has been confirmed, according to the Maine CDC.

There are two criteria for establishing community transmission: at least 10 confirmed cases and that at least 25 percent of those are not connected to either known cases or travel. That second condition has not yet been satisfied in other counties.

Other cases have been reported in Aroostook (31), Franklin (45), Hancock (19), Kennebec (154), Knox (25), Lincoln (31), Oxford (48), Piscataquis (3), Sagadahoc (39), Somerset (33), Waldo (60) and Washington (5) counties. Information about where another two cases were reported wasnt immediately available Friday morning.

As of Friday morning, the coronavirus has sickened 4,039,523 people in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as caused 144,308 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.

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26 new coronavirus cases have been reported in Maine - Bangor Daily News

Another round of stimulus checks could soon be headed to Americans.

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said Thursday the Republican stimulus plan includes more direct payments to help Americans struggling amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Our proposal is the exact same provision as last time, Mnuchin said, according to Bloomberg.

That would mean individuals earning up to $75,000 would receive a $1,200 payment for themselves with an additional $500 for dependent children. Couples earning up to $150,000 would qualify for the full amounts. After that, payments drop based on income, capped at $99,000 for singles and $198,000 for couples.

The last round of stimulus money went to 160 million Americans.

See all of AL.coms coronavirus coverage here.

Here are the latest coronavirus headlines:

Mayors urge people to wear masks at home

Two Florida mayors are asking residents to wear masks inside their homes to help lower the spread of coronavirus between families.

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez and Miami-Dade County MayorCarlos Gimenez said wearing masks inside would protect vulnerable members of multi-generational households.

Because we have such a high level of positivity rate here in Miami-Dade, you also need to start thinking about maintaining a distance also from your loved ones for a while, Gimenez said. Yes, I know Its a sacrifice, but do so because, again, just because its your son or your daughter or your cousin or your mother or your father, doesnt mean they dont have (COVID_19.)

Florida reported another 10,273 new COVID cases and 173 deaths on Thursday.

California reports record number of daily fatalities

California has reported a record number of daily fatalities.

On Thursday, the state reported 157 new deaths, bringing the its total to 8,027. California has now surpassed New York to have the nations highest number of COVID-19 cases.

As of Thursday, California has more than 421,000 cases compared to New York, which has more than 409,000.

County fair tied to 22 cases

At least 22 cases of coronavirus have been linked to an Ohio county fair held at the end of June, officials said.

Health officials said at least 19 attendees of a Pickaway, Ohio fair contracted the virus and three passed it on to another family member. One person who attended the fair died but an investigation is ongoing as to how they contracted the virus.

White House area cafeteria closes over coronavirus concerns

A White House area cafeteria is closed after a worker tested positive for coronavirus.

The cafeteria in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, part of the White House complex, was closed this week. It is unclear how long it will remain closed but its believed to be at least two weeks while contract tracing is conducted.

The EEOB cafeteria is located across West Executive Ave. from the West Wing.

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Coronavirus update: Another round of $1,200 checks part of stimulus proposal - AL.com