Category: Covid-19

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced 119,493 test results were reported to New York State yesterdaya new record high.In the top 20 'hot spot' zip codes,6,703 tests wereconducted, yielding 429 positives or a 6.4% positivity rate. Inthe remainder of the state,112,790 were conducted yielding 1,169 positives or a 1.03% positivity rate.

"We are tracking the hotspots here on the home front, and the hotspots are a significant problem. The hotspots are Orange, Rockland, New York City and a small area in Nassau. We've seen the Orange, Brooklyn and hotspots go up in some zip codes and we see some spreading into a part of Queens,"Governor Cuomo said."So that is our priority and our focus, and the Department of Health is going to have people on the ground in the hotspot zip codes today."

New York State continues to track clusters with a particular focus on ZIP codes in counties where therearehotspot, cluster situations. Within the top 20 hotspot ZIP codes in New York State, the average rate of positive tests is 6.4 percent. The rate of positive tests for the remainder of New York State, not counting these top 20 ZIP codes, is 1.03 percent. These 20 ZIP codes contained 27 percent of all positive cases in New York State yesterday, but represent only 6 percent of the state's population.

Areas in hotspot communities, predominantly in Brooklyn, Queens, Rockland, and Orange, will be subject of focused testing efforts including access to rapid testing machines.

Yesterday, the State Liquor Authority and State Police Task Force visited 1,697 establishments in New York City and Long Island and observed 7 establishments that were not in compliance with state requirements. A county breakdown of yesterday's observed violations is below:

Today's data is summarized briefly below:

Each region's percentage of positive test results reported over the last three days is as follows:

REGION

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

Capital Region

0.5%

0.5%

0.9%

CentralNew York

0.4%

1.0%

0.7%

Finger Lakes

0.3%

0.7%

1.0%

Long Island

1.3%

1.0%

1.3%

Mid-Hudson

2.4%

2.8%

2.6%

Mohawk Valley

0.3%

0.8%

0.4%

New York City

1.2%

1.3%

1.4%

North Country

0.2%

0.1%

0.2%

Southern Tier

0.6%

1.0%

1.0%

WesternNew York

1.1%

1.7%

1.2%

Each New York City borough's percentage of positive test results reported over the last three days is as follows:

BOROUGH

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

Bronx

1.1%

1.3%

1.0%

Brooklyn

1.8%

1.9%

1.9%

Manhattan

0.6%

0.7%

0.7%

Queens

1.2%

1.3%

1.7%

Staten Island

2.2%

1.6%

1.5%

Of the 461,629 total individuals who tested positive for the virus, the geographic breakdown is as follows:

County

Total Positive

New Positive

Albany

3,153

20

Allegany

122

3

Broome

1,786

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Governor Cuomo Announces Record Number of COVID-19 Tests Reported - ny.gov

Read: The probable outcomes of Trumps diagnosis

The reason could be that we want our friends and family to hear news from us, rather than from another source. Privileged information earns you status, Matthew Feinberg, an organizational-behavior professor at the University of Toronto, told me in an email. Those who are in the know must have a strong social network and therefore must be popular. Perhaps people have an irresistible drive to signal that theyre well informed. That would explain the rush to share breaking news on Twitter, at any rate.

But it doesnt quite explain the urge to tell our loved ones. One would imagine that your status is already secure with your nearest and dearest, whether youre the one to bring new tidings or not. Kafantaris told me that for herself and her husband, sharing big news helps them process it communally. You want to experience this cultural moment with someone, she said. Neither of them respects the other persons sleep schedule, when news breaks. When Ruth Bader Ginsburg died, Kafantaris burst in on her husband in the shower to let him know.

Stacy Torres, a sociologist at the UC San Francisco who has studied gossip, suspects that the drive to tell people about news youve just read relates to the pleasures of sharing secrets or rumors. Although gossip tends to be about people one actually knows, and news is public information, in both situations, theres that moment of wanting to connect, to say, Hey, this thing happened, and its affecting us in some collective way, she told me.

Read: Have you heard? Gossip is actually good and useful.

In addition to the national magnitude of these stories, Torres suspects that people are more likely to shake someone awake for such news because it feels personally relevant. Torres said that she likely wouldnt feel compelled to share just any story that interested her if it didnt seem to practically impact her life. The presidents contracting COVID-19, however, brought up a lot of questions and worries for her, as it likely did for many other Americans. Had Trump infected other public figures? What would his illness mean for the election? Would this change anything about the countrys response to the pandemic? She wanted to reach out to her partner, but he was in a different time zone and likely already asleep, so she resisted. But when she woke up Friday morning, she had gotten a text from him about the news.

Gail Parenti, a 61-year-old retired attorney based in Umbertide, Italy, also resisted the urge to rouse her husband Thursday night, but says she told him the minute he woke up. Just sitting there thinking about it is one thing, she told me, but saying it out loud is something else. I think it helps me process my own feelings to hear his perspective.

In my experience, the conversations I have with those around me when news breaks are often extremely brief. Hey, did you see what happened? Yes, I saw. These exchanges seem to be more about mutual acknowledgment than extended processing. The impulse to share, even if you dont have a big conversation about it, could be a way to confirm that this is happening, Torres said. When I see news that fundamentally shifts my reality, I want to bring those I love into the strange new world with me. No one wants to face the future alone.

We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com.

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Did You Wake Anyone Up to Tell Them Trump Has COVID-19? - The Atlantic

President Donald Trumps positive COVID-19 result has made Twitter a busy place in the past 24 hours, including some tweets that have publicly wished some subtly and others more directly that he die from the disease caused by coronavirus.

Twitter put out a reminder to folks that it doesnt allow tweets that wish or hope for death or serious bodily harm or fatal disease against anyone. Tweets that violate this policy will need to be removed, Twitter said Friday. However, it also clarified that this does not automatically mean suspension. Several news outlets misreported that users would be suspended automatically. Of course, that doesnt mean users wont be suspended.

Motherboard reported that users would be suspended, citing a statement from Twitter. That runs slightly counter to Twitters public statement on its own platform.

On Thursday evening, Trump tweeted that he and his wife, First Lady Melania Trump, had tested positive for COVID-19. White House physician Sean Conley issued a memo Friday confirming the positive results of SAR-Cov-2 virus, which often is more commonly known as COVID-19. Trump was seen boarding a helicopter Friday evening that was bound for Walter Reed Medical Center for several days of treatment.

The diagnosis sent shares tumbling Friday on the key exchanges, including Nasdaq. The news put downward pressure on all major American indices, but heaviest on tech shares.

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Twitter will make users remove tweets hoping Trump dies of COVID-19 - TechCrunch

Britains experience shows that even in a country with a well-organized political system, a leaders sudden illness can be deeply unsettling. When Mr. Johnson contracted the virus in March, the government was adrift for several days while he struggled to keep leading the response to the pandemic, via Zoom calls, from isolation in his official residence on Downing Street.

When Mr. Johnson, 56, was admitted to the hospital and then to intensive care, he deputized the foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, to act in his absence. But that did little to dispel the uncertainty, especially since unlike in the United States, there is no legal line of succession if a prime minister dies in office or is permanently incapacitated.

The government issued upbeat, unrevealing reports of Mr. Johnsons health, using phrases like mild symptoms and good spirits the same terminology deployed by White House officials on Friday. After Mr. Johnson was released from the hospital on Easter Sunday, he disclosed that his condition had been graver than was reported.

Even now, six months later, politicians in Westminster whisper that Mr. Johnson is not fully back in fighting form, though he insisted earlier this week he was as as fit as a butchers dog, having lost weight since his illness.

In Brazil, Mr. Bolsonaros bout with the virus was less serious. He said he suffered only mild fever and body aches before testing positive on July 7. After quarantining on the grounds of the presidential residence in Braslia, he pronounced himself recovered on July 25, posting a photo of himself smiling and giving a thumbs up.

Mr. Bolsonaro, 65, who has adopted Mr. Trumps approach of playing down the virus and promoting miracle cures, appeared to brandish a box of hydroxychloroquine pills, the anti-malaria medicine. Despite claims by Mr. Trump, there is growing scientific consensus that the drug is not effective in treating Covid-19.

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The World Shudders as President Trump Tests Positive for Covid-19 - The New York Times

President Trump who insisted when the coronavirus first emerged that it would not be a threat in the United States spent months playing down the effectiveness of masks, initially refused to be photographed with one on and this week mocked former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. for wearing one.

He has softened his tone on masks and has been seen wearing one with a presidential seal, and in the summer he began encouraging Americans to wear them. But even his endorsements of masks which health officials say are a key way to slow the spread of the virus have come with caveats that have muddled the message.

One example: At the presidential debate on Tuesday, after saying that he wore masks when needed, Mr. Trump claimed that Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the leading U.S. official on infectious diseases, had initially said that masks are not good then he changed his mind. (Dr. Fauci rejected the claim, saying on Thursday that he had long been begging people to wear masks.)

It was the latest in Mr. Trumps pattern of playing down the seriousness of the coronavirus. Here are some of his most notable statements since the beginning of the pandemic.

On his own use of masks and their effectiveness.

April 3, at the White House: The C.D.C. is advising the use of nonmedical cloth face covering as an additional voluntary public health measure. So its voluntary. You dont have to do it. They suggested for a period of time, but this is voluntary. I dont think Im going to be doing it.

I just dont want to be doing I dont know, somehow sitting in the Oval Office behind that beautiful Resolute Desk, the great Resolute Desk. I think wearing a face mask as I greet presidents, prime ministers, dictators, kings, queens I dont know, somehow I dont see it for myself. I just, I just dont.

May 21, touring a Ford plant: I wore one a mask in the back area. I didnt want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it.

July 19, to the Fox News host Chris Wallace: I dont agree with the statement that if everybody wears a mask, everything disappears.

Aug. 13, at the White House: My administration has a different approach: We have urged Americans to wear masks, and I emphasized this is a patriotic thing to do. Maybe theyre great, and maybe theyre just good. Maybe theyre not so good.

Sept. 7, asking a reporter to remove a mask while asking a question: If you dont take it off, youre very muffled.

Sept. 29 at a presidential debate: I think masks are OK. You have to understand, if you look I mean, I have a mask right here. I put a mask on when I think I need it. Tonight, as an example, everybodys had a test, and youve had social distancing and all of the things that you have to.

He continued: When needed, I wear masks. I dont wear masks like him, he said of Mr. Biden. Every time you see him, hes got a mask. He could be speaking 200 feet away from them, and he shows up with the biggest mask Ive ever seen.

Jan. 22, asked by a CNBC reporter whether there were worries about a pandemic: No, not at all. We have it totally under control. Its one person coming in from China, and we have it under control. Its going to be just fine.

Jan. 30, in Warren, Mich.: We have very little problem in this country at this moment five. And those people are all recuperating successfully.

Feb. 14, addressing the National Border Patrol Council: Theres a theory that, in April, when it gets warm historically, that has been able to kill the virus. So we dont know yet; were not sure yet.

Feb. 24, in a tweet: The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA. We are in contact with everyone and all relevant countries. CDC & World Health have been working hard and very smart. Stock Market starting to look very good to me!

Feb. 26, at a White House news conference, commenting on the countrys first reported cases: Were going to be pretty soon at only five people, and we could be at just one or two people over the next short period of time. So weve had very good luck.

Feb. 26, flanked by top health officials from government agencies: The risk to the American people remains very low. We have the greatest experts, really in the world, right here.

Feb. 27, at a White House meeting: Its going to disappear. One day its like a miracle it will disappear.

March 7, asked at Mar-a-Lago whether he was concerned that the virus was getting closer to the White House and Washington: No, Im not concerned at all. No, Im not. No, weve done a great job.

Continued here:

What Trump Has Said About Wearing Masks and Covid-19 - The New York Times

TheWest Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) reportsas of 10:00 a.m., October 2, 2020, there have been 576,026 total confirmatory laboratory results receivedfor COVID-19, with 16,307 total cases and 355 deaths.

DHHR has confirmed the death of an 89-year old male from MarionCounty. We regret to report another death of a fellow West Virginian,said Bill J. Crouch, DHHR Cabinet Secretary. Each life lost is heartbreakingand we extend our sincere condolences.

CASESPER COUNTY: Barbour(91), Berkeley (1,064), Boone (246), Braxton (13), Brooke (117), Cabell (876),Calhoun (27), Clay (37), Doddridge (32), Fayette (651), Gilmer (48), Grant(163), Greenbrier (130), Hampshire (109), Hancock (151), Hardy (92), Harrison(423), Jackson (284), Jefferson (444), Kanawha (2,813), Lewis (40), Lincoln(182), Logan (632), Marion (297), Marshall (183), Mason (146), McDowell (91),Mercer (432), Mineral (175), Mingo (395), Monongalia (2,072), Monroe (151),Morgan (60), Nicholas (115), Ohio (378), Pendleton (53), Pleasants (18),Pocahontas (60), Preston (161), Putnam (612), Raleigh (546), Randolph (265),Ritchie (13), Roane (55), Summers (59), Taylor (150), Tucker (39), Tyler (16),Upshur (97), Wayne (414), Webster (8), Wetzel (62), Wirt (12), Wood (380),Wyoming (127).

Pleasenote that delays may be experienced with the reporting of information from thelocal health department to DHHR. As case surveillance continues at the localhealth department level, it may reveal that those tested in a certain countymay not be a resident of that county, or even the state as an individual inquestion may have crossed the state border to be tested.

Pleasevisit the dashboard located at http://www.coronavirus.wv.gov for more information.

Free COVID-19 testinglocations are available today in Barbour, Harrison, Kanawha, Jefferson,Marshall, Taylor and Upshur counties, and Saturday in Jefferson and Marshallcounties:

Barbour County, October2, 10:00 AM 2:00 PM, Barbour County Fair Grounds, 113 Fairgrounds Way,Belington, WV

Harrison County, October2, 10:00 AM 3:00 PM, Robert C. Byrd High School, 1 Eagle Way, Clarksburg, WV

Kanawha County, October2, 11:00 AM 5:00 PM, Riverside High School, 1 Warrior Way, Belle, WV (flushots offered)

Jefferson County, October2, 1:00 PM 7:00 PM, Ranson Civic Center Parking Lot, 432 W. 2nd Avenue,Ranson, WV

Marshall County, October2, 8:00 AM 4:00 PM, Marshall County Health Department, 513 6th Street,Moundsville, WV

Taylor County, October 2,12:00 PM 2:00 PM, First Baptist Church of Grafton, 2034 Webster Pike (US Rt.119 South), Grafton, WV

Upshur County, October 2,10:00 AM 4:00 PM, Buckhannon Upshur High School, 270 B-U Drive, Buckhannon,WV

Jefferson County, October3, 9:00 AM 3:00 PM, Ranson Civic Center Parking Lot, 432 W. 2nd Avenue,Ranson, WV

Marshall County, October3, 8:00 AM 4:00 PM, Marshall County Health Department, 513 6th Street,Moundsville, WV

Testing is available to everyone,including asymptomatic individuals. For upcoming testing locations, pleasevisit https://dhhr.wv.gov/COVID-19/pages/testing.aspx.

Link:

COVID-19 Daily Update 10-2-2020 - West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources

The mother of a South Carolina elementary school teacher who died from Covid-19 last month shared the same fate as her daughter a few weeks later, a relative said.

Shirley Bannister, 57, died from Covid-19 complications on Sept. 27, several weeks after her daughter, Demetria "Demi" Bannister, 28, died from the virus on Sept. 7, Dennis Bell, Shirley's brother, said Friday.

"Shirley was everybody's auntie," Dennis said. "She wanted to make sure her students succeeded, loved taking care of people and was involved with the community."

Shirley, the second youngest of six siblings, was a "mother figure" even as a child, eventually taking care of their aging mother when she grew older, Dennis said. "She was a confidante, the kind of person you would go to with problems, and she would be like your own personal sounding board, a great listener."

The same compassion extended to her work when, at age 19, she received a licensed practicing nurse degree from Midlands Technical College in Columbia. She continued working as a nurse in the gerontology department for 30 years before becoming head of the nursing department at Midlands, which she did for seven years.

Demi inherited her mother's generosity and commitment to helping others by pursuing a teaching career. "Demetria was almost a spitting image of Shirley in her mannerisms and the way she carried herself," Dennis said.

Demi was a voracious learner who was unafraid to try new things, Dennis said. "She loved mentoring kids and making learning fun," he said. "She wanted to transfer that energy and passion to younger people."

Demi, who started her education path five years ago, was a third grade teacher at Windsor Elementary School, where she was known as "Windsor's Songbird," said Denise Quickel, the school's principal.

"Ms. Bannister loved her students and never missed an opportunity to advocate for students and public education," Quickel said. Demi was heavily involved in school productions, leading the school's student choir and even hosting a student club for aspiring singers.

Demi did not initially show symptoms, and all cleaning protocols were followed when she was last inside the school building on Aug. 28, the school district said.

Dennis said it was unclear how she contracted the virus, because the school year started remotely, but she tested positive on Sept. 4 and was hospitalized before passing away three days later.

Shirley had diabetes and asthma before she reported Covid-19 symptoms, Dennis said. She tested positive for Covid-19 and was hospitalized a week before her death on Sept. 27.

A double funeral service was scheduled for Saturday.

The inseparable duo were "loving and driven women," Dennis said. They weren't just educators, he said, but also avid scrapbookers, family planners and "the light of any room."

Shirley and Demi are survived by Shirley's husband and Demi's father, Dennis Bannister. He tested negative for the virus.

"They were just both so committed to living life each day as its last," Dennis said. "They will be missed so much."

Wilson Wong is a news associate at NBC News.

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South Carolina mother and daughter teachers die from Covid-19 weeks apart - NBC News

1:33 PM ET

Turron DavenportESPN

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The NFL knew it would likely have to deal with the coronavirus pandemic at some point when it proceeded with the 2020 season.

"At the end of the day, the safest teams and the healthiest team this year is going to be the one that's going to be playing in January and February. We can only control what we can control," Tennessee Titans safety Kevin Byard said in August.

The Titans became the first NFL team to experience a COVID-19 outbreak. The number of positive tests is now up to 18, and the Titans' game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, originally scheduled for Sunday, has been postponed. The Titans maintain they have adhered to NFL/NFLPA protocols and procedures.

1 Related

Contact tracing was initiated as soon as positive tests were received, according to Titans coach Mike Vrabel. Players and select team employees wear a proximity recording device that tracks interaction with others who wear the device. Anyone who was in close proximity to a person who tests positive is subjected to multiple tests. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the coronavirus has an incubation period that can last up to 14 days. An infected person can be contagious up to 72 hours before they even beginning showing symptoms.

While the Titans were the first team to be affected, they weren't the last. Here is a timeline of how everything unfolded for the Titans and the NFL leading up to Saturday's decision to postpone the New England Patriots-Kansas City Chiefs game as well.

Sept. 24: Titans defensive back Greg Mabin tests positive. Mabin was removed from the team facility after receiving a positive test, according to Vrabel. He was placed immediately into the protocol.

Added Vrabel: "When he tested positive, he was removed from the building. He was quarantined, and those individuals that were close contacts with him were also retested and went through their protocol as well."

The Titans signed Mabin to their practice squad on Sept. 21 to add depth. There are new procedures for bringing in a free agent due to the pandemic.

"When you try players out, they go through a process of testing and quarantine before you work them out, and then when you work them out, you decide to sign them or not, and then they're into the testing protocol," Vrabel said on Thursday. "At that point in time, when he tested positive, we went through and followed the protocol and he was removed from the facility."

Sept. 26: Titans outside linebackers coach Shane Bowen tests positive. The Titans received Bowen's positive test last Saturday morning. Bowen didn't make the Titans' trip to Minnesota to play the Vikings.

"When we get the results early in the morning, Todd [Toriscelli] and his staff and Adrian [Dixon] begin the contact tracing. They do the follow-up testing and then we proceed from there with the protocol as it relates to any of the positives that would come up," Vrabel said on Thursday. "There's a POC test which happens, and we're very confident that we've followed the guidelines with the protocol that the league and the players' association have set forth as it relates to identifying those persons of close contact and by using the tracing devices."

Sept. 27: Titans play the Vikings in Minnesota. The Titans defeated the Vikings with Vrabel calling the defensive plays in place of Bowen, who did it for the first two games.

No Vikings have tested positive since the Titans game.

Sept. 28: News breaks of Bowen's positive test. Vrabel confirmed Bowen had a positive test and didn't make the trip to Minnesota. He said Bowen wasn't with the team and that the Titans had followed NFL/NFLPA procedures.

"I'd say we've followed all the protocols as it relates to COVID," Vrabel said. "We're following the hundred memos that they've sent out verbatim."

Titans' positive tests: one player, one team personnel member

Sept. 29: Titans have eight more positive tests. The Titans received new positive tests from three players and five staff members. They placed defensive lineman DaQuan Jones, long-snapper Beau Brinkley and practice squad tight end Tommy Hudson on the reserve-COVID list.

All in-person activities at the Titans' facility were suspended, but the Week 4 game in Nashville against the Pittsburgh Steelers had not yet been impacted.

"We've been given a mandate to prepare as if the game is going to be played and played on time," Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said.

The Vikings received news of the additional positive tests and closed their facility along with putting a halt to all in-person activities.

Titans' positive tests: four players, six team personnel members

Sept. 30: Another Titan tests positive. Outside linebacker Kamalei Correa was placed on the reserve-COVID list. Vrabel was preparing the team to play as early as Monday. According to Vrabel, the players who were in need of treatment were able to enter the facility to see the athletic training staff. Anyone who entered the building was required to wear a mask at all times.

Vrabel also said some of the players who tested positive were experiencing flu-like symptoms but he anticipated that "they will feel better shortly."

Minnesota reopened its facility with enhanced protocols. ESPN Vikings reporter Courtney Cronin reported that everyone entering the building had to have a negative PCR test and a negative point of care test (nasal swab with results available in 20 minutes).

Titans' positive tests: five players, six team personnel members

2:10

Dianna Russini shares the latest on Cam Newton testing positive for COVID-19 and what that means for the Patriots.

Oct. 1: Two more Titans test positive; NFL postpones Steelers vs. Titans. The Titans placed cornerback Kristian Fulton on the reserve-COVID list. An additional unnamed team personnel member also tested positive.

According to a statement, the NFL's decision to move the game to a later date was made "to ensure the health and safety of players, coaches and game day personnel."

Vrabel told the media the Titans were "very confident that we've followed the guidelines with the protocol that the league and the players' association have set forth." The Titans' facility remained closed. All players, coaches and select team members continued testing while the team was on its bye week as a result of the postponement.

Vrabel delivered news of the postponement to the Titans during a virtual team meeting at 8:30 a.m. The Titans turned their attention to their Week 5 opponent, the Buffalo Bills.

"We had a squad meeting to inform the team that in light of the two recent positive tests that we had, the NFL had made the smart and safe decision to postpone our game, and that we would be on a bye week starting now," Vrabel said. "[We] reminded them to not gather with each other, players and staff, until we can find a safe way to enter in back to our building ... hopefully which would happen Monday or Tuesday, [and] we would then [begin] preparation against Buffalo."

The NFL also issued a memo with enhanced protocols for teams to follow after exposure to the COVID-19 virus -- including two daily tests. PPE and face masks must be worn by all players and coaches on the practice field and gloves must be worn by everyone except quarterbacks on their throwing hand. All meetings must be virtual, and there will also be daily deep cleanings of the facility. The protocols also prohibit team or player gatherings away from the facility.

Titans' positive tests: six players, seven team personnel members

Oct 2: Two more Titans test positive; NFL reschedules Steelers vs. Titans for Week 7. The Titans placed wide receivers Adam Humphries and Cam Batson on the reserve-COVID list.

Both the Titans and the Steelers now have Week 4 as their bye week. Officials from the NFL and NFLPA visit Nashville to look further into the outbreak situation.

The NFL released another memo, this time outlining procedures during the bye week and "testing cadence." The statement reminds players there is a $50,000 fine for missing a test. A second missed test results in a one game suspension.

Any player that misses a daily test without authorization during the bye week must have five negative PCR tests (taken 24 hours apart) before reentering a team facility.

Titans' positive tests: eight players, seven team personnel members

Oct. 3: Multiple NFL positive tests. The Titans received another positive test for a player and two for team personnel members.

News broke that New England Patriots quarterback Cam Newton had tested positive on Saturday morning. ESPN's Adam Schefter reported that, per a source, the Patriots did mass testing and retesting and there was no immediate spread.

Schefter also reported that Sunday's Patriots vs. Chiefs game would likely be moved to Tuesday.

Chiefs practice squad quarterback Jordan Ta'amu also tested positive for the coronavirus, according to a source.

Titans' positive tests: nine players, nine team personnel members

The rest is here:

Timeline of the NFL COVID-19 outbreak -- How positive tests led to postponed games - ESPN

CHICAGO News Friday that President Trump and first lady Melania Trump had tested positive for COVID-19 sparked an explosion of rumors, misinformation and conspiracy theories that in a matter of hours littered the social media feeds of many Americans.

Tweets shared thousands of times claimed Democrats might have somehow intentionally infected the president with the coronavirus during the debates. Others speculated in Facebook posts that maybe the president was faking his illness. And the news also ignited constant conjecture among QAnon followers, who peddle a baseless belief that Trump is a warrior against a secret network of government officials and celebrities that they falsely claim is running a child trafficking ring.

In the final weeks of the presidential campaign, Trumps COVID-19 diagnosis was swept into an online vortex of coronavirus misinformation and the falsehoods swirling around this polarizing election. Trump himself has driven much of that confusion and distrust on the campaign trail, from his presidential podium and his Twitter account, where hes made wrong claims about widespread voter fraud or hawked unproven cures for the coronavirus, such as hydroxychloroquine.

This is both a political crisis weeks before the election and also a health crisis; its a perfect storm, said Alexandra Cirone, an assistant professor at Cornell University who studies the effect of misinformation on government.

Facebook said Friday that it immediately began monitoring misinformation around the presidents diagnosis and had started applying fact checks to some false posts.

Twitter, meanwhile, was monitoring an uptick in copypasta campaigns about Trumps illness. Copypasta campaigns are attempts by numerous Twitter accounts to parrot the same phrase over and over to inundate users with messaging, and they are sometimes signals of coordinated activity. The social media company said it was working to limit views on those tweets.

But nearly 30,000 Twitter users had retweeted a variety of conspiracy theories about the news by Friday morning, according to an analysis by VineSight, a tech company that tracks online misinformation.

Roughly 10,000 of those retweets touted the drug hydroxychloroquine, an unproven treatment for COVID-19, as a treatment for the president. Another 13,000 retweets were related to a QAnon conspiracy theory that the president is going into quarantine while mass arrests of high-profile politicians like Trumps former Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton are carried out, according to the companys analysis.

Most of the conversation was coming from unverified accounts on Twitter, said Gideon Blocq, the CEO of VineSight.

A lot of them seem very happy about whats going to happen because they think Hillary Clinton is going to be arrested, Blocq said of the QAnon accounts.

Misinformation was not only promoted in the fringe spheres of the internet but by everyday social media users as well, said Shane Creevy, head of editorial at Kinzen, an Ireland-based company that works to monitor misinformation online.

The conspiracy part of the internet is like outside the mainstream, but even among regular users we are seeing quite a lot of crazy thinking pushed out there from people who should know better, Creevy said.

Other social media users were suggesting that Trumps diagnosis is a hoax aimed at generating sympathy among voters or even getting out of the next presidential debate against Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.

That speculation shows up in Facebook comments on news stories about Trump.

It is a lie, one Facebook user wrote on a TV news networks post about Trump, calling it a Strategy to not debate Biden anymore.

Similar posts making the groundless claim were shared hundreds or thousands of times online.

Is Trump faking COVID to avoid narcissistic injury of losing the election? one Twitter user asked in a post retweeted more than 4,000 times Friday morning.

Clint Watts, a disinformation expert with the Foreign Policy Research Institute, published a report in July describing one or both of the candidates contracting COVID-19 as a scenario for prompting an onslaught of disinformation in the campaign.

The biggest reason why this is a disaster is because there are no trusted information sources remaining that have not been undermined by the president, he said.

The news is also ripe for foreign and domestic internet instigators to exploit in a disinformation campaign, and opens the door for people to unwittingly spread misinformation, said Cirone, the Cornell professor.

She predicted that internet users will share video clips of politicians coughing or appearing ill to prematurely claim that they have tested positive for the virus.

In fact, social media users have already employed a similar strategy when they shared video clips of Biden coughing during an event in Pennsylvania on Wednesday to suggest he was sick. The video resurfaced again getting more than 160,000 views on Twitter by Friday morning with social media users suggesting that Biden either infected Trump or had caught the virus from Trump during the debate. Biden and his wife tested negative Friday for the virus.

Individual citizens shouldnt amplify any speculation, Cirone said. Nefarious actors are banking on the (likelihood) that citizens will be very concerned about this and accidentally spread fake news.

In perhaps a sign of whats to come, state-backed Russian television channel RT tweeted a story suggesting that Bidens prolonged coughing from the debate raised concerns for the former vice president after Trumps test. In the last presidential election, Russia launched an online misinformation campaign with bogus social media accounts that aimed to sway U.S. voters opinions in the race, and there are signs that the Kremlin is at it again.

Watts said Russian-backed accounts are mostly only trolling the president and the White House so far, but they are just getting started especially given that the president has only begun his quarantine.

They are going to position all sorts of conspiracies or amplify American conspiracies, Watts said.

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Misinformation spikes after Trump confirms he has COVID-19 - pressherald.com

However, when the coronavirus pandemic started, Woodrum began to accept that her travel plans would have to be put on hold. But what she couldn't accept was staying at home and "waiting this thing out."

She joined as an ambassador and learned that participating in physically challenging projects with the bluish green box was central to the organization's mission.

As an avid hiker and lover of the outdoors, the 27-year-old decided she was going to climb all 58 of Colorado's 14,000 feet peaks with the goal of raising awareness and funding for families around the world who have lost their homes and are now facing the threat of Covid-19.

Seventy-eight days and nearly 600 miles of hiking later, Woodrum raised $85,0000 from friends, family and strangers around the world. All while carrying the symbolic -- and useful -- 14-pound box.

Woodrum said because the project came together so quickly, she didn't think she would raise more than $5,000. "Word seemed to spread very quickly and a lot of people were equally impassioned by ShelterBox's mission and what I was doing," she said. "I have an immense amount of gratitude to everyone who came out to support me both virtually & physically."

The journey was not easy. "There were a lot of variables involved," she said. "From the weather to my health and well-being. I am so relieved that everything went better than expected."

Woodrum spent most nights camping but spent her fair share of nights in her car.

"I really wanted to avoid going into towns and hotels to minimize my impact on the spread of the coronavirus," Woodrum -- who said she only went grocery shopping twice throughout the entire journey -- told CNN. "It was definitely an adventure. I ate a lot of mashed potatoes."

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She raised $85,000 for Covid-19 relief by climbing all 58 of Colorado's 14,000 feet peaks - CNN