Coronavirus updates: Dr. Anthony Fauci says to ‘hunker down’ for the rest of the year; $300B relief bill fails in Senate; 191K US deaths – USA TODAY

The study's goal was to estimate the impacts of a single "super-spreader" event on the spread of COVID-19. USA TODAY

The Senate failed to advancea slimmed-down coronavirus relief bill Thursday that senators on both sides had acknowledged was unlikely to muster the votes to pass the chamber.

The bill was defeated in a 52-47 vote, and one Republican, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., voted with Democrats in opposing the bill.

The estimated $300 billionproposal, dubbed theDelivering Immediate Relief to America's Families, Schools and Small Businesses Act, included bolstered unemployment benefits, funding for schools and liability protections for businesses and health care facilities. Its failureleaves little chance a stimulus bill will pass Congress before the November election.

Meanwhile, universities across the country also continue to contend with COVID-19 challenges. The University of Wyoming on Wednesday extended its fall return for the second time in a week, while the University of Wisconsin-Madison shifted to online education for two weeks.

Some significant developments:

Today's numbers:The U.S. has more than 6.3million confirmed cases and more than191,000 deaths, according toJohns Hopkins University data.Globally, there are more than 28 million cases and more than 904,000 fatalities.

What we're reading:Here's what President Donald Trump told the public about COVID-19 versus what he told veteran Washington Post journalist Bob Woodwardas early as February.

Mapping coronavirus:Track the U.S. outbreak, state by state

This file will be updated throughout the day. For updates in your inbox,subscribe toTheDaily Briefingnewsletter.

Nearly three quarters of Americans say they seeDemocratic presidential nominee Joe Bidenas more caring to those affected by the coronavirus pandemic, while less than half say the same of President Donald Trump, a new survey from the Democracy Fund + UCLA Nationscape Project finds.

Also, a combined 66% of Americans say Biden is more caring to thosewho have lost their jobs, compared withTrump at 53%.

Robert Griffin, the research director for the Democracy Fund, said that Biden is likely seen more empathetic because he is seen as a "relatively compassionate person," while Trump is seen as a "no nonsense deal maker."

Rebecca Morin

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's leading infectious diseases expert, offered a word of warningto Americans as summer'send approaches.

Speaking at a virtual panel with doctors from Harvard Medical School, per NBC News, Fauci said thatthe fight against the coronavirus pandemic will only get more strenuous as the year reaches its close. He also cautioned against downplaying the severity of the virus, knowing "what's ahead" if preventative measures are not met.

"We need to hunker down and get through this fall and winter, because its not going to be easy, he said, adding that we cannot"look at the rosy side of things."

Vice President Mike Pence was at the January meeting at which President Donald Trump was warned about the severity of the novel coronavirus, he told Fox News Thursday.

"I was in the Oval Office the day that the team came in and briefed the president about what we perceived was happening in China," Pence said, when asked if he had received the same briefing Trump had from National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien. "The team came in and laid the facts as we knew them on the table to the president."

The Jan. 28 briefing included a "jarring" warning that the virus would be the "biggest national security threat" of Trump's presidency, according to a new book written by Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward.

Maureen Groppe

University of Missouri students reported that they were blocked by the school's chancellor on Twitter this week after complainingabout the lack of COVID-19 precautions on campus.

After an attorney threatened a lawsuit, Chancellor Mun Choi unblocked students, according to local outlets and Twitter.

Ina lettersent to Choi, Texas lawyer and Mizzou graduate Christopher Bennett said the university's top official had violated theFirst Amendment by blocking students from seeing or interacting with his tweets and could face legal action in the U.S. District Court if he didn'tunblock every student on Twitter.

Elinor Aspegren

Riders who refuse to wear a mask while riding New York City's public-transit system will face a $50 fine starting Monday. The fine applies to anyone riding New York City subway trains, buses or the Metro North and Long Island Rail Road commuter lines.

MTA President and CEO Patrick Foye announced the fine Thursday on a conference call with Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Sarah Feinberg, interim president of the NYC Transit Authority, who said it is meant to bolster compliance with the state's mask mandate. Under Cuomo's executive order, all riders are required to wear a mask while riding public transit as a way to limit the spread of COVID-19.

Jon Campbell, New York State Team

The days are quickly counting down for thousands of pilots, flight attendants, gate agents and other airline workers who face the prospect of being laid off at the end of the month if Congress doesn't come through with a new stimulus agreement.

Why the urgency? The Department of Transportation barred airlines that accepted stimulus money from laying off employees until at least Oct. 1, when $25 billion in payroll support protection money from the CARES Act expires.

On Thursday, the Senate failed to pass a slimmed-down GOP coronavirus relief package that didn't allocate any aid for the airline industry. That leaves open the chance that airline funds could be included in a compromise measure with the House.

Chris Woodyard

Nearly 15% of cats included in a Wuhan-based study tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies, providing further evidence that the virus can infect the animals.

Researchers in Wuhan sampled 102 cats from shelters, pet hospitals and COVID-19 patient households from January to March and found that 15 tested positive for antibodies, including fourabandoned cats, four cats from pet hospitals and three cats with patient owners, according to the study published this month in thejournal Emerging Microbes & Infections.

None of the cats showed symptoms or had an active infection. The three cats owned by COVID-19 patients who tested positive for antibodies had the highest level of neutralizing antibodies or ability to successfully block the infection. Two of those cats had detectable antibodies for110 days.

Researchers said that while there is no evidence of transmission from cats to humans, humans can transmit the virus to cats, and cats maytransmit the virus to other cats via respiratory droplets.

Scotland has joined England in limiting social gatherings to six people after a recent spike in coronavirus cases.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon told Scottish lawmakers the new regulations will start Monday, along with England, and apply to gatherings in and out of the home.

Scotlands restriction is perhaps more onerous as it applies to a maximum of two households. In England, six individuals from six different households can meet.

Senior members of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have joined a growing list of government officials, drug makers and public health experts who pledge they wont compromise safety in the race for a coronavirus vaccine.

In a letter published Thursday in USA TODAY, eight top FDA officials and doctors affirmed the agencys commitment that all "decisions will continue to be guided by the best science"and maintain independence from political forces.

The letter comes as the agency in recent weeks has faced criticism for approving convalescent plasma therapy for emergency use as a COVID-19 treatment based on flawed analysis.

Adrianna Rodriguez

Although the nation is partially recovering from its steepest-ever recession amid the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses continue to lay off hundreds of thousands of workers as they grapple with fewer sales and depleted federal aid.

More than 857,000 Americans filed first-time applications for unemployment insurance a rough measure of layoffs last week, up about 20,000 from the previous week, the Labor Department said Thursday. The figures are not seasonally adjusted.

Over 55 million workers have filed for benefits over the past six months. While the weekly figures have trended down since peaking at 6.2 million in early spring, heres some perspective: The previous all-time high for weekly claims on a non-seasonally adjusted basis was about 1 million during a recession in 1982.

Paul Davidson

One day after releasing guidelines banning trick-or-treating and other Halloween activities, health officials in Los Angeles walked back their rules on Wednesday. They now are just "recommending that trick-or-treating not happen this year," Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said.

Halloween carnivals, festivals, live entertainment, haunted house attractions and gatherings with non-household memberseven if they are conducted outdoorsare not permitted, the updated guidance says. Online parties, car parades, drive-in movies, themed meals at outdoors restaurants and more are recommended.

In Chicago, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Wednesday that she does not"expect to see mass crowds trick-or-treating like we have in years past," adding that, "It's not safe for the children. Its not safe for the adults."

The race for a coronavirus vaccine to help end the pandemic has consumed the scientific community and created an escalating demand for an essential resource: monkeys.

Before drug companies call on human volunteers, monkeys are used in preclinical trials to test a vaccines safety and effectiveness. But with more than 100 vaccines in development around the world, there arent enough monkeys to go around.

"There is a shortage,"said Dr. Skip Bohm, associate director and chief veterinary medical officer of the Tulane National Primate Research Center. Read more.

Adrianna Rodriguez

COVID-19 may only be the beginning ofglobal pandemicsa future scenario in whichclimate change may also play a role. Arecent study in the journal Cellsaid, written by Dr. Anthony Fauci and medical historian Dr. David Morens, argues that the world has "entered a pandemic era." The studyforecasts that pandemics could become more numerous.

I dont have a crystal ball, but what we are seeing looks very much like an acceleration of pandemics, Morens toldBuzzFeed News. Causes he cited include deforestation, urban crowdingand wet markets for wild game.

Climate change has not stopped because of COVID-19,according to a United Nations report Wednesday. Emissions are heading in the direction of pre-pandemic levels following a temporary decline caused by the lockdown and economic slowdown, the reportsaid.

Doyle Rice

The U.S. government is halting its enhanced entry screening for certaininternational passengers at airportsstarting Monday,according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Thecurrent system of temperature checksand screening for COVID-19 symptomsat 15centralized airports will be dropped in favor of shifting responsibility to the individual passenger. Instead, the emphasis will be placed onpre-departure, in-flight and post-arrival health education;voluntary electronic contact information collection; andpost-arrival recommendations for self-monitoring, including staying home for 14 days if arriving from a high-risk destination.

David Oliver

President Donald Trump may have to find a new home for planned weekend campaign rallies in Reno and Las Vegas after local officials warned the eventswould violate Nevadas ban on gatherings of more than 50 people during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Reno-Tahoe Airport Authorityconfirmed it hadsent a letter to rally organizers warningthat Saturday's planned 5,000-person event may not proceedafter airport attorneys determined it would violate state and local COVID-containment directives.

"This has nothing to do with politics," airport authority CEO Daren Griffin said in a statement. "The letter we sent is about directives and safety and not political campaigns.

Earlier Wednesday, former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt, a Republican, tweeted without evidence that Trumps scheduled appearances at the Reno-Tahoe Airport and Las Vegas Cirrus Aviation were scrapped in an "outrageous"act of "partisan political retribution."Gov. Steve Sisolak, a Democrat,latertweetedthat his office had "no involvement" in the decision.

James DeHaven, Reno Gazette Journal

Most Michigan high school sports are getting a late start this fall, and now a new executive order will make sure you see sports like you've never seen before.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed an executive ordermandating a face covering be worn at all times by "athletes training for, practicing for, or competing in an organized sports when the athlete cannot maintain six feet of social distance, except for occasional and fleeting moments."

Swimmers are excluded from this order, but football, soccer and volleyball players are not. So, expect to see players on the field and on the sidelines wearing masks under their helmets when games begin Sept. 18.

Kirkland Crawford and Dave Boucher, Detroit Free Press

The University of Wisconsin-Madison has paused in-person classes because ofa spike in COVID-19 cases on campus. Starting Monday, classes will be held remotely. Officials canceled classes from Thursday to Saturday."Unfortunately, our positive test rate among students continues to rise far too rapidly," officials announced Wednesday in a news release.

There's also been a "sharp"increase of confirmed cases in two residence halls, and officials have asked residents to quarantine for the next two weeks.

Meanwhile, the University of Wyoming extended the pause on its fall return until Monday. Officials said Wednesday thatthe extension will allow them "to gather additional data about the prevalence of COVID-19 infection among the UW community." Last week, President Edward Seidel paused the university's fall return after seven students tested positive for the virus on Sept. 2.

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Contributing: The Associated Press

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Coronavirus updates: Dr. Anthony Fauci says to 'hunker down' for the rest of the year; $300B relief bill fails in Senate; 191K US deaths - USA TODAY