September 9 coronavirus news

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice announced today that the state’s Covid-19 numbers aren’t where they should be. 

The governor said today’s positivity rate is at 7.78%, adding “that’s really bad.”

Justice added that West Virginia has a record high of active Covid-19 cases with at least 2,806 and “the worst reproduction rate, the RT rate is at 1.35. It’s the worst in the nation.”

The governor called on state residents to do better, as this is a critical time.  

Note: These numbers were released by the West Virginia public health agency, and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project.

Students walk toward the Arch at the University of Georgia on August 20 in Athens, Georgia.

The University of Georgia reported at least 1,417 positive Covid-19 cases were reported to the school for the week of Aug. 31 through Sept. 4, according to a UGA release.

Of the positive cases, 1,402 were students, 14 were staff, and just one was a member of faculty.

The data suggests spread is not happening in classroom settings, according to Dr. Garth Russo, executive director of the University Health Center and chair of UGA’s medical oversight task force, said in the release. 

Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez speaks with the news media following a news conference on Monday, Aug. 24, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens.

Miami-Dade, Florida, Mayor Carlos Giménez announced Wednesday he is loosening some restrictions in the county after a meeting with Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Deborah Birx.

Starting Monday, Miami-Dade’s 10 p.m. curfew will be pushed back one hour to 11 p.m., Giménez said. Restaurants and businesses will be allowed to serve customers for the extra hour, he said.

Anyone attending a college or professional sporting event that ends after the curfew should keep their game ticket “in case you get stopped by police when you’re heading home,” Giménez said.

The University of Miami Hurricanes season opener at Hard Rock Stadium is scheduled for 8 p.m. Thursday, with 13,000 socially distanced fans allowed to attend.

Zoos and animal adventure parks, like Zoo Miami and Jungle Island, can open their gates to visitors for outdoor activities starting Monday as well, Giménez said.

Playgrounds in the county will remain closed while baseball and softball will now be allowed, with some restrictions. Other amateur contact sports like football and soccer are still not allowed, the mayor said.

Rental scooters and bikes will also be allowed. Scooter companies have been asked to provide sanitizing supplies at docking stations for customers, Giménez said.

Miami-Dade is down to a 6.46% positivity rate in its 14-day average, according to Giménez.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany speaks during a press briefing on September 9 in Washington, DC. 

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said during Wednesday’s press briefing that AstraZeneca’s recent pause on a coronavirus vaccine trial showed “science is guiding the way on a vaccine.”

McEnany called their pause “a routine response when you see an adverse effect.”

McEnany also said that an end of year coronavirus vaccine is still the goal, despite the pause, and disputed that there was ever an Election Day deadline.

“Our timing is not about the election. It is about saving lives and by the end of the year has always been our goal, but of course a safe and effective vaccine, we will take it as quickly as we can get it,” she said.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo just announced that indoor dining in New York City can resume on Sept. 30.

Restaurants must operate at 25% capacity and follow strict restrictions, including temperature-checking guests at the door and now allowing bar service.

Here’s a look at all of the restrictions, according to Cuomo:

Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks at a press conference on Wednesday, September 9.

New York’s Covid-19 infection rate remains under 1% for 33 straight days, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday.

New York’s Covid-19 infection rate is 0.91%, Cuomo said. 

The State Liquor Authority has visited over 36,000 establishments and those restaurants have maintained a 99.2% compliance with capacity restrictions, the governor said.

“Rules are only as good as their compliance. And the compliance is only as good as the enforcement,” Cuomo said. 

One thing to note: The numbers listed were released by the state of New York and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project. 

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said he’s hopeful to have an announcement regarding indoor dining as early as this week.  

He made a similar comment last week.

The mayor said there have been a lot of conversations over the last few days with Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office and are making a lot of progress, but indoor dining has to be done safely. 

The final decision on indoor dining will be made by Cuomo who said yesterday that local governments need to have an “enforcement mechanism” in place.

The mayor noted that indoor dining is a “contributing factor” to recent spikes in Europe.

“The really important piece of this is our opportunity to do more with indoor dining is directly related to how well we do on the health picture overall. If we keep fighting back the coronavirus, more and more options open up. If the coronavirus starts to re-surge you’re not going to see a lot of things, including indoor dining,” he said. 

De Blasio also said he is working to give some clarity to the restaurant industry “so they can have some option to keep going.”

De Blasio announced 220 new cases of coronavirus Wednesday with a positivity rate of 1.04%.

President Trump told journalist Bob Woodward that he wanted to play down the coronavirus pandemic because he didn’t want to “create a panic,” according to an audio recording from Woodward’s interviews.

CNN has obtained the recordings of Woodward’s interviews with Trump for his new book “Rage.” According to the book, Trump also knew in early February coronavirus was dangerous, highly contagious, airborne and “deadly.”

Here’s part of a recording from March 19:

Trump: Now it’s turning out it’s not just old people, Bob. Just today and yesterday, some startling facts came out. It’s not just old- older.   

Woodward: Yeah, exactly.  

Trump: Young people too, plenty of young people.  

Woodward: So, give me-   

Trump: So what’s going on-  

Woodward: -a moment of talking to somebody, going through this with Fauci or somebody who kind of, it caused a pivot in your mind. Because it’s clear, just from what’s on the public record that you went through a pivot on this to, ‘oh my god, the gravity is almost inexplicable and unexplainable.’  

Trump: Well I think, Bob, really, to be honest with you-  

Woodward: Sure, I want you to be.  

Trump: I wanted to- I wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down, because I don’t want to create a panic.

WATCH:

President Donald Trump attends a meeting in the Oval Office on September 4 in Washington, DC.

According to audio Bob Woodward’s interviews with President Trump for his new book “Rage,” the President on Feb. 7 said coronavirus could be “more deadly” than strenuous flus.

Trump went on to say that coronavirus was maybe five times “more deadly” than the flu.

“This is more deadly. This is five per- you know, this is five percent versus one percent and less than one percent. You know? So, this is deadly stuff,” Trump said, according to the audio.

But 20 days later, while speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump said “we don’t know exactly” what the fatality rate of coronavirus is.

“The flu has a fatality ratio of about 1% This has a fatality ratio of somewhere between 2 and 3%” CNN’s Sanjay Gupta said at the Feb. 27 briefing.

“We think, we don’t know exactly,” Trump said “The flu is much higher than that.”

CNN has obtained audio recordings from some of Bob Woodward’s interviews with President Trump for his new book “Rage.”

According to the book, Trump knew in early February coronavirus was dangerous, highly contagious, airborne and “deadly.”

Here’s an exchange between Woodward and Trump on Feb. 7:

Woodward: And so, what was President Xi saying yesterday?  

Trump: Oh, we were talking mostly about the virus. And I think he’s going to have it in good shape, but you know, it’s a very tricky situation. It’s –  

Woodward: Indeed.  

Trump: It goes through air, Bob. That’s always tougher than the touch. You know, the touch, you don’t have to touch things. Right? But the air, you just breathe the air and that’s how it’s passed. And so, that’s a very tricky one. That’s a very delicate one. It’s also more deadly than your – you know, your, even your strenuous flus. You know, people don’t realize, we lose 25,000, 30,000 people a year here. Who would ever think that, right?  

Woodward: I know. It’s much forgotten.  

Trump: Pretty amazing. And then I say, well, is that the same thing-  

Woodward: What are you able to do for-  

Trump: This is more deadly. This is five per- you know, this is five percent versus one percent and less than one percent. You know? So, this is deadly stuff.

A funeral home director and mortician assistants prepare a funeral service for a man who died of Covid-19 on August 12 in Tampa, Florida.

Florida health officials reported 200 resident fatalities on Wednesday, bringing the resident death toll to 12,115, according to the Florida Department of Health.  

State health officials reported 154 non-Florida resident deaths as well, the department’s data shows.

The health department reported 2,056 new cases of Covid-19, bringing the state’s total to 652,148.

There have been 40,517 Florida residents with Covid-19 hospitalized since the start of the pandemic, the department’s data shows. 

One thing to note: These numbers were released by Florida’s public health agency, and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project.

Dr. Chris Pernell speaks with CNN.

A sense of purpose has always driven Dr. Chris Pernell, which is why she became a doctor in the first place. But when she lost her father to Covid-19 and saw her sister, a breast cancer survivor, also struggling to fend off the impact of the virus, she volunteered to be a part of the coronavirus vaccine trial. 

Reemphasizing how the pandemic is disproportionately impacting racial minorities, she said, “Black and brown communities — we’ve borne this disproportionate burden. And given my interest in racial equity and racial justice, this is personal. This is a personal fight for me.”

Dr. Pernell also said she understands the skepticism in the Black community given the “long history of exploitation that gives the black community a sense of pause, that broken trust.”

“But even with that being true, this opportunity is paramount,” she said. “Communities that have been disproportionately impacted should have that opportunity, should have that access to say I want to be a part of the solution.”

While a vaccine for Covid-19 is not a magic bullet, it will play a critical part in managing the pandemic, according the Dr. Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust, a health research charity.

“There are no magic bullets for infectious diseases,” Farrar said, during a news briefing by the Wellcome Trust on Wednesday. “It’s always a combination of public health, of treatments, of diagnostics, of behavior, of poverty, of course — and yes, in many cases where we’re lucky, with vaccines as well.”

Farrar used Ebola as an example, saying, “Yes, it’s fantastic to have an Ebola vaccine, but we all appreciate that it’s one part of the picture, and Covid-19 will be identical.”

He added that the vaccine will be a “critical” part of the picture. He said he is optimistic that of all the vaccine candidates that are in development, there will be vaccines showing safety and efficacy data that could make a big impact on the pandemic maybe during the later parts of 2020, but certainly in 2021.

As the coronavirus is a human endemic infection, Farrar said that societies around the world will have to learn to live with the infection, manage it and reduce its impact through vaccination, treatment and diagnostics, as is done with many other infections.

There is also the possibility that more than one vaccine will be needed if the virus mutates, and that new challenges could arise from new clinical syndromes or changes of the virus itself.

“This is with us for a very long time,” Farrar said. “With a vaccine or without a vaccine.”

Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, attends a hearing in Washington, DC, on September 9.

Both Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, and Dr. Jerome Adams, surgeon general of the United States, said they would get the Covid-19 vaccine if and when one is deemed safe. 

Sen. Bob Casey, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, questioned the two during the Senate Health Committee’s ongoing hearing on vaccines, asking, “Will you commit to receiving the Covid-19 vaccine in public view” once one is available and is approved by the FDA.

“Absolutely,” Adams answered.

“I am ready to roll up my sleeve as soon as they say it’s effective,” Collins said.

Earlier in the hearing, Adams told Sen. Bernie Sanders, “I want the American people to hear me say this: There will be no shortcuts. This vaccine will be safe. It will be effective. Or it won’t get moved along.”

“And when a vaccine is either approved or authorized by the FDA, I and my family will be in line to get it,” Adams said. 

Coronavirus can hit may young adults hard, new research shows.

One in five young adults hospitalized for Covid-19 needs intensive care and 2.7% of them die, according to research published Wednesday in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine. The researchers said that young adults with certain health issues could be just as susceptible to the virus as middle-aged adults without them.

A team of researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston studied 3,222 Covid-19 patients between 18 and 34 who were treated at 419 US hospitals. About 21% of these patients ended up in the intensive care unit and 10% needed a ventilator. 

Eighty-eight patients, or 2.7%, died. The researchers said that this in-hospital death rate is lower than the rate reported for older adults with Covid-19. For comparison, they note that the rate is about double the death rate for young adults with heart attacks.

Many patients had underlying health conditions, which put them at greater risk of negative outcomes. The team identified 24.5% of patients with morbid obesity, 18.2% with diabetes and 16.1% with high blood pressure. “Young adults with more than one of these conditions faced risks comparable with those observed in middle-aged adults without them,” they wrote.

Black and Hispanic people accounted for 57% of the hospitalized patients, which is in line with reports of minority people of all ages being hit harder by the coronavirus pandemic. The researchers noted that odds of death or mechanical ventilation did not vary significantly among different races.

Research published in July found that one in three young adults is at risk of severe Covid-19. As rates of the virus increase among the younger population, the team says their findings highlight the importance of infection control among young adults.

Although some patients have been avoiding essential care due to fears of catching Covid-19 in hospitals, new research published in JAMA Network Open on Wednesday suggests it’s rare for people to catch the virus while at the hospital.  

There were 9,149 patients admitted to the Brigham and Women’s Hospital between March 7 and May 30, the first 12 weeks of the pandemic in the region.

The researchers reviewed all patients diagnosed with Covid-19 either on the third or later days of their time in hospital or who were diagnosed within 14 days of having been discharged from the hospital. 

There were 697 initial diagnoses of Covid-19, 12 of which came three or more days into the patients’ hospital stay.

The only patient who definitely acquired Covid-19 in the hospital was most likely infected by a presymptomatic spouse who visited daily before their own diagnosis, one week before the patient started having symptoms. The case occurred before implementation of visitor restrictions and universal masking, the researchers said. 

Community acquired infection was definite or likely for the other 11 patients. 

Of the 8,370 patients who were hospitalized with non-Covid related conditions and discharged through June 17, there were 11 positive tests within the health care system for Covid-19 in the two weeks after discharge. 

US Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams announced that the US Department of Health and Human Services will be issuing guidance to expand access to safe and effective coronavirus vaccines.

Adams said, per HHS, when Covid-19 vaccines are made available, state-licensed pharmacists will now be able to administer them to anyone age 3 and older.

WATCH:

US Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams arrives for a hearing in Washington, DC, on September 9.

The Surgeon General of the United States promises he will not let the cost of a potential Covid-19 vaccine get in the way of getting people vaccinated. 

“As Surgeon General of the United States, I promise you, we will use every federal tool that we have to make sure that cost is not an obstacle for people receiving what will perhaps be the most important and highly anticipated vaccine of our lives,” Dr. Jerome Adams said.

Speaking at the same Senate Health Committee hearing, Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, agreed with Adams, “100%.”

WATCH:

Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, listens during a hearing in Washington, DC, on September 9.

Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, promised the Senate Health Committee during a hearing on vaccines that “the rigor of a scientific evaluation of safety and efficacy will not be compromised.”

Collins said “this is foremost in all our minds. We cannot compromise here.”

The comments came a day after drug giant AstraZeneca said it had paused global trials of its coronavirus vaccine because of an unexplained illness in one of the volunteers.

“The announcement yesterday about the AstraZeneca vaccine is a concrete example of how even a single case of an unexpected illness is sufficient to require a clinical hold for the trial in multiple countries,” Collins said.

Collins said traditionally, vaccine development requires many years of work, but that is very different during Covid-19.

“As a scientist, I’m excited that the pace of discovery is allowing us to respond to this crisis in record time. As a physician, I’m hopeful when I think of the millions of lives that have been saved from other diseases through vaccination, and the millions more that we can save by developing a safe and effective vaccine for Covid-19,” Collins concluded.

WATCH:

Nearly 14% of the population of Lafayette County, Florida, a small rural county in the northern part of the state, has at some point during the pandemic contracted coronavirus, according to the Florida Department of Health (FLDOH). 

The population of Lafayette County is 8,744, and 1,213 people have had Covid-19, per FLDOH. The FLDOH also reports the following:

More on this: Lafayette is the Florida county with the highest number of infections per capita in the state. It even surpasses Miami-Dade County, which has been considered the epicenter of the crisis. In Miami-Dade, nearly 6% of the population has at some point contracted Covid-19, per the FLDOH.

So why has such a high percent of the population in Lafayette County, Florida contracted the coronavirus? The Mayo Annex Correctional Institution in Lafayette County has reported 954 infections in inmates, according to the Florida Department of Corrections (FDC). In August, the FDC announced an outbreak of 639 inmates at the facility, which houses about 1,400 inmates. 

Kerry Waldron, Florida Department of Health Administrator for Lafayette and Suwannee Counties said a large portion of the infections are related to a correctional facility. “A high percentage of those incarcerated are between the ages of 25 and 44,” Waldron said.

One inmate has died at the Mayo Annex facility, according to the FLDOH. So far during the pandemic, 111 inmates have died in Florida prisons, per the FDC.

A person in Hong Kong gets tested for Covid-19 on September 8.

Hong Kong will extend its universal coronavirus testing program for three days until Sept. 14, the city’s government announced on Wednesday.

Among 122 community testing centers, 57 community centers across all the 18 districts will continue to operate from Sept. 12 to 14. 

1.36 million people had registered at the testing centers since the launch of the program on Sept. 3.

Hong Kong launched the universal testing program on Sept. 1 to provide a one-off free virus testing for all citizens to “identify asymptomatic Covid-19 carriers as early as possible.”

Hong Kong confirmed six new coronavirus infections for the second day in a row on Wednesday, including one case from the universal testing program. 

Health experts are applauding AstraZeneca for pausing its coronavirus vaccine trials due to an unexplained illness in one of the volunteers.

It’s a standard precaution in vaccine trials, meant to ensure experimental vaccines don’t cause serious reactions, but Dr. Abdul El-Sayed said the pause is “reassuring” because it shows that the process is not being rushed.

“They’re going through the proper checks to make sure everything is safe and effective,” the epidemiologist told CNN Wednesday.

President Trump’s escalated pressure on administration health officials to expedite work both on a coronavirus vaccine raised concerns over the process that could lead to the approval of a candidate. Some experts have pointed out that public trust in a coronavirus vaccine is quickly dropping.

With this skepticism, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, chief of the division of infectious diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital, also lauded AstraZeneca for observing due diligence.

“This is exactly how vaccine trials are supposed to work. When you see an adverse event, the due diligence needs to occur to see if it’s related to the vaccine and interrogate it and make sure it’s safe to move forward, Dr. Walensky added.

Watch more:

The Netherlands in the past day has recorded the highest number of newly reported Covid-19 infections for months, the county’s health minister said on Wednesday.

There were at least 1,140 newly reported Covid-19 cases in the past day, de Jonge said. That is approaching the Netherlands’ single-day record, which was set on April 10, at 1,335 new infections.

“This is of course much higher than yesterday, and than the day before yesterday,” De Jonge said. “It is therefore not going in the right direction.”

Infections in the past week in the Netherlands (Sept. 2 to 8) were already up 34% over the week previous. This daily total of 1,140 new cases is another 32% increase over last week’s average.

De Jonge said that he hoped that the government would be able to respond locally, and avoid a harsh national measures, “because of course we know much more about where the virus is, and we can enforce much more precise measures. And that is what we are now trying to do.” 

Marriott International is laying off 673 employees at its corporate headquarters in Maryland, a sign that the pandemic-stricken travel industry isn’t close to recovering.

The Maryland-based hotel chain announced the layoffs in a Work Adjustment and Retraining Notice. Marriott employs about 4,000 people at its Bethesda headquarters.

Marriott has furloughed thousands of hotel employees as demand dried up. It’s made no secret how badly Covid-19 is destroying business, saying in May that the pandemic is “having a more severe and sustained financial impact on Marriott’s business than 9/11 and the 2008 financial crisis, combined.”

The stock is down 30% for the year.

People in Cascais, Portugal, are briefed by a health technician before being tested for Covid-19 on June 23.

Portugal has reported 646 new Covid-19 infections in the past 24 hours, the highest daily increase since April 20. 

The new infections increase the incidence rate in the country to 51.2 per 100,000 in the past 14 days. The incidence rate has been rising over the past few weeks. 

In addition to the new infections, Portuguese health authorities also reported three additional deaths from Covid-19. 

Last week both Scotland and Wales added Portugal to their list of countries whose travelers are required to quarantine on arrival. Despite a recent increase in cases, England maintained the Iberian country on its quarantine-free list.  

There have been nearly 27.6 million coronavirus cases reported across the world since the pandemic began, according to the latest figures from Johns Hopkins University.

Nations around the world have taken different approaches to fighting the virus. Here’s where the pandemic stands in some countries across the globe now:

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on CNN's "New Day" on September 9.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told CNN’s John Berman that the upcoming vote on the GOP’s scaled-down relief bill is the result of a “cynical exercise” by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell designed to “check a box” because “he knows it won’t pass.”

Schumer also predicted public pressure would build on Republicans, especially vulnerable senators up for reelection, who eventually will work to cut a deal with Democrats on a bill bigger than the approximately $500 billion measure that’s expected to fail a key test vote Thursday.

Additional reporting from CNN’s Ali Main

GOP senators have unveiled their so-called “skinny” stimulus bill as Congress resumes debating the next coronavirus measures.

The bill includes a $300 federal boost for unemployment benefits and fresh relief for small businesses but cuts out money for a second round of stimulus checks that was included in an earlier proposal.

What happens now: It could go to a vote this week, but it doesn’t have unanimous GOP support, and Democrats want a bill in the trillions. There’s still very little hope that both sides will come to a stimulus agreement before November’s election.

Even the threat of a government shutdown — which could happen when funding runs out at the end of the month — isn’t a big motivator. Congress seems intent on a “clean bill” to keep the government running, without stimulus attachments.

A medic takes a swab from someone for a Covid-19 test in Pullman, Washington, on September 8.

The US should be performing as many as 200 million Covid-19 tests every month well into next year to have any chance of controlling the pandemic, experts say in a new report.

That number is far beyond the country’s current testing capacity, according to the report released Wednesday by the Rockefeller Foundation and the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy.

Public health experts across the country have for months said testing will play a critical role in helping to reel in the pandemic. Getting enough people tested – and getting their results back quickly – will aid contact tracers in tracking down Americans exposed to the virus and help control outbreaks. 

But Adm. Brett Giroir, the testing lead for the White House Coronavirus Task Force, has said repeatedly the US cannot test its way out of the pandemic.

Read the full story here:

Related article The US needs 200 million tests a month to reel in Covid-19 pandemic, report says

World Health Organization (WHO) Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan is pictured at a press conference on July 3, at the WHO headquarters in Geneva.

The safety of any potential coronavirus vaccine comes “first and foremost,” the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) chief scientist said Wednesday.

The comments came after drug giant AstraZeneca announced it has paused global trials of its vaccine because of an unexplained illness in one of the volunteers – a standard precaution in trials, to ensure experimental vaccines don’t cause serious reactions.

“The process still has to follow the rule of the game, which is go through the process of clinical trials,” she added.

She said development timelines were being shortened – but not at the expense of safety or efficacy. 

“We are putting a lot of investment into manufacturing well ahead of the results of the trials. Normally a company would wait, see the results of the trial, then start scaling up, but here you are investing in advance what’s called ‘at-risk investment,’ so there places around the world that can start manufacturing before the results are available,” Swaminathan said.

Charlie Weller, head of the vaccines program at the Wellcome health research charity, said it was right for the trial to be paused while an investigation takes place.

“Vaccines are among the most rigorously-tested and monitored products we have in society, and the Covid-19 vaccines should be no different,” Weller added.

He said he welcomed reports that nine vaccine makers had pledged to uphold high ethical standards and not seek premature government approval.

“Today’s news reminds us of the importance of funding and developing a wide range of vaccine candidates, alongside treatments and testing,” said Weller. “We don’t yet know which will be successful, but ensuring all advances are fairly available globally is our only exit from this pandemic.”

Dr. Ohid Yaqub, Senior Lecturer at the University of Sussex’s Science Policy Research Unit, told the Science Media Centre (SMC) that such a pause in testing was “not unusual” in Phase 3.

He said that publicizing such a routine event helped to build trust, but warned that too much running commentary could bias the results.

Stephen Evans, Professor of Pharmacoepidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, told the SMC that even if tests revealed that the vaccine had caused the recipient’s illness, “there may be other factors involved and it would not necessarily mean the vaccine could not be used at all.” 

Dr. James Gill, honorary clinical lecturer at Warwick Medical School and a locum GP, said: “Personally, I would be suspicious of a vaccine for a novel virus which was developed without any hiccups or pauses … From the start, scientists have said that this Covid vaccine development will take considerable time to get right and safe.”

Dr. Anthony Fauci testifies at a hearing in Washington, DC, on June 23.

“It’s no secret to anyone that we’re dealing in a very intense political atmosphere,” the United States’ top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci said Wednesday.

Speaking to CBS This Morning, Fauci called the recent ethics pact made by major pharmaceutical companies “a good thing.”

The director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said that going forward, independent data and safety monitoring boards would “look at the data intermittently, on a regular basis, to determine just what the status of the trial is.”

There are also advisory boards that vaccine makers will need to get past in order to get an emergency use authorization or even approval, he said.

Fauci said the pause on the AstraZeneca vaccine trial acted as a “safety valve.”

He told CBS: “That’s the reason why you have the various phases of trials – to determine if in fact these candidates are safe.”

He said scientists had to “always make the presumption that it’s due directly to the actual vaccine, or therapeutic, or whatever it is that’s in the clinical trial.”

“This is an example of the kind of thing that you do to make sure we’re dealing with a product that’s safe,” he added.

BioNtech, the German biotech company developing a Covid-19 vaccine with US pharmaceutical company Pfizer, says it has proposed an agreement to provide 200 million doses to European Union countries, with the option for a further 100 million doses.

Delivery would start at the end of 2020 – subject to regulatory approval – and production would take place in Germany and Belgium, according to BioNTech.

Pfizer and BioNTech plan to seek regulatory review of their BNT162b2 vaccine candidate as early as October and, if authorization is obtained, to supply up to 100 million doses worldwide by the end of 2020 and approximately 1.3 billion doses by the end of 2021.

The proposed agreement with the European Commission would represent the largest initial order for Pfizer and BioNTech to date. 

If regulatory approval is received, the European Commission will lead the process to allocate the vaccine among the EU’s 27 member states.

A coronavirus vaccine is widely believed to be the best route to ending global lockdowns and dozens of teams around the world are racing to develop one at a cost of billions of dollars.

But despite US President Donald Trump’s prediction that a vaccine could be available by Election Day on November 3, researchers need to go through standard development pathways before most countries will permit distribution.

These development stages typically take years, but scientists are combining phases as they work to find a vaccine against the SARS-CoV-2 at unprecedented speed.

Some vaccine trials, for example, are combining Phase 1 and Phase 2 in order to run initial tests on several hundred people instead of smaller groups of 10-20. Others have skipped the initial animal-testing phase in favour of testing on humans and animals in parallel.

Three Covid vaccines are being tested in large-scale US trials. The first two studies – one led by Moderna and the National Institutes of Health and the other led by Pfizer and BioNTech – began in late July. Each study was designed to enrol 30,000 participants and officials said both have enrolled about half that total.

BioNTech’s CEO said Tuesday he was confident the company would have a vaccine against the coronavirus ready for regulatory approval by the middle of October. 

But Moderna and Pfizer are still not enrolling minorities in their clinical trials at the levels recommended by Dr. Anthony Fauci, the US top infectious disease doctor.

AstraZeneca, which has been running large-scale clinical trials in Great Britain, Brazil and South Africa, launched another large-scale vaccine study last week in the US, involving 30,000 volunteers.

But the drug giant said Tuesday it had paused global trials because of an unexplained illness in one of the volunteers – a standard precaution to ensure experimental vaccines don’t cause serious reactions among participants.

An employee works at the Moscow-based Gamaleya Institute, where a vaccine named Sputnik V -- a reference to the 1957 Soviet Union satellite -- is being produced using funding from the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF).

The third phase of clinical trials of the Sputnik V vaccine will begin today, Russia’s Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said Wednesday, according to the country’s state news agency TASS.

Russia drew criticism in August when it announced the world’s first approved Covid-19 vaccine for public use – before crucial Phase 3 trials were completed. 

Since Russia registered the vaccine on August 11, these trials are also referred to as post-registration clinical trials of Sputnik-V.

People take pictures near the Taj Mahal in Agra, India, on September 8, ahead of the landmark's reopening.

The Taj Mahal will once again welcome tourists from September 21, after being closed for six months due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to a senior district official.

The monument, at Agra in India’s northern Uttar Pradesh state, will allow 5,000 visitors per day – 2,500 visitors each in two slots.

It will implement strict social distancing guidelines, according to the operating procedures laid down by district authorities. 

While other ASI-protected monuments across the country opened in July, the Taj Mahal remained shut as it fell into a “buffer zone,” an area defined by the district authorities as being at higher risk of coronavirus spread if public gatherings were allowed, according to Swarnkar. 

Visitors will be provided with e-tickets and must use digital payments, there will be restrictions on crowds forming and group photography. Health checks will be carried out to ensure visitors are always asymptomatic and wearing masks.  

The monument will be sanitized at regular intervals.

As of Tuesday, Agra had 3,548 coronavirus cases, including 110 deaths, according to a district health bulletin.

India has registered 4,370,128, cases of the virus – including 73,890 deaths and 3,398,844 recoveries – as of Wednesday, according to the local ministry of health.

The Czech Republic will require people to wear masks indoors as of Thursday, Health Minister Adam Vojtech announced on Twitter Wednesday, citing the “worsening epidemiological situation” in the country. 

The central European country has recorded 29,887 cases of Covid-19 and 441 deaths, as of Wednesday morning, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University. 

In the trenches of the fight against coronavirus, Dr. Raghav Tirupathi often has little time to think and no textbook to follow while treating patients with Covid-19.

That’s why the infectious disease specialist in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, finds himself increasingly turning for guidance to Cure ID, an app developed by the US Food and Drug Administration, which enables doctors to consult with each other across hospitals, academic disciplines and international borders.

He uses many of the established treatments – the antiviral drug remdesivir, the corticosteroid dexamethasone, and convalescent plasma.

But in the minutiae of a patient’s given situation and with treatment guidelines regularly updated, the Cure ID app is vital for him to compare notes with other doctors about which drugs to administer, and in what order.

He’s one of thousands of doctors sharing information via an app the US government agency hopes will spur new cures for hundreds of difficult-to-treat diseases.

Read the full story here:

A new app developed by the FDA enables doctors to spend a few minutes submitting case reports about how they've treated unique patients.

Related article The FDA's new app for frontline doctors could help discover Covid-19 treatments faster

Less than two weeks after school started, Savannah Gardiner’s 8-year-old son woke her up at 4 a.m. complaining of an upset stomach, nausea and a sore throat. By the next morning, her two youngest children, ages 3 and 6, had lost their voices.

After spending the summer exchanging worried texts with other parents in the community, Gardiner knew how important it was to safeguard her kids’ classmates against infection. She decided to keep all four children at home. 

They attend Kids Village, a private school in the nearby city of Orem, Utah. The school’s precautions during the Covid-19 pandemic include daily temperature checks and mandatory masks. 

Gardiner did the right thing, according to Crystal Fingulin, school nurse at Glenridge Middle School in Orlando, Florida. Caring for symptomatic kids at home helps ensure they’re healthy, Fingulin said. It’s also one of the most impactful things parents can do to keep the school year running smoothly.

Read the full story here:

Related article So your kid has a Covid-19 symptom. What do you do now?

France is reporting an increase of people seriously ill with coronavirus, and intensive care unit (ICU) beds in the southern French city of Marseille are almost full, according to health authorities.

Marseille city hospitals said during a telephone press conference today that 23 of 27 dedicated Covid-19 ICU beds are currently occupied, leaving only four ICU beds available. There are plans to add an extra 17 ICU beds for coronavirus patients within two weeks, they said.

The Marseille region has a total of 165 ICU beds and there is capacity to move patients from the city – where most cases are located – to other hospitals in the region, a spokesperson for the region told CNN.

The region of Marseille has 91 Covid-19 patients ICUs – an increase of 42 people on the previous week, according to figures from the regional health authority for Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur.

Countrywide, the French Health Authority reported 574 people in ICU as of Tuesday. The number had not been this high since early July. There has also been an increase in the number of people admitted to hospital.

The French Health Authority said the number of people testing positive in the country has steadily increased since mid-August, with a positivity rate of 5.2% as of Tuesday.

Japan confirmed 515 new Covid-19 cases and 16 new virus-related deaths on Tuesday, according to the country’s Health Ministry.

The total number of reported cases in Japan now stands at 73,438, including at least 1,406 fatalities.

The ministry said 202 patients are critically ill with the virus.

There were 170 new Covid-19 cases reported in Tokyo on Tuesday. The total number of infections in the capital has reached at least 22,019, and 21 patients are in serious condition, the government said.

The United States needs to perform as many as 200 million coronavirus tests every month well into next year if there’s to be any chance of controlling the pandemic, experts said in a new report released today.

That is way beyond current capacity, but new, fast tests are being developed and once they reach the market, it should be possible, according to the report from the Rockefeller Foundation and the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy.

Adm. Brett Giroir, the testing lead for the White House Coronavirus Task Force, has said repeatedly that the US cannot test its way out of the pandemic. But the report from the team of experts says much more testing is vital.

“At present infection rates, a basic screening strategy will require approximately 200 million tests each month for students and staff at the nation’s primary and secondary schools and residents and staff at nursing homes for them to open safely and in stages,” wrote the team.

“But fewer than 30 million Covid-19 tests are now reported monthly in the United States. Even if infection rates decline, the testing needed in just schools and nursing homes exceeds the nation’s entire capacity now.”

The United States reported 26,169 new Covid-19 infections and 434 virus-related deaths on Tuesday, according to Johns Hopkins University.

At least 6,326,791 cases, including 189,642 fatalities, have now been recorded in the US, JHU said.

The totals include cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, as well as repatriated cases. 

CNN is tracking US cases here:

Preventable deaths in children under 5 were at the lowest number on record in 2019, according to a new report by United Nations agencies and the World Bank, released on Tuesday.

They found that there were just over 5 million preventable deaths last year, down from 12.5 million in 1990.

But the coronavirus pandemic is threatening to undermine those gains made in reducing deaths among children and young adolescents.

The report on mortality estimates comes from UNICEF, the World Health Organization, the Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs and the World Bank Group.

Recent surveys by UNICEF and WHO have found the pandemic is disrupting child and maternal healthcare services worldwide, including prenatal and post-natal care, vaccinations and check-ups due to fewer resources and a fear of contracting Covid-19.

She added that millions of young children, especially newborns, could die “without urgent investments to re-start disrupted health systems and services.”

Out of 77 countries surveyed by UNICEF over the summer, 68% reported disruptions in childhood checkups and vaccinations. A WHO survey of 105 countries also found 52% reported interruptions in medical services for sick kids and 51% reported disruptions in malnutrition programs.

These kinds of services are critical for preventing newborn and child deaths, WHO said.

Read the full story:

LONDON, ENGLAND - JUNE 04: Children maintain social distancing measures as the play in the playground at the Harris Academy's Shortland's school on June 04, 2020 in London, England. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

Related article Coronavirus pandemic is jeopardizing decades of work in reducing preventable childhood deaths, new report finds

Trick-or-treating will not be allowed in Los Angeles County this Halloween due to the risk of spreading the coronavirus, according to new guidance from the local health department.

“Trunk or treating” events where children trick-or-treat from cars are also not allowed. 

Under the guidance, gatherings or parties with non-household members are prohibited even when conducted outdoors. Carnivals, festivals, live entertainment, and haunted house attractions are also prohibited.

The county’s public health department is encouraging alternative ways to celebrate Halloween this year, including online parties and car parades that comply with public health orders. Individuals must remain in their vehicles during these drive-thru events.

As the nation’s most populous county with over 10 million residents, Los Angeles County remains in the first tier of the state’s four-tiered reopening system.

To date, Los Angeles County has reported a total of 249,241 Covid-19 cases and 6,036 deaths.

In this March 18 file photo, students and their parents move their belongings from their dormitories at San Diego State University.

San Diego State University (SDSU) in California has confirmed nearly 400 Covid-19 cases among students since the first day of fall semester, according to data from the university’s website.

All in-person instruction was immediately paused last Friday after the university confirmed 120 positive cases, in addition to 64 cases previously reported since the start of fall semester on August 24. 

The university has not received any reports of faculty and staff who have tested positive.

San Diego County is currently in the second tier of the state’s four-tiered reopening system, which represents “substantial” spread of the coronavirus. Under this tier, indoor businesses may reopen with 25% capacity.

US President Donald Trump arrives for a campaign rally at Smith-Reynolds Regional Airport in Winston-Salem, North Carolina on September 8, 2020. 

US President Donald Trump made his third visit to North Carolina in as many weeks on Tuesday, pushing a new end-in-sight message on coronavirus.

Whether the situation on the ground there helps him is an open question; the state still has a mask requirement in place, and many businesses – including bars and movie theaters – remain closed.

But the President did not wear a mask during his speech in Winston-Salem.

And while many supporters visible in stands directly behind Trump were wearing masks, most individuals higher up on the stands away from Trump and most supporters on the ground in front of Trump’s podium were not sporting masks.

Before Tuesday’s event, the Republican chairman of the local county commission said the President should wear a mask during his speech, a virtually unimaginable prospect for a President who has been mocking his rival for wearing one and who demanded reporters remove their face coverings when asking him questions on Monday.

As the campaign enters its heated final months, Trump is betting an imminent coronavirus vaccine and a rebounding economy will provide an eleventh-hour boost to his flagging reelection effort.

He has begun accelerating his public timeline on a potential Covid vaccine, saying Monday one might be available “very soon, maybe even before a very special date” – a reference to Election Day.

And a new Trump campaign ad out Tuesday crystallized the impression the President is hoping to call an end to the coronavirus pandemic before voters decide his fate.

“In the race for a vaccine, the finish line is approaching,” a narrator says in the opening lines of the commercial, concluding: “President Trump’s great American comeback is now underway.”

Read the full story:

Related article Local GOP official says Trump should follow North Carolina mask order

A man receives an injection as UCLA and AstraZeneca begin phase 3 trials for a potential Covid-19 vaccine.

Drug giant AstraZeneca said Tuesday it had paused a trial of its coronavirus vaccine because of an unexplained illness in one of the volunteers.

It’s a standard precaution in vaccine trials, meant to ensure experimental vaccines don’t cause serious reactions among volunteers.

“This is a routine action which has to happen whenever there is a potentially unexplained illness in one of the trials, while it is investigated, ensuring we maintain the integrity of the trials,” the statement added. 

“In large trials, illnesses will happen by chance but must be independently reviewed to check this carefully. We are working to expedite the review of the single event to minimize any potential impact on the trial timeline. We are committed to the safety of our participants and the highest standards of conduct in our trials.”

Safety first: Earlier Tuesday, AstraZeneca joined eight other companies in signing a pledge promising they would not seek premature government approval for any coronavirus vaccine. They promised they would wait until they had adequate data showing any potential vaccine worked safely to prevent infection.

The AstraZeneca vaccine is one of three coronavirus vaccines in late-stage, Phase 3 trials in the US.

It was not immediately clear if the pause involved only US trial sites or all of the company’s trial sites around the world. A Data and Safety Monitoring Board usually monitors trials for adverse events and can order a pause or halt to a trial, but AstraZeneca did not say who had stopped the trial.

An AstraZeneca spokesperson later said the illness affected a participant in Britain, but said all of the company’s trials of the vaccine globally would be paused.

Read more here.

Nine vaccine makers say they have signed a joint pledge to uphold “high ethical standards,” suggesting they won’t seek premature government approval for any Covid-19 vaccines they develop.

The companies that signed the pledge include AstraZeneca, BioNTech, Moderna, Pfizer, Novavax, Sanofi, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson and Merck.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly pushed for a quick vaccine timeline – even referencing Election Day in November.

“(It’s) going to be done in a very short period of time – could even have it during the month of October,” the President said at a press briefing on Monday. “We’ll have the vaccine soon, maybe before a special date. You know what date I’m talking about.”

On August 6, Trump said he was “optimistic” a vaccine would be ready by November 3. This has caused widespread worry that the federal government might rush a vaccine to market before it has been adequately tested.

Read the full story:

Thomas Hansler, 54, receives a COVID-19 vaccination from Yaquelin De La Cruz at the Research Centers of America in Hollywood, Florida on August 13, 2020. (Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA / AFP) (Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images)

Related article 9 vaccine makers sign safety pledge in race for Covid-19 vaccine

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson leaves Downing Street on September 8, in London.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will announce new measures on Wednesday to reduce the number of people legally allowed to socially gather from 30 to six in England to control the coronavirus spread.

The new lower limit, due to take effect starting Monday, will make it easier for police to identify and disperse illegal gatherings of more than six people unless it meets one of the exemptions.

Exemptions include, a household or support bubble larger than six, if gatherings are for work or education purposes, weddings, funerals, or organized team sports.

“It is absolutely critical that people now abide by these rules and remember the basics – washing your hands, covering your face, keeping space from others, and getting a test if you have symptoms.”

The statement added the new measures are supported by the government, Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty and Chief Scientific Adviser Patrick Vallance after the UK has seen the number of daily coronavirus cases rise to almost 3,000.

On Tuesday, Britain recorded an increase of 2,460 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of cases to 352,560.