Many European governments have imposed strict local measures and begun weighing further lockdowns in a bid to halt a second wave of the pandemic.
Pubs, bars, restaurants and other hospitality venues in England will have to close by 10 p.m. local time each night to tackle the surge in cases in the country.
Our live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic has moved here.
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Saudi Arabia plans to gradually resume Umrah pilgrimage from next month
From CNN’s Sharif Paget in Atlanta
In this June 14, 2018 file photo, Muslim worshippers gather at the Grand Mosque in Islam's holiest city of Mecca as they perform the Umrah, or lesser pilgrimages, during the last week of the month of Ramadan.
Bandar Aldandani/AFP/Getty Images
Saudi Arabia will allow pilgrims living inside the country to perform the Umrah pilgrimage at a reduced capacity from early next month, after it was suspended earlier this year due to Covid-19 concerns, state news agency SPA reported Tuesday.
Umrah is an Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca that can be undertaken at any time of the year, unlike the Ḥajj, which has specific dates. It is also much smaller than the Hajj.
According to the SPA report, Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Interior said the Kingdom will allow pilgrims to perform Umrah in gradual reopening phases. They will also need to take health precautions.
Two phases: The first phase, which starts on October 4, allows pilgrims to attend Umrah at 30% capacity – or around 6,000 citizens and residents. The second phase, scheduled for October 18, will increase capacity to 75%.
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Will a Covid-19 vaccine be announced on Trump administration’s "political timeline"? Fauci says no
From CNN Health’s Andrea Kane
Asked if there will be a coronavirus vaccine on the Trump administration’s “political timeline,” Dr. Anthony Fauci on Tuesday said “No.”
Fauci explained that the data that’s produced by a vaccine trial is monitored by its Data and Safety Monitoring Board. “The only person who sees that data is the unblinded statistician on the Data Safety Monitoring Board, who’s beholden to no one: not to the FDA, not to the President, not to me and not to the company,” he said.
President Donald Trump has said on more than one occasion that there will be a vaccine available by Election Day in early November – a timeline that health officials, doctors involved in trials and companies have said is unlikely.
Fauci added: “If someone tries to make an end-run, that is going to be clearly obvious.”
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US FDA considering authorization rules that could push coronavirus vaccine past Election Day
From CNN's Elizabeth Cohen, John Bonifield and Jeremy Diamond
The two drugmakers that began Phase 3 clinical trial for Covid-19 vaccines in the US in July have given second doses to fewer than half of their participants.
Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The US Food and Drug Administration is considering new authorization rules for a Covid-19 vaccine, according to three sources familiar with the situation – and calculations show these rules would push an authorization beyond Election Day.
That would dash the hopes of President Donald Trump, who has said repeatedly the vaccine could be ready by November 3.
The sources described two different scenarios that the FDA is assessing before a pharmacy company can be given an emergency use authorization (EUA) for its vaccine.
That source said the FDA is expected to tell vaccine makers that they need to wait two months after giving all their study participants the second doses of the vaccine until they can apply for an EUA.
Pfizer and Moderna, the two companies that began Phase 3 clinical trial for coronavirus vaccines in the US in July, have given second doses to fewer than half of their participants.
There’s a second scenario that might happen instead: A second source, a senior administration official, said the agency is expected to require that companies wait 60 days after giving half their trial participants their second dose before they can secure an EUA. The move is designed to monitor the safety of the vaccine, even if the trial has already determined the vaccine’s efficacy.
Under that rule, the two companies still wouldn’t get an EUA by Election Day, since they have not yet given second doses to half their volunteers.
A third source said the FDA was considering making the 50% requirement, but that it was still in the discussion stage.
Vaccine trials: Pfizer plans to enroll 44,000 volunteers in its clinical trial, and as of Monday it had given second doses to 19,210 participants. Moderna plans to enroll 33,000 volunteers in its clinical trial, and as of Friday, it had given second doses to 11,879 participants.
Both companies expect an initial readout of efficacy data, called an interim analysis, to occur in the coming weeks.
A third clinical trial by AstraZeneca is currently paused in the United States, after a participant in the UK developed a neurological condition.
News that the agency is expected to issue the new guidance to Covid-19 vaccine developers was first reported by the Washington Post on Tuesday.
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China’s UN ambassador calls the US coronavirus response "a complete failure"
From CNN's Laura Dolan
Chinese Ambassador to the United Nations Zhang Jun arrives for the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday in New York.
Mary Altaffer/AP
China’s ambassador to the United Nations hit out at the United States on Tuesday, calling the country’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic “a complete failure.”
He also defended his own country’s response to the crisis, which he says is now under control after “great effort and enormous sacrifice.”
The news conference was held solely in response to US President Donald Trump’s attack on China at the UN General Assembly (UNGA) Tuesday.
During his pre-recorded address to the UNGA, Trump said the United Nations must hold China accountable for their actions. He accused the country of spreading the virus and falsely declaring that there was no evidence of human-to-human transmission.
Zhang called Trump’s accusations lies.
The ambassador also criticized the US’ health care system, saying: “This is the country with the most advanced medical system with the most advanced medical technology but still they have ranked #1 in confirmed cases and lost lives.”
Ambassador Zhang said China will exercise its right of reply in accordance with the rules of the General Assembly, which means a China delegate will address the session at some point this week to officially respond to Trump’s speech.
40,000 new coronavirus cases per day is "unacceptable," Fauci says
From CNN Health’s Andrea Kane
In this July 31 file photo, Dr. Anthony Fauci testifies during a House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis hearing on July 31, in Washington.
Erin Scott/Pool/Getty Images
White House Coronavirus Task Force member Dr. Anthony Fauci says reporting an additional 40,000 coronavirus cases each day is “unacceptable” – and that rate of infection needs to come down before winter.
Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, noted that some parts of the United States are doing well because they are following simple public health measures – and said other areas should use them as a models.
“Universal wearing of masks, physical distancing, avoiding crowds, doing things outdoor more than indoors, if possible, and washing your hands. That sounds like it’s very simplistic, but we know when we do that consistently, we prevent surges, and we turn them around,” he said.
At least 33,778new Covid-19 cases have been reported in the US on Tuesday, as of 9 p.m. ET, according to Johns Hopkins University.
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Here's how both doctors and economists say schools should make reopening decisions
From CNN’s Jen Christensen
School reopening policies will be crucial to fixing the economy, but schools should only open if Covid-19 case levels are low enough, experts told the US Joint Economic Committee Tuesday.
Economist Austan Goolsbee told the committee that a lack of daycare and an inability to send kids back to schools is a significant barrier to fixing the economy, particularly for families that make a median income or less.
“That’s a tremendously critical issue because such a high share of those occupations must physically be at their location of work to do the job,” said Goolsbee, the Robert P. Gwinn professor of economics in the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago.
Dr. Jeffrey Singer, a physician and senior fellow at the Cato Institute, pointed to countries like Taiwan that has kept schools open during the pandemic. Some countries in Europe, he added, have kept schools open for younger students without problems. In the US, he’s not seeing the same commitment to reopening from teachers.
“What we see happening is, in many instances, the teachers themselves are saying, I’m not comfortable going back,” Singer said.
Dr. Ashish Jha told the committee that while many European countries have been able to keep schools open, the levels of transmission of the virus in those communities is much lower than the rate of infection in the United States.
Jha thinks a third of the country could go back safely given the level of spread in certain regions, if everyone wore a mask. For another third, where there is more disease, districts would have to be more careful and open up kindergarten through sixth grade. For another third of the country, the level of the virus is so high, schools should remain closed until the level of transmission declines.
“I would close bars and I’d close indoor dining before I close schools,” Jha said. “I think we can get most schools open if we let the data drive our decision.”
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Trump on America surpassing 200,000 coronavirus deaths: "Well, I think it's a shame"
From CNN's Jason Hoffman
President Donald Trump stops and takes questions from reporters on his way to Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House on September 22, in Washington.
Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Asked about the coronavirus death toll reaching 200,000 in the US today, President Trump said, “Well, I think it’s a shame.”
After ignoring a question from CNN’s Nikki Carvajal on his message to the American people, Trump was pressed on passing the 200,000 death threshold, and turned the conversation to his standard response on the virus, blaming China and saying the death count could have been much worse had he not taken action.
“I think if we didn’t do it properly and do it right, you’d have two and a half million deaths. If you take a look at alternatives, you could have two and a half million deaths or something thereabouts. You could have a number that would be substantially more,” Trump told reporters before departing the White House on Tuesday. “And you saw my United Nations speech, China should have stopped it at their border. They should have never let this spread all over the world and it’s a terrible thing.”
Trump went on to say had he not closed the country down, there could have been upwards of 3 million deaths.
“It’s a horrible thing. Should have never ever happened. China let this happen and just remember that,” Trump added.
Facts First: It’s misleading for Trump to say he closed the US border to travel from China and Europe because both policies contained multiple exemptions, including for US citizens and permanent residents; the Europe policy exempted entire countries. Only foreign nationals who had been in China, Europe’s Schengen area, the UK or Ireland within the past 14 days were outright banned from entering the US.
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Dr. Sanjay Gupta on 200,000 deaths: "I really thought we would rise more to this challenge"
Dr. Sanjay Gupta speaks during Anderson Cooper Full Circle.
Source: CNN
As the US passes the grim milestone of more than 200,000 Covid-19 deaths, Dr. Sanjay Gupta said at the beginning of the pandemic, he never thought this many people would die from the virus.
He said when early models were predicting even 60,000 deaths by August, he thought that was a high number.
Comparing the coronavirus pandemic to the 1918 influenza pandemic, he said there are a lot of parallels.
In 1918 there were three major peaks of infection. One of them was in October when thousands of people died in a single month as people started gathering indoors again, Gupta said.
“That model for 1918 is a little bit of a cautionary tale,” he said, pointing to the importance of wearing masks and continuing safety measures as we enter into the fall season.
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UNC Charlotte will resume some in-person instruction in October
From CNN’s Rebekah Riess
UNC Charlotte.
Shutterstock
The University of North Carolina at Charlotte announced today that “after careful consideration of available data and consultation with both county health officials and the UNC System,” they will resume select in-person instruction on Oct. 1, according to a statement from the university.
The school is placing an emphasis on the return to on-campus instruction in specific areas of academic study, including programs like engineering, science lab classes, studio and performance art classes, clinical programs in the College of Health and Human Services, architecture, and courses serving primarily first-year students in order to ensure that those students can “successfully transition to University instruction, build community and access campus support.”
According to the statement, all undergraduate classes will be suspended on Sept. 28 and 29 to allow for campus move-in dates.
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Notre Dame football game postponed after players test positive for Covid-19
From CNN's Kevin Dotson
Notre Dame Stadium is seen before a football game on September 12 in Notre Dame, Indiana.
Matt Cashore/USA TODAY Sports
Following multiple positive Covid-19 tests among student-athletes at Notre Dame, the Fighting Irish have postponed Saturday’s game against Wake Forest. Seven football players tested positive out of 94 tested. They are in isolation and contact tracing is underway.
In a statement, Notre Dame Athletics announced that the football program has decided to pause all football-related activities until further testing can be completed. Combined with testing results from last week, a total of 13 football players are now in isolation, with 10 in quarantine.
Notre Dame, which is 2-0 so far this season, is currently the seventh ranked football team in the nation.
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North Carolina can open large outdoor venues at 7% capacity if stable Covid-19 trends continue, governor says
From CNN’s Gisela Crespo
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper speaks during a press conference on September 22.
Governor Roy Cooper/Facebook
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper on Tuesday announced that large outdoor venues will be allowed to open at 7% capacity starting October 2 if stable Covid-19 trends continue.
“Because of our continued stability, we plan to take another step toward Phase 3 in the coming days if our progress holds,” Cooper said during a news briefing.
The state defines large venues as those with the capacity of seating more than 10,000 people, according to a news release. Cooper said during the news briefing today’s announcement will allow these facilities to start putting safety measures in place.
State and health officials will continue monitoring trends over the next week to decide if other restrictions can be eased. The current executive order that allowed North Carolina to move to a 2.5 reopening phase is set to expire on October 2nd.
Cooper said the state has reported 195,549 laboratory-confirmed coronavirus cases to date, and at least 3,286 deaths. The state reported 1,168 new cases since yesterday, Cooper added.
One thing to note: The numbers below were released by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project.
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National Institutes of Health to expand Covid-19 convalescent plasma trials
From CNN Health’s Jen Christensen
The National Institutes of Health is expanding trials of convalescent plasma to treat Covid-19, according to an agency announcement Tuesday. The trials are receiving $48 million through Operation Warp Speed.
The trials are enrolling hospitalized patients in two randomized placebo-controlled clinical trials at sites around the country.
Convalescent plasma is the blood product that is taken from volunteers who have recovered from Covid-19. That plasma has antibodies — proteins the body naturally produces to fight against a threat like a virus — that can help stimulate an immune response in someone who is sick.
In the trials, volunteers will be randomly assigned to receive standard care or the plasma treatment. Scientists will then compare the results to see if the treatment is effective. Results should be available in the fall.
Some background on this: In August, the US Food and Drug Administration announced emergency authorization for the treatment. The authorization was based on early observational studies that showed the therapy held some promise. These two trials are considered the gold standard that should provide definitive evidence if the treatment works against Covid-19.
So far, 105,802 patients who have recovered from Covid-19 have donated their plasma and 83,610 Covid-19 patients have been treated with this approach in the US, according to Mayo Clinic’s UScovidplasma.org.
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Detroit woman who survived Covid-19 after a month in a coma says she's still experiencing challenges
From CNN's Maureen Chowdhury
Heather-Elizabeth Brown — a 35-year-old Detroit area police chaplain who survived Covid-19 after spending a month in a coma — said she is still experiencing challenges related to the virus, even though she did not have any preexisting conditions before she was diagnosed.
“I would say that the after-effects when it comes to breathing and when it comes to energy are two of the biggest struggles that I have,” Brown told CNN’s Brianna Keilar.
Brown said that she does breathing exercises because her “breath support” isn’t there. She said simple activities like getting up stairs and walking to her car “winds” her.
Brown added that her energy levels have also been impacted.
She is currently undergoing therapies as she deals with post-coronavirus health struggles.
Her message to people about coronavirus is this: “I absolutely want people to know that Covid is a real disease. It’s not fake. It’s not made-up. It’s not a conspiracy. It is something that is communicable and it is something that can be very dangerous …. I didn’t have preexisting conditions, and I still ended up on a ventilator for 31 days, and I was very close to losing my life.”
Brown also urges people to continue to social distance, wear masks and practice proper hygiene “in order to make sure we protect ourselves as much as possible, but also protect the rest of the people in our community who may be more vulnerable.”
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Most people show symptoms at some point during Covid-19 infection, research shows
From CNN’s Lauren Mascarenhas
Most people with coronavirus develop symptoms at some point during infection, according to research published Tuesday in the journal PLOS Medicine. The researchers found some evidence suggesting those who show no symptoms may be less likely to pass it on to their close contacts.
Diana Buitrago-Garcia, of the University of Bern in Switzerland, and colleagues reviewed 94 studies of people diagnosed with Covid-19 between March and June of this year.
In 79 studies from a range of settings, they found 20% of people did not show any symptoms during the course of Covid-19 infection. The researchers note that differences and potential biases among the studies limit the certainty of that estimate.
In seven studies with defined populations of people who received coronavirus screening and follow up, 31% showed no symptoms. These populations included health care workers, a village in Italy, blood donors and those evacuated from a setting where coronavirus transmission was confirmed.
The researchers also found that those who had contact with asymptomatic people with Covid-19 were less likely to contract the virus than those who had contact with coronavirus-positive people who did show symptoms.
The researchers noteed that social distancing measures are important, since transmission can and does occur from people without symptoms and those who have yet to develop symptoms. They also emphasized the importance of testing and contact tracing.
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NFL reports no new Covid-19 cases among players
From CNN's Kevin Dotson
The National Football League and the NFL Players Association report no new Covid-19 cases among the league’s 2,438 players from Sept. 13 to 19, according to testing results released Tuesday.
There were five new confirmed positive test results among 5,407 team personnel tested during the same timeframe.
Individuals who test positive are immediately isolated, not permitted access club facilities, or have direct contact with players or personnel.
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Vaccinating whole world against Covid-19 won't happen until 2024, manufacturer says
From CNN's John Bonifield
Adar Poonawalla, CEO and executive director of the Serum Institute of India, speaks during an interview on September 22.
CNN
India’s Serum Institute, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, says it will take until 2024 for the whole world to get vaccinated against the novel coronavirus.
Poonawalla said some of the challenges of getting vaccines from the point of research and approval to administering them to patients include scaling up manufacturing of the vaccines and raising billions of dollars to fund procurement of the necessary doses.
He said administering the vaccines in certain complex geographies and countries is also a challenge.
The Serum Institute of India is working with five Covid-19 vaccine developers and is gearing up to make hundreds of millions of doses. But even then, the vaccine supply will only go so far in the short term.
Take India, for example, with a population of 1.4 billion.
“By July, August next year, even if we were to produce 400 million does, they’re still going to struggle to vaccinate everyone using those doses,” Poonawalla said.
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More than 200,000 people have died from coronavirus in the US
A casket carrying the body of Lola M. Simmons is placed into a hearse following the funeral service at the Denley Drive Missionary Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas on July 30.
Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty Images
The United States has surpassed 200,000 deaths from coronavirus, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The first death from coronavirus in the US was reported on Feb. 29.
Fifty four days later, on April 23, the US reported 50,000 deaths from Covid-19. Just 29 days later, on May 23, the nation crossed 100,000 deaths.
It took 65 days to reach 150,000 deaths on July 28. It has taken 55 days to reach 200,000 deaths.
CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta remembers those who have died from coronavirus:
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People at any age with underlying conditions are in the risk group for serious disease, Fauci says
From CNN Health’s Naomi Thomas
It isn’t just the elderly who are at risk of serious illness when infected with the novel coronavirus. Younger people with underlying conditions are also in that high risk category, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta during the CITIZEN by CNN event on Tuesday.
“It isn’t just the elderly and those with underlying conditions,” Fauci said. “Because it can be serious in young people.”
Quantitatively, “for sure,” it’s much less serious as a group in young people, he said, but it is important to remember that there are many people in all age groups who have underlying conditions.
If you’re a younger person with an underlying condition such as diabetes, obesity, hypertension or heart disease, “You are in the risk category for a serious disease,” he said.
The people with underlying conditions make up a substantial proportion of the population, Fauci said.
“So, don’t just think the elderly are the problem,” he said. “True, people with underlying conditions, but those are not just isolated to the elderly. There are plenty of younger people who have underlying conditions that put them at risk.”
“We now know the disease; we didn’t know it. Now we know it — it affects elderly people with heart problems and other problems. If they have other problems, that’s what it really affects. In some states, it affects thousands of people, nobody young. Below the age of 18, like, nobody,” Trump said at a rally in Swanton, Ohio, last night.
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New York adds 5 states to quarantine list
From CNN's Melanie Schuman
New York has added five states to its quarantine list meaning persons traveling from these states should now quarantine for 14 days upon arrival.
Those states are:
Arizona
Minnesota
Nevada
Rhode Island
Wyoming
New Jersey and Connecticut work in lockstep with New York and it is expected those states will announce the same additions to their quarantine lists.
Some context: The metric used to determine which states are added or removed is an area with a positive test rate higher than 10 per 100,000 over a seven-day rolling average of an area with a 10 percent or higher positivity rate on a rolling average.
New York remains under one percent positivity rate at 0.89%, according to a press release from the governor’s office.
There were an additional 754 cases identified Monday and three deaths.
Remember: That number were released by the state’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.
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Mexico has surpassed 700,000 coronavirus cases
From CNN's Natalie Gallón in Mexico City
A doctor prepares to take a nasal swab for a COVID-19 test in Mexico City on September 10.
Rebecca Blackwell/AP
Mexico now has more than 700,000 confirmed Covid-19 cases as of Monday evening, according to the Health Ministry.
The Ministry reported that 2,917 new cases on Monday put the country’s total number of confirmed cases to 700,580.
Monday’s official count also reported 204 additional deaths, bringing the country’s overall death toll to at least 73,697.
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Fauci says aerosol transmission of Covid-19 "doesn’t change anything we've been saying"
From CNN Health’s Naomi Thomas
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta during the CITIZEN by CNN event on Tuesday that you can assume aerosols are a component of Covid-19 transmission. And while the amount they contribute to the spread it isn’t yet known, it doesn’t change what has been said.
“You can make a reasonable assumption, Sanjay, that some aspect of transmission can be and is by aerosol,” he said.
“The interesting thing about that – it doesn’t change anything that we’ve been saying. It means wear your mask. It means avoid close contact. It means avoid crowds. And it means what we’ve been saying, the third or fourth thing that I mentioned to you just a little while ago, is that outdoors is better than indoors,” he said – because if there is aerosol indoors, there can be some recirculation.
Fauci said there have been some case reports of situations in places such as restaurants, “where it looks like it almost had to be an aerosol spread.”
Vaccines timeline projections are just that – projections, Fauci says
From CNN Health’s Amanda Watts
Dr. Anthony Fauci, center, speaks to Dr. Sanjay Gupta, left, and Anderson Cooper during the CITIZEN by CNN Conference on September 22.
CNN
Dr. Anthony Fauci said “vaccines are being produced to be ready to administer – if we get a good signal that it works.” But projecting when that might be is just that: a projection.
Speaking to CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta during the CITIZEN by CNN Conference on Tuesday, Fauci said, “People can have projections of what they think might happen.” But no one really knows when a vaccine will be ready, he said.
“But today, Sanjay, nobody knows what those data are because no one has looked at them. They are blinded,” he said.
Despite this, Fauci remains “cautiously optimistic” – after reading preliminary studies – that we will have a positive effect when it comes to a vaccine.
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Fauci on Trump grading his Covid-19 response with an A+: “Take a look at the numbers and make up your own mind”
From CNN Health’s Amanda Watts
Dr. Anthony Fauci said he wouldn’t grade how the United States has handled the Covid-19 pandemic – but instead said the numbers speak for themselves.
During a CITIZEN by CNN Conference on Tuesday, Dr. Sanjay Gupta read a viewer question about President Trump giving the White House response to the pandemic an A+.
Fauci refused to give his own grade, saying he doesn’t find those types of questions helpful.
“Take a look at the numbers and make up your own mind,” Fauci said. “We don’t need a soundbite from me. Take a look at the numbers.”
Some context: “We’re rounding the corner,” Trump told “Fox & Friends” of the coronavirus during an interview Monday morning. “With or without a vaccine. They hate when I say that but that’s the way it is. … We’ve done a phenomenal job. Not just a good job, a phenomenal job. Other than public relations, but that’s because I have fake news. On public relations, I give myself a D. On the job itself, we take an A+.”
The President’s comments come as the country nears 200,000 coronavirus deaths.
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Fauci says lowering the US Covid-19 baseline is “not rocket science"
From CNN’s Health Amanda Watts
“We’ve got to keep that slope coming down,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, told CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta on Tuesday.
When it comes to Covid-19 cases in the US, the baseline is just too high as we head into the fall and winter, Fauci said during the CITIZEN by CNN Conference – and we’ve got to start working on that now.
To lower the levels, “You do that by looking at where you are, in what region of the country, and acting accordingly, according to the guidelines,” Fauci said. “That’s not rocket science.”
“When you have weak links in the chain, and some components of society are not doing it, it just makes it very difficult for the rest,” Fauci said.
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Fauci says officials aren't changing their minds on guidance — the science is evolving
From CNN Health’s Amanda Watts
Dr. Anthony Fauci said Covid-19 is an “evolving outbreak” and it needs to be lead by using scientific data.
Speaking to Dr. Sanjay Gupta during a CITIZEN by CNN conference on Tuesday, Fauci said, “The public needs to understand is that this is an evolving situation.”
Fauci said “a classic example” of this is back in the spring, when officials altered mask guidance.
“We were not aware that 40% to 45% of people were asymptomatic, nor were we aware that a substantial proportion of people who get infected get infected from people who are without symptoms. That makes it overwhelmingly important for everyone to wear a mask,” Fauci said.
Fauci calls the impending 200,000 Covid-19 death toll "sobering" and "stunning"
From CNN Health’s Amanda Watts
Dr. Anthony Fauci speaks during the CITIZEN by CNN event on September 22.
CNN
Dr. Anthony Fauci said the impending 200,000 death toll from Covid-19 in the US is “sobering” and “stunning.”
Speaking to CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta during the CITIZEN by CNN event, Fauci said the nation’s current baseline of 35,000 to 40,000 cases a day is too high.
This high baseline, “ultimately – some will lead to hospitalizations, and those will lead to death,” he said. “The idea of 200,000 deaths is really very sobering and in some respects, stunning.”
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Trump falsely claims coronavirus affects "nobody young" as death toll climbs
President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Eugene F. Kranz Toledo Express Airport on September 21 in Swanton, Ohio.
“We now know the disease; we didn’t know it. Now we know it – it affects elderly people with heart problems and other problems. If they have other problems, that’s what it really affects. In some states, it affects thousands of people, nobody young. Below the age of 18, like, nobody,” Trump said at a rally in Swanton, Ohio.
Facts First: While children are, on the whole, less likely to get seriously ill or die from the coronavirus than adults are, they are certainly not “immune;” children get infected, transmit the virus, and do sometimes get seriously ill or die.
Watch health experts react to Trump’s rally comments:
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Doctors remember colleague who died from coronavirus after working to fight the virus for months
From CNN's Adrienne Vogt
Dr. Rebecca Shadowen, a Kentucky infectious disease specialist, recently died of coronavirus after fighting the virus for four months.
She worked for three months straight, became sick in May and died about two weeks ago.
Two colleagues and friends who treated her, Dr. Karan Singh and Dr. Nisar Kazimuddin, reflected on her influence and work on CNN’s “New Day.”
Singh said Shadowen used to text him at night while she was researching treatments for other patients.
In July, while still in the hospital, she posted on Facebook telling people that she was encouraged by progress to fight the virus and telling everyone to keeping wearing masks.
“Being in the ICU and, you know, being on the ventilator so many times and everything that comes with it, extracts its toll on people. Sometimes despite everything that we can do and, you know, she got everything, you know, it falls short,” Singh said.
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CDC panel will delay a vote on who should get a coronavirus vaccine first
From CNN’s Elizabeth Cohen
A US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention committee is expected to delay a vote about how to prioritize who will receive a coronavirus vaccine first, according to a committee member.
The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices had been expected to vote Tuesday on a plan to guide states in deciding who should first receive limited supplies of a vaccine once one is approved.
However, that vote was delayed while the committee’s working group studies the issue further, according to Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and a member of the committee.
Schaffner, a member of ACIP’s Covid-19 vaccines working group, said there’s general agreement among the group that frontline health care workers should be the first to receive the vaccine. He said it’s unclear whether the next group should be people who are at high-risk for Covid-19 complications, such as the elderly and those with underlying conditions, or if it should be essential workers.
Schaffner said he did not know when the working group will come up with a plan for who should get the vaccine first.
“I’m sure the states would be assisted in their planning if they could rather quickly be given a prioritization scheme,” he said.
The news of the delay was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
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These are England's tighter coronavirus restrictions
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks in Parliament in London, on Tuesday.
House of Commons/parliamentlive.tv
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson Tuesday officially announced tighter measures to slow the spread of coronavirus in the country.
Johnson said he expected the restrictions to be in place for six months. They apply in England, he said, adding that the governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland would adopt similar measures.
Here’s a look at some of the new restrictions:
Working from home: “We are once again asking office workers who can work from home to do so. Where that is not possible people should continue to attend their workplaces, he said.
Closing time: From Thursday all pubs, bars and restaurants must have table service only, except takeaways, with a 10 p.m. ET closing time.
Masks: “We will extend the requirement to wear face coverings to shop staff, users of taxis, and guests at indoor hospitality except when eating,” he said. The penalty for failing to wear a mask when required doubles to £200 for a first offense.
Rules for gatherings: Saying it was time to “tighten up the rule of six,” from Monday there will be a maximum of 15 people allowed at wedding receptions, but still allow 30 at funerals.
Sports: The government will not allow fans at sports grounds starting on Oct. 1 as had been planned
Watch Boris Johnson’s full speech in Parliament:
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CDC drops guidance on "airborne transmission"
From CNN's Ivana Kottasová
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention abruptly dropped new guidance from its website about airborne transmission of the coronavirus yesterday, just days after publishing it.
The agency said a draft version was posted in error, before it had gone through the normal review process, and reverted to its previous guidance, which does not mention airborne transmission.
Evidence shows the virus is primarily spread through droplets that come out of people’s mouths and noses. Large droplets fall onto surfaces rapidly and can be picked up on fingers and carried to the eyes, nose or mouth. That’s why it’s important people don’t touch their faces and wash their hands regularly.
But there is now more evidence that smaller-sized droplets can remain in the air in the form of aerosol particles which can be inhaled. Several international health authorities have already acknowledged this way of transmission, stressing the need to wear masks.
A federal official familiar with the situation told CNN the guidance is “getting revised,” but didn’t say when the update would be posted to the CDC website.
Researchers and doctors said they were glad to see CDC was expected to acknowledge airborne transmission, but some worried the back and forth could cause more confusion about how the virus spreads and what measures will reduce the risk.
In political turmoil and economic collapse, Lebanon could now be overwhelmed by Covid-19
From CNN's Tamara Qiblawi
Coronavirus cases have skyrocketed in Lebanon where the crisis-ridden state is now considering new lockdown measures, raising the specter of a deepening financial crunch.
On Sunday, the tiny eastern Mediterranean country reported more than 1,000 new coronavirus cases, hitting a record for a third consecutive day. Lebanon has recorded a total of 29,987 cases of the virus and 307 deaths from it since the pandemic began, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Around 10% of those testing for the virus are Covid-positive, a figure that health professionals describe as “alarmingly high.” The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that governments maintain a positivity rate of below 5% before moving to relax social distancing measures.
Minorities in nursing homes and assisted living communities have suffered most from pandemic, says research
From CNN's Mallory Hughes and Naomi Thomas
Researchers found a disproportionate impact from the Covid-19 pandemic on racial and ethnic minorities in nursing homes and assisted living communities.
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Older racial and ethnic minority residents in nursing homes and assisted living communities in the United States and their caregivers have been hit hardest by the Covid-19 pandemic, according to new research by the University of Rochester Medical Center.
The findings, based on newly mandated weekly data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services of more than 15,500 nursing homes, came from two studies published Monday in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
The research discovered a disproportionate impact on racial and ethnic minorities in nursing homes across every state.
A study of the incidence of Covid-19 in US assisted living communities, led by Helena Temkin-Greener, who also is a professor of public health sciences, showed a four-fold higher case fatality rate in these communities compared to the counties in which they are located.
The owner of Britain’s biggest hotel chain on Tuesday unveiled plans to slash up to 6,000 jobs just days before the UK government begins enforcing new restrictions on pubs and restaurants to contain rising coronavirus infections.
Michael Gove, a senior UK government minister, told Sky News that pubs and restaurants will have to close at 10 p.m. and offer table service only. He also said people should work from home if possible, reversing recent government guidance encouraging workers to return to their offices. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to confirm later Tuesday that the new rules will take effect on Thursday.
Whitbread’s announcement underscores fears that job losses in the hospitality sector will escalate rapidly when the government ends support for wages in October and demand weakens during the winter months. The sector has already shed nearly 100,000 jobs even with government support in place, according to UKHospitality.
A 28-year-old doctor in Houston has died from Covid-19
From CNN's Stephanie Gallman
Adeline Fagan, center, celebrating a birthday with her parents.
Adeline Fagan, a second year OBGYN resident living in Houston, died early Saturday after a couple months-long battle with Covid-19, her family announced in a post on a GoFundMe page established on her behalf.
Fagan had just started her second year of residency in Houston when she got sick, the GoFundMe page said.
While she mostly worked delivering babies, Fagan was doing a rotation in the ER treating Covid patients, the post said. Despite a history of asthma, upper respiratory infections and pneumonia, her sisters shared with CNN affiliate KHOU, going into work was “what (Adeline) wants to be doing.”
“She wants to get out of bed every morning and deliver babies and help women,” Maureen Fagan told KHOU.
Adeline Fagan arrived the morning of July 8 feeling good and “excited to see patients,” but by the evening of her 12-hour shift, she began to feel “under the weather,” the initial post on her GoFundMe page said.
Her symptoms were mostly intense flu-like that escalated within the week to a hospital stay. She spent weeks in the hospital battling Covid-19, was given several different respiratory therapies and put on dozens of drugs, none of which she positively responded to.
Watch Don Lemon’s interview with Adeline Fagan’s sisters:
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Plan for fans to attend live sports events delayed for now in England
From CNN's Martijn Edelman in Atlanta
Premier League kickoff between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Manchester City to an empty Molineux stadium in Wolverhampton, England, on September 21.
Nick Potts/Pool/Getty Images
Initial plans for fans to begin the slow integration back into live sporting events in England on October 1 have been postponed, according to UK Minister for the Cabinet Office Michael Gove.
A pilot program was initially planned to be rolled out through the month of October, with events restricted to 1,000 people. However, due to the rising Covid-19 cases in the country, this will now be delayed.
New coronavirus measures are scheduled to be set out by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson later today.
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This airline is offering "Covid-tested" flights
From CNN's Lilit Marcus
An Alitalia Airbus A320 takes off from Rome's Fiumicino airport on May 31, 2019.
Alberto Pizzoli/AFP/Getty Images
If you could book a seat on a flight where you were guaranteed not to catch coronavirus, would you do it?
Alitalia is an airline betting that the answer to that question is “yes.”
The Italian national carrier has announced that it will trial flights between Rome and Milan where every single passenger has to confirm that they have tested negative for the virus. These flights are identified as “Covid-tested.”
There are two ways to do that: by getting tested within 72 hours of flying and bringing a negative certificate to the airport, or by getting a negative result of a rapid antigen test at the airport’s Covid testing facility. These flights will have a dedicated security line for extra safety.
And the test alone isn’t enough for a boarding pass: “Before boarding, a Ministry of Maritime, Air and Border Health (USMAF) doctor will check the validity of the certificate already held by passengers,” Alitalia explained in a statement.
UK Cabinet Minister lays out new coronavirus measures
From CNN's Stephanie Halasz
UK Minister for the Cabinet Office Michael Gove walks through Downing Street to attend the weekly meeting of the cabinet in London, on September 22.
Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images
UK Minister for the Cabinet Office Michael Gove spoke today about new measures to tackle the surge in coronavirus cases in the country.
His comments come ahead of an expected address later today from British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announcing new coronavirus restrictions.
On dining out: Speaking to Sky News, Gove said establishments such as bars and restaurants would close at 10 p.m. local time.
“When it comes to eating out, to socializing, then it will be the case that establishments will close at 10 p.m. and we will have a rule that it is table service only,” Gove said.
On schools: It will be of critical importance for schools in England to stay open, he said.
“We need to balance, obviously, the need to ensure that people can continue to work and indeed, critically, continue to go to school to benefit from education, against taking steps to try to reduce the virus, which is why if we can limit, or appropriately restrain social contact, that’s what we’re trying to do,” Gove said.
On working from home: “If it is possible for people to work from home, then we would encourage them to do so,” he said.
On Christmas: “We are not going to cancel Christmas, it will be on December 25,” he said.
Johnson is expected to address the nation with a pre-recorded speech at 3 p.m. ET Tuesday.
He is expected to confirm the new restrictions and sign off on Monday’s recommendation to raise the Covid Alert Level from 3 back to 4 during a Covid strategy meeting on Tuesday.
Level 4 means the virus is “in general circulation, transmission is high or rising exponentially.”
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Halloween activities, such as trick-or-treating and costume masks, discouraged by the US CDC this year
From CNN Health’s Shelby Lin Erdman
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued its first guidance for the holidays, including Halloween, while the coronavirus pandemic rages on.
Most traditional activities for Halloween, such as door-to-door trick-or-treating and costume parties, are discouraged this year due to the pandemic, the CDC said in a new posting on its website.
The new guidance lists “low-risk, moderate and higher risk activities” for celebrating All Hallow’s Eve.
Low risk activities include: carving pumpkins and decorating your home, outdoor scavenger hunts, virtual costume contests and hosting a movie night with household members.
Moderate risk things to do include: so-called “one-way trick-or-treating” by exchanging goody bags placed at the end of a driveway or the edge of a yard, having a small group outside for an “open-air costume parade” where participants are at least 6-feet apart or attending an outdoor costume party where masks are worn and people social distance.
Higher risk activities the CDC is urging against include: door-to-door trick-or-treating, attending crowded, indoor costume parties, visiting indoor haunted houses or going on hayrides or tractor rides with strangers.
The agency is also discouraging: the use of costume masks this year, saying they are not a substitute for cloth masks. It is also warning against wearing a costume mask over a protective cloth, pointing out it’s dangerous because it might make it hard to breath.
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US coronavirus death toll edges closer to 200,000
From CNN's Artemis Moshtaghian
Another 356 coronavirus fatalities were recorded in the United States on Monday, bringing the country’s death toll to at least 199,881, according to Johns Hopkins University’s tally.
A further 52,070 new Covid-19 cases were also recorded Monday, raising the nationwide total of confirmed virus cases to 6,857,703.
The totals include cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, as well as repatriated cases.
CNN’s map is tracking the US cases:
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Close to 200,000 Americans "likely" would not have died when they did if not for Covid-19, Fauci says
From CNN Health’s Shelby Lin Erdman
The nearly 200,000 people killed by Covid-19 in the United States would “likely not have died,” when they did if they didn’t have the virus, Dr. Anthony Fauci said.
Fauci told Trevor Noah on “The Daily Show” Monday night that the victims “likely would not have died if they didn’t have this infection,” answering a question from Noah about those who claim people are dying with the virus and not from it.
Fauci, the director of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said they definitely died from Covid-19.
Scientists still don’t know a lot about the virus, though, Fauci said. “We’re starting to see right now a couple of things that are troubling to me.”
More young people are contracting the illness and symptoms are lingering longer in patients who have cleared the virus, Fauci said.
A third thing is that those who have recovered from the disease, and not a very severe form of it, are exhibiting inflammation of the heart, Fauci said.
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The pandemic gave the world a second chance to fix the climate crisis. We're about to waste it
From CNN's Ivana Kottasová
The Turów lignite mine in southwestern Poland on September 2.
Sarah Tilotta/CNN
Covid-19 has devastated the global economy and forced governments around the world to pour trillions into the recovery effort.
The pandemic could have been the decisive moment in the fight against climate change – an opportunity for leaders to bail out the environment and pivot the planet toward a greener future.
Instead, CNN has found that some of the biggest fossil fuel-producing countries are injecting taxpayer money into propping up polluting industries. And exclusive new data shows these decisions are taking the world a step closer to a climate catastrophe.
The research shows that the world is running well behind its already insufficient targets of limiting global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5 degrees.
“We are in a situation where enormous sums of money are (being) spent,” Höhne said. “A similar opportunity for spending so much money from government budgets will not come in the next 10 to 20 years.”
Fauci: You can't look at US response to pandemic and say "that's terrific"
From CNN Health’s Shelby Lin Erdman
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said while he’s encouraged by the coronavirus response in some areas of the country, overall the numbers aren’t great.
“We have in this country now, you know, close to 200,000 deaths,” Fauci said Monday night on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.
But Fauci said he does see some encouraging developments.
“There are parts of the country that have done well, that are doing well,” he said. “Right now, what I’m liking that I’m seeing is that some of the numbers are coming down.”
But the baseline is still too high, Fauci said.
The number of new infections never got below 20,000 new cases a day.
“When we tried to open up the economy, as it were, some states jumped ahead of the guidelines, some people didn’t listen to what the governors and what the mayors were saying, and remember, we went way up to 70,000 and now we’re coming back down to 30 or 40,000 (new cases a day).”
Fauci said he’s concerned that the number of new infections are still too high as fall and winter set in and people will have to remain indoors more.
You’re at a disadvantage when you have 40,000 new infections a day, Fauci said.
“That is not a good place to be.”
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The US' "divisive state" is getting in the way of consistent message on Covid-19, Fauci says
From CNN Health’s Shelby Lin Erdman
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, testifies before a House Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis hearing in Washington, DC, on July 31.
Kevin Dietsch/Pool/Getty Images
Divisive politics in the United States are getting in the way of consistent messaging on the coronavirus, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Monday night.
Noah asked about the inconsistent messaging from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and why the US doesn’t have a centralized source of information like other countries.
“That’s a difficult question to give a satisfactory explanation for because, as a matter of fact, there, you know there has been switches in how the messages have gone out,” Fauci responded
“From a research and public health standpoint, I try my best. and I think I’m successful in giving a consistent message as often as I can get the message out.”
Americans want to get the economy open and people back to work, the longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said. Public health measures should be “a gateway and a pathway to opening the country as opposed to an obstacle to opening the country.”
“So what has evolved now is that almost people take sides like wearing a mask or not is a political statement and that’s really unfortunate, totally unfortunate because this is purely a public health issue. It should not be one against the other.”
Fauci said when messages get thrown into “political buckets,” then “you don’t have a single message.”
Fauci said he has never had a political ideology that he has made public: “I’m really just talking to you about public health.”
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NFL levies large fines against three head coaches and their teams for not wearing face coverings
From CNN's Jillian Martin
Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll celebrates with outside linebacker K.J. Wright (50) after wide receiver DK Metcalf scored a touchdown against the New England Patriots during the first half of an NFL football game, in Seattle, on September, 20.
Elaine Thompson/AP
Three NFL teams – the Denver Broncos, Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers – are being fined $250,000 each because their head coaches were not wearing their face coverings on Sunday, a league source told CNN.
The coaches, Seattle’s Pete Carroll, Denver’s Vic Fangio and San Francisco’s Kyle Shanahan, were each fined $100,000, the source said.
CNN has reached out to all three teams seeking comment regarding the fines.
A week ago, Troy Vincent, the NFL’s executive vice president of football operations, sent a memo to clubs cautioning coaching personnel to wear their masks at all times.
In the memo, Vincent said failure to adhere to the protocols in place would lead to sanctions.
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Covid-19 cases spike in Canada with authorities stepping up powers to police large gatherings
From CNN’s Paula Newton in Ottawa
People wait in line for a Covid-19 test center in Brampton, Ontario, Canada, on September 21.
Rick Madonik/Toronto Star/Getty Images
Canadian health officials across the country have pleaded with the public to stay home, stick to your bubble and mask up, as daily positive cases continue to climb to levels not seen since May.
Officials in the province of Quebec and in the country’s capital, Ottawa, have declared that a second wave has already taken hold in their cities and communities.
Canada’s seven-day average is now just under 1,000 cases per day according to Johns Hopkins University and the Public Health Agency of Canada.
What’s behind the spike? Public health experts say Canadians are having too many close, social contacts between family and friends and young people are gathering in groups that are too large to contain the spread. The spike in cases comes two weeks after the Labor Day holiday and as a majority of Canadian children return to in-person learning in schools.
Young are getting sick: Canadian government statistics show that about two thirds of new, positive cases of Covid-19 are detected in people under the age of 40.
Restrictions to be enforced: In cities like Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa, city officials, bylaw officers and police say they are stepping up enforcement of strict protocols that limit indoor, private gatherings to six or 10. In Ontario the minimum fine for breaking the rules is $7,500.
In British Columbia, the spike in cases is being described as a resurgence and public health officials say they would not yet depict the spike in cases as a second wave.
Officials say hospitalizations have crept up but are stable and add they will wait for more data before deciding if or when to bring in more closures or restrictions.
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As doctors worry about "a very apocalyptic fall," the CDC retracts info on how Covid-19 spreads
From CNN's Holly Yan and Madeline Holcombe
As most US states head in the wrong direction with coronavirus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has retracted key information about how the virus spreads.
“And it’s happening because we’re forcing schools to reopen in areas of high transmission. We’re forcing colleges to reopen, and we don’t have the leadership nationally, telling people to wear masks and to social distance and do all the things we need to do.”
Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, director of the division of infectious diseases at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, said she agrees this fall “could be apocalyptic” after recent spikes.
“Why are we going back up? I think there are a few reasons,” Marrazzo said.
“One is that there is general fatigue. People are really tired of this,” she said. “And then the second thing is … the completely contradictory messages that we’re getting – not just the misinformation, but also the confusion about how things are spread.”
UK expected to announce new measures to curb coronavirus surge
From CNN’s Hilary McGann
People gather outside a pub in Soho, London on September 10.
Jonathan Brady/PA Images/Getty Images/FILE
Pubs, bars, restaurants and other hospitality venues in England will have to close by 10 p.m. local time each night to tackle the surge in coronavirus cases in the country.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to make that announcement on Tuesday. The measures would go into effect on Thursday.
During an address to the nation, Johnson is also expected to say the hospitality sector will be restricted by law to table service only, according to a Downing Street statement ahead of the speech.
Johnson is also expected to sign off on Monday’s recommendation to raise the Covid Alert Level from 3 back to 4 during a Covid strategy meeting on Tuesday.
Level 4 means the virus is “in general circulation, transmission is high or rising exponentially.”
Johnson is expected to address the nation with a pre-recorded speech at 3 p.m. ET Tuesday.
Prior to Johnson’s planned address to the nation, a meeting with his Cabinet and the First Ministers of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will take place Tuesday morning “to discuss the surge in cases.”
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How countries across Europe are handling surging coronavirus cases
People stand outside a metro station in Madrid early on September 21.
Oscar Del Pozo/AFP/Getty Images
Last week, The World Health Organization warned that coronavirus cases are surging alarmingly in Europe, with infections spiking to new highs. Many European governments imposed strict local measures in response and began weighing further lockdowns in a bid to halt a second wave of the pandemic.
Here’s what we know about where the pandemic and new restrictions stand this week:
A new lockdown in Spain’s capital: Parts of Madrid are under new lockdown measures, which will affect about 850,000 people in the city for the next two weeks. During a news conference today, Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said: “We are ready to look into other scenarios if needed.”
Spikes in France: French coronavirus cases are rising starkly, according to the French health authority website. A total of 453,763 cases so far have been reported in France, with 10,569 new cases in the last 24 hours as of Sunday evening. The test positivity stands at 5.7%, according to the Sante Publique France, the French health authority.
Weekly doubling in the UK: The number of UK coronavirus cases is doubling about every seven days, chief scientific advisor Patrick Vallance said, emphasizing that the measure was approximate. That would result in about 50,000 new cases per day by the end of October and more than 200 deaths per day by November, he said.
What Germany is doing to prepare for fall: The German Health Minister is aiming to introduce additional measures to fight Covid this fall. Jens Spahn, in an interview with the newspaper Rheinische Post, described those measures as introducing so-called “temperature ambulances,” locations where those with Covid symptoms can get on-the-spot Covid tests.
