October 10 coronavirus news | CNN
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October 10 coronavirus news

Ben Westcott Brett McKeehan Fernando Alfonso III Amir Vera
By Ben Westcott, Brett McKeehan, Tara John, Fernando Alfonso III and Amir Vera, CNN
Updated 8:07 AM EDT, Sun October 11, 2020
President Donald Trump speaks from the Blue Room Balcony of the White House to a crowd of supporters, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
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Conley: Trump no longer a coronavirus transmission risk
03:46 - Source: CNN

What you need to know

  • The world has recorded its highest number of daily Covid-19 cases since the pandemic began, fueled by a second wave in Europe.
  • A new report by the Council on Foreign Relations has accused governments around the world of not being ready for a pandemic, saying there was the “illusion — but not the reality — of preparedness.”
  • President Trump has been cleared by his doctor to resume public engagements, but there are still unanswered questions about his health.

Our live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic has moved here.

44 Posts

Why don’t you need a negative coronavirus test to leave isolation?

From CNN's Arman Azad

President Donald Trump’s doctor on Saturday said he’s met criteria from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to leave isolation. Those criteria don’t generally require a negative test for coronavirus. 

Here’s why:

People can continue to test positive even though they’re no longer infectious

Research has shown that PCR tests can still pick up pieces of genetic material from the virus long after someone has recovered. But these people aren’t likely to be infectious 10 to 20 days after symptoms began, according to the CDC.

To figure that out, scientists have taken samples from coronavirus patients and tried to infect living cells. Even though PCR tests can come back positive, patients don’t tend to be infectious after that 10 to 20 day window has passed, research has found.

Think of it this way: A PCR test is looking for the blueprint of the virus – its “genome” – and not the virus itself. In fact, the test is just looking for fragments of that blueprint. It’s like a recipe for chocolate cake; finding the recipe in someone’s kitchen doesn’t mean you’ll find a cake.

Why might Trump not need to isolate for 20 days?

For patients with severe Covid-19, the CDC says up to 20 days of isolation “may be warranted.” But the agency’s recommendations only require that at least 10 days have passed since symptoms first appeared.

“Consider consultation with infection control experts,” the CDC’s recommendations say. The President’s physician, Dr. Sean Conley, released a memo Saturday that referenced “advanced diagnostic tests” and stated “there is no longer evidence of actively replicating virus” from Trump.

Still, the letter didn’t fully describe those advanced diagnostic tests or their exact findings. Conley also didn’t disclose other vital signs from the President, such as his current oxygen levels – leaving many questions about Trump’s current condition unanswered.

Read more about Trump’s coronavirus status here:

President Donald Trump removes his face mask to speak from the Blue Room Balcony of the White House to a crowd of supporters, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump removes his face mask to speak from the Blue Room Balcony of the White House to a crowd of supporters, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Alex Brandon/AP

Related article Trump has met CDC criteria to end isolation and is cleared to return to an active schedule by his physician

“The integrity of the CDC has been compromised,” agency’s former acting director says

From CNN Health’s Andrea Kane
CNN

A former acting director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said he’s not surprised to see opinion polls showing the public don’t trust the federal agency’s Covid-19 information.

“It’s understandable when you see instance after instance of political interference in CDC’s work,” Dr. Richard Besser told CNN’s Anderson Cooper and Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta Saturday during a Coronavirus: Facts and Fears town hall.

A tweet from a viewer, responding to the question of trust in the CDC, was also read aloud.

“I feel the integrity of the CDC has been compromised by the scoffing, lackadaisical attitude of the current administration. Under any other administration, yes, absolutely. Now, no,” the tweet read.

Besser, who pointed out that thousands of CDC scientists continue to do “great work,” said he thinks the trust can be regained.

“If there was an approach going forward where CDC was allowed to lead, where it was clear that there was a firewall between the work CDC was doing and the political level, that would be attainable,” he said.

Former CDC director says he hopes this pandemic will serve as a wake-up call for politicians and public health officials

From CNN Health’s Lauren Mascarenhas
CNN

Politics is “part and parcel of public health,” former CDC Director Dr. Jeffrey Koplan said Saturday during CNN’s town hall, Coronavirus: Facts and Fears.

“There has to be interplay and partnership between a receptive and intelligent political group, and the science of public health,” Koplan said. “We get our budgets appropriated from Congress. The states do and communities do.”

Koplan said he believes this pandemic will serve as a wake-up call for politicians and public health officials.

40 million people have been infected by Covid-19 in the US, former CDC director says

From CNN Health’s Shelby Lin Erdman
This illustration, created at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), reveals ultrastructural morphology exhibited by coronaviruses.
This illustration, created at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), reveals ultrastructural morphology exhibited by coronaviruses.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Coronavirus infections in the United States are much higher than the 7.6 million recorded so far by Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project, according to Dr. Tom Frieden, former director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Almost certainly there have actually been more than 40 million people infected by this virus in the US,” Frieden said Saturday during CNN’s town hall.

“And that’s why there have been well over 200,000 deaths,” Frieden said. “The death rate is a fact and it’s a tragedy and we need not to get hardened to the reality that these are health care workers, these are mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters, and it’s going on every day.”

Frieden also predicted that with the current surge in cases across the country, as many as 20,000 more people could die from the virus by the end of the month.

Frieden said the most important thing anyone can do is to follow the science and the public health guidelines for mitigating the spread.

“That’s why we all have to recognize that we’re in this together. There’s only one enemy, and that’s the virus,” he said.

Transparency is key when it comes to the coronavirus vaccine, infectious disease expert says

CNN

The White House administration needs to regain the trust of the American people when it comes to the development of a coronavirus vaccine through transparency, Dr. Julie Gerberding, an infectious disease expert who now is an executive vice president at Merck & Co Inc., told CNN today during its global coronavirus town hall.

Gerberding added: “Science is on our side.”

Watch:

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Former CDC director is hopeful that a Covid-19 vaccine will "make a difference"

A health worker wearing a protective mask works in a lab during Pfizer's clinical trials for a Covid-19 vaccine at Research Centers of America in Hollywood, Florida, on Wednesday, September 9.
A health worker wearing a protective mask works in a lab during Pfizer's clinical trials for a Covid-19 vaccine at Research Centers of America in Hollywood, Florida, on Wednesday, September 9.
Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Dr. David Satcher, a former director of the US Centers for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who served as surgeon general under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, said he hopes that a Covid-19 vaccine “can make a difference.”

Where development of a Covid-19 vaccine stands now: Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine candidate begins Phase 3 trials in the United States on Sept. 23. Trials for the single-dose vaccine will include up to 60,000 adult participants at nearly 215 sites in the US and internationally.

Phase 3 trials will begin immediately, with the first participants receiving doses on Wednesday, Johnson & Johnson Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Paul Stoffels said on a call with reporters. The vaccine candidate was developed by Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson.

Johnson & Johnson is now the fourth company to begin large-scale clinical trials for a Covid-19 vaccine in the United States, behind Moderna, Pfizer/BioNTech and AstraZeneca.

While the other vaccine candidates require two doses, Johnson & Johnson’s candidate will be studied as a single-dose vaccine, which should expedite results, said Stoffels.

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The true number of coronavirus deaths in the US “is well over" 250,000, former CDC director says

From CNN Health’s Lauren Mascarenhas

The true number of coronavirus deaths in the United States is well over 250,000, former CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden said Saturday during CNN’s town hall.

Frieden, who served as CDC director under President Barack Obama, said a lot of the confusion about Covid-19 mortality rates is the result of the way fatalities are listed on death certificates.

“If you die from cancer, and you also have diabetes, you still died from cancer,” Frieden explained. “If you died from Covid, and you also had diabetes, you died from Covid.”

“Covid does affect older people much, much more than younger people, and many older people have lots of other health problems, so that ends up on the death certificate,” Frieden said.

“The best way to look at this is actually a statistic called ‘excess mortality’ – deaths above baseline – and that’s actually quite a bit higher,” he said. “The true total of this, which includes Covid and Covid-associated (deaths), is well over a quarter of a million deaths in the US so far.”

Frieden said there are typically three types of deaths that result from coronavirus.

“People who died from Covid, and were diagnosed with it; people who died from Covid, but weren’t diagnosed with it because there wasn’t testing, it wasn’t suspected, they died at home; and people who’ve died because of the disruption that Covid causes,” Frieden said.

US should expect 20,000 additional Covid deaths by the end of the month, former CDC director says

From CNN Health’s Leanna Faulk

An additional 20,000 Covid-19 deaths by the end of the month are “inevitable,” according to a former director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“From the infections that have already occurred, we will see something like 20,000 deaths by the end of the month – additional deaths,” Dr. Tom Frieden said Saturday, during CNN’s Coronavirus: Facts and Fears town hall.

“Anytime we ignore, minimize or underestimate this virus, we do so at our peril and the peril of people whose lives depend on us,” Frieden said. “If you look around the world, the parts of the world – and even the parts of the US – that have been guided by public health and have supported public health have done better,” he said.

Fellow former CDC Director Dr. Richard Besser noted that projections aren’t set in stone.

“What we do matters. And if we follow the lead of public health, if we follow the lead of CDC and do the things that are working around the globe, in terms of wearing masks and social distancing and washing hands and investigating cases – ensuring people have what they need to isolate and quarantine – that we can have a very different trajectory and we can get this in control,” Besser said.

As of Saturday night, more than 214,000 Americans have died of Covid-19, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Americans should “absolutely” be afraid of the coronavirus, former CDC director says

From CNN Health’s Andrea Kane

People in the United States should “absolutely” be afraid of the coronavirus, despite President Trump’s assertion that Americans shouldn’t let it dominate their lives, said Dr. Jeffrey Koplan, a former director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“There are 210,000 people who’ve passed away, who hopefully needn’t have in different circumstances,” Koplan said during CNN’s Coronavirus: Facts and Fears town hall Saturday.

Circumstances conducive to saving lives include listening to public health experts and embracing public health measures.

“But if your bosses – if the people up the chain of command aren’t supporting you, if the people up the chain of command are spreading false information, belittling important news and actions that need to be taken – it doesn’t work,” said Koplan, who is vice president of the Emory Global Health Institute.

Koplan said changing course is “doable.”

“We can do something about it. We can start right now, and should have. And in some parts of the country, the appropriate things are being done. But … when your leadership is working against you in this virus, the virus has an ally that makes it a pretty strong contender for further destruction.”

President's physician Dr. Sean Conley says Trump is no longer a coronavirus transmission risk

From CNN’s Jason Hoffman and Ben Tinker
President Donald Trump removes his face mask to speak from the Blue Room Balcony of the White House to a crowd of supporters, Saturday, October 10.
President Donald Trump removes his face mask to speak from the Blue Room Balcony of the White House to a crowd of supporters, Saturday, October 10.
Alex Brandon/A

President Donald Trump has been cleared to return to an active schedule, according to a new memo from his physician, Dr. Sean Conley, released Saturday night.

The memo says Trump has met criteria from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to end isolation but does not say whether the President has received a negative coronavirus test since first testing positive for the virus.

However, that is not a criteria for clearing isolation, according to the CDC.

Conley writes that Trump is 10 days from the onset of symptoms, has been fever-free for “well over 24 hours” and after diagnostic tests, “there is no longer evidence of actively replicating virus.” 

Questions remain: Conley did not fully explain what “advanced diagnostic tests” the President received. For example, he did not disclose whether so-called viral culture was performed. That’s the process by which scientists try to infect living cells to see whether active virus is present.

President’s schedule: Trump held his first public event Saturday since his diagnosis, delivering a speech to supporters at the White House. He is scheduled to hold at least three in-person rallies this week, beginning Monday in Florida. Conley says he will continue to monitor Trump “as he returns to an active schedule.”

Last negative test: It’s important to note we still don’t know when the President last tested negative before his positive test last week, which would offer insight into when he was contagious and how much so.

Covid-19 cases in the US expected to surge in November and December, medical expert says

Members of the Wisconsin National Guard test residents for the coronavirus COVID-19 at a temporary test facility in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on October 9. Wisconsin currently has one of the highest positivity rates for COVID-19 in the nation.
Members of the Wisconsin National Guard test residents for the coronavirus COVID-19 at a temporary test facility in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on October 9. Wisconsin currently has one of the highest positivity rates for COVID-19 in the nation.

The US could record nearly 400,000 coronavirus-related deaths by February 1, according to Dr. Chris Murray, a researcher behind an influential coronavirus model from the University of Washington.

Daily deaths will likely peak in the middle of January, Murray said during CNN’s global coronavirus town hall tonight.

Murray urged people to wear masks to mitigate the transmission of the virus.

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Brazil coronavirus death toll surpasses 150,000

From CNN's Jonny Hallam and Sugam Pokharel 
Coronavirus victims buried in Taruman Park Cemetery in Amazonas, Brazil on October 3.
Coronavirus victims buried in Taruman Park Cemetery in Amazonas, Brazil on October 3.
Junio Matos/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Brazil on Saturday reported 559 new deaths from Covid-19, raising the country’s total fatalities to 150,198, according to the National Council of Health Departments.

After the United States, Brazil is now the second country in the world to reach 150,000 deaths, attributed by critics to the country’s haphazard response to the outbreak, personified in President Jair Bolsonaro’s leadership.

The actual death toll is believed to be much higher because of low Covid-19 testing capacity in some parts of the country.

The council also reported 26,749 new cases of the virus on Saturday, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 5.08 million.

In terms of total cases, Brazil is ranked third worldwide, after the US and India, according to Johns Hopkins University’s tally of cases.

1 in 4 pregnant women experience prolonged coronavirus symptoms, study finds

From CNN's Lauren Mascarenhas

While pregnant women generally experience mild coronavirus symptoms, they can persist for two months or more for 1 in 4 women, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Researchers from the University of California San Francisco and UCLA looked at 594 women across the US who tested positive for Covid-19 while pregnant. They found that 40% of the women still had symptoms by week four, and 25% experienced symptoms for eight weeks or longer.

The most common symptoms among the women were cough, sore throat, body aches and fever, and symptoms were most prevalent in the first three weeks. The median length of symptoms was 37 days. The vast majority of participants – 95% – were not hospitalized.

The participants were enrolled in the study between March 22 and July 10 of this year. More than half of the women had contact with someone who tested positive for Covid-19 or had symptoms. About 30% of the women were health care workers, and 60% were White.

The researchers acknowledged that their findings may not generalize to the larger population. They noted that availability, timing and accuracy of testing may have impacted the results.

Nepal sets new single-day record of Covid-19 cases as total infections top 100,000

From CNN's Sugam Pokharel
People wearing face masks as a preventive measure walk around a market in Kathmandu, Nepal, on October 9. As the Dashain festival season approaches, markets in the Nepalese capital are getting busy and crowded.
People wearing face masks as a preventive measure walk around a market in Kathmandu, Nepal, on October 9. As the Dashain festival season approaches, markets in the Nepalese capital are getting busy and crowded.
Prabin Ranabhat/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images

Nepal recorded 5,008 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, the country’s highest daily increase in new infections, taking the national tally to 105,684, according to its health ministry.

The tiny South Asian nation has seen a surge in new Covid-19 infections recently, with its total number of cases doubling in only four weeks, according to the ministry.

The ministry announced 14 new coronavirus-related deaths, raising the total deaths to 614.

The capital, Kathmandu, is the worst-hit area so far, accounting for nearly a third of the country’s total infections, according to health ministry data.

Meanwhile, Nepalese Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Minister Yogesh Bhattarai tested positive for the virus on Saturday, according to his official Facebook page.

'We are all deeply afraid that this is the beginning of that dreaded second wave,' says emergency room doctor

From CNN's Lauren Mascarenhas
Dr. Megan Ranney
Dr. Megan Ranney
CNN

Emergency physicians across the US are beginning to see an uptick in severe coronavirus cases, prompting fears that the second wave of the virus is coming, according to Dr. Megan Ranney, an emergency medicine physician with Brown University in Rhode Island.

“We are all seeing increasing numbers of Covid-19 patients who are coming into our ER’s, who are getting really sick, requiring hospitalization and even intensive care,” Ranney told CNN’s Erica Hill.

She noted the spike in cases which occurred among younger people about a month ago is now spreading within communities.

 Ranney emphasized that there is still no cure for the virus.

 “We’re quite fearful for what we are heading into,” she said.

France sets record for daily new infections with 26,896 cases in 24 hours

From CNN’s Duarte Mendonca in London
A customer drinks a coffee on a cafe terrace on October 9 in Lyon after the city was placed on maximum coronavirus alert. Four French cities including Lyon are placed on maximum coronavirus alert, joining Paris and other metropolises where bars have been shuttered in an increasingly urgent bid to brake a fast-accelerating outbreak of Covid-19.
A customer drinks a coffee on a cafe terrace on October 9 in Lyon after the city was placed on maximum coronavirus alert. Four French cities including Lyon are placed on maximum coronavirus alert, joining Paris and other metropolises where bars have been shuttered in an increasingly urgent bid to brake a fast-accelerating outbreak of Covid-19.
Jeff Pachoud/AFP/Getty Images

France recorded 26,896 new cases of coronavirus Saturday, setting a new record for daily reported infections since the start of the pandemic, according to data from the French Health Ministry.

Saturday’s record was an increase of 6,557 more cases than the day before when the previous record was set with 20,339 cases.

The rise in infections takes the total of reported infections in the country to 718,873.

An additional 54 deaths were reported by the ministry on Saturday, bringing the total of fatalities to 32,684.  

Covid-19 outbreak tied to youth hockey tournament in Alaska

From CNN’s Cheri Mossburg

An outbreak of coronavirus cases in Anchorage, Alaska, are being tied to a youth hockey tournament held on Oct. 2-3.

The exact number of cases tied to the event has not yet been determined, as contact tracing continues, but Anchorage Public Health Director Heather Harris says up to 300 attendees are being asked to isolate or quarantine as a result of their potential exposure.

“All teams that have participated in the tournament have been quarantined since Tuesday, Oct. 6 and have been advised to get tested for the virus,” according to a post on the Anchorage Hockey Association’s website.

The three-day event, the Termination Dust Invitational, hosted players, coaches, and fans at two separate sites. Organizers had mitigation plans in place and kept a contact log of participants, Harris said.

“It is just a continual reminder about how pervasive Covid is and how it can strike anyone at any time,” Anchorage Mayor Ethan Berkowitz said in a news conference Friday.

Alaska has confirmed 9,182 coronavirus cases to date, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Trump gives speech from the White House in first public appearance since contracting coronavirus

From CNN's Jason Hoffman and Maeve Reston
Alex Brandon/AP

President Trump, in his first public event since he was diagnosed with coronavirus, gave a brief campaign style speech from the balcony of the White House where he attacked Joe Biden and focused on his law and order messaging.

Though members of the audience were mostly Black Americans — members of a group known as “BLEXIT” that was founded by conservative firebrand Candace Owens to encourage African Americans to leave the Democratic Party — the lines of Trump’s speech seemed aimed at White suburbanites who are not sympathetic to the Black Lives Matter movement.

“If the left gains power, they will launch a nationwide crusade against law enforcement,” Trump said.

Some context: Just as the US sees an upward trend in hospitalization rates, Trump invited some 2,000 people for the speech from a White House balcony, in just the latest sign that his staff and doctors are acquiescing to his desires rather than following public health guidelines and common sense.

The large gathering follows Trump’s acknowledgment during a televised interview with Fox News Friday that he may have contracted the virus at one of the recent events at the White House. It’s unknown whether he’s still contagious, but Trump gave an incomprehensible answer about his latest coronavirus test results Friday.

What we know about the White House event today

From CNN's Jason Hoffman
US President Donald Trump speaks publicly for the first time since testing positive for Covid-19 from the South Portico of the White House on October 10.
US President Donald Trump speaks publicly for the first time since testing positive for Covid-19 from the South Portico of the White House on October 10.
Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

The White House said attendance at today’s event is expected to be less than a thousand people, according to reporters at the scene.

Deputy Press Secretary Judd Deere told the White House press pool that President Trump’s speech is expected to last roughly 30 minutes.

“This is an official event,” not a campaign event, and no campaign staff is involved, Deere said.

“The campaign is not involved in this,” he said.

More details: CNN took video of the line to get onto White House grounds for the event.

There was a large group of people seen wearing blue shirts associated with “Blexit,” a group founded by conservative commentator Candace Owens. Some people were not wearing masks as they waited in line.

Coronavirus model projects 395,000 total US deaths by February 1

From CNN's Lauren Mascarenhas

The latest forecast of an influential coronavirus model projects 394,693 total US coronavirus deaths by February 1.

That’s about 181,000 additional lives lost beyond the current US death toll of 213,860, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

The model, from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington School of Medicine, projects that daily deaths in the US will peak at about 2,300 in mid-January. For comparison, Friday’s US death toll was 990, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The new projections are based off of current conditions. If US social distancing mandates are eased, the model projects 502,852 coronavirus-related deaths by February 1.

Masks make a difference. If 95% of people in the US wore masks, the model projects that 79,000 fewer lives would be lost by February 1, and daily deaths would peak at less than 1,400. 

Greater context: Globally, the model predicts that 2,488,346 people will die from coronavirus by February 1. The model shows that if 95% of people around the world wore masks, more than three-quarters of a million lives would be saved by that date.

READ MORE
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The US is reporting more than 46,000 positive Covid-19 tests on average every day
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Nurse who has seen ‘hundreds of people suffocating to death’ moved to tears after Trump downplayed coronavirus

READ MORE
Canadians encouraged to stay home as second wave of Covid-19 worsens
The US is reporting more than 46,000 positive Covid-19 tests on average every day
The UK recovery is slowing. That could mean a very hard winter
Bars and pubs are closing as Europe battles coronavirus surge. Experts question if it will work
Nurse who has seen ‘hundreds of people suffocating to death’ moved to tears after Trump downplayed coronavirus