California reported 4,317 new coronavirus cases Friday, the most cases recorded in a single day in the state since the start of the pandemic, according to data from the California Department of Public Health.
This comes just one day after the state previously reported an all-time daily record-high of 4,084 cases.
To date, California has 165,416 confirmed cases after conducting a total of 3,155,702 tests, according to state data.
There were also 70 new deaths reported in California Friday, bringing the total fatalities in the state to 5,360.
The New Orleans Health Department is investigating two clusters of Covid-19 cases after a high school graduation party and a large gathering at a bar outside the parish, the agency said.
Both clusters appear to be impacting young people who live in Orleans Parish.
The health department warned residents, especially young people, to take immediate precautions to prevent the spread of Covid-19, including wearing masks and practicing social distancing.
The health department has urged anyone who has taken part in a non-physically distant gathering without masks or proper precautions to quarantine for 14 days.
The chief of the Houston Police Department, Art Acevedo, told CNN that the police department has recorded a huge spike in Covid-19 cases due to protests.
Acevedo said that in less than two weeks, the cases in the department have doubled due to “close proximity.”
“Take the lesson from us, please wear your mask. It is the right thing to do. It is not about politics, it’s about common courtesy and personal responsibility,” he added.
Intensifying anti-science sentiments that have led people to ignore public health guidelines during the Covid-19 pandemic are “disturbing” and “disappointing,” Dr. Anthony Fauci said on CBS Radio Friday.
CBS’s Steven Portnoy had asked the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a prominent member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force specifically about his level of concern for the people who will be attending President Trump’s rally in Tulsa on Saturday.
Fauci thinks some members of the public harbor an anti-science mentality that has intensified in the current situation and stems from a mistrust of authority. He sees the anti-vaccination movement in this vein. “It’s all part of that trend, which is very disturbing,” Fauci said.
Fauci said he gets concerned about the increased risk of spreading infection when he sees crowds or sees people not wearing masks.
“If in fact, for one reason or other, you feel compelled to do that, which we don’t recommend, then wear a mask at all times,” Fauci said.
Pressed again on the risk of the virus widely spreading at a mass gathering, Fauci said he couldn’t put a number on it. “But it’s very clear that the risk exists,” Fauci said.
The Small Business Administration and Treasury Department, under withering criticism for lack of transparency, shifted course Friday and announced they would disclose details of borrowers in the Paycheck Protection Program.
The SBA, which manages the $660 billion emergency lending program, will disclose business names, addresses, loan amount ranges and demographic data, among other things, as part of an agreement with bipartisan lawmakers on Capitol Hill, the SBA and Treasury announced in a joint statement.
Fatal cardiac arrests soared in the streets and homes of New York at the peak of the coronavirus epidemic there in March and April, researchers reported Friday.
While coronavirus likely caused many of these deaths, others were probably a consequence of an overwhelmed medical system, the researchers reported in the journal JAMA Cardiology.
They found a three-fold increase in the number of people needing emergency resuscitation in 2020 as compared to the same time period last year. And 90% of these people died, the team at Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Montefiore Health System found.
“Three-fold is actually a conservative number because on April 6 it was a 10-fold increase,” Prezant told CNN. On that day in 2019, EMTs responded to 30 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests. On April 6, 2020, there were 305.
For the whole time period of March and April, there were 3,989 cardiac arrests outside of the hospital in 2020, compared to 1,336 in 2019. That’s 2,653 more deaths in 2020 compared to 2019.
Prezant and colleagues analyzed the available information on these victims. They were mostly older, Black or Hispanic, and more likely to have diabetes or high blood pressure. Many were also physically frail, Prezant said.
Plus, when EMTs arrived, they found that the patients had what are called non-shockable arrhythmias. They could not be rescued by CPR or defibrillation.
“The tragedy of the COVID-19 pandemic is not just the number of patients infected, but the large increase in out-of-hospital cardiac arrests and deaths,” Prezant and colleagues concluded.
“This catastrophe transpired despite similar rates of bystander CPR, similar EMS response times, and similar durations of resuscitation efforts, compared with 2019.”
Brazil’s health ministry has reported 54,771 new cases of Covid-19 on Friday, a record daily spike that brought the nationwide total to 1,032,913.
The newly reported cases make Brazil the second country worldwide to record more than a million virus cases, following the United States, which passed that mark on April 28.
Brazil also reported 1,206 new deaths from the virus, bringing the country’s total to 48,954.
More on this: The South American nation’s death toll is ahead of one of the official tallies in the United Kingdom, where the Department of Health and Social Care has reported 42,461 virus deaths. However, the UK Office of National Statistics on June 16 reported a Covid-19 death toll of 51,804, a number that remains above the corresponding tally in Brazil.
The United Kingdom and Brazil are behind only the United States in reported virus deaths.
Brazil medical expert makes dire prediction as coronavirus top 1 million:
Arizona Department of Health reported 3,246 Covid-19 cases on Friday, the state’s highest total reported in a single day.
“IMPORTANT: 3,246 cases of COVID-19 reported in Arizona on Friday. Please keep yourself and your family safe. Always wear a mask in public even if you do not feel sick. Maintain physical distancing. Let’s work together to slow the spread of COVID-19. #MaskUpAZ,” Arizona Department of Health tweeted Friday.
There have been at least 46,689 Covid-19 cases in the state and at least 1,312 people have died from the virus.
There are at least 2,213,000 cases of coronavirus in the US and at least 118,967 people have died, according to Johns Hopkins University’s tally of cases.
So far on Friday, Johns Hopkins reported 23,944 new cases and 546 deaths.
The totals include cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, as well as repatriated cases.
Arkansas has reported 415 new Covid-19 cases, according to officials in a news conference.
Of the 415 new cases, 35 were in correctional facilities, meaning that 380 cases were from community spread, the officials said.
Gov. Asa Hutchison said that this is the largest increase of community spread cases the state has seen since it began reporting Covid-19 cases.
The state has reported 14,631 total cases and 214 deaths.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper has vetoed a bill that would have allowed indoor and outdoor fitness facilities to reopen in the state.
In his reasoning for the veto, Cooper said, “Tying the hands of public health officials in times of pandemic is dangerous, especially when case counts and hospitalizations are rising.”
He continued: “State and local officials must be able to take swift action during the Covid-19 emergency to prevent a surge of patients from overwhelming hospitals and endangering the lives of North Carolinians. The bill could restrict leaders who need to respond quickly to outbreaks and protect public health and safety.”’
The bill will be sent back to the House. To override the veto, it must pass with a three-fifths majority of those present.
An employee at DeKalb County Elections in Georgia has tested positive for Covid-19, according to a release from the county.
The County Board of Elections is seeking permission from the Georgia secretary of state to postpone the certification of the election results from June 9, which were scheduled to be certified Friday.
The offices of the DeKalb County Voter Registration were closed Friday after the employee tested positive Thursday.
The temporary employee began working on June 11, the statement said.
All employees who work in the office and who may have come in contact with the employee have been recommended to self-quarantine for 14 days.
CNN has reached out to the Georgia secretary of state’s office to see if the extension will be granted.
The National Hockey League’s Tampa Bay Lightning closed their training facilities Thursday after three of the team’s players and additional staff members tested positive for Covid-19, according to a statement from the team’s general manager Julien BriseBois.
The team did not provide the names of any individuals who tested positive for Covid-19.
The infected players have been placed in self-isolation, and those who came in contact with the infected individuals have been notified.
Team facilities will remain closed until the team can ensure a safe environment.
Dr. Peter Lurie, president of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, told the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology Committee that hydroxychloroquine “turned out to be a black eye” for the US Food and Drug Administration.
Lurie called the FDA’s handling of hydroxychloroquine a “disappointment” and an “embarrassment.”
Lurie, who used to work at the FDA, said drug trials are conducted by the drug manufacturer themselves.
“Quite frankly, the process is infected with conflict of interest, and there’s not very much that can be done about it.”
“It’s a given that there will be that kind of conflict of interest, in that the companies will come in with an interest in depicting the data in the way that best suits them. That’s where the FDA comes in,” Lurie added.
The FDA will review the data itself, Lurie said. “That kind of insulating of the reviewers from the manufacturer is so important.”
Hydroxychloroquine has been used for many years to treat diseases such as malaria, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. President Trump touted hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for Covid-19.
Phoenix City Council has enacted a mandatory mask order requiring everyone over the age of six to wear a face covering when leaving their home.
According to the mandate, people in the city are required to wear a face mask whenever they are within six feet of another person who is not a member of their family or household.
Unions representing Disneyland employees are calling for a delay in reopening the Southern California theme park, which is scheduled to open on July 17 with approval from the state and local government.
In a letter to California Gov. Gavin Newsom dated Wednesday, the Coalition of Resort Labor Unions (CRLU) expressed their concerns over the reopening of the park.
The CRLU is a group of dozens of unions of the Disneyland resort, representing approximately 17,000 service workers.
Some context: In a post last week, Disneyland announced a phased plan to being reopening parts of the resort as early as July 9.
On Thursday, Disney Parks Chief Medical Officer Dr. Pamela Hymel shared updates on health and safety guidelines.
Parks will be reducing capacity, checking temperature for guests, increasing cleaning and disinfecting, making changes to accommodate physical distancing and requiring face coverings for guests two and older, Hymel said.
CRLU is still waiting for a response from Disney on safety proposals made by the coalition, according to the letter.
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt said that the state has 352 new positive Covid-19 cases today, just one day ahead of President Trump’s rally in Tulsa.
The state has 9,706 total cases, up 3.8% since Thursday’s report, Stitt said during a news conference today. He also said that 211 people have been hospitalized with symptoms.
Speaking about Saturday’s rally in Tulsa, Stitt said there will be temperature checks for the attendees and he also expects most people to wear a mask.
Californians who don’t wear face masks in public settings can be fined after Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a statewide order Thursday requiring residents wear the coverings when outside of home.
Newsom’s office today told CNN that the mask order is enforceable if necessary, as a misdemeanor carrying a potential financial penalty and other penalties. State agencies like the Division of Occupational Safety and Health could also take action over violations of the face mask order.
The governor’s order requires face coverings in “high risk” settings, including inside any indoor public space, taking public transportation, or seeking medical care.
The US is “in process of notifying the WHO that we are withdrawing,” Jim Richardson, the director of the Office of Foreign Assistance at the State Department, told reporters Friday.
Some background: President Trump announced last month his decision to withdraw the US from the World Health Organization.
Richardson said the State Department and United States Agency for International Development have “alternative implementers” in the countries where Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reportedly encouraged the administration to continue funding WHO operations because there weren’t other options. Those countries are Afghanistan, Egypt, Libya, Pakistan, Sudan, Syria and Turkey.
“We still have a hard time finding implementing partners for polio, for instance, and so we’re still working through an interagency process to come to a resolution on that issue, and see how we want to proceed as the government in those unique cases,” Richardson said.
Dr. Rick Stevens, associate laboratory director for Computing, Environment and Life Sciences at the Argonne National Laboratory, told the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology on Friday that the best drug to fight coronavirus may end up being a combination of them.
“You would probably end up, at the end of the day, with a mixture of compounds in a future drug treatment,” he added.
Stevens said it’s important to remember “to develop the kind of drugs that we are imaging will take a long time.”
“It took many, many years before there were effective HIV therapies — over a decade. And while we’re moving faster, and we have better tools, this is a very hard problem,” he added.
