October 7 coronavirus news

Stephon Gilmore of the New England Patriots attends a training camp practice in Foxborough, Massachusetts, on August 30.

New England Patriots cornerback Stephon Gilmore has tested positive for Covid-19, according to ESPN and NFL Network, citing league sources.

The Patriots tell CNN that the team has canceled Wednesday’s practice, and players are meeting virtually as an added precaution.

New England’s last game against the Kansas City Chiefs — originally scheduled for this past Sunday — was rescheduled to Monday following positive Covid-19 tests on both teams, including quarterback Cam Newton.

Gilmore, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, had three total tackles in the team’s 26-10 loss.

CNN has reached out to the NFL for comment.

The Patriots are scheduled to play at home against the Denver Broncos on Sunday.

Mayor Marty Walsh speaks at a press conference in Boston on October 7.

With a city-wide positivity rate just over 4%, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh is pausing the school reopening plan. 

Phase three was set to begin on Oct. 15 and will now be pushed back to Oct. 22. That means kindergarten students through third grade students will not begin in-person learning as planned.

Grades four through eight and the high school start dates for in-person learning will be determined at a later date.

Special needs students will be able to return to in-person learning starting tomorrow.

Walsh addressed residents in a news conference along with superintendent Brenda Cassellius Wednesday.

People dine at a restaurant in Reykjavík, Iceland, on July 19.

Iceland is introducing new restrictions in the capital Reykjavík and nearby areas amid a surge in Covid-19 cases across the country, the country’s Ministry of Health has announced.

From Wednesday, any activities or services that requires close physical contact, including hair dressers and beauty parlors, are required to close.

Swimming pools and gyms are also being closed, restaurants will be required to close by 9 p.m., and face masks will now be compulsory in shops where the two-meter social distancing rule cannot be observed.

The new rules will be in effect until October 19, the Icelandic Ministry of Health says.

On Monday, the Icelandic government introduced a 20-person gathering restriction and ordered the closure of fitness centers, bars, night-clubs and gaming establishments nationwide until October 19.

Iceland has seen a significant jump in domestic infections in the past two weeks, with 99 new infections confirmed on Tuesday and 87 confirmed on Wednesday. Of particular concern for the health authorities has been the number of people diagnosed with Covid-19 but not in quarantine. Since June 15, only 52% of those who tested positive were already in quarantine, according to data from the Ministry of Health.

There are currently 18 people hospitalized and 4 in intensive care due to Covid-19.

Speaking to the press on Monday, Chief Police Superintendent Víðir Reynisson stressed how important it is for people who become infected to inform the disease tracing team who they’ve been around and where they’ve been. “There is only one way to approach this and that’s through solidarity,” he added

Iceland has had a total of 3,172 confirmed cases and 10 deaths since the pandemic began. The record for new infections was reached on March 24 with 106 confirmed cases for a total population of 364,134.

An Indonesian man escaped from quarantine in South Korea by digging a hole underneath a wall of the government quarantine facility one day before he was due to be released, a South Korean health official said in a press briefing on Wednesday.

Son said that the man entered South Korea on a sailor visa and began his quarantine on September 21. He was due to be released on October 5. His Covid-19 result at the time of entry tested negative, and he did not show any abnormal symptoms of coronavirus, Son said.

The South Korean police are currently looking for this person by analyzing security-camera footage.

Son added that additional security cameras have been installed at the quarantine facility after the incident, and more forces have been dispatched.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp speaks at a news conference in Atlanta on October 7.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp says while the state of Georgia has made great progress in protecting lives from the coronavirus, he is urging all Georgians to continue to protect themselves during the fall and winter seasons. 

During a press conference on Wednesday, both Kemp and Georgia Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Kathleen Toomey said it is more important than ever this year to get a flu shot.

Toomey said they don’t know what the presence of influenza could do to a person infected with Covid-19.

Children, the elderly and everyone in between are at risk, Toomey said. “We encourage everyone six months of age and older to get a flu shot.” Toomey said. 

Kemp is encouraging all Georgians to wear a mask, watch their distance, wash their hands, and follow guidance from public health officials during the fall and winter seasons. 

Police officers stop a vehicle outside the Grand Husseini Mosque in Amman, Jordan, while enforcing a curfew on August 28.

Jordan will impose a strict two-day lockdown every Friday and Saturday “until further notice,” as coronavirus cases start reaching “unprecedented” levels, the government said on Tuesday. 

Schools in the country have been suspended and on Wednesday, the Jordanian military will be deployed across the country to help impose the upcoming curfew.

The country was initially commended for its efforts in combating the spread of coronavirus, however over the past week, Jordan has recorded its highest numbers since the beginning of the pandemic with cases breaking 1,800 daily infections on Monday. 

The government’s Minister of State for Media Affairs Amjad Adaileh said that the virus is also starting to put pressure on the country’s medical system, which has so far been able to withstand the number of infections, he told reporters on Tuesday. 

“The increase in the number of cases to this extent constitutes a great pressure on our health system, which is still able - thank God - to absorb this level of injuries,” he added. 

The Jordanian government decided against imposing a total lockdown throughout the week to avoid the “difficult” effects it may have on the economy, however, it will continue imposing the two-day weekend lockdowns over the next few weeks.

“This is what we did not hope for, and we constantly warned of it, as it now necessitates making difficult decisions,” Adaileh said. 

Cases began re-surging in August after the virus was largely contained under strict lockdown measures that began in March. The government has since announced what it calls a “new wave” of the pandemic.  

More than a thousand people have been infected with Covid-19 after a huge virus outbreak at a garment factory in Sri Lanka’s Western Province, says the Commander of the Army, Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva.

In a statement on state-run Sri Lanka News Agency, Silva said that at least 190 new cases had been detected today and linked to Brandix, one of the country’s leading apparel export firms.

This brings the total number so far to 1,022 infections. 

According to a wire published on Sri Lanka’s News Agency, all of the employees of the Brandix factory in the town of Minuwangoda have been ordered to report to police stations in 14 designated areas, before 4 p.m. local time on Wednesday.

A police curfew has been imposed “in the Gampaha Police area, Ja-Ela and Kandana Police areas in the Negombo Division with immediate effect,” Silva said.

The outbreak is the highest tally in Sri Lanka which had all but stamped out community transmission of the virus until Monday, when the first case was reported. Following the announcement, on Tuesday, the government banned public gatherings including religious events.

Acting Police Chief Chandana Wickremeratne said in a statement on Tuesday that transport services will not operate in affected areas northeast of Sri Lanka, which have been placed under indefinite curfew. 

The areas include the towns of Minuwangoda, near the international airport in Negombo, the coconut growing area of Minuwangoda, and the adjoining town of Veyangoda.

This is the first time since April 30 indefinite curfews have been imposed.

The wealth of the world’s billionaires reached a new record high in the middle of the pandemic as a rebound in tech stocks boosted the fortunes of the global elite. 

Billionaire wealth increased to $10.2 trillion at the end of July, up from a previous peak of $8.9 trillion in 2017, according to a report from Swiss bank UBS and PwC. The total number of billionaires has increased by 31 to 2,189 since 2017.

Some billionaires are getting richer much faster than others, however. The pandemic has accelerated a growing divergence in wealth between innovators in technology, healthcare and industry, and entrepreneurs in areas such as entertainment, financial services and real estate, the report said.

That contrasts with most of the past decade “when steady growth and buoyant asset prices lifted billionaire wealth in all sectors,” it added. Now, billionaires “on the wrong side” of technological and social trends are becoming relatively less wealthy.

The report comes amid rising concerns that the pandemic is only going to deepen economic inequalities, including in areas such as income, education and healthcare.

Read more findings from the report here:

FILE: Jeff Bezos, founder and chief executive officer of Amazon.com Inc., listens during an Economic Club of Washington discussion in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, Sept. 13, 2018. Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos, the worlds richest person, and his wife MacKenzie are divorcing after 25 years. Bezos, 54, is worth $137 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a ranking of the worlds 500 wealthiest people. The couple met when they both worked at hedge fund D.E. Shaw, and they married in 1993. He founded Amazon a year later. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Related article Billionaire wealth hits new peak as pandemic rages

President Donald Trump, center, leaves Walter Reed medical center in Bethesda, Maryland, on October 5.

President Donald Trump keeps downplaying the coronavirus even after it killed more than 1 million people around the world and left him hospitalized for three days. He has now claimed Covid-19 is “in most populations far less lethal!!!” than the flu. That’s not true. Here are the facts.

In just eight months, Covid-19 has killed more Americans than the flu did during the last five flu seasons combined. 

The novel coronavirus is also much more contagious than the flu. While research shows that someone with the flu infects an average of about 1.28 other people, someone with Covid-19 infects an average of about 2 to 3 other people when mitigation efforts such as stay-at-home orders or masks are not in place.

On top of that, the coronavirus can be spread for many days without symptoms. The incubation period for the flu is much shorter, meaning people are likely to start feeling sick earlier and avoid contact with others. 

There’s also a vaccine available for the flu and experts say the number of flu deaths could be drastically reduced if more people got flu shots. 

Even Facebook has pushed back against the claim by removing a post from Trump about the flu, but it’s unlikely that will have any effect on the President’s approach. His advice to not let the coronavirus “dominate your life” has left loved ones of Covid-19 victims furious. The post was hidden by Twitter for violating its rules about “spreading misleading and potentially harmful information related to COVID-19.”

“It not only has dominated the lives of the people we’ve lost. It’s dominated the families of those people. It’s dominated, and it still does, the hospital, the health heroes that were working every day to save my husband, the doctors, and nurses … it’s insulting,” Amanda Kloots, wife of Broadway star Nick Cordero, told CNN. Cordero fought the virus for 95 days and died. Cordero and Kloots have a 1-year-old son together.

People in Frankfurt, Germany, walk near the Old Opera House on September 28.

The city of Frankfurt, Germany has introduced a slew of new social distancing measures and public health restrictions, including an alcohol ban and a curfew, to contain a surge in new coronavirus cases.

Alcohol will no longer be consumed in public spaces, and a curfew will be enforced from 10 p.m. until 6 a.m.

Gatherings in public and rented spaces will be limited to 25 people, and only 10 will be allowed to meet in private.

Masks will be mandatory in malls, major shopping streets and at religious ceremonies. Authorities are also considering making them mandatory in upper schools after the autumn holiday.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad speaks during an interview with RIA Novosti on October 6 in Damascus, Syria.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad wants to get Russia’s Sputnik-V vaccine for Covid-19, according to Russian state media.

The vaccine, developed by the Moscow-based Gamaleya Institute, was approved by Russia in August before it underwent late-stage trials, raising concerns about its safety and efficacy.

In an interview with state-run news agency RIA Novosti, Assad said he would discuss a deal with Russian authorities so the vaccine could be sold to the Syrian market. Russia’s sovereign wealth fund (RDIF), which has funded the vaccine production, has already announced deals with Mexico, India and Brazil.

Asked if he would personally get vaccinated, Assad said: “Of course in these circumstances, anyone would love to be vaccinated against this dangerous virus.”

The pandemic has reached crisis levels in government-controlled parts of Syria, where health workers and facilities have been overwhelmed by a surge of cases in recent weeks. Ill-equipped hospitals are overflowing with Covid-19 patients who are waiting for others to die so they can be put on ventilators that could save their lives, medics there say.

In September, CNN spoke to three doctors in Damascus and Aleppo on the condition of anonymity, for fear of retribution from a government that tightly controls information.

“Patients are literally waiting for other patients to die so they can be on a ventilator with people using contacts to pressure hospitals to move their loved ones up on the ventilator waiting list,” an Aleppo doctor using the name Ihsan told CNN last month.

CNN contacted the Syrian ministry of health with a list of questions about the ongoing Covid-19 crisis in the country at the time the report was published, but did not receive a response.

President Emmanuel Macron on a visit to Rothschild AP-HP hospital in Paris on Tuesday.

Covid-19 patients now fill 40% of all intensive care unit beds in the Paris region, which is struggling to contain a widening outbreak of the virus, according to a spokesperson for the city’s health authority. That’s a 10% jump in 10 days.

In an effort to suppress the city’s surging infection rates, the French government raised Paris’ coronavirus alert level to maximum on Tuesday, closing cafés, bars, gyms and swimming pools for two weeks.

There are currently 2,393 people being treated for the coronavirus in Paris hospitals, 449 of whom are in intensive care – approximately double the numbers from two weeks ago.

If hospital admissions continue at that pace, about 1,000 patients could be in intensive care by the end of October, according to calculations from the Paris public hospital group (AP-HP) and published by the Paris region health authority. 

As of Tuesday night, there were 1,426 patients being treated in intensive care across France. That compares with only 420 patients a month ago. 

Some US state leaders have sprung into action to help curb the spread of Covid-19 as half of the states in the country report an uptick in new cases.

Wisconsin: The state issued an emergency order Tuesday limiting public gatherings to no more than 25% of a room or building’s total occupancy, the governor’s office said.

Evers’ response follows grave milestones for his state: Wisconsin reported its highest daily cases, highest death toll and record-high hospitalizations in the past days.

Kentucky: Gov. Andy Beshear says the state is seeing the third major escalation of Covid-19 cases, and authorities there have been instructed to step up mask enforcement.

“I have seen some things floating around about how we can’t enforce this because it’s an executive order,” the governor said. “They have the force of law (under) Kentucky statute.”

New York: Officials have reported several clusters of Covid-19 cases and the governor laid out a new plan this week on how the affected communities will move forward.

Areas where clusters are occurring will have to close schools and essential businesses except for take-out dining, limit gatherings at houses of worship to 25% with a maximum of 10 people and prohibit mass gatherings, the governor said.

The announcements are the first sign of tightening restrictions across the country as the US approaches a season experts have warned will be challenging – and deadly.

Read the full story:

LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 03: Health worker Hannah Kwon explains to a individual in car, on how to use oral swabs at a drive-thru COVID-19 test site established by Councilman Herb Wesson in collaboration with Kheir Clinic at his district office on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2020 in Los Angeles, CA. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Related article Half of US states are reporting increased Covid-19 cases and some leaders push new measures

Chinese tourists walk on a crowded section of the Great Wall at Badaling after tickets sold out during the Chinese "Golden Week" holiday on October 4.

The scene at the Great Wall of China this past week would have been unthinkable just months ago.

Photos of the tourist attraction in Beijing last weekend show massive crowds crammed along the winding wall, pressed together in close quarters and squeezing past each other through narrow doorways. Most are wearing face masks – but a number of people, including young children, pulled their masks down to their chin, and a few seem to have foregone masks entirely.

It’s Golden Week – an eight-day national holiday, one of China’s busiest annual travel periods, and a major test for the country as it emerges from the coronavirus pandemic.

China’s official reported virus numbers have stayed low since the spring. There have been a few flare-ups, including a cluster in Beijing in June, but these were met with immediate lockdown measures and mass testing, and the outbreaks were contained within a few weeks.

With close to zero local transmissions, people flocked to bus stations, airports and transit hubs to travel around the country for the holiday, which kicked off on October 1. Local authorities competed to attract tourists, with provincial and municipal governments issuing travel vouchers and tourist attractions offering free or discounted tickets.

The Great Wall has geared up for the rush of tourists as well. The most popular section of the wall – the Badaling section – reopened at the end of March, albeit with new restrictions like requiring visitors to reserve tickets in advance.

Read the full story and see more photos here:

BEIJING, CHINA - OCTOBER 04: Chinese tourists crowd in a bottleneck as they move slowly on a section of the Great Wall at Badaling after tickets sold out during the 'Golden Week' holiday on October 4, 2020 in Beijing, China. Officials are expecting the Golden Week holiday to boost China's consumer economy as people were encouraged to use the 8-day break to travel and spend. Tourist sites including the Great Wall were packed, with tickets selling out most days given pandemic restrictions and capacity capped at 75%.

Related article What pandemic? Crowds swarm the Great Wall of China as travel surges during holiday week

Remember sitting down at a restaurant and unwrapping silver utensils folded elegantly in a white cloth napkin? Yeah, me neither.

Since March 22 when the stay-at-home order all but shut down New York City and state – following similar orders in Washington state and California – restaurants and bars were shut down and later open only for takeout or delivery.

New York City without restaurants is – or was – unfathomable. When I moved here from California, the main reason outside of career ambitions was the food.

The best restaurants in the country are here, the best chefs, the most international cuisines.

I would eat like a queen at Pasha, an old favorite Turkish restaurant on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. I would hop on the F train from Brooklyn through Manhattan to Queens for delicious Indian curries at Jackson Diner.

I’d head up to Arthur Avenue in the Bronx and shop at Italian markets and stuff myself on cannoli from Marrone and celebrate at bacchanalian Italian feasts at Puglia, an century-old establishment in Little Italy where resident crooner, Jorge Buccio, would lead cheerful diners in “The Napkin Song.”

Then there’s all the fine dining: Le Bernardin remains my No. 1 favorite New York City restaurant and securing reservations there for myself, friends and colleagues brought such a sense of victory, I can barely describe it. Think of it as winning a gold medal, but you know, with an email confirmation from Resy.

So here we are, one week after restaurants in New York City reopened at 25% capacity. I’ve been eating outdoors since July – not often – but enough to keep my restaurant-related madness in check. But now it was time to go back to some semblance of reality.

Read the full story:

The scene inside Keens, the famed NYC steakhouse, after reopening for indoor dining.

Related article My first indoor dinner since Covid-19 hit

More than 35 million people around the world have tested positive for the novel coronavirus that causes Covid-19, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

And even if that figure is an enormous undercount of the people who have had the disease – as the World Health Organization and other experts say it is – it means tens of millions of people have had the disease and then been able to leave isolation.

Some people are back to normal health within weeks. But for others, issues persist for months or cause damage that might lead to other health issues in the future.

Here’s what we know now about recovering from Covid-19:

Read the full story:

Related article What we know about what it's like to recover from Covid-19 and its long-term effects

An employee prepares a Covid-19 test at the chemical and veterinary examination laboratory in Muenster, Germany, Friday, October 2.

Germany reported 2,828 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday – the highest number of daily infections since April 18, according to the country’s center for disease control, the Robert Koch institute. 

The country has now recorded more than 306,000 coronavirus cases, including at least 9,562 deaths.

Germany’s infections peaked between the end of March and start of April, when authorities recorded more than 6,000 cases a day.

The confirmed daily cases fell significantly, although reported infections have been rising again in the country since the end of July.

CNN is tracking worldwide Covid-19 cases:

President Donald Trump takes off his face mask as he arrives at the White House upon his October 5 return from Walter Reed Medical Center, where he underwent treatment for Covid-19.

A defiant President Donald Trump is chasing his own political goals while ignoring the human and economic toll of the pandemic, with his super spreader White House in chaos and top Pentagon generals in quarantine.

With uncertainty still clouding official bulletins of the President’s condition as he battles Covid-19, there is increasing bewilderment in Washington at some of his tone deaf and erratic moves since leaving the hospital on Monday.

Trump suddenly blew up congressional negotiations on a Covid-19 economic rescue package. And in a fresh assault on public health strategies needed to quell a now-accelerating pandemic, Trump claimed falsely that it was no worse than the flu, as he portrays himself as a hero leader who conquered the virus.

By reinforcing his denial of a national emergency that has killed more than 210,000 Americans, Trump is adopting a high-risk strategy that potentially offends bereaved relatives of those who died from the disease and almost everyone else who has seen their lives, schooling and family life shattered. By squelching economic rescue talks, he leaves himself open to charges of indifference to the plight of millions of Americans thrown out of work during the pandemic and who relied on now expired federal unemployment benefits.

Democratic nominee Joe Biden seized on the sense that the Trump White House is running off the rails to pledge to restore national unity and to lead the nation out of the pandemic, following in Abraham Lincoln’s footsteps in warning America was again a “house divided” on the battlefield at Gettysburg, the scene of the Civil War’s bloodiest clash.

Trump’s latest attempts to downplay the virus — even as he is on a regimen of strong and experimental drugs to fight his own infection – are sure to be a centerpiece of Wednesday night’s debate between Vice President Mike Pence and the Democratic vice presidential nominee, Sen. Kamala Harris of California.

Read the full analysis:

WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 05: U.S. President Donald Trump stands on the Truman Balcony after returning to the White House from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on October 05, 2020 in Washington, DC. Trump spent three days hospitalized for coronavirus. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Related article Trump's erratic behavior ignores worsening pandemic and its victims

Hundreds of empty chairs representing a fraction of the more than 200,000 lives lost due to Covid-19 are seen during the National Covid-19 Remembrance, at The Ellipse outside of the White House, on Sunday, October 4.

The United States recorded at least 43,562 new coronavirus infections and 705 virus-related deaths on Tuesday, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The nationwide totals now stand at 7,500,964 cases, including at least 210,886 deaths, per JHU’s tally.

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

CNN is tracking the US cases:

A man has escaped coronavirus quarantine in South Korea by digging a hole underneath a temporary wall at a government facility in Seoul, according to health authorities.

Health official Son Young-rae said Wednesday that the man, an Indonesian sailor, entered the country on a seafarers’ visa and began his quarantine on September 21.

He was due to be released on October 5, but dug his way out of the facility the day before.

According to Son, the man’s Covid-19 test result was negative when he entered the country and he didn’t show any symptoms of coronavirus.

Police are still searching for the man and analyzing CCTV footage. Since the incident, additional CCTV cameras have been installed at the quarantine facility and more police officers have been dispatched to the center, Son said.

Foreigners who arrive in South Korea must quarantine at a state facility for 14 days unless they are residents of the country.

The situation in South Korea: On Wednesday, authorities reported 114 new coronavirus infections nationwide, of which 94 cases were locally transmitted and 20 imported.

The total number of confirmed cases for the country stands at 24,353, including 425 deaths.

South Korea is experiencing a fresh wave of cases, prompting authorities to restrict gatherings.

Abrons Arts Center, in New York City, is distributing groceries for families in need during the pandemic. Artist Kaylyn Kilkuskie prepares provisions for residents throughout the Lower East Side on October 6.

Millions of Americans are still out of work. Many small businesses and major airlines are struggling to stay afloat. And states are still contending with massive budget gaps.

But none of them – nor others in need of relief from the coronavirus pandemic – will receive assistance from the federal government anytime soon, now that President Donald Trump has ordered a halt to negotiations with the Democratic-led House of Representatives.

The two sides never got very close in their efforts to pass another major economic rescue package, though talks had been continuing. The House last week released a $2.2 trillion version of the $3 trillion relief bill it had passed in May, while the White House was looking at a package in the $1.5 trillion range.

Another round of federal stimulus funding was seen as vital to propping up the nation’s economy at a time when the recovery is weakening. Prior rescue packages provided much-needed money to stabilize Americans who lost their jobs and businesses that lost their customers amid the pandemic.

Just hours before Trump’s announcement, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell reiterated his calls for more fiscal stimulus, saying that “the risks of overdoing it seem, for now, to be smaller” than not providing more help.

Here’s what was under consideration:

Read the full story:

People wearing protective masks walk by a going out of business sign on the Upper West Side as the city continues Phase 4 of re-opening following restrictions imposed to slow the spread of coronavirus on September 27, 2020 in New York City.

Related article Trump halted stimulus talks. Here's what it means for you

The US Food and Drug Administration made clear Tuesday it will want to see two months of follow-up data after volunteers get their second dose of vaccine as part of clinical trials testing potential coronavirus vaccines.

That would make it difficult, if not impossible, for any vaccine maker to apply for emergency use authorization by Election Day, as President Donald Trump has suggested, or by the end of October, as the CEO of Pfizer has hinted.

The agency posted new guidance for manufacturers that says they need to provide at least two months of follow-up safety data after vaccinating volunteers before even asking the FDA to consider giving emergency use authorization (EUA) for a vaccine.

It made similar suggestions in documents for an October 22 meeting that has long been scheduled for vaccine advisers to meet and discuss requirements for either emergency use authorization or a full biologics license application for any potential coronavirus vaccine.

Read the full story:

Vaccine Trials

Related article FDA wants two months of safety data before considering Covid-19 vaccine

Richard Bright testifies during a House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health hearing to discuss protecting scientific integrity in response to the coronavirus outbreak on Thursday, May 14.

The ousted director of the office involved in developing a coronavirus vaccine has now resigned from his post at the National Institutes of Health, charging that the Trump administration “ignores scientific expertise, overrules public health guidance and disrespects career scientists.”

Rick Bright filed an extensive whistleblower complaint this spring, alleging that his early warnings about the coronavirus were ignored and that his caution at hydroxychloroquine led to his removal.

He is now exiting the federal government altogether after being “sidelined” at NIH, his attorneys said in a pointed statement released on Tuesday.

Bright’s exit caps a tumultuous few months since he was ousted from his role leading the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority and reassigned to a narrower role at NIH.

Read the full story:

Related article Ex-pandemic preparedness chief resigns from federal government

Dr. Anthony Fauci looks on before testifying at a Senate Health, Education, and Labor and Pensions Committee on Capitol Hill, on September 23.

The United States could see as many as 400,000 deaths from the coronavirus this winter if Americans don’t follow public health mitigation guidelines, Dr. Anthony Fauci warned on Tuesday.

Fauci had warned in the spring that if the US did not follow the guidance, 200,000 Americans could die from the deadly virus. “And sadly, we have 210,000 deaths now,” he said during a discussion with American University students.

Fauci encouraged everyone to take simple steps such as wearing masks, social distancing, frequent hand washing and doing as much outside instead of inside as possible.

President Donald Trump wears a face mask as he leaves Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland on October 5, 2020.

President Donald Trump has ordered his negotiators to halt talks over a new stimulus package, after the two sides have struggled for months to reach a deal, a stunning move that puts an end to last-ditch efforts for a major economic relief package as millions are reeling from the coronavirus crisis.

Trump’s message stunned lawmakers – especially since Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had been trading proposals and negotiating for days in the hopes of narrowing their differences, though they were still far apart in their talks.

The decision to pull the plug on the talks is a major blow to Americans still struggling with the fallout from the once-in-a century pandemic and endangers an economic recovery that for months was driven by the initial $2.2 trillion stimulus passed by Congress in the spring. With that money largely spent and gone, economists – including Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell in a renewed plea for action Tuesday – have warned more support is imperative in the months ahead.

The timing of Trump’s sudden move perplexed even Republicans since there was little downside politically to allowing the talks to continue to play out. Now, they fear, that Trump’s decision will make it easier for Democrats to pit the blame squarely on the White House for the collapse of the talks as many voters are eager for more relief from Washington.

Read the full story:

Trump Pelosi split

Related article Trump calls for stimulus negotiations to stop until after Election Day

The World Health Organization’s Europe director has called for action against Covid-19 “fatigue,” warning that apathy concerning the virus has reached high levels in some cases.

“Based on aggregated survey data from countries across the Region, we can see, not surprisingly, that fatigue among those surveyed is increasing,” Hans Kluge said in a statement Tuesday.

Kluge said that “these levels of fatigue are to be expected” during such a protracted public health emergency, where citizens have made “huge sacrifices.”

“Although we are all weary, I believe it is possible to reinvigorate and revive efforts to tackle the evolving COVID-19 challenges that we face,” he said.

Europe can take action: Kluge said European countries can reverse this trend and tackle the spread of Covid-19 by taking “the pulse of the community regularly” and “meeting the needs of citizens in new, innovative ways.”

“From understanding the behavioral needs of young people returning to university, to the emotional toll isolation has taken in elderly care homes, policy must be driven by the growing body of evidence we have on people’s behaviours and on fatigue.”

Once again, misleading comparisons between the flu and Covid-19 caught widespread attention across the internet.

That’s not true. Covid-19 is more lethal than the seasonal flu.

Coronavirus

The flu

And in just eight months, Covid-19 has killed more people than the flu did during the last five flu seasons combined.

As for Trump’s claim that the flu kills “sometimes over 100,000” people a year, CDC data from 1976 to 2007 and from 2010 until now show that’s not even close.

Read more about why Covid-19 is more dangerous than the flu – and why extra precautions are needed:

This transmission electron microscope image shows SARS-CoV-2—also known as 2019-nCoV, the virus that causes COVID-19. isolated from a patient in the U.S., emerging from the surface of cells cultured in the lab. Credit: NIAID-RML

Related article More people have died from Covid-19 than in the past 5 flu seasons combined