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Your Coronavirus Update – Today, July 28, 2020
Photo: Miami Marlins…prior to coronavirus testing
National & International
Most schools in most countries are still closed – a billion students out of the classroom, as governments work toward state or national control of the virus before reopening.
Massachusetts has delayed by 10 days the opening of schools.
According to USA Today, 11 of the top 15 USA school systems plan to continue learning online or both online and in-person. The major factor is tracking if infection rates are decreasing in their communities.
Thirteen Marlins baseball team players and two coaches have tested positive for COVID19; the whole team is quarantined in Philly after exposing that team to the virus all weekend, the Marlins home opener has been cancelled for tonight. The opposing team, The Orioles, won’t be playing, and the Yankees / Phillies game won’t be played because Phillies had just played the Marlins.
Washington has said contact tracing was going to be the answer – but it turns out that it’s not.
Target & Walmart will both close this Thanksgiving
Notre Dame will no longer hold the presidential debate, due to coronavirus – it will be held in Cleveland.
Research for a vaccine as two Phase 3 trials will begin – President Trump announced yesterday – Moderna and Novavax/AstraZeneca – other trials are upcoming and vaccines
Teacher/parent car rally protests, almost identical to that in RI, took place in South Carolina and Florida.
School is back in session in Mississippi – with plastic petitions on buses, masks, temperature checks, distanced desks, and lunch in classrooms. On the first day, no temperatures or removal of students because they were sick.
The NBA and MLS, both bubbled in Florida, turned up zero cases in their latest round of tests
Google will keep its 200,000 workers and contractors at home until at least July 2021.
Pres. Trump said in his daily address that we want to protect the elderly and those with underlying disease that this virus targets.
Robert O’Brien, National Security Advisor, tests positive and is working from a quarantined location.
New $1,200 stimulus checks coming in August, Mnuchin says (unconfirmed)
A group of doctors held a press conference saying they know how to cure COVID19 – using the hydroxychloroquine 3-drug mix (HCQ, zpack, zinc) – but media platforms have taken down their video. One MD talked about the number of doctors taking HCQ as a preventative, which she says is common in medicine and why more ER doctors are not getting ill. The FDA continues to say use of HCQ is not effective.
Mecca is going through a deep clean ahead of Hajj2020.
Kentucky has placed a couple on house arrest after the wife, who tested positive, refused to sign quarantine order.
In Germany, where some classes are operating in every state, as many as 30 percent of teachers are ill, isolating, at-risk or unwilling to teach.
The WHO says the number of cases has doubled in the last 6 weeks.
40 people who attended a multi-day religious revival in Alabama have taken ill with coronavirus
Israel messed up badly: Its schools reopened in May, not with the under-9s as originally planned, but with all ages together. When a heat wave swelled temperatures to more than 100 degrees F, mask requirements were dropped. Outbreaks followed quickly, causing a new shutdown.
Planet Fitness requires members and guests to wear masks at ALL times.
Papa John’s to Hire 10,000 Additional Employees to Meet Demand
40 million Americans a coronavirus reprieve in on their federal student loans. In March, all monthly payments were suspended. Interest rates were set to 0 percent. And the Education Department was ordered to stop pursuing defaulted loans. All of those protections, which were included as part of the CARES Act, are set to expire at the end of September.
Milton, MA created a $100K fund for renters at risk of losing their housing.
Boston “party buses” – Provincetown II – overcrowding seen over the weekend.
Two restaurants in Quincy close as staff test positive.
Texas hit by COVID surge as well as season’s first hurricane – concerns about shelters. More deaths in Houston in one month than the four months prior.
Florida 2nd in the country with total cases, and spreading rapidly, now topping New York.
Pool sampling testing can save supplies but it will not cut down on processing time.
In NY, more than 100 bars and restaurants in the area were flagged for social distancing violations over the weekend, and some now face the possible suspension of their liquor licenses
Gov. Phil Scott of Vermont, on Friday, issued an order requiring people in the state to wear masks in public
VERMONT court system is studying ways to resume jury trials
At Cornell University, a research team recently found that students would need to be tested every seven days to keep infections down.
People who have had mild to moderate COVID-19 can come out of isolation after 10 days and don’t need to be retested before going back to work, new CDC guidelines say.
Symptoms, not testing, are the guide. If patients had a fever, it needs to have been gone for at least 24 hours.
Flying is risky right now. Dr. Anthony Fauci said that because he’s in an older age bracket, he’s not willing to take the risk. “I am in a risk category,” Fauci also questioned the effectiveness of temperature checks before flights, something airlines have been pushing the U.S. federal government to start.
College basketball and football are on hold while professional sports encamp in their bubbles.
20 lifeguards on New Jersey shore are positive, after attending social get together.
This week, officials at the Swedish Public Health Agency, which devised the country’s no-lockdown strategy, claimed the rate of coronavirus immunity in Stockholm could be as high as 40 percent and is already playing a big role in pushing back the disease
Rhode Island & Vicinity
RI Data:
Deaths: 1 (plus 2 from prior days) – Governor’s address on Wednesday
A total of 10 RI group home residents have died from COVID-19, according to a BHDDH spokesman. As of July 21, 161 group home residents had tested positive and a total of 48 had been hospitalized at one point or another. Five people were in the hospital on July 21.
Lt. Gov. McKee’s weekly Virtual Town Hall Meeting for small business will be held at noon – more info here:
https://www.facebook.com/LGDanMcKee/ [facebook.com]
RI beaches are closing with reduced capacity restrictions, well before 11am for the past several days.
Maine’s Democratic governor opposes easing travel restrictions from those coming in from Rhode Island and Massachusetts, saying this change is like a “Donald Trump-style assault” on public health.
The Sailing Hall of Fame is coming to Newport in spring 2022, but details of the facility were released Friday including the news that the new attraction located in the Armory on Thames Street will be called The Sailing Museum. The interactive museum will have plenty for people to check out and you can get a sneak peek here.
All Rhode Island “Y’s” have opened.
Middletown Beach parking reserved for residents & season pass holders until 6pm.
Saturday the Scarborough snack bar was closed after an employee tested positive.
Bannister House, with 25 positive testing residents – data reported this Friday was from 2-3 weeks ago.
PC cancels Oct 2020 graduation.
Gov. Raimondo will seek an additional $223 million more in state bonds this year to finance housing and economic development efforts in her proposed budget.
RI Schools/Teachers/Parents Demonstration with social distancing and safety concerns held a car rally driving around the RIDE (RI Dept. of Education) offices in downtown Providence and at the RI State House. There are almost 13,000 members on the RI Parents/Educators for Safe Schools Facebook page. Similar car rallies held in at least 2 other states yesterday.