June 8 coronavirus news

In the past week, the number of daily Covid-19 cases in Florida has been greater than 1,200 for 5 of the past 6 days, according to the latest data from the Florida Department of Health (FLDOH). 

An analysis of the data shows, however, that the percentage of positive cases has been dropping in the last week and an increasing number of test results have been posted. 

Here's what the data showed:

For further context, from Thursday to Saturday, the latest three days of data available, more than 130,000 test results were posted by the FLDOH and 3,755 returned positive.

In a new op-ed published in The New York Times on Monday, University of Pennsylvania professors Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel and Dr. Paul Offit pose the concern that President Trump could push for the release of a Covid-19 vaccine prematurely in order to boost his campaign for the upcoming presidential election in November.

They went on to describe how there are 123 candidate Covid-19 vaccines in development around the world and 10 are currently in human trials.

In the United States, the federal government's "Operation Warp Speed" vaccine program aims to have a vaccine ready by the end of the year.

As the race for a vaccine continues, "the F.D.A. must require more than the production of antibodies to approve a vaccine, even for an emergency authorization, much less licensing. Only when the independent data safety and monitoring board composed of physicians, researchers and biostatisticians reviews the accumulated trial data to assess the safety and effectiveness of the vaccines, should the F.D.A. be allowed to decide on approval," Emanuel and Offit wrote.

"Thousands of Americans have already died as Donald Trump has perpetually postponed effective public health interventions and made poor therapeutic recommendations," Emanuel and Offit wrote. "We must be on alert to prevent him from corrupting the rigorous assessment of safety and effectiveness of Covid-19 vaccines in order to pull an October vaccine surprise to try to win re-election," they continued.

The Pentagon announced Monday that it had lifted travel restrictions on 44 destinations which had been placed to limit the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

The 44 locations include 39 US states and five countries: Bahrain, Belgium, Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom. 

The Pentagon said in a statement that these locations “meet the conditions to lift travel restrictions, subject to the assessment of conditions at individual military installations within these areas.

These criteria include:

Some states that have not yet met the criteria for the lifting of travel restrictions include California, Florida and North Carolina.

Here is the full list of destinations where travel restrictions will be lifted, according to the Pentagon:

At least 18 people who work in Guatemala’s Presidential House have tested positive for coronavirus, according to President Alejandro Giammattei who spoke in a televised address Sunday night.

Giammattei said both he and Vice President Guillermo Castillo have been tested for the virus, and both results came back negative.

Officials are still planning to limit access to the Presidential House for 72 hours, and all the workers at the Presidential House will be tested, he added.

The president also said he and his vice president will be working remotely.

Guatemala has at least 7,055 confirmed coronavirus cases and 252 deaths, according to John Hopkins University tally.

When asked about the impact of recent New York City protests on the pandemic, the city's health commissioner Dr. Oxiris Barbot said that to date, there have not been any "significant spikes" in the number of people visiting emergency departments for Covid-19-like illnesses.

The city monitors data from each of the emergency departments and Barbot said “to date thankfully we have not seen any significant spikes in the number of people that are visiting the emergency departments for Covid-like illness but we are paying really close attention to that.”

Individuals participating in protests are encouraged to wear a mask and maintain a 6 foot distance.

Overall, the city is still in a “moderate transmission phase,” Barbot said.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said “thank god” the protests were outdoor activities, “which does change the equation,” though he is still “very worried” there may still be an impact. 

After a 78-day lockdown, the city enters phase one of reopening today, with some nonessential workers allowed to go back to work and retail stores allowed to reopen for pickup.

Four states – California, Texas, Florida and Illinois – are all outpacing New York state in their averages of daily new coronavirus cases, according to a CNN analysis.

California, on average, saw the most new cases per day over the week ending June 7, averaging about 2,666 daily new cases, Johns Hopkins University data shows.

Texas averaged about 1,537 daily new cases, followed by Florida with about 1,111 daily new cases and Illinois with about 1,071 daily new cases.

New York rounds out the top five states with an average of about 1,047 new cases per day.

While the number of new cases in California, Texas and Florida have generally been increasing, both Illinois and New York have seen a decrease in new cases reported.

All markers for New York City indicators of the Covid-19 virus are under their thresholds, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday.

“We have the health data to continue to give us hope that things are moving in the right direction.”

People admitted to hospitals for suspected Covid-19 – which needs to be under the threshold of 200 – is at 67, the mayor said.

Daily number of people in health and hospitals ICUs – which needs to be under the threshold of 375, is today at 326, a number that “continues to go down,” de Blasio said.

Percentage of people city wide who tested positive for Covid-19 – which needs to be under the threshold of 15%, is at 3%. 

This is the “biggest” measure to show where the city stands in its fight against the virus, and “the lowest number we have seen.”

“That is a great great sign," he added. 

“If we would like reopening, we got to stick with it, and make sure we do it right…” the mayor warned.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced 20 new miles of busways and bus lanes to help foster movement of New Yorkers as the city enters phase one of reopening.

The lanes will help 750,000 New Yorkers to have a “faster way to work, more frequent service, less crowding," the mayor said.

There will also be five new busways in the city, he said.

The busways will launch between June and October and will be on a one-year trial basis for each of the lines.The first one will launch from main street in Queens.

There will also be an increase in rush hour service on the Staten Island ferry, launching every 20 minutes. There will be social distancing markers, hand sanitizer and face coverings for free.

With regard to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the city will send 800 New York Police Department school safety agents throughout the system at high priority stations to provide face coverings and promote social distancing

Alternative side parking is suspended for the next two weeks.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said that as the city moved into phase one of its reopening plan today, it's making it's long-awaited "comeback."

“We have been the epicenter of this crisis,” he said, adding that the city is a place where “it was going to be the hardest to make a comeback.”

He thanked New Yorkers for their efforts to help toward beginning this “next chapter" and urged residents not to "forget the lessons we’ve learned."

“We knew we would get to this day, it would take a lot of work, but we are finally here," he added.

What's reopening today: Construction, manufacturing and wholesale suppliers will be allowed to resume work today, and non-essential retail outlets will be allowed to reopen for curbside and in-store pickup.