By Steve George, Joshua Berlinger, Laura Smith-Spark, Peter Wilkinson, Melissa Macaya, Mike Hayes and Meg Wagner, CNN
There are at least 2,011,341 cases of coronavirus in the United States and at least 113,341 people have died in the country from the virus, according to Johns Hopkins University's tally of cases.
On Thursday, Johns Hopkins reported 10,877 new cases and 417 reported deaths.
The totals includes cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, as well as repatriated cases.
From CNN's Jason Kurtz
As ongoing national protests bring Americans physically closer together, actor and activist Sean Penn is helping to provide Covid-19 testing kits.
"The protesters themselves are that which protects our democracy, so we owe them to protect them, as well," Penn told CNN's Brianna Keilar.
Penn's organization CORE (Community Organized Relief Effort) began by providing tests sites in Los Angeles, and has since moved the model across the county.
"All of the people that work for CORE, throughout the country, are people from those communities who we train," said Penn, who noted that the fear of another Covid-19 spike on the heels of organized marches is very real.
"The scientists are very worried about that and I certainly am prone to align myself with their concerns," Penn said.
Penn, who started his organization following the 2010 earthquakes in Haiti, sees helping protesters stay healthy as a way of supporting another critical cause.
He said they "hope to see a return on that in the sense that protesters participate, participate at six-feet distance in the lines with masks and that we're able to offer them the assistance that they're offering the greater republic."
As the Trump administration is hesitant to support and promote many of the health measures being encouraged by health experts, the two-time Academy Award winner quickly noted that examples of empowering change occur outside of Washington, DC.
"I think we should see by now that we're not going to get our lead from leadership," said Penn, adding "this is time for citizens to take the lead, and unfortunately in particular citizens of color are taking that lead, and we are looking to support, assist, coordinate with them in every way that is represented by peaceful protest and scientific, fact-based testing."
From CNN's Wes Bruer and Elizabeth Cohen
Moderna confirmed it expects to begin a phase three study of its Covid-19 vaccine candidate in July, according to a statement on Thursday.
The final phase of the placebo-controlled study will include 30,000 subjects in the United States. Participants not in the placebo group will receive 100 micrograms of the vaccine candidate, which was determined to be “the optimal dose level to maximize the immune response while minimizing adverse reactions,” according to the statement. Phase three of the trial will be conducted with the National Institutes of Health.
About the vaccine: Moderna said it is still on track to deliver about 500 million to a billion doses per year, beginning in 2021 and said its primary endpoint will be prevention of symptomatic Covid-19, with secondary endpoints to include the prevention of severe Covid-19 that leads to hospitalization.
What the phases mean: While there is some overlap, phase one of a vaccine trial typically involve several dozen study subjects and looks at whether the vaccine is safe. Phase two is several hundred people and looks at safety, immune response and dosage, and phase three involves thousands of patients and looks at efficacy. In phase three, there is a placebo arm, so it can be determined if the vaccine worked better than no vaccine at all.
From CNN’s Amanda Watts
The latest coronavirus forecast by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington takes into account seasonality predictions.
"Seasonality will be a very big driver of the second wave, we believe," Dr. Christopher Murray, IHME’s director, said today.
Late yesterday, IHME released a “third generation model” which forecasted nearly 170,000 deaths from coronavirus in the United States by October 1.
“The increase in daily deaths really starts to gather more momentum from mid-September, onwards,” Murray said.
Contributing to that increase are two main factors: “The steady rise in contact rates, the steady rise in mobility and the likely continued reaction of mandates over the course of the summer, combined with the increasing clear signal that seasonality is important,” he said.
What the model suggests: The closely watched model — which is currently featured on the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website — said the summer should remain in plateau. “We think, because there’s still some progressive protective effect from seasonality between now and August, that even if there are increases, they will not turn into exponential growth,” Murray said.
“But once the protective effect of seasonality goes away, those same phenomenon may turn into much more rapid increases," he added.
The “biggest and most difficult choice” states will face in the fall is managing a potential second shutdown, Murray said.
“Because of quarantine fatigue, because of the economic effects of quarantine, another round of shutdowns might have even larger effects on businesses that may be on the edge of not being able to stay solvent," he said.
From CNN's Ashely Killough and Gregory Lemos
As Texas continues trending upwards in its average of daily new cases of Covid-19 and hospitalizations, an official from the health department said "this is still a serious situation."
"We’re certainly still seeing COVID-19 spread in Texas, as evidenced by the increased number of hospitalizations, down about 150 today to 2,008, and it’s an important reminder that this is still a serious situation," Chris Van Deusen, spokesperson for the Texas Department of State Health Services, told CNN in an email Thursday.
He added: "People still need to be taking action to protect themselves and their communities by continuing social distancing, wearing a face covering in public, and continuing to wash their hands and disinfect surfaces frequently."
Here are the numbers: Texas averaged approximately 1,700 new cases per day over the week ending June 10, according to a CNN analysis of Johns Hopkins University data.
Van Deusen said numbers out of Texas were notably large Wednesday because a few counties have changed the way they are reporting their numbers.
He said hospitals around the state are prepared for a surge both in the way of beds and staff preparedness.
From CNN's Natasha Chen
Myrtle Beach Director of Public Information Mark Kruea told CNN the Myrtle Beach area has seen an upward trend in new Covid-19 cases over the last few days, mirroring the increase seen across South Carolina.
“If you plan on vacationing in Myrtle Beach,” Kruea said, “bring your mask and your patience.”
Masks are not expected to be worn on beaches, Kruea said, since there is enough room on the beach to socially distance between parties. But, Kruea did encourage all residents and visitors to wear masks when walking around town.
Some background: Myrtle Beach saw an influx of visitors over Memorial Day weekend two weeks ago, when city code enforcement noted a couple of restaurants operating above the 50% capacity.
Kruea said there has not been proactive monitoring of that capacity limit since the holiday weekend, unless someone calls in a complaint.
He said that restaurants have adjusted well to the capacity limit with indoor dining, but that the problem is when guests are waiting to enter or gathering by the door, not social distancing.
Track your state's Covid-19 cases here.
From CNN’s Kay Jones in New Orleans
The number of coronavirus cases in Louisiana increased by more than 400 for the third straight day.
Louisiana Department of Health reported 44,472 total cases on Thursday with 2,874 total deaths, up 19 since Wednesday’s report.
At least 469,673 tests have been completed statewide.
Gov. John Bel Edwards said on Wednesday that while the state is not seeing a spike in cases, there are three regions of concern. He said that cases are increasing in Monroe, Lake Charles and Alexandria due to community spread and congregate settings.
Edwards is slated to take part in a town hall with The Advocate later this afternoon to discuss the state’s response to the pandemic.
From CNN’s Naomi Thomas
There are serious errors being made in the metrics that are being tracked in the United States when it comes to Covid-19, according to Dr. Tom Frieden, the former director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and current president and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives.
These errors are undermining how quickly and how well the US can control Covid-19 and restore the economy, Frieden said during a webinar on Thursday.
“Today, the United States isn’t focusing on the most important trends, and we’re giving too much weight to numbers that have little meaning,” he added.
Some of the areas that are being focused on which Frieden says are not as important as they are being made out to be include case counts — which he says are relatively meaningless in most of the country — as well as the total number of tests being conducted, and the test positivity rate.
Frieden and his colleagues believe that other metrics are more important when it comes to understanding and controlling Covid-19.
Dr. Cyrus Shahpar, Resolve to Save Lives’ director, listed some of the more important numbers to focus on to help governments and communities to form response plans for Covid-19.
These included unlinked infections, proportion of cases among quarantine contacts, number of health care worker infections, trends in excess mortality and demographic trends.
Unlinked infections, for example, are a good number to track because details about them can be used to improve contact tracing.
“If the metrics that matter are used by governments and communities, we will be better equipped to fight the virus [and] save more lives,” Shahpar said.
From CNN's Tina Burnside
Nashville city officials announced today that they will be delaying the next phase of the city's reopening plan following an increase in new virus cases, according to a news release from the health department.
“As of today, the majority of our public health metrics are satisfactory. But our 14-day new case average remains slightly elevated, prompting us to stay in phase two of our Roadmap for Reopening Nashville," Mayor John Cooper said in the statement.
"The level of cases in Southeast Nashville warrants further attention, and I have instructed the Metro Public Health Department to concentrate its efforts there. We will continue with Phase Two while carefully observing our public health data every day,” the mayor continued.
The latest numbers: Metro Public Health Department officials announced today a total number of 6,627 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Nashville/Davidson County, an increase of 56 in the past 24 hours. The confirmed cases range in age from 1 month to 100 years.
One additional death was reported in Davidson County, a 46-year old male with underlying health conditions.
At least 80 people have died after a confirmed case of Covid-19. At least 5,110 individuals have recovered from the virus.