June 12 coronavirus news

President Donald Trump will accept the Republican nomination for the 2020 presidential election this year in Jacksonville, Florida, announced Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel on Thursday.

Trump will make the speech at the 15,000-person VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena, the release said.

Coronavirus complications: The announcement caps a weeks-long row between North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, whose team had been working to keep the convention in Charlotte despite coronavirus fears, and Trump, who refused to let the caution of health officials stop Republicans from having a fully attended convention.

Because the party signed a contract to hold the convention in Charlotte, they are obligated to hold some portion of the convention in the North Carolina city. But the announcement now guarantees that this year's Republican convention will be unlike any other in modern history, where delegates officially elect their nominee in one location, while the nominee accepts the nomination hundreds of miles away.

Read more here.

Countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have recorded more than 1.5 million combined Covid-19 cases as of Thursday evening, according to Johns Hopkins University.

33 countries are included in this region: Brazil, Peru, Chile, Mexico, Ecuador, Colombia, Argentina, Dominican Republic, Panama, Bolivia, Guatemala, Honduras, Haiti, El Salvador, Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Paraguay, Uruguay, Jamaica, Guyana, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, The Bahamas, Barbados, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Belize, Saint Lucia, Dominica, Saint Kitts and Nevis.

The region has a combined total of 1,508,683 confirmed cases, according to JHU's tally.

When Americans started moving around again in April, they started driving up transmission of the coronavirus again -- and it's not a good sign of what is to come in the fall, a top pandemic modeler said Thursday.

Dr. Christopher Murray, director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, said data shows that since the end of April, the number of contacts people have with others are “going up and up.” 

That explains the recent rise in cases, Murray told CNN.

The pandemic forecast: His team’s model now projects that 169,890 people will die from Covid-19 in the US by October 1.

Daily deaths will likely decrease through June and July, but the country likely will see a sharp rise in deaths in September, the model projects.

Murray said the summer months should see a dip in cases, in part, due to seasonality. More testing is also available and more people have started to wear masks.

What we can do to change the predictions: “Masks really work,” Murray said.

Masks provide about 50% protection, but only 40% of Americans wear one now, he said. He predicts that number will slip. Social distancing works, he said, but people will steadily continue to widen their circle of contacts. 

“Those are two things that are really within the control of people,” Murray said. “We will have to see.”

Dr. Mark McClellan, the former US Food and Drug Administration Commissioner, said he is concerned about the recent rise in Covid-19 cases in a number of states.

“This is becoming a regional set of outbreaks, so once you start to have spread in the community, it becomes harder to stop it,” McClellan told CNN on Thursday.

He added that local leaders should watch hospitalization numbers carefully because those are a good measure of the pandemic. There is often a lag behind the actual transmission of the virus, by about 10 days or more, so local leaders need to take steps like slowing re-opening if they begin to see surges again. 

The good news is that we know a lot more now about how to contain the outbreaks, McClellan said. 

“This is not a done deal,” he added. “It really does depend on what we do from here.”

In the coming days, the thousands of people who have been outside protesting during the Black Lives Matter marches should watch for symptoms and get tested, he said, adding, “Very important reasons for protesting, but very important reasons to contain the further spread of the coronavirus." 

The United States needs to watch the recent rise in Covid-19 hospitalizations, an infectious disease expert warned on Thursday.

Dr. William Schaffner told CNN that the experts knew reopening would be tricky. 

“If people are carefree rather than careful, well, then you’ll see an increase in cases,” said Schaffner, a professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. 

Schaffner said the additional 57,000 deaths predicted by an influential model of the pandemic Thursday is “substantial.” 

Attendees of President Donald Trump's upcoming rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, must agree not to sue the campaign if they contract coronavirus.

Rallygoers are asked to RSVP to gain admission to the event and by registering, they must agree to a disclaimer that states they acknowledge the "inherent risk of exposure to COVID-19 exists in any public place where people are present."

"By attending the Rally, you and any guests voluntarily assume all risks related to exposure to COVID-19 and agree not to hold Donald J. Trump for President, Inc.; BOK Center; ASM Global; or any of their affiliates, directors, officers, employees, agents, contractors, or volunteers liable for any illness or injury," the disclaimer reads.

Trump's campaign officially announced plans on Wednesday for the President's first campaign rally since most of the country shut down to prevent the spread of the virus. He will appear at an indoor venue, the BOK Center, in Tulsa on July 19.

Catherine Sharkey, a law professor at New York University School of Law, said waivers like the Trump campaign's are likely to become a regular part of American life as the country reopens and the coronavirus remains a threat. However, the waivers offer only a base-level protection against liability.

Read the full story here.

A window conversation between generations forced to stay apart. Once-bustling city streets sitting deserted. A grocery shopper dressed in a makeshift hazmat suit. A healthcare worker clearly exhausted from the frontlines.

These are some of the images that capture a pivotal time in history, as museums and cultural institutions around the globe work to document the coronavirus pandemic.

In late April, Historic England -- which archives English heritage by documenting archeology, building, and social history -- began collecting photos for its "Picturing Lockdown Collection." It marked the public body's first call for public submissions since World War II. After one week, they received nearly three thousand entries from around the country, illustrating a diverse collective experience.

Read the full story here

Coronavirus spikes in more than a dozen US states since Memorial Day haven't prompted President Donald Trump to revert to the "wartime" stance he once attempted at the height of the pandemic.

Instead, the panel of administration doctors and public health experts that once convened daily and regularly updated the President on the disease have been relegated to meeting once or twice a week, and their engagement with Trump has diminished.

The administration's own social distancing and mask wearing guidance that was once broadcast from the White House podium has gone quiet.

And the President himself remains insistent on demonstrating the country is on track to return to normal, scheduling campaign rallies and in-person fundraisers even in places where cases are again ticking upward.

White House staff received an email on Thursday about making a "gradual" return to campus, according to an email viewed by CNN.

Read more here.

Before emojis, before writing, before speech, there was non-verbal communication; body language, touch and use of physical space.

Of all ways we communicate, the roots of non-verbal communication run the deepest. To show it and to know it is part of being a human.

The coronavirus pandemic has deprived us of the closeness we are biologically programmed to seek when we are vulnerable, lonely or fearful -- exactly when we need it the most. Face masks, video chats and personal protective equipment make it harder to see facial expressions and body movements, while social distancing forces us to be unnaturally apart and the invisible presence of a virus has infused touch with a sense of danger.

Read more here.