June 12 coronavirus news

There have been a record number of Covid-19 cases reported in the last 24 hours, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said during a news conference Friday.

There were 10,816 cases on Thursday and now there were 11,547 cases, he added.

At least 207 of the newly identified cases were in correctional institutions while the rest are community cases, Hutchinson said.

The television, film and streaming production industry in Georgia is back open for business, according to a statement from Gov. Brian Kemp.

Kemp announced the industries plan to bring back and hire an estimated 40,000 production workers in the state for an expected 75 production projects that with invest over $2 billion into Georgia’s economy, the statement said. 

According to the statement, this announcement follows the “COVID-19: Georgia Best Practices for Film and Television” production guide for studios provided by the Georgia Film Office, that complements the safety protocols recently released by the Industry-Wide Labor-Management Safety Committee Task Force, which will help to ensure a safe workplace environment and reduce the spread of the virus.

Several California jurisdictions do not require residents to wear masks in public as the state moves into various stages of reopening.

The Orange County health director recently resigned after receiving threats for her face coverings mandate. Yesterday, days after her departure, the interim health officer relaxed the order. Movie theaters, gyms, and hotels are reopening today in the county.

Riverside County ended the mandatory mask order in late April after their cases started to level off. The health department strongly recommends face coverings and some business can require it of patrons, according to Jose Arballo, Jr., public information officer for the county health department.

San Bernardino suggests several options to those who want to cover up and encourages people to do so.

Fresno, Kern, and San Joaquin counties do not require a face covering, according to county health department sites.

Ventura County recommends mask wearing though municipalities can require it. The city of Ojai requires employees and customers at essential businesses to wear face coverings.

While not required in Sacramento County, health officials look to an "if you can, you should" approach to face coverings, according to the county public information officer. 

“In spite of recent re-openings, the virus risk is still here,” said Dr. Peter Beilenson, director of Health Services. “We have seen an increase in Covid cases and hospitalizations recently, in large part due to social gatherings, and to keep these cases down we need to remember to be sensible while we’re being sociable.” 

These eight counties are among the top 15 most populous in the state.

California has at least 143,646 coronavirus cases including 4,940 deaths.

The National Basketball Association has laid out its plans to conduct coronavirus testing as 22 teams prepare to restart the 2019-2020 season in July.

According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, the league will require Covid-19 testing for teams from June 23 to June 30 as part of the league’s health and safety initiative to begin play.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski is reporting that players from outside of the United States will need to report to their home team markets by June 15 while players in the states will need to report by June 22.

Both reporters say the league is now targeting July 30 as the start date to the season.

The NBA has not responded to CNN’s request for details regarding these reports.

Officials at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would not confirm on Friday whether there have been striking increases in Covid-19 hospitalizations in certain states, but said they will "monitor very closely" that metric and others during the coronavirus pandemic.

The agency uses a number of metrics beyond hospitalization and testing numbers to track the outbreak, including intensive care admissions and "emergency department utilization for Covid-like illness," Butler said.

"Because the test results in and of themselves only reflect a bit of the transmission that occurs. We know that some people don’t develop symptoms. We know that of those who develop symptoms, not everyone will be tested," he said.

CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield added that expanded testing in certain “vulnerable populations” such as nursing homes may also be contributing to the increases.

Some background: On Wednesday, data that CNN aggregated from the Covid Tracking Project from May 25 to June 9 showed that the number of patients hospitalized due to coronavirus infection has gone up in at least a dozen states that are tracking hospitalization data: Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas and Utah.

An ensemble forecast published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now projects more than 130,000 coronavirus deaths in the United States by July 4.

The rate of new deaths is expected to grow in some states, a sign the pandemic may be worsening in some regions — even as the country begins to reopen.

This week’s national forecast relies on 17 individual forecasts from outside institutions and researchers. The new projections, published Friday, forecast about 130,560 deaths by July 4, with a possible range of 124,260 to 139,880 deaths.

The previous ensemble forecast, published last Thursday, forecast 127,230 US deaths by June 27.

“For other states, the number of new deaths is expected to be similar or decrease slightly compared to the previous four weeks.” 

Also on Friday, CDC officials reiterated the importance of social distancing, wearing face coverings in public and frequent hand washing.

Note on the forecast: Unlike some individual models, the CDC’s ensemble forecast only offers projections for the next month.

“The world is divided,” World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a news conference in Geneva today.

Addressing the coronavirus pandemic, Tedros said, “This is a very dangerous virus. And it's very hard to fight this kind of virus in a divided world.”

Tedros said the impact on global health has been large, but some social impacts are even more serious. “Millions have lost their jobs, and we know many have lost their livelihoods,” he said adding a very small virus is creating havoc.

“This should be a humbling moment,” Tedros said. “We need to really reflect and see humility as the main way to get out of this problem for any individual person or any nation.”

Some background: President Trump has stood firm in his threats to halt funding to the organization. Last month he told the agency he will permanently pull US funding if it does not "commit to major substantive improvements in the next 30 days."

The UK will review its policies on the 14-day travel quarantine and potential "air bridges" on June 29, said British Transport Secretary Grant Shapps during a Downing Street news conference on Friday. 

"We will only open up air bridges where it is safe to do so and there will be more on that at the review period, which is the 29th of June," Shapps said, adding that the UK is taking "every precaution" to avoid a second wave of the virus.

He added that the government is talking to airlines and airports about the policies, but he declined to comment on which countries the UK will talk to about creating travel corridors.

Shapps also said the travel quarantine, which requires anyone coming into the country to self-isolate for 14-days or face fines, would remain a blanket policy until the review at the end of June.

"On the quarantine, I think most Brits understand that we’ve sacrificed a lot, we’ve stayed at home, we’ve been fighting this virus — getting the R number below one. What we don’t want to do is essentially be re-importing it, either by people coming here or by Brits going abroad and coming back," Shapps said. "So I think the idea of quarantine is the right thing to be doing and I note that it has broad public support."

Earlier on Friday, British Airways, Easyjet and Ryanair launched legal action against the UK government’s quarantine rules, saying the restrictions will have a devastating effect on British tourism and the aviation industry.

Officials at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warn that the country could see more Covid-19 cases this summer as states reopen — and are reminding the public that getting flu shots in the fall will be as important as ever.

He continued: "In addition, we must look ahead to the fall and winter. While what will happen is uncertain, we have to pull all our efforts towards gearing up for additional potential challenges that we see every fall and winter — and that is influenza," Butler said. "If anything, we must be overprepared for what we might face later this year. Getting the flu vaccine will be more important than ever, as flu and Covid-19 could be circulating together as we move into the fall in the winter months."