June 23 coronavirus news

At least 17 high school students in Ohio have tested positive for coronavirus after a recent trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Robert Sproul, deputy health commissioner of the Belmont County Health Department, tells CNN.

“We were told that 91 students from the Ohio Valley (West Virginia and Ohio) went to Myrtle Beach and returned to the Valley the weekend of the 13-14. Of that group we are being told 45 were Belmont County residents from multiple school districts. This was not a school sanctioned event,” Sproul said.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the Belmont Health Department confirms 17 positive cases and two contact positives, but Sproul expects that number to increase as more people who went on the trip and the individuals they were exposed to get tested for the virus.

“We’re worried our numbers are going to be creeping up,” he said, adding none of the students have been hospitalized and all are quarantining at home while health officials conduct contact tracing to identify where the students were and who they were with. Contact tracers check in with coronavirus-positive individuals on a daily basis, he added.

Before this spike in cases, Belmont County had reduced infection rates to zero, Sproul said, attributing the county’s then-success to residents taking state-imposed restrictions seriously.

“Maybe reconsider your destination,” he cautions future travelers. “If you’re going to a hotspot and not taking precautions you’re asking for trouble … it could happen in your town”

A team of scientists at Imperial College in London has delivered the first dose of their trial Covid-19 vaccine to a human volunteer, a spokesperson told CNN on Tuesday.

The dose was administered on Friday to a volunteer, Ryan O’Hare told CNN. The vaccine will initially be trialed in 15 volunteers, he said. In the second phase, 300 volunteers will receive the vaccine.

The so-called self-amplifying RNA vaccine uses “bits of genetic code, rather than bits of the virus,” to use muscle cells to “produce copies of a protein found on the outside of the virus.” According to Imperial College, this “trains the immune system to respond to the coronavirus so the body can easily recognize it as a threat in future.”

In April, scientists called for volunteers for the human trial of the coronavirus vaccine.

“We are looking for volunteers to take part in our trial in June — they will be the first volunteers to get the vaccine,” Professor Robin Shattock told BBC radio in April.

Italy recorded 18 more coronavirus-related fatalities — the lowest daily increase in deaths among Covid-19 patients since March 1, the country’s Civil Protection Agency said Tuesday.

According to the latest data, the national coronavirus death toll now stands at 34,675.

The total number of active cases has fallen by 1,064, and is now at at 19,573.

Italy also recorded its lowest number of patients in intensive care unites since February with 115 in ICU, 12 less than the previous day. 

The total number of coronavirus cases, including deaths and recoveries, is now at least 238,833.

Dr. Julie Gerberding, former director of the US Centers for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, on Tuesday called for "credible" and "apolitical" experts to oversee the safety of a potential Covid-19 vaccine in order to build the public's trust.

There needs to be "transparency about exactly what the safety assessments are," she said, when asked during a Senate Health Committee hearing what specific commitments the Trump administration should make to build public confidence around a coronavirus vaccine. 

Gerberding said scientific organizations including the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, the CDC and the US Food and Drug Administration should have oversight of the process. 

She also recommended the National Academy of Medicine to monitor vaccine safety.

"When I, for example, had responsibility for administering the smallpox vaccination program for first responders, it was the National Academy of Medicine that monitored the safety of that program and helped us identify very early that there was a safety signal," Gerberding told the committee.

"Involving the scientific community, credible experts, apolitical in orientation, is really going to be a very important part of building this trust," Gerberding told the committee.

The Florida Department of Health is reporting an additional 3,286 cases of coronavirus on Tuesday, bringing the total to 103,503, according to state data. 

On Monday, Florida reached a milestone, reporting more than 100,000 cases. 

Here's a breakdown of daily new cases reported by the state over the last eight days: 

More context: Republican officials in Florida are concerned about the recent spike in coronavirus cases in the state, just two months before Jacksonville is set to host part of the Republican National Convention.

"We clearly haven't beat it," Florida Sen. Rick Scott, a Republican, told CNBC on Monday morning. "So I think everybody is concerned when they read about the cases, the number of cases up."

Arizona reported 3,591 new cases of Covid-19 and 42 deaths from the disease over the last 24 hours, a new record high for both new daily cases and deaths since the state started posting data publicly in mid-March.

The state has been battling a surge in Covid-19 cases and had nine days in the last two weeks where there were more than 1,500 new cases being reported by Arizona’s Department of Health Services.

The state has also been reporting that more than 80% of its available intensive care hospital beds have been in use since last week.

Last Wednesday, Gov. Doug Ducey announced that the state would allow local communities to require masks in public if they choose, but would not issue a statewide order.

“The objective has always been that we could slow the virus.”

President Trump is scheduled to speak at a public event at a Phoenix church today. 

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said that he believes another tax rebate or direct mail checks to Americans “are on the table” as part of an additional stimulus package, but he hopes they would be targeted to those who lost their jobs or are most in need. He stressed that no decisions have been made yet.

Kudlow again said he thinks the discussion on a new stimulus package will begin after the July 4 congressional recess. 

He said “absolutely, definitely” there will not be a second lockdown. He said that while there are some hotspots across the country, case rates are also dropping in many places.

As of this morning, 25 states were seeing an increase in new coronavirus cases over the past week. 

Polish President Andrzej Duda and his delegation will all be tested for coronavirus before their visit to Washington on Wednesday. US officials joining meetings between Duda and President Trump at the White House will also be tested.

Duda is the first head-of-state to visit the White House since the coronavirus pandemic shut down international travel. Senior administration officials previewed the visit on Tuesday.

Duda is expected to raise the issue of relocating some US troops from Germany -- where Trump is planning to cut troops numbers by 9,500 — to Poland.

Also on the agenda for the visit are energy and trade issues, regional security and reopening plans following the pandemic.

Last week, Massachusetts offered Covid-19 testing for people who recently attended large gatherings like the demonstrations and protests to honor George Floyd, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker said in a press conference on Tuesday morning.

Out of 17,617 Covid-19 tests that were conducted statewide, 2.5% came back positive for Covid-19, Baker said.

Baker said that this percentage was reasonably consistent with the statewide numbers seen in daily testing for coronavirus.

Baker pointed to several factors that likely contributed to the relatively low number of positives Covid-19 cases.