June 24 coronavirus news

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee speaks during a news conference on Tuesday, June 23 at the Capitol in Olympia, Washington.

Washington state is issuing new coronavirus guidelines for colleges and universities as they prepare for students to return in the fall.

All students will be asked if they have Covid-19-related symptoms before being allowed back on school grounds. Social distancing is required, and many larger lecture classes may be switching to an online format.

“We will be building community on campus, but we’ll be doing it in a very different way,” said University of Washington President Ana Mari Cauce.

Some context: The new guidelines come as a statewide mask requirement comes into effect for public places in Washington on Friday.

Inslee said he hopes for voluntarily compliance with the order.

“You don’t want to hurt somebody else. You don’t want to kill somebody else. You don’t want to give people unknowingly, a virus,” he said.

Sacramento Kings forward Jabari Parker during the first quarter of an NBA basketball game against the Memphis Grizzlies on February 20 in Sacramento, California.

Sacramento Kings forward Jabari Parker said he has tested positive for Covid-19 “several days ago.”

The NBA’s Sacramento Kings shared Parker’s statement:

Washington state has been removed from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut’s self-quarantine state list, a spokesperson for New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo told CNN.

“There was a discrepancy with Washington state’s reporting, however, they have since corrected it and we have removed them from the list of states under travel advisory,” press secretary Caitlin Girouard said.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee tweeted that travelers from his state will not have to quarantine for 14 days when visiting New York, New Jersey or Connecticut.

“We do not meet the risk criteria and were added in error,” he tweeted. “Washington has been removed from the list.”

President Donald Trump attends a news conference at the White House on June 24 in Washington.

President Trump will not abide by new rules set by New Jersey’s governor requiring quarantine for visitors who have traveled recently to coronavirus hotspots when he visits his Bedminster golf club this weekend.

Trump recently traveled to Arizona, one of the states designated by New Jersey as a hotspot requiring quarantine. The governors of New Jersey, Connecticut and New York said they would require people who’d been to those states to quarantine for 14 days or face fines.

The White House said it followed mitigation plans to prevent contagion during the visit to Arizona on Tuesday. 

“With regard to Arizona, the White House followed it’s COVID mitigation plan to ensure the President did not come into contact with anyone who was symptomatic or had not been tested,” Deere said. “Anyone traveling in support of the President this weekend will be closely monitored for symptoms and tested for COVID and therefore pose little to no risk to the local populations.”

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy told CNN’s Erin Burnett on Wednesday that the President falls into a carve out for essential workers.

“I think the bigger point here is we want folks to really be responsible in terms of thinking about not just themselves, but their family and their communities,” he continued. “And we’ve beaten this virus down to a pulp in New Jersey with an enormous loss of life. We’ve been through hell, and we don’t want to go through hell again. And that’s the spirit that underpins what we’re asking folks to do.”

Watch:

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards speaks to reporters at a briefing on the state's efforts against the coronavirus pandemic in Baton Rouge, Louisiana last month.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said he plans to issue a new proclamation on Thursday extending the phase two restrictions under the current order another 28 days.

Edwards said Louisiana may not remain under the extended order for 28 days, depending on the data after 14 days and 21 days.

He also said the biggest increase in cases in Louisiana is in 18 to 29 year-olds.

“We’ve seen up ticks in young people, younger than 18, and people aged 30 to 39. But in that 18 to 29 years where we’re seeing the largest increase,” Edwards said.

He added: “Nobody is immune from this virus … the damage that this disease can do to your body is something that may last for a very long time. May last forever. So I do want to make sure that young people are listening.”

The Louisiana Department of Health is reporting 52,477 cases of coronavirus and 3,039 deaths.

A senior gubernatorial staff member tested positive for Covid-19, Utah Gov. Gary Herbert announced in a news conference on Wednesday. 

The staff member has self-isolated and other staff members who were exposed to him are being tracked. Neither the governor or Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox were directly exposed to the staffer, Herbert said.

All staff are being monitored for symptoms, tested before coming into the office, and are required to wear masks at work, Herbert said. 

Herbert said he will sign an executive order requiring mask wearing in all state facilities under the purview of the governor’s office, including state higher education facilities. 

As Americans gear up for July 4 celebrations next week, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is recognizing that people will gather in groups and is offering tips to help people protect themselves and others from catching coronavirus.

Wearing a face mask is important when physical distancing is hard to achieve, CDC health scientist Sarah Lee said during a briefing Wednesday, but it’s not a sure bet for protection.

Outdoor gatherings are better than indoor gatherings in reducing the risks for transmitting or contracting the virus at a holiday event because people tend to be in closer contact with each other indoors, she said.

“Trying to keep the gathering outside is really important,” she said. It’s also important to help keep people apart, and take special measures to ensure people at high risk or who have underlying medical conditions are protected, she said.

She said the safest gathering with the lowest amount of risk is an online party.

“Where we get more risk, this includes smaller outdoor and in person gatherings where individuals from different households and maybe our neighbors come over and hang out in your back yard,” Lee said. “They stay six feet apart. You’re all wearing cloth face coverings and you’re not sharing objects, such as food utensils or other items, and you’re all from the same local area.”

Mitigating risk: Lee said the highest risk for spreading coronavirus is in large gatherings where it’s difficult for people to remain spaced apart and that include people who have traveled from outside the local area.

“We’re used to giving handshakes and high fives and fist bumps. So, trying to avoid those actions will help as well,” she said.

Wearing masks and washing hand frequently are also important.

“We know that the virus that causes Covid-19 can spread when respiratory droplets are produced through coughing or sneezing. So, if you have the cloth face covering on, that really helps prevent those droplets from moving and affecting someone else. And social distancing is another action that’s really important. It helps reduce your chance of coming into contact with respiratory droplets that might not be captured by the face covering,” she said.

A Brazilian Armed Forces medical team member administers a coronavirus test on June 20 at a health post in Atalaia do Norte, Brazil.

Brazil’s health ministry recorded 42,725 new coronavirus cases Wednesday as the country continues to record sharp daily increases in new cases. 

The highest one-day rise in cases in the country, 54,771, was reported on June 19. 

In the past three days alone, the country reported 103,593 new cases. Brazil’s total confirmed cases stand at 1,188,631, according to the health ministry.

The ministry also reported 1,185 new fatalities Wednesday, bringing the country’s death toll to 53,830.

Men transport a hearse at a funeral home in the Brooklyn borough of New York in April.

There are at least 2,371,422 cases of coronavirus in the US and at least 121,870 people have died in the country from the virus, according to Johns Hopkins University’s tally of cases.

So far on Wednesday, Johns Hopkins reported 24,485 new cases and 646 deaths. 

The totals include cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, as well as repatriated cases. 

Former White House national security adviser John Bolton speaks with CNN's Wolf Blitzer on June 24.

Former White House national security adviser John Bolton said he does not have confidence in President Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

“I do not,” Bolton said when asked by CNN’s Wolf Blitzer if he has confidence in Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

“It is not a comprehensive strategy,” he said, noting that the federal response has “not been consistent.”

The Trump administration is trying to stop the release of Bolton’s book, which alleges that Trump asked China’s leader to help him win the 2020 election and expressed support for concentration camps for Muslims in China.

Bolton argued in a court filing last week it’s too late to stop the release of his book, and says that the government can’t do so because it would violate his First Amendment rights.

Watch:

People should keep a coronavirus emergency kit on hand with a mask, tissues and hand sanitizer whether they are going to the grocery store or attending a gathering over the Fourth of July holiday, a US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expert urged Wednesday

Both Covid-19 cases and deaths are continuing to increase across the country and half of all states have seen a rise in cases since June 1, Lee said.

Lee urged extra vigilance as people congregate in different places for various events, such as July 4 celebrations.

“It’s important as you do plan to go out and do these types of activities, you keep your stash of items with you that will help you practice those everyday activities,” she said.

“A cloth face covering, having tissue and hand sanitizer that is at least 60% alcohol if possible,” she added.

 “Like we talk about emergency kits, this is a kit for those everyday preventive actions that you can have on hand. You find yourself in a grocery store and you want the hand sanitizer, you’ve got it accessible.”

Ambulances are parked outside the emergency room entrance at Banner Desert Medical Center, on June 16 in Mesa, Arizona.

Arizona is currently seeing the highest number of new coronavirus cases per capita of any state in the country, and more new cases per capita than any other state besides New York or New Jersey has seen, according to a CNN analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University.

Arizona added about 2,742 new cases per day over the seven days that ended on June 23. Adjusted for population, that’s about 38 new cases per 100,000 people per day.

New York and New Jersey are the only states that have seen higher per-capita rates of new cases.

New York saw its highest number of new cases during the week that ended April 10, when the state added about 9,909 new cases per day, or about 51 new cases per 100,000 people per day. New Jersey’s seven-day peak was April 7, when the state averaged about 3,674 new cases per day or about 41 new cases per 100,000 people per day.

A small group of Republican senators met Wednesday afternoon in the Capitol in the Strom Thurmond room near Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s office to discuss the next stimulus proposal. 

The meeting was just the beginning of discussions for the party as they begin charting their course over the weeks ahead. Republican senators have repeatedly said they don’t plan to tackle the issue until the end of July on the floor of the Senate, but the meeting is an indication that the party is beginning to get organized about how to approach boosting the economy. 

The senators spotted attending the meeting include Sen. Mike Crapo, the Banking Chairman, Rob Portman of Ohio, David Perdue of Georgia, John Cornyn of Texas, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania. 

Asked why this group was selected, Cornyn joked it was just “all the smartest people.”

A worker administers a coronavirus test swab at a drive-thru testing site on April 24 in Los Angeles, California.

Los Angeles County has more confirmed coronavirus cases than any other county in the nation.

According to data generated by Johns Hopkins University, L.A. County surpassed Cook County in Illinois on Wednesday to become the single US county with the highest number of coronavirus cases.

Los Angeles County — the nation’s most populous with roughly 10 million residents — reported 88,512 cases as of Wednesday. Cook County, which includes Chicago, reported the second highest number of confirmed infections with 87,784 cases.

New York’s Queens County was third with 64,099, according to the Johns Hopkins data.

The surge in cases in Los Angeles comes as California sees record numbers of new infections, hospitalizations, and patients in intensive care units.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom addressed the increased infections, pleading with residents to think of others when it comes to wearing face masks, keeping a safe distance, and hand washing.

Loosely quoting scripture, Newsom implored residents to “love thy neighbors, like yourself, please.”

People shouldn’t count on getting a hiatus from Covid-19 in the summer months to prepare for fall, said Michael Osterholm, director of the Infectious Disease Research and Policy Center at the University of Minnesota, at a JAMA live event on Wednesday.

Using areas with recent case increases to demonstrate this, Osterholm pointed out that some of them have been happening in very hot places and some in places with very moderate climates, and that there is no difference in the way Covid-19 is acting.

“I am not convinced there will be a second wave. I don’t think there will be. I think that we’re just going to see one onslaught where it shows up here, shows up there; a little higher there, a little lower there; but in the end, it’s just going to be like one river of virus flowing downstream.”

Fighting coronavirus is like trying to fix a leaky bucket, a pandemic expert said Wednesday; something is going to get out.

There are not many weapons against it, Osterholm said. 

“I think distancing, distancing and distancing, really, the only focus we have, and it has proven to be successful,” he said.

Mitigating the spread of infection: Wearing masks can also work, but a lot depends on what people use. N95 respirators, used to protect health care workers, are far more effective than surgical masks or cloth face coverings, for instance, Osterholm said.

“It’s kind of like saying I have a semi-truck, a VW beetle and a trike and they’re all the same because they have tires,” he said.

More work is needed to understand how different types of masks work in the environments they are used in.

Osterholm also pointed out that masks need to be worn correctly to be effective.

CIDRAP has found that 25% of people who use masks are wearing them with their noses uncovered. 

“It’s like fixing three of the five screen doors in your submarine. If we’re going to use them we have to use them correctly,” Osterholm said.

A municipal worker sprays disinfectant at a market on June 10 in Puno, Peru.

During a news conference to mark 101 days since the state of emergency was imposed due to Covid-19, Peru’s President Martin Vizcarra recounted his administration’s accomplishments against the pandemic but also acknowledged the current challenges.

Vizcarra told the nation his government has managed to do 1,560,653 tests until Wednesday while it started with a capacity of 500 tests per day. The country’s capacity is now from 15,000 to 20,000 tests per day, according to Vizcarra.

He also acknowledged his government faces what he called “structural problems” to fight the pandemic but responded to his critics saying “they demand us to fix the country’s problems in one hundred days while these problems have not been solved in one hundred years.” 

Vizcarra also recognized current problems in the fight against coronavirus in his country such as the lack of oxygen for patients and the need to improve rules for local markets, which have become hubs of infection across the country for example.

His government allowed shopping centers to reopen starting last Monday in order to relieve the economy but the president implored the population not to relax the current social distancing and hygiene rules when going shopping.

“We can’t relax and trust yet, we will only be relaxed when science finds a vaccine or a treatment to neutralize the virus … Please do not let our guard down,” Vizcarra added. 

The numbers: Peru has the second-highest number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Latin America, following Brazil. Peru reported 260,810 Covid-19 cases and 8,404 deaths on Tuesday. Peru was one of the first countries in the region to impose a state of emergency and lockdown in order to fight the pandemic. 

A member of the medical team treats a patient in the ICU of Mater Dei hospital on June 23 in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

Covid-19 cases in Latin America have now tripled since the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) announced the region had become the new epicenter of the pandemic, the organization’s director said Wednesday.

There is now widespread transmission in most of Central America, while the Caribbean has hotspots on the border of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, as well as in northern South America, Etienne said. 

“Brazil surpassed 1 million Covid-19 cases, joining the United States as the only other country in the world with cases in the six digits,” Etienne said of the South American country. 

“While the recent increase in cases is extremely concerning, we have averted an even greater tragedy, thanks to the early adoption of public health measures, which have helped protect health systems and saved lives in many countries,” Etienne added. 

However, the PAHO director warned that governments are now facing pressure to ease these public health measures due to economic and political reasons, even though transmission is increasing.

“In the absence of effective treatments, or of widely available vaccines, we expect that over the next two years in the region of the Americas we will experience recurring Covid-19 outbreaks, which may be interspersed with periods of limited transmission,” Etienne said. “We must be realistic about the future. All of us must adjust to a new way of life, and redefine our sense of normal,” she added.

“The question is no longer how do we go back to the way things were before, but rather, how do we move forward and build a sustainable outbreak response.”

US President Donald Trump and Polish President Andrzej Duda hold a joint press conference in the Rose Garden of the White House on, June 24 in Washington.

President Trump said he would welcome getting Poland involved in a potential vaccine for Covid-19 and predicted there will be a “beautiful surprise, sooner than anybody would think.”

He made the remarks during a joint news conference with Polish President Andrzej Duda.

“The answer is yes we will be getting Poland involved in terms of helping and taking care of the polish people,” Trump said.

On the progress of vaccines and therapeutics, Trump said: “I think you’re gong to have a big surprise, a beautiful surprise, sooner than anybody would think.”

He offered no specific details.

Trump also told reporters in the Rose Garden that he plans to visit Poland after the 2020 election. Trump canceled a trip to Poland due to hurricanes last year.

It’s important to build up stockpiles, both nationally and at the state level, as more than 10 states begin to see a resurgence in coronavirus cases, Dr. Anthony Fauci said during a virtual appearance Wednesday at the Sacramento Press Club.

When the pandemic first started spreading in the United States, the country was not prepared, Fauci said.

“You know, the stockpile in the beginning was not adequate to really address the major surges received — particularly in the northeast part of the country, in the New York metropolitan area,” he said. 

“But right now we have some time. I mean, we’re not where we want to be, because we want to see that curve go way down. It hasn’t come down,” he said.

“Yesterday we had something like 35 or 37,000 new cases of coronavirus disease — new cases.” 

Fauci said at one point the number of new cases was heading in the right direction: down.

“Now, it’s not. It’s going back up.” 

Fauci urged states and cities to address the issues of equipment and drug stockpiles, as well as hospital capacity.

“I think it’s time to start preparing each state. I mean the one thing I’ve learned not to do, is that you don’t go in and tell people what they should do,” he said.

“We have the possibility of a surge of cases. Do we have enough backup to handle them? If we don’t, let’s start building it up.” 

People wear face masks while riding bicycles on Ocean Drive in Miami Beach, Florida, on June 16.

A group of Florida lawmakers wrote a letter to Gov. Ron DeSantis urging him to require masks statewide. 

“The recommendation by Florida Surgeon General Scott Rivkees, that all individuals in Florida should wear face coverings in any setting where social distancing is not possible” is evidence that wearing a mask in public is sound and necessary practice from a scientific perspective. You must take the next step and make it a requirement,” the letter read.

The lawmakers who signed the letter include: Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Donna Shalala, Alcee L. Hastings, Ted Deutch, Charlie Crist, Val Demings, Lois Frankel, Stephanie Murphy, Kathy Castor, Frederica Wilson, Darren Soto, Al Lawson and Debbie Murcarsel-Powell. 

DeSantis addressed the lack of a statewide mask mandate saying he feels masks orders can be problematic.

He added: “Ultimately we have to trust people to make good decisions.”

As Florida emerges from its coronavirus shutdown, the state is experiencing a surge of Covid-19 cases, with younger Floridians accounting for a significant number of positive tests.

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

Nearly 180,000 Americans will die from coronavirus by October 1 unless just about everyone starts wearing masks, new projections show.

The latest coronavirus projection from the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation shows 179,106 deaths by October 1 if nothing changes.

But that number would drop to 146,000 if 95% of Americans started wearing masks in public, the model forecasts.

The previous IHME forecast, published June 15, projected 201,129 deaths by October 1. “California and other states have seen over the past several weeks increasing case numbers, but deaths are not yet rising at the same rate, a trend which could change in the coming weeks,” IHME Director Christopher Murray said in a statement Wednesday.

According to a June 12 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 74% of Americans nationwide said they wore masks often or always. That number approached 90% in New York and Los Angeles.

“States reporting the ages of confirmed cases suggest there are more cases being detected in younger people who are at substantially lower risk of death than older people,” Murray said. “It remains to be seen how this will unfold over the next few weeks, and if transmission continues to go up, we may see increasing infections in at-risk populations.” 

The United States Department of Agriculture and Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday issued a joint statement on “food export restrictions pertaining to Covid-19.”

“There is no evidence that people can contract Covid-19 from food or from food packaging. The U.S. food safety system, overseen by our agencies, is the global leader in ensuring the safety of our food products, including product for export,” they added.

A worker sprays disinfectant on June 23 in Bogota, Colombia.

Colombia’s President Ivan Duque extended the country’s lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus until July 15. 

Speaking from the presidential palace on Tuesday, Duque said that regions in Colombia where no cases are being reported are reopening gradually. 

About the numbers: Colombia has reported 73,760 coronavirus cases, including 2,524 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Dr. Anthony Fauci removes his face mask before testifying at a hearing on the Trump administration's response to the Covid-19 pandemic on June 23 in Washington.

Wearing a face mask in public to limit the spread of the deadly coronavirus should not be a political issue, according to the nation’s top infectious diseases expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci. 

Fauci was asked during an interview at the Sacramento Press Club Wednesday about the politicization of wearing face coverings, even as cases of Covid-19 continue increasing in more than 10 states.

Some context: President Trump and members of his administration have shunned wearing masks in public, even at crowded campaign rallies and White House events, prompting supporters to eschew wearing them, as well. 

Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said an analysis of mask use shows very clearly that it makes a difference. 

Apple plans to close seven stores in Texas again due to an uptick in coronavirus cases in the state.

The following stores in the Houston area will be closing again: Highland Village, First Colony Mall, Houston Galleria, Memorial City, Willowbrook Mall, Baybrook, and The Woodlands.

Some context: Apple reopened dozens of its 271 United States stores last month after shutting them because of the coronavirus. But last week, Apple decided to once again shutter 11 locations in Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina and Arizona due to a surge in cases in those states.

CNN Business’ Rishi Iyengar contributed to this report

Medical workers transfer patients at the Maimonides Medical Center on May 27 in New York.

New York City has 17,685 confirmed coronavirus deaths and 4,680 probable coronavirus deaths as of June 24, according to the most recent data on the city website.

The New York City Health Department defines probable deaths as people who did not have a positive Covid-19 laboratory test, but their death certificate lists as the cause of death “Covis-19” or an equivalent.

The total number of confirmed coronavirus deaths and probable coronavirus deaths in New York City is 22,365.

Some more context: There have been 210,185 coronavirus cases in the city and 54,504 people have been hospitalized, according to the city.

The data is from the New York City Health Department and was updated on June 24 at 1 p.m., according to the website.

The numbers may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project.

Pregnant women might be at a higher risk of being admitted to a hospital’s intensive care unit or even needing ventilation if infected with the coronavirus, a researcher at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday.

This new information, which has not been published yet, contradicts some previous research suggesting that pregnant women may not be at a higher risk of becoming sick enough to need treatment in the ICU if they catch coronavirus.

Pregnant women are, for instance, much more vulnerable to influenza.

Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, there has been limited data on what risks pregnant women could face with Covid-19 — if any — but now the new information that Oliver presented in the ACIP meeting helps add to the scientific literature. The information is scheduled to be published in a CDC report on Thursday.

By the numbers: The report includes information about 326,335 women ages 15 to 44 who had a coronavirus infection between January 22 and June 7, Oliver said. There were 8,207 pregnancies reported among the women.

“This new report includes the largest US cohort of pregnant women with lab-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection,” Oliver said in her presentation. “Among pregnant women, 31.5% were reported as hospitalized compared with 5.8% of non-pregnant women.”

“Pregnant women were 50% more likely to be admitted to the intensive care unit and 70% more likely to receive mechanical ventilation. Sixteen deaths were reported among pregnant women, in a similar proportion to non-pregnant women,” Oliver added.

Oliver noted that a separate analysis previously found the risk of ICU admission and mechanical ventilation was actually lower among pregnant women with coronavirus and there was no statistically significant difference in the risk of in-hospital death — so more research is needed.

“More complete data are needed to assess if SARS-CoV-2 infection in pregnancy is associated with adverse pregnancy or neonatal outcomes,” Oliver said. 

“However, results from this study do suggest an increased risk of ICU admission and mechanical ventilation, which are distinct proxies for severity, in pregnant women compared to non-pregnant women,” Oliver said. “However, the absolute risk of clinical interventions is still very low in this population.”

Dr. David Blumenthal, president of The Commonwealth Fund, said the coronavirus pandemic in the United States is like watching a “public health train wreck in slow motion.”

The Commonwealth fund is a foundation that studies health systems.

Speaking during an Alliance for Health Policy and Commonwealth Fund webinar on Wednesday, Blumenthal said that leaves Americans in a difficult position.

Dr. Reed Tuckson, managing director of Tuckson Health Connections, said those lessons learned are both good and bad.

Tuckson said he has seen the value of the health care profession go up, he has seen hospitals become more flexible in their ability to provide care, and the advancement of telehealth has been a “watershed moment in the future in the history of health care.”

Tuckson, an AHP board chair member, said, sadly, the bad outweighs the good.

“We don’t really have a health system,” he said. “So to talk about how the health system performed is probably a non sequitur.”

Some context: Tuckson said the pandemic has highlighted “the politicization of science and public health, the inability to overcome the legacy of distrust by people of color and other populations, the attacking of public health officials, and the intimidation of them through the politicization.”

“What is not getting enough attention is the suboptimal capacity of contact tracing. And it’s not just the capacity of contact tracing, but the ability to gain the trust of the American people,” Tuckson said.

“We have failed in our health system to maintain or build those trusting relationships that could have withstood the challenges of the moment,” Tuckson said, adding that the problems were “exacerbated” by political leaders. 

“Unfortunately, we did not have the resiliency built into the system that we should have had,” he added.

Sen. Marco Rubio, and Sen. Susan Collins, arrive for the Senate Select Intelligence Committee confirmation hearing for Peter Michael Thomson, nominee to be inspector general of the Central Intelligence Agency, in Russell Building on Wednesday, June 24.

Republican Sen. Marco Rubio said today that “everyone should just wear a damn mask, like you guys are, like I am right now.”

He made the comments as he left a GOP lunch where Vice President Mike Pence provided a coronavirus update. 

Rubio said he also encouraged his Republican colleagues during lunch to wear a mask.  

“It’s a respiratory virus that spreads from person to person and the more people you come in contact with in an unprotected setting the likelier you are to be infected by it,” he added.

Some context: Several states have seen spikes in coronavirus cases in recent weeks, including Rubio’s home state. Today marked Florida’s highest number of new and confirmed coronavirus cases in a single day since the start of the pandemic, according to the Florida Health Department. 

Polish President Andrzej Duda meets with U.S. President Donald in the Oval Office on Wednesday, June 2.

Both President Trump and his Polish counterpart suggested Wednesday the coronavirus pandemic currently raging in the United States was in the rearview as in-person diplomacy resumed in the Oval Office.

“This is the first after Covid, after the start of the plague, as I call it, and it’s an honor to have you here,” Trump told his visitor, Polish President Andrzej Duda, as they began talks at the White House.

Duda, who faces a tight re-election in four days, said it was an honor to be Trump’s first invitee after an extended period of pandemic-forced lockdown.

“It’s a privilege and honor to be here with you in the White House, the first president of state after the lockdown at the end of the coronavirus,” he said.

Trump and Duda both hailed their close personal ties and the broader relationship between the United States and Poland.

“We’ve had many discussions and we worked very well with Poland. I don’t think we’ve ever been closer to Poland that we are right now,” Trump said. “I think it’s a great honor and frankly Poland’s a country we have a tremendous relationship with. And I have a very good personal relationship with the president.”

Teachers confer with each other in an empty classroom at Freedom Preparatory Academy on May 18, in Provo, Utah. The school was closed on March 16, along with all other schools in Utah by order of the Utah Governor.

Strategies such as increasing air ventilation, installing touchless technology, and modifying schedules to stagger arrival and departure times could help schools reopen more safely as the coronavirus pandemic continues, according to a new report published Wednesday.

Schools can also limit sharing of equipment in physical education classes and limit personal contact with strategies like taking parent-teacher conferences online, environmental safety expert Joseph Allen and colleagues at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health said in their report.

These should be put in place alongside known measures such as hand washing, mask use, widespread testing for the virus, and encouraging people to stay home when they are sick.

Allen said it’s better to send kids back to school than to keep them sequestered at home. He said online learning was missing many, if not most, students.

“Schools will eventually need to reopen,” the report says. “Keeping schools closed comes with massive, long-term individual and societal costs. Many children cannot effectively learn, grow, engage, socialize, be active, eat healthy food, or get supports until schools reopen.”   

Indiana Pacers guard Malcolm Brogdon said he has tested positive for Covid-19. 

Brogdon, who leads the team in assists per game (7.1) this season, said he is “feeling well” and plans to join his teammates in Orlando, Florida, when the NBA season resumes.

The NBA season is expected to resume on July 30 at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. 

Urging Californians to consider others by wearing a face covering and keeping up with physical distancing, Gov. Gavin Newsom appealed to people’s emotions in order to slow the spread of coronavirus.

Acknowledging that younger people tend to feel safer returning to normal, Newsom warned, “be careful about Mom and Dad, and careful about your mother-in-law, your father-in-law, your grandparents.”

Newsom pleaded with the public to think of others when it comes to wearing masks, keeping a safe distance, and increase hand washing.

Loosely quoting scripture, Newsom implored residents to “Love thy neighbors, like yourself, please.”

Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida told reporters, “we’re not where we need to be” on coronavirus.

Data released by the Florida Department of Health shows that today the state marked the highest number of new and confirmed cases of the virus in a single day since the start of the pandemic. 

“I hope everybody takes it seriously, because we haven’t beaten this, we don’t have a vaccine yet,” Scott said. He encouraged people to continue to social distance and wear masks. 

Asked about whether beaches should close in his state, Scott responded that it is up to the people to “make decisions on their own.” He added that Floridians are “tired of people telling them what to do, but that “I think people will make good decisions with good information.”

CORRECTION: The photo in this post has been changed to an image of Sen. Rick Scott.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on June 19.

The positivity rate for coronavirus in California has climbed to 5.1%, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced in a press conference. The rate was 4.8% on Monday and 4.6% last week. 

This rate hike comes despite increased testing. Yesterday alone, about 94,000 people were tested in California, Newsom said.

Noting that about 8% of all hospital beds and 30% of ICU beds statewide are being used for Covid-19 patients, Newsom said he is confident that the state remains able to meet the needs of patients.

In total, California has recorded at least 183,073 cases and at least 5580 deaths as a result of the virus, according to California Department of Public Health data.

The entrance to Walt Disney World in Orlando is seen empty on May 15.

The Florida county where Disney World is located says it doesn’t plan to revisit the park’s reopening plan, despite pushback from some Disney employees.

More than 7,000 people are petitioning both Disney and government officials to delay reopening Disney World next month as coronavirus cases surge in Florida.

The Disney theme park plans to begin a phased reopening on July 11 for its Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom parks and July 15 for EPCOT and Hollywood Studios. Florida reported an additional 3,286 cases of coronavirus on Tuesday, bringing the state total to 103,503.

Hear more:

A woman walks out of a store in Santa Monica, California, on June 23.

More than 7,000 people were confirmed to have coronavirus in California on Wednesday, according to data from California Department of Public Health.

These 7,149 new cases obliterate the previous single day high of just over 5,000, a record set only the day before.

Hospitalization and ICU rates due to the virus are also at an all-time high in the state.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom plans to address the spike in a news conference starting shortly.

California is among at least 26 US states that have recorded higher rates of new cases compared to last week.

Tourist service posts remain closed in the Marina in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, on June 2.

 A spring break trip to a Mexican beach resort last March led to 64 cases of coronavirus, but proper contact tracing, quarantine and isolation got the outbreak under control, a team at The University of Texas at Austin reported Wednesday. 

No one got seriously ill and no one died, but the incident illustrates how young people – especially college students – can quickly spread the virus among themselves and carry it into the community, the research team said.

Sixty vacationers caught the virus. They in turn infected one household contacts and three people in the community, the UT team reported in the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s weekly bulletin.

The students traveled to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico from March 14-19. A week later, back in Austin, three showed up at the health center with coronavirus symptoms and tested positive. “Contact tracing interviews revealed that Cabo San Lucas travelers used a variety of commercial, charter, and private flights to return to the United States,” wrote the researchers, part of a joint effort between the university and Austin Public Health.

“Additional travelers were identified through contact tracing interviews and review of flight manifests gathered with assistance from Austin Public Health,” they added.

Then the contact tracing team swung into action. “UTHA trained medical students, public health students, and clinical and research staff members to trace contacts. UTHA contact tracers communicated with travelers and contacts by telephone, first texting an initial message about the potential exposure and then attempting to call each traveler and contact up to three times,” they wrote.

“During the telephone call, contact tracers advised asymptomatic travelers and contacts to self-quarantine and self-monitor for symptoms for 14 days from the last potential exposure date. Symptomatic travelers and contacts were offered a SARS-CoV-2 test and asked to self-isolate until either a negative test result was obtained or, following CDC recommendations at the time, until 7 days after symptom onset, including 3 days with no fever and no worsening of symptoms.”

It was complicated, because many of the people involved had shared rooms, traveled together, and then returned home to shared apartments. And about a fifth of those who ended up testing positive had no symptoms.

The symptoms people did have were various. “Similar proportions of fever, cough, sore throat, and headache occurred among persons with positive test results and those with negative results,” the team wrote. It’s possible some of the students had other respiratory infections, including flu. The researchers also suspect some claimed they had symptoms when they did not, so they could get tested. 

Universities, colleges and other schools need to take into account this pattern of shared living and rapid virus spread as they consider reopening, the researchers said.

A customer gets her hair cut in East Windsor, New Jersey, on June 22.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said that while there is an increase in Covid-19 hospitalizations the state feels comfortable continuing with its restart. 

The governor added “we have to continue with our social distancing folks. We have to wear the face coverings. There are no excuses to let up even one bit.”

“It is not yet defeated” he said of the virus.

Earlier today, Murphy announced a travel advisory alongside the governors of New York and Connecticut. It will require people traveling from states that have a high infection rate to quarantine for 14 days.

Here is the state’s latest data from the governor:

Note: These numbers were released by the State of New Jersey’s public health agency, and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project

The Tulsa Department of Health reported 259 new cases of coronavirus today.

“As numbers are growing in the month of June across the state, we are seeing the same steep upward trends here in Tulsa County,” Dr. Bruce Dart, executive director of the Tulsa Health Department, said during a news conference on Wednesday.

Dart also said that 92% of the new cases were from June 14-20 and that 40% of all of the new cases came from the 18 to 35 age group.

He went on to say that more than half of the hospitalizations are of people under the age of 50.

There are a total of 2,742 total cases and 66 deaths in Tulsa County.

An employee cleans the windows at the Silverball Museum Arcade in Asbury Park, New Jersey, on May 22.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy announced another slate of business will be allowed to reopen on July 2.

Museums, aquariums and indoor recreation facilities will be able to reopen at 25% capacity, along with casinos. Indoor bowling alleys, batting cages, shooting ranges, and boardwalk arcades will also be allowed to reopen.

It does not include indoor entertainment venues including movie theaters, indoor venues, and night clubs. Gyms and fitness centers will remain closed but individualized fitness appointments are available. 

Libraries will also be able to reopen at 25% of capacity.

Businesses will be required to implement heightened sanitary procedures and measures. Face coverings and masks will also be required.

An empty hallway at Yung Wing Elementary School in Manhattan on March 17.

The only way to ensure zero cases of Covid-19 in schools is to keep them closed for the next year, but this is not acceptable when looking at the other risks faced by children kept at home, an environmental health expert said Wednesday. 

It’s better to take steps to make school safer and keep children and teens safe and engaged, said Joseph Allen, assistant professor of exposure assessment science and the director of the Healthy Buildings Program at Harvard’s TH Chan School of Public Health. 

“So when we have this discussion about kids going back to school, we’d have to put it in the contexts of the massive individual and societal costs to keeping kids at home.”

Children at home can face physical health problems, such as being more sedentary. Plus, kids often rely on school meals. Mental health problems, often worsened by a lack of social interaction and connection, are also a problem.

And many students are not getting much out of online classes, Allen said. “We now have virtual dropout, take Boston for example, where 20% of the kids in May didn’t log into class,” he said. “Philadelphia has a similar issue where only 50% of the elementary school kids were making daily contact.”

He also highlighted concerns from UNICEF that children at home during a lockdown are at greater risk of abuse, neglect, exploitation and violence.

Allen and colleagues published a report Wednesday that outlined risk reduction strategies for schools to reopen.

Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of the World Health Organization’s health emergencies program, said nobody can wave a magic wand to get rid of coronavirus.

“The numbers respond to response,” Ryan said. 

“There are no magic answers. There are no spells here,” Ryan said. “You can’t divine this away.”

Ryan said using every resource available at all levels is the only way to combat this pandemic.

Maria Van Kerkhove, a WHO infectious disease epidemiologist, said “transmission is completely in our hands.”

“We have tools right now in our toolbox — right now — to be able to suppress transmission,” she added.

A person said to have died from Covid-19 is brought for burial to the General Cemetery in Santiago, Chile, on June 23.

Chile reported 3,649 new Covid-19 cases, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 254,416.

The death toll due to the virus is at 4,731, according to data released by Chile’s Health authorities on Wednesday. 

Chile’s Health Minister, Enrique Paris, said Wednesday’s data showed some improvement but “we can’t say we are winning the battle. This shows small progress but we are still having serious problems”

As the number of coronavirus cases in Florida continue to spike, Broward County is taking stricter measures against businesses not complying with reopening guidelines and restrictions, according to a news release from the county. 

On Wednesday, Broward County Administrator Bertha Henry issued Emergency Order 20-18 which outlines penalties for establishments that fail to comply with emergency orders mandating sanitization, social distancing, facial coverings and other requirements intended to mitigate the spread of Covid-19. 

Under the order, any establishment cited for operating in violation of any county emergency order shall immediately close for a minimum 24-hour period.

In addition, repeat violations will be presumed to be knowing violations and will be subject to stricter penalties, including a fine of up to $15,000.   

Citing the latest statistics in Covid-19 cases, the county says the success at controlling the spread of the virus is dependent upon businesses and resident compliance. 

Dr. Mike Ryan, World Health Organization executive director of the health emergencies program, said Wednesday that the Americas have not reached their coronavirus peak.

Particularly across Central and South America, Ryan said, “We’ve seen a steady and worrying continuation of trend — with many countries experiencing between 25% and 50% rise in cases over the last week.”

Ryan added many countries are still “suffering sustained community transmission.”

Across the region, we will likely see a “sustained number of cases and continued deaths in the coming weeks,” he said.

Though Ryan said there is no way to predict the numbers, at this point the epidemic is “still intense” across a range of countries.

“I don’t think anybody wants to go back to population-wide, society-wide lockdowns. But the only way, in some circumstances, to avoid that now is a very, very, very aggressive investment in our capacity to detect cases, confirm cases, quarantine contacts, and keep our communities onboard and willing — able without coercion — to support clear messaging and clear instructions and requests from government in a trusting environment,” Ryan said. 

Yesterday marked the third highest number of new coronavirus cases reported in a single day in the US since the beginning of the pandemic 

This is based on the archive of numbers kept by Johns Hopkins University.

At least 34,720 cases were reported yesterday. The second highest number — 34,756 cases — was reported on April 9.

The highest number of new cases was reported on April 24, when at least 36,291 were recorded.

The World Health Organization expects the world will reach 10 million coronavirus cases within the next week.

“More than 9.1 million cases of Covid-19 have now been reported to WHO, and more than 470,000 deaths. In the first month of this outbreak, less than 10,000 cases were reported to WHO. In the last month, almost 4 million cases have been reported,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a briefing Wednesday.

He continued: “We expect to reach a total of 10 million cases within the next week. This is a sober reminder that even as we continue research into vaccines and therapeutics, we have an urgent responsibility to do everything we can with the tools we have now to suppress transmission and save lives.”

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said a non-political, statistic-based, phased reopening is the smart way to move forward.

There were 17 deaths Tuesday – 12 in hospitals and five in nursing homes in New York. That’s down from 27 the day before. There are 1,071 patients hospitalized, the lowest level New York has had since March 19, according to Cuomo.

More on the positivity rate: The state tested 51,444 people Tuesday, and had 581 positive cases, which is roughly 1.1%.

New York City is at 1.2%. Within the city itself, the Bronx is at 2.1 percent, the highest of all five boroughs. That’s an increase from 1.3 percent on Friday.

The Central New York region and Mohawk Valley Region at 2.3 percent.

Five regions across the state are expected to enter phase four by Friday. Indoor religious gatherings will be permitted in those regions with a capacity of 33% occupancy, a slight uptick from 25% currently.

Museums, higher education, professional sports can resume — all with limitations.

New York City, which began phase two earlier this week, is not among these regions nor is Long Island.

A person sits by a tombstone at a cemetery for Covid-19 victims near the city of Najaf in Iraq on June 10.

Iraq on Wednesday registered 2,200 new coronavirus cases, the highest daily tally recorded in the country since the pandemic began, according to the country’s health ministry. Iraq now has a total of 36,702 cases of coronavirus.

The health ministry also reported 79 new Covid-19-related fatalities, bringing the total to 1,330 deaths across the country.

New York paramedic Anthony Almojera urged the public to “just wear a mask,” saying the coronavirus is still circulating and the risk of exposure still remains high.

Almojera also underlined the strain that Covid-19 has put on first responders.

“You felt every bit of that energy, and it took all of it out of you as a responder. To sit there and go into home after home trying to revive these people and console them; you know I always thought I had an unlimited amount of empathy. You know, as a paramedic, you have to have some of that, you think you have that. And Covid put that to the test. There is a limit,” he said.

Almojera noted EMT workers have not just died from the coronavirus, bu he worries that the pandemic has also had mental health repercussions for first responders.

Two EMTs in New York have already committed suicide and others have expressed the desire to do so, he said.

“We’re trying to manage [the coronavirus] crisis, and to have PTSD diagnosed, it takes 30 days after the event. We’re not after the event. There’s no time to heal,” Almojera said.

Almojera adds that the New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio also needs to address better and equal pay for first responder.

“He’s a mayor that preaches equality,” Almojera said. “We’re 54% minority, we’re 38% women, we’re the most diverse 911 workforce. You would think somebody who would preach equality and see the work that we do as a 911 service, with just the same dangers as the other two, would equalize us. That would be an easy win for him. It’s the stroke of a pen.”

 “He can fix it tomorrow if he wanted to,” Almojera adds, saying that his EMT members come from the same minority communities that are adversely affected during the pandemic.

“The members I represent live in those communities. We live in East New York, Brooklyn and the Bronx and uptown and in Queens. We live here. We don’t have the funds to buy a house in other places,” he said.

Watch the interview:

Arizona is reporting a record 79 new deaths from Covid-19 today, state data shows.

The 24-hour total is nearly double the previous high of 42 deaths in one day reported yesterday.

The record-breaking statistic comes on the heels of yesterday’s record high for new daily cases of the disease as well.

However, the state’s health agency does note that, since federal health officials have updated guidance for identifying Covid-19 deaths, the change “may cause the number of new deaths reported on our dashboard to increase more than expected for a few days.”

Arizona now says 88% of its ICU beds and 86% of its inpatient hospital beds are now in use as the state battles a surge in Covid-19 cases. Both are record highs since the state started reporting the statistics in late March.

Arizona’s Gov. Doug Ducey has said that he would not order a state-wide mask mandate. More than a dozen cities across the state, including Phoenix, the state’s largest city, have ordered residents to wear masks. 

However, it is unclear how or if these orders are being enforced.

 Phoenix’s mayor Kate Gallego, noted that “the goal of this policy is not to hand out citations,” in a statement released Monday. Phoenix Police also told CNN that they will “continue to lead with education” in a statement yesterday.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo makes an announcement in New York on June 24.

Following his announcement that New York will institute a 14-day quarantine alongside New Jersey and Connecticut for travelers from states with high Covid-19 rates, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the state’s latest coronavirus deaths are about “as low as it’s ever been” and he called the figures “great news.”

The state reported 17 deaths yesterday, down from 27 reported on Monday.

The governor stressed that the state does not want to see these “numbers reverse.”

He added that the state’s approach to reopening following data “has been vindicated.”

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said any state that has a 10 people per 100,000 testing positive for coronavirus — or a 10% infection rate — will be subject to the newly imposed quarantine.

The numbers, which are on a seven-day rolling average, will be updated daily, so the states impacted could change day-to-day.

Today, there are nine states that meet the criteria for the 14-day quarantine. They are:

WATCH:

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said at a joint news conference today with the governors of New York and Connecticut, that the people in their states have been “through hell and back” with the coronavirus.

Murphy’s comments came after New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced a joint decision by the three states to institute a travel advisory that will require travelers to CT, NY, and NJ from states with high infection rates to quarantine for 14 days.

“No region in the country has paid a bigger price with the loss of brothers and sisters. We’ve lost just under 13,000 members of our New Jersey family, New Yorkers paid an enormous price. Connecticut has paid a big price,” he said.

He said that the governors “need to do things right” for “our respective states” and institute this travel advisory.

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont echoed Murphy’s comments, adding, we “reluctantly came to the conclusion that this is what we’ve got to do to make sure that our regions stay safe and our states stay safe as we make sure that we can safely get our businesses back and our schools back up and operating this fall and we’ll be monitoring this carefully.”

New York, New Jersey and Connecticut will require people traveling from states that have a high infection rate quarantine for 14 days.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the travel advisory today alongside the governors of New Jersey and Connecticut.

He added: “It wouldn’t be malicious or malevolent, but it would still be real, so we are jointly instituting the travel advisory today because what happens in New York happens in New Jersey happens in Connecticut.”

The 2020 BMW Berlin Marathon has been canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, event organizers said in a statement released today.

The marathon was originally scheduled to take place on September 27. It will not be rescheduled.  

More than 45,000 runners had hoped to cross the finish line at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate this year, according to the event website. Runners can either choose to transfer their registration to the 2021 Berlin marathon, or they can apply for a refund. 

This is the second global marathon to be canceled today: Earlier this morning, New York City marathon organizers announced the 2020 event would be canceled. That race — considered the world’s largest marathon — was scheduled for November.

The Florida Department of Health is reporting 5,511 additional cases of coronavirus on Wednesday, bringing the state total to 109, 014. 

Wednesday’s data released by the state marks the highest number of new and confirmed cases in a single day since the start of the pandemic, according to the Florida Department of Health. 

This data comes as the state is experiencing a surge of Covid-19 cases, with younger Floridians accounting for a significant number of positive tests.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the United States' top infectious disease expert, testifies at a hearing in Washington, DC, on June 23.

The nation’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, has attracted a large fanbase during the coronavirus pandemic — but he emphasized this week that Covid-19 has also led to more divisiveness in the United States.

Overall, people are seeking truth and information during these difficult times, Fauci said.

“They’re looking for consistency, for truth, for evidence, for transparency — and the stance I’ve taken with regard to Covid-19 has made me kind of the representative of that concept. And I think that’s the reason why people flock to it,” Fauci said. “It isn’t about me. It’s about the fact that I represent things that mean a lot to people, and what they need to hear is truth and science and getting things that are based on evidence.”

Stocks have extended their losses with the Dow falling more than 500 points, or 2%. 

Concerns about a second wave of Covid-19 infections coupled with trade tensions between the United States and the European Union are weighing on the market.

A person walks along the Coney Island boardwalk in Brooklyn, New York, on May 22.

New York City beaches will be reopen for swimming starting on July 1, Mayor Bill de Blasio officially announced today,

Social distancing and face coverings, when social distancing is unavailable, will still be required on the beach.

Patrons will need to refrain from group activities. Beach chairs and blankets must be 10 feet apart. He noted lifeguards are being trained in preparation for the opening.

The city’s latest figures: The daily Covid-19 indicators of the city are all under desired thresholds, de Blasio said.

The daily number of people admitted to hospitals for Covid-19 is at 75, under the 200 threshold. The number is up but not a “huge amount,” he noted.

The daily number of people at health and hospitals ICU’s is at 315, under the 375 threshold.

The percent of people who tested positive for Covid-19 which is at 2% under the 15% threshold.

A “good number” and “consistent for a while now,” he adds.

A person walks past closed businesses in New York on May 21.

New York City may need to layoff as many as 22,000 city employees to cover a billion dollar budget gap due to the pandemic, Mayor Bill de Blasio said today.

De Blasio opened his Wednesday presser addressing “tough” news discussing the potential option of furloughs and layoffs as the city addresses its revenue shortfall.

The city estimates a minimum of $9 billion of lost revenue, with the possibility that it may be more.

In a matter of days the city has to pass the budget. They have adjusted it down to an $87 billion budget — down from a $95 billion-plus budget in February.

De Blasio said it’s getting to the point where the city will have to make “very very difficult choices”

He continued: “The last resort would be layoff and furloughs,” of city workers, he said, adding he doesn’t want to do it but “we are running out of options here, that is the blunt truth.”

When asked which agencies would see layoffs the mayor said, “If we get to that level” it would “literally be every single agency, and the mayor’s office.”

He added that the city is in deep conversations with labor unions trying to find better alternatives.

People sit by Tweed Courthouse, near New York City Hall, during an anti-racist protest on June 23.

Despite warnings from public health officials, new research suggests Black Lives Matter protests across the country have not led to a jump in coronavirus cases.

A new study, published this month by the National Bureau of Economic Research, used data on protests from more than 300 of the largest US cities, and found no evidence that coronavirus cases grew in the weeks following the beginning of the protests.

The study comes as new data shows that more and more young people are testing positive for coronavirus, particularly in states that have opened back up.

In fact, researchers determined that social distancing behaviors actually went up after the protests — as people tried to avoid the protests altogether. But obviously, these demonstrations caused a decrease in social distancing among actual protesters.

Keep in mind: It’s still possible that protests may have caused an increase in the spread of the virus among those who attended protests, according to the report.

Researchers also noted that the effect of protests on social distancing and stay-at-home orders may fade as the violence and scope of protests decline.

As the protests begin to lessen or become less intense, non-protesters will feel safer leaving their homes.

Read more about the study here.

This year’s New York City Marathon has been canceled because of coronavirus concerns, event organizers announced today.

The annual event, considered the world’s largest marathon, was scheduled for Nov. 1, but was called off “due to coronavirus-related health and safety concerns for runners, spectators, volunteers, staff, and the many partners and communities that support the event,” the New York Road Runners announced today.

Rebekah Jones, the data official behind Florida’s Covid-19 dashboard, has launched her own dashboard, which reports more cases than the state reports.

She attributes these differences to including non-residents who test positive or die of coronavirus in Florida.

Another point of differentiation is including everyone who tested positive, regardless of the type of tests that they have received.

Some background: Jones was removed from the state’s scrutinized dashboard project after she questioned other officials’ commitment to accessibility and transparency, according to Florida Today.

She tweeted several tweets yesterday claiming that the the state’s health department officials have been instructed to change and delete numbers of Covid-19 cases and deaths to make it looks like “Florida is improving next week in the leadup to July 4.”

Watch the interview:

US stocks ticked lower on Wednesday as investors grapple with rising Covid-19 cases as well as worries about a second lockdown.

Trade wars are also worrying investors as the US weighs an additional $3.1 billion of European imports with tariffs.

 Here is where things stood at opening:

There is only one state in the US right now that is reporting at least 50% decrease in new coronavirus cases

Connecticut reported at least a 50% drop in news cases in the past week compared to the previous week, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Another 13 states are reporting decreasing case counts at a rate between 10% and 50%, including New York, Massachusetts, Alaska and both North and South Dakota.

But more than half of US states — 26 of them — are seeing new coronavirus cases increase compared with the prior week. Among those states, at least 10 are reporting a 50% increase or higher.

Here’s the full breakdown of where cases are trending across US states:

Gasoline consumption in the United States has just hit a big milestone. It is now more than halfway back to pre-Covid-19 levels as drivers get back on the road again. 

According to the Oil Price Information Service (OPIS) gasoline sales have been rising at an average of 6.4 % per week since the low point in April when demand was “sliced in half.”  

In a release, OPIS fill-ups at the pump hit the rock bottom in the second week of April, down 49% from 2019 volumes, as spiking Covid-19 cases led to the shutdown of the economy and stay-at-home orders across the nation.

That was also the week that oil exporting countries hammered out the OPEC+ deal—with the direct involvement of the United States—to reduce production in a greatly oversupplied market experiencing record-low crude prices. 

The most recent OPIS survey shows that in the second week of June demand was down 22%, compared to the same week in 2019, but regional disparities are still prevalent. 

“Although people talk about ‘demand destruction’, it’s actually been ‘demand contraction’ in response to the economic shutdown,” said Daniel Yergin, vice chairman, IHS Markit. “And now we’re seeing demand ‘uncontracting’ as people get back into their cars.”

The International Monetary Fund is warning that the global economic slowdown will be even worse than its first forecast.

Global growth is now expected to shrink by 4.9% this year, down from its April estimate of a 3% contraction, according to IMF’s world economic outlook. That was already due to be the deepest slump since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Here are some individual country forecasts:

IMF’s new outlook is better than recent forecasts from the World Bank and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

IMF did note however that there is a “higher-than-usual degree of uncertainty” around the forecast.

At least 26 states are seeing new coronavirus cases increase compared with the prior week. Remember, the number of states where cases are increasing is also on the rise.

California, Florida and Arizona are reporting thousands of new cases each day. And in Texas, health authorities have said new cases and hospitalizations are rising at their fastest rate yet.

Here’s a map showing where cases are going up:

Dr. Anthony Fauci testified before Congress yesterday and gave a broad assessment of where the country stands in the pandemic, warning that in some areas of the United States, “we’re now seeing a disturbing surge of infections.”

Watch the latest on the Covid-19 figures:

Hospital systems in Arizona need to put emergency plans in place due to the increase in new Covid-19 cases, according to a health expert. 

Will Humble, executive director of the Arizona Public Health Association, predicted the state’s hospitals will go into surge capacity mode by the 4th of July. 

Humble said health officials in the state need to “get those emergency plans in place because, at this point, I don’t see an alternative but to go to crisis standard prepare in Arizona probably, probably in 10 days, maybe less.”

Arizona is one of five states with the most new cases, reporting 3,779 cases on Tuesday, according to John Hopkins University.

Jackson Health System, a nonprofit academic medical system in Miami, has seen an 101% increase in Covid-19 patients in the past 15 days, according to data posted by the hospital system on Twitter.

On June 8, the system reported 104 Covid-19 patients. On Monday, they reported 210.  

The state of Florida does not release the total number of daily Covid-19 cases in the state.

An alarming trend: Miami-Dade County, the state’s most populous with 2.71 million people, shows that the number of positive Covid-19 tests has increased by an average of 35 every day during the past two weeks, according to data compiled by researchers at Florida International University 

Researchers also found that hospitalizations, intensive care visits and ventilation use have all begun to increase over the past two weeks. Combined with a rise in cases, researchers say, this evidence points to increased community spread.

“Municipalities received guidelines on reopening but they do not have guidelines on when to pull back, which is why it is so critical to monitor the cases closely before the hospitals and ICUs start to have capacity issues — which is something we have avoided so far in Miami-Dade County,” said Dr. Mary Jo Trepka, the head of the epidemiology department at FIU. 

The criteria European Union nations could use to block visitors from countries with severe coronavirus outbreaks – including the United States – visiting Europe has been “hiding in plain sight” since the middle of June when the guidelines were published, says an EU official.

European countries are currently working through a checklist of criteria based on the health situation and reciprocal travel arrangements in an external country that would create a list of countries whose visitors might be considered safe to visit from July 1.

When asked whether the executive order signed by President Trump this week that freezes visas for foreign workers was a factor, the official added, “I know some media have said for instance the executive order the United States President signed is part of this decision; it could not be further from the situation.”

The June guidelines: When asked if the US was on a list of origin countries that might be barred from travel to Europe, one EU diplomat directed CNN to the first point of a June 11 checklist published by the European Commission on what to consider when allowing travelers into the EU.

The first point on the checklist asks whether the country can “be considered as being in a comparable or better epidemiological situation as the average in the EU+ area” with regard to number of new infections, trend of new infections and response in areas such as testing, surveillance, contact tracing, containment, treatment and reporting.

The latest US numbers: The US has the highest number of coronavirus deaths and infections in the world.

As of late Tuesday in the US, at least 2,346,937 had been infected in the country and 121,224 had died, according to the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center.

Tourism accounts for 10% of Europe’s GDP. “We are keen, and member states are keen for Europe to be open for tourism for jobs,” said the official.

Ambassadors are set to meet again today and Friday to discuss the next steps in the process.

Recommendations made by the European Commission are not mandatory — decisions on whether and how to open up borders are matters for individual states.

Details regarding the UK’s international travel agreements – or so-called “air bridges” – will be announced by next Monday, according to Transport Secretary Grant Shapps.

Speaking to the UK Parliament Transport Committee Wednesday, Shapps confirmed that “discussions were ongoing” and details on the measures would be announced to Parliament by June 29.

Air bridge agreements would allow UK travelers to visit certain European countries without having to quarantine on return.

Shapps said Britain wanted to put in place a system where the country avoided reinfection due to citizens going abroad or visitors from other countries entering the UK.

He added that the current quarantine measures were helping in “serving that purpose.” Those measures require all international arrivals not covered by a shortlist of exemptions to self-isolate for two weeks.

When deciding which nations to form agreements with Shapps said he would consider “not only what the level of disease is” but also the trajectory of the virus in a country.

Shapps said he would also consider whether a country has the same testing capability as the UK, saying that the NHS Test and Trace system had “the capacity to test actually far more than is immediately required”. 

He added that he would take into account the social distancing measures in place in other countries, noting that there were “evidently a lot of complexities” to consider.

Shapps refused to give any further detail on air bridges until the official announcement saying he didn’t want to give people “false hope.”

The novel coronavirus has infected more than 9.2 million people worldwide and caused more than 477,000 deaths. Here’s what you need to know about the outbreak today:

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the United States' top infectious disease expert, testifies at a hearing in Washington, DC, on June 23.

President Donald Trump’s top health advisers say that the coronavirus pandemic has driven America to its knees amid a disturbing surge in cases. But Trump is ignoring the new danger, instead using the worst domestic crisis in decades as a racist punchline.

Political mismanagement of the situation, the glaring lack of a national strategy and the nation’s exhausting, inconclusive struggle with the coronavirus was reflected Tuesday in three key developments.

Fully half of US states are now seeing rising cases of the disease with the situation especially acute in Texas, Florida and Arizona, which embraced aggressive reopening programs.

The European Union, which has been more successful than the US in suppressing Covid-19, warned it might bar visitors from America in what would be a major embarrassment for Trump. And the President persisted with his counter-logical argument that the US is only seeing more cases of the virus because it is doing more testing, leaving the implication that it would be better if rising cases, infections and ultimately deaths were simply ignored.

Trump spent the day in Arizona and held a rally in Phoenix, a city where mask wearing is mandatory in public. But he refused to don a face covering, along with many supporters who attended his indoor event. And he delighted his fans by reciting a racist name for the virus referencing its origin in China.

“Kung flu?” Trump said, prompting roars from his crowd.

Read the full analysis here.

Authorities in Delhi have drafted the Indian Armed Forces to support the treatment of coronavirus patients at makeshift railway carriage treatment centers.

Around 8,000 new hospital beds have been installed inside railway coaches in makeshift “Covid care centers” in the city, set up to deal with the deluge of infections hitting India’s capital.

Military personnel will operate the facilities – Delhi’s Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal, had called for the deployment of doctors and nurses from the Army and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police to work at the centers.

Shah said in a press release on Tuesday that another facility, with 1,000 beds and an area with intensive care facilities, would be up and running in the next 10 days. Armed forces personnel will also run that facility. 

India reported 15,968 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday – the highest single-day jump so far, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 456,183, according to its health ministry. 

As of Wednesday morning, there are 66,602 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 2,301 deaths in the capital.

On Tuesday, the Indian Council of Medical Research said that over 7.1 million coronavirus tests had been conducted across the country since the pandemic began.

Germany is back in crisis mode.

The country is trying to stop a new coronavirus outbreak from turning into a full-blown second wave of infections, after hundreds of people working at a meat processing plant in the western state of North-Rhine Westphalia became ill. It’s a serious situation, but the German government isn’t rushing to reintroduce the kind of strict nationwide lockdown measures it used to fight the virus earlier this year.

Instead, public health officials are hoping they will be able to contain the outbreak by introducing more nuanced local measures and going all in on testing and contact tracing. Their approach echoes similar tales from elsewhere.

Beijing introduced a partial lockdown last week when the first new outbreak emerged in the Chinese capital after 55 days free of new locally transmitted cases. In South Korea, local restrictions were reintroduced after a cluster of coronavirus cases emerged in Seoul’s nightlife district last month.

It’s a glimpse at what the new normal might look like – a perpetual game of whack-a-mole in which authorities race to contain the virus as it pops up in new places.

Read the full article here.

An Orlando area bar near the University of Central Florida has had its liquor license temporarily suspended for violating reopening guidelines, after 13 employees and 28 customers tested positive for coronavirus, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced in a Tuesday press conference. 

The Knight’s Pub was said to be in “flagrant violation” of reopening guidelines, after it failed to enforce any of the state’s required social distancing protections.

Orange County Health Officer Dr. Raul Pino told CNN affiliate WFTV that 152 cases have been linked to the Knights Pub.

“That’s about 50% of the people who entered the bar,” Pino said. 

DeSantis said businesses failing to comply with state rules would get a visit from Department of Business and Professional Regulation Secretary Halsey Beshears, whom he called “the grim reaper for business licenses.”

German soldiers dressed in personal protective equipment arrive to take swab samples from residents in the village of St. Vit, near Guetersloh, Germany, on June 23.

Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz has warned against travel to North-Rhine Westphalia, the German state at the heart of a new coronavirus outbreak.

State officials have imposed a lockdown in the district of Guetersloh, after 1,553 workers at Toennies meat processing plant tested positive for Covid-19.

Kurz said a travel warning level 5 has been put in place for the German state. 

This is a “partial travel warning to a region,” according to the Austrian Interior Ministry travel advisory page.

It advises Austrian citizens against traveling to the region and for any citizens who live there to urgently leave.

The Italian region of Lombardy falls into the same category, according to the ministry. 

Kurz was speaking at a scheduled government press conference Wednesday in Austria’s capital Vienna.

Then-Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis attends a meeting at the White House on May 17, 2018.

Former Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis appeared in a newly released public service announcement on coronavirus urging people in his hometown to wear masks.

At the start of the video, Mattis sports a blue bandana and pulls it down to talk.

“Hello neighbors, I’m Jim Mattis,” he says. “I’m here to talk about that nasty little virus, Covid.”

He stresses that since the pandemic began, it’s clear the virus “is not going away on its own.”

The 30-second video was released by the city of Richland, Washington, and posted on YouTube.

Read more here.

People wait in line to be tested for Covid-19 in Guetersloh, Germany, on June 24.

All citizens living in Guetersloh, the German district at the center of a new coronavirus outbreak, can be tested for Covid-19 by their general medical practitioners, said local officials.

A cluster in the Toennies meat processing plant in the area has caused Germany’s coronavirus reproduction rate to rise sharply. On Tuesday North-Rhine Westphalia state Prime Minister Armin Laschet said the entire district – home to more than 360,000 people – would be locked down for the next seven days.

Laschet said the new measures were necessary because 1,553 workers at the Toennies factory have tested positive for the virus in recent days.

From Wednesday people living in Guetersloh can be tested for coronavirus by their medical general practitioner, even if they do not have symptoms. The tests were previously conducted by diagnostics centres.

People in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on June 20.

As Florida emerges from its coronavirus shutdown, the state is experiencing a surge of Covid-19 cases, with younger Floridians accounting for a significant number of positive tests.

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

Medical experts and elected officials have attributed the rising numbers to a combination of more testing and more social contact as businesses reopen, and in recent weeks, to people’s participation in large protests.

In Miami-Dade County, the state’s most populous with 2.71 million people, data compiled by researchers at Florida International University shows that the number of positive Covid-19 tests has increased by an average of 35 every day during the past two weeks.

Researchers also found that hospitalizations, intensive care visits and ventilation use have all begun to increase over the past two weeks. Combined with a rise in cases, researchers say, this evidence points to increased community spread.

Read more here.

UK Business Secretary Alok Sharma has said that he hopes leisure facilities in England will reopen in July, if the country continues to meet the five tests used by the government to judge whether restrictions can be eased.

A large swathe of England’s economy will reopen from July 4, including pubs and restaurants. But gyms and pools continue to face restrictions.

“I hope that we can allow leisure facilities to open at some point later on in July but only if we continue to meet the health tests, the five tests that we’ve put in place,” Sharma said Wednesday on Sky News.

The five tests officials use are:

“We move to the next phase on the 4th of July and what we’ve ensured throughout this whole process is that we need to continue to meet our five tests and we need to make sure that R rate stays below 1,” Sharma added.

“And that has happened and the reason that’s happened is because people have shown enormous common sense, they have followed the rules, followed the guidelines and I’m confident that if people continue to do that we’ll be able to reopen other parts of the economy in the coming weeks.”

When asked if lockdown was being eased too quickly in England after some scientific experts raised concerns about a second wave of coronavirus, Sharma said the government was “moving very cautiously and in a balanced manner” and had adopted “very calibrated measures” to reopen the economy.

Sharma also said he believed the economy would “bounce back” if people continue to follow the rules.

US officials are making desperate calls on residents to stay home, wear a mask and keep their distance after alarming coronavirus trends have emerged across several states.

California recorded a striking 5,019 new cases on Monday. In Florida, officials announced 3,289 confirmations in a day. And Arizona saw 3,591 new cases in a day. In Texas, health authorities have said new cases and hospitalizations are rising at their fastest rate yet – a rate that Gov. Greg Abbott called “unacceptable.”

They’re among 26 states – a number also on the rise – that are seeing new cases increase compared to the previous week.

In too many places, the pandemic is quickly “spiraling out of control,” one expert said.

But instead, many places remained unprepared and reopened far too soon and far too quickly – leading to the latest surges. It’s a stark contrast with other parts of the world, including countries in Europe, which lowered their case counts with the help of longer lockdowns and have now begun to slowly reopen. 

More than 2,347,000 have been infected across the US with the virus since the beginning of the pandemic and at least 121,225 have died, according to Johns Hopkins University. The country accounts for a quarter of both the world’s total infections and total global deaths.

Read the full story:

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - JUNE 23: Workers check in residents at a mobile COVID-19 testing site set up on a vacant lot in the Austin neighborhood on June 23, 2020 in Chicago, Illinois. The site is one of four mobile testing sites, two community-based sites and two first-responder-focused sites being implemented by the city. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Related article Several US states are reporting thousands of new coronavirus cases each day

Hundreds of thousands of people trapped near fierce fighting in Myanmar’s far west may know nothing of Covid-19 thanks to a yearlong internet shutdown, according to rights groups.

Last June, the Myanmar government, led by State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, cut internet access to nine townships in the area due to concerns that it was being used to inflame clashes between the Myanmar military and insurgents.

One township had its service restored in May, but eight others, with a total population of about 800,000 people, remain in an information blackout. 

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International say the extended shutdown is putting lives at risk, not only because it’s preventing people from reporting possible human rights abuses – but because it has cut off them off from public health campaigns about the coronavirus pandemic.

Read the full story:

This transmission electron microscope image shows SARS-CoV-2—also known as 2019-nCoV, the virus that causes COVID-19. isolated from a patient in the U.S., emerging from the surface of cells cultured in the lab. Credit: NIAID-RML

Related article The country where hundreds of thousands of people haven't heard of Covid-19

A Chinese epidemic control worker performs a nucleic acid swab test for Covid-19 on a woman at a government testing site on June 22, in Beijing.

The Chinese government on Wednesday announced that more than 90 million coronavirus tests have been conducted across the country since the beginning of the pandemic.

People are often required to be tested multiple times if they are suspected cases, recovered patients, or overseas returnees – along with their close contacts.

Guo said China had increased its testing capacity by expanding the number of testing institutions from 2,081 in early March to 4,804 now. He added that the number of nucleic acid testing technicians also increased from 13,900 to 28,500.

China has launched several aggressive testing campaigns in cities across the country in a bid to combat the spread of the virus. In Wuhan, the original epicenter, more than 9.8 million people were tested for the virus in a 20-day period in May as the city worked to contain a fresh outbreak.

China has reported 84,653 confirmed coronavirus cases, including at least 4,640 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Medics prepare for their shift at the Jinrong Street testing site, in Beijing on June 24.

The coronavirus pandemic has swept across the world, infecting more than 9.2 million people and killing at least 477,000, according to Johns Hopkins University.

If you’re just joining us, here’s the latest on the pandemic.

Dr. Leana Wen taks to CNN's Anderson Cooper.

Dr. Leana Wen says the United States moved too fast to open up, as evidenced by the number of Covid-19 cases “spiraling out of control” in many parts of the country. 

In May, the US was able to contain the virus much better because of stay-at-home orders, the emergency room doctor told CNN’s Don Lemon on Tuesday. 

Wen said she doesn’t think there is the political will or the support to shut down again, or reopen the right way to control the virus from really surging even further out of control.

Ten players on Pakistan’s national men’s cricket team have been diagnosed with Covid-19, according to a statement by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

A member of the team’s support staff has also been infected with the virus. 

The PCB announced a 29-man squad for three upcoming test matches and three Twenty20 games against England starting in August. But more than one third of the squad are currently positive for Covid-19 and will have to self-isolate for 14 days, the statement said. 

On Tuesday, the head of the PCB, Wasim Khan, said plans for the team to travel to England on June 28 “are very much on track,” adding that only the players who tested negative for the virus will travel.

Pakistan has registered at least 188,926 coronavirus cases with 3,755 deaths, according to the country’s health ministry. 

A set of premature triplets born in Mexico on Monday tested positive for Covid-19, although both parents do not have the disease, the health secretary of the Mexican state of Potosí said in a Facebook post.

Health authorities say the case is “unheard of” and “a very relevant scientific feat.” They are investigating several potential sources of contagion such as the mother’s breast milk.

The premature triplets were born in the Ignacio Morones Prieto Central Hospital and are in a stable condition. Authorities say one of the babies has developed a respiratory infection but “is responding well to antibiotics.” The mother is also recovering in hospital. 

Dr. Anthony Fauci testifies during a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on the Trump administration's Response to the pandemic, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on June 23.

The National Institutes of Health canceled a grant to a US nonprofit that was studying viruses in bats because it was told to, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday.

Speaking at a hearing Tuesday of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Texas Democratic Rep. Marc Veasey asked Fauci about the cancellation earlier this year of NIH funding for the EcoHealth Alliance to study bats in China and elsewhere.

For years, the group has studied viruses in bats because of the known risk that bats can transmit viruses – such as the novel coronavirus – to people. 

Fauci’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the NIH, has been funding the EcoHealth Alliance for five years.

A spokesperson for Veasey told CNN the Texas congressman and other members of the Energy and Commerce Committee were planning to look further into the matter.

Dr. Tom Frieden talks to CNN's Chris Cuomo.

Former United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Dr. Tom Frieden says the country is not doing enough to keep the Covid-19 pandemic at bay.

Frieden is currently the CEO of Resolve to Save Lives, an initiative of global public health organization Vital Strategies. 

The uptick in the number of cases in parts of the US are not the result of the country doing more testing, as some Republicans, including President Donald Trump, have argued. Instead, the numbers are going up because there is more disease and it is spreading, Frieden said.

“The US response is just lagging,” Frieden said. “We’re not doing what we need to do to keep physically distant. We are not across the country scaling up contact tracing as effectively as needed so we can prevent cases into exploding into clusters and outbreaks.”  

Frieden compared the US’ response to South Korea’s.

According to a tally by Johns Hopkins University, South Korea has reported 281 coronavirus deaths while the US has seen more than 121,000.

Countries around the world have lower rates of infection because they are better at testing, tracing and isolating people who are sick, Frieden said. He believes there needs to be a better national response in the US.

In the absence of an adequate national response, there is something individuals can do to keep case numbers down, he said.  

“Remember the three W’s. Wear a mask, wash your hands, watch your distance,” Frieden said. “You do these three things, we can keep the virus at bay.” 

The World Health Organization is urging women who have contracted – or are suspected of contracting – coronavirus to continue breastfeeding their babies or young children.

In a scientific brief released Tuesday, the WHO said the benefits of breastfeeding “substantially outweigh the potential risks for transmission” of the coronavirus.

How WHO came to its conclusion: The WHO said researchers reviewed studies that included mothers with suspected or confirmed Covid-19 and their babies or young children. 

A total of 153 cases of mothers with the virus were included in the review. The breast milk of 46 mothers was tested. All had Covid-19 and while 13 infants tested positive for the virus, the researchers were unable to determine conclusively how the babies contracted the virus. It wasn’t clear if the breast milk was the source of the infection, or simply close contact with the infected mothers.

Researchers said other infections that breastfeeding protects against pose a much bigger risk to babies and children than the coronavirus. 

An epidemic control worker wears a protective suit as she performs a nucleic acid swab test for Covid-19 on a man at a government testing site on June 22, in Beijing, China.

China’s National Health Commission reported seven new cases of Covid-19 in Beijing on Tuesday.

It’s the lowest number of daily new cases reported in the Chinese capital since a wholesale food market was shut down on June 13 after becoming the center of a new outbreak.

Across mainland China, the NHC reported 12 new coronavirus cases, including three imported infections and nine locally transmitted cases.

The local cases include the seven from Beijing along with two from Hebei province. No new deaths were reported.

In addition, three new asymptomatic cases were reported by the NHC. Currently 100 asymptomatic infections are under medical observation. 

Mainland China has reported more than 84,000 coronavirus cases, including at least 4,640 deaths, according to a tally from Johns Hopkins University.

At least 36,151 new coronavirus cases and 831 additional deaths were reported in the United States on Tuesday, according to a Johns Hopkins University tally.

The national total now stands at 2,346,937 cases, including at least 121,224 fatalities, according to JHU.

The totals include cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, as well as repatriated cases. 

CNN is tracking US coronavirus cases here:

A member of the medical team of the Brazilian Armed Forces tests an indigenous person of the Marubo ethnic group for coronavirus in Atalaia do Norte, Amazonas state, Brazil on June 20.

Latin America and the Caribbean have surpassed 100,000 deaths from the novel coronavirus, according to a Johns Hopkins University tally and government figures.

As of Tuesday evening local time, the total number of reported Covid-19 deaths in 33 Latin American and Caribbean countries is at least 100,145. 

Brazil, one of the countries hit hardest by the virus, accounted for more than half of the total, with a confirmed death toll of 52,645. Mexico has reported that 23,377 people have died as a result of the virus.

Brazil’s attorney general’s office said Tuesday it was looking to “reverse” a federal judge’s decision ordering President Jair Bolsonaro to wear a mask.

The attorney general’s office told CNN that it is “already studying all the appropriate measures to reverse the injunction and preserve the independence and harmony between the Powers.”

The background: On April 30, the Federal District government issued a decree making the wearing of face masks in public spaces mandatory, in an effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

Bolsonaro has since appeared in public at several events without wearing a mask, including at rallies with supporters. 

Mask order: On Monday, Federal Judge Renato Borelli issued a decision, ordering Bolsonaro to wear a mask while in public in the country’s capital Brasilia.

The judge’s order said failure to do so could potentially lead to a fine of up to 2,000 Brazilian real ($388) a day.  

The decision extends to all government employees in the Federal District, where Brasilia is located. 

Brazil is the country with the world’s second highest coronavirus rate. More than 1.1 million cases and at least 52,000 deaths have been confirmed by Brazilian health authorities.

US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters before boarding Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House on June 23, in Washington, DC.

US President Donald Trump either doesn’t understand the two most effective tools for putting the pandemic down or he’s trying to promote a false narrative, says Dr. Jonathan Reiner, a cardiologist and professor of medicine at George Washington University.

Trump has refused to wear a mask in public and at meetings and events at the White House. He has also questioned the need for coronavirus testing.

“What he does not understand is that’s how we extinguish the virus,” Reiner said. “That’s how you get people to quarantine. We contact trace their contacts, they stay home. That’s how you drop the transmission of the virus.”

“By the same token, he doesn’t believe in face masks and we know now with certainty that’s the principal way we prevent person-to-person transmission outside the home,” he added.

Reiner questioned why the President doesn’t seem to understand the simple formula that has driven Covid-19 cases down in other countries.

Mexico recorded another highest single day spike in coronavirus cases on Tuesday when the health ministry reported more than 6,000 new infections.

The ministry said the 6,288 new cases bring the country’s total to 191,410. 

The ministry also recorded 793 new deaths from the virus, bringing the country’s death toll to 23,377.

CNN is tracking worldwide coronavirus cases here:

If the United States doesn’t get control of the coronavirus pandemic by fall, “you’re essentially chasing after a forest fire,” Dr. Anthony Fauci told the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Tuesday.

The goal would be to get complete control of the virus instead of just mitigating it, which is happening now, said Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. 

Fauci told lawmakers during Tuesday’s hearing to prepare for the change in season, the US also needs to get enough personal protective equipment (PPE) to fight the pandemic.

Admiral Dr. Brett Giroir, assistant secretary at the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), said in terms of PPE “we had a long way to go because almost nothing was made in the United States. I mean literally, almost nothing was made in the United States.”

Giroir said he’s going to steal Fauci’s token phase and remain “cautiously optimistic” that the US will be able to ramp up production of equipment such as N95 respirator masks before the fall. 

“But I am very cautious and I still don’t sleep well at night because we have a long way to go,” Giroir said.