June 25 coronavirus news

New Hampshire reported that Covid-19 hospitalizations are the lowest they have been since early April.

New Hampshire Health Commissioner Lori Shibinette said there are 40 new cases of Covid-19 Thursday, for a total of 5,638 cases including 10 new deaths, eight of which are from long-term care facilities.

He said starting Monday, all hotels, inns and campgrounds in the state will be able to operate at 100% occupancy. 

Mexico’s Finance Minister Arturo Herrera tested positive for coronavirus, he confirmed Thursday.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador tweeted Monday a video where he was seen standing right next to Herrera while announcing changes in his cabinet. Neither of them were seen wearing a mask. 

On June 19, Herrera posted a picture with Lopez Obrador from a trip they made the day before to Hidalgo in central Mexico to supervise a social program for schools.

Peru reported 3,913 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday, bringing the total to at least 268,602, according to data released by the country’s health ministry. 

The increase in the number of cases is slightly higher than the previous seven days. 

The death toll due to coronavirus in the country is 8,761 with 175 new deaths, a lower number in the last 24 hours. 

Peru has the second-highest number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Latin America, following Brazil. The South American country was one of the first countries in the region to impose a state of emergency and lockdown in order to fight the pandemic.

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown is ordering the release of 57 “medically vulnerable” prisoners due to the threat of coronavirus.

The governor had asked state corrections officials to draw up a list of prisoners whose health could be severely compromised if they developed Covid-19. To be considered for commutation, prisoners also must have served at least half of their sentences and not be considered a risk to the community. 

A statement from the governor’s office said 61 prisoners met her criteria, but she rejected three for commutation because they were already going to be released within the next week. A fourth was turned down because the prisoner was not scheduled to be released until 2025.

The 57 prisoners whose sentences are commuted will still be under supervision, including regular check-ins with a parole officer.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said the state is moving forward into phase four on Friday, which will allow indoor dining, museums, zoos and other businesses to resume.

"The doctors and public health experts have reviewed the data and the proposed conditions for greater public activity and work conditions and have approved them, including the following activities with Covid-related health safety guidelines," he said.

"Hundreds of thousands more Illinoisans will be able to return to work," he added.

Pritzker said the state had seen a dramatic decline in Covid-19 deaths. It also significantly reduced its Covid-19 positivity rate, hospitalization and bed use in intensive care units, he said.

Illinois has a total of 139,434 Covid-19 cases and at least 6,810 people have died from the virus. 

K-12 schools in Connecticut should plan to reopen for all students in the fall, state officials announced on Thursday 

To do this, schools must work to maximize social distancing, including reconfiguring desks to maximize distance, frequent hand washing, and requiring face coverings for students and staff, Miguel Cardona, the commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Education, said at a news conference. 

The education department is emphasizing cohorting of students for K-8 and 9-12 grades wherever it’s feasible. The cohorting idea — students staying in their classroom unit as much as possible — was really important to the plan development, Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont said.

The plans — which are based on the current public health indicators and could shift if needed — were built on a statewide basis for consistency across the towns and school districts, and the goal was to keep things as close to normal as possible, the governor said. 

Lamont described planning for reopening K-12 schools as “one of the most complicated pieces of the reopening.” 

California’s borders will remain open to visitors, even if Covid-19 cases are surging in other areas like Arizona, Texas, and Florida.

“At this moment, we are not shutting down our border,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said.

Quarantining visitors is not necessary at this time, Newsom said, but he was clear that people will be responsible for following the rules while they are in California, specifically the statewide mandate to wear a face covering in public.

If Covid-19 patients begin to strain resources like hospitals and specifically beds in intensive care units, Gov. Gavin Newsom said he plans to pull back on their reopening ability.

Specifically, the framework would be roughly 40% of hospitalizations and just over 30% of ICU capacity, Newsom said.

Newsom mentioned Imperial County as an example, which recently exceeded their hospital capacity and as such were required to put a pause on reopening.

There are 10 other counties in the state being closely monitored for potential constraints on their resources.

The number of Californians hospitalized with the coronavirus and being treated in intensive care units has climbed by a double-digit percentage to record highs over the last two weeks as the state sees a surge of new infections.

Hospitals in California have seen a 32% increase in patients with the coronavirus over the last 14-day period, Gov. Gavin Newsom said at a news conference Thursday, reaching an all-time high since the start of the pandemic.

As of Wednesday, the latest day for which data is available, 4,240 patients were hospitalized with the coronavirus in California, an increase of 145 patients since Tuesday, or 3.5%.

The number of Californians being treated in intensive care units has also reached a record high, with 1,306 patients on Wednesday — a 19% increase over the last 14 days. Across the state, 34% of California's intensive care unit beds are occupied with Covid-19 patients.

The governor suggested the state could pause further reopening of its economy — and even “toggle back” — if health officials continue to see increases in infections and hospitalizations.

"To the extent we don't see progress being made, and we're not advancing the cause of public health and public safety, then we certainly reserve the right to put a pause in terms of advancing into the subsequent phase,” Newsom said. “And we have the capacity and ability to toggle back in terms of the stay-at-home order and the guidance that we put out.”