June 30 coronavirus news

Vermont will allow people from low-risk counties in other states to visit effective July 1, according to the Vermont Health Department.

The additional states include: Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia, as well as the District of Columbia, the health department announced in a statement.

New York, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Massachusetts were previously included.

Vermont defines low risk as any county with less than 400 active cases of Covid-19 per one million residents, basing their data off Johns Hopkins University.

If not exempt by the low risk guidelines above, Vermont allows individuals outside of New England and New York to quarantine in their home state for 14 days, or seven days followed by a negative test.

Vermont also “strongly encourages” out-of-state travelers to register with Sara Alert when they arrive in state to get two weeks of reminders to check for Covid-19 symptoms.

Texas reported 6,975 new Covid-19 cases on Tuesday.

This is the state's highest daily number of cases, bringing the total to at least 159,986 cases. At least 2,424 people have died from the virus in the state.

The reporting comes after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered for bars to close following the rise in cases. He also paused more reopenings for the state.

WATCH:

Toronto City Council voted unanimously in favor of requiring face masks in all indoor public places starting July 7 to help stop the spread of Covid-19, according to a statement from the city. 

Businesses must adopt a policy to ensure masks or face coverings are worn in indoor public spaces under their control.

It will apply to all indoor spaces that are openly accessible to the public, including retail stores, grocery stores, restaurants, bars, gyms, swimming pools, churches, and common areas in hotels, motels and short-term rentals, among others.

The mandate will expire the day of Toronto’s first council meeting after their summer recess, currently scheduled for September 30, unless extended by council.

Toronto’s medical officer of health will review the recommendations regarding masks and face coverings on a monthly basis and report if any changes are needed before that date, according to the statement.

Bars and nightclubs that do not serve food must close during the month of July, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis announced at a briefing Tuesday.

Keeping them open is “too big a risk,” he said. They will be closed for in-person service only, and will be allowed to sell alcohol as a take-out option.

The move comes amid an uptick of Covid-19 cases in many states across the nation, including Colorado.  

It’s possible that areas of Colorado that have improvement will be able to reopen bars at nightclubs at some point during July, he said.  

Bars that now serve food and function as restaurants can stay open provided there is social distancing and people remain six feet apart. Customers must also be seated with their own party. 

A woman returning home to China from the US carried coronavirus back with her and sparked an outbreak that ended up infecting at least 71 people, researchers reported Tuesday.

It started with an elevator ride, the researchers report in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s journal Emerging Infectious Diseases. 

The woman returned to Heilongjiang Province from a trip to the US on March 19, about a week after the last coronavirus case was diagnosed in the province. She had no symptoms and tested negative for coronavirus, but was asked to quarantine at home. 

No one suspected anything was wrong until a man with no obvious connection to the traveler suffered a stroke. It turns out he had been at a party with relatives of a neighbor living in the same building as the traveler.

When the researchers in China finally put the story together, they determined that the traveler must have somehow contaminated the elevator in her building. Her downstairs neighbor, who used the same elevator, also got infected, and she in turn infected her mother and her mother’s boyfriend. They went to a party and infected the stroke patient and his sons. 

The stroke patient and two of his sons went to two hospitals. At least 28 people were infected at the first hospital and 20 more were infected when he was moved to a second facility.

When the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention investigated the genetic makeup of the virus found in this new outbreak, they found it was different from strains previously seen in China. The viruses in the patients were genetically identical or at least very similar, which led them to believe the virus originated overseas. 

When investigators learned that a neighbor of one of the cases had recently returned from abroad, they tested her again. She was not currently infected but had antibodies to the virus, indicating a previous infection. They designated her A0, meaning she was the first case. “Therefore, we believe A0 was an asymptomatic carrier and that B1.1 (her neighbor) was infected by contact with surfaces in the elevator in the building where they both lived,” they wrote. Other residents in the building all tested negative.

“As of April 22, 2020, A0 remained asymptomatic, and a total of 71 SARS-CoV-2–positive cases had been identified in the cluster,” the researchers wrote.

US Surgeon General Jerome Adams gave an impassioned plea Tuesday, asking Americans to “please, please, please wear a face covering when you go out in public.” 

“This face covering actually is an instrument of freedom for Americans if we all use it,” he added.

To young people, he said: "If you want to see North Carolina beat Duke this year, wear a face covering ... if you want to go on spring break next March and April, wear a face covering.”

“I want you to understand, this is not meant to be pessimistic,” he said. “I have every confidence that we can very quickly see these new case counts go down. And we can reopen, we can get back to school, back to work, to worship, and to college football. But we’ve all got to do our part.”

Adams comments were in contrast with Vice President Mike Pence, who earlier in the briefing told Americans to wear a face mask, “whenever your state and local authorities say it’s appropriate.” 

Asked if a nationwide mask requirement was under consideration, Pence said the administration would continue to use the model of “respecting the decisions that governors are making.” 

Vice President Mike Pence said Tuesday the coronavirus task force was focused on the 12 states across the country that have both a rising number of Covid-19 cases and a rising rate of test positivity.

“Our focus particularly at the task force today was on the 12 states that have the combination,” Pence said at a briefing, shortly after a task force meeting.

He added also that they were "particularly focusing on the four states that are generating the majority of the cases,” which he said were California, Arizona, Texas, and Florida.

Pence said he will head to Arizona Wednesday to meet with Gov. Doug Ducey about the state’s rapidly rising number of cases. A 64-member disaster medical team from the Federal Emergency Management Agency is in Arizona, and the agency is consulting with Texas and other states about sending medical resources to them.

He also confirmed that he still plans travel to Florida with Dr. Deborah Birx later this week.

What began as an emergency solution to provide housing for California’s homeless population during the coronavirus pandemic has turned into a more permanent solution.

The housing program, initially called "Project Roomkey" secures hotel and motel space for individuals experiencing homelessness. When California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the state’s revised budget Monday, he devoted $900 million to buying hotels, motels, tiny home, pre-fab homes, and apartment buildings to facilitate a permanent version of the program, now called "Project Home Key."

So far, more than 14,000 people have been provided with a place to live and access to support services through the initiative, according to Newsom. Other states, including Connecticut and Hawaii, are looking to replicate the same program, he said.

The funding comes from a state partnership with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as well as private donations. Newsom credited Blue Shield and Kaiser for providing $45 million in funding for the project.

Connecticut has an "all-time high" in Covid-19 tests reported and an "all-time low in test positivity rate," Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont tweeted today

Lamont added that these state are "showing momentum and discipline" from Connecticut residents to follow the state's guidelines.

What the numbers say: In the past day, 21,416 Covid-19 tests were given, 152 came back positive, representing .7% of total tests, the governor noted.

Hospitalizations declined to 98 and there were two fatalities, he added.

The state has had a total of 46,414 coronavirus cases and 4,322 coronavirus-related deaths, according to Lamont’s tweet.

Read Lamont's tweet: