July 1 coronavirus news

The security checkpoint at the Atlanta airport’s main terminal is currently closed for cleaning after an employee there tested positive for the coronavirus, according to the Transportation Security Administration. 

TSA spokesperson Mark Howell said the Domestic Main checkpoint is expected to reopen either Thursday morning, or possibly later in the day Wednesday, but first must be deep cleaned. 

All passengers are currently being screened at a smaller checkpoint, T North. Another smaller checkpoint at the airport, T South, has been closed due to a construction project. 

Howell said the situation is causing longer lines than usual at the T North checkpoint. 

Because the checkpoint is expected to reopen by Thursday, the situation is not expected to impact holiday travelers this weekend. 

Howell said TSA expects to screen about 27,000 people at the airport on Thursday and Friday, which is about 50% more than it has seen recently. The agency is bringing in more employees to work over the holiday weekend because of the higher volumes. 

Some context: More than 860 TSA employees nationwide have tested positive for the coronavirus, including at least 29 at Atlanta’s airport. 

New York City has 18,497 confirmed coronavirus deaths and 4,607 probable coronavirus deaths as of July 1, 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 “Covid-19” or an equivalent.

The total number of confirmed coronavirus deaths and probable coronavirus deaths in New York City is 23,104.

There have been 212,412 coronavirus cases in the city and 55,022 people have been hospitalized, according to the city.

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

To note: These figures may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project.

Kroger Health was granted emergency use authorization by the US Food and Drug Administration for its Covid-19 test home collection kit, the company announced today.

The FDA has previously authorized other Covid-19 test home collection kits. The Kroger kit, in partnership with Gravity Diagnostics, will be available starting this week to “frontline associates across Kroger's Family of Companies.”

Kroger is hoping to expand to other organizations and companies in the coming weeks with a goal of processing up to 60,000 tests per week by the end of July, it said.

How the Kroger kit works: Kroger said the kit will be mailed to an individual’s house if the person qualifies. The kit will include a nasal swab, transport vial, instructions and shipping labels. During a telehealth video chat, a health care professional will guide the individual through the process. The patient will overnight ship the sample and should have results back in 24 to 48 hours, Kroger Health outlined.

The kit will be available in Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, Tennessee, Utah and Virginia initially. It expects to expand to additional states in a few weeks. 

The FDA said in the EUA “it is reasonable to believe that your product may be effective in diagnosing Covid-19 by serving as an appropriate means to collect and transport human specimens so that an authorized laboratory can detect SARS-CoV-2 RNA from the home-collected human specimen, and that the known and potential benefits of your product when used for such use, outweigh the known and potential risks of your product.”  

Since the pandemic began: Kroger has been doing community testing around the country.

Colleen Lindholz, president of Kroger Health said during this time, “we've observed some individuals do not have access to transportation or live near these community testing locations. To help ease this burden and provide greater accessibility, we will be offering a home testing solution to our associates first followed by other companies and organizations."

Gov. Brian Kemp was asked his opinion on cities across Georgia requiring citizens to wear masks during a news conference in Albany, Georgia, today.

Kemp acknowledged that cases were on the rise in Georgia.

"Our mortality rate continues to decline in the state, and testing continues to increase. That is going to be a key as we continue to fight this disease," the governor said.

There are at least 2,638,338 cases of coronavirus in the US and at least 127,485 people have died from the virus, according to Johns Hopkins University's tally of cases. 

On Wednesday, Johns Hopkins reported 2,921 new cases and 68 reported deaths. 

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

Coronavirus cases in California continue to skyrocket, reaching 9,740 in a single day —by far the highest recorded in the state since the beginning of the pandemic, according to data from the California Public Health Department.

Today’s case report smashed the previous high of 7,149 set one week ago today.

The total number of cases in California is roughly 232,657.

In the past day, 110 people died as a result of Covid-19. California has not seen that many fatalities since the end of April when 115 people died in a single day.

Note: These figures were released by the California Public Health Department, and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project.

The Major League Soccer (MLS) team FC Dallas has six players who have tested positive for Covid-19.

MLS reports that two of the players tested positive for coronavirus when the team arrived in Orlando, Florida, this past Saturday.

The remaining four players tested positive in the last two days.

The six players are now self-isolating within their team hotel on the isolated campus at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida.

As for the health of the player’s teammates and staff, the league states that the “rest of the FC Dallas delegation is following the MLS health and safety protocols and quarantining in their hotel rooms pending the results of additional Covid-19 testing.”

The news comes as the league prepares for a July 8 season-starting kickoff of the "MLS is Back Tournament."

FC Dallas has their first group match scheduled for July 9 versus Vancouver at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex within the Disney resort.

The Louisiana Department of Health is reporting 2,083 additional Covid-19 cases bringing the state total to 60,178, according to data released on Wednesday by the state. 

Wednesday marks the single highest day increase since April 4 when the state recorded 2,199 new infections. 

The number of hospitalizations are also up according to the health department. As of Wednesday, the number of Covid-19 patients currently hospitalized was 799. 

In a tweet on Wednesday, the Louisiana Department of Health said 23,577 new tests have been reported to the state bringing the total number of tests to 752,088.

The department of health says 98% of the cases reported to the state on Wednesday were community spread, with 49% of these cases being among people aged 29 and under.

Read the tweet:

Cuba reopened a handful of hotels and installations for international tourists on Wednesday for the first time since coronavirus forced the island’s communist-run government to shut down the Cuban tourism industry. 

Visitors will be able to visit five keys, offshore islands the Cuban government developed for tourism. The rest of the island — including the capital Havana — remains closed to international tourists.

Upon landing all tourists will be required to take a test to show they are coronavirus free, according to government health officials.

Travelers will either fly directly to the islands or land on the Cuban mainland and be driven in a guarded bus across a causeway to the islands to avoid potentially spreading the virus to Cubans.

The keys will remain off limits to Cubans except for hotel staff who will be regularly tested, health officials said.

Cuba closed its borders in March, canceling all regular commercial flights to and from the island, after three Italian tourists were diagnosed with coronavirus.

By the numbers: So far, the island has recorded 86 deaths and 2,348 cases of coronavirus, according to Cuban health officials.