July 9 coronavirus news

Houston, Texas, Mayor Sylvester Turner said in a news conference Thursday that the Covid-19 virus in the city is "out of control."

He continued saying the goal is to bring the daily number of cases to below 300. 

"And I say 300, that's the number I am using because it makes it then much more practical for us to engage with our contact tracing," he added. 

Houston reported 412 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday, bringing the total number of cases to at least 26,012, with approximately 250 deaths. 

Note: These numbers were announced by Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project.

A Massachusetts man has been arrested after he allegedly pulled a gun on another man during an argument over the victim not wearing a face mask inside a store, according to a statement from the Bridgewater Police Department.

The 59-year-old man from East Bridgewater was charged with assault with a dangerous weapon, disorderly conduct, and disturbing the peace, the statement said.

The details: On July 3, around 5:20 p.m., Bridgewater Police responded to a call from the manager at a Walgreen’s Pharmacy, who reported that two men were arguing inside the store about one of them not wearing a face mask.

The argument continued into the parking lot, where one of the men allegedly pulled a gun from his vehicle and pointed it at the other man, who had not been wearing a face mask in the store. The suspect then got in his vehicle and left the scene, police said.

The victim, a 30-year-old Abington man, was not injured, according to Bridgewater Police.

Police later identified the suspect and arrested him at his home. He then complained of a medical issue and was transported to a local hospital.

According to police, his license to carry a firearm and firearms from his home were seized.

When 42 states and Washington, DC, implemented shelter-in-place orders in March and early April to help contain the spread of the deadly coronavirus, they may have prevented as many as 370,000 deaths by the middle of May, according to new research.

The study used models to examine Covid-19 death rates and hospitalizations during shelter-in-place-orders and evidence indicated they “helped reduce Covid-19 cases,” authors Wei Lyu and George L. Wehby said.

Not only did lockdowns help reduce coronavirus cases, the study found, but six weeks later, deaths were down by 6%.

The lockdowns also helped reduce daily hospitalization rates by almost 8.5% in 19 states with the mandates, the analysis found.

“This evidence suggests that shelter-in-place orders have been effective in reducing the daily growth rates of COVID-19 deaths and hospitalizations,” the study concluded.

There were 120,000 deaths and 320,000 hospitalizations from Covid-19 by the time the study was peer-reviewed, up from 83,000 deaths and 198,000 coronavirus hospitalizations as of May 15 when the study ended, Lyu and Wehby reported.

Previous studies have also concluded that stay-at-home and shelter-in-place mandates have helped reduce infections and deaths from Covid-19.

Connecticut has 101 new Covid-19 cases and five new deaths due to coronavirus as of this afternoon, according to a statement from Gov. Ned Lamont.

The state now has a total of 47,209 confirmed coronavirus cases and 4,348 deaths. There are 90 people currently hospitalized with Covid-19.

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

Parkland Hospital in Dallas, Texas, will be receiving medical assistance teams to help deal with rising hospitalization rates, hospital spokesperson Robert Behrens told CNN on Thursday.

Earlier today, Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson tweeted that federal partners are sending disaster assistance teams to their region.

"Our federal partners are sending Disaster Medical Assistance Teams to our region to bolster our medical staffing amid the rise in #COVIDー19 hospitalizations. For now, one hospital in the @CityOfDallas will receive staff," the tweet said.

The latest statewide numbers: Texas reported at least 105 Covid-19-related deaths on Thursday, which is the highest single-day increase in coronavirus fatalities. This brings the total number of deaths in the state to approximately 2,918. 

Read Johnson's tweet:

North Carolina has hired more than 480 contact tracers, which means there are more than 1,500 people working on contact tracing, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services said Thursday. 

The agency also tweeted that it launched an initiative to deploy up to 300 new, no-cost testing sites in underserved communities that currently have limited testing options.

As of Thursday, North Carolina had a total of 79,349 Covid-19 cases and at least 1,034 people were hospitalized, the public health agency said. At least 1,461 people have died from the virus in the state.

Wisconsin reported at least 754 new cases on Thursday – its highest number of new confirmed coronavirus in a single day. 

According to the Wisconsin Department of Health's website, the second largest increase of new coronavirus cases in the state was on July 4 with about 738 new cases.

In total, at least 33,908 cases of coronavirus have been reported statewide and at least 809 people have died from the virus, according to the health department.

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services urged people to practice physical distancing and to wear a mask when appropriate. 

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

Dr. Anthony Fauci is skeptical about the prospects of getting the Covid-19 pandemic under control without a vaccine.

“This virus, to our dismay, is spectacularly efficient in transmitting from person to person. So that makes me skeptical whether we would get permanent, sustained control of this without having a vaccine,” Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said Thursday on Podcast-19, FiveThirtyEight’s weekly podcast on Covid-19.

He does think the pandemic can be controlled.

Despite the urgency, Fauci said regulators and vaccine makers are doing everything in their power to make sure it is effective and safe.

“We got to get it right. We really do,” Fauci said. “Because if we don’t, it might have a real negative impact in the long range, in the long term, on how people approach and respond to the need for vaccination, which is the reason why we’re taking so seriously that even though we’re doing this quickly, we’re not compromising the safety and nor are we compromising the scientific integrity.” 

As some European countries are starting to reopen their borders during the pandemic, the European Union will ban most travelers from the US for now.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said he thinks that’s “understandable.”

“So right now, they have their infection rate very low, much lower than we do. So they’re looking at us and they’re saying the same thing that we said to them,” Fauci said on Podcast-19, FiveThirtyEight’s weekly podcast on Covid-19.

The US banned travel to the US from China, Europe, and the UK in March.  

Some background: The EU travel ban went into effect on July 1. The US has recorded more cases and deaths than anywhere in the world. Brazil, Russia and India – the three nations with the highest numbers of cases after the US – have also been excluded from the EU's list of safe countries.

The decision is based on whether a country has a similar or better epidemiological situation than Europe, as well as comparable hygiene and containment measures.