Arizona has fewer than 1,000 inpatient hospital beds available
From CNN's Konstantin Toropin
Arizona only has 993 inpatient hospital beds remaining today as it fights off a surge of Covid-19 cases, state health data shows.
This is the lowest number of available inpatient beds the state has had available, according to records that go back to late March.
The previous record for the lowest number of beds available was 1,057 reported yesterday.
Currently, 6,955 of the state’s inpatient hospital beds are in use – 88% of its capacity, state data shows. About half of those patients, 3,432, are being treated for Covid-19, the data shows.
The state also continues to set records for ventilator usage, with just more than half of the state’s ventilators in use all of this week. Today, 615 — or about two thirds of all the state’s ventilators — are being used to treat Covid-19 patients, state data shows. This is a record high for the state.
Arizona has led the nation for over a month with the highest seven-day average of new coronavirus cases per 100,000 people, according to a CNN analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University.
12:32 p.m. ET, July 10, 2020
President Trump lands in Florida
From CNN's Betsy Klein
President Donald Trump disembarks from Air Force One upon arrival at Miami International Airport in Miami on July 10. Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
President Trump has landed in the coronavirus hotspot of Miami-Dade County, the epicenter of Florida’s crisis, where intensive care unit beds are in short supply and the positivity rate is over 33%.
There are no coronavirus-related events scheduled at this time. The trip’s focus, in part, will be to shore up Florida’s Hispanic vote with an appeal on supporting the people of Venezuela, and also promoting his law and order message when he talks drug trafficking. He’ll attend a private fundraiser, as well.
In a FiveThirtyEight podcast yesterday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, reiterated that the US is “just not” doing great on coronavirus, and criticized Florida, among other states, for reopening too early: “Certainly Florida I know, you know, I think jumped over a couple of checkpoints.”
Here’s a look at Trump's schedule:
12:35 p.m. ET – Trump attends a briefing on the US Southern Command's Enhanced Counterterrorism Operations at US Southern Command in Doral.
1:40 p.m. ET – He delivers remarks on the US Southern Command's Enhanced Counterterrorism Operations.
2:15 p.m. ET – He attends a roundtable on supporting the people of Venezuela at Iglesia Doral Jesus Worship Center.
4:55 p.m. ET – Trump arrives at a fundraiser in Hillsboro Beach.
7:15 p.m ET – Air Force One leaves from Fort Lauderdale and heads back to the White House.
11:59 a.m. ET, July 10, 2020
UK prime minister says face mask rules will likely become stricter
From CNN's Sharon Braithwaite and Simon Cullen
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on July 8. Leon Neal/Getty Images
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the government is likely to become increasingly insistent that people wear face masks in confined spaces.
“I do think we do need to be stricter in insisting that people wear face coverings in confined spaces where they are meeting people that they normally meet,” Johnson said during an online question-and-answer session with members of the public.
“That's why it's mandatory already on public transport and we are looking at ways at making sure that people really do observe, have face coverings in shops for instance where there is a risk of transmission," he added.
Johnson said the “balance of scientific opinion” is in favor of wearing face masks, but added that he wants to return to a situation where people feel able to shake hands again.
11:56 a.m. ET, July 10, 2020
The US is in the middle of "a very serious problem," Fauci says
From CNN's Amanda Watts
Dr. Anthony Fauci speaks on June 30. Al Drago/Pool/Getty Images
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the United States is in the middle of a “very serious problem.”
Speaking at the AIDS 2020 Conference, Fauci said Covid-19 is “a true historic pandemic.”
At the conference, Fauci showed a heat map of how the cases across the world have risen since the beginning of 2020.
“What we saw before us was the somewhat frightening — but nonetheless real — emergence of a true global pandemic. It just went on and on and got worse and worse and worse and worse," he said of the map.
Referencing the dark red United States on the map, Fauci said, his home country "is in the middle — right now, even as we speak — in a very serious problem.”
11:52 a.m. ET, July 10, 2020
Decision to reopen schools "must be based on evidence," infectious disease experts say
From CNN's Jacqueline Howard
Bing Guan/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Infectious disease experts in the United States are calling for decisions on reopening schools to be "based on evidence and available resources to address risks of infection and illness" in a new statement on Friday from the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the HIV Medicine Association.
"While data indicate that children are less likely to develop serious illness due to COVID-19 and to transmit the disease, instances in which children have fallen seriously ill — including with multi-system inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) – and in which children have died, should raise concerns, given that much remains unknown about the dynamics of the new coronavirus," the statement from Dr. Thomas File, president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, and Dr. Judith Feinberg, chair of HIV Medicine Association, said.
"In addition, teachers, school administrators and other adults critical to school operation may be more vulnerable, due to age or conditions carrying higher risks to severe COVID-19 disease and death. Flexibility must be provided for students, teachers and staff with underlying health conditions that place them at risk for complications from COVID-19," the statement said. "Provisions for at-risk students should include distance learning only, and for their at-risk teachers, the option to provide only distance education."
The statement also noted that policies for screening symptoms among students and staff should be in place prior to reopening and that plans on how to respond to the possible event of a student or staff member becoming sick.
"New funding for all school systems is essential, and it must be adequate to ensure safe conditions, including appropriate physical distancing, as well as sufficient quantities of masks and other personal protective equipment, hand sanitizer, and appropriate cleaning and disinfection of classrooms and surfaces in common areas, school buses and other community forms of transportation for students," the statement said.
"We will not gain control of this pandemic or successfully reopen the economy unless we protect people and public health first," the statement added. "The safety of our children, their families, teachers and other school staff must be guiding factors in all school reopening decisions, and no school should be forced to open in a situation that presents unacceptable risks."
11:46 a.m. ET, July 10, 2020
Michigan businesses will be required to refuse entry to people not wearing masks
From CNN's Elizabeth Hartfield
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer speaks during a press conference in Lansing, Michigan. Michigan Office of the Governor via AP
Following an increase in Covid-19 cases in Michigan, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed an executive order on Friday requiring a face covering to be worn in all indoor public spaces across the state, and most notably, requiring businesses to refuse service or entry to anyone not wearing a covering, the governor announced in a release.
Violating the order — which goes into effect at 12:01 a.m. local time on Monday — could carry a $500 penalty.
Businesses are required to post signs instructing customers to wear a mask, and there are exemptions for people with medical conditions and children under the age of 5, as well as for when people are eating and drinking at a restaurant.
“The heroes on the front lines of this crisis have gone hours without taking their masks off every day – doctors, nurses, child care workers, grocery store workers. We owe it to them to wear our masks when we’re on a trip to the grocery store or pharmacy,” Whitmer said in the statement.
11:48 a.m. ET, July 10, 2020
Asymptotic transmission "clearly complicates" contact tracing and isolation, Fauci says
From CNN's Amanda Watts
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, attends a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on June 30 in Washington, DC. Kevin Dietsch/Pool via AP
Dr. Anthony Fauci said when it comes to coronavirus and its clinical manifestations, “We learn more about literally on a daily and weekly basis.”
“Importantly — and this is evolved over the months, because it was not clear early on, and it's changed the way we think about transmission and control — in that about 40% to 45% of individuals infected are asymptomatic," Fauci said of coronavirus while speaking at the AIDS 2020 Conference.
Fauci also said that transmission from people who are either asymptomatic or not yet showing symptoms of the virus " clearly complicates" attempts to contact trace and isolate.
11:20 a.m. ET, July 10, 2020
Florida records second-highest day of new Covid-19 cases
From CNN's Melissa Alonso
Vehicles wait in line at a drive-thru coronavirus testing site on July 8 in Miami Gardens, Florida. Wilfredo Lee/AP
Florida health officials on Friday reported at least 11,433 new Covid-19 cases and 93 deaths related to the virus, according to data posted on the Florida Department of Health website.
The new tally comes as President Trump is making his way to Florida for a fundraiser and a briefing on drug trafficking.
Today marks the second time the state's single-day tally of cases topped more than 11,000, according to CNN's count.
DOH reported 11,458 cases on July 4, according to CNN's tally.
11:02 a.m. ET, July 10, 2020
Florida secures more nurses as Covid-19 surges
From CNN's Rosa Flores, Sara Weisfeldt and Melissa Alonso
Florida officials are securing 1,000 nurses for hospitals in the state as the new surge of Covid-19 cases test Florida’s hospital system, Jared Moskowitz, Director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FLSERT), said in a tweet on Friday.
On Thursday, FLSERT had already deployed 100 nurses to Jackson Health System in Miami-Dade County. Several more nurses were also deployed to Bay Care hospital system in Tampa.
"The nurses will allow these hospital systems serve more patients," FLSERT said in a Thursday tweet.
