Coronavirus pandemic: Updates from around the world

For the first time since the coronavirus pandemic began, the White House press corps got a glimpse of President Donald Trump wearing a mask.

Trump was seen briefly in a mask while walking with staff at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. He did not make any remarks while wearing the mask.

The President said that wearing a mask while he is in the hospital is “a very appropriate thing.”

Over the course of the pandemic, Trump has refused to wear a mask in public, ridiculed those who have and done little to encourage his supporters to embrace the common sense public health measure.

CNN has previously reported that some of the President's aides practically begged him to agree to Saturday's mask photo op and hope it will encourage skeptical Trump supporters to do the same.

The Brazilian health ministry reported 1,071 new Covid-19 deaths on Saturday, bringing the country’s death toll to 71,469. 

The ministry reported 39,023 new cases of coronavirus, bringing the nationwide total to 1,839,850.

Brazil has routinely reported tens of thousands of new cases and more than 1,000 deaths each day since late May.

Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez stressed that he has never blamed restaurants for the current spike in Covid-19 case, following protests for restaurants to remain open as reopening is rolled back, he said in a statement Saturday.  

Protesters gathered outside the American Airlines Arena in Miami on Friday, saying there was no data to prove that Covid-19 cases in the area were rising due to people dining at restaurants, according to CNN affiliate WPLG. 

Gimenez says the spike was caused by various factors "involving social gatherings without masks and little to no social distancing whether at private parties at people’s homes, graduation parties, Memorial Day weekend parties and street protests, as well as at restaurants that turned into bars with people not practicing social distancing during the month of June," the statement said. 

Gimenez said the rising Covid-19 positivity rate "will overwhelm hospitals unless everyone does their part." 

"I am pained that people’s livelihoods are being impacted. That is not my goal," Gimenez said.  

"I will not put our community’s health and our hospitals' ability to save Covid-19 patients in peril to score political points. This is too serious, and people’s lives are at stake," the mayor said.  

Houston-based Texas Medical Center said on Saturday that its ICU occupancy could reach Phase 3 levels by July 23, based on their current growth rate across the system's intensive care units. 

Within the Texas Medical Center system, Phase 1 is the current ICU configuration under non-pandemic conditions, Phase 2 adds an additional 1,703 ICU beds and Phase 3 plans temporary ICU surge capacity through an additional 2,207 beds. 

Currently, TMC are 24% into their Phase 2 plans for intensive care, according to the latest information posted on its website, with 1,420 total ICU beds occupied throughout the system. 

The hospitals in the TMC system have 2,331 positive Covid-19 patients, with 651 of those in ICU as of Friday, according to the latest data published. TMC says that between July 4 and 10, they saw a 3% growth of ICU Covid-19 patients. 

The Houston area has averaged 1,360 new cases per day, three times higher than peak in April, with a 11.3% positivity rate over the past week, TMC said.

Kentucky added 453 Covid-19 cases, "one of the highest days that we have had," Gov. Andy Beshear said Saturday.

The new cases brings the total to up 19,121. The governor said the state reported two additional deaths bringing the total count to 622 lives lost.

Kentucky has seen better compliance and more people wearing facial coverings "than ever before," Beshear said. Wearing a mask is "not a political statement, it’s a statement that you care about other people," he said.

Beshear signed an executive order Friday that mandates Kentuckians to wear a facial covering or mask in public in certain situations. The mandate began at 5 p.m. Friday and will last for 30 days.

The University of Maryland announced Saturday that the school has temporarily suspended its voluntary, individual training for the football program after nine individuals tested positive for Covid-19.

“On July 7-8, the University Health Center conducted on-campus screening of 185 student-athletes and staff; nine individuals tested positive for Covid-19. These nine student-athletes and staff have been notified and are currently in self-isolation, monitored by university health officials.” Maryland Athletics said in the press release.

In previous testing of 105 individuals in June, no individual tested positive for Covid-19.

The largest grouping of new Covid-19 cases in Louisiana are adults between 18 and 29 years old, state health officer Dr. Joseph Kanter said during a press conference Saturday afternoon. 

State officials did not expect the virus to stay contained within that age bracket and Kanter said that there were concerns for anyone more vulnerable who comes in contact with a positive person in this age group.

The data is "showing that the virus is now spreading from the younger adults to the older individuals," Kanter said. 

He also discussed the peak during the first wave, which was focused mostly in the Greater New Orleans area. 

If Louisiana doesn't turn the numbers around, Kanter said the state is on pace to reach Texas and Arizona levels.

New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone announced Saturday that the team’s star closer Aroldis Chapman has tested positive for Covid-19 and has left the team facilities for the foreseeable future. 

Boone said Chapman is experiencing "mild symptoms but overall is doing well."

Chapman is a six-time MLB All-Star including 2018 and 2019 with the Yankees. Chapman also won the Mariano Rivera American League Reliever of the Year award in 2019.

Louisiana will implement a statewide mask order for everyone 8 and older, Gov. John Bel Edwards said during a press conference Saturday.

Edwards also announced that bars throughout the state will closed for on-site consumption.

The Executive Order announcing these new changes will be signed Saturday, Edwards said, and all changes go into effect at 12:01 a.m. CST Monday morning. 

Parishes in the state can opt out of the mask mandate if they don't have a high positivity rate, but Edwards said only three would qualify to do so right now. 

Edwards said he is closing the bars to on-site consumption, but allowing curbside pickup, because of the uptick in cases traced to the bars. At least 36 outbreaks have been traced to bars, with more than 400 people testing positive who were in those bars.

Edwards said that any social gathering will be limited to 50 people indoors and outdoors. Many of the new cases are being traced to gatherings such as informal backyard gatherings, he said. 

Louisiana has seen Covid-19 cases rise in the recent weeks, with positivity rates hovering above 10% a majority of the past week. As CNN previously reported, Friday saw the highest day of new cases since the pandemic began. 

Patients hospitalized due to the virus have steadily increased over the past two weeks.

"We cannot risk losing our capacity to deliver lifesaving care," Edwards said.

He said the steps announced today are not the steps he wanted to take, but that they are essential. 

Phase 2 for Louisiana is set to expire on July 24. Edwards said that officials will look at the data and decide what happens after that date.