July 13 coronavirus news

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice ordered bars in Monongalia County to close for 10 days in response to a spike of coronavirus cases.

“Today I am ordering the bars in [Monongalia] County to close for 10 days, and during that 10-day period I am very hopeful is what’s going to happen is we’re going to see a correction in the numbers," Justice said at a news conference. 

Additionally, Justice said he is limiting crowd sizes to 25 people, effectively canceling fairs and large public gatherings.

“Well if you’ve got a fair that you can socially distance 25 people and everything, we’re fine. We’re fine absolutely. But for the most part our fairs, festivals, and outdoor concerts, we’re done with them in West Virginia for right now," Justice said.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, believes the country is on track to find treatments that will help prevent the progression of Covid-19 disease, particularly for people who are the most likely to get extremely sick.

“What we really need, and we are on the track of getting them, are interventions that can be given early in the course of disease to prevent people who are vulnerable from progressing to the requirement for hospitalization,” Fauci said during a webinar with the Stanford School of Medicine on Monday.

“And those are direct antiviral drugs, convalescent plasma, hyperimmunoglobulin, monoclonal antibodies and a number of direct acting antiviral agents,” added Fauci, who is director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. “I believe we are on a good track to get there reasonably soon.

He also said he believes a vaccine could be proven effective by the end of the year or early next. As far as treatments, Fauci said based on experience in developing treatments for Ebola, he thought monoclonal antibody treatments are “almost a sure bet.”

Monoclonal antibodies are lab-made antibodies that are created specifically to target infection. Antibodies are the proteins the body naturally makes to fight infection. Vaccines are built on the same idea, but they take a few weeks to work and don’t help if someone is already sick. Antibody therapies can work right away.

There are already a few clinical trials underway in the US. From those trials a treatment could be approved for use as early as the fall or winter, Fauci said.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered Monday all counties in the state to close indoor activities at restaurants, bars, wineries, tasting rooms, movie theaters, family entertainment centers, zoos and museums.

The statewide order is effective today, Newsom said at a news conference. These sectors will need to move activities outdoors if possible. 

Here's a list of closures that affect all counties:

Additionally, 30 counties currently on California’s monitoring list must close fitness centers, places of worship, offices for non-critical sectors, personal care services, hair salons and barbershops, and indoor malls, according to Newsom's order.

The 30 counties represent about 80% of the state’s population.

The California Department of Public Health on Monday reported 8,358 new coronavirus cases and 23 new deaths. There are a total of 329,162 cases of coronavirus in California and at least 7,040 people have died from the virus in the state.

Lilian Abbo, an infectious-disease expert, called Miami the "epicenter of the pandemic" in a virtual news conference Monday.

"What we were seeing in Wuhan — six months ago, five months ago — now we are there," she said in a plea for people to take precautions against coronavirus seriously.

“We need your help as media communicators to help the community understand that we’re just not repeating the same thing over and over just to give you trouble, we really need your help,” Abbo added.

Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Giménez and several medical experts from the area addressed the latest spike in Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations across the county assessing and recommending what action the community and local government officials need to take to drive down numbers.

Heathrow, Europe’s busiest airport, won’t reopen all its terminals until next year, CEO John Holland-Kaye told CNN's Richard Quest. The airport may reopen Terminal 3 later this year depending on demand, he said. Terminal 4 will remain closed until next year. 

He said they are starting to see the slow return of passengers, but that the collapse in revenues meant the airport was coming to a point where it needed to consider jobs cuts. 

Houston Rockets forward Bruno Caboclo broke quarantine rules inside the NBA bubble and must now self-isolate, the team confirmed to CNN.  

Caboclo broke the league bubble rules “inadvertently” by leaving his room during the initial quarantine period, as first reported by ESPN, and per league rules, will have to isolate in his room for eight days before he is able to rejoin the team. 

The Rockets arrived in Orlando on Friday as the squad prepared for their first exhibition game on July 24.

Houston opens the 2020 NBA season restart against Dallas on July 31.  

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez updated the public on newly reported numbers from the Florida Department of Health (FDOH), saying the hospital system in Miami is at its peak, with 1,898 people battling coronavirus in hospitals across the city.

The mayor said that hospitals are somewhere between 91-92% of capacity and are trying to increase capacity by up to 50% over the next couple of weeks.

The rate of new positive coronavirus cases per day increased from 60 new cases per day, last reported on Friday, to 78.5 new cases per day, Suarez said in a news conference on Monday.

Suarez pointed out that this number is not as high as the peak of new positive cases per day, which was 125 cases of coronavirus per day.

Suarez shared new contact tracing findings from the FDOH, saying that 33.6% people reported getting infected with Covid-19 in their household while 36% people report getting infected from family members.

Suarez urged the public to cooperate with contact tracers saying, "when you get infected, you're going to be called. We need you to cooperate with the contact tracers."

CNN spoke with mayor earlier today. Watch the interview:

Brazil’s São Paulo state announced today that universities and technical schools can return to in-person practical classes starting Monday in cities that have been in the yellow phase of the state's plan for more than 14 consecutive days.

The São Paulo deescalation plan allows for the gradual resumption of activities. The yellow phase is the third of the five stages, and allows for a relaxation of restrictions on the majority of economic and social activities. 

The city of São Paulo also reopened parks and gyms on Monday. Ibirapuera Park, the biggest in the country, saw heavy vehicle traffic in the park region and large crowds.

As of Monday, there were 2,610 new coronavirus cases in São Paulo state, according to state health secretary data, bringing the total number of cases to 374,607.

There were also 59 new deaths in the state, bringing the statewide death toll to 17,907 

Brazil is nearing 1.9 million cases of novel coronavirus after its health ministry reported 24,831 new cases Sunday. Brazil has the second highest number of Covid-19 cases in the world, following the United States.

The Women’s National Basketball Association announced Monday that it will begin its abbreviated season on July 25 from its bubble at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida. 

The opening weekend will be dedicated to the Black Lives Matter movement and will feature triple headers on July 25-26.

Each of the league’s 12 teams will play a 22-game regular season schedule that is slated to conclude on September 12. The WNBA will then hold a postseason featuring a traditional playoffs and Finals format.