July 14 coronavirus news

By Jessie Yeung, Steve George, Tara John, Meg Wagner, Mike Hayes and Melissa Macaya, CNN

Updated 0450 GMT (1250 HKT) July 15, 2020
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10:38 a.m. ET, July 14, 2020

Officials didn't stress the importance of masks early in the pandemic. That was a mistake, Fauci says.

From CNN's Gisela Crespo

Dr. Anthony Fauci prepares to testify at a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing in Washington, DC, on June 30.
Dr. Anthony Fauci prepares to testify at a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing in Washington, DC, on June 30. Kevin Dietsch/Pool/Getty Images

A "misstep" in communicating to the public the benefits of wearing a mask early in the Covid-19 pandemic has hurt its "credibility" as public health tool, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. 

Fauci on Tuesday said that in the beginning of the pandemic, health officials in the country were trying to make sure health care workers had enough personal protective equipment, including masks, as hospitals filled with Covid-19 patients.

"What got, I think, a little bit misrepresented in that message was not that it was just we wanted to preserve them, but they don't really work that well anyway," Fauci said in an interview with CNN Contributor Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, host of the Crooked Media podcast "America Dissected."

"That was the mistake, because in fact there's no doubt that wearing a mask is better than not having a mask for the general public," he added. 

As new data started to come out showing the effectiveness of wearing masks to reduce the spread of the virus and on the significant percentage of people infected with the virus who are asymptomatic, it became even more clear that everybody should wear a mask, Fauci said. 

"It's almost as if we should say everybody should assume that you're an asymptomatic infected person. And that's the reason why you should wear a mask. But unfortunately that misstep in the beginning, when the connection between saving a short supply was equated with 'they don't have much benefit anyway, so why wear it?' ... I mean, that was the misstep. And you're right, it made it now a real challenge in communication," Fauci said.

10:43 a.m. ET, July 14, 2020

India's Bihar state to impose 16-day lockdown due to rising coronavirus cases

From CNN’s Esha Mitra in New Delhi

A woman is tested for coronavirus at a hospital in Patna, India, on July 13.
A woman is tested for coronavirus at a hospital in Patna, India, on July 13. Santosh Kumar/Hindustan Times/Getty Images

A 16-day lockdown will begin in the Eastern Indian state of Bihar starting on July 16, the Bihar government announced in an order on Tuesday. 

The lockdown was issued in view of the "alarming surge in Covid-19 positive cases in State of Bihar in last three weeks wherein positivity rate has also been considerably high," the order read. 

During the statewide lockdown, all government offices, commercial and private establishments, transport services, educational institutions, places of worship and parks will remain shut with the exception of certain essential services. 

All hospital and medical facilities will remain open, agricultural activities, construction activities, industrial establishments will continue, with the implementation of necessary precautions and social distancing norms, according to the order. 

Bihar has 17,959 cases of coronavirus including 160 deaths as of Tuesday, according to the Indian Ministry of Health.

Meanwhile, the northern state of Punjab issued a complete ban on public gatherings, a statement issued by the government of Punjab on Monday said. 

The eastern states of Jharkhand and West Bengal and the western state of Maharashtra had also issued lockdowns which are due to end on July 31 and Uttar Pradesh announced a weekend lockdown till the end of July. 

The lockdown in Bengaluru, the capital of South Indian state of Karnataka, is also set to start Tuesday at 8pm local after a sudden surge of coronavirus cases in that region.

India currently has more than 900,000 total cases of coronavirus including 23,727 deaths and 571,460 recoveries according to the Indian Ministry of Health. The country has the third highest number of total cases in the world, behind US and Brazil, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

9:59 a.m. ET, July 14, 2020

Philadelphia cancels all large public events through February 2021 due to pandemic

From CNN’s Elizabeth Joseph

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney is seen during a City Hall press conference on March 6.
Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney is seen during a City Hall press conference on March 6. Bastiaan Slabbers/NurPhoto/Getty Images

Philadelphia has cancelled all large public events through February 28, 2021, Lauren Cox, deputy communications director in Mayor Jim Kenney’s office, told CNN Tuesday morning.

“This is in regards to events that the City permits on public property (like parades and festivals), it does not apply to events on private property—including sports stadiums and concert venues,” she said.

“Decisions on how to resume those types of events will be based on current public health guidance as the situation in Philadelphia progresses," she added.  

Additional details will be shared during the mayor's press conference later today at 1 p.m. ET.

9:53 a.m. ET, July 14, 2020

Stock market opens in the red after banks flag risks to the economy

From CNN's Matt Egan

A woman passes the New York Stock Exchange on Monday.
A woman passes the New York Stock Exchange on Monday. Johannes Eisele/AFP/Getty Images

US stocks opened lower Tuesday after big banks warned of significant challenges to the economic recovery.

Here's how things looked as the market opened:

  • The Dow dipped 25 points, or 0.1%
  • The S&P 500 declined 0.6%
  • The Nasdaq slumped 0.8%

More context: The shaky start comes after Wall Street suffered a sharp reversal Monday. A 563-point rally for the Dow fizzled following California’s decision to close bars, restaurants and other indoor spaces because of the pandemic. 

JPMorgan Chase kicked off bank earnings season Tuesday by saying its profits plunged 51% as provisions for credit losses spiked. CEO Jamie Dimon warned, “We still face much uncertainty regarding the future path of the economy.” 

Wells Fargo’s stock tumbled 6% after the troubled bank suffered its first quarterly loss since 2008 and warned it will likely slash its dividend by 80%. That would make Wells Fargo the first big bank to lower its dividend during the recession.

9:45 a.m. ET, July 14, 2020

Science, not politics, is the only valid reason for changing school guidelines, former CDC directors say

From CNN's Naomi Thomas

Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg/Getty Images
Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Four former directors of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have written that they have never seen science be so influenced by politics, in an op-ed published Wednesday in The Washington Post.

“We cannot recall over our collective tenure a single time when political pressure led to a change in the interpretation of science,” wrote Drs. Tom Frieden, Jeffrey Koplan, David Satcher and Richard Besser, who collectively ran the CDC for more than 15 years.

One of the roles of the CDC is to provide sound public health guidance, which is essential during a pandemic. 

Speaking about the school reopening guidelines from the CDC, the former directors said that while it is not unusual for guidelines to be altered or changed after going through a clearance process, it is “extraordinary for guidelines to be undermined after their release.”

Guidelines should only be changed for new information and science, not because of politics, they said.

Writing about reopening schools and businesses amid a worsening pandemic, they said that public health experts face two opponents, “Covid-19, but also political leaders and others attempting to undermine the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”

Remember: The President, against the advice of some of the nation's top health officials, has repeatedly called for schools to reopen as coronavirus cases surge across the country.

On Wednesday, while Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's leading infectious disease expert, warned that the country has to maintain control over the pandemic to get children back to school in the fall, Trump slammed the CDC's existing guidelines.

He tweeted they were "very tough" and "expensive," while in another tweet threatened to cut off school funding if they resisted opening, though the federal government's ability to do so is limited.

9:49 a.m. ET, July 14, 2020

Fauci is staying on White House coronavirus task force, source says

From CNN's Jim Acosta

Dr. Anthony Fauci listens during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing in Washington, DC, on June 30.
Dr. Anthony Fauci listens during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing in Washington, DC, on June 30. Al Drago/Pool/AFP/Getty Images

Doctor Anthony Fauci is staying on with the White House coronavirus task force despite the recent White House attempts to discredit him, a source familiar with the situation told CNN.

Some background: The White House has made a concerted effort to discredit Fauci as he becomes increasingly vocal about his concerns over reopening the country.

The tension between Fauci and Trump — who are no longer speaking, CNN reported last week — has grown publicly as they have responded to one another through interviews and statements.

But remember: Trump does not plan to dismiss Fauci, and probably couldn't directly fire him if he wanted to, White House officials have determined. He insisted on Monday that his relationship with the doctor remains strong.

9:34 a.m. ET, July 14, 2020

Point of care tests could help reduce the burden on testing labs, US health official says

From CNN's Naomi Thomas

Adm. Brett Giroir speaks during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing in Washington, DC, on June 30.
Adm. Brett Giroir speaks during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing in Washington, DC, on June 30. Al Drago/Pool/Getty Images

Point of care tests should help reduce the burden on testing labs later in the year, said Admiral Brett Giroir, assistant secretary for health at the US Department of Health and Human Services, on Tuesday.

“By October, certainly by September, we expect to have 15 to 20 million point of care tests. That’s as many tests as we’re doing every month now,” Giroir said on Tuesday.

Speaking on NPR’s “Morning Edition” about the burden of testing on labs as schools work on reopening and workplaces request more testing as they reopen, Giroir said these point of care tests are “going to dramatically reduce the burden.”

He also said that at present, almost half of the tests that are done are point of care tests.

 

9:26 a.m. ET, July 14, 2020

Catch up: Here's what you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic this morning

It's Tuesday morning in the US, where more than 3.3 million cases of coronavirus have been reported since the pandemic began.

If you're just reading in, here's what you need to know about the pandemic to start your morning:

  • The new epicenter: Miami is "now the epicenter of the pandemic," an infectious disease expert with the area's Jackson Health System said. Cases are rising across the state of Florida, where least 48 hospitals have zero ICU beds available. The state has more cases than all but eight entire countries.
  • Reopening rollbacks: As coronavirus cases rise, California and New Mexico reimposed restrictions on dining. In Oregon, the governor expanded rules on face coverings to include outdoor gatherings where social distance cannot be maintained.
  • Where schools stand: Some of America's largest school districts say they won't resume in-person classes at the start of autumn, despite Trump's calls to reopen. Meanwhile, a new plan under development by the White House and Senate Republicans is expected to include financial incentives to push schools to reopen.
  • Prepare for a possible winter peak: The UK's Academy of Medical Sciences is warning countries to prepare for a winter Covid-19 peak. It points out that people spend more time indoors in the winter, in poorly ventilated areas. Plus, health care systems are typically more taxed in winter months due to seasonal ailments.

 

9:13 a.m. ET, July 14, 2020

US aiming to get Covid-19 test results "within 48 hours," White House task force member says

From CNN's Gisela Crespo

A medical technologist processes coronavirus test samples at a lab in Tampa, Florida, on June 25.
A medical technologist processes coronavirus test samples at a lab in Tampa, Florida, on June 25. Octavio Jones/Getty Images

Admiral Brett Giroir, assistant secretary for health at the US Department of Health and Human Services and member of the White House coronavirus task force, on Tuesday conceded there are delays in Covid-19 tests results coming from big commercial laboratories, saying the demand is still very high.

"We absolutely want to reduce those times. We would like to get that to within 48 hours. And we are really exerting a lot of effort to do that," Giroir said during an interview on NBC’s "Today.”

Giroir explained the government is working with these laboratories to "actively start" pooling samples, and it will also lean into places that need a lot of testing, such as nursing homes, to do more point-of-care testing.

"That will alleviate millions of tests from those commercial labs," Giroir said.