July 15 coronavirus news

Overnight, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, the area where Pittsburgh is located, reported 246 new cases of Covid-19, according to a statement from the Allegheny County Health Department. 

The county announced 5 additional deaths, on Wednesday, and one new hospitalization. 

This information is based on 2,944 test results from June 30 through July 14, the release said.

One thing to note: The numbers listed were released by the Allegheny County Health Department and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project.

The Philadelphia Independent School District plans to reopen schools in September with a hybrid of in-person and online learning, with most students physically attending school two days per week. Under this plan, schools in Philadelphia would resume on Sept. 2. 

Each of the more than 200 schools within the district will create its own individual plan, while abiding by the safety guidelines outlined by Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. Wednesday.

These measures mirror those that many other major school districts nationwide are taking, including temperature/health checks, masks, social distancing, limiting classroom capacity, and increased cleaning of classrooms and public spaces.

Here are some of the safety guidelines from the plan:

Hybrid learning:

Masks and face coverings:

Hite predicted that this plan would cost “somewhere north of $60 million” and “could go as high as $80 million.”

Preliminary research now suggests that skin rashes and rashes inside the mouth might be a symptom of coronavirus infection — but more study is needed.

The research, published in the medical journal JAMA Dermatology on Wednesday, found that among 21 patients in Spain who were confirmed to have Covid-19 and a skin rash, six of those patients or 29% had enanthem, or lesions or rash in the mouth.

The mean amount of time between the onset of Covid-19 symptoms and developing enanthem was about 12 days among the patients, according to researchers from the Hospital Universitario Ramon y Cajal in Madrid.

Specifically, the researchers found that one patient developed enanthem 24 days after the onset of symptoms; two patients developed enanthem 19 days after; one developed enanthem 12 days after; one developed enanthem two days after; and another developed enanthem two days before.

"This work describes preliminary observations and is limited by the small number of cases and the absence of a control group," the researchers wrote, adding that their findings still suggest enanthem to be a possible Covid-19 symptom and not a reaction to medications, for instance.

New York City will have an update on if the city is going to move into phase four of reopening in the next 24 to 48 hours, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Wednesday during the city’s daily press conference. 

The mayor made this comment after a reporter said we are nearing the two-week mark of being in phase three and asked for an update on the city’s track to reopen. 

The mayor said the state and the city are currently deliberating on the right decision to make amid the uptick of coronavirus cases across the country. 

Remember: When the city moved into phase three, it did not include indoor dining. In other parts of New York state, phase three marked the start of indoor restaurant service.

Phase three of reopening in New York City did allow for sports and recreation to resume.

Nurses who traveled to New York City to help care for coronavirus patients as the city was going through its peak returned home, only to find skepticism of the virus from others.

“It made me feel terrible because at that point, I was scared for my own life, just being out there on the front lines, providing care for my patients and also just living day to day because we were all nervous. … So I had to educate my friends and let them know the virus is real and they have to stop doing what they were doing,” said Olumide “Peter” Kolade, a nurse from California. 

Oklahoma nurse Courtney Sudduth said that she felt relief to finally get back home after seeing the virus cause so many deaths in New York. But now, she said she is taking care of Covid-19 patients in their 30s who are on ventilators. 

Both nurses encourage people to not let up on washing their hands, social distancing and wearing masks.

“We have to be the change we’re looking for,” Kolade said. “…We have to forget about all these conspiracies.” 

Watch:

Covid-19 testing turnaround time is down to 3 days, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Wednesday during the city’s daily Covid-19 presser. 

Hospital admissions across the city, as of Monday, is at 66. There are at least 3030 patients in ICUs with Covid-19.

Of the people tested across the city, the positive infection rate remains at 2%, according to data the Mayor’s office released.

Nine people across New York died due to coronavirus Tuesday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office announced Wednesday, bringing the statewide death toll to 25,003.

At least 831 of the 63,598 — or 1.3% — of the tests conducted across New York on Tuesday were positive, bringing the statewide total of confirmed cases to 404,006.

One thing to note: These numbers were released by the state and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project.

Florida’s largest public health system has seen a 226% increase in coronavirus patients since June 14, which Jackson Health System President and CEO Carlos Migoya attributes to people not wearing masks. 

“The challenges that we’ve had is that the people have not been masking or being socially distant, especially the younger people,” Migoya said. 

He said that the biggest offenders have not been residents, but visitors. 

In Florida, there are currently 54 hospitals that have reached ICU capacity and show zero ICU beds available, according to data released by the Agency for Health Care Administration. Ten of those hospitals are in Miami-Dade County.

Another 40 hospitals show ICUs at 10% available capacity or less, according to the AHCA data.

Migoya also attributes the spread of Covid-19 to younger people who may be asymptomatic passing it on to their parents or grandparents. 

“We saw a huge influx of young people coming in. Now, those young people are still coming in, but we're getting older people in,” he said, adding that younger people would have a “rude awakening” if they visited one of his hospital’s ICUs. 

Migoya said he expects more Covid-19 patients for the next few weeks.  

Watch:

At a stop at a hospital in Shelbyville, Kentucky, this morning, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell continued issuing warnings that the coronavirus is here to stay. He said that while "there were some that hoped" the coronavirus would simply go away, it isn't.

While he didn't mention Trump, it's the latest indication of how McConnell is voicing a much different message about the virus than the leader of his own party.