July 16 coronavirus news

A number of US retailers have announced plans to require customers to wear masks while inside their stores.

Here's a look at some of the US chains who are implementing mask requirements:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi went after President Trump on Thursday over his response to the pandemic.

“Mr. President, admit it. You’ve gone down the wrong path. Ask for directions,” she added later. “Ask for directions from our scientists who know better.”

Pelosi also reiterated Democrats’ call for Trump to fully implement the Defense Production Act for testing, PPE and other items needed to deal with the pandemic.

“There is not enough equipment, but we could have it, if the President executed the Defense Production Act,” she said. “This is such a massive dereliction of duty — people are dying.”

Asked if she is speaking with White House chief of staff Mark Meadows or anybody else in the administration about the next stimulus bill, Pelosi said she has had conversations on individual items. 

She added that Senate Republicans’ suggested price tag of $1.3 trillion for the next bill is not enough. “We should have trillions of dollars to prop up workers,” she said.

She said an Occupational Safety and Health Administration standard to protect employees during the pandemic is “absolutely essential for us to have” in the next package, as well as a rent moratorium and extension of unemployment insurance.

“We know that it will happen. They have to do unemployment insurance,” she said of Republicans, who have so far been skeptical about extending the expanded benefits, which are set to expire at the end of the month.

She said not passing another ambitious stimulus package now will hurt the country further down the road.

Target will require its customers to wear masks or face coverings in all of their stores starting on Aug. 1.

Individuals with underlying medical conditions and young children are exempt from the announced policy. 

Target joins other major US companies that have made similar announcements, including CVS, Walmart, Starbucks and Best Buy.

The National Football League’s Miami Dolphins will not allow fans at training camp and preseason games in 2020 due to Covid-19 health and safety concerns.

In a statement released on Thursday, the Dolphins revealed plans to help “create a safe environment in 2020," which also includes no tailgating for the entire season.

Capacity for Hard Rock Stadium for games will be announced at a later date as the team seeks guidance from health and government officials.

Miami will host their first preseason game on Sept. 20, against the Philadelphia Eagles.

As the nation debates how to safely reopen schools – and one of the main concerns being that children may become infected at school and carry the virus back home – new data released by the Kaiser Family Foundation on Thursday found that about 3.3 million older adults in the US live in a household with a school-age child.

About 7% of children, or 4.1 million, between the ages of 5 and 18 live in a household with adults 65 and older – a population that is more vulnerable to the virus.

Older people of color are more likely to live in a house with a school-age child compared to their White counterparts, according to the analysis.

Around 19% of seniors who are Asian and Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander live with a child that goes to school, as do 17% of older Hispanic adults.

About 13% of American Indian seniors and 11% of Black seniors live with a school-age child.

Covid-19 has disproportionately affected communities of colors, and if schools become a source of infection, older people of color would be at "increased risk of exposure through school-age children," the analysis said.

California, Texas, and Florida – states that are currently dealing with large increases in Covid-19 cases – have relatively large numbers of seniors living with a school-age child.

Coronavirus cases are rising across the US, and at least 39 states have reported an increase in the number of new cases from the week before.

We're keeping an eye on several hotspots today, where the spiking numbers of cases have created hospital bed shortages and prompted officials to prepare for the worst.

Here's what you need to know about the US's hardest-hit hotspots:

Arizona

California

Florida

Texas

Beginning on Monday, pharmacy chain CVS will require all customers to wear face covering when entering any of their stores throughout the US.

"To be clear, we're not asking our store employees to play the role of enforcer. What we are asking is that customers help protect themselves and those around them by listening to the experts and heeding the call to wear a face covering," Roberts added.

CVS joins other major companies that have announced similar moves, including Walmart, Starbucks and Best Buy.

Dave Galloway, a sixth-grade science teacher in Florida, said he is setting up his will and thinking of pushing up his retirement because of coronavirus concerns. 

Galloway, 64, who has been teaching for 14 years, is an Army veteran who has type 2 diabetes. His wife is a breast cancer survivor. 

The state is unprepared to properly plan for school reopenings, he said, and schools shouldn’t be open if the governor’s office isn’t even open for visitors and teachers still need to meet virtually. 

“Right now, we have been given yet another mandate, a demand to perform, if you will, with … what I consider zero leadership from Tallahassee and zero funding to accomplish what it is they want us to do,” he said.

Part of his school prep this year has been setting up a will, he said, and he's not the only one facing these concerns.  

“They are putting an assumed level of risk on teachers and students — and our most vulnerable students — that quite frankly, I find untenable,” Galloway added. 

Watch more:

Atlanta's mask order remains in effect, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms' office told CNN, despite the governor's earlier executive order suspending all local government mask mandates.

Some background: Yesterday, Gov. Brian Kemp signed an executive order that included language indicating that local governments are prohibited from implementing rules requiring people to wear masks and face coverings in public places.

 Under the executive order, the Republican governor extended the state's public emergency and said face coverings are "strongly encouraged," but not required.

Kemp's executive order voids masks mandates already imposed by some local governments as Covid-19 cases tick up in cities across the state.