July 22 coronavirus news

Fewer than 30 passengers have been banned from United Airlines flights for refusing to wear a mask while on its planes, the airline said Wednesday.  

United and other major US airlines rolled out policies in mid-June threatening a ban for any passenger who refuses to wear a mask onboard their planes. United’s policy calls for airline officials to conduct an investigation and consider a ban when the passenger does not comply with crew member instructions.  

United announced this morning its mask requirement will soon expand to include airports – from check-in through baggage claim. Until now, it has only required passengers wear masks when boarding and while aboard planes. Some airports already require the wearing of masks under local rules for public facilities. It is also requiring passengers who want to claim an “extraordinary circumstances” exemption from the mask requirement receive permission from United.  

United executives said on a call with reporters that most passengers are complying with the requirements, and that the bans will be lifted when the mask requirement is rescinded.  

The officials also said fewer than 1% of customers are changing their flight plans when informed their plane will be more than 70% full. United, at times, sells flights until they are filled up, but says it informs passengers when it happens so they are able to rebook. Other carriers have limited the number of passengers on a given flight. 

There is no federal requirement that passengers wear masks aboard planes. 

Baltimore City Mayor Bernard “Jack” Young signed an Executive Order Wednesday suspending indoor dining at restaurants and bars effective Friday at 5 p.m ET.

“Under the Mayor's order, restaurants and bars are permitted to continue with outdoor dining that's socially distanced, along with offering carryout and delivery services,” Young’s office said in a press release.

Dr. Letitia Dzirasa, the city’s health commissioner, also issued a health order Wednesday, mandating the use of face coverings within the city for all individuals over the age of 2.

Residents will be required to wear face coverings when in public and and unable to socially distance at least six feet from others. They aren’t required to wear face coverings while seated at outdoor dining establishments.

The dining restriction and face covering mandate will be in place for two weeks and evaluated by city health officials daily, the city says.

Covid case counts, death rates, ICU and hospital bed utilization, case positivity rates and the number of coronavirus tests performs are the markers the Baltimore City Health Department will be monitoring. 

Dr. Anthony Fauci says he goes to the White House almost every day to meet with the Coronavirus Task Force.

When asked during a webinar with the TB Alliance on Wednesday about how he splits his time between his role as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, he said, “It’s almost a 50/50 – half the day at the NIAID and half the day at the White House.”

Fauci said he spends most of the morning working with his team at NIAID on vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics – and “almost every day, I go down to the White House and meet with the Coronavirus Task Force.”

“Like today, I’m meeting with the group of doctors before the Task Force meeting, namely Debbie Birx and Bob Redfield and Steve Hahn and others,” he said.

Fauci said he then attends the Task Force meeting with the Vice President, after which he meets with people at the White House “with regards to that responsibility,” he said.

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Certain safety elements, including the possibility of vaccine-induced enhancement of infection, will be paid special attention in the Phase 3 trials of Covid-19 vaccines, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said during a webinar Wednesday with the TB Alliance.

Phase 1 data gives you immediate safety, not necessarily all the parameters, and Phase 2 gives you more, Fauci said, but as they go into Phase 3, which is fundamentally efficacy to see if it works in the field, “we are also going to pay a special attention to certain safety elements.”

One of these, he said, is they “want to keep a special eye on is the possibility of vaccine-induced enhancement of infection.”

Fauci explained that this is when “you get vaccinated, you get infected, and the fact that you have been vaccinated with a level, an inadequate level, of suboptimal antibodies, that you can actually enhance the infection, because you’ve been vaccinated.”

He said they want to, and will, keep an eye on this in Phase 3 trials.

Fauci said that he doesn’t have a particular reason to believe this will be a problem, but as they have seen these kind of issues before, he wants to pay attention to it.

“I don’t use the word ‘I’m worried about it.’ Rather than worry, I try to do something about it,” he said.

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California, the first state to shut down months ago, has now become a coronavirus hotspot, surpassing New York with the most coronavirus cases in the nation.

Earlier this month, the governor shut down bars and indoor operations for restaurants and other businesses hoping to limit social gatherings in enclosed spaces.

According to Johns Hopkins University data, California has reported more than 409,000 Covid-19 cases.

In Los Angeles, the number of daily hospitalizations hit a new high for the fourth time in a week Monday, according to officials.

Los Angeles County officials said Tuesday young people were driving the spread of the virus, with 57% of new cases reported in people under 41 years old.

"The tragedy of what we are witnessing is that many of our younger residents are interacting with each other and not adhering to the recommended prevention measures," Dr. Barbara Ferrer, the county public health director, said in a statement.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti told CNN earlier this week he was on the "brink" of issuing another stay-at-home order for the city, urging residents to avoid gatherings.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, on Wednesday called for a "sustained commitment" on pandemic preparedness.

Speaking with the TB Alliance, Fauci said that "between crises," it is difficult to allocate resources for something that might happen when there are competing priorities.

"I do hope that with all the pain and suffering that the world is going through now with Covid-19, that we do not forget that when we get through this – which we will get through it – that we know that it will happen again. It certainly will. And that's the reason that I think we really need to push to have a sustained commitment," he said. 

"Emerging infections will continue to occur long after we're all gone, so let's prepare for them," Fauci added.

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Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said there is “not a chance” he would walk away from the challenge of Covid-19.

“This is what I do. This is what I’ve been doing all my life. This is what I’ve been trained for. This is what I have all my experience in,” he continued.

Walking away from this challenge would be unimaginable “no matter what they throw at me,” he said.

 “This is just too important. There’s too much at stake for the world for me to walk away from this,” he said. “Not a chance.”

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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer further dug into Republicans Wednesday over their “dysfunction” and “disarray” on the next coronavirus relief bill.

“This isn’t the typical Republican disfunction on whether or not they didn’t or did see the President’s last tweet,” he also said. “The disarray on the Republican side has real consequences.”

Schumer also noted Democrats will be sending a letter to the administration “to demand answers on how data is being reported to the White House,” he said, referring to the recent announcement that hospital data on coronavirus patients will be sent directly to the administration instead of being first sent to the CDC.  

He added that if the administration “refuses to reverse course,” Democrats will demand data transparency be included in the next relief bill.

On President Trump resuming his coronavirus task force press briefings, he said, it’s “remarkable” that he’s “lowered the bar so much” that his performance yesterday was seen as a “change in tone.” 

“Americans must be hanging their heads in shame and disbelief that this administration is still trying to sort out the basics,” he said.

Schumer also criticized Trump for calling the coronavirus the ‘China virus’ at his press conference, saying it shows how he continues to “deflect blame”. 

“President Trump started his press conference by labeling Covid-19, the China virus, which shows the President’s still trying to deflect blame, play political games with this deadly serious virus. Games that are divisive,” Schumer said.

The US is heading in the wrong direction with Covid-19 numbers, and it's doing so with astonishing speed.

Just after 1,000 people died in a single day, the US is about to reach 4 million Covid-19 cases.

To put that in perspective, the first reported case came on January 21. After 99 days, 1 million Americans became infected. It took just 43 days after that to reach 2 million cases.

And 28 days later, on July 8, the US reached 3 million cases. Case number 4 million could be reported just two weeks after that.

Here's a look at how the total number of Covid-19 cases have progressed in the US, according to Johns Hopkins University data:

While some US leaders, including President Trump, have pinned the spike in coronavirus numbers on increased testing, it's actually the prevalence of the disease that's causing cases to climb.

A CNN analysis of testing data from the Covid Tracking Project reveals that the positive test rate — indicated by the average number of positive test results out of 1,000 tests performed —has increased significantly in many states that have seen the largest increases in new cases in recent weeks, including Florida, Arizona, Texas and Georgia.

Florida, for instance, saw an average rate of 35 positive results per 1,000 tests during the month of May. But in June, that number nearly tripled to 105. So far in July, the average rate has been 187 out of 1,000.

Over the weekend, nearly 50 hospitals across the state reported no ICU beds were left. The ICU bed availability statewide stood at about 15.98% on Tuesday, down from about 18.1% Monday.

Track the virus in your state and across the US