July 23 coronavirus news

By Ben Westcott, Brad Lendon, Ed Upright, Meg Wagner and Melissa Macaya, CNN

Updated 12:09 a.m. ET, July 24, 2020
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5:12 p.m. ET, July 23, 2020

Covid-19 will end up as a top 10 leading cause of death in 2020, CDC statisticians say

From CNN's Jacqueline Howard

Even though the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cannot start ranking leading causes of deaths until the end of the year in order to get a full year's worth of data, statisticians at the agency told CNN in an email on Thursday that they expect Covid-19 will end up among the Top 10 leading causes of death in the nation.

"We know that based on the # of COVID-19 deaths so far in 2020, it will end up as a Top 10 leading cause of death but won’t know exactly how high it will rank until next year," CDC mortality statisticians said in the email. "Heart Disease and Cancer, the two leading causes of death in the U.S., account for more than half of all deaths in the U.S. each year and that isn’t expected to change."

Final data are based on death certificates for the calendar year.

In 2018, the latest year for which final data is available, the top 10 leading causes of death among all ages in the United States were:

  1. Heart disease (655,381)
  2. Cancer (599,274)
  3. Unintentional injury (167,127)
  4. Chronic lower respiratory disease (159,486)
  5. Stroke (147,810)
  6. Alzheimer's disease (122,019)
  7. Diabetes (84,946)
  8. Flu and pneumonia (59,120)
  9. Nephritis (51,386)
  10. Suicide (48,344)

As of 5 p.m. ET, nearly 144,000 people have died from Covid-19 in the United States so far this year.

5:10 p.m. ET, July 23, 2020

Immunity study suggests most of Canada still vulnerable to Covid-19

From CNN’s Paula Newton in Ottawa

A study released Thursday suggests less than 1% of Canadians have had Covid-19, although the rate of infection is likely several times higher than the number of reported cases.

While the study mirrors one released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention earlier this week, showing far more people were infected with the virus than originally observed, Canadians remain quite vulnerable to the virus. 

“One of the reasons we released this study early was to say look ‘take a bow,’ we really did a good job of containing community spread of this virus as a society but please note how susceptible the vast majority of us remain and lets be really careful in the fall,” said Dr. David Naylor, co-chair of Canada’s Immunity Task Force, in an interview with CNN.

Canadian public health officials say the country did a good job of containing the virus but warn that given these immunity results, keeping the virus contained in only going to get tougher as the economy reopens.

“There was early on this strange enthusiasm for herd immunity, that the virus would ripple through the population and we would all have immunity and we’d all be fine. That was always reckless and misguided simply because of the toll the virus would take but we also see here that was certainly unattainable,” said Naylor.

About the study: This early study examined 10,000 blood donations received in Canada between May 9 and June 8. A larger, follow-up study will be released in the coming weeks to get a more comprehensive assessment of the spread of the virus in Canada.

The study makes clear that "doubling down on good public health practices is imperative" if Canada is to avoid a resurgence of the virus. Naylor added that Canada has to "up its game" when it comes to testing and contact tracing.

“We’ve got to be smarter and more creative about how we do tracing and quarantine because realistically we have perhaps about a year of this current stalemate,” Naylor said.

 

5:03 p.m. ET, July 23, 2020

Atlanta mayor says she's working with governor to "iron out" disagreements about Covid-19 restrictions

From CNN’s Pamela Kirkland

City of Atlanta
City of Atlanta

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, speaking at a virtual news conference on Thursday, said she is working to “iron out” disagreements fueling the legal battle with Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp over Covid-19 restrictions in the city.

She described a Wednesday call with Kemp as being a “good conversation” and went on to say the two are in agreement that “masks save lives.” 

“It’s not my desire as mayor of this city to have a very public fight with the governor of this state,” Bottoms said. “I do believe that there’s a finite amount of energy that we all have. I would much rather focus my energy on leading the city through Covid-19 and many of the challenges that we are now facing and I trust that the governor would like to do the same on behalf of the state."

Bottoms also clarified the phase one rollback she announced on July 10 is a voluntary plan with voluntary guidelines.

5:00 p.m. ET, July 23, 2020

Missouri sets record for single-day increase in Covid-19 cases

From CNN's Raja Razek

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services has reported 1,637 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday, a record single-day increase.

The total number of coronavirus cases in the state now stands at 37,700, the department said.

Today's record number surpasses Wednesday's record of 1,301 Covid-19 cases reported in a single day. 

The department also reported 20 new Covid-19-related deaths, bringing the total number to 1,179 in Missouri.

"The daily report of new cases represents a wide variation in when specimens were collected, when tests were performed, and when results are reported and entered," the department tweeted. "For this reason, we continue to focus on the 7-day positivity rate which has been increasing and tells us that community transmission is occurring in some parts of the state."

The department said there is no delay in reporting positive results from labs to patients.

To note: These figures were released by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Service, and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project.

4:59 p.m. ET, July 23, 2020

Brazilian government will stop funding country's largest epidemiological Covid-19 study 

From Fernanda Wenzel and Marcia Reverdosa

The Brazilian Health Ministry will not renew its contract to continue the country's largest epidemiological Covid-19 study as the pandemic continues to take a toll across the country, according to the university heading up the research. 

EPICOVID19-BR is a serological study by Federal University of Pelotas (UFPel) to understand the “evolution of the prevalence of Infection by Covid-19."

Preliminary results released by the university on July 2 suggested that almost 90% of people infected with coronavirus are symptomatic, even when the symptoms are mild. The research also found that loss of smell and taste are symptoms of Covid-19, and that children can be infected as much as adults. 

The EPICOVID19-BR study also suggests that the number of people infected with coronavirus in Brazil is 6.5 times higher than the official government figure. 

It is one of the largest Covid-19 studies of its kind in the world, based on the number of test participants, according to Pedro Hallal, an epidemiologist and dean of UFPel. 

More than 90,000 people in each of Brazil’s 26 states and the Federal District of Brasilia have been tested in three stages of research to map the pandemic so far, at a cost of about $3 million, said Hallal. 

Until now, the research was funded by Brazil’s Ministry of Health.  

"When we presented the results of the last phase of the study at the beginning of July, we were told the government would like to continue it. But, since then, the ministry is totally silent," Hallal said.

In a news conference on Tuesday, Interim Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello said the study was very good, but unable to deliver a national view of the pandemic.

"Brazil is very heterogeneous, and we would need individualized studies in each region of the country. That is what we are analyzing," he said.

Hallal explained it’s important to continue the study because Brazil is still in the middle of the pandemic.

"We would understand the new moments of the pandemic. We would know to what extent the outbreak is stronger now in the south and the center-west, we would know if it is really going down in the north,” Hallal said.

With the apparent lack of continued funding from the federal government, the university is looking for other potential backers, and is currently in negotiations with one entity, according to Hallal.

4:58 p.m. ET, July 23, 2020

Florida governor talked to Trump today about Covid-19 

From CNN's Rosa Flores and Denise Royal

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis addresses the media during his daily coronavirus press conference at Health First's Holmes Regional Medical Center in Melbourne, Florida, on Thursday, July 23. 
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis addresses the media during his daily coronavirus press conference at Health First's Holmes Regional Medical Center in Melbourne, Florida, on Thursday, July 23.  Craig Bailey/Florida Today/USA Today Network/Sipa USA 

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had phone conversations with President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence Wednesday to discuss Covid-19, the governor’s press office told CNN.

The office would only say that DeSantis and Trump discussed Covid-19 and would not expand further. The governor and Pence, the office said, discussed the need for the antiviral drug remdesivir in Florida.

At a news conference today, DeSantis announced Florida would be receiving a shipment of 11,000 vials of remdesivir on Friday.

When CNN asked for a readout of the calls, the governor’s press office said it does not generate readouts of the governor’s calls.

4:49 p.m. ET, July 23, 2020

McConnell says the GOP stimulus plan will be released "next week"

From CNN's Manu Raju and Clare Foran

 Al Drago/Bloomberg/Getty Images
Al Drago/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell addressed the delayed timeline for the release of the GOP stimulus plan in remarks on the Senate floor Thursday afternoon, saying the Trump administration has asked for more time to review the plan before its unveiling.

The stimulus plan should be out "early next week," McConnell said.

McConnell said that GOP senators, who have taken a leading role in crafting the plan, will introduce individual components of the proposal on Monday.  

“The Senate majority has assembled a framework for CARES 2. The administration has requested additional time to review the fine details, but we will be laying down this proposal early next week. We have an agreement in principal on the shape of the package,” he said.

Some context: Senate Republicans had initially planned to unveil the proposal today, but the release was delayed amid holdups.

“Chairman Alexander, Chairman Shelby and Chairman Blunt are finalizing an ambitious package of funding and policy to help our schools reopen. They will lay out a reopening-related funding package for schools and universities north of $100 billion. That’s more money than the House Democrats proposed for a similar fund,” McConnell said, adding, “there will be several important policies to help childcare providers, grant new flexibility to elementary and secondary schools and more.” 

McConnell previewed other components of the plan, saying that “Republicans want to send a second round of direct payments to American households, and Senator Collins and Senator Rubio have crafted a sequel to their historic and incredibly successful Paycheck Protection Program." 

4:29 p.m. ET, July 23, 2020

Public health measures are helping Covid-19 outbreaks, HHS official says

From CNN’s Jen Christensen

The United States has done about 51.7 million Covid-19 tests and has been performing an average of about 770,000 tests per day recently, according to Admiral Dr. Brett Giroir, the assistant secretary for health for the US Department of Health and Human Services.

Currently there is a national positivity rate of 9.08% over the past seven days, he said during a briefing with reporters on Thursday.

“We’re all very concerned about the outbreaks which are occurring across the country,” Giroir said, adding they are particularly concerned about California, Arizona, Texas and Florida.

But, Giroir said public health measures are starting to make a difference.

“We are making progress,” Giroir said. The positivity rate is starting to level off, he said, and in some cases, starting to drop. The seven-day rolling averages of cases is starting to turn downward, he said. 

“No one is declaring victory about this,” Giroir added.

Giroir said face masks, physical distancing and good hand hygiene is important, especially in the hotspots that are seeing a surge in cases. The hotspots need to have 90% or more of people wearing masks, he said. That, combined with closing bars and indoor dining, is “essentially the equivalent to shutting down the entire economy.” 

The Covid-19 response team in the past two weeks has gone to 19 locations. The government is also sending teams to help with testing at nursing homes and opening up a surge testing site in Miami, Giroir said.

On testing: Giroir said the government wants to reduce test turnaround time as much as possible and pooled testing could help improve the efficiency by 20% or 30% in labs. The government will prioritize certain areas as well. It will be putting point-of-care testing in nursing homes that will improve the turnaround time there and better protect those vulnerable populations.

There are 654 point-of-care testing machines in nursing homes currently. Over the next two to three weeks, the government will send out an additional 1,700.

Giroir also said that his department is working with manufacturers to better understand their production schedules for August. He expects about 51 million tests will be available, half of which will be used for point-of-care testing.

In September, there should be 65 million tests. Giroir said some of the other testing supplies will remain “tight” as long as there is infinite demand. 

4:24 p.m. ET, July 23, 2020

Marine assigned to presidential helicopter unit tests positive for coronavirus

From CNN's Ryan Browne

A US Marine assigned to Marine Helicopter Squadron One, the unit responsible for transporting the President, has tested positive for coronavirus.

The service member had flown to Bedminster, New Jersey, in anticipation of President Trump's upcoming visit there.  

"Out of an abundance of caution, Marines who may have had contact with the infected Marine have been removed from the detachment. The infected Marine was never in direct contact with the President’s helicopter, Marine One," a spokesperson for the US Marine Corps told CNN in a statement. "Prior to the President’s planned travel to Bedminster, NJ, Marine Helicopter Squadron One (HMX-1) was informed that a HMX-1 Marine on detachment in Bedminster, NJ in support of the White House had tested positive for Covid-19."

Politico was first to report that a member of the unit tested positive.