The latest on the coronavirus pandemic

Washington, DC, Mayor Muriel Bowser announced that she is issuing a mandatory 14-day self-quarantine order for people returning from high-risk areas outside of the district.

Starting Monday, anyone coming into the district who is not traveling for essential activity will be required to quarantine for 14 days. DC health will publish a list of high-risk locations every two weeks. The order excludes Maryland and Virginia.

High-risk areas are considered to be locations where the seven-day moving average of daily new Covid-19 cases is 10 or more per 100,000 people.

The order will last until Oct. 9 when the current public health emergency declaration expires. Both can be extended or cut short depending on the need.

Bowser said universities in Washington will be required to maintain lists of students who traveled from high-risk areas and these students must self-quarantine on campus or in off-campus housing when they return.  

On Friday, the district reported 78 new cases of Covid-19 and no new deaths related to the virus.

The state of Vermont will have a mask mandate starting Aug. 1 for both indoor and outdoor activities where social distancing is not possible, Republican Gov. Phil Scott announced during a news conference today.  

Pointing to rising Covid-19 cases in the Sun Belt and data suggesting that the virus is inching toward the northeast again, the governor said he signed the order to protect the gains that the state had already made thus far. 

The order applies to everyone above the age of two, with some exceptions for those eating or drinking, engaging in strenuous physical activity like exercise and for those who have medical condition complicated by facial coverings, said Scott.  

Those with a medical condition do not need to provide documentation due to privacy concerns, added the governor, conceding that the mandate will be difficult to enforce.  

Business will be required to notify customers of the policy through signage and will be allowed to refuse service to customers refusing to wear a mask, explained Scott.  

“Unfortunately this issue has become polarized, and I am still worried that a mandate will create conflict and resistance,” said Scott. 

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, praised President Trump's recent White House coronavirus task force briefings, saying they have been "short and crisp."

Speaking during a Washington Post live event Friday, Fauci said he's pleased "that the President has gone out there, and is saying things now that I think [are] important" such as wearing masks and maintaining physical distancing.

Trump did change his tone sharply this week, admitting things might get worse before they get better and delivering a public health message.

Fauci and other members of the task force have been absent from the briefings this week. 

He said that while it is important for members of the task force and doctors to brief the American people, he doesn't need to be at the press briefings "because what happens when you do that, people ask questions that have a little bit to do with health, and it gets mixed up." Instead he prefers to deliver his message through interviews and panel discussions.

"I welcome this — this half an hour that we have been talking about important issues. And members of the task force are getting out there. I would like to get out even more, because I think messaging is very important," Fauci told the Washington Post's Robert Costa.

Fauci added that he spoke with Trump over the phone last week about "encouraging to do the kinds of things that we're seeing been done right now."

"I don't want to get too much into the details. They don't like that when you're talking to the President... I found it was a positive call," he said.

Consistent public health measures can control the coronavirus pandemic, but a good vaccine “could really stop it dead in its tracks,” Dr. Anthony Fauci said on Fox’s America’s Newsroom Friday.

“And if we can do that at the global level, when we get a vaccine I think we could really stop it dead in its tracks.” 

Fauci said that he is cautiously optimistic that a vaccine will be available in a reasonable time — “likely by the end of this year or the beginning of 2021.”

New York state reported its lowest number of hospitalizations since March 18, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Friday.

The state reported 650 hospitalizations on Friday, about 56 fewer hospitalizations than Thursday. The state also reported the lowest number of individuals in intensive care units – 156 – since March 16.

The state reported nine new Covid-19 related fatalities yesterday. Seven of those deaths were in hospitals and two were in nursing homes, Cuomo said.

The infection rate in the state was at .98% positive.

Note: The numbers listed were released by the New York governor’s office and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said on Friday that he doesn’t think it’s necessary to shut down the country at this point, but some places seeing a resurgence of Covid-19 cases could take a step back. 

Asked about shutting down the United States on Fox’s America’s Newsroom, Fauci said, “I don’t think it’s necessary to do that.”

Fauci gave the example of states or cities in phase two of the opening guidelines either pausing or going back to phase one and those in phase one going back to the gateway component of the guideline.  

“I’m not so sure you need to, all of a sudden, everybody go back to complete lockdown,” he said. “You know it could come to that, you always got to leave it on the table. But I think we can probably get around what we're doing now, and put a lid on it and stop this surging” by being more cautious.

Fauci said that there are fundamental things that can be done in every state and city including everybody wearing a mask, avoiding crowded places, continuing to practice social distancing, closing the bars and practicing good hand hygiene. 

“If we just do that, I believe we can have a major step in the direction that we want to go,” he said. 

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker announced an executive order Friday that will go into effect on August 1 and require any travelers to the state to quarantine for 14 days unless they can provide a negative test result for Covid-19. 

The order will apply to Massachusetts residents returning from out of state as well as other travelers, Baker told reporters.

Travelers from states with lower rates of transmission will be exempt, the governor said. 

As of Friday, that list included the states of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Maine, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire and Hawaii. 

Failure to quarantine will result in a $500 daily fine, Baker said.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said he has a good relationship with President Trump and they spoke recently. 

Fauci said that he had a “nice, long” conversation with the President just few days ago, and. “It was constructive, it was good," he added.

“I believe we’ve always had, and still to this day, have a good relationship,” he said. “And I’m sure, as you know, as you ask the president, he would say the same thing, and he’s being honest.”

Earlier this month, CNN reported that Trump were Fauci are no longer speaking. The President had taken to openly criticizing him on television, Fauci had expressed puzzlement at some of Trump's claims.

But this week, Fauci has insisted he does have a "good relationship" with the President.

10 times Dr. Fauci has refuted Trump's Covid-19 statements:

The state of Florida is reporting at least 12,329 new cases of Covid-19 and 135 additional deaths on Friday, according to the Florida Department of Health.

This marks the ninth time since the start of the pandemic that daily deaths have surpassed 100 in Florida. All of those cases have been in the month of July, according to CNN's tally.   

This brings the state's total for coronavirus cases since the pandemic began to at least 397,470, according to state's health officials. The statewide death toll is now 5,653.