By Ben Westcott, Helen Regan, Laura Smith-Spark, Ed Upright and Meg Wagner, CNN
From CNN's Sheena Jones
New York City will open an additional 1.5 miles of city streets for “Play Streets,” a program that will allow children to have a safe, touch-less space to play outside, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said. He made the announcement during the city’s daily Covid-19 presser on Friday.
The open space will allow for reading corners, frisbee, kickball and other outdoor activities that will allow for social distancing, de Blasio Said.
Vice President Mike Pence is in Indianapolis, Indiana, today. He's expected to participate in a roundtable about reopening schools, according to his official schedule.
The discussion comes a day after new US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines on education and child care were released. They came down strongly in favor of opening schools this fall, arguing that children don't suffer much from coronavirus, are less likely than adults to spread it and suffer from being out of school.
Indiana has reported nearly 60,000 cases of coronavirus since the pandemic began. At least 2,880 people have died in the state.
Here's a look of new cases each day in the state for the past two weeks:
From CNN’s Ashley Killough in Dallas and Kay Jones
Starr County, Texas, has issued a shelter-at-home order for residents of the county, effective until 11:59 p.m. local time on August 10.
The order went into effect this morning. It states that all residents must shelter at home, including those who live in hotels, motels and shared rentals.
Residents are only allowed to leave their homes and travel for essential reasons.
The order also highly encourages businesses that are not essential to stop all activities that may not be provided by curbside, drive-through or take-out services.
The order, signed by County Judge Eloy Vera, also includes a mandatory curfew from 11:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. local time for anyone over the age of 18. There's a curfew from 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. local time for anyone 17 years old and under, unless accompanied by a parent or guardian.
Starr County, along the US-Mexico border, includes Rio Grande City.
From CNN's Rosa Flores and Denise Royal
In Florida, at least 55 hospitals have reached ICU capacity and show zero ICU beds available, according to data released by the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) early this morning.
Ten of the hospitals at capacity are in Miami-Dade County, the epicenter of the pandemic in Florida, and six of them are in neighboring Broward County, AHCA data shows.
Additionally, another 40 hospitals have 10% or less ICU capacity available, according to AHCA.
AHCA reports about 16% ICU beds are available across the State of Florida.
You can access the AHCA data is here
From CNN's Maggie Fox and Nick Valencia
New US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines on education and child care come down hard in favor of opening schools, saying children don't suffer much from coronavirus, are less likely than adults to spread it and suffer from being out of school.
The guidelines, posted online, start with an unsigned statement on "the importance of reopening America's schools this fall."
Here's a look at what's inside the guidelines:
Hear what a pediatrician thinks:
From CNN's Emma Reynolds, Sharon Braithwaite and Luke McGee
The World Health Organization chief attacked US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's "unacceptable" claims that the Director-General had been "bought" by China and said countries should focus on saving lives during the coronavirus pandemic, in one of his strongest rebuttals to date against criticism from the United States.
Pompeo made the claim about Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus during a private meeting with British lawmakers in London on Tuesday, Labour MP Chris Bryant confirmed to CNN.
The Secretary of State also referred to China's efforts to "co-opt" WHO at a news conference in London on Tuesday, when he said the world needed to ensure every country, including China, behaved in ways that were consistent with the international order.
"You can't go make claims for maritime regions that you have no lawful claim to. You can't threaten countries and bully them in the Himalayas. You can't engage in cover-ups and co-opt international institutions like the World Health Organization," said Pompeo.
When asked to comment on Pompeo's remarks on Thursday, Tedros said "the comments are untrue and unacceptable and without any foundation, for that matter."
From CNN's Gisela Crespo
Former US Food and Drug Administrator Dr. Scott Gottlieb said the US could see upwards of 300,000 deaths from Covid-19 if the country doesn't change its trajectory.
"In the United States, probably, you know, by the end of the year, we could have upwards of 300,000 if we continue on the current trajectory. Right now, we have close to a thousand casualties a day, so if we don't change that trajectory, you could do the math and see where we are at towards the end of the year," Gottlieb said Wednesday during an interview on CNBC's Squawk Box.
Gottlieb explained that while in-hospital mortality from the virus has declined, "the problem is we're hospitalizing a lot of patients."
"Right now we're gonna break our old record in terms of the total number of hospitalizations, which was 60,000. We're at 59,000 now and we're gonna eclipse that in the next week. So even if we end up preserving more life in the hospital – which we’re doing – if we end up hospitalizing a whole lot more patients, you’re ultimately going to have a lot of casualties, unfortunately, from this virus," Gottlieb said.
The stark project comes as some US medical experts, teachers, nurses and others are urging political leaders to shut down the US and start over to contain the pandemic.
"The best thing for the nation is not to reopen as quickly as possible, it's to save as many lives as possible," the group of more than 150 wrote in a letter sent to the Trump administration, leading members of Congress and state governors.
From CNN's Gisela Crespo
Officials better understand now that test positivity "is a real indicator that something is happening" even before there is a significant surge in Covid-19 cases, Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus task force coordinator, said Friday.
The positivity rate is the percentage of people who test positive for the virus of those overall who have been tested.
"I think what's really important is to understand when you first see that increase in test positivity ... And I think we have a lot more knowledge now that when it just ticks up a little, even before you see a significant increase in cases, that that is a real indicator that something is happening," she said on the "Today" Show this morning.
As an example, Birx mentioned the surge in cases observed after Memorial Day weekend, and thanked younger people for getting tested even if they had no symptoms.
"So much of that early spread in 20- to 30-year-olds is asymptomatic. They would never appear at an emergency room or a testing site. They would have no reason to do it ... We asked them after Memorial Day when we could see Americans on the move, that if they were in large gatherings, no matter if it was in the street or in a bar or in a private home, to go and get tested. And I think it's because of their responsibility, we [were] able to see that original tick up," Birx explained.
"Until you can see that explosion, it's hard for people to understand how deeply you have to clamp down. And that's why we called out the next set of cities where we see early warning signs. Because if you make changes now, you won't become a Phoenix," she added.
From CNN's Adrienne Vogt
A “small number” of students are physically in summer school right now in Baltimore, according to Sonja Brookins Santelises, CEO of the Maryland city’s public schools.
There are about six to nine students in each classroom, with hand sanitizing stations and temperature checks.
“And yes, children are keeping their masks on,” she said in an interview on CNN’s “New Day.”
Santelises said the small number of students in classrooms has been the biggest way to make families and teachers most comfortable.
Baltimore schools are supposed to open for the fall virtually on Aug. 31, but Santelises wants to push it back to Sept. 8 to better orient families and teachers for online learning.
Parents need better support with virtual learning, she said. There are parent hotlines already, but schools will be offering more virtual orientations and are asking community organizations to help.
Preparing for the upcoming school year is a balancing act, and there’s no simple solution, Santelises said.
“I don't think you would find an educator anywhere who would say that in-person relationship-based teaching and learning is more advantageous for the large majority of students. However, we also know that large numbers of our families, large numbers of our educators, want to feel physically safe,” she said.
Watch the full interview: