July 25 coronavirus news

By James Griffiths, Steve George, Zamira Rahim, Fernando Alfonso III and Amir Vera, CNN

Updated 0420 GMT (1220 HKT) July 26, 2020
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5:14 p.m. ET, July 25, 2020

Florida to discuss reopening bars, despite staggering positivity rate 

From Rosa Flores and Denise Royal

Halsey Beshears, the head of Florida's business regulation department, said in a tweet that he is setting up meetings throughout the state with breweries and bars to discuss how to reopen. 

The tweet comes as the positivity rate for the state of Florida has ranged from 13% to 18% in the past two weeks. Beshears is secretary of the state's Department of Business and Professional Regulation.

4:49 p.m. ET, July 25, 2020

Norway joins UK in imposing quarantine for travelers returning from Spain

From CNN’s Mitchell McCluskey

Norway will impose a mandatory 10-day quarantine for all travelers returning from Spain, due to a spike in coronavirus cases, Norway’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Saturday.

Norway advises against all non-essential travel for several countries within Europe including Andorra, Bulgaria, Croatia, Luxembourg, Portugal, Romania, Spain and some regions of Sweden, the ministry said in a statement. The restrictions will apply until August 20.

The UK also announced Saturday a mandatory 14-day quarantine for travelers returning from Spain.

4:47 p.m. ET, July 25, 2020

Nearly half of Florida's Covid-19 deaths linked to long-term care facilities

From Rosa Flores and Denise Royal

In Florida, 46% of all Covid-19 related deaths are linked to long-term care facilities, according to data released by the Florida Department of Health.

To date, 2,645 out of 5,777 total deaths are associated with long-term care facilities in the state, health department data shows.

This comes as CNN learned this week that Florida initiated its second deployment of incident management teams to nearly 4,000 long-term care facilities across the state, according to the state's Division of Emergency Management. The state will utilize 50 teams to make the assessments, which include infection prevention and PPE assessments.

The state has designated 12 facilities across Florida to treat Covid-19 patients from long-term care facilities, according to Gov. Ron DeSantis.

4:48 p.m. ET, July 25, 2020

Arizona sees two-day uptick in coronavirus cases and second-highest daily death count

From CNN’s Miguel Marquez and Artemis Moshtaghian

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey gives an update on the state's efforts to combat the coronavirus pandemic at a press conference in Phoenix on Thursday, July 23.
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey gives an update on the state's efforts to combat the coronavirus pandemic at a press conference in Phoenix on Thursday, July 23. Matt York/AP

Arizona health officials reported a two-day uptick in coronavirus cases in the state Saturday.

The state had 3,357 positive coronavirus cases Friday and reported 3,748 positive cases Saturday, according to numbers released by Arizona Department of Health Services.

The last spike seen in the state was reported Tuesday, but the numbers reported Friday and Saturday were higher than the reported positive cases on other days.

The department reported 144 total Covid-19 deaths Saturday, the second highest day recorded in the state. Last Saturday, the state reported 147 Covid-19 deaths.

4:49 p.m. ET, July 25, 2020

UK removes Spain from safe travel list

From CNN’s Nada Bashir and Mitchell McCluskey

The United Kingdom has removed Spain from its list of countries that residents can safely visit, the government announced on Saturday.

Effective immediately, all people returning to the UK from Spain will be required to self-isolate for two weeks. UK residents currently visiting Spain will be allowed to remain there, but must self-isolate upon returning, the government said.

"We’ve always been clear that we would act immediately to remove a country where necessary. Both our list of quarantine exemptions and the FCO travel advice are being updated to reflect these latest risk assessments," a UK government spokesperson said in a statement.

Spain has experienced an uptick in coronavirus cases in recent days. On Thursday, Spain reported over 971 news cases, its highest increase since May 8, and announced that lockdown restrictions will be reinstated in the northern region of Aragon.

3:41 p.m. ET, July 25, 2020

There are more than 3,700 new Covid-19 cases in Georgia

From CNN's Natasha Chen

There are 3,787 new Covid-19 cases reported in Georgia, the Georgia Department of Public Health said today.

That figure is down from the state’s record of 4,813 new coronavirus cases on Friday. This brings the total confirmed cases in Georgia to 165,188, according to the department. 

There were 53 new Covid-19 related deaths reported Saturday, down from 82 deaths reported Friday. This brings the state’s death total to 3,495.

There were also 277 new hospitalizations reported Saturday, down from 399 on Friday.

3:35 p.m. ET, July 25, 2020

Face mask mandate in Washington state expanded for community spaces in shared indoor residences

From CNN's Hollie Silverman

The Washington Secretary of Health expanded the requirement for face masks to any indoor public and non-public setting where social distancing cannot be maintained, a press release from the Washington Department of Health said Saturday.

This requirement includes congregant settings such as common areas in apartment buildings, condos, fraternity/sorority houses, assisted living facilities and other similar places, the release said.

People are not required to wear masks when they are in their dwelling, which would count as their room in a congregant setting such as the ones listed above, according to the release.

The previous order required masks only in areas outside of the home.

2:03 p.m. ET, July 25, 2020

Covid-19 hospitalizations in Florida are up 79% in 3 weeks

From CNN's Rosa Flores and Denise Royal

Covid-19 hospitalizations in Florida have increased by 79% since July 4, according to data obtained from the state’s Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA).

On July 4, the state recorded 5,022 Covid-19 patients in Florida, the AHCA data shows. On Saturday, AHCA reported 8,974 Covid-19 patients in the hospital, a 79% increase since Independence Day.

Saturday's figure reflects a decrease in 241 patients since Friday, when the number of patients in hospitals Friday was 9,215, AHCA data shows.

According to AHCA, the agency began collecting the data on July 4; but had only made public hospitalization data as of July 10.

Health care system under strain: Fifty hospitals in Florida have reached intensive care unit capacity and show no ICU beds available, according to AHCA data.

Eight of the hospitals at capacity are in Miami-Dade County and six of them are in Broward County, AHCA data shows.

Another 42 hospitals have 10% or less ICU capacity available, according to AHCA.

To note: Florida’s hospitalization data only includes patients for which Covid-19 is the primary reason for admission and care, according to AHCA.

Therefore, patients who are already at the hospital for other procedures and have tested positive for coronavirus are excluded from the state total.

2:09 p.m. ET, July 25, 2020

White House chief of staff and treasury secretary are on Capitol Hill to meet on stimulus bill

From CNN's Phil Mattingly

White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin pictured at the U.S. Capitol on July 23.
White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin pictured at the U.S. Capitol on July 23. Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images

White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin arrived on Capitol Hill Saturday afternoon for talks on a new coronavirus stimulus bill.

The White House and Senate Republicans are trying to hammer out their differences over a proposal expected to be unveiled next week after an unexpected delay.

Meadows is meeting with the chief of staff of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a source with direct knowledge of the meeting told CNN. The meeting is more of a check-in because there are a number of items the various parties still need to agree on, the source said.

The primary hold up, two sources told CNN, was differences over the extension of the federal unemployment enhancement, specifically how Republicans would implement their changes to the $600-a-week program that expires July 31.

Both sides are also still going over the legislative text of agreed-upon pieces, which Meadows acknowledged is a time-consuming process.

Some context: McConnell said in remarks on the Senate floor late Thursday that the Trump administration asked for more time to review the plan and that it should be out "early next week."   

"The administration has requested additional time to review the fine details, but we will be laying down this proposal early next week," he said.

McConnell said that key GOP senators who have helped craft the package will introduce component pieces of the bill on Monday.