By Jessie Yeung, Jenni Marsh, Zamira Rahim, Fernando Alfonso III and Amir Vera, CNN
From CNN's Jennifer Selva in Los Angeles
The coronavirus death toll in Texas surpassed 5,000 on Sunday, according to the Texas Department of State and Health Services.
The state reported 153 new Covid-19 deaths on Sunday, raising the total death toll to 5,038.
Texas also reported 5,810 new infections, bringing the total number of cases so far to 381,656.
There are currently 10,075 people still hospitalized in the state, according to the DSHS.
From CNN's Phil Mattingly and Manu Raju
Top White House negotiators are pushing to scale back the next coronavirus relief legislation, just one day before Senate Republicans plan to release their $1 trillion proposal.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows both mentioned the possibility of moving forward on a less ambitious proposal initially Sunday in television show appearances, and multiple aides told CNN that it has become a leading option in discussions between the administration officials and Senate Republicans in recent days.
"Honestly, I see us being able to provide unemployment insurance, maybe a retention credit to keep people from being displaced or brought back into the workplace, helping with our schools," Meadows said Sunday on ABC's "This Week."
"If we can do that along with liability protection, perhaps we put that forward and get that passed as we can negotiate on the rest of the bill in the weeks to come."
Bipartisan negotiations: The consideration of scaling back efforts before Republicans even put an offer on the table underscores just how difficult the coming bipartisan negotiations are expected to be. One of the primary reasons administration officials are considering a less ambitious effort is due to the initial meeting between Meadows and Mnuchin and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer last week, according to multiple officials.
"They came away from that significantly less optimistic that something can get done," said one administration official.
What might be in the package: A scaled-back proposal would focus primarily on deadline issues -- like the unemployment benefits that expire at the end of July, as well as education funding just weeks before schools are set to open. Should Republicans decide to pursue the idea, it may also be used to put pressure on Democrats in advance of the unemployment benefit deadline.
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From CNN's Karol Suarez in Mexico City
Mexico has reported 46,273 new coronavirus cases in the past seven days alone, according to a CNN tally of data from the Mexican health ministry.
The country also reported 4,506 related deaths in the same week.
Mexico has now recorded a total of 390,516 cases and 43,680 deaths.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has said that the high numbers are due to "increased testing and a delay of the information," though Mexico has one of the lowest testing rates of any large country worldwide.
From CNN's Jennifer Selva
The number of Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations in California continue to rise, according to a press release from the California Department of Public Health (CDPH).
The CDPH reports the seven day average number of new cases is 9,852, up from last week’s average of 9,127.
There are currently 6,912 people in the hospital with confirmed Covid-19 cases, and 1,993 of those are in the ICU.
So far, 8,146 people have died in the state, according to the CDPH.
As of Sunday, 36 counties are on the state's watch list and have been ordered to close many of their indoor operations.
From CNN's Laura Ly
The superintendent of a public school district in Vermont wrote an open letter to her community detailing her frustration with trying to establish plans for safely and realistically reopening schools this fall, particularly because of a lack of state involvement and looming fears over a lack of staffing.
In most places, I think we are going to try to reopen school, and I think we will fail in ways that may have permanent, unrecoverable repercussions for our students, school systems, and community," said Brigid Nease, superintendent of the Harwood Union School District.
Nease wrote in the lengthy letter she and fellow superintendents across the state “truly cannot sleep at night” because trying to put together potential reopening plans has been all-consuming. Nease wrote that reopening plans across the state have vast differences because state authorities only provided districts with health and safety guidance.
The truth is most school employees are scared to death they will get sick (or worse), bring the virus home to loved ones, have a student in their care become ill, or experience the death of a coworker," she wrote
Nease concluded the letter writing that fears over a lack of available staff due to disparate reopening plans across the state and general Covid-19 concerns are significant and that schools need proper intervention and solutions on a bigger, statewide-level.
"School districts across the state all have published plans that they cannot guarantee they can staff, and even if by some miracle one can, it is highly unlikely they will be able to sustain it," Nease said. "Childcare for all families AND school employees is a huge problem that crosses many district geographical boundaries. This is a significant statewide problem in need of a significant statewide solution made by those that have the authority to do so, at the top of the food chain, not individual community administrators and local school boards."
From journalist Rodrigo Pedroso in Sao Paulo
Brazil's health ministry reported 24,578 newly confirmed Covid-19 cases Sunday, bringing the country's total to 2,419,091.
The ministry also reported 555 new deaths from the virus, bringing Brazil's death toll to 87,004.
Sunday marks five months since Brazil reported its first confirmed case of the novel coronavirus on February 26.
This comes after Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro tested negative for the virus Saturday, his first negative test since testing positive July 7.
The Brazilian Society of Infectious Diseases later said Bolsonaro set a “bad example” by socializing and not wearing a mask right after his negative Covid-19 test announcement.
From CNN’s Dana Ford
South Africa’s health ministry reported 11,233 new cases of coronavirus Sunday, bringing the country’s total confirmed case count to 445,433.
The number of people who have officially died from coronavirus in the country is 6,769, according to Health Minister Zweli Mkhize, who posted the figures on Twitter.
Last week, officials from the World Health Organization expressed concern the country’s rising numbers could signal greater Covid-19 spread throughout Africa. South Africa has the highest number of confirmed cases in Africa and the fifth highest number worldwide, following the United States, Brazil, India and Russia.
From CNN's Melissa Alonso
The Lauderhill Police Department in Florida tweeted Sunday that an officer died due to complications related to Covid-19.
Officer Corey Pendergrass had been with Lauderhill PD since 1997, the tweet said. He died Sunday morning, according to the tweet.
Other area agencies, like the Broward County Sheriff's Office, offered their condolences on Twitter.
Lauderhill is a city in Broward County; there are currently 49,350 total cases of Covid-19 in the county and 605 deaths, according to Sunday's Florida Department of Health data.
From CNN’s Paul Vercammen and Jennifer Selva
Trois Mec, the highly decorated tasting room that earned a Michelin Star in Los Angeles, has been forced to shut its doors after seven years due to the economic impact of Covid-19.
“The restaurant industry is in a true crisis and without proper support from the federal government, it will become a fond memory, life pre-covid and life post-covid. We are not giving up by any sense of the imagination, it is just the reality of the situation," restaurant owners Chef Ludo Lefebvre and his wife Krissy told CNN.
“The reality is we are facing an incredible period of economic depression and fine dining will be a rocky journey for the foreseeable future," the couple said. "We also have to look at the trickle down impact, farmers are being damaged daily, meat providers are being damaged daily, small business suppliers are being damaged daily, landlords are being damaged daily. Our employees and their families are being hurt.”
Trois Mec is just one of many restaurants in the Los Angeles area facing closure due to Covid-19. Restaurant and bar owner Dustin Lancaster said he has lost three of the 13 locations he owns in the area due to the financial impact of the virus, and fears he will lose five more.
Losing something like that, losing those employees, it’s almost too much for me to lay in bed at night and process without breaking down from the sheer weight of it,” Lancaster said. "If you were to drive down Sunset Boulevard and think four out of five of these restaurants won’t be there. That collateral damage is incomprehensible.”
