July 28 coronavirus news

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's leading expert on infectious disease, discussed the surges in southern states, and how to hopefully avoid future surges through careful reopening, on ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Tuesday.

“Obviously, the southern states that really had a major surge,” Fauci said, naming Florida, Texas, Arizona and California. "They appear, I hope, and it looks like they may be cresting and coming back down.”

Fauci said that what he was concerned about, and something that Dr. Deborah Birx has also mentioned, was other states, such as Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee and Kentucky, “that are starting to have that very early indication that the percent of cases regarding the number of tests you have – that the percent is starting to go up.”

“That’s a surefire sign that you’ve got to be really careful." Fauci said.

“If you are trying to open up, please do it in a way that’s in accordance with the guidelines,” Fauci added.

If guidelines are followed carefully, as well as the fundamentals that Fauci outlined earlier – which include mask wearing, social distancing, closing bars in areas where there is viral activity, avoiding crowds and practicing hand hygiene – “I think we can prevent the surges that we’ve seen in the southern states,” he said. “Because we just can’t afford, yet again, another surge.”

When asked whether there should be a coordinated national strategy for reopening, as some state governors have said they will not go along with plans that have been laid out by the administration, and the President has said that some states should be thinking about reopening, Fauci said that the guidelines “the way we put them out some time ago, that really is the national strategy.”

These recommendations say that if you’re at a certain level, wait until you have a period of time over 14 days where it comes down, Fauci said, then continue to move through the phases, once the preceding one has been successfully achieved.

“Obviously, as you mentioned, some states are not doing that,” Fauci said. “We would hope that they all now rethink at what happens when you don’t adhere to that. We’ve seen it in plain sight in the southern states that surged, so we’ve got to get back to a very prudent advance from one stage to another.”

As the number of Covid-19 infections in Floridian children rise, the City of Miami in partnership with the University of Miami are offering free testing for children of all ages, according to a press release by the university.

The testing will be offered at Curtis Park using UM’s Pediatric Mobile Clinic. Testing is by appointment only from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. local time from Monday, August 3 through Friday, August 7.

We want to hear your biggest education concerns and any questions you may have for a special coronavirus podcast series starting Friday with Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Share your thoughts below.

The President of the Madrid regional government, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, announced at a news conference on Tuesday that the use of masks will be mandatory in Madrid in all indoor and outdoor spaces, including bar and restaurant terraces.

The number of people meeting at these terraces will be limited to just 10, the same limit should be observed at private parties and meetings as well. The new measures will take effect starting Thursday.

"Anyone attending will be registered and will have to provide ID an telephone numbers to ease tracing in case it is necessary," she highlighted.

The health counselor for the region, Enrique Ruiz Escudero, explained at the news conference that there has been a change in trend, with 500 infections registered this weekend, most of them in people under the age of 40.

On that issue, Ayuso warned: “We are concerned about the behavior of many young people, not of all but of many, and it is important that they understand that they are also transmitters of the epidemic, that many have also fallen ill in these last few months, and above all, that they are putting in danger the lives of their neighbors, their relatives, but also their professional and academic future, if we continue having to fight the virus eternally”.

She made an appeal to young people in Madrid to join this cause and change the trend. 

Other measures: Ayuso also announced the creation of what she has called the "Covid record card," similar to a vaccination card in which it will be registered whether a person has had the disease and has antibodies.

The objective is "to avoid confinement and be able to access gyms, museums, cinemas or any indoor place. The key is that people that can’t spread the virus can continue with their normal lives and take precautions to protect the most vulnerable”. 

These new measures taken by the capital mean that the use of masks are now mandatory in public places in the whole of Spain with the exception of the Canary Islands.

Following the announcement that the phase three clinical trial of a coronavirus vaccine – developed by Moderna and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases – has begun in the US, Dr. Anthony Fauci again said he is "cautiously optimistic" there will be an answer on whether a vaccine will work in the late fall or early winter.

Speaking Tuesday on Good Morning America, the nation's leading expert on infectious disease explained the results from the phase one trial were "enough for us to see the kind of response that this vaccine induces in individual[s]. And it induced the level of antibodies – which are the proteins that fight the virus – at a level that was quite high, in the sense of what was comparable if not better than what we see in the recovery from natural infection.”

 "That's really one of the issues when you're dealing with vaccines. If you can induce a response that's least as good as natural infection, that is a good predictor that you're going to have a vaccine that works. Obviously, the proof of the pudding is you've got to do the trial," Fauci added.

More on the trial: The investigational vaccine was developed by the biotechnology company Moderna and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health. The trial is to be conducted at nearly 100 US research sites, according to Moderna. The first patient was dosed at a site in Savannah, Georgia.

The trial is expected to enroll about 30,000 adult volunteers and evaluates the safety of the Moderna/NIH vaccine and whether it can prevent symptomatic Covid-19 after two doses, among other outcomes.

Volunteers will receive either two 100-microgram injections of the vaccine or a placebo about 28 days apart. Investigators and participants will not know who has received the vaccine.

Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber slammed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in a letter over what he calls an “unprepared and understaffed contact tracing operation.”

Only 17% to 18% of those testing positive with coronavirus in Miami-Dade County were contact-traced over the past two weeks, according to Gelber, adding that it was as low as 7% one day. 

Gelber said that while cases in the state seems to be leveling off, “they're leveling off at a very, very, enormously high level.”

Gelber told CNN’s John Berman that there’s a “concern for embarrassment” from state and national officials, so they downplay the facts. 

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There are signs of a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic in Europe, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned on Tuesday. 

Speaking to journalists about the UK’s decision to impose a 14-day quarantine on people returning from Spain, Johnson said: “What we had to do is take swift and decisive action where we think that the risk is starting to bubble up again.”  

“We all remember what happened last time. It's absolutely vital therefore that we make the necessary preparations here in the UK as we are doing,” he added. 

Remember: At the start of the pandemic, the UK government was accused of acting too slowly to implement a lockdown or restrictions on travelers. 

Asked about the possibility that the length of the quarantine period may be reduced, Johnson said: “We are always looking at ways in which we can mitigate the impact of the quarantine, try to help people, try to make sure that science is working to help travelers and holidaymakers.” However, he added: “At the moment we've got to stick with the guidance we are giving.”  

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the US' top infectious disease expert, addressed a series of tweets by President Donald Trump which were taken down overnight on Monday -- one of which touted hydroxychloroquine as a cure for coronavirus.

Fauci said there were other measures everyone should take to protect themselves, including wearing masks.

“We should all be wearing masks outside,” he said. “There are fundamental things we should be doing, particularly if you happen to be in an area where there’s viral activity.”

Fauci said that in addition to wearing masks, people should continue social distancing, avoid crowds and practice good hand hygiene.

The expert also said that officials should close bars in areas where there was evidence of viral activity.

The novel coronavirus has infected more than 16.4 million people worldwide and caused more than 654,000 deaths. Here's what you need to know today, from around the globe: