July 28 coronavirus news

The Miami Marlins should follow the 14-day quarantine protocol when they return to South Florida, Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Giménez said Tuesday.

His remarks came just before Major League Baseball announced multiple postponements of upcoming games out of an abundance of caution after multiple Miami Marlins tested positive for Covid-19. 

“I would assume that they would follow the medical protocols and I would assume they also follow the law unless they have some kind of exemption,” he added. 

The mayor said he doesn’t see how MLB teams will be able to contain the spread of the virus among their ball clubs if players are allowed to go back into the community after their games. 

Giménez thinks the National Basketball Association has “the right formula” by putting teams in an enclosed environment, often referred to as a “bubble,” in which the participants live, practice and play all games. 

He also doesn’t expect the county to suffer additional economic hardship if the Marlins’ season were to get postponed.

“There’s no fans, so it’s all TV revenue,” Giménez said. “As far as the county is concerned, it has minimal impact on the county.”  

“They still owe us the rent, whether they play or they don’t,” he added. 

Starting Friday, restaurants in North Carolina must stop selling alcohol after 11 p.m., Gov. Roy Cooper announced in a news conference today.

Bars will remain closed, Cooper said, adding that “we want to prevent restaurants from turning into bars after hours."

The order will not apply to grocery stores, convenience stores or other entities permitted to sell alcohol for off-premises consumption, according to the governor.

Presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden told reporters Tuesday he has not yet been tested for coronavirus. 

"No, I have not," said Biden, when asked by a reporter, "Have you been tested yet?" in the question and answer period of a news conference he hosted near his home in Wilmington, Delaware

The former vice president previously told CNN's Jake Tapper on May 24 that he'd not been tested because had not experienced symptoms, adding that he was following medical experts' advice — including keeping distance from his grandchildren when they visit and ensuring everyone who enters his home, including the Secret Service, wears gloves and masks.

“I have not been tested for the coronavirus," said Biden at the time. "I have had, thank God, no symptoms that I'm aware of,” he added.

Biden, 77, is considered to be among those in a high-risk risk category, according to to CDC guidelines.

US markets closed in the red on Tuesday. After hopes for Washington’s next pandemic stimulus package boosted stocks at the start of the week, investors now worry that drawn-out negotiations will make it difficult to come to a deal. 

On top of that, earnings season continues to show that corporate America is struggling with the pandemic. Both McDonald’s and 3M missed analyst expectations in their results and were among the weakest Dow stocks of the day.

Here's where the market closed today:

The Portuguese islands of Madeira will make wearing a mask mandatory in all public spaces, both indoors and outdoors, starting on Saturday, the regional government announced today.

Several groups of people will be exempt from the mandatory mask rule, including children up to the age of 10 and people who are "incapacitated, with the lack of ability to place or remove the mask." 

The Madeira government also said it is giving every person who arrives a "free, beautiful mask from our region" to emphasize mask-wearing and to show visitors that Madeira has "its epidemiologic situation under control."

The popular tourist destination, which is an autonomous region of Portugal off the northwest coast of Africa, has kept its number of coronavirus infections low, with only 105 confirmed cases. Of those, 97 are recovered cases and eight are active cases, according to the latest data from the regional government. 

At least 13 patients and 23 employees have tested positive for coronavirus at Baystate Health in Massachusetts.

These cases were related to an outbreak stemming from an employee who traveled to a hotspot in the US, as well as “simple lapses” in break rooms where people convened without masks and without appropriate social distancing, according to Mark A. Keroack, the president and CEO of the facility. 

An employee traveled to an area in the US that’s been identified as a hotspot and upon return was diagnosed with coronavirus, Keroack said in a statement earlier this week. 

Keroack also said staff convened in break rooms and removed their masks without observing proper social distancing protocols. 

“Baystate has reached out to all patients who received care on the unit during the time period of July 15-23, and they are being tested. Baystate has been conducting testing and contact tracing of employees who were working on the unit, as well as those employees who spent more than 15 minutes on the unit during this same time period.” 

The 36 people with the virus were identified by Monday morning.

“This event reinforces that COVID-19 is highly contagious and requires vigilance in order to contain its spread,” Keroack said. 

Presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden lambasted President Trump on Tuesday saying he's proven he is incapable of keeping Americans safe from harm.

"Donald Trump faces a real test and he's failed it, the basic threshold of being President, the duty to care for the entire country, not just his re-election prospects," said the former vice president in a speech Tuesday in Wilmington, Delaware.

"He's shown that he can't beat the pandemic and keep you safe," continued Biden. "He can't turn the economy around and get America back to work."

Biden was speaking to introduce the fourth and final plank of a "Build Back Better" program, detailing his proposal to pump stimulus spending into Black and brown-owned businesses and advance first-time homebuyers a $15,000 refundable tax credit as part of an economic plan focused on racial equity.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam and State Health Commissioner Dr. Norman Oliver issued an executive order and public health emergency order today that will take effect at 12 a.m. Friday, affecting Virginia’s Hampton Roads area.

Under the new order, no alcohol will be allowed to be sold or consumed on site after 10 p.m., and all restaurants must close by midnight, the governor announced.

According to Northam, indoor dining in the area will now be limited to 50% capacity, along with food courts, breweries, wineries and distilleries.  

Additionally, all public and private social gatherings of more than 50 individuals will be prohibited, including indoor and outdoor parties, the governor said. 

Major League Baseball has announced multiple postponements of upcoming games out of an abundance of caution after multiple Miami Marlins tested positive for Covid-19. The MLB statement says Marlins’ personnel who have tested positive for coronavirus are currently in isolation and are receiving care.

Here's what was postponed, according to a statement from the MLB:

"As a result of these postponements, the Yankees will now play the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards on Wednesday and Thursday in order to create more scheduling flexibility later in the season. Additional rescheduling during the week of August 3rd will be announced later this week," the statement said.

The MLB said that out of more than 6,400 tests conducted since Friday, July 24, no other on-field personnel has tested positive from any of the other teams.

"The realities of the virus still loom large, and we must operate with that in mind every day. We are confident that Clubs and players will act appropriately, for themselves and for others, and the data provides reason to believe that the protocols can work effectively," the MLB said.