July 29 coronavirus news

During an ABC interview Tuesday, Dr. Robert Redfield, the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, admitted that there have been problems with the federal response to Covid-19.

The CDC director discussed his initial response to news of something mysterious happening in central China.

He said he got a phone call on New Year's Eve last year alerting him to an incident involving a respiratory condition in Wuhan and he told ABC he knew it was serious. He said he wrote the first situation report on the incident the very next day.

"We felt that this had potential to be a very serious situation that had national security implications," he said.

The CDC was ready to send in a team of scientists within a week, but the Chinese government refused to let them in, Redfield said, something he has said before and pointed to as a reason the US got a later start in identifying the dangerous virus and taking action.

He also said he's optimistic that the country can get the upper hand in the battle against the coronavirus.

"I wish now we would come together and recognize and see the possibility that we can beat this pandemic," he said.

Europe's Covid-19 threat: In that same interview, Redfield admitted for the first time that the US was slow in recognizing the coronavirus threat from Europe.

"The introduction from Europe happened before we realized what was happening," Redfield said. "By the time we realized (the) Europe threat and shut down travel to Europe, there was probably already two or three weeks of 60,000 people coming back every day from Europe," he added.

"That's where the large seeding came in the Unites States."

The US restricted travel from China on February 2 and from Europe on March 13, but by March 8, Covid-19 was already circulating among the community in New York City and, by March 15, community transmission of the virus was already widespread, a recent analysis from the CDC found.

By the time the Trump administration banned travelers from Europe, the virus was already spreading in New York City, according to the report. Testing was also limited at the start of the epidemic there, allowing people with undetected cases to spread the virus.

The North Carolina State Fair has been canceled this year due to coronavirus concerns, organizers for the fair announced on Facebook on Wednesday.  

The 152nd state fair was originally scheduled to take place in October. 

President Trump signaled he may be interested in a short-term bill as negotiations on Capitol Hill have largely stalled.

Trump said the negotiation team is working to extend the eviction moratorium.

“We want to work on the evictions, so people don’t get evicted. We work on the payments to the people. And the rest of it we’re so far apart, we don’t care. We really don’t care. We want to take care of the people. The Democrats aren’t taking care of the people. The payments aren’t enough,” Trump said.

Mnuchin said they are going to wait until Friday regarding the possibility of a short-term bill, and that Trump is focused on evictions and unemployment insurance.

“We want to take care of them now, the rest we can discuss later,” Trump added.

Trump defends FBI building money: Trump was asked about a $1.75 billion provision in the bill for a new FBI building. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Republicans have voiced opposition to the measure.

Trump said that a new FBI building has been in the works “for many years,” and he thought it was “crazy” that they would consider moving it to the suburbs of Virginia or Maryland.

“I’m very good at real estate, so I said we’ll build a new FBI building, either a renovation of the existing or even better, we’ll get a new building. So we have that in the bill, it should stay,” Trump said.

Pressed by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on the fact that Republicans don’t want it in the bill, Trump said, “Then Republicans should go back to school and learn. We need a new building.”

Catch up on stimulus talks here.

Watch:

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka decried the Republican stimulus bill proposal, as benefits for millions of Americans are set to expire Friday.

The AFL-CIO is the largest federation of unions in the US, representing about 12.5 million workers. Trumka said that he sees no evidence of unemployed Americans taking advantage of the $600 benefit to not find jobs instead.

GOP senators slammed the administration for including $1.75 billion in the bill to build a new FBI building. 

Trumka also said that Trump is pressuring workers to return to potentially unsafe conditions. 

“What the Republicans do in this bill is they don't give a standard. That means essential workers are going to continue to get infected and continue to die. … It's the absolute wrong thing to do in a pandemic,” he said. 

Trumka also alleged the Occupational Safety and Health Administration of being absent during the pandemic, saying that there have been 6,000 complaints but only two violations since February. 

Watch:

Best Buy is the latest major retailer to announce it will stay closed on Thanksgiving.

Instead, Best Buy will bolster its digital options and offer seasonal deals "earlier than ever," the company said late Tuesday.

Some context: That echoes plans from Walmart, Target and Dick's Sporting Goods. All have said within the past week that they too won't be open on Thanksgiving and will begin holiday sales earlier in the year.

Retailers are rethinking their plans for the holiday shopping season as coronavirus cases rise, prompting concerns over crowds in stores.

The negotiators responsible for brokering a sweeping stimulus deal that will keep many Americans from losing federal unemployment benefits are currently at the "airing our differences" phase of talks.

But the weekly $600 federal unemployment enhancement expires in 48 hours, and, as a person involved told CNN last night, negotiators are "in different universes right now."

Here's where things stand this morning:

Iraq’s Ministry of Health reported at least 2,968 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday. This is a new record in daily cases.

The total number of cases in Iraq now stands at 118,300.

The health ministry reported 68 Covid-19 deaths, bringing the total number of deaths in Iraq to 4,603.

As the US nears 150,000 coronavirus deaths, President Trump is traveling to Texas today, one of the country's virus hotspots.

According to the President's schedule, Trump lands in Texas at 11:30 a.m. local time. He is participating in a roundtable with supporters and delivering remarks at a fundraising committee luncheon in Odessa, Texas.

Afterwards, Trump will motorcade to Midland, to participate in a tour of Double Eagle Energy Oil Rig and deliver remarks on energy.

Here is a look at where cases stand across the state, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Texas currently has the fourth-highest number of Covid-19 cases:

The US is nearing the grim milestone of 150,000 coronavirus deaths as the country continues to battle surges of Covid-19 cases.

According to Johns Hopkins University's latest tally, at least 149,260 people have died from Covid-19 in the US. The country leads the world in cases with more than 4.3 million cases.

Meanwhile, at least 22 US states are seeing increases in new Covid-19 cases compared to the previous week.