July 29 coronavirus news

California is breaking a grim record, reporting 197 Covid-related deaths in a single day, according to the state's Department of Public Health. This report far outpaces the previous high of 159 from just last week. 

Also climbing in the state are daily cases. California added 8,755 new cases, bringing the state’s cumulative total to 475,305 cases. Today's marked increase in cases may be the result of a backlog in test results, as noted by Health Secretary Mark Ghaly Tuesday.

The positivity rate appears steady at 7.4% over the past 14 days. Nearly 100,000 tests were conducted yesterday and more than 7.5 million have been performed in California to date. Hospitalization rates also remain stable over the past several days.

Los Angeles County still holds the most coronavirus cases in the state, but as cases climb elsewhere, it currently makes up for only about 37% of all California cases, down from nearly 50% earlier in the pandemic.

That may be short-lived as Los Angeles County Public Health “anticipates receiving a backlog in cases in the coming days due to previous reporting delays in the State electronic lab system.”

Note: These numbers were released by California Department of Public Health, and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project.

France reported 1,392 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, representing the highest daily increase in cases in more than a month, according to the latest data from the French National Health Agency.

The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in France now stands at 185,196, according to the National Health Agency. There was also 15 more deaths related to Covid-19, bringing the death toll to 30,238.

The health agency data also said the number of coronavirus patients in the hospital is steadily decreasing.

Some context: The National Health Agency said Wednesday that the circulation of the virus is still increasing, and the coronavirus reproduction rate (R rate) in France is now above 1.3. 

"The health crisis is not over," French government spokesperson Gabriel Attal said during a Wednesday news conference. “We have seen our neighbors toughening their measures. We will continue to adapt the rules in the days and weeks to come depending on the evolution of the epidemic."

Wearing face masks in indoor public spaces has been mandatory in France since July 20.

New York City has 18,887 confirmed coronavirus deaths and 4,625 probable coronavirus deaths as of July 29, according to the most recent data on the city website.

The New York City Health Department defines probable deaths as people who did not have a positive Covid-19 laboratory test, but their death certificate lists as the cause of death “Covid-19” or an equivalent.

The total number of confirmed coronavirus deaths and probable coronavirus deaths in New York City is 23,512.

More details: There have been at least 221,220 coronavirus cases in the city and 56,099 people have been hospitalized, according to the city.

The data is from the New York City Health Department and was updated on July 29 at 1 p.m. ET, according to the website.

Note: The numbers may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project.

The Indianapolis Public Schools administration is recommending that the upcoming school year begin with 100% remote learning for all students when school starts on August 17.

This marks a reversal from the district's previous plan to start with a hybrid option of some in-person and some remote learning. The first day of school had already been pushed back by two weeks.

The recommendation, which was announced in a press release Wednesday, will be heard and voted on by the Board of Education on Thursday. If approved, in-person learning will be delayed until at least October, "which will allow more time for the number of Covid-19 cases in Marion County to stabilize and decrease to a less dangerous level," the release said.

Some context: Cases in Indiana have been on the rise, with 630 new positive cases reported yesterday, according to data from the state.

The state had 837 Covid-19 hospitalizations on July 28, compared to 626 a month ago.

Indianapolis Superintendent Aleesia Johnson said in a tweet Wednesday the decision was incredibly difficult.

According to the release, all students in the Indianapolis Public Schools district will receive either an iPad or Chromebook for the new school year.

The district will also make hot spots available to families who don't have access to the internet.

GOP Sen. John Cornyn underscored the current difficulties to agree on a stimulus package when he summarized the closed-door lunch with top White House negotiators like this: “There’s no consensus on anything. Just a lot of expression of views.”

As he left the lunch, Sen. John Kennedy, a Republican from Louisiana, criticized what he thinks is excessive and nonessential spending in the GOP's stimulus bill — and says there's a "lot of frustration" among Republicans. 

He didn't get into the details about what he considers "spending porn."

The Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged near zero in its monetary policy update Wednesday, and it once again reiterated that the economic recovery will depend on the path of the virus.

Even though the economy was beginning to rebound after grinding to a halt during the pandemic lockdown in the spring, the level of economic activity was still well below the levels from the start of the year, the Fed said.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell will hold a press conference at 2:30 p.m. ET.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said on MSNBC Wednesday that adherence to five principles could help stop coronavirus surges happening in states. 

The principles are:

Looking back on the Southern states that have already experienced resurgences, Fauci said, there was an increase in the percent positive of tests being done, which is “surefire indication that you are in a process where you’re heading towards a resurgence.” 

He said that they were starting to see that in some states now, such as Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio and Indiana. 

Fauci added that he and other members of the White House coronavirus task force made the point on the weekly call with governors that “it is very important to get ahead of the curve, because what we are seeing now it what actually took place a couple of weeks ago.”

“If you’re not getting your arms around and suppressing that surge that’s coming up, that’s just a little bit below the radar screen, before you know it, two to three weeks down the pike, you’re in trouble," he added.

Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo said her state "cannot move forward to phase four" due to the spread of coronavirus from parties.   

She said contacting tracing shows "we're partying too much, social gatherings are too large," during a weekly coronavirus briefing on Wednesday.  

Raimondo announced Rhode Island will remain in phase three for another month, with a change; social gathering limits will be lowered from 25 to 15 people.  

"We have cases traced back to a house party, with more than 50 people, and no one wearing a mask," she said.

The governor's listing of other gatherings with Covid-19 cases included a baby shower, several a large birthday parties and pool parties. 

Raimondo pleaded for residents "to knock it off, because people are getting sick people are dying, and it's unnecessary."  

The US could see coronavirus related deaths skyrocket “well into the multiple hundreds of thousands” if there is not a course correction, according to a warning from the Association of American Medical Colleges.

“We’re not on a good path at present,” AAMC chief scientific officer Dr. Ross McKinney Jr. told CNN’s Brianna Keilar.

McKinney also said that the crisis is putting a strain on hospitals, especially those in virus hotspots like Arizona, Florida and Texas.

The AAMC is calling for an increase in critical supplies, as well as improving testing, reopening schools safely, expanding health insurance and developing a vaccination distribution protocol.

The association is urging the Trump administration to invoke the Defense Production Act to address supply shortages.

“Essentially everywhere is short of the critical supplies and we as a country have not attempted, systematically, to upgrade our production of either PPE or of the supplies that are needed by the laboratories in order to meet the demands we have for testing. The demands we have for PPE,” McKinney said.

McKinney added, that the AAMC is calling for national standards for local stay-at-home orders and reopening protocols.

Each city or state “don’t necessarily have to have the same degree of lockdown, but they should use the same criteria to try and move from one phase to the next, so that we can learn what are the best standards to use, so we don’t get these continuous waves of infection,” he said.

With reporting from CNN's Jason Hanna, Madeline Holcombe and Shelby Lin Erdman

Watch the full interview here: