Keeping a seat between them, sophomores' Natalie Brantley, 15, left and Yareny Aguilar-Perez, 15, are introduced to the principles of Early Childhood I at Newton County Career and Technical Center in Decatur, Mississippi, on Monday, August 3. Janine Vincent/Newton County Schools/AP
Mississippi Gov.Tate Reeves has issued a statewide mask mandate for the next two weeks.
“We must pump the brakes in the hardest hit areas,” Reeves said during a news conference Tuesday.
"We are requiring masks in schools for teachers and students. We are also requiring masks at public gatherings statewide for two weeks in a push to allow schools to safely reopen," Reeves said.
Reeves has also delayed the start of in-person learning for grades 7 to 12 in Bolivar, Coahoma, Forrest, George, Hinds, Panola, Sunflower, and Washington counties — areas that are considered hotspots.
He added that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the public health risk of extended school closures outweigh the public health risk of opening them.
The governor added that if there is anything essential in this world, it is our schools.
4:20 p.m. ET, August 4, 2020
Arkansas approaches 45,000 total Covid-19 cases
From CNN's Molly Silverman
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said the state has reported 44,597 cumulative Covid-19 cases, with 784 new cases and 490 virus related deaths.
Interim Secretary of Health Dr. Jose Romero said that of those 784 active cases, 774 were community based and 10 came from correctional facilities.
Romero also said there are 526 people hospitalized for Covid-19, with 101 people on ventilators. The ventilator number has decreased by 7.
Note: These numbers were released by the Arkansas public health agency, and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project
4:15 p.m. ET, August 4, 2020
Oklahoma's Tulsa County reported more than 3,300 new Covid-19 cases in July
From CNN’s Kay Jones
The Tulsa Health Department in Oklahoma reported today that 3,301 total cases were reported in the county from July 5 to July 25, an average of just over 157 cases a day.
More than 11% of those cases were in children under the age of 18 and 41% of the cases were in the 18-35 age group, according to THD.
Currently, Tulsa County has reported 9,417 total cases and 101 total deaths. THD says that 8,010 have recovered from the virus.
Note: These numbers were released by the Tulsa Health Department and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project.
4:14 p.m. ET, August 4, 2020
Return to school will not look like business as usual, experts say
From CNN's Naomi Thomas
A worker stocks shelves of back-to-school supplies at a Target store on August 3, in Colma, California. In the midst of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, back-to-school shopping has mostly moved to online sales, with purchases shifting from clothing to laptop computers and home schooling supplies. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
The return to school will not look like business as usual in the US, according to experts speaking on Tuesday during a webinar from the Alliance for Health Policy.
“Our return to school will not be a return to the school norm,” said Wendy Price, president of the National Association of School Psychologists. “Right now, school districts are hammering out one of three different educational platforms that they may be accessing.” These are full time, in-person schooling, a hybrid model and online schooling.
In-person schooling, for example, needs to look at the safety of children and staff, in regard to things like physical distance and protecting people who are most vulnerable. Online only schooling raises other questions. “Does everybody have access to wireless or broadband WIFI, or do they have access to Chromebooks,” said Price.
“There’s just a litany of things that schools are going to have to consider,” Price said. “And it’s no one size fits all. It really isn’t.”
Returning to school is such a “fluid and dynamic situation” that what is put into place in September may not work in January, she said. Schools may have to roll back or roll forward, keep being flexible and “really paying attention to the levels around us in our neighborhoods and our communities.”
Reopening schools also depends on where you are in the country and what the levels of Covid-19 are, Price said.
She compared members of her organization in small, rural, coronavirus-free parts of Montana who are ready to go back, with members at Boston public schools, where there are higher numbers of students and cases who are “certainly not ready.”
Dr. David Rubin, director of PolicyLab and director of Population Health at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, also said that the safe reopening of schools will depend on the level of Covid-19 in the community. “This isn’t simply about whether kids don’t get that sick. This is about the risk to entire communities that are born by placing kids in large groups in a school,” he said.
While he said that children are less susceptible, fewer are symptomatic and they will have less severe infection, “we know fairly confidently now that symptomatic children are going to transmit.”
And if there is more virus in a community, more kids will catch it and spread it. Rubin pointed to outbreaks in camps in Georgia and Missouri as examples of this.
“Kids don’t live in bubbles,” said Rubin. “They rely on parents and grandparents every day. They rely on their teachers, the school personnel.”
The safest way to reopen schools, he said, is to get community Covid-19 numbers down, he said. Once test positivity gets below five or three percent, dependent on what state leaders and departments of health are saying, “you have an opportunity to use your mitigation plan.”
The foundation for a good mitigation plan in schools, according to Rubin, starts with ensuring that sick children and teachers are kept out of the school, and then once children are in school, keeping on top of all measures like social distancing, mask use and hand hygiene, for both teachers and students.
3:56 p.m. ET, August 4, 2020
Trump's national security adviser returns to work after testing positive for Covid-19
From CNN's Kaitlan Collins and Nikki Carvajal
National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien attends a briefing on Enhanced Narcotics Operations at the US Southern Command in Doral, Florida, on July 10. Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
O'Brien's diagnosis marked the highest-ranking Trump administration official known to have tested positive.
3:52 p.m. ET, August 4, 2020
Alaska Airlines has notified 4,200 employees that they could be furloughed this fall
From CNN's Pete Muntean
Alaska Airlines has notified 4,200 employees that they could be furloughed this fall.
A company statement says the cuts are comprised of customer service agents, flight attendants and maintenance technicians. Last month, the airline reached an agreement with labor groups to not shed any pilot jobs.
A statement from Alaska Airlines says more than 1,500 notices of possible furloughs were sent to employees in Seattle, where the company is based.
“Reducing our workforce is one of the hardest realities of this crisis,” said a statement from Alaska Airlines. “We’re making tough decisions to right-size Alaska Airlines for future success, but it means we’re losing fantastic people.”
The airline reported a nearly half-billion-dollar loss in the second quarter of this year. Restrictions attached to a federal bailout keep airlines from shedding jobs through Sept. 30.
3:34 p.m. ET, August 4, 2020
2019 champion Rafael Nadal will not defend his US Open title in New York
From CNN’s Dan Kamal
Rafael Nadal of Spain serves during the singles match between Rafael Nadal of Spain and Pablo Andujar of Spain as part of the ATP Mexican Open 2020 Day 2 at Princess Mundo Imperial on February 25 in Acapulco, Mexico. Hector Vivas/Getty Images
Citing the “complicated” nature of the world under the pandemic, 2019 US Open champion Rafael Nadal has decided not to defend his title later this month in Flushing, New York.
In a tweet posted Tuesday, 2019 US Open champion Rafael Nadal said:
"After many thoughts I have decided not to play this year’s US Open. The situation is very complicated worldwide, the COVID-19 cases are increasing, it looks like we still don’t have control of it."
The No. 2 ranked Nadal is a four-time US Open winner and has collected 19 Grand Slam singles titles, second on the men’s side only to No. 4 ranked Roger Federer, who will also miss the US Open with a knee injury.
Meanwhile the USTA announced Tuesday World No. 1 Novak Djokovic has entered the men’s singles field for the 2020 Open, scheduled for Aug. 31 until Sept. 13 in New York.
The three-time Open champion Djokovic will be joined by six other men from the World’s Top 10, including No. 3 Dominic Thiem and No. 5 Daniil Medvedev, who was a US Open finalist in 2019.
3:28 p.m. ET, August 4, 2020
School boards best to decide when and how campuses reopen, Texas governor says
From CNN’s Laurie Ure
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott visits a Texas Division of Emergency Management Warehouse filled with Personal Protective Equipment on Tuesday in San Antonio. Eric Gay/AP
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said that local school districts in the state, not local governments, have the flexibility to decide how and when they will open during the Covid-19 pandemic.
"The bottom line is, the people who know best about what both the needs are in their school district, as well as the capabilities of providing a safe learning environment... are the local school officials," Abbott, a Republican, told reporters Tuesday during a news conference.
Texas local school officials can base their operating decisions on input from local health authorities, Abbott said.
In a statement Friday, Abbott said while local health authorities can close schools during the school year if conditions warrant, they "do not have the power to issue preemptive, blanket closures of schools weeks or months in advance of when a school may open its doors to students.”
Abbott said schools can choose to open remotely with online study, or in classrooms, or a blend of both. The remote learning option can continue for eight weeks, after which schools have the option to seek a waiver to continue remote study.
Speaking before a backdrop of personal protective equipment inside the Texas Division of Emergency Management in San Antonio, Abbott said the state has already provided the necessary protective equipment for schools to open safely, boasting "more than 59 million masks, more than 24 thousand thermometers," as well 500,000 face shields and 565 gallons of hand sanitizer have been delivered.
3:04 p.m. ET, August 4, 2020
French gatherings of 5,000 or more to resume next month
From CNN's Barbara Wojazer
People walk past the Gate of Honor of the Chateau de Versailles near Paris on Tuesday. Michel Euler/AP
Cultural events of 5,000 people or more will be able to resume in France starting on Sept. 1, the French Culture Ministry said on Tuesday evening. Regional governments may decide to allow these events earlier, starting on Aug.15.
The events will have to continue to have a seated audience and distancing of one seat between separate groups will be required, the ministry explained in a news release.
The government also recommends members of the audience wear masks while seated, and masks will still be mandatory when moving around the venue.
The ministry will "accompany the cultural sector, and live entertainment, in particular, to adapt its activities," according to the press release.
