August 13 coronavirus news

Stanford University is canceling almost all in-person classes this fall, according to a letter to the community from Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne.

The president says in his letter the decision comes with “great regret” but that the public health situation due to Covid-19 does not make it feasible for students to return to campus.

Here's what the letter said: 

Stanford is also suspending plans to provide housing for first year, sophomore, and new transfer students in the fall, he said. However, existing undergraduates with approved special circumstances will be allowed. 

The university is located in Santa Clara County which is one of the 38 counties on California’s “watch list” for reopening.

Approximately 16,000 students attend Stanford.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said schools that are planning to reopen “at a time when we know there are going to be a lot of families and a lot of kids going into quarantine,” should make sure they recognize how traumatic quarantine can be for those children.

The governor brought up the subject after discussing how his Covid-19 scare had affected his own children, who asked if Beshear and his wife were going to die, whether they themselves were going to die, and about who would care for them if the governor and his wife were to die.

Dr. Francis Collins, the director of the National Institutes of Health, said he expects “interim, high-level recommendations” from the National Academy of Sciences on who should get priority for Covid-19 vaccinations by Labor Day.  

After recommendations from the National Academy of Sciences are submitted, they will be reviewed by the US Center for Disease Control’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.

“We will then, when we get down to the real point of having a vaccine that's been proved safe and effective, make those recommendations about how that should be prioritized. So I think it's a pretty good plan. We're thinking ahead, recognizing that we are going to be in a better place than anybody almost ever has been with a new vaccine, where you already have a lot of doses, but you still have to be thoughtful about how to choose the priorities in the first few months until we can immunize everybody,” Collins said.

The number of people dying from Covid-19 every day in California remains high, despite a decline in cases and hospitalizations. The 14-day positivity rate has also dropped to under 6% for the first time since June 28.

Yet the state reported another 160 fatalities today, bringing the state’s total to at least 10,648, according to the California Department of Public Health. 

Deaths have been in the triple digits nearly every day for the past two weeks, including Aug. 1, when the state reported at least 219 deaths – the most recorded in a single day.

In recent days, California’s data has been plagued with errors in its electronic lab reporting system. Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Monday that the errors have been resolved, but daily case updates will include a backlog of previously unreported cases which will be reallocated to the date to which they belong.

Today’s case report added at least 7,085 new cases. It is unclear how many of those were actually recorded within the most recent 24-hour reporting period.

Newsom expressed optimism about the latest trends, saying Wednesday they are an indication that California “is turning the corner on this pandemic.”

Dr. Francis Collins, the director of the National Institutes of Health, said the United States should not expect to see an approved vaccine by October – a reference to speculation that President Trump could prematurely rush a vaccine through the regulatory process prior to Election Day.

“So again, I would not expect to see, on the basis of what we know, scientifically, that we'd be at the point where FDA would have the chance to make such a judgment until considerably later than October first. Maybe November, December would be my best bet," she added.

Collins, who was joined on the call by Paul Mango, deputy chief of staff for policy for the US Department of Health and Human Services, said that Operation Warp Speed is still on track to deliver 300 million doses of a safe, effective Covid-19 vaccine no later than January 2021.

The mayor of Kansas City, Missouri, is extending the city’s coronavirus state of emergency into the beginning of next year.

Emergency orders now will be in effect until at least Jan. 16.

The extension was signed by Mayor Quinton Lucas, requiring most people to continue wearing face coverings while in public places and capping crowds at bars to 50% capacity.

“Until there’s a widely available vaccine, Covid-19 is here to stay—with serious potential health consequences for those infected,” Lucas wrote.

Some context: Kansas City, Missouri, has seen a dramatic spike in Covid-19 cases, according the city’s health department, with a one-day record of 249 new cases reported on Monday.

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers said that in just over six months, the state's Covid-19-related death toll has surpassed 1,000 people. 

The governor also discussed the disproportionate impact of Covid-19 in Wisconsin. 

"The infection rate for Latinx Wisonsonites is over five times that of white Wisconsinites," he said. "And Black Wisconsinites are experiencing a death rate over four times higher than their white counterparts." 

Asked if he is considering any statewide restrictions pertaining to schools in general, Evers said, "At this point in time, I don't see the need for any kind of order."

Adm. Brett Giroir, a member of the White House coronavirus task force, said on Thursday that people should not get hung up on a number, when asked if there was a number of tests that the US should be doing.

“We are doing the appropriate amount of testing now to reduce the spread, flatten the curve, save lives – because it’s not the number,” Giroir said during a call with reporters organized by the US Department of Health and Human Services.

They are trying to ensure that sick people who need to be tested are tested, protecting vulnerable and high-risk populations, and supporting public health testing in areas where it is important to test a lot of asymptomatic people, he said.

“Don’t get hung up on a number,” Giroir said. “The people who are peddling numbers are spectators, not part of the system. They do not understand how this should be strategically used.”

Giroir said they have proven “time and time again” that doing strategic testing in support of good policy works.

“A number is meaningless unless it’s used appropriately,” he said.

Giroir did, however, say he supports providing supplies so that at least 2% of the population can be tested per month, because it helps to be able to detect outbreaks, which is usually done by a percent positivity.

The trading day was nothing to write home about, as stocks finished the day the way they started it: mixed. The S&P 500 once again neared its February record close, but it eventually ended the day in the red, down 0.2%.

The headline number on initial jobless claims dropped below 1 million for the first time since mid-March, which economists believe to be a good sign even as the American jobs recovery still has a long road ahead.

Here's where things finished: