August 16 coronavirus news

California's health department recorded 7,873 new Covid-19 cases Sunday, bringing the state's total to 621,562.

The state also recorded 77 new deaths from the virus, bringing California's death toll to 11,224.

As of Sunday, the 7-day positivity rate is 6.9% and the 14-day positivity rate is 6.4%, the health department said.

To note: These figures may not represent true day-over-day change as reporting of test results can be delayed. These numbers were released by California’s 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.

There are at least 5,379,914 cases of coronavirus in the US and at least 169,745 people have died from the virus, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

As of 2:30 p.m. EST Sunday, 18,749 new cases and 264 new deaths have been reported in the US since midnight.     

The totals includes cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, as well as repatriated cases.    

South Carolina's Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) reported 537 new confirmed cases of Covid-19 and nine additional deaths on Sunday. 

The state's positivity rate as of Saturday is 11%, DHEC said in its daily coronavirus update.  

Some context: Daily Covid-19 cases have decreased in South Carolina since July 19 when 2,374 were reported, CNN's tally shows.

The total number of confirmed cases in South Carolina stands at 105,466, with 1,031 probable and 2,165 confirmed deaths, DHEC said.  

Note: These numbers were released by South Carolina's 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 .

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves defended the state's plan to conduct November's election without universal mail-in voting on CBS today.

Mississippi does not currently allow absentee ballots for anyone with fears of Covid-19 spread. 

"We do not allow mail-in voting in the state of Mississippi. We think that our election process, which has been in place for many many years, ensures that we have a fair process in which we have the opportunity to limit fraud," the governor said. 

"We've already had multiple elections in the last three months" with "very good turn out" and the same will be done in November, Reeves added. 

Some context: Mississippi has one of the nation's highest positivity rates with a 19.5% 7-day rolling average, according to Johns Hopkins University data. 

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told CNN today that he and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi "are looking at having a standalone bill" to provide funding to the US Postal Service.

Asked by CNN if Democrats would agree to a standalone bill to provide money to the Postal Service, since today the White House said it would support it, Schumer said: “Speaker Pelosi and I are looking at having a standalone bill. The House - she can call it back into session, she can do that, I hope she will, and then I will ask Leader McConnell to call the Senate back into Session to do a standalone bill.” 

When asked if he spoke to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Schumer said he would be sending him a letter.

More on this: Earlier today, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows told CNN that he would be open to the idea of a standalone bill that contains only funding for the Postal Service, despite President Trump’s calls in the last week for more USPS funding to arrive only as part of a broader stimulus package. 

CNN’s Beth English contributed to this report

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said schools reopening "is a complex problem" and many things must be taken into account.

Chicago will go all remote and has offered a program that provides 100,000 houses with free Wi-Fi, according to Lightfoot.

When asked if she thought Chicago was becoming a coronavirus hotspot because of mass gatherings, the mayor responded, "interestingly, we didn't see that rise," but did say Chicago has seen a steady increase which she attributed to the population of 18 to 29-year-olds.

"We've got to break through to our young people that they are not immune to the virus," Lightfoot said.

The "chaos" at the federal level has not helped mitigate the spread, she added.

"The White House fighting, the CDC, the HHS hijacking reporting processes, we still don't have a federal mask policy. The chaos at the federal level has not been helpful to anyone, not Chicago, Illinois, or states across the country," Lightfoot said.

Arizona's health department recorded 883 new Covid-19 cases Sunday, bringing the statewide total to 193,537.

The health department also added 14 new deaths from the virus, bringing Arizona's death toll to 4,506. 

On Saturday, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey's office tweeted that Arizona's R-naught, or reproductive number, has dropped to .80, "remaining the lowest in the country and still the only state with an estimate range below 1.0!"

"This means transmission of #COVID19 continues to slow. Keep it up, everyone! Stay physically distant. Wash your hands. #MaskUpAZ," the governor's office said in the tweet.

One thing to note: These numbers were released by Arizona’s 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.

The United States Postal Service (USPS) announced Sunday it would stop removing postal collection boxes through late November following complaints about how some had been taken away.

This means there will be no change in the boxes’ locations until after Election Day.

USPS had faced criticism for the removals as there is expected to be a large surge of people mailing their ballots in instead of going to polls this election day due to the pandemic.

Frum said USPS annually reviews how much various boxes are used “to identify redundant/seldom used collection boxes as First-Class Mail volume continues to declines." 

“Based on the density testing, boxes are identified for potential removal and notices are placed on boxes to give customers an opportunity to comment before the removal decision is made. This process is one of the many ways the Postal Services makes adjustments to our infrastructure to match our resources to declining mail volumes,” Frum also said in the statement.

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves insisted that his state's Covid-19 cases are under control despite a 23% positivity rate, he said on CBS today. 

Reeves said his state had 1,391 cases on July 29, and they are now down to a 7-day rolling average of 728 cases.

Reeves was asked about the Mississippi's state health officer's comment this week stating that there are 11 hospitals in the state with no intensive care unit beds available.

Hospitalizations and fatalities are a lagging indicator, Reeves emphasized. 

"Do we have hospital capacity issues? We do," Reeves said. "[I]n our state and virtually every other rural state across America, we have ICU bed issues and hospital capacity issues even when there's not Covid-19."

There are 150 ICU beds available in Mississippi currently, according to Reeves.