August 16 coronavirus news

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. 

It's Sunday in the US, where more than 5.3 million cases of coronavirus have been reported since the pandemic began.

Here's what you need to know about the pandemic:

Florida health officials have reported 3,779 new cases of coronavirus and 107 additional deaths on Saturday, according to the state's health department.

This marks the first day since June 18 that Florida reported less than 4,000 cases in a single day, according to CNN's tally. 

The state has 573,416 total Covid-19 cases and 9,452 resident deaths, according to data from the department.

Note: These numbers were released by Florida'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  

House Democrats said Sunday they are “ramping up” their investigation of the Postal Service and as Democratic leaders, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, called on Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and Chairman of the Postal Service Board of Governors Robert Duncan to testify.

The leaders said they want the officials to appear at a hearing a week from Monday to discuss what they call “recent, sweeping and dangerous operational changes at the Postal Service that are slowing the mail and jeopardizing the integrity of the election," according to a statement.

The Postmaster General and top Postal Service leaders "must answer to the Congress and the American people as to why they are pushing these dangerous new policies that threaten to silence the voices of millions, just months before the election," the statement added.

Several House Democrats on Saturday called for the subpoenaing of DeJoy if he won’t appear voluntarily. 

Some context: Senate Democrats, including Sen. Gary Peters who have limited investigatory power because they are in the minority, started an investigation last week.

The statement said Senate Democrats are asking Homeland Security Chairman Ron Johnson to call DeJoy and Duncan for a hearing as soon as next week for what they call “vigorous and urgently-needed oversight.”