New York governor says gyms can reopen with certain restrictions
From CNN's Kristina Sgueglia
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks during a press briefing in New York City on August 17. Pool/NY1
Gyms can open as soon as August 24 with 33% capacity and mask mandates, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday.
Guidance on gym reopening will be issued Monday, he said, adding that it will also outline other health requirements that have to be maintained with regards to ventilation.
Local governments must inspect gyms before they reopen or within two weeks of their opening to make sure facilities are meeting all requirements. Gyms must open by September 2, he said.
“That variation is to give localities time if the localities need it,” he said, adding “if the localities can get the inspections done or be ready to inspect, then they can open up August 24th, if a locality cant get ready to do inspections, then they get another week they can do it September 2nd.”
Local government can determine whether gyms can hold indoor classes.
12:00 p.m. ET, August 17, 2020
Czechs make face masks mandatory again indoors
From Tomas Etzler in Prague and Sharon Braithwaite in London
Czech Health Minister Adam Vojtěch announced Monday that face masks will be mandatory again starting Sept. 1 in most indoor places, including all public transport, shops, office buildings, post offices, indoor events, and in common areas of schools such as hallways.
Face masks will not be mandatory in restaurants, offices or school classrooms.
These are the current coronavirus numbers, according of the Ministry of Health:
There are at least 5,816 active cases of Covid-19.
There are at least 104 people who are currently hospitalized
At least 397 people have died from coronavirus.
At least 13,799 people have recovered from Covid-19 infections.
11:31 a.m. ET, August 17, 2020
Here is how New York City is preparing to reopen schools
From CNN's Melanie Schuman
A public school stands on the Upper East Side on August 7 in the Manhattan borough of New York City. Spencer Platt/Getty Images
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Monday a new Department of Education hotline for principals to call in an effort to expedite the delivery of personal protective equipment (PPE) and cleaning supplies.
He said that when schools reopen, the schools chancellor will do unannounced, spot inspections in addition to the monitoring and unannounced safety checks by other staff.
During the city’s daily news conference Monday, the mayor showed a video detailing what the city has done to prepare for school.
Here are some the things the mayor said the city is doing:
On supplies: PPE will be provided including four million face masks, 3.5 million bottles of hand sanitizer and 80,000 canisters of wipes.
On cleaning efforts: 7,350 maintenance staff will be on hand to clean, and 210,000 signs will be posted to encourage good practices. The city will use electrostatic disinfectant for surfaces. Rooms without adequate ventilation will not be used.
The city now has better numbers for how many students have chosen remote learning mode as well as the number of teachers who have requested medical accommodations according to Richard Carranza, chancellor of the New York City Department of Education, who did not provide the actual numbers. Those teachers will instruct via remote learning and the city is working with unions on the plan. Carranza also said that wherever possible students who are doing remote learning will have instruction from a teacher or teachers within their school.
There will be daily time built in to the schedule for collaboration and coordination for teachers to help ensure those in remote learning and those in schools receive comparable instruction.
Plans for special education are still in development including team teaching.
11:17 a.m. ET, August 17, 2020
New York City mayor says the city has done aggressive outreach in neighborhood that saw a Covid-19 outbreak
People wait to receive a COVID-19 test at a temporary testing site at Sunset Park in Brooklyn, New York, on August 13. Wang Ying/Xinhua/Getty
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said today during his daily press briefing the city has done aggressive outreach in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, which saw an outbreak of more than 200 Covid-19 cases last week.
The mayor said there has been a large outreach including door knocks, robocalls, actual phone calls and testing — 5,200 tests since July 29. He did not provide updated case numbers.
Individual households with specific problems are working with the city’s test and trace team to separate within the households and prevent further spread within the community. The mayor said these particular households have 90% compliance.
However, de Blasio added, several hundred gathered in illegal spaces in the same neighborhood recently including two illegal raves which were broken up by the sheriff, according to the mayor who said people will be held accountable.
Here are some of the latest coronavirus numbers from NYC:
57 people were admitted to hospitals for suspected cases of coronavirus, which is under the threshold of 200.
264 people are in the public hospitals intensive care units, which is under the threshold of 375.
One percent have tested positive, which is well under the threshold at 15%.
One thing to note: These numbers were released by the city’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.
12:00 p.m. ET, August 17, 2020
New study finds racial disparity in Covid-19 hospitalizations
From CNN's Naomi Thomas
A patient is taken from an ambulance to the emergency room of a hospital in the Navajo Nation town of Tuba City in Arizona on May 24. Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images
Black, Latino, American Indian and Alaskan Native people were disproportionately hospitalized for Covid-19, according to a new analysis published Monday in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.
“This analysis identified considerable disparities in the prevalence of Covid-19 across racial/ethnic subgroups of the population in 12 states,” said the researchers from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota.
In a nearly two-month period from late April to late June, there were 48,788 cumulative Covid-19 hospitalizations in the states that reported race and hospitalization data — Arizona, Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah, Virginia and Washington.
“The share of the hospitalizations of White patients was substantially smaller vs. their share of the population in all 12 states,” the authors found.
The authors found that the opposite was true for Black patients — their percentage of hospitalizations exceeded the percentage of their representative proportion of state population. This was highest in Ohio, where Black patients accounted for 31.8% of hospitalizations and are 13% of the population. Minnesota, Indiana and Kansas also had particularly high rates of hospitalizations for Black people compared to the population.
Of the 11 states that reported the number of Covid-19 hospitalizations for Hispanic patients, 10 had hospitalizations for Hispanic patients that were higher than their representative proportion of the state population. This was most pronounced in Virginia, where Hispanic people accounted for 36.2% of hospitalizations, compared with 9.6% of the population. Utah and Rhode Island also had high levels of hospitalizations compared with percentage of the population.
Only eight states reported hospitalization data for American Indian and Alaskan Native populations, but in some of these states there was a substantial disparity. For example, in Arizona, this group account for 4% of the state’s population but 15.7% of the hospitalizations. In Utah, this group accounted for 0.9% of the state’s population, but 5.0% of hospitalizations.
Asian populations were the only group for which the pattern was largely reversed. In six out of 10 states that reported data, hospitalization proportions were lower than population representation. For example, in Massachusetts, the Asian population compromised 7% of the population but only 4% of hospitalizations.
These findings are consistent with data from previous research, according to the authors. The study has some limitations, including that it did not adjust for age, sex, underlying conditions and socioeconomic factors within racial/ethnic groups that are likely related to Covid-19 hospitalization.
11:03 a.m. ET, August 17, 2020
Maryland establishes hotline to report potential Covid-19 violations
From CNN’s Rebekah Riess
Several of Maryland’s state agencies banded together to set up a toll-free Covid-19 prevention line for citizens to report concerns about potential situations, where coronavirus precautions are being ignored, according to a statement from Maryland State Police.
According to the statement, the new statewide toll-free hotline and corresponding email address can be used anonymously 24-hours-a-day to report situations of concern where “prevention guidelines are being ignored and the potential for the spread of COVID-19 is high.”
Information provided to the hotline will be forwarded to local health department officials and depending on the circumstances, teams of local officials from agencies, including the health department, liquor board, and law enforcement, will “assess the situation and take the appropriate action,” according to the statement.
“Individuals violating the Governor’s Executive Order could be charged with a violation of that order, which carries a penalty of up to one year in jail, a $5,000 fine, or both,” the statement said.
12:00 p.m. ET, August 17, 2020
At least 5 Florida students under quarantine after coronavirus exposure
From CNN’s Rosa Flores and Sara Weisfeldt
At least five students and two teachers from Bradford County School District in Florida have been placed on quarantine due to exposure to Covid-19, according to David Harris, the district's assistant superintendent.
Harris said two classrooms were impacted and were assigned to remote learning.
The Bradford County School District reopened last week.
This is the second school district in Florida that has been impacted by Covid-19 since schools reopened last week. Martin County School District has quarantined 151 students as of Monday morning.
9:55 a.m. ET, August 17, 2020
Easyjet to close 3 UK bases, putting hundreds of jobs at risk
From CNN's Robert North
An aircraft, operated by EasyJet Plc, sits grounded on the tarmac at London Stansted Airport in Stansted, U.K., on July 9. Luke MacGregor/Bloomberg/Getty Images
Easyjet will close its bases at London Stansted, London Southend and Newcastle starting August 31, said the group on Monday, putting hundreds of jobs at risk.
It cited the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and related travel restrictions compounded by quarantine measures in the UK. These rules have "created uncertainty for customers and an impact on demand for travel," said Easyjet in a statement.
The three bases employ 670 people, and Easyjet says it has reached an agreement on voluntary redundancy with staff. London Stansted and Newcastle will remain part of its network, and some domestic and international flights will continue to operate. The airline said it will inform customers of available refunds and transfer options in the coming days.
“We would like to reassure customers due to fly from these airports that we are now contacting anyone whose flight is affected with clear advice on their options which include rerouting via alternative airports or receiving a full refund," said the airline's CEO, Johan Lundgren.
9:39 a.m. ET, August 17, 2020
US stocks open higher despite collapsed stimulus talks
From CNN’s Anneken Tappe
Wall Street opened in the higher on Monday, as investors were apparently unfazed by the collapsed stimulus negotiations, renewed US-China tensions and an ongoing pandemic.
Here's how things looked at the opening:
The Dow opened 0.2%, or 54 points, higher.
The S&P 500 rose 0.2%.
The Nasdaq Composite kicked off 0.6% higher.
Both the S&P and the Nasdaq remain close to record highs.
