August 18 coronavirus news

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has launched a new program that will help monitor the spread of Covid-19 using sewage.

The new National Wastewater Surveillance System will help local public health leaders better understand the extent of the spread of the pandemic in their communities, the CDC said in an update on its website Monday.

Sewage from house and workplaces can be tested for genetic material from the novel coronavirus. Studies show the virus can be found in feces from people who are sick and also from people who don’t yet have Covid-19 symptoms. 

About 80% of the US is on some kind of municipal sewer system, the CDC said. With delays in testing and limited contact tracing, this would be a good complement to those methods and may give a good big picture of how widespread the disease is. Depending on how frequently the wastewater is tested, sewage can be a leading indicator of changes in the burden of the disease in the community, the CDC said.

That would mean the community might have a few extra days to prepare for surge capacity in hospitals or to make lockdown decisions.

Learning from history: This is not the first time the US has used sewage testing to monitor disease. Studies have shown it was an effective method to monitor for disease during polio outbreaks.

This method does have some limitations. It cannot capture information from septic systems. That means it would miss data from more than 60 million people who rely on septic.

In New Hampshire, half of all homes have individual systems. About a third of all new development is also served by septic or some other kind of decentralized system, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

This method cannot surveil decentralized systems like those used in universities or prisons that treat their waste. Several prisons have been hotspots for Covid-19 infections. It’s also unclear if low levels of infection in a community could be captured this way. The CDC said it is not possible to rely on wastewater data to predict the number of individual infections.    

The CDC said it is working on a portal for local leaders to submit their wastewater testing data into a national database and the CDC will release data as it gets it. 

Domestic violence calls have gone up in several regions in the Americas, according to the Pan American Health Organization.

"The ongoing stay-at-home measures, coupled with the social and economic impacts of this virus are increasing the risks of domestic violence," Pan American Health Organization director Dr. Carissa Etienne said in a briefing Tuesday. "Home, is no longer a safe space for many."

In Argentina, domestic violence calls have increased by more than a third, Etienne said. And in Mexico, calls have gone up more than 50% in comparison to last year. Etienne warned this may not even represent the full picture.

"Violence is never acceptable and survivors of domestic violence, should not be blamed," Etienne urged.

Senate Republicans have drafted a scaled-back coronavirus relief proposal as talks between Democrats and the White House remain stalled.

While the proposal isn’t expected to be considered any time soon – the US Senate remains adjourned for summer recess – it serves as a new marker for a conference that has been fractious and divided throughout the coronavirus relief talks. It also marks the latest effort to jar loose talks that on economic relief that have only grown further from a resolution and outcome as the weeks have passed. 

Still, it includes $10 billion in funding for the US Postal Service, which has become a political flash point over the last several weeks due to operational changes that have led to allegations of deliberately slowed service. 

The proposal is a “skinny” version of the $1 trillion Senate GOP proposal introduced last month.

Here's what other key points it would also include:

It also would include an extension of the enhanced federal unemployment benefit, but at a reduced level of $300. The benefit, which lapsed at the end of July, was set in the $2.2 trillion CARES Act at a flat rate of $600. 

The $10 billion funding level for the postal service is a nod to the tentative agreement reached between Democratic and White House negotiators on funding and will allow Republicans to point to the measure as a way to address calls for Congressional action as the election approaches. 

The 169 page draft proposal is expected to serve as a discussion point among Senate Republicans in the weeks ahead, with the idea being that it could be considered upon their return to Washington in September, according to GOP aides.

It also serves as an additional element for White House and Democratic negotiators to consider. Those talks, which fell apart earlier this month, have remained at a standstill over significant disagreements ranging from the topline cost to the specific components of any measure. 

“There's a deal to do here if the Democrats want to be reasonable," Treasury Sec. Steven Mnuchin said in an interview on CNBC. 

There are at least 5,462,976 cases of coronavirus in the US and at least 171,120 people have died from the virus, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

So far on Monday, Johns Hopkins has reported 24,651 new cases and 623 reported deaths.  

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

The Chicago Department of Public Health announced today that Iowa and Kansas have been re-added to the city’s travel quarantine list. The city also said Wisconsin was removed from the list.

Last week, Iowa, Kansas and Utah were taken off the list, but now people coming from Iowa and Kansas will have to quarantine again as positive case numbers trend higher in those states. 

The order says travelers and Chicago residents coming into the city from 20 states and territories must quarantine for 14 days. The states are designated by case rates greater than 15 new cases per 100,000 resident population per day over a 7-day rolling average. 

Chicago Department of Public Commissioner Allison Arwady said today that Arizona and North Carolina are likely to be dropped from the list next week as their numbers improve.  

Chicago updates its emergency travel order on Tuesdays. The initial order went into effect on July 6.

The University of Notre Dame reported an additional 80 positive cases of Covid-19, bringing the total number of cases to at least 147 since Aug. 3.

The 80 positive cases from Monday were out of a total of about 418 tests administered –– thats a 19% positivity rate.

Some background: Students are returning to college campuses across the US, and several universities are already detecting cases of coronavirus.

At Notre Dame, the spike started on Aug. 10, when 4 out of 197 people tested positive. On Sunday alone, 15 of the 30 tests were positive.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said today that all sports will go forward this fall, even contact sports.

During a news conference Tuesday, DeWine said the order, likely to be issued in the next 24 hours, will lay out guidance for sports to be played as safely as it can be played in the year of Covid-19. 

According to the governor, some school superintendents have requested contact sports be moved to the spring and he will give them the OK if that’s what they choose.

Under the order, spectators will be allowed as long as they’re family members or someone very close to the child.

The order will apply to all athletes and all teams in the state.

CNN's Anderson Cooper pressed MyPillow founder Mike Lindell on his promotion of the use of Oleandrin as a potential therapeutic for coronavirus. Lindell could not cite a single published peer reviewed study about the effectiveness of the therapy.

Lindell repeatedly pushed a study that allegedly tested the therapeutic on 1,000 people, but failed to properly cite who the study was conducted by when asked multiple times during the 20-minute interview.

Cooper: "Where is the test? Show it to us." 

Lindell: "I don’t have the test on me."

Cooper: "Name where it’s from. Who did the test? What university? What doctors?"

Lindell: "I guess you’d have to have Dr. [Ben] Carson and then the company ... that all the tests that were done, on your show."

Oleandrin is an extract from the plant Nerium oleander. The raw oleander plant is highly toxic, and consumption of it can be fatal.

Last week, Lindell was added to the board of Phoenix Biotechnology, which makes Oleandrin, and received a financial stake in the company.

Lindell insisted that his promotion of the therapy was not about personal profit.

"I don't care about the money ... This company wanted me because I help people. That's my passion and I can scale things to get it out to everybody to save our country, to save lives," he told Cooper.

Lindell also said that the US Food and Drug Administration has the studies backing his claim, but Oleandrin has not been approved by the FDA.

The agency generally does not approve dietary supplements, but says it is the company's responsibility to make sure its products are safe and claims are true.

FDA has gone after hundreds of products for making false claims about diagnosing, preventing or treating Covid-19.

Additionally a member of the White House coronavirus task force told CNN this has never been brought up during a task force meeting — even those attended by Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, who is a member of the White House coronavirus task force, with whom Lindell said he shared his findings.

Watch the interview here:

Florida health officials are reporting at least 3,838 new coronavirus cases and approximately 219 new Covid-19 related deaths among Florida residents on Tuesday, according to data released by the Florida Department of Health (FLDOH). Florida’s highest number of deaths in a single day—276 deaths—was reported on August 11. 

This is the tenth time Florida has reported more than 200 coronavirus related deaths in one day.  

The state is reporting at least 573,811 coronavirus cases among Florida residents and approximately 9,758 deaths, according to FLDOH data. Florida health officials report at least 579,932 total cases across the state.

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