August 18 coronavirus news

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

Pennsylvania will roll out a Covid-19 contact tracing app for residents in September, Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine announced Tuesday. 

The app, COVID Alert PA, will use Bluetooth technology and notify Pennsylvanians if they spent 15 minutes or more in close proximity to another person who later tested positive for the virus. The app is voluntary, and will protect user's identities and locations, Levine said. It will alert someone to exposure without comprising the identity of the person with the virus.

The state has worked with researchers at MIT on the product, but it does not replace contact tracers.

Some more context: More than 125,570 Pennsylvanians have contracted Covid-19 and almost 7,500 people have died from the virus, according to Levine.

Note: These numbers were released by the state 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.

A coalition of labor unions in Nevada, the “Save Our Jobs” Coalition, launched a campaign on Tuesday to save jobs lost due to the pandemic and secure the “right to return” for workers in hospitality, convention and trade shows, airport, entertainment, and hospitals in Nevada’s Clark County. 

The coalition called on the Clark County Board of Commissioners to consider the “Right to Return” ordinance which would require employers to allow workers to return to their jobs in several industries throughout the county if the employee had been laid off or furloughed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We realize that not all of [the jobs] are going to open right now, or right away, but when they do, we’re asking that you consider an ordinance to allow them to go back to the work they had before this pandemic hit,” he said.

Some more context: The coalition comprises of about 87,000 workers in Nevada, according to a statement from the Culinary Workers Union.

According to the Culinary Union, more than 98% of its members were laid off due to the pandemic.

Famed college basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski said the NCAA cannot afford to cancel another March Madness.

While appearing on ESPN Radio on Tuesday, Coach K acknowledged the huge financial strain that needs to be mitigated by hosting a postseason tournament, no matter when it takes place. 

Krzyzewski, the all-time winningest coach in college basketball explained, "We're the thing that the NCAA is most concerned about because men's college basketball and the tournament pays for something like 98% of the, it produces 98% or more of the money for the NCAA." 

"We need to have the tournament. We can't have it where two years in a row you do not have the NCAA tournament," he continued.

Some context: In March, the NCAA canceled the annual postseason tournament due to concerns about the spread of coronavirus. The men's Division I championship had been played every year since its inception in 1939.

Krzyzewski believes the NCAA should look to model the example set by the so-far successful, isolated Disney campus the NBA is utilizing this season.

"Make sure you have the tournament. It doesn't make any difference when it is. Because we don't even know when the NBA season is going to be next year. And we should look at them to see how they navigate the waters going forward. They've navigated them really well with the bubble," Krzyzewski said.

The upcoming season will be Krzyzewski's 41st at Duke. The Hall of Fame coach has won five national championships leading the Blue Devils.

The US is collaborating with health authorities and scientists from across the world to try to manage the coronavirus pandemic, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday.

Fauci said that he and his colleagues from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention join a weekly call sponsored by the World Health Organization to share insights.

“Essentially, the health authorities and scientists from every country in the world, practically, that gets involved with Covid-19,” Fauci said during a town hall with Healthline.com.

There are scientific collaborations with colleagues in Europe, the European Union, Australia, Canada and Mexico, he said. Plus drugs and vaccines are being tested in South Africa, Brazil, Chile and Peru.

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker announced Tuesday 213 new positive Covid-19 cases, bringing the state total to 114,611.

The seven-day average for the positive case rate is about 1.4% and has been hovering between this and 2% for the past several weeks.

At a news conference, Baker detailed the status of hospitals in Massachusetts pointing out that 367 patients are currently hospitalized for Covid-19 statewide and 59 of those are in intensive care. As of yesterday, four hospitals were using surge capacity. 

The seven-day average for the number of total tests conducted has been above 20,000 tests for the past few weeks. Baker believes that the success in testing numbers is largely due to the “Stop the Spread Initiative,” which provides free testing in 17 communities statewide that have seen a higher prevalence of Covid-19. The initiative began on July 10 and will continue through Sept. 12.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's leading infectious disease expert, says he does not foresee a Covid-19 vaccine mandate in the United States. 

Fauci said everyone has the right to refuse a vaccine. “If someone refuses the vaccine in the general public, then there's nothing you can do about that. You cannot force someone to take a vaccine," he said.

America’s top infectious diseases doctor did say in some areas, like the medical sector, many health care workers are asked to vaccinate in order to have contact with patients.  

“When you're in the medical sector, depending on the policy of a hospital, the hospital may say — if you refuse to take a given vaccine, whether that's a hepatitis vaccine, or a flu vaccine or perhaps even the Covid vaccine, that you might not be able to have person-to-person contact with patients,” he explained.

Testing is “still not completely fixed” across the entire nation, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday.

“The other thing that's a problem — still not completely fixed, but fixed in many areas of the country, but not all — is the delay between the time you do the test and you get the result back,” he said during a Tuesday town hall with Healthline.com.

If tests results take “five to seven days, it almost obviates the purpose of contact tracing, because that means somebody was out there for five to seven days potentially spreading the infection,” he said.

“We are correcting that — we're trying hard and we are correcting it in many areas," Fauci said.

But clear and fast results are needed to calculate an important metric: percent positivity.

“You look at New York City right now it's less than 1%. That's what you want the whole country to be,” he said.

“There are parts of the country where it's 15, 18, 20% — that's really high,” he said. “The percent of your tests that you do that are actually positive it's got to be a very low number,” he said. 

The Lebanese caretaker government announced Tuesday a countrywide lockdown starting 6 a.m. local time Friday following a surge in Covid-19 cases.

The lockdown will be extended until 6 a.m. local time on Sept. 7.

The Lebanese caretaker interior and municipalities minister issued a decree ordering the lockdown, which includes the closure of all private institutions, open markets, commercial companies, the seaside corniche, tourist facilities, indoor and outdoor sports facilities, stadiums, clubs, public and private swimming pools, restaurants, cafes, clubs, nightclubs, and others. All public and social gatherings are prohibited under the decree. 

Restoration work, removal of rubble, and aid distribution in the neighborhoods affected by the Beirut port blast are exempt from the lockdown. 

Employees of the security, medical, civil defense services, the press, ports and the airport, as well as medicine manufacturing sector are also exempt from the lockdown. The airport remains open.

The latest cases: Lebanon registered 421 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, bringing its total number of cases to 9,758, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.

Lebanon has recently witnessed a surge of Covid-19 cases. This comes as the country is suffering from an economic collapse and dealing with the aftermath of the port blast that ripped through the capital, killing about 170 people, wounding around 6,000 people and displacing about 300,000 people.