August 18 coronavirus news

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.

Students nationwide are returning to college campuses, and some schools are reporting pockets of positive Covid-19 cases.

Here's a look at what some schools are reporting:

Face coverings will be mandatory in enclosed shared offices spaces starting Sept. 1, Minister of Labor Elisabeth Borne announced Tuesday. 

A ministry statement released later added that masks will not be compulsory in individual offices “as long as there is only one person present.”

This announcement comes after “an upsurge in the number of COVID-19 cases has been observed, as well as an increase in the number of clusters across the country,” the statement said.

“The professional environment is affected by this increase: the number of clusters currently being investigated is 268, including 60 in company settings,” the statement added.

Face masks became mandatory in public indoor spaces late July. Several cities have also imposed the wearing of masks outdoors, such as Marseille and Paris where it is now mandatory in central districts, major tourist spots and other crowded areas.

Boeing is planning another round of job cuts on top of the 16,000 positions it previously announced it would eliminate.

The aircraft maker has been hit by hundreds of canceled orders as airlines struggle with a plunge in demand for air travel during the Covid-19 pandemic. Boeing said in April it planned to cut 10% of its global staff of 160,000 employees in response. 

"The pandemic has been tough on our people, our business and our industry. While there have been some signs of recovery, the reality is we're in a challenging position," said CEO Dave Calhoun in a message to Boeing employees Monday. He said there would be a new round of buyouts offered to employees next week.

Last month, Boeing said it would produce planes at a slower rate than previously expected for years to come. It has announced it will stop building the 747 when current orders for a freighter version of the plane run out in 2022. It is considering whether to consolidate production of the 787 Dreamliner, now built at factories in both Washington state and South Carolina, at one facility or the other.

The cuts announced in April target mostly Boeing's commercial aircraft unit. The latest round of buyouts will be offered to employees there, and also to workers in corporate offices and aircraft services.

Some more context: Earlier this year 5,500 Boeing employees agreed to take buyout packages and leave the company voluntarily. The company then laid off another 6,800 in May. But even as it prepared for additional cuts to hit the 16,000 target, the long-term production plans changed for the worse. 

It also has yet to be granted approval of the 737 Max to carry passengers once again. The plane has been grounded, and deliveries halted, since March of 2019 following two fatal crashes that killed 346 people.

Iraq’s Ministry of Health reported 4,567 news coronavirus cases on Tuesday. This is a new record in daily cases.

The total number of cases in Iraq is now 184,709. 

The health ministry reported 82 new Covid-19 deaths, bringing the total number of deaths in Iraq to 6,036.