August 19 coronavirus news

Brazil has confirmed 49,298 new Covid-19 cases and 1,212 deaths in the past 24 hours, the country’s health ministry reported Wednesday. 

At least 111,100 people have died in Brazil from coronavirus, according to the ministry’s data. The total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases now stands at 3,456,652.

A top Brazilian health official said at today’s news conference that Covid-19-related deaths in the country have been on the decline.

Some context: As of last week, Covid-19-related deaths fell by 2% compared to the previous week, according to data released on Wednesday by the health ministry.

Brazil continues to trail only the United States in terms of the highest number of coronavirus infections and deaths in the world.

Health officials in Washington state – where the first US coronavirus outbreak was reported – say the rate of new cases is slowing down for a second time.

“I do honestly think that the face coverings have made a difference,” Secretary of Health Dr. John Weisman said Wednesday during a news conference.

Earlier in the week, the department issued a status report saying new cases are “plateauing” in Washington.

The statewide seven-day rolling average peaked nearly a month ago, but Weisman said case counts are only just now getting back down to where they were during the state’s first peak at the beginning of April.

“We're both encouraged, and also still really cautious,” he said.

North Carolina State University has identified two additional Covid-19 clusters at two sorority houses on campus, according to a release on the school’s website.

The Alpha Delta Pi Sorority House has reported seven positive cases and the Kappa Delta Sorority House has six positive cases. 

All students who have tested positive will be isolated and residents of both houses are being quarantined, the release said.

On Tuesday: The school reported two other clusters, one among the Greek life system and another in off-campus housing. 

According to tracking data on the school’s website, the school reported 28 news cases of Covid-19 today, 27 among students and one employee.

San Diego, Santa Cruz, and Placer counties are no longer on California’s Covid-19 monitoring list after meeting requirements for slowing the spread of the coronavirus, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced during a news conference on Wednesday.

San Francisco may come off the watch list as early as Thursday, Newsom added.

While 40 of California’s 58 counties are currently on the state’s watch list, Newsom said “we want this list to go down to zero.”

More details: Counties are required to have fewer than 100 coronavirus cases per 100,000 residents for two weeks and a 7-day positivity rate below 8% to stay off the state watch list, according to guidelines from the California Department of Public Health. Counties off the watch list for 14 consecutive days are eligible to apply for a waiver to open in-person classes for elementary schools.

In Los Angeles County, which has the most coronavirus cases and deaths in the state, the county’s public health director Dr. Barbara Ferrer, said during a briefing Wednesday that the county is “doing better,” but “not doing well enough.”

While Los Angeles County has made “decent progress” with a test positivity rate below 8%, the county is still reporting about 245 cases per 100,000 residents, Ferrer said.

More than half of Kentucky counties are in the White House “danger zone” designations when it comes to Covid-19 infections, Gov. Andy Beshear announced Wednesday.

Kentucky recorded 655 new Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours as well as 12 new deaths, Beshear told reporters during a news conference in Frankfort.

The governor also emphasized that among the new cases, 91 or 14% are children age 18 years-old or younger.

Kentucky now counts a total of 40,926 cases, including a total of 842 deaths, Beshear said. 

Massachusetts said Wednesday it would require all schoolchildren to get influenza vaccines to stay enrolled in public schools and daycares, making it the first state to require flu shots for children over the age of 5.

Most states require that children get the 16 recommended childhood vaccines to attend public schools, but the influenza vaccine, which must be given freshly every year, has been an exception.

Public health officials including US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Robert Redfield have been urging all Americans to get vaccinated against flu this year so the virus doesn’t further complicate the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

“Students will be expected to have received a flu vaccine by December 31, 2020 for the 2020-2021 influenza season, unless either a medical or religious exemption is provided,” the Massachusetts health department said.

“Also exempted are K-12 students who are homeschooled and higher education students who are completely off-campus and engaged in remote learning only," the department added.

The CDC estimates that 600 children died of flu during the 2017-2018 flu season.

“Every year, thousands of people of all ages are affected by influenza, leading to many hospitalizations and deaths,” Dr. Larry Madoff, medical director of the state’s Bureau of Infectious Disease, said in a statement.

“It is more important now than ever to get a flu vaccine because flu symptoms are very similar to those of COVID-19 and preventing the flu will save lives and preserve healthcare resources.”  

Once again, no NBA players within the Disney World based campus have tested positive for Covid-19, the league reports. 

The NBA and the players union jointly announced zero positive Covid-19 test results from the 341 players tested this past week. 

The last time the NBA reported positive test results was on July 13, when 322 players were tested with two confirmed positives. 

The first round of the 2020 NBA playoffs are ongoing in Orlando, Florida. 

US stocks ended the day in the red and neither the S&P 500 nor the Nasdaq Composite reached new record highs.

The Federal Reserve's July meeting minutes reminded the market that the recovery remains fragile and that its path will depend on how well we deal with the virus in the future. That put a damper on things.

Covid-19 cases are declining across the United States and it’s clear “trends are going in the right direction,” Adm. Dr. Brett Giroir said during a US Department of Health and Human Services telebriefing on Wednesday. 

Giroir says wearing a mask, staying a safe distance away, washing your hands along with testing “continues to yield results.”

But Giroir doesn’t want the news to lead to complacency because “this thing could turn around very quickly if we're not careful. We saw that early on after Memorial Day, and the couple weeks afterward that sort of started the current outbreak, and it takes many weeks to get control over this once you institute measures."  

Giroir, the assistant secretary for health at HHS, said new cases are down 22% since their peak in July – but noted that “tragically,” deaths are the lagging indicator and still remain flat.  

More data: Giroir said of the 56 US jurisdictions, 80% of them (45 out of 56) are currently in a declining pattern when it comes to new cases. Six of the 56 are flat. He said five are in an upward trajectory — Guam, Hawaii, California, Indiana and Vermont.