August 19 coronavirus news

Gov. John Bel Edwards signed an executive order declaring that an emergency exists for Louisiana’s November election because of Covid-19, according to a release from his office.  

"I do not believe the Secretary of State’s current plan goes far enough, because it does not take into account the seriousness of this global pandemic and the health and safety of the voters," said the release.  

According to Edwards, Secretary Kyle Ardoin's plan "does not provide for absentee mail-in voting options for people who are at high risk" for coronavirus. 

The emergency order signed Tuesday "allows the state to move forward with emergency plans to support the election," according to the release.  

CNN has reached out to Ardoin's office but has not heard back.  

Dr. Anthony Fauci said understanding the long-term effects of Covid-19 is “a work in progress.” 

“We are learning, literally, every week and every month,” the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said during a George Washington University webinar on Wednesday. 

Many coronavirus survivors have reported weeks and even months of symptoms after the first onset of infection.

“If you look at the people who were sick, but didn’t require hospitalization,” Fauci said, “when you look at the percentage of them — that actually recover, and recover within two to three weeks – a substantial proportion of them don’t feel right.”

Common complaints are often fatigue, muscle aches and brain fog, along with more “subtle, insidious” effects on the cardiovascular and nervous systems, he said. 

“We need to follow that,” he added.  

Watch part of Dr. Fauci's conversation with George Washington University: 

The University of Notre Dame is now reporting 222 positive Covid-19 cases, with an additional 73 positive cases added Tuesday.

This is slightly down from the 82 cases the school reported on Monday.

The 73 new cases were out of a total of 355 tests conducted, for a 20.5% positivity rate.

Notre Dame President Rev. John I. Jenkins announced Tuesday that all undergraduate classes will be remote for the next two weeks.

Spain reported 3,715 new coronavirus infections within the last day, the health ministry said on Wednesday. The latest reports mark the highest increase in Spain’s Covid-19 daily coronavirus cases since the end of the country’s lockdown in late June.

Until Wednesday, Spain’s record number of new cases since the lockdown ended was on Aug. 14, with a total of 2,987 new cases — making the latest figures a significant increase of 728 cases in comparison to the previous record.

Spain's cumulative case number, which includes antibody tests on people who may have already recovered from the virus, rose by 6,671 to 370,867.

Italy has recorded 642 new Covid-19 cases within the last day, bringing the total to at least 255,278, according to Italian Ministry of Health data released Wednesday. This represents the highest daily increase in cases since May 23. 

Among these coronavirus cases, 15,360 are actively positive, 204,506 have recovered and 35,412 have died.

According to the Italian Ministry of Health, 66 Covid-19 patients are in intensive care, an increase of 8 patients in ICU within the last day. 

Gov. Andrew Cuomo wants all New York state school districts to look at their reopening plans to see how they would handle a coronavirus outbreak similar to the one currently seen at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.

Cuomo wants to know if school reopening plans would be able to catch the spread before an outbreak can get as big as the one currently seen at Notre Dame. 

“if you can’t answer yes then there is a problem,” Cuomo said. 

During a call with reporters, Cuomo suggested that an outbreak in a K-12 school would be more problematic than an outbreak at a college. 

“Frankly, on a college it’s not as bad because the student is infecting other students. K-12 if you have 130 students positive, it’s not 130, it’s 500 because a student would have gone home and dealt with people In their immediate family,” Cuomo said. 

“The basic point is opening schools is risky and problematic,” Cuomo added. 

Some more context: Notre Dame is seeing a spike in Covid-19 cases since students returned to campus on Aug. 3. As of Tuesday, 147 students have tested positive, according to the school's online health dashboard. There were 80 positive cases of 418 tests administered Monday, meaning there was a 19% positivity rate.

On Tuesday, the university announced it was suspending in-person classes for two weeks.

New York reported 631 out of 80,425 people tested were positive for Covid-19, for a positivity rate of .78%, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced during a call with reporters. 

There were six deaths due to Covid-19, Gov. Cuomo announced. 

There are 548 New Yorkers hospitalized, 131 people in the ICU and six people currently intubated.

NOTE: The numbers listed were released by the New York Governor’s office and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project. 

Florida health officials reported 4,115 new Covid-19 cases and 174 additional resident deaths on Wednesday, according to Florida Department of Health (DOH). 

Cases in Florida have steadily declined since its peak on July 12 when 15,300 cases were reported, CNN's tally shows. 

The state is reporting 577,891 coronavirus cases among Florida residents and 9,932 Floridian deaths, according to DOH data. Florida health officials report 584,047 total cases across the state, DOH data shows. 

Remember: 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 

After what Southwest Airlines called a “modest improvement” in bookings in August, the airline is cutting back on the flights it will offer this fall.

Southwest said in a filing Wednesday that its available seats will be down 40% in September, compared to a year ago. It had previously said its capacity would only be down 20% to 25% in the month. And the reduced capacity will continue into October, when available seats will be down 40% to 50%.

The airline said the reduced flight plans are being implemented because “passenger demand and booking trends remain inconsistent.”

The company said the modest improvement in revenue and the efforts to cut costs have allowed it to trim its cash burn rate in the third quarter. Therefore it disclosed Wednesday that it will not need an additional $2.8 billion in federal loans this fall for which it was eligible. It said it has $15.2 billion in cash on hand as of Tuesday.

Shares of Southwest rose 3% in early trading Wednesday on the news.