August 27 coronavirus news

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham issued a new public health order effective Saturday that will relax certain occupancy restrictions, she announced today.

In accordance with Covid-Safe Practices, houses of worship may operate at 40% capacity up from 25% in enclosed buildings and can still have services outside or use audiovisual aids, the order said. 

Food and drink establishments, in accordance with Covid-Safe Practices, can operate indoor dining service at 25% capacity. All tables, indoors or outdoors, can have no more than six people and must be at least six feet apart. 

Mass gatherings of more than 10 people are prohibited. The order will remain in effect through Sept. 18.

Eight players from the University of Nebraska football team are suing the Big Ten Conference, requesting an order to invalidate the Big Ten’s decision to not play football this fall because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The 13-page lawsuit was filed Thursday in Lancaster County District Court in Nebraska.

The plaintiffs in the suit are Nebraska football players Garrett Snodgrass, Garrett Nelson, Ethan Piper, Noa Pola Gates, Alante Brown, Brant Banks, Brig Banks and Jackson Hannah. They are seeking damages of less than $75,000 and for the fall season to be restored, the lawsuit says.

While Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren previously has said that the vote by the Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors was “overwhelmingly in support of postponing fall sports and will not be revisited,” the lawsuit says that the council did not vote on whether to cancel the fall football season.

The lawsuit references University of Minnesota president Joan Gabel and Michigan State University president Samuel Stanley, Jr. as being quoted that the council did not vote on the decision to cancel or postpone the 2020 fall football season.

The lawsuit says this “a case in which a powerful collegiate athletic conference contends that its student athletes have no rights.”

CNN has reached out to the Big Ten for comment on the lawsuit.

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont announced a new order Thursday regarding visitation to nursing homes.

Under the order, facilities that are Covid-19 free for 14 days will have to create their own visitation plans for each resident based on their needs, said Department of Public Health Commissioner Deidre Gifford.

This order clarifies that visits can take place more than once a week, extends socially distanced visits to a minimum time of 30 minutes — previously 20 — and requires facilities to allow visitation at least five days per week, one of which needs to fall over the weekend. Indoor compassionate care visits where people can visit loved ones nearing the end of their lives or whose conditions have deteriorated due to social isolation will also be allowed, said Gifford.

This order only applies to facilities that haven't had Covid-19 cases for 14 days.

Visitors will be required to wear personal protective equipment during visits, but social distancing isn't necessarily required for passionate care visits, Gifford said.

Brazil reported 44,235 new coronavirus cases and 984 deaths in the last 24 hours, its health ministry said on Thursday.

The country has recorded more than 3.76 million Covid-19 cases with a total of 118,649 deaths so far, according to the ministry. 

Brazil continues to be second only to the United States in the highest total number of coronavirus cases and deaths globally. 

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan on Thursday announced he will authorize all counties in the state to safely begin reopening schools for in-person learning.

Hogan said the majority of Maryland's school counties have developed plans that include returning children to the schools for "some form of in-person instruction" in the fall, including for children with special needs. 

Hogan said that "of course, the authority and decision making on those safe reopenings continues to rest with those county boards of education" but their decisions need to be based on statewide metrics.

Under the new guidelines, jurisdictions that are both at or below 5% positivity rate and five new cases per 100,000 population over a seven-day average should be able to hold in-person instruction, said Dr. Jinlene Chan, acting deputy secretary at the Maryland Department of Health.

The latest numbers: Hogan said Maryland's Covid-19 positivity rate has been under 5% for 63 consecutive days since June 25, and below 4% for since Aug. 8. 

"We have seen dramatic improvements in the positivity rates of every single one of our most populous jurisdictions in the state. And last week for the first time, the Covid-19 positivity rate for all 24 jurisdictions in Maryland fell below the 5% milestone. Seventeen of our 24 jurisdictions now have positivity rates below 3.5%," Hogan said.

South Africa's health department reported 2,585 new coronavirus cases Thursday, bringing its total to 618,286. 

South Africa ranks fifth in the world for confirmed coronavirus cases following the United States, Brazil, India, and Russia, according to data held by the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center.

The country's health department also reported 126 new Covid-19-related fatalities which brings the total number of deaths to 13,628.  

There are now 87 Covid-19 cases associated with an outbreak from an Aug. 7 wedding in Millinocket, Maine, Dr. Nirav Shah, director of the state's Center for Disease Control and Prevention, announced Thursday.

The outbreak has since spread to the Maplecrest Rehabilitation Center and York County jail, Shah said.

Of the 87 cases, 30 are primary cases, meaning those individuals directly attended the wedding and reception, Shah said. That’s almost half of the approximately 65 guests who attended the event.

There are 35 secondary cases, or people who are close contacts of the primary cases, and 22 tertiary cases, or those who are close contacts of the secondary cases, he continued. 

At the Maplecrest Rehabilitation Center in Madison, Shah reported nine cases, five of whom are residents and four are staff.

Meanwhile, at the York County jail in Alfred, Shah said a total of 18 individuals have tested positive — nine staff members, two “other staff” in the building, and seven inmates. 

Exponential growth: Shah said the situation is concerning because of how many people were affected from that initial setting.

California Senate Republicans have been barred from entering the state Capitol after a member tested positive for coronavirus, Senate President pro Tempore Toni G. Atkins said in a statement on Thursday, forcing the lawmakers to vote remotely.

The announcement came after State Sen. Brian Jones said on Wednesday that he had tested positive for the virus, prompting the Senate to cancel its daily session as state lawmakers rush to pass legislation ahead of an Aug. 31 legislative deadline.

“Senator Brian Jones today, upon his return to Sacramento this week for the end of Session, received news that he has tested positive for COVID-19,” his office tweeted. “He will be taking additional tests to recheck the results and to rule out possibility of a false-positive result.”

A complete cleaning of Senate facilities was ordered following the announcement and members were banned from entering the state Capitol building, according to Atkins.  

Republican lawmakers who may have been exposed to the virus are subject to a quarantine order and will be remotely voting from home.

“The Senate Rules Committee has arranged for our Republican colleagues to debate and vote from their residences as we work to conclude the people’s business by the August 31 constitutional deadline,” Atkins said.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany announced the purchase of 150 million rapid Covid-19 tests on Twitter Thursday afternoon.

“This is a major development that will help our country to remain open, get Americans back to work, and kids back to school!” McEnany tweeted.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the deal with Abbott Laboratories is worth $750 million.

Some background: Abbott Labs got emergency approval yesterday from the US Food and Drug Administration for its rapid antigen test, which can detect a Covid-19 infection in 15 minutes.

The FDA's emergency use authorization is for Abbott's BinaxNOW Covid-19 Ag Card. The size of a credit card, BinaxNOW will cost $5 and will come with a free mobile app that will let people who test negative display a temporary, date-stamped health pass that is renewed each time a new test is taken.

The antigen test, which involves a nasal swab, uses the same type of technology as a flu test. Abbott says it anticipates producing 50 million BinaxNOW tests a month by October.

"The massive scale of this test and app will allow tens of millions of people to have access to rapid and reliable testing," said Joseph Petrosino, a professor of virology at Baylor College of Medicine, in a statement released by Abbott.

With reporting from CNN's David Goldman, Andrea Kane and Nadia Kounang.