September 9 coronavirus news

By Helen Regan, Adam Renton, Meg Wagner and Mike Hayes, CNN

Updated 12:00 a.m. ET, September 10, 2020
65 Posts
Sort byDropdown arrow
8:16 p.m. ET, September 9, 2020

New report finds US greatly undercounted coronavirus cases

From CNN's Maggie Fox

The US greatly undercounted coronavirus cases at the beginning of the pandemic, missing 90% of them – mostly because of a lack of testing, a new study finds.

The research, published in the journal Nature Communications, supports the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s own estimates that 90% of cases have been missed.

The United States may have experienced over 6.4 million cases of COVID-19 by 18 April 2020, according to a probability analysis published in Nature Communications. In the same period, there were 721,245 confirmed cases. 

By mid-April, the US probably already had more than 6 million cases of coronavirus, the team at the University of California Berkeley estimated. That’s just about what the current official count is now, four months later. 

Researchers Jade Benjamin-Chung and colleagues used a statistical method known as Bayesian probabilistic bias analysis to account for incomplete testing and less than perfect test accuracy. They went through actual case counts in each state and accounted for likely undercounts to calculate what the true number of cases should have been.

“We estimate 6,454,951 cumulative infections compared to 721,245 confirmed cases in the United States as of April 18, 2020,” they wrote.
“Accounting for uncertainty, the number of infections during this period was three to 20 times higher than the number of confirmed cases.”

In June, CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield said his agency had likely undercounted cases by a factor of 10.

They said 86% of the difference was due to incomplete testing, and 14% due to imperfect test accuracy. Incomplete testing was a result of policy.

“For the first few months of the pandemic, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended that physicians prioritize testing hospitalized patients, who tend to have moderate to severe symptoms,” the team wrote.

“Yet, evidence from studies that conducted broader testing suggest that 30–70% of individuals who test positive have mild or no symptoms and that asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic individuals can transmit SARS-CoV-2,” they added.

“Thus, a substantial number of mild or asymptomatic infections in the U.S. may be undetected.”

Even so, most people in the US have yet to have been infected. “Even in a best-case scenario in which SARS-CoV-2 infection produces immunity for 1–2 years, as is common for other betacoronaviruses, our results contribute to growing consensus that a very small proportion of the population has developed immunity and that the U.S. is not close to achieving herd immunity,” they concluded.

7:59 p.m. ET, September 9, 2020

Daughter whose father died of Covid-19 to Trump: "Resign" 

From CNN's Josiah Ryan

Kristin Urquiza.
Kristin Urquiza. Source: CNN

A woman who captured the nation's attention in a blistering speech at the Democratic National Convention late last month, once again held President Trump responsible for her father's death, and calling on him to resign. 

"In late May ... I was telling my dad, 'look, dad, it's still not safe,'" said Kristin Urquiza, speaking of her late father, Mark Urquiza, who she said was a Trump supporter before he died of the virus in June.

"I couldn't compete with the lies from the White House and because of that, my father passed away," she told CNN's Erin Burnett this evening. "It is inexcusable ... He trusted him and the President betrayed him and tens of thousand of other people."

Urquiza said there was nothing the President or administration could do to right the wrongs of its handling of the pandemic short of vacating the White House.

"The President needs to resign,” she said, when asked by Burnett what the administration could do to make it right. "He has shown that he is unfit to lead this country and that he does not care about the public health of Americans. That is only the sensible solution at this point in time."

Watch the interview:

7:45 p.m. ET, September 9, 2020

Michigan governor clarifies face covering requirements for organized sports

From CNN’s Jennifer Henderson and Rebekah Riess

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer listens as Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speaks at a campaign event on manufacturing and buying American-made products at UAW Region 1 headquarters in Warren, Michigan, on Wednesday, Sept. 9.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer listens as Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speaks at a campaign event on manufacturing and buying American-made products at UAW Region 1 headquarters in Warren, Michigan, on Wednesday, Sept. 9. Patrick Semansky/AP

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed an executive order today clarifying face covering requirements for organized sports, according to a news release from her office today.

The order specifies that athletes must wear a face covering at all times during training, practices and competitions if a distance of six feet cannot be maintained.

The order provided examples of soccer, volleyball and football as sports where athletes are not able to stay six feet apart so a face covering would be required.

6:56 p.m. ET, September 9, 2020

More than 900,000 people have died from Covid-19 worldwide

From CNN's Chandler Thornton

The global death toll from the novel coronavirus surpassed 900,000 this evening, according to Johns Hopkins University's tally.

There have been 900,079 deaths worldwide. The United States has accounted for 190,649 coronavirus-related deaths, the most around the world. 

The total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases around the world stands at 27,695,130, according to the university.

6:29 p.m. ET, September 9, 2020

Kentucky surpasses more than 1,000 coronavirus-related deaths

From CNN’s Jennifer Henderson

Kentucky hit a “tough and unfortunate milestone today” with more than 1,000 total deaths recorded from Covid-19, Gov. Andy Beshear announced in a news conference.

As way to honor those Kentuckians lost to Covid-19, Beshear said there would be a wreath-laying ceremony tomorrow in the Rotunda by the Kentucky State Police Honor Guard.

Beshear has also ordered all flags on all state buildings in the commonwealth to be flown at half-staff beginning tomorrow for a week “to recognize again those more than 1,000 Kentuckians we have lost."

“A number of people like my parents in their 70s [have died], I’m not gonna consider that old, because I want a lot more time with them and with them and my kids,” Beshear said. “Each one of these people is so much more than just what we read off. I mean, they’re one of us. They’re one of us, and no matter how old they were, they deserve time. No matter what other complicated health factors that they had, this played a part in it, and we owe it to them to work hard to make sure that we limit the future casualties that we have.”

Kentucky had 16 new deaths from Covid-19 for a total of 1,004 deaths and 667 new cases for a total of 53,977, Beshear added.

To note: These numbers were released by Beshear, and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project.

 

9:49 p.m. ET, September 9, 2020

Fauci says the pause of AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine trial shows that the system works

From CNN's Naomi Thomas

Erin Scott/Pool/Getty Images
Erin Scott/Pool/Getty Images

The decision to pause AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine trial because of a potential adverse event in one volunteer shows the safety monitoring system is working, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Wednesday.

“In many respects, obviously, it’s unfortunate that there was this serious adverse event, but in some respects, it shows that the system works,” Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told Fox News.

When there is a serious adverse event, “this is the kind of thing that you’d like to see,” he said.

“Mechanisms are put into place to stop everything, no more enrollment until you can figure out what’s going on and you can alert other people in the sites. Did they see anything either similar to or identical to this, is this a one-off, is this a fluke, or is this something that’s real and that we have to pay attention to?" Fauci added.

Americans should feel reassured, he said. They can “feel comfort that when there is an adverse event, it becomes very transparent and it becomes investigated and the trial is halted until we can clarify that.”

5:57 p.m. ET, September 9, 2020

Houston will "cautiously" restart live special events, mayor says

From CNN’s Raja Razek

Source: Pool
Source: Pool

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner announced Wednesday that he has been working with the health department and the special events office to formulate health and safety protocols to "cautiously" restart live special events in the city. 

"There is a desire from the live special events industry to follow safe guidelines and produce events in controlled environments," Turner said. "We're going to start out with a small audience, allowing up to 25% of the normal occupancy of a controlled venue. Everyone must wear masks, practice social distancing, have their temperatures checked, and answer the Covid-19 questionnaire upon entry."  

Turner made clear he would not approve events in uncontrolled spaces or venues. 

"There are events that will be unable to successfully take place at this time," he said. 

Each event request will be reviewed, and strict guidelines must be met prior to approval, according to Turner. 

"The Houston Dynamo and Dash have just announced that they will host their game series for the first time this year with less than 25% capacity in the stadium," the mayor said.

 

5:40 p.m. ET, September 9, 2020

Arizona State University will report cumulative cases of Covid-19 among students, faculty and staff

From CNN’s Gisela Crespo

A sign is posted on the entrance to an Arizona State University building in Tempe, Arizona, on June 1.
A sign is posted on the entrance to an Arizona State University building in Tempe, Arizona, on June 1. James Ahmed/Shutterstoc

Arizona State University announced Wednesday it will start reporting Covid-19 cumulative cases among students, faculty and staff, according to President Michael Crow.

The announcement came during a news briefing where university leadership addressed questions from the media about not including this metric in the reports it publishes on its website. Instead, the university has been reporting total known positive cases.

Some context: On Monday, the university said that as of Sunday, there were 807 total known positives among students out of a student body of 74,500.

These numbers do not include online students. The university also reported a total of 18 known positive cases among 12,400 faculty and staff members. As of Sunday, the university reported it had collected tests results from approximately 48,152 students and employees since Aug. 1.

5:37 p.m. ET, September 9, 2020

Los Angeles revises trick-or-treating ban

From CNN's Cheri Mossburg

Public health guidelines surrounding Halloween in Los Angeles are being revised from a ban on trick-or-treating, to simply a recommendation that people don’t go door-to-door on Halloween.

“We are recommending that trick-or-treating not happen this year,” Dr. Barbara Ferrer said at a news conference. “It’s just not sensible in a pandemic," she added.

Though trick-or-treating typically takes place outdoors, Ferrer cautioned that there's no guarantee that when you go trick-or-treating the person opening the door will be wearing a mask, that the person is not sick or that they haven't touched the candy being offered.

L.A. County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said his deputies will not be enforcing the issue.

“We’re going to leave that alone. We want parents out there to practice some common sense,” he said live on Facebook. “By the time October 31 rolls around, let’s see what the conditions are at that time. And if there’s some type of trick-or-treating that will be permissible, that’s going to be up to the public health experts on that.”