September 9 coronavirus news

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson has announced that the state's health department has partnered with Baptist Health in order to increase Covid-19 testing capacity by 20%.

According to the governor, the department of health will refer 50% of the tests that come in to Baptist Health for its analysis and will provide the personnel to operate the commercially rated lab equipment, which the department of health is providing.

Baptist Health will be operating the equipment 24 hours per day, seven days a week, according to Hutchinson.

The state expects to be operational with the new equipment, which will run over 1,000 tests a day, by Oct. 1.

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice announced today that the state's Covid-19 numbers aren't where they should be. 

The governor said today's positivity rate is at 7.78%, adding “that’s really bad.”

Justice added that West Virginia has a record high of active Covid-19 cases with at least 2,806 and "the worst reproduction rate, the RT rate is at 1.35. It's the worst in the nation."

The governor called on state residents to do better, as this is a critical time.  

Note: These numbers were released by the West Virginia 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.

The University of Georgia reported at least 1,417 positive Covid-19 cases were reported to the school for the week of Aug. 31 through Sept. 4, according to a UGA release.

Of the positive cases, 1,402 were students, 14 were staff, and just one was a member of faculty.

The data suggests spread is not happening in classroom settings, according to Dr. Garth Russo, executive director of the University Health Center and chair of UGA’s medical oversight task force, said in the release. 

Miami-Dade, Florida, Mayor Carlos Giménez announced Wednesday he is loosening some restrictions in the county after a meeting with Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Deborah Birx.

Starting Monday, Miami-Dade's 10 p.m. curfew will be pushed back one hour to 11 p.m., Giménez said. Restaurants and businesses will be allowed to serve customers for the extra hour, he said.

Anyone attending a college or professional sporting event that ends after the curfew should keep their game ticket "in case you get stopped by police when you're heading home," Giménez said.

The University of Miami Hurricanes season opener at Hard Rock Stadium is scheduled for 8 p.m. Thursday, with 13,000 socially distanced fans allowed to attend.

Zoos and animal adventure parks, like Zoo Miami and Jungle Island, can open their gates to visitors for outdoor activities starting Monday as well, Giménez said.

Playgrounds in the county will remain closed while baseball and softball will now be allowed, with some restrictions. Other amateur contact sports like football and soccer are still not allowed, the mayor said.

Rental scooters and bikes will also be allowed. Scooter companies have been asked to provide sanitizing supplies at docking stations for customers, Giménez said.

Miami-Dade is down to a 6.46% positivity rate in its 14-day average, according to Giménez.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said during Wednesday’s press briefing that AstraZeneca’s recent pause on a coronavirus vaccine trial showed “science is guiding the way on a vaccine.”

McEnany called their pause “a routine response when you see an adverse effect.”

McEnany also said that an end of year coronavirus vaccine is still the goal, despite the pause, and disputed that there was ever an Election Day deadline.

“Our timing is not about the election. It is about saving lives and by the end of the year has always been our goal, but of course a safe and effective vaccine, we will take it as quickly as we can get it,” she said.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo just announced that indoor dining in New York City can resume on Sept. 30.

Restaurants must operate at 25% capacity and follow strict restrictions, including temperature-checking guests at the door and now allowing bar service.

Here's a look at all of the restrictions, according to Cuomo:

New York’s Covid-19 infection rate remains under 1% for 33 straight days, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday.

New York’s Covid-19 infection rate is 0.91%, Cuomo said. 

The State Liquor Authority has visited over 36,000 establishments and those restaurants have maintained a 99.2% compliance with capacity restrictions, the governor said.

“Rules are only as good as their compliance. And the compliance is only as good as the enforcement,” Cuomo said. 

One thing to note: The numbers listed were released by the state of New York and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project. 

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said he’s hopeful to have an announcement regarding indoor dining as early as this week.  

He made a similar comment last week.

The mayor said there have been a lot of conversations over the last few days with Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office and are making a lot of progress, but indoor dining has to be done safely. 

The final decision on indoor dining will be made by Cuomo who said yesterday that local governments need to have an “enforcement mechanism” in place.

The mayor noted that indoor dining is a “contributing factor” to recent spikes in Europe.

“The really important piece of this is our opportunity to do more with indoor dining is directly related to how well we do on the health picture overall. If we keep fighting back the coronavirus, more and more options open up. If the coronavirus starts to re-surge you’re not going to see a lot of things, including indoor dining," he said. 

De Blasio also said he is working to give some clarity to the restaurant industry “so they can have some option to keep going.”

De Blasio announced 220 new cases of coronavirus Wednesday with a positivity rate of 1.04%.

President Trump told journalist Bob Woodward that he wanted to play down the coronavirus pandemic because he didn't want to "create a panic," according to an audio recording from Woodward's interviews.

CNN has obtained the recordings of Woodward's interviews with Trump for his new book "Rage." According to the book, Trump also knew in early February coronavirus was dangerous, highly contagious, airborne and "deadly."

Here's part of a recording from March 19:

Trump: Now it’s turning out it’s not just old people, Bob. Just today and yesterday, some startling facts came out. It’s not just old- older.   

Woodward: Yeah, exactly.  

Trump: Young people too, plenty of young people.  

Woodward: So, give me-   

Trump: So what’s going on-  

Woodward: -a moment of talking to somebody, going through this with Fauci or somebody who kind of, it caused a pivot in your mind. Because it’s clear, just from what’s on the public record that you went through a pivot on this to, ‘oh my god, the gravity is almost inexplicable and unexplainable.’  

Trump: Well I think, Bob, really, to be honest with you-  

Woodward: Sure, I want you to be.  

Trump: I wanted to- I wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down, because I don’t want to create a panic.

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