September 22 coronavirus news

By Helen Regan, Adam Renton, Tara John, Ed Upright, Meg Wagner, Mike Hayes and Melissa Macaya, CNN

Updated 12:01 a.m. ET, September 23, 2020
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12:52 p.m. ET, September 22, 2020

People at any age with underlying conditions are in the risk group for serious disease, Fauci says

From CNN Health’s Naomi Thomas

It isn’t just the elderly who are at risk of serious illness when infected with the novel coronavirus. Younger people with underlying conditions are also in that high risk category, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta during the CITIZEN by CNN event on Tuesday.

“It isn’t just the elderly and those with underlying conditions,” Fauci said. “Because it can be serious in young people.”

Quantitatively, “for sure,” it’s much less serious as a group in young people, he said, but it is important to remember that there are many people in all age groups who have underlying conditions.

“And if you look at the two groups that are at risk for serious conditions, it’s the elderly and people at any age with underlying conditions,” he said. “Underlining any age.”

If you’re a younger person with an underlying condition such as diabetes, obesity, hypertension or heart disease, “You are in the risk category for a serious disease,” he said.

The people with underlying conditions make up a substantial proportion of the population, Fauci said.

“So, don’t just think the elderly are the problem,” he said. “True, people with underlying conditions, but those are not just isolated to the elderly. There are plenty of younger people who have underlying conditions that put them at risk.”

Fauci's comments come a day after President Trump falsely claimed the virus affects "nobody young."

"We now know the disease; we didn't know it. Now we know it — it affects elderly people with heart problems and other problems. If they have other problems, that's what it really affects. In some states, it affects thousands of people, nobody young. Below the age of 18, like, nobody," Trump said at a rally in Swanton, Ohio, last night.

Watch:

10:43 a.m. ET, September 22, 2020

New York adds 5 states to quarantine list

From CNN's Melanie Schuman

New York has added five states to its quarantine list meaning persons traveling from these states should now quarantine for 14 days upon arrival.

Those states are:

  • Arizona
  • Minnesota
  • Nevada
  • Rhode Island 
  • Wyoming

New Jersey and Connecticut work in lockstep with New York and it is expected those states will announce the same additions to their quarantine lists.

Some context: The metric used to determine which states are added or removed is an area with a positive test rate higher than 10 per 100,000 over a seven-day rolling average of an area with a 10 percent or higher positivity rate on a rolling average.

New York remains under one percent positivity rate at 0.89%, according to a press release from the governor’s office. 

There were an additional 754 cases identified Monday and three deaths.

Remember: That number were released by the state’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.

10:44 a.m. ET, September 22, 2020

Mexico has surpassed 700,000 coronavirus cases

From CNN's Natalie Gallón in Mexico City

A doctor prepares to take a nasal swab for a COVID-19 test in Mexico City on September 10.
A doctor prepares to take a nasal swab for a COVID-19 test in Mexico City on September 10. Rebecca Blackwell/AP

Mexico now has more than 700,000 confirmed Covid-19 cases as of Monday evening, according to the Health Ministry. 

The Ministry reported that 2,917 new cases on Monday put the country's total number of confirmed cases to 700,580. 

Monday's official count also reported 204 additional deaths, bringing the country's overall death toll to at least 73,697. 

11:15 a.m. ET, September 22, 2020

Fauci says aerosol transmission of Covid-19 "doesn’t change anything we've been saying"

From CNN Health’s Naomi Thomas

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta during the CITIZEN by CNN event on Tuesday that you can assume aerosols are a component of Covid-19 transmission. And while the amount they contribute to the spread it isn’t yet known, it doesn’t change what has been said. 

“When you look at what’s going on and the evidence that we’ve seen so far, you can assume that a component, and we don’t know, and here’s where you’ve got to be humble enough and honest enough, that we don’t know the extent to which the aerosol component is contributing to transmission,” Fauci said.

“You can make a reasonable assumption, Sanjay, that some aspect of transmission can be and is by aerosol,” he said.

“The interesting thing about that – it doesn’t change anything that we’ve been saying. It means wear your mask. It means avoid close contact. It means avoid crowds. And it means what we’ve been saying, the third or fourth thing that I mentioned to you just a little while ago, is that outdoors is better than indoors,” he said – because if there is aerosol indoors, there can be some recirculation.

Fauci said there have been some case reports of situations in places such as restaurants, “where it looks like it almost had to be an aerosol spread.”

Remember: The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention abruptly reverted to its previous guidance about how coronavirus is transmitted, after saying on Friday that the virus can spread through the air.

Watch:

11:32 a.m. ET, September 22, 2020

Vaccines timeline projections are just that – projections, Fauci says

From CNN Health’s Amanda Watts

Dr. Anthony Fauci, center, speaks to Dr. Sanjay Gupta, left, and Anderson Cooper during the CITIZEN by CNN Conference on September 22.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, center, speaks to Dr. Sanjay Gupta, left, and Anderson Cooper during the CITIZEN by CNN Conference on September 22. CNN

Dr. Anthony Fauci said “vaccines are being produced to be ready to administer – if we get a good signal that it works.” But projecting when that might be is just that: a projection.

Speaking to CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta during the CITIZEN by CNN Conference on Tuesday, Fauci said, “People can have projections of what they think might happen.” But no one really knows when a vaccine will be ready, he said.

“The system is a double-blind, placebo controlled system – which means that there's an independent data and safety monitoring board that has nothing to do with politics or politicians, that has nothing to do essentially with the company, or the FDA, or the people who are doing the trial,” he explained. 

“But today, Sanjay, nobody knows what those data are because no one has looked at them. They are blinded,” he said.

Despite this, Fauci remains “cautiously optimistic” – after reading preliminary studies – that we will have a positive effect when it comes to a vaccine. 

Watch:

10:20 a.m. ET, September 22, 2020

Fauci on Trump grading his Covid-19 response with an A+: “Take a look at the numbers and make up your own mind”

From CNN Health’s Amanda Watts

Dr. Anthony Fauci said he wouldn’t grade how the United States has handled the Covid-19 pandemic – but instead said the numbers speak for themselves.

During a CITIZEN by CNN Conference on Tuesday, Dr. Sanjay Gupta read a viewer question about President Trump giving the White House response to the pandemic an A+.

Fauci refused to give his own grade, saying he doesn’t find those types of questions helpful.

“Take a look at the numbers and make up your own mind,” Fauci said. “We don't need a soundbite from me. Take a look at the numbers.”

Some context: "We're rounding the corner," Trump told "Fox & Friends" of the coronavirus during an interview Monday morning. "With or without a vaccine. They hate when I say that but that's the way it is. ... We've done a phenomenal job. Not just a good job, a phenomenal job. Other than public relations, but that's because I have fake news. On public relations, I give myself a D. On the job itself, we take an A+."

The President's comments come as the country nears 200,000 coronavirus deaths.

Watch:

10:18 a.m. ET, September 22, 2020

Fauci says lowering the US Covid-19 baseline is “not rocket science"

From CNN’s Health Amanda Watts

“We've got to keep that slope coming down,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's leading infectious disease expert, told CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta on Tuesday.

When it comes to Covid-19 cases in the US, the baseline is just too high as we head into the fall and winter, Fauci said during the CITIZEN by CNN Conference – and we’ve got to start working on that now.

To lower the levels, “You do that by looking at where you are, in what region of the country, and acting accordingly, according to the guidelines,” Fauci said. “That's not rocket science.”

Fauci said, “We've got to do it together. We've got to be in this together.”

“When you have weak links in the chain, and some components of society are not doing it, it just makes it very difficult for the rest,” Fauci said.

Watch:

10:03 a.m. ET, September 22, 2020

Fauci says officials aren't changing their minds on guidance — the science is evolving

From CNN Health’s Amanda Watts

Dr. Anthony Fauci said Covid-19 is an “evolving outbreak” and it needs to be lead by using scientific data. 

Speaking to Dr. Sanjay Gupta during a CITIZEN by CNN conference on Tuesday, Fauci said, “The public needs to understand is that this is an evolving situation.”

Fauci said “a classic example” of this is back in the spring, when officials altered mask guidance.

“We were not aware that 40% to 45% of people were asymptomatic, nor were we aware that a substantial proportion of people who get infected get infected from people who are without symptoms. That makes it overwhelmingly important for everyone to wear a mask," Fauci said.

“So when people say, ‘Well, why did you change your stance? And why are you emphasizing masks so much now when back then you didn't? And in fact, you even said you shouldn't because there was a shortage of masks?’ Well, the data now are very, very clear,” he added. “We need to put that nonsense behind us about, ‘Well, they keep changing their minds.'"

“Masks works. Physical distancing works. Avoiding crowds work,” Fauci said.  

Watch:

9:53 a.m. ET, September 22, 2020

Fauci calls the impending 200,000 Covid-19 death toll "sobering" and "stunning"

From CNN Health’s Amanda Watts

Dr. Anthony Fauci speaks during the CITIZEN by CNN event on September 22.
Dr. Anthony Fauci speaks during the CITIZEN by CNN event on September 22. CNN

Dr. Anthony Fauci said the impending 200,000 death toll from Covid-19 in the US is “sobering” and “stunning.”

Speaking to CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta during the CITIZEN by CNN event, Fauci said the nation’s current baseline of 35,000 to 40,000 cases a day is too high.

This high baseline, “ultimately – some will lead to hospitalizations, and those will lead to death,” he said. “The idea of 200,000 deaths is really very sobering and in some respects, stunning.” 

Watch: