September 30 coronavirus news

As New York City began indoor dining Wednesday at 25% capacity, mayor Bill de Blasio said there will be "rigorous" inspection efforts particularly in the zip codes with clusters.

“There is going to be a very rigorous inspection effort in those zip codes and we are going to be looking carefully to make sure every restaurant is following the rules," he said.

Violations will lead to immediate summonses, De Blasio said

Health department professionals and other staff will be visible in restaurants Wednesday through the evening.

Asked whether he would engage in indoor dining, Mayor de Blasio said, “My outdoor dining experiences have been amazing, I’m going to keep doing that for the foreseeable future and then of course shift to indoor when the outdoor isn’t as prevalent because of the weather.” 

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city is reporting a rate 0.94% positivity in testing of Covid-19 – down from over 3% the day before – as he detailed the “intense efforts” and a “huge amount of focus” on neighborhoods of concern.

The 7-day rolling average is 1.46%, he said.

In six of the target neighborhoods, the rate of percent positivity is continuing to go up, the mayor said. 

The percent positivity’s in those nine key zip codes range from more than 6% to more than 3%.

The city is also monitoring four other zip codes with percent positivity’s under but close to 3%.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, on a private call with the House Democratic caucus on Wednesday, said the House would vote today on the $2.2 trillion stimulus proposal *if* no deal is reached between Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin this morning, according to two people on the call.

Hoyer’s comments underscore just how crucial the discussion between Pelosi and Mnuchin will be this morning. Should Democrats move forward on a vote, it is all but certain to put an end to bipartisan negotiations until after the election.

What happens next: House Democratic leaders have teed up the bill in case talks fall apart, as has happened repeatedly over the course of the last few months, amid pressure from frontline Democrats who want to show they are taking action to address pandemic-driven economic shortfalls in the weeks before the election.

Pelosi, for her part, made clear on the call that this won’t be the last opportunity for Democrats to consider a broad stimulus deal and noted that the major outstanding issues are funds for state and local governments and liability protections.

Pelosi and Mnuchin are slated to talk before noon today, according to people familiar with their schedules. Mnuchin is planning to present a counter-offer somewhere around the $1.5 trillion range, one of the people said.

Mnuchin, on CNBC this morning, said he and Pelosi are “going to give it one more serious try to get this done. We’re hopeful."

A fourth Tennessee Titans player has tested positive for Covid-19, NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy tells CNN.

There are now nine total cases within the team – four players and five staff members. The club’s facilities remain indefinitely closed. 

The Titans are scheduled to host the Pittsburgh Steelers this Sunday. When asked about the status of the game, McCarthy relied, “we are taking this day by day.”

Data from hospitals in the Paris region is not looking positive, the head of the Paris region health authority said Wednesday on French radio France Inter. 

Aurelien Rousseau said 34% of ICU beds are occupied by Covid patients in the Paris region, with 30% ICU Covid bed occupancy for the city of Paris. 

He added the incidence rate is very high for 20- to 30-year-old with 450 cases per 100,000 people. Rousseau said the incidence rate for people over the age of 65 is over 100 per 100,000 inhabitants. 

With worsening numbers, the government may decide that Paris, like Marseille and the overseas department of Guadeloupe, become a zone of “maximum alert,” meaning bars and restaurants close. 

The French minister of Health, Olivier Veran is expected to announce an update of measures in a press conference before the end of the week. Many bars and restaurant owners in Paris fear closure and the economic impact. 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has announced an array of new measures aimed at stopping a recent spike in novel coronavirus infections in the country. 

At a news conference following a meeting with Germany’s state governors, Merkel announced that gatherings in public venues would be limited to no more than 50 people in areas with a large number of coronavirus infections.  

“We know that a more difficult time is coming, fall and winter,” Merkel said as she justified the new restrictions, which also include fines of at least 50 euros ($60) for patrons in bars and restaurants who provide false contact data used by authorities for tracing.  

Merkel also issued a strong warning, saying that if the current trajectory of rising coronavirus infections continues unabated, Germany could see up to 19,200 new infections per day in in the winter months.

US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said he will be speaking with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi later today to deliver a response stimulus proposal he described as “very reasonable” and “very similar” to the previously-released proposal from the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus. 

“We’re going to give it one more serious try to get this done and I think we’re hopeful that we can get something done,” Mnuchin said during an appearance at a CNBC investor conference on Wednesday morning.

He again listed PPP, money for schools, economic impact payments, back to work credits, retention credits, and more money for the airlines as areas of agreement, later adding that he’s been speaking with airline CEOs on a “constant basis” and will give them an update following his conversation with Pelosi. 

Mnuchin described his relationship with Pelosi as “all business,” and said they are effective at communicating together. He expressed hope they would reach a package.

The Treasury Secretary suggested there will be a “compromise” on money for state and local governments, citing a desire to pay first responders and critical emergency workers: “We will be allocating some more money in a compromise package to pay for that.”

Mnuchin noted that he and chief of staff Mark Meadows spoke with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday, but wouldn’t say whether they were open to a compromise package yet: “Let’s see if we can get a compromise agreement with the speaker, something that works, and then we’ll continue to work with both sides.”

Two Italian Five Star Movement senators have tested positive for Covid-19, a party spokesperson told CNN. 

The party's other senators will be tested if they came in contact with the two who tested positive. Previously, a party official said all senators would be tested.

The party told CNN that the two senators had met with their colleagues in the last few days, but had not attended physical senate floor gatherings. 

Italy was one of the worst affected European countries during the first wave of the pandemic. The country has reported 313,011 cases and 35,875 deaths overall.

The novel coronavirus has now killed more than 1 million people worldwide and infected more than 33 million. Here's the latest on the pandemic:

Debate clash: US President Donald Trump and his challenger Joe Biden argued over Covid-19 and the 200,000 Americans who have died during the chaotic first debate of the 2020 election campaign.

Europe struggles with second wave: Belgium's death toll crossed the 10,000 threshold on Tuesday while German Chancellor Angela Merkel pleaded with citizens to observe the pandemic restrictions.

More than 63 million Indians may have had Covid-19: Health authorities in the country suggested the true case count could be 10 times higher than official reported figures.

Notre Dame coach says virus spread like wildfire: Team doctors have traced an outbreak of Covid-19 on the Notre Dame football team to two specific events, including a pregame meal, head coach Brian Kelly has said.