October 1 coronavirus news

By Ben Westcott, Steve George, Tara John, Melissa Macaya and Veronica Rocha, CNN

Updated 12:01 a.m. ET, October 2, 2020
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8:53 a.m. ET, October 1, 2020

Another 837,000 Americans filed for unemployment claims last week

From CNN’s Anneken Tappe

 Construction workers are seen on a job site in Miami, Florida on September 4.
Construction workers are seen on a job site in Miami, Florida on September 4. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

America's jobs recovery continues, albeit at a slow pace, as another 837,000 Americans filed for first-time unemployment benefits last week, on a seasonally adjusted basis. 

That was slightly fewer from the prior week, although last week's figures notably do not include updated numbers from California, which paused processing initial claims for two weeks. The state is working on a large backlog in benefits claims and implementing fraud prevention. The Labor Department estimated California's initial claims numbers by duplicating the prior week's reported claims figures.

Claims under the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program that Congress created to help workers who wouldn't usually be eligible for benefits, such as the self-employed, stood at 650,120.

Adding these together, there were 1.4 million total first-time claims for benefits last week, roughly even with the prior week.

Continued claims, which count workers who have filed for benefits for at least two consecutive weeks, stood at 11.8 million on a seasonally adjusted basis.

 The slowing pace of the decline in initial jobless claims is another piece of evidence that the economic recovery is running out of steam.

Thursday's Labor Department report on jobless claims is just the latest in this week's report card on the labor market: the government's jobs report — the last before the election — is due on Friday.

Economists expect 850,000 jobs were added back in September, bringing the unemployment rate to 8.2%, down from 8.4% in August.

8:57 a.m. ET, October 1, 2020

Eviction fears continue despite moratorium: "Where do I go with my kids?"

From CNN's Adrienne Vogt

Families across the US are struggling to pay rent and face evictions despite an eviction moratorium until the end of the year.

In September, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an order to temporarily halt evictions through the end of 2020.

Umu Conteh told CNN’s Kyung Lah that she contracted Covid-19 in June at a nursing home where she worked. The Columbus, Ohio, resident was out of work for two months and is now working as a home health care aid making $12 an hour. She said she has now been given 30 days to pay the rent she owes.

“I’m just thinking about my kids. Where do I go with my kids?” she said through tears.  

Melissa Benson of the Legal Aid Society of Columbus said the moratorium “absolutely [does] not” mean that cases aren’t being filed against tenants.

The order puts the responsibility on the renter to ensure they meet the criteria and to provide a signed written statement to their landlord in order to invoke the protection. It doesn’t freeze rent or relieve tenants from having to pay back rent.

“It is really overwhelming and scary. ... They could say we have to move out in a week, and we don't know,” said Shaylynn Webb, mother of an 8-month-old. 

Kyung Lah reported that about half the people she spoke to in one day in Columbus worked in health care, “the ones who walk by those hashtag signs that say ‘heroes work here.’” 

Watch:

8:21 a.m. ET, October 1, 2020

Here's how the pandemic is affecting Europe

From CNN's Mick Krever, Sebastian Shukla, Vasco Cotovio and Emma Reynolds

TNO employees work during the opening of a COVID-19 testing site in Amsterdam, on September 30.
TNO employees work during the opening of a COVID-19 testing site in Amsterdam, on September 30. Koen van Weel/ANP/AFP/Getty Images

After successfully tamping down the first surge of infection and death, Europe is now in the middle of a second coronavirus wave as it moves into winter.

UK: England’s largest study of coronavirus infections show the spread of the disease may be slowing, according to a team at Imperial College London, who analyzed samples from 84,000 people taken between September 18 to 26.

The study suggests that the latest R-value (the reproductive number) had decreased from 1.7 to 1.1 -- but that a range of values from 0.7 to 1.5 mean that an accurate figure is hard to gauge. 

While the findings provide early evidence that measures to control the infection are working, "the prevalence of infection is the highest we have recorded to date," Professor Paul Elliott, the director of the study Real-time Assessment of Community Transmission (REACT 1), said.

The findings, however did point to an increase in the spread of the virus in the community. The study estimated that 1 in 200 people across England have the virus, amounting to 0.55% of the population.

This is an increase in previous round of testing from the middle of August to the beginning of September, where the figure was 0.13% of the population. 

Netherlands: More than 10,000 people in the Netherlands died from Covid-19 in the first wave of the pandemic, new statistics released on Thursday by Statistics Netherlands (CBS) show.

In the months March through June, there were 7,797 deaths in which a doctor listed Covid-19 as the cause of death, and an additional 2,270 in which Covid-19 was listed as the suspected cause of death, totaling 10,067.

This toll is significantly higher than the less comprehensive numbers from the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, which reported 6,086 deaths for the same months March through June, and a total of 6,406 deaths as of Wednesday.

Germany: Germany lifted its blanket warning against traveling to all countries outside the European Union, the country’s foreign ministry announced Thursday. 

Germany imposed a global travel warning at the beginning of March when the coronavirus outbreak hit Italy, lifting travel restrictions for most European countries in June. 

Spain: The government announced new coronavirus restrictions last night, which would put the capital Madrid into a form of lockdown.

The new restrictions require people to stay at home except to go to work, classes, and to meet legal obligations or due to extreme circumstances. Shops, bars and restaurants will be forced to reduce their capacity by 50% and to close earlier.

Gatherings will remain restricted to no more than six people, in both public or private spaces.

Spain reported 11,016 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday. Madrid alone reported 1,586 new infections, accounting for more than 40% of the national increase.

Italy: Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said he will ask parliament to extend the country's Covid-19 state of emergency until the end of January.

Speaking during an impromptu press conference in Caserta, Conte said that the Covid-19 situation requires "maximum attention," even though the "spread is under control."

Italy was the first major European country to be affected by the coronavirus outbreak, and among the first countries to impose a strict national lockdown.

8:13 a.m. ET, October 1, 2020

Germany lifts blanket warning against travel to all countries outside the EU

From Nadine Schmidt in Berlin

Travelers register at a Covid-19 test center in Germany's Duesseldorf Airport on Wednesday, September 30.
Travelers register at a Covid-19 test center in Germany's Duesseldorf Airport on Wednesday, September 30. Sarah Pabst/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Germany lifted its blanket warning against traveling to all countries outside the European Union, the country’s foreign ministry announced Thursday. 

Germany imposed a global travel warning at the beginning of March when the coronavirus outbreak hit Italy, lifting travel restrictions for most European countries in June. 

But due to rising coronavirus infections in Europe, the foreign ministry announced on Wednesday that it had extended an existing travel warning for parts of Belgium to cover the entire country. The same applies to most of France.  

The ministry also warned against travel to Wales, Northern Ireland as well as Gibraltar and Iceland. 

Early in September, the federal government re-issued travel warnings for regions in Europe where infection levels rose above the level of 50 cases per 100,000 people a week. 

On Thursday, cases rose by 2,503 to 291,722 within the past 24 hours, according to data from the country's infectious disease agency, the Robert Koch Institute.

The death toll increased by 12 to 9,500. The country’s reproduction rate currently stands at 0.96.

7:53 a.m. ET, October 1, 2020

Peru to resume international flights to seven countries from next week

From CNN’s Claudia Rebaza in London

An airport worker is seen at the Jorge Chavez international airport in Lima, Peru, on July 17.
An airport worker is seen at the Jorge Chavez international airport in Lima, Peru, on July 17. Ernesto Benavides/AFP/Getty Images

Peru will resume international flights to seven South American countries from October 5, President Martin Vizcarra announced on Wednesday, state news agency Andina reported. 

According to Andina, the government has approved the resumption of international air travel with flights no longer than four hours to these destinations: Ecuador, Bolivia, Colombia, Panama, Paraguay, Uruguay and Chile.

Peru closed its border in March after declaring a national state of emergency due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Only humanitarian flights, returning Peruvians stranded abroad, were allowed. 

Peru’s government will ask all passengers leaving and arriving to the country to submit a negative coronavirus test done in the last 48 hours, President Vizcarra announced earlier this week. 

On Wednesday evening, Peru’s Health Ministry reported 3,061 new Covid-19 cases, bringing the country's total to 814,829. Its death toll is 32,463. 

7:38 a.m. ET, October 1, 2020

Italy to extend its state of emergency, says PM

From CNN's Hada Messia

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte is pictured at a press conference in Rome on September 29.
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte is pictured at a press conference in Rome on September 29. Antonio Masiello/Getty Images

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said he will ask parliament to extend the country's Covid-19 state of emergency until the end of January.

Speaking during an impromptu press conference in Caserta, Conte said that the Covid-19 situation requires "maximum attention," even though the "spread is under control."

Italy was the first major European country to be affected by the coronavirus outbreak, and among the first countries to impose a strict national lockdown. It has the second highest death toll in Europe, after the UK, with 35,894 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

In the past few months, the country has managed to dodge a second wave unlike its European neighbors, though confirmed cases are rising. On Wednesday, authorities reported 1,851 new cases and 19 deaths.

6:53 a.m. ET, October 1, 2020

In new record, Israel records nearly 9,000 new cases Wednesday

From CNN’s Oren Liebermann and Amir Tal

Medical staff work in the Covid-19 isolation ward at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem, on September 30.
Medical staff work in the Covid-19 isolation ward at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem, on September 30. Gil Cohen-Magen/AFP/Getty Images

Israel recorded 8,919 new coronavirus cases Wednesday, according to Ministry of Health data, breaking the old record of 8,315 new cases in a day registered last week.

There are now 810 patients in serious condition, with 206 patients on ventilators, the ministry said.

A total of 1,571 people have died from the disease.

According to the Ministry of Health, Israel’s daily per million death rates is now higher than the United States, the UK, South Korea, Italy, Austria, and France.

8:15 a.m. ET, October 1, 2020

US records at least 42,000 coronavirus cases in 24 hours

Healthcare workers collect a test sample from a motorist at a drive-through coronavirus testing center at M.T.O. Shahmaghsoudi School of Islamic Sufism on September 29 in Los Angeles, California.
Healthcare workers collect a test sample from a motorist at a drive-through coronavirus testing center at M.T.O. Shahmaghsoudi School of Islamic Sufism on September 29 in Los Angeles, California. Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images

According to Johns Hopkins University's (JHU) tally of cases in the US, there were at least 42,812 new cases of the coronavirus in the past 24 hours, bringing the country's total to 7,233,042 confirmed infections.

There were 946 new fatalities reported on Wednesday, bringing the US coronavirus death toll to at least 206,932 people. 

The totals include cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, as well as repatriated cases. 

The figures are a slight increase from Tuesday, which saw 42,185 new cases and 914 reported deaths, according to JHU.

For regular updates, please follow CNN’s map, which is refreshed with new data every 15 mins: 

5:58 a.m. ET, October 1, 2020

Two-thirds of Americans miss cancer screenings amid Covid-19, survey suggests

From CNN Health's Andrea Diaz

Two-thirds of Americans have delayed or skipped scheduled cancer screenings -- such as a mammogram, colonoscopy, skin check, or Pap/HPV test – because of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a survey out Thursday.

More than a third of Americans had some sort of cancer screening due during the pandemic this year, but nearly 64% of those surveyed said they had put it off or skipped it altogether, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) found.

“While delaying recommended screenings for a few months is not necessarily dangerous, our biggest concern is that a significant number of Americans might stop getting preventive care for long periods of time or altogether,” said ASCO chief medical officer Dr. Richard Schilsky. 
“Cancer screenings are critical for detecting cancer early, and early detection is key to successfully treating many cancers.”

Plus, fewer than half of Americans are doing any of the things known to prevent cancer, such as staying out of the sun or using sunscreen when outside; maintaining a healthy weight; and limiting alcohol, the survey of 4,000 adults found.

The survey, conducted online from July 21 to September 8, also found 59% believe racism can affect the health care a person receives, with Black people (76%), Hispanic people (70%), and Asian people (66%) more likely than White people (53%) to hold these views.

“Despite evidence of worse cancer outcomes for Black Americans, few Americans are aware of the established relationship between race and cancer survival,” ASCO said in a statement.
“Fewer than one in five (19%) believes race has an impact on the likelihood a person will survive cancer, with Blacks (27%) and Hispanics (22%) significantly more likely than Whites (16%) to be aware of the link.”