Live updates: California backtracks on reopening as rise in coronavirus cases spreads beyond Sun Belt
‘You are doing nothing!’: Florida governor heckled at briefing
Thomas Kennedy accused Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) of doing “nothing” to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. (The Washington Post)
The Washington Post is providing this important information about the coronavirus for free. For more, sign up for our daily Coronavirus Updates newsletter where all stories are free to read. To support this work, please subscribe to the Post.
With coronavirus infections soaring, the West Coast is shutting down — again. California on Monday banned indoor dining and shuttered movie theaters and bars. Hair salons and gyms in particularly hard-hit counties were also told to close. Meanwhile, Oregon cracked down on gatherings of more than 10 people and made masks mandatory statewide.
Other states may soon follow. The Sun Belt has been hit especially hard, but infection rates in other parts of the country — including Colorado, Kentucky, Montana, North Dakota and the District of Columbia — have also risen sharply over the past week. The entire country reported 57,000 new infections on Monday for a total of 3,348,000 cases, with at least 132,000 deaths linked to covid-19 since the start of the pandemic.
Here are some significant developments:
Los Angeles, San Diego and Atlanta — three of the nation’s largest school districts — will hold classes online when the new school year begins.
As Florida’s growing coronavirus caseload continues to shatter records, Miami “is now the epicenter of the pandemic,” Lilian Abbo, an infectious-disease specialist from the University of Miami Health System, warned on Monday. “What we were seeing in Wuhan six months ago, now we’re there.”
Senior Trump administration officials said Monday that new treatment options for covid-19 could be available months before a vaccine, but meeting demand will pose a challenge. Glass makers are already scrambling to produce the billions of medical-grade vials that will be needed to deliver a vaccine.
More than 5 million people have lost their health insurance during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new study from the health-care advocacy group Families USA.
President Trump highlighted a game show host’s criticism of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday, the latest example of how he has undermined his government’s response to a worsening public health crisis.
Sign up for our coronavirus newsletter | Mapping the spread of the coronavirus: Across the U.S. | Worldwide | Which states are reopening | Has someone close to you died of covid-19? Share your story with The Washington Post.
3:18 p.m.
Michigan house party sickened 43, exposed at least 66 others
A large house party near Saline, Mich. spread the novel coronavirus to dozens of young people, who may have carried it on to retail stores, restaurants, camps, athletic teams and a retirement community, according to local health officials.
At least 43 people caught the novel coronavirus at the party on July 2 and 3, officials said.
As they went about their lives in the following days, visiting family and going to work, the young people infected with the virus may have unwittingly spread it to other counties and beyond the state’s borders, the Washtenaw County Health Department said in a statement Monday. At least 66 people have been exposed by those who attended the party, not including immediate family members and housemates.
“This is a very clear example of how quickly this virus spreads and how many people can be impacted in a very short amount of time,” Jimena Loveluck of the health department said. “We need people of all ages, including young people, to take covid-19 seriously and follow public health guidelines and instructions.”
County officials said most of the positive cases stemming from the party involved people aged 15 to 25.
Public health experts have tied recent surges in case numbers to spread among young people, who are less likely to suffer serious illness or die, but can still pass coronavirus on to others who may be more vulnerable. And although they account for a small percentage of coronavirus deaths, some younger adults and even teenagers have died from the virus.
Michigan has reported at least 77,198 cases and 6,321 deaths since the start of the pandemic.
By Katie Shepherd
AD
2:58 p.m.
Entertainers promised to see us through the quarantine. Even they are running out of steam.
A selfie of actor and filmmaker Paul Feig at home in July 2020.
Around show number 70, Paul Feig began to feel the shift on “Quarantine Cocktail Time.” The audience for his Instagram Live show was drifting. The mood in the country had turned from the anxious sadness surrounding covid-19 to outrage over police brutality and the killing of George Floyd. And Feig, 57, the director of such films as “Bridesmaids” and “A Simple Favor,” had missed a script deadline for the first time in his career.
So, on June 27, Feig hosted the 100th episode of “Quarantine Cocktail Time” from Los Angeles — his last before going on hiatus.
There is no script for this moment, as in-person, live entertainment remains mostly mothballed until at least 2021. That first, crushing wave of cancellations, in March, spawned an informal network of free-streamers, from museum curators and ballet dancers to Jeff Tweedy doing birthday requests from his living room. They promised, through sometimes blurry feeds, that they would be doing this “until we were back.” And then we weren’t.
Read more here.
By Geoff Edgers
AD
2:29 p.m.
Hong Kong mandates masks on public transit for first time amid fears of ‘third wave’
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam attends a news conference in Hong Kong on Monday. (Vincent Yu/AP)
Hong Kong is instituting strict new social distancing policies in response to what officials fear could be a “third wave” of infections.
Face masks will be mandatory on public transportation, with violators facing a fine of $5,000 HKD (roughly $645 in U.S. currency.) Indoor dining will be banned from 6 p.m. to 5 a.m. — and restaurants may soon have to switch to offering takeout only.
“It is possible we would have to ban all dine-in services if the situation gets worse, because we want to cut down the time people spend eating in restaurants,” Hong Kong’s Secretary for Food and Health, Sophia Chan Siu-chee, said Tuesday, according to the South China Morning Post. “We realized many people still have to go out to work and eat breakfast and lunch, so for dinner we hope people can go home to eat.”
Hong Kong did not require face coverings or crack down on indoor dining during the first two outbreaks to take place this year, according to Reuters.
The Chinese-controlled city has also brought back some restrictions that were in place during the spring, such as shutting down gyms, movie theaters and karaoke bars. Amusement parks — including Hong Kong Disneyland, which reopened about a month ago — have been ordered to close. The maximum size for group gatherings has once again been reduced from 50 to 4.
Hong Kong has reported more than 50 new cases for two days in a row, a number that might seem small by American standards but has led to warnings about a potential large-scale outbreak. A little over 1,500 cases have been reported in the city to date.
By Antonia Farzan
AD
1:58 p.m.
What it’s like to travel by plane, train and (rental) automobile under coronavirus restrictions
Union Station in Washington is quiet on a summer's day, with fewer passengers traveling by train. Amtrak has cut passenger capacity by 50 percent. Signs remind visitors to wear masks and keep their distance. (Andrea Sachs/TWP)
Mandatory face coverings. Contact-free check-in. Boarding back to front. Blocked airplane seats. Limited passenger capacity on trains. The industry’s safety procedures are becoming as much a part of the experience as the act of travel itself. Though the rules are changing as quickly as a mood ring on an emotional day, most travelers are already familiar with some of the measures, such as masks and social distancing. However, knowing the protocols is different from enduring them, especially when you are inside a plane, train or rental car for an extended period.
To fill in the blanks, I sampled all three forms of transportation the week before the Fourth of July. I hopped a train from Washington’s Union Station to Newark Liberty International Airport, caught a flight to Chicago O’Hare and rented a car. Before setting off, I contacted medical experts for safety advice and stocked up on masks and alcohol-based hand sanitizer, the latest travel essentials.
Read more here.
By Andrea Sachs
AD
1:35 p.m.
KFC will close dining rooms in Florida, near other hot spots
FILE In this Jan. 31, 2014 file photo, a KFC sign hangs in Saugus, Mass. KFC owner Yum Brands ended 2019 with better-than-expected sales, but the impact of the new virus in China could weigh heavily on its first quarter results. Yum said fourth quarter revenue rose 9% to $1.7 billion. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola, File)
Dining rooms in corporate-owned KFC restaurants will close again in Florida as coronavirus cases surge, according to Reuters.
In a letter reported by Reuters, the fried chicken company’s U.S. Chief Operating Officer Monica Rothgery also urged franchise owners to close dining rooms in regions where the novel coronavirus is spreading rapidly, including near hot spots in Arizona, Texas, California and Florida.
Owner-operators have the final say in decisions about the franchise restaurants they run, while company-owned locations fall under executive leadership’s authority. Only about 1 percent of KFCs in the United States are company-owned.
Most fast-food companies closed dining rooms amid coronavirus restrictions in March, but some have opened back up sooner than others.
Florida restaurants first reopened on May 4 at a reduced capacity to encourage social distancing. But some large fast-food chains, buoyed by increased drive-thru sales, chose to keep dining rooms shuttered in the state and elsewhere in the United States. Only about 15 percent of McDonald’s locations have reopened their dining rooms, CNBC reported, and the company recently urged franchisees located near hot spots to keep dining rooms closed in early July.
Burger King and Popeyes, which are owned by the same company, began reopening some dining rooms in May. On June 30, Subway announced that its dining rooms would reopen to customers. But some companies like Taco Bell and Jack-in-the-Box have chosen to depend on drive-thru sales over in-person dining in many locations.
On Sunday, Florida shattered the single-day record for new coronavirus cases after reporting 15,300 new infections, more than any other state has reported in a single day. The state has documented rising case numbers for weeks, with at least 282,435 cases and 4,381 deaths since the start of the pandemic.
By Katie Shepherd
AD
1:04 p.m.
Study: Healthy young adults who smoke are more vulnerable to severe complications
A person smokes an e-cigarette. (Bloomberg/Photographer: Bloomberg/Bloomber)
Young adults who smoke may be more vulnerable to severe complications from covid-19 even if they are otherwise healthy, according a new study by researchers at UC San Francisco Benioff Children’s Hospitals which published Monday in the Journal of Adolescent Health.
Researchers evaluated a national sample of 8,400 men and women between ages 18 and 25 and found “medical vulnerability” to covid-19 complications in roughly one out of every three subjects in the full sample of subjects. In the pool of subjects that were nonsmokers, vulnerability dropped to about one in six.
“The risk of being medically vulnerable to severe disease is halved when smokers are removed from the sample,” Charles Irwin Jr., a senior author of the study said in a statement Monday. “Efforts to reduce smoking and e-cigarette use among young adults would likely lower their vulnerability to severe disease.”
Nearly 20 percent of the young adults surveyed for the study had smoked in the past 30 days, meaning a higher percentage of subjects smoked than had chronic conditions that are more prevalent on older adults, like asthma, diabetes and obesity.
In the early days of the outbreak, young people did not appear to be as vulnerable to the virus compared to patients over 60 who experienced higher hospitalization rates and complications. As researchers’ understanding of the coronavirus evolves, the UCSF scientists noted young adults in their late teens to late-20s are a “unique population” that shares similar health issues as teens but may have a harder time accessing and using health care as they “transition to adult roles and responsibilities,” the authors wrote.
By Kim Bellware
AD
12:43 p.m.
Hawaii delays plans to bring back some tourists amid surge of cases on mainland
A surfer walks on a sparsely populated Waikiki beach in Honolulu in June. (Audrey Mcavoy/AP)
Hawaii is delaying plans to waive quarantine requirements for some tourists as the pandemic rages on the mainland.
Since the pandemic began, all visitors to Hawaii have been subject to a mandatory 14-day quarantine, with violators facing a $5,000 fine or up to a year in prison. That strict approach has paid off from a public health perspective — Hawaii currently has a lower infection rate and lower fatality rate than any other U.S. state. But it’s also proved disastrous for the economy of a state that relies heavily on tourism.
In an effort to lure back some visitors, Hawaii had planned to make an exception for anyone who tested negative for covid-19 in the 72 hours leading up to their flight, starting on Aug. 1. But the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported last week that the state had yet to answer a number of crucial questions, like whether the same conditions would apply to Hawaii residents hoping to return home, or travelers from overseas. The lack of clarity made tourists uneasy, and prompted some to cancel their plans, the paper reported.
On Monday, Hawaii Gov. David Ige (D) announced that the program was on hold for another month, and won’t go into effect until Sept. 1. He attributed the delay to worsening outbreaks in many mainland states, and said that the surge had also made it made it harder to get a hold of coronavirus tests.
Hawaii has also reported unprecedented numbers of new infections in recent days, after lifting restrictions like a ban on inter-island travel.
“We did believe it would be in the best interests of everyone here in Hawaii to delay the start of the program,” Ige told reporters on Monday. “I also want to make it clear that we still believe in the pre-travel testing program. We will continue to take actions necessary to implement it safely.”
By Antonia Farzan
AD
11:56 a.m.
Despite pressure from Trump, major districts say schools will stay closed in fall
Resisting pressure from President Trump, three of the nation’s largest school districts said Monday that they will begin the new school year with all students learning from home.
Schools in Los Angeles, San Diego and Atlanta will begin entirely online, officials said Monday. Schools in Nashville plan to do the same, at least through Labor Day.
Several other big cities were considering similar plans, while others have adopted hybrid plans where students will be in school on certain days and at home on others. Some have announced plans to open five days a week, as the White House has demanded, but they appear to be in the minority.
Read more here.
By Laura Meckler
AD
11:33 a.m.
To force social distancing, an English pub installed an electric fence around the bar
A customer enjoys a pint at a newly reopened pub in Manchester, England, on July 4. (Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images)
In a bid to keep intoxicated customers from invading the bartenders’ social distancing space, a recently reopened pub in St Just, Cornwall, erected an electrified fence around its bar.
The electric barrier was installed around the counter at the Star Inn after customers failed to keep their distance from the bar in the week after England reopened its pubs following a nationwide shutdown.
A few visitors told Cornwall Live on Saturday that they felt shocks after inching too close. But the man who runs the Star Inn said that the fence, though fully wired, is not actually turned on.
“It’s got the desired effect that everybody thinks it’s on and they keep well away from it,” Jonny McFadden told CNN. “It’s the fear factor. It’s working very well.”
He added that the electric fence could be switched on at any point.
In England, bars reopened on July 4 with social distancing restrictions and a requirement that customers provide contact information so that officials can reach them if needed for contact tracing. On Monday, British officials mandated that people wear masks inside shops starting July 24 and noted that research has shown that masks inhibit the spread of the novel coronavirus.
“Before the fence, people were not following social distancing and were doing as they pleased, but now people take heed to the guidance around social distancing” McFadden told Cornwall Live. “It’s for everybody’s benefit.”
By Katie Shepherd
11:24 a.m.
Operation Warp Speed is pushing for covid-19 therapeutics by early fall
New treatment options for covid-19 could arrive months before even the most optimistic timeline for a vaccine, senior Trump administration officials said at a briefing Monday. But limited supply could outstrip demand if the pandemic continues to rage, creating a national tug-of-war over limited doses.
“Vaccines are the permanent hope for controlling this outbreak, but even with success, some people may not respond to vaccines and some may not get vaccinated, so we are always going to need therapeutics,” said Janet Woodcock, who is leading the therapeutics effort under Operation Warp Speed and is a senior adviser to the Food and Drug Administration commissioner. Warp Speed is a federal government initiative to speed up the development of countermeasures against the coronavirus.
Unlike vaccines, Woodcock said, therapeutics have to be developed against multiple facets of the infection, including antiviral treatments that target the virus and medication that quells the out-of-control immune storm that causes the most severe illness.
Read more here.
By Carolyn Y. Johnson
11:23 a.m.
California orders new closures as the U.S. retreat from coronavirus reopenings accelerates
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has extended the closure of bars and indoor dining statewide. (Jae C. Hong/AP)
California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday announced a dramatic rollback in the state’s reopening plan, ordering a wide swath of businesses to end indoor operations as coronavirus case numbers continued to climb in the nation’s largest state — and well beyond.
Restaurants, wineries, movie theaters and museums were told to shut down their indoor operations, while bars were closed even for outdoor service. In hard-hit counties, hair salons, malls and fitness centers were also shuttered.
The decision was the latest indication that America’s summer surge remains in full swing, and that policymakers are being forced to retreat from promises made in May and June of a respite from coronavirus-mandated shutdowns.
Read more here.
Thomas Kennedy accused Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) of doing “nothing” to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. (The Washington Post)
The Washington Post is providing this important information about the coronavirus for free. For more, sign up for our daily Coronavirus Updates newsletter where all stories are free to read. To support this work, please subscribe to the Post.
With coronavirus infections soaring, the West Coast is shutting down — again. California on Monday banned indoor dining and shuttered movie theaters and bars. Hair salons and gyms in particularly hard-hit counties were also told to close. Meanwhile, Oregon cracked down on gatherings of more than 10 people and made masks mandatory statewide.
Other states may soon follow. The Sun Belt has been hit especially hard, but infection rates in other parts of the country — including Colorado, Kentucky, Montana, North Dakota and the District of Columbia — have also risen sharply over the past week. The entire country reported 57,000 new infections on Monday for a total of 3,348,000 cases, with at least 132,000 deaths linked to covid-19 since the start of the pandemic.
Here are some significant developments:
Los Angeles, San Diego and Atlanta — three of the nation’s largest school districts — will hold classes online when the new school year begins.
As Florida’s growing coronavirus caseload continues to shatter records, Miami “is now the epicenter of the pandemic,” Lilian Abbo, an infectious-disease specialist from the University of Miami Health System, warned on Monday. “What we were seeing in Wuhan six months ago, now we’re there.”
Senior Trump administration officials said Monday that new treatment options for covid-19 could be available months before a vaccine, but meeting demand will pose a challenge. Glass makers are already scrambling to produce the billions of medical-grade vials that will be needed to deliver a vaccine.
More than 5 million people have lost their health insurance during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new study from the health-care advocacy group Families USA.
President Trump highlighted a game show host’s criticism of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday, the latest example of how he has undermined his government’s response to a worsening public health crisis.
Sign up for our coronavirus newsletter | Mapping the spread of the coronavirus: Across the U.S. | Worldwide | Which states are reopening | Has someone close to you died of covid-19? Share your story with The Washington Post.
3:18 p.m.
Michigan house party sickened 43, exposed at least 66 others
A large house party near Saline, Mich. spread the novel coronavirus to dozens of young people, who may have carried it on to retail stores, restaurants, camps, athletic teams and a retirement community, according to local health officials.
At least 43 people caught the novel coronavirus at the party on July 2 and 3, officials said.
As they went about their lives in the following days, visiting family and going to work, the young people infected with the virus may have unwittingly spread it to other counties and beyond the state’s borders, the Washtenaw County Health Department said in a statement Monday. At least 66 people have been exposed by those who attended the party, not including immediate family members and housemates.
“This is a very clear example of how quickly this virus spreads and how many people can be impacted in a very short amount of time,” Jimena Loveluck of the health department said. “We need people of all ages, including young people, to take covid-19 seriously and follow public health guidelines and instructions.”
County officials said most of the positive cases stemming from the party involved people aged 15 to 25.
Public health experts have tied recent surges in case numbers to spread among young people, who are less likely to suffer serious illness or die, but can still pass coronavirus on to others who may be more vulnerable. And although they account for a small percentage of coronavirus deaths, some younger adults and even teenagers have died from the virus.
Michigan has reported at least 77,198 cases and 6,321 deaths since the start of the pandemic.
By Katie Shepherd
AD
2:58 p.m.
Entertainers promised to see us through the quarantine. Even they are running out of steam.
A selfie of actor and filmmaker Paul Feig at home in July 2020.Around show number 70, Paul Feig began to feel the shift on “Quarantine Cocktail Time.” The audience for his Instagram Live show was drifting. The mood in the country had turned from the anxious sadness surrounding covid-19 to outrage over police brutality and the killing of George Floyd. And Feig, 57, the director of such films as “Bridesmaids” and “A Simple Favor,” had missed a script deadline for the first time in his career.
So, on June 27, Feig hosted the 100th episode of “Quarantine Cocktail Time” from Los Angeles — his last before going on hiatus.
There is no script for this moment, as in-person, live entertainment remains mostly mothballed until at least 2021. That first, crushing wave of cancellations, in March, spawned an informal network of free-streamers, from museum curators and ballet dancers to Jeff Tweedy doing birthday requests from his living room. They promised, through sometimes blurry feeds, that they would be doing this “until we were back.” And then we weren’t.
Read more here.
By Geoff Edgers
AD
2:29 p.m.
Hong Kong mandates masks on public transit for first time amid fears of ‘third wave’
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam attends a news conference in Hong Kong on Monday. (Vincent Yu/AP)Hong Kong is instituting strict new social distancing policies in response to what officials fear could be a “third wave” of infections.
Face masks will be mandatory on public transportation, with violators facing a fine of $5,000 HKD (roughly $645 in U.S. currency.) Indoor dining will be banned from 6 p.m. to 5 a.m. — and restaurants may soon have to switch to offering takeout only.
“It is possible we would have to ban all dine-in services if the situation gets worse, because we want to cut down the time people spend eating in restaurants,” Hong Kong’s Secretary for Food and Health, Sophia Chan Siu-chee, said Tuesday, according to the South China Morning Post. “We realized many people still have to go out to work and eat breakfast and lunch, so for dinner we hope people can go home to eat.”
Hong Kong did not require face coverings or crack down on indoor dining during the first two outbreaks to take place this year, according to Reuters.
The Chinese-controlled city has also brought back some restrictions that were in place during the spring, such as shutting down gyms, movie theaters and karaoke bars. Amusement parks — including Hong Kong Disneyland, which reopened about a month ago — have been ordered to close. The maximum size for group gatherings has once again been reduced from 50 to 4.
Hong Kong has reported more than 50 new cases for two days in a row, a number that might seem small by American standards but has led to warnings about a potential large-scale outbreak. A little over 1,500 cases have been reported in the city to date.
By Antonia Farzan
AD
1:58 p.m.
What it’s like to travel by plane, train and (rental) automobile under coronavirus restrictions
Union Station in Washington is quiet on a summer's day, with fewer passengers traveling by train. Amtrak has cut passenger capacity by 50 percent. Signs remind visitors to wear masks and keep their distance. (Andrea Sachs/TWP)Mandatory face coverings. Contact-free check-in. Boarding back to front. Blocked airplane seats. Limited passenger capacity on trains. The industry’s safety procedures are becoming as much a part of the experience as the act of travel itself. Though the rules are changing as quickly as a mood ring on an emotional day, most travelers are already familiar with some of the measures, such as masks and social distancing. However, knowing the protocols is different from enduring them, especially when you are inside a plane, train or rental car for an extended period.
To fill in the blanks, I sampled all three forms of transportation the week before the Fourth of July. I hopped a train from Washington’s Union Station to Newark Liberty International Airport, caught a flight to Chicago O’Hare and rented a car. Before setting off, I contacted medical experts for safety advice and stocked up on masks and alcohol-based hand sanitizer, the latest travel essentials.
Read more here.
By Andrea Sachs
AD
1:35 p.m.
KFC will close dining rooms in Florida, near other hot spots
FILE In this Jan. 31, 2014 file photo, a KFC sign hangs in Saugus, Mass. KFC owner Yum Brands ended 2019 with better-than-expected sales, but the impact of the new virus in China could weigh heavily on its first quarter results. Yum said fourth quarter revenue rose 9% to $1.7 billion. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola, File)Dining rooms in corporate-owned KFC restaurants will close again in Florida as coronavirus cases surge, according to Reuters.
In a letter reported by Reuters, the fried chicken company’s U.S. Chief Operating Officer Monica Rothgery also urged franchise owners to close dining rooms in regions where the novel coronavirus is spreading rapidly, including near hot spots in Arizona, Texas, California and Florida.
Owner-operators have the final say in decisions about the franchise restaurants they run, while company-owned locations fall under executive leadership’s authority. Only about 1 percent of KFCs in the United States are company-owned.
Most fast-food companies closed dining rooms amid coronavirus restrictions in March, but some have opened back up sooner than others.
Florida restaurants first reopened on May 4 at a reduced capacity to encourage social distancing. But some large fast-food chains, buoyed by increased drive-thru sales, chose to keep dining rooms shuttered in the state and elsewhere in the United States. Only about 15 percent of McDonald’s locations have reopened their dining rooms, CNBC reported, and the company recently urged franchisees located near hot spots to keep dining rooms closed in early July.
Burger King and Popeyes, which are owned by the same company, began reopening some dining rooms in May. On June 30, Subway announced that its dining rooms would reopen to customers. But some companies like Taco Bell and Jack-in-the-Box have chosen to depend on drive-thru sales over in-person dining in many locations.
On Sunday, Florida shattered the single-day record for new coronavirus cases after reporting 15,300 new infections, more than any other state has reported in a single day. The state has documented rising case numbers for weeks, with at least 282,435 cases and 4,381 deaths since the start of the pandemic.
By Katie Shepherd
AD
1:04 p.m.
Study: Healthy young adults who smoke are more vulnerable to severe complications
A person smokes an e-cigarette. (Bloomberg/Photographer: Bloomberg/Bloomber)Young adults who smoke may be more vulnerable to severe complications from covid-19 even if they are otherwise healthy, according a new study by researchers at UC San Francisco Benioff Children’s Hospitals which published Monday in the Journal of Adolescent Health.
Researchers evaluated a national sample of 8,400 men and women between ages 18 and 25 and found “medical vulnerability” to covid-19 complications in roughly one out of every three subjects in the full sample of subjects. In the pool of subjects that were nonsmokers, vulnerability dropped to about one in six.
“The risk of being medically vulnerable to severe disease is halved when smokers are removed from the sample,” Charles Irwin Jr., a senior author of the study said in a statement Monday. “Efforts to reduce smoking and e-cigarette use among young adults would likely lower their vulnerability to severe disease.”
Nearly 20 percent of the young adults surveyed for the study had smoked in the past 30 days, meaning a higher percentage of subjects smoked than had chronic conditions that are more prevalent on older adults, like asthma, diabetes and obesity.
In the early days of the outbreak, young people did not appear to be as vulnerable to the virus compared to patients over 60 who experienced higher hospitalization rates and complications. As researchers’ understanding of the coronavirus evolves, the UCSF scientists noted young adults in their late teens to late-20s are a “unique population” that shares similar health issues as teens but may have a harder time accessing and using health care as they “transition to adult roles and responsibilities,” the authors wrote.
By Kim Bellware
AD
12:43 p.m.
Hawaii delays plans to bring back some tourists amid surge of cases on mainland
A surfer walks on a sparsely populated Waikiki beach in Honolulu in June. (Audrey Mcavoy/AP)Hawaii is delaying plans to waive quarantine requirements for some tourists as the pandemic rages on the mainland.
Since the pandemic began, all visitors to Hawaii have been subject to a mandatory 14-day quarantine, with violators facing a $5,000 fine or up to a year in prison. That strict approach has paid off from a public health perspective — Hawaii currently has a lower infection rate and lower fatality rate than any other U.S. state. But it’s also proved disastrous for the economy of a state that relies heavily on tourism.
In an effort to lure back some visitors, Hawaii had planned to make an exception for anyone who tested negative for covid-19 in the 72 hours leading up to their flight, starting on Aug. 1. But the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported last week that the state had yet to answer a number of crucial questions, like whether the same conditions would apply to Hawaii residents hoping to return home, or travelers from overseas. The lack of clarity made tourists uneasy, and prompted some to cancel their plans, the paper reported.
On Monday, Hawaii Gov. David Ige (D) announced that the program was on hold for another month, and won’t go into effect until Sept. 1. He attributed the delay to worsening outbreaks in many mainland states, and said that the surge had also made it made it harder to get a hold of coronavirus tests.
Hawaii has also reported unprecedented numbers of new infections in recent days, after lifting restrictions like a ban on inter-island travel.
“We did believe it would be in the best interests of everyone here in Hawaii to delay the start of the program,” Ige told reporters on Monday. “I also want to make it clear that we still believe in the pre-travel testing program. We will continue to take actions necessary to implement it safely.”
By Antonia Farzan
AD
11:56 a.m.
Despite pressure from Trump, major districts say schools will stay closed in fall
Resisting pressure from President Trump, three of the nation’s largest school districts said Monday that they will begin the new school year with all students learning from home.
Schools in Los Angeles, San Diego and Atlanta will begin entirely online, officials said Monday. Schools in Nashville plan to do the same, at least through Labor Day.
Several other big cities were considering similar plans, while others have adopted hybrid plans where students will be in school on certain days and at home on others. Some have announced plans to open five days a week, as the White House has demanded, but they appear to be in the minority.
Read more here.
By Laura Meckler
AD
11:33 a.m.
To force social distancing, an English pub installed an electric fence around the bar
A customer enjoys a pint at a newly reopened pub in Manchester, England, on July 4. (Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images)In a bid to keep intoxicated customers from invading the bartenders’ social distancing space, a recently reopened pub in St Just, Cornwall, erected an electrified fence around its bar.
The electric barrier was installed around the counter at the Star Inn after customers failed to keep their distance from the bar in the week after England reopened its pubs following a nationwide shutdown.
A few visitors told Cornwall Live on Saturday that they felt shocks after inching too close. But the man who runs the Star Inn said that the fence, though fully wired, is not actually turned on.
“It’s got the desired effect that everybody thinks it’s on and they keep well away from it,” Jonny McFadden told CNN. “It’s the fear factor. It’s working very well.”
He added that the electric fence could be switched on at any point.
In England, bars reopened on July 4 with social distancing restrictions and a requirement that customers provide contact information so that officials can reach them if needed for contact tracing. On Monday, British officials mandated that people wear masks inside shops starting July 24 and noted that research has shown that masks inhibit the spread of the novel coronavirus.
“Before the fence, people were not following social distancing and were doing as they pleased, but now people take heed to the guidance around social distancing” McFadden told Cornwall Live. “It’s for everybody’s benefit.”
By Katie Shepherd
11:24 a.m.
Operation Warp Speed is pushing for covid-19 therapeutics by early fall
New treatment options for covid-19 could arrive months before even the most optimistic timeline for a vaccine, senior Trump administration officials said at a briefing Monday. But limited supply could outstrip demand if the pandemic continues to rage, creating a national tug-of-war over limited doses.
“Vaccines are the permanent hope for controlling this outbreak, but even with success, some people may not respond to vaccines and some may not get vaccinated, so we are always going to need therapeutics,” said Janet Woodcock, who is leading the therapeutics effort under Operation Warp Speed and is a senior adviser to the Food and Drug Administration commissioner. Warp Speed is a federal government initiative to speed up the development of countermeasures against the coronavirus.
Unlike vaccines, Woodcock said, therapeutics have to be developed against multiple facets of the infection, including antiviral treatments that target the virus and medication that quells the out-of-control immune storm that causes the most severe illness.
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By Carolyn Y. Johnson
11:23 a.m.
California orders new closures as the U.S. retreat from coronavirus reopenings accelerates
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has extended the closure of bars and indoor dining statewide. (Jae C. Hong/AP)California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday announced a dramatic rollback in the state’s reopening plan, ordering a wide swath of businesses to end indoor operations as coronavirus case numbers continued to climb in the nation’s largest state — and well beyond.
Restaurants, wineries, movie theaters and museums were told to shut down their indoor operations, while bars were closed even for outdoor service. In hard-hit counties, hair salons, malls and fitness centers were also shuttered.
The decision was the latest indication that America’s summer surge remains in full swing, and that policymakers are being forced to retreat from promises made in May and June of a respite from coronavirus-mandated shutdowns.
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