By Ted Mann
New U.S. coronavirus cases rose above 44,000 for the first time
in nearly a week, with elevated numbers continuing in parts of the
Midwest, as President Trump said the administration was committing
to giving every American a Covid-19 vaccine by April.
The president's timeline was more ambitious than one laid out
earlier this week by Robert Redfield, director of the U.S. Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention, who said he believed a vaccine
would be available to the general public in the late second quarter
or third quarter of 2021.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert,
told The Wall Street Journal that if a vaccine candidate were
determined to be safe and effective by October, it would likely be
available for distribution to some vulnerable populations and early
responders early next year, and distributed more widely by the
middle or end of 2021.
Testing: The CDC changed course again on its Covid-19 testing
guidance.
The updated guidance says that people who have been in close
contact with an infected person should be tested, even if they are
asymptomatic.
The agency faced criticism from public-health and
infectious-disease experts in August, when its guidance changed to
say close contacts of confirmed Covid-19 cases didn't necessarily
need to get tested if they don't have symptoms. Prior to that
change, it had advised that all people exposed to an infected
person get tested.
Cases: World-wide, the number of infections reported since the
start of the pandemic passed 30 million. The U.S. accounts for a
little over 20% of that total. More than 198,000 Americans have
died.
On Thursday, more than 44,000 new cases were reported across the
U.S. Wisconsin, one of several Midwest states where numbers are
running high compared with the spring, reported more than 1,600
cases for Thursday, its highest daily count to date, according to
data from Johns Hopkins University.
Earlier this week, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers warned residents
that cases would continue to increase "until folks decide to take
this seriously." Over the past week, the percentage of positive
tests, known as the positivity rate, ticked up to 14.9% in
Wisconsin. Nationally, the seven-day moving average positivity rate
was 4.9%, according to the data from Johns Hopkins.
In all, 14 states reported more than 1,000 new covid cases on
Thursday, led by Texas, with 4,543 new cases.
Through Thursday, there were 278,311 new cases of Covid-19
reported over the preceding 7 days, according to data from Johns
Hopkins, a slightly larger weekly increase than the week before
when 246,084 cases were recorded.
As state officials prepare for the possibility of an autumn
surge of new infections, some hospitals say they will be better
prepared to handle an influx of new patients than they were at the
outset of the pandemic, thanks to deeper stockpiles of equipment
and better understanding of how to treat the disease. Medical
officials are preparing to use antiviral and steroid medications
that studies suggest have helped patients recover from
Covid-19.
Schools: Mayors and education officials in some large cities
were fine-tuning plans for the beginning of the public school year,
balancing the risk of the virus spreading among students and
teachers with the desire to relieve childcare strain for working
parents.
In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio was criticized by some
parents for his decision Thursday to delay in-person learning a
second time, while some teachers criticized the decision to open
city preschools Monday. In an appearance Friday on radio station
WNYC, Mr. de Blasio defended City Hall's efforts and emphasized the
need to get students back to school, saying those attempting to
learn from home could fall behind. Continuing with remote learning
only would be "the easy and immoral thing," he said.
World
Other big cities are also taking phased approaches. Boston
public schools are set to resume online Monday, with a goal of
restarting in-person learning for some students Oct. 1.
In Baltimore, which began online classes earlier this month,
officials Thursday released a timeline for returning students to
classrooms, placing priority on those most in need of in-person
instruction. The city said it would open "academic support centers"
in September and October for more than 1,500 students from
kindergarten through fifth grade, providing childcare and support
for online learning.
World
World Health Organization: Leaders of the WHO said Friday that
although growth in Covid-19 cases world-wide had been flattening,
the number of new cases was dangerously high as countries in the
Northern Hemisphere begin to enter the winter months and face the
prospect of seasonal flu outbreaks.
Globally, records show an increase of 1.8 to 20 million covid
cases and 40,000 to 50,000 deaths a week, said Michael Ryan,
executive director of the WHO's Health Emergencies Program, at a
news conference. "We cannot accept 50,000 deaths a week as an
acceptable number," he said.
The pandemic "is not burned out," he added. "It is not burning
out, it is not going away."
Dr. Ryan and WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
also said that the failure of political leaders to cooperate on
public-health measures remained a factor in the pandemic's spread,
despite the cooperation of epidemiologists around the world. "The
major powers are not working together," Dr. Tedros said.
India: More than 96,000 new cases were reported, pushing the
country's total above 5.2 million, according to the Ministry of
Health and Family Welfare. India's death toll rose by 1,174 to
84,372. Its total caseload is the second largest after the U.S.
Along with Brazil, the three countries make up more than half of
the global cases recorded so far. Total global deaths have now
reached 946,673, according to Johns Hopkins data.
Brazil: The pandemic has interrupted therapy sessions and other
treatment for children born with birth defects caused by the Zika
virus. Health authorities suspended physiotherapy for more than
3,500 children born with abnormally small heads and other
disabilities after being infected with Zika while in the womb, and
families are concerned that breathing problems linked to Zika could
make those children more vulnerable to serious complications if
they contract Covid-19.
Guam: The U.S. territory reported 32 new cases late Thursday,
bringing the total on the island to 2,045. The number of
intensive-care patients has risen to 19, stretching the local
hospital system.
Israel: The country began a second nationwide lockdown Friday
afternoon. Thousands of policemen and soldiers are being deployed
to enforce the sweeping closures, taking place during Jewish new
year celebrations and which are widely unpopular. New daily cases
are hovering at around 5,000 a day, making Israel one of the
countries with the worst infection per capita rates in the
world.
Write to Ted Mann at ted.mann@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 18, 2020 16:39 ET (20:39 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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