The latest:President Donald Trump announced late Tuesday evening he would seek a new host state for the RNC after North Carolina’s governor called for a scaled-down convention meant to limit the spread of the coronavirus.There have been more than 1.8 million coronavirus cases in the United States, according to the Johns Hopkins University tally.The U.S. death toll has surpassed 106,000 people, according to Hopkins. The Food and Drug Administration is expanding the kinds of companies that can make hand sanitizer while demand continues to outpace supply.An autopsy by the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office shows George Floyd had coronavirus. The idea of keeping schools closed in the fall because of safety concerns for children might be “a bit of a reach,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.In a phone interview with CNN Wednesday, Fauci noted that children tend to have milder symptoms or even no symptoms when they are infected with COVID-19.What’s not yet clear is whether children get infected as frequently as adults, and whether they often pass the infection on to others. Ultimately, he said, the decision to reopen schools needs to be predicated on the level of infection in each community.In the past academic school year, 48 states recommended schools close through the rest of the year as coronavirus began its rapid spread.Some, including schools in Montana and Idaho, opened their doors again for a few weeks before the academic school year finished with the thought of gaining experience in reopening that could be used in the fall.”I hesitate to make any broad statements about whether it is or is not quote ‘safe’ for kids to come back to school,” Fauci told CNN.”When you talk about children going back to school and their safety, it really depends on the level of viral activity, and the particular area that you’re talking about. What happens all too often, understandably, but sometimes misleadingly, is that we talk about the country as a whole in a unidimensional way.”Fauci seemed to think that keeping schools closed in general was not necessary.”Children can get infected, so, yes, so you’ve got to be careful,” Fauci said. “You got to be careful for them and you got to be careful that they may not spread it. Now, to make an extrapolation that you shouldn’t open schools, I think is a bit of a reach.”Fauci said it’s not premature to start the conversation about reopening schools now. “I think we need to discuss the pros and the cons of bringing kids back to school in September,” he said.Stressing the importance of not generalizing, Fauci laid out the spectrum of scenarios for what a return to school in the fall could look like.”In some situations there will be no problem for children to go back to school,” he said. “In others, you may need to do some modifications. You know, modifications could be breaking up the class so you don’t have a crowded classroom, maybe half in the morning, half in the afternoon, having children doing alternate schedules. There’s a whole bunch of things that one can do.”Talking about classroom layouts specifically, Fauci underscored the need to “be creative” and create plans based on the degree of infection in the community.He suggested that one option is to space out children at every other desk, or every third desk in order to maintain proper social distancing.US Senate passes Paycheck Protection Program reform bill by unanimous consentThe Senate on Wednesday evening passed by voice vote a House-passed Paycheck Protection Program reform bill in the chamber, clearing it for President Donald Trump’s signature. Earlier in the afternoon, GOP Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin objected to a prior effort to pass the bill via unanimous consent, blocking approval. But Johnson agreed to let the bill pass after getting a letter entered into the record clarifying the authorization period. The bill, which passed the House last week, gives business owners more flexibility and time to use loan money and still get it forgiven as part of the Paycheck Protection Program, set up to help struggling small businesses with emergency loans during the pandemic.The legislation — titled the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act — was introduced by Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas and Democratic Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota. It is intended to make loans more accessible under the program by making its terms of use more flexible The legislation would give small businesses more time to use emergency loans under the program by extending the eight-week period in which they must use the money to qualify for loan forgiveness to 24 weeks.The bill would also give small businesses more flexibility by changing the so-called 75/25 rule, which requires recipients of funds under the program to use three-quarters of the money for payroll costs and to limit other costs to no more than 25% in order to be eligible for loan forgiveness. The new ratio would be at least 60% on payroll and no more than 40% on other costs.Trump administration has picked 5 companies most likely to produce coronavirus vaccineThe Trump administration has selected five companies as the most likely to produce a Covid-19 vaccine, a White House Coronavirus task force source tells CNN. The same source added that the decision came from “Operation Warp Speed,” which seeks to quickly ramp up production, organize distribution and determine who gets the first doses of a potential vaccine. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, has previously suggested January as a potential date for a vaccine, but vaccines typically take years to produce.The New York Times first reported that the administration had selected five companies most likely to produce a vaccine. WUHAN TESTS NEARLY 10 MILLION PEOPLEThe Chinese city of Wuhan, where the coronavirus was first detected late last year, has tested nearly 10 million people in an unprecedented 19-day campaign to check an entire city.It identified just 300 positive cases, all of whom had no symptoms. The city found no infections among 1,174 close contacts of the people who tested positive, suggesting they were not spreading it easily to others.That is a potentially encouraging development because of widespread concern that infected people without symptoms could be silent spreaders of the disease.”It not only makes the people of Wuhan feel at ease, it also increases people’s confidence in all of China,” Feng Zijian, vice director of China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told state broadcaster CCTV.There is no definitive answer yet on the level of risk posed by asymptomatic cases, with anecdotal evidence and studies to date producing conflicting answers.Wuhan was by far the hardest hit city in China, accounting for more than 80% of the country’s deaths, according to government figures. A city official announced Tuesday that the city completed 9.9 million tests from May 14 to June 1. If those tested previously are included, virtually everyone above the age of 5 in the city of 11 million people has been tested, said Li Lanjuan, a member of a National Health Commission expert team.”The city of Wuhan is safe,” she said at a news conference with city officials.The campaign was launched after a small cluster of cases was found in a residential compound, sparking concern about a possible second wave of infections as Wuhan emerged from a 2 1/2 month lockdown.The industrial city on the Yangtze River in central China spent 900 million yuan (about $125 million) on the tests, the official Xinhua News Agency said, citing a Wuhan official.The rapid testing of so many people was made possible in part through batch testing, in which samples from up to five people are mixed together, Xinhua reported. If the result is positive, then the people are individually tested.National resources were also mobilized to help, said Wang Weihua, deputy director of the Wuhan Health Commission, according to Xinhua. Together, these efforts raised Wuhan’s daily testing capacity from 300,000 to more than one million, she was quoted as saying.NASA, Fitbit get FDA approval for ventilators to help virus patientsNASA and Fitbit received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday for their ventilators designed to help COVID-19 patients.NASA’s design, dubbed the VITAL (Ventilator Intervention Technology Accessible Locally), is a temporary piece of equipment that uses an internal compressor and is meant to last three to four months.Because the VITAL runs on parts that are not typically in the medical device supply chain it shouldn’t have any impact on need for supplies for current ventilators.The FDA also added the Fitbit Flow to its list of authorized ventilators. The device, which has quietly been in the works for some time, is a continuous respiratory support system that also includes an FDA-approved manual resuscitator as part of the machine.The company calls it a “a high-quality, easy-to-use, and low-cost automatic resuscitator that is designed for emergency ventilation.”“COVID-19 has challenged all of us to push the boundaries of innovation and creativity, and use everything at our disposal to more rapidly develop products that support patients and the healthcare systems caring for them,” said Fitbit CEO James Park.“We saw an opportunity to rally our expertise in advanced sensor development, manufacturing, and our global supply chain to address the critical and ongoing need for emergency ventilators and help make a difference in the fight against this global virus.”CNN contributed to this report.
The latest:
- President Donald Trump announced late Tuesday evening he would seek a new host state for the RNC after North Carolina’s governor called for a scaled-down convention meant to limit the spread of the coronavirus.
- There have been more than 1.8 million coronavirus cases in the United States, according to the Johns Hopkins University tally.
- The U.S. death toll has surpassed 106,000 people, according to Hopkins.
- The Food and Drug Administration is expanding the kinds of companies that can make hand sanitizer while demand continues to outpace supply.
- An autopsy by the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office shows George Floyd had coronavirus.
The idea of keeping schools closed in the fall because of safety concerns for children might be “a bit of a reach,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
In a phone interview with CNN Wednesday, Fauci noted that children tend to have milder symptoms or even no symptoms when they are infected with COVID-19.
What’s not yet clear is whether children get infected as frequently as adults, and whether they often pass the infection on to others. Ultimately, he said, the decision to reopen schools needs to be predicated on the level of infection in each community.
In the past academic school year, 48 states recommended schools close through the rest of the year as coronavirus began its rapid spread.
Some, including schools in Montana and Idaho, opened their doors again for a few weeks before the academic school year finished with the thought of gaining experience in reopening that could be used in the fall.
“I hesitate to make any broad statements about whether it is or is not quote ‘safe’ for kids to come back to school,” Fauci told CNN.
“When you talk about children going back to school and their safety, it really depends on the level of viral activity, and the particular area that you’re talking about. What happens all too often, understandably, but sometimes misleadingly, is that we talk about the country as a whole in a unidimensional way.”
Fauci seemed to think that keeping schools closed in general was not necessary.
“Children can get infected, so, yes, so you’ve got to be careful,” Fauci said. “You got to be careful for them and you got to be careful that they may not spread it. Now, to make an extrapolation that you shouldn’t open schools, I think is a bit of a reach.”
Fauci said it’s not premature to start the conversation about reopening schools now. “I think we need to discuss the pros and the cons of bringing kids back to school in September,” he said.
Stressing the importance of not generalizing, Fauci laid out the spectrum of scenarios for what a return to school in the fall could look like.
“In some situations there will be no problem for children to go back to school,” he said. “In others, you may need to do some modifications. You know, modifications could be breaking up the class so you don’t have a crowded classroom, maybe half in the morning, half in the afternoon, having children doing alternate schedules. There’s a whole bunch of things that one can do.”
Talking about classroom layouts specifically, Fauci underscored the need to “be creative” and create plans based on the degree of infection in the community.
He suggested that one option is to space out children at every other desk, or every third desk in order to maintain proper social distancing.
US Senate passes Paycheck Protection Program reform bill by unanimous consent
The Senate on Wednesday evening passed by voice vote a House-passed Paycheck Protection Program reform bill in the chamber, clearing it for President Donald Trump’s signature.
Earlier in the afternoon, GOP Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin objected to a prior effort to pass the bill via unanimous consent, blocking approval. But Johnson agreed to let the bill pass after getting a letter entered into the record clarifying the authorization period.
The bill, which passed the House last week, gives business owners more flexibility and time to use loan money and still get it forgiven as part of the Paycheck Protection Program, set up to help struggling small businesses with emergency loans during the pandemic.
The legislation — titled the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act — was introduced by Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas and Democratic Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota. It is intended to make loans more accessible under the program by making its terms of use more flexible
The legislation would give small businesses more time to use emergency loans under the program by extending the eight-week period in which they must use the money to qualify for loan forgiveness to 24 weeks.
The bill would also give small businesses more flexibility by changing the so-called 75/25 rule, which requires recipients of funds under the program to use three-quarters of the money for payroll costs and to limit other costs to no more than 25% in order to be eligible for loan forgiveness. The new ratio would be at least 60% on payroll and no more than 40% on other costs.
Trump administration has picked 5 companies most likely to produce coronavirus vaccine
The Trump administration has selected five companies as the most likely to produce a Covid-19 vaccine, a White House Coronavirus task force source tells CNN.
The same source added that the decision came from “Operation Warp Speed,” which seeks to quickly ramp up production, organize distribution and determine who gets the first doses of a potential vaccine.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, has previously suggested January as a potential date for a vaccine, but vaccines typically take years to produce.
The New York Times first reported that the administration had selected five companies most likely to produce a vaccine.
WUHAN TESTS NEARLY 10 MILLION PEOPLE
The Chinese city of Wuhan, where the coronavirus was first detected late last year, has tested nearly 10 million people in an unprecedented 19-day campaign to check an entire city.
It identified just 300 positive cases, all of whom had no symptoms. The city found no infections among 1,174 close contacts of the people who tested positive, suggesting they were not spreading it easily to others.
That is a potentially encouraging development because of widespread concern that infected people without symptoms could be silent spreaders of the disease.
“It not only makes the people of Wuhan feel at ease, it also increases people’s confidence in all of China,” Feng Zijian, vice director of China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told state broadcaster CCTV.
There is no definitive answer yet on the level of risk posed by asymptomatic cases, with anecdotal evidence and studies to date producing conflicting answers.
Wuhan was by far the hardest hit city in China, accounting for more than 80% of the country’s deaths, according to government figures.
A city official announced Tuesday that the city completed 9.9 million tests from May 14 to June 1. If those tested previously are included, virtually everyone above the age of 5 in the city of 11 million people has been tested, said Li Lanjuan, a member of a National Health Commission expert team.
“The city of Wuhan is safe,” she said at a news conference with city officials.
The campaign was launched after a small cluster of cases was found in a residential compound, sparking concern about a possible second wave of infections as Wuhan emerged from a 2 1/2 month lockdown.
The industrial city on the Yangtze River in central China spent 900 million yuan (about $125 million) on the tests, the official Xinhua News Agency said, citing a Wuhan official.
The rapid testing of so many people was made possible in part through batch testing, in which samples from up to five people are mixed together, Xinhua reported. If the result is positive, then the people are individually tested.
National resources were also mobilized to help, said Wang Weihua, deputy director of the Wuhan Health Commission, according to Xinhua. Together, these efforts raised Wuhan’s daily testing capacity from 300,000 to more than one million, she was quoted as saying.
NASA, Fitbit get FDA approval for ventilators to help virus patients
NASA and Fitbit received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday for their ventilators designed to help COVID-19 patients.
NASA’s design, dubbed the VITAL (Ventilator Intervention Technology Accessible Locally), is a temporary piece of equipment that uses an internal compressor and is meant to last three to four months.
Because the VITAL runs on parts that are not typically in the medical device supply chain it shouldn’t have any impact on need for supplies for current ventilators.
The FDA also added the Fitbit Flow to its list of authorized ventilators. The device, which has quietly been in the works for some time, is a continuous respiratory support system that also includes an FDA-approved manual resuscitator as part of the machine.
The company calls it a “a high-quality, easy-to-use, and low-cost automatic resuscitator that is designed for emergency ventilation.”
“COVID-19 has challenged all of us to push the boundaries of innovation and creativity, and use everything at our disposal to more rapidly develop products that support patients and the healthcare systems caring for them,” said Fitbit CEO James Park.
“We saw an opportunity to rally our expertise in advanced sensor development, manufacturing, and our global supply chain to address the critical and ongoing need for emergency ventilators and help make a difference in the fight against this global virus.”
CNN contributed to this report.
