New Coronavirus News from 31 Jul 2020a

Tokyo could declare new emergency if coronavirus worsens [Reuters, 31 Jul 2020]

TOKYO (Reuters) - Tokyo could declare a state of emergency if the coronavirus situation in the Japanese capital deteriorates further, its governor warned on Friday, as debate deepened over how to respond to record increases in new infections.

Yuriko Koike said Tokyo had confirmed 463 new cases on Friday - another single-day record - and implored residents to follow health guidelines to contain the spread of the virus.
“If the situation worsens, Tokyo would have to think about issuing its own state of emergency,” Koike told a news conference.

“We’re entering the summer vacation period when people normally make plans for travel and events but unfortunately, this summer will be different from a normal year.”

Koike’s comments echoed those made just three months ago when she asked residents to stay home during the late April-early May Golden Week holidays, as Japan was under a nationwide state of emergency.

The government lifted that emergency in late May after Japan appeared to have contained the outbreak, touting its mask-wearing habits and health system as some of the factors that helped it fare better than Europe and the United States.

But the virus has made a worrying resurgence, particularly in the past week, just as the government launched its controversial Go To Travel subsidy campaign aimed at reviving its domestic tourism industry.

The number of daily new cases in Japan hit a new record on Thursday, with infections spreading rapidly not only in Tokyo but also in other regions.

In contrast to Tokyo’s governor, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga reiterated the government’s stance that Japan did not need to re-impose a nationwide state of emergency.

He said the current trend in infections was different from that of the first peak in March and April, when there was a greater number of serious cases and infections among the higher-risk elderly population.

Those under 40 with mild or no symptoms have accounted for up to three-quarters of recent cases, with clusters at bars blamed for much of the upsurge.

Opposition lawmakers, however, have accused the government of sending mixed messages and putting the economy before virus containment with its launch of the Go To Travel campaign.

“Of course we need to make the economy better, but people are still worried about the spread of the virus,” Ryosuke Takeda, a lawmaker from the Japanese Communist Party, told Reuters.

“The administration has been saying they will make sure to achieve both containment of the coronavirus and economic recovery, but the hasty start of the ‘Go To’ campaign tells me (Prime Minister Shinzo) Abe and (Economy Minister Yasutoshi) Nishimura chose the economy over prevention of the virus.”

Coronavirus cases in Tokyo hit new high as city prepares to launch its own "CDC" [CBS News, 31 Jul 2020]

BY LUCY CRAFT

Tokyo — COVID-19 cases in Tokyo soared to new high of 463, a jump of nearly 100 in just 24 hours. Officials said a third of the infections originated in the city's bustling Shinjuku Ward, home to warrens of cramped clubs where patrons pay to drink with companions — a district that has become practically synonymous with viral transmission.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Friday that talk of a second national shutdown was premature, but Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike called for a more aggressive approach.

"If the infection situation worsens, Tokyo must independently consider declaring a state of emergency," she said, noting that targeted partial business closures will start on Monday.

For most of the month of August, bars, restaurants and karaoke parlors will be asked to close at 10 pm; those that comply with the voluntary closure request are eligible for compensation of $1,900. Anticipating a long struggle against the disease, Koike said total shutdowns were "not a realistic option."
Koike said the capital will launch its own version of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in October. "Tokyo's CDC" would be tasked with convening experts to perform surveys and form policy, and unify a coronavirus response for the city of 14 million.

Economic Revitalization Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura, who is overseeing COVID-19 measures nationally, said that while case numbers are rising, two other closely-watched metrics — the number of gravely ill patients and infections among senior citizens — remain relatively low. As of Thursday, there were 90 seriously ill COVID-19 patients nationwide — a three-fold rise in as many weeks — yet still well below the level seen in May.

Still, the national government warns the danger signs are clear. Infections are spreading beyond major cities, primarily in nightlife establishments and eateries that are ignoring antiviral measures. While most of the new cases are among younger patients, older age groups are starting to be affected.

Government experts emphasized that the biggest risk remains primarily in "3C" settings: close spaces with poor ventilation, crowded areas, and close conversation areas. Other venues, such as offices, public transit and shops, they said, remain low-risk.

Japan reports record coronavirus infections, exceed 1,000 for 3rd day [Kyodo News Plus, 31 Jul 2020]

TOKYO-Japan confirmed a record 1,578 new coronavirus infections on Friday, marking the third straight day fresh cases have surpassed 1,000, while the Tokyo and Osaka governments said they will consider making stronger requests for some businesses to shorten their hours or even temporarily close.

The figure exceeds the previous record of 1,305 new cases reported Thursday, with the rising trend extending to urban areas across the country.

The country's cumulative total now stands at over 37,000, including some 700 from the Diamond Princess cruise ship that was quarantined in Yokohama in February. The death toll stands at 1,026.

Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike said Friday that more business types may be requested to shorten their operating hours after the capital confirmed record new infections for the second straight day at 463 cases.

The figure topped the previous single-day record of 367 marked Thursday, adding to concerns about further economic and social impact from the new wave of infections after the country fully lifted a state of emergency in late May.

The metropolitan government on Thursday again requested that establishments serving alcohol and karaoke parlors close early to prevent further spread of the virus, effective from Monday through the end of August.

Koike said Friday that while the metropolitan government may ask other types of businesses to also close early, rather than a sweeping request similar to the one made during the nationwide state of emergency, it would "pinpoint" certain sectors and areas.

"If the situation gets worse, we'll have to declare a Tokyo-only state of emergency," she said, urging residents not to let their guard down during the summer.

The cumulative total of infections in Tokyo stands at more than 12,000, over half of which were reported this month.

The daily figures announced by the metropolitan government reflect the most recent totals reported by health authorities and medical institutions in the capital.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga expressed concern Friday that the pace of new infections is increasing in some regions but stressed that the percentage of serious cases remained lower than in March and April.

"During its peak Tokyo reported 105 serious cases, but today the number dropped by six to 16," he said. "Assessing the situation as a whole, we don't need to declare another state of emergency and scale-down all economic activity at present."

Amid rising cases, the Osaka prefectural government will request establishments providing alcohol in Osaka's Minami entertainment district to temporarily shut or shorten their operating hours from Wednesday through Aug. 20, Gov. Hirofumi Yoshimura said.

Businesses without virus-prevention measures will be asked to close, while those that have taken sufficient measures will be asked to shorten their hours, Yoshimura said during the central government's meeting earlier in the day to discuss COVID-19 response. The prefectural government and Osaka city will jointly provide 20,000 yen per day ($191) to businesses that have taken such measures.

"We should focus our measures on the area where (the virus) is spreading the most. We will provide as much compensation as possible," he said.

Fauci testifies on US coronavirus response: Live updates [CNN, 31 Jul 2020]

By Meg Wagner and Melissa Macaya,

What we covered here
• Dr. Anthony Fauci and other health experts testified before a House subcommittee that has been investigating the Trump administration's coronavirus response.

• Fauci said he is "cautiously optimistic" the US could have a safe and effective vaccine by the “'end of this year and as we go into 2021.” The health expert said the vaccine may not be available to Americans immediately, but in phases.

• The hearing was held as more than 150,000 people have died from the virus in the US and the country leads the world in total cases with over 4 million infected.

• Medical experts have warned the US will see deaths skyrocket "well into the multiple hundreds of thousands" if it doesn't control the pandemic.

• Our live coverage has ended. Read the posts to catch up on what you missed.

4 hr 18 min ago

What you need to know about today's coronavirus hearing

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's leading infectious disease expert, and other members of the White House coronavirus task force testified today before a House subcommittee on the Trump administration's coronavirus response.

Fauci, Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Adm. Brett Giroir, the assistant secretary for health at the US Department of Health and Human Services, addressed concerns about testing, the possibility of a Covid-19 vaccine and the reopening of schools.

In case you missed it, here's what happened at today's hearing:
• Vaccine won't be made available immediately: Fauci said a coronavirus vaccine may not be available to all Americans immediately, but in phases. He reassured lawmakers that all safety precautions will be taken by the FDA before the vaccine is made available to the public, encouraging all Americans to take the vaccine.
• Fauci "cautiously optimistic" of vaccine trial: The infectious disease expert said 30,000 individuals have started to enroll in the first Phase 3 clinical trial of a coronavirus vaccine in the United States, which started Monday. Fauci said he is "cautiously optimistic" that the coronavirus vaccine being developed by Moderna and his agency will be successful. Fauci went on to say he doesn't think it’s a dream to say that a coronavirus vaccine could be ready by the end of the year or early 2021.
• Children should return to school if possible: Redfield reiterated his stance that schools should reopen this fall, adding that closing schools can result in "very significant public health consequences." Fauci echoed Redfield's comments saying that a "default position despite the fact that we have to have flexibility" would be to try "as best as we possibly can in the context of the safety of the children and the teachers" to reopen the schools.
• Health experts are focused on four issues: Fauci said the National Institutes of Health's strategic plan is focused on addressing four key points related to Covid-19. They are: the improvement of fundamental knowledge of the virus, the development of diagnostics, the testing of therapeutics and development and testing of vaccines.

On Herman Cain's passing: Cain, the businessman and former Republican presidential candidate, died yesterday from coronavirus. Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters offered condolences to his family and said, “This virus is not Democrat or Republican." Cain, who was hospitalized earlier this month, was one of the Trump surrogates photographed at the President’s campaign rally on June 20 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Cain was seated closely among other attendees without a face covering.

3 hr 29 min ago

Quicker coronavirus test results not possible now for everyone, Giroir says

From CNN's Gisela Crespo

Quicker coronavirus test results are not possible for everyone right now, Adm. Brett Giroir, assistant secretary for health at the US Department of Health and Human Services, told lawmakers Friday.

Giroir, who is the Trump official overseeing Covid-19 testing efforts, has spent the week defending US coronavirus test turnaround times but told the House Select Subcommittee on Coronavirus Crisis that, at the moment, it is not possible for laboratories to deliver all Covid-19 tests results within 48 to 72 hours.

"It is not a possible benchmark we can achieve today given the demand and the supply. It is absolutely a benchmark we can achieve moving forward," he said.

Giroir added the government is moving to point-of-care testing to address test result delays. Point-of-care testing delivers a result within minutes.

"We're investing in a number of technologies that will greatly expand point of care testing and I think that's the future,” he said.

5 hr 14 min ago

Fauci explains why the one study showing benefit of hydroxychloroquine to treat Covid was "flawed"

From CNN's Gisela Crespo

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said again on Friday that no randomized placebo-controlled trial has shown that hydroxychloroquine works as a Covid-19 treatment.

Asked during a House subcommittee hearing about a study by a team of researchers at the Henry Ford Health System that claimed to show that hydroxychloroquine saved lives, Fauci said that study was "flawed."

"The Henry Ford hospital study that was published was a non-controlled retrospective cohort study that was confounded by a number of issues, including the fact that many of the people who were receiving hydroxychloroquine were also receiving corticosteroids, which we know from another study gives a clear benefit in reducing deaths with advanced disease. So that study is a flawed study, and I think anyone who examines it carefully, is that it is not a randomized placebo-controlled trial," Fauci explained.

When Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, a Republican from Missouri, replied that the Henry Ford study was peer-reviewed, Fauci countered by saying, "It doesn't matter. You can peer review something that's a bad study, but the fact is, it is not a randomized placebo-controlled trial."

"The point that I think is important, because we all want to keep an open mind: Any and all of the randomized placebo-controlled trials – which is the gold standard of determining if something is effective – none of them had shown any efficacy for hydroxychloroquine," Fauci said.

Fauci added that when he sees a randomized placebo-controlled trial that shows efficacy for the treatment, "I would be the first one to admit it and to promote it."

"I just have to go with the data. I don't have any horse in the game one way or the other. I just look at the data," he said.

5 hr 55 min ago

Fauci on limiting protests: "I'm not in a position to determine what the government can do in a forceful way"

From CNN's Health Gisela Crespo

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Friday it is not his position to determine what the government can forcefully do, after being asked if the government should limit protesting during the coronavirus pandemic.

In a lengthy and tense exchange, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) asked Fauci during a House subcommittee hearing if the government should limit the protests that have been going on for months now across cities in the US.

"I'm not in a position to determine what the government can do in a forceful way," Fauci replied to Jordan.

The congressman doubled down, arguing that Fauci has given his opinion on a number of things, from baseball to dating, adding that the government moved to stop people from going to work and has limited church services to avoid the spread of the virus.

After a back and forth, Fauci said, "I'm not gonna opine on limiting anything. I'm telling what it is the danger. And you can make your own conclusion about that. You should stay away from crowds, no matter where the crowds are."

6 hr 1 min ago

Congresswoman on Herman Cain's death: "This virus is not Democrat or Republican" From CNN's Adrienne Vogt

Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters offered condolences to the family of Herman Cain, the businessman and former Republican presidential candidate who died from coronavirus.

“This virus is not Democrat or Republican,” Waters said.

Cain was hospitalized earlier this month. He was one of the Trump surrogates photographed at the President’s campaign rally on June 20 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Cain was seated closely among other attendees without a face covering.

5 hr 48 min ago
Fauci asked about Trump's falsehood that US has more cases because of more testing

House subcommittee Chair James Clyburn, a Democrat from South Carolina, addressed President Trump's tweet that seemed to reference a chart Clyburn showed earlier in the hearing about US cases largely outpacing European countries.

In his tweet, Trump claimed that the US is leading Europe in cases due to testing. The President has repeatedly argued that more testing is leading to more cases in the US. That is comprehensively inaccurate.

"Somebody please tell Congressman Clyburn, who doesn’t have a clue, that the chart he put up indicating more CASES for the U.S. than Europe, is because we do MUCH MORE testing than any other country in the World. If we had no testing, or bad testing, we would show very few CASES, " Trump tweeted in part.

Clyburn asked Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, if he agreed with Trump's statement. Clyburn pointed to Fauci's earlier comments from the hearing where the public health official said the difference in cases is due to multiple factors, including how states reopened.

"I stand by my previous statement that the increase in cases was due to a number of factors, one of which was that in the attempt to reopen, that in some situations, states did not abide strictly by the guidelines that the task force and the White House had put out and others that even did abide by it, the people in the state actually were congregating in crowds and not wearing masks," Fauci said.

Fact's first: CNN’s fact check team has reported that Trump's officials and his Republican allies have acknowledged it's not true that a rising number of tests is the reason the number of cases has skyrocketed over the last month.

One telling piece of evidence that the spike is genuine: the percentage of people testing positive, a key measure of the true spread of the virus, has also spiked. As for his assertion regarding other countries — Countries like Germany have needed to do less testing over time because they were more successful at containing their outbreaks in the first place — by employing a strategy that involved aggressive early testing.

6 hr 57 min ago

The hearing is in a short break

The House select subcommittee on the coronavirus crisis is holding a hearing this morning on
"The Urgent Need For A National Plan To Contain The Coronavirus.” The panel is in a short five-minute break.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert; Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and Admiral Dr. Brett Giroir, assistant secretary for health at the US Department of Health and Human Services, are testifying in-person.

For a little over two hours, the health experts have been pressed on Covid-19 vaccine development, school reopenings and the efficacy of President Trump's response to the virus.

4 hr 8 min ago

Possible coronavirus vaccines will be available to Americans in phases, Fauci says

From CNN's Aditi Sangal

In his congressional testimony, Dr. Anthony Fauci told lawmakers that a coronavirus vaccine may not be available to all Americans immediately, but in phases.

“I believe ultimately over a period of time in 2021, if we have — and I think we will have — a safe and effective vaccine, that Americans will be able to get it,” he said. “I don't think that we'll have everybody getting it immediately in the beginning. It probably will be phased in. And that's the reason why we have the committees to do the prioritization of who should get it first. But ultimately, within a reasonable period of time, the plans now allow for any American who needs a vaccine to get it within the year 2021.”

The nation’s top infectious disease expert reiterated that he is “cautiously optimistic” that a coronavirus vaccine will be ready by the end of the year to be distributed in 2021.

He also reassured lawmakers that all safety precautions will be taken by the FDA before the vaccine is made available to the public, encouraging all Americans to take the vaccine.

“I think the American public should be assured that in the process of determining the safety and efficacy, the proper steps have been taken to determine that, and when a vaccine becomes available it's important for their own health and for the health of the country to take that vaccine.”

7 hr 14 min ago
Fauci hopes China and Russia are testing Covid-19 vaccines before distributing them

From CNN's Health Gisela Crespo

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told lawmakers Friday that he hopes China and Russia are "actually testing the vaccine before they are administering the vaccine to anyone."

Speaking during a House subcommittee hearing, Fauci said "claims of having a vaccine ready to distribute before you do testing, I think, is problematic at best."

Fauci explained the US is moving in a "rapid" but "prudent" way.

"We are going very quickly. I do not believe that there will be vaccines so far ahead of us that we will have to depend on other countries to get us vaccines. I believe the program that is being sponsored by us right now, and being directed and implemented by us, is going at a very rapid speed — prudent, but rapid," Fauci said.

Some context: CNN learned earlier this week that Russia intends to be the first in the world to approve a coronavirus vaccine, in less than two weeks. And despite concerns about its safety, effectiveness and over whether the country has cut essential corners in development, interest in the vaccine has already been expressed by at least 20 countries and some US companies, Russian officials say.

Officials told CNN on Wednesday that they were working toward a date of August 10 or earlier for approval of the vaccine, which has been created by the Moscow-based Gamaleya Institute. It will be approved for public use, with frontline healthcare workers getting it first, they said.

7 hr 17 min ago

Fauci on possibility of Covid-19 vaccine being ready by late 2020 or early 2021: "I don't think it's dreaming"

From CNN's Health Gisela Crespo

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told lawmakers Friday that he doesn't think it’s a dream to say that a coronavirus vaccine could be ready by the end of the year or early 2021.

"I believe it will occur," Fauci told Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) during a House subcommittee hearing, and emphasized that safety standards and scientific integrity are not being compromised for speed.

"I know to some people this seems like it is so fast that there might be compromising of safety and scientific integrity, and I can tell you that is absolutely not the case. The rapidity with which we're doing it is as a result of very different technologies."

Fauci said early data from Phase 1 of the vaccine being developed by Moderna and NIAID was very favorable, but he added there are also other vaccines the government is involved with.

"As I've said often and I'll repeat it for the record now: There's never a guarantee that you're going to get a safe and effective vaccine, but from everything we've seen now, in the animal data, as well as the early human data, we feel cautiously optimistic that we will have a vaccine by the end of this year and as we go into 2021. So I don't think it's dreaming, Congresswoman. I believe is the reality, and we've shown to be a reality," Fauci said.

7 hr 31 min ago
Redfield: "It's in the public health best interest" of students to get back in schools

As the start of the school year creeps closer and some states continue to see surges in cases, Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, reiterated his stance that schools should reopen this fall.

"I think it's important to realize that it's in the public health best interest of K-through-12 students to get back in face-to-face learning. There's really very significant public health consequences of the school closure," Redfield said.

Redfield outlined some of these consequences, including student access to mental health services.

"Clearly we're seeing less reporting of it, and again, I think it's a direct consequence of the school closures. 7.1 million kids get their mental health services at school, they get nutritional support as we've mentioned from schools," he said.

"It's really important to realize it's not public health versus the economy about school opening, it's public health versus public health of the K-through-12 to get the schools open. We've got to do it safely and we have to be able to accommodate," Redfield added.

Dr. Anthony Fauci echoed Redfield's comments later on in the hearing, saying that a "default position despite the fact that we have to have flexibility" would be to try "as best as we possibly can in the context of the safety of the children and the teachers" to reopen the schools.

Fauci pointed to the psychological consequences on children and "downstream unintended consequences on families" as important reasons for aiming to open educational establishments.

7 hr 56 min ago

30,000 people have started to enroll for the phase 3 Covid-19 vaccine trial, Fauci says From CNN's Health Gisela Crespo

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Friday that 30,000 individuals have started to enroll in the first Phase 3 clinical trial of a coronavirus vaccine in the United States which started Monday.

The investigational vaccine was developed by the biotechnology company Moderna and NIAID.

"As I mentioned, the Phase 3 trial has already started; 30,000 individuals were already starting to enroll," Fauci said during his opening statement for the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis.

Fauci also said that, as of last night, more than 250,000 people have registered interest in trials for a coronavirus vaccine. He asked individuals who have expressed interest to go to coronaviruspreventionnetwork.org "to make sure that we have a diverse representation."

"I just want to use my last couple of seconds to urge anyone who's listening who wants to participate to please go to that website and register so that you can be part of the solution of this terrible scourge," Fauci said.

8 hr 1 min ago

Why has Europe better contained the virus than the US? Here's what Fauci says.
Dr. Anthony Fauci was asked why Europe has been able to largely contain the virus while the US has seen a rise in new cases.

Fauci said it was a complex question, but described some of the contributing factors. He first pointed out that many European countries locked down more wholly than the US.

"If you look at what happened in Europe, when they shut down or locked down or went to shelter in place — however you want to describe it — they really did it to the tune of about 95% plus of the country did that," Fauci said.

However, "when you actually look at what we did, even though we shut down, even though it created a great deal of difficulty, we really functionally shut down only about 50% in the sense of the totality of the country," Fauci added.

He also noted that some states had better success at following reopening guidelines than others.

"Some were followed very carefully and some were not," he said.

8 hr 1 min ago

Fauci "cautiously optimistic" US could have safe and effective vaccine in late fall or early winter
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told lawmakers that while one can "never guarantee the safety or effectiveness" of a vaccine, he is "cautiously optimistic" that the coronavirus vaccine being developed by Moderna and his agency will be successful.

"We hope that by the time we get into late fall and early winter, we will have in fact a vaccine that we can say that would be safe and effective. One can never guarantee the safety or effectiveness unless you do the trial, but we are cautiously optimistic this will be successful," Fauci said.

"Because in the early studies with humans, the phase one study, it clearly showed that individuals who are vaccinated mounted a neutralizing antibody response that was at least comparable and in many respects better than what we see in convalescent serum from individuals who have recovered from Covid-19," Fauci added.

Some background: The phase three clinical trial of the vaccine discussed by Fauci began Monday.

The investigational vaccine was developed by the biotechnology company Moderna and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health.

The trial will be conducted at nearly 100 US research sites, according to Moderna. The first patient was dosed at a site in Savannah, Georgia.

The trial is expected to enroll about 30,000 adult volunteers and evaluates the safety of the Moderna/NIH vaccine and whether it can prevent symptomatic Covid-19 after two doses, among other outcomes.

Volunteers will receive either two 100-microgram injections of the vaccine or a placebo about 28 days apart. Investigators and participants will not know who has received the vaccine.

8 hr 10 min ago

These are the 4 areas of focus in health officials' Covid-19 plan, according to Fauci
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, outlined four key points to the National Institutes of Health's strategic plan to addressing Covid-19.

The four areas the agency has focused on are:
1. The improvement of fundamental knowledge of the virus
2. The development of diagnostics
3. The testing of therapeutics
4. Development and testing of vaccines

Today's hearing is centered on the need to develop a national plan to contain coronavirus.

7 hr 15 min ago
Ranking Republican says Trump's "effective" Covid-19 plan has helped keep "Americans safe"

The House subcommittee's ranking member, Rep. Steve Scalise, dismissed assertions that the US lacks a national plan to combat coronavirus and called the hearing's title a "false political narrative."

In his opening remarks, Scalise held up a stack of documents he said were a few of the guidelines published by the Trump administration and his agencies to show states how to safely reopen. The Republican said that those claiming the US does not have a plan perhaps have not read the "different components" of the plan.

"You wouldn't even be here if there wasn't a plan, because you are the people tasked with carrying out the plan. In fact, if you were sidelined you wouldn't be here either. And I know some people want to suggest that but maybe they haven't spent time reading different components of the plan. These are just a few, by the way, a few of the documents that your agencies have published to show states how to safely reopen, to show schools how to safely reopen," Scalise said.

"To show nursing homes how to care for their patients, which by the way, if all governors would have followed those guidelines, thousands more seniors in nursing homes would be alive today if just five governors would have followed your plan that was developed by President Trump and is being carried out by you and your teams effectively every day," he said. "Let me thank you on behalf of the millions of American people who are alive today who wouldn't be alive if you weren't carrying out President Trump's effective plan to keep Americans safe."

8 hr 11 min ago
Subcommittee chair: "We need to identify and correct past failures"

The House select subcommittee on the coronavirus crisis is holding a hearing this morning on

"The Urgent Need For A National Plan To Contain The Coronavirus.” The panel just began.

"My goal today is simple. To hear from our nation's top public health experts on what steps we need to take to stop the unnecessary deaths of more Americans, " Chair James Clyburn, a Democrat from South Carolina, said in his opening remarks.

"To improve our response, we need to identify and correct past failures. Especially those that are ongoing," he added.

"Regrettably, nearly six months after this virus claimed its first American life, the federal government has still not yet developed and implemented a national strategy to protect the American people," Clyburn said.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, is testifying in person.

The other witnesses include Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Admiral Dr. Brett Giroir, assistant secretary for health at the US Department of Health and Human Services. They are also testifying in person.

The health experts are expected to be grilled on Covid-19 testing, school reopenings and the development of a vaccine.

9 hr 3 min ago
SOON: Fauci and other health experts will answer questions about "urgent need" for a plan to contain Covid-19

The House select subcommittee on the coronavirus crisis is holding a hybrid hearing this morning at 9:00 a.m ET titled "The Urgent Need For A National Plan To Contain The Coronavirus.”

The hearing comes as the US reports more than 1,000 people died in the country yesterday from Covid-19, the highest number of daily coronavirus deaths in more than a month, a statement posted on the hearing's website says.

Witnesses include:
• Dr. Anthony Fauci, National Institutes of Health
• Dr. Robert Redfield, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Admiral Dr. Brett Giroir, US Department of Health and Human Services

The three witnesses last appeared before Congress on June 30.

According to the House subcommittee's website, after the Trump administration "initially declined" to make witnesses requested by the subcommittee available, Chair Rep. James Clyburn wrote to the vice president and the secretary of health and human services on July 14 saying:

"It is imperative that Congress and the American people hear directly from the federal government’s top health experts about how the administration intends to address this dire situation.”

Safety precautions: Face coverings are required in the hearing room, and entry will not be permitted without a face covering, the subcommittee's website said.

In addition, seating arrangements will be “in accordance with social distancing guidelines” and “every effort should be made [to] adhere to six-foot social distancing guidelines.”

9 hr 7 min ago
Trump official overseeing Covid-19 testing expected to be grilled on slow turnaround times

From CNN's Shelby Lin Erdman

The Trump administration official overseeing critical coronavirus testing is expected to be pressed this morning on why turnaround times are still too long in the United States.

During CNN’s coronavirus town hall yesterday, Admiral Dr. Brett Giroir, assistant secretary for health at the US Department of Health and Human Services, said testing is improving but not as good as he wants it to be.

"It shouldn't be acceptable," he said, that the United States is so backlogged on coronavirus testing.

He tried to defend the state of testing in the US after large testing companies such as Quest Diagnostics reported it can take seven days or more to run tests and get results back to people.

“Nationally, about 25% of tests are point-of-care so that's about 15 minutes. Another 25% are done in local hospitals … That's generally a quick turnaround,” Giroir said.

But he conceded there is a backlog that’s rendering some coronavirus testing practically useless.

“Where we really talk about it is the big commercial labs and there's no question they've been strained, and Quest has been strained more than the other commercial labs,” he said.

“Our data right now, and this is the worst week, is that 56%, are back within three days, 76% are back within five days,” he added.

Pooling samples from four or five people can speed things up and save resources, Giroir said.

“I've said and I've said before — I want the perfect test. I want it to be perfectly sensitive and specific and back within 15 minutes. That's why we're really working towards more point-of-care but again it is a work in progress, because of the tremendous demand,” Giroir said.

By September, Giroir said he expects half of all tests in the US to be point-of-care tests, but he warned, “You can’t test your way out of this.” People must also use masks, avoid crowds and avoid being indoors with others, he said.

9 hr 23 min ago
It is time for US to reset its national Covid-19 response, experts at Johns Hopkins say

From CNN's Steve Almasy, Jason Hanna and Madeline Holcombe

The United States needs to restart its response with policy actions at the federal, state and local levels to get control of the pandemic, scholars at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security said in a report.

"Unlike many countries in the world, the United States is not currently on course to get control of this epidemic," the report says. "It is time to reset."

The report includes 10 recommendations that include universal mask mandates, federal leadership to improve testing and, in places where rates of transmission are worsening, stay-at-home orders.

Here are some key suggestions:
• Masks: The report says federal, state and local leaders should mandate non-medical mask use in public and limit large indoor gatherings.
• Lockdowns: States should stop high-risk activities and settings in areas that have rising test positivity but no signs of crisis in hospitals or rising deaths. In areas where the situation is worse, stay-at-home orders should be reinstated, the report says.
• Testing: The report points to improved testing being vital. The US response to the epidemic will be severely constrained without a reliable and efficient testing system, the report says. One of the things the authors suggest to combat this is having the federal government work with states and commercial labs to identify and overcome obstacles to getting quick test results.

The report also gives recommendations about personal protective equipment, epidemiological data, funding research agendas, contact tracing, identifying best practices for improving public health response and developing policies and practices to protect group institutions.

Fauci told MSNBC he didn't believe moving back to a complete shutdown is necessary.

"I think psychologically that would be really very difficult for people to accept," he said. He advised that states and communities could "backtrack a little" in order to "regain your footing."
Then the next reopening should be done with more caution, he said.

9 hr 32 min ago
"Impossible to predict" how long the Covid-19 pandemic will last, Fauci says
From CNN's Madeline Holcombe

Without a national effort to adhere to preventative measures, it will be impossible to predict how much longer the Covid-19 pandemic will last in the United States, Dr. Anthony Fauci said.

The US is seeing a resurgence of coronavirus infections after states began reopening their economies, with the number of cases now at more than 4.4 million and the death toll at 152,070, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Meanwhile, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation increased its forecast to 219,864 total deaths by November, in part because the nation continues to debate measures like wearing masks and social distancing.

"The thing we need to do is we need to pull out all the stops to get it down to baseline and to keep it there by doing the things that we've been talking about — that I've been talking about — consistently," Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Thursday during CNN's coronavirus town hall.

Regularly taking such precautions is especially important given that a backlog in getting test results is rendering some coronavirus testing practically useless.

9 hr 9 min ago
Fauci says it's "crunch time" for vaccine development

From CNN's Christina Maxouris and Eric Levenson,

Public skepticism toward vaccines is something officials will need to overcome once a coronavirus vaccine is ready for the public, Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN on Monday.

Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which is working with Moderna on a potential vaccine, said there will need to be a campaign of community engagement and outreach.

"If we get a widespread uptake of vaccine, we can put an end to the pandemic and we can create a veil of immunity that would prevent the infection coming back," he told CNN's Wolf Blitzer.

"You have to do it by extending yourself to the community, not by a dictum from Washington."

The first Phase 3 clinical trial of a coronavirus vaccine in the US, developed by Moderna and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, began Monday. Fauci called it "crunch time" for vaccine development, and said he's "cautiously optimistic" about the progress.

"We're trying to figure out does it actually work," he said. It will "take several months to determine if in fact (the vaccine) does work," he said. "To go from not even knowing what the virus was in early January to a Phase 3 trial is really record time."

The Moderna vaccine is one of 25 in clinical trials around the world, according to the World Health Organization. Pfizer and BioNTech also announced Monday that they have begun a Phase 2/3 study of a coronavirus vaccine.

Watch Fauci explain the vaccine trial:

9 hr 18 min ago
Fauci warns Covid-19's resurgence moving into Midwestern states

From CNN Health’s Shelby Lin Erdman

The resurgence in coronavirus infections in states across the South and West is now moving into Midwestern states, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Wednesday in an interview on MSNBC.

In Florida, Texas, Arizona, California, an increase in the percentage of coronavirus tests coming back positive signaled a later resurgence, Fauci said.

“We're starting to see that in some of the states now, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana and other states,” he added.

Fauci said the White House coronavirus task force warned the governors in a conference call Tuesday that they need to get out ahead of the curve.

“Because what we're seeing now is what actually took place a couple of weeks ago and what we're going to see a couple of weeks from now, is what we're doing now,” he said.

“What inevitably is going to happen is that the states that are not yet in trouble, will likely get into trouble,” Fauci added.

Fauci's advice: The states experiencing a resurgence need to take a look at the reopening guidelines, Fauci said, emphasizing the need to adhere to a phased reopening.

“Not all the states did that and even in the states that did, some of the people in the states didn't listen to what the suggestions in the guidelines were. So, what we're dealing with now is we want to make sure that as we start seeing these surges, you may need to go back a little,” he said.

Fauci said, however, he didn’t believe moving back to a complete shutdown is necessary.

“I think psychologically that would be really very difficult for people to accept but what we can do is, if you're going to quickly call a pause, a timeout and think maybe you want to backtrack a little, not necessarily all the way back to shut down, but enough to regain your footing, so that you then proceed to open in a much more cautious fashion.”

RIP Buddy: The first dog to test positive for the coronavirus in the U.S. has died [MarketWatch, 31 Jul 2020]

By Nicole Lyn Pesce

The German shepherd’s death shows just how much we still don’t know about COVID-19 in pets

If we’re still learning about how the coronavirus spreads among humans, and why some people get so much sicker than others — then we’ve barely scratched the surface with what it does to pets.

While the number of animals infected worldwide remains relatively low, the first U.S. dog to test positive for SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, has sadly died.

National Geographic has identified the pup as Buddy, a 7-year-old German shepherd from Staten Island, N.Y., in an exclusive interview with his family that published this week. Buddy passed on July 11, just two and a half months after he started wheezing and developing thick mucus in his nose. But the Mahoney family’s struggle to get him tested and to fully understand why their pet’s health declined so rapidly — and whether lymphoma, which wasn’t diagnosed until the day he died, played a part in it — illustrates just how many questions remain about the virus’ effect on animals.

“You tell people that your dog was positive, and they look at you [as if you have] 10 heads,” Allison Mahoney, one of Buddy’s owners, told National Geographic. “[Buddy] was the love of our lives….He brought joy to everybody. I can’t wrap my head around it.”

The family explained that Buddy began showing difficulty breathing in mid-April, when Allison’s husband Robert Mahoney had been sick with the virus himself for three weeks. “Without a shadow of a doubt, I thought [Buddy] was positive,” Robert said.

Related: Can my dog or cat get coronavirus? Can I kiss my pet? FDA video warns pet owners about spreading COVID-19

But the first few veterinarians that they visited were skeptical that Buddy had the coronavirus. In some cases, clinics simply didn’t have the COVID-19 test on hand to find out. The third clinic that the Mahoneys visited finally tested Buddy, and he was confirmed positive for COVID-19 on May 15, a month after his symptoms began. By May 20, he tested negative for the virus, indicating it was no longer present in his body — although he did have the antibodies for it, which was further evidence he had been infected. The U.S. Department of Agriculture verified in a June 2 press release that Buddy was the first confirmed case of canine COVID-19 in the country.

Buddy’s diagnosis spurred more questions, however: could he have spread it to the family’s 10-month-old German shepherd puppy, Duke, or anyone else in the house? (He did not.) Had he contracted it from Robert? (That seems likely.) And why was this otherwise healthy dog’s health suddenly crashing, despite being on prescription antibiotics and steroids? (He had not been diagnosed with possible lymphoma yet.) He lost weight and began to have trouble walking. And on the morning of July 11, the poor dog began vomiting clotted blood. There was nothing more that the family or veterinarians could do for Buddy, so they made the difficult decision to euthanize him.

But new blood work done the day that Buddy was euthanized revealed he probably had lymphoma, a type of cancer, which could explain some of his symptoms toward the end. But it’s still unclear whether this underlying condition made him more vulnerable to the coronavirus, or whether the coronavirus is what first made him sick — or whether it was just bad, coincidental timing.

The Mahoneys don’t bear any blame or ill will toward the clinic. “I think they are learning as well. It’s all trial and error. And they tried to help us the best way they can,” Allison said.

They do wish that health officials had performed a necropsy (essentially a pet autopsy, or postmortem medical exam) to learn more about the virus in Buddy’s body. The family doesn’t remember anyone asking them about a necropsy on the day Buddy was euthanized, however, although they admit the sad day was a blur. Robert Cohen, the veterinarian at Bay Street Animal Clinic who treated Buddy — and who lost his own father to COVID-19 just a couple of weeks ago — told National Geographic that he asked the NYC Department of Health whether it needed Buddy’s body for follow up research. But by the time NYCDOH responded with a decision to do a necropsy, Buddy had already been cremated. So we don’t know for sure whether the coronavirus is what killed Buddy.

“While testing of Buddy did indicate an infection with SARs-CoV-2 [the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19], he also had lymphoma, which can cause clinical signs similar to those described, and it very likely was a primary reason for his illness and ultimately death,” Dr. Doug Kratt, president of the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), told MarketWatch by email.

“We have much more to learn about this virus and this disease,” he continued. “Research is underway to determine the full reach of SARS-CoV-2, how infection with the virus may affect animals, and which animals are susceptible and why (or why not).”

While this case raises a lot of questions about the coronavirus in animals, here’s what we do know. On the plus side, there are very few cases of COVID-19 in animals, especially relative to humans. While the virus has infected more than 17 million people worldwide, there are less than 25 confirmed cases in pets globally — although it should be noted that there has not been widespread testing of pets.

The CDC is still not recommending routine testing for pets, largely because there is no evidence that pets are spreading the virus to people, and also because there are many health issues that could cause symptoms similar to COVID-19 in pets. “Because these other conditions are much more common than SARS-CoV-2 infections in animals, routine testing of pets for SARS-CoV-2 is not currently recommended by veterinary infectious disease experts, animal health officials, or public health veterinarians,” Dr. Kratt said. “Testing may be appropriate in certain situations after a pet has been completely evaluated by a veterinarian to rule out other causes of their illness.”

So it remains unclear how many pets in the U.S. have been tested, or how many could carry the coronavirus.

“We don’t want people to panic. We don’t want people to be afraid of pets” or to rush to test them en masse, CDC official Dr. Casey Barton Behravesh told the AP. “There’s no evidence that pets are playing a role in spreading this disease to people.” What’s more, the pets who do get sick generally have mild symptoms, and they usually recover.

But Buddy’s fatal case does raise questions about whether more pets should be tested moving forward, or if animals with underlying conditions could be more vulnerable to the virus in the same way that many people with pre-existing health conditions have been hit harder by COVID-19. “Certainly it is likely the underlying condition could weaken the dog’s natural defenses to a lot of things,” one South Carolina vet told National Geographic.

The FDA and the CDC are recommending that people practice social distancing with their pets, such as keeping dogs on a leash and six feet away from dogs and people who aren’t from their household. Anyone who gets sick with the coronavirus should isolate themselves from their pets, if possible, as there is evidence that pets can catch the virus from humans. And the U.K.’s chief veterinary officer has warned pet owners to stop kissing their pets, sharing food with them or sharing beds with them.

Click here for more information about what we know about pets and coronavirus so far, as well as answers to many questions about taking care of pets during the pandemic.

How Italy Turned Around Its Coronavirus Calamity [The New York Times, 31 Jul 2020]

By Jason Horowitz

After a stumbling start, the country has gone from being a global pariah to a model — however imperfect — of viral containment that holds lessons for its neighbors and for the United States.

ROME — When the coronavirus erupted in the West, Italy was the nightmarish epicenter, a place to avoid at all costs and a shorthand in the United States and much of Europe for uncontrolled contagion.

“You look at what’s going on with Italy,” President Trump told reporters on March 17. “We don’t want to be in a position like that.” Joseph R. Biden Jr., the presumptive Democratic nominee, used Italy’s overwhelmed hospitals as evidence for his opposition to Medicare for All at a presidential debate. “It is not working in Italy right now,” he said.

Fast forward a few months, and the United States has suffered tens of thousands more deaths than any country in the world. European states that once looked smugly at Italy are facing new flare-ups. Some are imposing fresh restrictions and weighing whether to lock down again.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain on Friday announced a delay to a planned easing of measures in England as the infection rate there rose. Even Germany, lauded for its efficient response and rigorous contact tracing, has warned that lax behavior is prompting a surge in cases.

And Italy? Its hospitals are basically empty of Covid-19 patients. Daily deaths attributed to the virus in Lombardy, the northern region that bore the brunt of the pandemic, hover around zero. The number of new daily cases has plummeted to “one of the lowest in Europe and the world,” said Giovanni Rezza, director of the infective illness department at the National Institute of Health. “We have been very prudent.”

And lucky. Today, despite a tiny uptick in cases this week, Italians are cautiously optimistic that they have the virus in check — even as Italy’s leading health experts warn that complacency remains the jet fuel of the pandemic. They are aware that the picture can change at any moment.

How Italy has gone from being a global pariah to a model — however imperfect — of viral containment holds fresh lessons for the rest of the world, including the United States, where the virus, never under control, now rages across the country.

After a stumbling start, Italy has consolidated, or at least maintained, the rewards of a tough nationwide lockdown through a mix of vigilance and painfully gained medical expertise.
Its government has been guided by scientific and technical committees. Local doctors, hospitals and health officials collect more than 20 indicators on the virus daily and send them to regional authorities, who then forward them to the National Institute of Health.

The result is a weekly X-ray of the country’s health upon which policy decisions are based.

That is a long way from the state of panic, and near collapse, that hit Italy in March.

This week, Parliament voted to extend the government’s emergency powers through Oct. 15 after Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte argued the nation could not let its guard down “because the virus is still circulating.”

Those powers allow the government to keep restrictions in place and respond quickly — including with lockdowns — to any new clusters. The government has already imposed travel restrictions on more than a dozen countries to Italy, as the importation of the virus from countries is now the government’s greatest fear.

“There are a lot of situations in France, Spain, the Balkans, which means that the virus is not off at all,” said Ranieri Guerra, assistant director general for strategic initiatives at the World Health Organization and an Italian doctor. “It can come back at any time.”

There is no doubt that the privations of the lockdown were economically costly. For three months, businesses and restaurants were ordered closed, movement was highly restricted — even between regions, towns and streets — and tourism ground to a halt. Italy is expected to lose about 10 percent of its gross domestic product this year.

But at a certain point, as the virus threatened to spread uncontrollably, Italian officials decided to put lives ahead of the economy. “The health of the Italian people comes and will always come first,” Mr. Conte said at the time.

Italian officials now hope that the worst of the cure came in one large dose — the painful lockdown — and that the country is now safe to resume normal life, albeit with limits. They argue that the only way to start up the economy is to keep tamping down the virus, even now.

The strategy of closing down completely invited criticism that the government’s excessive caution was paralyzing the economy. But it may prove to be more advantageous than trying to reopen the economy while the virus still rages, as is happening in countries like the United States, Brazil and Mexico.

That does not mean that calls for continued vigilance, as elsewhere in the world, have been immune to mockery, resistance and exasperation. In that, Italy is no different.

Masks often are missing or lowered in trains or buses, where they are mandatory. Young people are going out and doing the things young people do — and risk in that way spreading the virus to more susceptible parts of the population. Adults started gathering at the beach and for birthday barbecues. There is still no clear plan for a return to school in September.

There is also a burgeoning, and politically motivated, anti-mask contingent led by nationalist Matteo Salvini, who on July 27 declared that replacing handshakes and hugs with elbow bumps was “the end of the human species.”

At his rallies, Mr. Salvini, the leader of the populist League party, still shakes hands and wears his mask like a chin guard. In July, during a news conference, he accused the Italian government of “importing” infected immigrants to create new clusters and extend the state of emergency.

This week, Mr. Salvini joined other mask skeptics — nicknamed the “negationists” by critics — for a protest in the Senate library, along with special guests such as the Italian crooner Andrea Bocelli, who said he did not believe the pandemic was so serious because “I know a lot of people and I don’t know anyone who ended up in an I.C.U.”

But the country’s leading health experts say that the lack of severe cases is indicative of a decrease in the volume of infections, as only a small percentage of the infected get very sick.
And so far, Italy’s malcontents have not been numerous or powerful enough to undermine what has been a hard-won trajectory of success in confronting the virus after a calamitous start.

Italy’s initial isolation by European neighbors at the outset of the crisis, when masks and ventilators were hardly pouring in from across the borders, may actually have helped, Mr. Guerra, the W.H.O. expert, said.

Wuhan coronavirus hunter Shi Zhengli speaks out [Science, 31 Jul 2020]

by Jon Cohen

The coronavirus pandemic has thrust virologist Shi Zhengli into a fierce spotlight. Shi, nicknamed “Bat Woman,” heads a group that studies bat coronaviruses at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), in the Chinese city where the pandemic began. Many have speculated that SARS-CoV-2, the pathogen that causes COVID-19, accidentally escaped from her lab—a theory promoted by U.S. President Donald Trump. Some have even suggested it could have been engineered there.

China has forcefully rejected such claims, but Shi herself has said very little publicly—until now.

On 15 July, Shi emailed Science answers to a series of questions about the virus' origin and her research. In them, she hit back at speculation that the virus leaked from WIV. She and her colleagues discovered the virus in late 2019, she says, in samples from patients who had a pneumonia of unknown origin. “Before that, we had never been in contact with or studied this virus, nor did we know of its existence,” Shi wrote.

“U.S. President Trump's claim that SARS-CoV-2 was leaked from our institute totally contradicts the facts,” she added. “It jeopardizes and affects our academic work and personal life. He owes us an apology.”

Shi stressed that over the past 15 years, her lab has isolated and grown in culture only three bat coronaviruses related to one that infected humans: the agent that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), which erupted in 2003. The more than 2000 other bat coronaviruses the lab has detected, including one that is 96.2% identical to SARS-CoV-2, are simply genetic sequences that her team has extracted from fecal samples and oral and anal swabs of the animals. She also noted that all staff and students in her lab recently tested negative for SARS-CoV-2, challenging the notion that one of them triggered the pandemic.

Shi was particularly chagrined about the 24 April decision by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), made at the White House's behest, to ax a grant to the EcoHealth Alliance in New York City that included bat virus research at WIV. “We don't understand [it] and feel it is absolutely absurd,” she said.

Shi's responses—available in full at scim.ag/ShiZhengli—are “a big contribution,” says Daniel Lucey of Georgetown University, an outbreak specialist who blogs about SARS-CoV-2 origin issues. “There are a lot of new facts that I wasn't aware of. It's very exciting to hear this directly from her.” The answers were coordinated with public information staffers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, of which WIV is part, and evolutionary biologist Kristian Andersen of Scripps Research suspects they were “carefully vetted” by the Chinese government. “But they're all logical, genuine, and stick to the science,” he says.

Richard Ebright, a molecular biologist at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, who has long urged for an investigation into the possibility that a lab accident spawned the pandemic, is unimpressed, however. “Most of these answers are formulaic, almost robotic, reiterations of statements previously made by Chinese authorities and state media,” Ebright says.

Shi's responses come at a time when questions about how the pandemic originated are increasingly causing international tensions. Trump frequently calls SARS-CoV-2 “the China virus” and has said China could have stopped the pandemic in its tracks. China, for its part, has added an extra layer of review for researchers who want to publish on the pandemic's origins and has asserted that SARS-CoV-2 may have originated in the United States. Calls for an independent, international probe into the origin are mounting, and two researchers from the World Health Organization are now in China to discuss the scope and scale of a possible mission. Lucey says Shi's answers to Science's questions could help guide the investigation team.

PETER DASZAK of the EcoHealth Alliance, who has long worked with Shi, describes her as social, open, and something of a goodwill ambassador for China at meetings, where she converses in both French and English. (She's also a renowned singer of Mandarin folk songs.)

“What I really like about Zhengli is that she is frank and honest, and that just makes it easier to solve problems,” he says.

Shi studied at Wuhan University and WIV, then earned a Ph.D. at the University of Montpellier II in France. She returned to WIV in 2000, initially focusing on viruses in shrimp and crabs. A turning point in her career came in 2005, when she published a study in Science with Daszak and other researchers from China, Australia, and the United States. The paper reported the first evidence that bats harbored coronaviruses closely related to the lethal virus that jumped from civets to humans and caused the worldwide outbreak of SARS in 2003.

Daszak has continued to work with Shi and her WIV team to sample wild animals and hunt for more coronaviruses. They have published 18 more papers together. Shi “is extremely driven to produce high-quality work,” Daszak says. “She will go out in the field, and gets involved in the work, but her real skills are in the lab, and she's one of the best I've worked with in China, probably globally.”

Shi told Science her lab was thrust into the pandemic on 30 December 2019, the day her team first received patient samples. “Subsequently, we rapidly conducted research in parallel with other domestic institutions, and quickly identified the pathogen,” she wrote.

It didn't long take for suspicions and rumors to arise, first on China's social media sites and then in Western media. On 2 February, Shi posted a note on her own social media site saying SARS-CoV-2 was “nature punishing the uncivilized habits and customs of humans,” and that she would “bet my life that [the outbreak] has nothing to do with the lab.” Partly as a show of support for Shi, Daszak and 26 other scientists from eight countries published a statement of solidarity with Chinese scientists and health professionals in The Lancet in February. In a March Nature paper that analyzed SARS-CoV-2's genetic makeup, Andersen and other evolutionary biologists argued against it being engineered in a lab.

In her written answers to Science, Shi explained in great detail why she thinks her lab is blameless. WIV has identified hundreds of bat viruses over the years, but never anything close to SARS-CoV-2, she says. Although much speculation has centered on RaTG13, the bat virus that most closely resembles SARS-CoV-2, differences in the sequences of the two viruses suggest they diverged from a common ancestor somewhere between 20 and 70 years ago. Shi notes that her lab never cultured the bat virus, making an accident far less likely.

Some suspicions have focused on a naming inconsistency. In 2016, Shi described a partial sequence of a bat coronavirus that she dubbed 4991. That small part of the genome exactly matches RaTG13, leading some to speculate that Shi never revealed the full sequence of 4991 because it actually is SARS-CoV-2. But Shi explained that 4991 and RaTG13 are one and the same. The original name, she says, was for the bat itself, but her team switched to RaTG13 when they sequenced the entire virus. TG stands for Tongguan, the town in Yunnan province where they trapped that bat, she said, and 13 for the year 2013.

That's “a very logical explanation,” says Edward Holmes, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Sydney. Shi's reply also clarified to him why 4991 held such little interest to her team that they didn't even bother to sequence it fully until recently: That short genetic sequence was very different from SARS-CoV, the virus that caused the 2003 outbreak. “In reading this the penny dropped: Of course, they would have been mainly interested in bat viruses closely related to SARS-CoV … not some random bat virus that is more distant,” Holmes says.

Shi mentioned other factors that she says exonerate her lab. Their research meets strict biosafety rules, she said, and the lab is subject to periodic inspections “by a third-party institution authorized by the government.” Antibody tests have shown there is “zero infection” among institute staff or students with SARS-CoV-2 or SARS-related viruses. Shi said WIV has never been ordered to destroy any samples after the pandemic erupted.

Labs that presumably had strict biosafety rules have had accidents: The SARS virus escaped from several labs after the global outbreak was contained in 2003. And even if everyone in the institute tested negative for the virus today, an infected person could have left WIV months ago. Still, Holmes says, the answers are “a clear, comprehensive, and believable account” of what occurred at WIV.

BUT THEN where did the virus come from? Shi concurs with the scientific consensus that it originated in bats and jumped to humans either directly or, more likely, via an intermediate host. Her lab tested samples from Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, which Wuhan officials initially fingered as a possible origin because some early patients had links to it, and found RNA fragments from the virus in “door handles, the ground and sewage,” she wrote—but not in “frozen animal samples.” But the market's role was called into question when two papers revealed that up to 45% of the first confirmed patients—including four of the five earliest cases—did not have any links to it. “The Huanan seafood market may just be a crowded location where a cluster of early novel coronavirus patients were found,” Shi says.

Researchers from WIV and Huazhong Agricultural University didn't find the virus in farmed animals and livestock around Wuhan and in other places in Hubei province, she wrote. Years of surveillance in Hubei have never turned up bat coronaviruses close to SARS-CoV-2, she said, leading her to believe the jump to humans happened elsewhere.

Shi provided few details on China's efforts to pin down the origin. “Many groups in China are carrying out such studies,” she wrote, using multiple approaches. “We are publishing papers and data, including those about the virus's origins.”

Daszak supports the push for an international research effort—which he cautions could take years—and says Shi's group should play a prominent role in it. “I hope and believe that she will be able to help WIV and China show the world that there is nothing to these lab escape theories, and help us all to find the true origins of this viral strain,” he says. Shi ended her answers on a similar note. “Here, I would like to make an appeal to the international community to strengthen international cooperation on research into the origins of emerging viruses,” she said. “I hope scientists around the world can stand together and work together.”

Bill Gates says other nations had better coronavirus responses than US [CNN, 31 Jul 2020]

By Steve Almasy, Naomi Thomas, Madeline Holcombe and Eric Levenson

(CNN)While the United States has historically led the way when it comes to dealing with diseases such as smallpox, polio and HIV, other countries were faster with a coronavirus response, Microsoft founder Bill Gates said Thursday.

A number of countries -- which he did not name -- got going a lot more quickly than the United States, said Gates, whose Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation funds multiple health care initiatives. Countries with previous experience fighting SARS or MERS were the quickest and set up strong models, Gates said in a Time 100 talk.

"If you score the US, our domestic response has been weak. It can improve," he said. "Our (research and development) response -- funding vaccines and therapeutics -- has been the best in the world."

For instance, ramping up testing has been slow, Gates said.

"The US is now starting, you know, to say hey, the testing turnaround can't be long like this," he said.

Adm. Brett Giroir, assistant secretary for health at the US Department of Health and Human Services, said testing is improving but not as good as he wants it to be.

"It shouldn't be acceptable," he said, that the United States is so backlogged on coronavirus testing.

Point-of-care testing, in which results come back in 15 minutes, is about 25% of the 860,000 tests given each day, he said. By September, that should grow to 50%.

Giroir said testing can't solve the pandemic and people need to wear masks and not congregate indoors in large groups.

Gates said he thinks bars and restaurants should be allowed to have customers inside.

He also suggested countries work hand in hand to fight the virus.

"They also need to get together with other countries," he said. "Because until we stop the pandemic in the entire world, it's going to keep coming back."

The pandemic has been a huge setback for the United States, he said.

"But we will get past it," he said. "We'll get economic growth to come back, and we'll have these platforms that will mean the next time we're faced with something like this, we'll all do as well as the smart countries did this time."

More than 4.4 million people in the United States have been infected with the coronavirus and more than 151,000 have died.

Vermont announced first coronavirus death in six weeks

Vermont has had its first Covid-19-related death in 43 days, State Health Commissioner Mark Levine announced.

People who might have been affected by the person's illness will be contacted and given guidance for their health and safety, Levine added.

The state has had 57 Covid-19-related deaths and 1,407 cases, including one new case announced Thursday.

The number of deaths has been rising nationwide as 30 states have seven-day averages that are higher than at this point last week.

But as Vermont's death toll remained low, Florida's Thursday count was the third consecutive day of record reports, with 253 deaths -- 17% higher than Wednesday's total.

Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Giménez told CNN's "New Day" he doesn't anticipate the trend to change soon, at least not in his area.

"We're going to see a higher level of deaths for some time, until we start to drop our positivity rate below 10%," he said. "It was a steep rise to the top and I think it's going to be a gradual decline. So we're going to be at this for a while, but we're not rising anymore."

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis told reporters that emergency room visits and hospitalizations throughout the state are declining.

Social distancing led to huge drop in global cases, study says

Just two weeks of social distancing policies cut the spread of coronavirus by 65% globally, preventing more than 1.5 million new cases, researchers at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center estimate.

They looked at data from 134 countries. In 46 countries, the policies had a strong effect, preventing an estimated 1.57 million cases of Covid-19 over a two-week period. That represents a 65% reduction in new cases, they said.

They also looked at the United States, but only three states had no social distancing policies.

Still the study showed differences.

"We found that states observed significant reductions in transmission rates following the implementation of social distancing policies, compared to states without such policies," Daniel McGrail, a postdoctoral fellow studying systems biology, said in a statement. "In fact, two of the smallest reductions in spread were seen in states without social distancing policies."

They compared Nebraska and Idaho, two states similar in population. Idaho had a social distancing policy while Nebraska did not. Idaho saw its spread rate drop .26 points, from .29 to .03, after enacting physical distance mandates. For a similar time period Nebraska saw a drop of .07 points.

The middle of the country is seeing cases spike

The sharp increase in infections that slammed the US Northeast in March and April followed by the South and West in June and July is now making its way inland.

California, Florida, Texas and Arizona have seen sharp increases in coronavirus cases over the past two months and are starting to see their new daily case numbers level off at high daily infection rates. Hospitals are being pushed to their limits, and deaths, which generally trail weeks behind infections, have started to increase.

That same process is now moving to the middle of the country as states including Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee are seeing an increase in the percentage of coronavirus tests coming back positive.

"What inevitably is going to happen is that the states that are not yet in trouble, will likely get into trouble," Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Wednesday in an interview on MSNBC.

Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, referred to this process as the virus "moving up." She called on state and local officials to issue mask mandates in an interview on "Fox & Friends" on Thursday.

"We believe if the governors and mayors of every locality right now would mandate masks for their communities and every American would wear a mask, and socially distance, and not congregate in large settings where you can't socially distance or wear a mask, that we can really get control of this virus and drive down cases, as Arizona has done," Birx said.

The White House coronavirus task force has warned Midwestern governors that the time to get ahead of the curve is now before the numbers start to skyrocket in their states, Fauci said.

"Before you know it, two to three weeks down the pike, you're in trouble," he said.

The dismal economic numbers released Thursday underscore the importance of stopping the virus.

The US economy contracted at a 32.9% annual rate from April through June, its worst drop on record, the Bureau of Economic Analysis said Thursday.