Fauci Says New US Coronavirus Cases Could Hit 100,000 a Day in Stark Warning to Senatehttps://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2020/jun/30/russian-bounty-payments-donald-trump-briefing-afghanistan-live-updatesInfectious diseases expert and White House coronavirus task force member Anthony Fauci just gave a stark warning to the public in the middle of his testimony to the US Senate just now.
“I’m very concerned about what is going on right now,” he said, referring to a dangerous surge in new coronavirus cases in the US, particularly in the south and west.
“I’m very concerned. We are going in the wrong direction, if you look at the figures for new cases – the US is sliding backwards on its handling of the coronavirus pandemic. We need to do something about this and we need to do it quick. We are not in total control right now,” he said.
Fauci just said, in testimony before committee, that he fears that the rate will rise dramatically.
“I would not be surprised if we go up to 100,000 a day if this does not turn around.”
Fauci added about death and infection rates going forward: It’s going to be very disturbing … it could get really bad.”
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Eight States Added to New York Governor's Quarantine Orderhttps://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/06/states-hit-pause-coronavirus-reopening-live-updates-200629235549222.htmlNew York Governor Andrew Cuomo has ordered people arriving from an additional eight states to quarantine for 14 days.
The eight additional states are California, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada and Tennessee, all of which have growing caseloads, Cuomo said in a statement.
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US Cases Double In June In at Least 10 Stateshttps://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/06/states-hit-pause-coronavirus-reopening-live-updates-200629235549222.htmlCoronavirus cases more than doubled in at least 10 US states, including Florida and Texas in the month of June, a Reuters analysis shows.
Arizona recorded the biggest jump in cases for the month at 294 percent, followed by South Carolina and Arkansas. Cases also more than doubled in Alabama, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Utah.
Nationally cases rose by at least 43 percent and deaths increased by 20 percent.
More US states step back from reopening as COVID-19 cases surge
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EU Agrees 'Safe' List of 14 Countries for Travel ResumptionEuropean Union governments have agreed on an initial "safe list" of 14 countries from which they will allow non-essential travel from July, with the US among the most notable of absences.
The "safe" countries are Algeria, Australia, Canada, Georgia, Japan, Montenegro, Morocco, New Zealand, Rwanda, Serbia, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia and Uruguay, the European Council said on Tuesday.
In addition, China would be included if it reciprocated by allowing in EU travellers.
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CDC Expert Warns U.S. Has "Way Too Much Virus" to Contain Outbreakhttps://www.axios.com/cdc-coronavirus-spreading-too-fast-in-us-9820f635-7a9a-433a-8a88-267c5e5bbeb5.htmlThe novel coronavirus is spreading too widely and quickly to contain, CDC principal deputy director Anne Schuchat told The Journal of the American Medical Association Monday, warning she expects "this virus to continue to circulate."
https://twitter.com/JAMA_current/status/1277671006706917377Why it matters: Per Schuchat, "This is really the beginning, and what we hope is that we can take it seriously and slow the transmission." Her comments are in contrast to those of senior members of the Trump administration — notably Vice President Mike Pence, who said on Friday "we have made truly remarkable progress."
- COVID-19 cases are surging across the U.S., prompting Texas and New Jersey to pause plans to reopen their economies in recent days.
What else she's saying: "We have way too much virus across the country for that right now, so it’s very discouraging," Schuchat said in the with the Journal's Howard Bauchner.
- She said there was "a lot of wishful thinking around the country" that the pandemic would be over by summer. "We are not even beginning to be over this. There are a lot of worrisome factors about the last week or so."
- "We're not in the situation of New Zealand or Singapore or Korea where a new case is rapidly identified and all the contacts are traced and people are isolated who are sick and people who are exposed are quarantined and they can keep things under control."
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Survey Finds Confusion Among Public About Pandemic Newshttps://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-06-survey-pandemic-news.htmlThree in 10 Americans say they trust President Donald Trump and his administration to get the facts straight all or most of the time when talking about COVID-19, the Pew Research Center said.
"I can't think of any precedent for that," said Dan Fagin, director of New York University's Science, Health and Environmental Reporting program, and a former reporter. "There's a reason why that number is so low. Honestly, what disturbs even more is that there is 30% of the public who think they can believe the president on this."
... "Trust is an intuitive sense of who we think is on our side, and that is why risk communication is really crucial in a time like this," Ropeik said. "That is why the federal government has blown this and many of the state governments haven't."
The Pew survey found dramatic differences in how the public assessed key sources of information on coronavirus, said Amy Mitchell, Pew's director of journalism research.
A little more than half of those surveyed (53%) trusted the accuracy of information they were getting from governors or state leaders, with 44% believing the news media. Trust numbers were higher for local media sources, Pew said.
Nearly 2 of 3 Americans said they had confidence in the information they were getting from the Centers for Disease Control and other health organizations.
"What is encouraging is that people do have great faith in public health experts," Fagin said. "That's why Anthony Fauci's role is so important and that it's a great blessing that he's been involved in all of this."
Ropeik said social media has muddied the waters with misinformation. That's illustrated by Pew's finding that 71% of Americans had heard the conspiracy theory that the virus outbreak had been intentionally planned, and that 36% said that is probably or definitely true.
Among people who cite the president and his administration as their primary source of information about the coronavirus, 56% of Pew's respondents said they believed that theory, which is unsupported by evidence.
The survey also found evidence of a growing partisan divide in beliefs. For example, a majority of Republicans (54%) said they believed most or all of information provided by Trump, while only 9% of Democrats do.
More Republicans increasingly believe the coronavirus is overblown, said Pew, which conducted an online survey between June 4-10 of 9,654 people in a panel of adults selected randomly.
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‘Trump Political Base Hit Hardest By Coronavirus'https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/business-53224752The economic impact of the coronavirus has taken a heavier toll on low-wage earners according to Tomas J Philipson, the chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers.
In an exclusive interview with the BBC before his reported departure , he said: "There's a sort of unique impact of this shock in that its very regressive, hitting the low wage part of the economy. Low-wage workers take a bigger hit than higher wage".
... This has political implications for the upcoming November election as President Trump enjoys far higher support among non-college educated voters - often used as a proxy for low vs high wage earners - than among those who have college degrees.