July 6 coronavirus news

Georgetown University plans to welcome back roughly 2,000 undergraduate students to campus in the fall, including first-years, some seniors, and students who have extenuating circumstances that make it difficult to continue their studies elsewhere.

Classes will be largely available online, though there will be some in-person learning available for students on campus, the university president announced in his letter to the Georgetown community Monday.

Georgetown, which enrolls around 7,000 undergraduate students, left open the possibility of allowing more students to come back to campus, starting with seniors “if the conditions of the pandemic permit.”

Students will live in single occupancy dorm rooms. Like many other colleges and universities planning to reopen this fall, Georgetown will require students and faculty to be tested upon arrival to campus, and testing will be deployed throughout the semester. The school will collaborate with DC’s contact tracing program.

Two major diagnostic companies are warning that turnaround time for Covid-19 test results has slowed because of rising demand.  

In a statement Monday, Quest Diagnostics said results now take an average of four to six days for the general population, much longer than the turnaround time in early June when the company was producing results in two to three days.

The company said tests for hospital patients and symptomatic health care workers are prioritized and take one day on average. 

Quest cited “unprecedented demand,” especially in the South, Southwest and Western regions of the country where coronavirus cases are spiking. 

A spokesperson for LabCorp told CNN Monday that its tests are taking about two to four days to come back. Before the increase in demand, LabCorp said it had been delivering coronavirus test results on average between one and two days.

Both Quest and LabCorp said they plan to increase their testing capacity in July. 

Julie Khani, the president of the American Clinical Laboratory Association, which represents commercial labs including LabCorp and Quest, said on June 27 that her organization anticipated that demand for coronavirus tests would exceed ACLA members’ capacities in coming weeks.

"The reality of this ongoing global pandemic is that testing supplies are limited. Every country across the globe is in need of essential testing supplies, like pipettes and reagents, and that demand is likely to increase in the coming months,” Khani said.

Dallas County, Texas, reported a 16% increase in new hospitalizations Monday and 1,214 new cases of coronavirus, its highest numbers yet for both categories.

Monday marked the fourth day in a row that Dallas reported more than 1,000 new cases and more than double the amount of new cases it reported last Monday.

In a statement, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said the county saw 105 more hospitalizations on Monday than the day before. Jenkins released a letter urging Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to implement more statewide restrictions — or at least allow local authorities to do so in their respective jurisdictions.  

“Think of hospitalizations as the sickest of the sick, the part of the iceberg above the water. In order for the numbers to increase dramatically with hospitalizations, the amount of the iceberg underneath the water must grow exponentially. This is what is happening in the community where we are seeing rampant spread," Jenkins said.

In the letter sent to Abbott on Sunday, Jenkins urged the governor to limit indoor gatherings to 10 people and close venues, such as bowling allies, arcades, amusement parks, concert venues, sporting arenas, weddings, movie theaters, gyms, public pools, day camps and day care centers. Jenkins also argued that in-person faith-based events should also be avoided. 

If Abbott won't close down these venues statewide, Jenkins pleaded that the governor allow local governments to act. 

The top medical officer for California’s corrections system has been replaced amid a coronavirus outbreak among inmates, authorities said in a statement Monday.

“In order to meet current response needs while also working toward further delegation of medical care back to state control, it has become evident that a reorganization is necessary for long-term sustainability,” California Correctional Health Care Services Receiver J. Clark Kelso said in a statement.

The announcement of reorganization comes after California Gov. Gavin Newsom heavily criticized the decision to transfer inmates from Chino to San Quentin in late May, spreading the virus to the facility.

“They should not have been transferred,” Newsom said in a statement Monday.

In the past two weeks, San Quentin State Prison reported six inmate deaths related to the coronavirus. They currently have 1,381 active cases among inmates, which account for more than half of the current cases in the state’s entire corrections system.

Dr. Steven Tharratt, who was formerly the director of Health Care Operations and statewide medical director of CCHCS, will now serve as a special health care adviser to Kelso.

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation reported at least 2,419 cases of coronavirus among inmates and at least 28 deaths.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said he took a Covid-19 exam and that his lungs were screened.

"I’ve came back from the hospital now, I’ve done a lung screening, my lung is clean, okay? I went to do a Covid exam a while ago, but everything is okay,” he said.

Bolsonaro, who was wearing a mask, warned people to not get near him.

“You can’t get very close (to me), Okay? Recommendation for everyone,” Bolsonaro said.

Asked about media reports that Bolsonaro has a fever, Cintia Macedo, a presidential spokesperson, told CNN, “We do not have this information. We do not confirm this information at this moment." 

CNN reported in May that Bolsonaro tested negative for coronavirus in three separate exams that were released to the public.

The three tests were administered between March 12 and March 17 after Bolsonaro returned from a bilateral meeting with US President Trump in Florida and many in his inner circle tested positive for Covid-19.

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The National Hockey League will resume its season on August 1, the league announced on Monday. 

Formal training camps will begin on July 13 with teams traveling to the league’s “hub cities” on July 26.

Additionally, the NHL and the National Hockey League Players' Association have reached a tentative agreement on a Return to Play Plan and a four-year extension to the league’s collective bargaining agreement. The tentative agreement is subject to approval by the NHL’s Board of Governors, as well as the NHLPA’s Executive Board followed by a vote from the full NHLPA membership.

The NHL has yet to announce the two “hub cities” that will host games.

The NHL has also released the league’s phase three and phase four return to sport protocols, which spell out the health and safety protocols that will be in effect as teams begin organized training camp activities and as teams enter the “hub cities.”

 

Miami’s Covid-19 cases have increased from 91 cases a day last week to 125 new cases per day, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said Monday.

“I'm looking at the statistics and the statistics are very grave," Suarez said. “Every single metric is up.” 

Suarez said officials need to start working on a long-term plan for the coronavirus pandemic after the Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos A. Giménez signed an emergency order to roll back openings of businesses in the county.

“We know that you can’t implement these orders forever. And we know that once you under these orders, things go back to the way that the were,” Suarez said. “I think if this is just a measure to maintain or reduce hospital capacity, then it’s something that is obviously a short term measure. What we need is a plan and strategy that is long-term, and that is calculated to defeat Covid-19 in our community.”

Suarez said the city shut down seven businesses over the weekend. He added that no mask citations have been issued yet.

“Part of the issue with this order is that this is going to be something that will burden our ability to police our cities,” Suarez added about the county’s new measures.

A winery and hospitality company founded by California Gov. Gavin Newsom received at least $150,000 from the small business loan Paycheck Protection Program.

Based in Northern California, PlumpJack Management Group runs a boutique hotel near Lake Tahoe, five restaurants and bars, four wineries in Napa Valley, and a few retail stores and event spaces.  

Newsom founded the first PlumpJack Wine Store on San Francisco’s Fillmore Street in 1992, according to the company’s website. He placed the companies into a blind trust before taking office as governor. 

Asked about the loans during a news conference on Monday, Newsom deferred the question to the company.

“You would have to ask the people that are running those businesses, it’s in a blind trust period, full stop,” Newsom said. 

PlumpJack Management Group has not returned CNN’s request for a comment.

With 10 players and one staff member testing positive for Covid-19, Major League Soccer has withdrawn FC Dallas from the MLS is Back tournament.

The season-starting tournament is scheduled to kick off on Wednesday at Disney World's ESPN Wide World of Sports complex near Orlando, Florida. 

“Given the impact of the number of positive tests on the club’s ability to train and play competitive matches, we have made the decision to withdraw FC Dallas from the MLS is Back Tournament," MLS Commissioner Don Garber said in a league statement.

FC Dallas said the team supports the decision.

“As we continue to focus on the well-being of our players, coaches and staff who are in isolation in Orlando, we understand it is not in their best interests to compete at this time," Head Coach Luchi Gonzalez said in a statement.

On Monday, the players union acknowledged the complex nature of hosting a tournament during the coronavirus pandemic.

In a statement posted to Twitter, the union said, "The removal of FC Dallas from competition in Orlando is a reminder of how difficult the circumstances involving returning to work remain across all sports amidst this pandemic."

The league provided stats that state of the 557 players currently in Orlando, 13 players have tested positive for coronavirus — including the 10 players from FC Dallas.