The latest on the coronavirus pandemic

Covid-19 hospitalization rates in Los Angeles County are the lowest since April, Mayor Eric Garcetti announced in a press conference Friday.

A total of 420 coronavirus patients are in intensive care units throughout the county -- a “substantial decrease since last month,” Garcetti said.

Los Angeles County is working to reduce the number of cases to 100 for every 100,000 residents for 14 consecutive days to get off the state’s watch list, Garcetti said.

The county currently has about 250 to 300 cases per 100,000 residents.

Elementary schools can apply for waivers for in-person learning if cases fall below 200 for every 100,000 residents, the mayor added. 

“Let’s keep those numbers in mind. Let’s push towards those goals for our children, for our economy, for our wellbeing, and for our health,” Garcetti said.

Despite the decrease in hospitalizations, the Covid-19 threat level in Los Angeles remains at orange because the rate of transmission is 0.92, Garcetti said. This means there is still a high risk of transmission and residents are urged to minimize contact. 

The death toll from the coronavirus pandemic in the United States could spike to as high as 6,000 people a day by December in the worst-case scenario, according to Dr. Chris Murray, the chair of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington.

Currently, about 1,000 people are dying daily from the coronavirus in the US.

In a new model released Friday, researchers at IHME predicted the number of daily deaths will decrease slowly in September -- then rise to nearly 2,000 a day by the start of December.

But Murray told CNN that, “depending on what our leaders do,” things can get worse.

“We have a worse scenario in what we release and that’s many, many more deaths,” he said. “And in fact, by the time December rolls around, if we don't do anything at all, the daily death toll in the US would be much higher than the 2,000 deaths a day by December. It could be as high as 6,000 deaths a day.”

The new IHME forecast projects 310,000 deaths by December -- 15,000 more than the previous forecast two weeks ago. That’s because while coronavirus infections are dropping in some areas, the death rate is not.

“In some states -- California is a good example -- cases peaked, are coming down, but deaths haven't,” Murray said. “We're seeing upswings in transmission in places like Kentucky and Minnesota, Indiana.”

If mask use increased in the US to 95%, the number of deaths could drop by almost 70,000, Murray added.

The number of Covid-19 cases in South Africa surged past 600,000 Friday, according to the country's Department of Health.

South Africa recorded 3,398 new cases to take its total to 603,338. Its coronavirus death toll stands at 12,843.

Mexico recorded 5,928 new cases of Covid-19 on Friday, taking the total number of infections in the country to 549,734.  

The Mexico health ministry also reported 504 new coronavirus-related deaths -- taking its total death toll to 59,610. 

In terms of coronavirus cases, Mexico is ranked third in Latin America, behind Brazil and Peru, according to JHU.

At least 26 cases of coronavirus in three states are being linked to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.

Minnesota reporteds 15 confirmed cases of Covid-19 among people that attended the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota earlier this month, Kris Ehresmann, Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) Infectious Disease director, said in a media briefing call Friday.

Of those 15 confirmed cases, one person was hospitalized and health officials say they expect to see additional cases in the next few days, Ehresmann added.

MDH is urging Minnesotans that attended Sturgis to self-quarantine for 14 days, and if they are feeling ill after returning from Sturgis, to please get tested and self-isolate until results are received, Ehresmann said.

At least seven Covid-19 cases in Nebraska's Panhandle region have been tied to the rally, Kim Engel, director of the Panhandle Public Health District, confirmed in an email to CNN.  

The person was an employee of Asylum Tattoo Sturgis, officials said.

On Friday, Brazil’s health ministry reported 30,355 new Covid-19 cases over the past 24 hours, bringing the total number to 3,532,330.

The ministry also reported 1,054 new Covid-19 deaths, raising the country’s death toll to 113,358.

There are at least 175,204 total deaths and 5,615,998 total cases across the country so far.  

US death toll timeline:

• Feb. 29 – First death reported
• April 23 – 50,000 deaths
• May 23 – 100,000 deaths
• July 28 – 150,000 deaths

The Vanderbilt University athletics program has revealed that members of the football team have tested positive for Covid-19.

A prescheduled media availability with head football coach Derek Mason was canceled on Friday.

"As part of our ongoing testing procedures, we have been made aware of positive Covid-19 test results in our football program," the university said in a statement. "We are following the university’s protocols and we are working closely with our Public Health Command Center and other health officials who are assessing potential close contacts and advising on additional steps. Because of applicable federal student privacy law, we are unable to publicly disclose personally identifiable information about any student who has tested positive for Covid-19.”

A prescheduled media availability with head football coach Derek Mason was canceled on Friday.

The university is set to open its SEC-only schedule away at Texas A&M on Sept. 26.

The top health official for Seattle and King County, Washington, has warned that the drop in new coronavirus cases in their community seems to be leveling off again.

“We’ve experienced an increasing number of cases and investigations associated with social activities,” said health officer Dr. Jeffrey Duchin during a Friday afternoon briefing.

Duchin said people should not become cavalier about public gatherings because the virus can still be spread easily.

“In the last two weeks, we've had almost 200 business identified as having one or more people with Covid-19 working while contagious,” he said

Although the daily count of new Covid-19 cases in King County has fallen since peaking a month ago, the seven-day rolling average of new cases has remained in triple-digits since June 27. And Duchin said they are not expecting better news in the next few months.

“We expect Covid-19 to get worse in the fall and winter and people to spend more time indoors," he said.