September 10 coronavirus news

Mexico's Health Ministry reported 4,857 new Covid-19 cases and 554 new virus-related deaths on Thursday.

That brings the total number of cases confirmed in the country to 652,364, including at least 69,649 fatalities.

The latest figures come as Mexico’s government responded to the pausing of the AstraZeneca vaccine trial.

What happened: The company put global trials of its coronavirus vaccine on hold this week over an unexplained illness in one of the volunteers. Mexico was a participant in the phase 3 trials of that vaccine candidate and is still offering volunteers for other vaccine trials. 

The reaction: Mexico’s Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said in a statement Thursday that Mexicans can be “assured” of a vaccine against the coronavirus in future. "We are not betting -- as we say -- all the eggs in one basket," he said, adding that Mexico is involved in several vaccine projects.

Mexico has the world's fourth-highest coronavirus death toll after the United States, Brazil, and India, according to Johns Hopkins University. It is ranked seventh by JHU, in terms of the highest Covid-19 case numbers in the world.

Bars in Florida will be able to reopen at 50% occupancy from Monday, Florida’s Secretary of Department of Business and Professional Regulation Halsey Beshears announced Thursday.

Florida is rescinding amended Executive Order 20-09, issued on June 26, which shut down bars amid rising Covid-19 cases in the state.

According to the new executive order, starting September 14, “bars and other alcoholic beverage vendors may resume sales and service of alcoholic beverages for consumption on the premises in accordance with the operating parameters for Phase 2 of Florida’s Safe. Smart. Step-by-Step Plan for Recovery.”

At least 28,054,396 people globally have been infected with the novel coronavirus since the pandemic began, according to the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center.

JHU also reported that as of 10.30 p.m. ET on Thursday, 907,980 have died around the world. 

The United States is the worst affected country, with 6,397,132 cases. India, Brazil and Russia follow.

The US also leads the world in terms of the most deaths attributable to the coronavirus, reporting a total of 191,769 fatalities. 

CNN is tracking worldwide coronavirus cases here:

The various vaccines being tested to fight coronavirus are undergoing several layers of testing and people should not worry about their safety, National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins said Thursday.

“We sped up this process in a variety of ways but not in a way to compromise safety. In fact, I would say these trials are more rigorous than any others that have ever been done for vaccines,” Collins told Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Anderson Cooper on CNN’s Global Town Hall.

The Data and Safety Monitoring Boards (DSMB), independent groups of mostly academic researchers who watch the data from the trials, are a firm line of defense keeping an eye out for any signal that an experimental vaccine is not working safely, Collins said.

“They are the only people, and they are not political people. They are the only ones who are watching to see who got the vaccine and who got the placebo and what happened,” he said.
“They aren’t going to raise their hand and say ‘hey its time to look at this, FDA,’ unless they see strong, statistically convincing data that this vaccine is working and it’s safe,” he added.

In fact, a DSMB is more likely to stop a trial if there’s evidence of a problem -- such as the illness in a volunteer that caused AstraZeneca to pause its vaccine trial this week, Collins said.

There have been 639 University of Alabama students issued sanctions for violating Covid-19 regulations as of Sept. 8, according to a statement from the university.

One student organization is pending suspension, and three student organizations also received Covid-19 related sanctions, the statement said.

Of the 639 individual sanctions issued, 33 students have been issued “interim measures, effectively suspending them from campus while their conduct cases proceed through due process,” according to the statement.

“Student suspensions could range in length depending on the severity of the conduct. Any speculation about refunds for these students is premature,” the university added.

The University of Alabama reported 846 new cases of Covid-19 among students between Aug. 28 and Sept. 3, for a total of 2,047 reported cases.

Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency physician and public health professor at George Washington University, said Americans should get a flu shot "right now."

"You should get the shot at the beginning of the flu season in September or October," Wen said tonight during CNN's coronavirus town hall. "July, August, may be a little bit early especially for older individuals who may need more protection throughout the entire flu season and February, March, may be a bit late because the flu season has mainly already passed although you should still get it if you haven't gotten it by then."

Wen, who is also the former Baltimore city health commissioner, said "it has never been more important" to get a flu shot as the US face "the potential twin-demics of the flu and Covid-19 at the same time."

"We don't have a vaccine for Covid-19, but we do have for the flu and the flu ends up hospitalizing hundreds of thousands of people every year, tens of thousands die. So, if we can protect ourselves against one of these things we should," she added.

Terrance Bannister, the cousin of Demetria “Demi” Bannister, a teacher who died after contracting Covid-19, called his late family member "a soldier" who will be greatly missed.

"Right now, we're all trying to cope with it. I spoke with her father tonight. He just wanted her legacy to continue to go on. Demetria was a soldier. She always was free spirited and kept the family together. She just did a lot for us. We are going to miss her," he told CNN during its global coronavirus town hall tonight.

Some context: Demetria “Demi” Bannister was a third grade teacher at Windsor Elementary School in Columbia, South Carolina, who died on Monday from complications caused by Covid-19, according to a news release from Richland School District Two, which shared the information about the teacher’s death with permission from her parents, “who wish to remind others about the seriousness of this disease caused by the coronavirus.”

According to the school district, Demetria “Demi” Bannister began her teaching career five years ago and had just started her third year of teaching third grade.

Bannister’s last day at Windsor Elementary School was Aug. 28, the last workday for teachers before starting the school year teaching her students virtually from her home Aug. 31.

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Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, reiterated Thursday that it's "very unlikely" a coronavirus vaccine will be made available by Election Day. 

"We sped up this process in a variety of ways, but not to compromise safety," Collins said at CNN's coronavirus town hall.

"In fact, I would say these trials are more rigorous than ever been done for vaccines. Will we be likely to have results before November 3rd? All of us looking at those timetables say that's very unlikely. But much more likely we'll have a readout on one of more of these, maybe in December, possibly in November. But late October seems beyond the likelihood that we could predict."

For context: President Trump told reporters Monday, "We’re going to have a vaccine very soon, maybe even before a very special date. You know what date I’m talking about.”

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Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), wants Americans to wait for the science to determine the efficacy of a Covid-19 vaccine and not let "crazy conspiracy theories" influence them.

Collins acknowledged that there are a lot of people who "are skeptical and distrustful about where we are right now" but urged Americans to be patient, according to remarks he made tonight during CNN's global coronavirus town hall.

"I would just ask all of those who have already made up their mind to say, hang on a minute, right now we do have the evidence to say about safety and efficacy," he said. "Let's wait until we have some of that and then decide and don't let somebody else tell you what the answer should be and don't depend on those crazy conspiracy theories you can find on social media. Let's look at the facts and each of us can decide does that make sense for me and my family."

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