HuffPost reporters around the world are tracking the pandemic and its effects.
Read the latest updates on the coronavirus pandemic below. (To see the latest updates, you may need to refresh the page. All times are Eastern. For earlier updates on the pandemic, go here.)
Fauci: ‘We Are Not Going In The Right Direction’ — 7/3/2020, 6:45 a.m.
Top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci said that the record numbers of coronavirus cases in the U.S. reflect a “very disturbing week” for the U.S.
Speaking to the American Medical Association over livestream, Fauci said it was “pretty obvious that we are not going in the right direction.”
“We have areas of the country where they were at a level that is difficult and disturbing,” Fauci said. “Then when one tries to open up, even in situations where governors and mayors were trying to abide by the guidelines… that there is this, among some, there’s this feeling of an all-or-none phenomenon where you’re either under lockdown or say, you know, the devil may care,” he said.
Daily cases skyrocketed past 50,000 in the U.S. for the first time this week, and only 14 states are showing declines in the rate of infections.
— Nick Visser
UK To Keep Two-Week Quarantine For U.S. Visitors — 7/03/20, 6:20 a.m.
The United States will be on a “red list” of countries from which visitors to the U.K. will have to have quarantine for 14 days when they arrive, HuffPost UK reports.
A two-week self-isolation policy for people returning to or visiting England from destinations such as Spain, France, Italy and Germany is being lifted from July 10. A full list of around 60 countries deemed to pose “a reduced risk to the public health of UK citizens” will be published later Friday.
But speaking to the BBC on Friday, U.K. transport secretary Grant Shapps was asked if the U.S. would be on a “red list” of countries not included. “I’m afraid it will be,” Shapps said.
The requirement for everyone arriving into the UK – bar a handful of exemptions – to self-isolate for 14 days was introduced June 8.
— Ned Simons
In A Reversal, Texas Gov. Requires General Public To Wear Face Masks — 7/2/20, 4:50 p.m. ET
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has ordered all Texans to wear a face covering in counties with 20 or more COVID-19 cases, a reversal from his previous stance.
In an executive order issued on Thursday, Abbott also gave mayors and county judges the ability to impose restrictions on outdoor gatherings of 10 or more people.
Abbott has generally been against mask requirements, especially those imposed on the general public. In June, he banned local governments from imposing fines on those who refuse to wear masks, saying at the time that “government cannot require individuals to wear masks,” according to the Texas Tribune.
But spikes in infections across Texas have apparently led him to change his tune.
“Wearing a face covering in public is proven to be one of the most effective ways we have to slow the spread of COVID-19,” Abbott said, according to DallasNews.com. “We have the ability to keep businesses open and move our economy forward so that Texans can continue to earn a paycheck, but it requires each of us to do our part to protect one another — and that means wearing a face covering in public spaces.”
—Andy Campbell
Over 40 Bay Area Principals Exposed To COVID-19 During Meeting To Discuss Schools Reopening — 7/2/20, 4:40 p.m. ET
Over 40 principals of schools in the Bay Area were exposed to COVID-19 after attending an in-person meeting to discuss plans for re-opening schools in the Santa Clara Unified School District.
The meeting took place on June 19, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
A person in attendance tested positive for COVID-19 days after the meeting.
During an online meeting last week, District Superintendent Stella Kemp told the school board that the infected person had exposed other attendees to the virus.
“Given the complexity required in the development of our reopening plan, some of our staff meetings are taking place in person,” Kemp said, according to the Associated Press. “Of course those meetings are being conducted under the strict guidelines provided to us by the Santa Clara County Public Health Department.”
Schools across the country are scrambling to find ways to reopen campuses for the upcoming school year despite uncertainty, and as coronavirus cases continue to emerge.
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey pushed back the first day of instruction for public schools in the state to at least Aug. 17. Some schools had been set to start as early as July 22, according to the Arizona Republic.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Thursday that public schools in the city would be opening in September. However, Gov. Andrew Cuomo pushed back on those plans. Cuomo’s communications director said that the state government has the ultimate say on whether schools can reopen come the fall semester, according to CNN.
— Carla Russo
Herman Cain Hospitalized For COVID-19 Hours After Condemning Masks On Twitter — 7/2/20, 3:30 p.m. ET
Former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain was hospitalized with COVID-19 on Wednesday, hours after he sent a tweet hailing a Trump event in South Dakota where masks wouldn’t be mandatory.
A spokesman confirmed Cain’s condition Thursday afternoon, describing the 73-year-old as “resting comfortably” at an Atlanta-area hospital after his symptoms became serious enough Wednesday to require care, but not a respirator.
Cain’s positive coronavirus test on June 29 came just over a week after he appeared at Trump’s indoor campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he did not wear a mask.
Addressing speculation that he may have picked the virus up at Trump’s campaign, Cain’s team said in a statement that they are unsure how or where he contracted it, noting “he did a lot of traveling the past week.”
—Ryan Grenoble
For more on the pandemic, go here.
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