Current Affairs Of Pakistan & World: Coronavirus Briefing: California and its schools roll back reopenings

Coronavirus Briefing: California and its schools roll back reopenings

July 13, 2020

An informed guide to the global outbreak, with the latest developments and expert advice about prevention and treatment.

(Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here.)

The New York Times

By Jonathan Wolfe and Lara Takenaga

The U.S. added more than 100,000 new cases over the weekend. Florida recorded 15,300 on Sunday alone — a new single-day record for U.S. states.
Gov. Gavin Newsom of California said the state would roll back its reopening, shuttering bars and ending indoor operations for restaurants, wineries and movie theaters.
Seventeen states and the District of Columbia sued the Trump administration to block a rule that would revoke the visas of foreign students in online-only classes.
Get the latest updates here, as well as maps and a tracker for U.S. metro areas.

Many California schools won’t open their doors

Los Angeles and San Diego Counties said schools would be online-only in the fall, citing a surge in infections that pose too much risk for students and teachers. The unified school districts, with around 825,000 students, are the largest so far in the U.S. to abandon plans for even a partial physical return.

“Those countries that have managed to safely reopen schools have done so with declining infection rates and on-demand testing available,” the counties said in a joint statement. “California has neither.”

The move is at odds with Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who spent the weekend pushing for the Trump administration’s case to quickly reopen public schools. She downplayed the guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that called in-person classes the “highest risk” scenario for schools. Last week, President Trump threatened to cut off federal funding to schools that did not reopen fully.

The recommendations from the president and Ms. DeVos have been disputed by doctors and educators. Data from around the world suggests that children are far less likely to become seriously ill from the coronavirus than adults. But there are big unanswered questions, including how often children become infected and what role they play in transmitting the virus.

Slow test results? Blame a fax machine

Many factors have contributed to the dire state of testing in the U.S., including surging case counts, overwhelmed labs and inadequate supplies. But there’s one bottleneck that is severely hampering the country’s response to the pandemic: an antiquated data collection system that relies on the humble fax machine.

Before the pandemic, nearly 90 percent of test results for diseases tracked by public health departments were sent digitally. But the high demand for coronavirus testing has brought many new clinics and companies into the world of public health — and not all of them have invested in the software that is required for secure electronic communication. Instead, they often turn to faxes, which are cheap and meet digital privacy standards.

But the blurry printouts have set back case reporting and contact tracing throughout the country. Results are often sent in duplicates, lack critical information like patients’ phone numbers and require manual data entry, which increases the risk of errors. “The data is moving slower than the disease,” one doctor in Houston said.

By the numbers. An average of 667,000 people per day were tested for the virus over the past week in the U.S. — far below the 1.9 million daily tests considered necessary to tamp down the nation’s outbreak. Only 12 states currently meet their testing targets — see whether yours is doing enough.

Resurgences

Hong Kong Disneyland was shut down again after a surge of new cases in the Chinese territory.
Oregon, once one of the most successful states in managing the coronavirus outbreak, is now seeing a surge of cases in rural areas. It added a record 389 new infections on Thursday.
U.S. military bases in Okinawa in Japan reported 94 cases, alarming the island’s local population, which has at times been at odds with the Americans stationed there, and has otherwise been successful at limiting virus transmission.
After a surge in cases and as it enters its coldest month, South Africa reinstated a ban on the sale and distribution of alcohol and reintroduced an overnight curfew.
The governor of Louisiana on Saturday ordered bars to close and most residents to wear masks outside after a spike in cases and hospitalizations.

Here’s a roundup of restrictions in all 50 states.

What else we’re following

President Trump’s advisers undercut Dr. Anthony S. Fauci over the weekend, anonymously providing details to various news outlets about statements that he had made early in the outbreak that they said were inaccurate.
“It’s a risk you have to take”: Members of the Republican National Committee are still planning to attend the party’s convention next month in Florida, despite the surge in cases.
The resurgence of the virus has forced many small businesses to close a second time, but this time, many of those businesses are shutting their doors permanently.
Medical supply companies are scrambling to produce the billions of glass vials and syringes that will be needed once a vaccine is available, The Washington Post reports.
A clothing company in Los Angeles that made masks was forced to shutter after more than 300 workers became infected and four died from the virus.
Previous pandemics have changed the way people think and ushered in periods of great change, like the Renaissance. The New Yorker explores whether the coronavirus could do the same.
Mealtime will be vastly different on college campuses this year, as schools try out ordering apps, delivery robots and insulated bags with multiple to-go meals.
How do you shoot scenes of physical intimacy amid a pandemic? TV producers are relying on aggressive testing, camera wizardry — and even mannequin stand-ins.

What you’re doing

My extended family is scattered throughout the U.S. and the U.K. At the beginning of the pandemic, we began a group chat via text as a way to keep in touch. Lately, we have been posting family photos, and are currently playing a game called “name that cousin.” One of us posts a baby picture of a family member and we all have to guess who it is. This is followed by more current pictures of the same person and a great deal of hilarity.

— Deborah Fetterhoff, Newport Beach, Calif.

Let us know how you’re dealing with the outbreak. Send us a response here, and we may feature it in an upcoming newsletter.

Email your thoughts to briefing@nytimes.com. Did a friend forward you the briefing? Sign up here.

Need help? Review our newsletter help page or contact us for assistance.

You received this email because you signed up for Coronavirus Briefing from The New York Times.

To stop receiving these emails, unsubscribe or manage your email preferences.

Subscribe to The TimesGet The New York Times app

Connect with us on: