The Latest: Illinois reports nearly 2,000 new COVID-19 cases
CHICAGO — Illinois has reported nearly 2,000 new confirmed COVID-19 cases as public health officials continued warnings Thursday that there could be a reversal in the state’s progress against coronavirus if things don’t change.
The Illinois Department of Public Health announced 1,953 confirmed cases, the highest since late May, and 21 deaths. Overall, the state has reported 188,424 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 7,594 deaths.
Public health officials say 41,686 tests were conducted in the past 24 hours and the seven-day average positive rate for tests is 4%.
The numbers come as Chicago Public Schools, the nation’s third-largest school district, decided earlier this week to scrap plans to offer some in-person teaching and will start the school year solely with remote learning.
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HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:
— US deaths predicted at nearly 300,000 by Dec. 1
— Ohio’s Republican Gov. Mike DeWine tests positive for virus
— Dr. Fauci says public health safeguards slow virus; hopes for vaccine in 2021
— Congressional negotiations on a huge COVID-19 relief package is still ongoing. Leaders are fast approaching a self-imposed Friday deadline for an agreement.
— A newsletter that updates residents of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, about the coronavirus pandemic is moving some readers to tears, thanks to weekly contributions from the city’s poet laureate.
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Follow AP’s pandemic coverage at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak
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HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:
LONDON — Britain has announced that travellers arriving from Andorra, Belgium and the Bahamas will have to quarantine for two weeks effective from Saturday, following an increase in confirmed coronavirus cases in all three locations.
Officials say COVID-19 cases in Belgium have increased fourfold since mid-July, and that in Andorra new cases per week have increased five-fold over the same period. They added that the Bahamas also saw a significant increase in case rates.
Officials now say all travel to Belgium, Andorra and the Bahamas should not go ahead, unless they are essential trips.
Britain on Thursday also announced that it has added Brunei and Malaysia to its list of safe countries — meaning quarantine upon arrival from those locations is not required — following a decrease in confirmed cases there.
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INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana residents who have struggled to pay rent or utility bills during the coronavirus pandemic have one more week before the state’s protections against evictions and utility shutoffs end, despite a recent analysis that found that more than 40% of the state’s renters are unable to pay their rent.
Gov. Eric Holcomb announced Wednesday that he intends to allow the state’s rental property eviction moratorium and its ban on disconnecting utility services to expire on Aug. 14.
The Republican governor said people who are behind on their bills should immediately contact their landlords or utilities to work out payment plans, or reach out to state agencies for assistance in getting caught up on their payments.
Statewide, an estimated 44% of rental households are unable to pay rent and are at risk of eviction, according to a July 31 analysis by the investment banking company Stout Risius Ross, LLC.
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ATHENS, Greece — Greek authorities have imposed a 10-day crackdown on public gatherings on the resort island of Poros, and have curtailed opening hours at the island’s restaurants, bars and clubs among a nationwide spike in COVID-19 infections.
Health officials said a total 153 new confirmed infections were recorded nationwide over the past 24 hours, the highest number in weeks.
For the next ten days, use of masks will be obligatory in all outdoors and indoors public areas on Poros, an island just off the coast of Greece’s southern Peloponnese peninsula. Restaurants, bars and clubs must close between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m., while outdoors and indoors public gatherings, in both public and private spaces, must be limited to nine people. And gatherings such as parties, street markets, open-air fairs or religious processions are banned.
Greek media reported that 13 new infections were recorded on the island.
Greece has recorded more than 5,000 confirmed infections and 210 deaths.
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ANCHORAGE, Alaska — An attorney has said the city of Anchorage will take legal action against a local business for violating an order prohibiting indoor dining at restaurants and breweries during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Anchorage Daily News reported that attorney Kate Vogel said Anchorage will seek an injunction in state court ordering Kriner’s Diner to stop indoor service and comply with the emergency order.
This will be the first time a municipality takes a business to court for violating an order since the pandemic began in March.
The restaurant continued dine-in service this week after the order went into effect Monday, and was given a stop-work order from the city Tuesday.
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PHOENIX — Health officials say the number of known coronavirus-related deaths in Arizona has now surpassed 4,000.
The Arizona Department of Health Services reported Thursday another 1,444 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 70 more deaths. This brings the total number of cases since the pandemic began to 183,647 and the death toll to 4,002.
Some of the deaths were likely counted after health officials reviewed death certificates going back weeks. The news comes a day after Maricopa County public health officials confirmed 22 bodies were moved to portable storage coolers.
Officials say the action was taken after the medical examiner’s office in metro Phoenix became 86% full.
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BATON ROUGE, La. — A Louisiana judge upheld Gov. John Bel Edwards’ statewide mask mandate and bar restrictions as legal and enforceable.
Judge Janice Clark delivered her ruling after a two-day hearing in which the plaintiffs argued Edwards’ regulations were illegal, unfair and an overreaction to the coronavirus outbreak. The Edwards administration countered the rules helped to slow the spread of the virus and protect public safety.
“The court is firmly of the opinion that the governor has exercised his power deliberately, on behalf of the people of this state and in an effort to be proactive to limit the loss of life,” Clark said.
She handed down her decision as Louisiana’s health department announced the death toll from the coronavirus has topped 4,000.
Louisiana has one of the nation’s highest per capita virus infection rates in the last two weeks. The state is reporting more than 1,700 confirmed cases per day over the last two weeks.
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HELENA, Mont. — Montana Gov. Steve Bullock has issued a directive allowing counties to hold all-mail elections in November to limit the spread of the coronavirus.
The Democratic governor, who is running for U.S. Senate, says voters shouldn’t have to choose between voting and their health.
State officials on Thursday also announced they will spend up to $20 million on testing and contact-tracing efforts at public universities. Commissioner of Higher Education Clayton Christian says the universities will not have universal testing policies. It will focus testing efforts on groups that are at a higher risk of spreading the virus and students who have a heightened risk of contracting it.
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LANSING, Mich. — Dozens of Michigan teachers chanted and waved signs during a rally at the Michigan Capitol to bring attention to the danger of schools reopening for in-person learning in the fall.
The rally and speeches at the Capitol steps was organized by MI CORE, a teacher union caucus.
“We’re fighting for a safe return to school. For most of us that means starting online,” said Nichole Hartrick, a teacher in the Dearborn school district and one of the organizers of the event.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said more than a month ago that she was optimistic about returning to in-person instruction. Under her plan, in-person classes are allowed but not required. Several districts have announced plans to start with only online learning.
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ROSWELL, N.M. — A state agency in New Mexico has reported 21 employees at a meatpacking plant in Roswell tested positive for the coronavirus.
The Roswell Daily Record reported the New Mexico Environment Department has advised USA Beef Packing LLC owner Jose Madrid on how to handle the influx in cases. Madrid says he is cooperating with the state as it investigates what has caused that number of cases and has decreased operations to about 10%.
Agency reports show the company reported its first positive test on July 28. The number of cases increased to 21 by Wednesday.
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BILLINGS, Mont. — A Canadian company says two people working on the Keystone XL oil pipeline have tested positive for the coronavirus in northern Montana.
Calgary-based TC Energy told Yellowstone Public Radio the first pipe yard worker in Phillips County tested positive at a local clinic on July 28. Testing on six close contacts found a second worker with the virus.
Native American tribes and others along the pipeline’s 1,200-mile route have raised concerns that workers could bring the virus into rural communities unable to handle an outbreak. The company says the work will continue for the project.
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ROME — Italy added another 402 coronavirus cases and six more deaths to its official tally.
While countries such as Spain, France and Germany have had infection spikes topping 1,000 new cases in recent days and weeks, Italy’s daily tally has stayed in the 200-300 range for several weeks.
Dr. Giovanni Rezza, head of infectious disease at the Superior Institute of Health, says Italy’s situation still merits “a lot of attention.”
An outbreak in an agricultural company in Mantua, in the hardest-hit region of Lombardy, accounted for 22 more cases Thursday. Other regions had double-digit increases to bring the official tally in the onetime European epicenter of the outbreak to 249,204.
In the weekly report through Aug. 2, government health authorities say the average age of those infected is decreasing to people in their 40s. Most are asymptomatic.
Italy’s official death toll now stands at 35,187.
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WASHINGTON — Dr. Anthony Fauci says even if the coronavirus is around for decades, public health safeguards and an eventual vaccine will allow the world to successfully adapt.
The government’s leading infectious disease expert was asked about whether the coronavirus could become a fact of life for generations.
Fauci says the combination of public health measures — masks, hand washing, social distancing — and vaccines should mean that “you can very well control and essentially eliminate (the coronavirus) from any given country.”
He added: “Remember, there’s only been one virus in the history of the planet that’s been eradicated and that’s smallpox.”
Vaccines are under development and it’s unknown how effective they will be. But Fauci says he hopes it will be in the range of 70% to 80% effectiveness. A vaccine should be available in 2021, he says.
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ORLANDO, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis rescinded an order requiring people traveling from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut to quarantine for 14 days.
Early in the national outbreak, the Republican ordered travelers arriving in Florida from then-epicenter New York City and its suburbs to quarantine for two weeks. New York’s statewide daily infection-rate has plummeted since late April and is currently about one-tenth Florida’s.
Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued his own order in June, requiring residents in several states, including Florida, to quarantine upon arriving in New York.
On Thursday, Florida reported 7,650 new coronavirus cases and 120 deaths. The state has a total of 510,389 confirmed cases, second only to California. There have been at least 7,781 deaths, sixth in the nation.
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SEATTLE — A widely cited University of Washington model predicts U.S. deaths from COVID-19 will reach nearly 300,000 by Dec. 1.
The forecast of 295,011 deaths is 137,000 more than the roughly 158,000 U.S. deaths reported so far. The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation model assumes that many states will impose new stay-at-home orders as deaths climb.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention monitors the model along with forecasts from about 30 other modeling groups. Combined, the models predict from 168,000 to 182,000 total COVID-19 deaths by Aug. 22.
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