June 17 coronavirus news

The nation’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said he personally would not attend President Trump’s upcoming campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Saturday.

“No,” he answered when asked whether he would attend the event during an interview Tuesday with the Daily Beast.

When pressed about Trump’s planned rallies amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Fauci told the Daily Beast that “outside is better than inside, no crowd is better than crowd” and “crowd is better than big crowd.”

Those attending the rally are not required to wear masks, and social distancing measures will be next to impossible in the arena setting.

This as Tulsa announced its highest daily number of coronavirus infections Wednesday, and cases are rising across the state.

Fauci warned in a CNN interview Friday that there’s a risk of either “acquiring or spreading” the deadly coronavirus for those who attend the rally.

“When you are in a large crowd, if you have the congregation of people that are much, much close to each other, you definitely increase the risk that you will either acquire or spread infections,” he told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.

Fauci said people are going to gather, despite the warnings.

“But the issue is, if they do, please wear a mask, all the time, because the mask will give you some protection. The best thing to do is to avoid crowded areas, but if you're not going to do that, please wear a mask.”

The company that makes the antiviral drug remdesivir, used to treat coronavirus, says it is about to start advanced trials of the drug in children. 

Gilead Sciences said it was starting a phase 2/3 trial in 50 pediatric patients with moderate to severe Covid-19 who are in the hospital. These trials are meant to assess safety and efficacy. Children from babies on up will be eligible for the trial, being run at 30 sites in the US and Europe. 

Remdesivir, which is infused, is the only drug that has US Food and Drug Administration emergency authorization for use in treating coronavirus infections.

Gilead has treated pediatric patients with remdesivir since February under compassionate use program.

A recent study funded by Gilead found that moderately ill Covid-19 patients who received a five-day course of remdesivir were more likely to have clinical improvement after 11 days compared to those who received traditional standard of care alone, according to the company. 

After the Kentucky Board of Elections asked Gov. Andy Beshear to help provide personal protective equipment (PPE) for the primary elections next Tuesday, the governor announced today that his administration will provide the equipment to keep voters and poll workers safe during the election.

The state will provide 5,000 masks, 4,000 gallons of hand sanitizer, 5,800 face shields and 20,000 gloves for the June 23 election, and the PPE will be distributed to all 120 counties in Kentucky.

While there will be in-person voting on Tuesday, Kentuckians will also allowed to vote via absentee ballot due to Covid-19.

Additionally, Beshear authorized plainclothes Kentucky National Guardsmen to assist at polling sites, where requested by county clerks.

The federal government is stuck with 63 million doses of hydroxychloroquine now that the US Food and Drug Administration has revoked permission for the drug to be distributed to treat coronavirus patients. 

The government started stockpiling hydroxychloroquine donated by pharmaceutical companies in late March, after President Trump touted it as “very encouraging” and “very powerful” and a “game-changer.” 

But Monday, the FDA revoked its emergency use authorization to use the drug to treat Covid-19, saying there was “no reason to believe” the drug was effective against the virus, and that it “increased the risk of side effects, including heart problems.”  

Before the FDA revoked its authorization, the stockpile had already distributed 31 million doses. That leaves the Strategic National Stockpile with 63 million doses of hydroxychloroquine, plus another 2 million doses of chloroquine, a related drug, according to Carol Danko, a spokesperson for the US Department of Health and Human Services. 

“HHS is working with the companies that donated the product to determine the available options for the product that remains in the Strategic National Stockpile,” Danko wrote in a statement to CNN.

US stocks finished mixed on Wednesday, with the Dow and the S&P 500 closing lower. Both indexes snapped a three-day winning streak.

Momentum that had carried the stock rally over the past days faded on Thursday as the number of new Covid-19 infections rose in some areas.

Here's where the markets closed:

New York City has 17,487 confirmed coronavirus deaths and 4,684 probable coronavirus deaths as of June 17, according to the most recent data on the city's website.

The New York City Health Department defines probable deaths as people who did not have a positive Covid-19 laboratory test, but their death certificate lists as the cause of death “Covid-19” or an equivalent.

The total number of confirmed coronavirus deaths and probable coronavirus deaths in New York City is 22,171.

There have been 207,821 coronavirus cases in the city and 54,170 people have been hospitalized, according to the city.

The data is from the New York City Health Department and was updated on June 17 at 1:15 p.m., according to the website.

North Carolina health officials reported that 846 patients are currently hospitalized with Covid-19 as of Wednesday, according to the state's Department of Health and Human Services.

This marks the highest number of patients hospitalized since May 16; hospitalizations prior to that were not immediately available, according to��the health department's website. The health department collected the hospitalization data from 86% of its hospitals, the website said.

More data: North Carolina averaged about 1,240 new cases per day over the last week, an increase of about 20% from the previous seven-day period, CNN reported.

There are currently 46,855 coronavirus cases in North Carolina, the health department said. 

It's almost 3 p.m. ET on the East Coast and noon on the West Coast. If you're just joining us, here are the latest developments on the coronavirus pandemic in the US:

Arizona health officials reported 1,827 new coronavirus cases and 20 new Covid-19-related deaths on Wednesday, according to the state Department of Health Services website.  

Wednesday's case count marks the state's second highest total reported in a single day, behind yesterday's 2,392 cases, according to the health website.  

There has been at least 40,924 cases of coronavirus in the state and at least 1,239 people have died from the virus, the health website said.