September 28 coronavirus news | CNN

September 28 coronavirus news

Julia Hollingsworth

By Julia Hollingsworth, Adam Renton, Tara John, Ed Upright, Melissa Macaya and Mike Hayes, CNN

Updated 12:02 AM EDT, Tue September 29, 2020

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What you need to know

More than 1 million people across the world have died since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, according to Johns Hopkins University’s tally.
The United States could see an explosion in Covid-19 cases as fall and winter set in, health experts warn. The country surpassed 7 million coronavirus cases on Friday.
Dr. Anthony Fauci said Covid-19 vaccinations could “very likely” start in November or December. But it could still be a while until the US is back to normal.
India surpassed 6 million coronavirus cases on Monday. The country has recorded 5 million infections in the past two months alone.

Our live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic has moved here

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US coronavirus task force has "open and honest" debate, member says

From CNN's Andre Kane

Adm. Brett Giroir (right) speaks to CNN's Erin Burnett.

Adm. Brett Giroir (right) speaks to CNN's Erin Burnett.

Source: CNN

Asked about tension between members of the United States Coronavirus Task Force, Adm. Brett Giroir told CNN’s Erin Burnett there’s honest debate about some matters.

Tensions have built up between the task force’s newest member, Atlas, a neuroradiologist without a background in infectious disease or public health, and some of the other members since he joined the group in August. Atlas espouses many of President Donald Trump’s unscientific views regarding the coronavirus, including a reluctance to enforce mask use.

On Monday, Fauci, another task force member, said he sometimes felt that Trump receives misleading information from one of the other task force members who is out of step with everyone else. He did not name Atlas but told CNN: “I think you know who the outlier is.”

And Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Redfield, another task force member, was overheard on a flight saying “Everything he says is false,” also apparently talking about Atlas.

But apparently the issue of mask use is clear cut. “Wearing a mask … is one of the most important public health measures that you can do. You need to wear a mask when you can’t physically distance, because it will protect others from getting infected from you. And it does provide a degree of protection to yourself,” Giroir said.

CDC was pushed to play down the risks of Covid-19 in reopening schools, former Pence staffer says

From CNN's Shelby Lin Erdman

Olivia Troye, a former staff member for US Vice President Mike Pence.

Olivia Troye, a former staff member for US Vice President Mike Pence.

Source: CNN

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was pushed to play down the risks of the coronavirus pandemic in reopening schools, Olivia Troye, a former staff member for Vice President Mike Pence, told CNN.

Troye said an earlier New York Times story about the pressure was accurate, and described the situation within the White House Coronavirus Task Force as a “nightmare.”

Troye confirmed an incident in June in which she and those junior staffers, pushed by Pence’s chief of staff Marc Short, tried to circumvent the CDC in finding data on Covid-19 that would better support President Donald Trump’s stance that schools should reopen.

“I think it put these task force members and doctors in a very challenging position,” Troye said. “It was what was going on behind the scenes.”

Covid-19 has killed 1 million people worldwide. Experts fear the toll may double before a vaccine is ready

From CNN's Laura Smith-Spark

More than 1 million people have died from the coronavirus worldwide, marking another milestone in the pandemic’s brief but devastating history.

The death toll from the coronavirus, which causes Covid-19, now stands at 1,000,555, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

The grim tally has been reached in less than nine months since the first death caused by the coronavirus was confirmed by Chinese authorities in the city of Wuhan.

Since then, the virus has disrupted the everyday lives of billions of people around the globe and caused widespread economic damage. More than 33 million cases have been confirmed worldwide and outbreaks continue to plague many countries.

Europe, which became the second epicenter for the virus after China, imposed widespread restrictions on people’s movements in the spring in an effort to curb its spread. While the measures had some success, a number of countries that were badly affected early on – such as France, Spain and the United Kingdom – are now battling to rein in a second wave.

The United States, with more than 7 million cases and more than 205,000 deaths according to Johns Hopkins University data, has been the worst-affected nation overall.

President Donald Trump is widely viewed as having mishandled the federal response to the pandemic and, despite the country’s wealth and advanced health care systems, it has struggled to bring infections under control. Now, some experts fear Trump could pressure scientists into authorizing or approving a Covid-19 vaccine without a full formal review process for political gain.

Trump has repeatedly defended his handling of the pandemic. But he and the White House have been widely criticized for flouting government guidelines designed to limit the transmission of Covid-19, including social distancing and wearing a mask.

Read the full story:

One million dead: How Covid-19 tore us apart

A Chinese doctor who tried to sound the alarm. A father of six who emigrated from Pakistan to the United States to give his family a better life. A 15-year-old boy who left his remote home in the Amazon to study. They all died from Covid-19.

In eight months, more than 33 million people have been diagnosed with coronavirus, across nearly every country. The disease has taken lives on every continent except Antarctica – and more than one million people have died.

That’s four times as many people who died in the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, 16 times as many people killed by the common flu in the US last winter, and more than 335 times the number of people who perished in the 9/11 attacks.

But the tragedy of coronavirus isn’t just in the death toll. It’s also in the grim truths it has revealed about who we are and how we treat our most vulnerable. The pandemic has exposed shocking failures of governance, worsened deep-rooted inequalities in access to healthcare, and inflamed a long-waged war on facts preventing scientists from conveying information that could save lives.

Almost every person in the world has been affected by the pandemic. But it hasn’t drawn us closer – in many ways, it’s tearing us further apart.

Read more about the victims of coronavirus:

Global coronavirus deaths surpass 1 million

From CNN’s Sugam Pokharel in Atlanta

More than 1 million people worldwide have died from Covid-19, according to Johns Hopkins University’s data.

As of Monday, September 28, at 8:43 pm ET, the global death toll is 1,000,555.

The United States has the highest fatality count, having so far recorded 205,131 deaths, according to JHU.

The first coronavirus-related death recorded was in the Chinese city of Wuhan on January 9.

The world recorded half a million deaths more than 24 weeks later, on June 28, and it took just a little over 13 weeks to double the figure.

The university’s tally shows the US, Brazil, India, and Mexico account for more than 50% of the total deaths globally.

CNN is tracking the cases and deaths:

Pelosi and Democrats unveil new $2.2 trillion stimulus package

From CNN's Manu Raju

Nancy Pelosi leaves the Russell Building after an MSNBC interview on Monday, September 28.

Nancy Pelosi leaves the Russell Building after an MSNBC interview on Monday, September 28.

Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/AP Images

After passing their $3.4 trillion stimulus package in May, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats now say they are prepared to move forward with a scaled-down $2.2 trillion package. But that price tag is still too high for Senate Republicans and the White House.

If Pelosi puts the new package on the House floor, it’s a sign that her talks with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have collapsed.

Pelosi spokesperson Drew Hammill tweeted that the speaker and Mnuchin spoke tonight and agreed to speak again tomorrow morning.

Relative of mother-daughter pair who died of Covid-19 says they were "inseparable"

Terrance Bannister described the pain of losing his cousin, Demetria Bannister, and his aunt, Shirley Bannister, to Covid-19 in an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper’s “Full Circle.”

“My aunt Shirley was a great person,” he told Cooper. “She was an educator. She loved her family. She was a community person. She loved her mother, she loved her husband, definitely loved her daughter. She just was a hard worker.”

Shirley Bannister, 57, died from complications from Covid-19 on Sunday, according to her brother, Dennis Bell.

Her daughter, Demetria Bannister, a 28-year-old elementary school teacher from South Carolina, died earlier this month, just a few days after testing positive for Covid-19.

Shirley Bannister “got really sick about two, three days after her daughter died” on Sept. 7, Bell told CNN in a phone interview.

Terrance Bannister told Cooper the mother-daughter pair was “so tight.”

“They just loved each other,” he said. “They were inseparable.”

CNN’s Melissa Alonso contributed to this report.

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Trump's plan to distribute 150 million rapid tests is "long overdue," top health expert says

From CNN's Josiah Ryan

Dr. William Haseltine, chair and president of the global health think tank ACCESS Health International

Dr. William Haseltine, chair and president of the global health think tank ACCESS Health International

CNN

President Trump’s plan to disperse 150 million rapid coronavirus tests is a step in the right direction, but too small and too late, Dr. William Haseltine, chair and president of the global health think tank ACCESS Health International, told CNN anchor Pamela Brown today.

Haseltine went on to call the step “modestly helpful,” but said that in order for the federal government to slow the spread of the virus, it would need to distribute from 10 to 20 times that number of rapid tests.

Trump formally announced his plan on Monday to distribute 150 million Abbott point of care tests in the coming week, a plan first promoted by the White House in August.

Announcing the distribution plan in the White House Rose Garden, Trump claimed the testing effort would “allow every state on a very regular basis test every teacher who needs it.”

“I’m pleased to report we’re announcing our plan to distribute 150 million Abbott point of care tests in the coming weeks,” Trump said in the Rose Garden on Monday.

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US federalist approach not always the best for a pandemic, Fauci says

From CNN’s Maggie Fox

CNN

The federal style of government in the US can act against the country’s best interest in a pandemic, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Monday.

States and territories cannot always go their own way, Fauci told CNN’s Brian Stelter.

“The federalist approach where you have a central government but you also have the 50 states and other territories that have the capability and are encouraged even to act independently on our own,” Fauci said.

“That works well a lot of times. But when you have an epidemic that grips the entire country, a pandemic where one part of the country influences another part of the country, it’s important to do things in a relatively uniform way while respecting the individual differences in states, in cities and in counties,” added Fauci, who is director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a member of the White House coronavirus task force.

The White House has declined to set federal policies on any public health strategies for fighting the pandemic, from mandating mask use to opening high-risk businesses including bars and restaurants. The Trump administration has instead stressed the responsibility of states to control the spread of the virus.

Fauci: Don't dismiss Covid-19 cases in children

From CNN's Maggie Fox

CNN

Even though children only account for about 10% of coronavirus diagnoses, and under 1% of the deaths, people should pay attention to the spread of the virus in kids, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Monday.

“It is unclear the degree to which they transmit. There are papers that come out that say they don’t do it as efficiently as adults do, particularly young children,” added Fauci, who is director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a member of the White House coronavirus task force.

“But it’s an evolving situation. The more you read about it and the more papers come out, you have got to keep an open mind when it comes to an issue like what the role of children is in transmission,” Fauci added.

US stocks close higher on hopes of new stimulus deal

From CNN’s Anneken Tappe

The US stock market finished sharply higher on Monday as investors turned away from negative headlines that have weighed on the market over the past few weeks, choosing instead to focus on hopes for a stimulus deal out of Washington.

Here’s how things looked at the closing bell:

Stocks traded in the green for the whole session, with the Dow closing up 1.5%, or 410 points.
The broader S&P 500 climbed 1.6%.
Both indexes are coming off four consecutive weeks of losses.
The Nasdaq Composite finished 1.9% higher.

Fauci says he's concerned about misleading information given to Trump

From CNN's Andrea Diaz, Nick Valencia and Sam Fossum

President Trump is sometimes getting information that is out of context or downright wrong, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Monday.

CNN’s Brian Stelter asked Fauci if he’s worried that Dr. Scott Atlas is sharing misleading information with the President. “Well yeah, I’m concerned that sometimes things are said that are really taken either out of context or actually incorrect,” Fauci answered.

Fauci said he did not see it as a matter of conflict.

“If I have an issue with someone, I’ll try and sit down with them and let them know why I differ with them and see if we can come to some sort of resolution,” Fauci said. “So, I mean my differences with Dr. Atlas, I’m always willing to sit down and talk with him and see if we could resolve those differences.”

Stelter asked if there could be legitimate disagreements about issues such as masks.

“When it comes to a mask…I can just tell you how I feel. And what I feel is not very much different from what has been expressed by Dr. Deborah Birx and Dr. Robert Redfield, the director of the CDC. Masks are critically important in preventing the transmission and acquisition of SARS coronavirus 2. The data are strong. There’s no doubt about that.”

More on this: US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Robert Redfield is concerned that Atlas, a White House coronavirus task force member, is providing Trump with misleading information about Covid-19, a federal official told CNN.

NBC News reported Monday that Redfield was overheard during a phone call in public on a commercial airline to say, “Everything he says is false.” NBC News, which heard the comment, said Redfield acknowledged after the flight from Atlanta to Washington, D.C., that he was speaking about Dr. Scott Atlas, a neuroradiologist who joined the White House coronavirus task force in August.

NBC said that Redfield, in a conversation with a colleague that took place on Friday, suggested Atlas is providing Trump with misleading data about the efficacy of masks, young people’s susceptibility to the coronavirus and herd immunity.

In a statement to CNN, a CDC spokesman did not deny the conversation took place.

In a statement sent Monday afternoon, the CDC acknowledged Redfield and Atlas have “different positions” on some issues: “The article quotes Dr. Redfield as saying “Everything he says is false” but it cannot supply the context for that statement since only one side of the private conversation being eavesdropped on was heard. Positions on three issues, the value of wearing a mask, youth COVID-19 infections, and where we are currently with herd immunity, are the positions that Dr. Redfield has different positions on than Dr. Atlas. The doctors agree on many other issues.”

A federal health official tells CNN, more broadly, “bottomline, the story is accurate.”

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Trump announces plan to deploy 150 million rapid tests to states

From CNN's Ali Zaslav and Betsy Klein

President Donald Trump speaks from the White House Rose Garden on Monday.

President Donald Trump speaks from the White House Rose Garden on Monday.

Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

President Trump announced a plan to deploy 150 million rapid coronavirus tests from Abbott to states across the nation to help with school reopening efforts.

Trump claims the testing effort would “allow every state on a very regular basis test every teacher who needs it.”

“I’m pleased to report we’re announcing our plan to distribute 150 million Abbott point of care tests in the coming weeks,” Trump said in the Rose Garden Monday.

Trump outlined that 100 million of the tests will be sent to states and territories, 50 million tests will go to protect the most vulnerable communities, 18 million will go to nursing homes, 10 million to hospice and home health, and one million for historically black colleges and tribal nation colleges.

The White House announced Aug. 27 that the federal government would purchase the tests but offered few details on rollout in the following days.

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar provided some details on the ramp-up during a call with the nation’s governors on Aug. 31.

“There’s a ramp-up right now. We certainly expect that by late October, November, we’ll be getting into the 30-40 million per month and it will top at 48 million per month,” he said, according to audio obtained by CNN, adding that factories in Maine and Illinois are “just getting up” but “will achieve a mass of about 48 million (tests) within the next several months.”

And Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said on CNBC Sept. 14 that the tests would go to schools and nursing homes.

Adm. Brett Giroir, the administration’s coronavirus testing czar, said Monday that governors will have flexibility regarding deployment of the Abbott BinaxNOW tests, but offered some prioritization guidance.

Giroir said that this was communicated to governors during a Monday call led by Vice President Mike Pence.

Minutes later, Trump criticized some governors for not reopening their states quickly enough.

“We have too many states that are locked down right now… nobody knows what the governors are doing actually,” Trump said.

His remarks come as cases are rising over the last week in 21 states.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story included the wrong number of rapid tests that will be deployed to states. The Trump administration plans to deploy 150 million rapid coronavirus tests.

Chicago will ease Covid-19 restrictions on restaurants, bars and gyms, mayor says

From CNN's Gregory Lemos

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot speaks during a news conference on Monday.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot speaks during a news conference on Monday.

Pool/WLS

Citing “sufficient progress in the fight against Covid-19,” Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced the easing of phase four guidelines for businesses starting Oct. 1.

Restaurants will be allowed to expand indoor capacity to 40%, bars can reopen for indoor service, and may serve until 1 a.m, according to a news release. Class sizes for fitness and after-school programs will be allowed to expand and personal services that require the removal of a mask allowed to resume.

The city has issued additional guidelines for businesses and customers:

Customers must wear face coverings while seated, except while eating or drinking.
Customers must order from their seats.
Bars, taverns, and breweries must partner with a food establishment so that food is available to patrons while they are open.
Restaurants must obtain and keep contact information for all diners for possible contact tracing.
Any personal service provider must wear a mask at all times and limit services to 15 minutes if a service requires a customer’s mask to be removed.
Hand sanitizer must be provided at the entrance of any open establishment.

Kenya extends Covid-19 curfew and eases other restrictions

From CNN's Bethlehem Feleke in Nairobi

Charles Otieno and Jackline Adhiambo exchange rings during their wedding in Nairobi, Kenya, on Friday. The wedding, attended by just a few relatives, lasted for only 15 minutes because of coronavirus restrictions.

Charles Otieno and Jackline Adhiambo exchange rings during their wedding in Nairobi, Kenya, on Friday. The wedding, attended by just a few relatives, lasted for only 15 minutes because of coronavirus restrictions.

Simon Maina/AFP/Getty Images

Kenya will extend its nightly Covid-19 curfew for another 60 days with shortened hours from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m. local time, but bars and the sale of alcohol in ordinary eateries will be permitted effective Tuesday, President Uhuru Kenyatta said in a televised address on Monday.

“The Covid positivity rate has fallen from 13% in June, 7% in August and is now at 4.4% in September,” President Kenyatta said.

The size of public gatherings for weddings and funerals will also be allowed to increase.

“The possibility of a second wave is real,” President Kenyatta said as he urged Kenyans to maintain caution and continue preventative measures in this “new normal.”

The nationwide curfew was previously from 9 p.m. — 4 a.m. local time.

Thousands expected to attend motorcycle rally in South Carolina

From CNN's Natasha Chen

“Myrtle Beach Bike Week,” an annual fall motorcycle rally, is underway Sept. 28 through Oct. 4 outside of city limits in Horry County, South Carolina. This year, the event required a special waiver from the state — all events with more than 250 people require such a waiver.

One of the organizers of the event, Sonny Copeland, is located in North Carolina. Copeland told CNN the event actually spans 70 miles and often sees up to 25,000 people across the entire journey throughout the week.

When asked about special protocols during Covid-19, Copeland said he tells people to “use common sense,” and that mask wearing is up to the individual.

“I think people are smart enough to take care of themselves,” Copeland said.

But Alex Clark, director of marketing and communications for the South Carolina Department of Commerce, said no event would be granted a waiver without including plans for the requirement of face coverings in accordance to local ordinances. The approved event on South Carolina’s website is listed as having social distancing and face mask requirements.

Clark said the application for the South Carolina event waiver shows both indoors and outdoors activity. She told CNN the indoor capacity limit is 300, while the outdoor portion will be hosted on 2.43 acres, holding approximately 2,900 safely, with 6-foot social distancing at all times.

Kelly Moore, director of public information in Horry County, SC, said the county has issued two special event permits to businesses. This is fewer than the five permits issued for the same event last year.

Horry County, SC does have a face covering ordinance, which states that a person who fails to comply shall be guilty of a civil infraction, punishable by a fee of $25.00 for a first offense, $50.00 for a second offense, and $100.00 for a third and subsequent offense.

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New York will deploy rapid testing machines to focus on new Covid-19 clusters

From CNN's Kristina Sgueglia

A rapid testing machine is seen at a health facility in Brooklyn, New York, on August 27.

A rapid testing machine is seen at a health facility in Brooklyn, New York, on August 27.

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

New York state is making 200 rapid testing machines immediately available Monday to the top zip codes with the highest percentage positivity for Covid-19, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said.

The public and private schools in those zip codes are strongly encouraged to request a rapid testing machine, which can do four tests per hour, and start testing students.

“The key with these clusters is to jump on them quickly, attack them from all sides, get the testing so you can do contact tracing and you can isolate, get mask compliance up, hand sanitizer, and gathering compliance bars restaurants, et cetera,” he said.

The state will contact local government and schools but to accelerate this plan the governor is calling on local governments to contact the state.

The top 20 of the states total 1,769 zip codes in the state have an infection rate of about 10%, the governor said.

The infection rate in the top 10 zip codes is about 15%. Those top 10 zip codes represents 2.9% of the state’s population and 25% of the cases.

Among those referenced by the governor explicitly:

Rockland County — 10,977 (30% positive)
Rockland County — 10,952 (25% positive)
Orange County — 10,950 (22% positive)
Kings County — 11,219 (17% positive)
Kings County — 11,210 (11%positive)
Kings County — 11,204 (9% positive
Kings County — 11,230 (9% positive)
Queens County — 11,367 (6% positive)

#Hotspots##

United Airlines will stop pilot furloughs until at least next June

From CNN's Pete Muntean

Daniel Slim/AFP/Getty Images

United Airlines has agreed to not furlough any of its pilots until at least next June, according to a union email obtained by CNN. United planned to furlough 2,850 of its 13,000 pilots in only three days when CARES Act pandemic payroll support expires.

Some context: CNN analysis finds at least 50,000 airline workers are facing furloughs that start on Thursday. Airline CEOs and labor groups are lobbying Congress for a six-month extension of the Payroll Support Program costing $28 billion.

Covid-19 rates among adolescents are about "double" that in younger children, CDC study says

From CNN's Jacqueline Howard

The incidence of Covid-19 among adolescents appears to be much higher than what’s seen among younger children, according to a new report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The report, published on Monday, found the average weekly incidence of Covid-19 among adolescents ages 12 to 17 between May and September was about 37 cases per 100,000 children—nearly double the 19 cases per 100,000 children ages 5 to 11.

“Although mortality and hospitalization in school-aged children was low, Hispanic ethnicity, Black race, and underlying conditions were more commonly reported among children who were hospitalized or admitted to an ICU, providing additional evidence that some children might be at increased risk for severe illness associated with COVID-19,” the report said.

More on this report: The report included data on 277,285 laboratory-confirmed Covid-19 cases among school-aged children in the United States from March 1 to Sept. 19. Among those cases, 37% were in children ages 5 to 11 and 63% were in adolescents.

The report also noted that the weekly incidence and percentage of positive Covid-19 tests among the school-aged patients appeared to vary over time and by region.

Overall, 58% of the patients reported at least one Covid-19 symptom, 5% reported no symptoms and information was missing or unknown for the rest of the cases. The data also showed that 1.2% were hospitalized, including 404 patients who required ICU admission and 51 patients who died of Covid-19.

At least one underlying health condition was reported for 3% of all the cases, such as asthma, diabetes, psychological conditions, cardiovascular disease and severe obesity, according to the report.

The data might underestimate the true incidence of disease among school-aged children, as testing was often prioritized for people with symptoms and those without symptoms may not have been tested as often, the researchers noted.

Yet overall, the CDC researchers wrote, “These findings can provide a baseline for monitoring national trends.”

New York extends Covid-19 residential eviction protections through the rest of the year

From CNN's Kristina Sgueglia

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo extended residential tenant eviction protections amid the pandemic through Jan. 1.

The “Safe Harbor Act” protects tenants from Covid-19 related residential evictions and foreclosures.

Commercial eviction protection had already been extended, he said.

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