October 11 coronavirus news

President Donald Trump removes his face mask before speaking to supporters at the White House on October 10.

Twitter has attached a warning label to President Trump’s tweet where he claimed, without evidence, that he is immune to coronavirus after receiving the all clear from his physician to resume public activities.

Trump also claimed immunity in an interview on Fox News where he said he believes he will be immune for “maybe a long time, maybe a short time, could be a lifetime,” noting it’s unclear how much immunity previously infected individuals can expect after recovering.

Some crucial context: There is no evidence that people are immune if they have been infected once and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention specifically cautions people not to assume they are immune.

Twitter’s warning label says the tweet “violated the Twitter Rules about spreading misleading and potentially harmful information related to Covid-19.”

According to a statement from Twitter: “We placed a public interest notice on the Tweet you referenced for violating our Covid-19 Misleading Information Policy by making misleading health claims about Covid-19. As is standard with this public interest notice, engagements with the Tweet will be significantly limited.” 

Dr. Anthony Fauci testifies at a hearing on September 23 in Washington, DC.

Dr. Anthony Fauci did not consent to being featured in a new advertisement from the Trump campaign touting President Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

Instead, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert told CNN his words were taken out of context.  

The Trump campaign released the new ad this week after Trump was discharged from Walter Reed medical center after being diagnosed with coronavirus. The 30-second ad, which is airing in Michigan, tout’s Trump’s personal experience with the virus and uses a quote from Fauci in attempt to make it seem like he is praising the President’s response to the pandemic.

“President Trump is recovering from the coronavirus, and so is America,” the ad’s narrator says. “Together we rose to meet the challenge, protecting our seniors, getting them life saving drugs in record time, sparing no expense.”

The ad then cuts to an interview with Fauci where he says, “I can’t imagine that anybody could be doing more.” 

Some context: Though no date is provided in the ad, Fauci’s quote is from an interview with Fox News in March where Fauci praised the White House coronavirus task force’s round-the-clock effort to respond to the pandemic, which he says included numerous White House meetings and late night phone calls. 

“We’ve never had a threat like this. The coordinated response has been…There are a number of adjectives to describe it — impressive, I think is one of them. We’re talking about all hands on deck. I, as one of many people on a team, I’m not the only person,” Fauci said at the time. “Since the beginning, that we even recognized what this was, I have been devoting almost full time on this. I’m down at the White House virtually every day with the task force. It’s every single day. So, I can’t imagine that under any circumstances that anybody could be doing more.”

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

The Park County Health Department and members of the Montana National Guard conduct community surveillance testing for Covid-19 on September 20 in Livingston, Montana.

The state of Montana has reported 5,000 coronavirus cases in the last 11 days. That’s a stark contract to the beginning of the pandemic when it took the state almost five months to chart its first 5,000 cases.  

According to data from Johns Hopkins University, from Sept. 30 through Oct. 10, Montana reported 5,046 coronavirus cases. 

The state recorded its first coronavirus case on March 13 and on Aug. 10 reported having 5,017 cases across the state. 

It took 150 days, or four months and 28 days, for the state to reach more than 5,000 coronavirus cases at the start of the pandemic.

One thing to note: Montana’s public health agency numbers may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project.

White House deputy communications director Brian Morgenstern said the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) should get the second presidential debate back on the schedule after President Trump’s physician said he was no longer a risk to transmit coronavirus.

Morgenstern said Trump wants to debate Joe Biden in person but if the CPD doesn’t reschedule the debate, canceled earlier in the week after Trump declined to participate in a virtual debate, Trump would do some type of public engagement that night, potentially a town hall event. Joe Biden has already announced a town hall event for Thursday, the night the town hall debate was scheduled to take place.

There are at least 7,733,258 cases of coronavirus in the US and at least 214,599 people have died, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

As of Sunday afternoon, 15,326 new cases and 229 new deaths have been reported in the US since midnight.  

The total includes cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and other US territories, as well as repatriated cases.  

A family watches as groups of protesters gather on October 7 in the Borough Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, to denounce Covid-19 lockdowns.

Coronavirus hotspots across New York state remain a concern, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said during a phone call with reporters Sunday. 

The statewide Covid-19 positivity rate is .84% without hotspots included, and .96% with them, Cuomo said. 

These numbers are the lowest since Sept. 24, but there are concerns with areas like Brooklyn, the Hudson Valley region, and Western New York, where the hotspot positivity rate is 5.7%, he added.  

The main areas of concern remain in the Hasidic community, Cuomo said, adding that he understands the importance of in-person religious gatherings.

There are 820 people hospitalized across the state, with 186 individuals in the intensive care unit. 

The way to handle hotspot regions across the state is through aggressive enforcement, much like what was done with restaurants and bars, Cuomo said. 

Through the state police task force, officers conducted approximately 100,000 visits, Cuomo said, with about 1,500 law enforcement actions taken. A similar process needs to happen in these hot spot communities now, he said. 

The White House Correspondents’ Association said the fourth journalist who received a preliminary positive Covid-19 result after a rapid test has ultimately tested negative after taking the more accurate PCR test.

 Previously, three journalists who cover the President recently tested positive for the virus.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, left, and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows speak to the press on August 7 at the Capitol in Washington, DC.

Treasury Sec. Steven Mnuchin and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, in a nod to the struggles in reaching a broad stimulus deal, sent a letter to lawmakers asking for passage of a bill that allows the Trump administration to utilize the $134 billion in unused Paycheck Protection Program funds as talks continue.

“The all or nothing approach is an unacceptable response to the American people,” the pair wrote.

Democratic leaders have rejected all piecemeal efforts up to this point. 

Read the letter:

The United Kingdom reported 12,872 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, compared to more than 15,000 the previous day, according to the government’s Covid-19 dashboard.

That brings the total number of cases to 603,716.

Another 65 people have died from the virus, bringing to 42,825 the number of people who died within 28 days of receiving a positive test result. 

However the total number of people with Covid-19 on their death certificate is 57,347.

On Monday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to announce new coronavirus restrictions in England in an effort to bring the infection rate under control.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi holds a news conference at the Capitol in Washington, DC, on October 8.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a letter to her colleagues about stimulus negotiations, “Until these serious issues are resolved, we remain at an impasse.”

She also said, “it is hard to understand who is shaping their approach, which to date has been a miserable and deadly failure.”

Some context: Pelosi and Senate Republicans on Saturday balked at President Trump’s roughly $1.8 trillion stimulus proposal, making it all but certain Congress won’t pass an economic relief package before election day.

On Saturday, Pelosi called the counteroffer Trump made Friday “insufficient” and “amounted to one step forward, two steps back” in negotiations, underscoring that there are several major outstanding policy issues to work out.

“At this point, we still have disagreement on many priorities, and Democrats are awaiting language from the Administration on several provisions as the negotiations on the overall funding amount continue,” Pelosi wrote in a letter Saturday to House Democrats.

Pelosi’s cool reception to the $1.8 trillion offer from Trump — the administration’s highest offer thus far in the months-long talks — comes as Republicans have made clear to their respective leaders they want no part of a deal this big, which Senate Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy have communicated to the White House.

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson told CNN that he hopes both presidential candidates can set an example to help keep the spread of coronavirus down as winter approaches. 

When asked about the lack of mitigation efforts in place at President Trump’s events and rallies, the governor responded: “They offer masks, they do screening whenever they come to the rallies, certainly we want to have an engagement in the presidential campaign this year.” 

Hutchinson added that “there should not be any mass gathering without social distancing” or wear a mask “if you’re going to sit next to somebody.”  

“A large part of it is simply the nature of the virus and if you don’t take the right protections it’s going to spread,” Hutchinson said about the rising cases in his state. 

President Donald Trump speaks to supporters at the White House on October 10.

President Trump claimed, without evidence, that he is “immune” from Covid-19 following his apparent recovery from the virus, and he defended his decision to deliver a speech to a crowd at the White House on Saturday less than a week after leaving the hospital. 

“It seems like I’m immune,” Trump said on Fox.

Trump said he believes he will be immune for “maybe a long time, maybe a short time, could be a lifetime,” noting it’s unclear how much immunity previously infected individuals can expect after recovering.

Some context: There is no evidence that people are immune if they have been infected once and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention specifically cautions people not to assume they are immune.

Trump said his medical team informed him he was “free” of Covid-19 before he gave his speech on Saturday.

“Even yesterday, I knew I was free,” the President added. 

Trump said he is “in very good shape” to move forward. He is scheduled to travel to Florida on Monday for a campaign rally.

A second national lockdown is a “possibility” in England which has reached a “rather precarious point” amid a sharp rise in coronavirus infections, a leading expert and government adviser said Sunday.

Peter Horby – who advises the government on the threat posed by respiratory viruses — told the BBC that local hospitals in the worst-affected areas in the north of England are beginning to feel the pressure of a possible second wave. 

“The numbers are not looking good at all,” Horby added.

“We’ve got an increase in cases, an increase in hospitalizations,” he said, adding that the UK is also starting to see the number of deaths increase.

On a positive note, Horby said that – compared to the first wave of Covid-19 infections — the UK now has a “much better testing and tracing capabilities, we have a much better understanding of the disease, and what’s great to see is that it appears that the risk of death in hospitalized patients is coming down.”

The comments by the Chair of the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (NERVTAG) came ahead of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s expected announcement Monday of new coronavirus restrictions in England.

Johnson plans to hold a telephone conference with cabinet members on Sunday as he prepares to bring in a new three-tier coronavirus restrictions regime, the UK’s PA Media reported.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, center, leaves the Capitol in Washington, DC, after meetings on September 30.

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said on Sunday that he doesn’t think the prospect on another round of coronavirus relief is dead “at all” and that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin “may” offer a proposal priced higher than Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s most recent offer of $2.2 trillion.

“Secretary Mnuchin is up to 1.8 trillion. So the bid and the offer is narrowing somewhat between the two sides. President Trump actually has always said — I mean, I’ve heard him say it in the oval — as far as the key elements are concerned, the checks, the unemployment assistance, the small business assistance, we’ve got to help airlines out, he would go further. He’s always said that,” Kudlow said.

Kudlow said he spoke with Mnuchin last night on the matter. He noted that the Republican asked for targeted relief measures, including more federal unemployment assistance and another round of PPP loans and direct stimulus checks to individuals.

More context: On Saturday, Senate Republicans blasted a $1.8 trillion offer from the White House on a call with Mnuchin and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. While the sentiment was that talks with Pelosi should continue, it was clear that the White House plan had virtually no chance of passing the Senate, per multiple sources.

Asked about the Republican pushback, Kudlow demurred, saying “I don’t know who we have lost” and noting the previous Republican efforts on a pared-down bill.

“Let’s see what happens. I’m not negotiating today,” Kudlow said.

This also comes after President Trump did an about-face on the negotiations this week, first, unilaterally putting a stop to the talks ahead of the election and then signing off on a $1.8 trillion proposal by Friday.

Kudlow reiterated his belief that economic recovery is not dependent on the passage of another stimulus bill. 

The National Football League has announced that the game between the Broncos-Patriots scheduled for Oct. 12 has been postponed after the Patriots reported a positive Covid-19 test on Sunday.

Both teams will now have a week five bye week. The league has not announced when the game will be played.  

Here’s the NFL’s full statement:

The Tennessee Titans and New England Patriots have closed their practice facilities on Sunday after both teams had a positive Covid-19 test in their latest round of testing. 

Tennessee had returned to its facility on Saturday after not having been allowed to practice since Sept. 29. The team is scheduled to host the Buffalo Bills on Tuesday. 

The Patriots confirmed that it had a positive test on Sunday, adding, “we have one new positive test and all Tier 1 and Tier 2 football employees will continue their daily testing. Those employees will not be going into the facility today.”  

Ireland recorded 1,012 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, the highest single day increase since April 15 when 1,068 cases were recorded, according to state broadcaster RTÉ on Sunday. 

Writing in the Sunday Independent newspaper, Deputy Prime Minister Leo Varadkar — known as the Tánaiste — said that “a short hard lockdown” may be required to get the case numbers under control again.

Irish Chief Medical Officer Tony Holohan said in a tweet Saturday that he was “very worried” about the surge in cases and the “deteriorating” situation in the country.

Rising incidence rate: Holohan also pointed toward a 39% increase in the 14-day incidence rate over the course of the week, saying cases had increased from 108 per 100,000 inhabitants to 150 per 100,000 people. Holohan said that “case numbers are growing across all age groups and throughout the country.”

Alert Level 3: The Irish government moved the entire country to national alert Level 3 on Monday after initially placing restrictions just on the capital Dublin and northern county of Donegal. 

Under Level 3, indoor dining at cafes, restaurants and pubs is prohibited, indoor gatherings are confined to six people from one other household and museums, galleries and cultural attractions are closed. 

Last Sunday, Ireland’s science and medical advisory body, the National Public Health Emergency Team, made a recommendation to move the country to Level 5 instead of Level 3. The recommendation was leaked to the Irish media before being addressed by the government. 

Backtrack: Varadkar said in a television interview Monday that the government didn’t think the proposal “had been thought through properly.” He backtracked in the Sunday Independent, saying while heartbreaking, a short circuit breaker lockdown may be necessary to “knock the virus on the head again.”

A board displays information about Covid-19 in Nottingham, England, on October 9.

The UK government does not want to return to a “blanket national lockdown,” the UK Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick said Sunday, ahead of an expected announcement of new restrictions for England. 

Jenrick, who also holds the Communities and Local Government portfolios, said the government will work very closely with local authorities. 

“It is right that we try and pursue a localized approach and that’s what we’ve been doing, and that is the conversation I’ve been having with local mayors and council leaders over the course of this weekend,” he said.

Localized restrictions: Parts of northern England have are already subject to tighter restrictions than the rest of the country, including banning the mixing of households, limiting hospitality to table-service only and enforcing a 10 p.m. closure for entertainment and leisure venues. 

Wide restrictions: All of England is already subject to a “rule of six,” meaning no more than six people from different households are allowed to mix. 

New framework: He said “in addition to the simple national rules, we have a framework so that there is a degree of consistency in those local lockdowns.”

He added that the government is working closely with local leaders, and has asked them if there are any “particular measures that they think would be effective in their communities that we could support them on and help us to bear down the virus.”

Government to work closely with local authorities: Asked whether the government will hand over control of the widely criticized contact-tracing system, called track and trace, to local authorities, Jenrick said the government will work very closely with local authorities.

“So, in addition to the national infrastructure which is developing and increasing with every passing week, we’re also going to make use of local councils to do contact-tracing because there’s clear evidence that local councils are good at that as you’d expect,” he said.

A health care professional treats a patient said to be suffering from Covid-19 at a hospital in Moscow on October 8.

Russia has set new daily record for coronavirus infections for the third day in a row, with 13,634 cases reported Saturday. 

The total number cases in Russia as of Sunday is 1,298,718, according the Russia’s coronavirus response headquarters.

Russia has had the fourth greatest number of coronavirus cases across the world, behind the US, India and Brazil, according to Johns Hopkins University. It ranks 13th for overall deaths, the JHU data shows.

Eyebrows were raised when it emerged that the country is currently fast-tracking its coronavirus vaccine, Sputnik V, before the phase 3 human trials had begun.

Alexander Gintsburg, director of the Moscow-based Gamaleya institute, which is developing the vaccine told CNN last week that Russia was powering through the immunization’s development to give people hope and not because of political pressure.

Read more:

All the staff at Gamaleya have been given the vaccine.

Related article The race inside Russia's coronavirus vaccine laboratory

A NHS employee speaks to a member of the public outside a Covid-19 testing center in Dalston, east London, on September 23.

England is at a “tipping point” similar to the first wave of Covid-19, England’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer Jonathan Van-Tam said Sunday in a statement.

His comments can be linked to the UK in general, given the trajectory of the infection, a Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson told CNN.

He also said that the UK now has “much-improved testing capabilities, we know in more detail where the disease is, and we have better treatments.”

The deputy chief medical officer stressed that to “help” the National Health System (NHS) it’s necessary to keep the number of Covid-19 cases down.

To do that people must follow the government guidance: self-isolate if they have symptoms, and “at all times” wash their hands regularly, wear face covering in confined spaces, follow the 2 meter social distancing rules and keeping their contacts low.

The second wave has firmly established itself in Europe and the UK seeing infections soar in the past few weeks.

On Saturday, British doctors called for mandatory face masks in all offices and outdoors as Covid-19 continues to spread at a “perilous rate” in the UK, the British Medical Association said.