July 22 coronavirus news

Our coverage of the coronavirus pandemic has moved here.

The Trump administration announced Wednesday that it is sending $5 billion to nursing homes and state veterans’ homes to fight the growing coronavirus epidemic.

The money can be used to hire additional staff, implement infection control, increase testing and provide additional services, such as technology to allow residents to connect with their families.

The infusion comes from the provider relief fund contained in the $2 trillion coronavirus relief package that the US Congress passed in late March. It’s in addition to the $4.9 billion nursing homes are receiving to offset revenue losses and to respond to the pandemic.

Nursing home staff must complete an online training program for a facility to receive the new funds.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will also start requiring nursing homes in states with a 5% or greater coronavirus positivity rate to test all staff each week. This was previously a recommendation.

The administration announced last week that it is distributing rapid testing devices to nursing homes, which had complained that they don’t have the money to conduct so many tests. More than 15,000 devices will be deployed in coming months, with more than 600 shipping this week.

The American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL) said Wednesday that the increased funds are “a significant step forward,” but more is needed, especially in light of the surge of cases around the country. 

“It is equally important for Congress to provide an additional $100 billion for the HHS Provider Relief Fund, which is accessible to all health care providers impacted by COVID-19,” said CEO Mark Parkinson.

Dr. Adriana Coronel attends to a Covid-19 patient at the Eurnekian Ezeiza Hospital on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Tuesday, July 14.

Argentina saw another record daily increase of new coronavirus cases Wednesday, according to its Health Ministry.

The ministry reported 5,782 newly confirmed cases, topping Tuesday’s record of 5,344 new cases. Argentina’s total confirmed cases stands at 141,900.

The ministry also reported 98 new deaths from the virus in the past 24 hours, bringing its death toll to 2,588.

Brazil's interim Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello on July 15 in Brasilia.

Brazil’s interim health minister said Wednesday the coronavirus situation seems “under control,” despite the country reporting a record number of new cases Wednesday.

In a press conference before the country’s official daily Covid-19 numbers were released, interim Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello said, “The scenario seems to me to be under control,” but recognized there are still “increasing cases” and claimed the increase was because of the weather.

There has previously been speculation that warmer weather would lessen the spread, specifically from US President Donald Trump early in the pandemic. However, health experts have said warmer weather is unlikely to stop the spread of Covid-19.

Pazuello also said he was hopeful about the health system’s capacity now that they have learned more from the outbreak.

The Health Ministry released Brazil’s daily coronavirus numbers shortly after the press conference, reporting 67,860 newly confirmed cases, the country’s highest daily toll since the outbreak began. The ministry also added 1,284 new deaths. 

Brazil’s total number of Covid-19 cases is 2,227,514 and 82,771 total deaths.

Administration officials were alerted tonight that a cafeteria employee on the White House grounds has tested positive for coronavirus, according to an email viewed by CNN. 

Ike’s Eatery – located in the Executive Office building – and the cafeteria in the New Executive Office Building have both been temporarily closed, though the email cautioned that risk of transmission is low due to precautions like gloves and masks.

Those facilities are separate from the West Wing mess, but dozens of West Wing staffers walk to Ike’s for meals. 

 The email says they conducted contact tracing and claim no executive office staff need to quarantine due to exposure. 

President Donald Trump talks to journalists during a news conference in at the White House in Washington, DC on July 22.

Leading health experts and White House coronavirus task force members Anthony Fauci and Deborah Birx have been noticeably missing from President Donald Trump’s Covid-19 briefings because they can fact check what he says, Jonathan Reiner, a professor of medicine at George Washington University, told CNN’s Kate Bolduan Wednesday.

Reiner used the example of Trump touting the improvement in the Covid-19 positivity rate.

Reiner emphasized that the public actually needs to the blunt facts about the pandemic, “the unvarnished truth.” 

Trump resumed the White House coronavirus briefings this week, for the first time since late April.

A laboratory worker takes a sample of a person at a Covid-19 drive-thru test center in Tijuana, Baja California State, Mexico, on July 21.

Mexico’s Health Ministry reported 6,019 new Covid-19 cases Wednesday, bringing the country’s total to 362,274.

Mexico has consistently reported 5,000 cases or more every day for the past eight days. 

The ministry also reported 790 new deaths from the virus, bringing its death toll to 41,190.

Mexico holds the fourth highest death toll from the virus worldwide, trailing the UK where the death toll is 45,586, according to Johns Hopkins University.

In a snippet of an interview set to air later Wednesday night, President Trump said he would either take a coronavirus vaccine first or last, but lamented that, “either way I lose on that, right?”

“You do know if I take it first, I’ll be – either way I lose on that, right?” Trump continued. “If I take it first. And if I don’t take it, he doesn’t believe in the program.”

President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at the White House in Washington, DC on July 22.

During Wednesday’s briefing, President Trump continued to advocate for schools opening in the fall. In support of this he claimed that “a lot of people” say children “don’t transmit” coronavirus. 

“They don’t catch it easily, they don’t bring it home easily,” Trump added. “And if they do catch it, they get better fast.”

Facts First: While children infected with coronavirus are less likely to develop severe symptoms than adults, not all “get better fast,” like Trump claimed. Furthermore, several studies suggest that children can and do transmit the virus.

According to one recent study from the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, children between 10 and 19 years old may transmit coronavirus just as much as adults. 

“Although the detection rate for contacts of preschool-aged children was lower, young children may show higher attack rates when the school closure ends, contributing to community transmission of Covid-19,” the study said.

Both the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are also studying families and households to better understand the role children play in transmitting the virus. But as of June 30, CDC Director Robert Redfield said, “We don’t know the impact that children have yet on the transmission cycle.”

As a result, even though children appear to be affected less commonly or severely than adults, returning to school still poses certain risks. 

“Relatively few children with COVID-19 are hospitalized, and fewer children than adults experience fever, cough, or shortness of breath,” the CDC said in an article for pediatric health care providers published in late May. However, the article also noted that “severe outcomes have been reported in children including COVID-19 associated deaths.”

President Trump said Wednesday that he would be comfortable with his son and grandchildren physically returning to school in the fall, asserting that children do not catch or spread coronavirus easily.                      

Asked during a White House news conference whether he’d be comfortable with his family members returning to school, Trump responded, “Yeah, well I am comfortable with that.”  

Trump was also asked if his administration planned to develop a national strategy for getting children to return to schools in the fall, to which he replied, “We do have a national strategy. But as you know, ultimately it’s up to the governors of the states.” 

“They don’t transmit very easily (to others) and a lot of people are saying they don’t transmit,” the President claimed, without evidence. “We’re looking at that … they don’t bring it home with them.”  

“They don’t catch it easily, they don’t bring it home easily and if they do catch it, they get better fast,” Trump asserted. “We’re looking at that fact. That is a factor and we’re looking at that strongly We’ll be reporting about that over the next week.” 

But, US Surgeon General Jerome Adams recently told CBS News that though the risk to children getting coronavirus is low, they can still transmit it to others. 

“We know the risk is low to the actual students. But we know they can transmit to others. … We need to take measures to make sure we protect those who are vulnerable either because they are older or they have chronic medical conditions,” Adams said. 

Researchers in South Korea have also found that children between the ages of 10 and 19 transmit Covid-19 within a household just as often as adults do, according to research published in the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention journal Emerging Infectious Diseases earlier this week. They also found that children ages 9 and under transmitted the virus, as well, although at lower rates.

CNN reported earlier Wednesday that in Florida, which is among the sunbelt states seeing a surge in coronavirus cases, a 9-year-old girl has become the youngest person in the state to die from coronavirus complications. The girl is not known to have had underlying medical conditions and has become the fifth minor to die from Covid-19 in the state. 

More than 23,000 children under the age of 18 have tested positive for coronavirus, and more that 13% of children who get tested turn out to be infected. The state’s total number of confirmed cases now stands at 379,619.

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