The latest on the coronavirus pandemic from around the U.S. and the world.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will for the first time require the regular testing of nursing home staff for the novel coronavirus, the agency’s administrator said Tuesday.

Until now such testing has only been recommended by federal authorities, in part because the slow turnaround time in getting results has seriously hampered their usefulness. But employees are thought to have played a major role in inadvertently introducing the virus to nursing homes and spreading it among residents, more than 40,000 of whom have died of COVID-19 since the outbreak began in March.

“We want to make sure each and every nursing home is doing this,” the CMS administrator, Seema Verma, told a telephone news conference. Fast tests are becoming available, with more than 5,500 “point-of-care” test kits already shipped out to nursing homes around the country, according to Adm. Brett Giroir, assistant secretary for health.

Verma said nursing homes will also be required to “offer” tests to residents when there has been a positive test result in the facility or someone is experiencing what could be the symptoms of COVID-19. She said the agency will not force residents to take tests.

The tightening up comes after months of criticism of the nursing home business and of state and federal health officials who oversee nursing home operations.

Making staff testing a requirement from the beginning “absolutely would have made a tremendous difference in those states that had high outbreaks,” said Charlene Harrington, a registered nurse who is a professor emerita in the department of social and behavioral sciences at the University of California San Francisco. She has written several papers on the response to COVID-19 in nursing homes.

Read the full story about testing for nursing home workers here.

New U.S. virus cases fall as masks gain favor, but testing lags

NEW YORK — The number of Americans newly diagnosed with the coronavirus is falling — a development experts say most likely reflects more mask-wearing but also insufficient testing — even as the disease continues to claim nearly 1,000 lives in the U.S. each day.

About 43,000 new cases are being reported daily across the country, down 21 percent from early August, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. While the U.S., India and Brazil still have the highest numbers of new cases in the world, the downward trend is encouraging.

“It’s profoundly hopeful news,” said Dr. Monica Gandhi, an infectious-diseases expert at the University of California, San Francisco, who credits the American public’s growing understanding of how the virus spreads, more mask-wearing and, possibly, an increasing level of immunity.

“Hopefully all those factors are coming into play to get this virus under control in this country that’s really been battered by the pandemic,” she said.

But insufficient testing is probably concealing the full extent of the crisis, said Dr. Jonathan Quick, who leads the pandemic response for the Rockefeller Foundation, which has recommended the U.S. test 4 million people a day by fall.

“We’re grossly under-testing in some of the places that are still having high caseloads,” Quick said, singling out Mississippi, Texas, Georgia and North Dakota as hot spots with high rates of positive test results.

Even at 43,000 new cases per day, the U.S. remains far above the numbers seen during the spring, when new daily cases peaked at about 34,000, he said.

“It’s a good trend, but nowhere near what we need to be,” Quick said of the recent decline.

Read the full story about U.S. numbers here.

Officials tackle daunting task of tracking COVID-19 infections from South Dakota motorcycle rally

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — The hundreds of thousands of bikers who attended the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally may have departed western South Dakota, but public health departments in multiple states are trying to measure how much and how quickly the coronavirus spread in bars, tattoo shops and gatherings before people traveled home to nearly every state in the country.

From the city of Sturgis, which is conducting mass testing for its roughly 7,000 residents, to health departments in at least eight states, health officials are trying to track outbreaks from the 10-day rally which ended on Aug. 16. They face the task of tracking an invisible virus that spread among bar-hoppers and rallygoers, who then traveled to over half of the counties in the United States.

An analysis of anonymous cell phone data from Camber Systems, a firm that aggregates cell phone activity for health researchers, found that 61 percent of all the counties in the U.S. have been visited by someone who attended Sturgis, creating a travel hub that was comparable to a major U.S. city.

“Imagine trying to do contact tracing for the entire city of (Washington), D.C., but you also know that you don’t have any distancing, or the distancing is very, very limited, the masking is limited,” said Navin Vembar, who co-founded Camber Systems. “It all adds up to a very dangerous situation for people all over the place. Contact tracing becomes dramatically difficult.”

State health departments have reported 103 cases from people in South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin Nebraska, Montana, North Dakota, Wyoming and Washington. Health officials in South Dakota have said they don’t know how many people were exposed and have issued public warnings of possible COVID-19 exposure at five businesses popular with bikers.

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, a Republican, has defied calls to cancel large gatherings and opposes requirements to wear masks. She welcomed the event, which in previous years brought in about $800 million in tourist spending, according to the state’s Department of Tourism.

Read the full story about the motorcycle rally here.

Genetic data show a single event sent coronavirus across Massachusetts – and the U.S.

None of the biotech executives at the meeting noticed the uninvited guest. They had flown to Boston from across the globe for the annual leadership meeting of the drug company Biogen, and they were busy catching up with colleagues and hobnobbing with upper management. For two days they shook hands, kissed cheeks, passed each other the salad tongs at the hotel buffet, never realizing that one among their number carried the coronavirus in their lungs.

By the meeting’s end on Feb. 27, the infection had infiltrated many more people: a research director, a photographer, the general manager for the company’s east division. They took the virus home with them to the Boston suburbs, Indiana and North Carolina, to Slovakia, Australia and Singapore.

Over the following two weeks, the virus that circulated among conference attendees was implicated in at least 35 new cases. In April, the same distinctive viral sub-strain swirled through two Boston homeless shelters, where it infected 122 residents.

Scientists know all this thanks to a mistake made during the coronavirus’s replication process – a simple switch of two letters in the virus’s 30,000-character genetic code. This mutation appeared in two elderly patients in France at almost exactly the same time that genetically matching viruses were sickening dozens of people at the Biogen meeting. After the conference, each time the infection spread, the mutation spread with it.

Read the rest of this story here.

British PM Johnson to consider masks at schools

LONDON — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says his government is ready to advise high school students in England to wear face masks “in some contexts” if the medical evidence deems it necessary in containing the spread of the coronavirus.

His government, which oversees schools in England, has come under increasing pressure to change its advice on masks in certain school settings following the decision by the Scottish government to require students over 12 to wear masks.

Johnson says, “if we need to change the advice, then of course we will.”

Schools in England are due to reopen in the upcoming weeks.

Jamaican official says Usain Bolt tests positive for COVID

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Jamaica’s Minister of Health says legendary sprinter Usain Bolt has tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

Minister Christopher Tufton said Bolt was aware of the results and his recent contacts were being traced.

“It is now public knowledge that Mr. Bolt has tested positive. He has been formally notified, I’m told by the authorities,” Tufton told reporters Monday evening. “’It triggers an approach to questioning, interrogation if you will, which we follow through with contact tracing.”

Bolt said on social media Monday that he was awaiting the result of a coronavirus test and was quarantining himself as a precaution.

Read the rest of this story here.

July sales of new homes surge 13.9%, far more than thought

SILVER SPRING, Md. — Sales of new homes jumped again in July, rising 13.9% as the housing market continues to gain traction following a spring downturn caused by pandemic-related lockdowns.

The Commerce Department reported Tuesday that July’s gain propelled sales of new homes to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 901,000. That’s a far bigger number than analysts had expected and follows big increases in May and June. The government report has a high margin of error, so the July figures could be revised in the coming months.

The recent sales gains followed a steep dropoff in March and April as much of the country stayed home due to government restrictions intended to slow the spread of coronavirus.

In a report last week, the National Association of Realtors reported that sales of existing homes rose by a record 24.7% in July, thanks to historically low interest rates. It was the second big spike in as many months and has helped stabilize the housing market in an otherwise uncertain economic time.

Read the rest of this story here.

Federal CDC drops 14-day self-quarantine guidance for travelers

Since March, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has advised travelers to self-quarantine for 14 days after all international travel, and after domestic travel to states seeing a high rate of coronavirus cases. But the CDC has changed that stance, removing the directions for two-week quarantines from the “After You Travel” section of its coronavirus travel guidance.

Instead, it shares “after-travel” recommendations based on individual countries. A map of country-specific health information can be found on the CDC website, and includes a map of reported cases in the United States. Maine is among the states now mandating two-week quarantines.

In an email, CDC spokesman Scott Pauley told The Washington Post, “This updated guidance is based on risk of exposure during travel, asking travelers to think about what they did, where they were, and who they came into contact with to evaluate their risk of exposure to COVID-19.”

The CDC’s updated travel guidance states that all returning travelers should social distance, wear a cloth face covering, wash their hands often and watch for symptoms. Notably, those are all basic measures the CDC has urged Americans to follow since the beginning of the pandemic, regardless of whether traveling is involved.

Doctors say that quarantines can still be a good idea after traveling to a coronavirus-impacted area, and that quarantines are especially useful in the absence of testing. Plus, if you’re from a state that requires a two-week quarantine, you’ll likely still need to complete one.

The CDC’s travel guidance still notes that travel and being in crowds increases the chance of contracting the virus, and that infected people can be asymptomatic and spread the disease. But CDC quarantine guidelines also now narrowly define those who should isolate for two weeks as “people who have been in close contact with someone who has COVID-19 – excluding people who have had COVID-19 within the past three months.”

Read the full story here.

Thousands allowed to bypass environmental rules in pandemic

Thousands of oil and gas operations, government facilities and other sites have won permission to stop monitoring for hazardous emissions or otherwise bypass rules intended to protect health and the environment because of the coronavirus outbreak, The Associated Press has found.

New Hampshire Rep. Nancy Murphy, D-Merrimack, is shown last week outside the Saint-Gobain plastics factory in Merrimack, N.H., which asked to put off smokestack upgrades, citing the coronavirus for the delay. Charles Krupa/Associated Press

The result: approval for less environmental monitoring at some Texas refineries and at an army depot dismantling warheads armed with nerve gas in Kentucky, manure piling up and the mass disposal of livestock carcasses at farms in Iowa and Minnesota, and other increased risks to communities as governments eased enforcement over smokestacks, medical waste shipments, sewage plants, oilfields and chemical plants.

The Trump administration paved the way for the reduced monitoring March 26 after being pressured by the oil and gas industry, which said lockdowns and social distancing during the pandemic made it difficult to comply with pollution rules. States are responsible for much of the oversight of federal environmental laws, and many followed with their own policies.

AP’s two-month review found that waivers were granted in more than 3,000 cases, representing the overwhelming majority of requests citing the outbreak. Hundreds were approved for oil and gas companies. AP reached out to all 50 states citing open-records laws; all but one, New York, provided at least partial information, reporting the data in differing ways and with varying level of detail.

Almost all those requesting waivers told regulators they wanted to minimize risks for workers and the public during a pandemic – although a handful reported they were trying to cut costs.

The Environmental Protection Agency says its clemency does not authorize exceeding pollution limits. Regulators will pursue those who “did not act responsibly under the circumstances,” EPA spokesman James Hewitt said in an email.

But environmentalists and public health experts say it may be impossible to determine the impact. “The harm from this policy is already done,” said Cynthia Giles, former EPA assistant administrator under the Obama administration.

EPA says it will end the clemency this month.

Read the full story about the EPA here.

Judge’s ruling could slow down reopening of Florida schools

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A Florida judge temporarily blocked Gov. Ron DeSantis and top education officials from forcing public schools to reopen brick-and-mortar classrooms amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, ruling that the state’s order “arbitrarily disregards safety.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during a news conference on Monday. Lynne Sladky/Associated Press

In his ruling, Leon County Judge Charles Dodson said the mandate to reopen schools usurped local control from school districts in deciding for themselves whether it was safe for students, teachers and staffers to return.

The Florida Education Association had sued the state after Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran issued an order earlier this summer mandating that schools reopen classrooms by Aug. 31 or risk losing funding.

“The districts have no meaningful alternative,” the judge wrote in his opinion.

“If an individual school district chooses safety, that is, delaying the start of schools until it individually determines it is safe to do so for its county, it risks losing state funding, even though every student is being taught,” he ruled.

State officials were reviewing the ruling and did not have an immediate comment.

As the outbreak began spreading across the state last spring, state officials shuttered schools and teachers began providing instruction virtually to the state’s 2.9 million public school students.

The Florida Education Association, which includes unions representing teachers and other school employees, expressed concerns about the ability of schools to keep children and teachers healthy.

The ruling came as Florida’s coronavirus spread appeared to be waning, although it still outpaces the ability of contact tracers to contain outbreaks. With several key metrics on the decline, the governor says Dolphins and Hurricanes fans can attend football games again, under careful conditions.

State-provided statistics showed 4,655 people being treated for COVID-19 in Florida hospitals on Monday, less than half of the peaks above 9,500 a month ago.

A total of 72 new deaths were reported, bringing the seven day average down to 123, the lowest rate in a month. Average daily increases in cases over the past week have declined to a level not seen since late June.

Children ages 6 to 11 should wear masks at times, too, WHO says

GENEVA — Just as millions of children are heading back to school, the World Health Organization says those aged 6 to 11 should wear masks in some cases to help fight the spread of coronavirus.

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Parents wait with children on the schoolyard for the start of their first day at a school in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, on Aug. 12. The World Health Organization on Monday issued guidance about mask-wearing by children. Martin Meissner/Associated Press

The recommendations presented Monday follow the widespread belief that children under 12 are not considered as likely to propagate the virus as much as adults. Children in general face less severe virus symptoms than do adults, with the elderly the most vulnerable to severe infection and death.

Now WHO says decisions about whether children aged 6 to 11 should wear masks should consider factors like whether COVID-19 transmission is widespread in the area where the child lives; the child’s ability to safely use a mask; and adult supervision when taking the masks on or off.

“Luckily, the vast majority of children who are infected with the virus appear to have mild disease or asymptomatic infection, and that’s good news,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, technical chief of the U.N. health agency’s emergencies program.

She still cautioned that some children can develop severe cases of coronavirus and even die.

The shift comes as confirmed COVID-19 infections worldwide have surpassed 23 million and confirmed deaths have passed 809,000, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. Experts say the tally understates the true toll of the pandemic due to limited testing, missed mild cases and other factors.

The U.N. health agency for months trailed many governments in backing the widespread use of masks, a point not lost on critics, who said WHO was too slow to get on board with the benefits of general mask use. WHO had expressed concern that people who put on masks might unwittingly spread the virus from an unclean hand to their face, and insisted that health-care providers needed masks first amid some shortages.

Since then, researchers have found that the virus can be transmitted through aerosols — tiny droplets emitted when people talk, laugh, sing or sneeze — and mask-wearing can cut down on the amount of virus that people are exposed to.

Some policymakers, including public transport authorities in Europe and elsewhere, have set the bar for mask-wearing in crowded places like buses and trains at age 12 — with everyone older required to put them on.

 

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