Some states are seeing increases in positive rates of coronavirus tests as President Trump pushes the message of economic reopening and his campaign plans for major rallies.
“We are not intending to close down the economy,” White House National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow said on Fox News Monday.
“I think it is controllable,” Kudlow said of the latest outbreaks.
Over 20 states saw an increase in average daily new COVID-19 cases last week. Florida, for instance, reported its second straight day of more than 2,000 daily new cases on Sunday. Arizona, which has seen 3,750 hospitalizations due to the coronavirus since the beginning of the pandemic, urged hospitals to implement emergency plans to deal with an influx of new coronavirus patients.
Of particular note, several states are reporting higher rates of positive test results. While the national average of positive coronavirus diagnostic tests is 5%, four states have averages exceeding 10%: Mississippi with 19.7% positive tests, Arizona with 15.6% positive tests, South Carolina with 13.7% positive tests, and Alabama with 13.5% positive tests.
“I understand the growing concerns, and we’re going to have these concerns for a while, but I have been in touch with our health experts, actually each of the last four or five days, including this morning,” Kudlow added.
While some states appear to be seeing worsening outbreaks, the country as a whole is improving on some metrics. COVID-19 Tracking Project data shows that the number of new deaths has fallen, from 655 on June 8 to 375 on Monday.
Kudlow said that Trump will not shut the country down again, even if the death toll spikes.
“The president is absolutely disinclined to shut down the economy as is the vice president,” Kudlow said. “I think shutting down the economy could be worse for our health than not shutting it down.”
The Trump campaign announced Monday that rally attendees on Saturday will be given hand sanitizer and face masks when they enter the Tulsa arena, as criticisms of Trump’s decision to resume rallies during an ongoing pandemic mount.
Deputy campaign communications director Erin Perrine said: “The campaign takes the health and safety of rallygoers seriously and is taking precautions to make the rally safe. Every single rallygoer will have their temperature checked, be provided a face mask and hand sanitizer.”
The number of coronavirus cases in the United States has surpassed 2.1 million, and over 116,000 people have died, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
The Food and Drug Administration has revoked emergency use authorizations for hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine, promoted by Trump as coronavirus treatments, as evidence begins to show the drugs may be harmful.
FDA Chief Scientist Denise Hinton said Monday that “it is no longer reasonable to believe that oral formulations of HCQ and CQ may be effective in treating COVID-19, nor is it reasonable to believe that the known and potential benefits of these products outweigh their known and potential risks.”
Chinese officials have placed several parts of Beijing on lockdown after health officials reported 36 new coronavirus cases Monday, bringing the total to 79. The latest outbreak, which is the largest the city has seen since February, began on Friday in the Xinfadi wholesale food market. City officials locked down the Xinfadi market on Saturday, as well as several neighborhoods surrounding it in Beijing.
Johns Hopkins University scientists found evidence that the coronavirus can infect the brain and replicate in its cells, suggesting that the disease can infect the brain just as it infects the lungs, according to the Financial Times.
“It is really critical to know that our most precious organ can be directly affected by the virus,” said Thomas Hartung, a toxicology expert at Johns Hopkins.
Researchers added low levels of the coronavirus to “mini-brains” made from neurons of a full-sized human brain and found that the virus multiplied within the neurons. In just three days, the number of copies of the virus had increased at least tenfold.
Contact tracers in New York City reportedly cannot ask anyone who has tested positive for COVID-19 if they have attended any recent protests. In recent weeks, both Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo have worried publicly that the widespread demonstrations in response to the death of George Floyd would transmit the coronavirus. But the hundreds of contact tracers working for the city have been instructed not to ask about attendance at a demonstration, according to the City. Avery Cohen, a spokeswoman for de Blasio, confirmed the policy in an email to the City. “No person will be asked proactively if they attended a protest,” she wrote.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told the country to go out and “shop with confidence” Monday as shops in England began to reopen, Bloomberg reported. Social distancing guidelines suggest that people maintain a distance of about 7 feet from others, but Johnson said the guidelines could be relaxed as infection rates in the United Kingdom continue to fall.
“People should shop and shop with confidence,” Johnson said from a mall in London. “But they should, of course, observe the rules on social distancing and do it as safely as possible.”