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As new coronavirus cases in the United States reached their highest single-day level yet on Wednesday, companies and state officials appear to be taking matters into their own hands.
While Vice President Pence urged senators to focus on “encouraging signs,” these governors and CEOs are instead responding to mounting indications of a deadly surge across the South and West. Apple has again shut down its retail stores in the Houston area, where intensive care units are nearly filled. North Carolina and Disneyland both delayed plans to reopen, and three governors in the New York City area announced a mandatory 14-day quarantine for visitor from certain hard-hit states.
The 38,115 new infections reported by state health departments Wednesday underscore the changing geography of the U.S. outbreak. The bulk of the cases were posted in Texas, Florida and California, while Oklahoma also set a new statewide record in infections. Since the start of the pandemic, the United States has recorded more than 2.3 million coronavirus cases and at least 119,000 deaths, while the global number of cases has soared past 9 million.
Here are some significant developments:
- Worried about a simultaneous assault of the coronavirus and seasonal influenza this winter, public health officials and vaccine manufacturers are making millions of extra flu vaccine doses to protect the most vulnerable.
- Nevada and North Carolina both ordered residents to wear masks in public, as Virginia moves to implement new workplace safety rules that would force companies to protect workers from infection.
- The World Health Organization said the global pandemic’s hotspot is now in Latin America, which has reported 100,000 fatalities as of this week. New flare-ups have also been reported in Australia, Germany and South Korea.
- The Dow Jones industrial average fell 709 points, as investors grappled with spreading outbreaks that some investors say will further delay an already drawn-out economic recovery. Globally, too, the recovery from economic collapse will be sluggish, the International Monetary Fund said Wednesday.
- Amid reports that the federal government is poised to stop providing federal aid to testing sites in hard-hit states like Texas, one top federal official responded by saying testing is in fact on the rise.
June 25, 2020 at 1:15 AM EDT
Nevada to require face masks in public, inside all businesses
As Nevada experiences a record surge in new coronavirus cases, Gov. Steve Sisolak (D) said all residents and visitors will be required to cover their faces in public.
The order, which takes effect Friday and includes all businesses, comes three weeks after casinos were allowed to reopen and a month after restrictions were loosened on most other kinds of stores. Authorities suggested a stream of mask-less crowds back onto the Las Vegas Strip may be tied to the surge.
“We’ve taken some steps backward,” Sisolak said at a news conference late Wednesday. “Clearly, for many, the excitement and enthusiasm of escaping from our confinement … overshadowed the good judgment we practiced in recent months.”
His directive makes Nevada the latest state to require masks in response to rapidly spreading outbreaks. In the past week, California, Michigan and North Carolina, as well as several cities in Arizona, Florida and Texas, all issued similar orders.
Sisolak said that businesses that do not comply will face police action, though he urged local agencies not to impose fines and fees as a way to enforce the order. Children between the ages of 2 and 9 and people with certain medical conditions are exempt.
Hours before his announcement, MGM Resorts and Caesars Entertainment said it would be requiring face masks inside its casinos, the Reno Gazette-Journal reported, and several restaurants on the Las Vegas Strip which had already shut down again.
During the news conference, the governor also apologized for making an “inexcusable” error in judgment when and his wife were photographed failing to wear masks at a Carson City restaurant.
According to data tracked by The Washington Post, Nevada’s rolling, seven-day average of new infections has climbed upward for nearly a week, even as testing levels remain flat.
By Teo Armus
June 25, 2020 at 12:59 AM EDT
Indiana Pacers’ Malcolm Brogdon the latest NBA player to test positive
Indiana Pacers guard Malcolm Brogdon announced Wednesday that he has tested positive for the novel coronavirus weeks before the NBA is set to resume play at Disney World next month.
The 27-year-old guard, who was in the midst of a career year before the NBA shut down on March 11, said that he still plans to play for the Pacers when the 2019-20 season commences on July 30.
The NBA entered Phase 2 of its comprehensive reopening plan Tuesday, with players reporting to their teams in their respective home markets to undergo mandatory testing. Nikola Jokic, the Denver Nuggets’ all-star center, tested positive for the coronavirus, while the Arizona Republic reported Tuesday that two unidentified members of the Phoenix Suns also tested positive.
By Ben Golliver
June 25, 2020 at 12:28 AM EDT
With ‘kung flu,’ Trump sparks backlash over racist language — and a rallying cry for supporters
President Trump’s first use of the phrase “kung flu” — during a campaign rally in Tulsa last weekend — drew broad political backlash as a racist slur against Asian Americans.
Within three days, however, it was also something else: a rallying cry for his supporters.
Trump’s appearance before a crowd of several thousand enthusiastic young people at the Dream City Church in Phoenix on Tuesday showed how his casual use of a demeaning phrase — one that even some White House aides rejected three months ago — has swiftly morphed into a staple of his reelection message amid tumbling poll numbers.
By David Nakamura
June 25, 2020 at 12:27 AM EDT
Dozens of Secret Service officers and agents told to self-quarantine after Trump’s Tulsa rally
Dozens of Secret Service officers and agents who were on site for President Trump’s rally in Tulsa last week were ordered to self-quarantine after two of their colleagues tested positive for the novel coronavirus, part of the fallout from Trump’s insistence on holding the mass gathering over the objections of public health officials.
The Secret Service instructed employees who worked the Tulsa event to stay at home for 14 days when they returned from the weekend trip, according to two people familiar with the agency’s decision.
The order came in the wake of the discovery — hours before the president’s Saturday evening rally — that at least six advance staffers who helped organize the trip had tested positive for the virus, including two Secret Service employees. Another two advance staffers tested positive after Trump returned to Washington on Sunday.
By Carol D. Leonnig and Josh Partlow
June 25, 2020 at 12:25 AM EDT
Coronavirus deaths lag behind surging infections but may catch up soon
With novel coronavirus infections setting a single-day national record Wednesday, health experts are taking little solace from one of the few bright spots in the current resurgence: Deaths are not rising in lockstep with caseloads.
But that may be just a matter of time.
“Deaths always lag considerably behind cases,” Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious-disease specialist, told Congress at a hearing Tuesday. In the weeks to come, he and others said, the death toll is likely to rise commensurately.
Which means Arizona, Texas and Florida, states that reopened early and now are experiencing runaway infection rates, are likely to be burying more dead in July.
By Lenny Bernstein, Rachel Weiner and Joel Achenbach
