White House says cutting COVID-19 spread a matter of patriotism
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Vice President Mike Pence warned Friday of a “precipitous” rise in coronavirus infections across the country, 10 days after he dismissed data on rising cases as a media distortion.
Pence urged people, especially young Americans, to take on the personal responsibility of limiting transmission. Pence said half of new cases had occurred in people under 35 years old.
“Now is the time for everybody to do their part,” Pence said.
Case numbers are rising in 26 states, and those states account for 62% of the U.S. population, according to the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation, with crisis-level hospitalizations in several southern states. This week, the number of U.S. daily infections rose to its highest rate since late April, when hard-hit New York was experiencing a surge.
Pence dismissed the possibility of a new surge of cases in a Wall Street Journal opinion column 10 days ago.
Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, made a plea to Americans to recommit to wearing masks, washing their hands, getting tested and staying at home as a matter of patriotism.
“If you get infected, you will infect someone else, who will clearly infect someone else. … Ultimately, you will infect someone who’s vulnerable,” Fauci said.
Fauci said while it’s understandable that people feel pent-up, he discouraged crowding into bars or congregating on beaches.
“You have an individual responsibility to yourself, but you also have a societal responsibility because if we want to end this outbreak, really end it — and then hopefully when a vaccine comes, it puts nail in the coffin — we’ve got to realize that we are part of this process,” Fauci said.
Fauci underscored that the virus can spread easily and quickly across state borders. He warned that the new surges in community transmission in the South and Southwest could compromise gains in other parts of the country.
“What goes on in one area of the country could ultimately have an impact on other areas of the country,” Fauci said.
The message clashed somewhat with remarks at the same news conference by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, who stressed that the picture of rising cases is not as bad as it appears when drilling down to the county level.
Azar said the administration was most focused on the “just 3% of counties that represent hot spots” and urged people to monitor infection rates in their states.
The new urgency of the White House on addressing the coronavirus comes after reports that President Donald Trump has not been engaged with key members of the coronavirus task force for weeks.
The press briefing was the coronavirus task force’s first in almost two months. The president did not attend. Trump is scheduled to depart Washington on Friday for his golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey, according to his public schedule.
— CQ-Roll Call
In reversal, Texas orders bars to shut and restaurants to scale back amid coronavirus spike
HOUSTON — In a major reversal, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott rolled back the state’s reopening Friday, ordering bars to close and restaurants to reduce dining capacity as coronavirus cases and hospitalizations surge statewide.
The state’s major cities have seen hospitals fill with COVID-19 patients in recent days as Abbott refused to issue statewide mask or stay-at-home orders, insisting that reopening should proceed.
City and county leaders in Houston, Texas’ largest city with a population of about 4 million, were expected to announce Friday morning that they had reached the worst COVID-19 threat level Friday and would call for reinstatement of a stay-at-home order last invoked in April. However, the authority to enforce such an order rests with the state.
As concern mounted about large gatherings at parks and beaches ahead of the Fourth of July holiday, Abbott on Friday also ordered rafting and tubing outfitters to close and said outdoor gatherings of 100 or more must be approved by local government.
The announcement came less than two months after Texas began a phased reopening that President Donald Trump and other Republicans touted as among the country’s earliest and most effective. But as cases increased this month, leaders in the state’s largest cities and counties imposed mask requirements and lobbied for statewide restrictions to slow the virus’ spread.
Texas has reported more than 17,000 new COVID-19 cases in the last three days and a record number of positive tests — 5,996 — on Thursday. Thursday’s 4,739 hospitalizations was also a record. Abbott, a Republican, suspended elective procedures in the state’s major cities to increase hospital capacity and urged people to wear masks. The state infection rate reached 12%, a red flag that Abbott said led him to slow the state’s reopening.
“As I said from the start, if the positivity rate rose above 10%, the state of Texas would take further action to mitigate the spread of COVID-19,” Abbott said in a Friday statement. “At this time, it is clear that the rise in cases is largely driven by certain types of activities, including Texans congregating in bars. The actions in this executive order are essential to our mission to swiftly contain this virus and protect public health. We want this to be as limited in duration as possible.”
Abbott urged people to stay home, warning that a “massive outbreak” is sweeping through Texas, and didn’t say when the newly imposed restrictions would be lifted.
Republican governors in Arizona and Florida who swiftly reopened were similarly backpedaling this week when faced with new COVID-19 outbreaks.
— Los Angeles Times
Wave threatens to swamp hospitals in Texas, Florida and other states
Just weeks after the coronavirus overwhelmed hospitals in and around New York City, medical centers in Arizona, Florida, Texas and other states with skyrocketing infections are rapidly filling with sick patients, threatening state health care systems.
The swift increase has forced hospital leaders to begin bringing in extra staff, converting space into dedicated coronavirus units and, in some cases, moving sick patients hundreds of miles to get to available beds.
Surging numbers of patients with COVID-19 —though still shy of the wave that hit New York —also raise the prospect of new restrictions on nonessential medical care to free up beds for patients infected with virus.
“The numbers are definitely scary,” said Judy Rich, chief executive of Tucson Medical Center, a hospital with more than 500 beds that serves patients from across southern Arizona. Tucson Medical Center has seen a threefold increase in COVID-19 patients since the beginning of June.
“When we started opening up the state, we immediately saw pictures of people packing into bars at night and celebrating,” Rich said. “It feels like we did too much too fast, and now we are paying the price.”
California, where infections are also soaring, is beginning to experience its own crush, with the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients surging 32% in the last two weeks, Gov. Gavin Newsom reported Thursday.
In Arizona, as of Wednesday, 88% of the Intensive Care Unit beds statewide were occupied, up from 68% in mid-May, according to state figures.
Banner Health, the state’s largest hospital system, is already deploying its surge plan, including hiring 200 new contract nurses to handle the increased demand.
In Texas, state health officials recorded 4,739 hospitalized patients with COVID-19, more than double the number just 10 days ago.
Florida, another emerging hot spot, is not reporting the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients. (Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, an ally of President Donald Trump, for months has tried to play down the severity of the pandemic.)
But Miami-Dade County — the state’s largest, which is reporting hospitalization data — recorded a new high Thursday, with 885 infected patients in hospitals, up from 546 two weeks ago.
“The trend is not reassuring,” said Kathleen Sposato, who oversees infection control at Jackson Health, the county’s mammoth safety-net medical system. “We are very, very concerned.”
The number of COVID-19 patients at Jackson Health has more than doubled since June 8.
The growing pressure on medical systems is not being felt everywhere.
In Jacksonville, Florida, Baptist Health, one of the largest medical systems in northern Florida, currently has only 24 COVID-19 patients, officials reported.
And Christus Health, a large system of Catholic medical centers across the South that includes 30 hospitals in Texas, isn’t nearing capacity, said Dr. Sam Bagchi, the system’s chief medical officer.
Bagchi compared the current demand at Christus hospitals to a busy flu season. “There are yellow flags, but the red ones aren’t there,” he said.
Even at more stressed systems like Tucson Medical Center, hospital officials noted that they are seeing younger, healthier patients with COVID-19 now, compared to earlier this year, which has made caring for them easier.
Advances in treatments, including the use of drugs such as remdesevir and dexamethasone, have also eased some of the burdens that hospitals experienced when the crisis first struck earlier this year.
But health officials cautioned that the rapid spread of infection in places including Texas, Florida, Arizona and California means that even systems that have so far been spared are likely not safe.
“We can see the storm coming,” said John Henderson, who heads Texas Organization of Rural and Community Hospitals.
— Los Angeles Times
At least 18 members of Texas family test positive after surprise party
AUSTIN, Texas — Eighteen members of a North Texas family tested positive for COVID-19 after attending a surprise birthday party in late May.
Only one member of the family unknowingly had the virus at the time of the party, WFAA reports.
“We knew this was going to happen. I mean this whole time this has been going on we’ve been terrified,” Ron Barbosa told WFAA.
Barbosa, who is a volunteer EMT, and his wife, a doctor, chose not to attend the party, which was hosted by his nephew, due to safety reasons. Barbosa said that his family suspects his nephew, who had a slight cough at the time of the party, was the family member who was unknowingly infected after possibly being exposed at work.
Those infected include two young children, Barbosa’s elderly parents and his sister, who is battling breast cancer.
Barbosa’s father, Frank, was admitted to the hospital on June 17 and placed in the intensive care unit soon after, where he remains.
Barbosa told WFAA that his father is in need of blood plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients, who have established antibodies. “If you’ve recovered go donate your plasma,” Barbosa .
While it appears that most of Barbosa’s family is on the road to recovery, the experience serves as a warning for what could happen even when proper safety precautions are attempted. Barbosa says all 25 people who attended the party attempted to remain socially distant, and not all of the attendees were there for the entirety of the party.
— Austin American-Statesman
California cases surpass 200,000
LOS ANGELES — The number of coronavirus cases in California surpassed 200,000 Thursday, as the state continues to report a surge in new infections that officials now say cannot be explained by increased testing alone.
The state shattered a daily record for new cases Monday, reporting more than 6,000 infections for the first time. That number surged even higher Tuesday, when 6,652 new cases were reported. The state reported 4,629 new cases Wednesday and 5,069 on Thursday, according to the Los Angeles Times’ coronavirus tracker — pushing its cumulative total past 200,000.
Officials have attributed some of the increase in daily case counts to more tests being performed and said that other metrics, like the average number of daily hospitalizations and the overall rate of people testing positive, give a better picture of how the state is faring in its fight against the virus.
Both of those metrics now suggest the virus’s spread has indeed accelerated.
California has seen a 32% increase in hospitalizations of patients with confirmed COVID-19 disease, and a 19% jump in ICU patients with verified infections, over the past 14 days.
The rate at which coronavirus tests are confirming infections is also on the rise. On Thursday, 5.6% of coronavirus test results were positive on average over the previous seven days; a week earlier, 4.6% were coming back positive for the virus, according to a Los Angeles Times analysis.
Los Angeles County continues to be a hotbed of new infections, accounting for more than 45% of the state’s total cases and more than 55% of its COVID-19 deaths. The county’s director of public health, Barbara Ferrer, on Thursday reported more than 2,000 new cases for the fourth time in a week.
In addition to Los Angeles, 14 counties have reported elevated transmission of the disease, increased hospitalizations or a limited hospital capacity that exceed the state’s guidelines: Contra Costa, Fresno, Imperial, Kern, Kings, Riverside, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Joaquin, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Stanislaus, Tulare and Ventura.
The state’s public health team is working with those counties to provide targeted support to help identify and deal with the specific drivers of the increases, and to ensure that the surges don’t overwhelm the hospital system.
“Certainly if we get to a point where despite all of those collaborative good efforts, a county needs to assert themselves or get support from the state to reintroduce some level of modifications to how people are moving, the state and counties are prepared for that,” Mark Ghaly, the state’s secretary of Health and Human Services, said earlier this month.
Orange County, which is not on the state’s targeted engagement list, reported 26 COVID-19 deaths Wednesday — its most in a single day. Officials noted that not all of those people died on that particular day. The recently reported fatalities date as far back as May 9, according to the Orange County Health Care Agency.
Though the county also reported 506 new coronavirus infections Thursday, the local Health Care Agency said the number “reflects another large batch of cases” from a state reporting system and that these individuals who tested positive “had their specimens collected over 28 different dates.”
On Thursday, the county announced another seven fatalities, pushing its total coronavirus-linked death toll to 306.
— Los Angeles Times
