The U.S. now has more than 2 million confirmed cases -- and we could see 200,000 deaths by fall. More than a dozen states are seeing spikes a few weeks after lifting restrictions. And educators, health experts, and politicians are trying to figure out what the next school year will look like. Here are the latest coronavirus headlines from around the world:
- Worldwide we now have 7.4 million confirmed cases. More than 417,000 people have died and 3.48 million have recovered. Yesterday the U.S. passed the 2-million mark for confirmed cases. We’ve had almost 113,000 deaths so far, and an influential model cited by the White House issued a dire prediction, saying the country’s death toll could reach 169,890 by Oct. 1, with a possible range of about 133,000 to 290,000 deaths.
- More than a dozen states are showing new highs in the number of positive coronavirus cases or hospitalizations, according to Washington Post data, a few weeks after lifting restrictions on most businesses and large gatherings. The spikes provide disturbing data points for the ongoing tug of war between federal, state, and local officials weighing the economic costs of restrictions meant to stop the spread of the virus with the human cost of lifting them. “When you look at states like Arizona and Texas, South Carolina, North Carolina -- those are where the big outbreaks are right now; Florida to some degree seems to be going up -- it’s not a second wave. They never really got rid of the first wave,” former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb said this morning.
- New research suggests grocery stores, banks, dentists, universities, and big box stores should reopen earlier and face fewer restrictions as communities open up after pandemic lockdowns. The study also determined that cafes, gyms, sporting goods stores, bookstores, tobacco, and liquor stores should be kept closed until later.
- From apple packing houses in Washington state to farm workers in Florida and a California county known as “the world’s salad bowl,” outbreaks of the novel coronavirus are emerging at U.S. fruit and vegetable farms and packing plants.
- A former COVID-19 patient has received a double-lung transplant, a surgery believed to be the first of its kind in the United States since the pandemic began, medical officials announced today.
- The drug maker Regeneron said on Thursday that it was beginning a clinical trial of an antibody cocktail that it has developed to prevent and treat COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
- While nursing homes have come under the spotlight, little attention has gone toward facilities nationwide that experts have estimated house more than 275,000 people with conditions such as Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, and autism. Many residents have severe underlying medical issues that leave them vulnerable to the coronavirus.
- At a hearing of the U.S. Senate's education committee yesterday, a handful of school leaders and a former U.S. secretary of education told senators that many districts will struggle to put in place recommendations for protecting students from COVID-19. Across the United States, school leaders are beginning to roll out plans to welcome more than 50 million students back in the fall, including procuring millions of masks; flooding schools with nurses, aides and counselors; and staggering schedules to minimize class size. With so much still unknown about how coronavirus affects children and how it spreads, CNN asked health and education experts about the pros and cons of reopening schools.
- United Airlines will now require passengers to complete a "health self-assessment" as part of its check-in process. It's the latest effort by a U.S. airline to assure passengers that it's safe to fly as the coronavirus pandemic continues. And it's not flashy or futuristic-looking, but it's simple, cheap, and apparently effective: British aircraft interior company RAS Completions says its new personal protection shield could help protect fliers from COVID-19.
- Still struggling with rising coronavirus cases, India, Mexico, Russia, Iran, and Pakistan have decided they must end lockdowns and restart their economies. In India, two and a half months of nationwide lockdown kept numbers of infections relatively low. But with restrictions easing in recent weeks, cases have shot up.
- Britain’s death toll from COVID-19 could have been halved if lockdown had been introduced a week earlier, a former member of the U.K. government’s scientific advisory group said on Wednesday.
- Once lauded around the world for how it tackled the outbreak, South Korea is now counting dozens of new cases in a resurgence mostly concentrated around the capital where half of the nation's 51 million people live. It's a stark warning for the rest of the world.
- Paraguay’s coronavirus camps, obligatory for anyone entering the South American country, have garnered praise from international health bodies for helping stem the spread of the epidemic. Around 65% of Paraguay’s confirmed cases have been confined to the shelters, government data show, as the rest of the country has slowly reopened. But the isolation centers exact a heavy toll.
- Russia on Thursday rolled out a drug approved to treat patients suffering from the novel coronavirus, its state financial backer said, as the number of infections there surpassed half a million.
- Yosemite National Park is reopening with many restrictions after shutting down in March to protect people from COVID-19.