Authors note: This is not MY personal story, per se, (despite the my pandemic pregnancy title), but a story told by our readers, week by week. Todays is shared by Sarah.*
You might have heard that being pregnant, trying to get pregnant, or delivering right about now is strange, in this age of coronavirus. But how? In what ways? Were going to show you -- with a different feature each week. To contribute your own experience, scroll all the way down to the bottom of this article and tap the link.
Going though in vitro fertilization, or IVF, under normal circumstances, can be a challenge, both mentally and physically -- and for some, thats phrasing it mildly.
Youre going in for bloodwork, sometimes every other day. Youre attending never-ending doctors appointments. Theres a ton on your mind and you just want everything to go well. Its an often-heavy process.
Take it from Sarah*, who asked that we not use her real name, for privacy reasons. Sarah is 32, married, and lives in Farmington Hills, Michigan. She didnt mince words when it came to describing her own IVF situation. Some examples:
Ugh. No one wants to hear of another human going through something like that.
So imagine then, that your support person, like in Sarahs case, her husband, is now unable to attend any of those painful procedures or appointments.
Its scary, Sarah said.
Its also unprecedented. Safe to say, no one assumed the globe would be gripped by a pandemic this year; a true health crisis -- and no one knows when things will return to normal.
But dont get her wrong: Sarah is grateful that shes able to proceed with IVF -- which, spoiler alert, she is. (More on that soon!)
She even added that the couple has decent insurance, and said for many, theyre not so lucky. Most insurance companies dont cover things like IVF, which can total as much as $40,000 for just one round.
But all that money talk, that feels stressful, too. Sarah said if she were to contract COVID-19, her cycle would be canceled. Thats a frightening thought, lingering over ones head.
So then youd be out money, time and pain, Sarah said. (Its like), is it worth it to be doing this?
Sarah has been knee-deep in all things IVF-related for much of the year. She began the journey and went through round one starting in February.
First up, she had two to three weeks of injections, to hopefully produce more eggs.
Sarah took the injections, and then doctors performed a surgery to retrieve her eggs. She said she got through it just fine.
Next, this is typically the time when, if you had any embryos that made it through the egg-retrieval process, the doctors will mix them with sperm, and then youd transfer.
For Sarah, this was when COVID-19 arrived in the United States and started becoming more and more of a growing concern.
She and her husband had ended up with one embryo, so the next step would be a second surgery to make sure nothing is blocking the implantation of said embryo.
But COVID hit right when I was scheduled to go in, Sarah said. So we decided to postpone (and) see how things would play out.
That felt frustrating for the couple, too.
Theyve been playing the waiting game for a long time -- married 6 years, and trying for a baby for about four of those years.
And we dont have a lot of time to wait, Sarah said. We dont want the issues (that led us to IVF in the first place) to get any worse, and were not getting any younger.
Sarah and her husband opted to move forward with the second surgery.
And with the coronavirus pandemic continuing, You had to go through it alone, when youre already scared, Sarah said.
Doctors were able to perform the transfer, but Sarahs husband wasnt allowed to attend.
The whole process is devastating, Sarah said. Youre getting ready to conceive a child and your husband cant even be there.
It was already a tense time.
Then, the couple learned that their embryo transfer failed.
You want answers right away, Sarah said. But doctors arent meeting. So you need to wait for a Zoom call. Youre not being able to see your results and youre not being able to get answers.
Having to survive the failed transfer during quarantine was really tough.
Most doctors (tell you) to stay busy and lean on your support system during all (the waiting), Sarah said.
Because indeed, there is a lot of waiting. More than you might imagine.
(When it comes to) waiting for results in IVF, theres waiting a week to find out if you were able to get any embryos after the first round of injections and egg retrieval surgery, Sarah said. (Then you wait) another two weeks after that for genetic testing on those embryos to see if they are viable, and then of course, the two weeks waiting to find out if youre pregnant after the embryo transfer to see if all your efforts worked.
And, considering coronavirus, Sarah said, all of the now-solo waiting felt especially challenging.
Youre just trapped at home and not able to stay busy to keep yourself mentally healthy, she recalled. I know for me, my friends and family have been my rock during these four years leading to IVF. ... Its been so hard, being isolated.
In discussing the future with Sarah, she sounds optimistic: Theres something cheerful in her tone, and shes so willing to open up and chat about all of this with a total stranger (editors note: which I so admire!)
She and her husband will try again. In fact, theyre set to start a second round of IVF in September.
Her husband has been one of her only comforts throughout this strange time, Sarah said, so she hopes she can have him present for more in-person appointments and procedures this time around. But the future remains incredibly uncertain.
We dont know whats going to happen, Sarah said. In an ideal world, Id probably wait. But with time constraints, you have to try.
Sarah and her husband will likely hole up a bit, leading up to their second IVF round. Luckily, they both have jobs that allow them to work from home. Its a seemingly small perk, but it becomes quite notable through all of this.
And then two weeks or so before the cycle, Sarah said, itll start: Theyll be extra cautious and they wont leave the house until its all over. Too much is at stake.
It makes sense.
Sarah said she wants to help show a different perspective when it comes to pregnancy.
After all, shes had just as many doctors appointments and stressors, if not more, than your average expecting mother.
I hope it helps others who are in the same boat, she said.
The governor's office says they have fined five more Connecticut residents accused of violating the state's COVID-19 travel restrictions.
Failure to adhere to the guidelines, which require anyone traveling to Connecticut from the state's designated coronavirus hotspots to fill out a health questionnaire and quarantine for 14 days, is punishable by a $1,000 fine. Travelers may provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test to be exempted from the quarantine period, and there are some exceptions to the requirement - see the frequently asked questions below.
So far, seven Connecticut residents have been fined, the governor's office confirmed Wednesday night. The governor announced the first two on Monday.
The travel advisory and the associated penalties are serious. Gov. Ned Lamont is taking every step within his power to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, and the travel advisory fines are a critical part of keeping as many Connecticut residents safe as possible," Max Reiss, a spokesperson for the governor, said Wednesday.
The five new cases involve four Stamford residents returning from North Carolina and an Old Lyme resident returning from Texas. The governor's office said they were each fined $1,000 for failing to complete the travel advisory form. Their names were not released.
Lamont, as well as the governors of New York and New Jersey, enacted a quarantine order for travelers at the end of June to help keep infection rates low in the region. See the full list of restricted locations below.
This is the current list:
There currently are nostaterestrictions on international travel, the federal government continues to provide international travel recommendations for anyone living inside of the United States. For guidance on international travel, visit the "COVID-19 Travel Recommendations" section of the CDC's website.
Download the free NBC Connecticut App for the latest on the coronavirus pandemic, including live news conferences, a town by town breakdown of the latest cases in our state and push alerts with breaking news updates
What you need to know about COVID-19: US has averaged over 1,000 coronavirus deaths per day for 16 straight days WXII The Triad
Amid a flurry of concern over reports that frozen chicken wings imported to China from Brazil had tested positive for the coronavirus, experts said on Thursday that the likelihood of catching the virus from food especially frozen, packaged food is exceedingly low.
This means somebody probably handled those chicken wings who might have had the virus, said Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at Columbia University. But it doesnt mean, Oh my god, nobody buy any chicken wings because theyre contaminated.
Guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention maintain that there is no evidence to suggest that handling food or consuming food is associated with Covid-19. The main route the virus is known to take from person to person is through spray from sneezing, coughing, speaking or even breathing.
I make no connection between this and any fear that this is the cause of any long-distance transmission events, said C. Brandon Ogbunu, a disease ecologist at Yale University. When the virus crosses international boundaries, its almost certainly chauffeured by people, rather than the commercial products they ship.
The chicken wings were screened on Wednesday in Shenzhens Longgang district, where officials have been testing imports for the presence of coronavirus genetic material, or RNA. Several samples taken from the outer packaging of frozen seafood, some of which had been shipped in from Ecuador, recently tested positive for virus RNA in Chinas Anhui, Shaanxi and Shandong provinces as well.
Laboratory procedures that search for RNA also form the basis of most of the coronavirus tests performed in people. But RNA is only a proxy for the presence of the virus, which can leave behind bits of its genetic material even after it has been destroyed, Dr. Ogbunu said. This is just detecting the signature that the virus has been there at some point, he said.
To prove that a dangerous, viable virus persists on food or packaging, researchers would need to isolate the microbe and show in a lab that it can still replicate. These experiments are logistically challenging and require specially trained personnel, and arent a part of the typical testing pipeline.
After samples taken from the surface of the meat came up positive, officials performed similar tests on several people whom they suspected had come into contact with the product. They also tested a slew of other packaged goods. All samples analyzed so far have been negative for coronavirus RNA, according to a statement released by the Shenzhen Epidemic Prevention and Control Headquarters Office.
But the same statement cautioned consumers about imported frozen products, and early reports of the news sparked alarm on social media. In New Zealand, where a new outbreak has set off another lockdown, officials are tentatively exploring the possibility that the virus might have reentered the country via frozen products imported from abroad.
Both Dr. Ogbunu and Dr. Rasmussen said that an extraordinarily unusual series of events would need to occur for the virus to be transmitted via a frozen meat product. Depending on where the virus originated, it would need to endure a potentially cross-continental journey in a frozen state likely melting and refreezing at least once along the way then find its way onto someones bare hands, en route to the nose or mouth.
Even more unlikely is the scenario that a virus could linger on food after being heated, survive being swallowed into the ultra-acidic human digestive tract, then set up shop in the airway.
The risks of that happening are incredibly small, Dr. Rasmussen said.
Some viruses might be able to weather such an onerous pilgrimage. But the coronavirus probably isnt one of them because its a so-called enveloped virus, shrouded in a fragile outer shell thats vulnerable to all sorts of environmental disturbances, including extreme changes in temperature.
Viruses are often frozen in laboratories that maintain stocks of pathogens for experiments. But virologists must monitor that process carefully to avoid destroying the vulnerable bugs.
Updated August 12, 2020
The act of freezing and unfreezing is a kind of violent thermodynamic process, Dr. Ogbunu said. A virus, for all its toughness and robustness, is a very delicate instrument of infection.
The C.D.C. has noted that it is possible that the coronavirus can spread through contaminated surfaces, including food or food packaging. But thats not known to be among the main ways the virus gets around.
If you dont want get infected, avoiding direct contact with other people is probably a better use of your time, Dr. Ogbunu said.
Yes, we should continue to wash our hands and be mindful of surfaces where a lot of individuals are, he said. But its close proximity to others that can really facilitate transmission.
Going to stay with family means exposing more than one household. Can testing in advance keep everyone safe? Noel Hendrickson/Getty Images hide caption
Going to stay with family means exposing more than one household. Can testing in advance keep everyone safe?
Let's face it, if you've been staying home a lot, you're probably pretty tired of looking at the same faces. Love them as we do, it feels like well past time to start seeing other people, to visit or host relatives and dear friends. So how can you do this without unknowingly spreading the virus or getting exposed?
Recently my husband and I debated this when our son, who lives in another state, said he'd like to come home for a visit. He lives with roommates in a city with a high rate of infection, and he works in a restaurant. We thought of having him get a diagnostic test to find out if he is infected. That way, if he got back a negative test, our problems would be solved, right?
Well, when I called up a few infectious disease specialists to ask if this all made sense, I discovered that using a diagnostic test for the coronavirus this way can be problematic. Here's what I learned.
First, which test are we talking about?
Currently the most commonly available test that can detect an active infection is the molecular or PCR test, typically collected via a swab in the nose or the back of the throat. These tests look for the virus's genetic material and are highly sensitive. Another kind of diagnostic test is an antigen test that can detect the coronavirus's proteins these are less sensitive, says Daniel Green, a pathologist at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, and can be less accurate. And finally there are tests that show if your body has developed antibodies because it fought an infection from the coronavirus. Those tell you about an infection you had in the past, not what you have right now.
If I get a negative result on a PCR diagnostic test, can I be certain I won't infect someone I want to spend time with?
Like everything with this pandemic, the answer is complicated. The infectious disease experts I spoke to told me there are two reasons why testing might not be very helpful. The first has to do with the length of time it takes to get your test results back these days up to a week or more in some places for PCR tests. By the time you get your results back, you could have unknowingly been exposed to the virus, making the original test irrelevant.
The next big reason has to do with accuracy. While the PCR test is highly accurate in a laboratory setting, out in the real world it can produce some false positives and a lot of false negatives. In fact studies show a negative diagnostic test result can be wrong between 5% and 40% of the time, depending on the circumstances.
Some of this variation has to do with how well the sample was collected whether an adequate amount of mucous made it onto the swab, for example. But it also has to do with timing. You see, the diagnostic test tells you whether or not you have the virus on the day you took it. It reflects a single "pinpoint in time," says Dr. Henry Anyimadu, an infectious disease specialist with Hartford HealthCare Medical Group at the Hospital of Central Connecticut.
"Suppose that I was exposed on the 1st of August and I didn't know it," says infectious disease specialist Dr. Aileen Marty of Florida International University. "And I took the test on the 2nd of August. My test result will probably be negative." That's because the virus typically has at least a four- to five-day incubation period, so in the first few days after exposure, there may not yet be "enough virus in the upper respiratory system to be detectable," Marty says.
Wait, up to 40% false negative sounds like a lot is there anything I can do to ensure my results are more reliable?
Yes, there are some things you can do. But first remember this, for many of us that false negative rate could be much lower than 40%, says Green, who was a coauthor on one of the studies about test reliability. He points out that many of the people in his study were sampled too early, before the diagnostic test could detect the presence of the virus. So if you want to make sure your test is as reliable as possible, wait several days from the last point you think you could have been exposed before getting the test and while you wait, self-quarantine to avoid further exposures.
Marty agrees, saying, before you take the test, "be in a bubble for at least four or five days." Don't go to bars and restaurants and scale back grocery story visits or have food delivered. Bottom line, limit your exposure as much as possible leading up to test day. And then, Marty adds, "Stay in the bubble until you get your results back." That's because if you aren't careful, you could be exposed to the virus while waiting for results, and if you do have the virus even if you don't have symptoms you could spread it to others.
So if negative results are iffy, is it ever worth getting a diagnostic test?
Yes. There are definitely times when one should get a test, Anyimadu says. "If you're worried you have COVID-19 based on symptoms, you should get a test." Or, if you think you might have been exposed for instance, if your roommate, housemate or someone close to you is infected get a test.
And you should consider a test if you've traveled to an area with a high rate of coronavirus infection, Anyimadu says. To find out if your county or one you've spent time in recently has a high rate of infection, check this county-level map. If the county has more than 10 new daily cases per 100,000 residents, that's considered high risk.
If I test positive, but I don't have any symptoms, what should I do?
If you get a positive test result, our experts say, this is not the time to expand your bubble! Even If you don't have any symptoms, you are possibly contagious, and you could still develop symptoms. Marty says you should isolate yourself for 14 days, learn the symptoms of COVID-19 and monitor yourself. If you do get sick and your symptoms are getting worse, call your health care provider. And don't forget all those folks who live with you. They too need to be tested whether they have symptoms or not, Marty says, and should self-quarantine.
Marty also suggests people "connect with their department of health to assist with contact tracing," and help health workers reach out to anyone else who might have been exposed to you.
If you develop any symptoms, keep track of when they kick in so that you will know when you're no longer contagious. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, you should isolate yourself for at least 10 days after your first symptom appears. At that point, as long as you haven't had a fever for at least 24 hours and you're feeling better, you should be able to mix with others.
If I can't rely on negative test results, what do I do instead to visit someone safely or merge social bubbles?
The safest and simplest thing to do if you want complete peace of mind is to quarantine yourself for 14 days before the visit this is especially important if you're hoping to visit someone who is older or has an underlying condition.
But short of that, experts say testing can play a role in your decision-making as long as you "don't treat a negative test as a get-out-of-jail free card," Green says.
Think of it as one more piece of imperfect information that you can add together with the most important factor, your own behavior. Have you been able to isolate as much as possible before the potential visit with a friend? If you have gone out, did you carefully socially distance and wear a mask? Have you been avoiding bars and restaurants and indoor gatherings?
If the answer to these questions is yes, and if you are certain you haven't been around someone with a possible or confirmed case of COVID-19, then a negative test could be helpful. "If you aren't sick or don't have any particular reason to believe you're infectious," says epidemiologist Justin Lessler from Johns Hopkins University, "then getting that negative test should increase your confidence."
And remember, before you head off on your trip or join friends for an indoor gathering, ask the people you're visiting about their own behaviors and whether or not they've also gotten a test. Remember, you can spread the virus, but you can receive it as well.
"There's no way to bring your risk down to zero," Anyimadu says. But the recommended measures of mask-wearing, social distancing and thorough hand washing are still the most important defense against the virus. And that is true whether you've had a negative test, a positive test or not even gotten a test at all.
Rob Stein and Carmel Wroth contributed to this report.
Another 21 coronavirus cases have been reported in Maine, health officials said Thursday.
Thursdays report brings the total coronavirus cases in Maine to 4,089. Of those, 3,679 have been confirmed positive, while 410 were classified as probable cases, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
The agency revised Wednesdays cumulative total to 4,068, down from 4,070, meaning there was an increase of 19 over the previous days report, state data show. As the Maine CDC continues to investigate previously reported cases, some are determined to have not been the coronavirus, or coronavirus cases not involving Mainers. Those are removed from the states cumulative total.
No new deaths were reported Thursday, leaving the statewide death toll at 126. Nearly all deaths have been in Mainers over age 60.
So far, 395 Mainers have been hospitalized at some point with COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. Of those, 11 people are currently hospitalized, with five in critical care and three on ventilators.
Meanwhile, 13 more people have recovered from the coronavirus, bringing total recoveries to 3,592. That means there are 371 active and probable cases in the state, which is up/down from 365 on Wednesday.
Heres the latest on the coronavirus and its impact on Maine.
Maines public universities are canceling fall and spring breaks this academic year and restricting out-of-state travel for students as part of an effort to reduce the risk of COVID-19 spreading on campus. Theyll also reduce fall room and board costs for students living in university residence halls. Eesha Pendharkar, BDN
Maine continued to see new jobless claims slide last week, but they still remain higher than those seen before the coronavirus pandemic. Christopher Burns, BDN
While Maine and the Canadian province of New Brunswick share many attributes including more than 200 miles of border the coronavirus has followed sharply different courses in the two places. Charles Eichacker, BDN
Two students at Foxcroft Academy have tested positive for the coronavirus, and they had participated in the Dover-Foxcroft schools preseason athletic workouts before the school called them off Tuesday, according to the academys head of school. Eesha Pendharkar, BDN
It has been a different type of summer for the University of Maines fall sports coaches, who have had their seasons pushed back until spring due to the COVID-19 pandemic and have had to recruit from home because the NCAA banned in-person recruiting on March 13. Larry Mahoney, BDN
On March 10, when Maine resident and motel owner Linda York Cook traveled to Japan to attend her sons wedding, she thought she would be back home by mid-April. But that was before the global COVID-19 pandemic brought international air and marine traffic to a near standstill, leaving many travelers stranded while trying to find alternate ways to get home. Now, more than five months later and after multiple flight cancellations, medical complications from her diabetes, and countless conversations about logistics with her husband, who in her absence has been managing their Guilford motel by himself Cook may finally be coming home. Bill Trotter, BDN
As of Thursday evening, the coronavirus has sickened 5,240,650 people in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as caused 166,956 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.
A Georgia school district that does not require masks has closed a high school and now has over 1,100 students and staff in quarantine due to the coronavirus.
The Cherokee County School District, based in Canton about 40 miles north of Atlanta, made the announcement Tuesday, just eight days after its schools reopened.
"This decision was not made lightly," Superintendent Brian Hightower said in a statement about the temporary halt to in-person instruction at Etowah High School. He said the high school had 14 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 15 tests pending as of Tuesday morning.
"As a result of the confirmed cases, 294 students and staff are under quarantine and, should the pending tests prove positive, that total would increase dramatically," the superintendent said.
In total, the district has 59 confirmed cases of the virus, Hightower said.
It also has 1,156 students and 37 staff in quarantine, according to a district list.
Hightower warned that because the coronavirus cases are predominantly at the district's high schools more of those schools could be closed.
Riley Ball, a student at Creekview High School, said one-way hallways have been implemented but classrooms don't allow for much social distancing.
"With how the classrooms are set up, kids are in very close range to each other no matter what," he told MSNBC. "But outside of that, when students do have control of who they're around and who they're near, there's still quite a few people that will get into groups and go to places whether they're wearing a mask or not."
The high school junior said he thinks masks should be required.
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"I feel like if it was required, there would be a lot more students that would be wearing masks," he said. "There are a fair number of students that do wear masks, but there's still a large amount of people that don't."
Creekview has more than 100 students under quarantine, according to the district's list. Ball said a student in his class tested positive for the virus, but he was told he didn't need to quarantine because he wasn't in direct contact with the student.
He said it still makes him uneasy. "I feel like it would be a lot safer and a lot better if instead ... it was being treated like the whole classroom was at risk instead of just the people directly near that person."
The Cherokee County district which has an enrollment of 42,000, of whom over 30,000 are receiving in-person instruction recommends but does not require students to wear masks.
But the superintendent said in his statement that wearing masks may help prevent the closure of more schools.
"As your Superintendent, I wear a mask whenever I cannot social distance," Hightower said. "We know all parents do not believe the scientific research that indicates masks are beneficial, but I believe it and see masks as an important measure to help us keep schools open."
When we announced plans to reopen schools with options of in-person learning and Digital Learning at home, we made clear the challenges that came along with this choice for our families, he said.
Prior to the reopening of schools on Aug. 3, some teachers and parents protested the district's plan.
In July, dozens of demonstrators, including teachers, protested outside a school board meeting, according to Georgia Public Broadcasting.
And some teachers resigned before the school year started due to safety concerns, according to the Cherokee Tribune & Ledger-News.
One of them was teacher Allison Webb, who worked at Sequoyah High School.
Out of 2,000 students in this school, 1,500 will be returning in person without a mandatory mask requirement, Webb told the news outlet in late July, saying this frightened her.
Another teacher said she was also concerned about the lack of a mask mandate, but planned to return to the classroom.
My personal fear is that Im going to die before my career is over, that this tiny virus is whats going to take me out, and not old age or some horrific accident," science teacher Olivia Vacid told the Tribune & Ledger News. "I dont understand the countys refusal to mandate masking for students."
Parent Amanda Seghetti, whose child attends Woodstock Middle School, told MSNBC that she decided to keep her child home for online classes.
"I just felt like, without there being more social distancing measures and the requirement of masks for all students, that it just wasn't the best idea for him to go in person," she said.
Seghetti said her son will continue online classes for the remainder of the semester and will reevaluate in January.
"I want him to go back," she said. But she added, "I want the numbers to go down. I want to see that with sending students to school, we aren't having these huge outbreaks. And I'm not seeing that right now."
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Good evening. Heres the latest.
1. The coronavirus summer surge hit its deadliest day so far this month.
Officials across the U.S. reported at least 1,470 virus deaths on Wednesday, the highest single-day total yet in August, according to a Times database. For more than two weeks, the country has averaged more than 1,000 deaths a day. Medics in Houston responded to a nursing home on Wednesday, above.
But even that stark statistic doesnt tell the whole story. A Times analysis found that at least 200,000 more people have died than usual since March. This is about 60,000 higher than the number of deaths that have been directly attributed to the coronavirus. And by any account, the US. has suffered far more deaths than any other country.
2. New weekly jobless claims fell below one million for the first time since March.
The Labor Department reported that 963,000 people last week filed first-time claims for benefits under regular state unemployment programs. But layoffs remain exceptionally high by historical standards, and the pace of rehiring has slowed.
The economic pain is particularly severe for families with children. Researchers at the Federal Reserve found that household heads lost jobs in 12.9 percent of families with children since the pandemic took hold, compared with 9.2 percent in households without children. In single-parent households, the share jumped to 23.2 percent.
3. Israel will suspend plans to annex disputed West Bank territory as part of a deal to normalize relations with the United Arab Emirates.
In a surprise statement issued by the White House, President Trump said he brokered a deal for Israel and the U.A.E. to sign a string of bilateral agreements on investment, tourism, security and other areas while moving to allow direct flights between their countries and set up reciprocal embassies.
That would make the U.A.E. the third Arab country to establish normal diplomatic relations with Israel, after Jordan and Egypt. Above, Tel Aviv city hall lit up in the colors of the U.A.E. flag.
For its key players, the deal came at an opportune moment: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu needed to remind Israelis why they elected him; Mr. Trump needed a diplomatic win; and the U.A.E., under fire for alleged human rights abuses in Yemen and Libya, needed to improve its image in Washington and beyond.
4. President Trump explicitly linked his objections to more funding for the U.S. Postal Service to his aversion to mail-in voting.
In an interview on the Fox Business Network, Mr. Trump cited proposals by House Democrats to allocate $25 billion to the service and another $3 billion specifically to help it handle mail-in voting. Funding for the Postal Service has been a key sticking point in negotiations for a new coronavirus relief deal.
If we dont make a deal, that means they dont get the money, he said. That means they cant have universal mail-in voting, they just cant have it.
Separately, the Supreme Court effectively upheld a Rhode Island judges order that makes it easier for voters in the state to vote by mail during the pandemic.
5. The Justice Department accused Yale University of discriminating against Asian-American and white applicants in its undergraduate admissions process.
The finding came after a two-year investigation, the departments civil rights division said. It ordered Yale to suspend the use of race or national origin in its admissions process for one year after which it must seek clearance to use it. A federal appeals court is preparing to hear a challenge against the use of race in admissions at Harvard College.
We also took a look at the push for remote learning this fall. Rising infection rates were clearly the major driver. But President Trumps demands that schools reopen helped harden opposition to in-person instruction and gave powerful teachers unions fodder to demand stronger safety measures or resist physically reopening.
6. After celebrating 100 days without community spread, residents of New Zealands largest city are back under lockdown.
Four new cases reported in Auckland on Wednesday grew to 17 by Thursday. Epidemiologists are racing to determine the source possibly via a cargo ship or quarantine facilities for returning travelers and the country is rolling out a huge testing, contact tracing and quarantine blitz to quash Covid-19 for the second time.
And in China, two people tested positive for a second time after recovering earlier this year. The two cases have revived concerns about second-time infections that have baffled experts.
7. The Trump administration formalized the lifting of Obama-era controls on methane, just as new research shows that far more of the potent greenhouse gas is seeping into the atmosphere than previously known.
The reversal effectively frees oil and gas companies from the need to detect and repair methane leaks. The Environmental Protection Agency justified the move by citing agency data showing that leaks from domestic oil and gas wells have remained steady over the past decade. Above, a well pad near Mead, Colo.
However, numerous recent studies show the opposite: that methane emissions from drilling sites in the U.S. are far more extensive than the E.P.A.s official numbers.
8. How do you make a blockbuster hit in a pandemic? For starters: Rent an entire hotel for the cast and crew, and procure 18,000 Covid-19 tests and 150 hand sanitizer stations.
Jurassic World: Dominion, now filming in England, is one of the first major studio films to restart production since the coronavirus led to a global shutdown in March. The set requires constant testing, and has a Green Zone that is limited to the director, the cast and essential crew.
Its a chance for the movie industry to see if it can move past the financial woes caused by the pandemic including closed movie theaters and audiences increasingly comfortable watching movies from the couch and keep everyone safe.
9. Animal tears are starting to get more attention.
By studying the numerous ways animals keep their eyes wet and healthy, scientists hope to help address human vision problems. Dr. Arianne Pontes Ori and her colleagues reported this week that tears can be great equalizers: Vertebrates across the animal kingdom seem to swaddle their eyes with fluid in much the same way.
Their work requires collecting animal tears, like the barn owl above. Not to worry the entire process comes down to whats best for the patients. Whatever tears theyre willing to offer, Dr. Ori said, we respect that, even if it is only a tiny amount.
10. And finally, Special Agent Mulder to the rescue.
Rudy Garcia-Tolsons attempt to make a fifth Paralympic swim team after three years of retirement was missing a crucial element a pool where he could train. With all of the public pools near his home in Southern California closed, swimming in the ocean was hardly the best way to prepare to face elite competition.
Then David Duchovny, best known for his role on TVs The X-Files, offered up his pool in Malibu. The actor, a fellow swimmer and triathlete, had read an article in The Times about Garcia-Tolsons struggle.
The first few days I was in awe that I was in Malibu, at an outdoor private pool, Garcia-Tolson said. After I got over that I was able to get into my zone.
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Across Texas, teachers and staff are readying the classrooms, hallways and cafeterias that will become the next front lines in the battle with the coronavirus pandemic.
While much teaching will continue online, most of Texas' more than 1,000 school districts want to bring at least some students back to campuses.
Its a tense moment, a fraught experiment to see whether students and educators can return to campus and a semblance of a normal school year without triggering further spread of the coronavirus and debilitating weakened communities.
Educators are aware of the risks, knowing it is possible that colleagues and students could become infected, even die. But they also believe there is value in getting kids back into schools. With enough masks, plexiglass shields, hand sanitizer and other precautions, they are hopeful of keeping their students, themselves and their communities safe.
Most are turning to guidelines set by the Texas Education Agency and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, moving desks, installing dividers and putting up to signs to remind students and each other to keep a safe distance.
It's taking some creative problem-solving.
Here is how some Texas schools are getting ready for reopening.
Hula hoops and tape
In a normal school year, the Premont Ernest H. Singleton Early College Academy in Premont ISD would have about 360 students. This year, the South Texas school will start virtual learning in late August. It hopes to begin bringing students back to campus in mid-September, though special education students might return earlier.
When the school reopened briefly last June, Superintendent Steve VanMatre hit on the notion of having rambunctious elementary schoolers wear hula hoops in hallways to keep away from each other.
He was afraid kids would end up fighting with the colored rings. But the young students became adamant that no one come near their personal circle.
It seemed to work, so the hula hoops will be back.
These are kids and fun is still a big part of their day, VanMatre said. Its turned into a really really effective strategy for social distancing.
Given the relatively few cases in his county as of Tuesday there were 208 active cases and 16 deaths in a county of more than 40,000 people according to the Jim Wells County website and the fraction of students expected to come back in person, VanMatre feels confident about the measures his schools implemented.
There will be portable sinks for hand-washing, desks divided with plastic partitions and cubbies with individually bagged blocks and supplies for students.
A few teachers have taped off their desks and seating areas to create a clear marker between their space and class space. Student temperatures will be checked twice, first when they get on the bus or arrive at school and again during lunch. Arrival and dismissal times will be staggered, VanMatre said.
At the district's Premont Collegiate High School, about 230 students, 70% of its usual 330 students, are expected back on campus after the initial distance learning period, and more will be taught through live videos and webcams. Students won't always be eating in the cafeteria, and locker rooms have been turned into meeting spaces. Face masks and shields have been ordered for all students and faculty.
Until a robust coronavirus swab testing program with instant results is rolled out to schools, VanMatres thoughts of a worst-case scenario will linger.
"Absent of that I stay up a lot at night," VanMatre said. "Think about the worst-case scenario for a school superintendent. You have a student or a staff member that tests positive, gets sick and dies and you had made the decision to open schools and ask those people to come to work. That's a terrible responsibility that could have terrible consequences regardless of how well your protocols are implemented.
Internet crashes and disinfectant
Two weeks out from a return to virtual learning at Judson High School northeast of San Antonio, the school's internet went down during a professional development day, so journalism teacher PJ Cabrera switched to rearranging and disinfecting his classroom.
Teachers have to be flexible. Theyve developed school shooting plans and whipped up emergency online learning curriculums when schools suddenly went online in the spring, he said.
Adapting is part of the job, but Cabrera is increasingly frustrated that guidance from top officials is constantly changing as he tries to figure out how to best educate students in an unprecedented situation.
"I think education, in general, is as prepared as we are going to get in a situation that is incredibly foreign for everybody and a situation that is constantly changing from the county level up to the top to the state level, Cabrera said.
About 25 minutes from downtown San Antonio, the high school serves more than 2,700 students. The school plans to have remote learning for the first two weeks of the school year and hopes to bring students who meet specific criteria, like not having internet connectivity at home or being the child of a first responder, in after that. By late September the option to return to campus will be open to all students.
Paul Chapa, a world history teacher, recently cleaned up his classroom for the first time since spring break and added a poster of Disney's Cinderella castle behind his desk to use as a background for Zoom meetings with students.
Sandra Grogan, a freshman English teacher, positioned her desk under an air vent with the fan blowing air away from her.
There are some plastic partitions and warning signs about social distancing in the main office, but teachers said the only personal protection equipment the district has provided them is disinfectant spray, hand sanitizer and paper towels. The school hasn't implemented the same robust safety measures, such as social distancing signage, in hallways and common areas as other schools.
Along with getting up to speed on learning software, Cabrera, who runs the schools newspaper and yearbook, is largely focused on how to keep extracurricular activities going. The newspaper will be able to adapt more seamlessly, but Cabrera isnt sure how theyll handle putting together a yearbook when there are no activities like pep rallies and homecoming to fill its pages.
For the most part, students arent excited to go to school for their core classes like English, math and science. What excites students is the fun stuff like band and yearbook club, Cabrera said.
"In order for us to have an enriched curriculum, we still have to offer extracurriculars," Cabrera said. "We still have to get them engaged into school. How that's going to happen is going to be very, very different, but we're going to try our best to do it.
Toys aren't for sharing anymore
Teachers at San Antonio's Paul W. Ott Elementary are trying to figure out how to teach pre-kindergarteners basic concepts like sharing when its in everybodys best interest to be a little territorial.
Sharing used to be an everyday affair, but now students must stick to their own toys during socially distanced playtime. Spaces meant for groups are limited to pairs, and instead of community markers and crayons, each student will be equipped with their own baggie of school supplies not to be shared, said Madeline Bueno, school principal.
Those are the things we never thought we would have to experience, but thats where were at right now, Bueno said.
Teachers and students will pick up with virtual learning on Aug. 24, but Bueno said the Northside Independent School District has yet to announce when students can physically return to campus. Bueno expects it will likely be after Labor Day, but the date will be based on guidance from the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District.
Much of the schools safety equipment and directives came from the health district. The school has installed plexiglass, posters with health guidances and social distancing stickers on the floors. Legos and other toys in pre-K and kindergarten classrooms are individually bagged and must be cleaned by the teacher with district-provided disinfectant after each use.
Bueno gave each teacher general instructions for how to set up their classroom, but the execution varied. One teacher zip-tied baskets to the bottom of students chairs so they have a place to store their backpacks germ-free.
This will be my 23rd year setting up a classroom and I could do it in my sleep until this year because I had to think about every single thing in my room, said Carrie Gray, who teaches 5th graders.
Anticipating how students will interact with space, teachers thought through desk placement, where to put workstations and the protocol for opening up their classroom libraries, if at all. It took most teachers hours and days to get their classrooms set up as close to right as they could, Gray said.
Christina Escarcega, who teaches kindergartners, set up an interactive Bitmoji classroom that mirrors her real-life room. Shes hoping the cartoon background will put students, some who will be in a classroom for the first time in their lives, at ease.
"I want to be hopeful for the kids that they come in and they're comfortable and not scared, Escarcega said. We're not sure of their experiences they had when they were at home in the summer. We don't know if families were sick, we don't know if their parents lost their job, so hope would be the number one, to give them hope.
Dr. Carlos Vallejo, 57, and his father, Dr. Jorge Vallejo, 89, were hospitalized during the early morning hours of Father's Day. They died five weeks apart, said Carlos' son, Charlie Vallejo.
Dr. Jorge Vallejo was a retired obstetrician and gynecologist who practiced for more than 45 years in the Miami area and treated celebrities, like salsa singer Celia Cruz. He was known for delivering one of the smallest babies in the world, a 22-week-old who weighed 15 ounces.
He moved his family, including a 2-year-old Carlos, to Miami from Guantanamo, Cuba, in 1965. All three of his sons studied medicine, too.
Dr. Carlos Vallejo was on the frontlines of the pandemic, suiting up in full personal protective equipment and treating dozens of Covid-19 patients at any point in time.
Charlie Vallejo told CNN his father treated his patients like family.
"He cared too much," Charlie Vallejo said. "He died a hero."
They died weeks apart
Jorge died on June 27 while Carlos battled Covid-19 from a hospital room. His family delivered the devastating news of his father's death over FaceTime.
"(He was) surrounded by machines and no human contact so I think that kind of broke him," said Charlie Vallejo.
After three weeks in the ICU, including two weeks on a ventilator, Carlos Vallejo died on August 1. Charlie said his dad didn't have any preexisting conditions.
"He felt like a champion, you know. He was a warrior to the very end," Charlie Vallejo said.
Five members of the Vallejo family contracted coronavirus, including Carlos's wife. The family believes Carlos Vallejo was very cautious, but became infected by treating patients.
Carlos is one of over 900 US health care workers who've died from the very disease they're trying to save others from.
CNN's Scottie Andrew contributed to this report.
