The number means the country holds about a quarter of global cases of the virus and also tops the list with the most reported deaths in the world. Of the country's 5,036,387 estimated cases, 162,851 have been deadly, according to data collected by John Hopkins University.
To put the number in perspective, that means the United States has had more Covid-19 cases than Ireland has people. The number of cases is also slightly higher than the entire population of Alabama.
To put the speed in which the number is growing in perspective: It took the country 99 days to reach 1 million, 43 days to hit 2 million, 28 days for 3 million and 15 days to surpass 4 million on July 23. The number has jumped to 5 million in 17 days.
"This is such a sobering number," said Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University.
"That's a huge number of cases and a very large number of hospitalizations and deaths -- and more to come," Schaffner said. "Because over much of this country, this virus is spreading unimpeded because so many folks are not getting with the program to contain it."
As of this week, five states account for more than 40% of US infections: California (with the most cases in the country), Florida, Texas, New York and Georgia.
"Our daily numbers remain low and steady, despite increasing infection rates across the country, and even in our region -- and we had the lowest one-day positive rate since we started," Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a statement Sunday. "That's an incredible achievement, all thanks to the hard work of New Yorkers."
Florida reported 6,190 new cases on Sunday -- the 13th consecutive day the state reported more than 6,000 cases, according to CNN's tally. There are more than 527,000 cases among residents in the state, according to the state Department of Health.
In Texas, the governor extended his disaster declaration as the state reported its highest seven-day positivity rate: 19.41%. The previous high, 17.43%, was recorded around mid-July. More than 481,000 infections have been reported statewide and about 7,872 people remain in hospitals.
Schools begin welcoming students back
Local school districts will decide what their reopenings will look like, whether they choose to return in-person, conduct remote learning or opt for a hybrid model.
Officials will be "looking like hawks at the numbers," Carranza said. "If the numbers of the positivity rate start inching upwards and if it gets to 3%, we will remote learn for the entire system."
In Georgia, many schools have already reopened.
"I guarantee you, any number of people brought the virus to this event and it will spread among many of the participants and will be taken back to their homes where they will spread it further," Dr. Schaffner from Vanderbilt University told CNN on Sunday. "This is an accelerant of the outbreak that we're having in the United States today."
South Dakota has so far recorded one of the lowest number of cases with about 9,605 infections, according to Johns Hopkins data.
Dr. Carlos del Rio, an infectious disease professor at Emory University, isn't worried about the rally itself because it will mostly be outside, he said. Instead, he said he fears what will happen after hours, when people go to restaurants, bars and begin congregating indoors.
"I'm quite concerned that this event could potentially be a disaster," he said. "There could not only be a lot of transmission there, but a lot of people could get infected there and go back to their home states and take the virus over there."
How are you doing financially as the coronavirus economy drags on into fall? We're listening. LA Johnson/NPR hide caption
How are you doing financially as the coronavirus economy drags on into fall? We're listening.
It has been about five months since the U.S. economy ground to a halt, thanks to stay-at-home orders imposed to stop the spread of the coronavirus. NPR wants to know how the pandemic has affected your job situation, your household finances, your business if you have one and your ability to juggle work and child care.
Millions of people have had to seek unemployment benefits, business loans and other help to deal with the economic turmoil. Some employers have permanently closed their doors. And some schools are telling families to prepare again for distance learning.
As fall approaches, we want to know: How are you coping?
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Your submission will be governed by our general Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. As the Privacy Policy says, we want you to be aware that there may be circumstances in which the exemptions provided under law for journalistic activities or freedom of expression may override privacy rights you might otherwise have.
A huge wave of evictions is gathering pace across the US, with tens of millions of people facing the looming prospect of being ejected from their homes with the expiry of federal government protections.
A moratorium on evictions from most federally backed housing, along with a $600-a-week unemployment benefit, helped ensure many Americans avoided being made homeless from an economic crash sparked by the coronavirus pandemic.
But these protections expired at the end of July and a slew of evictions are starting to unfurl across the country, while party leaders are at an impasse over further economic relief and a slew of stopgap measures from Donald Trump are on an uncertain path.
A picture shared widely on the internet described eviction cairns in New Orleans, showing belongings heaped beside the road, reportedly from a family of six that had been evicted from their home after being unable to pay rent.
According to the Aspen Institute, a non-profit thinktank, at least 30 million Americans out of the 110 million who live in rental housing are at risk of eviction by the end of September.
The organization warned the Covid-19 crisis will cause long-term harm to renter families and individuals, disruption of the affordable housing market and destabilization of communities across the United States.
The lapsing of eviction protections means that many people, unable to afford rent or mortgages, have been plunged into a precariously vulnerable situation. Theres tremendous urgency, Diane Yentel, president of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, told NPR. There are millions of renters who cant sleep at night because they dont know what theyre going to do if they become homeless.
The fresh disaster to stem from the pandemic is set to reach all corners of the US. A study by UCLA found that as many as 120,000 households in Los Angeles county, including up to 184,000 children, will probably become homeless when evictions resume.
Meanwhile, in South Carolina, 52% of renters cannot afford their rent and risk eviction, with about 185,000 evictions possible across the state by the end of the year, according to Stout Risius Ross, a consultancy firm.
A lot of the safety net things that people relied on are gone, said John Pollock, coordinator of the National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel. Stripped of federal assistance, and with many states also scaling back help, many people are having to rely upon savings or credit in order to retain their homes.
On Saturday, Trump signed an executive order on evictions that the White House said would address the situation. In the action, the president vowed to defer payroll taxes, waive student loan payments and secure unemployment benefits, albeit at a lower rate of $400 a week. The order also pledged to help renters facing eviction, although all of the measures were provisional on other actions or studies, and sowed confusion and controversy about certainty and timescale.
Im protecting people from eviction, Trump said on Saturday. Youve been hearing a lot about eviction, and the Democrats dont want to do anything having to do with protecting people from eviction.
However, the order doesnt actually extend the moratorium on evictions, nor provide any rental assistance to those unable to pay. Instead, it orders federal agencies, such as the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, to look at options for protecting renters. Housing advocates attacked the order as a toothless gesture.
The president alluded to stopping evictions, but the executive order fails to provide any meaningful relief to the millions of renters who are at risk of losing their homes, Yentel said. President Trump failed even to use his existing authority to reinstate the limited federal eviction moratorium that expired on July 24, which covered 30% of renters nationwide.
Deferring evictions is only one part of the action required, advocates argue. Even though many landlords have been barred from removing renters unable to pay until now, the owed amount of rent has continued to accumulate, meaning that tenants will face a huge bill once protections are lifted. About half of landlords are small, family-run operations, meaning that they, along with renters, may require substantial financial assistance to avoid ruin.
Notre Dame President Apologizes for Photos
Aug. 11, 7:20 a.m. Rev. John I. Jenkins, president of the University of Notre Dame, has apologized for letting several students take photographs of him that were not safe.
"In a few instances, over recent days, I stopped for photos with some of you on the quad," Father Jenkins wrote to students. "While all of the scientific evidence indicates that the risk of transmission is far lower outdoors than indoors, I want to remind you (and myself!) that we should stay at least six feet apart. I recognize that it's not easy, particularly when we are reuniting with such great friends. I am sorry for my poor example, and I am recommitting to do my best. I am confident you will too."
--Scott Jaschik
Financial Aid Applications Lag for Low-Income Students
Aug. 10, 12:45 p.m. Applications for federal and state financial aid for college are a leading indicator of how many students will enroll in and complete a college degree. A University of Michigan study shows that those applications have not increased with the additional need created by the coronavirus pandemic
The study found no increases in Michigan in students filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid and the Tuition Incentive Program, Michigan's largest state scholarship program for low-income students.
"It is worrying that we haven't seen any aid application expansion, and particularly that the gaps based on race or school income level have widened. FAFSA and TIP completion rates would need to be even higher than normal to keep up with the challenges created by the pandemic," said Kevin Stange, associate professor at the Ford School of Public Policy.
-- Scott Jaschik
Report: Big Ten Votes to Cancel Football Season
Aug. 10, 12:06 p.m. University presidents in the Big Ten Conference, one of the NCAA Division I "Power Five" conferences, voted to cancel the 2020 football season, The Detroit Free Press reported. The conference had originally planned for conference-only competition, but has faced increased pressure over the last week from athletes organizing to improve health and safety measures for play amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Other Power Five conferences, which include the country's top college athletics programs, are expected to make announcements about the fall season early this week, ESPN reported. Division II and III leaders decided last week that they would cancel fall athletic championships, and the first conference in the Football Bowl Subdivision, the Mid-American Conference, postponed fall sports on Aug. 8.
-- Greta Anderson
Confirmed cases of COVID-19 have now reached more than 20 million globally, according to Johns Hopkins University & Medicine. The number of confirmed coronavirus deaths now stands at more than 736,000.
The UK has reported its biggest job losses since 2009, after the number of people in work fell by 220,000 in the three months to June.
Japan's banks lent at a record pace in July. Regional lenders worked to boost small firms hit by the coronavirus pandemic, according to central bank data.
Mexico's coronavirus death toll has passed 53,000. The country reported 705 new deaths and 5,558 new cases on Monday it's reported more than 485,000 cases in total.
Singapore's recession was deeper than first thought in the second quarter, reports Reuters. The painful truth is this we are not returning to a pre-COVID world. Recovery will be some time yet, said trade minister Chan Chun Sing.
A retirement home in New Zealand as gone into lockdown, after residents displayed symptoms of respiratory disease.
Papua New Guinea is set to lift a two-week lockdown in its capital Port Moresby, despite reported cases doubling in the past week.
Confirmed deaths are now past 730,000.
Image: Our World in Data
2. Home working here to stay
Almost 80% of chief executives expect remote working to become more common as a result of COVID-19, according to a global survey from PwC.
A blend of office and home working is most likely to be the future norm, PwC UKs chairman Kevin Ellis said.
Companies around the world have shifted to remote working due to lockdown restrictions, and chief executives now expect some of this shift to persist in their own businesses, according to the survey. The research was based on responses from a panel of PwC's 3,500 global clients, surveyed from 15 June to 3 July.
The first global pandemic in more than 100 years, COVID-19 has spread throughout the world at an unprecedented speed. At the time of writing, 4.5 million cases have been confirmed and more than 300,000 people have died due to the virus.
As countries seek to recover, some of the more long-term economic, business, environmental, societal and technological challenges and opportunities are just beginning to become visible.
To help all stakeholders communities, governments, businesses and individuals understand the emerging risks and follow-on effects generated by the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, the World Economic Forum, in collaboration with Marsh and McLennan and Zurich Insurance Group, has launched its COVID-19 Risks Outlook: A Preliminary Mapping and its Implications - a companion for decision-makers, building on the Forums annual Global Risks Report.
The report reveals that the economic impact of COVID-19 is dominating companies risks perceptions.
Companies are invited to join the Forums work to help manage the identified emerging risks of COVID-19 across industries to shape a better future. Read the full COVID-19 Risks Outlook: A Preliminary Mapping and its Implications report here, and our impact story with further information.
3. Suppress, suppress, suppress
World Health Organization Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has issued a clear reminder of the steps and work that's needed in the fight against COVID-19.
To tackle the pandemic effectively, there are two essential elements, he said. "Leaders must step up to take action and citizens need to embrace new measures."
And, by looking at what other countries are doing, you can get a clear picture of what measures have been taken:
"Chains of transmission have been broken by combination of rapid case identification, comprehensive contact tracing, adequate clinical care for patients, physical distancing, mask wearing, regular cleaning of hands and coughing away from others," Dr Tedros said in a media briefing.
"Whether countries or regions have successfully eliminated the virus, suppressed transmission to a low level, or are still in the midst of a major outbreak; now is the time to do it all, invest in the basics of public health and we can save both lives and livelihoods."
Overall, the message is "crystal clear", he said. "Suppress, suppress, suppress the virus."
MOSCOWRussia registered the worlds first Covid-19 vaccine, President Vladimir Putin said, marking a milestone in the fight against the new coronavirus but amid safety concerns in the West over the countrys accelerated clinical evaluations.
Tuesdays development was met with anticipation and skepticism in the country and raises questions not only about the efficacy of the Russian vaccine, which some global health officials say was developed by cutting regulatory corners, but also how the registration could alter the landscape...
The U.S. government is pouring billions into COVID-19 vaccines, and candidates from three companies are moving along quickly: Moderna, Pfizer and Novavax.Here's what you need to know about them.These are among the dozens of COVID-19 vaccines in trials around the world as researchers rush to find a way to stop the pandemic.To help speed the process, the U.S. government's Operation Warp Speed is providing some funding for those three and five others vaccine candidates the Department of Health and Human Services calls "the most promising."Operation Warp Speed's goal is to have 300 million doses of a vaccine that's safe and effective by January 2021.While the Phase 1 trial results are promising, the proof will be in the results of the final, large Phase 3 trials. If a vaccine candidate makes it through that, it will go to the Food and Drug Administration for approval.Phase 1 trials involve testing the vaccine in a small group of people to see whether it's safe and whether it's effective. Phase 2 trials involve a larger group and often involve various potential doses. Phase 3 trials are a final stage before seeking approval and look for safety, efficacy and optimal dosing. For coronavirus, they are all scheduled to involve 30,000 people.President Donald Trump said last week he's optimistic that a vaccine will be available by the presidential election Nov. 3. Experts told CNN, though, that it's highly unlikely that either of the two U.S. companies with a vaccine candidate now in Phase 3 trials will have a vaccine ready for use by then, given the status and timelines of their trials now.ModernaWhere is it now? The start of Moderna's Phase 3 trial of its mRNA-1273 vaccine was announced just last week. It will involve 30,000 adults at 89 clinical research sites around the country. It is the first Phase 3 trial begun under Operation Warp Speed, according to the National Institutes of Health.Phase 2 started in May.Trial results: So far, only Phase 1 results have been released. Those early results showed the vaccine brought about an immune response, which is what researchers wanted to see. The higher the dose, the higher the immune response was in the people who got it.How safe is it? More than half of participants had side effects, including fatigue, chills, headache, muscle pain and pain at the injection site. These are considered normal side effects for a vaccine. The higher the dose, the worse the side effects. The Phase 3 trial will use the middle dose.Who is developing it? Moderna, a biotech based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, developed the vaccine with help from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health.PfizerWhere is it now? Pfizer has more than one vaccine candidate, being developed together with the German company BioNTech. It has moved into a combined Phase 2/3 trial, also started last week, with one of them, BNT162b2. That's being carried out at about 120 sites worldwide, including 39 U.S. states and Argentina, Brazil and Germany.When will we have it? If the trial is successful, Pfizer and BioNTech have said they are on track to seek regulatory review as early as October. If it gets emergency authorization from the FDA, as many as 100 million doses may be available by the end of the year, and about 1.3 billion by the end of 2021.The Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Defense last month announced a $1.95 billion agreement with Pfizer to produce 100 million doses of the vaccine. The deal also allows the U.S. government to acquire an additional 500 million doses.Trial results: In the combined Phase 1/2 trial, both vaccines brought about an immune response and produced antibodies, a "double-arm" approach that the companies hope will be more effective and provide longer protection. So far, only one has moved on to more advanced trials. Almost 120 people participated.How safe is it? Preliminary data from the Phase 1/2 trial showed "a favorable overall tolerability profile" for the vaccine, Pfizer said in a news release, "with generally mild to moderate" side effects that lasted one to two days, "such as fever, fatigue and chills and no serious adverse events."NovavaxWhere is it now? Maryland-based biotech Novavax hopes to have its vaccine in Phase 3 trials next month.Trial results: Novavax released data from its Phase 1 trial Tuesday involving 131 participants. After two doses of the vaccine, participants had levels of antibodies that can fight off the virus that were four times higher, on average, than those developed by people who have recovered from COVID-19.The vaccine also brought about a response by immune cells, according to an analysis of 16 randomly selected volunteers.How safe is it? Of the 106 people who got the vaccine, and not a placebo, five had severe side effects, including muscle pain, nausea and joint pain, and one had a mild fever. The side effects lasted two days or less, on average.
The U.S. government is pouring billions into COVID-19 vaccines, and candidates from three companies are moving along quickly: Moderna, Pfizer and Novavax.
Here's what you need to know about them.
These are among the dozens of COVID-19 vaccines in trials around the world as researchers rush to find a way to stop the pandemic.
To help speed the process, the U.S. government's Operation Warp Speed is providing some funding for those three and five others vaccine candidates the Department of Health and Human Services calls "the most promising."
Operation Warp Speed's goal is to have 300 million doses of a vaccine that's safe and effective by January 2021.
While the Phase 1 trial results are promising, the proof will be in the results of the final, large Phase 3 trials. If a vaccine candidate makes it through that, it will go to the Food and Drug Administration for approval.
Phase 1 trials involve testing the vaccine in a small group of people to see whether it's safe and whether it's effective. Phase 2 trials involve a larger group and often involve various potential doses. Phase 3 trials are a final stage before seeking approval and look for safety, efficacy and optimal dosing. For coronavirus, they are all scheduled to involve 30,000 people.
President Donald Trump said last week he's optimistic that a vaccine will be available by the presidential election Nov. 3. Experts told CNN, though, that it's highly unlikely that either of the two U.S. companies with a vaccine candidate now in Phase 3 trials will have a vaccine ready for use by then, given the status and timelines of their trials now.
Where is it now? The start of Moderna's Phase 3 trial of its mRNA-1273 vaccine was announced just last week. It will involve 30,000 adults at 89 clinical research sites around the country. It is the first Phase 3 trial begun under Operation Warp Speed, according to the National Institutes of Health.
Phase 2 started in May.
Trial results: So far, only Phase 1 results have been released. Those early results showed the vaccine brought about an immune response, which is what researchers wanted to see. The higher the dose, the higher the immune response was in the people who got it.
How safe is it? More than half of participants had side effects, including fatigue, chills, headache, muscle pain and pain at the injection site. These are considered normal side effects for a vaccine. The higher the dose, the worse the side effects. The Phase 3 trial will use the middle dose.
Who is developing it? Moderna, a biotech based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, developed the vaccine with help from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
Where is it now? Pfizer has more than one vaccine candidate, being developed together with the German company BioNTech. It has moved into a combined Phase 2/3 trial, also started last week, with one of them, BNT162b2. That's being carried out at about 120 sites worldwide, including 39 U.S. states and Argentina, Brazil and Germany.
When will we have it? If the trial is successful, Pfizer and BioNTech have said they are on track to seek regulatory review as early as October. If it gets emergency authorization from the FDA, as many as 100 million doses may be available by the end of the year, and about 1.3 billion by the end of 2021.
The Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Defense last month announced a $1.95 billion agreement with Pfizer to produce 100 million doses of the vaccine. The deal also allows the U.S. government to acquire an additional 500 million doses.
Trial results: In the combined Phase 1/2 trial, both vaccines brought about an immune response and produced antibodies, a "double-arm" approach that the companies hope will be more effective and provide longer protection. So far, only one has moved on to more advanced trials. Almost 120 people participated.
How safe is it? Preliminary data from the Phase 1/2 trial showed "a favorable overall tolerability profile" for the vaccine, Pfizer said in a news release, "with generally mild to moderate" side effects that lasted one to two days, "such as fever, fatigue and chills and no serious adverse events."
Where is it now? Maryland-based biotech Novavax hopes to have its vaccine in Phase 3 trials next month.
Trial results: Novavax released data from its Phase 1 trial Tuesday involving 131 participants. After two doses of the vaccine, participants had levels of antibodies that can fight off the virus that were four times higher, on average, than those developed by people who have recovered from COVID-19.
The vaccine also brought about a response by immune cells, according to an analysis of 16 randomly selected volunteers.
How safe is it? Of the 106 people who got the vaccine, and not a placebo, five had severe side effects, including muscle pain, nausea and joint pain, and one had a mild fever. The side effects lasted two days or less, on average.
Tuesday, August 11, 2020 8:37 a.m. EDT by Thomson Reuters
(Reuters) - Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc said on Tuesday the first group of participants had been dosed in an early-stage trial testing its COVID-19 vaccine candidate and that results from the trial were expected in the fourth quarter.
Shares of the San Diego, California-based company rose about 4% in trading before the bell.
The company is among several drugmakers racing to develop a safe and effective vaccine for the new coronavirus that has killed more than 735,000 people globally.
Arcturus in April said preclinical data testing its experimental vaccine, ARCT-021, which is being developed jointly with Singapore's Duke-NUS Medical School, showed the vaccine candidate could trigger an immune response to the virus.
"Based on preclinical immunogenicity data, our self-replicating mRNA-based investigational vaccine could have a highly differentiated safety and efficacy profile, and may potentially allow vaccination at very low doses, and with a single administration," Arcturus Chief Executive Officer Joseph Payne said in a statement.
The current trial includes two parts that will assess ARCT-021's dosing, safety and effectiveness in participants including older adults aged between 56 and 80 years.
ARCT-021, like Moderna Inc's COVID-19 vaccine candidate, uses mRNA, or messenger RNA, to inoculate against the coronavirus.
(Reporting by Manojna Maddipatla in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)
FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic briefing at the White House in Washington, U.S., August 10, 2020. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump will be briefed on U.S. COVID-19 vaccine efforts later on Tuesday and will likely give a public update, White House Adviser Kellyanne Conway said, after Russia announced it had approved a vaccine for the novel coronavirus.
The president is getting a vaccine update here at the White House today, and Im sure he will announce that in an open press event and also probably his press briefing later today, Conway told Fox News interview.
(Story refiles to correct spelling in paragraph 1 to Conway, not Conaway)
Reporting by Lisa Lambert and Susan Heavey; Editing by Catherine Evans
BioNTech execs say theyre on track to get their late-stage data on a Covid-19 vaccine partnered with Pfizer into the hands of regulators as early as October.
In their Q2 release Tuesday morning, the biotech reported that investigators could have late-stage data as early as October, and they wont be wasting any time in hustling that over to the FDA.
I am incredibly proud of our team, who has worked tirelessly to initiate our BNT162 Phase 2b/3 trial in record time and put us in a position to seek regulatory review as early as October of this year, if our trials are successful, said Ugur Sahin, BioNTechs CEO and co-founder.
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