Coronavirus daily news updates, July 25: What to know today about COVID-19 in the Seattle area, Washington state and the world – Seattle Times

Mar-a-Lago was the place to see and be seen for guests who paid thousands of dollars for the privilege on New Years Eve. Diamonds and furs abounded on the red carpet. When Donald Trump arrived at his estate in Palm Beach, Florida, in high spirits and a tuxedo, he declared: Were going to have a great year, I predict.

But earlier that day, a Chinese government website had identified a pneumonia of unknown cause in the area surrounding a seafood market in Wuhan. When midnight struck and 2020 dawned, no one could have guessed how this microscopic pathogen would turn the world upside down, infecting 15 million people, killing 625,000, crippling economies and wiping out landmark events such as the Olympic Games.

America is no exception. The coronavirus pandemic has upended the presidential election, which, on Sunday, will be just one hundred days away. It has changed the issues, the way the fight is fought and quite possibly the outcome. The nations biggest economic crisis for 75 years, and worst public health crisis for a century, is an asteroid strike that has rewritten the rules of politics and left historians grasping for election year comparisons.

There is probably nothing the same as coronavirus, said Thomas Schwartz, a history professor at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. Obviously, you have issues that stir the public up: 1968 would have been Vietnam and the disturbances that had taken place in the cities. But nothing quite as universal and affecting such a wide band of Americans as the coronavirus. That is really new.

Soon after that New Years Eve celebration at Mar-a-Lago, Trump would be acquitted by Republicans at his Senate impeachment trial and triumphantly brandish the next days Washington Post front page at the White House. In his own mind, at least, he was riding a strong economy on his way to re-election, while Democrats struggled to tally results in their Iowa caucuses or settle on a unifying presidential nominee.

But the virus was on the move. On 22 January, Trump claimed that it is totally under control and is going to be just fine. On 2 February, he insisted he had stopped its spread by restricting travel from China. On 27 February, he said at the White House: One day its like a miracle it will disappear. And so it went on in what critics now say was a historic feat of denial and failure in leadership.

Covid-19 swept through New York, killing thousands of people. Trump declared himself a wartime president and held daily briefings in April but then reportedly got bored and switched emphasis to reviving the economy seen as crucial to his re-election chances. Yet while the infection and death tolls ticked up, his approval ratings ticked down.

Now it seems the old maxim of Its the economy, stupid will be replaced by Its the virus, stupid as the defining issue for voters, not least because the suffering and death have a direct impact on the economy itself: Americans have filed 52.7m unemployment claims over the past four months.

Another famous campaign question, Are you better off than you were four years ago?, now seems purely rhetorical. The Trump campaign has been forced to abandon the slogan Keep America great in favour of Make America great again, again.

Schwartz added: When Trump had the economy going gangbusters he had a stronger argument on his behalf that, despite his disruptiveness and unpleasantness, people were doing OK and things seemed to be moving ahead. But look at the polling on whether the countrys going in a good direction or a bad direction and, boy, did that spike with the bad direction since March.

Trump was arguably an unusually lucky president for his first three years, not having to face the type of major crisis that confronted many of his predecessors, enabling him to persist as a gadfly reality TV star tweeting about celebrities instead of reading national security briefs. With the eruption of the virus, that luck ran out spectacularly.

America now has 4m infections and more than 140,000 deaths, the highest tallies in the world. Cases have doubled in the past six weeks even as curves flatten in Europe.

The president continues to defend his response, pointing to travel restrictions he imposed, 50m tests conducted more than any other country and mass distribution of ventilators. Were all in this together, he said on Wednesday. And as Americans, were going to get this complete. Were going to do it properly. Weve been doing it properly. Sections of the country come up that we didnt anticipate for instance, Florida, Texas, et cetera but were working with very talented people, very brilliant people, and its all going to work out, and it is working out.

The pandemic was a moment when Trump could have proved his doubters wrong. He did not rise to the challenge

But his niece Mary Trump, author of a new family memoir, said his handling of the pandemic has been criminal. She added: It was avoidable, it was preventable and even if we hadnt gotten a hold of it right away, the statistics are pretty clear. Two weeks earlier, what, 90% of deaths could have been avoided? And they havent been, simply because he refused to wear a mask because doing so would have admitted that he was wrong about something, and that is something he cannot do.

The pandemic was a moment when Trump could have surprised the world and proved his doubters wrong. He did not rise to the challenge in the eyes of those critics. He failed to devise a national strategy on testing, rarely spoke of the victims, refused to wear a mask until recently and undermined top public health experts such as Dr Anthony Fauci.

Leon Panetta, a former defence secretary and CIA director, said: If you operate on the basic premise that crisis defines leadership, then youd have to say that this crisis has also defined the failure of leadership. That has without question impacted on politics in this country.

Its pretty clear that there are a hell of a lot of constituencies out there that feel that hes failed to lead with this issue. Theres a sense that in many ways hes basically said, Youre on your own in terms of dealing with this. He at one point said he doesnt take responsibility for whats happening with this virus and I think that sent a real message to the country that the presidents gone awol on the country at a time of crisis.

Such is the backlash that multiple opinion polls show the Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden leading Trump by double digits, and ahead in the battleground states that will decide the electoral college. The presidents best hope now might be an October surprise in the form of a coronavirus vaccine. There is no clearer example of how everything has changed than Texas, which no Democrat has won since 1976. On Wednesday, a record 197 deaths from Covid-19 were reported while a Quinnipiac poll showed Biden leading Trump 45% to 44%.

Filemon Vela, a Democratic congressman from southern Texas, said: Since the beginning of the pandemic, President Trump and our own governor, Greg Abbott, have made tactical decisions that are now resulting in the killing of Texans en masse. Any rational thinking Texan would be crazy if they voted for Donald Trump, given the way that the state is being ravaged by the virus.

Across the state, ICUs are full. Back in my home town, patients that should be in the ICU are having to wait in emergency rooms. Patients who cant get into emergency rooms are having to wait in ambulances for hours outside the hospital. It is a catastrophic situation and I believe that, when November comes around, the people of Texas are going to remember it.

Against the implacable foe of the virus, Trump has repeatedly sought to divert and distract. He seized on the Black Lives Matter protests against the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis not with healing and compassion but by attempting to stoke culture war divisions over crime and Confederate statues. Still, the pandemic persisted.

Bill Galston, a former policy adviser to President Bill Clinton, said: If the election becomes a referendum on the presidents handling of the pandemic, he cannot win. Its as simple as that and so, barring some miraculously favourable developments in the next hundred days, he has no choice but to change the subject as best as he can.

The pandemic has not only transmogrified the substance of the election but also the style. Democrats were fortunate to get most their primaries out of the way and mostly unite behind a nominee before the storm hit. Other rituals of the election year calendar campaign rallies, convention speeches, presidential debates will be unrecognisable.

So far, the altered landscape appears to be hurting Trump and helping Biden. In 2016, the Republican thrived on rambunctious rallies where crowds chanted Build the wall! and, referring to his opponent Hillary Clinton, Lock her up! The theatre seemingly gave him a blood transfusion of political energy while building a cult of personality for crowds, often in long-neglected small towns, who then fanned out to spread the word.

Last month, however, a Trump rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, drew a disappointingly small crowd amid virus fears, and another in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, was cancelled. No more have been announced. The president has also been forced to call off Republican national convention events next month in Jacksonville, Florida, where he had been planning to make a splashy acceptance speech before a cheering crowd.

Democrats will also hold a delayed and pared-down convention in Milwaukee in August, with much of it migrating online. Biden, who at 77 would be the oldest president ever elected, has been able to lie low in his basement in Wilmington, Delaware, spared from the punishment of constant campaigning and awkward encounters that could invite his notorious gaffes. Instead the pandemic plays to his perceived strengths of empathy, experience and stability.

Galston, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution thinktank in Washington, added: Nobodys ever seen anything like this and nobody knows what the net effect is going to be. I dont know to what extent the raucous Trump rallies of 2016 were instrumental to his success but what we do know is thats not a strategy that can be repeated in 2020.

But there may be no greater demonstration of the pandemics reach than polling day itself, due to take place on 3 November amid health fears, a surge of mail-in voting and a prolonged count that Trump might seek to discredit and exploit.

This week more than 30 advocacy groups and grassroots organisations joined Protect the Results, a project to mobilise millions of people should Trump contest the election results, refuse to concede after losing, or claim victory before all the votes are counted.

Panetta, a former White House chief of staff, has heard similar talk from friends. On conferences and Zoom calls and emails Im getting concern that this is not a president who has ever shown a tendency to operate with a degree of class in accepting defeat and so theres a sense that he will resist the results of the election if its close, he said.

I guess the hope for a lot of people Ive talked to is that the election results are so clear that it makes it very difficult for the president to even pretend that somehow the vote was wrong.

Because of that, we spent time this spring -- toward the start of the crisis in the US -- speaking to mayors about the vast challenges at the local level they were navigating. Their medical workers didn't have personal protective equipment, they didn't have tests and they were worried about hospital capacity.

These local leaders were also concerned about the physical, mental and economic health of the constituents who are also their friends and neighbors.

Now, almost five months in, we checked back with several of those mayors to see how the pandemic fight is going now. From the South, to the Midwest to the Northeast, there are still deep and common concerns. PPE is available but testing is still inadequate. Schools they never imagined would not resume in the fall are all struggling with how to do so safely in communities where case numbers are still high.

And, for some their biggest fear came true: Reopening parts of their cities too soon proved to be a mistake.

Tampa, Florida: 'Opening of the bars, that was a mistake'

Now she says a flaw in the statewide reopening plan fueled a resurgence in Covid-19 cases: opening Florida's bars.

"No one followed the rules from go," she said, noting people crowded bars, which she called "the veritable Petri dish for Covid-19."

Castor says they are scrambling to correct what she calls a "huge mistake" by sending law enforcement to crack down on "bad actors."

"We sent out a letter from our city attorney to over 100 bars and restaurants just reminding them of what the orders are now in the state of Florida and then any violations could result in a loss of a liquor license. So, that usually gets the bars' attention," Castor said.

Castor said she does not generally think the state, or her city, reopened too soon, despite the city enduring about 400 new coronavirus cases a day.

"We took the steps I think that we were thoughtful, and we were slow and deliberate," she said.

Still, things were so bad earlier this month, she put a mask mandate in place, which she said is starting to show positive results.

Last week the new case numbers had spiked to 900 a day in Tampa, which has a population of nearly 393,000 people. She says her mask ordinance combined with a "continued drumbeat" for people to socially distance, helped cut that number more than in half this week.

"I'm not making any excuses or trying to tie a bow around any of that. We're still in a very precarious spot. But one of the things proportionally that the number of deaths that we have is very, very low for the number of cases," Castor says.

But testing remains a problem in Tampa just as it does around the country. It is more available than before but results often take up to 10 days to process.

When we spoke in early April, Castor, who was Tampa's police chief for three decades, told us that in all of her years of law enforcement and emergency management, she had never seen this kind of unpreparedness from the federal government.

"That statement still holds true," Castor told us this week. "There's just a complete lack of leadership or direction on the federal level in this particular incident."

One of the big ripple effects on Tampa, as it is nationwide, is uncertainty about reopening schools. DeSantis wants them to open, but she says Tampa's superintendent is giving parents a choice.

"Kids can stay home and go through the e-learning that they've been using all summer. They can respond to the classroom. My instinct tells me that the schools aren't going to open on time, that there'd be an actual delay," she said.

Waterloo, Iowa: 'We're not out of the woods yet'

Tysons had indefinitely suspended production at the plant where more than 1,000 workers became infected. Now, the plant is open with increased safety measures including on-site testing and social distancing.

Hart, a Democrat, said it's "doing pretty well."

"We're happy and we're pleased about that. And that's also reflected in our numbers too. ... We were seeing hundreds of people per day, well into 50, 60 people per day. Now it may be seven, it may be six, it may be less," he said.

But Hart is not convinced his city is out of the woods yet, as state and county numbers continue to rise.

"We are very cautious because we don't want to move too fast and refer to where we're like some of the other states that are now open too fast, did things too soon but now have to scale back things," Hart says.

He is strongly encouraging his citizens to wear masks, but he is not considering implementing a mandatory mask mandate like the one just put in place in Iowa City.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, a Republican, has said cities do not have the authority to do so.

"I think it's incredible where mayors are able to make the best decisions for their individual communities. The way we deal with it is not a cookie cutter situation in how we enforce things," he said.

"Mayors need to have the discretion to be able to have nonpolitical, non-biased opportunities to lead their communities, and not have that disrupted by governors and federal officials. We need to be able to have home rule," he added.

Not listening to local leaders, Hart believes, is where the state and federal governments went wrong during the peak of Waterloo's outbreak in April.

"I feel that if they would have listened to us locally, sooner, than us having to go on television and write a myriad of different letters ... then we wouldn't have had near the amount of cases we had," the mayor said.

All things considered, Hart says he is proud of the way his city locally managed the outbreak, and he attributes some of their success to being proactive on the public health side.

"Pro-business means pro-worker means pro-public health. That's the way we approach this. We don't have it all solved, but we're talking a lot more and communicating upfront," the mayor said.

As the debate about reopening schools continues nationwide, Reynolds issued a proclamation saying 50% of schooling needs to be in person, which Hart calls a "huge concern."

"You may have districts that have teachers and administrators that are susceptible and vulnerable populations. And so, you're basically forcing these people to go back into a situation where they may lose their life from if they contracted Covid. So, that's a challenge," Hart said.

Hart is no stranger to the concerns of educators and students returning to school. His wife is a vice principal at a local elementary school, and he has young children at home. Waterloo's school system will begin with a phased opening.

"There is going to be the option of parents to be able to do some online learning. But as we know, there may be a lot of parents out there that can't stay home and work from home while they do education," he explained.

He thinks it will be hard for schools to follow US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines of staying six feet apart, but says the schools are trying to erect dividers between desks, provide masks and put a contact tracing system in place.

Hart, the first black mayor of his city, says the list of what keeps him up at night keeps growing.

"It was Tyson, then it was Covid, but then it was also with the Black Lives Matter movement," he said.

"I would probably say trying to figure out what we can do better keeps me up, and that is still Covid, that is still police-community relations, that is still trying to get economic development to areas that need it," he added.

He said the past six months have completely changed his life and created a new normal within his community and he is trying to adapt.

"Still show good, humble leadership in these times," he said.

Topeka, Kansas: 'Our community is starting to see how serious it is'

"We actually recently had a few public figures in our community having the virus, and just yesterday, one of our council members, our deputy mayor, was talking about the challenges that he has. And I'm hopeful that these are the conversations that are helping us understand that the virus is serious," De La Isla, a Democrat, told CNN in a phone interview.

Topeka's cases are climbing, but because she believes her residents are finally practicing social distancing and wearing masks, she is hoping the trend will reverse. There are signs that could happen -- the city saw its first drop in the number of cases on Wednesday.

Topeka has not seen case numbers anywhere near as high as hotspots nationwide. They average between 15 and 20 new cases each day, according to De La Isla. She thinks the executive order that Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, a fellow Democrat, put in place in early July requiring masks statewide has made all the difference.

"Overall, we are very fortunate that the governor was wise enough to request the use of masks by everybody in the state because the numbers in the state started to go up, and I can tell you that I think it's starting to work. It's been a week, and we are finally seeing our first drop in our chart," she explained.

De La Isla also praised the governor's push for more testing statewide, which has allowed her to have more free testing for individuals in her community. Her state still falls on the lower end of testing per capita, and De La Isla is concerned test results are taking too long.

"I think that we are starting to overwhelm the system, and sometimes the testing is coming back four to five days after testing," she said.

Her city is now in Phase 3 of reopening, and she worries her constituents are exhausted by all of the precautions to protect themselves against Covid-19.

"Our joke here has been that we are in phase 3.4 of people feeling that we're OK. ... There is absolutely fatigue," she said.

The mental health of her constituents has been a top priority for De La Isla since the pandemic began. When we spoke in April, she had found creative ways to connect with her residents and provide emotional support, like starting a "warm line" (instead of hot line) for people in distress, and reading to children on Facebook every Sunday, which she still does.

As a single mom, De La Isla is having to make the same tough decision that parents across the nation are facing whether her two teen daughters will return to school in the fall.

"Does it worry me? Of course. I don't want my daughters to get sick. I don't want to get sick, but I'm hopeful that the school districts will come up with a plan that will include social distancing entry and exit strategies, as well as mass protection, and the proper protocol so that if somebody ends up sick, that we all understand how to do this," she said.

Kelly issued an executive order that would delay the start of the school year for a few weeks until September 8, but the Kansas State Board of Education rejected the order this week.

But some school districts, like Topeka, already plan to open in September with a phased approach beginning with all virtual learning.

De La Isla says her daughters want to go back to school.

"I can tell you that for my oldest daughter, she likes the online classes. She did very well in them. My youngest daughter had a really hard time with online learning. She's a social creature. She enjoys the camaraderie of her teachers and her classmates, and she was very demoralized. Both of them are dying for school to start back up," De La Isla said.

When we asked De La Isla back in April what keeps her up at night, she said it was whether doctors will have enough equipment if the virus hits her city hard, and whether the city's hospitals will have enough beds.

For now, her city is managing on both fronts, but her worries have shifted

"I firmly believe that we are at the intersection of 1918, with the pandemic, and 1968, with the civil arrest demonstrations that we had across the nation," she said.

De La Isla wants to make sure everyone in her community feels safe, "regardless of the color of their skin or who they worship and who they love." And as mayor, she needs to balance that with the demands of Covid and maintaining their city's ability to "test everybody that needs testing, so that we can continue moving our economy forward."

The emotions of her job are sometimes too much for her to contain.

"A few weeks ago, after the George Floyd incidents, I was pretty transparent. I was crying in the TV when I was telling everybody that I was not OK. That the weight of what's happening nationally combined with Covid, it's a lot for anybody to handle," the mayor said.

"It's just a very challenging time to be a mayor and know that you are responsible for the wellbeing of a whole community, and understanding and working every single day, face-to-face with these challenges. Just check on your mayors. Seriously, just check in on your mayors because we're carrying a lot of burden," she added.

Philadelphia: "We want federal help, but not that kind of federal help"

Nearly half of all Philadelphia coronavirus cases are African Americans. No other group even comes close.

"That represents the disparity in all of our society. Medical care, medical access, access to medical care has been poor for people of color. Systemic racism has put them in situations where, not only are they more likely to get Covid or die from Covid, but also diabetes and heart disease," Kenney, a Democrat, told us in a phone conversation this week.

When pressed, Kenney conceded -- as he did when we spoke three months ago - that they must do better.

"We have a poor population. Our poverty rate is higher than we certainly want it to be," he admitted.

That adds to the challenge every local leader is dealing with about what school will look like in the fall. Philadelphia is planning for two days a week in school and virtual learning for the other three days. The continuing issue is how to serve students who live in poverty.

"Having Internet access is really critical for them. And we're working hard with some of our companies like Comcast and others to get those key kids plugged in so that if they can't go back to school, they're at least up to speed with Internet connection," he said.

But the fundamental issue is the health care crisis in the Black community.

"The access to primary care physicians, to having your primary care physician be in an emergency room, it's been an ongoing problem, both for the residents and citizens and for the hospital emergency system itself," he said.

Kenney, a supporter of universal health care, ripped the Trump administration for making matters worse by dismantling Obamacare, never mind shirking its responsibility to, in his view, develop a national strategy to administer and pay for widespread testing.

"This is a perfect example of what federal government that's competent can do to protect the citizens of this country by having a national mask rule, by having a national testing program, by having national PPE distribution, by having all the things that we floundered on and tripped up on in March and April and May would have been resolved by a military style effort to keep all of our citizens safe," he said.

But when it comes to another flashpoint issue big city mayors like Kenney are grappling with now -- the potential for federal intervention for alleged violence -- he draws the line.

"We want federal help, but not that kind of federal help. When the administration had the opportunity to help us months ago, they refused to do so. Now he's floundering in the polls, he's playing to his base, he's playing to what he perceived to be the suburban fear of cities. And he's dividing people again, and he's making a dangerous situation, even worse, and we're prepared to fight in court in every way possible to keep that from happening in Philadelphia," Kenney said.

The two students tested positive for the virus Sunday, just one day after taking the ACT at Edmond North High School on July 18, according to an ACT spokesperson.

"Upon learning of these positive tests, the school immediately contacted local public health officials, notified ACT, and we have informed all students and test monitors in attendance that day," Tarah DeSousa, the spokesperson, told CNN.

"As part of ACT's test center social distancing guidelines, students and monitors were asked to complete a series of COVID-19 symptom and travel screening questions, instructed to practice social distancing guidelines while on campus, and it was recommended that masks be worn by all."

Students, parents, and test administrators who were in the same testing center as the two students received emails from ACT officials alerting them that they were likely "within the area of one or both of these students for up to 15 minutes."

However, those who took the exam in the same room as the students received a different email warning them that they were probably around the students for hours.

"According to seat assignments, it's likely that you or your child were on the same floor or room as one or both of these students for up to four hours," said an ACT email obtained by CNN.

Fears over testing practices

But for one parent, a cancellation would have been a blessing in disguise.

Greta Rasmussen DeCoster's son, high-schooler Frederick DeCoster, was one of many students taking the ACT on Saturday in Wood County, Wisconsin.

While no coronavirus cases have been reported from his testing center, Frederick DeCoster is now one week into a 14-day quarantine after fearing he may have been exposed to the virus by a student who he said appeared ill. He is worried that if he was exposed, he could pass it on to family members who may be more at risk.

The 18-year-old senior was placed in a room with about 16 other students, only one who was wearing a mask, with a desk in between each of them, he said.

"The proctor waited to ask us if anyone tested positive for Covid or came in contact with someone who tested positive after we were already sitting grouped together," Frederick DeCoster told CNN.

"Almost no one was wearing a mask, even the proctor was constantly taking it off. I didn't feel safe. Then there was a kid sitting behind me sneezing, coughing hard, breathing really heavily. If you were to describe someone with coronavirus showing all the symptoms, it would be this guy. I was really worried."

Although ACT guidelines require test centers to position desks six feet apart, only test center staff are required to wear masks. Students are recommended to wear masks during testing, but not required unless there is a local mask mandate.

The DeCosters said they filed a complaint with ACT officials to bring awareness to what goes on inside testing centers, but were told the investigation would likely take five weeks -- which Greta Rasmussen DeCoster said is more than enough time "for many other students to get the virus from an ACT testing center."

"He was already angry when they started the test, but as soon as it started he realized the boy seated directly behind him was wheezing, breathing extremely loud and fast, sniffling, and repeatedly clearing his throat," she told CNN.

"As a mother I immediately thought of all the other families who attended that test center and hundreds of others around the country that day, who may not be aware that CDC guidelines were not followed at every test center, and who may be at risk or have someone in their family at risk if their child was exposed."

With states across the country bringing children back to school, Greta Rasmussen DeCoster hopes education officials learn from the ACT's issues and incorporate them in their models for how schools and universities can reopen successfully and safely,

A plea to cancel the ACT/SAT requirement

Before the coronavirus pandemic, students spent years stressing about scoring high enough on their standardized tests to get into their dream schools. Now they're still stressing, not just over scores, but also about possibly contracting a dangerous virus.

For Frederick DeCoster, who said he "blew the exam" because he could not concentrate on anything but his fear of contracting Covid and exposing his immunocompromised mother to the virus, the issue is about more than just the ACT.

"Many students don't have the chance to take off work or travel to take the ACT," he said. "I'm lucky to be able to study and then travel to retake the test, but in doing so, me and my family's health has been put at risk because they ignored all screening and mask guidelines."

Many other parents and students worry that standardized tests, including the ACT and SAT, are giving privileged students an undue advantage, especially amid the pandemic. Not everyone can afford paying for exam tutoring, taking off work to travel hours back and forth or renting a hotel for the night.

While some US colleges and universities have already suspended ACT and SAT tests as an admission requirement until 2024, many parents and students fear that not taking the test -- even if it isn't a requirement -- could hurt their chances of getting accepted into a good school.

"This has nothing to do with academics anymore," Greta Rasmussen DeCoster said. "This is a life or death situation and that's why I'm mad. They put my child's life at risk and there's really no other way to put it."

Before he became Prime Minister, Boris Johnson used to be a regular cycle commuter. (Photo by Dan ... [+] Kitwood/Getty Images)

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is to tell overweight Britons they need to increase their activity levels to better fight against infection from the novel coronavirus. Being obese or overweight puts people at greater risk of serious illness or death from COVID-19, experts have said this week. Cycling to work is a key way of losing weight and changing sedentary lifestyles, Johnson will advise on Monday.

Family doctorsknown in the U.K. as general practitioners, or GPswill be encouraged to prescribe cycling as a way for patients to lose weight. GP surgeries could also participate in bicycling incentive programs, with the possibility that some people could be paid to pedal.

Johnson is also expected to announce other bicycling promotions in the week beginning July 27, with further encouragement for local authorities to instal protective cycleways.

Johnsons recommendation to cycle is part of a new nannying government strategy to reduce the impact of the virus on the NHSprevention being cheaper than a cureand will include bans on advertising junk food to children as well as forcing restaurants to display calorie counts on menus.

Active travel, such as walking and cycling, can play an important role in reducing obesity levels, with a recent comprehensive study showing that, compared to driving, cycling was shown to cause a weight loss of 0.75kg for the average person.

Daily bicycle travel leads to the lowest body mass index, according to the study which was conducted in seven European cities.

The analysis of data from seven European citiespart of the European Commission funded Physical Activity through Sustainable Transport Approaches (PASTA) projectsuggested that daily cyclists weigh less than their non-active counterparts. The research was led by Hasselt University and the Flemish Institute for Technological Research, and included researchers from Imperial College London.

Speaking during a recent visit to a GP surgery in East London, Johnson said:

Obesity is one of the real co-morbidity factors. Losing weight, frankly, is one of the ways you can reduce your own risk from coronavirus.

Perhaps more importantly, cycling is also a key way of moving moreinactivity is a killer.

The Guardians political correspondent Peter Walker describes cycling as a miracle pill (and hes got a book out in January 2021 with that title.)

Imagine if a team of scientists devised a drug which massively reduced peoples chances of developing cancer or heart disease, cutting their overall likelihood of dying early by 40%, he wrote in 2017.

That drug is already here, albeit administered in a slightly different way: its called cycling to work.

Walker added: One of the more puzzling political questions is why it is so rarely prescribed on a population-wide level. Most people recognise riding a bike makes you more healthy. But studies have shown the impact of even a relatively modest regular cycle can have near-miraculous health dividends.

In May, Johnson told the U.K. parliament that the near future should be a new golden age for cycling.

He made his comments during Prime Ministers question time and was answering a question from former transport secretary Therese Villiers who asked whether the Prime Minister would be seeking assurances from London Mayor Sadiq Khan that the London Underground tube service would soon be open to use for all who wanted to use it and not just key workers.

A cyclist makes a hand gesture to the then Mayor of London Boris Johnson as he cycles over Vauxhall ... [+] Bridge, London, to launch London's first cycle superhighway in 2015. (Photo by Ben Pruchnie/Getty Images)

A crucial part of our success now in getting transport to run safely will be running a bigger and more expansive tube service so that people can observe social distancing, replied Johnson.

Unbidden, Johnson added that there will be a huge amount of planning going to helping people to get to work other than by mass transit and this should be a new golden age for cycling.

The government later rolled out a 2-billion program to boost bicycling and walking.

Before becoming prime minister, Johnson regularly cycled in London while he was Mayor and when he was a backbench MP.

Public Health England (PHE) said on July 25 that excess weight puts people at greater risk of needing hospital admission or intensive care.

PHE chief nutritionist Dr Alison Tedstone said that being overweight or obese puts people at greater risk of serious illness or death from Covid-19, as well as from many other life-threatening diseases.

"Losing weight can bring huge benefits for health, she said, and may also help protect against the health risks of COVID-19.

She added: The case for action on obesity has never been stronger.

The U.K. has one of the highest levels of obesity in Europe, with two-thirds of adults reported as being obese or overweight.

Vietnamese tourists pose for photographs on a boat touring Ha Long Bay, after the Vietnamese government eased the lockdown following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, on May 31, 2020 in Ha Long, Quang Ninh Province, Vietnam.

Linh Pham | Getty Images

CNBC is looking at how places around the world have tackled Covid-19. By talking to a wide range of experts, as well as everyday citizens, we're taking stock of what's gone well and what hasn't.

Vietnam has confirmed 412 cases of Covid-19 and reported no deaths in a country of 95.5 million. The country took strong early action to stem the spread of the virus, and many locals have now deemed the efforts to be highly successful. Some recent reports, which is still far from proven, indicates Vietnam may not have been "immunologically naive," because something resemblingSARS-COV-2 might have been circulating for years. That theory is still yet to be proven. Others have speculated that the data isn't trustworthy, but local researchers largely believe it is.

Vietnam now resembles normalcy, with its bars and restaurants open. In April, it donated hazmat suits and masks to harder-hit countries in Europe and the United States, where millions of people have been diagnosed with the virus.

Aggressive contact tracing

The first case in Vietnam was reported in late January and involved a man and his son returning to the country from Wuhan, China. A week later, the country sprung into action with a "whole government" strategy, which many believe it has been prepared for since the SARS pandemic of 2003.

People who tested positive for the virus and their close contacts were placed into quarantine camps for 14 days. The contact tracing, as outlined by the researchers from Oxford University's clinical research unit in Vietnam, incorporated three degrees of separation. People who came into close contact with people who came into close contact with someone known to be infected with the virus -- were told to isolate at home.

Strict quarantines

Dr. Julien Pham, a Vietnamese-American physician and investor living in Boston, recalls feeling apprehensive when his father announced he would be returning to Vietnam for a Buddhist pilgrimage in early March. Pham's father, who's also a doctor, traveled from France to join up with a group of more than 30 people.

"Almost immediately, the government stepped in," Pham said. Because of his connections in the country, his father was able to stay with family at home for 14 days. But by mid-March, anyone entering the country was sent straight to a quarantine center where they remained for two weeks.

A Hong Kong theme restaurant, a popular spot amongst local young people, is closed amid concerns of the spread of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) on March 26, 2020 in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Linh Pham | Getty Images

Testing capacity

At the outset of the pandemic, Vietnamurged local medical equipment companies to help them ramp up a testing program. By April, the country had already performed hundreds of thousands of tests. At that time, for every confirmed case, the government was testing almost 800 people -- by far the highest in the world.The next highest, according to data compiled by Reuters, is Taiwan, which tested 140 people for every case.

According to a research report, Vietnam went from having just two testing sites nationwide in late January to 120 by May.

"We would see hundreds of tests for every positive infection," said Binh Tran, a general partner at 500 Startups Vietnam. "They'd test neighbors, store owners, really anyone you'd been in contact with."

Early school closures and travel restrictions

The Vietnamese understood that hospital capacity was limited, and hospitals would be quickly overwhelmed if they didn't get ahead of the problem.

So schools closed for the Lunar New Year holiday at the end of January and stayed closed until mid-May. From the outset, there were restrictions on travel. Flights to and from China were suspended in February. The government closed down the country for two weeks on April 1. In some regions, the lockdowns were extended for a longer period.

"The lockdown seemed strict but everyone was compliant," said Christian Lam Pham, a deputy general director of the Dacotex Group, an international garment company with showrooms and production plants in Vietnam.

Members of anti-coronavirus team spray chemical into vehicles on a road in Thai Nguyen province, Vietnam February 7, 2020.

Kham | Reuters

Public messaging

Vietnam constantly reminded citizens to wear a mask, wash their hands and socially distance from each other. The Ministry of Health even produced a PSA where it worked with two singers to produce a catchy song about steps people can take to avoid getting the virus.

"You'd get texts regularly during lockdown to remind you to stay inside," said Stephen Turban, a former McKinsey consultant who recently moved to the country to help found a new university in Vietnam. "When you call a friend, you get a ring tone where a woman reminds you to wear a mask." For Turban, who moved to the country from San Francisco, the guidelines were crystal clear -- and he rarely saw anyone flouting them.

"There are constant societal reminders of your role," he said. According to Turban, people still wear masks in public even as the country has re-opened, largely out of habit but also a feeling of social responsibility.

Community-mindedness

When a British pilot for Vietnam Airlines developed Covid-19 in mid-March, his health quickly deteriorated. Doctors concluded that the only path forward for "patient 91" would be a lung transplant. According to the state-run Vietnam News, 26 people came forward and offered to donate part of their lung to the pilot. None of the people had any relation to the pilot. That pilot is now returning home after months on life support, according to BBC News.

"There's a concept in Vietnam that roughly translates to 'public consciousness'," said Turban, who now lives in Vietnam. "Vietnam has a robust sense that there's a shared responsibility to the community."

Protocols at hospitals to reduce the risk of infection

In Mid-February, the Ministry of Health put together a document for hospitals to guide them on screening, admission and isolation of confirmed or suspected Covid-19 cases. They also strongly encouraged the use of personal protective equipment and established protocols to disinfect surfaces and supplies. Since the SARS epidemic, when dozens of health care workers got sick, Vietnam has been investing heavily in hospital infection control.

When Dang went to a top hospital in Vietnam to drop off supplies at the height of the outbreak, she recalls a strict adherence to the guidelines.

"When we'd do deliveries in Hanoi, I remember going through three rounds of hygiene procedures just to get in the door," she said. "There was even a guard walking with me to make sure I didn't deviate on my path."

Social shaming

Similarly to other Asian countries like Taiwan, there was some social shaming of people who didn't take the virus seriously. In one notable case, an heiress who attended fashion shows in Europe contracted Covid-19 and brought it back to Vietnam. When the story got out, there was sweeping anger towards her, including a Facebook page dedicated to calling out her risky behaviors.

Some Vietnamese citizens have mixed feelings about it.

"When word got out, she was deeply shamed especially via social media. It is a shame that a young woman is pilloried on social media," said Ken Watari, a director for entrepreneurship and innovation at the Fulbright University in Vietnam. "At the same time, the public impact of that event is that it likely encouraged other Vietnamese young people to behave in a safer way."

Passengers with protective face masks walk with their luggage in the empty arrival hall of Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi, Vietnam.

MLADEN ANTONOV

Alleviating the financial impact

According to Lam Pham, a lot of businesses in the country were impacted during the lockdown. His company owns factories, which was considered an essential activity, but staff felt very nervous at times despite safety measures they implemented. He says it's been a stressful time for business owners because many faced salary reductions, late payments from buyers, and struggles to forecast the future. Now things have stabilized a bit because the country has opened back up, he says.

But many people rely on tourism, so they're concerned about the future. A lot will depend on Vietnam's success in convincing people, particularly throughout Asia, that the country is a safe place to visit.

"At the end of the day," he said. Businesses are struggling to survive and pass by this tough time."

Human rights violations

Some groups, including Human Rights Watch, have called out Vietnam's efforts to enforce quarantine and social distancing as excessive. They fear that many of the worst aspects of the response will never be shared with the media because the public is fearful of criticizing the government's response. Some have even gone as far as to determine that the entire response has been "built on repression."

Others say that people in Vietnam may be more comfortable with trading some individual liberties for greater safety during a pandemic.

"Some of us from the West may see the government quarantine facilities as quite draconian for example, but it's a tradeoff the Vietnamese have readily made, and they're quite happy with it," said Watari.

A health worker sprays disinfectant inside a Vietnam Airlines airplane to protect from the recent coronavirus outbreak, at Noi Bai airport in Hanoi, Vietnam February 21, 2020.

Kham | Reuters

Conditions at the quarantine centers

The quarantine centers are bare-bones facilities.

Trang Dang, the founder of a company called Ru9, which produces and sells mattresses in Vietnam, donated some of her own products to the centers. People sleep in bunk beds in rooms of four to six, and there are few fans, pillows and blankets. The centers do provide three meals per day, basic toiletries and Wi-Fi. Dang feels that most of the hundreds of thousands of people who spent time in a facility felt glad they did it in retrospect.

"It's a minimal sacrifice and now you have an open country," she said.

Still, the living conditions could be improved for those working at the facilities,asseveral social media posts showed them sleeping on makeshift beds outside.

"After that went viral, it spiked a lot of interest and locals felt a responsibility to donate money and supplies," she said.

HANOI, VIETNAM - FEBRUARY 03: People wear face mask while waiting to buy gold from a gold shop on the day of the God of Wealth on February 3, 2020 in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Linh Pham

Clarity around visas

Foreigners staying in Vietnam say they're searching for clarity on whether their visas will be renewed. "There's confusion about that," said Tran, who lives with his wife and children in the country. "I think many would benefit from a clear understanding on that."

Vietnam has said that foreigners who arrived before March 1 can be considered for an extension of their visa, provided they can share a letter from their embassy or consulate that they were unable to leave "due to objective reasons."

We asked every expert we spoke to for their score out of 10. (1 is the extremely poor and 10 is ideal.) It's an extremely subjective measurement, but the average across all of them was 9.

"I'd give Vietnam a 9.5 out of 10 because 10 is unachievable," said Tran.

"Given their circumstances, they've done incredibly well," added Turban.

Researchers to conduct COVID-19 vaccine trials in Texas

A Texas-based research group is searching for people to participate in clinical trials for multiple COVID-19 vaccines.

A Texas-based research group is searching for people to participate in clinical trials for multiple COVID-19 vaccines.

Ventavia Research Group will conduct clinical trials in Keller, Fort Worth and Houston.

The group is looking for health individuals 18 or older and also those who might be at high-risk for exposure to COVID-19 -- like first responders, grocery store workers and other frontline workers.

We're at a place in the world where we need something quickly that can help protect lives. So these trials are being expedited, said Mercedes Livingston, COO, Ventavia Research Group.

The group says how quickly they move through the final phases of the trial in part depends on how many people choose to participate.

Protection against COVID-19 has become a top priority as pharmaceutical companies shift their efforts to get a vaccine thats safe and effective. Multiple companies have tapped Ventavia to operate the trials.

MORE:Coronavirus coverage

We're looking for a large number of patients thousands or you know 20,000- 30,000 patients and those studies are again looking at still the safety, but more now the efficacy and how well the vaccine or the product works, how it helps protect the patient from COVID, Livingston said.

The company says researchers are also looking at how long the vaccine protection would last.

Participants will go through a medical screening to make sure they meet the criteria to participate. Theyll also be compensated for their time and travel.

The patient is follow closely with regular follow ups visits. They usually have some sort of electronic diary that they're keeping to notate any site reactions if they get redness, where they get the shot or anything like that. So they are followed closely by a physician, said Olivia Ray, Ventavia Research Group.

Though the company says some of the trials theyre running are in the final phases theres no telling when a marketable vaccine will be available.

It's being said more at a higher level that hopefully in the spring of 2021 but ultimately it would take a crystal ball to know absolutely for sure, but they're absolutely on the fastest track that they can take and being safe and keeping people healthy, said Kristi Raney, Ventavia Research Group.

Those interested in participating can call 817-348-0228 or visit ventaviaresearch.com for more information.

RELATED:Interactive map of Texas COVID-19 cases

MIAMI (CBSMiami) Vice President Mike Pence will visit the University of Miami on Monday to mark the beginning of Phase 3 trials for a coronavirus vaccine.

The universitys Miller School of Medicine is taking part in the Phase 3 trial of a vaccine developed by the biotech firm Moderna.

We have never seen vaccine development at this speed before, and I think we can all see there is a very good reason for that. I think that all the usual steps, checking safety, and efficacy are still being, they are all just at an accelerated speed, explained infectious disease expert Dr. Susanne Doblecki-Lewis.

The clinical trial, which is expected to begin next week, is part of a 30,000-person study and The Miller School plans to enroll 1,000 volunteers in South Florida.

The volunteers will be injected with the investigational vaccine by Moderna.

The Moderna vaccine is using MRNA which is sort of genetic material that makes one protein copy in the cells of the part of the coronavirus and then your body makes an immune response to that. So it is a different approach, explained Dr. Doblecki-Lewis.

Dr. Maria Alcaide, the Director of Infectious Diseases Research at the University of Miami Health System, said so far the vaccine trial has shown it to be safe.

So far we know that the vaccineis safe meaning, that it doesnt have major side effects and we also knowit has been able to produce antibodies. That means that there is a potential that those antibodies will be able to fight future infections.

Dr. Alcaide said during the trial, they will not only be looking for the development of antibodies, but also how participants become infected after getting the vaccine.

With Miami now being the epicenter for the spread of the virus. Dr. Alcaide said with their aggressive research, she hopes this will be the stop to the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

This virus is a very aggressive virus and we are learning that the vaccine will be one of the only ways to prevent this virus, she said.

To volunteer for the clinical trials, click here. You must be 18 or older.

Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, a COVID-19 vaccine has been hailed as the only way for life to return to its pre-pandemic ways. However, in order for a vaccine to be effective, it must be widely distributed, and even then, its uncertain how many coronavirus-era changes will be adapted into a new normal.

As far as vaccines go, it seems unlikely that [one] will be approved in 2020, said Stanford law professor Lisa Ouellette. Even summer 2021 is an aggressive goal.

This means that, as far as Stanfords current policy of remote learning is concerned, hoping that a vaccine will bring a swift end might be unrealistic.

Anthony Fauci did express cautious optimism that a vaccine could be available by the end of 2019 in a recent talk with Stanford Med. But, even if a vaccine were to be approved earlier as Fauci hopes, there is still a long road between regulatory approval and manufacturing. Scaling up production of a vaccine to produce the number of doses that will be potentially needed is no small task.

It will take many months after [approval] to begin to meet the demand, Ouellette said in an interview with The Daily. Whats more, World Health Organization (WHO) officials are advocating for a policy of prioritizing vaccine distribution to high-need populations such as healthcare workers and other at-risk demographics. Such policies would likely mean that college-aged students, who are at lower risk for COVID-19 related deaths, might be among the last to be vaccinated.

Once college students do gain access to the vaccine, the risk of developing COVID-19 on a college campus could remain. While Polio and HPV vaccines have been known to have a 90% efficacy rate, according to the FDAs June 30 guidance, which is discussed in Professor Ouelettes blog, a COVID-19 vaccine will likely have an efficacy rate closer to 50%. (Efficacy rate refers to the most favorable estimate of percentage reduction of disease in a vaccinated group of people compared to an unvaccinated group.)

This means that at least some vaccinated individuals (including high-risk individuals) would become infected, Ouellette said. Though this efficacy rate is far from ideal, mandating a coronavirus vaccine to demonstrate 90% plus efficacy while the pandemic rages would be allowing perfect[ion] to be the enemy of good.

For immunocompromised and other vulnerable students, however, this 50% efficacy rate may be far from ideal, making it implausible that a crowded college campus would be a safe place, even with access to a COVID-19 vaccine.

The Stanford Department of Environmental Health and Safety declined to comment in regards to precautionary measures the University is planning for high-risk students. However, Stanford has announced a host of upcoming changes to help maximize the safety of students on campus. Families will no longer be allowed to enter residential or dining halls while moving in, students will have their temperatures checked and be regularly tested for COVID-19, and campus events and parties will be banned.

While the impending coronavirus vaccine is heralded as the end of the pandemic for Stanford and the world, it is prudent to keep in mind that the existence of a vaccine doesnt necessarily prevent infection actual vaccinations do. The process of turning the former into the latter remains unclear.

Meanwhile, fundamental changes to the Stanford student experience that will be implemented next year take-out meals from dining halls, limited access to common spaces in dorms, mask-wearing in public spaces, decreased social gatherings may continue to persist for an unpredictable period of time, changing campus life in lasting ways.

Contact Sophia Gibson at sgibson at urbanschool.org

UC San Diego will be one of the sites for a national COVID-19 vaccine trial slated to begin Monday. Local sites are looking for more than 1,000 San Diegans to sign up. The trial is based on a vaccine prototype developed by Massachusetts-based Moderna Therapeutics. Plus, in San Diego, police officers are often the ones responding to mental health-related 911 calls. Well hear about a plan to change that. And, KPBS Arts Calendar Editor Julia Dixon Evans has a preview of this weekends top events, beyond Comic-Con@Home.

Speaker 1: 00:01 Governor Newsome puts a new focus on protecting essential workers,

Speaker 2: 00:05 People that are feeling sick. People that may be sick. We don't want them going to work infecting other people.

Speaker 1: 00:12 I'm Maureen Kavanaugh. This is KPBS mid day edition. San Diego is part of a large scale nationwide COVID vaccine trial.

Speaker 2: 00:30 This is a 30,000 person trial. San Diego could end up being a pretty sizable chunk of that data set that gets used to decide whether the vaccine works.

Speaker 1: 00:41 Switching police funding is explored in part two of our San Diego police budget report. Plus the weekend preview that's ahead on mid day edition In today's address on the spread of COVID in California, governor Gavin Newsome says not enough focus has been placed on essential workers. He presented a graph showing that most essential workers like grocery employees, cashiers, restaurant workers, et cetera in California are Latino, black and Asian.

Speaker 2: 01:20 This essential workforce remains the bedrock. The backbone of those that are providing foundational fundamental services to the state of California.

Speaker 1: 01:31 New some introduced expanded programs provide quarantine space for essential workers and crop workers who get sick. And he's introducing a new handbook for employers that streamlines guidance on how to provide a safe workplace for employees. Meanwhile, San Diego is, are getting a chance to join the fight against COVID-19. The first large scale COVID vaccine trial in the U S is looking for San Diego ones who want to participate 87 test sites across the U S hope to sign up 30,000 people to test the vaccine developed by the Moderna biotech company of the seven test sites in California, three are in San Diego County. Those locations are UC San Diego in the Hoya and three wake research in San Diego and East study site in Lamesa joining me with more on the modern a COVID vaccine trial is San Diego union Tribune, biotech reporter Jonathan Wilson, and Jonathan, welcome to the program. Thanks for having me, Maureen, what human trials has this vaccine already been through and what were the results?

Speaker 2: 02:35 So Madonna was actually the first company, first group of researchers to begin COVID-19 trials in humans. They started right around March 16, and that was trial of about roughly 45 healthy adults. Mainly looking to see if the vaccine was safe. Those results just got published last Tuesday, July 14th, the new England journal of medicine. And what they found was that of the three doses, the low, mid to high doses of the vaccine, they tested that generally mild side effects lead to expect with any vaccine. And what was interesting and a bit encouraging was they found that everyone who was vaccinated produced antibodies. So these are immune proteins that can stick to the surface of a virus and potentially prevent it from infecting yourselves. And so based on those early smaller trial results, they're now moving forward with this large upcoming vaccine trial.

Speaker 1: 03:28 Now, not only is this a vaccine for COVID a brand new disease, but it's also a brand new kind of vaccine. Tell us about it.

Speaker 2: 03:37 Yeah. So this is one of a couple approaches. Researchers have basically been testing every vaccine approach. You can imagine, including ones that we've been using for decades, as well as a, what Moderna is doing, which is an M M RNA or messenger RNA vaccine. So this is a vaccine that has molecular instructions for the body to make pieces of the surface of the Corona virus, not the whole virus, but these spike proteins that the Corona virus has. And so the idea is that by providing this messenger RNA, you're teaching that person to make and then respond from their immune cells to the, that spike protein that would allow for those antibodies to then block infection, as well as for other types of immune cells to clear infected cells too.

Speaker 1: 04:30 How many people do researchers hope will sign up to test the vaccine in San Diego?

Speaker 2: 04:35 So collectively it could be upwards of 1000. And when you think about the fact that this is a 30,000 person trial, San Diego could end up being a pretty sizable chunk of that data set that gets used to decide whether the vaccine works. UCS is hoping for about 500 people. And then each study site and three week research are looking for about 350 to 500 a piece.

Speaker 1: 05:01 And what kind of participants are researchers looking for?

Speaker 2: 05:05 In short, they're looking for folks who have not already been infected with the Corona virus, but based on where they live or where they work, who might be going forward. Uh, they're also looking for people who are in high risk groups for COVID-19 and finding the right people for these types of trials is tricky because you don't want people who have already been infected because the immune response that you see from them might be what they had from that past infection. Doesn't tell you anything about whether the vaccine is working, but then if you look for people who would never be exposed, because they're so isolated or so hold up at home, for example, then you can't, you also can't tell if the vaccine would have protected them. So you're looking for this sort of in between spot of people who haven't been infected yet, haven't been exposed yet, but just based on their day to day might be. So people who work in healthcare, people who work in grocery stores and public transportation would be good examples as well as folks who have preexisting conditions, whether that's high blood pressure or diabetes, for example.

Speaker 3: 06:10 Now, if the trial is successful, what's the earliest that this vaccine would be available,

Speaker 2: 06:16 But Dharna is one of a fairly small group of companies. That's part of the United States government's operation work speed. And that's a government bid to have potentially 300 million doses of a successful COVID-19 vaccine available by around January of 2021. So Madonna's president has, has said that they think they could potentially do that. You know, other people I've spoken to in, in the world of research and science have said, what's most likely by the end of the year, we would have a good indication of whether the vaccine works and then actually mass producing it, getting it to the people who need it quickly could potentially take a bit longer than that.

Speaker 3: 06:59 Jonathan, where can people find information on how to sign up for this trial?

Speaker 2: 07:02 So the quickest way to do that would be to go to Corona virus prevention, network.org, Corona virus prevention, network.org, which is a site that was launched by the national institutes of health. And that will direct you to ways to find out about any number of COVID-19 prevention trials that are happening in your community.

Speaker 3: 07:25 Speaking with San Diego union Tribune, biotech reporter, Jonathan Wilson and Jonathan, thanks so much.

Speaker 2: 07:31 It was a pleasure. Thank you.

Speaker 3: 07:42 As a movement to defund police travels across the country. One potential target for budget cuts is removing police from mental health calls, many activists, health officials, and some elected leaders say police are the wrong people to be responding to these calls. KPBS reporter. Claire Tresor says the details on how that would work are being explored in San Diego County on a Tuesday in September, 2016, Alfred Alango grieving. The loss of a childhood friend was in the midst of a mental breakdown. A Longo sister fearing for his safety did the only thing she felt she could do at the time. Call nine one one. When officers would the alcohol and police department arrived at the scene, a Longo pointed a vape pen at them, mistaking it for a gun. One of the officers shot him dead.

Speaker 2: 08:44 [inaudible]

Speaker 3: 08:45 Spark days of protest and renewed calls to reform how authorities respond to mental health calls. Yet nearly four years after a long goes death. If a comes in regarding someone in a mental health crisis in San Diego County, they will most likely be visited by a police officer. However, it's not like this everywhere in Eugene, Oregon, Ebony Morgan is more likely to show up for a mental health call. Then an officer with a badge and a gun. Morgan is a crisis worker for Kahoot's a nonprofit program that partners with Eugene's police department. When she gets a call, she goes to the scene with an EMT partner and first assesses the situation to ensure it's safe.

Speaker 4: 09:29 And from there, we just start asking, you know, my first question as a crisis worker is going to be, how can I support you? What is, what are we doing? What are we trying to do? And what do you need?

Speaker 3: 09:40 For example, if she responds to a person who's having a psychotic episode and is wandering in the middle of the street, she'll say, yes,

Speaker 4: 09:48 We're in the middle of the street right now. We can't stay here. This is not safe. Are you willing to walk with us over to the sidewalk and then tell us what's going on?

Speaker 3: 09:55 The cahoots program has a team of 50 and costs about two point $1 million a year, or about 3% of the Eugene police department's annual budget. San Diego police's budget for fiscal 2021 is more than 566 million. If 3% were diverted to a similar program, it would cost $17 million, which is about half of what the department spent on officer overtime. In the last fiscal year.

Speaker 5: 10:23 We can't even imagine a world where mental health professionals are the ones who deal with mental health issues.

Speaker 3: 10:29 Call it. Alexander is the founder of the San Diego criminal justice reform advocacy organization, pillars of the community.

Speaker 5: 10:36 Can't imagine a world where more money goes to schools and to education then goes to arming police officers and buying them. Um, you know, military, military grade weapons.

Speaker 3: 10:47 He says programs like hoots. Shouldn't be seen as major police reform, but just good common sense. County leaders are starting to come around to Alexander's point of view in the wake of massive protests that have erupted here and throughout the country, in the wake of George Floyd's killing by Minneapolis police officer.

Speaker 5: 11:07 If you have an individual swimming in the fountain or really having a huge problem, if they are swinging an ax or have hit someone with an ax, then you need to call nine one one, and you need to send law enforcement

Speaker 3: 11:19 Supervisor. Nathan Fletcher is working to create mental health crisis teams to respond to some calls.

Speaker 5: 11:25 The problem is if that individual is not a danger to themselves or anyone else, there is no other option for them. Other than to call nine one one,

Speaker 3: 11:35 Your estimates, the program would cost $10 million a year and would be used by all local police departments. He says it would save money by cutting the police cars and fire engines that are often sent to mental health calls.

Speaker 5: 11:49 The other problem is if that individual has ever been justice involved, uh, or if they're

Speaker 6: 11:54 Just in an agitated state of mind, the presence of law enforcement has the potential of escalating the situation. When what you need to do is deescalate the situation. You good, man, I've talked to you before.

Speaker 3: 12:06 Sergeant Rick Schnell led the San Diego police departments, homeless outreach team for 15 years and retired a few years ago. He and his officers had a lot of training on mental health issues.

Speaker 6: 12:18 It was clear that we needed to do mental health training with the officers. PERT was starting to really pick up

Speaker 3: 12:25 The county's psychiatric emergency response team. He says, even if San Diego establishes its own version of cahoots, it couldn't completely take the place of police on mental health calls.

Speaker 6: 12:37 And it's three o'clock in the morning. And you've got somebody with mental health issues going on. Who else are you going to call? The police are coming.

Speaker 3: 12:45 He advocates for more training for police officers and hiring officers who can maintain calm. When an officer shows up in his or her blue uniform with a gun and a badge that automatically escalates a situation. He says,

Speaker 6: 13:02 The officer understands how intense they can be. You know, I don't know if you've had somebody come to your house when you call the police and the police are in your living room, it's usually not a relaxing situation. And so it's kind of on us to calm the situation down. If you're an angry person inside, you probably don't want to be a police officer. This is not the job for you.

Speaker 3: 13:26 Clarity. I guess sir, KPBS news.

Speaker 6: 13:39 [inaudible]

Speaker 3: 13:41 Lots of people will probably be busy this weekend with Comicon at home. But if Comecon isn't your thing, here are some arts events and virtual offerings to fill your weekend. For instance, an outdoor front lawn socially distance dance performance plays by local black women and an annual juried exhibition that thanks to the pandemics online revolution is now able to feature digital video works, KPBS arts editor, Julia Dixon Evans is here with all the details and welcome Julia. Hi Maureen. Now there's a group putting on very intimate outdoor dance performances. Tell us about live in public. Yeah, it's a project of Anna Brown Massey and Victor Della Wente. They're both local artists and dancers and they've choreographed a 20 minute dance. That's site-specific to a front lawn. It's kind of a way to gather a small audience together in a way that's safer than being inside of theater. So just a few households wearing masks and seated at a safe distance from each other and that performers and this performance features a recitation of Octavio pauses poem, Trowbridge street in English and Spanish plus them of their own original spoken word and a pretty diverse soundtrack, some experimental instrumental stuff, but also bill Withers. They left flag this track in particular by six organs of admittance, who is a guitar based composer. It's called the acceptance of absolute negation. It's from his 2003 release

Speaker 7: 15:36 [inaudible] you can catch live in public's performance.

Speaker 1: 15:40 It's tonight and Saturday at either five, six or 7:00 PM at a private residence front lawn in city Heights, tickets and address available@liveinpublic.org up next, some dinner theater. What does Moxie theater have in store for us this weekend?

Speaker 3: 15:58 Yeah, Moxies paired up with common ground theater, which is a black run local theater. That's been around since 1964 for what they're calling dinner and a zoom they're bringing for new plays written by and directed by black women. And they're all centered around the reality of the pandemic. And for dinner, they've put together a list of local black owned restaurants that offer takeout. So you can have dinner during the show, which is of course on zoom. And the four plays are divided into two nights. Each show with two plays. They all sound amazing and really different. So try to catch both shows if you can. There's one, that's about a zoom wedding. There is a mother and a daughter struggling with their relationship while one of them is in the hospital. There's a group of friends kind thing with a salon closure by watching hair tutorials on zoom. And then there's one about the issues that pregnant black women is facing with her white police officer has been

Speaker 1: 16:58 Dinner and a zoom runs Thursday through Sunday, online via zoom in the visual art world. The Athenaeum hosts, a juried exhibition of new local works each year. And like so many things, this year's exhibition looks a little different. Tell us a little about the show.

Speaker 3: 17:17 Yeah. So this is the Athan AM's 29th installment of their juried exhibition. And everything happened digitally, even the submissions and the judging and in a silver lining sort of way as resulted in a larger than usual entrant pool. And it also allowed for films and short video and other experimental video based works. The full exhibition is now available online. It has named me to new works by 46 different local artists. So all of the work had to be made in the last five years. And you had to live or work in the San Diego area to qualify. One of my favorite pieces so far is a digital video by artists, Stephanie Bird, it's called shoe love. She calls it a tone poem and it features the really hypnotic video of the American bald Eagle meeting ritual. It's the spiraling free fall. And if it's unsuccessful, it results in debt. And it's set to this reprocessed audio of radio head song to love wings.

Speaker 7: 18:37 [inaudible]

Speaker 1: 18:37 Stephanie bird's video. True love is part of the afternoon's annual juried exhibition available for online viewing. Now through September 12th for more arts events or to sign up for the KPBS arts newsletter, go to kpbs.org/arts. I've been speaking with KPBS arts editor, Julia Dixon Evans, Julia. Thank you. Thank you so much, Maureen.

The pandemic, not the Fed, not the stimulus, not the election, is the most important driver of stock prices. Lately, it's feeling very binary: we get a vaccine sooner than expected, we save the economy. But if the process drags on, we'll need to adjust to the new normal.

Our fate is in the hands of a few dozen companies with a dizzying array of clinical trials, and whoever gets there first is gonna make a fortune. That's why CNBC decided to do something new: we surveyed 92 drug analysts and public health officials at the state and local level to handicap the chances of each of the main players.

Consider it the bettor's guide, an actual handicapping of the most important contest on earth, the race for a vaccine.

Coming in first, with the support of 21 respondents? The Oxford University-AstraZeneca (AZN) vaccine - the one we just read about in the Lancet. We know it's got an excellent safety profile and several qualities that could lead to immunity.

Second and third were tied, with Moderna (MRNA) and the Pfizer (PFE) BioNtech (BNTX) vaccine both getting 19 votes.

Fourth, CanSino Biologics (CASBF) , a Chinese vaccine company, with eight votes.

After that, Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) , Novavax (NVAX) , and the joint team of Sanofi (SNY) and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) each got seven votes. Merck (MRK) and Sinovac got six. Sinopharm (SHTDF) and CureVvac were next with five. Inovio (INO) and Medicago each got four.

Inovio also earned the dubious honor of being the company least likely to bring its vaccine candidate to market, at least according to the 92 experts we consulted. They voted Inovio off the island.

What about Covid treatments? That's another closely contested race. Gilead's (GILD) in first with 17 votes, followed by Regeneron (REGN) in second, Eli Lilly (LLY) in third, the privately held AbCellera in fourth, and Roche (RHHBY) in fifth. Bringing up the rear, there's Vir Biotech (VIR) and GlaxoSmithKline.

Now, the more I dig into the medical research, the more I realize that a vaccine is essential. If Covid's really as virulent as the experts say, you'd better pray one of these injections works, because that's the only way we beat it for good.

But I also realized something else: the race for a vaccine might have more than one winner. We may need to take several shots at this thing. It could even be like the flu where there's a new vaccine every year.

With that in mind, how do we take advantage of this poll? Maybe that's in bad taste, but my job is to help you try to make money in the stock market, so how do we game the race for a vaccine?

Okay, what I find most interesting about our survey is that the stage of testing doesn't seem to matter that much. For example, Novavax got a $1.6 billion commitment from the government to complete their testing and scale up manufacturing - they start phase 3 trials in the fourth quarter. Yet Novavax is tied with J&J, which hasn't even started human trials, as well as the Sanofi-Glaxo shotgun marriage, which goes into human trials in September.

I think the excitement about the AstraZeneca vaccine makes sense. I know many people who want in on the trials because the initial results were so promising, even though the stock has been crushed since the data came out on Monday. Why did people sell the news? I think the expectations got out of control - buyers wanted a miracle, instead they got something very positive, but still within the bounds of reason.

The thing about vaccines is that the FDA will never just stop the trials and preemptively declare a winner, which sometimes happens with regular drugs. Testing a vaccine takes time because that's the only way to be sure it works. You give it to thousands of people and then wait to see if they get sick. There's no way to accelerate that process.

But even though we can't really speed this up, I like AstraZeneca's stock here, down nine from its recent highs with a 3.4% yield and an excellent anti-cancer franchise.

Next one's tough. I used to be a huge fan of Moderna because they have an exciting AI powered approach to drug development. But then the company revealed some positive data on its Covid vaccine right at the same time as executives dumped the stock, and it left a bad taste in mouth. I understand that those execs had sell plans in place, but as someone who's created and used sell plans myself, I can tell you they should've been cancelled going into this high profile announcement.

I think Moderna's become too promotional, too quick to praise its own work off a very small sample size, which is odd because they've never actually produced a vaccine before. I loved this stock in the twenties and thirties and forties and fifties, but up here at $75? No thank you.

By contrast, Pfizer's partnered with the German BioNTech, and they've been remarkably non-promotional about their relative success. BioNTech's stock is too binary for me - they don't have enough other shots on goal. But Pfizer has a portfolio of decent, albeit boring, drugs, and while there's nothing huge in the pipeline, the company's got very deep pockets, so if their vaccine doesn't win, they can always make some acquisitions. Like Moderna, Pfizer's reached phase 3, the homestretch, and it just got $1.95 billion from the U.S. government to produce a vaccine. The Feds will own the first 100 million doses - seems fair.

I can't say much about CanSino Biologics. It's a Chinese stock and the only Chinese stock I'm willing to recommend is Alibaba (BABA) because the PRC's stock market doesn't have enough regulations enforcing transparency.

But let's talk about the three vaccines that are tied with seven votes: J&J, Novavax, and the Sanofi-Glaxo team-up. I think the Sanofi-Glaxo candidate has great possibilities because both companies have excellent vaccine divisions, though they're late to the party.

Novavax is ultra-high-risk, ultra-high-reward. It's a total long shot that's trading like it's already won because of that $1.6 billion commitment from the President's Operation Warp Speed initiative.

Which leaves me with my favorite: Johnson & Johnson. I'm hearing nothing but good things about their trial, even as it's only now has gotten to phase one. More importantly, aside from Covid, J&J has the best pipeline of any of these drug companies. Their vaccine could fail and the stock wouldn't even go down - that's how cheap this thing is. I think it's a buy right here.

There's not much to say about the others. I like Regeneron for its Covid treatment, but I like it even more for its non-Covid drugs, including a surprisingly strong oncology portfolio. As for Inovio, the handicappers have spoken and they say sell it.

We in the end went with JNJ for the trust because of its many shots on goal. I think Regeneron and AstraZeneca work, too.

(Johnson & Johnson is a holding in Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS member club. Want to be alerted before Jim Cramer buys or sells JNJ? Learn more now.)

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