New York City, once the center of the U.S. COVID-19 outbreak, has had its first 24-hour period with no coronavirus deaths.
"This disease is far from beaten,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio on Monday, the first day without any reported COVID deaths since the first case was reported March 1.
“We look around the country and we see what so many other Americans are going through, so many other states and cities hurting so bad right now,” said de Blasio. “So, no one can celebrate, but we can at least take a moment to appreciate that every one of you did so much to get us to this point – 24 hours where no one died. Let's have many more days like that."
De Blasio says he is particularly concerned about the growing number of people in their 20s contracting the coronavirus. He urged them to wear masks and social distance.
“I understand for so many younger adults, it has been a really difficult time — cooped up, disconnected, away from loved ones ... and I understand that people are just yearning to break out from that,” said de Blasio, who added that young people have to realize that everyone is vulnerable.
Also Monday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo issued an emergency health order that requires visitors from states with high rates of COVID-19 to provide information about their in-state accommodations or face a penalty of up to $2,000, “If you fail to provide it, you will receive a summons with a $2000 fine. We’re serious about enforcing quarantine,” the governor tweeted.
Last week, he tweeted the 19 states: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Utah.
One of them, Florida, reported its second-highest total number of cases for a single day, a day after setting the record for most new cases for a single day, 15,300. During the height of the New York outbreak, the worst day high was 12, 274 cases.
In California Governor Gavin Newsom Monday extended the closure of bars, restaurants, gyms, churches, and amusement centers from 19 counties to the entire state.
“The data suggests not everybody is practicing common sense,” Newsom said as the number of new cases began rising since some businesses began reopening in May.
In Maryland, three immigration courts reopened Monday in Baltimore while the U.S. Justice Department reported a backlog of more than 1 million cases.
No spectators or relatives were allowed in the courtroom, and everyone entering the buildings was required to wear a mask.
Courts in other cities began to hear cases in mid-June.
Immigration courts across the country suspended all non-deportation and non-detention-related hearings in March when the coronavirus outbreak began.
But some judges and lawyers have balked at returning to the courts, saying they don’t feel safe. They note that many immigration hearing rooms are small and wedged into federal office buildings instead of conventional courthouses with large rooms.
Canada’s largest province, Ontario, will continue to ease restrictions later this week.
Starting Friday, indoor gatherings will grow from a 10-person limit to 50 people. Outdoor gatherings of up to 100 people will be allowed as long as participants remain 2 meters apart. Gyms, movie theaters and restaurants will reopen.
But Toronto will be the exception and many closings and limits on gatherings in Canada’s largest city will stay in place for now.
A woman in Heilongjiang Province, China, spread COVID-19 to an estimated 71 people simply by riding in an elevator, according to a research letter published Monday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
According to the CDC, the 25-year-old woman returned to China from the U.S. in mid-March and was quarantined in her home. After others in her apartment building became sick, researchers tested the woman based on her travel and concluded she was an asymptomatic COVID-19 carrier and had started the spread by infecting at least one of her neighbors in the elevator.
Researchers say this case shows how even a single case of the disease can result in "widespread community transmission."
Wearing face masks in supermarkets and stores in England will be mandatory starting next week, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s office announced Monday.
Face coverings are already required on buses and subways in London and other English cities. Other European countries, including Germany, Greece, Italy and Spain already require face coverings in stores.
A new study by Britain’s Academy of Medical Sciences says it is possible a second COVID wave this winter could kill as many as 120,000 people in U.K. hospitals if the medical facilities are not adequately prepared.
This is a “reasonable worst-case scenario” and stresses that this is just a possibility and not a forecast.
It urges the medical community to take “intense preparations” now, including a national information campaign and increased capacity for testing.
