NYC Reports Zero COVID-19 Deaths For First Time Since March 11

For the first time, Trump is seen wearing a face mask in public

(From NewsHero issue 137 available here)

Engineering level controls to reduce the environmental risks for airborne transmission. ScienceDirect

🦸‍♀️🦸‍♀️🦸‍♀️ — Gov. Andrew Cuomo re: New York’s pandemic response
🦸‍♀️ — Donald Trump, for FINALLY wearing a mask
🦸‍♀️ — HHS testing chief Brett Giroir for promoting masks
🦸‍♀️ — Betsy DeVos, for at least considering safety guidelines as ‘common sense’
🦸‍♀️🦸‍♀️🦸‍♀️ — California Teachers Association
🦸‍♀️🦸‍♀️🦸‍♀️ — Researches continuing to study how COVID-19 spreads

• Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Saturday that New York had its lowest three-day average coronavirus death toll since March 16 and that hospitalizations have dropped below 800 for the first time since March 18, CBS News reports.
  “Throughout this pandemic, we’ve made progress by recognizing that state and local governments can’t fight the virus on their own — the efforts of everyday New Yorkers to socially distance, wear masks and wash their hands are central to our ability to slow the spread and save lives,” Governor Cuomo said.
  And on Sunday, New York City health officials reported zero deaths related to the coronavirus since the state’s first official death was recorded on March 11, NBC News said.
• Meanwhile, Florida set a new national record for the largest daily increase in coronavirus cases in the U.S. on Sunday, reports Fox News. According to Department of Health statistics, the state added at least 15,299 positive COVID-19 cases, for a total of 269,811, and recorded 45 more deaths.
  Where, also, despite help from New York, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis publicly downplayed the Empire State’s role in providing his state with shipments of Remdesivir, says CNN.
• Donald Trump wore a mask during a visit to a military hospital on Saturday, the first time he’s been seen in public with a face mask, which are recommended by health officials as an effective measure against spreading (or contracting) the coronavirus, The Associated Press reports.
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) testing chief Brett Giroir implored Americans to wear masks in public Sunday and said “everything should be on the table” when asked if tighter lockdowns are needed in southern states where cases are surging, Politico reports.
  “For this to work, we have to have like 90 percent of people wearing a mask in public in the hot spot areas,” Giroir told ABC News. “If we don’t have that, we will not get control of the virus.”
  Sounding more like his Trump-appointed self, Giroir also said on “Meet the Press” that Dr. Anthony Fauci “is not 100% right” and that he doesn’t necessarily “have the whole national interest in mind,” Forbes reports.
• Internal documents from the CDC warned that fully reopening schools would be the “highest risk” for spreading the coronavirus, according to a New York Times report, as the Trump administration continues to push for teachers and students getting back in classrooms, reports CNN.
• Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Sunday managed to refer to federal guidelines for reopening schools as “common sense,” emphasizing though that the CDC’s recommendations were merely guidance, as she insisted that children needed to return to school this fall, reports Politico.
  As CNN put it, DeVos has essentially made it clear that the administration’s position is: “school districts are basically on their own and that students should return to classes in person, regardless of the risks.”
• The California Teachers Association, one of the largest and most powerful unions in the country, says it’s still worried about going back into schools. reports Politico. Gov. Gavin Newsom says schools need to attempt to open this fall, but the union is insisting on prolonging distance learning over forcing its more than 300,000 educators back into schools.
• The WHO last week acknowledged that airborne transmission of “micro-droplets” could be causing coronavirus infections, but as CBS News reports, many researchers in Japan have long considered tiny, “aerosolized” as rapid-spreaders of COVID-19. The answer, scientists say, lies in ventilation.
  A report on this topic from ScienceDirect asks: “How can airborne transmission of COVID-19 indoors be minimized?”

(From NewsHero issue 137 available here)

Sources:

• New York reports lowest 3-day average coronavirus death toll since March 16 — CBS News
• NYC reports zero coronavirus deaths for first time since pandemic hit — Axios
• New York City Without Coronavirus Deaths Four Months After First Report — NBC News
• HHS testing chief: ‘We do expect deaths to go up’ — Politico
• Schools reopening: Internal CDC documents warn full reopening of schools is ‘highest risk,’ New York Times reports — CNNPolitics
• Trump wears mask in public for first time during pandemic — AP News
• Not dangerous: DeVos defends schools reopening according to CDC guidelines — Politico
• California teachers fight back against pressure to reopen schools — Politico
• Florida shatters largest single-day record of coronavirus infections in US while world sees cases spike — Fox News
• U.S. Testing Czar: Fauci Doesn’t ‘Have The Whole National Interest In Mind’ — Forbes
• Always polarizing on schools, Betsy DeVos brushes off coronavirus risks — CNN
• White House seeks to discredit Fauci as coronavirus surges — NBC News
• DeSantis downplayed coronavirus help from New York after Florida health department praised it — CNN
• Health workers fear PPE shortage again amid coronavirus surge — Axios
• Japan has long accepted COVID’s airborne spread, and scientists say ventilation is key — CBS News
• How can airborne transmission of COVID-19 indoors be minimized? — ScienceDirect