Myriam Borzee/iStockBy MORGAN WINSOR, JON HAWORTH and EMILY SHAPIRO, ABC News
(NEW YORK) — A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now killed more than 539,000 people worldwide.
Over 11.6 million people across the globe have been diagnosed with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new respiratory virus, according to data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. The actual numbers are believed to be much higher due to testing shortages, many unreported cases and suspicions that some governments are hiding the scope of their nations’ outbreaks.
Since the first cases were detected in China in December, the United States has become the worst-affected country, with more than 2.9 million diagnosed cases and at least 130,546 deaths.
Here’s how the news is developing Tuesday. All times Eastern:
1:10 p.m.: Miami-Dade mayor reverses course, says gyms can remain open
One day after announcing gym closures, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez reversed course on Tuesday and said fitness centers can remain open.
“All doing activities inside must wear a mask or do strenuous training outside staying 10 feet apart w/outmask,” he tweeted.
As cases in Florida surged, Gimenez on Monday said he was signing an emergency order to close gyms, as well as restaurants, short-term rentals and party venues.
“We are still tracking the spike in the number of cases involving 18- to 34-year-olds that began in mid-June, which the county’s medical experts say was caused by a number of factors, including young people going to congested places — indoors and outside — without taking precautions such as wearing masks and practicing social distancing,” Gimenez said Monday.
On Tuesday, Gimenez said he had a “productive” meeting with medical experts and the county’s wellness group and arrived at the “compromise” to keep gyms open.
12:30 p.m.: WHO says there’s ’emerging evidence’ around airborne transmission
There’s “emerging evidence” around airborne transmission, according to the World Health Organization.
“We acknowledge there’s emerging evidence in this field — as in all other fields regarding the COVID-19 virus and pandemic — and therefore we believe we have to be open to this evidence and understand its implications regarding the modes of transmission and regarding the precautions that need to be taken,” said Benedetta Allegranzi, the WHO technical lead for the infection prevention task force.
WHO epidemiologist Dr. Maria Van Kerkove said they’re looking “at the possible role of airborne transmission in other settings … particularly close settings where you have poor ventilation.”
Van Kerkhove said the WHO has been engaged with the group of scientists reporting growing evidence of airborne transmission of the COVID-19 virus since April.
She said many of the signatories are engineers which adds important information in the area of ventilation.
Allegranzi said, “We do recommend as much as possible avoiding closed settings and crowded situations. We do recommend appropriate and optimal ventilation of indoor environments, and also physical distancing. And when this is not possible, in areas with community transmission of the virus, we recommend the use of face masks.”
11:25 a.m.: Brazil’s President tests positive for COVID-19
Jair Bolsonaro, President of Brazil, said he has tested positive for COVID-19 after he repeatedly downplayed the dangers of the virus.
Bolsonaro said Tuesday that he feels better than he did Monday. Bolsonaro says he is taking hydroxychloroquine.
Two sources close to the president told ABC News that Bolsonaro began exhibiting symptoms of the virus on Saturday.
On Saturday Bolsonaro had a private lunch with the U.S. Ambassador to Brazil, Todd Chapman. Bolsonaro and Chapman posted photos together on social media, without masks or social distancing.
10:50 a.m.: Florida’s positivity rate climbs to 16.1%
Florida’s positivity rate has climbed to 16.1%, up 1.3% from Monday, according to data from the state’s Department of Health.
Miami-Dade County, which includes Miami, has a positivity rate of 21%. In Lee County, which includes Fort Myers, the positivity rate stands at 24.6%
Florida is reporting 7,347 new cases, with the total number of diagnosed cases now at 213,794.
The number of people hospitalized rose by 380 in one day and now stands at 16,425.
The state’s death toll has reached 3,943.
10:50 a.m.: Florida’s positivity rate climbs to 16.1%
Florida’s positivity rate has climbed to 16.1%, up 1.3% from Monday, according to data from the state’s Department of Health.
Miami-Dade County, which includes Miami, has a positivity rate of 21%. In Lee County, which includes Fort Myers, the positivity rate stands at 24.6%
Florida is reporting 7,347 new cases, with the total number of diagnosed cases now at 213,794.
The number of people hospitalized rose by 380 in one day and now stands at 16,425.
The state’s death toll has reached 3,943.
10:23 a.m.: Delaware, Kansas, Oklahoma added to NY’s travel advisory list
Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday added three more states to New York’s travel advisory.
Those traveling to New York from Delaware, Kansas and Oklahoma now must quarantine for two weeks.
Cuomo said the quarantine applies to anyone coming from a state with a positive test rate higher than 10 per 100,000 people over a one-week rolling average, or a state with a 10% or higher positivity rate over a one-week rolling average.
These are the current states on the travel list: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Nevada, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.
“As states around the country experience increasing community spread, New York is taking action to ensure the continued safety of our phased reopening. Our entire response to this pandemic has been by the numbers, and we’ve set metrics for community spread just as we set metrics for everything,” Cuomo said in a statement. “New Yorkers did the impossible — we went from the worst infection rate in the United States to one of the best — and the last thing we need is to see another spike of COVID-19.”
9:35 a.m.: India’s death toll tops 20,000
According to India’s Health Ministry, 467 people have died from the coronavirus in the last day, bringing the nation’s death toll to 20,160.
The number of diagnosed infections are increasing rapidly. Authorities reported a one-day increase of 22,252, bringing India’s total number of coronavirus cases to 719,665.
Delhi, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu are India’s hardest-hit states with a total of 427,788 diagnosed cases.
India is the third-most affected country for diagnosed cases, behind the U.S. and Brazil. India ranks eighth for total number of fatalities.
6:26 a.m.: Woman in viral video who deliberately coughed on a baby has been fired from her job
A woman who deliberately coughed on a baby in a stroller at a restaurant following a verbal altercation with the child’s mother has been fired from her job.
The incident, which went viral, occurred in the afternoon of June 12 at approximately 5:25 p.m. at a Yogurtland establishment in San Jose, California, when the suspect was standing in line in front of a mother and her 1-year-old child, who was in a stroller, when she allegedly became upset with the mother for not maintaining proper social distancing.
“The preliminary investigation revealed the suspect was upset the female was not maintaining proper social distancing, so the suspect removed her face mask, got close to the baby’s face, and coughed 2-3 times,” said Sergeant Enrique Garcia in a press release from the San Jose Police Department.
Oak Grove School District recently released a statement confirming that the woman in the video worked for them and that she has been terminated following the incident that was caught on tape.
“As many know, there have been allegations that a District employee was involved in a videotaped incident in which the person appeared to have intentionally coughed on a baby at a local Yogurtland,” the Oak Grove School District statement read. “We want to inform our community that the District employee who was alleged to have engaged in this conduct is no longer an employee of our District. The Oak Grove School District’s highest priority is the safety of our students and the well-being of all of the children in the community we serve. We do not tolerate conduct from any employee that compromises any child’s safety. As we welcome our students back for learning this summer and in the fall in these unprecedented times, the District’s commitment to creating and maintaining a safe environment for our students is unwavering.”
5:17 a.m.: Georgia public universities to make face coverings mandatory
The University System of Georgia said Monday it will require everyone to wear face coverings while inside campus facilities and buildings at all 26 of its public institutions where 6 feet of social distancing may not always be possible.
The new policy will take effect July 15 and will be in addition to — not a substitute for — social distancing.
“Face coverings are not required in one’s own dorm room or suite, when alone in an enclosed office or study room, or in campus outdoor settings where social distancing requirements are met,” the University System of Georgia wrote in the updated guidance. “Anyone not using a face covering when required will be asked to wear one or must leave the area. Repeated refusal to comply with the requirement may result in discipline through the applicable conduct code for faculty, staff or students.”
The change comes after more than two-thirds of the Georgia Institute of Technology’s academic faculty protested the school’s plans to reopen this fall without making face masks mandatory.
An open letter to the Board of Regents and the University System of Georgia voiced concerns that the current reopening plans only make masks mandatory for professors, while students are “strongly encouraged” to wear them. The letter, dated July 2, has garnered the signatures of more than 800 professors out of the roughly 1,100 faculty members at the prestigious public university in Atlanta.
4:33 a.m.: Florida teen who died from COVID-19 attended large church gathering
A Florida teenager who died from coronavirus complications last month had attended a large church gathering two weeks earlier, according to a medical examiner’s report.
Carsyn Davis, 17, did not wear a face mask when she attended a church function with about 100 other children on June 10. Social distancing was also not followed, according to the report by the Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner Department.
Three days later, Davis developed symptoms of what her parents thought was a sinus infection
On June 19, Davis’ mother noted that her daughter looked “gray” and tested her oxygen saturation, which was in the 40s. The mother borrowed a home oxygen machine belonging to Davis’ grandfather, and the teen’s levels rose to the 60s. Her parents also gave her a dose of hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug that President Donald Trump controversially endorsed to treat COVID-19.
Davis’ parents then took her to a local hospital where she tested positive for COVID-19, according to the report.
The parents declined intubation but Davis was given convalescent plasma therapy on June 20 and 21.
Intubation was required on June 22 after Davis’ condition did not improve. She died on June 23, according to the report.
The report notes that Davis had a “complex medical history” and that hypothalamic-pituitary axis dysfunction, morbid obesity and bronchial asthma were all contributory causes to her death.
3:30 a.m.: US reports 45,000 new cases; death toll tops 130,000
More than 130,000 people in the United States have now died from the novel coronavirus, according to a count kept by Johns Hopkins University.
Some 45,000 new cases of COVID-19 were identified across the nation on Monday. The latest daily caseload is lower than the country’s record high of more than 54,000 new cases identified last Thursday.
The national total currently stands at 2,938,624 diagnosed cases with at least 130,306 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins. The cases include people from all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., and other U.S. territories as well as repatriated citizens.
By May 20, all U.S. states had begun lifting stay-at-home orders and other restrictions put in place to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. The day-to-day increase in cases then hovered around 20,000 for a couple of weeks before shooting back up and crossing 50,000 for the first time last week.
Many states have seen a rise in infections in recent weeks, with some — including Arizona, California and Florida — reporting daily records.
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.