Passages in bold in the body of the texts below are usually my emphasis, though not always. This is an ongoing project, and I update the site frequently during the day. Because I try to stay focused on what has actually happened, I usually let the news ‘settle’ for a day or so before posting. I hope readers will peruse the articles in full for a better understanding of the issues and their context; our democracy and our future depend on citizens who can distinguish between facts and falsehoods and who are engaged in the political process.
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Friday, 31 July 2020, Day 1,288:
Some Global Coronavirus Updates for Friday, 31 July 2020: A $600-a-Week Lifeline for Unemployed Americans Expires After an Impasse in Washington, The New York Times, Friday, 31 July 2020:
- Tens of millions of jobless Americans are losing a benefit that helped keep them afloat.
- California’s summer outbreak makes it the first state with half a million cases.
- Giroir, Trump’s testing czar, said most virus test results were coming back quickly. Public health experts disagree.
- South Korea arrests the leader of a church where the virus spread rapidly.
- Florida, already reeling from the virus, faces a new threat from Hurricane Isaias.
- Contact tracing, a process critical for managing the virus, falters from testing shortages and backlogs.
- A large outbreak at a Georgia summer camp adds to the evidence that children are susceptible to the virus.
Many other significant developments are included in this article.
Some Business Coronavirus Updates for Friday, 31 July 2020: U.S. Debt Outlook is Downgraded, The New York Times, Friday, 31 July 2020:
- Fitch Ratings downgrades its outlook on U.S. debt.
- Stocks climb as Big Tech rallies after strong earnings.
- United will add international flights despite travel restrictions limiting U.S. visitors.
- Europe’s contraction is its worst on record.
- Economic snapshots: France, Germany, Italy and Spain.
- Exxon reports a record loss and Chevron writes off Venezuela investments.
Other significant developments are included in this article.
Some significant developments in the coronavirus pandemic on Friday, 31 July 2020: U.S. deaths from coronavirus surpass 150,000, The Washington Post, Miriam Berger, Hannah Knowles, Derek Hawkins, Hannah Denham, Reis Thebault, and Meryl Kornfield. Friday, 31 July 2020: “The death toll in the United States from the novel coronavirus surpassed 150,000 on Friday, according to data gathered by The Washington Post, a milestone the country was never supposed to reach. While the disease continues to kill the oldest among us with impunity, other disturbing trends have surfaced. In recent weeks, Hispanics and Native Americans have made up an increasing proportion of deaths from covid-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. Though the national fatality rate was on the decline for most of June, it began a steady rise in July, when the pandemic took a turn for the worse. States reported at least 24,833 coronavirus-related deaths in July, up more than 3,000 over the previous month, according to The Post’s tracking. The United States tallied 1,315 coronavirus deaths Friday, the fifth day in a row the country has reached a four-digit death toll. On Friday morning, three of the Trump administration’s top health officials were pressed by a Democratic-led House panel about the ongoing crisis. Anthony S. Fauci, the country’s leading expert on infectious diseases, told the panel that a ‘diversity of response’ from states had hampered efforts to bring down the number of new infections. In contrast, he said, many European nations went into near-total lockdowns.
Here are some significant developments:
- Over the past week, 24 states surpassed a case increase of more than 100 cases per 100,000 people — a metric the White House and Deborah Birx, the coronavirus response coordinator, have defined as ‘red zone’ states, where the spread of the virus is serious enough to warrant stricter public health precautions.
- The coronavirus recession threatens to devastate Black commercial districts and other ethnic enclaves that fuel the vibrancy, economies and identities of American cities.
- A new CDC report suggests that children of all ages may be susceptible to coronavirus infections and may also spread it to others, and it details an outbreak at a sleep-away camp in Georgia last month in which 260 children and staffers — more than three-quarters of those tested — contracted the virus less than a week after spending time together in close quarters.
- Students can return to college safely if they are tested for the coronavirus every two days, according to a JAMA study by researchers from the Yale School of Public Health, Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital.
- Minnesota Attorney General’s Office filed a lawsuit against a ranch claiming that its three-day rodeo event in July bucked social distancing orders, threatening to expose people to the coronavirus.
Many other significant developments are included in this article.
Continue reading Week 185, Friday, 31 July – Thursday, 6 August 2020 (Days 1,288-1,294)