A quick note: the Coronavirus Brief will take a short break over the July 4 holiday. We’ll be back on Sunday afternoon to catch you up before the start of the next week.
Dr. Fauci Is Back With a Dire Warning
Since the beginning of the pandemic in the U.S., Dr. Anthony Fauci—the longtime head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases—has been a straight-shooter, putting him in stark contrast with most Trump Administration officials, who have largely downplayed the severity of the outbreak, mismanaged the response, and claimed that failures were instead successes.
While Fauci’s role has been diminished in recent weeks, he emerged on Capitol Hill yesterday with a stark warning: if the U.S. does not get its act together, the country could see up to 100,000 new cases a day, compared to the current 30,000-40,000 or so. "I am not satisfied with what's going on because we are going in the wrong direction if you look at the curves of the new cases, so we've really got to do something about that and we need to do it quickly,” Fauci told the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
He stopped short of estimating how many deaths could come as a result of such an increase. But he offered this grim prediction: "It's going to be very disturbing, I will guarantee you that.” (Fauci’s comments come just two weeks after U.S. Vice President Mike Pence claimed that panic about a second wave is “overblown.”)
Fauci also touched on what’s become one of my biggest concerns: the U.S. has almost no domestic travel restrictions in place, so a major outbreak in one state could potentially seed outbreaks in others as people move about the country this summer. “I guarantee you that because when you have an outbreak in one part of the country, even though in other parts of the country they’re doing well, they are vulnerable,” Fauci said.
The danger of travel-fueled outbreaks seems particularly acute as we head into the July 4 holiday weekend. While AAA predicts fewer people than usual will travel this year due to the pandemic (especially by air), it’s still estimating that Americans will take 700 million trips this holiday weekend. While it’s hard to fault individuals for wanting to celebrate July 4 as normal, each one of those trips presents a potential opportunity for the virus to spread even further. If you’re headed out of town this weekend, at least remember to wear a mask when around others, practice social distancing as much as possible, and avoid crowded indoor spaces.
More than 10.4 million people around the world had been sickened by COVID-19 as of 1 AM eastern time this morning, and more than 511,000 people had died.
Here is every country with over 200,000 confirmed cases:
Researchers working in a northern Italian town that went into lockdown soon after the first case appeared there found that more than 40% of those infected showed no signs of illness. The results, published yesterday in the journal Nature, shed more light on the role of asymptomatic people in spreading the disease.
An international disaster-relief group confirmed the first known case of COVID-19 at a makeshift tent camp for asylum-seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border, the Associated Press reports. Aid groups have been worried about the virus’ potential to rapidly spread through the area.
Toronto’s city council voted yesterday to require people to wear masks or other facial coverings in public spaces in order to slow viral spread, CBC reports. "It is about respecting and protecting each other," said mayor John Tory at a press conference. The temporary rule goes into effect on July 7, but officials are asking people to abide by it starting immediately. The number of daily new cases in Canada has generally been trending downward since early May, but a surprising one-day spike earlier this week has left some worried that the situation could easily worsen.
A groom who died with symptoms of COVID-19 just two days after his wedding in the Northeast Indian city of Paliganj may have spread the virus to dozens of other guests, CBS News reports. Local media reports that the man had become ill and wanted to delay the ceremony, but relatives insisted that it go on as planned. India has the world’s fifth largest outbreak, with more than 585,000 cases reported so far, mostly in the south, southwest and Delhi areas.
The Situation in the U.S.
More than 2.6 million people in the U.S. had been infected with COVID-19 as of 1 AM eastern time this morning, and more than 127,000 had died.
On June 29, there were 44,766 new cases and 1,277 new deaths confirmed in the U.S.
The U.S. hit another record for daily new cases yesterday, marking the fourth time in just a week that a new high-water mark was reached. Eight states, from Alaska to South Carolina, also announced new single-day highs.
Massachusetts on Tuesday reported no new deaths from coronavirus, a sign that the state is joining the ranks of those that have gotten their outbreaks relatively under control. Just over 8,000 people have died of the virus in Massachusetts so far, while more than 100,000 have been infected.
Miami-Dade County is ordering larger restaurants to close between the hours of 12:01 a.m. and 6 a.m. after many such establishments were turning themselves into de-facto nightclubs. “Too many people were crowding into restaurants late at night, turning these establishments into breeding grounds for this deadly virus,” mayor Carlos Gimenez said in a statement.
The U.S. Senate unexpectedly voted late yesterday to extend by five weeks the deadline for businesses to apply for the Paycheck Protection Program, which offers companies highly forgivable loans to keep employees on payroll. The program had more than $130 billion in funding left unspent; the extension must also be approved by the House of Representatives and the President. The move comes as lawmakers seem increasingly interested in fresh stimulus packages to keep the economy afloat as the virus continues to spread.
All numbers unless otherwise specified are from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering, and are accurate as of July 1, 1 AM eastern time. To see larger, interactive versions of these maps and charts, click here.
WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW
The U.S. and U.K. Were the Two Best Prepared Nations to Tackle a Pandemic—What Went Wrong?
On paper, the U.S. and the U.K. were thought to be ready for an outbreak like this. Reality has now proven otherwise. What explains that surprising outcome? Read more here.
Republican Leaders Are Doing An About-Face On Masks—Except for One Key Person
From Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to Fox News host Sean Hannity, Republican and right-wing leaders and commentators are embracing masks as a pathway to more safely reopening the U.S. economy, the Washington Post notes. But one key Republican leader has yet to embrace them, despite calls to lead by example: President Trump. Read more here.
U.S. Testing Could Fail Again
Surging cases across the U.S. are straining its testing infrastructure and supply chain, The Atlantic reports, putting the country at risk of flying blind through the pandemic. Read more here.
Surviving May Come Down to Which Hospital Admits You
At the height of the pandemic in New York City, COVID-19 patients at community hospitals were as much as three times more likely to die than those at medical facilities in wealthy neighborhoods, this New York Times analysis finds, further underscoring how the outbreak has exposed inequalities in American society. Read more here.
FDA Reveals Conditions for Approving a Vaccine
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has for the first time announced its requirements for approving a COVID-19 vaccine, the Wall Street Journal reports. Among the conditions: any approved vaccine must be at least 50% more effective than a placebo. Read more here.
Thanks for reading. We hope you find the Coronavirus Brief newsletter to be a helpful tool to navigate this very complex situation, and welcome feedback at coronavirus.brief@time.com.
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Today's newsletter was written by Alex Fitzpatrick and edited by Elijah Wolfson.
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