Coronavirus News: July 15 – Number of New Cases Soars, Ireland’s ‘American’ Problem, States Roll Back Reopenings
The number of coronavirus cases soared Wednesday in the United States as states including Oklahoma and Nevada reported record numbers of new coronavirus cases, hospitalizations, and deaths, according to data tracked by Frequent Business Traveler.
At press time, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt announced that he had tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Stitt had attended President Trump’s rally in Tulsa last month and was seen in multiple photographs not wearing a face mask.
In New York City, the infection rate is rising dramatically amongst young people, according to the latest data. Unlike the pattern the city saw in the spring, where the virus disproportionately impacted the elderly as well as low-income residents, the trend shows that younger people need to wear masks and practice social distancing, the city’s mayor said Tuesday.
In California, health officials said they are experiencing a shortage of coronavirus tests and announced they would restrict testing to symptomatic patients. The governor there announced a sweeping rollback of the state’s reopening, and Los Angeles and San Diego school districts said they would be online-only come autumn.
In Texas, Dr. Mark McLennan, a senior medical advisor to Governor Greg Abbott, said the state may need to roll back its reopening and restart an economic lockdown if cases continue to spike.
Florida’s governor said that the state “has a long road ahead” as the number of deaths continued to increase amidst a record high number of cases for the state on Tuesday.
Philadelphia banned large public gatherings and events until February 2021. This means that there will be no Philadelphia Marathon or Thanksgiving Day parade until at least next year.
Ireland has an “American” problem: Most of the public complaints about quarantine violators involve people from the United States.
Tokyo raised its pandemic alert level to “red” after the number of new cases hit record highs for the city. A large percentage of the new cases were young people with very mild symptoms.
The Trump Administration ordered that hospital data on coronavirus patients bypass the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and be routed to the Department of Health.
In what is bound to spark “Karen” videos in the coming days, Walmart and Sam’s Club said they will require that all customers wear masks in their U.S. stores, starting on Monday.
Donot Robotics, a Japanese startup, debuted an Internet-connected “smart mask” that can transmit messages and translate from Japanese into eight other languages. The so-called “c-mask” is a white plastic mask that fits over standard face masks. It uses Bluetooth to connect to a smartphone app then transcribes speech into text messages, places calls, or amplifies the wearer’s voice.
(Photo: Accura Media Group)
