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Agence France-Presse

The United States on Wednesday passed another grim coronavirus milestone with more than 3 million confirmed cases, as President Donald Trump played down the risks posed by the pandemic and aggressively pushed for schools to reopen.
The coronavirus is surging in several southern hotspots, including Texas, Florida, Louisiana and Arizona, while it has almost entirely receded from its former epicentre in New York and the northeast.
“At this point, we have tested more than 39 million Americans,” US Vice-President Mike Pence told reporters.
“Among those, more than 3 million Americans have tested positive and more than 1.3 million Americans have recovered.”


I disagree with @CDCgov on their very tough & expensive guidelines for opening schools. While they want them open, they are asking schools to do very impractical things. I will be meeting with them!!!
 — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 8, 2020

Trump embarked on a morning tweet storm ahead of a public meeting of his coronavirus task force, in which he called for students to return to their schools in fall and lashed out at his own top health agency, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
“In Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and many other countries, SCHOOLS ARE OPEN WITH NO PROBLEMS,” he said.
“The Dems think it would be bad for them politically if U.S. schools open before the November Election, but is important for the children & families. May cut off funding if not open!”
He added that he disagreed with guidance for reopening schools set out by the CDC and would be “meeting with them!!!”
The agency’s head later said the guidelines were “not requirements” and that the CDC would soon update its advice.


In New York, Mayor Bill de Blasio said most public schools would be ready to partially reopen in September, with most students to spend two or three days a week in classrooms. The proposal needs to be approved by Governor Andrew Cuomo, who said he would make a decision in early August.
Sending children back to school is vital if parents are to return to manufacturing and other jobs that require their physical presence.
All of the countries mentioned by Trump have far smaller epidemics than the United States, while Sweden is viewed by many public health experts as a cautionary tale after shunning lockdowns and experiencing a high death rate.
America is by far the hardest-hit country in the world, with nearly 132,000 deaths – even as the fatality rate has fallen from highs seen during the late spring peak.


In April and May, as many as 3,000 people were dying each day, while for the past few days it has been around 600.
Experts see several reasons for this fall. These include far greater levels of testing picking up more mild cases, a younger population becoming infected, better treatments – and the lag time between infection and death among the sickest patients.
In terms of treatments, doctors have learned that placing patients with severe breathing problems on their stomachs, known as the “prone” position, can ease the burden on their lungs.
They are also using blood thinners preventively to avoid life-threatening clots in the lungs, brain, and limbs; and using steroids like dexamethasone to reduce an abnormal autoimmune response that ravages the organs.
Trump formally pulling US out of WHO over ‘China puppet’ claims
The antiviral remdesivir meanwhile has been shown to reduce the duration of hospital stays, but has not so far been proven to have a significant impact on mortality.
The US epidemic has also become far younger, with the median age for new cases in Florida fluctuating in the mid-30s, for example. In the greater Phoenix area, the major centre of the contagion in Arizona, half are under the age of 35.
These young people could in turn go on to infect the elderly or medically vulnerable, which would once more increase the death rate.
The US Department of Health has embarked on a surge testing campaign in several sites in the south to better track mild or asymptomatic cases.



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Coronavirus US

US surges past 3 million coronavirus cases as Trump lashes own health agency

Medical student Diego Montelongo closes his eyes briefly as he watches others attempt to save the life of a patient inside the Coronavirus Unit at United Memorial Medical Center in Houston, Texas, on Monday. Photo: AP

An overheated health care worker takes a break as people join long queues in their vehicles for Covid-19 testing in Houston, Texas, on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters

Harvard, MIT sue US for ‘dangerous’ move to banish online-only foreign students

Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have sued the Trump administration for its decision to strip international college students of their visas if all of their courses are held online. Pictured, the Harvard campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Photo: Getty Images/AFP

FILE - In this Aug. 13, 2019 file photo, students walk near the Widener Library in Harvard Yard at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. The Ivy League school announced Monday, July 6, 2020, that as the coronavirus pandemic continues its freshman class will be invited to live on campus this fall, while most other undergraduates will be required learn remotely from home. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)

FILE - In this April 3, 2017 file photo, students walk past the "Great Dome" atop Building 10 on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus in Cambridge, Mass. Two prominent researchers are quitting MIT's Media Lab over revelations that the famed technology research hub and its director took money from Jeffrey Epstein after he'd served time for sex offenses involving girls and young women. Ethan Zuckerman, director of the lab's Center for Civic Media, said director Joi Ito had failed to disclose the deceased financier's funding of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology incubator as well as investments Epstein made in Ito's personal venture capital fund, Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2019. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)

Coronavirus: WHO acknowledges evidence of airborne spread of Covid-19

A woman waits outside a shop wearing protective gear due to the Covid-19 pandemic in downtown Lima, Peru on Monday. Photo: AP

Technical lead head Covid-19 Maria Van Kerkhove attends a press conference organized by Geneva Association of United Nations Correspondents (ACANU) amid the COVID-19 outbreak, caused by the novel coronavirus, on July 3, 2020 at the WHO headquarters in Geneva. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / POOL / AFP)

Australia coronavirus: quarantine guards spread disease, leading to Melbourne’s new lockdown

About 3,000 residents of public housing tower blocks are barred from leaving their apartments even for food. Photo: EPA

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews briefs the media on conditions concerning the COVID-19 situation in Melbourne, Australia, on Monday, July 6, 2020. Andrews announced that the state border with New South Wales will be closed from late Tuesday night in an agreement between the two state premiers and Prime Minister Scott Morrison. (AP Photo/Andy Brownbill)

Police in the southern New South Wales (NSW) border city of Albury check cars crossing the state border from Victoria on July 8, 2020 after authorities closed the border due to an outbreak of COVID-19 coronavirus in Victoria. - With the city of Melbourne going into lockdown for the next six weeks, the entire state of Victoria will effectively be sealed off from the rest of the country with the state border to NSW closing on 08 July. (Photo by William WEST / AFP)

News

World

United States & Canada

Coronavirus

US & Canada


President goes on morning tweet storm, pushing for schools to reopen and playing down pandemic risks
Infections surging in southern hotspots, including Texas, Florida, Louisiana and Arizona



President goes on morning tweet storm, pushing for schools to reopen and playing down pandemic risks.


US surges past 3 million coronavirus cases as Trump lashes own health agency

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} President goes on morning tweet storm, pushing for schools to reopen and playing down pandemic risks Infections surging in southern hotspots, including Texas, Florida, Louisiana and Arizona

President goes on morning tweet storm, pushing for schools to reopen and playing down pandemic risks

Infections surging in southern hotspots, including Texas, Florida, Louisiana and Arizona