- Chicago, Pennsylvania now has quarantines for travelers from more than a dozen states.
- Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued a face-covering mandate statewide.
- Several Secret Service agents tested positive before Vice President Pence’s trip to Arizona.
There is a new strain of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, and health experts say it could spread even faster than the original version.
The mutation multiplies more easily in the nose, sinuses, and throat, which may make it more likely to spread from person to person. On a paper Published Thursday in the journal Cell, scientists said the new mutation was first seen in Italy in February and is now the dominant form of the circulating virus.
They said that while the new strain spreads faster, it is not more dangerous.
Virus mutations are common, but in some cases they can affect the potential of vaccines to work.
(CLOCK: How effective is your mask?)
The United States counted more than 50,000 new cases of coronavirus for the second consecutive day on Thursday, as numbers continue to rise in dozens of states.
According to the data collected, more than 2.7 million cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed across the country. from Johns Hopkins University. At least 128,741 people have died in the United States. Worldwide, more than 521,000 people have died and there have been 10.9 million infections.
Latest developments
U.S:
-At least 36 states They are seeing more cases of COVID-19, according to CNN. Of these, nine have seen their cases jump by 50%.
-New York, with 394,000 known infections, remains the state with the most cases. But the numbers are flattening as other states increase. The states with the next highest number of cases as of Friday morning were California with 246,815, Texas with 179,137, New Jersey with 172,356 and Florida with 169,106.
-Chicago and Pennsylvania they became the last areas on Thursday to institute quarantines for travelers from states with high infection rates. The rules affect more than a dozen states. Violators in Chicago can be fined up to $ 500 per day. The restrictions are similar to those recently established in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
-In a move that many saw as a dramatic change, Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued a state order requiring face covering. starting today.
Medical staff members rest in the COVID-19 intensive care unit at United Memorial Medical Center on July 2, 2020, in Houston, Texas. COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations have skyrocketed since Texas reopened, bringing intensive care rooms to full capacity and raising concerns about an increase in deaths as the virus spreads.
(Go to Nakamura / Getty Images)
-President Donald Trump attends the fireworks display at Mount Rushmore in South Dakota. About 7,500 spectators will also be present, at an event that Governor Kristi Noem said will not include rules for social distancing. Rapid city mayor Steve Allender, whose community is near Mount Rushmore, expressed some concern about the meeting. “Obviously it is an apparent health riskBut I will tell you in a couple of weeks later if it really was a health risk, “Allender told the Rapid City Journal.” Between that and the other special events we have here, if it will actually cause an infection, we should see those results in a couple of weeks. “
-Several Secret Service agents who were accompanying Vice President Mike Pence on a visit to Arizona last week tested positive before the trip, the Washington Post reported.
Worldwide:
-Travellers from the US to England will be subject to a 14-day quarantine. England removed quarantine restrictions for travelers from more than 50 countries, but did not include United States, The New York Times reported.
-The number of cases in Brazil is close to a million and a half. The country has the second highest number of cases behind the United States. The third highest number is 667,000 in Russia.
For the latest information on coronaviruses in your county and a complete list of important resources to help you make the smartest decisions about the disease, check out our dedicated page of COVID-19.
The Weather Journal’s primary journalistic mission is to report on the latest news from the climate, the environment and the importance of science in our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.
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