The new coronavirus pandemic has killed more than 610,000 people worldwide.
© Joe Raedle / Getty Images
Juan Carlos, a host of the Ocean 10 restaurant, stands at the restaurant’s entrance to turn down customers when a curfew is established from 8pm to 6am on July 18, 2020, in Miami Beach, Florida.
More than 14.7 million people worldwide have been diagnosed with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new respiratory virus, according to data compiled by the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering. The actual numbers are believed to be much higher due to a paucity of evidence, many unreported cases, and suspicions that some governments are hiding or minimizing the extent of their nations’ outbreaks.
The United States has become the most affected country, with more than 3.8 million diagnosed cases and at least 140,937 deaths.
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This is how the news is unfolding today. All eastern times. Check back for updates.
11:40 am The County of Florida asks parents to sign an exemption for children to participate in after-school activities
In Highlands County, Florida, parents must sign a COVID-19 waiver for students to participate in extracurricular activities this summer and during the next school year, reported ABC affiliate WFTS.
MORE: Are older people being put at risk if children return to school?
The exemption requires parents to agree to monitor their children’s temperature every day, visually inspect their children for signs of illness, and confirm that the children have not been in contact with a person with a positive coronavirus in the past two weeks. Parents should also agree to immediately pick up their children if they show signs of illness and keep them at home until they are disease free for at least 72 hours without medication.
The waiver is intended to remind parents that participating in any activity now carries a risk, Assistant Principal Andrew Lethbridge told WFTS.
11:05 am: Florida has 5 counties without beds available in the ICU
In Florida, five counties, Hernando, Monroe, Nassau, Okeechobee and Putnam, had no beds available in the ICU until Tuesday morning, according to the State Agency for Health Administration.
Of the adult ICU beds statewide, only 16.47% are available, the agency said.
Those numbers are expected to fluctuate throughout the day.
MORE: COVID-19 Vaccine Candidates Show Promising Initial Results, But Finish Line Still Far Ahead
At least 21,780 coronavirus patients in Florida have been hospitalized since the pandemic began, up to 517 since Monday, according to the state Department of Health.
© David Santiago / AP
A National Guard troop steers the cars as people are evaluated by health workers at the COVID-19 testing center at Hard Rock Stadium, in Miami Gardens, Florida, as the coronavirus pandemic continues, July 19. 2020.
Florida’s positivity rate is now 13.62%, as the number of COVID-19 cases in the state reaches 369,834.
Miami-Dade County, which includes Miami, and Bay County, which includes Panama City, are especially affected.
© Joe Raedle / Getty Images
Juan Carlos, a host of the Ocean 10 restaurant, stands at the restaurant’s entrance to turn down customers when a curfew is established from 8pm to 6am on July 18, 2020, in Miami Beach, Florida.
© Joe Raedle / Getty Images
A Miami Beach police officer directs people outside the entertainment district when a curfew is established from 8pm to 6am to combat the spread of the coronavirus on July 18, 2020 in Miami Beach, Florida.
Miami-Dade County has a positivity rate of 19.2%, while Bay County’s positivity rate is 24.4%
10:05 am: NJ closes DMV center after employee tests positive
A DMV licensing center in Wayne, New Jersey, is closing for a week after an employee tested positive, state officials announced Tuesday.
The facilities will be disinfected and the employee will be quarantined for two weeks.
9:25 am: Alabama County cases double in 2 weeks
Officials in Calhoun County, Alabama, about 70 miles east of Birmingham, are pleading with residents to wear masks as COVID-19 cases in the area increase.
Of the 814 county coronavirus cases, 430 of them were reported in the past two weeks, Calhoun County Director of Emergency Management Michael Barton said Monday.
MORE: Can You Get COVID-19 Twice? What the experts say
“This is alarming,” Barton said, adding that hospitals are at a “record high in reaching our capacity.”
A local hospital had five COVID-19 patients two weeks ago. That hospital now has 44 patients.
MORE: Inside the grueling front lines of COVID’s first responders
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey issued a statewide mandatory mask requirement last week.
“Be sure to wear your mask and adhere to all the standards and guidelines you can,” urged Joe Weaver, CEO of the local Stringfellow Memorial Hospital. “We know it is restrictive, but at the same time, there is nothing else. There is nothing else we can do right now.”
4:43 am: Russia’s first COVID-19 vaccine ready, says deputy defense minister
Russia’s first vaccine against the new coronavirus is ready, Deputy Defense Minister Ruslan Tsalikov told the Argumenty i Fakty newspaper.
The vaccine was created by military and scientific specialists from the Gamaleya National Center for Research in Epidemiology and Microbiology.
“Final evaluations have already been carried out on the results of tests carried out by our specialists and scientists from the National Research Center. At the time of release, all the volunteers, without exception, developed immunity against the coronavirus and felt normal. So , the first domestic vaccine against the novel coronavirus infection is ready, “Tsalikov told the newspaper.
2:43 am: Fort Worth Federal Women’s Prison announces third COVID-related death
The United States Bureau of Prisons announced a third COVID-related death Monday night at FMC Carswell, a specialized federal medical prison for women in Fort Worth, Texas.
Teresa Ely, 51, tested positive for COVID-19 on June 30 and was transported to a local hospital where she received treatment until she died Monday.
Ely had “long-term pre-existing medical conditions, which the CDC lists as risk factors for developing the most serious COVID-19 disease,” said the BOP.
“Ms. Ely was a 51-year-old woman who was sentenced in the Western District of Virginia to a 252-month sentence for participating in a criminal enterprise and continuing a criminal enterprise,” a prison statement read. “Ms. Ely had been detained at FMC Carswell since September 19, 2007.”
1:37 am: NFL players will be evaluated daily for COVID-19 for at least the first two weeks of training camp
The NFL announced that players will be screened daily for the coronavirus for at least the first two weeks of training camp.
The league also made an offer to the NFL Players Association not to play preseason games this summer, a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
The players had been pushing not to play preseason games this year, and the league had been looking to play two games instead of the usual four.
The league’s proposal to players includes an offer for a longer acclimatization period on training ground, a source told ESPN’s Dan Graziano, and that is closer to what the union proposed.
The NFLPA has not yet informed the league if it will accept the proposal.
What to know about the coronavirus:
12:45 am: Church-related COVID-19 outbreaks continue to appear in West Virginia
Several new COVID-19 outbreaks have been identified in churches in West Virginia, Grant, Logan and Wood counties, West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice said Monday.
Last week, Justice said additional church-related outbreaks had been identified in Boone, Kanawha, Raleigh and Taylor counties.
Combined, the outbreaks in these seven counties represent about 75 cases in total.
“We absolutely have to be aware of this,” Justice said. “Keep in mind that the church environment is the ideal environment to spread this virus.”
The Governor urged all West Virginia residents to attend the church to follow the state’s safety guidelines, including using any other bank, maintaining social distancing, and wearing face covering.
“I know these things are really difficult to do,” Justice said. “But for now, they have to be done because if we don’t do it, all we will do is lose more people.”
“We could well lose many of our grandmothers and grandfathers, people who have so much wisdom to keep broadcasting, we don’t need to lose these great West Virginians,” she said.
ABC News, Gretsky, Rachel Katz, Alina Lobzina, Darren Reynolds, Benjamin Siu, Ben Stein and Scott Withers contributed to this report.
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