COVID-19 News from Around the Web

The world saw the largest daily increases yet in coronavirus cases, with infections soaring in India’s rural villages after migrant workers fled major cities. India’s coronavirus caseload climbed by nearly 15,000 as of Monday to 425,282, with more than 13,000 deaths, the health ministry reported. After easing the nationwide lockdown, the Indian government has run special trains to return thousands of migrant workers to their natal villages in recent weeks. Nearly 90% of India’s poorest districts have cases, though the outbreak remains centered in Delhi, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu states, which are home to major cities. Infections slowed in China and South Korea, suggesting some progress in stemming their newest outbreaks. But despite clear headway in containing the virus in regions that suffered early outbreaks, globally the number of new virus cases has soared in recent days. In Brazil, Iraq, India and the United States, hospitals are scrambling to cope.

Nearly half of U.S. states are seeing upticks in new coronavirus cases, leading some state officials to order the reimposition of mask wearing for citizens. In California on Thursday, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that people will be required to wear masks in any indoor space, while Oregon Gov. Kate Brown issued a similar order for people living in seven counties there, CNN reported. North Carolina and Arizona are considering similar measures. Those four states -- along with Alabama, Florida, Nevada, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas -- are experiencing the highest week-long average rise in new daily cases seen in their states since the pandemic began, according to a CNN analysis of Johns Hopkins University data.

Florida is continuing to move forward with its reopening plans, despite having a week of record-breaking spikes in coronavirus cases. And now, one group of experts is warning that the state "has all the makings of the next large epicenter." On Wednesday, scientists at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania released a report that showcases what the future for Florida — and other states with recent spikes in cases — could be without more stringent restrictions. "The most concerning areas for additional widespread community transmission continue to be in Texas, Arizona, the Carolinas and, once again, Florida," the report said. "In fact, Florida has all the makings of the next large epicenter…the risk there is the worst it has ever been in our projections."

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's leading infectious diseases expert, is frustrated about the nation's inability to stop the continued spread of coronavirus, which he says is largely because Americans aren't following recommended health guidelines. "Clearly, we have not succeeded in getting the public as a whole, uniformly to respond in a way that is a sound scientific [response to a] public health and medical situation. I mean, it is clear because right now, you're seeing people throughout the country [contracting the virus]. And it's unfortunate. And it's frustrating," Fauci told CBS News Radio's Steven Portnoy in an interview Friday morning. And he blames the inconsistent public response for the recent "burst of infections." The problem isn't the guidance from local leaders. "In many states and cities, you have the leadership actually giving the right guideline instruction. But somehow, people for one reason or another, don't believe it or not fazed by it. And they go ahead and do things that are either against the guidelines that their own leadership is saying," Fauci said. He says he finds the increase in cases in states including Texas, Arizona and Oklahoma "disturbing." He noted that there's a certain anti-science trend in the country that may be contributing to the inconsistent public response to the advice of health experts. It's not a new phenomenon, Fauci says, but it has been intensified by the current moment.

President Donald Trump said Saturday he’s asked his administration to slow down coronavirus testing because robust testing turns up too many cases of COVID-19. Trump told supporters at his campaign rally that the U.S. has tested 25 million people, far more than any other country. The “bad part,” Trump said, is that widespread testing leads to logging more cases of the virus. “When you do testing to that extent, you’re going to find more people, you’re going to find more cases,” Trump said. “So I said to my people, ‘Slow the testing down, please.’ They test and they test.”

Contrary to President Trump’s recent comments, specialists say, recent increases are real, and the virus is like a “forest fire” that will burn as long as there is fuel. Public health experts warned on Sunday that the coronavirus pandemic is not going away anytime soon. They directly contradicted President Trump’s promise that the disease that has infected more than two million Americans would “fade away” and his remarks that disparaged the value of evidence from coronavirus tests. A day after Mr. Trump told a largely maskless audience at an indoor rally in Tulsa, Okla., that he had asked to “slow down the testing” because it inevitably increased the number of confirmed coronavirus cases, infectious disease experts countered that the latest rise of infections in the United States is real, the country’s response to the pandemic is not working and rallies like the president’s risk becoming major spreading events. Dr. Tom Inglesby, the director of the Center for Health Security at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said on “Fox News Sunday” that the spikes in confirmed cases in many states in the South and West are not simply a result of increased testing. Data show that the percentage of tests that are positive is increasing, he said, and in some states is accompanied by increased hospitalizations. In states like Arizona, Texas, North and South Carolina and Florida, he said, “That’s a real rise.”

The number of deaths per day from the coronavirus in the U.S. has fallen in recent weeks to the lowest level since late March, even as states increasingly reopen for business. But scientists are deeply afraid the trend may be about to reverse itself. … Deaths from COVID-19 across the country are down to about 680 a day, compared with around 960 two weeks ago, according to an AP analysis of data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. … A multitude of reasons are believed to be at play, including the advent of effective treatments and improved efforts at hospitals and nursing homes to prevent infections and save lives. But already there are warning signs.

Californians are required to wear face coverings in high-risk settings as the state continues to reopen amid the coronavirus pandemic. Gov. Gavin Newsom issued the statewide order on Thursday. It follows new guidance from the California DPH that asymptomatic or presymptomatic people can still spread the disease. "Our numbers are going up, not going down. Hospitalization numbers are just starting to creep back up, and I'm very concerned by what we're seeing," Newsom told ABC 7. "We think the most impactful thing we can do, short of going back to a stay-at-home order, is wearing face coverings when we can't practice physical distancing.”

AMC Theatres, the world’s largest exhibitor, has unveiled plans to re-open after coronavirus forced it to close its more than 600 venues in the U.S. for nearly four months. As part of that process, AMC is reducing its seating capacity in order to help people social distance, it is implementing new cleaning procedures, placing hand-sanitizing stations throughout its theaters and encouraging contact-less and cash-free concessions. … AMC will not mandate that all guests wear masks, although employees will be required to do so. … The situation will be different in states and cities that require residents to wear a mask when they’re in public, but Aron said that AMC was wary of wading into a public health issue that has become politicized.

The White House is taking a new position on the coronavirus pandemic: a daily count of 750 deaths is a testament to the federal government’s successful pandemic response. On Wednesday, when U.S. health officials reported nearly 27,000 new Covid-19 cases, President Trump said in a television interview that the virus was “dying out.” He brushed off concerns about an upcoming rally in Tulsa, Okla., because the number of cases there is “very miniscule,” despite the state’s surging infection rate. In a Wall Street Journal interview Wednesday, Trump argued coronavirus testing was “overrated” because it reveals large numbers of new Covid-19 cases, which in turn “makes us look bad,” and suggested that some Americans who wear masks do so not only to guard against the virus, but perhaps to display their anti-Trump animus. But a range of public health experts told STAT that this messaging not only diverts attention from a pandemic that has already caused 120,000 U.S. deaths, but has more practical implications: It could make it difficult for local governments to enlist the public in the mitigation measures necessary to reduce the continued spread of the virus.

Nursing home residents account for nearly 1 in 10 of all the coronavirus cases in the United States and more than a quarter of the deaths, according to an AP analysis of government data released Thursday. … About 1.4 million older and medically frail people live in such facilities, a tiny share of the American population that has borne a crushing burden from the pandemic. Most residents have been in lockdown since early March, isolated from families and friends, even in death. AP’s analysis of data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services found that nearly half of the more than 15,000 nursing homes have reported suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of June 7. About 1 in 5 facilities — or 21% — have reported deaths.