Here’s what you need to know:
- The U.S. shatters its single-day record for new cases, with more than 74,000.
- Four countries account for two-thirds of the world’s cases.
- Russian hackers have been using spear-phishing and malware to target U.S., British and Canadian groups.
- The White House press secretary says ‘science should not stand in the way’ of reopening schools.
- The University of Akron cuts nearly 100 faculty jobs, as the pandemic savages college finances.
- Learn about 20 of the most talked-about possible coronavirus treatments with this new tracking tool.
- USA Today says a Trump adviser’s opinion piece attacking Dr. Fauci did not meet its standards.
The U.S. shatters its single-day record for new cases, with more than 74,000.
As clashes over face-covering mandates and school reopening plans intensified throughout the United States, the country shattered its single-day record for new cases on Thursday — more than 74,000 with some numbers still to be announced, according to a New York Times database.
The previous record, 68,241 cases, was announced last Friday.
That figure included more than 5,000 cases in Bexar County, Texas, which contains San Antonio, where numbers spiked in part because of a backlog in test reporting.
This was the 11th time in the past month that the record had been broken, and as of Wednesday the country’s seven-day average case number exceeded 63,000, up from about 22,200 a month before.
Florida on Thursday broke its single-day death record for the second time this week, reporting 156 new fatalities. It was one of 10 states to reach a record for deaths in a single day this week, joining Idaho, Alabama, Arizona, Utah, Oregon, Texas, Hawaii, Montana and South Carolina.
More than half the 50 states have issued mask requirements, including Arkansas, where Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a Republican, announced a face covering requirement on Thursday, after previously taking a more hands-off approach. Gov. Jared Polis of Colorado, a Democrat, also issued a mask order on Thursday, after questioning whether such a mandate would be enforceable.
But there remains firm resistance in many circles, including from some Republican leaders who view mask requirements as a threat to personal liberty.
Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia, who announced this week that he was suspending all local mask mandates, filed a lawsuit on Thursday challenging the authority of leaders in Atlanta to require masks inside their city’s limits.
Also on Thursday, health officials in Dallas announced that the city’s public and private schools would conduct classes virtually for the first three weeks of the school year, which begins Aug. 17. Several other large school districts have announced plans to rely on distance learning when they reopen for the upcoming school year, bucking pressure from the Trump administration.
The White House press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, on Thursday reiterated President Trump’s view that schools must open in the fall. “When he says open,” she said, “he means open and full, kids being able to attend each and every day at their school. The science should not stand in the way of this.”
Also on Thursday, Target and CVS joined other large retailers by announcing Thursday that they would require customers to wear face masks at all stores nationwide. Similar announcements had already been made by Walmart, Kroger and Kohl’s.
CVS will start requiring masks on July 20, and Target’s policy will go into effect on Aug. 1.
Key Data of the Day
Four countries account for two-thirds of the world’s cases.
As the pandemic continues to quicken worldwide for a third consecutive month, many countries are seeing resurgences of the virus — or never succeeded in containing it at all.
Few have been able to follow the examples that were set by some of the earliest hot spots in China, South Korea and in Europe, which showed that even large initial outbreaks could be suppressed, offering a degree of hope.
Two-thirds of the 230,000 new cases that were reported worldwide on Wednesday came from just four countries — the United States, Brazil, India and South Africa — which are all failing to contain enormous, fast-moving epidemics.
India’s cases are steadily approaching 1 million. South Africa, which seemed to have some success early on, is faltering under an accelerating wave of new cases that is overwhelming some hospitals. Outbreaks continue to grow at dangerous levels throughout Latin America, led by Brazil, where last week President Jair Bolsonaro announced that he had tested positive, becoming one of the more than 35,000 new cases his country recorded each day.
And the outbreak in the United States has surged over the past month, after many states eased restrictions. The nation has now seen more than 3.5 million cases and 137,000 deaths, more than any other country in the world, according to a New York Times database.
The U.S. is now averaging some 63,000 new cases a day — twice as many as in April, when the nation reached what many officials initially hoped would be its peak.
Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the top infectious disease expert in the U.S., noted in an interview Thursday on Facebook with its chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, that after its initial peak, the nation never succeeded in driving the virus beneath a plateau of about 20,000 new cases a day.
“When you looked at what happened in the European countries, when they had their peak and they locked down, they locked down to the tune of about 90 to 95 percent of the country, truly locked down,” he said, adding that they succeeded in driving new infections down to a baseline of “literally handfuls of new cases — tens, twenties, thirties, not hundreds and thousands.”
“What I think we need to do, and my colleagues agree, is we really almost need to regroup, call a timeout, — not necessarily lock down again, but say that we’ve got to do this in a more measured way,” Dr. Fauci said. “We’ve got to get our arms around this and we’ve got to get this controlled.”
Russian hackers have been using spear-phishing and malware to target U.S., British and Canadian groups.
Russian hackers are attempting to steal coronavirus vaccine research, the U.S., British and Canadian governments said Thursday, opening a dangerous new front in the cyberwars and intelligence battles between Moscow and the West.
The National Security Agency said APT29, the hacking group known as Cozy Bear that is associated with Russian intelligence, has been taking advantage of the chaos created by the pandemic to target health care organizations in search of intelligence on vaccines, Julian E. Barnes reports.
The Russian hackers have been targeting British, Canadian and American organizations researching vaccines, using spear-phishing and malware to try to get access to the research.
“We condemn these despicable attacks against those doing vital work to combat the coronavirus pandemic,” said Paul Chichester, the director of operations for Britain’s National Cyber Security Center.
Cozy Bear is one of the most high profile, and successful, hacking groups associated with the Russian government, and was implicated alongside the group Fancy Bear in the 2016 hacking of the Democratic National Committee.
“APT29 has a long history of targeting governmental, diplomatic, think-tank, health care and energy organizations for intelligence gain so we encourage everyone to take this threat seriously and apply the mitigations issued in the advisory,” said Anne Neuberger, the N.S.A.’s cybersecurity director.
The British and Canadian governments said Thursday that Cozy Bear is almost certainly part of the Russian intelligence services.
The White House press secretary says ‘science should not stand in the way’ of reopening schools.
With the United States averaging more new cases each day than ever, governors and mayors were scrambling to issue new mask orders and limit the size of gatherings, and schools were trying to figure out what kind of instruction they can offer this fall.
Several large school districts — including in Houston, Los Angeles and San Francisco — said this week that they would open the academic year with online classes, bucking pressure from President Trump and his administration to get students back into classrooms.
Kayleigh McEnany, the White House press secretary, said Thursday that Mr. Trump still wants to see schools reopen.
“When he says open, he means open and full, kids being able to attend each and every day at their school,” she said. “The science should not stand in the way of this.”
The debate over schools comes as the U.S. reported more than 67,300 new infections on Wednesday, about 1,000 cases shy of the national record set late last week, according to a New York Times database, and the country’s total number of cases passed 3.5 million. On Thursday, Florida broke its single-day death record — the second time this week — reporting 156 new deaths. The state also announced there were more than 13,960 new cases.
Ms. McEnany then referenced data published in JAMA Pediatrics, a respected medical journal published by the American Medical Association, that indicated the risk of children contracting the coronavirus was low compared with seasonal influenza.
“The science is on our side here,” Ms. McEnany said, adding that the United States is an “outlier” among other countries sending children back to school. But no other country has decided to try and send children back to school with the virus continuing to surge, and relatively little is still known about the role children play in transmitting the illness.
In Dallas County, Tex., local health officials announced Thursday that both public and private schools will conduct classes virtually for the first three weeks of the school year, which begins on Aug. 17.
The increase in infections has prompted new restrictions by governors from both parties. Gov. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas, a Republican, and Gov. Jared Polis of Colorado, a Democrat, each announced new orders on Thursday requiring most people in their states to wear masks in certain public settings. The governors of Alabama and Montana did the same on Wednesday.
Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia, a Republican, specifically forbade local officials to require people to wear face coverings in public, but he also extended by two weeks an executive order limiting the size of public gatherings to 50.
The University of Akron cuts nearly 100 faculty jobs, as the pandemic savages college finances.
In the latest sign of the pandemic’s deepening financial impact on higher education, the University of Akron’s board of trustees voted on Wednesday to lay off nearly 100 full-time professors.
The school is one of the first in the country to make deep cuts to its unionized faculty in response to the coronavirus.
Like many universities, Akron, a public research institution with about 19,000 students, was already in a tough financial position before the outbreak. Two years ago, it cut about 80 programs as part of a major academic restructuring. Since the pandemic began, it has merged 11 of its component colleges into five to save money.
Akron’s president, Gary L. Miller, said declining enrollment and state budget cuts made the faculty layoffs necessary. The cuts, which must still be ratified by the union’s members, were part of a move to eliminate 178 total positions, including non-faculty employees and contract professionals.
Katie Stoynoff, the chief negotiator of the Akron chapter of the American Association of University Professors, the union representing faculty, said the university had made poor choices about what to cut.
“It’s a very sad time for the university,” said Ms. Stoynoff, who teaches in the English department. “Rarely do full-time faculty get laid off, especially tenured faculty.”
Across higher education, colleges and universities have furloughed or fired thousands of employees since March, when the pandemic forced them to send students home and close campuses. The Chronicle of Higher Education, which has been tracking the cuts, reports that at least 224 institutions have reduced staff so far, affecting at least 51,793 employees — probably a vast undercount, it says.
The situation is likely to worsen: A higher education trade group predicts a 15 percent drop in enrollment nationwide in the fall, leading to $23 billion in lost revenue.
On Thursday, the Trump administration issued an exemption to its ban on travelers from some nations. It will now allow European students who returned home because of the outbreak to re-enter the United States in time to begin their fall classes. Students from other countries, including China and Brazil, are still blocked from re-entering the United States.
Learn about 20 of the most talked-about possible coronavirus treatments with this new tracking tool.
Companies and researchers worldwide are rushing to test hundreds of possible treatments meant to prevent or quell coronavirus infections. Some they hope will block the virus itself, nipping a burgeoning infection in the bud, while others are aimed at mimicking the immune system or quieting an overactive immune response.
The New York Times is cataloging some of the most talked-about drugs, devices and therapies in a new tracker that summarizes the evidence for and against each proposed treatment. The tracker includes 20 treatments so far; five have strong evidence of efficacy, three are pseudoscience, and the rest fall somewhere in between.
USA Today says a Trump adviser’s opinion piece attacking Dr. Fauci did not meet its standards.
A scathing op-ed article by President Trump’s top trade adviser that declared Dr. Anthony S. Fauci “wrong about everything” caused a fissure at the White House this week, with Trump aides scrambling to disavow the attack on one of the most trusted public figures of the coronavirus crisis.
Now the article, written by Peter Navarro, has generated second thoughts at the newspaper that published it, USA Today.
In a note published Wednesday evening, a day after the article was posted online, Bill Sternberg, the editorial page editor of USA Today, wrote that several of Mr. Navarro’s attacks on Dr. Fauci “were misleading or lacked context.” He concluded that the op-ed, which appeared in print Wednesday, “did not meet USA Today’s fact-checking standards.”
Mr. Sternberg said the newspaper had solicited the article from Mr. Navarro as a countervailing view to an editorial that also ran in Wednesday’s newspaper. That article, attributed to the paper’s editorial board — and therefore carrying the institutional imprimatur — criticized Mr. Trump for sidelining Dr. Fauci and praised the doctor as a “national treasure.”
Cruise lines in the U.S. are ordered not to sail until October at the earliest.
Cruise ships will not be allowed to resume regular departures from the United States until October at the soonest, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday.
In a scathing 20-page order, Dr. Robert R. Redfield, the director of the C.D.C., blamed the cruise industry for widespread transmission of the coronavirus.
Dr. Redfield also said that cruise lines had done little to stop the spread among crew members, failing to comply with social-distancing measures like closing crew gyms and stopping staff social gatherings.
The industry had already voluntarily suspended operations until Sept. 15, but the C.D.C. order makes clear that it has a long way to go before public health officials allow cruise vacations to begin again.
The agency pointed to 99 outbreaks on 123 ships in U.S. waters alone. “During this time frame, 80 percent of ships were affected by Covid-19,” it said in a statement.
Nine ships still had active outbreaks among crew members as of July 3. One ship, the Disney Wonder, had an outbreak that lasted 10 weeks, the agency said.
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France will require masks in all public indoor areas starting next week.
France will make masks compulsory in all public indoor areas starting next week, Prime Minister Jean Castex announced on Thursday, as the authorities try to contain an uptick of coronavirus cases in recent days.
President Emmanuel Macron had initially suggested the rule would into effect Aug. 1, but Mr. Castex said the requirement would start earlier because Aug. 1 “sounded late.” An exact date was not announced.
Masks were already obligatory on public transportation in France, but there have been countless examples in recent days of people flouting social-distancing rules or not wearing masks inside — including during government meetings — raising concerns that the lack of precautions could trigger a wave of infections.
Britain announced similar measures this week, with face coverings compulsory in shops and supermarkets starting July 24.
In other news around the world:
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India reported a single-day record of 32,695 new infections on Thursday, as the country’s total caseload neared one million. India trails only the United States and Brazil in the total number of cases, and several Indian states are reintroducing social-distancing measures they lifted in June.
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The United Nations issued an appeal to the most affluent countries on Thursday for $10.3 billion in emergency aid to fight the coronavirus pandemic in low-income and especially vulnerable populations. That is more than five times the aid initially sought four months ago by the organization to deal with the scourge. Without a muscular aid response, the United Nations said, the pandemic and associated global recession are set to trigger the first increase in global poverty since 1990 and push 265 million people to the point of starvation by year’s end.
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The authorities in Bangladesh have arrested the owner of a hospital accused of selling thousands of certificates showing a negative result on coronavirus tests to migrant workers, when in fact many tests were never performed. There is a huge market for these certificates among migrant workers from Bangladesh, one of the poorest countries in Asia, who are eager to get back to work in Europe, doing jobs like stocking grocery stores, busing tables in restaurants or selling bottled water on the streets.
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Hong Kong on Thursday reported its highest daily number of cases since the outbreak began in January, as the Chinese territory grappled with what some have called its “third wave” of infections and its most serious one yet. Of the 67 new cases recorded on Thursday, 63 were local infections, meaning the sick had no recent travel history.
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Tokyo was expected to report a single-day record of more than 280 new cases on Thursday, Japan’s national broadcaster reported.
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The World Health Organization raised the alarm on Thursday about a growing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It said that 56 cases had been reported in Equator Province, more than during the last outbreak in 2018. Officials said that the coronavirus pandemic had complicated the response to the Ebola outbreak, and warned of an imminent shortage of funds.
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Movie theaters in China, which have been closed since January, will be allowed to reopen starting Monday, the state media announced. President Xi Jinping said in March that people could stay at home to watch movies online, so even though much of everyday life in China has resumed, officials had not allowed cinemas to reopen for fear of angering Mr. Xi.
U.S. Roundup
In Washington State, which seemed to have beaten back the virus, the fight is on again.
In what seems like almost a lifetime ago, America’s virus story started in January in Washington State, with the nation’s first confirmed case followed by an early outbreak that spread with alarming ferocity.
But swift lockdown measures were credited with holding down illnesses and deaths. By June, nail salons and bars had begun to reopen, even as the virus began to rage in Arizona, Florida and Texas. Washington still had relatively low case numbers, and some counties were even contemplating a return to movie theaters and museums.
Now, those plans are on hold, as the coronavirus is once again ravaging Washington.
Since the middle of June, the state has reported an average of 700 new cases per day — the highest levels since the start of the pandemic. At least 45,000 people in the state have been infected, and at least 1,400 have died.
“If these trends were to continue, we would have to prepare to go back to where we were in March,” Gov. Jay Inslee said recently.
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In Puerto Rico, where the situation has been steadily worsening after promising early signs of containment, Gov. Wanda Vázquez rolled back part of the economic opening on Thursday. Beginning on Friday restaurants will again have to operate at half capacity. Alcohol sales will be banned after 7 p.m. Bars, theaters, nightclubs, casinos, gyms and marinas will close. Beach access will be allowed only for people engaged in physical activity.
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Target and CVS announced Thursday that they will require customers to wear face masks at all stores nationwide. The chains are the latest retailers to enforce mask mandates, on the heels of similar announcements by Walmart, Kroger and Kohl’s. “We’re joining others in taking the next step and requiring all customers to wear face coverings,” CVS tweeted on Thursday. CVS will start requiring masks on July 20 and Target’s policy will go into effect on August 1.
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Senate Democrats on Thursday opened a new front in congressional negotiations over another pandemic aid bill to stabilize the faltering United States economy, proposing that the next round of relief dedicate $350 billion to programs that aim to narrow racial wealth gaps and help Americans of color weather the recession.
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The Commerce Department said Thursday that retail sales rose 7.5 percent in June after a record surge in May, and the Labor Department said that 1.3 million laid-off workers filed initial claims last week for state unemployment benefits, continuing a decline since the peak in late March. The unemployment number is still higher than levels ever seen before the pandemic.
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The Air Force’s Thunderbirds have been grounded by the coronavirus months after flying over several American cities in a show of support for the medical personnel fighting a pandemic. Several airmen who maintain the F-16 fighter jets have tested positive for the virus and entered quarantine, Ann Stefanek, an Air Force spokeswoman, said on Thursday. The Thunderbirds and their Navy counterparts typically perform at dozens of air shows around the country each year. The positive tests led the Thunderbirds to cancel a performance at an air show near Cheyenne, Wyo., on July 22.
Limits on indoor businesses in N.Y.C. won’t be eased, and rules on bars and restaurants statewide are being tightened.
As New York grapples with how to prevent another large outbreak, state officials said Thursday that restrictions would remain in place on indoor businesses in New York City. And they said bars and restaurants statewide would now be permitted to serve alcohol only to seated customers who order food. Even at bar tops, alcohol will be served only to seated customers. Purchasing takeout drinks will still be allowed if the drinks are bought with food
In normal times, snacks like popcorn and pretzels would meet that food requirement, but in the current environment they do not, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said in an interview after the announcement. To meet the new requirement, bars and restaurants must serve something more closely resembling a meal, he said.
With cases rising across the country, Mr. Cuomo has stressed the importance of bars and restaurants — and their patrons — complying with social-distancing guidelines. The new rules are meant to reduce crowds outside bars and restaurants.
“We are still seeing issues,” Mr. Cuomo said, “not just in the bars and restaurants, but all across the country.”
The governor, citing what he said was a “significant evidence of failure to comply” with social-distancing regulations, said any bar or restaurant in New York City that received three violations would be shut down. Even without a third violation, violations that are “egregious” can result in the immediate loss of liquor license or closure, officials said.
While Mr. Cuomo said that New York City remained on track to move into Phase 4 of reopening on Monday, indoor activities outlined in that stage would remain on hold. A final decision on whether the city will move into Phase 4 will be announced by Friday afternoon, he said.
Under the state’s guidelines, regions in Phase 4 can normally reopen zoos, historical sites and museums, as well as malls with “enhanced” air-filtration systems. Outside New York City, the rest of the state has already eased those restrictions. Some museums in the city, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, had previously announced plans to wait until late August or September to reopen. When asked whether those target dates were likely, Mr. Cuomo said museums “can plan to reopen,” but added that “we’ll see what the facts say” when August comes.
At his daily briefing earlier in the day, New York City’s mayor said that outdoor businesses are expected to still be on track, but that indoor activities were giving him pause.
Watch: Spain holds a ceremony honoring medical workers and victims of the coronavirus.
King Felipe VI of Spain led a tribute to the country’s coronavirus victims and health care workers on Thursday, during a ceremony at the royal palace in Madrid. At least 28,400 people in Spain have died from the virus.
Here’s how animals are helping us through the pandemic.
Whether it’s a therapy dog providing an escape for children in a hospital or your own — less useful — furry friend at home, here are some ways they are helping.
Reporting was contributed by Rachel Abrams, Julian E. Barnes, Keith Bradsher, Julia Calderone, Troy Closson, Michael Cooper, Michael Corkery, Caitlin Dickerson, Manny Fernandez, Luis Ferré-Sadurní, Jeffrey Gettleman, Russell Goldman, Michael M. Grynbaum, John Ismay, Mike Ives, Patrick J. Lyons, Sapna Maheshwari, Jeffrey C. Mays, Patricia Mazzei, Giulia McDonnell Nieto del Rio, Jesse McKinley, Sarah Mervosh, Claire Cain Miller, Jennifer Miller, Raphael Minder, Elian Peltier, Frances Robles, Katie Rogers, Eliza Shapiro, Nelson D. Schwartz, Mitch Smith, Matina Stevis-Gridneff, Jim Tankersley, Katie Thomas, Lucy Tompkins, Megan Twohey, Will Wright, Katherine J. Wu, Sameer Yasir, Ceylan Yeginsu and Elaine Yu.
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