Coronavirus updates Friday: Oregon Ducks’ marquee football game canceled
In the moment, Rob Mullens and Gene Smith probably didn’t give much thought to the standard force majeure clause included in the contact they signed Oct. 12, 2012.
The Oregon and Ohio State athletic directors finalized the high-profile future home-and-home football series the week after the second-ranked Ducks walloped Washington 52-21 en route to a 12-1 finish in Chip Kelly’s final season and the Buckeyes blasted Nebraska 63-38 on the way to a perfect 12-0 finish to Urban Meyer’s first season.
Nearly eight years later, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has turned out to be the "unforeseen catastrophe" the force majeure clause was made for.
The Big Ten announced Thursday that it will attempt to play a conference-only schedule this fall.
Oregon smashes daily virus record with nearly 400 new cases
PORTLAND — Oregon smashed its previous daily record for COVID-19 cases on Thursday with a 389 new diagnoses and six deaths.
The number of cases was the highest seen in the state since the start of the pandemic, the Oregon Health Authority said, and brings total cases statewide to 11,188. There have been at least 220 deaths.
State health officials attributed the high numbers to workplace outbreaks and community spread and have continually warned about concerning upticks in positive COVID-19 tests in rural counties.
On Thursday, Umatilla County reported 55 new cases for a total of 938 cases. Fourteen people are hospitalized in the county 210 miles (337 kilometers) east of Portland and seven have died, the East Oregonian reported.
Many of those cases come from an outbreak at a potato processing facility.
Malheur County, about 415 miles (667 kilometers) southeast of Portland near the Idaho border, saw 31 new cases announced Thursday for a total of over 200 cases. The county is one of eight on the state's "watch list" because of the rapid spread of the coronavirus.
The county has seen its case numbers triple since June 23 and experienced one of the highest rates of new cases in the state in the week leading up to July 4, according to the Malheur County Health Department.
The reported deaths Wednesday were in Crook, Marion, Umatilla and Clackamas counties.
— The Associated Press
Nevada bars to close Friday as state returns to Phase 1 restrictions
Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak said bars in some counties will have to close up Friday, a new directive that returns the state to Phase 1 restrictions to fight a spike in COVID-19 cases.
Under Sisolak's directive, restaurants can no longer serve parties more than six people and must close their bar areas. He also encouraged restaurants to have people eat outside.
The decision comes as the known number of Nevadans testing positive for COVID-19 increased to 24,904 on Thursday morning, according to the Nevada Health Alliance dashboard.
"Masks are not partisan, they're not political, they're not a joke," Sisolak said. "It is costing lives to have people not mask."
— USA TODAY
Dr. Anthony Fauci: Political 'divisiveness' has weakened coordinated response
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's leading infectious-disease expert, said extreme partisanship has hampered the U.S. response to the crisis.
"You’d have to make the assumption that if there wasn’t such divisiveness, that we would have a more coordinated approach," Fauci said in an interview with FiveThirtyEight's "PODCAST-19" released Thursday.
Fauci is a member of the president's coronavirus task force and has been careful not to publicly criticize President Trump, but he has been increasingly blunt in his evaluations, recently saying the U.S. is "knee deep'' in cases of COVID-19 and the country's prognosis is "really not good.''
Fauci's stances have led to pushback from Republicans such as Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs, who accused Fauci in a May USA TODAY op-ed of trying to "corral our freedom" and "brush away the optimism of the president and the American people."
— USA TODAY
CDC chief says school reopening guidelines won't be changed
Federal health guidelines for reopening schools across the nation will not be altered despite President Donald Trump's complaints that they are too difficult and expensive, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday.
Vice President Mike Pence said Wednesday that Trump doesn't "want the guidance to be too tough. That's the reason why, next week, CDC is going to be issuing a new set of tools, five different documents that will be giving even more clarity on the guidance going forward."
Documents, yes, easier guidelines, no, the CDC's director, Dr. Robert Redfield, said Thursday. “Our guidelines are our guidelines, but we are going to provide additional reference documents to basically aid communities in trying to open K-through-12s,” Redfield said. “It’s not a revision of the guidelines.”
Later in the day, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany confirmed the current guidelines would not be rescinded but the CDC would will issue "supplemental guidance." She also reiterated Redfield's statement that the guidance is not binding and that localities will make their own decisions.
— USA TODAY
Florida deaths spike by nearly 50%
The number of deaths from COVID-19 skyrocketed in Florida with a record-setting 120 fatalities reported Thursday, according to the Florida Department of Health. The previous highest single-day total had been 83. The soaring toll came on a day when Florida surpassed 4,000 deaths during the pandemic. The current total of 4,111 fatalities ranks ninth among states.
An additional 8,935 cases were reported in Florida, pushing the state’s total to 232,718, third in the nation behind New York and California. Florida has added 118,700 new cases in the last two weeks, more than half of the total.
— USA TODAY
Nashville blindsided by delayed reporting of hundreds of infections
A reporting delay may have left hundreds of residents in Nashville, Tennessee, unaware that they had tested positive for the coronavirus and liable to unwittingly infect others for weeks.
The reporting delay also hampered Nashville’s contact tracing efforts because it left the city blind to 312 infections that dated back as far as mid-June. Nashville just had what Mayor John Cooper called its "worst day'' of the outbreak with a record 688 new infections -- 45% of those coming from the delayed reporting -- eight more deaths and a total of 188 people currently hospitalized by the virus.
— USA TODAY
Bolivia's interim President Jeanine Áñez tests positive for COVID-19
Interim Bolivian President Jeanine Áñez says she has tested positive for the coronavirus but feels fine. “I feel good, I feel strong, I will continue to work virtually from my isolation,” Áñez wrote on her Twitter account Thursday. Her infection comes amid a spike in cases in the South American nation, which has banned mass gatherings to try to limit the spread of the virus.
Other Latin American leaders who have contracted the virus include Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández.
— USA TODAY
TSA enhances measures to protect passengers from coronavirus
Transportation Security Administration officers will be have to change their gloves more frequently and wear face shields when screening passengers as the agency implements changes to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The come after a whistleblower complaint last month by a TSA official that the agency failed to provide enough protective equipment to personnel who come into close contact with the traveling public.
"I have no doubt whatsoever that our people became Typhoid Marys and contributed to the spread of that virus because TSA senior leadership did not make sure (screeners) were adequately protected," Jay Brainard, the top TSA official in Kansas, told The Associated Press last month.
— USA TODAY
California security guard charged with murder after confrontation over mask
A California security guard has been charged with murder and possession of a handgun by a felon in the fatal shooting Sunday of a supermarket customer following a confrontation over wearing a mask.
Prosecutors say Jerry Lewis, 50, reportedly entered the market in the Los Angeles suburb of Gardena without a mask and got into an argument with security guard Umeir Corniche Hawkins, 38. After a confrontation, Lewis was fatally shot as he walked away, prosecutors said.
Bail for Hawkins, convicted in 2013 for assault by means of force, was set at $1 million. He pleaded not guilty and could face a sentence of 50 years to life in prison if convicted.
— USA TODAY
Mississippi lawmakers flouted masks. Now 26 have tested positive.
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves is warning the public to get tested for the coronavirus if they have been in contact with a state lawmaker. The number of cases linked to an outbreak at the Capitol in Jackson has grown to 36, which includes 26 legislators, according to the state health officials.
Many politicians flouted recommendations to wear a mask inside the Capitol in recent weeks. Now, about one in six of Mississippi state lawmakers have tested positive for the coronavirus, including House Speaker Philip Gunn and Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann.
Reeves warned that Mississippi's health care system will be overwhelmed if the state does not change its trajectory on coronavirus cases and hospitalizations: "The fact is that the crunch on our hospital system is not a hypothetical. It is not in the future.”
— USA TODAY
Vaccines won't be only answer; closing in on COVID-19 cure
When the coronavirus first arrived in the United States five or six months ago, health care workers relied solely on intravenous fluids, fever reducers and ventilators. Today, there are two approved therapies shown to make a difference in COVID-19, and 150 treatments and more than 50 antivirals are being tested in people. Vaccines, when developed, won't work for everyone. But researchers are getting closer to being able to identify which patients are likely to do better with which kind of therapy.
“Once somebody develops a treatment for the virus, everything will go away,” said Daniel Batlle, a kidney expert from Northwestern Medicine and professor of medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago.
— USA TODAY
Lane County COVID-19 ZIP code map
Lane County Public Health has posted a map of known cases of COVID-19 organized by ZIP code on its page of Testing, Patient and Resource Information.
By the numbers: COVID-19 cases in Oregon
Reported by Oregon Health Authority, updated at 8 a.m. Thursday.
Case investigations
11,188: Total cases confirmed by test and presumptive cases
230: Total deaths
10,632: Tests that are positive
270,887: Tests that were negative
281,519: Total number of tests given
Cases by age group
0 to 9: 440 (4%)
10 to 19: 937 (8%)
20 to 29: 2,316 (21%)
30 to 39: 1,986 (18%), 2 deaths
40 to 49: 1,841 (17%), 3 deaths
50 to 59: 1,529 (14%), 11 deaths
60 to 69: 1,037 (9%), 43 deaths
70 to 79: 639 (6%), 63 deaths
80 and older: 443 (4%), 108 deaths
Not available: 20 (0%)
Sex
Female: 5,824 cases (52%), 102 deaths (44%)
Male: 5,334 cases (48%), 128 deaths (56%)
Non-binary: 2 case (0%), 0 deaths
Not available: 28 cases (0%), 0 deaths
Hospitalized
Hospitalized: 1,162 (10%)
Not hospitalized: 8,829 (79%)
Not provided: 1,197 (11%)
Source: Oregon Health Authority
Number of US cases by state
Directories of open local businesses, including those doing delivery, take-out
The Eugene and Springfield chambers of commerce are compiling listings of local businesses that are open and the modified ways they are offering their goods and services to make it easier for people to support them while staying home.
Read the full story, including links to the lists, here.
Closures, cancellations and postponements
See The Register-Guard’s cancellation list here.
Healthcare workers: Tell us your stories
People reported to have contactracted novel coronavirus in US, by day
Editor’s note
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