Education Secretary Betsy DeVos speaks to reporters about the coronavirus at the White House in March.
Alex Brandon/AP
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Alex Brandon/AP
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos speaks to reporters about the coronavirus at the White House in March.
Alex Brandon/AP
Several Democratic-led states and the District of Columbia have joined in a lawsuit against Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, accusing the Trump administration of trying to unlawfully divert pandemic relief funds from public schools to private schools.
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Michigan, Maine, New Mexico and Wisconsin have also joined.
Last month, the Education Department put out a rule saying that private schools should benefit from a representative share of the more than $13 billion in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act earmarked for public schools.
Becerra contends that is an unlawful interpretation of the CARES act, which allows private schools to get a disproportionate amount of Title I funds — traditionally reserved for low-income students.
Although a portion of those funds are allocated to private schools to provide “equitable services” to students, the department’s interpretation allows it to count all students for purposes of the funding formula instead of just those who qualify for Title I assistance, according to the lawsuit.
“Today’s announcement is about stopping the Trump administration’s latest effort to steal from working families to give it to the very privileged,” Becerra said, adding the rule could put $1.6 billion in aid allocated to his state’s public schools in jeopardy.
In Michigan, officials said it could cost their public schools $16 million.
Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul said it would divert nearly $4.2 million “away from taxpayer-funded public schools in our poorest school districts to private institutions — in violation of the requirements established by Congress, the Administrative Procedure Act, and the U.S. Constitution.”
“Instead of ignoring congressional intent and diverting funds away from public schools, Secretary DeVos should follow the law,” he said.
In a statement in June, DeVos said the CARES act was meant to aid “all American students, teachers, and families impacted” by COVID-19.
“There is nothing in the law Congress passed that would allow districts to discriminate against children and teachers based on private school attendance and employment,” she said.
The suit comes after DeVos first suggested the change in May. That attracted concern in Congress from members of both parties and from public school officials.
In a call with Vice President Pence, DeVos on Monday said governors had left $195 million unspent from the funds for schools allocated under CARES.
Experts acknowledged that the W.H.O. has made some missteps during the pandemic, but said it has largely done well given the constraints under which it operates. The agency is coordinating clinical trials of treatments, as well as efforts to manufacture and equitably distribute the vaccine.
“I think it’s an extraordinarily bad decision that will both harm global public health and harm the health of the American people,†said Dr. Ashish Jha, the director of the Harvard Global Health Institute. “It’s unclear to me how the American people benefit by not being at the table and not being able to shape those policies.â€
For the Trump administration to blame the W.H.O. for not investigating the outbreak in China is “deeply disingenuous,†Dr. Jha added. “W.H.O. can’t push its way into China, any more than it can investigate why our outbreak is so bad in Arizona or why we’re botching the response as badly as we are.â€
And Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, a former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, underlined the organization’s accomplishments. “Without W.H.O., the world would not have eradicated smallpox, multidrug resistant tuberculosis would have spread much more widely, and we would have much weaker systems to track influenza and other deadly infections.â€
The administration’s move also drew criticism from Democratic lawmakers, including from Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who wrote on Twitter that Congress had just received notification of the withdrawal. “This won’t protect American lives or interests — it leaves Americans sick & America alone,†Mr. Menendez wrote.
“Withdrawing the United States from the World Health Organization was the right decision,†Representative James R. Comer of Kentucky, a ranking member of the House oversight committee, said on Twitter. “Until the WHO undergoes some serious reforms, it doesn’t deserve our money or our membership.â€
The United States played a central role in creating the W.H.O. in 1948, and has since been one of its largest sources of financial support. The biennial budget for the W.H.O. is about $6 billion, which comes from member countries around the world. In 2019, the last year for which figures were available, the United States contributed about $553 million.
Officers raided the site at Wouwse Plantage on the Dutch-Belgian border on June 22, arresting six men suspected of kidnapping and hostage taking.
They found six shipping containers which had been converted to what are believed to be “prison cells,” as well as a stash of weaponry including pruning shears and loppers.
“In each of the cells, handcuffs were attached to the ceiling and floor, in order to be able to chain someone standing up with their arms raised,” the statement said. “The rooms were finished with noise isolating panels and heat-insulating foil.”
One of the units also contained a dental chair, with straps for feet and arms. “The sea container with the dental chair contained bags with objects that were presumably intended to torture or at least put pressure on victims,” the statement added.
“The police found, among other things, pruning shears, loppers, a branch saw, scalpels, pliers, extra handcuffs, fingercuffs, tape, balaclavas, and black cotton bags that can be pulled over the head. During a search at a home in Rotterdam, 24 kilos of MDMA was also found.”
The containers were also fitted with cameras for remote monitoring.
Officers also found three stolen delivery vans, two BMWs, seven handguns and a Chinese variant of the AK-47. “In total, 25 weapons were found with the suspects,” the National Prosecutor’s Office said.
Authorities say the investigation began in April, during which officers were able to access an encrypted chat network — EncroChat — to track the group’s movements and plans. “From this it could be deduced who the intended victims were,” the statement said.
“They were warned by the police and went into hiding elsewhere. As a result, and thanks to permanent CCTV surveillance in and near the warehouse, planned kidnappings, hostage-taking and other serious violent crimes were prevented.”
EncroChat, which offered a secure mobile phone instant messaging service, was a “criminal marketplace” used by 60,000 people worldwide for coordinating the distribution of illicit goods, money laundering and plotting to kill rivals, according to the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA).
The discovery of the containers followed a series of successful raids by UK and European police based on information from the network, which saw hundreds arrested and more than 27 tons of drugs seized in the UK and Netherlands.
The six men who were arrested in relation to the apparent torture site are all from The Netherlands. An Amsterdam court on Monday ordered their detention for 90 days.
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Six children were sharing one phone which they were using to do school homework
A family using one phone between six children for schoolwork said a donated tablet had “made a big difference”.
Michelle Holgate from Swindon said while they were off school during the coronavirus lockdown she allocated them each one hour sessions with the phone.
She said one was “so stressed, saying she’s going to fail everything”.
Research for BBC Children In Need has shown an estimated million children and young people have no adequate access to devices or the internet at home.
The Holgate family said the tablet, donated by a BBC viewer who saw the family’s plight highlighted on regional news programme Points West, meant the children could now “produce better work”.
Before that, they were allocated small amounts of time online by mother Michelle.
The children have been set new work each week online but said it was hard for them to keep up.
Since schools closed in March, families in the most deprived areas have been hit the hardest as the digital divide opened up between the haves and have-nots.
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Richard Johnson’s school has had seven laptops donated
The research for BBC Children in Need, carried out in April, showed the problems one million children in the UK have getting online.
In addition, it is estimated about 700,000 young children do not have the skills and devices that they need to do their homework
A Department for Education (DfE) spokesperson said the government had been “clear in its commitment that no child should fall behind as a result of coronavirus”.
“Which is why we have provided over £100m to support children to learn at home, including delivery of over 200,000 laptops and tablets,” the spokesperson added.
Richard Johnson, the head of Gloucestershire’s Severn Vale school, applied for laptops under the government’s scheme and has been given seven.
“We know about 50% are using their phones and the digital divide is growing,” said Mr Johnson.
Many charities and companies have set up schemes to accept donations of old laptops, tablets and phones which they refurbish then supply to schools for pupils.
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Charlie, 14, is doing all his homework on a phone
Charlie, 14, who is due to sit his GCSEs in 2021, has been doing all his homework on a phone.
“I’m finding it very, very stressful and to be honest sometimes I find it all too much and I don’t do any work at all,” he said.
Schools are due to reopen in September and the DfE said it had launched a £1bn Covid catch-up fund “to directly tackle the impact of lost teaching time as a result of the pandemic”.
The White House set up a working group in early June to study the issue, which is expected to deliver recommendations to the president by early August.
Peter Navarro, the assistant to the president for trade and manufacturing policy, said the letter was “part of a broader effort to defend American pensioners from imprudent risks while defending human rights internationally.â€
Updated July 7, 2020
Is the coronavirus airborne?
The coronavirus can stay aloft for hours in tiny droplets in stagnant air, infecting people as they inhale, mounting scientific evidence suggests. This risk is highest in crowded indoor spaces with poor ventilation, and may help explain super-spreading events reported in meatpacking plants, churches and restaurants. It’s unclear how often the virus is spread via these tiny droplets, or aerosols, compared with larger droplets that are expelled when a sick person coughs or sneezes, or transmitted through contact with contaminated surfaces, said Linsey Marr, an aerosol expert at Virginia Tech. Aerosols are released even when a person without symptoms exhales, talks or sings, according to Dr. Marr and more than 200 other experts, who have outlined the evidence in an open letter to the World Health Organization.
What are the symptoms of coronavirus?
Common symptoms include fever, a dry cough, fatigue and difficulty breathing or shortness of breath. Some of these symptoms overlap with those of the flu, making detection difficult, but runny noses and stuffy sinuses are less common. The C.D.C. has also added chills, muscle pain, sore throat, headache and a new loss of the sense of taste or smell as symptoms to look out for. Most people fall ill five to seven days after exposure, but symptoms may appear in as few as two days or as many as 14 days.
Is it harder to exercise while wearing a mask?
A commentary published this month on the website of the British Journal of Sports Medicine points out that covering your face during exercise “comes with issues of potential breathing restriction and discomfort†and requires “balancing benefits versus possible adverse events.†Masks do alter exercise, says Cedric X. Bryant, the president and chief science officer of the American Council on Exercise, a nonprofit organization that funds exercise research and certifies fitness professionals. “In my personal experience,†he says, “heart rates are higher at the same relative intensity when you wear a mask.†Some people also could experience lightheadedness during familiar workouts while masked, says Len Kravitz, a professor of exercise science at the University of New Mexico.
I’ve heard about a treatment called dexamethasone. Does it work?
The steroid, dexamethasone, is the first treatment shown to reduce mortality in severely ill patients, according to scientists in Britain. The drug appears to reduce inflammation caused by the immune system, protecting the tissues. In the study, dexamethasone reduced deaths of patients on ventilators by one-third, and deaths of patients on oxygen by one-fifth.
What is pandemic paid leave?
The coronavirus emergency relief package gives many American workers paid leave if they need to take time off because of the virus. It gives qualified workers two weeks of paid sick leave if they are ill, quarantined or seeking diagnosis or preventive care for coronavirus, or if they are caring for sick family members. It gives 12 weeks of paid leave to people caring for children whose schools are closed or whose child care provider is unavailable because of the coronavirus. It is the first time the United States has had widespread federally mandated paid leave, and includes people who don’t typically get such benefits, like part-time and gig economy workers. But the measure excludes at least half of private-sector workers, including those at the country’s largest employers, and gives small employers significant leeway to deny leave.
Does asymptomatic transmission of Covid-19 happen?
So far, the evidence seems to show it does. A widely cited paper published in April suggests that people are most infectious about two days before the onset of coronavirus symptoms and estimated that 44 percent of new infections were a result of transmission from people who were not yet showing symptoms. Recently, a top expert at the World Health Organization stated that transmission of the coronavirus by people who did not have symptoms was “very rare,†but she later walked back that statement.
What’s the risk of catching coronavirus from a surface?
Touching contaminated objects and then infecting ourselves with the germs is not typically how the virus spreads. But it can happen. A number of studies of flu, rhinovirus, coronavirus and other microbes have shown that respiratory illnesses, including the new coronavirus, can spread by touching contaminated surfaces, particularly in places like day care centers, offices and hospitals. But a long chain of events has to happen for the disease to spread that way. The best way to protect yourself from coronavirus — whether it’s surface transmission or close human contact — is still social distancing, washing your hands, not touching your face and wearing masks.
How does blood type influence coronavirus?
A study by European scientists is the first to document a strong statistical link between genetic variations and Covid-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. Having Type A blood was linked to a 50 percent increase in the likelihood that a patient would need to get oxygen or to go on a ventilator, according to the new study.
How can I protect myself while flying?
If air travel is unavoidable, there are some steps you can take to protect yourself. Most important: Wash your hands often, and stop touching your face. If possible, choose a window seat. A study from Emory University found that during flu season, the safest place to sit on a plane is by a window, as people sitting in window seats had less contact with potentially sick people. Disinfect hard surfaces. When you get to your seat and your hands are clean, use disinfecting wipes to clean the hard surfaces at your seat like the head and arm rest, the seatbelt buckle, the remote, screen, seat back pocket and the tray table. If the seat is hard and nonporous or leather or pleather, you can wipe that down, too. (Using wipes on upholstered seats could lead to a wet seat and spreading of germs rather than killing them.)
What should I do if I feel sick?
If you’ve been exposed to the coronavirus or think you have, and have a fever or symptoms like a cough or difficulty breathing, call a doctor. They should give you advice on whether you should be tested, how to get tested, and how to seek medical treatment without potentially infecting or exposing others.
“American investors should not be forced by decisions of Wall Street portfolio managers to support the Chinese Communist Party’s surveillance state, flight-by-night-companies and military industrial complex,†Mr. Navarro said in an email.
Since signing a trade deal with China in January, the Trump administration has become increasingly critical of Beijing for not doing more to halt a pandemic and for expanding its control over Hong Kong. On Monday, the White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, told reporters that the White House was weighing several executive orders targeting China and manufacturing.
On Tuesday, the State Department announced that it would restrict visas for Chinese officials deemed to be involved in restricting the travel of American citizens to Tibet, including diplomats, journalists and tourists. It did not announce any specific names.
In an interview this week, Secretary of State Michael Pompeo also said the United States was also “looking at†banning Chinese-owned social media applications, like TikTok.
A federal panel, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, has been investigating the purchase of a Musical.ly, a social media app popular in the United States, by the owner of TikTok, ByteDance, and could order ByteDance to divest, people familiar with the situation said. ByteDance acquired Musical.ly in 2017 and folded it into TikTok.
TikTok and its investors have been trying to assuage the U.S. government’s concerns by promising a global reorganization of its operations, the people said.
One of golf’s greatest international showcases, the Ryder Cup, will be postponed to 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to a report from ESPN’s Bob Harig.
The Ryder Cup, a biennial men’s team competition between elite golfers from Europe and the United States, was scheduled to take place Sept. 25-27 in Sheboygan, Wisc. Harig’s report estimates that the event will take place around the same time of year in 2021.
That means the Presidents Cup — similar to the Ryder, except it’s a team of non-Europeans facing the Americans — will be pushed back to 2022 instead of going ahead in the fall of 2021 as initially planned.
The PGA Tour has been back in action for weeks, albeit without fans. Part of the decision to postpone the Ryder Cup was that the idea of hosting the event without spectators was “particularly unappealing†to many of the golfers involved, Harig writes.
In 2018, Europe won the Ryder Cup on home soil, 17.5 to 10.5. Since 1979, when the competition’s current iteration took effect, Europe holds an 11-8-1 record against the U.S.
President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro touted the power of unproven medicine as he told the world he had tested positive for coronavirus. CNN’s Bill Weir reports that his former health minister and a gravedigger have different views about the pandemic.
A statue depicting Italian navigator Christopher Columbus has left the California Capitol. And we learn more about who got federal loans for their businesses, and they include folks linked to lawmakers Devin Nunes and Nancy Pelosi. Plus, I love a good comeback story, so let’s start with that.Â
It’s Arlene MartÃnez with stories from up and down the coast this Tuesday.
The vultures were observed atop the towering granite dome of Moro Rock in late May, the National Park Service said Tuesday; others fitted with GPS transmitters were tracked flying around Giant Forest.
Condors, which are scavengers, almost died out in large part due to ingesting lead in the carcasses of animals shot by hunters.
In the early 1980s, all 22 birds remaining in the wild were trapped and brought into a captive-breeding program that began releasing condors into Southern California’s Los Padres National Forest in 1992.Â
Today, there are about 340 birds in the wild.Â
Twentynine Palms’ shooter; the Golden State Killer’s deal; a plea to Newsom Â
It’s the latest statue of Columbus and other colonial figures to be toppled or taken down in the United States and beyond, following the uproar over racism after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Baltimore protesters threw a statue of the Italian navigator into the city’s harbor over the weekend.
Columbus, once depicted in U.S. classrooms as a globe-trotting explorer and “discoverer” of America, was actually more of a ruthless and violent figure who enslaved indigenous populations and worse, historical documents show.
This statue depicts Columbus appealing to Queen Isabella I, who financed his voyage to the New World in 1492 that set off European colonization of the Americas.
Masks, unemployment, travel and taxes
Can your company require you to wear a mask? Ask HR responds.
That extra $600 per week in federal unemployment benefits officially ends on July 31, but don’t count on getting it the last week of the month. Here’s why.
A change of heart on the virus, L.A. police uneven on mask use, and Riverside cases
After refusing to enforce the state’s stay-at-home orders, calling them “economic slaughter,” Merced County Sheriff Vernon Warnke is now urging residents to wash their hands, socially distance and wear a mask. Cases quadrupled there in the last month.
Law enforcement in Los Angeles has to wear face masks just like everyone else. Not all of them are.
Companies linked to Nunes, Pelosi received PPP money
More than 60,000 businesses across the country received between $150,000 and $10 million each through the federal Paycheck Protection Program, which was designed to help small businesses keep their doors open during the coronavirus pandemic.Â
At least 60% of the loan had to be used for payroll costs in order to be forgiven.
On Monday, the Small Business Administration and the Treasury Department released the names of recipients, which USA TODAY Network reporters have been busily analyzing and sorting. Here’s some of what they found:
Wineries partly owned by Congressman Devin Nunes, R-Tulare County, received between $1 million and $2 million.
EDI Associates in San Rafael, a firm linked to Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi‘s husband, received a loan between $350,000 and $1 million. A Pelosi spokesperson told USA TODAY that Paul Pelosi was “a minor, passive investor” with an 8.1% stake in the firm and “was not involved in or even aware of this PPP loan.â€
Lobbying and policy group Waxman Strategies, which is run by former Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Los Angeles, and his son Michael Waxman, received a loan of between $350,000 and $1 million.
In California brings you top news and analysis from across USA TODAY Network newsrooms. Also contributing: Bloomberg, San Diego Union-Tribune, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, Associated Press, Fox KTVU, LAist.
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US coronavirus task force response coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx said that the United States and other countries could have had a stronger initial response to Covid-19 if China had been more forthcoming about key features of the virus, Reuters reports.
At a panel held by the Atlantic Council, a US think tank, Birx said the United States would have been more focused on identifying Covid-19 patients without symptoms if China has shared information about the frequency with which these patients, particularly young people, are asymptomatic.
White House coronavirus response coordinator Dr. Debborah Birx participates in a National Dialogue on Safely Reopening Schools at the White House in Washington, DC, USA, on 7 July 2020. Photograph: Yuri Gripas/EPA
“I have to say if we had known about the level of asymptomatic spread, we would have all looked at this differently,†Birx said at the panel.
“That’s usually the initial countries’ responsibility … and I think that did delay across the board our ability to really see or look for this.â€
Birx said that public health officials had originally assumed that only 15 to 20% of Covid-19 patients are asymptomatic when in fact that number is at least 40%.
“We were looking for people with symptoms. We should have looked for anyone who would have been exposed,†she said.
Joe Biden says he would return the US to the WHO if elected
Joe Biden, Trump’s Democratic challenger for the presidency, said he would return the US to the WHO once elected.
In a tweet, Biden wrote, “Americans are safer when America is engaged in strengthening global health. On my first day as President, I will rejoin the @WHO and restore our leadership on the world stage.â€
Joe Biden (@JoeBiden)
Americans are safer when America is engaged in strengthening global health. On my first day as President, I will rejoin the @WHO and restore our leadership on the world stage. https://t.co/8uazVIgPZB
The total number of cases of Covid-19 infection listed by the World Health Organisation for the region stands at 426, an increase of 44 since last week. The main contributor to this rise is the increase in infections in Guam.
The factors that make the Pacific resistant to infection – remoteness, scattered populations and the high cost of travel and transportation – are the very same elements driving the region deeper into economic distress.
These factors have been holding back development gains for decades. And even if it never lands on their shores, Covid-19 will further constrain livelihoods and development opportunities in Pacific nations for years.
Fiji and Papua New Guinea, with their relatively sizeable populations and economies, are the most visibly affected.
One NGO estimates that half of all Fijians are facing “severe†financial distress. A major resort in Fiji has announced that nearly 500 staff will be made redundant as of next month.
The reserve bank has predicted a contraction of 21.7% in the country’s economy, driven largely by the drop-off in tourist arrivals as a result of Covid-19 impacts.
Podcast: How Melbourne ended up under a second Covid-19 lockdown?
For weeks now the government in the Australian state of Victoria has been desperately trying to get the coronavirus outbreak under control. It locked down postcodes, public housing towers and finally Melbourne itself. In this episode of Full Story, reporter Melissa Davey explains how it all unfolded:
Texas surpassed 10,000 new coronavirus cases in a single day Tuesday for the first time, crossing a sobering milestone rarely seen since the pandemic first hit the US in March, AP reports.
The record high of 10,028 new cases in Texas served as another alarming new measure of the swift resurgence of Covid-19 nationwide and the failures of the country’s response.
Republican Governor Greg Abbott of Texas aggressively began one of Americas fastest re-openings in May but has begun reversing course in recent weeks, ordering bars closed and mandating face coverings.
A healthcare worker takes a break as people wait in their vehicles in long lines for coronavirus testing in Houston, Texas, US, 7 July 2020. Photograph: Callaghan O’Hare/Reuters
New York and Florida are the only other states to record more than 10,000 new cases in a single day. New York hit that grim total back in April, when New York City hospitals were overwhelmed and hundreds of people were dying every day. Florida topped 10,000 confirmed cases last week.
The record mark in Texas partly reflects a lag in testing results from the Fourth of July weekend, when newly reported cases were far below what Texas has seen in recent weeks. But Abbott said the numbers should still be an alarm bell for everybody who is skeptical about whether the virus is a threat.
“We have rapid spread of Covid-19 in the state of Texas right now,†Abbott told San Antonio television station KENS.
Texas surged past 8,000 statewide hospitalizations for the first time over the long holiday weekend a more than quadruple increase on the past month. On Tuesday, the number of hospitalizations soared past 9,000. Texas also set a new high for deaths in a single day with 60.
The UK government does not have a clear strategy to acquire and distribute the equipment needed to protect clinical and care workers in a second wave of coronavirus, parliament’s spending watchdog has warned.
The public accounts committee on Wednesday insisted that ministers should return after the summer with a detailed explanation of how they plan to stock the NHS and care sector with gowns, masks, eye protection and gloves.
MPs on the cross-party committee said they were “extremely concerned†by shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic and said the government was still developing plans for replenishing current stocks if there was a further outbreak.
Brazil records 1,312 new Covid-19 deaths as Bolsonaro tests positive
Tom Phillips
On the day Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, announced he had tested positive for coronavirus the South American country has recorded another 1,312 deaths and more than 48,000 new cases.
According to a coalition of Brazilian news outlets keeping an independent tally, that takes Brazil’s total death toll to nearly 67,000, the second highest number in the world.
Brazil has now registered 1.67 million confirmed cases, including that of Brazil’s far-right leader who is facing domestic and international condemnation for his handling of the crisis.
A coronavirus patient is transported amid the coronavirus outbreak in Sao Paulo, Brazil, 7 Jul 2020. Photograph: Trf Images/REX/Shutterstock
Earlier in the day, as Bolsonaro announced he had tested positive, he took off his mask in front of journalists and said: “Just look at my face. I’m well, fine, thank God … Thanks to all those who have been praying for me … and to those who criticise me, no problem, carry on criticising as much as you like.â€
Marcelo Freixo, a left-wing politician from Rio, has since denounced Bolsonaro to the attorney general for alleged crimes against public health, for putting the journalists who were present at his announcement at risk.
US officially notifies World Health Organization of its withdrawal
Julian Borger
The US has formally notified the World Health Organization of its withdrawal, despite widespread criticism and an almost complete lack of international support for the move in the midst of a pandemic.
Donald Trump announced his intention to withdraw in May, accusing the WHO, without evidence, of withholding information, and of being too close to China. The letter confirming the move was delivered to the UN secretary general, António Guterres, officials confirmed on Tuesday.
A WHO official said: “We have received reports that the US has submitted formal notification to the UN secretary general that it is withdrawing from WHO effective 6 July 2021.â€
Trump’s Democratic challenger for the presidency, Joe Biden, said he would return the US to the WHO before the year-long process of withdrawal was complete.
WHO acknowledges ‘evidence emerging’ of airborne spread of Covid-19
The World Health Organization on Tuesday acknowledged “evidence emerging†of the airborne spread of the novel coronavirus, after a group of scientists urged the global body to update its guidance on how the respiratory disease passes between people.
“We have been talking about the possibility of airborne transmission and aerosol transmission as one of the modes of transmission of Covid-19,†Maria Van Kerkhove, technical lead on the COVID-19 pandemic at the WHO, told a news briefing.
The WHO has previously said the virus that causes the COVID-19 respiratory disease spreads primarily through small droplets expelled from the nose and mouth of an infected person that quickly sink to the ground.
But in an open letter to the Geneva-based agency, published on Monday in the Clinical Infectious Diseases journal, 239 scientists in 32 countries outlined evidence that they say shows floating virus particles can infect people who breathe them in.
Because those smaller exhaled particles can linger in the air, the scientists in the group had been urging WHO to update its guidance.
“We wanted them to acknowledge the evidence,†said Jose Jimenez, a chemist at the University of Colorado who signed the paper.
“This is definitely not an attack on the WHO. It’s a scientific debate, but we felt we needed to go public because they were refusing to hear the evidence after many conversations with them,†he said in a telephone interview.
Welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic with me, Helen Sullivan. As always, you can get in touch on Twitter @helenrsullivan or email: helen.sullivan@theguardian.com. Tips, news, oaths of fealty and suggestions all welcome.
Washington has formally begun the process of leaving the World Health Organization.The US will withdraw on 6 July 2021 under a 1948 joint resolution of the US Congress, which also obliges Washington to pay financial support. Joe Biden, Trump’s Democratic challenger for the presidency, said he would return the US to the WHO once elected.
At the same time, the WHO emergencies chief says the coronavirus is accelerating globally. Noting the marked increase in the number of confirmed cases being reported in the past five or six weeks, he warned that a spike in deaths could be soon to follow.
“In April and May, we were dealing with 100,000 cases a day,†said Dr. Michael Ryan during a Tuesday press briefing. “Today we’re dealing with 200,000 a day.â€
There are 11.7m confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins University, and known 540,582 deaths.
Washington has formally begun the process of leaving the World Health Organization. The US will withdraw on 6 July 2021 under a 1948 joint resolution of the US Congress, which also obliges Washington to pay financial support. Joe Biden, Trump’s Democratic challenger for the presidency, said he would return the US to the WHO once elected.
The WHO says coronavirus cases are increasing by 200,000 a day, doubling from April and May. The WHO emergencies chief said that the number of Covid-19 deaths appeared to be stable for the moment, but he cautioned that there is often a lag time between when confirmed cases increase and when deaths are reported due to the time it takes for the coronavirus to run its course in patients.
The World Health Organization on Tuesday acknowledged “evidence emerging†of the airborne spread of the coronavirus, after a group of scientists urged the global body to update its guidance on how the respiratory disease passes between people.
Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro has tested positive for Covid-19. He said he began feeling ill on Sunday and has been taking hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug with unproven effectiveness against Covid-19.
Israel’s public health director has quit amid a spike in new coronavirus cases, saying the country had been too hasty to reopen its economy and had lost its way in dealing with the pandemic. Siegal Sadetzki, an epidemiologist, announced her resignation a day after prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu reimposed a series of restrictions, including the closure of bars, gyms and event halls.
More than 200,000 people in Europe have died from coronavirus, according to analysis from the news agency AFP.
Italy’s health minister has proposed “sectioning†people who refuse hospital treatment for Covid-19 and has suspended flights from Bangladesh.
The Australian city of Melbourne is to re-enter Stage 3 lockdown after a record increase in cases. Victorian state premier Daniel Andrews said there was “simply no alternative†to reimposing stay at home restrictions in Australia’s second-biggest city.
A New Zealand MP has confessed leaking private details of Covid-19 cases to reporters. Hamish Walker, an opposition politician from the centre-right National party, said he was the source of a list of private information about 18 active cases in the country.
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