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Coronavirus live updates: US hits 175,000 deaths; SEAL who shot bin Laden banned on Delta; vaccine trial going well

Ryan W. Miller Jessica Flores Joshua Bote Chris Woodyard
USA TODAY

An airline has banned the former Navy SEAL team member who claims to have killed Osama bin Laden for potentially endangering other aircraft passengers and crew.

Robert O'Neill tweeted that he was banned for not wearing a mask on the plane, even though he had it his lap. He's one of 130 that Delta Air Lines says it has on its no-fly list.

The U.S. passed 175,000 deaths Friday due to the new coronavirus. But some parts of the country, notably the South, are seeing improvement, the head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.

CDC Director Robert Redfield credits masks and social distancing measures in bringing under control the outbreak in the South in recent days, he told the editor of the journal JAMA late Thursday. Redfield also said he expects the number of U.S. deaths due to COVID-19 to begin dropping as early as next week.

And in more positive news: Makers of a potential COVID-19 vaccine candidate reported strong results for an early-stage trial, showing that the experimental compound may be able to produce antibody levels high enough to prevent disease or at least reduce the seriousness of infection.

Some significant developments:

📈 Today's numbers: Iowa, North Dakota and Guam set records for new cases in a week, while Nevada, Tennessee, and Puerto Rico had a record number of deaths in a week, according to a USA TODAY analysis of Johns Hopkins data through late Thursday. The U.S. has 5.5 million confirmed infections and more than 174,000 deaths. Worldwide, there have been more than 794,000 deaths and 22.7 million cases, according to John Hopkins University data.

📰 What we're reading: A new study adds to growing evidence that children may play a larger role in community spread of COVID-19 than previously thought. The study found that some children who tested positive had significantly higher levels of virus in their airways than hospitalized adults in intensive care units.

This file will be updated throughout the day. For updates in your inbox, subscribe to the Daily Briefing.

Judge holds church in contempt for indoor worship services

A California pastor Rob McCoy and church he leads were held in contempt of court Friday for failing to obey a restraining order that prohibits indoor worship services in an attempt to curb COVID-19.

Ventura County Superior Court Judge Vincent O'Neill Jr. issued the ruling against McCoy and the Godspeak Calvary Chapel in Newbury Park, northwest of Los Angeles, after a two-hour hearing in Ventura. He fined the chapel $3,000, but did not impose any fines on McCoy.

That was half the $6,000 Ventura County officials had recommended against the church, based on a fine of $1,000 for each of the six services held indoors over the past two Sundays. County officials had not recommended a fine against McCoy either.

--Kathleen Wilson, Ventura County Star

US passes 175,000 deaths due to the coronavirus

The U.S. turned a dark corner in the battle against the coronavirus as the death count passed the 175,000 mark Friday, according to Johns Hopkins University.

By the end of the day, the count stood at 175,204. The worldwide death tally was 796,095.

The dead were among 5.6 million cases in the U.S. so far, about a quarter of the world's 22.8 million cases.

The last milestone was 150,000 at the end of July and before that, 100,000 at the end of May. 

The U.S. ranks first among nations in deaths. It is followed by Brazil, Mexico, India and United Kingdom and Italy.

Data breach may have identified COVID-19 patients in S.D.

The FBI is investigating a data breach that may have compromised the identity of people with the COVID-19 virus in South Dakota.

South Dakota Department of Public Safety Director Paul Niedringhaus sent a letter to people who may have been affected by the June 19 breach, the Rapid City Journal reported Friday.

The letter, dated Monday, says the state’s fusion center used Netsential.com’s services to build a secure online portal this spring to help first responders identify people who had tested positive for the coronavirus so they could take precautions while responding to emergency calls.

The South Dakota letter said police in the state weren’t given names but could call a dispatcher to verify positive cases. Houston-based Netsentials added labels to the files that might allow a third-party to identify patients, the letter said, and the breach could have compromised people’s names, addresses and virus status.

“This information may continue to be available on various internet sites that link to files from the Netsential breach,” the letter said. 

--Associated Press

Las Vegas bars to remain closed, but gamble your heart away

You can step up to the blackjack table in Las Vegas, but you can't order a drink anytime soon.

It'll be at least two weeks before the nation's gambling capital allows bars to reopen, Nevada’s COVID-19 task force decided Thursday. The rule applies to the Las Vegas Strip, downtown and rest of Clark County.

The task force also imposed limits on how many people can eat together in restaurants.

The Las Vegas area surpassed 1,000 total COVID-19 deaths for the first time as Nevada reported 38 more fatalities from the virus on Thursday — the third straight day that COVID deaths saw a large spike in the state’s daily numbers.

"This is an extremely important decision – and one that I think we need to take very cautiously," said task force Chairman Caleb Cage, noting the economic consequences to Las Vegas and Nevada. Casinos remain open.

The task force wants to work with officials to enhance plans to increase compliance and enforcement to stem the spread of COVID-19, Cage said. 

--Ed Komenda, Reno Gazette Journal

Arizona is shaking the virus' grip, but governor says no 'victory lap' yet

For those who have tuned in to Gov. Doug Ducey’s briefings over the past month, the message he delivered Thursday was a familiar one.

So was the warning. 

Arizona's COVID-19 containment measures are working, but it's too soon to take a "victory lap," Gov. Doug Ducey said Friday.

His message to Arizonans: Don't let your guard down. Daily case counts, from new infections to hospitalization rates, are moving in the right direction. But it’s too soon for Arizonans to let their guard down and take a “victory lap," he said.

Others are noting Arizona's progress. Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the CDC, cited the Grand Canyon State for its efforts to improve in an interview Thursday.

“Returning our kids to the classroom, reuniting with our loved ones —  all of these depend on continued responsible behavior,” Ducey said, standing alongside state Department of Health Services Director Dr. Cara Christ. “I urge everyone to stay the course.”

--Maria Polletta, Arizona Republic

New York COVID-19 hospitalizations finally fall below 500

New York state's COVID-19 hospitalizations dropped to 490, settling below 500 for the first time since March 16, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo reported Friday.

The number of intensive-care patients dealing with COVID-19 fell to 119, the lowest since March 15.

It's a start contrast from a few months ago when New York led the nation in both the number of coronavirus cases and deaths. 

Helping to keep hospitalizations low: a record high number of tests, with 98,880 results reported to New York state Thursday, Cuomo said. Only 0.72% of those tests have been showing up positive, staying below 1% for the 14th straight day.

"Part of the reason we were able to tame the beast in New York is because of our aggressive testing strategy," Cuomo said in a statement. "This is proof positive that when you have the virus under control, more testing does not equal more positives." 

Child care centers had low COVID-19 retransmission rates, study says

CDC officials say they are encouraged by a new study that found relatively small retransmission rates of the coronavirus in child care facilities. 

Child care centers in Rhode Island saw secondary transmission as having possibly occurred in only four of 666 programs that had been allowed to reopen, all in a two-week period at the end of July, the study found. Having social distancing and safety measures, such as limited the number of children in any program, CDC officials point to the study as a sign that more child care facilities and schools can reopen.

It has to happen "school by school, community by community," said Dr. Robert Redfield, the CDC's director. And "in order for schools to reopen, we have to have the confidence of teachers." 

The child care centers were limited to 12 kids initially by the state, then were allowed to handle up to 20. Adults had to wear masks and both adults and children were screened daily for symptoms. The facilities also underwent enhanced cleaning and disinfection. 

Delta banished SEAL who shot bin Laden for not wearing a mask

The former Navy SEAL who claims he shot Osama bin Laden in 2011 is now back in the news for another reason: being banned from flying Delta Air Lines.

Delta confirmed to USA TODAY on Friday that it banned Robert O'Neill from future flights after he tweeted a photo of himself going maskless on a flight, though he said he had it in his lap.

"I just got banned from @Delta for posting a picture. Wow," O'Neill tweeted. He becomes part of a group of about 130 people who have been banished for the same reason.

– Jayme Deerwester

Food trucks pivot from downtowns to suburbs

Long seen as an urban treasure, food trucks are now being saved by the suburbs during the coronavirus pandemic. No longer able to depend on bustling city centers, these small businesses on wheels are venturing out to where people are working and spending most of their time – home. 

As food trucks hunt for customers that used to flock to them, they’re finding a captive audience thrilled to skip cooking dinner, sample new kinds of cuisines and mingle with neighbors on what feels like a night out while safely staying close to home.

“This is festival season, fun season. All the stuff we typically do as humans, we can’t do anymore,” said Matt Geller, president of the National Food Truck Association. “Walking out to a food truck is a taste of normalcy, and it feels really good.”

B.J. Lofback decided to pivot his Nashville-area food truck and restaurant away from labor-intensive Korean food and rebranded as Pinchy’s Lobster Co. selling lobster rolls.

Without his usual downtown Nashville lunchtimes and music events, he and other truckers began reaching out to homeowners associations in large subdivisions. “I’m hoping that even if a vaccine dropped tomorrow and herd immunity was accomplished tomorrow, I hope neighborhoods still have us out,” Lofback said.

– Associated Press

Hospitals hit financially by COVID-19 with $4 billion loss in Florida alone

Indicative of the financial strain that hospitals are seeing around the country, Florida hospitals say they have collectively lost nearly $4 billion in the past four months because of the coronavirus. Even with financial aid from the government, hospitals around the state said they are hemorrhaging money due to increased staffing costs, testing and other protective equipment, along with lost revenue from patients delaying care or canceling elective surgeries.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has financially shocked our health care system,” Florida Hospital Association’s Interim President Crystal Stickle said in a statement Friday.

The group represents over 200 hospitals, and estimated projected losses through August at $7.4 billion. The state health department reported Friday 4,684 new confirmed cases and 119 new deaths from the virus, though hospitalizations due to COVID-19 have also been declining over the past month. 

– Associated Press

Postmaster General DeJoy defends USPS changes at the Senate

The head of the U.S. Postal Service testified before the Senate on Friday as the agency faces increased scrutiny from lawmakers due to operational changes and service cuts they say could hinder the agency's ability to handle an expected surge of mail-in ballots in the November elections.

President Donald Trump's Postmaster General Louis DeJoy acknowledged delays in mail delivery Friday but defended the changes. "We all feel bad about the dip in our service," he told Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, who had asked about delays in deliveries of prescriptions to veterans. 

Despite criticism, DeJoy said changes at the agency were made to help restore the agency's financial health and called it the Postal Service's "sacred duty" to deliver election mail this November. 

Breaking with Trump, who has expressed opposition to voting by mail, DeJoy said he had voted by mail himself "for a number of years" and supported the practice. 

– Nicholas Wu

Empty mailboxes, missed rent:US Postal Service's struggles have real-world impacts

One student's harrowing back to school experience: 'I just can't do this'

Annie Gaughan was only on her second day at the University of Iowa's campus when she tested positive for COVID-19 and was forced to relocate to Currier Hall, the campus' quarantine dorm. While the university claims to have spent months sanitizing academic buildings and residence halls, Gaughan said that care seemed to have been missing from the room she was given. She noticed rust on the sink and dust on the mattress. The next morning, she awoke to ants in her blankets.

While she wanted to go home, her parents, she said, are in a CDC-recognized high-risk category. So she booked a hotel room in Naperville, Illinois, traveling by bus, where she's been for the past week.

"They are telling students and parents they are prepared for COVID, but they lied. They are not," Gaughan wrote. "I really hope that the university transitions to online at this point because they are not prepared for students who test positive for COVID."

– Zachary Oren Smith, Iowa City Press-Citizen

Pfizer, BioNTech share positive early data on vaccine candidate

Pfizer and BioNTech saw strong results in an early-stage trial for a candidate COVID-19 vaccine, the companies announced late Thursday. The companies had launched clinical trials with two candidate vaccines, releasing data on the other one earlier this month. Both appeared to be safe in the small number of healthy people who received the shots.

The new data, on a compound called BNT162b2, showed this candidate to be better than the other at triggering an immune response.

In adults under 55, BNT162b2 produced nearly four times the amount of neutralizing antibodies as a natural infection. In older adults, who are more vulnerable to a serious COVID-19 infection and have weaker immune systems, the candidate vaccine produced 1.6 times as many antibodies. Such high levels of antibodies suggest the vaccine will be effective at preventing disease or at least reducing the seriousness of infection. 

Last month, the companies launched a 30,000-person trial to test BNT162b2’s effectiveness, as well as safety in a larger, more diverse group. They have so far enrolled 11,000 volunteers in the trial, according to a company press release, and expect to have results as soon as October.

– Karen Weintraub

Hawaii unveils 'resort bubble' concept to hop between islands

Hawaii Gov. David Ige announced earlier this week that the state won't reopen to tourism until at least October, which means its 14-day mandatory quarantine for both out-of-state and inter-island travelers (in Kauai, Hawaii, Maui and Kalawao counties) remains intact. But details have since emerged about a "resort bubble concept" for inter-island travelers.

The state calls the program an "enhanced movement quarantine" that each county can develop to give residents and visitors the ability to travel between islands without a 14-day quarantine.

Officials had been reviewing an idea that would allow tourists to roam freely on resorts while their movements are tracked via a wearable monitor to ensure they stay inside the boundaries of the facilities. The so-called “resort bubble” concept would keep the tourists within a “geofence” that tracks their movements, West Hawaii Today reported.

– David Oliver

More on face coverings: Woman, 6 children forced off plane 

1 in 5 nursing homes were short on PPE, staff as virus surged this summer

One in five nursing homes in the United States had severe shortages of personal protective equipment this summer, a new study says, which also found that many facilities in the hardest hit areas struggled to retain staff.

The analysis of federal data published in the journal Health Affairs also found there was no improvement from May to July in the PPE shortages or staffing concerns. COVID-19 cases in the South, West and Midwest surged during that time period.

Terry Fulmer, president of the John A. Hartford Foundation, a nonprofit that works to improve care for older adults, called the study's findings "a massive red flag."

“We have had no coherent federal response,” Fulmer said. The findings come despite pledges from the Trump administration to help. “The federal government should really own this issue,” said study author David Grabowski.

South Korea reports highest new case daily count since March

The 324 new cases of the coronavirus that South Korea reported Friday is the highest daily case count the country has seen since March.

New COVID-19 cases in South Korea are surging around the Seoul metropolitan region, but the new cases Friday included positive tests in practically all of the country's major cities. The government reimposed certain social distancing measures earlier this week to curb the new spread.

Friday was the eighth consecutive day that South Korea has reported a triple-digit daily increase, for an eight-day total of 1,900 infections.

Some unemployed Mississippians will be eligible for $300 unemployment supplement

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said Thursday that eligible Mississippians would be able to receive an additional $300 a week in federal aid but not the $100 that was to be provided by the states as suggested by President Donald Trump.

"We will be able to use our current payment as the state's $100 match," he said. "We will see how it works for the next few weeks. I want everyone in Mississippi to know I am grateful to President Trump for stepping in."

Reeves said the state cannot afford an additional weekly payment of $100 per recipient.

– Lici Beveridge, Mississippi Clarion Ledger

CDC director: Starting to 'turn the tide' against new cases in the South

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield said Thursday he thinks the outbreak in the South is coming under control.

“We are beginning to turn the tide on what I call the Southern outbreak in the nation,” he told the editor of the journal JAMA during a public interview late Thursday. 

He credited face masks, social distancing, hand-washing, closing bars and limiting indoor dining in restaurants for the shift. Though it's not in the South, he cited Arizona as an example. 

“Arizona put that into play. Two to four weeks later, you really see that we can get control of this pandemic,” he said, noting that stores didn’t have to close, or people lock themselves in their homes. “Be smart about crowds, and we can get this outbreak under control.”

It does take time, though, he noted, adding he expects to see the number of deaths — which have been as high as 1,000 a day in recent weeks — falling as soon as next week, a month or more after the state introduced those public health measures.

– Karen Weintraub

More COVID-19 resources from USA TODAY

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Contributing: The Associated Press

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