Study says actual number of cases is greater than thought
Depending on the region and the time period, the number of people infected was anywhere between 2 and 24 times the number of reported cases, the CDC team said.
“For most sites, it is likely that greater than 10 times more … infections occurred than the number of reported Covid-19 cases,” the team wrote.
In New York, the CDC estimates suggest that 642,000 people were infected by April 1 but at that point only 53,803 cases were officially reported. That means the number of infections could be at least 12 times higher than reported, the CDC said.
The CDC says the number of cases in South Florida, Connecticut and Minnesota was 6 to 11 times higher than the official count, the CDC said.
The CDC has updated that data since the report was submitted to show two different testing periods starting in March and April.
CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield said last month that testing had likely missed 90% or so of cases.
The country remains far from a level that would give the population herd immunity — assuming that having been infected once provides immunity. Doctors are not sure if that is the case.
“Something I don’t like saying about things, but that’s the way it is,” he said Tuesday during the first White House coronavirus briefing in months.
A surge of cases has been ravaging states from coast to coast, putting reopening plans on hold, forcing officials to quickly expand testing and leaving hospitals scrambling with the influx of patients.
Face masks have an impact, Trump says
After months of downplaying their importance, Trump encouraged Americans to wear a face mask on Tuesday to prevent the spread of the virus.
“We are asking everybody, when you are not able to socially distance, wear a mask,” Trump said Tuesday during a White House briefing.
“Whether you like the mask or not, they have an impact,” he said.
On Tuesday, Iowa City Mayor Bruce Teague signed a proclamation requiring residents to wear masks in public places and while outdoors when social distancing is not possible, defying Iowa’s Gov. Kim Reynolds who has said cities have no authority to require face coverings.
“The scientific data and evidence is clear. Face coverings and masks are a safe, effective way to get case numbers down,” Teague said.
Vehicles line at a coronavirus testing center in Miami Gardens on Sunday.
Jennifer Rakeman, director of the New York City Public Health Laboratory, said Tuesday the lack of a national testing strategy is contributing to the delay.
“We need a national testing strategy, so that the limited testing resources we have can be used effectively, so that testing turnaround times can be decreased, so that contact tracing can happen in real time, and so that Covid-19 patients and their contacts can isolate and transmission of the virus can be stopped,” she said during an Alliance for Health Policy Summit.
Tightening measures
In Texas, Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez issued a shelter-at-home order following a sharp uptick in cases. The order includes a curfew, travel limitations and facial covering requirements and comes as the county’s hospitals have hit capacity, Cortez said.
Dr. Peter Hotez of the Baylor College of Medicine suggested some of the reasons why Southern states like Texas and Florida are seeing increased deaths. “We had 34 deaths in the last 24 hours in not a very large county, so South Texas is just getting hit incredibly hard,” Hotez said Tuesday on CNN. “The hospitals are overwhelmed.”
He said many of the Hidalgo County victims are poor, Hispanic, working in jobs deemed essential and that they have to be at work to support their families.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who previously pushed for one of the most aggressive reopenings, has more recently emphasized the importance of masks. He issued a mandate on face coverings earlier this month but has said there will not be another lockdown.
At least 27 states have now halted or rolled back reopening measures in response to soaring cases. In Louisiana, Gov. John Bel Edwards said the state will stay in phase 2 of reopening due to the increasing number of cases.
“We’ve now clearly turned a corner in the wrong direction,” said Dr. Alexander Billioux, the state’s assistant health secretary, warning that hospitalizations are rising at an alarming rate.
On Tuesday, Arizona reported 134 deaths from Covid-19 over the previous 24 hours, state data show. The highest number of deaths in a day was reported Saturday with 147.
The state, which has been experiencing a surge in cases, improved many of its metrics over the last week. Hospitalizations, ventilator use, and emergency room visits from those with the disease have all decreased from last week’s record levels, the data show.
Meanwhile, the number of daily hospitalizations in Los Angeles County hit a new high for the fourth time in a week on Monday, said Dr. Barbara Ferrer, the county’s public health director.
In Florida, the availability of intensive care unit beds statewide is 15.98%, according to the Agency for Healthcare Administration. On Monday, it was 18.1%. There are 54 hospitals in 27 Florida counties that have no ICU beds left.
Governor says children are ‘going to get over it’
In Miami, summer camps will close this week after at least three children contracted Covid-19, Mayor Francis Suarez announced during a news conference Tuesday. The closure will be effective this week.
Trump has said he’s pressuring governors to reopen classrooms. But on Tuesday, US Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams said the country needs to lower the transmission rate to reopen schools. Adams said lowering the transmission rate will help teachers — and adults living with school-age children — stay safe.
“We know the risk is low to the actual students. But we know they can transmit to others … We need to take measures to make sure we protect those who are vulnerable either because they are older or they have chronic medical conditions.”
In Missouri, Gov. Mike Parson said Monday the state will move forward in-person instruction, saying students are the “least likely to have a problem” if they get infected.
“And if they do get Covid-19, which they will — and they will when they go to school — they’re not going to the hospitals. They’re not going to have to sit in doctor’s offices. They’re going to go home and they’re going to get over it,” he said on a radio interview.
Covid-19 vaccine could be ready by end of the year, official says
A Covid-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca could be available “any time from September onward” if all goes well in clinical trials, Mene Pangalos, an executive vice president at AstraZeneca, told the House Oversight subcommittee on Tuesday.
Pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies working to develop Covid-19 vaccines spoke about their researchers’ progress in Congress. Many said they are still on track to have a possible vaccine by the end of the year.
The president of Moderna said the company hopes to have a possible vaccine ready in the fall but other companies, including Johnson & Johnson and Merck appeared to have longer timelines. Representatives for those companies said in the hearing that their goals remain to deliver a Covid-19 vaccine next year if all goes well in trials.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said people should not wait to a vaccinated when one become available.
“A vaccine will not be approved by the FDA unless it clearly shows that it’s safe and it’s effective,” Fauci told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Tuesday. “I would not wait to see if one is better than another.”
Correction: This story has been updated to give the most recent record for daily deaths reported in Arizona.
CNN’s Jay Croft, Gisela Crespo, Maggie Fox, Matthew Hilk, Jacqueline Howard, Randi Kaye, Lauren Mascarenhas, Sarah Moon and Rebekah Riess contributed to this report.
