July 7 coronavirus news

Individuals visiting New York State from Delaware, Kansas and Oklahoma will be required to quarantine for 14 days, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced in a statement Tuesday morning.

The three states are among 19 that meet the metrics to qualify for the traveler quarantine advisory.

Some context: There were 10 coronavirus-related deaths recorded in New York on Monday, bringing the statewide death toll to 24,924.

At least 588 of the 56,736 coronavirus tests conducted Monday were positive (1.04%), according to Cuomo’s office. 

The Palestinian Authority (PA) is fighting to contain surging new Covid-19 infection numbers, with the southern West Bank city of Hebron the worst affected location.

On Tuesday, the PA reported 306 new cases of the coronavirus, of which 278 were located in Hebron and surrounding areas.

The situation in the West Bank mirrors closely what is happening in Israel. Both Israeli and Palestinian leaders won praise early in the pandemic for introducing tough restrictions on movement, resulting in both locations seeing a sharp decline in new infection numbers in the second half of April and into May.

Now, weeks after both leaderships lifted restrictions, coronavirus numbers are spiking sharply again. 

PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said that more than 80% of new infections were the result of gatherings at weddings or funerals. The rest – 18% – he said were the result of Palestinian workers contracting the illness in Israel and bringing it back to the West Bank.

In a somewhat eye-catching request, he called on Israel to close the crossings between Israel and the West Bank and appealed to Palestinian workers to refrain from taking work in Israel, a move that would have an adverse economic impact for the PA.

International students who are pursuing degrees in the United States may have to leave the country or risk deportation if their universities switch to online-only courses, Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced Monday.

The move could affect thousands of foreign students who come to the United States to attend universities or participate in training programs, as well as non-academic or vocational studies.

Universities nationwide are beginning to make the decision to transition to online courses as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. At Harvard, for example, all course instruction will be delivered online, including for students living on campus. For international students, that opens the door to them having to leave the US.

There are roughly 1 million international students in the US. Here's a look at where they're from:

Some background: In a news release Monday, ICE said that students who fall under certain visas "may not take a full online course load and remain in the United States," adding, "The U.S. Department of State will not issue visas to students enrolled in schools and/or programs that are fully online for the fall semester nor will U.S. Customs and Border Protection permit these students to enter the United States."

The agency suggested that students currently enrolled in the US consider other measures, like transferring to schools with in-person instruction. There's an exception for universities using a hybrid model, such as a mix of online and in-person classes.

Australia has closed its inter-state border between Victoria and New South Wales [NSW] - the country's two most populous states - at midnight local time on Wednesday (10 a.m. ET Tuesday), as it battles a second wave of the Covid-19 outbreak.

This is the first time in 100 years that the border between the two states has been closed since the 1919 Spanish flu pandemic.

The closure means the 6.6 million people in the state of Victoria are effectively cut off from the rest of the country unless they have permits to travel.

On Tuesday, Victoria's health department announced a record 191 new Covid-19 cases in the past day throughout the state, with the most cases concentrated in Melbourne, the state capital.

WATCH:

The White House is set to focus on reopening the country’s schools amid the coronavirus pandemic on Tuesday. President Trump and the first lady are set to participate in an event at 3:00 p.m. ET labeled a "National Dialogue on Safely Reopening America’s Schools."

While the federal government is leaving reopening decisions up to state and local governments, the Trump administration will provide financial resources and share best practices as it strongly urges a return to school for what it says is the “holistic health” of the nation, despite rising cases currently in 31 states. 

Administration officials briefing reporters Tuesday morning emphasized the importance of the nation’s “most vulnerable” students returning to school and the critical services schools provide, closely echoing the President’s rationale for reopening the country in that the cure can’t be worse than the disease in terms of social issues stemming from closures, saying school closure disruption has had “significant negative impact.” 

The official continued, “The local context and needs of all school districts are unique, and as such, plans for returning to school should be tailored in a way that minimize the risk of Covid-19 spread while providing students with the critical services, academic resources, and social emotional supports that they need. CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) encourages school districts to make reopening plans that anticipate Covid-19 cases, minimize the risk of spread, and then limit the need for the potential of school closures.”

More on this: That official noted multiple times that the CDC “never” actually recommended in its guidance that schools close as the virus first arrived in the US earlier this year, saying those were “local jurisdictional decisions that were made.”

Pressed on concerns with spiking cases in various areas, the senior official said there are “a variety of different strategies that schools can adopt that really minimize the risk and can open these schools quite safely,” but declined to provide specific details on those strategies. 

There is risk, the official said, that students and others in school settings get infected and “somehow then transmit that infection to someone who’s more vulnerable in the community,” adding that the administration will “double down on our commitment to protecting the vulnerable,” but declining to say how.

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves tweeted this morning that he and his family have tested negative for Covid-19 after saying that he came in contact with a legislator who may have been exposed to the virus on Monday.

Read his tweet:

Coronavirus cases across parts of the south and southwest are increasing so quickly that contact tracing isn’t possible any more, Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of tropical medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, told CNN’s Anderson Cooper Monday. Meanwhile, at least 24 states have paused their reopening plans and at least 31 states are seeing an increase in new cases compared to the previous week.

In Florida, a new record was set for most coronavirus cases in the US in a single day on Saturday, with a total of 11,458, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, and on Sunday, the state surpassed 200,000 total Covid-19 cases. Miami-Dade County, which has become the epicenter of the virus in that state, is seeing a surge in hospitalizations.

In the past 13 days, Miami-Dade County, which includes the city of Miami, has seen a staggering increase in the number of Covid-19 patients being hospitalized (90%), in the number of ICU beds being used (86%) and in the use of ventilators (127%), according to the latest data released by Miami-Dade County government. The 14-day average positivity rate in the county is 23%, according to data released by the county government.

Here's a look at the progression of total cases in Florida, according to Johns Hopkins University data:

Texas reported 5,318 new Covid-19 cases on Monday, bringing the total number of cases in the state to at least 200,557, with 2,655 deaths in the state, according to numbers released by the Texas Health and Human Services. The state's highest daily number of new cases on record was reported on July 4  — 8,258.

Here's a look at the progression of total cases in Texas, according to Johns Hopkins University data:

Arizona surpassed 100,000 coronavirus cases yesterday, according to the state's Department of Health. More than 62,000 of the 101,441 reported cases are in people younger than 44 years old. Covid-19 hospitalizations have increased in the state, with more than 3,200 Covid-19 inpatients and over 800 ICU patients currently reported in Arizona hospitals.

Here's a look at the progression of total cases in Arizona, according to Johns Hopkins University data:

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, predicted last week that the United States could see 100,000 coronavirus cases a day, short of a serious mitigation effort.

“We're approaching that, so this is a public health crisis for our nation,” Hotez said.

Here's a look at how the progression of total confirmed cases in the three states compares:

With reporting from CNN Health’s Shelby Lin Erdman, Joe Sutton, Elizabeth Cohen and Dana Vigue.

Mexico’s president Andrés Manuel López Obrador has tested negative for Covid-19, he announced at his daily news conference Tuesday morning. 

This comes hours before he leaves for Washington, DC, where he will meet President Trump at the White House on Wednesday.

He took the test Monday, which was the first time he publicly acknowledged taking a coronavirus test, previously saying he never needed to get tested because he never had symptoms.

López Obrador is traveling via commercial flight and has never used the presidential plane since taking office in December, 2018. This will be his first trip abroad as president.

US stocks opened lower on Tuesday, pulling back after the prior session’s rally that pushed the Nasdaq Composite to an all-time closing high.

With few catalysts to give the market direction, investors can’t hide from the rising number of Covid-19 infections across the country. Economists are warning that the resurgence of cases could delay the economic recovery.

Here's how the market opened: