Wednesday Morning Briefing: Wisconsin sounds alarm over surge in cases as U.S. surpasses 200,000 COVID-19 deaths

Share

September 23, 2020 Reuters News Now What you need to know about the coronavirus today Surge in cases in Wisconsin, new cluster in Brooklyn Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers declared a new public health emergency and extended a face mask mandate into November to fight a coronavirus flareup in his state, as the number of people who have died across the United States since the pandemic began passed 200,000. In-person social gatherings have led to cases in Wisconsin skyrocketing among people aged 18 to 24, Evers said and pleaded with students who returned to colleges for the fall semester to stay out of bars and wear masks. “We are seeing an alarming increase in cases across our state, especially on campus,” the governor said in a statement announcing his decision. Meanwhile, in New York City health officials identified a new cluster of COVID-19 cases in the borough of Brooklyn, and noted a marked uptick in infections there and in some other neighborhoods. Canada at ‘crossroads’ COVID-19 infections have surged in Canada and if people do not take stringent precautions, they could balloon to exceed levels seen during the first wave of the pandemic, health officials warned on Monday. “Canada is at a crossroads and individual action to reduce contact rates will decide our path,” the Public Health Agency said in a statement. According to a worst-case scenario outlined by the agency, cases could rise more than 1,000 per day to 155,795 by Oct. 2, with the death toll hitting 9,300. On Monday, Canada had reported 145,415 total cases and 9,228 deaths. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will unveil on Wednesday what he says is a far-reaching plan to help the economy recover from the pandemic while ensuring efforts to fight the outbreak do not falter. Britain’s new COVID measures met with skepticism The British government on Wednesday defended its new, stricter coronavirus measures against criticism that they did not got far enough, saying it was trying to balance supporting the economy while protecting health. Prime Minister Boris Johnson told citizens on Tuesday to work from home if possible and ordered restaurants and bars to close early, in an effort to slow a fast-spreading second wave of COVID-19, saying restrictions would likely last six months. A decision by Scotland’s semi-autonomous government to take more stringent measures, such as banning any socializing between households, cast doubt over whether the steps taken in more populous England would be sufficient. Airlines look to tests that give results in minutes European airlines are pinning hopes on pre-flight COVID-19 tests that deliver results as fast as pregnancy tests to help restore passengers’ confidence in taking to the skies in confined spaces with shared air. Germany’s Lufthansa, at the mercy of government bailouts for survival, is in talks with Swiss drugmaker Roche over deploying so-called antigen tests, according to two people familiar with the discussions, and the airline aims to make them available next month. Unlike laboratory-based molecular tests health authorities have relied on during the pandemic, antigen tests do not require machines to process them. Lawsuits filed over outbreak at Austrian ski resort A consumer rights group said it had filed civil lawsuits against the Austrian government over a coronavirus outbreak at the ski resort of Ischgl last winter, but it held off on a class-action suit for the time being. The outbreak at Ischgl, which calls itself the “Ibiza of the Alps”, was Austria’s biggest and helped spread the virus across Europe. Hundreds of Austrians were infected and thousands of foreign tourists say they were too as the virus found a breeding ground in crowded apres-ski bars in February and early March. Ischgl’s first case was detected on March 7, days after Iceland said that tourists had been infected there and 11 days after Austria’s first infections were confirmed. Austria’s public health agency has since said it believes the virus arrived in Ischgl far earlier, on Feb. 5. Track the spread as U.S deaths from COVID-19 surpass 200,000. Breakingviews - Corona Capital: Sweats, Campers, Asian confidence Read concise views on the pandemic’s financial fallout from Breakingviews columnists across the globe. Reuters reporters and editors around the world are investigating the response to the coronavirus pandemic. We need your help to tell these stories. Our news organization wants to capture the full scope of what’s happening and how we got here by drawing on a wide variety of sources. Are you a government employee or contractor involved in coronavirus testing or the wider public health response? Are you a doctor, nurse or health worker caring for patients? Have you worked on similar outbreaks in the past? Has the disease known as COVID-19 personally affected you or your family? Are you aware of new problems that are about to emerge, such as critical supply shortages? We need your tips, firsthand accounts, relevant documents or expert knowledge. Please contact us at coronavirus@reuters.com. We prefer tips from named sources, but if you’d rather remain anonymous, you can submit a confidential news tip. Here’s how. Top Stories President Trump told the United Nations General Assembly that China must be held accountable for having “unleashed” COVID-19 on the world, prompting Beijing to accuse him of “lies” and abusing the U.N. platform to provoke confrontation. China’s President Xi Jinping struck a conciliatory tone in his pre-recorded virtual address to the General Assembly, calling for enhanced cooperation over the pandemic and stressing that China had no intention of fighting “either a Cold War or a hot war with any country.” EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier said he remained determined to reach a deal with Britain when asked whether such an agreement was possible before the end of a status-quo transition period. Asked by Reuters as he arrived in London before informal talks if he was optimistic about reaching a deal, Barnier said: “I am determined.” Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has been discharged from the hospital in Berlin where he has been treated after falling ill on a domestic flight in Siberia last month. “The patient’s condition had improved sufficiently for him to be discharged from acute inpatient care,” the Charite hospital said in a statement on Wednesday. President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus was sworn in for a new term in an inauguration denounced as illegitimate by the opposition, which called for more protests against his 26-year rule. The sudden ceremony, which would normally be publicized as a major state occasion but was instead held without warning, followed a disputed election on Aug. 9 in which Lukashenko claimed a landslide victory. Business Tesla's value drops $50 billion as Musk's promised cheaper battery three years away Investors slashed $50 billion from Tesla's market value on Tuesday despite CEO Elon Musk’s promise to cut electric vehicle costs so radically that a $25,000 car that drives itself will be possible, but not for at least three years. 5 min read Exclusive: How COVID-19 stimulus money will end up in U.S. tobacco farmers' pockets U.S. government aid payments to tobacco farmers will be channeled through a new account within the office of the agriculture secretary, an unusual move that bypasses the normal mechanism for distributing farm aid and stokes concerns about how the government is using COVID-19 stimulus. 6 min read Advertisers agree deal with social media on steps to curb harmful content Facebook, YouTube and Twitter have agreed with big advertisers on first steps to curb harmful content online, following boycotts of social media platforms that advertisers had accused of tolerating hate speech. 3 min read Huawei chairman urges U.S. to reconsider 'attack' on global supply chain Chinese telecom giant Huawei Technologies said on Wednesday its supply chain was under attack from the United States and called on Washington to reconsider its trade restrictions which were hurting suppliers globally. 3 min read Top Stories on Reuters TV Romney agrees to vote on Trump's Supreme Court pick Politics   2:19 Fears of 'smoke taint' in U.S. grapes after fires U.S.   2:00 Real news for busy people More Newsletters Reuters News Reuters TV               © 2020 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved. 3 Times Square, New York, NY 10036 Email Preferences    |   Privacy Policy    |   Terms and Conditions