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White House trade adviser critical of Fauci in opinion article

Updated July 15, 2020 - 9:57 am

WASHINGTON — The White House says an opinion piece by its trade adviser that’s critical of Dr. Anthony Fauci is the adviser’s opinion “alone.”

Alyssa Farah, White House director of strategic communications, tweeted Wednesday the piece by trade adviser Peter Navarro “didn’t go through normal White House clearance processes and is the opinion of Peter alone.”

Farah adds President Donald Trump “values the expertise” of the medical professionals advising the administration. But Trump has also broken with Fauci and publicly accused him of making “mistakes” in his public guidance about combating the virus.

USA Today published Navarro’s piece. It outlines the ways Navarro says he has disagreed with Fauci, who is the leading U.S. expert on infectious diseases and serves on the White House coronavirus task force.

Navarro had shared his views with some reporters and the column comes as allies of Trump, including others inside the White House, have been waging a campaign to discredit Fauci.

What you need to know about the virus outbreak

— Tokyo governor warns infections quickly rising

— Rules once lifted are reimposed to try to curb new outbreaks

— First COVID-19 vaccine tested in US poised for final testing

What else is happening

Moderna vaccine to begin final testing: The first COVID-19 vaccine tested in the U.S. revved up people’s immune systems just the way scientists had hoped, researchers reported Tuesday — as the shots are poised to begin key final testing.

“No matter how you slice this, this is good news,” Fauci told The Associated Press.

The experimental vaccine, developed by Fauci’s colleagues at the National Institutes of Health and Moderna Inc., will start its most important step around July 27: A 30,000-person study to prove if the shots really are strong enough to protect against the coronavirus.

But Tuesday, researchers reported anxiously awaited findings from the first 45 volunteers who rolled up their sleeves back in March. Sure enough, the vaccine provided a hoped-for immune boost.

Those early volunteers developed what are called neutralizing antibodies in their bloodstream — molecules key to blocking infection — at levels comparable to those found in people who survived COVID-19, the research team reported in the New England Journal of Medicine.

“This is an essential building block that is needed to move forward with the trials that could actually determine whether the vaccine does protect against infection,” said Dr. Lisa Jackson of the Kaiser Permanente Washington Research Institute in Seattle, who led the study.

There’s no guarantee but the government hopes to have results around the end of the year — record-setting speed for developing a vaccine.

The vaccine requires two doses, a month apart.

There were no serious side effects. But more than half the study participants reported flu-like reactions to the shots that aren’t uncommon with other vaccines — fatigue, headache, chills, fever and pain at the injection site. For three participants given the highest dose, those reactions were more severe; that dose isn’t being pursued.

First governor to test positive: Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt announced Wednesday that he’s the first governor in the United States to test positive for the coronavirus and that he is isolating at home.

Stitt, 48, said he mostly feels fine, although he started feeling “a little achy” on Tuesday and sought a test. He said his wife and children were also tested Tuesday and that none of them has tested positive.

Stitt has backed one of the country’s most aggressive reopening plans, resisted any statewide mandate on masks and rarely wears one himself.

“We respect people’s rights … to not wear a mask,” Stitt said during Wednesday’s news conference, which was held virtually. “You just open up a big can of worms.”

Stitt attended President Donald Trump’s rally in Tulsa last month, which health experts have said likely contributed to a surge in coronavirus cases there.

Stitt said he’s confident he didn’t contract the virus at the rally.

“As far as where he became infected, it’s really unknown,” Oklahoma Health Commissioner Lance Frye said. “It wasn’t so far back as the rally,” which took place nearly a month ago.

Fresh taste of bitter medicine for New Orleans: A sharp increase in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations is forcing bars to shut down again just a month after they were allowed to partially reopen.

New Mexico cases at 15.5K: New Mexico health officials are reporting an additional 227 COVID-19 cases, bringing the confirmed statewide total to more than 15,500.

The latest figures released Tuesday show Bernalillo County, which includes the state’s most populous metro area, added another 65 confirmed cases.

Health officials also reported three additional deaths, bringing the total to 551. Those deaths include a McKinley County man and San Juan County woman, both in the their 30s, who had underlying conditions.

New Mexico has been added to New York, New Jersey and Connecticut’s quarantine list because it’s among those states with growing infection rates.

10.8K new Texas cases: Texas voters have returned to the polls as the state reports a record number of confirmed coronavirus cases in a single day.

The short ballot of primary runoff elections Tuesday included a big race to determine Texas’ Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate. In San Antonio, elections officials say they were unable to staff a handful of polling locations because some poll workers feared getting the virus.

Texas reported nearly 10,800 new cases and 87 new deaths. The rate of positive cases also climbed to nearly 17%, which was also a new high.

Primary runoff elections are typically low turnout in Texas. Election officials in many of the state’s big cities reported short lines, and some equipped polling places with social distancing measures and disposable gloves for voters to use.

The primary runoff in Texas was originally set for May but rescheduled because of concerns over the virus.

Utah case counts double since May: Utah confirmed 10 more confirmed deaths from the coronavirus Tuesday, the latest sign of a surge of cases that began after businesses reopened in May.

The Utah Health Department reported six of the deaths came in rural San Juan County in the southeast corner of the state, including three at an assisted living facility.

Utah has recorded 226 confirmed deaths from COVID-19 and nearly 30,500 confirmed cases.

Case counts have more than doubled since mid-May when state leaders allowed some businesses to reopen, with an average of 636 per day over the last seven days.

Fauci advises young people about science, politics: Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, offered encouragement to young people on separating politics from science as they navigate life during the coronavirus.

“Do your thing, and don’t get involved in any of the political nonsense, that’s a waste of time, and a distraction,” Fauci advised students during a virtual forum Tuesday, hosted by Georgetown University’s Global Health Initiative,

Fauci has been increasingly sidelined by the White House as he sounds alarms about the virus, a message that White House officials have become hostile to as President Donald Trump focuses on pushing an economic rebound.

Fauci, asked by a students how to separate politics from the science, says it’s tough for young people to have an impact on depoliticization of the virus “except by not being part of the politicization.”

He added it was important that young people remind each other that in protecting oneself from the virus that “it doesn’t matter who you are, what you are — you’re Republican, Democrat, anybody else.”

Toyko infections rising: Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike says the spread of infections in the Japanese capital has escalated to levels tantamount to “issuing an alarm,” and requested residents and business owners to step up preventive measures.

Koike specifically urged restaurants, shops and nightclub operators to fulfill safety measures and urged customers to stay away from places that don’t comply with guidelines.

Koike also asked Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government to revise the law to authorize local governors to penalize business owners who violate requested safety measures.

She appealed to residents to avoid non-essential out-of-town trips, and to the government to “think carefully” if it’s an appropriate timing to push Abe’s unpopular tourism campaign.

Experts on the Tokyo task force say infections are no longer limited to younger generations linked to nightlife districts.

Hospital beds are quickly filling up and more are needed. Tokyo has had 8,189 confirmed cases and 325 deaths.

New restrictions in UK town: Authorities in the English town of Blackburn have imposed new restrictions on social mingling amid what they say is a “rising tide” of new coronavirus cases.

Director of Public Health Dominic Harrison says Blackburn’s infection rate is 47 per 100,000 people, one of the highest in the country.

He says the main issue is transmission within families, mostly in South Asian households. He told the BBC that “what we are seeing is a single case being infected, then going back to a household and all that household becoming infected.”

He says the borough was limiting the number of people residents can visit, requiring face masks in public places and sending mobile testing units out into the community.

Harrison says if infection numbers didn’t fall by July 27, officials would begin to reimpose lockdown measures such as the closing of shops and other businesses.

Harrison says he hoped Blackburn wouldn’t have to impose a blanket local lockdown like one in the city of Leicester. The government ordered restaurants, pubs and non-essential shops to close there on June 30 after the infection rate surged to 157 cases per 100,000 residents.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock says the government would assess Leicester’s lockdown on Thursday when the latest coronavirus data is out.

Like Blackburn, Leicester has a large South Asian population. Statistics show that Britain’s ethnic minorities are more likely to contract the virus than their white counterparts. Experts point to a range of factors, including social inequality and the prevalence of underlying health conditions such as diabetes.

Russia revises quarantine rules: Russian authorities have lifted mandatory two-week self-quarantine for those arriving as part of easing coronavirus restrictions.

Starting Wednesday, both Russian and international travelers will have to either provide coronavirus test results at the border or take a test within three days of arrival in Russia. Self-quaratine will remain mandatory for those who test positive for the virus or whose health deteriorates upon arrival.

It’s one of several steps in an effort to reopen the country after health officials started reporting a slowdown in infections. Last month, authorities allowed travel abroad for the purpose of work, studying, medical treatment or taking care of relatives. They also let foreigners with work permits or those seeking medical treatment or taking care of family members into the country.

Last week, Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said Russia may resume international flights starting Wednesday, adding that the final decision would depend on the outcome of negotiations with other countries.

On Tuesday night, Belarus Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko announced reopening of the border with Russia and resuming transport ties between the two countries “in the coming days.” Russia has so far reported over 746,000 confirmed coronavirus cases.

India cases near 1M: India’s coronavirus caseload is approaching 1 million with a surge of 29,429 in the past 24 hours, prompting authorities to reimpose lockdowns in high-risk areas in nearly a dozen states.

The new confirmed cases took the national total to 936,181. The Health Ministry reported another 582 deaths for a confirmed total of 24,309 deaths.

A two-week lockdown was imposed Wednesday in eastern Bihar state, where nearly 2.5 million migrant workers returned home after losing jobs in other parts of the country and further spread the virus.

India’s key southern technology hub, Bangalore, where the offices of Microsoft, Apple and Amazon are located, was put under a weeklong lockdown Wednesday.

About a dozen other states, including Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Assam, have put high-risk areas in lockdown, allowing only essential food supplies and health services.

India’s Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said he expected the coronavirus cases to peak in various parts of the country at different times. He says more than 280,000 samples are being tested every day in the country, taking the total to nearly 12 million.

No local China cases in 9 days: China is further easing restrictions on domestic tourism after reporting no local cases of COVID-19 in nine days.

A directive from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism dated Tuesday says tourist sites should allow 50 percent of their daily visitor capacity, up from 30 percent, and that interprovince group tours should be resumed.

The National Health Commission says six new cases were recorded Tuesday, all in people who had arrived from overseas. It has not reported any domestic cases since an outbreak in Beijing that infected more than 330 people before it faded early this month.

China has reported 83,611 confirmed cases and 4,634 confirmed deaths since the outbreak began. It doesn’t include people who test positive but showed no symptoms in its case count.

Crackdown in Melbourne: The leader of Australia’s worst-hit state says police were cracking down on a coronavirus lockdown in the nation’s second-largest city.

Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews on Wednesday warned that restrictions would be increased unless the spread was contained in Melbourne.

“If … people do not do the right thing, then we will have to move to additional restrictions being put in place and we will have to prolong the period that those restrictions are in place,” Andrews said.

The Australian military is bolstering police numbers at checkpoints. Police were scanning license plates to determine drivers’ addresses and whether they were subjected to stay-at-home orders.

Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton says 238 new cases detected in the latest 24-hour period could be the start of a stabilization in the spread since Melbourne and part of its surrounding area were last week locked down for a second time for six weeks.

Sutton didn’t know whether new restrictions would entail spreading existing rules beyond Melbourne or tightening existing restrictions in Melbourne.

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