PROVIDENCE, R.I. Gov. Gina Raimondo says every public school district in Rhode Island except two has been given the go-ahead to resume in-person classes when schools reopen in September.
The Democrat said Monday that children are scheduled to return to school on Sept. 14 and our expectation is thats what you will do.”
To be ready, five metrics had to be met, including low hospitalization and spread rate statewide; an ability to return coronavirus test results within 72 hours; and having enough protective supplies.
Only Providence, the capital, and Central Falls haven’t met the metrics. Those cities have had the highest coronavirus rates in the state.
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HERES WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE VIRUS OUTBREAK
Students are returning to schools in much of Europe
How will the U.S. coronavirus crisis play out this fall?
In South Africa, the pandemic claimed 14,000 lives, plus the rituals to mourn them
In Chinas Xinjiang, forced medication accompanies lockdown
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Follow APs pandemic coverage at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak
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HERES WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:
COLUMBIA, S.C. Officials in Columbia, South Carolina, say at least 200 people were crowded around without masks at a pool party that was shut down near the University of South Carolina.
Columbia Fire Chief Aubrey Jenkins tells WLTX-TV the scene Saturday at an apartment complex violated rules meant to halt the coronavirus and created a perfect storm to spread the virus.
Jenkins persuaded the complex to close the pool for several days, but no one was cited for violating the citys mask ordinance.
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CHICO, Calif. California State University, Chico has canceled the limited number of in-person classes it was offering and has gone virtual-only for the duration of the fall semester after at least 30 people tested positive for the coronavirus three days after the semester began.
University President Gayle Hutchinson says students need to vacate campus housing by the weekend. Hutchinson says she is asking students to leave campus housing because nearly all on-campus residences have at least one positive case and there are concerns the numbers will increase.
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GENEVA The head of the World Health Organization is warning that opening up societies too quickly amid the coronavirus pandemic is a recipe for disaster.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus advises that the more control countries have over the virus, the more they can open up, and insists that countries that are serious about opening up must also be serious about suppressing transmission. He says that’s not an impossible balance.
Tedros cited four key points that countries, communities and individuals should focus on: preventing amplifying events as the virus thrives on clusters; protecting vulnerable groups; people taking steps individually to protect themselves; and finding, isolating, testing and caring for cases, while tracing and quarantining their contacts.
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ROME Italy registered nearly 1,000 more coronavirus cases on Monday, far fewer than recent daily new caseloads but far fewer swab tests had been done.
Italy now counts 269,214 confirmed infections. Many of those testing positive in recent weeks have been travelers returning from vacations or their close contacts.
Sardinia, which had relatively few cases for weeks, registered 79 new infections on Monday, with clusters of infections linked to crowded discos or holiday-goers parties on the Mediterranean island.
In a reversal of the situation of the outbreak some six months ago, the two regions with the most daily new cases werent in the north, but in Campania, which includes Naples, and Lazio, which includes Rome.
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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. President Donald Trumps new pandemic adviser, Dr. Scott Atlas, says coronavirus infections and deaths are declining in the hardest-hit states.
Appearing with Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for a panel discussion on Monday, Atlas said hospitalizations, length of hospital stays and mortality are also declining.
The American public should feel cautiously optimistic here about whats going on, Atlas said. There is no need for fear at this point.
He also downplayed the risk of infections in young people and agreed with DeSantis that college football needs to be played this year. He described fit athletes as low-risk and said football can be done safely using social distancing in big stadiums.
College sports is a big part of America and its a big part of the economic engine, he said.
Atlas also downplayed the need to test people for the coronavirus when they dont have symptoms.
When you start a program of testing simply to detect positive cases among asymptomatic low-risk groups, the outcome from that is to close the schools, he said. And the goal of testing is not to close things. The goal of testing is to protect the vulnerable while we open the schools and open the economy.
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YANGON, Myanmar The Southeast Asian nation of Myanmar has reported its highest single-day total of confirmed COVID-19 cases since its first cases were confirmed in late March.
The Health Ministry announced 95 new cases Monday, bringing the countrys total to 882. Of those, 354 are listed as recovered, and six died.
The surge of new cases over the past week has mostly been in the western state of Rakhine, which borders Bangladesh and hosts several major displacement camps due to years of civil conflict. The government responded by instituting a Stay-at-Home program for the entire state. It also banned unnecessary and unauthorized travel.
Northwestern Myanmar borders India, which has the worlds third-highest official number of cases.
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DETROIT Detroit turned an island park into an extraordinary memorial garden on Monday as cars packed with families slowly passed hundreds of photos of residents who died from COVID-19.
Mayor Mike Duggan declared a Detroit Memorial Day to honor the citys 1,500-plus victims of the pandemic. Hearses led solemn processions around Belle Isle Park in the Detroit River, where more than 900 photos were displayed.
The regions classical music station added gospel music to the playlist and read the names of the deceased.
Detroits director of arts and culture, Rochelle Riley, said organizers hoped the memorial would wake people up to the devastating effect of the pandemic and also bring some peace to families whose loved ones didnt have the funerals they deserved.
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BRUSSELS The European Union is joining the COVID-19 vaccine alliance COVAX with the aim of helping to provide access to any future vaccine for people in countries that might not be able to afford it.
The EUs executive arm, the European Commission, announced Monday that it was contributing 400 million euros ($478 million) to support the scheme.
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the aim is to work together in purchasing future vaccines to the benefit of low and middle income countries.
But the commission refused to say whether it wants to use COVAX as another means to secure access for relatively-wealthy Europe to any future vaccine.
Activists warn that without stronger attempts to hold political, pharmaceutical and health leaders accountable, any vaccines could be hoarded by rich countries in a race to inoculate their populations first.
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TRENTON, N.J. Indoor dining will resume Friday with limited capacity in New Jersey, Gov. Phil Murphy announced.
Restaurants can have 25% capacity under the new rules, which includes maintaining social distancing between tables. Masks will be required except when eating or drinking.
Reopening responsibly will help us restore one of our states key industries while continuing to make progress against #COVID19, Murphy wrote in a tweet Monday announcing updated regulations.
New Jersey has had more than 190,000 positive cases, with over 14,000 fatalities.
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FAIRBANKS, Alaska The University of Alaska Fairbanks hockey team and other student-athletes there are in quarantine or isolation after some tested positive for the coronavirus following an off-campus party.
Administrators say 37 students were placed in isolation after six hockey players and an athlete from another university team tested positive.
University of Fairbanks Chancellor Dan White said athletes from different sports attended the Aug. 22 party. No university staff members were there, but head hockey coach Erik Largen was also quarantined after close contact with players.
University officials dont know if the entire team was at the party.
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STOCKHOLM A Swedish health official said Monday that a COVID-19 vaccine alone cannot stop the pandemic, adding important preventive measures must remain in place for the foreseeable future.
Johan Carlson, head of the Public Health Agency in Sweden that opted for a much debated COVID-19 approach of keeping large parts of the society open, said a future vaccine will probably be an important tool but not the tool that ultimately solves the problem.”
Social Affairs Minister Lena Hallengren told a joint press conference that the vaccine should be administered in priority to people over age 70, people in risk groups, and care and nursing staff.
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GENEVA The U.N. health agency says 90% of countries that responded in a new survey reported fallout from COVID-19 on the provision of other health care services.
The World Health Organization says 105 countries responded to the survey aimed at assessing the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on strained health systems, notably in low- and middle-income countries.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the survey, covering five regions between March and June, exposed cracks in our health systems and the need for better preparation for health emergencies like the pandemic that has produced more than 25 million confirmed cases and killed over 843,000 people by WHOs count. Such figures are believed to far underestimate the actual totals.
The survey found that routine immunization and outreach services were among the most affected, with 70% of countries reporting disruptions, followed closely by the diagnosis and treatment of non-communicable diseases like cardiovascular disease and cancer.
Nearly a quarter of countries that responded reported disruptions to emergency services.
WHO cautioned about some limitations about the study, including that it involved “self-assessment, as well as differences in the phases of the outbreak that countries were experiencing.
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NICOSIA, Cyprus Cyprus education minister says mask-wearing will be compulsory for all middle and high school students but optional for primary and kindergarten grades when schools open next week.
Prodromos Prodromou affirmed the guideline on Monday, easing an earlier position that masks would be mandatory for all grades.
Prodromou said schools were instructed to conduct classes in the largest available spaces to ensure social distancing. He says his ministry is ready to switch to online teaching if coronavirus infection rates within schools increase.
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MADRID Prime Minister Pedro Snchez says the Spanish government is working on a post-pandemic recovery plan that aims to bring sustained annual economic growth higher than 2%.
Spain was allocated 140 billion euros ($166.84 billion) from the European Unions coronavirus recovery fund, roughly divided in half between grants and repayable loans.
Using that aid, the plan outlined Monday by Snchez will aim to address inequality deepened by the virus, which has claimed at least 29,000 victims in Spain.
It has become western Europes hardest-hit country by a new surging wave of fresh outbreaks.
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BUCHAREST, Romania Romanian government is lifting several restrictions imposed earlier to curb the coronavirus, despite consistently rising number of new infections and deaths.
The government announced Monday it will let indoor dining, movie theaters and performing art venues restart on Tuesday. They must comply with social distancing and mask-wearing rules.
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LONDON British authorities say 16 coronavirus cases have been linked to a flight that brought U.K. tourists back from Greece, and everyone aboard has been told to isolate for two weeks.
Public Health Wales says it’s contacting almost 200 people who were aboard the Tui flight from the Greek island of Zante to Cardiff, Wales, on Tuesday.
Gwen Lowe of Public Health Wales says 30 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed among people who returned from Zante on several flights, and the number is expected to rise.
The U.K. requires people arriving from overseas to quarantine for two weeks, unless they are coming from a considered at low risk from the coronavirus. Greece is on the exemption list.
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NEW DELHI India reported more than 78,000 new coronavirus cases and 984 more deaths on Monday, increasing its total fatalities to 64,469.
India has had more than 3.6 million reported virus cases and now has the fastest-growing reported caseload of any country, seeing more than 75,000 new cases for five straight days.
The virus hit Indias major cities and is now fast spreading in smaller towns and rural areas.
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