Saline County released information today about a possible COVID-19 exposure at Sunset Park.&nbsp;

Following is the information from the county.

On June 22nd, 2020 a soccer game took place in Sunset Park located at 700 Sunset Dr. Salina, Kansas. At least one symptomatic person participated in that game and potentially exposed others to COVID-19. This game took place between 7:30 pm and 9:30 pm.

This was not an organized game, so there is no roster of attendees. If anyone was in attendance we ask that you quarantine, monitor for symptoms of COVID-19, and call the Saline County Health Department at 785-826-6600. If you are unable to reach a person directly, please leave a detailed message with your name and contact information so we can contact you.

Symptoms can range from mild to severe illness and appear 2-14 days after you are exposed. Symptoms can include the following:

•New loss of taste or smell

•Shortness of Breath or difficulty breathing

Only follow official sources to obtain information: <a href="http://www.saline.org/coronavirus">www.saline.org/coronavirus</a> or <a href="http://www.kdheks.gov">www.kdheks.gov</a>.

Saline County released information today about a possible COVID-19 exposure at Sunset Park.&nbsp;Following is the information from the county.On June 22nd, 2020 a soccer game took place in Sunset Park located at 700 Sunset Dr. Salina, Kansas. At least one symptomatic person participated in that game and potentially exposed others to COVID-19. This game took place between 7:30 pm and 9:30 pm.This was not an organized game, so there is no roster of attendees. If anyone was in attendance we ask that you quarantine, monitor for symptoms of COVID-19, and call the Saline County Health Department at 785-826-6600. If you are unable to reach a person directly, please leave a detailed message with your name and contact information so we can contact you.Symptoms can range from mild to severe illness and appear 2-14 days after you are exposed. Symptoms can include the following:•Cough•Sore throat•New loss of taste or smell•Fever•Muscle pain•Chills•Shortness of Breath or difficulty breathingOnly follow official sources to obtain information: <a href="http://www.saline.org/coronavirus">www.saline.org/coronavirus</a> or <a href="http://www.kdheks.gov">www.kdheks.gov</a>.

Saline County issues notice of possible COVID-19 exposure

Washington (AP) —Governors in places seeing huge spikes in coronavirus infections often cite statewide data to assure the public they have plenty of hospital capacity to survive the onslaught, even as the states routinely miss the critical benchmarks to guide their pandemic response.

Public health officials and experts say the heavy reliance on statewide hospital data is a misleading and sometimes irresponsible metric to justify keeping a state open or holding back on imposing new limits.

That is because statewide statistics can be deceiving, especially in large states where individual hospitals can be in crisis mode even while the overall capacity numbers look OK.

Thomas LaVeist, dean of the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in New Orleans, said basing pandemic and reopening policy on statewide hospital bed capacity ”is incredibly irresponsible.”

“To cherry-pick hospital capacity and to use that one metric without the context of number of cases, number of deaths, is shocking,” LaVeist said.

The issue of hospital capacity has gained urgency across the nation this week as Florida, Texas, California, Arizona and other states reported skyrocketing case numbers. Governors have repeatedly invoked hospital capacity in arguing against new business restrictions, though the dynamic began to shift Friday when Texas and Florida clamped down on bars amid an increasingly dire situation with COVID-19.

At the first White House coronavirus briefing nearly two months Friday, Vice President Mike Pence also cited hospitalizations in discussing the outlook for the pandemic.

Two months ago, Pence said 15% of patients were being hospitalized. Now it’s about 5%. That means the health care system is better positioned to cope with a resurgence in cases, he says.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Kansas jumped by 568, fueled in part by outbreaks in sports practices and tournaments. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment said Friday that there were now 13,538 cases, up 4.3% from Wednesday and 12% from last Friday. The state also reported three more deaths, bringing the total to 264 since the pandemic began in early March.&nbsp;

In Texas, the state health department’s website on Thursday showed 12,951 available beds, 1,320 available ICU beds, and 5,850 available ventilators. What it doesn’t break down is how bleak the situation is in some particular places, including Houston, the nation’s fourth largest city. Hospital beds in Houston are filling so fast that Texas Children’s Hospital is starting to treat adult patients, and 97% of ICU beds at Texas Medical Center were in use.

In Miami, Homestead Hospital confirmed Tuesday it was at capacity. The hospital was transferring patients to other hospitals and preparing to convert regular beds to beds for ICU and acute care patients, if needed.

In Arizona, Republican Gov. Doug Ducey has declined to impose new restrictions on business activity or a stay-at-home order, repeatedly citing ample capacity in the state’s hospitals as the reason he is comfortable staying open.

“That’s what’s most important when there’s a rise in cases,” Ducey said earlier this month.

Ducey has condemned as “misinformation” the notion that hospital space is running short, even as state data shows that 85% of Arizona’s hospital beds are occupied. Arizona has about 2,500 hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

At the same time, the state is badly missing the mark on the benchmarks established by the White House task force to guide the reopening of the economy, with 23 percent of COVID-19 tests coming back positive in the past week in Arizona.

The task force does not include statewide hospitalizations as part of its criteria that states are supposed to meet before reopening. Those criteria include a downward trajectory of cases within a two-week period. They also specify that hospitals should have enough intensive care unit capacity to treat a surge in patients and should have a robust testing program in place for at-risk healthcare workers, including virus antibody testing.

Dr. Joseph Gerald, associate professor of public health policy and management at the University of Arizona, said that if the trend continues, cases will likely exceed statewide hospital bed capacity within the next several weeks.

California has broken several of its own daily records for the number of positive tests and hospitalizations have risen by more than 30 percent in the past two weeks. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom has sounded an upbeat tone in recent days about hospital capacity but changed his tune somewhat on Friday, saying he wants a Southern California county that borders Mexico to consider a stay-home order again.

Dr. Colleen Kraft, associate chief medical officer at Emory Hospital in Atlanta and a member of Georgia’s coronavirus task force, said regional hospital bed capacity would be a better metric than statewide capacity. She lamented that the pandemic has seemingly devolved into a “political situation.”

“As someone who came into medicine to serve people, it’s difficult to watch,” Kraft said.

Robyn Gershon, a professor and public health expert at New York University, called using statewide hospital bed capacity to guide policy “completely unethical.”

’’It’s unethical to say let’s just go about our business and by the way, we can handle the overflow,” Gershon said. “A better measure is the 14-day and seven-day case infection rate. That’s what’s telling us what’s going on right now.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/6/1593204436609.png" alt="Vice President Mike Pence and Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speak during a briefing with members of the Coronavirus Task Force at the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, Friday" />
 <figcaption>Vice President Mike Pence and Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speak during a briefing with members of the Coronavirus Task Force at the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, Friday</figcaption>
 </figure>By JIM SALTER and LINDSEY TANNERWashington (AP) —Governors in places seeing huge spikes in coronavirus infections often cite statewide data to assure the public they have plenty of hospital capacity to survive the onslaught, even as the states routinely miss the critical benchmarks to guide their pandemic response.Public health officials and experts say the heavy reliance on statewide hospital data is a misleading and sometimes irresponsible metric to justify keeping a state open or holding back on imposing new limits.That is because statewide statistics can be deceiving, especially in large states where individual hospitals can be in crisis mode even while the overall capacity numbers look OK.Thomas LaVeist, dean of the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in New Orleans, said basing pandemic and reopening policy on statewide hospital bed capacity ”is incredibly irresponsible.”“To cherry-pick hospital capacity and to use that one metric without the context of number of cases, number of deaths, is shocking,” LaVeist said.The issue of hospital capacity has gained urgency across the nation this week as Florida, Texas, California, Arizona and other states reported skyrocketing case numbers. Governors have repeatedly invoked hospital capacity in arguing against new business restrictions, though the dynamic began to shift Friday when Texas and Florida clamped down on bars amid an increasingly dire situation with COVID-19.At the first White House coronavirus briefing nearly two months Friday, Vice President Mike Pence also cited hospitalizations in discussing the outlook for the pandemic.Two months ago, Pence said 15% of patients were being hospitalized. Now it’s about 5%. That means the health care system is better positioned to cope with a resurgence in cases, he says.The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Kansas jumped by 568, fueled in part by outbreaks in sports practices and tournaments. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment said Friday that there were now 13,538 cases, up 4.3% from Wednesday and 12% from last Friday. The state also reported three more deaths, bringing the total to 264 since the pandemic began in early March.&nbsp;In Texas, the state health department’s website on Thursday showed 12,951 available beds, 1,320 available ICU beds, and 5,850 available ventilators. What it doesn’t break down is how bleak the situation is in some particular places, including Houston, the nation’s fourth largest city. Hospital beds in Houston are filling so fast that Texas Children’s Hospital is starting to treat adult patients, and 97% of ICU beds at Texas Medical Center were in use.In Miami, Homestead Hospital confirmed Tuesday it was at capacity. The hospital was transferring patients to other hospitals and preparing to convert regular beds to beds for ICU and acute care patients, if needed.In Arizona, Republican Gov. Doug Ducey has declined to impose new restrictions on business activity or a stay-at-home order, repeatedly citing ample capacity in the state’s hospitals as the reason he is comfortable staying open.“That’s what’s most important when there’s a rise in cases,” Ducey said earlier this month.Ducey has condemned as “misinformation” the notion that hospital space is running short, even as state data shows that 85% of Arizona’s hospital beds are occupied. Arizona has about 2,500 hospitalized COVID-19 patients.At the same time, the state is badly missing the mark on the benchmarks established by the White House task force to guide the reopening of the economy, with 23 percent of COVID-19 tests coming back positive in the past week in Arizona.The task force does not include statewide hospitalizations as part of its criteria that states are supposed to meet before reopening. Those criteria include a downward trajectory of cases within a two-week period. They also specify that hospitals should have enough intensive care unit capacity to treat a surge in patients and should have a robust testing program in place for at-risk healthcare workers, including virus antibody testing.Dr. Joseph Gerald, associate professor of public health policy and management at the University of Arizona, said that if the trend continues, cases will likely exceed statewide hospital bed capacity within the next several weeks.California has broken several of its own daily records for the number of positive tests and hospitalizations have risen by more than 30 percent in the past two weeks. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom has sounded an upbeat tone in recent days about hospital capacity but changed his tune somewhat on Friday, saying he wants a Southern California county that borders Mexico to consider a stay-home order again.Dr. Colleen Kraft, associate chief medical officer at Emory Hospital in Atlanta and a member of Georgia’s coronavirus task force, said regional hospital bed capacity would be a better metric than statewide capacity. She lamented that the pandemic has seemingly devolved into a “political situation.”“As someone who came into medicine to serve people, it’s difficult to watch,” Kraft said.Robyn Gershon, a professor and public health expert at New York University, called using statewide hospital bed capacity to guide policy “completely unethical.”’’It’s unethical to say let’s just go about our business and by the way, we can handle the overflow,” Gershon said. “A better measure is the 14-day and seven-day case infection rate. That’s what’s telling us what’s going on right now.”—-

As virus grows, governors rely on misleading hospital data

Topeka— The Kansas Department of Health and Environment, along with local public health, is encouraging people who are attending sporting tournaments to please exercise appropriate prevention measures for COVID-19 as clusters are beginning to develop and potential exposures have occurred.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“Sports settings by their very nature may pose a higher risk for spread of COVID-19,” said Dr. Lee Norman, KDHE Secretary. “Sports have athletes breathing heavy from physical exertion and spreading respiratory droplets, close contact with other players, indoor spaces where it may be difficult for individuals to remain 6 feet apart and attendees who travel from outside the local area. Because of this, it is paramount that individuals choosing to participate or attend sporting events take precautions.”&nbsp;

KDHE and local public health are currently investigating a total of four clusters connected to sports practices and tournaments across the state; the MAYB tournaments account for two of the four clusters. KDHE has confirmed that two people associated with the MAYB Boys Tournament and two people associated with the MAYB Girls Tournament have tested positive for COVID-19. People who attended these events may have been exposed and should be aware of the symptoms of COVID-19.

The tournaments were June 20 and 21 at the Hays Recreation Commission and the Wichita Sports Forum.

Anyone who attended any of these tournaments during the identified days and times should monitor themselves for symptoms of COVID-19 for 14 days after the last day they attended (monitoring ending July 4 or July 5). Those symptoms include fever, cough, chills, muscle pain, sore throat, new loss of taste or smell, fatigue, diarrhea, and/or shortness of breath/difficulty breathing. If symptoms develop, please stay home and contact your health care provider or local health department for guidance on testing. In an emergency please call 911 and notify first responders that you were potentially exposed to COVID-19 and, if possible, wear a cloth face mask before they arrive.

“Participants and spectators at these events are advised to exercise extra caution and practice social distancing, appropriate hand hygiene and respiratory etiquette, and wear cloth facemasks,” said Dr. Norman.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/5/1590778958989.png" alt="KDHE Secretary Dr. Lee Norman" />
 <figcaption>KDHE Secretary Dr. Lee Norman</figcaption>
 </figure>Topeka— The Kansas Department of Health and Environment, along with local public health, is encouraging people who are attending sporting tournaments to please exercise appropriate prevention measures for COVID-19 as clusters are beginning to develop and potential exposures have occurred.&nbsp;&nbsp;“Sports settings by their very nature may pose a higher risk for spread of COVID-19,” said Dr. Lee Norman, KDHE Secretary. “Sports have athletes breathing heavy from physical exertion and spreading respiratory droplets, close contact with other players, indoor spaces where it may be difficult for individuals to remain 6 feet apart and attendees who travel from outside the local area. Because of this, it is paramount that individuals choosing to participate or attend sporting events take precautions.”&nbsp;KDHE and local public health are currently investigating a total of four clusters connected to sports practices and tournaments across the state; the MAYB tournaments account for two of the four clusters. KDHE has confirmed that two people associated with the MAYB Boys Tournament and two people associated with the MAYB Girls Tournament have tested positive for COVID-19. People who attended these events may have been exposed and should be aware of the symptoms of COVID-19.The tournaments were June 20 and 21 at the Hays Recreation Commission and the Wichita Sports Forum.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/6/1593196652624.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Anyone who attended any of these tournaments during the identified days and times should monitor themselves for symptoms of COVID-19 for 14 days after the last day they attended (monitoring ending July 4 or July 5). Those symptoms include fever, cough, chills, muscle pain, sore throat, new loss of taste or smell, fatigue, diarrhea, and/or shortness of breath/difficulty breathing. If symptoms develop, please stay home and contact your health care provider or local health department for guidance on testing. In an emergency please call 911 and notify first responders that you were potentially exposed to COVID-19 and, if possible, wear a cloth face mask before they arrive.“Participants and spectators at these events are advised to exercise extra caution and practice social distancing, appropriate hand hygiene and respiratory etiquette, and wear cloth facemasks,” said Dr. Norman.

KDHE: After possible exposure in Hays, Wichita, take care at tournaments

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials estimate that 20 million Americans have been infected with the coronavirus since it first arrived in the United States, meaning that the vast majority of the population remains susceptible.

Thursday’s estimate is roughly 10 times as many infections as the 2.3 million cases that have been confirmed. Officials have long known that millions of people were infected without knowing it and that many cases are being missed because of gaps in testing.

The news comes as the Trump administration works to tamp down nationwide concern about the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak">COVID-19 pandemic&nbsp;</a>as about a dozen&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/778da4a2da7e5d9d12e6105c012b8cf9">states are seeing worrisome increases</a>&nbsp;in cases.

The administration also looks to get its scientific experts back before the public more as it tries to allay anxieties about the pandemic while states begin reopening. Since mid-May, when the government began stressing the need to get the economy moving again, the panel’s public health experts have been far less visible than in the pandemic’s early weeks.

Twenty million infections means that about 6% of the nation’s 331 million people have been infected.

“It’s clear that many individuals in this nation are still susceptible,” Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said on a call with reporters Thursday. “Our best estimate right now is that for every case that was reported, there actually are 10 more infections.”

Previously, CDC officials and the nation’s top infectious-disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, have said that as many as 25% of infected people might not have symptoms.

“There’s an enormous number of people that are still vulnerable,” said Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, vice dean at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “It still remains a potentially lethal disease. It’s a roll of the dice for everybody who gets the illness. Also, you’re rolling the dice for other people who you may give the virus to.”

The new estimate is based on CDC studies of blood samples collected nationwide — some by the CDC and others from blood donations and other sources. Many infections were not caught in early testing, when supplies were limited and federal officials prioritized testing for those with symptoms.

Administration officials are pointing to the new data to allay public anxieties, claiming that while there have been significant spikes, they have the outbreaks well in hand. They maintained they were not trying to minimize a public health crisis, but said the nation is in a markedly different place with the virus now than when the U.S. last saw similar infection numbers in mid-April, when testing infrastructure was weaker. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity late Wednesday to discuss the matter candidly.

“This is still serious,” Redfield said on the call with reporters Thursday. “But I’m asking people to recognize that we’re in a different situation today than we were in March or April,” with more cases today in younger people who are not as likely to develop serious illness or die from infection, he said.

President Donald Trump, who refuses to wear a face mask in public, has tried to play down the risk. He told a crowd in Wisconsin on Thursday that the administration had done an “incredible job” fighting the virus and added that “if we didn’t test, we wouldn’t have cases,” which ignores other indicators of the extent of the problem such as surging hospitalizations in some areas.

Redfield said infection prevalence rates ranged from 1% in some areas of the West Coast to much higher in New York City.

Several independent experts said the methods and locations of sampling are key to interpreting the numbers.

Dr. Thomas Tsai, a Harvard University health policy researcher, said 20 million seems reasonable, but “most of these estimates exist in a range” and it’s important to know how wide that is.

“It’s hard to interpret this just from a single number and without the context for it,” such as what locations were sampled and whether it was truly a random slice of a population or areas of low or high prevalence, which can skew the results.

Justin Lessler, a researcher at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said 20 million infected “is about what you’d expect based on the case fatality rate” and the number of deaths that have occurred so far in the U.S.

Despite the phaseout of daily White House coronavirus briefings, the administration has been closely monitoring data on the spread of COVID-19 and has been deploying teams from the CDC to identify and stem outbreaks around the country.

A dozen states in recent weeks have seen a worrisome uptick in new cases, as well as in the more critical measure of the percentage of positive cases discovered in tests performed. Seven states have seen more than 10% of tests come back positive. And troublesome spikes in Sun Belt states have dominated news coverage in recent days, to the consternation of Trump administration officials.

They point instead to more nuanced county-level data, which shows positivity rates exceeding 10% in just 3% of the nation’s counties. Yet they acknowledge that some of the areas with the highest transmission rates are generally the most populous, suggesting tens of millions of Americans could be living in areas with spiking infections.

As states reopen, the administration says it is up to governors and local officials to determine how to respond to the spikes. Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott, for example, put a hold on any further steps to reopen and reimposed a ban on elective surgeries in some areas to preserve hospital space after the number of patients statewide more than doubled in two weeks.

The CDC teams, officials said, are working to trace new outbreaks and reinforce protective measures like social distancing and mask wearing in hard-hit areas and to remind vulnerable populations to take extreme precautions. The administration says those efforts have helped slow new infections in North Carolina and Alabama, where they were deployed earlier this month.

One of the hard-hit areas is Phoenix, where Trump held an event Tuesday with thousands of young attendees, nearly all of whom were maskless.

The officials say the nature of the outbreak now is different than months ago, when deaths topped more than 1,000 per day for weeks and hospitals were stretched beyond capacity across the country. The new increase in positive cases, they said, is capturing what has long been there. They say it is only now showing up in data because the U.S. has increased testing and surveillance.

Meanwhile, mortality data has steadily declined, as have hospitalizations in all but a few hot spots.

To the administration officials, that reinforces their hypothesis that millions unknowingly had the virus earlier this year. Through early May, federal guidelines prioritized testing for symptomatic people, those exposed to a positive case and those in high-risk environments.

With testing far more widespread now, officials believe 50% of new cases in Florida and Texas are among people ages 35 or younger, and most of them are asymptomatic.

The U.S. is testing about 500,000 patients per day. On a per capita basis, the U.S. rate falls behind several other countries, including Spain, Australia, Russia and Iceland, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University.

There is no scientific consensus on the rate of testing needed to control the virus. But many experts say the U.S. should be testing roughly 1 million to 3 million people daily to catch new cases and prevent flareups. Administration officials said they expect to be able to run 20-40 million tests per month beginning this fall.

Testing is constrained by laboratory supplies needed to run the tests but also lack of demand for tests in some areas.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/5/1589829316756.png" alt="KDHE Secretary Dr. Lee Norman. The Agency reported&nbsp; 12,970 positive virus cases in Kansas on Wednesday. Missouri has reported&nbsp; 19,421 cases." />
 <figcaption>KDHE Secretary Dr. Lee Norman. The Agency reported&nbsp; 12,970 positive virus cases in Kansas on Wednesday. Missouri has reported&nbsp; 19,421 cases.</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials estimate that 20 million Americans have been infected with the coronavirus since it first arrived in the United States, meaning that the vast majority of the population remains susceptible.Thursday’s estimate is roughly 10 times as many infections as the 2.3 million cases that have been confirmed. Officials have long known that millions of people were infected without knowing it and that many cases are being missed because of gaps in testing.The news comes as the Trump administration works to tamp down nationwide concern about the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak">COVID-19 pandemic&nbsp;</a>as about a dozen&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/778da4a2da7e5d9d12e6105c012b8cf9">states are seeing worrisome increases</a>&nbsp;in cases.The administration also looks to get its scientific experts back before the public more as it tries to allay anxieties about the pandemic while states begin reopening. Since mid-May, when the government began stressing the need to get the economy moving again, the panel’s public health experts have been far less visible than in the pandemic’s early weeks.Twenty million infections means that about 6% of the nation’s 331 million people have been infected.“It’s clear that many individuals in this nation are still susceptible,” Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said on a call with reporters Thursday. “Our best estimate right now is that for every case that was reported, there actually are 10 more infections.”Previously, CDC officials and the nation’s top infectious-disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, have said that as many as 25% of infected people might not have symptoms.“There’s an enormous number of people that are still vulnerable,” said Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, vice dean at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “It still remains a potentially lethal disease. It’s a roll of the dice for everybody who gets the illness. Also, you’re rolling the dice for other people who you may give the virus to.”The new estimate is based on CDC studies of blood samples collected nationwide — some by the CDC and others from blood donations and other sources. Many infections were not caught in early testing, when supplies were limited and federal officials prioritized testing for those with symptoms.Administration officials are pointing to the new data to allay public anxieties, claiming that while there have been significant spikes, they have the outbreaks well in hand. They maintained they were not trying to minimize a public health crisis, but said the nation is in a markedly different place with the virus now than when the U.S. last saw similar infection numbers in mid-April, when testing infrastructure was weaker. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity late Wednesday to discuss the matter candidly.“This is still serious,” Redfield said on the call with reporters Thursday. “But I’m asking people to recognize that we’re in a different situation today than we were in March or April,” with more cases today in younger people who are not as likely to develop serious illness or die from infection, he said.President Donald Trump, who refuses to wear a face mask in public, has tried to play down the risk. He told a crowd in Wisconsin on Thursday that the administration had done an “incredible job” fighting the virus and added that “if we didn’t test, we wouldn’t have cases,” which ignores other indicators of the extent of the problem such as surging hospitalizations in some areas.Redfield said infection prevalence rates ranged from 1% in some areas of the West Coast to much higher in New York City.Several independent experts said the methods and locations of sampling are key to interpreting the numbers.Dr. Thomas Tsai, a Harvard University health policy researcher, said 20 million seems reasonable, but “most of these estimates exist in a range” and it’s important to know how wide that is.“It’s hard to interpret this just from a single number and without the context for it,” such as what locations were sampled and whether it was truly a random slice of a population or areas of low or high prevalence, which can skew the results.Justin Lessler, a researcher at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said 20 million infected “is about what you’d expect based on the case fatality rate” and the number of deaths that have occurred so far in the U.S.Despite the phaseout of daily White House coronavirus briefings, the administration has been closely monitoring data on the spread of COVID-19 and has been deploying teams from the CDC to identify and stem outbreaks around the country.A dozen states in recent weeks have seen a worrisome uptick in new cases, as well as in the more critical measure of the percentage of positive cases discovered in tests performed. Seven states have seen more than 10% of tests come back positive. And troublesome spikes in Sun Belt states have dominated news coverage in recent days, to the consternation of Trump administration officials.They point instead to more nuanced county-level data, which shows positivity rates exceeding 10% in just 3% of the nation’s counties. Yet they acknowledge that some of the areas with the highest transmission rates are generally the most populous, suggesting tens of millions of Americans could be living in areas with spiking infections.As states reopen, the administration says it is up to governors and local officials to determine how to respond to the spikes. Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott, for example, put a hold on any further steps to reopen and reimposed a ban on elective surgeries in some areas to preserve hospital space after the number of patients statewide more than doubled in two weeks.The CDC teams, officials said, are working to trace new outbreaks and reinforce protective measures like social distancing and mask wearing in hard-hit areas and to remind vulnerable populations to take extreme precautions. The administration says those efforts have helped slow new infections in North Carolina and Alabama, where they were deployed earlier this month.One of the hard-hit areas is Phoenix, where Trump held an event Tuesday with thousands of young attendees, nearly all of whom were maskless.The officials say the nature of the outbreak now is different than months ago, when deaths topped more than 1,000 per day for weeks and hospitals were stretched beyond capacity across the country. The new increase in positive cases, they said, is capturing what has long been there. They say it is only now showing up in data because the U.S. has increased testing and surveillance.Meanwhile, mortality data has steadily declined, as have hospitalizations in all but a few hot spots.To the administration officials, that reinforces their hypothesis that millions unknowingly had the virus earlier this year. Through early May, federal guidelines prioritized testing for symptomatic people, those exposed to a positive case and those in high-risk environments.With testing far more widespread now, officials believe 50% of new cases in Florida and Texas are among people ages 35 or younger, and most of them are asymptomatic.The U.S. is testing about 500,000 patients per day. On a per capita basis, the U.S. rate falls behind several other countries, including Spain, Australia, Russia and Iceland, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University.There is no scientific consensus on the rate of testing needed to control the virus. But many experts say the U.S. should be testing roughly 1 million to 3 million people daily to catch new cases and prevent flareups. Administration officials said they expect to be able to run 20-40 million tests per month beginning this fall.Testing is constrained by laboratory supplies needed to run the tests but also lack of demand for tests in some areas.

Health officials estimate 20M Americans have had coronavirus

Topeka (AP) — A coronavirus resurgence is wiping out two months of progress in the U.S. and sending infections to dire new levels across the South and West, with hospital administrators and health experts warning Wednesday that politicians and a tired-of-being-cooped-up public are letting a disaster unfold.

The U.S. recorded a one-day total of 34,700&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/753ed7dc88ec5ce8906967f268d78b99">new confirmed COVID-19 cases</a>, the highest level since late April, when the number peaked at 36,400, according to a count kept by Johns Hopkins University.

While newly confirmed infections have been declining steadily in early hot spots such as New York and New Jersey, several other states set single-day records this week, including Arizona, California, Mississippi, Nevada, Texas and Oklahoma. Some of them also broke hospitalization records, as did North Carolina and South Carolina.

“People got complacent,” said Dr. Marc Boom, CEO of the Houston Methodist hospital system. “And it’s coming back and biting us, quite frankly.”

Kansas on Wednesday saw its largest jump in coronavirus cases in more than six weeks, an increase of more than 500 cases in two days.

The state health department reported the spike two days after Gov. Laura Kelly urged local officials to postpone lifting their last restrictions on businesses and public activities for another two weeks, recommending that they still limit public gatherings to 45 people. The Democratic governor ended statewide restrictions May 26, leaving decisions about the rules to the state’s 105 counties, after weeks of complaints from the Republican-controlled Legislature that she was moving too slowly to reopen the state’s economy.

Dr. Lee Norman, the state health department’s top administrator, expressed concern about the latest increase. Kelly called for slowing down the state’s reopening Monday, following two weeks that saw the average daily rise in new cases increases, along with the percentage of positive results from tests, according to Johns Hopkins University.

“This is not surprising, given the laxity people have been demonstrating in protecting themselves and others,” Norman said Wednesday in a text relayed by his staff.

The Department of Health and Environment reported a total of 12,970 cases of the novel coronavirus, up 4.1% from Monday. Of the 505 new cases, 416 or 82% were not from clusters of two or more cases linked to a single location, such as a nursing home, or an event, such as a public gathering.

The state also reported an additional two COVID-19-related deaths since Monday, bringing the total to 261 since the pandemic began in early March.

The virus has been blamed for over 120,000 U.S.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/df97326ec00fb7cc4abf5b3821ace984">deaths</a>&nbsp;— the highest toll in the world — and more than 2.3 million confirmed infections nationwide. On Wednesday, the widely cited University of Washington computer model of the outbreak projected nearly 180,000 deaths by Oct. 1.

California reported over 7,100 new cases, and Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom said he would withhold pandemic-related funding from local governments that brush off state requirements on masks and other anti-virus measures. Florida’s single-day count surged to 5,500, a 25% jump from the record set last week.

In Texas, which began lifting its shutdowns on May 1, hospitalizations have doubled and new cases have tripled in two weeks. Gov. Greg Abbott told KFDA-TV the state is facing a “massive outbreak” and might need new local restrictions to preserve hospital space.

The Houston area’s intensive care units are nearly full, and two public hospitals are running at capacity, Mayor Sylvester Turner said.

Houston Methodist’s Boom said Texans need to “behave perfectly and work together perfectly” to slow the infection rate.

“When I look at a restaurant or a business where people ... are not following the guidelines, where people are just throwing caution to the wind, it makes me angry,” he said.

Just 17 percent of intensive-care beds were available Wednesday in Alabama — including just one in Montgomery — though hospitals can add more, said Dr. Don Williamson, head of the Alabama Hospital Association.

“There is nothing that I’m seeing that makes me think we are getting ahead of this,” he said.

In Arizona, emergency rooms are seeing about 1,200 suspected COVID-19 patients a day, compared with around 500 a month ago. If the trends continue, hospitals will probably exceed capacity within the next several weeks, said Dr. Joseph Gerald, a University of Arizona public health policy professor.

“We are in deep trouble,” said Gerald, urging the state to impose new restrictions on businesses, which Gov. Doug Ducey has refused to do.

Dr. Peter Hotez, an infectious-disease expert at the Baylor College of Medicine in Texas, said he worries that states will squander what time they have to head off a much larger crisis.

“We’re still talking about subtlety, still arguing whether or not we should wear masks, and still not understanding that a vaccine is not going to rescue us,” he said.

The Texas governor initially barred local officials from fining or penalizing anyone for not wearing a mask as the state reopened. After cases began spiking, Abbott said last week that cities and counties could allow businesses to require masks. So did Arizona’s Ducey, who is a Republican, as is Abbott.

Some business owners are frustrated that officials didn’t do more, and sooner, to require masks.

“I can’t risk my staff, my clientele, myself, my family and everybody else in that chain just because other people are too inconvenienced to wear a piece of cloth on their face,” said Michael Neff, an owner of the Cottonmouth Club in Houston. He closed it this week so staffers could get tested after one had contact with an infected person.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, ordered people to wear masks in public as the daily count of hospitalizations and new cases hovered near records. In Florida, several counties and cities recently enacted mask requirements.

In a sign of the shift in the outbreak, New York, Connecticut and New Jersey&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/51398731ffecf2a7a598ea8a77c31888">announced they will ask&nbsp;</a>visitors from states with high infection rates to quarantine themselves for 14 days. In March, Florida issued such an order for visitors from the New York City area, where cases were soaring.

The U.S. Justice Department took aim at Hawaii’s quarantine requirement for visitors, saying it discriminates against out-of-state residents. The Hawaii attorney general’s office says there’s no merit to the government’s arguments and a related lawsuit from out-of-state property owners.

Cases also are surging in some other parts of the world. India reported a record-breaking one-day increase of nearly 16,000 cases. Mexico and Iraq hit new highs as well.

But China appears to have tamed a new outbreak in Beijing, again demonstrating its ability to mobilize vast resources by testing nearly 2.5 million people in 11 days. China, where the virus emerged last year, reported 19 new cases nationwide Thursday. While up from the day before, there was no sign of further geographic spread.

Worldwide, over 9.4 million people have been confirmed infected, and nearly 500,000 have died, by Johns Hopkins’ count.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/6/1591654770731.png" alt="KDHE Secretary Dr. Lee Norman answers questions during a press conference with the governor last week." />
 <figcaption>KDHE Secretary Dr. Lee Norman answers questions during a press conference with the governor last week.</figcaption>
 </figure>Topeka (AP) — A coronavirus resurgence is wiping out two months of progress in the U.S. and sending infections to dire new levels across the South and West, with hospital administrators and health experts warning Wednesday that politicians and a tired-of-being-cooped-up public are letting a disaster unfold.The U.S. recorded a one-day total of 34,700&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/753ed7dc88ec5ce8906967f268d78b99">new confirmed COVID-19 cases</a>, the highest level since late April, when the number peaked at 36,400, according to a count kept by Johns Hopkins University.While newly confirmed infections have been declining steadily in early hot spots such as New York and New Jersey, several other states set single-day records this week, including Arizona, California, Mississippi, Nevada, Texas and Oklahoma. Some of them also broke hospitalization records, as did North Carolina and South Carolina.“People got complacent,” said Dr. Marc Boom, CEO of the Houston Methodist hospital system. “And it’s coming back and biting us, quite frankly.”Kansas on Wednesday saw its largest jump in coronavirus cases in more than six weeks, an increase of more than 500 cases in two days.The state health department reported the spike two days after Gov. Laura Kelly urged local officials to postpone lifting their last restrictions on businesses and public activities for another two weeks, recommending that they still limit public gatherings to 45 people. The Democratic governor ended statewide restrictions May 26, leaving decisions about the rules to the state’s 105 counties, after weeks of complaints from the Republican-controlled Legislature that she was moving too slowly to reopen the state’s economy.Dr. Lee Norman, the state health department’s top administrator, expressed concern about the latest increase. Kelly called for slowing down the state’s reopening Monday, following two weeks that saw the average daily rise in new cases increases, along with the percentage of positive results from tests, according to Johns Hopkins University.“This is not surprising, given the laxity people have been demonstrating in protecting themselves and others,” Norman said Wednesday in a text relayed by his staff.The Department of Health and Environment reported a total of 12,970 cases of the novel coronavirus, up 4.1% from Monday. Of the 505 new cases, 416 or 82% were not from clusters of two or more cases linked to a single location, such as a nursing home, or an event, such as a public gathering.The state also reported an additional two COVID-19-related deaths since Monday, bringing the total to 261 since the pandemic began in early March.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/6/1593018195991.png" alt="Virus infections by County for June 24, 2020 KDHE&nbsp; image" />
 <figcaption>Virus infections by County for June 24, 2020 KDHE&nbsp; image</figcaption>
 </figure>The virus has been blamed for over 120,000 U.S.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/df97326ec00fb7cc4abf5b3821ace984">deaths</a>&nbsp;— the highest toll in the world — and more than 2.3 million confirmed infections nationwide. On Wednesday, the widely cited University of Washington computer model of the outbreak projected nearly 180,000 deaths by Oct. 1.California reported over 7,100 new cases, and Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom said he would withhold pandemic-related funding from local governments that brush off state requirements on masks and other anti-virus measures. Florida’s single-day count surged to 5,500, a 25% jump from the record set last week.In Texas, which began lifting its shutdowns on May 1, hospitalizations have doubled and new cases have tripled in two weeks. Gov. Greg Abbott told KFDA-TV the state is facing a “massive outbreak” and might need new local restrictions to preserve hospital space.The Houston area’s intensive care units are nearly full, and two public hospitals are running at capacity, Mayor Sylvester Turner said.Houston Methodist’s Boom said Texans need to “behave perfectly and work together perfectly” to slow the infection rate.“When I look at a restaurant or a business where people ... are not following the guidelines, where people are just throwing caution to the wind, it makes me angry,” he said.Just 17 percent of intensive-care beds were available Wednesday in Alabama — including just one in Montgomery — though hospitals can add more, said Dr. Don Williamson, head of the Alabama Hospital Association.“There is nothing that I’m seeing that makes me think we are getting ahead of this,” he said.In Arizona, emergency rooms are seeing about 1,200 suspected COVID-19 patients a day, compared with around 500 a month ago. If the trends continue, hospitals will probably exceed capacity within the next several weeks, said Dr. Joseph Gerald, a University of Arizona public health policy professor.“We are in deep trouble,” said Gerald, urging the state to impose new restrictions on businesses, which Gov. Doug Ducey has refused to do.Dr. Peter Hotez, an infectious-disease expert at the Baylor College of Medicine in Texas, said he worries that states will squander what time they have to head off a much larger crisis.“We’re still talking about subtlety, still arguing whether or not we should wear masks, and still not understanding that a vaccine is not going to rescue us,” he said.The Texas governor initially barred local officials from fining or penalizing anyone for not wearing a mask as the state reopened. After cases began spiking, Abbott said last week that cities and counties could allow businesses to require masks. So did Arizona’s Ducey, who is a Republican, as is Abbott.Some business owners are frustrated that officials didn’t do more, and sooner, to require masks.“I can’t risk my staff, my clientele, myself, my family and everybody else in that chain just because other people are too inconvenienced to wear a piece of cloth on their face,” said Michael Neff, an owner of the Cottonmouth Club in Houston. He closed it this week so staffers could get tested after one had contact with an infected person.North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, ordered people to wear masks in public as the daily count of hospitalizations and new cases hovered near records. In Florida, several counties and cities recently enacted mask requirements.In a sign of the shift in the outbreak, New York, Connecticut and New Jersey&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/51398731ffecf2a7a598ea8a77c31888">announced they will ask&nbsp;</a>visitors from states with high infection rates to quarantine themselves for 14 days. In March, Florida issued such an order for visitors from the New York City area, where cases were soaring.The U.S. Justice Department took aim at Hawaii’s quarantine requirement for visitors, saying it discriminates against out-of-state residents. The Hawaii attorney general’s office says there’s no merit to the government’s arguments and a related lawsuit from out-of-state property owners.Cases also are surging in some other parts of the world. India reported a record-breaking one-day increase of nearly 16,000 cases. Mexico and Iraq hit new highs as well.But China appears to have tamed a new outbreak in Beijing, again demonstrating its ability to mobilize vast resources by testing nearly 2.5 million people in 11 days. China, where the virus emerged last year, reported 19 new cases nationwide Thursday. While up from the day before, there was no sign of further geographic spread.Worldwide, over 9.4 million people have been confirmed infected, and nearly 500,000 have died, by Johns Hopkins’ count.___

'Coming back and biting us': US sees virus resurgence

MCPHERSON -- The McPherson County Health Department reported today six new confirmed cases of COVID-19.

According to information from the health department:

•One newly positive case is a symptomatic male in his 50s with unknown exposure and is recovering at home.

•Another newly positive case is a symptomatic female in her 80s with unknown exposure and is recovering at home.

•Another newly positive case is an asymptomatic male in his 60s with unknown exposure and is recovering at home.

•Another newly positive case is a symptomatic male in his 40s with known exposure and is recovering at home.

•Another newly positive case is an asymptomatic male in his 20s with known exposure and is recovering at home.

•The final newly positive case is a symptomatic male in his 50s with known exposure and is recovering at home.

"McPherson County has had a tremendous uptake in coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in the last week. An alarming amount of cases are asymptomatic, meaning they do not have any signs or symptoms. A portion of these positive cases report attending gatherings at local lakes, parties, or traveling sport tournaments while contagious. These are events both inside and outside of McPherson County. If you are notified of being a contact of someone who is positive for COVID-19, you MUST quarantine at home for 14 days. If you are a contact, decide to be tested, and it comes back negative, you STILL have to finish your 14 day period because you may become contagious anytime during the rest of the 14 days. We do not routinely recommend testing contacts unless symptoms arise or a high risk individual is involved," the health department noted.

"If you are being tested for COVID-19, you are considered a Person Under Investigation (PUI). The PUI MUST isolate while waiting on results. The PUI should isolate away from anyone in their household. If they are not able to isolate away from the household members by staying in their own room, the entire household must quarantine while awaiting results to reduce exposure," the health department continued.

MCPHERSON -- The McPherson County Health Department reported today six new confirmed cases of COVID-19.According to information from the health department:•One newly positive case is a symptomatic male in his 50s with unknown exposure and is recovering at home.•Another newly positive case is a symptomatic female in her 80s with unknown exposure and is recovering at home.•Another newly positive case is an asymptomatic male in his 60s with unknown exposure and is recovering at home.•Another newly positive case is a symptomatic male in his 40s with known exposure and is recovering at home.•Another newly positive case is an asymptomatic male in his 20s with known exposure and is recovering at home.•The final newly positive case is a symptomatic male in his 50s with known exposure and is recovering at home."McPherson County has had a tremendous uptake in coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in the last week. An alarming amount of cases are asymptomatic, meaning they do not have any signs or symptoms. A portion of these positive cases report attending gatherings at local lakes, parties, or traveling sport tournaments while contagious. These are events both inside and outside of McPherson County. If you are notified of being a contact of someone who is positive for COVID-19, you MUST quarantine at home for 14 days. If you are a contact, decide to be tested, and it comes back negative, you STILL have to finish your 14 day period because you may become contagious anytime during the rest of the 14 days. We do not routinely recommend testing contacts unless symptoms arise or a high risk individual is involved," the health department noted."If you are being tested for COVID-19, you are considered a Person Under Investigation (PUI). The PUI MUST isolate while waiting on results. The PUI should isolate away from anyone in their household. If they are not able to isolate away from the household members by staying in their own room, the entire household must quarantine while awaiting results to reduce exposure," the health department continued.

McPherson County reports six new COVID-19 cases

Here's Saline County's COVID-19 update for Wednesday:

There are 22 new positive COVID-19 cases in Saline County that have been identified since the Monday, June 22 report. The total for the county is now 77, with 45 cases that are actively being monitored by the Health Department. All of the new cases are associated with prior positive cases and all of these individuals are isolating at home. *KDHE is reporting 66 positives for Saline County but that total does not include the most recent cases received since their last update at 12:30 pm. The total for Saline County is 77.

According to the Kansas Department of Health &amp; Environment, there are now 12,970 cases and 261 deaths statewide. This information can be found at <a href="https://www.coronavirus.kdheks.gov/">https://www.coronavirus.kdheks.gov/</a>.

Know the symptoms of COVID-19. “Younger patients often have mild symptoms and some are not even aware they are sick,” said County Health Officer Jason Tiller. “This is one of the reasons why it is crucial to maintain social distancing, wearing masks, and good hand hygiene practices anytime you’re out in public.”

•Shortness of Breath or difficulty breathing

Stay home if you are feeling ill and call your primary care physician to discuss your symptoms.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/6/1593038700034.png" alt="Image courtesy Saline County Health Department" />
 <figcaption>Image courtesy Saline County Health Department</figcaption>
 </figure>Here's Saline County's COVID-19 update for Wednesday:There are 22 new positive COVID-19 cases in Saline County that have been identified since the Monday, June 22 report. The total for the county is now 77, with 45 cases that are actively being monitored by the Health Department. All of the new cases are associated with prior positive cases and all of these individuals are isolating at home. *KDHE is reporting 66 positives for Saline County but that total does not include the most recent cases received since their last update at 12:30 pm. The total for Saline County is 77.According to the Kansas Department of Health &amp; Environment, there are now 12,970 cases and 261 deaths statewide. This information can be found at <a href="https://www.coronavirus.kdheks.gov/">https://www.coronavirus.kdheks.gov/</a>.Know the symptoms of COVID-19. “Younger patients often have mild symptoms and some are not even aware they are sick,” said County Health Officer Jason Tiller. “This is one of the reasons why it is crucial to maintain social distancing, wearing masks, and good hand hygiene practices anytime you’re out in public.”Symptoms can range from mild to severe illness and appear 2-14 days after you are exposed. Symptoms can include the following:•Cough•Sore throat•New loss of taste or smell•Fever•Muscle pain•Chills•Shortness of Breath or difficulty breathingStay home if you are feeling ill and call your primary care physician to discuss your symptoms.Only follow official sources to obtain information: <a href="http://www.saline.org/coronavirus">www.saline.org/coronavirus</a> or <a href="http://www.kdheks.gov">www.kdheks.gov</a>.

Saline County reports 22 new confirmed COVID-19 cases

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s call for another round of stimulus checks to most taxpayers is getting a lukewarm endorsement from his GOP allies on Capitol Hill, but it’s emerging as an early area of potential agreement with Democrats like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on the next coronavirus bill.

In a fractured Washington, that could be a foundation of a winning coalition as lawmakers inch toward talks on the fifth, and possibly final, coronavirus relief measure before November’s elections.

Trump told an interviewer Monday that he supports another round of direct economic stimulus payments similar to the $1,200 checks issued to most individuals earlier this year.

“Yeah, we are,” Trump told a correspondent for Scripps television stations. “We will be doing another stimulus package. It’ll be very good. It’ll be very generous.”

On Tuesday, neither Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin — the lead White House negotiator on the first package — nor Trump’s GOP allies raced to endorse the idea.

“As we’ve said before, we’re talking about a bunch of different ideas that we may need to do in another bill,” Mnuchin said after a lunch meeting with Senate Republicans where the topic received little discussion. “We’re going to take our time and make sure that we’re thoughtful. Whatever we do, it will be much more targeted, much more focused on jobs.”

Congress passed the first round of checks nearly unanimously in March as part of a coronavirus response bill, at a cost of almost $300 billion. Both parties said the aid was essential as coronavirus lockdowns brought the economy to a near standstill. The jobless rate is still high at almost 15% nationwide, though retail sales have rebounded.

House Democrats are fully onboard with another round, having included direct payments in a more than $3 trillion measure that they pushed through the House in May. But views in the GOP are more mixed, despite Trump’s support.

“He’s always wanted a second round of stimulus checks, and probably for good reason,” said Sen. Ken Cramer, R-N.D., who mostly endorsed the idea. “What we do next in addition to something like that should be very targeted, very specific to restarting, really restarting the economy. ... I think direct contribution installments to individuals could be a nice, a nice stimulus.”

Skeptics of direct stimulus payments say they are not targeted enough, but they have an undeniable political appeal, especially with the elections less than five months away.

Top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has made it clear that he does not want negotiations with Democrats and Pelosi on another COVID-19 response bill to begin until next month.

Negotiations on the legislation are also likely to center on providing another round of aid to states and local governments and extending unemployment benefits — though not the $600 per week supplement enacted in March.

“My preference would be to extend unemployment insurance, but to do that in a more limited way, and a more targeted way,” said Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, who also wants adjustments to payroll subsidies for businesses and aid to states and local governments seeking help with their ballooning budget deficits.

Most Republicans know that Trump’s posture means it’s likely a cinch that another round of direct payments will make it into the upcoming bill, despite their reservations. Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., discounted a reporter’s suggestion that there’s “pretty strong skepticism” by Republicans toward another set of stimulus checks.

“I don’t think it got to the point you can say that,” Blunt said.

Several Republicans, however, said they want to tighten eligibility for the stimulus payments to try to control costs.

“But we need targeted tailoring of any kind of stimulus measures if we really want to get it to the people who are hurting the most,” said Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/6/1593001408779.png" alt="President Donald Trump spoke with reporters on the South Lawn of the White House, Tuesday. Image courtesy CSPAN" />
 <figcaption>President Donald Trump spoke with reporters on the South Lawn of the White House, Tuesday. Image courtesy CSPAN</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s call for another round of stimulus checks to most taxpayers is getting a lukewarm endorsement from his GOP allies on Capitol Hill, but it’s emerging as an early area of potential agreement with Democrats like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on the next coronavirus bill.In a fractured Washington, that could be a foundation of a winning coalition as lawmakers inch toward talks on the fifth, and possibly final, coronavirus relief measure before November’s elections.Trump told an interviewer Monday that he supports another round of direct economic stimulus payments similar to the $1,200 checks issued to most individuals earlier this year.“Yeah, we are,” Trump told a correspondent for Scripps television stations. “We will be doing another stimulus package. It’ll be very good. It’ll be very generous.”On Tuesday, neither Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin — the lead White House negotiator on the first package — nor Trump’s GOP allies raced to endorse the idea.“As we’ve said before, we’re talking about a bunch of different ideas that we may need to do in another bill,” Mnuchin said after a lunch meeting with Senate Republicans where the topic received little discussion. “We’re going to take our time and make sure that we’re thoughtful. Whatever we do, it will be much more targeted, much more focused on jobs.”Congress passed the first round of checks nearly unanimously in March as part of a coronavirus response bill, at a cost of almost $300 billion. Both parties said the aid was essential as coronavirus lockdowns brought the economy to a near standstill. The jobless rate is still high at almost 15% nationwide, though retail sales have rebounded.House Democrats are fully onboard with another round, having included direct payments in a more than $3 trillion measure that they pushed through the House in May. But views in the GOP are more mixed, despite Trump’s support.“He’s always wanted a second round of stimulus checks, and probably for good reason,” said Sen. Ken Cramer, R-N.D., who mostly endorsed the idea. “What we do next in addition to something like that should be very targeted, very specific to restarting, really restarting the economy. ... I think direct contribution installments to individuals could be a nice, a nice stimulus.”Skeptics of direct stimulus payments say they are not targeted enough, but they have an undeniable political appeal, especially with the elections less than five months away.Top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has made it clear that he does not want negotiations with Democrats and Pelosi on another COVID-19 response bill to begin until next month.Negotiations on the legislation are also likely to center on providing another round of aid to states and local governments and extending unemployment benefits — though not the $600 per week supplement enacted in March.“My preference would be to extend unemployment insurance, but to do that in a more limited way, and a more targeted way,” said Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, who also wants adjustments to payroll subsidies for businesses and aid to states and local governments seeking help with their ballooning budget deficits.Most Republicans know that Trump’s posture means it’s likely a cinch that another round of direct payments will make it into the upcoming bill, despite their reservations. Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., discounted a reporter’s suggestion that there’s “pretty strong skepticism” by Republicans toward another set of stimulus checks.“I don’t think it got to the point you can say that,” Blunt said.Several Republicans, however, said they want to tighten eligibility for the stimulus payments to try to control costs.“But we need targeted tailoring of any kind of stimulus measures if we really want to get it to the people who are hurting the most,” said Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C.

Debate continues on sending another virus stimulus check

WASHINGTON (AP) — The next few weeks are critical to tamping down a disturbing coronavirus surge, Dr. Anthony Fauci told Congress on Tuesday — issuing a plea for people to avoid crowds and wear masks.

<a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?473229-1/white-house-coronavirus-task-force-members-testify-federal-response-pandemic&amp;live&amp;vod">Click here</a>&nbsp;to watch a replay of the testimony

Fauci and other top health officials also said they have not been asked to slow down virus testing, in contrast to Trump’s claim last weekend that he had ordered fewer tests be performed because they were uncovering too many infections. Trump said earlier Tuesday that he wasn’t kidding when he made that remark.

“We will be doing more testing,” Fauci, infectious disease chief at the National Institutes of Health, pledged to a House committee conducting oversight of the Trump administration’s response to the pandemic.

The leading public health officials spent more than five hours testifying before the committee at a fraught moment, with coronavirus cases rising in about half the states and political polarization competing for attention with public health recommendations.

Fauci told lawmakers he understands the pent-up desire to get back to normal as the U.S. begins emerging from months of stay-at-home orders and business shutdowns. But that has “to be a gradual step-by-step process and not throwing caution to the wind,” he said.

“Plan A, don’t go in a crowd. Plan B, if you do, make sure you wear a mask,” Fauci said.

Troubling surges worsened Tuesday in several states, with Arizona, California, Mississippi, Nevada and Texas setting single-day records for new coronavirus cases, and some governors saying they’ll consider reinstating restrictions or delaying plans to ease up in order to help slow the spread of the virus.

Arizona, where Trump was headed for a speech at a Phoenix megachurch, reported a new daily record of nearly 3,600 additional coronavirus infections Tuesday. Arizona emerged as a COVID-19 hot spot after Republican Gov. Doug Ducey lifted his stay-home orders in mid-May. Last week he allowed cities and counties to require masks in public places and many have done so.

Texas surpassed 5,000 new cases for a single day for the first time — just days after it eclipsed 4,000 new cases for the first time — as America’s largest pediatric hospital began taking adult patients to free up bed space in Houston. The infection rate in Texas has doubled since late May. And Nevada surpassed a record one-day increase for the fourth time in the past eight days. Other states also were experiencing worrisome surges, including Louisiana, Utah and South Carolina.

Another worrisome trend: an increase in infections among young adults. Fauci said while COVID-19 tends to be less severe in younger people, some of them do get very sick and even die. And younger people also may be more likely to show no symptoms yet still spread the virus.

If people say, “’I’m young, I’m healthy, who cares’ — you should care, not only for yourself but for the impact you might have” on sickening someone more vulnerable, Fauci said.

About 2.3 million Americans have been infected and some 120,000 have died, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Republican Rep. David McKinley of West Virginia asked if Fauci regretted that the American public wasn’t urged sooner to wear face masks, and then interrupted before the visibly annoyed scientist finished answering.

Fauci said he didn’t regret the change in recommendations. Early in the pandemic there was a “paucity of equipment” for health workers “who put themselves daily in harm’s way” and “we did not want to divert” those scarce supplies, he said.

Scientists eventually recommended the general public use cloth masks, after they better understood that people with no symptoms could be spreading the virus —

Trump, meanwhile, doubled down on testing claims that have public health experts appalled, tweeting Tuesday:

“Cases are going up in the U.S. because we are testing far more than any other country, and ever expanding. With smaller testing we would show fewer cases! “

Less testing in fact means more infections going undetected. The U.S. was slow in ramping up and currently is testing about 500,000 people a day. Many experts say to control the spread of the virus, it should be testing 900,000 or more.

Brett Giroir, a Health and Human Services assistant secretary, told lawmakers Tuesday the next step is testing patient samples in large batches to stretch limited supplies, which would expand U.S. screening between fivefold and tenfold.

Instead of testing each person individually, health workers would pool samples from 50, 100 or more people from the same office or school, for example. A negative result would clear everyone, while a positive would require each person to be individually re-tested.

And Dr. Robert Redfield, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, added that it’s now recommended for workers in nursing homes — hard-hit by the virus — to be tested weekly.

As for the anxiously awaited vaccine, Fauci said he believes “it will be when and not if” it arrives, and he’s “cautiously optimistic” that some vaccine could be available at the end of the year.

More than a dozen vaccine candidates are in various stages of testing around the globe, and the U.S. next month is poised to begin the largest study — in 30,000 people — to get the needed proof that one really works. Meanwhile, countries, including the U.S. under a program called “Operation Warp Speed,” are beginning to stockpile millions of doses of different shots, in hopes at least some will prove usable.

Health officials assured lawmakers Tuesday that there won’t be shortcuts on safety.

“We absolutely must maintain regulatory independence and make the right decision for the American people based on the science and the data,” said Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn.

Democrats blasted Trump for confusing the public with erroneous statements — from testing to masks to unproven treatments — and ignoring the public health experts’ advice.

“It costs lives,” Rep. Kathy Castor of Florida said of Trump’s false claims. She urged the public health specialists to do more to counter the president: “We really expect you to be more outspoken.”

Pushed on whether schools should reopen in August and September, Redfield insisted that will vary not just by state but by school district, depending on how many infections are in a particular area.

“Many jurisdictions will be reopening schools,” and CDC will soon issue some guidelines to help, he said.

Fauci noted that schools should tailor their decisions to local conditions, saying some might need few restrictions and others more. He offered the same advice to colleges, saying they should assume some students will get infected and that there must be ways to keep them and their classmates safe.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The government’s top infectious disease expert told a House committee on Tuesday he believes “it will be when and not if” there will be a COVID-19 vaccine and that he remains “cautiously optimistic” that some will be ready at the end of the year.

<a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?473229-1/white-house-coronavirus-task-force-members-testify-federal-response-pandemic&amp;live&amp;vod">Click here</a> to watch a replay of the testimony

Dr. Anthony Fauci has returned to Capitol Hill at a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/1b92ce21f8ddf7eefb634b92fee38fed">fraught moment</a>&nbsp;in the nation’s pandemic response, with coronavirus cases rising in about half the states and political polarization competing for attention with public health recommendations.

Fauci was testifying along with the heads of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration and a top official at the Department of Health and Human Services.

Since Fauci’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/e64f20bbacb7d48d15e1d76339220486">last appearance at a high-profile hearing</a>&nbsp;more than a month ago, the U.S. has been emerging from weeks of stay-at-home orders and business shutdowns. But it’s being done in an uneven way, with some states far less cautious than others. A trio of states with Republican governors who are bullish on reopening — Arizona, Florida and Texas — are among those seeing&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/feb4c26d9364497cf82ee7c0c1b1b3d5">worrisome increases in cases</a>.

Last week, Vice President Mike Pence published an opinion article in The Wall Street Journal saying the administration’s efforts have strengthened the nation’s ability to counter the virus and should be “a cause for celebration.”

Then Trump said at&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/1a59b4efe97f2249d414ae4f0b3c6495">his weekend rally in Tulsa</a>&nbsp;that he had asked administration officials to slow down testing, because too many positive cases are turning up. Many rally goers did not wear masks, and for some that was an act of defiance against what they see as government intrusion. White House officials later tried to walk back Trump’s comment on testing, suggesting it wasn’t meant to be taken literally.

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone of New Jersey said during Tuesday’s hearing that Trump’s testing comment at the rally “was an extremely reckless action, and unfortunately it continues the president’s pattern of ignoring the advice of his own public health experts.”

Trump, departing the White House for a visit to Arizona on Tuesday, played down those comments, saying under his administration the U.S. is doing more testing than any other country. Trump’s trip includes a rally at a megachurch.

Fauci has recently warned that&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/f401d034122b820a89773432cbf51152">the U.S. is still in the first wave</a>&nbsp;of the pandemic and has continued to urge the American public to practice social distancing. And, in a recent ABC News interview, he said political demonstrations such as protests against racial injustice are “risky” to all involved. Asked if that applied to Trump rallies, he said it did. Fauci continues to recognize widespread testing as critical for catching clusters of COVID-19 cases before they turn into full outbreaks in a given community.

About 2.3 million Americans have been sickened in the pandemic, and some 120,000 have died,&nbsp;<a href="https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html" target="_blank">according to data from Johns Hopkins University</a>.

Fauci, who heads the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is joined by CDC director Dr. Robert Redfield, FDA chief Dr. Stephen Hahn and the head of the U.S. Public Health Service, Adm. Brett Giroir.

Giroir was tapped by the White House to oversee the expansion of coronavirus testing. But he gained notoriety after a whistleblower complaint flagged him for trying to push&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/0fbe485717c9a74e6d6c48aee7d208ae">a malaria drug touted by Trump</a>&nbsp;to treat COVID-19 without conclusive scientific evidence. The FDA has since&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/33f67f8aa5ef2280215087f8e5364017">withdrawn its emergency use authorization</a>&nbsp;for hydroxychloroquine.

“There have been a lot of unfortunate missteps in the Trump administration’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic,” Pallone said. “As communities across the country ease social distancing guidance and reopen their economies, it is critically important that both the administration and Congress remain focused on containing the spread of the coronavirus and providing the resources and support Americans need during this time of crisis.”

There is still no vaccine for COVID-19, and there are no treatments specifically developed for the disease, although the antiviral drug remdesivir has been shown to help some patients, as well as a steroid called dexamethasone, and plasma from patients who have recovered.

Since Fauci last testified, hospital physicians have become more skilled in treating coronavirus patients with the techniques and medications at their disposal. The U.S. continues to ramp up testing, with some 27.5 million Americans, or more than 8% of the population, tested thus far. But most communities still lack enough health workers trained in doing contact tracing, the work of identifying people who have had interactions with an infected person. That could make it more difficult to tamp down emerging outbreaks.

The Energy and Commerce Committee has oversight over drugs and vaccines, among other facets of the U.S. health care system. Committee Democrats have been harshly critical of the administration. However, not all Republicans have lined up to defend the White House. Some GOP members were growing concerned early in the year that the administration wasn’t doing enough to prepare.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/6/1592928665531.png" alt="Dr. Anthony Fauci prior to his testimony on Tuesday-image courtesy CSPAN" />
 <figcaption>Dr. Anthony Fauci prior to his testimony on Tuesday-image courtesy CSPAN</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — The next few weeks are critical to tamping down a disturbing coronavirus surge, Dr. Anthony Fauci told Congress on Tuesday — issuing a plea for people to avoid crowds and wear masks.<a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?473229-1/white-house-coronavirus-task-force-members-testify-federal-response-pandemic&amp;live&amp;vod">Click here</a>&nbsp;to watch a replay of the testimonyFauci and other top health officials also said they have not been asked to slow down virus testing, in contrast to Trump’s claim last weekend that he had ordered fewer tests be performed because they were uncovering too many infections. Trump said earlier Tuesday that he wasn’t kidding when he made that remark.“We will be doing more testing,” Fauci, infectious disease chief at the National Institutes of Health, pledged to a House committee conducting oversight of the Trump administration’s response to the pandemic.The leading public health officials spent more than five hours testifying before the committee at a fraught moment, with coronavirus cases rising in about half the states and political polarization competing for attention with public health recommendations.Fauci told lawmakers he understands the pent-up desire to get back to normal as the U.S. begins emerging from months of stay-at-home orders and business shutdowns. But that has “to be a gradual step-by-step process and not throwing caution to the wind,” he said.“Plan A, don’t go in a crowd. Plan B, if you do, make sure you wear a mask,” Fauci said.Troubling surges worsened Tuesday in several states, with Arizona, California, Mississippi, Nevada and Texas setting single-day records for new coronavirus cases, and some governors saying they’ll consider reinstating restrictions or delaying plans to ease up in order to help slow the spread of the virus.Arizona, where Trump was headed for a speech at a Phoenix megachurch, reported a new daily record of nearly 3,600 additional coronavirus infections Tuesday. Arizona emerged as a COVID-19 hot spot after Republican Gov. Doug Ducey lifted his stay-home orders in mid-May. Last week he allowed cities and counties to require masks in public places and many have done so.Texas surpassed 5,000 new cases for a single day for the first time — just days after it eclipsed 4,000 new cases for the first time — as America’s largest pediatric hospital began taking adult patients to free up bed space in Houston. The infection rate in Texas has doubled since late May. And Nevada surpassed a record one-day increase for the fourth time in the past eight days. Other states also were experiencing worrisome surges, including Louisiana, Utah and South Carolina.Another worrisome trend: an increase in infections among young adults. Fauci said while COVID-19 tends to be less severe in younger people, some of them do get very sick and even die. And younger people also may be more likely to show no symptoms yet still spread the virus.If people say, “’I’m young, I’m healthy, who cares’ — you should care, not only for yourself but for the impact you might have” on sickening someone more vulnerable, Fauci said.About 2.3 million Americans have been infected and some 120,000 have died, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.Republican Rep. David McKinley of West Virginia asked if Fauci regretted that the American public wasn’t urged sooner to wear face masks, and then interrupted before the visibly annoyed scientist finished answering.Fauci said he didn’t regret the change in recommendations. Early in the pandemic there was a “paucity of equipment” for health workers “who put themselves daily in harm’s way” and “we did not want to divert” those scarce supplies, he said.Scientists eventually recommended the general public use cloth masks, after they better understood that people with no symptoms could be spreading the virus —Trump, meanwhile, doubled down on testing claims that have public health experts appalled, tweeting Tuesday:“Cases are going up in the U.S. because we are testing far more than any other country, and ever expanding. With smaller testing we would show fewer cases! “Less testing in fact means more infections going undetected. The U.S. was slow in ramping up and currently is testing about 500,000 people a day. Many experts say to control the spread of the virus, it should be testing 900,000 or more.Brett Giroir, a Health and Human Services assistant secretary, told lawmakers Tuesday the next step is testing patient samples in large batches to stretch limited supplies, which would expand U.S. screening between fivefold and tenfold.Instead of testing each person individually, health workers would pool samples from 50, 100 or more people from the same office or school, for example. A negative result would clear everyone, while a positive would require each person to be individually re-tested.And Dr. Robert Redfield, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, added that it’s now recommended for workers in nursing homes — hard-hit by the virus — to be tested weekly.As for the anxiously awaited vaccine, Fauci said he believes “it will be when and not if” it arrives, and he’s “cautiously optimistic” that some vaccine could be available at the end of the year.More than a dozen vaccine candidates are in various stages of testing around the globe, and the U.S. next month is poised to begin the largest study — in 30,000 people — to get the needed proof that one really works. Meanwhile, countries, including the U.S. under a program called “Operation Warp Speed,” are beginning to stockpile millions of doses of different shots, in hopes at least some will prove usable.Health officials assured lawmakers Tuesday that there won’t be shortcuts on safety.“We absolutely must maintain regulatory independence and make the right decision for the American people based on the science and the data,” said Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn.Democrats blasted Trump for confusing the public with erroneous statements — from testing to masks to unproven treatments — and ignoring the public health experts’ advice.“It costs lives,” Rep. Kathy Castor of Florida said of Trump’s false claims. She urged the public health specialists to do more to counter the president: “We really expect you to be more outspoken.”Pushed on whether schools should reopen in August and September, Redfield insisted that will vary not just by state but by school district, depending on how many infections are in a particular area.“Many jurisdictions will be reopening schools,” and CDC will soon issue some guidelines to help, he said.Fauci noted that schools should tailor their decisions to local conditions, saying some might need few restrictions and others more. He offered the same advice to colleges, saying they should assume some students will get infected and that there must be ways to keep them and their classmates safe.----------WASHINGTON (AP) — The government’s top infectious disease expert told a House committee on Tuesday he believes “it will be when and not if” there will be a COVID-19 vaccine and that he remains “cautiously optimistic” that some will be ready at the end of the year.<a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?473229-1/white-house-coronavirus-task-force-members-testify-federal-response-pandemic&amp;live&amp;vod">Click here</a> to watch a replay of the testimonyDr. Anthony Fauci has returned to Capitol Hill at a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/1b92ce21f8ddf7eefb634b92fee38fed">fraught moment</a>&nbsp;in the nation’s pandemic response, with coronavirus cases rising in about half the states and political polarization competing for attention with public health recommendations.Fauci was testifying along with the heads of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration and a top official at the Department of Health and Human Services.Since Fauci’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/e64f20bbacb7d48d15e1d76339220486">last appearance at a high-profile hearing</a>&nbsp;more than a month ago, the U.S. has been emerging from weeks of stay-at-home orders and business shutdowns. But it’s being done in an uneven way, with some states far less cautious than others. A trio of states with Republican governors who are bullish on reopening — Arizona, Florida and Texas — are among those seeing&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/feb4c26d9364497cf82ee7c0c1b1b3d5">worrisome increases in cases</a>.Last week, Vice President Mike Pence published an opinion article in The Wall Street Journal saying the administration’s efforts have strengthened the nation’s ability to counter the virus and should be “a cause for celebration.”Then Trump said at&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/1a59b4efe97f2249d414ae4f0b3c6495">his weekend rally in Tulsa</a>&nbsp;that he had asked administration officials to slow down testing, because too many positive cases are turning up. Many rally goers did not wear masks, and for some that was an act of defiance against what they see as government intrusion. White House officials later tried to walk back Trump’s comment on testing, suggesting it wasn’t meant to be taken literally.House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone of New Jersey said during Tuesday’s hearing that Trump’s testing comment at the rally “was an extremely reckless action, and unfortunately it continues the president’s pattern of ignoring the advice of his own public health experts.”Trump, departing the White House for a visit to Arizona on Tuesday, played down those comments, saying under his administration the U.S. is doing more testing than any other country. Trump’s trip includes a rally at a megachurch.Fauci has recently warned that&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/f401d034122b820a89773432cbf51152">the U.S. is still in the first wave</a>&nbsp;of the pandemic and has continued to urge the American public to practice social distancing. And, in a recent ABC News interview, he said political demonstrations such as protests against racial injustice are “risky” to all involved. Asked if that applied to Trump rallies, he said it did. Fauci continues to recognize widespread testing as critical for catching clusters of COVID-19 cases before they turn into full outbreaks in a given community.About 2.3 million Americans have been sickened in the pandemic, and some 120,000 have died,&nbsp;<a href="https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html" target="_blank">according to data from Johns Hopkins University</a>.Fauci, who heads the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is joined by CDC director Dr. Robert Redfield, FDA chief Dr. Stephen Hahn and the head of the U.S. Public Health Service, Adm. Brett Giroir.Giroir was tapped by the White House to oversee the expansion of coronavirus testing. But he gained notoriety after a whistleblower complaint flagged him for trying to push&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/0fbe485717c9a74e6d6c48aee7d208ae">a malaria drug touted by Trump</a>&nbsp;to treat COVID-19 without conclusive scientific evidence. The FDA has since&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/33f67f8aa5ef2280215087f8e5364017">withdrawn its emergency use authorization</a>&nbsp;for hydroxychloroquine.“There have been a lot of unfortunate missteps in the Trump administration’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic,” Pallone said. “As communities across the country ease social distancing guidance and reopen their economies, it is critically important that both the administration and Congress remain focused on containing the spread of the coronavirus and providing the resources and support Americans need during this time of crisis.”There is still no vaccine for COVID-19, and there are no treatments specifically developed for the disease, although the antiviral drug remdesivir has been shown to help some patients, as well as a steroid called dexamethasone, and plasma from patients who have recovered.Since Fauci last testified, hospital physicians have become more skilled in treating coronavirus patients with the techniques and medications at their disposal. The U.S. continues to ramp up testing, with some 27.5 million Americans, or more than 8% of the population, tested thus far. But most communities still lack enough health workers trained in doing contact tracing, the work of identifying people who have had interactions with an infected person. That could make it more difficult to tamp down emerging outbreaks.The Energy and Commerce Committee has oversight over drugs and vaccines, among other facets of the U.S. health care system. Committee Democrats have been harshly critical of the administration. However, not all Republicans have lined up to defend the White House. Some GOP members were growing concerned early in the year that the administration wasn’t doing enough to prepare.

🎥 Fauci: Next few weeks critical to tamping down virus spikes

TOPEKA – Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services (KDADS) Secretary Laura Howard announced Monday, The Kansas Neurological Institute (KNI) has 12 new positives cases in five staff members and seven residents, according to a media release.

Howard also announced&nbsp;that one staff member at Osawatomie State Hospital (OSH) has tested positive for COVID-19. This is the first positive case at OSH in either residents or staff.

To protect the identity of staff and residents at each hospital,&nbsp;no further information will be released.

Friday, June 19, an employee at OSH reported a positive test result to the hospital’s infection control nurse. In coordination with the Miami County Health Department, all 11 residents on the unit who were in close contact with the positive employee will be tested as a priority. A testing strategy that reaches beyond those working or living on the unit is currently being discussed and several steps have been taken to further maximize safety precautions already in place to minimize risk of further exposure:

“This is an extremely stressful time for patients, their loved ones and our staff members,” OSH Superintendent Kristin Feeback said. “We recognize that communication with patients, families and staff is critically important, especially after a confirmed COVID-19 case. I appreciate our staff being so responsive and adaptive to the instructions given by local health officials to make sure we do all we can to prevent the spread of the virus as effectively as possible.”

TOPEKA – Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services (KDADS) Secretary Laura Howard announced Monday, The Kansas Neurological Institute (KNI) has 12 new positives cases in five staff members and seven residents, according to a media release.Howard also announced&nbsp;that one staff member at Osawatomie State Hospital (OSH) has tested positive for COVID-19. This is the first positive case at OSH in either residents or staff.To protect the identity of staff and residents at each hospital,&nbsp;no further information will be released.Friday, June 19, an employee at OSH reported a positive test result to the hospital’s infection control nurse. In coordination with the Miami County Health Department, all 11 residents on the unit who were in close contact with the positive employee will be tested as a priority. A testing strategy that reaches beyond those working or living on the unit is currently being discussed and several steps have been taken to further maximize safety precautions already in place to minimize risk of further exposure:<ul>
 <li>Any employee with direct, close contact with the positive employee has been contacted and begun a 14-day quarantine as instructed by the Miami County Health Department.</li><li>Any patients directly exposed to the positive employee are strongly encouraged to isolate in their room and wear a facemask anytime they leave their room.&nbsp;Patients on the unit where the employee worked will remain on the unit and are being closely monitored for any change in status. COVID-19 testing will be implemented at the appropriate time according to time of exposure.</li><li>At this time, there will be no admissions to the affected unit. All staff working on the affected unit are required to wear full personal protective equipment (PPE) at all times, to include nurses, other professionals, security and housekeeping.</li><li>Separate entrances and exits have been established on the affected unit to minimize exposure to staff and patients on other units.</li><li>The frequently touched surfaces in the affected unit are now being disinfected three times per shift.</li>
 </ul>“This is an extremely stressful time for patients, their loved ones and our staff members,” OSH Superintendent Kristin Feeback said. “We recognize that communication with patients, families and staff is critically important, especially after a confirmed COVID-19 case. I appreciate our staff being so responsive and adaptive to the instructions given by local health officials to make sure we do all we can to prevent the spread of the virus as effectively as possible.”Thursday, June 18, KNI reported one staff member and one resident in the same home on campus tested positive for COVID-19 and at least one more staff member was symptomatic. Officials at KNI worked in collaboration with the Kansas Department for Health and Environment (KDHE) and the Shawnee County Health Department to administer more than 80 tests to all staff working in the affected home as well as all residents in the building where that home is located. At the time of this release, those tests have resulted in positive cases in five staff members and seven residents in three living units covering two campus buildings. Three of the 12 positive cases at KNI are symptomatic, but zero currently require hospitalization.KDHE and KNI and local health department officials are expanding testing on campus in the coming days to include all staff in potentially affected areas with a goal of an additional 200 staff tested by end of day today. Residents in all three affected living units have already been tested. KNI continues to follow similar PPE practices to those implemented at OSH.“We are thankful to the health officials at the state and local level for their quick and effective communication and response,” KNI Superintendent Brent Widick said. “Our residents are like family and we work very hard to keep them safe, so this kind of news takes a real emotional toll on our staff.”KNI reported its first two cases of staff members on April 17 this year. Both of those cases have been cleared.

Coronavirus Update