Breaking news: Coronavirus updates Nationwide cases continue to spike as Mike Pence visits Arizona; California to ‘tighten’ restrictions, New U.S. coronavirus cases continued to increase, multiple states were reporting new highs and White House task force leader Vice President Mike Pence was headed to Arizona pm Wednesday amid that state’s surge in cases and hospitalizations.
On Tuesday, 44,766 new cases were confirmed nationwide on Tuesday, according to a tally kept by Johns Hopkins University. Other media tallies put the case count between as high as 48,000, which would be a record for daily totals. The nation’s top infectious disease expert warned that number could reach 100,000 per day without swift action.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom will announce “aggressive” coronavirus restrictions Wednesday ahead off the Fourth of July holiday weekend. Texas, which set new marks for positive cases and hospitalizations, shut down bars. So did Arizona, while Florida banned alcohol consumption at them.
International travel to European countries will resume Wednesday, allowing travelers from 14 countries but excluding Americans.
Here are some major developments:
?Today’s stats: The number of confirmed cases globally has surpassed 10.4 million, and the death toll was more than 511,500. There are more than 2.6 million cases in the U.S. and over 127,400 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University data dashboard.
? What we’re reading: Restaurants in California, Arkansas and Michigan have temporarily closed because some customers refuse to wear face masks and have harassed employees. Face masks “aren’t a choice. It’s part of public health code,” one restaurant owner said. Here’s how three restaurants have taken a stand amid the ongoing pandemic.
PPE shortage still an issue as cases rise
Physicians and nurses still face a dearth of supplies as coronavirus cases continue to rise nationwide. Nearly 45% of those surveyed by the American Nurses Association said they experienced protective gear shortages as late as May 31. Almost 80% said their employers encouraged or required them to reuse disposable equipment. The USA TODAY Network analyzed dozens of government reports and interviewed more than 50 experts — including health care administrators, traders and lawmakers — about the PPE shortages, especially the disposable masks that cost anywhere from a few pennies to a dollar.
“The magnitude and speed of the spread of coronavirus just overwhelmed the entire supply chain from A to Z,” said Mike Crotty, an Ohio-born, Shanghai textile broker with more than 35 years in the business. “It was a madhouse.”
– Dinah Voyles Pulver, Katie Wedell and Erin Mansfield
Mike Pence to visit Phoenix as Arizona grapples with COVID-19 surge
Vice President Mike Pence will travel to Phoenix on Wednesday, continuing his tour of the nation’s new coronavirus hotspots in an effort to calm growing concerns that leaders in Washington and Arizona have bungled their response to the crisis. Dr. Deborah Birx, a member of the White House’s coronavirus task force, is accompanying Pence on his visit to the 2020 battleground state. Amid the growing concerns over the spread of the virus in Arizona, Pence scrapped a planned visit to Yuma and a campaign event in Tucson. Pence and Birx are set to meet with Gov. Doug Ducey, public health officials and health care representatives.
The trip to Arizona follows their stop in Dallas on Sunday, where Pence, who chairs the task force, sounded an optimistic note about the battle to slow down the spread of the coronavirus. He sought to assure leaders there that they had the “counsel, the resources, and the support to meet this moment.”
– Yvonne Wingett Sanchez, Arizona Republic
Lockdown baby boom may be baby bust
Predictions of a possible baby boom as couples nationwide have had an abundance of alone-time together may go bust amid a spike in birth control requests. Digital health clinic Nurx says they’ve seen a 50% increase in new patient requests for birth control and a 40% increase in emergency contraception requests. The company serves over 250,000 patients. Worth noting: A study published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that pregnant women may be at increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19 compared with non-pregnant women.
“Whether to have a child for the first time or another child … that’s something people are feeling it isn’t the time to explore,” said Nurx spokesperson Allison Hoffman.
– Adrianna Rodriguez
Massachusetts reports zero COVID-19 deaths for the first time in months
Massachusetts reported zero COVID-19 deaths Tuesday for the first time in months, according to data in the state’s Department of Public Health’s daily release.
The data also shows a downward trajectory in all four of the state’s public health indicators: the seven-day positive test rate, the three-day average of hospitalized patients, the number of hospitals at surge capacity, and the three-day average of deaths. Gov. Charlie Baker said at a press conference Tuesday the state will exempt travelers from Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, New York, and New Jersey from the state’s two week self-quarantine advisory. “COVID-19 will not be taking a summer vacation,” Baker said, referencing the Fourth of July weekend. Massachusetts has reported at least 8,054 fatalities from the pandemic – the first death on March 20.
– Elinor Aspegren
California Gov. Gavin Newsom will ‘tighten’ coronavirus restrictions
California Gov. Gavin Newsom will announce new coronavirus restrictions Wednesday to “tighten things up” as cases surge in the state. He said the state will be “a little bit more aggressive as it relates to guidelines on Fourth of July.” California has nearly 223,000 infections with close to 6,000 deaths reported. However, officials are concerned about the hospitalization rates, which increased by 43% in the last two weeks.
“The framework for us is this: If you’re not gonna stay home and you’re not gonna wear masks in public, we have to enforce, and we will and we’ll be making announcements on enforcement tomorrow,” Newsom said at a news conference Tuesday.
Senate passes surprise extension of application deadline for PPP loans
The Senate passed a surprise extension for the Paycheck Protection Program to August 8 by unanimous consent Tuesday night, just hours before it was set to close down. The legislation would extend the deadline for when the PPP can accept applications for forgivable loans. The bill gives the Small Business Administration the authority to continue approving loans to businesses that apply.
However, the House of Representatives will need to pass the legislation, and send it to President Donald Trump for his signature to keep the money flowing. Both chambers of Congress are set to adjourn for recess by the week’s conclusion. The massive loan program has helped keep millions of small businesses afloat during the coronavirus pandemic and already has disbursed more than $500 billion to roughly 4.8 million businesses, most of them mom-and-pop outfits such as nail salons and retail stores.
– Savannah Behrmann
What we’re reading
Arizona, Michigan gyms balk at closure orders; 1 owner files lawsuit
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey is in a showdown with many gyms that are refusing to follow his Monday executive order that they close until at least July 27 to help slow the spread of COVID-19 as hospitals near their capacity to care for everyone who gets sick.
The complaint, filed in Maricopa County Superior Court, calls Ducey’s closure “arbitrary and irrational” and seeks to keep the 18 Mountainside gyms in Maricopa County open for their 90,000 members. “It’s not about Mountainside,” CEO and Founder Tom Hatten said Tuesday. “It’s about business and our choices and our civil liberties and where our leadership is taking us at this point in time.”
In Michigan, gym owners are openly defying Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s executive order to close, even after police issued a few criminal citations.
“We’re open because I think it’s unconstitutional,” said Don Larson, owner of a Gold’s Gym on Hoover Road in Warren. “My members need a place to be to stay strong and healthy, and it keeps their immune systems high.”
– Ryan Randazzo, Arizona Republic; JC Reindl, Detroit Free Press
FDA: Coronavirus vaccine needs to be at least 50% effective to be approved
The Food and Drug Administration said on Tuesday that a coronavirus vaccine would need to be at least 50% more effective than a placebo in preventing or at least decreasing the severity of COVID-19 in order for them to approve it. That threshold “would have been what I would have chosen since that is around what flu vaccines do that save lives,” said Barry Bloom, an immunologist and professor of public health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston. “Greater would, of course, be ideal.”
With the FDA being under an Emergency Use Authorization rather than the typical process, some have expressed concern that the agency might face pressure from the White House to approve a COVID-19 vaccine as quickly as possible.
The first vaccine to be approved must go through the full FDA licensure process, including Phase 3 clinical trials to show it protests people against disease or infection 
