July 10 coronavirus news

By Nectar Gan, Steve George, Laura Smith-Spark, Ed Upright, Meg Wagner and Melissa Macaya, CNN

Updated 8:15 PM ET, Fri July 10, 2020
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7:41 p.m. ET, July 10, 2020

Atlanta Public Schools to recommend starting school year with virtual learning

From CNN's Pierre Meilhan

New Atlanta Public Schools Superintendent Lisa Herring speaks after she was sworn in during a ceremony at Atlanta Public Schools Headquarters in Atlanta on Wednesday, July 1. 
New Atlanta Public Schools Superintendent Lisa Herring speaks after she was sworn in during a ceremony at Atlanta Public Schools Headquarters in Atlanta on Wednesday, July 1.  Hyosub Shin/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP

The head of Atlanta Public Schools will recommend that schools open virtually with a new start date of August 24, the district said Friday.

Superintendent Lisa Herring “will recommend school open virtually with a new start date of August 24. August 3-21 will be used for pre-planning,” the district said on Facebook.

Herring, who began her new role on July 1, will present a strategy for reopening on Monday during a school board meeting.

APS originally intended to start the school year on August 10.

7:23 p.m. ET, July 10, 2020

Covid-19 antibody therapy could be available by end of the year, biotech CEO says

From CNN’s Elizabeth Cohen

An antibody therapy from Eli Lilly could be on the market by the end of the year, according to the CEO of a biotech firm working with the pharmaceutical giant. 

“We’re moving at breakneck speed,” said Carl Hansen, CEO of AbCellera. “It’s like running 100 meters in two seconds.” 

The company is two weeks into Phase 2 trials, which will involve hundreds of Covid-19 patients. Some of them will get the antibody drug at varying doses and others will receive a placebo, or a pill that does nothing, and then doctors will compare how each group fares. 

He said the Phase 1 trial of a few dozen patients showed the drug was safe. 

To make the drug, AbCellera picked “an absolute elite superstar antibody” from someone who had recovered from Covid-19, Hansen said. 

The scientists had plenty of antibodies to choose from. In just 10 milliliters of blood, the patient had more than 500 antibodies. The scientists chose the one that was the most potent in fighting off coronavirus and was also easy to develop, clone and manufacture. 

That drug was tested in Phase 1 with hospitalized patients and is currently being tested in Phase 2 in patients who are at home.

Hansen said the drug could possibly help another two groups. The first is people who have been exposed to Covid-19 but have not developed any symptoms. The second is people who are at high risk of being exposed to the virus, such as health care workers. 

AbCellera has studied blood from about 100 Covid-19 survivors, and if a better antibody turns up, Lilly and AbCellera may add it to the one already being studied, or possibly replace it for a “next generation” version of the drug, Hansen said. 

6:50 p.m. ET, July 10, 2020

How coronavirus affects the entire body

From CNN's Maggie Fox

Coronavirus damages not only the lungs, but the kidneys, liver, heart, brain and nervous system, skin and gastrointestinal tract, doctors noted Friday in a review of reports about Covid-19 patients.

The team at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York City — one of the hospitals flooded with patients in the spring – went through their own experiences and collected reports from other medical teams around the world.

Their comprehensive picture shows coronavirus attacks virtually every major system in the human body, directly damaging organs and causing the blood to clot, the heart to lose its healthy rhythm, the kidneys to shed blood and protein and the skin to erupt in rashes. It causes headaches, dizziness, muscle aches, stomach pain and other symptoms along with classic respiratory symptoms such as coughing and fever.

"Physicians need to think of COVID-19 as a multisystem disease," Dr. Aakriti Gupta, a cardiology fellow at Columbia who worked on the review, said in a statement. "There's a lot of news about clotting but it's also important to understand that a substantial proportion of these patients suffer kidney, heart, and brain damage, and physicians need to treat those conditions along with the respiratory disease."

More details: Much of the damage wrought by the virus appears to come because of its affinity for a receptor — a kind of molecular doorway into cells – called ACE2. Cells lining the blood vessels, in the kidneys, the liver ducts, the pancreas, in the intestinal tract and lining the respiratory tract all are covered with ACE2 receptors, which the virus can use to grapple and infect cells, the Columbia team wrote in their review, published in the journal Nature Medicine.

“These findings suggest that multiple-organ injury may occur at least in part due to direct viral tissue damage,” the team wrote.

"This virus is unusual and it's hard not to take a step back and not be impressed by how many manifestations it has on the human body," Dr. Mahesh another cardiology fellow who worked on the review, said in a statement. 

6:23 p.m. ET, July 10, 2020

68% of people tested in single clinic in Queens had coronavirus antibodies, data suggests

From CNN's Jacqueline Howard

New coronavirus antibody testing data suggests there to be large disparities among neighborhoods hit hardest by the pandemic across New York City, separated by race and class — but more research is needed to confirm the extent of the differences.

Data from CityMD urgent care medical clinics show that more than 68% of people tested positive for antibodies at a clinic in the working-class neighborhood of Corona, Queens, and 56% tested positive at another clinic in Jackson Heights, Queens. 

Yet only 13% of people tested positive for antibodies at a clinic in Cobble Hill, a mostly white and wealthy neighborhood in Brooklyn.

The data were first reported in The New York Times on Thursday and a spokesperson for CityMD confirmed to CNN in an email on Friday that "it's accurate."

Even though the majority of people tested in those clinics had antibodies, that data do not reflect how many people in the neighborhoods themselves may have antibodies — because some patients in the clinics may not live in the neighborhoods where the clinics are located.

Overall, nationwide data has been clear that Black and Brown communities across the United States have experienced higher rates of hospitalization or death from Covid-19 than White communities. 

As of June 12, hospitalization rates among Black and American Indian or Alaska Native people were about five times that of White people, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Hispanic or Latino people have a rate about four times that of White people.

6:15 p.m. ET, July 10, 2020

Brazil surpasses 1.8 million coronavirus cases

From CNN's Rodrigo Pedroso in Sao Paulo

Health worker performs a Covid-19 test to a taxi driver through a drive-thru system at the Marques de Sapucai Sambadrome on June 15, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Health worker performs a Covid-19 test to a taxi driver through a drive-thru system at the Marques de Sapucai Sambadrome on June 15, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Bruna Prado/Getty Images

Brazil surpassed 1.8 million confirmed cases of novel coronavirus Friday, according to the country's health ministry.

The health ministry recorded 45,048 new cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the country's total to 1,800,827.

Brazil also topped 70,000 Covid-19 deaths after the health ministry reported 1,214 new deaths from the virus Friday. The nationwide death toll stands at 70,398.

This comes after President Jair Bolsonaro, who is in semi-isolation after testing positive for the virus, said he hoped governors and mayors in the country would reopen "as soon as possible" and “in a responsible way."

5:51 p.m. ET, July 10, 2020

UK eases coronavirus travel restrictions for dozens of countries — but not the US

From CNN's Simon Cullen

A woman wears a face mask or covering due to the coronavirus pandemic, as she waits for passenger to arrive at Heathrow airport, west London, on July 10. 
A woman wears a face mask or covering due to the coronavirus pandemic, as she waits for passenger to arrive at Heathrow airport, west London, on July 10.  Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP/Getty Images

The UK has eased travel restrictions for dozens of countries — but the United States is not one of them.

Travelers arriving into the UK from 75 countries and British overseas territories will no longer have to self-isolate for 14 days starting July 10.

See the full list of countries here.

5:35 p.m. ET, July 10, 2020

Atlanta mayor plans to roll back city's reopening to phase 1

From CNN's Pierre Meilhan

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms Source: CNN

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms is planning to roll back the city's reopening to phase one due to a spike in Covid-19 cases, her spokesperson said Friday.

Phase one includes an order for all city residents to stay home except for essential trips.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp slammed the mayor’s decision, calling it “confusing” and “legally unenforceable,” his office said Friday.

Kemp’s office said in a statement that Bottoms' "action today is merely guidance — both non-binding and legally unenforceable."

"As clearly stated in the Governor's executive order, no local action can be more or less restrictive, and that rule applies statewide. Once again, if the Mayor actually wants to flatten the curve in Atlanta, she should start enforcing state restrictions, which she has failed to do. We ask citizens and businesses alike to comply with the terms of the Governor's order, which was crafted in conjunction with state public health officials. These common-sense measures will help protect the lives and livelihoods of all Georgians,” the statement said.

5:26 p.m. ET, July 10, 2020

New York gym owner sues state over not being able to reopen

From CNN's Sonia Moghe

A gym owner filed a class action lawsuit against New York state Thursday arguing its business is “essential” and should be allowed to open as coronavirus lockdown restrictions are lifted. 

The suit seeks to represent about 2,500 fitness business owners, said attorney James Mermigis, who spoke at a news conference flanked by gym owners Wednesday before filing the suit. 

Mermigis said these businesses employ between 65,000 and 75,000 people across the state and that not being able to open means they have lost “hundreds of millions” in profits. The suit was filed in New York state court.

“We’re not asking the governor not to respond to the pandemic. We’re just asking for equal treatment that every other business is getting,” Mermigis said. 

Mermigis said that because New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has said the state has some of the lowest infection rates in the country, it’s time to open them.

“I think gyms are very essential for your health, mind, body and soul. We think they’re an important part of everyday living,” Mermigis. 

Jason Conwall, a spokesperson for Cuomo, said his office has not reviewed the suit but that the actions taken by the governor were intended to, and did, curb the rise of infection in the state, and allowed the state to avoid subsequent spikes of infection. 

“Reports show that infections are spiking in 38 states, and that officials in those states have been forced to reclose businesses and other parts of the economy that were opened too early,” Conwall said in a statement to CNN. “Every public opinion survey has shown an overwhelming majority of New Yorkers support our re-opening approach. I understand some people aren’t happy – but better unhappy than sick or worse.”

The suit claims that the named plaintiff, Thousand Islands Fitness center, and other gyms in the state, have “conformed” their fitness centers to adhere to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, as gyms in other states that have been allowed to reopen have done. 

5:19 p.m. ET, July 10, 2020

Texas reports more than 3,000 total coronavirus-related deaths

From CNN's Ashley Killough 

Texas reported 9,765 new Covid-19 cases on Friday, bringing the total number of cases in the state to 240,111.

The state has also reported 3,013 deaths from the virus since the pandemic began. Texas reported 95 new Covid-19-related deaths on Friday. 

The positivity rate is down nearly one percentage point from yesterday to 14.46%.

To note: These numbers were released by the Texas Health and Human Services, and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project.