Coronavirus Watch: Do temperature checks really keep anyone safe?
Temperature checks are becoming the new normal as schools, businesses and offices attempt to reopen safely while in the midst of a pandemic.
But as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated last month that nearly 40% of COVID-19 patients are asymptomatic and experts suspect only half of symptomatic patients exhibit a fever, is this cumbersome practice really keeping anyone safe from getting sick?
"It's much, much better to just question people when they come in and save time," Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in a recent Facebook Live broadcast. Read more here.
It's Friday, and this is the Coronavirus Watch from the Paste BN Network. Here is the most significant news of the day, as of 2 p.m. ET:
- More than 1,000 inmates and staff at state and federal prisons have died from COVID-19 while new cases among prisoners, which had slowed in June, has reached an all-time high, according to The Marshall Project.
- Infectious disease experts are concerned that overprescribing antibiotics to treat COVID-19 could lead to drug-resistant bacteria and expose patients to dangerous side effects.
- The Navajo Nation, which has mostly been closed since March, reported one additional death on Thursday, pushing its total to 499.
- COVID in wastewater? Officials at the University of Arizona said they found the coronavirus in a dorm's wastewater and were able to prevent an outbreak.
- Los Angeles plans to file criminal charges over recent parties in the Hollywood Hills, held despite a city ban on large gatherings during the coronavirus pandemic.
- Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey on Thursday extended the state's mask mandate, pushing the existing COVID-19 health order to run until at least Oct. 2.
- Tourist arrivals in Hawaii declined by almost 98% in July compared to a year ago, according to a report released Thursday by state officials.
Today's numbers: The U.S. has more than 5.8 million confirmed infections and 180,000 deaths. Worldwide, there have been more than 831,000 deaths and 24 million cases, according to John Hopkins University data. See the numbers in your area here, and check out where cases are rising here.
What do you want to know about the coronavirus? Submit your questions through this form.
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– Grace Hauck, Paste BN breaking news reporter, @grace_hauck