Coronavirus Watch: Six feet may not be enough, CDC says
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has finally admitted it: the coronavirus can spread through the air.
The agency updated its website late Monday to warn of airborne transmission, something public health experts have been warning about for months but went unacknowledged by the agency.
The CDC says people can be exposed to the virus in small droplets and particles that can linger in the air for minutes to hours, potentially infecting people who are farther than 6 feet away and even people who come into the area after an infected person has left.
"There is evidence that under certain conditions, people with COVID-19 seem to have infected others who were more than 6 feet away," the CDC says on its website.
It's Tuesday, and this is the Coronavirus Watch from the Paste BN Network. Here's the most significant news of the day, as of 1 p.m. ET:
- The White House has blocked new Food and Drug Administration guidelines on bringing potential vaccines for COVID-19 to market that would almost certainly have prevented their introduction before the Nov. 3 election.
- President Donald Trump, who is battling a case of COVID-19 at the White House, started his Tuesday by tweeting about the coronavirus and the flu.
- Nearly 20 people in and around the White House have tested positive for COVID-19 in recent days.
- A White House-themed online gift shop is offering $100 "Trump Beat COVID" commemorative coins.
- Wednesday is the first and only vice presidential debate of 2020. The candidates will be separated by 12 feet and Plexiglass.
- Cruise lines around the world have committed to testing every passenger and crew member for COVID-19 prior to boarding, the industry's leading trade group said Tuesday.
Is Trump contagious? How is the first lady? Have questions about Trump and COVID-19? Ask us here, and we'll answer here.
Today's numbers: New case records were set in Alaska, Kentucky and Utah, and a record numbers of deaths were reported in Hawaii, South Dakota and Wisconsin, and also Guam, a Paste BN analysis of Johns Hopkins data through late Monday shows. The U.S. has reported more than 7.4 million cases and 210,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. Globally, there have been more than 35.5 million cases and 1 million fatalities. See the numbers in your area here, and check out where cases are rising here.
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– Grace Hauck, Paste BN breaking news reporter, @grace_hauck