California, Michigan and New York City became the latest areas on Wednesday to pause some aspects of their reopening efforts as new cases spike across the country. Amid the surge, President Donald Trump said he’s “all for masks,” but he doesn’t think the U.S. needs a national mandate for people to wear them during the pandemic.
This is CNBC’s live blog covering all the latest news on the coronavirus outbreak. This blog will be updated throughout the day as the news breaks.
- Global cases: More than 10.71 million
- Global deaths: At least 516,726
- U.S. cases: More than 2.68 million
- U.S. deaths: At least 128,062
The data above was compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Belgian retirement home uses ‘hug curtain’ to enable visits
7:13 a.m. ET — One of the hardest parts of the coronavirus pandemic for many people has been that social distancing measures have prevented them from visiting or comforting elderly relatives. But a retirement home in Belgium appears to have found a solution to the problem by creating a “hug curtain,” Reuters reported Thursday.
Visitors to the Jardins de Picardie nursing home, which is near Belgium’s border with France, can embrace relatives now by using the large plastic curtain that staff installed on June 14.
It has proved very popular, staff told the news agency, with one elderly resident saying the curtain was “the most beautiful invention” she had ever seen. She cried the first time she was able to hug her daughter again. —Holly Ellyatt
U.S. reports more than 50,000 new cases in a single day
People sit in their vehicles while waiting in line to enter a Covid-19 drive-thru testing site at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, U.S., on Tuesday, June 30, 2020.
Marco Bello | Bloomberg | Getty Images
7:06 a.m. ET — The U.S. reported more than 50,000 new coronavirus cases in a single day, setting a new record for single-day increases as outbreaks worsen in a number of states, prompting officials to rollback or pause reopening efforts.
The country reported about 50,700 new cases Wednesday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, bringing the total number of confirmed U.S. cases to more than 2.68 million. The U.S. has more confirmed cases than any other country in the world, followed by Brazil, Russia, India and the U.K.
Earlier this week, White House health advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said the U.S. could hit 100,000 new cases per day if the outbreak continues on its current trajectory without more severe interventions or major behavioral changes among the U.S. public. —Will Feuer
Read CNBC’s previous coronavirus live coverage here: India’s cases cross 600,000; demand for China’s medical products surge
