(NEW YORK) — The global coronavirus pandemic has now killed more than 803,000 people worldwide, nearly a quarter of those in the U.S.
More 23.1 million people worldwide have been diagnosed with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new respiratory virus, according to data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. The actual numbers are believed to be much higher due to testing shortages, unreported cases and suspicions that some national governments are hiding or downplaying the scope of their outbreaks.
The United States is the worst-affected country, with more than 5.6 million diagnosed cases and at least 176,345 deaths.
Here’s how the news is developing today. All times Eastern. Please refresh this page for updates. 2:02 a.m.: Florida coronavirus cases on verge of grim milestone
Florida is approaching a grim milestone, as total confirmed cases of coronavirus are on the verge of surpassing 600,000. The total number of cases currently stands at 597,597.
New daily cases have been over 4,000 since August 19 so there’s a chance the state will pass 600,000 when new cases are reported later today.
If so, Florida would be only the second state to do so, behind California.
1:11 a.m.: 17 more students test positive for COVID in Georgia Tech Greek house outbreak
Georgia Tech officials said Saturday that 33 more students have tested positive for COVID-19 on campus, including 17 members of the same Greek residence.
Officials with Sigma Phi Epsilon said Saturday night that the outbreak was at their residence.
At least eight other students in Greek housing tested positive at the end of last week but it is unclear if all of those students live at the Sigma Phi Epsilon house.
“In addition to the cluster of Greek housing residents who live in the same Greek residence near campus reported via a campus communication yesterday, 17 more members of the organization tested positive today,” officials wrote.
School officials did not identify which Greek organization was affected, but Sigma Phi Epsilon issued a statement confirming it was their house on Saturday night.
“For the past several days, we have dealt with a spike in COVID-19 cases among our members,” the organization wrote on Instagram. “As of three days ago, our house was locked down to non-residents, and we have been working closely with our Alumni and Volunteer Corporation, the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life and Georgia Tech Administration to test all other members of our chapter and isolate those positive members, in compliance with requests from administration.”
Officials said all residents in the house have been tested and Georgia Tech is turning the residence into an isolation location. Students who have not tested positive will relocate elsewhere to quarantine.
“If you have had recent contact with any residents of Greek housing, please get tested at one of the free Georgia Tech testing sites,” officials wrote.
Students returned to class at Georgia Tech on August 17. Students held a die-in on campus that day, protesting the return to in-person instruction.
At least 251 students at Tech have tested positive for the virus.
(NEW YORK) — Tropical Storm Laura and Tropical Storm Marco are both expected to travel toward the Gulf of Mexico in the next few days, with both storms likely to impact parts of the U.S. coast by the early half of next week.
Marco and Laura are not expected to become hurricanes at the same time. Marco currently is forecasted to become a hurricane Saturday night until Monday morning. Laura is forecasted to become a hurricane Tuesday and Wednesday.
While it is too early to determine the exact magnitude and location of U.S. mainland impact from Marco and Laura, parts of the U.S. Gulf Coast from Texas to Mississippi may see impact from two different tropical systems in the upcoming week.
Louisiana and Mississippi have both already declared states of emergency in anticipation of the storms.
The last time there were two tropical cyclones in the Gulf was in 2002, where Tropical Storm Fay was off the Texas coast, and Tropical Depression Edouard was off the Florida west coast, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Tropical Storm Laura
Tropical Storm Laura has winds of 50 mph Saturday afternoon and was 60 miles east southwest of Ponce, Puerto Rico. The storm is moving west at 18 mph.
Laura is bringing heavy rain and gusty winds to parts of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The center is passing just to the south.
Tropical storm warnings remain in effect from Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands to the northern coast of Hispaniola, Turks and Caicos and the southeast Bahamas. Tropical storm watches are in place for parts of eastern Cuba and the central Bahamas.
Laura is forecast to go near or over Hispaniola and Cuba over the 48 hours and this could significantly impact the storm’s strength and structure. Depending on how it holds together, its strength moving into the Gulf of Mexico will be greatly impacted. But as of now, the latest forecast calls for strengthening once in the Gulf of Mexico, reaching hurricane strength as it closes in on the U.S. Gulf Coast.
On the current forecast track, Laura will move near Hispaniola on Saturday afternoon and night, and then near Cuba on Sunday.
Tropical storm force winds extend up to 205 miles from the center, mainly on the northern side of the storm. Wind gusts over 45 mph will be possible in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands in the next few hours.
Laura is expected to bring up to 8 inches of rain from Puerto Rico to Cuba. This could result in mudslides and flash flooding. Puerto Rico got hit pretty hard by Isaias just a few weeks ago with major flash flooding.
The track and intensity of Laura remain somewhat uncertain as we get into next week since Laura could interact with quite a bit of land this weekend.
Laura is expected to reach the Gulf on Tuesday.
Tropical Storm Marco
Tropical Storm Marco has been strengthening much of the day and getting better organized. Sustained winds were at 65 mph Saturday afternoon and it was moving north-northwest at 12 mph. The center was about 90 miles east-northeast of Cancun, Mexico.
Tropical storm warnings remain in effect across portions of the Yucatan Peninsula and western Cuba Saturday afternoon.
Marco is forecast to continue to strengthen over the next 24 hours and likely become a hurricane by Saturday night. However, atmospheric conditions will be much less favorable as the storm nears the Gulf Coast. Weakening is expected ahead of any landfall.
Marco is expected near the Yucatan Peninsula later Saturday and then move into the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday. The storm will then move northward and likely turn northwest as it moves towards the U.S. coast by Tuesday.
Tropical storm force winds extend 70 miles from the center. Locally, up to 10 inches of rainfall will be possible in the Yucatan Peninsula, which could result in flash flooding.
It is still too early to determine the location and magnitude of the impacts Marco will bring to the U.S.
While it’s unclear what the storms will bring, Louisiana’s St. Bernard Parish, southeast of New Orleans, is already making sandbags available to residents.
“I am very proud of the way the residents of St. Bernard Parish have rallied together in the face of this weather event. The effort we have seen today by both residents and parish employees with the new sandbagging procedures has been exceptional,” said Parish President Guy S. McInnis in a statement. ABC News’ William Mansell and Mark Osborne contributed to this report.
(WORCESTER, Mass.) — Classes have not even started at the College of the Holy Cross, in Worcester, Massachusetts, but there are growing concerns over the students’ disregard of coronavirus safety protocols. Over the weekend, campus police busted a large party at an off-campus apartment renter by Holy Cross students, eliciting growing concerns that such gatherings could turn into coronavirus super-spreader events.
“Not only did the number of people in attendance exceed the state limit on the number of people at a gathering, but attendees were not wearing masks or adhering to physical distancing guidelines,” said college administrators in a letter to the community, calling the behavior “highly irresponsible.”
According to the school, the party has led to a potential cluster of infections, and if such behavior continues, the rest of the student body may be unable to return to campus, later this year.
Similarly, only eight days into the semester, Notre Dame was forced to cancel in-person classes for two weeks, after seeing a “dramatic increase” in positive coronavirus, with 336 students infected as of Friday. Most infections have stemmed from off-campus gatherings, according to the University’s contact tracing analysis.
“Students infected at those gatherings pass it on to others, who in turn, pass the virus on to a further group, resulting in the positive cases we have seen,” stated Notre Dame President Rev. John I. Jenkins on Tuesday, in a stern message to the community.
Although the university had initially begun crafting plans to send undergraduate students home, for the time being, he said, he would allow students to remain on campus, and move all undergraduate classes to remote instruction for two weeks. However, Rev. Jenkins warned failure to comply with health protocols could result in sending students home.
Such scenes are far from isolated incidents, and are examples of the many challenges confronting universities and colleges as they reopen.
Numerous videos of packed parties on campuses across the country have been widely shared on social media, often with no social distancing or face masks, much to the dismay of school administrators and public officials alike.
Syracuse University Vice Chancellor J. Michael Haynie severely admonished first-year students who had gathered on the school’s quad, calling their behavior “selfish and unsettling,” and stating, “Make no mistake, there was not a single student who gathered on the Quad last night who did not know and understand that it was wrong to do so.”
At least three dozen states, so far, have reported coronavirus cases on college campuses.
At Oklahoma State University, over 20 cases have been confirmed in a single sorority house.
Iowa State University administrators issued a stern warning that a failure to abide by the school’s rules and continuing partying could lead to remote instruction, after over 175 students tested positive for the virus.
Some schools are already acting swiftly, and threatening disciplinary actions against students who do abide by the set protocols.
Purdue University has suspended 36 students, including those who had hosted a party and those who had attended the gathering in violation of social distancing policies.
Duke University is investigating seven cases of “flagrant misconduct and persistent non-compliance” with COVID-19 rules by students or groups of students, and if found responsible, students and organizations could face a range of possible sanctions, including disciplinary probation, suspension, or permanent dismissal.
23 students from Syracuse received interim suspensions following their on-campus party.
Drake University in Iowa barred 14 students from campus for two weeks for partying, and several University of Connecticut students were evicted from on-campus student housing after videos of dorm-room parties emerged Monday night. On Wednesday, the university announced eight on-campus students, and three commuter students, had tested positive for COVID-19.
Colleges and universities that have opted either to reopen, or allow students to live on the premises, are relying heavily on students to abide by the precautions and behavioral expectations outlined by the school.
But some experts question whether it is possible to expect 18 to 23 years-old to study, eat, and live in close quarters, all while acting responsibly and maturely enough to sacrifice most of the social interactions and traditions associated with college life.
“They’re going to want to party, they’re going to want to drink, they’re going to want to hang out either on-campus or off-campus dorms or in private residences. They’re at an age where they consider themselves to be invulnerable,” Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, told ABC News.
“I think you’re asking for something, that’s not going to happen,” he said, adding it will be incredibly difficult to get students to understand that this is a life and death situation.
Angry University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill students agreed, calling the situation a “clusterf—” after in-person classes barely lasted a week into the fall semester before being halted when four COVID-19 clusters surfaced, with 130 students testing positive and the positivity rate on campus surging from 2.8% to nearly 13.6%.
In a scorching editorial in the student newspaper The Daily Tar Heel, students wrote, “We all saw this coming … University leadership should have expected students, many of whom are now living on their own for the first time, to be reckless. Reports of parties throughout the weekend come as no surprise.”
Watching the carefully crafted COVID-19 reopening plans by top universities rapidly unravel, some schools are already reassessing their own fall plans. Dozens of schools that had previously committed to a hybrid system for the fall, have now reversed course and decided to conduct classes remotely.
Ithaca College, in upstate New York, informed its 5,500 students on Tuesday that it would not be welcoming them back to campus this fall. “We have learned from watching other communities how delicate this equilibrium is, and how quickly it can be disrupted,” wrote President Shirley M. Collado in a message to the community.
Similarly, at Michigan State University, which planned to reopen on Sept. 2, classes are now going to be remote, asking students who planned to live on campus, to stay home.
In a letter to students, Michigan State president, Dr. Samuel Stanley, underscored, in particular, the challenges seen “at other institutions as they re-populate their campus communities,” writing further that “it has become evident to me that, despite our best efforts and strong planning, it is unlikely we can prevent widespread transmission of COVID-19 between students if our undergraduates return to campus.”
Just last week, big-name universities such as Stanford, Brown and the University of Pennsylvania all announced their decision to keep students at home.
The enormous challenges of welcoming students back to campus during the pandemic are becoming increasingly apparent to school officials and public health experts.
“I think it’s too much to ask right now,” Dr. Offit told ABC News. Campuses are just “another breeding ground for easy transmission.”
The students’ behavior is also a source of great concern to the communities around the universities and colleges, fearing that it will put them at risk for coronavirus. In Massachusetts, local residents expressed their alarm after the Holy Cross party, while Somerville and Medford residents held a protest outside the Tufts University president’s house Wednesday, over plans to bring students back to campus.
Boston College is hiring a police detail to break up weekend parties that grow too large.
In Alabama, Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox tweeted a picture of a large crowd of mostly unmasked University of Alabama students, gathered downtown, saying that “we are desperately trying to protect” the city.
Students too are anxious and frustrated about the chaos, with some feeling that school officials have failed them.
“We’re angry — and we’re scared,” wrote the UNC students. “We’re tired of the gaslighting, tired of the secrecy, tired of being treated like cash cows by a University with such blatant disregard for our lives.”
But ultimately, it all boils down to personal choices, according to Penn State President Eric Barron. “I ask students flaunting the university’s health and safety expectations a simple question: Do you want to be the person responsible for sending everyone home?”
“I want you to understand right now and very clearly that we have one shot to make this happen. The world is watching, and they expect you to fail. Prove them wrong. Be better. Be adults,” concluded Syracuse’s Vice Chancellor Haynie.
(NEW YORK) — The cremated remains of a U.S. Army veteran were delayed reaching a Connecticut family in the mail, according to the late veteran’s family, and they say Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is to blame.
Army Veteran Scot Egan died in July and his remains were supposed to be sent to one of his sisters, according to his other sister, Dr. Jean Egan.
However, she said the remains were lost for 12 days.
“If Postmaster General DeJoy cannot do his duty to the American public, and military families like mine, that he should be removed from his post,” Egan said at a press conference Friday alongside U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, of Connecticut.
The U.S. Postal Service said in a statement to ABC News that they apologized for the delay, though the agency said the package was never lost.
“The Postal Service apologizes to the family for the delay,” according to the statement. “There was misdirection given at the point of mailing and we are working with our personnel around the state to, again, raise awareness in proper procedures for handling cremated remains.”
Egan said the remains eventually were delivered, but she said it took weeks.
Blumenthal praised the postal worker who delivered the remains, saying she “drove for two hours each way, with no overtime, to deliver those remains to Jean’s sister.”
DeJoy has come under fire for allegedly making changes to the agency’s operations to help boost President Donald Trump’s reelection in November. DeJoy, a former logistics executive and longtime Republican financier, faced lawmakers on Friday and called the allegations “outrageous.”
Powerofflowers/iStockBy WILLIAM MANSELL and ELLA TORRES, ABC News
(NEW YORK) — A novel coronavirus pandemic has now killed more than 795,000 people worldwide.
Over 22.9 million people across the globe have been diagnosed with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new respiratory virus, according to data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. The actual numbers are believed to be much higher due to testing shortages, many unreported cases and suspicions that some national governments are hiding or downplaying the scope of their outbreaks.
The United States is the worst-affected country in the world, with more than 5.6 million diagnosed cases and at least 175,409 deaths. Here’s how the news is developing today. All times Eastern. Please refresh this page for updates.
12:11 p.m.: University of Notre Dame sees more cases
Confirmed cases at Notre Dame increased once again, with the university now reporting 372.
That is up from the 336 reported Friday since Aug. 3, when testing began. There have been 2,235 tests conducted.
10:51 a.m.: New lows in NY
The rate of positive tests, hospitalizations and ICU patients reached new lows in New York compared with mid-March, according to Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
The rate of positive tests was .69%, while hospitalizations and ICU patients fell to 483 and 116, respectively, Cuomo said.
“This shows that protecting public health and reopening our economy aren’t mutually exclusive if done the right way, and record-high testing doesn’t equal more positive tests,” he said in a statement.
There were four deaths in the last 24 hours.
8:51 a.m.: 51 students quarantined after positive tests at University of Miami
Four students have tested positive for COVID-19 at the University of Miami, the school said, prompting 51 students to be placed in quarantine.
The students who tested positive live in Hecht Residential College, however they were “immediately removed” and placed in another location to isolate, according to a statement from the university.
The quarantine for the 51 other students only applies to those living on the 7th and 8th floor of the building.
“The University of Miami has taken unprecedented steps to reengineer the campus to ensure physical distancing and create a safe environment,” the school’s statement read. “Facial coverings are required at all times, except when students are in their residence hall rooms.” 8:22 a.m.: 15 Minnesota COVID-19 infections linked to Sturgis
At least 15 cases of the novel coronavirus in Minnesota have been linked to the massive annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota, according to state health officials. They think those numbers are only going to rise.
“I think that we’re expecting to see many more cases associated with Sturgis. Thousands of people attend that event,” Kris Ehresmann, Minnesota Department of Health Director of Infectious Diseases, said at a press conference Friday. “It’s very likely that we will see more transmission.
Ehresmann said since it takes time for people to develop symptoms, take a test and for officials to get those results, “these will not be the only cases that we see.”
One of those 15 Minnesotans who were in Sturgis and diagnosed with COVID-19, one is currently hospitalized.
In all cases, officials said those 15 people were at multiple bars and campgrounds in Sturgis. All those who went to Sturgis were advised to self-isolate for 14 days once they were back home.
The city of Sturgis began testing all city employees along with some first responders on Friday, according to ABC News affiliate KOTA.
6:10 a.m.: 32 COVID-19 cases, 1 death linked to Maine wedding
At least 32 positive coronavirus cases and now a woman’s death are linked to an Aug. 7 wedding reception at the Big Moose Inn in Millinocket, Maine, according to local health officials.
The woman died Friday, 14-days since the outbreak event.
Millinocket Regional Hospital reported that it has tested 366 people linked to the wedding reception. The hospital is still waiting on 103 of those tests, it said in a statement Friday.
“All positive patients have been contacted directly, given care instructions, and further instructed to quarantine,” Robert Peterson, Millinocket Regional Hospital CEO, said in a statement. “The CDC has initiated contact tracing on all positive patients to ascertain the full extent of the outbreak.”
Due to the outbreak, the health care facility said it has a no visitation policy and is limiting its services to essential medical care only through Aug. 30.
The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention said 65 people attended the reception and that all confirmed cases, as of Aug. 17, are tied to Maine residents.
Maine Gov. Janet T. Mills’ executive order says that indoor capacity is 50 and outdoors is 100 in the state. The state says it’s in contact with the event space about adhered to those requirements in relation to the outbreak.
Maine is one of the least-affected states in the U.S., with only 4,286 cases and 129 confirmed deaths since the pandemic began.
ANPerryman/iStockBY: JON HAWORTH, ABC NEWS 
