August 9, 2020 • No Comments • National News

Maksim Tkachenko/iStockBY: JON HAWORTH AND IVAN PEREIRA, ABC NEWS

(NEW YORK) — The novel coronavirus has now killed more than 727,000 people worldwide.

More than 19.5 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, with more than 5 million diagnosed cases and at least 162,441 deaths.

Here’s how the news is developing today. All times Eastern. Please refresh this page for updates.

12:18 p.m.: Texas reports highest average positivity rate

The Texas Health Department said that its seven-day average for COVID-19 positivity rate reached a record high Saturday with 19.41%.

This was two percentage points higher than the previous record on July 16, according to Health Department data. The average was steadily falling from July 16 to July 29, when the seven-day average was 12.09%, however it has been increasing steadily since July 30, Health Department data indicated.

An increase in test positivity could reflect an increase in new cases, a reduction in tests conducted, or both. The state has administered over 4.3 million COVID-19 tests so far, the Health Department said.

11:42 a.m.: Washington records 1st teen to die from COVID-19

The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department announced it recorded the first coronavirus death to affect a Washington state resident under 20 years old.

The unidentified teen lived in South Hill resident and had no reported underlying health conditions, according to the Health Department.

“The disease is everywhere. To drive down the spread and protect our loved ones, we all need to mask up, maintain physical distance, and stay close to home,” Anthony L-T Chen, the director of health of Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department, said in a statement.

Washington state has 62,523 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 1,688 deaths as of Sunday, according to the state’s Health Department.

11:28 a.m.: Maryland positivity rate hits a new low

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan announced the seven-day average of the statewide COVID-19 positivity rate reached a new all-time low of 3.75%.

The state conducted 1.03 million tests so far and 17.2% of the state’s population has been tested, according to the governor. Maryland conducted 40,473 tests on Saturday and had a positivity rate of 2.72%, the governor said.

The statewide positivity rate has been under 5% since June 25, and is now more than 86% lower than its April 17 peak, Hogan’s office said.

The state has 95,903 total COVID-19 cases as of Sunday morning and 3,448 deaths, according to the state’s Health Department.

11:15 a.m.: Florida records over 6,200 new cases, 77 new deaths

The Florida Health Department said it recorded 6,229 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, bringing the statewide total to 532,806. The state recorded 77 new deaths during that time frame, bringing the total number of coronavirus related fatalities to 8,315, according to the state’s Health Department.

Florida recorded 254 new hospitalizations in the last 24 hours, and the virus has hospitalized 30,505 people so far, the health department said.

Approximately 20% of the state’s ICU beds are available, according to Florida’s Agency for Healthcare Administration. Thirty-seven hospitals across the state have run out of ICU beds, and four counties have no ICU beds available, according to the agency.

10:15 a.m.: US reaches 5 million coronavirus cases

The U.S. recorded its five millionth COVID-19 case Sunday morning, according to data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

The number of deaths in the country is above 162,000, the data indicated.

Globally, there are roughly 19.6 million COVID-19 cases and more than 727,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins. The U.S. has led the world in coronavirus cases for months, with nearly 2 million more than Brazil, which has the second-most cases.

1:22 a.m.: Minnesota Vikings player needs open-heart surgery after post-COVID diagnosis shows heart problem

Minnesota Vikings linebacker Cameron Smith posted on his Instagram page Saturday night that he will need open-heart surgery to fix a defective valve that he’s had since birth.

The condition was discovered from additional tests administered following his COVID-19 positive diagnosis.

“Earlier this week I found out I need open heart surgery to fix a bicuspid aortic valve that I was born with,” Smith’s statement read. “Although this will unfortunately end my 2020 season, it is really a blessing that we found this as my heart is severely enlarged and wouldn’t have lasted much longer. I found this out after I tested positive for COVID and had to have further testing done as protocol. The Lord works in mysterious ways, but I could really feel him on this one!”

Smith concluded: “There is a surgery that will allow me to continue to play football as soon as I am healed and cleared and I didn’t think twice about going with that one. By no means am I ready to be done playing football, there is still so much more I want to accomplish on the field. I’m going to attack this like everything else I have in life. Already looking forward to the comeback!”

12:40 a.m.: Cardinals vs. Pirates on Monday postponed due to coronavirus

The Pittsburgh Pirates’ flight to St. Louis on Sunday has been canceled and their game on Monday against the Cardinals has been postponed, sources told ESPN’s Jeff Passan.

By Sunday, the teams will have a better sense as to whether they’ll play Tuesday and Wednesday, sources told Passan.

The Cardinals’ three-game series against the Chicago Cubs this weekend was postponed after the league said two Cardinals players and one staff member tested positive for the coronavirus from samples collected over the past two days.

In total, nine Cardinals players and seven staffers have tested positive since last week. The Cardinals haven’t played since July 29.

12:15 a.m.: Biden on the U.S. reaching 5 million COVID-19 cases: ‘It’s a number that boggles the mind and breaks the heart’

Former Vice President Joe Biden reacted Saturday evening to the news that the United States has reached 5 million confirmed cases of COVID-19.

In a paper statement, Biden said the number “boggles the mind and breaks the heart,” urging Americans to continue taking steps, including mask-wearing, to combat the spread of the virus and eventually overcome it.

As he has throughout the pandemic, Biden also slammed Trump’s lack of leadership on the crisis, writing that the country “continue[s] to hear little more from President Trump than excuses and lies.”

“No other high-income economy is still struggling to get this under control. In fact, Americans are no longer welcome in much of the world, because we are seen as a public health threat. And we are where we are today for one simple, infuriating reason: Trump waved the white flag and gave up. He didn’t want to deal with the pandemic, so he stopped trying. He didn’t do his job,” Biden wrote.

“Trump has already thrown away months of the American people’s sacrifice and hard work. Imagine what four more years of his failures will cost us,” he added.

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August 9, 2020 • No Comments • National News

FangXiaNuo/iStockBY: MARK OSBORNE, ABC NEWS

(ATLANTA) — Nine people have tested positive for COVID-19 at a Georgia high school where a photo of a packed hallway went viral earlier this week.

Six students and three staff members who were at the school last week have tested positive, according to a letter sent to parents Saturday that was acquired by ABC News. The positive cases were reported to the school after private tests.

“We have anticipated that COVID-19 would impact us as it has nearly every community, and the district has worked in partnership with the Department of Public Health (DPH) to proactively implement safety precautions and response plans,” the letter reads. It does not say whether anyone will be quarantined or if the school will close fully or in part, but says custodial staff will continue daily disinfecting procedures.

The photo showed students crammed wall-to-wall at North Paulding High School in Dallas, Georgia. Some students were wearing masks, but many were not, and social distancing was not possible.

The picture prompted outrage from parents and outside observers, but also punishment for the student who shot the pictures and shared them.

Hannah Watters, 15, a 10th grader at the school, was suspended over sharing the photos with media. The school even warned over the loudspeaker that others who did the same could be punished.

On Friday, however, her suspension was rescinded, as was the punishment of another student. She told ABC News on Friday, before the letter about the positive tests, she planned to go back on Monday.

The past week was the first that students were back at school.

“Going in [to school] I was nervous, but trusting that Paulding would keep us safe,” Hannah told ABC News earlier this week. “But it was worse than I thought it was going to be. I didn’t feel safe, especially coming home to family after going to school.”

The school wrote in a letter following the release of the photos, “Under the COVID-19 protocols we have adopted, class changes that look like this may happen, especially at a high school with more than 2,000 students.”

President Donald Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos have both pushed for schools to reopen for in-person learning whenever possible.

“Our strategy is to aggressively shield those at the greatest risk while allowing younger and healthier citizens to safely resume work and school,” Trump said Saturday at a press conference announcing multiple executive actions targeting COVID-19 relief.

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August 8, 2020 • No Comments • National News

By MARK OSBORNE, ABC News

(BIRMINGHAM, Al.) — A mother of three from Kansas has now been missing for a week after leaving on a trip to visit family in Alabama.

Marilane Carter, 36, left her home in Overland Park, Kansas, just outside Kansas City, on the night of Saturday, Aug. 1, according to police. She was last seen in surveillance footage checking into a hotel in West Plains, Missouri, the following morning.

Law enforcement said Carter last spoke to family on that Sunday near Memphis, Tennessee, before her phone went dead. Police confirmed her cellphone last pinged in that area.

Her husband, Adam Carter, told Kansas City ABC affiliate that his wife spent about three hours at the Missouri hotel before leaving and was speaking to her when her phone died. She spoke to her mother minutes later and her phone died again.

The Overland Park police said she “made concerning statements to her family and has not been heard from since later Sunday, August 2nd.”

Authorities did not specify what was said.

“She was seeking some mental health care and she didn’t want to go to any place in Kansas City, but she wanted to go to a place she was familiar with,” Adam Carter, who works as a pastor in Kansas, told KMBC on Saturday.

Marilane Carter’s mother lives in Birmingham, Alabama, and she was also going to see her newborn niece.

Carter said the family has been searching in the area of the Interstate 55 bridge over the Mississippi River in Memphis where the cellphone last pinged her location. She has not used her phone or credit card since speaking to her husband and mother on Sunday evening.

“We are devastated because she has three children and they cry every night,” Marlene Mesler, Marilane’s mother, told Birmingham ABC affiliate WBMA. “They are asking for their mommy. Her husband loves her so much.”

Police said she was driving a gray 2011 GMC Acadia with the Kansas license plate, 194 LFY.

Carter is about 5-foot-8 and 130 pounds with long brown hair and green eyes. Police said she was last seen wearing a green T-shirt and black yoga pants.

“She’s a loving mother, loving wife. We have a great relationship ship. I miss her terribly. I want her home. I want her home with our kids,” Adam Carter said.

ABC News’ Erin Calabrese and Ahmad Hemingway contributed to this report.

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August 8, 2020 • No Comments • National News

MivPiv/iStockBY: ELLA TORRES, ABC NEWS

(LOS ANGELES) — The remains of seven Marines and a Navy Sailor who were killed when their amphibious assault vehicle (AAV) sank during a training exercise on July 30 off of San Clemente Island in Southern California have been recovered, the Marine Corps announced Friday night.

After initially saying recovery efforts would likely be unsuccessful, officials with the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), I Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF), and the Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) positively identified the AAV on Aug. 3, nearly 400 feet underwater. Specialized equipment on a diving and salvage ship to recover the remains and AAV arrived Aug. 6, officials said. Their remains were recovered Friday.

“Our hearts and thoughts of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit are with the families of our recovered Marines and Sailor,” Col. Christopher Bronzi, commanding officer of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, said in a statement Friday. “We hope the successful recovery of our fallen warriors brings some measure of comfort.”

The recovered Marines and Sailor will be transferred to Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, for preparation by mortuary affairs teams for burial.

There were 16 aboard the AAV when it began taking on water during a shore-to-ship maneuver about a mile off the coast of San Clemente Island last month. Eight were rescued that day, one of whom was pronounced dead at the scene. The eight other on board were presumed dead after a lengthy and intense search and rescue operation.

The Marines were making their way back to the U.S. Navy amphibious ship USS Somerset on their AAV, according to three defense officials, when the incident began.

The AAV was among a group of 13 AAVs returning to the ship, which was approximately a mile from shore, Lt. General Joseph Osterman, commander of I Marine Expeditionary Force, said at a July 31 press conference.

Osterman said that the personnel aboard the AAV signaled to other AAVs that they were taking on water. Immediate aid provided by personnel on two other AAVs and those on a safety boat accompanying the vehicles helped rescue eight of the imperiled Marines.

“It sank completely,” said Osterman, adding that “the assumption is it went all the way to the bottom,” several hundred feet below the surface, too deep for divers.

The cause of the training accident is still under investigation.

The Marine Corps released details of the nine dead service members. All eight Marines served as riflemen in 1st Battalion, 4th Marines based in Camp Pendleton. The sailor was a Fleet Marine Force corpsman serving alongside them in the infantry unit.

Their names, ages and hometowns are as follows:

LCpl. Guillermo S. Perez, 20, of New Braunfels, Texas (pronounced dead at the scene) Cpl Wesley A. Rodd, 23, of Harris, Texas Cpl. Cesar A. Villanueva, 21, of Riverside, California U.S. Navy Hospitalman Christopher Gnem, 22, of Stockton, California LCpl. Marco A. Barranco, 21, of Montebello, California LCpl. Chase D. Sweetwood, 19, of Portland, Oregon Pfc. Bryan J. Baltierra, 18, of Corona, California Pfc. Evan A. Bath, 19, of Oak Creek, Wisconsin Pfc. Jack Ryan Ostrovsky, 21, of Bend, Oregon

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