The Texas Supreme Court Thursday denied an attempt to block three restraining orders against Gov. Greg Abbott's ban on mask mandates — including one that allowed all Texas school districts to require masks indoors.
The court remanded Attorney General Ken Paxton’s appeal to the 3rd Texas Court of Appeal in Austin for a hearing. Abbott reaffirmed his ban on mask mandates by any government entity, although federal agencies have mandated masks in their facilities.
The governor has said he would sue any entity that does not comply with the emergency order. The threats haven't stopped at least 11 districts in the state from issuing mask mandates.
In another part of the nation, the California Supreme Court rejected the Orange County Board of Education's petition Wednesday to end Gov. Gavin Newsom's mask mandate in classrooms. The petition, which asked for the Supreme Court to end the pandemic end of emergency, was filed Aug. 10.
“More than eighteen months after the pandemic began, Californians are living in a seemingly perpetual quasi-state of emergency, with ballparks full but mask mandates returning and millions of families waiting to see whether, and how, their children will be educated this school year, ” the petition, obtained by the Orange County Register, reads.
The court orders come as coronavirus is surging across the country. The delta variant makes up about 90% of new infections among kids. Thousands of children and staff are under quarantine in school districts after being exposed to COVID-19, just as school is starting around the nation.
While pediatric COVID-19 hospitalization rates are lower than those for adults, they have surged in recent weeks, reaching 0.41 per 100,000 children ages 0 to 17, compared with 0.31 per 100,000, the previous high set in mid-January, according to an Aug. 13 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
School mask, vaccine mandates:Which states have them? Do they work?
Also in the news:
►Gov. Kate Brown said Oregon is expanding its COVID-19 vaccine requirement to include all teachers, educators, support staff and volunteers in K-12 schools. For a state-by-state look at school vaccine and mask mandates, click here.
►Three U.S. senators who are fully vaccinated have tested positive for the coronavirus, joining Lindsey Graham of South Carolina as members of the Senate with breakthrough infections.
►The Archdiocese of Philadelphia rejected religious exemptions for vaccination, becoming the latest district of the Catholic Church to do so. It joins at least five other dioceses that have given priests similar guidance.
►The Biden administration will not reinstate enhanced weekly $300 unemployment benefits, which are set to expire on Sept. 6. It's instead urging states that want to continue the extra payments to use their share of COVID-19 rescue funds.
►Much of Japan kicked in its government “state of emergency” to curb COVID-19 infections Friday, as well as a less stringent “quasi-emergency,” although worries remained about their effectiveness.
📈 Today's numbers: The U.S. has had more than 37.2 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and 625,100 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The global totals: More than 209.9 million cases and 4.4 million deaths. More than 169.5 million Americans — 51.1% of the population — have been fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.
📘 What we're reading: No, a vaccine doesn't make you 'Superman.' Breakthrough COVID-19 cases are increasing amid delta variant. Read more here.
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'They were very sick': Viral photo of people on floor at Florida clinic shows troubled scene
Louie Lopez showed up at the downtown Jacksonville Main Library Conference Center in the early afternoon for a Regeneron therapy appointment. His primary care doctor recommended it after Lopez tested positive for COVID-19 and was experiencing moderate to severe symptoms.
While waiting in line for his turn, two other people got in the line behind Lopez. Both of them, he says, sat down on the floor immediately. They eventually laid down “sick and moaning.” Lopez, 59, told The Florida Times-Union, part of the USA TODAY Network, that the woman pictured in yellow was dragging herself on the floor as the line slowly moved forward.
Lopez took a photo and sent it to his wife.
The therapy treatment is for people in the early stages of COVID-19 and the makeshift clinic where Lopez took the photo is not meant to serve as a full-fledged hospital. But amid rising COVID infections and increased worry, some people in more advanced stages of COVID have opted to go to makeshift clinics instead of hospitals due to potentially long waits.
-- Katherine Lewin, Florida Times-Union
US deaths nearly double in two weeks, rise in 42 states
Despite the huge spike in coronavirus cases across the nation, some analysts believed the number of deaths – a lagging indicator – would not soar nearly as swiftly because of the protection from severe disease provided by vaccines.
The increase has indeed been less dramatic, but no less worrisome – and it's picking up.
Deaths are rising in 42 states, the worst tally seen since December with the U.S. Thursday reporting 625,000 deaths. In the week ending Wednesday, the U.S. reported 5,742 deaths, nearly double the total from two weeks earlier. The 10,991 Americans who died of COVID-19 in the first 18 days of August are already more than all the fatalities in June or July.
The nearly 2.2 million U.S. cases in those first 18 days make this the fifth-worst month in the pandemic, blowing past the highest monthly totals of the 2020 spring and summer surges, with case counts rising in 44 states.
And while infections have climbed by 47% in the last two weeks, deaths have more than doubled that figure at 97%, according to the New York Times database. At the current pace, 34 Americans die of COVID-19 every hour.
New daily caseloads have surpassed 150,000 nationwide, still about half the total from the pandemic's most horrific point in January, and the current weekly average of about 800 deaths a day remains one-quarter of the fatalities at that time.
But with the delta variant continuing to spread wildly, the trends are going in the wrong direction.
– Mike Stucka
One in five of the nation's ICUs had reached or exceeded 95% capacity
The Alabama Hospital Association said Wednesday that the state had run out of ICU beds as the latest surge puts a strain on hospital systems around the country.
There are negative 29 beds available, said the organization, which means there are at least 29 people waiting for an ICU bed — of which there are 1,557, all full in the state, reported NPR.
On Aug. 12, at least one in five of the nation's ICUs had reached or exceeded 95% of beds full, data from the New York Times shows.
In another state, all intensive care unit beds are currently full at most hospitals in every major metropolitan area in Tennessee, according to the Tennessee Hospital Association. Authorities in Washington state say there are more people hospitalized with COVID-19 than at any time during the pandemic.
Contributing: Associated Press
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