The White House pushed ahead with Monday’s planned rollout of the Senate Republicans’ $1 trillion US pandemic relief package, as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi assailed the GOP ‘disarray’ as time-wasting during the crisis. Here’s what’s happening with the novel coronavirus around the world on Monday.
The latest:
- White House, Senate Republicans try again on $1 trillion US coronavirus aid.
- Hong Kong bans public gatherings of more than two people.
- WHO cites doubling of cases over the past six weeks as sign the pandemic “continues to accelerate.”
- U.S. national security adviser becomes the highest-ranked White House official to test positive.
- Indonesia passes 100,000 cases, the highest count in Southeast Asia.
- MLB postpones two games after Miami Marlins players test positive.
- Belgium introduces drastic physical-distancing measures after infection surge.
- Anti-masking groups are using anti-vaccination tactics to misinform the public.
- Families reunite in N.W.T. seniors’ homes after months of seclusion.
- The world’s biggest coronavirus vaccine test began Monday, with first of 30,000 volunteers.
- A pet cat tests positive for coronavirus in the U.K.
Deadlines looming, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi implored Republicans and the White House on Monday to come quickly to the negotiating table with Democrats over the next coronavirus relief package to prevent unemployment assistance and an eviction moratorium from expiring for millions of Americans.
“Time is running out,” Pelosi said.
She invited Republican leaders and White House negotiators to her office after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s planned Monday afternoon release of the Republicans’ $1 trillion US proposal.
“If Republicans care about working families, this won’t take long,” Pelosi said.
The Republican leader is poised to try again to unveil his plan after last week’s effort came to an abrupt halt amid infighting with the White House. It’s a long-awaited Republican counter-offer to Pelosi’s $3 trillion effort passed in May.
But even as Senate Republicans push ahead, the White House is now suggesting a narrower relief package may be all that’s possible with Friday’s approaching deadlines.
Meanwhile, the world’s biggest coronavirus vaccine study got underway Monday with the first of 30,000 planned volunteers helping to test shots created by the U.S. government — one of several candidates in the global vaccine race.
It will be months before results trickle in, and there is no guarantee the vaccine will ultimately work against the disease that has killed about 650,000 people around the world, including almost 150,000 in the U.S.
Other vaccines made by China and by Britain’s Oxford University earlier this month began smaller final-stage tests in Brazil and other hard-hit countries.
But the U.S. requires its own tests of any vaccine that might be used in the country and has set a high bar: Every month through fall, the government-funded COVID-19 Prevention Network will roll out a new study of a leading candidate — each one with 30,000 newly recruited volunteers.
Also Monday, U.S. national security adviser Robert O’Brien tested positive for the coronavirus. He is the most senior White House official to test positive during the pandemic.
“He has mild symptoms and has been self-isolating and working from a secure location off site,” the White House said in a statement. “There is no risk of exposure to the president or the vice-president. The work of the National Security Council continues uninterrupted.”
Elsewhere, two Major League Baseball games scheduled for Monday have been postponed as the Miami Marlins deal with a coronavirus outbreak that stranded them in Philadelphia.
The Marlins’ home opener against Baltimore was called off, as was the New York Yankees’ game at Philadelphia. The Yankees would have been in the same clubhouse the Marlins used last weekend.
This has raised doubts about MLB’s ability to finish the season at all during the pandemic.
In the Marlins’ home state of Florida, a judge has upheld a county’s coronavirus ordinance that requires masks be worn in public places, saying government officials have the authority to protect their residents from the spread of infectious diseases.
The judge rejected the challengers’ claim which said the recently enacted ordinance violates their rights to privacy and personal autonomy.
Citing a century-old U.S. Supreme Court ruling that said a state can mandate vaccinations, the judge said county commissioners came to “a reasonable and logical conclusion that mandating the wearing of facial coverings best serves their constituents.”
What’s happening with coronavirus in Canada
As of 1:00 p.m. ET on Monday, Canada had 114,175 confirmed and presumptive coronavirus cases. Provinces and territories listed 99,531 of the cases as recovered or resolved. A CBC News tally based on provincial reports, regional health information and CBC’s reporting indicates that 8,919 Canadians have died.
Some anti-masking groups are joining forces with anti-vaccination proponents and adopting their techniques to spread misinformation and amplify their message.
At least one anti-masking group, Hugs Over Masks, actively partners with Vaccine Choice Canada, one of the country’s most prominent anti-vaccination organizations.
WATCH | Tensions rise over COVID-19 outbreak in Haida Gwaii:
A COVID-19 outbreak in Haida Gwaii has led to at least 13 new cases as well as a spike in tensions over how the virus got into the isolated First Nations community. 2:11
Although many Canadians who don’t want to wear masks aren’t op