Coronavirus update: Airline bookings stall as Americans again grow skeptical of air travel. Get the latest.
In a bid to survive, airlines are desperately trying to convince a wary public that measures like mandatory face masks and hospital-grade air filters make sitting in a plane safer than many other indoor settings during the coronavirus pandemic.
It isn’t working.
Surveys indicate that instead of growing comfortable with air travel, more people are becoming skeptical about it. In the United States, airline bookings have stalled in the past month after slowly rising — a reaction to a new surge of reported virus infections.
Globally, air travel is down more than 85% from a year ago, according to industry figures. Read the full story here:
Here’s an update on all developments. Scroll or swipe further for in-depth coverage.
- Countries that had seen a summer respite from coronavirus outbreaks tracked swiftly rising numbers of new confirmed cases Monday, prompting fears among government leaders and health officials that months of hard-won progress would be lost in a matter of days as vacationers return home.
- Georgia’s governor, who has opposed local mask mandates and even sued over one in Atlanta, has signed a new executive order that allows local governments to enact mask requirements to help fight the coronavirus pandemic.
- Dr. Deborah Birx continued to press Sunday for people to cover their faces and to social distance to fight the global pandemic during a stop in Oklahoma, where Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt has resisted imposing a statewide mask order.
- Since the pandemic began, Congress has set aside trillions of dollars to ease the crisis. A joint Kaiser Health News and Associated Press investigation finds that many communities with big outbreaks have spent little of that federal money on local public health departments for work such as testing and contact tracing. Others were slow to do so.
- Cruise ship passengers had their temperatures checked and took COVID-19 tests Sunday so they could set sail on what is being billed as the first Mediterranean cruise after Italy’s pandemic lockdown.
- While shelters saw some large COVID-19 outbreaks, the virus so far doesn’t appear to have brought devastation to the homeless population as many feared.
- Wimbledon champion Simona Halep will skip the U.S. Open, saying Monday she is putting her health first and prefers to stay in Europe amid the coronavirus pandemic.
For more summaries and full reports, please select from the articles below. Scroll further for several COVID-19 questions answered.
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COVID-19 questions answered
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