Morning virus roundup: Model predicts US deaths could surpass 400,000 this year if mask use wanes
More than 410,000 people in the US could die from the coronavirus by January 1, more than doubling the current death toll, a new model often cited by top health officials predicted Friday.
That would mean 224,000 more lives lost in the US over the next four months.
Near-universal mask use could cut the number of projected additional fatalities by more than half, according to the model from the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. But it also warns the cumulative death toll could be much higher by the new year if all restrictions are eased. Read the full story here:
Here’s an update on all developments. Scroll or swipe further for in-depth coverage.
- The U.S. unemployment rate fell sharply in August to 8.4% from 10.2% even as hiring slowed, with employers adding the fewest jobs since the pandemic began.
- Spanish director Pedro Almodovar has joined a chorus of voices at the Venice Film Festival urging the reopening of movie theaters and a return to cinema normality after coronavirus lockdowns, saying films are meant to be seen on the big screen, not at home.
- A vaccine is not a requirement for holding next year’s postponed Olympics and Paralympics, the CEO of the Tokyo Games said Friday.
- Former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi, who has COVID-19 and a history of heart and other medical problems, was admitted Friday to a Milan hospital, where tests found he has the “beginnings” of pneumonia, state radio said.
- Virgin Atlantic completed its 1.2 billion-pound ($1.6 billion) restructuring plan and cut 1,150 jobs Friday as the airline sought to rebuild following the devastation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee on Thursday would not say whether he would be vaccinated against COVID-19 when a vaccine becomes available.
- Affected by the pandemic, many visual artists are taking refuge in their work in search of sense and solace. Some have suffered the horror, the sickness and the loss firsthand. Others, are channeling their anguish and their fear, their feelings of loneliness.
For more summaries and full reports, please select from the articles below. Scroll further for a photo gallery of expressions of faith during COVID-19, and the latest virus numbers.
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Faith in the summer of COVID-19
In images published in August from Associated Press photographers around the world, religious services, sacred ceremonies and holiday observances took place with people trying to keep themselves and each other safe amid an unabating pandemic.
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