“What we were seeing in Wuhan five months ago, we’re now seeing here.”
July 14, 2020, 8:49 AM
5 min read
The novel coronavirus pandemic has now killed more than 570,000 people worldwide.
Over 13 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 governments are hiding or downplaying the scope of their nations’ outbreaks.
The United States has become the worst-affected country, with more than 3.3 million diagnosed cases and at least 135,582 deaths.
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Here is how the news is developing today. All times Eastern. Check back for updates.
3:17 a.m.: U of Miami infectious disease doctor: “Miami is now the epicenter for the virus”
A group of Miami-area medical experts joined Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez on a Zoom news conference Monday morning and made clear that South Florida is in a dire position when it comes to the spread of COVID-19.
“Miami is now the epicenter for the virus,” said Lilian M. Abbo, M.D., an infectious diseases specialist at the University of Miami Health System and the Chief of Infection Prevention for Jackson Health System. “What we were seeing in Wuhan [China] five months ago, we’re now seeing here.”
The experts were speaking minutes after Florida announced 12,624 new cases of COVID-19 — a day after Florida set a record for any state with 15,300 new cases.
The experts stressed the need to restrict large gatherings of people in indoor spaces, and Gimenez said the biggest thing that needs to be done is residents following the safety guidelines.
“The reason [for the spike] is us. There’s no Boogeyman. The reason is us,” he said. “We have to change our behavior. The no. 1 reason is our behavior.”
1:59 a.m.: Hawaii delays reopening to tourists until September 1
Hawaii Governor David Ige announced that, in light of the surge of cases on the mainland, Hawaii is delaying its reopening to tourists until September 1.
The plan was to allow tourists who have tested negative for COVID-19 within 72 hours of their trip to Hawaii to bypass that mandatory two-week self quarantine starting in August. But with the increase of cases in the state and the growing number of cases nationwide, officials decided to delay it by a month.
“I am announcing today that we will be delaying the launch of the pre-travel testing program until September 1,” said Ige during the press conference. “The outbreaks on the mainland are not in control and we don’t believe that situation will change significantly by August 1st”.
Said Ige: “We did believe it would be in the best interest of everyone here in the state of Hawaii to delay the start of the program to September 1. I know this increases the burden of businesses here in Hawaii …we still believe in the pre-testing program and we will take actions to implement it safely.”
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10:02 p.m. Los Angeles on verge of moving into ‘red zone,’ mayor warns
Los Angeles is on the border of moving into its “red zone,” its highest COVID-19 threat level, Mayor Eric Garcetti said.
“We are still very much so in an emergency,” said Garcetti. “We’ve never had as many people infected or infectious.”
Los Angeles has four threat levels based on COVID-19 risk: green (low risk), yellow (moderate risk), orange (very high and widespread risk) and red (highest and extreme risk).
It currently is in orange, which advises that residents minimize all contact with anyone outside their household. The red level means residents should only leave home for essential activities, like work or food shopping.
Los Angeles County reported 2,593 new cases and 13 new deaths on Monday. Garcetti noted that half of the new cases were in people ages 18 to 40.
ABC News’ Marilyn Heck and Alexandra Faul contributed to this report.
