2 Articles.

Article 1 -The U.S. shatters its single-day record for new cases, with more than 75,600.

As clashes over face-covering mandates and school reopening plans intensified throughout the United States, the country shattered its single-day record for new cases on Thursday —more than 75,600, according to a New York Times database.

This was the 11th time in the past month that the record had been broken. The number has more than doubled since June 24, when the country registered 37,014 cases after alull in the outbreak had kept the previous record, 36,738, standing for two months. As of Wednesday, the country's seven-day average case number exceeded 63,000, up from about 22,200 a month before.

The previous single-day record, 68,241 cases, was announced last Friday.

Thursday's record included more than 5,000 cases in Bexar County, Texas, which contains San Antonio, where numbers spiked in part because of a backlog in test reporting.

Florida on Thursday broke its single-day death record for the second time this week, reporting 156 new fatalities. It was one of 10 states to reach a record for deaths in a single day this week, joining Idaho, Alabama, Arizona, Utah, Oregon, Texas, Hawaii, Montana and South Carolina.

More than half the 50 states have issued mask requirements, including Arkansas, where Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a Republican, announced a face covering requirement on Thursday, after previously taking a more hands-off approach. Gov. Jared Polis of Colorado, a Democrat, also issued a mask order on Thursday, after questioning whether such a mandate would be enforceable.

But there remains firm resistance in many circles, including from some Republican leaders who view mask requirements as a threat to personal liberty.

Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia, who announced this week that he was suspending all local mask mandates, filed a lawsuit on Thursday challenging the authority of leaders in Atlanta to require masks inside their city's limits.

Also on Thursday, health officials in Dallas announced that the city's public and private schools would conduct classes virtually for the first three weeks of the school year, which begins Aug. 17. Several other large school districts have announced plans to rely on distance learning when they reopen for the upcoming school year, bucking pressure from the Trump administration.

The White House press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, on Thursday reiterated President Trump's view that schools must open in the fall. "When he says open," she said, "he means open and full, kids being able to attend each and every day at their school. The science should not stand in the way of this."

Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the top infectious disease expert in the U.S., noted in an interview Thursday on Facebook with its chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, that after its initial peak, the nation never succeeded in driving the virus beneath a plateau of about 20,000 new cases a day.

"What I think we need to do, and my colleagues agree, is we really almost need to regroup, call a timeout — not necessarily lock down again, but say that we've got to do this in a more measured way," Dr. Fauci said. "We've got to get our arms around this and we've got to get this controlled."

Article 2. The White House press secretary says 'science should not stand in the way' of reopening schools.

With the United States averaging more new cases each day than ever, governors and mayors are scrambling to issue new mask orders and limit the size of gatherings, and schools are trying to figure out what kind of instruction they can offer this fall.

Several large school districts — including in Houston, Los Angeles and San Francisco — said this week that they would open the academic year with online classes, bucking pressure from President Trump and his administration to get students back into classrooms.

Kayleigh McEnany, the White House press secretary, said Thursday that Mr. Trump still wants to see schools reopen.

"When he says open, he means open and full, kids being able to attend each and every day at their school," she said. "The science should not stand in the way of this."

Ms. McEnany then referenced data published in JAMA Pediatrics, a respected medical journal published by the American Medical Association, that indicated the risk of children contracting the coronavirus was low compared with seasonal influenza.

"The science is on our side here," Ms. McEnany said, adding that the United States is an "outlier" among other countries sending children back to school. But no other country has decided to try and send children back to school with the virus continuing to surge, and relatively little is still known about the role children play in transmitting the illness.

In Dallas County, Texas, local health officials announced Thursday that both public and private schools would conduct classes virtually for the first three weeks of the school year, which begins on Aug. 17.

The increase in infections has prompted new restrictions by governors from both parties. Gov. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas, a Republican, and Gov. Jared Polis of Colorado, a Democrat, each announced new orders on Thursday requiring most people in their states to wear masks in certain public settings. The governors of Alabama and Montana did the same on Wednesday.

New York Times, July 17: 2020

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July 17, 2020

Voices4America Post Script.Winner #GOPEvilMoronContest for Thursday. Gov. Kemp GA stops Mayors of Atlanta, Savannah & 13 cities/counties from imposing mask mandates. WH Press Sec McEnany declares, “'The science should not stand in the way of' school reopenings." No! Trump still wins! He pulls these puppets' strings.

This is from Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms of Georgia responding to Governor Kemp's suit against her mask mandate.

This is from Mayor Van Johnson of Savannah.

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While you are thinking about these painful and rising numbers of new Covid cases, read this as food for thought. According to

the CDC, there are 7000 children who have tested positive for Covid in Florida.

https://theamericanonews.com/2020/07/01/more-than-...