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Officials Clash Over Masks As CV Numbers Grow

Battles over wearing face coverings intensified even as the US shattered another daily coronavirus record and health officials warned hospitalizations are getting out of control in some areas.
There were 77,255 new cases reported Thursday, topping a previous high set two days ago, according to Johns Hopkins University. At least 943 people were reported dead that day.
More than 138,000 people have died from coronavirus nationwide, and experts warn that number will likely go up as hospitalizations rise in several states. In Texas and Arizona, morgues are filling up in the hardest-hit areas and officials are bringing in coolers and refrigerated trailers to store bodies.
In South Texas’ Hidalgo County, some patients have to wait on a stretcher for 10 hours before being examined due to lack of resources, said Dr. Ivan Melendez, the public health authority.
“We are in dire need, and we are exhausted,” he said. “We had four ICU patients. Now we have 211. We had three people on ventilators. Now we have 135.”
The county has seen more than 10,000 confirmed Covid-19 cases — more than 1,200 reported Thursday alone, he said.As some states struggled to tame the virus, the debate over wearing face coverings is heating up. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp sued Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms on Thursday over her efforts to require face masks in public places.
Bottoms accused Kemp of playing politics and wasting taxpayer money with the suit. President  Trump this week visited, and Bottoms pointed out he was breaking city law by not wearing a mask.
Kemp extended Georgia’s emergency coronavirus restrictions and said while people are “strongly encouraged” to wear face coverings — they’re not required. While the order limits public gatherings to 50 people and mandates social distancing, it also prevents local governments from implementing stricter rules than the state’s — including requiring face masks.
But Bottoms’ office told CNN her order remains in effect. “Science and data will continue to drive the city’s decisions. Masks save lives,” a spokesman said.
City officials took their outcry to social media, where the mayor tweeted that “a better use of tax payer money would be to expand testing and contact tracing.”
Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr tweeted that residents are urged to wear masks but the lawsuit is about the “rule of law.”
And in Utah, a public meeting about a mask policy was abruptly canceled when people without face coverings packed the room. The crowd booed when it was called off.
“This is the exact opposite of what we need to be doing,” Utah County Commissioner Tanner Ainge said at the meeting room in Provo. “We’re supposed to be physically distancing, wearing masks. This gathering violates current health recommendations.”
With a lack of federal mandates, states are taking matters into their own hands and issuing orders requiring people to wear masks in public.
Colorado, Arkansas, Alabama and Montana require face masks in public places when social distancing is impossible.

States depend on testing data to make crucial decisions on reopenings and resources. But that data is lagging as testing sites get backed up.
Tests are being done in much larger numbers — a positive development. But the increase is also slowing down results, and officials want to reduce wait times for results.
“Even in the large commercial labs, and we follow this every single day, there may be an outlier that’s 10 days or 12 days, we can’t deny that that happens,” said Adm. Brett Giroir of the US Department of Health and Human Services,
He wants test results back as fast as possible, but a three-day turnaround is “very reasonable,” he said.
Commercial labs have said they are backed up, with results often taking as long as seven days to turn around. “I’m never going to say that I’m happy with any turnaround time, Giroir added.
Giroir says 700,000 to 800,000 people are being tested each day. That means it’ll be a week before officials know how many of them are infected.
Test results provide important information for contract tracers trying to find people who might be infected. When testing results are delayed more than three days, not even perfect contact tracing can keep the spread of the virus from accelerating, researchers have warned.

The nation’s leading infectious disease expert has a message for young people: you’re not immune to serious infection.
While the data shows that young people are less likely to become seriously ill, there’s ample evidence of young people being “knocked out on their back and brought to their knees pretty quick” by Covid-19, Dr. Anthony Fauci said.
He warned young people this is not the time to risk exposing themselves to the virus. Many of them are getting horribly sick for weeks, he told Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
“I’ve never seen an infection with this broad range of manifestations,” he said. “You’re going to get back to normal, and you’ll be able to freely have fun, go to the bars, go with the crowds, but not now.”