A roundup of the latest coronavirus news. A record setting heat wave hinders efforts to fight California’s wildfires. And, an update on the recovery effort in Beirut after last month’s huge blast.
NOEL KING, HOST:
Memorial Day and the 4th of July taught us a lesson this year.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
It is that holiday weekends lead to surges in COVID-19 cases. And now here we are on Labor Day. So if you have the day of rest, be conscious that the way you pick to commemorate matters. The number of new cases is declining throughout this nation in many areas, however it’s still far greater than other parts of the world.
KING: NPR science reporter Allison Aubrey is with us for a check-in. Good early morning, Allison.
ALLISON AUBREY, BYLINE: Good morning.
KING: Let me begin by asking you broadly, as we typically do on Mondays lately, where do we base on COVID-19?
AUBREY: You understand, Noel, after weeks of about a thousand deaths a day, that number has actually declined to about 850 deaths a day. If individuals have actually been out and about in crowds, as we saw on Memorial Day, this might set us back.
And contagious illness specialists I spoke to state with fall coming, people investing more time indoors, individuals back to work or school, there will likely be a bump in cases, given how extensively the virus has actually been flowing and the modification in seasons.
KING: Well, it’s certainly true for schools and colleges. We have actually seen, you know, an uptick in the numbers there. When it pertains to trainees on schools and in class, is it possible to prevent those kind of break outs?
AUBREY: You know, there’s a variety of methods being utilized in group settings in schools and daycares. CDC Director Robert Redfield has actually indicated proof from Rhode Island, where numerous day cares opened over the summertime. Now, there were some students and instructors to get contaminated. But by determining them and isolating them, they had the ability to restrict neighborhood spread. He states that’s a success. Now, naturally, to do this successfully, you got to have the ability to recognize individuals quickly. That’s why some college schools have actually mandated entry screening.
I spoke to Eric Lander about this. Now some of these schools, Noel, are evaluating students and professors two times a week.
ERIC LANDER: Screening has determined already 450 contaminated individuals.
AUBREY: So when a student tests favorable, some of these colleges have a dedicated area, a dorm where, you know, students can have their meals, do their classes online, a kind of supported seclusion. Now, obviously, to avoid outbreaks, you need to do more than testing. You require social distancing and masking, as we have actually been becoming aware of for many months, and, sometimes, more strict procedures. If you take a look at University of Illinois, where there’s an extensive screening program, the school revealed a short-term lockdown for undergraduates, considered that they were able to quickly detect a rise in cases. So the goal there is to quickly turn it around before it gets big or bigger.
KING: Kind of nip it in the bud.
AUBREY: That’s right.
KING: Do you want to get the flu – what’s going on there?
AUBREY: You understand, physicians are worried due to the fact that people have put off routine gos to throughout the pandemic. And, actually, this could overwhelm the health care system if more and more people are coming in not knowing which one they have.
KING: NPR’s Allison Aubrey. Allison, thanks so much.
AUBREY: Thank you, Noel.
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KING: All right. It was hot in California this weekend.
INSKEEP: With record temperature levels throughout the state. In San Francisco, it was 100, which is truly odd for San Francisco.
CHRIS ROBBIE: You understand, I did what I might – cleared as much brush and trees and – I do not understand – cleared at least 70 feet from the home.
INSKEEP: Among California’s fires in the Eldorado National Forest apparently began after people used a smoke-generating device at a celebration.
KING: Alex Hall is a press reporter with member station KQED. And she’s with us now via Skype from Fresno. Good early morning, Alex.
ALEX HALL, BYLINE: Excellent morning.
KING: So the big one we were finding out about all weekend is the Creek Fire. Where is that, and what’s happening with it now?
HALL: Yeah, so this is a fire that started on Friday in an area of the Sierra Nevada Mountains here in central California, not far from Fresno, where a lot of individuals go simply to be outside. Individuals have cabins there.
So you have people who are preparing to leave. Now you have individuals coming down from the mountains either because they have actually been evacuated, or they’re getting ready for when they have to.
KING: So simply a lot of movement on the ground.
HALL: So over the weekend, there was this rescue of individuals who were in a location impacted by the fire called Mammoth Swimming pool Reservoir. Now it’s being reported that some individuals are still there, and it’s unclear exactly when they will be rescued.
KING: Wow. That is remarkable. Let me ask you lastly – you discussed, obviously, it is Labor Day weekend. How does that intensify things or assist things?
HALL: Yeah, I think it’s a mix of things. You understand, with the pandemic, you’re seeing a lot of individuals get outside and go camping and in such a way that you truly didn’t see in the past since it’s one of the important things that we can still do. And this area was loaded. I was up there camping myself. And it was really crowded. And yes, it was smoky. But that’s not actually a red flag anymore here in California. You understand, and that didn’t keep people away. We’ve had wildfire smoke on and off for weeks. Fresno likewise has a poor air quality, so the haze is not a red flag. You’ve got big numbers of individuals out in the woods. Here’s this fire and these heats. Therefore I believe a great deal of individuals are making their own judgment calls on whether to stay or to go. And individuals were type of caught off guard.
KING: Alex Hall with member station KQED in Fresno. Thanks, Alex.
HALL: Thank you.
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KING: All. In Beirut, rescuers who were checking out debris from a huge surge believed they heard indications of life recently.
INSKEEP: So they hoped.
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FRANCISCO LERMANDA: (Through interpreter) Pitifully, today, we can say that there is no life within the structure.
INSKEEP: You will recall this is a surge that devastated Beirut’s port area. What does that location look like now?
KING: Leila Molana-Allen is a Beirut correspondent for France24 She joins us now. Leila, let me begin by asking you what occurred with this rescue effort. There was some hope, and after that it disappeared.
LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: So this is a building in the Gemmayze area of east Beirut, that main road that you’re visiting many pictures of, where all the bars and dining establishments are, that was practically entirely damaged. And this actually was one of the structures that had collapsed in the worst possible methods. You know, really, actually just a stack of debris at this point. And we had all strolled past it day after day.
And, all of a sudden, there was a thought. A month after the surge last Thursday, people thought that there may be at least one person alive below it. And this Chilean rescue group, Topos, came. Now, this is the group that famously after the last Haitian earthquake discovered a guy alive underneath the debris 27 days later on. And they had this rescue canine Flash, who came and became the mascot, really, of hopes that there might be somebody else under here. And they thought it may be a kid.
And so they were searching for hours and hours. And it really became sort of symbolic of the method that the Lebanese have actually responded to the fact they feel their government is not helping them correctly in this circumstance because when the search got called off at the end of the very first day since they didn’t have the best equipment, individuals who were gathered around decided that they were going to get the devices for themselves due to the fact that the army was declining to get it.
And a young lady who works for a regional NGO really called in a crane herself. And so at first, while it was rather fractious between these various groups, what ultimately occurred after three days was that all these groups began working together.
KING: And, sadly, it came to absolutely nothing. Can I simply ask you in the last couple seconds, how are individuals finishing with that knowledge?
MOLANA-ALLEN: People clearly are sad – that they believe there might be someone alive. Of course, on the other hand, individuals are stating, well, that implies there’s one fewer individual dead. You understand, there isn’t a body there, which is wonderful news. And we still know there are around 7 individuals missing. It’s difficult to understand precisely who – how many. But at the moment a minimum of, that wasn’t another body to be found. On the plus side, somewhat positive news there.
KING: Leila Molana-Allen is Beirut reporter for France24 Thanks, Leila.
MOLANA-ALLEN: Thank you. Bye-bye.
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