October 15 coronavirus news

An ensemble forecast published Thursday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now projects there will be 229,000 to 240,000 coronavirus deaths in the United States by Nov. 7.

Unlike some individual models, the CDC’s ensemble forecast only offers projections a few weeks into the future. The previous ensemble forecast, published on Oct. 8, projected up to 233,000 coronavirus deaths by Oct. 30.

At least 217,155 people have already died from Covid-19 in the United States, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

The Florida Department of Health reported at least 3,356 new cases of Covid-19 and 144 deaths on Thursday, numbers that include both residents and non-residents of the state, according to the Covid-19 dashboard. 

Florida's case numbers jumped by 487 since yesterday, and the death toll more than doubled, with the state reporting 66 deaths Wednesday.

This marks the eleventh day in October that the state's health department has reported at least 2,200 new cases in a single day, CNN's tally shows.   

The state now has a total of 744,988 coronavirus cases, DOH data shows. The Florida death toll now stands at 15,932 DOH data shows.         

Note: These numbers were released by Florida’s public health agency and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database, drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project    

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said that there continues to be “very, very, very low positivity levels” of Covid-19 in schools.

In particular, he said in Yellow Zones – which are third tier areas of concern, but surrounding the cluster zones with schools that are closed – out of 31,000 tests in the past three weeks, only four were returned positive. This was testing of teachers and staff in the schools. 

“The vast vast majority of schools have continued with no shut down,” he said, of the schools outside the cluster zones. 

European low-cost airline Ryanair announced it would significantly reduce its winter schedule Thursday, blaming restrictions imposed by European Union governments.

The airline will operate 40% of its 2019 winter flight schedule, after originally planning 60%. 

In a statement, the airline said air travel to and from Central Europe, the UK, Ireland, Austria, Belgium and Portugal has been heavily curtailed.

“We deeply regret these winter schedule cuts," said Ryanair Group CEO Michael O’Leary. "They have been forced upon us by Government mismanagement of EU air travel.”  

He said the airline would be forced to implement more redundancies, job sharing and unpaid leave as a result of the schedule reduction.

Following the announcement of a positive coronavirus test in the organization on Thursday, the Atlanta Falcons will stop all in-person work and will conduct all operations virtually for the day, the team announced in a statement. 

The organization said that the decision was made "out of an abundance of caution" and in consultation with the NFL and medical officials.

The Atlanta Falcons are scheduled to play the Vikings in Minnesota on Sunday.

Read the full statement below:

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city should get a gauge by Sunday whether they are in “striking range” of pulling off restrictions in cluster areas or whether they need to remain in place.

When asked if “leveling off” in metrics was enough to end the shutdown in cluster zones after two weeks, de Blasio said by Sunday “we will have a good picture of whether we’re in striking range of pulling off the restrictions next week or whether we need more time.” 

“Leveling off is a step in the right direction,” he said, adding that stopping the growth of the infection rate is key to turning it around. 

The percent of people who tested positive for Covid-19 citywide is at 1.31%, under the 5% threshold, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said. 

The seven-day rolling average is 1.49% he said. 

The daily number of people admitted to hospitals for Covid-19 is at 88, under the 200 threshold. The confirmed positivity rate for Covid-19 for those patients is 18.6%

With regard to new reported cases on a seven-day average, with a threshold of 550 cases, NYC reports 499. 

Note: These numbers were released by the city's public health agency and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database, drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio expanded on what he said is the “the fight we’re waging against a second wave of coronavirus,” noting that the city is seeing a “plateauing” in test results, though there is “more to do.”

“A second wave would mean a lot shuts down, we go backwards, no one wants that. So we can stop this once and for all in these areas of Brooklyn and Queens where there’s concern and therefore protect the whole city, and that’s what we’re going to do," he added.

He said officials are “flooding the zone” with testing.

Test and Trace head Ted Long said in the last two weeks, more than 17,000 tests have been taken in the clusters. Thirty-two new test sites were built out in the clusters, including 18 in the red zones. A large testing site is open today at the Kew Gardens Hills Branch public library.

The city is also partnering with Medicaid plans, which cover 1.2 million New Yorkers on testing outreach, de Blasio said. 

The Mayor said in terms of enforcement, 1700 inspections were done Wednesday, and 25 summons were issued. 

There have been over 18,000 in the last two weeks with a total of 288 summonses issued, including 11 summonses for $15,000.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, speaking in Kentucky, once again threw cold water on the “big” stimulus agreement President Trump says he’s interested in securing. 

McConnell plans to put a roughly $500 billion proposal on the floor next week – approximately a quarter of what Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are currently talking about on the topline. 

Senate Republicans are nearly unanimous in their opposition to a big deal at this point and McConnell’s move to put the targeted proposal on the floor, which Democrats are expected to block, is seen more as a political messaging/protection move for his vulnerable members than as a serious proposal.