September 11 coronavirus updates

Our live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic continues here.

Former mayor Rudy Giuliani has criticized the current New York City leadership, saying they're "killing this city" with continued Covid-19 restrictions.

"I wouldn't do what they are doing now," he told CNN's Chris Cuomo Friday night. "I wouldn't keep this city closed as long as they are keeping it closed. I think they are killing the city... I think what they are doing to this city could be fatal."

"They are overdoing," he added. "They are killing the city."

Giuliani's remarks come as movie theaters, amusement parks and casinos remain closed and indoor dining banned, among other restrictions.

Cuban officials on Friday extended curfew and lockdown measures for Havana residents for an additional 15 days, saying they still had not brought the spread of Covid-19 under control in the Cuban capital.

Until at least September 30, Havana residents will not be able to leave their homes from 7 p.m. until 5 a.m., Gov. Reinaldo Garcia Zapata said on state-run TV.

Other lockdown measures restricting travel between provinces, curtailing public transportation and increased fines for people not wearing face masks will also remain in place, he said.

Cuba has reported 4,563 coronavirus cases and 106 deaths, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

Mexico’s health ministry reported 534 new Covid-19 deaths on Friday, raising the country’s death toll to 70,183 -- the fourth-highest in the world, behind only India, Brazil and the United States.

The ministry also reported 5,935 new Covid-19 cases, taking the nationwide total to 658,299.

Despite its struggles with the virus, Mexico is still welcoming international tourists, including from the US, as the economy struggles under the weight of lost revenue.

Dr. Chris Murray, a researcher behind the new projection of 415,000 Covid-19 deaths in the US by January, said Americans should begin to brace for a "a very deadly December."

The death projection by Jan. 1 represents a more than doubling of deaths over the past six months, a change which Murray said could be driven by Americans "being less careful" as they grow weary of abiding by restrictions. 

He said the model assumes that once the death rate spikes, state and local governments and individuals will once again begin to take restrictions more seriously and return to adherence recommended by doctors and experts.

An influential coronavirus model has updated its forecast for January, predicting a “most likely” scenario of 415,090 US deaths by January.

In a worst-case scenario, deaths could reach more than 600,000 by Jan 1, the IHME said.

According to Johns Hopkins University, nearly 6.4 million infections have been recorded in the US and more than 191,000 Americans have died. In the IHME’s best case scenario, just under 300,000 people will die.

“But US mark use is trending in the wrong direction. At the present time, only six states have 50% mask use: California, Texas, Virginia, Hawaii, Florida and Alaska,” the IHME said.

Dr. Anthony Fauci can’t explain pandemic deniers in “any logical way.” 

Friday marked six months since the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a pandemic.  

When asked who the American public should listen to — the President, who claimed Thursday that the country is “rounding the corner” of the pandemic, or himself — Fauci said people should trust facts.  

“I say look at the data; the data speak for themselves. You don't have to listen to any individual. And the data tells us that we're still getting up to 40,000 new infections a day and 1,000 deaths. That is what you look at. Look at the science, the evidence and the data and you can make a pretty easy conclusion,” he said. 

Responding to comments made by an attendee at President Trump's rally Thursday night, who said he wasn't wearing a mask because this is “fake pandemic,” Fauci called it a tragedy.

“If you deny the reality of it, then you don't put all of your efforts into doing something about it. You've got to admit the problem before you address the problem,” he said. “It's just a distortion of reality — people who don't want to face the reality that we are dealing with a serious situation that we can do something about.” 

Vaccine maker Moderna said Friday it has increased the number of minority volunteers involved in its Phase 3 clinical trial of a Covid-19 vaccine over the past week.

The company reported Friday that enrollment in the trial has risen to 23,497 participants, up from 21,411 a week ago.

The current breakdown in numbers include 59% White participants, 22% Hispanic, 11% Black, 5% Asian and 3% other populations.

Last week the trial included 68% White volunteers, 20% Hispanic, 7% Black, 3% Asian and 1% other populations.

Moderna said last week it was increasing its efforts to reach more diverse populations, even if it impacted the speed of enrollment.

The trial has been struggling to enroll enough minorities since at least mid-August. 

Some coronavirus victims are testing positive for the virus long after their initial symptoms and sickness, but Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, says it’s highly unlikely that these people are still contagious.

“That is unlikely,” Fauci told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer in an interview Friday.

Fauci said it’s doubtful that a person who had Covid-19 is contagious past the 10-day isolation period.

“What we're seeing a lot of evidence for is that if you are weeks out and you have no more symptoms, that the positivity that you're detecting are fragments of the virus,” he said.

These are non-replication competent. “Which means they're particles of the virus, but they can’t infect you and they can't make you sick,” he said.

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