Coronavirus daily news updates, August 22: What to know today about COVID-19 in the Seattle area, Washington state and the world – Seattle Times

President Donald Trump on Saturday baselessly accused the Food and Drug Administration of impeding — for political reasons — enrollment in clinical trials for coronavirus vaccines and therapeutics.

“The deep state, or whoever, over at the FDA is making it very difficult for drug companies to get people in order to test the vaccines and therapeutics. Obviously, they are hoping to delay the answer until after November 3rd,” Trump wrote on Twitter, referring to Election Day. “Must focus on speed, and saving lives!” He tagged FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn in the tweet.

U.S. Senator Patty Murray, D-Wash., issued a statement Saturday condemning the president’s tweet and urging the FDA to publicize information about its decision-making process.

“This is dangerous. The American public needs to have absolutely no doubt FDA is basing its decisions on science, not the President’s conspiracy theories,” Murray said in a news release.

“But instead of listening to the experts and encouraging them to do their job and follow the science, President Trump is attacking them. The President’s misinformation campaign makes it more important than ever that FDA engage in a transparent and rigorous process in its review of the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines and therapies, including making public clinical data and information underlying any decision to approve or authorize a COVID-19 vaccine.”

Until recently, Trump praised the FDA for moving quickly on coronavirus treatments and vaccines. But on Wednesday, he claimed the agency was delaying authorizing convalescent plasma, an old treatment used for other infectious diseases but the effectiveness of which for COVID-19 has not been proved. “You have a lot of people over there that don’t want to rush things,” he said at a White House briefing. “They want to do it after Nov. 3.”

Trump’s Saturday tweet drew swift criticism from scientists, former FDA officials and representatives of the drug industry.

Read more here.

German researchers studying COVID-19 held a pop concert Saturday to see how those attending could spread coronavirus if they had it.

About 1,500 people took part in the experiment run by the University Hospital in Halle, each taking a coronavirus test ahead of time, testing negative, and having to wear protective masks throughout the day’s testing.

Researchers equipped each volunteer with contact tracers to record their routes in the arena and track the path of the aerosols — the small particles that could carry the virus — they emitted as they mingled and talked. Fluorescent disinfectants were used to highlight which surfaces at the mock concert were touched most frequently.

Read the full story here.

Health officials have noticed a “substantial increase” in coronavirus cases among Washington State University students living off campus in Pullman, according to university officials.

On Saturday, Whitman County Public Health announced 30 new COVID-19 cases, all among people between the ages of 20 and 39, one of whom lived in a house on Greek Row. The majority of the cases were among WSU students, and many were traced back to gatherings around Greek Row, said university spokesperson Phil Weiler.

WSU decided in July to hold classes virtually, but some students have returned to Pullman, primarily to live off campus. Pullman police Chief Gary Jenkins said officers have responded to a dozen complaints about parties violating health directives in the College Hill area in the past two weeks, including one that had more than 50 attendees. Jenkins expects the problem to worsen as more students return.

“We are very displeased and disappointed that students were not following the state guidelines to stay safe and healthy,” Weiler said.

Andrew Thomas, spokesperson for WSU’s Interfraternity Council, said he doesn’t think Greek life students are solely responsible for recent cases, as students outside the system live in the College Hill area as well.

“Yes, there are Greek students who are not doing what they should be doing,” Thomas said. “It’s part of this, but it’s not the whole… I think College Hill in general needs to do a better job.”

Read the full story here.

As more universities abandon plans to reopen and decide instead to keep classes online this fall, it’s leading to conflict between students who say they deserve tuition discounts and college leaders who insist remote learning is worth the full cost.

In petitions started at dozens of universities, students arguing for reduced tuition say online classes fail to deliver the same experience they get on campus. Video lectures are stilted and awkward, they say, and there’s little personal connection with professors or classmates.

Many schools, however, respond that they have improved online classes since the spring. Some have instituted decreases of 10% or more, but many are holding firm on price.

In Washington state, four of the five public universities and one college, The Evergreen State College, are planning to teach remotely this fall. Some students circulated petitions in the spring, including one calling on the University of Washington to issue partial tuition refunds that was signed by more than 15,000 people.

The state’s public colleges and universities are bracing for a financial crisis because of the pandemic, and some regional colleges are expecting drops in enrollment.

Read the full story here.

Tens of thousands of people are trying to escape wildfires and extreme heat in the United States at a time when they are also asked to wear masks and keep a distance from strangers.

Climate change is driving extreme weather across the country. Eighty million U.S. residents are under excessive heat advisories. More than 35 wildfires are raging in California, burning 125,000 acres in the San Francisco Bay Area alone and threatening 25,000 businesses and homes this week.

Conditions are made even more perilous by the worst pandemic in a century. As a hurricane season turbocharged by heat gets underway, the virus promises to complicate responses.

Read the full story here.

A coronavirus outbreak at a Bremerton hospital has affected multiple units, and more than 30 employees and patients have been diagnosed with COVID-19. Staff at St. Michael Medical Center had previously criticized the hospital’s parent company, claiming it did not provide adequate personal protective equipment.

The pandemic’s disproportionate impact on people of color has become more clear as the death toll has climbed. People of color make up more than half of the nation’s “excess deaths” during the pandemic, according to one analysis.

Street art in Seattle has boomed during the pandemic and protests, as blank plywood facades were plentiful and protesters expressed their hopes, dreams and rage. Even a Seattle police detective said he was impressed by the graffiti in the former Capitol Hill Organized Protest zone.

The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally has been connected to COVID-19 cases, and health officials expect the number to grow. At least 15 Minnesotans who attended the South Dakota rally have been diagnosed, with cases also reported in other states.

The culinary equivalent of the Oscars is putting awards on a hold until 2022, as the pandemic continues to challenge the restaurant industry. Multiple Seattle restaurateurs were named finalists for the James Beard Awards.

As COVID-19 has spread, so has misinformation. Here’s a roundup of some prominent coronavirus myths and what the research actually shows.