As the COVID-19 pandemic reaches dangerous new levels nationwide, the White House Coronavirus Task Force this week acknowledged that state and local policies in Texas and around the country could be underplaying the severity of the virus, and urged public health officials to take their case directly to the public. “If state and local policies do not reflect the seriousness of the current situation, all public health officials must alert the state population directly,” said the Nov. 29 task force report, which was sent to all states. And local officials are barred from enacting measures more restrictive than those set by the state. In a statement, Renae Eze, a spokesperson for Abbott, said the state is "responding exactly as suggested by the Task Force." Since October, the number of Texans hospitalized with COVID-19 and the seven day average of new cases have nearly tripled.

Members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force will hold a press briefing Thursday. The event is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m., but there may be delays.

Health officials had asked workers in central Auckland to stay home on Friday while they investigated the case but say they can now return to work. — Surge of coronavirus cases appears to be slowing in Germany and France, but still straining hospitals. Alaska has had over 20,000 cases, including 477 new cases reported Thursday. She is scheduled Friday to address the situation and is expected to announce new public health restrictions aimed to curbing spread. That’s the impassioned message that dozens of parents and school administrators are sending to public health officials in Pennsylvania’s third-most populous county.

At the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, it’s likely not many in the United States knew who Dr. Anthony Fauci was. In his younger years, Fauci reportedly would run for seven miles a day. When he was in midst of the fight against HIV/AIDS, Dr. Fauci was known to run 7 miles daily. Recently, a video from a 1988 presidential candidate debate between then-Vice President Bush and Michael Dukakis emerged. Bush: "Fauci ...top doctor at NIH, working hard doing something about research on this disease of AIDS" @HowardMortmanpic.twitter.com/tyDPRNuFcJ — David I. Ramadan (@DavidIRamadan) March 21, 20203.)