The 'hidden' number of deaths from COVID-19 takes its toll on Latinos: 50,000 lives lost and a devastating second wave

The United States has been facing a serious health crisis for months due to the coronavirus pandemic. The country has detected more than 5.5 million confirmed infections and has registered more than 175,000 deaths from COVID-19, according to the most recent statistics.

These are the main news for this Friday, August 21, 2020:

• The 'hidden' death toll from coronavirus hits Latinos with up to 50,000 lost souls and a devastating second wave
• Teachers are now "essential workers." They can continue to work even after being exposed to a COVID-19 case
• Children would be "silent propagators" of COVID-19, according to new study
• American Airlines will stop flying to these 15 cities
• One in five nursing homes in the country lacks the necessary equipment to face the pandemic 

The 'hidden' death toll from coronavirus hits Latinos with up to 50,000 lost souls and a devastating second wave

In the first seven months of the year, 215,000 more people died in the United States than in a normal year, and half of them were minorities: black, Latino, Asian and Native .

The figure, 25% higher than officially reported deaths from coronavirus (174,000), suggests something health experts have long warned: In the first months of the year, many COVID-19 deaths were wrongly attributed to other causes, such as cardiac arrest, high blood pressure or respiratory diseases.

In an average year, 1.7 million people in the United States die between January and July. This year 2020, 1.9 million died in that same time period, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, in English). And the 215,000 figure may already have credited 235,000 since then. 

Graph of the number of additional deaths that have been registered this year 2020 and their representation regarding the different races and ethnicities.Felipe Gálvez, Telemundo

The alarming thing is that almost half of these deaths correspond to people from minorities, those most affected by the coronavirus. 

Some 50,000 people who died this year were Latinos, which represents a 44% increase compared to the number of deaths in this community in the average of the last five years.

Among black people, deaths increased 31%, and among Asians they increased 35%. The increase is also noticeable among Native Americans, at 22%.

In contrast, the deaths among the white population grew by only 9%.

At least 200,000 coronavirus-related deaths, according to a new CDC estimate

The data provided by the CDC is considered provisional and subject to change, especially since some categories of deaths, such as suicides or overdoses, require investigation before being assigned.

Teachers are now "essential workers." They can continue to work even after being exposed to a COVID-19 case

The Administration launched a new measure to pressure schools to reopen. New government guidelines, released Thursday, state that teachers are "essential workers."

[Los Angeles Schools Announce Massive COVID-19 Testing]

This means they can continue working even after being exposed to a confirmed case of COVID-19, as long as they remain asymptomatic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) say.

This is how schools reopen in the Glendale Unified School District, California

Vice President Mike Pence announced the decision to governors in a call earlier this week, a person familiar with the decision told CNN.

The president of the American Federation of Teachers, Randi Weingarten, told CNN that the critical or essential worker designation could be used to "threaten, intimidate and coerce" teachers in the classroom without proper considerations.

"If the president really saw us as essential, he would act as such. Teachers are and always have been essential workers, but not essential enough, it seems, for the Trump administration to commit the resources necessary to keep them safe in the classroom. Instead of funding these protections, create a plan and guide on how to ensure school buildings can safely reopen, and follow the science, "Weingarten said.

[In search of a cure for coronavirus: why it remains a distant goal]

"'Essentials' means that if we are exposed and we know that we can be potentially positive, we still have to go to school and at that point we could be carriers and propagators," said Hillary Buckner, who teaches Spanish at Chuckey-Doak High School in Afton.

Buckner, secretary of the Greene County chapter of the National Education Association, added that it is unethical for teachers to risk infecting students.

With information from AP and CNN.

Children would be "silent propagators" of COVID-19, study concludes

Children could be "silent spreaders" of COVID-19, according to a study published in the Journal of Pediatrics, which found that some of them have high levels of virus in the airways during the first three days of infection, despite have mild symptoms or none at all.

Research suggests that the role of children in the spread of the coronavirus may be greater than previously believed.

The researchers caution that schools should not rely on temperature checks or symptom tests to identify cases of coronavirus among students, according to the recommendations of the study, which includes 30 co-authors from MGH, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Brigham Hospital. and Women's and Harvard. College.

American Airlines will stop flying to these 15 cities

American Airlines will stop flying to 15 cities starting in October. The airline blamed low demand during the coronavirus pandemic, which has led to a massive drop in air travel and huge losses for airlines.

[Companies are working on antibody treatments to combat COVID-19 in the face of uncertainty about a vaccine]

American Airlines, which lost more than $ 2 billion in its latest quarter, said its October 7-November 3 schedule will stop flying to cities like Sioux City, Iowa; New Haven, Connecticut; and Springfield, Illinois.

"This is the first step as American continues to evaluate its network and plans additional schedule changes in the coming weeks," the airline said in a statement.

[American Airlines warns it could suspend 25,000 employees]

More than half of the cities American is leaving have no other airline service. It will be a major blow to the Tweed-New Haven airport, but the airport's chief executive, Sean Scanlon, remained hopeful that the loss is temporary.

Other cities American dropped from the program include Del Rio, Texas; Dubuque, Iowa; Florence, South Carolina; Greenville, North Carolina; Huntington, West Virginia; Joplin, Missouri; Kalamazoo-Battle Creek, Michigan; Lake Charles, Louisiana; New Windsor, New York; Roswell, New Mexico; Stillwater, Oklahoma; and Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

The pandemic aid package approved in March earmarked up to $ 50 billion for the country's passenger airlines. American was the largest beneficiary at $ 10.7 billion if a pending loan gets final approval from the US Department of the Treasury.

Passenger airlines and their unions are pushing for an additional $ 25 billion. But there has been no progress after negotiations between Congressional Democrats and the White House over a new aid package broke down more than a week ago.

And, without more federal money, airlines can lay off tens of thousands of workers as of October 1.

With information from AP.

One in five nursing homes in the country lacks the necessary equipment to face the pandemic

One in five nursing homes in the country faces a severe shortage of protective gear like N95 masks, even as the Trump administration promised to help, according to a study published in the journal Health Affairs on Thursday. It also notes that facilities in the areas hardest hit by COVID-19 also struggled to maintain staff.

Between May and July, there was no significant improvement to alleviate the shortage of personal protective equipment, or the lack of personnel, according to the analysis made from federal data by academic researchers. 

At least nine nursing homes in the United States violated health standards

Although the people living in these centers represent less than 1% of the country's population, they account for about 43% of deaths from coronavirus, according to the COVID Tracking Project. 

This situation "should be a huge red flag," said Terry Fulmer, president of the John A. Hartford Foundation, a nonprofit organization that works to improve care for older adults.

"We have not had a consistent federal response," added Fulmer, who was not involved in the investigation.

In Mexico, COVID-19 infections increase in nursing homes

In reaction to the study, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said in a statement that the Trump administration "has provided nursing homes with the tools they need to stop the spread of the virus and, ultimately, each nursing home is responsible for the safety of its residents ".

With information from AP.