(NEW YORK) — Here are today’s In Crisis headlines:
Kentucky AG said he didn’t present homicide charges to grand jurors in Breonna Taylor case
Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron says his office didn’t instruct the grand jury in the Breonna Taylor shooting chase to consider homicide charges against any of the police officers involved. Cameron said in an interview Tuesday with Frankfort, KY’s WDRB that he judged it was “not appropriate” to recommend murder or lesser related charges in the case, but that his office did recommend the grand jury consider reckless endangerment charges, on which former Det. Brett Hankison was indicted for firing into a neighboring apartment. No charges pertaining to Breonna Taylor’s death were returned against any of the three officers involved in the shooting March 13. “[O]ur recommendation was that Mattingly and Cosgrove were justified in their acts and their conduct,” Cameron said of the other two officers, because they “were fired upon by Mr. Walker. They were justified in returning fire.” Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired a shot from his handgun when he heard officers attempting to enter his apartment on a so-called ‘no-knock’ warrant. Cameron also said of the grand jury, “They’re an independent body. If they wanted to make an assessment about different charges, they could have done that.”
COVID-19 numbers
Here’s the latest data on COVID-19 coronavirus infections and deaths.
Latest reported numbers globally per Johns Hopkins University
Global diagnosed cases: 33,700,008
Global deaths: 1,008,342. The United States has the most deaths of any single country, with 206,005.
Number of countries/regions: at least 188
Total patients recovered globally: 23,426,047
Latest reported numbers in the United States per Johns Hopkins University
There are at least 7,191,406 reported cases in 50 states + the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam. This is more than in any other country.
U.S. deaths: at least 206,005. New York State has the greatest number of reported deaths in the U.S., with 33,144.
U.S. total patients recovered: 2,813,305
U.S. total people tested: 103,155,189
The greatest number of reported COVID-19 cases in the U.S. is in California, with 816,486 confirmed cases out of a total state population of 39.51 million. That ranks third in the world after Maharashtra, India, which has 1,366,129 reported cases, and Sao Paulo, Brazil, which has 979,519 reported cases.
White House task force declares 22 states in the ‘red zone’ for COVID-19 cases
According to the latest White House Coronavirus Task Force briefing obtained by ABC News, 22 states are currently considered in the ‘red zone’ for cases, meaning they reported more than 100 new cases per 100,000 residents last week. The number of red zone states is up from 18 last week and 15 the week before. North Dakota currently has the highest infection rate in the nation, followed by South Dakota, Wisconsin and Utah. Wisconsin is showing a rapidly increasing infection and death rate. Department of Health Services chief medical officer Ryan Westergaard on Tuesday declared that the state is “in a crisis right now” regarding COVID 19, after Wisconsin reported 17 deaths Tuesday, the highest single-day toll since late May. The daily case count over the last seven days was a record-high 2,255, with test positivity rates at 22%. Utah, meanwhile, is reporting that 55% of all counties are reporting moderate or high levels of community transmission.
COVID-19 cases rising among children as schools reopen
After preying heavily on the elderly in the spring, COVID-19 is increasingly infecting American children and teens in a trend authorities say appears to be fueled by school re-openings and the resumption of sports, playdates and other activities. Children of all ages now make up 10% of all U.S cases, up from 2% in April, the American Academy of Pediatrics reported Tuesday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday that the incidence of COVID-19 in school-age children began rising in early September as many youngsters returned to their classrooms. About two times more teens were infected than younger children, the CDC report says. Most infected children have mild cases, with hospitalizations and death rates much lower than in adults. Just as cases in college students have been linked to partying and bars, school children may be contracting the virus at playdates, sleepovers, sports and other activities where precautions aren’t being taken.
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