Coronavirus latest: University reports 90% jump in cases on campus
The University of Mississippi confirmed 223 new cases over the past seven days.
A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now killed more than 857,000 people worldwide.
Over 25.7 million people across the globe have been diagnosed with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new respiratory virus, according to data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. The criteria for diagnosis -- through clinical means or a lab test -- has varied from country-to-country. Still, the actual numbers are believed to be much higher due to testing shortages, many unreported cases and suspicions that some national governments are hiding or downplaying the scope of their outbreaks.
Since the first cases were detected in China in December, the virus has rapidly spread to every continent except Antarctica.
The United States is the worst-affected country, with more than 6 million diagnosed cases and at least 184,689 deaths.
California has the most cases of any U.S. state, with more than 715,000 people diagnosed, according to Johns Hopkins data. California is followed by Texas and Florida, with over 637,000 cases and over 631,000 cases respectively.
Nearly 170 vaccine candidates for COVID-19 are being tracked by the World Health Organization, six of which are in crucial phase three trials.
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'It’s the worst thing you could do,' Fauci says of sending infected college students home
College students who contract the novel coronavirus while at school should isolate on campus rather than return home, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
During an interview Wednesday on NBC’s Today Show, Fauci was asked if college campuses should shut down and send infected students home amid COVID-19 outbreaks. He replied: "It’s the worst thing you could do."
"Keep them at the university in a place that’s sequestered enough from the other students," he added. "But don’t have them go home because they could be spreading it in their home state."
Fauci’s comments come as colleges and universities across the country grapple with how to deal with COVID-19 outbreaks, as students and employees return to campus for the new academic year.
James Madison University moves to mostly online classes
James Madison University will shift, at least temporarily, to primarily online learning after seeing a "rapid increase" in COVID-19 cases among its students.
"After consultation with the Virginia Department of Health, James Madison University will transition to primarily online learning, with some hybrid instruction for accreditation and licensure requirements, graduate research, and specialized upper-class courses requiring equipment and space, through the month of September," the school’s president, Jonathan Alger, said in a letter posted on its website Tuesday night. "We do not make this decision lightly, especially after all of the efforts on the part of so many people to make the campus environment safe for the return of in-person classes."
University officials will monitor the situation over the next month and will be in touch with the campus community before the end of the month regarding the possibility of returning to in-person instruction on or after Oct. 5, according to Alger.
The announcement comes just a week after some in-person classes resumed at the public research university in Harrisonburg, Virginia, which has about 20,000 undergraduate students.
"In the days since students have been back on campus, we have observed their vibrancy, excitement to engage with their faculty, and large-scale adherence to COVID-19 rules and guidance. However, we have also observed troubling public health trends," Alger said. "As a result of a rapid increase in the number of positive cases of COVID-19 in our student population in a short period of time, the university is concerned about capacity in the number of isolation and quarantine spaces we can provide. Protecting the health of our Harrisonburg and Rockingham County community -- including students, faculty, staff -- is our top priority, and we need to act swiftly to stop the spread as best we can."
Over $300B lost in exports from tourism due to COVID-19
More than $300 billion has been lost globally in exports from international tourism due to travel restrictions put in place to mitigate the spread of the novel coronavirus, according to a new report published by the United Nations World Tourism Organization.
The report states that there were 56% fewer international tourists around the world from January to May, compared to the same period last year. The decrease in international travel caused a $320 billion loss in exports from tourism, or international visitors’ spending -- more than three times what was lost in the 2009 economic crisis.
As many as 120 million direct tourism jobs are at risk due to the crisis, according to the report. Women make up the majority of the tourism workforce worldwide.
ABC News’ Dragana Jovanovic contributed to this report.
Ole Miss reports 20 active outbreaks on campus
The University of Mississippi said it has confirmed at least 481 cases of COVID-19 among students and employees on its Oxford campus since the start of the pandemic.
Of those, 277 are active cases, mostly among students. Over the past seven days, there have been 223 new confirmed cases, an increase of more than 90%. There are currently 20 active outbreaks of three or more cases on campus, most of which are within campus housing, according to data posted on the University of Mississippi’s website.
The public research university in Oxford, Mississippi, known by its nickname Ole Miss, resumed classes on Aug. 24.
According to the student newspaper, The Daily Mississippian, emails were sent out saying residents in on-campus dormitories with a cluster of three or more cases would need to find a place to quarantine. However, some students were urged to return home or isolate themselves off-campus in nearby apartments or hotels due to the limited number of quarantine spaces on campus.
Health officials are concerned this could lead to COVID-19 spreading off-campus among the local community, according to a report by Memphis ABC affiliate WATN.