Coronavirus updates: US tops 200,000 deaths in less than 8 months; toll could double by year's end; 70% of some KN95 masks below standard

The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus quietly surpassed 200,000 on Tuesday, less than eight months after the first American fatality.

The U.S. reached 100,000 deaths in May. Now, some experts estimate the death toll could almost double by year's end.

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Fatigue for social distancing and the push to get back into offices and schools could fuel new cases – and deaths – in the coming weeks and months. Experts at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington predict 378,321 deaths by January.

The nation marches on. Hollywood is primed to make a comeback after months of filming delays, and the Centers for Disease Control has issued guidelines for relatively safe Halloween celebrations. Traditional trick-or-treating gets the thumbs-down. And a public relations staffer at the National Institutes of Health is set to "retire" after being exposed for writing articles on a conservative website that attacked Dr. Anthony Fauci, who runs the agency. 

Some significant developments:

• Our travel writer David Oliver checked in at a few hotels to check out their coronavirus protocols. Here's what he found.
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention walked back changed guidance on how the coronavirus spreads. On Friday, the CDC posted an update on its website saying 6 feet may not be sufficient to keep people safe and that ventilation was key to easing transmission indoors. But on Monday, the agency said the new guidance was a "draft version" that was "posted in error."
• Some economists say the U.S. could fall into a double-dip recession if Congress fails to pass another coronavirus stimulus package.

• 📈 Today's numbers: Minnesota, Montana, Utah, Wisconsin, Wyoming and Puerto Rico set records for new cases in the week ending Monday. The U.S. has reported more than 6.8 million cases and 200,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. Globally, there have been more than 31.3 million cases and 966,000 fatalities. 

  📰 What we're reading: Will Las Vegas room rates rise? Will shows return to The Strip? We asked an insider.

  🗺️ Mapping coronavirus: Track the U.S. outbreak, state by state

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• 200,000 US dead as widely available vaccine still months away

  The U.S. death toll reached 200,000 on Tuesday as states grapple with opening schools, restaurants gyms and other small businesses. In March, President Donald Trump said keeping the death toll between 100,000 to 200,000 people would have indicated that his administration had “done a very good job.” As the number has continued to climb and a vaccine available to the masses does not appear imminent, Trump has sought to reshape the significance of the death tally

• “If we didn’t do our job, it would be three and half, two and half, maybe three million people,” Trump said Friday, leaning on extreme projections of what could have happened if nothing was done to fight the pandemic. “We have done a phenomenal job with respect to COVID-19.”

  – Adrianna Rodriguez

  Trump blasts WHO, says China 'unleashed this plague onto the world'

  President Donald Trump on Tuesday used his speech to the United Nations General Assembly to call on the global organization to hold Beijing accountable for the coronavirus pandemic, saying China "unleashed this plague onto the world." Trump said China locked down domestic travel while allowing flights to leave China and infect the world. Trump again referred to COVID-19 as the "China virus" and berated the World Health Organization, which the U.S. has begun withdrawing from, for being "virtually controlled by China." 

  Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke shortly after Trump, calling for global cooperation and saying "any attempt of politicizing the issue or stigmatization must be rejected."

  – Courtney Subramanian

  Study: Up to 70% of KN95 masks from China don’t meet filter standards

  The KN95 mask is meant to filter out 95% of aerosol particles. However, nonprofit patient safety organization ECRI issued an alert against the masks after an analysis found that up to 70% of the KN95s imported from China did not meet these filtration standards. U.S. hospitals were forced to purchase hundreds of thousands of KN95 masks produced in China over the past six months. ECRI tested nearly 200 masks from 15 different manufacturer models purchased by some of the largest health systems in the country. There was not only variability among the different brands but also inconsistencies among masks made by the same manufacturer.

• “We are concerned about the safety of health care workers and patients when using KN95s in high risk procedures and that’s why we sent out the hazard alert,” he said. “We don’t use this lightly; we reserve that for immediate risk.”

  – Adrianna Rodriguez

  Ex-White House task force member says Trump's views were 'frightening'

  Former White House coronavirus task force member Olivia Troye says “it was frightening” when President Donald Trump said the virus would disappear "like magic."

  Troye, an ex-aide to Vice President Pence, told NBC News’ "TODAY" show the task force was aware of how big COVID-19 would be in late January, before the first U.S. death. Troye said the president appeared dismissive of the virus.

  “He said, 'When you're a politician, you have to shake a lot of hands. You have to shake a lot of hands. And these people are disgusting. It's gross. And so maybe, COVID'S probably a good thing, right? I don't have to shake hands. I don't have to do that anymore.'”

  Pence has described Troye as a disgruntled employee while Trump says he does not remember ever meeting her.

  Goodell on $100K fines for NFL mask violations: 'You can't let up'

  NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell says he has no qualms about harshly penalizing coaches who violate the NFL’s protocols mandating that they wear face masks while roaming the sidelines. The NFL on Monday fined three coaches – San Francisco’s Kyle Shanahan, Denver’s Vic Fangio and Seattle’s Pete Carroll – at $100,000 each for disregarding the policy. Their respective teams were docked $250,000 apiece.

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