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The number of COVID-19 cases around the world continued its steady climb Friday with nearly 19.2 million infections recorded, according to Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. continued to have more cases than any place else with more than 4.9 million, followed by Brazil with 2.9 million and India with 2 million.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said Friday that he would allow students there to return to classrooms at the beginning of the school year because of the state's success in curbing the coronavirus.
Cuomo's decision will allow students to attend some in-person classes while wearing masks, while also being able to learn remotely the rest of the time.
Large U.S. cities such as Chicago, Houston, Los Angles and Miami are among the jurisdictions that will start the school year with students learning remotely.
At least one student was suspended at a high school in the Southern state of Georgia for posting a photograph online of a crowded hallway, showing most of the students not wearing masks.
Hannah Watters, 15, a student at North Paulding High School in Dallas, Georgia, tweeted later that she had been reinstated.
Dr. Harry Heiman, a clinical associate professor at Georgia State University's School of Public Health told the Atlanta Journal Constitution newspaper after seeing the photograph that "it's not a question of if that's going to cause spread of the pandemic. It's only a question of how quickly and to how many people."
Superintendent Brian Otott said the school staff had worked hard to create a safe return for the students. He said foot traffic in most of the school's hallways was one-way, but the hallway in the photograph had students moving in both directions to cut down on travel time between classes.
Students and staff are not required to wear masks at the school, although the wearing of masks is a proven way to curb the spreading of the virus.
Fauci: Eradication not possible
The top U.S. infectious-disease expert said the world would never be able to eradicate the coronavirus, but he was hopeful that hundreds of millions of doses of vaccine could be available by the end of this year.
"There will be, I think, enough vaccine if everything turns out to be successful," Dr. Anthony Fauci told VOA contributor Greta Van Susteren. "To get vaccine not only to the countries that are the classical rich countries but those who are low and middle income that would not be able to readily have access to a vaccine - that's what we're hoping to do."
But Fauci has said in the past that there's no guarantee a vaccine will give long-term protection against COVID-19 since it is a new coronavirus and scientists are still learning about it.
In a separate interview with Reuters, Fauci said the virus would never go away because of its "highly transmissible" nature. But he said that with "the combination of a good vaccine and attention to public health measures ... then I think we can get behind this."
According to Johns Hopkins University, there were more than 2,000 COVID-19 deaths in the United States in a 24-hour period ending Thursday night - the highest one-day number since early May.
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, a Republican, canceled plans to meet with President Donald Trump in Cleveland on Thursday when he got word that he had tested positive for COVID-19 and immediately went into quarantine.
In a second, more sensitive COVID-19 test administered later Thursday in Columbus, DeWine tested negative for the coronavirus, according to the governor's office.
Travel restrictions lifted
On Thursday, the U.S. State Department and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lifted the recommendation to Americans to avoid all global travel and replaced it with a number of high-level warnings against heading to individual nations.
"With health and safety conditions improving in some countries and potentially deteriorating in others, the department is returning to our previous system of country-specific levels of travel advice," the State Department said.
Thirty countries are on the Level 4: Do Not Travel list, including India, Russia, Egypt, Libya, Honduras, Kazakhstan and Mexico.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador responded to the U.S. decision to leave his country on the list, telling reporters Friday that Mexico, which ranks sixth worldwide in infections with more than 462,000, has "many fewer problems with the pandemic than the problems that, unfortunately, they are facing." He added: "Our situation is better."
Vietnam, Liberia, Armenia, the Philippines and the entire European Union are in the Level 3: Reconsider Travel category, even though the EU is currently closed to Americans.
The U.S. and EU are in talks to allow Americans to again visit Europe.
In Europe, Britain has added Andorra, the Bahamas and Belgium to the list of countries whose visitors must enter a 14-day quarantine when arriving in the U.K.
And Norwegian Prime Minister Ern Solberg said his country was canceling plans to ease coronavirus restrictions because of a slight rise in the number of cases.
"We need to slow down now to avoid a full stop down the road," Solberg told reporters Thursday.
Among the measures that are now suspended was a plan to allow some travel from several non-European countries, which has been banned since March.