COVID-19 Updates: Big East cancels fall sports as Big 12 moves forward

NEW YORK (WABC) -- The Big East became the latest collegiate athletic conference to cancel fall sports competition Wednesday.

The Conference says it will assess alternative options to stage fall sports contests during the spring of 2021.

Meanwhile, officials announced the Big 12 Conference will move forward with its fall sports program.

Athletes in high-contact sports including football will get three COVID-19 tests per week, officials said.

Schools not in the Big 12 Conference must follow those testing rules in the week leading up to games against Big 12 schools, officials said.

On Tuesday, the Big Ten Conference announced the postponement of the 2020-21 fall sports season, including all regular-season contests and Big Ten Championships and Tournaments, due to ongoing health and safety concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Here are more of today's headlines:

AMC THEATRES REOPENING

AMC Theatres announced its reopening plan in an email to its "A List" members.

The theater chain will open the doors to more than 100 theatres on August 20.

The company says it will release the list of theaters that are reopening on its website Thursday morning.

AMC plans to have approximately two-thirds of its theatres open no later than September 3.

Additionally, the company plans to offer new first-run movies including Disney's "X-Men: The New Mutants," "Tenet" and "Unhinged."

The chain will fill other theaters with classic movies.

HOMELESS DEBATE

Thousands of homeless people are being housed in hotels on the Upper West Side of Manhattan amid the coronavirus pandemic, over worries of the threat COVID-19 causes for residents in shelters.

But the response from New Yorkers has not exactly been to roll out the welcome wagon, and the controversy continues to grow.

NYC TEACHERS, PRINCIPALS PUSH FOR DELAY

Teachers and principals across New York City are asking the education department to delay the start of in-person learning past Sept. 10 for 1.1 million public school students.

The union representing public school principals and other administrators on Wednesday wrote a letter to Mayor Bill de Blasio and Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza. In the letter, the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators said they still do not have sufficient answers to many concerns and teachers having less than 15 working days to prepare is not enough.

NJ POSITIVITY RATE UP

Gov. Phil Murphy announced the percent positivity rate for tests from August 8 was 2.09%, while the rate of transmission currently sits at 0.92.

"We need to keep these numbers down," Murphy said. "Keep social distancing, wearing a mask and washing your hands."

SUNSET PARK UPTICK

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that there has been an uptick of positive coronavirus cases in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. He said the uptick of 228 cases was found by doing hyper-local testing through the Test & Trace Corps. "We now have a warning light," Mayor Bill de Blasio said. The city will offer expanded testing capacity, door knocking, and perform phone calls. There will also be two mobile testing units in the area.

NJ SCHOOLS ANNOUNCEMENT

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy cleared all schools to reopen for the academic year with the option to start the school year without in-person classes, a major change from his previous directive. The decision comes after three school districts announced they would start the academic year with 100% remote learning due to a teacher shortage after hundreds of educators said they would not return to the classroom.

NY COMIC CON GOES DIGITAL

New York Comic Con is moving into a virtual reality this year. They are teaming up with YouTube to still hold the event, but by bringing it into fans' homes. The annual convention is normally held at the Javits Center in October. The virtual New York Comic Con will take place October 8-11.

Comic Con is teaming up with YouTube to have a virtual event.

1,000 STUDENTS QUARANTINED IN 1 GEORGIA DISTRICT

A Georgia school district has quarantined more than 900 students and staff members because of possible exposure to the coronavirus since classes resumed last week and will temporarily shut down a hard-hit high school in which a widely shared photo showed dozens of maskless students posing together.

RECORD TESTING IN NEW YORK

Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that 87,776 COVID-19 tests were reported to New York State Tuesday, a new record high for tests in a single day. "We're continuing to move forward protecting New Yorkers, slowing the spread and saving lives as the COVID-19 pandemic rages throughout much of the country and threatens the reduction in the numbers we've achieved here at home," Cuomo said. "New York is reaching new heights in its ability to track and trace the virus, and that's evidenced by the record number of tests-nearly 88,000-that were reported yesterday. As we prepare for the fall, I urge everyone to wear masks, socially distance and wash their hands, and I urge local governments to enforce state guidance on reopening."

ANTIBODY TREATMENTS

The antibody treatment drugs are believed to last for a month or more and could give quick, temporary immunity to people at high risk of infection, such as health workers and housemates of someone with COVID-19. If they proved effective and if a vaccine doesn't materialize or protect as hoped, the drugs might eventually be considered for wider use, perhaps for teachers or other groups. They're also being tested as treatments, to help the immune system and prevent severe symptoms or death. One company, Eli Lilly, has already started manufacturing its antibody drug, betting that studies now underway will give positive results. Another company that developed an antibody drug cocktail against Ebola - Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. - now is testing one for coronavirus. Others working on antibody drugs include Amgen and Adaptive Biotechnologies. The Singapore biotech company Tychan Pte Ltd. also is testing an antibody drug and has similar products in development for Zika virus and yellow fever.

NY SCHOOL'S SUCCESS WITH IN-PERSON LEARNING

Blythdale's Children Hospital has 0 coronavirus cases since starting in-person learning in early-July

HOW THE VIRUS SPREADS INDOORS

It's a fierce debate taking place across the Tri-State Area and the country right now, whether students and teachers should be heading back to the classroom and how it can be done safely. For the first time, we're getting a glimpse of what you can't see in the air -- how viruses spread indoors. Researchers at the University of Minnesota did a first of its kind study showing how viruses can spread indoors and how filtering germs out of the room can be maximized depending on where the ventilation system is located.

NYC CHECKPOINTS LIST

New York City is continuing to hold checkpoints at various locations to try to stop the spread of COVID-19.

Hundreds of nursing homes still aren't allowing visitation amid coronavirus pandemic

Dan Krauth reports nearly five months after the coronavirus pandemic started, thousands of families in New York still haven't been able to visit their loved homes in nursing homes

COVID-19 Help, Information. Stimulus and Business Updates

UPDATES

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REOPENING INFORMATION

What's Open, What's Closed

Reopening New York State

Reopening New Jersey

Reopening Connecticut

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