Mexico shuts Arizona border due to virus
The Mexican state of Sonora is temporarily shutting its border with neighboring Arizona to prevent an influx of coronavirus infections over the Fourth of July holiday weekend.
Sonora Gov. Claudia Pavlovich said the measure would prohibit nonessential travel so foreign visitors don’t place “a greater burden” on her virus-stricken state, a popular summer destination among American tourists.
Arizona is one of at least 40 U.S. states dealing with a spike of coronavirus cases in recent weeks, along with California, Florida, North Carolina, Texas and others. The Grand Canyon State recorded nearly 5,000 new infections Wednesday, a record high. Overall, more than 90,000 people have tested positive and about 1,800 have died across the state, according to the state Department of Health Services.
Sonora, meanwhile, is dealing with a surge of its own. The Mexican state has confirmed more than 9,300 cases and at least 950 deaths, an official government tally shows.
In a statement earlier this week, Ms. Pavlovich said her state would be on high alert to prevent tourists from going to Sonora’s beaches or mountains unless they’re crossing the border for essential health, work or commercial activities.
Trump-touted drug to get new clinical trial
The antimalarial drug that President Donald Trump touted for COVID-19 is getting another chance, as a global clinical trial will try to determine the treatment’s effectiveness in preventing coronavirus infection.
A trial led by Bangkokbased Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit is now recruiting health workers in contact with COVID-19 patients to study whether hydroxychloroquine or its sister drug, chloroquine, can prevent the infection.
The effectiveness of the two treatments has been hotly debated after Mr. Trump touted them as potential gamechangers against the virus. One study that showed the drugs were linked to an increased risk of death and heart ailments was retracted last month.
“This drug has been more intensely politicized than anything else I’ve ever heard of,” said Nicholas White, professor of tropical medicine and co-principal investigator of the study. “It became very polarizing and had a very, very damaging effect on the one thing we all want to find out, which is the truth.”
Although a U.K. trial recently reported that hydroxychloroquine wasn’t effective when used on hospitalized patients, the focus of that study and many others was on using the drug to treat COVID19, not to prevent infections.
Macron replaces PM in bid for reinvigoration
President Emmanuel Macron shuffled prime ministers on Friday, removing the most popular member of his government and a potential rival in a bid to get a fresh start in the wake of a coronavirus outbreak that has hit France hard.
Mr. Macron traded in his prime minister of three years, Edouard Philippe, for a relatively unknown technocrat, Jean Castex, who has helped guide France out of the health emergency.
But the president has taken a chance in distancing himself from Mr. Philippe: The outgoing prime minister is the only French political leader to emerge from the health crisis with sharply enhanced credibility. By pushing out Mr. Philippe, Mr. Macron is testing the political strategy of keeping one’s rivals close at hand.
Mr. Macron made the move in the face of an economic emergency, by his own tenuous public support and by a recent surge in popularity for Green parties.