Fauci: 'I was very pleased to see the President wearing a mask'

President Donald Trump wears a mask during a July 11 visit to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. Alex Edelman/AFP/Getty Images

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Tuesday that he is pleased President Trump has been seen wearing a mask, adding that it is a signal "from the top" that it is important to slow the spread of Covid-19.

But Fauci also added he doesn't think a federal mask mandate will be effective. He's said this in the past, too.

"I have trust in the American people that if we put a strong emphasis on the importance of wearing masks, that we will come around and do that and get that percentage up above the relatively low percentage of people that are using masks," Fauci said. 

As some GOP lawmakers clash with the White House over the next economic recovery package, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says Republicans have been “dithering.” 

“They’ve wasted 60 days as the crisis gets worse and worse and worse,” Schumer said to CNN’s Alisyn Camerota. 

“It’s hard to negotiate when the President says one thing, Senate Republicans say another, and many of them are divided. We hope they’re going to be unified and present something to us,” he said.

Schumer slammed President Trump’s efforts to deny additional money for testing and tracing. Some GOP senators have stressed that more money for testing is essential in the next stimulus.

“I’m really worried that we won’t have adequate testing in this new bill,” he added.

This week is the last for which $600 federal unemployment benefits will be paid, which has served as a lifeline for many out of work in the country during the pandemic.

“If we don’t renew it, and renew it in a robust way, millions more will sink back into poverty, lose their homes, get kicked out of their apartments and not be able to feed their families,” Schumer said.

“It makes no sense to cut back,” he said. 

Watch:

Coronavirus tests are administered at a facility in the central Iraqi city of Najaf on July 15. AFP/Getty Images

Iraq on Tuesday recorded at least 2,466 new coronavirus cases, according to the country's health ministry. 

This brings the total number of Covid-19 cases in Iraq to at least 97,195 according to the ministry.

The health ministry also reported 81 new Covid-19-related deaths, bringing the total to 3,950 reported deaths across the country.

Medical workers conduct Covid-19 tests in Miami Beach, Florida, on July 17. Jayme Gershen/Bloomberg/Getty Images

There are currently 53 hospitals in Florida that have reached intensive care unity capacity and show zero ICU beds available, according to data released by the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) early this morning. Eight of those hospitals are in Miami-Dade County, the epicenter of the virus in the state.

In the past two weeks, Miami-Dade County has seen an increase in the number of Covid-19 patients being hospitalized (38%), in the number of ICU beds being used (50%) and in the use of ventilators (67%), according to the latest data released by Miami-Dade County Government.

Currently, 39 hospitals have asked the state of Florida for help with nurses, according to an email to CNN from the Florida State Emergency Operations Center. 

Jackson Health System in Miami has asked the state for an additional 275 medical staff, according to Jennifer Piedra, communications and outreach director at the health system. These medical professionals include 50 respiratory therapists, 100 nursing assistants and 125 nurses.

Meanwhile, the Covid-19 positivity rate at the Jackson Health System was a staggering 38% Sunday, the latest metric available, Piedra said. This rate includes all tests processed at the emergency department and tests conducted on inpatients and employees.

In the past 10 days, 146 employees, including 49 nurses, have tested positive for Covid-19, per Piedra. This equates to 1.1% of the total workforce.

So far, the state of Florida has provided Jackson Health with 125 nurses. If the new request to the state is met, that would bring the total medical staff provided to Jackson Health by the state of Florida to 400.

US Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams speaks in the Rose Garden of the White House on May 26. Win McNamee/Getty Images/File

US Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams said Tuesday that the country needs to lower the transmission rate of Covid-19 in order to reopen schools.

Adams added that lowering the transmission rate will also help keep teachers and the adults that live with school-age children safe.

"We know the risk is low to the actual students. But we know they can transmit to others. … We need to take measures to make sure we protect those who are vulnerable either because they are older or they have chronic medical conditions," Adams told CBS' Gayle King.

Dr. Anthony Fauci attends a coronavirus briefing at the White House in April. Alex Wong/Getty Images/File

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Tuesday that he still hasn't heard from the White House on whether or not he will be part of today's coronavirus briefing.

Speaking during an interview on NPR's Morning Edition, Fauci said his attendance at upcoming briefings is "up to the White House." 

When asked if the briefings will help the American people gain trust in the federal government's handling of the pandemic, Fauci said that press conferences have "the potential to do that."

"If we during those conferences come out and have consistent, clear, non-contradictory messages, I believe it would be very helpful in getting people on the track of knowing the direction that we need to go to get this pandemic under control," Fauci told NPR's Rachel Martin.

"I'm hopeful that it will be value added to our effort," Fauci added.

About the briefings: President Trump announced he would soon resume regular public briefings after discontinuing them in April.

But no task force members are currently expected to join Trump at today's 5 p.m. ET news conference, a person familiar with the plan tells CNN, who cautioned that could change. Trump is expected to hold these briefings a few times a week but not on a daily basis like he was earlier in the pandemic.

It's a busy day in Washington, DC, as lawmakers debate coronavirus economic stimulus and the White House revives its public briefings.

If you're just reading in, here's what to watch in the nation's capitol today:

No task force members are currently expected to join President Trump at today's 5 p.m. ET news conference, a person familiar with the plan tells CNN, who cautioned that could change. Trump is expected to hold these briefings a few times a week but not on a daily basis like he was earlier in the pandemic.

There's still an internal split over whether Trump should take the stage, with some aides reminding others how hard they fought to convince Trump to end the briefings after the disastrous one in April about disinfectants.

It caused some confusion inside the West Wing over whether the press secretary should hold a separate briefing as well given the President's will obviously overshadow hers.

CNN's Sanjay Gupta reported earlier that as of early Tuesday morning, Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN that he and Dr. Deborah Birx have still not been told whether they will be in attendance at today’s briefing at the White House.

Some background: Trump took a pair of steps Monday that seemed to offer quiet acknowledgment that the coronavirus strategy he has adopted for the past several weeks — to largely ignore the pandemic — has wounded him politically and failed to contain the raging crisis.

In the Oval Office for a meeting with lawmakers, Trump announced he would soon resume regular public briefings after discontinuing them in April and declaring them a waste of time.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta reports:

A group of nurses protest outside Downing Street demanding a pay rise, effective protection against Covid-19 and highlighting a disproportionately higher mortality rate among ethnic minority groups on June 3 in London. Chris J. Ratcliffe/Getty Images

British public sector workers are getting a pay rise in recognition for their work during the pandemic -- but nurses are not included. 

The UK government announced Tuesday that it will give above-inflation pay rises to 900,000 public workers including teachers, police officers, doctors and dentists, and senior civil servants. 

Teachers will get the highest rise at 3.1%, while doctors can expect a 2.8% hike, the government said. It added that the two groups will get the biggest pay hikes in recognition of “their efforts on the frontline during the battle against COVID-19.”

In the announcement, the government said nurses and other health care workers are excluded from the pay rises, because their salaries have already been boosted under a three-year deal agreed in 2018. That argument did not go down well with nurses and their supporters.

Laura Duffell, a matron nurse at the King's College Hospital in London said she and her colleagues were left in shock at Tuesday's announcement that nurses won't be included in the pay rises. "If anything, we thought we'd be on top of the list," she said. "You can feel the severe disappointment ... it's almost proving to us that we're not as appreciated as we had hoped."

Earlier this month, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), a nurses’ trade union, sent an open letter to the the UK treasury chief Rishi Sunak, demanding more money for nurses. It said that the deal agreed in 2018 was “a start after years of pay capping and freezes but did not restore the value lost over a longer period. More must now be done.” 

Many nurses and their supporters complained on Twitter about the government encouraging the public to applaud for health care workers every Thursday during the peak of the pandemic, but stopping short of delivering an actual pay rise. 

"The clapping that keeps being referred to as a show of the appreciation for nurses in the NHS. I think it has almost left really bitter taste in people's mouths now," Duffell said. She added:

Nurses' salaries start just below £25,000 ($30,000) a year in the UK. That's about £5,000 ($6,000) below the country’s median salary. With more experience, pay for most can rise to around £37,000 a year. 

"The applause and kind words were a short-term morale boost for many health workers, but now it is time to begin these pay discussions without delay," the union said in the letter.

The union added that the low pay is a major reason for many to leave the profession. Last week, the RCN released a survey that said that 36% of nurses are considering quitting -- a big jump from the 27% last year.

The union said that of those thinking of leaving, 61% said pay is a factor, while 44% said they consider quitting because of the way they were treated during the pandemic.

The UK cannot afford to lose nurses -- there are currently around 40,000 nursing vacancies in England alone.