Coronavirus updates: Missouri city bans dancing a la ‘Footloose’; Is virus getting more contagious?; infecting volunteers on purpose mulled

A study by researchers in Houston indicates the coronavirus, which has infected almost 7 million people in the U.S. alone, may have mutated to a more contagious strain if not more deadly.

Help could be on the way. The United Kingdom is considering a plan to intentionally infect healthy volunteers to expedite a determination on which vaccine candidates are effective. And Johnson & Johnson has started the final testing phase of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, the first to reach this point requiring a single dose.

President Donald Trump suggested he may overrule the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s attempt to set a higher standard for vaccine approval. He called the FDA plan “a political move,” while the agency said it’s an effort to gain public trust.

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, who balked at requiring masks, has tested positive for the virus. And the city of St. Charles has banned music in clubs after 11 p.m., citing rowdy crowds on his city’

Some significant developments:

• The Metropolitan Opera in New York has canceled its 2020–2021 season, a first in its nearly 140-year history.
• Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, who has refused to order a statewide face mask mandate, and his wife have both tested positive for COVID-19.

📈 Today’s numbers: The U.S. has reported more than 6.9 million cases, according to Johns Hopkins University data, and more than 201,000 deaths, a total that exceeds the population of cities such as Little Rock, Arkansas, Fort Collins, Colorado, and Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Globally, there have been almost 32 million cases and more than 977,000 fatalities.

📰 What we’re reading: Fever. Chills. Body aches. Shortness of breath. Some people infected with COVID-19 have battled such symptoms for months, wondering if they’d ever feel better again. Now, finally, a treatment program originally intended for geriatric patients is bringing relief for long-suffering patients.

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

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Covid is bad for Oktoberfest, Munich; good for oxen

Oktoberfest devotees have known since April that there would be no massive festival in Munich, Germany, this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But now that the season has arrived, the lack of crowded tents filled with revelers dressed in dirndl skirts and lederhosen shouting “prost!” is having an impact. The loss of Oktoberfest, which had been scheduled to run from Sept. 19 through Oct. 4, is a huge hit for the Bavarian city, which last year saw 6.3 million guests drink 15.5 million pints of beer and consume 124 oxen, among other traditional foods.

United Airlines unveils passenger testing program

United Airlines will roll out a new COVID-19 testing program for passengers beginning Oct. 15. The airline said testing at first will only be available for passengers traveling to Hawaii from San Francisco International Airport. Why Hawaii? The airline, the first in the U.S. to offer rapid testing, has more flights to the state than any other U.S. carrier, and the Aloha State’s new testing requirements begins the same day as United’s.

“We’ll look to quickly expand customer testing to other destinations and U.S. airports later this year,” said Toby Enqvist, the airline’s chief customer officer. Airlines and trade groups have been calling on the federal government to establish a federal testing program and require passengers to wear masks since this summer. All major U.S. airlines now have their own mask policies in place.