TheWest Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) reportsas of 10:00 a.m., November 24, 2020, there have been 1,048,077 total confirmatory laboratory results receivedfor COVID-19, with 42,083 total cases and 682 deaths.
DHHRhas confirmed the deaths of a 94-yearold male from Wayne County, a 78-year old female from Cabell County, a 70-yearold male from Fayette County, an 80-year old male from Mineral County, a 74-yearold female from Marshall County, a 90-year old female from Mineral County, a 35-yearold female from Ohio County, an 84-year old female from Marion County, an 87-yearold female from Wood County, a 92-year old female from Ritchie County, a 79-yearold male from Wood County, a 70-year old female from Kanawha County, an 81-yearold male from Kanawha County, a 70-year old male from Mineral County, and an 83-yearold male from Mingo County.
Our thoughts arewith the families who have lost loved ones, said Bill J. Crouch, DHHR CabinetSecretary. Now, more than ever, we must be diligent in our efforts to controlthe spread of this virus for the health of our loved ones if not for ourselves.
CASESPER COUNTY: Barbour (357), Berkeley (2,799),Boone (593), Braxton (103), Brooke (566), Cabell (2,640), Calhoun (62), Clay(107), Doddridge (114), Fayette (1,065), Gilmer (192), Grant (307), Greenbrier(412), Hampshire (288), Hancock (569), Hardy (212), Harrison (1,156), Jackson(667), Jefferson (1,206), Kanawha (5,316), Lewis (226), Lincoln (385), Logan(1,006), Marion (757), Marshall (1,070), Mason (367), McDowell (585), Mercer(1,252), Mineral (1,028), Mingo (939), Monongalia (3,107), Monroe (342), Morgan(238), Nicholas (309), Ohio (1,357), Pendleton (100), Pleasants (76),Pocahontas (107), Preston (479), Putnam (1,710), Raleigh (1,441), Randolph(646), Ritchie (133), Roane (152), Summers (260), Taylor (279), Tucker (112),Tyler (127), Upshur (454), Wayne (930), Webster (54), Wetzel (378), Wirt (92),Wood (2,236), Wyoming (618).
Please note that delaysmay be experienced with the reporting of information from the local healthdepartment to DHHR. As case surveillance continues at the local healthdepartment level, it may reveal that those tested in a certain county may notbe a resident of that county, or even the state as an individual in questionmay have crossed the state border to be tested. Such is the case of Lincoln County in this report.
Please visit the dashboard located at www.coronavirus.wv.gov for more information.
Free COVID-19 testing is available today in Barbour, Berkeley, Boone, Cabell,Grant, Hancock, Jackson, Jefferson, Lincoln, Logan, Marshall, Mason, Mineral, Mingo,Morgan, Ohio, Putnam, Ritchie, Taylor, Wayne, Wood, and Wyoming counties.
BarbourCounty
8:00 AM 12:00 PM, Myers Clinic, 3 Health Care Drive, Philippi, WV
12:00 PM 4:00 PM, Belington Clinic, 56 N. Brandenburg Street, Belington,WV
1:00 PM 5:00 PM, Junior Volunteer Fire Department, 331 Row Avenue,Belington, WV
BerkeleyCounty
12:00 PM 4:00 PM, Hedgesville High School, 109 Ridge Road N.,Hedgesville, WV
1:00 PM 5:00 PM, Shenandoah Community Health, 99 Tavern Road,Martinsburg, WV
4:30 PM 8:00 PM, Dorothy McCormack Building, 2000 Foundation Way,Martinsburg, WV
BooneCounty
10:00 AM 3:00 PM, Boone County Health Department, 213 Kenmore Drive,Danville, WV
BrookeCounty
9:00 AM 4:00 PM, Brooke Middle School, 5 Bruin Drive, Wellsburg, WV
CabellCounty
9:00 AM 2:00 PM, Cabell-Huntington Health Department, 703 Seventh Avenue,Huntington, WV
GrantCounty
10:00 AM 3:30 PM, Union Education Complex, 52 Tiger Drive, Mt. Storm, WV(School at Mt. Storm)
HancockCounty
9:00 AM 1:00 PM, JD Rockefeller Vo Tech, 80 Rockefeller Circle, New Cumberland,WV
JacksonCounty
1:00 PM 5:00 PM, Ravenswood Senior Center, 511 Washington Street,Ravenswood, WV
JeffersonCounty
9:00 AM 11:00 AM, Shepherd University, 164 University Drive,Shepherdstown, WV
12:30 PM 3:30 PM, Jefferson County Health Department, 1948Wiltshire Road, Kearneysville, WV
4:30 PM 6:30 PM, Washington High School, 300 Washington PatriotDrive, Charles Town, WV
LincolnCounty
10:00 AM 2:00 PM, Lincoln County Health Department, 8008 Court Avenue,Hamlin, WV
11:00 AM 3:00 PM, Whites Plaza, Hamlin Piggly Wiggly, Hamlin, WV
LoganCounty
3:00 PM 7:00 PM, Tracy Vickers Community Center,68 Boise Street, Chapmanville, WV
Marshall County
10:00 AM 2:00 PM, Marshall County HealthDepartment, 513 6th Street, Moundsville, WV
Mason County
10:00 AM 12:00 PM, Wahama High School, 1 WhiteFalcon Way, Mason, WV
10:00 AM 12:00 PM, RC Byrd Locks, Apple Grove, WV
Mineral County
9:00 AM 12:00 PM, Mineral County Fairgrounds,Route 28, Fort Ashby, WV
2:00 PM 5:00 PM, Mineral County VoTech, 981 HarleyO Staggers Drive, Keyser, WV
Mingo County
9:00 AM 12:00 PM, Mount Hope Freewill BaptistCollege, Old County Road, Dingess, WV
9:00 AM 2:00 PM, Williamson Health and Wellness,173 East 2nd Avenue, Williamson, WV (Under tent)
10:00 AM 3:00 PM, Hurley Drug Company, 210 LoganStreet, Williamson, WV (by appointment; call 304-235-3535)
1:30 PM 5:00 PM, Chattaroy Volunteer FireDepartment, 1 Firefighter Lane, Williamson, WV
Morgan County
12:00 PM 7:00 PM, Warm Springs Middle School, 271Warm Springs Way, Berkeley Springs, WV
OhioCounty
11:00 AM 4:00 PM, Valley Grove Volunteer FireDepartment, 355 Fire House Lane, Valley Grove, WV
11:00 AM 4:00 PM, Warwood Fire Station 9, 1301Richland Avenue, Wheeling, WV
11:00 AM 4:00 PM, Wheeling Island Fire DepartmentStation 5, 11 North Wabash Street, Wheeling, WV
Putnam County
10:00 AM 2:00 PM, Teays Valley Church of God, 185 Connection Point, ScottDepot, WV
Ritchie County
11:00 AM 6:00 PM, Ritchie County High School, RitchieCounty School Road, Ellenboro, WV (pre-registration: www.ipsumcovidresults.com)
Taylor County
12:00 PM 2:00 PM, First Baptist Church of Grafton,2034 Webster Pike US Route 119 South, Grafton, WV
Wayne County
10:00 AM 2:00 PM, Wayne County Health Department,217 Kenova Avenue, Wayne, WV
Wood County
12:00 PM 4:00 PM, Parkersburg High School, 2101Dudley Avenue, Parkersburg, WV (pre-registration: www.ipsumcovidresults.com)
Wyoming County
11:00 AM 4:00 PM, Council on Aging at Maben, 695 MountaineerHighway, Mullins, WV
Please visit https://dhhr.wv.gov/COVID-19/pages/testing.aspx for more testing locations including the new locator map. Newsites are added daily.
The European region accounted for 44% of global new cases and 49% of global new deaths in the past week, according to the latest weekly WHO report, released Tuesday.
While the number of new cases in the region is declining on a weekly basis, the number of deaths is still rising, with 32,684 new fatalities reported in the previous seven days.
This update comes as countries across the continent grapple with how to allow people to celebrate upcoming holidays, including Christmas, and mitigate the economic pain to businesses while countering the pandemic.
France and the United Kingdom both set out plans Tuesday for the coming weeks based on falling infection rates following lockdown measures.
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, on Wednesday called on EU leaders not to relax their coronavirus restrictions too quickly.
"I know that shop owners, bartenders and waiters in restaurants want an end to restrictions, but we must learn from the summer and not repeat the same mistakes," she told the European Parliament in Brussels. "Relaxing too fast and too much is a risk for a third wave after Christmas."
Von der Leyen said she had warned weeks ago that this Christmas would be different, and quieter, than usual, and urged solidarity between European nations.
But, she added, "there is also good news, the European Commission by now has secured contracts on vaccines with six pharmaceutical companies, the first European citizens might already be vaccinated before the end of December, and there's finally light at the end of the tunnel."
The European Commission announced Tuesday that it had secured a contract with pharmaceutical company Moderna for up to 160 million doses of its Covid-19 vaccine.
According to the WHO report, the global acceleration in case incidence has slowed down over the past week, with around 4 million new cases recorded. However, death rates continued to increase, with more than 67,000 new deaths reported across the world.
The number of new cases reported in the European region in the past week declined by 6% to 1.77 million, after a decline of 10% in the previous week, the report said, "in a sign that the reintroduction of stricter public health and social measures in a number of countries over the last few weeks is beginning to slow down transmission."
But despite this downward trend, "the European Region remains the largest contributor to new cases and new deaths in the past 7 days," the report said. The European region, as defined by WHO, encompasses 53 countries.
Italy reported the highest number of new cases in the region and the third-highest globally, with 235,979, but, according to WHO, cases may have peaked given the 3% decline reported there. The number of new deaths increased in the country by 26% last week, to 4,578.
The second largest global contributor to new cases and deaths was the Americas region, with 1.6 million new cases -- an increase of 11% on the previous week -- and 22,005 new deaths, up 15% on the previous week, according to WHO.
The majority of those were in the United States, which reported over 1.1 new million cases, a 14% increase from the previous week, while deaths increased in the US over that period by 23%, with 9,918. The Americas region continues to account for the greatest proportion of cumulative cases and deaths, according to WHO figures.
UK plans 'Christmas bubble'
Despite some positive signs, parts of Europe continue to grapple with a relentless second wave of Covid-19 infections.
Germany recorded 410 deaths related to coronavirus in the past 24 hours -- the highest single-day jump in fatalities since the outbreak began, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the country's disease and control agency, said Wednesday.
It was the first time that more than 400 Covid-19 deaths were recorded by Germany in a single day. A total of 18,633 new infections were registered in the past 24 hours, according to RKI.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is set to meet state governors on Wednesday to decide on new measures to try to bring the surge under control. Among the measures to be debated is an extension of the current, lighter restrictions until the end of December, additional mask mandates for schools and further restrictions on the number of contacts people are allowed to have.
Meanwhile, Poland reported 674 coronavirus deaths on Wednesday, a new daily record for the nation. The total number of deaths connected to Covid-19 has reached 14,888, its health ministry tweeted. There were also 15,362 new cases reported in the last day, bringing the total number of cases to 942,442.
The latest WHO figures brought some relief for the United Kingdom, which has suffered the highest number of Covid-related deaths overall in Europe, with 55,935 in total, according to the latest figures from Johns Hopkins University.
The UK registered a 13% decrease of new cases from last week, with 149,027 reported, while the number of new deaths remained similar, according to the WHO. This decrease in new cases was the first weekly decline since late August, the report said.
A month-long partial lockdown in England is due to end on December 2, to be replaced by three-tiered restrictions based on local infection rates. Devolved governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have imposed their own measures.
The UK government said Tuesday it would allow for up to three households to form a "Christmas bubble" and mix indoors, outdoors and in places of worship from December 23 to 28 across the UK. There will be no restrictions on travel across the country for that time period even if some areas are under tighter measures than others, the government said.
"This cannot be a 'normal' Christmas. But as we approach the festive period, we have been working closely together to find a way for family and friends to see each other, even if it is for a short time, and recognising that it must be both limited and cautious," a government news release said.
Macron: We avoided the worst
Across the Channel in France, President Emmanuel Macron said the country would start to lift Covid-19 lockdown restrictions this weekend because of a slowdown in the spread of virus.
In an address to the nation, Macron said the latest figures showed that more than 50,000 people had died from Covid-19 in France but the number of patients in ICUs was on the decline. "It appears that the peak of the second wave of the epidemic has passed; we dreaded even worse numbers and avoided them," he said.
As of Saturday, shops, boutiques and hairdressers will be allowed to open until 9 p.m., but people will still need to carry a certificate with an approved reason to leave the house. Internal travel restrictions will also be eased and places of worship can reopen with a maximum of 30 people gathered at the same time.
The lockdown could be lifted further on December 15, if the daily number of cases drops under 5,000 and there are only 2,000 to 3,000 patients in hospital ICUs. "We will therefore once again be able to travel without authorization, including between regions, and spend Christmas with our family," Macron said.
In that instance, French cinemas, theaters and museums would also be allowed to open, but bars, clubs and restaurant will remain closed. There will be a curfew from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m., except at Christmas and the New Year.
Macron said a decision on opening ski and winter sport resorts had not yet been made yet but warned that it looked "impossible to envisage an opening for the holidays." From January 20, a third stage of easing that would allow restaurants to open could go ahead if the number of daily cases stays below 5,000.
The President said vaccination for those at highest risk was expected to roll out at the end of December or early January.
Belgian businesses urge reopening
As Belgium's neighbors begin opening up their stores, the Belgian federation of commerce and services, Comeos, warned the country "will not become an island of closed shops but rather an island of bankrupt shops, while Belgian money is spent abroad."
"If everything remains closed with us, everyone will go across the border also for their Christmas shopping," Dominique Michel, CEO of Comeos, said in a statement.
According to Comeos, which represents 18 business sectors in Belgium and more than 400,000 employees, half of all Belgians live within 50 kilometers (31 miles) of an international border.
Earlier this week, the Belgian National Crisis Centre urged Belgians not to travel abroad over Christmas and New Year, warning trips to neighboring countries would "cancel out our efforts" in reducing the spread of the coronavirus.
Belgium's Consultative Committee -- made up of leaders from the three regional governments and federal government -- is due to meet Friday to assess the measures currently in place and discuss ways the country would be able to celebrate Christmas.
Belgium's strict lockdown measures were put in place on November 2 and are due to last until December 13.
Announcing the lockdown, Prime Minister Alexander de Croo said a decision would be made by December 1 regarding a possible reopening of shops and services.
Ireland to ease restrictions
The Irish government is set to ease restrictions for nearly two weeks around the Christmas period and is considering allowing up to three household to gather for the holidays, deputy premier Leo Varadkar told state broadcaster RTE Wednesday.
"We know people are going to do it anyway, so it's better we provide for it in a safe way," Varadkar told RTE.
Strict restrictions have been in place in Ireland since October, with social gatherings at homes or in gardens banned and restaurants, cafes and bars only open for takeaway.
Shops, gyms and hairdressing could be among the first services to reopen, RTE reports, with a timeline for bars and restaurants still under consideration.
Meanwhile, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis said Tuesday he aimed to offer all citizens voluntary free antigen testing for Covid-19 by Christmas, the Czech Health Ministry told CNN.
"I would very much like us to meet this challenge to allow all citizens, at least a week or 10 days before Christmas, to be able to be tested voluntarily and for free with antigen tests," Babis said.
CNN's Antonia Mortensen, Frederik Pleitgen, Lindsay Isaac, Amy Cassidy, Pierre Bairin, Stephanie Halasz and Zahid Mahmood contributed to this report.
News Release
Wednesday, November 25, 2020
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), one of the National Institutes of Health, today announced that the fourth iteration of the Adaptive COVID-19 Treatment Trial (ACTT-4) has begun to enroll hospitalized adults with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) who require supplemental oxygen. The NIAID-sponsored trial will enroll up to 1,500 patients at approximately 100 sites in the United States and other countries.
Participants will be assigned at random to one of two treatment arms of equal size. One group will receive both dexamethasone, a corticosteroid available as a generic drug, and remdesivir, a broad-spectrum antiviral discovered and developed by Gilead Sciences, Inc., of Foster City, California. Remdesivir, also known as Veklury, was recently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of COVID-19 in hospitalized patients aged 12 years and older. The second group will receive remdesivir and baricitinib (brand name Olumiant), a modulator of inflammation that is approved by FDA to treat certain adult patients with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. It was discovered by Incyte and licensed to Eli Lilly and Company, Indianapolis, Indiana. On November 19, FDA granted Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for baricitinib in combination with remdesivir to treat suspected or laboratory confirmed COVID-19 in hospitalized patients aged 2 years and older who require supplemental oxygen, invasive mechanical ventilation, or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.
The trial is blinded for the dexamethasone and baricitinib components, meaning investigators and participants will not know who is receiving dexamethasone and who is receiving baricitinib. Dexamethasone is administered by intravenous (IV) infusion, and baricitinib is a tablet taken orally. Therefore, one group will receive oral baricitinib tablets and an IV placebo, and the other group will receive IV dexamethasone and oral placebo tablets. All participants will receive intravenous remdesivir.
ACTT-1 began in February and tested remdesivir compared to placebo in hospitalized adult COVID-19 patients. Interim results, published in May, showed that remdesivir shortened the time to recovery. The ACTT-1 final results were published in the New England Journal of Medicine on November 5.
Baricitinib was tested in combination with remdesivir in ACTT-2, which enrolled 1,033 adults hospitalized with COVID-19. The primary results of this study were announced by Lilly in September, and peer-reviewed results are forthcoming. ACTT-2 findings indicated that the combination of baricitinib and remdesivir shortened the time to recovery relative to treatment with a placebo and remdesivir. The EUA of baricitinib was based, in part, on the FDAs review of the data from the ACTT-2 trial.
Dexamethasone was evaluated in the global Randomized Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy (RECOVERY) trial sponsored by the University of Oxford. Trial results showed that patients receiving dexamethasone demonstrated a lower mortality rate compared with patients receiving usual care.
To date, dexamethasone and baricitinib are the only two therapies that reduce inflammation that have demonstrated efficacy for the treatment of hospitalized adults with COVID-19 in large, randomized clinical trials. However, the differences in study populations, mortality rates and endpoint data collected in the ACTT-2 and RECOVERY trials make it difficult to make firm conclusions about the value of the interventions in various patient populations. ACTT-4 aims to determine whether baricitinib or dexamethasone, when administered with remdesivir, is more effective at preventing hospitalized adults on supplemental oxygen from progressing to requiring mechanical ventilation or death, among other outcomes, or if they are similar.
Investigators will assess participants clinical status daily using an eight-point ordinal scale ranging from a return to baseline pre-COVID-19 status and not hospitalized, to death. If discharged from the hospital, clinical status data will be collected during outpatient visits on days 15, 22, 29 and 60. The trial will evaluate the difference in the proportion of participants surviving without requiring invasive mechanical ventilation between the two treatment arms. A key secondary goal is to compare overall clinical status at day 15 in each group by comparing differences in the distribution of the eight-point ordinal scale in each group.
The trial is expected to take approximately three to four months to fully enroll. For more information about the trial, please visit clinicaltrials.gov and search identifier NCT04640168.
NIAID conducts and supports researchat NIH, throughout the United States, and worldwideto study the causes of infectious and immune-mediated diseases, and to develop better means of preventing, diagnosing and treating these illnesses. News releases, fact sheets and other NIAID-related materials are available on the NIAID website.
About the National Institutes of Health (NIH):NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.
NIHTurning Discovery Into Health
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Its not just that fewer babies will be bornits also that different babies will likely be born, to different parents. As I wrote in July, white parents and parents with more resources might be better able to go through with their pre-pandemic childbirth plans than parents of color and parents with fewer resources, such as those who have lost earnings or jobs during the pandemic. In addition, the proportion of births that are unintended (whether planned for later or not wanted at all) may rise.
Read: The future of the city is childless
The children of the baby bust may even have some small advantages, by virtue of having a reduced pool of peers nationwide. They could have slightly smaller class sizes growing up, as well as a slightly easier time getting into college or landing a good job.
It doesnt necessarily follow, though, that kids born in 2022 and beyond will have overcrowded classrooms and unusually stiff labor-market competition; the experts I consulted did not expect every missed birth next year to be made up down the line. Some women will age out of fertility, but even for those who dont, many couples are likely to experience persistent earnings and income loss on account of this economic crisis, Kearney explained. That will mean fewer babies born ever, not just this year.
Researchers, however, are not expecting a post-pandemic baby boom to follow this bust.
There is a precedent, after some events with high or highly publicized death tolls, for birth rates to eventually rise above a previous baseline. For instance, researchers have documented localized increases in births for five years after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami in Indonesia (which killed around 200,000 people in the country) and the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing (which killed 168 people). And, famously, baby booms have often followed wars.
These patterns arose for different reasons. In Indonesia, many children and women of childbearing age died, and the rise in fertility reflected the formation of new unions and the rebuilding of families in the disasters aftermath, says Jenna Nobles, a sociologist at the University of Wisconsin at Madison who has studied the tsunamis effects. In Oklahoma, the explanation was not as straightforward; Joe Rodgers, a psychology professor at Vanderbilt University who researched the effects of the bombing, theorizes that the extra births could have been the result of a combination of increased community solidarity, a renewed appreciation for the fragility of life, and a sharper focus on the meaningfulness of family. And after a war, explains the UCLA sociologist Patrick Heuveline, a spike in births can result simply from soldiers coming home and reuniting with their partners en masse.
Though COVID-19s death toll in the U.S. is hugesome 250,000 and countingthe pandemics multifaceted nature and distribution of deaths (which have been concentrated among older Americans) distinguish it from those events. This crisis is not just sending ripples of loss across American families. Its also an economic crisis, a child-care crisis for parents, an upending of our social institutions and way of life, and of course an ongoing public-health threat, Emily Smith-Greenaway, a sociologist at the University of Southern California, told me. I increasingly doubt that this crisis is being experienced principally as a mortality shock.
The letter states that COVID-19 is in our communities, touching all of us in one way or another. These nurses also addressed COVID fatigue and how we all have that but stress the importance of doubling down on these safety measures, especially with the holidays approaching.
Hale Powell, 71, was charged with assault and battery and false threat of a biological agent, Ashburnham Police said in a statement.
Powell is accused of spitting on two hikers who were not wearing masks last week at the Hudson Overlook on the Midstate Trail in Ashburnham, calling them selfish and "completely irresponsible."
Face masks or cloth coverings are required in all public places in Massachusetts, indoors and outdoors, even if people are able to maintain six feet of social distancing, according to a revised November 6 order from Gov. Charlie Baker.
Powell pleaded not guilty to the charges in Winchendon District Court on Tuesday, according to a statement from the Worcester County District Attorney's office. CNN has reached out to Powell and his attorney, Robert Normandin, for comment.
Powell was released on his own recognizance and ordered to have no contact with the alleged victims, get a Covid-19 test and quarantine for 14 days, according to Assistant District Attorney Marc Dupuis. Those test results will be shared with the court and the two victims, Dupuis added.
Powell was arrested without incident at his home in Westford Tuesday, police said.
In a video of the incident, the man can be heard asking the two hikers "You're not wearing a mask?" when one of the women interrupts him.
"I don't care, I'm not gonna wear a mask when I'm outside."
"That's not the law, that's not the law," the man responds, as the camera pans up from the ground to show the man walking away.
Moments later, he turns around and says "Selfish is what it is, completely irresponsible."
"Okay, thank you so much for your input," the woman responds.
The man keeps walking away but pulls his mask down, turns around and begins to walk back toward the women. The woman with him tries to grab his arm to stop him, but he continues toward the other two hikers.
"Okay, I have Covid," he says, spitting twice at the women, who are just feet away. "I have Covid, I've been tested positive," he adds, spitting at the women again.
He then laughs and walks away.
Police said they received "numerous tips" from the public and that their investigation is ongoing.
CNN's Mirna Alsharif contributed to this report.
The first round of treating Covid-19 patients in New Jersey was brutal. Victorine Long Njaka, a nurse at Trinitas Regional Medical Center in Elizabeth, cant shake the memory of a 34-year-old patient from last spring. He could barely breathe, and was so weakened by the virus, he seemed to have lost his will to live.
Long Njaka, 37, couldnt bear more deaths of people her age. Her brain was overloaded with the constant calls over the hospital intercom for coronavirus patients in respiratory or cardiac arrest Code Blue 19 and with all the bodies she had escorted to the morgue.
Night after night, she and other nurses tried to calm his new wife, six months pregnant with their first child, on FaceTime. But she feared they were losing him.
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On her next shift, she strode into her patients room. Look at me, she said. I dont know how it feels to have Covid, but you have to fight for your wife and baby. You are only 34.
I was talking to him like he was my brother, constantly reminding him to keep fighting, Long Njaka told STAT. And do you know what? That man made it home.
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The initial wave in New Jersey crested in late April, and life in the hospital slowly returned to a semblance of normalcy. But now Long Njaka and thousands of health care workers in New Jersey are bracing themselves to do it all again. The positivity rate in Newark, the states largest city, has hit 30% in some neighborhoods, and Mayor Ras Baraka is begging residents to stay at home for the 10-day period beginning on the day before Thanksgiving.
Its coming back, and all we can do is put on our masks, use our face shields, treat everyone like they have Covid, and sanitize, sanitize, sanitize, Long Njaka said. I believe God made me a nurse. I care about my patients and I am here to take care of them. So that is what I will do.
Doctors and nurses say that they feel better prepared to deal with the coronavirus than in the spring, when so little was known about it. Because it was hit so hard in the first wave, New Jerseys per capita death rate remains the highest in the country.
But the recent numbers are discouraging. On Sunday, the state reported 3,968 new cases of the coronavirus, more than double the 1,743 new cases reported on Nov. 1. And the states hospitalization rates have tripled in the past month, from 732 on Oct. 17 to 2,446 on Nov. 17. While they are far short of the 8,000 who were hospitalized in April, as the days shorten, the temperature drops, flu season deepens, and the holidays loom, many depleted frontline workers are preparing for another season of difficulty.
Each week, cases are higher than the week prior, and you can look and see whats coming, said Erin Muckey, assistant professor of emergency medicine at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and medical director of the emergency department at University Hospital in Newark.
I have a bad case of dj vu.
I believe God made me a nurse. I care about my patients and I am here to take care of them. So that is what I will do.
Victorine Long Njaka, nurse at Trinitas Regional Medical Center
Last spring, traveling nurses and doctors, eager to help in the overflowing hospitals, poured into New Jersey and New York from all parts of the country. But with the virus now surging nationwide, New Jersey hospitals must draw on their own resources of emotionally drained staff.
And while at least two promising vaccines offer hope, they are are weeks, if not months, away from wide distribution, though frontline health workers could start being inoculated in December.
This time around, theres a bit of apprehension and trepidation thats different from last time, said Muckey, 34. In the spring, we had a fear of the unknown because we were on this ride and didnt know what was going to happen next. We didnt have the medicine. Now we have a little bit more knowledge, and the hope of a future vaccine. She paused. But for patients who are sick right now, thats too late.
Still, John DAngelo, chair of emergency medicine at Trinitas, told STAT he saw positive signs. Eight months into the pandemic, doctors and nurses feel better prepared to cope with its effects: Medicine has developed therapeutics, including the steroid dexamethasone, monoclonal antibodies, and remdesivir that appear to help shorten the duration and severity of the illness in some people.
Its easy to feel fatigued when youre seeing it again, but weve learned a lot of lessons, said DAngelo, 46. Weve gotten better at treating our patients, and were not seeing a crush of people who need ventilators. Were checking inflammatory markers and can prevent the microemboli that cause strokes and heart attacks.
At Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, many staff members were sickened by the virus last spring. While most recovered and feel that their antibodies offer them some protection, others fear reinfection, or experience symptoms of PTSD just glimpsing in the rooms where they themselves were treated. Many feel anxious to see the reappearance in hallways of the yellow caddies that hold gloves, PPE, and other equipment needed to care for Covid-19 patients.
Ive been in nursing for 32 years, and this is the first time Ive seen the staff in crisis mode for so long, said Amy Doran, the hospitals chief nursing officer, who was one of those infected in the spring. It is emotionally and mentally exhausting to be facing the same situation we faced in early March.
To address their distress, psychologist Laura Budinick, Newark Beth Israels vice president for behavioral health and patient experience, uses a mixture of exposure therapy, peer support, debriefing, and mindfulness exercises to help staff cope. These tools, she said, help people feel less separate and alone.
So have cultural and organizational shifts that have made each staff member feel valued, said Doran, 55.
That grew out of necessity last spring, when all staff members were called upon to help care for patients in the hospitals overflowing Covid-19 wards. For example, the task of proning patients turning them from their backs to their abdomens in order to increase the distribution of oxygen in the lungs often required many careful hands. Typically, such a job would be performed by nurses, Doran said. But the acute needs of patients required the help of anyone who could pitch in, including doctors and residents.
Ive been in nursing for 32 years, and this is the first time Ive seen the staff in crisis mode for so long.
Amy Doran, chief nursing officer at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center
As a result, hospital officials helped design a new pod structure that feels more like a team than the traditional hospital hierarchy with physicians at the top. And there is another, more visible leveling: Everyone now wears identical green scrubs.
Prior to the pandemic, doctors and administrators would enter the floor in business clothes, while nurses, orderlies, and other hospital workers wore scrubs.
When you think of sports teams, everyone is in the same uniform, Budinick, 50, told STAT. With everyone in the same green scrubs, it sets a tone. Its a lot easier to think of yourselves as being on the same team. Its had an equalizing effect.
DAngelo said he believes the experiences Trinitas hospital staff have endured since March have brought his staff together, too.
I pray we dont miss this moment to slow down and realize what weve done. Theres been so much oneness with all staff members, he said. As paradoxical as it might seem, theres been a lot of togetherness in the suffering. And in the hospital, theres been a leveling of importance. Its been beautiful to see. What each person does matters. It doesnt matter what your title is.
Indeed, many frontline workers are focusing on hope from science; from more cohesive public health messaging they hope to receive from a new administration; and from the differences they are able to make in the lives of their patients.
Some, like Yvelande Etienne, a nurse at Newarks University Hospital, is reassured by the volume of patients she sees going home, and by the small progress she helps them achieve by blowing into incentive spirometers, small devices that help open airspace in the lungs. Im happy I can make a difference during this difficult time, said Etienne, 36.
Others, like Civil Nya, a nurse at Trinitas, are drawing on their own personal experience.
Sickened with the virus in early spring, Nya, 49, has recovered fully, and, with ample antibodies, works nights on the Covid floor. But when he lay in the ICU in April, the first time he was ever hospitalized, his mind raced with fear he would never see his wife and four children again. He could think only of his parents, who both died many years ago after being hospitalized for the first time in their lives.
They went to the hospital and never made it out, he told STAT. It was not so much the disease I was afraid of it was the way my parents left the earth. I thought I would be the third member of my family to die that way.
Now, he summons his own resilience to comfort his sickest patients. In the lowest moment of a patients life, when no family member can sit and hold their loved ones hand, it is hurtful and upsetting. But I am able to do that. I pull up a chair with all my PPE on, my face shield on, and I sit there, even if its just for two minutes. I say, I have been in that bed, in your same position. Keep fighting. Youre going to win this. Keep fighting. You will get better.'
Each patients nightstand is equipped with an Alexa device that allows nurses to communicate directly from the nurses station. Many patients, struggling to breathe and fighting high fevers, use it to play music.
And so from behind his face shield, from beneath his navy blue PPE, Nya often dances into the room. His patients are unanimously amused.
I cannot measure what they are feeling at that moment, Nya said, but even little smiles bring us all encouragement.
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf has ordered bars and restaurants to stop selling alcohol at 5 p.m. on Wednesday.
Statistics show the night before Thanksgiving is one of the biggest days for bars.
It turns out, the biggest day for drinking is the day before Thanksgiving, Wolf said. I dont like addressing that more than anyone else does, but its a fact. And when people get together in that situation, it leads to the exchange of the fluids that leads to the increased infection.
The regulation allows alcohol sales to resume at 8 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day.
The reaction from business owners was lukewarm at best with many criticizing Wolf for making the move. Wolf said he understands the frustration but his action is based on a spike of COVID-19 cases.
Were going to defeat this virus, Wolf said. That should be what were focused on, not whether we want to get a transitory benefit from going out with friends the day after tomorrow and having some drinks. Lets forgo that, this one time.
Alcohol sales in Maryland are ordered to cease at 10 p.m. Wednesday. Governor Larry Hogan has announced that order will be enforced by state police and local authorities.
President-elect Joe Biden delivers remarks about the economy on Nov. 16, as Vice President-elect Kamala Harris looks on. Joe Raedle/Getty Images hide caption
President-elect Joe Biden delivers remarks about the economy on Nov. 16, as Vice President-elect Kamala Harris looks on.
Multiple coronavirus vaccines appear to be on the horizon, but the U.S. economy is on shaky footing, and before those vaccines are expected to become widely available, millions of Americans could first fall off an economic cliff.
Some 12 million people are expected to lose unemployment benefits the day after Christmas, and moratoriums on evictions and student debt payments are set to expire at the end of the year.
Yet Congress has been unable to reach a compromise that would alleviate that economic hardship. Despite months of on-and-off negotiations, Republicans and Democrats haven't agreed on the terms of another COVID-19 relief bill.
Then, last week, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told the Federal Reserve it must wind down a series of pandemic lending programs. Congress had given the Treasury Department $454 billion in the spring to backstop the Fed on emergency loans. Much of that money had remained untapped, and, in theory, could have been used by the Biden administration. But by ordering the Fed to return the money, the Trump administration is essentially tying the incoming administration's hands.
The focus for immediate aid is back to legislative action. Last week, in his first economic speech since the election, President-elect Joe Biden urged lawmakers to step up.
"Right now, Congress should come together and pass a COVID relief package like the HEROES Act that the [Democratic-led] House passed six months ago," Biden said.
The sticking point is that Democrats want over $2 trillion in economic assistance. Republicans insist the economy is doing significantly better than it was when Congress passed the CARES Act in March. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has called for $500 billion in new relief.
A question for Biden and his team is whether they should be encouraging Democrats to move quickly, to deliver aid faster, even if that means accepting a smaller deal. The dilemma is testing how he's able to influence Congress before he's sworn in to office.
On Friday, Biden met with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to discuss an emergency aid package during the lame-duck session. A Biden spokesman rejected the idea that Biden is actively encouraging a smaller deal and says the president-elect "fully supports the speaker and leader in negotiations" with Republicans in Congress and in the White House.
But there's an open debate in Democratic circles about priorities for relief.
Jared Bernstein who was chief economist for Vice President Biden during the last recession and is now a transition adviser told reporters in a Q&A with the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing that typically an incoming administration would wait until it's officially in charge to put its fingerprints on policies.
"That's certainly what we did in the Obama administration where we had the Recovery Act in the field a month after President Obama took office," he said.
But Bernstein says the current environment is different.
"You hear the president-elect saying this is something that should happen now, and the reason is because the economy is at a very precarious moment," he said.
Bernstein says there are three primary factors to consider in framing a new stimulus package size, composition and speed. He singled one out.
"Composition is important, size is very important, but speed is so essential right now," he said in the SABEW interview.
It's a receptive argument for Jason Furman, who was a chair of the Council of Economic Advisers in the Obama administration.
"I think a meaningful something is a lot better than nothing, and holding out for more is a strategy to prolong suffering," he said in an interview with NPR.
"I wouldn't be surprised if there's a debate within Biden world of, '$500 billion sort of sucks but we may not be able to do better, and this means like the economy will be better under us,' " Furman imagined. "'And we don't need to take ownership for it' ... versus other people who won't want to look like they're party to a cave even before he's in office."
It would be complicated for some Democrats to look like they're giving in. But regardless, Harry Reid, who was Senate majority leader during the 2009 negotiations, says rarely does Congress pass much legislation around the holidays.
"I think it will be very difficult to get a meaningful relief bill done before Jan. 20," Reid said, referring to Inauguration Day.
Reid believes the dynamic will shift in Biden's favor once President Trump is no longer in office and McConnell will face more pressure from the public.
"I think it will put some wind under the wings of McConnell not to be the Grim Reaper," he said.
Reid thinks if anyone could work with Republicans to pass more aid, it'd probably be Biden. Reid helped Biden push through the last major stimulus bill under a Democratic administration. But back then, in 2009, Democrats controlled the Senate, whereas now control of the chamber depends on two Georgia runoffs in early January. And by then, regardless of which party wins those races, the economy could be even shakier.
Health officials are concerned the number of Americans dying from the coronavirus will increase in the coming weeks following Thanksgiving gatherings.
John Hopkins University says more than 2,000 Americans died Tuesday from the virus.
Doctors say even small gatherings are shown to be some of the biggest spreaders of COVID-19 and warn that a negative test does not give you the green light. They say you may test negative at first after an exposure, but test positive in a few days.
The country continues to wait for a new stimulus bill to be passed.
Congress is on a Thanksgiving break until Nov. 30.But some states like Minnesota are working on their own stimulus bills.
