NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) New York State is facing a grim outlook in the fight against thecoronavirus pandemic.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo says the state has almost the same number of infections as back in June, and things could get worse before they get better.
You will see through the fall the numbers going up nationwide, the governor told ABCs Good Morning America on Monday. Scientists said that was going to happen. Its going to be managing the infection increase, which is going to be the challenge.
On Sunday, Cuomo announced there were 18 fatalities the day before and the statewide positivity rate was 2.3% the highest its been since June.
Our seven-day rolling average 2.21% the highest weve seen in a long time, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday. Now were having some challenges on Staten Island. So were going to focus a lot of resources there to protect the people of Staten Island and to stop this second wave. Were going to see a day of action tomorrow on Staten Island and this day of action means a lot outreach, a lot of mask distribution, a lot of testing.
Many told CBS2s John Dias they fear another lockdown.
Maybe well have to take a minute or two out again and do it, one woman told Dias.
Too many people keep dying. They cant control whats going on, Cypress Hills resident Tomas Baleao said.
I think its gotten so far out of control at this point, another person added.
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While President Donald Trump continues to tout his handling of the pandemic, the governor says President-elect Joe Biden will have a different approach to COVID.
When you deny a problem the way Trump did, you can never solve it, Cuomo said.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy echoed that statement.
Beginning with the president theres a complete belief in science, data and facts, he said.
The Garden States seven-day rolling average is 4.86%, according to John Hopkins. Murphy is expected to make a major announcement Monday about new restrictions on places where people gathering.
Weve seen as restaurants stay open later, seating at bars, interstate indoor sports tournament those are areas that were looking very closely, the governor said.
In Connecticut, the rolling average of cases is 4.74%.
Health officials warn against large gatherings for Thanksgiving and urge everyone to wear a mask and practice social distancing.
You can get the latest news, sports and weather on our brand new CBS New York app. Download here.
Between Nov. 5-9, the number of confirmed cases in Ford County grew by 71, to 396.
Of those, 279 are classified as confirmed by the county health department, with the 117 others listed as probable.
Seventeen county residents have died after testing positive for COVID-19.
Due to what the county health department describes as "an issue we are experiencing with state reporting systems," it's been unable to provide daily testing and case totals since late last month.
"No additional data can be provided at this time," the health department wrote in a Monday news release.
Vermilion Countys 15th coronavirus-related death involves a woman more than 100 years old.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to her friends and family, Vermilion health Administrator Doug Toole wrote Monday afternoon.
Meanwhile, the number of confirmed cases in the county grew by 12 Monday, to 1,925. That figure was on the low end, Toole said, because staff spent much of the day reviewing new cases.
The case numbers will be higher tomorrow, Toole said.
Twenty-one county residents are hospitalized with the virus. They're among 241 active cases.
How Monday's new cases break down by age:
The seven-day positivity rate in the region that covers East Central Illinois continues to trend in the wrong direction.
When figures were updated Monday afternoon by the Illinois Department of Public Health, Region 6s rate rose from 10.8 percent to 11.3 percent.
For restrictions to be lifted, the region that includes Champaign, Douglas, Ford, Piatt, Vermilion and 16 other counties must have three consecutive days of a rate under 6.5 percent.
The metrics the state uses cover a period that ends three days earlier (figures posted Monday are through Nov. 6) and exclude data from the UI campus massive saliva testing (if UI tests were included, the regions rate would be 4.2 percent, up from 3.8 overnight).
A look at how the rate has grown over time:
Below is a look at the rolling seven-day rates of the 21 counties that make up Region 6, and how those rates compare to the previous day after Nov. 5 testing was factored in:
*-If the UIs saliva testing results were included in the states count, Champaign Countys seven-day rate would be 1.7 percent, up from 1.5 overnight.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker tells reporters during a news conference Monday in Chicago that the COVID-19 situation in the northwest region of Illinois is impacted by sharing borders with Iowa and Wisconsin, states where positivity rates are higher.
Reports Peter Hancock of our Springfield-based news partner, Capitol News Illinois:
Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Monday that three more regions of the state will be placed under even stricter COVID-19 restrictions starting Wednesday as the states rates of infections and hospitalizations continue to climb.
The virus is winning the war right now, Pritzker said during his daily COVID-19 briefing in Chicago.
Ten of the states 11 regions are under Tier 1 mitigations, which include the closing of bars and restaurants to indoor service and limiting the size of public gatherings to 25 or fewer, among other measures.
Only Region 1, which includes northwest Illinois, is under Tier 2 mitigations. Restrictions under Tier 2 include limiting public gatherings to 10 or fewer people and limiting outdoor seating at bars and restaurants to six or fewer people at a single table.
Starting Wednesday, Pritzker said, Region 5, in southern Illinois, Region 7, which includes the south Chicago suburbs in Will and Kankakee counties, and Region 8, which includes the western suburbs in DuPage and Kane counties, will join Region 1 in those stricter mitigation measures.
Regions are placed in the first tier of resurgence mitigations whenever the average test positivity rate exceeds 8 percent for three consecutive days. The restrictions are lifted only after the positivity rate falls below 6.5 percent for three consecutive days.
A full list of the mitigation measures in place in each region is available on the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunitys website.
Pritzker said the latest actions are being taken because of rising test positivity rates in each of the regions. In Region 5, according to the most recent data on the Illinois Department of Public Healths website, the seven-day rolling average positivity rate stood at 11.5 percent on Saturday, Nov. 6, while Region 7 posted a 16.4 percent rate and Region 8 stood at 13.7 percent.
Each of those regions has been under Tier 1 mitigations for more than two weeks. Region 5 was placed under those restrictions Oct. 22, while Regions 7 and 8 followed on Oct. 23.
But those measures so far have failed to bring down the rate of infections in those areas, and Pritzker put the responsibility for that on local officials.
Some elected leaders are allowing this continued rise in positivity to balloon out of control while taking no action, he said. These mayors and city councils and county boards and state's attorneys need to take some responsibility for keeping their constituents safe. I promise them that responsibility pales in comparison to what could come when the hospitals in your area are filling up and there aren't enough nurses or doctors to save their constituents lives.
In addition to the three regions where Tier 2 mitigations were announced Monday, two other regions appear to be headed in the same direction, according to IDPH data. Those include Region 2, which includes Peoria, the Quad Cities and several surrounding counties, and Region 3, which includes Springfield, Quincy and other areas of west-central Illinois.
The rolling average positivity rate in both of those regions stood higher than in Region 5 13.2 percent in Region 2 and 14.4 percent in Region 3 but the Tier 1 mitigations in those regions have been in effect only since the first week of November.
A spokeswoman for Pritzker said in an email that the administration typically waits two to three weeks before moving a region into a higher tier of mitigation.
All of Illinois has been on an upward trajectory of COVID-19 infections since early August. During his briefing, Pritzker noted the average number of new cases reported daily in Illinois has jumped 380 percent since Oct. 1, while the positivity rate has climbed 180 percent and both hospitalizations and deaths per day are up 150 percent.
From Saturday through Monday, IDPH reported a total of 33,020 new confirmed and probable cases an average of just over 11,000 per day and 132 virus-related deaths. The preliminary seven-day rolling average positivity rate stood at 11.4 percent.
That pushed the statewide totals since the pandemic began to 498,560 cases, and 10,210 deaths. Given the current rate of spread, Illinois will likely surpass half a million total cases on Tuesday.
As of late Sunday night, 4,409 people in Illinois were reported hospitalized with COVID-19. Of those, 857 patients were in intensive care units and 376 of those patients were on ventilators.
For the week of Nov. 2-8, the average number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 each day stood at 4,043, the highest it has been since the peak of the first wave of the pandemic in mid-May. The average number of people in ICU beds stood at 799 per day, the highest number since early June, while average ventilator use stood at 349 per day, the highest rate since mid-June.
The number of confirmed cases in Champaign County grew by 40 Monday, to 7,129.
Other county numbers of note:
Six residents remain hospitalized with COVID-19.
Recovered cases were up by 103, to 6,677.
Active cases were down by 63, to 420.
Close contacts in quarantine were down by 69, to 1,382.
Heres an updated rundown of county ZIP codes with active cases followed by their total number of cases, according to C-U Public Health District data:
The countys pandemic totals, according to CUPHD:
The Leonhard Recreation Center will remain closed until Nov. 16 due to staff COVID-19 cases, the Champaign Park District announced over the weekend.
Although this was a difficult decision, the Champaign Park District and Leonhard Recreation Center staff take our members health and wellbeing seriously, Revenue Facilities Director Jimmy Gleason said in a statement.
We want nothing more than to provide a safe place for your health and wellness needs, and take cleaning and safety very seriously.
For the fourth straight day, new cases in Illinois topped 10,000.
Of 64,760 new tests reported Monday, 10,573 came back positive, a daily rate of 16.3 percent.
The statewide seven-day positivity rate rose from 10.6 to 11.4 percent
Heres a look at November's totals, with state pandemic highs marked with asterisks:
The Illinois Department of Public Health on Monday also reported 14 deaths statewide:
Twenty-nine new cases emerged from 5,339 new tests Sunday on the UI campus, a rate of 0.5 percent, according to data updated Monday.
The seven-day positivity rate on campus now stands at 0.6 percent.
Since Aug. 24, when classes began, there have been 3,143 unique cases of COVID-19 on the UI campus.
Since Aug. 16, when move-in week kicked off, there have been 3,425 cases.
Heres a daily breakdown of tests and unique cases since students began reporting to campus in mid-August, according to the UIs COVID-19 dashboard:
The number of confirmed cases in Douglas County grew by 20 late Sunday, to 1,027.
Of those, 334 have come in the past 14 days. They're among 592 active cases or close contacts the Douglas County Health Department says it's monitoring.
How the new cases break down by age:
The 75 counties shaded in orange including Douglas and Vermilion are on the Illinois Department of Public Health's latest coronavirus warning level list, updated each Friday.
President-elect Joe Biden in his victory speech on Saturday night vowed to get the pandemic under control. To all those who volunteered, worked the polls in the middle of this pandemic, local election officials you deserve a special thanks from this nation, he said. I will spare no effort or commitment to turn this pandemic around. Here are some of the other recent headlines from over the weekend and today you might have missed.
Pfizer and BioNTech announced on Monday that their coronavirus vaccine, which is receiving funding from the Trump administration, is more than 90% effective. Submission for emergency use authorization to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration [is] planned for soon after the required safety milestone is achieved, which is currently expected to occur in the third week of November, said the press release. The drug makers didnt formally join the administration's Operation Warp Speed, but received a contract from the Health and Human Services and Defense departments, as The Washington Post noted.
On Friday, FDA issued emergency use authorization for the first serology test that detects neutralizing antibodies from previous coronavirus infections. These antibodies bind to a specific part of a pathogen and have been observed in a laboratory setting to decrease [COVID-19] viral infection of cells, said the agency. Although the FDA has previously issued EUAs to more than 50 antibody (serology) tests, those tests only detect the presence of binding antibodies, which bind to a pathogen, such as a virus, but do not necessarily decrease the infection and destruction of cells...The effect of neutralizing antibodies for [COVID-19] in humans it is still being researched.
The FDA issued guidance on Monday about increasing diversity in clinical trials. We have seen these health care disparities, for example, during our fight against COVID-19, as certain segments of the population (e.g., older adults, pregnant women, children, and racial and ethnic minorities) are affected in different ways, FDA Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn said. This difference in impact illustrates why we must encourage developers of any medical product such as treatments or vaccines for COVID-19 as well as medical products more broadly to endeavor to include diverse populations to understand their risks or benefits across all groups.
White House Chief-of-Staff Mark Meadows tested positive for coronavirus on Wednesday, Bloomberg News reported on Friday night. At least five other White House officials have since become infected, which includes Cassidy Hutchinson (close aide to Meadows), Charlton Boyd (aide to senior White House adviser and the presidents son-in-law Jared Kushner) and Nick Trainer (senior Trump campaign aide), according to Bloomberg.
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson (who attended the election night party at the White House on Tuesday) also tested positive on Monday morning, ABC News reported.
Gen. Gus Perna, a four-star general who serves as the commanding general of the Armys Materiel Command and is chief operating officer of Operation Warp Speed, was interviewed on CBS 60 Minutes on Sunday about the logistical planning to distribute a coronavirus vaccine if and when one is approved. I hold myself 100% personally accountable if the distribution doesnt go according to plan,Perna said. Also, they are taking extraordinary precaution regarding security of the vaccine stockpile. Not only for maybe some nefarious effort but also natural [disasters] hurricanes, tornados, etc. right? It's such a commodity to us we're taking the full steps to make sure that the vaccine's secure.
The State Department told passport service employees who dont have high-risk health conditions to return to work by November 16, Federal News Network reported on Friday. The agency said that continued weather and safety leave would only be for those who have conditions listed in a survey administered on October 30. This comes as passport offices throughout the country have been gradually ramping up their passport processing after shuttering during the onset of the pandemic.
An employee in the State Departments cafeteria tested positive for coronavirus, so the kitchen is undergoing a deep clean, The Washington Post reported on Monday.
Politico published a deep dive on Saturday about why Trump lost reelection, which stemmed from the coronavirus onset in February. Sir, regardless, this is coming. Its the only thing that could take down your presidency, said Brad Parscale, then-Trump campaign manager, according to the report based on interviews with 75 insiders. This fucking virus, Trump asked dismissively, according to a person with direct knowledge of the exchange, what does it have to do with me getting reelected? That was exactly the attitude Joe Biden expected from the president. And Biden saw his task as unambiguous.
A task force under the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency released a report on Friday about how the pandemic affected the global supply chain. Findings exposed how some manufacturing companies were unprepared because of their reliance on lean inventory models, underscored the difficulties that companies faced in understanding who their junior tier suppliers are and where they are located and acknowledged the need for an approach that was already underway over the last six years: diversifying supply chains to a broader array of locations and away from single source/single region suppliers, said CISA.
Steve Bannons lawyer quit on Friday after the former Breitbart News executive and White House chief strategist said on YouTube on Thursday that Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Christopher Wray, FBI director, should be beheaded as a warning to federal bureaucrats, The New York Times reported. This lawyer was defending him in federal court in Manhattan over fraud charges.
Todays GovExec Daily podcast episode is an update on the presidential transition and what to expect from President-elect Joe Biden on his management of the federal government and pandemic.
Help us understand the situation better. Are you a federal employee, contractor or military member with information, concerns, etc. about how your agency is handling the coronavirus? Email us at newstips@govexec.com.
Updated: 12:45 p.m.
Public health leaders have been warning for more than a month that COVID-19 was spreading rampantly across Minnesota. A grim week of record-breaking daily cases and deaths put that in sharp focus.
The Health Department on Saturday reported 4,647 confirmed or probable cases of coronavirus infections. Thirty-four more people died. The numbers still show a troubling level of deaths and cases, on top of a record 5,454 newly confirmed or probable cases of the disease reported Friday.
Here are Minnesotas current COVID-19 statistics:
4,647 deaths
174,954 positive cases, 142,800 off isolation
3 million tests, 2 million people tested (about 35 percent of the population)
12.9 percent seven-day positive test rate (officials find 5 percent concerning)
The uncontrolled spread is being driven now by Minnesotans informal gatherings and get-togethers with family and friends where its spread unknowingly by people who have the virus but do not have symptoms, officials say.
Our behavior is driving this literally thousands and thousands of small decisions happening around Minnesota that are the issue here, Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm said Friday.
Kris Ehresmann, the states infectious disease director, implored Minnesotans to wear masks in public gathering spaces, socially distance, stay home if you dont feel well and take other measures to stop the spread.
You have got to make changes, said a clearly frustrated Ehresmann. We really need people to take this seriously and make some changes.
Fridays reported record caseload surfaced with record testing. Still, the numbers offered a startling confirmation of the repeated warnings from public health authorities over the past month that the disease was spreading uncontrolled throughout the state.
About 1,000 people are in Minnesota hospital beds now from COVID-19, including more than 200 needing intensive care.
Theres increasing concern about the ability of hospitals to handle more. They were already full in the summer and fall from normal use, and the surge in COVID-19 patients is putting hospitals in the Twin Cities near the top of their capacity, Malcolm said. Staffing is becoming an challenge as more health care workers get sick, she added.
Minnesotas confirmed some 25,000 new cases since last Friday.
The level of virus circulating in our communities is at an all-time high, Malcolm said Wednesday. This increases the chance that you'll be exposed, even if the people youre with have no symptoms.
She urged people to limit contact with anyone outside their immediate households. The fact is gathering in a group of people is risky right now.
Of the 170,307 confirmed or probable cases identified in the pandemic to date, about 82 percent have recovered to the point they no longer need to be isolated.
The deaths reported Friday raised Minnesotas toll to 2,591. Among those whove died, about 69 percent had been living in long-term care or assisted living facilities; most had underlying health problems.
New cases are up dramatically over the past month in all age groups.
People in their 20s still make up the age bracket with the states largest number of confirmed cases nearly 35,600 since the pandemic began, including 19,700 among people ages 20-24.
The number of high school-age children confirmed with the disease has also grown, with more than 14,000 total cases among children ages 15 to 19 since the pandemic began.
Those numbers help explain why experts remain particularly concerned about teens and young adults as spreaders of the virus.
While less likely to feel the worst effects of the disease and end up hospitalized, experts worry youth and young adults will spread it to grandparents and other vulnerable populations. Its especially concerning because people can have the coronavirus and spread COVID-19 when they dont have symptoms.
Regionally, central and northern Minnesota have driven much of the recent increase in new cases while Hennepin and Ramsey counties show some of the slowest case growth in the state.
Newly reported cases have been highest in northwestern Minnesota. Cases are surging currently in the Dakotas. North Dakota and South Dakota have the countrys worst per-capita spread rates.
Collectively, rural areas of Minnesota continue to report the most new COVID-19 cases. Northern Minnesota, once the region least affected by the disease, has also seen its caseload grow dramatically in recent weeks.
In Minnesota and across the country, COVID-19 has hit communities of color disproportionately hard in both cases and deaths.
Thats especially true for Minnesotans of Hispanic descent. They, along with Black Minnesotans are also being hospitalized and moved to intensive care units at higher rates than the overall population.
Similar trends hold true for Minnesotas Indigenous residents. Counts among Indigenous people jumped in October relative to population.
October data also show newly confirmed cases accelerating among Latino people in Minnesota.
Distrust of the government, together with deeply rooted health and economic disparities, have hampered efforts to boost testing among communities of color, particularly for undocumented immigrants who fear their personal information may be used to deport them.
The overall numbers continue to paint a troubling picture of a rapidly worsening pandemic in Minnesota. The latest numbers continue to show rampant spread across Minnesota, not limited to just one region or demographic group. like earlier in the pandemic.
State authorities had worried that late summer and early fall gatherings, sporting events and informal get-togethers would drive an October surge as Minnesotans let down their guard against the virus. That happened, and its now spilling into November.
Minnesota is in a bad spot and its going to get worse before it gets better, Ehresmann told reporters Monday. While more testing is uncovering more cases, its not the testing thats the problem, Ehresmann said. Its the sheer fact that we have so much virus circulating in our state.
Malcolm on Friday faced repeated questions from reporters about whether the increasingly dire situation of skyrocketing cases, hospitalizations and deaths would compel Gov. Tim Walz to reimpose more restrictions on daily life similar to what Minnesota went through in the spring.
If Minnesotans were following the guidelines that currently exist, we wouldnt need further dial backs, she said. We just need to keep getting that message out.
A new executive order from Gov. Tim Walz gives teachers more time to prepare for teaching in distance and hybrid learning scenarios.
The new order mandates that districts build in more time to each school day for K-12 teachers to plan their lessons. Now schools must set aside 30 minutes of preparation each day in places where educators are teaching full-time distance learning or a combination of distance and in-person instruction.
The order comes after many teachers raised concerns about not having enough time to prepare for a drastically different learning model as schools have adapted to the COVID-19 pandemic. The changes may mean schools will have to adjust their schedules. Districts have until Nov. 30 to implement the new order.
Elizabeth Shockman | MPR News
Wisconsin topped more than6,000 new coronavirus caseson Friday for the first time, setting a new record as COVID-19 continues to rage across the state.
Also on Friday, a state appeals court ruled that an order from Gov. Tony Evers' administration to limit how many people can gather in bars, restaurants and other indoor venues was invalid and unenforceable. The on again-off again order, first issued on Oct. 6,had not been in effect since an appeals court blocked it on Oct. 23.
The order, had it been in effect, was scheduled to expire on Friday. The appeals court said the order issued by Department of Health Services Secretary Andrea Palm should have gone through the rule-making process, which requires legislative approval.
Evers issued the order as a way to curb the spread of the virus, which has been surging since mid-September. On Friday, there were 6,141 new cases, an all-time daily high, and 62 more deaths. To date, 2,256 people have died from the virus.
The seven-day average of new cases topped 5,000, more than five-times as high as it was two weeks ago, the state Department of Health Services reported. Wisconsin ranked third in new cases per capita over the past two weeks, according to Johns Hopkins.
Evers pursued the capacity limits as part of his strategy to combat the virus. A statewide mask mandate remains in effect, but it's being challenged by a conservative law firm and Republicans who control the Legislature. Evers has blasted Republicans for not convening the Legislature to take action on the virus since they last met in April.
The capacity limit rule was first challenged by the Tavern League of Wisconsin and the appeal was taken up by The Mix-Up Bar in Amery and Pro-Life Wisconsin, which argued that its ability to hold fundraisers indoors was hindered by the order limiting capacity to no more than 25 percent.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court also previously struck down Evers' safer at home order in May, saying it should have gone through the Legislature as an administrative rule.
The Associated Press
Allina Health is looking for volunteers for a clinical trial of one of the major coronavirus vaccines.
Sixty-thousand people will take part in study through 190 locations around the world. Half will get the medicine and the other half will get a placebo.
Dr. Frank Rhame is the principle investigator for the Allina site. He said they're looking volunteers who are 18 and older.
"You want to start with healthy people first [to] get some sense that it's a good idea, that it's working and there's no unexpected side effects. But you also want to get the people who have comorbidities in there because they're the ones that suffer the most and you need to be sure that it works in those groups as well."
Rhame said researchers are especially seeking low-income people and people of color for their study to ensure the vaccine is properly tested on those populations. Those wishing to participate can get more information here.
Mark Zdechlik | MPR News
With Minnesotas deer hunting season set to open Saturday, state health officials are urging hunters to take precautions against contracting or spreading COVID-19.
If you're hunting with people outside your immediate household, please mask up while indoors, including inside buildings at deer camps, and keep a distance of 6 feet all times inside and out, Kris Ehresmann, the states infectious disease director, said Wednesday.
She urged hunters to stay home if they dont feel well.
MPR News Staff
As COVID-19 cases surge to the east, Gov. Tim Walz has opened saliva testing sites in St. Paul, Winona and Duluth to people living in Wisconsin, according to the Minnesota Department of Health.
Minnesota is investing at least $14 million of its federal CARES Act funding into saliva coronavirus testing, a process developed at Rutgers University and marketed by Vault Health.
Public health officials say it's a relatively easy and fast way to test more people for the virus.
Some of the Minnesota's CARES Act funding will go to covering the cost of the test, and Minnesota is working out an agreement to make sure Wisconsin covers the cost of the test for its residents.
Catharine Richert | MPR News
Critical care doctors already feeling effects of COVID surge: As COVID-19 cases surge around the state, Minnesota hospitals are nearly full. Doctors working on the front lines of the pandemic say its just a matter of time before the system is in crisis.
Data in these graphs are based on the Minnesota Department of Health's cumulative totals released at 11 a.m. daily. You can find more detailed statistics on COVID-19 at theHealth Department website.
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While eyes were on the presidential election, the United States reached a devastating milestone in the COVID-19 pandemic: on November 5th, there were 121,504 reported cases of the disease, according to The New York Times. That marked two straight days with over 100,000 reported cases. This isnt a peak; its another step on a steady climb. That daily case number will likely continue to grow.
We are in big trouble, wrote global health experts Abraar Karan and Ranu Dhillon on WBUR.
In the spring, the center of the pandemic in the US was in the Northeast. Over the summer, Southern states were hit the hardest. Now, the virus is everywhere theres no particular hotspot, and things are bleak across the country. Cases are climbing in nearly every state, and hospitalizations are following closely behind. Hospitals in states like Iowa are already overwhelmed. Although doctors have gotten better at treating COVID-19 and the death rate has dropped off slightly, its still a deadly disease and its deadlier in at-capacity hospitals where doctors are stretched thin.
Its concerning to see these numbers as we approach Thanksgiving and the holiday season, when people tend to travel and gather in large groups. The numbers are even more alarming to public health experts who worry that people wont be able to socialize outdoors as easily when temperatures start to drop in many areas so theyll head indoors where the virus thrives.
Even though this record-setting climb is happening across the country, its unlikely well see any kind of new national strategy to combat the viruss spread. President Donald Trump, who has spent the course of the pandemic minimizing the impact of the coronavirus, spreading misinformation, and discouraging mask-wearing, will be president for at least two more months.
We have the same public health tools at our disposal that weve had for months distancing, masks, ventilation, testing, contact tracing but in order to put out the current fire, they all have to be deployed aggressively, with more resources and better communication than they are right now.
Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said back in June that COVID-19 cases in the US could eventually top 100,000 a day. It could get very bad, he said in a Senate hearing at the time. Now, that prediction has come true and the worst is likely yet to come.
NEW YORK(Reuters) - Drugmakers and research centers around the world are working on COVID-19 vaccines, with large global trials of several of the candidates involving tens of thousands of participants well underway. Some companies had suggested early trial data could be ready for release in October, but have since pushed that back to November and December.
A volunteer receives an injection from a medical worker during the country's first human clinical trial for a potential vaccine against the novel coronavirus, at the Baragwanath hospital in Soweto, South Africa, June 24, 2020. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko
The following is what we know about the race to deliver vaccines to help end the coronavirus pandemic that has claimed over a million lives worldwide:
Who is furthest along?
U.S. drugmaker Pfizer Inc PFE.N with German partner BioNTech SE 22UAy.F, and U.S. biotech Moderna Inc MRNA.O could have early data in November. Britain-based AstraZeneca Plc AZN.L, in conjunction with University of Oxford, and Johnson & Johnson JNJ.N say they are on track to deliver data for their vaccines this year.
What happens in these trials?
The companies are testing their vaccines against a placebo - typically saline solution - in healthy volunteers to see if the rate of COVID-19 infection among those who got the vaccine is significantly lower than in those who received the dummy shot.
Why are data reports delayed beyond original predictions?
The trials rely on subjects becoming naturally infected with the coronavirus, so how long it takes to generate results largely depends on how pervasive the virus is where trials are being conducted. Each drugmaker has targeted a specific number of infections to trigger a first analysis of their data.
Pfizer, for instance, believes it may know if its vaccine works once 32 people contract COVID-19 in the 44,000-person trial, as long as the overwhelming majority of those infected had received the placebo.
But drugmakers have said an insufficient number of infections prior to the recent spikes in cases slowed their ability to present data earlier. Pfizer in October said it did not expect to have usable trial data until late November due to slow infection rates. It had previously suggested that would happen in October.
AstraZeneca said a slowdown in infections during the summer delayed its UK trial and that it expected to have results by the end of the year. Its timeline was also extended by a pause to investigate an illness in a UK trial participant.
After a slowing of infections in late summer and early autumn, COVID-19 cases were rampant again in October and early November, setting daily records in the United States and Europe as the weather cooled and people moved indoors. Experts have suggested that trial participants may also have been more careful to avoid contracting COVID-19 than the general population knowing they may have received a placebo.
How will we know if the vaccine works?
The United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom and the World Health Organization have all set similar minimum standards for effectiveness. Some regulators have said that vaccines must demonstrate at least 50% efficacy - meaning at least twice as many infections among volunteers who got a placebo as among those in the vaccine group. The European Medicines Agency has said it may accept a lower efficacy level.
When will regulators decide?
Regulators will review the vaccines after the companies have enough data to submit applications seeking emergency use authorization (EUA) or formal approval. The earliest they could decide is in December because Moderna and Pfizer/BioNtech do not expect to have enough safety data until the second half of November. U.S. regulators have asked that participants be watched for side effects for two months after receiving a final vaccine dose. AstraZeneca could provide a look at late-stage data by the end of the year. UK officials said there is a slight possibility they could decide on that vaccine in late December.
Regulators for Europe, the United Kingdom and Canada are considering data on a rolling basis, as it becomes available. They expect to do speedy reviews of initial data for possible emergency use before more traditional lengthy reviews for formal commercial approvals.
Could these be the first approved coronavirus vaccines?
Yes, although China and Russia are on a similar timeline. China launched an emergency use program in July aimed at essential workers and others at high risk of infection that has vaccinated hundreds of thousands of people. At least four vaccines are far along including from China National Biotec Group [CHNAPF.UL] (CNBG), CanSino Biologics 6185.HK and Sinovac. Sinovac and CNBG have said to expect early trial data as soon as November. Russia's Gamaleya Institute has begun a 40,000-person late-stage trial and is expected to have early data in November. Russia has also given the vaccine to at least hundreds of "high-risk" members of the general population.
Reporting by Carl ODonnell in New York; Additional reporting by Julie Steenhuysen in Chicago, Michael Erman in New York, Ludwig Burger in Frankfurt, Alistair Smout in London and Polina Ivanovo in Moscow; Editing by Caroline Humer and Bill Berkrot
DANVILLE -- The chief executive officer of Geisinger sees a vaccine as a light at the end of the tunnel in the battle against the coronavirus.
But, Dr. Jaewron Ryu, citing the increased number of COVID-19 cases, said it might be a little premature to say that weve turned the corner.
Speaking at a news conference Friday, he stressed the need to take all precautions like wearing a mask, avoiding large gatherings and social distancing to reverse the upward trend.
The coronavirus is out there in the community and that means anybody can get it, he said. We have to be super vigilant."
Ryu cited the change in weather, fewer daylight hours, events being moved indoors and the flu season as contributing reasons for the increase in COVID-19 cases.
He believes a safe, effective vaccine will be available in the first of 2021 but said it could take months before it is widely available.
Ryu cited statistics to illustrate in the COVID-19 resurgence throughout Geisingers service area.
During July and August there were 2,100 positive tests but more importantly, he said, the rate of positive tests averaged 3.4 percent and some weeks it was below 2 percent.
Fast forward to September and October and we have had double the number of positive tests, to almost 4,000, Ryu said. More concerning has been the increase in rate of positive tests, he said.
It has averaged 6.3 percent during those two months, he said. Over the past couple of weeks that rate has bumped above 9 percent and is quickly approaching 10 percent, he said.
By comparison, he said, during the height of the pandemic in April and May the positive test rate was in the 10 to 15 percent range.
The number of hospitalized patients has climbed into the 80s and 90s compared with the 10- to 30-range this summer, he said.
Only 15 to 20 percent of the Geisinger hospitalized patients are from nursing homes, Ryu said. That shows the virus is in the community, not just nursing homes, and why everybody needs to be careful.
Since Sept. 1, the most positive test rate has been among those in the 20 to 29 and 50 to 59 age groups, Ryu said, debunking the myth all the those with the virus are old.
The industry has learned how to treat the virus and is doing a better job managing mortality rates, he said.
But, the virus is very humbling, he said. People do get very sick, treatments are not foolproof and they dont work on everyone.
This announcement would be Biden's first major decision after being projected to defeat President Trump, becoming the 46th president of the United States.
President-elect Joe Biden is expected to announce the members of his coronavirus task force on Monday, according to news reports.
They will be in charge of preparing a plan to curb the spread of the virus, according to CNBC. This announcement would come as the United States experiences a record spike in confirmed cases of COVID-19. On Friday, the US hit a record of 126,400 cases in a single day.
Axios, who first reported Biden's plan to announce a task force, said it will be led by three co-chairs, former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner David Kessler and Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith from Yale University. The report said there would be a total of 12 members on the team.
This announcement would be Biden's first major decision after he defeated President Donald Trump on Saturday to become the 46th president of the United States, positioning himself to lead a nation gripped by a historic pandemic and a confluence of economic and social turmoil. His victory came after more than three days of uncertainty as election officials sorted through a surge of mail-in votes that delayed the processing of some ballots. Biden crossed 270 Electoral College votes with a win in Pennsylvania.
Biden won't be sworn into office until Jan. 20.
His work needs to begin right now. He needs to begin communicating the urgency of actions with the American people, Dr. Leana Wen, the former Baltimore health commissioner, told NBC in a phone interview. His biggest challenge is going to be getting people to follow his recommendations."
Throughout his campaign, Biden has contrasted Trump on the pandemic, arguing that the presidency and federal government exist for such crises. Unlike Trump, he doesnt believe the leading role in the virus response should belong to state governors, with the federal government in support.
Biden has also endorsed generous federal spending to help businesses and individuals, along with state and local governments, deal with the financial cliffs of the pandemic slowdown. Hes promised aggressive use of the Defense Production Act, the wartime law a president can use to direct manufacture of critical supplies. Trump has used that law on such things as ventilator production.
Biden promises to elevate the governments scientists and physicians to communicate a consistent message to the public, and he would have the United States rejoin the World Health Organization.
He has promised to use his transition period before taking office to convene meetings with every governor and ask them to impose what would be a nationwide mask mandate because the federal government doesn't have that power. Biden says he would go around holdouts by securing such rules from county and local officials though enforcement of all such orders may be questionable.
For most people, the new coronaviruscauses mild or moderate symptoms. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.
The United States has more than 9.7 million confirmed cases of COVID-19, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
As of Saturday, the U.S. had more than 236,000 deaths from the virus. Worldwide, there are more than 49 million confirmed cases with more than 1.2 million deaths.
Biden will unveil the group of scientists and experts to help him craft a plan to tackle the coronavirus pandemic on Monday.
Biden announced his plans to launch the COVID-19 task force during remarks at his victory party Saturday night. He said those advisers would help him take the proposals hes released during the campaign for dealing with the pandemic which include investments in personal protective equipment and loans for small businesses as well as plans to implement more standardized public health guidelines and turn those proposals into a blueprint that hell enact when inaugurated president next January.
Biden said the plan would be built on bedrock science and constructed out of compassion, empathy and concern. Biden made Trumps mishandling of the pandemic a central focus of his campaign and pledged that his top priority as president would be managing the virus.
Biden said that "our work begins with getting COVID under control," adding Americans cannot repair the economy, restore our economy or relish lifes most precious moments without doing so.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nations top infectious disease specialist, was recently asked about the places he was most worried about overstressed hospitals and intensive care units.
Utah was the first state he mentioned.
Some of the states like Utah, Nevada, South Dakota, North Dakota, where they never had a pretty good reserve of intensive care beds and things like that, Fauci told The Washington Post. I hope theyll be OK, but its still a risk that, as you get more surging, theyre going to run out of capacity."
All the stars are aligned in the wrong place as you go into the fall and winter season, with people congregating at home indoors," Fauci said. "You could not possibly be positioned more poorly.
Some patients are being treated in hallways of Utah hospitals. Others say when they call for a nurse, theres not one available to assist for a half hour. And while there are still some empty ICU beds, there are so many nurses who cant work due to their own infection or exposure to COVID-19, further exacerbating the problems.
This is all to say: what were doing isnt working. Hospitals are being overrun. People are dying more than ever before. Something has to change.
So what should we do? First, lets note that other states are going through a similar spike.
Those who want to make everything political will note that nearly all of these are red states. But to blame this on Republican policies isnt really looking at the whole picture, either. Look at politically-progressive Europe, where cases are also exploding:
Essentially, I dont find the political blame game particularly beneficial. Instead of focusing on where cases are exponentially rising, lets flip this around and look at where the runaway freight train was slowed or brought to a halt, and see if we can learn from the actions taken there.
Arizonas limited closures
They closed bars, gyms, water parks, and theaters.
They reduced restaurant capacity to 50%.
They didnt exactly mandate masks, but they allowed cities and counties to implement mask mandates counties covering 85% of Arizonas population went ahead with the mandate.
And afterward, Arizonas coronavirus cases declined quickly. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention used Arizonas example as a case study in government intervention gone right.
Utah has similar restrictions on restaurants and masks, but they havent gone so far as to close any businesses again, even businesses that have disobeyed the weak regulations already in place.
Quite frankly, the thing that may have worked best in Arizona was that the closure of businesses and overrunning of hospitals was a signal to people to take the issue seriously mask wearing went up in both mandated and non-mandated counties, and a larger percentage of people stayed home, according to Googles mobility data.
Heres how the closures impacted unemployment claims.
You can see a small bump around the same time as closures occurred, but interestingly, the filings sharply declined even as the four business types stayed closed and restaurant capacity was cut. Its hard to tease out correlation and causation with all of this data, of course was the unemployment bump due to the closures or the high number of cases, or both? But still, it doesnt appear that closing these high-risk industries wrecked Arizonas economy.
Belgiums relaxed lockdown
Belgium was also experiencing a huge spike, with 10,000 or even 20,000 cases a day in a country with 11.5 million inhabitants on a population basis, about the same as Utah having 2,700 to 5,500 cases per day. It was declared a state of emergency for their hospitals.
So Belgium instituted a relaxed lockdown:
Restaurants, bars, and nonessential stores were limited to takeout and delivery only. Salons, swimming pools, and zoos were told to close, but most businesses were allowed to stay open.
Teleworking was made compulsory whenever possible. Where teleworking is not possible, face masks and ventilation was made mandatory.
Schools were kept open for young students, made hybrid for secondary students, and pushed online-only for college students.
Churches were kept open too, but couldnt hold services. Funerals were capped at 15 people. People were allowed to hang out outside but in groups of four at most.
These rules are significantly less harsh than what occurred earlier in the pandemic. But its exactly what Belgium needed to turn the tide. The coronavirus case chart shows that the modified lockdown is working so far. That countrys cases have plummeted.
Belgiums approach is pretty data-driven and makes a lot of sense. Transmission rates are different among different age groups, so why are we treating schools the same? If business can occur over the internet, why shouldnt it? In general, the goal is to avoid groups of people getting together indoors, where the virus can spread easily.
Knuffelcontacts and support bubbles
I didnt tell you about my favorite Belgium rule, though:
Every person can designate one "knuffelcontact which literally translates to cuddle contact. That person is allowed to come over and knuffel (or not); only one knuffelcontact can be at a familys home at once. People living alone can designate two knuffelcontacts, but they cant both come over at the same time.
Look, I get it. The word knuffelcontact sounds ridiculous, and the idea may make you feel the same. Its all too easy to imagine a family debating which knuffelcontact can come over at a given time. But its an important consideration to make here: people need social life in order to not be depressed, and weve certainly seen depression spike during the pandemic.
As Gov. Gary Herbert noted during his news conference this week, being with non-relatives indoors is where a huge chunk of coronavirus growth is occurring. A knuffelcontact, or similar idea, meets people halfway: yes, stopping the virus is important, but were going to allow you this reasonable exception because we care about your well-being, too. Physical contact is important.
The Netherlands suggested that single people find a seksbuddy no translation needed for the same reason. England, however, called it a support bubble, and single-adult households could link up with other households for emotional support. If someone in the support bubble tests positive, everyone is instructed to follow the stay-at-home guidelines.
I understand that Americans arent used to this degree of government interference in their social lives frankly, there would probably be a revolt if this were implemented here. And yet, I want people to understand what effective coronavirus measures look like. Limiting social contacts is perhaps the single most important thing someone can do to prevent the spread.
Act quickly. Germanys response was perhaps the best in Europe, with surprisingly small numbers of cases and deaths. Many thanked their expansive contact tracing system. But as German scientist Christian Drosten explained at the World Health Summit, There are already speeches celebrating German success, but its not very clear where that comes from. We have moved with exactly the same measures as others. We didnt do anything particularly well, we just did it sooner.
Personal experience and effective messaging matters. Those with personal experience with a COVID-19 case and those who were concerned about COVID-19 infection were more likely to wash their hands than those who did not, according to a CDC study.
U.S. counties with a high social vulnerability scores had higher coronavirus cases than those with lower scores, according to a CDC study. In particular, rural counties in which housing was crowded defined as more people living in a home than the number of rooms were the worst off. Central and southeastern Utah are the areas of Utah with the highest social vulnerability scores. It is important to keep this in mind when allocating resources.
Faster testing. Africa is kicking our butts at this. Rwanda pools samples together to more quickly test them, then nails down individuals in followups. Senegal has mobile labs that can return results in as quickly as two hours, and are working on rapid tests that cost less than $1 that would get an answer back in 10 minutes. Last week, over 66% of coronavirus tests in Utah took more than 24 hours to come back with results; theres no excuse for that in a well-off state in the worlds richest country.
Im not sure if Im optimistic that these interventions will occur in Utah our state politicians acted very promptly in the first weeks of the pandemic, but have honestly lagged at every step of the way since. Im not sure if this was for political reasons, or because they really believed they were doing the right thing in taking only mild action. Herbert did say hes planning to try some new things soon, which will include mandatory testing for college students.
Regardless, the proof is in the pudding. The states current spike shows that our actions to this point have been insufficient, and the deaths this week are the cost of making poor choices. But there are steps we can take, models to follow. We can rebound.
Andy Larsen is a data columnist. He is also one of The Salt Lake Tribunes Utah Jazz beat writers. You can reach him at alarsen@sltrib.com.
The update brings the states totals to more than 116,000 confirmed cases and 2,4319 deaths.
OLYMPIA, Wash. Washington set a new daily record for new coronavirus cases, with 1,777 new cases announced Saturday.
That number tops the previous record of almost 1,500 new COVID cases reported in a single day, which was the most the state had reported in a single day since the start of the pandemic.
The state Department of Health (DOH) warned that COVID-19 cases are spreading in the Puget Sound region. The update brings the states totals to more than 116,000 confirmed cases and 2,4319 deaths.
For most, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks, although long-term effects are unknown.
But for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.
Earlier this week, State Health Officer Dr. Kathy Lofy said, "We're going the wrong way fast," referring to a spike in COVID-19 cases across the state.
Local health officials are also sounding alarms about the growing number of cases.
On Friday, Health Officer Dr. Jeff Duchin for Public Health - Seattle and King County, said they're seeing increasing COVID-19 cases across all ages in the county, but predominantly among young and working age adults. He said 70% of the county's cases are in the 20- to 60-year-old age range.
We have reached a new peak, with approximately 308 new cases reported each day last week, Duchin said. Thats four-fold higher than late September, and over 100 cases per day more than the initial outbreak in the spring.
He said too many of the recent COVID-19 cases are related to community activities and travel, gatherings with friends and families, parties, weddings and visiting bars and restaurants.
Cases continue to accelerate in the wrong direction and its best to hit the brakes before we crash and not after, said Duchin. Too many of us are doing too much with too little consideration of the consequences of our actions on others. The risks of acquiring COVID-19 today is higher now than it has ever been.
Duchin said going into the holiday season, people need to be extremely vigilant and not let pandemic fatigue stop them from taking precautions, such as wearing masks, social distancing and limiting time indoors with others not in their immediate households.
