Nearly a year into a global pandemic the world is still on the back of its heels. In the face of ever increasing infection rates, world economies have slowed rapidly and unemployment has increased significantly, and now governments are reconsidering shutting down entire countries once again.
At the same time, the federal government has failed to pass a second stimulus package to prop up individuals who have lost their jobs and may be facing homelessness, as well as the need to help state and local governments provide a backstop against their own losses.
Given this backdrop, there is a lot riding on a potential vaccine and/or cure for COVID-19. There are many approaches that a lengthy list of varying companies are taking to bring their respective product to market.
Any company that does successfully bring a product to market that helps in the fight against the virus may see a significant increase in revenues as well as an in-kind increase in profits.
B. Riley Securities has highlighted three biotech companies that are approaching the virus from different directions. We ran the trio through TipRanks database to see how B. Riley's recent analysis compared to other analysts projections.
Altimmune Inc. (ALT)
Altimmune is a biopharmaceutical company that develops vaccines and immune modulating therapies. Fighting the virus is likely to need both approaches, a vaccine as well as an immune therapy. With this kind of focus, Altimmunes fortunes changed quickly with the onset of the COVID pandemic.
Altimmune produces AdCovid, a single dose, intranasal vaccine to protect against COVID-19. As B. Riley analyst Mayank Mamtani points out, Altimmunes products stands out in regards to lung specific IgA and CD8+ T-Cell responses and further states that In our view it blocks the virus at the source within the nose and respiratory tract." AdCovids preclinical data shows a great deal of promise.
ALT stock was trading around $2 per share back in January. Once the company got involved in the fight against COVID-19, the stock jumped up to a high of $33.00 per share, but is now trading at $11; still, this is a move of +450% year-to-date.
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Given what Altimmune has going for it, and the potential upside, this prompted Mamtani to give Altimmune a Buy rating in his recent analysis. The analyst has a price target of $31, suggesting a potential upside of 182% from current levels. (To watch Mamtanis track record, click here).
As it turns out, there are 4 Buy ratings equating to a Strong Buy on ALT with a low price target of $31 (coming from B. Riley), an average Price target of $49 and a high price target of $80. The average Price Target equates to a potential upside move of 345%. (See ALT stock analysis on TipRanks)
Arcturus Therapeutics (ARCT)
Arcturus Therapeutics focuses on RNA medicines with a focus on respiratory diseases. COVID, as it may be, is a virus that attacks the respiratory system.
Arcturus has a proprietary LNP delivery system that enables a safer, more deliverable method of bioavailable therapy. Regarding this method and Arcturus product advancements to this, B. Riley's Mayank Mamtani noted, Along with the proprietary LNP delivery platform, rapidly biodegradable LUNAR, alongside self-transcribing and replicating mRNA (STARR) technology, implies significant safety and durability advantage."
Arcturus has a strong collaboration with Duke University and the Singapore Economic Development Corp to develop LUNAR-Cov19 (ARCT-021) -- a self-replicating mRNA vaccine the might be sufficient to address the Coronavirus outbreak. The potential COVID-19 vaccine is now in a Phase 1/2 trial, and upcoming clinical results are expected in 4Q20. Given the backing and the product development, there appears to be significant potential with this product.
ARCT stock started the year at $10 per share but since has jumped to todays price of $53 this is a 430% year-to-date increase.
Considering the potential for the drug making it to market, Mamtani gives ARCT a Buy rating along with an $82 price target. This equates to an upside potential of 52% from current levels.
Overall, what does the street have to say about ARCT? There are a total of 6 Buy ratings and all add up to a Strong Buy consensus rating. With an average price target of $75.17, the stock is expected to rise nearly 39% over the next months. (See ARCT stock analysis on TipRanks)
Heat Biologics Inc (HTBX)
Heat Biologics is a biopharmaceutical that develops immunotherapies. In development is a T-Cell activation platform that is proprietary and is a strong contender in the fight against COVID-19.
There are similarities to SARS-Cov-1 from 2003 and todays COVID-19. As it turns out, and as bad as it sounds, having previously contracted the original SARS-Cov-1 in 2003 would have been a good thing. Patients that recovered from the original SARS-Cov-1 and contracted the current COVID-19, are seeing long-lasting T-Cells memory and are generally asymptomatic or have mild symptoms. Given this, Heat Biologics is using an approach to mimics the original SARS-Cov-1 to provide immunity against COVID-19.
Heat Biologics is in collaboration with Waisman Biomanufacturing to manufacture COVID-19 and are preparing to deliver its products to market. As B. Riley's Mamtani points out in his recent analysis, we view single-dose format of gp96-IgG to serve as complementary to advanced C-19 vaccine candidates in developing combination-based approaches aimed at enhancing T cell immunity."
Given the potential of the immunotherapies and T-Cell activation Platform and the partnership with Waisman Biomanufacturing, this prompted Mamtani to place, once again, a Buy rating on Heat Biologics shares. The analyst suggests that if everything goes as planned, HTBX will be a $4 stock in the next 12 months, implying nearly 245% return.
As for other Wall Street analysts, there is only one additional rating on HTBX, which is also bullish. The average price target among the two stands at $4.50, which suggests a potential upside of a whopping 288%. (See HTBX stock analysis on TipRanks)
To find good ideas for coronavirus stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks equity insights.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analysts. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.
Cross-posted from the CMS.gov Newsroom
Under President Trumps leadership, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is taking steps to ensure all Americans, including the nations seniors, have access to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine at no cost when it becomes available. Today, the agency released a comprehensive plan with proactive measures to remove regulatory barriers and ensure consistent coverage and payment for the administration of an eventual vaccine for millions of Americans. CMS released a set of toolkits for providers, states and insurers to help the health care system prepare to swiftly administer the vaccine once it is available. These resources are designed to increase the number of providers that can administer the vaccine, ensure adequate reimbursement for administering the vaccine in Medicare, while making it clear to private insurers and Medicaid programs their responsibility to cover the vaccine at no charge to beneficiaries. In addition, CMS is taking action to increase reimbursement for any new COVID-19 treatments that are approved or authorized by the FDA.
Under President Trumps leadership, we have developed a comprehensive plan to support the swift and successful distribution of a safe and effective vaccine for COVID-19, said CMS Administrator Seema Verma. As Operation Warp Speed nears its goal of delivering the vaccine in record time, CMS is acting now to remove bureaucratic barriers while ensuring that states, providers and health plans have the information and direction they need to ensure broad vaccine access and coverage for all Americans.
To ensure broad access to a vaccine for Americas seniors, CMS released an Interim Final Rule with Comment Period (IFC) today that establishes that any vaccine that receives Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorization, either through an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) or licensed under a Biologics License Application (BLA), will be covered under Medicare as a preventive vaccine at no cost to beneficiaries. The IFC also implements provisions of the CARES Act that ensure swift coverage of a COVID-19 vaccine by most private health insurance plans without cost sharing from both in and out-of-network providers during the course of the public health emergency (PHE).
In anticipation of the availability of new COVID-19 treatments, the IFC also establishes additional Medicare hospital payment to support Medicare patients access to these potentially life-saving COVID-19 therapies. In Medicare, hospitals are generally reimbursed a fixed payment amount for the services they provide during an inpatient stay, even if their costs exceed that amount. Under current rules, hospitals may qualify for additional outlier payments, but only when their costs for a particular patient exceed a certain threshold. Under this IFC, hospitals would qualify for additional payments when they treat patients with innovative new products approved or authorized to treat COVID-19 to mitigate any losses they may experience from making these therapies available, even if they do not reach the current outlier threshold. The IFC also makes changes to reimbursement for outpatient hospital services to ensure payment for certain innovative treatments for COVID-19 that occur outside of bundled arrangements and are paid separately. In addition, CMS released information to prepare hospitals to bill for the outpatient administration of a monoclonal antibody product in the event one is approved under an emergency use authorization (EUA).
This rule also allows states to employ a broad range of strategies - based on local needs - to appropriately manage their Medicaid program costs. The guidance and flexibility provided to states in the IFC will help them maintain Medicaid beneficiary enrollment while receiving the temporary increase in federal funding in the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA).
CMS is also taking continued steps to ensure that price transparency extends to COVID-19 testing during the PHE. Provisions in the IFC require that any provider who performs a COVID-19 diagnostic test post their cash prices online. Providers that are non-compliant may face civil monetary penalties.
In addition to these provisions, the IFC:
Along with these regulatory changes, CMS is issuing three toolkits aimed at state Medicaid agencies, providers who will administer the vaccine, and health insurance plans. Together, these toolkits will help ensure the health care system is prepared to successfully administer a safe and effective vaccine by addressing issues related to access, billing and payment, and coverage.
Increasing Access to Vaccines for Medicare & Medicaid Beneficiaries
The toolkits issued today give health care providers not currently enrolled in Medicare the information needed to administer and bill vaccines to Medicare patients. CMS is working to increase the number of providers that will administer a COVID-19 vaccine to Medicare beneficiaries when it becomes available, to make it as convenient as possible for Americas seniors. New providers are now able to enroll as a Medicare mass immunizers through an expedited 24-hour process. The ability to easily enroll as a mass immunizer is important for some pharmacies, schools, and other entities that may be non-traditional providers or otherwise not eligible for Medicare enrollment. To further increase the number of providers who can administer the COVID -19 vaccine, CMS will continue to share approved Medicare provider information with states to assist with Medicaid provider enrollment efforts. CMS is also making it easier for newly enrolled Medicare providers to also enroll in state Medicaid programs to support state administration of vaccines for Medicaid recipients.
Coverage
As a condition of receiving free COVID-19 vaccines from the federal government, providers will be prohibited from charging consumers for administration of the vaccine. To ensure broad and consistent coverage across programs and payers, the toolkits have specific information for several programs, including:
Medicare:Beneficiaries with Medicare pay nothing for COVID-19 vaccines and their copayment/coinsurance and deductible are waived.
Medicare Advantage (MA):For calendar years 2020 and 2021, Medicare will pay directly for the COVID-19 vaccine and its administration for beneficiaries enrolled in MA plans. MA plans would not be responsible for reimbursing providers to administer the vaccine during this time. Medicare Advantage beneficiaries also pay nothing for COVID-19 vaccines and their copayment/coinsurance and deductible are waived.
Medicaid:State Medicaid and CHIP agencies must provide vaccine administration with no cost sharing for most beneficiaries during the public health emergency. Following the public health emergency, depending on the population, states may have to evaluate cost sharing policies and may have to submit state plan amendments if updates are needed.
Private Plans:CMS, along with the Departments of Labor and the Treasury, is requiring that most private health plans and issuers cover a recommended COVID-19 vaccine and its administration, both in-network and out-of-network, with no cost sharing. The rule also provides that out-of-network rates cannot be unreasonably low, and references CMSs reimbursement rates as a potential guideline for insurance companies.
Uninsured:For individuals who are uninsured, providers will be able to be reimbursed for administering the COVID-19 vaccine to individuals without insurance through the Provider Relief Fund, administered by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).
Billing and Payment
The toolkits also address issues related to billing and payment. After the FDA either approves or authorizes a vaccine for COVID-19, CMS will identify the specific vaccine codes, by dose if necessary, and specific vaccine administration codes for each dose for Medicare payment. CMS and the American Medical Association (AMA)are working collaboratively on finalizing a new approach to report use of COVID-19 vaccines, which include separate vaccine-specific codes. Providers and insurance companies will be able to use these to bill for and track vaccinations for the different vaccines that are provided to their enrollees.
Medicare Payment
CMS also released new Medicare payment rates for COVID-19 vaccine administration. The Medicare payment rates will be $28.39 to administer single-dose vaccines. For a COVID-19 vaccine requiring a series of two or more doses, the initial dose(s) administration payment rate will be $16.94, and $28.39 for the administration of the final dose in the series.These rates will be geographically adjusted and recognize the costs involved in administering the vaccine, including the additional resources involved with required public health reporting, conducting important outreach and patient education, and spending additional time with patients answering any questions they may have about the vaccine.Medicare beneficiaries, those in Original Medicare or enrolled in Medicare Advantage, will be able to get the vaccine at no cost.
CMS is encouraging state policymakers and other private insurance agencies to utilize the information on the Medicare reimbursement strategy to develop their vaccine administration payment plan in the Medicaid program, CHIP, the Basic Health Program (BHP), and private plans. Using the Medicare strategy as a model would allow states to match federal efforts in successfully administering the full vaccine to the most vulnerable populations.
The IFC (CMS-9912-IFC) is scheduled to display at the Federal Register as soon as possible with an immediate effective date, and a 30-day comment period. It can be downloaded from the Federal Register at:https://www.cms.gov/files/document/covid-vax-ifc-4.pdf
Additional information on this IFC can be found in the fact sheet here:https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/fourth-covid-19-interim-final-rule-comment-period-ifc-4
The COVID-19 vaccine resources for providers, health plans and State Medicaid programs can be found here:https://www.cms.gov/covidvax
The FAQs on billing for therapeutics can be found here:https://www.cms.gov/files/document/03092020-covid-19-faqs-508.pdf
U.S. President Donald Trump addresses supporters at a campaign rally outside Raymond James Stadium on October 29, 2020 in Tampa, Florida.
Paul Hennessey | NurPhoto | Getty Images
President Donald Trump's campaign rallies led to more than 30,000 coronavirus cases, according to a new paper posted by researchers at Stanford.
Researchers looked at 18 Trump rallies held between June 20 and Sept. 22 and analyzed Covid-19 data the weeks following each event. They compared the counties where the events were held to other counties that had a similar trajectory of confirmed Covid-19 cases prior to the rally date. Out of the 18 rallies analyzed, only three were indoors, according to the research.
The researchers found that the rallies ultimately resulted in more than 30,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19. They also concluded that the rallies likely led to more than 700 deaths, though not necessarily among attendees.
The researchers said the findings support the warnings and recommendations of public health officials concerning the risk of Covid-19 transmission at large group gatherings, "particularly when the degree of compliance with guidelines concerning the use of masks and social distancing is low."
"The communities in which Trump rallies took place paid a high price in terms of disease and death," said B. Douglas Bernheim, chairman of Stanford's economics department and a lead author of the paper, wrote.
The paper, which has not undergone a peer review yet, was published on open access preprint platform SSRN.
In response to the paper, Trump campaign spokesperson Courtney Parellasaid, "Americans have the right to gather under the First Amendment to hear from the President of the United States."
"We take strong precautions for our campaign events, requiring every attendee to have their temperature checked, providing masks they're instructed to wear, and ensuring access to plenty of hand sanitizer. We also have signs at our events instructing attendees to wear their masks," she added.
A spokesperson for Joe Biden's campaign issued a statement after the paper posted, saying, Trump is "costing hundreds of lives and sparking thousands of cases with super spreader rallies that only serve his own ego."
"The worst part is that this doesn't even capture Trump's many superspreader events on White House grounds or the last five weeks of events across the country. How many more lives have been upended in that time? How many more empty seats are there at kitchen tables across America because of Donald Trump's ego?" spokesperson Andrew Bates said.
The researchers said they had to overcome "significant challenges," acknowledging that the dynamics of Covid-19 are "complex," and "even the most superficial examination of the data reveals that the process governing the spread of Covid-19 differs across counties."
The new research comes as the coronavirus continues to rapidly spread across the United States. The U.S. continued to set new highs for infections this week, with Friday marking a record 99,321 daily new cases, bringing the seven-day average of daily new cases to a new high at 78,738, a CNBC analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University showed.
Trump has often been criticized for holding in-person rallies, sometimes with tens of thousands of people, during a pandemic. He has sought to downplay the virus, often tying the increase in Covid-19 cases to more testing. But public health officials and infectious disease experts dispute that claim, saying the rate of tests that come back positive and hospitalizations are also on the rise.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's leading infectious disease expert, said Friday that the U.S. is reporting an "extremely high and quite unacceptable" daily number of cases ahead of the winter season when people will be spending more time indoors.
"We're in a precarious position over the next several weeks to months," Fauci toldSiriusXM's"Doctor Radio Reports," calling on people to continue wearing face masks, social distance and spend time outdoors over indoors as much as possible.
Thefifth meeting of the Emergency Committee convened by the WHO Director-General under the International Health Regulations (IHR) (2005) regarding the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) took place onThursday, 29 October 2020 from 12:30to16:05 Geneva time (CEST).
The Director-General welcomed the Committee, highlighted global advances and challenges in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic, and expressed his appreciation to the Committee for their continued support and advice.
Representatives of the legal department and the Department of Compliance, Risk Management, and Ethics (CRE) briefed the members on their roles and responsibilities. The Ethics Officer from CRE provided the Members and Advisers with an overview of the WHO Declaration of Interest process. The Members and Advisers were made aware of their individual responsibility to disclose to WHO, in a timely manner, any interests of a personal, professional, financial, intellectual or commercial nature that may give rise to a perceived or direct conflict of interest. They were additionally reminded of their duty to maintain the confidentiality of the meeting discussions and the work of the committee. Each member who was present was surveyed and no conflicts of interest were identified.
The Secretariat turned the meeting over to the Chair, Professor Didier Houssin. Professor Houssin also welcomed the Committee and reviewed the objectives and agenda of the meeting.
The WHO Assistant Directors-General for Emergency Response and for Emergency Preparedness and International Health Regulations provided an overview of the current context and an update on the implementation of the 1 August 2020 Temporary Recommendation. WHO continues to assess the global risk level of the COVID-19 pandemic as very high.
The Committee expressed strong appreciation for WHOs leadership and activities throughout the global response. In particular, the Committee appreciated WHOs critical role in developing evidence-based guidance and recommendations; providing countries with technical assistance and operational support; communicating clear information and addressing misinformation; and convening the Solidarity Trials and the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator. The Committee commended WHOs sustained efforts to strengthen national, regional, and global responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.
After ensuing discussion, the Committee unanimously agreed that the pandemic still constitutes an extraordinary event, a public health risk to other States through international spread, and continues to require a coordinated international response. As such, the Committee considered the COVID-19 pandemic to remain a public health emergency of international concern and offered advice to the Director-General.
The Director-General determined that the COVID-19 pandemic continues to constitute a PHEIC. He accepted the advice of the Committee to WHO and issued the Committees advice to States Parties as Temporary Recommendations under the IHR (2005).
The Emergency Committee will be reconvened within three months, at the discretion of the Director-General. The Director-General thanked the Committee for its work.
2. Provide States Parties with a mechanism including templates and processes to report on national progress in implementing the temporary recommendations; collect, analyze, and provide regular updates to the Committee on this progress.
Evidence-Based Response Strategies3. Continue to provide evidence-based guidance for COVID-19 readiness and response. This guidance should include sustainable long-term response strategies, mitigation approaches for different levels of transmission, refined indicators for risk management and pandemic response, a meta-analysis of the effectiveness of public health and social measures for COVID-19 response, and lessons learned including from intra-action reviews.
Research4. Continue to convene multi-disciplinary experts to agree on consistent language for and to further explain: all potential modes of transmission and virulence of SARS-CoV-2; severity risk factors and epidemiology of COVID-19; and the striking diversity of the pandemic dynamics globally.
5. Continue intersectoral collaborations to understand the origin of SARS-CoV-2, the role/impact of animals, and provide regular updates on international research findings.
6. Continue to work with partners to refine mathematical models that can inform policy decisions on how best to mitigate the effects of the pandemic.
Surveillance and Contact Tracing7. Continue to work with partners and networks to provide guidance, tools, and trainings to support countries in strengthening their robust public health surveillance, comprehensive contact tracing, and cluster investigation.
8. Encourage and support countries to understand and report on their epidemiological situation and relevant indicators including through leveraging existing influenza sentinel surveillance systems for COVID-19.
Risk communications and community engagement9. Continue to work with partners to counter the ongoing infodemic and provide guidance on community mobilization to support effective public health and social measures.
Diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines10. Continue to support development of and equitable access to diagnostics, safe and effective therapeutics and vaccines, through the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator; continue to work with all ACT Accelerator partners to provide countries with additional clarity on the processes to enable equitable and timely access to diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines, including in humanitarian settings.
11. Accelerate support to enhance countries readiness for COVID-19 vaccine introduction by providing guidance, tools, and technical assistance for critical areas such as vaccination strategies, vaccine acceptance and demand, training, supply and logistics with a focus on cold chain, and monitoring uptake and vaccine safety.
Health Measures in Relation to International Traffic12. Continue to work with partners to update and review evidence-based guidance for international travel consistent with IHR (2005) provisions. This guidance should focus on effective, risk-based, and coherent approaches (including targeted use of diagnostics and quarantine) that consider transmission levels, response capacities in origin and destination countries, and relevant travel-specific considerations.
Essential Health Services13. Work with partners to support countries in strengthening their essential health services, with a particular focus on mental health, public health prevention and control systems, and other societal impacts, as well as preparing for and responding to concurrent outbreaks, such as seasonal influenza. Special attention should continue to be provided to vulnerable settings.
2. Report to WHO on progress in implementing the Temporary Recommendations, particularly major achievements, milestones, and obstacles. This information will empower countries, WHO, partners, and the Committee to continue to make informed decisions as the pandemic evolves.
Evidence-Based Response Strategies3. Avoid politicization or complacency with regards to the pandemic response which negatively impact local, national, regional, and global response efforts. National strategies and localized readiness and response activities should be driven by science, data, and experience and should engage and enable all sectors using a whole-of-society approach.
4. Implement a dynamic risk management approach using appropriate indicators to inform time-limited, evidence-based public health and social measures.
Research5. Conduct research and share information on transmission, including role of aerosols; presence and potential impact of SARS-CoV-2 in animal populations; and potential sources of contamination (such as frozen products) to mitigate potential risks through preventative measures and international cooperation.
Surveillance and Contact Tracing6. Sustain efforts to strengthen public health surveillance systems and investments in a trained workforce for active case finding, comprehensive contact tracing, and cluster investigations.
7. Continue timely and consistent reporting to WHO, including through platforms such as GISRS, on all recommended indicators for COVID-19 epidemiology and severity, response measures, and concurrent outbreaks, to enhance global understanding of the pandemics evolution.
Risk Communications and Community Engagement8. Engage and empower individuals and communities to strengthen confidence in the COVID-19 response and promote sustained adherence to public health and social measures underpinned by the principles of solidarity and human rights; monitor and address rumours and misinformation.
Diagnostics, Therapeutics, and Vaccines9. Establish a national multi-disciplinary taskforce, assess progress using the COVID-19 Vaccine Introduction Readiness Assessment Tool (VIRAT), and prepare the National Deployment and Vaccination Plan, which can serve as the holistic operational plan for COVID-19 vaccine introduction. A strong emphasis should be placed on communication with communities to prepare for COVID-19 vaccination.
Health Measures in Relation to International Traffic10. Regularly re-consider measures applied to international travel in compliance with Article 43 of the IHR (2005) and continue to provide information and rationales to WHO on measures that significantly interfere with international traffic. Ensure that measures affecting international traffic (including targeted use of diagnostics and quarantine) are risk-based, evidence-based, coherent, proportionate and time limited.
11. Continue to strengthen capacity at points of entry to manage potential risks of cross-border transmission and to facilitate international contact tracing.
Essential Health Services12. Maintain essential health services with sufficient funding, supplies, and human resources; strengthen health systems to cope with mental health impacts of the pandemic, concurrent disease outbreaks, and other emergencies.
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The US has suffered its worst week for new infections of the entire Covid-19 pandemic just days ahead of the election, underscoring what some epidemiologists described as life and death stakes as Americans head to the polls.
Scientists have sounded alarms about unabated Covid-19 spread across the midwest, a spread that has the potential to create even more devastation this winter if nothing is done to control the virus. And political divisions are fueling the surge.
There were so many red flags early on that made us vulnerable from day one, said Natalia Linos, a social epidemiologist who ran in a Democratic primary in Massachusetts this fall and is executive director of the Harvard FXB Center for Health and Human Rights. We were worried, and it showed from day one this has been a political failure.
As key swing states such as Wisconsin are experiencing crisis levels of Covid-19 infections people have been driven people further into their camps, said Katherine J Cramer, a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and author of The Politics of Resentment: Rural Consciousness in Wisconsin and the Rise of Scott Walker.
Theres still very strong support for President Trump here, and I think among his supporters they think hes done a great job handling the pandemic, said Cramer. Then, the opposite is the case for people who are leaning toward Joe Biden, she said about the Democratic presidential candidate.
This week marked the worst week in terms of new infections of the entirety of the pandemic in the US, breaking 500,000 new cases for the first time, according to the Covid Tracking Project.
More tests are coming back positive in 47 states, and hospitalizations are climbing in 39 states. More than 1,000 people are dying a day on average, but deaths have not risen as fast as new cases, because they are considered a lagging indicator. It often takes weeks between a positive test, hospitalization, death and reporting for victims of Covid-19.
A number of coalescing forces could cause dramatic increases in deaths in the coming months, although they are far from inevitable. Scientists believe deaths have not risen in direct correlation with new cases for a few reasons.
First, more young people, who are more resilient to the disease, are getting infected. Second, clinicians have found ways to modestly reduce mortality through treatment. Last, and most importantly, hospitals are not yet as overwhelmed as they were at the start of the pandemic.
However, if politicians resist enacting containment measures or people refuse to follow them, the virus will spread, and could overwhelm hospitals. Key industries such as nursing homes are again warning of shortages of personal protective equipment, especially nitrile gloves. Further, government watchdogs said the Trump administration is woefully behind in stocking gloves necessary to mitigate spread.
When scientists say this is life or death this election it really is. And its not life and death equally for everyone, said Linos. One in 10 white Americans know someone who has died of Covid, and one in three black Americans do. That is unfair, unjust and my biggest worry.
Even as cases have increased to record numbers, politicians have shown little political will for more lockdowns. In El Paso, Texas, a local judge declared a two-week lockdown, which was then declared unlawful by the states attorney general.
In Wisconsin the Democratic governor, Tony Evers, has framed Covid-19 as an urgent crisis but described containment measures as a self-imposed lockdown, according to local news station WMTV.
Meanwhile, Trump has held multiple in-person rallies, playing up the threat of lockdowns while also helping spread the virus.
Bidens cruel and senseless lockdowns would cause countless deaths from suicide and from all of the problems we have, Trump told supporters in West Salem, Wisconsin last week. People lose their jobs. They lose their jobs.
That is a potent message for supporters, many of whom blame lockdowns (rather than the virus) for devastating local economies.
People perceive that President Trump has been something of a hero in saying, this has to come to an end, and we have to get people back to work, said Cramer. With respect to freedom and employment, people think hes done the right thing.
What is certain is the race will turn on Covid-19. Six in 10 voters consider it a very big problem, facing the country. An overwhelming majority of Democrats feel lockdowns were lifted too soon, while a majority of Republicans feel lockdowns were not lifted soon enough, according to a recent analysis of polls in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Were all so focused on the election but the biggest challenges are in front of us, said Cramer. The challenge will be how we actually come together as a state and as a country to deal with this pandemic.
While the rest of the country is reporting only a handful of daily cases -- with most of those imported -- Xinjiang has this week recorded dozens of new infections. On Thursday, the region reported 14 new cases, taking its total active caseload to 197, according to China's National Health Commission.
"The local government and Xinjiang at large launched emergency responses immediately, with medical teams and work teams in and outside of Xinjiang sent to the county and the prefecture for support," state news agency Xinhua reported.
The Xinjiang outbreak has raised eyebrows, however, given the heavy surveillance and security prevalent in the region, and the drastic response the government enacted earlier this year.
Despite this, and despite much of the rest of the country avoiding renewed outbreaks, Kashgar has seen infections spread quickly, mainly through a garment factory in Shufu County's Zhanmin Township where the teenage patient's parents work.
Adrian Zenz, a leading expert on the Chinese government's policies in Xinjiang, said the factory at the heart of the latest outbreak was emblematic of those used for "coercive labor training," a purported poverty alleviation program targeting "so-called rural surplus laborers."
Zenz said that while the "poverty alleviation" program was technically separate from the internment camps and the forced labor system, many such factories also took advantage of workers from the camps, "making it virtually impossible to distinguish labor involving higher coercion from that potentially involving less coercion."
"Xinjiang has so many facilities that pack together people in crammed spaces and facilities, from prisons to detention centers to re-education camps to factories," Zenz told CNN. "The factories especially are a setting where diseases are hard to control, because you have an even greater flow of persons."
President Trump's Coronavirus Response Has Saved Over 2 Million Lives and Outperformed Other Nations Whitehouse.gov
MILAN A 54-year-old nurse became convinced the coronavirus hated her during the first seven months of Italys outbreaks. Those are Cristina Settembreses words for it.
Settembrese, who specializes in treating patients with infectious diseases, faced huge risks during the long hours she spent in close contact with sick and dying COVID-19 patients. She was careful to scale her precautions to match and always tested negative despite getting exposed multiple times.
The nurses encounters with the coronavirus started Feb. 21, the day Italys first domestic cases were confirmed in the countrys north. Nurses and doctors were among the newly infected, so Settembrese immediately volunteered to care for people in Codogno, home to Italys patient zero and just an hours drive away from where she worked at Milans San Paolo Hospital.
Soon, her own hospital was under siege as the virus spread in the Lombardy region, its first foothold beyond Asia. Settembrese, a single mother, immediately sent her 24-year-old daughter to live with her parents. Alone at home, the nurse slept on the couch, partly to be ready in case she was called in to work, partly as a response to a trauma that took her by surprise.
When case numbers finally decreased and her hospital emptied of COVID-19 patients, she found it hard to share the relief she observed in other people, those who had not seen the trauma of her ward. On a short summer break, she saw the virus' fall return in the unmasked faces of fellow vacationers. And her worry grew.
Still, the resurgence came quicker -- and earlier -- than even Settembrese feared. This week alone, the number of cases in her hospital surged by one-third. It also showed up closer to home.
Here, in her words, is her journey through the pandemic, so far.
By August, we had no more admissions for COVID. We had almost a month without any cases. And from September, instead we started to see again some pneumonia, then some patients with COVID, still not serious cases, and we closed the ward for patients with meningitis, tuberculosis, our usual patients. ... Then as the cases increased and the hospital admissions went up, the pneumonia got more aggressive, forcing them to reopen the intensive ward upstairs. The switch has happened: The virulence is much stronger, and we see it in the patients.
I can say on a numeric level, the numbers have soared. ... Nurses have been recalled from the wards they had gone back to. We are calling them back to help us, because alone we cannot keep up. There are just a few of us, and we cannot keep up with people who are wearing helmets (to assist breathing).
"I am experiencing this very badly. I didnt honestly expect to. I cried a lot, four months ago, I cried really a lot. I lost many young people, who I still carry with me. I hadnt yet overcome these deaths. ... All of us nurses, we are feeling a psychological damage. I am experiencing this as a second wave, and I think we still have seen nothing.
"There are not the terrible deaths this time. Now, with the treatments, you manage to avoid these intensive therapies. We have found a pseudo-palliative treatment, lets say. We know how to manage the cases better.
But I am experiencing it inside exactly like before. For us, it is like reliving a nightmare.
"I had seven or eight days of vacation and I joined my mother in Riccione (on the Adriatic Sea), and I was an alien. I was seeing everyone without masks, this beach full of people. Crowds in the bars. And the only ones with masks were the Lombards, and the others, all without.
I told them all off. It was as if I was in a frenzy. I would say, Move apart and put on the masks. I was extremely worried. I would watch and think about October, and I would say to my mother and daughter, With the free-for-all that is happening, we will be facing disaster. Everyone told me I was an alarmist, even friends. I told them: I am not an alarmist. I have worked in the infectious diseases ward for 12 years, and the virus will return. Because all viruses return in October. And this one wont be missing, for sure.
"This young man still pulls at my heart. It is a terrible, terrible story. He was a 42-year-old guy. When he arrived, he was in pretty good shape, then we had to intubate him, with the anesthesiologist. I held his hands, and he said, Cristina, swear to me that I will wake up, because I have two small children. And to help him go to sleep calmly, I promised him. It is a promise I could not keep, because after four or five days, the patient died. I was a mess. I am still carrying this.
Often, when I go into a room, I see the people who were there before. All the beds have faces. They have faces that I remember. Sometimes I have nightmares, I am not ashamed to say. I am having flashbacks that are heavy psychologically. ... I still cannot go to sleep in a bed because I associate it with illness, something I never felt in 35 years working as a nurse. Slowly, I will get over it. But I have been sleeping on the sofa since March. I cannot get in a bed.
"The other day I was destroyed, as if I had spent the whole day doing backbreaking work in the fields. When I couldnt smell or taste anything, I went and got tested. Damn! I can say I am positive, but I dont have major symptoms. I dont have a fever, just some coughing and aches everywhere, like a terrible, terrible flu.
In the end, the virus doesnt hate me. My defenses were down. I worked too many hours, always wearing a mask and maintaining a distance. I have no idea where I got it. Now my daughter, who came here a few times to eat between shifts, has a fever, with a headache. She had a test yesterday. I am very worried, and feel very guilty.
By COLLEEN BARRY Associated Press
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TheWest Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) reports as of 10:00 a.m., October 30,2020, there have been 767,500 totalconfirmatorylaboratory results received for COVID-19, with 23,990totalcases and 451 deaths.
DHHRhas confirmed the deaths of a 93-yearold female from Cabell County, a 90-year old male from Wetzel County, an 84-yearold male from Kanawha County, a 55-year old male from Cabell County, an 82-yearold female from Monongalia County, an 83-year old male from Monongalia County,a 73-year old male from Fayette County, and an 89-year old female from FayetteCounty.
Witha heavy heart, we share this solemn news of more lives lost to this pandemic,said Bill J. Crouch, DHHR Cabinet Secretary. We extend our sympathies to the affectedfamilies.
CASESPER COUNTY: Barbour(187), Berkeley (1,650), Boone (380), Braxton (69), Brooke (239), Cabell(1,494), Calhoun (36), Clay (63), Doddridge (71), Fayette (787), Gilmer (64),Grant (198), Greenbrier (204), Hampshire (140), Hancock (230), Hardy (107),Harrison (673), Jackson (406), Jefferson (614), Kanawha (3,732), Lewis (101), Lincoln(258), Logan (785), Marion (405), Marshall (358), Mason (179), McDowell (126),Mercer (781), Mineral (232), Mingo (632), Monongalia (2,329), Monroe (260),Morgan (154), Nicholas (190), Ohio (585), Pendleton (77), Pleasants (33),Pocahontas (72), Preston (208), Putnam (926), Raleigh (834), Randolph (419),Ritchie (46), Roane (114), Summers (131), Taylor (170), Tucker (65), Tyler(43), Upshur (268), Wayne (605), Webster (35), Wetzel (202), Wirt (55), Wood(647), Wyoming (321).
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 Boone and Clay counties in thisreport.
Please visit the dashboard located at www.coronavirus.wv.gov for more information.
Free COVID-19 testing isavailable today in Barbour, Boone, Braxton,Cabell, Clay, Doddridge, Harrison, Jefferson, Kanawha, Lincoln, Marshall, Mercer,Mingo, Monroe, Morgan, Ritchie, Roane, Taylor, Upshur, Wayne, and Wyomingcounties.
BarbourCounty, October 30, 2:00 PM 6:00 PM, Barbour County Fairgrounds, 113Fairgrounds Way, Belington, WV
BerkeleyCounty, October 30, 10:00 AM 5:00 PM, Musselman High School, 126 ExcellenceWay, Inwood, WV
Boone County,October 30, 12:00 PM 4:00 PM, Racine Volunteer Fire Department, 400 VolunteerStreet, Racine, WV
BraxtonCounty, October 30, 2:00 PM 7:00 PM, Holly Gray Park, 41 Holly Grove Drive,Sutton, WV
CabellCounty, October 30, 9:00 AM 2:00 PM, Cabell County Health Department, 703Seventh Avenue, Huntington, WV (flu shots offered)
Clay County,October 30, 9:00 AM 1:00 PM, Clay County Health Department, 452 Main Street,Clay, WV
DoddridgeCounty, October 30, 2:00 PM 4:00 PM, Ritchie Regional Health Center, WestUnion Location, 190 Marie Street, West Union, WV
HarrisonCounty, October 30, 9:00 AM 12:00 PM, Harrison County Health Department, 330West Main Street, Clarksburg, WV (by appointment; call 304-623-9308)
JeffersonCounty, October 30, 1:00 PM 5:00 PM, Jefferson County Health Department, 1948Wiltshire Road, Kerneysville, WV (by appointment; call 304-728-8416, press 1)
JeffersonCounty, October 30, 10:00 AM 5:00 PM, Ranson Civic Center, 432 W. 2nd Avenue,Ranson, WV
KanawhaCounty, October 30, 9:00 AM 3:00 PM, Shawnee Sports Complex. One Salango Way,Dunbar, WV
LincolnCounty, October 30, 10:00 AM 2:00 PM, Lincoln County Health Department, 8008Court Avenue, Hamlin, WV (Walk-in testing)
MarshallCounty, October 30, 10:00 AM 2:00 PM, Marshall County Health Department, 5136th Street, Moundsville, WV
MercerCounty, October 30, 12:00 PM 3:00 PM, Mercer County Health Department, 978Blue Prince Road, Bluefield, WV
Mingo County,October 30, 8:00 AM 1:00 PM, Williamson Health and Wellness Center, 173 East2nd Avenue, Williamson, WV (under the tent)
MonroeCounty, October 30, 12:00 PM 4:00 PM, Monroe County Health Department, 200Health Center Drive, Union, WV
MorganCounty, October 30, 9:00 AM 2:00 PM, Morgan County Health Department, 137 WarMemorial Drive, Berkeley Springs, WV (by appointment; call 304-258-1513, option1)
Morgan County,October 30, 3:30 PM 7:00 PM, Warm Springs Middle School, 271 Warm SpringsWay, Berkeley Springs, WV
RitchieCounty, October 30, 2:00 PM 4:00 PM, Ritchie Regional Health Center, 135South Penn Avenue, Harrisville, WV
Roane County,October 30, 9:00 AM 5:00 PM, Roane General Hospital, 200 Hospital Drive,Spencer, WV (flu shots offered)
TaylorCounty, October 30, 12:00 PM 2:00 PM, First Baptist Church of Grafton, 2034Webster Pike (US Rt. 119 South), Grafton, WV
UpshurCounty, October 30, 2:00 PM 6:00 PM, Buckhannon Upshur High School, 270 BUDrive, Buckhannon, WV
Wayne County,October 30, 10:00 AM 2:00 PM, Wayne County Health Department, 217 KenovaAvenue, Wayne, WV
WyomingCounty, October 30, 12:00 PM 4:00 PM, Old Board of Education, 19 Park Street,Pineville, WV
Testing is available toeveryone, including asymptomatic individuals. Additional testing will be held Saturday,October 31 in Berkeley, Jefferson, Mingo, Morgan, Roane, and Wyoming counties.
BerkeleyCounty, October 31, 12:00 PM 8:00 PM, Musselman High School, 126 ExcellenceWay, Inwood, WV
JeffersonCounty, October 31, 12:00 PM 6:00 PM, Ranson Civic Center, 432 W. 2nd Avenue,Ranson, WV
Mingo County,October 31, 10:00 AM 3:00 PM, Williamson Health and Wellness Center, 173 East2nd Avenue, Williamson, WV, (under the tent)
Morgan County,October 31, 12:00 PM 8:00 PM, Warm Springs Middle School, 271 Warm SpringsWay, Berkeley Springs, WV
Roane County,October 31, 9:00 AM 1:00 PM, Roane General Hospital, 200 Hospital Drive, Spencer,WV (flu shots offered)
WyomingCounty, October 31, 11:00 AM 3:00 PM, Old Board of Education, 19 Park Street,Pineville, WV
Testing will be held Sunday, November 1 in Berkeley, Jefferson, Mingo, Morgan,and Wyoming counties.
BerkeleyCounty, November 1, 12:00 PM 8:00 PM, Musselman High School, 126 ExcellenceWay, Inwood, WV
JeffersonCounty, November 1, 3:00 PM 8:00 PM, Ranson Civic Center, 432 W. 2nd Avenue,Ranson, WV
Mingo County,November 1, 12:00 PM 4:00 PM, Williamson Health and Wellness Center, 173 East2nd Avenue, Williamson, WV (under the tent)
Morgan County,November 1, 12:00 PM 8:00 PM, Warm Springs Middle School, 271 Warm SpringsWay, Berkeley Springs, WV
WyomingCounty, November 1, 11:00 AM 3:00 PM, Old Board of Education, 19 Park Street,Pineville, WV
For more testing locations, pleasevisit https://dhhr.wv.gov/COVID-19/pages/testing.aspx.New sites are added every day.
MOSCOW One video shows bodies in plastic bags stacked in the basement of a hospital in the Siberian city of Barnaul after a morgue overflowed.
Well, this is how it is, said a voice on the video, one of dozens posted anonymously by desperate hospital workers amid a surge of Covid-19 cases in provincial Russian cities. Were overloaded.
During the spring, the pandemic struck Moscow particularly hard while mostly sparing provincial locations. But now infections are rising in several of Russias far-flung regions, and hospitals and morgues are overwhelmed.
In his long tenure, President Vladimir V. Putin has centralized political power. But during the pandemic, he has delegated to regional authorities decisions on locking down businesses, shutting schools and taking other public health precautions.
The stated purpose was to allow local officials to tailor their responses to local circumstances, though political analysts also noted that it allowed Mr. Putin to deflect blame for unpopular shutdowns, or bad outcomes. Either way, the result has become a patchwork of rules throughout the country that are often poorly observed.
Russia has reported 1,579,446 cases, the fourth-highest number in the world, after the United States, India and Brazil. On average over the past seven days, 16,546 people have been infected daily.
Overall, Russias health system has been coping. Tatyana Golikova, a deputy prime minister, said 80 percent of the beds in Covid-19 wards were occupied nationally. But some provinces have clearly lost control of the epidemic. Five regions reported that 95 percent of the beds were occupied.
Russia approved a vaccine for the coronavirus in August, before completing clinical trials, but it has not been administered widely. In Moscow, the health authorities said Friday that about 2,500 people in the city had received the vaccine under emergency-use approval.
In testimonials and videos from Russias regions, some harrowing accounts are emerging.
In Novokuznetsk, a Siberian coal mining town, a morgue worker posted a video in which he appeared to walk on bodies in bags. They were so tightly packed in a corridor that there seemed no other way to get through.
Stacked on the floor and piled on stretchers, a dozen or so were visible. One body was simply placed on the floor under a blanket, a pair of womens shoes protruding.
This is the hallway, said the worker, who did not identify himself. There are corpses all over. You can fall down walking here, you can trip over them. I have to walk on their heads.
In Barnaul, a city of 625,000, the regional authorities acknowledged a problem but blamed a third-party supplier of hearses used to transport bodies for burial.
Indeed, in the hospital there is some delay in removing the dead patients, the regional health authority said in a statement carried by Russian news agencies. Outside companies provide this service for medical organizations, and they are not coping with the volume.
In Novokuznetsk, the Health Department issued a statement saying the morgue had overflowed because many families of the dead had also fallen ill and were not able to retrieve the bodies for burial.
The authorities were building new shelves to accommodate the bodies, the statement said.
In Blagoveshchensk, a city in the Far East on the border with China, a local journalist, Natalya Nadelyaeva, described in despair having to wait in line at a morgue to pick up the body of her grandfather, then wait in another line at a funeral home to arrange burial. The undertakers told me they just dont have enough crews to bury everybody on time, she said.
Overall, Russias reported mortality rate of 19 per 100,000 people is lower than that of most West European countries and the United States. One explanation is that wide testing in Russia turns up many mild or asymptomatic cases. But there have also been indications that mortality has been underreported.
In St. Petersburg, a news site, Fontanka.ru, reported Friday that it had obtained a document from the citys crematorium seeming to contradict the official death count from Covid-19. The document, called the Account of Acts of Cremation of Bodies Infected with the New Coronavirus, listed 2,194 more cremations than reported deaths from the virus from April until October, the site calculated.
Pileups have hit hospitals as well as morgues. In Omsk, a Siberian industrial city, two ambulance drivers this month picked up a 70-year-old woman and an 85-year-old man with severe Covid-19 symptoms but could find no hospitals with free beds. After being turned away by multiple emergency rooms over 10 hours, they parked outside the regional Ministry of Health in protest, with their ailing patients still aboard.
Earlier this week, Dmitri S. Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, sharply criticized regional leaders in Omsk over the ambulance debacle. It would be better if the situation never came to this, he said. When problems arise, its necessary to get a quick reaction, most of all from the regional leaders.
Mr. Peskov noted some resignations of local politicians related to breakdowns in the coronavirus response in Omsk and in Rostov-on-Don, where a criminal case has been opened after 20 patients died in a hospital because it ran out of oxygen for their ventilators.
In a separate incident on Saturday, the oxygen supply of a hospital in the Ural Mountain city of Chelyabinsk exploded, forcing the evacuation of 158 patients in a coronavirus ward, three of whom were on ventilators, in the ensuing fire. Two floors of the hospital burned.
Local news media reports said that two patients had died. But the regional governor, Aleksei Teksler, told the Tass news agency that the two had died earlier on Saturday from Covid-19, not from the disruption in the oxygen supply or during evacuation, and that their bodies had been in the intensive-care unit when the explosion occurred, causing the confusion.
At a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Mr. Putin discussed the rising cases in the Russian regions but said he did not plan a national lockdown. We have to keep our hand on the pulse and react in time and effectively, he said. Cities with high case counts have closed schools and asked businesses to voluntarily send employees home.
