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Days after Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker's administration announced new executive orders, including a business curfew and gathering limit changes, Gillette Stadium officials announced fans will not be allowed to attend New England Patriots or Revolution games at the stadium through the remainder of the 2020 season. “We have recently been informed that the Governor's Executive Order prohibiting large capacity venues from opening to the public will remain in force for the remainder of the 2020 football and soccer seasons,” stadium officials announced in a statement on Monday. Stadium officials said that they will continue working with the state on plans to bring fans back inside for 2021. “We know that this decision will be disappointing to the friends and family members of our respective teams and countless Patriots and Revolution Season Ticket Members who were eager to attend games this season,” stadium officials announced in a statement on Monday.
Utah Gov. Gary Herbert has declared a state of emergency and issued a mandatory statewide mask mandate as cases of the novel coronavirus threaten to overwhelm the state's hospital system, The Associated Press reported. All residents are now required to wear face masks in public, at work and when they are within 6 feet of other people who aren't members of their household, the AP's report said, citing executive orders by the governor and the state health department. The governor's orders also call for a two-week pause in extracurricular activities such as high school sports, although high school championship sporting events can still take place. A total of 424 people were hospitalized in Utah on Sunday, topping the previous record of 395 for the state. Utah's seven-day average of cases also hit a new record as it now stands at 2,290.
A senior administration official said health officials in the U.S. are “extremely encouraged” by Pfizer’s announcement that trials show their potential vaccine to be 90% effective. Brett Giroir, an assistant secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services, said the vaccine “could effectively end the pandemic” if approved. “Until that vaccine is widely administered and distributed, we have much work to do,” he said, according to CNBC. “I think we all realize our nation is in a critical phase in this pandemic, with significant community spread, cases averaging 100,000 per day over the last seven days and climbing, increase in hospitalizations with our three-day average estimated to be 61,000.” Pfizer CEO Dr. Albert Bourla said Pfizer is prepared to produce up to 50 million doses of the vaccine in 2020 and 1.3 billion doses in 2021. “I believe this is likely the most significant medical advance in the last 100 years,” he said.
On Monday, France reported a decline in COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, despite the sharp increase in deaths and hospitalizations, Reuters reported. Jerome Salomon, the country’s health director, reported 20,155 daily new COVID-19 infections, sharply down from Saturday’s record of 86,852 and Sunday’s 38,619. “We’re at a crucial moment,” Salomon said. However, he added that the peak is yet to come. The number of people who died from the virus rose by 551 on Monday, up from the 270 deaths that were reported on Sunday. In addition, the number of patients in intensive care units was up by 151, bringing the total number of COVID-19 patients in ICUs to 4,690.
On Saturday, tens of thousands of people across the U.S. celebrated, while some protested after Joe Biden was projected to win the presidential election, CBS News reported. The demonstrations led experts to warn about the spike in COVID-19 cases in the country, as cases surpassed 10 million. “Any time when you put that many people in close proximity, you do run the risk of that transmission,” said Dr. Benjamin Aaaker, president of the South Dakota State Medical Association. Positive cases are now on the rise in 26 states, while 41 states are seeing a rise in hospitalizations.
As states all over the country report an uptick in new cases of coronavirus, New Jersey has unveiled new restrictions to slow the spread ahead of the winter months. “They won't come close to what we were doing in the spring. This is not a lockdown," New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said on Monday. Under the new restrictions, bars and restaurants must close by 10 p.m., and there will be a ban at sitting at indoor bars, as well as new guidelines on indoor sporting events, NorthJersey.com said. On Saturday, the state reported more than 3,000 new cases of COVID-19, the highest daily total since early May, according to the New Jersey Department of Health.
Following the thrilling conclusion of the Notre Dame and Clemson football game Saturday night, a game in which the Fighting Irish won 47-40, the assembled student body rushed the field to celebrate, packing closely together in a huge throng in what is quite the opposite of social distancing. Following the celebration, school president John Jenkins wrote a letter to the student body saying he was disappointed to see "evidence of widespread disregard of our health protocols." Jenkins also introduced new guidelines for students to follow after consulting with the local health director for St. Joseph County. "The university will place a registration hold on the record of any student who fails to appear for testing when asked to do so. A registration hold would mean that you are unable to matriculate or register for classes next semester or receive a transcript," the letter said. “Furthermore, you may not leave the South Bend area until you receive the results of your exit test. Again, should we discover that you have left the area, we will place a registration hold on your record.” Jenkins' comments come only weeks after he tested positive for the virus after attending the nomination ceremony for judge Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Sergio Garcia, the 2017 Masters champion, will not compete this year after testing positive for COVID-19. Garcia is now the second player that will not participate because of the coronavirus, ESPN reported. “After 21 years of not missing a Major Championship, I will sadly miss @themasters this week,” Garcia wrote on Twitter. “The important thing is that my family and I are feeling good. We’ll come back stronger and give the green jacket a go next April.”
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson tested positive for the coronavirus, NBC News reported on Monday. Carson is a retired neurosurgeon who ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016 and was later appointed HUD secretary by President Trump. News of his positive test comes days after it was revealed that Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows and several other White House aides tested positive for COVID-19. According to The Hill, Carson is the highest-ranking member of the Trump administration to come down with COVID-19. Armstrong Williams, a political pundit and friend of Carson’s, said on Twitter that he’s been in touch with Carson and that “he is doing extraordinarily well. He is so grateful to have access to powerful therapeutics. We also pray for the millions who celebrated over the weekend and may have exposed themselves to COVID19.”
President-elect Joe Biden announced his COVID-19 task force Monday, as he and his transition team begin to set their top priorities for when he takes office in January. The task force includes former government officials, academics and some of the top doctors in the country, according to STAT News. Among the list of members on the task force is Rick Bright, a vaccine expert who was in charge of the government's Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), before he was let go by the Trump administration this past spring. Bright eventually filed a whistleblower complaint in May and said there was "an abuse of authority or gross mismanagement" at the Department of Health and Human Services, according to NBC News. “Dealing with the coronavirus pandemic is one of the most important battles our administration will face, and I will be informed by science and by experts,” Biden said in a statement Monday, according to STAT. “The advisory board will help shape my approach to managing the surge in reported infections; ensuring vaccines are safe, effective, and distributed efficiently, equitably, and free; and protecting at-risk populations.”
The world topped 50 million coronavirus cases one the weekend, and nearly 10 million of those are from the U.S. Following another 105,000 reported new infections on Sunday, the country is poised to become the first to hit the 10 million mark. Currently, the country's total through the duration of the pandemic is 9,973,666, according to Johns Hopkins University. For a detailed breakdown of the newest numbers on the pandemic in the U.S., watch the video below. Here are the latest global stats on the coronavirus pandemic.
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Confirmed cases: 50,523,502
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Fatalities: 1,258,109
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Recoveries: 33,090,213
Lima, Peru.- Health professionals participate in a vaccination campaign on November 9, 2020. The pharmaceutical company Pfizer affirmed this Monday that its vaccine against Covid-19 is 90 percent effective.
Pharmaceutical company Pfizer announced a substantial development in the fight against the novel coronavirus. The company announced Monday that its experimental COVID-19 vaccine is found to be 90% effective, with Pfizer chairman and chief executive Albert Bourla calling the day “a great day for science and humanity.” According to The Associated Press, a study that enrolled 44,000 people among six countries found 94 total infections. The company, along with German partner BioNTech, has found no serious safety concerns related to the potential vaccine and are now planning to seek U.S. emergency use authorization within the month. If approved for emergency use, it is still unclear how long the vaccine would provide a person with protection, and the number of doses being distributed will remain limited, Reuters reported. “We’re in a position potentially to be able to offer some hope,” Bill Gruber, Pfizer’s senior vice president of clinical development, said. “We’re very encouraged.” Watch the video below for more.
Saturday marked a new record high one-day count of new coronavirus cases in the U.S. since the pandemic began with 126,742 new cases. The new record comes after an active week for new cases in the country, with four days where new cases surpassed 100,000 and the third day new cases surpassed 120,000, CNN reported. "We're going to see these case numbers really start to explode," former US Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said. "It's not just the cases -- it's the hospitalizations as well. That's really the number to watch: 53,000 people hospitalized, 10,500 people in ICUs. That's a lot, and it's growing very quickly."
A 71-year-old leukemia patient tested positive for the coronavirus on March 2 and continued to shed infectious particles of the virus for 70 days. Most patients with COVID-19 shed the infectious particles for about eight days, however the leukemia patient was testing positive for over 100 days, and reportedly infectious for about 70 of them, Business Insider reported. "We think that at least up to day 70, this patient would have been able to spread the virus to others," Vincent Munster, a virologist at National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said of the case. Munster said the case at hand was the longest pan of infectiousness seen in an asymptomatic patient with the virus. In October, a study said the longest span of info pious virus shedding was 61 days. According to researchers, the weakened immune system in the patient was likely unable to defend her from the virus, allowing it to stay in her body for longer. She also had less antibodies detected in her blood, which are used to fight off the virus. "We think that this is a relatively rare occurrence tied to the very specific immune status of this patient," Munster said. "Although it is difficult to extrapolate from a single patient, our data suggest that long-term shedding of infectious virus may be a concern in certain immunocompromised patients.”
An elementary school in Kirkwood, Missouri, is shutting down for at least two days after more than one-fourth of the entire schools staff and four classrooms were potentially exposed to COVID-19 and must quarantine. Two students and one staff member at Robinson Elementary School in Kirkwood tested positive for COVID-19, according to the St. Louis Post Dispatch. The school originally shifted to in-person instruction in mid-October. "Many of these instructional staff members are part of the core team of support for our students. We need to ensure adequate staffing whenever our students are in school," said David Ulrich, Kirkwood superintendent, said.
New research finds that children who contract COVID-19 produce weaker and less antibodies than adults. The study, published on Thursday, wrote that the weaker and less frequent antibodies could suggest that children clear their infections much faster than adults. In addition, many studies have claimed a strong immune system response could be the reason some people get severely ill from COVID-19 and even die, but the weaker immune systems in children do not have the same effect, The New York Times reported. “You don’t really need a huge, overly robust immune response to maintain protections over some period of time,” Deepta Bhattacharya, an immunologist at the University of Arizona in Tucson, said. “I don’t know that I would be especially worried that kids have a little bit lower antibody response.”
A simulation study on cough droplets suggests six feet of distancing may not be enough. The study suggests that a cough can disperse droplets far beyond the six-feet that has become standard for social distancing, and anyone shorter than the person coughing is at an increased risk of coming into contact with the droplets, CNN reported. "Young children may be at greater risk compared to adults based on the typical downward cough trajectory. Teenagers and short adults are advised to maintain a social distance greater than two [meters] from taller persons," the researcher wrote in the journal Physics of Fluids. "Surgical masks are known to be effective at trapping large droplets and therefore recommended for use as necessary.” According to the study, wind speeds of 4 mph can allow droplets 100 micrometers in size to reach 21.6 feet at 86 degrees Fahrenheit. A previous study published in the same journal made a similar suggestion, and reported that a light breeze could allow a cough droplet to travel up to 18 feet.
Wearing masks and plastic gloves amid the spread of the new coronavirus, girls write on the chalkboard during class in Havana, Cuba, Monday, Nov. 2, 2020. Tens of thousands of school children returned to class Monday in Havana for the first time since COVID-19 prompted authorities to shut the island down in April. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Eight weeks after being admitted to the hospital with COVID-19, Henry Bell and his fiancé Antionette Brown decided to get married, according to ABC News. They set the date for the day before Bell’s release from the inpatient rehab center at Orange Park Medical Center, wanting the hospital staff to be a part of the celebration. “His condition was deadly,” Brown told The Florida Times-Union. “We decided to do it now because we feel they (the hospital staff) are like family and wanted to share the life they gave us back.” When Bell was admitted to the hospital on Sept. 13, he was immediately put on a ventilator, the Florida Times-Union reported. “It was touch and go for a while,” hospital spokeswoman Carrie Turansky told the newspaper. “After this journey, he and his fiancé didn’t want to wait another minute to get married, and they are so appreciative of the staff… that they wanted to have their wedding here.”
For three days straight, Los Angeles County has reported over 1,800 new coronavirus cases a day. The county reported over 2,100 new cases on Friday alone, making it the first time since August a one-day total was so high. Officials are now warning residents to be safe as the holiday season nears, according to The Los Angeles Times. “We have experienced increasing cases in L.A. County before and have demonstrated that we can get back to slowing the spread of COVID-19 and saving lives when we are united in our efforts to minimize infections,” Barbara Ferrer, director of the county public health department, said in a statement.
Here are the latest COVID-19 numbers, provided by researchers at Johns Hopkins University:
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Confirmed cases: 49,956,606
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Fatalities: 1,252,277
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Recoveries: 32,861,378
The state of Victoria in Australia has now gone nine days straight without any new coronavirus cases reported. According to ABC News, the state has only reported six new cases of the virus in two weeks. Only four active cases remain in Victoria, officials say. In addition, none of the active cases are from healthcare workers. "Today marks the first day since early March that there are no active healthcare worker infections," Health Minister Martin Foley said. "During the course of the pandemic, 3,574 coronavirus cases were reported in healthcare workers. By the time you multiply out the number of close contacts that were furloughed, there are many, many, many tens of thousands of healthcare workers who have sacrificed a lot, together with their families and co-workers on all of our behalf."
Texas became the first U.S. state to report one million cases of COVID-19 on Saturday. According to Reuters, Harris, Dallas and El Paso counties are responsible for the bulk of the cases in the state. For the past week, Texas reported about 6,800 new cases each day. The state now holds 10% of the entire nation’s coronavirus cases. According to Johns Hopkins University, Texas has the second-highest fatality total of any U.S. states with 19,146 deaths, the first highest being New York with 33,680.
Queen Elizabeth was spotted in public wearing a face mask for the first time since the pandemic. On Wednesday, the Queen traveled to Westminster Abbey to visit the grave of an unknown warrior, making it her first public engagement in London since March, Sky News reported. An aide to the Queen said the service was “deeply personal” as she married there in 1947, and brought flowers for the grave that resembled her own wedding bouquet. Previously, the Queen faced backlash for visiting the Porton Down defense laboratory without a mask on in October.
Baltimore is tightening up coronavirus restrictions as the region enters a second wave of COVID-19 cases. The new restrictions include increased restrictions on capacity for businesses, shutting down bars that do not serve food and a new mask requirement for all public places, regardless if they are indoors or outside. According to the Baltimore Sun, Mayor Bernard “Jack” Young said the restrictions were designed to “save lives in Baltimore City.” On Friday, the city reported its third-highest one-day total of new cases with 1,541 cases of COVID-19 confirmed.
Southwest Airlines sent out the first furlough warnings to some employees in the airlines 49 years in the industry. The 42 furlough notices were sent out to parts inventory workers after their union refused pay cuts the airline said were necessary to balance $1 billion in overstaffing costs. The furloughs are expected to take place in January, unless an extension for federal payroll support for airlines is passed by the government that Southwest deems “satisfactory,” Reuters reported. “This is not the result we hoped to achieve,” Southwest Vice President of Labor Relations Russell McCrady said, and said the airline is still open to pay negotiations with the union to save the jobs.
The National Basketball Association (NBA) returned to play amid the coronavirus outbreak with a 72-game season for its 2020-21 campaign and experts say fewer games could benefit the league long-term, CNBC news reports. Some sports experts say the NBA should consider keeping a 72-game regular-season for the foreseeable future as it could help the league with quality of play and will allow players extra recovery time which could improve gameplay. Fewer games would also decrease travel for players. “It’s going to be better across the board of quality basketball and healthier athletes,” said Tony Ponturo, who served as vice-president of Anheuser-Busch global media sports and entertainment marketing, CNBC reports. “You take the [revenue] hit and figure out how to make it up in other ways.”
On Friday, U.S. coronavirus infections hit at least 129,606, the third consecutive daily rise of more than 100,000 cases, according to a Reuters tally. The spike marks the fourth time that more than 100,000 cases of the virus have been reported in the United States. Twenty of the 50 states reported record increases on Friday, while the Midwest remains the hardest-hit region based on daily new cases per capita. Illinois, marking the highest total, reported more than 10,000 daily cases for the first time, while record increases were reported in Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio and Wisconsin, according to Reuters.
On Friday, Denmark defended its decision to kill millions of minks even after the World Health Organization (WHO) downplayed fears of a mutated COVID-19 strain, according to NBC News. "All remaining mink will now be culled including non-infected and otherwise healthy mink," Denmark's Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod said in a press conference. The WHO’s discovery precipitated the move to kill up to 17 million minks. "We would rather go a step too far than take a step too little to combat Covid-19," Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod said. As of Thursday, 216 mink farms in the country were infected with coronavirus and all remaining minks would be killed in the coming weeks, Danish health officials said.
Minks look out of a cage at a fur farm in the village of Litusovo, northeast of Minsk, Belarus. Coronavirus outbreaks at mink farms in Spain and the Netherlands have scientists digging into how the animals got infected and if they can spread it to people. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits, File)
Texas has been slowly closing in on its 1 millionth case of COVID-19. As of Friday morning, there were 993,065 confirmed cases, according to NBC News figures. Just last month Texas had overcome California in the number of cases per state, but both have seen a surge in cases over the past two weeks. According to NBC, Texas has been averaging about 7,000 new infections a day over the last two weeks. Deaths in the state have also risen by 10% over the past two weeks. According to the news outlet’s figures, 94% of the coronavirus cases and 91% of the deaths in Texas have occurred since the end of May, after Gov. Greg Abbott, began loosening restrictions put in place to slow the spread of the virus.
France has become the epicenter of the pandemic in Europe having more confirmed cases of COVID-19 than any other country in the region, and nursing homes have been hit particularly hard in recent weeks. More people have died of COVID-19 in nursing homes over the past two weeks than in the past five months combined, according to health officials, The Associated Press said. In all, nursing home deaths have accounted for roughly 30% of all coronavirus-related fatalities across France since the start of the pandemic. In response to the recent uptick in cases and fatalities, nursing homes are tightening rules, suspending family visits and keeping some residents in their rooms. “We’re confined, closed in from morning to night,” Patricia Deliry told the AP. Deliry, 81, lives in a nursing home in Paris and has not been able to see her family or other residents in the home. “At least there is television (in the room), or I would be banging my head against the wall.”
An unidentified elections supervisor in Missouri who knew they tested positive for COVID-19 and worked their polling site on election day anyway has died. The elections judge supervisor from St. Charles County tested positive for the coronavirus on Oct. 30 and did not follow through with the two-week isolation period, NBC News reported. It has not been announced what specifically caused their death. The poll worker worked at the Blanchette Park Memorial Hall polling site, where 1,858 people went to vote. The voters who came to the polling site are not considered close contact and do not need to isolate, but nine other poll workers were told to get tested for the virus. “There is no more important duty than protecting the health of our families, friends and those who reside in the community with us,” St. Charles County Director of Public Health Demetrius Cianci-Chapman said.
ESPN is slashing 500 jobs, the cuts including 300 layoffs, as COVID-19 pushes the company more toward streaming, according to the Los Angeles Times. The cuts were announced Thursday in a memo from Jimmy Pitaro, president of the Walt Disney Co.-owned unit, and the company added that another 200 open positions would be cut. “Prior to the pandemic, we had been deeply engaged in strategizing how best to position ESPN for future success amid tremendous disruption in how fans consume sports,” Pitaro said in the memo. “The pandemic’s significant impact on our business clearly accelerated those forward-looking discussions.” According to The Los Angeles Times, people familiar with the plans said the cuts would be across different departments. The memo didn’t specify when the lay offs would take effect.
For the second time amid the pandemic, the state of Wisconsin is looking for a new state health officer. In a letter to health departments around Wisconsin, Stephanie Smiley announced her resignation would take place on Nov. 11, The Associated Press reported. Smiley noted that she is leaving to accept a job in the private sector. Her departure comes as the state is being inundated by new coronavirus cases, as is the case across much of the Midwest. Smiley's predecessor, Jeanne Ayers, was forced to resign by Gov. Tony Evers' administration in May, the AP reported. “To say 2020 has been hard is an understatement,” Smiley wrote in the letter, according to the AP. “As public health officials, you have repeatedly needed to deliver bad news that has sparked fear, frustration, anxiety and criticism. And despite all of this, you and your staff have risen to the occasion and continue to do what you can to battle through this,” she said. Nearly 6,000 new positive cases were reported on Wednesday, according to the state health department.
North Dakota health officials have reported 29 more deaths from the coronavirus on Thursday, in addition to the state breaking a new daily case record and hospitalizations from COVID. The state reported 231 people are being treated in medical facilities across North Dakota which is 11 higher than the prior record, which was set just the day before. Only 14 staffed intensive care beds and 188 staffed inpatient beds were available on Wednesday. Over 1,500 new cases of the virus were reported across the state on Thursday. More than 560 people have died from the coronavirus in North Dakota, 325 of which since Oct. 1.
In October, the U.S. economy created the least amount of jobs in five months, further showing evidence that recovery from the coronavirus pandemic recession has slowed. The employment report, given out by the Labor Department, showed 3.6 million people have been out of work for more than six months, according to Reuters. Nonfarm payrolls had the smallest increase since job recovery started in May, increasing by just 638,000 jobs in October. Government payrolls fell 268,000 which is weighed down due to the departure of temporary workers hired for the 2020 Census. The unemployment rate for the country fell from 7.9% in September to 6.9% in October. Economists warn that the unemployment rate isn't a true reflection of labor market's health and the true number of people out of work for more than six months surged by 1.2 million to 3.6 million in October.
Hospitals across the U.S. are once again facing a shortage of masks and protective equipment as the country braces for a new wave of the coronavirus heading into winter. In particular, the high demand for N95 masks is causing stockpiles of the protective gear to get dangerously low, Consumer Affairs said. These masks are different from many masks that Americans are wearing out in public and filter out up to 95% of harmful material in the air. It is recommended that hospitals have a 90-day supply of masks, but in some states like New Mexico, N95 masks have to be reused since there’re not enough to spare, the publication said.
For the first time in more than six months, New Jersey has reported back-to-back days with more than 2,000 new cases of COVID-19. On Thursday, state health officials confirmed 2,104 new coronavirus cases, according to NJ.com. The state is also dealing with its highest number of hospitalizations since June 23.
The current number of patients in the state's 71 hospitals is 1,224, NJ.com reports. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said at his daily press conference on Thursday that he was considering implementing new restrictions as the cases mount in the Garden State. “How close are we to doing something?” Murphy said. “Close. So bear with us. We will clearly be taking action.” Nearly 13,000 cases have been reported in the last week, according to NJ.com.
NBA player representatives voted to start the upcoming season on Dec. 22 for a planned 72-game season. It is also yet-to-be-determined how the league will facilitate testing and safety issues caused by the coronavirus, according to The Associated Press. The players union said in a statement, “Additional details remain to be negotiated and the NBPA is confident that the parties will reach agreement on these remaining issues relevant to the upcoming season." The NBA's traditional Christmas schedule still remains possible with a Dec. 22 start date, something the league and broadcasters have been hoping for. The draft is scheduled for Nov. 18 and training camps are to begin Dec. 1.
Starting on Monday, people traveling to Washington, D.C. from a high-risk state will now need to test negative for the coronavirus 72 hours before arrival. Mayor Muriel Bowser announced the updated travel policy on Thursday during a press conference. "We want people to be safe and smart if they do travel," Bowser said. Currently, 42 states are deemed ‘high risk’ by D.C. health officials. However, there are some exceptions to the new restriction. People traveling from neighboring Maryland or Virginia will not need to provide a negative test, nor do those who are visiting D.C. for less than 24 hours, ABC News said. After making the announcement, Bowser also urged residents not to travel or attend large gatherings during the upcoming holidays.
Italy has become the latest country in Europe to impose a new round of lockdowns amid a resurgence of the coronavirus. The lockdowns began on Friday and are only for five coronavirus “red zones” in northern Italy, not the entire country, AFP said. Around 16 million people live in this region where non-essential businesses will be closed to slow the spread of the virus. On Thursday, Italy reported 34,505 new cases and 445 deaths, AFP said. Earlier this week, Greece and the U.K. imposed country-wide lockdowns as a second wave of COVID-19 begins to sweep across Europe. Watch the video below to get a sense of the scene in Milan.
Researchers in the U.K. are about to begin a study to investigate whether a ubiquitous pain killer and blood thinner medication could also be an effective treatment for COVID-19. Doctors running the RECOVERY trial, one of the largest trials in the U.K. that is testing a number of potential coronavirus therapies, announced on Friday that they will begin examining the efficacy of aspirin, primarily based on the drug’s blood-thinning capabilities. Many COVID-19 patients have suffered complications from dangerous blood clots. Peter Horby, one of the doctors who co-leads the RECOVERY trial said in a statement, “We felt it was particularly important to add aspirin to the trial since there is a clear rationale for believing that it might be beneficial and it is safe, inexpensive and widely available. We are looking for medicines for COVID-19 that can be used immediately by anyone, anywhere in the world. We do not know if aspirin is such a medicine but we will find out." Martin Landray, Horby’s co-pilot on the trial, said the only way to truly assess any potential aspirin may hold is to subject the drug to a clinical trial. “Aspirin is widely used to prevent blood clots in many other conditions, including heart attack, stroke, and pre-eclampsia in pregnant women,” Landray said. “But enrolling patients in a randomized trial such as RECOVERY is the only way to assess whether there are clear benefits for patients with COVID-19 and whether those benefits outweigh any potential side effects such as the risk of bleeding.” Other medications the RECOVERY trial is currently testing include the following:
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Azithromycin (a commonly-used antibiotic)
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Tocilizumab (an anti-inflammatory treatment given by injection)
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Convalescent plasma (collected from donors who have recovered from COVID-19 and contains antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 virus)
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REGN-COV2: An investigational anti-viral antibody cocktail produced by Regeneron
This file photo shows an arrangement of aspirin pills. Researchers in the U.K. are beginning to study whether aspirin is an effective treatment for COVID-19. (AP Photo/Patrick Sison, File)
The NFL has fined the Las Vegas Raiders $500,000, and head coach Jon Gruden an additional $150,000, for "brazen and repeated violations of [COVID-19] protocols," a source told ESPN. The franchise was also docked a sixth-round pick. It's the second time the team has been reprimanded by the league this season for COVID-19 reasons. The franchise was slammed with a $250,000 fine following the team's game in the second week of the season. Gruden was also fined $100,000 for not wearing a mask properly during the team's game against the Saints that week, ESPN reported.
On Friday, the NFL handed out more fines, this time in Pittsburgh. ESPN NFL reporter Adam Schefter said on Twitter that the league fined Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin $100,000 and the team $250,000 for not wearing masks during the team's win against the Baltimore Ravens last Sunday.
Health facilities across the globe have been stretched thin due to the coronavirus pandemic, and ambulances in Poland have started taking up the role of hospital rooms as the country struggles to find enough beds for all their patients. Marcin Serwach, an ambulance first responder from Warsaw, said he once had to deliver oxygen at 3 a.m. to a patient who spent 15 hours parked outside a hospital in an ambulance while they waited for space to open up. “Very often we simply have nowhere to pass our patient on to,” Serwach, 35, told Reuters. “It’s not that the hospitals don’t want to take our patients, they have nowhere to put them or to isolate them.” Typically, Serwach said ambulances in Poland would respond to a call no more than 15 minutes away, but since the pandemic began, ambulances have been stretched thin, and often respond to calls up to 40 minutes away. In addition, calls are passed to the first responders sometimes up to three hours after they were initially received.
Just one day after becoming the first country to ever record more than 100,000 new COVID-19 cases in a single day, the United States shattered its own record with over 120,000 new infections recorded on Thursday. Prior to the multiple broken records this week, the previous record for most new cases in a single day was set by India on September 16 with 97,894 new cases.
Elsewhere around the world, here are the latest updated global totals from Johns Hopkins University:
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Confirmed cases: 48,813,769
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Fatalities: 1,235,479
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Recoveries: 32,268,920
Yet another NFL team has reported a new case of coronavirus since last weekend’s games. On Thursday, the Chicago Bears closed its facility after an undisclosed player tested positive for COVID-19. "This morning we were notified that another Bears player has tested positive for COVID-19," the Bears said in a statement. “The player who tested positive and all close contacts have been contacted and have already begun self-isolation. We will continue to work closely with the NFL medical experts and follow the league's intensive protocol.” The Bears are still scheduled to travel to Tennessee for Sunday’s matchup against the Titans.
With the holiday season right around the corner, health officials in Sonoma County, California, are discouraging residents against travel to other parts of the country. ”We know that when you go into an airport, you are with lots of people from all over, different places, whether it's domestically or internationally,“ Sundari Mase, the county’s public health officer, said on Wednesday, the Press Democrat reported. On Thursday, public health officers from Bay Area County are expected to consider a public health advisory ahead of the holidays and asking people who travel outside of California to quarantine for two weeks upon returning.
Sony announced on Thursday that the Playstation 5 will not be released in stores on launch day due to the coronavirus. The launch of new game consoles usually result in long lines and crowds of people wanting to buy the latest system. Instead of going in stores to buy the console, customers can order the console online starting on Nov. 12, according to CNBC. It is unknown when the console will arrive in retail stores, but Sony did tell people to not camp out or line up at retail stores because the unit will not be available on launch day.
As the U.S. records a record number of daily infections of COVID-19 for the fifth day in a row, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Robert Redfield said that a testing strategy is need to detect asymptomatic cases. “Now is the time to develop a testing strategy to maximize our ability to identify the silent epidemic of asymptomatic COVID-19 infections,” Redfield tweeted on Wednesday, CNN reported. The seven-day average of new infections in the U.S. is now 86,363, more than double what it was on Sept. 4. According to the CDC, 40% of all virus cases are asymptomatic, which contributes to the increasing number of infections in the country.
As coronavirus cases surge in Europe, Greece announced a nationwide lockdown on Thursday. Although the rate of infection is not as steep as it is in neighboring countries, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis hopes that the lockdown, which takes effect on Saturday, can prevent hospitals in Greece from collapsing. “We must stop this wave,” Mitsotakis said, according to The Associated Press. Before the recent outbreak, Greece had one of the lowest rates of intensive-care beds per capita in the continent. This figure has since doubled to 1,013, with 348 beds dedicated to coronavirus patients. Out of these, only 128 remain unoccupied, which would not be enough to cope with the 1,000 new hospital admissions over the next 10 days that Mitsotakis predicted.
On Wednesday, Greece reported 2,646 new cases and a record of 18 daily deaths, bringing the country’s total number of cases to 46,892, with 673 fatalities. The European country's average of daily new cases is 17 per 100,000 people, which is low when compared to 123 in Belgium and 47 in Italy. However, Mitsotakis said that he “chose once again to take drastic measures sooner rather than later," before the virus can spread any further. “It could be the case that the measures would have worked, but if they didn’t, then in 15 days the pressure that would have been exerted on the health care system would be unbearable,” he said.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo announced the introduction of tougher restrictions in the French capital, including a requirement for more shops to close at night, Reuters reported. The announcement made on Thursday would entail shutting down certain shops at 10 p.m. Although President Emmanuel Macron imposed a national lockdown last month, French authorities believed that stricter measures had to be imposed in Paris, as people were still out late at night, despite the lockdown. “When you get people who are not playing by the rules of the game, and are therefore putting at risk the health of a large number of people, that is when you need to put in place new restrictions,” Hidalgo said. On Wednesday, France reported 40,558 new virus cases and 385 fatalities, bringing the country’s total to 1.5 million cases and 38,675 deaths.
Crowds packed pubs and restaurants in London on Wednesday night, just hours before a new month-long lockdown was put into effect for England. The U.K. saw 492 deaths from the coronavirus on Wednesday which is the most reported for a single day since mid-May, according to Reuters. Despite the resurgent in cases and deaths, the popular entertainment district in London was busy with residents ready to hang out one last night before lockdowns. Starting at 01:00 GMT on Thursday, those in the U.K. are required to stay home to combat the recent surge in new infections. Officials warn that if things are unchecked, the second waved could cause more deaths than the first that caused a three-month lockdown earlier this year. The U.K. remains the largest death toll from the virus in all of Europe.
People eat and drink outside pubs and restaurants in Soho in London, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2020. A second lockdown in England is set to come into force on Thursday. It's a big blow to businesses that sweeps away any hopes that the British economy might have recovered by the end of this year a large proportion of the near 25% drop endured in the spring. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)
English police forces posted several warnings on social media to urge those going out on Wednesday to follow social-distancing rules, but not everyone followed these guidelines, as can be seen in the video below.
It may be some time before a Green Bay Packer makes a ‘Lambeau Leap’ into a crowded stadium after scoring a touchdown. The Wisconsin-based NFL team announced that there is still an indefinite hold on allowing fans to return to cheer on the Packers in person due to the elevated levels of COVID-19 in the Green Bay area. "Our players would love to have fans in the stands at Lambeau Field, but it is critical for the safety of our community that we all do whatever we can to stop the virus,” Packers President/CEO Mark Murphy said in a statement. "We also remind our fans, when watching our games, please limit the people with whom you cheer to your small circle of family or close friends." This news comes on the heels of the team announcing that two running backs and a linebacker have been placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list after either testing positive or having a high-risk close contact with someone who had the coronavirus, NFL.com said.
Last week, the number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell to 751,000, The Associated Press reported. Before the pandemic, the weekly figure had remained under 300,000 for more than five years in a row, which signals that the pandemic continues to have an effect on businesses and companies across the country. According to Thursday’s report, the number of people who are continuing to receive traditional unemployment benefits declined to 7.3 million, which shows that some of the unemployed are finding new jobs or going back to their old ones. However, it could also indicate that many jobless Americans have used up their unemployment aid, which expires after six months. “The economy is on its own against the virus,” AnnElizabeth Konkel, an economist at Indeed, told The AP. “Accelerating cases are an ever-present threat during winter, and a virus surge means economic uncertainty for businesses. Until that uncertainty is eliminated, the labor market will struggle to return to what it used to be.”
On Thursday, India reported more than 50,000 new COVID-19 cases, as infections surge in New Delhi, The Associated Press reported. Over the past 24 hours, the Health Ministry also reported another 704 fatalities, bringing the country’s death toll to 124,315. The surge in cases and fatalities comes as the country’s capital is predicted to be hit by a cool wave, and paired with worsening air pollution, could worsen the virus outbreak, experts warn. Overall, India has confirmed 8.3 million COVID-19 infections, only behind the United States for the most confirmed cases of the virus.
Drought and water shortages due to failing infrastructure have been major concerns in Venezuela in recent years, but a wet weather pattern this summer could be very beneficial. Not only will the wet summer help to ease the long term drought, but it will make water more easily accessible for people to wash their hands and face masks more frequently. In some instances, Venezuelans are washings masks in nearby rivers and streams due to a lack of running water in their homes.
A woman washes her protective face masks with runoff water from the Avila mountain in Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday, June 21, 2020. Water shortages have continued to deepen in Venezuela at a time when the threat of the coronavirus makes washing hands even more critical. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Matthew Stafford, the veteran quarterback for the Detroit Lions, has been placed on the NFL’s reserve/COVID-19 list after having a high-risk close contact with someone on Monday who had the coronavirus. The team made the announcement on Twitter on Wednesday afternoon but did not disclose any further information. Stafford must be in isolation for five days and will need to test negative for the coronavirus several times before being eligible to play again, NFL.com said. There is still the chance that he could play on Sunday when the Lions travel to Minnesota to take on the Vikings, NFL.com said.
Although there has been plenty of other news garnering headlines in the United States, the coronavirus refuses to be forgotten about and on Wednesday, the U.S. saw over 100,000 new infections to set a new single-day record. With 102,831 new cases, the country's world-leading total jumped to 9,488,591. The global total also saw a daily record increase on Wednesday, as over 685,000 cases were recorded, shattering the previous record of 570,759 new cases set last week.
Elsewhere around the world, here are the latest updated global totals from Johns Hopkins University:
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Confirmed cases: 48,192,709
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Fatalities: 1,226,915
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Recoveries: 31,951,503
The National Basketball Association’s payers are planning to vote on whether the season should start in December or January, according to The Associated Press. The vote, which is expected to be finalized and announced by Friday, will determine if there will be a 72-game season that starts on Dec. 22, or a 58- or 60-game season that starts on Jan. 18. The NBA’s biggest argument for an early start to the season is the extra revenue that will be awarded. Starting on Dec. 22 would allow for $500 million in additional revenue for the upcoming season. However, some players also argue that starting in December is too soon, as teams like the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat played until mid-October for the NBA finals. “Honestly, there’s a level of compromise on each side,” said. Jonathan Isaac of the Orlando Magic.
Health officials in South Korea approved a new test that can detect both COVID-19 and seasonal influenza, The Associated Press reported. The new test targets genes that are specific to both COVID and the flu and it is an advanced version of the PCR tests that are used to detect COVID-19. As the flu season approaches, the test, which takes three to six hours to give results, can help prevent disruption at hospitals. Since the illnesses are hard to tell apart, having a diagnosis “would be convenient for patients and also reduce the burden of medical workers,” said Health Ministry official Yoon Taeho.
In the midst of the pandemic hampering fast-food chain breakfast sales, Wendy’s has been able to avoid the steeply downward trend. While the coronavirus has boosted sales for cereal makers such as General Mills and Kellogg, fast-food restaurants have seen a disruption in breakfast sales with the closing of offices and upstart of virtual schooling. Some chains such as Taco Bell have opened restaurants later to help remedy the loss, but while the move addressed labor costs, it temporarily cut breakfast from their menus. Wendy’s began offering its breakfast nationwide a few weeks ahead, accounting for 7% of the company’s weekly sales, down from last quarter’s 8%, and added about 6.5% to it’s U.S. same-store sales growth of 6.6 in its third quarter, according to CNBC. Breakfast sales grew in the third quarter compared with the previous three months, executives said. “We are confident that we can continue to grow this business into the future as more and more people fall back into their daily routines,” CEO Todd Penegor told analysts Wednesday.
As the coronavirus continues to spread in Syria, humanitarian workers worry about the consequences the virus could have in the northwestern part of the country, where almost 1.5 million people live in overcrowded camps and shelters. According to Mark Lowcock, United Nations-Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, “in the northwest, confirmed cases have increased six-fold over the last month, with cases also rising in displacement camps and settlements.” Hassan Sweidat, who lives in a displacement camp in northwest Syria, is one of the millions of Syrians who is terrified of the virus. “We live in a camp all crammed in together. If someone talks to his family, all the neighbors can hear it,” Sweidat told AFP. With poor access to running water and poor living conditions, “it’s hardly the disease’s fault,” if someone gets sick, he added. Health authorities in northwest Syria have confirmed 5,075 cases of COVID-19, including 42 deaths. Out of these, almost 330 of these come from people living in camps. “We’re scared of the disease but we don’t dare leave,” said 80-year-old Ghatwa al-Mohammad.
In an attempt to slow the spread of the coronavirus in the state’s prison system, Gov. Phil Murphy signed one of the first bills in the U.S. to reduce sentences due to the coronavirus outbreak. This resulted in the release of 2,261 inmates in New Jersey early Wednesday amid rising coronavirus cases in some state prisons, Liz Velez, a New Jersey Department of Corrections spokesperson, told NBC News in an email. According to department coronavirus data as of Wednesday morning, the department recorded at least 51 inmate deaths and 4,111 cases, including employees and inmates, since the beginning of April. Under New Jersey legislation, prisoners in New Jersey can get their sentences reduced by as many as eight months for every month spent behind bars during the pandemic.
On Wednesday, Italian officials agreed to impose a nighttime curfew as the European country continues to experience a second wave of coronavirus infections, AFP reported. The new measure will restrict Italians from leaving their homes between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. The announcement comes as governments across Europe are struggling to control the pandemic that has infected more than 11 million people across the continent.
Non-essential businesses will shutter across the United Kingdom on Thursday as the county imposes a new lockdown. Restaurants, pubs, gyms and hairdressers are among the businesses that must close through at least Dec. 2 as the county experiences a surge in new coronavirus cases. With the lockdown looming, people went out in droves on Wednesday for last-minute shopping trips or to get a drink and a bite to eat, The Associated Press said. Unlike the first lockdown issued in early 2020, schools and universities will remain open. “I don’t think any government would want to impose these measures lightly, or any parliament would want to impose these measures lightly on the people of this country,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson said. As of Wednesday, the U.K. had reported over 1.1 million cases of COVID-19, the eight-highest tally for countries around the globe, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The San Francisco 49ers have closed their practice facility as a result of a positive COVID-19 test just one day before they are slated to host the Green Bay Packers. Contact tracing is currently underway within the organization and the game is still on track to be played, NFL.com reported. ESPN NFL reporter Adam Schefter said wide receiver Kendrick Bourne was the player who tested positive.
The Packers are dealing with coronavirus issues of their own as rookie running back AJ Dillon tested positive earlier this week and will not play Thursday. Several other members of the Packers team that were said to be close contacts of Dillon are also not playing Thursday, including running back Jamaal Williams. If the game does take place Thursday night, the weather conditions look ideal for football.
This image shows the Thursday night forecast at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California. (AccuWeather)
The WBC interim heavyweight title fight between Alexander Povetkin and Dillian Whyte has been postponed after Povetkin tested positive for COVID-19, the AP reported. The fight was originally scheduled for Nov. 21 in London, but fight promoter Eddie Hearn said it would be rescheduled for January. “Firstly we want to wish Alexander Povetkin a speedy recovery,” Hearn said in a statement, according to the AP. “This is a challenging time for shows. There will be lots of ups and downs over the next few months. We look forward to the fight happening in late January.”
David Andahl, a 55-year-old North Dakota GOP state legislature candidate, won the state’s 8th District on Tuesday — nearly a month after he had died from complications from COVID-19. Andahl passed away on Oct. 5 after winning the primary against the incumbent state Rep. Jeff Delzer, who chaired the chamber’s Appropriations Committee. Over the course of September, North Dakota had seen roughly an 80% increase in confirmed coronavirus cases, and had even started to lead the nation in the number of infections per capita, according to Newsweek. Andahl had been “very cautious” as he had already had health issues, his family had noted over Facebook. They didn’t expand upon the medical conditions he had been facing.
With no initial precedent on how to address the death of a candidate so close to Election Day, North Dakota’s state attorney general issued an opinion letter in late October on how to proceed. Ultimately, since Andahl won, the Republican Party will be responsible for filling the vacant seat until a special election can be held.
Poll workers sort out early and absentee ballots at the Kenosha Municipal building on Election Day on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020, in Kenosha, Wis. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
A study of the lungs of people who have died from COVID-19 found persistent and extensive lung damage in most of the cases, which may help doctors find answers to what causes a syndrome known as ‘long COVID’ where patients suffer ongoing symptoms for months, according to Reuters. After analyzing tissue samples from the lungs, heart liver and kidney of 41 patients who had died of COVID-19 at Italy’s University Hospital of Trieste between February and April 2020, scientists leading the research team said they had found new info on characteristics of the virus which may shed light on the harm it causes. “The findings indicate that COVID-19 is not simply a disease caused by the death of virus-infected cells, but is likely the consequence of these abnormal cells persisting for long periods inside the lungs,” Mauro Giacca, a professor at King’s College London who co-led the work, told Reuters. While the researchers had found no apparent signs of viral infection or prolonged inflammation in other organs, they had found “vast destruction of the architecture of the lungs,” and health tissue was “almost completely substituted by scar tissue.”
Giacca told Reuters that the reason for the cases of long COVID could be due to vast destruction of the lung tissue. The research, published in the journal Lancet eBioMedicine, had also found the virus was still present in many types of cells. “The presence of these infected cells can cause the major structural changes observed in lungs, which can persist for several weeks or months and could eventually explain ‘long COVID,” Giacca said.
In case anyone needed a reminder that the 2020 presidential election took place in a pandemic, a report out of Iowa will do just that. According to the Associated Press, a buildup of hand sanitizer from voters' hands cause a ballot scanner to temporarily stop working at a voting center in Des Moines. The machine was reportedly working again within an hour, the AP reported. Officials at the polling station moved the voting machine farther back in line so voters' hands would be drier by the time they cast their ballots, the AP said. About 1,500 gallons of sanitizer had been delivered to precincts around the state, according to Iowa Public Radio.
Russia counted a new daily record of coronavirus cases on Wednesday, as the national tally inched closer to 2 million. According to Reuters, more than 19,700 cases were recorded in the country with nearly 5,900 of those in the Moscow area alone.More than 1.6 million cases have occurred in Russia through the duration of the pandemic. Over the past 24 hours, nearly 400 deaths related to COVID-19 have been reported. The country's death toll stands at 29,217, Reuters said.
Here's a look at the latest worldwide stats on the coronavirus pandemic, according to Johns Hopkins University. For a daily update on the pandemic in the U.S., watch the video below.
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Confirmed cases: 47,555,607
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Fatalities: 1,216,173
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Recoveries: 31,694,725
On Tuesday, the NFL announced new changes that will go into effect this week after several players and members of coaching staff across several teams tested positive for COVID-19. Among the changes, players will now be required to wear a face covering during pregame and postgame activities and masks are strongly recommended for any player “not participating on the field or about to enter the game,” a memo from the league said, according to ESPN. The sideline area used by the teams will also be extended to allow for more social distancing. "What we are trying to convey and say is that masks can prevent you from becoming a high-risk contact,” NFL chief medical officer Dr. Allen Stills said. “This is our goal. So it's in [everyone's] best interest to wear a mask for their protection and to reduce their exposure.”
France’s health minister said on Tuesday that one Parisian is contracting the coronavirus every 30 seconds, Reuters reported. Olivier Veran made the comment in response to Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, who demanded for all small stores in Paris to be reopened, despite the new lockdown imposed in France. “She cannot ignore the fact that every 15 minutes, in the hospitals of Paris, there is someone ill who has been hospitalized with COVID. She cannot ignore the fact that every 30 seconds, there is a Parisian who has been contaminates,” Veran said. The increase in cases comes as many people are ignoring lockdown rules. “The police have observed clandestine parties, raves, private dinners, even though the virus is spreading rapidly,” a government source said. Although a final decision on a curfew has not been taken, the government could enforce stricter measures, with government spokesman Gabriel Attal saying that “we need to take all the steps needed to fight the epidemic.”
As the coronavirus continues to spread across the U.S., former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb warned that the country could see more than 1,000 daily COVID-19 deaths for “a sustained period of time,” CNBC reported. Gottlieb made the comment on Tuesday, a day after the U.S. reported more than 84,000 new cases of the virus and 557 new deaths. Over the past week, the country has reported an average of 835 daily new deaths, leading Gottlieb to say that the next couple of months could prove to be “the densest phase of the pandemic.” He added that “the sheer fact that we’re going to be infecting so many people right now is probably going to mean that the death tolls get well about 1,000 for a sustained period of time.” Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force, also spoke on the issue, as she pleaded for a “more aggressive action” against the virus. “We are entering the most concerning and most deadly phase of this pandemic … leading to increasing mortality,” Birx said, according to The Washington Post. “This is not about lockdowns – It hasn’t been about lockdowns since March or April. It’s about an aggressive balanced approach that is not being implemented,” she added. However, Gottlieb offered hope, saying that the next couple of months will likely be “the last acute phase of this pandemic that we need to go through” and that 2021 will look better.
With a dramatic second wave of COVID-19 patients overwhelming the country, Belgium officials are being forced to transport some of the most seriously ill patients to other parts of Europe for treatment. According to Reuters, air ambulance helicopters have begun flying patients that are on ventilators to Germany as a way to reduce travel time. Inside the vehicles, the patients are kept inside a large clear bag that's connected to a ventilator, Reuters said. Currently, Belgium has more than 7,300 patients hospitalized, with more than 1,300 of them in intensive care. Some hospitals have reached capacity for their intensive care units, Reuters reported. The air ambulances first started flying those sickened with the virus last week. Watch the video below for more.
A clinical trial of Johnson & Johnson’s experimental COVID-19 vaccine will resume in Brazil three weeks after it was halted so that a panel could evaluate the safety of the trial. This is one of four vaccines being tested in Brazil and the same vaccine that the company is testing in the U.S., Reuters said. This potential vaccine is currently in Phase III which is set to include 60,000 participants, 7,560 of which being from Brazil. The South American country has confirmed over 5.5 million cases of the coronavirus, the third-highest count of any country in the world, according to data gathered by Johns Hopkins University.
John Elway, NFL Hall of Fame quarterback and the general manager of the Denver Broncos, and Joe Ellis, president of the team, have both tested positive for COVID-19. Elway and Ellis were both experiencing mild symptoms when they tested positive but have not been in close contact with players on the team in recent days, ESPN said. "Based on a review of contact tracing data with the league, we are confident these cases originated independently outside team facilities,” the Broncos said in a statement. The team’s facility was closed on Tuesday for Election Day. The Broncos are slated to travel to Georgia on Sunday to play the Atlanta Falcons.
From Oct. 22 to Oct. 29., more than 61,000 American children tested positive for the coronavirus, according to data from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association. The data marks a record for the highest number of new infections among children in a seven-day span since the pandemic began, the New York Post reported. “This is a stark reminder of the impact this pandemic is having on everyone – including our children and adolescents,” American Academy of Pediatrics President Sally Goza said. Overall, since the start of the virus outbreak, more than 853,000 children in the U.S. have contracted COVID-19.
The weather is cooperating for most Americans this Election Day as those that haven't already voted flock to polling places to let their voice be heard. Despite the coronavirus pandemic and a recent spike in cases, long lines could be seen around the country on Tuesday, although nearly 100 million Americans had already voted, according to The Associated Press. Kaal Ferguson, 26, told the AP that he voted in person in Atlanta despite COVID-19 concerns because he was worried that he hadn't left enough time to send back his ballot. “Obviously everybody has their right to vote,” he said. “But it’s kind of scary knowing that there’s not a place just for them to vote if they’d had it, so you could easily be exposed.” Here's a snapshot of the temperatures around the country today.
A map showing temperatures around the United States at approximately noon EST on Election Day, Nov. 3, 2020. (AccuWeather)
The British government plans to implement a new citywide coronavirus testing program, offering testing to all Liverpool residents, The Associated Press reported. Testing will take place in various parts of the city using a variety of technology, which will include new, rapid testing methods. The Department of Health said that “these more advanced tests will help identify infectious individuals who are not displaying symptoms … so they can self-isolate and prevent the virus from spreading.” The city of 500,000 has one of the highest infection rates in England, with more than 410 cases per 100,000 people. Watch the video embedded in the tweet below to learn more.
Minister for the Armed Forces Florence Parly wears a face mask at the Political Plenary of La Republique en Marche (LREM) in Amiens, France on September 11, 2020. Photo by Raphael Lafargue/ABACAPRESS.COM
Much has been written and studied about how asymptomatic COVID-19 patients can transmit the virus unknowingly to others throughout the course of the pandemic. Finding ways to identify asymptomatic patients has remained a challenge, however, as they show no clear symptoms they have the virus. But, according to a study released last week, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) may have uncovered a breakthrough in the effort to recognize asymptomatic people who are infected. Using an artificial intelligence model, the team of scientists has been able to discover asymptomatic patients through their coughs, according to an MIT news release. According to MIT, the AI model "distinguishes asymptomatic people from healthy individuals through forced-cough recordings, which people voluntarily submitted through web browsers and devices such as cellphones and laptops."
The research team studied tens of thousands of cough samples in addition to spoken words, MIT said. They then gave the model new cough recordings, and it was able to accurately identify "98.5 percent of coughs from people who were confirmed to have COVID-19, including 100 percent of coughs from asymptomatics," according to the report. The A.I. model learned how to identify patterns in four biomarkers that were unique to a " COVID cough": vocal cord strength, sentiment, lung and respiratory performance, and muscular degradation. The model could eventually be incorporated into an app that, if approved by the FDA and produced to scale for the general public, may become a free tool to help identify people who are asymptomatic for the virus. The research was published in the IEEE Journal of Engineering in Medicine and Biology. Listen to a sampling of coughs from healthy and infected people below and see if you can tell the difference.
As Nebraska experiences a surge in COVID-19 infections, a record number of hospitalizations are straining hospitals, The Associated Press reported. On Sunday, the state’s online tracking portal reported that 613 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized. The increase in hospitalizations comes as Nebraska is experiencing a surge in cases, as the number of confirmed cases increased by 934 on Sunday and the seven-day average of daily new cases over the past two weeks is 1,074, up from 778 on Oct. 18. “We have seen doubling of COVID positive patients in the last several weeks. No doubt if this trend continues – not just at our hospitals – but every hospital in the state could be at capacity in a very short period of time,” Dr. Cary Ward, chief medical officer for CHI health’s network of 14 hospitals across eastern Nebraska and western Iowa, said, according to the AP. As COVID-19 hospitalizations continue to increase, Nebraska hospitals have started to limit elective surgeries, said Dr. Bill Lydiatt, the chief medical officer for Methodist Health System’s two hospitals in Omaha.
Health officials in Spain on Monday reported more than 55,000 new coronavirus cases, a record number since the beginning of the pandemic, and more than double what the country recorded just a few days earlier, according to Reuters. Spain also saw 379 fatalities, the most since March there, bringing the total number of deaths to more than 36,000. Here’s a look at where global coronavirus numbers stand as of Tuesday morning. Globally, the death toll has now topped 1.2 million. And below, take a look at how the virus spread in the U.S. over the last 24 hours.
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Confirmed cases: 46,997,320
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Fatalities: 1,208,224
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Recoveries: 31,422,868
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Social distancing and drought lead to record-breaking camping season for Maine
By Adriana Navarro, AccuWeather staff writer
Nov. 4, 2020 8:55 PM EDT
Although COVID-19 delayed the start of Maine’s camping season, it’s now wrapping up with record booking totals for campgrounds across the state. The high numbers were contributed to efforts to avoid close contact with others and dry weather, according to Bangor Daily News. “We can safely assume that the coronavirus caused more Mainers to turn to state parks for camping and day use and getting outside safely,” state Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry spokesperson Jim Britt told Bangor Daily News. He added that the lack of rain had also likely encouraged the numbers. The boom in camping, and even in weekly vacation rentals, contrasts with other sectors of Maine’s 2020 tourist season, which saw a drop in hotel bookings along with the struggle of restaurants to adapt to COVID-19 regulations. Theaters, museums and other attractions have been closed throughout the year, and campgrounds at Acadia National Park were also shutdown.