For continuous coverage of the coronavirus pandemic, click here.

Belgium is experiencing a significant increase in coronavirus cases, a number so substantial that the influx was referred to as a "tsunami" by the country's health minister, Frank Vandenbroucke. He noted that the country's health system could soon be overwhelmed, according to the BBC. Belgium has the third-highest number of COVID-19-related deaths per 100,000 people worldwide, according to the BBC, which cited Johns Hopkins University. In total, the country has reported more than 230,000 cases and more than 10,400 deaths. 

New restrictions went into place Monday to try to mitigate the virus' spread. Residents are being told to work from home if possible and are only allowed to see one other person from outside their household, the BBC said. In addition, curfews and restrictions on alcohol sales have been enacted. Vandenbroucke said the situation in the capital of Brussels and in southern Belgium was "the most dangerous in all of Europe."

Travelers from 43 states and territories across the U.S., including Guam and Puerto Rico, are now required to quarantine for two weeks upon arriving in New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday. Neighboring Connecticut and New Jersey, which saw a decline in the virus after spring peaks, are reporting spikes that would land them on the list, Cuomo said on a call with reporters according to CNBC. This is the second travel advisory the governor has adopted. In June, Cuomo ordered the coronavirus travel advisory alongside Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy to prevent travelers from states with growing outbreaks from spreading the virus in the tri-state area.

Below are the 7 states not on the list:

• California

• Connecticut

• Hawaii

• Maine

• Massachusetts

• New Jersey

• Pennsylvania

London Heathrow Airport on Tuesday began providing rapid COVID-19 tests to some outgoing passengers, AFP reported. The rapid tests are able to provide results within an hour and are aimed at help providing a boost to the sagging airline industry by allowing for some some routes that have been closed down for months to reopen. The LAMP saliva test, which costs $102 per test but will be free for passengers, initially is only available to people flying out of London to Italy and Hong Kong, according to AFP. The initiative is being operated by two companies, Collinson, a medical travel firm, and Swisspor, an airport services company. Speaking with Reuters, David Evans, the joint chief executive of Collinson, described the new rapid testing as “a key part of the solution for getting travel moving again. There’s a lot of support to make sure that we can get these things up and running, and moving quickly,” he said. London Heathrow Airport is one of the biggest throughout all of Europe. For more on the story, watch the video below

On Monday, the U.K.’s chief scientific advisor said that COVID-19 is likely to become as “endemic” as the annual flu virus, adding that potential vaccines are not likely to eradicate the virus. “The notion of eliminating Covid from anywhere is not right, because it will come back,” Patrick Vallance said. “We can’t be certain, but I think it’s unlikely we will end up with a truly sterilizing vaccine, (that is) something that completely stops infection, and it’s likely this disease will circulate and be endemic, that’s my best assessment,” he said, according to CNBC.

Iran’s health minister asked on Tuesday for more public and government support to address the recent surge of new COVID-19 cases. The request comes as the country set a new daily record of infections, after reporting 5,039 new cases. “Everyone should know that I, as health minister, cannot bring this epidemic situation under control alone, and a lot more (help) is required,” Saeed Namaki said, according to Reuters. “It was announced that anyone without a mask would be fined, but I saw … that 40% of the people on the bus did not wear masks. Can an infection be controlled in this way?” he added. Face coverings have been mandatory in the capital city of Tehran since Oct. 10. This mandatory order covers all public areas within the city. “At the (coronavirus) taskforce, we demanded that anyone who did not wear a mask be fined, but … how many have been fined? We said close roads, but how many have they closed?” Namaki said, calling out the government for not following through with the measures imposed.

Last week, the AMC movie theater chain announced that the pandemic has hit its business so hard, the company might run out of money before the year ends. This week, the company seems to be throwing a Hail Mary and hoping to entice movie-goers who may be wary of catching coronavirus back into the theater, WKRN reported. AMC is now offering private moving screenings starting at $99 to rent out an entire theater for a screening. Up to 20 people are allowed to join and the deal is available at all theaters throughout the U.S. Concessions are sold separately and if you want to view a new release, that will run you between $149 and $349 depending on the movie and your location. However, the $99 option has several fan favorites that are available for screening, including the titles below. And reservations for a theater can be made easily online. 

• Jurassic Park

• The Empire Strikes Back

• Monsters, Inc

• Madagascar

• Hocus Pocus

Following a shortened 60-game regular season and expanded postseason, Major League Baseball's championship event begins Tuesday night at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, as the Los Angeles Dodgers and Tampa Bay Rays meet in Game 1 of the World Series. It's a much different World Series than in other years, as both teams will play without home-field advantage, and only in front of a sparsely populated crowd of around 11,000 in a stadium that holds more than 40,000. That is expected to be the smallest attendance for a World Series game since 1909, according to The Associated Press. The AP notes that it's also the first time the Series will be played entirely on artificial turf for the first time since 1993. Other changes for this year's Fall Classic include umpires wearing masks and not allowing postgame victory celebrations. Globe Life Field has a retractable roof, but if the league decides to open the roof for Game 1, the weather looks promising.

Hourly AccuWeather forecast for Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas, on Oct. 20, 2020. (AccuWeather)

(AccuWeather)

Severo Ochoa hospital, located in the suburbs of Madrid, is once again at capacity, after being badly hit during the pandemic’s first wave of coronavirus infections. “We’re swamped,” Ricardo Diaz Abad, head of intensive care at the hospital, told AFP. “Unfortunately, we lost two patients,” he said. The hospital’s ICU, which has 12 beds, is completely full, with caregivers taking turns to enter the unit, all while wearing white plastic suits, protective glasses, one or two masks, gloves and plastic shoe covers. Unlike last time, this time around the hospital does have enough beds for COVID-19 patients. “We can now treat them because we have created space,” said Diaz Abad. However, staff members fear being overwhelmed once again if cases continue to rise in the area. According to emergency doctor Luis Diaz Izquierdo, when the pandemic hit in March, “the corridors were full of patients with oxygen bottles sitting on chairs,” as there were not enough beds with ventilators for all patients. Madrid, along with the surrounding areas, has been the worst-hit region in Spain. Since the start of the pandemic, the country has reported 974,449 infections and 33,992 fatalities. Watch the video below for more.

A 14-year-old girl from Frisco, Texas, has won a $25,000 young scientist challenge for a discovery that could help in the development for a COVID-19 treatment, according to The New Indian Express. Anika Chebrolu, who is currently in eighth grade, won the 3M Young Scientist Challenge for her work using in-silico methodology for drug discovery to find a molecule that can selectively bind to the Spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. However, her goal when she first started working on the project was to find a cure for influenza, after she contracted it last year. “I was drawn towards finding effective cures for influenza disease after a severe bout of the infection last year,” Chebrolu said. “I would like to learn more from 3M scientists to pursue my drug development and with their help, would like to conduct in-vitro testing of my lead drug candidate,” she added. Watch the video below to hear Anika discuss winning the Young Scientist Challenge.

Ireland Prime Minister Michael Martin announced Monday that the country will return to a nationwide lockdown, but schools will stay open, according to France 24. Ireland is the first country in the European Union to re-institute a nationwide lockdown. The new restrictions, which go into effect midnight Wednesday, will require all non-essential businesses to close and force pubs and restaurants to use takeout or delivery services only, France 24 said.

"Everyone in the country is being asked to stay at home," Martin said. Schools were being allowed to stay open "because we cannot and will not allow our children and young people's futures to be another victim of this disease," Martin noted. The prime minister said the timing of the current restrictions is an effort to try to get control over the virus by Christmas. "If we pull together over the next six weeks, we will have the opportunity to celebrate Christmas in a meaningful way," he said, according to France 24.

Doctors believe that COVID-19 could be inducing or triggering diabetes for some infected patients, according to Reuters. Such is the case for Mario Buelna, a healthy 28-year-old father, who started feeling weak and passed out on the floor of his home in Mesa, Arizona, shortly after recovering from the virus. He was then taken to a nearby hospital, where he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. “COVID triggered it,” Buelna said the doctors told him. Buelna’s case is only one out of thousands that have spiked concern among doctors, leading many experts to believe that COVID-19 can trigger the onset of diabetes, even in some adults and children who do not have the traditional risk factors. “COVID could be causing diabetes from scratch,” said Dr. Francesco Rubino, a diabetes researcher and chair of metabolic and bariatric surgery at King’s College London. “These cases are coming from every corner of the world and every continent,” Rubino added. As cases continue to surge, the U.S. National Institutes of Health is financing research into how the coronavirus may cause high blood sugars and diabetes. “We have more questions than answers right now,” said Dr. Robert Eckel, president of medicine and science at the American Diabetes Association. “We could be dealing with an entirely new form of diabetes.”

PA via Reuters Kate Bingham, Chair of the Government's Vaccine Taskforce, with a plaster on her arm after starting her Novavax trial at the Royal Free Hospital, north London.

(PA via Reuters)

The U.K. government announced on Tuesday that it will be launching challenge trials. In these controversial trials, volunteers will be vaccinated and then intentionally exposed to the virus so that researchers can test vaccines in a controlled environment. During the experiment, which will take place in a quarantine ward of a north London hospital, participants will be closely monitored after inhaling a diluted dose of the virus. “Human challenge studies can increase our understanding of COVID-19 in unique ways and accelerate development of the many potential new COVID-19 treatments and vaccines,” Dr. Chris Chiu, lead researcher on the human challenge study, said, according to ABC's Good Morning America. The 1Day Sooner advocacy group, which has been petitioning the government to allow challenge trials, believes that these trials will not only accelerate research into vaccines but “will also answer essential questions about COVID-19 immunity that are broadly applicable to the development of treatments and public health policy.” Andrew Catchpole, the chief scientist of hVIVO, also added the health and safety of the volunteers will still be the top priority. “We are looking to induce infection, but not necessarily looking to induce disease,” Catchpole said.

But not all scientists are on board with the plan to go forward with the challenge trial and some are sounding the alarm over what they view as a major ethical dilemma since the trial requires infecting healthy people before there is a drug available that’s proven to effectively treat COVID-19. Peter Piot, a professor from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, told NBC’s Today show that the trial “would be putting people at risk … and I think we could have some really nasty problems.” For more on the story, watch the video below.

The recent resurgence in cases hasn’t been isolated to one area of the world and two recent milestones showcase that grim reality. In both Argentina and Russia, residents and authorities are wondering on Tuesday how things have gotten this drastic in their respective countries.

In Russia, the nation with the fourth-most cases, a second spike in infections has far exceeded the damage of the initial surge in May. On both Monday and Tuesday, the country’s coronavirus response center has announced daily records for new cases recorded, reaching 16,319 cases on Tuesday, with 269 deaths in the past 24 hours.

Over 8,000 miles away, Argentina also began the week on a sour note as the country became just the fifth nation to top the 1 million case threshold. The country has been dealing with an ongoing surge in cases that has resulted in at least 60 percent of all COVID-19 tests to return positive results, according to Al Jazeera. With nearly 13,000 new cases on Monday, Argentina became the second country in South America to move past the 1 million mark, joining Brazil.

Elsewhere around the world, here are the latest updated global totals from Johns Hopkins University:

• Confirmed cases: 40,464,761

• Fatalities: 1,119,369

• Recoveries: 27,738,284

The Welsh government will be enacting a 23-day lockdown beginning on Friday that has been coined a “time-limited firebreak” by First Minister Mark Drakeford. According to regulations of the national lockdown, people will not be allowed to gather indoors or outdoors with people outside of their households while pubs, restaurants, hotels and non-essentials shops must also be closed, according to BBC. Currently, there are 17 local lockdowns in place throughout Wales, but the nationwide decision was deemed necessary as rising case and hospitalization numbers continue causing concern. A firebreak was previously considered a last resort for emergency situations, according to Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price. “We are now in an emergency,” he said.

Iran reported 337 deaths due to COVID-19 on Monday, making it the highest single-day count in the country to date. The previous record was 279 cases in one day, which was announced on Wednesday. “In recent days, we have witnessed an unprecedented increase in mortality from the disease," health ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said. The country now has 30,712 total deaths reported due to the virus, AFP reported. "The current situation is the result of neglecting to comply with health protocols, reduced use of masks and dangerous social behavior in recent weeks."

French First Lady Brigitte Macron is self-isolating and will self-quarantine for seven days after she came into contact with an individual who tested positive for the coronavirus. The first lady met with someone on Thursday who later tested positive for coronavirus on Monday, according to The Telegraph. If she tests positive, French President Emmanuel Macron may isolate as well. This does not change President Emmanuel's schedule, as he was not in close contact with the person who later tested positive, reports say. A statement from the president's office said the First Lady had no symptoms of the disease at this time. "Brigitte Macron was in contact on Thursday October 15 with a person who has been tested positive for COVID-19 this Monday, October 19, and showing symptoms of the disease," the statement said.

The first-ever South Carolina state fair drive-through will begin next week amid coronavirus. Patrons will be able to see exhibits featuring agriculture and art, see animals and order food from their vehicles, WLTX reported. "We're just excited that we [are] having something to give back to the community," said Nancy Smith, the General Manager of the South Carolina State Fair. Smith said it was important to give people something fun to look forward to this year amid COVID-19. "The goal of the drive-through fair is to just give folks of South Carolina a little snippet of lots of things they would see if they were actually able to come to your South Carolina State Fair in the real fashion this year," Smith said. There will not be any rides at this year’s fair in South Carolina. The drive-through exhibit portion of the fair will be going on from Oct. 20 to 21. The food portion will last until Oct. 24.

The NFL’s Carolina Panthers instructed players, coaches, and staff to work virtually Monday and Tuesday following an unconfirmed positive COVID-19 test, according to a statement from a team spokesperson. The team announced it had sent home players, coaches and staff after the positive test. "We had an unconfirmed positive test this morning," the team said in a statement. "Out of an abundance of caution, players, coaches and staff inside the red line areas will work virtually today and Tuesday. The training room remains open and we are still scheduled to operate on our regular itinerary on Wednesday."

The TSA screened 1,031,505 people at various security checkpoints across the U.S. on Oct. 18, as many people attempt to find some normalcy during the pandemic. "It's the first time volume topped 1 million since the pandemic low point of April 14, when 87,534 people were screened,” according to TSA Public Affairs spokesperson Lisa Farbstein. She said the throughput is still 60% lower than one year ago. As the pandemic persists, the TSA has started “touchless” procedures that allow passengers to scan their own ID and boarding passes.

A PPE-clad surgeon knew just the trick to cheering up his COVID positive patients: a few enthusiastic dance moves. In a video shared by his colleague, ENT surgeon Dr. Arup Senapati, who works at Silchar Medical College in Assam, India, put his skillful moves to the tune of the song Ghungroo from the film War, according to the Hindustan Times. Just one day later, the video had garnered nearly 3 million views on Twitter.

Iran reported 337 deaths due to COVID-19 on Monday, making it the highest single-day count in the country to date. The previous record was 279 fatalities in one day, which was announced on Wednesday. “In recent days, we have witnessed an unprecedented increase in mortality from the disease," health ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said. The country now has 30,712 total deaths reported due to the virus, AFP reported. "The current situation is the result of neglecting to comply with health protocols, reduced use of masks and dangerous social behavior in recent weeks."

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is conducting a clinical trial designed to test the safety and efficacy of three immune modulator drugs on adults who were hospitalized due to COVID-19. According to the NIH, some patients with COVID-19 react to the virus in a way that their immune system unleashes excessive amounts of proteins to fight the virus, which ends up triggering inflammation. The inflammation can lead to acute respiratory distress syndrome, multiple organ failure and other life-threatening complications. The trial will include 2,100 hospitalized adults in the U.S. and Latin America with moderate to severe COVID-19. It is part of the Accelerating COVID-19 Therapeutic Interventions and Vaccines (ACTIV) initiative. “This is the fifth master protocol to be launched under the ACTIV partnership in an unprecedented timeframe, and focuses efforts on therapies that hold the greatest promise for treating COVID-19,” said NIH Director Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D. “Immune modulators provide another treatment modality in the ACTIV therapeutic toolkit to help manage the complex, multi-system conditions that can be caused by this very serious disease.”

While the conversation around employment in the United States has largely focused on the millions of Americans out of work, there are many U.S. workers who still have jobs but are also facing the weight of the pandemic on their jobs. According to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, one in four Americans with jobs have considered quitting their positions due to worries related to the pandemic. Another one in five workers say they have taken leave. However there is good news emerging from the poll, which showed that over 80% of workers say their employer is either doing the right amount or going above and beyond their expectations in responding to the pandemic. Perhaps most interestingly, 39% of workers in households earning less than $30,000 per year have considered leaving their jobs, a higher percentage than workers in higher income households.

According to Federal labor figures, an increasing trend of working-age women, particularly Black and Hispanic women, are dropping out of the labor force due to child care factors such as school and daycare closures. Similar factors have led to 28% of workers reporting fewer hours worked since the pandemic began, a figure that rises to 38% among Black workers.

Officials in the state of Victoria in Australia are ready to ease lockdown restrictions after 100 days. Beginning on Monday, people in Victoria will be able to travel by air, meet more friends and leave their homes without a time limit. Restaurants and retailers will still be limited to takeout and delivery, the BBC reported. Melbourne will also have restrictions eased. People in the city can now travel up to 15 miles away from their home to exercise and go shopping, groups of up to ten people from two different households can now gather, there will no loner be a time limit on outdoor activities such as socializing and exercise and hairdressers, tennis courts, golf courses and skate parks can all reopen. "I know these changes can't be absolutely everything everyone wants," State Premier Daniel Andrews said. "But they are the steps we can safely take that will make life a little bit easier. Follow the rules and get the numbers in Melbourne as low as they are in regional Victoria. Then we will all be able to move freely around our state."

The coronavirus could be following you home from the grocery store, the Chinese disease control authority said over the weekend. According to the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), contact with frozen food packaging contaminated by the the virus could lead to infection, as was the case in the city of Qingdao, which led to an outbreak. The finding of the virus on the outer packaging of frozen food was a world first and suggests that the virus may be able to be transported over long distances, according to Reuters. The infections from the food packaging led to at least 14 hospitalizations in the city.

When Alisa Femia, director of inpatient dermatology at New York City's NYU Langone Health, saw a 45-year-old man's symptoms of red circular patches on his palms and soles, pink eyes and chapped lips, alarm bells immediately rang, NBC News reported."Before I even saw the patient," Femia recalled, "I said: 'This hasn't been reported yet. This must be MIS-A.’” MIS-A stands for "multi-system inflammatory syndrome in adults.” The symptom of COVID-19, which was previously only reported in children who contracted the virus, included dangerous inflammation around the heart and other organs. It was typically reported weeks after initial infection, and called MIS-C in children. By Oct. 1, the CDC confirmed 1,027 confirmed cases of MIS-C with other cases under investigation. Twenty children died, according to NBC News. In some cases, the children developed a rash similar to the one Femia’s patient had. According to Dr. Sapna Bamrah Morris, clinical lead for the Health Care Systems and Worker Safety Task Force, it is still unknown how common the symptom is. "We have to get physicians realizing that. It may be rare, but we don't know. It might be more common than we think."

The world surpassed the 40 million case mark early Monday morning as the pace of case growth continues surging in countries all around the world. In the northern hemisphere, the drop in temperatures as countries near winter is also fueling the resurgences.

Over the weekend, the United States became the first country to surpass 8 million reported cases after posting multiple days with more than 60,000 new cases in the past week, according to statistics from Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. hadn't seen daily figures that high in over two months. Behind the U.S., India and Brazil remain the most severely impacted nations. According to Reuters, the totality of COVID-19 cases in North America and and South America make up nearly half of all global cases.

Elsewhere around the world, here are the latest updated global totals from Johns Hopkins University:

• Confirmed cases: 40,088,893

• Fatalities: 1,114,391

• Recoveries: 27,525,530

A health worker shows a positive result of COVID-19 during a random test for the family members of army personnel at the army base hospital in Gauhati, India, Monday, Oct. 19, 2020. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)

AP Photo/Anupam Nath)

Health officials in Dallas County reported a Garland, Texas woman in her 30s died of coronavirus "on an interstate flight" in July in Arizona. Reports say the woman had underlying health conditions. Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said the woman died while the plane was on the tarmac awaiting takeoff. He said the woman was "ill and having trouble breathing." Jenkins said it was unclear if it was known at the time that the woman had COVID-19. Jenkins told WFAA that the woman's case was from July 25, but the county had just received information about her recently. "We may not know if she was aware she was sick. Contact took place in Arizona." The flight was headed from Arizona to Texas, Jenkins said.

The summer and early autumn have been drier-than-normal across most of the northeastern United States leading to pockets of drought developing across the region, but this has been good news for some business trying to remain open amid the pandemic. In particular, gyms are taking advantage of the favorable weather conditions. CBS News talked to gym owners in the New York City area that revealed how shifting workouts to outdoor settings has helped to draw in people

"We ride in the rain as long as it's not thundering and lightning, but that will change as it gets cold," said Amy Glosser, owner of a cycling studio in Brooklyn, New York. As the leaves change and the temperatures drop, the cooler weather may deter some from going outside, but biking on a chilly fall day isn’t necessarily a bad thing. "It was cold today, but I came out dripping sweat," a woman said after finishing a spin class. However, an autumn chill is much different than a polar plunge with a side of snow. "It's our sandcastle, because it is going to end,” Glosser told CBS News. “It's going to snow at some point but we will be here as long as we can and it was worth it to create a beautiful community space." How long the outdoor classes will be able to continue is still up in the air, but AccuWeather is projecting a cold start to winter before temperatures moderate some come mid-January. This January thaw could open the window for some dedicated gym-goers to squeeze in a few outdoor workouts before frigid air and the threat for snow returns later in February.

All Week 6 games are on as scheduled after there are no new positive cases in the latest round of league-wide coronavirus testing, NFL Network's Tom Pelissero reported Sunday morning, according to the NFL. The good news comes one week after multiple positive tests and several players were on the reserve/COVID-19 list. New protocols, where anyone with high-risk, close-contact exposure must isolate themselves for at least five days, were put in effect in the lead-up to Week 6.

An amusement park in Tokyo, Japan, has opened its doors to office workers looking to change up their work environment. Yomiuriland launched its “amusement workstation” package on Thursday, which includes a working booth next to its pool and a ride on its observation Ferris wheel with a portable WiFi router. The park sells day passes for 1,900 yen ($18.05) per person on weekdays and for 2,000 yen for the weekends and holidays. The work packages also include after-work free golf balls at a driving range in the park, according to Reuters. “I love working outside. This is a good plan, and it feels great,” Tatsuki Yamamoto, president of FLEQ, an IT solutions firm, told Reuters.

When the coronavirus began to rapidly spread across the world this spring, people hunkered down, canceled events and rescheduled trips in an effort to help mitigate the suddenly-rising transmission levels. Many thought the lockdown efforts would be temporary, but now as winter draws closer in the U.S. and the virus does not show any signs of letting up — leading experts to worry that “pandemic fatigue” could now be a contributor to spikes in cases. “People are done putting hearts on their windows and teddy bears out for scavenger hunts,” said Katie Rosenberg, the mayor of Wausau, Wisconsin, said. “They have had enough.” Ann Vossen, a medical microbiologist in the Netherlands, said Europe is experiencing a resurgence in cases as well as less and less people are willing to stay put at home. In the U.S., around 700 people die each day due to the virus, and rising infection rates are leaving officials worried for what’s to come. Contract tracers are now reporting that individuals who test positive say they contracted the virus while trying to return to some semblance of normalcy. “Another case said to me, ‘You know what, it’s my adult son’s fault,’” Beth Martin, a retired school librarian who is working as a contact tracer in Marathon County, Wisconsin told The New York Times.. “‘He decided to go to a wedding and now we’re all sick.’”

People wearing masks to protect against coronavirus, walk, near the Atlantic Ocean in Saint Jean de Luz, southwestern France, Saturday Oct. 17, 2020. France became the latest European country to toughen anti-coronavirus measures, imposing a curfew in Paris and eight other cities from Saturday. (AP Photo/Bob Edme)

With the United States now averaging over 55,000 new coronavirus cases a day, only two states — Missouri and Vermont — are now trending in the right direction, with both states recording more than 10% improvement over the past week in terms of new recorded cases, CNN reported. On Friday, 10 states reported their highest one-day tally in new coronavirus cases. "This really is a harrowing time, and people have to be careful," epidemiologist Dr. Abdul El-Sayed said. In addition to a surge in cases is now a surge in hospitalizations, with New Mexico reporting an increase of 101% in October. With a growing number of hospitalizations, a spike in deaths is likely to follow. ”When we saw this kind of transmission earlier in the pandemic, in March and April, the virus hadn't seeded everywhere ... This surge has the potential to be way worse than it was than either the spring or the summer," El-Sayed said. 

Northwestern Kansas communities have been suffering from some of the state's largest coronavirus spikes in the last week. Gove County is home to only 22 medical center beds, with just few of them dedicated to coronavirus patients. The county is also low on needed staff members to help patients with severe symptoms. This has forced residents of Gove County to have to find treatment in other communities. The recent outbreaks at a nursing home resulted in most 30-plus residents at the home to test positive for the virus and has already lead to six deaths since late September. The hospital CEO and 50 medical staff have also tested positive. Residents of Gove County were quick to abandoned a mask mandate in the summer, according to The Associated Press. Cases in the county have doubled during the two weeks ending in Wednesday, jumping from 35 to 75.

A study released by the U.S. Department of Defense adds new evidence that airplane flights pose little risk in the transmission of COVID-19. According to the study, the high air exchange rates onboard reduced the risk of aerosol transmission by 99.7%. According to USA Today, this make airplane flights safer in terms of transmission than residential homes or hospital operating rooms. United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said there is no comparable indoor environment that has ceiling to floor airflow in the way an airplane does. He also recommended passengers keep their air vents open through the duration of the flight to improve the flow.

Does spraying oil on face masks help stop coronavirus particles from entering? Experts are skeptical, according to NPR. Sonali Advani, an assistant professor of medicine at Duke University, suggests that people avoid trying to make modifications to their masks in an attempt to make them work better, as it could actually end up having the opposite effect. "Oil may cause bacteria to grow and affect the filtration process of the mask" Advani said. "That might possibly increase the risk of bacterial infection." In addition, Advani and Harvard Medical School physician Abraar Karan debunked the belief that holding your breath around others could prevent coronavirus transmission. "Transmission is unlikely to happen in seconds so [holding your breath] likely won't make a difference," Karan said. "If someone just sneezed in front of you, I wouldn't recommend inhaling that — but generally we believe it takes several minutes at least for transmission to occur."

Movie theaters outside of New York City and not in “red zones” may reopen starting Oct. 23, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said at a press conference on Saturday. The reopening comes after movie theater owners pleaded with Cuomo to reopen New York cinemas because ‘many will not survive,’ the executive committee of the Global Cinema Federation, a worldwide organization of major cinema operators, wrote an open letter to Cuomo. Theaters will be allowed to have a maximum of 50 people per screen, Cuomo said. Movie theaters in counties that hold a positivity rate below 2% over a 14-day average and are cluster free can reopen at 25% capacity. In addition to meeting the state's air filtration and ventilation standards, masks will be required at all times, except when seated and eating or drinking. All seats must be assigned, social distancing guidelines must be adhered to, additional staffing is required to control occupancy and seating compliance.

Denver Broncos running backs coach Curtis Modkins won’t accompany the team on its trip to New England after testing positive for COVID-19. “Curtis is currently at home in self-isolation and experiencing no symptoms,” the team said. “We have evaluated close contacts, administered necessary point of care testing (no positive COVID-19 results) and implemented additional health and safety measures at UCHealth Training Center per NFL-NFLPA protocols.” The Broncos were originally scheduled to play in New England last weekend but that game was delayed twice. “We will take all necessary precautions to ensure the safety of our team, opponents and community,” the team added.

Sen. Kamala Harris will travel to Florida Monday after suspending travel due to staffers testing positive for COVID-19, The Biden campaign announced. Harris’ communications director and a flight crew member from her plane tested positive for the virus, the campaign announced Thursday. This will be her first in-person campaign event since Harris canceled all of her events through the weekend. Harris was tested for the coronavirus on Friday, however, the virus was not detected, according to CNN.

A new campaign in Germany is stirring controversy for its aggressive approach toward enforcing mask wearing. The ad campaign features an elderly woman giving the middle finger to people who do not wear masks. “The raised index finger for all those without a mask," the poster translates to, which some found confusing as the finger held up was not the index finger. Visit Berlin says that was done on purpose. While Visit Berlin says the intention behind the ad was to bring to light the importance of protecting elderly members of society during the pandemic, many Germans found it offensive. "Most Berliners and our guests respect and follow the corona rules but some people don't. These people risk the lives of older people and people from the at-risk community," Christian Tänzler, spokesman for Visit Berlin, told the BBC. "We wanted to give attention to this problem. For this reason we have chosen this provocative motif.” He also explained that residents of Berlin are well known for being direct, so the tone of the ad felt fitting. Despite his explanation, many continued to criticize the ad. ”The Senate seem to think that insulting people is more successful than strict, clear rules with efficient controls. They failed with that completely,” Lorenz Maroldt, editor-in-chief of Berlin's Der Tagesspiegel newspaper, said.

A man walks on a shopping street with a face mask due to the coronavirus pandemic in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2020. The city exceeded the important warning level of 50 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in seven days. More and more German cities become official high risk corona hotspots with travel restrictions within Germany. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

North Carolina's Department of Health and Human Services announced their plan on how to best deploy a coronavirus vaccine among residents when one becomes available. “We anticipate that populations of focus for initial COVID-19 vaccination will likely be the critical workforce that provides healthcare and maintains essential functions of society, staff and residents in long-term care facilities, and people with two or more co-morbidities that put them at high risk for complications from COVID-19," the department said, according to WRAL.com. The plan, which was announced on Friday, is subject to change depending on supply and demand and who is most at risk. North Carolina is considering the possibility of distributing the vaccine based on where the highest rates of spread and vulnerable residents are located.

Pfizer has announced plans to start testing its experimental coronavirus vaccine on children in what would be the first vaccine trial to do so. Cincinnati Children's Hospital will use a team to begin vaccinating teenagers aged 16 and 17 this week and will later test the trials on those aged 12 to 15 who enroll, according to CNN. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the vaccine to go into trail for children of that age. The novel coronavirus has caused severe illnesses in children and has even resulted in deaths in some cases. Children also have a higher ability to spread the virus to more vulnerable people including their parents and grandparents. The FDA has asked companies that are working on a vaccine to use diverse groups to test on to get as wide a range as possible. So far 38,000 people have volunteered for a trial with Pfizer and 31,000 have received the second of two shots.

The NFL Pro Bowl scheduled for January 2021 in Las Vegas has been canceled due to the ongoing pandemic. In a virtual owners meeting held on Wednesday, the league decided to cancel the annual game because it needs the flexibility in January incase regular season or playoff games needs to be moved later in the schedule, according to Fox News. The Pro Bowl will instead be replaced with what the NFL is calling, "a variety of engaging activities." The game has been scheduled the Sunday before the Super Bowl since 2010. If the Pro Bowl is able to come back in 2022, NFL owners have already voted to host it in Las Vegas.

The Department of Health and Human Services announced a deal with CVS and Walgreens on Friday that will allow them to administer coronavirus vaccines when they become available to elderly residents and staff members in long-term care facilities. The vaccinations will be free and coordinated with each facility, which will include skilled nursing facilities, nursing homes, assisted living facilities, residential care homes and adult family homes, CNBC reported. "Ensuring access to COVID-19 vaccines, particularly among our most vulnerable populations, will be critical to saving lives and helping our nation recover from the pandemic," Walgreens president John Standley said. A vaccine has not yet been approved, but elderly and healthcare workers will likely receive the approved vaccine first before it is released to the rest of the public in subsequent stages. In the U.S., there are four vaccines currently in the late stages of testing.

Only three weeks after recording its seventh million case, the U.S. has surpassed 8 million recorded coronavirus cases, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. With global cases at over 39,000,000 and global deaths from the virus at over 1 million, the U.S. accounts for about 20% of each. The rise in cases accompanies concerns over how cold weather might impact outdoor social distancing tactics as flu season approaches.

The World Health Organization (WHO) called Europe’s coronavirus outbreak “concerning” on Friday as the number of ICU beds near capacity in some cities. A resurgence of the virus has overtaken the continent, which Dr. Hans Kluge, head of The WHO’s Europe office, this week blamed on people not complying with safety measures. Europe as a whole is reporting an average of roughly 97,000 new cases per day, which is up 44% from one week ago, according to a CNBC analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University. The number of new coronavirus infections in Europe, when adjusting for population, has now over taken that in the U.S. — Europe reporting 187 new COVID-19 cases per million people, based on a seven-day average, compared with 162 new COVID-19 cases per million people in the U.S. Europe isn’t just seeing a rise in cases, but also an increase in hospitalizations and ICU admissions, according to Van Kerkhove, The WHO’s technical lead. “We know of a number of cities across Europe where ICU capacity will be reached in the coming weeks,” Kerkhove said Friday during a press conference. “That is concerning as we approach flu season.”

The New England Patriots have canceled practice and player interviews scheduled for Friday after one person tested positive for the coronavirus and another person is awaiting confirmation for a second positive test result, ESPN reported. The Patriots are scheduled to host the Denver Broncos on Sunday, which is still expected to go as planned. "We're under the assumption and the understanding that this game is going to go off on time," Broncos coach Vic Fangio said Friday. "And anything that happens otherwise will happen when it happens."

New research has found that those who were born with a heart defect aren’t at an increased risk for moderate or severe COVID-19. In the study published online on Wednesday in the Journal of the American Heart Association, researchers at Colombia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City explored the impacts of COVID-19 on more than 7,000 patients born with a heart defect (congenital heart disease). “At the beginning of the pandemic, many feared that congenital heart disease would be as big a risk factor for COVID-19 as adult-onset cardiovascular disease,” the study authors wrote in the report. However, they were “reassured by the low number of patients treated at their center and the patients’ outcomes.” The researchers concluded that “despite evidence that adult-onset cardiovascular disease is a risk factor for worse outcomes among patients with COVID-19, patients with CHD without concomitant genetic syndrome, and adults who are not at advanced physiological stage, do not appear to be disproportionately impacted.”

What is the best soap for protecting yourself from COVID-19? According to beauty blogger and chemistry PhD Dr. Michelle Wong, all soaps are effective against COVID-19 because they work similarly. “Coronavirus has a fatty outer layer and soap and water can actually break up this layer which inactivates the virus,” Wong told the BBC. “Secondly, soaps and detergents will wash away any remaining virus on your hands. It’ll flush it down the drain.” While all soaps will be effective in washing away the coronavirus, now that people are most likely washing their hands more frequently Wong recommended using a gentle soap to prevent dry and cracked hands. “If you have cracked and irritated hands, this can allow these germs to get in,” she explained. In addition, someone with sensitive skin should use soap with fewer ingredients to avoid irritation. Looking for moisturizing ingredients such as glycerin can also prevent dry skin. For children who do not like washing their hands, Wong suggested a “fun soap” to encourage frequent washing. Watch the video below for more.

Pfizer may file an emergency use authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine that is being developed with German partner BioNTech as early as late November. The regulatory filing will come as soon as enough data backs the safety of the vaccine, which could possibly happen during the third week of November, according to CNBC. The authorization would allow for a coronavirus vaccine this year, which would be a key step in beginning to curb a pandemic that has killed more than 1 million worldwide. At least two months of safety data on half of the trial participants is needed before an emergency authorization can be granted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Safety data continues to be compiled and the company said it expects to have enough of it by the third week of November. Pfizer said it will share the data with the public as soon as it's practical.

Many states in the U.S. Midwest are seeing a surge in COVID-19 cases which has resulted in hospitalizations reaching record levels. Michigan and eight other states reported a record one-day increase in new infections on Thursday, according to Reuters. Before Thursday, Michigan had not set a new daily record since April 3. In the month of October, half of the 50 US states have reported a new record high daily number of cases.

Medical personnel work inside a field hospital known as an Alternate Care Facility at the state fair ground as cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases spike in the state near Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S., October 12, 2020. Picture taken October 12, 2020. Wisconsin Department of Administration/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY.

(Wisconsin Department of Administration/Handout via REUTERS)

Wisconsin reported nearly 4,000 new cases on Thursday with some regions seeing 90% of intensive care unit beds in use. A field hospital has been built in the Milwaukee area to assist with patients if medical facilities become full. North Dakota and South Dakota have reported more new Coronavirus cases per capita than all but one country in the world since the start of October. Iowa saw a record high in hospitalizations due to COVID-19 this week.

A front-runner in China's coronavirus vaccine has shown promising results in human tests and has successfully triggered immune responses in a combined early and mid-stage test. Dubbed BBIBP-CorV, the vaccine is being developed by the Beijing Institute of Biological Products, which is a subsidiary of China National Biotech Group, according to Reuters. The vaccine was given an emergency inoculation program in China for essential workers and other limited groups of people facing high infection risks. Whether the shot actually safely protects people from COVID-19 will only become more clear when the Phase III trials are complete. BBIP-CorV is one of at least 10 vaccines for the coronavirus to enter a Phase III trial. No severe side effects have been reported, but common mild or moderate adverse reactions have been seen such as fever and pain in injection sites.

The Indianapolis Colts have closed their practice facility following word of several positive COVID-19 test results within the organization, ESPN reported. It is not known yet how many people tested positive or if any of them were players. The organization will work remotely Friday as it works to confirm the test results, ESPN said. The Colts are slated to host the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday at 1 p.m. EDT. However, ESPN reporter Dianna Russini tweeted that the game is still on for Sunday, based on communications she had with league officials.

Elsewhere around the league, the Atlanta Falcons closed their facility earlier this week after an assistant coach tested positive. NFL Network Reporter Tom Pelissero reported that the team's tests from Thursday came back negative Friday morning, which allowed the organization to reopen its practice facility.The Falcons' game against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday in Minneapolis is still expected to take place.

Update: 11:52 a.m. The Colts released a statement on Twitter saying that the samples came back negative for COVID-19 following a second round of testing. The organization will reopen its facility later today.

There has been much optimism surrounding Gilead Science’s drug remdesivir, which was previously used to treat Ebola, for its potential as a COVID-19 therapy, but a new report from the World Health Organization released on Thursday concluded that the drug has “little or no effect” in helping patients afflicted with COVID-19 survive the illness. According to the BBC, the report also found hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir and interferon -- other drugs that have been used to treat the coronavirus -- to be ineffective at preventing mortality. Remdesivir was part of the treatment regimen given to President Donald Trump after he tested positive for COVID-19, and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie revealed that he also received the treatment. Gilead Sciences dismissed the report’s finding, saying in a statement, “The emerging (WHO) data appears inconsistent, with more robust evidence from multiple randomized, controlled studies published in peer-reviewed journals validating the clinical benefit of remdesivir." The drug maker said its scientists were concerned that the WHO data and analysis has not “undergone the rigorous review required to allow for constructive scientific discussion,” the BBC reported. Meanwhile, the WHO is shifting its focus to other types of treatments that have shown promise. “We're looking at monoclonal antibodies, we're looking at immunomodulators and some of the newer anti-viral drugs that have been developed in the last few months,” WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said, according to the BBC. The complete WHO report can be read here.

A scientist handles vials of Remdesivir, a drug developed to treat Ebola, that is showing promise for patients suffering from COVID-19. (Gilead Sciences)

(Gilead Sciences)

Following a weeklong stay in the hospital for COVID-19 treatment, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is speaking publicly for the first time. Christie released a statement on Thursday that said he was wrong not to wear a mask when he visited the White House for the announcement of the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court “I believed that when I entered the White House grounds, that I had entered a safe zone, due to the testing that and I and many others underwent every day,” Christie said, according to The Associated Press. “I was wrong.”

Christie, who was in the intensive care unit for the entirety of his hospital stay, also said, “Every public official, regardless of party or position, should advocate for every American to wear a mask in public, appropriately socially distance and to wash your hands frequently every day,” the AP reported. Christie appeared on ABC's Good Morning America Friday morning to discuss his experience with the virus further. Watch a portion of the interview below.

France is ready to deploy 12,000 police officers to enforce curfews across major cities starting on Saturday, according to Reuters.The announcement made by Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin comes as the country has surpassed 800,000 coronavirus infections and is currently undergoing a second wave of the virus. On Wednesday, President Emmanuel Macon ordered curfews in nine cities across the nation, including Paris.

France is ready to deploy 12,000 police officers to enforce curfews across major cities starting on Saturday, according to Reuters.The announcement made by Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin comes as the country has surpassed 800,000 coronavirus infections and is currently undergoing a second wave of the virus. On Wednesday, President Emmanuel Macon ordered curfews in nine cities across the nation, including Paris.

The world recorded over 406,660 cumulative new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, marking the first time the daily number has surpassed 400,000 new cases. About a month ago, that total was more steadily around the 300,000 mark. Countries throughout western Europe and, South America and North America have continued to struggle with resurgences in new cases, as another six countries could jump the 1 million case mark within the next 10 days if their current daily paces continue.

Globally, the daily death toll is lingering around 6,000 fatalities per day, which isn't yet approaching the record highs set in July, August and September, including one day that topped 10,000 deaths.

Elsewhere around the world, here are the latest updated global totals from Johns Hopkins University:

• Confirmed cases: 38,988,886

• Fatalities: 1,098,982

• Recoveries: 26,918,980

While the coronavirus pandemic seems to have disrupted life in even the most remote corners of the Earth, two counties and one borough in the United States have somehow managed to remain free of the virus up until Thursday. Esmeralda County, Nevada, and Loving County, Texas, have yet to report a single case of COVID-19 yet, and Skagway, a borough in Alaska, reported its first case on Thursday afternoon. Skagway borough clerk Emily Deach told residents to shelter in place while contact tracing occurs. According to USA Today, all three locations are remote and have less than 1,100 residents. Dr. Steven Woolf, director emeritus of the Center on Society and Health at Virginia Commonwealth University, said the virus was able to spread so vastly throughout the country due to inadequate policies regarding prevention. “The virus didn’t get to all those counties by hopping on a bus. This is being transmitted by humans,’’ Woolf said. “The policies we’ve relaxed have allowed people to transmit the virus because they’re not wearing masks, they’re not social distancing, they’re gathering in large groups, they’re going to football games, they’re attending political rallies and creating superspreader events that carry the virus on to a new destination.’’

The government in Poland issued new coronavirus restrictions on Thursday that will result in the closure of gyms, pools and waterparks. Weddings and parties are allowed to continue in yellow zones of the country with 20 guests or less, but dancing is not allowed. Weddings are not allowed in red zones. The new restrictions come as a result of a 24% rise in coronavirus cases recorded on Thursday and is part of an effort from Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki to avoid a total lockdown in the country, Reuters reported. “The main recommendation ... is stay home and if you can work from home, then do so,” he said. Mateusz has received criticism from health experts that claim he has not done enough to prevent a second outbreak of the virus. “The (healthcare) system was never operational, even before the pandemic. Without support ... it is like an intensive care patient,” Andrzej Matyja, head of the Polish Supreme Medical Chamber, said.

Some people who had COVID-19 are finding that they’re experiencing fluctuating and multi system symptoms after the 2 week incubation time period, which has been increasingly referred to as “Long COVID” or “Long Haul COVID,” according to a report from the National Institute for Health Research. It is unclear if everyone with Long COVID is experiencing the same syndromes as research on the disease is still new, but they’ve been noted to affect the respiratory system, the heart and cardiovascular system, the brain, the kidneys and the gut.

“It is becoming increasingly clear that, for some people, Covid19 infection is not a discrete episode but one that marks the start of ongoing and often debilitating symptoms,” the report said. It continues to note that there is no formal diagnostic term for these ongoing effects, nor services to support them. “However, the lack of a single diagnostic category in no way diminishes the very real and often severe continuing impact living with Covid19 has on people’s lives,”the report stressed. Researchers and healthcare professionals have been cautious about attributing the reported problems to a single diagnoses, but the report listed four types of syndromes that could possibly cause Long-COVID:

• Post-viral fatigue syndrom

• Permanent organ damage to the lungs and heart

• Post-intensive-care syndrome

• Continuing COVID-19 symptoms

London is expected to initiate a tighter COVID-19 lockdown beginning midnight on Friday, Reuters reported. England's current death toll from the pandemic is more than 43,100, which is the highest in Europe, Reuters reported. The tighter lockdowns are part of an effort from Prime Minister Boris Johnson to slow down the second wave of the coronavirus. U.K. Health Secretary Matt Hancok said London would be moved from the "medium" alert level to the "high" level. Under the high level, people can't meet other families for social engagements that are indoors in any setting, including homes and restaurants. Watch the video below for more.

A new study conducted by the Department of Defense in partnership with United Airlines indicates that the risk of exposure to COVID-19 is “virtually non-existent.” According to the study, there is only a 0.0003% chance particles from a passenger can enter another passenger’s breathing space when they are both wearing masks. In the study, researchers ran 300 tests in six months, using a mannequin and an aerosol generator to replicate a passenger who is breathing or coughing. After studying the way the mannequin’s particles moved inside the cabin, they found that “99.99% of those particles left the interior of the aircraft within six minutes,” United Airlines Chief Communication Officer Josh Earnest told ABC News. He added that the results indicate “that being on board an aircraft is the safest indoor public space, because of the unique configuration inside an aircraft that includes aggressive ventilation, lots of airflow.” The news comes on the heels of the International Air Transport Association publishing new research last week in which it described the chances of becoming infected on a flight as "in the same category as being struck by lightning," according to ABC News.

“What is your advice about Thanksgiving?” CBS Evening News anchor and managing editor Norah O’Donnell asked Anthony Fauci in an interview on Wednesday. "Given the fluid and dynamic nature of what's going on right now in the spread and the uptick of infections, I think people should be very careful and prudent about social gatherings, particularly when members of the family might be at a risk because of their age or their underlying condition," the director of the NIAID responded. “You may have to bite the bullet and sacrifice that social gathering, unless you’re pretty certain that the people that you’re dealing with are not infected.” Fauci went to on say Thanksgiving in his home will "look very different this year" as his own children won’t be visiting him on the holiday out of concern that at his age, 79, he is at risk of suffering a severe case of COVID-19. “They themselves, because of their concern for me and my age, have decided they're not going to come home for Thanksgiving — even though all three of them want very much to come home for Thanksgiving," Fauci told O’Donnell, noting that his adult children live in three different states. Watch a clip of the interview below.

A large number of Americans continue to file for unemployment, resulting in 890,000 new claims last week which is much higher than what was expected. Dow Jones surveyed economists who expected the number of jobless claims to be around 830,000. The actual figure of 890,000 is the highest since August and another sign that the labor market continues to struggle in recovery, according to CNBC. The number also represents a gain of 53,000 over the previous week for claims. Continuing jobless claims did continue to fall to just over 10 million. The unemployment rate has fallen to 7.9% but is still more than double pre-pandemic level.

The Atlanta Falcons are conducting practice remotely after a team staff member has tested positive for the coronavirus. The league is currently confirming the positive test and conducting contact tracing, according to NFL Network. It is believed an assistant coach tested positive, but a false positive test is also possible and has occurred within the league on multiple occasions already. An initial report from ESPN about multiple players testing positive has been confirmed as incorrect. The Falcons are working remotely as a precaution and plan to return Friday. No schedule changed are anticipated yet, with the Falcons expected to play the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.

Thein Khin, a 100-year-old woman from Myanmar beat COVID-19 without even knowing she was infected, according to Reuters. She was kept in an isolation center last month after she tested positive for the virus but was asymptomatic and said she was more worried about her grandchildren’s health. “I felt nothing. I was eating well, showering myself and walking as normal,” the great-grandmother told Reuters. “If I suffered from this virus, I would be lying and moaning on the bed. But I am strong, walking around. I felt nothing.” The elderly population is considered to be one of the most vulnerable to the virus. In Myanmar, COVID-19 cases have passed 29,000, up from just a few hundred in August. In the video below, she explains why she feels "this disease is nothing" compared to some of the other dangers she's escaped over the course of her life.

On Thursday, Joe Biden’s presidential campaign announced that vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris will be suspending in-person events until Monday. The announcement comes after two members associated with the campaign tested positive for COVID-19. According to The Associated Press, campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon said that “neither of these individuals [who tested positive for the virus] had any contact with Vice President Biden, with Sen. Harris or any other staff member since testing positive or in the 48-hour period prior to their positive results.” He added that the suspension of events would be “out of an abundance of caution.” Harris addressed the situation on Twitter Thursday morning, saying, "I've had two negative tests this week and an not showing any symptoms."

The start of meteorological winter in the Northern Hemisphere is less than two months away, and the changing of the seasons will not only bring snow, but also uncertainties about the next phase of the coronavirus pandemic. A new study by research giant Riken and Kobe University used a supercomputer to model the dispersion of the virus in the air at two different humidity levels, Reuters reported. When the humidity was lower than 30%, the number of aerosolized particles were more than double than air with a humidity over 60%. This means that the virus could spread easier in the air during the winter months when humidity levels are lower. The study suggests using a humidifier indoors could help to limit infections when proper ventilation is not possible, Reuters said.

Korey King's breath is visible as he walks in Detroit Thursday, Feb. 19, 2015. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

On the same day that the Southeastern Conference postponed this weekend's LSU-Florida football game, significant additional virus-related developments in the conference emerged from Tuscaloosa, Alabama. On Wednesday it was revealed that University of Alabama head football coach Nick Saban, along with Athletic Director Greg Byrne, both tested positive for COVID-19, ESPN reported. Saban, 68, said he was feeling fine before he got word of the positive test result, ESPN reported. The university is planning on testing everyone within the football program on Thursday. Saban is quarantining in his home and was able to monitor practice via zoom. He told the team that anyone who came into contact with him might be infected, ESPN said. The second-ranked Crimson Tide are still slated to host No. 3 Georgia in a massive showdown Saturday night in Tuscaloosa. As of Thursday morning, the game is still scheduled to be played.

A Sweet 16 party in Long Island, New York, is now being called a “super-spreader event” by officials, with 37 confirmed cases connected to the event. “There is no precise definition of what a super-spreader event is,” Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said. “But in Suffolk County, we have not seen an event like this before at any time throughout this pandemic. For Suffolk County, this was a super-spreader event.” The Sept. 25 celebration, which has caused 270 people to quarantine, had a guest list of 81 people, according to Bellone. Among the positive cases are 28 students at eight different schools, as well as nine adults. The party’s venue, the Miller Palace Inn in Miller Place, was charged with a $10,000 fine for violating the state’s executive order of restricting public gatherings to a maximum of 50 guests. Additionally, the venue was also fined $2,000 for a sanitary code violation, according to ABC News. “This cluster should serve as a stark reminder of the potential consequences of violating COVID-19 rules and regulations,” Bellone said. “We do not want to see business shutting down and schools shutting down.”

A resurgence of COVID-19 cases in Russia began last month and in less than three weeks, the amount of daily cases recorded has already far surpassed the daily totals from the original spike back in early May. On Wednesday, the country recorded a record 14,041 new cases, the 12th consecutive day with at least 10,000 new cases. Back in May, the highest single-day case increase was 11,656. With 1,346,380 total cases, Russia ranks fourth in the world.

Elsewhere around the world, here are the latest updated global totals from Johns Hopkins University:

• Confirmed cases: 38,574,120

• Fatalities: 1,093,253

• Recoveries: 26,720,847

For previous updates on the coronavirus pandemic from Oct. 10 to Oct. 14, click here.

For previous updates on the coronavirus pandemic from Oct. 5 to Oct. 9, click here.

For previous updates on the coronavirus pandemic from Sept. 28 to Oct 4, click here.

For previous updates on the coronavirus pandemic from Sept. 19-27, click here.

For previous updates on the coronavirus pandemic from Sept. 14-19, click here.

For previous updates on the coronavirus pandemic from Sept. 9-13, click here.

For previous updates on the coronavirus pandemic from Sept. 5-9, click here.

For previous updates on the coronavirus pandemic from Aug. 28-Sept. 4 click here.

For previous updates on the coronavirus pandemic from Aug. 23-27, click here.

For previous updates on the coronavirus pandemic from Aug. 14-22, click here.

For previous updates on the coronavirus pandemic from Aug. 5 to Aug. 13, click here.

For previous updates on the coronavirus pandemic from July 24 to Aug. 4, click here.