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In Houston, car lines can stretch for up to half a mile as workers who lost their jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic wait to receive food from the Houston Food Bank. The various sites across the city distribute up to 1 million pounds of food as unemployed workers continue to struggle. “As a man, as a father, as a provider I felt at a low point. I felt low,” Herman Henton, an unemployed construction worker, told The Associated Press. “In this type of situation, there’s nothing you can really do.” Before the pandemic, the Houston Food Bank distributed an average of 450,000 pounds of food daily. Currently, distributions by the Houston Food Bank average about 800,000 pounds daily. “Forty prevent of households have less than $400 in order to weather a storm,” Houston Food Bank President Brian Greene said. “So, when this crisis hit the number of families who needed assistance was immediate and very large.” Since March, the non-profit organization has helped about 126,500 families around Houston.
Following a growing list of popular retailers closing stores due to losing foot traffic in stores amid lockdowns, Gap and Banana Republic are closing 350 stores, according to ABC News. Gap announced it will close 225 of its stores by 2024, which is a third of its locations. After the closures, 80% of Gap's remaining stores will be free-standing outside of malls. "We've been overly reliant on low-productivity, high-rent stores," said Mark Breitbard, CEO of the Gap brand in a statement. “We’ve used the past six months to address the real estate issues and accelerate our shift to a true Omni-model." The company is also planning to close 130 of its Banana Republic stores in North America to focus on growing e-commerce business and outlet stores." As result of this work, our mall-based exposure will decline meaningfully," Gap Inc.'s chief financial officer Katrina O'Connell said in an investor presentation on Thursday, according to Business Insider. "Gap said that in 2023 roughly 80% of its revenues will come from online sales and locations outside of malls." Other companies, such as H&M, Victoria's Secret and JCPenney have announced store closures as well.
Schoolgirl of Freiherr-vom-Stein secondary school in the North Rhine-Westphalian city wears a winter outfit against the cold as school resumes with open windows and protective masks against the spread of COVID-19 following the autumn holidays in Bonn, Germany, October 26, 2020. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
On Monday, students at a secondary school in Bonn, Germany, bundled up as classes resumed amid the coronavirus pandemic. A photo capture by a Reuters photographer shows a schoolgirl at the Freiherr-vom-Stein secondary school wearing a heavy winter jacket because windows in the classroom are now required to stay open at all times as a measure to prevent the spread of the virus. In addition, students are also asked to wear face masks. On Monday, Bonn had a low temperature of 46 F, with a high of 56 and an AccuWeather RealFeel of 44. Later this week, the weather will remain on the chilly side with temperatures in the upper- to mid-50s.
A new study released on Friday suggests that universal mask-wearing through the spring could prevent 129,574 deaths in the U.S. The study, which was led by Christopher Murray, director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, emphasizes on the importance of mask-wearing in public settings as the COVID-19 number cases continues to increase across the country. The U.S. has been seeing a fall surge in the number of new cases and Murray said that these numbers are likely to continue into winter if people fail to wear masks in public areas. “We strongly believe we are heading into a pretty grim winter season,” Dr. Murray said, according to The New York Times. “Increasing mask use is one of the best strategies that we have right now to delay the imposition of social distancing mandates and all the economic effects of that, and save lives,” Murray added.
The study, published in the journal Nature Medicine, added that the pandemic’s toll in the U.S. could reach 500,000 by March 2021, even with the current social distancing mandates. However, scientists have argued that the study failed to take into account the treatments available now for people who are hospitalized, which could help slow down the death toll. According to one study, deaths among hospitalized patients have dropped to 7.6 percent from 25.6 in the spring.
In preparation for Halloween, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot released a video on Twitter detailing the health guidelines for trick-or-treating to prevent the spread of COVID-19. According to the video, anyone involved in trick-or-treating is required to wear a non-costume mask or face covering and stay on the move during their outing. “Less congregating means more houses and more candy,” according to the video. Reaching hands into candy bowls is discouraged, and the video suggests children wait until they are home and have already washed their hands before they begin eating any candy. Trick-or-treating groups should also be limited to six people or less. Homes giving out candy must make it clear they are part of the festivities and provide hand sanitizer. Anyone handing out candy must also maintain social distancing guidelines. Finally, house parties of any size and haunted houses are not allowed this year. “Chicago, have a spooky and safe time,” Lightfoot wrote on Twitter. Watch the full video below.
Encouraging news emerged on the COVID-19 vaccine front Monday when AstraZeneca, the British pharmaceutical company, said its developmental vaccine prompts an immune response in both young and old adults, according to Reuters. Test results also showed that the vaccine produces lower adverse responses in elderly patients, the company said, according to Reuters. “It is encouraging to see immunogenicity responses were similar between older and younger adults and that reactogenicity was lower in older adults, where the COVID-19 disease severity is higher,” an AstraZeneca spokesman told Reuters. The vaccine is being developed by Oxford University and is one of the leading candidates to be developed first for public use.
The U.S. added another 60,789 new cases across the country on Sunday. The states that recorded the highest numbers of new cases, according to the researchers at Johns Hopkins University, were Illinois with 4,057 cases, Texas, with 3,644, and Wisconsin, with 3,626 new cases confirmed. Watch the brief video below for more data on how cases were reported across the U.S. and across the globe, including which countries reported the most new cases on Sunday – apart from the U.S.
The NFL has fined the Tennessee Titans $350,000 for violating the league's COVID-19 protocols, The Associated Press reported. The Titans have only recently gotten their season back on track following schedule adjustments due to a COVID-19 outbreak within the organization, the first outbreak in the NFL so far in the 2020 season. At least 24 people, including 13 players tested positive, according to the AP. The NFL conducted an investigation and found that the Titans did not adhere to mask-wearing guidelines and were "insufficiently clear" to players about not holding team workouts outside of the franchise's practice facility, which was closed due to the outbreak, the AP said.
Spain announced a new state of emergency plan on Sunday that not only addresses the recent soaring infection numbers in the country but also aims to keep them from coming back. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez asked the nation’s parliament to approve the state of emergency extension up to May 9, a six-plus month extension of the plan that institutes local night curfews and bans travel between some regions, according to Reuters. According to the mandate, all regions except the Canary Islands will impose a nighttime curfew and limit gatherings of people to six. Individually, many regions in the country, such as the Madrid area, were already enacting similar moves and had been calling on the national government to implement a nationwide measure.
The Canary Islands were excluded from many of the emergency mandates as an effort to save the tourist season. According to Forbes, the islands, located near the coast of Africa, were recently added to the list of “travel corridors” that British travelers may travel to without self-quarantining on their return home.
Nurse Paula Gonzalez dresses in full protective gear before entering the red zone of a hotel for COVID-19 patients under quarantine in Leganes, outskirts of Madrid, Spain, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020. The red zone marks the hotel area where coronavirus patients stay. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
According to statistics kept by researchers from Johns Hopkins University, no seven-day period has been as destructive for a country than what the United States saw over the past week. With an average of 68,767 new cases each day, the U.S. recorded 481,372 new infection in the week, a global record. According to CNN, Sunday's recorded number of 60,789 new cases represents the highest reported number for a Sunday since July. New case totals are lower on Sundays and Mondays due to slower reporting on weekends.
Elsewhere around the world, here are the latest updated global totals from Johns Hopkins University:
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Confirmed cases: 43,117,883
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Fatalities: 1,154,703
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Recoveries: 28,986,504
As coronavirus case counts continue to shatter records in the Utah, hospitals in the state are preparing to begin rationing care within the next two weeks. At least two hospitals in Utah have already had to open up overflow ICUs this month, The Salt Lake Tribune reported. State officials have confirmed that they are anticipating for ICUs to overload this week. “The chief medical officers were very clear: They were asking us to be prepared for that,” said Joe Dougherty, spokesman for Utah’s Division of Emergency Management. A spokesperson for Herbert said Friday, “We are not there yet, but we are too close, uncomfortably close.”
The number of staffers for Vice President Mike Pence who tested positive for COVID-19 has now risen to five. So far, the list includes chief of staff Marc Short, close aide Zach Bauer and outside adviser Marty Obst, CNN reported. According to a White House official, both Pence and second lady Karen Pence tested negative for the virus on Sunday and the vice president remains "in good health," Pence's press secretary Devin O'Malley said on Saturday.
Italy imposed the toughest restrictions since ending its lockdown, as Europe’s second wave of the outbreak accelerated. On Sunday, Italy announced the closure of all bars and restaurants at 6 p.m., the suspension of many sports and leisure activities, and a return to online lessons for high-school students, The Wall Street Journal reports. “The objective is not to bring the contagion curve down to zero, but to bring it under control,” Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte told a news conference. Conte acknowledged public frustration but asked Italians to obey the new rules in the coming weeks so that daily life can return closer to normal as the holiday season approaches.
Camel racing has returned for the first time since the coronavirus shut the sport down in February. Professional camel racing started out in the small emirate in the early 1970s. It is known as a Gulf heritage that is inherited from fathers and grandfathers, according to AFP. The local competition in Qatar is home to eight preliminary races and three major festivals home to big prizes. Young children used to ride the camels but since 2004, remote-controlled robot jockeys have replaced young children. The sport slowly resumed its activities in September with their robot jockeys for a local competition in Qatar.
Here are the latest COVID-19 numbers, provided by researchers at Johns Hopkins University:
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Confirmed cases: 42,718,653
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Fatalities: 1,150,614
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Recoveries: 28,804,497
The year 2020 has been a confusing time to be sure. The pandemic upended life as we know it across the globe, requiring people everywhere to recalibrate how they go about the day. But adjusting to life in COVID times has perhaps been most confusing in the small town of Knighton in the U.K., which straddles the border of England and Wales. As a result, residents there are subject to two sets of COVID-19 rules, and as Chris Branford, the manager of a teashop in Knighton, put it to AFP: "It’s been a funny time, really. People don’t know where they’re supposed to go, where they can go, where they can’t go." Watch the video below to see what other folks from the border-straddling town have to say about the conundrum.
The president of Poland, Andrzej Duda, tested positive for the coronavirus, a spokesperson announced on Saturday. "The president is fine. We are in constant contact with the relevant medical services,” according to spokesperson Blazej Spychalski. According to NPR, Spychalski said Duda is now in isolation. In a video, Duda apologized to everyone who he came in contact with and said he has no symptoms. "If I had had any symptoms, please believe me, all meetings would have been canceled," Duda said, The Associated Press translated. Poland’s case count is now surging faster than any point in the pandemic since it began.
It can be hard to differentiate the two based on symptoms alone, Andrew Pekosz, PhD, says, but large numbers of susceptible people and increased rates of severe disease and death set COVID-19 apart from seasonal influenza. Pekosz, a leading virologist who works on both diseases, broke down key differences between COVID-19 and influenza. He found that since December 2019, COVID-19 has killed more people in the U.S. than influenza has in the last five years, Johns Hopkins reports. More people are susceptible to the coronavirus because there is little preexisting immunity to the virus that causes it, while a portion of the population already has some immunity to influenza, which helps limit the number of cases each year. Pekosz also notes that coronavirus has a higher severe disease and mortality rate than influenza in all age groups, except children under the age of 12.
After staying a total of 208 days in the hospital, fifty-year-old Chris Hirte was welcomed home on Thursday morning. Hirte, from Maple Grove, Minnesota, spent five months in the hospital, where he stayed on a ventilator for two months before he moved to a traditional care unit for two months. At one point in his hospital stay, his fever topped 108 degrees, which his sister Dawn Ramaley said was a moment in which they worried they would lose him. Prior to his hospitalization they day before his 50th birthday, Hirte was considered a healthy man. After being released, Hirte suffered from muscle atrophy from being hospitalized. He has now lost mobility in his legs and right hand. Ramaley said he is expected to fully recover. Signs that said “Welcome home Chris” lined the streets leading up to his home when he was released, and neighbors and family members cheered him on. “Well I think I’m fortunate to have love and family like I do,” Hirte said, according to CBS News. “They supported me.”
Healthcare professionals with the Association of Minnesota Chinese Physicians unload 2,000 face masks the association donated. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)
The fall surge of coronavirus cases across the nation resulted in a new record on Friday, according to statistics compiled by researchers at Johns Hopkins University. Another 83,757 new cases were recorded on Friday -- the highest number of new infections since 77,362 were reported back on July 16. The total pushed the number of cumulative cases in the U.S. above 8.5 million.
A graph showing daily coronavirus cases for the U.S. since the beginning of the pandemic. (Johns Hopkins University)
Some survivors of COVID-19 are experiencing an unusual side effect that is causing hair to fall out in clumps months after being tested positive. Stacey Maralova or Leetsdale, Pennsylvania tested positive for the coronavirus two months ago, but is still experiencing hair loss, according to NBC News. She says each time she showers, fistfuls of hair come out, causing her to limit washed because of being terrified. Many coronavirus survivors have been dealing with dramatic hair loss that experts say is not entirely unexpected despite being jarring. Dr. Sara Hogan, a dermatologist and health sciences clinical instructor at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, said "It is upsetting, especially for those who have gone through a significant clinical course of Covid, to then experience this as well." Actress Alyssa Miano brought attention to hair loss following COVID-19 back in August after posting a startling video on Twitter showing the strands of hair she was losing by brushing. Researchers do not believe COVID-19 attacks hair follicles and that hair loss is the body's reaction to physiological and emotional stress caused by the virus.
People with Down syndrome reportedly have 10 times the risk of dying from COVID-19 than those without the disability, according to a new study published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine. The study involved over 8 million adults in the U.S. and was sponsored by the U.K., CNN reported. The researchers also discovered there was a fourfold increase in risk of coronavirus-related hospitalizations for those with Down syndrome. ”This was after adjustment for cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases and care home residence, which our results suggest explained some but not all of the increased risk,” according to the researchers. Down syndrome is not listed by the CDC as a condition that would put an individual at greater risk for COVID-19, but it is linked to immune system, heart and pulmonary complications, the researchers claim.
"People with Down syndrome are more likely to have one or more of these medical conditions that put them at higher risk than those without Down syndrome. However, to be clear, some people with Down syndrome will not have any of these medical conditions that cause higher risk of COVID-19," The National Down Syndrome Society said in July. "These medical conditions in children and adults with Down syndrome can make them 'vulnerable' and at 'high risk' for severe illness. Therefore, people with Down syndrome require closer monitoring, observation, and attention, especially when they are ill."
On Friday, Portugal's parliament decided to make masks mandatory in all crowded outdoor areas across the country. The decision comes as coronavirus cases in the country continue to surge. The measure will remain for at least 70 days, and applies to all residents over the age of 10. Violators risk receiving a fine anywhere between 100 and 500 euros, equal to up to $592 USD. “It should have happened a long time ago, more than six months ago,” taxi driver Antonio Jose, 68, told Reuters while waiting for the next customer for his taxi. “It’s not too late.”
Delta airlines announced on Friday that 460 customers have been added to a no-fly list after refusing to wear a face covering during a flight, according to NBC news. "Wearing a mask is among the simplest and most effective actions we can take to reduce transmission, which is why Delta has long required them for our customers and our people," Delta CEO Ed Bastian said. It is unclear how long the individuals will not be allowed to fly Delta. American Airlines and United Airlines have also announced that they will ban people from flying if they refuse to wear a face mask, WSB-TV 2 said.
In preparation for ski season, The Colorado Department of Public Health Environment has released an updated guidance on navigating the winter sport amid the coronavirus pandemic. Ski resorts will be encouraged to sell tickets online or over the phone, ask guests if they have any COVID-19 symptoms, limit school groups to 10 students and load guests onto lifts and gondolas in a way that allows for social distancing. Ski resorts are also encouraged to use reservations to keep the number of visitors low. The new guidance also states that ski resorts should have an area prepared for visitors to isolate in if they test positive for the virus, The Associated Press reported. “Outdoor activities like skiing and snowboarding can be lower risk if done with proper precautions, both on and off the slopes,” Jill Hunsaker Ryan, executive director of the state health department, said. “We have to proceed carefully and be willing to evolve if necessary.”
One of the staples of Paris, France, has recorded a staggering drop in visitation due to the coronavirus pandemic. Ticket sales at the Eiffel Tower have plummeted by 80% compared to last year, AFP reported. The 1,063-foot monument can accommodate up to 25,000 people a day, but is averaging closer to 2,500 per day, according to SETE president Jean-Francois Martins. In addition to the decline in visitation, the hours of operation have had to be resumed following the new curfew in place in Paris, which states that people are not allowed to be out after 9 p.m. Earlier this week, France surpassed 1 million COVID-19 cases, which has lead to nearly 35,000 deaths across the country.
France has extended its curfew to nearly two-thirds of the country's population as the second wave of the coronavirus has surged across Europe. Last week, French Prime Minister Jean Castex announced a new curfew for Paris while eight other cities are being included, meaning 46 million will be confined to their homes from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. French health authorities reported a new daily record of 41,622 new coronavirus cases Thursday, bringing the nation's total to more than 1 million, according to Johns Hopkins University statistics. Authorities in many countries are worried the situation is rapidly reaching a tipping point.
The first teen to participate in the effort to find a vaccine for COVID-19 was inoculated last week at Cincinnati Children’s hospital in Ohio. (Twitter / Cincinnati Childrens)
In the race to create an effective vaccine for COVID-19, one company has expanded its clinical trials to include people under the age of 18. Pfizer has become the first drug company in the U.S. to include minors in its vaccine trial, USA Today said. The company said that it hopes to include 3,000 teenagers in its trial, a decision that some doctors say should wait until after an effective vaccine is proven safe for adults. "The pattern of disease is very different in children, and lumping them in with adults would cause me some discomfort,” Dr. Cody Meissner told USA Today. "If I were part of the FDA I would certainly want to be very convinced about the safety of a vaccine before I approved its use in children.” Meanwhile, others are saying that a vaccine trial for children is necessary, including some of the minors that have already started the trial. "The more people they have and the more data they have, the sooner they can help people," a 16-year-old participant said. Last week at Cincinnati Childrens Hospital in Ohio, the first batch of children began the trial, with some participants as young as 12 years old.
The European Union (E.U.) removed Canada, Tunisia and Georgia from its list of countries whose residents should be allowed to visit E.U. countries after a rise in new cases. In addition, the EU added Singapore back to its list after the country's coronavirus numbers saw an improvement, an anonymous EU official said. These are the first changes to come to the EU’s “white list” on travel recommendations in more than two months, Bloomberg News reported. The list went from 11 countries to just nine, including Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand, Rwanda, South Korea, Thailand, and Uruguay.
The demand in vaccines for the winter flu has surged, causing a shortage in many European cities and stoking fears that winter flu cases could spike alongside coronavirus cases. Governments around the continent have boosted vaccine orders this year and have actively encouraged citizens to get flu shots, according to Reuters. The goal to inoculate earlier and cover a larger population than typical, is to help reduce the burden on health services as much as possible to save room for coronavirus patients. Top manufacturers have boosted supplies by an average of 30% but despite operating at full capacity, have been unable to meet the extra demand. The strong, early demand, in cities have led to delays and temporary shortages of the flu shot. The seasonal flu infects between 4 and 50 million per year and kill up to 70,000 Europeans.
Santa Claus will not be greeting kids at Macy's in New York this year for the first time in nearly 160 years, due to coronavirus concerns. The company announced that it is too difficult to create a safe environment during the pandemic, according to The Associated Press. Normally, crowds would walk through tight spaces in the retail giant's flagship Manhattans store on the way to visit Santa. More than a quarter of a million people visit the 34th Street store to see Santa each year. This comes amid many big name stores changing typical holiday strategies amid the coronavirus. Macy's announced plans to offer a free online experience on its website at the end of November, which will allow families to see a virtual tour of Santa's workshop and take a selfie with Santa.
FILE - Santa Claus waves during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Nov. 28, 2019, in New York. Macy's said Santa Claus won't be greeting kids at its flagship New York store this year due to the coronavirus, interrupting a holiday tradition started nearly 160 years ago. However, Macy's said the jolly old man will still appear at the end of the televised Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez, File)
CBS News correspondent Adriana Diaz got an inside look at how COVID-19 is being handled at Wisconsin's largest hospital, where a dire situation continues to unfold. Aurora St. Luke's Medical Center in Plawk, Wisconsin, is home to five COVID units. At the hospital, coronavirus patients are flipped or "proned" because it is one of the only things that shows an increase in survival chances for those suffering from the virus. Many strategies are used at the hospital to reduce the number of deaths, but even with all of them, the state still continues to see increasing coronavirus daily fatalities. Diaz said one of the biggest things that struck her was that the most critical patients weren't the elderly, but people in their 30s and that the virus does not discriminate and can hit anyone hard. Watch the full report below.
The United States is likely to have enough COVID-19 vaccines available for all vulnerable Americans by the end of 2020, according to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar. The claim comes as the U.S. government said that it is “cautiously optimistic” that one or two vaccine candidates, including Pfizer’s and Moderna’s, will be ready for distribution by the end of the year. According to Reuters, Azar added that he expects all seniors, health care workers and first responders to receive a vaccine as soon as January, while the rest of Americans will likely receive it by April.
Southwest Airlines has reported a quarterly loss of over $1 billion, which is the largest quarterly loss ever since the coronavirus pandemic started. The airline has continued to put strict measures in place to try and combat the spread of the coronavirus, such as blocking all middle seats through November to ensure social distancing. Middle seats are expected to be sold again starting Dec. 1 amid recent medical research that breathing COVID-19 particles on a plane is "virtually non-existent," according to Reuters. Southwest will allow passengers to rebook to a less full flight if they prefer to continue avoiding middle seats. The airline industry failed to secure $25 billion in payroll support for airlines which has caused severe losses.
Germany recorded a record daily increase in coronavirus cases on Thursday, with 11,287 new infections reported in just 24 hours. This smashes the previous record for the country, which was 7,595. A sharp increase in COVID-19 cases has been occurring in European countries over the last several weeks, according to AFP. Local restrictions and bans on large gatherings have been put in place across the continent. More than 380,000 people have been infected by the coronavirus in Germany so far, with 9,875 deaths.
After nearly a dozen of his guards tested positive for COVID-19, Pope Francis was spotted wearing a mask at an interfaith service in Rome on Tuesday. In a video shared by Bloomberg QuickTake on Twitter, the Pope can be seen wearing a white face mask as he makes his way through a large crowd at the Rome Basilica of Santa Maria in Aracoeli. Over the past months, the Pope has received criticism for not wearing coverings at public functions, even as COVID-19 infections continue to spread across the Vatican and the surrounding areas. Watch below for more.
Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell last week to 787,000 which is another hopeful sign that job losses may have eased amid the pandemic. The prior week had 842,000 new claims. The declines bring hope to economists that the job market is recovering, according to The Associated Press. However, many have remained cautious that the improvement could be short-lived as cases continue to surge around the country again. Several states have reported a record number of hospitalizations from the virus which has led to more lockdowns and restrictions which have lead to employers cutting jobs. Unemployment applications declined in 39 states and rose in 11, with Florida seeing a drop of nearly 12,000.
Results from a new research study conducted by Penn State’s College of Medicine indicate that certain oral antiseptics and mouthwashes may have the ability to inactivate human coronaviruses. According to the results, some of these products might help reduce the viral load in the mouth after infection, which can lead to a reduction of the spread of SARS-CoV-2. Craig Meyers, a microbiology and immunology professor at Penn State, led a group of physicians who tested several oral and nasopharyngeal rinses to determine their ability to deactivate the virus. Researchers found that many of the nasal and oral rinses had a strong ability to neutralize the coronavirus. “While we wait for a vaccine to be developed, methods to reduce transmission are needed. The products we tested are readily available and often already part of people’s daily routines,” Meyers said.
During the first six weeks of the season, the NFL has already rescheduled more than a dozen games. But, one thing the NFL hasn't had to do yet is reschedule its biggest game, the Super Bowl, according to CBS Sports. However, not only could that end up happening, but the game could be pushed back all the way to March if regular-season games keep getting postponed. "We could move the Super Bowl back as far as four weeks," Green Bay Packers president Mark Murphy said in a recent interview with Aaron Nagler of Cheesehead TV. "Obviously, we'd prefer not to do that, but you do have that flexibility if we run into a number of outbreaks with different teams or if we have to kind of move the schedule back." According to Murphy, the league could push the game back anywhere from one to four weeks, which means that Super Bowl 55, which is currently scheduled for Feb. 7 in Tampa, Florida, could conceivably be held on Feb. 14, Feb. 21, Feb. 28, or March 7.
In a new report released on Wednesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expanded its definition of who can be considered a "close contact" of an individual infected with COVID-19. In the update, the CDC now defines a "close contact" as someone who has been within six feet of an infected person for more than 15 minutes over the course of 24 hours. Previously, the guidance described a "close contact" as someone who spends more than 15 consecutive minutes within 6 feet of an infected person. According to Axios, the change is due to a COVID-19 case that developed following multiple brief exposures to the virus in a Vermont correctional facility over the summer. The update is likely to pose changes for schools, workplaces and businesses as the U.S. prepares for a possible third wave of the virus.
On Thursday morning, France became the second country in Western Europe to surpass 1 million COVID-19 cases, Axios reported. According to data from Johns Hopkins University, France has reported 1,000,369 cases and 34,075 deaths since the start of the outbreak in the nation. Spain was the first Western European nation to surpass the grim milestone on Wednesday. Earlier this month, French President Emmanuel Macron declared a state of health emergency and imposed curfews in the country's major cities and hotspots in an effort to control the spread of the virus. There are now seven countries that have topped the 1 million cumulative cases mark, and Colombia is on pace to become the next nation to reach that plateau.
(Image/Johns Hopkins University)
A cautionary tale is currently unfolding in Alaska about how colder weather can allow the virus to thrive, The New York Times reports. As the arrival of colder weather has forced residents back indoors in recent weeks in The Last Frontier, cases have spiked and the state's contact tracing system has become strained, the Times reports. “We’ve been markedly concerned about what the fall and winter will look like, and I think it’s playing out that it’s highly concerning,” Dr. Anne Zink, Alaska’s chief medical officer told the Times. Last Friday, the average number of weekly cases in Alaska reached its highest point so far in 2020, and the percentage of people testing positive has doubled in the last month, the Times reported. Some tribal villages have even been forced into lockdown, the Times said. Alaska is facing some unique challenges, including many remote villages that aren't connected to the state's road system and how harsh winter storms can disrupt medical officials from reaching these isolated communities, according to the Times' report.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) answered the question many have been asking: Is COVID-19 deadlier than the flu? It turns out it is, they said, and about five times more so. According to data from the CDC, patients hospitalized with COVID-19 are five times more likely die compared to those with the flu, while also being at risk for 17 additional, serious health complications such as pneumonia and blood clots. The data shows that 21% of all hospitalized COVID-19 patients died while in care, compared to 4% of flu patients, according to Live Science. Among minority groups, including Black and Hispanic patients, complications such as respiratory and neurologic issues were more likely than with white patients, which the CDC said may be due to “social, environmental, economic and structural inequalities.”
A Sri Lankan woman reacts as a medical officer attempts to collect a swab sample to test for Covid-19 in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2020. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy walked away from a news conference after learning a member of his senior staff recently tested positive for COVID-19. Murphy tested negative on Monday and again on Wednesday, according to a statement from the governor's communications director, ABC News reports. "Per guidance from public health officials, the individual is currently quarantining at home," the statement said. "We have begun the contact tracing process to notify everyone who may have come into contact with our colleague during the potential infection window." The staffer who tested positive was the Deputy Chief of Staff for Intergovernmental Affairs, Mike Delamater. Another staffer also tested positive on Wednesday as well. "This afternoon, Daniel Bryan, Senior Advisor to the Governor for Strategic Communications, tested positive for COVID-19," the governor's office said in a statement. "He took the test out of an abundance of caution and remains asymptomatic. The contact tracing process is underway, and anyone, including members of press, believed to have exposure as defined by CDC guidelines will be notified." Murphy apologized for leaving the briefing on Wednesday earlier than expected. "I will now unfortunately have to take myself off the field," Murphy said. "I cannot ask President Trump not to come to Bedminster and have me sit here. I have no symptoms. Again, I tested negative on Monday, but I got to go take myself at least off the field and get tested again today. As you all know, if I was with someone Saturday night and got tested Sunday morning, that doesn't really tell you a lot," Murphy said. "You've got to wait and see if there wasn't any incubating."
Since trick-or-treating is mostly an outdoor activity it is on the safer side of the spectrum. However, there are still ways to limit the spread of COVID-19. Parents can create a clear plan for children to follow so they can keep themselves and others safe when trick-or-treating. Explain what your child can expect and what is expected of them before going out to trick-or-treat. If you are handing out candy, you can also take part in making others feel comfortable.
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Stick to outdoor trick-or-treating
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Line up for candy instead of gathering at the door
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Do not wear a costume mask over a cloth mask
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Set up a station for individually wrapped treats
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Use hand sanitizer
Now 99-year-old Florentina Martin is back to watching her favorite TV shows and playing games on a tablet with her five-year-old great-grandson Pedro after beating COVID-19 in September. Her granddaughter’s greatest fear was not that the disease would kill her, but that she would end up alone on an emergency ward. “I always thought loneliness would finish her off before the virus because she’s afraid of being left alone, especially in the hospital,” Noelia Valle said. She thinks her grandmother probably got infected at her 99th birthday party on Sept. 16, when the family went outside to enjoy the fine weather with drinks on a terrace without masks. Martin only developed mild symptoms and was able to recuperate at home in Madrid. “I’m well. I’m really OK,” Martin said, Reuters reported.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that the country is not planning to impose any restrictions to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, even as a new countrywide record daily death toll was reported. Expectations that Moscow might impose a widespread lockdown were raised when 15,700 new cases were reported on Wednesday. “Regarding the possibility of harsh, total measures - we are not planning to do it. The government does not have such plans,” Putin said at a meeting held by video link with Russia’s top business figures, Reuters reported. Putin said Russia needs to focus on administering tests for coronavirus, observing safety measures and start vaccinations.
Johns Hopkins University has been tracking the global outbreak of coronavirus from the onset. The university's COVID-19 dashboard has been tracking all of the rapidly changing information from total global cases, to the latest reported deaths and global recoveries through a variety of maps and graphs. For those looking to glean insight into the current spread of the virus in the U.S., the school put out a one-minute YouTube video highlighting the data in motion. More than 60,000 new cases were reported nationwide on Tuesday and the country recorded another 933 fatalities. Watch the video below.
AstraZeneca experienced another potential setback Wednesday after a report from Brazil said a volunteer participating in the company's coronavirus vaccine trial had died, CNBC reported. A spokesperson from the University of Oxford, which is helping develop the vaccine with AstraZeneca, said that “there have been no concerns about safety of the clinical trial," CNBC reported. “The independent review in addition to the Brazilian regulator have recommended that the trial should continue,” Oxford spokesperson Alexander Buxton said. The university provided no additional details on the volunteer's death. But news of the fatality hit the drugmaker's stock price. Shares of AstraZeneca fell about 1% during the early afternoon hours, CNBC reported.
With more than 7.6 million documented cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began, India trails only the U.S. in terms of most cases by country. The country has struggled to get the virus under control despite instituting the world's biggest lockdown earlier this year. Now, scientists think they may have a method to help officials gain ground on the scourge. A new "fast and cheap" paper coronavirus test will soon be available in the country, according to the medical research website Medical Xpress. Researchers believe that the low cost and ease of use for the test can help mitigate the spread of the virus. "This test doesn't require any sophisticated equipment or highly-trained manpower," co-creator Souvik Maiti, a scientist at New Delhi's CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), said, according to Medical Xpress. Watch the video below for more.
Three new studies published on Tuesday in the medical journal JAMA Internal Medicine found mixed results from tests examining the effectiveness of an arthritis drug that doctors were using on COVID-19 patients. The drug, known as Tocilizumab, has been used throughout the pandemic by doctors looking to mitigate an unusual immune response known as a "cytokine storm" which can cause severe organ damage in some Covid-19 patients, AFP reported. Tocilizumab is said to work differently than steroids in that it can block a particular type of protein from causing inflammation, AFP said. The largest of the three studies was produced by Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, which is affiliated with Harvard. Researchers tested 4,000 patients and determined that the risk of death at 30 was days "was 28 and 38 percent among tocilizumab-treated and non-tocilizumab-treated patients, respectively," according to AFP's report. However, the Brigham and Women's study was only observational and it does not compare to the drug with a standard treatment, according to the report. The U.S. National Institutes of Health does not recommend tocilizumab to treat COVID-19 outside of clinical trials, AFP said. The other two studies were conducted in France and Italy.
In the early days of the pandemic, a patient hospitalized with COVID-19 faced a daunting 25.6% chance of dying. Over the time since then, that chance of death has dropped to 7.6% -- a swing of 18% percentage points. According to NPR, this data comes from a pair of new studies, both of which have been peer reviewed, that have examined how patients infected with the coronavirus are faring. Leora Horwitz of New York University's Grossman School of Medicine who is an author of one of the studies told NPR, “We find that the death rate has gone down substantially.” The good news comes for those with underlying conditions as well as older patients. But Horwitz cautioned that a 7.6% chance of mortality “is still higher than many infectious diseases, including the flu.” She added, "It still has the potential to be very harmful in terms of long-term consequences for many people."
But what the studies do suggest is that the medical system is improving at treating coronavirus patients, a point former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb made on Twitter. Gottlieb said the studies reveal that health “providers are getting better at treating the illness.” But doctors also looked at whether the fact that more younger people – who are less at risk for severe cases of COVID-19 – are skewing the death rate numbers at all. And Horwitz also pointed to some factors over which doctors have no control that also could be contributing to the declining death rate.
A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said the COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. during the pandemic were likely undercounted, and an estimated nearly 300,000 people in the U.S. died from Jan 26. to Oct. 3, Reuters reported. That specific number of deaths, 299,022, is not all directly from COVID-19, but the disease still likely played a role in the number of fatalities, the CDC said. “There are many factors that could contribute to an increase in deaths indirectly due to the pandemic, with disruptions to health care being one factor,” study author Lauren Rossen, from CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, told Reuters. A count compiled by Johns Hopkins University shows 221,083 deaths in the U.S. from COVID-19.
Separately, the Associated Press reports that U.S. drug overdose deaths are on track to hit an all-time high in 2020 and the pandemic is said to be playing a big role. Experts say the health crisis has has "left people stressed and isolated, disrupted treatment and recovery programs, and contributed to an increasingly dangerous illicit drug supply," according to the AP's report. For Kentucky, this past May was the deadliest month for overdoses in at least five years. Across the country, nearly 74,000 overdose deaths were listed from April 2019 to March 2020, up from 68,000 over the same period one year earlier, the AP said.
Disneyland won't be reopening any time soon following the latest requirements enacted by the California Department of Health. According to Reuters, California's Health Secretary, Mark Ghaly, said theme parks that hold more than 15,000 visitors have to wait to resume operations until a specific county's COVID-19 risk level reaches the lowest level of what's referred to as "minimum" spread. Reuters reports that the lowest tier must mean a number less than one per 100,000. “These State guidelines will keep us shuttered for the foreseeable future," Ken Potrock, the president of the Disneyland resort said in a statement. Ghaly said officials were worried about the potential for "random mixing" at larger parks like Disneyland that welcome guests from all over the country, according to Reuters.
After seeing steadily increasing daily case totals since the beginning of the pandemic, India has finally seen daily case increases level off in recent weeks. On Monday and Tuesday, the country recorded consecutive days with less than 60,000 new cases for the first time in over two months. At its peak, saw multiple days with over 95,000 new cases as the country's case total has skyrocketed to over 7.6 million, second most in the world behind the United States.
In an address to the nation, India Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged citizens to keeping fighting vigilantly as the Hindu festival season approaches, according to the New York Times. "We must not let it deteriorate,” he said of the country's progress.
Elsewhere around the world, here are the latest updated global totals from Johns Hopkins University:
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Confirmed cases: 40,862,940
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Fatalities: 1,126,142
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Recoveries: 27,951,660
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Social distancing boxes used in Rio de Janeiro concert
By Lauren Fox, AccuWeather staff writer
Oct. 26, 2020 2:56 PM EDT
Rio de Janeiro is coming up with unique ways to continue social distancing in typically crowded settings. At an outdoor concert in the city, giant boxes were scattered across the dance floor for groups to stand in as a precaution to stay safe and socially distanced while enjoying the music. “What we do here is not just a party, we’re promoting mental health,” one man told Reuters, which they translated to english. “People can’t stand staying at home anymore.” Brazil currently has the third-highest reported case count of COVID-19 in the world with nearly 5.4 million cases. The country has the second-highest death count, with 157,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. Rio de Janeiro has reported nearly 300,000 cases of the virus and more than 20,000 deaths. Watch the video below for more.