Coronavirus Disease Weekly News 08November 2020

Written by rjs, MarketWatch 666

The news posted last week for the coronavirus 2019-nCoV (aka SARS-CoV-2), which produces COVID-19 disease, has been surveyed and some important articles are summarized here. The articles are more or less organized with general virus news and anecdotes first, then stories from around the US, followed by an increased number of items from other countries around the globe. New US cases turned up again in the last week (for the fourth week in a row). US deaths increased by >10% for the second week in a row. Elsewhere, new cases are continue rising in Europe and globally. Economic news related to COVID-19 is found here.

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Summary:

What can i say? We exceeded last week’s record for new infections on Wednesday, beat that record on Thursday, and then set a new record on Friday that was 31% higher than last week’s record. Then Saturday’s total was ahead of Thursday’s but short of Friday’s. Our 7 day average of new cases is up ~50% from two weeks ago, clearly an unsustainable pace, but it shows no signs of letting up right now. New hospitalizations are also rising daily, as are deaths, which were up 12% week over week and averaging just short of 1K per day.

The chart below from WorldoMeter shows the daily number of new cases for the US, updated through 07 November.

New cases globally were also at a record 463,724 on Friday, around 15% higher than the prior week. (See Johns Hopkins graph below.)

Also, Johns Hopkins has a graph for global deaths (below) that shows a record 11,024 deaths on Wednesday, a spike which may be due to reporting issues. Nonetheless, deaths globally were at 9,561 on Friday, and that number seems legit.

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Calculated Risk tracks the daily testing rate and results. The 07 November graphic:

The increase in new cases is coming from a slight increase in testing and a pronounced upturn in percent positive. The percent positive tests is now at a level not seen since May.

Of course, Steven Hansen summarizes and links the latest news related to the pandemic every day, 7 days a week, plus displays over a dozen important graphics updated at least daily. The most recent article at the time this is published: 07 November 2020 Coronavirus Charts and News: How Will The Joe Biden Presidency Alter The Approach To The COVID-19 Pandemic?.

This article leads the daily newsletter from Global Economic Intersection every day. Newsletter subscription is free.

Here are the rest of the articles for the past week reviewed and summarized:

Coronavirus mutation may have made it more contagious – A study involving more than 5,000 COVID-19 patients in Houston finds that the virus that causes the disease is accumulating genetic mutations, one of which may have made it more contagious. According to the paper published in the peer-reviewed journal mBIO, that mutation, called D614G, is located in the spike protein that pries open our cells for viral entry. It’s the largest peer-reviewed study of SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences in one metropolitan region of the U.S. to date. The paper shows “the virus is mutating due to a combination of neutral drift — which just means random genetic changes that don’t help or hurt the virus — and pressure from our immune systems,” said Ilya Finkelstein, associate professor of molecular biosciences at The University of Texas at Austin and co-author of the study. The study was carried out by scientists at Houston Methodist Hospital, UT Austin and elsewhere. During the initial wave of the pandemic, 71% of the novel coronaviruses identified in patients in Houston had this mutation. When the second wave of the outbreak hit Houston during the summer, this variant had leaped to 99.9% prevalence. This mirrors a trend observed around the world. A study published in July based on more than 28,000 genome sequences found that variants carrying the D614G mutation became the globally dominant form of SARS-CoV-2 in about a month. SARS-CoV-2 is the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

Doctors Begin to Crack Covid’s Mysterious Long-Term Effects – WSJ – Nearly a year into the global coronavirus pandemic, scientists, doctors and patients are beginning to unlock a puzzling phenomenon: For many patients, including young ones who never required hospitalization, Covid-19 has a devastating second act. Many are dealing with symptoms weeks or months after they were expected to recover, often with puzzling new complications that can affect the entire body – severe fatigue, cognitive issues and memory lapses, digestive problems, erratic heart rates, headaches, dizziness, fluctuating blood pressure, even hair loss. What is surprising to doctors is that many such cases involve people whose original cases weren’t the most serious, undermining the assumption that patients with mild Covid-19 recover within two weeks.. Doctors call the condition “post-acute Covid” or “chronic Covid,” and sufferers often refer to themselves as “long haulers” or “long-Covid” patients. “Usually, the patients with bad disease are most likely to have persistent symptoms, but Covid doesn’t work like that,” said Trisha Greenhalgh, professor of primary care at the University of Oxford and the lead author of an August BMJ study that was among the first to define chronic Covid patients as those with symptoms lasting more than 12 weeks and spanning multiple organ systems. For many such patients, she said, “the disease itself is not that bad,” but symptoms like memory lapses and rapid heart rate sometimes persist for months.In October, the National Institutes of Health added a description of such cases to its Covid-19 treatment guidelines, saying doctors were reporting Covid-19-related long-term symptoms and disabilities in people with milder illness. Estimates about the percentage of Covid-19 patients who experience long-haul symptoms range widely. A recent survey of more than 4,000 Covid-19 patients found that about 10% of those age 18 to 49 still struggled with symptoms four weeks after becoming sick, that 4.5% of all ages had symptoms for more than eight weeks, and 2.3% had them for more than 12 weeks. The study, which hasn’t yet been peer reviewed, was performed using an app created by the health-science company Zoe in cooperation with King’s College London and Massachusetts General Hospital. Another preliminary study looking mostly at nonhospitalized Covid patients found that about 25% still had at least one symptom after 90 days. A European study found about one-third of 1,837 nonhospitalized patients reported being dependent on a caregiver about three months after symptoms started.

The Lingering and Often Invisible Impact of Covid Infections (video) A significant number of Covid-19 patients are dealing with symptoms long after the initial infection. The Wall Street Journal asked four patients to share their stories about how lingering effects are affecting their lives.

COVID-19 Is Making Tinnitus Worse – Hearing Loss May Be “Long COVID” Symptom – New research reveals that tinnitus, a common condition that causes the perception of noise in the ear and head, is being exacerbated by COVID-19 – as well as the measures helping to keep us safe. The study of 3,103 people with tinnitus was led by Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), with support from the British Tinnitus Association and the American Tinnitus Association. The study involved participants from 48 countries, with the vast majority coming from the UK and the US. Published in the journal Frontiers in Public Health, the research found that 40% of those displaying symptoms of COVID-19 simultaneously experience a worsening of their tinnitus. Although the study focused on people with pre-existing tinnitus, a small number of participants also reported that their condition was initially triggered by developing COVID-19 symptoms, suggesting that tinnitus could be a ‘long COVID’ symptom in some cases. Tinnitus affects an estimated one in eight adults in the UK and is associated with reduced emotional wellbeing, depression, and anxiety. The new study also found that a large proportion of people believe their tinnitus is being made worse by social distancing measures introduced to help control the spread of the virus. These measures have led to significant changes to work and lifestyle routines. UK respondents reported this to be a greater issue compared to people from other countries, with 46% of UK respondents saying that lifestyle changes had negatively impacted their tinnitus compared to 29% in North America. The study noted that as well as increasing the severity of tinnitus symptoms, the COVID-19 pandemic has also made it more difficult for people to access healthcare support for the condition. This could further increase emotional distress and worsen tinnitus symptoms, creating a vicious cycle. Before COVID-19, more than eight out of 10 UK patients were already unhappy with the treatment options available from their health professional.

Woman sheds coronavirus for 70 days without symptoms.— A woman with COVID-19 in Washington state shed infectious virus particles for 70 days, meaning she was contagious during that entire time, despite never showing symptoms of the disease, according to a new report. The 71-year-old woman had a type of leukemia, or cancer of the white blood cells, and so her immune system was weakened and less able to clear her body of the new coronavirus, known as SARS-CoV-2. Although researchers have suspected that people with weakened immune systems may shed the virus for longer than typical, there was little evidence of this happening, until now. The findings contradict guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which say that immunocompromised people with COVID-19 are likely not infectious after 20 days. The new findings suggest “long-term shedding of infectious virus may be a concern in certain immunocompromised patients,” the authors wrote in their paper, published Wednesday (Nov. 4) in the journal Cell. The woman was infected in late February during the country’s first reported COVID-19 outbreak, which occurred at the Life Care Center rehabilitation facility in Kirkland, Washington, where she was a patient. She was hospitalized for anemia related to her cancer on Feb. 25, and doctors screened her for COVID-19 because she came from the center with the outbreak. She tested positive on March 2. Over the next 15 weeks, the woman would be tested for COVID-19 more than a dozen times. The virus was detected in her upper respiratory tract for 105 days; and infectious virus particles – meaning they were capable of spreading the disease – were detected for at least 70 days. Specifically, the researchers were able to isolate the virus from the patient’s samples, and grow it in a lab. They were even able to capture images of the virus using scanning and transmission electron microscopy. Typically, people with COVID-19 are contagious for about eight days after infection, according to the report. Previously, the longest duration of infectious virus shedding in a COVID-19 patient was reported to be 20 days. The woman was likely contagious for so long because her body didn’t mount a proper immune response. Indeed, the woman’s blood samples did not appear to contain antibodies against the virus.

Superspreader Events Play Supersized Role in COVID-19 Disease Transmission — Mathematical analysis suggests that preventing large gatherings could significantly reduce Covid-19 infection rates. There have been many documented cases of Covid-19 “super-spreading” events, in which one person infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus infects many other people. But how much of a role do these events play in the overall spread of the disease? A new study from MIT suggests that they have a much larger impact than expected.For the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the “basic reproduction number” is around 3, meaning that on average, each person infected with the virus will spread it to about three other people. However, this number varies widely from person to person. Some individuals don’t spread the disease to anyone else, while “super-spreaders” can infect dozens of people. Wong and Collins set out to analyze the statistics of these super-spreading events. The study of about 60 super-spreading events shows that events where one person infects more than six other people are much more common than would be expected if the range of transmission rates followed statistical distributions commonly used in epidemiology. Based on their findings, the researchers also developed a mathematical model of Covid-19 transmission, which they used to show that limiting gatherings to 10 or fewer people could significantly reduce the number of super-spreading events and lower the overall number of infections. “Super-spreading events are likely more important than most of us had initially realized. Even though they are extreme events, they are probable and thus are likely occurring at a higher frequency than we thought. If we can control the super-spreading events, we have a much greater chance of getting this pandemic under control,” The findings build on previous studies led by UCL researchers which have also suggested that some people with COVID-19 are experiencing neurological symptoms, and that the infection may increase the risk of stroke.

Tiny air pollution rise linked to 11% more Covid-19 deaths – study – A small rise in people’s long-term exposure to air pollution is associated with an 11% increase in deaths from Covid-19, research has found. Another recent study suggests that 15% of all Covid-19 deaths around the world are attributable to dirty air. The available data only allows correlations to be established and further work is needed to confirm the connections, but the researchers said the evidence was now strong enough that levels of dirty air must be considered a key factor in handling coronavirus outbreaks. The new analysis is based on research reported by the Guardian in April, which has now been reviewed by independent scientists and published in a prominent journal. The consideration of additional data and more factors that may also influence Covid-19 death rates refined the rise in deaths from 15% down to 11%. Most scientists think it is very likely that air pollution increases the number and severity of Covid-19 cases. Breathing dirty air over years is already known to cause heart and lung disease, and these illnesses make coronavirus infections worse. Short-term exposure is also known to increase the risk of acute lung infections. The gold-standard method for confirming the link between air pollution and Covid-19 would be to assess a large number of coronavirus patients on an individual level, so their age, smoking history and other details can be taken into account. Such data, however, is not yet available so given the urgency of the pandemic researchers have used data on groups of people. This can be strongly indicative of a link, but may hide important individual factors. There are now hundreds of group-level studies, although most have yet to be reviewed, said Prof Francesca Dominici at Harvard University, who led the new analysis. She said there was enough evidence to act immediately: “Absolutely. We already have an overwhelming amount of evidence of the adverse health effects of fine particle pollution, so even without Covid, we should implement more stringent regulation. But the amount of [Covid-related] evidence is also big enough now that there is absolutely nothing to lose, and only benefits, to prioritise some of the more vulnerable areas.”

Vaccine Progress – The Moderna trial has reached its enrollment goal of 30,000 subjects and at least 75% have already received both injections. This is not a challenge trial, but it is expected that many subjects in the vaccine and placebo arms will be infected and these will be tracked. Power calculations suggest that only a few dozen infections are necessary to determine whether there is a benefit to the vaccine over placebo. So far, the number of infected subjects is at or ahead of what they expected. The trial lasts two years, so there is plenty of time to collect data. There is, of course, understandable urgency to push out some vaccine ASAP.I’m in the Moderna trial, which tests the efficacy of injecting the messenger RNA for the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein (the surface protein that gives coronaviruses their corona) directly into muscle. The protein is made in muscle cells and then (a) secreted and (b) presented to immune cells to stimulate the adaptive immune system. Technically, it is a double-blind trial, but so far, everyone in the vaccine arm experiences the short-term vaccine syndrome of headache, mild fever, muscle and joint ache after the booster. I did, and was able to get an antibody test confirming a robust response (IgG). I’ll continue to social distance and mask as before; I have no interest in testing just how effective the vaccine is or isn’t with my own body.The big question for this and the other vaccines is how robust and durable is the protection. This could vary because of a number of factors, including virus dosage and co-morbidities, which is why the 30,000 figure was important. My co-morbidity is age (I’m 65); older folks have a less-robust immune response on average, and it is more poorly regulated. The phase I/II cohort skewed young.One thing that is frequently overlooked in the COVID-19 pandemic is that most people who survive a frank infection have enduring pathologies after they recover from the acute phase. In this respect, COVID-19 isn’t like the flu, it’s more like polio. So it will be important not only to see whether vaccines reduce mortality, but also if they can blunt the long-term effects on lungs, vasculature, and other organs, as well as virus-induced autoimmunity. Tony Fauci has prophesized that there will likely be a vaccine approved for emergency use by December or the first quarter of 2021, but that general vaccination of the public won’t be a thing until summer of 2021, and assuming that enough people are vaccinated (ca. 70%), some semblance of normality isn’t expected until 2022. Even then, boosters every year or two may be necessary. I agree with Fauci. Indeed, he may be optimistic.

How states and localities are enforcing COVID-19 mandates –Physical distancing (also called social distancing) and the wearing of masks are essential to limiting the spread of COVID-19. Many states and localities have made such measures mandatory, and given the current surge in cases and hospitalizations, policymakers across the country are implementing or reinstating rules surrounding business closures and curfews, mask mandates, and gathering size limitations. However, these mandates have incited controversy and even legal challenges, and leaders have struggled to determine how to best enforce them. As pushback against COVID-19 restrictions continues, it is more important than ever to consider how to enforce these measures. Enforcement of COVID-19 mandates is challenging for many reasons. First, concerns about discriminatory enforcement exist. People of color have long been dispropotionately cited for minor infractions, and early evidence from New York City showed disproportionate rates of summonses and arrests in neighborhoods that were majority Black or Latino. The rights of those with disabilities are also important, and it is difficult to confirm whether someone has a true medical exemption from wearing a mask.Effective enforcement requires buy-in from those tasked with administering penalties. However, after a summer of protests calling for police reform, law enforcement officials have been reluctant to enforce gathering size limitations, concerned about worsening community relations. Many local law enforcement officials have also refused to enforce state mask mandates, stating reasons including personal opposition, limited staff time and capacity, and violations being so common and time bound that they are impractical to enforce.Monitoring and fining businesses is typically easier than fining individuals because of existing regulatory mechanisms. However, enforcement through businesses raises its own logistical challenges. Both news stories and survey data have highlighted assaults on employees when businesses try to enforce rules. Different businesses may fall under the purview of different agencies, making coordination difficult. Agencies may also lack the capacity and staff to carry out enforcement, and confusing or ambiguous legal definitions may further complicate their efforts. For instance, officials in both Michigan and Virginia described challenges from the lack of clear, readily identifiable distinctions between bars and restaurants.Finally, lawsuits may impede efforts to impose and enforce mandates. While state and local governmentshave broad legal authority to issue mask mandates, limitations to sizes of gatherings and business closures risk running afoul of both state and federal laws. For instance, wedding venues have sued under the Fourteenth Amendment, arguing that they should be treated the same way as restaurants, and gathering size restrictions may infringe on the First Amendment, which ensures rights such as peaceful assembly and the free exercise of religion.

Utah officials say thousands attended Halloween rave protesting coronavirus rules –Thousands of people attended a Halloween party on Saturday in Utah to protest COVID-19 guidelines, according to NBC News.Speaking to NBC affiliate KSL, Utah County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Sgt. Spencer Cannon said “several thousand” people were discovered to be in attendance. Cannon estimated there were 2,000 to 10,000 people at the party.As reported by KSL, videos of the event showed young people, appearing to be high school and college aged, failing to practice social distancing or wear masks. No arrests were made, though Cannon stated that charges may be brought against the party organizers for hosting the mass gathering without a permit.A spokesperson for Utah Gov. Gary Herbert (R) said in a statement, “We must decide, and show by our actions, that the lives of everyone around us matter more to us than parties. If we do not, we will have a difficult time beating COVID-19 as a society.”According to authorities, the event was hosted by The Tribe Utah. Both The Tribe Utah and Utah Tonight advertised an event called “The Protest on Halloween,” KSL reported, but the clubs had claimed the event would be canceled after receiving public backlash.”We find it both disheartening and concerning that some within our society have allowed fear to supplant basic rights of assembly, giving individuals within the media and some public servants the ability to control what we consider to be a ‘pursuit of happiness,'” Utah Tonight said in a prepared statement. The Utah County Health Department said in a statement on Sunday, “As we struggle in our local and statewide communities to contain the COVID-19 virus and mitigate its impacts on our communities, it is unfortunate that some would ignore public health and medical guidance and plan and participate in an event that would allow for the ready spread of the disease between individuals which can then be taken back by these individuals to our communities and infect others who are trying to follow public health and medical recommendations.”The health department also implored those who attended the parties to monitor themselves for COVID-19 symptoms and get tested if any are noticed. NBC News noted that most counties in Utah are currently reporting “very high rates” of COVID-19 cases.According to KSL, authorities responded to another party in a warehouse with about 1,500 people in attendance. It is unknown who hosted this event.

A 20-year-old college student died while quarantining in her dorm room after developing symptoms of COVID-19 – Bethany Nesbitt, a 20-year-old psychology student at Grace College in Winona Lake, Indiana, was found dead in her dorm room on October 30, 1o days after developing symptoms of COVID-19. According to a statement put out by her family, Nesbitt suffered a pulmonary embolism, a blockage in one of the pulmonary arteries of the lungs, caused by a blood clot.Blood clotting is a common and deadly complication of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. The third-year student started experiencing symptoms of the week of October 20 and got tested for the virus on October 22, but an “unknown clerical error” meant she did not receive the results of that test, her family said.For the next four days, Nesbitt stayed in close contact with her family, and was monitored by campus staff, but on October 26 her oxygen levels dipped. She was taken to the emergency room, where doctors said they strongly suspected she had COVID-19, but that they considered it a mild case and sent her back to her dorm room to rest.She was tested again October 29, and Nesbitt told her family she’d had no fever for over a day. She then “watched Netflix and went to bed.”Nesbitt was found dead at 10 AM the next morning. Later that day, her COVID-19 test came back positive.

At least 31 states set their one-day coronavirus case records in October – October was a month of grim records in the Covid-19 pandemic, and as November begins, experts say the US hasn’t seen the worst of it yet. From Alaska to Maine, at least 31 states across the US reported at least one record-high day of new coronavirus cases in the past month, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. And 15 reported their highest one-day tallies of Covid-19 deaths. The country’s seven-day average of new daily cases was 78,380 Saturday — a number that has risen 128.2% since a post-summer-surge low on September 12. With any potential vaccine still a ways off from possible distribution, and the colder months threatening to increase spread, experts emphasize more people need to regularly take precautions to stem the rise anytime soon. “It’s the way we protect our neighbors and our communities. And we need to avoid crowds. We have to socially distance. You can’t go to a mass gathering now. We need to lower our viral footprint,” Dr. Jonathan Reiner, professor of medicine at George Washington University, told CNN on Saturday. October was unprecedented for several recorded metrics associated with the pandemic. Of the country’s seven highest daily tallies of new cases, six were in October. The highest — 99,321 recorded on Friday — was the most recorded in one day for any one nation so far. The number of US Covid-19 patients in hospitals on Saturday, October’s last day, was 47,374 — 65.6% higher than it was on September 20, when it was at a low following the summer surge. And Reiner said there is no sign that the number of daily cases will drop soon. “We won’t peak until we change our behaviors. And our behaviors that principally need to change are our lack of masking all over the country,” he said. The country has recorded more than 9.1 million infections and 230,548 deaths during the pandemic, according to JHU. Hospitals could become overwhelmed as the number of coronavirus cases continues to climb, Dr. Christopher Murray, director of the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), told CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Friday. In El Paso, Texas, where hospitals are struggling to keep up with the number of Covid-19 patients, officials are preparing to add a third mobile morgue unit in anticipation of a spike in deaths. “If that doesn’t put our situation into perspective I don’t know what will,”

Missouri hospitals face being overwhelmed in latest surge of COVID-19 infections – Missouri hospital administrators and public health officials are raising the alarm over the possibility of hospitals being overwhelmed by COVID-19 cases, asking for help in managing a patient transfer crisis and demanding Republican Governor Mike Parson issue a mask mandate in order to get the spread of the virus under control. On Sunday, the state reported 2,152 new cases of COVID-19. The overwhelming of hospital resources is the most significant factor in COVID-19 mortality. The St. Louis area is experiencing a dangerous increase in cases and hospitalizations, although rural areas of the state continue to see the highest numbers of cases. In Missouri, as in much of the US, the month of October saw the largest number of COVID-19 infections of the pandemic so far. Stltoday.com reports nearly 500 residents are currently in intensive care units in the state. St. Louis Metro Pandemic Task Force leader Dr. Alex Garza reported October 21 that about 90 percent of beds were full in the SSM Health system. For the entire metro, the hospital bed occupancy rate is 85 percent. “Speaking with our task force hospitals yesterday that same sort of level was echoed across all the hospitals from St. Luke’s to Mercy to BJC,” Dr. Garza said. “We normally don’t operate at that high of a level.” Garza issued an emotional plea for the public to take the pandemic seriously. He fought back tears as he explained that area hospitals are at or near capacity due to COVID-19 admissions. “If we continue down the path we’re on right now, if we don’t start listening to science and wear masks and stop gathering in large crowds, things could potentially get much worse.” He also noted that hospital staff shortages are a worry as more healthcare workers contract the virus caring for the sick. “In addition to being full, we’re also seeing an increasing number of our workforce is being exposed to COVID, not necessarily in the hospitals, but out in the community, so then they become quarantined for two weeks. It’s not just only a question of increased volume of COVID patients, it’s also COVID out in the community is causing problems with the workforce, so we’re decreasing our capability to take care of patients as well.” In the latest meeting between state officials and hospital administrators, Texas County Memorial Hospital CEO Wesley Murray said, “I respectfully ask what is our plan to address the increased cases and hospitalizations? We don’t seem to have a plan to try to decrease the cases and the hospitalizations.” The Missouri Hospital Association is warning of statewide staff shortages as essential workers become ill or quit due to burnout. The turnover for state nurses is reportedly 16 percent. Amid the worsening situation for hospitals, Missouri school districts are continuing to send students back to class despite the quarantine of hundreds of Missouri students and school faculty, with no end in sight to outbreaks.

U.S. hospitals competing for nurses as coronavirus cases surge – Hospitals are scrambling to hire more nurses amid the third wave of the virus, leading to stiff competition and increased costs. – As the coronavirus pandemic surges across the nation and infections and hospitalizations rise, medical administrators are scrambling to find enough nursing help – especially in rural areas and at small hospitals. Nurses are being trained to provide care in fields where they have limited experience. Hospitals are scaling back services to ensure enough staff to handle critically ill patients. And health systems are turning to short-term travel nurses to help fill the gaps. Adding to the strain, experienced nurses are “burned out with this whole [pandemic],” and some are quitting, said Kevin Fitzpatrick, an emergency room nurse at Hurley Medical Center in Flint, Mich., where several left just in the past month to work in hospice or home care or at outpatient clinics. “And replacing them is not easy,” Mr. Fitzpatrick said. As a result, he said, the ER is operating at about five nurses short of its optimal level at any given time, and each one typically cares for four patients as COVID-19 hospitalizations surge anew. Hospital officials did not respond to requests for comment. But the departures are not surprising, according to experts, considering not only the mental toll but the fact that many nurses trained in acute care are over 50 and at increased risk of complications if they contract COVID-19, while younger nurses often have children or other family to worry about. “Who can actually work and who feels safe working are limited by family obligations to protect their own health,” said Karen Donelan, professor of U.S. health policy at Brandeis University’s Heller School for Social Policy and Management. “All of those things have been factors.” Ms. Donelan said there is little data so far on how the pandemic – which has killed more than 231,000 people in the country – is affecting nursing overall. But some hospitals had a shortage even before the virus took hold, despite a national rise in the number of nurses over the past decade. With total confirmed coronavirus cases surpassing 9 million in the U.S. and new daily infections rising in 47 states, the need is only increasing. Wausau, Wis.-based Aspirus Health Care is offering $15,000 signing bonuses for nurses with at least a year of experience and hiring contract nurses through private staffing companies to handle a surge in hospitalizations that prompted the system to almost quadruple the number of beds dedicated to COVID-19 patients. Because the pandemic is surging just about everywhere in the country, hospitals nationwide are competing for the same pool of nurses, offering pay ranging from $1,500 a week to more than $5,000, said April Hansen, executive vice president at San Diego-based Aya Healthcare, which recruits and deploys travel nurses. Now, placing nurses where they’re needed is “like a giant game of whack-a-mole,” said Ms. Hansen, whose company has about 20,000 openings for contract nurses.

Covid hospitalizations surge as pandemic enters alarming new phase in U.S. – Americans went to the polls Tuesday under the shadow of a resurging pandemic, with an alarming increase in cases nationwide and the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19reaching record highs in a growing number of states.While daily infections were rising in all but three states, the surge was most pronounced in the Midwest and Southwest.Missouri, Oklahoma, Iowa, Indiana, Nebraska, North Dakota, and New Mexico all reported record high hospitalizations this week. Nebraska’s largest hospitals started limiting elective surgeries and looked to bring in nurses from other states to cope with the surge. Hospital officials in Iowa and Missouri warned bed capacity could soon be overwhelmed. The resurgence loomed over candidates and voters, fearful of both the virus itself and the economic toll of any new shutdowns to control its spread. The debate over how far to take economically costly measures has divided a country already sharply polarized over President Donald Trump’s turbulent four years in office.Meanwhile, Iowa hospital officials warned their facilities and staff could be overwhelmed without serious efforts to curtail the virus spread. The state’s seven-day rolling average of positive cases reached 36.4 percent over the weekend, the third-highest in the nation behind South Dakota and Wyoming, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins University. Hospitalizations reached a record 730 on Monday. Suresh Gunasekaran, CEO of University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, said Iowa is entering its third peak, one that is higher than previous ones in May and July. He said his biggest concern is that this peak comes at the beginning of the cold weather season, when the flu and other respiratory conditions typically increase hospitalizations. “The infection rate is definitely a leading indicator for hospitalizations, and the hospitalization rate is a leading indicator of mortality,” Gunasekaran said. “No doubt if this trend continues – not just at our hospitals – but every hospital in the state could be at capacity in a very short period of time,” Dr. Cary Ward, chief medical officer for CHI Health’s network of 14 hospitals across eastern Nebraska and western Iowa said during a video call with reporters.

COVID-19 cases spike across US as health care workers struggle with understaffing in hospitals – With infections and deaths from COVID-19 reaching extraordinary levels in the United States, opposition among nurses and health care workers is brewing against the unmitigated spread of the disease and unpreparedness of hospitals for the deluge of sick patients. The US is experiencing a sharp increase in coronavirus cases, which is coinciding with dangerous upticks in hospitalizations. Daily confirmed cases have hovered near or above 100,000 over the past several days, reaching record-shattering numbers, surpassing the number of infections in April, when the virus was at its peak. The total death toll now stands at nearly 240,000 as of this writing. Nowhere are these conditions being expressed more catastrophically than in hospitals, which are witnessing a flood of COVID-19 patients that risk bringing the nation’s health care system to the breaking point. An estimated one-quarter of US counties have reported a peak of new cases in the past month, including most cases in states where officials were most eager to prematurely reopen their economies. These include Ohio, Indiana, North and South Dakota, Wyoming and Wisconsin. Capacity levels are also becoming more acute, as 80 percent of hospital beds in cities such as Atlanta, Minneapolis and Baltimore near full occupancy. Shortages of health care workers are reaching disastrous levels. In Montana, which is seeing a dramatic rise in infections, staffing shortages caused by the pandemic have shut down a clinic in the state’s capital. Employees at one Northwestern regional hospital who have been exposed to COVID-19 have been told to continue working despite the danger. In St. Vincent Hospital in Billings, one of the largest cities in Montana, three COVID-19 units were expanded last week, after the state reported its second-highest daily cases on record. Michael Skehan, St. Vincent’s chief operating officer, called the situation facing the hospital a “crisis.” One healthcare worker from the hospital told NBC News, “I never thought we would be anywhere close to where we are now. I’m a good nurse – and the nurses I work with are good nurses – but we are broken.” In North Dakota, a state where cases are growing at a rate faster than any other, hospitals are being compelled to forgo elective surgeries again because of the surge. Many hospitals are debating plans to potentially request government assistance to hire more nurses, in the face of the abysmal staffing levels. In San Luis Obispo, California, workers at 11 Tenet-owned Hospital conglomerates voted overwhelmingly for strike action in opposition to unsafe conditions and hospital neglect. The 4,300-workforce across the region voted by 96 percent in favor of the strike.

November 3 COVID-19 Test Results – I look forward to when I will not be posting this daily! The US is now averaging close to 1 million tests per day. Based on the experience of other countries, for adequate test-and-trace (and isolation) to reduce infections, the percent positive needs to be well under 5% (probably close to 1%), so the US still needs to increase the number of tests per day significantly (or take actions to push down the number of new infections).There were 927,029 test results reported over the last 24 hours. There were 86,507 positive tests. (New Tuesday record)Almost 2,000 US deaths have been reported so far in November. See the graph on US Daily Deaths here. This data is from the COVID Tracking Project.The percent positive over the last 24 hours was 9.3% (red line is 7 day average).For the status of contact tracing by state, check out testandtrace.com.And check out COVID Exit Strategy to see how each state is doing. The second graph shows the 7 day average of positive tests reported.The dashed line is the July high. Note that there were very few tests available in March and April, and many cases were missed (the percent positive was very high – see first graph). By June, the percent positive had dropped below 5%. This is a new record 7-day average cases for the USA.

Cases in El Paso, Texas spike as coronavirus hospitalizations surge nationwide On Wednesday, El Paso, Texas reported a record 3,100 new coronavirus cases, shattering the previous day’s count of 1,281. The spike in new cases came only seven days after County Judge Ricardo Samaniego, the county’s highest elected official, ordered the county back into lockdown for two weeks. People wait in line at a free COVID-19 testing site at the Mexican Consulate in Texas. (Image credit: David J. Phillip/AP) The lockdown was put in place, closing restaurants and salons but not government buildings or schools, after it became clear that the surge in new cases in the region would overwhelm hospitals. These fears have been realized. There are currently 1,041 people who are hospitalized, including 311 in intensive care units. The number of active cases currently stands at 21,902, about 2.6 percent of the county’s population, while 33,543 people have recovered from the disease. At least 617 people have died in the county from COVID-19 since March, including eight new deaths today. The number of patients in intensive care is particularly alarming, because the county has only 285 licensed ICU beds, of which only 234 are currently staffed. The county is being supplemented by state and federal medical teams that have set up makeshift hospitals in tents and a nearby convention center. Patients are also being airlifted to other cities to be treated. Such support, however, may not be sustainable as cases continue to rise in other parts of Texas and across the country. This in turn sharply raises the danger that hospitals in the county, which act as the medical hub for all of West Texas and Southwestern New Mexico, will not be able to properly care for all patients, forcing doctors to make the choice of deciding who lives and who dies. Cases are also rising across the Mexican border in Ciudad Juarez, which reported 542 new cases and 27 new deaths on Tuesday. Both El Paso and Ciudad Juarez lie on the Rio Grande River and form the El Paso-Juarez metropolitan area, which encompasses more than 2.7 million people. It is the second largest such binational region on the US-Mexico border (after San Diego-Tijuana). In total, the region has suffered 82,295 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 2,673 deaths. The dangers that the pandemic is posing to the residents of El Paso and Ciudad Juarez did not, however, prevent the state of Texas from suing El Paso County for issuing the lockdown order. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a motion Tuesday for a temporary injunction against the lockdown measure, claiming that “Judge Samaniego has no authority to flout Governor Abbott’s executive orders by shutting down businesses in El Paso County.” Paxton’s statement also called the action “unlawful” and said it was “oppressing” those who live in the county.

Monroe County public health officials report apparent COVID-19 reinfection – Public health officials in a southern Iowa county are reporting a person in the county who has been infected with the novel coronavirus for the second time. Monroe County Public Health said that a person who was reported positive on Monday, Nov. 2, is the county’s first apparent case of a documented repeat infection. Public health officials define this as a person who tests positive for COVID-19 in separate incidents with at least 90 days between them. Officials said that an initial infection with COVID-19 does not necessarily confer guaranteed immunity indefinitely. They reminded local residents to continue to practice social distancing, to wear masks in public, and to limit close contacts with people especially outside of your home or family.

United States tops 100,000 coronavirus cases setting new one day record for COVID-19 pandemic – ABC News – The United States has set a one day record for coronavirus cases with 102,591 new infections, as hospitals in several states reported a rising tide of patients, according to a Reuters tally. Nine states reported record one day increases in cases on Wednesday (local time): Colorado, Idaho, Indiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Washington and Wisconsin. The pandemic has affected nearly every aspect of American life, including a record number of voters mailing in their ballots in Tuesday’s presidential election, whose outcome has yet to be decided. In addition to rising cases, on Tuesday hospitalisations topped 50,000 for the first time in three months.

North Dakota sets records for COVID-19 deaths, cases and hospitalizations – CBS News North Dakota set a grim record on Thursday as health officials reported 29 more deaths from COVID-19, along with new daily highs of cases and hospitalizations. The report showed that 231 people were being treated in medical facilities across the state, up 11 from the previous high set Wednesday.Health officials had not updated the number of staffed intensive care and inpatient beds on Thursday, though both have been dwindling. There were only 14 staffed intensive care beds and 188 staffed inpatient beds available on WednesdayNorth Dakota’s death toll from the virus climbed to 568, with 325 occurring since Oct. 1 The death count is the 15th highest per capita in the country at about 75 deaths per 100,000 people, according to The COVID Tracking Project. CBS affiliate KXMA reports that most of the 29 deaths reported Thursday were people over the age of 60 but two of the casualties included a woman in her 30s from Ward County and a woman in her 40s from Cass County. Three of the deaths were people in their 50s. Health officials reported 1,540 new cases of COVID-19 across the state, for a total of nearly 50,000 since the start of the pandemic. Health officials reported the positivity rate topped 17% on Thursday. There were 1,859 new cases per 100,000 people in North Dakota over the past two weeks, which ranks first in the country for new cases per capita, Johns Hopkins University researchers said.

Wisconsin coronavirus: State reports 5,900 new cases, 54 deaths – Wisconsin’s coronavirus numbers continued their unfettered upward climb Wednesday as all 72 counties recorded a very high level of COVID-19 activity and state health officials implored residents to stay home to stop the spread of the coronavirus. The state Department of Health Services reported a record-breaking 5,935 new cases and 54 deaths, bringing the death toll to 2,156. “We should not be having contact with other human beings that we do not live with – hard stop,” DHS Secretary-designee Andrea Palm said in a news conference. The average number of new daily cases over the last seven days also reached a new high of 4,839. It’s an increase of 531% in eight weeks. The average daily death toll over the last seven days was 37. Two months ago, just as cases were starting to surge in the state, the daily average was six. As of Wednesday, there were 1,747 people hospitalized with the virus, including 360 patients in intensive care units. Both numbers were all-time highs. Hospitals’ options are “limited,” Palm said, to address critical staffing shortages and mounting bed space issues. She said the state was “pulling as many levers as we can” to loosen regulations and find additional health care workers. Hospitalizations and deaths have surged as a direct result of the rise in cases weeks earlier, health officials say. The situation is expected to worsen since cases have continued their soaring growth. “We can turn the corner, we can flatten the curve, but we have to do it now, and we have to do it together,” Gov. Tony Evers said. The U.S. is contending with its third, and worst, wave of the virus yet. The Washington Post reported Wednesday that for the first time, more than 100,000 new COVID-19 cases were reported in a day. In Wisconsin, the massive rise in cases, hospitalizations and deaths since early September has strained hospitals and public health systems, and the state is in a crisis, Palm said. In a weekly update of disease activity levels, two holdout counties in western Wisconsin joined the other 70 counties at the highest level of the state’s measurement tool. The “very high” level of disease activity means there are at least 350 COVID-19 cases for every 100,000 people. Several counties report a case rate of more than 1,000 or 2,000. “It’s not happening someplace else or to somebody else,” Evers said. “It’s here and Wisconsinites in every corner of our state know first-hand the tragedies this virus and this pandemic hold.” Also seeing a concerning and persistent upward climb is the average positivity rate, which hit a new high of 31.1% Wednesday. The measure looks at first-time positive tests over the last seven days. Palm urged residents to wear masks and leave home only when absolutely necessary to help protect their families, friends, neighbors and health care workers.

Illinois Reports Record-High Daily Case Count as State Reaches Grim Milestone – Illinois saw a record-high number of new coronavirus cases Thursday as the state simultaneously crossed a grim milestone and the positivity rate spiked once again. According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, 9,935 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours, a record high for the pandemic so far, along with 97 additional deaths, the highest number since June 4. The new fatalities lift the statewide death toll above 10,000, reaching 10,030 as of Thursday afternoon. Total cases statewide climbed to 447,491. The new cases lifted Illinois’ rolling seven-day positivity rate rise from 8.5% to 9.1, the highest mark the state has seen since at least late May when the state was on its way down from its first coronavirus cases peak. The state says 86,015 test results have been returned to state labs in the last 24 hours, with 8,116,728 total tests performed during the pandemic. Along with the increases in cases and positivity rates, the state has also seen a continued rise in hospitalizations due to the virus. According to IDPH data, 3,891 residents are currently hospitalized because of the virus. Of those patients, 772 are currently in intensive care units and 343 are on ventilators.

Michigan sets another new COVID record with 5,710 cases -Michigan shattered its daily COVID-19 case record again Thursday as it surpassed 5,000 in a day, joining other Midwestern states reporting an explosion of cases. With Thursday’s 5,710 high case mark, Michigan joined 14 other states setting new single-day records the same day. Michigan’s neighbors – Ohio (4,961 cases), Indiana (4,426), Wisconsin (5,922) and Illinois (9,935) – were among the record-breakers. “If we want to avoid looking like Wisconsin, we have got to take action now,” said Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of the state across Lake Michigan, which has a 30% positivity rate, quadruple that of Michigan. Thursday was the fourth time in the past two weeks Michigan set a record case count. Michigan’s record for deaths, meanwhile, was reached on April 16 with 164. Deaths stayed near single digits from July through September but spiked again with 10-18 per day in early October. Deaths rose on Oct. 23 with 34, 43 on Nov. 3 and reached a recent high on Thursday with 51 deaths. In the past week, the state has added 172 deaths. Thursday’s additions bring the state’s total number of confirmed cases to 197,806 and total confirmed deaths to 7,470, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. Previously, Michigan set a new daily record of confirmed cases of 4,101 on Wednesday, surpassing the previous one set Saturday at 3,792 cases. Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, the state’s chief medical executive, said Thursday that she’s “very concerned” about what she’s seeing across Michigan. The state’s averaging 261 cases per million people, and new cases are five times the amount recorded in early September.

Coronavirus in Ohio Thursday update: Another record number of cases at 4,961 – Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and Lt. Gov. Jon Husted provided an update on COVID-19 in the state Thursday in which he appointed a new leadership team at the state Department of Health amid another record-setting day of new cases. As of Thursday, Nov. 5, a total of 235,170 (+4,961) cases have been reported in Ohio since the pandemic began, leading to 5,461 (+33) deaths and 20,015 (+214) hospitalizations. Thursday’s number of cases was the highest since Ohio began keeping data. DeWine reported that the number of hospitalized patients is also a record and represents a 55% increase from two weeks ago. More than half of Ohio counties now level 3 in latest coronavirus advisory map DeWine announced new appointments at the Ohio Department of Health, which has been without a director since Dr. Amy Acton left in June. Stephanie McCloud, administrator/CEO of the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, was named director to replace Acton. DeWine encouraged Ohioans now that the election is over to focus their efforts on slowing the spread of the virus. He especially singled out private gatherings such as football-watching parties for becoming events where the virus is spread. DeWine announces new Ohio Department of Health leadership team “This virus doesn’t care if we voted for Donald Trump. It doesn’t care if we voted for Joe Biden. It’s coming after all of us,” he said. Eighty-six of Ohio’s 88 counties are at levels 2 or 3 on the state’s public health advisory map, with 56 at level 3, or red. No counties in the state are at level 4, or purple, which is the highest level on the watch list. Only two counties, Morgan and Monroe in southeastern Ohio, are at level 1. In Central Ohio, Franklin, Licking, Fairfield, Pickaway, Madison and Union counties are all at level 3. Delaware is at level 2, or orange. Seven counties moved to level 3 for the first time: Champaign, Clinton, Coshocton, Holmes, Jefferson, Morrow and Sandusky. DeWine said 86% of the state’s population now lives in a red county.

Pennsylvania Reports Record COVID-19 Cases; World Suffers Most Deaths In A Day- Live Updates – Pennsylvania just reported a record number of new COVID-19 cases, as the world focuses on the state as the potential “tipping point” in the US presidential race. The 2,900 new cases bring the state total to 220,566, while 47 more deaths brought the death toll to 8,937. The news comes as the US just topped 100,000 daily cases for the first time. “As we have entered a fall resurgence in Pennsylvania, we see case counts on the rise in our counties,” Gov. Tom Wolf said, according to PennLive. “We cannot relax our mitigation efforts.” Of more than 1,500 hospitalized coronavirus patients in Pennsylvania, most are 65 or over. About 22% of hospitalized patients are in intensive care. Meanwhile, Romania will impose more stringent restrictions starting Monday, including a nighttime curfew to try to limit a significant surge in new virus cases. More than 85% of French hospitals’ initial intensive-care capacity is now taken by severely ill Covid-19 patients, Health Minister Olivier Veran said in a briefing on Thursday. The UK will tell people arriving from Germany and Sweden to self-isolate upon arrival, according to a tweet from Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps. Those arriving from 4 am Nov. 7 will need to self-isolate. Italy reported a record daily 34,505 cases a few hours before latest restrictions, including a night-time curfew from 10 p.m., become effective. Daily fatalities rose to 445, the highest since early May, according to the health ministry. Europe has notched another near-record day in terms of cases and deaths, as Greece, Italy, Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic have reported record deaths. In France, more than 85% of the country’s ICU beds were filled with seriously ill COVID-19 patients Some scientists in the US warned that a lockdown might be inevitable, perhaps even before the Thanksgiving Day holiday, if the country continues to report roughly 100k new cases a day. The global tracker from JHU surpassed 48.3 million cases as deaths worldwide also topped 1.22 million. In Arizona, the site of one of the most tense battles for the presidential vote, more than 2,000 new cases were reported Thursday for the first time since August. Finally, the FT reports that Regeneron on Thursday said it is working to address questions about how the company will distribute badly needed doses of the medication in time to save some seriously ill patients. The drug works best on patients who can’t produce a strong enough immune response.

US coronavirus: The US just set a staggering new Covid-19 daily case record with more than 120,000 infections – CNN -The US set a grim new Covid-19 record Thursday — following a week marked by high case numbers — surpassing 120,000 infections in a single day. And it was the second day in a row the country reported more than 100,000 infections. Health experts had warned weeks ago that the nation’s daily cases would reach six digits, but those alarming figures hit sooner than expected. And Covid-19’s death toll could reach 266,000 by the end of November, according to an ensemble forecast published Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Thursday saw at least 121,054 new cases nationwide, according to Johns Hopkins University. There were at least 1,187 reported deaths, a near 20% increase from the same day last week.As the US continues to shatter daily case records, so too do states across the nation: Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Utah and Wisconsin are among those that set new daily records for infections on Thursday. In just 10 months, more than 9.6 million people in the US have been infected with coronavirus, and more than 234,000 have died. Hospitalizations are also surging nationwide, with more than 53,000 people hospitalized with coronavirus on Thursday. As the pandemic continues to escalate, some officials are enacting new rules to try to control the virus’ spread. States break new daily records Ohio on Thursday saw a record number of new coronavirus infections, and it also reported its highest numbers of hospitalizations and people in intensive care. The state reported 4,961 new Covid-19 cases, with 2,075 people hospitalized and 571 in the ICU. Every county in the state is seeing significant community spread, said Gov. Mike DeWine, who attributed the rise in cases to weddings, funerals and other social gatherings. “It is everywhere,” he said. “We can’t hide from it. We can’t run from it. We’ve got to face it.”

November 5 COVID-19 Test Results; Record Cases; Hospitalizations over 53,000 -The US is now averaging close to 1 million tests per day. Based on the experience of other countries, for adequate test-and-trace (and isolation) to reduce infections, the percent positive needs to be well under 5% (probably close to 1%), so the US still needs to increase the number of tests per day significantly (or take actions to push down the number of new infections).There were 1,271,748 test results reported over the last 24 hours.There were 116,255 positive tests. (New record)Over 4,500 US deaths have been reported so far in November. See the graph on US Daily Deaths here. This data is from the COVID Tracking Project.The percent positive over the last 24 hours was 9.1% (red line is 7 day average).For the status of contact tracing by state, check out testandtrace.com.And check out COVID Exit Strategy to see how each state is doing.The second graph shows the 7 day average of positive tests reported. The dashed line is the July high. Note that there were very few tests available in March and April, and many cases were missed (the percent positive was very high – see first graph).By June, the percent positive had dropped below 5%. This is a new record 7-day average cases for the USA.

‘It’s a slaughter,’ doctors say of new coronavirus wave – Saturday was supposed to see the University of Virginia’s football team face off against Louisville – but then the coronavirus got in the way. Nine players on Louisville’s team had already been sickened. Then several more fell ill, with seven going into quarantine. The game was postponed. In central Massachusetts, 150 cases of the coronavirus have been linked to the Crossroads Community Church in Fitchburg. “Videos and photos posted to Crossroads’ public Facebook page in weeks prior didn’t seem to show anyone social distancing or wearing masks,” one news report said. And in Amarillo, Texas, a kindergartner reportedly died of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. In Missouri, the disease claimed the life of an election poll worker.The coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than a quarter million Americans did not take a break for last weekend’s Halloween holiday, nor for the presidential election that followed, nor for the subsequent days of political turmoil that continued into this weekend. Nor has the frustratingly resilient pathogen shown much sympathy for Americans’ growing weariness, their desire to see schools and businesses to reopen, for unremitting talk of “social distancing” and “learning pods” to be relegated to a distant memory. If anything, the virus appears to be strengthening, killing more than 1,000 Americans every day this week while recording more than 100,000 daily infections. More than 50,000 people across the nation are hospitalized. The share of coronavirus diagnostic tests coming back positive has risen to 8.2 percent this week; last week’s share of positive tests was a markedly lower 7.2 percent. “The numbers are pretty scary,” says Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor, taking stock of the national situation. As he was speaking to Yahoo News on Thursday, the nation was on its way to a record 133,000 new cases for that day. Hospitalizations have been rapidly climbing too, leading to concerns that we may once more see what we saw during the spring and early summer: crowded intensive care units, overwhelmed hospitals, deaths that could have been prevented. “It’s a slaughter,” Hotez said. “We’re going to have to take steps.”

Covid-19: US hits record daily case rise three days running – BBC — The US reported a third straight daily record for new coronavirus cases on Friday, according to Johns Hopkins University. More than 127,000 infections were reported in 24 hours, as well as 1,149 deaths. The news comes as officials announced that White House chief of staff Mark Meadows had also tested positive for the virus. He is the latest Trump administration official to contract the disease. The US is the worst affected nation in the world by Covid-19, with more than 9.7 million confirmed cases and a death toll of more than 230,000. It was not immediately clear how Mr Meadows – who has often appeared at public events without a face mask – was infected. According to the New York Times he first tested positive on Wednesday. Trump election campaign adviser Nick Trainer also has the virus, the paper said. Mr Meadows travelled with the president on the final days of campaigning and was at an election night party attended by dozens of Trump supporters at the White House. The country’s coronavirus outbreak was a key policy battleground in the run-up to the 3 November election, and contributed to a surge in postal and early in-person voting. In late October, Mr Meadows said in an interview with CNN that the US was “not going to control the pandemic”, saying that Covid-19 could only be defeated by “mitigation areas” like vaccines and therapeutics. President Trump and his wife Melania and son Barron all contracted and recovered from Covid-19 – as did national security adviser Robert O’Brien, senior advisor Stephen Miller and White House counsellor Hope Hicks.

US COVID-19 Cases Top 100k For Record 3rd Straight Day As Hospitalizations Near New Highs: Live Updates – The US surged to a new record in cases since Thursday. Hospitalizations may be headed for all-time highs, too, and deaths are mounting as the presidency hangs in the balance. So far, COVID-19 hospitalizations have topped 100k on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday (remember, these numbers are reported with a 24-hour delay). Current hospitalizations rose Thursday to the highest since Aug. 5, Covid Tracking Project data show. That’s about 11% below previous peaks in April and July, although the data didn’t capture all states until shortly before the July peak. Now, the hit to the health-care system is getting worse fast: The number of coronavirus patients is up 16% in the past week. The Midwest remains two to three times worse than every other U.S. region, with 548 daily cases per million people, based on the seven-day average. States posting record cases Thursday included: New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, North Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, West Virginia, Oklahoma, Oregon, Idaho, Utah and Colorado. The US saw another 100k+ new COVID-19 cases yesterday, as testing continues to expand, the US has just become the first country in the world to post more than 100k new infections back-to-back. Globally, the world reported nearly 600k new cases back-to-back in another record as European cases also continued to surge. Charts for the hardest-hit countries can all be seen below (courtesy of Bloomberg, which also relies on Johns Hopkins data). The number of confirmed cases globally has reached 48,590,825, according to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. The worldwide death toll has hit 1,231,616. Moving back to the US, Pennsylvania coincidentally saw a record number of new cases yesterday as officials scrambled to count votes and reporters descended on the state in droves. Globally speaking, we also saw a record number of new deaths yesterday, though the number of fatalities has declined since, with 8,111 new deaths around the world. Here’s some more COVID-19 news from Friday morning (text courtesy of Bloomberg):

• Russia, Poland, Hungary, Austria and Romania reported surging cases. Meanwhile, U.S., infections increased 1.3% on Friday, with Iowa, North Dakota, Michigan and Colorado seeing the biggest single-day rises, Malaysia recorded its largest single-day increase of 1,755 infections on Friday, even as authorities impose tighter movement restrictions.
• Singapore will allow some bars and nightclubs to re-open from next month in a pilot program as it takes another step toward normalization encouraged by dwindling coronavirus cases.
• While the WHO is studying a mutation of SARS-CoV-2 found in an outbreak in Denmark’s mink population, it doesn’t share the European country’s view that the new strain may lessen the effectiveness of current Covid-19 vaccine candidates, WHO’s Executive Director Michael Ryan said at a briefing.
• Norway’s capital has ordered that cinemas, training centers and swimming halls be closed and has banned the service of alcohol to slow a rise in infections. The curbs come after Prime Minister Erna Solberg on Thursday introduced tighter rules nationwide and implored people to stay home.
• Johnson & Johnson will imminently start clinical trials of its Covid-19 vaccine in South Africa after getting regulatory approval, according to the co-chair of the study in the country. Meanwhile, scientists monitoring wastewater in the Western Cape province detected spikes of the coronavirus in the last three weeks as concerns grow among the government that a lack of compliance with health guidelines may trigger a second wave.
• The rate of increase of Covid-19 infections in England is starting to slow, according to new figures published Friday by the U.K.’s Office for National Statistics. The total rate of infections rose to one in 90 in the week through Oct. 31 in England, according to new figures published Friday by the U.K.’s Office for National Statistics. While this up from the previous published rate of 1 in 100, the increase is less steep compared with previous weeks, according to ONS.
• Romania topped 10,000 new coronavirus cases over 24 hours on Friday for the first time since the pandemic started, ahead of nationwide night-time curfew, shopping hour curbs, school closures and mandatory masks coming into force next week. “People will be unhappy with these measures, but they had to be taken before it’s too late,” the government’s virus task force official Raed Arafat said on Friday. “We still expect an increase in cases for now, so we insist to keep these measures in place for at least 30 days so they have an impact.”

November 7 COVID-19 Test Results; Record Cases; Hospitalizations almost 56,000 — The US is now averaging close to 1 million tests per day. Based on the experience of other countries, for adequate test-and-trace (and isolation) to reduce infections, the percent positive needs to be well under 5% (probably close to 1%), so the US still needs to increase the number of tests per day significantly (or take actions to push down the number of new infections). There were 1,068,815 test results reported over the last 24 hours. There were 128,396 positive tests. (New record)Almost 7,000 US deaths have been reported so far in November. See the graph on US Daily Deaths here. This data is from the COVID Tracking Project.The percent positive over the last 24 hours was 12.0% (red line is 7 day average).For the status of contact tracing by state, check out testandtrace.com.And check out COVID Exit Strategy to see how each state is doing. The second graph shows the 7 day average of positive tests reported. The dashed line is the July high. Note that there were very few tests available in March and April, and many cases were missed (the percent positive was very high – see first graph). By June, the percent positive had dropped below 5%. This is a new record 7-day average cases for the USA.

Denmark will cull entire mink population after COVID-19 outbreaks. Denmark plans to cull up to 17 million mink, the country’s entire population, after reports that the animals could pass a coronavirus mutation to humans. The announcement came from Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen at a press conference, and there are currently no published scientific reports on the mutation or its effects.The virus has been found at over 200 mink farms in Denmark, which produces most of the world’s mink fur. Over a million animals were already culled on Danish farms in October. This summer, about 100,000 mink were culled in Spain after similar outbreaks. Outbreaks on mink farms in Utah killed thousands of animals.Denmark’s announcement comes after 12 people in the country were found to be infected with a type of the novel coronavirus that had also been found on mink farms. The goal of today’s order is to keep this particular mutation from spreading. “Continued mink breeding will entail a significant risk to public health – both nationally and internationally,” Kare Molbak, executive vice president of Denmark’s infectious disease authority, said at the press conference.Right now, there is no scientific data publicly available on this mutation or its behavior, though Frederiksen claimed today that the variant is less sensitive to antibodies against the virus. It will take more context to understand the mutation and the impact it might have on the trajectory of the pandemic and the development of both treatments and vaccines. “Scientists will update when we have more info,” tweeted virologist Emma Hodcroft, a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Basel in Switzerland.

Denmark To Kill up To 17 Million Farmed Mink To Stop Coronavirus Mutation –Denmark will kill all of its up to 17 million farmed mink after a mutation of the new coronavirus spread from theanimals back to humans, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen announced Wednesday. The decision came after authorities found strains in both humans and mink that were less susceptible to antibodies, fueling concern that the new mutation would make any future vaccine less effective, Reuters reported. “The worst case scenario is a new pandemic, starting all over again out of Denmark,” Kare Molbak, director at the State Serum Institute that conducted the tests, said, as Reuters reported. The institute, which is the Danish authority in charge of managing infectious diseases, said it had found five antibody-resistant cases of COVID-19 in the mink farms and 12 in humans, according to CNN. Denmark is the world’s No. 1 producer of mink fur, according to BBC News. It has struggled to prevent the new coronavirus from spreading across its mink farms for several months now. In October, a million mink within five miles of confirmed or suspected infections were culled, according to CNN. Frederiksen said Wednesday that the decision to cull the entire population was made with a “heavy heart.” “We have a great responsibility towards our own population, but with the mutation that has now been found, we have an even greater responsibility for the rest of the world as well,” Frederiksen said. Denmark is not the only place where the new coronavirus has spread to farmed mink and potentially back to humans. A study that has not yet been peer reviewed found evidence that people had contracted the coronavirus from farmed mink in the Netherlands, according to The New York Times. Thousands to hundreds of thousands of mink have been culled in the Netherlands, Spain and Utah because the coronavirus spread to farmed populations, according to BBC News and The New York Times. More than 50 million mink are raised for the fur trade every year, according to BBC News. Scientists are still researching why the animals catch and spread the new coronavirus, but The New York Times pointed out that they are often kept in crowded conditions that encourage the spread of disease. Once infected, they can become very sick and die.

Denmark Covid-19 Virus Mutation Leads to New Restrictions – A new Covid-19 mutation that started in Denmark’s mink population has spread beyond the region in which it was first discovered to the eastern part of the country. Health officials made the announcement as a lockdown was imposed on much of Denmark’s western peninsula of Jutland, home to most of the country’s mink production. Denmark is now in talks with the World Health Organization amid concerns the mutant strain found in the animals may derail efforts to develop a vaccine against Covid-19.Kare Molbak, the country’s top epidemiologist, told reporters that the WHO representatives he spoke with on Thursday made clear they are “very worried” about the findings in Denmark. The mutation affects the spike protein, which could make it particularly hard to fight. Denmark is now taking the drastic step of culling its entire mink population — up to 17 million animals — in order to halt the outbreak. Magnus Heunicke, Denmark’s health minister, said there’s at least one known case in the island on which Copenhagen is located of a person being infected with the new strain of the virus. He said he couldn’t rule out that there were more cases. Molbak said Denmark so far hasn’t received reports from other countries with large mink populations, such as the Netherlands, of similar outbreaks. Denmark’s outbreak is “unique,” he said. Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said the seriousness of the outbreak called for new restrictions in western Denmark. Locals will no longer be able to use public transport and people are being urged to work from home. School children in grades five to eight will have to stay home, she said. There are so far 12 known cases of humans having been infected by the new virus strain in Denmark. Cases of Covid-19 were found in over 200 out of more than 1,100 Danish mink farms, the government said on Wednesday. People who have contracted the new form of the virus don’t appear to be suffering more severe symptoms, according to Danish health officials. The virus was most likely originally transmitted to the mink from humans, and then back again.

Denmark has found 214 people infected with mink-related coronavirus: State Serum Institute (Reuters) – Denmark’s State Serum Institute, which deals with infectious diseases, has found mink-related versions of coronavirus in 214 people since June, according to a report on its website updated on Nov. 5. One strain of the mutated coronavirus, which has prompted Denmark to cull its entire herd of mink, has however only been found in 12 people and on five mink farms so far.

After delayed and inadequate lockdown measures, COVID-19 second wave overwhelms France – With the Macron administration’s latest coronavirus lockdown measures that are both inadequate and too late, epidemiologists now predict a second wave of the pandemic in France even larger than the first. But the Macron government is determined to maintain economic activity, with no regard for the safety of the population. The disastrous and criminal impact of these policies can already be seen in the accelerating death toll in France. On Tuesday alone, 854 people died from the virus, the highest number since April, and up from 416 the day before. A nurse holds a phone while a COVID-19 patient speaks with his family from the intensive care unit at the Joseph Imbert Hospital Center in Arles, southern France, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2020. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole) In an October 28 speech announcing partial lockdown measures, Macron emphasized the European character of the second wave of the pandemic in order to minimize his government’s responsibility. “We are all, in Europe, surprised by the evolution of the virus,” he said. It is as though the continent’s population was bound to a fate independent of any of the actions taken by governments, which, according to Macron, have all been made on the basis of the best available information. This is a clear lie, since a renewed upsurge of the pandemic was noted weeks ago by epidemiologists. But nothing has been done. If the upsurge is now taking place across the continent, it is because every European government has followed essentially the same policy of returning the population to work at all costs. As the virus began to accelerate rapidly, Macron announced curfews in some regions on October 14. Not only did these measures fail to stem the spread of the virus, but it accelerated from a 38 percent increase from October 12 to 18 to an additional 52 percent the following week. Revealing his contempt for the safety of workers and the social interests standing behind his policies, Macron criticized working from home as harmful to the functioning of business. The government’s policies are dictated by its willingness to tolerate catastrophic levels of death. Speaking on October 28, Macron warned that without a new lockdown, “In a few months we will have to mourn at least another 400,000 deaths.” He added that “even if we could open many more beds, and despite our doubling of capacity, who would seriously want thousands of our compatriots to spend weeks in intensive care with the medical consequences that this entails?” Yet that is precisely what Macron has done. The government has allowed cases to increase rapidly, only taking responsive measures when the hospital system and intensive care units were already on the verge of being overwhelmed.

Surge in coronavirus pandemic produces deadly situation in hospitals throughout Europe – The massive increase in COVID-19 infections is pushing hospitals throughout Europe to their limits. In Germany, the number of intensive care patients grows daily. Doctors’ representatives and other experts are increasingly warning of the consequences of a shortage of nursing staff and intensive care beds. The Robert Koch Institute reported 1,700 coronavirus patients in Germany’s intensive care units on Friday morning. By Saturday, the figure had risen to 1,830 and by Monday to 2,243. The number of cases subject to intensive care treatment has almost tripled in the past two weeks. Despite these figures, the federal and state governments have not imposed a necessary lockdown, but only highly inconsistent restrictions on contact. Schools and daycare centres remain open so that work can continue in the factories and other workplaces. The German Hospital Federation expects the number of intensive care patients to reach a new peak soon. The head of the organization, Gerald Gass, assumes the previous peak of April will be exceeded in two to three weeks and can no longer be prevented. “Anyone who is admitted to hospital in three weeks is already infected today,” Gass told the Bild newspaper. Due to the extreme shortage of intensive care specialists, Gass announced that nursing staff from non-intensive medical areas would be deployed in intensive care units, which was “not optimal.” This is highly dangerous for patients. The fact that it is nevertheless being considered shows how desperate the situation is. Due to the complex equipment and procedures in intensive care, the use of untrained personnel poses considerable risks. At the same time, training and instruction can hardly be provided adequately due to the stressful situation in the clinics. “There is not much leeway left in some federal states. Berlin has only 14 percent free intensive care beds, Bremen 17 percent,” warned Uwe Janssens, president of the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive and Emergency Medicine (DIVI). This was also since most clinics are still carrying out their “routine programme.” For many clinics, the urgently needed conversion of capacities to coronavirus cases means financial ruin. While in the spring there was a flat-rate payment to hospitals for keeping a certain number of beds free for coronavirus cases, this no longer exists. At the same time, the care of other acutely ill patients is also at risk. According to a report by broadcaster NDR, a second intensive care unit has now been opened at the University Hospital in Essen. Ninety patients with COVID-19 are being treated there, 27 of whom are receiving intensive medical care.

‘Eat out to help out’ may have caused fifth of Covid clusters over summer -The treasury’s “eat out to help out” scheme could have directly caused a sixth of new coronavirus case clusters over the summer, new research suggests.The paper, from Thiemo Fetzer, an economist at the University of Warwick, found that the scheme – in which the government funded discounts on food and non-alcoholic drinks at participating businesses Monday to Wednesday throughout August – was closely linked to an increase in cases over the summer.Coronavirus spread more rapidly in areas with a lot of participating restaurants, Fetzer found, and infections in those areas slowed after the scheme ended.Fetzer used rainfall to try to estimate whether the increase was caused by the programme. He found that in areas that had a lot of rain during lunch and dinner hours on Mondays to Wednesday that month, fewer people ate out and fewer people were infected. The same pattern was not visible if it rained on other days of the week, suggesting that the scheme itself was directly responsible for the increase in infections.“The empirical estimates suggest that the scheme may be responsible for around 8-17% of all new detected Covid-19 clusters (at least two new infections in the same area) emerging during August and into early September in the UK,” Fetzer concludes.“Given the dramatic rise of Covid-19 infections across the UK in recent weeks, the likely changes in consumer behaviour due to higher infection risks and the ensuing economic damage this generates suggests that the EOHO [eat out to help out] scheme may have indirect economic and public health costs that vastly outstrip its short-term economic benefits.” But a Treasury spokesperson rejected the economist’s findings. “We do not recognise these figures – which, as the study itself admits, are ‘back-of-the-envelope’ calculations.” “Many other European counterparts have experienced an uptick in cases,” the spokesperson added, “irrespective of whether similar measures for the hospitality industry have been introduced. We’re continuing to work closely with businesses to help them be Covid-secure.”

Coronavirus live news: US breaks new cases record for second straight day as world suffers highest daily deaths – Today is one of the saddest of the pandemic so far.The United States recorded more cases in 24 hours than any country over the course of the pandemic, with 102,000 infections confirmed for Wednesday 4 October, the most recent one day total on Johns Hopkins (there is always a lag in reporting). The country also recorded more than 1,000 deaths for the third time this week, with 1,097 people reported dead in the last 24 hours. The previous record for cases, also held by the US, was 99,321 on 30 October.Globally, the world suffered the highest total one-day death toll of the pandemic so far, with 11,447 people lost in the last day. It also recorded more cases than ever before, partly as a result of rising cases in the US, but also because of Europe’s second wave, and more than 50,000 infections being recorded in India for the first time in 10 days.The global case total was 700,000, taking the world closer to 50m cases – a devastating milestone that we are likely to cross by the end of the week. Cases currently stand at 48,541,340.

• The UK death toll from coronavirus rose by 378, taking the tally of people who died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 to 48,120, government data showed. As of 9am GMT on Thursday, there had been a further 24,141 lab-confirmed cases in the UK, taking the cumulative total of confirmed infections to 1,123,197.
• Colombia’s lower house abruptly ended its session on and asked lawmakers to quarantine after a member tested positive for Covid-19. At least 150 lawmakers could potentially have been exposed, the chamber’s press office said. They have been told to avoid travel to their home regions and remain in Bogota while they wait 72 hours from potential exposure to have a test.
• A dozen US states reported record one-day increases in Covid-19 cases, a day after the country set a record with nearly 105,000 new infections reported on Wednesday, according to a Reuters tally. The outbreak is spreading in every region of the country but is hitting the Midwest the hardest, based on new cases per capita. Illinois reported nearly 10,000 new cases and along with Texas is leading the nation in the most cases reported in the last seven days.Other Midwestern states with record increases in cases on Thursday were Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota and Ohio. Arkansas, Maine, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Utah and West Virginia also set records for rises in new infections.
• Ireland is on track to get its second wave of Covid-19 infections under control by the end of November when the government hopes to ease some of the strictest restrictions in Europe, a senior public health official said. “The way case numbers are behaving would suggest that case numbers are declining rapidly and that we are on target for the sort of end position we want to be in at the end of the six weeks,” on 1 December, Philip Nolan, the chair of the Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, told a press briefing.

Sewage Tests Show Virus Cases Rise in South Africa- South African scientists monitoring wastewater in the Western Cape province detected spikes of the coronavirus in the last three weeks as concerns grow among the government that a lack of compliance with health guidelines may trigger a second wave. The project, spearheaded by an expert team within the South African Medical Research Council, monitored 24 wastewater sites in Cape Town and began at the peak of the outbreak in the city in July. The most comprehensive wastewater study to date, the six-week project now continues on 10 sites and has been expanded to three other provinces, including Gauteng, the country’s commercial hub. “We are definitely seeing an increase in the numbers,” Rabia Johnson, deputy director at the Biomedical Research and Innovation Platform, a unit of the council, said in an interview. “Our data indicates that the virus is still present,” she said. South Africa relaxed most movement restrictions on Oct. 1 following a strict lockdown imposed in March. As bars and restaurants across the country have reopened and the summer season has started, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize warned last month it’s recording a worrying increase in infections, especially in the Western Cape province. Wastewater surveillance is one of a handful of strategies around the world being developed to pinpoint emerging hotspots and flare-ups before cases spiral out of control, and serve as an early warning of the re-emergence of Covid-19 in cities. The South African Medical Research Council will make the data available to the public and to health authorities through a dashboard on its website showing weekly trends from different provinces, according to Johnson. The dashboard will be launched this month, she said. South Africa had 732,414 confirmed cases as of Nov. 6 and 19,677 deaths, the most in Africa.

Global coronavirus death toll reaches daily record of over 9,000 –While the world remained riveted to their social media devices and news channels waiting on any decisive results that would determine a hotly contested election in the United States between fascistic Donald Trump and his right-wing Democratic opponent Joe Biden, almost silently and inconspicuously the global death toll from COVID-19 reached a harrowing record daily figure of 9,057, shattering the previous high set on April 17. By every prediction, this is only a prelude to a catastrophic health crisis that threatens to make the last 10 months of the pandemic appear as a dress rehearsal and mere child’s play. The ruling class remains indifferent to the plight of those who, after several days to weeks of struggling for their breath, have perished, their memory blotted out of existence.The Worldometer COVID-19 dashboard estimates total deaths to date attributable to COVID-19 at 1,238,375. The seven-day moving average has edged up to 7,110, exceeding the peak reached in mid-April with 7,047 deaths per day. With an astounding 3,916 deaths on Wednesday, Europe accounted for 43 percent of all the deaths in 24 hours, with infections spreading throughout the continent and eastward. The United States has consistently led in the death counts, now with over 1,000 daily. The world is fast approaching 50 million cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic. With each passing month, the rate of daily cases has been climbing. There were 569,546 cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, a single-day high. The seven-day moving average has risen from 400,000 cases per day to over 500,000 per day in less than two weeks. In other words, the rate of new cases will see 15 million added to the overall total each month. Yesterday saw more than 600,000 infections in just one day. Health authorities have repeatedly been warning that the virus is highly contagious and deadly. If it is allowed to spread uncontained, hospitals will reach overcapacity, and intensive care facilities will quickly be overwhelmed. There is a direct correlation between the state of national health care systems and deaths from COVID-19. As cases across Europe have exploded, nation after nation has been forced to reimpose some form of lockdown or restrictions in hopes of containing the transmission while sustaining commerce through half-measures such as curfews, restricted hours and the closing of bars and restaurants. The continent posted a single-day high of over 310,000 cases Wednesday. Greece has joined the UK, France and Germany in imposing a three-week nationwide lockdown. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis admitted that without these restrictions, he feared the health system would rapidly collapse. Greece has seen an exponential rise in cases, now approaching 3,000 per day, a nearly tenfold increase from the same time a month ago. The country has the lowest intensive case unit (ICU) beds per capita in Europe. Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte has issued a nationwide overnight curfew and imposed tighter restrictions in regions where infections are surging and available hospital beds are running short. With a single-day high of 34,505 cases Wednesday, Italy had 428 deaths. The highest death count, on March 27, was 921. With hospitals and ICUs reaching capacity, countries like Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK have attempted to introduce half-measures to check the population’s movement. Frustrations are mounting. Protesters in Spain clashed with police over the weekend against the restrictions. Health Minister Roberto Speranza, a proponent of a national lockdown, said, “The epidemiologic curve is still very high. What worries me is the absolute figure, which shows a terrifying curve. Either we bend it, or we are in trouble.”

World coronavirus cases to soar past 50 million – On Saturday, the number of confirmed global cases of the coronavirus pandemic will rocket past the grim milestone of 50 million. One in every 156 people on the planet have so far caught the disease, with no end in sight. Of those who contracted it, over 1.2 million have lost their lives to the deadly contagion, including more than 9,000 on Friday alone. It was just over two months ago that the world witnessed its 25 millionth case, on August 28. Daily new cases regularly exceed 500,000 and are well on their way to three-quarters of a million. If these trends are allowed to continue, there may be 100 million cases by the end of the year, surging at a rate of 1 million cases each day. As Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, recently told the Washington Post, “It’s not a good situation. All the stars are aligned in the wrong place as you go into the fall and winter season, with people congregating at home indoors. You could not possibly be positioned more poorly.” One of the sharpest dangers is that hospitals become too overwhelmed to treat all of their patients. This is already taking place in El Paso, Texas and in various locations across Europe. As was witnessed in Wuhan, China; Lombardy, Italy and, to a lesser extent, New York City in the early days of the pandemic, the death rate skyrockets when there are not enough supplies and medical personnel to properly treat every patient. While the rate of new deaths to new cases is currently at just above one percent, it is likely that this number will spike if the coronavirus continues its essentially uncontrolled spread. The United States alone has recorded more than 10 million instances of infection, along with 242,000 deaths. The state of Texas surpassed the 1 million mark on Friday, placing it after the nation of Colombia as the tenth most infected region in the world. It is closely followed by California, which has more than 960,000 cases. Combined, they have over 37,000 deaths, more than all but eight other countries (excluding the US as a whole). Amid such calamitous numbers in the US and internationally, President Donald Trump’s fascistic former adviser Steve Bannon called for Dr. Fauci’s beheading. During his podcast Thursday, which has since been taken down by Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, Bannon declared that Trump should start his second term by “firing Wray, firing Fauci.” (“Wray” refers to FBI Director Christopher Wray). He continued, in medieval fashion, “I’d actually like to go back to the old times of Tudor England. I’d put their heads on pikes, right, I’d put them at the two corners of the White House as a warning to federal bureaucrats, you either get with the program or you’re gone.” Fauci is widely recognized as one of the foremost authorities on infectious diseases, who rose to national prominence in the 1980s for his work combating the HIV/AIDS outbreaks in the United States. He has increasingly come under right-wing attack over the past several weeks for his criticisms of Trump’s policy, or rather lack thereof, in handling the pandemic, in the lead-up to the presidential election.

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