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 were up sharply again in the last week (for the fifth week in a row). US deaths increased by 18%, the third week in a row >10%. Elsewhere, new cases continue rising in Europe and globally. Economic news related to COVID-19 is found here.
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Summary:
Let’s start with what didn’t happen this week; we didn’t have a new record for infections on Saturday. However, we did on Tuesday, and again on Wednesday, and again on Thursday, and then again on Friday, with Friday’s record more than 41% higher than the record high of last week. This week’s 7 day average was 45% above last week’s, and 80% higher than the week before that. We also saw new records for hospitalizations nearly every day this week, and as a result hospitals in several states are running out of space. And this week’s US covid deaths were 18.7% higher than last week’s.
This week’s widely touted vaccine is pie in the sky – There is no existing infrastructure to distribute it and keep it viable at -80C until it’s ready to use.
The exponential growth we’re seeing is evidence that contact tracing has completely broken down, and we are at the mercy of the virus. The only way to stop its spread now would be to lock down the malls and all public places until Christmas. But there’s not a governor in any of the 50 states who’d order something like that ahead of the big shopping season, so a lot more of us are going to have to die.
The chart below from WorldoMeter shows the daily number of new cases for the US, updated through 14 November.
New cases globally were also at a record 606,053 on Wednesday, and Saturday were around 10% higher than the prior week. (See Johns Hopkins graph below.)
Also, Johns Hopkins has a graph for global deaths (below) that shows a record 11,624 deaths on Wednesday, a spike for the second week in a row which may be due to reporting issues. Nonetheless, deaths globally were 8,636 on Saturday, up from 7,551 a week earlier (+14%).
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Calculated Risk tracks the daily testing rate and results. The 14 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 late April.
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: 14 November 2020 Coronavirus Charts and News: New Cases Continue to Grow. Trump Calls For More Stimulus. COVID Reinfections Concerning On Many Levels.
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:
Large, delayed outbreaks of endemic diseases possible following COVID-19 controls – Measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19 through non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) such as mask wearing and social distancing are a key tool in combatting the impact of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. These actions also have greatly reduced incidence of many other diseases, including influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Current reductions in these common respiratory infections, however, may merely postpone the incidence of future outbreaks, according to a study by Princeton University researchers published Nov. 9 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “Declines in case numbers of several respiratory pathogens have been observed recently in many global locations,” said first author Rachel Baker, an associate research scholar at the High Meadows Environmental Institute (HMEI) at Princeton University. “While this reduction in cases could be interpreted as a positive side effect of COVID-19 prevention, the reality is much more complex,” Baker said. “Our results suggest that susceptibility to these other diseases, such as RSV and flu, could increase while NPIs are in place, resulting in large outbreaks when they begin circulating again.” Baker and her co-authors found that NPIs could lead to a future uptick in RSV — an endemic viral infection in the United States and a leading cause of lower respiratory-tract infections in young infants — but that the same effect was not as pronounced for influenza. “Although the detailed trajectory of both RSV and influenza in the coming years will be complex, there are clear and overarching trends that emerge when one focuses on some essential effects of NPIs and seasonality on disease dynamics,” said co-author Gabriel Vecchi, Princeton professor of geosciences and the High Meadows Environmental Institute.
Dogs can detect COVID-19 quicker, better than nasal swabs: study — Dogs can detect COVID-19 in humans quicker and more accurately than the gold-standard nasal swab, according to a new study. A Finnish scientist, who’s been testing the disease-detecting pups at Helsinki Airport, said her pooches identified a number of people who had the virus but had tested negative after taking polymerase chain reaction (PCR) nasal tests, The Times reported. Days after the dogs – Miina, Kössi and Valo – diagnosed the travelers, the supposedly negative passengers started experiencing symptoms.Dr. Anna Hielm-Björkman said this suggests pooches may be able to sniff out the virus at the very beginning stages of infection.“They’re actually finding PCR negatives that are going to be PCR positives in a week’s time,” the scientist, who’s yet to publish her findings, told the outlet.Researchers in Finland aren’t the only ones who’ve realized man’s best friend’s latest skill – from France to Lebanon to the UAE, scientists are reporting the same experience, Hielm-Björkman said.“It’s kind of a problem when you have a test that is so much better than the gold standard, because you cannot validate it in any normal way,” she said.
COVID Misinformation a Roadblock to Curbing Pandemic – The World Health Organization calls the spread of false information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) an “infodemic,” and the results are broadly visible across society. The refusal of some people to wear a mask or socially distance, or self-quarantine when exposed to the virus, is often motivated by false information or conspiracy theories that are popular on social media. In a pair of newly published studies, University of Delaware researchers shed new light on the stigma, stereotypes and conspiracy theories that have spread alongside the novel coronavirus. Understanding the impact of misinformation “is important for identifying potential barriers to public health efforts” to combat the virus, said Valerie Earnshaw, associate professor in UD’s Department of Human Development and Family Sciences and lead author on both studies. “Evidence suggests that people are more likely to believe conspiracy theories when they feel anxious, powerless, and unable to control their outcomes, as well as in times of crisis and when faced with large-scale events with serious consequences,” she said. “Pandemics such as COVID-19 are powerful contexts wherein individuals may turn to conspiracy theories in an attempt to restore feelings of safety and control.” Ultimately, the more prominent the misinformation, the more difficult it will be for communities to bring the pandemic under control.The first study, “Anticipated Stigma, Stereotypes, and COVID-19 Testing,” which appeared in the journal Stigma and Health, suggests that stereotypes and anticipated stigma may be barriers to COVID-19 testing efforts. The results, Earnshaw said, are very similar to previous studies about HIV and Ebola stigma. “We know from studies on mental illness and HIV that stigma will keep people from getting tested,” said Earnshaw. “And stereotypes are one way that people experience stigma. Stereotypes are how stigma gets into our heads and shapes our views. Stereotypes help people feel safe. Stereotypes help people believe that those who get COVID, or HIV, are unlike them or doing the wrong thing. Stereotypes can sometimes give people a false security blanket.”The second study, “COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs, health behaviors, and policy support,” which appeared in the journal Translational Behavioral Medicine, found that one-third of participants believed in one or more conspiracies about COVID-19, and the results suggest that belief in conspiracy theories makes a person less likely to support public health policies designed to slow the spread of the virus. Participants who believed in conspiracy theories said that they were less likely to get vaccinated and trusted public health experts less.
More economic worries mean less caution about COVID-19 – – Workers experiencing job and financial insecurity are less likely to follow the CDC’s guidelines for COVID-19, such as physical distancing, limiting trips from home and washing hands, according to a Washington State University study. The researchers, who surveyed 745 workers in 43 states, also found that state unemployment benefits and COVID-19 policies affected the connection between economic concerns and compliance with COVID-19 precautions. The study shows that a scarcity mindset can play a role in how well people are able to focus on responding to the pandemic, said Tahira Probst, a WSU psychology professor and lead author in the study published recently online in the Journal of Applied Psychology. “We all have a finite set of resources at our disposal, whether it’s money, time or social support, and individuals who have fewer of those resources appear less able to enact the CDC-recommended guidelines,” said Probst. “The extent to which economic stressors will impact that behavior is in part a function of where we live. Having a fall back, a strong safety net to catch you, seemed to help mitigate the risk factors of job insecurity that was otherwise associated with less adherence to the guidelines.” In states with lower unemployment benefits, job insecurity was associated with a 7% decline in compliance with COVID-19 prevention behaviors. State-imposed COVID-19 mandates also had a positive effect on compliance but seemed to primarily benefit the financially secure workers more. In states that had fewer restrictions on behavior that could spread the disease, workers were less likely to follow the CDC’s recommendations, whether the respondents were financially secure or insecure. However, in states with a stronger response, including measures such as stay-at-home orders and shutting down non-essential businesses, financially secure employees had 13% higher enactment of the prevention behaviors compared to workers who felt more financially insecure.
One in five coronavirus patients develop mental illness within 90 days — New research suggests that people who have survived COVID-19 infections are at a greater risk of developing mental illness. This data, published in The Lancet Psychiatry Journal, indicates that 20 percent of observed COVID-19 patients are diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder such as anxiety, depression, or insomnia within 90 days after being diagnosed. Researchers analyzed data from about 69 million people, 62,354 of whom were COVID-19 patients. The goal was to see if COVID-19 patients were at an increased risk of psychiatric diagnoses following the infection as opposed to people with other health complications. The results suggest that COVID-19 patients saw greater post-illness diagnoses of anxiety disorder, insomnia, and even dementia, as opposed to patients who were sick with influenza or other respiratory tract infection similar to COVID-19. Anxiety disorders were the most common diagnoses following an infection, with dementia only occurring in patients older than age 65. More severe psychotic disorders, which have potential to severely compromise everyday cognition, were less commonly seen. To rule out any lurking variables that could alter the conclusion, such as people who are predisposed to mental illness being more vulnerable to a COVID-19 infection, researchers looked at preexisting studies. Limited associations between mental illness and COVID-19 susceptibility were discovered. The study, funded by the National Institute for Health Research, concluded that while the data is preliminary, the findings encourage further analysis into the psychiatric effects of the coronavirus. “Survivors of COVID-19 appear to be at increased risk of psychiatric sequelae, and a psychiatric diagnosis might be an independent risk factor for COVID-19,” the authors wrote.
Pfizer’s Early Data Shows Vaccine Is More Than 90% Effective – The drug maker Pfizer announced on Monday that an early analysis of its coronavirus vaccine trial suggested the vaccine was robustly effective in preventing Covid-19, a promising development as the world has waited anxiously for any positive news about a pandemic that has killed more than 1.2 million people.Pfizer, which developed the vaccine with the German drugmaker BioNTech, released only sparse details from its clinical trial, based on the first formal review of the data by an outside panel of experts.The company said that the analysis found that the vaccine was more than 90 percent effective in preventing the disease among trial volunteers who had no evidence of prior coronavirus infection. If the results hold up, that level of protection would put it on par with highly effective childhood vaccines for diseases such as measles. No serious safety concerns have been observed, the company said.Pfizer plans to ask the Food and Drug Administration for emergency authorization of the two-dose vaccine later this month, after it has collected the recommended two months of safety data. By the end of the year it will have manufactured enough doses to immunize 15 million to 20 million people, company executives have said. “This is a historical moment,” said Kathrin Jansen, a senior vice president and the head of vaccine research and development at Pfizer. “This was a devastating situation, a pandemic, and we have embarked on a path and a goal that nobody ever has achieved – to come up with a vaccine within a year.” Independent scientists have cautioned against hyping early results before long-term safety and efficacy data has been collected. And no one knows how long the vaccine’s protection might last. Still, the development makes Pfizer the first company to announce positive results from a late-stage vaccine trial, vaulting it to the front of a frenzied global race that began in January and has unfolded at record-breaking speed.
Covid vaccine: Pfizer says drug 90% effective in blocking infection – Pfizer and BioNTech announced Monday their coronavirus vaccine was more than 90% effective in preventing Covid-19 among those without evidence of prior infection, hailing the development as “a great day for science and humanity.” “I think we can see light at the end of the tunnel,” Pfizer Chairman and CEO Dr. Albert Bourla told CNBC’s Meg Tirrell on “Squawk Box.” “I believe this is likely the most significant medical advance in the last 100 years, if you count the impact this will have in public health, global economy.” The announcement comes as drugmakers and research centers scrambled to deliver a safe and effective vaccine to help bring an end to the coronavirus pandemic that has claimed over 1.2 million lives worldwide. Scientists are hoping for a coronavirus vaccine that is at least 75% effective, while White House coronavirus advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci has said one that is 50% or 60% effective would be acceptable. U.S. stock futures skyrocketed as investors cheered the news. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 1,646 points, implying an opening gain of more than 1,630 points. Airline and cruise company stocks jumped in premarket trading – with some stocks rising by 20% and 30%. Both industries have been significantly affected by the global health crisis as travel restrictions and a resurgence in outbreaks continue to hurt demand. Pfizer’s results were based on the first interim efficacy analysis conducted by an external and independent Data Monitoring Committee from the phase three clinical study. The independent group of experts oversees U.S. clinical trials to ensure the safety of participants. The analysis evaluated 94 confirmed Covid-19 infections among the trial’s 43,538 participants. Pfizer and the U.S. pharmaceutical giant’s German biotech partner said the case split between vaccinated individuals and those who received a placebo indicated a vaccine efficacy rate of above 90% at seven days after the second dose. It means that protection from Covid-19 is achieved 28 days after the initial vaccination, which consists of a two-dose schedule. The final vaccine efficacy percentage may vary, however, as safety and additional data continue to be collected.
Possible COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough makes measures to stop virus spread now more urgent -The announcement from Pfizer and German partner BioNTech Monday that there has been progress in the development of an effective vaccine against COVID-19 is a promising and encouraging development. It makes all the more necessary urgent measures to contain the spread of the virus and save lives until a vaccine is widely available. Pfizer announced that patients in clinical trials who received two injections of the vaccine, spaced three weeks apart, had 90 percent fewer cases of COVID-19 than a control group. By way of comparison, the typical yearly flu vaccine is only 40 – 60 percent effective. The findings were based on initial data from a clinical trial of over 43,538 participants, which were reviewed by an independent board, but which have not yet been made public. The company intends to file for an emergency use authorization once half of the participants in the study have been observed for safety issues for at least two months, sometime in the third week of November.If approved, Pfizer’s vaccine (as well as that being developed by rival Moderna) would be the first mRNA vaccine in widespread use. This would open a new age for the rapid treatment of infectious diseases with a whole new class of low-cost vaccines. In its report on the vaccine, medical journal Stat noted that “there is no information yet on whether the vaccine prevents severe cases, the type that can cause hospitalization and death. Nor is there any information yet on whether it prevents people from carrying the virus that causes Covid-19, SARS-CoV-2, without symptoms.” The latter would be critical in determining how effective the vaccine is in lowering transmission rates. It is also still too early to say how long the vaccine protects against infection. Stat also noted that the results announced by Pfizer and BioNTech have not yet been peer reviewed by scientists or published in a medical journal. That being said, it does appear that progress is being made. Director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci, noted that the initial results from Pfizer also bode well for the vaccine being developed by biotechnology firm Moderna and the National Institutes of Health based on similar technology. The progress toward a vaccine makes all the more criminal the policy of “herd immunity” that is being implemented by governments throughout the world. As one begins to see light at the end of the tunnel, the argument that it is necessary to “live with the virus” becomes absolutely unacceptable.
Turkish-Born Muslim Scientists Behind Pfizer’s Successful COVID19 Vaccine — Pfizer has announced today that its COVID19 vaccine has been found to be more than 90% effective in its recently concluded large-scale trial. The two key scientists who developed this vaccine are Turkish-born Muslims named Dr. Ugur Sahin and his wife Dr. Ozlem Tureci, according to media reports. The couple started BioNTech, a technology startup based in Germany, to develop treatments using messenger RNA (mRNA) technology. A Tunis-born Muslim scientist Dr. Moncef Mohamad Slaoui is leading Operation WARP Speed announced by President Donald Trump to rapidly develop and distribute a coronavirus vaccine in the United States. Covid19 pandemic is the biggest challenge the world faces today.Muslim scientists are in the forefront of dealing with this challenge. This is particularly notable in a world where Islamophobia has gone mainstream in recent years. Dr. Sahin, 55, is the son of a Turkish Muslim immigrant who worked at a Ford factory in Cologne, Germany. He is now among 100 richest Germans, together with his wife and fellow board member Dr. Oezlem Tuereci, 53, according to weekly Welt am Sonntag. Sahin had been working on mRNA technology with his wife Dr. Tureci for more than 25 years. The couple, both children of Muslim Turkish immigrants who met while working at a cancer clinic, sold their first company, Ganymed Pharmaceuticals AG, for $1.66 billion in 2016, according to the Wall Street Journal. Then they started BioNTech whose market value on NASDAQ has soared to $21 billion as of Friday’s close from $4.6 billion a year ago.
NY Bar Association Recommends Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccine With No Exemptions – The New York State Bar Association is urging the state to adopt mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations once they become available – if ‘voluntary measures fail to protect public health’ – and has recommended following ‘current New York law‘ – including exemptions for “religious, philosophical or personal reasons,” according to the New York Law Journal.”The authority of the state to respond to a public health crisis is well-established in constitutional law,” said Mary Beth Morrisey NY Bar association Health Law Section Task Force chair, in a Saturday statement.”In balancing the protection of the public’s health and civil liberties, the Public Health Law recognizes that a person’s health can and does affect others,” she continued. “It may become necessary to require that certain individuals or communities be vaccinated, such as healthcare workers and students, to protect the public’s health.”According to the Bar Association’s recommendation, “To protect the public’s health, it would be useful to provide guidance, consistent with existing law or a state emergency health powers act as proposed in Resolution #1, to assist state officials and state and local public health authorities should it be necessary for the state to consider the possibility of enacting a vaccine mandate.”They also recognize that the public needs to believe that the vaccine is safe and that it works. “A vaccine must not only be safe and efficacious; it must be publicly perceived as safe and efficacious.”
Europe To Pay Lower Price For Pfizer COVID Vaccine Than US -Even after the Trump Administration shelled out $2 billion in Operation Warp Speed money to secure 100 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine (don’t listen to the MSM when it claims Pfizer hasn’t benefited from government money), Europe has still somehow managed to secure a better price as part of a deal reported earlier on Wednesday. Earlier today, Pfizer CEO Dr. Albert Bourla – who was also exposed for dumping a huge quantity of his stock, top-ticking the market – EU agreed to buy up to 300 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, sealing its newfound status as the most advanced, and most promising, vaccine effort in the West. Exploratory talks involving the deal were initially disclosed back in September, but the news of the deal on Wednesday propelled shares higher, even as insiders revealed they were headed for the exits.Meanwhile, Reuters is reporting that under the terms of the EU deal, the per-dose price of the vaccine will be lower than in the US.The bloc will pay less than $19.50 per shot, a senior EU official involved in talks with vaccine makers told Reuters, adding that partly reflected the financial support given by the EU and Germany for the drug’s development.The officia l requested anonymity as the terms of the agreement are confidential.The United States agreed to pay $19.50 per shot for 100 million doses, a smaller volume than the EU. But it has an option to buy a further 500 million under terms to be negotiated separately, and the price it will pay is unclear.
“A Vaccine For The Rich” – Pfizer’s COVID-19 Jab Almost Impossible To Distribute In Poorer Countries -A logistical “roadmap” from Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical has been released showing the staggering logistical feats required to transport and store the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which has just been christened by Bloomberg as “the vaccine of the rich”. Offering some more insight into details that have been the subject of much speculation on Wall Street, Bloomberg reported on this “complex and costly” private network that companies are building to help distribute vaccines like Pfizer’s mRNA vaccine (a technology that’s also being used by another leading candidate, Moderna), that is, once it has finally been approved. Countries that don’t already have these networks will need to build them from scratch if they wish to substantially reduce the supply bottleneck, which would be “a herculean task”. That means that countries will need to build from scratch the deep-freeze production, storage and transportation networks needed for the vaccine to survive. This massive investment and coordination required all but guarantees that only rich nations will manage to dial up access, with the wealthy first in line to receive their doses. “Its production is costly, its component is unstable, it also requires cold-chain transportation and has a short shelf life,” said Ding Sheng, director of the Beijing-based Global Health Drug Discovery Institute, which has received funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The WHO and Bill Gates have invested plenty of time on a PR campaign warning that access to the vaccine must be made ‘universal’ – that is, extended to all of earth’s 7.7 billion people – or humanity won’t manage to eradicate COVID-19. Together, they’ve backed a project called ‘Covax’ which aims to raise $18 billion to pay for vaccines for poorer countries. But even once they’ve been paid for, the task remains: how can we physically ship and store them in such vast quantities? The massive expense of the infrastructure investment means many of these poorer countries are now faced with a difficult choice: invest in the supply network, even before the vaccines have been approved, and take a risk should unforeseen complications arise, or wait to see how everything pans out for the developed world, sacrificing valuable time. Many of these economies could simply wait longer until more conventional vaccines, using other technologies, such as Russia’s adenovirus-vector vaccine, are available. Generally speaking, mRNA vaccines are a new class of vaccines, which is why some are apprehensive about the long-term side effects, which can’t be reliably studied. “If there is a protein-based vaccine that could achieve the same effect as an mRNA vaccine does and there’s the need to vaccinate billions of people every year, I’d go for the protein-based shots in the long run,” Ding said. Countries like India are facing particular difficulties given that shipping regular consumer goods remains a difficult, even treacherous, process across much of the country’s hinterland. Health-care experts in the country have already dismissed sub-zero storage as completely unworkable – “just forget it, one said.”
Pfizer, Moderna Results Leave Many Important Questions Unanswered –“The light at the end of the tunnel.” It’s a phrase we’ve heard a lot this week, since Pfizer confirmed that its experimental mRNA COVID-19 vaccine is 92% effective: “The light at the end of the tunnel”.That is, the notion that a the emergence of an effective vaccine means we’re reached the beginning of the end of the global COVID-19 pandemic, which has come roaring back in the US and Europe as the fall weather arrives, Bloomberg reports. In recent days, we’ve discussed the myriad obstacles to widespread vaccination that still remain, and warned that much testing and research remains to be done before humanity can start to feel like it’s finally getting its arms around the coronavirus. Aside from that, there are logistical and public-relations hurdles as well, as a team of DB analysts explained in a recent report for clients.Other major obstacles facing vaccines in development by both Pfizer and Moderna, which is also working on an mRNA-based vaccine, as we’ve noted before, are the low temperatures required to store them, making distribution in the developing world virtually unworkable without serious infrastructure investment. Moreover, the Pfizer vaccine has a notable practical limitation: It must be kept frozen at an ultralow – 94F until a few days before it is used. That requires special freezers or dry ice packs, complicating distribution. Moderna is thought to be just a few weeks behind Pfizer in the testing process. It’s working with the same messenger RNA technology, which uses the body to produce a key coronavirus protein, stimulating the immune system to make antibodies to fight the virus. Moderna says its vaccine can be kept in regular freezers; some other vaccines don’t need to be frozen at all.Pfizer’s vaccine also requires two shots to be given three weeks apart before significant protection kicks in. While most other vaccines in late-stage testing also require multiple shots, Johnson & Johnson’s may work after just one, which would enable more people to get protection faster. Results of a 60,000-participant J&J trial may come by year-end. Though the Gates Foundation, the WHO and Beijing are all working together on the “Covax” international vaccination effort, attempting to raise $18 billion to vaccinate the world, the odds that the necessary infrastructure will actually be built in the coming months and years is slim. Rather, while the “rich” world gets the early, experimental mRNA vaccine, the “poor” world might need to wait for a more familiar “protein-based” option.
The Super Cold Covid Vaccine Distribution Problem – Yves Smith – Even though Mr. Market is over the moon about the prospects for a not-yet-approved-by-anyone Pfizer Covid vaccine, Naked Capitalism readers quickly pounced on the question of whether or not the unprecedented mass distribution of a vaccine that needs to be kept at roughly -100F for no more than five days before use might be a problem. As we’ll discuss, building new super-cold distribution is so costly and daunting that developing economies are likely to turn down the Pfizer vaccine. And not only are rural areas expected to get the short shrift, but even US states are having trouble developing credible distribution plans, which suggests that even some cities may encounter delays in getting their hands on the vaccine (assuming it is approved quickly). Keep in mind that the same distribution issues apply to another promising-looking vaccine, from Moderna, which is another messenger-RNA-based vaccine and also must be kept at very cold temperatures before use, although not as severely cold as the Pfizer candidate. And yes, sports fans, no such cold-chain storage system exists now, anywhere in the world. Keep in mind that the problem isn’t just keeping the vaccine vials super cold till they get to where they will be used. They also need to be kept in a super-frigid state at close to their point of delivery, or delivered on a just-in-time basis. ProPublica gives a good overview of the delivery and storage issue: The Pfizer vaccine is unusually difficult to ship and store: It is administered in two doses given 28 days apart, has to be stored at temperatures of about minus 100 degrees Fahrenheit and will be delivered in dry ice-packed boxes holding 1,000 to 5,000 doses. These cartons can stay cold enough to keep the doses viable for up to 10 days, according to details provided by the company. The ice can be replenished up to three times. Once opened, the packages can keep the vaccine for five days but can’t be opened more than twice a day. The vaccine can also survive in a refrigerator for five days but can’t be refrozen if unused. Below is a graphic in the Wall Street Journal as to how Pfizer plans to pack its vaccine. BBC ran this last night Two things struck me: one is insulated boxes are only currently available certified for storage down to -8C (so not suitable for low temperature medicines which need around -18C, but probably a good option for medium temperature cold storage). The other thing Pfizer ‘fessed up to was the phials were only capable of withstanding 4 exposures to ambient air without compromising stability. A logical guess is that embrittlement of the pharmaceutical-grade seals on the phials caused by any repeated thermal stress eventually means there’s soo much risk of allowing any more. So, four strikes and you’re out. You can envisage one exposure to ambient air as the vaccine leaves the the vaccine finishing plant and gets packed for initial transportation to the bulk storage facility. Another exposure will occur when they’re unpacked and placed into bulk storage. Then another exposure when they’re lifted out of bulk storage and repacked for local distribution. There’s one “life” left after all that – unpacking and thawing prior to dispensing. So zero room for any errors or unintended ambient air exposure.
Bloomberg Warns: A Covid Vaccine Could Help the Virus Spread – Yves Smith – Before readers accuse me of being an alarmist, the headline above closely tracks the headline of the Bloomberg story by Peter Coy, How a Covid-19 Vaccine Could End Up Helping the Virus Spread. The striking bit is once you understand the medical issues Coy is raising, you’ll see his concern is legitimate. The short version is just because you got the vaccine does not necessarily mean you can’t infect others.Until the rise of anti-vaxxers, with unseemly rush to get a Covid vaccine legitimating the vaccine refusnik (or “wait and see”) position, it was reasonable to assume that citizens would dutifully get vaccinated against dangerous contagious diseases, as much for themselves as everyone else. The high uptake rate would reduce the risk of anyone catching the disease to a very low level. But Covid presents a very different picture. Even with enthusiastic coverage of the progress on vaccine development, a big slug of Americans still aren’t on board. A survey a few months back found only 50% would get a Covid vaccine. Even with infections and deaths on the rise, an end-of-October STAT/Harris poll found that fewer than 70% would take a vaccine with 70% efficacy: But separately, unless there’s a lot more propaganda messaging and education, the actual take-up numbers are sure to be lower if a vaccine had side effects serious enough to have decent odds of the recipient needing to take a day off from work. And even if we assume that more people eventually become willing to get jabbed, it’s still going to take time to roll out a vaccine. The EU said they can’t vaccinate everyone before 2022. And now, here is the nub of Coy’s concern: If everyone in the world is vaccinated, or has developed antibodies through exposure to the disease, there will be no problem. But in the early going, when only some people are protected, they could unwittingly spread the disease to people who are still vulnerable. The vaccinated people might stop wearing masks and social distancing since they aren’t themselves at risk anymore. They could be carrying the SARS-CoV-2 virus, even if they’re not getting sick from it.How big a problem this might be is hard to say, because we don’t know for sure if immunized people are capable of shedding infectious virus. It’s possible that their antibodies will eradicate any infection pretty quickly, so they might just shed viral debris….It’s also not yet clear how much protection the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and others would provide. The gold standard is to achieve sterilizing immunity, which is so strong that the virus can’t get a grip in the body at all – meaning that vaccinated people are safe to others. The human papillomavirus vaccine provides sterilizing immunity, for example. But sterilizing immunity is hard to achieve with viruses such as SARS-CoV-2, which enter through the respiratory system. The only sure way to know if the vaccine provides sterilizing immunity would be to check whether trial subjects who remain free of Covid-19 have been exposed to it, by tracing their contacts.
Researchers identify melatonin as possible COVID-19 treatment. Results from a new Cleveland Clinic-led study suggest that melatonin, a hormone that regulates the sleep-wake cycle and is commonly used as an over-the-counter sleep aid, may be a viable treatment option for COVID-19.As COVID-19 continues to spread throughout the world, particularly with cases rising during what some have termed the “fall surge,” repurposing drugs already approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for new therapeutic purposes continues to be the most efficient and cost-effective approach to treat or prevent the disease. According to the findings published today in PLOS Biology, a novel artificial intelligence platform developed by Lerner Research Institute researchers to identify possible drugs for COVID-19 repurposing has revealed melatonin as a promising candidate.Analysis of patient data from Cleveland Clinic’s COVID-19 registry also revealed that melatonin usage was associated with a nearly 30 percent reduced likelihood of testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) after adjusting for age, race, smoking history and various disease comorbidities. Notably, the reduced likelihood of testing positive for the virus increased from 30 to 52 percent for African Americans when adjusted for the same variables. “It is very important to note these findings do not suggest people should start to take melatonin without consulting their physician,” said Feixiong Cheng, Ph.D., assistant staff in Cleveland Clinic’s Genomic Medicine Institute and lead author on the study. “Large-scale observational studies and randomized controlled trials are critical to validate the clinical benefit of melatonin for patients with COVID-19, but we are excited about the associations put forth in this study and the opportunity to further explore them.”
A televangelist who referred to the coronavirus as a ‘privilege’ has died from it –A televangelist who once described the coronavirus pandemic as a “privilege” died from the disease Tuesday. Irvin Baxter died in the hospital at 75, according to a press release from Endtime Ministries, which Baxter founded. Baxter was a vocal supporter of President Donald Trump and had suggested premarital sex was the reason the coronavirus exists. During a March discussion on “The Jim Bakker Show,” a national TV show centered around the end of time, Baxter preached about “the sin of fornication” outside marriage. “I thought about fornication and I did a little research,” he said. “I hope this research is not correct, but I got it straight from the encyclopedia. It says that 5% of new brides in America now are virgins. That means 95 percent have already committed fornication!” He said millions of unmarried American couples were living together and having sex, which he called sinful and punishable in the eyes of God. “God may be using this as a wake-up call,” Baxter then said about the coronavirus. “This coronavirus may be a privilege, because I’ll tell you right now, there is a much bigger judgment coming. It’s in the Bible.” Baxter denounced people who “think we can just ignore God and live a sinful lifestyle.”
US coronavirus: The country nears 10 million Covid-19 cases – The United States is hurtling toward yet another grim milestone of 10 million cases, with over 9.9 million reported cases as of Sunday evening, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The country recorded 100,762 new cases and and 453 new deaths as of 9:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, marking the fifth highest day of new cases in the country since the pandemic began. The fall resurgence has brought regular records in cases, people hospitalized and daily deaths — and experts are encouraging measures to mitigate the spread as they warn that the numbers may continue to climb in coming weeks. “We’re going to see these case numbers really start to explode,” former US Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CNBC on Friday. The virus can be dealt with by targeting mitigation state by state, he said, but the US is not doing that currently, and the lack of intervention could build up for the future, spelling trouble for December and January, he said. “It’s not just the cases; it’s the hospitalizations as well. That’s really the number to watch: 53,000 people hospitalized, 10,500 people in ICUs. That’s a lot, and it’s growing very quickly.” Sixteen states reported record high Covid-19 hospitalizations Friday, according to the Covid Tracking Project, and 22 states have reported at least one record high day of coronavirus hospitalizations during November, so far. On Sunday morning, the global number of cases topped 50 million, with the US, India, Brazil and Russia, in that order, the hardest hit, composing more than half the cases, Johns Hopkins reports. While the total number of cases in the US approaches 10 million, Texas alone is inching toward 1 million cases, with more than 5,000 reported Sunday. In Oregon, Gov. Kate Brown said Sunday the state has surpassed the “alarming threshold” of 50,000 cases.
US colleges have reported more than a quarter million coronavirus infections, survey says – The number of coronavirus cases reported at colleges and universities across the country has surpassed a quarter million, according to a New York Times Survey. The survey of more than 1,700 U.S. colleges and universities claims more than 252,000 COVID-19 cases have been confirmed on campuses with at least 80 deaths since the pandemic began. More than 50 campuses have marked 1,000 COVID-19 infections while 400 colleges have reported at least 100 cases. Our country is in a historic fight against the Coronavirus. . The majority of infections occurred as students returned to school for the fall semester and the large part of deaths took place in spring among employees, the survey says. More than 38,000 new cases occurred over the past two weeks. While most colleges and universities have opted for remote learning in an effort to mitigate the spread of the virus, more than a third have allowed students on campus to some degree. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in September released a report stating coronavirus infections among young adults increased significantly from August to September as colleges and universities reopened around the country. The CDC report found that between Aug. 2 and Sept. 5, weekly COVID-19 cases among adults aged 18-22 increased 55 percent nationally. While young adults are at lower risk for severe disease and death if they contract the virus compared to older adults and those with preexisting conditions, they can certainly transmit the virus to those at higher risk and can also become seriously ill themselves.
Potential superspreader event as 10,000 Notre Dame fans storm field after college football game – Thousands of college football fans in South Bend, Indiana, stormed the field Saturday night following the home team Notre Dame’s victory in double overtime over Clemson, then the top-ranked program in the country. The private Catholic university currently has 208 active coronavirus cases on campus out of a total student body of roughly 12,500. As with most major programs throughout the country, Notre Dame, one of the most popular college teams in the country with a nationwide following, is playing close to a full season even as the coronavirus continues to spiral out of control. Eleven of a possible twelve scheduling slots have been filled, with six home games. While Notre Dame Stadium, which normally seats 77,662, has been limited to 20 percent capacity, 11,011 fans were attendance at last Saturday’s matchup. Aerial coverage suggests that most of these fans, including virtually all of the student section, rushed the field immediately after the game. Under normal circumstances this a traditional celebration in college football, but under pandemic conditions it is almost certain to be a major superspreader event. The day of the game, 126,156 new COVID-19 cases were reported in the United States, including 4,899 in Indiana. Nearby Illinois, where a large number of Notre Dame fans live, is the current center of the pandemic in the United States. According to the university’s COVID-19 Dashboard, Notre Dame saw a sharp increase in cases in the few days before the Clemson game. On November 4, the school reported 71 active cases. This has since more than doubled to 208. Clemson University, located in South Carolina, has also seen a rise in cases, with 573 confirmed cases being reported over the past 4 weeks. Among those infected was Clemson’s starting quarterback Trevor Lawrence, who did not play in Saturday’s game but was permitted to sit on the sidelines with his teammates. The Clemson game was held with just two weeks until the end of the fall semester, when thousands of students will disperse across the country. All students are now required to be tested before leaving campus for the winter break, the university announced Sunday, with those testing positive forced to quarantine for two weeks. Students who do not get tested or leave before getting their results will be subject to severe penalties, including being prevented from registering for classes in the spring semester.
Hospitalization crisis across the US as coronavirus infections surge = Using 10 modeling groups’ data, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated its four-week hospitalization forecast for Nov. 30. They estimated that there would be 2,600 to 13,000 new COVID-19 hospitalizations per day by the end of this month. Over the last seven days, the national rate of admissions to hospitals has been just over 1,200 per day. In other words, the CDC is expecting the rate to climb two to 10 times in the next three to four weeks. This is an astounding rate that should force local and state governments to pause and give immediate considerations to their response to the pandemic. This is no longer a speculative matter. The need for greater mitigation efforts is becoming necessary to stem the tide of infections to provide relief to health care systems. Even the mainstream news and local media outlets have been raising repeated concerns over the alarming rates of hospitalizations from COVID-19 infections that are bringing health systems to the brink. Unlike testing and case numbers, which can be quite variable, hospitalization numbers are a reliable metric for the state of the community transmission as it represents people sick enough to seek care. Europe’s health system, which is in a dire predicament, faces significant challenges and should provide the US with a terrifying perspective. Germany, which has twice the per capita ICU capacity on average compared to Europe as a whole, has reached 75 percent of its total capacity. Belgium is currently transferring patients to Germany as their ICU capacity has filled. Dr. Susanne Johna of Saint Josef’s Hospital, an internist in Germany, speaking to DW News TV, said peak ICU capacity is usually reached two weeks after the peak in infections. Responding as to when she expected the peak to arrive, she answered, “nobody knows.” Due to significant staff shortages, nurses and physicians in Belgium and the Netherlands are being asked to keep working. The country’s health minister, Frank Vandenbroucke, described the situation as a “tsunami of infections where the authorities are no longer in control.” There are currently 55,817 hospitalized patients in the United States, up from a low of 28,608 on Sept. 20. Of these, 11,078 are in the ICUs and 2,943 are on ventilators. The previous peaks in hospitalization in April and July reached close to 60,000. The breakdown by age group (which has remained consistent throughout the pandemic) reveals that 75 percent are over age 50, with the majority in this group being over 65. Those between 18 and 49 account for 24 percent of hospitalizations.
U.S. COVID-19 hospitalizations surge to record of just over 59,000 patients: Reuters tally (Reuters) – There were just over 59,000 COVID-19 patients in hospitals across the United States on Monday, the country’s highest number ever of in-patients being treated for the disease, as new infections at record levels for the sixth consecutive day. The harsh statistics tallied by Reuters cemented the United States’ position as the nation worst affected by the coronavirus pandemic, even as drugmaker Pfizer Inc PFE.N provided some hope with successful late-stage tests of its vaccine. President-elect Joe Biden hailed Pfizer’s progress, but urged Americans to wear masks as he noted a vaccine may not be widely available for many months. The number of Americans with COVID-19 currently hospitalized has surged around 73% over the past 30 days to at least 59,008 – a record level that surpasses the previous high of 58,370 on July 22. Daily new infections, meanwhile, exceeded 100,000 for the sixth consecutive day. Hospitalizations are a key metric of how the pandemic is progressing because, unlike case counts, they are not influenced by the number of tests performed. Texas reported the highest number of hospitalized patients with 6,103, followed by Illinois with 4,409 and California with 3,668 patients, according to the Reuters tally. Mask wearing has become a political issue in the United States, with Trump mocking Biden for wearing a mask during the campaign and many conservatives contending masks infringe on their individual freedom. Politics aside, the data shows that the United States is experiencing its worst phase so far of the outbreak. It has reported more than a million new cases in the past 10 days, according to the Reuters tally, the speediest surge in infections since the country reported its first COVID-19 cases, in Washington state, 294 days ago. More than 770,000 new cases were diagnosed in the week ended Nov. 10, up 34% over the previous seven days, according to the tally. The country has reported a total of around 10.13 million cases.
North Dakota reaches 100 percent hospital capacity, tells health care workers to continue working if infected with COVID-19 — The Governor of North Dakota, Republican Doug Burgum, announced during a news conference on Monday that hospitals have reached 100 percent capacity across the state due to the rapid spike in cases of COVID-19. North Dakota has become the epicenter of the outbreaks occurring in the Midwest, with daily cases breaching 1,000 last week and active cases reaching 11,719 on November 10. Over 1.5 percent of the entire state population is currently infected with the virus. Total cases have surpassed 56,000 and total deaths are closing in on 700, twice the number of one month ago. Of the 30 COVID-related deaths on Monday, a third were from the Bismarck area. And in Ward County, which has seen 83 deaths in total, two-thirds have come in just the last two weeks. The rapid rise in cases across the state has put the health care system on the brink of collapse. As of November 10, there are 383 patients hospitalized for COVID-19, with 48 of them in the intensive care unit. With 20 percent of all hospital beds filled by coronavirus patients, North Dakota hospitals are filled to capacity and face a shortage of staff. In a desperate bid to avoid staff shortages amidst the crisis, the North Dakota government has issued an order that allows nurses who have tested positive for the virus to continue working if they exhibit an asymptomatic condition. This decision came at the request of hospital administrators, who are terrified by the prospect of losing staff during a dire health emergency which is growing worse by the day.
Cleveland Clinic dealing with 300 cases of COVID-19 among staff – On Monday afternoon, state doctors spoke to the public about what they called an “unprecedented spike” of coronavirus cases in Ohio, and how it has been stressing hospital staffs. During the press conference, Dr. Robert Willey from the Cleveland Clinic– among other top medical professionals in the state– mentioned how the spike has led to an increase of hospital staffers testing positive for COVID-19 and that the Clinic alone was facing “over 300” cases of the virus among staff members. Dr. Willey stressed that in “Zone 1” of Ohio – which comprises the northern portion of Ohio – hospitals have adequate availability of hospital beds, as well as supplies like personal protective equipment, ventilators and drugs. “It’s not because they’re catching it in the hospital, it’s because they’re catching it in the community,” Wyllie said. “So we need everyone to double down. Please wear a mask and social distance to protect Ohio’s caregivers.” All the doctors who spoke Monday all reiterated that if the ongoing spike in state coronavirus cases continues, it could negatively impact non-coronavirus-related treatment in hospitals. You can watch the full briefing below.
Metro Detroit hospitalizations rise sharply as second wave of COVID-19 cases surges across Michigan – Hospitalizations of people infected with COVID-19 in the Detroit metropolitan area increased dramatically last weekend as a second wave of the pandemic surged across Michigan and dwarfed the case numbers of last spring. A report in Bridge Magazine on Monday said that hospitals “in metro Detroit’s six counties are treating over 1,300 patients, up 200 from Friday alone.” Among the hospital systems facing the COVID-19 surge are Beaumont Health, which has experienced an increase in cases from 172 on Oct. 25 to 377 on Sunday, the report said. Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. The number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 at the six Henry Ford Health System hospitals increased from 177 on November 2 to 354 one week later. [Photo Credit: Kevin Reed] Dr. Nick Gilpin, Beaumont Health’s director of infection prevention epidemiology, said, “We’ve had a notable rise in COVID-19 cases in metro Detroit. Community positivity rates have jumped to 8 – 11 percent in the area.” The number of daily coronavirus cases in Michigan reached 6,473 on Wednesday, which is more than three times greater than the peak of 1,953 last April during the early days of the pandemic. There have been a total of 217,000 confirmed cases and 7,600 deaths from the pandemic in Michigan. According to data maintained by the state of Michigan, the major hospitals in metro Detroit, including Ascension Health, Beaumont Health, Detroit Medical Center, Henry Ford Health System, McLaren Health, Michigan Medicine and Trinity Health, all had bed occupancy of between 75 percent and 85 percent as of Wednesday. These seven hospital networks have a total of 1,670 COVID-19 cases, with 340 patients in intensive care. The surge in cases and hospitalizations has forced many hospitals to restrict visitor access. Henry Ford Health System issued a statement on Tuesday saying that, while the hospital “recognizes the importance of the support by loved ones during a patient’s hospitalization,” the decision to restrict visitation and limit family presence is based on “the health and safety of our patients, our team members and others in our facilities.” Dave Coulter, executive of Oakland County, a suburban county north of Detroit, said during a live Facebook event on Tuesday, “Over the weekend our seven-day average for confirmed cases spiked to over 400 per day for the first time. That’s a pace of over 2,800 COVID-19 cases per week.” Hospitalizations across the state of Michigan have quadrupled since Oct. 1. Ruthanne Sudderth, spokeswoman for the Michigan Health and Hospital Association, told Bridge Magazine, “We are getting close to a point where people won’t be able to get care for COVID” or other health issues.
Coronavirus dashboard for November 9: Wow (and not in a good way) — (includes 7 detailed graphs)
- US total infections: 9,968,155*
- US average last 7 days: 108,737
- US total deaths: 237,570
- US average last 7 days: 939
*I suspect that the real number is about 16 million, or about 5% of the total US population While we have been riveted by the 2020 election, the pandemic has continued to rage out of control in parts of the US, particularly in parts of the upper Midwest and northern Mountain States. At its peak, NY had an average daily rate of 51 infections per 100,000 people. Now, 17 States have infections rates higher than that: The worst is North Dakota, at 174 infections per 100,000 people. By contrast, the worst country on the planet, Czechia, had 117 infections per 100,000 people at its recent peak: In addition to North Dakota, 5 other States have infection rates equal to or surpassing that of Czechia: Next, here is the infection rate in 3 US States with large outbreaks: NY, AZ, and ND: Whether due to a demographic shift in those who are getting sick (the early death rate in the US was largely a factor of so many cases in nursing homes), or due to better treatments in hospitals, the rate of deaths in the summer outbreaks (as shown by Arizona below) and *so far* in the recent outbreaks, has not come anywhere near the lethality in the early outbreak in NY: At the same time, the current outbreak in ND is roughly 3x as bad as the summer outbreak in AZ. At its worst, the death rate in AZ was 1.14 per 100,000 people, vs. 3.93 in NY in April. But, if the death rate now proves similar to that in the summer outbreak in AZ, which peaked at a 7 days average of 52.8 infections per 100,000 people daily, then ND, which currently has a 7 day average of 173.6 infections per 100,000 people, can expect a death rate of 3.75 per 100,000 people daily, very close to the death rate of 3.93 per 100,000 in NY at its peak. Another way of looking at this is to compare the infection and hospitalization rates for NY and ND, below: So far, the hospitalization rate in ND is less than 1/3 of that of NY at its worst. Comparing hospitalizations with deaths, below: We see that deaths in ND are about 40% of those of NY at its peak. But hospitalizations lag infections by roughly 3 weeks, and deaths lag hospitalizations by about another 2 weeks. Infections in ND have almost doubled in the past 3 weeks. A doubling of ND hospitalizations would put it at roughly 2/3 of the NY peak, with deaths expected to follow suit. And of course there is no indication yet that ND’s infection rate has peaked. Nor, with he possible exception of South Dakota, is there any such indication for any of the other 16 States with infection rates similar to Czechia. Sadly, it appears likely that by Thanksgiving there is going to be a full-scale emergency in parts of the upper Midwest and Mountain States similar to the one that engulfed NYC in April.
November 9 COVID-19 Test Results; Hospitalizations almost 60,000 -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 1,304,873 test results reported over the last 24 hours. There were 118,497 positive tests. This is a Monday reporting record. Almost 8,000 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 9.1% (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 and daily hospitalizations. The dashed line is the previous hospitalization maximum. Note that there were very few tests available in March and April, and many cases were missed, so the hospitalizations was higher relative to the 7-day average of positive tests in July. Now, there are many more tests, and many cases are being detected earlier – so hospitalizations have lagged. However, it is likely that hospitalizations will be at a new high tomorrow. This is a new record 7-day average cases for the USA.
US surpasses 1 million new COVID cases in first 10 days of November –The United States has officially surpassed 1 million new cases of coronavirus within the first 10 days of November, according to The Associated Press. A total of 10,217,789 cases have been reported by Johns Hopkins University as of Tuesday. As cases continue to surge across the country, death tolls and hospitalizations are on the rise as well. Hospitals in New Jersey reported 1,133 confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases as of Nov. 2, which was the highest number reported over the last four months. Illinois and Wisconsin reported new cases reaching more than 12,000 and 7,000 in those two states, according to WCYB. A total of 239,374 deaths have been reported in the U.S. since the pandemic began.
Hospitals see record number of Covid-19 patients as cases climb – A record number of people have been hospitalized with the coronavirus as projections indicate that the United States could see 20 million cases of Covid-19 by Christmas if the virus keeps infecting people at the current rate.The number of new cases for the three-week period ending Monday nearly doubled to 1.9 million from the previous 21-day tally of 1.07 million, an NBC News analysis of the latest figures showed. By Nov. 30, if this trend continues, the U.S. could have 13.6 million cases and by Dec. 21, that number at the current rate could climb to 19.9 million.Hospitalizations across the country have hit an all-time high as well, with 61,964 hospitalizations on Tuesday, according to the Covid Tracking Project. Pandemic fatigue and rising anger over having to wear masks and practice social distancing, coupled with colder weather driving people indoors where the virus is more easily spread, have created a “perfect storm” for new infections, epidemiologist Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, said Tuesday.Osterholm, who is also on President-elect Joe Biden’s Covid-19 task force, said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that he is not surprised the numbers were hitting close to 150,000 at this time. “And what I’ve been saying for months is — get ready, we’re going to be hitting 200,000 or more cases a day. And we have to get prepared in our hospitals for that very issue.”While a Pfizer vaccine for Covid-19 has been touted as “extraordinary” by Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious diseases expert, it’s not going to be rolled out until the end of December.Until then, Osterholm warned, the U.S. should brace itself for the “darkest weeks of this pandemic for us.” On Monday, the U.S. set yet another daily record for new coronavirus cases with 133,819, the data showed. It was the first time the number of Covid-19 cases crossed the 130,000 threshold and the sixth day in a row that the U.S. recorded more than 100,000 cases in a day.Wisconsin on Tuesday reported 7,073 new cases and 66 deaths overnight, both dismal new records for the state. Ohio also set anew daily record Monday with 6,508 new cases. So did Michigan, with 6,473 new cases Tuesday.And there has been a surge of new Covid-19 infections in nursing homes after a seven week decline, particularly in the Midwest where the number of deaths is ticking upward, as well, theAmerican Health Care Association and the National Center for Assisted Living reported Tuesday.
US coronavirus hospitalizations hit new peak – The number of hospitalizations from the coronavirus pandemic in the United States reached 61,964 as of Tuesday evening, according to the COVID Tracking Project. Also on Monday, the seven-day average of daily deaths in the US surpassed 1,000 for the first time since August 22. Both statistics demonstrate that the coronavirus is rampaging uncontrolled across the country, while the US ruling elite continues to send workers back to infected factories, offices and schools. The current hospitalization rate is now higher than the previous all-time high recorded in April, while the number of known new cases is more than three times what it was seven months ago. The number of coronavirus tests returning a positive result has also risen to 7.7 percent, up from 4.0 percent at the start of October, indicating that current testing measures are not fully capturing the true extent of the pandemic. Still higher numbers loom. In contrast to April, there are not even token measures in place to contain the pandemic, such as the national lockdown that covered most of that month. The policy is instead one of herd immunity, that is, the unchecked spread of the pandemic through the entire population. This was spelled out explicitly by White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows in an interview on CNN last month, when he admitted, “We’re not going to control the pandemic.” Overall, there have been more than 10.5 million confirmed coronavirus cases in the United States, including 3.6 million that are currently active. Of those who became infected, more than 245,000 have died.
November 10 COVID-19 Test Results; Record Cases, Record Hospitalizations — The US is now averaging over 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 1,069,405 test results reported over the last 24 hours. There were 130,989 positive tests. This is a new record. Over 9,000 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 12.2% (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 and daily hospitalizations. The dashed line is the previous hospitalization maximum. Note that there were very few tests available in March and April, and many cases were missed, so the hospitalizations was higher relative to the 7-day average of positive tests in July. Now, there are many more tests, and many cases are being detected earlier – so hospitalizations have lagged. Hospitalizations are now at a new record. This is a new record 7-day average cases for the USA.
‘We’re just kind of drowning:’ Counties say they’re overwhelmed with new COVID-19 cases – In Clark County, more COVID-19 infections are coming in than the health department can contact trace.Health Commissioner Charles Patterson said in a news release they’re simply “overwhelmed” with cases, and those in the backlog will receive a packet of information about their diagnosis and educational materials.Kyle Trout, a department public information officer, said they’re receiving about 80 new cases per day, compared to the 50 they can handle. The logjam spans about 300 cases.“All across the state, we’re seeing record numbers,” he said. “I don’t think people understand health departments are working seven days a week, sometimes 12-hour days. We’re just kind of drowning.”On Tuesday, Ohio smashed its one-day records for new cases (6,508), new hospitalizations (386), total number of people currently hospitalized (2,747), and positivity rate (11% on Monday).More than 300 Ohioans with COVID-19 are breathing with the assistance of a mechanical ventilator, the most at any point during the pandemic.All told, 5,547 Ohioans have died from COVID-19; more than 21,000 have been hospitalized; more than 261,000 have been infected.The new case downpour extends statewide.Preble County Public Health issued a news release warning that the caseload has outgrown the department’s tracing abilities. The department is advising residents to act as their own contact tracers and notify their places of employment, worship, school, gym, etc.“We’re still pretty swamped,” said Preble Health Commissioner Erik Balster in an interview Tuesday. “It’s only gotten worse as the weeks have gone on, as far as our backlog.”In Knox County, Health Commissioner Julie Miller issued public health orders that “limit gatherings of any size;” recommend that anyone who can work from home do so; and compel businesses to enforce mask wearing from employees and customers.The department also ordered a preschool to close due to staff and student infections.“Nine months into the pandemic, we have let our guard down,” she said in a news release. “People are not wearing masks. They are not social distancing. As a community, we need to take of one another. It’s time to step up and mask up.”On Monday, hospital executives and the Ohio Department of Health’s chief medical officer hosted a news conference warning of a growing staffing strain as more and more caregivers are infected with COVID-19. If the trendlines don’t change, they warned,Ohio’s hospitals will have to restrict non-essential services.
Hospitalizations soar as virus cuts through Missouri and Kansas uncontrolled – Hospitalizations of patients with COVID-19 are soaring in the state of Missouri as the virus cuts through the population uncontrolled. The state of Missouri reported 4,256 cases on Tuesday and 146 new deaths. The state does not mandate masks in bars and restaurants. According to the state’s COVID-19 dashboard, every county in the state has a testing positivity rate between 7 percent and 28 percent, with 16 counties over 20 percent and another 5 counties reporting 19 percent. The Missouri Hospital Association (MHA) reported multiple forms of strain on the state’s health care infrastructure, in addition to thousands of COVID-19 patients, including staffing shortages, “seasonal increases for respiratory and other illnesses” and “pent-up demand from the spring pandemic-related shutdowns.” MHA spokesman Dave Dillon expressed concern about hospital capacity, resources and staffing, “If we continue to have these high rates, we are going to have this continued demand on the resource, and it’s going to be very difficult to build out capacity.” Hospitalizations again hit another high Tuesday at 2,055 across the state, and some St. Louis-area hospitals are postponing elective procedures. In St. Louis and in the central part of the state, hospitals are reporting the largest number of patients since April. On November 6, the MHA reported more than 2,000 were hospitalized with COVID-19. Columbia-area hospitals report being near capacity. Jefferson County reported record cases November 6. On that date the county had a positivity rate of 23 percent and a total of 7,318 cases. This recent outbreak was traced to three Halloween parties held in the county without social distancing measures. Rather than taking immediate and decisive action to mitigate the spread of the disease in the state, recently reelected Republican Governor Mike Parson is touting the vaccine currently in development by Pfizer, which the company recently touted as 90 percent effective, as an impending solution. Parson and his administration are using the announcement to dismiss the need for any new preventive measures and taking his reelection as an endorsement of the state government’s lethal “open for business” approach to the pandemic.
US coronavirus situation is a ‘humanitarian disaster,’ and the pandemic is only accelerating, experts say – CNN – The Covid-19 crisis in America is so dire now, international aid workers have arrived to help.”This is a humanitarian disaster — probably one of the worst stories I’ve covered in my career here at CNN,” the network’s Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta said Thursday.Workers from Doctors Without Borders are trying to help the US get a grip on the pandemic, he said. More than 241,000 people have died from coronavirus nationwide — a number that is rapidly growing every day. “I mean, this is an organization that typically covers true disasters and medical crises all over the world,” Gupta said. “And when they sort of look at a map right now and say, ‘Where do we need to be?’ they pointed to the United States. They were in nursing homes in Detroit. They went to Missouri. They’re in these different places trying to offer their services. And still, the numbers are what they are.” The numbers are simply staggering. On Wednesday, the US recorded 1,893 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. The tally would reflect a new high since May, though it may be skewed by an outsized number from Georgia that could include backlogged deaths.More than 110,000 additional people in the US are projected to die from Covid-19 in just the next two months, according to the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.The US has also topped 100,000 daily infections at least nine days in a row. Wednesday was the second consecutive day of record numbers of Covid-19 hospitalizations.And new reports show the pandemic is only ramping up as the country approaches a critical holiday season.The White House coronavirus task force warned of “accelerating community spread across the top half of the country” in reports distributed to states this week. The panel, which last week warned of “significant deterioration in the Sunbelt,” said that has led to the “most diffuse spread experienced to date.” A separate forecast from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Policy Lab projects conditions will worsen in the West Coast, the Northeast and the mid-Atlantic states over the next several weeks. Hospitalizations, ICU admissions and ventilator use are rising in every single state, the lab said.”In every Midwestern state, COVID-19 patients are occupying more than 25% of ICU beds,” it reported.That’s as the US reported the highest number of hospitalizations ever on Wednesday — with more than 65,000 Covid-19 patients nationwide, according to the COVID Tracking Project.“The nearly universal rise in statewide hospitalization rates, particularly in our colder regions, is a pattern that will grow as we move into the holiday season,” the policy lab said. Some hospitals have reached full capacity and are sending patients away. And doctors are pleading for the public to get more serious about wearing masks, washing hands and physical distancing.
Some hospitals are running out of health care workers. Here’s what could happen next -Imagine going to a hospital so overwhelmed, doctors and nurses with Covid-19 are allowed to keep working. Or having a heart attack and getting rushed to a hospital, only to learn there’s not enough emergency care for you.These scenarios have already turned into reality. The US has more people hospitalized with Covid-19 this week than at any other point in the pandemic.”The difference between what’s happening now versus what happened before is that the virus is everywhere now,” emergency medicine physician Dr. Leana Wen said.”Before, there were just a few hot spots across the country. There were health care workers who could volunteer and go between different states,” she said.”But when the virus is so widespread, we could very well … run out of health care workers, which means that patient care is going to suffer. And we will be at breaking point in our hospitals.”This current onslaught of fall Covid-19 cases is the result of more indoor socializing, reopened schools and people flouting safety precautions due to pandemic fatigue, health experts say.Nationwide, 61,964 patients were hospitalized with Covid-19 on Tuesday, according to the Covid Tracking Project. That’s the highest number since this pandemic began. “We’re already seeing our hospitals at breaking point in some parts of the country. And that means it doesn’t just affect patients with coronavirus,” Wen said.”It also means that elective surgeries are being put off for things like hip replacements, for cancer surgery or heart surgery in some cases.”And the crisis is expected to get worse. The US had a record-high 136,325 new Covid-19 cases reported Tuesday, according to Johns Hopkins University.And massive surges in new infections lead to more hospitalizations and deaths in the following weeks.”Unfortunately, I think the statement about ‘new record’ is going to be repeated over and over again,” said Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health.”We have more infections now than we’ve had certainly since the beginning of the pandemic. And I expect that those numbers will continue to climb. Hospitalizations are going to continue to climb.”
COVID-Positive Nurses Allowed to Keep Working in Virus-Swamped North Dakota – North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum has amended a statewide health order to allow nurses and other health-care workers with COVID-19 to keep working amid an overwhelming surge of coronavirus cases. Hospitals are at 100 percent capacity and a major staff shortage is making it worse. Hospital administrators reportedly asked Burgum to take the extraordinary step of allowing staff with asymptomatic cases to keep working in hospitals’ COVID-19 units. Burgum outlined several other initiatives to stem the crisis like urgently hiring EMTs and paramedics to run testing sites, in order to free up nurses to work in overrun hospitals instead. On Tuesday, health officials said 30 residents died in the preceding 24 hours – the state’s deadliest day of the pandemic. Non-coronavirus hospital admissions are also rising, likely due to people deferring health-care earlier in the pandemic.
Ohio governor warns hospitals could be overwhelmed with COVID-19 cases in ‘a few short weeks’ – Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) warned on Wednesday that the state’s hospitals could be overwhelmed with COVID-19 cases in “just a few short weeks.” As cases rise in every state in the nation, DeWine painted a stark picture in an address to residents, saying hospitals may not end up having enough staff to handle the coming winter. He said hospitals “are functioning right now … as if at the peak of the flu season” which usually comes in January, but currently do not see an end in sight. “It is taking an enormous human toll on our health care workers,” the governor said. “Our health care workers are quite frankly exhausted,” he continued. “They’ve been running a marathon for nine months straight, and with this new wave and the onset of flu season, it’s like they’re starting the race all over again.” DeWine cautioned that “if we don’t change this,” Ohio hospitals will not be able to adequately give emergency care and other “important, but less urgent care.” “Make no mistake, if nothing changes, this all could happen in just a few short weeks,” he said. Ohio has been seeing a steady increase in new COVID-19 cases since the beginning of October. The state recorded its most new cases in a single day on Tuesday, with 6,508 new cases, according to the COVID Tracking Project. The project’s data shows cases have more than quadrupled in the past month. Facilities have also reached a new high of 2,747 current hospitalizations, triple the amount since Oct. 11. In his address, DeWine said the state will have to close restaurants, bars and fitness centers “one week from tomorrow” if “the current trend continues.” The U.S. reported 136,000 new cases of COVID-19 Tuesday, a record high
November 11 COVID-19 Test Results; Record Cases, Record Hospitalizations — The US is now averaging over 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 1,134,101 test results reported over the last 24 hours.There were 144,270 positive tests. This is a new record. Almost 11,000 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 12.7% (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 and daily hospitalizations.The dashed line is the previous hospitalization maximum.Note that there were very few tests available in March and April, and many cases were missed, so the hospitalizations was higher relative to the 7-day average of positive tests in July. Now, there are many more tests, and many cases are being detected earlier – so hospitalizations have lagged. Hospitalizations are now at a new record. This is a new record 7-day average cases for the USA.
Indiana reports record 6,654 new coronavirus cases, 51 additional deaths – The Indiana State Department of Health (ISDH) reported a record of 6,654 more positive coronavirus cases and 51 additional confirmed COVID-19 deaths Thursday. The latest ISDH dashboard data indicates the state’s 7-day all-test positivity rate of 10.5%, with a cumulative rate of 6.4% positive. As of November 8, the ISDH County Metric map shows 5 counties in Yellow, 78 in Orange and 9 in Red. The weekly score is determined by each county’s Weekly Cases Per 100,000 residents and its 7-Day All Test Positivity Rate. The latest hospitalization numbers show 2,569 total COVID-19 patients – 2065 confirmed and 504 under investigation. ISDH says 22.3% of ICU beds and 75.6% of ventilators are available across the state. For complete statistics reported by ISDH, including total tests administered and demographic data, visit Coronavirus.In.Gov.
Kansas reports record new coronavirus cases: 6,282 on Friday Kansas on Friday reported a record 6,282 new COVID-19 cases in the state since Wednesday.It was the first report to hit the 6,000 mark since the Kansas Department of Health and Environment started reporting on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays in mid-May. The previous high was 5,920 cases reported Monday. The new cases and 41 new reported deaths brought the state’s total to 115,507 cases and 1,256 deaths. It also brought the average total of daily cases during the past week to 2,553. Kansas averaged 13 deaths a day over the past week.The daily cases and deaths have been trending up since the new reporting days in mid-May, when there were 100-plus cases a day and an average of a couple of deaths a day.November has also had the percent of positive cases skyrocket. It is at 20.2% so far in November. April had a high of 13.9% followed by October’s 9.5%.
Daily coronavirus cases top 15,000 in Illinois for the first time, setting a record for the fourth straight day – With Illinois reporting more than 15,000 new confirmed and probable cases of the coronavirus for the first time Friday, the state’s top public health official urged residents to “step up” and take personal responsibility for slowing the spread of the virus. “If we keep doing everything we’re doing and not changing, no measure that we can do at the state level is … going to allow us to have an effect,” Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said during a daily COVID-19 briefing. “Everybody’s saying, ‘What are we going to do?’ – What are you going to do?” Ezike said. “Individuals need to take the responsibility to control this virus. And I’m really looking for people to step up and stop looking for somebody else to do the job that we individually have the power to do.” The state reported 15,415 COVID-19 cases Friday, setting a record for the fourth straight day and jumping by more than 2,700 cases, or more than 21%, from Thursday. Over the past week, the state is averaging 12,345 cases of COVID-19 per day. The staggering number of new cases comes after Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Cook County public health officials all have urged residents to stay home except for essential trips, such as grocery shopping or going to the pharmacy. Pritzker warned Thursday that the state could be headed for another mandatory stay-at-home order if the current surge of the virus doesn’t come under control.State health officials also reported 27 more fatalities Friday, bringing the statewide death toll to 10,504 since the pandemic began. While there were fewer deaths reported Friday than in recent days, the state has averaged 61 deaths per day over the past week, up from 41 at the beginning of the month.
Ohio sees another record spike with 8,071 coronavirus cases in 24 hours (WJW) – The Ohio Department of Health said 8,071 coronavirus cases were reported in the last 24 hours. That’s the highest daily total since the beginning of the pandemic and breaks the previous record set Thursday by nearly 1,000. There were also 42 more deaths, 298 additional hospitalizations and 21 new intensive care unit admissions. According to the state health department, there have been 282,528 total confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19, and 5,700 deaths in Ohio. It is presumed that 197,674 have recovered. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine did not hold a coronavirus news conference on Friday. During his media availability on Thursday, he warned of another shutdown if trends don’t improve. “We don’t want another shutdown. We can all avoid a shutdown if we are very careful. This is within our control. We don’t have to let it get that bad. We don’t have to let it get to the point where hospitals are full. We all have it in our power to prevent this,” DeWine said. Under the latest map from the Ohio Public Health Advisory System, 68 of the state’s 88 counties are in the red level, meaning very high exposure and spread.
Michigan reports over 8,500 coronavirus cases for daily record, 118 deaths – Amid a major surge in coronavirus infections, Michigan confirmed 118 virus-related deaths Friday and a new daily record of 8,516 new cases of COVID-19. Friday’s death count included 83 older deaths that were confirmed as COVID-related during a review of vital records, state health officials said. These deaths might have occurred days or weeks ago. The state had its fifth consecutive week of breaking records for weekly cases, with doubling every two- to two and a half weeks. Michigan has reported 36,947 cases Sunday through Friday, even before Saturday’s report. The previous weekly high of confirmed cases was set last week at 29,614. Single-day spikes in COVID cases have sometimes been attributed to a backlog in labs processing tests, but the state was not aware of any backlog that resulted in Friday’s large number of new cases being reported. “Unfortunately, this is a continuation of the very concerning spike in cases, deaths and hospitalizations,” said Bob Wheaton, spokesman for the Michigan health department. “We continue to ask people to wear masks, physically distance, wash their hands frequently and avoid indoor gatherings with people from outside their households.”
Wisconsin coronavirus: State tops 300,000 total cases, adds 7,777 more -It took more than seven months for Wisconsin to record its first 100,000 coronavirus cases, then only 36 days to notch the second 100,000.On Friday, just 18 days later, the state hit its third 100,000.The milestone came as Wisconsin reported yet another daily case record, its coronavirus crisis continuing to spiral out of control.The state Department of Health Services on Friday reported 7,777 new cases as well as 58 deaths, bringing the death toll to 2,573.The average number of new daily cases over the last seven days reached a new high of 6,442.Case counts have grown at breakneck speed in recent days. The seven-day average has jumped more than 1,300 in the last week and increased 460% over the last two months. As the U.S. contends with its third, and worst, wave of the virus – reporting a record153,000 new cases Thursday – Wisconsin’s crisis ranks among the worst. The state’s seven-day case average is the fourth-highest in the nation, according toNew York Times data, behind Illinois, Texas and California – states with populations several times Wisconsin’s. And five metropolitan or micropolitan areas in Wisconsin make the Times’ list of the top 20 areas with the greatest number of new cases on a population-adjusted basis: Beaver Dam, Wausau-Weston, Fond du Lac, Eau Claire and Sheboygan. “The pandemic has worsened across the country over the last two months, but perhaps nowhere as quickly as in Wisconsin,” reads a New York Times report analyzing the hardest-hit locations. Wisconsin’s average positivity rate hit a new high of 36.2% Friday. Of major concern to health experts are surging hospitalizations and deaths from the virus. Both measures have seen massive increases in recent weeks as a direct result of high case counts weeks earlier.Because cases have continued to rise since then and show no sign of slowing down, hospitalization and death numbers are expected to worsen. As of Friday, there were 2,045 people hospitalized with the virus, including 435 patients in intensive care units. The ICU count is at an all-time high.
Minnesota reports record 1,424 COVID-19 hospitalizations – Minnesota reported a record 1,424 COVID-19 hospitalizations on Friday, and an additional 46 people have died from the rapidly spreading COVID-19 virus – the second highest one-day total in Minnesota. Of the 1,424 hospitalized with COVID-19, 293 were in intensive care. All told, 2,839 Minnesotans have died of the virus since last spring. In an effort to stem the coronavirus’ reach as the Thanksgiving holiday approaches, new restrictions on bars, restaurants and private gatherings begin Friday. The Minnesota Department of Health reported Friday 5,552 new cases of COVID-19 with a total of 207,339 Minnesotans have been diagnosed with the virus since last spring. The previous one-day record was 56 deaths reported on Wednesday. People at a new saliva testing center for COVID in the Minneapolis Convention Center drop saliva samples into a collection box Monday in Minneapolis. ] DAVID JOLES • [email protected] More Of the deaths reported Friday, 33 were in long-term care and assisted-living facilities, 12 were in private residences, and one was in a group home, according to Health Department data. Some 3.3 million tests have been completed through Minnesota, as the state rolls out more testing sites. And on Thursday, Health Department officials said people ages 18 and 35 should seek testing right away, regardless of whether they’re exhibiting symptoms of the virus. The Health Department has ramped up testing across the state, opening the ninth PCR (polymerase chain reaction) saliva test site at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on Thursday. .
Minnesota’s deadliest week in pandemic leaves 248 dead – The deadliest week of the COVID-19 pandemic in Minnesota closed Friday with the governor and top health officials predicting the pandemic will get much worse in coming weeks, especially as the holiday season draws near. “Emotionally, this is getting very hard. We’ve lost 248 Minnesotans [to COVID-19] over the last seven days,” Gov. Tim Walz said on Friday. “We are headed toward a deep, dark winter.” Surviving the dire days of the outbreak will involve a collective effort of masking up, social distancing, relying on an expanded network of testing sites throughout the state and avoiding social gatherings. These precautions could help bridge the gap until a vaccine is available, likely in the first quarter of 2021, said Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. “If we could hold out until then it would save so many lives and avoid so much suffering,” said Osterholm, who joined Walz and others for a press briefing Friday. In the meantime, the Minnesota Department of Health reported a record 1,424 COVID-19 hospitalizations on Friday, and an additional 46 people have died from the rapidly spreading virus – the second highest one-day total in Minnesota. The previous single-day record was 56 deaths reported on Wednesday. All told, 2,839 Minnesotans have died of the virus since spring. The Health Department also reported 5,552 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday and a total of 207,339 cases since spring. The trajectory is heading in the wrong direction, Walz noted. “It took us seven months, about 27 weeks, to reach 100,000 [COVID-19] cases in Minnesota,” the governor said. “It took seven weeks, a little short of two months, to reach 200,000 cases. It will take us less than three weeks to reach 300,000.”
Colorado COVID-19 cases hit new high; Polis shares hospital surge plan – Colorado set a new single-day case record of 6,439 cases reported in the last 24 hours, Polis said during a Friday news conference. As of Friday morning, 1,159 people were hospitalized in Colorado for COVID-19. Polis again reminded those watching Friday’s news conference that Colorado has a higher level of coronavirus in the community now than it did in March. “These are our darkest days as a nation,” Polis said. “These are our darkest days as a state.”The worst-case scenario, which state health officials say they are working to avoid, is the state doesn’t have enough hospital beds, staff or equipment to help those who need it, Polis said.Polis said he will be signing an executive order that clarifies the order of operations for dealing with surges in hospitalizations. Many hospitals have already made these plans, but Polis said the order will provide a state-level organized response. The executive order will outline the following steps hospitals should take if and when they have surges:
- Hospitals should first increase internal capacity by opening unused space in the building and augmenting staffing. If further capacity is needed, they must scale back their elective procedures. A potential moratorium on elective procedures, as there was earlier in the pandemic, remains “on the table,” Polis said.
- If hospitalizations continue to surge, hospitals can utilize the interhospital transfer system to send patients to other hospitals that do have space, Polis said.
- The last resort would be to utilize one of the the three remaining alternative care sites set up statewide: The Colorado Convention Center in Denver; St. Mary-Corwin Medical Center in Pueblo; and St. Anthony North Family Medicine in Westminster.
“We are prepared to activate (the alternative care sites) if necessary, and we are a lot closer to that today than we were two weeks ago or we were four weeks ago,” Polis said.
Colorado prepares for hospital bed, staff shortages as COVID-19 spreads unchecked – Colorado is preparing for the third wave of the pandemic to fill the state’s hospitals to capacity, a scenario Gov. Jared Polis said is becoming increasingly likely as new coronavirus infections continue to set daily records. The Colorado Hospital Association activated the state’s Combined Hospital Transfer Center for the first time Friday as some facilities in the state reported concerns about running out of staff or hitting patient capacity amid soaring COVID-19 hospitalizations. The governor outlined how the state is planning for hospitals to deal with exceeding their capacity during a news briefing Friday, including raising the possibility of a moratorium on elective surgeries if facilities continue to fill. “We know that if our health care system is overwhelmed due to the increase in cases and growing hospitalizations then people will die who could have been saved,” Polis said. “The worst case scenario, which it is our goal to avoid, and we will continue to struggle to do so, is that so many Coloradans are sick that there’s not enough beds or staff or equipment and as a result more Coloradans will lose their life,” he added. “This was the reason for the strong actions in March.” The announcement that hospitals are preparing for a surge came during a week that local public officials have said that they can no longer contain the spread of the novel coronavirus. They also have asked state leaders, including at the Department of Public Health and Environment, to implement stricter interventions to stem the transmission of COVID-19. Still, Polis remains reluctant to impose tougher restrictions, including a statewide lockdown. The governor, who was asked repeatedly during the news briefing about a stay-at-home order, has instead encouraged Coloradans to stay home and only interact with those in their households. If people decide to join their family and friends outside of their household for Thanksgiving feasts, then they should quarantine for 14 days beforehand to reduce the risk of transmitting the virus to loved ones, Polis said.
New York tops 5,000 daily COVID-19 cases for the first time since April – New York on Friday reported 5,000 new coronavirus cases – a figure not seen since April, near the height of the pandemic – as the United States as a whole battles a record number of infections. Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) said on Twitter that the figure represents a 2.65 percent positive rate of coronavirus infections in the Empire State. There are currently 1,737 people hospitalized in New York due to COVID-19, Cuomo said, while 24 people in the state died on Thursday due to the disease. A press secretary for Cuomo noted that the positive diagnoses were among more than 200,000 test results reported to the state on Thursday, a record number of daily tests performed. “COVID is raging nationally, setting record numbers of cases and hospitalizations with each passing day,” Cuomo said in a statement. “While New York is doing better than just about any state in the United States, we are not immune from the national trend. Now it’s up to what we do. There is no pre-destined future here. It’s a pure consequence of our actions.” After being an initial epicenter of COVID-19 in the U.S. back in the early months of the pandemic, the Empire State managed to get their numbers under control, with many health experts hailing the state as a model of effective coronavirus control measures. In recent months, however, the rate of coronavirus cases in New York has been steadily increasing despite Cuomo enacting stricter regulation. In September, the state’s daily record was 1,000 – 4,000 fewer cases per day than it is currently experiencing. New York’s spiking COVID-19 cases come as the rest of the United States is also experiencing an upward trend. On Thursday, the United States recorded more than 152,000 coronavirus infections, setting a new daily record.
November 13 COVID-19 Test Results; Record Cases, Record Hospitalizations –The US is now averaging over 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 1,383,088 test results reported over the last 24 hours.There were 170,333 positive tests. This is a new record. Over 13,000 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 12.3% (red line is 7 day average). The percent positive is calculated by dividing positive results by the sum of negative and positive results (I don’t include pending).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 and daily hospitalizations.The dashed line is the previous hospitalization maximum.Note that there were very few tests available in March and April, and many cases were missed, so the hospitalizations was higher relative to the 7-day average of positive tests in July. Now, there are many more tests, and many cases are being detected earlier – so hospitalizations have lagged. Hospitalizations are now at a new record. This is a new record 7-day average cases for the USA.
At least 5 passengers on first Caribbean cruise in months tests positive for COVID-19 – At least five people who were aboard the first Caribbean cruise ship in months tested positive for COVID-19, according to a CNN report. NBC reported earlier on Wednesday that a passenger tested positive for the virus, citing a report from Gene Sloan, a reporter for the website The Points Guy who was on the ship. Sloan said the captain announced that the passenger aboard SeaDream 1 tested positive on a “preliminary basis.” NBC noted it was not clear what “preliminary basis” means. Sloan said that all passengers were asked to return to their cabins to isolate and that the ship’s crew was also isolating. The Hill has reached out to SeaDream Yacht Club, which owns the ship, for comment. SeaDream 1 is the first cruise vessel to begin sailing in the Caribbean since March when the coronavirus was declared a pandemic. Coronavirus cases are now skyrocketing across the U.S., raising alarms as people move inside to escape the colder weather. There were 53 passengers and 66 crew members onboard SeaDream 1 at the time the announcement was made, according to Sloan. Every passenger on board had to test negative for the virus several days prior to boarding and again on the day of boarding. Another round of testing was conducted Wednesday when the passenger tested positive. The ship left Barbados on Saturday and had traveled to Saint Vincent, Canouan Island, and Tobago Cays, according to Sloan. Passengers had not come into contact with island locals, he wrote. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention first barred cruise sailing in mid-March, and renewed the order in April and July. It later lifted the order to allow “simulation” cruises to sail in the U.S. Cruise ships proved to be dangerous for the spread of the coronavirus after hundreds aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan contracted the virus in February. Several ships docked outside U.S. waters ran into similar issues before cases started escalating in the U.S.
As COVID-19 surges around the world, governments put profits ahead of lives – This weekend, the world hit 50 million reported cases of COVID-19, and deaths surpassed 1.25 million, as the Americas and Europe faced the worst stage of the pandemic to date. In France and Italy, hospitals are once again overwhelmed, prompting them to transfer patients to nearby countries, including Germany. On Saturday, France logged a record 86,852 cases. Photos and video have circulated of the hallways of Italian hospitals crammed with people on ventilators, with some even lying on hospital floors, as the country’s health system is stretched to the brink. On Saturday, Italy’s health ministry reported 39,811 new coronavirus infections over 24 hours, the country’s highest daily tally. The total number of deaths related to the virus has reached over 41,000 in the country.The United States logged record daily new cases on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, reaching over 132,000. The daily new case count in the US is now higher than the total number of COVID-19 cases in China during the entire pandemic. The average number of daily new cases in America has surged by a staggering 30 percent over the past week. Nineteen states are reporting a record number of people hospitalized with COVID-19, and 43 states are reporting rising cases. This includes states in the country’s rural heartland, where health care systems are chronically underfunded. Texas now has more cases than any other state, with over one million. The Department of Defense sent three emergency medical teams to El Paso, and the city has set up temporary emergency medical facilities to buttress its inundated hospitals. The US now has 10 million COVID-19 cases, or one fifth of the world’s total, and nearly a quarter million people are dead. Epidemiologists have warned that the death toll could rise to up to 400,000 by the end of the year. Last March, governments were forced to temporarily close non-essential businesses after spontaneous walkouts by workers in auto plants and other facilities. But amid the latest wave of the pandemic, which is far worse, governments have made clear that they will not close schools or factories. While France, Britain, and Germany have implemented minor restrictions, including closing bars and gyms, they have not taken any measures to close schools or shut down production in non-essential manufacturing facilities. In the United States, the Trump administration has openly embraced the doctrine of “herd immunity,” which holds that the spread of the pandemic is a positive good and that governments should do nothing to stop it.
Is Denmark about to export a more dangerous form of COVID-19? — Denmark is famous for its exports of cheese and pork. Less known is the country’s role as the world’s largest producer of mink skins and therefore, not surprisingly, the “global hub for the fur trade.” Unfortunately for the minks and the mink industry, the Danish government has now pledged to kill every mink in Denmark is order to eradicate a mutant strain of COVID-19 carried by mink that is transmissible to humans. That would mean dispatching some 17 million animals in short order. Why are the Danes so panicked? Because this mutant strain “is not readily stopped by antibodies to the dominant strain of the virus.” That could mean that vaccines currently being developed for this dominant strain will be of little or no value in treating people with the mutant strain. The number of human cases so far is small, 12 cases in workers on one farm. It is worth remembering that on February 26 this year, President Trump told the public that there were only 15 cases in the United States, that drastic steps to contain the virus such as shutdowns were not yet necessary and that “15 [cases] within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero.” By the end of March, much of the country was in a state of emergency as infections were skyrocketing. The broader truth is that many, but not all, advanced countries were caught by surprise by the rapid advance of the virus. While the Danish response to the mink outbreak and its attendant human infections may seem extreme, such aggressive action is likely to be the only thing that will stop the mutant strain. The Danish government is also placing extraordinary restrictions on the residents of North Jutland where the outbreak occurred. We can wish the Danes success in their attempts to eradicate this mutant strain of COVID-19. But I do not think we can be assured that another such mutant strain won’t arise elsewhere or that this strain hasn’t already made its way beyond the Danish border. As the worldwide pandemic lays bare all of the weaknesses of our modern way of life, we have an opportunity to rethink our relationship with the natural world. The first adjustment should be to accept that we are indeed a part of that world, that is, we are organisms in an environment just like every other organism.
France and Italy report record cases as virus ravages Europe. As winter approaches, Europe is struggling with a brutal resurgence of the virus, one that, along with the U.S. surge, has helped push the global case count over 50 million, according to aNew York Times database. France and Italy have reported record daily case totals in recent days as both countries have moved to lock down some regions.In Italy, where the devastation of the first wave in the spring looms large, 39,809 new coronavirus cases were reported on Saturday, a new daily record. Its daily average has increased by 119 percent over the past two weeks.Deaths in Italy have increased by a staggering 232 percent over the past two weeks, with 425 deaths reported on Saturday.Arno Kompatscher, the governor of Italy’s Bolzano Province, known for its ski resorts, moved on Sunday to lock down the area, limiting travel and closing most nonessential stores and in-person dining.Bolzano’s “red zone” restrictions add it to the list of Italian regions under strict lockdown; Valle d’Aosta, Piedmont and Lombardy – home to Milan – are also under shutdowns.France reported a record 60,486 new cases on Friday and 40,439 on Saturday. While the daily average there has risen by 57 percent over the past two weeks, deaths have increased by 170 percent in the same period. On Sunday, nine of the 10 countries with the highest average daily case totals per person were in Europe, including the Czech Republic (third highest), Switzerland (fourth highest) and France (eighth highest), according to a Times database.
Coronavirus pandemic spreads in France despite partial lockdown policies – In the face of the delayed and insufficient confinement measures implemented by the Macron administration, with schools and non-essential industries open, the coronavirus pandemic is continuing to spread outside of control in France. In a press conference Monday, health director Jérôme Salomon warned that the “peak” remained “ahead of us,” and “the second wave is continuing.” He reported another 551 deaths in the previous 24 hours, bringing the total to 40,987. There are now 4,539 people in urgent care beds, up from 3,730 only one week ago. The total capacity of urgent care beds, assuming that other critical operations are cancelled or delayed to free space, is 7,500 nationally. Another 38,619 new cases were recorded Monday, when figures are always artificially suppressed due to lower testing on the weekend. On Saturday, due to an accumulation of uncounted cases from previous days, almost 90,000 cases were reported. Friday marked a new daily record of almost 60,000 cases, which per capita would be equivalent to almost 300,000 daily cases in the United States. The rolling seven-day average of cases in France is now almost 42,000. The average death rate over the last seven days in hospital is 364. The spread of the pandemic is an exposure of the criminal policies pursued by the ruling class in France and across Europe. At the end of spring, governments forced workers back to work in order to reopen the economy and boost corporate profits. Across Europe, a race took place as to who could most rapidly dismantle all precautions. The second wave of curfews and partial lockdowns were both deliberately delayed and insufficient to contain the renewed upsurge. Measures to combat the epidemic have been calibrated to minimize any impact on economic activity and corporate profits. Serious measures in late August to early September, before the school and university system was reopened, could still have been effective. The French government made the conscious decision to allow the pandemic to develop out of control.
Coronavirus infections in Germany hit a new record – The number of reported new coronavirus infections in Germany reached a record level on Saturday with 23,399 cases, according to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). The previous record of the day before was exceeded again by about 2,000 cases. The number of fatalities rose by 130 and now stands at 11,226. The situation in hospitals, and especially in intensive care units, is becoming more dramatic day by day. As of Saturday, 2,839 patients were receiving intensive medical care. Exactly one month earlier, the figure had been 470. According to the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive Care (DIVI) register, the number of patients requiring ventilation rose from 233 to 1,534 during the same period. Doctors assume that intensive care bed capacity will be exhausted by the beginning of next month, at the latest. A concrete forecast is difficult to make, as many beds are reported as available, but there are no staff available to manage them. On average, five nurses are needed per intensive care bed. The German Foundation for Patient Protection has expressed doubts that the correct number of available beds is being reported by hospitals. It is feared that hospitals report an appreciable number of beds as available, for which no nursing staff are available, reported Tagesschau. A total of 642,488 infections have now been registered in Germany. At the end of September, Chancellor Angela Merkel (Christian Democratic Union, CDU) had warned that there could be 19,200 new infections per day by Christmas. This figure was already exceeded in October. Most recently, Merkel had to warn of a collapse of intensive care bed provision in Germany given the latest infection figures. Laboratories are now increasingly overloaded with test evaluations. The RKI had reported a backlog of around 99,000 samples in 69 laboratories by November 1; two weeks earlier, it was around 21,000 in 52 laboratories. According to the RKI, an increasing number of laboratories reported they had reached the limits of their capacity in recent weeks..
Record cases in Portugal, Russia and Sweden: COVID-19 daily bulletin – CGTN
- – Switzerland has begun a rolling review of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate, so it can give it a speedy approval should it pass muster in clinical trials.
- – Hospitals are under pressure in Portugal as confirmed coronavirus cases in pushed past the 200,000 mark on Friday and the number of new daily infections reached a record high.
- – Restrictions aimed at slowing a surge in coronavirus cases will be extended in several Italian regions, with both Tuscany and Campania set to be designated as high-risk “red zones.”
- – Austria will announce the closure of schools and tighten contact restrictions on Saturday, though its retail sector is likely to remain open.
- – Sweden has registered 5,990 new cases in the past 24 hours, the highest since the start of the pandemic, and 42 new deaths, according to its health ministry.
- – France will not lift its tough new COVID-19 measures for the next two weeks, despite a decline in cases for the fifth successive day. “It would be irresponsible to soften the lockdown now,” Prime Minister Jean Castex said. Hospital admissions for the virus are at an all-time high in the country, which has 1.86 million coronavirus cases, the most in Europe.
- – Italy has recorded 636 virus-related deaths over the past 24 hours – its highest daily figure since April 6. The total number of new infections also rose by more than 5,000 to 37,978.
- – Portugal has announced an expansion of a nightly curfew and weekend lockdown already in place across more than 100 municipalities to a further 77 areas. Residents in affected areas must not leave the house except for work, school or shopping during the week, and must stay home between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m..
- – COVID-19 cases in Czechia continue to fall after health ministry data reported 7,874 new daily infections in the past 24 hours, 5,358 fewer than the same time a week ago. The country is seeking to push down Europe’s highest per-capita infection rate.
- – Thursday was the deadliest day during the pandemic so far, with 11,617 fatalities worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University. The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases was also a record, at more than 666,000 in a day.
- – Russia has reported a record 21,983 new coronavirus infections in the past 24 hours. Moscow has ordered bars, restaurants and nightclubs to close between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. from Friday until mid-January.
- – Restaurants, bars and shopping malls in Catalonia, Spain, will remain closed for at least another 10 days, with a gradual return to open-air activities on terraces planned from November 23. Meanwhile, the Spanish government is considering extending its scheme of state-backed credit beyond December to support the battered hospitality sector.
- – People across Europe are being warned it is too early to plan for Christmas travel. Sweden has said it may introduce travel restrictions and Irish and French authorities said it was too soon to tell if people could make travel arrangements.
UK deaths rise by 563 – as it happened – Nearly 67,000 deaths involving Covid-19 have now occurred in the UK, the latest figures from the UK’s statistics agencies show. These are separate from the figures gathered by the UK government, which only take into account deaths from Covid-19 where a person has died within 28 days of a positive test (see8.05pm.).According to the most recent reports from the Office for National Statistics, the National Records of Scotland, and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, a total of 63,317 deaths have so far been registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate. But since those figures were compiled, a further 3,195 deaths are known to have occurred in England, plus 33 in Scotland, 220 in Wales and 110 in Northern Ireland, according to additional data published on the UK government’s coronavirus dashboard. Together, these totals mean that so far there have been 66,875 deaths involving Covid-19 in the UK. Here is a recap of the main developments from the last few hours:
- Portugal announced an expansion of a nightly curfew and weekend lockdown already in place across more than 100 municipalities to a further 77 areas as it scrambles to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
- The Chicago mayor, Lori Lightfoot, issued a 30-day advisory telling residents to stay at home and not to have visitors in the home, including for Thanksgiving. If residents travel out of the state, they must quarantine for 14 days or submit a negative virus test, she said.
- Northern Ireland’s power-sharing government has agreed to extend Covid-19 restrictions for between one and two weeks, falling short of stricter measures demanded by Irish nationalist parties. The five-party power-sharing executive agreed the reopening of cafes and close-contact services such as hairdressers will be delayed by a week and the reopening of bars and restaurants serving alcohol will be delayed by two weeks.
- Italy recorded 636 Covid-related deaths over the past 24 hours – its highest daily figure since 6 April. The number of new infections also rose by more than 5,000 compared with Wednesday – up from 32,961 to 37,978. The northern region of Lombardy remains the hardest-hit area.
- France’s lockdown is to last for at least two more weeks, with the number of people in hospital infected by the coronavirus now higher than at the peak of the first wave, the prime minister, Jean Castex, told a news conference. He said that if the current slowdown in the rate of new cases was maintained, France would pass the peak of the second wave early next week but that if the spread of infections began to accelerate he would not hesitate to impose stricter measures.
- Iran’s death toll from the coronavirus has risen above 40,000 after 457 more fatalities were recorded in the past 24 hours. The number of people who have died from Covid in Iran, which has the highest death count in the Middle East, now stands at 40,121.
- A senior health department official in Delhi has said that Diwali, starting on 14 November, could be “a super spreader event”. India has so far reported about 8.6 million coronavirus infections – the world’s second highest after the US – and 127,571 deaths. But overall, it has been adding fewer cases daily since a mid-September peak, and its fatality figure of 92 per million people is well below the world’s tally of 160 and the US’s 711.
Italy registers 550 more deaths; record daily cases in Germany, Sweden and Russia – as it happened – The regions of Italy that include the cities of Naples and Florencewere declared coronavirus red zones on Friday, Associated Press reports, in the latest sign of the dire condition of Italian hospitals struggling with a surge of new admissions.The director of the National Health Institute, Gianni Rezza, said the stricter measures were justified by a “worrisome increase in hospitalisations” as Italy’s rate of new confirmed cases reached650 per 100,000 people. Confirmed cases hit a daily pandemic high of nearly 41,000 and 550 people died of the virus in 24 hours, bringing the country’s known death toll to 44,139. Italy has reported a total of more than 1.1m virus cases.Naples hospitals made headlines this week when a video that went viral showed an elderly man lying dead on the floor of an emergency room bathroom. The video, shot with a smartphone inside Antonio Cardarelli hospital also showed what appears to be an overcrowded emergency area with patients lying on stretchers close together and left without medical assistance.In the red zones people cannot leave their homes apart from for work, health or emergency reasons.Sweden remains steadfast in its strategy of voluntary measures and no lockdowns, the architect of its unorthodox Covid-19 response said on Friday, as the country experienced a record number of daily infections, Reuters reports.More than 6,000 Swedes have died in the country of 10 million people. Its soft-touch approach to combating the virus has drawn worldwide attention – and harsh domestic criticism from some – and there has been a surge in the number of cases, hospitalisations and deaths in recent weeks.At 5,990, the number of new cases reported on Friday was the highest since the start of the pandemic. A further 42 deaths were also recorded, the most for around three months. The strategy, however, will not change.“No, we will keep on this path,” the chief epidemiologist, Anders Tegnell, told Reuters in a telephone interview on Friday. “This is how we work in Sweden. We have big understanding for this and a huge adherence to the rules.”In contrast to many other countries, Sweden has kept schools, restaurants and other businesses open throughout the pandemic. Instead, it has focused on voluntary measures aimed at promoting social distancing and good hygiene, such as working from home if possible, avoiding public transport and crowded indoor activities.While Sweden’s death rate per capita is lower than in countries such as Spain and Britain, it is more than 10 times higher than neighbouring Norway and almost five times higher than in Denmark. The world suffered the worst day of the pandemic so far.According to Johns Hopkins University, 11,617 people died and more than 666,000 new cases were recorded in 24 hours; the largest such figures on record.
Over 300,000 coronavirus deaths in Europe: Capitalism’s crime against humanity – This week, as the coronavirus continued to surge out of control, Europe marked the grim milestone of more than 300,000 COVID-19 deaths. Virtually every European country now faces a resurgence of the virus that threatens once again to overwhelm health care systems and kill hundreds of thousands. In Italy, the country hardest hit when the virus reached the continent, identical scenes to those that occurred just eight months ago are playing out. Yesterday, another 636 people died, up from 623 the day before and the highest number since April. The total number of infections in the country surpassed one million on Tuesday, and the total number of dead is now 43,589. The country’s hospital system is on the verge of collapse. By Wednesday, coronavirus patients made up more than 50 percent of patients in nine out of 21 provinces. The share of COVID-19 patients had reached 75 percent in Lombardy, 92 percent in Piedmont and 99 percent in South Tyrol. Ambulances are queuing up outside hospitals across the country due to a lack of available beds. Unlike the first wave, when the pandemic was largely confined to the north, the virus has already overwhelmed a number of regions in the poorer south. In Naples, a 78-year-old woman waited for 26 hours in an ambulance before being admitted to a hospital this week. A video was widely shared online reportedly showing a patient lying dead in a bathroom of a hospital ward. Over the weekend, nurses at Naples’ Catugno hospital provided oxygen treatment to patients sitting in their cars. “We are very close to not keeping up. I cannot say when we will reach the limit, but that day is not far off,” Dr. Luca Cabrini, who runs the intensive care ward at Varese’s Circolo Hospital, told the Associated Press. Leoluca Orlando, the mayor of Palermo, warned that his city and the rest of Sicily were at risk of an “announced massacre.” In France, 425 people have died in the last 24 hours. More than 10,000 have died since the start of October, and 42,960 since the beginning of the pandemic. The 551 deaths on Monday were the most in a single day since the peak of 613 on April 6. In the Île-de-France region around Paris, more than 90 percent of urgent care beds are occupied. In Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, the number of occupied emergency beds has reached 146 percent of official capacity, with patients now being transferred to other hospitals. The UK saw another 525 deaths on Wednesday. The official death toll maintained by the government is now over 50,000. The true figure is tens of thousands higher. The British Office of National Statistics had estimated at least 61,000 deaths as of the end of October. In Spain, there have been more than 1.4 million confirmed cases of the virus, and over 40,000 officially recorded deaths, with 356 reported in the past 24 hours. A study published this week in the open-access journal PLOS ONE reported that the average life expectancy at birth dropped by 0.9 years in Spain from 2019 to 2020 due to the pandemic. In Germany, the situation is increasingly getting out of control. As a result of the opening policy, schools have become breeding grounds for the virus. Currently, more than 300,000 students and around 30,000 teachers are in quarantine and the numbers of daily infections (21,866 on Thursday) and intensive care cases (3,186) is higher than ever. Over 1,800 patients are on ventilators struggling for their lives. In some cities and regions no free intensive care beds are left and the death toll is rising.
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