In Iowa,269 new cases were reported between 11 a.m. Thursday and 11 a.m. Friday for a total of 18,791.
Twenty additional deaths were reported in that time, and the statewide toll now is 520.
In Wisconsin,there were 733 new cases reported Friday, pushing the total to 17,707.
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Eighteen additional deaths were reported, so that total stands at 568.
In Illinois,the state reported an additional 1,622 cases, along with 86 more related deaths.
The state totals now stand at 117,455 cases and 5,270 deaths.
Where are those cases? Check out the maps below.
(The maps are based on the latest data released by state health departments. In some cases, local health departments might announce cases or deaths prior to them being included in the statewide figures.)
Confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Iowa as of 11 a.m. Friday, May 29
Confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Illinois as of Friday, May 29
Confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Wisconsin as of Friday, May 29
In the latest installment of our Hope Behind the Headlines series, we look at the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine trials that have been progressing successfully, and at one promising therapeutic approach for COVID-19: Convalescent plasma therapy.
The COVID-19 pandemic has been taking its toll on the world for months now, but researchers have not been sparing any time or resources in looking for ways to defeat the new coronavirus that causes this disease.
Once every 2 weeks at Medical News Today, we review the most promising findings and scientific advances in the fight against SARS-CoV-2.
Previously, we looked at new drug candidates for the treatment of COVID-19, and at some helpful research approaches for scientists studying the virus.
In this feature, we update you on the progress of some of the most hopeful vaccine and therapy trials so far.
In a study paper appearing in Science on May 20, researchers from Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA, and other collaborating institutions report that they obtained promising results with a DNA vaccine that they trialed in rhesus macaques.
DNA vaccines are relative newcomers in the field of vaccine research. They work by introducing DNA molecules into the body, meaning to stimulate an immune response to markers of a specific virus.
In the study in Science, the research team developed six different DNA vaccines with the role of eliciting an immune response against the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 in other words, the protein that allows this virus to infect healthy cells.
The researchers injected 35 rhesus macaques with the various DNA vaccine iterations and then infected them with the new coronavirus to see whether and which of the vaccines were effective.
They found that one of the six vaccines which encoded the full length spike protein had a greater protective effect than the other candidates.
While the vaccinated monkeys did develop mild symptoms consistent with SARS-CoV-2 infection, they also developed neutralizing antibodies or the molecules that are able to recognize and fight the virus.
Thus, these monkeys presented an immune response to SARS-CoV-2 that was similar to the one seen in nonhuman primates and humans who have recovered from an infection with the new coronavirus.
The researchers also saw that monkeys that they had vaccinated had a lower viral load than unvaccinated monkeys, following infection with SARS-CoV-2, which suggests a more robust immune response in the former.
From their observations, the investigators conclude that their vaccine candidate works primarily by inducing a rapid immune response upon the individuals exposure to SARS-CoV-2.
Further research will need to address the important questions of the durability of protective immunity and the optimal vaccine platforms for a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine for humans, the team writes in the study paper.
A study that Nature recently accepted for publication is the work of researchers affiliated with Vir Biotechnology, a biotech company with headquarters in San Francisco, CA. This research has found a new lead for vaccines.
The authors argue that an antibody present in the blood of someone who had recovered from SARS the disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV could also be effective against SARS-CoV-2.
In laboratory tests, the researchers pitted the antibody they call S309 against both SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2. They found that it was able to neutralize both.
The investigators explain that they initially identified S309 in blood samples from a person who contracted SARS-CoV during the epidemic of 20022003.
While these are early days, the team suggests that this newfound knowledge may eventually help control the spread of SARS-CoV-2.
Accelerated development of [monoclonal antibodies] in a pandemic setting could be reduced to 56 months compared to the traditional timeline of 1012 months, the authors hypothesize in their paper.
In a previous Hope Behind the Headlines feature, we reported on the start of phase 1 of the first human SARS-CoV-2 vaccine trial to take place in the United Kingdom.
Already at that stage, the researchers behind this endeavor were expressing a high degree of confidence in the vaccine they called ChAdOx1 nCoV-19.
The vaccine uses a weakened adenovirus a common cold virus carrying the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2. In injection form, its role is to teach the immune system to recognize the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and fight the virus.
On May 22, researchers at Oxford University, where the trial is based, announced that phase 1 has ended, and they are now recruiting for phases 2 and 3.
While the investigators are still following up on the progress of participants who volunteered for phase 1, they are also now casting a wider net with their current recruitment process.
More specifically, the researchers are looking to relist older adults, 56 years of age and over, as well as children aged 512 years.
That is because, in phase 2 of the trial, the team wants to find out if the vaccine will have a different effect on the immune system of people belonging to various age demographics.
So far, evidence has shown that older individuals are at an increased risk of developing severe COVID-19, and some studies suggest that children may also be more at risk of contracting SARS-CoV-2 than officials previously thought.
That being the case, it is vital to understand how well a vaccine may be able to protect people of different ages from the virus.
For phase 3 of the U.K. trial, the researchers will recruit a considerably larger, representative cohort, to evaluate more thoroughly for the vaccines efficacy across age groups.
Also, on May 22, scientists from China reported in The Lancet that phase 1 of the first ever human trial of a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine had concluded in Wuhan.
This vaccine goes by the name of a recombinant adenovirus type-5 (Ad5) vectored COVID-19 vaccine. It is similar to the one scientists are testing in the U.K., and like the other experimental vaccine, it uses an adenovirus that carries the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein.
In phase 1 of this trial, the researchers tested whether the vaccine is safe and, if the participants tolerated it well.
The team now reports that, although many participants did report some adverse effects to various doses of the vaccine, these were typically mild-to-moderate and short lived, indicating that the vaccine was well-tolerated.
The investigators also analyzed blood samples they collected from the participants at regular intervals following inoculation.
These analyses revealed that many of the participants developed various antibodies able to identify or react to SARS-CoV-2. They also saw markers of a quick immune response, particularly in volunteers who had received high doses of the vaccine.
The study team hypothesizes that the vaccine may be not only safe but also effective, although they are yet to confirm the latter.
Currently, the researchers are recruiting for phase 2 of the trial and aiming to work with more volunteers 60 years of age or over to test the efficacy of the experimental vaccine in older adults.
MNT recently spoke to Dr. Arturo Casadevall, chair of the Molecular Microbiology & Immunology Department at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, MD, about convalescent plasma therapy.
This therapeutic approach dates back a century. Its premise is to use antibody-bearing blood components from people who have recovered from an infectious disease to treat others who have just developed it.
Dr. Casadevall brought this approach to the attention of other experts in the United States in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
People who have recovered from COVID-19, Dr. Casadevall told MNT, do have neutralizing antibodies that could specifically fight SARS-CoV-2. Thus, transfusions with plasma (a component of blood) from COVID-19 survivors could help others fight the disease.
Dr. Casadevall said that in the U.S., almost 12,000 people have already received convalescent plasma therapy.
He and his colleagues, including immunology experts from various institutions, have conducted a study they based on the data of the first 5,000.
This study, which is available online in preprint form, suggests that convalescent plasma therapy is safe.
Going forward, the specialists investigating the merits of this form of therapy for treating COVID-19 aim to confirm whether it is as effective in fighting this disease as it is safe.
[First,] you want to show safety. And then the question of efficacy will be coming in the next few weeks. Right now, the data [is] being analyzed. We are hopeful.
Dr. Arturo Casadevall
The fact that this therapy will rely on convalescent plasma from donors, something that is already available makes it a promising early defense against COVID-19.
The approach could eventually become one of many therapeutic options for people that contract the new coronavirus.
For live updates on the latest developments regarding the novel coronavirus and COVID-19, click here.
By Natalie Andersonnatalie.anderson@salisburypost.com
SALISBURY One nursing home outbreak was considered closed Friday and additional 10 individuals tested positive for COVID-19 in Rowan County after 122 additional tests were conducted.
There were no additional deaths.
A total of 630 individuals have tested positive for COVID-19 in the county, with 229 currently positive an increase of three since Thursday. The total number of tests reported to the county is 3,575. An additional seven recoveries were reported on Friday, bringing the recovery total to 364. A total of 37 individuals have died, and nine are being hospitalized.
While no deaths were reported Friday, a total of 10 deaths have been reported since Tuesday. Of the 37 deaths, 20 are from the Citadel, 15 are from the N.C. State Veterans Home located on the campus of W.G. Bill Hefner VA Medical Center and two have not been associated with a congregate living facility. The average age of the deaths is 83.
County spokesperson TJ Brown said the county worked with the state on Friday to validate COVID-19 data, which resulted in an increase in the total number of congregate care facility cases to 210 after it was discovered that six additional positive employees at the Citadel were residents of Rowan County. Those cases were included in the overall positive count but not originally linked to the Citadel employee count on the data hub.
The validation also discovered 14 additional Citadel employees have tested positive for COVID-19, but those employees arent residents of the county. The total number of positive employees at the Citadel, who live in Rowan County, is now 40, along with 112 residents.
Brown also clarified how deaths are supposed to be reported to the county from the veterans home in particular. The veterans home delayed its reporting of the eight deaths made public this week, but Brown said it could be the result of miscommunication between the veterans home and physicians at Novant Health Rowan Medical Center who tended to veterans. Veterans can be treated on the Salisbury VA or at Novant. But physicians, whether on or off the campus, are required to report COVID-19 deaths to the county.
County officials have since asked the veterans home to also report within 24 hours any deaths of which theyre aware.
State data on nursing home outbreaks is updated every Tuesday and Friday. Brown said the state and county have closed out cases at the Laurels, which had just two active cases. Only one who lived in Rowan County.
Statewide, a total of 26,488 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed after 391,231 completed tests. A total of 680 are currently being hospitalized, and 859 have died across the state.
In addition to protective equipment distributed from the state this month, some local locations anticipate receiving additional items from FEMA by June 15, including Brightmoor Nursing Center, located on West Fisher Street; Abbotts Creek Center in Lexington; Big Elm Retirement and Nursing Centers in Kannapolis; and Compass Healthcare and Rehab Rowan, LLC, in Spencer.
FEMA stated in a news release that it will distribute a total of 608,000 pieces of eye protection, 6.9 million masks, 6.4 million gowns and 31.4 million pairs of gloves to 15,000 nursing homes across the U.S.
In other COVID-19 statistics:
Contact reporter Natalie Anderson at 704-797-4246.
HURON, S.D. (KELO) One of the most recent deaths from COVID-19, not yet counted in the states numbers, is a 23-year-old Huron woman who worked at Alpena beef jerky maker, Jack Links. The majority of COVID-19 cases in South Dakota are not among the elderly, but rather people under the age of 40.
23-year-old old Blanca Ramirez Gonzalez leaves behind a husband and three young children. The Jack Links employees family didnt want to speak on camera, but gave KELOLAND News permission to show her photos.
According to Ramirez Gonzalez aunt, she tested positive last Thursday for COVID-19, with only mild symptoms. On Monday, Ramirez Gonzales was taken to the Huron Regional Medical Center with a fever of 107. Her family said goodbye to her over a video call and she died on Tuesday.
The biggest increases in COVID-19 cases are among 20 to 29 year olds in the state, with 24 new positive tests in that age group reported today. 937 people aged 20 to 29 have tested positive. The age group with the most COVID-19 cases is 30 to 39 with 1,091. Three people in that age group have died.
Kennecke: Why are we seeing more young people with COVID-19 in the state.SD Epidemiologist, Dr. Joshua Clayton: I dont have a full explanation for the age grouping were seeing most impacted. It is similar to what were seeing in other states Minnesota and North Dakota are examples of that.
The State epidemiologist theorizes that it may be a reflection of getting back to normal.
As individuals are frequenting businesses, interacting more that, the younger population has the potential to engage in close contact, Dr. Clayton said.
74 Jacks Links employees have tested positive for the virus. Blanca Ramirez Gonzalez family has started a GoFundMe page and has raised more than $10,000 so far.
The blood business is booming.
This normally obscure trade has been set alight by the race to develop Covid-19 antibody tests, which use blood to tell whether someone has already been infected with the coronavirus. The tests are seen as key to easing lockdowns that have shut down economies around the world.
However, while surging demand has...
Temperatures in some California cities this week broke decades-old records. The heatwave that cooked Las Vegas over the past few days brought temperatures over 100F. And in Phoenix, highs this weekend are expected to approach or exceed 110F.
This year is on track to be one of the hottest on record, and public health officials worry that in cities across the US, summer heatwaves will collide with the coronavirus pandemic, with deadly consequences for poor, minority, and older populations.
Even before the pandemic hit, heat was killing more Americans than all other natural disasters combined. People who live in cities are especially vulnerable to heatwaves because of a phenomenon called the urban heat island effect cities with populations of 1m or more can be up to 5F hotter than surrounding areas due to high population density, a lack of greenery and shade, and because materials like steel, concrete and asphalt tend to absorb more heat.
Analyses have also found that cities poorest neighborhoods tend to be hotter, and that many low-income families have been struggling to cope for years. In some neighborhoods of Los Angeles, New York and Chicago, up to a third or more households lack air conditioning. Due to the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, many more are unable to pay to run their ACs. And even as cities begin reopening after lockdown, many of the malls, public libraries and recreation centers where overheated Americans traditionally went to cool down remain risky, especially for older people and others with a heightened risk of dying from Covid-19.
Throughout the country, public health officials told the Guardian they were scrambling to find ways to protect the most vulnerable from the dual threats of heat and coronavirus. This summer is definitely not going to be like any other summer, said Deanne Criswell, the commissioner of New York City Emergency Management. Were not going to have the same level of facilities open that New Yorkers typically go to all the time to stay cool. Its a big concern.
New York is in the process of installing 74,000 air conditioners in the homes of low-income seniors, according to Criswell. The city is also seeking to help more people pay for electricity this summer, as the unemployment crisis leaves thousands of New Yorkers without the means to make rent and utilities. Other cities across the US have asked utility companies not to shut off service this summer, even if customers cant pay bills, so that they have access to water, cooling and refrigeration through the hottest days.
Every summer we worry about the heat when it ramps up especially in April and May before people have a chance to acclimatize, said Carolyn Levering, the emergency management administrator for Las Vegas.I think it just gives us extra concern this year because of the pandemic.
In Las Vegas, Phoenix and Los Angeles, officials are keeping some cooling centers designated public buildings where residents come for cold water and a respite from the heat open, at a reduced capacity so people can maintain social distancing while seeking relief from the heat. At five cooling centers in LA, anyone who enters has their temperature checked and is required to wear a mask and remain 6ft away from other people. In Nevadas Clark county, which includes Las Vegas, four cooling centers stayed open during the most recent heatwave.
But none of these solutions are broad enough to catch everyone at risk of dying from heat stroke, advocates say. Hell no, it isnt enough, said Jonathan Parfrey, the executive director of the LA-based nonprofit Climate Resolve. This is just a staggering problem.
In South LA, where 64% of residents fall below the poverty line, more than 40% of households lack air conditioning, according to a study published this month by researchers at the University of Southern California who analyzed data from the electrical meters of nearly 180,500 households. Poverty was a better predictor of whether or not people had AC than even how hot or cool it was in a neighborhood, said Kelly Sanders, one of studys authors.
The vast majority of these heat-related deaths in cities occur inside homes that arent air conditioned, said New Yorks Criswell.
That aint going to be me this year, said Collette McCoy-Douglas, 67, a retired nurse who lives in a public housing facility for seniors in Chicago. McCoy-Douglas said her building turned on the central air conditioning a day early, after residents complained during the heatwave over Memorial Day weekend. But the system, which only cools each apartments living room, felt warm when I touched it, she said. Her thermostat read 100F.So Ive poured ice on my head twice today it messed up my hair, but it helped, she laughed.
A spokesperson for Chicago Housing Authority said it was not aware of any air conditioning issues at senior housing facilities.
Although McCoy-Douglas considered looking for someplace cool she could go, she decided against it. Ive got an autoimmune disease, I have asthma, I have stents, she said. Im more skeptical against the coronavirus. Unable to cool down,she eventually picked up a neighbor, an older woman with cerebral palsy, and they drove around for a bit in McCoy-Douglass air-conditioned car. Chicagos infamous 1995 heatwave, which killed more than 700 people, was on the minds of both women.
You know, in my apartment, we have people with mental illness and disabilities. They cant even leave the building, said McCoy-Douglas, who also knew of two neighbors who had died of Covid-19. It just breaks my heart. Its just inhuman.
Four generations of Enrique Ruvalcabas family have worked at the Mezquitn cemetery in the Mexican city of Guadalajara. None of them ever saw anything like this.
Before the coronavirus, the burial ground was open to the public, and the deceased were honoured by flower-carrying mourners and mariachis. Now the dead arrive in silence and alone.
Only the box came, not a single relative, just the coffin, Ruvalcaba, 32, said of the first Covid-19 burial he witnessed last month. Absolutely everything has changed.
The Guadalajara graveyard, which has added 700 tombs for an anticipated wave of Covid deaths, has yet to see a major increase of victims but Ruvalcaba said gravediggers had been advised to prepare. Theyve told us a more intense phase is coming, he said.
Yet as Mexicos daily death toll rises to become one of the highest in the world a record 501 fatalities were reported on Tuesday alone the country is simultaneously preparing to reopen and weathering a politically charged battle over the true scale of the crisis.
Were doing well, the pandemic has been tamed, Mexicos populist president, Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador, claimed on Thursday as he announced he would resume touring the country when a period of nationwide quarantine was wound down next week.
Alejandro Macas, a leading infectious diseases specialist, said he understood and supported the need to plot out a return to some kind of normality for Mexicos 129 million citizens.
Its good to have a plan and it is good for this plan to constantly put peoples lives first, he said.
But Macas, who was Mexicos influenza chief during the 2009 swine flu pandemic, said he was worried things were moving too fast, when the extent of the crisis remained unclear and different parts of the country were at different stages of transmission.
The risk is that there will be another substantial rise in the number of cases and that this could cause some hospitals to collapse and if the hospitals collapse this could put the security and governance of some regions at risk, Macas warned.
In many parts of the republic the curve has barely started to rise.
Macas said he suspected political pressure from Lpez Obradors year-old government and the United States which is highly reliant on Mexican supply chains explained the authorities desire to promote the idea the crisis was under control.
It is exactly like what is happening in the United States. The government there is also putting pressure on to show a certain normality and tranquillity when clearly they cant yet say they have the situation under control and were still suffering terrifying Covid figures, Macas said.
I feel there is a great deal of political pressure much more in Mexico than in other parts of Latin America because Mexicos industrial production is so tightly connected to industry in the United States. And they want to reopen but cant do so if Mexican industry doesnt reopen, because we are so integrated.
Latin Americas number two economy registered its first Covid case in late February and has since recorded more than 9,000 deaths and 81,400 cases, although the government admits the true number is probably considerably higher.
One report this week found Mexico City had issued 8,000 more death certificates than usual between January and late May, suggesting a significantly higher death toll.
Lpez Obrador, who was criticized for his initially dismissive attitude to the pandemic, has been bullish about Mexicos response. On 26 April, with 1,351 deaths and 14,677 infections, he claimed it had managed to tame the coronavirus. But many are not so sure. A month after those claims, Mexico had suffered 9,044 deaths and 81,400 cases.
Macas said it was likely many more had died. Right now we have less than 10,000 recognized deaths. But its very probable the true figure is substantially bigger probably double that.
Behind those statistics lie thousands of grieving families some of which have lost multiple members to Covid-19.
Karlo Coln, who works at a funeral home in Mexico City, said he and his colleagues had handled 60 coronavirus cases in the last three weeks. One family had lost five members, another four. Every week a family member dies, Coln said.
Despite the rising death toll, many Mexicans seem in denial. Even Coln, on the frontlines of the pandemic, admitted having doubts.
A lot of people dont believe in the virus, the undertaker said. There are times where I say, how is it possible that the guy giving me the body, at the centre of the infection, doesnt have protective equipment? Is this real or isnt it?
Adrin Carranza, a nursing student, has been conducting Covid-19 evaluations at Mexico Citys main market, the Central de Abasto and referring suspected patients for testing. He said that many vendors remained skeptical despite the deaths of several vendors.
Theyll say, sure, that guy over there died, but we dont know why, Carranza said.
Carranza and his colleagues have faced harassment at the market, where about 40% of the stalls have shut down.
Because of misinformation, more than anything else, they think were hurting them, that were going to inject them with the virus, he said. They yell that were murderers.
As Mexico prepares to reopen, Guadalajaras gravediggers are readying themselves for the dead.
Ruvalcaba, whose father, grandfather and great-grandfather all worked in the same cemetery, called his colleagues the hidden heroes of the Covid-19 crisis.
Its a really noble line of work. People talk about the doctors and the nurses but nobody thinks about the people who are laying Covids victims to rest, said Ruvalcaba, who has been digging tombs since he was 12.
Its like doctors work only from the moment when the patient has gone to a better life, Ruvalcaba added. And someone has to do it.
Its technically challenging to actually find pathogens like bacteria or viruses floating around in the air. But Wood has a proxy metric that might at least indicate when a room is potentially riskier to be in. He measures the level of carbon dioxidefiguring that as people breathe in the available oxygen and exhale CO2, everyone else in the room then inhales it, and any airborne pathogens as well.
In technical terms, standards for heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning systems measure ventilation by calculating how often the air in a room swaps out for fresh air from outsidethats air changes per hour. But CO2 levels could potentially be an easier way to alert people if a room needs an air swap for safety. Anything above 1,000 parts per million in an enclosed space, Wood says, would be a sign that its time to open the windows or clear out.
Heres where things get complicated. These variations in small-particle behavior dont just apply to individuals or single spaces, but how the disease moves across all of them. Epidemiologists are starting to see the spread of Covid-19 not as a cloud or wave moving ineluctably around the world, but instead more like signals moving through a network. The close-quarter, asymptomatic infections that small particles make more likely might also explain the patchy, checkerboard spread of Covid-19 through households, cities, and even across the country.
People intuitively think that population density, like in a big city, would lead to more transmissionand at first glance, the massive outbreak in New York City seems to confirm that. But people mostly transmit the virus within their own networks, their own contacts. Thats who the virus jumps to. I might have basically five to 10 friends that I tend to spend more than 15 minutes in close contact with on a regular basis, wherever Im living, Metcalf says. Yet big cities might lead to more contacts outside of our social networkscasual contacts like commuting may be more frequent, and of course social networks may also be more dense.
The result, she says, could be spikier outbreaks that change with urban forms and even the weather. (Some viruses are seasonal and transmit better in cold, dry air versus heat and humidity, but a sticky August outside can mean cranked-high AC inside, which can actually spread a virus if its not filtered correctly.) This is all part of what Benjamin Dalziel, a population biologist at Oregon State University, calls spatiotemporal heterogeneity, variability in the way the disease spreads in different places at different times. That spottiness in transmission means that different kinds of public health interventions will be more or less effective depending on when and where theyre usedpersonal protective equipment and serious ventilation in some settings, rigorously enforced social distancing in others, moving businesses outdoors, continued disinfecting of surfaces, and so on.
Thats how to stop the virus from moving through the world, and its what scientists are trying to understand. Its about the focal points of transmission within a population, and understanding that some places and times are more important for propagating spread than others, Dalziel says. Physical distancing measures are blunt tools that address a fundamental prerequisite for transmission, but they are untenable over the long term. It would be really wonderful if there were one, or a few, factors like that where we could efficiently identify them, make a change, and see a widespread reduction in transmission while still being able to reopen. Wouldnt that be fantastic? he asks. But whats probably more likely is that theres a large number of factors that all contribute. There isnt going to be a magic bullet.
Meanwhile, the CDC has released recommendations on opening restaurants and schools promoting six feet of space between people, doing things outdoors, and mask-wearingeven as the president says he thinks places of worship should be able to hold indoor services. It cant be true that large groups gathering in small spaces are dangerous if youre eating but safe if youre praying. Even if thats how the world looks to some people, its clearly not the world of the virus.
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More From WIRED on Covid-19
They Hyrum JBS plant employs 1,400 people to run their beef processing facility.
HYRUM Meat processing plants across the country are COVID-19 hotspots and many have shuttered until they get control, modify their practices and facilities to keep the deadly virus at bay.
JBS in Hyrum is one meat processing facility that is still going strong and its parent company, Pilgrims Pride, has invested more than $200 million to support its team members and their communities in North America. There are reports that some JBS U.S. plants have been affected by the virus so one of the countrys top producers of meat has gone to great lengths to reduce the spread of the infection.
All JBS facilities are open and operating, said company spokesman Bruett Cameron.
We have had to fundamentally alter our operations due to coronavirus, he said. All of our facilities are currently open and operating.
The meat packing company adopted more than $100 million in enhanced safety measures to keep their workplaces and team members safe. JBS has also increased sanitation and disinfection efforts, health screening and temperature checking, team member training and physical distancing.
They are also trying to protect their employees with reduced line speeds and increased availability of personal protective equipment, including face masks and face shields.
Pilgrims Pride companies have hired more than 1,000 new team members to conduct additional, around-the-clock sanitation and cleaning services, and to provide education, training and enforcement of COVID-19 preventive measures.
Since the arrival of the global coronavirus pandemic, our priority has been and remains the safety of our team members providing food for all of us, said Andre Nogueira, JBS USA CEO in a statement. We recognize our responsibility as a food company during this crisis and we have continuously evolved our operations, based on the latest available guidance from experts, to improve our coronavirus preventive measures.
The company has invested more than $100 million to enhance safeguards for their workforce and more than $50 million to reward team members with thank-you bonuses.
JBS USA and Pilgrims will invest more than $50 million in the local communities where their team members live and work. The investment will include donations to alleviate food insecurity, strengthen long-term community infrastructure and well-being, and support COVID-19 emergency response and relief efforts.
The investment is part of the $120 million global social commitment recently announced by JBS USA.
The companies are also investing in innovative technologies to combat the potential spread of coronavirus in their facilities, including ultraviolet (UV) germicidal air sanitation and plasma air technology to neutralize potential viruses in plant ventilation and air purification systems.
JBS USA andPilgrimshave removed approximately 10 percent of the eligible workforce in the United States that are the most vulnerable populations from their facilities, with full pay and benefits.
The gesture exceeds any recommended guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Bruett said.
We salute the men and women who are supplying food to those who need it most and the local communities that have always sustained our business, Nogueira said. We are not perfect and this has not been an easy time for any of us, but we are working tirelessly to keep our team members safe and provide food during this pandemic. We are all in this fight together.
Today is one of our states highest days of reported deaths and hospitalizations since this crisis began, said NC Governor Roy Cooper.
For the second day in a row and the third time this week, hospitalizations for COVID-19 in North Carolina were at an all-time high.
NC Gov. Roy Cooper and members of the Coronavirus Task Force held a briefing to discuss the latest COVID-19 numbers and trends.
Thursday North Carolina reported 708 hospitalizations. Hospitalizations were at 702 Wednesday, which is a spike of 81 from Tuesday.
Today is one of our states highest days of reported deaths and hospitalizations since this crisis began, NC Governor Roy Cooper said. "In North Carolina, our case count has continued to go up. We know that one reason for this is increased testing, which is critical to reigniting our economy and keeping people safe. Weve increased our testing significantly."
Cooper says that for now, hospitals should be well-equipped to surge beds and resources to meet demand. But the trend is on health officials' radar as they consider reopening plans."We are concerned about the number of hospitalizations for COVID-19 continuing to go up. This is why we're in phase two and not opening everything up," said Cooper. "This is why we think we need to stay in phase 2 for a while to see how these numbers go."
The governor and Health and Human Services also addressed the past few days of increasing percent-positive cases.They say while there have been some ups and downs in the data, the overall rate of positives has been fairly steady, around 8 percent.
The state leader also says where testing is focused on a given day might cause fluctuations in the results."Sometimes when you do a lot of testing in congregate facilities you might have a higher number of positives," Cooper explained during the press conference.
Cooper says the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services website has an interactive tool to find a testing site in your area. It includes more than 300 places where you can go and get tested. CVS announced 55 new drive through testing locations across the state, including Mecklenburg County. Those locations will begin testing this weekend.
The state also reported 33 new deaths Thursday, which brings the total of COVID-19 related deaths across the state to 827.
