U.S. Reports a Record 500,000-Plus Coronavirus Cases Over the Past Week – The New York Times
October 30, 2020
Heres what you need to know:Self-administered coronavirus tests being distributed in Chicago.Credit...Taylor Glascock for The New York Times
The United States reported a record of more than 500,000 new cases over the past week, as states and cities resorted to stricter new measures to contain the virus that is raging across the country, especially the American heartland.
The record was broken Tuesday, even as the Trump administration announced what it called its first-term scientific accomplishments, in a press release that included ENDING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC written in bold, capital letters.
The record reflects how quickly the virus is spreading. It took nearly three months for the first 500,000 coronavirus cases to be tallied in the United States the first was confirmed on Jan. 21, and the country did not reach the half-million mark until April 11. Testing was severely limited in the early days of the pandemic.
The new restrictions range from a nightly business curfew in Newark, N.J., to a two-week stay-at-home order in El Paso, Texas, to a halt in indoor dining in Chicago.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced on Tuesday that he was stopping indoor dining and bar service in Chicago, effective at 12:01 a.m. Friday, Oct. 30.
The city joins New York and Wisconsin, states that earlier this month issued restrictions or outright bans on indoor dining in restaurants and bars to limit the spread of the coronavirus. The restrictions have been loudly opposed by a restaurant industry that has been decimated by the pandemic.
Chicago is now averaging more than twice as many coronavirus-related hospital admissions per day as it was a month ago, Mr. Pritzkers office said, and the share of tests that are coming back positive has almost doubled since the beginning of October.
The U.S. has reported a record daily average of about 71,000 new cases over the past week, an increase of about 40 percent from the average two weeks earlier. Twenty states, including Illinois, have recorded their highest seven-day average of new cases, and three states (Tennessee, Wisconsin and Oklahoma) have set a record seven-day average for deaths. On Tuesday, Oklahoma and Wyoming broke single-day death records and Kentucky reported a new daily cases record.
Mr. Pritzkers announcement follows a similar indoor dining ban that includes southern Cook County, just outside Chicago, which was announced Monday.
In Chicago, outdoor service will be allowed if tables are spaced six feet apart; reservations are required, and service shuts down at 11 p.m. All social gatherings in the city will be limited to 25 people or 25 percent of the venues capacity, whichever is less.
We cant ignore what is happening around us, Mr. Pritzker said in a statement. Because without action, this could look worse than anything we saw in the spring.
Other communities around the country that have also recently tightened restrictions include:
El Paso County, Texas, imposed a two-week stay-at-home order and a 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew that took effect Sunday. The number of people hospitalized in the El Paso metropolitan area with Covid-19 has more than tripled over the past three weeks. Officials are scrambling to make space for them by setting up overflow beds in a convention center and under tents in parking lots and by flying patients out to medical centers outside the area.
In Newark, N.J., all nonessential businesses began closing at 8 p.m. Tuesday. As of Sunday, the three-day average citywide positivity rate was 11.2 percent, more than double the statewide rate for the same period, the city said Monday.
Gov. Brad Little of Idaho ordered the state on Monday to return to Level 3 restrictions including limiting indoor gatherings to 50 people, requiring masks at long-term care facilities, and restricting bars and restaurants to serving only customers who are seated at tables. Idaho is averaging around 900 cases each day, up from about 260 in mid-September.
New mask mandates, the first in North Dakota, were imposed last week in the cities of Fargo and Minot. About 5 percent of all North Dakotans have now tested positive for the virus, the highest rate of any state.
In Milwaukee, new rules take effect Thursday that limit the size of gatherings and restrict restaurants and bars to 25 percent of their capacity unless they receive a waiver from the state health department. A field hospital at the Wisconsin state fairgrounds west of Milwaukee has started accepting patients.
The Blackfeet Indian Reservation, in Montana, extended its stay-at-home order on Friday to remain in effect through Nov. 8.
The Oglala Sioux Tribe has locked down its Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota until Oct. 30 in response to new coronavirus cases, according to the Rapid City Journal.
After an appeal from local hospitals, the mayors of two small Missouri cities, Nixa and Ozark, imposed their first mask mandates last week.
In Louisiana, a statewide mask mandate and other coronavirus restrictions were up in the air on Tuesday, after Republican legislators used an obscure clause in state law to suspend the public health emergency declared by the governor. Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, had a quick response: He sued.
A week after Gov. Gavin Newsom of California announced that a panel of experts from his state would independently review any federally approved coronavirus vaccines before they were administered to residents, the governors of Washington, Oregon and Nevada announced theyd join Californias effort.
The move comes as leaders across the country face a vaccine-development process that many have said they fear is becoming overly politicized.
We believe in science, public health and safety, Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington said in a statement. That is why I am pleased that Washington is joining California and other western states in this effort.
In September, Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York announced that his state would independently review any vaccines, saying President Trump had politicized the approval process.
Frankly, Im not going to trust the federal governments opinion, Mr. Cuomo said at the time.
But in a news briefing on Tuesday, Mr. Newsom emphasized that the extra review was meant to reinforce federal findings and to ensure that the Western states have planned in detail who should be able to receive what are expected to be very limited early doses. It would not, he said, stall or add an additional layer of politics to the process.
It will not cause delays, Mr. Newsom said. Its going to increase transparency and trust.
About two-thirds of Californians surveyed in a recent poll by the Public Policy Institute of California said they were concerned about the development of a vaccine moving too quickly.
Californias health secretary, Dr. Mark Ghaly, added that the review would not involve continuing or duplicating any vaccine trials. Rather, the panel will look at data and other information, a lot of which is publicly reported, through the eyes of experts, he said.
The review will allow the states to plan for a complex distribution process in detail and with equity in mind.
The independent review conducted by this panel of doctors, scientists, and health experts will ensure that a safe and effective Covid-19 vaccine is available to everyone, especially communities that have been disproportionately impacted by this disease, Oregons governor, Kate Brown, said in a statement.
This isnt the first time the governors have collaborated across state lines but outside the purview of the federal government. In April, as many states held back on implementing pandemic-related restrictions, California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada and Colorado formed a so-called Western States Pact.
Mr. Newsom said the group was largely a way of sharing best practices, rather than a formal agreement to act in concert.
Governors have been also outspoken lately about how they think the distribution of vaccines should be handled. Earlier this month Mr. Cuomo, as head of the bipartisan National Governors Association, posed additional questions about how the Trump administration will ensure that states are able to get and distribute vaccines.
After weeks of dangling the possibility of early coronavirus vaccine results by October, Pfizers chief executive said Tuesday that would now be nearly impossible.
The announcement, by Dr. Albert Bourla, came on the same day that Pfizer announced third-quarter earnings, and all but ruled out the possibility of early results before the presidential election next Tuesday. President Trump had long sought to tie the possibility of positive vaccine news to his own prospects for re-election.
In a call with investors on Tuesday, Dr. Bourla was pushed by Wall Street analysts to be more specific about when the company would have an idea of whether early results could show whether its vaccine is effective, and how much detail the company would provide when it is. Pfizer is one of four companies with large, late-stage clinical trials underway in the United States.
In his remarks, he acknowledged the urgency of developing a vaccine amid a global resurgence in infections. In the United States over the past week, there have been an average of more than 71,000 coronavirus cases per day, and hospitalizations are increasing, too.
Lets be very patient I know how much the stress levels are growing, Dr. Bourla said. I know how much the vaccine is needed for the world. He also pushed back against any suggestion that politics were motivating the speed of development, saying this is not a Republican vaccine, or a Democrat vaccine.
Pfizers clinical trial is testing the vaccine in 44,000 people, half of whom have received a vaccine and half who have gotten a placebo. The trials protocol, or blueprint, allows for an initial look at results after at least 32 people in either group have developed Covid-19. If more than 26 of those people are in the placebo group, then the vaccine is considered likely to be effective.
Dr. Bourla had repeatedly predicted that the initial analysis which is conducted by an outside board of scientific experts would come by the end of October. But on Tuesday, he said those 32 cases of Covid-19 had not yet occurred, a sign that the trial is progressing more slowly than the company had estimated. He also said the outside panel would need at least a week to analyze any results, making an answer before the election unlikely. Dr. Bourla said the company would report results if the outside board found the vaccine was either effective or not, but not if there is no definitive conclusion either way.
Even if early results come over the next few weeks, most Americans are not likely to get the vaccine anytime soon. Under guidelines from the Food and Drug Administration, coronavirus vaccine developers must turn in at least two months of safety data after half of the trials participants have received the second dose of the vaccine, which Pfizer has said will not happen until at least the third week of November.
Dr. Bourla said the company has already manufactured hundreds of thousands of doses. It expects to have at least 40 million doses by the end of the year, and 100 million doses by next March.
When college students returned to campus this fall, jamming sidewalks and bars in the surrounding communities, many college towns emerged as major coronavirus hot spots.
In many college towns, thats still true: Washtenaw County, home to the University of Michigan, saw its largest number of confirmed cases of the pandemic this month, despite a stay-at-home order for undergraduates that was meant to squash outbreaks.
In Wisconsin, especially around colleges, new case counts remain stubbornly high, with the virus now spreading to vulnerable populations.
But some college towns have shown progress: After spikes in August and September, reports of new infections at several large universities have slowed markedly.
At Penn State Universitys flagship campus in State College, Pa., 10.7 percent of students who were tested in mid-September were positive, according to the campus tracker, while the surrounding Centre County had a 12.1 percent positivity rate around the same time. Those rates have since fallen by more than half: From Oct. 16 to 25, only 4.5 percent of tested students were positive, tracking with the countys rate of 5 percent.
The number of active coronavirus cases around the Kansas State campus shot up more than 400 percent in early September, a few weeks after students returned for the fall semester. By late September, the schools test positivity rate, according to its campus dashboard, was 5.41 percent. That dropped to 2.2 percent for tests in mid-October, the most recent figure available.
To the east in Lawrence, the University of Kansas has seen a similar turnaround: the campus positivity rate of nearly 11 percent in early September fell to 1.44 percent in mid-October.
The counties surrounding the two Kansas schools still have higher rates of the virus, however, suggesting that campus outbreaks have spread to surrounding communities.
Americans are divided sharply along partisan lines over whether colleges should have brought students back to campus, according to the Pew Research Center. Those who tend to vote Republican were more than twice as likely as those who support Democrats to say that it was the right decision.
A New York Times survey of more than 1,700 American colleges and universities has found more than 214,000 coronavirus cases tied to campuses, and at least 75 deaths since the pandemic began. The vast majority of those cases have come in the fall.
Despite President Trumps very public resistance to mask-wearing for much of this year, a newly released survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that a vast majority of Americans of all ages have been wearing face coverings since April.
The data, released in the agencys weekly Morbidity and Mortality Report, is roughly in line with other polls showing that most Americans report wearing masks, at least when they are inside stores.
For example, Pew Research reported in August that 85 percent of 13,200 adults they surveyed said they wore masks in stores, up from 65 percent in June.
In a National Geographic poll released early this month, 92 percent of 2,200 Americans surveyed said they always or sometimes wore a mask when leaving the house.
The C.D.C. data, based on three monthly surveys with about 2,000 Americans each time, cover only the period from April to June.
A C.D.C. spokesman attributed the delay in the release of the surveys findings because of the overwhelming amount of research going on at the agency.
The survey asked about six risk-mitigation behaviors: mask-wearing, hand-washing, keeping six feet away from others, canceling social activities, avoiding crowds and avoiding restaurants.
In general, the older respondents were, the more of those measures they took. But as early as April, 70 percent of all those aged 18 to 29 reported wearing masks, while 84 percent of those older than 60 did.
By June, 86 percent of young Americans said they were wearing them while 92 percent of the seniors said they were.
Frequent hand-washing or sanitizing was equally popular, but it dropped slightly among all age groups from April to June as scientists realized that the virus was more likely to be transmitted by a mist of tiny droplets than by picking it up from surfaces.
The least popular measures among all age groups were canceling or postponing pleasure, social or recreational activities and avoiding all or some restaurants.
In their analysis of the data, the authors observed: Lower engagement in mitigation behaviors among younger adults might be one reason for the increased incidence of Covid-19 cases in this group, which have been shown to precede increases among those 60 years or older.
The findings, the authors concluded, show the need for clear advice for Americans, especially for young adults, to protect themselves, including by wearing masks.
On Friday, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nations top infectious disease expert, said on CNN that if people are not wearing masks, then maybe we should be mandating it.
European roundup
The Italian government approved a series of measures Tuesday to assist businesses hardest hit by the new restrictions introduced by the government as it sought to control a sharp rise in coronavirus infections in the country.
On Sunday, the government announced the new rules, which ordered bars and restaurants to close at 6 p.m. and shut cinemas, theaters and gyms until Nov. 24. That set off a series of protests in Catania, Milan, Turin and other cities and hundreds of demonstrators blocked traffic, set off firecrackers, burned garbage cans and clashed with the police as they protested on Monday. Many chanted: Freedom, freedom. Protests continued in Rome on Tuesday.
At a news conference Tuesday evening, the Italian prime minister, Giuseppe Conte said that the government had set aside more than five billion euros to give immediate resources to the businesses most affected by the restrictions, including restaurants, cafes, pizzerias, bakeries, ice cream parlors but also theaters, cinemas, gyms and pools, to name a few.
Mr. Conte said that Italys tax agency would transfer funds into peoples bank accounts, the fastest and most efficient method that we had tried so far. He said the funds would arrive by mid-November. The measures also include tax breaks and one-off payments for people in the entertainment industry.
Italy has recorded an average of 17,000 new cases a day over the last week. The country, which was hit hard during the first wave of the virus, has reported 564,778 total cases and at least 37,700 deaths. On Tuesday, the government reported 21,993 new coronavirus infections in the last 24 hours.
After a monthslong lockdown earlier this year, Italian bar and restaurant owners said the new restrictions would force many to close for good. Some placed signs in store windows that read: Forced to close at 6 p.m., but it is our right to have a future.
A petition by leaders of Italys entertainment industries, as well as directors and actors, said that the new closures were unjustified, given the strict protocols that had been in place since the summer. After protests on Friday turned violent in Naples, one city where an overnight curfew had already gone into effect, Italys interior ministry warned that the demonstrations had been infiltrated by individuals who were trying to stir up trouble, though peaceful protests were also held in several cities.
These acts of violence have nothing to do with forms of civil dissent and the legitimate concern of entrepreneurs and workers related to the difficult economic situation, Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese said in a statement. She said that prosecutors were investigating the protests.
In other developments around Europe:
In Spain, hundreds of demonstrators gathered in Barcelona on Monday to protest the nighttime curfew that came into force a day earlier, as part of Spains latest state of emergency. The protest ended with some demonstrators clashing with police officers and burning trash containers. Barcelonas local police estimated that about 800 people took part in the demonstration, with one of them detained. And on Tuesday, Spanish doctors staged a nationwide walkout to protest work conditions and hiring policies in the countrys public health care system. Hospitals were able to continue operating with minimal staffing. The doctors plan to repeat the protests on every last Tuesday of the month until the government increases resources.
Resistance to new rules is also hardening in northern England, where lawmakers urged Britains prime minister, Boris Johnson, to create a clear road map out of lockdown restrictions and asked for economic support, saying the region was being disproportionately affected by the pandemic. Northern England has seen disruption unparalleled to other parts of the country, more than 50 members of Mr. Johnsons Conservative Party said in a letter, adding that the pandemic had exposed systemic disadvantages between the countrys northern and southern regions. Officials have imposed the countrys harshest restrictions on parts of Englands north, including the cities of Liverpool and Manchester, with pubs, gyms and some other nonessential businesses closed. But local officials have feuded with the government on providing lifelines for the regions economy, while some residents have taken issue with seemingly contradictory rules.
Coronavirus infections have risen sharply in Greece, spurring the authorities to announce lockdowns for two more northern regions starting Thursday. The decision to lock down Serres and Ioannina, home to around 350,000 people, came after health authorities announced a record number of new cases nationwide on Tuesday. The regions of Kozani and Kastoria were locked down earlier this month. Additional restrictions, including a mask mandate and a nighttime curfew, took effect in several other regions, including greater Athens and Thessaloniki, which the authorities said is on the verge of a lockdown. Greece did well early in the pandemic, but the spread of the virus has accelerated in recent weeks. The country has recorded 32,752 cases and 593 deaths.
Polands prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, on Tuesday called for an end to mass protests over abortion rights, saying that demonstrators were disregarding massive risks from the coronavirus pandemic. Poland has seen five days of nationwide protests after a ruling by a constitutional tribunal last week that amounts to a near-total ban on abortion in the predominantly Catholic nation. Poland has been seeing a surge in daily cases, with more than 16,000 reported on Tuesday. The country has reported at least 80,600 cases in the past seven days.
Global Roundup
The Russian government on Tuesday made its most aggressive move yet to try to stem a second wave of the coronavirus, mandating masks in public places throughout the country.
The federal health watchdog agency, Rospotrebnadzor, also urged the governors of Russias 85 regions to order restaurants and entertainment venues to close by 11 p.m. Masks must be worn in taxis, public transportation, elevators and parking garages, and in any place where more than 50 people are able to gather, according to the order published on the watchdogs website. Officials offered no immediate details on how the order would be enforced.
The directive was unusual because President Vladimir V. Putin has resisted taking any nationwide measures to stop the viruss spread in recent months, delegating the battle to regional leaders. And after a nationwide lockdown in April and May caused widespread economic pain, officials have been loath to order any new business closures, even as the infection rate reached new heights in recent weeks.
In another measure of the viruss spread, a number of top officials have been exposed or infected. Sergey V. Lavrov, the foreign minister, entered self-quarantine Tuesday after having had contact with someone who tested positive for the virus. The speaker of the lower house of parliament, Vyacheslav V. Volodin, told Mr. Putin on Monday that 91 of the assemblys 450 representatives have or have had the coronavirus and that 38 are currently hospitalized with the infection.
Russia has recorded more than 1.5 million cases of the virus, with more than 114,00 of those coming in the past seven days, and a total of 26,000 deaths.
Elsewhere around the world:
The mayor of Mexico City has tested positive for the coronavirus, becoming the most high-profile politician in Mexico to contract the virus as the country struggles to contain a rise in new cases. In a tweet posted Tuesday, the mayor, Claudia Sheinbaum, said she did not have symptoms and would continue to coordinate all activities from a distance, with the same commitment as usual. Mexicos dense capital the center of its pandemic has been grappling with a recent surge in hospitalizations, which had been declining even after much of the city reopened in July following a lockdown.
Hong Kongs seven-day average of locally transmitted cases has gradually decreased since mid-October, said Sophia Chan, the citys health secretary. In response, the number of people allowed at each table in restaurants will increase to six from four starting Friday, Ms. Chan said, even though the limit on public gatherings will remain at four people. Bars and nightclubs may also seat up to four people per table, and the citys beaches will soon reopen to the public.
As the holiday travel season approaches, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the New York City regions biggest airports, said on Tuesday that it would soon impose a $50 fine on travelers who do not wear a mask or face covering.
The agency, which in addition to operating Kennedy International, La Guardia and Newark Liberty International airports also oversees the PATH train system and two major bus terminals, said it would begin issuing fines on Monday. It was unclear how the agency planned to enforce the fine.
The Port Authority has required masks in its facilities and on its transit system for months but was not fining those who did not comply. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which operates New York Citys subways and buses and two of its commuter rail lines, last month began issuing a $50 fine against riders who did not wear masks.
The Port Authority will continue to put primary emphasis on voluntary compliance, a Port Authority spokeswoman, Lindsay Krysak, said in an email on Tuesday, adding that police officers would continue to remind people who arent wearing masks to put one on, and offer up masks to people who have forgotten theirs or have a broken mask, things like that. But travelers should know they could be liable for a $50 fine starting Monday if they refuse to wear their mask.
The announcement of the fine comes as coronavirus cases keep rising around the country, including in parts of New Jersey near New York City, and as officials in New York have warned that interstate travel could bring about further spread.
Earlier on Tuesday, Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York City urged residents not to leave the state during the holidays, noting the threat of a second wave that so far the city has seemed to avoid.
I have to urge all New Yorkers: Do not travel out of state during the holidays, he said. You could be putting yourself and your family in danger.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York has also warned residents not to make unnecessary out-of-state trips, including to neighboring states that have seen an increase in cases compared with New York.
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U.S. Reports a Record 500,000-Plus Coronavirus Cases Over the Past Week - The New York Times
