Category: Corona Virus

In early November, as Colorados coronavirus case numbers surged to levels that now threaten the states hospital capacity and could lead to thousands more deaths before the end of the year, Gov. Jared Polis issued a plea to his constituents.

Weve got to live like we did in August and September. We just all eased up in October, and started taking it for granted, and got complacent, Polis said then.

The latest from the coronavirus outbreak in Colorado:

>> FULL COVERAGE

This was like the opening mystery of a pandemic potboiler: What were we collectively doing in late summer that we stopped doing in October? Whats the villain here?

Accusations flew.

Its indoor dining at restaurants! Its large super-spreader events!

The finger-pointing ran in circles. Experts said small household gatherings appeared to be driving the surge in cases. The New York Times published an article, citing data from Colorado, questioning whether that is the case. And the director of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention rebutted the article.

But these debates missed the simpler answer, the common denominator of all the explanations for the case surge.

Its a matter of movement.

And, by many measures, Coloradans have since the summer been moving around as much as they did pre-pandemic maybe even more.

The prerequisite for this current surge has been in place for a while, said Jude Bayham, a Colorado State University economist who has been studying mobility trends to guide the states pandemic response.

The virus cant jump from host to host if people arent moving around. So, when people move around more, theres more potential for the virus to spread.

The rest is down to mask-wearing or distancing or hand-washing or ventilation or weather or luck. But Bayham said greater mobility plants the seeds for case surges.

Since early in the pandemic, the data company SafeGraph has been tracking something it calls its Shelter in Place Index. The company collects anonymized data on cell phone movements. The index is basically a measurement of how much of the population is staying home each day relative to a pre-pandemic baseline.

In the most recent data from Colorado, SafeGraph shows that Coloradans are back to staying home no more than normal, and sometimes less.

But theres no single culprit driving this.

According to SafeGraphs data, foot traffic at Colorado businesses is up since the lockdowns of the spring. But its still well below normal. And it has also begun to decline again in the fall as cases have risen.

Bayham also uses SafeGraph data in his research to track more specific measures. His analyses, for instance, can show how much people in individual Colorado counties are visiting restaurants, bars, grocery stores, parks or hotels. (Again, this data is anonymous and aggregated, so he and other researchers cant use it to track any individuals movements.)

Similar to what SafeGraph has found with visits to businesses, Bayham has found that more people in Colorado have returned to working in-person since the spring. But its still not back to pre-pandemic levels.

Still, Bayham has found that Coloradans are spending less time at home than they did in the spring. In many counties, the time spent at home at various points in the summer and fall has dropped below 2019 levels. Overall, Bayham said he estimates mobility in Colorado has been at 2019 levels since mid-summer.

(Bayham has produced charts for all of Colorados counties, available here. The charts below are for the 15 largest counties in Colorado. The dashed line shows the average amount of time people in the county spent at home per day during the stay-at-home period.)

Its important to note that time spent outside of the home doesnt necessarily mean people are traveling to risky places for viral spread. They could be taking a walk alone in their neighborhood or going on a hike in remote wilderness.

And exactly what people are doing when they arent at home differs by county. Take, for instance, the difference between Colorados two largest counties Denver and El Paso.

In Denver, visits to parks have jumped in the fall, but visits to restaurants and bars have remained far below 2019 levels.

In El Paso County, home to Colorado Springs, visits to restaurants and bars increased over the summer but have since fallen off.

Why this pre-pandemic level of mobility is only now translating into a rise in cases is a separate mystery.

Elizabeth Carlton, an infectious disease researcher at the Colorado School of Public Health who works with Bayham as part of the modeling team helping the state project the pandemics course, said COVID fatigue likely plays a big role. People just want to go back to their normal lives, which leads them to let down their precautions in what they consider safe environments, like their own home in the company of friends.

This virus is exhausting, Carlton said. And disruptive. And causing us to rethink everything. To be safe, we have to change how we worship, how we eat, how we mix with our family and friends. And thats a big ask.

The weather also likely plays a role. Colder weather pushes personal gatherings from well-ventilated back patios to poorly ventilated indoor spaces. But the colder temperatures also likely help the virus remain viable for longer outside the human body, giving it a greater chance to infect someone new.

It may be, Carlton said, that we need to work harder now to control the virus than we did during the summer because the weather is making things less favorable for us.

The state has tried to do that hard work by tightening restrictions on restaurants and gatherings. But, in a briefing to Colorado reporters on Tuesday alongside Polis, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nations top infectious disease expert, said Thanksgiving-related travel may mean Colorado, like the rest of the nation, is poised for a surge upon a surge of cases and hospitalizations that could begin hitting in two to three weeks.

The nation, Fauci said, is poised for a month of precarious risk. And that risk will come in all sorts of places at work, at the store, in gatherings with friends or family. People can mitigate the risk, he said, by wearing masks. Maintaining their distance. Meeting with people outside rather than inside. Washing their hands.

But the most effective strategy is both the simplest and, as we enter the 10th month of the pandemic, perhaps the hardest. It addresses the root cause of almost all new cases but also asks the most of us.

Think about your mobility footprint. As much as possible, just stay home.

Avoid the things that we know are pleasant and desirable though theyre dangerous now, Fauci said. Its not too late to do something about it.

Support local journalism around the state.Become a member of The Colorado Sun today!

View original post here:

Something in the way we move: The reason coronavirus came roaring back in Colorado - The Colorado Sun

Three companies have announced preliminary data indicating their vaccines are effective, and there are dozens of additional candidates in clinical trials. Can I choose which vaccine I get?

This depends on a number of factors, including the supply in your area at the time youre vaccinated and whether certain vaccines are found to be more effective in certain populations, such as older adults. At first, the only choice is likely to be Pfizers vaccine, assuming it is approved. Moderna asked the F.D.A. for emergency authorization on Monday; if approved, it would most likely become available within weeks after Pfizers.

Some participants in both Pfizers and Modernas trials have said they experienced symptoms including fever, muscle aches, bad headaches and fatigue after receiving the shots, but the side effects generally did not last more than a day. Still, preliminary data suggests that, compared with most flu vaccines, the coronavirus shots have a somewhat higher rate of such reactions, which are almost always normal signs that the bodys immune response is kicking in. At the meeting of the C.D.C. advisory committee last week, some members said it would be important for doctors to warn their patients about possible side effects and assure them of the vaccines safety.

Each companys application to the F.D.A. includes two months of follow-up safety data from Phase 3 of clinical trials conducted by universities and other independent bodies. In that phase, tens of thousands of volunteers get a vaccine and wait to see if they become infected, compared with others who receive a placebo. By September, Pfizers trial had 44,000 participants; no serious safety concerns have been reported.

The F.D.A. will also review the data for each vaccine seeking authorization and share it with its advisory committee, which will meet publicly in the case of the Pfizer vaccine, on Dec. 10 to ask questions and make a recommendation to the agency. The F.D.A. will then decide whether to approve the vaccine for emergency use.

Probably. Although people who have contracted the virus do have immunity, it is too soon to know how long it lasts. So for now, it makes sense for them to get the shot. The question is when.

Some members of the C.D.C. advisory committee have suggested Covid survivors should be toward the back of the line.

At the beginning, when its a resource-limited vaccine, my opinion is that we need to try and target as best we can to those that we know are susceptible, Dr. Robert Atmar, an infectious disease specialist at Baylor College of Medicine who serves on the committee, said during a meeting of the panel last week.

[Like the Science Times page on Facebook. | Sign up for the Science Times newsletter.]

Read more:

Who Will Get the Coronavirus Vaccine First? - The New York Times

Need to stay updated on coronavirus news in Texas? Our evening roundup will help you stay on top of the day's latest updates. Sign up here.

For Andrew Rubalcabas 39th birthday, he wanted to get out of town but he also wanted to be safe.

So before Thanksgiving, he drove more than 500 miles west from his home in McKinney to visit Marfa and Big Bend National Park.

The popular Texas tourist destinations were appealing in the midst of a still-raging pandemic because they are seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Theyre rural, sparsely populated, outdoorsy and now overrun with visitors and saturated with COVID-19 cases.

If only we knew the locals were saying dont come, definitely we would not have gone. We would not have gone out of respect for the local population, Rubalcaba said.

Presidio and Brewster counties, home to Marfa and Big Bend, along with nearby Culberson County, lead the state in cases per 1,000 residents in the last two weeks, according to a Texas Tribune analysis. In fact, all of West Texas, including Jeff Davis, Hudspeth and El Paso counties, is ablaze with increasing COVID-19 cases and low on hospital beds.

Big Bend Regional Medical Center, located in Brewster County, has just 25 acute care beds. Culberson Countys 2,200 residents have just Culberson Hospital, where there are 14 beds and two ventilators, but at least one doctor said she doesnt feel adequately prepared to use them.

Its unlikely wed be able to help them at this point.

Patients in dire condition are often transferred from the small towns to regional hospitals in larger metropolitan areas. But those closest hospital systems in El Paso, Lubbock and Midland, which have more resources, are already struggling with their own influxes of local cases, leaving doctors and county officials worried a bump in cases from Thanksgiving gatherings will fill beds beyond capacity with nowhere left to send the sickest patients.

Its unlikely wed be able to help them at this point, said Ricardo Samaniego, the county judge of El Paso, where COVID-19 patients occupy more than 35% of hospital beds.

Without El Paso as an option to send patients, nearby doctors and officials are scrambling.

Its a scary feeling to have a critically ill patient with nowhere to go, said Gilda Morales, a Culberson County commissioner and doctor at Culberson Hospital.

She said that in recent weeks, the county has sent struggling patients to hospitals in San Antonio more than 400 miles away including Culberson County Judge Carlos Urias, whos been there for nearly four weeks.

If a flood of residents need to be hospitalized quickly, and cases in San Antonio and other metropolitan areas swell, Culberson might not have the resources to treat everyone in need, Morales said.

Were worried those beds will run out, and then what? Morales said. Were all holding our breath because as much as we told people not to get together for Thanksgiving, the holidays and family give a false sense of security.

Hospitals across the West Texas region are bumping capacity and stretched absolutely to the limit, said John Henderson, president of the Texas Organization of Rural and Community Hospitals. Administrators have struggled to find open beds, in some cases calling 15 or 20 facilities, he said.

Everyone is headed the wrong direction, he said. Every week is a little worse than the last one.

In Odessa and in neighboring Midland, the areas three hospitals serve as referral centers, accepting patients from small-town facilities that are ill equipped to treat serious illnesses.

All of our outlying facilities, they dont have ICUs or ventilators that can take care of patients long term, said Dr. Rohith Saravanan, chief medical officer of Odessa Regional Medical Center. The hospital in recent weeks added 34 beds for people with COVID-19, and, as of Tuesday, only four were still empty.

If we see any more sharp rises, I dont think our hospitals will be able to keep up with capacity, Saravanan said.

Scenic Mountain Medical Center in Big Spring is one of those outlying community hospitals. The facilitys seven intensive care unit beds are full, as are 18 overflow beds that fill the hallways.

Before Thanksgiving, cases and hospitalizations were already on the rise in the mostly rural region, and locals worried tourism and family gatherings would only make the hot spot worse.

Yet even as cases of the coronavirus have ballooned, tourists from other parts of the state have continued to flock to the regions campsites and small communities, a worrying trend for local officials.

In the tiny desert city and artistic hub of Marfa, tourism never slowed. People still flood the towns hotels and shops. Its a delicate situation for the town of 1,700, which has an economy that relies on tourism but has seen an explosion of COVID-19.

Our community is fragile, said City Council member Ral Lara. He buys groceries on Fridays after work and rarely leaves his house during weekends to avoid crowds.

Its a double-edged sword, because we live on tourism money and we die without it, Lara said.

In response to rising concern that the next two weeks could be catastrophic because of Thanksgiving gatherings, residents of Jeff Davis County, one of the three counties touched by Big Bend, have urged one another to take precautions in a Facebook group. The members discuss the tourons rhymes with morons a reference to the tourists that continue to visit despite West Texas emerging as a hot spot.

Jeanine Bishop, the admin of the Facebook group Jeff Davis County News & Talk, also said tourism is a double-edged sword. The countys 2,300 residents are forced to pick between tourism and potentially more COVID-19, or closed businesses and unemployment.

This week, Bishop, who runs the Alpine Humane Society and a thrift shop, laid off all of her staff. As cases rise, she worries about unmasked customers entering her store.

Its hard. We need the tourist dollars, but were really scared of whats going to happen because of Thanksgiving, Bishop said. Shes frustrated with the governments inaction. Despite shutdowns this spring when COVID-19 was not widespread in her area, neither the state government nor Bishops local officials have urged stricter precautions this time around.

She feels powerless to stop what feels like an inevitable and sharp increase in cases as she watches more Texans vacation in the region while her community suffers the consequences.

She said last weekend most customers at her store said they were from out of town. Bishop offered them a message: Please dont. Were going to be devastated in two weeks.

View original post here:

Coronavirus threatens West Texas as tourists flock to Big Bend and Marfa - The Texas Tribune

In addition, increased adipose tissue may have more ACE-2, the enzyme that allows the coronavirus to invade cells and begin to damage them. A recent study has shown an association of increased ACE-2 in adipose tissue rather than lung tissue. This finding further strengthens the hypothesis that obesity plays a major role in more serious COVID-19 infections. So in theory, if you have more adipose tissue, the virus can bind to and invade more cells, causing higher viral loads that stay around longer, which can make the infection more severe and prolong recovery.

See the rest here:

Coronavirus is revealing exactly what obesity does to the human body - The Philadelphia Inquirer

For schools like those in the Chichester district, which has been rotating children into classrooms two days a week with virtual school days on Fridays, school time might not be lost if case counts rose to a shutdown level on a Thursday, for instance, and cleaning and contact tracing were performed over the weekend, said Superintendent Dan Nerelli.

Read this article:

Schools with coronavirus cases could be forced to close on short notice under new Pa. rules - The Philadelphia Inquirer

Public health officials have warned for months of the possibility of a serious post-Thanksgiving surge in COVID-19 cases. If it does happen, a Harvard epidemiologist says, the signs should become apparent this week, and she cautioned those who gathered with family and friends for the holiday to get tested or act under the assumption that theyve been infected.

We expect a rise in cases and a rise in deaths, unfortunately, over the next few weeks, said Megan Murray, professor of epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the Ronda Stryker and William Johnston Professor of Global Health at Harvard Medical School. The main thing is to recognize that you could have been exposed and to assume youre exposed or test frequently. Assume one might be infectious rather than otherwise.

Murray, who offered her prediction on Tuesday during a Facebook Live event sponsored by The Forum at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and PRIs The World, balanced the dismal outlook for the immediate future with the likelihood that vaccine distribution could begin later this month. If the FDA approves the vaccine developed by Pfizer and Germany-based BioNTech a step taken Wednesday by British authorities distribution could begin very quickly, she said.

Infectious disease experts and epidemiologists tracking the coronavirus have warned that holiday gatherings have the potential to fuel virus transmission and boost an ongoing national surge that has seen 1.1 million new cases over the last seven days alone and pushed total deaths above 267,000. Those numbers, which continue to climb, have prompted dire predictions for the coming months, even as hope for an eventual end to the pandemic has risen with the apparent success of coronavirus vaccines.

Despite the mounting good news on vaccines, Murray said their distribution faces considerable hurdles, including such practical matters as how to store vaccines that need very cold temperatures in locales without the necessary equipment. Other issues include deciding who should be vaccinated first. States will have a significant say on this question, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory board this week advised that front-line health care workers and vulnerable elderly should be first in line. Another issue, Murray said, is whether enough people are willing to be vaccinated to interrupt transmission. If just 50 percent of the population lines up, it would be a real problem, she said.

Its not easy, but its doable, Murray said.

Murray gave the clinical trials high marks for scientific quality but pointed out that trials of such short duration dont give researchers a sense of a vaccines characteristics over the long term, including how durable immunity will be.

Public health officials have likewise noted that it is also unclear whether its possible to carry the disease and infect others even if you are immunized.

Its likely that a vaccine wont be widely available for months, Murray said, and in the interim people are left to continue to deal with the daily reality of the pandemic. There is a new tool to help, however. An at-home test by Lucira Health Inc. is the first that provides results without having to send a sample to a lab. While the new test represents progress in the march toward rapid and frequent at-home testing which has been suggested as a way to interrupt transmission and control the pandemic Murray said because this test is only available by prescription and costs $50, it may be too pricey to be the answer for daily or weekly testing.

Overall, the testing landscape is chaos, Murray said, marred by inconsistencies where some get tested immediately and see results quickly, while others wait in long lines for tests and results take days. The situation, she said, illustrates a lack of public health governance.Will there be a serious post-Thanksgiving COVID surge?

It can be done; it just hasnt been done, Murray said of a fair and fluid testing scheme.

More:

Will there be a post-Thanksgiving coronavirus surge? - Harvard Gazette

Updated 4:45 p.m.

This month 20 million Americans will be vaccinated against COVID-19, and the first people on that list are health care workers.

As we get into January, February and March, and we get more and more of the priority groups, we will, soon as we get into April, have vaccines for the general population for the 20 and 30-year-old healthy man or woman who wants to get vaccinated, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Once we get there, we can crush this outbreak just the way we did with smallpox, with polio and with measles.

Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, joined Gov. Jared Polis in a remote update on the states response to the coronavirus pandemic on Tuesday, Dec. 1.

Fauci was appointed director of NIAID in 1984 and has advised six presidents on HIV/AIDS and many other domestic and global health issues, and currently serves on the Trump administrations Coronavirus Task Force.

Gov. Jared Polis previously predicted the state could get 100,000 to 200,000 doses in December and early January. Fauci said the 40 million doses that will be available in December each person will receive two doses of the vaccine will be distributed to states based on population, which means Colorado could get more than Polis has predicted.

Colorados draft distribution plan calls for health care workers to be first in line for the vaccine, including those who work in assisted living facilities.

First responders like police, firefighters, corrections workers and others deemed members of Colorados critical workforce would be next, then residents of nursing homes and long-term care facilities, followed by people living in close quarters like prisons and shelters for the homeless.

Some people have expressed distrust of the new COVID-19 vaccines. Fauci said it all comes down to messaging and transparency. He explained that the vaccines have been tested in more than 70,000 Americans and then independently reviewed, and reviewed again, by career scientists at the Food and Drug Administration, who also wait 60-days to track adverse side effects before granting an emergency use authorization for a vaccine.

I think if every health care worker realizes how transparent and independent the process is, they would feel much more comfortable about getting vaccinated, Fauci said. You're seeing me now as a public health person, but I am also a health care provider. And I also see patients, and I will get vaccinated when my time arrives.

Polis has pleaded with Coloradans to wear a mask to protect themselves and others, Fauci echoed his sentiments.

No intervention is 100 percent, but if we disregarded interventions that are not 100 percent, we'd be in a lot of trouble, Fauci said. We know that seatbelts save lives for absolutely certain, but occasionally there's a car accident that's severe enough that someone is wearing a seatbelt and they still get severely injured or even die. Does that mean people should not wear seatbelts? Absolutely not.

The press conference with Fauci was just days after Polis announced he and his partner, Marlon Reis, tested positive for the virus.

I'm grateful to report that both of us continue to do well. Very mild symptoms this is just such a lottery, Polis said.

Earlier this week when he talked to CPR News he said he was grateful he didnt see his parents for Thanksgiving.

But, plenty of Coloradans did gather for the holiday, including Republican Representative-elect Lauren Boebert, who said she hosted around 30-people.

Read the rest here:

Dr. Fauci And Gov. Jared Polis Say Coloradans Are Nearing The Coronavirus Finish Line - Colorado Public Radio

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Shoppers and commuters wear masks in downtown Salt Lake City, Monday, Nov. 30, 2020.

| Dec. 2, 2020, 8:17 p.m.

| Updated: Dec. 3, 2020, 2:51 a.m.

With 4,004 new coronavirus cases reported Wednesday, Utahs rate of new diagnoses was on the rise again after a brief decline around the Thanksgiving holiday.

The Utah Department of Health reported a seven-day average of 2,611 new positive test results per day, with Wednesdays increase the third-biggest single-day jump so far driving up the average after a few days of dropping numbers.

The states death toll from the coronavirus stood at 906, with one previous death removed from the list and 17 new fatalities reported since Tuesday:

A Box Elder County woman, age 45 to 64.

A Box Elder County man, age 65 to 84.

A Davis County man, age 65 to 84.

Four Salt Lake County men, one age 45 to 64; two ages 65 to 84, and one older than 85.

A Salt Lake County woman, age 45 to 64.

A Uintah County man older than 85.

A Utah County woman, age 65 to 84.

Three Utah County men, one age 65 to 84 and two who were older than 85.

A Washington County man older than 85.

A Weber County woman, age 25 to 44.

Two Weber County men, one age 45 to 64 and the other age 65 to 84.

Hospitalizations held steady Wednesday, with 571 Utah patients concurrently admitted, UDOH reported.

In total, 8,423 patients have been hospitalized in Utah for COVID-19, matching Tuesdays record single-day increase of 144.

For those who are sick but not hospitalized, Intermountain Healthcare announced Wednesday it was joining a study to investigate whether blood thinners could help prevent patients from deteriorating.

Doctors know that blood clots are a complication of COVID-19 infection, said Dr. Joseph Bledsoe, director of research in Intermountains emergency department.

Tiny blood clots that form in the brain, heart, lungs and legs are thought to be a cause of clinical deterioration or even death among coronavirus patients, Bledsoe said. Blood thinners like aspirin have been helpful in other conditions that cause blood clots, Bledsoe said.

But the risk of blood clots appears to be particularly high among coronavirus patients, and there hasnt been enough research for doctors to prescribe blood thinners for patients who arent sick enough to go to the hospital.

A lot of the research around COVID-19 looks at the sickest of the sick, said Dr. Sarah Majercik, trauma surgeon at Intermountain Healthcare and principal investigator of the Utah study. This study is unique because it focuses on patients who have never been admitted to a hospital. The information that we get may help doctors keep patients out of the hospital in the future. It may even prevent some of the long-term complications we are seeing from COVID-19.

For the study, Intermountain researchers are seeking patients between ages 40 and 80 who have tested positive for COVID-19 within the past 14 days and have symptoms but arent sick enough to need hospital care. Patients will take aspirin, apixaban or placebo pills for 45 days, and they wont know which type of pill they receive.

For the past week, 22.6% of all coronavirus tests have come back positive a rising rate, and one that indicates a large number of infected people are not being tested, state officials have said.

There were 9,434 new test results reported Wednesday, slightly below the weeklong average of about 10,000 new tests per day.

Infection rates were the highest by far in Wasatch County, followed by Sanpete, Utah, Cache and Washington counties. In all five of those counties, at least 1 in every 75 people had tested positive for the virus in the past two weeks meaning their cases are considered active.

Meanwhile, the northern part of Orem had the highest infection rate of any one community, with active cases diagnosed in 1 in every 50 residents.

Read more here:

Utah's rate of new coronavirus cases on the rise again, with 4000 cases reported Wednesday - Salt Lake Tribune

Here are the latest updates on COVID-19 cases, deaths and hospitalizations in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

ST PAUL, Minn. Thursday, Dec. 3

The New York Times has unveiled a new online tool that can help people estimate when they might be able to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. That tool can be found here on the Times website.

Gov. Tim Walz and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan are urging Minnesotans to draw upon state aid for their end-of-year housing bills.

In a media call at 1 p.m. Gov. Walz highlighted efforts to "ensure Minnesotans can afford to stay in their homes during the COVID-19 pandemic."

Minnesotans can apply for housing assistance through the United Way by calling 211 or going online at 211unitedway.org. The deadline is Monday. Dec. 7 at 11:59 p.m. As of the end of November, the state still had over $30 million available to give out to those struggling to make housing payments.

COVID-19 is continuing to take a significant number of lives in Minnesota, with 92 new fatalities reported by state health officials on Thursday

Those deaths are the second highest single-day total since the pandemic began, only behind the 101 deaths reported the Friday after Thanksgiving. The total number of lives lost in the state now sits at 3,784. Thursday's near-record comes just one day after the third-highest daily death toll of 77.

The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) says 6,166 new coronavirus cases were reported Thursday, based on results from 50,718 tests (45,885 PCR, 4,833 antigen) processed in private and state labs.

A positive PCR test is considered a confirmed case, while a positive antigen test is considered probable.

Minnesota now reports 333,626 COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic.

Hospitalizations due to the coronavirus in Minnesota are continuing a downward trend. COVID-19 patients are currently using 1,394 non-ICU beds across the state - 29 fewer than the day prior, and 376 ICU beds - nine fewer than the previous day. Metro bed availability has improved from 1.9% to 2.3%, and ICU bed availability in the metro has grown from 4.5% to 5.7%.

The total number of patients hospitalized since COVID hit Minnesota is 17,623, with 3,911 of those requiring treatment in the ICU.

COVID-19 case rates now put 86 of 87 Minnesota counties under full distance learning recommendations from MDH, although community spread is only one factor of many schools are instructed to use to determine their learning model.

Leading causes of exposure for those who have tested positive include community exposure with no known contact (62,312 cases) followed by a known contact (55,953 cases) and exposure through a congregate care setting (26,100 cases).

Young people 20 to 24 make up the largest group of cases with 35,289 and two deaths, followed by those 25 to 29 with 30,360 and four deaths. The greatest number of fatalities involves people 85 to 89 with 712 in 4,244 confirmed cases.

Hennepin County has the most recorded COVID activity with 70,069 cases and 1,145 deaths, followed by Ramsey County with 29,459 cases and 521 deaths, Dakota County with 23,564 cases and 198 deaths and Anoka County with 23,541 cases and 236 fatalities.

Cook County in northeastern Minnesota has the least amount of COVID activity with 80 cases and no deaths.

On Wednesday, Governor Tim Walz, Department of Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington and several first responders spoke to Minnesotans to address the way the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted public safety and emergency response.

Walz said that he hopes to highlight aspects of everyday life that are impacted by the pandemic that many Minnesotans may not typically consider. According to Walz, the workforce of firefighters, police officers and paramedics in Minnesota has been affected by COVID-19, which can impact their ability to respond to emergencies.

Harrington emphasized that this is a statewide issue, and that he is hearing every day from fire departments and police departments that are having staffing issues due to COVID-19.

He added that fire departments have been hit particularly hard.

"Ninety-nine out of the 500 fire departments in the state of Minnesota have had major COVID outbreaks," he said. "That's 20%."

He stressed that the state has worked to rearrange resources and take precautions to keep departments staffed, but it won't take much to take those departments out of service if communities do not wear masks, avoid gatherings and social distance.

Eagan Police Chief Roger New said that his department has followed CDC guidelines since the pandemic began, but he has still seen 20% of his staff take time off due to COVID-19 quarantines at some point since March, including one staff member who was hospitalized and took two months to fully recover.

Jay Wood, a firefighter in Plato, said that the Plato Fire Department has also carefully followed guidelines, but an outbreak that affected over three quarters of the department forced them to take the department out of service for a time.

"We are not alone as a small department of dealing with the virus and the staffing issues it has presented to us," he said. "Minnesota fire services are always here to help the public, and people always ask how they can help us. The biggest thing you can do is follow the guidelines the governor and the Department of Health have set for us."

Paramedic Ross Chavez echoed this, urging Minnesotans to follow advice from health experts to help keep first responders in the community healthy so they can continue providing fast and effective emergency services.

"Please, help my colleagues and me be there for those who need us, especially this holiday season during these trying times," Chavez said.

Walz said that for Minnesotans frustrated by other community members not following these guidelines, he does not want to shame anyone, but it is a "moral hazard" to not wear a mask and go to large gatherings.

"We're not going to be able to arrest everybody, that was certainly never our intention," he said. "You don't have to follow these rules because I said so, you don't have to follow them because you don't like government. You should follow them because they're the right thing to do, they protect lives."

Walz added that by next Tuesday, he hopes he and state health officials will have a clear timeline for a COVID-19 vaccine in the U.S. Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) Commissioner Jan Malcolm said she expects the FDA will issue an emergency use authorization on Dec. 11, and that the first wave of vaccinations could begin as soon as a week or so later.

Walz said he understands concerns around safety of the vaccine, but his assessment has been that the federal government has done a "fantastic job" of the vaccine development.

However, he stressed that though the excitement around the vaccine may indicate that the pandemic is over, we are still "in the teeth of it."

"Let's make sure we get all of our neighbors there, and protect those folks that make a difference," he said.

The resurgence of COVID-19 in Minnesota is proving deadly, as underscored by 77 new fatalities reported by state health officials Wednesday.

Those deaths are the second highest single-day total since the pandemic came to Minnesota, only behind the 101 deaths reported the Friday after Thanksgiving. The total number of lives lost in the state now sits at 3,692.

The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) says 5,192 new coronavirus cases were reported Wednesday, based on results from 42,737 tests (39,912 PCR, 2,825 Antigen) processed in private and state labs.

A positive PCR test is considered a confirmed case, while a positive Antigen test is considered probable.

Minnesota now reports 327,477 COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic.

In a bit of positive news, hospital bed use is down after a surge in recent days. Coronavirus patients are currently using 1,350 non-ICU beds, down 104 from Tuesday, and 354 ICU beds across the state are being used for COVID patients, down 40 from a day ago.

The total number of patients hospitalized since COVID hit Minnesota is 17,378, with 3,873 of those requiring treatment in the ICU.

Leading causes of exposure for those who have tested positive include community exposure with no known contact (60,808 cases) followed by a known contact (54,554 cases) and exposure through a congregate care setting (25,695 cases).

Young people 20 to 24 make up the largest group of cases by a significant margin with 34,806 and two deaths, followed by those 25 to 29 with 29,876 and four deaths. The greatest number of fatalities involves people 85 to 89 with 691 in 4,156 confirmed cases.

Hennepin County has the most recorded COVID activity with 68,898 cases and 1,130 deaths, followed by Ramsey County with 28,948 cases and 512 deaths, Anoka County with 23,196 cases and 232 fatalities, and Dakota County with 23,102 cases and 194 deaths.

Cook County in northeastern Minnesota has the least amount of COVID activity with 79 cases and no deaths.

See more here:

Live updates: MDH reports second-highest day of COVID-19 deaths with 92 - KARE11.com

Juan Williams, a veteran Fox News personality who co-hosts the popular afternoon talk show The Five, tested positive for the coronavirus on Thursday and is isolating himself, two people who were briefed on his condition said.

Mr. Williams taped a live episode of The Five on Wednesday afternoon at Fox Newss Midtown Manhattan headquarters, appearing on the set with several of his co-hosts, including the popular conservative commentators Jesse Watters and Greg Gutfeld. The hosts, like guests on some other cable talk shows during the pandemic, sat about seven feet apart.

Mr. Williams left for vacation on Nov. 18 and returned to the Fox News studios on Monday; he was tested for the coronavirus shortly thereafter. The people familiar with his condition, who requested anonymity to share private discussions, said he received a positive result on Thursday afternoon.

He was absent from Thursdays 5 p.m. episode of The Five, in which the other hosts appeared remotely.

Fox News declined to comment about Mr. Williamss condition, citing employee privacy. But the network said in a statement that the hosts of The Five would broadcast from home studios for the foreseeable future.

We will continue to take all necessary precautions to ensure the safety of our staff, the statement said. It noted that the network regularly tested its on-air personalities and had mask mandates and daily health checks for all employees who entered its headquarters.

On a talk show where the opinions skew Trumpward, Mr. Williams is the liberal-leaning outlier who has often criticized President Trumps handling of, among other matters, the coronavirus pandemic. On Wednesdays program, Mr. Williams called Mr. Watters shameful for advancing Mr. Trumps debunked theories about election fraud. (Juan sounds nervous, Mr. Watters riposted.)

In September, The Five was one of the most prominent television panel shows to return to in-studio broadcasts after an extended period when the hosts worked from home. (The shows usual large desk was replaced with separate stools for the hosts.) Several stars of The View on ABC, for instance, continue to work remotely. The Talk, a panel show on CBS, also returned to the studio in September.

Mr. Williams was among a group of Fox News stars and executives who were potentially exposed to the virus at the first presidential debate in September in Cleveland, where Mr. Trump appeared onstage days before announcing he had contracted the virus.

Mr. Williams was exposed again in October after traveling back from the second presidential debate, in Nashville, with a Fox News employee who later tested positive for the virus.

At the time, the chief executive of Fox News Media, Suzanne Scott, told employees in a memo that the network would limit the number of staff members working in its Manhattan office.

Since returning from his vacation on Monday, Mr. Williams had also appeared on-set with his regular Five co-host Dana Perino and several guest panelists, including the anchors Sandra Smith and Dagen McDowell and the conservative pundit Katie Pavlich.

Other television news personalities who have tested positive for the virus include Brooke Baldwin and Chris Cuomo of CNN, Lesley Stahl of CBS, and George Stephanopoulos of ABC News. They have since recovered.

Ben Smith contributed reporting.

Read the rest here:

Fox News Host Juan Williams is Said to Test Positive for Coronavirus - The New York Times